Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Defense of Diamant Valley Part 2

Iris

In the end, the sorcerer reduced the enemy number by about 30%.

In modern warfare, it could have been a great result. But our opponents were undying corpses that had absolutely no regard for supplies or their own “lives”, so these numbers were, to put it bluntly, unsatisfactory as a result.

The trench-like pitfall we prepared beforehand, while able to deal some damage, ultimately got completely bypassed because the enemies used their own corpses as scaffolding to cross over it.

With the enemies advancing undisturbed and penetrating deep into our position, it was no longer possible to unleash large-scale magic without injuring our own people.

And when that happened, the battle devolved into a brutal melee between both sides.

“Ack?!”

One of the guards was struck by a huge claw and thrown into the air. His body was ripped open, spraying colossal amount of blood as it flew toward the gate where we were.

That would have been a near-instant fatal injury even in my old world, but with my enhanced reflexes and the enchanted armor keeping his body together, I could still save him in time…!

“Ares Heal!”

Regular Heal wouldn’t do against massive blood loss, so I immediately switched to a higher tier spell.

Dazzling light of my healing enveloped the soldier. His body landed on the ground and rolled several times before stopping. By that time his wound had already disappeared cleanly, and he stood up completely dumbfounded about what happened.

“Please step back! You’re in no condition to fight after that blood loss even if your wound’s healed!”

“Y-Yeah…”

Hearing my desperate plea, he unsteadily retreated back to the gate, and a knight quickly filled in his place.

Ashley-san was stationed in front of said gate as the supreme commander.

Every now and then, some enemies managed to break through our defense, but they were cut down on the spot by him, so fortunately the town was still unharmed.

Another unexpected blessing was that Ashley-san was also capable of using healing arts.

The soldiers, who had been seriously injured and had their wounds healed but still in a bad shape, were guarding the gate with Ashley-san, their bodies enveloped in a pale healing light.

According to Ashley-san himself, that technique was called Guardian Aura, which passively sped up the recovery of all surrounding allies.

Although it wasn’t as immediate as my magic, I was still very grateful for its existence.

But I feared that even with someone as powerful as Ashley-san on our side, we still couldn’t keep up with the enemies as more and more wounded soldiers had to be retreated from the frontline.

In front of my eyes, people were hanging on for dear life against the mutated and deformed monsters.

There was a goblin with gigantic, swollen arms and elongated claws that took several people just to hold it back.

There was a four-legged goblin moving at inhuman speed.

There was a multi-armed goblin holding a weapon in each of its hands.

All I could do was to concentrate on healing and pray that none of the soldiers was fatally injured.

The enemies weren’t as strong as the shadowy monster we once fought, but they were still too much for the rank and file soldier.

I heard a heavy thud nearby.

I glanced over and saw a hideously malformed goblin with what seemed to be bat wings staring at me.

Now they were starting to target me. I had a feeling that this was going to happen, but I guess I was not mistaken. They, too, must have found my healing arts too much of an eyesore.

But I paid it no mind and returned to my task, because…

“Oh no you don’t!”

Like a gale, Reiji-san cut between the winged goblin and me, then smashed a rusty flail he must have picked up from a fallen enemy on the goblin.

Here, on top of the walls, I knew that I could always trust Reiji-san to protect me.

However, this wasn’t the first time I’d been targeted by those winged goblins and wall jumping goblins. In fact, the enemies had been consistently sending them to my position. For that reason, Reiji-san couldn’t leave my side as my escort.

Nii-sama, too, couldn’t leave his position either, because he had to protect the rear guard and command the sorcerers.

…This battle’s tough.

Even after magical enhancement, it took three of the town’s guards to fight on par with even one enemy.

The knights, who were supposed to be the royal capital’s elites, were holding their own much better, each of them could take on an enemy solo. But still, the only people who could actually overpower the enemy by themselves alone were Walter-san, Zeltis-san, Philias-san and Ashley-san.

I turned my eyes toward the enemy’s backline.

A caster-type enemy with crystals growing on its head like horns was trying to activate its magic.

It’s the thing that had been a complete thorn on Nii-sama and my side.

At the current pace, Nii-sama’s Aegis would be up in time for the next wave of magical attack.

But while Nii-sama could chant faster than the enemy, he was losing in recast time.

The countless mental calculations inside my head told me that unless the other side conveniently ran out of magic here, he wouldn’t be able to deploy Aegis in time the next time.

I bit my nails in frustration.

And yet, the enemy’s magic still had that ominous glow. Its coming was inevitable.

“Nii-sama, five seconds left!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this!”

Once again, we unleashed the duplex barrier of Aegis and Sacred Field around everyone.

And once again, countless black fireballs rained upon our frontline… no, it was raining down on both sides indiscriminately.

The other side couldn’t care any less about hitting their own with their attacks. It’d always been the case with those monsters.

At my feet, my personal use magic circle flickered. So did Nii-sama’s. We were hitting the limits of our reserve magical power.

If it’s gone, the protecting capability of our barriers would be reduced in both range and power. There’s not much time left, we needed to take out all the enemy sorcerers as soon as possible…!

“Weiss-san, could you give it a shot?!”

“Huh? But the vision’s not good… Well, I’ll try my best.”

Gritting my teeth, I called out to Weiss-san while maintaining the barrier. At first, he hesitated because of enemy magic blocking the view, but he eventually took an arrow from his quiver and loaded it into his Dreadnought.

It was one of several special arrows he had prepared for this occasion, whose heads were larger than normal and made of the highly magic conductive mithril. Fortunately, this town had a big mining industry, and we gratefully “repurposed” the materials that the former mayor had hoarded.

“Lenny-san! Imbue his arrow with the ice attribute!”

“I’m on it!”

After receiving my instruction, Lenny-san started chanting magic.

“…I got a good look at the target! Ready whenever you are!”

The effect of the enemy’s magic cleared up just in time for Lenny-san’s chanting to finish.

“Freezing Edge!”

“Eat this! Guided Arrow!”

The arrow was imbued with the ice attribute and began to emit an intense cold air.

Weiss-san then released the bowstring, and the arrow was fired off with a thunderous roar.

“Bullseye!”

Weiss-san declared so even before the arrow had landed.

It’s like he said, the arrow covered in his wind magic and Lenny-san’s ice magic struck the enemy in the chest, freezing its body and blowing it away.

But it wasn’t dead yet. It raised its frozen, battered body and tried to catch up to the rest of the formation.

…Not that it would do anything, though.

The countless mental calculations in my head were displayed as countless illusory clocks. And one of them had ticked down to zero as planned.

A small shadow appeared from behind the monster, pierced its crystalized body in a flash and disappeared as if the shadow had never been there.

In other words, Hayato-kun, who was on a solo hit-and-run mission, smashed the monster’s frozen body with Assassinate and completely eradicated it.

Everything that had happened just now was timed perfectly.

The enemy, whose only thoughts remaining in their mutated forms were to advance, didn’t seem to notice that Hayato-kun had been sneaking around using “Cloak and Dagger” and picked them off one by one with “Assassinate”.

“Good, now there’re only three enemy sorcerers left…”

“Two left, nya!!”

Milly-san fired another gigantic laser from atop the walls… the unique spell of her Overlord class, Photon Blaster.

Another caster-type enemy along with everything beside it was swallowed whole into the blast, leaving nothing behind as they perished.

Since it was a beam of pure magical energy, Photon Blaster boasted extreme penetration and destructive power. However, its recast time was a whopping fifteen minutes to compensate.

My brain once again calculated the time until everyone in my vicinity could recast their necessary spells and techniques… but no matter what, the next wave of black fireballs would arrive before Nii-sama could deploy Aegis once more…

“I’m sorry, Nii-sama, but…”

“I know. All magic knights, ready your defensive spell.”

As Nii-sama gave a command to the knights behind him, I prepared another spell of my own.

One point in our defensive perimeter was getting overrun. A brutal melee was taking place and many people were heavily injured. Fortunately, no one had died, but their position was at risk of being attacked from the rear.

“O Damned Souls, Return To Thy Proper Places! Angel Halo!”

From the point where the magic was activated, a ring of shining bands of light exploded outward and forcibly repulsed only our enemies from the melee.

This is more of a warding magic, although it generates as much power as offensive magic due to the momentum it spreads around. It is a magic that repels undead and spiritual life forms while creating a field that increases healing power inside its radius.

While the enemies, locked out and unable to advance, were vainly striking the circle of light, another spell was unleashed.

“Area Heal!!”

My healing spell covered a corner of the area in a light green glow.

In the meantime, Captain Walter, who was brandishing the sinister-looking battle axe Ars Nova, swept through the enemies caught by Angel Halo and mowed them down in a storm of blood. Other mercenaries followed closely behind him to finish off any stragglers that survived.

The place was now safe for the time being. I ran my eyes to check where other injured people were, and cast Area Heal on anywhere that looked dangerous.

“*pant*…*pant*…”

As I was breathing raggedly, someone offered me a small potion.

“I really hope that you don’t overexert yourself like last time, Iris.”

“*gulp*… I can still keep going, don’t worry about me…”

I immediately gulped down its contents as if devouring the bottle, then took a breath and looked on.

At the moment, my thirst was actually more concerning than my magic power. The potion helped quenching some of that.

I really think I wasn’t overworking myself. I’d come back from that near-death experience as a stronger self, and my remaining magic power was still abundant.

In fact, I was doing better than expected. If anything, I am more worried about whether my stamina would last.

If there’s anything that could be considered strange, it’s the fact that my wings were getting hotter and hotter.

On the other side, the enemies’ actions remained monotonous, as in keeping advancing and attacking with brute force.

The troll we encountered earlier in the tunnel was also present, with his horrid crystal “armor” covering its torso. For some reason, he had yet to move from his starting position at the furthest back, like he was a king or something.

At first I suspected he had a plan, but this was different. If he was content with sitting on his back like a king, then we’d take advantage of the situation as much as possible.

Until Hayato-kun could use “Cloak and Dagger” again…

Until Weiss-san recovered from his fatigue and drew his Dreadnought again…

Until Lenny-san could cast Freezing Edge again…

Not just my allies, but also the time until the enemies could use their dangerous attacks again had also been taken into account.

Countless clocks were ticking in my mind.

Had there been more uncertainties at play, my calculations wouldn’t work nearly as well, but our current enemies were very easy to read because their action patterns were very simple.

I bit my nails in stress over the amount of things I had to think about, desperately trying to keep the battle under control.

This time, I won’t let anyone die in front of my eyes…!

Reiji

I slayed another enemy coming down from the sky to attack Iris.

The white sword in my hand, my new partner, was even sharper than I had expected. It was as if it was responding to my will to protect Iris.

However, when I looked at Iris…

Her ladylike feature was gone, replaced with a grim expression. She was chewing on her fingernails and staring straight ahead with unmoving eyes… Ah, her switch was completely flipped, wasn’t it?

“…Amazing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying that Iris-sama is amazing. She probably knows exactly how long it takes you to draw your bow, how long it takes me to chant my magic, and how long it takes that boy Hayato, who’s out there on his own, to re-use his techniques.”

“…She does all of that while still doing her job perfectly? She’s one hell of a kid, that’s for sure.”

Weiss, the guy who once got himself nearly killed, was talking with Iris’ maid… Lenny-san, was it?

I, too, had finished eliminating the enemy who had rushed up to the top of the wall and was now on the lookout for the surrounding area.

The truth is, I was itching to help on the front lines, but I knew how important it is to protect this position, and I had no intention of leaving Iris’ proximity. So I joined the conversation for a bit.

“You guys aren’t wrong. She has that uncanny ability to count tons of numbers in parallel with her head alone.”

“…Is that true, Reiji-sama?”

Lenny-san, who usually had a calm demeanor, nodded her head in astonishment and she asked me that question.

“Yeah. She’s vulnerable to being caught off guard in this state, but it doesn’t look like this is going to be the case.”

She’d had that ability of parallel thought (?) since our gaming days, and I found it really uncanny as her calculations were terribly accurate, and she read the enemies’ patterns with machine-like precision.

In an era where games often had patterned behaviors, I couldn’t have found someone more reliable than her to cover my back. It’s just that…

“…Well, she can be pretty overbearing when she’s like this, so be careful when she gives you orders. For all our sakes.”

After all, she was directing everyone to take the best course of action. In a way, it’s an expression of her trust in all of us, but that was a lot of work to handle.

Chuckling, I readjusted the white blade of my new partner. While I was talking, another flying enemy had landed on the walls.

She wanted every single one of us to survive, and she was doing everything she could to make sure that happens. Likewise, what I got to do was…

“Let’s go, partner.”

In my fast-flowing vision, I felt the pure white blade of the sword shining in response to my words.

(Author’s Note)

When two nations go to war in this world, they first start with firing powerful magic and weapons at each other, at which point both sides suffer heavy damage.

Since all nations had had a common major threats for a long time, not many major wars had broken out.

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

When I stepped out of the gate, I saw that this place had also changed completely compared to when I first arrived in this town.

Just outside the gate, many layers of spiked fence had been set up, and a stone throw’s away from the walls, a long, stretched pitfall was dug parallel to them as if it were a trench.

