Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 166

Nicholas wiped the blood off his rapier as he stared at the blonde girl lying beneath him. She hadn’t even suspected a thing— that he had been sent here to kill her.

Well, he had been sent here to capture her at first. He was supposed to bring her to the [Hero King], at the behest of his mentor— Ammon the Arcane Archsorcerer. While Nicholas himself wasn’t the biggest fan of Kallistus Kal, he did as he was told anyway, and in exchange, he would be rewarded greatly.

But for whatever reason, once he arrived at Whiteridge, he received a new missive. It was an alteration in the mission he had been given at first— now he was no longer supposed to capture the Noble Spellsword, he was supposed to kill her.

Now, Nicholas the Noble Knight was no assassin. He was an adventurer first and foremost, even if he oftentimes would stoop below the law to get what he wanted. So, normally, he would have rejected this mission. He was not going to go around as a blade-for-hire, killing people for gold, despite his mentor’s request.

Unfortunately, he had already accepted the mission to capture his target, and even though its parameters had changed. If he just rejected it now, he was certain it would have created a rift between him and the Arcane Archsorcerer. And he did not want that.

His relationship with Ammon was relatively new, and he had been dubious about the benefits at first— Nicholas was an S-ranked adventurer, so how much could the Arcane Archsorcerer truly have helped him? But the benefits later on proved to be quite… substantive.

Still, he had hoped to keep this ‘assassination’ discreet. His plan was to use his [Noble Charms] to sway the Noele to follow him and join his team. It was an incredibly effective Skill— he had used it many times in the past to seduce any woman he so desired. Once, he had even spent a passionate night with a [Bandit Lady] and convinced her to give up her ways and turn in her men to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Of course, while Nicholas had promised that he would never turn her in to the authorities, he obviously lied. When she found out he had tricked her, she was upset at first. But he still managed to convince her that he was left with no other choice, and that he would do everything in his power to free her from her unfair incarceration.

That had been a decade ago, and she was still waiting for him to visit till this day.

What a fool, Nicholas snickered at that memory. So he had a lot of trust in his [Noble Charms]. Or at least, he had a reason to believe it would have worked on the Noble Spellsword.

He had planned to bring her away from Wolfwater, using the pretense of recruiting her to his team of S-ranked adventurers. While he didn’t actually have a team, considering both Kale and Sienna were other pupils of Ammon— in fact, they weren’t even S-ranks either— he still believed his reputation and his [Noble Charms] would have been enough to make things work out swimmingly.

But somehow, that had failed. And when it did, he decided to toss aside all discretion and simply kill Noele.

Wasting his time trying to talk to her was proving too much trouble, and he was tired of their conversations. So he stabbed her in the back, leaving her for dead. He shook his head as he sheathed his rapier.

“Kale, Sienna,” he called out to his fellow pupils of the Arcane Archsorcerer. “Did you clear the area?”

Kale scoffed, guesting at the empty road. “Do you see anyone around here?”

“I disposed of all potential witnesses,” Sienna replied coldly. She sheathed a bloodied dagger. “There is no human alive within the vicinity of the premises.”

“Good,” Nicholas said, taking a step away from Noele’s bleeding body. His eyes flickered as he looked down at her. “And what about the Steel Tank?”

Sienna shook her head. “Unknown.”

“He ran away after a bit of light teasing,” Kale said with a shrug. “He won’t be a problem. Let’s just get out of here.”

“It would be a problem if he suspects something once he realizes his friend is… missing,” Nicholas replied, glancing at Noele’s bleeding body. “We need to dispose of him too.”

Kale sighed as he reached for the large tome strapped around his back. “It’s probably easier to convince him that she left the village with us… but I didn’t like him, anyway. He had terrible tastes. So this will be much more fun.”

He grinned, and Nicholas nodded. The Noble knight turned back to Sienna.

“And dispose of this body.” The Noble Knight gestured at the blonde girl lying behind him. “I don’t want anyone—”

But before he could finish, a white blur shot past him, followed by a frantic clucking.

“Bawk bawk bawk!”

Nicholas blinked a few times, almost stumbling back. He felt the gust of wind sweep over him a moment later, before he looked back up to see that Noele’s bleeding body was gone. He looked at the puddle of blood, before glancing back at Sienna.

Her typically stoic demeanor had broken, and she was wearing just as quizzical of a face as he was.

“What… what was that?” Nicholas asked, utterly befuddled.

It was Kale who spoke up, raising a hand. “I believe that that was a chicken.”

“A chicken?” The Noble Knight just stared at his companion, at a loss for words.

Kale nodded, munching on another malim fruit. “And by the looks of it, it’s getting away…”

—--

Bucky didn’t trust them. From the very first moment they showed up, she knew she didn’t trust them. Unfortunately, she couldn’t speak, and no one ever listened to her when she squawked in terror.

At most, they’d try to placate her with food— which did work, because she liked to eat. And it distracted her long enough for her to forget about her distrust of those three smelly humies that entered her habitat. By the time she remembered to worry about it, Noele was gone, and so were they.

She made a fuss, and unfortunately, neither Harlan nor Arthur got what she meant. So she ran out. And by the time she found Noele, it was too late. The blonde human was lying on the dirt road, bleeding out and surrounded by the three smelly humies.

