IMHME 12

Chapter 12

The Ghost of the Marsh (2)

“There’s only one set path you can take into the marsh.”

Gleam drew crude lines across the ground with the tip of his sword.

“It looks wide, but there aren’t many places where there’s solid ground. Most of it is water.”

“So we have to avoid all those pools and head straight to the center of the marsh?”

“That’s right.”

“Having a large group doesn’t really help here, Miss. It’s so narrow. If we’re ambushed, it’s over instantly.”

“There aren’t many places suitable for an ambush either. Unless they’re using bows or guns.”

“It’s like a snake.”

Lruie also traced the ground in the same way. Unlike Gleam, however, she didn’t use her beloved gun recklessly, instead picking up a random branch.

“Slithering through the grass, winding and twisting.”

“There are no snakes here.”

Gleam replied curtly.

“But there are plenty of monsters. Once you reach the marsh, there are spots firm enough to stand on, and that’s exactly where they live. They prey on people who let their guard down.”

“That’s not a problem.”

Lruie actually looked pleased.

“I’ll go in front.”

“That’s exactly why I’m explaining all this right now.”

Gleam squatted down roughly. As if driving in stakes, he jabbed the scabbard down again and again onto his terrible sketch in the dirt.

“I’m going first. Put a few usable knights behind me.”

“I’m the most useful one here.”

“Usable knights!”

Gleam shouted, completely ignoring Lruie. Lruie, in turn, ignored him just as thoroughly, stood up, and charged straight toward the marsh.

‘This is driving me insane.’

Angry at himself for not being able to let it go, Gleam swung the scabbard he was holding.

Smack!

“Ow?”

Lruie’s eyebrow shot up as she was struck on the ankle. Gleam snapped irritably,

“The ground!”

Lruie, one leg folded like a flamingo, looked down.

As Gleam demonstratively shoved aside the tall grass with his hand, a black pool bubbling ominously came into view.

Still resting one leg on Gleam’s scabbard, Lruie stomped down hard with her other foot. Her sudden shift in weight sent Gleam pitching forward, face-first into the mud.

“Pffbt!”

“Hahaha, you idiot!”

“You little—!”

Gleam trembled as he stopped himself just short of instinctively grabbing Lruie’s ankle and yanking her down with him. Lruie was holding out her calf slightly, her face brimming with excitement.

Even without any impure thoughts on Gleam’s part, that expression alone looked like it could trigger their engagement oath.

‘I’m really going to lose it.’

With a deeply creased expression, Gleam slapped her leg away.

“Do you really have to test things like that?”

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“Enough. I’m not turning back even if you stop following.”

In the end, Gleam gave up on persuading Lruie and strode into the marsh. Naturally, Lruie immediately followed, stepping into his footprints. The rest of the group did the same.

“Wait, Miss! What about me—!”

“You follow from the back.”

“There’s a limit to wanting to come along. This is dangerous.”

Moss, who had hurried to follow, was pushed far back in the order.

Lruie had her gun, knights, and mages—all of them focused solely on protecting her—so position hardly mattered. But Moss was different. He couldn’t fight at all.

He stood at the very rear until everyone else had entered, then followed with a miserable expression.

The marsh was a complete maze, with tall grass growing so thick it was impossible to tell front from back or left from right.

It was hard to believe how Gleam could step only on solid ground without sinking into the mud even once.

Meanwhile, those following him had already misstepped several times, their toes squelching wetly.

‘Is it some kind of magic?’

Since he already possessed a holy relic, Lruie figured she wouldn’t be too surprised if he had a magical tool as well. But the closer they got to the marsh’s center, the less Gleam spoke, until he stopped talking altogether.

If she hadn’t shoved him into the mud earlier, she might not even have recognized him as the same person.

Lruie noticed the faint smear of mud still left on Gleam’s cheek.

‘I thought he was just a mercenary who didn’t know much about me, but earlier he stopped almost as quickly as the capital folk do.’

Plenty of people, even when they knew better, got burned by touching Lruie when they got carried away. Was Gleam’s reflexes that good? Or…

‘Is he fearless?’

Lruie gazed at the back of Gleam’s head with interest, letting her imagination run wild. With such a wild appearance, he looked like the sort who could deliberately seduce a married woman and still never fail—making her all the more curious.

Surely he had a story he couldn’t tell others. She wanted to hear it.

“This is it.”

Unaware of what Lruie was imagining, Gleam stopped.

The black marsh they had arrived at was almost as large as a lake.

Lruie’s group approached, murmuring.

