Adventure 6 ─ The princess has the hero in her sights

Rosemary had been hearing strange noises for a while now.

She wondered what they meant.

Suddenly, the door was slammed.

She became on her guard.

She got up and grabbed a small knife made of old wood nearby.

She was on alert.

(They finally came to get rid of me.)

After the dust cleared, she saw a boy with red hair.

(...?)

The boy immediately prostrated himself before her.

"Good evening princess, I have come to rescue you on behalf of your younger sister."

Rosemary looked at him very doubtfully.

(Do they really think that with a trap like this they will make me fall easily?)

(Wait a minute. Did he mention Alice?)

(Do you know Alice?)

(What did you do to my pretty little sister!)

Rosemary's sharp gaze was very intimidating, hearing her younger sister's name, she thought the worst.

This was the terror that Alice mentioned earlier, she really feels an attachment to her family too much.

(Let's gather information first.)

But she wasn't stupid, if she caused a fuss, she wouldn't be able to find out if he did anything to her sister.

Clearly she was wrong.

"That's Alice's..."

"That's right, Alice-sama asked me for help after rescuing her from some kidnappers."

(Impossible, Alice really loves that butterfly-shaped ribbon.)

(There are only two options for him to have it.)

(He hurt her... or she actually gave it to him for good measure.)

(Surely I must find out before I leave here.)

"...Alice did that?"

"Yes, I'd like to give you more explanations, but we must get out of here as soon as possible."

"Kukuku."

They heard a strange laughter, a grim looking man came out of a darkness after killing Langland.

"Hey, do you know how boring Ibiza was?"

"Ibiza is my sword, this little guy is thirsty."

"He wants blood, he wants blood from a princess!"

◇◇◇

Moments after the mysterious man left, the marquis was quiet in his room.

"With this at least we can rest assured that they won't rescue the princess."

"I'm thirsty..."

He opened his desk drawer looking for a drink.

He didn't have any.

"Damn, it's empty."

He wanted to call a servant, but everyone was busy dealing with "the intruders" so the marquis had to personally go get his drink.

"Make the head of the place go personally to see to their drink, they will pay dearly for it. I'll dock them all four months' pay, kakaka."

After descending the stairs, he slipped.

"What the hell!"

His hand touched something slimy.

He checked to see what it was and got a fright.

"Blood..."

He looked around.

Piles of corpses were everywhere.

Among them, many servants.

"The intruders did it..."

"Hii!"

He stood up as he heard a creaking sound.

In the distance he saw a ghostly figure.

"It can't be..."

"Is he labeling all the servants and knights as intruders?"

"He's exaggerating!"

The marquis ran out, he was the only one who could stop that mysterious figure, but the fear of that figure creeping like a ghost was greater than his reasoning.

He ran out and after a while he ran into Lion.

After pointing out to him in a non-cheating manner where the princess was, because of the fear he felt for his broken finger, he again ran out.

Outside he encountered the same scene.

"...!"

The servants who tried to escape could not, because of the door that was locked from the inside.

That is, someone locked the door.

"It can't be... don't tell me that..."

He heard footsteps behind him.

He quickly turned around and saw...

"I-It can't be! You're you!"

◇◇◇

A long time ago in a far eastern country, a man was born.

The man grew up in a good loving family.

He became a law enforcement officer.

He made sure that criminals go to prison, corrupt ones too.

For him, the law had to be enforced.

But one day, there was a fire, no one else was available as it was not the only fire available.

He entered the house to save the people inside.

But no one was there.

Suddenly the door was blocked.

It was a trap set by people who hated him.

Among them, many corrupt colleagues.

It was a perfect plan so that no one would suspect.

The man tried to run away, but he could not.

He tore the ground with his hands, but it was no use.

The flames grew and then, in the distance, he saw a katana sticking out of a closed room.

He grabbed it and used it to slash through the wall.

But he was not unharmed.

The flames touched his clothes and a large percentage of his body was burned, especially his face.

The man called for help, but no one came to his aid because of the fear they felt as they watched him burn.

He jumped into a stream where there was contaminated water to extinguish the flames.

He managed to survive.

But he was on the street for a while.

No one would give him a hand.

No one would give him a plate of food.

No one paid attention to him.

They saw him as if he was worse than a beggar.

That's when he remembered he had a family.

He got home and realized they were all dead, they were all hanged.

That made the man's heart break, causing the katana, which was rusted, to turn a black color.

His head filled with a single thought.

Kill.

He went straight to kill those responsible for his tragedy.

The man killed everyone he remembered seeing that day, but he also killed others who had nothing to do with him.

