Chapter 207: After the Battle Ended

"This is terrible!"

That was the first cry of the people who had come from the checkpoint to search for us when they saw the scene.

Captain Squire and the others of the margrave’s household who had been the first to be struck by arrows had apparently been hit by arrows coated with the same fast-acting poison used when the Queen was attacked, and they had died in a manner close to instantaneous death. Every member of the margrave’s household was dead.

And the only ones who survived were me, Lily, and, for some reason, White.

After we had purified Stevie, while searching to see whether there were any other survivors, we heard White’s groan and found him. The arrow was pulled out, and after Lily healed and tended him he looked happy, yet when he learned that only three people had survived, both Lily and I were astonished.

White had somehow stubbornly survived. I had thought the sword thrown by that man of tremendous strength had struck him and killed him, but the sword thrown at White apparently had not been coated with poison. Instead it seemed to have been coated with a paralyzing toxin; he had been unable to move, yet it was not a fatal wound. White had instinctively deflected the flying sword with his bow and blocked it, but at that time the tip of the sword had apparently grazed his arm. Had the death-like paralysis actually saved him?

While looking at White I spat a curse inside my heart: You should have died in Stevie’s place!

I must have screamed hundreds of times inside my mind, This guy should just die! Yet because White, a man of the checkpoint, had survived, he became the one who could testify that we had fought unknown attackers. And White had overheard the conversation between me and that man, and he testified about that as well. Thus the Empire’s involvement came to be recognized. Inwardly I wondered whether White had been playing dead, but it seemed simply that I had not been able to hear White’s voice.

A cart arrived from the checkpoint and they began collecting the bodies. Then a unit from the margrave’s household that had been searching for the margrave’s security force that had not returned also arrived and were shocked by the tragedy of the scene.

When I considered how to store and transport Stevie’s body until the time and place of burial, knowledge from other-world novels descended upon me. Living beings cannot be placed inside a mana bag, but materials can — that sort of thing. From that, couldn’t Stevie’s body be placed inside my mana bag? Then Stevie’s body would not have to be touched by the hands of unknown men, and we could also avoid having it loaded onto a wagon lined up with the other corpses. Stevie was a body; the others were corpses. It is not a mere difference in words! "Once you’re dead it’s the same" is not true!

When I slipped Stevie’s body into the mana bag with a shuu, voices rose from those watching. The people of the checkpoint and of the margrave’s household wore expressions that seemed to ask whether I would also put away the corpses related to them, but that was absolutely impossible! I did not want to put the corpses of those men (precious sacrifices who had tried to protect me, though they were) into my mana bag together with Stevie’s body! My silent attitude of refusal seemed to have been conveyed, and no one brought it up. Being a prince is a great thing.

If the corpses of the attackers were left exposed, beasts would eat them. That would also be a problem because the beasts would learn the taste of human flesh, so it was decided they would be buried. Only the corpse of the man I had fought at the end would be taken to the checkpoint, they said.

At that time I checked the skills that had transferred from him.

『Lost Life Transmission Technique　Sword Technique 6　Spear Technique 1　Fighting Technique 4　Bow 6　Divine Legs 3　Fire 2　Light 1　Water 2　Stealth 6　Concealment 6　Appraisal 2　Detection 7　Purity 3　Deception 2　Sexual Technique 2　Mana Bag 4　Poison Vision 4　Berserker 2　Strength 3　Mental Magic Resistance 6　Calculation 3　Mental Magic 3　Cooking 2　Electric Shock 2　Healing 3』

Ah, Bow has become 6. And Healthy Legs and Quick Legs have disappeared, becoming Divine Legs. Did that man possess something called Divine Legs, and was that what had given him the shrinking-the-earth-like speed? And Detection has risen and Healing has been added. Could it be that these came not from him but from Stevie? Is Electric Shock the same?

I could no longer contain myself and spoke of this to Lily. Keeping our distance from the others and pretending to be staring blankly at the work, I told her that I had obtained the Lost Life Transmission Technique in the Commoner District, that when I was near someone who was dying that person’s skills entered me, and that just now Stevie’s skills seemed to have entered me.

Lily was surprised, then convinced. She said she had wondered why my abilities had improved so remarkably in such a short time, but now it finally made sense. Then she checked her own skills and said,

"Certainly, just as Robby-sama says, things that seem to be Stevie’s abilities have entered me. Is this the benefit of having been near Robby-sama? What has entered me appears to be only Stevie’s abilities."

"Sword Technique, Instantaneous Force, Detection, and Healing have improved... Ahh, I must treasure them. Stevie’s abilities will live on inside me."

Lily hugged her own chest and let tears fall. Because there were eyes around us I could not embrace her, so I stroked Lily’s head. It felt as if Lily had become smaller. Does that mean my own back has grown that much in return?

Beside us the soldiers of the checkpoint and the people of the margrave’s household silently dug holes and performed the cleanup. I, a prince, merely watched.