Published at 17th of August 2019 8:05 am

Volume 7.5, Chapter 5: The Beginning of the Legend

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Part 1

The village’s harvest festival spanned over three days. Today was the second day, so people had gotten up from the early morning to prepare for it.

“Zzzzz, Zzzzz, Zzzzz.”

However, Koutarou was an exception and was still sleeping. Being hard to wake up, Koutarou continued sleeping despite his busy surroundings.

“...Wake up, Bertorion!! Hurry and wake up!!”

“Ow!? What are you doing, Theia!!”

However, after receiving a powerful blow to his chin, not even Koutarou could remain sleeping and woke up while complaining to the normal culprit.

“I'm not Theiamillis-san!! It's me, Clariossa!! Hurry up and open your eyes!!

“Hm? H-Huh...?”

But who he saw in front of him wasn't Theia, but a different girl, wearing glasses.

“Keep it together, this is an emergency!!”

“Emergency...?”

Still in a daze and confused, but when Koutarou saw Clan's serious expression and desperate voice, his mind cleared up.

“Clan...?”

“That's right, Bertorion!! Something terrible has happened!!”

“...Something terrible?”

Koutarou remembered the situation he was in. And the meaning behind the word emergency finally sunk in.

“What is it, Clan, what happened!?”

Seeing Koutarou recover, Clan felt a little relieved and continued talking.

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

“What!?”

“They all have a high fever and are in pain!”

“Then, could it be...!?”

“That's right! The minister, Maxfern, has poisoned the water source!”

Any remaining drowsiness vanished because of Clan's report.

The first ones who came down with symptoms were the elderly and the infants. Because of their low tolerance, their condition grew worse during the night and developed a high fever and chills. Though the village’s doctors and priests were taking care of them, the number of patients just kept increasing. When the sun rose, the adults began coming down with the same condition. As time passed, the number of patients increased even further, and even the doctors and priests began suffering. When Koutarou woke up, the majority of villagers had come down with the same condition.

The poison that was plaguing the village wasn't reacting to any kind of treatment. No antidote, medicine or even the spiritual energy that the priests used to heal would work. No one that had shown symptoms had recovered, and everyone was still suffering.

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

But fortunately, neither Clan nor Koutarou were that bad off. Koutarou showed no signs of any symptoms while Clan only had a minor fever. So right now, the two of them were taking care of Alaia and the others.

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

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

“...Eh?”

The one lying on that bed was the magician, Caris. When she began suffering from the poison, the ropes constricting her had been removed and she had been put to bed. The cane in Koutarou's hand was the same one that had been taken from her when she was first captured. When Caris used magic, the cane had the effect of amplifying her magic.

“I'll free you and return this cane to you. In return, can you try removing the poison with your magic?”

Normally freeing a spy like Caris was unthinkable. But now wasn't the time for that, and the situation was urgent. The village was overflowing with patients and people had begun dying.

“...You... want me to heal you people...?”

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

Caris's face was getting red and it was obvious that she was suffering from fever and chills. Koutarou looked as if he was praying as he stared at Caris.

“...I understand, I'll give it a try...”

Caris felt like Koutarou was telling to truth so she accepted the deal.

“You will!?”

“Yeah...”

It doesn't sound like a lie either...

She nodded and pulled herself up. Koutarou hurriedly rushed over to her and supported her body.

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

“I understand.”

While Koutarou supported Caris's body, he gave her back the cane. She received the cane and held it in both hands, and closed her eyes to focus.

“...Blue Knight, hold me up for a while...”

“Leave it to me.”

She put the cane to her forehead and slowly began speaking her incantation.

“Gather, spirits of life. Fill up richly like the larger river flowing through the earth. Pour that rich power into my body, fill my weakening life, and dispel the wicked calamity.”

Caris was speaking in the language that was used for ceremonies in Forthorthe of this age. The complex grammar and expressions focused the magic power in her and in her surroundings into her cane. The gathered magic power made the cane shine blue so clearly that even Koutarou could tell.

So this is magic, huh...!

This wasn't the first time Koutarou had seen Caris use magic, but this was his first time seeing her use magic up front and with a cane. So Koutarou instinctively held his breath when he saw the mysterious scene develop in front of him.

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

Caris finished her incantation and the blue light from Caris' cane enveloped her body. The incantation had been correctly spoken and the spell had activated.

“Phew...”

Caris let out a large sigh. And at the same time, the blue light enveloping her body disappeared. Having determined that the spell had been completed, Koutarou, slightly excited, asked her what happened.

“So how did it go, Caris!”

However, in contrast to Koutarou, Caris showed a regrettable expression and 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 dropped, at the same time Caris relaxed her body.

The cane fell out of her hand and onto the floor. After slowly laying her body 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, don't do anything to anyone, okay?”

“I know... you really are a strange man...”

After that she didn't speak any more. She was either sleeping, or was in too much pain to speak. Koutarou couldn't differentiate between the two, but he had no intention of talking to her any more as she got weaker. He separated from her and checked on the other girls.

“...The Blue Knight stole the antidote from the enemy and used it to treat them, but... at this rate, no, before then, people will die...”

Alaia, Charl, Fauna, Lidith, Flair. Counting Caris, there were six girls lying down in beds in the room. And all of them were groaning from their high fever and chills.

“Blue Knight...”

When Koutarou got close, Charl reached out with her hand. He quickly grabbed her hand and was aghast at her high temperature.

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

“Fufufu, I'm fine, this is nothing...”

Despite that, Charl courageously laughed. She was determined to not worry Koutarou. Since he knew that as well, he almost unconsciously shed tears.

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

“Of course, your highness.”

“Fufufu...”

Leaving behind a small smile, Charl lost consciousness.

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

Seeing Charl pass out and lose strength, Koutarou was boiling with rage towards Maxfern, who he had never met. And he was angry at himself being unable to do anything.

“Damnit.”

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

“I know it's rough, Bertorion, but calm down a little.”

“Clan!?”

Koutarou didn't notice Clan entering 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 so quiet down.”

“S-Sorry.”

Trying to calm down, Koutarou took several deep breaths. Satisfied by seeing that, Clan explained why she had entered the room.

“Bertorion, I know what the poison really is.”

“Really!?”

Koutarou's eyes opened wide in surprise. And he instinctively leaned towards her. He was hoping that they would be 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. It's only obvious that it would be indistinguishable to the people of this age.”

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

Thought it might not be apt to call it fortunate, but since they knew that the poison was spread through the water, it wasn't too hard to identify what was the cause. The analytic device that Clan had summoned from the Cradle 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 was so short, the people of this age must have assumed it was poison.”

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

The people of this age still didn't know of the existence of the virus. And of course, they had no treatment for it. Even when they tried to heal it using magic, there was no effect because they didn't know what they needed to remove from their body. So their only conclusion was that it was an unknown poison, as such their methods of treatment were limited.”

“So, can you cure it!?”

To Koutarou, a method of treatment was more important than the source and effect. So he skipped past several questions and asked Clan for a treatment method.

“That would be hard. There aren't enough materials available to synthesize an antiviral drug. It would have been simple 1,000 years from now...”

Since Clan had already been able to identify the structure of the virus, she was able to synthesize material to inhibit its effects. Clan had the technology for that, but she wasn't able to get her hands on the medicine needed to synthesize it in this age. It was possible to gather the base materials one at a time, but that would take too much time.

“Realistically speaking, there are only two options.”

Clan put up two fingers in front of Koutarou's face.

“What are they!?”

“The first is to steal the treatment from the enemy like the manuscript says. This is the fastest option.”

“And the other?”

“The other option has a large risk to it, and it's not very reliable, but―”

And while Clan was explaining the second option to Koutarou, they heard a voice.

“It's the army!! The army has come!!”

Outside the village were several dozens of soldiers led by a knight.

The Forthorthe army had come. The force belonged to a band of knights known to be very loyal to Maxfern, the Melcemhein family.

The commander was a squire of the Melcemhein family. His force consisted of about 30 common soldiers and five magicians. The number was quite low for what a single squire could lead, but it could be argued that this gave them better mobility.

They set up camp a distance from the village, put up billboards near it and gave out orders from the government. They were orders of capturing and delivering to them Alaia, who was thought to be in the area. As a reward, they would be given an antidote.

