Stray

Chapter 207: Avengers

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There was a loud bang.

Immediately afterwards, there was an endless harsh noise, accompanied by a tooth-souring sound, as the city gate hit the ground firmly.

Everything happened so suddenly that the royal army in the city couldn’t even react.
The scouts on the city wall didn’t find any signs of the army approaching, but the sturdy city gate was destroyed in an instant.

The archers aimed at the rising smoke and dust, the shield bearers erected huge shields, and the mages in the back row were ready to throw spells.
The soldiers clenched their swords in their hands, just waiting for the inexplicable intruder to reveal his figure.

But the first thing that appeared in the smoke and dust was not a figure, but a huge emblem.
The soldiers were very familiar with the emblem—The emperor would use this spell as the opening at every large-scale event.

Royal Edict.

The esoteric spells of the Alban royal family were mainly used to dominate the lower-level clergy of the Laddism Church.
In peacetime, the royal family that has been granted a certain amount of power was also happy to use it to show their identity.
At present, looking at the entire Alban, there was only two people who was still qualified to use this spell— Except for Princess Delia, who wasn’t qualified to study because she was a minor.
It stood to reason that only emperors and princes would use this spell.

And although the special pressure from it was not quite the same as what they had felt before, the overall aura didn’t seem to be forged.

This was impossible.

Most people could guess the basic routines of the struggles of the great people above.
Except for a few unrealistic romantics, everyone knew that the princess on Marshal Gallagher’s side couldn’t be real.
Andrea Alastair had passed away a long time ago, and her body was sealed in a coffin and was rotting in a tomb in the Imperial Mausoleum.

Where did this Royal Edict come from?

“I know you are confused, let me make a long story short.” A slightly hoarse female voice sounded.

“I’m Andrea Alastair, that’s it.” A slender and sturdy female warrior clenched her spear— While the smoke and dust were scattered, they didn’t know when, but she had slipped to the nearby roof and at this moment was squatting on the edge of the sloping roof, smiling brightly at them as lightning wrapped around her spear.

The messy hair was frighteningly short, there was a long ugly scar on her right eyebrow, and the amber eyes were glowing like a beast.
No matter how one looked at it, this woman was a low-level person who had been rolling in blood all year round.
Her heroism was mixed with a bandit aura, and she had no “nobility and elegance” of royal blood at all.

And behind her stood an armored warrior.
Although his face was covered by a helmet and not even a piece of skin was revealed, judging by the finesse of the high-end armor, the person inside wasn’t of a simple background.

“I’m not going to give a sad tearful speech,” the woman dressed as a warrior continued.
“Next, I will rush into the palace and show you my eldest brother has been long dead.
Then, I’ll beat up my other brother from the same father and mother as me, who’s addicted to acting.”

She stood up and slammed the end of the hunting spear to the ground.
Purple thunder and lightning danced even more vividly.

“Your king is dead.
Now you have two choices— First, think about your family, consider the recent abnormality of the emperor, and retreat wisely.
I’m under the banner of the princess, so this is understandable.
No one will pursue you with a military order.”

The woman known as the princess shouted loudly, her voice soaked in sneers.

“Second, if some friends are really eager to get ahead, or have already regarded my unsuccessful prince brother as their real master, then please, come and kill me.
Let’s gamble on our lives and fight in a dignified manner.”

If there was no Royal Edict, the soldiers would be happy to rush up and crush this nonsense woman to death, but the huge white emblem still stayed in the air, and the majestic magic fluctuated continuously.
There was a brief chaos among the soldiers.
Some commanders were still cautiously observing the magic emblem, and some were impulsive—

“It’s all lies!” a commander shouted.
“Attack, I’ll take responsibility if something happens!”

Ann grinned, blew a kiss at the chaotic army below, jumped to the nearby roof, and quickly marched towards the palace in the center of the royal capital.

