The Red Dragon's Upper Jaw.
A single road stretching through the canyon.
Not straight like the Holy Sword Highway.
But a single road with no forks.
A territory between borders, belonging to no country.
As we traveled through it, we passed a large merchant caravan.
Ten covered wagons, with over fifty horses loaded with goods.
A major trading company hauling cargo from the Asura Kingdom to the Three Magic Nations.
At regular intervals along the long procession, people walked on foot.
Guards—adventurers.
They glared at us with sharp eyes.
Seeing them, I was suddenly reminded of the past.
I was pretty sure that when I'd been heading north, I'd served as a guard for a caravan like that.
Not as large a caravan, and the merchants had mostly been young—I remembered that much.
They'd talked to me about all sorts of things, but I couldn't recall a single name.
Back then, I'd been alone.
Lonely.
Sad.
After all, I'd been in the period where I believed Eris had abandoned me.
The period where I thought I was finished as a man.
The period where I believed there was nothing in this world worth trusting.
Back then, the only truths in my world were training my body and revering the holy relics.
A lot had happened since then.
Sylphie had given me confidence, and now I was a father.
The fact that I couldn't attach the adjective "proper" to it stung a bit, but I was a father nonetheless.
The thing with Eris had been a misunderstanding too, and now she was my wife.
Roxy and I had ended up married through circumstance, and she was currently pregnant.
Three wives, and a fulfilling nightlife.
What would my past self think if he could see this now?
I kind of wanted to borrow someone's shoulder for comfort, but having people I could casually lean on like this...
"What's wrong? Why so quiet?"
Eris's voice came from beside me. I looked over, and at some point she'd pulled up alongside me.
Incidentally, since I couldn't ride a horse by myself, I was clinging to the back of Sylphie's mount.
"Hey, Eris."
"What?"
"Can I touch your boobs?"
"What's with the sudden... of course not."
No dice.
Just because you could casually ask didn't mean you'd get permission.
...Well, anyway.
If my past self could see me now, he probably wouldn't have anything to say.
He'd just smile wistfully and say "Congratulations."
That's the kind of person my past self was.
He'd offer congratulations while thinking such happiness had nothing to do with him, and then keep his distance.
"..."
"Hey, Rudeus."
A voice came from ahead—Sylphie.
"You ask Eris if you can touch her, but why don't you ever ask me..."
Before I realized it, my hand had been on Sylphie's chest.
No wonder my palm felt so nice.
"Oh, pardon me. Sorry, my sweet. It was unconscious."
"Well, there are hardly any monsters around here, so I guess it's fine... but once we're through the canyon, you'll have to hold back, okay?"
"Thank you, thank you, Sylphie, you're a good girl, such a good girl, really..."
"Getting groped while being thanked like that is a little..."
Sylphie scratched behind her ear with a wry smile.
I'd been touching her chest regularly since we'd gotten married, so she seemed pretty used to having me grope her by now.
I, too, had deep feelings about Sylphie's chest.
"Rudeus, you can ride behind me tomorrow if you want!"
Eris, apparently jealous, turned red as she said it, then fled to the front of the column.
Ha ha, I'm so popular.
...Anyway, we were about to leave the canyon.
The ambush was definitely coming. I needed to switch gears.
---
Past the Red Dragon's Upper Jaw, a forest stretched out.
The canyon exit was at a somewhat elevated position.
Because of that, I could see the vast forest ahead and a city wall in the distance.
But due to the height of the trees, the winding path ahead was invisible.
I couldn't tell what was where in the forest.
Whatever happened here, no one would find out.
According to Orsted.
The city wall was visible from here—from the forest exit.
They could see who entered and who left.
On the other hand, from our side, the forest blocked our view of the checkpoint entrance and exit.
That was the terrain advantage.
Perfect for an ambush.
"So we've finally made it back here."
At the forest entrance, Sylphie halted her horse.
Luke stopped too.
The carriage stopped.
Eris and Ghislaine stopped their horses as well.
The attendant climbed down from the driver's seat.
Sylphie and Luke dismounted.
