Chapter 8:
Duel at Dusk
THE NEXT MORNING, we set out with Ariel for our first trip to the
Silver Palace.
Only six of us were going. Triss was staying behind at the
residence to begin the preparations for her big moment, and Ariel's
two attendants weren't coming, either. That was partly because
Ellemoi and Cleane would only slow us down in a fight, but the two
of them also came from prestigious families that could be valuable
allies. The princess had them rushing around the city, trying to win
over their relatives and other houses with close ties. Ariel seemed to
be taking that "ten days" deadline very seriously.
The Silver Palace of Asura was just as imposing up close as it
seemed at a distance. It was larger even than Perugius' towering
castle, and there were apparently many other structures in the
sprawling grounds behind it, including the main residences of the
royal family and a number of beautiful gardens.
We wouldn't be venturing back there this time, of course. I kind
of wanted to see the royal harem, but we had other business to
attend to. Our trip had two main purposes: Ariel was going to visit
her ailing father, and then make a reservation for one of the palace's
halls. My main role was just to follow her and Luke around.
As we made our way through the castle's hallways, I noticed
something surprising.
Well… maybe it shouldn't have surprised me, but it did make me
do a double take.
It was a painting of Perugius, hanging on the wall next to two
others.
Page | 150
Dragonfolk tended to have similar faces; their features were
even less distinctive in portrait form. This version of Perugius also
looked a bit prettified, and several decades younger at least.
Honestly, I didn't even recognize him at first. At first glance, I thought
it was just someone who looked kind of similar, and my gaze slid
right off his face. But then I saw the plate underneath the painting,
and my eyes jumped back to it.
The name "Perugius Dola" was printed on that strip of metal. I
blinked in surprise.
I guess the most surprising thing was that the painting was
hanging very close to portraits of various Asuran kings and queens. It
was a clear signal of just how important and respected the man was
in this country.
The paintings to either side of Perugius depicted a human man I
didn't recognize, and a man whose hair was a mix of silver and gold.
Their faces weren't familiar to me, but given their positions next to
Perugius, I knew who they were supposed to be. The human man
was probably the North God Kalman, and the half-human was the
Dragon God Urupen. These were portraits of the Three Godslayers
from the Laplace War.
They hadn't really slayed the god in question, but I wasn't going
to nitpick. From what Orsted told me, they'd fought very hard and
ultimately defeated a truly terrifying opponent. The Demonic Dragon
King Laplace was probably the most powerful man in the world for
many years; sealing away half of him was one hell of an
accomplishment. Perugius had earned his place of honor on these
walls. To this day, the people of Asura still revered him as a living
legend. I felt like I was finally beginning to understand just how
hugely important it was that Ariel had earned his support.
***
Page | 151
For three days, things moved along smoothly enough.
Ariel was making steady progress in arranging for her gathering.
The nobles who'd been waiting for her return stepped up to assist. In
the course of my duties as a bodyguard, I'd been introduced to what
felt like dozens of influential people. To be honest, I didn't remember
any of their names.
I hadn't formally met High Minister Darius and First Prince
Grabel. But I did see them at a distance, just once.
Darius was a flabby man with drooping jowls and a nasty gleam
in his eyes. The very picture of a wily, gluttonous old monster,
basically. I felt a bit of a connection to him, mostly based on his
physical ugliness.
When he spotted me, though, his face contorted with terror. It
was like he was seeing the grim reaper or something. Maybe it was
unwise to read too much into that sort of thing, but… the man's
reaction was so blatant that I just didn't feel the need to secondguess myself anymore. He was obviously one of the Man-God's three
disciples.
First Prince Grabel looked like an ordinary enough man. The title
prince made me think of some kid in their teens or twenties with
fluffy golden hair, but he was just an average-looking bearded man in
his mid-thirties. Still, when you studied his face closely, there was
something about it that made you want to work for him. I guess he
possessed a quiet kind of charisma.
Come to think of it, we'd heard some rumors about the Second
Prince Halfaust as well; apparently he'd been outmaneuvered by
Grabel and was currently under house arrest. Maybe Orsted had
intervened somehow? Or maybe he'd just known it would play out
this way? In any case, many of the nobles who'd backed Halfaust and
seen their hopes of victory collapse instead flocked to join Ariel's
Page | 152
cause after her return. She had them helping out with the
preparations for her big event.
