Chapter 29: I Became a Swordsman in the Middle Ages

Long Business Trip (7)

— But you look like you’re hurting too much, Lady Cecilia...

If she hadn’t stopped Cecilia back then, could there have been another way?

— When Wind Shear ends, pour all your power into one precise point.

Was there a method where Cecilia wouldn’t have to risk her own life?

‘Why was I so afraid of Cecilia?’

Beatrice was overwhelmed by her own foolishness.

Cecilia was a righteous knight, someone who would lay down her life without hesitation to protect others.

‘Pull yourself together, Betty. Lady Cecilia is still alive.’

Beatrice gritted her teeth.

She wouldn’t allow things to end that way.

No matter what, she would find Deception and inflict as much damage as possible—enough for Cecilia to finish it with her ultimate technique.

“My lord!”

Beatrice's brilliant burst of light pierced through the heart of a massive ogre in one strike.

She dashed to Count Aldred’s side and relayed her message.

“This is Lady Cecilia’s message. Once Wind Shear ends, concentrate all firepower on the designated location.”

“…!”

With extensive battlefield experience, Count Aldred understood the implication instantly.

His eyes widened as he turned toward the city walls, where the silver-haired girl stood proudly.

“…So that’s what she meant by ‘I will end this.’”

“Yes. Lady Cecilia… She’s no longer even considering her chances of survival.”

Both of them fell silent and became solemn for a moment, forgetting even the battle raging around them.

But Aldred's spirit only burned brighter.

“All troops, listen up! Knights and mages capable of using Sword Aura, conserve your mana as much as possible! We will locate Deception right away!”

“Understood—!”

Those who couldn't use Sword Aura roared, redoubling their efforts to clean up the remaining monsters.

Marquis Gartane’s knights were strong. The monsters that once covered the plains like a swarm were quickly thinning.

But there were simply too many.

‘We must find Deception before we’re drained… Where is it?’

Beatrice deflected an incoming orc’s axe with a sharp sidestep. The axe embedded itself in the ground. In one swift motion, Beatrice leapt up the axe’s shaft, planted a foot on the orc’s head, and vaulted into the air.

There—off in the distance—stood a demon in a crimson suit, arms casually crossed as it overlooked the battlefield.

It wasn’t mimicking a human. It held its own true form.

Landing gracefully, slicing the orc in half on the way down, Beatrice shouted in the direction of Count Aldred:

“Enemy demon—30 meters ahead of me!”

“Deploy in Formation 12! Wounded to the rear immediately!”

The knights restructured themselves into a spearhead formation. Beatrice, cutting through monsters with incredible speed, raced to the front lines.

“Sir Ultan! Clear the path! The remaining two Sword Demons, hold your power at the wings!”

“Yes, sir!”

“No! All three Sword Demons, push forward! I’ll support!”

Beatrice raised her sword and arm together in a cross, positioning herself behind the three.

“Luminous Ascend!”

A holy light pierced through the three front-line knights. Their power surged, eyes wide in awe of their newfound strength.

“Duration is only 40 seconds! You must break through before it ends!”

“Follow the Windsor knight’s command! Break through the path! The rear will handle cleanup!”

“YES!”

“Upper Moon, spread your wings!”

At Aldred’s command, the right flank of the spear formation spread out. Naturally, the monsters were pushed toward the left.

Due to the aggressive charge, several soldiers on the right sustained injuries. They withdrew skillfully to the rear, and others quickly filled the gap.

Meanwhile, the soldiers on the left flank chose to defend instead of advance. But the relentless wave of monsters pushed them to their limits. Just as their line began to falter, Marcher Lord Aldred raised his sword high.

“Lower Moon, fold your wings! Upper Moon, push forward as is!”

As the left flank soldiers fell back, the monsters that had clustered there surged forward. The sudden empty space caused disarray among the monsters, creating a crack in the battlefield—one Aldred did not miss.

“Mages—! Target the Lower Moon zone, all at once!”

A storm of colorful light manifested with blessings burst forth from the mages’ staves, raining devastating damage on the monsters packed on the left.

“Vanguard, increase your speed! Upper and Lower Moons, fold your wings and focus on the breakthrough!”

“Yes—!”

“Injured soldiers from the Upper Moon, retreat quickly! Lower Moon will fill the gaps!”

Now compressed back into a spearhead, the troops kept the two flanks close. Wounded soldiers retreated, and the remaining ranks closed in to reform the line.

“We’ve spotted the demon!”

“Drop the anchor! Upper and Lower Moon—spread your wings and hold the line! Vanguard, break formation and assist them!”

Beatrice, panting heavily, fixed her eyes on the frontline.

She saw a demon folding its arms and looking at the battlefield with interest.

Behind are its minions—standing far and distinct from the hordes of monsters, as if they wanted to express that they were different from those creatures.

“Stay back and cover me,” Aldred said.

“…Your knights are stronger than I am.”

“You’ve got your own plan, don’t you?”

“…!”

“Deception already knows our forces. But you—it doesn’t. Whatever plan you have, I’d bet it’s got a high chance of success. That’s how arrogance works, since the opponent is a demon.”

With a chilling gaze at the demon, Aldred confidently stepped forward.

The demon, who had been smoothing its red necktie and observing them closely, finally opened its mouth. (TL: I assume the demon is refered to as “she” since Priscilla is a female name. But author just call it ambiguously, so I comply)

“Withdraw.”

Its voice seemed to resonate directly into their minds, not their ears.

Instantly, the monsters stopped fighting all at once and retreated.

The demon walked forward. In the middle of the battlefield, Aldred and Beatrice met it.

