Meanwhile, at the location where the battle with the knights had taken place.
“Everyone surrender! Urek, the academy’s guardian, has arrived!”
“P-please surrender. I’m begging you!”
Shortly after Squirrel Mask left, reinforcements arrived one after another.
As their numbers exceeded several dozen, the knights had no choice but to declare their surrender.
“Get tied up quietly!”
“Haha! How’s that for our strength!”
“Huhu, to think we beat knights. Does that make me equal to a knight? Maybe… I was a genius all along.”
The knights were bound one by one by the instructors and students. As Ash examined them one by one, Ash discovered something strange.
‘Not a single person died?’
The knights’ side was trying to escape, the academy’s side was trying to survive.
It had been a fierce battle where both sides risked their lives. Every attack was delivered with complete sincerity.
And yet not a single person died?
Ash soon realized the reason.
“Squirrel Mask… their skills exceed imagination.”
While protecting the students, they had only inflicted injuries severe enough to make the knights unable to continue fighting.
It would have been easier to kill them, so why show such mercy?
“…I really can’t figure it out.”
Ash prided herself on her insight, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t determine the reason.
And Squirrel Mask wasn’t the only one whose actions were incomprehensible.
“Kugh… you traitors! You’ll pay the price!”
“Why not call us reformers instead? Doesn’t that sound cooler?”
“Sir Pjol! I can’t believe a great knight like yourself would ally with scum like this!”
“Scum? What’s so bad about me!”
The three knights who had appeared just before the battle—Pjol, Bickerd, and Redington.
They had subdued the knights with such dedication that any suspicions felt foolish.
The fact that they had received help was undeniable.
The problem was.
‘They’re the masterminds behind Dolores’s kidnapping. The guys who showed enough loyalty to kidnap a child suddenly reformed? Does that even make sense?’
Perhaps noticing the stare, the three knights who claimed to be reformers slowly started backing away.
“Well, we’ll be going now…”
“Stay right there. If you move even a little, I’ll cut you down.”
“Hey, why! You confirmed we’re on the same side!”
“We were never on the same side. If you’ve reformed, follow my orders. I’ll let you testify so you can get some leniency.”
“Th-that’s a bit difficult…”
“What’s difficult about it?”
“We have more comrades down below. We need to save them too.”
Ash’s neck tilted slightly.
Were they really going through all this trouble to save their comrades? Even while being called traitors?
“…Still no. You might switch sides again.”
“Ugh! This is so frustrating. That won’t happen! We came here to stop the Lord!”
“I’m worried you’ll declare yourselves re-reformed traitors and betray us. You know what they say—the first time is hard, but the second time is easier.”
“Then we’ll just become re-re-reformed.”
Redington suddenly chimed in.
Ash’s eyes narrowed at Redington’s cheeky smile.
“Don’t play word games.”
“Who started the word games first?”
“Do you want to die?”
“Does anyone in this world want that? At least I don’t.”
Ash’s eyes twitched.
Ron suddenly came to mind. Ron, who was always half-assing everything, defusing situations with his characteristic cheekiness and word games.
Ron and Redington. If those two got into a verbal sparring match, who would win?
Ash found herself suddenly curious. But the thought didn’t last long. Pjol stepped forward.
“We have no choice. We’re breaking through.”
“Think you can?”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have time. Everyone focus. We charge on my signal.”
A sudden charge?
Ash stepped back slightly and took a defensive stance, and Urek and Joan, who had been watching nearby, joined her.
“Uaaaah!”
“…?”
The three who had been drawing up mana to defend were left bewildered.
The knights did charge. Except they charged backwards.
“…Did they run away?”
Knights? Even Pjol, who had made a name for himself in the past?
Ash felt dazed from being played—or not quite played.
“Hey, snap out of it. What are we going to do?”
“Obviously we have to chase them. Since they’re presumed allies… we need someone to explain the situation.”
It would be terrible if they caught Caron’s attention and got killed in one hit.
“Joan, go after them.”
“M-me?”
“You have the best tracking skills here.”
“B-but what could someone like me do by chasing them? I-I wouldn’t be able to explain properly, right? S-someone useless like me would be better suited to lead the kids here!”
For once, Joan successfully voiced her opinion.
Ash nodded as if it was a reasonable point.
