"It would have been ideal if we could execute a pincer attack, but the Provincial Knight Order won't hold out. Once we break through the center, ask the Ehrenfest knights to provide healing first."
"Understood."
When word was sent via ordinance that the Provincial Knight Order had reinforcements coming, it seemed they had already received contact from the Lord's family. The current situation was that they were rallying themselves with the conviction of holding on until reinforcements arrived, and it was essential for us to join up as quickly as possible.
"I will take the lead.
"
The area was nothing but Dunkelfelger's blue cloaks. The number of Ehrenfest cloaks on my guard knights was small. Only knights mounted on riding beasts were visible, and since everyone wore helmets, it was difficult to tell who was who.
"...Not yet."
"I don't know which management cabin they went to check, but they'll probably rejoin us at the very rear."
At Leonore's words, I involuntarily looked back. All I could see were knights in blue cloaks.
"Once we break through enemy lines, Rozemyne and Lady Hannelore should stay as close to the Summer Villa as possible, following behind the knights!"
"Guard knights — devote everything to protecting your liege!"
Nodding at the orders shouted from all around, we matched our travel speed. Everywhere I looked, knights held up shields. My view was blocked by fluttering cloaks, and I had no idea where we currently were. I just kept moving without knowing.
Because I couldn't see the state of battle or the enemies likely lying in wait, the tense atmosphere of the knights around me was all that reached me — so painfully I could feel it — and my hands gripping the controls began to tremble. I desperately held back the urge to tense up and press the accelerator too hard.
"Wha—!?"
Suddenly, everything around me flashed bright. I reflexively looked around. It seemed we had entered the range of long-range magical attacks. The knights were deflecting the attacks with their shields.
I couldn't tell how far away the enemies were, and I still couldn't see anything but the knights around me. The mere fact that things kept flashing brightly here and there made my heart clench in terror.
...Th-this is scary.
Most of the attacks were blocked, but arrows began raining down through gaps in the knights' formation. The mana difference meant nothing could get inside the Lesser Vessels, but scary was still scary. I clutched the controls on the verge of tears, though I still had enough composure to be afraid.
The area ahead of the advancing knights was stained with rainbow-like complex hues of light — so bright the knights were reduced to silhouettes. An attack that released accumulated mana all at once had been launched. Whether we had attacked or were being attacked, I couldn't tell. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Rozemyne, match the pace of those around you!"
At Brother Cornelius's roar, I flinched and opened my eyes, then hurried to match the others. It seemed we had been the ones attacking rather than receiving. Objects that occasionally blocked the light were flying around us, but the shockwaves were completely absorbed by the knights' shields.
"Ooooooh!"
The knights surrounding me let out war cries that released indescribable excitement and surging emotion, and their speed gradually increased. Desperate not to fall behind, I frantically adjusted my speed to match.
"We're charging in! Don't flinch! Follow Lord Ferdinand!"
The moment I heard that voice, the atmosphere around me changed completely. Deafening shouts of encouragement rang out ceaselessly from every mouth, and the sounds of weapons clashing together could be heard nearby. The metallic sounds of armor rang far louder than before, piercing into my ears.
My vision, which had been nothing but blue cloaks, was suddenly streaked with red spray. I gasped and tightened my throat, and the next instant, someone's arm flew at me with a bang. A thunderous impact shook the entire riding beast as it vanished behind me. I thought I might have seen it wrong, but the bloodstains on the window told me the scene had been real. My teeth chattered like I had run someone over, and I kept pressing the accelerator.
"Hyah!?"
A knight who had been ahead took a direct hit and was sent tumbling off their riding beast, flying toward my Lesser Vessel.
...Brakes!
"Don't crash! Don't stop! It'll be a disaster behind us!"
Brother Cornelius's rebuke reached me before I even hit the brakes. Before I could move my foot from the brake back to the accelerator, a knight who turned out to be
A guard knight buffeted by the surrounding attacks had lost their posture and crashed into my Lesser Vessel. They vanished as if deflected, and just as I was about to look back, a sharp voice cut through.
"Please keep looking ahead, Lady Rozemyne!"
I bit down hard and restrained the urge to look back. I pressed on. Not just blood spray — someone's mana stones were clattering against the riding beast. I was past the point of mere fear; all I could do was desperately try not to get left behind.