‘I’ve still got about 70% strength left. Now I have to decide: Should I use it to buff Cecilia, or deal direct damage?’

Beatrice’s nerves tensed.

The demon spread its arms with a shrug.

“Don’t you people even know how to converse?”

“Troops, don’t let the fleeing enemies escape,” Aldred ordered.

The soldiers gripped their weapons and cut down the retreating monsters without hesitation. They didn’t resist—their orders to withdraw had been absolute.

The demon let out a theatrical sigh.

“To slay messengers of peace! How cruel! How inhumane can you be?”

“A peaceful envoy who can’t understand a single human word?”

“Oh my, such discrimination! Monsters are living beings too, are they not? Is it right to slay them just because they don’t speak your tongue?”

The demon shook its head, as if genuinely saddened.

‘It's too soon to fight Deception directly. I have to take out those minions in the back first. But how…?’

As Aldred’s expression hardened, the demon clapped and spoke:

"Let’s do this instead. Since this is clearly a case of mutual misunderstanding, let us open a path to reconciliation.”

“...Reconciliation?”

“Yes. Unlike you, who killed so many of us… we, out of respect, haven’t killed a single one of you.”

Suddenly, the demon appeared right in front of Aldred.

Close enough to feel its breath.

“Isn’t that unfair?”

Beatrice swung her sword without hesitation.

But it sliced through empty air. The demon had already vanished.

“Well, I’ll let it slide. I'm a very generous demon, unlike humans.”

The demon gave a mock shrug.

“Our proposal is simple. Very, very simple, and quite generous at that.”

Aldred turned his eyes away for a moment.

Then he clenched his teeth.

“And how, exactly, is this generous?”

Behind his back, he signaled with four fingers.

It was a 'kill order'.

The knights all readied their weapons in unison.

“To call that generous—!”

But—

Even as time passed, no one moved to attack.

Aldred looked around in confusion.

It was as if time had stopped.

Fear.

It wasn’t paralysis from magic or wounds.

Just the sheer presence of the demon had frozen them in place.

Even the strongest knights could not move.

Aldred’s eyes widened in disbelief.

‘A high-ranking demon suppressing three Sword Demons with fear alone?’

“Tch…”

Beatrice bit her tongue, trying to break free of the fear.

Her hands trembled as she struggled to raise her sword.

'I have to use Roar of Light somehow.'

But that was her limit.

She couldn’t even lift the sword to the sky.

Just as she tried to open her mouth and ask Lord Aldred to help raise her arm—

“Ha.”

The demon chuckled, unable to contain his amusement at Beatrice’s desperate efforts.

“Hahahahaha!”

He laughed uncontrollably, wiping away tears of mirth.

“Oh, truly entertaining. But…”

His gaze suddenly turned ice cold. And behind him, the once-still minions began to move.

“That pitiful display just now, was that supposed to mock me?”

‘It’s over.’

Beatrice closed her eyes.

‘Run, Lady Cecilia.’

The dark shadows crept forward, gradually swallowing the light.

They had human forms, but their faces looked like they’d been painted in pure black ink. They exuded a primal, suffocating terror.

Beatrice accepted death.

However, she desperately wished for one final thing.

That Cecilia would sense this catastrophe and make the cold, rational choice.

To retreat, to survive, and to bring back reinforcements to eliminate this demon threat for good.

“...How could a human—?”

Beatrice opened her eyes.

The demon stood frozen, wearing an expression of disbelief.

In front of him was Cecilia, face calm and emotionless, her sword buried deep into the heart of the monster that had just been targeting Beatrice.

“You did well.”

“W-What are you?!”

In response to Deception's furious cry, the shadows surged.

A number that was incomparable to the one just now rushed at Cecilia at the same time.

Swish—!

Fast. Precise. Not a single wasted motion.

Beatrice, Aldred, and the surrounding knights could only watch in stunned silence as Cecilia danced through the battlefield like a storm of blades.

None of them thought to interfere. In fact, entering that domain felt like it would only get in the way.

When they came to their senses, Cecilia was nobly standing tall atop a mound of fallen demons, not a speck of blood on her, not a strand of hair out of place.

“Brace for impact. I recommend wrapping yourselves in protective blessings.”

Cecilia said while calmly flicked her sword into the air.

Beatrice snapped back to reality and called out urgently:

“C-Cecilia! Please don’t! That demon is far stronger than we thought—!”

Cecilia smiled sweetly and replied,

“You did great. But this is my domain now.”

Beatrice’s pupils quivered. Then, as if she had made a firm decision, she shouted:

“Luminous Ascend!”

Golden light enveloped Cecilia’s body. As Cecilia blinked in surprise, Beatrice explained:

“It’s a blessing using all of my mana. I calibrated it for a 2-minute duration. Please... you have to win.”

Cecilia nearly fainted.

Seriously…

‘Lovely! Adorableee!!!’

“What’s this? You think you think you can just ignore me?!”

Cecilia, still feeling the tender afterglow of that small gesture, turned toward the demon with a deep and dangerous frown for interrupting her precious moments.

“This Deception, how dare you blatantly—!”

The demon never got to finish its sentence.

Before it realized, Cecilia was already behind it.

It gritted its teeth and turned, thrusting its hand toward her.

‘How touching.’

Everyone fought so hard for her.

Not a single troll. Not a single person slacking off. Beatrice, especially, had displayed brilliance beyond expectation.

The fact that she’s grown so much makes Cecilia very proud.

Now it's time to return the favor.

Cecilia gave a faint smile.

Then, with a voice gentle yet crisp and clear, she spoke:

“Wind Shear.”

And with that, an unstoppable storm howled into existence.

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