Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Noelle Attacks

Rain went to Shelfa’s room on the evening after the martial arts tournament had been cancelled for inevitable reasons.

That being said, he had simply figured that it would be better and stand out less if he stayed with her in her room, since he knew that Shelfa would follow him no matter where he went. Shelfa had no objections to this, naturally, and she was rather overjoyed because Rain had also decided to dine with her for once.

Normally, Rain ate at the dining hall, leaving Shelfa to eat alone in her room.

She actually wanted to accompany him to the dining hall and dine with him there, but she could never resolve herself to do so because the dining hall was always jam-packed with people (specifically, with gentlemen).

With little other alternative, Shelfa normally ate her meals, which were brought to her by her personal maid, alone restlessly in her room.

Normally, a monarch would never dine in such a lonely manner.

The kings of Sunkwoll had historically dined comfortably in a large hall designated exclusively for their personal use and were waited upon by waiters, bartenders, and chefs. Shelfa, however, had abolished that custom the moment she had taken the throne. She was too nervous to eat when other people were watching her, despite her royal standing, and was therefore reduced to eating all alone.

It was quite the fresh experience for her, as she’d always had several maids around her during mealtimes when her father, the late King Douglas, was alive.

……Still, she couldn’t deny that she was lonely.

But, not only was Rain with her in her room today, he was also going to eat with her. Shelfa couldn’t keep herself from grinning the entire time.

But Rain, who was used to reading the expressions on her face, had noticed the budding anxiety that was hidden in her smile. He also noticed that she had something that she wanted to ask him but couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

……And so, he decided to break the ice first to assuage her fears.

He waited for the maid to finish setting up the dining table, pour them two cups of tea, and leave the room before suddenly asking,

“Curious about your real identity?”

Shelfa took in a sharp breath.

The smile vanished from her face, and she looked up at Rain with tears forming in her eyes.

“……You could tell?”

“Well, I think most people would guess as much. Oh~, but… The stuff I told that beastman today was just a bluff.”

Shelfa tilted her head to the side and repeated the extremely self-confident words that Rain had said earlier.

“Do you mean when you said, “Don’t make light of me. I’ve already more or less understood the gist of your situation?””

“Yeah, that. But man, you have one amazing memory. I’m pretty sure you repeated what I said word for word just now. And besides, you really didn’t need to copy my tone of voice too.”

“I, I’m sorry. It’s just that……I remember everything you’ve ever said to me, Rain.”

“Wait, seriously —all of it?”

“Yes. I remember every word and every sentence.”

Shelfa had said something scary with a serious look on her face like it was nothing.

Rain was fairly certain that she had dropped a bombshell just now. There was nothing he could do about the things he’d already said in the past, but he wondered if it’d be best if he stopped making indecent jokes when she was around. Besides, they weren’t the kind of jokes he should’ve been telling his liege in the first place.

Rain cleared his throat for no particular reason and said,

“——well, that being said. In any case, I’m not certain of anything just yet. So don’t worry about it too much, yeah?”

“……But… I’m sure that someone as smart as you, Rain, would already have a guess, no?”

She placed her hands on her chest and looked extremely nervous.

She wanted to know the truth, but she was also afraid of knowing it——her heart was probably in a whirlpool of complicated feelings.

Rain reached across the table and placed his hand on Shelfa’s cheek.

“Well, yeah, I have a guess. But I don’t plan on telling you anything until I have concrete proof. ……And besides…”

He smiled wryly as Shelfa subtly leaned her face into him and continued,

“my attitude toward you won’t ever change no matter who you really are. I can’t speak for anyone else, though.”

“I don’t care about anyone else. ……Just, Rain……will you really always treat me the same?”

“Yeah. Besides, I’m not the type of guy who’d treat you differently for something like that, right?”

The dark clouds on Shelfa’s face instantly cleared away.

She smile~d a sunny smile from the bottom of her heat and regained her cheer.

“No, you’re not! In that case, I won’t worry about anything until everything is clear either!”

Did you really just get over it that easily?

Shelfa’s cheer had returned so suddenly that Rain, the person who had been trying to cheer her up, could not help but wonder.

Evidently, her biggest concern was what Rain thought about her. It was just as Gunther had told him. Rain smiled wryly in his heart.

Shelfa did not prepare to go to sleep after eating as she usually did.

She and Rain moved to the sofa for “storytime,” as she put it.

Moreover, they were sitting so close as they talked that Rain could not help but think, ‘Is she planning to slowly climb into my lap?’ and pointlessly wondered if others would see them and say that they were flirting with each other.

