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When I took a step forward and stretched out my arm, I caught Diera, who had kicked off my shoulder and flown out, in my palm.

While adjusting to kill the impact, I pulled my arm back the moment she landed against my torso.

Her two bountiful fruits happened to fit snugly around my middle finger, and my awareness almost went there without thinking… but I was not so soft as to let it end here.

The follow-up attack, already prepared, was flames unleashed from my wide-open mouth.

Due to magical power constraints, I could only use this short burst of fire breath once, and I sprayed it onto the nobleman who had lost almost his entire right arm from the base.

A voiceless scream.

I drew back my fist to launch an additional follow-up there, but one golem rapidly closed the distance.

(He already switched over, damn it!)

I had expected it since he had called them mass-produced, but it seemed there were as many replacement golems to operate as needed.

Since their performance changed depending on the skill of the mage, the possibility had also emerged that they were weapons intended to be used up.

The more I learned, the more troublesome the thing they had made seemed, I thought, clicking my tongue inwardly.

Even as an enemy, I had to admit it was impressive.

Putting that evaluation aside, a follow-up attack in this situation would be a little dangerous for Boobs Lady in my palm.

So I cleanly gave up on the follow-up and leapt backward.

Naturally, my landing point was beside Rena.

The surrounding mages rushed over to the nobleman who had taken my fire breath head-on, and the flames were easily extinguished.

Since a potion was immediately used as well, the arm he had lost began regenerating.

However, perhaps his burned hair did not return, because although his burned face recovered, that part remained as it was.

That reset the battle… but I had no intention of continuing the fight.

“I have grasped their approximate performance.”

Saying that, I wrapped my extended tail around Rena’s torso as she lay on the ground and lifted her.

Boobs Lady complained when she saw that, but I wanted her to save the overprotectiveness for later.

“Judging from the assumed tactics, their threat level is not low.”

I evaluated them calmly, but the other side was reorganizing its formation.

“…However, they are insufficient to challenge me.”

You might wonder what I was saying after struggling this much… but it was meant partly as provocation.

I placed Rena on my free hand, put Boobs Lady on my shoulder, then jumped backward into the river.

“If you think you can win, then chase me,” I said as a parting shot, then made my second jump.

Thank you for pressing my face into your boobs on landing.

The moment I entered the forest, I started running using one hand and both legs.

For the time being, depending on the state of the wound on my back, a potion might be necessary.

That was why I was hurrying, but unlike Rena, whom I was carrying in my hand, Boobs Lady was clinging to my neck, so she seemed somewhat unstable, and soft things kept pressing squishily against me.

After I had been running for a while, perhaps she got used to it, because she placed a hand on my head and began swaying as if sitting on my shoulder.

“Can’t you run a little more… smoothly?”

When I turned only my gaze toward her, my eyes were glued to the things swaying heavily.

I did not say aloud my impression of, “Not as much as you are swaying,” and instead mentally worshiped Boobs Lady’s boobs, which were rampaging literally right before my eyes and nose, and gave one nod.

Thinking it would not be good to shake her too violently, I continued onward while being slightly considerate.

Then, although we safely arrived at the eastern base, Rena still had not woken up.

Could she have been hit in a bad spot?

I lowered Rena to the ground and laid her down, then gently placed Boobs Lady beside her.

I moved the rubble aside and opened the entrance to the basement.

“So you were the one hiding that?”

I answered Boobs Lady’s question with a nod, descended below, and rummaged through my luggage.

And so, what I took out was a blue recovery potion.

Considering the condition of the two women’s injuries, I brought out both bottles.

It was a painful decision, but since I had saved them, doing things halfway would not be good.

When I came out of the basement and handed a potion bottle to Boobs Lady, then tried to drink the other one, she stopped me.

“It’d be better to wake Rena first. When it comes to medicine, this girl is excellent. We might be able to make do with one bottle.”

Come to think of it, priests filled the role of medics.

I nodded in understanding and put the other bottle back into the backpack in the basement.

And since it was also not good for them to remain fully naked outdoors forever, I invited them into the basement.

Boobs Lady hugged her shoulders and glared at me, saying, “It’s even colder,” so for the time being, I handed her the failed apron from the backpack.

