“Ouga-kun! Get it together!”
”…… Sorry. I’m okay now.”
A slap on the back. Thanks to Reina’s strike, my eyes refocused.
Before us stood the swordswoman hailed as the strongest anti-mage.
She also far surpasses me in pure combat.
For Reina and me, there’s no harder foe.
Fighting while disturbed brings zero chance of victory.
Without question we die here.
…… Switch over.
Accept that Alice is brainwashed, then plan from there.
Two means available to us.
Knock Alice unconscious, or land [Magecraft Funeral] to lift the dark magic.
Either way — one required condition: I must land an attack directly on her.
“Heh heh heh…… close combat with Alice.”
And with a serious-killing Alice, not the usual training.
But we have one difference from training.
I can fight 2-vs-1 with a reliable big sister.
“Reina. Can you support?”
“Naturally. Worried you’d forgotten me.”
Full motivation. Can or can’t doesn’t matter.
To save Alice, I have to.
…… A brutal final mission, indeed.
“Currently I have no [Mana-Enhancement Extract]. Only lightning-element magic.”
“Got it. ……Now, let’s see how far we can push.”
I held a hand lightly toward Alice and bounced on my toes with rhythm.
This keeps muscles loose, so I can respond on my timing or hers. A universal defensive stance.
”…… Strategy meeting done?”
“Grateful you waited.”
“If you still need confessional time, I’ll wait……”
“No need. Such a future doesn’t exist.”
“Then…… become rust on my blade.”
Released killing intent. My skin prickled.
A serious Alice is this heavy.
“Ha!”
A step and speed making time feel cut off.
She closed the distance in a single breath; her sword came from my left to cleave my torso.
“Phew……”
Don’t catch. I’d lose the arm bones.
Minimal contact, deflect, redirect — neutralize the trajectory!
I slipped my left hand inside the blade’s path and struck the flat of the sword with my palm-heel, turning the edge from horizontal to vertical.
The redirected attack cracked the floor instead.
”…………!”
I swallowed. Take that head-on and instant death.
The terror: this isn’t even her swordsmanship. Just a regular attack.
Stamina-wise, prolonging hurts us.
So don’t waste the chance her aggression created……!
“[Magecraft Funeral]!”
I thrust my right hand toward Alice’s chest.
Just landing it. Even if she defends with her body, contact wins.
That moment, [Magecraft Funeral] should activate and lift the brainwashing.
So I aimed for a wide area she’d find hard to dodge.
“Soft. But it carried a dangerous scent.”
“Wha——!”
She released her sword’s left-hand grip, spun her hip-mounted scabbard half a rotation, and caught my thrust with it.
To deliberately avoid contact with her body — what kind of intuition is that……!
“There — got time to be surprised? I’m swinging up.”
A one-handed upward slash powered by abnormal strength.
“[Thunder]!”
But Reina’s spell cut in, forcing Alice into evasion. The blade didn’t reach me.
“Thanks, Reina.”
“Not enough to warrant thanks.”
She maneuvered without obstructing my attacks, filling openings after I struck with magic support.
Alone I’d already be dead, but with her we’d reached fifty-fifty.
“Hmph…… troublesome.”
“That’s my line.”
I returned to the same defensive stance.
I want to avoid drawn-out battle. But I can’t see attacking from my end landing either.
In any era, the way to beat someone stronger is set.
Single counter-shot. In a fight against Alice, this is the form I must hold.
“Sticking purely to defense. ……Fine. Then let me show you that thinking is a mistake.”
“…………wha——!?”
“This is……!”
Her killing intent exploded.
So she hadn’t been serious up to now……!
I’d stepped back without realizing.
The danger signal in my brain was deafening.
Don’t fight, it said. Run. My survival instinct screamed.
Yet for some reason, the fear didn’t stop my thoughts — they spun on.
…… Is this the Alice I know?
The one who lost her sense of justice, manipulated by evil, swinging a sword — is that Alice?
