From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone - Volume 7 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: An Old Country Bumpkin Becomes a Savior

“Lady Allucia Citrus and Master Beryl Gardenant, yes? Welcome to the San Gragie Cathedral.”

After we safely arrived in Sphenedyardvania’s holy capital of Dilmahakha, and I got a casual tour from Gatoga and Allucia, nothing of particular note happened until the new year. I had finally gotten the estate’s owner to understand my desire to train, and so I’d thus spent the entire time devoting myself to swordsmanship in the garden.

But now, I was at Dilmahakha’s cathedral to witness Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia’s wedding and to protect them. Even though it was a new year, it honestly didn’t really feel like it. Had I been at home, I would’ve probably held a modest celebration with Mewi, but that unfortunately wasn’t the case.

I was glad that my outlook on life had expanded greatly from my time in the narrow confines of Beaden. Still, that had also come with an increase in status and fame. It would be problematic if I had to go on more and more expeditions. In the future, I might even have to put my foot down and compromise on my presence at events. However, it would be even more problematic if my status evolved to a point where I couldn’t decide on that compromise at my own discretion. Having just the right amount of status is an awfully complex issue.

As such useless thoughts crossed my mind, I looked up at the cathedral towering before me.

“It sure is huge up close...”

I’d had a general idea of its location. The main road led here in a perfectly straight line, so it was super easy to spot. However, since I’d never had any business here, I hadn’t gone out of my way to see it. I’d figured I would be in the cathedral anyway during the wedding, so I could just enjoy the sight then. Now that I was here, I wished I’d made the time earlier to take it in at my leisure.

“It’s Sphenedyardvania’s pride, after all,” Allucia commented.

“I can see why...”

It was enormous. One couldn’t help but feel awe when looking at such a large structure. But beyond sheer size, the San Gragie Cathedral had an impact and solemnity to it that I was keenly aware of yet found hard to describe. I wasn’t deeply religious—I wasn’t even a believer in the Church of Sphene. Still, I couldn’t help but feel the holiness of this place.

I could sense the significant passage of time on the surface of the intricately laid stone walls. I doubted the building had been constructed using the latest and greatest techniques—it had been built from scratch a long time ago, though it had to have undergone repairs, of course. Still, the tenacity to have built such an enormous stone structure was remarkable. Simply being able to witness this had made the trip to Sphenedyardvania worth it.

It was difficult to express my thoughts using the meager vocabulary of an old country bumpkin who’d spent many years ignoring the extent of the world by shutting himself in Beaden. Even though I had no interest in the arts or history, this whole thing made me feel a little pathetic.

“So this is where the ceremony will be held?” I asked. “I’m sure it’ll be amazing.”

“Yes, I couldn’t agree more.”

Swearing eternal love on such a grand stage was sure to be spectacular. This was a royal wedding, so it wasn’t a marriage of pure love. Still, it was wonderful to be blessed in such a cathedral.

I wondered how it would go for me. Even if I were blessed with a partner, I felt like such a magnificent location would make me too nervous. It would be more than enough for me to be able to confirm our love for each other in a modest but sincere way.

After passing through the main gates, the first thing that came into sight was an enormous garden.

“It’s awfully spacious,” I said.

Sphenedyardvania was much smaller than Liberis and other nearby countries, yet they’d decided to dedicate a significant space to a site of worship. That was how much influence the Church of Sphene had here.

While the weather was clear, the wind was strong and cold. The garden was surrounded by walls, but the space was large enough for the wind to blow through unobstructed. If not for my overcoat, I probably would’ve been shivering in a corner. After all, I couldn’t exercise to warm up in a place like this.

We were probably going to be on standby out here in the garden until the ceremony began. I would’ve preferred to be let inside somewhere, but the cathedral was a holy place. Maybe it was normally open for worship, but with the royal wedding coming up, it made sense for it to be sealed to all but a select few until it was time for the unveiling.

There wasn’t really much to talk about with Allucia. After a while of standing around in boredom, I heard my name being called.

“Oh? If it isn’t Beryl. Long time no see.”

“Ibroy?”

I turned around to see the clergyman with narrow eyes—Ibroy Howlman—wearing the same robes I was accustomed to seeing him in. He was staring at me as if he found my reaction somewhat unexpected.

“I didn’t know you’d be here too,” I said.

“Of course I am,” he replied. “I’m a bishop of the Church of Sphene, after all.”

“I guess you’ve got a point there...”

I hadn’t expected to see him here at all, but now that I thought of it, Ibroy was a faithful of the Church of Sphene and had recently been promoted to the rank of bishop—someone you normally couldn’t meet with so easily. My senses in this regard had been paralyzed somewhat. I hadn’t recognized his status at first, but it was no exaggeration to say that he was one of the major connections I’d made in Baltrain.

Allucia greeted him too. “Bishop Howlman, it is good to see you again.”

“I’m glad you’re in good health, Allucia.”

I was once more reminded of how Allucia seemed to know all the important people—not only in Baltrain but in all of Liberis. If anything, it would probably be difficult to find a big shot whom she’d never met before. She really did have an outrageous level of status.

Ibroy certainly had some guts to treat her so casually. He did the same with Lucy. He now had the title of bishop, but that had been a relatively recent acquisition. His wasn’t even Liberis’s state religion, so it had to have been difficult for a random priest to get to the level where he could speak as equals among Allucia and Lucy. I guess you could say a similar thing about me. I don’t really want to hear it, though.

“Hmmm... I don’t suppose you two are here on a sightseeing trip?” he asked.

“Of course not,” Allucia answered. “We have been charged with Princess Salacia’s protection.”

“Ha ha ha, I know. I’m just joking.”

It actually wasn’t strange at all for Ibroy to be attending the wedding. If anything, I was far more out of place than he was. Being here gave me a nebulous sense of alienation. If not for my job, I wouldn’t have much of a reason to leave Baltrain, let alone Liberis.

“Anyway, Dilmahakha isn’t a bad place to visit,” he told us. “If you find the time, take a look around.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.”

Just as he’d said, this was a prosperous city. Taking in the sights sounded pretty fun. Having spent so long in the countryside, a part of me felt like going on a trip only for that purpose, though I didn’t have any particular destination in mind. The fact that I’d been able to see a little of the world recently could be almost entirely attributed to Allucia.

Once everything calmed down, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take Mewi on a trip somewhere. You can’t really call visiting Beaden a vacation... If I thought about it as a way of getting Mewi experience instead of traveling for my own sake, going out at a moderate frequency sounded completely plausible.

I felt like my opinion on many matters was slowly changing. That just meant I had that much more to think about—and that many more anxieties about my future.

“Oh, it looks like it’s about time to start admitting people inside,” Ibroy said. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Allucia nodded. “Go ahead. We’ll see you later.”

It seemed things were starting to get moving around the cathedral’s narthex. I could see a wave of people gathering there. Just as Ibroy had said, they were letting people in.

Now that Ibroy was gone, I idly said, “The exterior is already a sight to behold. Makes you curious about the inside, doesn’t it?”

“I haven’t been inside before either,” Allucia replied. “I can imagine how beautiful it must be.”

“Definitely.”

While we couldn’t see inside the narthex from here, I had high hopes for the interior of the San Gragie Cathedral.

Things were getting really exciting, and after a little while, it was finally our turn to enter the cathedral. As we did, one of the knights of the Holy Order stopped Allucia and me.

“Excuse me. Please hand over your weapons.”

“We are of the Liberion Order...” Allucia objected. “I do believe that was explained to you beforehand.”

“I am, of course, aware,” he said. “However, for the safety of Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia, please show some understanding. We knights of the Holy Order will take responsibility for the area’s defense.”

I understood the logic behind disarming all guests. After all, this was a wedding between the royal families of two nations. It was only natural for those in general attendance to be refused their weapons.

The problem was that we weren’t in general attendance. Allucia—the commander of the Liberion Order—hadn’t even been told about this beforehand. To add to that, while this was more of a sentimental argument on my part than a logical one, Sphenedyardvania’s Holy Order wasn’t entirely trustworthy.

Gatoga had gone through great efforts to clean up the organization. I didn’t suspect his nature or abilities at this point. However, had Gatoga been the one to advise disarming everyone at the venue, he would’ve informed Allucia about it.

It was possible that this change had been decided in a hurry. Talks had proceeded under the assumption that both the Liberion Order and Holy Order would be armed, but perhaps someone had butted in somewhere along the line to change that. We had no way of confirming that right now, though. Things would’ve been different if Gatoga had been here, but he wasn’t.

Incidentally, our mission was largely Prince Salacia’s protection, but no Liberion knights were stationed at the palace where she was staying. That made sense—they couldn’t allow foreign knights to stay at the palace. That was why I’d been assigned to a different house.

Ever since our arrival in Dilmahakha, the Sphenedyardvanians and the royal garrison had taken care of her safety. There was a logic behind this—in all likelihood, those in her immediate vicinity were going to be staying behind with her and serving in her dedicated royal guard.

While she would remain of royal lineage, by marrying Prince Glenn, she would effectively lose all authority in Liberis. That was what it meant to marry into another country’s family, and she would no longer be able to mobilize the Liberion Order. Not that the princess was ever going to lead an army or anything. Still, her environment was going to change compared to her time in Liberis, and her current living situation was something like a rehearsal for that.

“Does Lazorne know about this?” Allucia asked.

“Of course. This order has Commander Gatoga’s approval,” the knight confirmed. “We will keep everyone’s weapons off to the side in the aisle. They’ll be within sight, and we’ll have two knights stationed by them to avoid any theft... Please understand that this was arranged by Commander Gatoga.”

Allucia’s attitude was somewhat overbearing. I understood her reluctance to part with her weapon. We weren’t wizards, but swordsmen—we couldn’t fight bare-handed. Still, I was starting to see what was going on. On the assumption this knight wasn’t lying, it was possible the original order had been to confiscate all weapons outright. That was when Gatoga had interjected, leading to the current arrangement. That’s just my guess, though. It doesn’t sound too far off. Probably.

“Very well. I’ll comply,” Allucia answered after considering it for a while. “However, as a swordswoman, my sword is my very life. Do handle it with care.”

“I am well aware,” the knight said. “I, too, am an aspiring swordsman.”

“Then it’s agreed. Do you mind, Master?” Allucia asked, turning to me.

“If you’re fine with it, then I am too. I’ll have to ask to have mine handled with care as well.”

“Of course. Then we’ll leave them with you,” Allucia told the knight.

She’d ultimately caved to Gatoga’s conditions for our disarmament. Part of her reasoning was that obstinately refusing wasn’t really going to accomplish anything. The weapons were apparently going to be kept in sight too. Our only option was to trust them.

Allucia and I removed the sheaths from our waists. It was pretty stressful to part with my sword when, by all rights, I should’ve been armed. Everyone else had to feel the same way, though, so I just had to put up with it.

“Received and understood,” the knight said, taking our weapons with an air of reverence.

By the looks of it, this man wasn’t going to be treating them recklessly. If they were going to remain in sight, then maybe there was nothing to be anxious about. It would be best if nothing happened, but if something did, I wanted to be able to retrieve my sword right away.

“Haah... I feel restless,” Allucia muttered.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Just as you said, a blade is a swordsman’s life.”

“There’s that too, but the thought of handing over the sword you honored me with, even if just temporarily...”

“How about taking this opportunity to get a nicer one...?”

“No, that one will do. It’s my sword.”

“I-I see...”

That sword really had just been made by the blacksmith in Beaden. It definitely wasn’t high-quality enough to be used by the knight commander who represented the entire country. However, it felt like it was going to take a very long time to convince her otherwise.

I wondered which would happen first: Allucia arming herself with a more appropriate sword or me getting married. These weren’t generally situations you compared, but the hurdle to clear both was similarly high.

“Then shall we, Master?”

“Ah, right. Let’s go.”

With such idiotic thoughts in mind, I stepped into the San Gragie Cathedral’s main building.

“Oooh...”

The first thing that came out of my mouth was a sigh of admiration. I’d known how large the building was from the outside, but seeing the exterior and being inside was like the difference between earth and heaven. The ceiling was unbelievably high—high enough that it seemed like I would hurt my neck by looking up at it. All of the inner walls seemed to have been built with perfect calculation. Even without any knowledge of the arts or architecture, I could somehow tell.

High up on the walls, well out of reach, were lines or large windows. I couldn’t even imagine how they’d gotten them up there. With today’s good weather, the sun pouring through those windows gave the space a mystical air. The building certainly lived up to its name as a cathedral, and that was my impression after only taking a single step inside.

“I didn’t think it’d be this grand... How marvelous,” Allucia said.

“Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.”

It seemed she was of the same opinion as me, though the beautiful knight commander maintained her composure in front of the holy spectacle while the old man next to her had his mouth agape in awe. We were awfully different in terms of presentation.

“It feels like they can accommodate as many people as you could possibly want in here,” I marveled.

We were only standing at the very entrance of the church’s nave. Still, there was significant space inside the room. I doubted they would cram such a holy place with people, but I wondered how many they could fit inside if they packed the place to the brim.

I turned my gaze farther into the building. At the end of an extremely long nave was a choir, and beyond that was a somewhat elevated space. To put it very crudely, it was like a fancy dance floor. That had to be the church’s sanctuary—it was likely where Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia were going to exchange their vows. Simply imagining the sight seemed to give the place a sacred aura.

I didn’t have any particular attachment to the prince and princess. Still, the atmosphere in the room made me feel like I would be deeply moved once they were up there. That was simply how amazing the inside of the San Gragie Cathedral was.

“Our swords...are right there,” I said.

“Indeed. I suppose that, at least, is a relief.”

I turned my attention to the side, spotting another wide aisle. This one was nowhere near as large as the central aisle, and the ceiling was much lower there. That was only in comparison, though. The standards for size in this place were just off the scale. It was like entering the building had rendered my senses numb.

In that aisle, all the swords the visitors had entrusted to the guards were lined up in neat order. I’d figured they’d have tossed them into a cask or something, so this was a little unexpected. They were being handled with plenty of care. It almost looked like a weapons exhibition.

A knight of the Holy Order stood at each end of the line, just as the one at the door had told us. It looked easy enough to go over there and grab my weapon. It was also in plain sight, so it would be a nearly impossible undertaking to go there and steal something without anyone noticing, and the two guards would surely see it happening.

If the time and situation permitted it, I would’ve loved to check out what kinds of weapons everyone favored. Unfortunately, this was not that kind of situation at all, so I had to settle for glancing at them from afar.

“Are we free to sit wherever we want?” I asked.

“It seems so,” Allucia confirmed. “There were no arrangements in particular regarding that.”

There were benches arranged on both sides of the central aisle. I didn’t know whether these were already there for the purpose of worship or if they’d been prepared specifically for this ceremony. Either way, setting aside any comfort they provided, they looked awfully classy—to my little commoner brain, at least. I have a strange internal conflict about not wanting to sit in the front, but I also find it undesirable to slink off to the back. What to do...?

As I pondered this, Henblitz called out to us.

“Commander, Mr. Beryl, good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“Hey, morning.”

I’d spent a lot of time separated from him during this expedition, so it had been a while since we’d been able to chat. Much like Allucia and me, he was without his favorite longsword. Taking a quick look around, I could see only the Holy Order was armed. In that sense, they were properly fulfilling their duty.

“Henblitz, have there been any other changes?”

“No, ma’am. Everything is in order.”

I was glad there didn’t seem to be any issues. It’d be a major problem if there were any at this point.

By all rights, Allucia should’ve been moving around with Henblitz. However, she’d gone out of her way to travel to the house where I was staying and accompany me to the cathedral. She probably had all sorts of expectations. Whether I was actually going to answer them, I still didn’t know.

I’d never had to worry about this stuff before—I had largely looked down on myself and had been convinced that Allucia’s affection was nothing more than a momentary delusion on her part. However, regardless of my own will in the matter, the environment around me was definitely changing. My resolve to continue down the path of a swordsman wasn’t going to waver, but the changes still felt pretty bad.

“Mr. Beryl?” Henblitz asked, snapping me back to reality.

“Hm? Aah, sorry. I was just lost in thought.”

Nope. That’s no good. My brain is going off in weird directions. It was something I had to think about, but now wasn’t the time for it. Not that I knew when the right time was. You could say I was mostly reaping what I’d sown, but it was still an awfully difficult problem to solve.

“Shall we get seated?” Allucia suggested.

“Sounds good,” I agreed.

I glanced at the entrance where other attendees were filing into the cathedral in droves. Even if there weren’t enough people to force some to stand, it would be easier on us if we secured seats while we could.

The question was where exactly to sit, but Allucia strode off briskly. With no room to even ask where she was going, Henblitz and I followed.

Huh? I guess we really are sitting in the front... It was better than the back, but still. Was it the commoner in me that made me feel nervous about it? Allucia was supposed to be a commoner too, though. For better or worse, status and titles changed a person. I could truly see that in this instant.

“There are all sorts of people here...”

As we headed toward the seats at the front, I observed those who were already seated and those who were just entering the cathedral. I’d imagined a huge variety of people would be attending. There were those dressed in clearly high-class clothing—probably nobles, merchants, presidents, and the like. These made up a good proportion of attendees. There were also many people dressed in robes similar to Ibroy’s. These would be members of the Church of Sphene. Some people were wearing armor but weren’t part of the Holy Order. I wondered whether they were foreign knights or knights who served some local nobles. Or maybe they were like Sahat back in Warren’s territory.

Actually, is it really okay to attend a royal wedding in armor? Nobody is saying anything, so it’s probably fine.

Even more shockingly, someone was wearing a mask. This I really questioned from a security perspective. Judging by her build, she was a woman. She was unarmed, having most likely handed over her weapon at the entrance. However, she wore a sturdy breastplate and a functional fauld skirt. These, combined with the mask covering the upper half of her face, honestly made her look really out of place.

I’d ended up staring because of her peculiar outfit. Perhaps sensing this, the woman turned my way, and I averted my gaze in a fluster. She looked strange, but since nobody was saying anything—including the Holy Order—maybe her mask was perfectly acceptable. Perhaps it was a cultural thing in Sphenedyardvania. It was rude of me to stare.

“Master, is something the matter?”

“Aah, no... It’s nothing.”

Allucia had noticed my somewhat suspicious behavior. She was right next to me, so that only made sense. The masked woman gave off an aura similar to someone I knew, but I doubted they were the same person. For starters, the woman I knew didn’t dress like that, and there was also no way she would be here. I couldn’t see the masked woman’s face to confirm anything either.

“How about here?” I said, pointing at a nearby bench, to change the topic.

“Here? Very well.”

The bench was around five rows from the front. It wasn’t all the way up at the front, nor was it too far back to be able to see. This was just about right for me. If anything, going farther than this would be nerve-wracking. Allucia agreed with my suggestion, and the three of us took our seats with Allucia between myself and Henblitz.

I knew nothing about the general etiquette for a normal wedding, let alone one going by Sphenedyardvanian customs. At most, I recognized it as an auspicious day to celebrate the birth of a new bride and groom, and I knew it was a sacred ceremony. However, unlike the party in Flumvelk, I hadn’t been told how to conduct myself. This was, in large part, because I wasn’t playing a major role this time. I was here as a guard, so in essence, I was just one of the guests. It would be pretty easy if all I had to do was keep quiet and not mess things up.

“Oh...”

“Hm?”

