17
A flash of steel, a single brilliant strike, cutting down our enemies and pulling us one step closer to victory. A blinding flare of magic, so bright it seared the eyes, burning the blood-soaked battlefield clean.
“…Hmph. They’re outnumbered more than three to one. And yet…”
Why are they all still so full of fight?
They could have just given up. Accepted their fate. That would have been the most realistic, the smartest way for this to end. But not a single one of them would allow it.
“Honestly… The Princess’s people, my people… they’re all idiots.”
My comrades, one after another, accepting their own deaths as they charge to the front line.
“Lady Dorothea, I’m going!”
“We’ll get you out of this alive, ma’am, I swear it!”
Every one of them said they were fighting to keep me alive. They raised their weapons, and they died. It’s foolish. Utterly foolish. Risking their precious lives for a worthless woman like me.
And that little brat, too.
“Dorothea! When this is all over, I’m gonna work you to the bone as my agent in the Provisional Elite Corps! You better be ready!”
Fadi isn’t one of the ‘Lizards’ anymore. His skills were recognized by the Princess, and he’s serving her now. He looks more alive than he ever did back here. He has no reason to help us. But he’s here, for me, and for his old comrades.
I knew he would be. I knew that no matter where he went, or who he served… he’d never just throw away his connection to us.
“…Nothing but idiots.”
The good ones, the stupid ones… they always die first. I’ve watched them go, time and time again, and I’ve survived. At some point, the tears just dried up. I chose to live for myself. I kept leading the ‘Lizards,’ telling myself I had to keep going, no matter how ugly it got, just to prove their deaths weren’t meaningless.
That’s the kind of cruel Queen I was.
Yes… I’ve made… cruel decisions.
But not this time.
“…Huh? Lady Dorothea?”
“I’m going.”
“Wha—wait! Please…!”
I cut off my subordinate’s confused protest. My magic is gone, but I ran, ran into that reeking hell.
“It’s time… this all ended.”
Being Queen… it was comfortable. And it was agonizing. I crushed my own heart. I watched my comrades die. I clung to a pathetic, worthless life.
But that…
“…is over.”
In the center of the chaos, Fadi was standing alone, surrounded. For all his big talk, for all his bravado… he was covered in cuts.
“Pathetic.”
“—! Wha…?”
He turned, his eyes wide with shock. I spoke in my usual, low, calm voice.
“It’s nothing. Just felt like it.”
Such a convenient lie. My entire life has been a lie. I’ve always hated myself, the me who faked everything.
But… this one lie…
“—!”
“Doro…thea?”
…It doesn’t hurt. And I don’t hate myself for it. It’s… a kind lie.
18
She tackled me, shoving me out of the way, and then… she just… lay on top of me, unmoving.
“Doro…thea?”
She was smiling, a smile gentler than any I’d ever seen. And she coughed, spitting up thick, dark blood.
“Kaha…!”
“Wh-What… did…”
Her back… there were arrows sticking out of her back. So many.
She whispered, her lips trembling.
“Damn… You’re a handful… right to the end…”
Red. Everything was red. My head felt like it was boiling. I could feel her warmth… her blood, all over me.
Why. Why. Why did you protect me?
My mind… won’t work. The blood… it’s just… gushing from the wounds, it won’t stop.
“WHAT DID YOU DO!? DOROTHEA!”
My scream tore through the warehouse.
“…Heh. Don’t… cry.”
“—!”
She was trying so hard, her blood-soaked fingers reaching for my face, to wipe away my tears. I grabbed her hand, her slender, fine-boned hand, and clutched it, my chest feeling like it was about to rip apart.
“Why…”
My throat was raw. I couldn’t speak. My vision blurred and warped as the tears welled up, and a deep, bone-chilling cold washed over me.
“…Are you… okay? You’re not… hurt?”
“I’m fine… because you… you protected me.”
