Episode 76: Spiritual Beasts’ encirclement

 

They were surrounded by a group of five odd-figured Spiritual Beasts.

 

“Tch… That’s why I told you to run away, Princess…”

 

The empire’s knight Barrès said with a grim expression after clicking his tongue.

 

(I see, so Barrès and the others were indeed a bait.)

 

That’s how Yamato understood the knight’s words.

These five Spiritual Beasts had kept Barrès and the rest of the research team alive, and used them as bait.

 

By deliberately letting the escaping soldiers flee, rescue units were sure to come to these ruins.

And that was probably their aim.

 

『Grrrrl……』

 

As if appraising the arriving group, the Spiritual Beasts sharply glared at them.

This situation reminded Yamato of the same observation act the Spiritual Beast in the rock salt mine did.

He thought it was probably a peculiar habit of the Spiritual Beasts.

 

“Five of them… What should we do, Yamato? ”

“Danna… this is really dangerous…”

 

The knight Lienhardt asked, and then Lacq spoke with a trembling voice after seeing the surrounding Spiritual Beasts.

 

After all, what had encircled them were the infamous “Spiritual Beasts”.

One had annihilated an entire knight order sent to subjugate it, and were fearful existences that had once destroyed a small country.

 

According to the original information they had gotten, only three of them were here.

However, with five of them present, the current situation was beyond their expectations.

So, it was not unreasonable for someone to had a trembling voice.

 

“At first, six of them appeared. I cut down the one with one eye. But after that, things are as you see.”

 

Barrès, who had his whole body filled with scars, briefly explained the previous situation.

 

As soon as they approached the small tower in the ruins, a group of six Spiritual Beasts came out.

In order to open a path for the messenger soldiers to leave towards the capital, Barrès confronted a spiritual beast.

 

And with great pains and after receiving several wounds, he managed to defeat the one-eyed Spiritual Beast.

However, he explained that following so, the spiritual beasts took some distance and laid an encirclement so that nobody could escape.

 

“To be able to defeat a Spiritual Beast, as expected of the number one scoundrel of the Empire, Barrès.”

“Don’t be sarcastic, Princess. Just look at my current state.”

 

Towards the flattering words of the girl Sildria, Barrès just answered while floating a bitter smile.

Sildria surely was freely speaking her mind towards Barrès, one of the top ranks in the knights and captain in the Hisan Empire.

 

Simply by looking at their exchange, one could tell those two had a relationship where they could say what was on their mind.

 

“Well, enough of this small talk.”

 

Sildria’s tone and expression changed. She then became more serious.

 

The Spiritual Beasts who had been in place, started to show signs of movement.

They were gradually narrowing their encirclement while still keeping a distance and maintaining their vigilance.

 

“What do you think we should do, Yamato?　……I would like to hear the amazing breakthrough of the ‘wise man of the north’.”

“What!?　The wise man in the north is you…? ‘Yamato of Urd’!? ”

 

Sildria asked Yamato, whom until now had been silent, for advice.

In response to that call, the empire’s knight Barrès finally noticed his existence.

 

He had once introduced himself as “Yamato from the village of Urd” to this knight, back in the city of Orn’s bazaar.

 

“I met you in the bazaar of Orn, right? …Who would have thought that we will be meeting in Imperial territory, Yamato of Urd! ”

“Let’s save the touchy reunion for later, Barrès.”

 

Barrès hadn’t noticed that he had met Yamato later.

For him, probably the Yamato in disguise that introduced himself as the leader of the Mountain Dog Group of bandits when facing against the imperial merchant Butan was someone else.

 

“A breakthrough…?”

 

Yamato began to think while looking at their situation.

Lienhardt, Lacq, Barrès and Sildria… these four were being on high alert of the Spiritual Beasts while waiting for his words.

From the viewpoint of these four people, the current situation was a hopeless one and they sought for his advice.

 

After all, the Spiritual Beast who were originally thought to be three, had nearly doubled, so the power balance tilted overwhelmingly towards one side.

Escaping was impossible since they were confined to the open space around the small tower, a space that was also a dead-end in the ruins.

 

In order to break through, someone would need to be sacrificed… It was exactly that sort of desperate predicament.

 

“I’ll cut open a path again. You guys grab Princess Sildria and escape! ”

“Don’t joke around, Barrès!　I swore to my brother. I’ll bring you back to the capital.”

