Chapter 60: Ressal Showdown – The Preliminary Battle

“If you don’t want Irine to be killed, then surrender quietly…!”

Lev-chan’s voice rang out across the area.

Last night, during the villain clan’s raid, she was the girl who had begged us, “Please capture my brother.”

And now, I had her gripping my neck, with a sword pressed right against my artery.

“…Hey, Lev. What is this…?”

“…”

Karl stood frozen, holding the back of his head, rendered speechless.

…Betrayal.

Lev-chan had betrayed us, joined forces with the villain clan, and laid a trap.

“If we keep this up, everyone’s going to be in danger…!”

“Lev-chan, please calm down.”

“I’ll do anything afterward—just, for now, listen to me…”

I didn’t know what kind of circumstances had led her to this decision.

But one thing was clear: she was dead serious. I could feel it even without looking at her.

Ah, now I see. During the briefing, that discomfort I felt—this was it.

I had unconsciously dismissed the idea, but all along, Lev-chan had been giving off the vibe of “lying”───

“…This wasn’t quite how we planned it, but either way, you’ll surrender quietly—Karl and the rest of you.”

“Silent Blade Rey…”

“It’s a promise I made with my sister. We won’t harm you. Just drop your weapons and come under our command.”

Apparently, these siblings had coordinated all this in advance.

Lev-chan had sold all of us out to the villain clan, on the condition that they guarantee our safety.

“Please reconsider, Lev-chan. These people are villains.”

“…But I can trust my brother. Besides, Ressal is truly dangerous.”

“What exactly is so dangerous about it?”

“It’s basically half a ‘Netherworld.’ The living get absorbed, and once you’re in, you become one of the dead and spend eternity there.”

“You believed such nonsense!? That doesn’t sound the least bit real—”

“Because!! I saw it myself!”

Lev-chan’s voice rose sharply.

“Bandits who died in Ressal… they come back the next day. Convinced that they’re not dead.”

“That’s ridiculous…”

“My brother actually killed one of them right in front of me. And then!”

Lev-chan’s voice trembled with fear.

And there was no lie in it.

“The guy just suddenly healed up on the spot. He didn’t even realize he’d been killed…”

“…Hm.”

“It was real! That whole ‘city of the dead’ stuff about Ressal—it’s all true…!”

Wait, I saw that too.

Ilyu had an axe embedded in her head, and then she just regenerated—it was freaky.

…So that’s what that was about?

“You’re being ridiculous, Lev. The dead don’t come back to life.”

“You can say that because you haven’t seen it, Maika…”

“You’re right. I haven’t.”

Even so, Maika dismissed Lev-chan’s terror without hesitation.

That sharp-minded girl kept her sad eyes fixed on Lev as she spoke.

“Lev, calm down. Resurrection of the dead is absolutely impossible.”

“…Yeah. I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince everyone. That’s why I—”

Lev remained obstinate, continuing to hold me captive despite Maika’s plea.

And yet, from her, I felt a pain so strong it pierced through—it was clear.

This girl was still struggling deeply with her choice.

“Resurrection. It’s a miracle humanity has sought since ancient times, and still has yet to achieve.”

“Maika, that’s why—”

“The only ones who ‘demonstrate’ that miracle right in front of you are always frauds.”

The conversation between them went nowhere. Meanwhile, countless villains grinned as they finished surrounding us.

…Yep, we’re surrounded.

“I’ll make a guess, Lev. The leader of the villain clan—is a magic-user, right?”

“…Huh?”

“One who isn’t particularly skilled in attack spells. I’m guessing he claims to be a ‘Healer.’ Am I wrong?”

Despite being surrounded by armed enemies, Maika’s composure didn’t waver for a second.

Still holding her bow and arrow, she continued.

“And with this many bandits around, I’d say your boss is personally out in the field today too. Am I wrong?”

“Maika, what are you saying…? How do you even know that?”

“…Lev. Listen carefully.”

Ignoring Lev’s dazed question, Maika offered a quiet prayer.