Ariel emerged from the carriage.
She held a small bouquet.
The five of them walked to a stone by the roadside.
It was an unadorned stone.
Nothing decorative about it at all.
But carved into its surface was an X mark.
Ariel, at the front, placed the bouquet on the stone and clasped her hands.
The prayer pose of the Millis faith.
Ariel wasn't a devout Millis follower.
I'd never seen her pray to the gods.
Luke neither.
I didn't know about the attendant, but Sylphie was different too.
Which meant whoever lay beneath that stone was someone Ariel knew.
In this forest, at the Red Dragon's Upper Jaw—someone who had died here. A knight who guarded Ariel, a mage, or an attendant.
At the Red Dragon's Upper Jaw, especially near the borders, many people had died.
If so, I should pay my respects too.
"From here on, the likelihood of an ambush increases.
We'll rest here today and push through in one go tomorrow."
At Ariel's words, Sylphie and the others returned to their horses.
Her expression looked more resolved than before.
---
That evening, we went over the formation once more.
On top of that, we reviewed what skills and spells each person could use, and rehearsed what to do in various situations.
Eris and Ghislaine on the front line.
Sylphie, with her quick judgment and adaptability, in the middle.
Me, with my foresight eye, in the rear.
Basically, I'd position myself where I could keep everyone in view.
My foresight eye couldn't see the future of things I wasn't looking at.
Luke and the attendant Elmoa would serve as Ariel's personal guards.
These three had decent equipment but were lacking in combat power.
If we put them in the same line as Eris and Ghislaine, they'd just get in the way.
So instead, they'd guard Ariel's side against a surprise attack.
Attendant Kline would use Ariel's magical tools to serve as a body double.
Tools that altered her face and hair color.
For this day, the two attendants had apparently cut their hair to roughly the same length as Ariel's.
Their builds and heights were different, but... well, that couldn't be helped.
In any case, the two attendants' lives essentially served as Ariel's extra lives.
I didn't know anything about them, but I wanted to make sure not a single one was killed.
Tomorrow, we'd be moving on the assumption that an attack would come.
"Since we arrived via teleportation circles, wouldn't the attackers need more time to position themselves?"
In response to someone's question, Ariel answered.
"Lord Darius is a thorough man. The moment my father fell ill, he would have already made his arrangements."
That was what she said.
We still didn't know what kind of opponent we'd be facing.
But we'd already shared the intelligence that the North God and Water God had been hired by the Asura Kingdom.
On top of that, we'd discussed the prediction that North Emperor Aubert would likely serve as the assassin.
I'd thought about sharing what countermeasures would work against his fighting style, but if Luke or Aubert were servants of the Man-God, they could use that information against us.
Thinking we'd prepared countermeasures, only to find they'd been countered instead.
If that happened, it'd be a disaster.
This time, I'd be the one handling it alone.
Guard against Aubert's ambush while keeping everyone safe.
Ghislaine was... well, rather than protecting others, she'd likely be the one needing protection.
In any case, I'd do my best to make sure no one died.
---
The next day.
We moved out in the formation we'd agreed upon.
Eris and Ghislaine at the front, followed by Sylphie and me on horseback.
Behind that, the carriage carrying Ariel and the two attendants, with Luke bringing up the rear.
Advancing warily along the single path through the forest, we came to a blind curve.
Just before it.
I spotted a mark carved into a short tree.
A mark shaped like a dollar sign—the one Orsted and I had agreed upon beforehand.
Meaning: "Ambush ahead."
It looked like I wouldn't have to stage a fake attack after all.
I opened my foresight eye as wide as it would go and gripped my staff tight.
Zanef's prosthetic arm activated, ready to engage the mana-absorbing stone in my palm at any moment.
Poison arrows or blowdarts might come flying from the forest without warning, or they might blast high-level magic at the carriage.
Either way, if I kept my foresight eye peeled, I should be able to avoid it.
But I didn't need to.
Ahead, the horses carrying Eris and Ghislaine.
Armored soldiers stood in a line, blocking their path.
