Kneesbeck was sure that Mizgard had been defeated.
　This was because he noticed that the fog of spiritual power was beginning to disappear, and afterwards, he tried to telekineticize Mizgard, but there was no response at all.

(Nuh-uh!　That piece of shit got away from me!　(This makes it impossible to detect the garmes!

　Kneesbeck could no longer hide his impatience. There was no doubt that Mizgard had been defeated. That meant that he couldn't control the summoning demon from a distance. If they were to continue the attack, they would have to move far away from the battlefield they were currently on and from this safe place protected by the wards.
　Also, even if you want to re-summon the demons other than the defeated Garum and send them towards Matuu's troops, by the time you arrive, there will be no fog of Mizgard's spiritual power. Since he couldn't accurately sense and manipulate them then, he was unable to bring in new forces.
　In other words, Kneesbeck had two options. The first was to take a risk and get close enough to the enemy to be able to sense and manipulate the demon he himself had summoned, and aim for the matou, or the second was to take no risk and back off.
　And now there was something else happening that was unexpected for Nizbek.

'Eei!　This little exorcist girl is a little bit clever too!　You're going to fight!

　Even though Niesbeck had summoned his trump card, Garm, he was still unable to get close to Mathew because of Marion's blocking of him with his Garm.
　Kneesbeck was struggling to attack Marion's defense-based exorcist techniques. In that sense, Nezbeck wasn't getting things done as he wanted, regardless of Mizgard's losses.
　However, now that Mizgard is gone, it is only a matter of time before this fog of spiritual power is completely cleared. This was causing Nizbek's emotions to become even more counterintuitive.
　Marion, the A-lancher of that institution, was very clever in dealing with Garum.
　As Garum roared and pounced on Marion, Marion didn't hesitate to deploy multiple layers of light holy shields while pulling, blocking Garum's path, and the direction of escape was decidedly in the opposite direction of the troops with Mathew.
　And when Niesbeck tried to get Garum to ignore Marion and turn toward Matuu, Marion relentlessly pursued it, attacking Garum's extremities from behind with daggers from Rafael's vestments, focusing on Garum's extremities.
　Marion throws Rafael's dagger and stabs Garm's hind leg, and Garm's leg melts into sludge from the powerful holy attribute cleansing action and falls over, robbing Garm of his mobility.
　Marion draws Raphael's dagger, which is stuck in Garum's leg, to herself with a thread of light, and provokes him expressionlessly.

''A demonic beast that shows its back to an exorcist is no good anymore, right?　Don't you have pride?　Big doggie.

　Garum rushed at Marion angrily, in a calm way that didn't seem to be in the middle of a fight, and he rushed at Marion.

'Oh my, I'm afraid,'

　When Marion says that, the words that provoked Garum are nowhere to be found, and Marion, the exorcist, turns her back on the demonic beast and flees. Don't forget to deploy multiple layers of the Holy Shield of Light.
　This way of fighting Marion became very annoying to Niesbeck.
　Every time Niesbeck injures Garum, he uses his magic and sacrifice to repair Garum.
　In other words, Marion didn't know if she knew the cost of Niesbeck's summoning of Garum, but it meant that she was forced to fight a battle of attrition that was very minute for Niesbeck.

''You oooh little b*tc*!

　Marion senses the summoner's impatience with the way Garum fights, though Kneesbeck's angry cries don't reach Marion.

(Is this a situation in motion?)

　And at this time, Marion sensed that the fog of spiritual power was about to disappear.

(This, this........fog.......?　(Yuto-san and the others caught the enemy's psychic abilities!

　Marion thinks about that, and for a moment, she smiles in a way that is not typical of this girl.
　Then suddenly Marion changes from her previous fighting style and stops. And then Marion faced Garum, who was about to attack her.

''No more ... there is no need to stall for time.

(What?　(What is this little girl talking about...?

　Kneesbeck did not understand the meaning of this girl's words.

'My purpose was twofold. One was to cover the retreat of the guards. The other was to keep you glued to this place.... But I'm going to stop now. Do you understand?　What does this mean?

Goaaaah!

