Episode 237
-Pazzuzz... Pazz...
Isollet, her entire body exhausted, trudged down the corridor, dragging her sword from which sword-energy sparked like electrical discharges.
"Hah... Hah..."
Her body was covered in countless wounds, most of them concentrated on her chest and arms.
"Frey..."
It was because while fighting fierce battles against groups of assassors roaming in packs of dozens, she had blocked most of the attacks aimed at her stomach area with her own body.
"...Ugh."
However, that didn't mean she had blocked every attack.
No matter how close she was to awakening the abilities of a Sword Saint, her opponents were still elite experts in their own right, and there was an overwhelming difference in numbers.
Isollet had allowed a total of three strikes to her abdomen, and to protect Frey located there, she had no choice but to suffer quite severe injuries.
"...I will protect you."
But she couldn't give up.
Even though it was a desperate situation where the more doors she opened, the more complicated the paths became, and assassins kept appearing from somewhere.
She had now sworn herself to Frey, a knight who served only him.
That was why she was determined to cut down every threat that came at him, moving forward, always forward.
"...Churup."
"Mm."
Perhaps sensing her feelings, Frey, who had been clinging tightly to her stomach for a while, began to lick her abdomen again.
"Lick, lick."
".........."
At first, when his rough yet soft tongue licked her stomach, she had been startled and felt a shiver run down her spine.
"...Thank you."
But after witnessing silver powder seeping into the wounds on her abdomen and the pain decreasing thanks to it, she quietly accepted his licking.
'It feels... good.'
There was also the mysteriously warm and pleasant feeling she got whenever he licked her stomach.
"Frey, by the way, you..."
Isollet, who had been resting while offering her stomach to Frey for quite some time, soon wore a worried expression and looked inside her clothes.
Since her entire body was soaked in enemies' blood and her own sweat, she was worried that Frey might catch a cold.
"Meow..."
"Hm?"
But for some reason, Frey held onto her clothes and made a mournful sound.
"...Ugh."
Watching him, she put a little force into lifting her clothes, then quietly gritted her teeth.
On the back of Frey, who had been curled up on her stomach in the form of a silver cat, were serious wounds that looked painful just to see.
"Lick..."
But even in that moment, Frey continued to lick the wounds on her stomach as if it didn't hurt.
-Squeeze...
"Meow?"
Looking at him like that, Isollet covered him with her clothes again and hugged him tightly with both arms.
"I'll protect you... I will definitely protect you..."
Feeling overflowing maternal love and protective instincts, she began to stroke her stomach.
-Zap...!
"Huh?"
Suddenly, golden energy began to emanate from her protruding stomach.
"Damn, the time is almost up."
Flustered by the situation, Isollet realized that the duration of the miniaturization - animal transformation scroll was coming to an end.
"It's okay... There's still one more miniaturization scroll left."
In that urgent situation, Isollet looked at the building entrance that was gradually getting closer, even though she was moving to random locations.
"So, just a little more... let's just hold on a little longer..."
She gritted her teeth and began to move her feet.
-Zzzzt, Zzzzt...
From her beloved sword, even more intense sword-energy began to rise.
Though Isollet didn't know it, that level overwhelmingly surpassed the strongest sword-energy she had ever produced during her training.
She was now leaving only a very thin wall before awakening as a Sword Saint.
-Sizzle... Sizzle...
"What is that?"
As she continued walking, a static noise began to reach her ears.
-Ah, ah. Frey-nim! Can you heaaar me!
Thinking it was enemy radio communication again, she had been tense, but when a woman's soft voice came through, she breathed a sigh of relief.
-Right now I'm bringing the kids with me~! Just hold on a little longer~!
'...To feel relieved hearing the Demon King's Army's voice, I've really gone far.'
The small communication magic tool that Frey had given her when he agreed to her plan with a flushed face was proving that he really was affiliated with the Demon King's Army.
"Mmm... um..."
-Oh? Who is that?
But Isollet, who inwardly didn't want to believe that fact, broke the silence and cautiously began to speak.
"Who... are you?"
-And who are you?
"I am... Frey-nim's... exclusive knight."
Hearing those words, the other person fell silent for a moment.
-Well, there's no way that person would have had his radio stolen, right?
After some time passed, she muttered in a cheerful voice.
-I am the Demon King's Army Combat Executive Rank 3! I have no name!
She said that proudly.
