In a deep, deep forest.

Because the sunshine is reaching us, it's not dark, but it's strangely gloomy.

In such a forest, an elf girl was standing as if looking up at a tree so huge that it covered her vision.

(Ah, well, it's your dream...)

The elven girl - - Meldina becomes fed up with the situation she finds herself in.

She has been having these dreams many times since the day she left her hometown, albeit irregularly.

Lucid dreaming (lucid dreaming) - - You are aware that you are in a dream where you are standing right now, but you are unable to control your actions.

And while you want to wake up, you also know that you can't escape this dream.

When you look at your own gaze while letting out a sigh in your head, a number of elves are standing around Meldina.

'＊＊＊＊＊＊＊. ＊＊＊＊＊, ＊＊＊＊＊＊?

****, ＊＊＊＊＊?

＊＊＊＊＊ and ＊＊＊＊＊＊.

I don't know what they are saying, but judging from the expressions on the elves' faces, they don't seem to be accusing Meldina of anything.

Rather, they are looking at Meldina with a worried look in their eyes, as if they are trying to persuade her somehow.

One of them, an elven man, steps up and tries to touch Meldina, but...

(Don't touch me! I'm not a tool for you!)

She didn't even try to hide her disgust as she shook off his hand.

In that moment, Meldina's consciousness was pulled into the white world - ━━











When Meldina wakes up, her best friend (Cunaria), who is breathing comfortably in her sleep, jumps into her field of vision.

Moving my gaze to look around, I see that it seems to be Virum's room.

(Mio's not here. Where did he go?)

Meldina twisted her body to get up in search of her partner (Miserio), but she couldn't help but frown as she felt heavier and more languid than usual, perhaps because of her imagination.

''Good. Looks like you're awake.''

Meldina, who was a little fumbling with just getting up, turned her gaze in the direction of a voice that should be familiar, but felt somewhat strange, and saw Virum standing there with a tub of clean water and a hand towel.

After placing the things he brought with him on the table, Virum brings a chair over to the side of the bed and sits down.

'Hmm? Fuu~...muy muy. Ah, Master, good morning.

Yeah, good morning.

Cunaria wakes up at the noise.

She still wants to sleep, she rubs her eyelids and fights against it, but her head is shaking unsteadily as she feels dizzy.

Seeing her condition, Vilm smiled a small smile and wet the hand towel he brought with him, wrung it out lightly and handed it to her.

''Do you two have any pain anywhere?''

Ummm... it doesn't hurt, but you're a bit lazy.

'Oh, me too. It's weirdly hard to move, or maybe my body doesn't listen to me...

Meldina, who rubs her arms and wipes her face, and Cunaria, who is fully awake after wiping her face, respond to Wyrm's question with a slightly troubled expression.

''It can't be helped. Both of you have been asleep for three days now.''

Three days? Why....?

At that moment, Meldina and Cunaria, who must have remembered the events before they fainted, approached Vilm without stopping to pay attention to the body that was difficult to move.

''The Rastabel Army! Are the spirits safe? I can't even see Mio... No way!

'Hi Sierra, you're hurt badly too... Are you okay?!

The expressions on the two men's faces are desperate themselves, and you can see how worried they were about Heishela and the spirits.

If they had their usual calmness, they would have realized the meaning of Virum's presence here, as he cares for his family and friends.

'Don't worry. It's all taken care of.

A few moments after hearing those words, the two of them came to an understanding and sat down on the bed heaving from an extreme sense of security.

When Virum saw them, he got up from his chair and slowly, deeply, bowed his head.

''Mel, Kuna, thank you so much for protecting everyone. It's because of you two that I was able to save my sister Shi and the others and also defeat the invaders. As a member of the village, I want to thank you.

'What? No, no...

Oh, Master? Oh, please lift your head.

The two of them have been traveling with Virum for a reasonable amount of time, but I've never seen him express his gratitude to this extent.

