Afterwards, Setina and the others engaged in several battles with magical beasts while walking through the forest.
Even though the magic beasts around here weren't threatening, each time Setina, who was supposed to be a member of the royal family, took the initiative to pick up the sword and kick the magic beasts with her body.
Seeing her like that, Zayak and Bommy were about to start to respect Setina.
In the third encounter, Zayak's leg was hit by a stinger from the beast Mountfly, and he was slightly injured.
There was no poison, and the injury was tolerable, but Setina crouched down near Zayak, held her hand over Zayak's wounded leg, and closed her eyes.
"Setina-sama? What?"
A light blue, gentle etheric light, similar to Setina's hair color, wraps around her hands as if responding to Setina's mana.
「──Heal」
When the etheric light converged on Setina's hand, the stab wound Zayak received instantly healed and disappeared, leaving only blood on Zayak's clothes.
“Ah, thank you very much, Setina-sama.”
"I don't think this kind of treatment will hinder movement, but is it okay?"
"Yes, it doesn't seem to be a problem...! I can't believe you've learned not only mist (water) magic, but also ray (light) magic.
“Rei (light) lineage—to be precise, I learned recovery magic at a monastery—although it took a lot of time. Mist (water) was taught to me by my master when I was in the royal castle.”
“Are you a teacher?
"Zayak. Stop talking about it. Master Setina, I'm very sorry for bothering her."
Bommie, still adored, warned Zayak to cut things off.
"Bommy... I'm sorry."
"Then let's go - I think we'll be able to get through Urji Forest soon."
Bommy looked back in front of him, but slowly started walking as if he was paying attention to what was behind him.
"Let's go, Mr. Zayak."
"Yes!"
Setina and Zayak also started walking in a hurry.
Neither Bommie nor Zayak have any ill intentions.
There are small questions in their hearts—and respect for the princess who takes up the sword with us and treads the mud to fight.
However, Setina didn't take the sword after calculating such a thing――No, she should have done so.
As she silently walks through the woods, even if she doesn't like it, she thinks about the future.
As long as she takes up her sword and fights, she doesn't have to think about anything.
Then the three went silently through the woods near the cliffs.
Among them, Setina was the first to speak.
"Bommie"
"……teeth"
"Thank you for your concern"
"No, we are just soldiers."
"Isn't there something you're wondering about as well?"
Bommie swallowed her own words at the sudden words of Setina, who tried to find out what was inside of her.
"--Even so, I guess it's too much for us to say. Right now, the only thing we should do is for Setina-sama to return safely to the royal capital."
A man named Bommie is a soldier after all, a man who follows his army and rules himself.
In his stomach, why did the order come down to the royal capital gendarmerie rather than the Almeria royal guard? Considering the limitations of the covenant, why doesn't Princess Setina have a knight?
There must have been more than a few things on his mind—but he never said it.
"Then, if I say... I won't return to the royal castle, what will you do?"
"What?"
Bommie stopped, and he seemed to think for a moment before turning to Setina.
And he gets down on one knee, down on the ground—
"... please reconsider."
Seeing Bommie who had caught her words so straight, Setina opened her eyes and was stunned.
And Setina replied with her usual ``made smile''.
"I'm sorry I was joking--please raise your head Bommie-san."
Bommie looked up and was taken aback.
"Ha... no, I'm sorry. I've always been bad at making jokes."
“That’s right, Setina-sama.
Zayak jumped in from behind and pulled Bommy to his feet.
After meeting these two today, Bommy and Zayak seemed to know each other well, and Setina asked Zayak.
"You two seem to know each other very well. Have you been together for a long time?"
"Ah, erm... we're in the same generation. Ever since I joined the army."
"That's right--"
I was a little, just a little envious.
Right now, I should be standing in the same place as them, but I just can't see them in the same line of sight.
Are you just envious of something you don't have, or...
"──!"
For us who live on the earth, it was as if something grabbed the heart of the earth, and the time of our lives stopped――
Such a mysterious sensation hit Setina and the others, and everyone who was there hurriedly picked up their weapons and took a stance on the path.
Some kind of intense gaze――Is that feeling like a cold……cold gaze that I have never experienced before?
"... Setina-sama."
When Bommy speaks in a mysterious low voice, he turns his gaze towards the course.
Although the trees in the forest block the light from the sky in no small part, before anyone notices the dirt road, it is as if a ghost suddenly appears—someone is standing there. rice field.
It was twice as big as Bommie in front of me.
As if to exaggerate its presence even more, its whole body is covered with armor, and it seems to be a complete weapon that cannot see the body part.
At first glance, they look like heavy infantry, like soldiers wearing armor all over their bodies.
It's supposed to be black and blue, but somehow the armor is ominous because of the pattern that reminds me of non-human thorns and horns, rather than a heavy infantry... yes--Hell's turn. It was a terrifying existence that made people think.
