Chapter 245
You're in the way!
With that, Mia blasted all the soldiers blocking their path away.
Fiene and the others raced through the opening she had created, but soldiers kept appearing in droves to stop them from getting away.
They somehow made it from the lower level of the castle to the middle levels, but the soldiers continued to multiply.
There's no end to them!
They're focusing all their attention on us.
It seems that way...
At Mitsuba's words, Fiene nodded.
In that case, there were two possibilities.
Either the other potential hostages had been captured, or everyone besides them had reached safety.
Fiene judged the latter more likely. With Al moving around behind the scenes, it was hard to imagine the other potential hostages being captured.
That was why the others had probably escaped into the throne room.
The problem was the timing.
At first, Al had been moving the potential hostages simultaneously. That would divide the enemy's forces, after all. But Fiene and the others had taken longer than expected to enter the castle.
The resistance in the rear palace had been fiercer than anticipated, and they had been held up there.
As a result, they had ended up bearing the brunt of a concentrated attack.
If only they had handled things better. Regretting that, Fiene checked Mia's complexion.
Mia still looked energetic, but that did not mean she wasn't tired.
If the enemy kept trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, they might be worn down.
She had to think of something.
Just as Fiene began to panic a little upon reaching an intersection,
Mia suddenly looked behind them.
And then.
"Look out!"
Mia shoved Fiene into the passage on the other side and shielded Mitsuba and the others with her back.
A blade of wind swept through the passage Fiene and the others had just been running along, shredding the wall at the far end.
"Oh my, oh my... You shouldn't move, you know. Otherwise I won't be able to kill you."
Zandra emerged as she spoke.
Many mages stood ready around her.
"I can tell just by looking! You're the daughter of that consort from earlier, aren't you!? You have exactly the same eyes!"
Still speaking, Mia stood in the middle of the passage.
Though it had been a split-second decision, she had been separated from Fiene.
They could not rejoin unless they defeated Zandra.
"Zandra uses forbidden arts! Be careful!"
"Be careful? How insulting that you think being careful could do anything..."
Zandra stomped her right foot on the floor as she spoke.
At that signal, countless shadows appeared around Zandra's feet and traveled along the walls and floor toward Mia.
"I've never seen magic like this! How creepy!"
As she spoke, Mia shot down the approaching shadows one after another.
But Zandra laughed when she saw that.
"How naive."
The shadows were not all headed toward Mia.
Some were traveling along the wall toward Fiene as well.
Zandra wore a triumphant expression, but Mia did not even look in Fiene's direction. She simply aimed her bow and fired.
The arrow shot down every shadow approaching Fiene without missing a single one.
"It seems you're the one who's mistaken."
"Don't get cocky! How dare a mere guard defy me? That's the height of insolence!"
Zandra created a sphere of light in her right hand.
Sensing something ominous from the glittering sphere, Mia took cover behind Mitsuba and the others just as Zandra threw it.
The sphere slowly advanced down the passage, growing larger as it went.
Its speed was nothing special. Its properties were the problem.
The sphere instantly turned any wall or floor it touched into dust.
Mia had never heard of magic that turned everything it touched into dust, but since it existed right before her eyes, she could not deny that it was possible.
"Now that's what I call a forbidden-arts user!"
Mia made Mitsuba and the others retreat.
On the other side, Fiene was retreating as well.
After gouging away much of the passage, the sphere erased the wall at the dead end and vanished.
It had caused no direct damage, but it had widened the distance between Mia and Fiene.
Thinking this was bad, Mia readied her bow.
Zandra stood in the middle of the intersection, directly between Fiene and Mia.
"Now, what shall I do with you?"
"Zandra-sama, please be sure not to injure the Azure Gull Princess. She is an important hostage."
One of the soldiers cautioned Zandra.
The soldier had grown concerned that Zandra, carried away by excitement, might kill Fiene.
In response, Zandra nodded with surprising obedience.
"I know. She's an important hostage to use against the Emperor."
"Thank you for understanding. Prince Gordon will be pleased."
The soldier bowed as he said this.
Zandra said nothing in response and waved her left hand.
A blade of wind appeared without a sound and severed the soldier's head.
"Hmph! I couldn't care less what Gordon thinks! A hostage? Capture her? Such half-hearted methods won't satisfy my anger! It all started with you! Fiene von Kleinert! You, the so-called Azure Gull Princess, cooperated with Leonart and Arnold, and made those two get carried away! Because of you, I was forced to swallow humiliation! I won't be satisfied until I hoist your head before them!!"
Zandra raged and turned her back on Mia.
Mia fired an arrow at her defenseless back, but the mages under Zandra's command blocked it with a barrier.
"How annoying!!"
Mia poured power into her next arrow and easily shattered the barrier, but Zandra knocked the arrow down with a whip.
Its speed had been reduced because it had slowed while breaking through the barrier.
"Ugh! You're in the way!!"
Deciding this would not work, Mia chose to quickly take down the mages maintaining the barrier.
Meanwhile, Zandra closed in on Fiene.
Seeing this, Fiene called out.
"Mia-san! Look after Mitsuba-sama and the others!!"
"Fiene-sama!?"
"I'm all right! I have a plan! Trust me!"
Saying this, Fiene turned her back on Zandra and ran.
Zandra followed at a leisurely pace.
She knew Fiene could never escape on her own.
Like a hunter, Zandra occasionally cast magic at Fiene, gradually driving her into a corner.
"Come on! Come on! Run, or you'll die!"
"Damn...!"
The aftereffects of the magic knocked Fiene back a little and sent her tumbling, but she endured the pain and kept running.
She eventually reached Al's room.
Haaah... haaah...
"Oh my, what are you doing running into Arnold's room? Is there some sort of trap here?"
Zandra entered the room with a teasing laugh.
Then she looked around the room and began to laugh loudly.
"Ahahaha! Did you come here to ask Arnold to save you!? That washed-up prince!? In case you didn't know, he's nothing but a crafty schemer, not a hero! All those talents were sucked away by Leonart—that's what happened to him! A powerless coward! That's Arnold's true nature! You chose the wrong person to expect help from in this situation!"
"You don't understand Al-sama's true nature..."
"You think you do? Don't make me laugh! If there were someone who could come to your aid in this situation, he wouldn't have spent all these years being called the washed-up prince! If your plan relies on Arnold, then die! If you can die here, I'm sure you'll be satisfied! You chose the wrong man! Despair over your own foolishness and die!"
Saying this, Zandra formed a blade of wind in the palm of her hand.
Fiene gazed at it without fear.
She had risked leaving Mia precisely to create this situation.
Zandra always put her emotions first and would never let someone else take the credit. Fiene knew that was her nature, having constantly listened to Al's analyses right beside him.
That was why Fiene had wagered that Zandra would inevitably pursue her alone if she ran.
And her prediction had been exactly right.
Fiene's job was only to create this situation.
What came next was no longer Fiene's job.
That was why Fiene whispered a single plea.
"—Please."
"What? Are you begging for forgiveness now? It seems you don't want to die after all!"
Zandra misunderstood and began to laugh.
She failed to notice the gray-robed man slowly emerging behind her.