“I’m the highest-ranked one here… hey, elderly Elf, it’s you, isn’t it?”
A bearded man with an eye patch says this to the Guild Master.
He’s a human man, and his rough demeanor is typical of a lowly mercenary. However, the white robe he wears over his light armor, marked with a cross emblem, and the rosary hanging from his neck, signifying his affiliation.
Crusaders.
A dozen or so of them attacked the carriage. No fire has been raised in the area yet, nor is there any situation where the enemy has surged in.
They likely left the main force on their own to act for plunder.
In fact, the men led by the bearded man with the eye patch exude the same aura as the thugs and gang members loitering in the slums of Spada. They don’t appear to be renowned knights, nor do they seem to be devout followers.
They simply came here to take.
“Old man, introduce yourself.”
“I am the Guild Master of the Spada Adventurer Guild Headquarters.”
Elina could hardly hear the conversation exchanged between the man and the Guild Master due to sheer terror.
Her mind was blank, and all she could do was tremble in fear.
It felt the same as when she was attacked by a murderer wielding a cursed weapon—no, spending time surrounded by someone with ill intentions, having her life and death in their hands carried a different sense of terror.
“—So, you’re not a noble. Then die.”
“What?”
Abruptly, the weapon was unleashed.
The man swung his mace down toward the Guild Master’s head.
A dull sound. A muffled voice.
Elina realized what had happened only after the Guild Master’s corpse, half of his head crushed, rolled beside her.
“Tch, and I thought I could finally see a fancy carriage riding with some big shot. But some ordinary Guild Master, not even a noble, won’t fetch much money, huh?”
“Heh, Captain, but there’s a good haul here, no?”
“An elf girl. This one’s got to be the receptionist.”
“Hii, hi…”
Following the sudden killing of the Guild Master, attention was now turned to Elina, and she felt she was no longer alive.
“Hey, take a good look. This girl is a real catch…”
“So she’s an elf, huh?”
“Wait, this one has big breasts too. A busty elf is pretty rare, isn’t it?”
“Whoa, I can’t take it anymore, I’ve come to sleep with an elf girl!”
“A slave elf is a man’s dream.”
“You idiot, dreaming too much.”
The laughter of the men could only be described as a nightmare.
She didn’t want to be killed. That cruel and gruesome ending was represented by the corpse of her boss rolling next to her.
However, she hated the thought of being toyed with even more.
Suffering, suffering, trampled on everything precious she had, with no hope, she would die after enduring immense pain.
That was indeed a nightmare.
But at this very moment, it was reality.
“Hyahha! I can’t hold back anymore!!”
“Ahh!? No way!?”
A man lunged at her. With bloodshot eyes, he reached for Elina’s comparatively large elf breasts.
The blouse of her guild uniform was forcibly opened. The buttons popped off with a snap, exposing Elina’s pristine cleavage.
“Kiyaa! Noo!!”
“Hey, behave yourself— guh!”
In a frenzy of resistance, Elina accidentally, or perhaps not, kneed the man in the groin.
Letting out a croaky noise like a squashed frog, he crouched on the spot.
“Gah hah hah! You’re such an idiot!”
“Kicked in the balls and countered, huh?”
“You’re too dumb. With that, you won’t get the slave elf girl.”
“Hey, hey, this isn’t a laughing matter. Sometimes there are fools who get countered by the women they attack.”
Amidst the whirlwind of laughter, the captain of the men interjected with a slight grin.
“Hey, you guys are probably new to the battlefield, right? This is a good opportunity; I’ll give you a lecture on how to do a smart escort.”
“—Guh!?”
At that moment, a fist flew into Elina’s face.
It wasn’t to say she had never been hit before. Even her overprotective kind father would smack her on the rear as punishment if he made a significant mistake.
However, Elina, being the only daughter of a wealthy knight family who had built relationships well with her beauty and intelligence since childhood, had never been hit for genuinely angering someone.
Thus, it was real violence.
There was no restraint. A brutal fist aimed solely at causing pain landed fiercely on Elina’s cheek.
“Whoa… that was a real punch.”
“Such a beautiful girl wasted.”
“You idiots, this is what you want! Listen, whether they’re rowdy or stuck-up, they quiet down after a good punch.”
In the ringing of her ears, the man’s voice seemed to come from far away.
In the shock and pain from the harsh hit, Elina didn’t even realize she was lying on the ground.
“Women like this are raised in luxury. If you don’t first teach them the difference in power, they’ll just keep crying and making a ruckus. But once you do this, it’s easy afterward— come on, let’s go.”
“Ugh, uu…”
Drag away by the arm, Elina was pulled into the alley.
A dark, night alley. Only the lamp held by the man illuminated the surroundings dimly.
He put down the lamp, set aside the mace, and then dealt another blow to Elina.
“Hey elf girl, I’m busy. I want to finish this quickly. You know what you’re supposed to do, right? Huh?”
It hurts. It’s painful.
If she could escape from this pain, she’d do anything.