And he carries a spiky mace on his shoulders, so heavy that he has no idea how heavy it is.
I couldn't see his expression because of the horned mask, but he was definitely looking at me at the end of his line of sight.
"... back"
(What is this feeling...?)
Something like a mask had disappeared from Setina, who had retained the noble look of a princess.
When Zayak and Bommie stood in front of Setina, Bommie pointed his sword at the opponent and asked the person in full armor in a loud, menacing voice.
「──Who are you!」
"..."
The person in the full body armor does not make a single move and does not respond.
Because it appeared so suddenly, Bomy pursued the possibility that it was an undead (immortal) demon beast, but he had never heard of such an existence appearing around here.
"... Zayak"
"……have understood"
Zayak took out something that looked like a cylinder, and used a small phi (fire) phenomenon magic to create a small fire that ignited the twisted strings of the cylinder.
When I held the cylinder up in the air with one hand, there was a whooshing sound and mainly orange smoke shot up into the sky.
A signal tube used by the Almerian army. Orange means "emergency".
"We are the Almerian army! I ask you again! Who are you! If you do not answer, we will eliminate you!"
It doesn't brace itself, it doesn't utter a voice, it just eerily exists in that giant armor.
It's like... like an armor stand figurine in an armor shop.
Even though it should just be there, the intense pressure like a stare is making the atmosphere of this place painful.
"Setina-sama... Don't move from where you are—Zayak, let's go."
“Eh… do we have to wait for reinforcements?”
"Wait, but I just want to know if he's an undead monster or a human."
"……have understood"
Bommie and Zayak ran in a straight line and attacked the one in full armor—
Perhaps they were aiming for the weak part of the armor that the blade could go through, and instead of slashing, they both aimed at the gap and thrust.
"No...!"
I should have tried to pass the blade through the gap between the armor, but the two blades didn't pass.
(There is content... but!)
(The blade... can't go through!?)
There was no metallic sound, and even the sound disappeared somewhere.
And even more than that, the presence of the full body armor, which still didn't take any action even after being attacked, amplified the strangeness even more.
Bommie tried to stab it again, but the blade still didn't reach the flesh.
(What is this feeling... it feels like...)
"Bommy! Stay away!"
Bommie glanced back and saw Zayak, slightly behind him, with his palm facing him.
Bommie, who sensed that it was Zayak's magic, hurriedly withdrew from the spot.
A green ethereal light slowly converged around Zayak's right hand.
“Aeri (wind) ── Ryu (flow) ── Freon (advance) … wing cutter!”
With a horizontal palm, cut the sky.
As if in response to that, a blade of green wind attacked the full body armor──
Fan──
"picture!?"
“Disappeared—?”
Just before the blade of wind reached the full body armor, the wing cutter disappeared with a slight wave sound.
It's true that the magic was activated, but the ether seemed to diffuse and disappear just before it reached.
(The attack doesn't reach, Zayak's only magic doesn't reach either--What should I do? The salvation is that that armor doesn't move... Should I take a detour and let it pass--)
"Lord Setina! Zayak! Let's pull back and find a detour route!"
Setina and Zayak nodded along with Bommy's voice, and at that moment when everyone was about to back down...
“…………Fi……do”
A small, mysterious voice that could not be heard from Setina's position.
With the position of the full body armor as the center, the blue light spread out in a hemispherical dome shape.
To the extent that the forest was completely dyed in pure blue, something like a blue dome was formed only there.
"── Huh?"
"Bommy!"
Bommie stands motionless.
(What…what…it’s cold…)
Did my body temperature, which should have been a little hot, gone crazy?
I can't move my body so much that I feel like my body doesn't belong to me. And it's unusually cold, as if you've been blown to a frigid, frozen land.
Only Bommie, who was closest to the full body armor, felt a strange drop in body temperature.
"Bommy! What's wrong! Hurry up!"
Setina hurriedly held up her hand to manipulate Ether by mana to send heal to Bommie. But--
(── Ether doesn't respond!? I'm not out of mana... Mist (water) ──)
Even the nature change of the magic process does not occur, I am impatient with the first phenomenon.
(Why—what should I do—)
(Setina-sama……Zayak……)
The full body armor, which should have remained silent, slowly began to move.
When I hit the soil with a mace full of thorns--a wave motion and a dazzling light spread, and Bommie and Setina closed their eyes at the glare.
──Setina and the others slowly opened their eyes that were covered with their hands.
"lie……"
"Bo, Bommie..."
Bommie was there, frozen in ice, with his eyes open and trapped alive.
A person wearing full body armor suddenly jumped up.
Both Zayak and Setina intuitively understood that the armor would land on Bommie.
I have to stop--how?
"No, stop..."
full of thorns