Since this region was part of Mastir territory, the loyalty towards the royal family was particularly strong. So it was easy to guess that they would be rejected if they had ordered the citizens to capture Alaia like normal. So first they poisoned the water source to suppress the citizens’ resistance. If their own children or wife collapsed, they would desperately search for Alaia.

Part 2

Having heard the circumstances from Koutarou, Alaia quickly made up her mind.

“...Let's surrender to them.”

She raised her staggering body, ravaged by a 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 it's a trap too.”

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

“My uncle is a dangerous person. I'm not sure if... they would hand over the antidote even after they get their hands on you, your highness...”

However, despite the girls’ words, Alaia didn't change her mind.

“Without the antidote, we will all die. So surrendering and getting the antidote as quickly as possible is the best option.”

Previously, several weak people had already died from the poison. They were all elderly with a low tolerance, but if the situation continued on like this, even the young and strong would run out of stamina and meet the same fate. They couldn't put this village through that just so that they 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...

Most of all, Alaia was worried about Charl. She was Alaia's last remaining family; if she was to lose Charl, she would lose her reason to live. She would rather surrender, get the antidote and save Charl. By doing that, at least Charl would survive.

I'll leave the rest to you, Reios-sama...

Alaia stared at Koutarou without saying a word. She believed that Koutarou would protect Charl even if she wasn't there. It's because she believed in that that she was able to decide to surrender.

“Your highness...”

Koutarou noticed that Alaia put Charl ahead of herself. He understood how she felt. He was painfully aware of how she felt. Koutarou knew just how important your last remaining family member was, as he only had his father left.

“Bertorion, you need to stop her highness! You can't want to see her highness in danger either!”

Flair wanted Koutarou to agree with her. At this point, Flair was developing a sense of trust in Koutarou. After the fight with the mountain bandits a few days ago, the events at the Mastir checkpoint, his relationship with Charl and after watching him dance with Alaia yesterday, she had started to trust Koutarou. Alaia would probably accept what Koutarou would say. Because of that belief, Flair wanted Koutarou to stop Alaia.

“Reios-sama...”

Alaia's eyes seemed to appeal for something. She weakly moved her hand and grasped it, as if desiring something.

Even though you may lose your life, huh...

Looking at Alaia, Koutarou remembered his discussion with her yesterday. And what he had said to her.

“Lord Pardomshiha, I agree with princess Alaia's opinion.”

“Reios-sama!!”

Alaia's serious expression changed. Despite suffering from an illness, her smile was as beautiful as falling silvery white snow.

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

Flair raged at Koutarou. She was also suffering from the disease, but with the situation as it was, her anger was more intense than normal.

“Calm down, Lord 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 recover her. In our current situation, this is the only method of saving both princess Alaia and princess Charl.”

Flair flinched at the mention of Charl's name. She then turned to look at Charl who was sleeping soundly. Even she understood the current situation.

“What do you think, Clan?”

“Lord Bertorion, I support your idea. I've entertained various possibilities, but I think that has the highest probability for success.”

Clan agreed with Koutarou. She had been coming up with multiple strategies in her head, but the most realistic plan was the one that Koutarou had suggested.

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

“I don't. All I can do is swear on this sword that I will rescue her highness.”

Koutarou lightly shook Saguratin which was hanging by his waist. Seeing that, Alaia remembered yesterday and revealed a small smile.

“Even then, I will believe in you, Reios-sama.”

“Wait a moment, your highness! There are more than 30 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 is swearing on his sword. I can't simply refuse to believe in him.”

Alaia knew just how much Koutarou valued Saguratin, and Koutarou had sworn on his sword that he would rescue her. So even if his sword broke, he would try to rescue Alaia.

That's right, even though his sword might break...

Alaia didn't mind if Koutarou failed to rescue her. Whether he succeeded or not wasn't a problem. There was a meaning in Koutarou swearing an oath to do so. All he had to do was protect Charl, and she wouldn't mind. If he did, she believed she could die in peace.

“Let's go, Reios-sama.”

“As you wish, my princess.”

So Alaia left the room with a smile on her face. She felt neither fear nor despair.

Part 3

The commander of the several dozen men that had come to the village, a squire from the Melcemhein, Dextro, was a cruel man. Being the third son of a poor farmer family was one of the reasons for that, and he didn't relent from using any methods to rise in the ranks. Because that was the kind of man he was, he had been given the command to poison the water source to flush out Alaia. A normal knight might have hesitated after being given those orders, but this man did not. If he completed this mission he was sure to be promoted. That was all that mattered to Dextro.

“Kukuku, what an easy job...”

He had been given a bottle full of black liquid from Maxfern and poured it into the well and nearby river just yesterday. While the people were celebrating the harvest festival, there was no one who found Dextro and his men suspicious. And as it turned to night, the people who had drunk the water began collapsing. Since everyone had to drink water, it was all too easy. Meanwhile, Dextro was simply sleeping in his tent. Now was the same. Dextro was lying down in his tent while drinking alcohol.

“Dextro-sama.”

The soldier serving as his adjutant approached him. The adjutant stood by the entrance to the tent and called out to Dextro.

“What?”

Dextro threw away his cup and answered while he was in a bad mood.

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

However, after hearing his adjutant’s response, a smile appeared on Dextro's lips. It was a cruel smile similar to what a cat would have when playing with its prey.

“Stupid, you don't need to call her Alaia-sama.”

“No, 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 add sama to her name.”

“I-I see...”

Dextro laughed as he looked at his hesitant subordinate. He knew that Maxfern and Grevanas were behind everything. Despite that, he called out Alaia as the culprit. The reason for that was simple; this way, he was more likely to get promoted.

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

Dextro exited the tent while laughing. In contrast to just a moment ago, he was very cheerful. Since he was normally in a bad mood, that sight felt eerie to the adjutant.

As Alaia was walking down the main street of the village, the people flocking the street split up and made way. Despite being ravaged by the disease, Alaia walked down the street in a dignified manner. The appearance was like a certain prophet who split the sea.

Koutarou and Clan were walking right behind her. Since those two were the only ones who could properly move, they were the only ones to accompany Alaia. Flair, Fauna and Lidith were all worried, but they had blended in with the crowd.

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

“Thank you, Reios-sama, but I don't want them to think I've gotten weak by walking too slow. I can't show weakness at a time like this.”

Koutarou was worried about Alaia's body as she walked in her normal pace, but she courageously shook her head. It was a cardinal rule to not show weakness during negotiations. So until she got her hands on the medicine, Alaia was planning on suppressing her symptoms through sheer willpower.

“And if I waver, the citizens will worry.”

“Your highness...”

Koutarou instinctively held his breath at the sight of Alaia's gallant determination.

So this is what royalty is like...

There were large crowds in their surroundings. Most of them were people who wanted to get medicine for their collapsed family. At the same time, there were plenty of people loyal to the royal family. Alaia couldn't show her suffering for the sake of the negotiation and the people.

“They've come, Lord Bertorion.”

Clan pointed forward. In front of them were soldiers approaching them from the entrance of the village. Leading the soldiers was a lone knight wearing heavy metal armor. Following him were 30 armed soldiers and five magicians wearing black robes and holding wooden canes. In total, there were 36 of them. It was more than enough of a force to meet up with Koutarou, Clan and Alaia.

“You're Alaia?”

Standing in front of Alaia, the man didn't even bow his head out of respect. Instead, he looked down at her and spat out rude words.

“Who are you?”

Despite being faced with that knight, Alaia didn't flinch. But her voice and expression were cold. Her appearance was completely different from when she faced Koutarou or Charl; it was the appearance of a princess facing her enemy.

“I belong to Melcemhein's band of knights, copper knight Dextro. I'm currently a squire, but I plan on becoming a holy knight soon enough.”

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

“Well said, as expected from a former princess. But I'll become a holy knight once I return with you.”

Alaia was still calm, but Koutarou was angered by his way of speaking.

Former princess...!?

“...Calm down, Bertorion.”

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

“Kukuku, don't get so angry, Blue Knight.”

Dextro laughed, seemingly sneering at Koutarou. But Dextro's laughter served to calm down Koutarou instead. He didn't really care if he was looked down on.

“...Sorry, Clan.”

“...Please try not to get reckless.”

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

“Oh, so you're completely reliant on a woman?”

