Chapter 266 : Chapter 266
Chapter 266 : Watchdog (3)
The lightning-fast arc slashed upward as Batz cut across the crown in Ramba's hands.
CLANG!
The metallic sound was short and intense. If the heat of the scorching sun warming the entire earth could be condensed into a single sound, it would surely be this.
"Hua......"
Ramba groaned and collapsed to his knees. The crown was still held in his hands.
'W-What was that just now......?'
Although all he had seen was a flash of light in an instant, for some reason, his entire body felt chilled. It felt as if death had brushed past the nape of his neck.
"It's the real deal," Batz muttered indifferently. His gaze as he examined the edge of his blade was dry.
Neither the blade nor the crown had a single nick; both were perfectly intact.
"So a holy relic is indeed a holy relic. Isn't that right?" Batz raised the corner of his mouth slightly. The razor-sharp blade slid smoothly back into its scabbard.
Watching that sight made Ramba's mind go blank. Urine trickled down between his trembling thighs.
"Hand it over quietly. Then I'll spare your life. I don't have a hobby of taking a lowly beggar's life. Especially someone as brave as you."
Ramba dropped his head. Tears dripped down. The sound of him sniffing echoed loudly through the underground sewer.
"……I-I cannot do that."
"Hmm?"
Soon, Ramba snapped his head up. His lips twitched, revealing his missing teeth.
"If you take away loyalty from a beggar, what else is left?"
Batz let out a short sigh. He seemed genuinely impressed.
"Now I want to kill you even less. Out of all the Kingdom people I've seen so far, you're truly my favorite."
Just then, a mustache knight from the crowd behind them stepped forward. His expression was highly dubious, his discomfort painfully obvious.
"Look here, Sir Batz. We are strictly on a mission right now. This is a momentous matter of recovering the royal family's holy relic, so please take it seriously."
"Perfect, that works out well. Then you do it yourself."
"……What do you mean by that all of a sudden?"
Batz gestured with his chin while crossing his arms, a playful smirk plastering his face.
"A battle to the death between the two of you. Ah, do you call it a trial by combat in your terms? Well, whatever. Hey, beggar. If you beat that guy, I'll let you go. I promise on my honor."
"L-Look here, Sir Batz! Your joke goes too far!"
"A joke? The command of this operation belongs to me. Are you disobeying your superior's order right now?"
The mustache knight was left speechless. It was sheer sophistry. Batz was neither his operational commander nor his superior. He had merely received orders to assist Batz and retrieve the crown.
'Mad Empire bastard!'
Even the guards lined up in the back subtly egged them on. Everyone's eyes began to sparkle as if an exciting spectacle had suddenly appeared. No one thought a knight would lose to a beggar.
'Dammit.'
Since the atmosphere had turned out this way, he could not back down. In the end, the mustache knight stood facing Ramba as if pushed forward.
"Y-You bastard, hand over the crown at once! How dare a mere beggar's handprints defile the royal family's holy relic!"
Without answering, Ramba gripped a dagger in one hand. His other hand held the crown tightly against his chest. He had become like a gamecock thrown into a gambling den, but he had no other choice right now.
"Uaaah!"
The mustache knight swung his sword broadly. Ramba did not counter, instead dodging here and there while looking for an opening.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The sword only struck the innocent ground. The mustache knight's movements gradually grew sluggish.
SQUELCH—!
Rolling across the wet floor, Ramba stabbed the back of the knight's knee. The dagger slid smoothly into the gap between the armor joints.
"Hoh."
Batz was impressed. The watching guards could not help but be startled.
SQUELCH!
"Arghhh!"
As Ramba's attacks succeeded one after another, a commotion began to stir in the atmosphere.
Using his sword like a cane, the mustache knight gasped for breath. Watching him, the guards glanced at one another, wondering if they should step in now, but they could do nothing because of Batz.
'This isn't enough!'
He had never personally faced a knight clad in plate armor. He was merely desperately pulling out and mimicking a combat scene from a novel he had written in the past.
