I silently praised
Just then, Roderich called out in an anxious, pleading voice and tried to stop Philine from getting off the Lesserbus.
"Philine..."
"Um, Roderich. If you don't let go of my hand, I won't be able to get off."
Glancing at the rearview mirror, I could see Roderich gripping Philine's hand. Philine looked between Roderich, who was holding onto her, and me—the one she'd been ordered to stay behind with—and made a deeply troubled expression.
I let out a soft sigh. Roderich would surely feel more reassured if Philine—the one who had pulled him onto the riding beast in the first place—stayed with him. In that case, Philine should just ride along.
"Philine, you're welcome to stay on board. Why don't you teach Roderich how to put on his seatbelt?"
"Huh? Am I permitted to accompany you?"
I gave a slight nod to Philine, whose eyes went wide. I was worried about leaving an anxious Roderich alone in the back seat. It would be better if someone was with him.
"Roderich isn't my attendant yet. He's not a knight, but he is serving as an observer. Just make sure he doesn't leave this Lesserbus under any circumstances."
"Understood."
As I watched Philine beam happily in the rearview mirror, I began channeling Magic Power through the steering wheel. Holding a water gun in one hand made this one-handed driving feel a bit dangerous.
"A-ah, Lady
"Roderich, we're leaving!"
I cut off Roderich's words—he looked about to say he wanted to get off—and followed after Brother
We accelerated toward the gathering spot, which glowed with yellow light. It wasn't far from the dormitory, so before long, the cylindrical glow of the gathering spot became visible amid the snow-covered forest. From the air, I could see the black trail the Tarnisbeferen had left as it tore through.
However, there was no sign of the knights who were supposed to have been fighting already. They were probably inside the gathering spot, which functioned like a magic mirror.
"Entering now!"
Brother Cornelius shouted as he dove toward the gathering spot. Chasing after his billowing ochre-colored cloak, I flew the Lesserbus in after him.
In the brief instant we passed through the barrier, the scenery shifted from a snowy landscape to one completely devoid of snow. However, contrary to my memory, the gathering spot—where medicinal herbs and trees had once grown lush and green—had been ravaged by the Tarnisbeferen, with roughly a quarter of it decayed. It wasn't the green of plants or the brown of trees, nor was it merely bare earth; black, sludgy pools had formed everywhere.
"...This is terrible."
"There's no one here!? Where are they!?"
Brother Cornelius's voice, tinged with panic, snapped me to attention. The Tarnisbeferen that had ravaged this place was nowhere to be seen. The apprentice knights were nowhere to be found either.
"They must have lured the Tarnisbeferen somewhere to protect the gathering spot. Let's leave here and search,"
Brother Cornelius nodded at her words and flew out of the gathering spot. Still bitterly resenting the devastation around me, I followed after him.
...This place is going to need Fluutreine's healing later. At this rate, the Ehrenfest students won't be able to gather properly.
Just as I was thinking this and exiting the gathering spot, a rumbling sound echoed from deep within the forest.
"Hyah!?"
"Kyaa!"
"Wah!"
Even inside the Lesserbus, cries of surprise erupted—it was a deafening roar that made us flinch involuntarily. The air itself seemed to vibrate and tingle against our skin.
"From where!?"
Rising high into the sky on our riding beasts, we could see traces of the Tarnisbeferen's movement continuing deep into the forest, with several trees toppling in the distance. From among those trees, a riding beast emerged and landed again. It wore a bright ochre-colored cloak.
"There!"
We rushed toward the deep forest and spotted the now-enlarged Tarnisbeferen. Just as Roderich had described, it was shaped like an enormous dog or wolf. However, while he'd said it was about as large as an adult on all fours, this thing looked two or three times that size.
"It wasn't this big!"
At Roderich's near-screamed words, I nodded while fixing my gaze on the Tarnisbeferen below.
"It must have grown after absorbing the magic power from the attacks. ...They really fed it a lot of magic power, huh."
I swallowed the angry words I wanted to shout—about noticing this before it grew this large. The apprentice knights who couldn't accompany the Trombe hunt had never encountered a magic beast that stole magic power, so there was no helping it.
