Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 7.5 - Chapter 5

The Beginning of the Legend

The village’s harvest festival spanned the course of three days. As today was now the second day, people had gotten up in the early morning to prepare for it.

“Zzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzzz...”

Koutarou was not one of them. He was such a heavy sleeper, in fact, that he continued to snooze despite his bustling surroundings.

“Wake up, Veltlion! Hurry and wake up, you!”

“Ow! What are you doing, Theia?!”

However, after taking a powerful blow square to the chin, not even Koutarou could remain asleep. He came to, instinctively snapping at the usual culprit for such a thing.

“I am not Theiamillis-san! It’s me, Clariossa! Hurry up and open your eyes!”

“Hmm? H-Huh...?”

Counter to his sleepy expectations, the person he saw in front of him wasn’t Theia. It was a girl wearing glasses.

“Keep it together! This is an emergency!”

“Emergency...?”

Koutarou was still in a daze, but seeing Clan’s serious expression and hearing the desperation in her voice woke him up completely.

“Clan...?”

“That’s right, Veltlion! Something terrible has happened!”

“Something terrible?”

Now that he had his wits about them, Koutarou remembered the situation they were in, and the significance of Clan using the word “emergency” finally sank in.

“What is it, Clan? What happened?!”

Seeing Koutarou come to his senses, Clan felt a little relieved, but she continued talking at the same rapid pace.

“It’s terrible! The people are collapsing all over the place!”

“What?!”

“They’re all in pain and have high fevers!”

“You don’t mean...?!”

“That’s right! Minister Maxfern has already poisoned the water source!”

Any remaining desire Koutarou had to sleep vanished thanks to Clan’s report. She explained that the first ones to come down with symptoms were the elderly and infants. Because of their low tolerances, their conditions grew worse over the course of the night and they developed high fevers and chills. Though the village doctors and priests were taking care of them, the number of patients just kept increasing. By the time the sun rose, normal, healthy adults were coming down with the same symptoms. People were getting sick one after another, and eventually even the doctors and priests took ill. When Koutarou woke up, patients were lying all over the village. By then, the large majority of the villagers had come down with the same thing.

The poison that was plaguing the village wasn’t reacting to any kind of treatment. No antidote, medicine, or even spiritual energy technique would work. No one who had displayed symptoms had yet recovered on their own either. Everyone was still suffering.

Alaia and the others had begun showing the same symptoms too. The first one to collapse was the young Charl. By dawn she had developed a high fever and was in pain, and after her were Alaia and Fauna. Even Flair who had bravely resisted the symptoms was laid down on a bed just moments ago.

But fortunately, neither Clan nor Koutarou seemed much affected. Koutarou showed no sign of any symptoms at all, while Clan was only running a low-grade fever. As such, the two of them were taking care of Alaia and the others.

With a staff in his hand, Koutarou approached one of the beds.

“Caris, I have something I want to ask you.”

“...Huh?”

Lying in that bed was the magician Caris. When she began suffering from the fever, they’d unbound her and put her in bed to rest. And the staff in Koutarou’s hand was the one they’d confiscated from her when she was first captured. It worked as a way to amplify Caris’s magic when she cast spells.

“I’ll free you and give you back your staff. In return, can you try removing the poison with your magic?”

Koutarou was willing to release Caris and return her staff if she would attempt to use her powers to help those who had fallen ill. It was that kind of deal. Normally freeing an enemy spy like Caris would be unthinkable, but things were getting desperate. The village was overflowing with patients and cases had started turning fatal.

“You... want me to heal people...?”

“Yeah, it’s not a bad deal for you. You’ll need to treat yourself too after all.”

Caris was meekly staring up at Koutarou. Her face was getting red, and it was obvious that she was suffering from fever and chills herself. Koutarou looked almost as if he were praying as he stared at Caris.

“...I understand. I’ll give it a try...”

Seeing the earnestness in his eyes, Caris accepted his offer.

“You will?!”

“Yeah...”

He sounds like he’s telling the truth...

Caris nodded and pulled herself up. Koutarou hurriedly rushed over and supported her.

“Then please get to it right away. You can start on yourself.”

“I understand.”

While helping Caris sit up, Koutarou handed her the staff. She took it from him and held it in both hands. She then closed her eyes to focus.

“...Blue Knight, support me like this for a while...”

“Leave it to me.”

She put the tip of the staff to her forehead and slowly began reciting an incantation.

“Gather, spirits of life. Come together and nourish, like a wide river enriching the earth. Pour that rich power into my body, fill my weakening life, and dispel this wicked malady.”

Caris was speaking in the language that was used for ceremonies in Forthorthe during this time period. The complex grammar and expressions guided the mana within her and in her surroundings to focus into her staff. The gathered mana made the staff shine blue so clearly that even Koutarou could tell it was working.

Wow, so this is real magic...!

It wasn’t the first time Koutarou had seen Caris use magic, but it was his first time seeing her use it right in front of him with her staff. He was rapt as he watched this mysterious spectacle unfold before his very eyes.

“Life to life, death to death. Divide the coming shore and correct my fate!”

When Caris finished her incantation, the blue light from her staff enveloped her body. It was a sign the spell had activated.

“Phew...”

Caris let out a heavy sigh. As she did, the blue light enveloping her body disappeared. Guessing that the spell was now complete, Koutarou, slightly excited, asked her about the results.

“So how did it go, Caris?”

However, in contrast to Koutarou’s enthusiasm, Caris regrettably shook her head.

“...Sadly, it didn’t work. I tried using the highest class of healing magic I know, but there’s no change in my condition. It might not be a normal poison or disease...”

“I see...”

Koutarou’s shoulders drooped, and Caris’s body went limp in his arms. The staff fell out of her hands and onto the floor. After gently laying her back down on the bed, Koutarou put a wet rag on her forehead.

“You did well, Caris. Thank you. Now rest.”

“Yeah...”

Caris quickly closed her eyes.

“And when you can move, feel free to leave. I’ll let everyone know.”

“You’re a sincere man...”

“In return, just don’t do anything to anyone, okay?”

“I know... You really are a strange one...”

She said nothing more after that. She was either sleeping or was in too much pain to speak. Koutarou couldn’t tell, but he had no intention of forcing a girl in her condition to talk anymore either way. He left Caris and went to check on the other girls.

“The Blue Knight stole the antidote from the enemy and used it to treat the afflicted, but at this rate... people are actually going to die...”

Alaia, Charl, Fauna, Lidith, Flair... Counting Caris, there were six girls lying down on the beds in the room. They were all groaning from their high fevers and chills, and it was easy to tell what would happen if their conditions continued to get worse.

“Blue Knight...”

Realizing Koutarou was close by, Charl reached out with her hand. He quickly took it and was aghast at her high temperature.

“Princess Charl, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Heh, I’m fine. This is nothing...”

Despite her fever, Charl grinned and giggled courageously. She was determined not to worry Koutarou. Koutarou saw right through her, however, and her bravery was almost enough to drive him to tears.

“I’ll be well soon, so when I am, play with me some more...”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

“Heehee...”

The smile on Charl’s lips slowly faded as she lost consciousness.

What kind of idiot would just spread poison around indiscriminately?!

Seeing Charl pass out and lose strength, Koutarou boiled with rage towards Maxfern, a man he had never even met. But the truth was that he was also angry at himself for being unable to do anything.

“Damn it!”

Koutarou’s fist slammed into the table. There was nothing else nearby he could take out his anger on.

“I know it’s rough, Veltlion, but calm down a little.”

“Clan?!”

Koutarou had been so lost in his emotions that he didn’t notice Clan had entered the room until she called out to him.

“I can’t calm down in this situation! Everyone’s in pain!”

“I understand how you feel, but everyone’s sleeping now, so quiet down.”

“S-Sorry...”

Trying to calm himself, Koutarou took several deep breaths. Satisfied with that, Clan explained why she’d come.

“Veltlion, I’ve discovered what the poison really is.”

“Really?!”

Koutarou’s eyes opened wide in surprise. He instinctively leaned in towards Clan. He was hoping that this would lead to them being able to come up with a treatment.

“Yes. But to be accurate, it’s not poison.”

“It’s not poison...? What do you mean?”

“It’s an infectious virus with a very short incubation period. I’m sure the people of this period called it poison because they didn’t know any better.”

Clan had left Koutarou to nurse Alaia and the others while she was in the other room, analyzing the poison. She investigated samples gathered from the patients and the drinking water, trying to find out what poison Maxfern had used.

Though it might not be apt to call it fortunate, they already knew that the poison was coming from the drinking water, so it wasn’t too hard to identify the cause. The device that Clan had summoned from the Cradle to analyze the samples easily revealed the poison’s true colors, although even Clan was surprised when she learned that it was actually a protein containing RNA.

“So you’re saying it’s a disease?!”

“Yes. There were large amounts of the virus in the drinking water. Since the incubation period is so short, it essentially appears as if the people have been poisoned.”

The virus had a very high replication speed, and symptoms would begin to manifest only a few hours after it entered the body. Since there were almost no diseases known to spread that quickly in this day and age, the people naturally assumed it was poison.

The people of this time period didn’t even know what a virus was, so they certainly didn’t have a treatment for it. Even when they tried to heal it using magic, there was no effect because they didn’t know exactly what needed to be removed from their bodies. So their only conclusion was that it was an unknown poison, meaning the treatment options were rather limited.

“So can you treat it?!”

To Koutarou, finding a cure was far more important than what the virus was or where it had come from. And with that mentality, he skipped over several important questions about how this had happened and went straight to asking Clan what he really wanted to know most.

“That would be hard. There aren’t enough materials available to synthesize an antiviral drug. It would have been simple even a thousand years from now...”

Since Clan had already been able to identify the structure of the virus, she could synthesize a serum to inhibit its effects. She had the technology to make that happen, but she couldn’t get her hands on the ingredients she would need to do it in this time period. It was possible to gather the base materials one at a time, but that would take too much time to be an effective treatment for the people who were already suffering.

“Realistically speaking, there are only two options.”

Clan held up two fingers in front of Koutarou’s face.

“What are they?!”

“The first is to steal the cure from the enemy like your play says. That would be the fastest option.”

