I Thought It Was a Fairy Tale but the Genre Is Strange - Chapter 72



71 – The Queen (3)

The atmosphere is different. My heart is pounding. I swallowed hard, staring at Alice who was radiating an ominous aura. Aside from her blood-red pupils, she didn’t seem to have changed much, but I could tell. That wasn’t the Alice I knew.

She just stood there, blankly staring into space. As if she was seeing a scene only visible to her.

“A, Alice?”

Carefully calling out her name, Alice’s head snapped around. Her blazing, crimson eyes met mine.

“!!!!”

She gave a chilling smile. Just like when we first met, when she enjoyed the slaughter searching for the white rabbit.

[The prince is calling you! What the heck are you doing!]

Ariel stood in front of me, growling low. Ariel had also sensed that the situation was seriously going south.

“Heh heh, this child has now become my blade. So you all should come into my wide embrace as well.”

The queen said, placing her hand on her chest and smiling gently. Alice was taken? Brainwashed at that? It doesn’t make sense. Alice is a girl with such a strong sense of self, she could break free from Gretel’s magic. She has gone through thick and thin, and she has shown how unfazed she is by any kind of magic.

She was brainwashed so easily by the queen’s magic? It was unbelievable. She was always a strong person to me, one of the strongest who would always pay back anyone who tried to trample on her with force and fight to the very end.

So, that Alice became the enemy? The one who had no equal except for Rapunzel.

Now she’s trying to kill me?

“Damn it, Alice! Snap out of it!”

Alice just grinned at my shout.

Ugh! Just that silent grin makes this like a horror movie! I hastily whispered into Ariel’s ear.

“What do we have to do to break Alice’s brainwash?”

[Kill the Queen]

Ariel answered softly. Her face was quite dark. The situation had turned completely around. Alice and the Queen were on the same side. We could barely handle Alice alone, and fighting the Queen on top of that is just impossible.

We have no chance. Despair creeps up my spine, strangling me.

“B-but, what is going on? Why is Alice suddenly like this…?”

Adele, who had rushed over, asked, looking back and forth between Alice and us with disbelief. I grit my teeth and answered.

“She’s been brainwashed, I think, really badly.”

“W-what!? B-but, we can still win this, right…?”

“If we combine our strength, we can do it.”

Snow White stepped beside us, drawing her sword, and said. The other dwarves also grabbed whatever weapons were lying around, joining the fight.

Ariel glanced at them, then closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. And then, as if she had made up her mind, she opened her eyes wide.

[Prince]

“Huh?”

[Run away. I’m going to cast an escape spell]

“W-wait a minute. What are you talking about? Run away?”

Ariel gave me a mournful smile and said,

[You know it too, Prince. Those things are monsters. Just that crazy b*tch Alice was already too much for us, and now we gotta deal with that old hag too? Frankly, our current power is just pathetic]

I couldn’t say anything. She was right. How could we possibly fight Alice at full strength and the queen controlling her? The damage on our side would clearly be immense.

“B-but, surely there’s some way? If we combine our strength!”

At Snow’s words, Ariel’s expression soured.

[Shut your mouth! Where do you get off talking like that? Know your place! What have *you* even done here!? We did everything! You think you can just spew that idealistic crap about joining forces? Go say that to the toilet!]

“Ah, a-ah…”

Snow couldn’t say anything, hanging her head low.

“How dare you talk to a princess like that!”

“Yeah! What do you mean we’re no help! We can do stuff when we have to!”

Ariel bared her teeth, her expression completely heated.

“Everyone shut it! Princess Ariel is a hundred percent right!”

Adel stepped forward. His shout silenced any further dissent from the dwarves. Adel clenched his fist, looking frustrated, before staring directly at Ariel and asking,

“Princess Ariel, what can we do?”

At his words, Ariel pressed her lips together for a moment before speaking.

[Protect the Prince and your princess.]

“We will with our lives. Everyone, listen up! Protect our princess and Siyu-nim!”

“Yes!”

“We will protect you no matter what!”

They surrounded us, faces tight with tension.