Still, even they seemed to understand by now that attacking was dangerous. I could see several riding beasts circling the Tarnisbeferen at a distance, trying to keep it from causing more damage to the forest. The ochre-colored cloaks standing out against the snow confirmed they were Ehrenfest apprentice knights.
But there were fewer of them than the number of apprentice knights
"...Is this all of them? Where are the other apprentice knights?"
The Tarnisbeferen's exposed, yellowed teeth clattered as it tried to snap up an apprentice knight flying before it.
"Look out!"
As if reading the Tarnisbeferen's movements, the apprentice knight flipped their ochre cloak and quickly changed direction. But our sigh of relief was short-lived.
The Tarnisbeferen had grown enormous, and its mouth had grown with it—the saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth was bigger too. When a droplet of saliva fell, the spot would transform into decaying black earth writhing with sludge. As the Tarnisbeferen moved, the ground rotted, trees lost their support and toppled, and everything was visibly crushed and lost its form.
Because it wasn't a magic tree with roots fixing it in place and a limited range of movement, but rather a four-legged magic beast that could run and move nimbly anywhere it pleased—the Tarnisbeferen was far more dangerous than the enormous Trombe.
Not knowing what had happened to the apprentice knights who weren't here, I frantically looked around.
"Lady Rozemyne!"
At Philine's sharp cry, I jolted—the Tarnisbeferen's huge, red eyes were turned toward me. Roderich had said its forehead was lined with black pupils, but now they were no longer black. Instead, they had become multicolored—red, blue, green—displaying the magic power it had consumed. Every single one of those eyes was staring at me.
A chill ran down my spine. Cold sweat seemed to pour from every pore. I knew the look in the eyes of a magic beast that had recognized me as prey. And now, that look was directed squarely at me.
The Tarnisbeferen twitched its nose. Whether it could sense the size of my Magic Power, or whether it understood that the circling apprentice knights wouldn't attack—it completely ignored their attempts to draw its attention and charged straight at me.
"Lady Rozemyne, get to higher altitude! Fly high enough that even if the Tarnisbeferen jumps, it can't reach you!"
At Leonore's sharp command, I immediately pulled the steering wheel upward and climbed. As if refusing to let me escape, the Tarnisbeferen—previously on all fours—rose onto its hind legs and leaped at the Lesserbus.
Through the Lesserbus window, I could see the Tarnisbeferen's thick foreleg, and I could feel its beastly body odor and the stench of its wide-open maw closing in from behind. The blood drained from my face.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Waaaaah!"
Listening to the screams of the two in the back seat, I slammed the accelerator to the floor, climbing at full speed while wildly firing the water gun backward in every direction. But it didn't seem to hit at all. There wasn't a hint of the Tarnisbeferen losing speed.
Through the driver's window, I could see its yellowed teeth. I had never seen the underside of a beast's fangs up close like this. I had never found warm breath so terrifying.
...It's going to eat me!
In a white-out of sheer terror, I kept channeling Magic Power through the steering wheel.
CLANG!
A sound of teeth snapping together rang out right behind me. I realized it had failed to bite only because the Tarnisbeferen's foreleg jerked backward.
Immediately after, a tremendous scream—"GYAAOWN!"—erupted from the Tarnisbeferen's mouth.
"We did it!"
Judith's energetic voice rang out. Looking back, I could see that her attack had hit the Tarnisbeferen's face, and Brother Cornelius had driven a full-power strike into its flank.
"Lady Rozemyne!"
"...I'm fine. I'm unhurt."
When those hoarse words escaped my lips, Wilfried and his guard knights had also rushed over. The moment Wilfried drew near, he shouted at me.
"Rozemyne, stop doing reckless things!"
"I came to teach you the prayer."
"If you had just contacted the teachers, we could have bought time easily with just our group. Being eaten by a magic beast or having you suddenly collapse in the middle of a battle like this is far more troublesome!"
Wilfried's point was perfectly valid, and I honestly apologized. "I'm very sorry."
