Chapter 6

Inside the main camp’s command tent, Alan, who held overall command of the magical beast subjugation force, was feeling a strange irritability.

Supposedly, Diana, who was entrusted with the Gazard Knighthood, had withdrawn from the front lines without telling him a word.

Could such a thing really be possible?

Escorting and transporting wounded soldiers was certainly an important mission.

However, allocating five hundred elite knights to that duty was utterly ridiculous.

Diana was not someone who wouldn’t understand that.

Just what on earth had happened?

He felt a strange foreboding… as if an unseen net were tightening around them.

The vice commander had laughed, saying she must have lost her nerve, but Alan knew better than anyone that Diana was not of such a disposition.

If she were to lose her nerve now, she wouldn’t have volunteered to step onto the front lines in the first place.

Though he sensed a strange feeling of wrongness, he hesitated to voice it aloud.

Unlike the knights of the Third Order to which he belonged, the Imperial Guard, led by the vice commander, Count Ulysses Joseph, was a unit where only high-ranking nobles belonged.

Their affiliations, command structure—everything was different.

He had no intention of meddling in their affairs, but only when they spoke ill of Diana did the earnest royal uncle display an expression of contempt.

Late at night, the faint sound of dry leaves being trodden upon snapped him awake.

No, that wasn’t all.

Mingled with the sound of the wind was a strange presence.

A tension drifted through the air, signaling that someone was holding their breath.

Alan quietly picked up the sword he had placed beside his bedding.

Straining his ears, he heard the faint clinking of metal against metal.

──He was surrounded.

Instantly realizing this, Alan moved soundlessly toward the entrance of the tent.

From outside the tent, an unmistakable tension transmitted inward.

“──Go!”

Along with a low, hushed command, the curtain covering the entrance of the tent rustled violently.

Bursting into the tent were five knights.

Not a single face among them was familiar—meaning, they were not members of the Third Order.

Their gazes were directed straight at the place where Alan had been sleeping until moments ago—toward the bedding.

“He’s not here!”

“Where did he go!?”

Before they could raise their voices and sweep their gazes across the surroundings, the tip of a blade cut through the air.

“──Gwah!”

With a thud, one knight collapsed to the ground.

In rapid succession, another followed.

“He’s onto us!!”

“Everyone, move out! Former commander or not, if we overwhelm him with numbers, there is nothing to fear!”

A signal horn, seemingly a cue, echoed throughout the main camp.

At the same time, the clashing sound of swords reverberated from all over the front-line base.

There was no leisure to try and grasp the full situation.

Before Alan, the largest contingent of armed knights came surging in.

The sound of the horn blowing away the dark night reached all the way to Diana, who was hiding in the bushes near the main camp.

Beside her, Ian let out a low whistle.

“Seriously, something actually went down.”

“This is no time to be saying that. We’re heading straight to Lord Alan at once.”

“Roger that.”

Having moved the main force of the Gazard Knighthood while keeping themselves hidden near the main camp, the two—Diana and Ian—immediately sprang into action.

All across the main camp, knights belonging to the Third Order were being cut down by the Imperial Guard.

Every member of the Third Order was a seasoned fighter, but faced with the sudden, erratic betrayal of their allies, bewilderment took precedence over fighting back.

“Ian, provide them with backup!”

“Are you sure you’ll be fine, milady?”

“I’ll be fine, I’m going to look for Lord Alan.”

Whose orders the Imperial Guard were acting upon—right now, there was simply no luxury to be pondering such questions.

The members of the Third Order, who were essentially Alan’s arms and legs—they were far too precious to let die.

In her previous life, it wasn’t just Alan.

Many exceptional knights had been sacrificed.

Thinking that all of them had belonged to the Third Order ignited a smoldering fury against the wretches who had plotted such a scheme.

Though those knights were important, right now there was someone above all else whom she wanted to protect.

The place where the imperial guards were swarming the thickest.

The center of the echoing clash of swords.

Right there was his figure.

“Lord Alan!!”

The moment she recognized Alan, Diana thrust both hands forward and unleashed her magical power.

“What is that!?”

“Magic—?!”

The blades held by the imperial guards were blocked by a thick wall of ice that appeared suddenly, long before they could slice into Alan’s skin.

