Unaware of the shadows watching over them, the main hero of an otome game and the villainess.
“Shall we take a little walk? There’s something I want to show you.”
“Yes.”
Holding hands with Ruben, Carne proceeds deeper into the backyard garden.
Past the grove, a lake stretches out before them. Carne’s eyes widen at the night sky reflected on the mirror-like water surface.
–This place…you knows this sight…?
A sense of familiarity stirs in her chest at the scene.
“It’s an artificial lake made by the previous ruler. Doesn’t it look just like a natural mirror?”
“……Yes, it does.”
In a dreamlike trance, Carne walks around the lake.
It was right after this that Ruben and Claude noticed something amiss.
“Carne–“
“Kyaa!!”
Just as the water’s surface rippled, something pounces on her.
Ruben swiftly embraces Carne, and Claude leaps in front of them, slashing at the beast with red eyes attacking them with concealed blades from his sleeve.
What drops to the ground with a thud is a massive fish-like monster, large enough to swallow a child whole. Illuminated by the moonlight, its red eyes and silver scaly fins that looked as sharp as blades glinted. The gills of the beast, struck in a vital area, still twitched erratically on the ground.
Sensing movement behind him, Claude immediately throws a knife in that direction as well.
Something shrieks, and from the depths emerges a pack of fang-baring, wolf-like monsters.
“Th, This is……”
Forgotten memories are awakened in Carne’s mind.
–There’s no mistake. This is supposed to be Folia’s awakening event…….
The event where Claude is gravely injured shielding Folia, and Ruben is also hurt.
“–But, I…thought I had avoided this event…”
“Carne!”
The strength leaving her body, Carne collapses to the ground, caught by Ruben.
“Your Highness, please take care of Lady Mortens. I will handle this!”
With those parting words to Ruben, Claude starts taking down the onslaught of beasts emerging from the mountain.
The night is his domain. Kill the shadows, and the true forms die too.
But this……is indeed too much–. It’s like a calamitous stampede of beasts flooding out of a dungeon.
–But so what if it is.
There’s no way he can let even one of them through to the other side.
Claude wields his black knives, channeling the darkness.
Stabbing and retracting, binding their movements with shadows, strangling them to death.
Red-eyed dog-like, monkey-like, rabbit-like, fox-like, bear-like creatures… he loses count of how many he’s slain.
“Kuh!”
Overexerting his magic stone causes a severe headache.
His vision blurs, but he can’t deactivate the magic source. Straining to maintain consciousness, a wolf-like beast closes in from behind.
“Damn it–“
All he can make out clearly are the fangs lunging at him.
Staring it down helplessly, the beast vanishes in an instant.
Before he knew it, it had been smashed into the ground.
Claude, exhausted and utterly worn out, wasn’t thinking clearly. Just to make sure, he looked at it again: it was smashed like a ripe fruit that had fallen to the ground.
“Are you alright? Sorry I’m late.”
The one who made her appearance by slamming the wolf beast’s head into the ground, crushing it like a bug, was Raze Granoli.
“It’s over now. The prince and Lady Carne are safe too.”
Hearing that, Claude ceases his magic activation.
He was quite fatigued after being driven into a corner for the first time in a while. If he relaxed, he might collapse right away.
“–Claude!!”
However, hearing his master call out his name from the distance, he perseveres.
“Your Highness. I am unharmed.”
“Ah. And you, are you injured?”
“No serious wounds. I will take care of the cleanup. For now, please return to Lady Mortens’ side.”
Ruben glances at Raze as well, nodding firmly when she says “I’ll help too,” and runs back throughbto the palace where Carne awaits.
Claude narrows his eyes at Ruben’s retreating figure, then shifts his gaze to his bloodstained palm.
“–Filthy.”
The muttered words echoed loudly in the still mountain air.
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Nearby, Raze swiftly gathers the slain beasts in one place using a teleportation spell.
Being the first to sense the disturbance and report it to the palace, a few knights, as well as Addis, Ian, and Luca who noticed the commotion, joined the fray, quickly resolving the beast subjugation. Of course, Raze took down the vast majority.