“What’s the other?”

“The other option is extremely risky and there’s no guarantee it’ll work, but—”

While Clan was about to explain the second option to Koutarou, they heard a shrill voice from outside.

“It’s the army! The army has come!”

A group of several soldiers led by a knight could be seen just outside the village.

The Forthorthian army had come. The force belonged to a band of knights known to be very loyal to Maxfern, the Melcemhein family. The commander appeared to be one of their squires. His force consisted of about thirty commoner soldiers and five magicians. It was a relatively small troop for what squires were capable of leading, but it potentially gave them better mobility considering their mission.

They set up camp a distance from the village, put up billboards nearby, and issued a decree from the government. It was a demand for the capture and delivery of Alaia, who was believed to be in the area. The reward for bringing Alaia to them would be the antidote.

Since this region was part of the Mastir territory, the citizens here were known for their loyalty to the royal families. It wouldn’t have been hard to imagine that they would spurn any demands to hunt down Alaia under normal circumstances. That was why they’d gone to the trouble of poisoning the water supply first. Regardless of their allegiance to the throne, the citizens would be eager to hunt down Alaia if it meant saving their sick wife or child.

After Koutarou explained what was going on, Alaia quickly made up her mind.

“Let’s surrender to them...”

She lifted her weak and shaking body ravaged by high fever, and stood up while grabbing on to a nearby pillar.

“Y-You can’t, Your Highness! This is a trap!”

Flair objected right away. Desperate, she too got out of her bed and stood in Alaia’s way. The other girls also voiced their objections from their beds.

“You can’t, Alaia-sama! I think this is a trap too!”

“I’m against it too! These people spread poison just to capture you, Alaia-sama! Who knows what they would do to you?!”

“My uncle is a dangerous man. I’m not sure if they would hand over the antidote even after they get their hands on you, Your Highness...”

However, none of what they said changed Alaia’s mind.

“Without the antidote, we’re all going to die anyway. In that case, surrendering and getting the antidote as quickly as possible is the best option.”

The poison—or more accurately, the virus—had already claimed the lives of several people. They were all elderly folks who were at high risk, but if the situation continued on like it was, even the young and strong would end up succumbing to the same fate. She couldn’t put the village through that just so she could survive for a few more days. That was Alaia’s primary reason for wanting to surrender.

And I have to protect Charl, no matter what...

But more personally, Alaia was worried about Charl. She was all Alaia had left of her family. If she lost Charl, she would lose her reason to live. She would rather surrender to get the antidote and save Charl. By doing that, at least Charl would survive.

I’ll leave the rest to you, Layous-sama...

Alaia stared at Koutarou without saying a word. She believed that Koutarou would protect Charl, even if she wasn’t there. And it was exactly her faith in that that drove her decision to surrender.

“Your Highness...”

Koutarou realized that Alaia put Charl ahead of herself, so he understood how she felt. It hit awfully close to home. Koutarou only had his father left, and he was extremely sympathetic to Alaia in her current position.

“Veltlion, you need to stop Her Highness! Surely you don’t want to see Her Highness in danger either!”

Flair petitioned Koutarou for his help. By now, even Flair had begun putting her trust in him. After the fight with the mountain bandits the other day, the events at the Mastir checkpoint, seeing his relationship with Charl, and even after watching him dance with Alaia the night before, she had genuinely started to trust Koutarou. She knew Alaia might listen to the Blue Knight even if she didn’t listen to anyone else, and that was exactly why she wanted Koutarou to try and stop her.

“Layous-sama...”

Alaia looked at Koutarou with pleading eyes. She weakly clasped her hands together as if asking for something.

Even if it costs you your life, huh?

Looking at Alaia, Koutarou remembered what they’d talked about at the festival.

“Lady Pardomshiha, I support Princess Alaia’s decision.”

“Layous-sama!”

Alaia’s expression eased up. Despite being stricken with illness, her smile was as beautiful as falling silvery white snow.

“Veltlion, what is the meaning of this?!”

Flair lashed out at Koutarou. She was also suffering from the disease, but her anger gave her the temporary power to overcome her symptoms.

“Calm down, Lady Pardomshiha. I’m not suggesting that we just hand over Princess Alaia.”

“What?!”

“After Her Highness surrenders and we get our hands on the antidote, we raid the enemy base and rescue her. In our current situation, it’s the only way we can save both Princess Alaia and Princess Charl.”

Flair flinched at the mention of Charl’s name. She then turned to look at her as she slept. There was no denying how grim things were looking for them.

“What do you think, Clan?”

“Lord Veltlion, I agree with you. I’ve entertained various possibilities, but I think that plan has the highest odds in our favor.”

Clan agreed with Koutarou. She had been weighing different strategies in her head, but the most feasible plan was the one that Koutarou had suggested.

“B-But how do you know if we’ll succeed?! If things take a turn for the worse, we’ll be in trouble!”

“I don’t know, Lady Pardomshiha. But I can swear to you on this sword that I will rescue Her Highness.”

Koutarou lightly patted Saguratin hanging at his waist. Seeing that, Alaia also recalled their discussion during the dance. She flashed a small smile.

“Even so, I will believe in you, Layous-sama.”

“Please wait, Your Highness! They have more than thirty men! Even if we get the antidote, it will be next to impossible to save you on our own!”

“I’m sorry, Flair, but my knight has sworn on his sword. With an oath like that, I’m obligated to put my faith in him.”

Alaia knew just how much Koutarou valued Saguratin, and now he had sworn on it that he would rescue her. That meant he would come for her no matter what.

That’s right. Even though his sword may break...

Truthfully, Alaia didn’t mind if Koutarou failed to rescue her. Whether he succeeded or not wouldn’t affect how she felt. She was just happy he’d been willing to swear on his sword that he would come for her. But really, as long as he protected Charl, she was prepared to accept whatever fate may hold in store for her. She believed that she could die in peace as long as Koutarou kept Charl safe.

“Let’s go, Layous-sama.”

“As you wish, my princess.”

And so Alaia left the room with a smile on her face, feeling neither fear nor despair.

The commander of the army troops that had been sent to the village, a squire from Melcemhein named Dextro, was a cruel man. As the third son of a poor farmer family, he’d relied on any means necessary to move up in the ranks. And it was exactly because of his reputation that he’d been appointed commander of the operation to poison the water supply and flush out Alaia. A normal knight might have hesitated at such an order, but not Dextro. He saw this mission as a chance to be promoted, and that was all that mattered to him.

“Heh, what an easy job...”

He had been given a bottle full of black liquid from Maxfern, and poured it into the wells and nearby rivers just yesterday. There were plenty of people out and about to celebrate the harvest festival, so no one had thought the presence of Dextro and his men was suspicious. As the night carried on, the poison began to take effect. Contaminating the water supply made it all too easy to target the entire village since everyone there depended on that water to sustain themselves. All the while, Dextro was simply resting in his tent. Even now he was lounging there and drinking alcohol.

“Dextro-sama.”

The soldier serving as his adjutant approached and called to him from the entrance of his tent.

“What?”

Dextro tossed his cup aside and growled at the man, upset at the interruption.

“We’ve found Alaia-sama. She is currently on her way here.”

However, after hearing what his adjutant had come to tell him, a smile appeared on Dextro’s lips. It was a cruel smile, reminiscent of a cat enjoying playing with its prey.

“Stupid. You don’t need to call her ‘Alaia-sama.’”

“But...”

“She’s an evil woman who killed the emperor and empress after they found out that she had been embezzling public funds. There’s no need to address her as ‘-sama.’”

“I-I see...”

Dextro cackled as he looked at his hesitant subordinate. He knew that Maxfern and Grevanas were behind everything. But he was complicit in their doings and pointed his finger at Alaia too. The reason for that was simple. He was more likely to get promoted that way.

“Well then, let’s go greet the former princess.”

Dextro exited the tent while laughing. In contrast to just a moment ago, he was rather cheerful. Since he was normally in a bad mood, however, it was something of an unsettling sight to his adjutant.

As Alaia walked down the main street of the village, the people flocked there made way for her. Despite being ravaged by disease, Alaia walked down the street in a dignified manner. She appeared almost like a certain prophet who parted the sea.

Koutarou and Clan followed right behind her. Since they were the only two who could properly move, they were the only ones accompanying Alaia now. Flair, Fauna, and Lidith were all worried enough that they tagged along too, but they had blended in with the crowd.

“Princess Alaia, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Thank you, Layous-sama, but I don’t want them to think I’ve gotten feeble because I’m walking too slowly. I can’t show weakness at a time like this.”

Koutarou was worried for Alaia’s health as she walked along at her normal pace despite her condition, but she courageously shook her head at his worry. It was a cardinal rule not to show any weakness during negotiations. Until she got her hands on the medicine, Alaia was planning on fighting back her illness through sheer willpower.

“Besides, if I stagger, the citizens will worry.”

“Your Highness...”

Koutarou was in awe at Alaia’s gallant determination.

So this is what royalty is like...

People continued to crowd the street. Most were people seeking medicine for their collapsed family members, but there were also citizens who were loyal to the royal families and had come out to show their support for Alaia. For their sake, Alaia was especially determined to show them her strength.

“They’ve come, Lord Veltlion.”

Clan pointed ahead of them. Not far down the road were soldiers approaching from the entrance of the village. At their head was a lone knight wearing heavy, metal armor. In his entourage were thirty armed soldiers and five magicians in black robes holding wooden staffs. In total, their troop was 36 strong. It was more than enough of a force to meet Koutarou, Clan, and Alaia.

“So you’re Alaia?”

Despite standing before a princess, the knight didn’t bow his head out of respect. Instead he proudly puffed up his chest and looked down on her as he spat out uncouth words.

“And who might you be?”

Despite his rude behavior, Alaia didn’t so much as flinch. Her voice and expression were stern. Her demeanor was completely different from when she interacted with Koutarou or Charl. She looked like a princess ready to face her enemy.

“Copper Knight Dextro, and I belong to Melcemhein’s band of knights. I’m currently a squire, but I plan on becoming an established knight soon enough.”

“At this rate, you’ll be a squire forever.”