A mage’s spell hit her feet, and she dexterously avoided it.
Even if it was purely avoiding, the Princess of Alban carelessly exposed the royal emblem on her left arm as she kept throwing the Royal Edict array in the city, constantly creating chaos.

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They probably didn’t expect their opponent to slip by so fast.
The commanders who insisted on guarding the city were all stunned for at least ten seconds before they reacted.

“Hold the palace!” Most of their instructions convey this meaning.

“They must be assassins; We have to defend His Majesty—!”

Although the enemy was in chaos, the female warrior’s side wasn’t smooth either.

“What about the leather shop here?” Ann stopped at the edge of a building and turned her head to Marshal Gallagher who was beside her.

“I am not in the habit of buying leather in the lower city, Your Highness.” Marshal Gallagher gritted his teeth.

“Oh, then I’ll ask another question.” Ann lowered her head and yelled at the chaser under the house.
“Do you know the nearest sewer entrance?”

She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but even through the thick armor, Ann suddenly sensed the other party’s panic.

“Of course not!” The marshal raised his voice rarely, and his tone became a bit sharp.

A huge fireball hit head-on, and the half-collapsed abandoned houses in the lower city was completely turned into ruins.
Ann landed beautifully, and then clenched the spear in her hand.

“This means you don’t intend to capture me alive.” She sank her voice.
“Let me confirm it for the last time, you should know who I am, don’t you?”

“The glory of the Alastair family cannot be tarnished, and I will always be loyal to Lord Eldric,” the leading soldier roared.
“Even if you are a real princess, you are not qualified to touch the throne— If we fall to a woman sitting on the throne, Alban will be completely over! I’m sorry, you have to die here—”

“Very good, I see your enlightenment,” Ann said.

“They outflanked the back,” Marshal Gallagher said in a low voice.
“Although your strength is good, I still suggest you…”

“So wordy,” Ann spat.
“Help me withstand from behind, Mr.
Mad Dog.”

“You—”

Before Gallacher could say a word, the female warrior disappeared.

She moved in a flash, like a ghost, beside the soldier who had just spoken.
Suddenly, warm blood mist pumped into the early morning air.

The soldier’s body fell heavily in a pool of blood, while his head stayed in Ann’s hand.

“Is there anyone else?” She threw the head that still had its eyes open to the chasing team in front of her and said in a cold voice.

“I said, if you really want to kill me, then we’ll gamble our lives and fight in a dignified manner.
Of course, you guys can go together.”

The white light of the Royal Edict lit up again.
It couldn’t control the soldiers who weren’t related to the Laddism Church, but the pressure made it difficult for people to breath.
The female soldier seemed to not know what exhaustion was.
Her murderous intentions were mixed with grief, heavy and sharp.

The princess of Alban was dressed in ordinary leather armor and was covered in the blood of her enemies.

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“Come!” she roared.
The advanced spells of the Alban royal family unfolded in an instant, and lightning beams as thick as wrist-sized danced behind her like poisonous snakes ready to go.
“Soldier vs soldiers.
Cowards!”

Gallagher solved most of the soldiers in front of him using a confusing sword dance.
After recognizing the opponent’s iconic fighting style, the remaining soldiers lost their will to fight and retreated from the battlefield— He wasn’t sure if they went to call for reinforcements or simply ran away.

Unfortunately, to guard the princess, Gallagher looked at the backs of the deserters sadly and gritted his teeth.
Then he instinctively looked to the princess— Even after a long time on the battlefield, Marshal Gallagher was shocked when he saw the scene behind him clearly.

The situation on Ann’s side was similar to his.
The battle was basically over, but she had no plans to chase the deserters.
The female warrior still had a broken sword inserted in her body, and several deep knife wounds were added to her bare left arm.
She didn’t say a word as she supported herself with her hunting spear.
There was still a piece of intestines hanging from her leather armor that she didn’t know who it belonged to.

“It’s solved,” she said coldly.
“I recognize this place, come with me now.” ”

“You need treatment!”

“I won’t die from such a small injury!”

