Chapter 366: 192. The Boundary Between Life and Death -2
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
Charlotte roared out her order, “Hurry, protect them!”
Paladins heeded her call and quickly got into position. Gripping their shields tight, they formed sturdy shield walls.
Meanwhile, brave cavalrymen raced around on their mounts to slice and dice the legs of the giants. When the huge creatures were toppled, the Paladins on standby thrust forward their spears to turn the giants into a bunch of hedgehogs.
If only Allen was here, their Rune Armour and muskets, as well as the cannons, could’ve been used to easily subdue the giants, but…
Since their Holy Emperor wasn’t here, those things proved to be just dead weight for now. The Paladins had to rely solely on their skills alone to defeat the Jötnar..
Charlotte reined in her heavy breathing. ‘Yes, we can stop them!’
The Jötnar might have been strong, but there were only a few of them. The Heavenly Army was more than sufficient enough to stop such a low number of giants.
Unfortunately…
“Kkyaaaaahk!”
…she could hear desperate screams coming from the refugees.
Charlotte turned her head and surveyed the situation with the refugees. Harman was currently leading some Paladins to fight back the incoming vampires.
She gritted her teeth. ‘We don’t have time for this.’
Allen had to be facing off against the Fire Giant Surtr by now. Quite a lot of time had passed by already, yet the refugees couldn’t evacuate yet, and their enemies had managed to successfully delay them.
Charlotte was being crushed under the immense pressure of her own thoughts questioning her of not only failing to help Allen out, but also ending up as hindrance to him right now.
She roared out. “Go and stop the vampires! I can stop the giants by myself, so you… Huh?”
“Kkyaaaahk?!”
It was right at that moment that the ripped-off arm of a vampire landed in front of Charlotte’s position, along with a deathly scream entering her ears.
She looked away from the arm with a hardened face. Several vampires among the panicking refugees were going up in bluish flames.
Their limbs had been ripped off, their blood jetting up into the air.
“W-w-what is that?!”
“That’s a m-monster!”
“There’s a devil in disguise of a child over there!”
The refugees were pointing to a place. In the location they pointed to was a certain someone who had killed a vampire to drink its blood.
‘Roy…?’
Allen had told her about that boy in the past. Not only was he previously the Second Imperial Prince, Ruppel Olfolse, but Harman had been specially dispatched to the Ariana Duchy to keep an eye on him.
That boy easily ripped a vampire’s head off, then drank the blood coming from the wound.
“I’m still thirsty… I still need more. More!” Roy staggered back up to his feet and glared at the vampires.
Charlotte felt goosebumps breaking out on her skin after taking in the boy’s blood-stained visage.
Was he a human? Or a vampire?
Just as Charlotte stood there in a fluster, she noticed Hans cautiously shuffling away in the corner of her eyes.
He climbed into one of the wagons, then began fidgeting around a large jewel-like stone. “Alright, if I do it like so…”
That was the heart of the Mud Giant. It was the magic stone that was also used as the heart of the Bloody Golem.
A Rune suddenly engraved on the stone’s surface, causing the blood from the dead vampires to rise up in the air. They then gathered into a single mass around the stone.
The wagon was ripped apart violently and the large Bloody Golem stood up from amidst the wreckage.
Vampires took in the sight of this abominable creature and cried out, “W-what is that?!”
“Dammit, I knew it! We shouldn’t have messed with the Imperial Family!”
The flustered vampires retreated from there. However, they had their orders and couldn’t run away from here. They had no choice but to buy as much time as possible.
It was at that moment that one of the vampires took a closer look at Roy and began furrowing its brow. Eventually, though, it sensed a familiar presence coming off of the boy.
The vampire’s brows shot up. “Oh my gods…! That, that thing… is Marquis Ruppel!”
“What did you say?!”
All the vampires in the vicinity hurriedly stared at Roy at the same time.
The boy flinched visibly at the name ‘Ruppel’. Only then did Roy regain his wits. He looked around and realised that vampires were staring agog at him.
