Joshua bit down hard on his lip. The Squires’ gazes trembled like aspen leaves.
“This is no time to stand around! Let’s charge in and burn everything—whether it is that spider or the enemies behind this!”
Hannibal shouted as flames rose around him.
“Calm yourself, Hannibal. Those who fight while ruled by emotion will die consumed by it.”
“Shut up! Are you saying you are not angry?”
Joshua clenched his fist hard enough to crush it.
“I am human as well. I also wish to pass judgment upon the evildoers who attacked one of my own. However, a knight must remain dispassionate. Let us devise a plan calmly. First, someone must remain behind to care for the fallen Herb Girl.”
“…I’ll stay. I cannot display my full strength inside a cave where I have to limit the destructive power of my magic.”
Lunae raised her hand.
“Good. The rest of us will enter the cave. There may be an ambush waiting for us, so we must advance carefully while using Hannibal’s magic to examine the path.”
“Let’s show them what happens when they lay a hand on a knight of Galahad.”
Even the usually mild Heria ground her teeth in anger.
“Everyone, take a deep breath. If you fail to control your emotions, your body will begin moving before you realize it. In a dangerous situation, we must eliminate as many variables as possible.”
“How long are you going to keep wasting time? If something happens to the Instructor while we stand here, how do you intend to take responsibility?”
“I believe in Sezelin’s strength, Hannibal.”
“Enough. If you are too frightened to move, then follow behind me!”
In the end, Hannibal kicked off the ground and raced into the cave.
He used explosions of flame as propulsion, moving so quickly that even the two swordsmen could not keep pace with him.
Heria had fallen far behind.
“I will go on ahead, Galev.”
“All right. I’ll regroup with Heria as quickly as possible.”
Joshua drew the maximum amount of mana from his Energy Center and pushed off the ground.
The sound of his own movement cutting through the air brushed past his ears.
He overtook the lingering trails of flame.
At last, the boy’s slender, trembling shoulders came into view.
“Hannibal! Stop!”
“If you are going to hold me back, then get lost!”
“I am telling you that we should fight together!”
“I can handle cowards who attack from behind all by myself!”
Joshua sincerely wondered how Freya managed to keep such a boy under control.
As every piece of advice he offered kept turning into an argument, Joshua stopped speaking.
Instead, he raised his sword beside Hannibal.
He would convey his sincerity through his actions.
“Tsk.”
Hannibal glanced sideways at Joshua, but he voiced no further complaints.
BOOM―!
At that moment, a deafening explosion suddenly echoed through the cave.
A faint vibration followed it.
“That came from outside the cave.”
“I know that much! Freya must have been attacked!”
“Are you going back?”
Hannibal stopped walking and hesitated for a moment.
Then he raised his head with renewed determination.
“…No. A Mage whose strength I acknowledge is with her. She should be fine.”
“Galev and Heria should also be nearby. If the situation becomes dangerous, they will support them.”
The two boys resumed their advance through the cave.
After running for some time, they reached a fork where one of the entrances had collapsed beneath the light of Hannibal’s flames.
At the same moment, another cluster of light erupted directly before them.
“Danger!”
Joshua stepped in front of Hannibal and cut through the spell.
Caught off guard by the sudden ambush, Hannibal fell backward onto the ground.
The person who emerged from the darkness was a familiar guard.
He was the man who had admitted Sezelin and the Squires into the village and guided them to the cave.
“You could not have planned this alone. Who else is involved? The Village Chief? Or the entire village?”
“Y-You think I would be frightened by the threats of a brat whose head is barely dry behind the ears?”
The man was an Enhancement Branch Mage who had awakened the Dark Element.
However, his ability was inferior to Lunae’s.
“H-How dare you humiliate me in front of a sword-wielder!”
Hannibal’s fireball overwhelmed the man’s magic.
The resulting impact sent the guard rolling across the ground.
Joshua immediately pressed the razor-sharp edge of his sword against him.
The man’s eyes widened in terror.
“Speak quickly. I would prefer not to abandon the virtues of a knight.”
“S-Spare me! I was forced into this! I had no choice!”
“I am asking who ordered you to do it.”
“A Dark Mage wearing a gray robe—”
Those became his final words.
Joshua’s sword had not moved.
Neither had Hannibal’s Staff.
Blood poured from all seven of the man’s orifices as he died.
It was far too gruesome a sight to witness from such a close distance.
“U-Urgh!”
Hannibal finally bent over and vomited.
“…The Dark Mage placed Restriction (禁制) Magic upon him. It appears that some calamity has visited this village.”
Joshua did not know the full circumstances.
However, it was clear that they had become entangled with people they should never have encountered.
“Can you move, Hannibal?”
“A-A sight like this is nothing! It does not affect me at all!”
He shouted confidently, but his legs were trembling.
For a child who had perhaps witnessed a person’s death for the first time, the experience was far too cruel.
Without a word, Joshua approached Hannibal and offered him his shoulder.
After hesitating briefly, the boy exhaled and allowed Joshua to support his weight.
‘I feel as though I understand Hannibal a little better now.’
Joshua then infused his sword with Aura and cut through the debris blocking the passage.
Meanwhile, Sezelin was fighting two Arachnes.
‘The one that was fighting the Squires must have come over here.’
She had burned away the poisonous powder, consuming the surrounding oxygen along with it.
Breathing had become increasingly difficult.
Every time she created new flames, dizziness washed over her.
The monsters repeatedly scattered webs and poison while darting in and out of range.
‘The children should be safe with the Herb Girl among them.’
With Freya’s ability, she could regulate the power of her magic precisely enough to open an escape route without collapsing the cave.
