A strange object was speeding down the old road.
It was the wreckage of a two-horse sleigh, or something like it.
The carriage, with everything but the driver’s seat and the floor with the seats removed, was being pulled by horses at high speed.
The horses were running frantically, foaming at the mouth. As if all thoughts other than running had been erased from their minds. As if they were running away from something huge and terrifying behind them, from the despair in human form.
Derek, desperately pulling the reins, felt the same way. He had seen everything that the girl sitting heavily in the exposed seat had done.
The sleigh, the horses, the luggage, and the people were all equally a nuisance to her, and equally subject to destruction.
There were supposed to be 30 members of Night Python…some of them were supposed to be experienced in rough stuff…but they were killed like leaves blown away by the wind.
Only two horses, the wreckage of the sleigh, and Derek remained. It was not because they were lucky, nor because they resisted, but simply because she deemed them necessary.
This devastation, with the walls and ceiling removed, was the result of her modifications to make the vehicle lighter and faster, and to be alert to her surroundings.
She seemed to be using some kind of magic to keep out the cold, but Derek did not benefit from it, and his tears and snot had already frozen into icicles.
“There’s a guardhouse of yours up ahead, isn’t there?”
Derek flinched at the sudden voice from behind. It was the voice of a cute girl, but it was completely devoid of intonation, so cold that it was hard to believe she was talking to a person.
Derek realized that he was nothing more than “trash that still had some use value.”
“Yes! We have forward bases at various points along the highway! Today, I was supposed to escape through this old road, so a few men are stationed there for reconnaissance and security!”
“I heard that earlier.”
“Yes, I’m sorry! … But I just talked to them on the Caller, so they won’t bother us!”
Translator’s Note
通話符コーラー (Tsuuwafu kōrā) translates to “Communication Talisman: Caller”.
“Good, then full speed ahead.”
“Yes, sir!!”
Derek whipped the horses, which were already running at full speed, recklessly as if to make them go even faster.
Her orders were simple. “Take me to the one who’s in charge.”
As the territory chief, Derek had a means of contacting the boss, and he knew the boss’s daily routine to some extent. In other words, he was counting on that.
Derek had no intention of risking his life to protect the boss. He was only following him out of profit and fear. So, he thought that if he could sell the boss to this girl and be released unharmed, he would be fine with that, but he didn’t think he would be released unharmed just by doing what she said. He trembled just thinking about the tragedy of his men being swept away. Surely, the same fate awaited Derek when he was no longer useful.
–Damn, you monster…! Just you wait, I’ll make you regret this!
“Hey. What did you just think?”
“Wha-!? N-nothing at all!!”
Derek jumped up skillfully from his seat on the driver’s seat.
–Did she sense my killing intent!? Or does this girl read minds!?
The moment he thought about fighting back, he was nailed, and his body, already chilled by the snowy wind, felt as if it had frozen.
Derek desperately tried not to think about anything.
He just has to endure a little longer.
Earlier, Derek had used his Caller in front of her to contact the guardhouse ahead.
The gist of what he said was, “We’re coming through in a weird state, but let us through.” At this speed, by the time they realized something was wrong, they would have already passed.
However, Derek mixed a code into the short call.
It sounded like a normal conversation to those listening in, but it was a call for help, and it even conveyed what was to be eliminated. Only a clever man like Derek could have done this.
The rest is up to those who are waiting to take some kind of action.
The old road is about to enter a hilly area. Hidden in the shadow of a large hill, there is a mountain hut-like Night Python base.
And the terrain is suitable for hiding soldiers.
“Hmm…?”
The girl stood up, kicking the seat. Then she looked around at the silvery world.
–Did she notice? But…too late!!
Magic flew from somewhere and enveloped Derek, protecting him.
Immediately after that, a magically-powered landmine buried in the snow exploded with a thunderous roar.
“Haaaah!!”
Benedict swung his greatsword down with a shout.
Super-heavy weapons such as greatswords and great hammers are not only the romance of the vanguard…, but also a weapon often used because they can deliver effective blows to giant magical beasts.
Furthermore, Benedict’s greatsword is enchanted to increase the sharpness of its slash. It was a cheap enchantment, but it was enough to cut through ice.
Only the arm part of the corpse, which was completely buried in a huge block of ice, is cut out.
Fresh blood dripped from the cut surface.
“I thought it was frozen, but it’s bleeding a little.”
“Blood is hard to freeze. And it looks like it just died. …Well then.”
Diana opened the front of her cold-weather gear.
The crest engraved on her chest was still oozing blood.
On top of that, Diana dripped more blood. The blood dripping from the severed arm.
Benedict and Hugh looked at her questioningly at the sudden oddity, but they watched over Diana.
“…I see, it’s up ahead! It’s close!”
“Really!?”
“Yeah. …Wait a minute.”