“Yeah. I'd be a good match for your reliance on Maxfern.”

Having experience with fighting, Koutarou was used to this kind of argument. If anything, he felt like he had stepped into the ring and began showing confidence.

“What was that you bastard!”

However, Dextro began boiling with rage and glared at Koutarou. Having risen to power believing that strength was everything, he believed that he had earned his position. So being told that he was relying on Maxfern was extremely displeasing.

“Calm down, Dextro. If you're planning on becoming a holy knight, you can't lose your cool because of words.”

“...Tsk, well fine.”

After Alaia pointed that out, Dextro spat out some words and regained his former faint smile.

So he's the type that's emotional but doesn't lose self-control... he's a tough to deal with opponent...

Koutarou analyzed Dextro's character just from their argument. It was important to see through the opponent's personality before a fight.

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

“You will hand over the antidote, right?”

“That is if you come to me.”

“...It doesn't look like I have a choice.”

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

“I'll be going, Reios-sama.”

When she said that, her tone of voice and expression were just like normal.

“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, and turned towards Dextro again.

“Have you said your farewells?”

“I only ordered them to have my favorite Kurka fruit ready for when I get back.”

“You're quite the woman. I like it!”

Alaia began walking towards the laughing Dextro. It was hard to believe that she was suffering from a disease from just looking at her appearance. Instead, one could feel power and nobility from her appearance.

“Alaia-sama...”

“How sad...”

The citizens seemingly felt the same, and sighs could be heard from various places. Most of the voices that could be heard worried for Alaia's future.

“I've come, Dextro.”

There were about ten or so meters between Alaia and Dextro. So it didn't take much time before Alaia walked that distance.

“Good.”

Dextro grabbed onto Alaia's arm and held on with a strong grip, so that Alaia couldn't shake it off.

Uhh...

Although they were both knights, it felt uncomfortable compared to when Koutarou had touched her. Feeling that, Alaia screamed on the inside, but she never let it out.

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

Alaia spoke in a dignified manner instead, even at this point, she wouldn't break down.

Even though I may lose my life...!

What protected her was the short time she had spent with Koutarou yesterday.

“You've captured me, so there's no need to let the other suffer is there?”

“That's true. Alright men!”

What's going on?

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

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

“Wha!?”

That was when Alaia's expression changed for the first time. Seeing that, Dextro seemed very pleased. His smile was terribly eerie that made chills run down Alaia's spine.

“That's right, Alaia. That's the kind of face I wanted to see on you!”

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

“That kind of thing doesn't exist.”

“Doesn't exist!? What do you mean!?”

Panic, fear and despair appeared on Alaia's face. She knew how Dextro would reply. But despite knowing, she couldn't keep herself from asking.

“It doesn't exist. It never did from the very start. But if I said that, you wouldn't have shown your face, now would you?”

“Wha.”

Alaia was at a loss for words. Instead, Koutarou was the one to open his mouth.

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

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

Dextro seemed really happy.

“How could you...”

Alaia, who had behaved courageously up until now, began losing strength and her knees gave way. She had been 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 what she wanted to protect, what she had sworn to protect. Everyone she had done up to now would be for naught. Despair wasn't powerful enough of a word for how she felt. It was an act similar to destroying Alaia's entire world. She lost all strength to stand and sunk down onto the ground.

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

Alaia turned her face down and shed tears. The tears streamed down her chin, fell onto the dried ground and was absorbed. As she saw her tears disappear, Alaia felt even more helpless. The sense that everything was useless filled her chest.

“Kukuku, that one's easy. It was to capture you. And it also serves as an example. By showing this, any idiot would know 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 was cutting Alaia's heart into pieces.

“Of course, since you're all alone, I might need to crush a lot more villages for my next promotion. Ahahaha, Kuhahahaha!!”

“Uh, Uuuuuh, Uaaaaaah!! Aaaaaaaa!!”

While crouching in place, Alaia finally began to sob. All hope was lost and nothing 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!! 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 crowd of people. And as the soldiers approached to kill Alaia's party, the panic got even worse and the main street fell into chaos.

“Kukukukuku, Fuahahahaha, Ahahahaha!! Kill, Kill, Kill them all!!”

Dextro's loud laughing voice filled the village. His 35 men advanced in an orderly manner. They were planning on going through each home to find Alaia's party. At this rate, the girls who were unable to move because of the disease were sure to be killed. And some of the panicked villagers would be cut down as well. And those who survived would eventually die by the disease anyways. No one could stop them anymore. A large number of corpses was fated to fill the village.

Part 4

“Clan, don't stop me this time.”

“I won't, Bertorion. I'll only order you.”

However, there were two people who were fighting against that fate. A knight in blue armor and a girl with glasses. Their numbers were too few to repel a force of 35 men.

Despite that, neither of them showed any signs of worrying, and bravely stood in the soldiers’ way.

“Reios Fatra Bertorion.”

“Yes.”

“In this urgent situation without the emperor, princess Clariossa will take her place.”

Alongside a ringing sound, Koutarou unsheathed a large knight sword with a golden handle. Using the tip of the sword he drew a graceful curve and pointed it towards the 35 men. Invited by the ringing tone, a large amount of people turned towards the knight holding a sword.

“This is a royal decree. As a knight of Forthorthe, fulfill your duty!”

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

This was the first time the legendary hero Reios Fatra Bertorion appeared in front of the eyes of the people.

“Curse you, you contemptible dastard, poisoning a river to capture a single woman. That is unforgivable! Your blood will stain my sword.”

Koutarou poured his anger into his sword and put pressure on the 36 enemies in front of him. The words he had used were from the Blue Knight in the play, but Koutarou didn't care about that. He was angry from the bottom of his heart.

I will save you right away, princess Alaia!

Koutarou directed his rage at Dextro, who had spread a disease just to capture Alaia, and at Maxfern, who had given him that order. What's more was that the disease had no cure and some weakened elderly had already died. At this rate, many other people would die as well. That included Alaia and the young Charl. It was hardly a forgivable sin.

And Alaia was currently captured by Dextro. Koutarou couldn't tolerate that. Thinking of the feelings Alaia must have had when she walked up to Dextro of her own free will, and how she must have felt now that Dextro had trampled on those feelings, Koutarou couldn't bear it and wanted to save Alaia as quickly as possible.

“Stupid. What can you do on your own! Oh right, I guess anyone can bark! Kukukuku!”

Dextro sneered at Koutarou. He didn't believe that Koutarou could defeat 36 people on his own.

“That might be the case if it was just me. But sadly, I'm not alone!”

With a small smile on his lips, Koutarou dashed forwards. He was planning on clashing with the 36 men in front of him.

That's right! I have the power they have given to me!

The first thing Koutarou did after starting to run was to unleash the power in his armor.

“Maneuver suit, activate battle mode!”

“As you wish, my lord.”

Obeying Koutarou's order, the armor stopped all normal functions and focused its work on functions relating to fighting.

“Select your weapon.”

“Go with one I always use!”

“Understood. Activating sonic impact.”

The sword in Koutarou's hand began quietly growling. On direct hits, the barrier surrounding the sword would knock out the enemy without killing them. It was the method of attack that Koutarou favored.

“Information: the enemy force consists of 36 people. Breakdown; heavy infantrymen: 1, regular infantrymen: 20, archers: 10, unknown: 5.”

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

“Understood, reassigning target. Defining the unknown five men as magicians.”

Clan assisted the armor's functions. Through her bracelet, she adjusted the armor's settings and then pulled out her own weapon through a hole in the air.

“Don't kill them, Clan!”

“I know!”

Clan had pulled out an oddly square rifle. In Forthorthe, it was commonly known as a stun rifle. It was a convenient weapon that released electricity and knocked out its target on direct hits.

The reason Koutarou and Clan didn't carelessly kill their enemies was because if they accidentally killed people important in the war, the history would change, but also because they 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 that as well. So in short, the Blue Knight refrained from killing his enemies.

“Fire! Turn them into pincushions!”

Dextro, on the other hand, fully intended to kill Koutarou and Clan. Instead of keeping quiet and watching as Koutarou rushed up to him, he ordered his archers to attack. Obeying Dextro's orders, 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 approached Koutarou, white, translucent hexagonal tiles appeared around Koutarou. All the arrows smashed into the hexagonal tiles and bounced off.