It was because his conscience, or heart, was taken over by the katana.

A certain local man had to shoo him out of the country so that he would never return.

Then one day, hungry with the desire to kill, he met the marquis who was doing business.

He killed his men, but two escorts came out to defend him.

They were Serpente and Laffan.

Laffan said to the marquis.

"Grandfather, what do we do with him?"

"Idiot, I told you not to call me grandfather when you work."

"Umm, he has good moves, if you decide to serve me, you won't die now."

The man replied.

"Kill. I want to kill someone."

"Hmph. If you want to kill so badly then serve me, many idiots hate me, you can take care of them and I'll cover for you."

The man hadn't lost all his reasoning yet.

He accepted the offer and it was there that Dark Smile's story began.

"Kukuku."

"The marquis told me to kill all the intruders and that's what I've been doing."

"Many intruders are around here, I decided to eliminate them all and then the princess."

"The marquis will be pleased with that."

◇◇◇

In front of Lion and the princess, a mysterious man by the name of Ohma had cut off Langland, the traitorous knight guarding the gate.

"Kukuku. Princess, the marquis asked me to treat you well, let me cut you a little bit."

In a swift manner, the way he pulled out and slipped his sword back into its scabbard was very obscene.

The sound of clashing metal generated an irritable purring sound.

Lion immediately grabbed the princess's hand.

"Princess, I'm sorry to do this."

"Huh?"

Grabbing her hand, he quickly flung it in Ohma's direction.

"Huhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

To be specific, on top of him.

(That dark and wicked aura surrounding the sword is undoubtedly a cursed sword.)

Cursed swords in all worlds are the same.

Weapons that had their owners at hand before they died.

They died with a resentment that was stored in such a weapon.

But they are not only born that way.

They need to take the lives of many people.

From innocent to guilty, the blood of that victim will generate resentment in that weapon, and when its owner dies, it will complete the requirement to become a cursed weapon.

Lion had many problems with them in other worlds.

(The name of a cursed sword represents the name of its owner. Which gives it more power the more people know that name).

(For that reason, a cursed sword is more dangerous than a demonic sword that only uses demonic energy.)

(It takes an exorcist to remove the malice from such a weapon!)

The princess was flying through the air, Ohma drew his sword, the black mist emanating from the sword was so dense that it completely obscured it.

Lion materialized his sword and went straight to attack.

Ohma saw him approaching and focused his attention on the princess approaching him anyway.

Lion approached and when he thought he would finish him off with one blow.

"Kukuku."

Ohma blocked him without looking at him.

Lion flinched at how skilled he was with the sword.

Then, he raised his sword and made it as big as a surfboard.

Ohma finally paid attention to him.

Quickly Lion said.

"Thank you very much for watching!"

The sword exploded after that, generating a great blinding light for everyone.

Because Ohma's eye had no eyelid, he couldn't close it and the pain of blindness was intense.

"Gyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

He stepped on a step and slipped.

Lion grabbed the falling princess and jumped onto Ohma using him as a board.

As he hit the ground, Lion's legs shook.

"Uh. How repulsive that felt."

"Princess, are you all right?"

"My eyes..."

She was affected by the light.

"Don't worry, you were able to give yourself time to close your eyes, he wasn't, the burning will go away soon. We must go now."

Lion carried the princess straight to the exit.

"What the hell is this?"

He charged through a pile of corpses everywhere.

From servants to knights, they were all cut up.

It was a grotesque picture of hell itself.

"Kukuku."

"It's no use running away."

"...!"

He heard Ohma's voice as he stood up, his eye was still swollen, but he didn't care.

It was the cursed sword that moved his body.

"It doesn't matter if you hurt me, if you blind me or if you kill me. I will go on living and come for you."

"Shaa!"

Imitating the sound of a cat, Ohma lunged at Lion as he unsheathed his sword.

"Princess, I'm sorry again."

"Huh?"

Even with her eyes closed, Rosemary didn't understand what was going on, Lion threw her to the floor where there was a cut piece of furniture.

Even if it was a gentle fall, it was still a bit painful.

He materialized not one but two swords.

"Shaa, shaa, shaa."

Making strange cat sounds, Ohma even blindly swung his sword as if he knew where Lion was.

(Damn it, I really hate cursed swords.)

(He can't see me, but the sword senses where I am.)

Lion jumped aside, climbing onto a table, Ohma couldn't tell where he was on the long table.

But the katana Ibiza did.

It quickly moved with a whisper from that black mist surrounding the sword and jumped in the direction where he was.

Lion's swords moved at great speed to dodge the attacks.

