Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 239

239: Releasing the Barghests

Clarion and I walked through the city, as tourists.

We’d finished surveying the area. While it was far from perfect, we had identified the points where the civilian, industrial, and military districts met, and we had chosen a route to get there without arousing suspicion.

After dinner, under the guise of a stroll through the city at night, we had made our way to the Barghest release point.

And as a liaison, I had sent Clarion ahead. She had transformed into a bat and flown away.

All that was left was to wait a little longer, for most of the people to fall asleep.

Then—I noticed that someone was approaching. Or rather, the Barghests had noticed, and they had warned me from the shadows of my robe.

I was… surrounded.

I prepared to release the Barghests at any moment and tried to suppress the rising anxiety in my chest. My heart was pounding.

There couldn’t be a force strong enough to break through a hundred Barghests. But—there might be. It was only natural for the strong to hide their true strength. And unless they were in the middle of a battle, they wouldn’t have their enchantments at full power. Their magical signatures would be weak.

And what if… they had seen through our movements?

They might have set a trap.

To destroy me, the enemy of humanity.

I was in a small square, near the industrial district, where the civilian and military districts met, with a stone city wall at my back.

There was no escape.

Figures emerged from the four alleys that led to the square, simultaneously.

“Hey, I thought she was with a young lady and a maid.”

“Where did the young lady go?”

About ten of them appeared and surrounded me. They didn’t seem to have the air of people who had cornered a supreme commander. They were relaxed, talking amongst themselves. I counted them slowly. There were twelve.

There were no other presences, at least not that the Barghests could detect. They were all men, rough-looking, with a motley collection of equipment. None of them were wearing armor, and their weapons were light—knives, short swords, curved blades. They didn’t look like regular Imperial soldiers.

“…Um, who are you?” I asked. I didn’t think they would answer honestly—

“We’ve been keeping an eye on you, the conspicuous noble and her companion, since yesterday. Where’s the young lady? If you tell us, we might let you live.”

They told me, quite honestly.

“So, you’re… bandits?”

“That’s about right.”

It seemed this was a separate matter. The paranoia that I had been targeted as a supreme commander… was a little embarrassing.

I had set aside all my pride and played the part of ‘the maid Daisy,’ along with Clarion as the noble lady. It wasn’t that there had been a mistake in my performance, but rather, because I had played the part of a harmless, unsuspecting person so well.

But that meant… this was…

“Wait, you’re just… thugs? Ruffians? Am I… being mugged?”

“…Why do you sound so happy?”

“Calm down, me… Right. —‘I will not let you lay a hand on my lady, even at the cost of my life!’”

I placed a hand on my thin chest and declared, my face a mask of determination.

“…So? Where is this lady of yours?”

“Damn… this only works if the lady is here to see it…”

I held my head in my hands. I had wanted to try the ‘just a maid, but actually a skilled bodyguard’ trope myself.

But I’d better leave that to Liz.

“…Is this woman crazy?”

“I get that a lot, but it’s surprisingly annoying when it’s not from a beautiful girl.”

It couldn’t be helped.

My vacation was over. This wasn’t in the plan, but I had already made my choice, my resolve. I was about to—of my own free will—kill people.

I placed my hand on the hem of my short skirt.

“What? You’re going to beg for your life with your body? Well, you’re not bad looking. If you tell us where the young lady is, we’ll spare your life.”

“Yeah, we’ll spare your life!”

The thugs laughed, their voices lewd. But I was no longer angry.

It was a strange, calm feeling. When you decided to kill, not out of anger or hatred, but out of necessity.

“Kill them. And be quiet about it.”

Slither.

“What did you say—”

A single Black Hound Barghest slithered out from the shadows of my skirt and, before it had fully formed, leaped, its fangs sinking into the man’s throat. It twisted its neck, dragging him to the ground. A sickening crack, the sound of bone snapping, and then, following my command, it gently laid the corpse down.

The others moved through the shadows, and, like submarines surfacing, they rose from the darkness and lunged, prioritizing those who had opened their mouths to speak. Those who had frozen in shock were left for last. Those who tried to run were tripped by a bite to the ankle, and another Barghest would sink its fangs into their neck, snapping their spine.

There were no proper screams, only faint groans, and then the twelve thugs were silent, their bodies strewn across the ground.

I placed a hand on my chest and felt my heart rate slowly return to normal. While I hadn’t killed them with my own hands, I had given the order, and I had watched them die. And yet… I was surprisingly… calm.

“…Tourist destination rating… C, I guess?”

The reason for the deduction was that the security was worse than I had expected. Well, you could say it was my fault for choosing a back alley… but.

Someday, I’d like to create a tourist destination with an S rating.

On the bright side, the fact that my sightseeing up to this point had been so lackluster might have been a good thing. I wouldn’t have been so attached to the target. While I thought I could do it, I didn’t know if I really could have.

I even had the luxury of thinking such useless thoughts.

But it wasn’t a pleasant sight, so I looked away from the corpses and waited.

I stroked the necks of the Black Hound Barghests that had gathered around me and took out a rather expensive pocket watch from my pocket.

Incidentally, at my insistence, it was made in Rank Kingdom. I didn’t know if the inner workings were the same as in my world, but the artisans of Rank Kingdom were quite skilled.

In a world of handicrafts, magic was not absolute, but if you enhanced your physical abilities, you could perform more detailed work, more accurately. Considering that, it wouldn’t be surprising if some of the technology was more advanced than in my world.

Lately, with the shortage of mages, there had been a lot of recruitment from the military, and fields that weren’t directly related to the military, like this one, were in danger. So, this might be a technology that would disappear if we won. So many technologies, created by humans, would be forgotten.

“—It’s time.”

The hands of the watch pointed to twelve.

If this were Cinderella, the magic would be over.

…Isn’t a ball that goes until midnight a little late? It seemed like a good way to get taken to bed.

I wasn’t sure what Cinderella’s family situation was, but to be invited to a party hosted by the royal family, where the prince was looking for a wife, she must have been a rather high-ranking noble.

It was a story about a young lady, blessed with a high birth, who, after a period of hardship, regained everything. In the fairy-tale version, the fairy godmother’s motives were completely unknown, which made the story a little unsettling. What would she demand in return?

Why had the fairy godmother helped Cinderella? What was their relationship?

The story didn’t say.

And I was not Cinderella.

I was the Lord of Disease.

Species: Human.

Objective: Human extinction.

A vile, evil sorceress, who bore the name of the King of Disease and Poison.

I gathered the hem of my maid dress and released the rest of the Black Hound Barghests. A pack of over a hundred.

In the black sea that surrounded me, a crimson light ignited in their eyes, all at once.

“Go. Prioritize the sentries and those who are awake. And to those who are sleeping, grant them eternal rest. —Kill them all.”

At my command, a portion of the pack remained as my guard, and the rest scattered.

They ran, almost silently, like a black wind. They leaped at the vertical city walls, their claws finding purchase in the small cracks, and before gravity could pull them down, they leaped again, scrambling to the top. Some leaped down into the city, and some ran along the ramparts.

After watching them go, I waited for my ride, with the remaining Barghests.

I was an evil sorceress. The kind who would probably only appear in the darker, more frightening versions of the Grimm’s fairy tales.