The Champion's Return

by Hyougetsu

  I grabbed the Blast Cane from the sniper’s corpse. Because of how expensive Blast Canes were to manufacture, all of the ones belonging to the imperial family had a crest and a serial number engraved onto them.

  “This crest belongs to the imperial guard.”

  “Wait, does that mean Ashley’s our enemy?”

  Monza gave me a confused look, and I shook my head.

  “It’s more likely that Lord Bolshevik managed to steal this from the imperial guard’s armory. They’ve got a lot of spares stored there.”

  He’d already made Princess Dillier into his pawn, and it would have been exceedingly easy for a member of the imperial family to get into the imperial guard’s vault.

  “There’s no way to purchase Blast Canes without leaving a paper trail somewhere. I’d thought it was strange that there hadn’t been any Blast Canes in the shipment Lord Bolshevik had received from Lord Doneiks, but now I see why.”

  There wouldn’t be any paper trail if you stole the Blast Canes a few days before your operation. It was a pretty bold plan, but also a very crafty one.

  “If he’s already gotten into the imperial armory, it’s safe to assume Lord Bolshevik has most of the palace facilities under his control.”

  The original plan had been to rush the east tower with everyone, but if Lord Bolshevik’s men were all armed to the teeth with Blast Canes I needed to rethink my strategy. I gathered all of my werewolves and had them hole up inside Eleora’s manor. Parker’s skeletons were guarding it, so Lord Bolshevik’s snipers would have a hard time targeting it. Naturally, everyone protested my decision.

  “I know Blast Rifles don’t work on you, boss, but you can’t just go in there alone!”

  “All other weapons can still hurt you!”

  “I know. I’m not going in there alone. I’ll be taking Monza and Hamaam’s squads with me. They’ll be waiting near the tower to intercept any possible ambushes.”

  I could storm the tower alone at least. Not only did Blast Canes not work on me, but I could use arrow-deflecting spells. Besides, with how narrow the tower was more people would just get in the way. I half-persuaded, half-coerced my werewolves to agree to my plan, then headed for the palace’s east tower.

  The palace grounds were protected by a sturdy iron fence, but Parker’s skeletons had already made it inside. The imperial guards were holding the line with spears and Blast Canes, but they didn’t seem keen on actually engaging the undead horde. I had no way of knowing whether those guards were Lord Bolshevik’s agents or actually imperial guards.

  Either way, I doubted they’d welcome a platoon of werewolves suddenly showing up at their doorstep. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really afford to cancel my transformation. Who knew what kind of traps Lord Bolshevik had set for us? We incapacitated a few imperial guards and snuck into the palace grounds without anyone noticing. I could see the east tower rising up behind the palace’s fountain.

  “If I find the emperor there, our goal is to rescue him and take him safely to Eleora’s manor. Hamaam, you and your squad secure an escape route.”

  “Roger, Vice-Commander.”

  “Monza, you and your squad take out any humans who try to approach me unless I say otherwise. If they’re armed, you’re free to kill them.”

  “Ahaha, finally!”

  At least one of us is happy.

  “Alright, I’m off.”

  The tower was five stories tall, and I guessed most of the space inside was taken up by the spiral staircase winding upwards. Since it climbed clockwise, anyone trying to go up it would be attacked from their right side by enemies up above. Unless they were left-handed they wouldn’t be able to use their shield, and it’d be hard for them to swing their sword. Of course, none of that mattered to a werewolf, but it didn’t change the fact that fighting on spiral staircases was a pain.

  Instead, I opted to jump up the tower. I buffed my legs with strengthening magic and made a mad dash for it. Once I was close, I leapt with all my might, shattering the flagstones beneath me with the recoil. I’d jumped a bit early to avoid getting ambushed, so I only made it as far as the second floor before I started losing altitude. The tower was perfectly smooth, to prevent potential attackers from climbing up the outer walls. But my werewolf claws were easily able to slip in between the seams of the tower’s bricks, giving me perfect handholds. This must be what ninjas feel like.

