Volume 2, Chapter 7 – The Midnight Assault (Part 2)

Alfred, who was straddling me, pulled the knife out of his stomach.

Then he took out a small vial, uncorked it, and downed the medicine inside in one gulp.

Immediately, the wound was covered in a faint light and rapidly healed.

It wasn’t completely sealed and was still bleeding, but it was probably no longer at the level of a deep wound.

“Healing ain’t your exclusive patent, y’know. Alright, time for some fun. Just wait your turn—I’ll let you lot have her too.”

Saying that, Alfred used my knife to slash open the chest part of my dress.

My modest chest, wrapped in my underwear, was exposed.

“Tch.”

“Hey, hey, what happened to all that bravado from earlier? Scream real nice for me, will ya? A chance like this to take Saint-sama’s virginity doesn’t come around often. Ahh, thank you, Gods~”

At the vulgar taunt, the men around us let out lewd laughs.

It’s okay, it’s not time to panic yet. Times like these call for calmness.

“Come on, hurry up, young master. There’s a line behind you.”

“Whoops, you’re right.”

Rip rip rip

Alfred tore my dress further into shreds.

It was reduced to little more than scraps of cloth, no longer serving to hide my body.

Now completely left in just my underwear, I glared at Alfred.

“Hoooh, still got that much spirit, huh? Take this!”

My cheek was punched with full force. Stars scattered before my eyes.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Why don’t you call your precious Holy Knight?”

“……”

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“Gyahahahaha! Or what, are you a pervert who gets off on being hit? Hey, hey, try begging for your life!”

“But young master, are you sure that Holy Knight won’t wake up?”

“No way she’s waking up. I made her drink a powerful sleeping drug. She’ll sleep for a full day. I don’t know why this one’s awake, but that one absolutely won’t wake up. If you’re worried, tie her up now.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

I see. So that’s how it is. In that case…

“Huh? She disappeared?”

I slipped into the shadows to escape my restraints and moved to Chris-san’s side.

“Detoxify!”

A soft light enveloped Chris-san. Then, Chris-san’s eyes blinked open.

“Chris-san, enemies. I’m all out of cards to play, so could you handle the rest?”

With a thud , Chris-san sprang up.

“Gah, Holy Knight!”

She surveyed the men.

Then, seeing me with a swollen cheek and in my underwear, Chris-san’s expression instantly froze over.

She quietly drew her Holy Sword, and the next moment, all the men had been cut down.

It happened so fast I couldn’t even tell what had occurred.

Some had their legs severed, some were cleanly bisected at the torso, some had their heads lopped off—all lay fallen in pools of blood.

“Chris-san, that’s overkill. We can’t interrogate them like this.”

“M-my apologies.”

“Yes. But thank you. You saved me.”

For the time being, I yanked the bedsheet from Chris-san’s bed and draped it over myself.

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I had spare clothes, but I really didn’t want to get them stained with these guys’ blood.

“Um, ah, good. Alfred is still alive.”

I walked over to Alfred, whose legs had been severed, and used Healing Magic to heal him just enough so he wouldn’t die.

While I was treating the other men who were still breathing, I heard the sound of multiple footsteps running from afar.

“Saint-sama—! Are you unharmed—?!”

That voice was the Count’s.

Probably because the door was left wide open and the furniture was out in the hallway.

The Count came rushing in with several attendants in tow.

“Wh—! Wh-what in the world is this? Hey, Alfred, what on earth are you doing? What happened?!”

Hmm, so the Count himself isn’t involved?

“Count Maynard, this man dared to attack Fiene-sama in her sleep and attempted to violate her. In this kingdom, those who commit such outrages against the Saint are executed without exception. His custody will be taken over by the royal palace.”

“Wh-why would you do such a foolish thing…”

Alfred didn’t answer.

“Desmond-sama. That man kept the Elf girl we saved as a slave. And I found out about it.”

“Wh—! What did you say?! Hey, Alfred! Why would you do such a thing?!”

Alfred still didn’t answer.