Ann neatly pulled out the broken sword from her body and put a hemostatic spell on the wound, as if she couldn’t feel pain.
After making sure that the blood will not continue to drip, leaving traceable clues for the enemy.
She grabbed Gallagher’s arm with one hand and dragged him in a certain direction.
“Come on, follow me.”

Half an hour later, in the sewers.

Ann leaned against the wall wearily.
She took out a simple treatment paper roll from her waist bag, and further treated the large and small wounds on her body.
Then she took out a piece of astringent and greasy dry food, ignoring the smelly sewer, and just stuffed a few pieces into her mouth.

Marshal Gallagher stood restrained, obviously not wanting to let the parts other than his soles touch the slippery and dirty sewer stone wall.

“Sorry,” Ann said.
“There will be a hard battle at the palace, and we have to minimize the number of battles.
Sewers have always been the best choice.”

“I know,” Gallagher said sullenly.

The two were silent for a while.

When Ann frowned and threw the intestine aside, Gallagher picked up his sword.
The marshal had pulled out a piece of cloth from somewhere and carefully wiped the blood from the blade.
It seemed that it smelled fresh meat as an obese rat quickly slipped through the roots of the wall and rushed straight to the bloody intestines.

It rubbed against Gallagher’s feet causing the latter to shiver.

While an ordinary person may not notice it, the unusually homely princess wasn’t an ordinary person.
The moment the armor made a soft noise, she almost immediately noticed something was wrong with the marshal…

Gallagher sighed, closed his eyes and waited for the ridicule that the savage princess was about to throw.

“It’s alright,” Ann’s tone was flat.
“I killed it and threw it in the water.
This thing has poisonous teeth, and it’s terrible to be bitten.
If you can’t do something easily, just tell me.”

It sounds completely chatty.

“You are…” Gallagher didn’t know what to say.

Gallagher Salter had always had little affection for the aristocratic women of Alban, and his father even thought he liked men for a time.
At the age of thirty-seven, Gallagher hadn’t been without lovers, but none of them had lasted long.
It was clear to both sides that it was a matter of just taking what they wanted.

They didn’t love him and he didn’t love them, so it was a very simple relationship.

Although many people didn’t mind whether there would be love in a marriage, Gallagher thought he still cared.
He didn’t want a wife who he would have nothing in common with.
It was that simple.
He was keener to gallop on the battlefield, than to have a useless relationship with a weak and ignorant woman.

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There were just a few kinds of women, but no matter what kind, they couldn’t get rid of their moodiness and sentimentality.
They were weak and couldn’t accomplish anything big.

He had always believed so.

To be honest, Gallagher Salter didn’t like this rude princess at all.
She existed outside of his cognition, which made him feel uncomfortable and frightened from the bottom of his heart.
He was loyal to her only because she had the blood of the Alastair family in her veins, and she could help him realize the emperor’s legacy.

It was also a very simple relationship.

On the other hand, Gallagher could feel the princess’s disgust with herself.
In all respects, they were two completely opposite types of people.
At the moment, it was just two mature people working together rationally and calmly to get what they need in this war.

He was calmly waiting for a taunt.

Gallagher didn’t like to expose his fear of mice very much, and even the cleanliness was carefully controlled.
Although his subordinates wouldn’t say much, the nobles loved to chew their tongues, and the insiders always liked to mix this with contempt as a talking point and those who had some affection for him tend to comfort him…

“This little weakness will not affect your accomplishments,” they would say.

No one told him that it “didn’t matter”.

But the rude woman in front of him took this topic very indifferently.

“What’s wrong with me?” Ann stood up, still covered with blood on his leather armor.
“I mean, you’re not waiting for me to laugh at you, right? Are you… I can’t see you holding that kind of interest, Lord Marshal.”

“…I just don’t think this reaction is like you.” Marshal Gallagher kept a distance of about three steps from the female warrior walking in front.