“You’re going to lead them here… I’m pleased. You’ve really grown a lot.”
“H-huh?”
“Leading this place is hard even for me. But you volunteered to take it on. How could I not be pleased?”
Only then did Joan look around.
“Kugh! Don’t give up! Resist to the end!”
Knights straining to break free from their restraints.
“Go ahead and break free. We’ll just knock you down again.”
“Ugh, fighting knights… it’s so boring I could die.”
Students teabagging in front of them.
“To think not a single person died in such an unfavorable situation. The power of love truly is great.”
“Everyone gather. We’ll begin today’s prayer.”
“Ah, Lumen.”
Students performing some unidentifiable ritual while glancing toward where Luna was.
“D-demon! I sense the demon’s energy!”
Even a rabbit running on all fours and going berserk.
A hellscape unfolded before Joan’s eyes.
“I’ll leave it to you. I should go chase them with peace of mind.”
“N-no… th-that’s…”
“Now I can close my eyes in peace. Well, I need to chase the knights so I’ll be going…”
“I-I’ll go! I’ll go! Tracking is my specialty!”
“Really? Then I’m counting on you.”
Joan hurriedly began chasing after the knights.
She was timid but diligent. She would complete the mission without issue.
Except for the part where she had to report the current situation clearly and concisely to the Killing Machine Caron.
“Why did you send her? Wouldn’t it have been better if you went?”
“I have something to do.”
“Something to do?”
“Yeah, I need to bring back the kid who went out to play. Doesn’t even know they’ll get in trouble if they’re not back before sunset.”
The kid who went out to play. She meant Ron, who had chased after Squirrel Mask.
“You and that kid both get motivated in the strangest places.”
It was a structure where staying put would get them much better scores.
Plus, there was a chance of dying at Squirrel Mask’s hands.
It was a world where the whims of the weak weren’t allowed, but the whims of the strong were.
Even so, Ash…
“What can I do? This is who I am.”
She bet on something where she was obviously going to lose.
Actually, Urek knew things would turn out this way. This was the big difference between Ash and himself.
And it was why she got better scores than him.
“Don’t die. It’s no fun without a rival.”
“Are you worried about me? Thanks. Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”
So.
“I’m leaving this place to you, Urek.”
“What? How am I supposed to handle this hellscape alone… Hey! At least control the kids before you go!!”
Ash pretended not to hear his shout and started running.
Finding Ron wasn’t difficult.
Where walls were gouged, rocks were pierced, and the ground was shattered.
In a place full of battle traces, Ron was there in shambles, clutching a broken sword in his hand.
“You said you were going out to play. Played a bit too rough, did you?”
“Did mom come?”
“Who’s mom!”
Smack!
Ash’s fist struck Ron’s head.
Partly because he’d used a forbidden word on her young, supple self, but also partly because she was glad he was alive.
“Why are you hitting me? It hurts.”
Ron whined like a child. As Ash was about to punch him again, she saw it.
The droplets at the corners of his eyes.
“You… were you crying?”
“I got properly mauled by that squirrel. It really hurt. Enough to bring tears to my eyes.”
Was it really because of that?
Ron, staring at his broken sword, muttered.
“I also felt… how vast the world is.”
She didn’t know what had happened, but one thing was certain.
‘Squirrel Mask is an incredible expert.’
For the great Ron to feel frustrated. Just how strong had they been?
She’d have to buy him a meal next time and ask about it.
“Right. It is vast. Who would have imagined a squirrel that shoots lightning?”
“Exactly. If it hadn’t been a squirrel, I would have won. It was so fast…”
Ash tried to help Ron stand while supporting him.
He was so weak that he drooped, requiring her to prop him up with her whole body.
‘So even the half-assing Ron can be shocked.’
It seemed he’d need quite some time to recover.
Still, with his optimistic personality, maybe a week would do?
“…Give.”
Ron’s mumbling voice as he leaned against her.
Was he thirsty? Ash lowered her head and listened closely.
“Mom, I’m hungry. Food… no, give me num-nums.”
“…Just die.”
Boom!
Ash slammed Ron’s face into the wall.
A single tear streamed from unconscious Ron’s eyes.
“…Yeah, this is more comfortable for both of us.”
Ash hoisted Ron onto her back and started walking.
Congratulating her comrade for taking a step forward.