A while after taking our seats and spending the time observing the flow of people coming in, I heard the clang, clang of a loud bell. Despite its volume, it wasn’t oppressive, and it sounded rather refreshing. Following this, an old man slowly walked down the aisle all the way to the front.

This was the priest who was going to officiate the prince and princess’s wedding. Or maybe it was someone way higher up the ladder, considering this involved the absolute upper echelon of society. I could picture him being a bishop, or even an archbishop. Not that I knew any of their names or faces.

“Everyone, thank you very much for gathering here on this wonderful day. I, Archbishop Datlas Caiman, am honored to officiate today’s ceremony.”

The bell had silenced the entire cathedral, allowing the old man’s quiet voice to echo throughout the entire building.

Ooh, he really is a big shot.

I didn’t know how much of a difference there was between a bishop and an archbishop. Still, he had to be some kind of VIP. Not that I was ever going to get directly involved with him.

After Archbishop Datlas’s greeting, while the attendees clapped, Allucia murmured next to me, “That’s strange...”

“Hm?”

Did the archbishop say something weird just now?

“This is the prince and princess’s wedding,” she said. “The original plan was for Pope Morris to officiate it...”

“Hmmm...”

Princess Salacia was marrying into Sphenedyardvania’s royal family, so this ceremony conformed with their culture. What was more, her groom was the first prince. On paper, all citizens here were followers of the Church of Sphene, so it was extremely strange that the wedding of its highest-ranking member wouldn’t be officiated by the religion’s leader. This was especially the case if the original plan had included him.

Also, the planning for a royal wedding was worked out to the finest details—it wasn’t something decided upon in one or two days. The pope should’ve matched his schedule to what was going on way in advance.

Also, the turn of the new year was a predetermined day of celebration for the Church of Sphene. It definitely didn’t make sense for the pope to be absent from a ceremony held at the cathedral on this day. It was possible he was sick or something, but I somehow doubted it.

“Let us greet the bride and groom who will be exchanging their vows today.”

Without giving us the time to digest Allucia’s suspicions, the ceremony proceeded. There was no other option. Only an idiot would shout, “Hey! Where’s the pope?!” at this point.

After a graceful gesture from the archbishop, a voice announced the couple’s entrance from the narthex.

“Announcing His Highness Prince Glenn Tasmacan Gudyr and Her Highness Princess Salacia Ashford el Liberis.”

With a solemn and holy atmosphere filling the building and faint suspicions in my mind, their blessed wedding ceremony began.

“Oooh... What a sight...”

The cathedral was astir with sighs of admiration as Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia entered. The princess was wearing a long dress that flowed all the way to her feet and was ornamented with an abundance of lace. Almost all of it was white and sparkling. It was an article of beauty suited for a woman getting married.

Prince Glenn was also dressed in white. He wore a jacket that was perfectly tailored, giving him the refined elegance of royalty. As he walked down the aisle, I could see a bit of nervousness in his expression. That I could understand. It would be unreasonable to ask him to remain calm in this situation. If anything, Princess Salacia was the unusual one for looking the same as usual—aside from her dress.

On a side note, while it was entirely too late to be realizing this, the prince’s full name was Glenn Tasmacan Gudyl. That was my first time hearing it, though it wasn’t like I was ever going to use it. Was Princess Salacia’s name going to change after this? She was going to keep her first name either way, but I wondered what they were going to do with the rest of her really long name. Now wasn’t the time to be asking such stupid questions, though.

“They’re so beautiful,” Allucia murmured.

“Yeah, they sure are.”

This applied to their clothes and their natural features. Princess Salacia was not only blessed with terrific looks, but she also possessed an elegance and grace that was surprising for her age. There was also a strength of will in Prince Glenn’s eyes and expression. A certain level of charisma was required in those who would rule a nation. I could easily see how little a sword helped on the path of a statesman, and I doubted I would ever be in such a position—not for all eternity.

“Today is a holy ceremony where the two before us will receive the sacrament of communion and the duty bestowed upon us by our God Sphene.”

Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia proceeded down the aisle toward the sanctuary where Archbishop Datlas awaited them. Matching their pace, he began his speech. Quite a majestic ceremony, truly. It had to feel good to have so many people here celebrating their marriage, but with things this overblown, the bride and groom were probably very tense. Well, maybe this was normal for royalty. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Once they reached the archbishop, the two turned around, smiling and waving to the entire audience. Yet another elegant round of applause followed. The crowd was lively, but the atmosphere was awfully different from the sightseeing tour in Baltrain. The citizens of Liberis had been very rowdy, whereas the ones here kept things disciplined while celebrating.

“Very well, then... Prince Glenn, do you swear to take Princess Salacia as your wife, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, for richer or for poorer, to love, to support, to cherish, to honor, and to devote yourself to, with all your heart, until death do you part?”

“Yes, I swear.”

The ceremony had moved on to the wedding vows. This was the standard for any couple. I wondered when luck and timing would bless me with getting to swear the same vow. Even if it was just for a ceremony, I would probably hesitate—not over having to cherish my partner or anything, mind you. If I were lucky enough to grow that close with someone, I would absolutely treasure her. Looking back at my mom and dad’s relationship, being married sounded nice.

However, as always, my first priority was my swordsmanship. I was never going to say that I could ignore everything except my sword. Still, the fewer things I had to worry about, the more I could focus on my training. This wasn’t necessarily the right thing to do, though—my thought process was pretty far from the norm.

Still, I felt like it would be very difficult for me to cherish the partner I was sworn to for life while also honing my blade. It was hard to imagine myself prioritizing love over swordsmanship.

Mewi was my adorable adopted daughter. If I ever found a partner and was blessed with a child of my own, I knew I would be an extremely doting father.

I wonder how mom and dad got together before deciding to confine themselves to the countryside. Despite his current appearance, my dad had apparently been quite fiery in his youth. Now he was an old fart who always complained about back pain. Not that I’m making fun of back pain or anything...

There had to have been many reasons. At any rate, my dad had ultimately chosen to be with my mom and had stopped chasing the summit of swordsmanship. That was one way to interpret it, at least. I couldn’t denounce his decision—if I did, it would be like refusing my own existence. After all, it was because of their marriage that I’d been born, raised into a healthy man, and lived to this day.

I always thought of things this way, which was why I felt like I was never going to win against my dad. Even if I could never overtake him as a man, I wanted to catch up to him somehow. But to accomplish that, I had to start my own family and protect it.

That wasn’t my highest priority right now, and quite frankly, I was contradicting myself. I understood that. I’d spent a lot more time worrying about this kinda stuff lately, but I seriously had no idea how to resolve my quandary. I was stuck at a complete impasse.

“Princess Salacia. Do you swear to take Prince Glenn as your husband, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, for richer or for poorer, to love, to support, to cherish, to honor, and to devote yourself to, with all your heart, until death do you part?”

“Yes, I swear.”

The hands of time didn’t stop or turn back for my cyclical thoughts. Even as I puzzled over my issues again and again, the wedding ceremony continued smoothly.

I had no idea how this marriage would change the world. The battlefield they stood upon was different from mine. I wouldn’t say I was completely disinterested, but any influence they wielded would take a while to reach anyone like me, and it would probably be unnoticeable to me.

Still, this was a definite turning point in history for Liberis and Sphenedyardvania. Being able to stand witness to that moment was a side benefit of my new status. After all, only the chosen were here in attendance.

“Your vows have been seen and delivered under the eyes of Sphene.”

The archbishop nodded in satisfaction before reaching for the cloth enshrined on the altar. He unfastened it with an air of reverence, revealing a pair of shining silver rings—wedding rings. It was nice to have something material to assert the vows spoken. But while I admired the thought behind it, a ring could change your sword grip. Maybe I’m really not suited for marriage.

The wedding was reaching its climax. All that remained was for Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia to place the rings on each other’s fingers.

“Then, as proof of your eternal love—”

Suddenly, a noise from the narthex rang out, cutting off the holy ceremony.

“Ah—!”

“Hm...?”

The door was closed, so the noise hadn’t been particularly loud. However, due to the silence inside the cathedral, the sound had penetrated the thick door enough for us to hear it.

“Stop! A sacred ceremony is taking place within the cathedral right now!”

I could hear someone speaking—probably the knight standing guard outside the door. The inside of the cathedral was now filled with bewildered voices. Due to everything that had happened before this, I could pretty easily imagine what was going on. Very few people would dare to start a commotion at the cathedral during the royal wedding. In fact, I could only think of one possibility.

Going by what I’d seen on my way into the building, the Holy Order was deployed in significant force. They were there to stop any rioters, and everyone in the vicinity would’ve been aware of the knights’ presence well before the ceremony started. With that being the case, it was best to assume that the interlopers had known a way to break through before, or maybe they’d gained access by some prearranged route.

“Allucia...” I muttered.

“Yes.”

It seemed most of the people inside the cathedral still had an unconcerned outlook—no one was trying to run away or anything. After all, who would dare to crash a royal wedding? Even if someone—perhaps a political enemy—really wanted to ruin it, they’d probably resort to a quiet assassination plot rather than making a fuss. The vast majority of guests were probably under the assumption that someone outside was just being a nuisance. Most people didn’t develop intuition for this stuff until they spent some time on the battlefield. That same intuition was telling me that the disturbance wasn’t just a heckler.

“How long would it take you to get your weapon from the aisle and get back?” I asked.

“On the assumption that I can find it right away...eight seconds,” Allucia answered.

“Excellent.”

If anything happened, I would take up my beloved sword and fight. I was perfectly ready for that, but I didn’t have said sword to hand. Of the three of us sitting here, Allucia was by far the fastest. It would be a lot quicker to have her rush ahead and grab our weapons rather than have all of us make a mad dash for them.

“If they break through the narthex...get mine and Henblitz’s while you’re at it.”

Allucia nodded. “As you wish.”

We didn’t have to worry about our weapons now. Allucia wasn’t going to mistake her favorite sword for any other, mine stood out because of its red sheath, and she’d known Henblitz and his weapon for a while now. She could definitely find them all. And if she couldn’t, she would’ve said something.

“Halt! If you don’t stop, I’ll cut you down!”

Outside, things were finally about to get violent. The assailants were almost certainly assassins, but this seemed like an awfully clumsy approach. Even if their targets were guaranteed to be inside, walking up to security and having a scuffle with the knights was a sloppy way of carrying out an assassination.

It was possible that the papists had almost nothing left but were still doing whatever they could to stop the wedding. Maybe they were even hoping to press false charges or something. If that were the case, things would be a lot easier on us, but I doubted their plan was so crude.

“Dammit! Don’t resent me for this!”

It seemed things were reaching a climax. The knight had drawn his sword, which meant the assailant hadn’t backed off after three warnings. However, that also meant they’d given the knight plenty of time to draw his weapon. Why would they do that? It just didn’t make sense. If they were planning an attack, it would be better not to give the knight any chance to react. After all, just making a bunch of noise wasn’t going to accomplish anything. I would’ve done it that way, at least. I couldn’t get a read on what these people were thinking.

“Huh?! Sto—oooh?!”

“Allucia!”

“Right!”

We still didn’t know what exactly was going on outside. The narthex’s door hadn’t been forced open yet. Nevertheless, I signaled Allucia to go, and she ran off in a flash. I could faintly hear a ruckus through the door.

I could guess what was happening—I imagined it was a horrible scene.

Just to put this out there, the Holy Order was in no way weak. I knew exactly how strong they were because I’d faced Holy Order knights during Bishop Reveos’s arrest. That’s not sarcasm, I swear. Much like the Liberion Order, some knights were stronger than others. However, this was the first prince’s wedding ceremony—they had surely picked their best for the security detail. Gatoga definitely would’ve seen to that.

In other words, the knights stationed at the door were the elite. A swordsman of that caliber had resorted to force but hadn’t been able to stop the assailant. That was what I could infer from the sound coming from the door.

Judging from the way he’d shouted, “Don’t resent me for this!” the knight had gone for the kill with his first attack. It was possible he was facing a monster, but I doubted he would’ve yelled for a beast to stop. His attacker was tough, no doubt about it—or perhaps it was an opponent who couldn’t be stopped by a simple cut.

Just as I got my thoughts in order, Allucia reached the aisle where our weapons had been stashed.

“Master!”

“Throw it!”

She tossed me the red-sheathed sword with perfect accuracy.

“Thought so...”

I immediately strapped it to my waist and drew my blade. Under the light pouring in through the windows, it glowed a faint red.

At that exact moment, the narthex’s doors burst open from the weight of bodies pressing against them. Something taking the shape of human beings was now inside, not a hint of intelligence in the many vacant eyes.

“Wh-Who goes there?! Stop!”

Now that the intruders had broken down the door, the knights of the Holy Order stationed inside finally took action.

Aren’t you guys a bit slow on the uptake? I trusted Gatoga, but this response had me worried about the Holy Order’s skill. Maybe he’d been forced to make drastic cuts while cleaning house—it was possible he’d purged those who’d been ideologically suspect despite their achievements and skill, leading to a lack of veterans.

That didn’t really matter right now, though. We had to protect Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia from these assailants and escort them somewhere safe. This reminded me so much of the incident in Baltrain’s southern district. But now’s not the time to casually observe the situation!

“B-Be careful! They don’t stop when—argh!”

One of the knights outside yelled a warning—probably one who’d first tried to hold back the attackers. However, before he could finish speaking, he was trampled by the mass of bodies and fell silent. I didn’t know if he was still alive. All the knights of the Holy Order wore solid plate armor, so I could only pray he hadn’t been killed by the crush.

“Allucia! Protect us!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Before anyone else could say anything, Princess Salacia shouted an order from deep inside the cathedral. In contrast, Prince Glenn’s expression was colored by fear. While he hadn’t gone as far as fainting, he wasn’t in a state to be giving any orders right now.

The princess had tremendous mental fortitude. Without any personal experience in battle, it was supposed to be impossible to take command in a situation like this. I was already impressed that she wasn’t screaming in fear, but the fact that she’d ordered Allucia to protect “us” rather than “me” summed up her strength very well.

Allucia is the only one she called for, but I’ve been appointed as a guard too. Time to get to work.

“Allucia, cut clean through their torsos or legs,” I said. “Otherwise, they won’t stop.”

“Understood.”

Our opponents looked like people, but they weren’t. A little pain wasn’t going to be enough to stop them. They had to be rendered nonfunctional. Luckily—or unluckily, depending on your perspective—I had experience fighting them. Well, “fighting” wasn’t really the right term for it either. I had cut them down, driven purely by anger.

Their movements resembled those of the corpses that had come out of the boxes after Bishop Reveos had chanted some kind of spell. The differences now were that I didn’t hesitate to slay any of them—none of them would be Mewi’s big sister—and that there were far more of them.

While being able to cut them down without reservation was something to be thankful for, I couldn’t possibly show any gratitude to the culprit behind this. There really was a ton of them. It must’ve taken a lot of work to gather so many corpses.

“Anyone who can fight, to arms! Protect the prince and princess!”

Allucia charged in with a war cry. She dived into the surging mass of intruders ahead of everyone else, living up to her moniker “Godspeed.” In a one-on-one fight against these enemies, Allucia, Henblitz, and I were never going to lose. The problem right now was the sheer number of bodies.

My personal environment was usually filled with so many skilled fighters that it was easy to forget how much of a battle came down to numbers. No matter how masterful one’s swordplay was, being completely surrounded and attacked all at once would spell the end. To add to that, our opponents couldn’t be stopped through the application of pain or shock.

This also wasn’t a battle where we could focus entirely on annihilating the enemy. We had to protect the two royals, making the mission a lot harder. It would be dangerous to push too far forward.

“Dammit all! There’s no other way!”

“Hey! Where’s my sword?!”

Thanks to Allucia and Princess Salacia, the attendees finally started moving. Everyone raced to the aisle to secure their weapons. I made the right decision—with such a sudden rush of people, it would’ve been difficult to get my sword.

“Hmm?!”

Just as I was about to join the fray instead of watching things unfold, something clearly different from the others jumped out of the wave of intruders.

“You’re not getting through!” I yelled, obstructing the figure.

“Gh!”

He was clad completely in black, and he wielded a sharp dagger.

These bastards are hiding assassins in the mountain of corpses! Whoever was behind this plot had come up with quite a nasty plan. At any rate, this was reminding me more and more of the assassination attempt in Baltrain. I’d bet good money on the papists as the masterminds. My suspicions were further enhanced because the pope, who was originally supposed to officiate this wedding, was absent. Maybe it’s because he knew this was going to happen.

I felt sorry for Archbishop Datlas. He had to bear the full brunt of this in the pope’s stead. It was possible that he was also a papist, but he looked like he was freaking out, so I doubted it.

“Hmph!”

“Gah...!”

The assassin twisted his wrist and made a thrust for my neck. Unfortunately for him, I could see what he was doing. I grabbed his wrist with my left hand and stabbed him in the stomach. Unlike a walking corpse, a fatal wound was enough to stop a human. He didn’t have the willpower to ignore the pain and push on. I wouldn’t have been able to either.

“Princess Salacia! For now, please keep low!”

“Understood!”

Even if we wanted to escort her out of here, we had to clear a path first. That wasn’t going to be a quick task—she needed to do what she could to keep herself safe in the meantime.

I’d ended up yelling out spur-of-the-moment instructions to her. This is playing out just like the incident in the southern district... I recalled shouting something similar back then too. The difference here was that the princess showed no hesitation. She pushed Prince Glenn’s shoulder down, and the two of them stooped low. She really was a strong woman.

Meanwhile, more and more people retrieved their weapons from the aisle and were intercepting the horde. One who stood out among the throng was the masked woman I’d spotted earlier. She wielded a shortsword and was cutting down intruders with great skill. When attacked from the side, she used the buckler on her left arm—something she’d apparently turned in alongside her weapon at the door—to cleanly repel her opponent.

“That’s... I see.”

Her swordplay and footwork were excellent, and I could see she was quite the master. I had no idea what organization she was affiliated with, but I was glad she wasn’t an enemy.

However, what stood out even more was how familiar her movements were. The weapon she wielded was different, and the woman I knew hadn’t used a buckler either. Still, those movements were strangely similar to how she fought. Due to her equipment and hair being different and the mask covering her face, I hadn’t noticed until the fighting had started. Please ignore the fact that I only managed to recognize a woman because of the way she handles a sword.

I had no idea what kind of karma had worked to bring her here at this exact moment, but I doubted she was here without a good reason. Rather than worry about that stuff, it was better to be grateful to have such a reliable ally on the battlefield.

“Ugh... Eeeeek!”

“Dammit!”

While my attention was momentarily preoccupied by the masked woman, one of the attackers pushed down a man not too far from me. Not everyone here was capable of fighting. The Holy Order was battling fiercely, but with the number of enemies involved, it was extremely difficult to differentiate between those who were capable of fighting, those who weren’t, and those who could manage on their own.

As a result, everyone was maintaining their own kill zone and focusing entirely on defending the central aisle. Somehow, this was enough to hold the tide back, but those who were incapable of adapting were destined to fall.

“There sure are a lot of them...!”

Quite frankly, it was impossible to protect everyone. We had to assign priorities—and the two at the top of that list by a large margin were Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia. Now that we knew assassins were among the corpses, we could no longer allow anyone to get remotely close.

We could win if we paid no heed to the casualties suffered. There were many enemies, but the vast majority were walking corpses who were extremely weak as individual soldiers. However, we had personnel we couldn’t allow to fall, no matter what. Running away involved pushing through the mass of walking dead, so while this was possible for some individuals, doing so while protecting two royals was next to impossible. Unlike the incident in Baltrain, we weren’t in an open space, making this so much harder.

