“I see.” The tattooed man didn’t assume any sort of proper stance and casually came at her with a slash. He was going to take the large sword he held in both hands and swing it down diagonally from overhead, leaving himself open.
Mina felt he was underestimating her too much. She thought she clearly saw through his sharp sword technique. She thought she’d evade it, throw off his balance, and launch a counterstrike against him.
With that thought in mind, her body moved.
“Hah!” Determined, she maneuvered her sword and went to intercept him.
However, at that moment, the muscles in the man’s exposed left arm swelled so much as he swung downward that it looked like they’d doubled in size. At that same time, the sword’s path was suddenly diverted.
Mina couldn’t understand what had happened. In the world of her common sense, making a wide stroke, then having your blade abruptly change trajectory midway was impossible. This was certainly a demonic sword.
She couldn’t move in time to receive the attack well, and she sustained a blow to her right shoulder.
Shock and pain exploded from the wound, and her grip went slack, sword dropping from her hand. Her right collarbone and shoulder blade and the bones around her shoulder were all broken.
However, that was as far as it went. He could’ve easily cut her down, but he stopped right as the blade shallowly bit into her shoulder.
“It’s too bad,” he said with a sobered face. “I thought you were a spirited woman...but it’s not worth killing someone who can’t speak on my level.”
The tattooed man then turned on his heel. His back was defenseless, but she couldn’t pick up her sword again. Her will to fight had been shattered.
“Hold her captive in the stables. No one will hear her no matter how much she screams and cries. I’ll have Stoga judge later whether to have her confess who’d sent her or kill her without bothering.”
“Yes, master!”
The tattooed man gave his orders and left. Then the other officers came in one after another.
Before she knew it, she was surrounded by a crowd of people. She’d been so overwhelmed by this darkness and the tattooed man’s might that she hadn’t realized so many more had arrived. Now that things had come to this, she didn’t have the means to fight back anymore.
Holding her injured right shoulder, she solemnly hung her head as they took her away just like the man had ordered. To ensure she wouldn’t escape, four men boxed her in on all sides as they walked with her, and even more military officers surrounded them.
That was when the officer walking to her right mumbled, “Mr. Raffle wasn’t that strong for a veteran, but he was a good boss man who looked after folks. Everyone’s gotten his help at least once, and I’ve always respected him.” He hadn’t been among the first four she fought with.
With an expression darker than the dead of night, he continued to murmur his curses. “I won’t ever forgive you for killing him.”
“Hey, stop it!”
“She won against Mr. Raffle fair and square.”
“I’m sure Mr. Raffle’s satisfied that he could have a good place to die.”
Surprisingly, the other subordinates, who should’ve been his comrades, spoke up to defend her. She’d seen these people as nothing more than thugs, but she could finally see their pride in their swords.
However, only the man on her right maintained an attitude that told her he wouldn’t let her die an easy death. “No, I won’t forgive her. I won’t feel right until I avenge him.”
Mina’s mood dropped even further. It was like she’d swallowed lead. It seemed her fate would be left in Stoga’s hands, but so long as these men were around, only a merciless future awaited her no matter what path she took.
I’m a knight. I need to prepare myself. She took her hand off of her wounded shoulder and stood up straight with pride. Unfortunately, she’d been useless to the very end, but she hoped to the heavens that at least Zen had escaped safely.
And it was at that very moment that a gust of wind blew.
“Wha—?” Mina gasped, speechless.
“Huh?!” The officers were bewildered.
Of course they all were.
The four men who’d been surrounding Mina had collapsed. Struck with surprise blows on their heads, they’d lost consciousness.
Zen now stood next to Mina.
“You got your hands on something pretty nice there. I think I’ll take that.” He sounded so jarringly carefree before he snagged a sword from one of the fallen men.
This man had come running bare-handed from who-knows-where, blended into the dead of night, slipped past the large crowd of hoodlums, and, like a gust of wind, launched a surprise attack that rendered all four officers around Mina powerless.
“Sir Zen... What are you doing here...?” she asked in disbelief.
This time it was Zen who fell speechless. “Wh-What do you mean? I saw you were being taken away, so I came to rescue you...?” he asked cautiously as if to say, Should I not have done that?
“I-I look even more pathetic now...”
“But Lady Mina, you came back because you couldn’t leave me on my own after all, right? You got your sword and intended to help me escape, right? But you got unlucky and were surrounded. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I don’t think you’re pathetic.”
“Oogh...” It was like Zen was saying, I know and I understand. Mina was happy that he understood what’d happened so well as if he’d witnessed it himself. That being said, she also really felt like running away. If there were a hole, she would’ve loved to crawl into it.
Meanwhile, the officers who had been stunned by Zen’s unfathomable entrance began coming to their senses.
“Y-You!”
“Where did you come from?!”
“Never mind that! Don’t let them get away!”