Queen's Blade Rebellion Illustrated Stories: Showdown, chapter 9

In this chapter, what awaits Annelotte and the others when they make it to the marshland?
Enjoy!

Showdown, chapter 9: Marshland

“The-re! Get up~”

In response to Luna Luna’s signal, Bligh, that was stuck in a wall, vibrated along with a thunderous roar and slowly rose.

With this, they would be able to follow Annelotte’s party, that had gone on ahead towards the marshland.

“Come to think of it, where did that angel go...?”

Yuit hadn’t seen the figure of the angel since she drove Bligh into its malfunctioning state.

“Yuit, it’s terrible!”

Kicking open the door to the Queen’s room with a bang, Tarnyang rushed in. That had been one of the few doors remaining in the partially destroyed Queen’s room after they received Liliana’s attack, that collapsed, making dust rise.

(The cost of repairs will be huge...)

Tarnyang approached Yuit with loud footsteps, and behind her, Sainyang followed her with an apologetic expression.

“The Child of the Dragon told us her oracle! Our sister Annelotte and the others will face a crisis!”

“W, what did it say! W, what was it about.”

“The particulars, Sainyang!”

(Eeh! You’re leaving it to me?)

“It’s fine, explain it to Yuit.”

Glare, under Tarnyang’s stare, Sainyang timidly retold Yuit the words they had heard.

“A dragon stands in the way before our sisters... is what she said, though.”

If it was the oracle of the Child of the Dragon, known as a god in Shai-Fang, they couldn’t really afford to freely ignore it. If they had to battle a dragon before facing the Marshland Witch, Annelotte and the others would be in a dire situation.

“We’d better hurry.”

“I saw it... didn’t I?”

Sighting the form of the pirate ship flying with an air of composure towards a sea of clouds away from her, Laila smiled with a grin and readied her Holy Cannon. Unless she brought down the pirate ship of the Witch’s underling, there was no way she could face Miss Nanael later.

“I’ll shoot... with the maximum power...”

Firing Holy Milk raised to the maximum pressure at the pirate ship, Laila began to fly at high speed towards the pirate ship for the next attack.

It was something sudden.

At the same time the white shining liquid adhered to the pirate ship’s hull, the parts it had adhered to began breaking down in a flash.

“What would this be!”

The Holy Milk that was making the hull collapse flew to the face of the Captain Liliana, who rushed out from her cabin, sensing an unusual phenomenon.

“Hih.. T, this...”

Liliana confusedly shifted her attention to the deck wiped by the Holy Milk. About twenty percent of the hull had already disappeared, and the pirate ship had begun nose diving.

“An enemy? Return fire!”

In response to Liliana’s voice, the phantom ship crew pointed at one spot in the sky.

“Is that... an angel?”

“Hey, Laila, stop attacking~!”

Though the Gemstone Princess Eilin shouted, it seemed like her voice didn’t get through to the angel.

“We won’t fall until the last minute! Like the 42^nd Pirate Aesthetics says, “Don’t mind making cruel judgments”, I have to drop my guests to make the hull lighter!”

“Nuah? You are going to drop us!?”

“Even if I have to drop you, venerable grandmothers, you’ll be the last ones.”

Ymir detected an earnest light in Liliana’s words, but in that same moment, the deck under her feet suddenly vanished, and she was thrown out of the phantom ship.

“Ymir sis!”

Eilin extended her hand towards Ymir but lost footing too, and was thrown down towards the sky.

“As expected, you elderly are healthy. I admire you, jumping off by yourselves.”

“No, that wasn’t it. Anyway, can’t we do anything?”

The phantom ship descended as it kept breaking down due to its receiving the unilateral attack by Laila.

“Oh, so you’re here already?”

Liliana turned towards Sigui with a tedious-looking gaze, and giving an order to the phantom ship crew, she had the still unconscious Izumi thrown at her.

“What...”

Unable to abandon Izumi, Sigui caught her, though she lost the balance on the deck.

“Thinking about your friend is a good thing. The 3^rd Pirate Aesthetics says “Throw away unneeded treasure immediately”... I’m giving her back.”

Liliana smiled and thrusted away at the staggering Sigui.

“I, I’ll remember this!”

