If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties - Chapter 72

* * *

Whoosh, Thunk—

 

When Leonhart saw the hitmen that collapsed to the ground had an arrow in the middle of their foreheads, he turned around immediately.

 

Behind him, Dooha was calmly ending the hitmen that he’d missed.

 

‘Indeed, it’s a waste to have him escort Daniel.’

 

Leonhart mercilessly sliced off the neck of another hitman that rushed at him.

 

Thoughts about letting him become the duchess’ escort when they returned to the ducal castle crossed his mind.

 

‘Claude can’t remain assigned in that position, and a fellow countryman would be more comfortable.’

 

He swung the sword again, believing that he came up with a rather decent idea.

 

Meanwhile, unaware that her husband was planning to use her as her own escort, Dooha shot arrows diligently.

 

“Ah.”

 

She then realised that there weren’t any more arrows left in her quiver.

 

The hitmen didn’t miss Dooha’s momentary pause.

 

An oddly curved blade flew in towards her side.

 

But the blade that was aimed for Dooha fell to the ground along with its owner.

 

Dooha looked upwards at the person that was pulling her wrist with an astonished gaze.

 

With a frown painted on his features, Leonhart was holding a sword.

 

“Where do you think you’re relaxing your guard at?”

 

He noted the empty quiver and clicked his tongue.

 

“Stay back if you don’t have a weapon. Now that there are only a few remaining…”

 

Before the duke finished speaking.

 

Dooha reached an arm towards the side of his left ear.

 

Before Leonhart knew it, a sharp dagger the length of a man’s forearm appeared in the escort’s hand.

 

Dooha batted away the iron chain that was aimed at the back of the duke’s head with her dagger and replied.

 

“I have weapons if you’re talking about that.”

 

Unlike the slightly disordered breathing, the voice he heard was firm and clear.

 

At the sight of those eyes twinkling strangely under the dim light of dawn, Leonhart closed his mouth.

 

“…I see.”

 

He gave a brief answer and turned away.

 

“Don’t let your guard down.”

 

Instead of responding, Dooha turned her back towards him.

 

A dozen hitmen were all that remained.

 

It seemed like the situation would end if they kept up at it.

 

Dooha inhaled deeply and tightened her grip on the dagger.

 

The next moment, both of them darted forward at the same time.

 

As though they had timed it in advance.

 

* * *

 

As the sun slowly began to rise above the mountain ridge.

 

Leonhart raised his head from his position on the cliff at the end of the valley.

 

He slowly straightened up with his sword stabbed in the ground.

 

He, who was covered in blood and dust, watched the dawning sky and turned around.

 

The hitmen’ bodies were scattered all over the place.

 

That’s right. He managed to get rid of all those hitmen.

 

Of course, he had the help of an ally.

 

“Hey.”

 

Leonhart called the escort, who was sitting in a corner.

 

Unlike the duke, the escort didn’t have the strength to stand and was spread out on the ground like wet cotton.

 

“Are you alive?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“Well then, that’s fine.”

 

Leonhart pulled out his sword somewhat falteringly and sheathed it.

 

“As long as you’re still alive.”

 

On the other hand, Dooha, who has yet to give up on her disguise as an escort, gave the Duke a look of awe as he moved towards some direction.

 

‘Is he truly a human being like me?’

 

She recalled the situation a while ago.

 

Although she was able to stand against the hitmen with a dagger pretty decently, Dooha lost her knife in the midst of the battle.

 

On top of that, she was immediately surrounded by the hitmen as soon as she lost her final remaining weapon.

 

Leonhart ended up having to deal with a dozen people in an instant on her behalf.

 

Even though he must have already exceeded the limits of his physical and mental strength, his hands didn’t hesitate or waver.

 

After finally cutting off the heads of all the hitmen, Leonhart remained in the same place for a while.

 

Now, Dooha seemed to understand why people had so much trust and praise for the Duke.

 

‘In comparison, I’m…’

 

Was it because it had been a long time since she held a bow and wielded a sword?

 

Both of her hands trembled.

 

Dooha looked down at the red skin of her palms and bit on her lip.

 

She came here to help, but she didn’t seem to have been of much help, so her pride was hurt.

 

Didn’t the duke save her life at a critical juncture?

 

‘What else can someone like you do?’

 

It was as though she could hear the mocking voice of her eldest brother, whom she had left behind in Bashal, all the way here.

 

“My Lord—!”

 

Then, a voice that was rather welcomed came from the bushes.

 

It was Baron and the knights that he led. The soldiers that were lucky enough to survive followed behind them.

 

It seemed like they had defended themselves well, seeing how quite a number survived despite being attacked by that many monsters at once.

 

“Are you alright, my Lord?”

 

Baron was slightly startled at the sight of the bodies of the hitmen and ran towards the Duke immediately.

 

Leonhart was crouching beside the pile of corpses. He rose to his feet.

 

“You took longer than I thought…”

 

He frowned as soon as he saw that Daniel was slung over Baron’s back.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“There were numerous monsters, such that relying on our power alone wasn’t enough. As such, Lord Daniel used too much magic.”

 

Just as an entire pack of monsters attacked the campsite.

 

Daniel asked Baron to buy him five minutes, and fell unconscious immediately after using flame magic to burn the entire area bordering the campsite.

 

It was because his originally weak body was unable to bear the fatigue accumulated from yesterday’s overexertion.

 

“Lord Daniel!”