A small boy… Hayato-kun was standing nearby, looking out of place amidst such a scenery.

“Hayato, how are things going over there?”

“Oh, it’s Nii-chan and friends… Princess too. It’s nice to see you in good health again.”

Hayato-kun turned around at the sound of Nii-sama’s voice and noticed my presence.

According to Reiji-san, it was him who put his life on the line to help Aini-san and I escape when we were kidnapped.

“It was all thanks to you, wasn’t it, Hayato-kun?”

“I don’t think so… In the end, Reiji-niichan hard carried everything…”

“Please don’t be so harsh on yourself. If you weren’t there at that time, I would never be able to see everyone again like this… I can never thank you enough.”

I smiled and thanked him from the bottom of my heart.

“Come on, it’s not that big of a deal…”

He looked incredibly embarrassed and turned away. Awww.

…If I had a little brother, would he have been like this too?

“Aaaargh! You guys are here to check on the defenses, right?! Just take a look at this!”

Perhaps unable to bear the praise and affection he received, Hayato-kun suddenly shouted and forcefully changed the topic.

Oops, we almost forgot the original reason why we came here.

Aside from Hayato-kun, working at the site were not only soldiers and mercenaries, but also volunteers coming from the townsfolks, mainly muscular who seemed to be miners.

The bottom of the trench-like pitfall, which was dug reasonably deep, was covered with numerous stakes, clearly intended to kill.

Hayato-kun was writing something on a paper talisman in his hand and throwing it into the pit.

“Hayato-kun, what’s it?”

“You mean this? It’s a talisman that explodes on contact. From what Nii-chan and the others told me about those weird enemies, it would probably be less effective than I want to, but I hope it can somehow stall them for a while.”

“…Yeah, I hope so.”

I recalled the movements of the monsters in the previous raid. They just endlessly moved forward with no sense of free will in them.

It’s questionable that a pitfall like this could stop them, but it could slow them down for us to deal with some of them at a time, and if the pitfall managed to reduce their number, it would be all the better.

“Is that a skill of yours? I haven’t seen anything like that before.”

Nii-sama was looking at Hayato’s drawing with great interest. I was a little curious myself, too.

“…That’s a skill of my unique class, Ninja Master. Beside enhancing the combat capabilities of my secondary class Assassin, my unique class also lets me make all kinds of talismans for attacking and sabotaging the enemies… Sorry for hiding it from you guys.”

“We did hide things from you too, so it’s even.”

Even now, I was still hiding my true form to him. Not just him, but everyone in this town, who was helping me.

There were circumstances that compelled us to do so… but with the battle that’s about to take place, there’s no reason to keep it hidden forever.

“Good, everyone’s here. I see that you’re recovering so well, Iris-chan.”

A calm and gentle voice interrupted my train of thought.

“Ah, Aini-san. Thank you for your prescription.”

“That’s my duty as a healer. I hope the stronger dosage I gave you wasn’t too difficult to consume.”

“It’s… rough, to be honest. But I’m all better now after taking it, so I’m really grateful for that.”

I chuckled as I recalled the taste of that medicine, which I could still vividly recall.

However, I was able to recover before an important occasion like this, so my endurance through suffering was not in vain.

“Miss Aini. If you’re leaving the clinic to see us instead of treating the wounded, I trust that you have something important to say?”

“Yes, Ashley-sama. Ahem…”

After a single cough, Aini-san’s face turned serious. Tension filled the air.

“I was informed that the main force lead by the Count himself is scheduled to arrive about three days later in the afternoon.”

“The Count is coming here in person?”

“Yes, it seems that he has taken our report very seriously and is coming with a reasonable force.”

That’s extremely good news for us. If that person is trusted by the king to defend a crucial territory like the border, he and his forces should be dependable allies in this battle.

…And perhaps he’s willing to go the extra mile because we’re here. After all, he’s the son of Ashley-san, who was once my guardian and currently standing beside us at this very moment.

“…So our objective is to hold out and defend the town until help arrives.”

We didn’t have to defeat all enemies by ourselves. If everything goes as planned, we can hold our losses as low as possible and endure as long as possible until relief arrives in three days’ time.

“Yes. It would be for the best if help arrives before the enemy assault… But Gantz-san expects the enemies to make their moves first.”

“So an engagement with only the currently available force is inevitable, isn’t it?”

If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t be able to keep my abilities hidden.

It was something I have to do sooner or later, but it came sooner than expected, I thought to myself.

“There’s no need to worry. Protecting Your Highness is our sacred duty, and we shall not falter no matter the opponents.”

“I really appreciate that, Ashley-sama, but…”

I don’t consider myself a princess. I don’t think I’m even worthy of being a princess.

But once I accept their help as “Her Highness Irisria”, it would be the point of no return… The thought of permanently affixing my existence in this kingdom, in this world as “Irisria” scared me.

Perhaps sensing my trembling from such fear, the old knight’s rugged hand was gently placed on my shoulder.

“…His Majesty had asked me to pass on a message to you. ‘As long as you don’t do anything that will harm the people, you can do as you please for the time being… However, whichever path you choose, just make sure you come back to show your safe face one of these days.’”

“So His Majesty is already aware of me…”

I didn’t know this country’s information network could be this extensive… but I was still given free reign despite the king having a firm grip on my whereabouts.

“If you ask me, I think that His Majesty deeply sympathizes with your circumstances, for he once used to just do what was ordered of him like a puppet.”

…I was reminded of a dream I had some time ago.

Memories of days spent in a void, with no sense of reality accompanying everything. At the end of it all, I threw myself into the void without hesitation, saying that this is not my world. But there were people in this world who cared about me.

My memory is hazy, and it’s unclear why I had such a memory, but I’m sure that it was a real event…

I don’t really know why, but I can feel it.

In that dream, the man who was my protector who looked at me with sad eyes… he must have been the current king.

Back to the present, the very same person was still waiting for the little girl, who had yet to realize her place in the world, who couldn’t even decide what to do with herself, to give him an answer.

I steeled my resolve.

I don’t consider myself a princess, and I’m still scared of being put into power, but…

“…Could you gather everyone available? I have something important to announce.”

“Iris… Are you sure about that?”

Nii-sama looked at me with concern.

It’s natural to be scared.

But when we first arrived in this town, if I had acted sooner, perhaps I could have done something to reduce the damage. None of the soldiers would have been killed.

I understand that I couldn’t have done any better at the time. Thinking about what-ifs didn’t change the fact that it happened.

But this time… if I let myself be shackled by hesitation, I wouldn’t be able to save the people I could save within my grasp. It would be a far more terrifying possibility than anything else.

That’s why I nodded, to shake off my hesitation.

“Yes. We can’t afford to cause unnecessary confusion in this emergency situation by keeping things under wraps… I think we should trust everyone and tell them everything.”

“…Understood. If that’s your decision, I won’t get in your way. Please excuse me, Ashley-dono, but we have something important to discuss, and I need you to gather all the soldiers.”

“As you wish.”

Ashley-san gave instructions to the knights escorting us, who then scattered to gather the people we needed.

“…Reiji-san. Ni… Ayame.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s the matter?”

“When push comes to shove… Will you two kidnap me, and run away together?”

My facial muscles were trembling with nervousness, but I somehow managed to force a smile and cracked a joke to the two of them, even though I was overwhelmed with a feeling akin to a prayer inside.

“Why did you even ask, idiot.”

“I’ll go with you anywhere.”

Their answers were instant and matter-of-factly.

As I felt two light, painless pokes on my forehead, I felt the tension in my face relaxing, and a smile leaked out, this time genuine…

The large meeting room, with a large table set up in the center, was crowded with the assembled guards.

Facing them were myself, Nii-sama, Reiji-san and Ashley-san, who, by virtue of his position, had the highest power among us.

Then, on behalf of us, Nii-sama explained the situation to all the guards.

“This disturbance is caused by a ‘Wound of the World’ that occurred in the vicinity of this town. The strange goblins during the previous raids, as well as the enemies that’s about to attack this town, are the result of its influence.”

The last time we had a meeting like this, we missed the chance to talk about it due to a sudden monster attack… or maybe we thought about the impact on our morale and didn’t talk about it…

I felt the air in the meeting room freeze over upon this reveal.

“D-D-Does that mean… this town must be abandoned, mustn’t it?!”

One of the guards shrieked in horror.

Even if we defeat the monsters, new threats would appear again someday.

Or the “Wound” could just absorb the nearby organisms and transform them into enemies of this world… humans were no exception.

Therefore, when a “Wound” occurred, they had no choice but to seal off the area and flee.

That’s how the sphere of life in this world got more and more narrow over time.

That’s the threat we’re facing.

Because those who could have dealt with it have long perished.

But now…

“…That won’t be necessary.”

Shaking our heads, Nii-sama and I removed the hoods we were wearing. The faces that had been hidden were now exposed to everyone’s eyes, and they let out a collective gasp.

Their piercing gazes made me tremble.

I wanted to run away.

But running away is not an option!

“No way… Her Highness Irisria…?”

Someone muttered a single word, and a commotion erupted.

“Then Sir Knight here is her brother…?”

“I saw the portraits, they look the same…”

“But weren’t they missing for a long time…?”

“Princess, you’re a Highborn right? Where did your wings go…?”

I was at a loss for words in the endless buzz. But Nii-sama and Reiji-san, who were standing on both sides of me, lightly pushed my shoulders.

Yes, I have to do this for everyone’s sake. That’s why I must stand my ground here.

I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and said what had to be said.

“…Over the past years, we had lived in different forms, as different people, in a different world. That’s the reason we went missing.”

When I finished, there were even more murmurs from those around me. Most of them were quizzical, as if to say, “What are you suddenly talking about?”

“…We know we’re probably sounding crazy to you now, but it’s the truth. However, as long as we cannot find a way to cross over to the other side again, we have no choice but to ask you to believe us. But what we want to talk to you about concerns the safety of this town and everyone living in it.”

I looked to Ashley-san, who was standing off to the side, and he gave a small nod, so I continued.

“We’ve received words from the capital. Three days from now, reinforcements will arrive. If we can hold out until then, we’ll be victorious.”

At these words, an air of relief began to flow, but the atmosphere soon turned somber again.

“But what about the ‘Wound’? If the source of problem is still there, then someday…”

“…We have a countermeasure for that. Didn’t one of you ask about what happened to my wings? Well, the truth is…”

With those words, I closed my eyes and focused on my back. Immediately, the surroundings became deathly quiet.

When I slowly opened my eyes… the room was filled with dancing feathers of light.

Everyone in the room was frozen in place, their expressions contorting as if looking at something unthinkable.

“Her Highness… Those wings of yours…!”

“…Your eyes don’t deceive you. After undergoing a strange process, I’ve become a Lightwing race… I’m sincerely sorry for keeping it secret from everyone until now.”

“I would like everyone to keep this matter as confidential as possible. Her Highness is currently under my protection. Therefore, if anything or anyone attempts to wrong her, the Shadow Regiment and I shall thoroughly deal with it.”

Perhaps it’s because of Ashley-san’s declaration, but I couldn’t sense any evil thoughts coming from the people present, which is a huge relief.

The thing I’d always been scared of… that someone knowing my true identity might do something bad to me, were unfounded in this occasion.

“We’ll deal with the ‘Wound of the World’ ourselves after this is all over. So, all we ask of you is to do your best to defend this town… we need your help in order to get to the ‘Wound’.”

“Please… lend us our strength.”

Nii-sama and I bowed our heads.

A few seconds passed in complete silence, long enough to feel like minutes.

“Your Highness Saulques, Your Highness Irisria, please raise your heads.”

Suddenly, I heard a voice.

I looked up and saw the officer I had talked to several times.

“Protecting this town has always been our mission, which we would have failed without your immense aid. And now we need your strength more than ever, so it’s us who should be bowing for help.”

The officer then did just that. So did everyone around him, especially those who had originally been the town’s guards.

If the place had not been crowded with people, someone might have prostrated themselves, it seemed.

“…I understand. Let’s do our best together.”

“But promise me one thing. Do not die at all costs… As long as you’re alive, I’ll be able to save you… So please, stay safe.”

I folded my hands and squeezed out a few words as if in prayer. I know how difficult it is for everyone in this place to survive… and I don’t want to see any more lives lost.

My prayer had dramatic effects beyond my imagination.

“You heard the girl, men! The Saint, no, the Princess has requested us to defend this town with no casualties! Let’s show those monsters what we’re made of!”

“”“Yes, sir!!”””

The soldiers’ battle cry rose all at once.

Startled by the noise, I raised my face and looked at the sudden outburst of enthusiasm with bewilderment.

I feared that as “Irisria”, my words and actions would decide the course of others’ lives.

I was nothing but a regular person in my old world. There’s no way I could be prepared to be responsible for so many lives.

Even now, I still wanted to run away.

But there were things I could do for them. At least I was able to give them hope.

I could already see no trace of sadness in their high-spirited mood.

“Good grief… Why are all men like this.”

“Come on, man. It’s so hard to refuse when such a cute princess is counting on you and concerned about your safety, isn’t it?”