Thankfully, Allucia and Henblitz were perfectly capable of protecting themselves, but there were quite a few others here I wanted to see safe. It would weigh heavily on my mind if I let Thracias, the other diplomats, or Ibroy die.

“Hoh! What a vulgar lot!”

Just as I wondered how Ibroy was doing and turned to look, I spotted a bishop in a magnificent low stance letting loose with his fist.

That geezer can fight?!

Well, Sphene was famous for performing miracles in the form of healing and reinforcement magic. Maybe it wasn’t strange for him to have learned such things. Even so, I felt like his movements were more than just wizardry. He’d always seemed like a fishy guy, but I’d never imagined that he’d be able to physically fight. A pleasant miscalculation on my part—one less person to worry about.

“Anyway... What’re we supposed to do about this?!”

I sank into thought as I cut down the incoming horde of corpses. Breaking through was out of the question. The combination of the walking dead and assassins meant we were sure to take casualties. The fighters among us could take a few hits, but we couldn’t risk the prince and princess like that.

We have to escape using another exit, I concluded. Unfortunately, I didn’t know the internal layout of the building. There had to be a back door or two in a building this large, but I had no idea where they were. We couldn’t allow our charges to run away ahead of their escorts either. Furthermore, with so many enemies pouring in through the front, it was doubtful any back exits were safe. It was entirely possible that they’d charged in from one direction so that they could lay an ambush for anyone running away through a rear exit. We needed someone to scout ahead of us, but choosing someone for that was difficult in this situation.

I couldn’t do it. I was unfamiliar with the place. The same applied to Allucia and Henblitz—they’d mentioned that this was their first time inside the cathedral. We also couldn’t fully trust the members of the Holy Order. They were skilled, but there were no guarantees that they were our allies. Sending the prince or princess to scout would be absurd. I guess that leaves Ibroy or the masked woman?

“Hm...?”

Just as I was about to call out to one or the other, fog suddenly began billowing from farther inside the cathedral. Soon, it was so thick that I could only see a few feet in front of me.

“Erk.”

This was extremely familiar. I’d encountered this phenomenon on my way back from Flumvelk.

Seriously? Fighting them now is gonna be really tough. I’m starting to think we won’t be able to keep the royals alive.

Just as everyone was starting to panic from having their vision impaired, I heard a loud boom followed by a raucous shout.

“Raaaaaah! Your Highnesses, this way!”

Several people in black trench coats burst in from the transept.

“Hanoy...!”

For better or worse, the Verdapis Mercenary Company’s leader, Hanoy Cressa, the man responsible for the hell we’d gone through on our journey back from Flumvelk, broke the stalemate in the flashiest way possible. Much like last time, he wielded a huge greatsword. He was accompanied by several others who were charging in from the side opposite the walking corpses.

“Who are you?!” Princess Salacia yelled at him.

She’d been keeping low while observing her surroundings. Shock was clear in her voice. I couldn’t blame her for that—the mercenaries looked awfully dangerous. She didn’t know whether they were friend or foe, and she had no reason to follow along just because they’d asked.

Actually, I had no idea what their goal was either. Judging by what they were saying, it seemed unlikely they were here to abduct the princess. They could’ve done that using the fog.

“Name’s Hanoy Cressa. I got hired to protect you two.”

“What...?”

I had immediate misgivings about his claim. After all, it hadn’t been that long since they’d attacked me and Allucia. They’d gone as far as setting up a carriage on the road as a decoy before launching a violent assault. Sphenedyardvania’s papists had been behind that attack. We had no hard evidence, but it was pretty much guaranteed.

Now, those same mercenaries were trying to save the head of the royalists and Princess Salacia. It sounded absurd—it was impossible to trust them, and this was far more likely to be a trap. But facing Hanoy and his mercenaries right now would be a tremendous undertaking.

I was faltering over what to do when Ibroy’s voice gave me the most unexpected push forward.

“Beryl, they’re all right! Please work with them to protect the prince!”

“Wuh?!”

Uhhh... What? I don’t get it. Why does Ibroy trust the guys who attacked us? Nothing makes sense. How does Ibroy know Hanoy, anyway? I mean, it’s not impossible, but it still seems weird. Ah, whatever! This isn’t something I’m going to figure out on the spot.

“Dammit all!”

Gaaaah! I don’t get it. Nothing makes sense. Our priority is getting the prince and princess out of here! I don’t need all this extra information!

Nonetheless, if Hanoy really was on our side, that was something to be grateful for. I had no intention of letting my guard down around him, but we were currently stuck in a stalemate. Was it best to trust Ibroy and go along with Hanoy?

I continued hesitating, but Ibroy suddenly addressed the masked woman.

“Come! You go along too.”

She’d been fighting on the front lines, and upon hearing his command, she immediately withdrew and ran down the aisle toward the prince.

I just don’t get it. I can’t even begin to guess who from where is related to this... And in what way are they connected? But if she’s going along with it, then Ibroy’s worth trusting. Time to accept my fate.

“Allucia! We’re moving out!” I yelled.

“Acknowledged! Henblitz!”

“I’ll hold down the fort here! Commander, you go to Her Highness’s side!”

“Very well—we’re counting on you.”

“Understood!”

Henblitz’s decision was sound. If Allucia, Henblitz, myself, and the masked woman all withdrew, the front line would weaken significantly. Only the knights of the Holy Order and several of the attendees who were capable of fighting would remain.

The prince and princess were our absolute priority, but that didn’t mean we could just abandon everyone else. We had to save what lives we could. From that perspective, Henblitz staying behind was the right choice. A man of his skills wasn’t going to lose against such opponents.

We linked up with the royals and were now face-to-face with the mercenaries. There was no mistaking it—this was the same Green Hornet we’d fought previously. Allucia noticed this immediately and turned a wary look his way.

“You’re...”

“Ah? Ooh, the silver-haired gal and the old-timer. I remember you from before.”

Hanoy recognized us too, but he didn’t seem to think much about it. To them, maybe we’d been nothing more than targets back then. I couldn’t understand that mindset. However, we had no time to argue about it. We had to get Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia out of here as soon as possible.

“Anyway, just come along,” Hanoy said. “The way we came in should be mostly clear.”

“Very well... Prince Glenn, Princess Salacia, we’re withdrawing.”

“Understood.”

Hanoy dashed back through the transept he’d broken in through. Allucia quickly urged the prince and princess to begin moving and got their consent right away.

I didn’t actually trust Hanoy Cressa. I approved of this action only because Ibroy and the masked woman were going along with it. If he acted suspicious in any way, I was ready to instantly cut him down from behind.

Currently withdrawing from the cathedral were me, Allucia, the prince and princess, the masked woman, Hanoy, and the people I assumed to be his subordinates. It wouldn’t be too hard for us to protect the royals with such a lineup—on the assumption that Hanoy didn’t turn his fangs on us.

The inside of the transept was a bit of a mess. There was a huge hole in the wall—Hanoy had probably busted through. As ever, he had ridiculous strength. A single punch from this guy was liable to send a person to heaven.

“Oh yeah. Prim, that’s enough. Get rid of the fog.”

“Righto!”

Once we got to the door, the pink-haired wizard raised her hand. With that single gesture, the fog engulfing the inside of the cathedral rapidly faded. She was definitely the same wizard as last time. I was glad to have Verdapis on our side, but I still wasn’t going to let down my guard.

“Prince Glenn, Princess Salacia, please watch your step,” Allucia said.

“I know.”

Due to the sudden battle, there was a lot of rubble on the ground. Now wasn’t the time to be falling over. The prince and princess seemed to be doing fine on that front.

We passed through the transept and ran down the corridor for a while, then came across another shattered door. This one led outside. We burst out of the cathedral filled with war cries and into the cold air, where we were met by several people in black trench coats standing guard.

There were a good number of bodies on the ground at their feet. Walking corpses had likely circled around to this side too. It was obvious that the Verdapis Mercenary Company was against whoever was controlling the corpses—the papists, in all likelihood. This actually helped improve their credibility.

“Oh, welcome back.”

“Kuriu, any changes?”

“None.”

“Excellent.”

The blue-haired man named Kuriu seemed to be in charge out here. His exchange with Hanoy was very brief, and he didn’t appear to have any gripes about our presence.

“Erk. That woman again?”

Or so I thought. The moment he saw Allucia, his graceful features twisted.

Allucia ignored him completely. She had no reason to play along.

“We’ll take y’all to the palace for now,” Hanoy said. “That good with you, princeling?”

“Y-Yes. Please do.”

We were out of the cathedral, but now it was time to decide what to do next. As Hanoy had suggested, the palace was a good idea. There was no better destination from a strategic standpoint.

“You have my thanks for saving us, but who exactly are you people?” Prince Glenn asked, having finally calmed down somewhat now that there were no enemies in sight.

“We’re the Verdapis Mercenary Company. Doubt you’ve ever heard of us. Just so ya know, I’m not gonna reveal our client. That’s how the contract works.”

“I-I see. V-Very well.”

Prince Glenn didn’t ask for any further explanation. On a side note, Hanoy really kept the same tone no matter who he was speaking to. Even a bumpkin like me showed proper respect when faced with royalty. Normally, his behavior would probably warrant the death penalty. I wondered whether he even cared—it would be no simple matter to arrest him, after all.

“Why are you helping us?” I asked.

Even as we made our way to the palace, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. How had they ended up helping the royalists? It wasn’t that strange for mercenaries to change clients, but these guys had harmed Vesper, Frau, and several soldiers of one of Liberis’s provincial armies. I wasn’t capable of just accepting them as allies. Now that we were away from the battle, I had time to think about this stuff, and I couldn’t help but feel irritated by their presence.

“Aah? Pretty sure I already said why,” Hanoy said, exasperation clear in his voice. “We got hired to. Weren’tcha listenin’, old-timer?”

“Gh!”

I reflexively grabbed him by the collar. I really can’t accept this. It was true that they’d saved us today. However, this and that were separate matters. I simply couldn’t get along with a guy who happily shook hands with yesterday’s enemy just because he was asked to.

Despite the abruptness of my action, he should’ve been able to easily dodge me or push me back. In terms of pure physique, he was far superior. However, he chose to simply take it. That was how it looked to me, at least. That didn’t do anything to dissipate my anger.

“Because of you, Vesper and Frau were...!”

“The hell are they? They die?”

“You son of a...!”

I clenched Hanoy’s collar hard. Frau had returned to duty. She wasn’t back in perfect condition, but I knew how determined she was. I wanted her to continue devoting herself to being a Liberion knight. In contrast, Vesper hadn’t returned to duty. No one knew whether he would ever be able to walk properly again.

I knew that now wasn’t the time for this. Our top priority was getting Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia to safety, not squabbling. I understood that—me grabbing this guy by the collar was completely selfish behavior. But I just couldn’t accept it. It came down to the value of human life. Not everybody saw it the same way.

“Your guys offed two of ours too,” Hanoy said. “Jules and Wandice. They were my cute little juniors. But they’re dead now. They just didn’t have enough skill and luck.”

“That’s ’cause you attacked us!” I hollered.

“Yup. That’s how it goes. Oh, we don’t got no grudge against you or nothin’. A job’s a job. This job and that one are different. If anything, it was my fault for lookin’ down on you lot and sendin’ the juniors into battle.”

His eyes really showed no resentment toward us. It was like everything that had happened had been down to simple chance. I had no idea which of us was correct. We were probably both right and wrong. Our circumstances were just so different.

I understood his logic, though. These guys were mercenaries and had taken a contract to attack us. As a result, Vesper and Frau had suffered severe injuries, and two of Verdapis’s mercenaries had died. Though their reasons for doing so were different than ours, they’d all chosen a life of battle. And just as Hanoy said, dying as a result of that decision was simply a matter of skill and luck. I understood all this, but I felt like something important inside me would break if I just nodded along and accepted it as a simple fact.

“Master... Now’s not the time,” Allucia murmured, placing a hand on my arm.

Her hand wasn’t trembling. She didn’t appear to be shaken by what I was saying or by the mercenaries’ presence. I really was childish. She was far younger than me, but her resolve was so much stronger. It seemed I was never going to be capable of cleanly coming to terms with everything that went on in the world.

“Sorry...” I quickly calmed myself down. “Your Highness, forgive me for the sudden act of violence.”

“I don’t mind,” Princess Salacia said. “You must have your reasons.”

“Thank you...”

I knew as well as anyone that now wasn’t the time for argument. The fact that I’d done it regardless was proof that I wasn’t able to control my emotions. Whether I was morally right or wrong didn’t matter—I had to reflect upon my actions.

“Done yappin’?” Hanoy asked, lightly brushing off my hand after I let him go. “Then let’s move.”

He had nothing more to say. Now that I thought about it, none of his mercenaries had so much as budged when I’d grabbed him—not the swordsman Kuriu, not the wizard Prim, and not any of the others. Why didn’t they? This was surely something I just didn’t understand. If anyone did the same to Allucia, I would’ve flared up in anger. Once again, this wasn’t a matter of right or wrong. Our mindsets were just too different—so much so that you couldn’t just sum it up as “Yup, there sure are all sorts of folks out there in the world.”

“You’re strong, old-timer, but you ain’t suited to being a warrior,” Hanoy muttered as we got moving again.

“Well, I’m a swordsman, after all.”

“That so?”

A warrior—maybe he was right. It didn’t suit me. I found it really hard to march onward without ever looking back. That was too much of a burden on this old man’s shoulders. The older I got, the more time I had to stop and reflect on the past. This was likely an unnecessary tendency for someone who lived only for battle, but I was never going to cast aside that part of me.

Was it equally unnecessary for reaching the summit of swordsmanship? This new yet profound question was now scorched into my mind.

Our group quickly ran out of the cathedral’s back entrance. By the time we reached the main street, we could hear all sorts of yelling coming not only from the building but also from its surroundings. Considering all the walking corpses, I could see why.

The fighting had probably spilled out of the cathedral. While it seemed our enemies could control the corpses to an extent—what with the assassins among them—I doubted they were capable of individually identifying targets. That meant there would be casualties beyond the cathedral too.

“I wonder what those things are,” the princess said as the chaos slowly spread through Dilmahakha.

After being attacked out of the blue, it made sense that she wanted to know the truth. I had an idea as to their identity, but that was likely something everyone here could infer too.

“Probably some kinda wizardry, if I had to guess,” answered the only wizard in our group. It was Prim, the pink-haired woman with Verdapis. “They’re wrapping corpses in mana to move them.”

“How could they...?”

On a side note, none of the mercenaries were showing any respect to the royals. I wasn’t exactly one to talk on that point, but I wasn’t as bad as they were. I maintained a minimum of decorum, at least. These guys weren’t even trying. I wondered if all mercenaries were like them. Adventurers had dropped by Beaden every now and then, but we’d rarely had any mercenaries visit, so I wasn’t sure how they viewed the world. Since this was an emergency, Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia overlooked their behavior, though that likely contributed to it more. Regardless, they sounded a bit too outspoken.

“Such desecration cannot be allowed,” the princess muttered with the bitterest of expressions.

From the perspective of a good statesman, the current situation was far beyond the laws of decency. I had a pretty good idea of who was behind this plot, but I wasn’t sure if I could say it in front of Sphenedyardvania’s royalty.

“It’d be one thing if they stopped at profaning the dead,” Hanoy chimed in. “Apparently, that ain’t even all there is to it.”

“What do you mean?” Princess Salacia asked.

She was likely thinking about how to capture and punish the culprits behind this incident. I didn’t know how they were going to get any evidence out of walking corpses, but some kind of investigation was sure to take place. However, Hanoy was implying that there was more to this attack than just the desecrated dead. Even though I had to listen to this conversation in my current position, a part of me really didn’t want to hear it.

“I think they’re called chimeras...?” Hanoy elaborated. “Seems they’re gonna be scattered all over the city. So I’m told, at least.”

“Wha...? Chimeras?!” Prince Glenn exclaimed.

I’ve never heard of a chimera. Is it something like that creature beneath the magic institute? That was a named monster that had been sealed for research. If there were several of those out there, then right now certainly wasn’t the time for a wedding parade.

“Prince Glenn, are you aware of what they are?” Prince Salacia asked.

“Y-Yes... I’ve seen descriptions in historical documents...or rather, criminal records...” he answered somewhat incoherently. “They’re the product of a forbidden art that combines beasts and monsters into one being and manipulates them through mana.”

“A forbidden art...”

That sounded both terrifying and repulsive. Tampering with human corpses was already creepy enough. Stitching together beasts and manipulating them was even more preposterous. Regardless, I could understand the reasoning somewhat. If that were possible, it would make a powerful addition to an army. Corpses could be reused, so in theory, the only cost was mana.

However, if this art had reached a stage of actualization and mass production, Lucy must’ve tried it at some point. She was the greatest wizard alive, after all. I was just guessing, but I was pretty sure she had. Setting aside the whole “resurrection of the dead” stuff, she didn’t seem like the type to be deterred by rules and restrictions. If she was interested, she would try it. Though it wasn’t like I knew everything about her or anything—I didn’t know where she drew the line. However, from what I’d seen of her, it wouldn’t be strange for her to have tested it. Lucy probably understood every magic technique in existence.

To continue talking theoretically, there had to be a reason for something to be classified as forbidden. While there could be societal taboos, a larger reason was likely a simple matter of profit—if it wasn’t worth the labor and defied morals, it was easier to forbid it. I wasn’t knowledgeable about magic, but I couldn’t help but imagine that this was how things worked.

“How do you know this?” Princess Salacia asked.

“Haven’t seen it for myself or nothin’,” Hanoy said. “The intel came from that masked woman.”

“Huh?”

His answer was utterly unexpected. Everyone turned to the masked woman at once. She didn’t falter, nor did she say anything. She only nodded to confirm.

“The White Maiden, was it?” Hanoy said. “Pretty fancy name for a wanderin’ mercenary.”

“Hmm... I’ve never heard the name...” Prince Glenn muttered.

Adventurers and mercenaries often took nicknames to raise their fame and prestige. The same theory applied to Surena’s Twin Dragonblade and Allucia’s Godspeed. Henblitz was publicly known for his tremendous strength and was called the Roaring Blade; Hanoy’s moniker was the Green Hornet. There were differences here and there depending on whether they’d started calling themselves that first or if others had, but these nicknames were basically indications of a celebrity’s achievements and skill.

Incidentally...I was apparently being called the Backwater Swordmaster. Is that actually a nickname? It seems way worse than Godspeed and Roaring Blade... I’d never heard anyone aside from Allucia and the others mention it. Maybe it still applied...though it wasn’t as if I would ever call myself that.

At any rate, it was strange for Verdapis and Prince Glenn to be unfamiliar with the masked woman’s nickname. There were people out there who gave themselves a name despite their lack of renown, but this woman was clearly skilled. There was a huge disparity between her abilities and her fame.

Well, I knew the truth of the matter: She’d never called herself that before. She’d only recently had to start going by a different name. After all, she’d served as one of this country’s knights and was publicly treated as having retired.

“I can’t go into detail, but she’s definitely an ally,” I said, wanting to crush any unnecessary suspicions about her. “I can at least guarantee that much.”

“I see... If you’re willing to vouch for her, then I’ll believe you.”

