Magic Gems Gourmet

Chapter 191

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ED: LonelyMatter

Chapter 191 – Encounter at Birdland

They were surprised by the ambush.

They had been on high alert constantly, and they didn’t imagine it would be possible to do this in the open.

However, it was impossible for the army of Ishtalika to lose their minds and become desperate over something like this.

The situation was still in their favor, and they were confident in their strength.

“Kuh… Ah, aiming only at the head takes a toll on the stamina…”

Heim’s soldiers were tough.

Even if their arms were cut off or their legs were impaled, they would still advance.

After all, as Lloyd had said, aiming for the head was the best move.

However, on a battlefield where lives were at stake, aiming for the head every time would drain the stamina quickly.

“You… just die already!”

“Kahah…!”

The Knights of Ishtalika struggle to defeat the soldiers of Heim.

Relieved that the situation has not worsened, Lloyd called out to a nearby knight.

“Hey, is your horse one of the selected ones?”

“Ha! It’s not as good as Lloyd-sama’s horse, but I think it’s better than the other horses here! ――Zeaaaah!”

Hearing this, Lloyd nodded.

While he spoke, the Royal Knight pierced the Heim soldier’s head with his spear.

“Then I give you an order. Hurry back to Rockdam and report this situation to our headquarters in Ishtalika! We need new equipment!”

The problem was the miasma. They could no longer ignore it and continue to fight.

“N-now?!”

“Of course! We must act quickly! Go now! With that horse, you won’t be caught even if your opponent is a non-human from Heim!”

“I’m counting on you,” Lloyd said, giving the Royal Knight a hard slap on the back.

The Royal Knight then pulled on the reins with all his might.

“I’m off! May luck be with you, Lloyd-sama!”

“Yeah, leave it to me!”

He said forcefully. Then, he rode his horse away from the group.

“It takes too long to communicate with the message birds… Please report back safely.”

If he rode his horse as a messenger, he should be able to return to Rockdam in one night. Lloyd prayed for the Royal Knight’s safety.

“Well then, I’ll get on with my work.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow and gently stroked the hilt of the large sword he carried.

“I’m counting on you,” he said to his partner, turning his attention to the knight who stood out even in Heim’s large army… their general.

“Let’s call it a beast hunt. Hey, Logas!

Lloyd’s charge gave Ishtalika’s army a boost.

The commander defeated the enemy general. This action boosted the morale of the Ishtalika knights, who were fed up with the Heim soldiers.

＊＊＊

Several minutes pass.

A few minutes in everyday life may seem like nothing, but on the battlefield, a few minutes can be worth several days in everyday life.

It’s as if they’re fighting out of desperation, and the momentum of the Ishtalika army only grew.

This was a fortunate miscalculation on Lloyd’s part, and in an attempt to escape the miasma-emitting carriage, the knights desperately tried to take the heads of the Heim soldiers.

“As I thought, the Knights of Ishtalika are worthy of the name. If that is so, we should have attacked Euro with caution… Wait, when did we attack Euro? Why did we do such a dangerous thing…”

As he thought deeply about it, Logas’ memories became confused.

“I… is it because I kept throwing myself into battle? … Does that mean I’m still inexperienced?”

For some reason, Logas chalked it up to a convenient excuse, but the fact remained that there was something in his memory that didn’t make sense.

As he watched the Heim soldiers dwindle away, Logas felt an unspeakable sense of sadness.

Looking at the Ishtalika army spread out in front of him, Logas began to consider retreating due to the battle’s poor state—and that was the moment.

“Ggh… ah…”

“M-my arm… my arm!”

Suddenly, screams rang out around Logas.

Wondering what had happened, Logas turned in that direction.

“Sorry to keep you waiting… Logas. I was a little late because I was given such a grand welcome.”

In such a short time, did they manage to break in?

Logas was surprised. He wondered how much force they would need to break into the place where he was waiting in such a short time.

“I was also disappointed on the day of the meeting. If anything, I wanted it to be me, not Dill, who would be competing with you in a sword fight.”

“…As I said, you are an uninvited guest.”

“Don’t say that. We also have an ugly presence on our backs. Let’s start without further ado.”

He drew the large sword from his back.

He held it out to his side in a wide sweep, and the tip of the sword remained perfectly still.

How much power must it contain? Logas was made to understand Lloyd’s strength by this movement alone.

Logas thought that he had no chance against this man.

For Heim, the fact that the general himself would fall would have too great an impact.

Thinking about the worst-case scenario, Logas decided to avoid this place.

“I’m sorry, but the battle has just begun. It’s too early for us to be on stage―that’s why.”

Logas decided to make up an excuse.

…But avoiding this battle was not allowed.

This was nonsense.

Lloyd covered his eyes with his hand and laughed.

“Hahaha! What a load of rubbish!”

Then Lloyd swung his sword aside.

“…What?”

Even though the sword didn’t hit them directly, several Heim soldiers had their heads knocked to the ground by the swing.

They were conscious for a moment, and the moment their heads were removed, they let out a strange scream.

“If you want to run away, that’s fine. You can run away like a beast with your tail between your legs. But I’m telling you, I’m good at hunting beasts. …Are you going to run away, Logas? After all, you’ve even lost the pride of a great general!”

Lloyd kicked his horse. The horse, having received the signal, galloped forward at full speed, and the distance between them immediately narrowed.

“…You’ve run out of things to say, and you’re talking about the pride of a general!”

Logas finally drew his sword.

He looked at Lloyd with eyes filled with hatred and a strong will to take his head at any cost.

