Chapter 249: Alone
Ancia was the biggest and most developed city I had seen in this world.
The prosperity it enjoyed for centuries could be felt in every street.
Every building followed a different trend, making it easy to tell when they were built.
And although the trends might have co and gone, the buildings themselves stood the test of ti.
The city was worthy of being the pride of an established and powerful kingdom like Hamperlon.
However, I believe nothing embodied their pride and greed more than the Royal Palace.
That structure was both taller and wider than any other building I had seen in this world.
One of its sections was an imnse tower, stretching so far into the sky that anyone would suffer from severe neck pain if they attempted to look at its tip for too long.
It was this very tower that enabled Hamperlon to contact and house harpies.
The harpies are a species that prefers to live at high altitudes, but they can’t handle the cold, so no region on this continent accommodates them.
The achievent of peacefully bringing so, even if only a few, to this continent was just one of Ancia’s many feats throughout its extensive history.
Although... Upon a closer look, so problems beco evident.
The lack of available rooms caused a competitive environnt for who could occupy the tower.
This ended up working in Hamperlon’s favor, as at least one General was born out of the continuous disputes, but at the sa ti... The number of winged beastn slaves that appeared for auction on this continent increased noticeably.
Of course, most of them had one thing or another that could easily classify them as "undesirable"...
Terith, Evretis, Rodky, and any other nation on the continent... As impressive as they were, they couldn’t hope to compare with the sheer scale, so any criticism was just jealousy.
Ancia was like a kingdom by itself, the crown of Hamperlon, and Hamperlon’s Royal Palace was its most valuable jewel.
As such, it couldn’t have a single stain.
Cassandra: "But if the city is so important, why would they risk it like this? Aren’t you a little curious?~"
Miwen: "Not really."
Ancia was in its last days.
No one was coming to save them, and they couldn’t hope to defeat our army.
Everyone knew this, from the lowest beggar on the streets to Hamperlon’s ministers and knights.
Those who continued to defend it did so believing it was a worthy cause.
The city had given everything to them, as they had given everything to it.
From generation to generation, entire lives were dedicated to making this place what it had beco.
Knowing that this was what they were fighting for inspired Hamperlon’s army for this one last push, but... It was in vain.
Sooner or later, the city was bound to fall.
And no one knew this better than Gerbil.
Which is why he chose this approach...
Miwen: "I was surprised by their trap, but when I saw that he had fled the Palace, everything beca clear."
He didn’t care about the city, the Palace, the soldiers, or the people.
Hell, he didn’t even care about his pride, duty, and responsibility as their king.
All he cared about was his life, and considering this, his decision started to make a lot more sense.
The trap wasn’t ant to win them a battle or cause us to slow down.
It was ant to create chaos.
After all, with every exit of the city blocked or heavily guarded, only through this chaos did he have any hope of escaping the city unnoticed.
This man saw everything around him as a sacrifice for himself...
Cassandra: "Hmm... I get why that would make you angry, but... You’re a little more nervous than I expected..."
I was making my way through the underground tunnels below the Palace, fighting my way through the few soldiers we found along the way.
It’s not like I was being careless due to their imminent defeat or anything like that, but Cassandra was right.
My grip wasn’t too stable, I was taking less-than-ideal decisions, thinking too little and acting too much.
It was far from my usual self...
Cassandra: "Oh! I get it! It’s because of the girls~"
Miwen: "Can you bla ?"
As much as she had inspired her in the past, unfortunately, lissa’s shadow had clouded Mia’s eyes.
That girl worked incredibly hard to defeat her without ever acknowledging how strong she already was.
It felt like it was never enough for her, and I worried a little, seeing how much she pushed herself, both physically and emotionally.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t up to
to decide when enough was enough.
lissa wasn’t lightweight, and no one knew her better than Mia.
All I could do was help her and hope for her victory...
On the other hand, Claire and Licia did not have the sa excuse, no matter how much they tried to argue that if they couldn’t defeat the black knight, they would forever be unable to grow.
It was pretty obvious that they were just upset and wanted to clear their record.
Had I not already given the go-ahead to Mia, I would’ve stopped the two...
Well, sincerely, I wanted to stop all three of them.
Seeing them injured and hurt is sothing I’d like to avoid as much as possible.
I couldn’t calm my heart or my mind, knowing how difficult their fight was going to be, and that there was zero chance for them to co out without injuries.
Cassandra: "Have a little faith in them~"
Miwen: "You wouldn’t believe how much I do."
I believed in their victory.
But I couldn’t help worrying about them.
Especially as I felt the inner ceiling of the tunnels and the ground beneath my feet trembling.
It was bound to happen. Battles were happening everywhere aboveground.
The water dripping down and the debris falling weren’t sothing to worry about, but...
Sotis the earth would shake so much that even I would be thrown off balance.
