Episode 50. I Let You Off Once
"C-can you let me out of here... please?"
It wasn't that Priya Merjina hadn't heard Binaeril's voice.
She simply hadn't had the chance to answer.
"Impressive, Witch of Delusion. To think you repelled all those troops."
Dominique Siller praised flatly, a cold gleam in his eyes.
"That's my line. Didn't you cut down about half of them? Truly impressive. In more ways than one."
The two faced each other, maintaining a taut tension.
How had this awkward confrontation come to be?
Let us rewind time a little.
The troops led by Dominique Siller minimized rest and raced to the Thornwinter Wetlands.
"Commander, the men are exhausted. Let us rest here for a moment..."
Dominique had his entire face wrapped tightly in bandages.
Through the gaps, bloodshot eyes could be seen, filled with a certain obsession.
The vice-commander couldn't meet Dominique's gaze and lowered his head.
"I-I'm sorry."
"There will be no rest until we reach the Thornwinter Wetlands. Relay that to the troops."
"...Understood."
Finally, as the entrance to the wetlands came into view, the soldiers driving the horses let out sighs of relief.
Now they could finally rest, even if only a little.
"We enter immediately."
"What? But...!"
"Do you have some complaint, Vice-Commander?"
The knight serving as vice-commander had been the most senior member before Dominique joined the count's household.
He voiced the objection on behalf of his juniors.
"The soldiers are all exhausted from marching without a moment's rest. Even just one hour..."
"Sir Maxwell."
"His Excellency the Count has much riding on this mission. If we delay even a moment and let him slip, will you bear His Excellency's wrath?"
"If they're the sort to drop out over this much, they're trash that can't even help the mission. Behead anyone who can't keep up. We advance."
Dominique Siller was cold, but he wasn't normally the type to be overbearing with the knights around him.
Maxwell Siller swallowed his complaints and relayed the commander's orders to the troops.
They entered the Thornwinter Wetlands.
"Faster than I expected."
Priya sensed that Dominique and the Count's lackeys had entered the Thornwinter Wetlands.
Her original plan had been to leave this place before they arrived, but circumstances had changed.
Binaeril Dalhaim was still undergoing intense training inside her dream.
If she left like this, they would discover the boy sleeping soundly.
She could forcefully pull Binaeril out of the dream and flee, but Priya didn't want to disturb the boy.
And she had obtained information more important than immediate safety.
"I can't keep running forever. Shall Big Sis play with them a bit today?"
Count Siller had pursued her relentlessly.
She had no idea what grudge he held against her, but she had avoided a head-on clash all this time.
But she couldn't run away forever.
Priya prepared for battle.
The knee-deep water of the wetlands squelched.
The soldiers were all clad in heavy armor, which did little for their mobility.
Their marching speed slowed markedly as they entered the wetlands.
"Ugh, these bug bastards."
"Sticky and humid. I'd love to go back and knock back a beer."
"Shh, keep it down. The commander will hear you."
Among these men, whose complaints had accumulated, disgruntled remarks began to pop out.
Maxwell felt the same displeasure, but he couldn't spit it out like the soldiers due to his position as vice-commander.
"What an ominous place..."
Though the sun was blazing outside, the deeper they went into the wetlands, the narrower their vision became.
Reeds growing in disarray, bugs and wetland creatures leaping up without warning.
At some point, fog had gradually begun to set in.
"As expected of a witch's hideout."
He turned to check if the troops were following safely, but stopped with a start.
No one was in sight.
The fog grew thicker until he couldn't even see the tips of his fingers when he stretched out his hand.
Maxwell got goosebumps. The nickname of the one they pursued flashed through his mind.
'The Witch of Delusion...!'
"Commander!"
Inside the fog, it was hard to tell front from back.
He shouted Dominique's name, but only silence answered.
"Shit...!"
Maxwell drew his sword and guarded his surroundings.
The bandages soaked with moisture were damp.
Walking blankly, drowsiness crept in.
Dominique Siller clung to his hazy consciousness and moved his steps with obsession.
The reason he had come to the Thornwinter Wetlands while cutting back on sleep was simple.
Whenever he dreamed, the final blow from the sewer rat that struck his face came to mind.
In the following scene, Count Siller's gaze looking down at him with contempt was also vivid.
'Humiliating...!'
He could only watch as an unprecedented sense of humiliation trampled his spirits.
The confidence he had never lost even when facing any mage was shattered by a single bratty boy.
If his opponent had been a big shot like the Witch of Delusion, it might have been understandable.
To someone like a nameless brat.
If only it had been the Witch of Delusion, the Witch of...
"Hup!"
Thud!
The moment Dominique realized his mind was growing hazy, he drew a dagger from its holster and stabbed his own thigh.
With a dizzying pain, his mind snapped into focus.
When his eyes opened, the fog had receded somewhat.
"As I thought, it wasn't natural fog."
They had already entered the witch's domain.
Looking back, the soldiers excluding himself were each going mad in their own way.
"So warm, I want to sleep..."
"It's a monster, a monster!"
"I told you I wouldn't go!"
