Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 65: The Public Extermination (2)
Dressed in pale layers of beautiful lace, Emily was meant to receive praise and admiration for all her achievements.
She still didn’t understand why her healing and purification had vanished. Nevertheless, she prayed every day and told herself the holy sword in Elliot’s hand proved her worth.
—Once today’s performance ends, the undead beasts will be gone. After that, however troublesome and difficult, I need only work hard as a nobleman’s wife.
Noble life permitted extravagance but bound her in etiquette and custom. Its suffocating restrictions depressed her, as did the lack of easy praise she had enjoyed on the battlefield. Yet without undead beasts, nothing could be done.
So Emily believed.
When she stood beside Elliot in the VIP seats, thunderous cheers from nobles and commoners made her heart leap.
Watching Elliot destroy the final undead beast thrilled her. She was the companion of that glorious hero.
Then an impossible object interrupted her excitement with a deafening crash.
—What’s that?
The crowd whose cheers had hurt her ears fell utterly silent. King, nobles, and wealthy commoners alike stared blankly.
Emily couldn’t comprehend the scene.
“Is this another part of the performance?”
At last, someone spoke in the distance. The silence felt endless, though perhaps only moments passed.
—I see. This is part of it too…
Before she could decide whether it was a grand finale, more tentacles appeared and crashed toward the VIP seats.
“What? No!”
The wall supposedly protected by a barrier shattered. Panicked, Emily collapsed where she stood.
Through the dust, court sorcerers raced about and tried to restore the barrier.
“Your Majesty!”
The chancellor’s voice was frantic.
The king had stood nearer the destroyed section. Unable to rise, Emily turned her head and saw him crouching with a hand against his side.
“All the clergy are at the extermination, and now there are no…”
An attendant spoke brokenly behind the chancellor.
“D-don’t worry. It’s only a scratch.”
“But Your Majesty, if you’re wounded…”
The king and chancellor’s weak voices betrayed their alarm.
“The Saint! Saint Emily is here! Please heal His Majesty!”
The chancellor raised his face and appealed to Emily.
“What?”
She instinctively looked up at her name, then understood and went cold.
—Stop. I can’t use healing magic now.
She lowered her gaze, but felt everyone watching. After a heavy silence, distant suspicious whispers reached her clearly.
“What’s wrong with the Saint?”
“I heard she’s always the first to act in a crisis.”
“His Majesty is injured. Why doesn’t she move?”
The chill worsened. Fear of revealing her powerlessness cornered Emily.
—Is this because I imagined such things?
Her knees and shoulders trembled. The fantasy she had entertained during the earlier carriage ride returned like a hallucination.
“If the king were wounded and I saved him, healed him, and purified him, everyone would surely praise and thank me.”
Her foolish fantasy now haunted her.
“Saint Emily has never been skilled at healing.”
A man’s gentle voice suddenly rang out.
“The clergy have always performed the healing. Isn’t that so?”
“Why are you saying that now?”
The unthinking reply was a mistake. Shock spread across the faces of the king, chancellor, and nobles.
Emily’s panicked gaze found Count Agreas standing calmly behind the king. Despite the chaos, he smiled gently. One step farther back, Marianne wore a cold, expressionless face.
Agreas advanced and instructed a nearby court sorcerer.
“The barrier broke because of the undead beast’s unexpected movement. It has now been restored, so remain calm. Your Majesty, forgive me. I was powerless against this unforeseen incident, and a fragment appears to have grazed you. Fortunately, the wound is shallow.”
The chancellor glared at Agreas’s matter-of-fact calm.
“Count Agreas… Was that also planned?”
“Of course. Don’t worry. The Holy Knight is with us.”
Agreas smiled gently and looked toward the arena.
Beyond the barrier, an enormous unknown creature writhed. Elliot stood farther away with the false holy sword.
—That’s right. Elliot is here. Magic isn’t the source of my value.
Emily rose unsteadily and clung to that sight.