Chapter 7 - Attack on Misley (First Part) (Patreon)

Glen Cochran was at loose end after the group of knights assigned to welcome the saint departed. He became a prominent involved person since he was the first one who reported this case to Prime Minister. He would have to be present when the saint arrived with the knights.

Even so, Glen was wondering on how to kill his time since there were several hours before they would return. At that time, he really thanked the Holy Princess for visiting him in the antechamber to have some tea.

Holy Princess, Christie Sheivl la Misley.

She was the representative of The Holy Country of Misley, an eighteen year old girl with the highest amount of holy mana. With her mana, she had been appointed as a priest with the highest rank when she was twelve, and she became Holy Princess when she was sixteen. The inauguration was usually from sixteen years old but she was exempted despite being twelve years old. Her tenure was seven to ten years at most.

Holy Princess was the religious symbol of the country praised because of her Holy Mana prioritized above all. The young girl had a high amount of holy mana, and they would lose half of their mana after losing virginity. For this reason, love or marriage weren't allowed during her tenure as Holy Princess.

Glen looked at Christie's side profile while thinking about the rules as a Holy Princess. Just what was this beautiful girl thinking about that rule stating she couldn't fall in love for the sake of the country?

「Cochran-sama, what is it?」

「No, I'm just thinking that this tea is delicious.」

Glen realized that he was thinking about something silly, so he dodged her question. Christie only smiled gently at him, making Glen unsure if she knew what he was thinking.

「The tea that Sarah serve is surely superb.」

Christie was looking at a girl who possesses fascinating red hair with twin-tails. The girl was around ten years old, her pure white priest clothes suited her red hair well and her bright green eyes looked like emeralds.

「Sarah is my maid, but she has the same amount of holy mana as me. She's already a priest with the highest rank.」

「That's amazing. But Holy Princess-sama was already known having the highest holy mana even within the history of this country. And to think that she has that much mana at that age is just terrific.」

「Prime Minister also favors Sarah. By making her my exclusive maid, she can learn a lot of things.」

And then, Christie gazed at Sarah.

「Sarah, Cochran-sama was known as Misley's hero when I was still a child. My friends and I were raised while listening about his adventure stories. This is a good opportunity, so please remember it.」

「Yes, Christie-sama.」

Sarah turned to Glen and bowed deeply.

「You're really proper at that age, eh. When I'm still ten years old, I was just a naughty brat in the town.」

「Oh my, Cochran-sama is too kind.」Christie giggled.

「But, I also have hopes in Sarah. I believe she can become the next Holy Princess and I can live leisurely.」

「Christie-sama, don't say something so rash!」

Sarah puffed her cute face and scolded Christie.

「Fufu, I'm sorry.」

Looking at Christie who laughed in a carefree manner, Glen had another silly thought whether she wanted to retire from her position.

It was at that moment!

Gaaan, gooon, gaan, goon~~~

The bell inside Misley Citadel rang at once!

「What happened!?」Christie shouted at the guard.

「I'll check immediately...」

Before the guard finished talking, another guard rushed in and began explaining the situation.

「It's an enemy attack!! Holy Princess-sama, please go to a safe place as soon as possible! 」

「Enemy? Where did they come from!?」Glen asked the guard.

「This is unbelievable, but a large group of skeleton came to attack us.」

Christie noticed that the enemy was undead called as skeleton.

「If the enemy is skeleton, we can't deal with it without using holy power!」

「Christie-sama, this.」

Sarah ran to Christie and presented her the staff she usually use. Sarah was also holding a staff and entered battle posture.

「I'm going to Prime Minister's escort. Sarah, don't separate from me.」

「Yes!」

「Cochran-sama, can you help us with your power?」

「Of course!」

Upon receiving a sword from the guard, Glen ran as a vanguard to Prime Minister's office, with Christie and Sarah following behind him.

When they arrived at the Prime Minister's office, it was already hell. The room was occupied with a dozen skeletons, and the Prime Minister was stabbed on chest, collapsing on a pool of blood. Glen cut through the skeleton with his sword, but it only had small effect. He was reminded once again that undead couldn't be attacked normally.

「Sarah, 'Heal'!」

「Yes.」

Both of them simultaneously released 'Heal' to the skeleton and the skeleton instantly became sand and collapsed.

