“Tilphitz. I have something to tell you.”
“······?”
Tilphitz was putting in all sorts of efforts to manage her expression.
How did he know my name?
Nobody, except the Pope, the Emperor, and a few Cardinals, would know the name of the Great Sage.
Right. There was indeed a Cardinal named Hainkel.
It occurred to her that Schlus’ kin might have told him.
No, it had to be that way.
“Yes. What is it that you would like to tell me?”
“······.”
She pretended not to be flustered for now.
It seemed he wanted to feel superior just by knowing her name······.
That was useless.
She didn’t want to grant such a shallow satisfaction.
“I will tell you the location of Durandal.”
“······!”
But with the following voice, Tilphitz felt a chill run down her spine.
Durandal.
One of the weapons sealed by the strongest Majin during the time humans waged war against them.
The authenticity was unclear, but it was said to be a sword capable of rending dimensions······.
Why on earth did it come out of this human boy’s mouth?
“I know well what Durandal is but······”
“I don’t have time, so I’ll just say it quickly. Durandal is buried at the bottom of Mistil Lake in the Trud Kingdom. I know it’s hard to believe right now, but if my words are proven to be true, you will not forget that you owe a favor to me, Schlus Hainkel.”
“······.”
Nonsense.
This man was spouting nonsense with such a bold face.
Just then, the Recognition Interference Barrier was destroyed.
“I apologize, Sage. I’m truly sorry for the interruption during your prayer.”
“Oh, no······.”
The man returned to his polite demeanor.
Crazy person.
That was all she could think.
Was he trying to hide his true nature even from that Saintess?
Anyway, it wasn’t her business.
It was just an incident where a foolish sheep acted rudely towards her.
It wasn’t the first time she had experienced this.
A smile was enough to brush it off.
“Well then, that’s all.”
“Yes. You’re welcome to come again next time.”
Just after the door slammed shut with a *bang*, the smile vanished from Tilphitz’s face.
The ramblings of a madman.
No matter how much she tried to dismiss it, the discomfort lingered somewhere in her heart.
The source of that discomfort was not hard to guess.
“Why Durandal of all things······.”
If it was a bluff, he could have said something else.
The Judgment Day that the heroic human, Gawayn, supposedly used.
Or perhaps Vafe, which was another sealed weapon······.
But why specifically Durandal?
That sword had disappeared right before it could come into her hands during the time of the ancient war.
She had never shown that she coveted it to anyone, yet she had searched the entire continent for that sword.
How on earth did he know······.
“What the heck is that man?!”
This was ridiculous.
The fact that she had been coveting Durandal was something even other Majin didn’t know.
Or was it all just a coincidence?
Someone who knew her name happened to mention Durandal’s name?
That made even less sense.
It was truly hard to believe, but the rational conclusion that came to her was this.
“He knows my identity······.”
This man had known everything from the start.
Even that she was a Majin.
He had said decisively, to remember the favor of Schlus Hainkel······.
“Damn it.”
How much does he know?
Tilphitz had long been serving as a mediator between humans and Majin, representing the Majin side.
She couldn’t not protect justice, even on the outside.
Since she owed a favor, she had to repay it appropriately.
“Eh, no way.”
Could it really be that Durandal’s location is real?
That it’s at the bottom of Mistil Lake in the Trud Kingdom?
Ridiculous.
Now she wanted to believe it was merely a coincidence.
“Ha······! Seriously!”
Her head began to hurt.
She had to go find Durandal, but she felt a contradictory desire; she hoped it was really there, yet wished it wasn’t.
Not going was not an option.
To Tilphitz, Durandal held great significance.
“Alexia······.”
Now she even felt resentful towards Alexia.
She had only said that Schlus Hainkel was an unusual human, but not that he was a madman who could see through her identity as a Majin.
She should have warned her.
So that she wouldn’t look down on him like this.
To set some sort of countermeasure in place.
“Ah······.”
In the worst case, Schlus Hainkel could demand Tilphitz’s military strength.
Schlus Hainkel was someone the Emperor was wary of.
He was someone preparing to oust the Emperor.
If that kind of man would borrow her strength······
“I hate getting caught up in war!”
It was likely that he would oppose the Empire.
There was a chance he might wield Majin’s power against the hegemonic nations of the continent.
Tilphitz could already feel her head hurting from thinking about how to avoid being dragged into war.
*
“I miss Emilia.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“······Nothing.”
Maybe she had gotten too used to Emilia’s food.
As soon as she took a sip of the soup provided by the innkeeper, Emilia popped into her mind.
By the way, I wonder if Emilia is okay.
She might have left the mansion and joined the Intelligence Agency, and perhaps she would also meet Hertlocker after a long time.
Being alone in that big mansion for a week would be too lonely.
“We’re leaving.”
“Already? I haven’t rested much!”
“I didn’t stop to rest. The horse changing and resupplying is done, so we must hurry and depart.”
She quickly silenced Aintz’s childish remarks.
She hadn’t come here to meet the Pope anyway; it was merely a coincidental stop.
Even if the meeting with the Pope fell through······.
Anyway, the situation on the front line was quite serious, so they had to hurry.
“Schlus.”
“······?”
As she packed her things and began leaving the inn, she felt someone tugging at her sleeve from behind.
