Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 141.3
Carla, the daughter of the head magician, woke up two days after the princesses disappeared and laughed so hard that she lost half her strength when she heard their stories from her attendants.
“…It’s really funny, Aria, but you must come back soon. If you don’t come back, I’m going to burn them and all those girls.”
Not only the academy and the nobles were on the move, but the adventurer party Rainbow Sword, including the recovered Viro, was once again requested by the Prime Minister to act to search for the princess and their companion. Nero, the phantom Coeurl, rushed out to the place where his partner, the girl’s master, had once been with her.
The princess was alive. The closer one was to that girl, the more certain one was of it, knowing that the girl, Aria, was by her side.
***
In the southwest of the continent of Sarth, there was a land of sand that rejected all life, called the Desert of Death, and adjacent to it, a huge ancient ruin.
No one could tell when those ruins were made. It was said that they were the remnants of a race of people who existed before the Cruzian, the indigenous people of this continent. The city itself, which was vast and the size of a small country, was all ruins, and the sandstorms made the city appear hazy, hence the name Reiz Veil, the city of the ancient ruins.
No one dwelled in the city of ancient ruins. This was because the city was full of desert-dwelling beetle demons and undead such as wraiths and skeletons.
However, if there were monsters, materials and magic stones could be obtained. If they could get those materials, adventurers would gather.
There would be those who dreamed of gold left in the ruins and would steal it. When such people gather, merchants who smell the scent of money also gathered, and gradually, a village was formed.
The town a few kilometers from the ancient ruins was a settlement created by such people.
The Khalfaan Empire was located about a month’s journey away, but this town did not belong to the empire.
There were no lords who ruled over it, no soldiers to protect it, and it was up to the people to live or die on their own. The only way to protect oneself was to belong to one of the two merchant families or two mafias, and this town was known as a lawless zone where only the powerful survive.
Because it was such a town, all kinds of races coexisted.
Adventurers, thieves, criminals and outcasts. Most of them were Cruzian, but there were also beastmen and dwarves of the canine and feline species, as well as even dark elves, known as the Evil Race, although they were few.
They had nothing to do with the past. In this town, if you were strong, you were qualified to live, and if you were weak, you would just become a corpse in the Desert of Death.
When two figures stepped into a tavern where such a motley crew of men were drinking and talking about their valor at an old wooden table cut in a circle, the ill-tempered men all quieted down and began to judge them by their value.
Their leather boots made a faint sound as they stepped on the sandy stone floor.
Both figures were covered by cloaks, but their height and stride indicated that they were women…young women, at that. There were women in this town, but most of them were women who sold their beauty to rough men, and rarely did they walk in such a “refined” manner.
Through these unreserved glances, they came to the counter where the bar master was, and the taller woman placed a few small silver coins on the counter with her gloves still on.
“Light food and a non-alcoholic beverage for two.”
“Oh, come on, missy. What kind of person comes to a bar and doesn’t order a drink?”
The stubble-bearded, 40-ish master, who realized from the sound of her voice that she was indeed a young woman, raised the edge of his mouth in a lighthearted manner. Still, being a businessman, he looked at the small silver coins on the counter table and widened his eyes a little.
“Is this…Cleydale’s money?”
“Can’t you use it?”
” Yes, Cleydale’s money is usable. But, missy…”
The master looked at the small silver coin and accepted it, but leaned forward to put one hand on the table.
“You are Mercenians, aren’t you? Do you think a rare Mercenian woman will be safe in a place like this? If you think so, get the heck out of here. There are no classy guards here, you know?”
“That’s right.”
Before they knew it, five men were standing behind them with grins on their faces.
“You guys, I don’t know where you’re from, but I’m going to teach you the ways of this town.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll sell you out to the best place.”
“…Don’t mess up the store too much.”
The master let out a half resigned sigh and turned to the women, and the woman who had first spoken to him talked again.
“Aren’t they going to get in trouble for doing this?”
“Well. In this town, only the powerful ones–“
At that moment, the woman turned around and waved her arm, and a line ran down the throat of the man who was standing there with a grin on his face, and the next moment, he spilled a thick, reddish-black blood from his throat.
Before even the man himself, let alone his friends around him, realized that he was dead, he slashed the throat of the man next to him in a fluid motion, and when he finally realized that a black blade was in the woman’s hand, the dagger blade pierced the brow of the man who was about to speak.
Without even giving the man a chance to scream, she killed the other two, and in front of the men, who were spewing blood and collapsing at the same time, the hood of the woman, who had not even been exposed to a drop of blood, slipped off, exposing her bare face to the light.
Moist, white skin. Her hair is a bright peach-blonde.
She was still a young girl from another country, but her beautiful figure, which looked so natural even after killing several men, made the other guests feel the difference and could not speak out.
“Light food and a non-alcoholic beverage for two.”
“…fruit water and baked sorghum flour, would that be good?”
“No problem.”
The master, shuddering at the thought of the tragedy that would befall this place, carefully began to prepare a meal for two in the stench of blood.