Chapter 27
"Don't stop!"
Claude's voice rang out.
I looked up.
An Imperial soldier was charging toward me, sword in hand.
【You acquired 70P】
The words were still lingering in my mind.
I'd cut down a human.
And I'd still earned P for it.
But this wasn't the time to think about that.
"Damn it!"
The Imperial soldier swung his sword down.
I shifted half a step.
The blade swept past right in front of me.
"What?!"
Too slow.
I could tell that clearly, even compared to the man before.
The Imperial soldier swung again.
I dodged.
Another strike.
That one missed, too.
"What the hell are you?!"
".........."
Until just now, my body had frozen at the thought of cutting down a human.
I still wasn't unafraid.
Even so, Gale-san and Mina were behind me.
If I stopped here, someone might get hurt.
I didn't want that.
The Imperial soldier stepped in.
The soldier swung their sword horizontally.
I ducked.
I slipped straight into their guard.
"Tch!"
I swung the Flamefang Sword.
The Imperial soldier's body crumpled.
".........."
I'd cut down another person.
A heaviness lingered in my chest.
Right after that.
【Human Subjugation Confirmed】
【You acquired 45P】
"...45?"
My eyes widened.
The last time, it had been seventy.
This time, forty-five.
Even though they were both Imperial soldiers.
"Allen!"
"!"
Claude's voice pulled my gaze away from the display.
It wasn't over yet.
◇
"Fall back!"
A voice rang out.
One of the remaining Imperial soldiers.
A man wearing slightly finer armor than the others.
"We can't go on! We'll return and report!"
Was he their captain?
The man ran toward the horses.
Another soldier.
The Imperial soldier whose sword I'd knocked away also hurried after him.
"Don't let them escape!"
Claude moved.
The captain turned around.
"Out of my way!"
He drew his sword.
Fast.
Clearly different from the Imperial soldiers so far.
He attacked Claude.
Clang!
Sword struck sword.
One strike.
Two strikes.
Three strikes.
".........."
Claude was defending himself.
No, that wasn't it.
He wasn't being pushed back.
Every time he parried the other man's sword, he shifted his position just a little.
The captain stepped in.
Claude deflected his sword.
The man's body tilted slightly.
At that moment, Claude stepped in.
"Guh!"
The captain staggered back.
He really was skilled.
It wasn't just speed.
He seemed to know what his opponent would do next.
And where he would try to escape.
"Tch!"
The captain backed away from Claude and headed for the horses.
"Allen!"
"Yes!"
"Block him on the right!"
I kicked off the ground.
"What?!"
The captain turned around.
I raced ahead and got in his way.
The man stopped.
"You again, brat?!"
He readied his sword.
"Move!"
He lunged at me.
Fast!
He was different from the soldiers so far.
Even so, my body could dodge him.
I evaded his first strike.
Then came a second.
I met it with the Flamefang Sword.
Clang!
The impact jolted my arm.
The man immediately swung his sword back around.
"Tch!"
I swung the Flamefang Sword, too.
But the captain didn't block it.
He angled his sword against mine, redirecting the path of my strike.
"...!"
The Flamefang Sword swept past the man.
He hadn't stopped it with his strength.
He'd dodged it entirely through technique.
"So you're only fast!"
The captain stepped in.
"Guh!"
I dodged.
My physical abilities were superior.
But he was better at handling a sword.
"Allen!"
Claude's voice came from behind me.
"Don't try to overpower him!"
"!"
"Watch where he's trying to go!"
Where he wanted to go.
The horse.
To get there, he had to get past my right side.
The captain swung his sword.
I didn't block it.
I stepped back.
The man moved forward.
His body shifted to the right.
"There!"
I moved ahead to cut him off.
"What?!"
I swung the Flamefang Sword.
The captain hurriedly raised his sword.
But this time, he couldn't deflect my strike.
I drove straight through.
"Gah...!"
My sword struck the man.
He dropped to one knee, then fell onto the grass.
The clashing swords fell silent.
The wind stirred the grass.
A drop of the man's blood fell onto a blade of grass.
".........."
I'd cut down another person.
The words appeared before me, unaffected by the silence.
【Human Subjugation Confirmed】
【You acquired 180P】
"One hundred eighty..."
45P.
70P.
180P.
They were all different.
And the strongest man had earned the most.
"...Does it change based on how strong they are?"
"What does?"
Claude looked at me.
"Ah... nothing."
Claude couldn't see the display.
I'd only taken down three people so far.
I couldn't say for sure.
Even so, there had to be a reason behind those numbers.
".........."
One hundred eighty.
It was a big number on its own.
But I couldn't feel happy about it.
The person lying in front of me wasn't a monster.
He was human.
"Don't move."
Ena's voice rang out.
I looked over.
The last Imperial soldier.
Ena had a dagger pointed at the throat of the man whose weapon I'd knocked away.
"Guh..."
"Move, and I'll cut you."
The man raised both hands.
Claude approached.
"Don't kill him."
"Okay."
"We'll question him."
Fighting wasn't just about defeating everyone.
Perhaps Claude had thought that far ahead from the very beginning.