He reached out and rubbed her by the chin before he knew what he was doing.

Shelfa, being the clever girl that she was, grasped his intentions and asked, “Oh, like a cat?” as she smiled.

She even pretended to purr adorably in sync with Rain’s fingers. She actually seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

It was difficult to think that she was feeling otherwise.

We definitely don’t look like a liege and her retainer right now, do we? Rain thought as he reflected on his actions.

Still, he couldn’t deny that the warmth of her body as she snuggled up to him and the fragrance he smelled from her made him feel pretty good.

He thought about how he shouldn’t be doing this as he responded to the topic of Shelfa’s subordinates.

“So, did you drive him out?”

“……No, I didn’t go that far. But I’m told that he left the castle quietly of his own accord after I had left the audience chamber.”

“Hmm? Well, I guess he was a little to obvious about his motives, in this case. I don’t think your decision was necessarily wrong……. But you can’t immediately drive people away just for staring at you, you know? Guys who try to seduce women and pin them down when they get a chance are a dime a dozen. It’s not like you can be biased against every single one of them.”

“Why would they pin down a woman they don’t even know?”

——What do you mean, “why would they”?

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to answer when you ask me something so obvious.

“……You’ll understand someday —let’s leave it at that.”

Then, he casually changed the subject.

“More importantly, let’s talk about the thing he pointed out. It’s actually something that Ralphus and I’ve been thinking about too.”

He stroked her long, golden hair and readily told her, “It has to do with your royal guard.

“In other words, it’s a unit that reports directly to you. A king is supposed to be the person holding the greatest military might in the kingdom. It’s actually pretty bad that Ralphus and I are your only military retainers. And the unit that reported directly to the last king was routed in the war and scattered all over the place.”

Rain’s subordinates only answered to Rain —they were not also considered Shelfa’s subordinates. The same held true for Ralphus’ men as well. In other words, from a third-party’s point of view, Shelfa stood atop two large armies all by herself. She was unifying Rain and Ralphus’ large armies with her royal authority alone, and anyone would look at the situation and say that she was in a precarious place.

This Joshua guy had not been wrong to point this out.

——And yet, Shelfa did not seem to get it even after Rain had explained it to her.

“But… Nothing about the current situation troubles me at all.”

“Well, Ralphus isn’t the kind of guy who’d suddenly think about overthrowing his liege and building up his own empire or anything of the sort.”

Then, Rain purposefully lowered his voice and threatened,

“but, you know, it’d be pretty bad for you if I decided to think that, just like what Joshua or whatever his name was point out. I’m in the perfect position for it, too. To be blunt, I could toss you all the way down the ladder from ruling monarch to a homeless person sleeping under a bridge if I wanted to.”

He had meant to threaten her just a little because she was being too carefree, but she smiled back at him instead.

“Teehee. You would never do that, Rain. You won’t fool me even if you act all serious about it.”

“There are people in this world who would kill just for a few pieces of silver, you know? You’re not being careful enough.”

“But still. Rain, you’re far to kind to ever do anything like that. And besides, you have no interest in money or status.”

“……You know, I try pretty hard to make people think that I’m quite the ambitious guy. No one else thinks that I don’t care about money or status, do they?”

Rain asked back, somewhat surprised, prompting the corners of Shelfa’s eyes to slacken into a smile.

“I believe there are more than a few people who think you care about such things——that is, people who you’ve successfully tricked into thinking that way.”

“——Well, let’s put matters about me aside.”

Rain turned away from Shelfa.

He didn’t feel like he could hide anything from her. To put it simply, the Little one was rather sharp when it came to all things “Rain-ology”.

“In any case, it’ll be bad if you don’t build up an army for yourself. You’ll have to enlist fresh recruits and put together an army separate from ours. Which is where the royal guard comes in.”

“I am always happy to support any idea of yours, Rain.”

Then, Shelfa’s suddenly changed for the warier. She continued,

“but, who will lead the new army?”

“……You will, of course. That’s what it means to have something directly under your command.”

But Shelfa didn’t take the bait.

“But there will still need to be a commander on paper, won’t there? And besides, I don’t have any experience commanding an army.”

“……I suppose. For now, you should appoint something you trust other than me or Ralphus as commander and slowly raise up the people who made it to the tournament, starting with that clown of a hero, and make them into generals.”

“No thank you.”

“Oh?”

Rain was taken aback by how quickly she had refused. He continued,

“hey. You only just finished saying that you’re happy to support anything idea of mine, but you reject my proposal not ten seconds later?”

