Senpai And Ane-san

‘Human child from before. I ask you to save my contractor… Would you kill her?’

Rudel heard the Wind Dragon’s voice directly within his mind. At first he was dumbfounded, but the situation gave him no time to remain that way. Lilim was fighting all five of them at once and still held the advantage, leaving Rudel and the others entirely on the defensive.

(She wants me to kill her… Can I…)

Hesitating in the middle of battle was dangerous. Lilim did not miss the opening in Rudel’s movements.

“Got you!!!”

She unleashed a barrage of intermediate spells from a distance. Along with Lilim’s shout came a succession of spells—wind, ice, fire, and more—all hurtling toward Rudel one after another. Bargas and Basil leapt in front of him.

“What the hell are you doing, Rudel!”

Bargas shouted as he rushed forward and took the spells on his two-handed shield, while Basil fired magic of her own in an attempt to cancel Lilim’s attacks. But after the explosions from that relentless magical barrage… Lilim’s spells had overwhelmingly greater power. Bargas’s shield shattered as he was blown away, while Basil was also hurled backward by the impact, though not nearly as far as Bargas.

“Bargas! Basil!”

“Two down!!! And with that annoying woman gone, I feel fantastic!!!”

Rudel tightened his grip on his sword and charged Lilim. Lilim stopped his blade with her knife. Rudel should have overwhelmingly surpassed her in raw strength, yet in reality, his sword had been stopped by a knife held in one hand.

“Why are you doing this?!”

Rudel was still hesitating. He did not know whether he could bring himself to kill her… and while he agonized over whether to do it or not, his attacks became unfocused.

“Why? …Because you abandoned me, that’s why!!! And then you bring some woman along and flaunt her in front of me… I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you!!!”

Rudel felt as though Lilim’s black eyes had somehow become even darker. While parrying the attacks from her knife, he noticed the strange white markings covering her body. Rudel had seen those same white patterns twice before, and neither memory was a pleasant one.

“Those markings… Why do you have those markings, Lilim-sama?!”

“Get back, Rudel!”

When Rudel shouted, Luecke shouted next. Rudel reacted instantly to his voice and leapt backward. Luecke’s advanced spell struck Lilim directly… a raging storm of flames engulfed her, but—

“Ha, hahahaha!!! That pathetic firepower is less than a candle flame before my jet-black inferno! But I’m bored now, so I’ll get serious… Come, my evil dragon.”

‘…’

Lilim called for her Wind Dragon while spouting incomprehensible nonsense. The Wind Dragon approached in obedience to her command. It was, of course, not an evil dragon in the slightest.

“I’ll kill all of you! I’ll erase… I’ll erase everyone who hates me!!!”

Lilim mounted the dragon and soared into the sky with it. Rudel stared up at her as she continued laughing, tears spilling from her black eyes. Unias clicked his tongue after realizing there was nothing he could do against a dragon in flight.

“Tch! At this rate, we’re seriously screwed.”

As though responding to Unias’s unusually pessimistic remark, two people volunteered to act as decoys.

“P-Please run, Rudel-sama. We’ll somehow draw her attention here, so at least the heirs of the Three Dukes can escape…”

Covered in wounds, Basil made the suggestion while supporting the equally injured Bargas, the two leaning against one another. Rudel turned and looked at them both seriously.

“Haa… haa… Saving my juniors doesn’t sound so bad, and more than anything, I decided I was gonna be the kind of big brother my little brothers and sisters could look up to… Go, Rudel.”

Bargas smiled painfully. Both his arms were already covered in blood, and his left arm was broken. Lilim looked down from the sky at the two battered figures who had forced themselves back to their feet.

“You’re still alive, woman?! This time I’ll burn you to death with my evil dragon’s flames!”

‘Human child… You must choose. My contractor, or those close to you… The only way to save everyone is to kill my contractor. And she has been possessed. Watching my contractor like this is unbearable… Please, save her.’

“Why aren’t you attacking?! Hurry up and kill that homewrecker!”

Lilim ordered the dragon. Since Basil had been her first target, it seemed Lilim simply could not tolerate women being near Rudel. Perhaps in her mind, another woman was standing too close to the man who was supposed to be her fiancé.