“Well said. As expected from a former princess. But I’ll become an established knight once I take you back with me.”

Alaia was still calm, but Koutarou was angered by the way he was speaking to Alaia.

Former princess?!

“Calm down, Veltlion,” Clan whispered scoldingly.

If she hadn’t grabbed Koutarou and stopped him, he might have taken a swing at Dextro.

“Heh, don’t get so angry, Blue Knight.”

Dextro laughed and sneered at Koutarou. Perhaps despite his intentions, turning his attention to Koutarou actually helped calm him down. He didn’t really care if he was looked down on; he had only gotten angry because Dextro was being disrespectful to Alaia.

“Sorry, Clan.”

“Please try not to do anything reckless.”

Sensing that Koutarou had calmed down, Clan let go of him.

“Oh, so you’re completely reliant on women?”

“Yeah, almost the same way you’re totally dependent on Maxfern.”

Koutarou was something of a rowdy boy and had been in his fair share of fights. He was used to this kind of taunting back and forth. In a strange way, he was in his comfort zone now. Really, he felt like he’d stepped into the ring and was only just starting to flex his muscles.

“What was that, you bastard?!”

Dextro was now the one incensed as he glared at Koutarou. He’d grown up believing that power was everything, and he’d used that power to fight for his position. Hearing Koutarou suggest he’d gotten his title by relying on Maxfern was infuriating.

“Calm down, Dextro. If you’re planning on becoming an established knight, you can’t lose your cool over a petty insult.”

“Tch... Whatever.”

After Alaia pointed that out, Dextro clicked his tongue and his smug grin slowly resurfaced.

So he’s the type that gets emotional, but doesn’t totally lose control... He’ll be a tough opponent to deal with.

Koutarou analyzed Dextro’s character from their argument. It was important to him to know his opponent before walking into a fight.

“Let’s cut the greetings here. Come this way, Alaia.”

“You will hand over the antidote, right?”

“If you come with me.”

“Then it looks like I don’t have a choice.”

Alaia nodded at Dextro and turned back towards Koutarou and Clan.

“I’ll be going now, Layous-sama,” she said as if nothing was wrong. “I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“I’ll come get you right away.”

“Thank you.”

Alaia responded to Koutarou’s whisper with a smile, then turned towards Dextro again.

“Have you said your farewells?”

“I only ordered them to have my favorite kurka fruit ready for me when I return.”

“You’re quite the woman. I like it!”

Alaia began walking towards the laughing Dextro. It was hard to believe that she was desperately ill looking at her now. She was radiating power and nobility.

“Alaia-sama...”

“How sad...”

The citizens seemed to feel much the same way. Sighs were coming from the crowd here and there, and most of the murmuring voices expressed concern for Alaia’s future.

“I’ve come, Dextro.”

Alaia quickly closed the dozen or so meters between her and Dextro.

“Good.”

Dextro grabbed her arm and held on with a strong grip so that Alaia couldn’t shake him off.

Ugh...

Although they were both knights, his touch was almost unbearable compared to Koutarou’s.

“Now, Dextro, give them the antidote you promised.”

She was screaming on the inside, but Alaia spoke in a dignified manner. Even now she refused to break down.

Even though it may cost me my life...!

What kept her strong was the talk she’d had with Koutarou the previous night.

“You’ve captured me now, so there’s no need to make anyone else suffer, is there?”

“That’s true. All right, men!”

What’s going on?

Koutarou sensed something ominous from Dextro’s smile. He felt like he was staring into something terribly dark.

“Kill Alaia’s followers! Charl too! And if anyone else gets in your way, kill them too!”

“What?!”

Alaia’s expression finally betrayed her emotions. Seeing that, Dextro’s lips twisted into a dark, eerie grin that sent chills down Alaia’s spine.

“That’s right, Alaia! That’s exactly the face I wanted to see you make!”

“Wait, Dextro! What happened to handing over the antidote?!”

“What antidote?”

“No... You don’t mean...!”

Panic, fear, and despair made their mark on Alaia’s face. She knew what Dextro was going to say.

“It doesn’t exist. It never did. But if I had just said that, you wouldn’t have shown me that face of yours, now would you?”

“I...”

Alaia was at a loss for words. Instead, it was Koutarou that spoke up.

“You spread something that you have no way of treating?!”

“What are you talking about? All you had to do was not drink any of the polluted water.”

Dextro seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

“How could you...”

Alaia, who had behaved courageously up until now, rapidly began losing strength. Her knees gave out. She had been so determined not to cry, but tears now streamed down her cheeks.

Charl will... Flair, Fauna, Lidith... The villagers... Everyone will die...!

Alaia was about to lose everything she wanted to protect. What she had sworn to protect. Everything she had done would all be for naught. Despair wasn’t powerful enough of a word to describe how she felt. It was like her entire world had been snatched away from her. Weak, she had nothing left to support her and she slumped to the ground.

“Why... Why would you do something so horrible? Why, Maxfern...?”

Alaia lowered her head and shed bitter tears. They trickled down her cheeks to her chin, then tumbled down to the dry ground below where they were absorbed into the earth. As she saw even her tears disappear, Alaia felt even more helpless. She was overwhelmed by the feeling that everything was useless.

“Heh, that’s simple. It was to capture you. And it also serves as an example. With a display like this, any idiot will learn what awaits them if they resist. Although since it’s a chance to get promoted, I don’t want it to stop with just one village.”

Dextro was callous. His impudent words and merciless ridicule butchered Alaia’s heart into pieces.

“Of course, since there’s only one of you, I might need to crush a lot more villages for my next promotion. Ahahaha, muahahaha!”

“Hic... Hn... Hnngh... Waaaaaaaaah!”

Crouched down on the spot, Alaia finally began sobbing. All hope was lost and there was nothing that could be done. Not even the legendary princess could do anything but cry.

“There’s no antidote?!”

“Then what?! We’re all going to die?!”

“I don’t want to die! Why do we all have to die?!”

“At least save the children, I beg you!”

As if responding to Alaia’s cries, panic spread through the gathered crowd. And as soldiers approached to cut down Alaia’s party, the panic escalated and the main street fell into chaos.

“Ahahahaha! Muahahaha! Kill, kill, kill!”

Dextro’s loud, laughing voice filled the street as all 35 of his men marched on the town in an orderly fashion. They were planning on going through each home to find Alaia’s party. At this rate, Alaia’s friends, still weakened by the virus, would be hunted down and slaughtered. Some of the panicking villagers would be mercilessly cut down in the process. And those who were lucky enough to survive the raid would still eventually die from the virus. It seemed no one could escape the fate that would befall this village now. Corpses would line the streets by morning.

“Clan, don’t stop me this time.”

“I won’t stop you, Veltlion. I will only give you orders.”

However, there were still those who were willing to fight. A knight in blue armor, and a girl with glasses. They were vastly outnumbered by Dextro’s troops, but neither one seemed intimidated. They both bravely stood in the soldiers’ way.

“Layous Fatra Veltlion.”

“Yes.”

“In this urgent situation without an empress, I, Princess Clariossa, will act in her place.”

With a metallic ringing sound, Koutarou unsheathed his golden sword. He traced a graceful arc in the air with the tip of the blade and then pointed it at the approaching men. Drawn by the ringing sound, everyone turned towards the knight brandishing his sword.

“This is a royal command. As a knight of Forthorthe, do what you must!”

“As you wish, my princess! I will do so wholeheartedly!”

This was the first time the legendary hero Layous Fatra Veltlion appeared to the people of Forthorthe.

“Curse you, you contemptible dastards, poisoning a river to capture a single woman! That is unforgivable! I’ll have your blood stain my sword!”

Koutarou channeled his anger into his sword and used it to put pressure on the 36 enemies in front of him. The words he chose mirrored the Blue Knight’s lines in the play, but Koutarou no longer cared about that. He was too angry.

I will save you right away, Princess Alaia!

Koutarou directed his rage at Dextro, the one responsible for spreading disease to capture Alaia, and at Maxfern, the one who had given him that order. But the greatest horror of all was learning that it had no cure. It had already started to take the lives of the elderly, and at this rate, many more people would die. That included Alaia and young Charl. There was no forgiveness in Koutarou’s heart for the men who’d committed such a terrible deed.

Meanwhile, Alaia was currently captured by Dextro, and Koutarou couldn’t tolerate that either. Imagining Alaia’s feelings as she so bravely walked over to Dextro of her own free will and how she must have felt when Dextro took sick pleasure in trampling those feelings, Koutarou couldn’t stand it. He wouldn’t wait another moment to save her.

“Stupid! What can you do on your own? Oh right, I suppose even dogs can bark! Hahaha!”

Dextro sneered at Koutarou. He didn’t think Koutarou stood a chance against so many men on his own.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Unfortunately for you, I’m not alone!”

With a hint of a smile on his lips, Koutarou dashed forward. He was planning on tangling with the 36 men in front of him.

That’s right! I have the strength they’ve given me!

The first thing Koutarou did after breaking into run was unleash the power in his armor.

“Activate battle mode!”

“As you wish, my lord.”

Obeying Koutarou’s order, the armor paused all nonessential operations and focused its resources into combat functions.

“Select your weapon.”

“Go with one I always use!”

“Understood. Activating sonic impact barrier.”

The sword in Koutarou’s hands began quietly growling. With a direct hit, the barrier surrounding the sword would knock out the enemy without killing them. It had quickly grown to be Koutarou’s favored method of attack.

“Information: The enemy force consists of 36 people. Breakdown: One heavy infantry unit, twenty regular infantrymen, ten archers, and five unknown units.”

“The unknown five are magicians. You can assume that they’ll be in charge of bombardment and diversion!”

“Understood. Reassigning target tags. Defining the five unknown units as magicians.”

Clan assisted Koutarou through his armor. Using her bracelet, she adjusted the armor’s settings and then pulled out her own weapon through a black hole in the air.

“Don’t kill them, Clan!”

“I know!”

Clan now had in her hands an oddly blocky gun. In modern Forthorthe, it was commonly known as a stun rifle. Since its bullets unleashed high-voltage shocks, it was a convenient weapon capable of knocking out its targets instantly.

