Chapter 26
#26
The enemy soldiers who had stormed into the audience chamber stared blankly at the sight with haunted expressions.
Soon, a ripple effect occurred.
“They’re escaping! Catch them! Catch them quickly!”
“W-Where are the arrows! Bring the archers quickly!”
Belatedly regaining their senses, the soldiers hurriedly pulled out catapults or brandished their swords. However, the distance that had already been created could not be closed.
Amidst the chaotic situation, a clear and resonant shout echoed.
“I’ll spare your lives if you all surrender! Think carefully about it here!”
Lucy laughed in a hearty voice, waving her hand towards the enemy soldiers.
Huis clicked his tongue at her nonchalant attitude even in this situation and charged towards the ceiling.
“There’s no way to escape! That glass is too thick…!”
Someone’s shout was rendered meaningless as Huis and Lucy soared high, passing through the seemingly solid ceiling.
Even for a powerful Lafi, breaking through the dome glass was impossible. To prepare for their escape, Lucy had already had the servants remove the glass from the ceiling.
Below the two people leisurely flying away, the dumbfounded enemy soldiers were spread out like a backdrop.
When he felt they were far enough away from the palace, Huis lowered his eyes and surveyed the royal palace. Beneath the vast, rectangular palace, the densely packed humans were truly no different from a swarm of ants.
Even in the midst of all this, the enemy’s procession towards the main gate continued without end.
“Oh, this feels good.”
Despite the serious situation, Lucy seemed to be enjoying herself, kicking her feet and relishing the flight.
She was truly an unfathomable woman. Huis continued to flap his wings as carefully as possible, lest she get hurt.
As they arrived at the watchtower at the end of the fortress wall, the soldiers who had been waiting on the wall slowly rose from their prone positions. An officer who had been inspecting the bowstrings at the front line bowed his head towards Lucy first.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“You’re working hard. Did anyone notice?”
“We’ve turned off the lights on the entire watchtower except for the gate area. Since there hasn’t been any reaction so far, the enemy probably doesn’t think there are any ambushed personnel.”
“Good, that’s good.”
Lucy rolled up the hem of her dress and held it in one hand, sweeping her disheveled hair back. Judging by the faint light shining at the end of the mountain range, it seemed that dawn would break soon.
Lucy turned her body towards Huis.
“Go and come back, Huis.”
Huis, who had been waiting for the order, released the rope connecting him to her as soon as their eyes met and soared away.
The giant Lafi became a white dot and disappeared towards the north of the royal palace, and Lucy counted to three minutes in her mind before ordering the soldiers.
“Get up! Blockade the royal palace! Cut off all exits so that not a single one can escape!”
The officer conveyed a complex signal and then drew his bow. The soldiers who had been lying down rose from their positions like a wave and quickly drew their bows, pulling back the bowstrings.
A suffocating silence followed. Until the signal that had started from the middle point reached both ends, the soldiers aimed their bows at the garden without a single movement.
Soon, the signal reached the last soldier, and the soldier fired a flaming arrow towards the pulley connected to the gate.
Thanks to the fact that it had been thoroughly soaked in oil beforehand, the rope securing the gate burned away in an instant. Soon, with a thud, the gate fell downwards.
Using the sound as a signal, the soldiers who had been waiting to attack released their bowstrings one after another.
“Aaaagh!”
“The enemy has appeared! Reinforce… Keuk!”
Ping, peeping, the sound of arrows tearing through the wind echoed incessantly over the silent fortress wall, devoid of screams or shouts.
The enemy soldiers who had been filling the garden fell one by one. However, arrows were only a threat and could not inflict fatal damage.
“Your Majesty. At this rate, it seems we’ll only be reinforcing the castle….”
The officer who had been commanding the archers opened his mouth with concern. Lucy shrugged her shoulders, scolding him as if asking what he was worried about.
“There’s nothing to worry about. You know the plan, don’t you?”
“Yes. I received instructions from the Grand General.”
“Then that’s enough. The important thing is to isolate the enemy.”
After all, with this number of people, they couldn’t inflict any damage on that great army. The core of the current operation was only to isolate the enemy and break their morale.
Lucy rubbed her eyes and waited for the right moment.
Hiding her anxious heart, she looked up at the sky, and at that moment, the reinforcements she had been waiting for appeared.
“Your Majesty! The Lafi squad is coming!”
Eleven Lafi, lined up like a flock of migratory birds, appeared, cutting through the sky.
Each of the Lafi, carrying large sacks at their feet, slowed down and descended as they reached the palace. As the Lafi approached the fortress wall, they flapped their wings to hover in place and began to drop the sacks they had been carrying at their feet outside the royal palace.
Thud, the sacks burst open with a loud noise.
The enemy soldiers, who had been anticipating some strange weapon, were horrified and retreated as soon as they confirmed the contents of the sacks.
“O-Oil! It’s oil!”
“Everyone, step back! The archers’ goal is… Keheok!”
An arrow that had been tearing through the air pierced the soldier’s neck.
