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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Villainess Who Held a Sword
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Swing. Slash. Pierce. And kill.
It was an act she had repeated ad nauseam in her third life.
Unlike her first and second lives, the world Erin had been reincarnated into for her third life was one where you couldn't survive unless you killed.
In that world, dealing with monsters was an everyday occurrence. It was a world overflowing with monsters, devoid of laws and rules.
In this world, one could still choose whether or not to kill something, but there, she had to kill to survive.
Children and elders alike all wielded swords. But few were truly capable of facing monsters.
The similarity to this place was that those capable of facing monsters were called knights.
And there, Erin was a knight stronger than anyone else.
The fact that Amon and the Princess were absent, paradoxically, gave her wings.
Erin was astonishingly swift in dispatching the monsters. There wasn't a single wasted movement in her sword swings.
If there had been even one person skilled in swordsmanship nearby, they would have been speechless at her technique.
Everywhere her sword passed, piles of monster corpses accumulated.
Erin did not avoid the monster blood splashing onto her body. Even though she could have easily dodged it, she didn't.
Because of this, she was covered in blood from head to toe.
Behind the monsters that died without even a scream, an endless stream of monsters of various shapes and sizes surged in.
Some had two heads, some resembled ferocious beasts, and others even had appearances similar to humans.
A subtle aura of mana clung to the sword that cut through them.
The cheap iron sword, the moment it was imbued with her mana, radiated a sharpness that surpassed any treasured blade.
A high-ranking knight could handle a small monster horde mixed with mid-tier monsters.
However, the monster horde Erin was currently facing numbered in the dozens and included high-tier monsters that ordinary humans wouldn't dare to even look at.
Facing such a monster horde alone was something only a Sword Master could do.
But Erin had seen the pinnacle of swordsmanship in her third life.
Sword Masters. Beings numbering only three in the entire empire. Their total number across the continent did not exceed ten.
It was the realm that every student in Atenz Academy's Swordsmanship Department, renowned for their talent, yearned for.
But before that towering wall, only a select few with immense talent could become Sword Masters.
And that was the achievement she had accomplished in her past.
Erin's palms burst open from the intense pressure they endured. It was what happened when the body couldn't keep up with the enlightened state.
Her entire body screamed in protest. She probably wouldn't be able to move properly for a while after today.
‘Karon would probably nag again if he saw this.’
She recalled her younger brother incessantly lecturing her.
Actually, that wasn't so bad.
Erin clearly remembered how despairing Karon had been when he lost an arm in the past.
If she could protect his future instead of enduring his nagging, she would gladly bear it.
The last one. Her sword pierced directly through the monster's head. Blood flowed down her arm.
With this, she had twisted one of the pasts she regretted the most. The Princess survived, and Karon's arm was safe.
Carelessly wiping her blood-stained hands on her clothes, Erin collapsed onto the ground.
It felt as if something that had been tightly coiled in her chest for decades was finally unraveling.
She covered her mouth and shed silent tears.
The emotion that had tormented her through three lives.
It was guilt.
* * *
As soon as Ferdin heard Amon's words, he mobilized his troops. The entire Extermination Party began searching for Erin.
The knights were on high alert at Ferdin's mention of a monster horde.
Moreover, Ferdin's order was to find ‘Erin Resus,’ who was fighting the monster horde.
It was inevitable that grumbling voices would rise from the knights.
"Find Erin Resus? If a monster horde has appeared, shouldn't we be fleeing right now?"
"I don't know the scale, but that villainess... it's the right choice to just abandon her and flee."
"What difference would it make if that villainess disappeared? And besides, I don't even believe she's fighting a monster horde."
"Perhaps it'd be better if she just died this time."
The knight who uttered those words chuckled as if he found his own thought amusing.
Another knight spoke with a stern expression.
"Didn't she bring this upon herself in the first place? It was her mistake to provoke Sir Amon like that."
"It's only possible because she doesn't know what kind of person Sir Amon is. To speak like that to a promising squire destined to be a Sword Master in the future. What would a pampered lady, who's lived her whole life being doted on in the Marquisate, know?"
"Exactly. She must have acted so arrogantly because she didn't know how great he was."
Many of the knights on the extermination party had only recently graduated from the academy.
Those who knew Lilia, much like the Swordsmanship Department students, disliked Erin. So they believed the reason Erin and Amon dueled was purely Erin's fault.
An ominous aura enveloped the forest. The moonlight was obscured by clouds, casting the surroundings into darkness.
The squires accompanying the extermination party clearly lacked practical experience, making it difficult for them to face a monster horde.
In such a situation, to not avoid the monster horde but to search for Erin Resus instead.
The knights couldn't help but complain.
If Erin Resus hadn't come to the Swordsmanship Department, none of this would have happened.
All the knights present agreed that it would be better for such a useless villainess to die at the hands of the monster horde.
"But isn't it strange? It's too quiet around here, isn't it?"
At one knight's words, others also seemed to sense something amiss.
The silence in a forest where monsters appeared was abnormal.
Given the monsters' characteristic of becoming stronger at night, eerie sounds should have been echoing in places where they appeared.
At that moment, a chilling aura, enough to make the hair on their necks stand on end, began to be felt.
"Where... have I felt this aura before...?"
The knight who spoke realized where he had felt that aura.
It was the same aura he had felt from Roman, the Sword Master of the Kingdom of Edwin, whom he had seen on the battlefield.
The oppressive presence exuded by a Master who had surpassed human limits.
Such an aura was always felt after he had dealt with monsters.
"Aargh!"
A scream shattered the silence.
The knight who had been leading turned to his comrades with a pale face.
"The, the monsters..."
He pointed to a spot.
Monster corpses were piled up. It was a grotesque sight, beyond words.
High-tier monsters, known only by name, were also among them.
One knight stumbled backward and fell. He then crawled on the ground, trying to get away from the spot.
All the monsters were dead, yet a primal fear took hold.
From the ominous aura they exuded, they could well imagine what fate would have befallen them if they had encountered these monsters.
So who had killed all these monsters?
Had a Sword Master coincidentally passed through here?
But who?
The knights knew the locations of all active Masters.
Because they were stationed at every critical battlefield.
Normally, no Master would have reason to visit this forest, where strong monsters were not supposed to exist.
"This is impossible... Look at this."
A knight crouched down and looked at a monster's corpse.
The cuts were astonishingly clean. Just from the traces, they could tell how powerful the person who had been here was.
Even amidst their fear, the knights felt a kind of awe.
Most knights held a deep respect for Sword Masters.
Because they knew better than anyone what it meant to reach the Master's realm.
All knights strived, but not all could reach the desired position.
So it was natural to tremble at the result created by a knight whose identity was unknown, unfolded before their eyes.
The knights conversed in disbelief.
"Truly amazing. I don't know who did it, but... it's chilling."
"Where on earth has a knight like this been hiding?"
"To kill a monster horde of this scale... their skill is unfathomable."
They marveled at the monster remains for a long time.
"We need to report this immediately. A hidden Sword Master might have appeared!"
A knight said that and stood up.
Erin had long vanished from their minds.
* * *
Erin walked on.
Blood dripped steadily with every step she took.
She knew it was monster blood, but she couldn't help but feel disgusted.
Just then, the pouring rain began to wash the crimson from her hair, restoring its original color.
Erin stared blankly at the red droplets falling from her body.
The drops of blood resembled that of the people who had died because of her.
With each falling droplet, her heart felt as if it were being crushed by something.
