「「「OOOOooooohhhhh?!」」」
「「「M-, MARVELOUS—! That’s our commander!」」」
Awestruck by the sight, the knights found their mouths agape. The devastation was so transcendentally massive—fortunately, the vaporized terrain consisted only of the garden, the castle walls, and the waterway drawn from Lake Vault, which the castle faces.
Or rather, Inglis used this technique here precisely because of the terrain. The castle building behind her was intact. Water from Lake Vault began to flow into the huge hole that she had vacated. The neverending rush of the stream looked like a huge waterfall with no bottom. Follow current novels on noⅴelfire.net
The sight alone pictured how astronomical the destruction she caused—
As the water rushed in, it would cover most of the grounds of the castle yard, and with it, nearly half of the whole castle grounds would become a canal with greatly increased width and depth compared to the previous canal— so Inglis predicted. That shouldn’t be that big a problem.
「Yup. For a technique I’ve never tried, it packs quite enough of a punch—」
Inglis, standing at the edge of the chasm she had just carved, nodded to herself with a refreshed smile. This was a combined technique that mobilized all of her Ether and Dragon Roar power with the dragonscale sword as key—Roaring Ether Cross, perhaps she would name it so.
「I doubt the words “quite” and “enough” befit destruction of this scale and intensity. Had I received that head-on, not even a speck of my bone would be left— I really wish you didn’t point such a thing at a person.」
Rochefort, who was grabbed by the neck by Inglis, muttered in dismay. Immediately after unleashing her Dragon Roar, Inglis zoomed at top speed with her Ether Armor to rescue Rochefort.
「Well, I’m sure there are only a handful of individuals who would be willing to receive this anyway— Either way, I went to the trouble to save you by the neck, so please spare me any critics.」
Inglis responded with an almost flirtatious smile.
「—Why did you spare me?」
「Because I find it a waste; I can’t fight you again if you die after all— Once you’ve recovered enough from your illness, let us meet and fight again. I will fight the Prisma, so please don’t let the guilt consume you. After all, it is also what I wished for.」
「……I leave it to you, please. If you can defeat that thing with your smile intact, then it is the closest the world has known to true peace. But, spare me the rematch. I don’t want to get sent back to the hospital right after I got recuperated.」
The golden shield that Rochefort held shone and returned to its human form. Arles, now back to her beastfolk shape, took Rochefort from Inglis and bowed reverently.
「Th-, thank you very much! Thank you very much for saving Ross!!」
Judging from her conduct, it was apparent how much she truly loved and cared for Rochefort, and how she had a gentle heart. She never was a good fit for the daring suicide mission that Rochefort and his team had adopted.
「Speaking of which, what was the purpose of your mission in the first place?」
Inglis, personally, was happy that she got in a good fight with the both of them, but there were still questions to answer.
「I-, it was all for me— Venefique only has me as their Hyrule Menace, so… whenever something goes wrong, I’m the one who bears all the work. However, if we managed to conquer Charalia and enlist their Hyrule Menaces as our own, then I don’t have to bear everything by myself, or so he said……」
Rochefort was thinking about Arles’ wellbeing after his death— it seemed. Now that Inglis thought about it again, indeed, in a country that only had one Hyrule Menace, if something should happen, then the one Hyrule Menace had to take care of all the work herself.
Charalia had two, Eris and Ripple, and so the burden of the work was split between them. Not to mention, being able to encourage each other to fulfill their roles as the protector of the country they occupy must have been significant.
The strong bond Inglis felt from those two spoke volumes. If Venefique were to conquer Charalia, then they could seize the Hyrule Menaces, and that would considerably reduce the burden Arles had to bear by herself.
「No matter how much I bring it to those cheapskate top brass, they won’t ask for an additional Hyrule Menace— so I just gotta outsource it, if you know what I mean… This was supposed to be my last performance in the last hours of my life, you know? Who woulda guess this is how it’s gonna end? Guess a madman can’t tell what the world has in store for him!」
Rochefort cowered in self-deprecation.
「I know what we did to your people was terrible! Even so, I couldn’t stop it— I’m sorry!」
「You don’t need to apologize, Arles. All this was instigated by me alone, I’m the only one who sinned— and that’s all right.」
「No, please don’t apologize to me. I should be grateful that you presented me with such an excellent fight— thank you very much.」
Inglis bowed to the two of them.
「……Ross, she’s, uhh—」
「Yup, she’s a lunatic… Much more than I am. Kukuku…she’s something else!」
「With that being said, I’m sure His Majesty the King will sort it out himself later— and I have no say in that…」
If King Charleas wanted to see them executed, then there was nothing Inglis could do to stop him. Strictly speaking, she could use force to save them, but once she did that, she wouldn’t be able to live in this country any longer, and that would trouble Rafinha, Raphael, and her families.
That was not a worthy exchange— or so she concluded.
「—They will be taken prisoner. Justice… will serve them at a later date.」
The one to declare so was King Charleas who came to the side of Inglis. Although a little unsteady, the king seemed to be able to walk on his own already.