'Combat Executive... Rank 3? Frey commands someone of that level as a subordinate...?'
Isollet was startled by that.
".......Anyway."
She looked at Frey, who was glancing at her nervously and hurriedly started licking her navel when their eyes met, and chuckled.
"What an insolent guy."
Frey, who would boldly challenge her every day, get beaten nicely, and end up pinned beneath her covered in dust, sobbing.
"I... I want to... beat you too... big sister..."
"...Mm."
Perhaps feeling humiliated to be in such a state as a boy, his struggle to escape was quite cute.
So when training with him, the time spent pinning him down was longer than the time crossing swords.
Thanks to that, to soothe him who would always end up sulking, she would always give him ice cream when training ended.
Then Frey would eat the ice cream as if he had never been upset, look up at her, and smile brightly.
That Frey had become the Empire's greatest scoundrel. Joined the Demon King's Army. And now even commands Combat Executives as subordinates...
"........."
Feeling that disconnect, Isollet stood there blankly for a while holding Frey.
'Well, even if he goes to the Demon King's Army... he won't be mistreated.'
Making a statement that her past self would have jumped at, she moves her feet.
The female knight who couldn't forget her childhood connection and memories and ultimately chose love over her ideals, walked down the corridor with a calm expression.
-Ah, um. There's something I need to tell you! Can you pass this to Frey-nim~?
"What?"
Until the radio sounded in her ears once more.
-The Hero Party is chasing to kill Frey-nim! According to the kids, they're using tracking magic!
".....!"
Isollet froze at those words.
"Is it this way?"
"...That area is still within the influence of spatial magic. We don't know who it is, but let's move to where the magic was broken."
And from across, the voices of her new disciple and Vener could be heard.
-Zzzzt...
"Me...ow..."
Even Frey's animal transformation, tied to her stomach, was starting to show signs of wearing off, and cold sweat ran down her face.
"...Ah."
She quietly turned her gaze to the side.
[Weapon Storage]
The door to a makeshift weapon storage, originally prepared for the Hero Party to use for demonstration, was strangely torn open rather than distorted by spatial magic.
"If... if it's there, it might be okay..."
Actually, just moments ago when fighting the assassins, her sword-energy that had exceeded its limit had torn apart even the spatial distortion.
"I... I need to hide..."
Isollet, who couldn't have known that, had only one option. She held Frey preciously, who was on the verge of transformation wearing off, and rushed into the side room.
"............"
And silence flowed.
'Damn...'
The weapon storage she entered was wide, but there was nowhere to hide.
There were a few old cabinets, but they were too small for Isollet to fit in, and the same went for drawers and baskets.
And even if that weren't the case, the Hero Party was said to be using 'tracking magic.'
"Meow..."
"........."
If she could turn Frey into a cat, she might be able to make some excuse, but right now Frey's transformation was moments from wearing off.
Several minutes would be needed to miniaturize him again.
"Ugh..."
So Isollet, making anxious sounds while surveying the room.
"...Gulp."
She discovered something and started swallowing dry saliva.
"If it's that... it might work."
After a while, groaning sounds began to echo through the weapon storage.
.
-Thud, thud...
A few minutes after Isollet rushed into the room, footsteps sounded in the empty corridor.
"Is this the place?"
"...Definitely here. No doubt about it."
Vener, tilting her head, and Ariane speaking with certainty.
"Before coming here, I placed a powerful tracking magic. The fact that it's still maintained means it's certain."
"Hm..."
Vener, swallowing a hum at Ariane's words while surveying the corridor.
"Yes, it seems so."
She eyed the door torn unnaturally by Isollet's sword strike.
"........."
And the same went for everyone else.
-Creeeak... creeeeak...
All eyes fixed on the door, swinging while torn from the sword strike.
Though their purposes differed, their goal was one thing.
Vener for justice, the Holy Knight to avoid corruption, Ariane to save a friend, Alice to regain freedom.
To kill the dirty and ugly Frey Laon Starlight.
At this very moment, they were united in that grand goal.
"Frey!!"
".........!!!"
Everyone except one person.
"I know you're in theeree!! Come out nooow!!!"
Ferroche, who had appeared from somewhere, was frowning and tapping on the window.
"Damn! We're going in!!"
Vener, flustered by her action, kicked the door open and stepped into the room.
"Frey, you trash bastard. Today your life is...!"
She shouted with blazing eyes.
"...?"
