Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132: Black and White (7)
As Evie slowly appeared in the arena, the spectators roared.
However, the momentum was clearly different from when Gray had appeared.
Although they cheered as instructed by the announcer, their gazes were still filled with doubt as they looked down at Evie.
Evie noticed this immediately.
After all, she was also looking around at the audience.
Her elven eyes, which could see far into the distance, showed Evie the faces of the soldiers, filled with doubt and astonishment, with great clarity.
Is that, Baron Midrashi's daughter…?
The rumor was true…! She's a half-breed…!?
Her ears, which could also hear far into the distance, did not miss a single one of their whispered murmurs.
At that, Evie inadvertently let out a hollow laugh.
But that was all.
Instead of getting angry at each and every one of those reactions, she just laughed them off.
“They're spouting whatever they want again.”
She said, as if it didn't bother her at all to hear such words now.
“I've been hearing it all my life anyway, you bastards.”
“Hey.”
And, she turned her head towards Gray, who was sending the same gaze as them.
“Why do you not salute the Baron?”
“Salute?”
“Yes. According to the tradition of Krom, the participants of a duel──”
“Ah, I don't know about tradition or whatever, and it doesn't suit me.”
“──!”
Creak, Gray gritted his tightly clenched teeth.
“…As I thought, I cannot acknowledge a half-breed like you.”
“So what.”
Seeing this, Evie sneered once more.
“Why should I need your acknowledgment?”
“Then why are you standing here? Isn't it because you want the acknowledgment of our kin?”
“Bullshit, fuck. I don't need it, something like that.”
Evie answered immediately.
“What I want is the damn Tiaria. Not your acknowledgment.”
And so, the two glared at each other, and in their battle stances, they engaged in a brief period of reconnaissance.
“And, I'll get that kind of thing naturally without even looking for it anyway.”
Suddenly.
“…!”
Fwoosh! and until the white dirt scattered in all directions.
And Evie, who had been standing on it, disappeared from Gray's sight for a moment.
Gray, whose eyes widened for a moment, immediately and hastily turned around, and saw Evie, who had stepped on his shadow and was thrusting her dagger at him.
“Because you all will fear me…!”
Kaang!
The two clashing knives trembled, and white sparks flew.
Evie did not stop and thrust the dagger in her other hand.
Swish!
Gray's pure white clothes were torn as he narrowly avoided the sharp point of the knife, and black blood droplets flew up.
Gray counterattacked.
He immediately switched to a reverse grip and, as soon as he swung his sword to clang! and parry the dagger that was coming down on his shoulder, instead of straightening his bent arm, he extended his elbow and struck the center of Evie's chest.
At this, as Evie flinched and stepped back, he finally straightened his bent arm and aimed the sharp blade at her neck.
Whoosh!
Evie, who dodged the sword that had brushed past her nose by slightly leaning back, then spun her body as if to flip over.
And so, swish! she quickly cut Gray's arm twice with the daggers in both her hands.
“Ugh…!”
Black blood gushed from the arm of the groaning Gray and dripped onto the white dirt.
But Gray, unconcerned, raised his foot, and while grabbing the arm of Evie who had thrust her dagger, he simultaneously kicked her other arm.
Then, as he tried to break the arm he had grabbed and strike down with his blade, Evie nimbly jumped and did a somersault, making him lose his grip on her arm, and then thrust hard with the reverse-gripped dagger, trying to embed it.
Thwack!
Gray, who had snatched Evie's wrist before the point of the knife could reach, immediately pulled her towards him and headbutted her approaching face.
“Ugh!”
A few drops of blood from her nosebleed, which had burst out with a groan, scattered over Evie's tilted-back head.
Gray continued his attack.
He swung his blade down at the staggering Evie, and when she twisted her body to dodge it, he struck her jaw with the side of his other hand.
Claang!
And the moment he swung his sword again, the two's black daggers clashed once more.
Evie immediately moved her other hand and tried to stab him with her white dagger, and Gray pushed harder on the clashing dagger.
“Urraaaah──!”
He let out a roar like a beast.
As a result, Evie's white dagger grazed Gray's cheek, and.
“Kkh…!”
Gray's dagger, which had pushed away Evie's black dagger, roughly tore the pure white fabric covering one of Evie's shoulders.
If she hadn't turned her body in a hurry, it would have been her neck that was cut, not her shoulder.
“…….”
At that thought, Evie glared at Gray with eyes blazing with anger, and clutched her shoulder, which was beginning to be stained black with blood.
Gray, whose lips twisted as if savoring Evie's gaze, kicked the ground again and rushed towards her.
Kang!
The two clashing black daggers vibrated loudly and were thrown back.
Evie immediately swung her white dagger, and swish!
Gray, who dodged the point of the knife that had passed by, swung his dagger down again.
Evie, who had hurriedly raised her black dagger again to block the blow, but.
“Uwaaaah!”
Was pushed back by the force of Gray, who had let out a roar again, and in the end, she lost her grip on the sword and staggered back.
Gray, who did not miss that opening, quickly closed the distance and grabbed the nape of her neck so that she couldn't escape, and.
“Die!”
Plunged the dagger in his hand deep into Evie's abdomen.
“──!”