Nevertheless, Sezelin believed that a crisis such as this would help the Squires grow.
She also believed they needed the experience of personally judging evildoers.
‘I will eliminate these monsters and search for any survivors who may remain.’
Red flames erupted from her Staff in rapid succession.
It was Rapid (疾速) Chanting, a casting technique that only an exceptional Mage could employ after relentless training.
It was also Sezelin’s specialty, and she displayed it to its fullest extent.
She read the agile movements of the Arachnes and blocked the attacks flying toward her from both the front and rear.
Once they ran out of room to maneuver, the monsters turned and fled.
‘…There is almost no oxygen left.’
Even so, a knight of Galahad did not retreat.
If a goal stood before them, they advanced without fail.
A crisis was a trial.
A trial was a foundation for growth.
To become one whom death feared, a knight had to cross the boundary between life and death countless times.
Those were the ideals established by none other than Joshua.
They were also the values the younger Sezelin had once followed.
Had she never met Light—
Had she not spoken with Joshua the previous night—
“A-Are you all right?!”
The miracle of a young girl reclaiming her father would never have occurred.
“COUGH… A knight. That emblem….”
“Yes. I am from Galahad.”
“B-Be… careful.”
In the deepest reaches of the cave—
An Arachne that had used its own kind as bait and waited for an opportunity brought its leg crashing down upon Sezelin.
Even as its sharp fangs closed around her throat, she protected the man with her entire body.
‘…If I summon flames now, this man will be caught in them and die.’
Her own life and another person’s life—
The scales within Sezelin’s mind began to sway.
At the end of that deliberation, the knight smiled.
No.
There had never truly been anything to consider.
Her conviction had been worn away.
Her ideals had faded.
Even if she was an adult who had collapsed beneath the hardships of the world—
A child’s wish still remained in one corner of her heart.
The dream of knighthood that Sezelin had carried when she was fifteen still lived within her.
“I want… to live. I have a daughter… who needs me.”
“Do not worry. I will protect you, no matter what.”
Living out the dream of that young girl, Sezelin willingly grasped the justice that had always been within reach.
CRUNCH―!
The poisonous fangs sank into her back.
Her consciousness blurred, and her breathing began to cease.
Even at the end of her life, Sezelin continued to question herself.
‘…Are the ideals you cried out for truly worth more than one miserable life?’
Her powerless eyelids closed.
The flames that had burned so fiercely began to cool.
The heroes who had gone before her beckoned from Valhalla.
However—
“Instructor!”
“We came to save you.”
Sezelin’s dream had not yet ended.
“Where do you think you are going when your students are still here?!”
“Do not die without our permission!”
Blue Aura erupted from Joshua’s sword.
Red flames surged from Hannibal’s Staff.
It was only when protecting another that a knight became truly powerful.
“You are… underestimating your Instructor far too much!”
With superhuman strength, Sezelin seized the final thread of her life.
Sensing danger, the Arachne attempted to flee once more, but her flames blocked its retreat.
“Finish it… for me!”
They answered through action rather than words.
Joshua’s dancing sword severed the Arachne’s head, while Hannibal’s fierce flames burned through its heart.
The cunning spider monster died where it stood.
“Are you all right?”
“I am… perfectly fine. More importantly, this man….”
Joshua hurried over and took the strangely familiar man from her.
Hannibal used Physical Enhancement Magic and lifted Sezelin onto his back.
“We will run at full speed, Hannibal.”
“Obviously. If you fall behind, I will kill you.”
When they finally emerged from the cave, Lunae, Galev, and Heria had already bound the Village Chief and every villager.
“Lay both of them on the ground immediately.”
A Healer who had quietly followed the Squires from Haradin finally revealed himself.
Under his Third-Circle Healing Magic, Sezelin and the man quickly stabilized.
“Had you arrived even slightly later, they would have been in grave danger. The journey to the sacred site will resume tomorrow. As for judging these people… Sezelin wished to entrust that task to all of you.”
The Squires gathered in a circle.
Their eyes were unfocused, as though they had suffered a considerable shock.
“…How could they exploit our goodwill? Unless they are demons in disguise, it makes no sense!”
“Humans are often worse than demons, Heria.”
Lunae answered with a sigh.
Joshua rose from among the silent Squires and approached the prisoners.
“The man who collapsed our escape route said that he had been acting under the orders of a Dark Mage named Kellian. You should reveal everything you know.”
“…We know nothing.”
The Village Chief brazenly avoided the boy’s gaze.
“How could that possibly be true? How do you explain attempting to attack us?”
“That girl acted entirely on her own. If you do not release me and the villagers immediately, I will formally demand compensation through House Betlimier. Remember that.”
“You senile bastard! How dare you act so shamelessly?”
Unable to endure any longer, Hannibal set the Village Chief’s beard on fire.
“AAARGH! Is a knight of Galahad torturing a resident of Betlimier’s territory? Do you wish to start another Northern Civil War?!”
“Stop, Hannibal.”
After organizing his thoughts, Joshua restrained the boy.
“Are you taking their side, sword-wielder?”
“If they are also under a Restriction, it is only natural that they cannot speak. I understand why their attitude angers you. I feel the same. However, it will not be too late to administer justice after the Restriction has been lifted.”
Joshua turned toward the Healer.
“Can you also dispel Restriction Magic cast by a Dark Mage?”
“Allow me to examine it.”
Advanced Magic Formulas beyond Joshua’s understanding filled the air.
After moving his hands rapidly for some time, the Healer’s body stiffened.
“…The Mage who cast this is at least two levels above me. It appears that we should avoid becoming any further involved with this village.”