Turning around, she saw it was indeed Iris.
It seemed she was aiming for a moment where they could be alone.
Since they had been with Trie on the way here.
“What did you talk about with the Great Sage earlier?”
“I don’t think I have an obligation to tell you.”
“No! You still don’t trust me? You should be able to trust me now······”
“I trust you, Iris.”
It was sincere.
She didn’t want to give the impression that she distrusted Iris at all.
To convey that sincerity, she grabbed both of Iris’s hands and looked into her eyes.
“In here, you are undoubtedly the person I trust the most. You have saved my life twice already, and I will endlessly be grateful to you. I will live to repay you, my life, only waiting to burn it for you.”
“There’s no need for that······.”
“No, I must do that.”
Though a bit of a lie mixed in, it was mostly the truth.
The person she trusted the most was actually Trie······.
Iris seemed too emotional to tell if she was lying.
It was the first time she had seen Iris unable to look someone in the eyes.
That meant she was moved.
And she had every reason to be.
She had turned a dying corpse into a living person, and now she was making a commotion even at the Empire’s top university—how could she not feel proud and happy?
“I will live for you, Iris.”
“Schlus······ you shouldn’t do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“You shouldn’t do this just because the attendant isn’t here······.”
“Emilia? What does that child have to do with this?”
“······.”
She couldn’t understand why Emilia suddenly popped up.
“Oh, I got it. Since you understand that you trust me, then······.”
Iris shook off her hands and dashed off.
Her voice tone was slightly trembling, implying she was deeply touched.
She must be thinking something like, ‘This is the benefit of being a Saintess.’
“So make sure to come up with a good plan. In the future I saw, we ended up floundering and suffered a crushing defeat in battle.”
“Is that really so?”
“Of course. Don’t you trust me?”
“······.”
She was uncertain.
Whether it was sincere or just a fabricated warning.
But she had successfully avoided the question about what she talked about with the Great Sage.
“We should get going.”
Before Iris could pick up on that, she quickly rejoined the group.
*
“We’ve arrived.”
“Oh······ huh?”
The twilight-colored plains.
She tapped Aintz and Erica on the shoulders to wake them up.
Iris and Trie seemed to have been alert the whole time, not having slept a wink.
She had almost fainted from motion sickness on the way······.
“There’s nothing around here?”
“Shh.”
As she got off the carriage, Erica was making a dumb remark and so she quietly admonished her to be quiet.
Aintz seemed to be more perceptive, following her lead and keeping his mouth shut while crouching down.
There was no need to explain to Trie and Iris.
Trie probably grasped the situation just from being in the atmosphere of the battlefield, and Iris must have looked into the future.
“Wait, why are we stopping here? We need to get to the castle.”
“The fortress occupied by the suppression army is gone. In fact, the entire southern region is under enemy control.”
“Ah······ huh······ huh?!”
They hadn’t yet told them they lost all the castles.
Erica was stunned and flustered, unable to continue her words.
“W-what do we do?!”
“There’s a fortress where the remaining suppression army is stationed. We have to make it there, but the problem is that the chances of being surrounded by the enemy are extremely high.”
The carriage had stopped in this remote plain for that reason.
It would be terrible to approach the fortress and face the enemy.
Of course, they could fire off some *bang bang* magic and mow down the enemies on the way to the fortress, but······
That was not a preferred method.
It was better not to inform the enemy yet about the powerful magician joining the suppression army.
“You can turn back if you want.”
At that point, she sent the carriage back.
Now there was no way to turn back.
They would have to break through the plains and reach the fortress by any means necessary.
If not, there would only be death.
“No······ Are you trying to kill us, Schlus?”
“Don’t worry.”
She had even made some preparations.
So really, there was no need to worry.
Leaving behind the still distrustful gaze of Erica, she took the lead and began to proceed slowly.
Trie was staying in the rearguard to keep watch.
The fortress started coming into view.
She noticed the enemy was positioned not too far from the fortress.
But the problem was there was more than one line of enemy troops.
The enemy encamped in circles around the fortress at about 200 meters apart.
It seemed they would have to crawl through that gap to reach the fortress.
“Are you really sure? You’re saying we’ll crawl past the enemies like this to get to the fortress?”
“If you just keep quiet, we can definitely succeed, so please shut up, Erica.”
“Fine······.”
She wished she’d just skip the extra replies.
Just as she shook her head and moved forward, she felt something *thunk* under her foot.
It wasn’t hard enough to be a stone.
She swallowed and pushed aside the brush.
“Ugh?!”
“······.”
It was a Subhuman soldier.
A Subhuman soldier who had been sleeping on the plains.
She quickly drew her sword with her left hand and pointed it at his neck.
“If you don’t stay quiet······”
“Emergency! Emergency! Five insurgents here!!!”
“Dammit······.”
It was a sound like a siren ringing out.
Just as she was flustered, a *swish!*
A glinting sword stroke flew in, and his head fell off.
Looking beside her, Trie was casually wiping blood off her blade with a cloth.
“Ah······.”
Erica and Aintz looked quite shocked.
Was it their first time seeing someone killed?
But there was no time to care for the poor mental state of the two.
*Broom broom!*
“Intruders!”
“Over there! Surround them!”
Subhuman soldiers were rushing from all directions to encircle them.
