「Your Highness!」
Fotis shouted. He sounded quite desperate.
Princess Helene looked up.
Her smile disappeared and her face turned pale.
I looked above me too.
Arrows are raining down on us. I can see a squad of enemy soldiers with bows outside the fort.
It is obvious that they are concentrating on this one point. I think they saw Princess Helene, so they concentrated their fire on her.
「Fuuu!」
I swung my magic sword and repelled all the arrows that were about to hit Helene.
They flew in one after another, but I had knocked down every last one.
I left the arrows that were obviously off target.
They stab the ground. A safe zone like a crop circle was created around Helene and me.
「Awesome……」
「What swordsmanship!」
Princess Helene and Fotis marveled.
More arrows flew at me, but this time I turned to Princess Helene ── my back to the arrows ── and knocked them all down the same way.
「Now that I’m here, you’re safe.」
「Yes……」
Helene regained her smile.
Yeah, that’ll do.
However, this time, when she saw me, her expression changed.
「That sword …… is it Eleanor?」
「What?!」
Princess Helene said, and Fotis’ eyes widened with a snap.
They stare at the magic sword I’m holding.
「Eleanor…… is this girl?」
「The magic sword Eleanor. A legendary magic sword that corrodes one’s heart and devours one’ spirit.」
「That shape, and that ominous aura. I’m sure of it, Eleanor. Please step back, Your Highness!」
Fotis stepped in between Helene and me.
……Yes, he is correct. His knowledge is correct, and Fotis’s actions are correct as a knight protecting the princess.
It makes me a little sad though. I can’ t help but feel a little sad when he does this, though he doesn’t know that I’m fine with this girl.
I tried to explain and clear up the misunderstanding.
「Fotis-sama!」
This time, a soldier’s shout interrupted him. He’s a soldier on lookout.
「What’s wrong?」
「Enemy reinforcements have arrived to the front of the fort.」
「Are more coming …… numbers?」
「There must be a thousand of them!」
「A thousand! You traitorous Kirill, you’ve turned almost all of your forces against us. Do you really want Her Highness’ life so badly?」
Fotis spat vexedly.
「Kuuu, now it has come to this──」
「Other than that, how many soldiers are left here?」
Fotis answered with a wary look in his eyes.
「It’s about …… fifty.」
Fifty people, maybe that’ll work. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just do it in several rounds.
「Gather everyone here.」
「What are you going to do?」
「It’s fine, just hurry up.」
I hurried him on. However, Fotis refused to budge.
He hesitates. I don’t think we have time for that at all.
「Fo──」
「Fotis. Do as Kakeru-sama says.」
「……Ha」
Princess Helene said. Then Fotis reluctantly obeyed and ordered the soldiers to assemble.
They were all together as the last of the soldiers dashed from the gate of the fort.
I took out my warp feather.
「Let’s go, then.」
「What are you──」
Fotis asks. I ignored him, as I didn’t have much time.
I thought back to the route I had taken to get here. I thought to myself about warping collectively to Euboea, the closest city with the absence of enemies.
The scenery switched and we were now in Euboea.
I looked around me.
There’s Princess Helene, there’s Fotis, and there are soldiers with wounds all over their bodies.
I’ve brought them all. It’s a success.
「What, this is …… Euboea?!」
「What the hell is this……?」
「I’ll explain later. More importantly,now that we have warped here, is it safe here?」
I ask Fotis to make sure.
「Ah, aaaahh. It should be fine here.」
「I see. Then I’ll leave you in charge here.」
「Leave it to me? What are you going to do?」
「Princess Helene. I’ll be back in a bit.」
「May the fortunes of war be with you.」
Princess Helene answered immediately.
It’s like she knows what I’m going to do.
I used my warp feather to get back to the fort.
「There’s no one here. What’s going on?!」
「We’ve got nothing but bodies!」
「Nonsense, they were here a moment ago.」
Just in case, I warped into the shadows I’d already set up.
I could hear men bellowing all over the place.
It’s good to see that they’ve rushed into the fort with no soldiers left to protect it, but they’re surprised to find that there’s not a single person alive.
「Okay, let’s do this.」
(What are you doing? ）
「I let Princess Helene escape unharmed, and I thought I’d beat these guys here.」
(All by yourself?）
「Aaah. Fotis looked tired, and the soldiers under his command were all wounded. I’d be better off on my own.」
That was just a pretext, but what I really meant was──
（Whatever, you just want to impress Princess Helene, don’t you?）
The magic sword had guessed right.
「…… you can read minds, can’t you?」
（If you act like this, everyone would notice.）
…… Well, I guess that’s true, too.
(Look at me, I’m so cool.)