Behind me, the two of them had already begun to crack jokes.

“Still… we have a lot of responsibility on our plate, don’t you think?”

“Yes… but I’m ready to face it.”

“We’re ready to face it. Let’s get through this together, everyone.”

Now all we had to do was take responsibility for showing them hope.

Amidst the deafening volume, Nii-sama, Reiji-san and I looked at each other and laughed out loud.

Three days had passed since then.

On the morning of the day that reinforcements were scheduled to arrive… Gantz-san, who was monitoring the enemy’s movements, informed us that the attack had begun.

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

We turned on our heels to continue the inspection when…

“Iris-chaaaaan!”

“Wah?!”

Suddenly, my face was buried in something soft, and my vision blacked out.

I couldn’t move my body, as if something was restraining me… No, something was indeed restraining me.

“Aaaah… I miss this sensation so much… I feel alive again…”

“Mmh?! Mmgh?!”

Even if I flailed about, the difference in size was simply too great.

I think I’m going to faint…

“That’s enough, Miriam. If you don’t release her, I’m sure the knights here are going to make you unalive.”

“Oops, sorry about that, nya. I’m just so happy to see Iris-chan that I can’t help myself… I said I’m sorry!”

I was finally released from the demon’s clutch and took a deep breath.

“(pants)… Long time no see, Milly-san…”

Seeing Milly-san clasping her hands together and apologizing in a flurry, I let out a chuckle.

“…What are you doing here, by the way?”

Looking around, I saw the other Shadow Regiment members, who weren’t accompanying Ashley-san. They were scaling the walls and drawing on them with what seemed like chalks.

Meanwhile, Milly-san would move from place to place and put her hands on the ground to do something.

It’s hard to tell because the surroundings are bright in daytime, but I could see light emanating from where she just touched.

“Ah, you mean these? It’s just a little something to support my spellcasting, nya.”

“Support?”

“Yeah, I can temporarily store my magic power within these magic circles in advance by touching them, so that I can draw them out later. For simplicity’s sake, just call them ‘batteries’, nya.”

How convenient… I didn’t remember something like that in the game.

“By the way, what those guys are drawing over there are magical formations that boost effective range and power of magic. Each individual formation is only calibrated for a single person, nya, so how about getting some of your own later, Iris-chan?”

“I’d pretty much appreciate that. Do we have a way of doing that ourselves?”

“Uh…”

Milly-san’s face turned sour for some reason.

“Well, I’m sure we can draw it if they teach us how… The thing is, can you see the chalk-like things those guys use to draw?”

“Um, I do. What’s the matter with them?”

“They cost three gold coins each, nya.”

“THREE?!”

I, along with Reiji-san and Nii-sama behind me, choked all at once.

Speaking of the coins, they’re all minted in Acropolis at the center of the world, and circulate as a universal currency. From the lowest to highest value, there’re bronze, copper, silver, gold and mithril coins.

And three gold coins are a month worth of an average person’s income.

Since we were sent here without any money, I’m not sure if we could even afford to buy even one of those…

“Such extravagance…”

“I heard that the chalks are made from mixing powdered magic stones, mithril ores and gypsum before hardening them, nya.”

“No wonder they’re so expensive…”

“At least we know that the elite forces of this country are sooo well-funded, nya.”

“I know right…”

No matter which world we live in, life is tough without money.

“So you’ve come, Prin… Miss Iris.”

Suddenly, a voiced called out from the stairs behind me.

When I looked back, I saw Zeltis-san and Philias-san walking up the stairs… accompanied by another person. If I recall correctly, he’s a magician belonging to the mercenary company…

“Iris-chan hasn’t really talked to him, has she?”

“Yes, I’m sorry about that…”

I affirmed Philias-san’s words.

I was a shy person and avoided talking to men as much as possible, so even though I knew everyone’s face in the mercenary company, I’d never talked to most of them… including this person.

“Considering Iris-sama’s circumstances, it couldn’t be helped. Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Diaz. Please to make your acquaintance.”

He bowed to me politely with his hand on his chest.

His demeanor, coupled with his clean-cut, all-back black hair and neatly coiffed appearance, makes him look like a…

“…Did you work as a butler?”

“Yes, that’s correct. He and I were once butler and maid serving the same house.”

“What Lenny-san said. I have a family name, but I have no use for it now, so simply calling me Diaz is fine.”

“I see…”

“More importantly, please take a look at this.”

He then placed the package he was carrying, which was about as long as I’m tall, on a nearby stand and set it down.

“What’s this…?”

“With this length and thickness, I’m assuming it’s a sword.”

Nii-sama and Reiji-san inspected the package with great interest. However…

“It’s cursed, isn’t it?”

The package was hastily wrapped in layers of cloth, with a number of talismans attached to it. For good measure, the metal fittings holding the ends together were shining with the azure glow of a certain magic nullification stone.

Even though it was sealed that tightly, I still felt a cold sweat dripping down my back when I looked at it. A very powerful curse must be residing within.

“Indeed. While we were searching the mayor’s mansion for any items that could be used, we came across this object hidden in its deepest parts.”

“According to the people who know what was going on, it was unearthed from the very same mining site that Iris-chan and the others went down to.”

“…That tunnel?”

The place where Reiji-san and I fell down into a hole, destroying Reiji-san’s sword in the process.

Come to think of it, why was there such a beautiful dome-shaped open space underground? It was by no means a naturally formed terrain.

The dome’s surface was covered with magic nullification stones, all protruding inward. It’s as if it were a cage to seal something in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your leisurely time… but I have to ask if it’s possible to lift the curse.”

“Eh?! Oh, right, I’m the person to ask when it comes to curses, aren’t I?”

I put my thoughts aside and hurriedly examined the package.

Then I realized. The feeling of powerlessness that permeated throughout my entire body… I was familiar with this curse.

Yes, it’s the same uncanny feeling when I fought against the monster affected by the “Wound of the World” in the previous town.

That means whatever cursed the item inside had something to do with the “Wounds”.

“…It’s a bit difficult, but doable. I’ll begin to lift the curse now.”

There seemed to be no problem with unwrapping the package. I held out my hands to get it done as soon as possible.

“…Sixth True Mantra…”

My hands started glowing faintly.

“That which erases all curses and devilry, the all-encompassing light… Curse Dissolve.”

At the same time I finished chanting, a warm green light enveloped the wrappings, entangling the miasma they were cloaked in and disappearing into thin air.

As I gazed at the light, I felt like something was poured into my brain…

“…With my authority, I shall appoint you as the owner of this sword, ‘Save the Queen’.”

“A-Are you okay with that, XXXXXX-sama? This is an important matter, you should have given it more thought.”

“My, could it be that you’re afraid, XXXXXX? You think you’re not up to the task of protecting me or something?”

“That’s not true at all! More than anyone else, I want to-”

“Then it’s fine, isn’t it? Even if people complain about it, it’s I who have the final say, and I want you to take up this sword. Just like always, please take good care of me, my knight?”            

Those two people again.

The cheerful yet mischievous young girl smiled and gave a sword to the boy of the same age as hers, looking troubled but somewhat happy.

This time, they were the youngest I’d ever seen of them. They were about my age… or a little younger. Is this… the memories that dwelled within this sword?

“…Wow.”

Reiji-san’s voice broke the silence, and my consciousness rapidly returned to reality.

When the curse was removed from the package, a sword in a delicately decorated white scabbard emerged from inside.

It was a somewhat large sword with a long handle that could be used with both hands, the so-called “bastard sword”.

I could hear the gasp of everyone present as they looked at this absolute work of art.

“…Iris? Is something wrong?”

“N-No.”

Wiping the tears from the corner of my eyes, I somehow managed to regain my peace of mind. But more than that, there’s something I had to say.

“This sword is… one of the ‘Save the Queen’ series, the ‘White Wisdom Arventia’… I believe that’s what it’s called.”

“Iris, you know about it?!”

“Yes… I don’t really get it, but I was granted this knowledge.”

And the name made my heart flutter. It was as if it is something I had known and cherished for a long time.

“Hmm… ‘Save the Queen’, you say? I’ve heard that name before.”

“Ashley-sama, is that true?”

“Yes. As written in literature, it’s a series of swords that generations of ‘Sacred Daughter’ of the Lightwing race, who were no longer with us, bestowed upon the knights protecting them.”

“And this sword here is one of them.”

“Unfortunately, this is the first time I’ve seen one in person… Oh, it’s stuck.”

Ashley-san grabbed the sword’s handle and tried to pull it out lightly, but it didn’t budge an inch from its scabbard. It seemed to be sealed.

Somehow, I knew the way to do it.

“…Excuse me, may I borrow it for a moment?”

Hearing my words, he immediately stepped aside, allowing me to grab the sword’s handle.

For a moment, light flashed on the golden pattern, which I thought was only decorative, and the scabbard released with a clang.

“It’s responding to Iris…?”

Nii-sama dumbfoundedly muttered.

When I applied slightly more force to it, I could feel the sword moving away from the scabbard.

“It seems that I can pull it out without any problem… And if I decide to entrust this sword to someone, they will be able to do that as well.”

“How did you know about all that…?”

I could only shake my head at Nii-sama’s perfectly reasonable question.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t understand how it worked… I just took a look at this sword, and I gained the knowledge about it, that’s all I can say.”

Carefully, I pulled the sword out of its scabbard a little.

What came out from inside was a pure white, slightly curved blade. Such an elegant blade was adorned with several gemstones… magic stones, perhaps.

“The blades seems a bit cracked.”

“I can’t sense any power from the magic stones either.”

If it had been neglected for many years, that would be unavoidable. However, it still had tremendous power as a weapon.

“At its current state, it’s probably no better than any weapon out there, to be honest.”

“So you’re saying it’s still usable, right?”

“Let Iris, who broke the seal, decide who gets to wield it. Apparently, only the person to whom she entrusts this sword is able to use it.”

“Eh… Ehhhhh?”

Hold on a minute! Isn’t this incredibly embarrassing?!

After all, its name is “Save the Queen”, emphasis on “Queen”!

Am I going to appoint somebody as my knight just like a fairytale queen?!

“My lovely Princess, I assume you’ve already had someone in mind?”

While my mind was in disarray, Zeltis-san “gently” gave me a little nudge.

…He wasn’t wrong. From the moment this process began, I had already decided who I would entrust it to. But I was embarrassed. Afraid, even.

Steeling myself, I put the sword back into the scabbard and held it up.

Then… I moved in front of that person.

I don’t know why, but I was terribly nervous. My own heart was racing and pulsing wildly, and my throat was not quite ready to speak.  

But I somehow managed to blurt out my desire.

“…Reiji-san. May I entrust this… ‘White Wisdom Arventia’ to you…?”

“…Me?”

“Ah, um, you see, you don’t have a weapon to use at the moment… Erm, I think this sword is just the right size for you… Yeah…”

Yes, it’s natural that he should get this sword, right?

Silence followed.

“…You don’t want to…?”

“N-No, it’s not like that at all, argh!”

I looked up when he suddenly raised his voice.

He was turning his gaze away from me, but his hands were poised to receive the sword I was holding.

“…Alright then, I’ll take this sword. Can I give it a try?”

For some reason, literally everyone else gave their nod of approval as the fidgeting Reiji-san took the sword I was holding out to him.

With a cool sound, the entire sword’s blade was pulled out of the scabbard.

The single-edged blade, which was pure white all the way to the tip, was much broader than the typical Japanese sword. On the lower half of the blade’s back, there was a handle-like gap, which could be gripped.

A powerful yet graceful sword fitting its “Save the Queen” name. That was my first impression.

“Not bad… It won’t take long for me to get used to this one.”

And so, after swinging it for a few times, he sheathed it with satisfaction and carried it on his shoulder.

“Though, I feel like this sword is a little too overleveled for me to use.”

“How so?”

“I get a bit exhausted when wielding it. Don’t worry, it’s nothing worth concerning.”

“Both you and the sword aren’t in perfect shape yet, I guess.”

“Just imagine how awesome it’d be when we’re actually in perfect shape. Anyway, I like this sword, thanks for giving it to me.”

Reiji-san then patted my head as if in a good mood.

Oh well, as long as he’s happy. I let out a breath of relief.

“Well then, let’s check out the other places too. Hayato must have been outside helping set up the traps, so we should pay him a visit.”

Saul-niisama clapped his hands and urged us onward to the next location.

As everyone began walking, Reiji-san quickly caught up beside me, who was slightly behind.

“I’ve said it many times already… but no matter what happens, I’ll protect you. I swear by this sword.”

“Yes, please take good care of me, Reiji-san.”

I couldn’t help but smile at him next to me, feeling a rush of joy I didn’t understand.

Why is my heart throbbing so much when he said that?

(Author’s Note)

Would “Save the Princess” be a more appropriate name than “Save the Queen”?

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

There might be a way to return to our world… We were overjoyed to hear that such a possibility exists.

But we still had a long way to go until we could seize that possibility.

All we could do now was to solve the problems in front of us, one by one.

A huge threat was still looming over this town at the very moment… but I was still confined to bed because of my poor health.

