Operation Commenced

More than ten minutes had passed since Luca entered the forest. I still could not sense any change, but it should be about time. To warm my hands that had grown completely cold from tension even a little, I clenched my fists.

“That guy’s slow.”

“Maybe he ate something weird?”

“Maybe he’s crying because his stomach hurts?”

I could hear the knights’ vulgar conversation mocking Luca, but right now I had more important things to worry about, so it did not bother me at all.

It was probably about time. Once I heard the footsteps of monsters, I would move closer to Ann’s carriage as a precaution, and when the monster came, I would somehow cut the rope connected to the horses. If the coachman seemed unable to move, I would also need to call out for him to jump down.

“…Gwo…oo…”

“…!”

While I was thinking through the upcoming steps, a faint monster’s cry reached my ears, and I involuntarily held my breath.

“Hey, you heard something just now, right?”

It seemed the knights had noticed too. They frowned and began repeatedly observing their surroundings.

“Probably a monster in the forest howling or something.”

“You think it’ll come this way?”

“No, the chances are low… but we should stay alert just in case.”

While they were talking like that, dull noises began echoing from the forest. It sounded like monsters rampaging, like trees being mowed down—an unsettling sound that heightened the tension whether we liked it or not.

“Hey, are monsters fighting each other?”

“If they come this way, we’ll get caught up in it. Should we increase speed?”

“Yeah. I’ll go talk to the front.”

Just as one knight said that and tried to steer his horse— a monster’s roar echoed at extremely close range.

And a few seconds later, a giant silver body appeared from the forest. It was two or three times larger than a carriage, and its entire body was covered in scales that looked incredibly hard. Perhaps it was in an excited state, because it charged straight ahead without even observing us.

“M-Metal Lizard!?! Our luck is the worst…!”

A Metal Lizard… certainly a perfect monster if we wanted the carriage to fall. But it might be a little too strong. I might not be able to handle it alone.

“Lady Henriette!!”

I decided to execute the plan for now, and while the knights drew their swords in confusion toward the monster, I ran with all my strength toward the carriage carrying Ann.

Then, perhaps because of the plants the monster liked, the Metal Lizard charged straight toward Ann’s carriage, and I rapidly fired arrows at it.

Out of the five arrows I released, two struck the rope successfully, and I confirmed that the horses had separated from the carriage. Yes—at least the minimum objective was accomplished.

“Lady Henriette, please get out of the carriage…!”

While attacking the Metal Lizard with a knife and shouting that, the coachman jumped down from the driver’s seat as if tumbling—but of course the carriage door did not open… and the carriage carrying Ann was easily knocked off the cliff by the Metal Lizard’s charge.

Since the cliff was quite high, there was a slight delay after the fall before the sound of the carriage crashing into the trees below and shattering on the hard ground reached us.

—Alright, success.

“Hey! This is bad!”

“What do we do!?”

“The princess…!”

“Forget that—if we don’t defeat this thing, we’ll die too!”

The knights seemed shaken by the fall of the carriage carrying Ann, and they could not land any effective attacks against the Metal Lizard.

Despite how arrogant they had been, they were not strong at all. Watching their fight made anger rise within me.

Since it was impossible that warriors of this level were the empire’s best, they must not have sent elite knights to guard Ann. Just imagining the terrible treatment Ann must have been forced to live under made tears of anger well up in my eyes.

“Hey, why are you all so scattered!? You’re knights—work together and hold the front line!”

“Don’t tell us what to do!”

Once the knights somehow regained their formation, I stepped back to the rear and calmly readied my bow. From the way my earlier attack felt, its body was incredibly hard. Probably the only place my arrows could penetrate was the eyes.

Carefully watching the movements of the rampaging Metal Lizard…

I released a powerful arrow.

The arrow struck exactly as I aimed—right in the center of its right eye.

“Gwooooooooooooo!!”

Perhaps from the pain, the Metal Lizard screamed and rampaged, then turned an angry gaze toward the one who injured it—me.

—This might be bad.

The moment cold sweat ran down my back under that piercing gaze, a reassuring warmth returned beside me.

Yes—Luca.

“Rebecca, sorry to keep you waiting.”

Luca said that quietly, then drew his sword and ran toward the Metal Lizard. Seeing his back, I felt genuine relief.

“What happened here! Where is Lady Henriette!?”

The knight hesitated at Luca’s question and directed his gaze down the cliff. Seeing that, Luca widened his eyes and made an expression of anger and sorrow.

Luca really could act… it truly looked like he had just learned what happened for the first time and was panicking with grief.

“How did this happen…!”

While making it appear as if he were attacking the Metal Lizard in anger, Luca steadily inflicted damage. Seeing his movements, swordsmanship, and even his magic, the knights seemed shocked.

“Was he always this strong?”

“…Aren’t we in serious trouble?”

“We said all kinds of things to him…”

While the knights stared blankly at Luca’s battle, the Metal Lizard eventually collapsed to the ground, covered in countless wounds.

“Did he defeat it?”

“Yeah. It’s dead.”

Seeing Luca approach the Metal Lizard and confirm its death, about half of the knights relaxed in relief. However, when Luca looked down the cliff, their faces stiffened again as if remembering the situation.

To confirm whether Ann had truly survived, I moved my feet toward Luca.