)—(\IV/)|—(

"What are you waiting for!?" Rabier howled as he pointed at Kojeel and the others. "Kill her and murder that miserable Bow Demon!"

Two holy knights drew their sword and ran forwards, slashing down on their target. However, she took a step back to reposition her spear and spun around, flaying her weapon like a sweeping stick at the knights' legs. The action caused the both of them to trip over. Before one could hit the ground, she kicked that knight into some of the chanting mages, interrupting their spells.

She took the knight's position and stabbed her spear on the other fallen knight's shoulder while stepping on their wrist. She didn't anticipate the knight to power through the wound and moved the arm out of the way, grabbing her foot as it stomped down. She managed to flick the grip off by jumping back as the knight slowly got back on their feet, using the cover of the flying magic spells she couldn't interrupt.

She grunted, bringing her spear back inwards to defend against the projectiles. She staggered backwards from the impact, but there hadn't been any immediate damage inflicted on her aside from the subtle cough stemming from the aftereffects. Even with her spearwork and better combat prowess compared to Itsuki and Welst, it was ending up as a stalemate at best.

"Don't bother to resist," Rabier scoffed at them. "The moment that you stepped into my manor, your fates were already sealed. I suppose I should thank Aldrecht for giving me this opportunity. Such a good and reliable friend, handing me this trap on a silver platter."

'Aldrecht? Him!?'

Itsuki was taken back by the retainer's name. He didn't expect him to have correlations with the situation at hand, but he didn't know if he should have been surprised by that. If anything, it confirmed some of Ren's theories of who they're trying to deal with as their true enemy.

"Step down and surrender already," Rabier chuckled highly. "Just make this easier for everyone. I'll make sure to make your deaths quick and painless. Though, I can't promise the same to the Bow Demon."

"I'm still under strict orders by the king to protect the Bow Hero and last time I checked, you are not the king. As a governor, your words cannot trump His Majesty's."

"I'm doing everyone a favour before the Shield Demon and his false hero lackeys are able to destroy Melromarc from the inside out! I'll be revered as a hero if this task will be dealt with here and now!"

Kojeel hung back a bit with an unreadable expression. Itsuki didn't know what Kojeel was going to attempt, but he was surprised when she spun her spear to point downwards, stabbing the tip into the ground. She formed a relaxed posture with untensed shoulders, even with the holy knights pointing their weapons at her, and took out a cigar.

"Huh? Have you already accepted your fate, foolish knight?"

"Perhaps I have," she said, causing Itsuki to frown and Welst to be startled. She lit up her smoke and inhaled. "However, I want to acknowledge something before you make further attempts for our lives. I can't overlook the fact that you betrayed the original plan assigned to you by the king's shadows. I'll ask you to stand down before there are further repercussions."

"Ha!" Rabier laughed. "You!? Asking me to stand down while you three are the ones who are about to die!? I must say, you sure know how to make me even more amused over the death of the Bow Demon! Have you forgotten that I am Idol Rabier, the man who has fought along the likes of Aldrecht and the king during the Silvelt War!? I have many more connections than a mere high knight, so your apparent 'repercussions' are mere balloons to my strength!"

Kojeel closed her eyes and puffed out smoke, moving her cigar in a dangling state.

"Very well, Lord Rabier. Then I suppose I have no other choice."

A soft rumbling hum emerged from her throat as her fingers repositioned the way she held the cigar. Welst saw the movement and when he realized what Kojeel was doing, he gasped. He immediately shouted to Itsuki, not trying to let that incident happen to him again.

"Sir Itsuki! Look away!"

Itsuki flinched, but as Kojeel's grip on her cigar loosened, he heeded the warning as he looked over to the night skies. In the meanwhile, Kojeel made a subtle chuckle, not letting it show on her face.

She tossed the cigar into the middle of the room as it started to ignite into a bright light.

"[Flash Bang]."

The room erupted into a blinding state as the holy knights stammered in a dazed panic. Some of the mages tried to blindly start up their spells as Rabier was shrieking in the back, complaining wildly about the 'cowardly' skill. Even if the mages weren't already doing it, Rabier shouted for them to fire their spells quickly.

Itsuki could see the effect emerge from their peripherals and they prepared themselves to be ready for a fight. However, he both felt Kojeel run to him and pick him up under an arm. She ran closer to the shattered windows, noting the slightly injured Welst was under the other. It felt like he was getting pushed off with a weird harness, but the distance to the ground made him hold his breath without another thought in occupance.

"Sir Itsuki! Welst!" she shouted. "Hold on tightly!"

"Hold on to what!?"

Without another response to Welst's words, Kojeel leapt from the window as the spells were being completed. She narrowly dodged the spells with her descend, blasting a mixture of magic into the air above them. It definitely would have made a scene within the town, resulting in a loud explosion popping through the air.

Welst screamed during their fall and Itsuki's body tensed up as their faces dropped closer and closer to the ground, but they stopped just before the surface. Kojeel stood back up and released the pair onto the ground gently. She turned around to look up, seeing that Rabier had ran up to look to see where they were going.

"Those brats!" Rabier pointed at them for his command. "Follow them and bring me their heads!"

)—(\IV| Chapter 1-21 |IV/)|—(
)\( Recourse )/(

Both fallen members groaned as they stood up slowly. Welst dusted off his injury, feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he looked over to the undercover knight alongside Itsuki. The entire thing was starting to feel unreal to him, never having been in such a dilemma before in his years of being an adventurer.

He could only imagine the exasperated expression on his face paired with the shaking of his hands.

"I have several questions, Kojeel!"

"Those can wait." She passed them with a brief dash, moving away from the building. "We need to escape. It's no longer safe here for you, Sir Itsuki. Follow me and keep them at bay while we move to the stables. We'll retrieve our carriage and horses to depart immediately."

Itsuki gritted his teeth. "But Rabier—!"

"Lord Rabier can be dealt with at a later point," she sternly explained as she paused momentarily. "Right now, I need to ensure your safety. That's my highest priority instructions right now."

"But the slaves!"

"Sir Itsuki," Welst said, "I have no idea what's going on, but all I know is that we have to get out of here! Lord Rabier has a good amount of holy knights by his side and we can't loiter around here unless we're trying to die, given we don't have the strength or manpower for a head-on fight!"

Itsuki clicked his tongue, having the image of the deceased demi-human in his mind. If he didn't do anything to send a message, there could have been more children, not to mention the rest of the slave demographic, suffering from the terrible system. He really wanted to run back into the manor, but all of the conditions were forcing him away.

His chest tightened and his throat became dry.

"Sir Itsuki!"

Rojeel's calls pushed him over to that painful, yet obvious choice. The holy knights had already been coming down the stairs. The doors were still opened for them to see. They were rushing onwards, thirsty to poke their weapons and spells through him, causing him to instinctively back up from the sight.

"D-Damn it…" Itsuki bit down on his teeth. "Fine. We're going!"

"You two get the carriage!" Welst shouted. "I'll keep them busy!"

