Fio woke up to the feeling of fingers gently stroking all over his body.
Apparently, he had fallen asleep during the treatment. Since he was blindfolded, he couldn’t really tell, but the sheets lay directly over his bare skin.
“Leina?”
There was no reply.
He shook his head a bit to take off the blindfold. Which didn’t do much, since the dim darkness remained unchanged; it appeared it was already in the middle of the night.
“Sheesh, you should have taken off my blindfold.”
“I am of the same opinion.”
When he heard that clear whisper in his ears, he jumped out of bed straight away, completely forgetting to put on clothes.
“Oh my, surprisingly spirited, are you not?”
A girl in maid clothes, with red hair hanging on both sides of her head, giggled while approaching soundlessly, her feet shining blue.
“A-Airi? Why?”
“I came to pick you up. You wouldn’t come to Fiend Island no matter how much I waited.”
“I’m not going.”
Staring down at the approaching Airi, naked as he was, he reached out for his pouch. Inside it there were amulets that could bind the wraith’s movements.
“You WILL go with her.”
At the same time he heard a voice from an unexpected direction, Fio’s hands grabbed empty air.
“Wha?”
A thrown spear coming from the window had pierced his pouch and stuck it in the wall on the other side.
“Who are you?”
“Why, we’ve met before, haven’t we?”
With the moonlight on her back—golden hair swaying in the night wind—, the woman who had thrown the spear cast a frozen, hostile gaze at him.
“I thought I was going to feel bad about you since you were a girl, but I changed my mind when I saw that thing.”
Removing her sight from the naked boy, she soundlessly slid into the room, carrying her body with gracefulness.
“Airi, make sure this brat doesn’t meet my Big Sis a second time.”
Then, with red cheeks, she gave an order to the other woman.
“You need not tell me.”
Soundlessly, the maid’s fingers stretched, grasping his heart.
“Ah…”
Under the double curses, the debilitated Fio simply didn’t have enough strength to resist.
***
The moment she stood in front of the door, a strange sensation made Leina frown; the talisman was broken.
[Someone broke in while I was out.]
Leina fingered her dagger, held her breath and quietly opened the door. After checking that there were no obvious ambushes from the opening, she soundlessly sneaked into the room illuminated by the moonlight.
The window was open, despite her remembering having closed it.
[The window closes with a wooden door, I should have put a talisman on it too.
Fio is aware about the talisman’s effects as well. If not, it’d have been basically impossible to tear it off.]
She slowly surveyed the room. There was no evidence of rough play, and inside the bed, there was the shape of the sleeping Fio, as it should.
[As it should?]
By the time she noticed something weird about the lying figure, it was too late: a hand shot out from inside the sheets and caught her wrist.
“Wha?”
Without even giving her the chance to scream any more than that, the hand holding her wrist pulled her into the bed with a tremendous force.
“Kyah!”
Completely surprised, the warrior was pulled down on top of the bed.
“Nfufufu, Big Sister. I fii—nally caught you.”
With a joyful voice, the person who had pulled her down got on top of her.
With that voice, and those moves, Leina recognized her in but an instant.
“Elina?”
“Ahaha, you got it right even when it’s so dark.”
The captain remained in a mount position to hold down the other girl on her back, and rubbed against her, leaning in close.
“I won’t let you go anymore~. You’re coming back home with me, Big Sis.”
“ ‘Back home’… Elina, what happened to the child who was sleeping in this bed?”
“Sheesh, oh you Big Sis, what a bad hobby, keeping a naked boy.”
The other girl pouted.
“It will be fine, I can vouch for your chastity, Big Sis, I’ll keep this secret from Father. Kyaah, it’ll be a secret between us two!”
“I wasn’t keeping him… still, what happened to that kid, Fio?”
Urged by Leina’s menacing look, the other grimaced a little.
“Is that child so important?”
“Eh?”
“Who is more important to you: him or me!?”
The younger sister’s hands were pressing even harder now against her cherished sister’s.
“I don’t…”
Leina gathered strength into her legs, and kicked Elina away.
“…Want to choose!”
“So that’s your answer!”
Despite being kicked, the young sister turned around once in the air to change her posture, then kicked the wall and jumped at the other.
“Then, I’ll defeat you here and now, Big Sis, and take you home!”
“Even you can’t pull THAT off!”
The heiress threw the sheets towards her airborne sister.
“Buhah!”
Deprived of her visibility all of a sudden, Elina crashed into the bed. Not giving her time to recover, the older sister swiftly got behind her and pressed the tip of her dagger against the back of the unprotected girl.