The reason Koutarou and Clan didn’t carelessly kill their enemies was partly because they knew if they accidentally killed people important in the war, history would change. But most of all, they simply didn’t want to kill citizens of Forthorthe. That was also Alaia’s wish. And in Koutarou’s case, he believed that Theia would have wanted the same thing.

“Fire! Turn them into pin cushions!”

Dextro, on the other hand, was quite intent on killing Koutarou and Clan. Instead of keeping quiet and just watching as Koutarou rushed up to him, he ordered his archers to attack. Obeying Dextro’s command, the archers surrounding him drew their large bows and fired their arrows at Koutarou all at once.

“I’ll leave the arrows to you.”

“Understood. Deploying barrier.”

As ten arrows sailed at Koutarou, translucent white hexagonal tiles appeared around him. Each arrow smashed into a tile and bounced off.

“Clan, you deal with the guys with bows! We don’t want any stray arrows!”

“Got it!”

Clan agreed to Koutarou’s plan and readied her rifle. The rifle, linked to her bracelet, began automatically taking aim at the archers. Since she and Koutarou were being protected by barriers, they didn’t really need to worry about the arrows, but they wanted to prevent any stray ones from flying into the crowd.

“The arrows have no effect?! Then, magicians— Damn, he’s fast!”

The archers had proved ineffective, so Dextro wanted the magicians to attack Koutarou with their magic. But with the armor in battle mode, Koutarou was moving faster than anyone expected and was quickly closing in on the infantrymen. He was on top of them so fast that Dextro lost his chance to attack Koutarou with powerful magic. If he had the magicians attack now, his soldiers would get hit as well.

“It’s only one guy! Surround him!”

With no other option, Dextro gave the word for his infantry to attack. On Dextro’s orders, the twenty infantrymen spread out to the sides to surround Koutarou. The spearmen equipped with shields pushed towards him.

How did Sanae do that thing back then...?

Koutarou focused on his own body and tried to recall the sensation he had when Sanae was clinging to his back. As he did, Koutarou could feel his spirit, fueled by his rage, flowing through his body.

“Like this!”

In that moment, Koutarou’s view completely changed. A faint white light overlapped with each of the twenty infantrymen. Their intentions to attack manifested as various forms of that light, telling Koutarou exactly where they would attack and when. This was spirit sight, the power to read people and predict attacks that Sanae had used when they fought together before.

“And...!”

Koutarou’s movements suddenly got sharper. So much, in fact, that the armor had to quickly adjust its settings to keep up. Now even more nimble than before, Koutarou swiftly dodged all of the spears being thrust at him. That too was the effect of a psychic power Sanae had used to enhance his body. His movements were precise, and not a single one was without purpose. Between his speed and his spirit sight, Koutarou dodged attack after attack with ease, like a leaf dancing in the wind.

Koutarou was able to use these powers thanks to the spiritual energy circuits that Sanae had created when using her powers. While Koutarou had nowhere near the amount of spiritual energy Sanae did and couldn’t use the powers as effectively as she could, it was more than enough to deal with twenty normal human enemies.

“Hey, can you protect Princess Alaia with your barrier?”

“It is possible, though it will be weaker because of the distance. Warning: You will be defenseless.”

“Do I look like I need a barrier right now?!”

Koutarou exhaled sharply and swung his sword around. The sound of several explosions rang out, and Koutarou sent five spearmen flying.

“As you wish, my lord.”

“You’re awfully cooperative today!”

However, there were still five spearmen left and their spears were all coming for Koutarou at once. He was able to dodge three of them, but not the remaining two.

“Warning: Please use the barrier to defend yourself.”

“I said I don’t need it!”

Koutarou knocked away the remaining two spears, one using Theia’s sword in his right hand and the other using Kiriha’s gauntlet on his left hand.

“Uwaaaaah!”

The man holding the spear Koutarou had knocked away with Kiriha’s gauntlet shrieked and fainted. The current in the gauntlet had flowed through the spear directly into him.

“...Just who is this guy?”

Seeing Koutarou swiftly take out six of his men, the cocky Dextro started to look a little nervous.

“Hey, you guys go too!”

“B-But...! Uwaaaaah!”

Now that he sensed danger, Dextro ordered the archers forward as well. To his surprise, however, three of the archers had already been defeated.

“Damn, it’s that woman!”

Dextro had only seen Clan as a powerless servant of Koutarou’s. He wasn’t paying any attention to her, so he hadn’t seen her draw a weapon. She’d taken advantage of that and sniped three of his men. Together with the six that Koutarou had defeated, that made the total nine men down. Dextro’s forces had already been reduced by one quarter.

“That’s impossible! There’s only two of them!”

Dextro began panicking. He hadn’t even entertained the thought of losing, but now the possibility crept up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Refusing to accept that, Dextro shouted more orders to his remaining men.

“You guys go kill that woman! Don’t let her do as she pleases anymore!”

“Yes, sir!”

Finally realizing the unrest among Dextro’s troops, Alaia looked up from where she was huddled on the ground.

Layous-sama...?

Through the tears in her eyes, she could see Koutarou slowly advancing towards her.

Layous-sama is fighting... He’s protecting everyone...

There was no medicine, but Koutarou was fighting to protect the villagers and Alaia’s party.

And he’s fighting for my sake...

He was fighting to honor his promise with Alaia. Seeing Koutarou now, a certain question entered her mind.

So... what am I doing?

She asked herself why she was on her knees doing nothing. Wasn’t there something else she should be doing? Didn’t she also have a duty to fulfil? Even if not, shouldn’t she at least get up and make it easier for Koutarou to save her? Those were the questions that ran through her mind one after another as she watched Koutarou approach.

He’s still fighting!

A strong will returned to her eyes, but she didn’t stand up right away. She was planning on letting Dextro, who was still holding on to her arm, think she was crying for a while longer while she waited for her chance.

“In that case... Hey, magicians, stop him from moving with your magic!”

Dextro ordered the magicians to attack Koutarou.

“But we’ll hit our allies too!”

“If you don’t, we’ll all be in trouble! Quit your yapping and do it!”

“U-Understood!”

Despite knowing that his men would get caught in the spells as well, Dextro ordered the magicians to attack. Koutarou had already defeated another three men, making for a total of twelve. Dextro now considered Koutarou a serious threat, and he needed a surefire way of hitting him even if it involved turning friendly fire on his men.

“Heh, no matter how strong he is, he’ll have no way of escaping this...”

Oh no!

Alaia quickly stood up to warn Koutarou.

“Watch out, Layous-sama! The magicians are aiming for you!”

“Shut it! You’re already too late!”

Dextro fearlessly grinned. He ordered all five magicians to attack at once. No matter how fast Koutarou was, he should have no way of avoiding an attack like that.

“The magicians?!”

Koutarou looked over towards the magicians after hearing Alaia’s warning. He could see that they were preparing an area attack against him. It was large enough that it was going to hit the remaining eight infantrymen as well.

“Is he planning on attacking his own soldiers just to get to me?!”

When Koutarou finally put two and two together, the five magicians had summoned a giant fireball. It rested at the tip of the staff of the magician standing in the front of their formation, and it was large enough to light up the area.

“High-density energy reaction from the magicians detected. Warning: Please use the barrier to defend yourself.”

“You just keep protecting Her Highness!”

Koutarou rejected the AI’s suggestion and pointed his left hand towards the fireball. Meanwhile, the soldiers around him began to panic.

“What?! Is the captain trying to kill us with him?!”

“Please save us, captain!”

“You guys just keep fighting the Blue Knight!”

Though the soldiers pleaded for help, Dextro spurned them in a tone similar to Koutarou’s.

“Just how rotten can you get? If you guys don’t want to get hurt, get down!”

As Koutarou shouted, the magicians launched their fireball. They were aiming for Koutarou, but before it hit, a second fireball appeared from the gauntlet on Koutarou’s left hand.

“Go!”

Obeying Koutarou’s will, the new fireball flew towards the fireball the magicians had launched. He was trying to negate the fireball with his own.

The two fireballs crashed into each other mid-air, but things didn’t go as Koutarou had hoped. The magicians’ fireball was bigger and more powerful, so Koutarou’s fireball alone couldn’t stop it. Although its strength had been considerably compromised, the magicians’ fireball was still barreling towards Koutarou.

“Damn, no good!”

“Warning! Use the barrier—”

“Shut up! You were made to be used in space, so suck it up already! It’s just a fireball!”

Koutarou crossed his arms in front of his face and braced himself. He was planning on enduring the attack with guts and sheer willpower. The fireball came flying. Its furious red fire lit up Koutarou’s face as it closed in, and then it exploded with a loud boom.

“...Huh?”

Despite the explosion, Koutarou was unharmed. The flames had been deflected by a yellow veil that appeared in front of Koutarou and then vanished.

“I-I don’t know what happened, but I’m saved...”

It was one of the defensive spells that Yurika had cast on Koutarou while he was fighting against Clan. It had been dormant all this time, and it only activated now—when it sensed the danger Koutarou was in—to shield him from the explosion.

“That’s impossible!”

Not even the five magicians working together had had any effect on Koutarou. Dextro had been so confident in their attack that he couldn’t believe what had just happened right before his very eyes.

Dextro wasn’t the only one stunned by Koutarou’s fighting.

“Lady Pardomshiha, just who is that person?”

“That’s... what I want to know, Lidith.”

Alaia’s allies couldn’t hide their surprise as they watched Koutarou’s battle from the crowd. It was impressive enough that they were able to temporarily forget the pain they were in.

“That sword and armor... Based on their strength, they must have been made with alchemy. I can’t imagine anything else considering the device incorporated into the armor that lets him use electricity and fire.”

Since Lidith was an alchemist, she could tell that the armor and sword Koutarou was using were products of advanced science and technology. Since the science of this era wasn’t especially developed, specialized fields of study had yet to emerge. And it wasn’t just science. Pharmacology, medicine, magic, supernatural phenomena, and more were all studied under the broad discipline of alchemy. The technology for refining metal was included in that as well. Certain alchemists monopolized the manufacturing of higher-strength steels and made quite a tidy profit off of it. Lidith had seen Koutarou’s armor up close, and now that she’d seem what it could do in battle too, she assumed that it had been created using advanced alchemy of that nature.