"Y-You sure about this?"

"Unfortunately, someone has to do the job! As long as you swing by to pick me up though, it'll be fine! I hope."

Welst poked his staff towards the doors and started chanting as the other two nodded as they ran down the roundabout's pathway and along the direction to the stables.

"[Zweite Flame Blast]!"

His spherical condensed flames shot outwards towards the opening, but it hadn't been aimed at the knights. The flames landed on the doors themselves, exploding in a fiery burst and more importantly, it obstructed the knights from getting past. He leered over his shoulder to make sure that Itsuki and Kojeel were moving, before getting some distance away for himself just in case the knights do something unordinary.

He could see some of their mages preparing to cast anti-fire spells, but he was already getting ready to replace the flames with another one of his own. He started to wonder how quickly they'll be able to realize that his flames aren't as strong as their armour, praying that the bluff would work for long enough.

Itsuki and Kojeel rounded the side of the building and noticed the sound of horses neighing wildly. As they got closer to stable, beautifully decorated and well-built, they could see a few of the guards trying to control their horses. Their carriage was right behind them too.

They were trying to prevent them from escaping, but one of the guards noticed their arrivals.

"They're here!" The group of five guards glanced over. The shouting man pointed to another two. "You and you, move those horses out! We'll take care of them!"

The three remaining guards pulled out their blades and charged. Itsuki made a hard stop on his right foot and aimed his arrow through a bow transformation. It formed a metallic curvature, crafted with strong ores, that he'd copied a while back. He already unlocked the skill on it for free use, but it was still his strongest bow in his arsenal.

[Magic Steel Bow] 12/25 R
(Equip Bonus) : Attack 2, Magic 2, Magic Defense 1
(Equip Bonus Skill) : Arrow Rain
(Mastery Level) : 67
(Item Enhancement) : LV4, Magic Defense Piercing (medium), SP Increase (low)

With it aimed at an upper arc, which was a requirement to activate the skill, he fired a shining arrow into the skies. As it swayed downwards at the guards, he snapped his fingers to trigger the skill. He didn't need to, but it felt right.

"[Arrow Rain]!"

The bright arrow exploded in mid air to release a storm of similarly lit arrows, as if an airstrike had been dropped by a flying plane. The guards hesitated and stopped to defend themselves, blocking some of the aerial projectiles from dealing critical collective damage. There was only one wave that flew downwards and Kojeel followed up once the coast was cleared.

She picked up her speed and rushed forwards, brandishing her spear to take down two of the three guards. The third one managed to recover before Kojeel could deal a painful blow and blocked her thrust. She inexpressibly backed up as the guard swung his sword.

Kojeel expertly kept the distance to dodge the attack and used her spear to poke the guard, abusing her superior range. He kept avoiding the thrusts and pushing the tip to the side with his weapon, but her quick attacks and footwork made it very difficult to advance.

An arrow suddenly struck him from the side, followed by another one to stagger him. The focus on defense made him forget entirely about the Bow Hero and before he could cry out, Kojeel struck a powerful jab with her spear. It crushed through the armour and blood spurted out from the guard's mouth as the spear's tip was consumed.

She pulled it out without hesitation with her spear being covered in the collapsing man's blood.

"We're advancing," Kojeel stated.

As Itsuki ran over the guard who had been groaning in pain in his unconscious state, Itsuki could only snark at him with silent pleas. Coincidentally, he was the same guard who spoke with Beloukas as that stout man left and Itsuki couldn't help to mutter under his breath.

"Serves you right for just watching."

He picked up his pace to follow Kojeel into the stables which had been apparently connected to the main building. His worried that the holy knights might use this as an alternative route, but Kojeel had been confidently running forwards, catching up with the guards trying to take around the horses.

"What!? That was quick!"

"Looks like we got no other choice!"

The two guards released the reins of the shaking horses and attempted to prepare the weapons, but instead of coming closer, Kojeel stopped and raised her left hand to stop Itsuki as well. With that same hand, she moved it to her mouth and made a whistle, making a beckoning gesture to follow.

The horses immediately slammed their hooves onto the guards' backs and crushed them underneath their weight, running over to Kojeel. Itsuki gasped at the sudden trick and obedience, especially given the fact that the thankful village provided them with horses found at the bandit's hideout. They were rather trained for random horses.

She made some more hand gestures to the horses, to which they seemingly understood and started following her. Rojeel checked up on their provided carriage to find that the wheels have been broken off and severely damaged. It seemed like they were already predicting all of this to unfold.

"Sir Itsuki, watch the side entrance of the stables for any holy knights and guards. I'll hook up horses to another carriage laying about."

He noticed the pathway that the stables had that led to the main manor. It was a fairly large area and considering how there weren't any carriages on this side of the stables, she'll have to sweep the place. There were only animals and monsters, all looking to be fit to pull carriages, but he noted how these monsters were being cared more in better condition than the slaves.

He readied his bow once he walked to that position, having a clear shot on whoever comes through.

Kojeel took that as a silent affirmative, whistling to the horses again and left that section of the stables.

Now that he was alone, he could feel his heart pounding through his eardrums. His breathing was heavy and the weight of this world started to hold his shoulders down. He didn't know if he was angry or tired that all of this was happening.

This entire situation was insane, but he couldn't shake off what Rabier said back there.

'How did he even know about my relationship with Naofumi? Was it just enough that I tried to stand up for him in that single instance? But that wouldn't make sense; anyone in my position would have been taking second guesses at a hero being arrested on the second day… right?'

Though, there was also the fact that Ren had been captured and was planning to be executed.

None of it made sense.

Were they not supposed to be the Cardinal Heroes that needed to save their world?

"It's the Bow Demon!"

Itsuki snapped out of his thinking trance and saw an armour holy knight running out from the manor's exit. He released his hold on the string, letting the arrow soar into the knight. It would have landed right on the chest, but the knight had blocked it with his sword.

"Death to the Bow Demon!"

He ran to close the gap, causing Itsuki to back up, charging another skill.

"[Wind Arrow]!"

The projectile transformed into a verdant light as it shot across the stables and collided with the man. However, it merely pushed him back a few meters, and he was already back on his rampage. He approached faster than Itsuki would have thought with a wild swing that aimed for his neck.

He had to duck, having the tips of his hair be sliced off. He was incredibly nervous, just seeing the hair fall in front of his eyes, and kicked off from his position to dodge the underarm slash that followed up. He got back on his feet and glared at the knight.

The distance he bought was taken back for its refund; the knight leapt forwards with a downwards attack as he tried to get another [Wind Arrow] off. He had to abandon the skill since it took too long to activate, not to mention the time it took to pull back his regular arrows.

However, as he stepped to the side to evade it, he tried to get a point-blank arrow shot regardless of its preparation speed. The knight then turned his blade to swing back upwards before it could hit the ground. Itsuki didn't think a normal knight like this was this good at combat, but his only exposure was through the rookie knight that Ren fought.

