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Chapter 89: Chapter 88: A blood-drinking sword (2)

"You\'re suggesting we completely erase the presence of Lephan?"

"Yes, Captain Jiken. Can you make it so that the cursed sword can\'t find him at all?"

"It might be possible."

How exactly did the cursed sword Mareda track its targets?

One thing was certain: it didn\'t rely on the host\'s line of sight.

The girl had found Lephan, who was hiding deep within the mansion and out of sight, and had run straight toward him.

"It\'s likely through smell, or maybe by sensing the soul\'s wavelength."

That was a typical method used by undead creatures or demons summoned through necromancy to locate their targets.

And a 7th-circle spell existed to block both of those methods with a detection interference barrier.

"Then I\'ll cast a magic circle and place Lephan inside."

"Please do."

Of course, it only made Lephan feel even more confined.

Sitting in the middle of the magic circle drawn in the center of the bedroom, Lephan let out a series of deep sighs.

"Ugh, at this point, it really feels like I\'m in prison."

***

A day and a half passed.

Just as the morning sun was rising at dawn, Pross, from the 7th Battalion, was in the middle of breakfast when he found himself in a completely unexpected situation.

Boom!

As he sat in the dining hall, tearing bread to dip into his stew, one of the walls suddenly came crashing down.

At the same time, a small girl—by now a familiar sight, having appeared so often—revealed herself.

"The cursed sword Mareda!"

"She\'s here now?"

The soldiers of the 7th Battalion, who had been eating, quickly scrambled into battle positions.

The girl moved at once.

"Kyahahaha!"

The cursed sword\'s target was clear.

Ignoring the other soldiers, she charged directly at Pross alone.

Pross, now running for his life, shouted in frustration.

"What the hell? Why is it me this time?"

***

Thanks to the swift response of Jiken, Trib, and the other leaders, the cursed sword Mareda once again fled without causing significant damage.

Pross was safe, but new questions arose.

"The 7th Battalion again?"

"Yes."

"First it was Wallace and Beric, and now it\'s Lephan and Pross..."

Jiken pressed his fingers against his temples. It was a habitual gesture whenever a headache loomed.

"Even the smallest detail will do. Do you have any guesses, Lord Karnak?"

At first, the cursed sword screamed and fled at the sight of the 7th Battalion\'s captain. Now, it was relentlessly targeting members of the 7th Battalion.

"This cannot be a coincidence."

"I agree. But honestly, I have no idea."

Karnak, frowning, continued.

"I can\'t even begin to guess. There isn\'t the slightest clue. What possible connection could there be between the cursed sword and our 7th Battalion?"

"That\'s true..."

A silence fell.

Not just Jiken and Karnak, but all the other aura users present also kept quiet. No one could figure it out.

It was then that Pross, sensing the tension, cautiously spoke up.

"Um, would it be alright if I offered a rather absurd suggestion?"

Jiken and Karnak turned to him, their curiosity piqued.

"Hm?"

"Do you have an idea?"

"Well, I wouldn\'t exactly call it a guess..."

Pross looked uncertain.

"Honestly, it\'s a really ridiculous guess. It seems like pure coincidence, no matter how I look at it..."

"Right now, we don\'t even have that ridiculous guess."

Jiken gave his approval.

Feeling more at ease, Pross pointed to himself and Karnak.

"Well, it seems like it\'s based on the order of who was standing closest to Lord Karnak, doesn\'t it?"

"Closest in order?"

Baros was puzzled.

"What do you mean? If we\'re talking about being close to the captain, it should be me and Dame Serati. Why Wallace and Beric?"

Of course, everyone knew that Karnak\'s closest aides were Baros and Serati.

"I\'m not talking about personal relationships."

Pross shook his head.

"I\'m talking about the situation when the cursed sword screamed and ran after seeing the captain."

The King\'s Order is an elite among elites. Naturally, when forming an encirclement, there are predetermined positions.

"Look. Wallace, Beric, Lephan, and me. Isn\'t that exactly the order we formed the encirclement around the captain?"

Everyone blinked.

"Now that you mention it..."

"It really does seem that way, but..."

A ridiculous conjecture, one that\'s hard to believe.

"I know, it sounds absurd. I only brought it up because we\'re grasping at straws here."

At that moment, Harris raised his hand.

"It seems like a decent theory to me."

Jiken, looking baffled, asked again.

"Do you really believe that?"

"Belief isn\'t what\'s important here."

There was one advantage to that hypothesis.

"We can verify it, can\'t we?"

He looked over at Pross and asked.

"At the time of the encirclement, who was standing closest to Lord Karnak after you?"

"Uh, it was Krant."

"Alright."

With a triumphant smile, Harris continued.

"Next time, you should enter the magic circle with Sir Lephan. Don\'t say a word to Krant."

***

The following night.

A sturdy young swordsman in his mid-twenties was leaning against a half-collapsed mansion pillar, gasping for breath.

His entire body was covered in blood and dirt, showing that he had been through quite the ordeal.

"Hah... hah... I nearly... died..."

Had the cursed sword Mareda not fled in time, he might have truly lost his life.

As Krant, a member of the 7th Battalion, let out a sigh of relief, Jiken and the King\'s Order leadership wore conflicted expressions.

"It\'s true."

"She really chased after only this guy?"

"...What on earth does this mean?"

***

Why did the girl with the cursed sword scream and flee the moment she saw Karnak?

And why did she start targeting the 7th Battalion of the King\'s Order, specifically in the order of those closest to Karnak?

No one knew the reason. To be honest, they even doubted if there was a reason.

But even without knowing the reason, if you understand a pattern, you can use it.

Just like how you don\'t need to know why the sun rises and the moon sets to create a calendar or grow crops.

