Charge

Walking slowly, Elnette advanced into the grounds.

“Kent and the rest of you, be careful not to leave my side. We’re going in!”

“Damn it, stop!”

“Now then, try stopping me if you can. Let’s go!”

Saying that, Elnette charged at the gatekeepers.

“She’s coming! She’s fast!”

“Gah!”

With her first strike, Elnette took down two gatekeepers.

“This woman is skilled! Be careful! Aim for the ones behind her!”

The leader-like gatekeeper gave that instruction. The gatekeepers went around Elnette and aimed at Kent and the others.

“K-Kent-san.”

“Catherine, it’s okay. Don’t worry.”

Catherine grabbed Kent’s clothes in fear. Kent gently stroked her head, then moved Catherine behind him and took a stance. That said, he had not brought any weapons, so if they attacked him, there was nothing he could do.

“As if I’d let you.”

“Gweh!”

Against the gatekeeper who came attacking Kent and the others, Elnette quickly moved around and attacked him with the special baton, silencing him.

“Um… A weapon, a weapon…”

Kent hurriedly took out his device and searched for something that could be used as a weapon.

“Big Brother, at times like this, it’s something like a crowbar!”

“I see… Crowbar, crowbar… There it is!”

Kent hurriedly pressed the purchase button, but because he was panicking, he mistakenly pressed the quantity field. In addition to the one Kent held, he summoned two extra ones.

“Yay, got a weapon!”

“Kent-san, I will borrow this.”

Kent, Rachel, and Caro, equipped with objects like crowbars, took stances as if protecting Catherine. However, Elnette’s movements were too good, so in the end, Kent and the others only held up their crowbar-like objects and did not participate in the fighting as they broke through the gate.

“Take this!”

“Explode, door!”

“Um, I am doing this too, right? Ei!”

Kent, Rachel, and Caro smashed the closed building door with their crowbar-like objects and began breaking it. The wooden door gradually warped, and they succeeded in breaking the lock. Elnette, who had been watching the surroundings, finally kicked the door down, and they entered the building.

“They’re coming!”

At the same time Elnette said that after entering, knights stationed inside as guards attacked. Because of the position of Knight Commander, there were many external enemies, and although knights were lower nobles, unlike Caro’s mansion, which also belonged to a lower noble, the security here had been strengthened to the level of an upper noble’s mansion in preparation for such things. In accordance with that, a small number of knights had also been stationed as guards.

“Those seem to be knights. Only those of noble rank can serve as knights, so their abilities should be quite high.”

Caro explained.

“But they’re being beaten one-sidedly, aren’t they?”

Rachel said that while looking at the current situation. Against fully armed knights, Elnette in light equipment seemed as though she should be at a disadvantage, but just like the gatekeepers from earlier, she knocked them down one after another.

“What is wrong? For all that you are knights, can you not even defeat one little girl like me?”

“Elnette-san called herself a little girl. Even though she’s already a good age…”

“DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?”

“I’m sorry, it was nothing.”

Elnette glared at Rachel, who had said one unnecessary thing. Faced with that sharp gaze, Rachel had no choice but to apologize.

“Now then, I have dealt with those weak knights, but which way should we go…?”

Elnette was wondering which direction to proceed. Their choices were three: go right, go left, or go up the stairs.

“Up. The scent continues upward.”

“Thank you. Then we go up!”

Caro gave directions based on the scent. Elnette followed them and went up the stairs while watching the surroundings, and Kent and the others followed after her.

“You won’t pass a single step beyond here!”

At the top of the stairs, unlike the knights from earlier, men who looked like thugs from town appeared. They were already holding swords and were in fighting stances.

“What a terribly low-grade group has appeared.”

Seeing people unsuited to a noble’s mansion, Elnette spat those words out.

“These are the scents of the people I was following. It seems these people were the ones who kidnapped Marie-san.”

“Hoho, where is Marie-san?”

“Too bad for you. By now, she’s probably in the middle of having fun with the young master. She’s probably squealing on the bed right about now.”

Caro pointed and said that. Elnette asked the men facing them.

“I won’t forgive you.”

“Dangerous, Kent, don’t go forward.”

““Kent-san!””

“Big Brother!”

Hearing the thug’s words, Kent unconsciously held up his crowbar-like object and rushed out. Elnette hurriedly tried to stop him, but she did not make it in time, and Kent swung the crowbar-like object down at the closest thug.

“Hmph, something like this?”

“Ghh!”

Kent’s strike was easily repelled.

“Hyah!”

“Gyaaah!”

Elnette slipped in there and followed up with another attack, taking him down.

“These men look like ordinary thugs, but they seem fairly capable. Leave this to me and watch the rear.”

“Got it.”

Kent, who had regained a little of his composure, followed Elnette’s instruction and stepped back, and Elnette stepped forward in his place.

“Now then, I will be your opponent.”

“It’s just one woman… Gah!”

“Gieh!”

“Bugoh!”

Elnette ran between the thugs with movements like she was dancing. After Elnette passed by, a pile of thugs collapsed one after another.

“You are the last!”

“Agah!”

Elnette defeated the last one and succeeded in securing the area.

“Now then, which way next?”

“Um… Since the people themselves are here, it is hard to tell…”

When Elnette asked, Caro seemed troubled.

“I was following these people’s scents, but when the sources are here, the scents are drowned out, so it becomes difficult to distinguish them.”

Caro said that apologetically. The possible directions were two: right or left.

“It can’t be helped. We’ll just have to choose one at random…”

“Please wait. This is a little embarrassing, but since it is an emergency, it cannot be helped.”

When Kent was about to choose a route at random, Caro stopped him.

“Caro, what are you doing?”

“This makes it possible to distinguish them more reliably.”

Caro got down on all fours, put her nose to the floor, and began sniffing the scent.

“This is exactly like a d—bugoh!”

“That must not be said.”

When Rachel tried to say the scene exactly as she saw it, Kent dropped a chop to the top of Rachel’s head and stopped her.

“Oh? This scent is…”

“Caro-san, did you find something?”

“No, it is nothing. I understand now. This way.”

Caro identified the direction, and Elnette followed her instructions, proceeding while staying alert.

“We will not let you go to Young Master’s room.”

“We cannot allow you to pass beyond here.”

Two young maids appeared in the direction they were proceeding. They held knives in their hands and blocked the way.

“I do not want to be rough, but even if you are women, I will show no mercy.”

Elnette warned the maids.

“This is our duty.”

“Prepare yourself!”

The two maids attacked Elnette at the same time.

“I will praise you for being faithful to your duty, but you are amateurs after all.”

“Kya!”

“Ugh!”

Elnette quickly entered their guard and struck their stomachs with her bare hands. Before the two maids realized what had been done to them, they collapsed onto the floor.

“Big Brother, they’re real maids. They’re really cute girls. You can take them home now.”

“Rachel, don’t joke around. Kent-san is troubled, isn’t he?”

Rachel said that while observing the faces of the fallen maids. Caro admonished her.

“They really are. They’re like dolls. Hey, if we take home one of them, no one will get mad, right?”

Catherine also sat beside Rachel and observed them in the same way as she said that.

“I do not mind taking them home, but right now, rescuing Marie-san comes first. Hurry!”

While exasperated, Elnette urged them to hurry onward.

“It seems to be this room.”

“Thank you for guiding us.”

After advancing a little, Caro identified the room where Marie seemed to be and told them. Elnette rammed into the door and smashed it open.