Whenever that happened, my heart throbbed.
No other battles could cause sothing like this to happen.
It had to be one of the girls or their opponents.
Cassandra: "Oh... Big and thick~"
Eventually, Cassandra and I reached a wall.
Well, we had t plenty of dead ends, even with Gabriella’s schematics, but this one was a little special.
Miwen: "There’s a lot of mana here..."
Cassandra: "There’s even more behind it. Two knights, I’m pretty sure... Want
to kill them~?"
Miwen: "If you can do it..."
The wall was made haphazardly, with stones and bricks found within the tunnels, and only one layer resembled the other walls enough to camouflage it.
But as Cassandra had put it, it was thick.
It went for about 20 ters, and the fact that its mana kept increasing ant the n behind it were still not done with it.
Cassandra: "Silly~"
Like she did in our battle against Nissa, Cassandra took control of my arms, forcing
to grip her handle with both hands before lowering herself below my chest.
Then, in a single motion as the tip of her blade pointed to the wall, she stabbed it.
Just before the blade t the bricks, she extended it, piercing the wall and the skull of the knight behind it.
Before the other one could respond, or really even understand what happened, she severed his neck by swinging in his direction.
The precision, using only the mana emanating from their bodies to calculate her attack, was astonishing.
Not only that, I worried that whatever she’d do would cause the walls or the ceiling to collapse, but the cut she left was so thin that once she returned to her normal size, it was hard for
to see it, even though I knew it should be there.
Cassandra: "Maybe long is better than thick after all~"
Miwen: "...I’m surprised by how much you can change your shape."
I decided not to engage with her comnts.
Even the praise I had prepared for her... It mysteriously disappeared as soon as she opened her mouth.
Cassandra: "Well, I guess I’m pretty good at it, but my race is pretty good with this type of thing. Like, if we couldn’t do this much, we’d be useless to giants and titans, right? Well, aside from being used as-"
It was always hard to know what I should take seriously or not when it ca to her, but surprisingly, she distracted
incredibly well, and before long, we had reached the place where Gabriella was welcod as a guest, Gerbil’s mansion.
But as we made our way up, we reached a rather unfortunate place.
The sll was so strong that for a minute, I was glad I had left Mia behind.
Bloodstains painted the grey ground and the walls.
It was cold and dark, there were insects everywhere, and every type of human remains imaginable.
Hidden by thick iron bars was a solitary woman, her hands were handcuffed and tied to the ceiling, her legs had been nailed to the ground, and chains extended from the collar on her neck.
??????: "Kill... ..."
Her eyes had no light in them.
She could barely speak.
And although it was incredibly worn out, I recognized the face.
It was the sa one that the White Knight on Maides Island had.
I had no idea how there were two of her, but this was most definitely an effect of her Gift.
Perhaps sothing akin to a one-ti resurrection...
Miwen: "You’re the Seven Rain-"
Suddenly, my arm moved against my will.
Miwen: "Cassandra!? What are you-"
Cassandra: "We saw nothing here. Let’s move on."
Miwen: "We... Could have saved her."
Cassandra: "...Just because the blue-haired one had the will, doesn’t an everyone has. For her, this was salvation. But if you really an it, then try to summon her in the future. You’ll see for yourself how much your Gift does to bring back a companion in their best possible state."
It was hard for
to argue.
The girls I summoned have a unique perspective I’ll never experience on such things.
Cassandra herself said she had been broken when she was killed, but once she was summoned, her body was fine.
And Licia... I still don’t fully know everything that happened to her.
The state she was in when I first summoned was already scary, and she told
enough for
to understand her situation, but going into details wasn’t sothing she wanted to do, and I would never dare force her into it.
Cassandra: "If you think I’m stepping out of line, feel free to punish
later~"
Miwen: "...No, it’s fine."
Cassandra: "Then let’s move on, shall we?"
...The rest of the mansion wasn’t as bad.
We t a few servants along the way, but much like in the Royal Palace, we assured them we ant no harm and directed them all into a random room, just so that no accidents could happen.
And then, in a room on the third floor, I ca face to face with the runaway king.
Miwen: "...Yo! I’ve been searching for you everywhere!"
Gerbil: "...Isabella’s knight. You arrived even before I expected."
The king had a new haircut...
And his clothes weren’t as dignified as the ones we saw in our peace etings.
He only had a maid by his side, although her arms were quite muscular...
Miwen: "Soone sure likes to run."
Gerbil: "Hmph... I can tell you sacrificed your fellow to reach this place so soon, but I can’t say I dislike the decision. One can’t achieve anything without so sacrifices, right?"
I was a little confused by his assumption, but when I thought about how I had left the girls behind, it started to make sense.
He probably had a way of knowing the condition of his undead knights, so if they were still fighting "Isabella’s Knights
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