Leaving a parting threat, Sigui fell to the marshland along with Izumi.

“Well, it’ll probably be fine, if it’s this height.”

“Sigui! Izumi!”

Aldra pinned down Annelotte, who intented to jump after the two people.

“Wait, Annelotte! Look below you!”

“Below?”

Annelotte looked down. What extended under her eyes was unlike the marshland Sigui and the others had fallen into... A barren, bottomless swamp extended, a quagmire full of sinister miasma.

“If we fall here... Even we...”

The moment when Annelotte gasped after hearing Aldra’s words, the phantom ship that had exceeded its maintenance limit made a dreadful collapsing sound, and began to break into pieces in the whirlpool of miasma.

“Seems like we have no choice but to brace ourselves. Sister Aldra.”

“Hurry up, Vante.”

In response to Yuit’s order, Vante integrated with Bligh once again to move its large build. They were aiming at the Marshland Witch’s Castle.

“A, aren’t we running too fast?”

Miarim muttered, hanging to a pillar, as her face turned pale.

With the way Bligh was swaying at the dash speed so far, exactly like a boat being toyed with by a raging storm, no wonder the beautiful fighters raised inland were experiencing something similar to seasickness.

“Anyhow, we must hurry to join them!”

Although Yuit was moving at high speed, leaving Gainos behind, she had other reasons than her trust in the Child of the Dragon. It was related to the information on the Marshland Witch brought to her by the indomitable fighter Risty, who had left the battlefield for a while.

“If, if what Risty told me about is true, big bro and the others won’t be able to defeat the witch by themselves...”

“Aah, what a bad experience.”

“Right, although we are quite sturdy, I thought I was gonna die.”

Enveloped by a suspicious dense fog, two princesses were walking through the main road, complaining with groans.

They were lucky the place where they had fallen into was a hot spring, far from them having any wounds, they were full of life.

“Ymir sis, have you seen that?”

A slightly huge building appeared from inside the thick fog.

“Since we’ve come this far, we’ll go there. Perhaps Annelotte and the others have arrived ahead of us.”

“That’s... neither a castle... nor a mansion.”

With a courtyard surrounded by a huge wall in the shape of a circle, that structure was closer to an arena.

“Ushashashasha... seems like we got company! This is the arena of the Marshland Witch! The fate of the beautiful fighters who come here is to become my, the Trainer Dogura’s, property!”

As if matching the male shout of the marshland goblin who called himself Dogura, the fog drifting around the arena disappeared, and a prison created with the surface of a wall appeared.

“T, these people...”

Eilin’s words summed up the figures of the warriors that had been chained, stripped of their freedom, and were now women who dressed like slaves, exposing their skin.

“This is how all the beautiful fighters that recklessly aimed for the head of the great Marshland Witch have ended!”

Pull, pulling a string, a beautiful fighter was dragged out to the arena.

Holding only a sword and a shield full of cracks, the beautiful fighter wore charming clothes, even though she could be said to be nearly nude.

“Branwen! You have five minutes this time. Settle this in five minutes.”

Dogura smiled with a grin as he squeezed the string connected to the beautiful fighter’s choker.

“Do as you please... so, where is my opponent?”

The beautiful fighter called Branwen frowned, looking at Ymir and Eilin alternately.

“Y, you said... Branwen?”

Hearing the name of her opponent, Eilin stepped back a little.

“Do you know her? Eilin.”

“She’s a mediator from the Dragon Tribe the legends sing about, a warrior known as a “Holy Dragon Warrior”... She can’t participate in vulgar battles such as Queen’s Blade...”

“To end up in such a place, like those over there… I pity her.”

 “If you insult me that much, let’s do this.”

Raising her eyebrows, Branwen told them with an angry voice, as she readied her sword.

“Although I bear no grudge towards you all, the battle... will start.”

Sure enough, can Ymir and Eilin defeat Branwen, and escape safely from the arena?

They won’t know that unless they fight.

-To be continued-

And there's our Branwen, she almost doesn't make it to the story.

Oh boy, Laila can't seem to do anything right, can she...?

Funny that the Child of the Dragon is still around, one would think they'd have returned her to Shai-Fang by now...

Next chapter: battle versus Branwen!