He was stronger than Ohma, but the cursed sword was superior.

It had fought the same number of times as he had.

It had taken many lives just as he had.

But the katana had killed innocents and that blood was filled with resentment, which made it so that, unlike Lion, the katana's expertise is in taking lives for pleasure.

Killing for the sheer joy of taking someone's life made the katana stronger.

Seeing how Lion didn't die quickly like the others, the katana became wilder, causing Ohma's body to lose muscle to gain more speed.

"What the hell?"

Ohma's speed increased to such a degree, he was moving up to five times faster than normal.

Generating afterimages in the process.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

The images were created by the katana's wicked energy, every time they hit Lion's blades, it was a strike full of malice, realistic enough to simulate a clash of swords.

Lion was being attacked from five flanks.

Little by little his confidence was fading, generating small delays in his attack response.

"Guh!"

His skin was being cut slightly on purpose.

"Kukuku, let me tell you this. This is the first time Ibiza has ever been happy with a fight."

"Even that guy couldn't make Ibiza happy."

"Ibiza says it wants this to last longer. Hold out as long as you can to make Ibiza happy."

Ohma's eyes filled with blood, he could see now, but his condition was becoming critical.

Rosemary also regained her vision.

She watched as Lion had an intense fight against the mysterious swordsman.

"It's serious..."

She had seen knightly duels since she was a child.

But none like this one.

(The speed at which they move is unbelievable. It's as if there were several copies of them fighting as well.)

The fight between the two reached a wall, which was slashed by Ohma, Lion tried to dodge him since he was in a long hallway.

But seeing him walk away.

"Are you sure you're going to do it?"

Ohma threatened him.

"The princess is there, if you move further away, I would quickly go for her neck, kukuku."

"If you don't mind her..."

Quickly, Ohma went to the direction of Rosemary who couldn't run away, she tried to get up, but Lion stood behind Ohma and when she tried to cut him off.

"Fucking shitty sword!"

The katana moved to block the attack from his back.

It was a blind spot, impossible to foresee.

The cursed sword was just as strong as Lion, maybe stronger.

It angered him to have to deal with troublesome enemies.

(I said I'd like to have an opponent I can use for training, not a damned madman who won't stop for anything.)

The battle intensified, the blows of the swords sounded so loud that they generated small gusts of wind that made Rosemary almost fly.

(I'm not a warrior, I can't get into a fight that's none of my business.)

She ran off, after she got out of there, a small explosion occurred.

She crouched down and saw the wicked power of the katana grow to such a degree that it began to deform Ohma's body.

On the left side that held the katana, gigantic muscles engulfed much of his body, they had mouths, bones and eyes.

"Ibiza feels great he says."

"You've made Ibiza much happier."

His eyes took notice of Rosemary.

"Ibiza says it will make you reach your limit."

He went to Rosemary once more.

"But why me!"

She ran for her life, as behind her, two monsters fought.

"Get away from the princess!"

"Kukuku. I can't, you're protecting her, so if I attacked her while you're protecting her, you'll make your attack power increase and you'll be able to overcome your limits."

They reached the second floor, Rosemary slipped in a pool of blood.

She is disgusted at the sight of the severed bodies in the place.

"What happened here?"

"Shaa, shaa, shaa, shaa!"

Ohma jumped from the second floor straight at Rosemary.

She could only witness his end approaching.

Lion jumped behind him and kicked him hard, sending him flying to the opposite side.

But when he did, Ohma took the opportunity to give him a slash, which sent two of his fingers flying.

"Aaaaah!"

Lion shouted after feeling an intense burning caused by the hatred of the cursed sword.

He couldn't concentrate and fell backwards against the floor.

Blood was pouring out in droves.

"Hey, answer me! Where else are you hurt? Hey."

She didn't trust him, but she forgot about it as she watched him take so much damage just to make sure he survived.

She couldn't help but ask.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Even if you promised my sister."

"Even if she really did hire you to help us."

"Why go to such lengths?"

His actions puzzled her.

To her, being hurt by royalty was normal.

She would mourn the loss of the dead.

But a stranger who would do something for money, like risking his life, was unthinkable to her.

He even lost two of his fingers.

Lion stood up, with several cuts on his body slowly healing, his fingers regenerating as well.

The amputated fingers were turning to ashes.

He responded to the princess as he did the first time he was in such a situation.

"I'm a hero, my job is to save people and take down bastards like this guy."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd go hide, I'm going to get really rough now."

Rosemary felt a strange throbbing in her heart.

Without a word she went to hide, but without letting Lion out of her sight.

