Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 426

A wolf’s howl echoed through the dark sky. Rieta, looking out the window, spoke anxiously.“Brother, he’ll be alright, won’t he? Rick still hasn’t come back yet…”

“He’ll be okay.”

Louis’ voice as he answered didn’t sound entirely sure either.

Clutched tightly in Rieta’s hand was a leather necklace she had yet to give to Rick.

Duke Middleton had warned them to not go outside the mansion tonight, as a monster horde was going to appear.

As if to prove his words, the area around the mansion was filled with soldiers on guard against monsters from early evening.

Perhaps frightened by them, even the dog Rieta had named Rick hadn’t been seen at all today.

“He didn’t get harmed by monsters or other wild animals, did he?”

“It’s okay. Rick’s big and has huge teeth. Most monsters wouldn’t be able to attack him. Maybe Rick went hunting today because he thought it was his chance.”

In an effort to reassure Rieta, Louis spoke with an exaggerated tone.

It was only then that Rieta appeared to let go of some of her worries.

.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door of the room where the siblings were staying.

“Your Highnesses. Are you feeling alright?”

It was Duke Middleton’s voice. Louis exchanged glances with Rieta, then got up and opened the door.

“Uncle. What brings you here? I thought you’d be busy today…”

“Now that the soldiers have been sent out, we have quite a bit of time. Since you two probably won’t be able to take a walk tonight, I thought I’d come by, thinking you two might be bored.”

Looking down at Louis, a smile formed on the Duke’s stern, scarred face.

“If it’s all right with you two, would you care to have some refreshments with me and share a brief chat? I asked the cook specially to prepare tea and snacks that you both like.”

The sudden suggestion made both siblings’ eyes widen. And without stopping there, Duke Middleton presented another enticement.

“And I’ve also brought you some books I think you’ll like, Prince Louis. Let’s take a look at them together.”

“Thank you so much, but… Uncle, do you happen to know where Rick is?”

Rieta said with concern.

“They said a monster appeared, but I haven’t seen him since earlier…”

“Don’t worry, Princess Rieta. I heard he’s with the soldiers now.”

Rieta and Louis’ expressions brightened at Duke Middleton’s answer.

The Duke continued speaking slowly, facing his niece and nephew.

“He’s hunting monsters with my soldiers. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so I told the soldiers to leave him alone. He’ll be back soon after the hunt is over.”

“Thank you for your concern, Uncle.”

The Duke answered calmly as Louis smiled faintly.

“No. Thanks to you two, the once-desolate mansion seems to be coming back to life, and I’m even more grateful.”

Protecting them to the best of his ability was his duty to protect the royal family, and it was his final atonement towards the former king and Victor.

“If you have put your worries aside, would you mind chatting with this old uncle before bedtime?”

“I would be happy to do so.”

“Yes! Thank you, uncle.”

Louis nodded readily, and Rieta also answered brightly.

Nothing but chunks of meat and blood remained where Warren had passed. Roderick, the explorer who had been tracking him, shook his head with a pale face.

“I don’t even know what its original shape was at this point.”

“Isn’t it basically just pieces of meat?”

Ken responded with equal disgust.

It was still a bit early for everyone to be asleep, but the alley was completely quiet.

It was thanks to the Duke having warned the people in advance about the monster horde that was going to descend.

“I’m starting to feel sick. Warren, that bastard, can’t we just end it quickly and cleanly?”

Roderick grumbled as he lit a fire and held the ghoul’s flesh over it. The flesh began to burn, emitting black smoke.

“It’s remarkable it’s still intact. And don’t be so full of yourself. These things just keep regenerating endlessly if you don’t deal with them properly…”

Ken, about to reply irritably, suddenly stopped. He had sensed a suspicious presence behind him.

“…!”

Startled, the two turned around, only to lock eyes with a pair of blazing red eyes staring right at them.

At the same time that Roderick and Ken reflexively drew their swords…

“Keeeeeek!”

The ghoul lunged at them, swinging its massive scythe-like forelimbs. Roderick, who lunged forward first, swung his sword with a powerful slash.

But before his sword could even touch the ghoul, a black monster appeared without warning and snatched the ghoul away.

Two beings tangled in the darkness rolled on the floor, black blood splattering.

“Keeeeeek!”

The ghoul trapped beneath the giant wolf screamed. But Warren tore it apart mercilessly with his sharp claws.

Pieces of shredded flesh were scattered everywhere along with black, dead blood.

But even in a crushed state, the ghoul kept struggling.

Even its severed legs began to move and wiggle to rejoin the main body.

That wasn’t all.

“Crrrrr…”

“Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.”

Other ghouls began to emerge from the shadows, one by one.

Roderick, who suddenly came to his senses, shouted.

“Hey, move!”

“Huh? Hey hey hey!”

Ken, who had been standing there in a daze, suddenly came to his senses and joined the battlefield.

Ken’s sword and the wolf-type ghoul’s claws clashed head-on.

