Before he knew it, he couldn’t stop. Ryo, whose appetite often varied with time and occasion, had never been good at eating quickly. Plus, he hated making a mess while eating.
But right now, he was putting on a show that could put even a professional speed eater to shame. The ramen, of course, was delicious.
Being from Kyushu, Ryo was very picky about his tonkotsu ramen—and yet he couldn’t find a single fault with the ramen in front of him! It was simply exquisite! He finished the whole bowl in no time.
When he was done, he released a long sigh of satisfaction.
Agnes smiled, and then she asked a terrifying question: “Would you like a refill?”
Ryo didn’t even pause for breath. “Yes, please!”
Her smile widened even more then. She continued eating.
Ryo didn’t know what to say beyond that, so he looked over to see a beautiful woman eating with her head tilted, hair tucked behind her ears to keep it from falling into the delicious ramen. What a lovely video that scene would make.
The water magician was content.
✦ ✦ ✦
Myu and Cyrus’s happy moment was abruptly shattered when a loud noise erupted in the hallway outside. A moment later, the doors to the archduke’s parlor suddenly slammed open, and armed soldiers poured in. Even at a glance, they didn’t look like members of the castle’s garrison. But they weren’t thugs or adventurers either, since they wore the same equipment and moved in perfect unison.
Correctly assessing the situation, the five members of Valkyrie moved in front of Cyrus—the most important person there—and took up defensive stances with a promptness worthy of C-rank adventurers.
“What’s the meaning of this?” the archduke demanded. Then his eyes focused on a single man among the intruders’ ranks. “I’ll ask you again. What is the meaning of this, Count Maguilla?”
“Cyrus Theo Santayana,” the man answered, his face impassive, “we’re arresting you under suspicion of treason.”
His eyes widened in shock. “What in the—”
“We have determined that you attempted to sell national treasures to the Kingdom of Knightley through its visiting delegation, and even attempted to sell out the country itself. Your actions are nothing short of traitorous. Effective now, all of your privileges as archduke are suspended. I suggest you submit and accept this judgment.”
“Ludicrous! Why would you do this? You know there’s no need for it. If you wish it, all of you know I will willingly step down from my position.”
Count Maguilla and his soldiers weren’t surprised by the archduke’s words, but Myu and the rest of Valkyrie certainly were. However, they didn’t intervene. They understood that it wasn’t their place.
“Unfortunately, Cyrus, that would be problematic for us,” a voice said from the hallway. After a moment, the speaker entered.
“I suspected you had something to do with this, Marquis Espier,” Cyrus said. “Why? This is all so unnecessary. You should understand that better than anyone!”
Marquis Espier didn’t answer; instead, he looked at the members of Valkyrie. “Adventurers of the Kingdom, we have already detained twenty members of the delegation. It would be best if you didn’t resist.”
The five women glanced at each other. Finally, Myu looked at Cyrus questioningly.
“I very much doubt he’s lying, so don’t bother fighting back. He and his allies are this country’s true rulers.”
“Grandfather?”
“Forgive me, Myu, for entangling you in this...”
Judging by how his shoulders slumped in defeat, Cyrus Theo Santayana, Archduke of Twilightland, had surrendered.
✦ ✦ ✦
Though Abel felt bad for thinking it, the mock battle wasn’t the most exciting thing to watch.
What kind of feedback am I supposed to give them? Ugggh.
He sighed internally but didn’t let any of this show on his face. As a guest, it was only polite.
While Abel pondered the pickle he was in, a messenger on horseback arrived to make his report to Count Lillo, who stood a short distance away. After, Roberto nodded to the soldiers in the stands.
A second later, a trumpet sounded, and a voice echoed across the battlefield.
“Mock battle over.”
Abel was surprised.
Already? What crappy timing. I still don’t know what to say...
He groaned in dismay on the inside.
Unconcerned about his worries, Roberto called out, “If you would please make your way down, Master Abel.”
