Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga – Chapter 23

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Based on their name, they might seem like a cheap imitation of dragon knights, they are high-level troops who not only serve as mobile artillery on the battlefield.

Dominating the air and firing magic, but they also make significant contributions to collapsing the enemy’s formation using ridiculously long swords crescent moon blades, taking advantage of their aura-enhanced bodies and the wyvern’s acceleration.

Even the worst drawback of having to learn both mana and aura is somewhat compensated because they are the military. After all, the military is a group that quickly learns only what is necessary and specializes in it.

Unlike adventurers who have to endlessly strive while considering all variables once they decide to learn both, a wyvern knights’ magic doesn’t need to be further studied once it reaches a certain level.

Insufficient parts will be supplemented by the military’s troops and support anyway.

Simply comparing, it’s closer to just completing training slightly later than other aura users. In exchange for being a bit late, they can gain more than double the benefits, so it’s no exaggeration to say it’s low risk, high return, at least in the military.

Of course, considering a knight’s personal achievements, the waste of the limited resource called time and extremely long training period dissuades most people from even attempting to become knights.

In fact, there’s no guarantee that such achievements can be made. In that sense, it might not be a bad choice. It’s a world where there are plenty of knights who never get to feel their aura during their lifetime.

How could there be an answer in fair and square combat for a tender 14-year-old kid who might face such a guy?

It was an extreme choice between two options. Either bend your beliefs or stake your life.

“Mr. Eldmia! They’re starting to come into view!”

I had no idea how many hours had passed or how far we had flown. Occasionally, a few dim villages and forests passed by, and I fell asleep in between to conserve my stamina, but the main reason was that the wyvern was much faster than I had imagined.

One thing was certain: if I had lost Gies or the wyvern, I would have been running like crazy right now, cursing the world while pondering ways to enter the capital in time, figuring out ways to prove my identity, ways to find Lagnis’s location, and all sorts of things beyond my abilities.

In that regard, I had no choice but to send infinite gratitude to the guy named Delt.

Concentrating on the direction Gies was pointing, at the end of the sky that was starting to dawn, something the size of a grain of rice was flying.

“Wow. I can barely see it. Can wyvern pilots normally see that well?”

“No way. At this altitude, only wyverns can fly alone in the sky, so if you see something, you just think, ‘Ah, that’s it.'”

I thought it was based on transcendent eyesight, but it turned out to be based on reasonable and proper inference.

“I thought that not only was it amazing how you pilot without sleep, but you also had good eyesight.

Now raise the altitude, how high do we need to go so that guy doesn’t notice us?”

“Actually, if you approach while gliding from above, it’s hard for them to notice even if you get as close as a one story building. Surprisingly, it’s hard to imagine something flying above your head in the sky.”

Indeed. Since we’re flying at a position almost the same as the clouds, it makes sense. The only things flying higher or similar to this would be other wyverns or dragons.

“But you have to kill the wyvern before Delt even notices your presence, so you’ll need to raise the altitude a bit more.”

Fuck. Now that I’m aware of it, I’m starting to realize just how reckless what I’m about to do is.

“Gies. It’s only been a few hours since we met, but I’m placing the second-greatest trust in my life in you. You know our lives, mine and Lagnis’s, depend on you, right?”

The plan itself is simple. I stab the wyvern’s head and take the tied-up Lagnis, and Gies catches us.

If I embarrassingly fail to stab the wyvern’s head and fall, Gies quickly comes down to catch me, and we try again. Gies confidently said there would be no mistakes since they often do something similar when exchanging items between wyvern pilots.

“I will definitely catch you, even for the sake of a debt-free life.”

“Yeah. Anyway, since the altitude is high, there’s some leeway for falling, so it’ll work out somehow.”

“Mr. Eldmia… you’re really amazing. Even trained wyvern pilots need a really long time to accept that.”

“If you grow up with your village burned down when you were 8 years old, you become like this.”

In fact, I was just repeatedly achieving mental victories through the knowledge of my previous life, but since there was no basis for comparison anyway and it couldn’t be proven, I just said that roughly.

“Then I’ll go up. Since the opponent might be a wyvern knight, I won’t send a separate signal for your time to jump. I’ll make it flap its wings once we reach a suitable distance…”

Although I couldn’t see his face, his tension was conveyed through his voice.

