Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 1, Chapter 5.2: Bandits Gang①

On a side note, Lambert’s former best friend, Glyph, was one of the four demon generals. He had the same rank as Lambert himself. And, he had passed away a long time ago. [Note: At least, make sure there’s a sidestory of his afterlife…where he ‘enjoys’ his stay in hell.]

It seems that this girl wasn’t aware of that fact yet due to her young age, but… Maybe I have to get a normal set of full plate armor so that I don’t stand out in a crowd.

The current mainstream equipment for protectores were focused on maneuverability and light weight as such leather armor or breast plate that protected only one’s vital spots were all the trend. A full plate armor like the one he wore was extremely conspicuous in a bad way. However, Lambert had no way of knowing it.

「Uhm, since the village is close by… This place is dangerous. You should be able to escape if you go toward that direction… Uhm, please help me to inform Earl Aubock-sama about our situation! If I leave the village, they’re going to kill the hostages, including my mother and little sister… Please help us to inform Aubock-sama! 」

The girl plead Lambert desperately. Wishing to save and be saved.

「No, that’s unnecessary.」

「EH……」

「Even if I look like this, I was a former knight. I have no reason to just ignore the citizens of Regios kingdom who suffered from thieveries. Let me take care of those little thieves.」

Despite Aurelia’s incomprehensible treatment toward him, Lambert would not forget the patriotism for his own country. Because, by his very own nature, Lambert had an extremely strong sense of justice.

「P-Please don’t force yourself! There are more than thirty of them! 」

「I fear not the likes of untrained bandits like them, no matter how many there are. Lead me to your village」

「B-But……」

Yet, the girl, who knew what sort of suffering would befell her family should she lead Lambert to the village, hesitated. She didn’t know whether he could easily defeat those thieves or not, but she knew what the consequences would be. So…she couldn’t take such a reckless action. Not on someone who she was not sure of. Someone that’s not even in a group.

But, Lambert felt quite irritated at her hesitation. From his perspective, he couldn’t understand why this girl was so obstinate and didn’t entrust the punishment of the thieves to him.

To him, they were just a gathering of rogue with no training, no proper leader, nor a goal to aim for. That was the definition of thief in Lambert dictionary.

Besides, as one of the four demon generals, Lambert was hailed as humanoid weapon in Regios Kingdom. To him, the likes of the thieves were nothing but annoying bugs to be squashed.

Lambert thought that even if the girl couldn’t recognize his Regionix Orgaziera Armor, at the very least she still believed in knights. It could be easily seen from the shine in her eyes when I mentioned that I was a knight.

The belief that thugs could never defeat military personnel, who had been trained to the limits of humanity, regardless of how many they were was extremely deep rooted back in Lambert’s era. And, in this era where safe living was possible, the chance for a superman like the people from Lambert’s era was extremely close to zero. As such, while the belief that knights would fight the thugs for commoners still existed in the girl’s heart, she couldn’t fully trust a lone knight for something she perceived would need a group accomplish.

Since Lambert and the girl had different life experiences, they couldn’t reach an understanding.

「Do not make me repeat myself. Lead me to your village.」

Due to his irritation at the unchanged situation, Lambert’s body involuntarily discharged thick miasma. At a density that was dozens of times more powerful than what he passively discharged. The density was so thick that the girl with her dull perception toward Miasma could feel it.

The girl’s face paled, as she shivered in fear. Unable to withstand the pressure, she fell on her butt.

Despite clearly facing against a strange man, whose whole body was covered in armor, she felt like she was facing against a gargantuan demon beast instead. She felt that he was a predator, and she was currently his prey. Unknowingly to both party, Lambert’s undead miasma had instilled the difference between their power to the girl’s mind.

――He’s going to kill me.

The overwhelming intimidation from the miasma that Lambert unconsciously expelled made her feel that way.

「A… AAAH…」

She couldn’t speak no matter how hard she tried to. Seeing the dread the girl felt, Lambert also felt shaken. He had never expected her reaction.

「I-It seems like I accidentally threatened you here. M-My bad, I…… I am just bad at dealing with children.」

Falling into a panic spell resulted in parts of his metallic armor clanking against each other as he waved his arms. Lambert, who thought that his helmet armor had accidentally unfastened, held it down with his hands in panic when he saw the girl’s reaction.

Y-Yup… It should be alright now…

Though he wondered why the girl was so frightened.

Now that he knew that her reaction wasn’t because she saw his face, Lambert who had managed to calm himself felt something was overflowing from inside of his undead body. Therefore, he turned his conscious toward his own body to inspect himself.

D-Don’t tell me, my body is…… Releasing miasma? I…really am reduced to a mere demon.

He finally realized that his body was constantly discharging miasma. And with the realization that he had completely become a demon kin, he hung his head down, heartbroken of his current status.

After realizing that, he kept in mind that he had to suppress the amount of miasma that was discharged by his body to a bare minimum.

It felt itchy, it was as hard as trying to stop oneself from sweating. However, the result pleased him very much as he couldn’t feel the miasma that was overflowing from his body anymore.

The damage had already been done though for the girl was stiff still as she hung her head down.

Her body refused to move due to fear.

「… H-How’s that?　Have you calmed down a little? 」

Lambert, who felt that suppressing his miasma should be able to relieve the girl from her fear, called her again. When he did that, the girl raised her face, eyes wide open as she looked at Lambert. Her originally fearful eyes now was filled with bewilderment instead.

「Ah… M-My apologies…just now, I lost my cool…」

When the powerful killing intent she felt just a while ago suddenly vanished into thin air, it left a gap that resulted in relieving the girl’s fear somehow.

「U-Uhm… B-But, I really am telling the truth… About their number you see! 」

「I know what you mean, but… Uhm? 」

Lambert suddenly felt humans mana coming from behind. And there were more than one source.

「Three people, is it. It seems we were wasting our precious moment while talking here.」

「EH! ? 」

Lambert looked over his shoulder toward the source of the mana.

「Oioioi… How did you know? 」

「Good grief, thinking about sneak attacking us, is it.」

「Cut the chit-chat and make that armored idiot into a porcupine with arrows. Especially, your arm. Let’s beat the hell of this guy and drag him.」

Three men appeared from the forest. Each of them wielding a blowgun, a sword, and a scythe.