Soon, Ramba threw his body forward. He swiftly clung to the knight's back and wrapped his two legs around his neck. To cut off the opponent's windpipe, he ultimately had to risk his own life as well.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
Ramba mercilessly stabbed at the knight's exposed face. It was a desperate struggle to survive. Spurting blood and Ramba's tears mingled, soaking his face.
THUD!
The struggling knight threw Ramba off like swatting a bug. Ramba rolled across the floor and coughed up a mouthful of blood. His vision spun from a pain that felt as if his entire back was being torn off.
Meanwhile, the mustache knight dropped to his knees and suddenly collapsed sideways.
Ramba did not even have time to relish his victory. The strength drained completely from his body. He did not even realize the crown had slipped from his hands.
CLATTERRRR—!
"……"
Tap.
Batz picked up the crown that had stopped after bumping against the toe of his boot. He examined the crown in his hand from various angles with an indifferent gaze.
"Well now, do I have the face of a king? Heh."
It was a joke in his own mind, but no one laughed. The guards were at a loss as to what to do after their superior's sudden and miserable death.
Ramba, too, looked up at Batz with unfocused eyes as he lay there. Only his chest repeatedly expanded and deflated heavily.
"A promise is a promise—"
Batz tilted his head sideways.
"I'll let you live."
"……"
"You did well. To the point where those pathetic excuses for knights can't even compare. Thanks to you, my eyes have been opened."
Just then, someone else stepped out from the crowd. This time, it was Hound, the leader of the men in black.
"We must take that beggar's life."
Hound lifted the front brim of his black bamboo hat with his thumb, revealing his glittering eyes. He stared down intently at the battered Ramba.
"We have to complete the Leader's pursuit-and-kill order. Several of our wild dogs died just to catch that single guy. Furthermore—"
Hound's eyes trembled slightly.
"During the Conwell civil war, that bastard enticed the Leader to satisfy his own selfish desires and drove our kids out to the battlefield. We must settle the resentment of our brothers who never returned from that hell."
Ramba grimaced. The moment he opened his mouth to protest his innocence, a sharp pain surged through him. He could barely breathe.
"Since we cleared the way for you guys as promised, even if we take that bastard—"
"Hey."
"……Hmm?"
Batz merely flicked his hand. It meant to come closer.
Hound read the room before reluctantly approaching him.
CLICK.
In the needless silence, a cold metallic sound suddenly rang out. It was the sound of a scabbard locking into place.
Hound dropped his gaze. He felt as if something had dropped near his feet.
It was a human hand. For some reason, it looked familiar.
"Huh?"
Hound checked his arms. Looking closely, they were his own. Not even blood flowed from the clean cross-sections.
"Uwaaaaaaaagh—!"
Hound fell to his knees and wailed. Let alone pain, he did not even feel a sense of reality, unable to believe the fact that he had lost both hands in the blink of an eye.
"Every single one of you Kingdom bastards is truly an expert at cutting short your own lifespans. This all happens because you don't know your place."
Batz muttered, clicking his tongue.
"Well, I suppose nothing can be done when even the fellow who calls himself king is like that."
Batz tapped Hound's black bamboo hat to flick it off, then placed the crown atop his fully exposed bald head. He then lightly patted Hound's cheek as if satisfied.
"Consider it an honor. A beggar who has worn a crown is unprecedented throughout all times and places, so you'll be the only one."
"You son of a—"
CRUNCHHH!
Suddenly, an alien rupture sound echoed. It was the sound of bone being completely crushed.
It was incredibly sudden, like a bolt from the blue.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCHHH!
The crown tightened firmly around Hound's head, and finally, golden thorns burst out like tentacles, driving deep into his skull.
"Oh......!"
Even Batz stepped back in surprise. His eyes, which had always been lazily relaxed as if nothing in the world could move him, instantly widened.
Ramba, the pack of wild dogs, and the guards were also frozen in pure terror, unable to move a muscle.
It was beyond bizarre, downright unrealistic. The golden holy relic was crunching and biting into Hound's skull like a living predator.
THUD—
Soon, Hound's corpse collapsed sideways. His brain was exposed through the wide-open cross-section mangled by the crown. The blood and brain fluid that burst out seeped into the water pooling on the floor.
"……Ha, unbelievable."