“But…”

Shelfa began to pout a little.

“This is one of the very few exceptions. I don’t want an army to be established under me if you aren’t going to command it, Rain.”

——What do you mean you “don’t want it”?!

Shelfa, who hardly ever rejected Rain’s proposals, stubbornly refused him. She was brimming with the determination to never give her ground, and even Rain could not get in another word to convince her otherwise.

“……Meaning, you want me to command two armies at the same time?”

Shelfa bobbed her head up and down.

“If you can’t command two of them at once, I don’t mind if you decide to only command mine. Oh, that’s actually a wonderful idea! Won’t you please?”

Shelfa asked gleefully with an excessive amount of sparkle in her eyes.

She evidently truly thought it was a brilliant idea.

“Of course I can’t. Commanding two armies at once is at most the best I can do, realistically speaking.”

“In that case, I’ll settle for that.”

“Do you really think it’ll be that easy? —it’s not like we’re talking about how to cut up a piece of pie, you know?! This’ll affect the extremely complicated balance of power within the kingdom.”

Then, he saw how sorrowful Shelfa looked and sighed. He continued,

“Alright, alright…… In any case, you’re the liege, and I’m supposed to be the one carrying out your orders. I’ll figure something out if you really insist.”

“——! Thank you!”

Shelfa threw herself in his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world.

In the end, she really did end up climbing into his lap.

He was a little reluctant to do it, but Rain pulled her off and casually asked her for a favor.

“By the way, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“……Could you try drawing this sword for me?”

He picked up the Siren’s Blade, which had been leaning against the side of the sofa, and handed it to her.

“Will something happen when I do?”

Rain smiled lightly as Shelfa stared up at him.

“No, not in particular. I just wanted to test out a theory of mine.”

“……I don’t really understand… But if you say so, Rain.”

Shelfa obediently accepted the Siren’s Blade and stood up.

She took a deep breath for some reason before slipping the sword out of its sheath.

“……Eh?”

She blinked, dumbfounded.

“It’s magical aura’s gone……”

She stared at the blade, which was silver like any regular sword, in surprise.

“No, that’s fine. It’s a bit of a complicated sword.”

Rain nodded and instructed Shelfa to re-sheathe the sword, which she did before he then told her,

“next, I want you to close your eyes and try a bit of self-suggestion. Let’s see……pretend that you’re out in battle and you’re about to kill someone——it’ll work best if you stir up your fighting spirit. ……Think you’re up to it?”

“Th, that sounds quite difficult. But……I might be able to do it if I think about the person who spoke ill of you during my interview with him the other day.”

“Mm, that’s fine. Close your eyes and calm your mind……right, just like that. Now, start raising up your fighting spirit bit by bit. You’re just about to cut down your enemy——just psyche yourself up like that, okay?”

Shelfa obediently closed her eyes as she was told and wholeheartedly focused on what Rain asked her to do. She was probably thinking about her interview with Joshua, which she had alluded to. Eventually, she scowled as though she was remembering the moment that had angered her the most.

Rain promptly called out and said,

“good, now draw! Your enemy’s right in front of you!”

Once again, Shelfa obediently obeyed Rain’s brazen command. She swiftly drew the sword, and——

Bzzzzzzzzzt!

The sword pointed directly at the tip of Rain’s nose was emitting a familiar magical aura. The blue light completely enveloped the blade as it sounded out its characteristic buzzing. And, more importantly, even Rain let out a sigh because his head would have been split down the middle if he hadn’t dodged immediately.

“That’s was pretty dangerous~. I would’ve died if just now if I wasn’t me.”

“——Oh?”

Shelfa serenely tilted her head to the side in confusion, completely unaware of the fact that she had nearly split Rain in two.

She stared quizzically at the magic sword and asked,

“but it was a normal longsword just a moment ago?”

“No……well, yeah, that just the kind of magic sword it is. ——Return!”

“Kyah!”

The magic sword disappeared from Shelfa’s hand as soon as Rain called for it and reappeared before his eyes.

“It’s alright. Can you bring me the sheath?”

Rain returned the sword back into its sheath once Shelfa handed it over and nodded seriously. He continued,

“basically, this magic sword chooses its master. You can’t wield it unless it chooses you. The fact that it returned to me means that it didn’t choose you. I guess this fellow just really likes me, or something.”

“My……. But in that case, it’s only natural that I wasn’t chosen. Actual strength aside, there is no one more fit to wield the sword than you are, Rain.”

Rain smiled back as Shelfa smiled from the bottom of her heart.

On the inside, however, he could not help but think otherwise.

