I Became a Dark Knight the Empress Is Obsessed With

200 – Side Story: Afternoon in Freesia – (8)

“Fuck, it’s fucking cold.”

“Master… … No matter what, swearing in front of the guests… … .”

“You’re a VIP and you’re a guest! Those kids aren’t of any help at all!”

The Master of the Thieves’ Guild, Thistle Hilda, gritted her teeth and shouted.

Fortunately or unfortunately, her passionate cries were lost in the snowstorm.

“Nothing goes right. The devil comes out when he’s bored, and the blizzard shows no signs of stopping.”

“I guess you kind of expected that.”

“Yes. But I didn’t know that I wouldn’t feel the energy of the full moon flower even after coming all this way… … .”

Hilda continued speaking and let out a deep sigh.

“No. Rather, is it a problem that you feel too much energy?”

I turned my head and looked at the carriage I had been pulling.

There was a device there with a geometrically shaped magic circle drawn on it, but now it was just a toy.

“They say too much of anything is as bad as too little, but is this the time to say it?”

That was clearly Hilda’s mistake.

Hilda brought the most famous and expensive sensor on the continent.

It cost nearly 10% of the guild’s annual budget just to get this.

A magic detector with the highest sensitivity. With this, you can find the full moon flower from thousands of miles away.

“… … that’s what the conman said.”

Of course he wasn’t a conman.

However, both Hilda and the seller overlooked the special nature of the flower called the Manwolhwa.

No, I couldn’t imagine it. It was a flower that could only bloom once every hundreds of years, and there was no way to know about its characteristics.

This damn flower, which can increase the surrounding mana concentration by several dozen times just by blooming, has at least a reputation for reducing astronomically expensive sensor devices to mere rolling pieces of scrap metal.

Because it was a device with the highest sensitivity, it ended up being useless in high mana concentrations.

“In a way, this could be Manwolhwa’s survival strategy.”

“This is a real ambush.”

Hilda’s sigh caused the surrounding subordinates to express their agreement.

If you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest. Manwolhwa seemed to know at least that proverb.

In the end, in order to find the flowers, you had to release each person individually, which was impossible.

The reason is.

[Krrrrrr.]

Hilda sighed deeply at the sudden sound of a beast’s roar and pulled out her weapon.

As if it had been waiting, a demon in the shape of a dog jumped out from the bushes.

Hilda nodded to the side. About ten paces away from her stood an old man in robes.

He raised his hand holding his cane, looking displeased at Hilda’s nod.

Clang!

[Grrrr?!]

A chain formed in the air and instantly wrapped around the demon’s body.

“I guess it’s called a magic tower even if it’s rotten. It does have many uses.”

“Shut up. Do your job, rat.”

Hilda chuckled and threw her dagger, piercing the demon’s forehead.

The demon that had its brain pierced in an instant sagged.

“With these little beasts running around, we can’t let people go.”

In the land of beasts, demons were everywhere.

In this situation, if you send your men to explore the Manwolhwa, they will naturally be annihilated.

In that case, there was only one way for Hilda to rely on.

“So, Black Grandpa, how’s that amazing searching magic going?”

The exploration magic that the Black Tower Master and his disciples cast. There was no other way.

“Huh. Why should I cooperate with a cesspool rat like you?”

“Well, if we back out, that guy will definitely die.”

“… … .”

“You don’t want to die, do you? Didn’t you come here to save Manwolhwa in order to find eternal life?”

“… … You did some background checks, you damn rat.”

“Well, this is our way of surviving.”

Hilda held out her hand.

“Let’s cooperate. We’re both in an awkward position, aren’t we?”

In the underworld, the rights of the individual are law, and on the surface, in limited cases, they apply.

Finally, the black magic tower owner sighed deeply.

But in the end, he turned his head away and answered without taking Hilda’s hand.

“I can’t cast exploration magic yet. I’ll have to hope my disciples reach the point I’ve set in advance.”

“What? You’re saying it’s useless?”

“Not yet! That is!”

Hilda covered her ears at Noh Ho-seong.

“Are you saying I have to just sit here and wait? Until I freeze to death?”

“For now, yes.”

“I can’t help it.”

Hilda sighed and sent a signal.

Then, the men he had brought began to set traps on the ground in different locations.

This will allow you to detect if the demons attack in the middle of the night. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to tie them up.

“By the way.”

As I was watching them work, the black magician opened his mouth.

“You’re really late. I hope you didn’t get stabbed in the back by the devil.”

“… … .”

“It’s a story of what if.”

Hilda thought about it carefully and then shook her head.

“Absolutely not.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“Well, there’s a monster in the rearguard.”

At least among the humans Hilda has seen in her lifetime, she can confidently say that she is the second strongest after the Archmage.

