“… There must be a way, right?”
Upon hearing my words, Principal Arhen made a subtle expression and then nodded, suggesting that there might indeed be a solution.
But there wasn’t actually a way.
If we didn’t do something right now, the frontline would be pushed back, and the soldiers ahead would be virtually annihilated. Even if they were in the rear, their only option would be to flee…
If that were to happen, it would be tantamount to giving up the Northern Region of the Empire.
I thought that we couldn’t just give up like this, so I asked to be sent to strike the monster directly.
I couldn’t say that outright, though.
‘We have to do something.’
I gripped Esther tightly in my hands.
If we let that monster and the thousands of monsters behind it roam free, everything in the Northern Region would be ravaged.
It wasn’t just that.
There was no guarantee that we would be able to stop them again if we didn’t manage to do it here.
We had to… stop the monsters right here.
“I’ll send you. If it’s your friend’s magic… it should be possible.”
“Stella…?”
For a moment, I expressed my doubts in response to Principal Arhen’s words about Stella’s magic being possible.
Thud!
“What, what is that?!”
Someone had fallen towards us.
“Uriel?!”
“Ugh…”
Uriel’s condition was not good at all.
The armor of the royal family that she wore over her school uniform was broken in several places, and blood was oozing out. The great sword Uriel primarily used was also severely damaged from the monster’s tough shell.
Even so, she still showed determination and was trying to get up somehow.
“We have to fight… for the citizens of the Empire… ugh…”
I thought she had been safe until now…
When had she been fighting until it reached this point?
In a hurry, I went up to Uriel and used the healing ability through the Sacred Sword’s Divine Power as Esther instructed.
However, unless it was the power known as Aria’s ability, the healing I could provide would only slightly restore her stamina.
“You… can’t afford to use such power on me… ugh…”
“… Even so, how can we overlook this state?”
I couldn’t allow that.
Receiving my healing, Uriel’s complexion slightly improved.
However, even if her stamina recovered, her wounds weren’t healed, and she still looked weary.
“Now, rest, Uriel.”
“… What did you say?”
Uriel looked at me with a slightly crumpled expression as if she had misheard me.
But what I had to say wouldn’t change here.
I turned my back to Uriel and replied.
“Retreat. I’ll take care of what’s behind.”
It was dangerous for Uriel to step forward here.
She was already battered and exhausted.
If she tried to lead the way and take down the monsters again, it was clear that she would collapse first.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“… What do you mean…?! As a princess, I have an obligation to protect the citizens of the Empire…!”
Is this woman a fool?
That thought crossed my mind.
“Just retreat quickly!”
“…!”
At my shout, Uriel flinched, looking up at me with wide eyes.
While my tone was influenced by emotion, the situation had already taken a turn.
I continued questioning her, biting my own tongue.
“What if you die? Have you thought about what will happen if you die? What about your father… no, the Emperor?”
“Ah, my father…”
I didn’t know much about the Emperor.
It might be a problem for someone like me, who was just a commoner, to bring up the Emperor’s name like this, but what could I do about it?
I’m the Hero; what could they possibly do?
Even if it was part of my plan, Aria had been devoured by the monster, and this princess was so clouded in judgment that she couldn’t even grasp the right situation.
The Empire’s soldiers were dying, and Principal Arhen had expended a great amount of magic by stopping the time of the countless monsters that were called disasters, leaving him temporarily powerless.
Though Duke Elgar, the Swordmaster, was struggling, it was no small feat for a single Swordmaster to do something against such overwhelming forces.
What would happen if we lost even Uriel, one of the pillars of the Empire?
I said softly to the dazed Uriel.
“Don’t do something foolish like sacrificing the pillars of the Empire.”
Of course, I knew.
Uriel was trained as a knight to fight for the Empire, and she truly was a knight.
I also understood that retreating in such a way would be more sensitive to individuals like her than death itself.
Knights emphasis on honor.
But she should not lose her life caught up in such ideals.
Before being a knight, she was a being who governed the people of this country.
For someone, this place might be the perfect grave, but at least it shouldn’t be for her.
Uriel lowered her head in silence.
– Hmm~
“What’s with that sudden change?”
– It’s nothing~
Why is this happening all of a sudden?
In this urgent situation, hearing that strange voice was absurd.
I asked Esther, who seemed uncomfortable, what was wrong, but she kept repeating strange things about not knowing women’s hearts and had no intention of telling me anything specific.
Meanwhile, realizing our conversation had ended, Principal Arhen continued speaking.
“Anyway… you want to be sent above that monster, right?”
“Yes, please send me.”
“… Alright, since it’s what you, the Hero, want, I’ll send you, but… if anything happens, I’ll bring you back immediately. Got it?”
I nodded.
Then, I looked down.
It was a corner I could trust… or rather, something I wanted to trust.
‘The necklace…’
I glanced at the necklace that was still shining around my neck.
I didn’t know much about it, but I had been told that this necklace would help me grow faster. I thought maybe it would assist me in a situation like this.
I could only hope it would.
‘Aria has never acted without meaning before.’
If she hadn’t directly entered the monster’s body to weaken it, the situation wouldn’t have unfolded this way.
Everyone would have succumbed to the monster’s overwhelming power the moment the war began. Even with its power replenished and arriving here, I couldn’t fully exert mine because Aria was still inside the monster, radiating Divine Power and interfering.
If we were to retreat here…
‘Aria will…’
She would have to spend an endless amount of time inside that monster.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Please.”
I needed to save her quickly.
At this moment, that was all I could think about.
Hundreds of meters in the air,
I was falling from a height that a normal person wouldn’t survive without being crushed to death.
“Ahhh…!!”
Even while internally screaming, I realized that if I kept going like this, I would end up dead, so I somehow adjusted my posture.
‘Just to let you know, I can’t put you directly above the monster’s body. It’s for your safety.’
Teleportation essentially calculates the spatial position magically and then moves my location there.
While it wouldn’t matter if it were a fixed position, if there’s something in continual motion, the possibility of my body getting caught in that space when using teleportation was very high.
To ensure safety, it was crucial to be careful while using teleportation to avoid getting caught between objects.
A white-maned beast, the Beast of End, roared in my direction as it appeared suddenly in the blizzard swirling around me.
To deliver a decisive strike… I had obtained this opportunity by throwing my body into danger.
I couldn’t afford to make a mistake here.
Being hundreds of meters above, I had fallen close enough to the monster’s head in a brief moment, and if I fell to the ground like this, even as the Hero, I would die instantly, but I wasn’t foolish enough to die in that manner.
I gathered the Sacred Sword’s power, the power of Divine Power, and prepared to strike.
I already had a plan for landing.
With that in mind, I concentrated the power into the Sacred Sword while gripping the necklace tightly.
I felt uneasy.
If this strike wasn’t enough to kill it, and if the calamity that was this monster continued to survive and steadily approached the destruction of the Empire.
And if I died here.
What could be worse than that kind of pointless death?
I clenched my teeth and held the necklace tightly.
‘Please…’
It’s something that can only be granted by overcoming trials.
If that’s the case, then shouldn’t there be something special about it?
If there is a special power.
I need some help…!
At that moment, when I shouted my frustrations inwardly,
“… Huh?”
The blizzard swirling around my body stopped.