After just being hit twice, her heart had already surrendered. But that was the nature of violence. A simple and absolute power of domination.
Elina, just an ordinary woman, could do nothing against it, nor could she hope to.
“Ah…”
At that moment, what came into her sight was a fountain pen.
It was something she always kept in her best shirt pocket. It was a gift from Chrono. Before going to the Galahad War, they had their first and last date.
The reason she still carried it was nothing but lingering attachment.
When she saw the memento of her beloved, what passed through Elina’s mind was,
“Shall I tell you why you were dumped by Chrono? It’s because you are useless.”
It was not the face of her beloved man, but the face of the witch who mocked her for being rejected.
Ah, that’s right. That witch had definitely said so at that time.
“You are useless. You can only wait for Chrono to return safely from battle, a powerless commoner. Such a person is not only unnecessary to him but rather, merely a burden.”
At that moment, it was the greatest humiliation of her life.
But now, she understood that she was right.
Yes, how useless she was. Being played with by such a man.
Crusaders, tens, even hundreds, or possibly millions of them, would come attacking. Chrono said he would fight to stop them.
That’s why he said he couldn’t date her. A mere woman couldn’t be brought to the battlefield.
“Then, I’ll excuse myself. I hope you grasp happiness again, undeterred by a single heartbreak.”
Fiona’s condescending gaze vividly came to mind… in the depths of Elina’s heart, a small flame ignited. Amidst emotions stained by fear and despair, a red-hot flame.
It was indeed the smoldering ember of anger born of injustice and humiliation.
“…I understand. I’ll do anything, so please, stop hitting me.”
Elina stood up, unbuttoning her blouse while trembling, and said so.
“That’s right; you should’ve done this from the beginning. Women should be obedient.”
“Hey… it’s embarrassing, so you take off your clothes too.”
“Gah ha ha! Yeah, that’s right, for women, being shy is also important!”
Laughing joyfully, the man took off his robe and removed his light armor.
Then, exposing his scarred dark skin, he rolled up his shirt— at that moment, the weapon was swung down.
“Ngyaaaahhhhh!?”
As she pulled the shirt from her face, vision was completely blocked.
And this man wears an eye patch. He has only one eye. If she could just crush that one eye, he would lose his sight completely.
If he can’t see, there’s no reason to fear such a man.
So Elina did.
With the memento of Chrono, she staked her life and pride.
She aimed for the moment his vision was obscured and struck down with all her might toward that eye.
As a result, the sharp metallic tip of the pen pierced the eyeball. A nasty feeling and watery sound. The man’s eye completely lost its function as sight.
“Gaahhh! My m-my eye… my eye!!”
Beside the man who screamed after having his eye crushed, Elina reached for the mace leaned against the wall.
Heavy steel. Not enchanted, but sturdy and well-worn. The deadly weapon that had just killed the Guild Master.
For Elina, a powerless elf woman, lifting it was a significant challenge.
Yet now, its weight felt more pleasant than anything else.
“Damn it, it hurts… I can’t see, I can’t see anything…”
“Shut up, you bastard! Be quiet, you piece of crap!!”
Elina swung down the mace unabated. A full swing with no restraint.
The dull steel weapon struck the man’s head. Although it was swung by a woman, getting hit in the head by a mace wouldn’t bode well at all. That one blow brought him to his knees, collapsing to the ground.
“Guhh, uuu…”
“How dare you… how dare you do this to me. It’s been since Chrono rejected me that I’ve experienced such humiliation!!”
Relentlessly, the mace swung down again.
Thud, with a dull sound, blood splattered from the man’s head.
“Do you think a hideous bastard like you can even touch me, even with one finger? Huh!?”
“Ugh, no, sto—”
“You think I’ll stop, you idiot! I’m going to kill you, right here, smash you to pieces… Ah, that’s right. You are a fool who was countered by the woman you attacked, hyahha!!”
Punching again, again, and again.
The heavy blows of the mace accelerated with every scream Elina let out.
“What kind of Crusaders are you scum! You’re just living a life where you’re going to die miserably after having your head crushed by me here… Come on, die! Die!! Regret attacking Spada until your dying breath!!”
“Uo… aah…”
The man, with more than half his head caved in, was breathing his last. Even if he heard Elina’s voice, he would likely no longer comprehend its meaning.
However, Elina’s assault did not stop.
With wide-open eyes, her loose hair flowing, her large chest heaving, she raised the bloodied mace above her head.
“Don’t underestimate the People of Spada!!”
Thus, the man was beaten to death.
His head was beyond recognition. The skull shattered, and the brain that had been packed inside was splattered all over the alley.
After turning the man’s head into mincemeat, Elina’s hands finally came to a halt.
“Hah… hah… hahah… I did it, I really did it, Chrono… what is this, it wasn’t hard at all…”
Breathing heavily, Elina wore a distorted smile.
For the first time, she had killed a person.
Ah, what a terrible thing to do.
But ah, what a refreshing feeling. Killing that hated bastard gave her an indescribable sense of achievement, satisfaction, and above all, a sense of justice.
