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「HO-HYO!! Eat them, EAT!! They’re all your new food!」

Myynti screamed from behind the Rune Eater.

「「「Don’t underestimate us!!」」」

The Knights rushed in.

「No, don’t! He’s dangerous!」

Inglis warned the Knights, but it was all too late——
As the two sides drew near, the Knights’ heads rolled not a moment after the Rune Eater produced his ice swords.

「Wha…… In such an instant……!?」
「My Knights……!」

The Knights who were holding back the armored soldiers were left in astonishment.

「Them too! Eat them all you want!!」
「GIVE MEEE!!!」

The Slasher then laid waste to those Knights as well in all but an instant.

「TASTHYYY!!!!」

After which, he ate the Runes off their corpse.
The part where he bit turned black like charcoal as the Rune was sucked into his being.
Then, the number of Rune he had on his body increased proportionally to the number of Knight he ate.
He was, as his name implied, a Rune Eater.

「W-, what is that, it-, it eats……!?」
「It eats Runes……!?」

Rafinha and Leone trembled in their boots.

「HOHYOHYO!! Well done, well done! Good thing I created you in case things like this happened! Sometimes I fear my own ingenuity!」

Myynti clapped his hands with joy.
The Knights who charged in believing they could take on Myynti learned the hard way of how wrong they could be.
Now, all the Knights of the Kingdom had been felled, leaving only the Prime Minister, Althea, all by his lonesome.

「May I ask you just one thing?」

Inglis raised her question to Myynti as she stepped in from the adjacent room.

「Hohyo? Have you seen me in a new light now? I’m an open-minded man, I’ll gladly accept you into my arms.」
「I must decline. That person over there is the Slasher that terrorized the capital’s streets. If so, does that mean you’re the one who has him assault people with Runes? I demand an explanation.」

What that implied was that Myynti, who was supposed to be an ambassador of the Highland, the one person who should maintain a good relationship with the Kingdom, had deliberately let such an atrocity happen under his watch.

「W-, what did you say……!? I’ve heard the reports about the Slasher! But is it true that it’s this person!?」

Prime Minister Althea responded to Inglis’ question.

「I have no doubt. After all, I’m the one who took him down. It surprised me to see him still alive.」
「…… It’s true, I have received no reports of it in the last few days, but——」
「Hohyo. So it was you, cutie. That explains your display of power. Indeed. I made them do it. To strengthen them.」
「Them?」
「I am a cautious man, girl. I make sure to always have spares.」
「I understand now. So it’s not like that one from before was revived, is it?」

There have been two of those since the beginning, I see.

「…… This is scandalous! Out of all people, an ambassador of the Highland doing this to the Kingdom is ‌outrageous!」
「Hohyo? Whatever do you mean? Nobody will know, so long as nobody tells. Just think of it as getting struck by a Magic Stone Beast. You lot keep losing your number to those beasts every day‌.」
「It is our duty to protect the Kingdom from ‌all threats, Magic Stone Beasts or otherwise! What danger stands in our face matters not!」
「Hohyo. You’re quite an obstinate man, Prime Minister. Then, pray tell, your subordinates tried to kill me just a while ago. Was that not a problem?」
「You need not ask; It was a problem.」
「Then we’re even. Why don’t we let each other off the hook? From what I see, your Knights ‌went against orders.」
「If that’s how it is, then I shall take my punishment, and you shall pay for your sins. That’s how it should be.」

Apparently, Prime Minister Althea was a very inflexible and deeply earnest man.
Precisely because he was that kind of person that he could be trusted.
Inglis had the impression that he was just a man of integrity burdened by the position of Prime Minister.

「Hohyo. No thanks. Whatever happens to those under, they have no right to complain to a Highlander like me. Without the Artifacts we bestow, all of you can only wait for your death. They should’ve been grateful they could become the foundation for my research.」
「…… If so, then I shall pray that the next envoy after you’re dismissed will have a different idea.」
「HOHYOHYO!! You sure are irksome! Fine! Eat him too, I don’t mind!」
「HYAAHAHAA……!!」

The Rune Eater began to act.

「——You kids! You’re all students of the Academy, right!? Academy students are an extension of the Chivalric Order! I’m commanding you and your group to guard a public figure! You will be guar——」
「Yessir.」

Before the Prime Minister finished his line, Inglis had finished activating her Ether Armor and snuck behind the Rune Eater.
And then, an upper kick was delivered to his back.

「GOOOAAAHHHH!?!?!?」

BOOOMMM!!

The body of the Slasher was blown away with tremendous momentum as it collided with the wall to the outside.
The impact broke through the wall as his body was exposed to the sky, still going forward.

「……ding, me——?」
「H-, hohyohohyoyo——」

Always be cautious when guarding a public figure — Inglis reminded herself so.
Although, while Inglis was cautious and applied Ether Armor, it seemed like she made both Prime Minister Althea and Myynti stupefied while standing.