Chapter 302: Chapter 302: 15 year old Inglis, Squire and Knight Commander (12)

Inglis regained her composure and turned her attention to Rochefort and Arles.

「How is it doing on your side……?」

「I-, I fed him the meat you gave me! But, if you have an Artifact that can heal, please use it as well!」

Arles looked desperate and appealed to Inglis.

「You’re right. Although, I’m not sure it will be very effective…」

The Gift Rafinha possessed was only to heal external injuries, and not to cure diseases.

For King Charleas, the injuries he sustained as well as the strain from the battle put him in a dangerous spot… but for Rochefort, it was his illness, so the Gift perhaps wouldn’t be as effective.

That said, Inglis understood well that Arles was very concerned about Rochefort’s wellbeing.

「Please wait a minute! I’ll be right over there soon!」

Rafinha called to Arles as she was examining King Charleas.

「Y-, yes! Thank you!!」

But then, someone drowned out her words—

「NO NEEEEEDDDD!!!」

Rochefort, who had been resting his head on Arles’ lap, quickly and vigorously picked himself up.

「MWAHAHAHAHA!! Sorry for the wait, now let me pay it back!! Let’s continue our fight!!!」

「Yes. Thank you very much.」

Inglis nodded, smiling.

「H-, hold on, Ross! You’re still only marginally recovered! Take it easy and wait until you’re fully recovered!」

「I can’t wait for long!! We don’t have that much time!」

「He’s right. We have to be quick or we won’t make it in time!」

When both Rochefort and Inglis said that there was no time, Arles looked puzzled, unable to understand.

「Eeh? But, we can just take time to recover, right? Why are you in such a hurry to push yourself?! If it’s such an effective elixir, you should get much better with time!」

「Yes, it is a wonderful elixir. It is so effective, I can feel my lifeforce returning into this corpse of a body! It won’t be long until I am fully cured. And by then— I won’t be able to wield you for long!!」

「Yes. Your physical condition and mental fortitude to fight in such a state must be a miracle. Like the last flicker of a candle!」

「Ah— Th-, that’s right… If you recover too much, then……! Ross and I can no longer…」

This time, the Hyrule Menace would perform her original function. In other words, she would suck Rochefort’s lifeforce and dump it away, causing him to die. And by then, Rochefort’s body wasn’t registered as being sick or injured, so even the flesh of the Dragon God wouldn’t stop it.

「It’s unfortunate, but… If we wait too long, that will be the case.」

Even Inglis wouldn’t demand her opponent to continue fighting, fully knowing he would lose his life doing so.

Not only that it would be awkward, but it would also be a huge waste of personnel. Rather than having him die, she’d rather fight him again later without the Hyrule Menace. It wasn’t every day Inglis could encounter someone as powerful as Rochefort, even without equipping the Hyrule Menace. Without a doubt, he must have the strength to rival Raphael, a Holy Knight.

While obviously, Inglis would refrain from fighting using her Ether Battle Techniques and dragonscale sword, Rochefort would still be a good opponent for hand-to-hand combat.

With that being said… Right now, Rochefort hadn’t fully recovered and thus he has a small window of time where he could fight with the Hyrule Menace with all his might. This small window of time was what Inglis bought with the price of the flesh of the Dragon God.

「We don’t have much time! Please return to become a shield quickly! Come on, come on, come on!」

「You heard her, Arles! Make it fast!」

Being rushed by the two, Arles looked more and more puzzled.

「H-, hang on! I- I don’t know when I’ll start to kill! Isn’t, isn’t that dangerous?!」

「No, I’m sure you’d know the signs. You do, right?」

Tiffany, the Hyrule Menace Inglis fought in the north, could perceive the lifeforce flowing out of her user. She judged the cessation of this flow to be the time when Inglis was running out of time. Which meant, the same should be possible for Arles, as they were both Hyrule Menaces.

「I-, I’m not… I don’t know! That was the second time ever I’ve been weaponized since I became a Hyrule Menace!」

Arles shook her head, frightened.

「I see… that’s how it is.」

As a Hyrule Menace, Arles was lacking experience. Certainly, considering her wielder could continue fighting without his life force sucked out, the Hyrule Menace perhaps didn’t really understand what was going on.

Even Hyrule Menaces weren’t born as Hyrule Menaces, they were previously normal girls who lived amongst the people on Midland.

Tiffany must have had a long experience living as a Hyrule Menace, as it seemed that she was acutely aware of the flow of life force. Maybe the same could be said for Eris and Ripple. All three of them were well aware of the effect that Hyrule Menaces brought upon their users and the grief it caused them.

Not that Inglis wanted to pry on their past, but she was sure that the three of them had gone through the thickest of thick, been hurt from it, and grieved a lot more. That was why Eris and Ripple put their hopes on Inglis, wishing she would break this cycle.

While Inglis, for her part, was incredibly grateful for it since that meant they would give her the priority to face strong enemies.

「I’m sure you will do fine, just stay calm and focus your attention. When you notice that the flow of power changes, then it’s time to call for the end. Now, summon your courage!」

「D-, don’t say it so easily! If, if anything happened to Ross, I don’t know if I could…! We don’t have to go to such lengths just to fight!」

「You have no right to say that, Arles!」

Rochefort declared, intercepting her Arles.