Vol 3 Chapter 75 – Magic Spear Keraunos【Empire War Arc】

“What, what did you say!? Are you really fine with those terms!?”

The man named Warren, both a knight and a noble, was stunned by the conditions Roy had proposed.

“Yeah. I’m putting half of the Ignia territory on the line, and you’re going to lay out your ongoing operations in order of importance. Pretty generous deal, isn’t it?”

According to Sophia’s information, this Warren was a Pawn noble—the lowest rank on the ladder.
It was not a position that allowed for a carefree aristocratic lifestyle; he was always struggling to make ends meet.

On Roy’s side, all they had to go on was the information that Eiden had been captured somewhere in this area.
Considering the timing of Lydia Kingston inheriting all of Ganalkin’s authority, it was hard to believe the two things were unrelated.

Now then, which way would this man, currently grinding his teeth in frustration before Roy’s eyes, choose to fall…?

At the very least, the fact that he was hesitating made it obvious he was sitting on information valuable enough to weigh against his land.

Warren finally raised a somewhat ornate longsword before Roy. It was the signal that they would carry out the Geas.

The heirlooms of both houses shone, and the Geas was sealed.

Following convention, the two sides backed away from each other and took their stances.

Fifteen versus six… Under normal circumstances, you would never engage an enemy with that kind of numbers gap. But their side had veterans who had survived the battle at Grentze Fort.
The scale of that fight had been in a different league entirely compared to this. This was not arrogance or overconfidence—this was just “picking the battles you can win.”

If you refuse to take the fights you can win and pile caution on top of caution, that in itself can turn into a kind of carelessness—that was how Roy saw it.

As the two sides glared each other down, Warren’s people made the first move.

A volley of arrows came flying in. Unlike with Ganalkin, every one of them was using skills from the very start.
Instead of arcing through the air, each arrow flew in a straight line, and every last one of them was the skill Flame Arrow.

Arrow after arrow came screaming in, each one heavy, and thanks to the liberation of the Tower of Agni, their firepower had climbed even higher.

“Everyone, get behind the shield! ‘Blessing Breath Shield: Large Tower Shield Type’!”

With her increased enhancement values, Yukino could now not only change her shield’s shape but also move it around.

Everyone ducked behind the shield and waited out the attack.

“These hits are… pretty heavy…!”

“So they’re using Flame Arrow. They’re making pretty good use of Agni.”

“Roy, don’t just stand there being impressed—give us some orders.”

“Got it! The only ones here who can do ranged attacks are Manabu and Sophia. Ange, Yukino, you two protect them.”

The four who had been given orders nodded. Sarina, who had not been mentioned, was left unsure what to do.

“What am I supposed to be doing?”

“You’re with me. I’m counting on your mobility.”

—And then the enemy’s barrage stopped.

Ange dropped her posture low and sprinted around the field, planting small magic circles everywhere. Then, with a snap of her fingers, stone walls began erupting into existence one after another.

Yukino summoned a fresh shield to protect Manabu and Sophia.

Meanwhile, Roy and Sarina slipped away under cover of the powdery snow kicked up by the explosions.
Holding Sarina in one arm, Roy wrapped Shadow Whip around a nearby tree and vaulted them up onto a thick branch.

“Ah, we’ve got a perfect view of the enemy from here…”

“Told you, didn’t I? And we’re going to be jumping like this about three more times, okay?”

“Wait, what? Hold on, the first jump was out of nowhere too, at least let me mentally—kyaaaaaa!”

Roy ignored her protests and began leaping from tree to tree.

“Haa, haa… You do realize I’m a girl, right? Your fingers are on my chest!”

“So that’s what that soft thing was.”

“Yes, it was… and you don’t sound sorry at all. Fine, I’ll just talk to Sophia about it later.”

That would be bad. If it were Yukino or Ange, he might be able to smooth it over somehow, but Sophia was another matter. Just imagining her cold, half-lidded stare and brutal verbal jabs made Roy’s stomach hurt worse than when Haruto had run him through the gut.

Roy bowed his head to Sarina without argument.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Huh? Ah, no… it’s fine. M-More importantly, look! We’ve got a perfect view of the commander from here, so while Yukino and the others are holding the line, let’s go for it, yeah?”

Sarina found herself thrown off balance by how straightforward Roy’s apology was.

“Sarina, we’re going to finish this in one push.”

“Got it… Come on, Keraunos, show me your power. ‘Cloak in Lightning’!!”

Since the Dark Snow Wolf battle, Sarina had learned to temporarily revert the Meteor Spear back into its original form, the Magic Spear Keraunos, by pouring in a large amount of mana.

—“Alright, let’s go!”

While Yukino and the others were trading blows on the front line, Roy and Sarina launched a surprise attack from the rear.
Unlike Ganalkin, Warren had graduated from a knight academy. Feeling a faint disturbance in the air, he reacted instantly, taking evasive action.

As a result, he managed to dodge a perfectly timed opening strike.

“Sarina! They’re too scared of friendly fire to attack recklessly!”

“I know! I’ll take the ones around us—you take that guy down!”

Without wasting a second, Roy unleashed a binding attack with Shadow Prison. Countless bands of shadow erupted from the ground, chasing after Warren to pin him down.

“Don’t underestimate me! Serpent Edge!!”

A serpentine, irregular flurry of slashes shredded the shadows with pinpoint precision.

“Then how about this! Fake Throw!”

Roy’s own improvised technique—throwing two daggers at once, overlapped. Warren knocked aside the daggers that came flying at him, but hidden behind them, the second blade followed through and drove deep into his dominant arm.

“Gah…! I’m not done yet, I still have my left arm!”

“Just give it up already. Surrender now and you’ll keep that arm.”

“If I lose here, I won’t be able to face Lady Lydia!”

Warren swung his sword with desperate fury, but Roy deflected every blow. The surrounding knights were too busy being run ragged by Sarina’s blinding speed to break away and come to his aid.

“This is over. Just—give it up!”

Roy slipped just under an overhead slash by a hair’s breadth and drove his elbow into Warren’s gut. Without missing a beat, he seized Warren’s arm and turned it into a hip throw.

“…My win. Now, you’re going to tell us everything.”

Roy yanked the wind dagger Fragarach free and got to his feet. Nearby, Warren’s family heirloom lay half-buried in the snow, its glow gone.

That signified his defeat under the Geas and, at the same time, marked the end of the battle.