“Good… Then… it was worth it…”
Her eyes… the black cloth was in the way, I couldn’t see them, but… I could feel the light, the strength… just… fading.
I shook her, my hands on her shoulders, as my own tears streamed down.
“I’m sorry… I… I let my guard down… it’s my fault… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
I choked on my own sobs. There’s so much more I wanted to say. But all that came out was “sorry.”
She just… smiled at me.
“Fadi… a promise… The ‘Lizards’… they’re… yours…”
“What are you… talking about!? You’re… you’re still the Queen! You said you would be, until I was an old man… You said you’d never give up the throne! You said that!”
“…Heh. Sorry… Looks like… that’s not… going to…”
“Uu…!”
The warmth… was leaving her. I pressed my hands to her wounds, but the blood wouldn’t stop.
“Fadi… please… The ‘Lizards’… you… you lead… them…”
“No! Wait… Don’t… Don’t leave me… please… Dorothea!”
Her fingers went limp. Her hand slipped from mine, falling with a heavy, final weight.
“…Ah.”
Through my tears, I saw the corner of her mouth twitch, a faint, tiny smile. And…
“…Thank… you… I’m… glad it was you…”
“—!”
Wait. Wait. WAIT!
I shook her, my hands on her shoulders, shook her, but… she didn’t speak again.
“Why…”
I couldn’t hear the battle, couldn’t hear anything. I just… stared at her face.
“…Tell me. Why… why are you smiling like that? I… I don’t understand you… I never did…”
Her face, so peaceful. Her eyes closed.
She wouldn’t answer me.
‘…Thank… you… I’m… glad it was you…’
And then… she was gone.
19
His ugly, writhing agony filled my vision. The filthy, stubbled man, now unarmed, clung to my feet and begged.
“H… Help, guh!”
“…Don’t fuck with me.”
Before he could even finish pleading for his life, I slit his throat with my knife.
Seeing Dorothea’s lifeless form, an anger greater than anything I had ever known boiled up inside me. Her breathing was already faint. From the amount of blood she’d lost, she probably wouldn’t make it.
I couldn’t stand to watch the moment she stopped breathing, so I quietly left her side and began walking toward the enemy lines.
“…I’ll never forgive them. Never!”
Dorothea, so adored by the organization’s members. Seeing her stained crimson, every last member of the ‘White Smoke Lizards’ was seized by the same fury.
“Lady Dorothea…!”
“This happened because we weren’t strong enough…”
“‘Red Broad’… We’ll crush you!”
Our allies had been reduced to fewer than twenty men.
The inside of the weapons warehouse was lined with the corpses of friend and foe alike, lying in pools of blood.
Both organizations had lost too many. There was no turning back. This fight wouldn’t end until one side was completely wiped out.
“…Let’s go. We have no choice but to move forward.”
As my low growl echoed, the members of the ‘White Smoke Lizards’ trembled with regret and screamed.
“UWAAAAAAAAAAH…!”
“How dare you… do that to Lady Dorothea!”
“We won’t let you escape. We’ll kill every last one of you…!”
The group, now filled with hatred, lost all fear of pain, injury, and death. They became obsessed with a single purpose: killing the detestable enemy before them.
And the one leading this pitiful band, drowned in their own hatred, was the one grieving Dorothea’s loss more than anyone.
“Everyone, listen up! In Dorothea’s place, I will lead the ‘White Smoke Lizards’ from now on!”
Until this moment, I’d had nothing weighing me down. Living freely, unburdened—that was my way.
I had been in an environment that allowed it. But my time soaking in that lukewarm water is over as of today. The one who guaranteed my freedom… is gone. The curse she carried on her back—now, I will be the one to inherit it.
“By order of Fadi, successor to Dorothea as leader of the ‘White Smoke Lizards’! Kill every last member of ‘Red Broad’! It’s the only offering we can give to those who died!”
My allies all nodded as one, acknowledging and welcoming their new boss.
“Fadi! We were waiting for that order!”
