Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, there’s a saying that says, ‘There is no younger brother who surpasses his older brother.’ which I always agreed with, since I am the older brother in my family--apparently, here, ‘A younger sister who surpasses her older sister,’ exists.”

Well, now that the Demon has been dealt with, let’s meet up with Liza and the others.

Lulu and Nana are remaining in the village, so they are probably fine--neither of them have lost any HP. Lulu’s Stamina is fine, and so is Nana’s MP. There are no problems there.

I inspect Arisa and Pochi, both of whom look fine, though Arisa looks a little tired. From the corner of my eye, I see the Baron’s second daughter approaching me.

She is a beautiful woman, nineteen years old and fit. She is wearing tight leather pants, and white shirt covered with a form-fitting leather vest.

“Are you the hero who killed the Demon with a Holy Crossbow?” She asks, staring intently, like she is looking at prey.

“I did kill the Demon, it was already injured, and staying still.” I had to be careful, because See Through also allowed the owner of the skill to know when others are lying.

She stalks up to me, looking intently--“You don’t look that strong!”

<Karina, this man is telling the truth; he managed to kill a Demon, don’t judge him purely by sight.>

A voice rang out both in the air and in our heads, some kind of telepathy.

“Where’s that voice coming from? I can’t see the speaker.” Pochi intently looked around, she sniffed the air. She must have been quite curious, because she spoke longer sentences than usual. Those learning cards really are helping the girls speak more clearly.

“Ooh, don’t tell me. An Intelligent Item?”

<Pleased to meet you, young ladies, I am the Intelligent Item: Raka--Created by the Founding King, Yamato.>

The Item, Raka, seemed to be much more polite than the Baron’s second daughter.

I didn’t particularly want to fight her at the moment, I needed to meet up with the girls. Just as I was considering how to get out of this situation, the Baron walked up.

“Karina, this man saved the city…Don’t bother him for a fight right now!” The Baron rolled his eyes as he spoke to the overly enthusiastically blonde girl.

“B-But--”

<Karina--you aren’t his match.

>

“Thank you, Raka--my daughter is at that age, she doesn’t listen to her father.” The Baron thanked the Intelligent Item with a chuckle.

“I need to go and check up on my companions.” I said as I pointed at the girls, who were fighting outside.

“Companions?” The Baron looked confused, he hadn’t met them, though Toruma had mentioned them in his story, “They look powerful, how suitable for such a man.”

He waved me off with the compliment.

While I had been talking to the Baron and with his daughter, I had still been launching Remote Arrows from the sky. My disguising of the Magic Power seemed to work, Raka didn’t voice any suspicions--though maybe he was just subtle.

Either way was fine with me.

Using my map and the Remote Arrows, I crush the Zombies that emerge from the entrance to the passage that the companions of the fake hero used, littering the road with their corpses.

Oh?

Even though most of the fake hero’s companions are badly wounded, it seems that none of them died--they are moving towards the border of the territory, using a side road.

For some reason, the knight Eral is also moving along behind them. I wonder when he managed to escape. His Health and Stamina are critical, but he seems to be the kind of guy who just refuses to die.

It looks the Giants and the knight called Zotor are blockading the front gate.

Liza and the others are taking care of the Zombies inside the city, while heading towards the castle gate.

Since the Zombies that made it into the city are mainly composed of thieves and goblins, they’re quite weak--since a while ago, I haven’t had to lay down any supporting fire, because the Zombies are too weak for Liza and the others.

Please stop staring so intently at me, Karina…I can feel your gaze boring into my side--and Arisa’s into my other.

 

***

There aren’t only soldiers up here on top of the castle wall, there are also quite a few maids. And some citizens, who are shouting something to the people who are still retreating from the Zombies and making their way into the wall--like a cheering squad.

Liza and the others are going to arrive soon.