They began gasping out and chatting to each other.
“For sure, this presence belongs to Lord Ruppel!”
“B-but, look! He definitely now possesses divinity! And he looks totally different, too!”
“I don’t know what happened here, but it’s obvious that the Imperial Family bastards have done something to him! There’s no doubt that he is Lord Ruppel!”
Roy stared at the vampires as the confusion in his mind grew and grew. The sight of that only reaffirmed the opinions of vampires.
This small existence before their eyes was definitely Ruppel, the Second Imperial Prince, and also a Vampire Marquis who had been granted the blood of the Vampire King!
Currently the vampires’ strength had weakened considerably. And there was a consensus among their ranks that Ruppel’s power was an absolute necessity in order to stop the Jötnar, too.
Taking all those facts into consideration, the vampires came to a conclusion that Ruppel before their eyes was not someone they could afford to let slip through their fingers.
“That’s not good! Go and protect Roy, now!” Harman roared out, prompting a portion of Paladins to sprint towards the boy.
“You Imperial bastards! It’s so bloody obvious that you did something to Lord Ruppel!”
“Stop them! Protect Lord Ruppel, now!”
Vampires summoned numerous undead and blocked the Paladin’s advance. However, the holy knights were all highly trained, so it was obvious that the undead wouldn’t be able to last for long.
A Progenitor who happened to be a Baron-class hurriedly approached Roy. “Lord Ruppel, you must come with us. His Majesty the Vampire King anxiously awaits your arrival.”
Roy stumbled back but still ended up muttering out, “…Father is waiting for me?”
He reflexively covered his mouth right after saying that.
The vampires were all smiling thickly now.
Roy’s eyes began shaking unsteadily. What was he even talking about? His father was Laurence, wasn’t he? And White… White Olfolse? Who was that person?
Besides all that, the Vampire King?
Roy was overtaken by confusion.
“Yes, that’s correct. The Vampire King Vlandmir! Have you not been following and serving His Majesty as if he was your true father, Lord Ruppel?”
While Roy was preoccupied with talking to this Vampire Baron, other vampires began approaching him from the sides. They cautiously moved one step at a time, acting extremely carefully, as if they didn’t want to frighten a small defenceless animal.
“Lord Ruppel, please hurry and join us. You are the only one who possesses the ability to steal away the body of the Jötunn, and…”
It was right at that moment Laurence suddenly showed up to wrap his arms around the boy. “You, you vampire bastards! What are you trying to do to my son?!”
It was unknown where he got his hands on one, but Laurence was now busy waving around a farming tool in a threatening manner.
“D-dad?”
Just as Roy’s eyes opened wider, a vampire’s fingertip was ever so slightly sliced open by the waving of the tool.
The injured vampire crumpled its expression in an unsightly manner, then swiped with its claws. Five bloody lines suddenly ran down on Laurence’s face.
“Uwaaahk?!” He screamed in terrible pain. He seemed to have lost his sight now, because he crouched lower with his eyes closed and urgently wrapped his arms around Roy, then continued to roar out. “G-get away from us, you abominable monsters! Aren’t you afraid of Goddess Gaia’s wrath?!”
“How dare a stinking little livestock touch that noble personage?! That person you dare to lay your hands on is a Progenitor who received the noble blood from none other than His Majesty, the Vampire King! That’s Marquis Ruppel Ol…”
CRUNCH-!
The Vampire Baron who had been indignantly yapping on was suddenly slammed down to the ground by a scarlet-coloured ‘jelly’.
-Ku-ooooooh!-
The Bloody Golem easily lifted up the dazed Vampire Baron. The viscous creature’s abdomen split open and hundreds of bone shards buried in there began spinning around rapidly.
The captured Vampire Baron screamed in shock. It struggled mightily to free itself, but in the end, it was still sucked into the Golem’s abdomen to get absorbed.
The vampires in the surroundings witnessed this sight and stumbled back while nervously swallowing hard.
“…The Imperial Family even possesses a monster like that?”