"Father!"
Mina's voice rang out.
I turned around.
Gale-san was slowly sitting up.
"Mina..."
"Thank goodness...!"
Felicia and Lydia went over to them.
"Can you walk?"
Felicia asked.
"Y-yes... I think so."
"Don't push yourself."
They were both alive.
We'd made it in time.
The tension eased from my shoulders a little.
◇
Claude sat the captured Imperial soldier down at the base of a tree.
Ena stood in front of him.
"I have some questions for you."
Claude said.
".........."
The man didn't answer.
"Was it your decision to take food and horses from the village?"
".........."
"Answer me."
"...I don't know."
Claude's brow twitched slightly.
Just then.
"Claude."
Ena called out to him.
She was searching the captain's belongings.
"This."
She held out a piece of paper.
Claude unfolded it.
"...An order."
"!"
The captured man looked up.
Claude lowered his gaze to the paper.
"Secure food, horses, and other necessary supplies from settlements along the route of advance..."
He read it aloud.
My hands clenched.
"If a settlement resists, punish it as necessary and make an example of it to the surrounding settlements..."
".........."
I remembered the burned houses.
A villager covered with a cloth.
The grain they'd saved for the winter.
They hadn't done that on their own.
"An order from the Imperial army..."
Felicia's voice grew quiet.
"Yeah."
Claude folded up the order.
He looked at the prisoner.
"What about the other units?"
"I don't know."
"This order makes it clear there are others besides your unit."
".........."
"Where are they?"
"I don't know!"
The man raised his voice.
"We were just following orders!"
".........."
"It's a war! Of course we need food!"
"So you kill villagers for it?"
Claude's voice was low.
"That's..."
The man fell silent.
"Where are the other units?"
".........."
"Answer me."
Silence stretched on for a while.
At last, the man spoke.
"...To the southwest."
"How many?"
"Twelve or thirteen..."
"A different unit?"
"Yeah. We split into two groups this morning."
"What are they trying to do?"
"The same thing. We came from the north. They're searching the villages and roads to the south."
Claude's expression changed.
"Do they know where this village is?"
"...Probably."
"That's bad."
Claude stood up.
"We're going back."
"But Gale-san..."
"I'll support him."
Lydia answered.
"Ena, watch the prisoner."
"Understood."
"We need to hurry."
I wouldn't rush off on my own this time.
We headed back to the village.
◇
We were just about to leave the forest.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
"...Huh?"
A sound came from far away.
Ena stopped.
"A bell."
"A bell?"
I asked.
"The village alarm bell."
Claude's expression changed.
"Run!"
We burst out of the forest.
From a slightly elevated spot, we could see the village.
"............!"
The villagers were preparing to evacuate.
Wagons.
Carriages.
And beyond them, armed figures were approaching from the western edge of the village.
"Imperial soldiers..."
Felicia gasped.
There were more than ten.
"They're too fast."
Raoul said.
"They've already arrived?"
The village was still some distance away.
Even if we all ran, the Imperial soldiers might reach it first.
"Claude-san."
".........."
Claude looked toward the village.
Then he looked at me.
"Allen."
"Yes."
"Go on ahead."
"...What?"
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard him.
"Alone?"
"Yeah."
"But..."
"I know."
Claude said.
"I'm telling you to go now."
".........."
"You don't have to defeat every last enemy."
Claude pointed toward the village.
"Get between the villagers and the Imperial soldiers."
"Yes."
"Don't let a single one through until we get there."
".........."
Claude had seen what I could do and was trusting me with this.
"Understood."
I gripped the hilt of the Flamefang Sword.
"I'm going."
I kicked off the ground.
◇
The wind slapped my face.
With every step, the trees flew past the edges of my vision.
I kicked off the ground again.
Even the sound of my feet hitting the earth seemed to fall behind me.
The forest came to an end.
The view opened up all at once.
A field of grass.
The village lay beyond it.
People were fleeing.
Wagons loaded with belongings were moving.
Imperial soldiers were closing in from the other side.
"...I have to make it!"
I kicked off the ground hard once more.
The distance shrank in an instant.
"Run!"
"Get to the wagons! Hurry!"
"Imperial soldiers!"
I could hear the villagers shouting.
A child was crying.
An old person clutched their belongings.
Someone stumbled as they tried to flee.
And beyond them...
"There they are!"
"It's the village!"
"Don't let them escape!"
The lead Imperial soldier drew a sword.
The distance between them and the villagers closed.
"Tch!"
I kicked off the ground one last time.
My body shot forward.
Thud!
I slid between the villagers and the Imperial soldiers.
A cloud of dust rose.
"What?!"
The Imperial soldiers all stopped in their tracks.
"Where did he come from...?"
There were more than a dozen of them.
And I was the only one here.
".........."
I drew the Flamefang Sword.
It wasn't as if I no longer cared about cutting people down.
I was still afraid.
Even so.
I looked behind me.
The villagers were fleeing.
There were people I had to protect.
So I wouldn't hesitate now.
I pointed my sword at the Imperial soldiers.
"You won't get past me."
Total P Acquired: 25,595P