Hence, the two of them didn't know how to react and became flustered, but suddenly, Meldina noticed a small discomfort.

''Huh? Ville, did you just call me Mel, by any chance?

Did you call me Kuna, too, as well?

The two men, who had never been nicknamed by Virum before, stared at their faces, unable to hide their surprise and confusion.

In fact, he had called them that during the battle with the slave army, when they came in to help, but the two of them, who were in a daze of consciousness, didn't seem to remember it.

''Uh... no, was it?''

From the expressions on their faces, Vilm took the reaction as a negative one, and he looked a little sad as he scratched his cheek with his fingers.

'Y-yeah, I don't hate it, okay? I've never been called that before, so I'm just a little surprised.

'Yes, that's right! Master doesn't have anything to dislike about whatever you call him!

Well, that's good.

As soon as I told them that they didn't dislike it, Virum's smile changed from earlier to a calm one.

It is clearly different from the one that was directed at them until now, an expression that was only directed at his family.

Meldina and Cunaria, who were so upset that they were speechless, ended up looking at each other with Vilm.

''Oh, I see you're awake.''

In the midst of this situation, the one who called out to the girls was Hinori, who peeked her face from the room entrance.

The faces of the two girls who turned around in response to her voice seemed to be a little red.

''Oh, Mel and Koo-chan both have red faces, right? Even if you have a fever... haha~?

Hinori approached me with concern, but when she came to my side of the bed, her expression changed drastically, and her smile changed to a childlike smile, planning a prank.

''Well, you've fallen in love with Virum, haven't you?''

What? Well, you're mistaken, Lord Hinori. I just thought Ville's smile was a bit unusual, that's all!

'Aww! Hinori-sama, what do you say?

In fact, the two of them, who were transfixed by Virum's smile, began to panic while their slightly red cheeks turned bright red at Hinori's pointing out, which was not necessarily off the mark.

Letting out a sigh at the situation, Virum walked up behind Hinori, who continued to tease the girls, tasting their reactions, and ━━

Aha!

He took a light hand sword to stop her.

Normally, this is an unusual response for Virum, who would let his family do what they wanted unless it was too much.

''Hinori sister, you two are in trouble, right? I don't tease you too much because you're still sick.

"That's why chopping from behind is terrible!

Hinori, who held her head down and turned around, protested, revealing her surprise at her brother's unexpected behavior, but her own expression of dismay showed no change.

''More importantly, didn't you come here to do something?

'Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.'

Hinori, who hadn't been seriously complaining, switched her thoughts and expressions and began to speak as soon as Vilm's point was made.

''It's been decided that we'll meet with Emperor Dizenaire tomorrow morning. As representatives of the village, Virum, me, sister Dia and Fu-chan are going to go on a visit, so I came to let you know.''

'All right. But I'm surprised to see Emperor Dizenaire in the slave army.

'I guess he was planning to use them up. Fortunately or unfortunately, he seems to have memories of the time he was enslaved, so we won't have to go through the trouble of checking the facts.''

The slave army that attacked from the east was composed of soldiers from the Demon Emperor's Kingdom of Dizenaire.

Among them, the Demon Emperor, Zioldo-Disenaire, and other central figures of the Dizenaire Demon Empire were apparently confirmed to be present.

It wouldn't be hard to imagine what the Rastabelle Army was going to do with the Dizenaire Emperors they had put under their control.

''It's true that Mel and Kuna woke up!

Meldina, are you okay?

'Koo-chan, does it hurt anywhere?

It was Miselio and the spirits from the Eastern Front that came in through the door with great force.

They touched Meldina's and Cunaria's bodies with a floppy touch, confirming their safety.

Miselio's reaction was especially noticeable, crying loudly while hanging onto Meldina's face.

Meldina looks a little distressed as she's hugged head-on, but it would be a little wild to point that out.

After smiling and watching their exchange for a while, Virum and Hinori left the room to prepare for tomorrow's meeting.