94 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
“……I’m sorry.”
Anne apologized quickly and left the scene of the accident.
“Ugh!”
The day Marquis Manners informed Viscount Brenel of Cynthia's prospective husband.
Anne wrote a letter.
Her recent daily life.
The joyous events happening at the Viscount Brenel's residence.
The letter was filled with small stories.
The reply was short and cheerful.
[I have a nice gift for your guest. Five drops. Sorry for the troublesome cleaning.]
The medicine that came with the reply was not poison.
So, Anne comfortably sprinkled plenty of the gift on the guest's dessert.
A colorless, vanilla-scented liquid was scattered over the moist cake.
And the result seemed like it would be very interesting.
As Anne headed towards the Anchor Tree garden, Liz and Lindsay, who were admiring the flowers, greeted her happily.
“Lady. What’s going on inside?”
“We heard some noise.”
“It sounds like there was an accident.”
At Anne's answer, curiosity appeared on their faces.
“An accident?”
“Is it serious?”
Liz had sent Anne's letter to Alisha, but Alisha's reply arrived in Anne's room without anyone knowing.
“I don’t know. It sounds like it’s going to get noisy, so let’s get out of here.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go quickly.”
The Brenel family had been giving the three of them a lot of subtle pressure, saying that an important guest was coming.
The reason they were on the outskirts of the mansion was because they had been pushed out by that pressure.
Anne, who was living much more comfortably than before thanks to Liz and Lindsay in the Viscount Brenel's residence, didn't want them to get caught up in troublesome matters.
Kind people didn't need to know about secret affairs.
The three of them left the mansion, feeling a little satisfied.
West of Tessen Castle.
A huge metallic sound echoed in the quiet forest.
Clang!
A large axe struck the firmly closed gate.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The firmly closed gate of the pure white castle slowly began to open from the impact of the axe.
“Ray!”
At Alisha's shout, Reikart stepped aside.
A heavy spear struck the dazzling white main gate as it slowly opened.
Crash!
The moment the pure white gate opened, Alisha rushed inside.
Reikart, who was watching, followed Alisha.
“Two o’clock! Nine o’clock, direction!”
Alisha, becoming the tip of the spear, swept away the obstacles in front of her while shouting to Reikart who was following behind.
Reikart swung his axe according to Alisha's shouts.
A Stone Beast wriggling and approaching from the right was sliced in an instant.
Soon after, the head of a monster with red fur jumping from the left in the air was shattered.
The monsters that Alisha deflected and Reikart smashed the heads or bodies of were ones they had seen before.
They were monsters they had seen countless times before the western forest was devastated by Alisha.
After Alisha completely destroyed the ecosystem, the western forest was quiet.
When she declared that they would come here, Alisha had said that monsters might be hiding in the lake, the stone walls, or inside the castle.
As expected, there were monsters inside the castle, but not many.
Their forms were also different from what they originally knew.
The monsters were wriggling, wrapped in transparent and thin eggshells.
That made them even more disgusting.
Reikart smashed the monsters as he saw them.
He swung his axe without even looking where Alisha told him to.
The wriggling creatures were swept away by the axe and disappeared.
“Krrr!”
A mass presumed to be Kakhan was smashed by the axe and crumbled into dust.
Reikart swung his axe to shake off the unpleasant liquid and stone fragments.
Thud!
It was then that the castle gate closed.
“Who dares disturb my slumber? Identify yourselves.”
A booming voice that vibrated the space echoed inside the closed castle.
“……”
Reikart turned his gaze to the source of the sound.
As promised, Alisha was quickly ascending the stairs leading to the center of the platform.
In the center of the platform, a strange being was crouching instead of a throne.
A body like a lion, with four legs.
Golden skin.
Four golden wings with black patterns.
Black hair.
A creature with the face of a human woman.
The opponent, who had been motionless like a beautiful ornament, opened her eyes gracefully and emitted an imposing sound.
“You are……”
And towards the mysterious creature, Alisha swung her spear wildly.
Crash!
The lord of this castle, who had been speaking leisurely, hurriedly moved her body back to avoid the spear.
The spear shattered the stone floor instead of the mysterious being.
“Ah, I failed.”
Alisha let out a regretful sound at the failed surprise attack.
But without giving up, she thrust her spear at the red eyes that were flustered by the surprise attack.
“Practitioner!”
The golden body. Mysterious wings. Black hair. The owner of the red eyes spoke in an imposing voice and dodged Alisha's spear.
Reikart, seeing the distance between Alisha and the lord of the castle widening, diligently threw the daggers he had prepared from the rear.
Swish, swish, swish!
The daggers flew, making a sound as they cut through the air.
“You!”
The lord of the castle, with her mysterious appearance, seemed flustered by the sudden surprise attack from the two.
“Ray, at the wings!”
At Alisha's shout, Reikart concentrated all the daggers he had on the wings.
“Practitioner. Why…… Aaaagh!”
A dagger was lodged in the hind wing of the monster, who was trying to talk while dodging Alisha's spear.
Alisha did not miss the opportunity and swung her spear at the staggering foreleg.
“You, you dare!”
The face of the mysterious and elegant monster twisted fiercely.
Bang!
The wings, which had been leisurely drooping, spread wide, scattering sharpness into the atmosphere.
Each time the beast's foot took a step, the pressure crushed the air.
Alisha felt her vision wavering and blurring.
It was poison.
“You don’t die easily.”
Alisha grumbled casually and retreated cautiously.
“What, what? Practitioner. You know that killing me is not the end!”
“Why do you keep calling me a practitioner? It’s creepy.”
Alisha, who had been stepping back, rushed towards the monster again.