He and the remaining three nobles descended to the battlefield. All the while, Abel desperately tried to marshal his thoughts—which might or might not have explained why he blindly followed the count and abruptly found himself surrounded by the four knightly orders.
“Hm?”
Only then did he finally realize something wasn’t right. Although the knights hadn’t yet drawn their swords, their hands rested on the hilts.
“Now, good sir,” Roberto said. There was a hint of derision in his voice that hadn’t been there earlier. “I apologize for the suddenness of my request, but please surrender without resisting.”
“Respectfully, Count Lillo, I don’t understand.” Abel maintained a calm demeanor while keeping an eye on his surroundings. He was encircled, with no way to escape unscathed.
“Then allow me to inform you. The archduke was arrested a short time ago for treason. Evidence has emerged that he sold national treasures to the Kingdom of Knightley and then attempted to sell the country itself. The treasures were discovered in the delegation’s luggage.”
Abel frowned. He didn’t need to think too hard about it to know this was a setup, of course. The real problem was the delegation’s safety. Clearly, this was part of the civil war that Phelps had told him about, but the scale of the conflict still remained unclear. In other words, even if the delegation somehow managed to get out of Twilight’s capital of Thebes, would they be able to reach the Kingdom’s borders?
He needed to extract information...
But conveniently for Abel, Roberto continued talking.
“We’ve detained all the civil servants in your delegation. The knights and adventurers staying at the guesthouse also submitted without a fight.”
No kidding, you asshole! What else are they supposed to do when you take the people they’re supposed to protect hostage?!
His expression didn’t betray his internal rage, however.
“I see. What about the adventurers who visited the archduke today?”
“Ah, his granddaughter and her friends. They’re likely the middlemen he used to sell the treasures, which makes them accomplices to his betrayal. Naturally, they will be executed.” The derision in Count Lillo’s voice had become all-out rancor at this point. “We may even make an example of the rest of the dele—”
Before Roberto could finish, Abel drew his sword and leaped, separating the count’s head from his body in a single swing. Then, quick as a flash, the swordsman plunged into the knights surrounding the count, thrusting his sword through the gaps in their armor. Even though they’d been on guard the whole time, Abel moved too fast, and they fell one by one. He didn’t hesitate, just kept moving forward, killing them.
It wasn’t until roughly twenty knights had died that they finally started to mount a counterattack. Strangely, not a single one of them made a sound.
“So all that noise during the mock battle was just for show, huh?” Abel muttered while continuing to plow through their ranks.
It became more difficult to land a killing blow in one strike, but Abel could still slip his blade into the gaps in their armor, targeting vulnerable joints and tendons. Like any animal, a sharp cut there and you’d immobilize it. Any ordinary swordsman would’ve been utterly incapable of this, but this was Abel, a prodigy, and he carved his way through the knights one by one.
But he could’ve never anticipated the attack that came next—from below, delivered by someone he’d already defeated...someone he’d beheaded.
“Holy shit!” Abel gasped.
Count Lillo, still lying on the ground below, had thrust his sword into Abel’s left hamstring, instantly immobilizing the swordsman. Regardless of his extraordinary talent, even he couldn’t fight a hundred knights with that kind of injury. In the next instant, he was stabbed in several places, disarmed, then pinned to the ground.
“What the hell is going on?!” Abel roared.
Roberto’s corpse suddenly rose, collected its head from the ground, and screwed it back onto the stub of its neck.
“To think,” Roberto said, “that a human—a filthy human—decapitated me!”
There was neither fake politeness nor theatrical mockery in his voice now—just pure, murderous hate for the swordsman who’d dared cut his head off.
“Ohhh,” Abel murmured as everything clicked. There weren’t many things his beloved magic sword couldn’t kill. If something that looked as human as Roberto was still standing, then it was almost certainly—
“You’re a vampire.”
“Correct. We are vampires.”
“Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’?”
Of course, he meant himself and the other three nobles there.