Chapter 9

TEN YEARS LATER…

　　Ten years had pa.s.sed .

　　The port city Perikka as always was stinking of alcohol .

　　The foreign merchants would spend their money they got hold of by doing wicked things, and the pirates would throw out a feast for themselves using the gold and silver treasures they had stolen . And all those kind of vulgar guys would dive themselves into the pleasure quarters looking to please themselves .

　　Sometimes, a demon merchant would come asking for a place to sell goods in exchange for money, but the merchant´s a.s.sociation of Perikka would only turn a deaf ear to such requests .

　　There was no forgiveness for demons, that were lower than domestic animals, or poor people .

　　As long as you had the money, it was a city of elegance that was always wrapped in a mood of cheerfulness .

　　———–

　　Today too there was another wealthy merchant getting himself drunk .

　　Finis.h.i.+ng his meal at a first-cla.s.s restaurant, he got on his personal carriage and went his way home .

　　This carriage was pulled by two elegant horses of fine quality and with a wide and comfortable s.p.a.ce inside . After the wealthy merchant and his butler, and also his escort got in, they departed . Happy, the merchant showed a complacent smile .

　　“Fufufufu, because of the stupid n.o.bles that didn´t know the market price, I got big profit . To think that a pot costing a hundred silver coins was sold for a thousand . Such a large profit . ”

　　“Indeed, it is as you say, master . ”

　　With a faint smile, the butler proudly poured the drink in his master´s golden wine cup .

　　The purely made of gold cup was a product of good quality he had received as payment from pirates he had connections to . If he were to sell this, he would get enough gold coins to build a small castle . In reality, it was a piece he wouldn´t be able to get by only working as a merchant .

　　“Good grief . It was good that stupid elder brother turned down the family heritance . ”

　　The merchant faintly smiled .

　　His elder brother had talent for sword fighting . And so, for the sake of his dream to come true or something like that, he departed towards the royal capital . And since then, never came back home . Deep in his heart, he thanked G.o.d for his elder brother to be this stupid .

　　If his brother were to receive the heritance, without doubt he wouldn´t be able to live in this much extravagance . He only wished that once his elder brother came back screwed up, he wouldn´t tell him to hand over the heritance .

　　“Truly, tonight is a good night . ”

　　The merchant moved his cup back and forth .

　　The wine inside the cup was elegantly shaking according to his movement . It was a wine of many times more worth than the one he drank at the restaurant he had eaten . In the Perikka city, the merchants that could actually drink something like that were only very few people .

　　With all that, this merchant was taken by a happiness that had no comparison .

　　But…

　　“Hm?”

　　The carriage stopped .

　　It still wasn´t supposed to be time for him to arrive to his residence . He wondered if it was an drunk pirate or some vagabond that was sleeping in the middle of the road . For something like that, just avoiding and keep going would be enough, but there were no signs of the carriage starting to move again .

　　“Go see the situation . ”

　　Even though the merchant was in a good mood before, it was completely dampened . While gulping down drink from the cup, he annoyingly commanded the butler . There was nothing his butler couldn´t deal with . And in the minimal chance of something wrong happening, he had a veteran soldier that went through war as his escorts, and then as usual, he could just settle everything with force .

　　Right now, the escort prepared himself so he would be able to draw his sword at any moment .

　　Answering to his master, the butler responded .

　　“Understood . ”

　　Bowing his head, he rapidly got down from the carriage… And then, his head was cut off .

　　“Huh?”

　　Because of the sudden event, he got his mouth wide-opened .

　　The escort guarding the merchant, because of the surprise, in an instant readied himself .

　　Without noticing it, the merchant dropped his golden cup; that one which could buy one castle by itself .

　　The butler´s head, as it was spraying blood around, was rolling in the ground . The merchant could only keep blankly staring at the head .

　　“Ara, is there someone left?”

　　The girls voice entered into the merchant´s ear at that instant .

　　And in that instant, he came back to himself .

　　“Hi,hiii!”( ひ、ひぃぃ！)

　　The merchant went for the other carriage door, leaving the carriage almost fell down by himself .

　　He didn´t know what happened, but now his butler was dead . In front of his eyes, his head was cut off .

　　The merchant, now sobered up completely, once he stumbled out of the carriage, he lost his breath . On the ground around, it was a sea of blood . The horses that were pulling the carriage and the coachman were now sinking in the sea of blood . Sinking with their head and torso separated .

　　“W-what is that? What the h.e.l.l is that!!?”

　　“What it is, you say . Isn´t it obvious they are only dead bodies?”

　　Once again, the high-pitched voice sounded through the road .

　　As to protect the merchant, the escort went in front of him .

　　Hiding behind the shadows of the escort, he secretly tried to confirm the owner of the voice . And then his muscles froze .

　　It was a young girl walking through the sea of blood, splas.h.i.+ng it with each step .

　　The girl was completely painted in red . Red hair that seemed to burn, a red armor that was shaped perfectly to her slim body and a face covered in blood . The girl´s eyes were black like a swamp with no bottom .

　　At the moment the blood covered halberd dimly shone, the merchant shouted .

　　“Q-quickly kill that thing!! If you do, I double you wage!!”

　　As if agreeing to those words, the escort drew his sword .

　　But the merchant didn´t notice . He didn´t notice that his proficient escorts which would fear nothing were dripping with sweat from their forehead . *1

　　He didn´t notice how the sword that was always held in only one hand, was now being held with two hands .

　　And because he didn´t notice such thing, just like usual, or rather, more than usual, he raised his voice to send an order .

