Traitor
"Haaaaat!!"
With a shout, Leje's sword left a flashing trail in the air.
[Shaaaack!!]
However, as if mocking her attack, the Chimera quickly widened the distance with agile movements and swung its tail, covered in sharp thorns.
-Clang!
With a metallic clang, Leje's sword collided with the Chimera's tail, scattering sparks in the air...
"Tsk...!!"
[Shiiiiik-!!]
Clicking her tongue briefly, Leje pushed back the Chimera's tail with force.
The next moment, the Chimera retracted its tail and slowly opened its mouth, from which a blue lightning bolt erupted with a crackling sound.
Seeing this, Leje threw herself to the side, and with a sharp sound, a wave of electricity from the Chimera's mouth engulfed the spot where she had been standing.
-Crackle!!
Dozens of lightning bolts swept the surroundings, turning the area into ashes.
"..."
Even she wouldn't be unscathed if she were caught in such an attack.
Leje held her breath at the sheer power of the attack.
Meanwhile...
"Princess. Please do not leave my side."
"Ah, I understand...!!"
Rudell, creating countless blue force fields in the air, said so and stood in front of Jade.
A sphere of force fields, layered dozens of times.
He was confident that it wouldn't be easily breached.
"Tsk tsk... You could have died cleanly if you hadn't resisted."
The man in front of them clicked his tongue as he watched.
"You. Do you know who this person is?"
"Of course I do. Isn't she the Princess of the Kingdom?"
"And yet, doing something like this... can be seen as treason, right?"
"Haha! Treason. You tell an amusing tale."
The man responded to Leje's words with a low chuckle.
"The founder of the Prusel Kingdom was originally a general of the Empire, wasn't he? Then, isn't the current Prusel royal family the true traitor?"
"Don't insult our ancestor! Our ancestor fought against the tyranny of the Empire...!!"
"Ha! You uphold your ancestor just because he's your ancestor? How pathetic."
The man scoffed at Jade's protesting shout and snapped his fingers.
At the same time, a faint tremor began to be felt beneath where Jade and Rudell were standing.
"Princess! Danger!"
At that moment, Rudell pushed Jade away with an urgent voice.
"Kyaa!?"
With a scream, Jade fell to the ground as she was pushed, and at the same time, the ground beneath Rudell's feet exploded, and a giant thorn shot upwards.
"Ugh…!?"
The giant thorn grazed Rudell's forehead, and as he stepped back with a stinging pain, he felt something warm flowing down from his forehead.
"Rudell!!"
"Young Master Weinstein!?"
"I'm alright!"
Seeing the trickle of blood flowing from his forehead, Leje and Jade shouted, and Rudell put his hand to his forehead as he spoke to them.
'It's not a serious injury.'
Looking at the blood on his fingertips, Rudell thought so and looked around.
And, spotting something moving in the nearby forest, Rudell quickly cast a spell in that direction.
"Glacial Spike!"
With a cracking sound, the ground froze, and gleaming ice spikes began to shoot up from the forest.
However, it dodged quickly, leaving a shadow in the forest, and only the trees pierced by the ice fell with a thud.
At the same time, another Chimera emerged from the forest.
It was smaller than the Chimera that Leje was fighting, but it had a much sleeker form, with a lamprey-like mouth and a long, sharp tongue.
At a glance, it was a form designed for rear support rather than direct combat.
"Tsk..."
"I've heard stories about you, the genius of magic, the promising student..."
"Is that so? I didn't know the Head Professor thought so highly of me."
"...!?"
At Rudell's sarcastic remark, the man in front of him,
Sindri Meyer, Head Professor of the Magic Department at Pilsberg Academy and Lord of the North Tower, also known as the Tower of Truth,
looked at Rudell with a surprised expression.
"You... did you already know?"
"No way. I just thought you were the only one in the academy skilled enough to research Chimeras."
Of course, Rudell already knew he was the traitor through his knowledge of the original story.
But Rudell had no reason to tell him the truth directly.
"Khahaha! I like you! If you had come under me, I could have made you the best magician in the world! How about it? Joining me now."
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline. I'm loyal to the Kingdom."
"Is that so? That's quite a shame."
Sindri shrugged as if to say, "So be it," in response to Rudell's words.
At the same time, the ground began to tremble once again, and Rudell hurriedly threw himself to the side.
Once again, thorns shot up from the ground, and Rudell, dusting off the dirt that had fallen on him, got up and cast a spell.
"Wind Cutter!"
His magical power shot out as a blade of wind, but the thorns disappeared into the ground in an instant, and only a few unfortunate trees were cut down and fell to the ground.
"Damn it..."
Seeing this, Rudell cursed softly.
There were two Chimeras visible at the moment.
It wouldn't be impossible to defeat them, but it was too risky with Jade present.
Their target was not Rudell's or Leje's life, but Jade's.
In other words, if Jade died, it would automatically be their defeat.
Knowing this, both Leje and Rudell couldn't move recklessly.
'When is Ferris coming?'
With that thought, Rudell looked towards the main building of the academy.
It was about time for Ferris to make her move.
Her help was desperately needed to turn the tables in this situation.
"Are you waiting for your escort knight? Then you'd better give up. Chimeras are already rampaging in other parts of the academy."
Sindri said, as if sensing Rudell's thoughts.
"...What!?"
At the same time, a surprised voice escaped Leje's lips.
"You didn't think I was so incompetent as to leave obstacles unattended, did you? If you really did, then I can only say I'm very sorry."
And, watching this, a low chuckle escaped Sindri's lips.
However...
'Don't laugh, don't laugh...!!'
Rudell, on the contrary, couldn't help but hold back his laughter as he watched.
The sight of him being so sure of his victory without knowing what was going on on the other side...
If Leje and Jade weren't here, Rudell would probably have laughed at him to his heart's content.
"I don't want to waste any more time, so let's end this."
Saying so, Sindri snapped his fingers once again.
[Kyaaaaa-!!]
[Shiiiiik!!]
At the same time, the two Chimeras began to take an attack stance, and just as Leje and Rudell were about to respond with tense faces,
-Swish!!
Something flew past Rudell with a sound that cut through the air and lodged itself in the face of the lamprey Chimera that was charging towards him.
It was none other than a crudely shaped sword.
[Shiiiiit!?]
With a pained cry, the lamprey Chimera began to stagger, and a figure that emerged from the forest rushed towards the Chimera and grabbed the hilt of the sword embedded in its face.
"Haaaaat!!"
With a shout, the sword drew a large arc, and the Chimera, its face split in half, died instantly without even a scream.
"This is why I told you I should accompany you..."
Amidst the blood spraying from the Chimera like rain...
Ferris, the Princess's escort knight, said so.
"Ferris!"
"I apologize for the delay, Princess."
"You bitch...!! How did you get here!? Did you really take down all those Chimeras...!?"
Sindri exclaimed in disbelief at the sight.
Indeed, he had placed a large number of specially made Chimeras along the path from the main building, where Ferris was supposed to be, to this location.
To break through such a number of Chimeras, one would have to be at least a Sword Saint.
"Chimeras, you say? They've all been subdued."
"Wha, what...!?"
However, Ferris responded to Sindri's words with a puzzled expression.
And, Sindri shouted, his face pale.
'It seems Silfier did her job properly.'
Otherwise, Ferris couldn't have arrived here already.
Rudell smiled faintly at the fact that his choice had not been wrong.
And then, the next moment...
"Then... Sindri Meyer, Head Professor of the Magic Department at Pilsberg Academy. I hereby sentence you to immediate execution for the crime of treason."
Ferris, wiping the blood off her sword, pointed it at Sindri and declared.
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