Chapter 195 : Hudmilla Everett

I watched the ball of light I had personally crafted explode from beginning to end.

The moment the cute little thing flew and lightly hit the castle wall...

The sound disappeared.

I couldn't even hear my own laughter.

For a moment, a dazzling flash of light dizzied my eyes, and then I felt someone's hand quickly pull me by the scruff of my neck.

The ball of light expanded in an instant, spewing out a brilliant light.

It dyed the world with its own color.

The surrounding scenery, dyed in that bluish light, flashed before my eyes, and I flew backwards with the force of the pull and the shockwave of the explosion.

Following the sensation of my back hitting the ground, I rolled over and over.

Seeing that the rotation was not very smooth, I knew that I was not rolling alone.

I rolled on the floor, mixed with the two little ones.

The sky and the ground turned over several times.

A little later, the world regained its color.

A ringing sound of 'piiii—' was heard, and then the sound gradually returned.

Only then did I come to my senses and remove the two who had fallen on top of me, and then I stood up.

When I looked at the place where the ball of light had sparkled...

It was a disaster.

One side of the castle wall had collapsed.

The surrounding ground was also slightly dented by the shockwave.

All I could see nearby were stone debris.

I thought that if I were the lord of the castle, my heart would have collapsed along with the castle wall.

"...Ah."

An indescribable thrill flowed through me.

Soon, urgent shouts were heard from all over, but that was not the problem now.

I raised one hand and shouted.

"Make Sherwood great again!"

For the first time in a long time, I could hear the Heavenly Demon's hearty laughter.

***

Bang!

"Hmm?"

A loud noise was heard from a distance.

"...Did I hear wrong?"

The woman tilted her head, and then she peeked out of the office window behind her.

The peaceful scenery of the garden greeted her.

The place she was in was her personal office located on the third floor, and if she peeked out from here, she could see the scenery of the garden at a glance.

After looking around outside and seeing that there was nothing wrong, she put her head back in and sat down at her desk.

"They said they would set off fireworks in the evening."

It seems that was the sound.

The woman pushed her flowing purple hair behind her ear and focused on her work.

Knock, knock.

—It's Emma, miss.

At the sound of the knock, the woman raised her head and looked at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and a maid came in.

The maid said cautiously.

"Miss. The lord is almost ready."

"Already? He must have been looking forward to it."

The woman replied in an indifferent tone, moving her hands.

"Miss, you should also start preparing..."

As her hand moved, a text with a beautiful handwriting was being written on the document.

"Just after this."

The maid was about to say something, but then she secretly sighed and bowed her head.

"Yes, then."

"Oh, by the way."

The woman called the maid who was about to leave, and then she pointed at the empty teacup on the desk.

"Take this with you."

"Yes, miss."

The moment the maid approached to take the empty teacup, the empty teacup suddenly floated up as if it were alive and moved to the maid.

The maid, whose eyes had widened, calmed her surprised heart and received it.

It was a sight that she could never get used to, no matter how many times she saw it.

The maid, holding the empty teacup, said as she left.

"Then I'll be preparing, so please let me know when you're done."

"Alright."

...Click.

As soon as the door closed, the woman rubbed her eyelids and sighed.

And then she looked at the side of her desk and said as if scolding.

"I told you not to play pranks, didn't I?"

Although there was clearly nothing where the woman was speaking, she could see them.

The office, which looked empty to an ordinary person's eyes, was filled with colorful spirits.

They mainly had the form of animals, and they were gathered closely around the purple-haired woman, as if they couldn't be separated for a moment.

Among them, the spirit who was being scolded by the woman was a green deer with large horns. The guy pretended not to hear the woman's words, looking away.

"Haa..."

The woman sighed.

The spirits were generally mischievous like children, so no matter how much she scolded and reasoned with them, they would often play pranks like this.

Thanks to that, she was always embroiled in strange rumors in her family.

Hudmilla who sees ghosts. Hudmilla who talks to herself. Mad Hudmilla. Hudmilla who commands ghosts...

Thanks to that, the people of her family were afraid of her and would sneak away from her.