“At first, it seems he mixed sleeping drugs into our meal, planning to abduct her while we slept. However, I happened to visit her room at that time and saw definitive evidence, so it seems he tried to dispose of me along with her?”

“Wh-wh-what a… terrible thing…”

The Count turned deathly pale and fell to his knees.

“Count Maynard, what is the meaning of drugging our meal?”

Chris-san asked the Count in a voice cold enough to freeze.

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“M-my deepest apologies. However, our house had absolutely no intention of harming Saint-sama and the Holy Knight. This is all the work of this fool.”

“So Count Maynard was not involved?”

“I bear responsibility for the lapse in oversight. But slave trading, and moreover, harming Saint-sama—there is no benefit whatsoever for my house or my territory.”

I see. That might indeed be true.

“Lu-chan, I’m sorry to make you recall painful things, but please tell me one thing. That man over there, rolling around clutching my torn clothes—when did you first meet him?”

Lu-chan, who had been watching the situation from my bedroom, timidly came to my side.

She frowned at the gruesome scene but spoke to me in a small voice.

“I met that man for the first time today. After handing a jingling bag to someone, he dripped blood onto the Curse Mark on my stomach. Then he said that from today onward, he was my master.”

“I understand. Thank you. Lu-chan, you can go back now, it’s okay.”

I tried to smile to reassure Lu-chan as much as possible.

That said, I was starting to feel dizzy from the smell of blood.

If I stayed too long, I might not be able to suppress my bloodlust.

“I have no more questions. I’m not feeling well and would like to rest a little.”

“S-Saint-sama! In that case, we will prepare another room immediately. Please, I beg of you!”

The Count desperately repeated his prostrations.

Hmm, but is it okay to stay in the same mansion?

“Fiene-sama, I believe we should accept this offer. All the inns are already closed, and we cannot rule out the possibility of assassins. I will keep watch all night, so please rest assured.”

I see. Indeed, there were enemies even in the mansion’s garden, and it might be better than walking around at this hour.

Having judged so, I decided to accept the offer.

“Understood.”

◇ ◇ ◇

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“Sorry. I’m a bit… at my limit, so some blood…”

After moving to another room, I immediately asked Chris-san for blood.

Without a word, she filled a teacup with her own blood and offered it to me.

“Sorry, and thank you as always.”

I healed Chris-san’s wound with Healing Magic, then put my lips to the teacup and drank it all in one go.

“Chris-san, thank you. As expected, when I see blood, I just can’t hold back anymore.”

“Not at all. It is I who must apologize. I never imagined we would be drugged. To have made Fiene-sama face such violence, and on top of that, to have let you suffer such an ordeal!”

“I only got pinned down and punched around a bit. Nothing crossed the line, so it’s fine. From now on, I’ll cast Detoxify magic on you after every meal.”

“Fiene-sama…”

Chris-san still looked apologetic.

“Now, now, we saved Lu-chan too, so today’s outcome is all right, I’d say. Let’s leave this town and head north tomorrow. We don’t know if the Count is truly uninvolved in this matter either.”

“…I would like to do that, but it will be difficult. Slave trading and an outrage against Fiene-sama, who is the Saint—the actions of that man named Alfred are both acts worthy of capital punishment, clear acts of treason against the White Moon Kingdom. The responsibility will likely extend to the Count’s house as well. If Count Maynard is sensible, it might still be okay, but there’s still a risk he might try to protect his family member.”

I see. So the heir really did Manage to pull off two instant game-overs if they got exposed: slave trading and assaulting the Saint.

“Then, what should we do?”

“Yes. The Second Royal Knight Order has a squad stationed in this town. I have many acquaintances there, so first we should rely on them and have the Count’s family arrested. Then the Knight Order will investigate the case, and once there’s a reasonable prospect of resolving it, we can depart. That will likely be the course of events.”

“I see. Then let’s do that.”

I don’t really understand these things well, and Chris-san is, after all, a knight of this country, so it’s probably better to do as she says.

I lay down on the bed and immediately embarked on a journey to the world of dreams.

Translator Note

Yuri?