All three girls have leveled up nicely, which is expected because of all the battles they have been through. Pochi has become the lowest level among the Beastkin girls, I guess I will have to take her on a leveling trip during the night some time.

 

“Oh! She’s defeated the last one.”

“Yer’ amazing, Demi-Human knight!”

“Now, people who bet on the Scalekin knight getting the last kill, come here to receive your share!”

 

Oh, there seems to be some gambling going on…I should have bet on the girls.

An air of delight is dominating the top of the wall.

It seems that Liza has just defeated the last Zombie. They’re now only around 300 meters away from the gate.

“Liza! Tama! Mia!” I call out to them while waving my hand.

I feel Karina’s battle-lust filled gaze leave me and flit over to the girls--this girl seems to just want to fight. I think she may get along well with Liza, who is similar. Maybe the other Beastkin girls as well, since they love sparring.

Liza noticed me, her face relaxing and a small smile bloomed as she quickly lead the other two over here. About 10 Oyugock knights are following along behind them, as though the girls were their superiors.

“Are they your subordinates, Hero?” The one who asks me is a woman in light metallic armour, her hair rolled up under a helmet. It’s one of the maids that I met in the mansion.

The way she called me seems to have changed--

When I confirm it, she says, “I’ll make arrangements immediately”, and conveys something to a rather important-looking man.

“Make way! Open room!” The man shouts out in a booming voice--he must have had training as a parade instructor. The people who were hurrying the castle and had stopped after the last of the Zombies died, and begun to mill around--instinctively parted and allowed the girls through.

Liza and the others enter the castle, and I hurry down from the parapets and meet them in front of the gate.

“Tek.” Mia says my name as she jumps down from the horse.

I catch her, and she wraps her arms around my neck, staring into my face with a slight look of relief in her eyes.

Tama stood on the saddle and hopped down, “Pochi!”

“Tama.”

Beside us, Tama and Pochi hug each other.

Since the two of them were always together, they probably had gotten lonely. It was an adorable--and slightly hot--and touching scene, causing quite a few females in the surroundings to coo and clap. 

Some of the men around stared as well.

 The girls ignored the commotion in the surroundings and greeted each other happily.

However, Liza is still cautious, she’s vigilantly looking around. As for her spear, she is grasping it firmly, ready to attack at any time.

I release Mia.

“Muu.” She lets out a quiet, irritated, moan. Before walking over to Arisa.

“Thank you for for the hard work Liza. There are no enemies inside the castle, it’s alright to relax.” I smile up at her.

Her eyes meet mine, and then she finally lowers her vigilance and dismounts. However, she is still tense. She stands right by my side, her tail coils around my leg in what seems like a subconscious gesture. While shouldering her spear, she looks ready to defend me at any time.

“You don’t need to worry, the Baron and the others here seem to be good people, especially his older daughter. She seems to love Demi-Humans, at least cute ones--Pochi definitely was adored.”

“I’ve received baked sweets.” Pochi smiles and takes the sweets out of one of her pockets and shares some with Tama and Mia. Come to think of it, she had been munching on something while she was sitting on Soruna’s lap.

“Master, it is most reassuring that you’re safe.” Liza’s tone seemed normal, but there were small tears in the corner of her eyes, and her tail stiffened.

“I’m glad you and the others are safe as well.”

Since there’s a small wound on Liza’s arm, I heal it with the Magic that I had managed to learn today--when the Baron gave me the ‘Minor Healing’ scroll, before the attack. It uses 10MP for such a small wound, huh?

Looks like Potions are much more efficient.

Liza begins apologizing for leaving her position and coming to the city, which resulted in putting Tama and Mia in danger.

It seems that she took action because she was anxious that the nobles would imprison me, or use some other underhanded method to harm me.

The fact that she was so worried, that she was willing to fight her way into the castle to help me, made a warmth surge through my chest. I can’t remember if I told her about the extent of my power, though I know she knows of my inventory among other things. Either way, I will find the chance to discuss it with her.