But, you were able to draw out this sword’s abilities even though you barely know any swordplay, you know?

There were only a few other people in the past who were able to use the Siren’s Blade as a magic sword.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Noelle was standing on a small hill on the outskirts of the royal capital, Lydia.

The hill was located along a highway that stretched out from the capital and the city that was her destination was right in front of her —she could even look down at a portion of the capital from here.

It was around ten o’clock at night and was yet too early for the castle town, which enveloped Galfort, the royal castle, to have fallen asleep. There were still lights on the roads and people were still up and about, but Noelle paid them no heed. She cared not about the large, circular city, but only about Galfort Castle, which stood tall inside of it.

To be precise, her aim was the black-clad warrior who was presumably inside of it —Rain.

And so, she had been staring at Galfort Castle, towering in the distance, for quite some time now.

“I doubt he’s an opponent who’d tire so easily, but I suppose it’s only polite to let him rest for the night……and it’ll be more fun for me this way, too,”

she muttered to herself as she crossed her arms.

Noelle did not require much sleep, so she was thinking of wandering around the city until the sun came up.

She had told off the human she had met at Leygur’s castle for not knowing anything about daemons, but now that she thought about it, she didn’t know much about this world either.

Or rather, she hardly knew anything at all about the human race.

——And so, she thought it might be interesting to look around and go sightseeing.

But then, she heard a hoarse voice from near by before she could put her thoughts into action.

“Look, there she is! It’s just like I told you! I wasn’t mistaken at all!”

Noelle looked down to see five men climbing slowly up the hill.

She had known that they had been coming up the highway and had ignored them because she wasn’t interested, but it looked like they had taken an interest in her.

They had purposely gone out of their way and were laboriously climbing up the hill. She almost wanted to applaud their effort.

Noelle smiled a little.

There was no warmth in her smile, of course. She saw that the man who had just pointed at her and called out was now puffing his chest up in pride. The five men were likely either mercenaries or adventurers, judging by the way they were all carrying swords at their waists. They were all gaping at Noelle with their mouths hanging open like a bunch of fools.

They eventually made their way up the hill and began blabbering amongst themselves.

“Whoa, hey, here I’d thought that Lydia was some backwater town, but——damn, I guess it’s still a royal capital even if it’s rotten to the core! Just look at her! I’ve travelled around most of the South, but this is my first time seeing such skimpy clothes.”

“Seriously. It ain’t something a woman would wear unless she had absolute confidence in her figure. Your wife would just embarrass herself if she wore it.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my wife like that!”

“Man, it was worth coming all the way out here to look for a job. This must be a good omen.”

“Whoa, I wanna get married to her, damn.”

They were each running their mouths.

Noelle did not feel like listening in to their boring conversation any longer, so she quickly cut in.

“Listen up, humans!”

Her sharp rebuke cut off their chatter completely. She continued,

“I’m in a good mood today. I’ll let you go free, so hurry up and scram. I’ll even forget the nonsense you were uttering if you leave now……”

The five men exchanged dubious looks, and the first man up the hill finally shook his head.

“Still so young, but look’s like you’ve got a few screws loose in the head. ——Well, whatever, that’s fine. You’ll still make us good money when we sell you off.”

“Hey!”

The man with the mustache who had said he was married turned to him. He continued,

“I thought we decided to stop doing that kind of work! Didn’t we say we’d do proper work now?”

“Shut it! Like hell I’d let this perfect chance slip through our fingers! We can find ourselves some proper work after we sell this bitch. So shut up and——gahh!”

His wail was abruptly cut off.

Noelle had gotten annoyed and had decided to act sooner rather than later.

The silenced man’s head separated from his body and tumbled down to the grass below. His body let out a spray of blood and collapsed a moment later.

His corpse began spasming eerily.

“……Huh?”

The remaining men looked down at their fallen friend like they were dreaming as Noelle dispelled the sword of light she had formed in her left hand.

“He looked like a warrior, but he only looked the part and failed to react——I suppose? It wasn’t worth using as sword of light on him. How worthless.”

Then, she pointed at the air with her pointer finger and said,

“Hey, look over here.”

Three of the men took the bait and reflexively stared at her slender finger.

Noelle swiftly pulled her finger horizontally to the side.

A white trail of light lingered in the darkness behind it, and the men’s heads fell to the ground a moment later. They all fell in unison. Noelle did not so much as blink as fountains of blood erupted from their bodies and she whispered,

“hmph, I should have done this from the start.”

Finally, the last standing man —the man with the mustache— reacted.