Seeing everyone moving in a hectic manner, I was stricken with guilt.

Two days had passed without me able to do anything helpful.

“How’s it…?”

I watched in bated breath as Lenny-san stared at the small glass rod.

“…It seems that your fever has gone down.”

“Then..!”

Lenny-san was holding a thermometer not unlike the mercury version found in our old world.

At her words, I looked up in an instant.

“Yes, you’re able to go outside now. Once you’ve changed your clothes, I’ll go get Saul-sama and the others… Reiji-san’s already here, in fact.”

“I-Is that so?! I hope they’re getting proper rest…”

Nii-sama had been holed up in the office inside the mansion I was staying at, which served as a temporary base, while Reiji-san was running everywhere to help setting up the defense perimeter…

Both of them had been incredibly busy as of late.

“Mmm… Shall I prepare a really cute outfit for you to celebrate you Thgetting well?”

“Normal, please! Normal clothes is fine!”

Why does she sound so happy about making me her dressing doll?!

I think my face is heating up again…

After I got dressed and Lenny-san left to call the two of them over, I scrutinized my current outfit.

It consisted of a white blouse with frills in various places and a long skirt. Since it was still chilly, I also wore a bolero over the blouse and a shawl to match.

My hair was tied up neatly in a half-up style.

“…This is totally the virgin-killer style, isn’t it?”

Not to be confused with that virgin-killer sweater (I would never, ever wear such a thing), it’s a style that brought out my ladylike qualities, with an emphasis on prim and proper.

It really suited my current appearance, but well, it sure felt a bit embarrassing to wear.

I quickly took out my usual poncho to cover myself…

“Can I come in?”

“Eep?! G-Go ahead!”

The door opened and Saul-niisama entered the room.

As soon as he saw my current state, a grin cracked on his face.

“Reiji, you might wanna see this.”

“What are you talking about, Sau-”

Are you plotting something again, Nii-sama?!

Without elaborating, Nii-sama pulled Reiji-san from outside the room and pushed him in front of me.

Reiji-san was complaining while he was being dragged, but froze up on the spot when he saw me.

…Oh god, just say anything, please! I can’t bear this silence!

“…Cute. Yeah, that outfit’s really cute on you.”

“I see…”

“Okay, you two, stop staring at each other so intensely. We have a lot to do today.”

““AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?!””

Reiji-san and I retorted perfectly in sync.

“So we need you to have one last health checkup to see if you’re completely fine or not, then if you’re okay with that, we’ll pay a visit to the defense perimeter in construction.”

“You still won’t let me do anything by myself…”

The joy of finally going outside… was short lived.

I’m only going to get in everyone’s way if I go alone, aren’t I? That’s why those two have to keep me in their sight at all time…

“Oh come on, don’t be so gloomy. You just got out of sickbed, so I think this is the best course of action.”

“Ouch?!”

Reiji-san flicked me lightly on the forehead.

“Considering the enemies this time, you’re indispensable in the battle ahead of us.”

“We have to make sure you’re in the best shape when it happens. I hope you understand.”

“I know…”

Holding my pained forehead, I reluctantly agreed.

“Alright then, let’s get going… Iris?”

My body suddenly trembled.

I wanted to go outside so badly, but when the time actually came, I felt a deep shiver in my leg, as I remembered the second time I was kidnapped.

Seeing my hesitation, a large, familiar hand patted my head.

“Don’t you worry. As long as I’m here, nothing’s gonna lay a hand on you.”

“Reiji-san…”

“…Hmm? Did something happen?”

“I-It’s nothing. Y-Yeah, let’s get going!”

The words I heard in that half-dream was replaying in my head, and I couldn’t look directly at Reiji-san’s face anymore.

I urged those two to hurry up.

My legs had stopped shaking before I knew it. Rather, my heart was beating so hard from the sense of shame and other things I didn’t understand that I couldn’t feel anything else.

“I’m going to open the door, then… Uh oh. Iris, try not to be too shocked.”

“Nii-sama?”

The door to the hallway was opened, and for the first time in days, I stepped outside of my room-

“…!”

A dozen or so people had already lined up in the hallway as if waiting for my arrival.

Dressed like knights but without the armor since they weren’t in combat, all of them made a perfect salute upon seeing me.

I stopped dead in my track from sheer astonishment.

An elderly man with a robust physique and fine white beard stepped forward… I’d already heard about him from Nii-sama.

Just like Aini-san… Ashley-san was a game character I’d seen many times, who turned out to be a real person in this world.

But unlike her… he played a mayor role in my backstory as “Iris”.

“Congratulations for your safe recovery, Princess.”

“Thank you for your concerns. I’ve been able to have a good rest because everyone’s made great efforts in safeguarding me, and I’m sorry if I’ve caused you worry.”

I picked up my skirt, bent my knees slightly, bowed my head, and smiled at the knights lined up in front of me… Is this the way to do it?

Until now, the only people who treated me like a princess was Lenny-san and a couple others, but this is the first time I’d faced with so many highly professional knights.

This wasn’t a simple princess roleplay like in the game, I had to act my parts perfectly, but I was completely lost on what to do.

So I decided to try my best at it… Fortunately, Lenny-san, who was following a bit behind me, didn’t have any complaints, so I guess I got a passing mark.

…Some of the knights seemed to either look away from me or shrug their shoulders though, is that alright?

“Your wellbeing is my utmost concern. So, I would like you to evacuate, if possible, before danger arrives…”

“My apologizes, but I can’t do that.”

“…I’ve already expected that answer. We’re well aware of your desire to save this town, so we, the Shadow Regiment of Nordglacier’s Sorcerer Knights, shall gladly lend you our strength.”

“Thank you very much… Eh, the Shadow Regiment?”

Why would the Sorcerer Knights, the most elite of Nordglacier’s army, be in such a remote area? And more importantly, I didn’t know there’s a Shadow Regiment within their ranks.

In the game lore… there’s the Light Regiment, which maintains the security in the royal capital, the “Ice Regiment”, which maintains the security of the magical railway connecting the royal capital with the Central Business District, which is the closest city to Acropolis, and the “Flame Regiment”, which is sent to various places in case of emergency… I think those are the only three…

“Pardon me, Princess, while we understand your circumstance, I hope you’re able to uphold the dignity of this country’s royal family even on the first try… Alright, men, you can make yourselves comfortable now.”

Behind Ashley-san, someone slightly older than the rest of the knights was giving out instructions.

“Thank god… I’m no good with formal stuff like this.”

“It’s the reason we’re often sent to the middle of nowhere after all.”

“Well, that just how we are, so you don’t have to stay on guard too much around us, Princess… Ack?!”

The last person, who smiled and waved his hand at me, was smacked by their leader for being too comfortable around the Princess a.k.a me.

I could only blink my eyes at the sudden change in atmosphere.

“…Please excuse their behavior. I have no doubt against their capabilities, but this counterespionage regiment is made up of people with commoner background, who may have difficulties with etiquette and manner.”

Said Ashley-san, who had completely softened his mood and was watching his men like a grandfather to his grandchildren.

“I-I actually prefer it this way, because…”

“You lost your memories and lived as a commoner once, that I already heard of in the reports. Rest assured, everyone’s taken it into consideration. Leaving that aside…”

Ashley-san, with his hand on his chest and tears in the corners of his eyes as if filled with emotions, bowed his head.

Right… I, no… “the game’s Iris” was sheltered until his roof for a while before she could be identified, and this person before me, who acted as her guardian, was like a grandfather to her…

“Once again, I’m glad that I can see you alive and well like this. I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I… I appreciate your concern, Ashley-sama.”

For a moment, I saw the image of my own grandfather in my old world.

My grandparents were always strict, but there was a gentleness behind their eyes… the elderly knight before me was the same.

My subsequent medical checkup went without a hitch.

In conclusion, although I had some trauma-induced fear, as long as I was with Reiji-san and Saul-niisama, I seemed to be able to go out without any problems.

That didn’t mean my symptoms were getting any milder, though…

“…There’re so few people around.”

The town was much more sparsely populated than before.

I thought not many people would be around at this time of day, but even so, the silence covering the entire town was unnerving.

“They’ve mostly been evacuated in order to prepare for the upcoming attack. People with poor health, young children and the elderly are being taken care of at the eastern garrison and the clinic near the east gate, while the rest are further relocated to the campsites outside the town.”

“That’s a pretty fast evacuation, isn’t it?”

“I hate to say it… but the recent attack sure helped create a sense of urgency among the people here.”

Said Ashley-san, who was walking beside me with a complicated expression on his face.

As a side note, Nii-sama was also beside me, just in the opposite side, while Reiji-san followed close behind.

I’m glad that Reiji-san wasn’t side by side with me. I would be reminded of that half-dream if he did.

As a side note, there’s another reason for the evacuation.

We didn’t want others to notice that a certain someone of a supposedly extinct race was going to join the fight.

In the meantime, we arrived at the west gate of the town.

The gate, which had been repaired, albeit as a temporary measure, was still open, but there were now several layers of fences in front of and behind it that were not there before.

“…It’s much more heavily defended than before.”

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s nearly enough. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough material and time to mount a decent resistance.”

“If there’s a silver lining to all of this, Gantz-san still remains in the tunnel, and he’ll be sure to inform us when the enemies start moving.”

It could be tomorrow, or it could be this very moment.

Tension filled my body.

“Um… Can I take a look from atop the walls?”

“Of course. Please lend me your hand.”

“Eh? Okay…”

I quickly took the knight’s hand, which he held out to me, and he pulled me back and escorted me up the stairs.

…Why is Reiji-san staring at me so intensely?

“Thank you very much… Nii-sama! Reiji-san too!”

“…Huh?”

“…Yes?”

Unable to bear the gaze, I called out to the two of them. I appealed to the knights with my eyes that I had something important to discuss with them, and they immediately understood and moved away.

“What’s it?”

“Well… the knights are being awfully friendly to me, whom they’ve practically never met before, don’t you think?”

I might be the Princess of this country, but I’d been gone from this world for several years, and they hadn’t even tried to confirm my identity.

Despite this, they were very friendly towards me.

“Well, the current Nordglacier royal family didn’t have any female except for the queen. Now that their lovely princess has returned to this world, I’m sure those knights are pretty excited about living the dream of escorting a princess.”

“Answer me seriously please, Nii-sama.”

I did recall something like that happened.

The current king’s daughter had been married off to the southern continent… There was even an in-game event for that. By the way, although it was a political marriage, the story was a proper love marriage… Since then, like Nii-sama said, there was no longer any “Princess” in this country.

But I felt there’s something more to it than that.

“Okay, okay, I think I have an idea. Iris, do you remember the effect of your ‘Princess’ subclass?”

“Um… increased success rate of monster taming, granting permanent buffs to the surrounding players and NPCs affiliated with the home country, and…”

Ah. My “Princess” subclass certainly had this effect.

“…Increased initial value and growth of affection from NPCs affiliated with the home country.”

“That’s the one. My own ‘Prince’ subclass also comes with improved command effectiveness over people from the home country.”

“Then, do you think it’s causing the knights to like me so much?”

“I don’t know exactly, but at this point, anything can happen.”

“I’m not a fan of this. It feels like I’m messing with people’s minds.”

“Same… but let’s not worry too much about it. Maybe that’s just how princes and princesses normally look in the eyes of the common folk.”

“Reiji-san…”

“You guys may have mixed feelings about it, but those knights genuinely want to protect the people important to them, and that’s fine. Besides, we still have places to visit, so let’s move on.”

“You’re right, we should check the defensive positions while we can. The enemies may attack us at any moment.”

I still had some thoughts about that matter, but it’s just like Reiji-san said, we shouldn’t worry too much about it.

I decided to put it aside and followed the two of them again.

…Nevertheless, I vowed to myself to never forget this feeling of gratitude to the people who fought for my sake.

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

Please, return my… return my XXXX to me!

In a room filled with numerous devices of some sort, a woman with hair color similar to mine was desperately trying to reach out and grab something while being restrained by a device that might or might not be magical.

Every time she struggled to escape, her otherwise beautiful white skin was cruelly reddened and bruised, but she continued as if it was nothing, just to reach for the…

How dare you… HOW DARE YOU?! Curse you all… CURSE YOU ALL TO HELL!

Another scene played.

I saw a somewhat futuristic passageway covered with metal and what seems to be a piece of machinery.

A man covered in scars, spewing out expletives, was surrounded by a large number of who appeared to be soldiers, yet still struggling to break through the enclosure, desperately defending a white book that looked like I had seen it somewhere.

Did I… know the two of them?

I remembered. Even though both of them looked older… I had seen them in a dream before…

Why do you two keep appearing in my dream?

Why does my chest hurt so much whenever I see you?

Why… Why… Why…

Flowing down through time, my incoherent thoughts roll round and round…

Then I woke up.

“…Why?”

Tears were streaming down my face. As had often been the case for the past few days, I couldn’t stop wiping and wiping. For some reason, I was inexplicably sad. But today was a little different from usual…

“(sniffs)… Ahh… Ahhhhh!”

I don’t understand it. The dream had dissipated quickly, but I couldn’t stop sobbing.