“For now, we retreat! We must prioritise reporting our findings to His Majesty!”
After coming to an agreement, the vampires haltingly turned around. But one of them didn’t forget to stare at Roy and say something. “Marquis Ruppel. We shall come for you later on, sir.”
The group of vampires fled into the forest.
Roy’s shaking eyes quickly shifted over to Laurence. “Dad!”
“Euh… euh-euhk…”
The skin on Laurence’s face had been ripped off.
Roy saw all that blood coming out from his father’s wounds and hurriedly took out a bottle of holy water from the carriage, quickly pouring it on his father’s face.
The horrifying injury was healed almost instantly, but perhaps because of the pain, Laurence had lost consciousness.
‘Thank the goddess.’
Roy looked at the bottle of holy water in his hand. This water came from His Majesty the Holy Emperor. Thanks to this liquid, Roy was able to heal his father’s injuries without leaving behind a single scar.
The boy thought that maybe Laurence was right about the Holy Emperor being someone really amazing.
Just as he began thinking that…
“That, that thing over there, that’s a vampire!”
A stone came flying in towards Roy. It coincidentally struck him in the head, causing the boy to stagger. When he raised his head to look, refugees were grabbing more stones to pelt him from a distance.
“Y-you vampire bastard!”
“It, it’s him! He’s in cahoots with the vampires! He must’ve brought the other vampires with him!”
The refugees were roaring out.
Stones continued to fly in, so Roy quickly pulled Laurence’s head into his embrace and crouched down deeply as if he wanted to protect his father.
It was at that moment someone stood as a shield in front of Roy. It was a woman. A stone hit her in the head and blood began trickling down. The mob throwing the stones all froze up in surprise.
“Who dares to throw rocks at an Imperial Princess?!”
A pair of twin brothers hurriedly ran up to the front of the woman, followed soon after by the Paladins setting up a cordon around the trio.
“Y-your Highness? But why…?” Roy asked in confusion.
Seran turned around and while wiping the blood away from her face, replied to him, “Of course I’ll protect you. People were stoning my family’s workers, after all.”
She smiled brightly, but Roy could only tightly clamp his mouth shut.
Harman belatedly showed up and commanded the Paladins and soldiers to disperse the mob of refugees crowding around. “What are you all doing?! The giants will soon be upon us! Hurry up and pack your belongings, now!”
The refugees obeyed Harman’s order and began packing their stuff, but they still stared in Roy’s direction with frightened eyes.
It was like they were staring at a monster.
Roy began shuddering from all those gazes landing on him.
But then, Seran embraced Roy, and gently stroked his head. “No, it’s alright. You are not a monster, Roy. In fact, you are a part of my family.”
Her warm words stopped Roy’s shuddering.
—-
Charlotte finished off the last fire Jötunn and reined in her heavy breathing.
It was at that moment that the thickets within the forest were disturbed.
She quickly raised her shield and sword, while the Paladins also became alert, their swords tightly gripped in their hands.
However, it turned out to be a woman and a man riding on a horse urgently bursting out from the thicket, instead.
“Lady Alice?” Charlotte muttered out in surprise. And then her gaze drifted to Allen, currently clutched within Alice’s embrace. “Your… Majesty?!”
Charlotte face hardened.
Allen Olfolse was slumped in Alice’s arms, unmoving. Blood coated his face and it didn’t even seem like he was breathing.
Alice was forcibly driving her own divinity into him in order to maintain his life. He was almost at the death’s doorstep now.
Alice yanked on the horse’s reins. The horse reared up and neighed noisily. Just as the inside of Charlotte’s head blanked out, Alice shouted at her. “Roy! Where’s Roy?”
Charlotte stared up at the Saintess dazedly.
“We need him right now to revive Lord Allen! Hurry, and prepare for the Resurrection!”
Those words made Charlotte reflexively turn around. Her eyes searched and located Roy next to Seran behind the figures of the refugees obscuring her view.
Charlotte sheathed her sword and placed her shield on her back, then slapped her face hard with both of her hands.