Here, Diana pulls out Iris’s change of shirt from her luggage.
She brought it as a catalyst for detection.
“≪Oracle: Seek Person!≫”
Diana searched for Iris’s reaction and immediately raised her head as if she had been flicked.
“The reaction is still in the same place…!”
She ran to get on Wendigo, but then Diana slumped down in the snow.
“Diana!”
“I’m fine. I just got a little dizzy from using the ‘crest’ for the first time in a while. But we have to hurry up and chase after her!”
“You can’t ride a Wendigo in that condition. What if something happens when we catch up? What if we get into a fight in your condition?”
“…You’re right. I’m useless like this.”
Surprisingly, Diana listened to Benedict’s words obediently.
“…Hey, tell me. What is it? Let’s take a break while we listen to the story.”
“Yeah. If we don’t know what it is, it will interfere with our coordination in battle.”
Diana took down a folding chair from the luggage hanging on Wendigo, sat down on it, and lit her pipe.
The smoke that spewed out melted a single snowflake dancing in the air.
“Do you know of the ‘Moon Eater’ of the Holy Kingdom of Dilletta?”
“I’ve heard rumors…”
The two looked at each other at the sudden question.
“Dilletta’s strongest elite unit that is hell-bent on crushing undead and sorcerers. They’re good, but they’re the kind of people who burn down entire villages to kill one sorcerer…”
“Take those rumors with a grain of salt.”
Diana waved her hand at Hugh’s words.
“It’s twice as bad as the rumors.”
With that, she exhaled a long, thin stream of smoke.
Diana looked up at the dark sky. As if there were memories of distant days beyond the sky where the snow danced and fell.
“My family was one of them. It’s not hereditary, but we’ve been Moon Eaters for generations. My father wanted to pass on his skills to his children, but no boys were born. He had no choice but to entrust it to me, his eldest daughter. From the age of eight, I was put through a lot of shitty training. Training so severe that I became unable to have children…”
Diana’s words about her family were not nostalgic at all.
Both Benedict and Hugh sensed a heavy atmosphere that made them uncomfortable to react to.
At the same time, some of the mysteries about Diana were solved and they were convinced. She is a Priestess, but she is as physically capable as a Grappler. She can beat a man in a grapple, and her kicks from her steel-plated boots have broken an orc’s neck bone in a single blow.
That was the result of her training as a Moon Eater.
“That father of mine died when I was 15. He didn’t die in battle, he died after using up his life. The ultimate technique of the Moon Eaters is to shave off one’s life in exchange for power beyond human limits. Members are essentially expendable. And I ran away when my father died. By that time, I was already a pretty good fighter…but I didn’t like the way the Moon Eaters did things. I’d rather not follow them and burn down a village.”
“The one on your chest is a Moon Eater?”
“That’s right. This is the Moon Eater’s ultimate technique, ‘Combat Stigmata’. My whole body is engraved with crests. …There are 27 of them in total, each with a different power. I’m just an ordinary Priestess. But if I use this, I can unleash incredible power. This one on my chest is for exploration. I can only find useless things, though.”
She says exploration, but what does it react to? Diana didn’t say.
“I was going to use it when I really had no other choice. …Maybe that time is now.”
Glaring into the darkness, Diana dumped the cigarette butt from her pipe. The cigarette butt fell on the snow and made a small hole with a sizzling sound.
“I’ve talked too much. I’ve had enough rest. Let’s go.”
It was when Diana brushed the snow off her clothes and stood up.
A rumbling sound like an earthquake echoed from the front, and the area shook.
“What was that sound just now!?”
“Hurry!”
“I see, I see, you used some kind of code to contact them and set a trap. As expected of a criminal organization.”
“Ah, ah, ah…”
“I thought I saw some strange emotion when you contacted them, but this is what it was, damn it.”
Derek’s words were caught in his throat, and he could only open and close his mouth.
Violet eyes looked down at Derek with a light colder than snow.
A robe that was scorched and exposed some skin. The soft skin underneath was unharmed. To be precise, there were wounds, but they disappeared.
Derek had seen it all.
He saw the deadly trap being triggered. He saw the wreckage of the sleigh and the horses being blown apart. He saw the girl jumping out of the smoke of the snow and dirt. He saw the defensive magic surrounding her.
He saw the members of Night Python who were lying in wait attack the girl. He also saw the girl blow them away like splinters of wood with her magic. He saw those who were supposed to be alive just a moment ago lying on the snow as silent corpses.
And finally, until it was just the two of them, Derek could only stand there with his knees weak.
“You need a little discipline. Hmm… It really hurt when I put my finger on the grater. Let’s try that. The sleigh is gone, so you don’t need your limbs.
If I grind your limbs from the tips, by the time you lose all four of them, you’ll be feeling obedient.
I’ll carry you and you can fly, so just guide me with your head and torso.”