Chapter 101: Chapter 100 : Ambushers from Arkland

The largest city in the Athen nation was Athena. Located in the northern part of Athen, Athena was a city of two faces. One face was as the largest commercial district of the eastern provinces, it housed a market frequented by traders coming and going from the central, northern, and southern provinces.

The market was also crowded with merchants from the eastern province, looking to find new goods, and the local people as well, so it was bustling like a festival every day.

Another face was run-down towns outside of Athena city. The Red Town occupied by our resistance movement was actually larger than Athena city, albeit run-down place mostly consisted of wooden buildings. Over 9 months past since we first came here, things changed dramatically. We had neat paths which could now be used by wheeled vehicles. Some of the hired men which we trained was made into patrol police not only in Red towns but other smaller towns surrounding Athena. 

I was strolling in manless area at the outskirt of Red town. I walked through the streets of this Avalon, heading towards a certain back alley. I knew the path all too well, after walking it so many times, so I had no need for a guide. I proceeded through the back alleys without hesitation.

I suddenly felt a presence and stopped in my tracks.

“…looks like I have a guest.”

Someone was hiding in the surroundings. It was definitely not someone from the slums: a sticky, heavy aura of killing intent permeated from them.

It was the typical aura of an assassin, something I had learned to recognize after years of video gaming experience.

I turned a corner and arrived at an empty plot.

There weren’t any vagrants around luckily. It was the perfect spot to go a little wild.

The only remaining illumination was the moonlight, but I could see fairly well in the dark, so that wasn’t a problem for me.

I drew the large sword at my back and asked a question to the darkness.

“Ready and waiting here…what about you?”

The answer came in the form of an arrow. It cunningly hit the opening on my helmet but I managed to slightly dodge. Who knows that arrow could be poisonous. 

As I continued dodging the arrows, I felt a presence overhead.

“Take thiiiisss!!!”

A man jumped down from the building next to the vacant plot. The arrow attacks were meant to lead me here, apparently.

“What are you doing, shouting during an ambush? Third-rate trash.”

“Gah…!”

As fully protected by armour, I didn't dodge the man’s dagger and slashed his head clean off.

I then caught the dagger falling from his hand and threw it in the source of the arrows.

“Ghaah!!”

“Bingo! Who’s next?”

I doubted they actually answered my call, but two men armed with swords appeared from the front, then one with an axe from the back, attempting to pincer me.

“Yaaahhhhh!!!”

“Dieeee!!!”

The two swords from the front came first. I leaned to the side and slipped through the opening between them.

“What!?”

“Come on here.”

“Gwaah!?”

I pulled one of the men’s hands to make him lose his balance, then circled behind him and kicked his back.

I kicked him exactly in the direction of the axeman, who was aiming to strike me from behind but ended up splitting his comrade’s head in two.

“Don’t think half-assed teamwork like that is ever going to work on me!!”

After taunting the aggressors, I cut down the other swordsman. Only the axeman remained.

“D-damn you!!”

“Wait, you!!”

The axeman tossed his weapon to the ground and hightailed it. Surprised by the sudden turn of events, I didn’t chase him immediately.

“You killed your own comrade and now run away? What the hell did you come for then!? Aren’t you going to avenge them!?”

“Shut up!! My own life is more important than any of that!! Comrades? Screw that!!”

While exhibiting almost refreshing selfishness, the man and his presence disappeared into the darkness.

It would be fairly dangerous to chase him through pitch-black alleys, so I decided to let him go.

I scratched my helmet as I sheathed my sword.

“GWAAAHHHHH!!!”

“Hm?”

That very moment, a scream of agony came from the darkness.

A scream which, if I heard right, came from the man I had just lost sight of.

“That wasn’t…someone on my side, was it?”

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“Correct, I am not your ally.”

I certainly didn’t expect an answer, but I received one from the darkness. It was a light, clear female voice, like a breeze blowing through open plains.

I heard footsteps coming closer, and eventually, the owner of the voice stepped into the moonlight.

A woman walked towards me. Her height was as tall as average men, even taller than my tallest girl, Mireille. Her body was as lean and muscular as Leliana, Brita and Mireille. Contrary to the 3 girls, this one had an intimidating aura. 

In her hands, she carried a spear.