 

At that moment, Dooha spotted Daniel and rushed over.

 

It was quite speedy for someone that had been stretched out on the ground like she didn’t have any energy to get up.

 

She received Daniel from Baron and laid him down on a sunlit ground.

 

Leonhart’s eyes became slightly distorted at the way the escort examined for injuries cautiously, but that was all.

 

“…How irksome.”

 

He turned his head after clicking his tongue at the sight of his cousin sagging downwards like a corpse.

 

Normally, the duke would have rebuked him even further, but it seems like today was an exception.

 

“Rather than that, my Lord, what happened with all these guys?”

 

After finally regaining his freedom, Baron asked as he looked around the bodies of the hitmen that were scattered everywhere.

 

“Weren’t you following Count Jive? The Count had undoubtedly led our soldiers away…”

 

“They are the hitmen that were hired to kill me.”

 

“What?”

 

Baron’s eyes widened greatly at the Duke’s answer.

 

“What does that mean? Are you saying that Count Jive tried to assassinate you, my Lord?”

 

“It’s something similar, but that’s not the right answer. It’s a long story…”

 

With an expressionless face, Leonhart pressed a foot downwards gently.

 

“K—keughhh!”

 

A pained cry rang out from underneath his feet.

 

Startled, Baron became even more astonished as soon as he looked downwards.

 

With a tear in the side of his mouth, Count Jive was sprawled on the ground like a frog and cried.

 

“Keu, keuugh, D—Duke, I don’t know! I really didn’t know—!”

 

The count begged piteously while holding Leonhart’s ankle, but it was to no avail.

 

“Don’t you think it’s too late for you to say that, Count?”

 

“Keughh!”

 

“Unfortunately, all the hitmen have died, so you are the only one that can be interrogated.”

 

Leonhart looked down at him coldly and gave a signal to the knights through his eyes.

 

“Duke, I was wrong! I, I really didn’t know—!”

 

The knights stuffed a cloth into the struggling Count Jive’s mouth and tied him up with leather straps.

 

They dragged the count, who was trying to resist, backwards.

 

If it weren’t for the crafty voice that suddenly rang out.

 

“Truly, I’d like to applaud you.”

 

Leonhart turned his head around slowly.

 

A figure in a black cape stood behind the knights that had captured the count.

 

Yellowed teeth were visible underneath the deep hood that covered his nose.

 

“I seem to have underestimated the knights’ presence. My apologies.”

 

It was a familiar voice, along with a familiar tone.

 

Leonhart’s eyes gradually widened.

 

“You…”

 

“You might have forgotten that there were three wizards that followed you here.”

 

Although his attire and physique were different, the wizard before his eyes was definitely that wizard.

 

The wizard that wore a dark green cloak, the one that tried to kill the duke.

 

“Lord Daniel, who’s over there, as well as my clone, whom the Duke has killed.”

 

The wizard chuckled and pointed at his own body.

 

“As well as another of my clones.”

 

Leonhart drew his sword immediately.

 

When their Lord drew his sword, the knights also drew theirs and rushed towards the wizard.

 

The wizard shook his head like he knew this would happen.

 

“I’d also figured that the Duke would have such thoughts.”

 

You’d actually managed to figure that out?

 

Leonhart frowned silently.

 

“It’s a pity to end things like this.”

 

The wizard forced Count Jive onto his feet and took out something.

 

It was the mana stone that he’d extracted from the werewolf.

 

“Now then, let’s test the luck of everyone that’s present, shall we?”

 

The wizard’s voice was raised, like he was very much delighted, and began drawing out the remaining mana in the mana stone.

 

“What are you all doing! Stop him right now—!”

 

Baron belatedly gave the knights an order, but they were unable to do anything.

 

It is because the flow of magic surrounding the wizard didn’t allow anything to approach him.

 

Rumble—

 

Following which, the ground began to shake violently, like an earthquake was occurring.

 

“What is this…”

 

“Stay your ground! Don’t move!”

 

The earthquake, which made everyone nervous, didn’t have any intention of stopping.

 

Not long after, cracks of various sizes began to form on the ground that they were standing on.

 

Crack—

 

Eventually, a portion of the cliff at the end of the valley wasn’t able to withstand the impact and began to tilt down the precipice.

 

The duke, Daniel and Dooha were standing there, of all things.

 

“My Lord!”

 

Baron thrust his sword into the portion of the ground that had yet to collapse and stretched his arm towards his master.

 

However, instead of grabbing his lieutenant’s hand, Leonhart pushed the unconscious Daniel, as well as his escort, towards him first.

 

Thanks to that, the both of them were able to safely escape the cliff that’s about to collapse.

 

Baron’s eyes shook as he caught them instead of his lord.

 

“My Lord!”

 

This was because the location that the duke was standing on dropped down the precipice.

 

As his figure dropped downwards suddenly, the knights’ faces turned white.

 

Nevertheless, none of them could move easily.

 

This is because the crack that began at the end of the cliff started to spread towards the knights’ location.

 

With a single careless move, everyone could fall down the precipice and become cruelly killed.

 

However, even when everyone hesitated, there was a person that flung caution to the winds and dashed out.

 

“You—”

 

After he ascertained the identity of the one that grabbed his arm, Leonhart was rendered speechless.

 

It was none other than Daniel’s escort who’d caught him.

 

The escort was lying flat on the ground that had yet to collapse and used both hands to support one of the duke’s arms.

* * *