A man with unfocused eyes staring blankly, a man strangling his own neck, a man shouting at the empty air—not a single one of them was in his right mind.
Dominique beheaded a soldier who ran at him in extreme agitation.
Several other spaced-out men were also candidates for summary execution thereafter.
Dominique didn't realize it, but he too had lost his reason to the witch's magic.
"Commander Dominique!"
It was Vice-Commander Maxwell Siller.
"What is the meaning of this! Slaughtering your own soldiers!"
Unlike the other riffraff, he too was a knight with experience fighting mages.
Blood was streaming down his thigh.
"They're in the way."
"What?"
"They were obstructing the mission, so I cut them down. That is all."
Maxwell's jaw trembled.
"You call that an excuse!"
Maxwell drew his sword on his superior.
Dominique Siller wandered the Thornwinter Wetlands and reached Priya's hideout.
Blood from over a dozen men covered his entire body, a ghastly sight.
A crunching sound came from the entrance of her house.
Priya didn't stop him.
The bloodstains falling on the floor were an eyesore to her.
Dominique, having reached Priya, spoke in an even voice.
He had changed a little since the last time she met him.
"I feel my mind clearing up a bit now. It seems even I couldn't be free from your magic."
"No guilt?"
"Guilt?"
"You killed your subordinates."
"They would have died by your hands even if I hadn't cut them down."
"Well... I won't deny that."
Priya dispersed the wetland's fog. It was no longer needed.
"Why didn't you run?"
"I had something to wait for."
"What?"
Priya tilted her head, directing his gaze to the sleeping Binaeril.
"...Hand over that rat bastard to me."
"I heard the story. You were wounded by a brat mage, weren't you? Is that why your face is wrapped in bandages? Now you finally have a face befitting your vulgar soul. Congratulations."
"Provoking me won't do you any good."
Priya couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Hahaha! Me? Why? Should I get on my knees and beg or something?"
"Come quietly and I'll leave your limbs intact."
"Leave quietly and I'll let you keep your limbs."
Dominique swung his sword once to shake off the clot of blood stuck to the blade.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing, you filthy mess!"
"Don't worry. Soon something similar will be smeared on your neck. After that, I'll take care of the rat."
"You really are obsessed. That's why you're not popular with women? And wait a moment. I'll call a friend to deal with you."
Dominique couldn't understand Priya's words right away.
She took a deep drag from her pipe and exhaled.
The smoke drifted around the room like a wandering ghost before shooting into Binaeril's body.
And Binaeril Dalhaim opened his eyes.
"We meet again, Sir Platinum Knight."
Binaeril, spotting Dominique, tossed him a knowing jest.
It was the first thing Dominique had said to him when he came to the inn room.
"Please, have a... I was going to say have a seat, but there doesn't seem to be a suitable place."
"Was it not funny? Your reaction is cold."
'Your sense of humor is nothing special.'
'Yeah. I'm glad to see you too.'
'?'
Veritas's nagging, heard after a long time, was almost welcome.
Because while it had been brief for Veritas and Eden, it had been a very long time for Binaeril.
"This is rather convenient. I can take care of two rat bastards at once."
Priya completely ignored Dominique's muttering and asked Binaeril,
"Binaeril, were there results?"
"Yes, Noona. Of course."
"Then you can beat him too?"
"You're not doing it yourself?"
"I'm too tired from buying time for you."
"Got it, Noona."
At the affectionate "Noona," the corner of Priya's lips rose slightly.
'This is why younger guys are nice.'
Binaeril stepped past Priya and came forward.
While the two talked, Dominique stood there awkwardly like a spare sack of barley set to one side.
"...There are limits to how much one can be looked down upon. Rat bastard, didn't you once tuck your tail and run from me?"
"What happened to the guy who got his face turned into a bloody mess by that rat bastard?"
Dominique let out a clipped laugh.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
Before, he had been scary, but now, how should I put it...
He feels like he's bluffing?
"I tend to ignore shallow provocations, but I'll let it slide just for today."
"Why is the tongue of the esteemed Platinum Knight so long?"
Creak.
The sound of Dominique grinding his teeth reached Binaeril's ears clearly.
He launched an attack without warning.
Dominique's sword stabbed toward Binaeril's brow.
But Binaeril had focused all his nerves on the tip of Dominique's sword even while provoking him.
Dominique's strike and Binaeril's incantation occurred almost simultaneously.
Dominique's eyes wavered.
The rebound felt in his grip was no trivial matter.
With his sword raised high, Dominique had to grip his weapon anew in a posture that exposed his chest completely.
"...Shoot."
Binaeril wore a faint smile as he pointed at Dominique's chest, its defense breached, with his finger.
It wasn't necessary, but it was a kind of showmanship.
Feeling a chilling sensation, Dominique desperately twisted his body.
His center of gravity collapsed, and he fell ingloriously.
...Nothing happened.
Binaeril looked down at the fallen Dominique and smiled with his eyes.
"You—I let you off once."
"This rat bastard...!"
The enraged Dominique rose and swung his sword again.