The feel of the cold blade against her skin made the other stiffen instantly.
“I’ll only ask you one more time.”
Leina clearly spoke the words near her ears, to make sure the other heard.
“Where is Fio?”
Elina’s body wriggled a little.
“Even if we’re sisters with the same blood, there are things that are right and things that are wrong.”
Hearing her tone, the younger sister understood that she was serious. She knew better than anyone else the fear of making her Big Sis angry.
“If you don’t answer…”
The dagger’s blade sank into the skin. There was no doubt that if Leina put in a bit more pressure, or if the captain tried to move, the blade would tear her white skin, dyeing her clothes in red blood.
“A-Airi took him with her! She said she wanted him, and as long as I got you, Big Sis, I didn’t need anyone else!”
She answered honestly, her voice becoming tearful.
“Your prank went a bit too far.”
Leina took a short breath, then drove a hard blow into the back of her sister’s neck.
“Auh!”
The other collapsed soon after her scream.
“Alright, you can come out now.”
She called out towards the outside of the window.
“Did you notice?”
Quietly, the maid with blue hair rested her legs on the window frame, and entered the room. She was Irma, Elina’s attendant, who had previously crossed swords with the warrior in the pier before they left for the elven forest.
“I’ll leave Elina to you.”
The heiress was putting on her equipment in a hurry, without even turning around.
“I stunned her, so she shouldn’t be waking up before an hour or so.”
[There’s no time to waste anymore. I have to go back to Ymir’s, collect the Sword of the Unicorn and head to Fiend Island.]
“I just knew I shouldn’t have left him alone!”
Along with a murmur mixed with regret, the warrior left the other two, and rushed towards the Iron Mountain firm.
***
“Ooh? It’s not early at dawn yet, is it?”
The dwarf princess stood in front of her firm, prepared for the journey, as if she had been waiting for her.
“Ymir, actually…”
“You don’t need to say anything else. Your turn, guys.”
With a snap of her fingers, two elder dwarves came out from inside the shop. It was Sten and Matoud, who had been looking at the Sword last time.
“Miss Leina, take this.”
Sten held up a plain wooden box towards her.
“What’s this?”
As soon as she took it, she opened it to inspect what was inside.
"These guys kept saying I should stop manhandling your li’l short sword, so they put it in a box."
Inside the box there was the Sword of the Unicorn, shrunk into the size of a dagger, carefully placed as if it was a treasure.
"Ah, princess, you're still unmarried, you should really watch your phrasing."
Ymir was confused at his words.
"What? It's a short sword, what's wrong with calling it as it is?
Sten hung his head seeing the blank look on the princess’ face.
“Well, whatever. This is a guarantee that this sword is so much of an excellent article, we’d like to keep it in the storehouse of the Iron Mountain. At the same time, the box is a bonus, considering your patronage.”
She continued in a low voice so that only the heiress would hear.
“Well, regarding the fee for the box, I’d like you to keep quiet about us not being able to figure out anything more.”
“Thanks, Ymir.”
Now that she had the Sword of the Unicorn back with her, she turned on her heel to leave.
“Where are you going to go?”
The dwarf’s question made her stop.
“To Fiend Island. I have to get Fio back.”
“Ooh… now that’s funny.”
Ymir had a smile on her lips.
“Funny?”
“We WERE about to go to Fiend Island too. If you’re going on your own, there might be some room for you to fit in.”
The blonde turned around when she heard.
“To Fiend Island? Weren’t they against it?”
“What kind of princess would I be if I couldn’t persuade my retainers?”
Ymir was genuinely happy, in contrast with the fastidious expressions on the old dwarves.
“So, what about it? Shall we go, together?”
She took a step forward, waiting for Leina’s response.
“Let’s.”
The answer was obvious: it was quicker to accompany Ymir than to start arranging a ship to take her there.
“In this case, let’s make this quick and go to the harbor!”
As soon as the dwarf heard her, she started walking, pulling on the other’s hand.
“Are we leaving in the middle of the night?”
“We are different from humans. We’re not afraid even in the darkest night.”
The Dwarf tribe was specialized in the smelting of mineral resources. Their area of activity was underground, where the sun’s light didn’t reach, so they had eyes that could see far even without light.
“To save some time, while we’re walking around, let me tell you a couple things we WERE able to understand from the Sword.”
As the old men accompanied them to carry their luggage, Ymir began explaining things to Leina: the Sword of the Unicorn accumulated a mighty magical power, and it could change its size. That magical power came from the sword’s main body, and it was highly likely that it could disperse some of its inexhaustible supply by singing.
