Chapter 109

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 109

Chapter Title: Hide and Seek

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Heyton, seething with rage, shouted.

"It's just a bluff! The young lady of House Duvered can't hurt me! Attack—"

His face froze stiff mid-shout. His chin must have stung fiercely. Because I'd just slashed it.

Recalling Ishak's words, I chuckled to myself.

'Nice one, me! Exactly three centimeters from the chin tip.'

Heyton stared at me in utter disbelief.

"You, you...!"

Following Henri's advice, I just smiled innocently without a word. Heyton's face drained of color as he swallowed hard.

Ballua's soldiers couldn't approach. I glanced at the floating projection stone, then turned back to them and shouted in a childish voice.

"You're all it! Count to a hundred and come find me!"

With that innocently playful tone, I could almost hear Ballua's soldiers' composure shattering.

The noble youths participating were thrown into chaos. No one had expected a melee right from the start.

Duvered's boy soldiers pointed their swords at Heyton in my stead, while another scooped me up and leaped from the platform at top speed.

The mock battle zone had already been cleared of spectators, making movement easy.

We headed straight for the building I'd scouted earlier and locked the door behind us.

I hopped down from the soldier's arms and patted his shoulder.

"Phew..."

The armor was so heavy.

Unauthorized magic tools were strictly forbidden in mock battles, so even a child couldn't wear lightweight, safe enchanted armor.

'Should I take it off?'

It's too heavy to even walk in. Trying to block one arrow might get me caught instead.

As I fiddled with the armor straps, our lined-up soldiers jumped in panic.

"You'll get hurt."

"It's dangerous."

"Your nails might snag...!"

They hurriedly retied the straps tight.

"...Why do you keep mentioning my nails?"

The soldiers exchanged glances and gulped nervously. Some teared up, gesturing wildly about how terrifyingly Dad and my brothers had threatened them before the mock battle.

"It might've been better to go to a real war."

I said awkwardly.

"I'll keep the armor on, so don't cry..."

"Understood..."

While we exchanged a few light words, Heyton was screaming his lungs out.

"Does House Duvered teach its children how to be sneaky bastards?!"

I widened my eyes and stared at him.

"How'd you know?"

Heyton's face twisted at my shameless retort. I flashed a bright smile.

"But if I'm sneaky, aren't you the same, Young Master? You hid your soldiers too."

"I...!"

"You were going to kidnap me when I tried to fall back to my lines."

Heyton's face hardened.

'Knew it, you punk.'

I snickered inwardly and had the soldiers tighten the ropes binding him even more.

"Stay put here. Got it?"p>

Then the bell tower's mine!

Ballua's soldiers combed every inch of the mock battle zone.

Leblain and Duvered's soldiers, who had snatched Heyton and bolted, were nowhere to be seen.

"Not in the market district."

"Only Deshon Street and Asis Hill left. Shall we search?"

Karox, Ballua's squad leader, clicked his tongue.

"Asis Hill is our camp. We set up tents there before the mock battle started—no way they're there."

"Then it must be Deshon Street."

"Can't use bombs, then."

"Buildings are packed tight. One mistake and they could collapse, causing casualties."

'Did they predict even that?'

Who?

Did Duvered have a clever soldier?

It couldn't be from the head of a nine-year-old girl with barely a dozen troops.

Checking the map, Karox narrowed his eyes.

"It's the capital, after all. We know it like the back of our hand."

Duvered's capital troops were mostly adult magic knights, top-tier in real battle but ineligible for mock battles.

'The participant list the cardinal secretly obtained had no capital natives from Duvered.'

Ballua's current mock battle troops were temple-raised locals, trained for years solely for this, all capital born.

Karox smirked, tracing the map's edge.

"Deshon Street has only a few good hiding spots."

Ballua's soldiers swiftly moved to the buildings Karox pointed out.

"As expected—movement underground."

Karox's eyes gleamed.

"Breach."

'It was never a fair game.'

They'd been scrambling from an unexpected snag, but finding Heyton would turn the tables.

Ballua's soldiers burst open the basement door all at once.

And then.

"...What the hell?!"

A straw dummy tied to a pillar had a single paper note dangling from it. Childish, crooked handwriting.

"Damn it!!"

Karox let out a guttural scream in fury.

At that moment, in the imperial palace.

Gasps erupted everywhere.

"Good heavens. Not Deshon Street—Asis Hill!"

"The darkest place is under the lamp."

"A nine-year-old pulling off that reverse psychology..."

Moreover, Leblain had timed Ballua's movements perfectly and was descending from Asis Hill's base.

Heyton Ballua could do nothing but be dragged around, bound helplessly.

People stole glances at Duke Ballua. His once-arrogant face flushed red and purple with humiliation and rage.

'That sneaky little bitch...!'

He slammed the table with a bang and yelled at Duke Duvered.

"This is absurd! Attacking right after the holy fire ritual?!"

"We moved after the start signal."

"Even so, this is...!"

Duke Duvered glanced at him with a leisurely smile.

"The difference between those prepared for attack and those not. My daughter simply devised the best defense against it. Where does it say you can't attack after the ritual?"

Henri and Ishak grinned and chimed in, "Exactly, Father."

Just then.

"No way—!!"

The hall grew noisy. Ishak's expression hardened.

Troops from nine participating houses surrounded Duvered's remaining soldiers and Leblain at the hill's entrance.

Marquis Hademos's second son declared, sword at the ready.

Heyton Ballua had been captured by Leblain at the very start—no time to coordinate with others.

Yet with Ballua unable to rescue him, the other houses encircling the woods and pressuring Duvered's troops meant prior collusion.

And they'd found Heyton when even Ballua's own couldn't.

Meaning Heyton had signaled his noble allies.

"Does Young Master Ballua have a communication stone?"

Yohan asked Duke Ballua flatly. The duke cleared his throat awkwardly, feigning ignorance.

"Ridiculous. My son wouldn't use unauthorized magic tools."

Henri, watching the projection, let out a hollow laugh.

Cornered, they'd resorted to their last dirty trick.

"Turns out the real sneaky one was someone else."

"Watch your tongue!"

Ishak clicked his tongue.

'This just got annoying.'

The despicable Heyton Ballua had colluded with heirs from nine houses.

Just shy of a majority of participants.

Filing a formal protest over Heyton's cheating would drag the colluders into punishment too.

The mock battle would fizzle out inconclusively. Even the emperor's plan to form his prince's direct guard and show off power would crumble.

'Obvious it'd end messy—no way a formal objection gets properly heard.'

It'd get swept under the rug.

Ishak eyed Henri coolly rolling dice in his hand.

"What now? Flip the board?"

"Thinking."

But then.

In the projection, Leblain covered her mouth with both fists and giggled.

Not the face of a cornered child.

And.

Piiieeek—!!!

Leblain blew a whistle, and ropes dropped to Duvered's soldiers.

Exactly eleven ropes—one for her and ten soldiers.

They grabbed hold, and someone atop the hill hauled them up.

"Duvered's remaining troops!"

The ten excluding those escorting Heyton.

Ishak's eyes widened.

"Weren't the other half scouting for cards?"

Henri and Yohan stared grimly at the projection.

Then, a torrent like a flood burst from the hill base.

"They broke the dam!"

Someone yelled. Duke Ballua shot to his feet.

"What...!"

A boy with cerulean hair in a robe appeared atop the hill, armband marking him as captain.

Leblain shouted.

One of the four knights.

Tactical genius.

Unparalleled spear knight.

The moment the name Zachary—later hailed as Leblain Rise Duvered's final bulwark, her strongest guard—first echoed.