Because there was a national team called Fried Iscobal.

“Even if dozens of demons come, that guy can handle them all by himself. He’s the guy who killed three of those strong apostles.”

“I see.”

“Yeah. So you’ll never die… … .”

As she said that, Hilda narrowed her eyes.

It was because a person’s shadow was visible through the pouring snowstorm.

As Inyoung got closer, the sound of cleats creaking could be heard through the wind. That meant a knight.

Even a tiger will come if you call it. Hilda shrugged.

however.

“… … Wait a minute, you little rat. That’s not a letter.”

What was there was a limping knight, Liana, holding one arm.

Hilda opened her eyes wide.

“Hey, hey. What happened! What’s going on here!”

The moment she was about to rush to Riana, a chain wrapped around Hilda’s neck with a creaking sound.

It was the magic of the Black Tower.

“… … What the heck! What are you doing, old man!”

“You are a third-rate person. Didn’t you understand after seeing that?”

“what?”

Hilda looked at Rihanna again.

In every way, he is a badly injured knight.

However, from the perspective of the Black Tower Master, it looked quite different.

“That knight’s breathing is too constant. He doesn’t seem to have any life at all.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Don’t you get it yet? That means something wearing the skin of a knight.”

“… … .”

“I heard that there is such a peculiar individual among the demons. It imitates humans. It is so clever that it is disgusting.”

Hilda swallowed her breath at the Black Tower’s muttering and looked at Riana.

Only then do I feel it.

The fact that there was nothing human about the knight’s movements.

The standoff continued for several minutes.

The Rihanna creaked and fell apart.

and.

“……crazy.”

“As expected, it was a demon. It’s the guy called the human-faced ghost. I’ve only seen it in books, but it’s even more terrifying now that I see it.”

Behind him stood a small, human-like, hideous demon.

He turned his twisted face this way and that, his mouth open, and hundreds of fangs wiggled in different directions through the gaping hole.

Hilda took up her weapon, suppressing her disgust.

“Fuck… … . As expected, there’s nothing that works when that b*stard Fried comes.”

It was a sigh that came from my past experiences.

*

“… … This is.”

Fried stopped walking. Millia almost buried her nose in his back.

I looked up at Fried with a disgruntled expression, but he didn’t respond and just bent down and dug through the snow.

“There’s blood.”

“……blood?”

“It’s Rihanna’s.”

Fried casually swiped the frozen clump of blood and brought it to his lips. Then he closed his eyes and savored the blood.

Millia was shocked by his calm and composed behavior, but before she could say anything, Fried narrowed his eyes and muttered.

“Liana… … is dead.”

“Oh, how did you know?”

“Because there is no life in this blood.”

“… … .”

“You’re blood relatives, so I can understand. This blood is dead blood. The mana contained within it has disappeared. It’ll be difficult to utilize it like this.”

“Then, if we follow this blood trail.”

“Yeah. Maybe we’ll find the whereabouts of the guys who killed Rihanna.”

Fried seemed to have finished his thoughts and sat up.

Then I looked back.

“You said that Merta?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Can’t you summon the wind spirit to burn us?”

“……that.”

Merta wiggled her fingers.

“I guess it would be difficult for me to ride on my back since I can only command mid- to low-level spirits. Unless it’s a high-level spirit.”

“… … Tsk. It’s uncomfortable without Lincia.”

“Your Majesty is the strongest spirit master in the empire!”

Merta shouted in displeasure, but Fried did not listen.

Instead, he simply took off his gaiters and slung them over his shoulders.

“Excuse me, what are you doing?”

“What the heck? We have to chase after them. The smell of blood is fading because of the snowstorm. That means there’s no time.”

“……yes?”

“Merta, just come here. You can repel the demons anyway.”

“… … Right, right?”

As Merta nodded, looking puzzled, Fried turned around to look at Milia.

Millia hiccupped at that strangely humorous gaze.

“Why, why, why… … .”

“Yeah. Do you have a rough idea of ​​what to do?”

“I, I won’t do it.”

“But I can’t just leave you here to freeze to death.”

Fried chuckled.

Milia stretched her body as if she had given up.

The feeling of my body floating suddenly comes.

Fried lifted her body into a princess-like holding position.

“If His Majesty sees this, you know it will be a big problem, right?”

“Even if it’s a spirit sharing, it can’t see through this concentration of mana and the blizzard. Besides, Sylphy is under contract with Lautrec, so Lincia can’t use it.”

“… … Then that’s fortunate.”

… … .

… … .

… … .

“… … I was so embarrassed I wanted to die.”

“You won’t die.”

With those words, Fried kicked his foot.

Kwakwang!

My vision turned around with a loud noise that didn’t sound like a stampede at all.