Unexpectedly, Prince Glenn accepted my explanation without question. My efforts during the last assassination attempt seemed to be paying off. There’s no telling what could come back to benefit you in the future.

“But chimeras...? Who could possibly...?”

The prince and princess sank into thought. If the culprit was researching magic secretly, it would be pretty hard to locate them. Making chimeras likely required significant space, though, on second thought, I didn’t know how big these chimeras actually were. Maybe that wasn’t necessarily the case.

That was when the White Maiden first spoke.

“Pope Morris Pasyushka.”

She said nothing more than a name, but that was enough to shock everyone around her. She probably hadn’t been speaking because it could expose her identity—Prince Glenn in particular was liable to figure it out right away. However, she’d decided that the sacrifice was worth it to speak that name. That simple act gave a glimpse of her determination.

Prince Glenn was clearly surprised by the suggestion. “You can’t mean...Pope Morris is behind this madness...?!”

This time, the White Maiden only nodded. That was enough to convey the truth—she wasn’t the type of woman to tell a stupid lie in such a situation. At any rate, the pope being the culprit was pretty consistent with a lot of facts. It explained why he hadn’t been at the ceremony, and, going by what Lucy had told me, he was definitely trying to expel Prince Glenn and the royalists from power. His method for doing so was absolutely wrong, though.

As the head of the Church of Sphene, he could easily commit a taboo act in secret from the royal family. Lucy had sealed Lono Ambrosia beneath the magic institute for research and had kept it a secret too. There was a precedent. With enough authority, something like this was relatively easy to pull off.

Allucia fell deep into thought as she absorbed this new information. “True...” she murmured. “Since their targets are the prince and princess, then the scene at the cathedral would never have been enough...”

She was exactly right. The very presence of the walking dead had a tremendous impact, but the corpses clearly lacked firepower. The attack would’ve made sense had the two royals been somewhere alone. However, the cathedral had been filled with knights and others who were capable of fighting. Even though they hadn’t gotten away completely unscathed, it’d been possible to escort the prince and princess out of there.

Pope Morris had to have considered that possibility. I didn’t know anything about his temperament, but he was a leader of a whole religion and had gone as far as researching a taboo. Would a person like that really stop at corpses? He was trying to kill royalty, so his plan had to be surefire, or he could lose everything.

In other words, it would’ve been a bonus if those corpses and assassins had managed to kill Prince Glenn. However, the pope needed to have something else ready assuming they failed. Considering the scale of the first attack, it was best to assume there was something worse waiting for us. It seemed this involved chimeras. A disturbing thought. Well, trying to end a royal line is even more disturbing, but still.

“Do you know roughly how many chimeras there are and where they’ll appear?” Allucia asked.

The White Maiden silently shook her head. Had she known, she probably could’ve handled the situation better. At most, she had fragmented information and was doing as much as she could based on it.

However, that brought up another question. How had she acquired all this information? She didn’t have her past status and authority. No matter what she did, the amount of intelligence a wandering mercenary could gather was limited. It would’ve been impossible to acquire information on the chimeras and the pope without getting the intel from someone deep within their ranks.

In all likelihood, she had someone working with her—and a powerful ally at that. Her apparent acquaintance with Ibroy seemed to hint at something. But in that case, it meant a bishop in Baltrain had knowledge of circumstances in Sphenedyardvania. And even if she had Ibroy’s help, it would also be very difficult for him to get information, considering the scope of his authority. Well, it seemed that fishy old man knew a whole lot more than I’d assumed, but there had to be a limit to what an individual could achieve.

In that case, did they have the support of a whole organization? But then the question was, who were these people, and where were they from? Hanoy didn’t seem to know. Mercenaries didn’t make much of a difference in matters of espionage. While they were skilled warriors, they didn’t have the status necessary to gather this type of information.

The key to this was likely what Hanoy had revealed earlier—the client he couldn’t name. Even now, I couldn’t figure it out. Lucy could probably solve this. It seemed I’d developed a habit of depending on her whenever I was stumped. I decided I’d ask her once we managed to return to Baltrain safely.

“Well, ain’t no reason for them to give it a rest for the day,” Hanoy said. “Better to keep an eye out.”

“True...” Allucia agreed.

He was telling us the chimeras could attack at any moment. There was no reason to wait for the chaos from the cathedral attack to die down before resorting to the chimeras—it would be a total waste of resources. They would have to come soon. Even if they weren’t going to suddenly pop up in the middle of town, it was safe to assume they’d already been released from the research lab or wherever it was they’d been stored.

Now we needed to know how strong they were and how many there were. Regardless of numbers, it was best to assume they weren’t weak. If they were all like Lono Ambrosia, we could only run away, do our best to drag the prince and princess all the way to Flumvelk—or even Baltrain—and wait for reinforcements from the magic corps.

Having an international incident really dragged things down. It was pretty unreasonable that the magic corps hadn’t been able to attend their princess’s wedding. After all, Lucy was likely the greatest contributor to Liberis’s development. Now that I thought of it, it was abnormal to forbid her from giving a congratulatory address, let alone from attending at all. I wondered if things would improve with Prince Glenn on the throne. Now wasn’t the time to be worrying about succession, though. We had to get him out of here safely for that scene to even be a possibility.

On our way to the palace, a mercenary in black jumped out of an alleyway and yelled for Hanoy.

“Commander!”

“Yo, what’s up?”

“A message from the scouts. Several unidentifiable monsters have been sighted on the capital’s outskirts.”

“Got it. Give it a go for now, and if it looks bad, pull out. It’d be great if you could buy time, but don’t push it. Kuriu, you go help.”

“Roger that. A slave driver, as always...”

Hanoy’s subordinates immediately responded to his swift orders. Just from this exchange, it was easy to see how skilled they were as an organization—they conveyed information and orders very clearly and quickly to each other. Setting aside personality and mindset, they were extremely valuable in terms of being a simple martial force. Nonetheless, if you asked me whether I wanted to fight by their side, I would still say no.

“How much does your contract cover?” I asked.

Now that the chimeras were here, this whole uproar was finally getting started for real. That had me curious about how much these mercenaries were willing to do.

“To protect the prince and princess until the end of this chaos,” Hanoy answered. “Escort duty to the palace is a hell of a boring job, but we don’t always get what we want.”

“I see...”

To escort Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia safely to the palace—was that really enough to protect them? I couldn’t answer that. After all, the enormous threat of the chimeras remained at large. In other words, we could count them among our forces until this was over. That was good news for Sphenedyardvania.

It was possible they would run away in the middle of it, but mercenaries cared about money more than status, fame, or trust. I didn’t know who their client was, but until they paid up, Verdapis wasn’t likely to take off.

“That’s the gist of it. Now let’s pick up the pace,” Hanoy said. “To be blunt, you two are total nuisances on the battlefield.”

The prince and princess were completely unnecessary on the bloody front lines. To protect them until the end, it was best to get them safely to a secure location away from the fighting.

The weather was clear, but the wind was strong. Despite the dry, chilly gale blowing fiercely under the cold sky, I was starting to feel a faint humidity on my skin from anxiety and unrest.

“Man, things are lookin’ rough, huh?”

Less than an hour after learning information on the chimera attack, we finally reached Sphenedyardvania’s royal palace with Prince Glenn and Princess Salacia in tow. On the way, we witnessed the chaos on the streets. The majority of the walking corpses had been suppressed, but several extra large monsters were attacking the outer edges of the city. There was no asking the populace to calm down in such a situation.

Sphenedyardvania’s palace was somewhat small compared to Liberis’s. Still, it gave off a different sense of refinement with its dazzling ornamentation. This place is definitely where the highest echelon of society lives. I felt like I would go dizzy living in a place like this, but maybe it was just the standard for royalty.

Due to the chaos, the area surrounding the palace was on high alert. Many knights of the Holy Order were restlessly coming and going, practically in a frenzy. Several spotted us and came running over with an entirely different look in their eyes. A particularly large man was among them, and he quickly called out to us.

“Prince Glenn, Princess Salacia! You’re safe!”

“Gatoga. Princess Salacia and I are just fine,” Prince Glenn reported. “How are the others?”

“Sir! The cathedral is completely under our control. There were only a few casualties.”

“I see. Good work.”

After that quick exchange, Gatoga took a short breath. I didn’t quite understand why he hadn’t been at the cathedral, but it seemed he had a lot going on too. Perhaps to make the corpse attack more of a success, the papists had pulled strings to keep him away. That was why Prince Glenn wasn’t saying anything about it. In other words, regardless of his opinion on it, Gatoga’s absence had been decided beforehand. Or maybe he’d been removed moments before the ceremony. That strengthened the credibility of what the knight at the narthex who’d confiscated our weapons had told us.

“Citrus, Gardenant,” Gatoga said. “Sorry. You two really saved me again.”

“Think nothing of it,” Allucia replied. “That’s a knight’s duty.”

“Yeah... Yeah, you’re exactly right.”

Gatoga’s expression was dark. He clearly felt guilty about being unable to fulfill said duty, which reinforced the idea that he’d been pulled away from the cathedral against his will. The power struggle between the papists and royalists was finally beyond the point of holding anything back. Maybe we’d long passed that point.

What did it mean to seize power, anyway? Control of money, people, and territory. That would be the normal answer. Being the highest authority in an entire nation meant having the most of all those things.

That was why it was weird for the papists to be destroying their own. There was supposed to be no appeal to ruling over an uninhabited land. Had the papists gone mad? Or did they just have nothing left to lose? I had no idea what their intentions were, but they had to be bad.

Gatoga then turned his attention to the Verdapis mercenaries, whom everyone was surely wondering about.

“So? Who are you people?” he asked.

“Mercenaries,” Hanoy answered. “We took a contract to escort the prince here. Can’t tell you who the client is.”

He seemed like an awfully talkative guy, but when it came to his job, he never said more than necessary.

“I see... That helps,” Gatoga said. “Allow me to offer my thanks.”

“No need. That’s the job.”

For the majority of the knights here, it was unclear whether Hanoy could be trusted. However, since he’d safely escorted the prince here, they had no choice but to do so for now.

“The remaining problem is those things out there...”

Gatoga shifted his gaze toward the edge of town. While Dilmahakha wasn’t as large as Baltrain, it was a solid city. In a world rampant with monsters, any gathering of people had to be well-defended. If an enemy could appear at any time and get to the center of a civilization immediately, the population would never have grown to begin with.

That was why it took something on the level of a natural cataclysm to cause a city to collapse on the spot. So far, Dilmahakha was living up to this reputation and withstanding the chimera attack. However, that was something I could only say from the safest place in the city. The outer edge had to have been utter pandemonium. We’d successfully gotten the prince and princess to the palace, but that didn’t mean we could pack it up and call it a job well done.

“Has the Holy Order come in contact with them yet?” Allucia asked.

“We sent out a few scouts, but they haven’t returned yet,” Gatoga answered with an annoyed look.

Nobody here had personally seen the chimeras. We had no idea how large or strong they were yet. Sending out scouts was the right choice.

“Our guys still aren’t back either...” Hanoy muttered.

He’d sent out scouts as well. Were they being held up because they were helping the evacuation and rescue efforts? Or had they already been defeated? The former was possible for the Holy Order. I wondered if the same could be said about Verdapis. I was hoping they were putting up a good fight, but it was entirely possible they’d been wiped out without even getting the chance to “give it a go.” I was really hoping the monsters weren’t that strong...

“There’s no point solidifying our defenses here,” Allucia said. “Let’s sally out.”

“You’re perfectly right,” Gatoga replied, “but we can’t leave the palace undefended either.”

“It’s only a matter of time before they break through.”

The two knight commanders continued discussing the matter. This was a very pressing issue to figure out—something had to be done about the chimeras rampaging in the city. However, it would be meaningless to send all of our forces to subjugate them at the cost of the palace’s defenses. There was no guarantee the chimeras were our only remaining enemies. Our top priority was still protecting the prince and princess. Defeating the chimeras was a means to that end.

When all was said and done, we needed to split our forces between defending the palace and defeating the chimeras, but that was a difficult decision to make. By all rights, it was best to wait for information from the scouts so that we knew how much of a threat our enemies posed. We weren’t capable of that now, though, which had resulted in a small difference in opinion. Allucia favored setting out in full force, while Gatoga wanted to prioritize defending the palace.

“I suppose our only choice is to set out with an elite few...”

“Seems so...”

After exchanging a few opinions, the two settled on one answer. In short, we would launch an assault using only a select few fighters. There wasn’t really the time to sit here and discuss it—I agreed with Allucia’s plan. Judging by how the Holy Order and Verdapis’s scouts hadn’t returned, there was no point in sending out a half-baked force. It would just invite unnecessary casualties.

We had to carefully choose people who were likely to be able to put up a fight against the chimeras on their own. Even if they were incapable of repelling the monsters, it would be good enough if they were capable of bringing back intel. If we sent out a huge force, there would be too much variation in skill to guarantee anything, and above all else, it would thin our defenses here. Things would be so much easier if Lucy and the magic corps had been invited...but I guess there’s no point in moaning over what we can’t have.

“Lazorne, please take command of the palace’s security and remain here to protect the prince and princess,” Allucia requested. “I’ll go for the chimeras.”

Gatoga nodded. “Sorry... I’m counting on you.”

The problem now was who to send. Just as Allucia had said, Gatoga was in a position to command the knights of the Holy Order and protect the prince. It would be a poor plan for him to abandon his post here.

“I’ll go for the chimeras too,” I said. “I take it you don’t mind, Allucia?”

“Ah! N-Not at all! I intended to ask you from the beginning. I’ll be accompanying you, of course.”

“How reassuring.”

I was ready to participate in defeating the chimeras too. If anything, that was the only thing I was capable of. I couldn’t take command of anyone, nor did I have the brains to come up with strategies. I only knew how to swing a sword—but that I could do well. What I’d once told Allucia was no lie. If my blade was capable of resolving a situation, I would gladly wield it to that end.

There was some self-interest in this as well. I wanted to know how far my techniques could take me. I was honestly thrilled—even if this emotion was somewhat inappropriate. A part of me was excited about taking part in a battle that would decide the fate of a nation, even if it wasn’t my own. I couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at how belligerent I’d become.

“Allucia, Beryl, I have great hope in your blades,” Princess Salacia said, motivating me all the more. Things’ll get really bad if we screw up...

“Please leave it to us, Your Highness,” I told her. “We will prevail at all costs.”

“Me and Prim are goin’ too,” Hanoy said. “That’s the job, and I wanna know how Kuriu’s doing.”

“I’m going wherever you go, Commander!”

The two elite Verdapis mercenaries were set to join us. Setting aside our differences in mindset, I was glad to have them on our side in a fight. Having a wizard was especially reassuring. Without her, our only option was closing into sword range.

“Lazorne, have you seen Henblitz?” Allucia asked.

“Yeah, our guys linked up with him at the cathedral. After getting things under control, I had him and the Liberion knights help with the evacuation.”

“Understood. Please tell him to continue with those efforts.”

“Roger that.”

It seemed Henblitz had successfully repelled the walking corpses from the cathedral without getting hurt. I was glad to hear it. Not that I’d ever imagined he would lose, but it was still good to receive such reliable information about his safety.

The prince and princess were going to remain at the palace. Gatoga and the Holy Order were focusing on defending the populace and the palace. The Liberion Order, with Henblitz in command, was guiding the evacuation. The royal garrison was likely devoting themselves to Dilmahakha’s defense. That meant there was only one more person here whose role wasn’t decided yet.

“White Maiden,” I said, turning to face her.

She was no more than a wandering mercenary now. I didn’t know who’d hired her, but at the very least, there was nobody here to give her orders. That meant there was nobody to object if I did so.

“You stay here by Prince Glenn’s side and protect him. That’s your role.”

She looked clearly shocked by my suggestion. It honestly hurt not to have her on the front lines. That was especially the case because I knew her true strength. However, even if we successfully defeated the chimeras, there might be yet another attack on the prince and princess. If they fell, she was surely the one who would fall into the greatest pits of despair.

She’d once attacked what she’d been meant to protect. Nothing could erase that fact. However, she stood here now with that giant scar on her past. As such, her most important mission was to protect Prince Glenn, no matter the cost. That was what I believed, at least. I was sure that would help her atone.

“Beryl, can she be—” the prince muttered.

“She can be trusted,” I answered immediately, “both in skill and in character.”

It was extremely rude for me to cut off royalty like that, but the situation being what it was, I hoped he could forgive me.

Our roles were decided. All that was left was to set forth. However, there was one more thing I had to know.

“Your Highness,” I said, addressing the prince, “may I be so bold as to ask one question?”

He paused before nodding. “I’ll allow it.”

“Do you trust the Holy Order and Gatoga Lazorne?”

“Of course,” he answered without even taking the time to consider the question. “They are our nation’s prized spear and shield. How could I not?”

There was a clear conviction in his voice. That was a relief. With how things were going, it would probably be impossible for the White Maiden to hide her identity forever. If her plan was to seclude herself from the world, she should never have gotten involved in this country’s strife as a mercenary. I wasn’t particularly wise, but I could think of plenty of other ways she could have kept herself hidden. She was far smarter than me—she’d had to have considered a plethora of options.

“In that case, you can trust her,” I told the prince. “Without question.”

Regardless, she was here now. She’d chosen to get involved in this country’s future. So, even if it was impossible for her to regain her former status, I believed she could win Prince Glenn’s trust. He was in no way a fool, after all. Besides, Gatoga wasn’t saying anything. He’d definitely guessed who she was. And if he truly thought her staying with the prince was a bad idea, he would’ve objected. He had enough influence to do so.

“Very well... I’ll take your advice to heart,” the prince said.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t know whether Prince Glenn would realize who she was or if she would expose her identity on her own. However, I wanted to believe that both their concerns for the future of the country were the real deal. If possible, I wanted them to be able to work toward a better future together once more.

“We’ll get horses for you,” Gatoga said after silently watching my exchange with the prince. “Please make use of them.”

The holy capital was a large city. There was a limit to how fast we could go on foot—especially in my case.

“Mind if we use them too?” Hanoy asked.

“Yeah, but don’t steal them,” Gatoga told him. “Make sure you bring them back.”

“Ooh, scary. That’s a promise in front of the princeling. Can’t go back on that now, can I?”

I guess it would be weird for us to go on horseback while forcing Hanoy and Prim to walk. They were definitely a reliable force in battle. We still didn’t know who they were working for, but judging by their behavior so far, they were very unlikely to abandon their contract.

“Then, Prince Glenn, Princess Salacia, we’ll take you inside the palace,” Gatoga said.

“Please do.”

There was no point in making them wait outside while we got our horses ready. Gatoga quickly arranged for some knights to escort them inside to safety as soon as possible. I could see the masked woman hesitate over whether to follow them.

“Go,” I told her. “I have my role, and you have yours.”

“Right.”

With that short reply, she ran off to follow the royals into the palace. That was for the best. She had an important duty to fulfill—to keep Prince Glenn alive until this chaos was over. This wasn’t only to see him safe. Now that she’d chosen to return to this world, she had to settle the bill.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

Shortly after, some knights arrived with a few strong-looking horses. We could finally depart. I prayed the front lines hadn’t already collapsed, but there was nothing we could do about it until we got there.

“Hup...”

I straddled the horse and surveyed the city from a slightly higher vantage point. I could see several flashy clouds of dust not too far from the palace. Apparently, the chimeras were going on quite the energetic rampage.

