CH 80

Chapter 80

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : Attack On Church Of Arnelia, Part 8 — This Bunch Of Children

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「Did we do it?」

「No… Just before it hit, it was telekinetically defended. I almost had my fist crushed. In addition, she’s flying backwards by herself, so I can’t do much damage.」

「Nuuh, that’s troublesome.」

Manadil was right, in fact, Ossyria did get up quickly and stood there as if nothing had happened. Then she suddenly shifted her eyes toward the Palace of the Deep Green and started walking toward it.

「I’m not letting you go!」

「…Get out of my way.」

Ossyria stomps the ground! The ground swirled and began to cave in and uplift as it could no longer bear the load.

「Ohhhhh!」

「Is she telekinetically twisting the ground?」

It was an extraordinary power, Manadil thinks, but then he realizes that Ossyria is already gone. At the same time, Ossyria appears in front of the Palace of the Deep Green. When the ground is broken down in the same way, it rises up and becomes like a wall. The height of the wall must have been about five meters.

「This will buy us some time… just as we discussed…」

Ossyria grinned and disappeared again from the scene.

＊＊＊

Boooooom! Claaaang!

The sound of battle was echoing in the distance like a thunderclap, but apparently the sound was gradually getting closer.

This is supposed to be the most secluded place in the Palace of the Deep Green, but the sounds of battle were getting closer and closer. Young children such as Milche and Thomas are frightened by the sound. It is exclusively the role of Nelly and Ruth to comfort them. Jake said he was going to check outside and left without hearing the maid of honor’s words. Jake’s behavior was unexpectedly quick, even though the lady of the house was also a member of the “silent” crowd.

「That sound, what was that?」

「It’s getting closer and closer, you know?」

「Don’t worry. Jake told you it would be fine.」

「But it’s scary… Fuaaahnnnnn!!!」

Finally, Thomas started to cry. Hearing his voice, the children began to cry in a chain reaction. Nelly and Ruth try to soothe them somehow, but they want to cry too. Both of them were in tears, but then there was a woman who softly patted them on the head. It was the same woman who had been with them when they evacuated to this room. They thought she was dressed in the strangest clothes Nelly had ever seen, but the people with her were dressed in the same way, with obi. Nelly thought she must be a great person because she was sitting there protected by the people around her.

Now the woman was patting her own head with a very kind expression. The light shone on her very long jet-black hair, and Nelly couldn’t help but gawk at the sight, which could be described as divine.

「Who are you, Miss…?」

「My name is Shino. And you are?」

「Nelly…」

「I see… Nelly is a good girl, you take care of everyone.」

「Yeah, because I’m the oldest in my group.」

「Is that so? But I’ll take care of the rest…」

Then she sings a lullaby to the crying children, comforting them one by one. Then the children stopped crying.

「I don’t know that song～」

「Miss, you’re good at singing.」

「Unlike Lisa-nee… it’s big…」

「I–I’m sorry…」

The children, for their part, began to talk without reason, and Thomas even poked Shino in the chest with his finger. Shino is turning bright red and holding her hands to her cheeks at the children’s relentless prodding and Thomas’ behavior.

「Thomas! Isn’t that rude?」

「Don’t be cool, Ruth. You want to do it yourself.」

「S–Stupid. That’s… well… just a little…」

「Ruth is a pervert!」

「I haven’t done anything yet!?」

「We are children, so it’s okay for us to play dirty.」

「Thomas! Where did you learn those words!」

「I’ll pretend that Jake was saying that.」

「Thomas! Stay there!」

「Ahh, there’s nothing Shino can do here…」

「S–Shino-sama…」

These are the children that Lisa raised. It seems that this woman, Shino, was a bit too much for even Miliazar to handle to take care of these unruly children. The children play freely, sitting on Shino’s lap or pulling her long hair. Shino’s attendants are also horrified by what has happened. When the children begin to run amok, it seems that even the courtesans of the Shrine of the Deep Green Palace can’t handle them. The kunoichi who plays a man’s hand is also formless. The children stopped crying, though, no doubt due to Shino’s benevolence.

＊＊＊

At that time, Jake had slipped out of his room and was making his way at a trot through the Dark Green Palace. He was Jake, in charge of the children, and he knew full well that he could do nothing if he left, but he had a bad feeling about what was going on. In these situations, Jake honestly decides to follow his instincts.

But he was running along, not knowing what in the world he was supposed to do. Instinct tells him that he must run now. If he doesn’t run now, he will miss something important. The foot that moved to do so easily evaded the hands of the mouthless, a well-trained warrior. Jake didn’t consciously do so.

But was it as Jake’s instincts told him, or was it some kind of twist of fate? The sound of swords cutting through the air ahead of him made him duck for cover. Someone is fighting.

「（Is that… Albert?）」

From across the hallway, he saw Albert chasing after what appeared to be a child. But it couldn’t have been a normal child, for he could see a black swirl with a funny-looking face floating around it. Jake thought,「How creepy,」but in the fight itself, Albert seemed to have the upper hand.

「（But still, Albert… amazing! That was Albert at his best!）」

Jake’s hand involuntarily tightens at the sight of Albert’s sword, which destroys even pillars and walls. And when Albert cuts the boy in two, Jake clenches his fists in a small, hidden fist. But… Something was wrong, Jake intuited. Alberto was looking down at the boy as he was, but when he felt that he could not go on, he leaned over and Jake screamed.

＊＊＊

「Not yet, Albert!」

「!」

Albert heard someone yelling. He was not caught off guard, but he reflexively took a defensive posture. But it was the right thing to do. He felt some strong impact on his sword and was forced back a few meters. If he hadn’t been in a defensive posture, he would have been completely blown away.

「Che… I thought that if you cut it in half, it would catch you somewhat off guard. Who was it that yelled something unnecessary?」

Voices can be heard from Doom, which should have been cut in half. The body, which had been cut in half, rises up, and even the blood that should have splattered all around it returns to its original state.

「I even staged the blood spattering… it was supposed to be a great performance.」

「You, are you immortal?」

Doom fearlessly answered Albert’s question.

「What do you think～? Well, I’m pretty sure I can’t die in half. You’re a great swordsman, by the way, I’ll give you that. And I will kill you with the utmost cruelty.」

「Try it. If it doesn’t work in half, I’ll just cut you in half. 」

「I wonder if you can… and, before that…」

Doom glances sideways at Jake. Jake leans in involuntarily, and his eyes cross with Doom’s.

「What’s your name?」

「…Do I have to identify myself?」

「Fufufu, that’s prudent. That’s fine to me. But how did you know I wasn’t dead? How did you know?」

「Kind of felt it.」

「Kind of felt it, huh… Fufufu, ahhh— hahaha!!!」

Doom starts laughing in high spirits. Jake looks at him suspiciously, and Albert is readying his sword and looking for an opening to slash at him, but Doom sees no opening, even though he is talking to Jake.

「What are you laughing at, you creep?」

「You’re an inconsiderate kid, aren’t you? So my plan was somehow foiled. It’s interesting, though… You deserve death!」

Doom holds his hand out toward Jake, and the shapes of the evil spirits become like a vortex and fly toward Jake. Its thickness is not much, but its momentum is much faster than the one he had just unleashed on Albert.

「!」

「Jake!」

The mass of evil spirits hit the spot where Jake was standing too fast for Albert’s screams to reach him in time.