Volume 3, Chapter 42 – The Battle of Jinsha

Translator Note

The original raw in this chapter says フェリル (Feril) here, but this appears to be a typo for フェルヒ (Felhi) based on context.

The worst-case scenario had happened.

The child who had been stabbed must have had a hole in their trachea, as they were curled up on the floor, making a wheezing, whistling sound.

Since the knife had struck an area without any major blood vessels, there was no spray of blood.

“A… ah… Hao Yu! I… I… ah, aaaaaaaaaah!”

The mother’s desperate wail over her own child echoed through the lobby.

A blood-stained knife was still gripped in her hand.

“Now then, Saint-sama. How many more shall we kill?”

Felhi turned a sneering smile toward me.

It was no use. I didn’t have time to think of any more plans.

“The three of you, go outside and stop the Lesser Vampires running rampant. I will deal with this one.”

“But—!”

“Go, now! Charm Removal!”

As I shouted, I unleashed a burst of Holy Magic—Charm Removal—covering the lobby and an area of roughly 500 meters around the hotel.

Using that light as a signal, the three of them leaped out of the lobby.

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“Impossible! This is nonsense!”

Felhi’s voice sounded panicked.

Apparently, the hostages were only the ten groups in this lobby and a few others waiting outside the inn.

I knew this because I felt the magic of Charm Removal take effect on several people outside the inn, but there was absolutely no response from anyone further away.

The mothers and children, now freed from the Charm, looked around in confusion, glancing left and right without quite understanding what had happened.

“Healing!”

I cast Healing magic remotely on the stabbed child.

Enveloped in a faint light, the child’s wound healed in the blink of an eye.

Their expression softened, and they began breathing quietly in a deep sleep.

“Ma’am, your child is alright. It’s okay; you didn’t kill them.”

“Eh…”

Haggard and exhausted, she widened her eyes as she looked at her son, who was sleeping peacefully without a single injury.

“A… ah… ah…”

Tears streamed down her face. Choking back sobs, she gently stroked the throat of the child she had stabbed with her own hand.

I turned back toward Felhi and spoke with firm determination.

“Now, prepare yourself. I won’t let you escape this time.”

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◇ ◇ ◇

Following Fiene-sama’s instructions, we leaped out of the inn to find that chaos had already broken out; smoke and flames were rising from the direction of the Central Plaza.

“Kuh, that despicable vampire!”

“We must hurry. Fiene-dono will surely strike down Felhi.”

“That’s right. There’s no way Onee-sama would lose!”

“True. Let’s move!”

By the time we reached the Central Plaza, the town guards were already engaged in combat with townspeople who had become Lesser Vampires.

There were fifteen enemies, and the guards seemed to be at a severe disadvantage, with many wounded or collapsed on the ground.

“We’ll lend a hand!”

“Thank goodness! But the enemy are vampires. They’re quite strong—can you handle it?”

A man who appeared to be the leader of the guards called out to me.

“They are mere Lesser Vampires! Lesser Vampires are nothing to be feared.”

“Lesser? They’re this strong and they’re only ‘Lesser’?”

“The mastermind, the vampire Felhi, is being fought by Saint Fiene Argentata-sama. He will be struck down shortly. Men! This battle is as good as won!”

“What? Saint-sama is in this town? Alright, we can do this! Everyone, get your spirits up!”

“””Ooooooh!”””

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The mere mention of Fiene-sama’s name sent the guards’ morale skyrocketing. With this, they shouldn’t break easily.

“They’ve got spirit,” Shizuku-dono said with a grin.

“Against Vampires, this blade finally gets its chance to shine.”

Shizuku-dono readied the sword that Fiene-sama had imbued with Purification Magic.

That’s right—I also had the short sword that Fiene-sama had purified for me.

I had bought it as a countermeasure against that immortal beast in this town, but it had never been used until now.

The time had finally come for this weapon to be useful.

“Let’s go!”

We charged into the swarm of Lesser Vampires.

First, Shizuku-dono used her speed to close the distance, slashing through three Lesser Vampires in a single pass.

The slashed Lesser Vampires gave off hissing white smoke from their wounds and collapsed on the spot, quickly turning to ash and vanishing.

Whiz, whiz!

Arrows fired by Lumia struck other Lesser Vampires.

“Gyaaaaaah!”

The vampires hit by the arrows let out horrific screams of agony. White smoke hissed from the entry wounds, and after a moment, they succumbed and turned to ash.

I slashed at the shaken vampires with the sword I received from Fiene-sama.

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Slash, slash!

I cut down two Lesser Vampires and leaped back. As expected, white smoke hissed from the wounds, and they immediately vanished into ash.

“Ohhh, we can do it! We can actually do it! As expected of the Saint-sama’s attendants!”

“Uoooooh!”

“Don’t let them outdo us!”

The guards’ morale surged further, and they began to push the Lesser Vampires back.

In the meantime, Shizuku-dono cut down two more Lesser Vampires.

Lumia fired two more arrows; one hit a Lesser Vampire, while the other flew off in a completely random direction and embedded itself in a building’s wall.

I had a feeling it was in the direction of the inn where we were staying, but surely… no, that couldn’t be.

Just as I turned a charging Lesser Vampire into ash with a counterattack, the remaining enemies were defeated by the guards.

About twenty guards suffered light to heavy injuries, but we managed to repel the attack without any fatalities.

I only hoped the damage to the townspeople attacked before the guards and we arrived was minimal.

As that thought crossed my mind, I saw a pillar of white light rising from the direction of the inn.

“Let’s get back to Fiene-sama, quickly!”

I called out to the other two and raced back toward the inn.