After gathering the leadership, Jiken proposed an idea.

"Let\'s lure the cursed sword Mareda."

If they could identify the target of their opponent, it meant they could control her movements.

By using Lephan and Pross, who were high-priority targets, as bait, they could lead the girl and the cursed sword into a trap.

"In that case, there\'s no need to stay here any longer. It\'ll be easier to track the cursed sword\'s approach in a less populated area," Trib said.

Serati interjected, "And it\'ll be easier to chase her down when she tries to flee."

The reason she had lost the cursed sword so many times wasn\'t just because it was fast.

"There are simply too many places to hide in a city full of buildings."

Once it hid its presence and slipped into the shadows of the alleyways, it was nearly impossible to detect it with magic or aura techniques.

Harris agreed. "In the past, we would\'ve been able to track traces of darkness with the holy magic of the clergy, but even that\'s not working now."

The transformed cursed sword Mareda left no traces behind. It was as if the sword was intentionally erasing them.

However, if they were out in the open fields, all those problems would vanish.

The general strategy was set.

First, they would leave Achenbat City. Then, they would search for an appropriate location nearby and set up a camp.

"Since the cursed sword\'s target is clear, there\'s no need for the 1st Battalion to surround the 7th Battalion, is there?"

"Just like usual, we can divide into left and right flanks and split the roles."

Lephan and Pross would be positioned at the center of the campsite. When Mareda appeared, they would alternate erasing the two\'s presence using a blocking ier magic circle, luring the cursed sword into a trap.

Jiken spread a map out on the table, a detailed map of the terrain around Achenbat City.

"This will be our campsite."

He pointed to the wide-open fields to the north of the city, where visibility was completely clear, and issued his orders.

"We\'ll move by the end of the day. Everyone, get ready!"

***

That afternoon, the 1st and 7th Battalions of the King\'s Order left the mansion and headed to the northern plains. There, they began diligently setting up camp.

It wasn\'t just about pitching tents.

Since this would also be the battleground where they would lure and deal with the cursed sword Mareda, they had to prepare various traps in advance.

"Whatever happens, we must deal with her this time."

As Trib inspected the traps, he encouraged the troops.

"By any means necessary, let\'s end this!"

The soldiers working with him asked, "By any means necessary...?"

"Does that mean we\'re willing to kill the host?"

They were asking whether it would be acceptable to sacrifice the innocent girl possessed by the cursed sword.

Karnak, overhearing this, flinched in surprise.

\'Are they seriously suggesting we just kill the girl? That\'s not an option.\'

He was about to intervene, but Trib answered first.

"It\'s a life-or-death situation. I\'m not saying we must save her at all costs."

He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

"But killing her outright isn\'t the solution either, is it? After all, we\'re acting under the king\'s decree. And even without that, as someone who serves the Seven Goddesses, we should save a life if we can."

"Of course, Lord vice-captain, what you\'re saying is morally correct, but..."

One of the younger soldiers seemed unconvinced.

"The more the cursed sword runs wild, the more blood will be spilled. Wouldn\'t it be better to decisively sacrifice the girl and prevent further casualties?"

Trib, a man in his forties, looked at the young soldier in his twenties and smiled.

"That\'s exactly what I thought at your age."

"Is that wrong?"

"Logically, your reasoning is sound."

Sacrificing one person to prevent greater damage? In theory, it makes perfect sense.

"But reality doesn\'t work that way."

The problem is always people.

"People who think that way often end up failing to save either the individual or the many. They just end up with both the sacrifice and a lot of casualties."

If you can save a life, you should do everything in your power to save it.

That mindset, ironically, is what minimizes the damage and saves the most people. It\'s not about numbers or statistics.

The soldiers wore ambiguous expressions.

"Is that so?"

Trib gave a bitter smile.

He understood that it was hard to grasp, as he himself had only come to realize it vaguely at this age.

"I\'m sorry, but as a mere swordsman, I can\'t explain it any better."

"No, sir!"

"We\'ll take your words to heart!"

Meanwhile, Karnak and Baros were silently impressed.

[Oh, so that\'s how you\'re supposed to live like a proper person, young master.]

[Impressive. I never thought about it that way.]

[You were planning to save the host anyway, weren\'t you, young master?]

[Yeah.]

All life is equal, and every life is precious?

It wasn\'t some kind of noble or admirable sentiment like that.

[If we kill her carelessly, she might come back stronger as an undead.]

When it comes to necromancy, killing someone often causes more problems than leaving them alive.

It wasn\'t about morality, but practicality—keeping her alive was the smarter choice.

[So that\'s how you say the same thing without making people mad.]

[We should learn from him.]

[Indeed. Is speaking eloquently a talent? I\'m jealous.]

Listening nearby, Serati was puzzled.

[Is that really so impressive?]

What Trib said was similar to the sermons many clerics gave.

But wasn\'t it strange that these guys, who had lived for over a hundred years, didn\'t know that?

Karnak and Baros nodded in agreement, as if to say it made sense.

[It\'s because I never really listened back then.]

[Whenever we encountered a cleric before, we\'d just kill them and make them dance as skeletons.]

[Ah, I see... You terrible people.]

[Huh?]

[Oh, nothing.]

The nearby 7th Battalion soldiers looked at the three of them with peculiar expressions.

Their faces seemed to say, "There they go again, silently staring each other down."

Realizing this, Baros quickly changed the topic.

"So, are we just going to stay here for now?"

"We have to."

"When do you think the cursed sword will show up?"

"We don\'t know, so we\'ll have to keep camping until it does."

Looking around the camp, Karnak smiled softly.

"It won\'t take long. She\'s been attacking us relentlessly every day."

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