His presumptions were catching up to him, not being able to dodge cleanly out of the path.

Itsuki bit down his teeth and swerved his shoulders to block the attack with the frame of his bow.

The sword rebounded as the knight twirled around to reach Itsuki from his other side. He threw his body into that direction, barely managing to block the attack again, but there was more power in that attack. His bow was pushed into his body, thinking he heard a cracking bone. He couldn't hold onto his footing from that collision, causing him to fly backwards towards the exit of the stables.

"C-Crap!"

His back slid across the ground, feeling an ache emerge. His health bar was fine, trying to shake off his daze, but he couldn't recover quick enough before the knight stepped on his chest.

"Thanks to Lord Rabier's trap with Lord Aldrecht's help, we can present the true Gods with the head of the Bow Demon. You think you can replicate our God and take advantage of us!? You wish! Our Pope knew the entire time that you were mere posers, trying to consume our world in chaos alongside the Bow Demon!"

Itsuki tried to push the foot off his chest, but the man was simply too heavy. He could feel his ribs being crushed into his organs as the sword's tip was pointed at his head. No longer did it matter if he had a hard time breathing if his skull was about to get kebab'ed.

"Death! Death to the Bow Demon!"

Upon his shouts, a sword emerged from behind him and slammed onto the side of his armour, pushing him off from Itsuki and into one of the closed stables. Itsuki' eyes instinctively followed the knight's body, but when he looked back to who did it, he felt an injection of relief running through his stream. His gruff voice emerged with his sword being retightened.

"What a situation you landed yourself into, Sir Itsuki."

"Mald! You're safe!"

"By the way, archers aren't supposed to be on the frontlines." Mald extended his hand for Itsuki to grab onto, pulling the Bow Hero back on his feet. "I hope you know that."

The knight groaned as his helmeted head banged against the iron bars of the stable, trying to stand up from the rear ambush. Mald grabbed the knight by the head, almost wrapping his large hand around the backside, and threw him back into the iron bars to try and knock him out.

"Y-You… You bastard…!" the knight groaned through his dazed state. "I-I thought you were…!"

Mald kicked him before he uttered another word, most likely knocking him unconscious. The knight's body went limp against the bars, falling over onto the ground with a plop. The armoured ally glanced back at Itsuki with no types of remorse on his face; they must have tried to do something with him before he managed to escape.

"Where is Kojeel?"

"Over here."

Kojeel strode along with a new carriage being pulled by the horses. The carriage itself was much more elegant than what they were originally given, probably stemming from Kojeel hijacking one of Rabier's own carriages. Compared to the carriage they had, akin to a merchant's ride, this one had been looking like it was ripped out of a fairy tale's story. The sashes were tightly secured around the two horses as Mald and Itsuki ran up to meet up with her.

"So I have several questions, Kojeel. You seem to be the one that knows what's going on."

"I can answer them later, Mald. For now, we have to get Sir Itsuki to safety."

He scoffed. "Of course. As long as I get my answers."

He ran up to the carriage and opened the side doors for Itsuki to enter, ducking his posture as he sat down on the soft seats. That were sewn together with intricate patterns, making it seem like they weren't trying to escape their deaths at the moment. Mald followed him into the carriage, taking the seat across from him and opened up the little window made for communication between the travellers and monster handler.

"We're on. Let's escape."

"We need to pick up Welst first."

"What a shame. Thought he died already."

"Mald, don't say that," Itsuki growled. "He's holding off the front doors of the manor for us. We have to grab him and then we can leave."

"If you say so, Sir Itsuki."

Kojeel flicked the harnesses softly, causing the horses to trot along the path. The speed was kept to ensure they could stop quickly and precisely for Welst to get on, but as they rounded the same corner of the building, Itsuki could hear Welst's scream.

"Damn it, get away!"

Welst had been trying to fend off a collection of holy knights by himself at the front. Their forces looked to be much smaller than what it was originally, probably splitting up half of them to leave to the side entrance of the stables. In that case, it was most likely that they just missed that portion.

He, despite being a mage, was trying to defend himself in close combat. There was no method he could use to get magic out quickly, so that's what he had to resort to. Three knights surrounded him as he held his mage's staff with a strong grip, leering at all of them to ensure the distance kept and the possibility of sudden movements. Like he thought, they figured out the bluff and rushed through the flames and ran at him with swords.

"Surrender yourself! We may be able to save you from your brainwashed state!"

"Screw off! I'm a proud adventurer of the guild, picked to fight alongside the Bow Hero. I'm not losing this chance to make a name for myself!"

"If it's fame you want, what more is there than to take down the Bow Demon!?"

"Sir Itsuki's no demon. If I wanted fame by itself, I would have done something a long time ago. Sir Itsuki is a good person at heart and isn't worth going through your trouble for him."

"Then die!"

One of the knights lunged forwards and slammed his sword on Welst's defending staff. Noticing that the other two had been approached, he pushed the first knight away and spun to smack the staff's ends to meet slashes. They took turns in their attacks, so it was slightly easier for him to defend, but it was also easier on paper.

He ducked underneath one of the knight's slash and moved under his arm, escaping from the surrounding formation. They followed him and struck against his staff a few times until a heavy attack landed and snapped his staff into two halves, staggering him backwards. The sword managed to slice a bit of his robe off.

"Oi, that was expensive!"

"Less expensive than the damage the Bow Demon will cause if left alive!"

Suddenly, he heard horses galloping behind him, coming from where Itsuki and Kojeel were headed. From the corner, those horses became visible as well as a fancy carriage that stopped behind him some distance away. He exhaled in relief before he started running towards the escape transportation, but the knights weren't going to let him leave easily.

Two of them started casting magic as the other chased him down.

However, the door of the carriage opened wide and his armoured ally came rushing out to his surprise.

"M-Mald!? We weren't leaving you for dead!?"

"Shut up, you stupid mage! I'll show you that I'm more needed than you!"

He leapt out from the door with Itsuki holding his position, aiming his arrow outwards from the wide opening. He felt like this was right out of a movie where a black van would open up its back side to reveal a heavy-duty gatling gun. As such, he positioned his shot at an arc and fired at the same time the spells were wrapped up.

"[Faust Aqua Shot!]" "[Faust Holy]!"

"[Arrow Rain]!"

Welst glanced over his shoulder to see that the spell were approaching him fast, but Mald moved into the path and tanked the attack, mitigating the damage through his sword and armour. The chasing knight had to go through Mald, bringing together their clashing blades, ringing in its metallic sound.

The casting knights were distracted by the raining arrows from Itsuki's skill and backed off to escape the range, but they were still trying to fire their spells. Mald kept throwing out his attacks as did the matching knight, being both equal in ability of offense and defense. They were reaching a stalemate before the knight spun around one of Mald's attacks and pushed the large adventurer into the second barrage of spells.

Welst held his arms out and started chanting quickly.

"[Zweite Fire Barrier]!"

