Chapter 123
He silently gripped his dagger.
His target was Asil, sitting defenseless inside the carriage.
‘I should kill that one first.’
Then, taking advantage of the moment when her older brother would be stunned by the loss of his sister, he planned to deal with him as well.
After tremendous effort, he succeeded in reaching the front of the carriage without being detected by Snowa.
And thinking there would be only one chance, he lunged at the carriage.
“Haaap!”
However.
Boom!
With a tremendous roar, he received an enormous impact to his abdomen and was sent flying out through the carriage.
The last scene he remembered was the innocent-faced Young Lady Erzébet swinging her small, delicate fist toward his stomach.
* * *
No matter how systematically trained they were, there was no match for a leopard.
Those who had been relentlessly attacked by Snowa lost consciousness and collapsed one by one.
Since they needed to find out who had ordered this, Asil and Snowa gathered them in one place and waited.
All their weapons had been snapped in half, and the masks covering their faces had been completely removed.
Contrary to expectations that they would look vicious, they surprisingly had the impression of ordinary next-door uncles.
Thanks to the masks deliberately attacking in a deserted area, there were no passersby.
“Kkyu!”
Hurry up and wake up so we can go home, Todori kicked their heads with his hind feet.
How long had they waited like that?
“Ugh…….”
The leader opened his eyes first.
He seemed quite surprised to see that he was neither dead nor tied up.
Asil, holding Todori—who was about to deliver a front-paw punch for attacking them—stood tall in front of him.
“Who sent you?”
“I cannot say.”
“Was it perhaps the Sunrise princess?”
For an instant, the leader’s face twisted slightly before smoothing out.
It was such a minute change that ordinary people would never have noticed, but Asil, a beastman, caught it immediately.
Somehow, this human smelled like the attendant named Sebastian.
‘Is it because she doesn’t want to give up the diamond mine?’
In that case, she really needed to go and claim it herself.
“Oppa, want to go to the Sunrise princess’s house together tomorrow?”
At that, the leader’s face turned deathly pale.
“N-No, you can’t!”
He lunged at Asil bare-handed.
However, Snowa—who had been watching him closely—grabbed him and slammed him straight to the ground.
“Don’t touch my little sister.”
“You absolutely cannot go to her!”
“Why?”
“That’s…….”
Whether there was some difficult circumstance, he hesitated for a long time before opening his mouth.
“……The princess is always guarded by a divine beast at her side. If you say anything reckless, you will be chewed up and swallowed in an instant.”
Huh? What does that even mean? Asil’s head was filled with question marks.
When they tried to kill her, they had pretended to be worried.
For some reason she didn’t know, it seemed they were trying to prevent her from meeting the Sunrise princess, but that wasn’t going to happen.
And whether there was a divine beast by the princess’s side or not didn’t matter.
She had heard that the divine beasts of the four great houses were roughly equal in power.
Seven years ago, she had defeated Fear in a fight, so now that she was even stronger, she could naturally overpower the Sunrise divine beast by force.
Thinking this, Asil declared confidently.
“It’s fine. I’m stronger than Fear.”
“Fear? You mean Starafit’s divine beast?”
“Yes. So I can defeat the Sunrise princess’s divine beast too.”
“…….”
Speechless, he stared blankly up at Asil, then suddenly muttered to himself.
“They said Starafit’s Fear couldn’t even move against Young Lady Erzébet.”
He had thought it was just a rumor, but seeing the power just now, it might actually be true.
If so, then perhaps…….
After pondering something, he bit his lip for a moment, then suddenly knelt politely.
He bowed his head deeply to Asil, even raising his speech.
“I have a request, Young Lady Erzébet. Please help our Lady Sol.”
“……Huh?”
What? Why is he suddenly doing this? Shocked, Asil’s eyes widened round.
“Lady Sol? Who’s that?”
“She is the one we serve and the divine beast of the Sunrise ducal house.”
That was right.
The White Shadow, known as the shadow of the Sunrise ducal house, actually served not the duke but the divine beast Sol.
