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441 p2. Noble Faction and New School Year [14]

While no one was able to hide their fatigue, a certain man who looked the same as usual was giving instructions quickly and accurately.

「Squad 1, search for civilians in need of rescue! Squad 2, remove the rubble! Recovery squad, give priority to treating those who are in danger of death! There might still be remnants of the enemy lurking behind. Don’t let your guard down!」

「「「Yes, sir!」」」

The head of the Orest branch Holy Knights Association, Clown Jester, wearing a clown costume and clown make-up.

First glancing at me, and when he glanced at Rain’s face―his mouth hung wide open.

「W-W-W-Why is Rain-san on the surface!? I would get into a lot of trouble if you just come out of prison as if you’re going for a walk!」

「Clown-dono, I apologize for this. It was an emergency, so I just had to.」

Rain gently stroked Serena’s head and lowered his head deeply.

From that series of movements, Clown-san guessed what had happened here and scratched the back of his head.

「Ah… I see. So Serena-san was attacked. Then it can’t be helped. I’ll pretend that I didn’t see anything this time.」

「I’m sorry, thank you.」

Just when Rain bowed politely and was about to return to the underground prison―.

「「「…」」」

Criminals in prison uniforms appeared one after another.

(Oi oi, are you serious…)

When Rain escaped from prison, he used the power of his soul dress to drill a large hole that connected to the surface.

The shock probably caused the other prison cells to collapse and the vicious prisoners to break out.

「Um… Clown-san, this is…」

「Y-Yeah… this is not good…」

As an air of unrest floated, Rain clapped his hands.

「You guys, I’m sorry for causing you to worry. But it’s fine now. Let’s get back to the prison work.」

「「「Yes, sir!」」」

Before leaving, he said, “Allen, let’s meet again next time,” and took the prisoners and went back deep underground.

「…The boss of the underground dungeon, huh.」

「So that’s the reason why everyone’s been behaving strangely polite lately…」

As the two of us breathed a sigh of relief, Clown-san let out an “Ah”.

「Oh right, Allen-san. If you have enough spiritual power, it would be very helpful if you could help me out as well…」

「Yes, of course.」

As a swordsman living in the Ringuard empire, I cannot refuse this request for help.

More than anything else, I’ve been indebted to Clown-san in many ways.

Especially at that time, when we rescued the president from the Holy Ronelia Empire, he even went so far as to go to dangerous enemy territory to help us out.

I went to thank him again for that matter later, but he just kept saying, “What are you talking about, I wonder?”

Perhaps, since he was the head of the Orest branch Holy Knights Association, he could not disclose the fact that he had trespassed into the Empire.

(Anyway, this is my chance to return the favor!)

When I regained my spirit,

「Allen-kun……!」

A familiar voice called out from far above.

When I looked up, I saw Chemie Festa on a plane.

「Huh, Chemie-san? What’s wrong?」

「It’s an emergency! Please go to the Ringuard Palace immediately!」

I exchanged looks with Clown-san and bowed my head slightly.

「Excuse me, I think I have to leave for a while.」

「No, don’t worry about it. The Holy Knights Association will take care of this, so please do what only Allen can do.」

「Thank you.」

I put strength into my legs, jumped high into the sky, and landed on the glider.

「Chemie-san, sorry but I’ll pilot this.」

「Fue?」

I quickly carried her under my arm and took hold of the steering wheel.

「I’m going to increase the speed so be sure to not fall off.」

「Eh, no, c-can you just drop me off h-hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!」

I poured a large amount of spiritual power into the power section via the steering wheel and headed for the Ringuard Palace at the maximum speed a glider could achieve.

■

On the way to the Ringuard Palace, I asked about the situation from Chemie-san.

「You said it was an emergency, but what’s actually going on over there?」

「Ababababa… According to the message from Chairman Leia… Due to the curse of the demons, upu… the, guards… protecttin… Tenshi-sama is..」

For some reason, the pale-skinned Chemie-san suddenly began to tremble–.

「… ughhhh…」

「Huh?」

「Obororororororororo…」

A large amount of vomit came out of her mouth, creating a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

「A-Are you okay!?」

「Uu, higu…. Allen-gun’s fauuult…..」

「Ah… I’m sorry.」

Since we were in a hurry, I didn’t notice.

It seems that she got motion sickness due to my carrying her under my arm and the shaking of the glider moving at maximum speed.

「U-Uhh… A cruel harassment that forces a maiden who out-blooms even flowers to vomit in public… I will never ever forgive you…」

Chemie-san burst into tears.

If someone sees her like this for the first time, they’ll probably feel overwhelmed with guilt.

However, for someone like me, who has a fairly good relationship with her and knows the dark inner side of her who is smeared with greed, such cheap fake cries won’t work.

I know all too well. That she is the furthest person from knowing the concept of shame.

「I’m sorry, I’ll give you 1,000 gold later, so please forgive me.」

「Enticing women with money is the worst!」

「You don’t want it?」

「No, I’ll take it.」

As I thought, she immediately stopped crying.