Over ten of them.
"Halt!"
Eris and Ghislaine pulled their horses to a stop at a distance.
"Who are you?!"
Ghislaine's words went unanswered.
Their full-face helmets hid their expressions.
Among the armored soldiers stood one with particularly ostentatious feathered plumes.
That was probably the captain.
"..."
They were silent.
Silently blocking the road like a barricade.
"Rudeus... get down."
At those words, I leaped from the horse and moved to the side of Ariel's carriage.
Sylphie stayed mounted and moved forward.
Positioning herself between Eris and Ghislaine, she called out to the captain.
"I am Fitz, a bodyguard mage!
Do you know whose carriage this is and still dare to commit such outrage?!
It belongs to the Second Princess of the Asura Kingdom, Ariel Anemoi Asura!
Identify yourselves!"
A clear, powerful voice rang out.
Impressive.
"..."
But the captain didn't answer.
In silence, he simply drew his sword.
"!"
At that signal, the soldiers all drew the swords at their waists.
A high-pitched metallic chorus echoed through the forest.
At the same time, fully armored soldiers poured out of the woods.
Most carried swords, but a few held staffs.
"Enemy attack!"
Luke had already dismounted and was guarding their rear.
The attendant Elmoa on the driver's seat gripped the whip with a tense expression.
Inside the carriage was attendant Kline, disguised as Ariel.
Confirming that, I turned to face front.
"Uraaah!"
"Gaaah!"
Eris and Ghislaine were already charging at the front-line soldiers.
Cutting them down one after another with sword speeds that left not even an afterimage.
They'd drawn first, but we struck first. Now how about that.
"Leave the magic to me!"
Sylphie was accurately countering the spells being launched at the two of them.
I couldn't see them directly, but there seemed to be mages behind the soldiers.
There were nearly thirty soldiers.
More were still emerging from the forest, so there had to be even more.
But numbers didn't seem to mean much against Eris and Ghislaine.
They were cutting through the ranks in the blink of an eye.
Eris moving on instinct.
Ghislaine covering her blind spots.
And Sylphie supporting both with magic.
They fought skillfully to avoid being surrounded while devouring the armored knights.
Strong... those three.
It looked safe to leave them to it.
"Senior Luke! Any enemies behind us?!"
"None!"
Luke's reply from behind the carriage.
It was practically an invitation to retreat that way.
A trap?
Probably a trap.
"What do we do? Fall back?!"
"No, we should be able to break through. I think we should push for—"
But as I looked ahead, the mass of soldiers parted.
And the person who emerged from between them made Eris and Ghislaine freeze.
The person was smaller than expected.
About a meter tall, maybe.
A dwarf.
His small body was wrapped in full armor.
Impeccably polished armor that gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.
Squat and rotund, like a mirror ball.
When he stepped forward, the surrounding soldiers seemed to relax slightly.
The "Master, please take care of this" kind of relief.
Apparently, he was someone strong.
Which meant—was he Aubert?
"My name is North King Wintar!
One of the Three Sword Saints of the North God!
I am Wintar of 'Light and Darkness'!"
...Who?
"I can see you are Ghislaine, the 'Black Wolf'!
I hereby challenge you to a fair duel!"
The mirror ball drew his sword.
A short blade about thirty centimeters, proportionate to his body.
But the blade gleamed like a mirror.
A duel, though?
It was already dozens against three—what was he playing at?
"Hmph."
Ghislaine, singled out, let out a single breath through her nose.
She pointed her sword at Wintar.
"Very well!
Sword King Ghislaine, the 'Black Wolf'!
I accept!"
Ghislaine settled into a low guard and faced him.
And just like that, the flow stopped.
Soldiers who had been pressing toward us halted and began pulling back, watching from a distance.
Sylphie, too, glanced back at us before retreating, keeping watch over the soldiers' movements.
That man called North King had halted the melee and created this atmosphere.
But Eris couldn't read the room.
She threw herself at the retreating soldiers with wild abandon.
"Daaaah!"
"Eh?! Wait—Eris!"
