The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 138

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 138

Although it was the very end of the war, Liwein had served as the Swordmaster’s messenger.

Even if he couldn’t cut them down directly with a sword, he must have faced living demons before. Moreover, as someone who held the position of vice-commander of the Jenail Knight Order, I believed he would surely have the ability to distinguish between pranks and emergency situations.

“…Demons.”

As expected, Liwein didn’t show any signs of doubting my judgment or panicking.

However, he displayed a different kind of frustration than I had anticipated.

“I cannot follow the Baroness’s orders. I am a knight. I must first safely escort the Baroness to headquarters and then…”

“Get a grip, Sir Liwein! Who’s protecting whom here!”

Liwein’s eyes widened at my outburst.

I grabbed him by the collar and shouted even louder right in his face.

“Be flexible. Do you think civilians who’ve only held hunting bows at best can handle real demons? Don’t forget that one wrong choice in an instant could result in dozens of deaths. Follow my orders. You go to headquarters and report the situation, while I circle this area to minimize damage…”

Pyuuuuung.

Just then, a bright yellow firework shot up into the clear sky.

The firework that burst into light left smoke of the same color as it slowly disappeared from view.

Was it a signal for giving up midway? Or perhaps…

I released Liwein’s collar and persuaded him in a softer voice.

“If you go to headquarters, you’ll be able to check the locations of all the teams participating in the hunt. So the servants must have been tracking team positions in real time too. Inform the head butler of the current situation and go straight to find Raphael. Don’t forget. It has to be either Raphael or Count Rosebel.”

Soon after, Liwein closed his eyes deeply and opened them, nodding with a much more resolute gaze.

“Understood. Please stay safe, Baroness.”

Liwein took part of the demon’s corpse as evidence and then ran toward the direction where headquarters was located.

As soon as I confirmed his departure, I too turned my horse’s head toward the west where the firework had exploded.

How long had I been wandering through the thickets?

“H-here! Over here. There’s someone here. Please save us!”

Not far away, a woman burst out with her bare body. Her entire form was dirty as if she had rolled around on the ground.

“Are you from the team that shot the signal flare?”

“That’s right!”

“Where’s the other person?”

The trembling woman immediately pointed in the opposite direction with her finger upon seeing the black blood on my sword.

“Over there. My sister is still over there! You’re Baroness Weatherwax, right? I was going to ask Sir Liwein to help my sister…”

“Sir Liwein isn’t here.”

Just before the woman’s face could be colored with despair, I put her on my back and spurred my horse in the direction her finger had pointed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you. How did you escape?”

The woman tightly hugged my waist and spoke haltingly.

“The horse… I remembered my father, who’s a former soldier, advising that abandoning the horse and running could buy time… But my sister was too panicked and must have forgotten.”

A faint stench wafted over.

In this beautiful forest, the presence of demons that had fallen like lightning in broad daylight would not be easily erased.

As the smell grew thicker, the trembling of the ground increased. The demon I found within minutes was running on all fours like a dog, chasing after something.

Continuing at this speed wouldn’t close the distance. I threw the sword I was holding and embedded it in the demon’s back.

“Kiiiiaaak!”

The demon that had fallen once spotted me and leaped high as if to pounce.

Crackle.

I quickly drew my pearl sword and swung sword energy. Thud. The demon with its head split in half fell powerlessly to the ground.

The woman who had stiffened at the sight of the widely spread black blood soon dismounted and ran toward the direction the demon had come from.

“S-sister! Sister!”

Another tall woman running from the opposite side embraced the woman.

“My goodness, Tara! You’re safe!”

The dramatically reunited sisters spent a while checking each other’s physical condition before running to me.

“Thank you. Thank you so much for saving my sister, Baroness Weatherwax.”

“It’s nothing.”

“What on earth is happening… Surely these aren’t real demons, are they? Does headquarters know about this situation?”

“I sent someone, so they’ll dispatch the knight order soon. Do you remember where the demon appeared from?”

“Probably… I think it was from the west.”

There was no time to rest like this.

But I couldn’t just leave the sisters behind either, so I led them and continued moving west. After about 4 minutes had passed.

‘Considering the distance between us and the sisters, it should be around this area…’

“Kiiiaaaak!”

