Chapter 86 – Rescue Operation 2 Part 3

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

Oh, so that’s his game huh. The reason why he pushed for me to be appointed as Lord Protector was to prepare the stage when I die of poison. It was to throw the investigation off. He just pretended that he thought highly of me.

Iris already warned me about the possibility of an assassination attempt, but I didn’t think it would happen so soon; inside the royal castle itself to boot.

I suppose they were more threatened by the fact that I managed to have Gloria join me than expected.

“Lord Corinth, it seems everyone wants to hear about how you managed to subjugate a dragon. If it’s alright with you, can you share your experience with everyone present?”

“Ooh! That’s a wonderful idea.”

“Lord Corinth, please.”

The prime minister, Marquis Burke, addressed me and put me back in the spotlight. Oh, so you want me to talk about that stuff again huh.

“I understand. If that’s what everyone wishes for, then I would gladly oblige.”

The hall quieted down and I started relating the story of how I managed to slay the dragon. It was the same version I told to the marquis a few days back.

“……And so, I returned to Gantz after that.”

“Ooh……”

“Something like that truly happened?”

“Lord Corinth, is it true that the other dragon also came to Gantz after that?”

“Yes. Three hours after I arrived back, the other dragon brought the dragon corpse back to Gantz.”

“”Oooh!””

“Unbelievable.”

“It may sound unbelievable, but this man truly accomplished such a thing. What a man, I say.”

For some reason, the prime minister displayed an amused grin. What do you mean by that, you damn snake?

Did he not notice that it’s already past thirty minutes since the toast and me drinking that poisoned white wine?

“Well then, let us toast to Lord Corinth once more.”

After the prime minister’s declaration, the castle chamberlains began pouring wine into everyone’s glasses once more. It looks like he did notice. So the prime minister wants to give me another helping of poisoned wine huh.

Sorry, but your poison no longer works on me.

“Well then, to Lord Corinth!”

“”To Lord Corinth!””

After bowing to everyone, I swallowed the wine all at once. The prime minister watched intently as I drank the wine. Heh. Just watch all you want. You’ll never figure my means out anyway.

(How is it?)

『It’s another type of poison, in a sufficiently lethal dose.』

Yeah, it’s just like I thought. I’m not sure who exactly spiked my wine with poison, but he or she was prudent and thorough enough to switch to another type after noticing that something was wrong with the first one.

“Lord Corinth, I have to ask, why do you insist on making the Great Demon Forest your territory?”

The one who asked the question was the king, who was sitting in front of the table reserved for the royal family.

“I simply felt that place, the Sea of Trees, had tremendous potential. I am excited even now at the prospect of exploring it and finding out just what lies within that great forest.”

“But if you cannot develop the land in the first place, then all will come to naught.”

“I will definitely develop that land, Your Majesty. I intend to dedicate my whole life to accomplish such a feat.”

“Hou…… If so, then once you truly manage to develop such a land, I am prepared to grant you the title of marquis.”

“……Truly, Your Majesty?”

A bout of shouting immediately rose from some of the nobles present. Oops, I dropped the ball there.

“Baron! Take note of your station and know that you do not have the right to question His Majesty’s words!”

“It’s fine. I did say you do not have to pay heed to one’s station tonight. Good. Everyone present shall bear witness. I hereby proclaim that once Lord Corinth successfully manages to reclaim the Great Demon Forest for our kingdom, I shall grant him the title of marquis.”

“Yes, I thank you for your immense benevolence and generosity, Your Majesty.”

It was a pretty great deal. Well, he probably promised something like that because he didn’t think I’d manage to reclaim the land in the first place, but as a king, I feel that his action was quite careless.

Hm. But maybe he just wanted to display his generosity to everyone present.

There are various levels of a territory’s development; from village to city and so on. I wonder what level I had to achieve for them to recognize that I’ve successfully developed the place. Well, it really didn’t matter whether my rank goes up or not.

Now then, there’s no point in thinking about something still far into the future. I need to think about how we’ll manage to return safely first.

–Elna’s POV–

After about an hour, everyone was already able to get up with their own strength and walk about normally. After thirty minutes more, they could already manage to lightly swing swords.

“As expected of the famed panacea, Dame Norian. I never thought I’d be able to recover and move around this much in such a short time. As time passes by, I feel like I’m getting stronger and stronger.”

Leader exclaimed in wonder as he swung a sword we confiscated from one of the guards. In any case, we’ll make sure Leader and the others never have to use their swords in this situation. It should be about time.

“Elna, it’s about time. We should move.”

“I was about to suggest that as well. Well then, Leader, please make your preparations. We’re heading straight for the carriage.”

“Understood. We’ll try not to get in the way as much as possible. We’re in your care.”

After a quick discussion, it was decided that each of my royal guard comrades will bring a sword taken from the castle guards.

As expected, ladies-in-waiting cannot be seen carrying a sword, after all, so we only sported the bladeknives we managed to bring with us.

“Selena and Sharon will take the lead. You will stop when the two of them stop and immediately follow after them when they start walking.”

“Understood.”

We opened the dungeon’s entrance and walked up the stairs. The two leading in front of us didn’t hesitate in the slightest.

We proceeded without incident over a distance of several hundred meters. At this rate, we’ll definitely make it out without trouble.

“Damn it!”

“How unlucky!”

Selena and Sharon cursed at the same time. They should have detected something through scanning magic. I have a bad feeling about this.

“What’s wrong?”

“We got pincered. We can’t avoid them anymore. Prepare yourselves. There are four chamberlains coming from the back and six castle guards coming from the front. It’s better to make our move first.”

Six castle guards. With Selena and Sharon, it would be simple enough to dispose of them, but it would undoubtedly raise quite a commotion.

It should be possible to make it back to the carriage after dealing with all of them, but it would probably be impossible to hide inside it until Alan arrives.

Moreover, the other guards will probably close the gates as well. It was the worst.

“Leader, we will deal with the castle guards ourselves, but please prepare yourselves anyway.”

“……I understand. We definitely won’t get in the way. Selena-dono, Sharon-dono, Dame Norian, I’m truly sorry for not being able to do anything to help.”

It looks like Leader already anticipated what would happen next as well. However, it was our decision to mount a rescue operation. There’s nothing that Leader and the others have to apologize for.

Now that this has happened, I suppose there’s no other choice but to destroy the castle gate with Selena and Sharon’s explosion spells in order for us to forcibly break out. This time, I will definitely rescue my comrades.

“It’s alright. Help is coming.”

Sharon turned to me and smiled.

Is Alan coming to help us? But I don’t think the situation would change much even if Alan arrives though.

Before long, I heard a bell ringing in the distance. That was a warning bell!

What’s going on!? Did we get discovered already?

The bell rang repeatedly in increasing frequency. Now, it seems even the castle’s warning bell was ringing.

In any country, the more frequent an alarm bell rings, the more urgent the emergency. Right now, the rate of the bells ringing was definitely not normal. It seems that something absolutely major was happening.

Just what was going on?