Chapter 269: Fighting Hard

The sound of arrows hitting the shields stopped.

Huh? When I peeked forward from under the shields, the Vélez assault soldiers who had been running toward the Kirchhoff side were being dropped one by one by arrows. Each time, a waaah?! waaah?! of cheers rose from the spectators. Taking down a running soldier in a single shot—what kind of power was that?! I found myself impressed even though they were the enemy. What was the Duchess thinking as she watched this?

"Lord Robbie, they’re shooting from that roof over there!"

In the direction Lily pointed, three people were lit from below. The archer and his guards? Or someone whose job was to pass arrows? If we didn’t take them down we would be wiped out! Duke? What was the Duke doing? Do something about that!

When I thought that, I saw the Duke standing on a chair looking forward.

"Ah?! You idiot! What are you doing! Run, dodge at least that much! You fooool!!"

Easy for you to say, but you just don’t know how hard it is to dodge arrows.

Then there was a gan! and the Duke toppled backward! An arrow had apparently hit his helm! Wouldn’t hitting the Duke with an arrow be lese-majeste or something? Would the shooter just say he was too far away to tell? It was true that His Grace was only wearing somewhat expensive-looking armor; from a distance he probably couldn’t be distinguished from his hangers-on. That’s the general rule, anyway. But that archer had almost certainly recognized His Grace.

Seeing the Duke fall, the shield-bearers all rushed to him at once.

"Your Grace?!"

I understood the feeling, but was it all right to leave me?! Sure enough, the man who happened to be standing in front of me made a dosu! sound and crumpled. They had aimed at me but someone got in the way. Splendid archery. I held that man as a meat shield and said to Lily and Rudolf:

"Staying here is no good. We’ll definitely be taken out. So we leave here and attack! The best defense is a good offense."

The two of them had apparently expected that; they nodded firmly.

"Understood. We will follow."

Rudolf said, and Lily asked:

"How will you move?"

"Approach from the archer’s blind spot and strike. Move in the shadow of the eaves and leap onto the roof to strike. Sorry, but Rudolf and Lily, be my shields!"

""Yes!!""

Came the forceful replies. Rudolf picked up a fallen shield.

"Let’s go!"

We burst out of the Duke’s position! Some of the Duke’s men had been watching me, but they said nothing. If I left they would no longer be arrow targets, so they probably thought that was better. They hadn’t been able to do a thing with their hands or feet anyway.

The instant I dashed out of the Duke’s camp, I could tell arrows were flying at my back. Aimed at my original position—byu! byu! byu!—three arrows came in rapid succession. Paying them no mind I ran. Rudolf would surely fall behind, but he would catch up. It seemed neither Rudolf nor Lily had been hit.

Everyone apparently understood that I had burst out of the position; a waah!! rose from the spectators, and at the same time from the Kirchhoff side:

"He’s come out!"

"Just as planned!"

"He couldn’t hold back and came out!"

"Surround him!"

"Beat him into a bag!"

Various voices rose. The spotlight moved after me but couldn’t quite catch me.

Soldiers from the Kirchhoff side started moving to catch me, but their speed was completely insufficient. I still wasn’t at full speed and wasn’t using Divine Legs, yet from my perspective they looked like they were walking. Even so a man appeared in front of me and raised his sword; I drove my fist into his wide-open belly. A fist fitted with Rudolf’s handmade knuckle-duster. My momentum-laden punch sank into the shoulder of the enemy’s metal armor and blew him away. I had chosen the weaker-looking shoulder because I thought hitting the face might kill him, but it was more effective than I expected and he went rolling.

In the instant my speed dropped, arrows flew. Gon! gon! gon! Rudolf’s shield stopped them. The arrows did not seem to have enough power to pierce the shield. Looking at the arrows that had fallen at our feet, the tips were crushed.

I leapt and stuck to the wall of the Count’s mansion.

"Surround him! Catch him! You can even kill him!"

The person glowing red over there was shouting.

"A woman! Take the woman down first! Whoever takes her down can do as they like with her!"

He was shouting things like that too. Was that man supposed to be a Count? He was bellowing things with not a shred of noble dignity. Was that all right for a Count? Look at our Duke—he’s unconscious! Thanks to that I was free. If there had been an AI situation assessment it would have gone from 1-to-99 at the start to about 30-to-70 now, wouldn’t it?

I stood with my back to the wall. The watchers? Assistant referees? were on both sides of that position, and Lily and Rudolf stood in front. No arrows came; it was probably a blind spot from the archer. They should be on the roof above our heads. Were the archers trying to change position? Or could they simply not see us?

From above came:

"Can’t seeee—!!"

"Come out where we can see youuu!"

"We paid a lot of moneeey—!"

Somewhat vulgar voices. Jeers from the spectators. But I wasn’t fighting for you people. Not a single copper of the money you paid is coming to me, hun!

Enemies rushed our position. There seemed to be more heading for Lily than for Rudolf. If you look down on her because she’s a woman you’ll regret it!

"Kuwaaa—!"

A man charged Lily with a yell; she slashed horizontally at the wide-open torso, aiming for the gap in the armor.

"Guwah!!"

He was probably coughing blood, but he clutched his belly and collapsed. The next man leapt over him and raised his sword as well; Lily smashed her sword up into his wide-open belly from below. Good thing the edge was blunted. If it had been sharp I think he would have been cut in two at the waist. Was Lily in top form tonight? For the first time since coming here I allowed myself a little grin.

I suddenly shifted one body-length. Instantly—zu! zu! zu!—arrows sank into the wall?! What was that—even with crushed tips they sank into the wall?! The watcher on the other side of the arrows also had his eyes wide with shock! What is this?! What kind of power—!!

The surprise lasted only an instant; I immediately dashed to a new position. At the original spot came the sound of three arrows in succession—zu! zu! zu!—sinking in. I hoped the watcher wasn’t harmed?