　Garum bared his fangs and howled as he leapt his dozen-ton giant body, poking his claws out from above Marion's head. The chances of survival are close to zero, even if you are just leaning on that giant body. On top of that, claws large enough to surpass Marion's height are closing in on its body to tear it apart.
　But Marion didn't move even slightly from that spot.
　The mad claws of the giant beast called Garum hit Marion's brain, at that time........
　Garum's claws, carrying his full weight, avoided Marion as if he were slipping, gouging the ground just a few meters to the side on either side of Marion.
　Garum's weight caused the ground to vibrate and shake violently, but Marion didn't lose her stance at all and looked up at Garum's face from below.

(Na!　(What the hell?!)

　Kneesbeck looked through Garum's eyes and down at the exorcist girl.

(What?!)

　Kneesbeck was astonished.
　Marion deployed the holy shield of light from her own head at a half-open, umbrella-like angle, and slid Galum's linear attack with her shield of light. By changing the angle of the receiving ground plane, he was able to diminish and deflect the heavy pressure of Garum's claws by changing the angle of the receiving ground plane, and let the force of the attack escape to the side, a feat that could only be done with courage and confidence.
　It was not something that could be done without a great deal of courage.

''I could see it in the fight. I knew from fighting that I could beat a doggy. But I didn't want to have to summon a large number of demons to go to Mizuho-san's place again after defeating them in a strange way. Our objective this time was to defeat the source of this spiritual power fog.

　Marion smiles with a soft expression on her face and smiles.

(So what are you talking about!)　(You little b*tc*!)

　Kneesbeck didn't understand what Marion meant, and was about to order the cocky exorcist girl to attack Garum again, when Yuto jumped out of the trees behind Marion.

'Marion-san!　Are you okay?　Huh!

(Tsk!　More reinforcements!　(If it goes on any longer, the fog will be too thin to detect!

　From Mizuho's place, Yuto ran through the mountain forest to cover Marion, and was astonished to see Marion standing directly underneath Garum.
　However, Marion turned around and smiled at Masato under Garum.

''It's okay, Yuto. This doggie is done for now.''

Huh?　Doggie?

　As Marion said this to Yuto, he grabbed Raphael's dagger in his right hand and pointed it upwards towards Garum's chin.
　Then, a gentle wind with light arises from Marion, and that soft wind begins to envelop not only Marion, but also Garum's huge body.

(Na!　Garum's not moving!　What the hell!　You little b*tc*!　(What is this technique...?

　Yuto, who was supposed to have come to cover him, was dumbfounded on the spot, and his eyes were dazzled by the powerful and clean spiritual power emanating from Marion as it concentrated on that dagger, and then he finally looked at it.
　The dagger, which had received Marion's spiritual power, elongated as its blade part emitted light. And the dagger was no longer a dagger, but rather a shape closer to a rapier.

''I'm going. Go back to the dark depths, doggie.

　Power caged in Marion's eyes.
　Marion leaps with a fluffy leap and thrusts its rapier downward from underneath the motionless Garm, the mighty Garm that had slaughtered so many of its formidable soldiers, with ease. And Marion didn't stop there, swinging down from Garm's lower jaw to his throat in one swift movement. The rapier arced there like there was no obstacle there.
　Then Marion, clad in Raphael's vestments, landed like an emerald feather.
　Yuto simply watched the sequence of events. Then, Marion turned her back to Garum, tucked the blade back into its dagger in a scabbard scattered with emeralds and macalites, and walked neatly in the direction where Yuto was.

''Yuto-san, I'm done.　Let's meet up with Mizuho-san.

'What?　Umm, yeah, I guess so.

　While answering that, Yuto looked at it. The body of the high-ranking demonic beast Garum behind that Marion, which was coming closer to Yuto, was split in half vertically, and light was pouring out of the cleft.

(S.........great)

　Yuto shifted his eyes to Marion in a daze. The Marion in front of Yuto now looked like a different person from the time of the rookie exam.
　But.........Yuuto had experienced this kind of situation several times in the Demon World.
　Those who have experienced the life-threatening shura, or those who survived against an enemy stronger than themselves, grew up like running up a staircase.......
　Yuto turns his attention to Marion's soft face.