My prediction was exactly right.

‘Rough breathing heard between the demon’s screams.’

When I turned toward the direction of the screams, I saw a black silhouette gradually approaching from the opposite side.

The identity of the black silhouette was a young-looking man who seemed to have just reached adulthood. The young man shouted toward us with a pale face.

“R-run! Don’t come this way! A monster is chasing me!”

Behind the young man on horseback, I could see the form of a demon flying madly. Not only that. Behind the demon, a knight with an obviously sturdy build was running while holding a sword.

‘Was the knight trying to evacuate this man?’

However, it would be impossible for human steps to catch up with a demon.

Moreover, evacuating on horseback of all things. It was the worst choice.

“Increase your speed!”

At my shout, the young man cried out in a desperate voice.

“Impossible! I can’t go any faster than this… Wait, you said to run, but where…!”

The moment the two horses crossed paths.

I raised the flat side of my sword to block the demon’s front legs that were trying to pierce through the man’s back of the head. Then I immediately changed direction and cut off both the demon’s legs and neck together.

“Ki, eek…”

With its death throes, the demon’s head fell to the ground.

The knight arrived immediately after.

“Huff, huff. Iden! Are you alright?”

“Brother! Are you the one who’s alright?”

The knight who confirmed the young man’s safety sat down heavily on the ground while breathing roughly.

“Ugh.”

However, the knight’s condition didn’t seem good. Especially the wound on his left arm looked quite deep.

I was about to tear some clothing to stop the bleeding when the younger of the two sisters who had followed spoke up urgently.

“I, I have hemostatic medicine and bandages. They’re items my father forced me to bring, but I never thought they’d be this useful…”

That man, really. I haven’t seen his face, but he’s a hero who saved three people.

The emergency treatment wasn’t difficult. Since the injured person was such a skilled knight, both disinfection and hemostasis were easy.

“Thank you, Baroness Weatherwax. I owe you my life. I almost became a one-armed swordsman, haha!”

The heartily laughing knight’s face looked strangely familiar. Judging by his face and hands being covered with small wounds, we seemed to have encountered each other several times on the battlefield.

That made me even more puzzled.

“Aren’t you a veteran knight? Why did you do something as dangerous as evacuating your brother on horseback? You should know that demons are sensitive to sound.”

The knight’s expression, which had been cheerfully laughing, immediately turned gloomy.

“That’s… I’m ashamed to say, but I’m not sure myself. Strangely, no thoughts came to mind. Even though it wasn’t my first encounter, I just floundered around like a trainee knight. I definitely wasn’t like this during wartime.”

The knight who trailed off gently patted the shoulder of the young man kneeling beside him.

“I’m sorry, Iden. I led you into danger.”

The young man grabbed the knight’s hand tightly with a half-tearful face.

“Please don’t say that, brother. I’m just glad you’re safe. Really glad…”

As one person burst into tears, the atmosphere immediately became heavy. Perhaps recalling the life-or-death situation, the woman who had requested my rescue even trembled while clutching her shoulders.

But I didn’t have the luxury to comfort them.

‘No thoughts came to mind like a trainee knight.’

In truth, if one didn’t attach much significance to it, it would be testimony easily passed over.

But it was hard not to attach significance to it. The aura and skill that the knight before me was emanating made it difficult to dismiss his recent response as a mere mistake.

‘Is it because his body and mind reflexively froze due to post-war trauma?’

But Raphael had said that most war veterans overcame their trauma through psychological treatment.

…Wait, could it be.

“Knight. Did you perhaps also receive psychological treatment to alleviate post-war trauma symptoms?”

The knight who had been staring at me with vacant eyes nodded his head a beat late.

“Ah, yes. I also received that treatment.”

A knight who had overcome war trauma.

‘Right, so that’s why he was acting so foolishly.’

Being cured of trauma ultimately means that the core memories triggering the trauma are either erased or faded.

In other words, it also meant that the learned self-defense and coping methods that manifest when facing demons had been wiped clean.

‘Is this a coincidence?’

Knights who forgot how to deal with demons, and demons that coincidentally reappeared one day.

Is all of this really just a coincidence?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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