*
Though it was a short time, I was able to learn about Mana breathing from Aria.
They say it's harder to feel Mana the later you start, but since I already had experience using Mana, I quickly got the hang of it.
Of course, it was difficult to get to a level where I could use it in actual combat in that short amount of time.
Maybe Jackson had more talent than I thought.
Aria said that she wished she had met him sooner and was sincerely disappointed.
「Is this the way to go?」
「Please be careful, Nuna.」
While working as a guard, he discovered a kind of dog hole-like passage and brought the two of us.
I thought that if we ran away before those bastards came, we could clear the support mission without fighting, so I'm moving right away.
Since it's a place inside what's called a slum, the streets were filled with unpleasant energy.
As large as the town is, there was no way there wouldn't be places like this on one side of the town.
From vagrants who haven't eaten anything to humans staring at us with eerie eyes, there were all kinds of people.
I was wondering what to do if one of those guys rushed at us, but when Aria quietly showed her killing intent, they moved out of the way on their own.
In order to survive in a place like this for a long time, understanding the other person was a kind of survival rule.
Of course, not everyone is like that. There's always a guy who doesn't know his place.
Well, the robes that Aria and Adela are wearing look quite expensive on the outside, so maybe they're thinking that it's worth it even if they only succeed once?
「Hey, you three over there.」
A bald man with a burly body and a scar around his eyes stopped us.
「Are you talking to us?」
「Yeah, don't you know you're not supposed to come into a place like this without permission?」
The guy chuckled and started repeatedly throwing a short dagger up and catching it.
People in similar clothes surrounded us around that guy.
「Even the guards don't come into this place without permission. Even if you shout for help, no one will come.」
The burly man started licking the blade of the dagger with his long, snake-like tongue.
Because of his face, he gave off a pretty scary atmosphere to ordinary people, but neither Aria nor I had any reaction.
「Aria...」
Adela, who didn't seem to have any resistance to this kind of thing, trembled and clung to Aria.
I saw what they were relying on to come at us like this, and it was because there were so many of them to surround us.
「It's okay. They're nothing special, so you don't have to worry.」
Aria answered while lightly stretching her body.
「Huh? I'll show you what happens when a woman comes into a place like this without permission.」
「Do you do this often?」
The man seemed a little embarrassed by the overly calm response, but started playing with the dagger again.
「Jackson, I'll let you off the hook now since I know you a little.」
「Do you know him?」
「I don't think so....」
I don't know him, but well, if Jackson lived in this town for a long time, he must have seen his face at least once.
He worked in the guard, so he must have run into him a few times.
「Bald old men, don't get hurt and just go away.」
「What? This bastard must be out of his mind! Kids, attack!!」
At the same moment the bald man gave the order, one person flashed and was slammed into a pile of wooden boxes.
「Huh?」
Before the bald man could realize that something was wrong, Aria started rampaging.
Aria is a knight. She was a human who made a living using a sword.
In reality, there were many cases where guys who were good at fighting got their asses kicked by professional fighters without even being able to try.
Here, with Mana added, you could just say she's a superhuman-level powerhouse.
How could humans who played in the back alleys be able to deal with such a monster?
You might think there's a possibility if there are a lot of them, but from my experience fighting Choi Tae-soo, it's impossible no matter how many there are.
While Aria was distracted in the front, they rushed at us to take us hostage.
「Grab those guys!」
「Even that woman!!」
「Damn it!」
I didn't just watch. I also drew my sword and stabbed the guy in the front in the shoulder.
Feeling that my skills were unusual, he quickly turned tail and retreated.
In that gap, Aria rushed in and punched the guys in the face.
The guys who were slammed into the wall with a refreshing sound started groaning, as if something was broken.
When dealing with the guards, it felt like she was being a little lenient, but it seems like she has no intention of being lenient with these guys.
「I..I'm sorry! Knight-nim!」
When the other guys all fell, the bald man lowered his body flat.
「Didn't you say you'd show me what would happen?」
「Th..that is..」
The bald man was trembling with his body lowered flat. At the same time, his hands were moving busily, so it seems like he hasn't given up yet.
「You bitch! Back alley fights are different!!」
He threw dirt at Aria's face. I tried to move to help her, but there was no need to.
Because the moment the bald man approached Aria, he flew away like the other guys and was slammed somewhere.
「Do you think I've only dealt with one or two of you guys? This is too obvious.」
As expected of a human weapon, she knocked down more than 20 people and didn't seem tired.