“There is nothing wrong with fear.” Ann’s tone was very serious.
She accelerated his steps and didn’t look back.
“Besides, who would be afraid of nothing? Since you can’t control it, why should I laugh at you? What bothers me is your head is raised too high.”

“On this point, I need to apologize to you.
You are different from other women.
My attitude is wrong.”

This time it was Ann’s turn to be silent for a long time.

“Anyways, I still hate you.
Listen, everyone is different.”

Then there was a bit more anger in her voice.
“…It’s just that most people never get the opportunity to ‘choose’.”

On the border near Willard.

Jesse Dylan’s blond hair was blown in a mess by the wind, and he groaned aggrievedly, slowly chewing a small cake mixed with crushed tea leaves on horseback.
Adrian followed him silently, looking at the border not far away.

“This is abuse,” Jesse finished the cake and said angrily.
“How nice it is in the kingdom.
You can’t even catch a fat rabbit in this place.
Adri, do you want cake? I specially left you the last piece.”

“No.” The knight commander skillfully refused.
“And you have said this sentence three times.
We obviously have a very different definition of what the ‘last piece’ is.”

“Oh, don’t do that.
How could I have the heart to lie to you!” Jesse curled his lips.
“It’s like this, every time I break off half of the remaining piece there will always be a piece left, my love.
Why don’t you hurry up and just say yes?”

“I don’t like cake crumbs,” Adrian said calmly.

“I… Oh, it’s that little girl.” Jesse raised his eyebrows and look at the black communication crystal.
“Our leader has learned new tricks.
This thing really can be used.”

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“Jesse Dylan?” Delia’s voice sounded from there.

“Yes, yes.
Your Royal Highness.
What are your orders?”

“Willard will attack our line of defense today.
I hope you can pass this information to the generals in the garrison.
If possible, I hope you will also help defeat Willard’s army.”

“Oh—” Jesse stretched his voice, “If I’m not mistaken, Marshal Gallagher has already entered the royal capital.
Shouldn’t you care about something else?”

“I am caring about what I should care about most.” The communication through Cat Whiskers was a bit vague, but they could still hear the firmness of the little princess’ voice.
“Mr.
Cross is from Garland, but you’re registered place of birth is Alban.
I think I have the right to order you, Mr.
Dylan.”

Jesse burst out into a pleasant laugh.
“Of course, Your Little Highness.
I won’t let you down.”

The black communication crystal went out, and Adrian’s brows frowned.
“Enemy attack?”

“That little girl is a bit capable, Adri.
Guess what?”

Jesse wiped the cake crumbs from his mouth, his voice was very pleasant.

“As a ‘diviner’, I fully agree with her guess.”

Delia, who wasn’t very skillful in cutting off contact, lowered her head in front of the maid who came to clean.
She hid Cat Whiskers in the palm of her hand.
Although she was very afraid of spiders, a certain crazy feeling suppressed her fear at this moment.
The itching of the palm of her hands would no longer made her tremble, but instead made her feel a strange warmth.

She could feel the emotions of this little thing, innocent and ignorant, without malice at all.
She liked this feeling very much.

No wonder her mother wanted her to get close to the prince as soon as possible.
Perhaps this was the reason why Prince Eldric kept her alive.

Pity…

After the maid left, Delia stood up straight.
She took out the sharp knife that she had been hiding for a long time from the fruit basket— It was originally just a harmless dinner knife, but she stole it from the dinner table with Cat Whisker’s help.

She lifted up her complicated skirt and fixed the knife next to the strap socks.
For this day, she specially wore a dress with a huge bow to one side that could be worn and taken off at the side opening.

If her calculations were correct, it was time.

“Goodbye, dear uncle,” she said softly, showing a sweet smile in the air.

The author has something to say:

Until now, I feel that Abbas was the most normal child in the entire Alastair family, but it’s a pity that he died too early.

Nemo: Ollie, do you eat this or not, do you eat that or not?

Ollie: Eat, eat, eat.

Jesse: Adri, would you like to have cake? x 3

Adri: No.
x 3