The pain shooting from her cheeks sobered her right up. She strode forward and loudly commanded the soldiers, “Set up a resting quarter, and gather all Priests here, now! And also…”
Her steps came to a stop in front of Seran and Roy.
Seran looked absolutely stunned by Allen’s current state when she saw Alice holding him. “Al… Allen?! W-what happened to him, Charlotte?!”
“Allen, Allen!” Even the twins stiffened up considerably. They quickly ran up and cried out his name, but there was no response.
Charlotte looked lower, and stared at Roy, still holding onto the unconscious Laurence. She mouthed his name, “…Sir Roy.”
The boy flinched a little. He was surprised by the fact that a noble Paladin with a station far outstripping his suddenly chose to address him with a title and in a polite tone, no less.
“We need your help, sir.”
“S-sorry? But, what are you even…?”
Alice, still holding onto Allen and injecting her divinity into him, urgently addressed the boy, “Roy, please, we need your help! We need your ability, right now!”
Roy’s mouth clamped shut at what they said. His gaze shifted over to the unconscious Allen in her arms.
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
From my left side, the calming sounds of gentle waves could be heard. The fragrant scent of grass tickled my senses.
Right in front of my eyes was a vast ocean seemingly filled with clear, pristine water. Behind me was a dense forest filled with many trees.
On my right side, though, the rotting stench tried to overwhelm my senses. Not only that, the familiar acrid odour of steel was mixed in there, and even screams were audible to my ears.
The skies over on that side were ash-grey in hue, while the ocean was made out of endless crimson blood.
On my left and right, boundary lines running for seemingly hundreds of metres were visible. And here I was, stuck right in the middle, sitting on the warm sand of the beach.
I could only make a less than impressed face at my current situation, then looked down at my hand. That incredible pain was now gone.
‘I’m… fine?’
I clenched my fist and unfurled it several times, but I couldn’t feel anything.
‘Huh. I guess I’m not fine, after all?’
Although my sense of smell, hearing and vision were working, I had no sense of touch. What the heck, what kind of an ominous sign was this?
I heard from somewhere that even the dead could still hear things. Was this one of those cases, then?
I raised my head to look at the two very different worlds on my left and right side. One side was an ocean of blood, while the other, a blue ocean. Up in the skies, transparent dead souls were flying around.
“Mm… This place has to be…”
Maybe it was Hell? No, hang on. Maybe it was the Heavenly World. It was said that when Priests die, they would go to the Heavenly World, after all.
‘But, uh, I’m also a Necromancer, too.’
Right, I was also a Necromancer who dealt with the undead.
In that case, this place had to be…
“…The boundary line?”
Yup, it was the neutral zone between the Heavenly World and Purgatory, the boundary line.
I was instantly thrown into confusion.
Holy sh*t… Sure, I did ignore what the family physician had told me, but really? I died just like that?!
Hang on, did that mean I was not ready to deal with the backlash of undoing the Skeleton King’s seal completely?
No, maybe this was just a dream of mine.
Right, there was no way a person could die this easily.
Just as I sat there in pure stupefaction…
“What are you doing, looking so stupid like that? You’re making the exact same face as back when you heard your sentence of banishment.”
A very familiar voice hit me in the ears and I stiffened up in sheer shock. Gentle footsteps brushing past the sand came to me next.
“What were you thinking, coming here so soon, when you’re still such a young man? Tsk, tsk. And I even entrusted everything to you, thinking that you’d handle them well enough.”
I slowly turned around, and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
An old man with snow-white hair and beard was standing there. His wrinkled face looked benevolent, while his body was surprisingly frail.
However, the sheer pressure emanating from his regal figure…
This was the former Holy Emperor, who had practically ruled over the world as its absolute sovereign not too long ago.
“G-grandfather…?”
“That’s right. Been a while, grandson.”
Kelt Olfolse.
He was standing behind me with a smile on his face.
< 192. The Boundary Between Life and Death -2 > Fin.
(TL: Only one chapter today and tomorrow…)