(As expected from the priests with highest rank, I just have to earnestly earn enough time for them to release Heal.)

When Glen understood the situation, he used his sword to make sure the skeletons wouldn't approach the girls. Meanwhile, Christie and Sarah fired Heal one after another in the room. Then they rushed to the Prime Minister, but he already collapsed.

「There's no meaning in protecting this room. Let's go to a place where we can see the situation! 」

「I understand. Right below this room is the central balcony. Let's go there.」

Three of them broke through the army while turning the skeletons into sand with their exquisite cooperation.

When they reached the balcony, they looked down and unconsciously gulped. Tens of thousands skeleton troops were pouring into the citadel, slaughtering everything they saw here and there.

◇◇◇

「This skeleton bastard!!!!!」

Derrick swung his giant sword, hitting the skeleton with all of his might!

Cliiiiink!!!

Sparks ran between the sword and the bone!

The skeleton's bones were as hard as iron, so normal sword was useless against them. However, Derrick's great sword smashed such bones. Yet even after having its shoulder and arm crushed, the skeleton used its other hand to swing its sword and moved around. Magician Gilbert shot Fireball and the skeleton finally fell to the ground, stopping it's movements.

「Gil! Don't use Fireball as much as you can! It'll be the end of us when you have no mana left since we can't retreat! 」

「I understand, but there are too many skeletons here. There are no other people who can fight decently here. The other guys are struggling.」

「Even those priests are no good?」

「Yeah, they don't have enough mana to do Heal. The swordsmen manage to fight with hammer, but they need several people to defeat one skeleton. Damn! If only Haril is here now, it'll be a lot better.」

「Yet you severely told Haril that he's still a brat before, right?」Derrick replied while he laughed.

「Yeah, he's inexperienced and also a drag in battle, but his Mana is one of the best in this country! ...Rather than that, what should we do? We can't keep them here forever.」

「If we fail here, the route to escape from the south gate will be gone. We have to do our best to let as many people to escape as possible.」

Derrick's party was waiting in the Adventurer Guild after returning to Misley from Narka Village. At that time, they encountered the skeletons' attack.

Adventurer Guild was right next to the south gate of Misley Citadel. With them alone, they could easily escape, but if the south gate was not secured, the citizens wouldn't be able to escape. Derrick never ordered his members to defend around the gate.

「Sorry, you guys are in this mess because of me.」

「Don't mind that, Derrick. Killing these bastards is my hobby! 」

「Yeah, I also like it!」

After Gilbert, all the party members said so. Derrick was really thankful of having comrades like them… Derrick felt energy overflowing in his when body!

Under such circumstances, three women run towards the south gate. Were they refugees? As Derrick wondered so, nearly a dozen skeletons attacked them!

「Ruri! Four skeletons are approaching from the left rear! 」

A woman with blonde shortcut talked to a long black haired woman who ran in front of her.

「Old sis, there are also five on the right rear!!」

This time, another black haired girl who looked like boy shouted.

「Got it, Rin, Sith. Pull them until the last moment we'll catch them all in a single blow! 」

The moment the skeletons were about to attach them, the girls spread out at once and surrounded the skeletons instead. When they opened their hands, triangular magic circle with three vertices appeared, enclosing the skeletons in the barrier. It was Triangle Holy Field, the magic this country's priest was most proficient with.

Inside the barrier where pillars of light rose, the skeletons rampaged, the sounds of cracking bones filled the area. Even so, they couldn't break the barrier and eventually collapsed into the ground as mountains of sand.

The three girls who defeated the skeleton came to Derrick's side and dropped their large bags on the ground.

「I'm Ruri, a shrine priest. The other two are Rin and Sith. First, let me thank you for guarding the south gate.」

Ruri took a breath as she started talking to Derrick.

「There are more than a dozen holy swords in the bag. With this sword, you can fight with the skeletons more equally.」

When they took out the holy swords from the bag, the adventurers started attacking the skeletons. Their sword didn't work against the skeleton since their bone was as hard as iron, but the holy swords cut them like butter. The slashed skeletons eventually turned into sand and collapsed to the ground without any sound.

「With this, we can protect the south gate. Sorry for the trouble.」

Derrick thanked her, but Ruri questioned him back with a severe gaze.