"I came to bestow blessings on everyone's weapons. Once that's done, I'll return to the dormitory."
"Fine."
Brother Cornelius and the others had also gathered above the Tarnisbeferen. Looking around, there still weren't enough people. None of the former
"Brother Wilfried, what happened to the other apprentice knights?"
"They're resting. Since this was going to be a long battle, we arranged to take turns fighting the Tarnisbeferen."
Saying this, Brother Wilfried fired a Roat toward the forest. As a streak of red light shot out, apprentice knights who had been resting scattered throughout the forest emerged and gathered.
"Cornelius, Leonore, Judith, Hartmut—given its enormous size, it's too dangerous. Just as Brother Wilfried and the others were doing, please evade the Tarnisbeferen's attacks and buy time until we have enough offensive power assembled. I'll teach everyone the prayer here."
"Understood."
After watching Brother Cornelius and the others descend with a whoosh to draw the Tarnisbeferen's attention, I turned to survey the apprentice knights who had gathered around.
The knights who had been resting generally fell into two groups: one centered around
"The situation has changed quite a bit from what Roderich explained to me, so I'll need someone to brief me," I said.
At my words, every gaze among the apprentice knights simultaneously turned to Traugott. I noticed that the group centered around him was definitely not looking at him with friendly eyes.
During the second half of last year, he had been assigned as
"Traugott, explain."
When Wilfried gave the order, Traugott stumbled over his words briefly before speaking, his gaze somewhat lowered.
"Right now, if it goes on a rampage in the gathering spot, all our gathered materials will be destroyed, so we've been luring it into the forest. ...I attacked with my full power and caused the Tarnisbeferen to grow enormous."
When Traugott had arrived with Wilfried, he'd apparently discovered apprentice knights who were circling the Tarnisbeferen without attacking, luring it away from the gathering spot and into the forest. Matthias had quickly realized that attacking would have their magic power stolen and ordered them to absolutely not engage, but Traugott hadn't known that.
Hoping to help them, Traugott had planned to crush the Tarnisbeferen in a single blow. Matthias had realized the rescue wouldn't help and shouted "Don't!", but Traugott hadn't even heard that. He attacked with his full power.
Immediately after, the Tarnisbeferen's body—previously only slightly larger than an adult—swelled up enormously. The swelling, which had looked like it might burst from not being able to contain the magic power, instead stabilized, and it had apparently become more than twice its original size.
"Just as I was wondering why, an Ordinanz arrived from one of
Incidentally, an Ordinanz from Richarda had also arrived with news that I had flown out to teach the prayer and that the teachers had been contacted for reinforcements.
Matthias, still keeping his eyes on the Tarnisbeferen, added: "After that, Lord Wilfried has been keeping the Tarnisbeferen from attacking while drawing it away from the gathering spot, all while buying us time to recover. Thanks to him, we were able to drink recovery potions and rest."
Those who were injured had been drinking recovery potions and resting. Some still looked drained, and others bore visible wounds.
"The teachers have been contacted as well, so if we can buy a little more time, we should be fine. I'll give everyone who's worked so hard the healing of Runschmer."
Since I was in the middle of transforming my Staff, I channeled Magic Power not through the Staff but through the magic stone in my ring to bestow Runschmer's healing. Green light burst from the ring's magic stone and rained down on the apprentice knights.
"Thank you very much, Lady Rozemyne."
The pain seemed to ease—the apprentice knights who had been slumping with hunched backs straightened their posture.
"Now then, please draw your weapons. Once a blessing is dispelled, you cannot receive another that day, so please be careful not to dispel them until we've defeated the Tarnisbeferen."
"...I don't even know how to dispel them, so that won't be an issue."
I chuckled softly at Wilfried's remark and recited the prayer as I chanted: "Oh, Darkness God who rules the lofty and serene heavens, supreme deity—Father of all creation, who fashioned the world and all living things"
The apprentice knights gazed intently at their own weapons as they repeated the words. Far below, I could see Brother Cornelius and the others keeping the Tarnisbeferen at bay.