Indeed, how many times in your life would you have to help someone doing such a crazy thing? I also wanted to succeed in one go since I wouldn’t do this twice.

“It’s almost dawn, right?”

“Yes. Since we’re flying towards the capital, the sun will rise right in front of us.”

“Can we time it with the sunrise?”

“Let’s do that.”

This guy shows no hint of anxiety or hesitation when it comes to flying. Could this guy actually be an unexpectedly skilled wyvern pilot?

Maybe that’s why they wanted to get their hands on him, even if it meant subduing him with debt.

Once it came into view, the distance was closed in an instant.

While admiring Gies’s skilled flying, we gained altitude and flew above Delt, but he didn’t notice us at all.

In front of the guy, who was flying with his black shining armor, fluttering cloak, and deep brown hair, Lagnis was tied up like a bundled blanket.

Actually, since she was wearing a pulled down hood, there was no way to confirm if it was really Lagnis, but that seemed to be the case based on the circumstances.

And even though it’s something I anyway have to do… the wyvern’s head looks infinitely small.

“Fuck.”

I’m not scared. Maybe it’s because the situation is too surreal, but now that I’m assuming I’ll fall, this high altitude feels like an airbag for safety.

In my mind, numerous shadow Eldmias demonstrated the optimal movements to place the sword on the wyvern’s skull and screamed as they fell. At that moment, the wyvern’s wings flapped.

“Here we go.”

I was proud of myself for jumping out without a moment’s hesitation, drawing my sword.

The sound of the wind hitting my ears began, and the fall started.

Gies must indeed be a capable pilot. I could intuitively tell that if I fell like this, I would be able to precisely touch the wyvern’s head. It was a frighteningly accurate distance calculation.

Even while I was falling exactly towards the wyvern’s head, which seemed to maintain a horizontal position in the sky as if I were fixed, Delt didn’t notice the anomaly.

I thought he would see me in his field of vision by now, but it was only when I thought that a calm yet puzzled gaze belatedly turned towards me. In fact, the expression “belatedly” might be unfair from his perspective. In terms of time, it would have been less than 1 or 2 seconds.

“…?”

At that fleeting moment, what could be read from his expression was a question.

It was a face that couldn’t understand why a person was falling from above him. It was too surreal of a situation that he couldn’t even think about who it was and only pondered why I was falling.

“That’s obviously…!”

Without even having time to calm my wildly beating heart, I held onto the sword with both hands with the sole thought of not letting go, and struck down on the wyvern’s head.

“Because of gravity, you fucking bastard!!”

Feeling the momentary resistance of a skull, the wyvern’s head was split.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

He thought dawn was breaking.

Since it was Delt’s first time flying in this direction towards the capital, his eyes were more strained than he expected, and he unknowingly frowned, but that was it.
The moon setting and the sun rising was an extremely natural phenomenon.

That’s why, at the moment his gaze met Eldmia’s, what filled Delt’s mind was a simple question.

‘Why is a person falling above my head?’

The fact that he felt their gazes met in less than a second was probably due to the extreme tension and confusion in a situation he couldn’t even imagine or anticipate in the slightest.

Someone fell with a meaningless shout.

Even though he saw with his own eyes the blade of the sword being buried up to the root in the wyvern’s head, Delt couldn’t react.

He couldn’t even understand.

‘How is he not falling?’

In Delt’s eyes, unable to accept the situation, it only looked like someone had suddenly fallen from the sky, and was crouching on the wyvern’s head in a strange posture. Maintaining balance on nothing.

It transcended common sense, transcended perception, and even transcended understanding.

“I am!”

That’s why.

Until the moment Eldmia ran across the wyvern’s neck, which maintained strength for a short time, twisted the sword, and swung it with both hands right in front of him, Delt couldn’t react.

Even though he had fought countless battles for his family, trained, and didn’t shy away from dirty work, he couldn’t react at all.

Even to movements like a skilled aura user, even seeing the burning, almost blazing eyes, even seeing the graceful blade glinting in the sunlight that brightened the dawn, he couldn’t properly recognize the threat to his life.

“Eldmia Egga!”

Only after hearing the one phrase that became the answer to all his questions did Delt understand.

‘Ah, so that’s how it was.’

That was the last thought Delt, whose neck was cut in a single blow, could have.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