“Haha. Don’t you feel a bit proud? The person you helped is showing gratitude.”
“Well, I don’t know…”
I answered curtly to Iris, who was chuckling behind me.
I mean, who wouldn’t like being thanked? But to be honest, I was still bummed about the 50 shop coins I lost when I received a greeting from Sibylla.
Iris must be the kind of person who finds ecstasy in the mere fact of having saved someone, no matter what it costs.
It was hard to understand, but I respected her for it.
Without Iris, this world would be even more grotesque.
“I still don’t really get it.”
“Even if you say that, I know you’re actually quite kind.”
“What do you mean—”
“On the outside, you act all blunt and calculating, but deep down you can’t help but lend a hand. I can see it.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Wrong? You help out without thinking and then come up with excuses to rationalize it later. Like saying it’s an investment for some future or other.”
“…”
Nonsense.
She was talking without knowing about the grand scheme where I’m the ending of this world.
She treats me like a saint who can’t hold back when someone needs help.
If I were that kind of good person, I wouldn’t even be participating in this civil war.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Iris was forgetting that I was part of the rebel army fighting for freedom at this very moment.
“Imagination is free.”
“I’ll say denying it is free too.”
“So I’ve said no several times—”
“Huh?”
“…?”
At that moment, I felt Iris’s arm tighten around my waist.
With that desperate breath, Iris froze in place, hugging me tightly.
I was surprised by the sudden change, and I immediately stopped speaking.
In the emptiness of the Great Forest.
Standing in the middle, I carefully turned my head to check on Iris.
“Iris.”
“Ah…”
“Are you okay? You didn’t—”
“Yes. It’s true. I saw the future.”
“…”
Just as expected.
Her future sight had activated; she had seen the future.
Similar to my ‘Memory of True Self’, it randomly occurs regardless of time and place, so I thought Iris must be quite exhausted from it.
Iris’s calm and quiet demeanor is likely a major influence of her future sight.
There’s no way she could avoid revealing it when it activated outside.
“What did you see in the future?”
“We’re attacked a little further ahead…”
“And what’s the result?”
“You die, Schlus.”
“That sounds about right.”
*Tsk* I clicked my tongue.
It wasn’t exactly a shocking future.
Once we reach an agreement in the Great Forest, I expected Lorraine to come at us aggressively.
Of course, I never thought they would go as far as to send in assassins to disrupt things.
The notion that I would die also seemed quite plausible.
I had just used my ‘Selection and Concentration’ for three seconds today.
Facing dozens of enemies with merely two seconds of ability was bound to be challenging.
“Looks like they’ve come in heavy, huh?”
“That’s not it! Schlus, you’re going to die saving me!”
*Pfft*…
“What are you laughing at! It’s true! It’s true!”
Iris’s eyes soon filled with tears.
Startled, I automatically grasped the back of Iris’s head and pulled her in for a hug.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her laugh.
“Seriously, take what I say to heart, please…!”
“Don’t worry. Thanks to you seeing the future, I won’t die. Neither you nor I will die.”
“I think I said something similar in that future we just saw…”
If that’s the case, the only thing left to do is act completely differently from the future she saw.
Things I wouldn’t have been able to do if I didn’t know the future.
“First, I’m getting off.”
I jumped down from the horse and helped Iris down.
Thanks to her, I got information about the enemies first.
Now it was time for the counterattack.
*
“Whoa! Look at this! This! Whoa!”
“…”
Standing on the rooftop, Aintz was endlessly amazed.
Erica stood next to him, arms crossed, tapping her feet.
“Wow! What is this? It’s amazing!”
“Hey! Move aside! I want to see too!”
“Hey! Wait a second!”
“Urgh…”
After failing to push Aintz away, Erica looked up at the sky with a dissatisfied expression.
As she tracked the flow of magical power with her eyes, a powerful spell’s form soon became apparent.
It was a super-precision observation spell left behind by Schlus.
Just how much mana would have been needed to create such a powerful observation spell?
Honestly, more than the amount of mana, the working mechanism itself was more impressive.
The flow of mana was reinterpreted and shown as light…
I never could have imagined it was possible to spell out that entire process.