But then she started tilting her head.
".......!?"
And the same was true for the rest of the group who followed behind her.
What faced them as they burst in radiating killing intent was not Frey.
But a giant suit of armor.
"What is this? Broken...? That can't be...?"
Ariane, flustered by the unexpected situation, made a puzzled expression and started fiddling with the scroll.
"Maybe he's on an upper or lower floor. That scroll only shows a flat view."
"But the presence felt strongest here..."
Alice, watching Ariane, began speaking with a serious expression.
"Hm?"
But then she sensed something unusual and looked at the armor.
-Slither...!
And Vener was the same.
"Reveal your identity."
Because she felt a somehow familiar energy from the armor standing rather unnaturally among the weapons, she pointed her sword and muttered.
"If you don't..."
-Click!
The moment she coldly changed her expression and took one step forward, the visor of the armor's helmet opened.
"........"
Then came a long silence.
"Hmm."
Isollet, who was inside the armor, broke that silence.
"I was critically wounded by enemies and couldn't help it."
Her face somehow bright red, she said that.
"The armor I was carrying inside my clothes was torn to rags. So I had no choice but to change into this armor. Armor is like life to a knight."
"That's... no matter how you look at it, it's decorative..."
"A-Anyway, I need to get out. Quickly leave this..."
Isollet, who kept flinching for some reason, finally squeezed her eyes shut at the chill running through her body, shivered, and stepped forward.
-Rumble...!!!
It was exactly that moment that the entire building shook violently.
"...What?"
When Vener was flustered by the abnormal shaking.
-CRASH!!!
"Kyaa!!"
"Damn it!!"
The dagger the Order had prepared pierced into the building.
"Aaaah! It's a bomb!!"
"Ha, it's a trap! We need to get out of here right now!!"
"N-no. First the people...!"
The Hero verification ceremony was heading toward catastrophe.
"Move! Do you know who I am!"
"Kyaa!!"
"...Damn."
Screams of nobles blinded by greed, shrieks of terrified maids, and the Empress grinding her teeth at a collapsed pillar while trying to evacuate calmly.
"Rescuing Frey-nim is the top priority. That is all."
"Even if we die here, we will kill Frey. That is all."
The Demon King's Army and assassin groups, having received orders from above, began moving even more systematically.
"Finally... finally the era of the Order has arrived...!"
And the Pope, watching from a distance with the believers as the building collapsed.
It was literally a time of great panic.
"Hah, hah..."
But no matter how great the darkness that comes, light always exists.
[Distance to Hero: 100m]
※Caution: This function can only be used once a month when the Hero is in crisis...
"The Hero is... in this building...!"
Glare, her face pale, ran with all her might looking at the navigation before her eyes.
.
Meanwhile, at the lobby on the 1st floor, which still had less damage.
"...Gulp."
Demirkan, Lemerno, and quite a few Combat Executives wore tense expressions, looking at someone.
"........."
Standing before them was none other than Lulu, wearing a cold expression.
"A pureblood, right? Legitimacy and succession rights seem high too. And that magical array in those eyes..."
"Mm..."
"...So what do we do now?"
"Well, I don't know either. It's a completely unexpected situation."
At Lemerno's question, Demirkan, unlike himself, even sweating cold sweat as he lifted his glasses frame with his finger.
"But... one thing is certain."
He whispered in a low voice.
"If we don't clearly establish our position... Frey-nim's standing might be shaken."
As soon as those words ended, all the executives began wearing tense expressions.
"...Bow down."
Lulu, who had been glaring at them for a while, commanded in a cold voice, her magic eyes shining.
"Ugh..."
"Uk."
"This is really..."
Then, amazingly, most of the executives went down on their knees.
"So..."
Demirkan, who did not kneel along with the Combat Executive Chief in this unprecedented situation.
"...What is your relationship with Frey-nim?"
He asked with a thoroughly tense voice.
"Me?"
Then Lulu.
"...Pet."
Answered without even a second of hesitation.
"What?"
"I'm, Frey-nim's pet."
As Demirkan asked with wide eyes, Lulu pulled out the collar around her neck with her name engraved on it and answered again.
".......Huh."
Demirkan, who stared blankly at her.
'The pet Frey-nim occasionally boasted about...'
He felt an indescribable emotion and muttered inwardly.
'.....Was another Demon King candidate?'
Lulu's eyes, watching him, were glowing ruby red.