This should be good.

“Let’s go, Master.”

“Yeah, seems like this’ll be quite the hunt.”

Allucia took the lead, and our four horses ran off.

I’d given the White Maiden—Rose Marblehart—her role. It was now time to fulfill mine as a swordsman.

◇

“Hah!”

I gripped the horse’s reins, driving it through the holy capital at full speed. Dilmahakha’s layout was pretty extreme. The main road that led to important buildings like the cathedral and the palace was excessively well maintained—a multitude of much smaller roads forked off like branches on a tree. This was why it was possible for a horse to gallop at full speed down the central thoroughfare.

Also, there were pretty much no pedestrians in sight. The majority had already shut themselves inside their homes or in evacuation shelters. The only people we saw were those evacuating from the outer edge of the city and the knights guiding them.

“That’s a knight for ya.” Hanoy complimented Allucia with an accompanying whistle of admiration. “You’ve got a real good handle on that horse.”

I had experience with horses too—there were plenty of opportunities to ride out in the countryside. However, what I knew was nothing more than “riding” a horse. I hadn’t reached the level of “handling” one.

Watching Allucia control her steed, I could see the clear differences in our skill. This was actually my first time witnessing her on horseback. We hadn’t done any horseback training in the dojo in Beaden, and it was rare to have to ride a horse in Baltrain.

Nonetheless, even from the perspective of an amateur, I could tell she was very skilled. She’d probably trained in horsemanship after becoming a knight. I could only describe her riding as splendid. Frankly, I’d never thought I’d see another side of Allucia’s tremendous talent, especially at a time like this. Part of me was happy I’d gotten to witness this, but there was nothing truly positive about the current situation.

“The town looks surprisingly undamaged,” I remarked.

“Indeed,” Allucia said. “Is it because the chimeras are slow, or are they successfully being stalled? Time to find out...”

As we rushed down the street, the scenery around us was unexpectedly clean. There were, of course, citizens being evacuated by the Holy Order, but that was because they lived around the outer edges and were hurrying toward the center. The buildings hadn’t been destroyed, which meant the chimeras were still farther away from us. Just as Allucia had said, either they were slow by nature or the fighting squads were successfully stalling them.

The entire city was on high alert, but the actual damage to infrastructure wasn’t that great—not yet, at least. If we managed to reach the chimeras and defeat them, we could keep casualties to a minimum. Dilmahakha’s city center looked peaceful enough for me to hold out hope.

“Oh...”

As we got closer to the chimeras, we saw more and more people. The majority of them were either injured or tending to the injured. They were leaning against the walls of safe-looking buildings as if waiting for a storm to pass.

While I’d expected some carnage, it seemed like these opponents were beyond the Holy Order’s capabilities. The chimeras were near the city limits, so because we had been in the city’s center—near the cathedral and the palace—we hadn’t seen much damage. However, when monsters rampaged, there were sure to be casualties. The brief optimistic hope I’d held just moments ago had shattered spectacularly.

Right as we passed what looked like an evacuation shelter where the injured were gathering, a voice yelled at us from the side.

“Hey! Wait up! Hang on a sec!”

“Kuriu!”

Hanoy and Prim slowed their horses. The blue-haired swordsman, Kuriu, was doing his best to run alongside them.

“I see you’re holdin’ up fine,” Hanoy said.

“Yeah, somehow! But those things are nuts!”

Allucia and I slowed down to match their pace. We were pressed for time, but we couldn’t ignore any intel Kuriu had regarding the chimeras—after all, we could never have enough information on our opponents. Plus, if a swordsman capable of crossing blades with Allucia is calling these monsters “nuts,” then they must be seriously bad news.

“They’re big and fast,” Kuriu elaborated. “That wouldn’t be so bad on its own, but they’re tough as hell too! My swords couldn’t cut them, so I pulled out. I doubt anything but your weapon will get through. That’s how hard they were.”

“I see. Roger that,” Hanoy said. “Kuriu, go support the others.”

“Aye, aye!”

Having conveyed everything he had to say, Kuriu ran off in another direction. It was actually pretty crazy that he’d managed to stay running alongside us on foot for a short period, even considering how we’d slowed down a bit. This mercenary group was a wild gathering of experts.

“That tough, huh?” I muttered. “Sounds like a difficult enemy.”

Allucia nodded. “Yes. Here’s hoping my sword can cut through...”

An enemy with a tough hide posed enough of a threat on its own because it was difficult to damage. My old sword had been completely incapable of cutting Zeno Grable anywhere except its softest parts, and physical attacks had barely worked at all against Lono Ambrosia. If we were faced with a similarly armored opponent, Allucia would be the one lacking sufficient firepower—she was still using the farewell sword I’d gifted her upon her graduation from our dojo.

She’d surely sharpened and maintained it since then, but if the chimeras were tougher than Zeno Grable, it would be difficult for her to even scratch them, let alone deal a fatal blow. Against truly tough opponents, technique hardly mattered—it was just impossible to get the blade to bite. A human could be cut with any sharp implement, but that didn’t apply to all monsters. Many had naturally thick hides and tenacious muscles that long, slender metal sticks could do nothing about.

My sword, on the other hand, had been forged with an abundance of Zeno Grable’s bones and claws, and it was coated in elven steel. Its cutting edge was nothing to laugh at—it’d even bisected Lono Ambrosia’s core. I’m pretty confident it’ll work on those chimeras too.

Hanoy’s greatsword also possessed terrific offensive potential. His superhuman strength, combined with his solid technique, crushed his opponents more than cutting them. So, if his blade couldn’t penetrate, it wasn’t much of a problem. I doubted any opponent in existence could put his fighting style at a disadvantage.

I hoped Allucia would take this opportunity to start showing an interest in a nicer sword. Now wasn’t the time to be mentioning that, but as the one who’d taught her swordsmanship, I felt strongly about it. Her weapon wasn’t exactly flawed or anything—it just wasn’t first-class, and using it was a waste of her tremendous talent. It didn’t really matter against a human opponent, but when facing tough monsters, a weapon’s grade could play a major role.

Because Allucia Citrus was an excellent swordswoman, she had to have noticed this problem by now. I was glad she was using my farewell sword, but considering her rank as a knight commander, she was better off letting it go.

I pondered these issues while urging my horse onward. As my field of view started to open up down the main street, I finally spotted the rampaging chimeras with my own eyes.

“There!” I cried out.

“They’re awfully big,” Hanoy commented. “Worth crushin’, at least.”

They really were large. We weren’t close yet, but this fact was still abundantly clear from a distance. Measuring by eye, I figured that each chimera was around twice the size of Zeno Grable. There were four of them in total, and they weren’t grouped together—all of them were rampaging wildly.

“Four chimeras...”

We’d heard there were several of them, but now that we had an exact number, it was difficult to decide what to do. We also had four fighters on our side. Normally, you’d think we could each take one on. However, that plan only worked on the assumption that each of us could manage alone. Against monsters that large, challenging them individually could pose the risk of all of us getting defeated. To add to that, we had a wizard—unless she was on Lucy’s level or wielded sword magic like Ficelle, she was at a disadvantage against a sturdy opponent without a vanguard to help her. That said, I wanted to avoid a big battle royal with all four chimeras at once. It looked like it would be best to take them on as small groups and eliminate them one by one.

“How cruel...”

Now that we were at the epicenter of the chaos, we knew why the rest of Dilmahakha was perfectly fine despite the four abnormal monsters on the loose. The chimeras definitely weren’t slow-footed. Or, well, they didn’t give a sluggish impression. Honestly, they looked as agile as Zeno Grable. They didn’t lack strength either. They were large enough to trample over most buildings with ease, and there were wrecked houses all over. Despite all this, the chimeras still hadn’t advanced toward the city center, resulting in fewer casualties on the whole. The reason for this was right before our eyes.

“Ugh... Gh...”

One of the chimeras was toying with a human. The man’s left arm had been torn off, and both his legs were bent the wrong way. Judging by his equipment, he was a knight of the Holy Order. He was clad in heavy full plate armor—seemingly the symbol of Sphenedyardvania—but that wasn’t enough to stop the chimera’s claws and fangs. The dying knight wasn’t being eaten, and he wasn’t being tossed aside. The chimera was biting him and whipping him around like a toy.

“Dammit!”

These things hadn’t been stalled. They’d simply been playing with their victims.

Normal monsters didn’t do this. They either killed people whom they saw as obstructions or fed on them. There was a certain evil oozing out of these chimeras. It was as if they were a reflection of the mastermind behind this tragedy.

“Hmph... These things are fuckin’ disgusting,” Hanoy muttered.

“I couldn’t agree more...”

Our personalities were in no way compatible, but I concurred with him. That was how uncomfortable this scene was for a fellow human.

Even if the poor knight’s sacrifice meant damage to the rest of the city was being kept to a minimum, we couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Quickly reading the situation, Hanoy and the pink-haired wizard picked out a chimera who was more isolated than the others.

“Me and Prim will off that lone one on the right flank,” Hanoy said. “I’ll let you take the glory.”

“Got it... We’ll leave that one up to you two.”

“All right! Let’s get to work, Prim!”

“Mm!”

The two Verdapis mercenaries spurred their horses toward their target. The chimeras’ strength was still an unknown factor, but judging by how the Holy Order had been defeated, they definitely weren’t weak. A four-on-four between monsters and humans would certainly put us at a disadvantage—if it came to that, we would really have no chance of winning.

So, the plan was to take them on in separate small teams in isolation from each other. In terms of teamwork, those two were likely best together. The problem was how to divvy up the rest of the chimeras. Hanoy and Prim were heading toward one, so that left three more. Only Allucia and I were left to handle them. Unless one of us was capable of splitting into two, it was impossible to take them all on at once.

Hmm, what to do?

Even if Allucia and I took one each, that left one at large. Would it be better to team up and finish them one at a time? That would leave two monsters rampaging while we fought the first, though. I doubted we could kill these things quickly, even if we worked together, so the damage would gradually spread while we fought. If the unengaged chimeras chose to join the battle, that would be even worse. I doubted I could win against two monsters of that size at once. The same probably went for Allucia.

“Master, let’s split up. We must strike down as many of them as we can.”

“Guess there’s no time to think about it...!”

Just as she’d said, our priority was minimizing casualties. Our only choice was to split up. I would’ve liked more help, but now wasn’t the time to be asking for luxuries. In terms of weapons, Allucia was at a clear disadvantage. So, I really had to do my best to bring down one chimera, then go help her or take care of the last one. There were no other options.

“Huh...?”

Just as I was pumping myself up, one of the three chimeras who’d been roughly clustered together suddenly shifted course far to the left.

“Did someone lure it away...?”

“Master, this works perfectly for us. Let’s take them one-on-one while we can.”

“Right. Sounds like a plan.”

Well, no matter the circumstances, this was convenient.

“Allucia, don’t die.”

“Of course. I pray for your good fortune in battle too, Master.”

With those last words to each other, Allucia and I split up. A single misstep could be fatal, but I couldn’t just turn tail and run away. As long as someone had hope in my blade, I’d decided to do everything in my power to meet those expectations.

“All right!”

I felt my grip strengthening on the reins.

Okay then, it’s time to exterminate some monsters. Let’s do this.

◇

“Hup... Thanks.”

After parting ways with Allucia, I made my way toward one of the chimeras. I dismounted some distance away along the road—there was a risk of getting the horse killed if I got too close with it. I was technically borrowing it from Sphenedyardvania, so I wanted to avoid getting it hurt. Besides, I was incapable of fighting from horseback. I could probably manage somewhat if I really tried, but my forte was fighting with my feet on the ground. It would be ridiculous to be defeated because I’d decided to do something I was unfamiliar with. This battle had to be on foot.

Hanoy and Prim were facing the chimera on the right flank. Of the three that were left, one had diverted to the left flank. If Allucia and I each faced one of the remaining two in the middle, we could prevent any further casualties for now. That plan hinged on the harsh condition that none of us lost, though.

“It sure is big...”

After hitching my horse to a nearby pillar, I hurried over to the chimera. The one I’d chosen was pawing at a civilian who’d fallen prey to it. Say I gave that thing the benefit of doubt—I could understand hunting humans for survival’s sake. However, this chimera was an artificially created calamity. I strongly believed that I had to avenge the innocent people who’d fallen to it, though I didn’t know if death was a sufficient parting gift.

Noticing my approach, the chimera stopped playing with the corpse and turned my way.

“Grrr...?”

I couldn’t sense any intelligence behind its eyes. I wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about monsters or anything, but of the ones I’d fought and defeated, it reminded me most of Lono Ambrosia. While that one had looked completely different, it’d shared this lack of intelligence.

These beasts were meant to have abided by nature’s rules—they should’ve been resting after death. I felt the slightest sympathy that they’d been roused in such a state, but I couldn’t overlook their deeds. It was inevitable that more people would die if we didn’t kill them now.

“Resent the one who created you...”

“Grrrr! Graaaaah!”

I drew my sword as the chimera roared. It’d recognized me as its next prey. Well, that was better than it being strangely friendly or running away. It was easier for me to kill this way.

The chimera was of considerable size. Just as I’d estimated from afar, it was about twice as big as Zeno Grable. Stitching monsters together did theoretically mean the end result would just get bigger and bigger the more you used. At any rate, I had no experience fighting anything this large. The chimera had the head of a lion and the body of an ox or griffon. Its tail was a snake too, making it utterly grotesque. I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to fight.

“Well, let’s have at it and see!”

I charged in and started with a horizontal slash to test things out. Kuriu had called these things extremely tough. I had to check its defenses for myself before genuinely trying to find a way to defeat it.

“Grrr?”

I’d put plenty of killing intent behind my charge, but it seemed this creature didn’t react to such things. This was the key difference between it and the likes of Zeno Grable. I wasn’t sure whether that made the thing more tractable, though.

“Shh!”

The chimera recognized my presence but also seemed to be zoning out in a way. I slashed at it with plenty of force, aiming to take a foreleg. However, though I managed to penetrate its skin, my blade stopped before really digging into its meat. My strike hadn’t been enough to cut its dense muscles.

“Gyah?!”

“Sure is tough...!”

I pulled my sword free and took a step back. An instant later, a paw crashed down where I’d just been standing.

It was a little tougher than I’d imagined. A part of me had believed this brilliant sword would be able to cut clean through its limbs. Now, I had to think of a way to fight it. Unless it left me a huge opening, it would be difficult to kill quickly.

The other thing that caught my attention was its slow reaction time. It hadn’t defended against my sword, nor had it even been wary of it. That was rather bold. Maybe a puny human like me wasn’t worth being cautious of. That kinda pisses me off. Not too long ago, I would never have thought this way. Was this also a form of growth? I could only pray it had nothing to do with getting full of myself.

At any rate, my sword was at least capable of drawing blood. I’d considered the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to deal any damage at all, so in theory, it could be defeated. I just had to do my utmost to avoid its lethal attacks while continuously slashing at it. You could say this was far easier than having to face the likes of Lono Ambrosia.

“Graooooh!”

“Whoa!”

It seemed the damage I’d dealt had forced it to reevaluate me as an enemy worth being wary of. It let out a jarring roar, then brought its forelegs smashing down over and over. The repeated booms of its massive paws hitting the ground resonated deep within me. However, this accomplished no more than flattening the spots where I’d been standing.

“Hmm...”

A certain thought immediately came to mind—really, it was nothing more than my first impressions from this short interaction.

Is that all?

It was definitely big. Its attacks also had an astoundingly destructive force behind them. A regular civilian—and even a fully armored warrior—would die from a single blow. That was how powerful it was. I definitely couldn’t be careless around it.

But that was all. The attacks were fast—in no way sluggish. If anything, it was rather agile for its size. However, it was slower than Zeno Grable. It was, at least, faster than a saberboar.

It was possible that the thing was still hiding some kind of trick up its sleeve. Regardless, I could easily defeat an opponent of this level. The same went for Allucia and Hanoy. The problem was its toughness. The inside of its mouth was probably soft, but it would be even harder to get my sword in there than it had been with Zeno Grable—the chimera was so large, making its mouth difficult to reach.

“Then how about this?”

“Grah?!”

Deciding on a new plan, I charged in once more. This time, I delivered a thrust to its foreleg. As expected, the tip of my blade sank in but didn’t penetrate all the way through. It came to a stop after biting into the meat just a little.

But that was fine. Having gotten a feel for it, I immediately pulled my sword out and backed away. A moment later, the chimera’s fangs snapped closed where I’d been standing, biting nothing but air.

It was pretty much impossible to finish my opponent in one strike. At least, it was with my current level of firepower. In that case, my only choice was to shave away at it. However, depending on how I approached this, it could take too long without giving me a real advantage. I had to chip away at my opponent in a way that led to a situation where I could deliver a fatal blow.

My plan was to slash at its forelegs until it could no longer keep its balance, forcing it to lower its head. That would also prevent it from escaping, all while putting its face within reach of my sword. I didn’t know what the chimera’s weak point was, but it moved like a living creature, so it likely had similar soft spots. If destroying the brain didn’t work, I could go for the heart. And if that still didn’t work, I just had to keep hacking until there was nothing left to cut. It would be a simple matter once it lost the use of its forelegs. The path to victory was long but clear.

“Hmph!”

I approached, slashed, backed off, then approached again. I had a general grasp of my enemy’s abilities. This wasn’t a fight—it was just busywork. The tail probably had snakelike abilities, but I was only fighting from the front, so the tail didn’t have the chance to do anything. Fighting this thing on my own was actually easier. If we had several people surrounding it, the tail’s fangs could come into play.

The chimera didn’t seem to possess any projectile attacks. It just had tough skin and bulldozed its way through any obstacles. That would be enough against an amateur but not against masters like Allucia and Hanoy. Actually, the lack of projectiles so far doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t have any... I’d gone through quite the ordeal with Zeno Grable, so I wasn’t going to let my guard down now.

“Graaaaah!”

After a period where I was carving it up and observing its behavior, the chimera finally snapped. It stomped both forelegs down, shaking the earth violently. Any normal creature would be unable to ignore the amount of blood it was hemorrhaging.

I didn’t want it going on more of a rampage than it already was, but this was still several times better than it running away. If it dashed off with everything it had, I wouldn’t be able to catch up with it. But since it was meeting me face-to-face, I simply had to fend it off and draw some blood from its head.

It seemed my work of slowly chipping away at its forelegs was finally starting to pay off. Because of how hard it’d stomped with both legs, it’d torn open its wounds, sending out a spray of blood.

Now was my chance. It was convenient that my opponent was in a frenzy—I could attack more readily when it came at me in such an imperfect state.

“Haaah...”

Glaring at the chimera, I dared it to come at me. I corrected my grip on my sword and held it high overhead. This was a stance rarely used in our dojo. Our style focused largely on dodging and following up with counterattacks, and that was fairly incompatible with the entirely offensive high stance. This was the kind of thing Curuni or Henblitz would specialize in. However, “rarely used” wasn’t the same as “couldn’t use.” There were few purely offensive forms in our school, but that didn’t mean we were weak with them.

“Grrrraah!”

Flailing its limbs around clumsily, the chimera closed in. It seemed it couldn’t ignore the damage to its forelegs—its charge was far slower than before. Regardless, it tenaciously pushed forward. I wondered if this was the nature of the original creature or whether it was bitter about being given life again in such an abnormal way. There was no telling which it was, but either way, it was guilty of having murdered many people. It was only right to settle the bill here.