That is, he made the smart choice and turned around and tried to run. Noelle caught up to him easily, however, and forced him to turn back around by placing her hand on his shoulder.

She grabbed him by the throat with one hand and lifted him up as easily as if he had been made of cloth.

“Gaah!……Gagagah!”

The man tried to say something as sweat poured down his face, but his voice failed him. He was desperately trying to pry Noelle’s hand off, but her iron grip refused to budge.

Hers wasn’t the physical strength of a woman——no, of a human being.

“Shall I rip out your throat, or shall I tear apart your chest? ……How would you like to die? Or, perhaps——”

Her black eyes bored into the man a beat later.

“Will you choose to fight me, even in the face of certain death?”

“Gwah! ……If you’re going……to kill me anyway……”

The man scrunched up his sweaty face and painfully managed to eek out his broken words.

“Let, let me draw my sword. I’ll take you on!”

“Oh……? I admire your resolve.”

Noelle threw the man’s large frame recklessly in the air, and this time, the man desperately drew his longsword instead of running away. He hadn’t managed to calm his breathing yet, but he gave out a war cry and swung his blade down with every drop of strength he could squeeze out of his body.

Instead of avoiding him, however, Noelle took his blade head-on. A dull sound resounded between them.

Normally, the man’s sword should have cut through the bone and reached her heart……but the blade had been stopped by her exposed white skin. Like with Leygur earlier, all that the sword had managed to do was draw a faint red line across her skin and draw a trickle of blood. Moreover, the shallow wound vanished completely when Noelle brushed the longsword aside like it was merely a nuisance.

“Wh, what?! No way!”

The man readied himself for a second attack even in his astonishment when Noelle suddenly said,

“I’ll let you live.”

“……Eh?”

Noelle chuckled as the man lost his momentum and he stood with his mouth agape and his sword raised high.

“Ahaha! What an interesting look you have on your face. ……I’m only letting you live because I like your resolve to fight me to the bitter end. So don’t worry too much about it.”

Noelle had already turned her attention back to the capital and quickly turned her back to the man.

He stood there like a stick before hurriedly calling out to her.

“W, wait. Just what are you?”

“Me?”

A ghastly smile alighted Noelle’s face as she turned around with her silver hair floating behind her.

She looked back at the man who was enthralled by her and proudly declared,

“I am a daemon. ……Be grateful for your fortune today, human!”

Then, Noelle slowly climbed down the hill as the man gulped and watched her leave.

It was like she was simply taking a stroll around her own garden.

~~*~~*~~*~~

A knighting ceremony was to be held the next day, as was planned.

In other words, the victors who made it to the tournament proper would be welcomed as knights——that is, they would skip through the rank of squire and directly become regular knights, and it was the first step in Rain’s schemes to “have them be generals one day.”

Though, his plans were only natural considering that the kingdom desperately needed to expand her military might.

——It was only natural, but… Nothing ever went exactly as planned, and among the tournament victors there were frivolous warriors from other countries (though Sayle wasn’t exactly at fault here), frivolous warriors from Sunkwoll (though not Gunther’s fault), and the large man who had attempted to assassinate Shelfa and was currently locked up in a cell, so there were hardly any knights-to-be left.

The only victors remaining were Felt, the priest, Abel, the self-proclaimed hero, Falna, the female knight, and Sylvia.

Moreover, Felt had declined knighthood, saying, “I am a priest who dedicates my body to the Goddess Menam first and foremost. And so, I am not a fitting candidate to be a knight,” and entered a vague state of government service by stating, “I will cooperate with the army and serve with the best of my abilities, but I cannot become a knight.”

Still, he was very grateful that Shelfa had readily allowed him to build a new church, so it looked like his promise for full cooperation was the real deal.

And then there was Sylvia.

Her stance had been clear from the very beginning and she had even gone up to Rain to impudently say, “I’ll be more than happy to serve Rain, but I don’t wanna serve anyone else,” so she had ignored the offer to be made Shelfa’s knight completely. Rain, who knew of Sylvia’s temperament, had no choice but to shrug in acknowledgement, and it was settled that her knighting ceremony would be held at a later date.

And so, Abel, the self-proclaimed hero, and Falna were the only victors remaining.

The clatter of the civil and military officials’ voices echoed endlessly throughout the hall, and there was more than enough enthuse generated that it seemed to warm even the outside chill.

The knighting ceremony had originally been planned to be held in the audience chamber, but a change of place had become necessary because too many people wished to attend it. Ultimately, it was decided that the ceremony would be conducted in one of the large halls where balls were often held.

