The carriage rattles and clatters regularly.
　The wheels of the carriage kicked against the stones of the earth, and my vision swung up and down. It's a terribly uncomfortable ride, from the perspective of the original world. I miss cars with rubber tires. But that nostalgia for the original world is now annoying.

　It's not the shaking of the unstable carriage, but the shaking of an unstable memory that makes me sick.
　But I try my best to hold it together and look around.

　Everyone (everyone) looked gloomy. They were lined up in the seats in the back of the carriage, with faces similar to mine.
　It was clear that they were shocked by their recent defeat.

　But I was relentless in explaining the situation.
　First, I told the three men who had withdrawn on the way to the battlefield what happened next. Then I shared the information that I heard from Heili with all of them and decided what to do from now on.　

''--So, me and Maria, we're going to fight Palinkron now.

　The suggestion, in other words, was nothing more than a suggestion that the other four should not follow.
　Rastiara and the others were not able to answer immediately.

　All of them had been drained of their energy in some form or another. Maybe that's why their thinking hasn't caught up with them. Without a care in the world, I'll tell you why.

I can't leave this 'World Service Team' thing he's trying to do ....... That's dangerous.

　In truth, I want to prioritize rescuing Dia. However, after hearing about the danger of the 'World Inquisitorial Team' from Hailey, I had no choice but to change my priorities.

　The first person to swallow the conversation was Reaper.

''...... Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry, brother. I guess I'm useless in this 'magic circle'.

　He then apologizes for not being able to participate in the pursuit of Palinkron.
　That's when Rustyala finally swallows the conversation and insists impatiently.

'Well, wait, Kanami ......!　Take me too: ......!

　As soon as I saw that, I shook my head.

No, Rustyala, you're not fit to fight. You are not fit to fight, and you are not a good match for Palinclone. And you're too incompatible with Palinkron.

　I was keenly aware of this in the earlier battle.
　Anyone who is incompatible with Palinkron is bad as hell.
　That guy is involved in the birth (...) of a 'magic stone human (Jewelculus)' called Rastiara. From the way he fought just now, he seemed to grasp all of Rastiara's weaknesses.

''It's okay!　I'm not going to be a disappointment anymore!　This time I will fight to the end, even if I die!
"There's no way you can take someone who says ...... even if they die. Rastiara, you can't do anything in this 'magic circle' as a 'magic stone human' (Jewelculus). That's why I can't take you there. This is one thing I can't compromise--
But still, please!　Because if you break up with me here, you'll regret it!　I feel like it!　So!

　She tried to calmly admonish Rustyala for screaming selfishness. But she didn't even try to listen to him and screamed out.

　It was an unlikeable appearance.
　Even though she has a belligerent personality, up until now she's convinced me when I talk to her in a logical manner. And yet, that Rustyala was just screaming his selfishness like a child.

''It's only just beginning, but it's going to be over--because I feel like it is!

　From the bare emotions, it was clear that he didn't simply want to follow because he wanted to fight.
　More other emotions were robbing Rustyala of his composure.
　Ever since the time he fought Id in that pavilion.

''Maa!　I still haven't told Kanami anything--
'--I know (・・・・・). Rustyala.

　Maybe it's the same emotion I've lost, if not conceit. Or a faint emotion much like it. But I don't have time to take it in. Honestly, it's not even close (・・・・・・・・・).

　Rustyala's hand was reaching out to me. I held it down with my hand from above and let it drop.

'I also (...) didn't tell you anything ....... So I'll be back. I'll be back, so just wait for me.

　In a very cowardly way, he convinces Rustyala that he is a very cowardly man. I know myself that I'm imitating the worst of it beyond cowardice. But I couldn't pretend to be.

　Rustyala's body jumps with a jolt as hand-to-hand contact is made.
　And with a puzzled expression on her face, she starts to get lost in the words she's going to say in return.

　Maria calls out to Rustiala, who cannot affirm or deny it.

'Rastiara-san ......'
...... "...... Oh, oh, I'm sorry, Maria. ...... I'm only being selfish when I'm on my own.

　As soon as he saw Maria's face, he became sullen.
　Although Rustyala's body was large, his gestures made him look like a child his age.
　Maybe that's why. Maria pulled Rustyala's head to her chest and held it as if she were caressing a child.

'No. I know what's going on with Rustyala now. ...... Let me take care of him.
"ugh. ......