“Shhh!”

I didn’t take a single step to the side as the chimera approached—I met it head-on. There was no way I could use a technique like branch breaker to lock up my opponent’s strike. That simply didn’t work against monsters of this size. I didn’t use a counterattack like serpent lash either. While that was useful for closing the gap while striking my opponent, it wasn’t enough to deal a fatal blow against something so big.

“Grrr...?”

Therefore, making use of every muscle in my body, I swung straight down. This was a strike designed to slay a foe without question: hawk killer. It was the only technique in our dojo that started from a high stance, and it was capable of bringing even a soaring hawk down from the sky. Not that the strike can extend high up beyond the reach of the blade, mind you.

My sword smashed through the chimera’s cranium, ending its life at the price of a significant jarring in my hands.

“Phew...”

The enormous monster sank to the ground with a thud. This was a little different from my initial plan, but it had all worked out in the end. Ultimately, the thing was dead, and I hadn’t taken any damage. I prodded it with my sword just to be sure. Wild animals and monsters sometimes feigned death when they sensed they were at a disadvantage. Though this was an artificially created chimera, I didn’t discount the possibility.

“Mm... Looks dead.”

I lightly slashed its face just to be sure. It didn’t react at all. Well, it would’ve been a bit of a problem if it managed to survive a strike right through its skull. The sight of blood and all sorts of other viscera pouring out was rather ghastly. I definitely didn’t want to have to clean up later.

After confirming that it was finally dead, I sheathed my sword. This wasn’t over yet, and its death had been possible thanks to Zeno Grable’s sword. It would’ve been quite difficult to exchange blows with a chimera using a normal weapon. My attacks would’ve struggled to bite through the beast’s flesh. That was why it was necessary for me to support Allucia. She wasn’t going to lose, but it would be quite the undertaking for her to win with her current equipment. It was better to spend my time linking up with her quickly rather than standing around idly.

“All right, time to go help Allu—”

“Shaaah!”

“Gh?!”

The instant I took my eyes off the chimera, I heard a disturbing sound from the corpse. I turned around in a panic.

The snake that made up the chimera’s tail was lunging for me with tremendous ferocity.

“Cra—”

The body parts can move independently of each other?! I messed up! Draw my sword? No, not enough time. Dodge? I just relaxed my muscles, so I can’t move fast enough.

“Master!”

And just as an idiotic part of me casually figured out that I was about to lose an arm, something pushed me aside. My field of vision was obstructed by a shining silver shield.

“Wha?!”

Unable to brace myself against the unexpected impact, I fell on my butt. My arm was still intact. I didn’t feel any pain. Well, my backside hurt, but it was nothing compared to what I’d been preparing myself for. It seemed someone had just barely saved me.

The snake slammed into the shield that was covering me.

“Hyuh!”

“Hssss!”

Who could that be? As that thought crossed my mind, the person wielding the shield let out a peculiar exhalation and decapitated the snake.

“Master, are you all right?”

The one who’d cut down the snake in one strike showed tremendous concern for me. A gust of wind beneath the cold sky toyed with the strands of her blue hair.

“Y-Yeah. Thanks...Rose.”

I wasn’t quite sure whether to refer to her as the White Maiden. She was using a shining silver kite shield instead of the buckler I’d seen her using earlier, but all of her other equipment was the same.

She wielded a shortsword, was armored in a breastplate, and wore a fauld skirt. Even her mask was still on. That meant she was still going by the White Maiden persona. However, she was also calling me “Master,” and we were the only ones here. I doubted calling her by her name was a major issue.

“But what are you doing here?” I asked.

She’d saved me. Had she not covered me, I would’ve lost an arm at least. I was extremely grateful she was here. However, I’d asked her to protect Prince Glenn. What was she doing on the front lines?

“His Highness commanded me to come here,” Rose answered. “He told me to protect Dilmahakha.”

“I see...”

That meant Prince Glenn now knew her identity. The kite shield she wielded was proof of this. I didn’t know whether Rose had confessed or if he’d figured it out, but that wasn’t the important part. The prince had accepted her as an important asset to the nation. From what I could tell of Rose’s feelings, she wanted to protect Prince Glenn, but she couldn’t do much about that if he’d directly commanded her to assist us.

Given her current position, she had no real reason to obey his commands—she simply wasn’t obligated to. However, she’d decided to obey. It would be difficult for her to be reinstated into the Holy Order, and she would have to clear many obstacles to make that happen. Still, she didn’t need to be a knight to work for her country. I was hoping they could find a good compromise on that front.

“Oh, I don’t have time to waste here,” I said suddenly. “I need to go help the others!”

While I was rather moved by her dedication, now wasn’t the time to be indulging in that emotion. Allucia still needed help, and there was no telling if the chimera that had split off to the left was going to come back. One monster was dead, but the situation hadn’t been resolved yet.

“I’ll assist you,” Rose said. “That’s my role.”

“Got it. Very reassuring.”

Now that I knew my sword was enough to kill a chimera, it was extremely nice to have a defense specialist like Rose with me. I doubted I would have any more accidents with her by my side.

“I guess it’ll be faster to run than to get the horses,” I said.

“Yes, most likely.”

It would take too much extra time to go back to where my horse was and untie it. Fortunately, it was easy to tell where the fighting was going on because of the flashy clouds of smoke.

On a side note, while I knew the masked woman was Rose, she spoke in a completely different way now—her words felt really out of place. Her playful and dragged-out manner of speech was liable to get her recognized on the spot in Sphenedyardvania, so maybe there was no helping that. From the moment she’d donned that mask, she’d likely been very deliberate about choosing every word that came out of her mouth. One reason for this was probably to stop the papists from finding out her identity.

However, even if just for a short time, she was no longer donning that persona. It would’ve been so much easier for her to survive had she kept her neck out of such troublesome affairs. This showed how determined she was to save her country. Maybe she’d decided it would be faster to purge the bad actors in Sphenedyardvania than to keep herself hidden. As always, such political matters seemed awfully complicated to me.

“Okay, let’s hurry.”

“Yes, Master.”

Such thoughts could wait for later. We had to bring order to the city first. I didn’t know who between the papists and royalists was correct from a political perspective, but I couldn’t forgive the papists for dragging regular civilians into such an incident. They definitely had to pay for that—with interest.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stop calling me Master?!”

“Sorrrry! We finally got to talk, so it just kinda slipped out!”

Rose and I chatted as we ran to our next objective. It seemed somewhat inappropriate, given the situation, but I was the one who’d started it. At any rate, I didn’t think now was the right time to make Rose’s identity public. Just calling me “Master” would be enough for some people to figure it out, so I was hoping she could maintain the facade a little better.

“There!”

A while after making our way toward the clouds of smoke, Rose and I finally reached the source of all the destruction. From what I could tell, Allucia was maintaining the advantage, but she couldn’t finish the chimera off. It seemed she really was incapable of penetrating its thick hide. For better or worse, it was just as I’d expected. The worst-case scenario would’ve been her sword breaking, stripping her of any chance of going on the offensive. I was glad to see that hadn’t happened.

“Allucia! I’m here to help!”

“Master?!”

Allucia and the chimera shifted their focus to me for a moment. I was hoping I could get the monster to be somewhat cautious of these new reinforcements. That would lower the probability of Allucia taking a hit. Though, since she was far more agile than I was, the chance of her getting hit by such attacks was extremely low to begin with. Nevertheless, I wanted to make sure it didn’t happen. Almost impossible wasn’t the same as impossible.

“Hah!”

I maintained my momentum, slashing down at the chimera while it remained frozen in response to our sudden intrusion. I had plenty of speed behind my strike, but my blade was held back by muscle and bone, so my sword stopped halfway through my swing. At least I dealt some damage. If my attack slowed it down some, that’s good enough for me.

Incidentally, I’d discovered something during the last fight: These things weren’t truly living creatures. They were being forcefully manipulated through forbidden arts, so their movements involved only the slightest muscle contractions, if any at all. I was grateful I couldn’t end up in a situation like I’d been in with Zeno Grable—the beast had clenched its muscles so tightly around my blade that I’d been unable to pull it out. Though the chimeras had tough armor of muscle and bone, there was nothing else going for them. It made them relatively easy to handle.

“Shaaaah!”

“Whoa!”

Unlike against the first chimera, I was attacking from the side, within range of the snake. Its thick body twisted in the air, and it launched a furious attack from above, led by two enormous fangs. Because I’d just yanked my sword out, it was a little hard to ready myself for another slash. So, I decided to back away and put some distance between us.

“Hah!”

Practically switching places with me, Rose swung her shortsword. However, the twisting body of the snake instantly retracted out of her range. Unlike the main body, the snake seemed to react quickly. It was clear that they were separate creatures—I knew this for a fact due to my earlier bitter experience.

Seeing Rose beside me, Allucia raised her voice in shock. “You’re...?!”

“She’s here to help,” I explained. “She just saved me. We came over to finish this thing quickly.”

“Is that so...? Understood.”

I could decide later whether to tell Allucia about the White Maiden’s identity. There was certainly no need for Rose to reveal it right now. We had one more skilled ally—that was more than enough information on the battlefield.

“The head and tail are separate beings,” I told Allucia as I lined myself up next to her. “Don’t let your guard down, even when the lion is dead.”

“Acknowledged.”

It would’ve been difficult even for Allucia to see through such a trick without knowing about it. Conversely, it was no big deal when you already knew. To avoid any careless accidents, the three of us had to kill this thing with absolute certainty.

“Graoooh!”

Thanks to the reasonable wound I’d dealt its torso, it now saw all three of us as clear enemies. We had a clear grasp of its abilities, so the biggest problem would be if it ran. Glad it’s coming after us.

In the meantime, I was worried about the condition of Allucia’s weapon. I glanced away from the chimera to take a look.

It’s pretty beat-up. Honestly, it was hard to say whether it could actually kill the monster. It was already surprising that the sword I’d given her so long ago was still in active service. Still, no matter how long she made it last, the blade itself wasn’t getting any better—not until it was completely reforged or something. The more a weapon was used, the more it deteriorated. However, in the midst of battle, factors like familiarity and the sense of relief it brought could be just a little more important than a slightly sharper blade. Still, in terms of pure performance, one could say it was ideal to buy a completely new weapon and discard it after a single use—that was an extreme example, though.

“Allucia, does your sword work on that thing?” I asked, returning my focus to the chimera.

“Unfortunately, no...”

Just as I expected. The monster didn’t have any noticeable wounds on it, aside from the one I’d dealt. It was impressive that she hadn’t ruined her sword after slashing against its tough hide. However, you could also interpret that another way: She was unwilling to put all her strength behind her strikes out of unnecessary concern for her weapon. I was the one who’d taught her swordsmanship, so perhaps this was the time for me to put my generosity on display.

“Once things are settled, I’ll give you a new sword,” I said. “So wield that one with everything you’ve got.”

Allucia flinched visibly, then said, “Very well. I shall take your words to heart.”

Mementos were, of course, valuable. As an instructor, it was more than I deserved for her to treat the four years she’d spent at our dojo so dearly. I doubted there was anything that could make me happier. However, to repeat myself over and over, the girl who’d been my pupil and the woman who served as the Liberion Order’s commander lived in vastly different environments and possessed greatly different skills. At the time, I’d never imagined Allucia would become such a big shot. So, it was my duty as her instructor to gift her a weapon that suited her as she was now.

“White Maiden, I want you to take on the snake,” I said. “Allucia and I will take the head.”

Rose confirmed my order silently. She’d deemed it too dangerous to speak carelessly in front of Allucia. I didn’t want to waste her efforts, so I nodded silently to end the conversation.

“Okay, let’s do this!”

“Right!”

“Graaaaah!”

Now that we had our plan in place, it was time for action. I charged in as the chimera roared. It would either bite me or go for a headbutt. Despite the wound to its torso, it wasn’t that much slower than before.

Still, with the three of us fighting together, our victory was pretty much guaranteed. This monster possessed astounding physical strength, but unfortunately for it, that wasn’t enough to defeat a top-class swordsman.

“Shhh!”

Allucia, who specialized in speed, collided with the chimera ahead of me. Using her practically godlike footwork, she dodged the chimera’s snapping fangs and delivered three thrusts faster than the eye could follow.

“Graaaah!”

Her strikes didn’t hurt it much. The chimera roared in annoyance and stamped down at her with a foreleg. And with that attack, it focused its attention entirely on Allucia. The chimera’s defeat—and consequently, our victory—was decided.

“Hmph!”

As its foreleg came crashing down, I intercepted it with an upward slash, putting all my might behind the strike. Unlike in my previous one-on-one, I was able to position myself correctly for this. I pushed up with my lower body and used my opponent’s mass against it.

“Gyaaah?!”

Sure enough, the chimera’s momentum and weight pressed back down against me. It felt like the muscles in my arm would burst. Enduring the sensation, I successfully severed the limb at the elbow.

“Graaaaah!”

Now missing a leg, it was no longer able to support its excessive weight—it lost its balance. I immediately moved to finish it off, but I quickly came to a stop.

“Haaaah!”

Allucia let out a battle cry as the chimera’s head came careening toward the ground. The beast never had any means of dealing with her speed to begin with. She put everything she had behind a thrust, piercing the chimera’s throat as an expression of shock remained plastered on its face.

Having delivered certain death, Allucia’s face showed clear delight in victory, but that was quickly replaced by despondency. That last attack had likely ruined her sword. The throat was a soft spot on pretty much any creature, but that wasn’t the case all the way through. Due to the length of a sword, it was entirely possible to reach a creature’s spine, and no matter how perfect Allucia’s control of her sword was, nothing could be done after slamming it into such a hard, bony surface. Oddly enough, this was much like when Surena’s broadswords had slashed my old blade to bits, even if the situation itself was somewhat different.

“Hah!”

“Hsss...!”

At pretty much the same time, Rose finished the snake at the rear. She’d taken advantage of the opening created by the main body dying and had severed the tail in one strike—much like she had with the other chimera. I was glad to see her skills hadn’t deteriorated since leaving the Holy Order.

“Haaah...” Allucia sighed.

“This is your sword’s resting place,” I told her. “You protected the people of Dilmahakha. A sword could ask for no better grave.”

“Yes... You’re right.”

She was clearly depressed. I’d told her to wield her weapon with all her might, so I had to take responsibility. In all likelihood, she hadn’t intended to lose her sword here. That was why she’d chosen to finish it with a thrust. However, the chimera’s toughness had betrayed her expectations, and her blade had lost its luster. This was her sword’s grave in that sense as well. Losing mine had been quite the shock too, so I couldn’t tell her not to worry about it.

At that moment, I remembered that the battle wasn’t over just yet...

“Oh yeah, there’s still one more...!”

Hanoy and Prim had gone to face the chimera on the right flank, but there was still the chimera which had diverted to the left flank for some unknown reason. It’d probably found some new prey in that direction. Given its toughness and destructive strength, there were very few people who could hold it back—it was best to go support them as soon as possible. Withstanding even the glare from these chimeras was a tough ask for an experienced warrior, let alone a normal civilian.

Just as we were about to get moving, several riders on horseback approached from the direction of the chimera on the left.

“Are you all unharmed? We’ve dealt with the monster over there. How are things— Wait, Master?!”

One horse that was clearly in a class of its own was spurred ahead of the others. Its rider had red hair and wielded two broadswords—these traits were practically her trademarks. She was an ace among aces, recognized by the adventurer’s guild as one of its highest-ranking members.

“Surena...?”

Twin Dragonblade Surena Lysandra was now before us at the head of a group of adventurers.

“Lysandra...?”

Allucia made a weird noise as she spoke Surena’s name. She was giving her a “What the hell are you doing here?” kinda look. I wanted to ask the same question. I had no idea why adventurers were here in force, participating in this battle.

“Citrus, and...I haven’t seen you before. You’re not of the Holy Order either... A mercenary? Well, whatever. I’m glad you’re all safe.”

Surena brought her horse to a stop and dismounted, verifying the position. A top-ranking adventurer wasn’t going to misread the situation. We’d won, and the chimera had lost.

“Surena, what are you doing here?” I asked once she was on her feet.

We were getting unexpected reinforcements one after the other. This had ultimately saved us, but I wanted someone to explain what was going on.

“To get right to the point, we were commissioned to be here,” she answered. “There are all sorts of complicated details, though...”

“I-I see.”

In all likelihood, she wasn’t allowed to make those details public. I could infer that much from her expression. It was kind of similar to Hanoy’s circumstances—his mercenaries had been hired by someone to come to Sphenedyardvania, but he was keeping everything about his employer to himself. That was how his contract worked.

The same probably went for the adventurers. They’d accepted a job and were contractually obligated not to reveal the details. I really wanted to know what was going on, but I was reluctant to try to force it out of anyone who was implying they couldn’t talk about it.

“I’m not entirely convinced...but I understand,” I conceded. “Did you lure out the chimera on the left flank?”

“Yes. We judged it would be unwise to face multiple at once.”

“Very smart.”

“Thank you!”

Her decision-making skills were definitely top-notch. Even she would be hard-pressed to face more than one of those things at a time—and this was with the other adventurers backing her up. I wasn’t conceited enough to think I could do it either. Lucy could probably pull it off, though.

“That just leaves one more...” I muttered.

I’d killed one, Allucia had finished the second, and Surena and the adventurers had taken care of the third. That meant only Hanoy and Prim’s remained. Prim’s abilities were completely unknown, but even without her, a warrior of Hanoy’s level was liable to win. It would be even easier for him with the support of a wizard. That was on the assumption they weren’t facing reinforcements, though.

“Let’s go check on them,” I suggested. “I doubt they’ll lose, but just to be safe.”

“Agreed,” Allucia said. “We need to take stock of the situation for ourselves.”

This only made sense. After all, they say “seeing is believing,” and that was doubly important on the battlefield.

Allucia stared longingly at the tip of her ruined longsword for a little while, then sheathed it. Just from what I could see, it was beyond repair. The question was, should she keep the hilt and completely remake the blade? Or would it be better to forge an entirely new sword? Either way, she could think about it after everything was over. And anyway, my wallet was pretty thick these days—even if I wasn’t as wealthy as Surena or Allucia.

I turned to address Surena. “There’s one more chimera. I’m sure you saw it. We’re heading that way—what about you?”

“We’ll accompany you, of course.”

With me, Allucia, Surena, and Rose, I honestly doubted it was possible to lose. The adventurers accompanying Surena had to be pretty skilled too, even if they weren’t at her level. This whole incident was likely to be resolved quickly, barring some other hidden scheme.

“We need to go get our horses,” I said. “They’re a ways away.”

“Right. We’ll link up on-site,” Surena confirmed.

Rose, Allucia, and I had come here on horseback, but we’d each hitched them in different places. Going to get each horse in a group would be a waste of time. It was only logical for us to split up temporarily.

“We’ll see you there, then. Let’s go!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Surena and the adventurers already had their horses, so they spurred them ahead to the last chimera. There were four adventurers with her. I caught a glimpse of their plates as they went by—most of them were platinum rank. They’re more than enough of a threat on the battlefield...

“I’ll see you shortly, Master.”

“Yeah, see you there.”

I parted ways with Allucia and headed to get my horse with Rose. In a sense, this was our last chance to talk without worrying about anyone overhearing us. So, I decided to ask what had been bothering me.

“Rose, you said the mastermind behind this attack is the pope, yeah?”