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

“I understand!”

Clan agreed with Koutarou and readied her rifle. The rifle, linked to the bracelet, then began automatically taking aim for the archers. Since the two of them were being protected by barriers, they didn't need to worry about the arrows, but they wanted to prevent any stray arrows from hitting the crowd.

“The arrows have no effect!? Then, magicians― damn, he's fast!!”

With the arrows not having any effect, Dextro wanted the magicians to attack Koutarou with magic. But with the armor in battle mode, Koutarou was moving fast and quickly closed the distance with the infantrymen. So 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 order for his infantry to attack. Obeying Dextro's orders, the 20 infantrymen spread out to the sides to surround Koutarou. The infantrymen with shields and spears pushed towards Koutarou.

What did Sanae do back then...?

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

“Like this!”

That moment, Koutarou's view completely changed. A faint white light overlapped with each of the 20 soldiers. Their intentions to attack turned into various forms of light and told Koutarou where they would attack. That was the spiritual power that Sanae had used when they fought together before to predict oncoming attacks.

“And!”

Koutarou's movements suddenly got sharper. So much in fact that the armor had to hurriedly change its settings to keep up. And with his movements getting better, Koutarou dodged all of the spears being thrust at him with ease. That was a spiritual power that Sanae had used that increased the body's abilities. His movements were precise and without waste. Combined with his attack prediction ability, Koutarou easily dodged all attacks, like a leaf fluttering in the wind.

Koutarou was able to use those powers thanks to the connections that Sanae had created before. That said, Koutarou didn't have as much spiritual energy as Sanae, so he wasn't able to use these powers as well as Sanae. But it was enough to deal with twenty enemies.

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

“Though it will get weaker because of the distance, it is possible. Warning, you will be defenseless.”

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

Koutarou swung his sword around.

Several explosive sounds rang out and at the same time, five spearmen near Koutarou were sent flying.

“As you wish, my lord.”

“You're awfully reasonable today!”

But there were still five spearmen left. Their spears were thrust towards Koutarou. He was able to dodge three of them, but not the remaining two.

“Warning. Use the barrier to defend yourself.”

“I said I don't need it!”

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

“Uwaaaaaaa!!”

At the same time, the owner of the spear blocked by Kiriha's gauntlet fainted. The current in the gauntlet flowed through the spear into the spearman.

“...Just who is that guy...?”

Seeing Koutarou swiftly knock down six of his men, Dextro who had been overly confident showed a hesitant expression.

“Hey, you guys go too!”

“B-But!! Uwaaaaaa!!”

Having instinctively sensed danger, Dextro ordered the archers forward as well. But three of the archers had already been defeated.

“Damn, it's that woman!!”

Dextro only thought of Clan as Koutarou's powerless servant. He didn't recognize what she was holding as a weapon, so he had carelessly allowed Clan to snipe three of his allies. Adding in the six that Koutarou had defeated, that made a total of nine men down. They had already lost a quarter of their force.

“That's impossible, there're only two of them!!”

Dextro began panicking. He hadn't even entertained the thought of losing up until now. However that thought passed through his mind for a moment. Not wanting to accept that, Dextro shouted out in a loud voice.

“You guys go kill that woman! Don't let her toy with you anymore!”

“Yes!”

Noticing how restless Dextro and his men were, Alaia, who had been crouched down while crying, looked up.

Reios-sama...?

And through her teared up eyes she could see Koutarou slowly advancing towards her.

Reios-sama is fighting... he's protecting everyone...

They couldn't get their hands on the medicine. But Koutarou was fighting to protect the villagers and Alaia's allies.

And he's fighting for my sake...

He was fighting to protect Alaia's promise. Seeing Koutarou's appearance, a certain question entered Alaia's mind.

Despite that, what am I doing here...?

She asked herself why she was lying down here and not doing anything. Shouldn't she be doing something? Didn't she have a duty to fulfill? Even if she didn't, shouldn't she get up and make it easier for Koutarou to save her? Seeing Koutarou's appearance, that's what Alaia began thinking.

That person is still fighting!

A strong will returned to her eyes. But Alaia couldn't stand up right away. She was planning on letting Dextro, who was still grabbing her arm, think she was crying for a while longer, as she looked for her chance.

“Then... 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 lose even more! Quit your yapping and do it!”

“U-Understood!”

Despite knowing that his men would get hit as well, Dextro ordered the magicians to use their magic. During this time, Koutarou had defeated three more men, leaving a total of 12 men defeated now. Dextro now considered Koutarou a large threat, and needed a more surefire way of hitting Koutarou, even if it involved hurting his own men.

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

Oh no!!

Alaia quickly stood up and warned Koutarou.

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

“Shut it!! You're already too late!!”

Dextro fearlessly laughed. It was an attack from five magicians at once. No matter how fast he moved, or how high his defense was, he should have no way of avoiding the attack.

“The magicians are!?”

Thanks to Alaia's voice, Koutarou looked towards the magicians and noticed their intention to attack and that their attack would hit the entire area around him. But it was also large enough to hit the remaining eight infantrymen as well.

“Is he planning on attacking me alongside his own soldiers!?”

The moment Koutarou noticed that, the five magicians created a giant fireball. The fireball rested at the tip of their canes and lit up area it.

“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 computers proposal and pointed his left hand towards the fireball. Meanwhile, the soldiers around Koutarou began to panic.

“Eh, is the commander trying to kill us with him!?”

“Please save us, commander!!”

“You guys just keep fighting Blue Knight!”

Though the soldiers asked for help, Dextro rejected their pleas in a tone similar to Koutarou's.

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

The magicians launched the fireball at the same time Koutarou shouted. Their aim was of course, Koutarou. However, a new fireball appeared in front of them. It had been created by the gauntlet on Koutarou's left hand.

“Go!”

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

The two fireballs crashed into each other in midair. However, things didn't go as Koutarou had planned. The magicians’ fireball was more powerful, so Koutarou's fireball alone didn't have the firepower to stop it. The fireball continued towards Koutarou, though its power had dropped considerably.

“So it was no good!”

“Warning! Use the barrier―”

“Shut up! If you were made to be used in space then withstand it with your guts!”

Koutarou crossed his arms in front of his face and braced himself. He was planning on enduring the attack with will and guts. The fireball came closer. Its furiously red fire lit up Koutarou.

The fireball exploded.

“...Huh?”

Betraying his expectations, the explosion hadn't harmed Koutarou. The explosion had been prevented by the yellow veil that had appeared in front of Koutarou and vanished.

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

That was one of the defensive spells that Yurika had cast on Koutarou while he was fighting against Clan. It had been dormant for all this time and had only reactivated when it sensed Koutarou's danger, and erased the explosion.

“That's impossible!”

The attack that the five magicians had created had not had any effect. Having had confidence in the attack’s power, Dextro couldn't believe what just happened in front of him.

Dextro wasn't the only one overwhelmed by Koutarou's fighting.

“Lord 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 over Koutarou's battle. It was impressive enough for them to temporarily forget the pain they were in.

“That sword and armor... based on their strength, they have to have been made from alchemy... I can't imagine it being anything else, considering the device incorporated in the armor that lets him use electricity and fire.”

Since Lidith was an alchemist, she imagined that the armor and sword Koutarou was using had been produced from advanced science and technology.

Science of this era hadn't clearly been divided yet, and it wasn't just science, but pharmacology, medicine, magic, supernatural phenomenon and more were all studied under the name of alchemy. The technology for refining metal was included in that as well. Certain alchemists monopolized the manufacturing of higher-strength steels and obtained high profits. So, to Lidith who had seen Koutarou's armor up close, she assumed that it had been created using advanced alchemy.

And if the sword and armor were products of alchemy, it was only natural to assume that the reason he could manipulate electricity and fire using his left arm was thanks to alchemy as well. The people of this age had already discovered basic methods of generating electricity and explosions.

“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 spiritual energy his opponents are emitting. And it looks like he's using spiritual energy to improve his speed.”

Fauna joined in on the discussion. As a servant of the goddess of dawn, she was able to manipulate spiritual energy better than Koutarou. She used her powers to heal the sick and injured. Because of that, she could quickly tell that Koutarou was using spiritual energy to fight.