“What the heck, where the hell did these bastards come from?”

Warren responded stiffly as Ken screamed.

“It’s a summoning. We let our guard down.”

Warren quickly continued, tearing off the enemy’s head in one fell swoop.

“Those outsiders who suddenly showed up besides us were scattering small magic stones here and there.”

As a result, the territory became swarming with monster-type ghouls, in addition to the ‘Miracle Soldiers’, ghouls with fully human intelligence.

A ghoul suddenly appeared from the shadows and rushed towards Ken.

But Warren was faster than it.

“Keeeek!”

The ghoul let out a terrible scream, but it was a pointless resistance.

Warren crushed the bastard’s skull with his fist and tore apart the struggling body.

Warren looked back at the two, drenched in blood.

“I need to go find another humanoid ghoul. Is it okay if I leave the beast-type ones to you?”

“Stop wasting time here and get going already!”

Roderick retorted angrily and cut off the ghoul’s head.

Meanwhile, Ken ran in, took a small lump of gunpowder from his pocket, lit it, and stuffed it into the empty throat of the bleeding ghoul.

As the two people hastily distanced themselves, the gunpowder inside the ghoul’s body exploded.

Flames flew and the ghoul’s limbs were torn apart in an instant.

Chunks of blood and pieces of flesh scattered across the night sky like red rain.

Ken took advantage of Warren’s brief moment of silence to prepare for battle.

“This is really useful. It’ll definitely make our captain’s head spin.”

Ken, clicking his tongue in disbelief, held a handful of small bombs made from tightly packed gunpowder.

It was something prepared according to Llewellyn’s instructions.

As explorers were recently deployed to fight the Chernion Cult, the likelihood of encountering ghouls has increased.

However, since the explorers did not have the overwhelming fighting power of the Imperial Knights, Llewellyn had no choice but to think about how they could deal with the infinitely regenerating ghouls.

This was the result.

It was developed as a weapon by applying small explosives that explorers used to break through blocked walls or dig tunnels.

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“We’ve already trained several times. The others will be fine, so you just do your job.”

Ken chuckled playfully as he faced the ghouls that were surging in.

“Shouldn’t you be running errands for that ill-tempered apprentice knight?”

“…”

Warren’s face hardened. But that only lasted for a moment. Warren then nodded and leaped off the ground.

Warren disappeared over the wall in the blink of an eye, leaving the foul-smelling ghoul, Ken, and Roderick behind.

“Krrrrrrr…”

The ghouls began to slowly surround the two, drooling sticky saliva.

Ken and Roderick calmly backed away, putting some distance between them.

“Man, that thing’s really ugly.”

Roderick deliberately threw in a joke to ease the tension.

Ken, fighting against the stiffness creeping into his neck, forced a nod.

“Those damned cult bastards, they have bad taste.”

But there wasn’t much free time to chat.

The spider-like ghoul at the very front began to howl and rush towards them.

Roderick, with his sword in hand, and Ken, with his hands full of gunpowder, simultaneously kicked the ground and clashed with the ghouls.

It was an unusually long dawn.

A battle with the Evil Cult broke out in the territory where Princess Rieta and Prince Louis were staying.

The news spread quickly to the Caerleon Empire’s Imperial Palace, and Arthur and Arendt, who were in Count Stadler’s laboratory, returned to the Imperial Palace along with Lexion.

Everyone was tense and listened only to the brief communications reports that came from the Lucain Kingdom.

Llewellyn, in particular, had no choice but to spend the night wide awake, unable to hide his unsettled anxiety.

It was because of word that Warren and other explorers had also gone out to fight the ghouls.

Finally, the sun rose.

News arrived that the enemy had retreated and the fighting was over, and several more hours had passed.

Finally, the communication port Llewellyn used for the Explorers’ Union lit up.

It was from Duke Middleton’s estate.

“…”

Llewellyn, who had been listening blankly to the report coming from beyond the communication port, slumped down in his seat as if his legs had given out.

“…Is that true? You’re not lying, are you?”

Llewellyn, who had been staring blankly, asked several times in a distant voice.

“Really? No one really died, right?”

“I’m not some sleazy guy. Why would I lie to the captain about this? I’m really tired, so don’t make me repeat the same thing over and over again.”

Roderick deliberately responded in an even more irritated tone, sounding prickly.

-Some of them are seriously injured, and some are so injured that they have to retire… But fortunately, the damage is less than I expected.

It was thanks to Warren, who roamed the territory alone and took care of the most dangerous enemies first.

Roderick’s reports continued steadily over the communication channel.

Warren was badly injured, but he’s incredibly strong, so he’ll be fine. The Royal Knights, dispatched by the royal family, are nearby, so I’ll leave the remaining enemies to them.

“…Great job.”

Llewellyn, who slowly rubbed his face, sighed.

“You really, really had a hard time.”

It was something that could not be repeated enough.

Arendt, who had stayed up all night with Llewellyn, sat on the sofa opposite him, shaking his head with a sullen face.