The princess was fighting her own battles. My job was to
eliminate the enemies who were trying to stop her by force.
We had, in fact, come under attack repeatedly. They sent hired
killers our way every single day. That said, these assassins were
nothing special—we hadn't baited our larger prey into action yet.
The assassins targeted exclusively Ariel. To be more precise,
they went for Sylphie, who was now acting as her body double. They
came at her on the streets, while she dined, and while she slept,
never giving us a moment to relax.
Of course, the real Ariel wore a maid outfit and a wig, eating
simple meals with the household staff (though the food was still
better than what a low-ranked knight would get), and sleeping
soundly every night in an ordinary servant's bed.
"They're actually sending way more at us than last time around,
you know?" Sylphie had commented at one point. "It makes a huge
difference having you and the others around, Rudy."
The assassins were well-organized, and weren't incompetent by
any means. But with me, Eris and Ghislaine around, they couldn't put
up much of a fight.
That said… if it were just me on defense, I probably would have
struggled a little. Some of the assassins looked to be young boys, and
I'd hesitate to kill them. In that sense, having Eris and Ghislaine with
me was a great help.
So far, we hadn't encountered anyone those two couldn't easily
cut down on their own. I had a feeling that the people sending these
assassins were other nobles loyal to Grabel, rather than the prince or
Darius themselves.
If Darius was truly determined to hold back all his firepower for
the final showdown, we might have a problem on our hands.
Page | 153
Assuming Eris and Ghislaine would be occupied with the North
Emperor and North King, the next enemy would head straight for
me. And if they had enough people, Sylphie might come under attack
as well. I wanted to believe that Orsted would intervene before
things got out of hand, but we hadn't been able to speak since our
party reached the city. I didn't even know if he was in Ars at the
moment.
In any case… hoping for the best was no strategy. We needed to
thin the ranks of our enemies somehow.
Just as I was starting to get antsy, Princess Ariel approached me.
"I've made the preparations for the stage," she said quietly.
"Now I think it's time we bait our trap."
That day, the princess made particular effort to speak with a
noble loyal to the First Prince. During this conversation, she made a
few vulgar jokes about how both Eris and Ghislaine were on their
period today. The noble looked in Eris' direction with open interest;
Eris answered with a hostile scowl.
Apparently, Ariel had decided to invite an attack by spreading
word that her own bodyguards were in poor condition.
It didn't work, however. Maybe she'd been too obvious about it.
From the next day on, even the ordinary assassins stopped showing
up.
It was Day Five. The attacks on us had stopped completely.
In exchange, the enemy had begun to target some of the more
influential nobles in Ariel's faction, specifically those who were
making the arrangements for her "stage." These nobles had the
means to defend themselves, and the attacks hadn't amounted to
much. But several of them were frightened enough to switch their
allegiance to the First Prince.
Page | 154
During this period, I finally met one of the major players in this
struggle: Pilemon Notos Greyrat. Just as we'd heard, the man had
abandoned Ariel to ally himself with Grabel.
Pilemon looked to be somewhere in his mid-thirties, and he
bore a strong resemblance to Paul. But there was no hint of my dad's
breezy confidence on his face. He struck me as a hesitant, fearful
person, the kind of man who'd flee from any sign of danger like a
mouse.
Personally, I didn't have a problem with cowards, but he sure
looked like the kind of guy old man Sauros would have loathed. I
could see why they'd ended up as enemies, and why Pilemon had
taken advantage of the Displacement Incident to have Sauros killed.
It made sense logically. But in all honesty, it was hard for me to
believe that a man like this had been bold enough to murder such a
powerful rival. If he had the guts to seize an opportunity like that,
Sauros never would have hated him in the first place.
Luke and Pilemon had a long, heated discussion during our
meeting. More of a fight than a conversation, really. Luke pressed his
father to explain his betrayal, and why he would throw away their
years of effort. Pilemon refused to even answer, saying only "You
couldn't hope to understand my reasons."
Stunned and in disbelief, Luke still forged on, begging his father
to rejoin Ariel's cause before it was too late. But his efforts came to
nothing. In the end, a young man who seemed to be Luke's older
brother asked scornfully if he was after their inheritance, then strode
out of the room with Pilemon close behind.