　　“You are supposed to be a veteran of a hundred battles, right!? Kill that thing that looks like a little girl already!! Cut her head off and tear her into pieces!!”

　　The escort vigorously kicked the ground and rushed forward .

　　Aiming at the girl that had only about half his stature, he swung his prided swords down .

　　And so the fragile girl would be soon enough split in half .

　　…But what was expected to happen didn´t .

　　Using the hook of the halberd, the girl took the sword away from his hands .

　　In contrast to the escort´s shocked face and full of sweat, her face was as calm as it could be . Even though the escort had put his body weight in his blow, the halberd was left unfazed, not even quivering the slightest .

　　And looking bored, the girl sighed .

　　“Yes, end of the battle . ”

　　And then, the girl declared his execution .

　　The ma.s.sive halberd was with only one hand easily maneuvered .

　　The escort didn´t even have time to run away . Stumbling by the force of having his sword taken, the escort was now only a worthless existence . Like cutting a fruit, the halberd perfectly cut the escort in two halves .

　　“Su-such a thing, impossible…”

　　Seeing his escort sinking down in the sea of blood, the merchant stepped back .

　　The escort was supposed to have about two times more physical strength . If it was about age, he should have been about twice as much old as her . This soldier that had a long military service; such soldier was easily killed . *2

　　The merchant looked around his surroundings .

　　But around that alley, there was n.o.body .

　　No, even if there was anyone, the person wouldn´t have enough power to oppose the girl . The only way for a miracle to happen would be to somehow get to the main street ahead of here and ask for help .

　　But while looking at him the girl was closing in to the merchant .

　　No matter how, there was any openings for him to run away . Lightly rotating her halberd, she slowly approached the merchant .

　　“Next will be your turn… Hm? Your face… I have the feeling I have seen your face before . When was it?”

　　While being troubled by it, the girl was looking up at the sky .

　　A miracle had happened for the merchant .

　　The moment she left her eyes from him, he started running .

　　That girl was insane .

　　She was definitely insane, or so the merchant decided . He needed to quickly run away to somewhere . And then ask for help .

　　Besides, the girl´s weapon was a halberd . That heavy looking axe shaped blade stuck to a spear, for a skinny girl like her, it was definitely something impossible to be waving around . Only to raise it overhead it would take time . Even if she was to follow him, he should be able to escape .

　　In that city, for that skinny looking girl, there were a mountain of bold pirates to deal with her .

　　“Well, never mind . ”

　　It seemed that the girl didn´t recognize the merchant .

　　Cutting through the wind, she swung her halberd .

　　The merchant´s head flew and it fell into the sea of blood . And just like that she had raised the death count by one . The girl grabbed the merchant´s head by his short hair .

　　“For now, let´s take it home . It´s only to be sure after all . ”

　　The girl, covered in blood, was happily smiling .

　　Carrying the merchant´s head just like that, she pompously left the alley . Getting to the main street, even though the girl was covered in blood, n.o.body paid any heed to that . n.o.body started screaming or so . The street that was so beautiful it was only next to the one in the capital until a few hours ago was now sinking in a sea of blood . And there were no humans screaming anywhere .

　　The demons that the girl had brought with her were now stabbing any human that showed even little signs of breathing .

　　Among these demons, one turned his attention to the girl . While holding a human he had pierced through with his spear, he rudely spoke .

　　“Hey, brat! Don´t just be standing around and finish your mission already . ”

　　“I know warrant officer Vrusto . By the way, was this guy in the list?”

　　The girl showed him the merchant´s head .

　　After giving one glance to the head, he threw the human away . With a splash, the human landed onto a pond of blood .

　　“Ah, that guy is in the list . It was someone on the lowest seat of the merchant union, and also is a blood relative of one of the capital´s generals . ”

　　“I see…Thank you . Since it is on the list, then I need to take good care of it . ”

　　The girl put the head inside a sack full of heads .

　　Inside the blood soaked sack, there were a great number of heads . The head of a hundred battles veteran pirate, and the face of a n.o.ble from a powerful family that had committed wicked acts over any limits too . And all of the heads had their eyes widely opened in fear . Looking inside the sack, Vrusto whistled at what he saw . *3

　　“So scary . Aren´t they of ojou-chan´s same race?”

　　“Same race?”

　　The girl leaned her head to the side .

　　“It feels like I´ve said this many times, but… While we are from the same species, those are enemies . Captain Leivain had said before . The merchant union refused our negotiations and killed fifteen of our messengers . We gave our final warning, telling them what would happen if they refused, but they ignored it . That´s why we must destroy the city and eliminate any opposition . ”

　　“You are so scary, you that made all this become reality, ojou-chan . Well, I guess it´s Perikka´s merchant union´s fault for ignoring the last warning . Even though it wouldn´t end up with everything reeking of blood if they didn´t… By the way, use honorifics . One way or another, I´m ojou-chan´s instructor, right?”

　　“Right now we are still , so it doesn´t matter . Besides, I´m higher ranked than you, you know?”

　　“Yes, yes, I will be sure to take care… Ah, the chit-chat was supposed to have ended already . Don´t low your guard and end up dying, second lieutenant Riku . ”

　　Vrusto lightly patted the girl´s shoulder .

　　And now, once again readying his spear, he ran after a place that humans seemed to be hiding .

　　In the blood soaked street, only the girl was remaining . While fixing the position of halberd that she was leaning on her shoulder, she closed her eyes .

　　“Even though I used to be from a spiritualist family, to think I would be commanding demon troops . ”

　　She started to listen attentively to the sounds of the surroundings .

　　And she didn´t hear any human voice .

　　The only sound she had heard was the sound of the demons destroying the human city .