Thud, thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the mine.
As we passed each fork in the road, our numbers gradually increased until we’d formed quite a group.
By now, we had enough people that it was difficult to hide our presence. But that wasn’t the real problem.
Tap.
Our walking pace gradually quickened.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—!
At some point, we started running. It was because of Rodelin, who was leading the group.
What had been a slightly fast march had somehow turned into an all-out sprint.
“Huff, huff…!”
The pace was so fast that Rezé eventually started running on all fours, and the others weren’t faring much better.
They were doing their best to keep running on two legs just to preserve their dignity as humans. It was a situation where dropping to all fours wouldn’t be surprising at all.
Perhaps wanting to preserve her honor as royalty, Victoria finally couldn’t take it anymore and shouted.
“Wait! We need to stop for a moment!”
At her near-desperate cry, Rodelin immediately stopped.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Huff… too… huff… too fast. If we keep going like this, we’ll collapse before we even arrive.”
“I don’t know what you mean. We were just walking a bit quickly, and yet you’re struggling. Your stamina training is lacking…”
Rodelin stopped mid-sentence.
She must have noticed our appearance—drenched in sweat like we’d been caught in a rainstorm.
In that moment, a drop of sweat that had been clinging to Rodelin’s chin fell to the ground with a soft ‘plop.’
“Ah…”
Only then did Rodelin check her own condition.
Clothes wrinkled here and there, sweat flowing endlessly, rough breathing crying out for more oxygen.
Having confirmed clear evidence that she was pushing too hard, Rodelin gave an awkward laugh.
“Whew… I’m sorry, everyone. I was in too much of a hurry.”
But this wasn’t a situation where we could rest. In the end, it was settled that Ron would take the lead instead.
“From your reaction, it seems you really didn’t know.”
“Well, it’s natural to worry about family. Of course, if it were me, I’d leave that kind of sister to die.”
The kids who had joined us midway whispered to each other.
That was right. The reason Rodelin was pushing so hard—she was worried about Lowell, who had infiltrated enemy territory alone.
The same went for the war-like training session that had taken place at the previous fork in the road.
It was the result of her worry for her sister consuming her reason.
Rodelin was trying her best to appear calm. Watching her, Luna muttered.
“Will Lady Lowell be alright?”
“Keke, have you grown fond of her despite everything?”
“…Of course I’m worried. Plus, I have a lot of questions to ask her.”
Luna scratched her head.
Questions to ask. It must be related to the Lester family.
“I think she’ll make time for that. After all, we’re Lady Lucia’s students.”
“Right? I’ll ask her right away when it’s over. After taking care of my senior first.”
Luna trotted over and spoke to Rodelin.
The distance was too far to hear, but I could roughly guess what they were talking about.
“Senior, don’t worry too much. Everything’s going according to plan.”
“I know that well. For someone like me to dare worry about my sister—how rude of me.”
“That’s right. Like the Mad Lion she is, she’s probably tearing everyone apart.”
“Even if she’s called that, she doesn’t actually bite people…”
Luna knew better than anyone the longing for family, the pain of losing them. (TL Note: And biting people…)
To worry even about someone as fierce as Lowell—that’s how strong Luna’s attachment to family was.
Perhaps sensing Luna’s feelings, Rodelin let out a small laugh.
“You’re right, Luna. Knights who know no honor and mere lower-class demons—they’re no match for my sister.”
“Exactly. Maybe the situation is already over.”
Rodelin and Luna began chattering away, lost in happy fantasies.
Well, in reality, Lowell was probably…
‘Getting her ass kicked right about now.’
The demon that Baron Kelven contracted with was a lower-class demon.
Normally, it wouldn’t be a match for Lowell, but the ‘contract’ the Lucid family made with the Second Legion Commander was the problem.
If it belonged to the Second Legion, they couldn’t lay a hand on them even if they were below Grade 9, let alone a lower-class demon.
The power to forcibly subjugate Lowell, who was called the Mad Lion.
This was the terror of a contract made with demons.
“Everyone, halt.”
Suddenly, at Ron’s voice striking our ears, everyone stopped.
Because his voice was filled with mana, we could react immediately.
The reason Ron stopped us became clear right away.
“Run! Don’t stop until the next fork!”
“You bastards! Stop right there!”
The sound of dozens of footsteps echoed simultaneously.
We didn’t need to ask what was happening to understand.
“They’re being pursued!”
“We need to cover them!”
The running resumed. But we weren’t as exhausted as before.
Because soon we spotted kids running toward us.
Knights in armor were hot on their heels.
Just as we were about to engage, Ron rushed forward and shouted.
“Don’t cross weapons with them! If we get tangled up, retreating becomes difficult! Remember our strategy!”
That’s right. When facing difficult enemies, our basic strategy was to retreat while gathering more forces.
If we engaged in a full-scale battle, we wouldn’t even be able to think about retreating.
“We need to shake them off with ranged attacks!”
The mages, including Yuridia, began casting, and the archers fired their arrows.
As for us—
“Rezé!”
“Hi, hiiiiiek! D-don’t come any closer!”
BOOM!!
With a massive explosion, several charging knights were sent flying through the air.
Not fatal wounds, but with at least one broken bone each, they were effectively out.
“P-please spare me!”
Rezé cried out while clutching the magic gun.
The magic gun’s weakness—slow reloading.
When sniping from hiding like usual, it wasn’t much of a weakness, but in a situation like this, it was the worst disadvantage.
“Keep running! Leave the rear to me… ugh!”
While Rezé was infusing mana, two knights burst through the smoke and lunged at Instructor Ash.
With a sharp coordinated attack aimed at Ash’s neck, at that very moment—
CLANG!!
