The Crown Prince Who Raises a Side Character-Chapter 76: Phantom Thief Dauphin (20). The Roar of Victory

The Knights of Sarnos were powerful.

They were skilled in the art of killing as knights.

Though their bodies retained human form, once enhanced with magic, they exhibited power rivaling that of wild beasts.

Their equipment was magically reinforced, pushing their already formidable attack and defense capabilities to the extreme.

—And yet, all that power meant absolutely nothing before Dahlia.

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Dahlia’s stance as she faced the knights was strange.

She held a spear that was normally meant to be gripped with both hands using only one, and even then, she gripped it near the very end of the shaft, not its center.

To someone familiar with spear techniques, Dahlia’s form would’ve looked sloppy—crude, even.

Wielding a spear that way might expand one’s attack range, but it also made it virtually impossible to put proper force into the strike.

At best, the shaft might just lightly bump the enemy.

You couldn’t expect a proper hit—if anything, it’d be a miracle if your wrist didn’t shatter from the recoil. That’s how foolish the technique appeared.

“Gaaahh!”

And yet, the knights of Sarnos, who had to face that foolishness head-on, couldn’t laugh at her.

This wasn’t about battlefield etiquette or anything so refined—it was simply that they were dying like insects to those clumsy attacks.

Just a tap from the spear shaft?

That single tap was enough to pulp flesh, shatter bones, and liquefy internal organs—what were they supposed to do?

It was like getting hit by a speeding carriage.

Sure, it was just an arm taking the brunt of it instead of the whole body, which might slightly lessen the impact, but the area of impact was still utterly destroyed—and anything connected to it wasn’t going to come out unharmed either.

Defense meant nothing.

Try blocking with a sword, and the sword snapped. Try absorbing it with armor, and the armor crumpled. Even with magical reinforcement, it made no difference.

But more than Dahlia’s terrifying brute strength, what truly plunged the knights into despair was something else entirely.

“Why!? Why the hell can’t we cut her with our swords?!”

The vice-captain screamed.

Even a kitchen knife swung by some housewife who’d never fought before could be deadly to an ordinary person.

A blow from a fourth-tier knight, then, could easily split solid stone.

And yet, Dahlia, taking those attacks head-on, remained entirely unscathed.

Even when a knight hurled all his weight into a shoulder strike or stabbed her full-force in the back, none of it did anything. Not even a scratch. Her skin simply absorbed the blows.

“This is... this is ridiculous...!”

If someone was covered in thick armor, you could go for the gaps.

If they defended well, you could use coordinated attacks to break their guard.

But when your enemy didn’t even try to defend, ignored everything you did, and still didn’t get hurt—what then?

—Does that mean a fourth-tier knight who emits aura, or a first-tier farmer picking up a blade for the first time... they’re all the same to this woman!?

The knights of Sarnos were strong.

Against normal soldiers, one could fight ten at once and win. Hit-and-run tactics could allow them to take on a hundred.

But if their enemies numbered in the thousands, even farmers could pose a threat—because humans have limits to stamina, magic, and focus. A stray arrow or lucky strike could still wound them.

Even their captain—a fifth-tier powerhouse—wasn’t immune to this.

Aura was immensely powerful, but also incredibly draining.

But Dahlia was different.

She didn’t need to consider the enemy’s numbers.

For her, magical enhancement was less a technique and more a passive state—like breathing. Unless she deliberately shut it off, she could maintain it for an entire year without effort.

Even if the enemy numbered not in hundreds or thousands, but tens of thousands—so long as none of them were fifth-tier or higher, she could annihilate them all without so much as a scratch.

"One can't defeat many"—her very existence denied that truth.

And terrifyingly, this power had nothing to do with her trained spear techniques. It was simply something she was born with—something that had always been there, developing naturally over time.

That’s why Dahlia had always restrained herself, more than anyone else.

Even if something pissed her off, even if she wanted to tear everything apart—she strictly followed discipline and law.

She endured, even when people mocked her for being dull or scolded her for being slow.

Because if someone like her, born with overwhelming strength, started using that power on a whim, it would be a disaster.

Because even actions she believed were “right” might, in the end, bring misery to even more people.

Because—just as her father once said—this power wasn’t meant to harm others, but to protect.

“...Even so, you crossed the line. And I know that holding back now would be wrong!!”

Every time Dahlia’s spear swept through the air, the cherished knights of House Sarnos were ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ scattered like fallen leaves.

Normally, even against criminals, she’d restrain her strength—but these men, who had tried to carry out a massacre on civilians, received no such mercy.

In front of someone who shattered the power they had spent their entire lives honing—simply by existing—the knights of Sarnos shrank back in fear.

It was hard to believe these were the same men who stood so proudly when threatening the people.

“Step aside! I’ll handle this!”

Sensing his subordinates’ hesitation, the knight captain leapt forward.

He knew that if Dahlia was allowed to continue, morale would collapse beyond repair. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

If aura couldn’t cut her, then he’d just use blade force instead.

That’s what he thought as he moved to face her.

But he never got the chance.

“Have you forgotten me? That’s rather disappointing!”

Dauphin.

The very man who started all this blocked the captain’s path.

Dauphin looked anything but fine.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

His right arm was gone beneath the shoulder, blood pouring nonstop from the severed stump.

His face was pale, his legs trembling—he looked like someone who might drop dead at any moment.

And yet, there was that same cheeky, confident smile on his face. His eyes still burned with fire.

The knight captain snarled.

“A dying thief who can only flap his mouth!!”

He was sure of his victory.

Even when Dauphin had all four limbs, he hadn’t been able to withstand the captain’s attacks.