Shelfa arrived at the hall earlier than planned with her guards in tow.

She immediately began looking for Rain like it was only natural, but she did not find him in the venue.

She was a little disheartened.

I can feel his presence, so he’s most certainly somewhere inside the castle……I wonder if something happened?

“Good morning, Your Majesty.”

Ralphus, who had been dressed smartly in his high general’s uniform since earlier in the morning, bowed toward the improvised throne. Of note, Rain had never once worn the “white uniform with gold designs (he was actually referring to the coat of arms).” Just as most had largely suspected, this was because he disliked the colors. Apparently, his soul refused to allow him to wear it.

In any event, Ralphus smiled refreshingly, although it was still early morning, and continued,

“this was a very sudden turn of things, and I have yet to have the pleasure of speaking with either of them at leisure, but I will entrust them in your capable hands for today.”

He sketched one more bow and motioned for the two standing in wait behind him forward.

Abel bounded forward jubilantly while wearing his knight’s uniform, whereas——the platinum blonde beauty gracefully followed after him.

They lined up toe to toe and bowed deeply.

“Good morning, Your Majesty! I will never forget this day for as long as I live. ……From this day forth, I, Abel, will fight with the resolve to do my utmost for Your Majesty’s sake!”

Abel seemed to have completely forgotten that Sylvia had utterly defeated him just yesterday, and looked like he would respond, “Hmm? What do you mean?” if asked about it.

Naturally, Shelfa wasn’t meanspirited enough to point it out either, so she simply smiled back awkwardly, bewildered by his pointless cheer.

“……I’ll be in your care, Lord Abel.”

Abel attempted to speak up again in response, but he was cut short as Falna stepped forward.

Falna had long blonde hair that was a bit wavy, like Selphie’s. Falna looked much more mature than Selphie, however, since she was twenty-three.

Shelfa did not get a chance to see how strong Falna was since she had been busy observing others at the time, but she had heard afterward that Falna had settled all of her matches within a minute. She had been the overwhelming champion of Block D. However, the Falna standing before Shelfa now ladylike, courteous, and even modest.

Falna simply said, “……I will do my best,” before gracefully stepping back. She shot Shelfa a glance just before she did, but she lowered her blue eyes immediately afterward.

Ralphus nodded lightly after they had finished giving their greetings.

“Now then, Your Majesty, please allow me to begin once the audience have settled in.”

“Oh, yes. I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

Ralphus and the two knights-to-be fell back as upper ranks knights and civil officials poured in and divided themselves among their ranks.

The ceremony was to begin in a few minutes——but Shelfa could not see Rain anywhere.

And now that she thought about it, she didn’t see Gunther either.

Shelfa turned to Gazaram, who was standing by next to the throne, and quietly asked,

“um……do you know where Rain is?”

“Well, that’s…”

Gazaram scratched his head, troubled. He continued,

“he said that he’d show up soon when I went to his room earlier. But it looks like he hasn’t made it here yet.”

Shelfa almost replied, “Then, I’ll go look for him.”

Naturally, she couldn’t do that. That being said, Gazaram was here as her guard, so she couldn’t send him away to do errands either.

Eventually, it was time for the knighting ceremony to begin.

~~*~~*~~*~~

At the time, Rain and Gunther were in a certain corner of Galfort Castle —specifically, in the corner of the garden where Ran and Shelfa had first met.

He had purposefully chosen this specific time to come here because everyone important was at the hall and wouldn’t interfere——in other words, because he didn’t need to worry about being seen.

There was a hole that was several meters deep in front of the two, and there was a square stone slab that was a meter long on each side peeking out at the bottom.

There were complex runes of preservation written across its surface, and the same runes indicated that the stone slab was a part of a barrier of sorts.

“……Hmmm.”

Rain looked down at the hole he had created with magic and stroked his chin.

——He had been investigating and digging through every corner of the castle in accordance to his knowledge concerning barriers and the hint that Talma had once given him.

Apparently, he had been right on his money.

“There are three other slabs like this one buried in each of the four cardinal directions. You know what this barrier’s for, right?”

Rain looked to Gunther out of the corner of his eye, and his faithful subordinate returned him a small bow.

“Yes. I am something of a rune master as well, so I know. ……Her name is written on it. In other words, this barrier was meant to keep her presence from leaking outside——put another way, it is a seal of sorts.”

“……You’re exactly right.”

Rain nodded and breathed out a small sigh.

He didn’t bother lowering his voice as he continued,

“in other words, you can also say that the castle itself was ultimately being used to seal her.”

