Chapter 48

Chapter 48

There Is Only One Room Right Now

“I will face him.”

Amon had been defeated with dispel, so this could be considered my first time facing someone with high defense.

I judged that by facing him, I could confirm the power of one of the blindfold’s effects: “critical damage increased by 300%.”

“What was his name again...”

At that moment, one man fleeing from Kaen, who was covered in blood, shouted.

“Big Brother Ducalt!!”

Right.

It was Ducalt.

—Slice!

The man who had called Ducalt and fled toward him was cut across the back by Kaen’s sword and fell to the floor.

“Bi-Big Brother...”

The one who seemed to be Ducalt’s younger brother reached out his hand and muttered, but...

—Stab.

...Kaen’s sword immediately entered his heart.

“Little brother—!!”

Ducalt, who watched the sight, grew enraged.

“You bastards...”

Ducalt looked ready to come down and kill Kaen immediately.

At that moment, I approached him.

With one leap, I climbed onto the railing of the second-floor hall and aimed for his neck with “Sierra,” held in a reverse grip.

—Clang!!

However, blocked by his axe, the cursed blade rang with a clear sound.

“I am not losing in strength or mana amount.”

My sword and his axe had clashed, and we were struggling for strength.

“A blind man...?”

Ducalt, having found the bandage around my eyes, shouted that.

Perhaps because, despite his massive size, he was at a similar level to me, he could not push me away.

Soon, I conceded one move and flung my body sideways, avoiding the axe.

—Boom!!

The axe, brought down in an instant, smashed through the railing I had been standing on.

“I do not know where you bastards crawled in from... but you will not leave alive.”

Ducalt said this as he lifted the axe.

“...”

“And especially that bitch who killed my little brother. I’ll violate her beside your corpse!!”

Ducalt spewed that and swung his axe at me, the weapon slicing toward me with fierce speed.

“I don’t see many weaknesses.”

I bent my waist to avoid the axe and observed every corner of Ducalt’s body.

Perhaps because dark gargoyle skin covered his entire body, unlike the enemies I had faced before, there were few red circles visible through the Weakness Detection skill.

At least I could see weaknesses around his joints.

—Boom!

Then the axe I had avoided smashed the wall beside me.

I did not miss that moment and targeted his arm, which had been thrust out above my head.

I cut the arm precisely along the weakness at the elbow.

—Graaaate!!

With the sound of something hard being ground down, pieces of gargoyle skin flew in all directions.

The power of one effect of the “blindfold,” “critical damage increased by 300%,” ignored his hard skin.

There was slight resistance, but it did not require much strength.

—Crunch!

Soon, along the path of the sword, his arm was cut off and blood surged out.

“Kgh...!!”

Ducalt, losing an arm in one stroke, retrieved the axe with his remaining arm and stepped back.

“Fuck, what kind of blade is...”

I charged at him as he immediately spat curses.

There was no need to give him time to breathe.

“Ugh...!”

Bewilderment filled Ducalt’s eyes before he could even correct his posture.

He swung the axe around with his remaining arm, but it no longer had the speed from before.

I ran toward him, leapt, lightly stepped on the haft of the axe he swung, and jumped right up to him.

At last, Ducalt stepped back, but I smiled faintly.

On the neck before my eyes, a red circle was clearly visible.

Then my sword swept across his neck.

—Srrrrk!

Because the area near his neck was not gargoyle skin, Ducalt’s head was cut off with a smooth sound.

—Tap.

Then I landed as if passing by him.

Beside me, Ducalt’s head rolled across the floor.

It was a satisfying result.

As soon as his death was confirmed, strength surged through my body.

“I leveled up.”

At last, I had reached level 26.

With this, even if I invested four points into Demon Swordsmanship to raise Rebellion Against Heaven’s level, two points would remain.

If I did that, I would likely become able to use Chapter Two of Rebellion Against Heaven.

I immediately checked Sierra’s reaction.

Since my growth was steep, I worried she might question something.

Beside me, Sierra, who had watched my battle, was examining me while stroking her chin.

[ You detected well that the seams of his body were weak. If you did not detect it... then it must be instinct. Though you are my disciple, yours is an oddly great talent. ]

Sierra’s admiring voice rang out, seemingly surprised that I had found his weakness at once.

Since I could not converse with Sierra right now, I turned my head slightly and focused below the hall.

Kaen was standing there.

She stood in the center of the hall, drenched in blood and wearing a refreshed face. There was no one else standing there aside from her.

Only a few on the floor, gushing blood and seemingly about to die soon, were groaning.

Kaen, who had lifted her head and was taking a deep breath, soon found me on the second floor and opened her mouth.

“Student Zeto. I cleaned everything up here!”

Judging from how bright Kaen’s voice was, it seemed her mood had improved from combat for the first time in a while.

Usually, she spent all her time calculating how to hide her strength and so on, but I remembered that, like the Sword Saint, Kaen also enjoyed and liked combat in a simple way.

“...This side has just ended too.”

At my answer, Kaen confirmed Ducalt behind me with one arm and his head cut off, then opened her mouth again.