“Sir Caron, the enemy’s morale isn’t breaking.”
“Please give us permission. If we take down just three or four of them, they’ll surrender immediately.”
The instructors’ continued advice that wasn’t really advice.
Caron answered by narrowing his eyes.
“Ahem, but avoiding unnecessary killing is also an instructor’s duty.”
“Shoot your arrows! Those with swords, throw rocks!”
The instructors started slinging stones like primitives.
“Raise your shields!”
“We will never surrender!”
The knights resisted desperately.
Fighting, offering surrender, being refused.
This process had already repeated four times.
‘Three or four my ass… it would end easily if I killed just one. What was that man thinking when he started all this?’
That’s right. The reason Caron’s joining was delayed, and the reason he wasn’t killing the knights.
It was because Dwener had told him to subdue them without killing.
He didn’t know what intentions led to that decision, but Caron decided to do his best for now.
So as soon as he met the knights, he said:
“Anyone who surrenders will be spared.”
A polite offer of surrender.
The problem was that the rumors about Caron were far too bad.
“Don’t lie! You’re going to torture us!”
“They say he does human experiments too, right? That’s why he’s planning to preserve our bodies as much as possible!”
“I heard rumors he even taxidermies corpses he likes!”
The knights banded together as one, and soon set up a desperate last stand with the cliff at their backs.
“Resist with all your might!”
“Uooooh!”
Why were they making a last stand when he said he’d spare them?
Caron really couldn’t understand. That wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t understand.
“Passing through!”
“Coming through!”
“Keke, passing through.”
Rodelin, Alex, and Zero passed through where he was, heading to the lowest level where Lowell was.
Sure, they could go as they pleased. This practical exercise was also a test from the start.
It meant they would be responsible for their own decisions.
The problem was.
‘Why isn’t Luna with them? If he abandoned Luna and came…’
Zero, I’ll destroy you.
He was imagining punishments too terrible to put into words when it happened.
A group appeared from behind.
They were knights. It wasn’t hard to figure out who.
“Sir Pjol?”
“…To think you remember my name. I’m honored.”
He knew the three had escaped. He’d even deliberately created the situation.
But what had they been doing until now to come here? He thought they would have joined up with Baron Kelven long ago.
Well, it didn’t matter what they’d been doing. Right now…
“Surrender.”
“I cannot. I have something I must do.”
“Then I have no choice.”
Caron slowly began approaching the three knights.
Just as Bickerd and Redington fully infused their swords with aura.
“N-no!”
Joan shouted while panting.
Joan was timid and had weak stamina, but by running on all fours, she’d somehow managed to arrive.
‘Thank goodness I saw that rabbit. To think such a secret technique existed.’
Joan thought she should use it more often. She raised her hand to report the current situation.
But the words wouldn’t come out. She was too out of breath.
Seeing this, Redington grinned.
“Welcome. What took you so long? Where was all that talk about helping?”
“Huff… huff… Huh?”
“You said you’d been looking for a chance to fight the Empire’s rat every day. Isn’t now the perfect opportunity?”
“…???”
Joan didn’t understand what he was talking about, but she could tell the situation was going in a strange direction.
She’d tried to report the current situation clearly and concisely to Caron, but it was impossible.
Not just because she was out of breath, but because she was naturally timid.
It was impossible even normally, but now, with everyone’s eyes focused on her, a clear and concise report was out of the question.
“Oho, I see. Betrayal… no, satisfying your curiosity? Well, well…”
What an unfunny joke.
Caron’s expression became impossibly rigid, and Joan screamed internally.
“Go! We’ll handle this!”
“Go restore the Baron’s sanity! Even if you have to beat it into him!”
Under Bickerd and Redington’s protection, Pjol started running down the path.
Caron decided to just let Pjol go.
‘In that condition, he can’t beat Lowell anyway.’
If an emergency situation arose, Zero would handle it.
So Caron decided to focus on what was in front of him.
The two knights.
And.
‘S-someone please save meeeee!’
Joan, who wanted to go to curiosity heaven.
–TL Notes–
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Spring of the insturctors!
I support AshRon ship! And lock in Ron incoming! The next time we see him he might have a breakthrough!
And Joan is becoming Reze 2.0,The hidden piece just keep coming! Maybe these two will bond in the future or something perhaps Joan teaching Reze a skill in return