“Rosie, I've seen your Charge skill many times before.”
Anna's voice came from inside the blue barrier.
“Surrender.”
“As long as you're willing to surrender, I can ask the Count to spare you.”
Rosie stared at Count Morris's face, then glanced at Anna's.
“What difference is there between a fart and the words of someone who launches a sneak attack regardless of their status?”
Of course she wouldn't surrender.
Count Morris dared to attack and kill a fellow noble, a Baron, and had now directly ordered a massacre. It was obvious he wanted to monopolize the underground world.
How could such an ambitious man let her go just because of a word from Anna?
Once she surrendered, the only fate awaiting her was to become a prisoner.
They would definitely interrogate her about how she knew the ancient script and the secret of using the ancient language.
By then, maybe even her cheat would be exposed.
It was absolutely impossible for her to surrender.
“In that case, don't blame me.”
Anna raised her wand, about to cast a spell.
But Rosie had already turned decisively and charged toward the chaotic battlefield.
As she passed the dwarf, she reached out, grabbed the back of his neck, and dragged him away like a cat.
“Hey! You...”
Before the dwarf could finish his sentence, he had already been dragged into the chaotic crowd.
Rosie cast a final glance at the Baron; he had already lost all signs of life.
She hesitated no longer. Dragging the dwarf, she executed several Charges in a row, knocking aside the soldiers blocking her path, and instantly burst out of the camp, vanishing without a trace.
The Count's soldiers hadn't even reacted yet.
Anna lowered her raised wand.
“What a headache she is...”
If possible, she actually didn't want to make an enemy of Rosie.
Unfortunately, the secrets of this underground world were too important to risk.
The location of this ruin wasn't found by chance, as the merchant Kaluk had claimed.
Rather, it was the result of researching and analyzing multiple ruins.
However, the initial results pointed to several locations.
Only after the others were ruled out did they finally lock onto this place.
Of course, even Anna herself hadn't expected that this wasn't just a ruin, but a massive underground world!
“She got away?” Count Morris glanced at Anna, a trace of displeasure flashing in his eyes.
“She's very smart,” Anna said. “She kept adjusting her position so I couldn't lock onto her. To hit her, I would have had to use a wide-area spell, but that would have hurt your men.”
“A pity. I originally planned to pry the secrets of the ancient language out of her mouth,” Count Morris said with regret.
“Our agreement didn't include killing nobles,” Anna said, staring at the Count.
She hadn't expected the Count to actually kill the Baron, but since her employer had acted, she couldn't just stand by.
“Does your Mages Association really care about the life or death of a local lord?” Count Morris retorted.
Anna said softly, “I just don't want things to get too out of hand, making it difficult to wrap up later.”
“I will handle matters within Deros,” the Count said. “You just take care of your end.”
Anna gave the Count a calm look and said no more.
The battle did not last long.
The Baron's side simply had too few people.
They fell one after another. The clash of swords grew sparse, and the screams gradually died down.
The last few mercenaries knelt on the ground, threw down their weapons, and raised their hands, surrounded by the Count's soldiers.
An injured knight knelt on one knee. He looked up at John not far away and spat, “Bah! Traitor!”
The spit landed in front of John's boot, staining the tip.
John didn't dodge, nor did he speak.
He walked slowly toward the knight, then pierced his throat with a sword.
“Goodbye,” John said softly.
At the same time, the sound of blades cutting into flesh echoed nearby as those who had knelt and surrendered were all executed.
The cavern was a river of blood, a gruesome sight.
The air was thick with the stench of blood.
Knight John walked through the bodies strewn across the ground and approached the Baron.
He knelt down, reached out, and closed the Baron's still-staring eyes.
“May you rest in peace,” he whispered.
Then he stood up and returned to Count Morris's side. “My Lord Count, it is all over.”
Count Morris nodded. “Sir John, you have done well. You did not waste my father's grooming of you back then.”
John shook his head. “Not good enough. If there hadn't been a problem with kidnapping Miss Rhine, he wouldn't have had to die.”
He glanced at the Baron's corpse nearby.
If the kidnapping of Miss Rhine hadn't gone awry, they could have threatened Baron Weiss into submission, and there would have been no need to go this far.
Unfortunately, Rosie had appeared out of nowhere and disrupted all their plans.
Moreover, John had a faint feeling that the Baron had already realized his identity.
Count Morris patted John's shoulder.
“You did your best. It was Weiss who didn't know what was good for him, actually dreaming of laying hands on something that didn't belong to him. I will find a way to have you succeed Weiss's position as lord. This entrance is only safest when held in our hands.”
John nodded, his gaze sweeping over the corpses littering the ground.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed slightly. “Where is Miss Rosie?”
Count Morris waved his hand dismissively. “Just a hedge knight, no need to worry about her.”
John shook his head. “No, she is no ordinary hedge knight.”
He turned to Anna. “Lady Anna, you know what she's capable of. Why didn't you stop her?”
Anna fell silent for a moment before speaking. “It must have been during the fight with the giant sandworm earlier. She must have realized I can't lock onto high-speed targets, so she kept using that to evade my targeting.”
“You could have used a wide-area spell!” John said.
Anna shook her head. “She entered the combat zone immediately. Wide-area spells don't distinguish between ally and foe, and would have injured the Count's men.”
John sighed. “I can't help but feel we let a great enemy escape.”
Count Morris was dismissive. “The portal has already been occupied by my men. No one can leave.”
Since the Count put it that way, John said no more.
“What about those two rats?”
Anna looked toward the corner, where two rats were tied up with rope.
Little White and the plump Queen Rat were huddled together.
The sudden outbreak of battle had terrified them.
They were originally tools Rosie had handed over to the Baron to manage the rat swarm, but now they had become the Count's spoils of war.
“Keep them,” John said with a glance. “They might still be useful.”
“What about the workers?” Anna glanced at the dozens of workers crouching in the corner.
“Is that even a question? Dispose of them all, of course,” the Count said with complete indifference.
He even dared to kill nobles; killing a few dozen workers was no different to him than crushing a few dozen ants.
Anna said nothing more. She sheathed her wand, turned, and walked out of the camp.
The air here was too foul; she needed to breathe some fresh air.
The firelight flickered behind her, swallowing the corpses on the ground and the impending slaughter into the shadows.
Rate on N.U.
