LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 56
27. Ant (1)
Yuri wiped Guilty with a cloth.
As the blood and flesh were cleared away, the smooth surface of the blade began to reflect his black eyes.
When he tilted the blade downward, a drop of blood gathered below his lip.
“It was a long fight.”
As Yuri wiped his chin with his sleeve, someone suddenly plopped down beside him.
“What brings you here?”
The face was unfamiliar, but after a moment, he recognized the voice.
It was one of the Imperial knights Ragna assigned to him for the ruins’ exploration. He hadn’t seen his face properly back then because of the helmet.
“I see you can speak after all, unlike when you only answered ‘yes, yes.'”
“I was on duty.”
“You can’t talk while on duty?”
“It’s not encouraged.”
The Imperial Knights seemed to have strict rules. Compared to them, the Briol knights were more free-spirited.
Yuri chuckled.
“The Empire is different, huh.”
“I saw Your Highness’s prowess in slaying orcs earlier.”
“Ah…”
“Honestly, I can’t even guess how many you killed.”
Until just a while ago, the Allied Forces were engaged in battle with the orcs.
The bell rang urgently, and Yuri immediately grabbed his sword and rushed out.
What followed was a massacre.
What had been passed down to him was the hunter’s technique, but Yuri felt that the word didn’t quite fit. It was closer to that of a butcher.
The method of killing orcs quickly and efficiently, as if mechanically slicing meat, was etched into his very being.
“Actually, me too.”
Yuri said as he sheathed Guilty.
“I lost count.”
“Impressive. Really…”
“What’s your name?”
“I am Rodine.”
“Rodine.”
Yuri extended his hand. Rodine was momentarily flustered, then wiped his hand on his clothes and shook Yuri’s hand.
“You should greet someone with a handshake.”
“Ah, yes.”
Back in his mercenary days, there had been someone who valued handshakes. The man was old-fashioned but possessed good judgment.
“…”
And then the conversation stopped.
Yuri spoke up.
“Who sent you?”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t seem to have anything to say, but you came all the way here, so it seems like someone sent you.”
“Ah, no.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Well…”
Rodine cleared his throat.
“I was so impressed by Your Highness’s remarkable skills. Do you have any special techniques? Isn’t this your first time encountering orcs in the Allied Forces?”
“That’s right.”
“Then how are you so good at handling them? Most people struggle when facing orcs.”
Yuri shared a few tips.
“Orcs are creatures driven by instinct. If you look into their eyes, you can predict how they’ll move.”
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It required immense time and experience.
Yuri himself could only manage it because he had inherited the hunter’s techniques.
“Their eyes… their eyes…”
Rodine nodded.
“You’re incredibly talented. To be so skilled at such a young age—your girlfriend must be proud. You have a girlfriend, right?”
Yuri silently stared at Rodine.
He blinked, tilted his head, and then gave an awkward laugh.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Haha…”
“His Majesty sent you, didn’t he?”
“Huh? No, absolutely not.”
“No?”
“Of course not.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Out of nowhere, Rodine had brought up the topic of a girlfriend.
There was definitely something going on.
Yuri stared intently into Rodine’s eyes.
Rodine leaned back.
“Well…”
“Even if His Majesty didn’t send you directly, it must still be because of him.”
“I’m not sure what you mean…”
“Be honest.”
“Uh…”
Rodine scratched his head, unable to speak.
Yuri pressed him.
“The Knight Commander?”
Rodine flinched, looking at Yuri in surprise.
“Your reaction makes it obvious.”
Yuri chuckled quietly.
When clad in black armor, Rodine had shown no emotion, but now his reactions were surprisingly human.
“How… how did you know?”
“You’re well aware that His Majesty favors me…”
“Yes.”
“He’d want to know if things will go his way or if I’ll refuse, and among those he could send, the Knight Commander is the only option, isn’t he?”
“Well… yes, that’s true.”
Rodine admitted it.
He let out an exasperated sigh and said,
“Your insight is as deep as your swordsmanship.”
“Insight? It’s just a hunch.”
“Then you’re not going to answer?”
“I don’t understand why everyone is trying to set me up with that woman.”