Seemed like a pretty horrible way to treat your own son after
he'd been struggling in a far-off land for nearly a decade. But Paul
had been just as bad at one point, and I wasn't exactly a picture of
virtue myself. The Asuran nobility seemed to have their own
Page | 155
particular set of values, none of which I understood, so maybe it
wasn't fair for me to judge.
If Ariel triumphed, Luke would lead the Notos family as the man
who'd emerged victorious from a dangerous conflict. If Grabel came
out on top, that role would fall to his brother. Considering how
serious the consequences might be for failure, their harsh attitude
might be seen as a way of showing their concern.
There was also a chance they just hated Luke's guts, of course.
In any case, it seemed like Ghislaine was going to get her chance
to kill Pilemon after all. Still… if Luke begged us to treat his family
leniently, I'd be tempted to try and help him patch things up
somehow. But another part of me didn't want to take that risk.
It was an ugly situation, any way you looked at it.
Nine days had passed, and our "stage" was finally ready.
Simply put, it was going to be a party. Drinks, dancing, chatting,
that kind of thing. Such events were held regularly in the halls of the
Silver Palace.
This one was publicly announced as an event to be held by
Second Princess Ariel in honor of Prince Grabel. Since the names of
both the leading candidates for the throne were on the invitations,
all the major and prestigious nobles in Asura were expected to
attend.
In the enemy's shoes, I wouldn't have bothered showing up for
an event that was so obviously a trap, but I guess it wasn't that
simple for members of the Asuran nobility. Appearing at parties of
this kind seemed to be more or less their duty.
There had been several attempts to disrupt the preparations,
but the princess had dealt with all of them efficiently.
Tomorrow would be the moment of truth.
Page | 156
"Sir Rudeus," called Ariel, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I've
just given them one final push."
"Oh?"
"To be more specific, I've leaked some information that should
make High Minister Darius very anxious."
"…Right. I see."
We were worried about Auber and his friends, but it was
ultimately Darius who controlled them. And the disciples of the ManGod didn't always behave exactly as he wanted. It was possible to
make them ignore his words—especially out of fear, or acting in selfpreservation. That was how I'd ended up swearing loyalty to Orsted.
Up until now, we'd just been giving them the opportunity to
strike. Ariel was trying to convince them that they needed to take
that opportunity, if they wanted to come out on top.
"Still, there are no guarantees. And if they don't take the bait
tonight…"
"Yeah. I know."
In that scenario, we'd have to face their entire force tomorrow.
That would make things very difficult. One of us might end up dying.
It might be Eris, or Sylphie, or Ghislaine. I wanted to do everything I
could to prevent that, but Paul's face kept flashing through my
thoughts.
I had to hope that the plan would work this time.
Later that evening, we made our way back to Ariel's residence. It
was a dark and moonless night. All our preparations were now
complete; it was just a matter of waiting until tomorrow. We'd have
to relax and get as much rest as we could tonight.
Page | 157
Or so I thought—until I spotted the man standing in middle of
the road ahead of us. He had rabbitlike ears, so clearly a beastman.
What was the name of this race, again? The Mildett?
If their women are bunny girls, I guess this would be a bunny
boy?
"…"
The beastman wore black, non-reflective armor, and there was a
straight sword in his hand. He stood right in the path of Ariel's
carriage.
"Who goes there?!" Luke demanded, moving forward from his
place beside the carriage.
The beastman didn't answer. But that wasn't surprising. No
assassin would ever—
"I am the North King Nucklegard, one of the three blades of the
North God! They call me Twinblade!"
He actually gave us his name. Uh… okay.
A second later, our new friend Nucklegard began to split apart—
one half of him moving slowly to the left, and the other to the right.
"Hey, Nuckle. I don't think we're supposed to tell them our
names."
"Oh, right! I guess things are kinda different this time, huh?
You're so smart, Gard."
"Heheh! Well, I have been hitting the books lately…"
No, that wasn't it. "Nucklegard" was actually a pair of twins. I
was looking at two swordsmen with identical faces.
"Oh, and we probably shouldn't tell them that it was Lord Darius
who hired us, either!"
"You're probably right. When we had to fight assassins, they'd
never tell us who they worked for."