And if the sword and armor were products of alchemy, it didn’t seem unreasonable to think that his ability to manipulate fire and electricity had an alchemical source as well. The people of this age had already discovered basic methods of generating electricity and creating explosions, so they could potentially be used in alchemical devices.

“It’s not just alchemy. It looks like he’s using spiritual energy to fight as well. He’s not as good as me, but it looks like he’s able to read the auras of his opponents. And it looks like he’s using spiritual energy to improve his speed.”

Fauna added on to Lidith’s assessment. As a servant of the Goddess of Dawn, she had considerable spiritual energy powers. She used them to heal the sick and injured, but her attunement to that sort of thing made it obvious to her that Koutarou was using spiritual energy to fight.

“His skill with the sword is also considerable... This means that the band of knights Veltlion is from not only trains in sword fighting, but also in the ways of spiritual energy while additionally making good use of alchemy...”

Flair was quite perplexed as she summarized the discussion. Koutarou’s fighting defied what she expected of a knight. She had never heard of such a strange yet powerful band of knights before.

“That’s not all. That man is using magic too.”

“Caris?! Why are you here?! Didn’t you join up with the other soldiers?!”

Flair was surprised to see Caris, who had suddenly appeared next to them. Koutarou said he’d freed Caris, so Flair assumed she’d be long gone by now.

“That’s what I was going to do at first.” Caris smiled wryly as she leaned on her staff. “But on my way there, I heard that there was no antidote. That means that they were planning on disposing of me with the rest of you. So I figured before I die for nothing, I should help that man a little. That’s all there is to it.”

Caris had planned to join up with the soldiers to get her hands on the antidote. But once she learned there was no such thing, she understood that they were planning on killing her off right alongside Alaia and her party. It also meant they were indiscriminately killing the villagers, and she didn’t take a liking to that.

She had sworn loyalty to Maxfern, or more precisely to Grevanas, because he had picked her up from an orphanage in the slums. But now that same man was responsible for this indiscriminate attack on the poor populace. It was a remarkable act of betrayal of Caris’s trust in him. Her loyalty shaken and her identity in question, Caris had remembered what Koutarou said to her.

“Thank you.”

She had returned because of those words.

“I see...”

Flair sincerely believed Caris. Caris’s eyes told Flair she was telling the truth. If she wanted to kill Flair and the others, she would have done so long ago.

“So Caris, you said Lord Veltlion was using magic...”

Lidith was more interested in Koutarou than Caris’s intentions, and she wanted to get a more detailed explanation from her. Caris nodded in response.

“It was when he negated the fireball. It was brief, but he unleashed an archwizard class spell. I don’t know if the Blue Knight actually cast the spell himself or not, but at the very least, he’s lived in an environment where he’s had regular access to powerful magic.”

“...Did you say an archwizard class spell?”

Flair was even more perplexed now. The archwizards were the top seven leaders of the court magicians. The head of the court magicians, Grevanas, was included among them. All seven of them were extremely powerful magicians, and they stood at the top of the magic world in terms of ability. Caris was saying that Koutarou supposedly handled magic of an equivalent power. Flair didn’t know what to make of that.

“Swordsmanship, spiritual energy, alchemy, and magic... The pyrotechnic weapon his servant is using is also quite impressive. Just who are those two?”

“Who knows? But it’s quite clear that the Goddess of Dawn is smiling.”

“On Veltlion?”

“No, on Princess Alaia.”

Caris smiled as she spoke, then began walking away using her staff to support herself.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to support the Blue Knight. He’ll probably win, but I’m worried about what the magicians might do. Leave them to me. You guys should go protect the other princess.”

“You’re right. I think we’ll do just that.”

Flair quickly ran through the situation in her head and decided to take Caris’s advice to heart. As sick as she was, Flair would have a rough time standing against the army. But as a magician, Caris still might be able to do something. It seemed best to leave her to her own devices while the others went to protect Charl. Even in her weakened condition, Flair was confident she’d still be able to protect Charl from the panicked citizens.

“Let’s go, Fauna, Lidith.”

“Lady Pardomshiha, I’ll go with Caris.”

“Are you sure?”

“My intellectual curiosity as an alchemist is telling me it’s what I should do.”

“Then I’ll leave this to you. Let’s go, Fauna.”

“Yes!”

Flair and Fauna headed back to Charl’s side, while Caris and Lidith headed to support Koutarou.

“Haaa!”

Koutarou’s sword slashed through the air.

“Guwah!”

One of the remaining two archers received the full brunt of the blow and rolled across the ground.

“Uwaaaaah!”

The other archer, who’d just barely managed to dodge the sword, let out a scream and collapsed onto the ground. That was thanks to Clan’s shooting. The battle had clearly become one-sided after Koutarou negated the fireball. Koutarou could easily dodge all of the soldiers’ attacks, and the magicians’ spells hadn’t worked. The reeling soldiers were defeated by Koutarou and Clan, one after the other. That was in part because of Dextro’s insistence on taking down Koutarou at the cost of his own men. His orders were largely falling on deaf ears now.

“That leaves six more to go.”

Clan smiled fearlessly while exchanging magazine on the rifle. There were now only six of the original 36 men standing. All that was left was to take out Dextro and the five magicians. Victory was within their grasp.

“To think you could do this much... Honestly, you’ve surprised me, Blue Knight.”

“I’ll ask you to hand over Princess Alaia now, Copper Knight Dextro.”

Despite his grim situation, Dextro still had an eerie smile on his lips. It bothered Koutarou. Even as he pointed his sword at Dextro, Dextro looked like he had no intention of backing down.

“I can’t just give her back to you that easily. I’m not on some kid’s errand here.”

“Layous-sama, don’t listen to Dextro! He’s trying to buy time! The magicians have been doing something for a while now!”

“Tch, you really need to shut up!”

Dextro yanked on Alaia’s arm and drew her in. He then pointed a knife at her neck.

“Pipe down for a moment, would you, Alaia?!”

“Hnn!”

The courageous Alaia stifled any urge to scream and quickly shut her mouth.

“Your Highness! Hey, what’s going on with the barrier?!”

Flustered at the sight of Alaia being threatened, Koutarou demanded answers from the armor’s AI.

“Target B has been inside the barrier’s defensive range from the start.”

“Damn it!”

The barrier created by the armor had protected Alaia, but it was intended to keep her safe from stray arrows and explosions. It couldn’t shield her from Dextro who had been next to her the entire time.

“Let go of Her Highness!”

“Hey now, Blue Knight, I wouldn’t make another move if I were you. The same goes for the lady behind you.”

Dextro warned Koutarou as he instinctively took a step forward. He moved Alaia in front of him, intending to use her as a shield to protect himself from Clan’s rifle.

“How’s it going?” Dextro called to the magicians behind him.

“We’re finishing up right now!”

“Good!”

Dextro showed a satisfied grin after hearing the magicians’ reply. He had ordered the magicians do something while his other men were being defeated. What he’d asked them to do would take all of their mana, but he didn’t care. And now that it was almost complete, he couldn’t keep himself from smiling.

“Dextro-sama, here it comes!”

“Here, I’ll give you this back! Take good care of her!”

Dextro suddenly and unexpectedly let go of his hostage, pushing Alaia towards Koutarou.

“Kyah!”

Seeing that, Koutarou hurriedly ran to catch her. Still weak and sickly, Alaia fell over after stumbling a few steps forward.

“Princess Alaia!”

And it was in the moment that Koutarou took his eyes off Dextro that it happened.

“Wait, Veltlion! Something’s strange!”

“Hahahaha, to think I really have to use even this on you!”

Right behind where Alaia had been sitting on the ground, a giant black hole over three meters in diameter appeared. The five magicians had been working together to create it, and it was very similar to the black holes Theia and Clan used to summon their weapons.

“Let me thank you, Blue Knight. I’ve always wanted to try this out!”

Dextro got increasingly excited as the black hole appeared. A rush of joy filled his heart similar to what he’d felt the first time he killed someone. A warped smile appeared on his face.

“What is going on?!”

“A space distortion reaction?! Veltlion, something big is coming!”

Something huge appeared from the giant disc. At first glance it looked like a knight wearing black armor, but it was far too large to be called a knight. That would imply it was human size. Once its whole body emerged from the hole, it stood five meters tall. Alaia, who was right next to it, looked like a doll in comparison.

“J-Just what is this giant knight...?”

Alaia was at a loss for words as the giant knight slowly rose up next to her.

“It’s dangerous, Princess Alaia! Hurry and get away from there!”

“R-Right!”

Alaia tried to stand up after Koutarou warned her of the danger, but she was still reeling from the pain of falling and the aches of her illness. It was a struggle to even move.

“I’ll be right there, Your Highness! Clan, do you know what that is?!”

Realizing that Alaia was having trouble, Koutarou ran to help her.

“I don’t really know! It’s definitely made out of steel, but I don’t see anything that seems to be powering it... There are too many strange structural parts for it to be just a statue, but I can’t tell heads from tails...”

The giant’s structure perplexed Clan. Based on the way it was summoned, she believed it was some kind of combat machine. But when she scanned its interior with her observation device, nothing about it seemed to be mechanical. She also couldn’t find a power source. It just seemed to be a metallic frame dressed in armor.

However, further analysis revealed that lots of jewels, animal bones, and other non-metallic materials had been placed inside of it. From an engineering standpoint, that would only lower its structural integrity. What’s more, it was all on the interior and couldn’t be seen from the outside, so it clearly didn’t serve a decorative purpose. There was so much strange about it that Clan wasn’t sure what to think.

“A statue? Ha, not even close! This is an invincible soldier that’s going to kill you all!”

Dextro laughed. All of a sudden, he was holding a glowing, translucent yellow globe in his hand. Inside the globe were three colors—red, orange, and yellow—swirling around together. And as the globe began to glow brighter, a red light filled the giant’s eyes.

Once the light in the giant’s eyes turned the color of bright red blood, it slowly moved its massive arm and reached out with its empty left hand. Next was its leg. It lifted its heavy left leg that was starting to sink into the ground, and took one step closer to Alaia. Its stride was more than twice a normal human’s. Combined with its overwhelming weight, each step was like a small earthquake.