Then, without warning, she loosed the arrow she had nocked, aiming it straight at one of the bandits.

“Ma—Maika…!!”

“Look, Lev.”

The bandit, caught completely off-guard by the sudden shot, was struck in the head.

It was a clear act of hostility. The bandit hit squarely in the forehead lurched backward—but then───

“…”

“Huh?”

He remained standing, sword still in hand, completely unaware he’d been shot.

“…What is this…?”

“Still don’t get it?”

Maika watched the scene unfold without a flicker of surprise.

And then she turned to the pitiful Lev-chan and declared:

“They’re the ones who are already dead.”

——

“…Heh? Got a smart one among you, huh.”

A woman’s voice echoed from somewhere.

It was a voice laced with chilling coldness and grotesque malice.

“Nyihihihihi…”

“B-Boss!”

There was a voice, but no visible figure.

It carried a strange reverberation, as if speaking directly into our minds.

“…Bro!? Wait, what is this!?”

“Don’t be fooled…! That can’t be right. She’s just one of the ones who’s been ‘absorbed.’”

Lev-chan looked at her brother in confusion, as if questioning whether she’d been deceived.

Silent Blade Rey was sweating visibly, glaring at Maika with a furious expression.

As if to say, This can’t be happening.

“Oh yes, that girl’s a liar. She figured she could trick my underlings with words like that. Don’t fall for it now, alright?”

“Of course! I’m not going to be fooled by a girl like her!”

Addressed directly by the boss of the enemy, Rey’s eyes lit up with renewed fighting spirit.

…He really seems to trust this boss, doesn’t he.

“Lev, choose. Do you believe in us? Or are you going to trust that shady voice?”

“Eh, I… I…”

“Your brother has been deceived. You know what you need to do to save him, don’t you?”

But Maika’s true target wasn’t Rey.

It was Lev-chan, the girl who had journeyed with us all this time.

“…I—I was wrong. So that means, I’ve been—"

“That doesn’t matter right now. You understand now, don’t you?”

“Ah… yeah.”

Lev turned to her brother behind her, and after a moment’s hesitation—

“…Sorry. I believe in Maika.”

“Good. Then guard Irine right now.”

Lev-chan finally responded to the persuasion. Good. We were back on even ground.

“Lev, what are you saying!?”

“I’m sorry, Bro. But Maika never makes a mistake in situations like this…!”

So in the end, Lev-chan was one of us.

She removed the blade from my neck and, calm and steady, pointed it at her own brother.

…And just like that, the gentle sibling bond shattered.

“Don’t be stupid now. Lev, you care about your friends, don’t you?”

“…I do. That’s why I—!”

“That girl is mistaken. Correct your friend’s error, and you’ll save everyone’s lives, right?”

The enemy boss kept trying to persuade Lev-chan with lingering desperation.

But Lev-chan wouldn’t waver anymore. She was stubborn like that.

Once she decided to trust Maika, she’d follow it through.

“…Wait—Lev! Cover your ears!”

“Huh? I—”

“That’s right. Just like that.”

The moment Lev-chan heard that slimy voice, the light vanished from her eyes.

“Eh…”

“I’m sorry, Irine.”

───Once again, Lev-chan’s sword was pressed to my neck.

“W-Wait, Lev-san!?”

“I have to protect everyone.”

Something was clearly wrong with her.

Unlike earlier, there was no sign of hesitation. With a firm grip, she twisted my arms behind me.

“Because I… I love everyone so much.”

“Lev-san…”

Her voice was hollow, like she was muttering in a trance.

No way. This is—

“…I see now. So that nonsense about Ressal being a village of the dead… Lev believed it because of what you did. What the hell did you do to her mind?”

“I didn’t do a thing. Kihihihihi!”

So it was this woman—the boss of the villain clan.

She’s the one behind this.

She took advantage of Lev-chan’s deep care for her friends and toyed with her heart… twisted it!

“Now, now, do you really want to see what happens to the hostage? Right now, Lev-chan wouldn’t hesitate to slice her throat. Best surrender quietly.”

“…Damn it—let Irine go!!”