Every time she passed by, they would whisper behind her back.

Every time that happened, the spirits would trip the whispering maids, and the rumors would not subside but would rather grow.

This could be said to be an incident that occurred due to a lack of understanding of spirits and spirit users as a whole.

"Ah, give it here. Don't disturb me."

The woman snatched the document from the beak of the blue bird that was trying to sneakily take it, and then she pushed her hair behind her ear and went on with her work.

The bird, whose paper had been taken away, landed on her head and messed up her hair, expressing its dissatisfaction, but she didn't care.

Rustle—

As she was working like that...

She suddenly saw her own hair that had fallen on the paper.

Purple hair with a slight reddish tint.

"...Ah."

She remembered that guy.

The guy who had foolishly fallen off a cliff.

He had said that she looked like the sunset had settled on her head.

Like a purple-dyed cloud at sunset.

He had said it in passing, asking if it wasn't the most splendid and wonderful color that could be seen in nature.

Why did that have to come to mind now?

Hudmilla Everett.

No, Hudmilla Richtiello looked at her own hair blankly, forgetting her work.

All sorts of thoughts that had been quiet in her mind raged like a storm.

Fallen trees. Dotted bloodstains. The bloodstain that had poured out and disappeared at the end of the cliff. The steep cliff. The hazy fog that was as endless as the sea. And beyond that. The fall.

Drip.

A tear fell.

"Ah."

Only then did Hudmilla come out of her thoughts and hurriedly wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.

"Damn it... I thought I had forgotten. Why did it have to come to mind all of a sudden?"

The spirits, who saw her crying, cautiously rubbed against her.

Resting their heads on her lap, gently pushing her shoulder with their heads, gently licking the back of her hand.

Hud waved her hands and chased the spirits away.

"Go away!"

The spirits flinched and retreated, watching her.

Hud wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and muttered.

"You only do this at times like this. You should be good all the time."

And then she wiped the tearstain on the document and tried to move her quill.

The spirits looked at Hudmilla with sullen eyes.

Rustle, rustle.

For a while, the room was filled with only the sound of the quill scratching the paper.

And then, at some point, the sullen spirits began to sniff.

—Sniff, sniff. A good smell.

—It's fragrant!

—Where is it coming from?

—Let's go! Let's go!

The spirits, as if they had never been dejected, rushed out of the window.

"...What's going on?"

Hudmilla blinked her eyes at the spirits that were suddenly rushing out.

They were guys who usually clung to her like glue and wouldn't leave even if she told them to go away.

"Well... it's for the better."

Hudmilla pulled herself together and quickly went on with her work.

***

I, who had broken into the lord's castle in a grand and spectacular manner, was surrounded by soldiers and knights who had rushed in before I could even take a few steps.

"Who are you!"

I said honestly and politely.

"Ah, I am a close comrade of Hudmilla. May I ask for your guidance?"

Instead of an answer, what came back was the sight of them drawing their swords in unison like a military dance.

Clang!

Under the sunlight, their white swords sparkled like fish jumping out of the sea.

"Are you after the young lady!"

"No, I told you I'm a guest."

Shushruta grumbled from the side.

"Where is there a guest who breaks through the castle wall and comes in?"

She was covered in dirt from rolling around due to the aftermath of the explosion, and her clothes were closer to nature.

I replied in a nonchalant tone.

"A secret guest can do that."

"Why?"

"Because a secret guest has a duty to provide a pleasant experience to the audience with a surprise appearance."

"They don't look very pleased."

The guys, holding their swords, began to tighten the encirclement.

The swords, reflecting the sunlight, sparkled.

To be honest, I could have broken through them all, but since I was a guest, I didn't want to use excessive force.

An uninvited guest is still a guest. Of course.

[Then what are you going to do?]

"There's a way."

I looked at Linda, who was next to me.

Linda was looking at her ruined wreath with a sullen face.

I snatched the wreath she was holding and threw it far away.

"Aah! My flower!"

"Linda. It's time to apply what you've learned in practice. Learning is only completed through practice."

"Hing... my flower..."