The arrows that had been flashing and flying just a moment ago began to aim at the enemy soldiers, carrying burning embers. The soldiers, who belatedly grasped the situation, were horrified by the flaming arrows falling from the sky and retreated from their positions.
“Uwaaaagh-!”
“Fire! Get out of the way! Run away! Retreat!”
“The gate! The gate is on fire! Secure the retreat route! Secure the retreat route immediately!”
The moment the flames brushed against the remaining liquid, a lava-like heat swept over them. The enemy soldiers who had been trying to lift the gate did not dare to approach the frantically flickering flames.
Flames soared everywhere they could climb the fortress wall, and so.
“We can’t get out! Find another way! Immediately, a retreat route…!”
The royal palace was completely isolated.
“Your Majesty! Are you unharmed!”
Huis reduced his wingbeats and landed on the watchtower. The white feathers that had always emitted an elegant light were covered in oil.
“I’m fine. It’s over here, so let’s run away soon. Help the soldiers retreat.”
“I understand. Paz, Horein! Decide the order and evacuate the soldiers on the fortress wall! Gerald, Min! You go to the other side and…!”
Huis gave orders to each of the Lafi who had landed with him. Then he tied Lucy again and flew into the sky.
The remaining soldiers looked up at her with envious eyes. Her honey-colored hair and fluttering dress, shining under the bluish dawn, looked like an angel descended from the sky if it weren’t for the rope connecting them.
“Now, it’s the finale.”
Lucy pulled up the corners of her mouth, barely visible, as she admired the pandemonium unfolding beneath her feet.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“How the hell did this happen! Open the gate immediately!”
Kill shouted hysterically after hearing the news that three thousand soldiers were trapped in the royal palace. As if mocking him, the flames surrounding the fortress wall burned even more fiercely.
He had suspected something was wrong, but the advance had been smooth, so he hadn’t worried too much. Even if there was only one gate and it was surrounded by a fortress wall, there were hidden routes everywhere, so he hadn’t thought they would be trapped in the royal palace.
…But that impudent bitch had blocked off all the places they could escape.
In a way he couldn’t have imagined!
“We’ve tried to open the gate several times, but we can’t approach the pulley because of the flames. Really, I never expected them to operate the Lafi in this way….”
“Do you think I want to hear praise for that bitch right now!”
At the thunderous roar, the attendant flinched and closed his mouth. Kill gripped the reins tightly, as if he would tear them apart, and glared at the royal palace with burning eyes.
“What happened to the Grand General? He’s the one who put that bitch in that position, so he must be with her.”
“That’s… There are no soldiers who have seen the Grand General directly, but we have heard information that his adjutant is commanding the battalion.”
“That dark Lykan is like the Grand General’s tail. If that guy is there, then the Grand General must be there too. But why…!”
Unable to hold back, Kill spat out curses and continued, panting.
“I can’t understand! What the hell is that bitch thinking, doing this? Not only us, but that bitch is also isolated!”
He could understand blocking off the royal palace. But that bitch was also trapped in the royal palace with them.
Why is she committing such a foolish operation?
Kill frowned and fell into thought. Countless assumptions and futures branched out in his mind, and at the end of it, one hypothesis came to mind.
Perhaps… If.
If Arsinoe wasn’t in the castle.
He thought of the Lafi who had dropped oil outside the castle. He had thought that the Lafi could only transport letters or small objects, but the Lafi squad from earlier had been flying with sacks that looked quite heavy at a glance.
He knew that Walter Heiberg operated the Lafi squad in a strange way, but he thought they were just messengers.
In the first place, the Lafi themselves were a rare race on the continent, so Kill didn’t know much about them in detail.
But if the Lafi could fly with such heavy things.
If they could fly with that bitch….
“No… That can’t be. That can’t be….”
Those guys are birds. Besides, they basically consider other races besides the Lafi to be inferior. There’s no way they would fly around carrying people.
He denied it and desperately searched his thoughts.
Before advancing, Kill had heard from a scout he had planted in advance that the bitch was in the royal palace. The Grand General had also gone in with her and hadn’t come out, so he must still be in the royal palace.
What is her intention in committing this act?
Does she think that if she holds out like this, he will back down?
If she thinks that, it’s a truly naive judgment.
“How many soldiers are left?”
“It is estimated to be about a thousand.”
“Bring back the soldiers who went to headquarters. There’s no need to be discouraged. If we cover the fire with sand and climb the fortress wall, we can open the royal palace again.”
“That’s, Your Excellency.”
The attendant rolled his lips and hesitated whether to speak or not. When he was glared at with fierce eyes, the attendant reluctantly opened his mouth.
“Contact with the soldiers who went to the central headquarters has been lost. We have continued to send scouts, but their whereabouts are unknown.”
“…What?”
The angry energy that had been occupying his wrinkled face was dyed with surprise and shock. He could feel the twitching under his wide eyes.
Kill realized for the first time that when he was too dumbfounded, he didn’t even have the energy to get angry.
