The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

Translator: FusionX

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Did Robert… leave?”

“Yeah, he left.”

Lothos showed a complicated expression as he looked at Adele, who had returned alone.

He thought she seemed a bit shaken since she found out the princess was in danger.

Although saving the princess was the top priority, it was hard to readily understand her decision to act alone.

Her attitude was so serious that he couldn’t stop her, and moreover, didn’t Adele also acquiesce to it?

However, what bothered him was Adele’s expression.

It was an expression even Lothos saw for the first time, so it was difficult to grasp Adele’s mood.

The only certain thing was that her mood was terrible.

“… He left.”

Adele, who answered like that, slightly bowed her head.

She seemed a bit depressed, unlike usual.

While she looked irritated, the light in her eyes was dimmer than ever.

Lothos couldn’t say anything to Adele.

If he spoke to her now, it felt like Adele’s emotions would explode.

It was the first time he saw her showing a weak side.

And only then did he realize that Adele was a woman before being the Grand Duchess.

If she followed Robert and returned with that expression… even if it was a misunderstanding, various rumors might arise.

She was probably worried.

Adele could have followed him, but leading these hundreds of soldiers was solely her authority.

There might be a group that would ambush the scattered soldiers, so she couldn’t easily leave her position.

So the only method was to move as quickly as possible and join Robert.

If he went alone, it would take a few hours, but if they all moved together, it would take a full day.

“I think moving quickly is our best option for now. Even if I don’t think he’ll lose to Temuzin, he’s not an easy guy to catch alone, right?”

“What if we send the soldiers back from here and only a few of us gather and join him?”

“Are you planning to go without soldiers?”

“Even if they come together, you know they won’t be of much help. The goal is just to rescue Her Highness the Princess, killing Temuzin can be postponed.”

If the situation were like usual, killing Temuzin would have been their top priority.

But now, the princess’s life was being threatened.

If they prioritized other things while ignoring the princess, who could be considered a hostage, there was a high probability they would lose everything.

So was she saying she would strike with a small number?

Lothos, who realized Adele’s judgment wasn’t bad, soon nodded and opened his mouth.

“Then let’s do that. I think it would be better for Bunta to lead the soldiers and regroup with us later.”

“Yeah, then you and Bunta stay and lead the soldiers. I’ll go ahead with the rest.”

“… Wait, you’re leaving me behind too?”

“If you’re dissatisfied, learn to use a sword. It would be difficult to protect you there, do you want to die?”

“That’s not it.”

It would be better to stay by her side and help her maintain composure if possible, but who would do that if not him?

Lothos had no choice but to nod his head.

If not him… perhaps Robert would play that role instead.

But the problem was if a situation arose where Robert was injured or died.

If such a situation really happened…?

Just imagining it, it didn’t seem like something good would happen, so Lothos, who let out a small sigh, wiped his forehead.

He hoped no one would get hurt.

Even as he headed towards Bunta, he glanced at Adele, who was preparing to leave with the other deputies.

He hoped it was just a feeling, but somehow he had a bad premonition.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Is there any sound coming from outside?”

– No, there’s none now. It was a bit noisy earlier, but now there’s no sound at all.

After riding the wolf for a long time, the Terra Knight mine in the northwest where the princess was staying finally came into view.

The tribes surrounding the area were not very numerous.

Perhaps the imperial army had handled them to some extent.

Plus, there were soldiers stationed by Adele, so it would take quite some time before the tribal warriors rushed to Miragen.

Not cutting off contact with Miragen was to reassure her.

Hiding in a space with no one to talk to could be quite difficult, so her anxiety might be amplified if left alone.

Even if it was pointless talk, in this situation, it would be better to at least keep her company.

The place he was heading to now was the entrance to the secret passage that connected to where she was, and he had roughly grasped the location after hearing various explanations.

Now he just needed to go there and join Miragen, but looking beyond the horizon, he could see a problem had arisen.

