Rang looked at the enemies with a smile.
The insult directed at her was fine.
But they had dared to insult her Boss.
'The one who will overturn this vile Empire and build a new paradise. Our Boss. They dared speak of him with those filthy mouths.'
Blasphemy.
No respect, no reverence for a great man.
What they needed was education, right this instant.
"It seems you're all dying to die."
"......The hell? You lose your mind from the shock?"
The men didn't take Rang's threat seriously.
The one who appeared to be the leader sneered.
And from behind the leader, a man holding a greatsword swaggered forward. The musclebound man grinned and declared.
"Leave it to me, boss. Mouthy brats like that need a good beating before they'll shut up."
His frame was clearly at least twice Rang's size.
The giant approached Rang slowly and spoke.
"Look at those eyes. This little bastard still hasn't grasped the situation. Going to have to break a limb or two before reality sets in."
The man looked at Rang with a smirk, then swung his fist.
Rang's defiant attitude must have irked him. A blow easily powerful enough to snap a few ribs.
But Rang took no action whatsoever.
She stood there, perfectly still, not even blinking. His fist was flying toward her, and she didn't so much as flinch.
And...... that alone was enough.
"......Huh?"
A bewildered voice.
The giant looked at his fist.
......He felt nothing.
As if his hand no longer belonged to him.
His fist had frozen solid at some point.
"Wh-what the."
Magic? But she hadn't even chanted.
A phenomenon that defied logical explanation.
The giant's face went deathly pale with shock. In full panic, he tried desperately to flee, but.
Trying to flee was the mistake.
An arm frozen solid through and through.
When he lurched backward in haste, it shattered.
The completely frozen arm cracked apart from the impact.
"AH, AAAAAAGH! My arm! MY ARM!!!"
Screaming, clutching at the stump where his arm had been. Recoiling at the gushing blood in horror.
The mood shifted in an instant.
"Wh-what the fuck."
"I...... I swear I've heard this somewhere before. Some organization called the White Cloud Society or whatever has someone who controls ice......"
"......Why the hell would someone like that be out in the boonies?!"
The same men who'd been looking down on Rang and Boss moments ago.
But now, only Rang stood composed, watching the enemy with a leisurely smile.
The man who appeared to be the leader gritted his teeth and yelled.
"You lot! Just hold out for a bit! I'm contacting headquarters right now. Once the captain gets here, we'll figure something out!"
The leader retreated and activated a communication device.
"We're dead if we can't kill that one! Look at those eyes. You think she'll spare us if we surrender?"
His panicked men hesitated, but the black-haired man was seasoned at cracking the whip.
"She got ambushed, so she's got no gear. As long as you don't touch her directly, there's no risk of freezing -- probably. Just be careful not to make contact, and take her down with swords!"
Was it the trust built from working together?
The men steeled themselves and followed the order. Swordsmen surrounded Rang, closing into a circle.
One against dozens.
But there was no agitation on Rang's face.
'My power doesn't even come close to Boss's.'
A force that could casually snuff out a former Tower Master.
Death by Will.
The ability to kill a living being through intent alone.
It was the kind of thing that only existed in stories.
But perhaps he truly had reached such an absurd plane. That thought crossed her mind -- that was how incredible Boss's combat prowess was.
But she had power enough to serve him.
"......Your heads are too high."
She stood proudly before the enemy and gathered her power.
For the sake of her king -- the one who would one day tear down this nation steeped in sin and build his own paradise.
As the right hand he had chosen first. She had to show results worthy of that honor.
'Yet they stand before the future king of all peoples. Looking down so arrogantly at Boss without so much as bowing their heads.'
She would deal with these insolent wretches herself.
To clean up the filth that had dared challenge his authority.
That was what she had to do.
WHOOOOSH—!
Condensing the cold and firing it out in an instant.
What formed was a lance of ice.
Proper magic required a complex process. Inscribing a magic circle, reciting an incantation, channeling mana into the circle.
But her attack required no complex process at all.
Because this was not magic.
It was a miracle beyond the world's laws. There was a reason the Leader had recognized her and recruited her.
"Wh-what the hell......!"
The men were blindsided by the sudden attack.
They ducked and twisted as best they could, but only five succeeded. The remaining fourteen were run through by the lances.
And even the five who dodged were not unscathed.
"......Got you."
Dodging frantically had destroyed their stances.
They'd let Rang close the distance.
Two of the five touched Rang's body and froze on the spot.
Two men turned to ice sculptures. At this point, there was no fight left in the enemy.
"W-we have to run......!"
Three subordinates remained.
