Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga – Chapter 41

Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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“You sure do enjoy asking tedious questions. Why don’t you ask your subordinates about such things?”

Gesturing with his chin towards the handler standing behind Count Pavera, he unfastened the scabbard from his belt and leaned down onto the ground in a crooked posture, answering with an extremely disgruntled attitude.

At the same time, he tried to gauge the skill level of Count Pavera and his soldiers.

It was a fact he had learned while formally training in mana and aura manipulation at the Ogatorf family, but he couldn’t properly sense mana and aura.

Because he handled raw mana close to its unrefined state, the purified mana and aura felt extremely faint to his senses.

As a result, it was said that those who had reached a certain level could measure an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses just by perceiving the aura flowing around them in daily life…

But he truly couldn’t tell at all.

Even from Ekaf, the Third Sword of the King himself, he only sensed an utterly ordinary aura – that was the extent of his aura perception ability.

Others claimed that even a slight mastery of aura would allow one to feel an overwhelming presence, but for him, that wasn’t the case.

“Hmm. Are you sure you’re exhausted? That’s quite a sharp reaction.”

For whatever reason, no matter how closely he observed Count Pavera and his guards in front of him, he couldn’t sense anything from them.

Although he didn’t expect much, the twenty members of the command squad in the forest were supposedly the elites among their group.

While the only decent one was the last guy who got slashed by his sword.

According to the friend who had provided him with the information, the guys here were supposed to be at least on par with that last guy, if not stronger.

But no matter how he looked, he couldn’t sense a thing.

Pretending to scratch the back of his head, he glanced sideways at Cheryl, but he couldn’t tell if her poker face was well-maintained or if she simply lacked any aura whatsoever.

“Well, even from the outside, it’s clear that you’ve been through a battle, so my lack of consideration was unbecoming. However, as the party who hired you, we cannot simply take your testimony at face value, so it would be good if you could cooperate for a moment.”

“If that ‘cooperation’ means ‘go back inside’ again, then I have no choice but to refuse. You can do that yourselves. As the Count just said, we’re completely exhausted. The guys still fighting in the forest haven’t been dealt with yet, so if we go back and run into them, it’ll be dangerous.”

“Actually, that part is a bit concerning. One thing we observed about them is… If something happens to the command squad, they use signal flares or something to call their comrades scattered in the forest to gather.”

Wow, he never expected them to be so blatant about it.

“But considering the timing of your entry… And the fact that no signal flare was fired. There are quite a few things that don’t add up. You would know better than us how quickly you went in and came back out, wouldn’t you?”

“You’re really going out of your way to imply we’re deceiving you. Is it because you’re a noble?”

Frowning deeply, he shot back with the most disgruntled expression and tone he could muster.

As he crouched in a defiant posture and rested his hand on his sword’s hilt, the soldiers other than Count Pavera reacted.

“Don’t do anything foolish, adventurer.”

“Overestimating your skills could get you killed without payment.”

Their reaction wasn’t directed at the insult towards their master, but rather at him, expressing the will to fight.

It was clear that their relationship wasn’t maintained by loyalty.

Even if he feigned anger or contemplation, their faces were too blatantly filled with derision for him to feel the need to further verify whether the information his friend from the forest had provided was true or false.

“You guys are saying some amusing things. Even with just a simple calculation, the two of us took out the entire command squad, so each of us must have killed at least ten. Do you really think you measly fellows can stop us?”

“Ha. Looking at your state, it doesn’t seem like a situation for further fighting, does it matter?”

“It does matter. Even in this sorry state, I could beat the likes of you with one eye closed.”

Instead of getting angry at his response, the guys laughed.

A very good sign.

Their underestimation of him meant that their current appearance was sufficiently serving its purpose, and that defeating them in combat would be easier.

“Enough. There’s no need to raise your voice. But even if I believe what you say, these three necks alone won’t solve anything. Is this your first thief elimination mission?”

“Well, it is my first time, but I know we get paid per head.”

“Even so, why did you only bring these few while leaving the other thieves’ supply behind?”

“I wanted to confirm something.”

“Confirm?”

“Yeah. One of the guys we thought was a thief inside told us an interesting story when we finished him off.”

Maintaining a relaxed posture, with his hand still on his sword, he scoffed as he continued speaking.

“He said they’re Count Pavera’s soldiers, and they’ve been luring adventurers to kill them to fabricate a false reputation, or something like that?”

The soldiers, who had been standing in groups of five around Pavera, almost simultaneously shifted their stances to draw their swords with a fierce intensity.