“I believe it’s silent now due to the tribes and the soldiers clashing.”

– Ah, are they fighting now? How’s the situation?

“Of course they’re being pushed back. They weren’t stationed here in anticipation of this situation in the first place.”

– … I guess so.

They had stationed them just in case, but no one had expected Temuzin to decisively launch an attack, right?

Even I had only considered the possibility.

Since this was the first time such a situation had occurred, no matter how much I thought about it, it was right to consider one assumption.

Someone had helped Temuzin.

The fact that the princess was staying in the northwest was top secret information known only to those above the rank of deputy in the North.

Either someone in a high position in the imperial palace or one of Adele’s deputies must have told Temuzin about it.

But it wouldn’t be a deputy, so who on earth had told Temuzin about the princess?

Even after thinking about it a bit more, no distinct person came to mind.

Although there was a possibility that the Crown Prince might have directly intervened, there was no reason for him to make a move on the princess now.

In the first place, Miragen’s death had only occurred once in all my runs.

At that time, I already had a deep relationship with Miragen, so the situation itself was different from now.

Still, it was a bit awkward to exclude it… Recalling the letter Renold had received, I shook my head.

There was no sign of the Crown Prince making any moves.

Even if I considered the possibility of Renold having a change of heart, there was no way the Crown Prince, who was focused on the relics, would have moved first in this situation.

Finding out who he had contacted was a matter for later.

For now, I had to focus on saving Miragen first.

As I grasped the sword borrowed from Adele, I felt a cold chill.

A sword forged of iron from the Tundra, a renowned sword that could handle my mana no matter how much I used it.

I thought she wouldn’t lend it to me, but I never imagined she would be so generous to the extent of lending me a sword.

She must trust me in her own way.

Responding to that trust was probably what I had to do today.

Even if Adele chased after me again, the distance between us had already widened considerably. By the time she arrived here, the situation would likely already be over.

The sight Adele would witness then would be one of two things.

Either I saved Miragen, or we were both dead.

As I slowly infused mana into my body, I thought.

If I failed to save Miragen, there was a high probability that I would be pressured by various people.

In that case, it would be better to die again and aim for regression.

I was used to dying.

I just wasn’t used to others dying.

“I won’t be able to talk for a while.”

– Are you near here?

“Yes, I’ll contact you again once things are sorted out to some extent. Until then, please wait and examine the situation. If I don’t contact you…”

There was always the possibility of ‘what if’.

Now that I hadn’t fully recovered my previous level, with only 10% of my strength, it might be difficult to face dozens of people.

If Temuzin joined too, I would definitely die.

The best course of action I could think of was to defeat them one by one.

If that failed, I would die, so I paused for a moment and slightly moved my lips.

“If a situation arises where I am unable to contact you, I’ll fight to the death with the enemy commander. So run away as far as you can, somehow. Find a way to survive.”

– You talk about dying so calmly.

I smiled at her slightly angry voice.

After listening to Miragen scolding me for a while, I muttered softly.

“Then I will stop communicating with you now.”

– Oh… was I speaking too harshly?

“That’s not it. I think it’s about time I moved.”

What came into my sight was the movement of some of Temuzin’s forces.

After failing to break through the blocked main gate, they were trying to find another passage.

I needed to stop them.

If they discovered the eastern passage like that, Miragen would be in danger in many ways.

– … Don’t get hurt. That’s an imperial order.

As I tried to answer the words that reached my ears, I quietly put the artifact in my pocket.

It was better not to have a long conversation with Miragen.

Especially in this situation, I might ruin things by being immersed in unnecessary thoughts.

Thump.

I closed my eyes tightly at my quietly beating heart.

It was a kind of ritualistic action I did before devoting myself to something.

There was a high probability that the luxury of hiding my strength like before wouldn’t work.

With full force, I had to squeeze out my strength to the limit if possible.

As I grasped Adele’s sword again, a blue light rippled.

