"She... seems to be afraid of me?"
The red light in Casper's left eye flickered faintly. He was puzzled.
By rights, that pink-haired one dressed as a witch ought to be the one who had ordered this monster raid.
Her own subordinates had thrown themselves forward this recklessly; there was no way she could be the one who was frightened...
And yet that proud bearing of a moment ago had looked like something put on...
While he was still thinking it over, the pack of monsters had closed in.
"But wiping this lot out first can't possibly be wrong!"
In an instant Casper drew the classical longsword at his waist all the way free!
A layer of red light, keen and murderous, immediately sheathed the blade!
"Kehehehe... a swordsman with a mana pulse this feeble..."
A goblin brandishing a stone club came howling at Casper, letting out a grating, ugly laugh.
Mage, swordsman, warrior, priest, thief, whatever the class... wielding mana was the only road to strength.
It was as basic as a living thing needing to breathe, needing oxygen!
Without mana, however fine your technique, you could never break past the limits of a physical body! To put it plainly, a strong body had to be tempered by mana too!
Which meant the strength or weakness of a mana pulse let you feel how strong someone was at a glance!
No... why was this black-haired boy's mana pulse so weak, and yet red light still came up on his sword?
Could he have some means of hiding his mana pulse, like Lady Komachi, the "Soul-Draining Witch"—
The goblin's train of thought stopped dead.
Because Casper had already swung!
Far too fast!
The goblin came apart in two pieces, sprayed green blood, and dropped onto the valley slope.
"Eh, they've started fighting...? Ah! So many monsters!"
Inside the carriage, Philia heard the commotion and lifted the gauze curtain on that side.
Seeing Casper charging the monsters with his sword up, her heart clenched.
Everything in sight was a low-grade monster, true, but she did not want the one she loved taking risks... even in the name of protecting her!
"Stop the carriage!"
Once the little sprites had stopped driving the horses, Philia stretched out her left hand, and a longbow carved of ice appeared and settled into her grip.
"Ice Blossom Arrow!"
Her right hand drew the ice-thread string to full, and a cluster of arrows condensed and burst away!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A cyclops, a goblin and a slime were struck down dead on the spot!
She would support Casper's fight!
"Honestly, a mob of zako at this level — Casper could wipe them all out one-handed without thinking..."
Connie lounged back against the soft sofa cushion inside the carriage, leafing through the latest novel, scratching now and then at her white, flat little stomach with nothing of the ancient sovereign about her.
Her arcane senses read every mana pulse on the field with ease. Even the mastermind of this attack, that "Soul-Draining Witch" who had lost her authority, was no match for Casper.
Nothing but a school of zako~
"Even so, I have to help!"
Philia trusted her teacher Connie's judgment, but her fine, gentle heart, and the love for Casper she could not put into words, made standing by impossible.
Her right hand worked, and volley after volley of ice arrows fired.
Casper, meanwhile, had already cut down dozens of monsters, and not one enemy could stop a single stroke of his!
"Heh heh heh... so you're that dual-class swordsman who's made such a name for himself lately..."
The towering orc lord looked down at Casper and raised an iron round shield and a spiked mace. "That you've become Philia Soren's close guard is no surprise either.
Let that talent of yours become the Lord Plague Horseman's strength in days to come! As for now... kneel!"
With that, the orc lord brought the mace crashing down!
The air tore with the sound of it!
That single blow could grind a boulder three meters on every side into powder!
A weak thing that took it would die without question, reduced to dust.
But this dual-class black-haired boy... would be hurt roughly badly enough that he couldn't move, more or less!
Before the mace could land, though, Casper had already swept the classical longsword upward, the blade's light tracing a winding curve.
"Crescent Arc Slash!"
The spiked mace was cut clean in two across the middle!
The orc lord was still staring when Casper's next stroke came down vertically!
Swish!
It was split in half from crown to base!
A lord-class monster, dead where it stood!
Several hundred monsters froze for a beat, then attacked Casper with even greater fervour.
The lord's seat was open! One of them would be next!
But the gap in strength was exactly what it was.
Ten minutes later, all several hundred monsters were dead, cut down by Casper or shot by Philia.
The deathly pale middle-aged lord was frozen into an ice sculpture and shattered into pieces, and the werewolf lord, before its head came off, spoke without conceding: "Damn it... I never imagined this dual-class swordsman... would be strong to this degree..."
With that, and with the werewolf lord's death, the only "enemy" left on the field was Komachi Yua alone.
Komachi Yua kept up an unbroken commentary in her own head.
Even without Casper she couldn't beat Philia; even if she could hold Philia down, there was still a Connie in that carriage!
At this moment, Komachi Yua's body gave another small jolt.
There were no other enemies left. Casper's gaze had already turned to her.
Guh... what do I do now...
Some way off, Philia released the bowstring.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Komachi Yua's left hand opened on reflex, mana threads bursting from all five fingers.
The threads worked like an extension of her hand, catching the ice arrows with no effort at all and dropping them to the ground.
In that instant Komachi Yua jolted again.
Holy moly, why did I block on reflex!
Dodging would probably have been the right call...!
The "Soul-Draining Witch's" mana threads were used for defence and attack alike — wouldn't Casper mistake that for an intent to attack?
Komachi Yua's brain was porridge at this point, straining for a countermeasure, eyes unfocused, the cute cheeks with their trace of baby fat held in until they flushed red.
Casper did not flash forward and cut her down. He came toward Komachi Yua slowly instead, step by step, as though he wanted to confirm something.
"This witch doesn't seem to match her bearing, or the rumours... mm, terrifying?
The only difference between her and someone who's wet themselves at the sight of me is that she hasn't wet herself yet..."
Before long Casper stood right in front of Komachi Yua.
The distance between them was under ten paces.
The Hand of Woven Thread's outer limit was one hundred meters, and its full strength carried to twenty-five.
The gap now was under five meters. If Komachi Yua had wanted to strike, she could have long since.
Up on the carriage, Philia noticed the oddity too, and slowly lowered the ice longbow.
"This witch... is she about to..."
Casper was still walking, and the distance to the flustered Komachi Yua was under five meters!
What do I do! What do I do! What do I do!
Komachi Yua felt her cheeks burning already, her brain giving off smoke.
She had thought of many countermeasures, and not one of them seemed to fit.
This conversation would absolutely shape everything that followed. First impressions mattered!
What do I do! What do I do! What do I do!
There was nothing else for it!
A person has to know... when to bend!
Komachi Yua dropped to her knees where she stood, folding down into a dogeza in front of Casper.
"I'm sorry! I'm so terribly sorry! I was the one who directed these monsters to attack you and the crown princess... but it was never what I wanted! I beg you, spare me!
As long as you're willing to let me live... you can do anything you want with me!"
Casper, cheerfully carefree on an ordinary day, cautious and meticulous the moment a fight began.
In this instant, he was completely dumbstruck as well.
"...?!"