His tightened nerves allowed him to perceive the world almost in slow motion as he reacted to their movements.

None of them seemed to be specifically targeting Cheryl, who was slightly behind him.

He could tell that their intention was to strike him down first.

Just like they had prearranged, Pavera was stepping back and lowering his stance to prepare for what was next.

All of this was happening in less than a second, and he couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that he could perceive it all.

Fueled by the mana he had forcefully infused into his body, he propelled himself forward while grasping his sword.

Not only did he draw his sword, but he also threw the scabbard behind him to save time.

By the time he completed this sequence, he had already passed through the gaps between the ten men aiming for him, pierced through their encirclement, and swung his sword towards Pavera.

He had no intention of killing him outright.

Thus, he merely severed Pavera’s right arm and right leg as the latter tried to grasp his sword, then turned to prepare for the next move.

“Argh!”

“Aura?!”

All of these actions took less than a second.

Barely suppressing the urge to marvel at the results his body could produce by pushing itself, he laid his sword horizontally overhead and took a stance.

The ten men were all staring at him in shock.

“You idiots.”

There were two of us, yet you were only focused on me?

“For scorning and defying the protection of the royal family!”

Cheryl’s outrage burst forth from behind the stunned men.

“In the name of Cheryl Tzin Ogatorf, I shall execute judgment!”

Although inevitably slower than Eldmia, Cheryl was also an aura user.

Taking advantage of the moment when their attention was solely on him, she had already leapt forward.

With her shout, she slashed the necks of two men and advanced further.

The dumbfounded men, stunned by the sound of the blade cutting flesh, ended up flailing about helplessly between the two of them without even being able to coordinate their roles.

“Ogatorf!?”

“Sh-Shit!”

Ah, so they were surprised by the unexpected name.

But regardless of the reason, those who failed to react in time were swiftly killed without even having a proper chance to cross swords.

In fact, the techniques Cheril demonstrated were astonishingly impressive, and almost as crisp as the men, in terms of how crisp the battle was.

She counterattacked the men who had half-heartedly clashed blades, slashing them down as she advanced.

She showcased a combo technique with four consecutive kills that one would only expect to see in games.

He could only sincerely applaud her.

“That was an impressively skillful counterattack. Truly an art form.”

“Hm. Even to my own senses, it felt like a clean execution. Satisfactory.”

For a 15-year-old girl to be so satisfied that her ability to kill people cleanly was satisfactory… it was a bit questionable.

But he had decided not to dwell on such things in this world.

With the men she had definitively dispatched lying behind, the two of them approached the fallen Pavera and the handler who had dropped to the ground, trembling uncontrollably, to each handle their respective tasks.

“Count Pavera. Before my maid could even finish speaking, you rashly drew your sword. It was too dangerous, so I had no choice but to kill you all.”

“Uu, uaaahh…”

Too shocked to even scream properly, Pavera could only tremblingly whimper.

Leaving Cheryl with him behind, Edlmia approached the handler.

“Hey.”

“Hii, hiiick!”

“Don’t just shriek like you saw a damn cockroach, you bastard!”

He yelled as he stabbed his sword into the ground, making the man curl up on the floor and cry out.

“P-Please spare me! I, I was just following orders!”

“Yeah! That’s it!”

“Wh…What?”

“You were just following orders! That’s the only way you can survive this situation – by telling us every single detail! Isn’t that obvious?”

“O-Of course! Of course I have to tell you everything! I can reveal all the wicked schemes Pavera was plotting!”

“Guarrgh neigh nOoorrmmm!!”

“How dare you raise your voice before me, traitor!”

“Kyaaahhhck!”

The dull sound that followed resembled kicking a lump of meat, so he didn’t bother looking back.

Such a noise meant he had kicked a severed limb, a sight that would certainly not be good for the mind.

However, the handler who had been rolling his eyes frantically witnessed the scene behind him and began slamming his head onto the ground in desperation.

“Please! Please spare me!”

“You want to live?”

“Of, of course!”

Our friend Weri looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, conveying his desperation.

Just like the friend from the forest, he tended to be quite accommodating towards cooperative fellows like this.

Since this guy hadn’t swung his sword at him in the first place, and those in his position could only obey, he had no inclination to hold them accountable.

Thus, he squatted down, gently placed his hand on Weri’s shoulder, and said:

“Alright. From now on, your name is Chatty Weri.”

“Eh? I… Oh! Yes! That’s right! I am Chatty Weri! Chatty Weri is ready to chatter away and tell everything he knows!”

The kid was sharp as a tack.

I really liked that.

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