“It started moving?! That’s impossible! There’s no way!”

“Oh, but it is possible! Hahaha! And now you’re going to be killed by this giant, the magic soldier!” Dextro boasted triumphantly as he looked up at the moving giant.

Meanwhile, the giant’s body creaked as it continued to move forward, reaching its giant hand out towards Alaia. Before it could reach her, however, hexagonal tiles appeared around her to shield her. It was the barrier that Koutarou had ordered the armor to protect Alaia with.

But the next moment, the barrier completely collapsed. The barrier was much weaker than normal due to the distance between Alaia and the barrier’s source—Koutarou. But the main reason for its collapse was that it simply couldn’t withstand the giant’s overwhelming mass. The five meter tall giant weighed around ten tons. And when that weight crashed into the small surface area of the barrier, it just couldn’t hold up.

“Kyaaaaah!”

Alaia screamed. She had screamed in the past out of surprise, but this was the first time in her life she ever screamed out of fear. The giant grabbed Alaia with its huge hand and lifted her up by the waist.

“Your Highness!”

“Nooo, let go!”

Alaia fought to escape the giant’s grasp, but she was practically powerless against the strength of the metallic monster. No matter how hard she tried, it was impossible for her to break free. But she struggled as best she could nonetheless, even as cuts and bruises appeared on her white skin.

“Hahh, I even set her free. This is all because you took your sweet time, Blue Knight.”

“Dextro... you bastard!”

“Layous-sama!”

Alaia’s repeated screams made the appearance of the giant even more fearsome for the people in the area. It was a steel giant that moved and fought on its own. Just based on its height and weight alone, it was easy to imagine how unbelievably strong it must be. Everyone who saw it could tell just how dangerous it was.

“Uwaaah, it’s a monster!”

“We don’t stand a chance!”

“S-Someone, save us!”

The villagers who had begun to regain their calm after Koutarou defeated the majority of the soldiers quickly panicked again. It was all they could do. They’d had a glimmer of hope, only to have it stolen away from them by the sight of something so terrifying.

“Run away! Run as far as you can! It will chase you down no matter where you go!”

Dextro watched the panicking villagers with joy in his eyes. He was absolutely confident in the power of the giant. Not even the so far undefeated Koutarou should be able to take it down.

“Go, magic soldier! Kill them all!”

Obeying Dextro’s order, the giant lumbered forward. Though it didn’t move very fast, it took steps commensurate to its massive size. It was closing the distance to Koutarou at a frightening pace. Alaia, who was still being held in its left hand, shouted out to him as they got closer.

“Please run, Layous-sama! Without any antidote, I won’t survive anyway! So please save as many people as you can!”

It was neither a cry for help, nor an order for him to fight. It was merely a worried plea for Koutarou’s safety. Alaia didn’t think even he could win against the giant, so she wanted him to escape. She didn’t want him to die in vain for her sake. And if it were an option, she wanted him to take as many villagers with him as possible.

Your Highness...

Hearing Alaia’s words, Koutarou shook off the shock of the giant’s appearance and made up his mind. He adjusted the grip on his sword’s handle and called out to Clan.

“Clan, you get away!”

“What are you going to do?!”

“As if I could leave Princess Alaia behind!”

Koutarou pointed his sword at the giant. Alaia was still in enemy hands. That’s why, because of the oath he had sworn on his sword, he couldn’t run away.

Theia, nothing like this was in the play!

While glaring at the oncoming giant, Koutarou internally berated Theia.

“So the Blue Knight kid didn’t run off, eh? Good,” Dextro mumbled in a voice so low that no one could hear him. He was actually feeling relieved.

After he’d confirmed that Alaia was suffering from the poison, she was no longer Dextro’s primary target. The opponent he needed to defeat was Koutarou, the powerful knight who hadn’t even been affected by the poison. Even if she got away, Alaia’s fate was sealed. But if he let someone who could take on several dozen men on his own escape, he would just become a bigger thorn in his side down the line. And since he didn’t seem to be ill, he couldn’t count on letting the poison run its course like he could with Alaia. Worse, he was sure to be scolded by Maxfern if he let him get away. It could cost him his promotion. Dextro considered it a necessity to put an end to Koutarou here and now.

And that being the case, it would have been most troublesome for him if Koutarou had abandoned Alaia and run off. That’s why Dextro was glad to see Koutarou had stayed put and was still willing to fight.

“Tch, this is turning out to be a real pain!”

Koutarou dodged the giant’s huge axe with wide, evasive steps. The edge of the axe buried itself deep into the ground instead. With that kind power, it was uncertain whether or not his barrier could protect him against it.

The giant moved on its own, but it had no mind of its own, so Koutarou wasn’t able to read its moves like he could with the soldiers. All he could do was jump out of the way of its attacks. His only saving grace was that the giant moved much slower than he did, so it wasn’t all that hard to dodge.

“Haaaaaaaah!”

Taking advantage of the opening he had while its axe was stuck the ground, Koutarou leaped towards the giant and swung his sword. The blade crashed into the front of its metal body. It hit, but the sword bounced off the giant’s armor. Because of the giant’s size, its plating was quite thick. Even with the aid of his power-assisted armor, Koutarou could only scratch it.

“Damn, the sword does nothing!”

Koutarou quickly jumped back. As he did, the axe came flying up, almost grazing Koutarou’s face.

“Of course not, you idiot. It’s useless. You’re powerless against it.”

“Shut up!”

“Oh, scary. Well, keep trying, Blue Knight. Heh heh...”

As Dextro laughed, Koutarou repeatedly attacked the giant. Every single swing bounced off without any real damage. He started to target the joints on the lower half of the giant’s body, but it seemed to have no effect either. They were almost as heavily armored as the rest of the giant.

“Veltlion, use the same attack you used when you cut the Super Space-time Repulsion Shell in half! That should be enough to cut this giant in half too!”

Clan’s voice came through the communicator in Koutarou’s armor. She had seen Koutarou make his sword shine bright white several times now. It could cut through barriers, split beams, and even cleave her repulsion shells in half. She figured an attack of that strength would surely do something against the giant.

“No can do!”

However, Koutarou shook his head while continuing to dodge the giant’s attacks.

“Why not?!”

“I’m not the one doing that! It always lights up and helps me when I’m in trouble! It’s not something I do myself!”

“What?!”

The light that made Saguratin glow only showed up when Koutarou was in danger or when he was extremely angry. It lent him power, but Koutarou had no way of controlling it or summoning it.

“And we’ve been in this world for a while, but it hasn’t glowed once yet! We can’t count on it!”

“Fine, I guess I don’t have a choice! Leave this to me!”

Clan stood up as she spoke. She was currently on top of a roof several dozen meters away from Koutarou and the giant.

“Cradle! The anti-material beam rifle!”

“As you wish, my princess.”

As Clan gave orders into her bracelet, a black hole appeared next to her with a big barrel sticking out of it. Clan waited for it to fully emerge from the black hole before taking the gun with both hands. She was now holding on to a giant anti-material beam rifle. It was the largest weapon she could handle herself, and its power was considerable. There was just one major flaw. The rifle was so large that she couldn’t move with it, so she could only use it for sniping once.

If this doesn’t work, we’re out of options...

Clan took aim from the rooftop. Koutarou was keeping the giant busy, and its massive body was slow to move. It was the perfect target for sniping.

But if this didn’t work, there wouldn’t be anything else they could do. Because of its limited storage capacity, the Cradle didn’t have a lot of weapons on board, and the anti-material beam rifle was the strongest of them all. There was still one more repulsion shell, but if she used that, the entire village would be wiped out.

Clan carefully took aim. Since Alaia was still in the giant’s left hand, she needed to make sure she didn’t hit that area.

If I’d known this was going to happen, I would have gotten in more combat practice!

While she rued the weight of the responsibility on her shoulders, Clan lined up her target in the crosshairs. She was aiming right for the giant’s head.

“I’m firing, Veltlion!”

Clan pulled the trigger as she shouted to Koutarou. He was still fighting the giant, but since she was aiming for its head, there wasn’t much worry about hitting him. Letting him know she fired was mostly a courtesy.

A glowing white beam shot out from the enormous barrel. Since the weapon used electromagnetism to accelerate heavy metal particles, there was no recoil like with standard weapons that relied on gunpowder. Even so, Clan’s body was still pushed backwards by the reactionary force. That’s just how powerful the beam was. The beam flew through the air and closed the several dozen meter gap in the blink of an eye. The slow, massive giant had no way of dodging something that fast. The beam struck the giant’s head spot on.

“Kyaaah!”

“All right!”

Alaia let out a scream of surprise at the sudden flash, while Koutarou cheered in celebratory joy that Clan’s attack had hit.

“Did I hit it?!”

Still holding the rifle, Clan looked up at the giant. There was some smoke around the giant’s head, but she could clearly see what had happened from where she was. Having taken a direct hit from the beam, the giant’s head had been completely blown off. The beam had pierced through the left side of the chin and exited through the back of the head. The head was shattered by the impact, and steam and steel fragments rained down on Dextro and the magicians.

“D-Damn it! That woman again!”

Dextro swatted away the falling debris and glared at Clan up on the rooftop. He had completely lost his temper. The invincible soldier he had put so much faith in was now injured. And by a young girl, no less. Every time he was sure of his victory, it had been taken away from him. That left Dextro boiling with rage.

“Kill them, and start with that woman!”

Dextro pointed the translucent globe in his hand at Clan. As he did, the headless giant began moving again. Unlike a human, losing its head wasn’t enough to defeat it.

“It can still move?!”

“Ahahaha! Die!”

The giant lifted its axe and pulled its arm backward.

“It can’t be— Clan, get away from there right now!”

“What?!”

Just as Koutarou tried to warn Clan, the giant hurled its axe with all its might. The steel axe spun through the air in a short arc towards Clan. It was far larger than she was, and made for a terrifying projectile. It would surely kill her instantly if it hit.

“This is not funny!”

Clan threw her rifle down and jumped for cover on the roof. However, the axe’s real target wasn’t Clan, but the building she was on. If it was destroyed, Clan would be caught in its collapse. It was a much safer move than aiming directly for Clan and risking a miss.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Clan!”