“Throw down your sword and surrender quietly, and I’ll let her go. Come now, do the smart thing.”

Karl clenched his teeth and glared at Lev, now void of emotion. This was a bad situation.

If we surrendered like this, we’d all end up brainwashed like Lev-chan. But with me as a hostage, Karl couldn’t act freely.

…Right now, the one holding everyone back—was me!!

“Karl! Please, leave me behind!”

“Irine, what are you saying!?”

“I said I refuse to be a burden!! Karl, just go—force a path and get out of here!!”

“…There’s no way I could do that…!”

Karl’s eyes were bloodshot with indecision. Come on, hurry up and choose already, you indecisive fool.

Yeah, I’m scared of dying too. But dragging my friends down with me would be way worse. Even if we surrendered to the bandits and survived, all that awaits us is the worst possible outcome—becoming puppets of the Villain Clan.

If that’s the case, the smart move is for them to leave me behind and make a break for it────

“Oh really? Thanks, Irine.”

“…Eh?”

BOOM.

With a casual word of thanks, Maika triggered an explosion that blew away the villain clan members swarming around us.

“I activated a trap! Now’s your chance! Everyone, leave Irine behind and escape!”

“Wait, wha—Maikaaaaa!?”

…

“Move it, Karl!! Farewell, Irine! I’ll come collect your bones later!!”

“Wait, Maika-san!? Are you seriously planning to abandon Irine!?”

“It’s a necessary sacrifice!”

…Wait a second. Did she just ditch me without hesitation?

“…Whoa.”

“…She’s not joking.”

Even Silent Blade Rey and the Villain Clan boss were dumbfounded.

I mean, yeah, I said it was fine to leave me, but still.

“God, Maika… You seriously… That’s exactly what I mean about you!!”

“There’s no other way to survive now except leaving Irine! Besides, she said she’s okay with it!”

“Yes, yes, of course. I don’t mind in the slightest…”

“Look, Irine’s kinda looking depressed now!!”

“She’s not, it’s your imagination!”

…

I’m not depressed or anything. I’m not, like, shocked or anything.

“Don’t let them escape! After them! They’re dangerous!”

“Kihihihihi… Are you really sure about this? If you’re going to run, I’ll start torturing this noble girl right now…”

“I don’t mind at all, do as you please!!”

“…Is she for real?”

…

“Hey, noble lady. Are you really their comrade?”

“I believe so. Probably. Surely… I’m fairly certain they’re my comrades.”

“You’re sounding less and less confident about that.”

This is definitely just Maika’s way of showing kindness.

She’s trying to make them think I’m not a valuable hostage, so they won’t actually go through with torturing me.

That’s just how clever Maika is.

“…Well, I did say I’d do it, so I suppose I’ll go ahead and torture you a bit. Prepare yourself, Irine or whatever.”

“…Wait.”

…Oh, I am getting tortured?

Seriously? What are they even gonna do to me?

“Alright now… Lushalka, Lushalka…”

“……”

…I’ll remember this, Maika.

---

Meanwhile, Karl and the others had broken through the villain clan’s encirclement.

“In other words, the enemy boss is likely a necromancer. And it looks like they can use mind-related magic too.”

“A necromancer, you say?”

“Yeah. I mean, there’s no other plausible explanation.”

As they fled from the villain clan, Maika was speaking about the true identity of the enemy boss.

“What Lev meant by ‘the dead came back to life’ was just the illusion of revival—reanimated corpses, basically.”

“How inhumane…”

“What’s really terrifying is how those reanimated dead are made to act as if they still have their own will. An average practitioner couldn’t pull that off.”

“Experienced necromancers are said to be able to replicate the deceased’s personality, aren’t they? So the idea would be to use that to distort the perceptions of people like Lev and Silent Blade Rey, and brainwash them.”

“That’s what I think. Which means, if Irine had managed to activate her magic-nullifying barrier, most of the enemy forces would’ve reverted back to ‘corpses.’”

The truth Maika had uncovered about the villain clan was that it was an “army of the dead” led by a single necromancer.

