Chapter 76

The path from the Duke’s castle to Wyvernfit was flanked by evergreen trees, well-paved with flagstones, though it wasn’t very wide.

Tenitia stood in the middle of the narrow road, blocking it with her body.

“I am Tenitia, knight of Duke Valencius. I will not kill those who retreat.”

She stated words reminiscent of a knight’s romance.

This place was the heart of enemy territory, outnumbered, and bound to lose in a war of attrition, with no guarantees that the Emperor and Valencius would return.

Because of this, Tenitia’s heart beat even more violently.

The white armor of the Platinum Knights shone under the dawn sky, and the red ribbon on the back of her helmet fluttered in the winter wind.

“Only the magicians shall be spared.”

The masked assassins didn’t hesitate even before the knights.

Three assassins charged from the flagstone floor.

The two on the left and right aimed for her armpits while the one in front targeted the gap between her helmet and neck.

As Tenitia raised her sword to strike the assassin in front, they intended to stab her in the armpit.

“How absurd!”

However, Tenitia was not a swordsman in cloth but a knight clad in armor.

Instead of raising her sword, she led with her shoulder and charged into the assassin directly in front of her.

Bang!

The sound was as if a battering ram were striking the castle gates.

The small sword wielded by the assassin could not pierce Tenitia’s armor and broke instead, while the assassin knocked back by Tenitia tumbled over.

The left and right assassins attempted to grab Tenitia’s arm with their left hands and stab her through the gaps in her armor.

Clang!

The fine plate armor crafted in the Empire’s best smithy had reinforced steel plates at the joints.

“This armor was a response given to my loyalty; did you think my loyalty could be pierced by such tricks?”

Tenitia raised the longsword tightly gripped in her right hand.

Swish!

With overwhelming strength, she sent the assassin flying, bisecting them in midair.

Simultaneously, she twisted her left arm below the elbow, breaking the arm of the assassin who had grasped her forearm, pulling it hard to snap the limb.

“Come at me! I’ll take on a thousand if I must!”

The shout caused the assassins to hesitate for a moment.

Not out of fear, but because they recognized that they could not penetrate Tenitia head-on.

Tenitia turned to shout behind her.

“Make your way to Wyvernfit.”

Sererassie, holding her staff, replied.

“Wouldn’t it be better to fortify this position?”

“It seems some big players are coming.”

The assassins in black garments parted to clear a path.

A knight clad in light brown plate armor, wearing a light brown helmet and draped in a blue cloak, accompanied by four disciples, and a butler in a black pinstripe suit stepped out among the assassins.

The knight in brown armor raised his visor and spoke.

“I am Robaros, commander of the Purioaito Knights.”

He was a man with a firmly upright demeanor befitting a knight.

In response, Tenitia lifted her own visor, revealing her red hair and eyes.

“I am Tenitia, blade of Duke Valencius.”

Immediately, the assassins aimed poisoned arrows and daggers at her, but Robaros raised his hand to stop them.

“Enough, butler. Do you intend to shame me?”

The old butler, with a white mustache, sighed deeply and gestured.

He set the assassins upon Tenitia while looking past her at Rudi.

Rudi pretended to grip a dagger in her right hand while slipping her left hand inside her maid outfit.

“Remember this well: this prodigy of a magician must be defeated.”

Heirein fixed her gaze on Sererassie, along with her beloved disciples.

Sererassie, holding onto her wide-brimmed pointy hat to prevent it from being blown away, shot an innocent glance at the five magicians.

“Do you wish to see? What prodigies are truly like?”

Once again, Robaros lowered his helmet as Tenitia dashed forward, while Rudi, the butler, and the assassins sprang toward the evergreens, and the five magicians began their incantations.

* * *

Rudi was fully aware that she lacked the ability to confront the butler and the assassins on her own.

‘I am still not even a sword user.’

So, she generously loaded the expensive arrows she had brought from the Ivory Tower.

“Everyone, please retreat. If you refuse…”

Tatata tatata!

An assassin, leaping from a branch, descended from the sky, while another, sprinting across the ground, darted like a snake, and one charging from the front jumped as if to use a magician’s teleportation spell.

In response, Rudi pulled the trigger.

