Chapter 167
Leo and the others were heading toward a village some distance from the city without stopping even once.
They had no time to spare, since they had no idea when the Spirit Turtle might move.
However.
"Damn! We're too late!"
What suddenly came into Leo's view was a group of villagers fleeing the forest in a panic.
They were being pursued by wolf-type monsters.
The villagers were fleeing for their lives without even carrying any belongings. The monsters, stirred into activity by the Spirit Turtle's movements, must have suddenly attacked them.
In Leo's line of sight, he spotted a little girl whose mother was holding her hand.
The girl ran desperately, but unable to keep up with her mother, she stumbled and fell.
"M-Mama—!"
"Get up, quick!"
The mother hurried back and tried to help the girl up, but in the meantime the wolf-type monsters caught up with them.
The mother hugged her daughter tightly, desperately trying to protect at least her daughter from the wolf-type monsters.
But the wolf-type monsters attacked the two of them as if it made no difference.
However.
"I won't let you!"
Leo's sword, hurled from a distance, stabbed into the ground between the two of them and the wolf-type monsters.
Leo accelerated and charged forward without slowing down.
The wolf-type monsters switched their target to Leo, who had no weapon. But when they met his eyes, they faltered and froze.
Seizing that moment, Leo pulled his sword from the ground and cut down the wolf-type monsters surrounding him.
However, a large number of monsters stood before Leo, who had surged ahead alone.
But Leo did not flinch. He readied his sword and shouted an order.
"—Wipe them out!"
His voice carried across the entire battlefield, and the knights began their charge as if answering his command.
With the Imperial Guard knights at their core, the elite force swiftly drove away the monsters surrounding the villagers.
When Leo, swinging his sword at the front, cut down the last one, no monsters remained around them.
"T-Thank you, Sir Knight!"
The mother from before bowed to Leo with her daughter beside her.
Leo responded to the mother and daughter with a gentle smile.
"Not at all. Are you hurt?"
"Y-Yes! I'm fine!"
"I see. Are you the last of your group? Where are the other villagers?"
"This group is everyone from our village. But if you go east, there are still several more villages. As for what happened to them..."
"I see... Everyone, prepare yourselves."
Leo issued the order, but the knights of Rostock raised voices of opposition.
"Isn't it dangerous to enter the forest?"
"I know it's dangerous. But if there are people there, we won't abandon them."
"But... if anything were to happen to Your Highness..."
"Y-Your Highness!?"
Hearing the knight's words, the mother finally realized that the person she had been speaking to was not a knight, but a member of the Imperial family.
As the mother apologized for her rudeness, the girl innocently asked,
"Are you an important person, mister?"
"H-Hey! What are you saying!? I-I'm terribly sorry!"
"It's all right. I'm not important. It's just that my father happens to be important. Whether I'm important or not... that will be decided by how I conduct myself from here on."
With that, Leo slowly turned his horse around and drew the sword from its sheath.
Many monsters had emerged from the forest, drawn by the smell of blood.
"First, we'll deal with the monsters here. Knights of Rostock, stay here and guard the people."
"Are you intending to serve as the rear guard, Your Highness!?"
"Not the rear guard. The vanguard. We're clearing the way so Silver and the others can fight without worry. They can't fight with civilians nearby. To give them an environment where they can use their full strength... if there are people here, we have to go."
With that, Leo slowly started moving his horse forward.
All the knights except those from Rostock followed Leo slowly toward the horde of monsters.
Then.
"—Protect the people! Follow me!"
Leo led the charge into the monsters, and the knights followed after him.
■■■
Leo and the others charged into the horde of monsters, spreading out side by side as they fought so the monsters could not pursue the fleeing villagers.
If they fought as a group, some monsters might slip through. However, this battle relied on individual abilities.
But Leo did not issue any special instructions.
He was confident that he had brought elite fighters capable of handling a battle that depended on individual ability.
"Good grief! That prince sure works us hard!"
"If you have time to run your mouth, move your spear."
"You're a serious one, aren't you?"
As they chatted, Zeke and Linfia hunted monsters with as much vigor as the Imperial Guard knights.
For the two of them, who had originally been adventurers, this was easier than fighting humans.
Although Zeke had been weakened, he was still an S-rank adventurer. No matter how many weaklings gathered, they were no match for him.
"Come any closer and you'll be dead!"
Saying that, Zeke wore a fierce grin that belied his adorable appearance and impaled the monsters approaching him.
Meanwhile, Linfia transformed her magic sword into a spear and efficiently hunted the monsters while weakening them.
As the two of them drove the monsters back in this manner, they heard an odd sound from above and looked up at the same time.
"Tch! Bird-type monsters!"
"It's a Red Raven. An A-rank monster."
"Three of them?"
Three giant crows were approaching from the sky.
The sound the two of them had heard was the monsters' wingbeats.
As adventurers, the two of them knew all too well how troublesome bird-type monsters could be when they appeared without warning.
Normally, opponents like these required support from companions who specialized in long-range attacks, such as bows or magic.
Some of the Imperial Guard knights could probably use magic, but coordinating with them now would be impossible.
"We'll have to take them down when they get close."
"No, we don't have that kind of time."
"Then what do you intend to do?"
At Linfia's question, Zeke gave her a fearless grin and moved back to create a running start.
Then he suddenly started running toward Linfia.
"I'll jump! Give me a boost!"
"No."
"What!?"
Though she refused, Linfia held the end of her spear and positioned it as a platform for Zeke.
For an instant, Zeke considered hugging Linfia instead, but when he saw her cold eyes, he obediently chose to use the spear as his platform.
"You're using my spear as a platform. If you fail, I'll boil you in a pot."
"You're awfully hard on me!? But lately, I've started thinking I kind of like that cold side of you, too!"
"Go already."
With Zeke standing on it, Linfia swung the spear with all her might.
Zeke shot into the sky like a bullet.
And then.
"Sorry, but I'm a bear who can fly, too."
He decapitated the Red Raven at the very front, his chosen target, and landed on its body.
From there, he leapt again and landed on another Red Raven flying beside it.
The Red Raven tried to evade him, but Zeke cut off its wings in an instant, leaving it no chance to escape.
"All right! Last one!"
Zeke set his sights on the final one, ran toward it, and leapt high into the air.
Having gotten above the Red Raven, Zeke thrust his spear downward, carrying the momentum of his descent into the blow.
"Hyaaaaaaaah!"
Zeke's spear pierced deep into the Red Raven's body.
The Red Raven let out a shriek and spun through the air, but Zeke held on instead of being thrown off. Then he pulled out his spear, cut off its neck, and killed it.
"Whew, Linfia-chan won't complain now."
Wiping away his sweat, Zeke wore a satisfied smile atop the falling Red Raven's body.
But as the Red Raven's body continued its descent, Zeke suddenly realized something serious.
"Huh? How am I supposed to land?"
Immediately afterward, the Red Raven's body crashed to the ground, accompanied by Zeke's scream.
Linfia, who had watched the scene, called out to a nearby knight.
"I'll handle things here, so go check whether he's alive. If he is, I'd appreciate it if you retrieved him. If he's dead, you can leave him there. From humanity's perspective, it's not a loss."
The knight wryly smiled at Linfia's rather harsh way of putting it, then rode toward the crash site.
There, he found Zeke nearly in tears from the terror of the crash and retrieved him with an exasperated look on his face.