Repaying one’s obligations was only natural for a human being.
The people of this country ― specifically, the head of their paladins ― were not the sort to do that, but she wanted to show the Sorcerer King that not everyone in this country was like them.
“Uwaaaahhhh!”
Neia’s shout sounded like she was wailing. Since she could not use her bow, the militiamen would die for nothing protecting her. In that case, she ought to take advantage of the demihuman’s mistaken fear of her power and attack while they could not bring their might to bear.
The enemy had probably not expected Neia to charge so many enemies, and they moved slowly enough that even Neia’s meager swordsmanship was enough to cut them up.
The remaining militiamen behind Neia followed her lead.
Neia swung her sword.
It bounced off, and the demihumans swung at her open body, only to have their attacks deflected by Buser’s armour.
Neia thrust her sword.
She stabbed into a demihuman’s body, and when she pulled it out, its organs followed. Before that demihuman hit the ground, another demihuman’s claws struck at Neia’s face. The wound on her left cheek was followed by one on her right, and the blood which flowed out got into her eyes.
Intense pain filled her legs.
A demihuman drove his dagger deep into flesh.
One of the militiamen fell.
Swords swung.
Two more militiamen went down.
One demihuman collapsed.
All the militiamen were dead.
There were nothing but enemies in front of her and to her sides.
Her breathing was ragged, and her heartbeat irritated her.
The parts of her body which had been struck by the enemy blazed hot, and every time she moved them, waves of seizing pain filled Neia with agony.
―I’m scared.
Neia was afraid.
She was going to die, and the thought of that frightened her.
She had been prepared to die here.
The enemy outnumbered them several times to one, and their individual fighting power was superior as well.
The enemy had all the advantages, and the only advantage her side had was their defensive position.
That being the case, it would be stranger if she did not die.
Still, looking death in the eye was terrifying even if she had prepared herself for it beforehand.
The word “east gate” ― said by the person she deeply respected ― echoed through her mind. Though she was prepared to die, she still wanted to live.
Neia had once thought about what would happen when people died.
What would the moment of her extinction be like?
Her soul would return to the great flow, where the gods would judge her, and those who did good as written in the scriptures would go to a land of eternal rest, while the wicked would be delivered into a land of torment.
Still, even if she had accumulated good deeds throughout her life with the aim of reaching her eternal rest, she was afraid to face the end of her life.
She swung her sword.
That powerless strike could not possibly slay a foe in one hit.
Anyone attacking even when surrounded, would take vicious counterattacks from the enemy.
A sword pierced Neia’s armor and cut into her
Neia was still alive thanks to the armor which the Sorcerer King had lent her. She would have died long ago without it. Indeed, she would have become a corpse like the countless dead militiamen and civilians who had been scattered throughout the city like they had been carelessly thrown away.
I must be in really bad shape…
Neia laughed at herself for being able to think about such inappropriate things even as she was this close to the afterlife.
Her feet slipped due to the force of her swing. Her left thigh seized up and her right thigh was injured and could not hold her upright.
She lost her balance and fell. She leaned against the battlements, but it was all she could do not to collapse.
The world was turning white and cloudy, and she could hear a distant, wheezing panting.
It was an annoying sound. She wondered who was making it, and realized that it was herself.
She was at her limit
Neia was going to die.
“Just a bit more and the Mad-Eyed Archer will be dead!”
“Ahhh! All together now!”
The voices of the demihumans came from far away.
This is… a real pain…
Neia could no longer tell what the demihumans were saying. However, they were probably not singing her praises. As her thoughts scattered into the void, a part of her mind thought only of things like that.
She was simply waving the sword she held ― her attacks were meant to keep the enemy at bay.
I’m… so scared… but everyone… is waiting for me…
In that white and cloudy world, she saw the smiles of her mother, her father, and her friends from her home village.
Who… are they… ahh… Bu-chan… Mo-chan.. Dan-nee…? I’m… scared… Your… Majesty…”
Her lungs and her heart and her arms and her brain wanted to rest.
Neia could no longer resist that temptation, but still, she had not broken yet. Why was that?
She was afraid of death. She was filled with her squire’s conviction to fight to the very end.
Apart from that ― she wanted to perform feats that were worthy of the wargear she had borrowed.
The demihumans’ weapons thrust out all at once, stabbing into Neia’s body.
And thus, Neia Baraja died.
Part 4
The air of the battlefield had a unique smell to it. It was a muddled mess of all kinds of odors, and simply put, it was a revolting stench. Still, it was a stench that one could get used to.
One of the people behind the closed portcullis ― Remedios ― took several deep breaths of that stinking air.
Her eyes were fixed on the advancing force before her, which numbered over 10,000.
The leaders of the assault on this location were Ogres and horse-like demihumans. Remedios gripped her holy sword tightly.
She liked using the sword to settle matters. She loved it. It clearly defined winners and losers. After all, there would be no more trouble after you killed the opposition. Life would have been so much easier if things were all so simple. Her sister ― Kelart ― and her master ― Calca ― would no longer knit their brows.
“Haaaah.”
She sighed.
After that, Remedios thought about what she had to do.
Gustav had said a lot of hard-to-understand things just now, but the gist of it was that they could not let a single demihuman past this gate.
The demihumans numbered in the tens of thousands. Around 10,000 of them were bearing down on the gate.
Not letting a single one past would be impossible if we were fighting on the plains, but here I can use the gate to limit the numbers who can attack me. So as long as I can keep fighting, it’ll be easy enough to keep them from getting past! I just need to keep drinking fatigue recovery potions and keep fighting them one-on-one!
If Gustav were here and had heard this, the look on his face would probably say “Are you fucking serious?” and as she calmly considered that mental image, Remedios laughed. Still, the idea was quite ridiculous, and it was no wonder he would often grab his head in frustration.
See how perfect my plan is! Calca-sama said I could delegate command to someone else, and Caspond-sama seems like an excellent person.
Umu, Remedios nodded.