Also, judging from the fact that it could purify evil spirits and such with the holy sound that it let out, it seemed the magical power had a holy source.
With the ring sealing up the ability to disperse the magical power by singing, a change in size would occur if the Sword kept accumulating power, though that hadn’t happened yet. Which only meant that the Devil Ring was sucking up that magical power and transferring it somewhere.
“In other words, there must be someone or something who is absorbing its huge magical power.”
Leina gasped when she heard; Fio wasn’t only being drained of his physical strength, he was deprived of the magical power in his songs as well.
“There’s one thing I’d like to ask you, though?”
“What is it, Ymir?”
“Miss Leina, why do you stick with that… “Fio”, was he?”
After one beat, she replied.
“I promised to protect that child, the moment I held this.”
Leina had been afraid of the mighty power of the Sword of the Unicorn. As a result of the battle where they had decided to face each other, she had overcome that fear. And then, Fio had sacrificed his body for the elven forest; Leina’s heart was set on saving him whatever it took.
“Hm. You human nobles, needing an obligation to go so far.”
As she pulled her hand, Ymir quickened her steps toward the sailing ship moored in the harbor.
***
A hill area in Sheldan’s suburbs.
A distance away from the main road, there were countless tents set up so as to hide from the city. In their center was the crest of the Queen’s Army and the corps flag.
Under the command of Her Majesty the Queen, Regio Jokocker, the leader of the Queen’s Army Tenth Corps—an elite three-hundred strong from the ten thousand total troops—had deployed his troops in the suburbs of Sheldan.
“A message! I bring a message!”
A cavalry soldier came back from Sheldan, putting up the corps flag. He ran up the hill in a straight line, got down from the horse and kneeled down in front of the bald hero dressed in a luxurious cloak.
“Do tell.”
The hero urged him to speak, as he looked at the ocean that spread to the other side of Sheldan with a telescope.
“Although we were allowed to replenish supplies and stay in the city, we are not permitted to station our troops there or keep the public order.”
“That’s the answer we expected.”
“Do they mean to drive away the Queen’s Army, since they’re the leader of the Free City Alliance?”
In contrast with the calm Jokocker, the aide-de-camp by his side, Norlin Traveller, complained in irritation.
“Calm down, Norlin. We *are* the Queen’s Army. We’re no hoodlums.”
Sheldan was the leader of the Free City Alliance, granted a high degree of autonomy by the Queen. Even the Queen’s Army couldn’t take action to preserve the order in the city without the permission of Baron Weir, its ruler.
“Still, if we just accept it and that Vance tigress escapes us…”
The Queen’s Army Tenth Corps had quite a close relationship with the Vance tigress—that is, Elina, the Captain of the Royal Guard.
Originally, the Tenth Corps had been an elite unit that confronted the Earl forces in the vicinity of the Great Wall, along with the Third Corps and Seventh Corps, but because their blunder in allowing the Captain of the Royal Guards Elina to break through, they had gone through a hell of a restructuring.
“Is the Vance tigress still in the city?”
The messenger showed an awkward expression to Norlin’s question.
“T-That’s…”
“Did she flee by sea?”
Regio reached the answer before the other could finish.
The very best of the Tenth Corps had seized the road that extended from Sheldan; they wouldn’t very well have missed the majestic horse-drawn carriage with the Vance emblem.
On the other hand, in the northern frontier of the Earl territory, there was a base for the northern Vance naval force.
Considering how the Queen had been dominating the distribution of goods on the continental route, one of the reasons why the Vance had been able to antagonize her for so long was cited as having secured the maritime routes.
For the Queen’s side, where the nation’s central figure could switch every four years, it wasn’t easy to create organizations that took time to train like the naval force. Not to mention how since the capital, Gainos, was located in the center of the Continent, it wouldn’t receive many benefits from maritime trading anyways, so the successive Queens never paid much attention to the sea.
“They can’t possibly have allowed the Vance warships into the harbor?”
The messenger shrunk before the adjutant’s voice.
“Don’t raise your voice, Norlin.”
Baron Weir suffered from a pirate problem; him relying on the Earl Vance’s naval force would be no surprise.
“The tigress’ suppression is a bonus. Our mission is to check whether the person Her Majesty the Queen is seeking is among the people coming and going from Sheldan. Do not forget it.”
“Yes sir!”
Upon being scolded by Jokocker, Norlin shook his fine pectorals—seen even over the armor—and corrected his posture.