“Yeah! I’ll take one of them down before I die!”
“We’ll carve our legacy into those ‘Red Broad’ bastards!”
The few remaining avengers steeled their resolve once more.
“All units, forward!”
It was an all-out assault with our remaining forces. The enemy still numbered over a hundred. For us, with fewer than twenty, the situation was beyond desperate.
The world isn’t kind enough that you can win on momentum alone. And so, even as they advanced, fueled by resentment, one after another, my allies began to fall, overwhelmed by the enemy’s numbers.
This is bad. At this rate, we’ll be worn down and wiped out!
We were losing on every front, everywhere I looked.
I can’t let it end here.
I can’t die, not until I’ve avenged Dorothea.
It was a gruesome scene of despair. But amid the chaos, there were two people who were not buckling to the violence of superior numbers.
“—Hah!”
“—Hup!”
It was Lady Valtrune and her knight.
Within their precise movements, I could see the trust they shared.
The Knight mowed down enemies with his sword, and in perfect time with his movements, Lady Valtrune unleashed one pinpoint-accurate spell after another. They probably wouldn’t die in this battle.
Even if every member of the ‘White Smoke Lizards’ was slaughtered, even if the entire remaining force of ‘Red Broad’ tried to kill those two, their seamless coordination would never allow a blade to reach them.
That’s right. Those two are our hope. The only ones with a chance of victory.
If that was the case, then we still had a shot.
“Buy me thirty seconds… no, ten seconds is fine! Can you buy me time?”
I shouted. The two of them exchanged a glance, took in the enemies swarming them, and nodded.
“Got it! We’ll buy you the time!”
“I’ll land one heavy blow, Rune-sama.”
“Right!”
As her knight lunged, Princess Valtrune leaped high and backward, beginning to prepare a spell.
“Like hell you will!”
“Die!”
The enemies that rushed her…
“As if rabble like you could stand before Rune-sama.”
…were sent flying by her knight’s black sword.
I won’t let them lay a single finger on my master. That overwhelming determination filled the battlefield air with tension.
In the moment the enemy faltered, Princess Valtrune created a thick wall of ice, completely cutting off ‘Red Broad’s’ advance.
“This should buy us some time.”
“Fadi!”
The two of them turned, their eyes filled with trust.
They had blocked the enemy’s advance with ease. For my sake, they had used time they could have spent killing enemies on a different maneuver. In that case, I have to do my part to repay that trust.
I had no magic left in my body. I’d used it all on the sight-sharing spell. But just because I’m out of magic doesn’t mean I can’t use it.
I downed a magic recovery potion in one gulp and squeezed out my power once more.
“I won’t even give you time to struggle!”
A black mist began to drift around the feet of the clustered ‘Red Broad’ members.
“It’s over. Just die in ignorance, without understanding a thing.”
The mist thickened, growing in volume, and inflicted an abnormal status on all who it faintly touched.
“…My eyes.”
“It’s dark! I can’t see!”
The exact opposite of Sight-Share—【Sight-Steal】.
It was a status-effect magic that used the black mist as a medium. It could completely steal the sight of those it touched for a minimum of two or three minutes. It was a short duration, but in this situation, its impact was decisive.
“…Ngh.”
Strength left my arms and legs. It was a spell that required far more magic than the potion could recover. The deficit must have been drawn from the physical stamina I needed to move my body.
And even that wasn’t enough. I feel like it drained some of my life force… my lifespan, too. Oh well…
“…Doesn’t matter.”
There’s no point in dying while holding back my trump card.
My consciousness grew hazy. A fierce headache crashed down on me, along with a sensation of crushing gravity.
“The rest… is up to you.”
I said it in a small voice to the reliable, black-clad back of the Knight, who was cutting down the confused enemies on the front line. He didn’t look back, but seeing him and the dignified Lady Valtrune beside him, burying our foes, filled me with a sense of relief.
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