Chapter 285: Chapter 284: 15 year old Inglis and the Eastern Front (15)

「……Good grief, you caught me. You’re terrifying, girl, not hiding your fang even in such a situation. I feel bad saying this to a pretty girl like you, but you’re a beast.」

The person Inglis spoke to shrugged his shoulders in surrender. He then raised his hood to reveal the face of Leon, smirking bitterly.

「I’m pretty sensitive to the presence of strong people.」

Inglis gave Leon the smile of a thousand suns.

「Settle down. I’ve no intent to fight.」

「Shamefully, neither am I…」

But, he showed up just in time. What Inglis was about to tell Rafinha and the others would be more credible with Leon’s testimony.

「Mister Leon! I-it’s him…!」

「Big brother! How long have you been here?!」

「Not long. Seeing youngsters being jolly makes it hard to leave, y’know. It actually helps that she found me.」

Which meant that his arrival was almost at the same time as the return of the messenger Knights.

「I thought that the Ironblood Chain Brigade wouldn’t intervene with Alucard’s situation?」

「Pretty much, I’m not here for Alucard anyway. The general has some business with you.」

「What business might it be?」

「Well, half of that is already sorted out, you just heard about the war with the Venefics. We, the Ironblood Chain Brigade, are helping the Knights to deal with the magic stone beasts the Prisma produced on our own account, but unless the Prisma itself isn’t defeated anytime soon, we’ll be screwed. So, the general requests for your help. He wants me to find you. I got the ride ready, see?」

Leon pointed to the sky. A large shadow of a ship was seen through the dim overcast clouds.

「I see now…… How very kind of you. However, I still have to explain this to Rani and the others, so please wait a moment.」

「Sure thing. But make it short, we got no time. I know I’m the last person who should say this, but please save Raphael. I’m begging you!」

「Of course, that is what I mean to do. Now, Rani, everyone, let’s talk in a place no one can listen.」

Inglis pointed to the wooden house they used for their living quarter.

「Would you join us, Mr. Leon?」

「Nah, I’ll pass. It won’t be a fun story no matter how you spin it, anyway. I’ll be waiting up there, getting ready to leave. But… just so that y’all know, what Inglis is about to tell you is the truth. So listen up and stand strong kay?」

Said Leon before he turned on his heels to leave.

「Glis’ saving big brother Rafa? Well, she’ll save him a lot of trouble if they fought together, that’s for sure!」

「……That makes sense!」

「Indeed. But, let’s go anyway!」

Then, another voice came from overhead.

「Lady Inglis! Lady INGLIISS!!」

It was a thick, well-defined male voice. This voice, and that face, were familiar to her.

「Mister Redas?!」

It was Redas, the Commander of the Imperial Guard Order of Charalia Kingdom, who appeared aboard his flygear.

「E- even Mister Redas is here!」

「That’s the commander of the imperial guard order……」

「Why would he come here?」

For someone with a face like his, Redas was surprisingly friendly and oddly too faithful to Inglis, but he was legitimately the commander of the most elite chivalric order.

He was by no means someone in the position to be a messenger. The very fact that someone of his stature appeared like this was bizarre.

「Ooohh, Lady Inglis! I have been searching for you! Seeing you as lovely as always, even my fatigue up until now feels like it’s been wiped away!!」

「Hahaha… why, thank you very much. When you said you were looking for me, was it concerning the Prisma’s movement?」

「I see, so the news has reached you! Exactly, Lady Inglis, but the special directive I have for you preceded it!」

「It did? What is it?」

「Yes ma’am! In regards to the signs of the Prisma making its movements, the two Hyrule Menaces have requested Lady Inglis to be sent to the frontlines!」

「Miss Eris and Miss Ripple requested it? I see…」

From the information the news-bearing Knight had told her, Inglis had deduced that Eris and Ripple were waiting for Inglis to come, and it seems she was right. Moreover, they requested it before the Prisma actually made its move.

In the end, information was all about going back and forth.

「His Majesty the King, having received the news from His Highness Wayne and Special Envoy Theodore, has given me a special directive to do exactly as they requested! Due to the nature of the special directive, I’ve come to you myself to make sure it reaches your ears, and yet I’ve been delayed in my effort on locating you, my deepest apologies!」

「No, you’ve done well. Thank you very much.」

Inglis took a polite bow to Redas.

「Glis was right, both of them were waiting for her!」

「Even the Ironblood Chain Brigade summoned her…」

「Miss Inglis sure is popular no matter where she goes!」

「I suppose. Seeing that both Vufailbane and Lord Abel, after he became the Mecha Dragon God, loathed me, I am happy that a battle calls for me.」

「……What is it about you that makes everyone want to make sure you’re the first to be summoned to deal with the resurrection of Prisma! I can’t see where it is going at all, you know?」

「It is because I’m not tied down anywhere, you see? This kind of power is needed now more than ever. By Miss Eris, Miss Ripple, and even by big brother Rafa too.」

「「「……?」」」

Inglis softly smiled, but Rafinha and the others could only twist their necks in confusion. Seeing that Redas was just as lost, it seemed that even someone in his position wasn’t in the know about the Hyrule Menaces.

「Either way, I’ll tell you about it! Now, let’s go inside.」

Inglis then led Rafinha and the others into the house they were staying in.

By this power, I’m pretty sure Inglis means her freedom—political freedom and emotional freedom. Because she has no ties, everyone can, quote-unquote, “make use” of her at their convenience.

If she had accepted the position of the commander of the imperial guard order, then the Hyrule Menaces can’t simply ask her to come because she’d be standing on the opposite end of a political war.

Similarly, if she had become a holy knight, the king couldn’t give the special directive to bring her to the front line right away as holy knights are under the jurisdiction of Wayne.

If she joined the Ironblood Chain Brigade, her helping out Raphael would bring suspicion to the holy knight order as a whole.

…I probably need to read the next chapters to make sure I didn’t just spoil them by stating the obvious.