“His skill with the sword is also considerable... which means that the band of knights Bertorion is from not only trained in the sword, but also in spiritual energy, and also made good use of alchemy...”

Flair was very perplexed as she summarized the discussion. Koutarou's fighting style greatly deviated from what was common amongst knights. 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 by Caris who had suddenly joined them. She had been told that Koutarou had freed Caris, so she didn't think that Caris was still close.

“That's what I was going to do at first.”

Caris smiled wryly as she leaned onto her cane.

“But on my way there, I heard there was no antidote. They were planning on disposing me alongside with 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 the soldiers if there was a cure for the disease. But having learned that there was no medicine, she knew that they were planning on killing her alongside Alaia and her party. At the same time, they were indiscriminately killing other people. She didn't take a liking to that.

She had sworn loyalty to Maxfern, or more precisely, the head of the court magicians, Grevanas, because he had picked her up from an orphanage in the slums. Despite that, an indiscriminate attack on the poor populace was taking place. That was a despicable act of betrayal against Caris's loyalty.

Having lost her identity, Caris then remembered Koutarou's words.

“Thank you.”

She had returned because of those words.

“I see...”

Flair sincerely believed Caris. That's what Caris's eyes told her. If she had wanted to kill Flair and the others, she would have done so long ago.

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

Lidith was more interested in Koutarou and wanted to get a more detailed explanation from her. Caris nodded.

“It was when he erased the fireball. It was only momentarily, but he unleashed arc-wizard class magic. I don't know if Blue Knight himself can use magic, but at the very least he's lived in an environment where he's had daily access to powerful magic.”

“...Did you say arc-wizard class magic?”

Flair was perplexed once more.

Arc-wizard refers to the top seven officers of the court magicians. The head of the court magicians, Grevanas is included amongst them. These seven were all very powerful magicians, and they stood at the top of the magic world.

And Koutarou supposedly handled magic of an equivalent power. Because of that, there was one more thing Flair didn't understand.

“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 loves them.”

“Loves Bertorion?”

“No, princess Alaia.”

Caris smiled as she said that, and began walking away, relying on her cane.

“Where are you going?”

“I'm going to support Blue Knight. He'll probably win, but I'm worried about there being five magicians. Leave this to me, and you guys should go protect the other princess.”

“I understand. We'll do just that.”

Flair quickly analyzed the situation in her head and decided to listen to Caris's advice.

It would be hard for Flair to stand against the army while she's suffering from illness. But Caris who could use magic had some methods of helping. It would be best if they left this to Caris and they went to protect Charl. Even though the disease had spread through her body, Flair should still be able to protect Charl from the panicked citizens.

“Let's go, Fauna, Lidith.”

“Lord Pardomshiha, I'll go with Caris.”

“Why?”

“Because of my intellectual curiosity as an alchemist.”

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

“Yes!”

Flair and Fauna headed towards Charl, while Caris and Lidith headed to support Koutarou.

Part 5

“Hayaaa!!”

Koutarou's sword sparked.

“Guwah!”

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

“Uwaaaaaaa!!”

The next moment, the other archer who should have barely dodged the sword, let out a scream and collapsed onto the ground. That was because of Clan's rifle.

After Koutarou had erased the magicians’ fireball, the battle had become one-sided. Koutarou dodged all of the soldiers’ attacks, and the magicians’ magic didn't work. The reeling soldiers were defeated by Koutarou and Clan, one after the other. This was in part because of Dextro's order to take Koutarou down at the cost of his own men; his orders no longer reached them.

“...This leaves six more to go.”

Clan smiled fearlessly while exchanging the magazine on the rifle. There were now only six left out of the originally 36 men large force. All that was left was Dextro and the five magicians. Victory was in their grasp.

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

“I'll have you give me Alaia back, copper knight Dextro.”

But unexpectedly, Dextro still had an eerie smile on his lips. Koutarou was bothered by that smile he saw as he pointed his sword at Dextro. It didn't seem like he had given into despair.

“I can't give her back to you that easily. This isn't just some game.”

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

“Tsk. You really need to shut up!”

Dextro pulled on Alaia's arm and drew her to him. He then pointed a knife at her neck.

“Be quiet for a moment, Alaia!”

“Uh!?”

The courageous Alaia didn't let out a scream, but she stopped speaking.

“Your highness!... Hey, what's going on with the barrier!?”

When Koutarou saw that, he got confused and shouted at the armor's computer.

“Target B is inside of the barrier's defensive area.”

“Damnit.”

The barrier created by the armor had protected Alaia at first, but that was intended for stray arrows and explosions, so it couldn't protect her from Dextro who had been next to her the entire time.

“Let go of her highness!”

“Hey now, Blue Knight, don't move now. The same goes for the lady behind you.”

Dextro warned Koutarou who instinctively took a step forward. At the same time he used Alaia's body as a shield to protect himself from Clan's rifle.

“How's it going?”

In that situation, Dextro called out to the magicians behind him.

“We're finishing up right now!”

“Good!”

Dextro showed a satisfied grin after hearing one of the magicians’ report. He had made the magicians do something while his own men were being defeated. With this, the magicians would use up all of their magic, but that was no longer a problem. So he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

“Dextro-sama, here it comes!”

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

Surprisingly, Dextro let go of Alaia that he had used as a hostage and pushed her towards Koutarou.

“Kyaa!”

Seeing that, Koutarou hurriedly ran forward. Alaia, with her weakened body, fell over after a few steps.

“Princess Alaia!!”

Then it happened while Koutarou's eyes were off of Dextro.

“Wait, Bertorion. Something's strange!”

“Fufufufu, Hahahaha, to think I even have to use this!”

Right behind the area 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 always wanted to use this one!”

Dextro got increasingly excited as the black hole appeared. A joy and excitement similar to when he had first killed a man filled his heart, and a warped smile appeared on his face.

“What!?”

“A space quake reaction!? Bertorion, something big is coming!!”

And then something huge appeared from the giant disc. At first glance, it looked like a knight wearing a black armor, but it was far too large to be called a knight. Once its whole body had passed through the hole, it stood at 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 suddenly appeared next to her.

“Watch out princess Alaia, hurry and get away from there!”

“O-Okay!”

Alaia tried to do as Koutarou suggested, but she was still reeling from the damage from when she had fallen and from her disease, so she wasn't able to move right away.

“I'll be right there, your highness!...Clan, do you know what that is!?”

Noticing that Alaia couldn't move, Koutarou asked Clan a question while speeding up his running.

“I don't really know! It's definitely made out of steel, but I can't see anything that would be able to power it... But for just a statue, there are too many strange structural parts, I can't tell heads from tails...”

The giant's structure perplexed Clan.

Based on the way it had appeared, she believed it was some kind of combat machine. But when she scanned its interior with her observation device, she couldn't find many mechanical parts. She couldn't find anything that powered it. Her first impression was that it was a metallic frame dressed in armor.

However, upon further analysis, she found that lots of jewels and animal bones had been placed. From an engineering standpoint, that would only lower its structural integrity. What's more, they were all in the interior and couldn't be seen from the outside, so they weren't decorations. There were so many contradictions that Clan wasn't sure what to think.

“A statue!? Not even close, this one's an invincible soldier that's going to kill you all!!”

Dextro laughed. All of a sudden, he was holding a translucent yellow glowing globe in his hand. Inside the globe were three colors; red, orange and yellow swirling around, and for each time the glow of the globe got brighter, a red light filled the giant's eyes.

When the red in the giant's eyes looked like blood, it slowly moved its arm. The arms were like the trunks of gigantic trees, and it extended its empty left hand. Next were its legs. As it was too heavy, it was slightly sinking into the ground, so it moved its left leg and took one step closer to Alaia.

It's pacing was more than twice that of a normal human. Combined with its overwhelming weight, each step was like a small earthquake.

“It moves!? That's impossible, there's no way!!”

“Kukuku, but it is possible. You are now going to be killed by this giant, the Diabolic Soldier.”

Dextro boasted triumphantly as he looked up at the moving giant.

Meanwhile, the giant's body creaked as it moved and reached its giant hand out towards Alaia.

Before its hand could reach her, however, hexagonal tiles appeared and blocked its course. It was the barrier that Koutarou had ordered the armor to protect Alaia with.