「Thank you for protecting the young lady! Jackson.」
「It's nothing, Nuna.」
We attracted too much attention because of those guys. We headed to the dog hole, which was our original destination, at a fast pace.
*
「I never imagined Aria-nim would come to a place like this.」
「Were you already waiting?」
The moment we came out of the dog hole, guys wearing black robes were waiting for us.
Those guys, who gave off an ominous atmosphere on the outside, were guys I knew well.
'The Eternal Life Church. I thought they were late, but they were already here?'
I silently checked the Eternal Life Church's forces. Compared to the situation I fought in in the previous turn, the number seemed small.
It felt like a small unit, commonly called a commando, had chased after us first.
Adela hadn't been able to sleep and had been running away, so the other side wouldn't have been able to follow easily either.
「I'm sorry, Jackson.. for getting you caught up in something like this.」
「It's okay, Nuna. Don't make that face and focus on the battle.」
Aria looked sorry that I, an ordinary person, was getting involved in the battle.
But the reason I came here was to save these two. I came all the way here on purpose, so there was no need to feel sorry.
「Aria. Put down your sword.」
「William-nim?!」
Aria looked at the man in front of her with a surprised expression. She seemed so surprised that her hands were trembling.
Maybe it's a natural reaction. That's because the person in front of her was someone who deserved it.
「F..Father?」
Adela had the same reaction as Aria.
He was a man with luxurious clothes and a kind tone, and although he didn't look very strong on the outside, he had charisma.
「Stop doing useless things and let's go back now.」
His identity was Adela's father. I heard that the territory was burned down and all the territory residents were killed, but William seemed fine.
'He looks fine, except for the unpleasant smell.'
He wore luxurious clothes and sprayed a lot of perfume, but he couldn't hide that unique unpleasant smell.
Working as a Hunter, I often see monster corpses.
I'm still an apprentice, so I haven't seen that many, but I once saw a monster corpse rotting.
He was giving off the same smell as a rotten monster.
Aria couldn't move rashly at William's kind voice and smile.
「William-nim has also decided to join our Eternal Life Church. So you two should stop now.」
「That can't be. There's no way William-nim would have accepted such a ridiculous request..」
「I had no choice in order to save you.... I'm sorry.」
「William-nim...」
「Aria.. Father is.. Father is..」
Before the two could be fooled any further, I ran forward and cut off William's neck with my sword.
「Father?!!!」
「Jackson!! What is this!!」
The two surprised people took a stance as if they were about to rush at me, but stopped when they saw the severed head continuing to speak like a parrot.
「Come to the Eternal Life Church.... Here is the most perfect....」
William's head continued to speak, acting out his expression from when he was alive.
Adela was almost in a panic when she saw that, and Aria started to burn with fighting spirit.
「Don't be fooled. The smell of rotting corpses is strong.」
Those guys' identities were Mana sorcerers, or humans called necromancers. They were humans who handled the undead through forbidden magic.
I don't know about other places, but the necromancers in this world were all pests that had to be exterminated.
「I knew that couldn't be true, but.... I guess my senses have dulled. Thank you, Jackson.」
「That's too bad. I thought we had almost won them over.」
The man wearing a robe in the back muttered as if he was disappointed. The knights who were riding horses in the back got off and started preparing for battle.
Those guys weren't ordinary humans, they were knights like Aria.
Our forces are the non-combatant Adela, me who can't use Mana, and only one knight, Aria.
In comparison, the opponent's forces are 7 knights in armor and one necromancer.
The situation is overwhelmingly unfavorable for us.
Unlike the riffraff I've fought so far, the 7 knights started to pressure Aria by building a proper battle formation.
I felt like my blood was boiling more and more at the smell of metal and rotting corpses that stimulated my nose.
I fought with Aria in the previous turn, but I couldn't even fight properly and ended up lying down.
To be honest, I was a little angry. Wouldn't it be more satisfying to try even if I lose?
「Jackson? I'll draw their attention, so can you take the young lady to the Freya Order?」
Aria seems to have already thought that the defeat was inevitable. She was trying to save even Adela somehow.
But I refused Aria's request because I had no intention of running away here.
「No.」
「Is that so. I asked for too much. Youë¼ë run away..」
Aria didn't get angry at my refusal and told me to surviveë¼ë.
Is this what a real knight is?
It was already admirable to see her trying to sacrifice herself for others.
But you have to think about winning, you can't think about losing before you even fight.
I walked forward with my sword in front of Aria.
「Jackson?」
「You have to fight and win, why are you thinking about losing from the start?」
I'm different from the previous turn too.