Batz picked up the crown. As if the shocking event from a moment ago had been a flat-out lie, the crown had returned to its pristine, noble appearance.
"Recognizing only those of true royal bloodline as its master. I thought it was just an absurd rumor, but to think it's true, it's truly magnificent."
"H-Hand it…… over."
It was Ramba. Staggering to his feet, he wiped away the blood flowing down around his eyes.
"I don't know how this miserable body of mine ended up saddled with such a thing, but……"
Ramba's weak gaze met Vena's unfocused pupils lying desolately on the floor.
If only I hadn't introduced the Queen of the Underground to my master in the first place. He wondered what would have happened then.
Ramba bit his lip. He wanted to go over and close her eyelids right this instant, but he felt deeply, painfully sorry that he couldn't. What could he do when his body wouldn't move the way he wanted?
That remorse ignited a fire in Ramba's withered chest. He forced his trembling eyelids wide open.
"……I suppose this, too, is fate in the end."
There's no such thing as cause and effect fitting perfectly together in the world. Life isn't woven solely out of inevitability.
Why Vena possessed the holy relic, and why she entrusted the aftermath to a beggar like him of all people—pondering over it now would only give him a headache.
Only one thing was certain.
As a writer, one must take responsibility and bring the end of the story to a close.
"I said, give it to me right now—!"
Ramba unleashed a thunderous roar. It was a desperate scream that made his entire body shudder.
At the same time, his vision violently flipped upside down.
As if his head had been cut off and was spinning around and around.
WHIP!
CLANG—!
Flashes of light erupted consecutively in the darkness.
A streak of light that charged through the pack of wild dogs and guards was blocked by Batz's sword.
When he came to his senses, Ramba had been thrown behind Batz's back, caught by the collar by Batz's other hand.
"I didn't expect us to meet again like this."
"……"
The figure clashing swords with Batz gradually grew distinct.
It was, of course, Bihen.
"It's not like a dead man came back to life. Or were you really a Sword Fiend, junior?"
"You're wrong on both accounts."
CLANG! CHING! CLINK!
Their movements looked perfectly synchronized. Every time their blades collided, sparks flew rowdily.
"Ah, I really didn't want to go this far."
Batz widened the distance between himself and Bihen. He pointed his sword at Ramba's neck for all to see.
Bihen snorted as if dumbfounded.
"What do you think you're doing right now? Aren't you ashamed?"
"What's truly shameful is the fact that I have to fight a guy like you in a filthy gutter like this."
"M-Master! Don't mind m—"
THUD!
Batz kicked the back of Ramba's knee, forcing him to kneel. The crown hanging from Batz's wrist dangled back and forth like a large golden bracelet.
"I know full well that you're risking your life for some half-baked chivalry."
"……"
"Why don't you stick to your beliefs this time too? If you quietly open the path, I won't engage in unnecessary killing."
Bihen's brow furrowed deeply. The opponent was an expert at least one step ahead of him. Shallow tricks wouldn't save Ramba's life.
"I promise my pride as an Empire warrior."
Soon, Bihen slowly straightened his bent upper body. He consciously withdrew his hostility.
Only then did Batz approach Bihen, dragging Ramba like a piece of luggage.
Bihen merely stood frozen like a stone statue.
The moment their shoulders crossed, Batz whispered in a low voice.
"……The place where we first met. We'll see each other there again."
Batz twisted the corner of his mouth. It was his own version of maximum consideration for a junior he had taken a liking to for the first time in a while.
***
SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH—!
From afar, urgent footsteps cutting through the water drew closer, echoing throughout the entire passage. It was accompanied by rough breathing.
"Hah! Hah!"
Gunt caught his breath, his shoulders heaving. He had run frantically, using the marks left by Bihen as milestones.
Soon, Bihen entered his field of vision. He was with some beggar sitting propped up against the wall, utterly battered.
"What on earth…… h-how did this happen?"
Gunt asked cautiously. His gaze frantically scanned the surroundings.
It was the moment a gruesome corpse with an open skull caught his eye.
"It seems there's only one method left now," Bihen said. Gunt's complexion hardened at that resolute tone.