“It really feels eerie, like a ghost might appear.”

“What’s that?”

“How did it get stuck like that?”

Lruie muttered.

In the center of the marsh was an overturned carriage, stuck upside down.

Normally, if a carriage took a wrong turn and sank, it would settle sideways, its wheels submerged. But this one was tilted diagonally, as if someone had slammed it in upside down, the rear wheels lifted toward the sky.

As if a giant had picked it up and hurled it down.

The broken rear wheel creaked and slowly turned as the wind blew.

“The wheel’s moving.”

“What did you say, Miss?”

“Wait! Look over there!”

A shadow appeared atop the carriage, where there had been nothing moments before.

The hazy silhouette gradually solidified, taking the form of an adult man.

Lruie’s eyes, trained for sniping, instantly recognized him.

Black hair. Green eyes.

A beautiful man of noble birth looked back at the group with sorrowful eyes.

Lruie’s throat tightened.

“Joshua?”

“Fall back!”

Splash!

Giant tentacles surged up from the marsh.

Gleam, who had been watching the swamp rather than the carriage, reacted a split second faster.

Slash!

A blade arrived at the perfect moment, slicing past a tentacle.

The tentacles rising from the marsh were nearly as thick as tree trunks and violently aggressive.

Purple, thorn-covered appendages lashed wildly toward the nearby humans.

The knights immediately drew their weapons and rushed in. Gleam shouted a warning.

“Don’t clash with them! They’ll steal them!”

“Huh?!”

“Be careful!”

The tentacles wrapped around spears and swords as if they had intelligence, wrenching them away. It was grotesque enough to snap Lruie out of the spell of Joshua’s apparition.

“So that’s how it works!”

Realizing how the carriage had been embedded, Lruie exclaimed in admiration and leapt backward to avoid a tentacle coiling toward her.

“Catsby!”

“Yes!”

Already in motion, Catsby deftly tossed her a gun.

Lruie caught it with such ease it was as if she had already calculated the timing while merely watching.

The preloaded gun fired in less than a second.

Bang!

The tentacle, which had only faced close-range weapons until now, trembled as if startled.

A nauseating foam burst from the tentacle where the bullet struck.

“!”

“Idiot! That won’t be enough!”

Gleam shouted.

Instead of collapsing, the tentacles surged toward Lruie.

Gleam and the knights all threw themselves forward, blocking the way like human shields. Catsby darted around with unbelievable agility, weaving between tentacles and people alike as she delivered guns. Thanks to her, Lruie could focus solely on firing without hesitation.

Bang! Bang bang!

Even while using everyone else as bait, the tentacles showed no sign of weakening.

Joshua’s apparition still hovered there, unchanged.

As if he were controlling the tentacles.

‘This really irritates me.’

Frowning deeply, Lruie suddenly lowered her gun.

She aimed not at the tentacles, but at Joshua’s apparition.

“What are you doing?!”

Piiing!

The bullet missed the apparition and grazed the roof of the carriage—but that was enough.

The massive tentacles writhed as if their heart had been pierced, then swiftly crawled back into the marsh.

As though trying to protect the carriage.

When all the tentacles vanished, Joshua’s apparition disappeared along with them.

“…Haah.”

Lruie lowered her arm. Catsby and Bendham ran over, stepping over the empty guns scattered on the ground.

“Miss! Are you hurt anywhere?!”

“I’m fine.”

“Is everyone safe?”

Fortunately, no one had been dragged away by the tentacles. Once the gunfire drew their attention, most of them went berserk and focused solely on Lruie.

For someone who had never acted that way for the sake of others’ safety, Lruie fell into deep thought.

“It was really Joshua’s face.”

“What?”

“He hasn’t changed at all. He looked exactly as he grew up.”

Exactly the same as in her dreams.

Honestly, she’d expected at least some difference—but could a dream really recreate an adult Joshua with such precision?

Or was the one who created Joshua’s apparition here the same being that had made her dream of him?

Lruie’s expression grew serious—a rare sight.

The others, meanwhile, were busy making a fuss.

“Yes, I saw him too! He looked exactly like the portrait! What on earth is going on?”

“Calling it a ghost that looks just like the Crown Prince only makes it creepier, you know?”

Catsby grumbled.

“Miss, is His Highness really dead? Was that a ghost?”

“You said he wasn’t dead. Most likely, the Crown Prince is being held somewhere, or a monster stole his appearance—or is controlling it. We have to rescue him.”

“What’s at the bottom of this marsh?”

Lruie asked Gleam.