But the next moment, the barrier easily collapsed. Because of the distance between Koutarou and Alaia, the barrier had weakened, and it couldn't repel the giant's overwhelming mass. The five meter long giant weighed around ten tons, and when that weight crashed into the small area of the barrier, it had no chance of maintaining itself.

“Kyaaaaaaa!!”

Though she had screamed in surprise, Alaia hadn't screamed in fear up until now. The giant lifted her up by the waist with its giant hand and then held her by its arm.

“Your highness!”

“Noooo, let go!!”

Alaia struggled to break free from the giant's arm. However, the difference in strength was far too vast, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get out of its grasp. Instead, wounds appeared on Alaia's white skin.

“Haa~h, I even set her free, this is all because you took your time, Blue Knight.”

“Dextro... you bastard!”

“Reios-sama!!”

Alaia's repeated screams strongly carved the existence of the giant into the hearts of 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, one could imagine that it was unbelievably strong. Everyone was well aware of just how dangerous it was.

“Uwaaaa, it's a monster!!”

“This is just not possible to beat!”

“S-Someone, save us!!”

The villagers who had begun to regain their calm after Koutarou defeated majority of the soldiers quickly panicked again. They couldn't help it, as they were shown something like this as they began feeling relief.

“Run away! This one will chase you anywhere you go!”

Dextro looked at the panicked villagers with joy in his eyes. He was absolutely confident in the power of this giant. Not even Koutarou who defeated all of his men should be able to take it down.

“Go, Diabolical Soldier! Kill them all!”

Adhering to Dextro's order, the giant shook the ground as it ran. Though it didn't move very fast, thanks to its giant stature, the steps were long, and it shortened distance between it and Koutarou in an instant. Alaia who was being held in its left arm shouted towards Koutarou as he got closer.

“Please run, Reios-sama! Without any antidote, I won't survive! So please save as many as you can!”

That was neither a cry for help nor an order for him to fight. They were simply words out of worry for Koutarou. Alaia didn't think Koutarou could win against the giant either, so she wanted him to run away. She didn't want him to die for nothing for her sake. And if possible, she wanted him to take as many villagers with him as possible.

Your highness...

Hearing Alaia's words, Koutarou who had been confused by the giant's appearance made up his mind. He adjusted his 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 towards the giant. Alaia was still in enemy hands. In that case, Koutarou couldn't run because of the oath in his sword.

Theia, this wasn't in the play!

While glaring at the oncoming giant, Koutarou complained to Theia on the inside.

“...So Blue Knight didn't run off... good...”

Dextro mumbled in a voice so low that no one could hear him. He was actually feeling relieved.

Having confirmed that Alaia was suffering from the poison, or more accurately, the disease, his primary target wasn't her. The opponent he should be defeating was Koutarou, the powerful knight who hadn't been affected by the poison. Even if she got away, Alaia's fate wouldn't change. But if he let someone who could take on several dozen men on his own go, it would become a large obstacle in the future. There was no guarantee that Koutarou had drunk the poisoned water, and he was sure to be scolded by Maxfern if he let him get away. It could also mean he wouldn't get his promotion. So it was necessary for him to kill Koutarou here.

With those circumstances, it would be the most troublesome for Dextro if Koutarou had abandoned Alaia and ran away. But in the end, Koutarou had stayed, and so he felt relieved.

“Tsk, this is hard!”

Koutarou dodged the giant's huge axe using large steps.

The edge of the axe buried deep into the ground. With that power, it was uncertain whether or not the barrier could protect him.

The giant moved on its own accord, but it didn't have a heart like people, so Koutarou wasn't able to read where the giant would attack. Koutarou had no choice but to jump out of the way of the attacks. His only save was that the giant moved slower than a human, so it wasn't that hard to dodge.

“Haaaaaaaaah!!”

Seeing his chance as the axe was buried into the ground, Koutarou closed the distance and swung his sword. The blade crashed into the front of the giant's body.

However, Koutarou's sword bounced off the giant's armor. Because of the giant's size, its armor was also quite thick. Even though Koutarou borrowed power from his armor, he couldn't cut it in half with a single sword, and he only left shallow dents on the armor.

“Damnit, the sword’s not working!”

Koutarou quickly jumped backwards. Almost scratching Koutarou's face, the axe came flying up at him.

“Of course it won't, you idiot. It's useless, anything you try is useless.”

“Shut up!”

“Oh, scary. Well, keep trying Blue Knight. Kukuku....”

With Dextro's laugh in the background, Koutarou repeatedly attacked the giant. But all of the attacks bounced off. He then changed his aim to the joints on the lower half of the giant's body, but this ended up having no effect either. The joints had plenty of armor as well, and Koutarou's attacks did nothing.

“Bertorion, 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 on the armor.

She had seen Koutarou make his sword shine bright white several times. It could cut through barriers, split beams and even cut her repulsion shell in armor. She figured that if he used the same attack on this giant, it wouldn't come out unscathed.

“No, it's impossible!”

However, Koutarou shook his head while dodging the giant's attacks.

“Why!?”

“I'm not the one doing that! It always lights up and helps me when I'm in trouble; I'm not doing it myself!”

“What!?”

The light that had made Saguratin glow only showed up when Koutarou was in danger or when he had been angry and lent him power. But Koutarou had no way of controlling that, so he couldn't make the sword glow out of his own will.

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

“Guess we can't! Then leave this to me!”

Clan stood up as she said that. She was currently standing on a roof, several dozen meters away from Koutarou and the giant.

“The Cradle! The antimatter beam rifle!”

“As you wish, my princess.”

Clan shouted orders into her bracelet. A black hole appeared next to her and a long barrel stuck out. She waited for it to fully appear out of the black hole and held onto it with both hands. She was holding onto a giant antimatter beam rifle. It was the largest weapon she could handle herself, and its power was quite considerable. However, it had a rather large flaw. The rifle was so large that she couldn't move with it, so she could only use it for sniping.

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

Clan took aim from on top of the roof. Koutarou was keeping the giant busy, its body was big and its movements slow. 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 storage capacity, the Cradle didn't have a lot of weapons, and there was nothing more powerful than this onboard it. 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 being held by the giant's left arm she also needed to take care not to hit that area.

If I knew this was going to happen, I should have gotten more practice fighting!

While grieving about the weight of the responsibility on her shoulders, she finally put her target in her scope. Clan was aiming for the giant's head.

“I'm firing, Bertorion!”

Clan pulled the trigger as she shouted out. Koutarou was still fighting the giant, but since she was aiming for the head, there wasn't much worry about hitting him. Her shout was only to let him know about the timing.

A white beam shot out from the long barrel. Since this weapon used electromagnetism to accelerate heavy metal particles, there was no recoil, unlike standard weapons using gunpowder. But Clan's body was still slowly being pushed backwards by the reactionary force; that's just how powerful the beam was. The beam shot through the atmosphere and closed the several dozen meters gap in an instant. The huge, slow giant had no way of dodging something that fast.

The beam struck the giant's head spot on.

“Kyaaa!!”

“Alright!!”

Alaia let out a scream of surprise by the sudden flash, while Koutarou cheered with joy that the attack had hit.

“Did I hit it!?”

Still holding the rifle, Clan checked on the giant. There was faint 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 ripped off. The beam had pierced through the left side of the chin and exited through the back of the head. The head was completely shattered by the impact and heat, and steel fragments rained down on Dextro and the magicians.

“D-Damnit, that woman again!”

Dextro swatted away the raining debris and glared at Clan who was several dozen meters away on a roof. Dextro had completely lost his temper. The invincible soldier he had so much faith in had been injured. And the one responsible was a young girl. Every time he was sure of his victory, it had been taken away from him, so Dextro was boiling with anger.

“Kill them, start with that woman!”

Dextro pointed the translucent globe in his hand at Clan. The giant, who was missing its head, began moving again. Unlike a human, losing its head wasn't enough to defeat the giant.

“It can still move!?”

“Kukuku, dieeeeeee!!”

The giant pulled its axe backwards.

“It couldn't― Clan, run away from there right now!!”

“What!?”

At roughly the same time as Koutarou warned Clan, the giant threw its axe, putting all of its weight behind it, at Clan. The steel axe was far larger than she was, and approached her while spinning rapidly. It was a terrifying throw where Clan was sure to die instantly if she was hit.

“This is not funny!!”

