Chapter 14 - Those who point their blades (1/2)

“Fuaaaahh~~~”

Within the underground cell, the echo of a loud, unstifled yawn caused numerous sharp gazes to be directed towards its source.

“Why are you yawning without a care in the world!? Wasn’t it your job to protect us!? If so, why did you just obediently let yourself get caught without even trying to resist!?”

As Fract shouted that, Alhart lazily turned his eyes towards him.

“Oh please, Prince. The request we accepted was to be guards for the ‘Saintess’. You guys aren’t part of the deal. To begin with, someone who vigorously jumped into the fray, then quickly had the tables turned on him doesn’t have the right to talk. To lose to those amateurs who haven’t even grown any hair out yet, just how weak are you?”

“What did you say!?”

Alhart watched the enraged Fract with a big sneer on his face.

“What? You wanna go, young master?”

“How dare you look down on me!!”

Fract’ss brandished fist cut through the air. His remaining forward momentum caused him to fall as Alhart tripped him.

“You-!!”

Somehow managing to keep his balance, Fract once again raised his fist. This time, however, before he could bring it down, he was stopped by Kuroitsu.

“Please do not get carried away with your games too much, Alhart.”

“I’m bored, so it can’t be helped.”

“If that’s the case, then a good time-killer just arrived. I, too, have become rather bored of staying quiet. On top of that, Sylti’s presence seems to be approaching, so it’s about time to start fighting back.”

At the same time Kuroitsu said that, several men came rushing to the front of the cell.

“Time to fight back, huh. These guys are Sylti’s leftovers, right?”

“So it would appear. Perhaps they came to use us as hostages against Sylti. We could obediently become hostages, but if we don’t start our counterattack soon, Sylti will probably tell us off quite sternly later.”

“Ahh, it’s gonna be a pain either way, but dealing with Sylti after pissing her off is pretty hard……”

Quickly deciding that it couldn’t be helped, Alhart approached the prison cell’s bars.

“Hey, kidnappers. It seems like you’ve got some business with us, but it’s best if you stay ju~st a little farther away from there.”

“W-What the hell is that woman!? Is she one of your allies!? Is she!?”

“T-That……without any hesitation, she……”

“Oii, listen when people are talking to you. It’ll be dangerous unless you move from there……oh, ahh, it’s too late.”

“Eh?”

The same moment Alhart suddenly dodged to the side, several black fireballs came flying towards the men.

Instantly passing through the iron bars standing between Alhart’s group and the men, the black fire mercilessly attacked the kidnappers, causing them to burst up in flames the moment it touched them.

“AaaaAAaHHHHH!!!”

“H-Hot!! Please, put them out!!!!”

“Gyaaahh!!”

They let out agonized cries. As the men burned in the black flames, Alhart and Kuroitsu exited the cell, looking down at them expressionlessly.

“I told you it’d be best to stay farther away.”

“Hmph. How noisy.”

Kuroitsu snapped his fingers. Immediately after he did so, the black flames that had been burning the men went out.

Inside of that space in which the smell of burning human flesh lingered, Alhart and Kuroitsu (as well as Miliane) focused on searching for their stolen luggage instead, as though they were accustomed to the odour.

“Hiii…no……..”

“Gu-…….ueee…”

“……tsk…”

Akari cowered in fear and shivered as she cried.

Fract vomited with a pale face.

Tedla, like Fract, had a pale face as he furrowed his eyebrows.

Without regard for their reactions, Alhart went back into the cell and grabbed Akari’s arm.

“Kyaaaaaa!! Nooooo!!”

Alhart heartlessly dragged a half-crazed Akari out of the cell as she struggled violently. It was at this point that he finally turned his attention towards the men who were still in agony.

“Say, where is our carriage?”

“Aaahhh……it hurts……..hur…ts…”

“No, like I asked, where’s the carriage?”

“P-Ple…please stop! N-No more!!”

“……oi, Kuro. You went too far. At least make it so that they can properly talk.”

“Even if you tell me that, I did hold back quite a bit……There are other people; it’s fine if we just ask them, is it not?”

“That’s true. Then let’s meet up with Sylti first. Don’t drop the Saintess, Kuro.”

“I know. Follow behind us properly, Miliane.”

“Ah, y-yes.”

At Kuroitsu’s words, Miliane hastily hid behind a wooden box. Seeing her appearance, Alhart smiled wryly while shrugging his shoulders. Then, taking the lead, he walked forward.

Following him was Kuroitsu (who was still dragging the half-crazed Akari) and at the end of the line was Miliane as she used nearby shields to hide herself.

Incidentally, Fract and Tedla, who had been left behind, followed after the four with Tedla, who had returned to his senses first, lending his shoulder to Fract.

“Yo, Sylti. We’ve made you spend some effo-……uwah!!”

A little less than 10 minutes after they left the prison. Sylti, who was coming towards them from the opposite side with Tieltinkle, raised her hand and sent a ball of water flying at Alhart.