Chapter 1096: I Did Not Kill the Man, Yet He Died Because of Me
The gates of Camelot were not shattered.
Shortly after the battle began, the gates opened on their own.
The rebel forces seized the opportunity to swarm in, countless soldiers flooding into the city, surrounding the Queen's army along various roads and directions.
In an instant, smoke of gunpowder rose everywhere, with the sounds of battle and killing cries echoing throughout Camelot!
Barghest stood at the city gate.
She watched as Gudao and Artoria entered the city, while she remained alone at the gate.
The soldiers who had been with her had all laid down their equipment and weapons, taken away as prisoners by the Round Table Army. Before leaving, those people assured her of her soldiers' safety.
She stood here to block those with ulterior motives.
Such as Aurora, whose ill intentions were obvious at a glance.
"Is this your choice?"
A ghost-like figure appeared silently behind her.
Barghest trembled.
Then, she slowly sighed and turned around as if resigned to her fate.
"Yes."
"You don't seem like someone who would betray so easily."
"Anyone is capable of betrayal—it just depends on whether the benefits meet the standard. Pan-Human History offered me terms I couldn't refuse."
"What terms?"
"They can help with immigration—up to five hundred fairies—to migrate to Pan-Human History."
Barghest's expression was resolute.
Not a trace of regret could be seen on her face.
Tell me, do I have any room to refuse?
She seemed to be asking this question.
"I see."
Upon hearing this, the person nodded in admiration.
"You truly seem more like an official who serves the country and its people. In comparison, the Queen is unusually cold and ruthless."
Though this was under the premise of not fully understanding.
But to ordinary people, Barghest's approach was probably the correct one.
Even he couldn't find fault with it.
Perhaps even if the Queen knew, she wouldn't consider Barghest's actions as betrayal, though punishment would still be meted out.
He turned and walked into the city.
"Wait."
Seeing him turn to leave so readily, Barghest couldn't help but speak up.
"Your Highness, aren't you here to execute me?"
"Did I say that?"
Eiji asked back in surprise.
"Uh..."
Barghest was stunned.
To the Queen, betrayal was absolutely unforgivable.
So, after taking such action, she already knew she would inevitably be held accountable by the Queen.
When Eiji appeared here, she assumed the Queen had sent him to carry out the execution. She was prepared to die by Eiji's sword.
But it turned out that wasn't the case?
"I just thought it was strange how quickly this place was breached, so I came to check."
Eiji shrugged.
"If possible, I'd actually like to help some reasonable fairies immigrate, just like you. I just don't have the means."
"Besides, if something like this warrants execution, how many times would I have to die?"
It wasn't that Barghest didn't fight.
She had fought with all her strength—she just didn't allow her soldiers to participate.
Even so, even if the soldiers had joined the fight, the outcome wouldn't have changed in the slightest.
The fall of Camelot's gates was inevitable.
Before he could finish speaking, he had already vanished.
Bagster wore a puzzled expression.
What did His Highness mean by those words just now?
...
The war within the city intensified, the sounds of battle refusing to fade.
As more and more rebel soldiers poured into the city, the initial advantage the Queen's army held from familiar terrain evaporated completely. One by one, the Queen's soldiers fell beneath the rebels' blades.
The rebels gradually gained the upper hand.
In contrast, the Queen's army's morale began to plummet, with deserters already appearing.
"Open the door! Open up, let me in!"
A soldier frantically fled into the residential district.
But every household's door was tightly locked, not even a crack left for him.
All the fairies were prioritizing their own safety, each caring only for their own well-being.
Even though the rebel soldiers maintained strict discipline, not encroaching an inch upon the residents' territory, not a single fairy was willing to offer him assistance!
This was Camelot.
This was the gathering place of the upper-class fairies!
"You worthless trash! We're risking our lives to protect you, yet you don't even dare to offer shelter!"
The soldier was overcome with rage.
He drew his sword, shattered the gate with a single strike, and charged into the courtyard.
This was no isolated incident.
Similar scenes unfolded throughout Camelot, inevitably spreading the flames of war into the fairies' homes.
Eiji walked through the streets.
He witnessed these scenes unfolding before him but made no move to intervene.
Whether Queen's soldiers killed rebels or rebels killed Queen's soldiers, he paid no attention.
"Help me! Save me!"
Before long, a human appeared panic-stricken on the street.
Both his arms had been severed, leaving a trail of crimson blood behind him as he cried for help from anyone he saw.
"A fellow human?"
A human soldier from the Round Table Army noticed him and hurried over to bandage his wounds.
"How did you get so badly injured?"
"Fairies! Those fairies! They're too terrifying!"
The armless man's face was filled with terror and unease.
He buried himself in the soldier's embrace like an ostrich, the pain from his missing arms unable to snap him out of his fear of something.
The Round Table Army soldier was perplexed.
But faced with a wounded man, he had no choice but to withdraw from the front lines, escorting the armless man out of the city for treatment—such injuries would be fatal if not promptly addressed.
"Terrifying fairies?"
Eiji took note of the scene.
He found this particular incident somewhat unusual.
Because the armless man wasn't wearing rebel armor or uniform, but rather only a thin set of coarse linen clothing.
He resembled a slave more than a soldier.
Eiji pondered for a moment.
He then followed the path from which the armless man had fled.
Eventually, he stopped before a mansion, glanced at the not-yet-dried blood on the ground at the entrance, and stepped inside.
"Such a strong smell of blood?"
Eiji suddenly frowned.
This wasn't the scent of just one or two deaths—it was more like the smell that would accumulate after several, or even more than a dozen, deaths over many days!
Following the direction of the blood scent, Eiji opened the door leading to the basement.
Immediately after.
He froze in place.
In the basement, a middle-aged male fairy knelt sitting, murmuring to himself as if praying.
Not far from him.
A vast pool of blood stretched across the space.
It was filled with crimson blood, most of which had already dried. The chaotic splatters of blood droplets all around sent chills down one's spine.
Beside the blood pool lay several corpses that had been dead for a long time.
Each corpse had lost its limbs and the reproductive organs of its lower body.
Every one of them had died with eyes wide open in terror, succumbing to excessive blood loss in a state of extreme fear.
"..."
In that instant.
A violent shock struck Eiji.
"The limbs were all severed..."
No.
This is.
"Five... limbs—?!"