The Sword and The Shadow

Chapter 565

Arrival of the Emperor

"I wasn't able to protect Miss Eirinn and even let her join the fray… It is my mistake. Please punish me for it, Sir." Wendy didn't forget about her mission despite being carried by leguna. She seemed rather apologetic and sincerely asked to be disciplined.

"Alright, Wendy," he said as he hauled her higher, "You've done well. This isn't your fault."

"Sir…" she muttered as she began to blush.

Innilis looked up at the girl not much taller than her and felt a sense of danger. "Hmph!"

"Huh? Innie, what's wrong?" Even though he had a rough idea of what she was thinking, according to the 'Lecher's Survival Guide', verse 37 of rule 19 states that pretending to be dense is a core skill all lechers needed to survive. He would have to tread carefully if he was to survive the constant battlefield that was his harem. However, it wasn't a skill that could be used too often.

"Hmph!" Innilis shot Wendy a glance and jealously said, "Aren't you lucky this new year's, Big Bro? You have a girl in your hands and two following you from behind…"

His forehead began to heat up. Even though just now he was swearing his love for Innilis, he was carrying another girl of similar age to her in his arms now. It was no surprise Alaine called him lecher. Even he had to admit he was quite the lecher.

However, he didn't think he had a choice in the matter. He was the only male in the vicinity, so carrying the injured was a duty that fell to him, right? He couldn't let Eirinn, carry her, after all. She had dealt with the eight warriors and healed nine people including Wendy, so she was definitely exhausted. As for Innilis… she was inferior in terms of height, weight and breasts to Wendy… So there was no carrying others for her.

That was why he had no choice but to carry another girl. If it wasn't him, who would it be, he thought as he laughed maniacally in his mind.

Just as he was about to once more shamelessly dodge the enquiry by keeping quiet, a surprise guest showed up. It was Harrison. He rushed over with some ten other guards.

At that moment, Harrison still had the red memorial palm mark anniversary celebration edition which Leguna left on his face. His gaze was seething and poisonous. The moment he saw the defeated guards behind Leguna, a scheming look of joy flashed across his face.

"Move away!" Leguna spat without any hesitation.

He had guessed what was going on from the get go. How could Eirinn have managed to go so far away from the venue while wandering around? Even if she did, where were the guards when she entered the forbidden place? And why did they show up after she made her way to the second floor?

It was truly laughable. Harrison couldn't wait to get revenge and came up with such a childish scheme.

But Leguna couldn't be bothered to play along with that fool. While Wendy's wounds had stabilized, that didn't mean everything was fine. He had to get her to a comfortable and safe environment to recuperate or the consequences would be hard to imagine.

"Good evening, Sir Leguna." Harrison eyed him and assumed the elegant posture Leguna was so disgusted by. He said apologetically, "I would love to let you go, but I have to ask why you would show up here."

"Is it odd for a top official of the empire like me to come rest here?" he couldn't be bothered with the banter and made his move.

But Harrison moved to block him. The guards also drew their swords partway to stop him.

"There's no issue with you being here, of course. But--" He looked at Eirinn, Innilis and Wendy. "--Why are they here too?"

"They have my invitation to come here, of course. Is there an issue with that?" He suppressed his anger and gave him an excuse, though he knew it was likely to be pointless.

"Don't treat me like an idiot." His gaze turned sharp as he pointed to the guards behind Leguna. "How did my brothers end up like that?"

"They were stupied and blind enough to ram into the pillars themselves!"

"Big baddie! Move away! Can't you see that the big sister over there has been lying in Big Bro Leguna's arms for more than twenty minutes? Even I haven't had that treatment before!" Innilis angrily said.

"It's not a problem of time, is it? And, if you say something so irresponsible as not having enjoyed any such privilege, then you're in for some spanking!" Leguna really didn't know what was going on in her mind at that time.

Wendy, however, kept quiet and lowered her flushed face. Her wound stopped leaking blood because all of it went to her head.

"Sir! We were hurt by the silver-haired woman and the blue-haired woman!" a guard said. Even though Eirinn had treated them out of kindness, they came to bite her in the back.

Leguna didn't speak up, however. They weren't wrong, after all. While Eirinn had healed them, she was the one who hurt them in the first place.

Harrison looked at the guard with praise. "Since that's the case… I believe you owe us an explanation, Sir Leguna."

Leguna couldn't take it any longer and went wild. "Explanation my ass! Harrison! There are no fools here. Don't think we don't know what you're playing at! You were defeated by my mere subordinate cause you can't fight for shit and got your rightly deserved slaps! What? Unhappy? Want to trouble me with your embarrassment-turned anger? Since I've hit you today, why does hitting your subordinates make it any different? You don't like it? Come fight me then!"

"Well… You asked for it!" Harrison's expression grew cold as he drew his longsword. "I want to see if all members of your bureau have three heads and six arms!"

"I'm sorry, Wendy. Please hold on a little longer," he took a deep breath and said before putting her down.

Eirinn and Innilis came over to support her from both sides.

He didn't use Lighteater because he didn't think trash like Harrison deserved him at his full power. He merely formed two swords of shadow and said with killing intent, "Before today, I didn't really care about you. But since you went out of your way to cause trouble for me time and again, I don't mind letting you bleed a little on this auspicious day!"

"Who's bleeding today isn't even certain yet!" Harrison took out his garish-looking greatsword and slung it on his back before getting into a stance to charge.

Both Eirinn and the warriors behind Harrison took a few steps back. They knew that while a fight between high-order fighters weren't as earth-shaking as one between magi, it would still be dangerous for normal people to get involved.

While Leguna seemed like he had the disadvantage in terms of numbers, he had a high-order priestess, one whose abilities were uncertain and volatile. Nobody knew how strong she was. They could only imagine from how she defeated those eight guards. If she got serious and helped Leguna deal with the other guards, it would be bad. Not to mention, she would have the help of the best student of Second Magic Academy, Innilis.

However, Eirinn didn't know the weight of her own abilities. She felt a little scared seeing everyone with their swords in hand and withdrew with Wendy, leaving Leguna to deal with this out of habit.

The two men crossed gazes until the atmosphere grew cold to the point of freezing. The slightest movement from either side could shatter it completely.

However, neither of them were the ones who did so. Instead, it was the deep, lazy-sounding voice of aman. "Oh, and there I was wondering who you were. Ley and Harrison! What are the two of you doing?"

The two turned around with shock and saw a fat, middle-aged man struggling to go downstairs with a whole other group of people.

He was none other than the second emperor of Hocke, Larwin Hocke.