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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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Ludmilla, who had changed back into her usual formal attire, smiled meaningfully while trying to calm her wildly beating heart.
She was happy.
And on the other hand, she felt regretful.
What if she had entered the banquet hall with Edanant, dressed in an elegant gown?
Surely, many nobles would have applauded and cheered, officially recognizing her and Edanant as a couple.
Was it because of Edanant’s stunned expression?
Her desire began to grow like a snowball.
But soon, she shook her head.
She had a duty to protect the imperial family and citizens.
Therefore, neglecting her duty to personal happiness could never be allowed.
“Hmm, Edanant was so surprised. Wasn’t it the first time you’ve seen him so stunned?”
Elizaveta grinned and teased her older sister, who was sighing heavily.
At that, Ludmilla gave a short fake cough.
“Ahem! Anyway, I’m returning to my duties now.”
“Okay~”
She tried to show an indifferent reaction.
But inwardly, she felt grateful to her younger sister.
Ludmilla wouldn’t have seen Edanant’s embarrassed expression if she hadn’t insisted on trying on the banquet dress.
She gained confidence.
As if to prove this, Ludmilla’s shoulders straightened.
“The Seven Swords, be thorough in guarding the banquet hall. Not even the slightest mishap can be allowed to occur.”
Soon after, she summoned the seven knights representing the Valtarian Empire.
The Seven Swords of Valtaria.
The subordinates of the Red Dragon paid their respects and received strict orders.
Security was tighter than ever, as great nobles boasting high authority had been invited.
Ludmilla’s subordinates strictly controlled the forces while guarding the imperial city.
‘When the banquet ends safely, Edanant will be waiting. We promised to dance together. I hope I don’t embarrass myself in front of Edanant…’
As a princess of the imperial family, she had learned dancing from a tutor, but it was too long ago.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she had become entirely uncoordinated now.
What if I step on his feet?
He’ll indeed be turned off if I show a completely hopeless performance.
-Do you call that dancing?
-As expected of the rough-natured tomboy princess, she can’t keep the beat…
Anxiety was already starting to set in.
The image of Edanant’s coldly changed expression appeared in her mind.
Should she hand over command to her subordinates and start practicing dancing?
Her fear grew as much as her expectations for Edanant.
“Auntie! Big trouble, auntie!”
“……”
While she was lost in thought, staring into space,
A girl’s bold voice irritated the Red Dragon’s nerves.
“Edanant asked me to deliver a message! He says Meiros are invading!”
“…What do you mean?”
Meiros are coming in droves.
It was a story hard to take lightly.
Edanant said that?
If so, it couldn’t be a joke.
Ludmilla’s knights suspected it might be a naughty prank by the mischievous girl.
But judging by her pale, shocked face, it couldn’t be a simple joke.
“Your Highness!!”
A desperate shout rang out like a signal flare announcing a crisis.
The soldier captain guarding the gate of the imperial city came running to Ludmilla, out of breath.
“It’s a rebellion! A rebellion has broken out in the imperial city!”
“……”
Unidentified forces were rapidly invading and engaging in urban warfare.
The soldier captain requested reinforcements from Ludmilla.
It was the same with other gates.
They sent urgent reports one after another, informing of the rebellion’s outbreak.
First, she ordered the Seven Swords to guard the imperial palace.
And she burned with hostility, saying she would eradicate the rebel army that had suddenly attacked the imperial city.
Ludmilla recalled the severity of the situation, mulling over Edanant’s message about the appearance of Meiros.
BOOM!!!
The fate of the empire hung in the balance.
A fierce explosion sounded as if to prove this, and a bright red pillar of fire rose up.
It occurred in the streets of the imperial city.
Indeed, the Meiros that Edanant had warned about had invaded.
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Pillars of fire rose up in the streets.
How long had they been preparing?
Edanant stuck out his tongue as he looked at the explosions co-occurring.
There was no doubt that nobles hostile to the Valtarian Imperial Family had colluded with cult forces.
This could be inferred from the explosive urban warfare where numerous forces were entangled like a scene of carnage.
“Damn it!”
The empire would collapse if the imperial family and rebel army clashed like this.
He had to stop it.
He had to prevent it from escalating into a full-scale war at all costs.
But now, he could not stop the situation unfolding in the streets.
This was because the blades of the priest-knights who worshiped the Disaster God were closing in right before his eyes.
“Die, holy sword user.”
“In the name of the Disaster God, we will exterminate the Earth Mother’s dog.”
They were on a different level from the enemies he had fought so far.
The priest-knights’ sharp blades drew elegant diagonal lines as they aimed for his life.
He deflected the sword strikes.
And he drew his gun, aiming at a priest-knight.
