Chapter 26

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Trapped
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The enemy soldiers who had stormed the audience chamber stared blankly at the scene, as if possessed.

Soon, a ripple of chaos spread.

"They're escaping! Get them! Get them now!"

"Wh-where are the bows! Get the archers, quick!"

The soldiers, belatedly coming to their senses, scrambled to grab their throwing weapons or draw their swords. But there was no closing the distance that had already opened between them.

Amidst the confusion, a clear voice rang out.

"Surrender, and I'll spare your lives! Think it over carefully down there!"

Lucy laughed heartily and waved at the enemy soldiers.

Whees, amazed by her nonchalant attitude even in this situation, shot toward the ceiling.

"They can't escape anyway! That glass is too thick...!"

As if to mock someone's shout, Whees and Lucy soared high through the now-empty ceiling.

No matter how strong a Raphi was, breaking through the dome's glass was impossible. In anticipation of their escape, Lucy had long since had her servants remove the ceiling glass.

Below the two gracefully ascending figures, the stunned faces of the enemy soldiers spread out like a backdrop.

When Whees felt they were far enough from the palace, he looked down to survey it. Below the vast, rectangular palace, the humans packed tightly together were like a swarm of ants.

Even so, the procession of enemy soldiers toward the main gate continued unabated.

"Oh, this feels good."

Despite the grave situation, Lucy dangled her feet and enjoyed the flight, for reasons only she knew.

She truly was an inscrutable woman. Whees continued flapping his wings as carefully as possible, lest she get hurt.

When they reached a watchtower at the edge of the castle wall, soldiers who had been waiting in ambush slowly rose from their prone positions. An officer at the front, who was checking his bowstring, was the first to bow his head to Lucy.

"Your Majesty."

"Good work. Has anyone noticed you?"

"We've extinguished all the lights in the watchtowers except for the one by the gate. Since we've remained completely still, the enemy won't suspect an ambush."

"Yes, good."

Lucy gathered the hem of her dress in one hand and swept her disheveled hair back. A faint light was beginning to appear over the mountain's edge; dawn was not far off.

Lucy turned to Whees.

"Go on, Whees."

Whees, who had been awaiting the order, immediately unfastened the rope connecting them as their eyes met and shot into the air.

The great Raphi became a white dot disappearing toward the north of the palace. Lucy mentally counted to three minutes, then commanded the soldiers.

"Rise! Seal the palace! Block it off so not a single one of them can escape!"

The officer gave a series of complex hand signals before drawing his bow. The prone soldiers rose in a wave, quickly nocking and drawing their arrows.

A breathtaking silence followed. Until the signal, which started from the middle, reached both ends of the line, the soldiers aimed their bows at the garden without the slightest movement.

Soon, the signal reached the last soldier, who fired a flaming arrow at the pulley connected to the castle gate.

Thanks to being thoroughly soaked in oil beforehand, the rope holding the gate burned through in an instant. With a loud thud, the gate crashed down.

Taking the sound as their cue, the soldiers waiting to attack loosed their bowstrings in unison.

"Aargh!"

"The enemy has appeared! Reinforce—ugh!"

*Thwip, thwip.* Above the silent castle wall, devoid of shouts or cries, the sound of arrows tearing through the wind echoed ceaselessly.

Enemy soldiers filling the garden fell one by one. But arrows could only harass them, not inflict a fatal blow.

"Your Majesty. At this rate, I fear we will only provoke them..."

The officer commanding the archers began to speak worriedly. Lucy shrugged, chiding him as if to say, "What's there to worry about?"

"There's no need to worry. You all know the plan, don't you?"

"Yes. We received our orders from the Grand General, but..."

"Then that's enough. The important thing is to isolate the enemy."

With these numbers, they couldn't deal a significant blow to that large army anyway. The core of the current operation was simply to isolate the enemy and break their morale.

Lucy stroked the corner of her eye and waited for the right moment.

The moment she looked up at the sky, hiding her impatience, the reinforcements she'd been waiting for appeared.

"Your Majesty! The Raphi squad is coming!"

Eleven Raphi, flying in formation like a flock of migratory birds, appeared, cutting through the sky.

Each carrying a large sack in their talons, the Raphi slowed and descended as they reached the palace. Nearing the castle walls, the Raphi beat their wings to hover in place, then began to drop the sacks from their talons to the ground outside the palace.

With a loud *splat*, the sacks burst open.

The enemy soldiers, who had flinched, assuming it was some strange weapon, recoiled in horror as soon as they identified the contents of the sacks.

"I-it's oil! It's oil!"

"Everyone, fall back! Those archers' target is—kuh!"

An arrow tore through the air and pierced the soldier's throat.

