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Chapter 348: Owl, and Don’t Interfere.

It was too sudden an occurrence; my reaction was slowed due to that.

Normally, the best move here would be to enclose the explosives with [Prison] and contain the explosions that way, but what I did was to deploy a [Prison] enclosing the space from the second-story window to the people at the center of the room.

To be exact, I deployed a [Prison] centered around myself which I then expanded to include everyone else.

As a result, the feather-shaped explosives blew away the wall on the side of the window they flew in from, and a huge hole from which we can get a nice view of the palace courtyard was formed.

“Fu… That was dangerous…”

That was really no joke. If I had been any slower, someone would’ve died. For now, it seems that everyone’s ok.

“Oya oya oya? Seems like no one has died-nee. Could I have failed? I hate failing though-nee.”

(Note: think those super annoying dudes you see in anime that ends their sentences with a -nee sound. As a bonus point, he also speaks like an okama.)

An out-of-place frivolous voice came from above.

Someone was floating in the air above the courtyard. His age was in the late thirties, and he’s wearing light armor beneath a gray mantle. A rapier hung on his waist. On first glance, he looks like a mild-mannered scholar; beneath his golden hair is a smiling face paired with round glasses.

Below his feet was a kind of floating disc. Probably an artifact of sorts. That slim-looking man was likely using that to float in the sky.

However, what’s more eye-catching is the roughly 1.5m-sized golem floating besides him. It has wings for arms, and claws extended from its feet. On top of its short body is the face of an owl.

An owl-type golem… No, it’s something like an owl-human hybrid golem. The golem, uniformly grey across its entire body, was floating in the air without flapping its wings at all.

A golem with an animal head… Don’t tell me…

“So it was you…! The betrayer, Gian Greed!”

Colonel, who stood back up, glared at the slim man floating in the air.

“Ha? Nn?… Oya, you’re… Landiner… Colonel Dorf Landiner!? Hahaha! You, you were alive!? This is a masterpiece! To think I’d meet with one of my past comrades here-nee!”

“Don’t call me your comrade, that’s disgusting…!”

“Are aree? What? Are you still angry? It’s already been ten years, you know, just let bygones be bygones.”

“You! Lowe wouldn’t have been destroyed if you hadn’t run to Eisengard! You’re the very reason that war began in the first place, Gian Greed!”

Colonel continued to glare at that slim man with a rage-filled expression.

So this is the traitor who betrayed Lowe Kingdom and sold the secrets of the [Beast Emperor] series to Eisengard, huh.

“I cannot stand those na?ve idiots who blindly believed that their peace was guaranteed as long as the [Beast Emperors] are with them, you see. And the old-fashioned king who doesn’t look to the outside world, and only focuses on the small territory before his eyes without trying to grow his country further-nee. It’s idiotic to live my life as a general of a poor country like that, you see, and I want to further realize my own possibilities-nee.”

“And you betrayed Lowe for that kind of reason…!”

“It isn’t bad to give up on an incompetent lord, is it? I had actually considered killing the king and taking the kingdom for myself, but as expected I couldn’t possibly face the other eleven generals by myself-nee. I’m surprised one of them still lived.”

Lieutenant and Sergeant too glared at the man called Gian, who showed a thin smile.

Colonel took out a [Storage Card] from within his clothes, and called out the leopard-headed golem, Leopaldo besides him.

“To meet you here must be the guidance of everyone who’s no longer in this world. To clear away their regrets, I’ll send you to hell right here!”

“You who were the last seat among the generals? While that’s an interesting invitation, I have a job to finish at the moment. I’ve been ordered by the Magicraft King to take the life of His Majesty the Garudio Emperor, you see!”

From the wings of the owl-type golem next to Gian, several feathers shot out. All of them were targeted at the Garudio emperor.

A series of explosions resounded. However, within the space protected by [Prison], not even a single speck of dust was blown up.

“Nnn? What could this be? Leopaldo shouldn’t have this kind of golem skill…”

I moved instantly with [Teleport] to the back of Gian who was making a puzzled face, and tapped his shoulder.

“First, let’s talk downstairs, shall we? [Slip].”

“Wha, uoea!?”

With his feet slipping off the floating disc, Gian fell down towards the courtyard.

The owl-type golem made a sharp descent while chasing its master.

“Hii!?”

Gian was caught right before he would impact the ground by his own golem, and was then dropped off lightly.

Rather than Gian who fell onto the ground, I was more interested in the flying disc he was using, and while levitating myself with [Fly], tried stepping on it with one foot. Hee, this actually feels quite stable.

“O, oi, you! Don’t touch that without asking!”

He’s saying something below me but, hmm, it’d be troublesome if he gets to use this again… Guess I’ll take them.

I stored the disc using [Storage]. It’ll make a good souvenir for the professor.

“Wha!? Graux, shoot that guy down!” (Note: why is the leopard golem literally just named “leopard” while the owl golem gets an actual name…)

Innumerable feathers shot out from the wings of the owl-type golem. They were flying towards me in straight lines; I wonder if these all explode?

“[Come forth Flame, crimson chain bolts, Fire Arrow].”

The arrows of flame that appeared in the air from my magic shot down the feathers approaching me continuously.

While loud explosion sounds were raised one after another, all of the feathers exploded before reaching me and turned into dust.

“How did you!?”

“… Ah, you sure it’s fine to look at me? I’m not your opponent, you know.”

“What?”

The leopard-headed golem, Leopaldo, leaped from the hole in the wall on the second floor and attacked Gian, who had just finished standing up.

On its two front legs were long claws that sprung out before I noticed.

“Ku! Graux!”

“Gi.”

