Vol 2 Chapter 72 – A Knight’s Oath【Vol 2 – The Condemned Knight Edition】

Despite injuring himself, Erik thrust the sword without any hesitation.

The blade didn’t weaken even after piercing through his own body—it went straight through and impaled the abdomen of Natan, who had been pressed close behind him.

The two of them were skewered together on a single sword.

“Gofuh…!”

“Ah, aaaaaaaaaaaah!?”

Erik coughed up a clot of blood and grinned wickedly (in pleasure).

Meanwhile, Natan screamed as blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Though both had their abdomens pierced, their reactions were strikingly different.

“You fool…! You imbecile…!! Where in this world is there such a great fool who would skewer both himself and his enemy…!!”

Natan breathed raggedly in agony while condemning Erik, who was coughing up blood in front of him.

Perhaps there are people who would say “attack the enemy even if it means attacking me too.” Though they’d be few.

However, those who could actually carry it out themselves would certainly be even fewer than that.

Who could endure pain severe enough to possibly kill them and actually execute something that might truly result in their death?

Natan had misjudged the man called Erik.

He’d failed to realize Erik was someone who wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest to harm himself.

“Guuuuooooooh…!!”

Natan groaned in agony as he slowly moved his body backward.

The sword that had been lodged inside his body gradually withdrew, and he saw the blade thoroughly coated in blood.

Breaking out in profuse cold sweat, Natan staggered backward while clenching his teeth hard to avoid screaming more than necessary.

“Aaaaah!!”

Finally, he succeeded in pulling the sword free from his body.

As a result, Erik was now the only one with a sword stabbed through his abdomen.

Seeing this, Natan staggered backward and mocked him.

“Ha… hahaha…! Fool! In the end, you’re the one who’s critically injured, hero! You sacrificed yourself to kill me, but… it was meaningless!!”

Natan was certainly critically injured too. Blood overflowed from the abdomen he pressed with his hand.

However, compared to Erik, it was obvious at a glance that Erik was far more critically wounded.

Natan fared somewhat better because Erik had served as a shield, but since Erik had been pierced by the sword first, it was only natural.

More blood pooled like a puddle at Erik’s feet than flowed from Natan’s wound.

Even while writhing in pain, Natan chuckled darkly.

“I won’t die!! For the sake of my goal… to infiltrate the core of the Kingdom of Vilemse…!! You died in vain, hero!! Fwahahahahahaha!!”

Unconcerned that the bleeding from his abdomen was intensifying, Natan laughed loudly in mockery.

Perhaps he needed to do so to feel satisfied, but it may also have been to keep himself conscious.

That’s right—he couldn’t die in a place like this.

He would infiltrate the core of the Kingdom of Vilemse and suck up all the sweet rewards.

No one else would do it—it was something he would do himself.

That’s why, even to those anti-royalist faction members who were technically his allies for now, he would never…

“No.”

A voice rang out, stopping Natan’s thoughts.

It came from very close to him.

And it was a voice Natan knew well, one he’d heard many times.

When he moved his eyes, there stood Eleonora with her massive gauntlet raised.

The reason she hadn’t been able to move was because Natan had been right next to Erik with a knife pressed against him.

No matter how immortal Erik was, she wasn’t the type of woman who could tolerate having his throat slit.

But now that concern was gone.

Thanks to Erik’s desperate attack, Natan had separated from him.

“You will die. And I will be the one to kill you.”

Told this, Natan couldn’t say anything.

He couldn’t even think, let alone speak.

Because the moment he opened his mouth slightly, Eleonora’s gauntlet came roaring toward his face.

It sank into Natan’s face, then with tremendous arm strength and destructive power, it pulverized it and sent his body flying easily.

His body didn’t stop even when it hit a building’s wall—it continued flying while destroying several structures.

Only the trail of blood remained, viscerally real.

Anyone observing this situation could tell Eleonora had put far more force into this than when she’d punched Natan’s subordinate.

Her sadistic urges alone couldn’t have produced this much power.

Then why? It was likely because of him—still laughing somehow with a sword stabbed through his abdomen.