  I scrambled up the tower face, then kicked in the bars protecting the fifth-floor window. I made sure to use silencing magic as I did, so the bars made no noise as they shattered. Since there was no staircase going upward in the fifth floor room, it was quite wide.

  “Wha—!?”

  Ashley, who was sitting in the room’s sole chair seemingly deep in thought, looked up in surprise. In order to reassure him, I canceled my transformation.

  “Veight!?”

  Please don’t shout. I went to all that trouble to be stealthy. I knelt respectfully in front of Ashley, indicating that I bore him no ill will. Thanks to my previous transformation I was shirtless, but hopefully he didn’t mind that little bit of impoliteness. This was an emergency, after all.

  “Your Majesty, I have come to rescue you.”

  “I thought you went with Eleora to suppress the serf revolt in the north!? And what was with your appearance just now!?”

  “I’ll explain everything later.”

  The moment I said that, the door to the room opened and a man wearing pilgrim’s clothes dashed into the room.

  “What seems to be the matter, Your— Ah!?”

  He had his sword drawn, so I transformed back into a werewolf and kicked him before he could do anything. He slammed against the door and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

  “I heard something from the upper floor!”

  “Did something happen to His Majesty!?”

  I could hear yelling from the floor below. Damn, there’s a lot of them down there. I quickly closed the door and locked it from the inside.

  “Your Majesty, let me take you somewhere safe.”

  I held out a furred paw to Ashley. After a moment’s trepidation, he nodded and took it.

  “...I put my trust in you.”

  “Thank you. Sorry, but this is gonna be bumpy.”

  I scooped Ashley up into my arms and leapt out of the window.

  “Waaaaaaah!”

  Ashley might have been an emperor, but even he couldn’t think about saving face when faced with the prospect of falling five stories. Roller coasters and bungee jumping didn’t exist in this world, so most people who weren’t werewolves had never experienced what it felt like to fall from such a height.

  “Fear not, Your Majesty.”

  I bent my legs like a spring when I landed, softening the impact for Ashley. Even though I left a decent-sized crater in the ground, he barely felt a thing.

  “Jumping a height like this is child’s play for a werewolf. More importantly, there are enemies coming, Your Majesty.”

  A number of soldiers wearing imperial guard uniforms dashed into the courtyard. They were all carrying Blast Canes. Ashley tried to call out to them but they ignored him and got into formation. Even though their job was to protect the emperor, they seemed more than willing to kill him.

  “Fire!”

  A volley of magical bullets shot toward me. I could have just jumped out of the way, but those bullets couldn’t hurt me, and if I moved too quickly I’d hurt Ashley. So instead I visualized a whirlpool in my mind and sucked the bullets toward me. Mana in its purest form was quite volatile, so I needed to suck them in gently, else the bullets would explode. Fortunately, I’d gotten quite proficient at manipulating mana recently, and I was able to suck all the bullets into me without incident. When they saw what happened, the enemy soldiers faltered.

  “What the!?”

  “He’s totally unhurt!?”

  Seeing their most cutting-edge weapon rendered completely ineffectual was probably a huge shock. I transferred Ashley into my left h
and and drew Ryuuga with my right. Taste the might of the demon army. I pulled the trigger on my fully automatic rifle. A barrage of light bullets shot out at high speed.

  “Gah!”

  “Bwah!”

  “Aaaah!”

  The soldiers were mowed down in seconds. A few exceptionally brave ones struggled to reload for a second shot, but even if they were able to fire, they’d just be giving me more ammunition. Though I didn’t want to massacre all of them, now that the alarm had been raised I had no other choice.

  Incidentally, the reason I was able to kill all the soldiers so quickly was because Ryucco had done an amazing job designing Ryuuga, not because my aiming skills were particularly noteworthy. Once my volley was over, the dozen-odd soldiers had been reduced to a scant few. Unfortunately, Ryuuga was out of bullets. Because it was fully automatic, it expended a lot of mana. Guess I’ve gotta do it the old-fashioned way.

  I curled my right hand into a fist. A second later, streaks of light pierced the remaining soldiers, sending them to the afterlife. That must’ve been Monza’s squad. Everyone in her squad was a skilled hunter, and their Blast Rifles were all modified for sniping. Well, so much for those guys. The difference in firepower between our side and the enemy was so staggering that it wasn’t even a contest. Ashley looked down at the corpses, pale-faced.