「……Tsk, only a measly thousand golds. Well, it should suffice for one cup and a side dish.」

She mumbled in a very low voice, but I could hear her clearly because she was so close to me.

(…Seriously, this person won’t change in any situation.)

There are people in this world who cannot be saved no matter what.

I learned such a cruel truth from Chemie-san.

During that time, the half-destroyed Ringuard Palace came into view.

The beautiful and majestic palace was now a thing of the past. The skylight was shattered into pieces, the white outer wall was riddled with holes, and reddish-black blood was scattered here and there.

There were vivid traces of a fierce and terrible battle.

(…How terrible.)

After landing the glider in a safe place, I moved to the front of the Ringuard Palace.

And I saw a large amount of demons piled up like mountains.

「T-This is…」

When I was at a loss for words, a voice came from above.

「Oii, over here.」

When I looked up, I saw Leia-sensei sitting on top of the mountain of demons.

「I see that you’re doing good, Allen…」

「I’m glad that you’re safe, sensei. ―So what’s the emergency?」

「Ah, right… Since the demons spread their curse at random, Tenshi-sama’s imperial guards suffered devastating damage. They are barely breathing right now, but they won’t last much longer.」

「I see, got it. By the way, what about you, sensei?」

「I was also hit with the curses a few times as well, but for now I’m suppressing it back with my spirit. So prioritize healing the other victims first.」

「O-Okay.」

As expected of Leia-sensei…

To suppress curses with spirit alone… She really is a muscle-brain.

「Fuu…」

I calmly exhaled and sharpened my senses.

(Twenty, seventy, one hundred and fifty, two hundred and seventy… three hundred and eighty-one, I guess?)

The number of curses that could be detected within a radius of 1 kilometer centered on the Ringuard Palace was 381.

These numbers and coordinates are undoubtedly the number and locations of the cursed imperial guards.

(Curses are easier to grasp.)

It was a much easier task than detecting spiritual power.

I can perfectly tell where the curse is, what effect it has, and how powerful it is.

(I wonder why. Perhaps thanks to the white darkness, my senses have become sharper?)

While idly thinking about that, I spread the holy darkness that I just acquired earlier in a radius of about 1 km, and removed the curse from all the imperial guards around the palace.

「It should be over with that. I’m done, sensei.」

I told sensei that the curse was successfully dispelled… but there was no reply.

(…Is this the “Darkness of House Rodore” that Dahlia was talking about? Certainly, it’s completely different from Zeon’s darkness…)

Sensei was deep in thought, with her brows furrowed.

「Um, Leia-sensei…?」

「Sorry. I was lost in my thoughts for a moment.」

「So Leia-sensei can think as well.」

「…Hey, you’ve grown enough to run your mouth now, huh…」

「Ahaha, I’m just kidding.」

As expected, I couldn’t say, “It’s all thanks to your daily deeds.”

「Goodness… So what’s the situation over there? The fact that you are here means that you won, right?」

「Yes, but there are some problems.」

「I see. Tell me all about it.」

「Right, first–」

Then I talked about the battle that happened on our side and how it ended.

「Hmm… so Dodriel escaped again…」

「I’m sorry.」

「No, it’s because his ability is special. It can’t be helped that he wasn’t caught. Rather, you did a really good job. It’s almost a miracle that you survived with this much damage after such a large-scale invasion. …You have truly grown stronger.」

Leia-sensei said so and gently stroked my head.

「Thank you very much.」

I was genuinely happy, and I could feel warmth filling my heart slowly.

I never thought I would be this happy to be recognized by my teacher.

(No, calm down… Don’t shed tears here.)

Even though she is my teacher, I can’t forget that I’m talking to Leia-sensei.

If I show my weaknesses, I never know when or where she will poke fun at me.

(Fuu…)

After calming down, I decided to ask her about something that had been on my mind.

「By the way… How were things over here, sensei?」

「Over here? There was no particular problem. Since there was some prior information about how they were using some kind of strange power, I just started bashing the demons that I caught sight of.」

「I-I see…」

It seems that the demons weren’t such threatening opponents to her.

With no tactics, no strategy, or even a damn thought, she simply punched down the enemy in front of her.

It’s such an extremely muscle-brainded method, but it’s still strong. Abnormally strong.

Just the usual Leia-sensei, I suppose…

「Speaking of which, where is Tenshi-sama? Did she evacuate safely?」

「Yeah. Rodis-san contacted me. Tenshi-sama has already left the palace area and is taking refuge in a safe place. Due to the risk of interception, I haven’t asked him where they were hiding.」

「Well, that’s good news then.」

Tenshi-sama has a lot of personality problems, but…

The people have a lot of trust in her, and she is an indispensable person for the future reconstruction of the nation.

「Well, then… the problem is the reconstruction work after this. Let’s return to the National Holy War Arena for now.」

「Okay.」

And so, Leia-sensei and I moved to Orest.