He covered for Mald's forced position, easing the spell's effects by a good enough margin despite the loss of his weapon, allowing Mald to take the attacks without problems.

"Just die already, demons!"

The knight tried to approach Mald, bringing his swing over his shoulder, but Welst ran forwards to kick him in the back. He staggered forwards from the surprise flank and was further pushed into Mald's range. His sword prepared itself.

"Hey, asshole! Do something about him!"

"You didn't need to tell me!"

Mald stepped forwards and slashed a fatal strike across the man who dropped down onto the ground. He wasn't moving, but his allies out there were persistent in their magic. He looked back, knowing that they would still be sending magic their way as they escaped, but Welst threw him one of the halves of his broken staff.

"Use it. It's garbage anyways now."

"It was always garbage in your hands."

"Did you really have to say that?"

With the little remark, Mald put his energy into his shoulder and threw the staff piece into one of the knight's faces, knocking him onto the ground. Welst passed him the second piece quickly and Mald threw it just as quick, colliding with the second knight before he had the chance to react.

"All finished!" Welst started to make his way to the carriage, as Itsuki moved out of the way for their entry. "Now leave with us or we'll go without you!"

"That should be my line!"

Mald ran behind Welst as they both dove inside, each taking a seat across from the other, as Mald closed the carriage doors behind him, noting how some of the holy knights were approaching from where they came from alongside more guards from the front doors.

"Kojeel, we have the dumb mage! We need to leave now!"

"Already on it! Hiyah!"

She whipped the harnesses this time, causing the horses to pick up their speed quickly, rushing down the pathway towards the gate. There were guards who were dozing off nearby, but once they heard the galloping, they became alerted. Though, there wasn't much they could do against two horses.

That hadn't been the main concern.

"K-Kojeel!" Itsuki shouted. "The gates are still locked!"

The acceleration merely increased with the rumbling wheels.

"That's fine, Sir Itsuki. They're more than capable of taking down such a barrier."

"Something tells me we have to hold on," Mald said.

Welst glared at the armoured member after scanning the empty carriage.

A panicked expression soon followed.

"Hold on to what!?"

"Hiyah!"

Kojeel whipped the horse's once more to give themselves a burst of speed and they aimed their heads forwards, neighing loudly as it was accepting the challenge. The guards found their grip and blocked the gate with their bodies, pointing their weapons forwards.

"Stop!" they shouted.

The horses didn't heed them and sped up, causing them to falter.

At the last second, they both jumped out of the way for the horses as the horses crashed through the gates, slamming it wide open and escaping into the town. Itsuki could feel the force from inside the carriage, shaking about violently for the instantaneous moment. Mald managed to hold himself still, but Welst was flung into Itsuki's lap.

"... S-Sorry, Sir Itsuki. I-I was… making sure you don't fly anywhere?"

Mald groaned. "We should have been leaving you behind."

"Screw you too, Mald!"

)—(\IV/)|—(

"Are we good?"

"I believe so."

Since it was during the night, there hadn't been many people lingering on the streets, allowing their escape to be casualty-free from civilians. There were a few people who were awoken by the explosion from the third floor, but none of them really stood in the way. They merely popped their heads out the windows or stood in front of their doors to see if they could see what was happening.

Not before long, Itsuki and the others were able to escape the city, but Kojeel was still planning on taking them further out just in case. They were already transitioning from the plains to a forest with a beaten pathway down the middle. The horses were slowing down from before, but their maintained speed was nothing to complain about.

With the little window opened, Itsuki thought this would be the best time for answers.

"What's going on, Kojeel? I know that the situation was partly due to my fault, but it was like Rabier was already expecting to capture me. He already had the holy knights present there and all!"

"You would be right, Sir Itsuki," she responded, focusing on controlling the horses and her explanation at the same time. "Though, the entire slave issue was what helped tipped me off. I was told you were asking around in town for things Lord Rabier before you noticed a slave trader at the entrance. I decided to look into the issue myself to discover that Lord Rabier was already planning to act against you, much to the original plan."

Itsuki silently glared at Welst, but he retracted his body away.

"D-Don't look at me! I didn't tell her anything!"

"Welst is correct. I had another source mention that to me. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to disclose whom."

"So you really are a knight of Melromarc," Mald mulled. The basic premise of Kojeel's identity had already been informed by Itsuki and Welst. "You said you were sent to watch our Sir Itsuki by the king?"

"That's correct. I, alongside a few other high knights, were selected to act as protective services to the Cardinal Heroes and we were to report your actions to the king over a periodic timeframe."

"To the Cardinal Heroes?" Itsuki frowned as he remembered how the party members were distributed. "If that's the case, why didn't the Shield Hero get any of those knights? And to think that he was taken in for a trial the next day?"

"I'm sorry, Sir Itsuki. I don't know the response to that. I was merely given my job description from the king himself and I accepted those terms, preparing myself to join up with you."

"Wait, I never really got a chance to ask this, but it would have been so much clearer before." He turned to Welst and Mald. "Since I know how Kojeel got roped into this, the question drops to the both of you. Was there a reason you selected me to begin with?"

"Huh? Oh, are you going on about that first day and how Lord Aldrecht straight-up lied about the method?"

Itsuki narrowed his eyes.

"Well, I mean…" Welst hummed a bit before continuing with a bit of memory jogging. "I don't think it was a straight-up lie since I figured that people used the comments section to inform the king of which hero they wanted to be paired with, but I didn't actually use that. I just completed the application without any variables being narrowed down and I was told by the guild master that I would be heading with the Bow Hero."

"I actually said specifically that I didn't want to be with the Shield Hero," Mald answered, "and what an excellent choice to make. Though, that still meant that I had a one in three chance to end up in your party, Sir Itsuki."

"Why didn't you say anything about it!?" Itsuki exclaimed.

"W-What!? I didn't think it was anything important! I only thought Lord Aldrecht was trying to cheer up the Shield Hero or some other plan—I don't know! The king was a powerful tactician and Lord Aldrecht always works within his plans! They probably had something in the works for him!"

"Something… in the works, huh?"

Itsuki thought back to Ren's theories once again.

Was the king and his retainer truly the enemies that were causing all of this?

However, Kojeel's position defied that. She claimed that she was under direct orders from the king and she even fought through the holy knights to keep him safe. It didn't make sense to try and kick him down if he provided strong knights like Kojeel to his side, but he noticed that there was a lack of mention for Aldrecht.

He was the one to argue for Naofumi back at the trial, but perhaps that was a ruse to make them think that he was on their side. Was it possible that Aldrecht was manipulating the king somehow?

All of these were too many jumping conclusions, but all signs looked to be pointing to that old mage.

The theory matched up with what Rabier mentioned, cockily saying that this was Aldrecht's trap for him, but in that case, there were a few more things that he needed to confirm. There might have been no sense in asking Kojeel about it, considering she had been exclusively talking on the king's behalf, but regardless, he needed to hear more.