“So you know about that as well.”
“His Majesty told me.”
Rodine tilted his head, puzzled.
“Surely, you don’t dislike the idea?”
“Am I supposed to like it?”
“The princess is an extraordinary beauty. How could anyone dislike someone like her?”
“Rodine.”
Yuri put on a serious expression.
Although Rodine was older, Yuri’s experiences from his past life made him far more seasoned.
“Looks aren’t everything. What matters is the heart.”
“Ah, yes.”
It seemed the words didn’t resonate with Rodine, who was still in his twenties.
“You should take that to heart…”
“Well, in any case, wouldn’t that make it even better? The princess also has a kind heart.”
“Oh, really?”
Yuri scoffed.
“She certainly seems that way.”
On the surface, she appeared gentle and soft-spoken.
But it was all a facade.
Moreover, her inner self had many layers.
When they were lovers, she had shown Yuri a side of herself that she didn’t reveal to others.
Yuri had believed that was her true self.
But it was just one of many facades.
“Do you know the princess?”
“No.”
“But you don’t seem to think of her very favorably.”
“Why would I? She has nothing to do with me.”
“Oh… so what you’re saying is…”
Yuri stood up and said,
“I do.”
“Yes?”
“I have a girlfriend.”
He was a skilled liar.
Most people faltered or acted awkwardly when lying, but Yuri remained as composed as a gambler discreetly switching cards in a high-stakes game.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Rodine was flustered.
In the Empire, youthful relationships were often dismissed as easily discarded for political gain. However, the Briol royal family’s style was different from other nations.
“So, you’re doing well together?”
“Yes, well enough.”
“If I may ask, who is she…?”
Yuri’s expression hardened.
“Rodine.”
Rodine lowered his head.
“My apologies. I overstepped.”
“Do you have someone you love?”
“Not yet.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I won’t have to hear ominous words like, ‘I’ll propose to her once this war is over.’”
“Why is that ominous?”
“When you return to the Empire, try watching some plays.”
Yuri stood up.
“How many times have we fought since sunrise today?”
“Three times.”
“We might set a record today since the war started.”
Rodine’s expression shifted at Yuri’s words.
He stood up with his sword drawn and scanned the horizon. But he couldn’t sense anything.
Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted.
“From behind?”
Yuri turned around.
The explosion had struck where they gathered the supplies.
It was the same kind of shamanistic bomb he had seen before.
“How did it end up there…?”
“The ground.”
Yuri smirked coldly.
“They must have come through the ground like ants.”
Shouts began to echo around them.
Once again, the urgent sound of the alarm bell filled the air.
“Orcs have appeared! Inside the camp!”
“Protect the supplies!”
Yuri ran inside, unarmored, wielding only Guilty.
The gauntlet, now perfectly molded to his hand, tightly gripped Guilty’s hilt.
“Rodine.”
“Yes.”
“Prepare yourself. Brace for what’s to come.”
Yuri narrowed his eyes and looked at the orcs appearing from within the camp.
There were many of them.
“So far, you’ve probably thought these fights were easy.”
“It’s been a grueling march, hasn’t it?”
“Any casualties among the Imperial Knights?”
“Not yet…”
The Allied Forces had suffered casualties, but the Imperial Knights had yet to lose anyone.
“There will be now.”
Rodine’s expression wavered.
In his black helmet, he seemed like an emotionless machine, but now he looked like any other person.
“Do you really believe that?”
“Yes.”
Yuri did not believe the Allied Forces would proceed so easily.
In his past life, the Allied Forces had failed, and many outstanding knights had died.
It had been an intense and brutal war. There was no way it would end unscathed simply because he played a slightly more active role this time.
“You don’t want your comrades to die, do you?”
“No.”
“Then fight hard. Kill more orcs.”
Yuri took in all the orcs within his field of vision at once.
Each had a different situation, a different flow within the chaos, but their objective was the same.
They were trying to kill humans.
“That’s the duty of a knight.”
The fact that orcs were a subspecies of humans corrupted by dark magic meant nothing to Yuri.
Nor did he have any intention of informing anyone about it.
He had a duty.
