「Your Excellency.」
「……」
「Your Excellency, Prime Minister, if I may?」
「…… A-, aah, forgive me. Umm, and you’re—」
「Inglis Eux. I am a freshman in the Squire division.」「Squire division? With that strength…?」
「What should we do about him? Should we apprehend him? Or should we give an immediate punishment?」
「Apprehend him. His Majesty the King will try him.」
「——Will that bring justice to every sin this man has done?」
「Of course. I swear it with my own name.」
「Understood.」
Inglis stepped forward, approaching Myynti.「…… Hyohohyohohyo!! Not so fast, cutie-pie!」
Voom!
The space in front of Myynti seemed to distort as he spoke.
From within the distortion, the Rune Eater from before appeared.
「…… He’s back?」
Inglis could feel a strong mana movement rousing around.
「HAHA! It’s a teleportation technique! Quite the faithful doll for his look, isn’t he!」
「If so, then I just need to find a better way to dispose of him.」
Inglis converted a bit of her Ether to Mana.
She then manipulated the mana to produce her own ice sword.
Whenever Inglis clad an ordinary weapon in an activated wave of Ether, she would break it because the weapon couldn’t withstand the Ether wave.
The same also applied to this ice sword, as the last time Inglis tried it, the ice sword broke into pieces in a single swing.
However, that meant that it would last a single swing even if Inglis were to use Ether Armor.
And different from conventional weapons, it didn’t cost a single coin even if she were to break it, so her wallet wouldn’t suffer any damage from it.
「Rani, I entrust His Excellency to you. Leone, you keep guarding Mister Faris.」
「Got that, Inglis!」
「Yeah! You’ve defeated him before, so it’ll be fine, right Glis?」
「Yeah. It will be alright.」
Inglis faced the Rune Eater with her ice sword at the ready.
「HOHYO! Do you know why he didn’t hunt for Runes after you defeated the last one? It’s because I made sure to improve and strengthen him even further! Have at her!」
With a snap, Myynti flicked his fingers.
「GRRAAAAHHHH!!!!」
The Runes all over the Rune Eater’s body glowed red in blood at that moment.
The monster held his head in pain, but his mana kept getting roused and more active by the second.
「Hohyohyohyo! Just so you know, he is a monster whose metabolism has been swapped, he no longer consumes food as sustenance, but by robbing mana from others! By enhancing his basal metabolic rate, he’ll starve faster as he gets stronger! Be quick or you’ll die! Eat the other girls’ mana! We’ll have the upper hand after that!」
「OWAAAHHH!?!?!? GIMME YOUR MANAAAA!!!!」
The Rune Eater kicked the floor as he tried to bypass Inglis and lunge into Rafinha.
「——He’s heading here!?」
「Leave it to me.」
However, Inglis cut off his path, caught his arm, and threw him directly to the same wall as before.
Again he broke through the wall, and the Rune Eater was once again exposed to the sky.
「Hohyo!? So it’s not enough……!」
Voom! And so the space in front of Myynti distorted again.
「OAAHHH!?!?」
The Rune Eater came back again for the second time.
「Hohyo! More! I can still raise his metabolic rate even more!!」
The red glow on his Runes intensified.
「ABYAAAHHH!!!!」
The moment the Rune Eater kicked the ground, this time, he bustled about along the ceilings and the walls with great speed.
His agility was enhanced more than ever. Quite the brilliant sight, Inglis applauded it.
—But, it didn’t mean she couldn’t catch him.
「…… Still not enough. With just this much, you can’t even touch Rani and Leone.」
DOOONNN!!!
This time, Inglis kicked the monster as he got close to Leone, sending him overboard yet again.
「Is that the limit already? Then, I shall bring him down next.」
From the moment he targeted Rafinha, mercy was no longer on the menu.
Myynti was just as guilty, but Inglis was ordered to apprehend him so they could try him, so she would go along with that scheme.
「Kgh……! Hohyohyohyo……! EEEIII!! GO OVER YOUR LIMIT!!!!」
The Rune Eater, who got aboard yet again, now screeched at Myynti.
「GGRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!」
The Rune Eater raised a half-crazed roar——
And pierced Myynti from his back, the ice sword protruded from the Highlander’s chest.
「HOHYO……!?!?!? N-, no——Don’t you eat me……!!!」
Myynti’s body blackened like charcoal as he was sucked into the Rune Eater.
「TASTHHYY!!!!」
「He’s gone so far past his limits that he lost sight of who is a friend and who is a foe, huh? What a pitiable person you are. But I spare no sympathy for you——」
It would have been better for Myynti too if he kept the monster’s lucidity intact.
「GIMME MOORRREEEE!!!」
With even greater strength, the Rune Eater lunged at Inglis.
「At the end of the day, it’s pointless even if I do——isn’t it?」
Inglis, however, had seen through his movement and brandished her ice sword at him.
The Rune Eater, sliced horizontally this time, fell to the floor.