Page | 158
"Yep, exactly. So make sure you keep it a secret, Nuckle!"
"Got it!"
They really weren't very good at this whole being-an-assassin
thing, were they? I mean, we already knew who'd hired them, so it
didn't really matter… but seriously.
As I stared at the two beastmen in disbelief, Eris spurred her
horse forward, jumped to the ground, and drew her sword in one
smooth motion.
"I'm Eris Greyrat," she called.
The twin swordsmen's ears twitched as they met her eager,
aggressive gaze.
"Ooh! The famous Berserker Sword King!"
"Her skills sharp as a fang, her temper fierce as any monster!"
"We may be but a pair of puny Mildetts…"
"But we will gladly take you on!"
Eris raised her sword over her head, and the twins assumed
mirrored stances.
"Alone, we are only half a man."
"Together, we are a man complete!"
"We shall fight you two on one—"
"But surely you'll agree that this is only fair!"
Uh, no. That's kind of the definition of unfair, actually…
At this point, another silhouette emerged from the darkness—
this one in the street behind our carriage. It was a small figure; it
wore a full-body suit of jet-black armor, and carried a black sword
and shield.
He didn't bother introducing himself. Not this time. Instead, he
simply assumed his stance.
Page | 159
Ghislaine had already turned to face him. Betraying no surprise,
she drew her own sword. "This time is going to be very different,
halfling."
"…You Doldia have excellent night vision, don't you? I suppose
I'm at a slight disadvantage tonight."
It was Wi Taa.
During our battle at the Red Wyrm's Whiskers, he'd held the
upper hand against Ghislaine. But since then, I'd given her a basic
rundown of his tricks and how to counteract them. I wasn't sure how
much of that she'd understood or memorized, but just knowing what
he might try would make a big difference.
In any case, we were caught in a pincer with the bunnies ahead
of us and the halfling behind. Somehow, it was hard to convince
yourself that these three were any real threat, but the fact of the
matter was that they were all North Kings.
I had to decide what to do. The cleanest option would be for me
to support Eris. Sylphie or Luke could help Ghislaine. We'd even our
numbers on one side, and have an advantage on the other.
Unfortunately, I couldn't act just yet. Auber was nowhere to be seen;
and that was enough to keep me rooted in place.
Princess Ariel wasn't here this time. She was heading from the
palace to her residence using a secure alternate route. That meant
that Sylphie could focus entirely on helping Eris, while Luke
supported Ghislaine. But if the enemy saw us ignoring the carriage
entirely, they would realize the princess wasn't here—and in the
absence of their target, they would retreat. One or two of them
might even try to slow us down while the others went for Ariel. The
princess was clever enough that they probably wouldn't find her…
but even so, our battle would be postponed until tomorrow. The
enemy would be ready and waiting for us, and there would be more
of them to deal with.
Page | 160
This was our chance. We had the opportunity to take out two
North Kings… or three, I guess. But if we couldn't take advantage of
it, we'd find ourselves in deep trouble tomorrow. At the very least,
we needed to one of them out right now.
I could assist Eris while Luke supported Ghislaine. But in that
scenario, Sylphie might have to fight Auber, and that was probably a
losing battle. I wanted to believe that she could hold her own against
him, but Orsted thought she wouldn't stand a chance.
It seemed like I had no choice but to stand around and—
"…No."
Think, Rudeus.
On the face of it, the enemy had brought three North Kings
against us… or two, depending how you counted. They didn't have
that army of soldiers from last time, either. Would you really ambush
your enemy with a force this much smaller? Auber had to be here
right now. It was the only way any of this made sense. He was hiding
somewhere near the battlefield at this very moment, calmly
watching us and waiting for his chance to strike.
All I had to do was find him. Once I uncovered his hiding place, I
could take him down with a single deadly spell. After that, there'd be
no need to worry about giving the other fights my full attention.
"Don't worry, Rudeus," Eris said, her voice ringing through the
darkness. "I can handle these two all by myself."
It did seem like Nuckle and Gard were having trouble getting
within range of her. I got the feeling that as individuals, they were
North Saint level at best. And Eris was capable of cutting down a
swordfighter of that rank in the blink of an eye. In other words, if
they stepped into her range, one of them would die immediately.
And even then, the other probably wouldn't be capable of killing her
in return.