　With that word, Rustyala went quiet.
　She nodded once with a small 'yes' and took a distance from me and Maria.
　Then, slowly, Rustyala headed towards 'Connection'.
　She was about to leave without saying a word. I hurriedly ask the knight who was waiting on the gyoja stand to take care of the rest.

''Sera-san, please take care of Rastiara.
Yeah.

　As if it were natural, Sera nodded back briefly and went through the 'connection' with Rustyala.
　I was relieved to be able to return the ailing Rastiara to the ship and called out to my next companion.

''--Snow.''
Yes!

　I just called out to him, but Snow stood upright with a pizzazz.
　He seems to be making a bit of a misguided effort after reflecting on his earlier mistake. Chuckling at that, I show him the 'Treasured Sword of Aleis, Lowen' that I have lowered to my waist.

''Snow, can you use this sword?''
'What, Rowen ......?　You can't use a sword and ......, and then there's .......

　Fumbling with his mouth, Snow turns away from the sword.
　Apparently, there is more than just a different weapon to handle, there is a sense of dislike for Rowen.
　Seeing that, I spit out the words as I had originally planned.

'Well ....... Then Snow, take care of everyone. I think you're probably the most qualified to lead us.
What?

　Snow rolls his eyes at the abruptness of the story.

'Being timid is not a bad thing. It's an advantage, as long as you're not in a hurry. If you're serious, you'll be stronger than anyone else. So, if you--

　I slipped up and almost said something I shouldn't have.
　I won't say the rest of it, just the most important thing.

You're going to take care of everyone on the ship while I'm gone.
...... eh, uh, yeah. ...... Okay.

　Honestly, Snow nodded.
　She seemed to know herself that she was useless against the Palinkron - or rather, against the 'one who steals the truth of darkness'. She pulled back without letting out any particular complaint.

'Reaper, help Snow out.
Yeah. Okay, brother. ...... come home safely.

　The Reaper nodded and retreated. Only, perceptively, she added the last word.
　Then, two more people go through the 'connection'.

　Four of my friends leave, and silence falls in the rattling carriage.
　The party that had originally numbered seven is dwindling, until at last there are only two of us, Maria and I.

　When we first left Lauravia, I thought there was no such thing as an enemy in the Living Legend Party, but before I knew it, it was half destroyed. Looking back, it's harder to recall a decent win.

　But I can't drag the defeat out of my mind forever. Pulling myself together, I shout from the bottom of my stomach, "Maria, let's go after them.

'Maria, let's go after it.'
...... Yes.

　Taking Maria's reply as my cue, I intensify my 'Dimension'.
　I move to the gohja-dai and take hold of the horse's reins, grasping the enemy's location and the path. Maria sits next to the gohja-dai where I sit.

　The thinly stretched Dimension informs me of Palinkulon's movements.
　Like us, Palinclone was using a carriage to head to the main Confederate camp to receive treatment. He is escorted by a soldier who can use sacred magic.
　Due to the strandedness of the fort, the distance between them and the carriage is quite large.

　While compiling the information on that 'Dimension', he let the horse pulling the carriage advance. At the same time, I confirm the next steps of the battle with Maria.
　It's the same as when we fought in the fort. We decide to fill in the holes on the answer sheet.

''- After all, the soldiers around us are in the way of fighting Palinkron. I don't want to be speared by soldiers like at the end of the fort, so if I had to do it, it would be when the soldiers from the north and south are clashing. ......
'You're going to jab in the middle of a war?　I know it sounds very difficult: ......
'But there's no better time. Let's try to split the Palinclones and the soldiers, aiming for a time of crowded war when the soldiers around them can't afford to rescue the Palinclones. If that doesn't work, we can lock them in with Maria's Wall of Fire. Worse still, we'll manage the rest.

　There would be a lot of danger in jumping into the middle of an engaged army. There's no doubt about that.
　But there are more returns than that.
　If the Confederate forces were at a disadvantage, the situation of being in the middle of an engagement would work to their advantage. In some cases, the Union troops might be able to become a whole lot of allies.

''Locking them in with a wall of fire--that's right. I think it's possible. But I'm sure the people around us will try to put out the flames, so it won't last long.
Just a few minutes. A few minutes, I think.
Then you'll be fine. ......