She twisted the handle and pointed the tip of the spear towards me.

Every single one of her movements were graceful and refined, almost mystical.

The night was turning out to be more fun than I expected.

My lips curved into a feral smile as I pointed my sword to the moonlit beauty.

My eyes narrowed as I examined her closely from head to toe, then I nodded vigorously.

I could not find any real opening in her stance.

Her aura made it clear that any hesitation or reckless strike would end up with her lance impaled in your body.

She was either an experienced mercenary or a knight.

The tortilla haired woman wore a simple dark dress with a leather half-plate over it. The dress had long slits that generously exposed her bare legs. Fair pale skin that gleamed in the moonlight. Honestly speaking, she looked terribly appetizing.

“That’s quite the exaggerated dress you’re wearing. Doesn’t that get in the way during your assassinations?”

“Oh, please do not misunderstand. I’m not an assassin, but a knight.”

"A knight?"

Knights were noble families who were at the bottom of the hierarchy.

"Athen doesn't have any nobility." I interrogated her.

"Maybe not in this country, but unfortunately I come from Arkland. My family was famous knight. Although I am the only one left now. Somebody from Athen paid the Count in Arkland. That Count forced me to come here with a bunch of lowlifes." She answered earnestly.

It turned out the lady was a killer sent by our neighbors, Arkland who conspired with some rich families from Athen. 

The adventurer beauty pointed her lance to one of the corpses sprawled on the ground.

“Though I must say that I joined forces with those people for the first time today, and I do not know where they come from. They seemed used to ambushes in the dark, so they might be actual assassins.”

“Is that so. Anyway, you killed the guy who ran off earlier, right? Won’t that be a problem for you? Even if they aren’t adventurers, I thought killing your comrades was taboo in your line of work.”

I brought up the fact that she killed one of her comrades, but she just laughed.

“No, that’s not a problem, thank you. We were just hired by the same people. We were asked to stalk and murder the hidden man who support Joan Maynard Keynes.  These lowlifes don’t qualify as comrades for me. I was actually opposed to this ambush. To fight against a  warrior such as you like this, many against one, hiding in the dark? A complete waste of an opportunity.”

“A waste, you say?”

I asked with a suspicious frown on my face.

“Yes. I proposed to challenge you to a duel, to face you one by one, in order. Though, they didn’t even consider it and left me out of any further discussion.”

So the beautiful knight explained, with a disappointed tone in her voice.

I found her willingness to fight fair and square commendable, but it wasn’t an intelligent strategy.

Despite her calm and collected exterior, could it be that she was just an idiot?

“Well, now it’s just you and me, so all’s well that ends well, I guess. I took this request because I wanted to fight you, actually. There’s no one in the way anymore, so let’s cross swords to our heart’s content, shall we?”

“…I see, so that’s your type.”

There are some people who feel most alive when they fight with their lives on the line. They call them “battle junkies”, though for me they’re just troublesome fools. Apparently she was one too: the only thing she was thinking about was fighting me in a duel to the death.

“…personally, I prefer to have my battles with beautiful women in bed.”

I sighed and expressed my honest opinion, and the female knight replied with a serious look on her face.

“You can do what you want after you’ve killed me. I won’t be able to resist anymore, so you can just go all out, right?”

“Do you take me for a maniac or something…? If I slept with a woman after killing her, I bet I’d have nightmares later.

“You’re difficult, aren’t you. You could put up with that much.”

“What? I’m the weird one here?”

Talking wasn’t getting me anywhere, evidently.

I exhaled a long breath, then readied my sword in a fighting stance.

My blade was then pointed to my opponent’s ample bosom.

“No point in wasting words, huh. Looks like it’ll be faster to let our weapons do the talking. I’m going to capture you alive: I’ll hit you until you can’t move, then drag you to the nearest inn.”

“How interesting…let’s see if you are truly skilled enough to take me alive!!”

“Rest assured, I will….I’m Adine. Name yourself, princess of the night.”

After I introduced myself, my beautiful opponent bared her fangs, like a lioness targeting her prey.

“I am Irijina Wolls !! Let our bodies and souls burn in the joy of battle!!”

The princess of the night — Irijina thrust her spear, which I met with my sword.

The two weapons clashed loudly, scattering vivid sparks into the darkness.

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