It was completely different from the feeling of desolation from before.

The sorrow gripped my heart and squeezed it violently.

For just how long had I woken up crying without knowing why?

Finally calming down a bit, I wiped my tears and looked around.

“…Where am I?”

It didn’t seem to be Aini-san’s clinic. If anything, the room was like a guest room in some rich person’s house.

My memory was fuzzy, but the last thing I remembered was being in Reiji-san’s arm… I should be fine now, but my anxiety was still swelling at the thought of being in a strange room.

I touched my neck. As my hand felt soft upon touching my own throat instead of hard, cold metal, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, I found what looks like a doorbell by my bedside and gave it a try. A clear sound chirped out… and almost without a pause, the door opened quietly.

“Please excuse me… Good, you’re awake at last.”

“Lenny-san… (coughs)”

Entered a woman in a maid’s dress, Lenny-san. A weight was removed off my chest when I saw someone I know.

My voice that called out to her was terribly gravelly. My throat felt completely dry, and I coughed involuntarily.

Seeing this, she offered me a small jug of water, from which I sipped to quench my thrist.

“Here’s the liquid medicine that Aini-sama prepared for you. Please drink it slowly.”

When I put my mouth to the spoonful of liquid offered to me, I found a sweet syrup with an indescribable taste of sour and bitter, perhaps medicinal herbs.

It’s like a much weirder version of the syrup medicine used for kids in my old world… If it tasted this weird even after being mixed with syrup, I shuddered at how dreadful it would be to consume this medicine by itself.

“Please don’t cry, you’ll have to take your medicine either way. They said good medicine tastes bitter after all. One more sip, please.”

“I’m not crying because of the medicine though…”

Steeling myself, I downed the entire thing in one gulp, then immediately neutralized my mouth with the offered water and took a breath.

…My mouth still tasted funny.

Let me be clear, my past self had no problem with bitter medicine at all. It’s just that this body’s got such a sensitive tongue.

I kept my perfectly legit excuse to myself.

“Um… where are we exactly?”

“This is the residence we seized from the town’s former mayor and turned it into a makeshift home base. You’re currently in the guest room at the innermost part of the mansion… We have moved you here from the clinic for safety concerns… well, certain people who care about you keep pestering us to do that, actually.”

I agree with them, though, Lenny-san blurted out those words before concluding.

Who are those “certain people”?

That raised a question, but more importantly…

“So that mayor has been arrested, right?”

“Yes. He has already been transferred to the royal capital, where he will stand trial.”

According to Lenny-san, at best, he would never see the light of day again.

From trading contraband goods and even slaves, to setting fire and release monsters upon the town he was supposed to govern… even I couldn’t find anything good to say about him.

“I-Is anyone injured after the attack? I think I can help…”

“You can’t.”

Still smiling, she rejected my offer giving me a chance to say anything.

I felt utterly helpless.

“I promise I won’t push myself too hard…”

“Iris-sama? We all know that’s not going to happen, so your brother has already given me permission to use force if you insist on overexerting yourself.”

“…I surrender, please forgive me.”

I’m sure it wasn’t my imagination that I saw a rope in her hand.

Reluctantly, I had to back down.

“Please rest assured, thanks to everyone’s hard work, no one was injured enough to require your attention. If anyone does, we’ll make sure you’re properly informed about the situation.”

“That’s a relief… By the way, where’re Nii-sama and Reiji-san?”

“They’re resting in the room next door. I’ll call them over right away… but first…”

With a light thud, she wrapped a cardigan over my shoulders.

“I know you were sick for days, but a lady such as yourself should always be presentable, so at least…”

Lenny-san came up to me with a hairbrush in her hand.

For some reason, my vision distorted when she reached out her hand to me.

“Allow me to fix your hair.”

“NO?!”

My body went stiff and jumped up.

My mind was going haywire. My heart was pounding like an alarm bell.

“Ah…”

I didn’t mean to react this way.

I lowered my arm and looked at Lenny-san… her eyes were full of pity as if looking at something painful.

From the way she looked at me, she seemed to be sincerely concerned about me.

That was rude of me, wasn’t it?

“…I’m sorry, please go ahead.”

“Well then, once again, allow me to do your hair…”

Somewhat reservedly, I felt a touch on my hair. It’s fine, she’s a good person.

Still, every time her fingers touched my neck, the feeling of the cold metal collar passed through my mind, and my body shivered.

I’m so sorry, Lenny-san. You’ve been so good to me, and I didn’t mean to scare you just now.

My hair was combed and loosely braided so that it wouldn’t get in the way.

Lenny-san then moved to leave the room.

“I’m going to get Saul-sama and Reiji-sama now. They said they have something important to tell you.”

“Please do.”

After she left the room, the door was closed.

For the moment, the room was filled with complete silence.

“(pants heavily)…”

Feeling bad for Lenny-san, I released the fear I had been enduring with all my might until now.

I almost forgot about it for a while, but I’m scared of other people. Again.

“I thought I’d gotten better…”

I could do nothing but sigh at my deep-seated trauma.

“If only I was stronger…”

Why did only Nii-sama and Reiji-san get such strong and powerful bodies, I’m so jealous.

I recalled how big and warm Reiji-san’s back was when he carried me on his back…

My body and mind petrified instantly.

Being alone had the side effects of bringing back memories of what happened when I was delirious with fever.

I was seen nude directly from the front.

I felt so safe and secure when I snuggled up to him in my piggyback ride.

I asked him to spoil me by holding my hand before I fell asleep.

…OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

I was feeling sick and feeble back there, but still…!

If only it had been my carelessness alone, if that’s all there is to it, it’s still perfectly fine for me…!

The problem… the problem is…! In my foggy consciousness, which I wasn’t even sure if it’s dream or reality, I heard those words reach my ears…

“SHE’S… MINE!”

“SO KEEP YOUR DIRTY HAND OUT OF MY WOMAN YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

WAAAAAAAAAAAH?!

I felt like my face was on fire.

Any fear I’d felt was all blown away.

Reiji-san… just why?! Why did you have to say that?!

If that was a dream, then please let me wake up from it!

But, what if it was real? How… just how am I supposed to react if it was real?!

Even worse was that… I don’t really hate it. Far from it, in fact, I was really hap- NOOOOOOO!!

“WAAAAAAAAAAH?!”

I buried my face in the futon, desperately trying to quell the thoughts that seemed to spiral out of control, all alone in my carousel of agony…

“You alright in there? I’m coming in.”

“Yesh! Come inh!”

I stuttered?!

I hurriedly combed my hair that had become shaggy again, and was barely able to put the cardigan over my nightgown when the door clicked open.

“Sorry for intruding on your rest… Why do you look so out of breath?”

“It’s… nothing… Please don’t… worry about it…”

While I was gasping for breath, Nii-sama just shrugged his shoulders and watched…  I threw my pillow at him.

Inside the room, it’s just me, Reiji-san and Nii-sama… well, Ayame, there’s no need for her to act when no one else is around.

The two of them shared everything they knew about the “White Book”, and I told them as much as I knew about the day of my reincarnation in return.

Suddenly, a geometric pattern of crimson spawned from the book and ran in all directions to the white world where the reincarnation took place.

Shadows extended from the book and restrained my body, penetrating it and rewriting my entire existence.

I’d tried to forget about it out of terror, but that was clearly an anomaly.

“So that’s what happened…”

“It’s completely different from ours… I’m sorry, we should have asked about that earlier.”

“That wasn’t your fault… I, too, had forgotten about it until just now.”

But if that book really was the cause… the only person who could do such a thing was the one who single-handedly wrote the entire source code for that game.

“When you said he was likely to be the former king Aureolus in this world, I was inclined to agree, but…”

There’s a serious problem with that train of thoughts, namely…

“The former king was a Highborn, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“He was. I just don’t understand how…”

The royal family of the Magical Kingdom of Nordglacier consisted of mostly Highborn, who excelled in magic. That included its previous king, Aureolus, as well.

However, Aureo-san in my old world had no such wings, and if he had, it would definitely be a big deal over there.

“What if that Aureo guy somehow converted himself into a Lightwing like Iris?”

“There’s no way that could have happened.”

Ayame immediately rejected Reiji-san’s theory. I’m with her on this one.

If he really could turn himself or anyone else into a Lightwing, would he have bothered to go through all this hurdle to send a bunch of people from our world into his?

“So we still have to travel to the royal capital to find that Higami dude after all?”

“Yes. We aren’t getting anywhere close to the answer no matter how hard we think at the moment.”

“I know right…”

And that concluded our discussion on the White Book topic.

However, there’s something else I was more concerned about, something that the two of them forgot because they were too focused on “the magic book that recreates the Lightwing race”.

“…By the way, aren’t you two forgetting something important?”

“Hmm?”

“If Aureo-san is really that Aureolus person, then how did he come to our world in the first place?”

“…Ah.”

“Damn, my mind was going in the opposite direction, so I completely missed it… What a shame…”

“You’re right, Iris, how did we miss something that important?”

Or perhaps it is something we ourselves had given up on somewhere along the way and tried not to think about.

If our speculation about Aureo-san was correct, it was a gospel that could not have been better for us.

It still remained a possibility.

How it will be done is yet to be imagined.

The question of what would happen to our current bodies also exists.

But… the possibility was no longer zero. It’s infinitely far from zero.

Someone from this world had indeed travelled to ours… that means!

“”“We can finally go home!”””

The three of us stood face to face, our faces beaming with joy, our voice overlapped with each other.

Amidst my life in another world with no foreseeable future, a ray of hope as small as a spider’s thread had sprouted.

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Reiji

“Recreating… the Lightwing?”

If such a thing existed, no wonder every country would want it for themselves at all costs. Is that why it was stolen…?

“Unfortunately, no one was able to find out how to use it, so they slowly lost interest and dismissed it as a legend…”

“I don’t get it. Didn’t your ancestors create that book?”

“As painful as it sounds, the truth of the matter is very unclear. The book first appeared during the end of the Old Magic Era. By that time, the Lightwing race had all but disappeared from the world.”

I think I’d read something like that in the game’s lore.

At the end of the Old Magic Era, the Lightwing race, whose blood had been diluted by forced intermarriage with other races, had mostly lost their wings and healing arts.

The few remaining who still retained their ability were placed under Acropolis’ custody at the center of the world.

At present, most of the royal families of each country were descended from the Lightwing race.

But none of them possessed a silver of power the former Lightwing race once had.

It was a hard to stomach story… and that’s why the book’s existence is really dangerous.

“In the end, the battered and bruised Lightwing knight who once accompanied Sacred Daughter-sama suddenly turned up at our village with the book, and asked for it to be sealed there.”

“Can you tell me more about your… village?”

So I’m assuming the soul sealed in the White Book belonged to the Sacred Daughter, who was probably the mistress (?) of this knight guy.

If the story Aini-san told me was true, I have to wonder why the knight decided to leave such an important item in the hands of unrelated people. What if they got greedy and stole the book for themselves?

“That’s… I’m sorry, I can’t tell you at the moment… Oh, right, when you look at me, which race do you think I am?”

“…Huh? Aren’t you human?”

Aini-san doesn’t have wings like Saul, nor does she have horns on her head like Miriam. By process of elimination…

“No… Several people in my village, me included, despite our thin blood, aren’t strictly humans.”

“Don’t tell me you’re…”

A person who looked like a regular human, but actually not.

I knew someone else who fit that description perfectly.

“…Actually, if you don’t want to talk about it further, I won’t pry. I’m in your debt after all.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Reiji-san. You’re a big help.”

“Still… if someone found a way to use the book no one had been able to use, could they have used it on Iris?”

“It’s hard to believe, but after seeing such a powerful Lightwing with my own eyes, I can’t help but suspect that the book has something to do with this girl.”

“…”

Memories that I had completely forgotten came flooding back to my mind.

“When you two changed classes, did you have three options?”

“Um, a unique race called Lightwing.”

“Saul, Reiji, something’s happening!”

The day we were thrown into this world, there was indeed something strange going on during her reincarnation event.

I didn’t give it much thought due to so many things going on, but a white book was certainly present during her reincarnation.

Unthinkable as it might sound, there’s only one way I can think of it.

Someone had brought over the “White Book” into our world, and put it inside a video game there.

But who did it? And why?

“So… If you happen to have any clues as to the book’s whereabouts, I would appreciate it.”

“Sorry, I’m in the dark about this too. Once I discuss this with Saul, we’ll get back to you if we find anything, is that okay?”

“Of course… and please do keep this matter to yourselves.”

When we returned to town, the commotion had been completely quelled.

The guards were now either returning to their homes, or running about to clean up the aftermath.

It was still dark, but dawn was approaching.

Apparently, some people had volunteered to open up an emergency kitchen. The nice smell of what seemed to be soup wafted in the air.

In the meantime, Aini-san escorted Iris back to the clinic, followed by the overly enthusiastic knights… well, she’s their Princess after all.

I left those guys to it and looked around for Saul, but found old man Walter instead.

It seemed that the rest of the mercenaries had caught up to this place.

“Hello there, old man. You’re faster than I thought.”

“So you’ve returned with the young lady, Reiji… Good work out there.”