"Hear my prayer and grant your sacred power—bestow upon my weapon your blessing that wrests power from all evil"
Trying to suppress my impatience and finish as quickly as possible, I lightly closed my eyes. I couldn't afford to be distracted. Now was the time to offer my prayer.
"I offer unto you all my Magic Power; banish the magic that strays from the circle. Grant us your divine protection, and give a moment's respite to the lives upon this earth"
Slowly opening my eyes, I could see that everyone's weapons had been suffused with the power of Darkness, stained pitch-black. Each of them held their blackened weapons, eyes wide in wonder.
"With these, you'll be able to drain the Tarnisbeferen's magic power when you attack. I would like to collect its magic stones, so if possible, I'd appreciate attacks aimed at severing its limbs."
"Rozemyne, do you really think we have that kind of leeway?"
Wilfried let out a sigh as he said this, then shook his head. He pointed at me.
"As you can see from the current situation, the Tarnisbeferen runs swiftly but cannot fly freely through the sky. Rozemyne, you will remain at an altitude beyond its reach, within our line of sight."
"Understood."
Perhaps because the weapons had briefly glowed, Brother Cornelius and the others had returned. Whether the Tarnisbeferen could sense the concentrated high-quality Magic Power above, it targeted me—leaping upward with its jaws wide open. Of course, I was at an altitude its forelegs couldn't reach, but having those prey-fixated glowing eyes and that enormous maw lunging toward me was hard on the heart.
"The only one who has thoroughly studied books on magic beasts and knows the Tarnisbeferen's characteristics in detail is Leonore. Today, you will follow Leonore's instructions. Especially you, Traugott. Understood?"
"...Yes."
Watching Traugott hang his head at my words, Wilfried shook his head several times.
"Rozemyne, Traugott didn't know the Tarnisbeferen's characteristics. Don't be too hard on him."
"...Understood."
I fell silent. The rest of the battle could be left to the apprentice knights. By bestowing the blessing of Darkness and equipping their weapons, my role was already half complete.
As for the land's recovery—the last thing needed—I was cheerfully thinking it might be best to return to the dormitory first, when Leonore assigned me a role even here on the battlefield.
"Next, regarding Lady Rozemyne..."
"I'm supposed to fight too? I was planning to go back to the dormitory."
"With someone who is present on the battlefield, possesses massive Magic Power, and can attack safely from long range—would there be any reason not to deploy Lady Rozemyne? Besides, given the Tarnisbeferen's behavior just now, if you were to move, there's a danger it would chase after you."
Sending me back to the dormitory would be more dangerous, Leonore said. And as long as I was here, she intended to use every available resource. I was a little surprised by how ruthlessly efficient she was—focused solely on the optimal strategy for defeating the enemy—but I was also somewhat happy to have been given a role.
...Because it means I can be of use to everyone.
"Lady Rozemyne, please attack from an altitude beyond the Tarnisbeferen's reach using your water gun. Hartmut and Judith, never let Lady Rozemyne out of your sight."
"Yes!"
I gripped the water gun with enthusiasm. Leonore gave a slight smile at my eagerness before turning her gaze to Traugott.
"Traugott, coordinate your attacks with Cornelius to sever its limbs.
"...No, I—"
Still haunted by his earlier failure, Traugott shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. But Leonore didn't permit his refusal. She continued in a calm voice: "The only ones with enough Magic Power to synchronize with Cornelius are Lord Wilfried and Traugott. If you believe you failed, then do everything in your power to make up for it."
At Leonore's matter-of-fact words, Traugott shrank in on himself. As all eyes gathered on him, Wilfried stepped forward protectively.
"It might end up as imitation, but I'll synchronize with him."
At Wilfried's words, Leonore glanced briefly at Traugott. But Traugott said nothing. He simply hung his head.
Brother Cornelius, who had been watching quietly, let out a breath and smiled at Wilfried.
"No. Lord Wilfried, please strike with your full power. I'll synchronize with you."
It's a bit short, but this is Part 1.
Next is Part 2.