She teased.
I was a bit annoyed, so I carried my magic sword and left the shadows.
「！Hey! There’s one here!」
The soldier searching for us found me. He shouted out loud.
Enemy soldiers began to gather around me.
I think the talk was about a thousand people.
This is the first time I’m dealing with this number. The highest number so far is the army of dead spirits summoned by the magic sword, but that number was around a hundred, so in terms of numbers, it’s about ten times as many.
I think I can manage. And if I can’ t, I can just warp away.
「Ah, no.」
I reconsidered.
I took out the warp feather.
The enemy soldiers in front of me, I warped behind them.
I slashed his defenseless back with a kesa kesagake (diagonal slash from the shoulder down).
The soldier collapses, unable to resist.
There was another beside him. He was startled by the sudden event but as per the previous example, I warped behind him and slashed his back.
Warp and slash.
（It’s a terrible fight.）
The voice of the magic sword echoed in my head, and despite her words, she seemed to be enjoying herself.
I smiled with my mouth open and headed towards the enemy soldiers.
I slashed him head-on.
He repelled the attack and slashed in counter.
I warped and slashed his back.
I swung my magic sword and slashed at random.
I slashed and slashed and slashed.
「UoooooOoo!」
A soldier jumped me from behind. He came out of nowhere, and the momentum pushed me forward and down.
「What’s this ── Guuuoooo!」
I tried to get up from where I was trapped underneath, but was jumped on by one after another.
A different soldier on top of a soldier, and another soldier on top of another soldier.
People were pouring in one after the other, quickly forming a small mountain.
「Not yet!」
「Somebody get this guy.」
I was completely pushed down to the ground and couldn’t get up because I couldn’t get my strength to work properly.
Another soldier approached me. He thrusts a spear down at my head.
I’m in a pinch.
Yeah, until yesterday.
I used the warp feather.
I warped a meter to the side, leaving behind a pile of soldiers.
I stood up quickly. As if nothing had happened.
I regripped my magic sword and swung it down on the pile of people.
I split the mountain in half.
「Who the hell is this guy ……?」
「He’s a monster.」
「We can’t fight this thing.」
Seeing this, quite a few soldiers lost their will to fight and ran away.
I cut down the one that was coming at me and let the one that was losing his will to fight go.
「Eeeeeei, get out of the way!」
After a while, a man appeared in front of me, pushing aside the soldiers.
His appearance is different from the other soldiers, and his armor is very impressive. This guy’s in command?
「You are?」
「I’m Kirill Slav Who the hell are you? Where’s Helene?」
The man who called himself Kirill. That name sounded familiar.
「You’re Kirill? She said you betrayed Princess Helene.」
「What about it?」
「No, nothing.」
I’m not going to do anything.
Slash!
I swung my magic sword to the side. Kirill’s head flew off.
「There’s even less reason to keep him alive.」
Kirill is dead. The soldiers immediately fell into a panic and ran for their lives.
After spurting blood into the fort’s watering hole, I brought back Kiril’s head via warp and gave it to Fotis.
Fotis was very surprised and asked me how I did it.
All I could say was that I cut and slashed, and I answered accordingly.
Fotis was so surprised.
That was not important.
I mean, I’ve been feeling queasy in my stomach for a while now. What the hell is this?
「I’m…」
「Eh?」
I looked at Fotis, who suddenly took on a serious tone.
「I often say this to my men when they first come back from the battlefield. If you’re having a hard time, go embrace a woman.」
「……」
When I didn’t respond, Fotis also left without saying anything.
I know what he means. In addition, I found out the reason for my queasy feeling in my stomach.
There is a word I often hear.
There is a word I often hear. And.
So that’s what this pang in my chest was about, and I knew it was something to be quelled
It was disgusting that he could see through me, but I thank him for making me understand.
Let’s get to fluffing.
Let’s mofumofu Miu, mofumofu her, and fluffy her thoroughly until morning.
That way it should stop.
I took out my warp feather and tried to warp to the mansion.
「Kakeru-sama」
I heard Princess Helene’s voice. I turn to face her as she approaches.
「I’m glad you’re safe, above all.」
「Un」
「Oh, you have a cut on your face.」
「Eh?」
I touched my face. The place I touched felt a bit slippery.
I don’t think I was attacked at all. …… Maybe I scraped myself when I was pinned down.
Princess Helene took out what looked like a handkerchief and wiped my face.
I can feel her warmth through the silk handkerchief. Her scent tickled my nose.
My heart is in my throat ── it’s burning.
After wiping it, Princess Helene stared at my face.
She stared ── and closed her eyes softly.
I put my hand on her slim, delicate shoulder.
I kissed Helene.