"So you being a high knight aside," Itsuki said, "Rabier said some things that caught my attention, probably because he thought I was going to die then and there. From what it sounded like, this was a trap, waiting to be sprung on me."

"I cannot speak on the behalf of Lord Rabier," she answered, "but I can say for certain that Lord Rabier has gone against the wishes of the king. Other details must be kept as a secret, for your safety and uninfluenced decisions, but what I may tell you is that everything that occurred within Lord Rabier's territory excluding his own actions was planned. You were meant to stay at the manor and wait for the wave monsters to come attack the citizens which were to be arriving in about five days."

"Such a precise time frame," Welst muttered.

"Of course. Those monsters were captured ones from the first wave and were to be released nearby the city. Though, I have no idea where the king managed to find captured wave monsters to begin with. We have none on the castle grounds."

"You were going to intentionally let the monsters hurt the citizens!?" Itsuki exclaimed. "Why!?"

"I don't have reasoning. As a knight, I merely follow orders."

"Are knights always supposed to be blind to the obvious problem here!?"

"You call it blind. We knights call it trust in our wise king." Kojeel leered over her shoulder, almost intimidating Itsuki back into his seat. "We follow every one of his orders because we believe that it is what will benefit the majority, if the king said so. The same goes for the queen."

"Then how the hell do you explain the execution of Ren, the Sword Hero!?"

Kojeel scrunched her eyebrows with the following silence to ensure that she heard correctly.

"... The what?"

"Rabier said that he'd be applauding for when the eventual execution of the Sword Hero occurs!"

"Sir Itsuki, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Rabier said that he was captured within the capital for destroying a library that belonged to the Church of Three Heroes! Through his arrogance, he blabbered that and I need to know, Kojeel!" Itsuki stood back up inside and leapt over to the open window. "Don't hide this from me! Please!"

"You don't have evidence that Lord Rabier was telling the truth." She turned her head back to focus on the main road. "The world is filled with information, both truths and lies."

"I know this is one of those truths. I…"

Itsuki didn't know how to explain the fact that he saw a vision of Ren fighting inside the library on a crystal ball that a mysterious white-haired girl gave to him. They might think he was dreaming up the scenario, so he had no choice except to be vague about it.

"I was informed by an outside source. Someone appeared and told me, giving me undeniable evidence in the process to believe such a thing. I thought it was a weird thing to encounter all of a sudden, but Rabier's words stuck to me. And now, it's all clicking."

"Y-You…. encountered a shadow?"

"... Y-Yeah."

'Let's go with that.'

Itsuki had no idea what she was talking about, but he decided to take her assumption and use it for himself.

"From who?"

Itsuki stammered to come up with a name. If he had said the Church of Three Heroes, it would have been another reason to not believe that hypothetical source. If he had said the king, Kojeel would likely not believe him. That really left him with one name to use.

"The information was sent by Aldrecht."

"I wasn't informed of his execution from the king. I thought he was attempting to keep the Sword Hero safe, but if Lord Aldrecht was the one to provide the shadow…" She started to mull to herself. "What exactly is going on here?"

"So you know nothing about the execution?"

"Nothing. I wish I could tell you more, Sir Itsuki. That does sound rather serious and something that the assigned knights should have known about. I wonder how the Sword Hero's assigned knight is dealing with this. There's no way that he would allow for such a thing to occur so easily."

"That's alright. Thanks for your honesty, but if that's really the case, I want to go see him."

"I apologize, Sir Itsuki. I have orders to prevent you from returning to the capital."

Mald raised his eyebrows. "That's a rather odd order to have. Does this have to do something with that blind trust of yours?"

"Keeping a Cardinal Hero away from something like this? You would think the inverse here." Welst scratched his head. "What the hell is the king thinking?"

"Again, I don't have explanations. However, what I do know is that—"

Suddenly, the end of the carriage was attacked, flinging everyone inside forwards to the front and interrupting Kojeel's words. Out of instinct, Itsuki hung onto the window whereas Welst flew from the backseat, slamming his head into Mald's armour. He made a grunting scream, but no one had been making comments. Kojeel pulled her head to the side to see what was going on, but she already had a good idea what it was.

What she saw merely confirmed it.

"K-Kojeel, what's going on!?"

"The holy knights have caught up! They struck the rear side with a magic spell!"

Behind their carriage, an array of knights on horseback had been trailing behind them. Some of them wielded melee weapons in their hands, keeping a grip on their horse with the other. Others didn't have melee options, needing to use magic and there were others that were paired up with another to have the ability to shoot arrows.

"They came after us!?" Welst raised his head from Mald, rubbing his forehead. "Those persistent bastards of the Church!"

"To think that they would chase us this far," Mald growled.

He pushed Welst off him and onto the carriage's floor, proceeding to open the door to see for himself. He grabbed onto the ceiling and dipped his head out before a magic spell had crashed into the swinging door, damaging it. An arrow quickly followed, striking through the glass and causing Mald to sink back into the carriage, but he saw enough to grasp the situation.

"At least eight horses!"

"Eight!?"

"Kojeel!" Welst cried, picking his head off the ground. "Can't you go any faster!?"

"These horses were not meant for speed in mind! They were bred and raised to have strength and perseverance, ideal for combat, but not focused on chases and escaping like this!"

"W-Wha!? I thought we got the horses randomly from the bandit hideout!"

"These horses were provided by the king, disguised as gifts from the village!"

"This isn't the time to be confused about that! If we can't outrun them, we'll have to shake them off another way!" Mald exclaimed.

"What the hell are you suggesting!?"

"Use your head, you stupid mage!" Mald yelled as he moved back to the flailing door. He drew his sword and slashed at the hinges, breaking it apart and with one more heave, he broke the door right off the carriage, sending it backwards to the horses. He poked his head out to see its trajectory. "We take the fight to them!"

The broken door flung itself into one of the horses, promptly stopping the monster and causing their handler to fly right off into the ground. The others didn't mind the lost member and merely repositioned themselves to avoid suffering the same fate.

"Well, they're not falling for the same trick again."

"They're still catching up!"

"Then start delaying them! You have magic, don't you!?"

"Fine! You don't need to shout into my ears! I'll go deaf because of you!"

Welst dipped his head out the empty side, gripping one hand on the floor and sticking the other out to the closest enemy. His mouth started muttering the incantations.

"[Zweite Fireball]!"

The flames shot out and soared over to the horse, but upon collision, the horse didn't stop. It ran through his spell, trudging through the pain as the knight was left unaffected.

"Good job, you worthless mage! That did nothing!"

"Then I'll have to ramp it up a bit!"

Welst leaned out of the carriage, keeping his legs tucked in, and held both of his hands at his target.

"I am the source of my—Shit!"

A spell managed to fly over to the carriage, hitting the back once more and pushing Welst further out. He thought he was about to fall out of their transportation, but a hand grabbed onto his collar and tugged him back in before his face broke against the passing earth.

His back slammed onto the floor, expecting to thank Itsuki for the help.

However, it was Mald who pulled him in.