The world had placed a sword in his hand, and therefore, he would simply do what needed to be done.
“Your Highness… huh?”
Yuri had already dashed forward.
An orc poised to strike down a soldier with its axe turned its attention to him.
He immediately threw Guilty.
Survival was a priority for all beings.
The orc withdrew its axe and blocked Guilty. Guilty, deflected by the axe, spun in the air.
Yuri promptly leaped, snatched the hilt mid-air, and descended vertically.
The orc’s eyes wavered.
It tried to flee, but the soldier it had been facing suddenly started swinging his sword.
The orc, focused on blocking the soldier’s attack, momentarily lost track of Yuri.
Guilty plunged vertically into the top of its head.
Yuri felt the satisfying crunch of the skull shattering as warm blood splattered across his face and the orc’s body crumpled beneath him.
Landing atop the fallen beast, Yuri spat disdainfully.
“Thank you, Sir!”
The soldier shouted.
Yuri grinned.
“Harrison. Don’t fight alone.”
The soldier’s eyes widened in surprise that Yuri, the prince, remembered his name.
As he rose, Yuri patted his shoulder.
“Survive so we can meet again.”
“Y-yes, Sir!”
Yuri immediately turned around.
An incredible number of orcs were pouring out from the middle of the camp.
Yuri felt the ground vibrate as more orcs swarmed in.
“Tunnels.”
The orcs had dug tunnels and appeared within the Allied Forces’ camp.
Yuri shouted urgently
“Hernando!”
A voice called out from behind.
“Yes!”
“Can you use magic?”
“No! The shaman is dispelling them!”
“Got it!”
He had hoped the shaman might have been caught off guard, but it seemed they had carefully prepared the ambush and coordinated their attack.
This wasn’t just a simple probing attack; it was a meticulously planned raid.
Yuri’s eyes widened.
Although caught off guard by the tunnel attack, he realized it also presented an advantage.
If the battlefield narrowed, it would allow him to isolate and ambush his targets.
“Hernando!”
“Yes!”
“Stay on standby!”
“Yes!”
“Wait for the right moment to use your magic!”
“Uh, yes!”
Yuri circulated his Mana Method throughout his body. The energy of Heart and Soul Slash made him light.
He was ready to leap.
Suddenly, Yuri’s gaze shifted.
An orc in the crowd suddenly caught his attention.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have thought twice—it looked like just an ordinary orc soldier.
But now, to Yuri, there was something off about it.
“Shaman.”
The orc soldier’s ordinary appearance was nothing but a clever deception.
That was a shaman.
Through the hunter’s techniques bestowed upon him, Yuri saw through the orc’s disguise.
It was the gait.
The orc pretended to fight, swinging its axe, but stumbled over obstacles it couldn’t sense.
Losing eyesight was a common trait of both orc shamans and dark mages.
Yuri tilted his head at the sudden realization but quickly shook it off, clearing the distraction.
There was no time to think.
Yuri dashed forward.
As he passed the orcs, axes, halberds, and large hammers hurtled toward him.
Yuri dodged them as effortlessly as falling feathers.
Someone called his name from behind, but he didn’t look back.
And then, he spotted the orc shaman, awkwardly clutching an axe.
The orcs around him moved to block his path.
“Get lost!”
Yuri concentrated his mana, channeling it into Guilty, and swung with all his might. A thunderous roar erupted as the orcs were hurled back.
His mastery of mana now allowed him to generate devastating shockwaves.
Yuri continued his advance.
The orc shaman, sensing Yuri’s approach, opened its mouth to chant.
“Akuru Ke…!”
Thud.
Before it could react, Yuri drove Guilty straight into its mouth.
The blade pierced through the back of its head before it could react.
With a swift upward thrust, Yuri split its head clean in two.
Amid the geyser of blood, Yuri turned on his heel.
“Hernando!”
Now that the enemy shaman was gone, the balance of magical power had completely shifted.
Hernando responded to his call.
A spectacular fireball—the one Yuri had demanded—was unleashed.
The fireball hurtled precisely to the spot Yuri had indicated.
The tunnel erupted in a deafening explosion