  “Lord Veight, those men aren’t part of my imperial guard. They may have been wearing the guard’s uniform, but...”

  “Yes, they were most likely Lord Bolshevik’s men.”

  A second later I heard a howl from Hamaam stating that he’d secured a path of retreat.

  “Come, Your Majesty. It’s too dangerous to remain in the palace.”

  “Very well. As this is an emergency, I leave everything up to your judgment.”

  I grabbed Ashley a bit more securely, then dashed off into the night.

  After leaving the palace, making it back to Eleora’s manor was surprisingly easy. Hamaam’s squad was able to clean up any enemies on our escape route, and Parker’s skeletons blocked off the streets leading into the one I was using, so no new foes appeared. Once we were safely inside the mansion, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “We should be safe here, Your Majesty. My apologies for spiriting you away like this.”

  “No, thank you. Had you not come, things would have been much worse... Though I suppose the situation is quite bad as it is.”

  I did feel bad about summoning an army of skeletons in his city, but some sacrifices had to be made for safety’s sake. Eleora’s mansion was protected both by Parker’s undead soldiers and my werewolves. With the level of security we had, we should be able to catch anyone attempting to sneak in.

  The two of us settled down into nearby chairs and began catching each other up to speed. For my part, I told Ashley everything. Who I was, what had really happened in Meraldia, and that I’d teamed up with Eleora to put her on the throne. Surprisingly, Ashley didn’t seem too shocked by my revelations. He just nodded and said, “Now I finally understand the reasons for your actions. Interesting though you were, I always suspected a man as capable as you was up to something nefarious.”

  “You have a discerning eye, Your Majesty.”

  So he’d sort of caught on, huh?

  For his part, Ashley explained what had occurred in the capital during my absence. Unfortunately, he didn’t know much himself, so he wasn’t able to offer too much information.

  “After Eleora left with her army, my sister tricked me and locked me up in that tower, using her imposters within the imperial guard.”

  As expected, Princess Dillier had allowed Lord Bolshevik’s troops to infiltrate the castle. From that point on, Ashley was stuck within the east tower, so he’d had no way of knowing what the situation within the city was like. While we were talking, Parker slipped into the room and said, “We’ve spotted multiple large groups moving around the capital. A few of them are headed for us.”

  Parker had spread his skeletons far and wide, so he knew roughly everything going on within the capital. It appeared Lord Bolshevik had caught on to the fact that we’d rescued the emperor.

  “Do we have any evidence that they’re not just part of the city’s militia, or groups of refugees?” I asked.

  “They’re ignoring the skeletons entirely, so I doubt they’re citizens or part of the city watch. If they were refugees, they would be afraid of the skeletons, wouldn’t they? Besides, they’re all heavily armed.”

  That clinches it. Still, it would be better to wait until the very last minute to engage, just in case.

  “Wait until they try to enter the manor. If they do, take them out. I’d prefer to take a few of them alive for questioning but...I guess that’s not happening with undead soldiers.”

  Besides, if these guys were planning a coup d’état within a feudal empire like this one, they were probably prepared to die anyway.

  “Werewolves, get ready for battle. Skeleton soldiers aren’t very fast, so there might be a few men who get past them. Shoot down anyone who does.”

  A few minutes later, the unit who’d tried to infiltrate Eleora’s manor lay dead within the courtyard. You reap what you sow. Parker walked up to me as I finished inspecting the soldiers’ corpses.

  “Someone’s approaching the manor again...” he said hesitantly.

  “Then get rid of them.”

  “I was planning on doing just that, but he seems more terrified of my skeletons than the last group. Furthermore, he’s alone. Though he is armed.”

  Well, that complicates things. Monza caressed the barrel of her gun and said lightly, “Should I get rid of him for you, boss?”

  “That’s probably smartest but...if he’s alone, he can’t be much of a threat. Let’s see what he’s up to. I’ll keep an eye on him once he’s entered the manor grounds.”