This was a fact known only to the one who inherited the Sunrise ducal title, and regrettably, the duke had passed away in an unexpected accident before he could even conduct successor training, so now no one knew.
“Lady Sol has suffered all kinds of hardships as punishment for failing to protect the duke and duchess. Even now she is receiving the full brunt of the princess’s and young master’s anger, and if they learn that we failed our mission as well…….”
There would surely be severe punishment inflicted upon her.
The deceased duke and duchess had also abused Sol, but the princess was especially severe.
She believed in Sol’s healing ability, but while physical wounds healed as if washed away, the heart did not.
He, who served Sol the closest among the White Shadow, had seen the shadow that constantly fell over Sol’s face in real time.
If he didn’t know, fine—but he could not bear to add more suffering to her.
So even if it was a gamble, it was better to at least ask Young Lady Erzébet for help.
Having heard the circumstances, Asil said sharply.
“You scolded even Edenber, but why do you scold a divine beast too?”
It’s really strange. As she grumbled, he bowed his head deeply.
“Please persuade Fear to attack Lady Sol. Since her healing ability disappears when she is off the ground, the only way to inflict effective damage on Lady Sol is that. Then, if she is admitted to the Great Temple—”
“But she still gets hurt the same way.”
Asil pointed out again.
“How is that helping?”
“……Even so, her heart will be at ease. More than staying in the ducal house.”
“If that’s the case, why not just admit Sol to the Great Temple without fighting Fear?”
“If that were possible, why would we ask for help?”
He let out a dark sigh.
“To admit a divine beast, permission is required from the high priest or someone of even higher rank. But unless there is an illness, obtaining permission is difficult—”
“I have a friend who is a saintess.”
Asil shrugged her shoulders.
She had heard that a saintess held a position higher than the pope.
So admitting Sol, who was being abused, would be easier than eating cold rice.
At the confident answer, he looked up at Asil in surprise.
“A s-saintess? Is that really true?”
“Yes. But first, apologize for attacking me and my oppa.”
Since the situation seemed pitiful, she would let it slide here; otherwise, she would have handed him over to Snowa for a beating.
“……I’m sorry.”
The leader bowed his head sincerely.
The subordinates behind him assumed the same posture.
“Once this matter is over, we will atone with our deaths.”
“What? No! Don’t die!”
If you die, you can’t repay the favor!
Asil was now a dragon who could look at reality coldly. There was no such thing as free in this world.
Since she was helping someone who wasn’t even a friend, she had to make this point clear.
“Don’t die—live and repay the favor! Why are you trying to die!”
“Well, because we tried to kill the young lady…….”
“Forget it! Since me, oppa, and Todori aren’t hurt anywhere, live and repay the favor!”
If you have nothing to do, go make a strawberry field or something! Asil stomped her feet.
At those words, the masked men were deeply moved.
Don’t die.
In the Sunrise ducal house, all they had ever heard was “Aton for failing the mission with death.”
Yet the Young Lady Erzébet, whom they had tried to harm, was telling them not to die and to live.
Having always been treated as disposable tools, receiving warm treatment for the first time, they froze for a long while.
The fleeting thought passed through all their minds that serving under such a young lady would be far better than the cold Sunrise ducal house.
Then, representing everyone present, the leader stammered in a trembling voice.
“……We will definitely repay this kindness.”
“Yes.”
Unaware of the masked men’s feelings, Asil nodded vigorously.
(As a bonus, she thought, ‘These humans look kind of frail, but they should at least be able to tend a strawberry field, right?’)
* * *
The very next day.
Asil headed to the Great Temple early in the morning.
This was because she had heard from Jet, the leader of White Shadow, yesterday that Sunrise’s princess Princess Sunrise and the divine beast Sol would be visiting the Great Temple.
No matter how much the saintess helped, she could not arbitrarily bring another family’s divine beast to the Great Temple, so today was the golden opportunity to admit Sol.
(‘When I meet her, I should ask for the diamond mine too.’)
Of course she wouldn’t give it willingly, but since it had been promised with her oppa on the line, she absolutely had to claim it.
With a determined face, Asil clenched both fists tightly.
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