The Villainess is on a Quest - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13
“They’re firing arrows!”
“I can see that!”
Aine bit her lip. A quick glance confirmed they were being pursued by well over fifty riders.
‘They don’t even intend to take prisoners.’
It seemed they had no intention of capturing them alive—the pursuers were drawing their bowstrings from horseback. Without armor to protect them, a single arrow would be fatal.
Their objective appeared to be killing them all.
“Commander, let me be the decoy. At least you can reach the Empire safely.”
Remembering all those who had sacrificed themselves for her, Mane thought it was her turn now.
Though she didn’t understand Aine’s way of thinking, it didn’t matter. She would gladly give her life for the woman she served and followed.
So she had resolved to be the decoy.
“They won’t leave you alive.”
“I know. But what choice do we have? At this rate, we’ll be struck down by those arrows.”
Aine hated the thought of sacrificing her subordinates and tried to refuse.
But Mane’s words held truth as well. Right now, they had no way to shake off these pursuers.
More than that, it seemed the pursuers would follow them to the bitter end.
Following Mane’s plan was the most rational choice. At least one of them had a chance to survive.
Yet Aine could not accept the proposal.
She would not sacrifice her subordinates under any circumstances.
“Commander, you’re truly a strange person.”
Looking at Aine, unable to decide, Mane laughed with a sorrowful smile.
“Most commanders treat their soldiers like tools. Chess pieces that move only to their orders.”
“Mane!”
“But you’re nothing like them. You’ve always thought of your people first. And so have I.”
The reason her soldiers trusted and followed Aine was simple: she had never abandoned them, no matter the circumstance. She understood their suffering and shared their burdens.
Mane had grown up in a border region between the Empire and the Orion Kingdom. The early years of war had left many orphans. The nobility was consumed by war, and ordinary people had no time for anyone but themselves—these children were forgotten by all.
Helpless and fragile, the orphans had no path to survival and would have perished, but there was one person who did not turn away from them.
“I did nothing, but you saved those children.”
Aine had founded an orphanage and given them a place to live.
Because of her, Mane had been reunited with a younger sibling they’d lost in the early fighting. From that moment on, Mane had been prepared to die for Aine.
“It grieves me, but this is where we part ways for now.”
At the word “part,” Aine closed her eyes and prayed to Reysi, who had departed this world.
‘Reysi, please.’
Praying to a god was meaningless. No matter how many times she begged for Reysi to grant her the power to kill him, to let her return to her original world, nothing ever answered.
But when she prayed to Reysi instead of to the gods, things were different.
‘If you can hear my voice, help me.’
Every time she faced absolute crisis and prayed to Reysi, miracles seemed to unfold.
So she made her plea.
For her slowly dying child, for herself—please, help her.
“Ugh!”
“An arrow—it hit!”
“Mane!”
Scarcely had the prayer left her lips when a stray arrow struck Mane’s horse, sending it crashing down.
Mane tumbled from her mount and lay motionless on the ground.
Watching her subordinate cry out in pain amid the crisis, Aine froze, torn and panicked.
Should she surrender here for her soldier’s sake? Or push forward for Wilhelm no matter what?
“Get down!”
In that moment, a voice cut through. As they dismounted, they were nearly caught, but Aine jumped from her horse with Wilhelm.
And whether her prayer had been answered or a true miracle had occurred, something extraordinary happened.
“Agh!”
“Please—mercy!”
“Damn it!”
The pursuers who had been closing in at terrifying speed were struck by arrows that came from nowhere and fell.
“How is the Imperial Army here?!”
Aine whirled around to see where the arrows were coming from.
There, like a miracle, appeared the Imperial Army—and with them, the elite forces known as the Schweizer Unit.
Recognizing them by their black armor, Aine turned her head.
‘The Schweizer Unit answers to only one person.’
The Schweizer Unit was known to follow only a single commander, not even obeying the Emperor.
And that one person was exactly who Aine had been desperate to meet.
The Verona Empire’s Governor-General, the man who had driven Aine into crisis more times than she could count. Cled Hartzs.
“The enemy is nothing but an incompetent imperial army anyway. They’ve dismounted—let’s kill them quickly!”
Oden, the pursuit unit’s commander who regarded the imperial forces as an inept militia, barked the order to charge and slaughter Aine and Wilhelm.
“C-Commander. They are the Schweizer Unit!”
But unlike Oden, his subordinates recognized who they faced and froze in place.
“What does that matter!”
“Haven’t you heard of them, sir! The Schweizer Unit—they’re legendary! One man against a hundred! We need to flee, now!”
“We’ll all die here!”
These men were exhausted from the relentless pursuit of Aine.
Even with their families held hostage, they had no appetite for a fight they were bound to lose—and lose their lives in.
“Cowards! And you call yourselves the Royal Guard, the kingdom’s finest soldiers?”
“Commander!”
“Follow me!”
Oden pressed forward, bullying his hesitant subordinates. He believed that if he led from the front, they would surely follow.
But the situation unfolded nothing like he’d imagined.
“Commander!”
Watching Oden charge recklessly toward them, Cled let slip a bitter smile and signaled his archers.
“Stupid enough to volunteer as a target. If we’d faced men like this fool from the start, we’d have won the war long ago.”
Dozens of arrows found their mark across Oden’s body, and he fell without so much as a scream.
“Retreat.”
“Are you certain, sir?”
“We can’t match them. And once the Verona Empire has us, we won’t live to see tomorrow either way.”
The pursuit unit, seeing no hope, withdrew without even retrieving Oden’s corpse.
* * *
“Mane. You’re not hurt?”
“Fortunately, just a twisted ankle. But Commander…”
“I know. We’re not out of danger yet.”
They had survived the pursuit unit, but they couldn’t afford to lower their guard.
Aine turned to see a man walking slowly toward them—a man with platinum hair that gleamed like the sun itself and eyes the color of the sky. Cled Hartzs.
He came to a stop before her, his blade sharp enough to draw blood.
“I’m curious what brings the hero of the Orion Kingdom to these parts.”
She’d been ready to introduce herself, but Cled already knew who she was. There was nothing strange about it—Aine had recognized him just as instantly.
Aine studied his face. There was no trace of the mockery from before.
Instead, his eyes held something closer to pure curiosity—a desire to know why she was being hunted, what brought her here.
‘I wouldn’t believe it either, if an enemy commander came at me like this.’
Aine picked up a white flag that lay nearby and, with a bitter smile, she spoke.
“Would you believe me if I said I came to surrender?”
That the First Commander of the Orion Kingdom, Aine Klayne, had come to surrender to the Verona Empire.
* * *
“What do we do?”
“If we return like this, our families won’t come out of it unharmed.”
The pursuit unit’s faces darkened as they made their way back to the Royal Palace.
They dreaded what might befall themselves and their families if they returned empty-handed.
“But we can’t fight the Schweizer Unit.”
“That’s true, but…”
“There’s nothing we can do about it.”
Yes, it was an impossible situation. Linus would surely understand if they explained what happened.
The unit commander, thinking survival came first, wanted to return to the Royal Palace as quickly as possible.
After all, they were near Brontfort Fortress. That meant Aine’s main force was close by as well.
‘We have to flee before they notice us.’
Unless they took Aine hostage, they had to escape immediately.
“What should we do, Vice-Commander? Shall we capture her?”
“They fired arrows at the Commander. We need to make sure they understand exactly who they’ve crossed.”
But the moment they’d set foot in this place, it was already too late.
“Kill them all. We’ll tell the palace it was an enemy ambush.”

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