Page | 161
Ghislaine and Wi Taa were still standing at a distance also.
Ghislaine was a tall woman, and Wi Taa was a halfling—her reach
was much greater than his. It wouldn't be easy for him to slip into his
attack range, either. The fact that they weren't just retreating felt
like more evidence for my theory: they had another ally hiding
somewhere. With Auber here, they had a good reason not to flee.
They had every intention of killing us all right here.
Think. Where the hell is Auber? How many hiding places are
there nearby?
This didn't seem like an ideal spot for an ambush, in all honesty.
There was a thick city wall to our left, and nobles' mansions to our
right. At a glance, there could be many hiding places on the right.
The mansions all had large gardens encircled by tall fences, and there
was a dark alley or two in between the buildings. But this road was
wide, and the mansions were all some distance from our carriage. It
didn't seem like an ideal place from which to spring an ambush.
What about the city wall, then? You had to really crane your
neck to see the top of it. Was Auber going to rappel down it… or
maybe just leap down from the top? Sounded like suicide to me, but
maybe a North Emperor could pull it off.
What about the ground? Could he be hiding under the surface
somewhere, like he was last time? No, that seemed unlikely. After
what happened last time, we'd been keeping a very careful watch on
the ground around us. It was hard to think we'd somehow
overlooked him.
Damn it, where is he? Do we have any major blind spots?
I was standing behind the carriage and to the left. Luke was
positioned in front of it on the right. We had torches on the carriage
and my lamplight spirit providing us with illumination. It was enough
light that our jet-black enemies were clearly visible. In other words,
there wasn't a single part of the battlefield that none of us could see.
Page | 162
Maybe he really is up on top of that wall. Should I hit it with a
blast of magic…? I sent the lamplight spirit up into the air and
scanned looming wall beside us again…
"…!"
And spotted him.
I hadn't noticed anything the first time I looked this way, but
there was definitely something odd midway up the surface of the
wall. It was covered in cloth the exact same color as the stone. In
broad daylight, you would have spotted it immediately. The
headlights of a car might have revealed it, too. But the torches on
our carriage simply weren't bright enough to give him away. It was
only thanks to my lamplight spirit that I'd seen that small hint of a
shadow.
We'd won this fight.
Without a word, I pointed my staff at the cloth.
There was no need for an incantation. Normally, I announced
my spells to alert my allies I was using them, but this time I wasn't
going to do that, either. I was convinced that Auber would dodge my
spell if I said a single word. But he wasn't ready for a total sneak
attack. When you're planning to surprise your enemy, you don't
expect them to surprise you instead.
Stone Cannon. Maximum power. Maximum speed… Go!
"Gwooooh?!"
I had not hesitated in the least. I'd fired off my spell as quickly as
I could. And yet, Auber had anticipated it somehow. Maybe it was
pure animal instinct, or some sixth sense he'd acquired over years of
battle. At the very last instant, he'd leapt out of his hiding spot and
evaded my attack.
Page | 163
No… he hadn't it evaded it completely. My stone projectile
struck him in the leg, tearing a great hole right through it. Auber
tumbled off the wall, barely managing a defensive roll as he hit the
ground.
"Gaaah!"
His appearance finally set the battle into motion. Out of the
corner of my eye I saw Eris and Ghislaine moving, and Luke had
noticed what was going on as well.
Without pausing, I fired off another Stone Cannon at Auber.
"Tch!"
Despite his crouched, awkward position, he deflected it without
difficulty.
"Traaah!"
Luke came rushing up behind him; but Auber planted his left
hand on the ground, spun his body on that axis, and sharply
deflected the strike. He kicked Luke's unsteady legs out from under
him and moved to finish the job immediately.
I put a stop to that with a well-placed Stone Cannon.
"Hnngh!"
Auber bent backward like a spring to avoid the spell, and finally
leapt off the ground. The man could still fight, clearly. But with one
of his legs disabled, his mobility had to be severely limited.
He stood on his good leg as steadily as a flamingo, and looked
from me to the carriage, then its surroundings. I was compelled to
follow his gaze.
The battle had been decided in the seconds since Auber hit the
ground. Eris, good as her word, had already cut down both of her
opponents, but she'd been badly wounded. Her left shoulder
dangled loosely, and blood poured down her arm. Still, she'd turned
her attention our way, and her eyes were fixed on Auber.