"We're through! Reverse and attack! Scatter them!"
The raised voice carried a bright hopefulness. Dunkelfelger's knights wheeled their riding beasts around in a mass.
"Lady Rozemyne and Lady Hannelore, continue straight ahead to the rear!"
The moment I was told to go somewhere the attacks couldn't reach, I remembered Ferdinand's instructions. He had ordered me to provide healing once we broke through enemy lines.
"Lady Hannelore, please go ahead. I was told to provide healing for everyone."
I rose into the air with my guard knights, stuck my hand out the window, and chanted "Streitkolben!" while turning around, then raised the Fluträne staff. If I wanted to heal the Ehrenfest and Dunkelfelger knights in one sweep, I would need to offer a proper prayer — otherwise I wouldn't have enough Magic Power.
"O Water Goddess Fluträne, Healing Goddess Ringschmeel, who is kin to Fluträne—"
Attacks flew from the Former
"Hear my prayer and grant your sacred power. Grant the power to heal those who protect Ehrenfest. To you I dedicate this sacred melody. Cast forth the supreme ripples, and bestow your pure divine blessing."
Green light overflowed from the staff's mana stone and poured down like rain. Joyous voices rose from the Provincial Knight Order, which had suffered many injuries. I could feel their morale rising, and knowing I had been even a little useful, I let my body relax with relief.
"Lady Rozemyne, please leave the rest to the knights and withdraw."
At Leonore's words, I nodded. Once I had provided healing, my role was temporarily finished. I needed to drink a recovery potion to restore my Magic Power, or I would be in trouble if Ferdinand gave me further instructions. I headed to where Hannelore was waiting in the rear and landed there, then drank a potion inside my riding beast that restored only Magic Power.
"Perhaps it's because the Former Werkestock knights ride riding beasts. They don't wear silver outfits, nor do they carry silver weapons. It's a battle between familiar, ordinary
Hannelore smiled gently as she spoke. Just as I was feeling reassured, two knights in Ehrenfest cloaks approached. The one riding a slender, panther-like cat riding beast with wings attached was Matthias, and the one riding a similar but larger, more tiger-like beast was Laurentz.
"Matthias, Laurentz. I'm so glad you're safe."
"Lady Rozemyne."
With all my guard knights reunited, I heaved a sigh of relief. As Leonore had predicted, Matthias and Laurentz had apparently been near the very rear during the central breakthrough.
"I considered sending an ordinance to
"...Could he already be dead?"
I had seen several ordinances fail to fly in
"...It's possible he was caught up in an attack somewhere and killed, but I find it hard to believe someone who could break through Lord
At Laurentz's grim expression, Leonore fixed her gaze on
"If they wear silver clothing that blocks the passage of magic, ordinances won't reach them. The Ahrensbach knights told me so. The first piece of silver cloth was found here, wasn't it?"
The Former Werkestock knights didn't have silver clothing or weapons, but Grausam certainly would. It was no surprise that ordinances couldn't reach him.
"...For Lady
They weren't given silver clothing or weapons that blocked magic, nor were they sharing any critical information. If they had been told they could obtain foundations from the
"Lady Rozemyne, the commander of the Gerlach Knight Order says he would like to thank you. Please listen from your riding beast without disembarking."
Angelica brought over a man wearing an Ehrenfest cloak. He had removed his helmet, so I could see his face. The injuries that Ringschmeel's healing had closed appeared to have healed, but traces of blood remained here and there, and his face was ashen and drained of color.
He knelt at a short distance from my Lesser Vessel, his posture so unsteady I thought he might collapse.
"Thanks to Lady Rozemyne's healing, our situation has improved dramatically. I wished to offer at least a word of thanks during the lull..."
"You didn't need to come thank me in a state where you can barely stand. Please rest quietly."
Ringschmeel's healing sealed wounds and treated inflammation, but it did not restore lost blood. He must have fought on the front lines regardless of bleeding in order to hold the formation.
"Also, I am quite filthy, and I thought it rude to approach Lady Rozemyne too closely, so I kept my distance."
I had never heard of the etiquette of keeping distance because one was dirty, but the commander being unable to move could be a vulnerability for both him and the knight order. I decided to accept his reasoning.