“Oh my~ What kind of fun conversation are you all having.”

It was the Queen who spoke, amusedly watching us. Then, Alice, who had been wearing a quietly chilling smile, slowly began to take a step forward.

I urgently asked Alice,

“Alice, how long does your escape magic take?”

[……10 minutes]

“10 minutes!? Then I’ll protect you until then.”

I gripped the scythe handle tightly, about to step forward. But something was pulling at my ankles, making it impossible to move. Looking down, I saw tentacles made of water, tightly binding both my feet.

“Ariel, what are you doing!”

[Your Highness, I’ll handle the two of them. Only I can buy time]

She said that and stepped forward. A gigantic magic circle, which I didn’t know when it appeared, was already spread out beneath our feet.

[If you leave that spot, you won’t be affected by the escape magic. You must stay still]

“Ariel, what the hell are you talking about! You’ll die like that! If you’re going to fight, it’s better if I fight with you!”

[Seriously? You against those two? Your Highness?]

Ariel snorted, as if at a loss for words.

[Your Highness. You may be the Black Reaper, but your strength is pathetic. Besides, that scythe? I was the one who gave it to you. What would you do if you didn’t even have a scythe? Were you thinking of just grabbing a weapon lying around? To be honest, your power is terrible. You could fight Rapunzel, who is even stronger than Alice, only because she was holding back. Look at those two. Even if they don’t kill us because we’re useful, they’ll quickly capture you and Snow White with their full power.]

“Even so, I’m not sending you off like this! You’ll really die like that!”

[I won’t die. I’ll get my voice back, and I’ll live happily with you]

Ariel, who had stepped forward, stopped and turned back towards me. She smiled brightly, like the sun.

[So, you must come get me and that idiot, okay?]

At that moment, a huge shadow fell over her head. It was Alice’s warhammer.

BANG!!!

“Ariel!!!”

A deafening roar erupted from where Ariel had been, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. W-where was Ariel? I frantically turned my head, searching for her.

[Is this mutt trying to bite her owner?]

Hovering in the air, Ariel was armed in a way I’d never seen before. She wore a suit of water armor, and behind her back, she commanded countless water dragons. I instantly understood that Ariel hadn’t been serious until now.

Elise just wore a chilling smile as she looked at Ariel.

*SWISH!*

The water dragons that lunged at Elise’s warhammer were pulverized. But their original form was water. No matter how much they were destroyed, they quickly reformed, and even if they lost their shape, they’d attack in another form. Their immediate goal was to trap Elise inside a water prison.

[Ugh! Just go quietly to sleep!]

Trapped in the water, Elise thrashed about. She tried to swing her warhammer, but the water’s resistance was too strong; it didn’t have enough force to break the prison.

Maybe, just maybe, Ariel could actually win this? A spark of hope flickered in my chest. If we could just subdue Elise, then maybe with my magic-slaying scythe and Ariel, we could beat the Queen. Just as I was letting hope blossom…

“Look out!!!”

From noble mtl dot com

Suddenly, Adel charged in front of me. A massive, blood-red wolf appeared before us. It opened its jaws wide, trying to swallow us whole. I could feel the hot breath of the wolf right in front of me. Drops of bloody saliva fell from above. Its teeth were already mercilessly coming down toward us.

Too, too late! Damn it, the Queen wouldn’t just sit idly by, how could I have been so stupid?!

*WHOOSH!*

At that moment, a massive spray of water rose before us, and a wall of water erupted from the ground beneath our feet, sending the blood-red wolf flying far away.

[Be careful, Your Highness!]

Ariel had even protected us.

“D-dangerous, Ariel!”

But that also meant that Ariel had left herself vulnerable. Perhaps the power of the prison that had been holding Elise weakened; Elise relentlessly swung her warhammer, shattering the prison in an instant.

[Ugh, just stay still!!!]

In response, she created dozens of water spears and hurled them at Alice, but Alice deflected them all with her mace, instantly closing the distance to Ariel.

Then, her mace slammed into Ariel’s abdomen.