A brilliant light that could be seen at a glance even in this twilight spilled out, the tribes who discovered me soon changed direction and began charging towards me.

Getting off the wolf, I shook the reins a few times and it ran away in the opposite direction from the oncoming tribes.

After the wolf went far away and disappeared from sight, I let out a small sigh.

It was more comfortable to fight on foot than riding a wolf. And the wolf might get hurt, so I took a deep breath and stood in position.

Whoosh-

The wind blew.

On this hill where I stood, my cloak fluttered like a flag.

At the same time, my shining mana would probably look like the biggest target among them.

I pointed my sword at the tribes who had approached within close range.

Swish-!

The sound of swords clashing was not heard.

I focused solely on slashing, unlike when I fought Bunta.

It was not to confirm each other’s skills, but simply to kill.

Piercing through the heart, snatching the enemy’s sword and thrusting it into another.

The blue line flowing from my sword fiercely emitted light.

The breath entering my lungs became vitality, and that vitality was connected to my muscles.

I swung my sword while twisting my body and cut down three of them.

Two, three.

Again, one, two.

As the battle flowed, my series of actions of swinging my sword and inhaling were all supposed to be connected as one.

Even if I gained the upper hand, it would just be arrogance with this number.

If my movements were disrupted even for a moment, wouldn’t I be the one to suffer?

I thrust my fist into the solar plexus of a charging enemy.

Grabbing his head that coughed up blood with a groan, I slammed it into the ground and trampled it to widen the distance.

I created a gap with my sword so that the enemy couldn’t enter the circle drawn by my arm and sword.

Just letting them feel this gap was enough to break their morale.

My reputation as the Sword Saint was not with me now.

It was just a fragment of the previous run, to them I was just Adele’s deputy.

But there was still something that didn’t change.

It was the eyes of those looking at me.

Fear seeped into the eyes of those who had initially looked down on me, and that fear caused them to hesitate in their actions.

That was the difference between them and formally trained knights.

They harbored emotions during a fight thus allowing for them to be broken through in a single point.

“Retreat- Retreat!”

“Damn it, everyone run away!”

At the point when they blew the retreat bugle against one person, the upper hand they showed was already broken and would not recover.

I bit my lip at my gradually quickening breath.

I couldn’t show my weakness even for a moment.

Rather than letting them notice my stamina was dropping, it was better to grit my teeth and overdo it.

“Argh!”

I thrust my sword into the chest of the tribesman whose eyes met mine and tore it out.

Turning my gaze from the one who had become a torn corpse, I swung my sword at the remaining ones.

Arrows that were shot blindly embedded themselves in me, and their reckless sword swings hit my body, carving off flesh.

I didn’t stop.

It was because I knew it would be better to forcibly hold them back and show that I still had leeway.

Ptooey, as I spat out a lump of blood from my mouth and caught my breath, I realized there were no more enemies standing around.

Had I cut down around thirty? Only after the eerie moonlight shone on me could I see that I was drenched in blood.

Fortunately, not much of that blood was mine.

If poison had been applied, it would have been troublesome, but for now it was fine, so there was no problem.

Frowning at the gradually increasing stinging pain, I began to move my steps like that.

Now that they knew I had come here, their attempt to attack the gate would be delayed.

“I bought time, I just need to join her.”

Plop, as I pulled out the arrow stuck in my shoulder, blood gushed out.

I roughly tied it with cloth to stop the bleeding, and suddenly, remembering Miragen’s words, a laugh inadvertently escaped.

I think she told me not to get hurt since it was an imperial order, but by doing this, I had already disobeyed her order as soon as I heard it.

“… Will she be angry?”

Frowning, I could clearly imagine her standing with her arms crossed, ready to say something.

Whenever Miragen got angry at me, it was always like that.

It would be quite difficult to appease the sulking Miragen.

Laughing at my suddenly rising worry, I moved my steps again like that.

This time, I hoped I could see her getting angry like that.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