Now, barely able to stand, what hope did he have?

“Fair enough. I won’t deny it. Whatever your morals, your strength is somewhat worth acknowledging.”

Dauphin couldn’t defeat the captain.

But that didn’t mean he was out of options.

“Tell me, have you forgotten? I’m no honorable knight who fights fair—I’m a dirty, despicable phantom thief!”

With that, Dauphin lifted something in his remaining hand—a small gem-like object.

The captain flinched and began frantically searching his own robes.

“When did you—?!”

It was the magical device containing the spells of amplification and broadcast—the very one he’d used to intimidate the entire city.

Now, smoothly stolen by Dauphin’s expert hands, it activated in an instant as he shouted:

《Citizens of Lebruk! I, Dauphin, have something to ask you—please, I beg of you to answer! ─Are you not angry?!》

Silence fell.

Not because they ignored Dauphin's words, but because they were listening—intently.

《They call you criminals! They say you conspired with me! That cooperating with me deserves death! But is that truly so? Did you really cooperate with me? Of course not! How could you? I’ve never even accepted collaborators! How can I have accomplices if I never let anyone work with me?!》

Realizing what Dauphin was trying to do, the knight captain charged at him.

Dodging a murderous blow by a hair’s breadth, Dauphin kept speaking.

《You committed no crime—yet they call you criminals!》

《You merely cried out in injustice—yet they call you criminals!》

《You only struggled to survive, day after day—yet they call you criminals!》

《You lost your families, lost your friends, suffered endlessly and cried out in pain—yet they call you criminals!》

《“You annoy me—so die!” “You’re interfering with my plans—so die!” “Your petty circumstances mean nothing next to our grand ambitions—so shut up and die!”》

Someone clenched a trembling fist.

Someone else burst into tears, overwhelmed by rising emotion.

Another began to shake, recalling the past.

《Haven’t you endured enough!? Haven’t you waited long enough!? How many disgraceful scenes have they shown you, refusing to admit their wrongs and trying to crush everything with brute force? Are you really still going to say “Not yet”?》

《Do you truly believe that if you sit and wait, I will solve all your problems for you? That if you rely on that guardswoman over there, everything will magically work out? Will you go on waiting forever, hoping someone else will fix everything for you?》

《If anyone truly thinks that... then let me say this—don’t spout nonsense! Even hand-feeding has its limits!》

If you have complaints, speak them with your own mouth.

If you feel anger, rise with your own legs.

If you want something, seize it with your own hands.

“Shut your damn mouth!!”

Slaaash!

The knight captain’s sword tore through Dauphin’s body in a brutal diagonal cut from shoulder to shin, blood spraying in a violent arc.

The broadcasting artifact dropped from Dauphin’s hand, and the captain stomped on it, grinding it into shards as if to vent his rage.

“You think anything you said would move that trash!? Those ignorant weaklings, who can do nothing but beg and rely on others—you think a few of your pathetic words will give them courage!? What a ridiculous delusion!!”

To that, Dauphin replied.

“Yeah... you're not wrong. A few words from me, on their own, probably don’t carry much weight. Maybe it’s like adding a single drop of water to a cup.”

“Then why—”

“But what if... that cup was already full to the brim?”

The knight captain froze.

Even in his dying state, Dauphin spoke with unwavering certainty—enough to spark an instinctive sense of dread.

“It was you who filled that cup. All I did... was add the final drop.”

Only then did the captain look around.

The guards.

Lebruk’s other military force had completely encircled the knights, fully armed.

And behind them, a sea of citizens—thousands upon thousands—stood with burning fire in their eyes.

“W-what...”

Trainee knights, squires, and surviving rank-and-file all began backing away, huddling together.

Normally, the captain would have berated them for such disgrace against mere commoners—but this time, he said nothing.

His back was drenched in cold sweat.

Even if he was the strongest knight in all of Birka, there was no way he could win against such numbers.

The one guard who might be able to stop them—was not an ally. She was their deadliest enemy.

Could he escape if he found a gap in the formation? Possibly. But to do so would mean abandoning every last shred of the knight order’s honor.

And so, only one option remained.

“Y-you bastards! Have you lost your minds!? Our knight order is the very symbol of House Sarnos! If you lay a hand on us, the Count will never let this go!!”

A threat, backed by noble power.

A pitiful, cowardly tactic, especially from someone so used to swaggering and posturing—but still, it could be effective.

If only—

“Shut the hell up, you piece of shit.”

He had forgotten that Dahlia was standing right beside him.

Trying to intimidate the crowd in her presence? It was nothing short of idiocy.

Then again, maybe this was part of Dauphin’s plan all along—to redirect attention just enough.

SMAAAACK!

Dahlia’s strike landed like a thunderbolt, slamming the captain into the dirt.

He barely avoided a fatal wound by reflexively coating himself in aura, but once his stance collapsed, there was no room for a counterattack.

Because Dahlia had already seized his ankle—and with that, she hurled him into the ground.

KWAAM!

KWAAANG!

KWAAAAAAAAANG!

Three direct ground-shaking slams.

The force created craters large enough to bury a grown man whole.

And Dahlia, having smashed the twisted, mangled wreck of a man she’d turned into a human flail, let his limp body drop to the ground.

Then she turned to the remaining knights and said, flatly:

“Wanna keep going? Or surrender?”

No one needed to be told twice.

They dropped their heads to the ground in unison, begging for their lives.

And with that, the crowd erupted in a victorious roar.

Loud. Long.

A roar that would echo not just through Lebruk—but through all of House Sarnos.