The Alice I fear — is she just a monster swinging a blade, no conviction?
What kept me from disgracefully fleeing was the desire to save Alice.
Forcing instinct under reason, I made myself face her.
Because I believed it led to the path of light we should walk.
“Reina! Hide behind me!”
“[Twenty-Four Thunder Arrows]!”
She dove behind me at my call.
She rained lightning arrows around us as a defensive wall.
But still, the sense of approaching death alone did not subside.
”——[Afterimage Empty-Empty · Slash-Wind-Dust].”
Alice’s afterimages — ten. One among them released a slash.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Esteemed guests, please wait a moment. We are preparing the products. Please continue to wait a little longer.”
That announcement had been repeating from the stage.
Because the promised slave auction hadn’t begun, complaints from guest nobles were starting to rise.
So…… you succeeded, Ouga……! Reina……!
Maintaining my face so a smile wouldn’t leak, I griped with surrounding nobles about the delay.
Unfortunately, today’s auction won’t be held.
Ouga and Reina freed all the slaves. By now they’ve likely escaped Andrews territory using the cargo carriage.
Without product, the auction never starts.
So I should keep acting as the usual corrupt lord until this party ends.
”—— Duke Veret. A moment, would you?”
“What is it, Lord Andrews?”
…… So he approaches me.
A moment of relaxation made me startled.
“Come.”
Without explanation, sparse words, Andrews ushered me along.
No excuse to refuse.
Has my royal-ordered probing been exposed?
Not enough material to judge. At least going with Andrews seems fine.
I left my drink with a waiter and followed him out.
Andrews led me to the rear entrance — where slaves are received.
”…… What about this place, Lord Andrews?”
“It seems some rats infiltrated to disrupt our slave auction.”
“What!? Truly!?”
My heart leapt. ……Calm. He hasn’t said the rats are Ouga’s team.
Never let him grasp the tail.
“All the slaves escaped.”
”…… I see. That’s why the auction is delayed……”
“By the way, Duke Veret also entrusted slaves today. My apologies — my failing.”
“No need to apologize, Lord Andrews. We’re friends.”
“Thank you, Duke Veret. ……Truly, thank you.”
Andrews wore a sticky, sickening smile.
…… A horrible feeling. Cold sweat traced my back.
“But rest assured. My special slave was unharmed, and is — right now — capturing the rats for me.”
”…… I see. Joyful news.”
I’ve never been more grateful for accumulated years of practice.
Without them, I couldn’t have controlled the emotions raging in my chest.
“Yes, joyful indeed. So, Duke Veret——”
A thin arm wrapped my shoulder.
Like a snake catching prey.
“Let’s go see it together. Watch the rats getting tormented by my prized slave.”
I could only nod.
I clenched my fist hard enough for nails to dig in, holding back the welling fury.
Anger toward the devil before me boiled like magma.
But the anger I most directed was at myself.
Indulged by Ouga’s results, I made naive decisions and brought him here.
While my beloved son and daughter suffer, as ducal head executing a royal mission, I keep this anger off my face.
I wanted to kill the man before me as badly as I wanted to kill myself.
“I prepared a seat. Come.”
”…… Hahaha. So you invited me for this. I’m grateful.”
“Don’t mind it.”
Following Andrews, descending to the basement, three familiar slave-handlers lay collapsed. Unconscious, apparently.
Andrews didn’t care.
Right now I only want to know if Ouga and Reina are safe.
Suppressing my urgency, I followed.
He moved deliberately, slowly, befitting an old man.
…… Never show an opening. I can’t be taken down too.
A walk of mere minutes felt like hours, and we arrived at an open door.
“They’re in this shelter. The rats who freed the slaves and my proud swordswoman.”
I don’t want to step in. I don’t want to see.
Suppressing the feeling, I crossed the shelter threshold.
”…………Hah…… hah……”
“[Heal]! [Heal]! [Heal]!”
Below — Ouga, blood gushing from his chest, and Reina desperately casting [Heal], [Heal], [Heal].