We bumped our fists in celebration.

To be honest, I was glad to be praised by a great warrior such as him… but confirming our situation took higher priority.

“It seems that everything has been taken care of. Any casualties on our side?”

“Nothing serious at all. That prince kept most of the enemies at bay… though it caused another problem later on.”

“Problem? What happened?”

“Don’t worry, he isn’t injured or anything. Think about it, when a guy with such an appearance single-handedly protected the entire town, you know the ladies aren’t gonna leave him alone.”

“Ah…”

Looks like he was in a great predicament. Too bad, ladies, he’s actually Ayame-chan on the inside.

“I have something important to discuss with him, so can you get Lenny-san and Philias-san to take care of Iris?”

“No problem. I’ll call them over…”

Old man Walter’s words trailed off mid-sentence.

His gaze was fixed behind my back.

I turned around to see the grandpa from before, who had apparently finished giving instructions to the knights, looking at old man Walter with eyes as if he were watching his grown son.

“…What are you doing here, Master?”

“Long time no see, young Walter. And didn’t I tell you to stop calling me Master? I have nothing more to teach you, so you should regard me as an equal.”

So that grandpa and old man Walter were master and pupil?

“……Leaving that aside, we’re here to expel the rats that have become active recently. We’ve destroyed the nest, but we can’t let our guard down for a while yet.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem if you’re here, sir. Since you’ve brought the knights with you, I have a favor to ask.”

“Hmm… You wish to divert my knights away from the mission entrusted to us by His Majesty? You’d better have a good reason.”

“If this isn’t good enough, I don’t know what else. A ‘Wound’ has occurred in this town’s vicinity. I’m sure this is a matter of the highest priority for you as well.”

“…Tell me more about it, in details.”

I bowed my head and excused myself when those two started having a heavy discussion, then resumed my search for Saul.

I darted my eyes around and saw a certain pair of siblings coming toward me… Zeltis-san and Philias-san.

“Hey, Zeltis, nice save with the sword. Thanks.”

I took the long sword from my belt and returned it to its owner. This thing really did save my life.

…Though, I must find a replacement weapon soon enough. Using “Form is Emptiness” in extended combat was practically impossible.

“Good to see you again, Reiji-kun. It seems that both you and the Princess have safely returned.”

“She’ll have to stay in bed for a few days because of poor health, though.”

“Oh, no… Why does misfortune have to befall the Princess again…”

I let out a chuckle at the crestfallen Zeltis. This guy’s such a weirdo, but he’s good at heart.

For now, I left him alone in his own fantasy world and talked to Philias-san next to him, who was stunned speechless by the news.

“So, Philias-san, can I leave Iris in your care for a little while? I have an urgent matter to discuss with Saul. She’s supposed to be at Aini-san’s clinic.”

“Got it. I’ll get Lenny and go there as soon as possible.”

“Thanks.”

As for Saul, well, it didn’t take long for me to find him.

He was completely trapped by the women surrounding him from all sides, from whom he wanted to break free but couldn’t do anything rough.

“Where’re you from?”

“Do you have any lover?”

He answered their questions with a smile, but I’m sure he’s pretty fed up by now. His facial expression hadn’t moved at all since a while ago.

It sure is a good thing that no one finds out he’s a prince…

In contrast, the jealousy of the men around me was like a volcano about to erupt. Yikes.

Back in the game days, I used to have a fan club, perhaps because I was accompanying Iris all the time. Guess this is how it feels from an outsider’s perspective…

When I was thinking about such things, my eyes met Saul’s.

“Hey, Reiji, you’re back at last!”

“Yeah, Iris’ safe now. Can I talk to you for a bit-”

“I’ll be there in a sec! You hear him, ladies, I’m sorry but I have to go with him! It’s important!”

As soon as he got himself a legit excuse to leave, he pushed past everybody and broke through the “encirclement” with lightning speed.

“…Thank goodness, you saved me.”

“It was rough, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah… I’d rather tank five Frost Panthers at once than deal with that.”

“…If I may start from the conclusion, I think the book that appeared during the reincarnation event was indeed the ‘White Book’.”

We then moved to the outer wall of the east gate from which I had just returned and discussed what I had heard so far.

Saul was listening intently with a serious expression on his face all the while, and said such a thing when I finally finished.

“You seem really certain.”

“Yes, everything’s finally come together. I don’t blame Reiji-san for not knowing, though, because you’ve never met him.”

“Who?”

Little by little, Saul… Ayame-chan recounted her story.

“…Twenty-five years ago. I wasn’t born at that time, and neither did you nor Onii-chan until a year later. I can only think of one event from that year that might be relevant.”

“And? I’m wondering about that myself, but I can’t seem to remember anything…”

“That’s understandable. He didn’t come into spotlight until a few years after his arrival.”

Ayame-chan gave a small cough and began speaking again.

“On that year… the unparalleled genius of unknown origins… Mr. ‘Aureo Uber’ came out to the world. You may know him better as the creator of the game we played.”

“Huh…?”

According to Ayame-chan, he was the one who introduced a new VR technology that he built himself from the ground up, which was so groundbreaking that it was indistinguishable from magic.

But twenty-five years ago, he was just a nobody who just submitted his thesis on the basic theory.

At that time, most people thought of his idea as “mere fairytale”, but a complete prototype was finished just a few years later.

“Sometimes, I wonder how he somewhat resembles the King of Nordglacier in the game, but I think I finally have an answer.”

The White Book we thought of as only an object in “Worldgate Online”.

The previous king of Nordglacier disappeared around the same time as the book.

“Hey, don’t tell me that Aureo guy is…”

“This is still purely my speculation… but I can’t think of any other possibility… We now have another thing to confirm once we meet up with Higami-san.”

After a short pause, Ayame-chan firmly spoke.

“Aureo Uber is the same person as this world’s ‘Aureolus Nordglacier’.”

(Author’s Note)

The protagonists’ side finally connected the dots.

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Reiji

“All illegal immigrants have been purged from Nordglacier soil. We shall now proceed with our duty as Her Highness’ guards.”

When the elderly knight sternly gave his command, the knights around him, who had been kneeling before Iris, all stood up and returned a salute in an orderly fashion.

As I watched them moving about in amazement… I suddenly felt someone’s gaze on me.

I turned around and see the elderly knight staring at me.

His pure-white hair and moustache tells me he’s already in old age, but his lean and sturdy physique showed no signs of decline.

His eyes were so sharp and all-seeing that I could feel the sheer pressure from just his gaze alone.

Did I just land myself in hot water?

Come to think of it, I’d been carrying the princess of this country in my arm the entire time… Yikes, I don’t know how aristocratic society works, but what they saw me doing that as a sign of disrespect to royalty?

Cold sweat broke out all over my body.

“Mmm… It’s just like he said, you seem to be a fine youngster. Don’t be so nervous, I can see that you mean no harm.”

His stern expression was replaced by a broad smile, as if he were just a simple old gentleman. I finally relaxed my shoulder.

“…Couldn’t you have said that sooner? I think I just lost a few years off my life…”

“I beg your pardon. For all your effort in rescuing and protecting the Princess up until this point, you have my gratitude, young swordsman.”

“Do you already know me or something?”

“I’ve been in touch with young Walter recently, and I have a general idea of what’s going on, so be at ease. Though, I still can’t believe that the prince and princess traveling with you have lost their memories…”

So that old man Walter was still “young” in the eyes of this even older man.

Somehow I wasn’t even surprised that he was acquainted with such a big shot.

“…Long ago, the Princess lived with me for a while, and with all due respect, I did think of her as my own granddaughter… I really appreciate you protecting her all this time.”

“O-Oh come on, you don’t have to make it such a big deal… There’s no way I can abandon her, that’s all.”

Scratching my head, I asked him to look up.

We’re just best friends, and best friends are supposed to look out for each other, right? To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable being treated like a knight saving a princess.

In my distress, help came from behind.

“It’s been a while, Ashley-sama.”

“If it isn’t Lady Aini. I’m glad to see you still alive and well. Nevertheless, I’ve heard about you acting as a secret agent. You must be carrying out an extremely important mission in this remote region.”

The elderly former Knight Commander bowed his head and spoke to Aini-san with reverence.

Just who’s this woman? With her good luck, I expected her to be another noblewoman or something.

“Uh… You two know each other?”

“Well, let’s just say he’s an acquaintance of my family…”

“Lady Aini is the granddaughter of the king two generations ago’s consort’s sister… In short, she’s the previous king’s niece.”

“…Excuse me?!”

She’s royalty?!

“Even if you call it that, my connection to the royal family is very distant. I myself identify as neither royalty nor aristocrat.”

“Still… that’s an amazing family tree you’ve got there.”

At this rate, my head’s gonna burst with just how over the top things have been today.

It’s not even a full day since that mayor called us in this morning… Seriously, what an intense day it’s been.

“In any case… we can’t let the Princess exposed to the night wind any further. You must be exhausted by now, so make use of that wagon, by all means. One of my men will take the reins.”

“Thanks for the offer, but…”

To be honest, I’m dead tired from all that running and using “Form is Emptiness”.

“Leaving Hayato, who’s passed out, and Aini-san, who’s female, aside, is it fine for a commoner like me to sit in the same wagon as your royal Princess?”

“I agree that it’s not the most ideal… but since Lady Aini is here, we’ll pretend that we didn’t see anything, that a wandering healer is traveling with you, and the Princess is still missing.”

“That’s very generous of you.”

I thought a former Knight Commander to be a disciplined and rigid man, but he’s surprisingly broad-minded, despite his appearance.

“I’m a bit ashamed to say this, but it seems she’ll be safer with you around, so it can’t be helped…”

He put his hand on my shoulder.

“I can entrust her to you, right? Yes, I’ll be counting on you in the future as well.”

“Yes, I understand, I’ll do my best, ahahaha…”

I somehow managed to blurt out a few words while in pain from having my shoulder gripped.

Forget everything I said about him before, this old man is frighteningly overprotective to his precious granddaughter.

Let’s not do anything rash in front of him, lest his sword cuts me into mincemeat.

In the end, the mayor had “gracefully” lent us his escape wagon since he wasn’t in any condition to use it, and we were going to make full use of that.

“Good grief… Ashley-ojisama is a bit much, isn’t he?”

Aini-san, who boarded the wagon while grumbling and complaining, immediately began to check on Iris’ condition.

Her expression darkened. Iris’ condition must have worsened.

“When we get back, she must absolutely stay in bed for a few days.”

“Sorry for troubling you again…”

I brushed away my hair that’s stuck to my forehead from sweat and looked at Aini-san again, with Hayato on her lap.

“You sure get along well with Hayato.”

“I know right? We’ve been together for only a month, but I can’t imagine life without him anymore.”

Aini-san gazed at the sleeping Hayato with the expression of a gentle older sister watching over her younger brother, who is a handful. The way she wiped his wound with a damp handkerchief was so gentle…

“…You have taste like that?”

The temperature seemed to drop several degrees.

Shit, my tongue slipped.

“My, it’s actually kind of funny when you of all people say that.”

…Ah. I just stepped on a minefield.

While she didn’t tell me “Shut up, lolicon” or anything like that outright, I couldn’t stop shaking when I looked at her supposed-to-be-smiling face. What a scary woman.

“You know, Reiji-san… When you fought earlier, you were so passionate that I got a little envious of you.”

“Huh? What do you mean-”

“Um… ‘She’s mine’, was it?”

“D-Did I really say that?!”

“What about ‘keep your dirty hand out of my woman you son of a bitch’?”

“W-W-Wait a minute! It was just a spur of the moment thing!”

“No need to be so shy… I, for one, would love to be told something like that too.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please forgive me for what I said earlier!”

Oh my god, I might need a deep hole to jump in if Iris was awake to hear all of that crap!

“I beg you, please don’t tell Iris about this…”

“Hehe, she might be pleased if I do, though.”

“Give me a break already…”

Just imagine how she would feel when her best friend, with whom she used to be the same sex, said that to her… I’m afraid our relationship would change irreversibly.

“Well, I can promise that ‘I won’t tell her’.”

“What did you just say?”

“Nevermind then. More importantly…”

Aini-san suddenly straightened her posture. I felt something important was about to be discussed, so I followed suit.

“Let me ask you something… Is this girl unmistakably a child of the Lightwing race?”

“…?! How did you-”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Apparently, she was already convinced of this and was just asking me for confirmation.

Seemingly unfazed by my answer, she continued.

“Then I have another question. Have you ever seen a book with a splendid cover but has absolutely no writing inside?”

“What?!”

“…It seems that you know about it.”

“Well, no, but actually kind of…”

I remembered now. I’d indeed seen it exactly once.

Back in “Worldgate Online”… during the reincarnation event.

At that time, I only thought of it as “a part of the game’s graphic”. But what if it wasn’t?

“…Actually, that was probably my imagination. Is the book really important?”

“Yes, it’s the entire reason why I left the village where I was born to partake in this secret agent business.”

She seemed hesitant to speak… was she worried about being eavesdropped upon?

