The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 108

Judas and Eliza had spent quite a long time together.

However, it was rare for them to face battle together.

The closest they had come was recently, when they cleared out the den of a dark mage.

After all, it was rare for a knight and their master to engage in battle side by side.

In any case, this was the first time they would be working together.

Surprisingly, they were in sync.

Eliza was the first to take down the massive Cyclops.

If it had been set on fire, the flames might have spread to the surrounding area.

So, she severed it with a mad whip of fire.

Dozens of fiery sparks shot out of the air, tearing into the giant.

The pieces of its flesh would rain down, but Judas wasn’t worried.

There was no way her escort knight couldn’t dodge something like that.

What worried her more was whether there were any particularly dangerous creatures among the monsters.

Eliza floated in the air, looking down below.

She was using aerial suspension, a wind-based magic technique.

Only top-tier mages could use this kind of magic.

Blood fell like rain, and the dismembered flesh dropped like hail.

As expected, Judas avoided the debris while hunting down the monsters.

Or, sometimes, he used the debris to hide briefly, tricking the monsters.

Meanwhile, Eliza had surrounded the area with a wall of fire.

The monsters couldn’t get out, and no one could enter from the outside.

This was an opportunity.

Now was the time to exploit the Empire’s weaknesses.

By taking advantage of the crumbling security system during the founding festival, more of her allies would be able to join her cause.

The moment Judas cut down one werewolf, another one rushed at him, aiming for his blind spot.

Eliza’s heart skipped a beat.

In an instant, she reached out and cast her magic.

Flame Sphere.

A spear of golden, blazing fire shot down fiercely.

Just before it reached Judas, it pierced the werewolf’s head with perfect accuracy.

Before she could even say a word, Judas began cleaning up the nearby monsters.

The afterimage of his sword left traces of ivory-colored light.

The monsters that were cut down fell cleanly to the ground.

Any remaining monsters Judas hadn’t dealt with were sniped and killed by Eliza.

The suppression went smoothly.

“Judas.”

Eliza descended to the ground.

Judas withdrew his sword from the last monster and raised his hand toward her.

“Don’t come any closer. I smell… pretty bad.”

As he said, he was covered in various corpses and blood, looking horrific.

She knew that.

But for some reason, Eliza felt pained by his rejection and his words.

It wasn’t just that.

Her heart raced every time Judas almost got hurt.

She was nervous.

She shouldn’t be.

Judas was her sword and shield, someone who could die for her.

It wasn’t right for a master to be so overly concerned about her knight’s injury or death.

Even though she knew that, she couldn’t stop her emotions from running wild.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…Hmm. What about you?”

“Thanks to you, I’m fine.”

Judas smiled lightly before looking at Judeca.

The southeast entrance, torn open by the monsters.

There were likely more inside.

They had almost thought the suppression was finished, but a secondary disaster occurred because of the remaining monsters inside.

She needed to know which other doors had been attacked.

“Miss, may I check if there are any remaining monsters inside?”

“…Why?”

“Excuse me?”

“You… should only fight beside me, for me. But why…?”

Eliza hurriedly closed her mouth.

It had been an impulsive remark.

She didn’t even understand what she had just said.

But she could understand her emotions.

She was scared.

Of what?

Of Judas leaving.

She remembered the gesture he had made when he told her not to come closer.

From that, an unpleasant thought flashed through her mind.

If…

What if, just what if, Judas left her?

What would she do then?

She couldn’t understand why she was so worried, but a sudden surge of fear overwhelmed her.

Levi and Hagar each wanted Judas for different reasons.

She didn’t believe they would completely back off just like that.

And it wasn’t just the two of them.

In the future, just as it is now, there would always be someone who wanted Judas.

Someone who might take him away.

What if Judas fought for her and ended up dying?

What if, without her knowing, the world took her away, just like it took her mother?

She hadn’t even decided on a mountain to settle in yet, busy attending the Founding Festival.

This irrational self of her felt unfamiliar and awkward.

Eliza shook her head.

“…No. Forget what I just said. Go and check it out if you need to.”

Judas, hesitating, reassured her.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“…Okay.”

Eliza simply watched as Judas disappeared through the entrance.

The darkness swallowed her whole.

Wild, irrational imaginings of Judas never returning consumed her mind.

***

Judeca was vast.

Especially its internal structure, which resembled a labyrinth, having undergone several phases of expansion and reconstruction.

Yet, Judas moved forward without hesitation.

He relied on the memories from before the possession.

‘As expected, some monsters didn’t manage to escape.’

Judas swiftly eliminated the remaining monsters as he navigated the maze.

The place was filled with bodies of all kinds.

Fighters who had died in battle.

Slaves who couldn’t even resist, tied up and helpless.

Slave overseers, and others like them.

It was entirely different from the quarters he had used as property of the nobility.

‘…Iron bars.’

A crude prison that confined slaves.

Just glancing at the scene made his stomach churn.

It wasn’t just a matter of ethics.

