Rosie's Games

Chapter 254: The Dying Duke and the New Duke

"Elias, what are you trying to do?" Captain Gaudy asked when Rosalind left. Since Elias had already agreed to work with her, Valentin and Captain Gaudy soon agreed thereafter.

"We should go. We are needed at the walls." Elias said. However, before he could leave, Valentin held his arms. "What?" he asked, irritated.

"If our families find out, we are working with a sorcerer…"

Elias snorted. The thing is, they were not just working with a sorceress… they were working with the Duke. "Then let them come." josei

"Your arrogance knows no bounce, Elias. I know you are strong but—"

"It's not arrogance, Valentin, it's confidence and self-assurance. I know who I am and I know who… I am working with." He then shook Valentin's hands off his arm and walked out of the barracks.

"Are you going to change his mind?" Captain Gaudy asked him.

"Do you really think I can change his mind?"

Captain Gaudy shrugged. "We should get going then. We really cannot let that idiot show off in front of the new Duchess, right?"

"You—"

"What?"

In the end, Valentin shook his head, and the two followed Rosalind toward the walls. Just as they were expecting, Rosalind was already busy giving her Blessings to other people. Since these people did not know that she was a Blessed one and just assumed that she was a sorcerer, they still looked a little wary at the hooded Duchess.

But Rosalind ignored everyone.

"These are the next four people that will fight," Rosalind said. "Go ahead and call Magda and the rest. Let them come back."

"What about us?" Elias asked as he stood next to Rosalind.

"You stay by my side," Rosalind answered.

"Lady Rosie," Arriane called out. "You must take a look."

With that, the group hastened towards the watchtower. She gasped, her eyes wide. The ground continued to rumble from the beast's steps. The stench of blood and something disgusting filled the air. She shivered, and goosebumps skittered on her skin.

Despite the gruesome scene, no one panicked. They all looked determined as they stared at the beasts that were relentless in their attacks.

The beasts, on the other hand, looked unstoppable. They looked like they never cared about anything as they threw themselves into warriors with their saliva dripping from their enormous mouths, claws brandishing into the air.

For a few seconds, one would think that Magda and the rest will be defeated, that they will fall. However, time and time again, the warriors were victorious.

After the arrival of the four new warriors that Rosalind Blessed, Magda and the rest were asked to go back to the walls to recover their strength. They could only fight like this for an hour, and then other warriors would replace them.

Rosalind could enhance everyone at the same time, but she did not want them to exhaust themselves before midnight.

In facing beasts, one needed to have their own strategy.

Rosalind narrowed her eyes at the new batches of warriors. Most of them had a boost in speed that they could use to strike past the beast's defenses. Their strength had been boosted, as well.

"Every night, the beasts would always try to attack the walls, but this is the first time in years that something like this happened," Arriane said.

"When was the last time this happened?" Rosalind asked.

"I— perhaps almost twenty years ago. I was here, I was very young then. On that night, the Duke personally slaughtered those beasts."

"The previous Duke?" Rosalind asked.

"Yes. The young Duke only arrived when the previous Duke was already on the verge of dying. As usual, the young Duke arrived."

"As usual?" Rosalind lifted her eyebrow.

"This was the custom of the Rothley Family. To protect the heir, they are kept somewhere that only the Duke and a few people know about. They would arrive the day the Duke would lose their life."

"And that would be the first time that everyone else will meet them?"

"Yes."

"And their mother?"

Arriane looked at her weirdly, as if she had just asked a taboo question.

"You are the first Duchess of the Rothley estate. We have never met their mothers."

"Oh…" Rosalind looked at the beasts. By now, the ground was already littered with the bodies of the fallen beasts. The snow was tainted with black, green, and red. A chorus of both agony and anger filled the atmosphere.

"Are you alright?" Magda asked as she arrived next to Rosalind. She sized up Elias and Valentin. "This is—"

"They are going to work with me."

"I was not even gone for a day and you already found yourself other guards?" Magda jokingly asked. She was using a cloth to wipe the blood from her face.

"No wounds?" Rosalind asked.

"No. Whatever happened there was simply…" Magda did not continue her words as she looked at the others who fought with her. Gamaryl looked fearsome with that large sword and bloodied appearance while the one from the Etonde Family just silently stood there looking at the surviving beast. "I feel like I can fight for hours."

"There is no need to exhaust yourself. We do not know when this will end." Rosalind said.

"I agree… we do not know when this will end. We currently lack people and—"

"We now have three more people," Rosalind interrupted Arriane. "The three of them will be fighting in there very soon."

"How could you let ordinary swordsmen fight in the front line?" Magda frowned and met Elias's eyes. "Many people would take this opportunity to know without understanding that this is not a game. They cannot just gamble their lives. This is a beast tide."

"Do you think we are just trying to show off?" Elias responded.

"Isn't that why you approached the Duchess? If you are looking for death, then please go ahead and kill yourself using your own hands. Why must you put other people's safety in jeopardy?"

"The audacity! How dare you—"

"Alright Elias, that is enough."

"This woman is looking down on me."

"The fact that you are a little pleasant to look at does not change the fact that you— are not like us." Magda sneered. "If you want to fight, then you must wait here in the gates! Wait for the beasts to come and then you fight! In that field, you are on your own. And once you fall, the other beasts will start attacking the people that you are with. Do you understand what I am talking about?"