“Now move aside!”
*Ugh!*
As Erica charged in with a running start and bumped into Aintz, he was pushed aside without a fight.
With Aintz’s focus finally broken, Erica immediately connected to the spell.
“Wow…”
The breathtaking scenery immediately appeared all around her.
Maybe because the spell was set high in the sky, she gained a great vantage point without being obstructed by castle walls.
“Ooh…?”
She could also zoom in on the spots she wanted instantly.
If she wanted, she could see beyond the bushes, places that shouldn’t have been visible.
“Hmm…”
Having assessed the performance up to this point, Erica then began to seriously examine the situation around the 4th castle.
Scattered enemy units were establishing positions on various heights.
There was indeed movement to encircle from the rear, but our cavalry was periodically popping out to stall them, preventing the enemy from easily completing the encirclement and cutting off supplies.
At first glance, it might seem like an immediate danger situation, but in reality, it wasn’t.
To conduct a siege, they needed at least siege weapons like catapults or tunnels, and preparations for those were nowhere to be seen.
The enemy would definitely launch an attack soon.
But I could assert that it wasn’t imminent.
“Ah, I was really tense. It seems less of a deal than I thought.”
“Right? It might pass relatively peacefully.”
I was sure the enemy would launch a full-scale assault taking advantage of the gap when Schlus left.
But now, it looked like it’d end quietly, making the observation spell they had made seem pointless.
While the two mages leisurely took turns peering into the observation spell from the rooftop, someone was on guard at the first floor of the residence.
*Yawn…*
After a long yawn, Trie sharpened her gaze and stared at each person passing by.
She had been tasked with guarding the maximum strength of the Suppression Army, the two mages, and had continuously defended this place.
Even when the two expressed they wanted to go out for a breath of fresh air, she absolutely wouldn’t let them out.
Without Schlus around, anything could happen.
“Thank you for your hard work on guard duty.”
“Ah, Your Excellency the Imperial Knight Commander.”
Seeing Kane approach and waving his hand from far away, Trie was surprised and delighted.
It seemed he had finally found some time away from administrative duties.
“Are you guarding this place on your own?”
“Yes… I am.”
“I can see why Schlus holds you in such high regard. He might have judged you to be the strongest knight here.”
“Ah, no way. It’s just that I’m the most reliable person he could find. If we’re talking strength, you or the Commander in Chief are much more…”
“Excessive humility will bring trouble. The only fools in the southern region who would look down on you are the idiots.”
Having watched Trie participate in every battle since arriving here, Kane couldn’t help but be impressed.
It was remarkable that a student like her could maintain composure in such a bloody battlefield.
And on top of that, her unyielding vitality.
While elite knights were left completely exhausted after a sortie, she would quickly jump back out as if there were no fatigue and join the assault formation.
It wasn’t just that she melted into the unit as if she had been fighting together for decades; Trie also showed remarkable commanding ability.
Every time they went into battle, she naturally took the lead and gave orders.
No one protested against her orders.
Everyone seemed entranced as they determined their attack targets and acted in unison.
If Pelaine was a commander forged through diligent effort, Trie was a naturally gifted genius commander.
Of course, that didn’t mean Trie wasn’t putting in effort.
“Aren’t you interested in achieving remarkable feats? If you join the patrol, you might have a chance to sweep through an unguarded enemy camp…”
“I reject that. I cannot stray from the task I’ve been given.”
“Is that so…”
Kane couldn’t help but chuckle at her resolute answer.
While friends were celebrated for their accomplishments, Trie had silently fought, drenched in sweat alongside the knights.
Yet she had no interest in earning glorious accolades.
Is it truly okay for a person to be this perfect?
‘So this is what it means to be the child of a hero.’
Kane found himself secretly admiring the fact that Gawayn’s bloodline was apparent.
Just as he was thinking this…
*Waaaaaah…!*
“What?!”
Suddenly, a siren blared.
It was an alarm system designed by Schlus and established by Pelaine.
That siren surely meant an emergency within the castle.
“This is trouble!”
It seems the beastfolk are starting to move after all.
Kane clenched his teeth and donned his helmet.