Boobs Lady placed the stupidly huge apron she had received over Rena as she lay there, then sat on the remaining cloth and urged me, “Got anything else?”

Since I wanted to enjoy those splendid things a little longer if possible, I merely pretended to search the backpack and handed her a towel that clearly could not be used to hide them.

I handed her about two towels, but after placing one over her knees and trying to wrap the other around her chest, Boobs Lady realized it was impossible and hung it around her neck.

“As expected, you wouldn’t have clothes here… In that case, we’ll have to search this place.”

Boobs Lady muttered while looking around the basement.

Even during that time, she was patting Rena’s cheeks and trying to wake her.

For her, I took out a water container, poured water into a cup, and handed it over.

Boobs Lady said, “Thanks,” and drank it all in one go.

It seemed we had built enough trust for her to thank me normally.

A little while after that, Rena finally woke up.

She was confused and unable to grasp the situation, but she did not make a fuss, and seeing her quietly advance her understanding while drinking water raised my evaluation of the girl a little.

The evaluation of “she seems like a bit of a dumb girl” vanished, but now then, how would she do with potion-related matters, where her true value would be displayed?

Rena looked at Boobs Lady’s wound with a serious expression.

Boobs Lady also bit down on the towel I had handed her.

Rena cleaned the wound with the water and clean cloth I had prepared, then dripped the potion directly onto it.

The wound healed before my eyes, but no matter what, my gaze went to her boobs.

It did not particularly bother me, but apparently potions basically involved a certain amount of pain. Though that was not the case when they were used excessively, it seemed they were originally something to be used sparingly.

Boobs Lady let out a deep breath after the wound on her thigh healed.

After that, I showed them the wound on my back… and apparently quite a number of fragments were still embedded there, so they began by pulling them out.

In total, thirteen fragments were extracted, and the potion was poured onto the area.

I checked with my tail, and I thought it had probably returned almost completely to normal.

Rena ended up drinking the small amount that remained, just to be safe.

Even though it had only grazed her, one never knew what might happen with a head injury, so it was a necessary measure.

“I see. Excellent.”

Since we had saved one potion, I praised her honestly.

Boobs Lady translated that and conveyed it to Rena.

As if saying, “Leave it to me,” Rena puffed out her modest chest compared to the one beside her.

For the time being, since things had settled down, I asked what had happened.

“Did that situation occur because your trade with me was recognized as an act of hostility against the state and humanity?”

“Ahh, you might not understand this, but our country is also called a magic nation. Among the nobles, there are some who ‘do not recognize anyone other than nobles as mages.’ People like that seize every opportunity to pick faults and try to eliminate mages like us.”

Boobs Lady said that was the main reason this time.

“The trade with you was just an excuse. Even if nothing had happened, they would have found some kind of reason and the situation would have ended up like that.”

As she conveyed our exchange to Rena, Diera drank water from the cup.

Since I had the chance, I also asked about the details.

“I’m a hunter too, you know. There’s no way I’d just stay captured quietly. I used a tool I’d hidden in my clothes and managed to escape once, but I messed up when rescuing Rena. The result is what you saw.”

Saying that, she gave a wry smile and lightly spread both hands to the sides.

Perhaps because she recognized me as a monster, she had absolutely no intention of hiding anything.

I was able to learn why the two of them had been hanging naked, but Boobs Lady’s story continued.

“Apparently, the mages they gathered were tied together more by position than by ideology. Around half of them tried to lay hands on me and Rena, but the nobles’ side started yelling, ‘How dare you lay hands on tainted blood! Can you still call yourselves mages!’ So their morale is low. This is just a guess, but if they chase us, besides those two, having even a few others would be the best they can manage.”

I nodded at Boobs Lady’s guess.

However, if that was the reason Rena was safe, did that mean she could also use magic?

That was what I thought, but apparently violating a priest caused various problems.

She did not tell me the details, but from the way she spoke, it sounded as though there had been other victims.

Just as I finished listening to the story, Rena’s stomach growled loudly.

“—…”

She was probably saying, “I’m hungry.”

So I stood up, saying, “Let’s eat,” and shouldered the backpack.