Sylphie got dragged in after her.
Protecting Eris's back, she plunged into the chaos.
Would the two of them be all right?
The enemy numbers were great.
So far, they hadn't taken a single hit and seemed to have plenty of leeway.
...Alright, they'd be fine.
I wanted to help, but I couldn't move from my position.
Because Eris's charge at the retreating soldiers had increased our distance from the carriage.
Aubert still hadn't shown himself.
Until he did, I couldn't move.
Aubert excelled at ambushes.
He'd distract you with something, then strike from behind.
A simple ambush, but the timing was exquisite.
A gap in your awareness.
He'd exploit the briefest moment of inattention.
Especially when he wanted to take out a powerful mage—he'd strike in the gap left by casting a spell.
That was why Orsted had told me.
If a fight broke out and Aubert wasn't visible, don't cast any magic until he revealed himself.
Even if an ally was in danger, don't provide cover.
If you waited, Aubert would change targets and attack whoever let their guard down the most.
Aim for that moment and snipe him.
That was the plan.
So I couldn't move.
I had to keep my eyes peeled, watching every direction.
Even so, this was getting a little dicey.
The appearance of North King Wintar was unexpected.
If someone other than Aubert—another strong fighter—showed up, I might have to order a retreat.
"Ugh, damn it!"
"Hahaha! Ghislaine, the 'Black Wolf'! You're all bark and no bite!"
Ghislaine was being pushed back slightly by Wintar.
No, it was more that Ghislaine's movements were off.
Whenever Ghislaine tried to attack, she'd freeze for just an instant and turn her face away.
Wintar never let those openings slip.
Moving with a speed that defied his heavy-looking appearance, he'd close the distance and launch thrusts.
Ghislaine deflected, dodged, or took shallow cuts to the skin.
Since the start, Ghislaine hadn't managed a single attack.
She'd start the motion, begin the wind-up, but somehow turn her face away each time, letting Wintar seize the initiative.
Something was being done to her.
But from my position, I couldn't tell what.
What was he doing?
I looked carefully at Wintar.
He gleamed like a mirror ball, making it hard to look at.
He was maintaining a specific distance from Ghislaine, his left hand extended forward.
His left hand held nothing.
Was he using some kind of magic?
Ghislaine kept turning her face away.
Which meant—sand?
Was he blinding her?
No, it didn't feel like that.
Nothing seemed to be coming from his hand.
But every time Wintar subtly moved his left hand, Ghislaine would turn away.
And sometimes he'd aim the hand at her, and sometimes he wouldn't.
...No, wait.
Light.
He was using that mirror-like armor to reflect sunlight into Ghislaine's eyes.
Deliberately, every time she tried to attack.
What a dirty trick!
But Ghislaine was struggling.
At this rate, she might lose.
Should I provide support?
What should I do?
It'd be too late after the fact.
But was Aubert even here?
Was I going to watch Ghislaine die while guarding against an enemy who might not exist?
...!
Fine.
I channeled mana into my staff.
The spells I'd use were water and earth.
A looser version of my usual mud swamp.
A combination spell—
"Mud Rain!"
The sky was instantly covered in clouds.
The falling raindrops were brown, like chocolate.
It blanketed the entire combat zone in an instant.
It was nothing more than rain mixed with mud.
No offensive power to speak of.
But when it hit the ground, it turned into soft mud that sapped the soldiers' footing.
Several slipped and fell.
It didn't affect Eris or Ghislaine, who had trained their legs and core.
Sylphie, though her white hair was streaked with brown, didn't seem to mind.
"Gwoah?!"
And Wintar, with his meticulously polished armor, was covered in mud, and his mirror ball lost its shine.
"Gaaaaah!"
Ghislaine's battle cry rang through the forest.
From her low stance, a blade of light slashed forth.
Wintar rolled to dodge, but blood sprayed from his shoulder.
That should do it.
Now, keep watching for Aubert...
I turned to look behind me.
"Huh?"
"Oh?"
He was right behind me.
A vagrant.
A rainbow-colored coat, pants that only reached his knees, three swords at his waist.