“It’s true,” she replied immediately. “The Holy Order is currently deploying its forces to churches all over. It seems they haven’t found anything yet.”

“I see...”

I didn’t doubt her. Spoiling the prince’s wedding and unleashing monsters into the city sounded like it couldn’t possibly be the work of a religion’s leader, but I had no evidence to refute her claim.

“How did you get this information?” I asked.

It definitely seemed like far more than a mercenary could ever find out—I was sure she had someone on the inside. I couldn’t help but wonder about the details.

“I’m sorry, but...I can’t say,” she answered.

“I see... Got it.”

I’d pretty much expected this. If she could’ve, she would’ve given everyone a little more detail. There was no way mere rumors on the wind would’ve been enough to spur her into action. Besides, even though she’d been tricked into it, she’d been an active part of the papists’ plans. She had to know how valuable information security was. This only added to the credibility of her claims.

“Oh, there it is.”

“Brrrrr!”

After running for a while, I found my horse. Though it was pretty worked up from the sounds of the fighting, it didn’t appear to be wounded. I was sorry to ask for more when it was mentally taxed like this, but I needed one last burst of horsepower.

“Hup.”

I took the reins and straddled the horse in one leap. It resisted somewhat, but not enough that it was out of control. I didn’t possess the technique to handle a completely wild horse.

“Then let us be off, Master.”

“Yeah.”

Surprisingly, Rose’s horse wasn’t too far away from mine. She’d come to help with my chimera, so she must’ve followed the same route as me. It was nice that this had saved us the effort of going to find her mount.

“Hah!”

I spurred my horse on toward our destination. The last chimera was pretty far away, so honestly, I didn’t know whether I could figure out the right path to get there. I just steered my horse in that general direction for now.

If the battle was still ongoing, we would be able to hear it as we got closer. And if it was already over, there would be some landmarks to go by—such an enormous monster rampaging about would’ve left plenty of destruction in its wake.

As I straddled my horse, my thoughts drifted. What would be Sphenedyardvania’s fate once this incident was over? Time and energy would have to be spent on restoring Dilmahakha. It was meaningless to rule over a dead land. But the main problem would come afterward—if the pope truly was behind all this, the Church of Sphene wouldn’t be able to continue as they were. The same went for the entire nation of Sphenedyardvania, since they’d chosen the Church of Sphene as their state religion.

In all likelihood, we were standing at the center of a major turning point in this nation’s history. Not that the details surrounding this turning point were particularly welcome. I could only pray that our two nations could work together to solve these issues. That makes it sound like this has nothing to do with me. It doesn’t, after all. I’ll help if asked, though.

However, those busy days would only come after we settled things here—we had to keep this nation from falling into ruin. If my sword was capable of clearing the way, I would happily wield it to that end.

“Looks like it’s that way...”

I turned off the needlessly wide main thoroughfare and onto one of Dilmahakha’s side streets. Riding toward the chimera at this angle would get us there the fastest. Probably.

It turned out that I was right. I saw traces of destruction ahead of me—the chimera had definitely been this way. I couldn’t hear any fighting, so maybe it’d already been defeated. Even without me, Hanoy, Prim, Surena, and Allucia could’ve brought it to a quick end. There wasn’t really a need to wait for me and Rose to arrive.

I followed the trail of destruction toward the chimera. I arrived not at a major street or a place with any big structures like a church, but at a wide-open space that seemed to be used for agriculture. It reminded me of Baltrain’s southern district, though it was on a much smaller scale. Coincidentally, the southern district had also ended up being the site of the royal assassination attempt. Man, for once, I want to take in the sight of wheat swaying in the wind when things are nice and peaceful.

“Wha?!”

Deep inside the vast agricultural expanse, I saw the chimera stretched out on the ground. That would’ve been fine on its own. It signified our victory, after all.

“Tch!”

But Hanoy—that leader of the Verdapis Mercenary Company—was on his knees. I couldn’t see the pink-haired wizard. Had she already withdrawn? Or had she collapsed somewhere in these fields? I felt a bad premonition, and an unpleasant sweat ran down my spine.

Had Hanoy taken a hit? I’d fought him one-on-one before. I didn’t believe he could possibly have lost against this chimera, even if he’d faced it alone. He wasn’t the type to let down his guard either. So why was he on his knees? It seemed to me like the figure standing some distance away from him might be responsible.

“Hm? Reinforcements? Sounds like a lot of work... Oh well. I suppose it’s best to simply pluck any troublesome sprouts at their roots.”

To be perfectly honest, the figure in the distance—a man—looked nothing like a fighter. His deep wrinkles told of his age. Though he wasn’t quite as old as the former vice principal at the magic institute, he was far older than me.

To put it simply, everything from his mannerisms to the atmosphere around him strongly suggested that he couldn’t fight. That was how much of a civilian this man appeared to be—except for the stately robes he wore. Robes that belonged to the Church of Sphene.

“Pope...Morris...” Rose muttered.

“You’re... Aah, you put in quite a bit of work last time, didn’t you? I heard that, if not for you, we would’ve only needed one more push. I suppose this must be fate.”

The man spoke as if he were just having an everyday conversation. And despite the situation, he was actually smiling. He was so sincere and earnest that something inside of him was just broken as a human.

I felt tension and unease running sharply through every inch of my body. It was an entirely different sensation from how I felt when facing a formidable swordsman.

“Master!”

Right then, Surena and the adventurers arrived. One beat later, Allucia also came rushing in on her horse.

“Forgive me,” Surena said as she dismounted. “There weren’t many roads we could use on horseback. It delayed us.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her, keeping my eyes fixed on Pope Morris.

Something was really odd about this. I understood that an enemy couldn’t be judged entirely by their looks. Still, even taking that into consideration, this was throwing me off. There was absolutely nothing about this man that gave off the impression that he could fight. If someone had told me that he was no more than a devout priest in the service of Sphene, I would’ve been compelled to believe them. Only the fact that Hanoy was down on his knees refuted such a claim.

“Hmm, it’s just one after another. A traitor...? No, there must’ve been some sort of leak.”

Pope Morris continued muttering to himself. I seriously couldn’t see him as a fighter on a battlefield. He looked like an old man gazing at the fields, casually wondering what to do that day. However, both Hanoy’s state and Rose’s strained expression told me otherwise. If he really was just as he appeared—a civilian who could easily be subdued by force—things would have never ended up this way.

“I thought the chimeras would end things. Perhaps four wasn’t enough? But there wasn’t any time left... Dear me, things never go as planned.”

He just kept on muttering. I understood speaking aloud to get his thoughts in order and process the current situation, but doing it so casually seemed deeply wrong.

Allucia took a step forward, unable to listen to him any longer.

“Pope Morris Pasyushka, you’re under arrest on suspicion of being the mastermind behind this chaos.”

She hadn’t gotten orders from the higher-ups to arrest him or anything. Still, there was enough circumstantial evidence to take him in. Even going only by what he’d just said, he’d unleashed these chimeras, so we couldn’t let him get away.

“Under arrest?” repeated Pope Morris. “That would be problematic. I have no intention of running away, but I can’t afford to be restrained either.”

Considering everyone present, there was no way we could lose. Even if I took myself out of the equation, Allucia, Rose, Surena, and the four adventurers weren’t amateurs. Platinum ranks were all first-class fighters. My one concern was the fact that Hanoy hadn’t been able to restrain the pope despite being such a force of nature on his own.

“Careful...!” Hanoy shouted. “That guy’s using some weird—”

But before he could finish his warning, two of the hot-blooded platinum ranks charged in with a battle cry.

“Raaaaah!”

“Oh dear,” said the pope. “Having to kill everyone here really is such a loss for humanity.”

“Gah?!”

The next instant, the two adventurers were blown back. I understood that the pope must have done something. It was impossible for platinum rank adventurers to mess up and self-destruct somehow. However, I had no idea what exactly he’d done. I hadn’t taken my eyes off him the whole time, but I hadn’t seen what he’d done. I’d spent a relatively long time living a life of battle, but this was a first for me.

“Allucia, did you see anything?” I asked.

“No... Not at all.”

Even the knight commander’s outstanding eyes hadn’t spotted what he’d done. It was entirely possible that something had coincidentally happened just as the adventurers had reached the pope. With multiple people in such close proximity, blind spots were inevitable. However, I had scruples about charging in defenselessly with such optimistic thoughts in mind.

“I suppose once the miracle of resurrection is achieved...this will be no more than a noble sacrifice.”

The pope continued muttering to himself without so much as glancing at the fallen men. These adventurers groaned while clutching their stomachs. They weren’t bleeding, so they had to have taken some kind of crushing blow. But how? The pope didn’t seem to be wielding any kind of weapon. And if he’d had some sort of concealed knife, it would’ve left lacerations.

If I had to guess, it looked like he’d punched them. But, again, how? He hadn’t taken any kind of martial stance, and swinging your arms around while standing perfectly upright didn’t exactly produce much force.

Suddenly, an idea came to me.

“Reinforcement magic!” I exclaimed. I’d seen this phenomenon before.

“Hm? No,” the pope replied, as if I were completely off the mark. “Call it a miracle bestowed upon us by Sphene.”

This was what the knights had used against me during Bishop Reveos’s arrest. By forcefully amplifying his strength using mana, he could certainly have delivered a significant impact, even from a perfectly upright stance. It also made sense for the pope to have a deep understanding of healing and reinforcement magic—after all, those things were lauded as miracles by the Church of Sphene.

But even taking all that into consideration, his power was on an entirely different level from what I’d seen before. Reinforcement magic wasn’t supposed to be so strong that an old man with arms like withered branches could send two experienced combatants flying back. The magic I’d seen before hadn’t been capable of such feats.

“Surena, Allucia, with me,” I said, drawing my brilliant sword.

“Understood.”

I couldn’t hold back. If I did, I would be the next one sent flying backward. If we didn’t challenge him with the intent to kill, we would surely all end up lying in the dirt.

Matching me, Allucia, Surena, and Rose all held their swords before them. It was four on one. Normally, we would never lose, but against Pope Morris, victory seemed uncertain. It felt like we were walking on thin ice. Even so, if we could overcome that danger, we would surely win.

“Hah!”

I kicked off the ground with determination. An instant later, I could hear the three behind me do the same.

“Hm. I don’t understand much about swordsmanship, but it seems to me that you all must be quite skilled.”

I started with a low sweep. Pope Morris calculated the range perfectly and took half a step back to avoid it. But that was fine. Nobody was under the impression that my first strike would decide things.

“Haaaah!”

“Hyuh!”

Surena and Rose swung their swords next. Surena approached with crossing slashes from the left, while Rose attacked with a thrust from the right. It was actually pretty difficult for a human to take one action immediately after another. In this case, the pope should’ve had a hard time dodging an attack right after avoiding an earlier strike. This was especially the case against two specialists working in tandem who boasted explosive speed and strength.

“Oh dear. This is rather harsh on these old bones.”

However, without even twitching his brow, the pope twisted his body and dodged Surena and Rose’s coordinated attacks.

That kind of movement should’ve been impossible. It didn’t surpass the restrictions of human mobility or anything, but twisting like that would make all the muscles in your body scream. Did mastering reinforcement magic truly allow for such outlandish feats?

“Haaah!”

Though we were bewildered by the pope’s baffling movements, our assault wasn’t over. Allucia made full use of her speed to circle around him and deliver a diagonal slash to finish him off. He was off-balance. Allucia’s strike couldn’t possibly miss. No matter how outlandish his movements were, there were things humans were simply incapable of. The tip of Allucia’s longsword was broken, but the blade itself was fine. As long as she struck closer to the base, it was plenty sharp enough to cut. She wasn’t one to mess that up in a dire situation like this.

“Hup.”

“Guh...?!”

Regardless, Pope Morris didn’t accept such an outcome. He twisted his body even more and delivered a kick that no normal human could have pulled off from that posture and angle.

He sent Allucia careening through the air.

“Gah!”

Even if she’d expected him to dodge everything up to that point, she hadn’t foreseen the possibility of taking a counterattack in the middle of such a perfectly coordinated strike. The impact to her abdomen sent her tumbling, leaving her sprawled across the ground and writhing in agony.

“Citrus...! You bastard!”

“You were all intent on killing me. I only responded in kind. Is it really something to get so angry over?”

Nobody here had expected Allucia to be blown back like that. Surena recovered from the shock the fastest, pushing Pope Morris back with continuous slashes that lived up to her name as the Twin Dragonblade—or, at least, it looked like she was pushing him back.

Something’s wrong... I mean, I get that he’s amplifying his strength with magic, but still...

The pope looked old enough to be called a senior citizen, but he was displaying a strength that far surpassed his physique. I could understand that being a boon of magic. It also explained his ability to shift from dodging to attacking while in an unreasonable posture.

However, there had to be a limit. It was possible that he was nowhere near that limit yet, but no matter how well he could move his body, it was hard to believe he could actually dodge all of Surena’s blindingly fast attacks. There had to be a trick to it. After all, if simple strength decided the outcome of a battle, I would lose to Henblitz every time.

Aah, I get it... So that’s what’s going on.

“Surena! Back off for now!” I shouted.

“Hm?! Okay!”

Surena’s surging wave of attacks wasn’t a bad strategy, but her blades were unlikely to find their mark. Reinforcement magic made a battle of attrition a poor plan. So, I instructed Surena to stop. The important question was how Pope Morris was able to continue dodging every attack. It was best to share what information I had.

“His eyes,” I said. “The pope is using magic to amplify his sight...and probably his brain.”

“Hmm? You noticed?” Pope Morris asked. “How very observant. But it’s not magic. It’s a miracle. My goodness, it’s like talking to students who never learn.”

Who’d decided that reinforcement magic could only be used to strengthen your muscles? We’d simply been under that impression. Turns out, he was also using magic to amplify his kinetic vision, his reflexes, and even his ability to process information. To put it bluntly, he was outright cheating.

“That makes sense,” Surena said, lining up next to me again. “He moves like a complete amateur, but I still can’t hit him.”

“He’s forcing his body to comply,” I explained. “Normally, you can’t keep that up for very long...but I doubt we can rely on that fact.”

Allucia...is still conscious. She’s not rejoining the fight anytime soon, though. Due to her slender figure and beautiful looks, it was easy to forget that she was the commander of the kingdom’s strongest knights—she was far tougher than most people. Even so, a single kick had taken her out. I had no intention of finding out for myself how much force was behind such an impact. Hanoy had probably been defeated in the same way. Prim was likely unconscious due to a similar blow. At worst, she was already dead.

Still, no matter how destructive an attack was, it was meaningless if it didn’t hit. It also didn’t matter how tenacious one’s body was—continuously flailing around would lead to deterioration.

“We still have a chance...” I muttered. “White Maiden.”

I addressed the one and only woman who could actualize my plan. Pope Morris’s senses and kinetic vision were currently amplified to a ridiculous degree. No matter the master, it was practically impossible to land a hit against an opponent like that. After all, he’d dodged Allucia’s attack, and there was nobody who could wield a sword faster than her.

That left us with the option of a human-wave attack combined with projectiles, but we didn’t have the personnel or weapons to pull that off—we’d come here under the assumption that we would only be facing mindless monsters. Pope Morris would get away before we could prepare everything.

“And that’s it—you can pull it off, yeah?”

I shared my plan with Surena and Rose. We were lucky the pope wasn’t going on the offensive. Was this because he didn’t know how to do anything but react? Or did he simply have that much composure?

Surena and Rose both agreed to my plan. We didn’t have time to rehearse things, so we would have to pull it off mid-battle. Still, it was better than nothing—continuing the fight as we had been would’ve gotten us nowhere.

“Let’s go!” I shouted.

“Right!”

Surena and I launched ourselves at the pope. My plan wasn’t going to accomplish anything unless we kept him stationary, so we had to press the offensive.

“God imposes trials upon us... That goes both for me and for you.”

The pope wove his way through my attacks, offering me another glimpse of his incomprehensible movements. In a normal fight, I was capable of predicting my opponent’s moves to a certain extent. However, that ability wasn’t much help in this case. He moved counter to my expectations, so my reactions were half a beat late.

“How splendid. I’m an amateur when it comes to fighting, but even I can tell it’s a bad idea to carelessly counterattack.”

“Ugh...!”

Surena’s twin swords slashed nothing but air, followed by my single blade doing the same, and then back to hers. Even though Lono Ambrosia hadn’t possessed any physical substance, I actually found the pope to be a more troublesome opponent. He was human, but despite tracing all the correct trajectories with my sword, I couldn’t hit him. He was messing with my brain in an entirely different way from Lono Ambrosia.

While Surena and I fought, Rose steadily closed in, but she didn’t attack. She had the most important role to fulfill.

Surena’s blades cleaved the empty air for the umpteenth time. I twisted my body and delivered a grandiose upper slash.

“Hmph!”

“Ooh, here? I’m finally starting to see it.”

I’d put plenty of force behind my attack, but it’d left me quite open. With his mind and sight amplified to such an extent, Pope Morris could easily see this. His eerie eyes rolled toward me and spotted the opening.

“Hah!”

“Oh?”

The pope unleashed an unbelievably sharp punch, but it didn’t reach me. Instead, his fist collided with Rose’s shield as she forced her way between us. A heavy thud resounded in the air—it was hard to imagine that sound as the product of skin striking metal.

This wasn’t enough to render the pope motionless, of course. We’d only stopped a single punch. However, that wasn’t the only thing Rose was blocking with her kite shield. For a single instant, she’d successfully blocked his sight.

Rose, the pope, and I were in close proximity. With her now between us, I now had plenty of space to swing my sword around, though I didn’t have the time to brandish it and gather my strength. I didn’t need to do any of that, though—my blade simply had to reach Pope Morris’s body.

Holding my brilliant sword in a reverse grip, I used the blind spot created by Rose’s kite shield to stab my blade deep into the pope’s abdomen.

“I see... No matter how good my sight, it’s meaningless if my vision is blocked.”

“That’s right. I’m glad you’re an amateur at this.”

“Hmph!”

I pulled my sword out, quickly raised it above my head, then brought it down through the pope’s shoulder, pinning him in place. If I hadn’t gone that far, it was possible he would’ve run away. I had no idea how effective healing magic actually was, but since Pope Morris was a high-level practitioner, it wouldn’t be strange for him to instantly recover from a severe injury. It was best to render him physically incapable of moving.

It turned out Pope Morris wasn’t invincible. The initial injury had slowed his movements just enough, allowing me to expose an opening and deal the final blow.

“What an amazing sword...” murmured the pope. “Not even my strength can break it.”

“Isn’t it?” I asked. “An excellent smith poured his soul into making it.”

“I see. There are times when powerful emotions can bring about great power. That goes for both a blacksmith and the faithful.”

The pope gripped the blade lodged in his left shoulder with his opposite hand, but it didn’t so much as budge. I was keeping it in place with all my strength, but the sword itself was a masterwork for withstanding such forces.

“Hak...” Allucia coughed and then spoke for the first time since she’d taken that hit. “Mas...ter...”

“Don’t push yourself,” I said. “No one will blame you for getting a little more rest.”

Allucia staggered toward us anyway, but judging by her complexion, she was still heavily affected by the damage. We’d successfully captured the pope, so I wanted her to focus on recovering.

Now that I had time to think about it, a foreigner skewering the Church of Sphene’s pope made for an outrageous scene. And since I was the one responsible for this act of brutality, I was glad we didn’t have a crowd of spectators.