Ron intervened and deflected their swords.
“Ron!? Why are you here…!”
“Push through and run!”
“Damn it!”
When he swung his aura-wrapped sword in a wide arc, the knights fell back.
But the situation wasn’t good. Behind them, over a dozen knights appeared.
“Go! I’ll buy time!”
“Should I? Then I’ll go ahead.”
“This is when you’re supposed to say ‘You go!’ or ‘I’ll hold them off instead!'”
“Hot-blooded drama isn’t my style.”
While the two were playing out their little farce, Yuridia finished her casting and stretched out both hands.
Aqua & Freeze.
Crackle—!
Ice flowers bloomed from Yuridia’s fingertips and spread across the ground.
“Double casting!?”
“Double casting at that age!”
“As expected of Lady Yuridia!”
Water spread across the entire upward slope. When it froze, the knights began slipping.
Magic used at the perfect timing to separate allies from enemies.
However—
“Tch!”
Yuridia clicked her tongue. She had failed to freeze all the water.
While the double casting succeeded, it was the aftermath of failing to control it properly.
The knights began advancing, stepping on the unfrozen water.
In the original game, Adonis would throw his spear here to buy time for escape, but—
‘Adonis isn’t here now…!’
At this rate, some of us might get captured. No, not captured—killed.
I looked around, but there was no sign of Adonis appearing.
‘That damn old man. Where the hell is he and what is he doing?’
There was no choice. Here—
I had to step up.
“Don’t just stand there—run!”
“Okay! Got it!”
“Shouldn’t you be staying to hold them off with me!”
Ash grabbed Ron by the hair and took position at the very rear.
A chaotic situation where students fled, instructors prepared for death, and Rezé desperately tried to stuff Luna into a box.
I looked at the water Yuridia had created. With just this, I could…
Use ‘magic.’
After using [Divine Imitation], I reached my hand toward the unfrozen water and muttered inwardly.
Freeze.
CRRRRACK—!!
“Gah!”
“Wh-what!”
“The ice is sharp! Everyone, fall back!”
Massive ice erupted from the ground. Moreover, it was spiked like a mace in places, so the knights had no choice but to retreat.
“Damn it!”
“An ice wall blocking the path? That’s impressive.”
“Instead of admiring it, break it! If they pursue from behind, we’ll have nowhere to run!”
Beyond the ice wall, we could hear the knights exerting themselves.
We immediately turned and began heading back toward the previous fork.
“I’ve never seen such a massive ice wall.”
“As expected of Miss Yuridia! A magical genius!”
Despite her comrades’ cheers, Yuridia said nothing.
“…”
She simply narrowed her eyes and looked at me.
“You’re pretty good, aren’t you?”
And there was one more person sending me the same look as Yuridia.
It was Instructor Ash.
“Keke, what do you mean?”
“Hmph~ Playing innocent too? This guy is really funny.”
“Our Zero is funny. Especially his face.”
“…Ron, could you butt out?”
“Don’t be like that—play with me too.”
Ron wrapped his arm around Ash’s shoulder.
Ash’s response was—
“Die! You smug, insufferable bastard! Just die here!”
A powerful headlock.
While Ron flailed for his life, someone approached from the distance, greeting us.
“Zero! You’re safe.”
It was Alex, the protagonist of this game.
Mm, that golden smile doesn’t lose its shine even in the mine.
The closer he gets to me, the more his art style seems to change—but that must be my imagination, right?
“Z-Zeroooo!”
Raymon rushed over and grabbed onto my waist.
My clothes are fine, thanks. So could you let go?
“Sob, sob! I was so scared!”
“Hey! Get off right now! He’s mine!”
“Z-Zero doesn’t belong to anyone! He belongs to all of us!”
Luna grabbed both of Raymon’s legs and pulled, while Raymon clung to me like a cicada stuck to an old tree.
“Mm-hm! The affection front has no problems.”
“Oh~ Hohoho! The presence of a rival is good fertilizer for growing love.”
Ah, this is truly exhausting. If there was just one more sane person, it wouldn’t be this tiring.
Even amid all this, the story was progressing smoothly.
“But why are you here? And who are these kids?”
After hearing the full story from Ron, Ash nodded.
“I knew it. I had a rough idea from when they assigned me to the first fork instead of the ambush team. I prepared a lot to handle it myself somehow…”
Ash glanced at Ron.
“But instead of earning points, I ended up in debt to the person I least wanted help from.”
“Huh? You don’t mean me, do you?”
“I mean you. You damn bastard.”
“What are you talking about! Then what about our passionate relationship!”
Oooh—
The kids let out cheers, and Ash’s fist immediately flew into Ron.
“I told you not to say things that could be misunderstood. More than anything, I absolutely can’t stand slick, half-assed guys like you!”
“But I like you.”
“…You like getting hit that much? Then I’ll hit you to your heart’s content.”
“No, it’s not that I like getting hit… ugh!”
As Ash was thoroughly stomping on Ron, Yuridia raised her hand and asked a question.
“More importantly, what happened? There were far more knights than expected.”
“They handled it better than I thought. Even after being ambushed, instead of scattering, they fled together to one place…”
Right after Caron’s attack began.
Half the knights held off Caron while the other half stuck together and moved down a single path.
Ash, who had been at the frontline, repeatedly retreated while steadily gathering forces, but once kids started losing stamina, Ash had no choice but to allow pursuit.
Shortly after, we safely arrived at the fork in the road.
Ash assessed the position and forces, then muttered.
“With these numbers… we might be able to pull this off.”
–TL Notes–
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Ron locking in was beautiful to see
And Luna bonding with Rodelin too