A peacock tattoo on his cheek, his hair parted open like a parabolic antenna.
He wore a sand-colored cloak on his back.
Sand spilled from the cloak in a steady stream, forming a path.
The path led to a nearby hole, which happened to fall in Luke's blind spot as he guarded the rear.
He'd dug a hole and hidden himself in it.
"..."
The face, the outfit—they matched.
This was North Emperor Aubert Corbett.
"So you noticed..."
The next instant, my foresight eye saw Aubert's movement.
＜Right hand raises sword overhead＞
"But against a mage at this range... ambush is justified!"
＜Aubert brings the sword down＞
I thrust my left hand forward on instinct.
Zanef's prosthetic arm was attached to it.
The arm was weightless, but Aubert was still faster.
"Arm, fly!"
"Wha—?!"
The prosthetic arm shot out at incredible speed.
But at the last moment, Aubert tilted his head, pulled off a backflip, and dodged.
It slammed into a distant tree with a resonant thwack.
Aubert, sword still in hand, looked at me with wide eyes, then at the flying arm, then back.
"What... what a peculiar..."
My heart was pounding too.
I'd known Aubert would attack.
I'd heard it from Orsted... damn it.
So this was the result of breaking his instructions.
I now faced Aubert one-on-one.
He was the North Emperor.
He was famous for ambushes, but that didn't mean he was weak in a fair fight.
But I'd also heard what to do after he'd shown himself...
I can win. It's fine. Stay calm. I'm strong. I'm strong. I'm really strong. I'm so strong.
"Mud Swamp Rudeus."
Aubert didn't rush in immediately.
He stood there and spoke to me.
"I'd heard of you, and indeed—you seem quite formidable."
Why wasn't he attacking?
If he didn't come at me, I couldn't use my countermeasure...
"...Where did you hear my name?"
"When I was teaching swordsmanship to a certain beast.
That beast told me.
That Rudeus was quite remarkable."
Eris.
"That man who tamed that beast.
I thought he must be a peculiar fellow,
but to actually launch his arm flying like that..."
He'd been captivated by my robot punch.
Now he was looking at me with wary eyes, watching for any other strange tricks.
What an impudent fellow.
Treating me like some kind of exotic beast...
But by all means, be wary.
After all, at the edge of my vision, Ghislaine—who had defeated Wintar—was heading this way.
Not far at all. She'd be here any moment.
Two against one, and the win rate shot up considerably.
"Eris, Ghislaine.
The silent Fitz, and Mud Swamp Rudeus.
For good measure, I brought along Wintar, but...
If I can't finish off Rudeus, this might get a little tight."
Alright, Aubert nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied.
Was he coming?
"But no opponent can ask for less than my full effort!"
Don't come.
But in the current situation, if I could hold out for even a few seconds, it'd be Ghislaine and me pincer-attacking him.
And I knew most of Aubert's techniques.
I could do this.
I could take him down.
"My name is North Emperor Aubert Corbett!"
Aubert drew the sword in his left hand and sheathed the one in his right.
I responded by channeling mana into my staff...
"If you won't step aside... then farewell!"
Aubert dashed forward.
Not toward me—toward Ghislaine.
Huh?
Did he just say farewell?
"Aubert!"
"Oh, Ghislaine, it's been a while..."
"Gaaaah!"
"You haven't changed a bit, I see."
Aubert tossed a bag he'd been holding.
It sailed in a gentle arc toward Ghislaine.
Ghislaine instinctively sliced the bag out of midair.
The instant she did, something like smoke burst from inside the bag.
Ghislaine took it full in the face...
No good!
"Rock Cannonball!"
"Oh my!"
Aubert effortlessly dodged the rock hurtling from behind.
Ghislaine tried to follow up... but couldn't.
She was streaming tears from her eyes and sneezing uncontrollably from the powder to the face.
A proprietary tear gas of Aubert's, laced with spices.
Aubert slipped past Ghislaine like a cockroach and closed in on Eris and Sylphie, who were decimating the remaining soldiers.