　Maria nodded reluctantly.
　Not just for a few minutes, but for a few seconds.
　If she could get one-on-one with Palinclone for a few seconds or so, that would be enough to decide the game. Palinclone's status hadn't changed much since the day of the Nativity.
　With my current status, I should be able to overwhelm him. It's a good thing that you're able to use freezing magic to solve the problem of "stealing the logic of the darkness" that used to be so difficult to deal with. Even if Palinkron's body liquefies like Tida's, it's no problem.

　Just like Snow had nearly killed Palinclone with two fists, it shouldn't even be a match if you can fight him one-on-one in a decent manner.
　Yep. If only we could get a decent one-on-one .......

　The Dimension is deployed on the plains, and the wagons are allowed to advance while avoiding the soldiers in the war zone.
　The main problem is how to exclude these countless soldiers from the battle with the Palinclones.

　Once they got this deep into the battlefield, there was no more northern or southern territory. It's a war zone where friend and foe are mingled together. The scouts are scattered here and there.
　The closer you get to the center of the battle, the more dense the soldiers become. The number of camps and forts increases, their size increases, and their numbers swell.
　Troops of ten men are no longer uncommon, and they begin to find camps of over a hundred men.
　By following the Palinclones, I found myself naturally going to the 'center'.

　The atmosphere of those soldiers and camps is grim. It had a strong air of war that I knew only from knowledge.

　Stretching the 'Dimension' even thinner, I took stock of the entire war zone. It was decided that the attack on Palinkron was a mixed bag. In order to determine the timing of the attack, it was necessary to know the dynamics of this war.

　All of the plains north of the mainland Valt country are wrapped in 'Dimension'. Just thinly, really thinly, so as not to be noticed by my magic.
　And I've succeeded in getting most of the Rebel army inside Dimension.

　But it's still not enough.
　The next step is to expand not only into the plains, but also into the forests and rivers - to other regions, and to engulf the north as well.
　While comparing it to the map, we also check the names of places. The Coast and Kornay regions to the east and west of the Valt country. And then the Levejura and Ardona regions in the north of Ravaria. By grasping a total of four regions, I was able to recognize all the soldiers involved in the war.
　It was like using a satellite to get a bird's eye view from the sky.

　Smoke could be seen rising from many of the villages in the provinces.
　No matter how widespread the warm religion of Revanism was, and no matter how advanced the magic technology was, the morals of war time didn't seem to be much different in other worlds. There is a possibility that there is looting going on that cannot be seen directly.
　Consciously I ignore it and concentrate only on the numbers and movements of the soldiers.
　All I need to know now is when, where, and how much of the battle will happen. I'd better put everything else out of my mind. I thought.

　I continued to watch the armies to the north and south move in a limbo-like fashion. I don't know anything about war strategy or the art of warfare, but if I know all this information, I should be able to make some guesses.

　I believe that and continue to stare at it for several minutes.

　-That's not going to work. There was no way to guess the movement. The movements of the military are few and erratic, and I have no idea what they are doing.

　If I had Parallel Thinking, the result would be different, but I can't release this skill now. But if I were to release it and become stuck thinking about something I don't need, it would be the end of the world.
　However, it was also clear that without this skill, it was impossible to predict the movements of the army.

　I groan and worry about it. In the middle of it all, a voice calls out.

'--Danger!　Kanami!

　Maria next to me shouted.
　Then she took the reins from me and changed the direction of the carriage.
　When I returned my attention to my eye vision instead of the Dimension, I saw the sight of a large rock that was positioned in front of me and narrowly avoided the large rock. A large rock passed right next to him, and the side of the carriage was scraped away.

　If it weren't for Maria, he would have hit it head on.
　He was looking too far away and seemed to be neglecting his driving.

'Kanami-san. Could it be that you were looking very far away?
'I'm sorry. I just wanted to know what's going on in the war, so I was looking deep up north: ......

　Maria asks with a look of half surprise and half dismay on her face.

'If it's ...... Kanami-san's dimensional magic, can you see all the way to the rear of the Northern Army from here?'
'Roughly, but I can see it all. So I was just looking at the whole thing and trying to figure out when to hit the Palinkron: ......
'The whole thing? That's putting it lightly. It's a level of magic that changes the concept of warfare: ......

　As they talked, Maria's expression was all about dismay.
　She quickly tightened her expression again and asked about the fight with the Palinkron.

'So did you get the timing of the attack?
'No, I can see the whole thing moving, but it seems a bit overwhelming: ......