"Anything you want to say, worthless mage!?"

Welst pouted, averting his gaze. "T-Thanks, I guess…?"

He honestly thought Mald would have left him for dead. Needless to say, it was a sour surprise.

Meanwhile, Itsuki was looking through the opposite and the remaining door, trying to see if he could get any good shots from his angle. Unfortunately, the door opened up towards the knights, effectively blocking his chances. He quickly came over to the other side, moving past Mald and over Welst to try a clearer angle, but any good shots required him to lie down in a similar position as Welst had just did.

Frankly, it was too risky to pop his head out.

He needed a good place to position himself while having an open place to hit the knights and he only had one place in mind. Unfortunately, that needed him to risk himself even further.

"Welst! Provide cover for me on the side!"

Itsuki stood himself right beside the exposed area. His arms started to shake, just thinking about what he needed to do, but if he wasn't going to do it, they were as good as dead. Placing his bow back over him, he took a deep breath and leaned out of the carriage, grabbing onto the top tightly.

"S-Sir Itsuki!?"

"I'm heading to Kojeel! I'll have the overhead space to act properly!"

He could feel the violent speeds flickering his hair wildly about.

"That's insane!"

"Sir Itsuki's right!" Mald shouted. "Letting him move to Kojeel will give him the position he needs to fire his arrows!"

The armoured adventurer ran up to the other side of the carriage and broke off the remaining door. It didn't stop any of the knights, but it allowed Welst to provide cover from both sides now. However, another magic struck the carriage, causing Itsuki's right hand to slip off the top. He barely managed to hang on with his left.

"Make yourself useful for Sir Itsuki for once and stop those spells from reaching him!"

"I know, I know!"

With Mald holding him down, Welst slid his torso back out and readied his hands, watching the many knights bridge the gap closer. Itsuki managed to recover his right hand back onto the top and started to climb up. His upper body strength hadn't been too good, but he managed to have enough to get his elbows on top. He swung one foot up and as the second foot followed, more spells headed his way.

"Open your eyes, you stupid mage!"

"I see them! I am the source of my power! Burn up all that crosses my path! [Zweite Fire Barrier]!"

The magic elements flung themselves through Welst's defensive spell, but it shook the carriage a lot less.

In one burst of power, Itsuki got his entire body up onto the roof. He felt the winds howling even louder by his ears, threatening him that falling into their embrace would be dangerous. The winds started to sound a lot sharper as the seconds rolled by, but the screaming down below soon told him that it wasn't his imagination.

"I can't cast the spell in time!"

"Sir Itsuki! Watch out!"

He looked back instinctively to see that a blade of wind had been flying into the carriage and connected with the carriage, but it didn't stop there. He could hear its mighty strength crush through the material under him like it was paper and continued off into the distance in front of their ride, disappearing into nothing. He thought it was a failed attempt, but he quickly realized that the roof started moving.

The attack managed to slice off the top of the carriage with him on it.

"Shit!"

Itsuki stood up, but he started staggering as the platform tilted off the horizontal plain. He saw the end of the roof land onto the ground below the wheels and its angle was moving down quickly. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his legs out as the roof was left behind them, extending his arms out to catch the carriage, but he wasn't close enough.

His hands missed the edge and met nothing but air.

"Got you!"

"You're not dying today!"

However, Welst and Mald, popping up from the open-aired carriage, managed to grab his wrists to prevent him from becoming horse stampede prey.

"Mald! Welst! Pull him up quickly!"

Without another word from Kojeel, Welst and Mald tugged him in. His heart kept pounding, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Though, seeing the new unwilling design of their carriage, Itsuki exhaled his relief to know that he didn't need to experience such a thing again.

The knights accidentally gave him cover to fire his arrows.

He pulled out his bow as he crouched between the seats and pulled back on the nock, aiming it into the skies directly vertical. His arrow glistened underneath the night brightly as he could hear the shouts of the knights, wanting to put him to death, but he wasn't sure if this was going to be good enough.

"Sir Itsuki, I got an idea. Let's try a combo skill!"

Itsuki held his arrow and looked to Welst. "A combo skill?"

"I was meaning to talk about it when it was convenient, but this is a better time than ever to try!" Welst held out his hand towards Itsuki's charging skill. "[Faust Fire]."

Itsuki's arrow started to ignite itself on Welst's flames as he moved away.

"Mald!" Kojeel called out. "Take the harasses from me! I'll empower Sir Itsuki's skill as well!"

"I understand!"

Mald leapt over the front wall as Kojeel handed him the reins, letting Kojeel take his spot without any loss of speed. She held her hand in the same manner as Welst and casted her own spell.

"[Faust Holy]." She backed off to let Itsuki release the skill. "There. The skill should be ready."

It was being combined with both fire and light.

This was an improved [Arrow Rain] from what it seemed like, mixing it with other elements to give it extra power. In that case, Itsuki knew he had to give it another name. The menus weren't adding anything extra, so he launched the arrow into the starry night and as it reached the climax, he snapped his fingers with the improvised name in his head.

"[Arrow Rain—Shooting Star]!"

The skill exploded above them, but since they were moving, the arrows would fall onto those moving into the area below the shining lights. They started crashing into the knights and their horses, knocking a good amount of them off their mounts. There were even holes that formed where some of the arrows landed, causing those that trailed behind the main group to trip.

The only ones that managed to escape heaven's judgement had been the ones that sped up and got too close for their own liking. There were two knight mounts specifically, one of them having an archer on the back, running side by side to them.

"You'll pay for this, Bow Demon!"

Itsuki and Welst readied for a fight, but their bodies were starting to get tired. They've been using skills and magic a lot during their escape and they were running out of MP; in Itsuki's case, SP as well.

However, Kojeel silently turned to those knights. She slid her hand down her spear and started chanting.

"I am the source of my power. Light, come and slay my enemies before me. [Faust Holy]!"

Kojeel gripped tighter onto her spear and instead of the spell emerging, she stuck out her spear much to the holy knights' surprise. They almost wanted to mock her attempt to reach them with her spear, but it was soon going to be flipped.

"[Cancel, Magic Equip]!"

"W-What…?"

Itsuki widened his eyes to see that Kojeel's weapon had been covered in a white light. She pulled it back as if it was a harpoon and acted as if she was throwing her spear. Her hand still held onto it, but the light that was sticking onto it shot out at the horse's feet, causing it to faceplant and hurled the two knights into the dust.

With one remaining knight left, he tried to close into the carriage's wheel and tried to stab the wheel to break their carriage. However, Kojeel leapt from her position and into the air, striking the knight off their horse before hijacking the mount for herself.

It slowed down a bit from the sudden swap of riders, but she managed to control the horse well enough to keep it in check. It wasn't in the plans to have another horse, but at the moment, she couldn't simply abandon the monster. She quickly caught back up to the group, promptly disengaging the light on her spear.