Bucky immediately acted, of course. Even though she knew it was dangerous, she wasn’t one to shy away from such situations. She dashed forward, grabbed Noele, and escaped into the trees.

While the chicken wasn’t the strongest, and she certainly didn’t know any magic, she was incredibly fast. So even if she could neither save Noele nor fend off those three smelly humies, she was confident in her ability to escape.

Or so she thought.

Bucky dashed around a thicket of trees, carrying Noele on her back, when she heard a sharp whistling approaching her from behind. She turned around just in time to see a whizzing arrow flying straight for her head. She leapt to the side as the projectile struck the ground and exploded.

The blast ripped apart the nearby trees, sending a shockwave across the ground. Bucky stumbled for a moment, before sprinting full speed forward.

That was close— the thought crossed her mind.

But a moment later, she heard more whistlings coming for her. And she spotted a figure leaping across the treetop. One of the three humies— the only lady amongst them— loosed a flurry of arrows at the chicken.

Bucky cursed as she danced around the litany of explosions unfurling around her.

“Bawk bawk bawk bawk!” she cursed.

That translated to, “Fuck off, you humie scum!” in chicken.

Unfortunately, her words fell on deaf’s ears as Bucky watched the humie pulled out a glinting arrow. The chicken’s eyes went wide, and the arrow was unleashed a second later. There was a chittering in the air. Like the screams of a thousand birds.

And Bucky’s body blurred as she flapped her wings. [Eagle’s Flight].

All at once, she shot into the air, flying high into the sky. Beneath her, the ground erupted into a massive explosion of ice. Everything in a hundred feet was frozen in an instant. Every insect and every animal turned into an ice statue.

The humie with the bow landed amongst the frozen landscape, looking up as Bucky flew away. The chicken still clung onto Noele, but there was nothing the humie could do about it.

Until a giant magic circle flashed in the sky. Bucky blinked, before her wings grew heavy. All at once, she came crashed into the ground with Noele, unable to fly any longer.

“Bawk bawk!”

Bucky landed with a loud squawk. Her face smashed against the icy floor, and Noele fell a moment after with a thud. The chicken looked up, trying to get back to her feet. But she could hardly even move. Whatever this spell was was keeping her down.

She heard the crunching of heavy footsteps on ice. The fat humie emerged from behind a frozen thicket, holding his book out. He licked his fingers as he stared at Bucky.

“Caught ya.” He grinned.

And behind him, the humie with the bow and the blond human stepped forward. They approached both Noele and Bucky as the two lay there helplessly.

“I want to eat the chicken,” the fat humie said, looking at Bucky.

Her feathers stood on end at that comment. Especially when the blond man nodded.

“Roast it alive,” he snickered as he unsheathed his rapier. “Make that chicken suffer for getting in our way.”

Bucky clenched her beak together as she mustered up the strength to get up. She raised her two wings, taking a defensive stance as she faced down the three humies. They looked mockingly at her, and she hesitated for a moment.

But there was nothing else she could do. She couldn’t run. All she could do was fight. So she readied herself for battle, even as the three humies stood menacingly across from her.

And a voice called out, interrupting their tense face-off.

“What is… going on here?” a man asked.

Bucky recognized the voice immediately. But the three humies did not. They turned around, facing a man standing between the frozen trees. He was dressed in a simple leather tunic with an apron tied around his waist. A splash of wine stained his shirt, and his face was drenched in sweat.

He blinked as he stared at Noele’s bleeding body, before looking at Bucky.

“Another interruption?” the blond humie said with a frown. “But this time, it’s just the [Bartender].”

Arthur blinked, looking back at the three humies with wide eyes. “You… did you guys do this? But why?”

It was a simple question. One which the blond man didn’t care to answer. He waved a hand dismissively at his two comrades, turning back to face Noele.

“Deal with this pest,” he said simply.

The humie with the bow nodded and drew her dagger. She walked up to Arthur as he backed away.

“How could you do this?” the bartender exclaimed, clenching his fist. “Why would you hurt them?”

And… fzzt. Bucky narrowed her eyes. She thought she saw a flicker of something run through Arthur’s hands. But her gaze snapped back to the blond humie as he drew closer.

“By the end of this, we’re going to have to massacre everyone in this town, huh?” he sighed, rubbing his temples. He stepped up to Bucky, raising his rapier. “Well, it is what it is—”

BOOM!

There was a flash of blinding light. A powerful shockwave washed across the frozen landscape, ripping apart the ice. The spell circle hovering in the sky was shattered, and Bucky felt the weight on her back vanish. She blinked as the blond humie stumbled forward.

He spun around with a scowl, staring back at Arthur. “What the fuck was— that…?”

His eyes went round when he saw the humie with a bow lying there in a crater, a charred corpse. He looked back towards Arthur as Bucky also stared in confusion.

“Bawk… bawk… bawk?” she asked. That translated to, “What… the… fuck?”

Arthur floated there, his body crackling with electricity. His eyes were burning with a purple flame. His skin was burning, and he cast a glare towards the two remaining humies standing there.

“You… you…”

Arthur pointed at the fat humie as the world was lit alight, and a massive lightning bolt shot shot down from the sky.

“Monsters!”