Clan threw her rifle away and jumped for cover on the roof.

However, the axe's target wasn't Clan, but the building she was on. If it was destroyed, Clan would be caught in its collapse and be unable to move. Rather than aiming at Clan and risking a miss, it was a much surer attack.

“Kyaaaaa!!”

“Clan!!”

Just as Dextro had planned, the axe easily destroyed the wooden house. Caught up in the collapse, Clan disappeared from Koutarou's view. All that was left was a mountain of rubble, and an axe sticking out of it.

“Clan-sama!”

“Hey Clan, answer me!”

While Alaia was screaming, Koutarou called for Clan through his armor's communicator. However, Clan didn't respond, and the only thing he could hear through the communicator was a static noise.

“Kukuku, did that woman die? Oh well. Even if she was alive, she would just get trampled. Kuhahaha.”

“Clan, Clan!”

Please be safe, Clan!

Koutarou called out to her repeatedly, but the only thing reaching his ears was Dextro's laughter. There was nothing but noise coming from the communicator.

“Now then, next up is you, Blue Knight!”

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

“Here it comes.”

Koutarou put Clan aside for now and readied his sword. However, since he knew that his sword wasn't going to work, Koutarou was reluctant to start the fight.

What do I do!? How can I win against this thing!?

However, the giant didn't give Koutarou any time to think. It came charging towards Koutarou with the hammer in hand. Since the hammer was smaller than the axe, it could be swung faster.

The hammer scraped against the barrier protecting Koutarou repeatedly, and shaved off the energy used to maintain the barrier.

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

“So this is just a battle of attrition!”

Koutarou moved around the hammer while desperately working his head. But he couldn't come up with any good ideas. If Koutarou ran away, the villagers and Alaia's allies would be in danger. That said, he had no idea on how to defeat the giant.

Part 6

“Blue Knight.”

At that moment, Koutarou heard a voice inside his head.

“Who's there!?”

“It's me, Caris.”

The voice belonged to Caris, and shortly thereafter he heard another person's voice.

“Reios-sama!?”

“I can hear Reios-sama's and Caris-sama's voice inside my head... what is...”

“Caris, what is this!?”

Puzzled by the sudden voices in his head, Koutarou continued fighting the giant. He began aiming for the thin fingers on the giant's hand. He was aiming to cut the fingers off to keep the giant 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 from far away.”

“So this is... magic... how convenient...”

Koutarou's sword was able to slightly cut into the giant's fingers, but a single strike wasn't enough to decapitate them. At this rate, a couple more swings would be required.

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

A magic doll was a puppet created by giving life to something lifeless using magic. The doll was called different things based on the material it consisted off; if it was made out of soil, it would be a clay golem, if rocks, a stone golem, and so on.

Through a control gem, the magic doll followed the orders of those it has been registered to obey. So even if the gem was stolen, other people wouldn’t be able to use it. It was necessary to hold a ritual to change the registered person.

After being given an order, the golem was capable of making its own decisions, to a certain degree. In other words, it was an artificial human with a simplified personality. Even if they destroyed the gem in Dextro's hand, the giant would probably continue fighting.

Thanks to those properties, fighting magic dolls was very troublesome.

“This giant's body is made of steel created by Maxfern's alchemists, so it would probably be called a steel golem. Lidith said she had something like this being produced in the atelier.”

Lidith was Maxfern's niece, and she studied alchemy in Maxfern's atelier. During her time there, she had seen a giant being created.

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

“A weakness!? Does it really have something like that!?”

Koutarou kept swinging his sword while responding without moving his mouth. This was something he didn't want Dextro to hear.

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

“Will that defeat it!?”

“Yes. I have created magic dolls myself, so there's no mistaking it. That crystal is absorbing energy from nature and converting it into magic to move its body. You can see the flow of spiritual energy, right? Aim for the spot where the spiritual energy is focused.”

“I got it, I'll give it a try!”

Having found a possibility to win, Koutarou's expression eased up as he stared at left side of the giant's chest. The next moment his smile froze.

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

“That's right. That's why I talked to both you and princess Alaia.”

Alaia was covering the left side giant's chest.

“I don't mind, please do it.”

“What do you mean you don't mind, of course I can't do it!”

“Reios-sama, I will die from the poison either way. You can't trade the lives of yourself and the villagers for me.”

Alaia was in the way, preventing him from attacking. He would have to circle around and attack it from behind, but it wouldn't be easy. Aware of that, Alaia told Koutarou to go ahead and attack.

“Your highness, I can't do that.”

“However, you don't have any other options.”

While denying Alaia's words, Koutarou desperately racked his brains.

What can I do, how can I attack the left side of its chest without harming her highness?

At that moment, the hammer was swung down in front of Koutarou. And with the weapon burrowed into the ground, Koutarou swung his sword at the giant's fingers.

He hit the same part as before and the cut got deeper.

Hm?

At that moment, an idea sparked in Koutarou's mind.

“Right, we could do that!”

“Reios-sama!”

That idea was instantaneously transmitted to Alaia and Caris. The two of them agreed with his idea.

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

“That's...”

Then, Koutarou's idea was stopped once again. He couldn't come up with an idea to destroy the crystal behind the armor.

“It's okay, Reios-sama.”

However, Alaia was smiling in a cheerful manner. She was smiling at Koutarou, who hadn't noticed the solution.

Having been told how to attack by Alaia, Koutarou finished by asking Caris a question.

“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 for the last round.

“Reios-sama.”

“Your highness, I'll save you right away.”

“...I wish you the best of luck.”

Holding his sword, Koutarou and Alaia stared at each for a tiny moment. But the feelings they conveyed during this time were anything but tiny.

“What's wrong, Blue Knight. Over already?”

“The only one it's over for is you.”

“Oh, to think you still had the energy to crack jokes. But your breath is getting quite rough.”

“Why don't you do some work too?”

“I'll pass. Getting a sweat from working is for underlings.”

Geez, to think I'd be struggling this much even after bringing out the Diabolical Soldier...

Despite his confidence tone of voice, Dextro was annoyed that Koutarou hadn't fallen over yet. But seeing that Koutarou's movements were getting slower and more sluggish, Dextro figured that his victory was close at hand.

“I just want to drink some alcohol while relaxing... so you can die now, Blue Knight.”

“Just try me. You'll regret not practicing some more with the sword.”

“Keh! I'll admit though, that guts of yours is something else!”

The giant moved forward as Dextro shouted that out. The distance between it and Koutarou closed, and its weapon was now in range. The giant was of course the one to take the first swing as it had superior reach. The hammer roared as it rushed through the air and closed in on Koutarou. He jumped to the side and avoided the hammer.

As the hammer slammed into the ground, Koutarou could feel the earth trembling. Before the quake 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 dent. But he didn't have the time to feel down. He quickly kicked off the ground and jumped to the side of the giant. The next moment, the giant's right leg came flying through where Koutarou had been. If he had still been there, he probably would have been sent flying as well.

“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 balance, it swung its right arm through the air.

“This time for sure!!”

Koutarou swung his sword down with full force. The blade dug into the giant's fingers, just as planned.

Having taken several hits, the fingers finally came off.

“Alright!”

“What!?”

Leaving only the thumb left on its hand, the other four fingers fell off. And having lost its gripping ability, the hammer in the giant's hand fell down. The tip of the hammer burrowed into the ground and stayed there. Koutarou stopped his attacks and took some distance from the giant.

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

Dextro clicked his tongue as he looked at Koutarou moving away.

At the same time, the giant braced itself and regained its balance. The giant then tried to pick up the hammer with its right hand, but noticing that it didn't have any fingers, it stopped for a moment.

Goddess of dawn, please...

Alaia prayed, not sure if her prayers reached the heavens or not. The next moment, the giant gave up on trying to pick up the hammer with its right hand and switched Alaia to the right side. It only had the thumb left on its right hand, but it was enough to carry Alaia. It then went to pick up the hammer with its left hand.

“Now! Do it, Caris!!”

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

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

Caris released the magic she had prepared beforehand. It was a spell that created a large marsh at the giant's feet.

The giant sunk into the sudden marsh. It wasn't deep enough for its entire body to sink in, but because of its weight, it was unable to get out. The giant sunk down to its knees and lost the ability to move.