“This is quite problematic. It seems I’ve lost. Hmm, things really never go as planned.”

Pope Morris continued muttering indifferently, as if the lacerations to his shoulder and abdomen were no big deal. I really couldn’t figure this man out. He was more mysterious than anyone I’d ever met, even accounting for the fact that we’d barely spoken. I had absolutely no idea what was going on in his mind.

“Why did you do this?” I asked him.

It was the most basic of questions, and the only one I could think of. I didn’t really even want a clear answer—no matter how logical he tried to make it seem, there was no way I could understand the thoughts of a person who’d committed such a heinous act. Still, as someone who’d been thrown into this maelstrom, I had to ask.

“Why? Why, you ask? I can only say that it was God’s will.”

The pope didn’t seem to have given it any thought. I had no idea what the Church of Sphene taught or what kind of god Sphene was. But had anything gone wrong, this incident would’ve ended in a massacre. I wanted nothing to do with a god who wished for that. Could I think this way because I wasn’t a believer?

“Was it God’s will to throw so many of the faithful into this chaos?” I argued. “To murder them?”

“You have things backward,” the pope stated bluntly. “First, God exists. Then, the faithful gather. God or the people—it is clear which is more important. Myself included, naturally.”

I wasn’t convinced at all, but I had a feeling any further questions would be pointless. His thoughts were simply too far out there. This went beyond simply being eccentric. Despite being a fellow human, he seemed like an entirely different life-form. And, to be quite frank, he wasn’t human. This was the first time I’d been able to communicate with someone while simultaneously being completely incapable of engaging in a conversation.

“I can’t understand that,” I spat.

“There’s no need for you to,” the pope said. “Only a scant few need understand. Aah, I don’t mean to insult you or anything. It’s simply a matter of what’s more important.”

That didn’t validate his actions at all. It just didn’t make sense. Still, with this, I was finally getting a grasp of what he was saying.

In short, Pope Morris didn’t see all life as equal. This wasn’t incredibly unusual—after all, I valued those who were close to me more than the lives of strangers. However, to the pope, God was more important than all else. Those who truly understood God’s will came second, and everyone else was equally unimportant. That even applied to him and the members of royalty.

“And what exactly is Sphene’s will?” I asked. “What could God possibly want that would make you go this far?”

“The miracle of resurrection,” Pope Morris answered. “As long as it is accomplished, the world will change. The innocent who have vanished into the darkness of history, our brethren from the past, and even your loved ones—all will find salvation.”

This I could also understand...to an extent. If the miracle of resurrection could truly be actualized, there was no mistaking how blessed the world would become. It was only natural to want to be able to talk to those who’d lost their lives meaninglessly. Under different circumstances, the willingness to sacrifice anything to reach that goal could be seen as noble.

However, while his self-sacrifice sounded nice on paper, he was researching taboos. I had no intention of applying common sense to him at this point, but his way of seeing the world was just so far from the norm.

“You forced these sacrifices on others for a legend that might never come true?”

“It’s not a matter of might or might not,” he replied. “It will come true. Such is faith.”

This was meaningless. It was impossible to get Pope Morris to feel any guilt over his actions. Well, he was a man who’d ascended to the very top of an entire religion. It was presumptuous of me to think I could get him to change his ways. He’d sacrificed himself for his ideologies, and he was likely fully aware that the world saw his acts as serious crimes.

“Now then, is that all you wanted to ask?”

“Yeah...”

Before I knew it, his shoulder was already healed. He couldn’t do anything about my sword still being lodged in his flesh, but he was definitely a master of healing magic. He’d completely recovered from such injuries in just a matter of seconds. If left alone, he would’ve definitely been able to escape—he might’ve even planned a counterattack.

“Hmm. My own will remains unfulfilled, but I suppose this is fate. Come now. Kill me.”

“Huh?”

My thoughts froze for an instant. Flustered, I focused on the pope’s expression. He didn’t seem to have fallen into despair or anything. From beginning to end, his expression and complexion had remained completely calm. Even if this wasn’t the outcome he’d wished for, he clearly thought that this was all Sphene’s will.

“I believe you have a duty to atone for your sins,” I told him.

“I don’t. I haven’t committed any sins. Aah, I’m well aware these are serious crimes by your standards. However, my heart is entirely devoted to my faith. Going by that creed, I will never admit to having committed any sins.”

Capturing a criminal meant having him admit to his crimes in public, then forcing him to rehabilitate and repent for what he’d done. However, Pope Morris didn’t recognize his own sins. We hadn’t talked for long, but I was sure it would be impossible to change his mind. I wouldn’t be the one to judge him, but the prospect of rehabilitation seemed hopeless to me.

As I stood in complete silence, Rose suddenly raised her voice.

“You...”

The pope glanced at her. “Hm?”

“You say that the lives, history, and culture built by the innocent are all worthless in the face of faith, yes?”

“Not at all. Such things are to be valued. However, all are secondary to faith.”

“I see...”

I wondered what kind of expression Rose was making. Her mask was small and light, but it served as a firm wall hiding everything behind it.

“Goodbye, Morris Pasyushka.”

“Yes, goodbye. Till we meet again.”

With that brief farewell, her sword pierced the pope right between his eyes.

“Ro—?!”

I almost shouted her name. Surena, Allucia, and the platinum rank adventurers had all been unable to stop her. My eyes had caught her blade coming up, but my hands had been entirely focused on keeping my sword in Pope Morris’s shoulder. I hadn’t been able to move that quickly—even though I’d been the only one in a position to stop her.

“Pope Morris Pasyushka sacrificed himself for his faith. That’s the answer to your questions.”

Rose’s voice was unwavering. It was as if it had been her duty to end his life with her own hands. I found myself incapable of just nodding along as I normally would’ve. No matter the circumstances, the fact that she’d killed the pope would follow her for the rest of her life. Even if she’d done so for the sake of her country and people, it didn’t wipe away the blood staining her hands.

Even to the end, the pope’s calm expression remained unchanged. Even his own life and death seemed to be none of his concern—like he’d given in entirely to the tides of fate. To the very end, I had no idea what had driven him so far.

One day, I too would meet my end. Would I be able to make that same expression when the time came? He looked so at peace that I couldn’t help but imagine such a future.

◇

A few hours after defeating the chimeras and the battle with Pope Morris, we returned to the palace. We carried the wounded, as well as the pope’s body, and requested an audience with Prince Glenn, Princess Salacia, Gatoga, and the knights of the Holy Order.

When we explained the situation to the knights at the gate, they granted us an audience with the prince. And after telling him everything that had happened in Dilmahakha, he thanked us for our hard work—his voice was flooded with emotion.

“I see... Well done, all of you.”

He wasn’t a fighter, but he could still guess what had happened. It would have been meaningless to vent at us about the outcome.

“Pope Morris was formidable... We weren’t able to capture him alive. I truly must apologize.”

The prince shook his head. “No, this is more than enough. The situation has been resolved. We’re not in a position to ask for luxuries.”

I was hesitant to mention that Rose had gone out of her way to kill the pope after he’d been successfully restrained. Revealing that was liable to cause all sorts of problems. I wondered who would bear the stigma of killing him. His death clearly hadn’t been an accident—his injuries were enough to indicate that there had been purposeful intent behind his murder. Even if we didn’t say who exactly had killed him, the death of a huge public figure would have to be announced to the people. But how should they do that? It was an agonizing conundrum for all of this country’s politicians.

“Each of you will be rewarded for your distinguished service,” said Prince Glenn. “You’ve put in more than enough work to deserve that.”

“You honor us with such praise.”

A reward... Normally, that sounded nice. But this time, it left an awfully bad taste in my mouth. I couldn’t honestly rejoice over it. Regardless, I had no choice but to accept. Things were different from when I’d turned down a reward from the adventurer’s guild. Refusing a reward from the leaders of a nation would make me all sorts of enemies.

“A reward?” Hanoy said. “Make mine cash. We don’t need no titles or honor.”

“Of course,” Prince Glenn agreed, letting his impolite tone slide. “We’ll make arrangements to match each of your wishes.”

“Ha ha! It’s nice when a prince really gets it!”

I recalled Prince Glenn having quite the innocent countenance back in Baltrain. He’d grown a lot in such a short time. The circumstances around him had forced him to. His emotional maturity and growth would normally have been something worth celebrating, but it was hard to find any joy in this situation.

After the battle with the pope, we’d spent some time treating the wounded. That was when we’d discovered that Hanoy had suffered an accumulation of damage from multiple strikes—each as strong as the one that had taken out Allucia. Prim had also been knocked out by a single hit. Hanoy’s toughness was truly astounding. I was pretty confident a single punch from the pope would’ve been enough to take me completely out of the fight.

I had pride in my sword technique, and I could certainly put up a serious fight even against tough swordsmen. However, human endurance was more of an innate talent—it wasn’t something that could be acquired through training. Just as individual bodies varied, an individual’s pain tolerance was unique, though there were some levels of pain that nobody could withstand.

Fortunately, the hit Allucia had taken hadn’t broken any bones or caused any internal bleeding—she was back to normal again. The fact that she’d taken a hit at all had wounded her pride, though. Her expression had remained gloomy for the entire trip back to the palace. Or perhaps losing the longsword she’d favored for so many years had affected her usual luster. I was primarily responsible for that, so I had to make up for it.

“Allow me to thank you once more,” the prince said. “Rest your bodies for the next day or two. If you require an inn, we shall make the necessary arrangements.”

“Oh, guess I’ll take you up on that,” Hanoy replied. “I don’t need rooms for everyone. Just enough for me, Prim, and Kuriu.”

“Very well.”

Even though he wasn’t demanding rooms for all of his mercenaries, he had some serious guts to latch on to the offer without even giving it a second thought. Were I in his position, I doubted I could’ve done the same. Perhaps I had something to learn from his nerves of steel.

Throughout this incident, the mercenaries had remained consistent in their behavior. They had never once abased themselves before anyone. Even though they’d played a major role in solving things, they could have had their rewards revoked for such insolence. Execution could even have been a consideration. Regardless, they showed no fear when faced with such authority.

They probably had the confidence to strike back, even if they were put on the wanted list. Or maybe it had something to do with their client. Either way, for better or worse, I’d gotten a good look at a mercenary’s way of life today—not that these guys were necessarily representative of mercenaries as a whole.

“We’ll take the information you’ve given us and use it to inform our future policy. This meeting is adjourned.”

“Understood.”

With our report over, Prince Glenn dismissed us. Knights accompanied him out of the audience chamber. I was surprised they’d managed to keep their cool all throughout Hanoy’s display of overbearing behavior. Perhaps the prince had warned them ahead of time.

A couple of other knights escorted us respectfully out of the palace. Once in front of the gate, I let out a sigh.

“Haaah... Good work, everyone.”

I still had no idea how much damage Sphenedyardvania had suffered. Everyone was desperately working to get everything back in order. But from what I’d heard, none of my personal acquaintances had suffered any major injuries. Henblitz and the other knights of the Liberion Order had successfully accomplished their mission; Thracias, Keifo, Addelat, and the rest of the delegation were safe too. Old Ibroy had shrewdly survived as well.

From that very limited perspective, this battle had ended in an overwhelming victory. It was only right to compliment everyone for a job well done.

“No matter the circumstances, it was an honor to be able to stand by your side once more, Master.”

“Ha ha, you really saved us back there. Thanks, Surena.”

It was probably better not to say anything about the aforementioned “circumstances.” Everyone had their own motives for being here. The same went for Surena—or more specifically, for the adventurer’s guild. Had she and the adventurers not been here, there was no telling what would’ve happened with that last chimera, so now wasn’t the time to be questioning them about why exactly they’d come to Dilmahakha.

“What’s your plan after this?” I asked.

“We’ll be staying the night and leaving Dilmahakha tomorrow. I’ll see you again in Baltrain, Master.”

“That so? Be careful on your way back.”

“Thank you—we will be.”

As expected, she wasn’t going to have the time to take it easy and do some sightseeing. A black rank adventurer was far busier than the likes of me.

“Citrus.”

“What?”

Before leaving, Surena addressed Allucia. Those two had never really gotten along. Allucia’s blunt response was the same as ever, but it lacked its usual fire.

“You lack training,” Surena said. “But I suppose it’s a good thing you’re in good health.”

Allucia blinked in confusion for a moment, then was back to her normal self. “Yes, I suppose so.”

Surena was worried about Allucia in her own little way. Though they definitely weren’t friends, I could still hear concern in her voice. Surena had also been the first to react to Allucia getting hit by Pope Morris. She didn’t like Allucia, but she recognized her when necessary. Perhaps this was one reason she’d climbed all the way to becoming a black rank adventurer.

“Guess I’ll link back up with my guys too,” Hanoy said. “Later, old-timer. Here’s hopin’ we’re enemies next time around.”

“If that happens, I’ll knock you down a peg for good next time.”

“Ha ha ha! Lookin’ forward to it!”

It seemed Hanoy was off to see to his mercenaries. Kuriu appeared to be perfectly fine—at a glance, at least. The wizard Prim had to be injured. There was no guarantee the other mercenaries in black were all okay either, and it was his job as the commander to check on them.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t bring myself to like these guys. If we ever met again on the battlefield, I wanted to crush them completely. Still, Hanoy was a decent reference point for how one who stood above others should behave—in an entirely different way from Allucia. In that way, I’d learned something from my chance meeting with him.

“Whew...”

With Surena and Hanoy gone, the only ones left were me, Allucia, and Rose. I had a bunch of questions for Rose, but since Allucia was here, I couldn’t say anything carelessly.

Allucia broke the silence first and addressed Rose. “Um... Are you...?” A moment later, she shook her head. “No, never mind... Do you know a woman named Marblehart?”

There was an air of conviction in her voice, but the masked woman answered with silence, returning Allucia’s shake of her head with one of her own.

“I see. Um, sorry for asking such a strange question.” Allucia shrugged, acting as if it were no big deal.

She’d definitely wanted to ask if the White Maiden was Rose. However, she’d judged that there had to be a reason for Rose to wear a mask, take another name, and become a mercenary. She didn’t press for answers. An awkward silence fell over us once more.

“Master, I’ll return to the knights as well,” Allucia finally said. She probably wasn’t entirely convinced, but she decided to leave things there. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“R-Right. Make sure you get some proper rest.”

“I will.”

She had a lot of work to do after this, like gathering all the knights and preparing for our departure. I was basically just tagging along, so I was very grateful for all of her efforts.

Once Allucia was far enough away that she could no longer hear us, Rose spoke up. “Master, shall we walk a little?”

“Yeah, sure.”

There was no point in just standing here in a daze, so I went along with her suggestion. Dilmahakha’s townscape was beautiful. The destruction caused by the chimeras and Pope Morris hadn’t reached the city center, but its usual liveliness had been replaced by an entirely different flurry of activity. This in itself was a graphic account of the battle that had just taken place.

Feeling that tension on my skin, Rose and I walked side by side down the city’s main road with no particular destination in mind.

“Hee hee... It’s like the opposite of our time in Baltrain, don’t you think?” she remarked.

“Yeah... It is.”

Back when Rose had still been the lieutenant commander of the Holy Order, she’d come to Baltrain with the delegation from Sphenedyardvania. At the time, I’d taken a walk with her through town just like this. I’d technically been her guide, but I hadn’t really told her anything about the city. Much like now, we’d just walked around aimlessly. Rose hadn’t suggested this little stroll to show me around Dilmahakha.

After a while of walking in silence, I decided to speak up.

“Do you have any regrets?”

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting by asking such a question.

“I don’t...” Rose answered before correcting herself. “I... I suppose that would be a bit of a lie. Still, I believe this is the path I must take.”

“Is that so?”

After being manipulated by the papists’ schemes, she’d exposed Prince Glenn to danger. She’d then resigned from her post as lieutenant commander and had chosen to become a mercenary. Taking action while keeping her identity hidden, she’d ultimately killed Pope Morris with her own hands. It would be difficult for her to claim that she had no regrets about her choices. I hated myself a little for asking such a meaningless question.

“What’ll you do now?” I asked.

There was no turning back or stopping the hands of time. Reflecting on the past was good, but looking to the future was more important.

“The same as before,” she answered. “I will make certain that this country’s future is bright. I want to see it with my own eyes. My title is just different from before.”

“I see...”

Rose’s mask hid her expression, but judging by her tone and body language, she wasn’t depressed about her circumstances.

“However...” she added, smiling shyly.

“Hm?”

“Unlike before, I no longer want to die. In the past, I would’ve gladly thrown away my worthless life for a greater cause...”

“Is that so? That’s certainly a change for the better.”

She didn’t seem to be burdened by any of the self-deprecation she’d had when she’d fought against me in Baltrain. She no longer placed her own life on a scale frivolously, always content, no matter the outcome. This was a good thing. People tended to do their best when death was near, but they weren’t resilient enough to maintain their sanity when constantly betting on their lives. Rose’s mental state had finally returned to normal.

“I have to keep living so I can witness the future... That’s part of why I had a change of heart,” she said. “However, I also still haven’t repaid the debt I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything. Though I’m sure you’ll come to repay me anyway, huh?”

“Yup. Of course.”

During the assassination attempt in Baltrain, I’d confronted Rose using the swordsmanship I’d been taught and had taught others. I didn’t see that act as something that needed to be repaid. However, a debt of gratitude wasn’t something you could just unilaterally refuse.

I now had one more reason to stay alive—I couldn’t die until she repaid me. If I did, her mind would surely sink into an irrecoverable abyss.

This was a form of atonement for her. Looking at things in hindsight, I’d been the one to set her on this course. So, it was only right for me to take responsibility for it, even if only in the slightest way. No matter her circumstances, she was sure to shoulder many tremendous burdens—ones I couldn’t take on in her stead. I was sure she would be eternally remorseful. If she’d been capable of carelessly forgetting about it, she would never have wanted to see this nation’s future.

“Rose.”

“Yes?”

I stopped walking. The people around us were all in a rush. None spared us a glance as we remained still on the roadside.

“You’ve fulfilled your role,” I told her. “The past can’t be changed. However, the outcome you grasped today is a priceless medal you should wear proudly. I’ll never forget it.”

If she could never forgive herself, then I would forgive her. This might’ve seemed empty coming from an old man with no real authority who just happened to be a little good with a sword. But I understood what emotions she’d harbored and how much resolve it had taken for her to accomplish what she’d done today. It was honestly vexing that I could never tell anyone about it.

So, just for this one moment, I praised and forgave her. This wasn’t out of self-interest; it wasn’t an empty platitude either. These were my genuine feelings on the matter.

“Thank you very much.”

I couldn’t see her full expression because of her mask. Still, her lips were definitely smiling. If my words were all that she needed, I would speak them as many times as she wanted. This was my duty as her teacher. That was how I saw it, at least.

“By the way, Master...” Rose shuffled up to me.

“What is it?”

She now stood at an angle so that her face couldn’t be seen from the main road. Reaching up, she slipped off her mask.

“If I ever end up on the streets with nowhere to go, will you pick me up?”

Aah, there it is. That’s the Rose Marblehart I know. Just being able to see her eyes again had made this all worth it.

“This and that are different matters,” I told her.

“Awww.”

The sky was clear, but the cold wind was strong. Regardless, I felt a warm gust blow gently against my cheek. I was sure it wasn’t just my imagination—this was an affectionate breeze conjured by the woman Rose Marblehart. That was what I believed.