She glanced over, noticing Itsuki and Welst were looking back to see if there were anymore knights trailing them. A rush of relief entered their lungs to see nothing worth mentioning. They both collapsed; Itsuki laying back comfortably on the seat while Welst's head was the only body part that got that comfort.

"Is it over yet…?" Welst asked, gasping for air. "Man, that was too wild for me. A-Ah, the injuries settling back in again. C-Crap..."

"They really wanted me dead, huh?" Itsuki mulled, pulling back his head to look up into the stars. "They probably want The Shield Hero and the Sword Hero dead too at this point. I still need answers from you, Kojeel."

"We might not be out of danger yet. We'll reorganize at the nearest village and I'll answer any other lingering questions you have there."

"Yeah. Sounds good," Itsuki said, wanting to close his eyes to relax from the tense situation.

"Where's the nearest village then?" Mald asked.

Kojeel thought for a bit before she returned to him with an answer.

"The pathway should be branching out into different roads up ahead. It's not the closest one, but we should take the left road since it's probably the safer option."

"The safer option?" Welst asked. "Why's that?"

"It's a quiet village that is mostly known for its mining excavations and it doesn't have many eyes on it, especially as of late with monsters nesting up within their mineshafts. As an adventurer, you might have heard of it before. It's called—"

)—(\IV/)|—(

As the morning sun rose from the horizon, a young man walked out from the village for another day to stay on guard. Most of the time, it was an easy job, even with the added condition of asking for a fee every time someone new had wished to enter the village. They didn't normally have a fee, but their village's economy started to derail once their main source of income had been blocked off by monsters. From the chief's orders, it was one of the ways they could help themselves through this crisis.

Recently though, the entire monster problem was solved. The man was relieved that he didn't need to argue with people about fees too much anymore. Too many adventurers had walked on by, confused or bewildered by the mere cost of 30 copper to enter. Most ended up paying; others just went on their way in anger.

"Finally, some good news ever since the waves of destruction started."

He then heard the sound of trotting horses in the distance. It was probably merchants, hearing about the returning source of income, coming to buy off their collected ores. He stood up straight to make himself look presentable as the horses came closer. Two of them had been pulling a carriage while the other one had been managed by a single person, walking to the carriage's side.

However, he squinted his eyes to take a closer look at the carriage.

It was definitely one belonging to a noble, but it was rather odd.

There was no roof on top of it.

"Did we really have to stop and rest, Kojeel? We could have made it here quicker otherwise!"

"You must have patience, Welst. I was worried about the damage the horses might have taken during the skirmish and I had to tend to their wounds. Horses don't show pain, so unless you know what you're looking for, you won't notice their suffering. These monsters are as important as the knights that ride them, so they must be taken with good care."

"It worked out in the end. They weren't following us anymore and they certainly didn't intrude on our well-earned sleep. I can still feel my neck cracking though."

"It's as Sir Itsuki says, so don't fret about such trivial things that didn't occur, you dumb mage."

"No one asked for your input, Mald."

They were slowly approaching the entrance as the man on duty gestured to them to come to a stop before him. They did so accordingly as the guard walked up to the group. Now that he got a better look at the carriage, he could only wonder as to what the hell happened to it.

The roof was missing. The doors were gone. The rear side had been essentially destroyed and was falling apart. It was as if they were riding the carriage through hell and returned.

"What happened here?"

"Unfortunate case of bandits," Kojeel answered immediately. "We lost our main carriage, but we managed to escape by taking one of their stolen carriages. Though, it didn't come without the cost of that same carriage as well."

"Kinda feel bad about this, but I'll need an entry fee. It's 30 coppers."

"An entrance fee? Seriously?" Welst popped his head out of the carriage, glancing at the guard. "Last time I came here, there wasn't an entrance fee."

"Well, monsters were preoccupying our village's source of income. Without the mineshaft, our economy crashed and we're simply trying to stay afloat here. However, that problem's been recently solved by a young adventurer as of late, so we're trying to transition from the fee back to our original disposition of entry. Regardless, I still have my orders to take in fees for the next week as we ease back to normal."

Itsuki jumped out of the carriage and walked up to the guard.

"30 coppers, right?"

"Yep. Thanks for under—"

Itsuki pulled the 30 coppers out from thin air and handed it to the guard with a straight face.

"Is this enough?"

The guard was simply flabbergasted, but knowing that he still had a job to do, he opened up the convenient pouch and quickly counted the money to be exactly the required amount.

"... Y-Yeah. Please be on your way." He brought the coins over to a locked chest to the side as the group started to walk themselves into the village.

The horses trotted down as the morning rose on the villagers. Some of them were already planning to head over to the mineshaft with their tools in hand and proper equipment in stock while the children were still asleep, nowhere to sleep on the day's dawn.

"Since this is a new place I've been to, I'll go check out the weapon's store, if they have one," Itsuki announced. He wanted to see if they had any new bows he could copy. "I'll meet up with everyone back at the inn to settle down the horses and stuff."

"That sounds like a plan, Sir Itsuki," Mald nodded.

"Just make sure you don't accidentally attack another noble while you're alone." Welst scratched his head, letting a yawn out. "I shaved off enough of my years to know that I don't want to go through something like that again."

"Welst, shouldn't you go with Sir Itsuki?" Kojeel asked. "You lost your staff in the process of our escape, correct?"

"I can do that later. My head's still shaking and the only remedy for that is a nice bed."

"Very well. In any case, please be safe, Sir Itsuki."

Itsuki nodded and parted ways from his team.

The village itself, especially compared to the town within Rabier's territory and the capital, had been on the smaller scale of things. It certainly felt like the namesake village that he would see in some medieval settings, right down to the similar buildings that were constructed in a nonlinear manner to one another.

It took a bit of asking about to find the weapon shop, but the people here had been happy to point directions. He could feel like their mood had been lifted up from the ground, smiling about their new and bright future. Whoever this adventurer was, he must have really saved them from a tight situation.

As he walked closer to where this apparent weapon shop was, a round ball suddenly bounced into his path from around the corner. It was made out of the materials that dropped from those balloons monsters he encountered during his first few days of being summoned.

It never registered to him that such objects could be made from materials, but in a world where they probably don't have factories to make plastic, they made do with what they could find. It really made sense now that he thought about it, as the ball rolled over to him. Most likely, they were on an incline to have the ball roll like that, so he picked it up into his hands.

A child must have been chasing after it after it was accidentally launched too far away.

Just as he thought about it, a brown-haired girl ran out from the corner, looking over to Itsuki's direction. She had a rustic-coloured tunic over a brown long-sleeved shirt which would have been good clothing to wear for moving about. In contrast, her hair was beautiful, suggesting that she took good care of it as well.

It was easy to think that she was the ball's owner, but… she felt a bit too old to be playing with a ball like this. She looked about to be Ren's age, after all. Perhaps a bit younger, since she was shorter than him. Though, he supposed that sports may have been a thing here. He should probably retract that statement and apologize to all high-school soccer players while he was at it.

Without the age of media, what other things would teenagers of their age do?