Even though the corps leader had said that, one didn’t simply bring with him 300 elites to look for a person. Besides, rather than a cavalry unit—excelling in mobility—, they were a military unit, with a staggering attack and destructive force.
Among the mobility units, it wasn’t easy to find people who could rival the tigress Elina. That’s why Jokocker had aimed for the organized army, full of people with the armor and stamina to withstand her attacks.
It didn’t matter if the Vance tigress’ martial arts outclassed them, in the end she was just a girl; she couldn’t compare with the power of a strong man having a forged body. It was clear to anyone that he intended to crush her with their warhammers after tiring her out.
“Still, it’s certain that I have to reward my excellent soldiers.”
Regio smiled fondly.
“Since we went through the trouble of coming to Sheldan, we might as well enjoy a sauna.”
***
A small light was lit on a solitary island beyond the rough, remote seas. As if it was a sign, a pale flame sprung up everywhere through the island.
Those cold glows without heat looked right at home in this otherworldly zone. Despite being within a day’s distance from the Continent, neither the pirates ravaging the northern sea nor skilled fishermen dared approach this island.
Its name was: Fiend Island.
It was an abominable island rumored to be the castle ruins of those who had rebelled against the gods and their ancestors once ago, in the time of the gods.
With not even grass swaying in the wind daring to grow there, a myriad of huge pillars towered over the island. Driven into the island as if to keep it in place, each one of them was thicker than the main mast of a ship, and about as tall as a huge tree hundreds of years old.
As one passed through the flock of pillars, the figure of the huge building rising in the center of the island came into view. Even with its ceiling collapsed and only a few of the pillars and beams remaining, there was no doubt that this building was a temple dedicated to grotesque gods.
Inside that temple’s deep underground, which still could be proud of its majestic appearance even after thousands of years had passed, in a hall illuminated by the dim glow of will-o’-the-wisps, there was a silver-haired boy—Fio.
The pattern engraved on his chest shone ominously, and the rope restraining his limbs crawled as if it was alive.
“Ugh…”
His eyelids opened as he let out a bitter groan.
“W… Where am I…”
The last thing he remembered was being attacked by Airi back at the cheap inn at Sheldan, as he awaited Leina’s return.
[How long has it been since then?]
He looked around, trying to grasp his surroundings.
Thanks to the pale glow, he could get a faint idea of the area. The cool air and the dimness told him the place was underground. The walls were lined up with ancient motifs, giving off a soft glow in response to the pain in his chest.
“Kuh!”
He tried moving his body to escape, but his hands and feet were firmly fixed to the pillar that pierced from the floor to the ceiling; he could barely shake in place.
Lifted in the air as he was, he couldn’t gather any strength.
“So it’s no good…?”
“Oh, this guy’s a box of surprises.“
When he gave a sigh of resignation, a cheerful voice sounded, as if she had been waiting for him.
“To still keep your consciousness in that state, that’s soo totes awesome.”
A pink liquid bubbled up in front of him, rising until it took on the shape of a sensual woman.
“Hullo, Fio.”
As she formed a semi-transparent clothing, she flashed a merry smile at him.
“Err… Melona?”
“*Giggle*, you remembered me. I’m so happy.”
She wiggled her body.
“Where is this? And Airi?”
He couldn’t help asking.
“Too bad, Airi’s out.”
[If it had been Airi instead of Melona, she might have taken pity on me.]
His fleeting expectations were gone with the wind.
“Eeh, is Airi so much better? You aren’t satisfied with me?”
She looked at him with wet eyes, shaking her voluptuous body.
“Ah, no, that’s… where is this place?”
He tried asking again, looking away from her.
“Where do you think?”
She only grinned.
“Err…”
He looked around. The way the room was arranged with a focus on him made him draw some similarities with the spirit tree in the elven forest.
[It’s like I’m being restrained in the place the dryad was.]
“I’m inside ‘something’. Might be a huge creature.”
“Bingo! Maybe you *do* have a good head on your shoulders!”
Smiling, her hand reached out to stroke his head.
“Ugh!”
At the same time, he moaned in chest pain. The pattern engraved on his chest glowed, the whole room pulsating with ancient characters.
[There’s no doubt anymore.]
Considering how the chest pain and the room’s pulsing matched, Fio was sure this was the place that was absorbing his power.
“M-Melona… these patterns…”
“Jackpot. It’s exactly what you’re thinking. Might as well spill the beans at this point…”
She kept her grin on while she continued:
“The ‘stake’ in your chest is what we drove into the dryad. With you replacing her as a sacrifice, as planned, the Devil Ring actually turned out useful.”
