“Gah, *cough, gaha… ah, haa haa… U, uu, what, happened?”
Lying face down, he threw up several times and dirtied the ground.
A pain and shock that far transcended anything he’s felt before assaulted him and sapped his body of the strength to get up.
But even if he did have the strength, he still would not have been able to get up.
“Agah!?”
For the hooded boy was stepping on his head.
The ground might have only been soil and grass, but the earth that people treaded on was hard in its own way.
The right half of his face sank beneath the earth and some dirt entered his mouth.
“Ubu, w-what are you… GAHH!?!?”
“There’s a limit to how aggravating a person can be. To think that you’d be still be acting so innocent even after so committing murder.”
With a voice that sounded like it was resounding from the depths of hell, the pressure from the foot bearing down on his head increased.
So thick was the killing intent that it seemed as though it possessed its own weight.
But the boy knight remained ignorant why the hooded boy was so hostile.
“Ah, gah, l-like I’ve been saying! W-Weren’t you being attacked by a monster!?”
Why was the savior being attacked by the person that was saved? It did not make sense.
The boy knight put all of his strength into his arms and legs and tried to get up, but his body did not even budge. His Strength, which was supposed to be one of the strongest in the world, proved futile.
He gasped as he thought of just how much power was being used to hold him down.
“!”
“Ah, huh?”
It was then that a tongue suddenly clicked, and he found himself floating.
He didn’t even have the time to be confused before he realized that he had been grabbed by the head and was being swung around.
“What!?”
“Kyaa!”
“Gu!”
In the next moment, screams, impacts, and anguished voices resounded.
Colors of white and blue were blown away as they distanced themselves.
“Intercepted?”
“Y-You read that!?”
“How could a teleport surprise attack be read!?”
The three figures were women dressed in maid’s uniforms too ill-fit this place.
They were aghast, but they formed an equilateral triangle around the two boys, just far enough that they couldn’t be reached in a single step, surrounding them with daggers out.
“A, gyah, e-everyone…”
The boy knight was a little relieved at the appearance of a familiar face, but he could tell from the pain that he had been used as a shield just now.
The hooded boy had sensed them coming and kicked him up, then used his body to cleave the incoming blades and their wielders.
The daggers struck the unarmored part of his body, so his clothes and skin were torn a little.
But the boy knight just thought of that as his bad luck. He didn’t suspect even a little that it might have been intentional.
Or to be more precise, he simply didn’t have enough leisure to suspect such a thing.
“Agagaga!!! Ow, oww, owwww!! Let go, let gooo!!”
He was too busy screaming in pain from his head being Iron-Clawed.
The wounds he incurred as a shield hurt too, but the pain from his head being crushed was so great that it drowned out all the other pain.
The boy knight slapped the hooded boy’s arm in a show of resistance, but he just ignored him, while the surrounding maids too appeared unperturbed.
That remained true even when reinforcements came.
“I sensed that the hero was in danger and came, but… Who are you?”
A clear and beautiful voice with an accustomed sense of superiority resounded.
A woman with another group of maids in tow had appeared.
It was a beautiful woman with golden hair and jade-green eyes, adorned in a dress armor of artful design and luster, with layers of defensive magic etched into it for both appearance and practicality.
Even without any knowledge who she was, there was an aura about her that demanded obedience. Indeed, she was a princess straight out of the story books.
Accompanying her were eleven expresionless maids.
Every one of which were equipped with an armament of some kind. All of which made of Silverganth Metal and branded with
That was a crest that indicated that the person belonged to the royal court of the Great Magic Kingdom of Earthgant.
With the atmosphere of the woman at the head of the group, there was no mistaking her identity.
“Hmph.”
However, when he saw them, he only made a snickering sound from behind his hood.
He could tell who she was, but his hand continued to grip the boy-knight’s head without a care.
At that, the woman lifted the corner of her eyes.
“We might be a long way away from the kingdom, but I certainly didn’t think I’d be looked down on here. Indeed, you might have some skills, but in the end, you’re just a lowly servant. I…”
“Uwaah!?”
In the middle of her speech that was as overbearing as her position and appearance, the boy knight was sent flying toward her and her entourage like a baseball.
A maid stepped forward to catch him and protect the princess that had been caught off guard.
“!”
But then that maid’s vision was suddenly filled by someone’s palm.
Magic gushed out, then without even time for her or the boy knight to gasp…
────Boom
Black mana exploded. It was just big enough to cover one person alone, but it was enough to send the maid and the boy-knight out of the forest, knocking down dozens of trees in their path.
“…C-Cattleya!? —Get him!”
Everything happened so suddenly in a single breath that it took awhile for others to respond.
In fact, the princess too was stunned, and she found herself muttering the name of the servant that was blown away. But when she understood what was happening, she gave that order in a fit of rage, and the maids pounced on the boy in a coordinated fashion,
The first to move were the three maids that had assumed a triangle formation around the boy.
They kicked off the earth and leaped for him like a gust of wind, but the eyes behind the hood just watched them with a dangerous glint before a shadow jumped out of the earth.
Quietly and without any sign, an earth spell was invoked, and arms of earth reached out to grab the boy’s limbs.
The maids did not underestimate the power of this boy that could so easily defeat the boy-knight that they knew.
They didn’t even think that this restraint would be able to stop him for long.
But even if he could break free, the three maids were already in position, and the Silverganth blade in their hands would taste the boy’s blood soon.
Already, there was no avoiding it.
“──────Huh? Ah?”
Or at least, that should have been the case.
What happened? The three attackers could not understand.
In fact, neither could those who have been watching from the side.
The boy moved… As if those restraints did not exist, then with nimble movements, avoided the blades approaching from three direction as though he were avoiding people in a crowded street.
With the movement of his hands, he gently guided his three assailants.
And indeed, taste blood, their blades did.
“Sela, Alisa, Hannah!!”
Only, it was the blood of their allies.
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