Gunther simply nodded expressionlessly.

Then, as though he was talking to himself, Rain whipered,

“but……then why didn’t Leygur notice back then? Joe’s one thing, but it’s strange that Leygur didn’t notice.”

Then, he voiced his conclusions.

“She probably had a seal cast on her person too……I suppose. That’d make sense. Which would also mean that the seal on her person is fading away. And that’s why her ‘presence’ can be felt from time to time……right?”

Gunther concurred with Rain’s conclusions.

“I believe it is as you say, Lord Rain.”

It was because he was talking to Gunther that Rain felt no need to impose a gag order and instead readily replied,

“Well, I don’t really think it’s useful anymore, but let’s bury it back up for now. It’s not something we need to make a big deal out of.”

“——Understood.”

“By the way, have you been feeling anything strange since a little while ago? I’ve been ignoring it, but I can’t help but get a bad feeling about it…”

Rain said as he frowned, but before he could finish…

——He heard something being destroyed from afar.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Noelle purposefully extinguished her presence as she floated directly above Galfort Castle.

She was about thirty meters high.

She would probably be spotted by others if she lingered there for too long. She planned on making her move before that happened. However, she had not extinguished her presence because she was afraid of the enemy or because she was being wary. Rather, she had done this simply because she was feeling mischievous.

She wanted to launch a surprise attack on a large group of her enemies and watch the humans grow dumbfounded——or something like that.

Noelle had a bit of a childish side to her, unlike Leygur, who prioritized efficiency when he fought. And so, she had been quietly looking for a good place to make her blitzkrieg at her leisure.

“Hmm, I think a found a good spot.”

The edges of her red lips curled up into a smile.

There were a few magnificent spires lined up directly below her, but Noelle’s pitch-black eyes were locked on the palace, from where she could feel the presences of many people.

“Looks like they’re holding some kind of event or something……but I can’t tell what it is because of the barrier. Well, whatever, I’ll find out as soon as I attack.”

Noelle chuckled……and her laughter faded into silence.

Then, with a hint of ghastliness in her voice, she muttered to herself,

“according to Leygur——. The daemon army in the war that broke out in this world a long time ago, which the humans call the “Holy War” or the “Hegemonic War”, was mostly comprised of servants and familiars. ……But things will be different this time!”

A fiery blaze glistened in her pitch-black eyes.

“I, an upper-class daemon, will personally raise the curtains on the second act of this great war!!”

And with that, Noelle descended rapidly down toward Galfort.

Crackle crackle crackle crackle!

An invisible “something” abruptly stopped Noelle’s charge right before she reached the palace. Just as she’d felt earlier, the barrier that Rain had put up was responding to the high levels of magic it sensed dwelling inside the intruder. A wave of magic that resembled a ball of lightning rushed toward her. A moment later, she saw a translucent half-sphere barrier surrounding the palace. She was caught in the instantaneously formed wall of magic and it stung her tough frame like a countless swarm of needles.

And now, a bluish-white pulse surrounded Noelle’s entire body.

Pain exploded from the depths of her body, and the agony wracked at the inside of her brain.

There were only a few who could put up a barrier this strong even among the daemons.

“Ugggggh, good one! But don’t you dare think this is enough to stop me!”

Noelle stretched out her arms and feet as far as they could go with her eyes blazing with her fighting spirit.

Then, she gathered what seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of magic from a human’s point of view and pushed back at the magic that was flowing in toward her.

The defensive barrier withstood Noelle’s all-out counterattack for a few seconds before it shattered. Its pieces glittered in the air like a myriad of stars before they completely faded away.

“Ahahahaha! Not bad, Rain! You’re good, real good! It’s been decades since I’ve had this much fun! ——Light!”

This time, Noelle’s successfully broke through the palace roof as she roared with laughter, delighted from the bottom of her heart.

The knighting ceremony was proceeding without a hitch, and Shelfa was just about to step in front of the two knights-to-be kneeling before her. But then, a powerful crash of thunder sounded from somewhere far up above.

She was almost about to draw the magic sword (katana, really) that Rain had given her as she looked up in surprise. It had sounded like it had come from above the palace, but it wasn’t real thunder.

It was surely the sound of something else.

“What on earth——”

Just before she could finish her sentence.

This time, instead of the sound that resembled thunder, the sound of something being destroyed split her ears. Moreover, it was accompanied by a vibration strong enough to lift her off her feet and violently shook the entire hall.

Galfort Castle, which was built using sturdy stone, was shaking violently.

It felt like a large earthquake.