Boobs Lady seemed to want to say something and tried to stop me, but I would hear that after I returned.

I left the basement and was about to run through the forest in search of prey when I noticed something.

(…Vibrations. Faintly, but I definitely heard voices too.)

Apparently, those guys were chasing us.

I ran toward the river with the backpack still on my back.

Then, at the same time as I confirmed the golems’ figures with my telescopic ability, I stopped.

I lowered the backpack, took out the saber, and started running again.

The other side also seemed to notice me, and after jumping down from the golems, they took combat stances.

There were two golems, the two nobles, and only three mages accompanying them.

Boobs Lady’s prediction was spot-on.

“I did not think you would make such a fool of us. I had refrained from using this while considering profitability… but I am done thinking. Regret angering me as you die.”

Apparently, this was where he would get serious, but if he had done that much earlier, he might have had a chance.

Facing the two golems slowly heading straight toward me, I advanced leisurely.

I understood better than anyone that a field like the forest was unsuitable for huge bodies.

“First, allow me to apologize to you gentlemen. Fighting in a way that left you a chance of victory was a failure.”

As I said that, I lightly bowed my head and then started running to close the distance.

Reacting to my movement, the two golems spread out left and right.

Since they were waiting as if to catch me between them, the words “frontal breakthrough” flashed through my mind for an instant.

However, after confirming what the two nobles in front of me took out from their jacket pockets, I changed my mind.

(Are those… jewels?)

I judged that from the reflection of light, but what was troublesome was their number.

The two of them had several jewels held between the fingers of their outstretched hands, and if I used the old mage who melted my shield as a standard, then the two golems’ purpose was to stop me or restrain me, and opening the front was undoubtedly bait.

The fact that I could judge this instantly meant that my combat experience so far had undoubtedly made me stronger.

I considered playing it safe, but I had a plan to tear through this formation.

I ran straight ahead, and my first strike was a restrained thrust that took the saber into consideration.

As expected, this stopped one of the golems that tried to grab me.

There was no way an Imperial-made alloy would break that easily, and I pulled the bending saber to move the golem.

Doing it simultaneously would be troublesome, but if I shifted the timing, what I wanted to do was simple.

I did not know what they were planning, but if their line of fire did not pass through, there was no problem.

I adjusted the golems’ positions one by one so that they hid me from the two in front, and when I lowered my posture so that I could not be seen, I played one of my cards.

The two cried out in surprise at me hiding myself with Stealth Mode.

However, they could see the saber remaining there and slashing at the golem.

“A monster in the end! Your saber is visible—”

Before he could finish speaking, a wet crushing sound echoed through the forest.

One of the golems stopped moving, and the saber floating in the air revealed the trick.

The one gripping the saber was my tail.

My main body had jumped over the golem and, at the same time as landing splendidly, swung my fist down.

If they had fought while keeping more distance, this ending would not have happened… but they probably had various circumstances on their side as well.

I smashed the hand holding jewels between its fingers, which he had hastily turned toward me, with my raised arm.

The jewels that flew into the air reflected the faint light filtering into the forest, glittering as they fell to the ground.

At the same time, the saber returned to my hand.

The man still had not lost his fighting spirit and tried to jump toward the golem to take distance, but I knocked his legs away with my extended tail.

I heard a small groan, and thrust the saber into the center of the human body spinning through the air.

Something that was neither voice nor sound, “Gofuh,” spilled out along with a large amount of blood. He struggled with his unharmed hand to escape from the saber piercing his body, but when I tilted my weapon, gravity pulled him down, and he slid to the ground. The nobleman died soon after.

The remaining men all fled, each trying to be first, but I had no reason to let them return alive, so once I caught up with the three fleeing together, I finished them off.

“If they had scattered and run… no, at that speed, they would not even have reached the river.”

Because they were mages, their bodies were probably not trained all that much, and they likely could not have avoided this result.

Now that the battle was over, I reconsidered this new weapon.

As an overall evaluation, if there were no protection targets and their numbers were small, then even with mages attached, they were not a problem.

After that, if I knew how skilled these people had been, the data would become more accurate.

Now then, after defeating enemies, it was time to obtain spoils.

Since there were even two nobles here, I hoped I could get something good.