"Retreat! Retreat! We're pulling back!"
At his command, the soldiers began fleeing into the forest en masse.
At that moment, Eris spotted Aubert.
She moved to shield Sylphie and prepared to intercept.
"Guaaaah!"
"Sword, ignite!"
With the incantation, Aubert's sword was enveloped in flame.
Aubert sidestepped, swiftly pulled something from his waist, and placed it in his mouth.
I knew this technique too.
I could make it.
"Bwuuuu!"
"Water Wall!"
Oil sprayed from Aubert's mouth, igniting on the flaming sword and hurtling toward Eris.
But at the last moment, the spell I'd cast stopped it.
The fire hit the water wall and was extinguished in an instant.
Eris didn't care about the water wall in front of her.
She swung her sword in a powerful downward diagonal slash, aiming to cut through both my spell and Aubert.
"Taaaah!"
A slicing sound was heard.
With a heavy thud, Aubert's upper body hit the ground, severed.
"Yes!"
"Tch."
While I cheered, Eris clicked her tongue.
Looking closer, what had fallen to the ground wasn't Aubert's upper body.
It was a log.
At some point, a log had rolled onto the ground.
Wrapped in a sand-covered cloak.
...Huh?
What was going on?
I'd been watching with my foresight eye, but I had no idea what had just happened.
And in that moment, something flew toward the log.
A grappling hook.
A grappling hook attached to a rope hurtled toward the log.
It caught on the cloth and yanked it away in one swift motion.
The fabric danced through the air and settled into the hands of a man holding the other end of the rope.
In the forest stood Aubert, wearing a cloak camouflaged with leaves and flowers.
Aubert had retrieved the cloth with his grappling hook.
So that cloak was some kind of magic item?
Two clovals that could instantly swap the wearer with a decoy?
A body-substitution technique?
Nobody told me about that one, old man!
"You've improved, mad dog! I'll excuse myself this time! Let's meet again!"
"Wait right there!"
"The one who waits is Eris!"
Eris tried to chase Aubert, but Sylphie held her back.
"There are still soldiers in the forest! Don't charge in alone!"
Eris looked at me at those words.
Then toward the direction Aubert had vanished.
She clicked her tongue once and sheathed her sword.
"Hmph."
Eris walked back toward us with a sour expression,
while Sylphie kept her staff raised, maintaining vigilance.
For the time being, the enemy presence had vanished from the area.
Only corpses remained.
"Haa..."
The ambush was over, for now.
But if we let our guard down here, Aubert might strike again.
At the very least, we'd need to stay alert until nightfall.
---
After the battle.
The enemy was essentially annihilated.
Our casualties were virtually nil.
The worst of it was that Ghislaine spent about an hour with unstoppable tears and sneezing.
Healing magic and detoxification magic hadn't worked, which had caused a brief panic, but washing it off with water magic had stopped the symptoms.
Healing and detoxification both seemed to have more weaknesses than I'd thought.
They probably wouldn't work on hay fever either.
Not that hay fever seemed to exist in this world.
We quickly cleared the corpses from the roadside.
We could have left them, but this was a forest.
If left alone, the corpses could become undead and rise again.
Leaving corpses unattended was essentially taboo.
We stripped the armor, piled likely personal effects by the roadside, and burned the bodies.
"..."
During that work, Luke's expression had been terrible.
The longer the work went on, the worse his face got.
It wasn't that he was unused to corpses—he'd been staring at the armor on them.
There was something there.
"Hey, Luke, this crest..."
The reason became clear quickly.
Among the many corpses, a certain percentage had a crest on their armor.
It was the crest of a lord in a certain territory of the Asura Kingdom.
That territory was called Millibotts.
It was the fiefdom held by one of the Four Great Noble Families of the provinces—families that wielded immense power in the Asura Kingdom.
Among the soldiers who had ambushed us, some had been soldiers of the ruler of that territory.
What that implied.
Luke understood, and muttered:
"Impossible..."
The Lord of Millibotts.
Pilemon Notos Greyrat had betrayed Ariel.