“Its name is simply the ‘White Book’. But the thing is, it’s been stolen from where it was tightly sealed in our village, twenty-five years ago. Not to mention… the previous king, His Majesty Aureolus the ‘Sorcerer King’ mysteriously disappeared a few days after.”

Twenty-five years ago.

That was the year before I, no Iris… Yanagi was born.

It’d be fine if it’s simply a coincidence, but something felt off about all this. The year before we were born, there must have been some big event, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

The next words she said blew away any likelihood of a coincidence.

“It’s said that the soul of the last ‘Sacred Daughter’, who’s the final surviving bloodline of the Lightwing, is sealed within the book… and the book itself is a magical device used to recreate the Lightwing race.”   

(TL: The reverse shall be clarified…)

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Hayato

“Goddamned brat!”

A man swung his sword down before my very eyes. But I focused my attention on the phantom behind him instead.

My perspective switched.

I swapped places with my phantom, the man from before was now exposing his back in front of me as he only managed to cut the phantom where I used to be.

“Raaah!”

I leapt up like a spring and slammed my heel into the side of his head, knocking him out instantly.

I then reached into my waist pouch for my paper dolls in order to replenish my phantoms…

There was nothing inside.

“…Shit!”

Those paper dolls were catalysts made from expensive paper and ink, so I didn’t bring enough of them, dammit!

Someone came slashing at me from behind, but I dove under him and slammed my elbow into his stomach.

“Ack! Accursed brat!”

For a moment, I grunted and nearly collapsed from the recoil, but I quickly recovered and hurriedly avoided the sword that was now swinging at me again.

“Not so fast now, eh?!”

“Just shut up already!”

While cursing at him, I pulled out a stick shuriken from my scarf and threw it along with a talisman taken from my pocket.

“’Hono-Ikazuchi’!”

The shuriken struck the man’s armor, sending spark flying, then…

“Gyaaaaaaah?! It burns!!”

He rolled around in a pillar of fire and the unpleasant smell of burning hair and skin.

“What the hell are you doing?! He’s just a single brat!”

“Surround him, quickly!”

The band of thugs regrouped and started to swarm around me. A quick look at them showed that they’d sealed off all the openings that I could use to escape.

Despite their crude appearance and demeanor, this was a reminder that they were real-deal mercenaries who were more disciplined than I had expected.

As the enemies closed in all at once, my consciousness flew to the last of my phantoms that was holding up the rear… While doing so, I activated the mechanism engraved in the paper doll that served as the phantom’s core.

“’Return to Dust!’”

The men stabbed the phantom… The next moment, with a flash of light, the phantom burst into flames and spewed shock, engulfing everyone in its vicinity. The surrounding area was enveloped in a cloud of dust and smoke that took away visibility.

Good, now I can use the dust cloud to escape… that’s what I thought.

“Got you at last, brat!”

“Gah?!”

A kick flew at me from the side of the road, and I was helplessly blown away.

My light body bounced a few times on the ground from the kick of the large man, and finally stopped when my back collided with a tree on the side of the road.

“…(coughs, hacks)”

As I coughed heavily from the impact, a man whose face was flushed red with rage grabbed me by the collar and hung me in midair.

But grabbing me by the clothes is a bad move, you know?

Stifling the pain of being kicked, I activated the seal hidden in my clothes with my finger.

“Don’t even think you’ll get any mercy because you’re a kid… Woah?!”

In front of his eyes, my outer robes exploded, and he unintentionally let go of me.

Crouching at his feet, I used the skill that I was thinking about.

Assassin’s unique skill, “Cloak”.

It could be used even in combat if my opponent was turning his attention away for any reason. While being unseen, I went behind the man who was confused by my sudden disappearance…

A process repeated countless times, to the point I could do it almost unconsciously.

“Huh? Where are you, brat…”

Out of fear, I involuntarily released the skill that had been sealed during the fight until now, as my instincts from the game days took over…

I used “Assassinate” on the man’s defenseless back.

It was already too late when I realized it, and from a low stance, I thrust my dagger into the man’s side, sliced through his spine, and passed between his shoulder and neck.

The trajectory of the blade, illuminated azure by the moonlight, drew a half-moon, and a large amount of blood danced in the darkness before turning into a rain of blood.

“…?!”

The man collapsed, his final expression being that of confusion, splattering fresh blood and entrails everywhere.

“Ah… Ahhh…”

My hands trembled at the feel of the sticky blood on my cheeks.

I messed up.

I was trying to avoid taking as much life as possible, but I messed up!

“Urk! (vomits)”

The feeling of a human body cut open that lingered in my hands, and the smell of blood and guts that filled the air, made me dump the contents of my stomach on the spot.

Coughing, I wiped my mouth and looked up, only to find that I was already surrounded by the dead man’s comrades.

I guess this is the end for a half-baked Assassin like me.

I’d always known something like this is going to happen as long as I can’t wrap my mind up around the idea of taking someone’s life.

“Nee-chan, did you manage to escape…?”

I mumbled a few words and gazed blankly at the blade that was being swung down.

Am I going to die too…?

“Like I’d let you!”

There was a sound of blades clashing.

“…Reiji-niichan?”

“Sorry, I’m late!”

Reiji-niichan suddenly appeared, holding the Princess in his arm.

Was he seriously going to fight while carrying another person like that?

In the blink of an eye, he took out all the remaining thugs around us.

Wow, he’s so strong and badass…

It’s not just because of his frontliner class. It’s not even a difference in experience.

That Nii-chan simply cared that much about the Princess, and that’s why he’s willing to go in without hesitation for her sake.

So this is the difference between a half-baked like me and a serious combatant. I knew it. From the beginning. I knew I was no match for him.

But… can I become badass like him someday?

“…Hayato-kun!”

“Nee-chan?!”

Nee-chan ran up to me the moment our eyes met… When I came to, I found myself in a hug. My tired body was softly enveloped in a good smell that seems to make the fatigue melt away.

“Oh no, you’re injured all over… Didn’t you promise me to run away when you’re in danger, dummy?!”

It just felt too nice… if only she wasn’t holding me so tightly that I’m having a hard time breathing… Hold on a second. What are those soft things burying my face that’s blocking my breathing…?

“…Waaaaaaah?!”

The moment I realized the situation, I pulled myself away from Nee-chan in a panic.

My face was hot, as if all the blood in my body had gathered in it.

First the Princess, and now Nee-chan, why do you guys have to hug a guy with all your might like that?! Are you idiots?!

Oh, crap, I think I’m going to faint…

“…Hayato-kun…?! Hayato-kun…!”

Dammit, I’m so uncool…

Reiji

Man, he really fainted.

I’d been keeping an eye on those two, so I knew what’s going on.

“Hayato-kun?! Can you hear me, Hayato-kun?!”

The unconscious Hayato was being shaken by the tearful Aini-san, who was utterly confused by what happened.

Well, yeah.

I painfully admit that I’d faint too if I were in his shoes.

“…Ah, that was certainly an unhealthy dose for such a young boy. Don’t worry, Aini-san, he’ll get better after waking up.”

“I-I see, that’s good to hear…”

Truth be told, it’s every man’s dream to bury his face and suffocate in those melons at least once in his life. I don’t have the words to express it, but frankly, I envy you, Hayato.

But such a powerful surprise attack must be too much for you to handle. Namusan.

In any case, Aini-san seemed to care about Hayato more than the boy himself was aware.

I couldn’t imagine the distraught look on Aini-san’s face, who seemed so worried earlier, from her normal demeanor.

In any case…

“Well then…”

There’s still some leftover trash that needs cleaning.

Sitting on his butt in the mud was the pig mayor, along with another man in a foreign outfit.

“W-Wait! Damn you, how dare you run away without me?!”

The foreign man turned tail and ran into the forest when he saw me approaching with my sword at the ready.

In panic, the pig bastard staggered to his feet and desperately chased after the foreign man.

Before I could break into a run and chase after them myself, I found someone already there waiting for them.

He was wearing a green surcoat with the hood tightly pulled down, and probably chainmail underneath. Like a knight from a Western movie if you ask me.

When I saw his shadow flickering, the next moment, it was already behind the fleeing man. Then the sound of a sword being sheathed echoed through the forest… Wait what?! When did he pull his sword out in the first place?!

Immediately after, the man who was supposed to be running away rapidly slowed down and fell to the ground, unmoving, after two or three steps. Then I realized the frontal side of his head was already cut off from his body and fell near the knightly man.

“…Holy shit… Is this guy for real…?”

Cold sweat ran down my back.

I couldn’t see anything. At all. Not even at the moment he drew his sword.

If I were still at the peak of my strength when my secondary class was maxed out just before the reincarnation, it could be possible to me to see what happened. But the current me was incapable of doing that.

…Is he equal, or even stronger than Captain Walter?

“E-Eek!”

The mayor slumped over when his “companion” was easily cut down.

Behind a knightly person, a few more people showed up. I could tell by the way they behave that they were all highly trained soldiers.

All of them wore the same crest on their clothing.

Judging from said crest, it seemed that my assistance was no longer needed, so I withdrew my sword and shifted my attention to the sleeping Iris in my arm.

“…Mayor of Diamant Valley, Jorgen-dono.”

The knightly man, who seemed to be the leader, opened his mouth to speak. His voice was slightly hoarse, suggesting that he was quite elderly, but still powerful, nonetheless.

“You’re charged with trading contraband goods and slaves, unjust tax collection, and many others…”

The air around him seemed to get colder as he listed the mayor’s various crimes.

“In this particular case, you’ve also attracted foreign threats… and severely humiliated a member of this country’s royalty. If you resist arrest, you’ll be executed on the spot, but if you submit, you’ll be guaranteed a chance to explain in court… but I think you’ll never see the light of day again as you spend the rest of your life behind bars.”

“R-Royalty?! H-How… No, I was tricked! They fooled me into doing that! It wasn’t my fault!”

The elderly knight sighed deeply.

“Whatever the truth is, it no longer matters. You’ve lost the right to excuse yourself the moment you laid your hand on such a sacred and inviolable being. Men, take him away!”

The pig mayor was then dragged away screaming by the elderly knight’s companions… Oh shit, I still have to get rid of the collar on Iris’ neck!

“Hold on a second! Search his body, he must have the key!”

I called out to the knights while pointing at the collar.

The moment they saw it, I felt a tremendous killing intent emanating from every single one of them, but I’m going to pretend I didn’t notice…

When they were done searching the pig mayor’s body, he was already unconscious and foaming at his mouth. As expected, he was hiding a small key on his body.

Finally… Aini-san told me it was a pretty nasty thing, so the sooner we get rid of it, the better.

“Please excuse me…”

The elderly knight, representing everyone, reverently touched Iris’ collar with utmost care, gently inserted the key and snapped it into place.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the collar finally came off with a clatter.

“Well then…”

He took his hood off and kneeled to me… no, to the sleeping Iris in my arm. The knights standing behind him did the same.

I was taken aback by the sudden occurrence, but when I saw the face of the elderly knight, everything clicked into place.

I know this old man.

No, it’s more like every single player who belonged to Nordglacier in the game days knew about him.

“You’re… the former Commander of Nordglacier Knight Order… Ashley Rolandia…?!”

Basically, he was supposed to be in the royal capital. What was he doing all the way out here?

Long story short, when Iris was selected to become a semi-official character in the game, he was a major supporting NPC during the event that followed.

He was also the father of Count Roland… whose territory was our next destination.

It’s said that when his son took up his current position, he stepped down himself, for fear of power concentrating in a single family, and since then he had been working as an advisor.

He was the best magic swordsman in this kingdom, and unlike me, who only had the class title back in the game to my name…

…That old man’s a bona-fide Sword Saint.

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Reiji

Following the marks left by Hayato, I frantically ran through the forest.

Even though it was nighttime, the visibility wasn’t too bad, thanks to the innate night vision this body possesses, combined with the fact that this world has two moons instead of one… Still, I have to hurry and catch up with Hayato as soon as possible.

After running like that for a while, I spotted two humanoid figures from across the road, whose golden and silver hair shone brightly in the darkness… Wait, aren’t they…?!

“Aini-san! Iris!”

It was Aini-san, who was supposed to be kidnapped, came walking with Iris on her back. When she noticed me, her tense face broke into a smile.

“Reiji-san, thank goodness… I didn’t know you were this close by.”

“It’s Hayato who led me here… You can leave Iris to me now.”

Iris’ body was small and light, but still a heavy load for the average woman to carry. I thanked Aini-san for bringing her here and held Iris in my left arm.

Her body temperature, which I could feel through the fabric of her thin nightgown, had risen even higher than before. Her feverish face was constantly sweating, and her breathing sounded labored.

And… that heavy collar around her neck. I bit my lip in frustration when I saw such an uncomfortable and immoral object on her delicate body.

“…Rei…ji…san?”

“……”

Iris opened her eyes before I knew it and turned toward me.

“…Reiji-san… Reiji-san… Reiji-san…!”

Immediately, she began crying and clung onto me for dear life. The look on her face was awfully similar to that traumatic day. Despite my trembling hands, I managed to hug her closely.

“Yeah, it’s me… You’re gonna be alright, because I’m here.”