“Lloyd! I will defeat you here, just like your son!”

“Let it out, you beast! A man who has been defeated by my son once talks back quite a bit!”

The knights of Ishtalika and the soldiers of Heim were overwhelmed by the battle’s power and could not interfere.

The air on the battlefield seemed to freeze as everyone’s eyes were drawn to the two warriors.

“Hmph!”

“――Uoooooaah!”

Logas was the first to swing his sword.

Then Lloyd swung his sword, seemingly a little late.

The soldiers of Heim thought the match was decided. They let out a roar of joy, but the knights of Ishtalika were silent.

However, their radiant expressions caught the eyes of the Heim soldiers.

“…Nngh!?”

When the charge of the horses ended with them passing each other, only Logas fell from his horse.

“I guess I miscalculated. I think I swung my sword a little too early.”

“M-my horse!”

Logas, who had fallen from his horse, looked at his horse.

Then he noticed that something that should have been there was missing—the entire top of the horse’s neck.

When he looked back, he saw the horse’s head, which had become a silent mass, lying on the ground.

When he looked at the cut, it was a beautiful line, like a work of art, and after a few seconds, as if he had just remembered, the blood began to flow.

“Actually, I’m not very good at swordplay on horseback. I did a bad thing to the horse, but well, it can’t be helped.”

As Lloyd dismounted, he began to run toward Logas.

Logas sat up in panic.

“Is this how the Marshal of Ishtalika attacks his fallen opponent?

“Suit yourself. You’re the one who lost on horseback.”

Logas was unable to rise to his feet fully and had to brace himself to absorb Lloyd’s blow.

Lloyd brushed aside the words he had said to provoke him, saying it was his fault.

“Tch…!”

Perhaps it was right to take it in a half-crouched position.

Even with the help of the floor, he was pushed away with such force that his legs and hips shook.

The pressure Lloyd exerted made Logas feel a sensation he had never felt before, coursing through his entire body.

“Just because you beat my son doesn’t mean you can be so arrogant. The one standing before you is the strongest knight in Ishtalika!”

As he pushed through, Lloyd’s horizontal slash hit Logas, who had completely lost his footing.

It took a different direction than Lloyd’s one-strike attack, but there was no difference in the momentum, which even seemed to cut through space.

“Keep going, blow where you want!”

It was as if something was about to burst―and yet the sound of rocks being smashed together echoed.

The direct hit was avoided by the great sword that was raised at the last moment.

But the momentum did not stop there.

“Nngh…Uooaaaa!”

Lloyd’s powerful scream added to the tension of the battle between the two.

Undeterred by the large sword standing between them, Lloyd’s blow dug into it.

“Kuh…!”

The direct hit was avoided. Logas’ relief was short-lived.

As Logas’ great sword rang out with a metallic sound, its appearance changed in an instant.

“The sword, broken…?”

With a snap, the great sword broke from where it had met Lloyd’s sword.

This was a phenomenon he had never seen before. Logas was surprised, but there was something else he should have paid attention to first.

“Uroaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Both of Lloyd’s arms were forced to gain strength.

These arms slammed into Logas’ side without stopping the great sword.

“Kahah… Cough!”

Thanks to his thick armor, Logas’ torso was spared from being cut in half.

However, the blade of the great sword that Mouton had just sharpened cut through Logas’ armor, leaving a deep wound on his body.

“Even if you’re rotten, this is the equipment of a great general. I swung my sword with the intention of killing you, but I didn’t expect you to be alive.”

The force of the attack iwa so strong that Logas’ body was blown several meters away.

Logas held his side and knelt with his sword broken in his hand.

“Hah, hah… I see. Your son is completely unworthy of comparison…”

“Don’t say such obvious things.”

Lloyd laughed mockingly.

Then Lloyd slowly moved his feet toward Logas, who had difficulty even sitting up.

“If you have the will to fight, get up. If you get up, I’ll finish you off with this sword.”

“What will happen if I don’t get up?”

“It makes no difference to me. The only difference is whether you have shown your last bit of spirit or not.”

“…You really are a spiteful man.”

“Ah, that reminds me, there is one thing I wanted to ask you.”

There was something he needed to ask before he finished him off.

Relieved that he had remembered, Lloyd asked him.

“Tell me about a woman named Anon. I believe she is in Heim, is she not?”

――That was the moment.

Logas’ expression changes, and his voice suddenly changes.

“Don’t you dare mention that name! She is the fiancée of my son Grint and the most important person who brings wisdom to our Heim in place of Elena-dono!”

“The most important person, huh? I see. Just hearing that makes me feel like I’ve heard enough.”

There was still little information, but it seemed safe to say that Anon was the main source of the problem.

Lloyd nodded in agreement, then looked at Logas and raised his sword.

“That’s enough. In the afterlife, I’ll pray that you can return to the Logas you were before.”

With that, Lloyd swung his sword down.

Logas tried to defend himself, but his body, which had accumulated damage, was unable to move, and at that moment, when he resigned to the fact that it was all over…

The person Ishtalika was looking for appeared. As soon as he appeared, he blocked Lloyd’s great sword with his spear.

“…You are not allowed to do that yet. I’m sorry, but I have to stick to the script.”

After blocking Lloyd’s great sword, he pushed it back and then threw off the robe he was wearing.

What appeared inside was a middle-aged man―though his hair was dyed red in places, which was quite striking.

“Nice to meet you, Lloyd-dono. I am the one called Ed.”

After easily blocking Lloyd’s great sword, Ed held his spear aloft with a triumphant smile.

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