Plus the leader, who was working the communication device.
The men finally broke the leader's command and ran.
Running for their lives, sprinting like madmen.
'As if they could escape.'
Rang walked forward at a leisurely pace.
A light step, her foot touching the ground.
......And with every step, a wave of cold spread outward.
CRRRACK—!
The ground around her froze solid in an instant.
The legs of the fleeing men froze with it, locking them in place like taxidermied specimens.
Having neutralized every last subordinate in the blink of an eye.
'Boss is......'
Rang glanced toward the Leader.
The Leader wore a bewildered expression.
Eyes shaking with agitation.
Someone who didn't know Boss well might see that face and think he was alarmed at how brutally his subordinate fought.
But Rang, who knew him better than anyone, saw differently.
'......He's surprised. That it took me more than twenty seconds to subdue them. By Boss's standards, these would be enemies he could annihilate in an instant with one pinky finger.'
As expected, meeting Boss's standards was no easy feat. The look of a boss dismayed that his subordinate was so much weaker than him.
She'd have to push harder.
Drawing that conclusion, Rang moved forward.
"Now there's just you."
She advanced toward the one who'd been working the communication device.
The man who'd dared to call Boss "pretty-faced" and talk about selling him to a brothel. The very author of that vile drivel.
She had absolutely no intention of giving this one a clean death.
"You'd best brace yourself."
Rang said this and seized him by the collar.
Seized his collar, and.
"......?"
The leader didn't beg for his life.
He was...... looking at her and smiling.
As if mocking her.
***
I'd been thinking that our Rang had quite a savage side.
I was still reeling from that thought when.
'......Something feels off.'
The man Rang had by the collar was smiling. But that wasn't the smile of someone who'd given up on life.
It was the expression of someone with one last card to play.
The man looked at Rang and spoke with a smirk.
"Here's something you didn't know, brat. That call I tried to make to headquarters? It went through a while ago. Your buddy across the line -- one of our organization's officers -- has been listening to this whole time."
"......Reinforcements, is that it? How laughable. Our Leader could crush hundreds of your men with a flick of his finger. Know your place."
Rang was spouting strange things on her own again.
I was worried she'd picked up bad habits from Mr. Rockwood, but that wasn't what mattered right now.
What this man was saying.
I was starting to understand.
"Rang, I don't think he called for backup."
"......Seems like only you caught on."
The bandit looked at me and smirked.
"You're the White Cloud Society, aren't you? A small woman who controls ice isn't exactly common. You match the wanted notice down to the last detail -- it'd be harder not to recognize you."
"......We're not the White Cloud Society. We just happened to be mistaken for them by coincidence."
"Try making your lies a bit more convincing. I'm not stupid enough to fall for that."
The man looked at me and declared.
"I may not look it, but I'm a model citizen. Reporting people who are plotting a revolution is obviously the right thing to do."
Having heard this much, Rang was starting to grasp the situation too.
"Our organization's boss is a pretty famous heavyweight. A mercenary who made a name through axe-fighting. Got connections to high-ranking Empire nobles."
"......You bastard."
"Too late, though. By now, our boss has probably already tipped off the Empire's upper echelon about your identities. The Guardians will be on their way soon."
Rang was grinding her teeth.
The man mocked her with a grin.
"Should've been more careful with your powers. Word's already out. You should have shown some restraint, don't you think?"
Rang looked at me with guilt-stricken eyes.
"Don't worry, Rang. There's always a way."
But I stroked Rang's head and put her at ease.
The solution to this situation was simple, wasn't it?
'I just negotiate with their boss and shut him up somehow.'
I was fairly confident in my negotiation skills.
Not easy, sure, but I'd make it work.
That was my conclusion, and I turned to Rang to explain.
"......Their boss is going to report us as the White Cloud Society? Then all I need to do is shut that guy up before the report goes through."
"Huh? How on earth would you--"
Rang was bewildered.
Just as I was about to explain the plan.
"Oh, the connection's back. Must be the boss, confirming he's finished exposing you lot. Heh heh heh."
The man smiled unpleasantly.
He grinned and spoke to his superior over the device.
"Sir! The intel I snagged -- I trust you've passed it along to the boss--"
[This isn't the time for that!]
But what came through the device was a trembling voice.
The officer screamed in sheer terror.
[Th-the boss was found as a dismembered corpse! 'Purified in the name of Saint Adam'? What the hell is this message? Who's Adam?]
In an instant, every eye turned to me.
Rang's expression shifted to something transfixed.
Rang looked at me.
She blankly replayed what I'd said.
'All I need to do is shut that guy up.'