  I took my telescope out of my pocket and went up to the third floor. Looking down at the street below, I spotted the person Parker was talking about. A young, well-dressed man was approaching Eleora’s manor. Though he wore a saber on his belt, he seemed unaccustomed to using it. Yeah, not killing him was the right choice. Upon reaching the front gate, the man took his hat off and tried asking the skeleton doorman to let him inside. Who is this guy? I instructed Parker to let him in, and the man introduced himself as Jivanki.

  “I am a member of the Miner’s Guild and Mr. Mao’s business associate. I was sent here to inform you that our organization sheltered him once this disturbance in the capital started.”

  “Ahh, so you’re his benefactor. Thanks for keeping him safe.”

  That was close. I nearly ended up killing the guy protecting Mao. It was because of things like this that I hated dealing with chaotic battlefields like coup d’états. Telling friend from foe was nearly impossible.

  According to the mansion’s servants, Lord Bolshevik had sent some of his soldiers here as well when he launched his coup d’état. While the servants had remained unharmed, Mao had fled since he was worried Lord Bolshevik might try to do something to him. No one in the manor knew where he’d gone, but thanks to Jivanki’s report, I could rest easy knowing he was safe at the Miner’s Guild headquarters. In truth, though, I hadn’t been too worried to begin with. A guy like him was too slippery to get caught easily.

  “When he heard the city had been flooded with skeletons, Mr. Mao said ‘I imagine everything’s alright now. Could you please check up on Eleora’s manor for me?’ Which is why I’m here.”

  You could have just come yourself, you know. I sighed wearily to myself.

  “Oh, and there is one other thing. I was told to inform only you of this. A short while before the disturbance in the capital began, Princess Dillier came to our guild to sell a number of jewelry pieces to us.”

  “Seriously?”

  Jewelry related to the imperial family would have sold for a high price. Meaning Dillier had needed a lot of cash, and she’d needed it fast. Of course, everyone in the imperial family was rich, but most of th
eir assets weren’t liquid. If Dillier had been looking for quick cash, she was probably planning on fleeing the capital.

  “Do you know where Princess Dillier is right now?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  Lord Bolshevik hadn’t been spotted within the capital either. If Dillier was running around getting as much money as she could, he’d clearly planned for the possibility that his coup d’état might fail and prepared an escape route. In fact, it was starting to look like he’d expected it to fail. I thanked Jivanki, then told him to remain within the manor for his own safety. I’d have my werewolves bring Mao back here.

  “Parker, how long can you keep these skeletons around?”

  “They’ll remain until I tell them to leave.”

  “Perfect, we might need them for a while longer. I want them spread out throughout the city so Lord Bolshevik’s troops can’t move freely.”

  If Lord Bolshevik himself wasn’t here, chances were he’d snuck back to his own territory. There wasn’t much he could do without his loyal pawns. We needed to search for Dillier as well, but seeing how devoted she was to Lord Bolshevik, finding her wouldn’t be too hard.

  I sent one of my werewolves off to deliver a message explaining the situation to Eleora. The only person who could quell the chaos in the capital now was her. Both the citizens and her fellow nobles recognized her authority, whereas I was still technically an outsider. If the situation on the battlefield permits, it’ll be better to have her back here. My message said as much too. Once that was done, I gathered my remaining werewolves and assigned them all their tasks. The sun would rise in a few hours, and when it did, we’d have a harder time moving around.

  “We’ve secured the emperor. All that’s left is to flush the fox out of hiding. This is a race against time, so hurry.”

  “Gotcha!”

  I didn’t know what Lord Bolshevik was scheming but I was determined to crush all of his plots one by one.

  Ashley and I waited for the sunrise from the comfort of Eleora’s lavishly furnished guest room. Right now, all of Parker’s skeletons and my werewolves were combing the city for intel while also suppressing any suspicious armed groups. My job was to remain here and guard the emperor while I waited for everyone to bring me information. But though I knew it was important that I stayed back, I still wanted to be out in the field with my fellow werewolves. I hope none of them got hurt... Trying to hide my worry, I took a few bites out of the light meal the servants had brought for me and Ashley.