‘Before the possession, the original owner of this body was in Judeca….’

It felt as if those memories were rushing back.

They seemed vivid, strong enough to twist his emotions.

Confrontation. Murder. Abuse.

A weak self.

An obsessive compulsion to achieve something.

Fear as heavy as that compulsion. A desire to run away.

But that would be betrayal.

Betrayal of whom?

‘…No, pull yourself together.’

Judas dragged himself out of the emotions threatening to drown him.

This wasn’t the time for that.

He kept cutting down the monsters, one after another, as he moved forward.

Activating a trait.

[Hunter’s Instinct.]

All the traces of the monsters led somewhere.

The nearest place: the northeastern entrance.

‘That’s where they went.’

Judas ran, clearing away all the monsters in his path.

***

‘…Huh?’

The northeastern entrance, where the monsters likely appeared.

He had expected it to be a mess, but he was wrong.

“Huh? Judas?”

A mess was a mess.

Just not the kind he had expected.

“What are you doing there?”

The area was already littered with the corpses of subdued monsters.

There didn’t seem to be any civilian casualties.

And at the center of it all was Eliza’s personal guard.

The first to spot Judas was Richard, who was closest to him.

“…That’s what I want to ask. What on earth happened here?”

“Oh, well, about that…”

“Why don’t you go help clean up the bodies instead?”

Dylan interrupted, directing Richard to assist.

“Why don’t you do it yourself….”

Grumbling, Richard still went to lend a hand.

Dylan explained in his stead.

“We were all enjoying the festival around here, when suddenly, that door was torn open. Since we were already armed, we immediately started fighting. We were lucky.”

“…Huh. It seems this city’s luck really is good. Were there any injuries?”

“Esmo and Gauss got hurt, but it’s not serious. But you, Judas… what happened to you?”

Judas’s condition was much worse than theirs.

His body was covered in the blood and flesh of monsters.

“This city’s luck really was good, I’m telling you. I went through the same thing. I was walking with the lady, and then the southeast door was torn open.”

“Hm. It seems it was a peaceful moment for the two of you, but monsters interfered.”

“Now you’re even teasing me, Senior Dylan?”

“…I just wanted to try it once.”

“Oh, I see…”

“By the way, is it alright for me to stay here? I should return to the lady.”

“Right. You should. I’ll go and let her know about the situation here.”

Judas turned back towards the door.

She could use her necklace, but there was something she wanted to confirm.

Judas’s memories.

They came back vividly while walking through Judeca’s interior.

The fragments of those memories intrigued her.

People who were late in assessing the situation had caused the chaos, making the labyrinth even more confusing.

There were prison-like spaces scattered throughout.

‘I was trapped here… definitely…’

A small training ground for checking skills.

‘Here, they killed people…’

Fragments of memories slowly came back to her.

Each time, unfamiliar emotions resurfaced as well.

Fear, loneliness, sadness, disillusionment.

And anger, hatred. Vengeance.

Vengeance?

Against whom?

‘Before I came here… I already… killed someone…’

Illusions pierced his senses.

Flickering flames before his eyes.

A burning carriage.

Someone who should have been inside it.

‘I was going to kill them… but someone came first… I…’

He was scolded when he went back.

Where had he returned to?

Some underground place in the desert.

That was the place, the one where he had experienced painful things.

Dark magic and brainwashing.

An echo he had once heard now whispered in his ears.

‘…I must endure. This is all necessary.’

‘I can’t do it, please…’

‘Then will you give up? Does that mean you’ll give up everything… all of you?’

A dull mind.

The next faint voices he heard were of a conversation between two people.

‘…We made sure to reinforce the memory of killing…’

‘It should be a bit better now.’

‘But it’s not complete. …It will loosen…’

Memory. Suggestion.

Something he couldn’t afford to forget.

Judas thought to himself.

I must remember this.

I must not forget.

‘I… I did that…’

In that moment, a signal came through the necklace.

The teleportation necklace given to her by Eliza.

“…Ah.”

Startled by the signal, Judas quickly regained focus.

His foggy mind cleared up.

He hesitated for a moment before responding to the signal.

‘Just now… hmm…’

He felt like he almost understood, but it was interrupted at a crucial point.

He couldn’t piece together the scattered fragments of his memory.

He shouldn’t try to think consciously about it.

Even the clues that seemed clear quickly faded and evaporated.

In the end, he couldn’t figure anything out.

‘It can’t be helped…’

He quickly gave up and accepted the signal.

His vision shifted dramatically.

Before he knew it, Eliza was right in front of him.

Judas froze.

Eliza’s round face.

The cat’s eyes looked up.

That face.

The face I saw every day.

Familiar, yet suddenly, for some reason, it felt strange and unfamiliar.

Perhaps it was because it wasn’t really…

“Why are you so late…?”

Eliza stopped speaking mid-sentence.

Judas was staring down at her intently.

The beast-like golden eyes.

Eliza cautiously called his name.

“…Judas?”