CH 295.1

The time goes back to just after Zaratan, with the Old Lady on his back, escaped from the Spirit Lake by teleporting.

「This can’t be real!」

The long-haired female elf pilot who was watching the fight from the shore since C-class Knight can’t hover above the water shouted at the wall of water in front of her.

Unable to escape, she was swallowed by the waves and spun violently, and was swept upstream.

(I’m going to die!)

She is able to breathe underwater due to her magic. However, she could not stop the rocks and trees that were caught in the water from hitting the Knight and destroying it.

It was fortunate that her C-class Knight had only lost both arms and the waist down.

「Kuh!」

Ribs, collarbone, nose, and teeth. But with her F-rank cure injury magic and the E-rank potions she had on hand, she was able to recover, though not completely.

When she crawled out of the gap in the Knight’s chest armor, which was twisted and only halfway open, she found herself in the middle of a river full of rock and boulders. It seems that the Knight was caught between the boulders when the waves receded and were then stranded.

(….A waterfall? This landscape is pretty far upstream.)

In the starlight, the long-haired female elf looks up at a column of flowing water and talks to herself.

As she bent her eyebrows at the sound of the roaring water, she began to cough.

(What with this magic power? It’s so thick it’s almost painful!)

Unbeknownst to her, this magic power was supposed to be used for the Thunder Spear of the Spirit Cannon and the Ice Arrow of the defense mechanism.

When a huge branch of the World Tree broke, it leaked onto the surface of the lake, albeit temporarily, and was carried here with the waves.

『When there’s too much of it, it could be poisonous』

It’s the same with magic power. She took out a scarf with a highly versatile but ineffective magic circle on it, put it over her mouth, and breathed in.

(Just what happened back there)

She took a breath and looked downstream into the distance with a grim expression. There was supposed to be the World Tree shining in rainbow colors, ready to fire a Spirit Cannon, but she could not see the light that should be reflected in the clouds.

(First, let’s go back to the water intake tower.)

The female elf takes one look at the motionless Knight and ponders with a grim expression. A giant’s arm is sticking out of the water behind her, but the sound of the water is too loud for her to notice.

Five fingers open to grab the tall, slender body from behind. At the same time, a Knight stood up from the waterfall pool.

「Who’s there!」

She asked sharply, even as she was bathed in a large amount of water that flowed down from the Knight’s surface.

But the mysterious Knight does not answer. It grabs her head with its other hand and turns it haphazardly as if he were opening the lid of a bottle.

「Gwak!」

It seemed that the only thing the Knight wanted was the lid of the bottle. It threw her body down with no interest, opened its chest armor slightly, and passed the object in its hand to the pilot inside.

After that, what leaked out of the Knight’s cockpit was a slurping-like dirty sound.

『Magic Power…. More…』

The concentration of magic in the surrounding area, which had been so high, was dropping like a receding wave. It was already below normal, but there was no sign of it stopping.

『If this continues… I will be put back to sleep again』

After a short pause, the head of the female elf fell through the gap in the Knight’s chest armor into the river.

From the upstream where there were only big stones laying around, the Knight began to walk downstream.

***

At the same time, the dormitory of the knight order, located in the northern part of the Kingdom’s royal capital.

It’s well after midnight, but the lights in the corner room on the top floor are still on.

(My stomach being too noisy)

A muscular old man in pajamas mumbles and pulls out a bottle of whiskey and a small glass from the sideboard.

He should be tired from his hard work as the commander of the knight order, but for some reason, he can’t sleep tonight. That’s why he decided to drink himself to sleep.

He poured it about two fingers deep and picked up the glass to look through it at the lamp on his desk.

(It’s days like this that I end up remembering)

What he saw behind the amber liquid was not a bookshelf, but a certain image in his mind. The image of an irreplaceable friend he lost on the battlefield.

(….It was his favorite scent. Oh, right, if a scent can stimulate memory, can it?)

As he squinted at the unique smoky aroma of malt whiskey, the Knight commander’s thoughts drifted back five years.

At that time, he was riding a B-class Knight as a low-ranking pilot, fighting against enemy Knights in the northeast of the Eastern country.

『One of the countries in the east has invaded the territory of the Eastern country.』

The Kingdom decided to send reinforcements to their ally, the Eastern country. With him as the captain, three B-class Knights had been dispatched.

