The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 171
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 171
The dark aura surrounding him had not yet completely disappeared.
That was when it happened.
“Stand back! You monster!”
With a booming voice, someone squeezed between him and the Empress Dowager.
Alpheus’s eyes widened. It was a civilian. And an old man who couldn’t even use his body properly at that.
“Valerie? Valerie!”
At the same time Hilberry’s voice could be heard from far away.
“Valerieeeeeee!”
The old man who had suddenly intruded sprinkled something on the Empress Dowager, and at that moment the Empress Dowager’s body was suddenly pushed back.
It was truly a strange occurrence.
The Empress Dowager was someone even Alpheus and Wolf-dog couldn’t subdue. Yet that monster had retreated backward, unable to do anything to a scrawny old man like Valerie.
Valerie, who had taken a direct hit from the dark aura, twisted his body grotesquely and grabbed onto Alpheus. The dark magic had begun to take hold and control him.
But even in this state, he could easily shake off someone as weak as an old grandmother.
In the meantime, Alpheus quickly approached the staggering Empress Dowager. After pulling his sword from the Empress Dowager’s heart, he filled it with sword aura and beheaded her.
The cut surface turned black from the sword aura.
When encountering monsters with such good regenerative abilities, you had to sever them and explode the sword aura all at once to burn them so they couldn’t reattach.
At the same time, his knees buckled with a thud and the strength left his body.
“Brother! Brotherrr!”
As he collapsed, dropping his sword, Brisa’s scream could be heard.
“Brotherrr! Brotherrrrrr! No! Noooooo!”
Even if he told her not to cry, it would be useless…
In his blurry vision, he could see the severed body of the Empress Dowager, no longer moving.
Well, that was enough then.
Sometimes there are futures that require sacrifice. Scouts are originally sent to dangerous places.
He had made many empty graves for scouts who never returned.
“Brotherrrrrr! Let go! Let go! I said let go!”
“No, no. No, Brisa…”
Isabela was desperately holding Brisa back.
“No… Your brother seemed to be absorbing the dark magic aura that the Empress Dowager emitted. A strange magic circle appeared earlier… We don’t know what might happen. No…”
Her voice was also mixed with tears.
“I promised him. That I would protect you, a very long time ago…”
“Let go! Let go! Brother! No! Brotherrr!”
Now even Wolf-dog was blocking Brisa’s path. Really, everyone was so reliable.
His eyes slowly closed.
The day he returned from the Magic Tower.
Even though nothing special had happened, he had called people together to have fun. Hoping that people would take good care of Brisa based on those fond memories.
He had lived 10 years longer than Brisa. So there was nothing to feel wronged about, nothing to be sad about. Only Brisa, who would be left behind, was his concern…
“Brotherrr! Alpheus brotherrr! Open your eyes, please open your eyes, please…”
After being knocked down by a hit from the Centauros, he had never neglected his dawn training for even a single day.
Thanks to that effort paying off, he had fortunately defeated one Half-Human, Half-Beast… Indeed, effort never betrays a person.
So that was enough.
‘But I hope Brisa doesn’t grieve too much.’
Of course, if I had listened to you, both of us could have gone home safely tonight.
But my goal was always just one thing.
Not ‘us’, but for you to be safe forever.
Since our goals have now become different, I could no longer listen to your commands to just use my limbs…
“Bri… sa.”
His tongue was stiff and the words didn’t come out well, but he still wanted to leave last words.
Because his mother had passed away without being able to leave any last words.
“Please… take care of… Sears.”
Now his mercenary group was all people of Sears.
He felt bad that he couldn’t even say goodbye to the comrades who had trusted him and come with him all the way to the Central Region.
But if it was Brisa, she would be a good master, so it was fine.
And if there was one more thing to take responsibility for, Brisa might be able to pull herself together a little sooner.
At that moment Harrison came running.
“From what I can see, it seems to be a magic circle that offsets dark magic aura with personal mana?”
It was an accurate diagnosis.
“I’ll try to stop the process. Even if I can’t eliminate this phenomenon, I can stop it!”
