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Chapter 38 – part 5

My right hand is on Lilith. And my left hand is on Cordelia… There shouldn’t be any complaints now.

At this moment, I have no blind spots whatsoever.
Thinking so, at that moment, a blade from another dimension was unleashed from Cordelia.

「Hey, Lute? You were just pretending to punch Koharu’s chest with your fist in order to touch her chest, weren’t you?」

Cracking the knuckles of her fist, Cordelia smiled with a tinge of madness.

「No, because isn’t it strange to hit another spot when asking if there’s something that can’t be yielded in her heart?」

Shaking her head left and right, Cordelia trembled.

「It’s not about that.」

「Then what’s the issue?」

「You touched Koharu’s chest, didn’t you?」

「No, like what I was saying! There’s a proper reason to hit her heart…!」

「No excuses accepted! You touched it , right!?」

Not good. My words aren’t getting through.

Crack, crack, crack, crack.
The sound of Cordelia’s knuckles cracking echoed around.

And for some reason, Lilith also nodded repeatedly in agreement with Cordelia.

「Ah! Seriously, how troublesome! Just what the hell is wrong with you guys!?」

「No questions!」

And so, Cordelia’s left straight jab landed on my right cheek.

Well, that’s how things went, and the strategy meeting came to an end.

At the north gate of the fortress city of Sashimimasu.
Within the city gate, an elliptical formation was constructed.

The number of defenders counted as combatants was around 100, a substantial amount.

Furthermore, about 400 militia members stood behind them.
Cordelia Allston, who stood at the forefront, sighed as she looked at the overflow of over 500 ogres outside the city gate.

「It’s really not my nature to hold back and conserve stamina.」

「What do you mean by ‘not your nature’?」

A veteran adventurer with completely white hair, standing by Cordelia’s side, asked curiously.

「Ah, I remember you. You were the upper C-rank veteran adventurer, Derrick-san, right? You’re probably the most skilled combatant among this group apart from me.」

「Exactly. It’s an honor that you remember someone like me. Certainly, I’ve taken part in about six high-difficulty monster subjugation missions with you before, Miss.」

—Miss.

For some reason, the monster subjugation team led by Cordelia had a tradition of calling her that on the battlefield.
Considering the age difference and her personality, those who accompanied Cordelia in her work often called her just “Cordelia” without any honorifics.

However, when it came to the battlefield—though using honorifics didn’t quite fit either—the second pronoun for Cordelia on the battlefield was unified as “Miss”.

Anyway, shaking her head from side to side, Cordelia spoke:

「I’ll appoint you as my vice-commander. With that said, I’ll give it my all from the very beginning, so please take care of the rest.」

Derrick tilted his head, puzzled.

「Miss?」

「Hmm?」

「By ‘give it my all,’ does that refer to your complete control of your magical outburst?」

「As far as I can see, there’s at least one Ogre King. I can’t handle that with just Seraph.」

「I understand that, but controlling your magical outburst imposes a severe time limit on the mind and body due to the strain, right?」

「Don’t worry about it. It’s fine, really.」

「It’s fine?」

「Because he’s here, it’s fine. Ah, but this sensation is really nostalgic. Lately, I’ve always been the one in charge, carrying everyone’s lives. Being able to go wild without thinking, that usually wasn’t even an option to begin with…」

「…Miss?」

「Well, I guess you wouldn’t understand…」

Cordelia shrugged her shoulders.

「He left the defense of this place to me. Not an order… he just left it to me. He entrusted it to me after understanding my personality and everything else about me. It means he entrusted it to me knowing I would take this kind of approach.」

「…?」

「In that case, you can go ahead and do as you like. If I mess up, the one who will come to the rescue won’t be someone like me, but a true genius… a genuine powerhouse. It will be impeccably done, with the most ostentatious and refreshing touch.」

「I don’t understand what Miss is talking about. However, right now, Miss has an expression on her face like a child who has found a toy.」

「Well, it has been a really long time, after all.」

「I’ve been on a few subjugation missions with Miss. You always have a tense expression, and I’ve never seen this kind of expression on you.」

「In the first place, the kind of monster that I can go all out against and that can withstand it is rare. Moreover, this time, I can purely enjoy it without worrying about anyone’s life being in danger. I don’t dislike getting rid of pests.」

Derrick chuckled.

「I don’t know who you’re referring to, but it seems you have a lot of trust in them.」

With a straightforward gaze, Cordelia nodded in response to Derrick’s question.

「Yeah.」

「With all due respect, I think of Miss as a child. After all, you are just a 16-year-old girl. I can’t understand about 90% of what Miss says to me.」

「Well, I guess that’s understandable.」

But… Derrick lowered his head to Cordelia.

「When you stand on the battlefield, Miss, you’re a top-class warrior. Not just pure strength, but even the number of battles you’ve endured is different from me.」

「So? What are you trying to say, Derrick-san?」

「Then, if Miss feels a certain way, it must be true. I believe in you, Miss.」

「Yeah…」

「The veteran adventurer party led by me will be in the rear guard. Go ahead and rampage as you please without worrying about a thing.」

With a radiant smile, Cordelia nodded vigorously.

「Yeah!」

Cordelia drew her silver longsword from its sheath at her waist.

「Well, it’s quite a scene here. One Ogre King, and about ten Ogre Generals. The rest are just regular Ogres, a motley crew. And I don’t see the Ogre Emperor.」

Cordelia laughed like a child who had found a toy and with a lick of her lips, said.

「Isn’t that a bit inadequate to face the Hero of the North? If you’re too careless, I might wipe you out in an instant, you know?」

With her sword poised, Cordelia began to accelerate towards the group of Ogres and shouted at the top of her lungs.

「Northern Hero: Cordelia Allston! Now… let’s go, charging forth!」

「… Now then,」

A little outside the southern gate, Lilith muttered somewhat reluctantly.

At that moment, the deputy commander of the knight order, who would now be Lilith’ direct superior under the current circumstances, spoke up.

「Lilith the student?」

「… What?」

「They say you’re skilled?」

With a somewhat exasperated expression, Lilith shrugged her shoulders.

「Well, yeah, among a group of babies, I might appear skilled. But among a group of powerhouses, I’m basically a baby myself.」

The deputy commander furrowed his brows quizzically at Lilith’ words.
Behind them stood over 300 members of the knight order or dispatched adventurers from the adventurers’ guild.

All of them had their eyes on Lilith and the deputy commander, yet there was no sign of nervousness in Lilith.

「Your current statement is a bit unclear.」

「…If you don’t understand, that’s fine.」

「I see…?」

After pondering for a moment, the deputy commander spoke again.

「So, how do you assess the current situation?」

「…There are roughly 600 Ogres attacking the southern gate. One Ogre King and about 30 Ogre Generals.」

At that, the deputy commander’s expression turned somewhat surprised.

「They’re about 1.5 times more numerous than what I had estimated with my danger perception skill. And an Ogre King, you say? Could there really be such a big shot here?」

「… Mana detection. The skill level is maxed out. At this distance, and since I’ve pinpointed the direction, the accuracy is quite high.」

「Mana detection? That’s something only high-level mages can handle, right? It’s at least B-rank or higher for adventurers… One would need to be on par with me… right…? Lilith the student?」

「… What?」

「Joking about this isn’t appropriate, you know?」

「… Joking?」

「According to information from the Magic Academy, your skill level is around C-rank, isn’t it? I appreciate your spirit of trying to lighten the mood here, but…」