The arrows that had been flying like flashes of light moments ago now carried blazing embers as they targeted the enemy. The soldiers, realizing the situation too late, were horrified by the flaming arrows raining down from the sky and scrambled to retreat.

"Aaaargh—!"

"Fire! Get out of the way! Run! Retreat!"

"The gate! The gate is burning! Secure an escape route! Secure an escape route now!"

The moment the flames touched the lingering liquid, a wave of lava-like heat washed over them. The enemy soldiers who had been trying to lift the gate didn't dare approach the madly flickering flames.

Flames shot up everywhere one might climb the walls, and just like that...

"We can't get out! Find another way! Now, the escape route...!"

The Royal Palace was completely isolated.

"Your Majesty! Are you unharmed?"

Whees slowed his wingbeats and landed on the watchtower. His white feathers, which always radiated an elegant light, were a mess with oil.

"I am fine. We're done here, so let's get out of here. Help the soldiers retreat."

"Understood. Paz, Horain! Take turns evacuating the soldiers on the wall! Gerald, Min! You two go to the other side and...!"

Whees gave orders one by one to the Raphi who had landed with him. Then he tied himself to Lucy again and soared into the sky.

The soldiers left behind looked up at her with eyes full of admiration. In the bluish dawn, her wheat-colored hair and fluttering dress would have made her look like an angel descended from the heavens, were it not for the rope connecting them.

"And now for the finale."

Lucy watched the pandemonium unfolding below her, a faint smile playing on her lips.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

"What in the world is going on! Open the gate at once!"

Hearing that three thousand of his soldiers were trapped in the palace, Duke Kill screamed as if having a seizure. As if mocking him, the flames surrounding the castle walls burned even more fiercely.

He had felt something was off, but the advance had been smooth, so he hadn't been too concerned. Even though it had only one gate and was surrounded by walls, there were hidden routes everywhere, so he never thought they could be trapped in the palace.

...But that audacious wench had blocked off every possible exit.

In a way he could never have imagined!

"We've tried several times to open the gate, but we can't get near the pulley because of the flames. Truly, to think they would use the Raphi in such a way... I never expected..."

"Do you think I want to hear praises for that wench right now!"

The attendant flinched at the thunderous roar and fell silent. Duke Kill gripped the reins as if to tear them apart and glared at the palace with burning eyes.

"What of the Grand General? He's the one who put that wench on the throne, so he must be with her."

"Well... no soldier has seen the Grand General himself, but we have received reports that his adjutant is commanding the battalion."

"That black Lycan is as good as the Grand General's shadow. If he's there, the Grand General must be there too. But why...!"

Unable to hold back, Duke Kill spewed a curse and continued, seething.

"I don't understand! What is that wench thinking, pulling a stunt like this? It's not just us; she's isolated herself as well!"

He could understand sealing the palace. But that would mean the wench was trapped inside the palace with them.

Why would she commit to such a foolish strategy?

Duke Kill fell into thought with a sour expression. Countless assumptions and futures branched out in his mind, and at the end of one, a single hypothesis emerged.

Perhaps... what if.

What if Arsinoe wasn't in the castle?

He recalled the Raphi who had dropped oil outside the castle. He'd thought Raphi could only carry letters or small items, but the squad from moments ago had been flying with sacks tied to their bodies that looked quite heavy at a glance.

He knew Walter Hyverge employed the Raphi squad in strange ways, but he had dismissed them as nothing more than carrier pigeons.

In the first place, Raphi were a rare race on the continent, so Duke Kill himself didn't know much about them.

But if the Raphi could fly carrying something that heavy.

If they could fly while holding onto that wench...

"No... that can't be right. It can't be..."

They are birds. Besides, they're a race that fundamentally considers other races inferior to Raphi. They wouldn't fly around carrying a person.

He denied it, desperately trying to trace his thoughts.

Before advancing, Duke Kill had received intelligence from a scout he'd planted that the wench was in the palace. The Grand General had also entered with her and had not come out, so they had to still be in the palace.

What was her intention in doing this?

Did she think he would back down if she held out like this?

If she thought that, it was a judgment of unparalleled naivety.

"How many soldiers are left?"

"We estimate about a thousand."

"Bring back the troops that went to Central Command. There's no need to be discouraged. If we cover the fire with sand and climb the walls, we can open the palace again."

"Well, Your Excellency."

The attendant bit his lip, showing hesitation about whether he should speak. When Duke Kill shot him a fierce glare, the attendant reluctantly opened his mouth.

"We've lost contact with the troops that went to Central Command. We've sent scouts repeatedly, but they've all vanished without a trace."

"...What?"

The anger that had occupied his wrinkled face was replaced by surprise and shock. He could feel the skin beneath his wide eyes twitching.

For the first time, Duke Kill realized that when something was too absurd, you didn't even have the energy to be angry.