The owl-type golem transformed its wings into large blade-shaped appendages while jumping in front of its master, and blocked the attacks of Leopaldo.

While the owl was apparently seen as the messengers of the god of wisdom and whatnot in western myths, in Japan and China, there’s a belief that the owl would kill and eat its own mother to grow, and is a blasphemous bird. (Note: while google-sensei did tell me owls have been observed to eat their young or their siblings, I didn’t find anything similar to this. Hmm.)

The fact that they would kill their own parents, or their own masters, and use that as a stepping stone to reach for higher places; that was apparently the origins of the word “梟雄”, or so my grandpa told me in the past.

(Note: the word roughly means “heroes who rose up through conflict” or something along that line. It generally refers to people who rose in power within a turbulent period through military conquests. For example, someone like Nobunaga during the sengoku period can be considered one of them. The word is made up of the kanji for “owl” and the kanji which combines with another to form “hero”, hence the reference.)

While watching the fight between golems happening beneath me, the thought that Gian, who betrayed his former homeland of Lowe and sought for more power in the world, was exactly an owl like that surfaced within my head.

On a side note, the kanji “梟” apparently had the meaning of nailing the terrible bird that killed its own parents to a tree and showing it for all to see. The act of displaying a decapitated criminal’s head was called “梟首” for a similar reason as well.

(Note: this is turning into a kanji classroom… Aaaanyways. It’d be hard to understand this without some kanji background, but if you observe the kanji for owl carefully you’d notice you can separate it into two distinct parts, “鳥” and “木” above and below respectively. The first one is the kanji for bird, while the second—a lot of you might actually know this—is kanji for wood or tree. Hence, the explanation above. For the second one, it’s the kanji for owl combined with the kanji for head or neck. Alright, end of class, go back to reading the chapter.)

“Gian!!”

“Ku!?”

Colonel, who got down to the courtyard as well before anyone noticed, slashed at Gian with his sabre. Gian dodged that with a paper-thin difference, then took his distance before pulling out the rapier on his waist and putting up a stance.

The swordsmanship of Gian was fast and precise, and a graze landed on Colonel’s face before long. A single streak of blood flowed down Colonel’s cheek. That guy, despite his appearance, he’s quite good.

When I was about to cast some magic to follow up the Colonel, he detected that and sent a strong gaze towards me.

“Don’t interfere! This is our fight!”

Nuu. Now it’s hard for me to participate…

Since it’s something like a revenge match, I guess it’d be bad for outsiders to interfere, eh?

When I turned to look, Lieutenant and Sergeant too were watching Colonel’s battle with bated breath. Umumu, so it really is bad for me to help?

While the sound of the explosion that blew away the wall at first was erased by [Silence], the other sounds after that were all outside the room, so they spread out to the surroundings. The knights stationed around the palace should already be gathering towards this location. As long as something is done to that flying golem of his, he would lose all of his escape paths.

“Kuhaha! This brings back memories-nee! How many times have I accompanied your training back in Lowe!? Do you remember even a single time when you won against me!?”

“Nuu…!”

The sharp consecutive thrusts of the rapier that utilized its light weight to the fullest bore wound after wound on Colonel’s body. Colonel was forced into a defensive fight where dodging took everything he had, and he couldn’t even attack back.

Besides them, Leopaldo was being toyed around by Graux’s fast attacks in much the same fashion.

Graux was dashing around on the ground; it was possible that turning its wings to blades made it lose its flying capability. However, even so it still had quite the mobility.

Leopaldo was by no means a slow golem as well, but nevertheless, the small difference between it and Graux was showing itself painfully within this battle.

Originally, a golem and its master would be able to exhibit their full strength only when they’re fighting together. Now that they’re completely separated like this, fighting at full power would be impossible. Of course, the same could be said of their opponents, but…

“Here and here and here and here! You havn’t improved at all even after ten years-nee! Slow slow slow! I can see through every single one of your movements!!”

“Gu…!”

Gian’s thrusts increased in speed even further. Colonel could no longer track the rapier’s movements, and there were wounds all over his body. He’s already in a state where it took his all to stand.

“Now then, I can’t stay around and be your partner for too long. Let’s end this soon, shall we? When you go over to the other side, please convey my regards to His Majesty the Lowe King for me!”

With a tangling motion, Gian’s rapier stuck itself to Colonel’s sabre. Then, with an upward motion, it struck the sabre out of Colonel’s hands; the sabre flew up while drawing circles, before falling down and sticking into the ground.

“Now then, it’s farewell. It had been a rather fun time.”

While saying that with a wide smile on his face, Gian made a step-in, and pierced the rapier through Colonel’s abdomen.

“Guwa…!”

“That can’t…!”

“Colonel!?”

While Lieutenant and Sergeant raised their voices, Colonel spouted blood from his mouth.

Gian looked at that sight in satisfaction; but then, all of a sudden, Colonel’s well-muscled left arm grabbed onto Gian’s right hand.

The rapier that was stuck deeply enough in Colonel to stick out on the other side. Gian, who had the hand holding that rapier grabbed by a half-dead man, lost the smile on his face.

“I’ve caught you.”

While saying that, a fearless smile floated up on Colonel’s bloodstained face. His empty right hand formed a tight fist even while shaking.

“Taste the fury of Lowe with your body…!!”

“Hii!?”

The rock-like fist took aim at Gian’s face and was swung with all of Colonel’s power.

“Ugoha!?”

Gian, who was blown away so hard he made a few beautiful turns in the air, fell onto the ground while sprouting blood from his nose and showing the whites of his eyes.

While having the rapier still stuck in his guts, Colonel looked down on Gian and smiled, before falling down onto the ground as well.

- Pixel