In any case, the noble named Natan Byutou had his face destroyed and died anticlimactically.

He died without infiltrating the core of the Kingdom of Vilemse, his goal, without even getting his hands on that objective.

No one mourned his death.

◆

“Erik-san, are you all right!?”

After punching Natan away, the first thing Eleonora’s gaze turned to was Erik, standing covered in blood.

Previously, she would have gone to check on the opponent she’d punched. Seeing the battered wreckage she’d created would make her shiver with excitement.

However, the current Eleonora suppressed her sadistic urges and rushed to Erik’s side.

Her priorities had shifted.

“Heh, gugugu… aah!!”

“Erik-san!?”

Erik smiled brightly at Eleonora, then slowly pulled the sword from his abdomen as if savoring the pain.

When he withdrew the sword, blood gushed out profusely once more.

As Erik was about to collapse into the pool of blood, Eleonora frantically rushed over and caught him.

“Such recklessness…!”

Looking down at him, she could tell he was in an extremely dangerous state.

His complexion was pale, his breathing shallow. His skin felt slightly cold to the touch.

Normally, these would be fatal injuries—it wouldn’t be strange if he’d died.

“Why did you do such a thing…! Even if you won’t die, you said you still feel pain…”

The Immortal skill wasn’t perfect.

Pain existed with the damage received, and injuries didn’t heal automatically.

Erik’s seemingly perfect skill was far from perfect.

“Heh… I couldn’t afford to lose Eleonora-san in a place like this… gofuh.”

Erik said this while coughing up blood.

Eleonora pulled him close, not caring that his blood was staining her body.

“…Just how much of a bleeding heart are you? To suffer such a fatal wound for my sake…”

“I’m not a bleeding heart… I couldn’t afford to lose Eleonora-san here, when you were trying to face your sadistic urges.”

“Erik-san…”

Despite his pale face, coughing up blood, and grimacing in apparent agony, Erik smiled.

At that sight, feelings Eleonora had never experienced before welled up inside her.

“Just when we were about to work on treating your sadistic urges together, it would be troublesome if Eleonora-san became a slave.”

If anyone was going to become a slave, it would be him.

Of course, Eleonora—unaware of such filthy desires—felt her heart race.

“From now on, you’ll be walking alongside me. Let’s work hard together.”

Please work hard to beat me up.

“Erik-san…!”

Eleonora, unable to hear the subtext, had tears glistening in her eyes.

Had there ever been anyone who faced her so directly and cherished her so deeply?

Had there ever been anyone who would fight for her while experiencing pain equivalent to death?

Eleonora had met such a person for the first time.

“Erik-san, I swear.”

“Yes?”

Erik, whose consciousness was fading from pain and pleasure, looked at Eleonora with hazy awareness.

Even in such an unclear state, he could understand that her smile was more charming than any he’d seen before.

“I swear that Erik-san will only be hurt when I’m venting my sadistic urges. For all other troubles that befall you, I will become your shield and brush them away. I swear this to you and your blood.”

Unfortunately, Eleonora’s oath would likely never be fulfilled.

No matter how much she devoted herself to being a shield, it was easy to imagine from Erik’s extreme masochistic tendencies that he would cast the shield aside and dive headfirst into hardship.

However, Eleonora had just declared she would use the violence she’d wielded to satisfy her sadistic urges to protect someone else instead.

The significance of this was far greater than Erik—who hadn’t quite caught what she said—could comprehend.

“Heh… I see…”

Erik muttered contentedly and closed his eyes.

As a masochist, he should have rejected Eleonora’s declaration… but unfortunately, in his hazy state of consciousness, he only caught the words “venting my sadistic urges” and was satisfied with that alone.

Eleonora carefully cradled the unconscious Erik in her arms.

His blood soaked into her clothing, but she didn’t find it dirty in the slightest.

Rather, she was beginning to find it noble. She had no interest in just any blood, but she was developing an interest in Erik’s.

The sight of the fallen hero and the female knight at his side could be seen until Miriam came running breathlessly from the Royal Castle.