Bang! Bang!!
Gunshots rang out in succession.
However, the priest-knight who was shot was only pushed back momentarily.
‘How am I supposed to handle all these priest-knights comparable to the Holy Kingdom’s guardian knights at once…! Am I Maximilian or something? By the way, where on earth did these guys pop out from?’
The old man watching the battle situation with a chilling smile was clearly an Apostle of the Disaster God.
Edanant frowned.
Why on earth?
How on earth could he be alive?
The empire and the Holy Kingdom, which had won the Racial War, had tracked down and annihilated the believers of the Disaster God to the last, cutting off their lineage.
Even the remnants who barely survived should have all been eliminated by the Saintess Party’s activities in the last part of the story.
“You seem very curious about how we survived such persistent pursuit.”
“Yeah.”
Edanant answered as he swung Aldebaran widely.
At the same time, one of the priest-knights collapsed, spewing blood.
“But I can’t tell you. You know, the older you get, the more tight-lipped you become.”
“…Who are you mocking, old man?”
A sword fight filled with killing intent unfolded again when the words ended.
But the situation had changed quite a bit.
This was because Edanant, struggling against the priest-knights’ prowess, launched a counterattack.
The form of his swordsmanship changed.
Sharp sword strikes poured down simultaneously, threatening the priest knights surrounding the area.
The Disaster God’s group hiding in the chaos realm didn’t know.
About the activities of Maximilian, who had always been in charge of the Saintess Party’s vanguard.
That’s why they had no countermeasures against Hero Maximilian’s swordsmanship.
“This doesn’t look good. Bring out the blessing.”
If they continued the battle like this, casualties would increase.
The priest-knights activated the blessing of the Disaster God without hesitation.
────!!!
Dark smoke rose up and settled on the priest knights.
As the physical abilities and reflexes of the knights who worshiped the Disaster God significantly increased, their eyes began to turn red.
Clang.
That wasn’t all.
The sword aura shot out by the priest knights took on a jet-black color, symbolizing the Disaster God.
‘These guys are really annoying. If they had appeared in the early part of the story, even the Saintess Party wouldn’t have been safe. Of course, now that Part 1 has ended, the Saintess Party would naturally turn the tables on them.’
Edanant felt perplexed by the actions of the priest-knights, who had brought out their full power to end the fight in one go.
And he gained the possibility that he might be able to easily take down the priest-knights.
They didn’t know.
Had they been training in a cave?
The enemies before him didn’t have the most basic information about the Saintess Party.
Their suicidal act of cloaking themselves in the divine status of the Disaster God against Aldebaran spoke of their ignorance.
“……!”
Edanant moved.
He went on the offensive, swinging Aldebaran, dyed in pure white radiance.
If he launched a counterattack now, he would win.
The priest-knights immediately responded like experienced hunters hunting fierce beasts.
Slash!
The more daring the offensive, the more weaknesses would inevitably appear.
The priest-knights took advantage of this and swung their swords at Edanant.
His clothes were torn.
And scratches gradually increased.
Although he instinctively avoided fatal wounds, it wouldn’t be long before he received one.
Despite facing a precarious situation due to his extreme offensive, Edanant didn’t stop.
He even demonstrated swinging the holy sword in a reverse grip.
“Kugh…!”
A priest-knight whose neck was slightly cut by the tip of the holy sword retreated.
Pain didn’t matter at all.
He had experienced worse injuries against monsters from the chaos realm.
It was the same for the other priest-knights.
They all received large and small wounds from Edanant’s bold offensive.
Nevertheless, they pushed against Edanant without even tending to their wounds.
“Kuhak!”
A priest-knight who had received a sword wound spat out pain and dropped his sword.
The others were similar.
They collapsed, trembling all over as if poisoned.
The holy power of Aldebaran had eroded through their wounds and ravaged their insides.
As the blessing of the Disaster God that had been strengthening their bodies resisted this, a vicious repulsive force occurred.
It was a ‘divine collision.’
─────!!!
Their bodies exploded.
It was not a metaphor at all.
Their bodies shattered into pieces like water balloons falling from the sky.
It was the result of the Creator God’s divine status clashing with the Disaster God’s divine status.
The priest-knights who had been subjected to the holiness of Aldebaran met a miserable death without a single exception.
“To use divine possession against Aldebaran… You crazy bastards, your brains must be non-existent.”
He shot out a pure white slash.
Taking advantage of the gap as the surviving priest-knights retreated, he aimed for the Apostle of the Disaster God.
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What can I say? Shy Ludmilla is a cutie (⸝⸝⸝• ω •⸝⸝⸝) ♡ First Imperial Princess is the real deal, a true wing woman for us readers.
Welp, back to Hunting…