Alan blinked his eyes, still holding his sword up against the ice shield that had manifested to protect him.

“This is…”

Wide though the Rutledge Kingdom was, those who could master magic well enough to be useful in actual combat could be counted on one’s fingers.

Recognized for her magical skill and permitted to join the subjugation force despite being a woman—the only person capable of casting ice magic of this scale among those participating in this expedition was Diana, who led the Gazard Knighthood.

“Are you alright, Lord Alan?!”

“Lady Diana…”

Stopping the attacking knights in their tracks with ice blades, Diana ran to Alan’s side.

Seeing Alan standing firm on both feet with a healthy complexion, despite having sustained a few injuries, a smile of relief bloomed across Diana’s face.

“I’m so glad…”

“Lady Diana, why are you here…?”

When Diana raised both hands imbued with magical power high above her head, spears of ice poured down around Alan and Diana.

Glittering fragments of ice twinkled in the dark night.

The figure of Diana standing in the center of it all truly called to mind the Goddess of the Moon.

“Didn’t I tell you? I will protect Lord Alan!”

Smiling mischievously, Diana radiated the charm of a newly matured young woman, combining both youthfulness and beauty.

Even Alan, who should have been accustomed to beautiful aristocratic women as a royal uncle, couldn’t help but catch his breath.

“That order felt strange to me. Lord Alan is not the sort of person to pass down unilateral commands through subordinates.”

“An order… I see.”

Why the Gazard Knighthood had departed from the front lines.

Obtaining the answer to that, Alan gripped the sword in his hand tightly.

“I’ve ended up owing a massive debt, Lady Diana.”

“For Lord Alan’s sake, something like this isn’t a debt or anything of the sort.”

Surrounding the two of them, the imperial guards still hovered, remaining wary of Diana’s magic.

“If you truly wish to repay me, please invite me on a date sometime.”

“I hardly think that counts as repayment.”

“Oh, is that so?”

From a battle of overwhelming odds to a fight where two people stood back-to-back protecting each other’s blind spots.

Once blind spots were sealed away, Alan, a veteran warrior of countless battles, had nothing to fear.

“Ah, I’d practically want to ask you out myself!”

“Mmh… I’m going to take those words seriously, you know?”

Exchanging lighthearted banter as if they were sitting at a tea table, splashes of blood danced around the two of them as the imperial guards collapsed one over another.

“Feel free to take them seriously.”

The gazes that crossed for a single instant amidst the battle—even for that briefest moment, Alan’s eyes looked straight into Diana’s.

Diana’s heart thudded with a passionate heat.

And it wasn’t merely from the adrenaline of battle.

The moment she heard Alan’s words, her body temperature surged in an instant, and her heart hammered wildly against her ribs.

Above all, she had managed to rush to Alan’s time of crisis.

She had managed to avoid losing him—the bravest knight of all—to underhanded plots.

That joy welled up steadily from within.

“We can save that conversation for after we return safely. For now, please, don’t let your guard down.”

Those words were meant to steady herself as well.

Regulating her breathing to calm her racing heart, she focused entirely on the enemy before her.

“Understood.”

Alan, too, gripped his sword and locked his gaze on the foe ahead.

──Though in truth.

If cowardly tricks like ambushing him in his sleep hadn’t been used, Alan was not the sort to lag behind anyone.

It didn’t take long for the rebellion by the imperial guards to be completely suppressed.

“──Damn it, damn it, damn it!!”

Fleeing as though escaping the swirling dust of battle, a horse and rider galloped through the dark night.

In the saddle was the figure of Count Joseph, Vice Commander of the subjugation force and Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard.

“Why did that little girl from Gazard show up?! I made sure the knighthood was made to retreat!!”

“Sorry to disappoint, but our young mistress is quite the spirited one.”

Before he could tense up at the suddenly ringing voice, an impact jolted through Count Joseph’s body.

The horse, slashed by someone, let out a neigh and lost its balance.

Pitifully, Count Joseph was thrown from the saddle and tumbled across the earth.

“Gwah…”

He didn’t even have the luxury to twist his face in pain.

A sharp blade pressed steadily against Count Joseph’s throat.

“Now then, suppose you confess everything.”

Ian’s cheerful laughter echoed into the night air.