At that moment, the spectators who had been watching their duel with bated breath, all gasped in unison.
But that was also brief.
The body of the stabbed Evie, instantly ‘scattered’.
As if what had existed there from the beginning was not Evie, but her shadow.
“What──”
Therefore, as soon as Gray, who had realized that it was an afterimage, belatedly turned around.
──Kwajik!
Evie's dagger, which had been brought down, deeply stabbed the shoulder right next to his neck.
If he had been even a little late in turning his body, it would have surely pierced his neck.
Evie, who had failed to achieve her goal, clicked her tongue, tch, and as soon as she quickly pulled out the dagger, the groaning Gray pushed Evie away with all his might.
And so, Gray, who had barely avoided a fatal wound but was seriously injured, his black blood flowed, drip, and in an instant, stained the white dirt floor and the even whiter duel attire.
Gray staggered, his stabbed arm hanging limp as if it wouldn't move properly.
At his appearance, Evie, instead of rushing in to continue her attack, stopped in her tracks and twisted her lips.
Savoring his wound, just as Gray had done a moment ago.
Then, as if to show off her white dagger, which was half-stained black with his blood, she gently placed it on her own shoulder, which was also stained black.
“What are you going to do now, you bastard?”
She said, with a sneer.
“Now you're mixed with a lot of half-breed blood too.”
Sending a taunt that he would probably hate to hear the most, she finally gave him a proper greeting for the first time since the two had met.
“Pure-blood relative.”
And so, as the breathtaking battle entered a temporary lull, the soldiers, who had forgotten to even breathe while watching their duel.
“Wooooo──!!”
Without anyone having to go first, shot up from their seats and burst into cheers in unison.
The arena was instantly plunged into a crucible of enthusiasm.
“──Evie! Evie!”
Among the spectators who were chanting her name, no one doubted Evie's existence any longer.
“Evie! Evie! Evie!”
Looking down at Evie, who in that short moment had turned the gazes full of doubt that were directed at her into a thunderous roar, Kain showed a pleased smile.
“That's my daughter.”
Then, he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look, and crossed his legs in a more comfortable posture.
***
We headed to Kain's office.
Thanks to having found out the location from a soldier in advance, there was no reason to wander.
Moreover, although it would have been heavily guarded on a normal day, Krom, including this castle, was now in the midst of preparing for the ‘sacred ceremony’.
That is, Evie's duel that would take place in the arena.
Most of the soldiers here were scheduled to participate as spectators to watch that duel, so they had all left their posts for now.
Since they would all be gathered in that one place anyway, there would be no reason to stand guard.
Of course, we, the outsiders whom they surely thought were locked deep in a dungeon, were now freely roaming the corridors.
Still, Kain's office, being an important place, was guarded by two elite soldiers.
Well, not that it matters, since they're rolling at my feet now.
I took out the bundle of keys I had brought in advance, found the key to the office, and opened the door.
The inside of the office we entered, to put it in a word, was a bleak space.
Although this place, unlike the outside of the large window, was not covered in Gloom, so there was no way everything would appear in black and white, this room was composed entirely of black and white.
As if no other color would ever be tolerated.
Only the two colors formed a disciplined order.
So anyone could tell at a glance that the owner of this room was a madman.
“…….”
Even my companions were at a loss for words as soon as they saw the scenery inside the office.
On a shelf in that office, there was a small safe.
“There's a seal on it.”
As Rine said, it had double security.
“It's the same method as before.”
Like the safe of the bank we had robbed before.
So, just like then, it was an item that would be treated as a safe that could absolutely not be opened by anyone other than its owner in this world.
--
Eastwood
[Magic] Success
--
But we've already robbed a safe like that once, haven't we?
Rine dispelled the [Magic] seal.
But unlike then, our party now did not have Ibi, who could use [Finesse] to pick the physical lock.
So, we just smashed it.
“Haaaap!”
Fortunately, unlike then, it wasn't a safe with a thick door that was hard to break through no matter what you did.
Since the [Magic] seal was already resolved, there was no chance the safe would explode, and although there were no guards who would come running in surprise if we made a loud noise, there was the ‘strength’ of Toric and Miki.
To be precise, their [Strength].
In the safe that we had forced open as if tearing off the iron door, there were, as most safes do, a few jewels stored inside.
A letter, pinned down by those jewels as if they were paperweights.
“Th-This is…”
And, a rolled-up scroll.
…It’s a ‘Devil’s Contract’.
I, along with ‘The Beginning’ who had noticed it as soon as he saw it, knew the identity of this scroll, but my companions did not.
Strictly speaking, Toric, seeing that he was already trembling, seemed to have noticed to some extent.
After all, he had seen something similar once before.
Then, as I spread the scroll out so that everyone could see it properly.
“……!”
Miki and Lily, who had gasped in unison, their mouths agape, were horrified.
Even Rine, who was always expressionless, could not hide the slight trembling of her pupils.
Yes, as ‘The 'Beginning' had said, this scroll was a contract.
So naturally, the contents of the contract were written on it.
“B-By Lady Sistina……”
To summarize, it was about a ritual to summon a monster from another world── by sacrificing a large number of people.
……What a crazy bastard.
A blood contract.