Let's talk as we go: ......

　Mr. Hein made sure I was approaching and walked out into the cathedral with his back to me.

　I'm going to be able to follow behind the defenseless man.

　If I attacked Mr. Hein here and now, it would be easy to stun him. But I didn't want to attack this back.

　Why was Mr. Hein waiting for me here?
　Because I was convinced of the reason.
　His expression, his outfit, his actions, all of them represented one answer.

　Mr. Hein, who is probably my collaborator, asks me in a few words, "What do we have here?

'When it comes to things here, your means are limited. Do you understand that?
'Yes, sir. I have heard that during the ritual, all of Rastiara's ties disappear. That's what I'm going to aim for.

　I will not lie and tell him my purpose.
　Partly because it was information that didn't matter if he knew, but also because I wanted him to evaluate the plan.

'Good. ...... and then we can take the girl when the time is right. Or we can aim for that moment and beat the organizers to the punch.
Conqueror?
"The host is the deputy prime minister, Feydert. And there is a representative from the home Senate. Even if these two people decide that the ceremony cannot be performed, the young lady will be spared from death. Since guests and nobles from all over the world are in attendance, there is a good chance that the ceremony will be cancelled or changed if they will be harmed.
There's a way to do that: ......

　This last minute increase in options baffles me.
　I was grateful, but I was also sure it was going to cause me some confusion.

'You can just keep it in your head as an option,'

　Mr. Hein noticed my confusion and didn't force it.

'I understand,'

　As we talk, we reach the front of the cathedral drawbridge.

　Citizens are buzzing around us, waiting for the time to come.
　As soon as the Rastiara ceremony is over, a full-scale ceremony will begin in the cathedral. They are waiting for the doors of the cathedral to open to participate in the ceremony.

　I turn my eyes to the cathedral.

　Halfway up the drawbridge, several knights were building a wall with swords in their arms. Furthermore, I can see countless knights waiting on the heights and resting places at the far end of it.

　Mr. Hein next to me didn't change his expression and began to explain, pointing to the main gate.

''From now on, we're going to rush through the main gate to the cathedral. I've been exploring other routes since yesterday, but it seems that the level of security is the same everywhere. If that's the case, the quickest way is to break through the front where the road is easy to find.

　If that's what Mr. Hein says, there's no argument from me. To begin with, I'm not familiar with the inside, and I'm in danger of getting lost if I don't take the front way. The plan remains the same.

I understand. Let's help Rastiara together, Mr. Hein.

　He tells Mr. Hein of his intention to approve.
　But when Mr. Hein hears this, he smiles thinly and shakes his head.

'That's not true, boy. It's you who can help. You're the only one.'

　With a sad look on his face and a happy voice, Mr. Hein replied.

'Just me ......?'
'I am a foolish knight who has turned a blind eye for three years and knows nothing of the girl's heart. I could never understand the 'Rustyala' who was ready and the 'girl' who asked for help ....... I'm not qualified .......

　I didn't understand what Mr. Hein's 'qualifications' meant.
　But there are times when I can understand it in a dim way. Ms. Hein seems to regret knowing and turning a blind eye to Rastiara's problems for so long.

'No. ....... I don't think it matters what your qualifications are. Even I would be ...... if I started talking like that.

　I wouldn't be qualified either.

　I lost my feelings for her, unable to respond to Rastiara's "help me". I don't have the confidence that I have feelings for her as much as Hein-san does right now.

''That's not true. You've only been standing here for a few days. It took me three years to get here. That's the difference. Really, it's only that much difference: ......

　Mr. Hein mocks himself and slowly puts his feet forward.
　I don't even know the true meaning of that self-mockery. The only thing I could barely understand was that the thoughts of the old days were making me laugh.

　I feel something I can't get deeper into and silently follow behind me.

　We make our way through the crowd waiting for the ceremony and enter the bridge.
　Naturally, when they see us crossing the border, the bridge's knights come closer to us.

　As they do so, I begin to build my magic.
　Hein-san, walking next to me, did the same.

''--Magic [Dimension Decisive Operation (Gladiate)], Magic [Freeze]''
A wind breath, a wind drow.

　I'll deploy my sensing magic to a radius of a few meters and then weave more freezing magic into it. It's a prelude to activating the new magic at any time. As a result, cold air leaks out of my body, freezing the marks I walked in.