“Die.”

Bang!

A single projectile split into dozens from the dark-mouthed barrel.

Three assassins tumbled to the ground, their bodies riddled with hole-like wounds.

“You handle unusual weapons.”

The old butler emerged from behind the trees, aiming for Rudi’s throat.

Bang!

An Esturk blade, resembling a sharpened stake, pierced through an evergreen tree as it aimed for Rudi’s neck.

As splinters flew up, Rudi fell, dodging, and fired another round from her shotgun.

The butler leaped into the trees to evade the scatter.

“Tch!”

Lying on the ground, Rudi yelled like a banshee as she fired two shotgun blasts.

Her green eyes, behind the sighted glasses, constantly tracked the butler’s movement.

‘Up, down, right of the tree, back up.’

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The piercing rounds shattered trees into splinters, slicing through the air, while the electric rounds spread currents across a three-meter diameter zone from their impact points, and the explosive rounds set the trees ablaze.

The weapon judged by the magicians to have dug their graves turned out to be its true worth in the loyal maid’s hands.

As the butler continued to sail through the branches to evade, Rudi sprang up, keeping the assassins at bay with scatterfire while pursuing the butler.

“How loyal.”

“You are the one who should be loyal. I expected you to flee upon seeing this.”

“How could I allow a mere maid to wield such a weapon?”

“And how could you send such assassins after a mere butler?”

The butler pulled a dagger from his sleeve and threw it.

Bang, and clang!

Rudi knocked the dagger out of the air and, with her other hand, pulled the trigger again.

The butler circled around the tree and leaped closer to Rudi with a long jump.

Though she fired her shotgun, leaving a hole in the tree trunk, the butler circled around, gradually tightening the encirclement.

Rudi exchanged her shotgun for a dagger in her right hand, readying for close combat.

‘Two shots left.’

She began her psychological warfare.

“Are you attempting to assassinate the Duke? Are you planning to become a pawn and lead your family into peril?”

The butler, hiding behind a tree, replied with a faint smile.

“How and whether to serve my loyalty is for His Grace to determine.”

“What if he leads himself and his family to ruin?”

“That would be difficult. If I were to follow him, I would do so even if I believe he has made a wrong choice.”

“Or would I plead for my life, insisting it’s not the right direction?”

That was one of the dilemmas faced by every servant.

What truly defined loyalty?

“You naive maid. Do you believe your master would ever choose ruin?”

“!”

As the butler reversed the psychological warfare, he charged forward.

For a moment, Rudi failed to respond as she momentarily thought of Valencius.

Her Duke sometimes seemed to regard himself as a tool or stepping stone for the Emperor.

Bang!

One shot broke the air.

Swish!

The Esturk sliced through the wind, targeting her heart.

Rudi raised her dagger to parry the Esturk while throwing herself backward.

A crackle, sparks flew, and the Esturk tore through her maid outfit’s fabric.

Thud! Her waist and neck reverberated dully, and her vision swayed momentarily.

The butler pushed the Esturk right through her.

Thud!

“Eh?”

The body of a young maid proved far more resilient and firm than anticipated, as if she wore armor.

Before the butler could apply strength again, in a brief moment,

Rudi’s green eyes gleamed as she whispered, “I still have one shot left.”

Bang!

A round pierced straight through the old butler’s chest.

The immense power of the bullet left him no time for a final word.

The old man clad in a pinstripe suit fell backward, his torso bending.

Rudi rose, holding her chest tighter.

The leather armor given to her by Valencius had been penetrated.

Fortunately, the wound was not deep.

“It is an honor.”

She whispered softly, looking at the old butler who hadn’t even closed his eyes.

“Yes, one day my master may meet a similar fate. But he is the one who provided me with leather armor worth dozens of gold coins. If I were to advise him, he would likely listen once more. And if he still doesn’t heed my words…”

Pausing, she continued,

“Then I must share in the ruin.”

Right to the depths of hell, if necessary.

Rudi loaded another shotgun shell into the chamber.

The battle was far from over.

* * *

Tenitia and Robaros clashed, blocking the narrow path like enraged Minotaurs.

(Continuation follows the battle between them and more details of the skirmish.)