abcnovels
Chapter 117
Chapter 117: Dance Macabre: A Villain’s Apprentice
Chapter 117: Dance Macabre: A Villain’s Apprentice
Translator: Adam Seacord
Editor: Weasalopes
The crowd stirred. Sara began her incantations energetically. Her clear soprano voice echoed… Blossoming flowers of flame above the plaza. The crowd cheered, their eyes all glued to the flaming flower field. As for eyes looking somewhere else…
There!
In one of the numerous alleys leading to the plaza, perhaps atop a pile of objects, a man was poking his head out of the crowd. In his hand, Layla could see a crossbow. She also spied a conspicuous woman in the crowd, on the other side of the carriage.
「In the alley, to the left, up ahead! A man with a bow!」
With a shout she swung her horse’s reigns, putting herself between the man and the carriage. She drew her sword and indicated the direction of the man to the knights and soldiers on-guard.
Sara ducked, Olivia pulled her shield up. The crowd started murmuring, and everyone in the direction of Layla’s sword took a step back. A part of the Parade broke off, the knights reforming to protect Olivia from the indicated direction.
At that instance, the bow released an arrow. Layla had already dismounted, dashing away from the carriage. The arrow landed on a knight’s shield, with no one hurt. The soldiers chased after the man fleeing through the alleys. Layla had crossed over to the other side of the carriage, towards a woman in the crowd. A woman on the older end of middle-age holding a baby in her arms. She tries to walk away with the rest of the crowd, but Layla gripped her shoulder.
「L-Lady Knight… May I help you?」
Without a word, Layla grabbed the cloth swaddling the babe, and tore it off. The contents of which fell to the ground, causing the crowd to cry out in… Surprise. It wasn’t a baby at all, but a small crossbow. The tip of the arrow loaded onto it was stained dark, indicating the presence of poison.
After watching the woman, tied up and cursing up a storm, being dragged away by the soldiers on guard, Layla was finally aware of herself again. The messengers called for the parade to resume, and Olivia stood up in the carriage, exclaiming to the crowd:
「Thanks to our diligent knights on guard, we have captured the traitor!」
Triggering an immediate and collective cheer from the crowd. Even a scare like that was merely a memorable show once it had been resolved without any casualties. Of course, Olivia was grateful for how this attack turned out, since she could not stop the parade one way or another.
More wary than before, the parade resumed.
???
「…It’s rather loud up there.」
The cheering of the crowd watching the parade even reached Daria, who was walking through an underground waterway. Was the small explosion followed by a moment of silence and the return of cheers caused by some sort of entertainment?
「As soon as I find that thing, I’ll have to hurry back.」
Daria was headed to Elliot’s shop, through her familiar but now nostalgic route. While the shop was closed from the streets, a simple control could open up the shop from the underground waterway. Luckily, even after House Lambert had discovered this waterway, the contraption remained intact. However, deep in the labyrinth of waterways here, there were traps set by Elliot, along with tricks to make an intruder lose their way and some monsters on guard. Some, while not many, have lost their lives here.
With the symbol on the wall, she knew that she had arrived to her destination. Just as she was about to trigger the contraption, Nubia, who had been walking behind her, silently stopped her from doing so.