Inn Overlord: Reincarnated with Enhancement Magic, Now Worshipped as a Divine Messenger! - Chapter 36

(Abigail’s Point of View)

I woke up in the middle of the night. Lately, ever since I caught a cold, my body feels strangely hot. I don’t know if it’s because my magic power increased or because my body is growing. I’m not sure. And when I think about Seraph, I suddenly feel restless and can’t stay still.

I tried to go to the bathroom, stepping over where Father and Mother were sleeping. That’s when I noticed. Luka wasn’t there.

—Is Luka in the bathroom too?

I quietly left the room, making sure not to wake Father and Mother.

I stepped out of the small room under the stairs and headed toward the toilet outside, behind the inn. Just then, someone suddenly called out to me from behind.

“Hey…”

I turned around, surprised. It was Seraph in his pajamas. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, stumbled, and almost fell, but I caught him.

“Hey! Walk properly—”

While I was quietly scolding Seraph, I noticed something. Seraph had fallen asleep in my arms. Actually, something like this happened before. Seraph went to the bathroom alone at night and fell asleep on the stairs, unable to get back to the room. Looking at Seraph breathing quietly in my arms, my heart gave a soft thump.

—Ah, how cute is he!? He’s usually so sassy, and even though he’s younger than me, he acts so mature… but when he’s sleepy in the middle of the night, he falls asleep adorably in my arms like this…

I hugged Seraph, who leaned on me while sleeping.

But just then, someone silently jumped down from the open space above and started approaching us on the first floor.

—What!?

When I looked closely, I saw that person holding a dagger. He raised it to strike. He moved so fast that I didn’t even have time to feel afraid.

Because of that, I couldn’t make a sound. My body started shaking before I could even react emotionally. But even so, I wanted to protect Seraph sleeping in my arms no matter what. I hugged Seraph tightly and took a protective stance.

The sharp dagger’s tip came at me. But at that moment, Jeanne came rushing in from the inn’s front entrance, faster than the eye could see, and kneed the adventurer man in the face, knocking him out.

Jeanne knelt down and spoke to me and Seraph.

“Are you two okay!?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“I’m sorry I was late…”

At that moment, Seraph woke up.

“Nn… Huh? What’s going on? Abby, Jeanne…?”

“I’m so glad you’re safe!!”

Still half-asleep and confused, Seraph listened as Jeanne explained what happened.

When Seraph understood that he had just been attacked, he pulled away from my chest and looked at the unconscious man. Then, he immediately turned to me and said,

“Abby!? Are you okay!?”

(Southern Empire Soldier, 400-Man Unit Captain’s Point of View)

The signal smoke still hasn’t gone up.

Once the smoke rises, we begin our march. Our 400 imperial soldiers surround the village and invade. That was the plan. The important part is killing the threats—David the Strong and the mage Laura—and the two extra men added later, a farmer and a carpenter. Once they’re dead, we just kill all the fleeing and hiding villagers.

If the smoke doesn’t rise, the mission fails, and we return to the Empire to join the main army. On the day the events in Noonan Village are reported to the Kingdom of Schmar, Sir Thomas Wade, one of the Four Knights, will lead an army of 20,000 across the border to invade the kingdom.

It doesn’t matter if this attack on Noonan Village fails. This plan was just to help make the fall of Barmuller more certain.

“This is a failure. Even if they used to be B-rank adventurers, we shouldn’t have underestimated that couple’s strength.”

When I said that, the soldier next to me spoke.

“But isn’t it strange there’s not even a light coming from the village?”

“You’re right. If the battle is dragging on, nearby villagers should’ve noticed by now… Let’s wait a bit longer…”

If we retreat, we’ll have to recover the imperial soldiers we sent near the village—about 50 from the south and east.

Just as we were getting annoyed, wondering what was taking so long, a monster came running across the field straight toward us.

We didn’t want to make too much noise, but we had 400 armed soldiers. There’s no way we’d lose.

From a distance, even in the dark, I could tell it was a Vircasis, an E-rank monster.

“It’s a Vircasis! Form ranks!”

Why here? I wondered, but still placed shield-bearers at the front and spear-bearers behind them.

“Huh? Isn’t it big?”

“It’s huge!?”

“Why’s it here?”

“What?”

It was indeed a larger-than-usual Vircasis. I tried to keep morale high.

“No problem! We’ve got 400 soldiers! Doesn’t matter if it’s a bit big! Raise your shields!”

Then we saw the full picture. Someone was riding on the Vircasis’s back.

“A girl?”

“What?”

“She’s cute.”

“Who is she?”

The Vircasis didn’t charge but stopped. The girl on its back, carrying a halberd, opened her mouth.

“Everyone! You’re Empire soldiers, right?”

We couldn’t understand what was happening and stayed silent. The girl continued.

“I’m planning to have all of you die here ♪︎”

Words so shocking they didn’t match her singing voice and cute appearance. We were confused. Some even laughed.

That laughter brought me back to my senses. I gave an order.

“Surroun—”

Before I finished, the girl shouted,

“Let’s go, Orma-chan!”

“Awoo~n!” the Vircasis howled and then charged straight at the shield soldiers.

“Fools! Brace for impact! It’s coming!!”

I thought the shields would stop the Vircasis, and we’d finish it with spears. But the shield-bearers couldn’t stop its force—it broke through.

“What the!?”

The Vircasis ran wild among the 400 soldiers. We could’ve hurt it from a distance with spears, but the girl on its back didn’t allow that. She handled her heavy-looking halberd like it was nothing, disabling the spears and defeating soldiers.

“Uwaaaaaa!!”

“Gyaaaaaaa!!”

“Aaaaaaaah!!”

The screams melted into the darkness, turning into fear that began to consume us. But we still had numbers. I gave orders.

“Don’t panic! Use our numbers! Reform the ranks!!”

I felt sorry for the soldiers currently fighting the Vircasis, but we needed to regroup during that time.

But then, an earthquake hit.

“What!?”

The ground right in front of me suddenly caved in. The other soldiers were trapped in the big hole. They didn’t understand what was happening. For the first time, I used the magic tool “Light” to illuminate the area (we hadn’t used it yet during the night raid to avoid showing our location).

I looked down into the now-lit hole, not understanding what I was seeing.

“Alright ♪︎”

Before I realized it, the girl had moved next to me. She looked into the hole and smiled, as if saying it worked well.

“We can’t let anyone escape!”

With those words, she lightly tapped her halberd to the ground. Sharp spikes of earth appeared from the bottom of the hole, stabbing all the soldiers trapped inside.

“Huh?”

Seeing this unbelievable scene, the girl spoke to me.

“Are you the captain of this unit?”

I panicked and lied.

“N-No, I’m not…”

“Hmm, I see ♪︎ Well, Jeanne-chan told me to kill everyone, so I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re the captain or not?”

I tried to correct myself, but I couldn’t speak. My head had already been cut off. As I looked at my remaining body, my head fell into the hole, just like the other dead soldiers.