The sharp tip of the spear grazed past the wing where the dagger was lodged.
“You guys, Aaaagh! Can’t you stop!”
The golden monster screamed and flew up along the wall.
Alisha followed the monster running while flapping its remaining wing and swung her spear.
Sharp wind sounds echoed continuously.
Clang!
Due to Alisha's interference, the monster could not fly up and continued to move along the wall.
Reikart threw daggers from the rear whenever the distance between Alisha and the monster widened.
“……But how did you guys……”
The monster, who had been running away for a while, squeezed out its strength and muttered, casting a curse.
“Well, we ate plenty of Magic Stones before coming here. Ray! Watch your step!”
Alisha replied cheerfully and thrust her spear at the monster, who had created an opening by casting a curse.
“Kuhk!”
The monster, stabbed by the spear, staggered.
The ground undulated and melted due to the curse that had just been activated.
“Ray, hit the head!”
Alisha stepped aside and gave way.
Reikart, who was behind, stepped forward and swung his axe from below.
“Stop……!”
Reikart's feet turned into mud the moment he attacked, but he didn't care and finished his movement.
“Smash the head completely!”
Alisha shouted, finding solid ground to move on.
Thud!
Reikart's axe was swung again.
As he delivered the final blow, the monster's head broke and fell to the side.
Alisha approached the monster with the mysterious appearance.
A question floated on Alisha's face as she watched the monster, whose head had been hit by the axe, slowly turn into dust.
‘Practitioner.’
The word the lord of the castle used to call her remained strangely in her memory.
Practitioner?
While Alisha was lost in thought, the monster's entire body scattered like dust.
There were large Magic Stones scattered throughout the pile of dust.
“Ray.”
Alisha found the largest Magic Stone among them and threw it into the air.
Reikart reflexively swung his axe and shattered the dull shell of the Magic Stone.
Crack!
The thick and dull shell broke, and a brilliant light burst out.
Alisha, seeing the Magic Stone emitting an intense red light, shouted.
“Ray, catch it!”
Alisha yielded the Magic Stone to Reikart.
It was the most active expression of affection Alisha could show Reikart, but it was a kindness that Reikart himself would not know.
“……”
Reikart reached out his hand indifferently and grasped the Magic Stone.
Originally, the Magic Stone would hide its strong light and settle in his hand.
Or it would spread its light and be absorbed into Reikart.
Alisha, who had expected one of the two, saw an absurd sight the next moment.
The Magic Stone broke in Reikart's hand, and the strong light burst out, but the light clusters escaped from his hand and were smoothly absorbed into Alisha.
“Huh……?”
A dazed sound leaked from Alisha's mouth.
She only blinked her eyes at the incomprehensible situation.
Oh, this shouldn't be happening…….
Alisha sat in front of the tea table, spaced out.
Neither the elegant tea table nor the fancy teacups caught her eye.
Where did it go wrong?
Her unfocused purple eyes shook in confusion.
Why?
The beginning was good.
The journey to Tessen was pleasant.
Unlike Baden, which had become hot with the arrival of summer, Tessen had a cool and refreshing breeze.
The arrival date was also perfect, a few days before the second moon, Lua, rose.
Surprisingly, Reikart was not overwhelmed by pain even after Lua rose.
It was a good sign.
Alisha immediately asked to go and awaken White West Arlik.
The ancient castle in the forest was surrounded by an emerald lake.
Alisha and Reikart had the guards wait on the other side of the lake and crossed over alone in a rowboat.
Fortunately, there was nothing in the transparent lake where the bottom could be seen.
There was also nothing very dangerous on the dazzling stone walls surrounding the pure white castle.
There were sharp decorations on the high and low stone walls, but they were not a problem for either Alisha or Reikart.
Entry into the castle was smooth.
The white main gate opened with a few swings of Reikart's axe.
It didn't take long to break through the opened door with a spear and enter.
Alisha was sure as she rushed inside.
In the beautiful castle, a powerful monster was crouching in the center of the platform.
The closer a monster was to a human form, the stronger its power.
When Alisha discovered the monster with an appearance as mysterious as the pure white castle, she thought, ‘This is it!’
Reikart's pain subsided when he touched Alisha.
What made Alisha different from others was that she had been to hell.
Just before returning here, Alisha had defeated the manager of the western hall of hell and absorbed the power of a large Magic Stone.
The reason she was happy to see a powerful monster was for two reasons.
A strong monster left behind a large Magic Stone.
To Alisha, Magic Stones were power, and she felt pure joy in discovering great power.
She had hoped that if Reikart absorbed the power of the large Magic Stone, his pain might disappear.
Alisha went up to the platform in one breath and launched a surprise attack.
Eliminating an unguarded enemy was the easiest.
She handed over the final blow to Reikart in preparation for a possible accident.
Reikart did an excellent job.
When the long-awaited Magic Stone came out, everything seemed to be going well.
Alisha had always monopolized Magic Stones in hell.
It was not easy to yield a Magic Stone to someone, especially one that the manager of the hall had produced.
Her hand trembled a little, but she willingly yielded it to Reikart because she wanted him not to be in pain.
Wouldn't this make the pain disappear!
But her great determination became meaningless.
“……”
The power of the Magic Stone, which had been spreading light from Reikart's hand, permeated Alisha as it was.
The reason was unknown.
Since then, Alisha had often been spaced out and dazed.
Why?
Reikart and the guards comforted the dazed Alisha and returned to the main castle.
Even in her daze, Alisha confirmed something important.
The place that had been called ‘White West Arlik’ until now was not the ground version of West Arlik in hell.
Its real name was ‘East Noah.’