“You’re amazing, Chrono, you truly are my hero… still fighting to kill every last one of these damned invaders…”
It felt as if she finally understood the cause of her beloved.
Yes, she had been unworthy of dating him not knowing such simple things.
But now… she felt, just a little, that she had come closer to him.
“Hey, this is bad; the captain’s been killed!”
“What? No way!?”
“Thought it seemed like a bad vibe…”
At that moment, the eye-patch man’s companions finally sensed the abnormality and appeared in the alley.
Next to the fallen captain, whose head was missing, stood Elina, half-naked with disheveled hair, smiling and wielding a bloodied mace.
What had happened was immediately apparent.
“Damn it, I’m going to kill you!”
“Eh, what a waste…”
“You fool, do you think we could lose to just this woman?”
In truth, Elina had already killed the man’s captain. Even if she only caught him off-guard, it was more than enough reason to be on high alert.
Even the men, being wise, felt their primal instincts for self-preservation win out over lust.
“Ahh, next it’s your turn… do you want to have your brains splattered across a filthy alley too?!”
Elina’s high energy had them slightly intimidated. However, they were not cowards enough to flee at this.
In reality, Elina had not awakened to great power bestowed by a blessing. Right now, she could forget fatigue and fear, going wild as if in a last-minute surge of strength, but fighting armed men in numbers would not leave her unscathed.
It was highly likely she would take one or two down with her before being stabbed to death.
Therefore, it was at that moment, someone else intervened to stop the soldiers drawn swords.
“—Hey, you guys over there, I have a question for you.”
Echoing in the alley was the carefree voice of a woman. Her voice was aged and raspy, yet somehow resonated distinctly.
“Did you do this?”
“Eh? What is this old hag doing?”
In the standoff between the half-naked elf woman holding a mace and the soldiers with drawn swords, the old woman cheerfully tossed her question.
Is she senile?
While she looked like a scrawny old lady, her back was straight, and the deep purple garb that seemed to melt into the darkness exuded an air of refinement.
When the soldiers finally noticed that she had a sword at her waist.
A beautiful saber adorned in black with golden craft, radiating an incredible intensity, even without being drawn.
That saber heightened their sense of danger.
“Be careful, that hag might be a swordswoman.”
“So what? You really think we can lose to just this old woman?”
“How many do you think we are? Stop being scared and just kill her already.”
“Is that so, so it was you who did it——”
The old woman deeply exhaled with a heavy sigh, reaching for the saber at her waist and drawing it.
The blade of the saber was a ghastly red-black hue— and that was where it ended.
“…… What?”
“Hey, just now, what…?”
All the soldiers in the alley, confused by their view splitting in half, soon lost consciousness forever.
Just then, a soldier’s head rolled away, having been severed from his body.
By the time she had finished cleaning up, the saber was already sheathed.
“I’m sorry, I hurried here after receiving word, but I was too late.”
“N-no…”
“Did you kill that man? Impressive work, a Spadan woman should be like this.”
The old woman, with a cold impression on her finely featured face, gently patted Elina’s shoulder with a wry smile.
Elina, somewhat dazed by the sudden appearance of aid, quickly realized her identity.
An old woman clothed in purple, wielding a single saber. And above all, the prowess with which she had cut down multiple people in the blink of an eye.
Though it was her first time seeing it, no one in the Spada Adventurer Guild was unfamiliar with her name.
“You are the leader of Yomi, Lady Yachiyo.”
The rank 5 party “Yomi,” renowned in Spada.
Famous for comprising only female swordsmen. In particular, the leader, Yachiyo, is famed as the “Saint of the Infernal Sword Yomi,” blessed with that power. A few exceptional swordmasters can match blades with the Sword King Leonhart head-on.
“Oh dear, that’s too bad, everyone is already dead.”
“The carriage is useless now. We have no choice but to return as we are.”
Peeking into the alley, her party members reported back.
It seemed “Yomi” had rushed to the rescue.
Presumably, the Guild Master had some means of communication for emergencies. When the carriage was attacked, the signal might have been triggered, but because he was killed too quickly, their aid had come too late.
“Just you alone surviving was fortunate. Apologies, but it’s an emergency, and we need to hurry back to the headquarters. Can you run?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But before that, can you wait just a moment?”
Elina moved through the blood-soaked ground with a steady demeanor, stepping over corpses as she exited the alley.
What lay ahead were the bodies of the Guild Master and other staff who had been similarly murdered.
Casting just a glance at their dying forms, Elina searched through the Guild Master’s robe.
Then, she retrieved a single seal from the chest.
It was an official seal made of holy silver, exclusive to the Spada Adventurer Guild Master. The bearer of this seal held the authority to determine matters as the Guild Master.
“Let’s go. With this, the Adventurer Guild can still function.”
“Alright, you really are something else. What’s your name?”
“I’m Elina, just a receptionist.”
With that, Elina showed her usual beautiful smile.
However, the brightness had vanished from her eyes. Only a murky, dark shadow was reflected there.