(I heard it all started with a hunting rights dispute between villagers, but it turned into quite a big problem.)

Kaiser Mustache, who was still a captain at the time, dodged the one-handed sword swung at him by a Blue-colored B-class Knight to the side, went around it, and slashed it.

On the opponent’s left shoulder is the crest of a lily. It’s one of the most famous international mercenary knight orders, the Blue Lily Squad of the Lily Knights.

(It seems they’re done over there too)

Behind the Blue Lily B-class Knight are two blue C-class Knights lying on the ground. Currently, in this place were three Kingdom B-class Knights, one B-class, and two C-class Knights of the Blue Lily Corps.

Both sides had conducted a reconnaissance, and the encounter turned into a battle.

(Are you worried? However, that will be your end.)

Kaiser Mustache took a sharp leap forward and swung his sword from the top, not missing the opening the Blue Lily B-class Knight made by turning back. The Knight’s left arm was cut down from the elbow, along with its shield, on which the lily emblem was inscribed.

When his men stepped in to deliver the finishing blow, Kaiser Mustache felt a chill out of nowhere.

「Hmph!」

The figure of a Knight jumping in from the side came into view, and he held up his shield with both hands in a split-second decision. The extremely heavy impact shook the ground through Kaiser Mustache’s B-class Knight, and the foot he had stepped on sank.

Although it was just in the nick of time, he managed to react to the surprise attack. This is probably due to his instinct from his combat experience.

(Pearl White A-class Knight? The commander of the Lily Knights, huh? Looks like she came to help them.)

Without pausing, the white A-class Knight swung its sword down in rapid succession. At the same time, with its left hand holding its shield, it instructs the blue B-class Knight to run away.

The B-class Knight immediately stabs the sword into the ground and scoops up the girl who crawled out of the pilot’s seat of the fallen C-class into its chest. Then it picked up the sword again and started running to escape.

『I won’t let you go after them』

His subordinates tried to chase after them, but the white A-class Knight jumped in front of them. The sound coming out of the external sound system belonged to a woman.

Looking at the way it’s retreating slowly while delivering a slash to keep its opponent in check, it’s probably trying to buy some time before running away.

(Good decision)

In the cockpit, the captain stroked his Kaiser Mustache.

Since the opponent couldn’t defeat him in the first attack, they must have changed their goal from 『exterminate and rescue』 to 『just rescue』. Even though she is surrounded by three B-class Knights of the famous elite Kingdom knight order, it’s still fairly easy for an A-class Knight.

(That’s only if we’re just ordinary members of the Kingdom knight order.)

When he looked at the vice-captain’s Knight, he immediately understood his intention and began to move around the A-class Knight.

『Don’t you dare look away! Your opponent is me!』

The B-class Knight piloted by Kaiser Mustache shouted at the white A-class Knight through the external sound system as he closed in at it with the sword at his shoulder. He then swung his sword as is, but it was blocked by the shield.

Then, at the A-class Knight that was crossing swords with the captain’s B-class Knight, this time the vice-captain’s B-class Knight came at her from behind and unleashed a heavy slash from the top that carried its entire weight.

『Brothers』

The two of them are so in tune with each other that people around them call them that, and when they are together, their fighting power is so strong that even A-class opponents have trouble with them.

When attacked, one of them uses his shield to block the attack, while his partner swings his sword from behind the enemy. If the enemy’s target is the other way around, they will simply switch the shield and sword role.

(As expected of an A-class, their hardness is on another level from B-class. But, we’re going to crush it like this.)

The A-class was now on the defensive, being slashed at alternately from front to back. It was like a lump of metal being struck by a blacksmith wielding a hammer.

It was impossible to shield all of it, and the damage was gradually accumulating.

(It looks like she’s trying to find an opportunity to counterattack, but don’t forget that there is another Knight)

There is another B-ranked Knight who has not interfered with the combination play of the captain and vice-captain but has kept his distance and refrained from joining in.

The presence of the two did not allow an opening, and finally, the leader of the Lily Knights fell to the ground. Its appearance is already like a crushed can.

『Surrender. It’s your loss』

The woman in the cockpit nodded, then put her hands up. She may not be young, but she looks beautiful and sexy.

Thus, the leader of the Lily Knights was taken prisoner along with the girl who stayed in the cockpit of the C-class Knight and failed to escape.