"A-Ah…?"

However, she never asked for her ball back.

She merely stared at him with her red eyes with her mouth hanging open.

That was when Itsuki was a defining feature of the girl. Her ears had been on her head rather than the side, twitching in their round shape. She was a demi-human, just like the people being held inside of Rabier's basement, but considering how she was running about and healthy, he felt a relief to see that this village wasn't corrupted by any evils.

However… she simply kept staring at him.

The whole situation was feeling awkward.

"U-Uhm…" Itsuki held out the ball. "I-Is this yours…?"

"Y-You're…!"

"Raphtalia! Don't go running off like that! Nearby gave me a heart attack when you just disappeared!"

The girl turned around to see her master travel around the corner like she did. He transitioned his light jog to a mere walk, catching up with her. All in the meanwhile, Itsuki widened his eyes, hearing the familiar voice. His heart skipped a beat, trying to figure out if his ears were playing tricks on him.

As he made eye contact with her master, both of them joined in with the villagers in their contented smile.

"N-Naofumi!?"

"I-Itsuki!?"

"You're safe!"

Itsuki wanted to run into Naofumi and give him a hug out of relief, but he knew that wouldn't be proper of him. However, he didn't need to. Naofumi was the one to give him a tight embrace instead. He could feel Naofumi's arms shivering as they wrapped around him. He didn't know what happened that would have warranted this reaction, but instead of talking, he simply accepted the gesture.

"Thanks goodness you're doing well…!"

"You too…"

The girl then smiled over their reunion.

"It is Mister Itsuki! It really is him!"

As Naofumi released his hug, Itsuki quickly moved over to address an issue.

"I want to get this out of the way, Naofumi." Itsuki pointed to the girl. "Who is she? Where's that slave of yours?"

Naofumi was about to answer, but the girl stepped forwards, placing her hand on her chest.

"I am Master Naofumi's slave, the only one."

"Yep, that's Raphtalia. Couldn't even believe it myself."

Itsuki silently stared at her, dragging his eyes to go from her feet to her head and back down. Last time he remembered, Naofumi's slave was simply a child of ten years of age. There's no way that she was already reaching that height. Absolutely no way it could logically be her. She would have been no higher than his chest.

Itsuki silently looked at Naofumi.

Naofumi nodded.

Itsuki silently looked at Raphtalia.

Raphtalia nodded.

In the moment, Itsuki's mind clicked. His jaw dropped.

Riyute Village was interrupted by a distressed scream.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

)—(\IV/)|—(

Author's Notes :

Yes. That title was a reference.

No. I'm not going back to that.

)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 038 : Grand Entrance

[Itsuki] : "Thanks for saving our asses back there, Kojeel."

[Kojeel] : "It's merely part of my assigned job to protect the Bow Hero. There's no need for gratitude."

[Itsuki] : "My only regret is that we couldn't do anything about the situation there. In fact, I think I made it worse, but I swear that Idol Rabier will pay for what he does onto those demi-humans."

[Kojeel] : "Let's simply worry about our next steps. The Church of Three Heroes have already declared you a demon and we'll need to act properly and accordingly."

[Welst] : "H-Hey, uh… I know this is just a random thought…"

[Itsuki] : "What is it, Welst?"

[Welst] : "K-Kojeel, how did you break through the window? We were on the third floor and it was still pretty high."

[Kojeel] : "I simply jumped."

[Itsuki] : "... What?"

[Kojeel] : "I jumped up and crashed through. I was planning to rush up to the third floor using the stairs, but when I saw that magic up in Lord Rabier's office, I changed my tactic and leapt upwards."

[Welst] : "... Suddenly, I am very thankful that Kojeel is an undercover knight and on our side."

[Itsuki] : "No kidding…"

)—(\IV/)|—(

)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 039 : Reluctant Assistance

[Mald] : "This was not how I thought things would turn out with the Church of Three Heroes trying to kill us all. Frankly, I thought you three were much better than to trigger red flags with Lord Rabier, and yet you still did it anyways. You were the one that knew of his prowess in the past too, you dumb mage."

[Welst] : "Oi, I tried stopping Sir Itsuki!"

[Mald] : "Clearly, you didn't try hard enough."

[Itsuki] : "There's no use in blaming anyone here except me. I was the one who confronted Rabier about the slaves before I was knowing what I was going to do. I just… couldn't resist the urge of knowing why someone would make others suffer for the hell of it."

[Mald] : "Again with this slave business, Sir Itsuki. I told you before that you involved yourself with such foolishness, I would promptly leave your party, deserting a frontliner position in the team."

[Welst] : "Then leave, you asshole! I didn't want you here anyways!"

[Kojeel] : 'To think that their coordination from our escape played so nicely with one another...'

[Mald] : "Unfortunately, it's my head that's being hunted as well, since I lent assistance to you during our escape from the manor. I'm not so much of an idiot like the stupid mage to know that leaving in isolation is going to end up in my likely death. Though as reluctant as it may, I'm being forced to fight alongside you due to the circumstances."

[Kojeel] : "Mald's right. We—"

[Welst] : "Shit. I hate it when he's right."

[Kojeel] : "Well, continuing my thought, we have to stick together until I can report back to the king and have him clear everything up as I mentioned. At worst, the situation is still favourable for us. For now, splitting from the group will only result badly. We'll have to try and act cautiously and move around covetly to avoid any collisions with the Church or any other hired mercenaries and adventurers."

[Itsuki] : "Everything's all going to hell, isn't it…?"

[Itsuki] : 'First, Naofumi. Second, apparently Ren… And now me. I hope Motoyasu hasn't gotten himself stuck into a situation like this…"

)—(\IV/)|—(

)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 040 : Money Magic

[Barkeeper] : "What will it be today? The usual?"

[Guard] : "Y-Yeah…"

[Barkeeper] : "What's wrong? You look a bit distracted. Something on your mind?"

[Guard] : "Has there been a new breakthrough in magic abilities lately?"

[Barkeeper] : "That's an odd question to ask so suddenly. Though, you'll have to be more specific about asking that question."

[Guard] : "Anything about making money appear out of thin air?"

[Barkeeper] : "That's oddly specific, but no. I haven't heard of any type of magic that allows money to appear out of thin air. What's with the curiosity?"

[Guard] : "You see, there was a man a few days ago that was entering Riyute with his demi-human slave. You know, the one that helped the monster problem in the mines. I stopped him for the usual entrance fee and he just took the amount out of thin air like it was normal. I thought it was a trick playing before my eyes until just recently, another young adventurer did the same thing and pulled the entrance fee out of nowhere! I was starting to doubt my sanity there!"

[Barkeeper] : "It certainly is unusual, but it's nothing to lose sleep over. As long as they keep to their own business, they can be flying in the skies for all I care."

[Guard] : "Y-Yeah… Y-You're right…"

[Barkeeper] : "..."

[Barkeeper] : "Do you want something heavier than usual?"

[Guard] : "Please."

)—(\IV/)|—(