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

Dextro hurriedly ordered the giant. If Dextro hadn't taken his eyes off Koutarou, and instead gotten in his way, the following events probably would have changed.

In the end, Dextro didn't do anything himself, and that is what decided his fate.

“Emergency boosters to max power!!”

Koutarou roared.

“As you wish, my lord.”

And as if to drown that out, an explosive noise rang out from his entire body.

That was the sound of the emergency boosters, set up all over his armor, activating. The boosters spewed out flames and an enormous amount of thrust was created. They were backups that were used for the armor’s flight ability. Koutarou's body flew through the air.

“What, what's that sound!?”

“Reios-sama, i-is flying...”

Koutarou flew for but a few seconds. While Dextro and Alaia were still surprised, the boosters’ flames cut out and Koutarou landed.

Koutarou burrowed his heels into the ground to stop his sliding. And Koutarou stopped in front of a collapsed house.

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

There, he found Clan, and next to her was Lidith. Lidith had gotten there ahead of time, woken up the unconscious Clan and explained the circumstances. The two of them waited for Koutarou to come.

“Despite my looks, I'm the type of guy who arrives ahead of time.”

“How impudent... quit your lies, you're always oversleeping.”

Koutarou pulled out a large metallic object from the rubble. Clan or Lidith couldn't have done that, let alone move it. But to Koutarou who was wearing the armor, he was able to pull it out and carry it. And use it. The antimatter beam rifle. It was Clan's weapon that had blown off the giant's head.

“W-What, when did he get all the way over there!? And that weapon...!?”

That was when Dextro finally noticed 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. And they could only do that after the giant moved Alaia from its left side to its right.

“That's impossible, I even used the Diabolical Soldier, and I'm going to lose!?”

Koutarou and the others were planning on shoot through the giant's weak point with a single shot. Realizing that, Dextro, half-frenzied, called out to the giant.

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

But despite Dextro's yells, the giant couldn't get out of the marsh. The size and weight that 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, it couldn't be used directly through Koutarou's armor. So the one shooting would be Clan.

And the target is...

Koutarou closed his eyes and focused. He could see white swirling light around the left side of the giant's chest.

“Your highness, right there!”

“I understand, Reios-sama!”

Listening to Koutarou's direction, Alaia put her hand at the left side of the giant's chest. Her small hand perfectly overlapped with the white swirling light that Koutarou could see.

“Clan, right there! Aim for where the princess' right hand is!”

“Can you stop ordering me around!?”

Clan adjusted the rifle's aim using her bracelet. The rifle sent out information via Clan's bracelet, and Koutarou's armor moved by itself and fine-tuned the direction of the rifle.

“Your highness, take cover!”

“Okay!”

Alaia pulled her hand away and curled up her body. The giant was still struggling with getting out of the marsh, now was the perfect chance.

“Now! Fire!”

“I know, I understand, geez!”

Having confirmed that Alaia was out of range, Clan entered the firing order into her bracelet.

A white flash fired from its long barrel once more. It soared through the sky like an arrow of light and pierced the giant's left side.

Having lost its power source, the giant stopped moving in the marsh. Looking at that, Dextro sat down absentmindedly while 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 Diabolical Soldier... Blue Knight, just who are you?”

Dextro was extremely confident in the giant's strength. With its destruction, Dextro was able to honestly admit his loss. He couldn't come up with any other way of defeating Koutarou.

Seeing Dextro like that, Koutarou put Saguratin back in its sheath.

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

“A traveler? …Damn, I'm out of luck...”

Dextro let out a loud sigh and let his body fall over to the side.

“No, it's the opposite... Alaia's blessed with luck...”

“Just tell me something, Dextro.”

“Sure.”

“In the last moments, why didn't you use princess Alaia as a shield?”

Just a while before, Dextro had used Alaia as a shield to keep Koutarou and Clan in check, so Koutarou couldn't understand why he hadn't done the same this time.

“I'd be in more trouble if by any chance the worst possible outcome occurred.”

“The worst?”

“Yeah.”

Dextro had a self-ridiculing smile on his lips.

“My orders were to capture and return with Alaia. However, there was a single condition. I could let her experience so much pain that she wanted to die, I could let her drink the incurable poison. I could even let her get away. However, I couldn't directly kill her, no matter what.”

“You can't kill her...?”

Dextro had infected Alaia with the disease, and he had pretended that he would kill her, but he wasn't allowed to kill her right away. Hearing that, Koutarou recalled something.

Is he the same as Caris...?

That was that like Caris, he hadn't received orders to kill Alaia. Both of them pursued Alaia, but at the very end, they couldn't lay their hands on her. Koutarou found that mysterious.

“And I'm not good at giving the Diabolical Soldier complicated commands. There was no guarantee of being able to properly use Alaia. It's different from when I use her as a shield myself.”

“I see...”

The giant had a will of its own, however it wasn't as good as humans at making complicated decisions. If Dextro had ordered it to use Alaia as a shield, there was a chance that it'd fail. So Dextro decided not to order the giant to do so.

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

“...You're not wrong. What a blunder...”

If Dextro hadn't brought out the giant and instead fought, using Alaia as a hostage, he might have been able to defeat Koutarou and Clan. Winning with his own strength was the principle he had grown up believing.

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

Koutarou turned his back on Dextro, who was lying down.

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

“No matter who her highness's opponent is, she doesn't want any Forthorthe citizens to die.”

Koutarou himself want to at least pummel Dextro. He didn't really care if he died. He had done so much evil, however Alaia didn't want that, so Koutarou decided not to do anything else.

“Besides, I trust you.”

Koutarou looked back at Dextro and lifted the edge of his lips.

“You trust me!?”

Shocked, Dextro raised his upper body.

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

“Ha....”

However, Dextro began laughing after hearing Koutarou's next words.

“Hahaha, you're damn right, Blue Knight!! That's absolutely true!! Kuhahahaha!!”

It was a bright laughter that laughed off even his own defeat.

Having finished his discussion with Dextro, Koutarou headed towards Alaia. He had left her to Clan and the others, so Clan, Lidith and Caris were already there.

“Aren't you feeling high and mighty, leaving a princess to go chatting, Reios-sama.”

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

“Fufu, you're even good at knitting, Reios-sama.”

Alaia had already been saved from the giant's grasp and welcomed Koutarou with a special smile she wouldn't show anyone else.

“I'm glad you're safe, princess Alaia.”

“Well done, Reios-sama.”

As the two of them were talking, they both relaxed their shoulders at the same time. Having been on guard all this time, after seeing that the other is safe, they felt relieved. However, that was when she lost her balance.

“Ah...”

“Your highness!”

Koutarou hurriedly rushed to keep her from falling.

Not good, her highness is still...

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

“Your highness.”

“Kyaa.”

So Koutarou picked her up, and was planning on carrying her to the inn.

“I'm fine, Reios-sama. I can walk on my own.”

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

Fortunately, thanks to his armor, carrying Alaia was nothing to Koutarou and he began walking like normal.

“...I understand, t-then, please do.”

Saying that, Alaia relaxed her body and closed her eyes.

That's right... the problem still isn't solved. We've only survived the danger directly in front of us...

Alaia's complexion was getting worse by the minute. The disease was getting worse. And it wasn't just Alaia, but the same was true for everyone in the village. They had repelled Dextro, but they had no solution for the disease plaguing the village. The village was still in the midst of danger.

“Blue Knight, what do we do now?”

Caris called out to him, but Koutarou just shook his head.

“I don't know. Dextro didn't have any antidote. If only there was some kind of solution...”

There was no medicine to treat the virus that Dextro had spread on Maxfern's orders. In the play there was medicine, so Koutarou was sure that he'd be able to get it from Dextro. However, reality was different.

That was when Clan, who had been thinking with a serious expression all this time opened her mouth.

“...Guess it can't be avoided. I can't really get behind it, but I guess 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 case. So when Clan mentioned the term last resort, she was the first to ask.

“Y-Yes...”

Overwhelmed by Lidith, Clan nodded her head. When she did, Koutarou was the next to react.

“Is that true!? Clan!!”

“Bertorion, I told you there was another method before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. This method doesn't have a high chance of success and there's a large risk, but there's not much else we can do in this situation.”

After smiling wryly at Koutarou, she pulled her expression together. That was the expression of a princess that she only showed when she was serious.

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