Just as Dextro had planned, the axe easily obliterated the wooden house. Clan vanished from Koutarou’s view in the collapse. All that was left was a mountain of rubble with the axe sticking out of it.

“Clan-sama!”

“Hey, Clan! Answer me!”

Alaia screamed and Koutarou called for Clan through his armor’s communicator. But there was only static on the other end.

“Oh, did that woman die? Too bad. If she’s alive now though, she’ll just get trampled. Muahahaha!”

“Clan! Clan!”

Please be safe, Clan!

Koutarou called for her over and over, but the only thing reaching his ears was Dextro’s laughter. There was still nothing but static coming from the communicator. Not a peep from Clan.

“Now then, you’re up next, Blue Knight!”

The giant reached around to its back and pulled out a hammer. Since it was a spare weapon, it was smaller than the axe, but it was still around two meters long.

“Here it comes.”

Koutarou put his concern for Clan aside for the moment and readied his sword. However, since he knew that his sword wasn’t going to work, he wasn’t sure what to do.

What am I supposed to do?! How can I win against this thing?!

But the giant didn’t give Koutarou any time to think. It came charging right for him, hammer in hand. Since it was smaller than the axe, the giant could swing it faster. It repeatedly struck the barrier protecting Koutarou, greatly shaving away at the energy reserves used to maintain it.

“Warning: At the current rate of energy usage, it will be impossible to maintain the barrier for longer than a minute.”

“So it’s going to be a battle of attrition at this rate!”

Koutarou dodged away from the hammer while desperately racking his brain. As hard as he tried to think, he couldn’t come up with any good ideas. If he ran away, the villagers and Alaia’s party would be in danger. That said, he had no idea how to defeat the giant. Koutarou was stumped.

“Blue Knight.”

Koutarou’s frantic thoughts were interrupted by a voice he heard inside his head.

“Who’s there?!”

“It’s me, Caris.”

The voice belonged to Caris, but then he heard a second voice too.

“Layous-sama?!”

It was Alaia. As Koutarou looked up, his eyes met with Alaia’s as she was held fast by the unyielding grasp of the metal giant.

“I can hear Layous-sama and Caris-sama’s voice inside my head? What is...”

“Caris, what is this?!”

Koutarou continued fighting the giant, though he was most puzzled by the sudden voices in his head. He started aiming for the thin fingers on the giant’s right hand. He was hoping to cut them off in order to keep it from using the hammer.

“Since the situation is urgent, I’ll keep it brief. The reason we can talk like this is thanks to the power of magic. You can communicate with people far away without actually having to speak.”

“So this is... magic? How convenient.”

Koutarou’s sword was actually able to do some damage to the giant’s fingers, but a single strike wasn’t enough to sever them. He would need to land a few more swings to do the job.

“According to Lidith, that giant is a type of magic doll.”

A magic doll was a puppet created by giving life to something inanimate via magic. Such dolls were known by different names depending on what they were made out of. If it was made out of soil, for example, it would be a clay golem. Rocks made stone golems, and so on.

Through a control gem, the magic doll followed the orders of anyone it had been registered to obey. That meant that even if the gem was stolen, an unauthorized operator couldn’t take control of it. Registering a new operator required a special ritual.

Moreover, once the doll had been given an order, it was capable of making its own decisions to a certain degree. In other words, it was an artificial life form with an incredibly simple mind. Even if they destroyed the gem in Dextro’s hand, the giant would probably continue fighting. Such properties made fighting magic dolls rather troublesome.

“That giant’s body is made of steel created by Maxfern’s alchemists, so it would probably be called a steel golem. Lidith is saying that she saw something like it being produced in the atelier.”

Lidith was Maxfern’s niece, and she had studied alchemy at his atelier. During her time there, she had seen a large golem being created.

“According to Lidith, various other alchemical enhancements have been added to it, so it will be hard to defeat. But since it’s a magic doll, it has a weakness.”

“A weakness?! It actually has a weakness?!”

Koutarou kept swinging his sword while talking to Caris telepathically. This was certainly something he didn’t want Dextro to hear.

“It does. Inside the left side of its chest where a human’s heart would be, there’s a crystal roughly the size of a human fist. Destroy that.”

“Will that defeat it?!”

“Yes. I’ve created magic dolls myself, so I’m absolutely certain. That crystal is absorbing energy from nature and converting it into mana to move its body. You can see the flow of spiritual energy, right? Aim for the spot where the spiritual energy is most concentrated.”

“Got it! I’ll give it a try!”

Now that he knew what he needed to do, Koutarou’s expression eased up. He eyed the left side of the giant’s chest... and then he froze.

“By the left side of its chest, you mean...”

“That’s right. That’s why I’m talking to both you and Princess Alaia.”

The giant was covering its left side using Alaia.

“I don’t mind. Please do it.”

“What are you saying? There’s no way I could do that!”

“Layous-sama, I will die from the poison either way. You can’t trade your life and the lives of the villagers for mine.”

With Alaia in the way, Koutarou couldn’t attack from where he was now. He would have to circle around and attack it from behind, but it wouldn’t be easy. Aware of that, Alaia asked Koutarou to go ahead and attack regardless of what would happen to her.

“Your Highness, I can’t do that.”

“You don’t have any other options.”

Koutarou firmly rejected Alaia’s idea, desperately racking his brain for another plan.

What can I do? How can I attack the left side of its chest without harming Her Highness?

As Koutarou was thinking, the giant brought its hammer down in front of him. While it was stuck in the ground, Koutarou swung his sword at the giant’s fingers once more. He hit the same place he had before, deepening the cut that was already there.

Oh?

An idea suddenly flashed through Koutarou’s mind.

“Yeah, we could do that!”

“Layous-sama!”

Since they were telepathically connected, the idea was instantaneously transmitted to Alaia and Caris. They both supported his idea, and there was a discernable hint of hopefulness in their thoughts.

“But what do we do before that? How can you crack that thick armor?”

“That’s...”

Koutarou’s idea hit a roadblock. He had a plan, but he hadn’t come up with a way to get to the crystal through the giant’s heavy armor.

“Don’t worry, Layous-sama.”

However, Alaia was smiling quite cheerfully. Really, she was smiling at Koutarou who hadn’t yet realized the solution.

After Alaia explained to him how things should happen, Koutarou had a question for Caris.

“Caris, can you stop that thing from moving for just a moment?”

“I’ll give it a try. The rest is up to you, Blue Knight.”

“Yeah.”

Caris’s presence got more distant. Sensing that, Koutarou readied his sword. It was finally time to settle things.

“Layous-sama...”

“Your Highness, I’ll save you right away.”

“I pray for your fortune.”

Koutarou and Alaia made eye contact for a moment, and though it was brief, deep feelings were shared wordlessly between them.

“What’s wrong, Blue Knight? Over already?”

“It’s over for you.”

“Wow, to think you still have the energy to crack jokes... Sounds like you’re a little out of breath though.”

“Why don’t you fight yourself, Dextro?”

“I’ll pass. Breaking a sweat is for underlings.”

Jeez, to think I’d be struggling this much even after bringing out the magic soldier...

Despite his confident tone of voice, Dextro was annoyed that Koutarou hadn’t fallen yet. But even though it wasn’t happening as quickly as he wanted, Koutarou’s movements were clearly becoming slower and more sluggish. Dextro figured that things were nearing their end and victory would be his soon enough.

“I just want to kick back, relax, and enjoy a nice drink... so feel free to die now, Blue Knight.”

“Just try me. You’ll regret not practicing more with your sword.”

“You know, I don’t hate how gutsy you are!”

The giant moved forward as Dextro shouted. It drew closer to Koutarou, putting him in range of its hammer. The giant was always the one to take the first swing since it had superior reach. The hammer roared as it rushed through the air and zeroed in on Koutarou, who then jumped to the side to avoid it.

As the hammer slammed into the ground, Koutarou could feel the earth tremble. And before the rumbling died down, Koutarou moved in to attack.

“The angle’s too shallow?!”

Koutarou’s sword struck the back of the giant’s hand and bounced off. All the attack did was leave a small scratch. But he didn’t have the time to be disappointed. He quickly kicked off the ground and jumped to the side of the giant. The next moment, the giant’s right leg came swinging through right where he had been. If he had still been there, he would have been sent flying.

“How about this?!”

Koutarou slammed the flat of his sword into the giant’s right leg. There was a loud noise, but it didn’t cause any damage to the giant. However, the blow was enough to slightly offset the giant’s balance. Trying to regain its equilibrium, it swung its right arm through the air.

“This time for sure!”

Koutarou swung his sword down at full force. The blade dug into the giant’s fingers, just as planned. After several hits, he finally severed the fingers.

“All right!”

“What?!”

Leaving only the thumb, the other four fingers fell off. The giant also dropped the hammer since it no longer had any way to hold it. The tip of it dug into the earth when it landed. Koutarou stopped his attacks and backed off from the giant some.

“I see, so this was what he was after by only aiming for the fingers!”

Dextro clicked his tongue as he watched Koutarou moving away. As he did, the giant braced itself and regained its balance. The giant then tried to pick up the hammer with its right hand. It paused strangely when it seemed to realize it couldn’t.

Goddess of Dawn, please...

Alaia prayed, unsure if her plea would reach the heavens or not. The next moment, the giant gave up on trying to pick up the hammer with its right hand and instead passed Alaia to its right hand. It only had a thumb left, but it was enough to hold Alaia. The giant had decided that it would use the hammer with its left hand.

“Now! Do it, Caris!”

However, that was just the moment that Koutarou and the others had been waiting for.

“Release incantation delay! Spirits of water and earth, now is the time to show your bond!”

Caris unleashed a spell she had prepared beforehand. It magically created a large marsh at the giant’s feet, and the giant immediately sank into it. It wasn’t deep enough to submerge it entirely, but the giant was unable to get out under the weight of its own body. The giant sank down to its knees and couldn’t move.

“Damn it, a magician?! Where?! N-No, more importantly, hurry up and get out of there!”