“Useful?”
“Yeah, since it would be a problem if you discharged all the inexhaustible supply of life force overflowing in your body from the Sword of the Unicorn, we had it sealed for you.”
Melona seemed to be more familiar with his own body than he himself was.
“If you didn’t have the ‘stake’, your accumulated vitality might have ended up bursting out like woah~, so you gotta thank us for that one. Yup, yup.”
She nodded with self-complacency.
“Wait, my inexhaustible supply?”
“That’s right. Every time you kiss a normal human, you give them your life force, so I think you would have dried out quickly and died… well, either way, you’ll dry up soon.”
“I don’t want that.”
“I guess you don’t, but I won’t let you escape. You’re the cornerstone of the witch’s plan.”
Fio’s life force was inexhaustible. He shared it with others by kissing. The Sword of the Unicorn had the role of releasing the surplus energy, to keep it within limits, in the shape of songs.
Now that the Devil’s Ring seal prevented him from releasing the energy, it was being absorbed in this place through the pattern engraved on his chest—the “stake” he had inherited from the dryad.
[I have the vitality to resurrect many dying people on the verge of death, so what are they absorbing it so greedily for? Don’t they have enough by now?]
A chill made him shudder.
“Now, before you dry up completely, let’s have you share a bit of your life force.”
With a snap of her fingers, a part of the floor rose up.
“W-What’s that?”
Seeing that creature-like freshness, Fio’s suspicions about that place being inside a huge creature’s body became clear.
Before his eyes, a huge glass tube was spit out, while dripping slippery liquid. Inside it, bathing in a liquid that gave off a faint purple light, there was a woman with hair that reached up to her waist.
“T-This person is…”
He stared wide-eyed at her. The woman—whose naked body was at the mercy of the liquid inside the cylinder—was too similar to Leina. And yet, it wasn’t her.
If it hadn’t been someone like Fio, who had traveled with the Vance daughter for a long time, they might have had trouble telling them apart in an instant. Her breasts were bigger, even though he could see no trace of useless fat in her slender arms. It was obvious that trained muscles dwelled inside her feminine limbs.
[That can only mean one thing.]
She had to be the strongest warrior among all Fio knew. The unrefined flesh of a warrior and the beautiful body of a woman fused seamlessly with an exquisite balance. Her physical beauty was such that it was no exaggeration to say she struck a golden ratio as a beautiful fighter.
“*Giggle*, face~to~face.”
Stretching her arms leisurely, she pushed the button at the base of the cylinder.
With a foaming of bubbles, the glass tube opened to both sides, with the liquid escaping from it, and the woman inside started coughing up the liquid that had gone inside her.
“Dunno if it might be a bit painful, but get everything out~”
Melona’s fully elongated palm rubbed the woman’s back. After the other threw up a remarkable amount of liquid, the pink girl gently scooped up the blond hair stuck to the woman’s face.
A particular black crown she was wearing caught Fio’s attention. It was a similar design to the Devil Ring fitted into the Sword of the Unicorn.
“Is she being manipulated?”
“Of course. If she moved around like Menace, it would be a problem.”
The woman’s blue eyes didn’t appear to catch Fio’s. Feeling a cold shiver in his spine, he shook it out.
“Can you see the kid in front of you?”
The woman quietly nodded to the question.
“Okay, now kiss that kid.”
Following along, the woman with nothing on reached for his cheeks.
He felt his body slowly leaning closer, as if invited by her.
Bound as he was, he couldn’t squirm his way out of it, let alone resist.
***
Regret.
That was the last thing she felt before her death.
The Strongest Female Knight. The Supreme Fencer. The Miraculous Strategist. The White Tiger of Vance. The Master Swordswoman Maria had gone by many names, receiving great trust and worship from allies, feared like an evil spirit or a devil by her enemies.
While the seat of Queen would have surely been within her grasp had she entered Queen’s Blade, she focused instead on the stability of the Earl’s territory, as his wife; that’s where the regret came from.
[I can’t see my daughters grow anymore. If I could, I would have liked to exchange swords with them again.
I want to know if they can carry the strength suitable for a ruler like the Earl, to bisect the world into two.
And yet I, gnawed at by sickness, can’t even raise my own body.]
“Aah, such disappointment…”
Then, her world got wrapped in darkness.
And when a ray of light stretched through the jet-black darkness, she thought: “How much time has passed? A moment? An eternity?” Her consciousness had long lost the track of time.
She focused her being into the light, drawn by it.
And with a faint warmth, her world of darkness instantly morphed into one of light.
***
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