　I told her honestly that I was having difficulty. Then Maria confidently puffed up her chest.

'Then leave it to me. I'm very good at that sort of thing.
Good at it?　How do you predict the movement of war?
'Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm very good at Alty. I know a lot about the war thanks to the Arti in me.

　Maria gives her best friend's name.
　Apparently, the assimilation with the magic stone in The One Who Steals the Reason not only inherits magic and magic, but also affects other skills as well.
　Perhaps Arti's familiarity with warfare is because he was involved in that kind of conflict a thousand years ago. 'Parallel Thinking' was a last resort, and he decided to pass on the information from Dimensions to Maria.

　I took out a piece of paper and a quill from my possessions and wrote down a rough distribution of military strength. At the same time, I took out a map of each region and told her how the troops were moving in real time.
　Maria didn't blink as she continued to listen to the information. On the way, she sometimes guessed the movements of the army that I got from Dimension before I heard it, so it's true that she's good at it.

　And gradually Maria's expression hardened and she muttered a word.

''--The movement is activated, isn't it?
Is it activating?

　Looking at the soldiers moving slowly, I wondered.
　Maybe it's because I'm looking at them as a whole, but they look mature to me.

''With this number of people, if they are moving this much, I can say they are active. What's going on? 'I'm sorry, Kanami-san. Would you mind picking up the conversation, even if it's just for a moment?
I'll try.

　Maria had a serious expression on her face that I hadn't seen before.
　Expectantly, I squeezed out the few remaining MPs. I used up the MP that had naturally recovered and passed on the conversations of the great people in the center of both armies to her. By the way, I'm only picking up snippets of the conversation with my lip reading, so I only understand the words. Being unfamiliar with the culture of this world, I had no idea what was going on because of all the jargon.
　But Maria seemed to be different. I had come up with something from that list of words.

'...... This move, maybe this move, maybe Palinkron's injuries were transmitted to the Union army. That's it, that man is a general who plays a central role in the Confederate army. The Union Army might be planning to exploit this opening.

　His mouth muddled with the word "may" but he had a look of conviction on his face.
　But if that was true, how did the information about Palinkron get to the north? That guy's injuries were just a few moments ago.
　The magic technology in this world might still be deep in the depths of this world. However, if it wasn't related to magical technology, then someone involved in the earlier battle would have passed it on to the north.

If the ...... northern army is willing to make a move, it's convenient for us.
'Yes, sir. Hopefully, they can make a big move tomorrow.

　In any case, considering our remaining MP, we can't raid today. Straddling the day once and attacking the next day could be said to be ideal.

　However, the goodness of the situation felt like an invitation. It was as if Palinclone was asking us to come quickly. Perhaps he himself was the one who informed the North of Palinkron's injury.

'If you want to adjust to tomorrow's timing, let's head to this village. It would be most futile if we could rest there.

　Maria pointed to one of the villages on the map.
　It was a village that had been abandoned due to war damage. There would be no food or anything, but we could at least rest in an abandoned house.

　I adopted Maria's idea and changed the direction of the carriage.

　Once the timing of the attack was determined, there was nothing more to say. We ride through the battlefield and arrive at the planned abandoned village without incident.
　It was a no man's land. As far as we can see from Dimensions, there are not many soldiers around. This must be a strategically worthless area.

　We felt relieved and rented one of the abandoned houses.

''I think we can rest here for a bit, Kanami-san.
Yeah, you're prettier than I thought.

　We started taking turns resting to recover our lost MP. Having spent several hours just moving around, the sun had gone down by the time we started resting.

　And it is nighttime.
　His body was exhausted from all the traveling he had done all day.
　But I would not be able to sleep. There was too much anxiety, and I was afraid to meditate without doing anything.

　So I sat gymnastically in the corner of the room and stared at the walls of the house I was renting. I counted the stains on the burned out walls and emptied my mind. After I finished counting the stains in the room, I continued to chase the MP that would naturally recover in status.

　In the dark room, I was mindless and just waited for time to pass.
　I wanted him to recover quickly. It was painful to have time to think about it.

　I kept distracting myself endlessly.
　By the time I finished recovering my MP, the date had changed.

　Preparations for the rematch are over, and I'm checking my body for signs of health.
　I've never slept a wink of sleep for two nights in a row, and my body feels strangely light.