That woman had her dead behave like the living, used them as soldiers, and built a formidable power.

“In that case, all the more reason not to abandon Irine, Maika!”

“If Irine gets killed, I’ll hold a grudge for life.”

“No need to worry about that. Even though she’s been brainwashed, the one restraining Irine is Lev. No matter what kind of powerful hypnosis she’s under, she wouldn’t hurt Irine.”

“…Right.”

Maika trusted the gentle-hearted Lev. That timid, fiercely sweet little warrior would never harm her comrades, even if her perception had been slightly distorted.

“She’d never kill an ally over something like that.”

“For now, let’s retreat and regroup with the vigilante corps to come up with a strategy. The enemy numbers are just too much—if we clash head-on now, we’ll be overwhelmed.”

“Not to mention, most of them are undead soldiers.”

“This is a damn nightmare.”

And then Maika brought up something else that needed to be said.

“Also, Ilyu. You’ve been quiet this whole time.”

“…Eh? D-Did I do something wrong?”

“I’m sorry. But right now, we don’t have the capacity to guard someone who can’t contribute to the fight. Please head back to the city of Ressal and stay hidden.”

“…I understand. I’ll do that. Please take care!”

────Ilyu listened to Maika’s instructions and obediently ran toward the city gates.

According to Irine’s report, Ilyu was someone whose fatal injuries had healed on their own. In other words, she was also “one of the dead.”

Just like the soldiers, having a “dead” person like her at the party was nothing short of a liability.

---

"Ryoga, where's Ryoga!?"

"...Yeah, I'm here. Looks like things aren't going so well."

Maika and the others rushed into the forest near the town where the vigilante corps had been hiding.

Apparently, Ryoga had predicted the direction they would escape in. He was already waiting in that very spot.

"...Sorry. I didn’t expect the bandits to come at us with this many troops. Isn’t that pretty much their whole force? They’re seriously trying to take Ressal."

"So, what do we do? First, we need a plan to get Irine back."

"Even so, the difference in manpower is huge. If we're gonna fight them head-on, our only option might be to stay hidden in the forest and go full guerrilla."

Ryoga, upon joining up with them, looked visibly pale. It was clear that the sheer scale of the enemy force had caught him completely off guard.

And understandably so. Ressal’s vigilante corps didn’t even number a hundred fighters in total.

Meanwhile, the number of bandits outside the town now likely exceeded a thousand. No matter how Ryoga led, the disparity was so extreme that the fight would be unwinnable from the start.

"What’s their goal? There’s no real benefit in occupying Ressal with their entire army."

"...How would I know? If we can just find a way to rescue Irine somehow..."

Maika ground her teeth and glared in the direction of the enemy encampment. It's not as though she abandoned Irine willingly.

She had no choice but to abandon her. That’s how overwhelming the enemy’s numbers were.

"I’ll charge in and somehow—"

"You do realize Silent Blade Rey is over there, right? Can you honestly say this won’t be a repeat of last time?"

If they were to engage directly with this kind of disparity, then like Ryoga said, a full-on guerrilla strategy was likely their only option.

It would be easier if Karl could go on a rampage and clear a path, but with enemies like Silent Blade Rey on the other side, seasoned warriors in their own right, there was no guarantee of success.

They were completely cornered.

—

"Now then, you lot. Time for this arrogant noble to pay the price."

"...That voice."

"Living in luxury off the gold squeezed from us, that haughty little noble lady strutted around like she owned the world. And now? Abandoned by her comrades, tortured into despair. Call it karma, if you will."

Soon, the wicked voice rang in their ears again.

It had an eerie echo, like it was speaking directly into their minds.

"...No way. Don’t tell me it’s her!"

"Let’s show them what it looks like when a human breaks. Come now, laugh with me, comrades! Kehihihihi!"

The voice spoke ominous words.

It laughed with glee, like a child breaking a toy for fun.

"That woman! What is she planning to do to Irine!?"

"——Open the door of the heart. Crack, shatter, crumble, crush. Where lies your deepest fear?"