　Mr. Hein wraps his body in wind and unfolds countless masses of wind around him. Thanks to the magic 《Dimension Decisive Operation (Gradient)》, I can feel the presence of that wind in my hand.

　The guarding knights who have approached us change their complexion when they see us. One of them looks at Hein-san and shouts out.

''Ha, Hein-sama--?''
I'm sorry, man. I'm in a hurry.

　Mr. Hein responded briefly to the knight's surprise, releasing a single mass of wind and blowing the knight's body off to the side.
　The knight levitates his body from the side impact and falls off the drawbridge. I hear the sound of falling water, and when the other knights see it, their expressions change and they try to pull their swords from their hips.

　Before the knights can draw their swords, I close in on them and forcefully throw one knight who tried to draw his sword away. The thrown-off knight falls into the river, just like the previous knight.

　The knights notice me approaching and try to draw their swords and slash at me.

　But all of them are too slow.

　Hein's mass of wind raged and the knights were blown into the river one by one. The knights who escaped it are thrown to me. All the knights who approached were dropped off into the river in the blink of an eye.

　A voice rises behind me.
　The crowd began to buzz when they saw what we'd done.

　But calmly, Mr. Hein called out to me, "Shall we hurry?

Shall we hurry? Let me take care of the enemies on the high ground. --I won't let them raise the bells or the wolfsbane.
Yes, sir.

　The knights who were waiting at the back noticed something wrong with the bridge and came boiling like straw ants.

　Without showing each other, Hain-san and I run towards that group at the same time.

　I can feel the magic of Mr. Hein running next to me swelling up.
　One of the rings that Hein-san wore is chipped off, and the same magic is released as one day.

''-- 《Zeerewind》!

　A storm was released from Mr. Hein's hand and part of the group of knights that had been gathered together was blown away.
　At the same time, I hear the murmur of the crowd behind me turn to screams.

　I run to the middle of the blown away group.
　Then I felt Hein's magic swell even more.
　He shouts to me.

'Go ahead, boy!　--Zeerewind!

　A further storm is unleashed ahead of me in the direction I'm moving.
　A chunk of wind snatches my cheeks and blows the knights away, finally denting the huge lattice gate ahead.

　The wind opened up a single path that led to the cathedral grounds.

'Me first!'
You have to help me!　You can leave the back to me!

　Hein-san is insistent on letting me help Rustyala.
　If possible, I wanted him to drop that kind of insistence - but his eyes are serious as he shouts it out, and I can tell he's not going to give it up no matter what.

　That spirit pushes me to nod my head.

''Yes!

　I put a lot of effort into my legs and kicked to gut the earth to get ahead of the single road.

　On the way, various winds passed by from behind me, battering away the knights standing in front of me.
　The knights on the high ground are blown away. I could also see them being dropped to the ground with a sideways glance.

　The accuracy and continuous firing performance of the magic is overwhelming.
　Although its power is reduced compared to before, I marvel at the unrestrained nature of its wind magic.

　--I'm not going to be able to get out of it.

　There must have been more than a hundred knights waiting at the main gate, but I was able to leave them all behind in a matter of seconds.

　I run straight through the jewel-paved road between tall plants, alone.

　There was no sign of the knights chasing me from behind.
　All the knights at the gate seemed to be held back by Mr. Hein.

　However, I sense by magic that a person is approaching from the right direction. From afar, a group of knights who had been stationed elsewhere are approaching.

　However, that group will not be able to catch up with me, who is running. There was such a difference in speed and distance between us.

　You'll be able to find a lot more than just a few of them.
　No, a single shadow - not a single shadow. To be precise, one person is clinging to the back of a single beast and is approaching us at high speed.

　I focus my magic 《Dimension》 on that shadow and figure out its identity.

　Its true identity is - the half-beast man knight Sera Raydiant.
　And Ragne Kaikwola, the Knight of the Magic Sword.
　The two 'Seven Knights of Heaven (Celestial Knights)' were coming towards us.


◆◆◆◆◆ ...


　I frown at Raydiant-san, who is approaching me with a roar.

　It's the perfect signal to report the location of the intruder. For the sake of later, I decide that I'll defeat the two of them as soon as possible. At first, I was thinking about persuading them, but the situation and the time frame make it difficult.

　First of all, I increase my running speed in order to separate the two attackers from each other.
　However, the distance between the two attackers is shrinking.
　My speed is far from that of an ordinary person, but my opponent's speed is such that I have to describe him as far from an ordinary beast (...).