“…Thank you… I had… a terrifying dream… but yes… Reiji-san’s here…”

With glazed eyes, she spoke to me as if she was in a trance or something. Whatever happened back there must have really messed her up.

“It was just a bad dream, yes… now, sleep well, okay?”

“O…kay…”

She quickly fell asleep again, perhaps reaching the limits of her physical strength.

Even in her sleep, tears were still dripping from the corners of her eyes… but at least her expression was peaceful, which is a slight relief for me.

“Um, can I ask something? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but that was clearly the symptoms of some kind of psychological trauma. Just what happened to her?”

“…Right, I suppose I should tell you. She was captured by bandits. While we managed to save her before something irreversible happened, well, that sure left some huge mental scars on her.”

“I see… It must be painful for all of you…”

“Of course… I thought she’d get better once she gets to know and interact with more people, but now she’s like this again… Shit!”

I was concerned that she might go back to square one. After all, the current situation was similar to that time, whether we liked it or not.

“…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let my patient become like this…”

“I don’t blame you, Aini-san. We’re at fault for dragging you into this mess… By the way, where’s Hayato?”

Despite Hayato being the one who led me here, he was still nowhere to be seen. Neither was the mayor’s private army, who should be pursuing the escaped hostages.

The stealth-class Hayato had unparalleled striking power under special circumstances, but in face-to-face combat in an exposed position, he was no better than Saul or me. What if he had to fight the mayor’s goons all by himself…?

“He remained behind so that both of us could escape… Please, save him as well…”

“Damn… Gotcha, I’ll be on my way now-”

No wonder Saul was concerned about him so much, that boy had a much bigger backbone than I gave him credit for.

It was because of him that I was able to save Iris, so I could obviously never leave him behind.

As I was about to run back the way Aini-san came, I felt a chill.

“Watch out!”

“Kyah?!”

I jumped back with Iris in tow and grabbed Aini-san with my right arm, which was still free.

A throwing knife was stuck on the ground nearby. It was clearly aimed at me.

“I missed… Such good instincts you have. I was hoping this job’s not too much of a trouble.”

One by one, black-clad figures appeared from the shadows of the trees.

There were seven of them as far as I could see. But I sensed more of them lurking nearby.

All of them wore black robes to blend into the night, complete with an unadorned black mask to hide their faces except the eyes. Armed with claws, daggers, chain scythes and other weapons, apparently those people were out for my blood.

Assassins after my ass? Great.

“Who the hell are you?”

“…Leave that girl behind. Our employers wish to see her one way or another.”

A voice came from somewhere. It sounded as if perhaps their leader or some other person was speaking on behalf of them, but, I couldn’t tell which of the black-clad people is speaking.

But more than such trivial matters… he said something that I couldn’t ignore.

“Your employers?”

“Correct. That lowly mayor is nothing compared to them. If you don’t comply, consider your life forfeit… right here.”

I felt Aini-san pulling on my sleeve. When I glanced at her, she was staring daggers into those men.

“They seem to be from the ‘Black Cheshire’, the largest underground organization of the Trade Federation on the western continent… I heard that there was a recent complication with their personnel and that many of their executives had changed…”

“Wow, how nice of them to cross continents just to see us. So they’re the real culprits enabling that pig mayor’s scheme?”

But why would they target Iris?

The way they were talking now, it was as if their employers had already known about her existence.

That brings the question of how they managed to obtain such knowledge.

“…If you still can’t make up your mind because of your pride or whatever getting in your way, perhaps this will help.”

A leather bag fell with a heavy thud to the ground in front of me.

“…What the hell are you on about?”

“There’s enough money in it for a traveler like you to live for a few years. If you still want to live, take it, leave the girl here, and get lost.”

“…Heh.”

I stooped down and picked up the leather bag.

“R-Reiji-san?”

I could hear Aini-san raising her voice in confusion. However, I repeated the action of lightly releasing the leather bag in my hand and then catching it.

“…You’re being awfully generous, you know?”

“That’s simply how much the girl’s worth. A clueless vagabond like you has no right to carry such a treasure around while knowing nothing about her true values.”

“So, what if I take the money and you guys still kill me anyway?”

“I can assure you that we’ll keep our words. Or perhaps you want even more money…?”

I’d had enough of his prattling, which was getting more and more annoying every word he spoke.

“Keh, haha… hahahahaha!”

I guess people have to laugh when things become so ridiculous that it’s beyond their tolerance.

The weight I felt in my hand made me understand that it is definitely full of gold coins.

Does it even matter, though?

“DON’T FUCK WITH ME, YOU PIECES OF SHIT!!!”

Without warning, I tossed the leather bag into the air and slashed at it in anger.

My sword caught fire the moment it came out of the scabbard, instantly turning the leather bag to ash and scattering the golden mass of its contents into a red-hot mess on the ground.

The sheer firepower caused the men in black to be alert, but it’s too late for those fuckers now, for they had poked the hornet’s nest!

“…Hey, assholes… Was that supposed to be a joke? Because that’s the shittiest joke I’d ever had the displeasure to hear!!”

Too unfunny. One hundred percent unfunny.

Every single one of these assholes would gladly hunt down and trample on Iris’ life for such a pathetic reason like money or power.

And I’m so fucking sick and tired of this shit!!

“Aini-san.”

“Y-Yes?!”

My voice came out colder than expected.

I felt bad for Aini-san behind me, whose face turned pale… but I couldn’t seem to contain this simmering feeling in my gut. I’m really sorry for scaring you, Aini-san.

“Did those guys put the collar on Iris?”

“…It was the mayor. But I’m sure they were the ones who brought him the collar in the first place.”

“So that’s how it is.”

I regulated my breathing.

Not to calm myself down, I had no intention of doing so.

I wanted to reforge my blade and sharpen my will to kill with my anger.

“Sword Saint’s special skill, ‘Form is Emptiness’.”

I raised my hand into the sky and mumbled the name of the skill and had been pouring into my mind.

Twelve translucent, shining swords manifested out of thin air.

They then swooped down and formed a circle around me and Aini-san to protect us.

“…Sorry to ask you this, Aini-san… but do not leave this circle of swords at all costs. I’m not sure if I can avoid inadvertently cutting you if you step outside.”

“O-Okay, I won’t…”

After confirming that she remained close by, I re-held Iris in my arm and prepared for battle.

“……Fool. We’ve heard about your bravery, but you’re no match for us…”

“Stop the pointless chatter and come at me already.”

I wondered which one is the bastard who spewed out that pile of crap on behalf of these assholes… Whatever, I’ll just cut them down all the same.

Each of them was quite skilled in their movements. And there were a lot of them. I’m sure they saw us fighting back in the town and brought as many as they needed… but!

“Die!”

“Fuck off!”

One claw wielder jumped in ahead of the others. I simply grabbed one of the floating “swords” and swung it at him.

As he tried to block it with his claws…

“…?!”

The “sword” cut through his defense like hot knife through butter before vertically bisecting him from head to crotch and disintegrating.

Drat, this one’s a decoy. I sense in the air more of them coming from other directions.

“Compared to Hayato, your skills is nowhere near his!”

Back in that tunnel, Hayato didn’t give the slightest sign of his presence until just before striking with “Assassinate”, which was much more deadlier!

Turning around, I grabbed another “sword” and swung it at the seemingly empty space.

Crimson blood spread out in a fan shape, and two halves of a human body fell down into the mud.

These “swords” are similar in nature to Iris’ “Solid Ray”, I thought coldly despite still seething with anger.

The difference is that instead of being used for defense, it’s specialized in sharpness and killing power.

Monomolecular cutter. I was reminded of such a thing from my old world.

It’s not a physical blade, but rather a force field formed by my fighting spirit and stretched as close to zero as possible. Therefore, it had the instantaneous and absolute strength that could enter the gap between the molecules of any material and cut them apart without pain.

Twelve swords of absolute cutting ability, each of which would fatally sever anything once before expiring.

And I still had ten of them left. That’s more than enough.

My enemies were growing agitated. Perhaps they had been expecting an easy fight because of their advantage in number, but it’s too late for them to realize their miscalculation now.

If I let even a single one get away, they’d surely come back for Iris!

One of them gave a signal for his comrade behind him, who then turned back, likely to retreat.

The sword that had received my will ran through the air, piercing his back and heart before it collapsed and disappeared, leaving only a stardust-like gleam. Nine more swords to go.

So this is another way to use these swords without having to hold it in my hand.

“Hraaah!”

One of them, sensing the danger, threw something like a dagger at me and Aini-san. It appeared to be wet with some kind of liquid, poison without a doubt.

However, it was intercepted by one of my “swords”, destroying both of them in the process.

Seven left… no, six left. Another sword took off on its own and chopped the head of the man who just threw the dagger right off.

The last thing I wanted in this fight was to burden Iris any further. To do that, I had to kill all of them as fast as possible with minimal movement.

It was a strangely straightforward objective now that I think about it.

In the extreme concentration of my thoughts, color faded from my vision and a monochrome world unfolded.

Amidst the black and white color, stitch-like red lines ran across my field of view, forming a path to my position.

I could tell that the men in black were coming at me from three directions at the same time. The timing of the attacks made it tricky for me to avoid them normally.

I pulled the sword I borrowed from Zeltis out of its sheath and threw it at the man on the right, who would be the slowest to reach me. The sword hit him squarely in the shoulder, and he reeled back in shock.

He would probably get back up and try again, but I could leave him for last.

These assholes think they can do whatever they please, and for what? Money? Power?

By now, one assailant had gotten close enough to lunge at me with his katars, I believe that’s what they’re called.

I grabbed a floating “sword” and cut him off by cleaving haphazardly from right to left. As soon as it got destroyed, I immediately held onto another “sword” that had slipped into my hand in a reverse grip, and promptly thrust it into my opponent’s now-defenseless heart.

Four swords left.

Screw you all… No one will ever take her from me… No one!

Before the splattered blood could even get to me, I kicked the body away and retreated to keep a distance from the man approaching me from the left.

Then, with my entire body, I swung a “sword” that I grabbed from behind, just a bit above Aini-san’s head, who was crouching down for cover, and slashed the claw-wielding man from his right shoulder to his left waist. The top half of his body split off and fell onto the mud while the lower half was still standing.

Without a moment of pause, I let go of the shattered “sword” and pointed my hand toward the man aiming at me with his bow from the shadow. Two “swords” floating behind me took off in pursuit.

One of them shattered the arrow he fired in a panic and disappeared into the void, while the other pierced his head, went straight through his brain and lodged itself into the tree he was hiding in.

This is the last sword…!

I’ll beat the stuffing out of anyone who dares to take her away from me!

I slammed the last remaining “sword” into the enemy on the right side, who had regained his posture after I threw Zeltis’ sword at him earlier. He was cut down without any resistance and the halves of his body slowly went their separate way.

Suddenly, I had a bad feeling running down my back.

I quickly pulled out Zeltis’ sword from the corpse’s shoulder and thrust it into the space behind me.

There was a dull, flesh piercing sensation as it connected with someone’s body.

“Ugh… who on earth are you…?”

I know this one. He was the loudmouth from earlier!

“You ain’t taking Iris anywhere… SHE’S MINE!!!”

I let go of the sword, turned around 180 degrees and grabbed it again.

“SO KEEP YOUR DIRTY HAND OUT OF MY WOMAN YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!”

With as much force as I could muster, I swung the sword across his torso, cutting it in half.

As the last enemy collapsed into the mud, the only living, breathing souls around here were me, Iris in my arm, and Aini-san, who had been following behind me the whole time.

“Is that… all of them?”

Color returned to the world. My overclocked brain became dizzy from the influx of information that ran through it.

My fighting spirit was also all but drained. I felt nauseous from fatigue and dizziness, but I held it in with my strength because I still had to hold Iris in my arms.

“Form is Emptiness”, formidable as it is, was really taxing to use, and not something I could use regularly.

I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that not a drop of blood had been spilled on Iris in my arms.

“Uh, Aini-san? Sorry, I shouldn’t have shown such a gruesome sight to a woman…”

“Eh?! I don’t really mind! It was kind of a surprise, that’s all.”

Pardon?

I thought she should be really taken aback by what I just did, but for some reason her face was slightly red, and she seemed to look at me and Iris with a warm gaze.

Okay, okay, now’s not the time to think about such a thing.

“By the way…”

“I know! We still have to save Hayato! Hurry!”

With that, I started running into the darkness of the night again.

(Author’s Note)

Reiji-san’s kicking some serious ass this chapter. That last part was him yelling his desire out loud because he was carried away by the flow of combat.

About “Form is Emptiness”: It was originally meant to replicate the Sword Saint Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru’s technique (TL: I don’t get this reference), but since he only had one free arm throughout the entire fight, this is how it was used instead.

About the opponents: They were by no means weak, to the extent that  Reiji-san would have to abandon Aini-san and adopt a hit-and-run tactics to pick them off one by one.

Using group tactics, some of them would hold Reiji-san back while the rest finish him off… but they wouldn’t get a chance to do that because each of them got one-shot by Reiji-san, bypassing all kinds of defense.

“Form is Emptiness” is a terrific skill indeed.