The subsequent investigation can be left to the knights scheduled to be dispatched, but to avoid suspicion over the sheer number of beasts she defeated, she caused the ceiling of the cave where most emerged to collapse, burying the evidence.
(I never imagined a stampede would occur here of all places. That was a close call……)
Relieved that the incident ended safely, Raze heaves a sigh.
Then, catching sight of her utterly filthy body, she lets out an “Oops.”
It had been a while since she dealt with beasts, so she misjudged and ended up drenched in excess blood splatter.
(Were the beasts really that weak?)
No, the beasts weren’t weaker – it’s just that the monsters she usually faces in Baluda are on another level altogether.
A soldier fighting dangerous creatures to protect others wouldn’t fret over soiling a replaceable set of clothes.
While Raze can use magic to clean herself, she avoids it due to the simple hassle and fatigue, preferring to do laundry herself – much like how she doesn’t use magic to change clothes.
However, She couldn’t enter the palace in such a messy state, so even though she seemed lost in sentiment, Raze decided to ask for Claude help. She also felt like taking a shower.
Raze spoke to Claude’s expressionless back as he was retrieving his knife.
“Excuse me, Lord Rezaiah. What should I do to return to the palace without making a mess inside?”
When she said that, Claude turned to look at her–
“!?”
He was at a loss for words at her appearance.
It was too dark to see clearly, but upon closer inspection, there was a girl drenched in even more blood than himself standing there.
It was worse than a child playing in the mud. What could she have possibly done to get covered in so much blood?
Seeing Claude’s shocked expression, Raze was also shocked.
“Oh, I can’t go in because I’m dirty, can I? Yeah, they wouldn’t let someone this filthy into the sacred Emerald Palace…”
She gave a bitter smile. “Wow, I’m really messy. It must be disgusting, huh?”
Even though she was being so self-deprecating, Claude just stood there dumbfounded, so Raze felt troubled.
She dropped the corners of her mouth that had been smiling and changed her expression.
“…Ah.”
Her eyes watered a bit as she looked at him. She hesitated to say this, but opened her mouth.
“…I guess I really can’t go back to Carne sama and Folia chan’s side while I’m this dirty, can I?”
Claude flinched at her question. The voice he had been about to let out caught in his throat again.
Things like vermin, monsters, blood, and death were considered impure and hated in the religion worshipped in this country.
Raze had noticed that Claude didn’t seem to think too highly of this dirty work either, from the way he had muttered “dirty.”
With some self-deprecation mixed in, Raze confessed her feelings.
“But you know, I don’t want to leave the girls I’ve become friends with. I don’t want them to hate me and say ‘stay away, you’re dirty’ until I have to leave them.”
Claude’s eyes went wide open.
This was the first time someone else had given their opinion to him, as he had never confided his worries to anyone before.
Something just clicked, and he thought, “Ah, that’s how I feel too.”
He didn’t want to leave their side, but he couldn’t quit this job because he wanted to stay. However, those were just his own thoughts – they haven’t abandoned him yet.
If that’s the case, he could keep going. That’s why he had been able to keep going until now.
He realized then that there was nothing to worry about.
The one who had said those words, Raze, didn’t pay any attention to his demeanor and instead looked down at her clothes, likely thinking she should take care of herself based on reading the atmosphere.
Raze tentatively took off her jacket. Her pants were still dirty, but it was a bit better.
“Maybe an illusion spell would help. Ah, but I do want to shower. What should I do about clothes, should I go back for a bit…”
As Raze muttered to herself, Claude approached her.
He took off his gloves, pulled out a clean handkerchief from his pocket, and pressed it to her face.
“I’ll guide you, so hurry back to the palace and clean yourself up.”
“Ah, thank you! Lord Rezaiah!”
Raze smiled at Claude, happy that she could take a shower.
He had a somewhat relieved expression on his face.
“Just Claude is fine. No need for ‘Lord.’ Let’s get along well as fellow dirty folk, Raze.”
“Eh, what was that…?”
Seeing Raze furrow her brow, Claude laughed this time.
“What are you laughing about, Claude?!”
“Hahah. Your face is pretty bad.”
“You should have told me that sooner!”
Raze regretted having nodded to the prince with such a face.
Her face was covered in viscera blood.
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