　And the moment I feel my speed catch up to the trees that line the road, I can feel Ragune-chan's magical power swelling on my back.

　Lagune-chan's magic swells up and the tip of her magic is about to pierce my leg.

　It's her specialty, the elastic magic sword.
　I've dealt with it before.
　That experience, combined with the fact that I was aware of the approach with my magic Dimension, made it easy to avoid it.

　The sword of magic power slashes down the lined trees in an instant and quickly retracts.
　This was the first time I had ever seen that sword slash something. The sharpness of the blade makes me more wary.
　If it touched me, it would be a no-brainer to cut off at least one of my legs.

　I'm not going to be able to get to the bottom of it.
　The difference in speed makes it impossible for me to prevent them from doing so.

　They appeared as if to block my path.
　It's Raydiant-san in her wolf form and Ragne, the short-haired girl knight riding on her back.

''Eh, eh, please stop!　One day brother!

　Ragne urged me to stand still in a distracted, tension-free voice.　

　But I have no intention of stopping.　
　Without slowing down, I try to get through next to it.

''Ah!　Hey, hey!

　Ragne hurriedly constructs a sword of magic power and extends it to my leg.

''--Magic 《ice》''

　I chant magic and get my hands on that sword of magic power.
　By now, I'm getting used to Ragne's magic. Plus, her panicked attacks were terribly easy to read.

　Avoiding the blade, I grabbed that sword of magic power as I held it between my hands.

　And then I pass the freezing magic through the grasped magic sword. The elaborate freezing magic instantly froze the magic sword to its base.

''Huh!　Cold!

　Ragnet's hand connected to it freezes.
　As it is, I put strength into the hand that grabbed the sword of magic power - and lift it up.

"--Heh?

　Lagne-chan is unable to disarm the frozen magic sword and her body floats in the air as she is caught by it.
　I forcefully throw Lagne-chan in the direction of the thicket.

''Eh, hey--aah, uhhhhhhhh!

　Ragne screamed as she flew through the air and fell into the distant thicket.

　As far as the level is concerned, she wouldn't die from that much .......
　Maybe .......　

　Dripping with sweat for a bit of Ragne's safety, I try to run past Raydiant-san's side.

　However, I can't leave the wolf turned Reidyant-san behind. Raidiant's fangs attacked me from behind.

　I accurately measure the timing of that attack with my magic 《Dimension Decisive Operation (Gradiate)》, dodge it with a single piece of paper, and take out a bag of spices from my "belongings".

　I splash the spices over Raydiant-san's nose.

　If the beast is as good as it looks, it should be an effective move. The fact that it was tracking me is most likely due to the power of its nose.

''--Huh?　Guh, gaaaaaah, aaaaah--!

　A single loud roar roared in the rear.

　Mr. Raydiant mutated his wolf form and returned his body to human form. He rubbed his nose with his human hand to remove the spices from his nose.

　He was a bit upset by the unclothed form of Raydiant-san, but he quickly changed his mind and took out his beloved sword from his 'possessions'.

　You will find that the most important thing you can do is to make sure that you have the right information.

''You!　Why did you--!　Why you!　You aaaaah!
Please be a little quiet!

　Raydiant-san's claws cut through the sky, and only my sword slices through the enemy.
　As I caress it, I rip both arms and legs apart, and with my left hand I slam Raydiant-san's head into the ground.

''--gaah!

　Miss Radiant's brain was shaken and she moaned.
　Leaving her alone, I run towards the cathedral again.

　With the magic 《Dimension》, I feel Raydiant-san behind me change into a wolf and try to run. However, his brain is violently shaken and he doesn't seem to be able to run as much as he would like. Even if he was able to run, he wouldn't be able to go as fast as he did at first because his four legs were slashed.

　Seeing this, I felt relieved and continued running down the road.

　I encountered the two "Celestial Knights", but the result was an unscathed and complete victory.
　It was significant that he had experience fighting both of them.
　Because of that, I was able to fight them off without any trouble.

　I run down the path between the trees - and next we come to an open garden.

　There is a large fountain in the center of the garden and various types of flower beds. It's exactly like the historic garden of an historic castle.

　There was a familiar knight waiting there with about a dozen or so knights in tow.

　It was Hopes Jokul, a grand old knight with gray hair.
　Mr. Hopes greets me with the same frivolous smile as he did sometime ago.