「Rather than that, I have something I want to ask. Does princess escape through this route? 」

「No, Holy Princess-sama doesn't pass this place. Master Glen also has gone to Prime Minister's place. He'll definitely guard Prime Minister and Holy Princess-sama, and they should be still inside the castle. If they already left, then south gate is the shortest route.」

「As I thought, they're still inside...」Ruri threw a glance towards Misley Castle with a harsh gaze.

「Rin!」

The blonde priest immediately replied, 「We have to go, Ruri.」

「What about Sith?」

「Old Sis, if we want to go, we better hurry!」

「Oi, are you all serious? It's too reckless to go to Misley Castle, you're basically committing suicide!!」

「Mister Adventurer, even though we look like this, we are shine priest with highest rank.」

「Yes yes. Also, we are undead experts.」

「Yup. Leave it to the professionals like us.」

Derrick tried to stop them, but Ruri, Rin, and Sith already ran towards Misley Castle even before he finished his words.

◇◇◇

As the carriage carried Marie, Sophia, and Haril, the leader of the knights, Kloyd, immediately noticed the incident. He stopped the carriage and checked the situation, only to find tremendous number of skeletons attacking the castle. He approached the carriage and talked to the three people inside, still riding his horse.

「Saint-sama, there's an emergency! Please leave this place at once! 」

「What happened?」

「Skeletons are attacking us!」

He reported to Mari, and then looked at Sophia.

「Sophia, you're no longer a part of the Knights Order, but I think of you as an amazing knight. Listen, you definitely have to protect Saint-sama! 」

「What about leader?」

「I'll have to fulfill my duty as a knight with my subordinates.」

「Then, bring me too…」

「If you leave this place, then who will protect Saint-sama?」

After staring at Mari for a while, Sophia turned to Sir Kloyd again with a determined look.

「It seems like you have understood. As expected from my trusted knight. I'll leave Saint-sama to you! 」

After glancing at the three people and said their farewell, Sir Kloyd ran his horse to Misley Castle with his men.

Sophia went down from the carriage and looked at Sir Kloyd's back. If they were jumping into the sea of skeletons that attacked the castle, it would be a miracle if they didn't lose their life.

「Sophia!」

Sophia returned to her senses with that voice. Before she noticed it, Mari was standing behind her, with Haril following her.

「Do you want to help Sir Leader and go to Misley Citadel?」

「I want to to, but…」

「Then let's go!」

「Don't be silly! It's reckless to fight against that many skeletons.」

「Just who do you think I am?」

「Who, you ask…」

「Even if I act like this, I'm a level 99 priest. I'll show you that I can kick those skeletons around easily! 」

Mari's eyes were filled with confidence as she said so no panic or deception could be seen.

「I don't know what level 99 means, but… I feel that Mari can do it.」

Sophie replied her with a smile, and Mari also smiled back at her.

「You finally understand, huh!」

「Then, Mari. What should I do? 」

「Can you fight while protecting me and Haril-kun?」

「I'll try!」

「Haril-kun, are you prepared?」

「My family is also there, so I'll work hard with all of my might!」

「Then it's decided!」

Mari casted a spell on them, there was no need to refrain like how she did until now, so she brought out her real abilities and casted her Max Mana magic.

After finishing casting the magic, they began to run towards Misley Castle. Their speed was completely different from ordinary people.

「Haril-kun, skeleton is weak against fire, so shoot Fireball to them as much as you can! But I'll enhance your power, so try shooting them first and adjust to the power! 」

「Yes!」

Haril shot Fireball at the first skeleton he saw. He was going to do a weak attack to save his mana, but his Fireball burned three skeletons into ashes and even smashed the castle walls.

「A-amazing! But the power is so big, so it might be hard to use this inside the city...」

「It's okay, if it's crowded with people, I'll handle it later on! Keep shooting until I tell you to stop.」

Haril fired Fireball one after another, incinerating all of the skeletons in the visible area.

「But Mari, they're too many! The skeletons are basically never-ending now! 」

「Believe me, Sophie. I have a plan. We’ll run until we reach the center of the city, Misley Citadel. Protect Haril-kun and me, okay? 」

「Leave it to me, Mari.」

They went through the skeleton army at a blazing speed.