Indeed, in the Northern Region he had prevented the deaths of Dahlia and the dark mage in that way.
‘But this time it won’t work.’
“Even if Young Master Harrison Naisar stops that process… he won’t be able to move like before.”
If the heart doesn’t work properly, you die. So Harrison was doing something futile.
But people don’t die as easily as expected…
Seeing that his consciousness wasn’t immediately cut off…
“Please, Harrison. Please.”
Brisa was begging.
Her voice was already hoarse from how much she had screamed.
“Just save him… Please, please just save him. Please? I’m begging you… Please…”
Alpheus wanted to make a joke.
To others, I’m just your half-brother who stole your marquis title.
Actually, the reason I received that marquis title was just one thing – to protect you.
I’ve proven that in front of all these people.
From now on, no one will be able to say such things, right?
But he couldn’t say a single word.
But it was strange. Harrison grabbed his right arm, not his heart.
“For now, thanks to the magic circle, the aura and mana are intertwined and concentrated in your right arm? All of this…”
Right arm? Not the heart?
“I’ll try to stop the process. Of course, naturally it might not be the same as before. Ah, this is a good sword. It absorbed all this mana…”
Ah.
He had used his sword.
Actually, weapons were prohibited in the banquet hall, so naturally he had expected to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
At best, maybe a fork or knife?
However, Brisa had asked Anais for a sword in case of emergency. Thanks to that, Anais had thrown him the sword.
He had poured all his mana into unleashing sword aura powerful enough to burn people, and it was a good enough sword to receive all that mana.
This was a variable even the Magic Tower Master hadn’t anticipated. Explosively unleashing sword aura all at once was a technique the Magic Tower Master didn’t know.
“Elder Brother Alpheus, please sleep for a while.”
Harrison whispered.
“See you later. We can definitely meet again. I’ll make sure of it.”
But Harrison was also young, so his voice trembled.
“If you’re not here, Brisa will only treat me like an idiot, and my weak mind can’t endure that.”
The boy couldn’t smile even while making jokes.
“And what about my sister…”
Sister…?
Alpheus wanted to click his tongue.
Which of your three sisters are you talking about, and why are you bringing up that sister here…
Seeing you say something that doesn’t fit the context, you’re going to get scolded by Brisa again for being tactless…
I’m not that bad…
At the same time, a magic circle was completed over his right arm. Tremendous pain was felt in his arm, and he lost consciousness completely.
* * *
Isabela watched that moment with a heart-wrenching feeling.
In truth, it had all happened in a split second.
She could roughly guess why Alpheus had rushed forward.
Alpheus had quickly said, ‘That Half-Human, Half-Beast can spread infection.’ That meant they would have to face countless such beings.
Only Alpheus had known that fact.
‘The magic circle glowed. He probably received it from the Magic Tower Master that day when he came back late, saying he had been to the Magic Tower.’
So he had been prepared to die from that moment on.
On this continent, Alpheus was probably the only one with the ability to hold out even a little against the Half-Human, Half-Beasts.
‘On top of that… he had to protect Brisa, who is the main ingredient for the experiment. That’s a fact not known to ordinary people…’
The more she thought about it, the more she concluded that she would have done the same if she were Alpheus.
But even so…
Brisa was nearly collapsed, sobbing.
“Brother, brotherrrrrrr!”
Isabela tried to hold back Brisa, who was crawling toward Alpheus while wailing, but then Harrison lifted his head and spoke.
“For now, he’s okay.”
Harrison’s hair was completely soaked with sweat from how much he had concentrated.
“We’ll need to send him to the Magic Tower for further treatment though.”
Harrison muttered while looking down.
“Of course, even so, his right arm… probably…”
Isabela felt the strength drain from her own legs.
Alpheus was right-handed.
And he was fundamentally a swordsman.
Meanwhile, Brisa, who had crawled to Alpheus’s side, checked his breathing and heartbeat.
“He’s alive, right? He’s not dead, right? Right? He can live, can’t he?”
Brisa asked in a trembling voice.
“He, he, he can regain consciousness, right? Huh? Right? Please…”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————