Ohma came through the door, his appearance was more disgusting now, his whole body was a lump of flesh with sharp teeth and bones.

"Shaaa!"

"Ibiza wants more!"

"You made Ibiza happy!"

Lion said.

"You're taking up my time, I'm going to finish this as soon as possible."

He moved into an attack stance with his sword sheathed in an imaginary scabbard.

"I'll consume a lot of magic power, but I'm more interested in finishing you off."

The sword glowed so brightly that it looked like a small green sun.

"Let me show you 1% of my ultimate attack."

"Shaa!"

Ohma shouted coming closer, Lion didn't move at all.

He whispered something and then...

"Rest in peace, he who is the victim of a cursed sword."

A huge pillar of energy was expelled destroying much of the mansion.

After disappearing, Ohma's body was completely burned.

The cursed sword was slowly shattering.

Lion walked over and gave him a shove.

"You can rest in peace."

Ohma seemed to smile as he fell to the ground and turned to dust.

A big breath let out Lion's breath of relief.

"It's finally over."

"I won't be able to use magic power for a whole day thanks to this."

Right after resting his back on the wall.

*Hit*

A loud smack of a hand spat out.

Rosemary was standing in front of him.

She was staring into his eyes.

Those sharp blue eyes seemed to be watching a helpless prey.

"You...who are you?"

"That was amazing. That's the first time in my life that something like that I've ever looked at."

"I certainly think your help in protecting my country will be needed."

For some reason, her hand slowly moved to her chest.

In a provocative manner, it went up to his chin.

"It's the first time in my life that I'm this captivated."

"Now that I get a good look at you, you're very attractive."

"I never thought of saying this, but you pass on all the requirements."

"Huh?"

"One-sama! Lion-kun! Where are you?"

"Rosemary-sama, Lion-sama, please respond."

Alice and Louise entered the mansion after everything had ended.

Behind them, tied up with a rope and several bumps caused by rocks and brooms, was Marquis Reiss.

Seeing Lion and Rosemary from afar, Alice was glad.

"There they are."

Until she heard the following.

"Tell me, wouldn't you like to be my husband?"

"I promise I'll make sure the kingdom is a pleasant place for you."

"No doubt a man like you would make my country...our country a great nation. Ah, I would also be very interested in the matter of having children."

"I want two boys minimum and a girl. The girl you can name her, but the boys I will decide their names."

"Hey, at least ask what my name is first."

"I'm sorry. This is the first time I'm hyperventilating, I can't contain my excitement."

"What the hell are you two talking about!"

That's how the problem was solved... and a new one began.

◇◇◇

Three platoons were heading to the Lespinasse Kingdom to attack.

All three belonged to the Mercenary State of Argrand.

A country that was founded by mercenaries and run by mercenaries.

The three platoon commanders were talking.

The eldest of them was a man with a stocky build, close-set eyes and a big nose, his name was Zampano the Fleeting.

The one next to him is a young man with experience in ambushes, Jerso the Skunk.

And the last of them is a middle-aged man with a wicked look.

Lance the Mole, a man who by cheating has achieved his victories.

"What is that?"

In the distance, Lance saw something.

It was a mysterious figure with two objects being dragged heading towards his position.

Lance commented.

"A beggar?"

"Or maybe an ambush?"

The reason for the attack on Lespinasse was because Argrand had been an enemy of Bellmoth for years.

Upon learning what they were planning, they wanted to be the ones to conquer them first.

Not hearing the other two tell him to leave the approaching mysterious figure alone, Lance didn't care.

He was quite the barbarian.

"I'm sorry, but you will test my sword as I am thirsty for action."

As he approached...

*Laugh*

The mysterious figure smiled and let his body show.

◇◇◇

Lance was looking at the sky.

"Huh..."

He didn't understand what happened.

But as he tried to get up, he noticed that his lower body was missing.

"Ah, that's right..."

"That was... a real monster."

He said his last words before he died.

Lance wasn't the only one who ended up like that, both Zampano and Jerso and the other soldiers...

They all ended up scattered on the road, leaving a bloodstain.

The footsteps indicated that the mysterious figure was heading towards the road that led to the Lespinasse Kingdom.

________________

Let's move on to the fanservice of the first princess!

https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/4231185

I wasn't going to get it in until within the next chapter, but I said what the heck.

Character design I want to get rid of never to use again, again:

Zampano

https://overlordmaruyama.fandom.com/wiki/Moknach

Jerso

https://overlordmaruyama.fandom.com/wiki/Vice_Captain

Lance

https://overlordmaruyama.fandom.com/wiki/Igvarge