TVGS 127

Chapter 127

Rift monsters and wizards swarmed toward the carriage carrying Duke Katrin Elemore.

The Emperor of Gran Orden and his followers advanced behind them.

The Emperor’s greedy eyes gleamed as he let out a delighted laugh.

“Uhehehe! Ahahaha!”

The monsters screeched horribly as they closed in. But from inside the stopped carriage, no one came out.

Are they trembling inside in fear? he thought. Yet it was far too quiet. Suspiciously quiet.

The Emperor’s brow twitched.

“But… where are the escort soldiers?”

“Perhaps they fled, Your Majesty.”

Because the guards who had been watching the carriage had already been turned into monsters, no one was left to report why the escorts had disappeared.

That troubled him, but he couldn’t afford to waste more time.

“The girl is the only one that matters. As long as we secure her, that’s enough.”

“Yes, pull her out.”

At the Emperor’s command, a Rift Wizard sparked magic around his head, and the controlled monsters lunged violently at the carriage.

Thud! Thud!

With their swollen fists pounding heavily, the carriage door was soon smashed off.

Surely, inside was the hostage he sought to capture.

But the moment he saw inside, the Emperor’s face froze.

“…!”

The carriage was empty.

“What is this?!”

The Emperor roared in a rough voice, his face twisting in shock.

“They said Duke Elemore boarded this carriage! That woman, Katrin Elemore!”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty! The guards said they had been watching her for three hours without looking away. They swore she boarded, but…”

The trembling subordinate stammered, but the Emperor’s fury reached its peak.

“Graaagh! You useless fools!”

He should have captured her.

By now, the Imperial Palace was likely being trampled under the enemy’s boots. Katrin Elemore was the only chance left to seize victory in this disastrous war.

“Damn it! Damn it all!”

The Emperor shouted, then gave his command:

“Turn them all into monsters!”

As the ring on his wrinkled hand shone, the Rift Wizards reached toward his subordinates.

“Y-Your Majesty! Please, Your Majesty!”

“You worthless insects! Everything has failed because of you! Because of you!”

His eyes were clouded with darkness, his reason long since lost.

“Ghhhkkk!”

As his own subordinates screamed, transforming into Rift monsters, it happened—

Whoosh!

An arrow flew from somewhere and pierced a Rift Wizard’s head.

The wizard’s blue body turned black and collapsed into liquid.

The Emperor’s brow twitched.

Whoosh!

Another arrow struck, killing another wizard instantly.

“W-Who’s there?!”

Seeing another wizard crumble, the Emperor staggered backward.

Then, suddenly, he looked toward the distance and froze in shock.

“This is…”

The carriage had been stopped on a road leading to a hill. From where he stood, the other side of the hill could not be seen.

Which meant—anyone lying in ambush would have been completely hidden.

And there, along the ridge of the hill, an enormous army appeared, looking down on him.

“…!”

Compared to the small escort unit the guards had reported earlier, this was an entirely different scale—an overwhelming force, ready for battle, aiming their swords and arrows at him.

“….”

And at the very center of them—

A man with black hair blowing in the wind, his piercing blue eyes glaring down at him.

The sheer pressure radiating from him alone made it clear—this was Etias von Clyde, Emperor of Oswell.

I thought he would be inside the Imperial Palace…

And beside him stood a woman with pink hair, bow in hand.

Her fitted hunting armor, skilled posture, and sharp eyes revealed the truth—

This had all been a planned trap.

She did not wear the face of a frightened woman running from monsters.

“H-Haa…”

The Emperor’s breath caught.

A few hours earlier, I had boarded the carriage with Lancelot.

The Emperor of Gran Orden wanted to capture me.

The reason was simple: if I were taken hostage, he believed it would open a path to negotiate with Etias, or at the very least threaten or attack him.

If I openly left the battlefield, he would surely try to capture me.

He might send Rift Wizards again as before, but in this desperate situation, there was a high chance he would come himself.

After all, this would be his last chance.

So I shared my plan with Etias and Lancelot—using myself as bait.

Etias opposed it immediately, of course. But I persuaded him with Lancelot’s medicine.

— It’s an invisibility potion. If I drink this, I can secretly slip out of the carriage. This is the only way to end the war quickly.

When we captured the second city, many Imperial soldiers had already been wounded. Facing the swarming monsters in the capital would mean even more losses.

Even with Heros’s medicines that worked so well against the creatures, it would take too much time.

And during that time, the Emperor could flee with the Rift Wizards and continue turning people into monsters anywhere.

We had to capture him to rip out the root of this evil.

— I’ll go with you.
— No, Your Majesty. You are the commander. If the commander abandons the battlefield to run off with Katrin Elemore, who looks like she’s afraid of war—what would people think? It would look completely wrong.

Etias, who was always rational and calm, seemed to lose all sense when it came to this matter.

At that point, Lancelot stepped forward. He reminded Etias that he had been ordered to protect Duke Katrin Elemore—and that he would guard me even at the cost of his life.

With great difficulty, we convinced Etias, and together we built a careful plan.

Inside the carriage, after traveling for quite some time, it was finally time to escape.

Lancelot took out the potion first and drank it.

Soon his body began to vanish… but his clothes remained.

It looked like his garments were floating in the air.

“…I’ll remove them.”

His low voice startled me, and I quickly turned my eyes away.

I knew he was invisible, but the feeling was strange.

“It’s done.”

When I cautiously turned my head back, only his discarded clothes were left on the floor.

He was invisible now… but that meant he was completely naked.

My heart thudded with a nervous tension.

It would’ve been nice if there were invisible underwear too…

And the next obstacle: I would also have to take off my clothes.

The potion only worked on my body—it didn’t make my clothing vanish.

With a small sigh, I pulled out the potion and gulped it down.

Ugh, bitter.

At once, a warm sensation spread through me.

When I looked down, my arms and legs were gone, leaving only the dangling layers of my dress.

What a strange feeling.

I moved my body, but only the clothes shifted while my form stayed unseen. It was surreal.

“At least hair and nails, where blood doesn’t flow, turn invisible too. That’s a relief.”

Otherwise, I would’ve had to not only remove my clothes but also cut off all my hair…

No, best not to imagine something that terrible.

“….”

“Your Grace?”

When he didn’t speak, I called Lancelot.

“…Ah.”

His voice finally came, tighter and more nervous than usual.

I flinched at the sudden change.

“Is there a problem?”

“N-No, not exactly a problem…”

His breathing sounded rougher than usual.

“…No. Hm.”

He cleared his throat awkwardly.

Feeling uneasy, I crossed my arms to cover myself and asked:

“You can’t see me, right?”

“Of course not! Absolutely not. Just as I cannot see you, Duke Katrin Elemore, you also cannot see me. It’s the same. There’s no need to worry.”

He rushed to explain in a flustered voice, then added in a lower tone:

“It’s just that this situation… it’s far too…”

He let out a rough sigh.

“…too stimulating.”