"Thanks to the knights who reinforced us and Lady Rozemyne's healing, the wounded were able to return to the front lines. We were able to avert what I feared would be the worst-case scenario — losing the Summer Villa entirely. I offer my deepest gratitude."
Thanks to the Dunkelfelger knights holding up the front, the Provincial Knight Order had been able to retreat to the rear for recovery. Some drank potions, and others headed back to the Summer Villa to retrieve recovery supplies.
"When the Aub sent word around midday today that a Dunkelfelger mixed-force was on its way and told us to hold on, I couldn't believe it. Our Magical Tools were depleted, and far more enemies than our knight order had arrived. To fight back, we needed to leave the county lords in the villa and send the entire knight order outside."
They had been waging an all-out battle while waiting for reinforcements of uncertain arrival. Before they could see their own reinforcements, the enemy received theirs and their numbers swelled. Just as despair was setting in, Ferdinand, Brother Eckhart, and the Heissitz forces had swept through the enemy and carved a path to join them, he recounted. His face held an indescribable sense of relief.
"Forgive the interruption, Commander."
A knight who had been about to enter the Summer Villa came running back. The commander asked me to excuse him, stood, and turned to the knight.
"What is it?"
"We can't get into the villa."
"What?"
The commander's sharp voice echoed, and the instant he whipped around to look at the Summer Villa, something shot out of it with a whistling sound.
"Huh?"
Not thrown by a person — launched at the speed of something fired from a catapult. It flew in a parabolic arc from the villa to the front lines of the battlefield not far away. Three whistling sounds rang out with slight delays, followed by bursts of impact.
"What is that?! white powder was carried on the wind, and the people nearby suddenly disappeared. Some vanished entirely, some fell from their riding beasts, some suddenly became sluggish. My guard knights, who were farther back and at a distance, were mostly unaffected, but those struck directly were in terrible condition. There seemed to be more victims among the Former Werkestock knights than the Dunkelfelger ones.
"Waschen!"
While I was still trying to understand what had happened, a massive deluge of water fell on the surrounding area. I was caught up in it along with my Lesser Vessel and washed clean.
"The poison has been washed off. Drink Jureve immediately!"
Ferdinand's roar rang out. The instruction to drink Jureve made me immediately understand what poison it was. It had to be the same poison Ferdinand had been hit with during the Ahrensbach supply mission.
...Why would something like that come from the county lord's villa?
I turned to look at the villa. My gaze traveled from the basement, to the first floor, to the second floor. On the second-floor balcony of the villa — which until now had felt devoid of any human presence — a figure stood.
"The effect is weakened, but the damage was less than I expected. As I thought, the powder disperses outdoors and loses its potency..."
I heard a voice devoid of emotion, as if someone were conducting an experiment, and a chill ran down my spine. I knew this voice. It was the voice of the man responsible for me being immersed in Jureve.
"He's not the county lord! Who are you?!"
The commander grabbed his weapon, mounted his riding beast, and charged up toward the villa. The moment a popping sound rang out, the commander and his riding beast vanished without a trace. A single mana stone landed near me as I stared upward in a daze. My guard knights groaned in pain, immediately performed Waschen, and began drinking potions.
"Not the county lord? Fool. I am the one who dyed the Magical Tool that serves as this villa's foundation. I am now the Giebe of Gerlach."
He appeared as a bulky silhouette with an elaborately decorated look, as though he wore only a gauntlet on his left hand. A cloak billowed outward. The silver lining was visible beneath the soiled Ehrenfest colors.
"Grausam..."
Matthias, who had been drinking Jureve, let out a low growl, then knelt before my riding beast.
"If the Giebe raises the villa's defensive functions to maximum, only those the Giebe has permitted, blood relatives, and higher-ranking administrators — the Lord's family — are allowed entry. If knights can no longer enter, he must have changed the defense settings. Please let me go. As his son, I am the one who must do this."
"Matthias, wait. That's..."
"It has to be me."
Matthias turned his blue eyes from me toward the villa. He crossed both arms before his chest, then rose in one swift motion and charged off.
We broke through the center and joined up with the Provincial Knight Order.
Just as we started attacking — feeling we could now unleash our full power without worry — came the poison attack.
The Summer Villa had been taken over by Grausam.
Matthias's charge.
Next is Part 3.