Dextro hastily ordered the giant to move. If Dextro hadn’t taken his eyes off Koutarou at that point, he probably would have been able to do something to stop Koutarou if he’d actually tried. But this was the man who said breaking a sweat was for underlings. In the end, his unwillingness to do anything himself was what decided his fate.

“Emergency boosters to max power!” Koutarou roared.

“As you wish, my lord.”

Though he was shouting, Koutarou’s voice was drowned out by the sound of something like an explosion. It was the sound of the emergency boosters in his armor kicking in. They spewed flames and generated an enormous amount of thrust. They were backups for the armor’s flight ability, and they sent Koutarou’s body up into the air.

“What?! What’s that sound?!”

“Layous-sama, y-you’re flying...”

Koutarou only flew for but a few seconds. While Dextro and Alaia were still surprised, the boosters’ flames cut out and Koutarou landed. In order to keep from sliding too far when he hit the ground, he dug his heels into the dirt with all his might. He stopped just in front of the collapsed house.

“...You got here quicker than I thought, Veltlion.”

There, he found Clan waiting alongside Lidith. Since she’d gotten there first, Lidith had woken up the unconscious Clan and explained what was going on. Then the two of them had waited patiently for Koutarou to come.

“Despite how I look, I’m the kind of guy who likes to arrive early.”

“How impudent... Quit your lying. You’re always oversleeping.”

Koutarou pulled a large metallic object out from the rubble. Moving it, let alone lifting it up, was something neither Clan nor Lidith could have done. But Koutarou was wearing powered armor that increased his strength. He could grab the heavy object, lift it, and use it with no trouble. It was Clan’s anti-material beam rifle—the very same one she’d used to blow off the giant’s head.

“Wh-What?! When did he get all the way over there?! And that weapon...!”

That was when Dextro finally realized what Koutarou and the others were planning. They would keep the giant from moving using magic, and then use the weapon that destroyed the giant’s head to attack it. That was why they’d gone to the trouble of getting the giant to move Alaia to its right hand.

“Impossible! I’m going to lose... even with the magic soldier?!”

Koutarou and the others were planning on piercing the magic soldier’s armor and its crystal heart with a single shot. Realizing that, Dextro, half-frenzied, screamed at the giant.

“I told you to get out of there! Just how slow can you be?!”

But Dextro’s yelling wouldn’t help the giant get out of the marsh. Its size and weight—exactly what Dextro had been so proud of—were working against it.

“Clan, I’ll point this at the enemy! You do the aiming!”

“I know!”

Koutarou held the beam rifle up using both of his hands. Since it was Clan’s weapon, he couldn’t control it through his armor. Clan would be the one doing the aiming.

And the target is...

Koutarou focused on his eyes. When he did, he could see white swirling light around the left side of the giant’s chest.

“Your Highness, right here!”

“I understand, Layous-sama!”

Listening to Koutarou’s directions, Alaia put her hand where he indicated—smack on the left side of the giant’s chest. Her small hand perfectly overlapped with the center of the white swirling light that Koutarou could see.

“Clan, right there! Aim for where Her Highness’s hand is right now!”

“Can you stop ordering me around?!”

Clan adjusted the rifle’s aim using her bracelet. The rifle then transmitted that information to Koutarou’s armor, causing the armor to move by itself and make fine adjustments in the angle and position of the rifle.

“Your Highness, take cover!”

“Okay!”

Alaia pulled her hand away and curled up defensively. The giant was still struggling to get out of the marsh. Now was the perfect chance.

“Now! Fire!”

“I heard you, okay? Jeez!”

Once she confirmed that Alaia had taken cover, Clan entered the firing order into her bracelet. A white flash fired from its large barrel once more. It soared through the air like an arrow of light and pierced the giant’s left side.

Without its power source, the giant stopped moving in the middle of the marsh. Dextro watched on with a blank expression as he fell to his knees. He showed no resistance as Koutarou pointed his sword at him.

“The match has been decided, Copper Knight Dextro.”

“Yeah. It’s my loss...”

Dextro, unexpectedly enough, admitted his defeat.

“To think I’d lose after using the magic soldier... Blue Knight, just who are you?”

Dextro was supremely confident in the giant’s strength. And now that it was destroyed, he was able to honestly admit he’d lost. He had nothing left to defeat Koutarou with. Seeing Dextro submit, Koutarou put Saguratin back in its sheath.

“I’m a traveler. A simple traveler in a complicated situation.”

“A traveler? Damn, my luck must have run out...” Dextro let out a heavy sigh and simply fell over onto his side. “No, it’s the opposite, I guess... Alaia is just blessed...”

“Tell me something, Dextro.”

“Sure.”

“Just now, why didn’t you use Princess Alaia as a shield?”

Koutarou wanted to know why Dextro hadn’t used Alaia as a shield against the beam rifle. He hadn’t had a problem using her as a shield for himself to keep Koutarou and Clan in check earlier, so Koutarou wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done something like that again.

“I’d be in more trouble if the worst possible outcome occurred.”

“The worst possible outcome?”

“Yeah.” Dextro had a self-deprecating smile on his lips. “My orders were to capture and return with Alaia. However, there was a single condition. I could put her through so much pain that she wanted to die. I could let her drink the deadly poison. I could even let her get away. However, I was forbidden from directly killing her no matter what.”

“You can’t kill her...?”

Dextro had infected Alaia with the virus, and he’d certainly threatened to kill her, but now he was saying he wasn’t allowed to kill her outright. Hearing that, Koutarou recalled something.

Is he in the same boat as Caris...?

What Dextro was saying was similar to Caris’s story. She’d been told to observe Alaia, but not to kill her. Both she and Dextro had pursued Alaia, but neither was allowed to put an end to her. Koutarou found that mysterious.

“And the magic soldier doesn’t handle complicated commands well. There was no guarantee it would work. It was a different matter from using her as a shield myself.”

“I see...”

The giant could follow orders, but it wasn’t good with complex tasks. If Dextro had told it to use Alaia as a shield, it might have gone horribly wrong. That was why Dextro hadn’t even bothered giving the order.

“Dextro, you should have tried to grasp victory by fighting yourself.”

“...You’re right there. What a blunder...”

If Dextro hadn’t brought out the giant and had instead tried fighting while using Alaia as a hostage, he might have been able to defeat Koutarou and Clan. Winning on his own strength was the principle he had grown up believing in, after all.

“That’s all I wanted to say. Bye, Dextro.”

Koutarou turned his back on Dextro, who was still lying on the ground.

“Are you sure you don’t want to kill me?”

“Her Highness doesn’t want citizens of Forthorthe to die, no matter who her opponents are.”

Koutarou himself wanted to at least pummel Dextro. He didn’t really care if he died. He’d committed enough evil deeds to deserve it. But that wasn’t what Alaia wanted, so Koutarou let it be.

“Besides, I trust you.”

Koutarou looked back at Dextro as the corners of his lips turned upward.

“You trust me?!”

Dextro sat straight up in shock.

“Yeah. You’re cunning and care about your own profit. So you won’t make the mistake of fighting us directly again.”

“Ha...”

Dextro burst into laughter at what Koutarou said.

“Hahaha, you’re damn right, Blue Knight! That’s absolutely true! Ahahaha!”

It was the bright laughter of a man laughing off his own defeat.

After finishing his discussion with Dextro, Koutarou headed towards Alaia. He had left her to Clan, Lidith, and Caris, so they were already with her.

“Aren’t you feeling high and mighty, leaving a princess behind to go enjoy some chatting, Layous-sama?”

“Well, I was surrounded by some pretty unique people in my hometown...”

“Heehee, you’re even good at knitting, Layous-sama.”

Alaia, saved from the giant’s grasp, welcomed Koutarou with a special smile she never showed anyone else.

“I’m glad you’re safe, Princess Alaia.”

“Well done, Layous-sama.”

Both of them relaxed their shoulders as they spoke. Having been on edge all this time, it was a great relief for each of them to finally see the other safe. However, that was when Alaia lost her balance.

“Ah...”

“Your Highness!”

Koutarou was quick to catch her to keep her from falling.

Oh no, Her Highness is still...

During the tense conflict, Koutarou had temporarily forgotten that Alaia was seriously ill and shouldn’t even be walking.

“Your Highness...”

“Kyah!”

Koutarou picked her up, intent on carrying her back to the inn.

“I’m fine, Layous-sama. I can walk on my own.”

“Princess Alaia, you’ve already done enough. Please take a little more care of yourself.”

Fortunately, thanks to his armor, carrying Alaia was nothing to Koutarou.

“...I understand. Th-Then please do...”

As Alaia said that, she relaxed her body and closed her eyes.

That’s right... The problem still isn’t solved. We’ve only survived the immediate danger...

Perhaps because she had started to let herself go, Alaia’s complexion was bad. The disease was running its course on her. And it wasn’t just Alaia. The entire village was suffering. They had repelled Dextro, but there was still no solution for the disease plaguing the people. The village was still in dire straits.

“Blue Knight, what do we do now?”

Caris was asking him for an answer, but Koutarou just shook his head.

“I don’t know. Dextro didn’t actually have an antidote. If only there were some other way...”

There was no cure for the virus that Dextro had spread on Maxfern’s orders. There was at least medicine in the play, so Koutarou was sure that he’d be able to get some from Dextro. Reality, however, was not that kind to them. Koutarou was at a loss.

Clan, who had been deep in thought all this time, finally spoke up.

“...I guess there’s no helping it. I’m not really happy about it, but it looks like we have to use our last resort.”

“Last resort?! Clan-san, do you have a treatment method?!”

Lidith, Maxfern’s niece, had been feeling guilty about the entire incident. So when Clan suggested she might have a plan, even if it was a last resort, Lidith was the first to ask.

“Y-Yes...”

Clan simply nodded her head, a little overwhelmed by Lidith’s reaction. Koutarou’s, however, wasn’t much different.

“Is that true, Clan?!”

“Veltlion, I told you before that there was another method to treat people.”

“You did?”

“Yes. It doesn’t have a high chance of success and there’s a serious risk associated with it, but we don’t have a choice anymore.”

After smiling wryly at Koutarou, Clan composed herself. She now looked like a princess who meant business.