Page | 164
Ghislaine had overwhelmed Wi Taa as well. The halfling had lost
one of his arms and his shield while Ghislaine didn't have a scratch
on her. By the time I'd looked in their direction, she was moving
forward to finish him.
Wi Taa screamed "Auberrrr!" at the top of his lungs and threw
something to the ground. It hit the stones with a dull fwump, and a
huge cloud of black smoke billowed out in all directions.
Orsted had warned me that Wi Taa used smokescreens at night,
but I hadn't pictured anything like this. This smoke was seriously
thick. He had to be using some kind of magic item or implement.
As I stared into the deep, black fog, I could hear Wi Taa running,
with Ghislaine in hot pursuit.
A sword suddenly slices through the darkness in front of me.
I quickly hopped out of the way; a split-second later, Wi Taa
came barreling past me. Was he after me? No, he was going for the
carriage!
"I've got this!"
In the next instant, the carriage door swung open, and Sylphie
rolled out while firing off a spell She'd chosen Flame Tornado, a
combination wind and fire spell. It dispersed the black smoke
instantly, and lit the whole area with a brief flash of light.
I took in the situation. Ghislaine, Luke, Sylphie, and Eris were all
relatively fine. I caught a glimpse of Wi Taa disappearing into a
nearby alley. Was he fleeing? Well… that wasn't the end of the
world, as long as we could take down Auber.
But by the time I turned my attention back to the North
Emperor, he'd vanished as well.
Where is he?!
"Rudeus!" shouted Eris, pointing upward.
Page | 165
I followed her gaze and spotted Auber scuttling up the city wall
with his metallic claws like a cockroach. He moved with remarkable
speed, reaching the top and disappearing entirely. I'd only looked
away for an instant, but there was no chance we'd ever catch up
with him now.
There was no time to beat myself up about it, though. Not right
now. "Follow Wi Taa!" I shouted, sprinting for the alley.
It was a snap judgment call, and I doubted myself as I ran. Could
we even catch him at this point? Should I have followed him the
moment I saw him duck into that alley? The man had lost one of his
arms. He couldn't be running that quickly in that condition, with his
body so unbalanced… but then again, you never knew what these
North God people might have trained themselves to do…
As I rounded the corner into the alley, I came to an abrupt halt.
Wi Taa was already dead.
He lay in a pool of blood with a gaping hole in his midsection. It
was a very…familiar cause of death. I'd lost my own life this way,
quite some time ago.
I sensed no one nearby. But clearly, someone had been here just
moments ago.
Someone named Orsted.
"Rudeus! You got him, huh?"
I turned around. Eris stood behind me. Blood poured from that
horrific gash in her shoulder, but she had a satisfied smile on her
face.
"Uh… yeah…"
Before saying anything else, I reached out to touch her upper
arm and murmured the incantation for a healing spell. It really was a
terrible injury. Deep enough it could have severed a tendon. I knew
Page | 166
Eris didn't hesitate taking hits in battle, but this wasn't good for my
nerves.
"Thanks," she said casually, then turned around and yelled into
the main street. "That was Rudeus earlier! He took Wi Taa out for
us!"
With that announcement, everyone finally exhaled in relief.
"My apologies. I only slowed the rest of you down."
"No, I'm to blame for this. If I'd only finished Wi Taa off, Rudeus
could have kept his focus on Auber…"
"I probably should have jumped out of the carriage a little
earlier, huh?"
"Hey, c'mon! One of them got away, but we did all right!"
As we bantered about what went down, we got to work
cleaning up the bodies of our enemies. I had some regrets. Maybe I
could have prevented Auber's escape if I'd been a bit more creative
with my choice of spells. If I hadn't just assumed his mobility was
gone, I could have thrown down a Quagmire right away.
Still, there was no point dwelling on it. The battle had been very
brief, and somewhat chaotic. Dissecting every little choice we'd
made wasn't particularly helpful. In the end, we'd killed the North
King Wi Taa and the North King Nucklegard. That was two… or three,
really… fewer enemies to worry about. Auber might have managed
to escape, but we'd achieved our goal of thinning the enemy's ranks.
It felt safe to call this a success.
Now we just had to win the final showdown, too.