‘Do not hesitate, human child! I am nearing the limit of how long I can resist my contractor’s commands!’

“…You’re right. There was never any reason to hesitate. I never needed to hesitate from the beginning.”

Rudel murmured while staring up at the dragon in the sky.

At that moment, the Red Dragon carrying Cattleya slammed into Lilim and the Wind Dragon.

“I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but now’s our chance to run, Rudel!”

Unias put a hand on Rudel’s shoulder and called out to him. Luecke was already supporting the wounded Basil and Bargas as he prepared to retreat.

“You go on ahead… I’ve got something I need to do.”

“What are you talking about?! You’re planning to jump into the middle of that monster fight?!”

Unias pointed toward the two Dragoons who had dismounted their dragons and were now fighting while the Red Dragon pinned down the Wind Dragon. The two traded ferocious mid-range magic and close-quarters attacks. Lilim leapt around while firing spell after spell, while Cattleya released mana from her Demon Sword, slicing through every attack as she closed the distance to force Lilim into melee combat.

That alone made it obvious they were operating on an entirely different level from students. Every movement was impossibly fast and precise, and the power behind both their magic and sword strikes was on a completely different scale… It looked as though the surrounding forest might be blown away. In fact, it already was. Trees had been flattened, and even the terrain itself had been reshaped.

“…They’re both my fiancées. That makes this my problem too.”

“Idiot! That doesn’t matter right now… Maybe they’re your fiancées at the moment, but those two are finished. Cattleya caused that incident, and after what Lilim’s done today, she could be executed at worst! It’s only a matter of time before the engagements are called off.”

A Dragoon had attacked the heirs of the Three Dukes. That alone was a serious matter, but if word spread that dragons had been used in a private fight, the public standing of the Dragoons themselves would suffer. Since it was an issue that could damage the prestige of the kingdom, severe punishment was unavoidable.

“I don’t care if they become my former fiancées. I’ve decided I’m going to save them!”

Rudel looked at Unias with complete seriousness. In the face of that resolve, Unias finally gave in. He left the treatment of the two injured companions to Luecke and decided to support Rudel himself.

“Fine. But what are we supposed to do? I don’t see those two stopping their fight.”

Ahead of Rudel and Unias, the two Dragoons continued hurling insults at each other while fighting. A relentless barrage of spells clashed with a storm of slashes from the Demon Sword, the two battling like monsters.

“…If I can get Lilim-sama—no, Lilim—alone with me, I’ll manage somehow.”

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but that means Cattleya’s the problem. I’ll deal with her somehow, so you’d better save Lilim no matter what. By the way, how exactly are you planning to save her?”

“I don’t know how to save her… but it’ll be fine!”

Rudel answered with complete confidence and headed toward the battlefield where Lilim and Cattleya were fighting. Unias followed behind him in exasperation.

“Are you seriously sure about this?!”

With Unias’s shout at his back, Rudel ran forward while reaffirming the decision he had made in his heart.

(I’ll save her. No matter what!)

As Rudel and Unias returned to the fight, Luecke watched them go and began treating the badly injured Bargas and Basil. He could only administer first aid, but once that was done, he intended to get them out of the forest as quickly as possible. Luecke was worried about Rudel and Unias, but he was equally concerned about what had happened to the merchant who had guided them here.

Considering Basil’s suspicions about the merchant, they had to act while assuming the worst-case scenario. His priority was to return to town as quickly as possible so the two companions who could no longer fight could receive proper treatment.

As he thought about that, Bargas suddenly began to cry.

“Does it hurt?”

Luecke wondered whether he should use what little mana he had left to heal Bargas, but Bargas shook his head.

“No… I’m just pathetic. I said all that cool stuff to Rudel, but when it came down to it, all I could do was run away. Doesn’t that piss you off? I wanted to become a man who could save people…”

Luecke had no idea what to say in response. Basil, however, pulled Bargas into an embrace.

“You were cool. Because you decided to become a decoy, I found the courage to do the same… Thank you.”

“Ane-san…”

Left completely out of the moment, Luecke scratched his cheek awkwardly and looked away. Then he silently prayed for Rudel and Unias to return safely.