Dust and debris danced down from the ceiling.

This time, something had happened on the floor directly above them, and not from somewhere far up in the skies.

It sounded as if the ceiling was caving in.

“Your Majesty!”

Gazaram and Ralphus both took immediate action and moved to steady Shelfa, who was staggering on her feet.

Then, there was another thunderous crash.

And this time, the ceiling really did cave in.

The ceiling above the entrance surrounded by guards toward the back of the hall broke apart with a tremendous roar. At least a few people were caught under the wreckage and screamed as they fell. Then, something black flew in from the hole in the ceiling. The figure roared in laughter above the dust that had yet to settle down.

The intruder was a woman, judging by her silhouette. And she had an amazing figure, to boot.

She lorded over her surroundings with her chest struck up in pride as if Galfort Castle belonged to her. For someone who had just crashed through two floors with her own body, she did not seem to have even a single scratch.

One again, Gazaram and Ralphus were the first to react.

Gazaram shouted, “Guards, surround Her Majesty! Don’t let the enemy get close to her!” as he drew his sword.

Ralphus, too, shouted, “Gwen, Nigel, protect Her Majesty!”

However, while the guards were already close by and were able to obey Gazaram’s orders, Ralphus’ two aides, the giant Gwen and Nigel, were already heading toward Noelle. They had not heard Ralphus’ orders above everyone else’s cries of confusion.

Noelle sounded like she was having fun as her voice echoed throughout the hall.

“I’m pretty sure Rain’s the only one who can hold his own in a fight against me. I don’t really feel the need to kill the weak for no reason……but, will it save me the trouble of looking for him if I run wild for a bit here?”

She laughed floridly and continued,

“I’m told that Rain is a knight. He’ll come running to me if his precious liege is in danger. Haha!”

She found Shelfa and slowly began walking toward her.

“Damnit, ya think this is a game?! You lot, quit starin’ at her like a bunch of idiots and capture her!”

The guards were galvanized by the sight of Gwen closing in on the intruder with his battle axe, finally returned to their senses, and rushed in. Noelle showed no signs of panicking and crossed her arms in front of her chest before opening them wide with a battle cry.

“Get lost, small fry!!”

A burst of power shot out from her as soon as the words had left her mouth, and several dozen guards were blow away like they had been made of paper.

They were blown away from Noelle in a circle with the daemon at their center and tumbled onto the hard stone floor.

Most of them either hit their heads and lost consciousness or broke their bones and screamed.

Gwen and Nigel were no exceptions and were thrown back alongside the guards who had been in front of them.

Noelle continued walking forward in the now-empty path before her.

“W, wait! I, a hero, will be your opponent!”

Abel said something along those lines as he stood to block Noelle’s progress.

He had not been affected by Noelle’s burst of power because he had been closer to the throne than to her.

Then, he cried a sharp war cry before swinging down his sword in a killing blow before Ralphus could stop him.

“Here I come!”

“You amateur! You might as well be standing still!”

And, just as her words suggested, Noelle avoided Abel’s oncoming blade with ready ease without even having to look at it.

Then, she brushed her hand against Abel’s side as if she was swatting away a nuisance as he lost his balance. She didn’t look like she was using much power, but Abel was thrown all the way to the wall on the other side of the hall and crashed painfully against it. He slid down the wall and slumped down on the floor.

And the boy, as tough as he was, did not climb back onto his feet.

A group of hooded magicians stood between Shelfa and Noelle in his place.

They were a unit of magicians that Gunther had left behind as Shelfa’s guards, and they used the rune they had been chanting to launch a sudden magic attack.

Bang!

Multiple fireballs flew toward Noelle and exploded.

It had been a rather reckless move, even if the hall was spacious, but it had been in vain nonetheless.

The magicians paled as Noelle walked out of the large resulting explosion of flames as if she couldn’t have cared any less.

“……What was up with that shoddy spell? Was that supposed to be an attack?”

The silver-haired beauty grinned. She continued,

“your magic’s far too weak if you were trying to defeat me with it. It barely felt like a breeze. ——Just stay back!”

She drew her hand in a straight line as she cried out sharply.

Then, a brave rune master who had been trying to rally up his comrades for a second attack collapsed with a spray of blood.

That was all that Shelfa had seen.

Ralphus and Gazaram had pushed her back and urged her to run.

She was running toward a tiny door tucked away in a corner of the hall.

The was an emergency evacuation exit there which was normally never used —in fact, today might have been the first time it ever was.

And so, Shelfa rushed out of the hall with a small handful of guards behind her.