"...A spell?"

Then, along with the woman’s sing-song ‘chant’—

——AaaaAAAAHHHHH!!!

The familiar scream of a young girl echoed from far off, from within the enemy camp.

"...Irine."

"Th-that woman..."

It seemed the boss of the bandits—the woman with the creepy voice—had finally begun torturing Irine.

——Ah, ah, aaah!! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die! Not like this, not without doing anything!!

Gone was the usual spunky attitude.

Irine’s scream echoed through the forest, sounding just like an ordinary girl her age.

"Quite the fascinating magic, isn’t it? The most painful moment she ever experienced is being recreated right in front of her eyes."

"...A spell that triggers past trauma..."

"She’s screaming so beautifully in her helplessness. Leave her there for half a day, and she’ll be a drooling husk. Are you really going to abandon your comrade like that?"

At the bandit leader’s words, Sakura’s eyes flew open. Knowledgeable in the medical arts, she had heard of such terrifying magic before.

It was one of the cruelest forms of torture known—said to be the very definition of unbearable suffering.

…It’s a forbidden spell of mental magic that forcefully pries open a person’s trauma and tears their mind apart.

Even just a few minutes of exposure can distort one’s personality. An hour, and they go mad. Half a day, and they become a hollow husk with no will of their own.

This most horrific of spells is so malicious that it had long been banned by law and lost from all records.

"...How could anyone do something so cruel..."

"Ryoga! Isn’t there anything we can do!?"

"Hold on, I’m thinking!"

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Irine's mind completely shattered. Even if Sakura could heal the body, she couldn’t mend the heart.

A clear time limit had now been set for saving Irine.

——NOOOOO!!! MY MUSCLES, MY MUSCLES ARE SHRIVELING UP!!!

Her agonized screams echoed through the forest.

The desperate cries of their comrade pushed Karl and the others further into panic.

"This is getting bad! If it’s come to this, then I’ll just charge in alone—"

"Idiot, that’s exactly what they want!"

"Then what the hell do you expect me to do!? Irine’s being destroyed, right now, second by second!!"

Karl, ever the comrade-loving fool, felt his heart shattering with every scream from Irine.

If he could take her place, he’d do it in a heartbeat. He was genuinely on the verge of bolting straight to her.

——NOOO!! NOT SKIN AND BONES!!! Fine then—okay!! HUFF-HAH!! HUFF-HAH!!

"...Karl. Do you have the guts to act as a decoy?"

"Ryoga!?"

Ryoga made his decision the moment he saw how ready Karl was to dash off anyway.

"I’m going to use you as bait. You’re our biggest powerhouse, and the enemy knows that from the last time. They’ll definitely take the bait."

"...And then?"

"The vigilante corps will circle around and ambush from the flank to rescue Irine. As long as we get her back, it’s checkmate. With that insane magic of hers, she can wipe out the bandits in one shot."

That wide-range annihilation magic Irine had shown before—it was their only winning move. Ryoga understood that and decided to gamble everything on it.

After all, mages who can launch large-scale attacks are the natural enemies of any army.

That’s exactly why the enemy boss had ordered Lev to seize Irine first.

"Karl. You’ll charge them head-on and draw as many as you can. If you can lure out Silent Blade Rey, that’s a huge win."

"Wait! But if Karl dies—!"

"Who else do we have that can charge straight in and hold the enemy’s attention? ...You want to save your comrade, don’t you? Then put your life on the line, Karl."

Ignoring his childhood friend’s concern, Ryoga stared straight into Karl’s eyes.

And Karl, hearing Ryoga’s reckless plan, nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Got it. Pull it off, Ryoga—make sure you save Irine."

"Yeah."

To Karl, this was exactly what he wanted. If he could save a comrade, he didn’t care what kind of danger he’d face.

"Don’t screw this up."

"Same to you."

Ryoga—the charismatic leader who had united Ressal’s vigilante corps to defend the town.

Karl—the hero chosen by the goddess, who had repelled demonic forces time and again.

The two heroes now clasped hands.