“He looked rather tough... but you cut him down properly?”

“This big one seems to have been the leader. For now, come up here and let us talk.”

At my call, Kaen ran up the stairs in one breath.

Kaen approached while giving off a thick scent of blood, her clothes and face covered in it, and yet her expression was bright.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Not at all? I feel refreshed for the first time in ages.”

Kaen said this and smiled bashfully.

“What is this place? That boss’s room from earlier?”

Kaen and I naturally entered the room behind Ducalt.

Unlike the room of the blood mage Relial, whom I had defeated before, Ducalt’s room did not have an especially antique atmosphere.

Overall, the room was messy and not organized at all.

“Hmm... There’s quite a lot here, but...”

Kaen said while looking around the room.

Pretending to examine the room after Kaen, I slowly walked toward the place where the gift to be sent to the vampire should be.

In one corner of the room, I found a case with a luxurious design.

“Hmm...”

I let out a hum for no reason and opened the case to check its contents.

“This is it.”

After confirming the contents, I smiled and lifted it out as it was.

“It’s a coat? That looks really luxurious!”

When I stood holding the coat, Kaen approached and looked it over.

This black coat was the armor I had been looking for.

This coat was not ordinary clothing, but Unique-grade armor named “Curtain of Night.”

Perhaps because it was a game, many pieces of armor looked more like clothing.

If one wanted to be strict, the academy uniform could also be called armor.

Kaen looked further inside the case where the coat had been, then picked up one letter placed inside.

“To Lord Varsium...”

Kaen recited the first line of the letter.

Then she read the letter carefully and spoke to me.

“...It looks like those guys were planning to gift that coat to Varsium. It seems to be clothing with expensive magic treatment. It looks like it was made by a very famous artisan! It’s probably... much better than our uniforms.”

After tossing the letter aside, Kaen approached me as I held the coat.

“The size seems perfect, and rather than handing it to some vampire, wouldn’t it be better for Student Zeto to wear it?”

Kaen, who still had not wiped the blood from her face, raised one eyebrow as she said that, then smiled bashfully.

“Well, I suppose so...”

I answered in a hesitant voice.

In any case, we had fought together... so it seemed I would need to give Kaen a separate reward.

Fortunately, I had plenty of money on hand.

It seemed best to buy an item that would suit her exactly and give it as a gift.

After roughly taking the coat, Kaen and I searched the room a little more, but nothing else came out.

And so, we went down to the prison where the kidnapped women were waiting.

When we went back to the prison, the women waiting for us had their eyes grow round at the sight of Kaen drenched in blood.

For now, we untied everyone’s ropes first.

“Thank you...”

“We should do something for you...”

“Hic... How could we ever repay this kindness...”

Perhaps only now did they feel safe, because they continued expressing gratitude to me and Kaen.

When they said they wanted to repay us, I politely refused, saying it was all right.

Honestly, it made me uncomfortable.

I had not come here in order to save them.

Perhaps Kaen deserved such gratitude, but... I was not someone worthy of receiving it.

I knew very well that I could not save every person who died unjustly in the many stories I had experienced inside the game.

I was absolutely not a hero.

“We would like you to keep us a secret from other people. It would be troublesome if our identities were known, haha.”

I said this to the women huddled together with a kind smile.

Considering Kaen’s hair color and the bandage around my eyes, we were easy to identify.

They looked at us and answered that they understood and would do so.

Now it was time to send them safely home.

On the way, there were many corpses, so some of them retched, but there were no living enemies, so we were able to safely get them outside the building.

After sending all the women out, I watched them return to their respective homes.

At that moment, Kaen, standing beside me, spoke to me.

“Um... I think we should stop by an inn! I got completely covered in blood...”

I had already been thinking that Kaen could not enter the academy looking like that.

Since it was now the weekend anyway, resting for a day at an inn would not be bad.

“Let us do that.”

I said this while handing Kaen the robe I had been wearing.

At the same time, Sierra, who had been quietly listening to my conversation with Kaen, spoke sharply in my head.

[...Disciple, be sure to get two rooms. Be sure of it. ]

***

“As for bathtubs, there is one in each room... Ah, what should we do? There is only one room right now.”

At the nearby inn we had found, the innkeeper scratched his head and answered when asked whether there were bathtubs and whether there were two rooms.

At the innkeeper’s words, Sierra’s face twisted.

At this, I felt a chill and spoke to Kaen.

“It cannot be helped. Let us find another inn...”

“N-no. It’s late, so let’s just stay here... It would be difficult to look for another inn now too...”

Kaen cut off my words, turned her head away from me, and spoke in a shy voice.

“Pardon...? Even though it would be one man and one woman?”

“O-one man and one woman?! I-I only want to wash quickly! What are you thinking?!”

Kaen, her cheeks flushed, rolled her eyes here and there and stammered.

[ Wh-what is this girl saying, just stay here...! There is only one room! ]

In response, Sierra flew into a rage and shouted, but naturally, Kaen could not hear her.

[...If you try anything foolish, I will not let it pass...! ]

Sierra held tightly onto my body as she glared at Kaen and said this.