"Try using the poison that doesn't hurt. If you do well, I'll get you a new wreath."

Only then did Linda look at me with bright eyes.

"Really?"

"Have you ever seen me lie? But I'll only give it to you if you do well."

Linda nodded her head with a determined face.

"Alright! Devil and Shushu, hold your breath for a moment!"

Linda came forward, and then she took something out of her pocket and threw it.

Immediately, a yellow poison mist rose up.

The guys who had been tightening the encirclement, little by little, coughed and then began to fall one by one.

"Keuk!"

"Gak..."

"I-I can't... breathe...!"

The guys, who had fallen, had a seizure and then trembled and became quiet.

The sight was quite gruesome, so I asked Linda.

"Hey, they're not dead, are they?"

Linda nodded her head confidently.

"Yeah, because it's a poison that doesn't hurt."

"They look like they're in a lot of pain."

"It doesn't hurt much."

Linda waved her hands and began to move the poison mist.

The yellow poison mist wrapped around us in a circle, like a snake coiling.

"Get back!"

"It's poison!"

"Cover your nose and mouth!"

While the guys were retreating in a hurry from the hazy poison mist and couldn't get their act together, Linda waved her hands in the air and made all sorts of gestures, and then she stretched out both her arms in one direction.

"Hyaap!"

The huge yellow snake that had been spinning around us shot out in the direction Linda had stretched her hands.

It looked like a huge python that had been coiled up and then had lunged at its prey like a thunderbolt.

"Keuk!"

"Get out of the way!"

The soldiers fell in a heap and the encirclement was broken.

"Linda, get on my back!"

"Okay!"

I shot out in the direction where the encirclement had been torn, with Linda on my back.

Shushruta ran alongside me, holding her breath, and Linda, on my back, controlled the poison mist and prevented the soldiers from approaching.

We had escaped the encirclement, but the problem was that we didn't know where Hud was.

Even if I asked, they wouldn't answer...

There was no choice.

I had to run around and find her myself.

As I was wandering around inside the count's castle, looking for Hud...

"...? What's that."

"What do you mean?"

All sorts of animals were running this way.

Wolves, bears, birds, deer, rabbits, birds, and so on.

They were all sorts of animals.

Is there a zoo in the castle?

—A good smell!

—Found it!

—Catch it!

Was it an auditory hallucination?

I could hear the animals talking.

"What is this...?"

***

Bang!

The maid came in without knocking.

Hudmilla's eyebrow twitched.

"What is the meaning of coming in without knocking—"

"Miss, you have to run away!"

"What?"

Hudmilla's eyebrow shot up as she saw the maid who was shouting with a serious face.

"What do you mean?"

The maid hurriedly came in and grabbed the arm of Hudmilla, who was sitting at her desk.

"A strange man broke through the castle wall and is looking for you! You have to run away quickly!"

"An intruder?"

"Yes! This is not the time for this. Hurry..."

Hudmilla slapped the maid's arm that was holding her wrist and smiled crookedly.

It was a clear sneer.

"Run away? Why should I?"

"What?"

"Emma. Don't you know me? I'm Hudmilla, the spirit user who brings disaster to Sherwood."

Hudmilla's eyes shone with a purple light.

"He's the one who should be running away. If he wants to make me run away, he'll have to bring Gustan of the Greatsword or the Red Witch."

Tzzzz—

An eerie purple energy rose from her.

The maid's breath caught for a moment, but she swallowed hard and managed to say.

"B-but, miss. The succession ceremony is not far away. Even if we start preparing now, we'll be short on time. It's better not to get involved in unnecessary things..."

"Hmm."

Come to think of it, that was a valid point.

The shimmering purple energy subsided.

Hudmilla, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded her head.

"Alright, let's go."

"Yes!"

The moment she stood up from her seat, following the maid.

"Hud!"

She turned around at the voice calling her.

Beyond the large window behind the office.

There, where the beautiful scenery of the garden could be seen at a glance.

A man was waving his hand.

"...!"

Hud's body stopped.

Her purple eyes widened.

"It's been a while."

The red-eyed man said that and grinned.

(End of Chapter)

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