 

“Lacq, do you think that you could manage to escape the Spiritual Beasts!? ”

“Sorry, Lienhardt-danna. Even for me, it would be quite impossible…”

 

Before the impending danger, the four of them began speaking without waiting for Yamato to talk.

 

The Empire’s Knight Barrès was worrying about the girl Sildria.

While Lienhardt was thinking of having Lacq run away and get reinforcements.

 

However, each plan had a low probability of success; the strategy was unrealistic or it involved the sacrifice of someone to maybe succeed.

 

“Tch… seriously…”

“Even if it’s for my own good, I can’t let someone be that reckless…”

 

“Lienhardt-danna…”

“Yeah…”

 

The pressure of the five Spiritual Beasts grew bigger just as the encirclement grew tighter.

Everybody was at loss, not finding a solution.

 

They knew there were Spiritual Beasts in these ruins.

However, they never expected to fall in such a predicament after coming this far.

 

◇

 

“Ok…”

 

It was at a time when everyone was silent.

Someone opened their mouth.

 

And those words came from… Yamato.

 

“I finished analyzing the situation, I got a strategy.”

 

He finished his analysis and calculation of the situation and forces against the five Spiritual Beasts.

As expected, this took him more time than he thought.

 

“Barrès, Sildria and Lienhardt, you three will hold two of the Spiritual Beasts. Lacq will help you, trying to distract and disrupt them.”

 

Yamato gave instructions for the anti-spiritual beast plan.

As a result of evaluating the fighting power of the surrounding Spiritual Beasts, Yamato concluded that these three knights could put up against two of them.

Lacq will run around, trying to disrupt and distract them.

 

“What!?　I don’t remember agreeing to receive orders from you!　Yamato of Urd! ”

“Ohh… could it be that you’re not confident you could deal with one of those?　So much for a proud knight of the empire.”

 

“What!?　I don’t need to be told that by you!　Alright, bring it on! ”

 

And like that, the knight completely ate up the provocation from Yamato.

Certainly, even though his body was covered in wounds, Barrès was a full-fledged knight.

 

Rather than his eyes being dead, a flame had been ignited in them with those words, bringing out his fighting spirit.

 

“Lienhardt, can you do it?　In order to protect Orn… to protect Isis.”

“Yeah… Leave it to me, Yamato!　This life of mine is dedicated to Isis-sama! ”

 

The previous gloomy expression disappeared from the face of the knight Lienhardt and transformed into one with a strong will.

In order to protect the city of Orn.

And, his oath as a Knight Guard, to protect Isis and safeguard her future.

 

“Sorry, Sildria…”

“Hmph!　Just leave this to me, Yamato! ”

 

The eyes of the Valkyrie Knight Sildria showed the same unyielding spirit as always.

Even while facing a Spiritual Beast that was supposed to be beyond the abilities of a person, she wore the same fearless smile.

For Yamato she felt quite mysterious, but extremely reliable in their current situation.

 

“Lacq, don’t overdo it. Just move around and try to catch the enemy’s attention.”

 

Yamato also instructed Lacq to not be careless and overdo it.

He didn’t carry weapons after all, making him unable to exert lethal force.

 

However, in regards to physical abilities related to avoidance and stealth, he was a level above the other three knights.

His was that sort of eerie existence that was sure to grab the attention of a Spiritual Beast.

 

“Okay. I’m great at running away, so I’ll be fine. But what about the remaining Spiritual Beasts,　Yamato-danna?”

 

Lacq checked with Yamato.

There were five Spiritual Beasts that were currently closing the encirclement, two of them were the opponents of the knights.

 

In other words, that meant that someone had to deal with the remaining three Spiritual Beasts.

 

“About the remaining three Spiritual Beasts?　I’ll deal with them.”

 

“What!? ”

“What!? ”

“What did you say!? ”

 

Everyone let out their voices when they heard of Yamato’s reckless strategy.

After all, even among the ancient heroes of the continent, there was no one who had ever defeated three Spiritual Beasts by themselves.

 

“There no time to argue. Look… they are here.”

 

With his words as a signal, the fierce battle against the group of five spiritual beasts began.

 

 

---

 ToC   

If you enjoy the translations, you can support me by donations or via Patreon

---