(Don't tell me that just one........fight with Gaston in the rookie test made Marion-san grow up to this point?　

Eugene?

'Oh, oh!　Sorry!　Let's go.

Yes!

　Marion smiled, showing no signs of battle fatigue.



　As Yuto and Marion began to move to join Mizuho, Theintan emerged from the grass and trees and discovered a lump of charcoal that would once have been Mizugard.
　Mizugard wasn't even there already. Probably already headed for Matuu's main force, Theintan thought, and impulsively ran up to Mizgard's maturity.

''Mi, Mizgard-sama!　Oh, my God, how you look...

　Teintan landed his hands in front of Mizgard and lamented in a loud voice.

'Mizgard.......sir?　You just said "Master," Mr. Theintan, no, Theintan!

Ha.

　A girl's voice came from behind Theintan, who thought no one was there, and Theintan turned around in a panic.
　



　A few hours after Mattoo's troops had been attacked, Caliguda, the de facto ruler of Miremar, nearly dropped his teacup on the saucer.

'What!　Is that true!

Yes, sir, it's true.

　In the reception room of the Marshal's Office in the Miremer capital, Napy, Kaliguda shouted loudly.
　A headless man in a hooded coat now sat in front of Khaligda, a man with no hair on his head.

'See this,'

　As Lokiarum said this, he held out a picture to Kaliguda. Caliguda takes it and his drooping eyes widen as he looks at the photo.

''This, this is...!

　In the picture, the young Mathew and Guarán stood with a smile on their faces. And between them, a woman with a kind expression on her tanned skin and a baby in her arms.
　Lokiarum grinned.

'Yes, it appears that His Excellency Guaran has betrayed the Marshal from the beginning.

　Caliguda, in a form of anger, shook the fat stored in his belly and clutched the picture.



　
　A tall man, who seemed to be a rare westerner in this Millimer, sipped his coffee in another small lounge in the lobby of a small hotel in a not-so-large city. And in front of him sat a Millimer woman...or rather a girl. What an odd combination of customers.

''Oh, surprisingly, the coffee is good too~''

Thank you. Would you like some coffee, Miss Nina?

No, I'm going.

　The millennial girl is polite and straightens her spine in response. It was easy to imagine that she must be a young lady of a good family from her behavior.
　When the owner of this hotel found this westerner and this girl, he came to greet them himself as if in a hurry.
　Because this girl is the only daughter of the town's most important person. As the owner of this hotel, I have to treat her to the utmost.

''Well then, thank you for your interesting talk.

No, no, I'll see you again. Say hello to your father.

'Yes, my father, Mattoo would also benefit from what we have to say today. Once again, you are welcome to come to our compound next time.

Sure. I'll see you then.

　Nina stood up and gave a light bow and left the hotel with her attendant SP.
　The hotel owner lightly wiped the sweat off his face and turned to face the westerner with his mysterious connections, who was meeting with Mathew's only daughter.

'With all due respect, sir, are you a diplomat or something?　From the looks of it, you're not a reporter, and you're not traveling, are you?　And right now, Millmar is a bit unsettled...

I'm just a regular person. Well, I'm just waiting for my husband or my friend. He seems to be very busy, so I'll help him out a bit.　But it's a nice town, this Minra town.

　The guest looked affable, his chiseled eyes drooping from beneath his dusky silver hair. The hotel owner didn't pry any further. In the first place, as a person in the hotel family business, he shouldn't be able to directly probe the identity of his guests.
　Besides, it seemed to me that he must be quite a person to be able to summon Mathew's only daughter, Niina, to a place like this and pay her a visit.

'I'm glad to hear that from my guests. It used to be more idyllic, though. Now there are democratic soldiers making the rounds, and things are a bit tense.

You're right.

　When this guest laughed, the owner of the hotel suddenly seemed to be enjoying himself and was so relaxed that it was hard to believe that they had never met before, and he went on to talk about circumstances and even gossip that only people in the town knew about.
　This guest listened to it while nodding smilingly. When the owner of the hotel finishes talking, he bows to the guest.

Then, I don't mind, but please be at ease. Mr. Gaston.

No, no, it was fun for me too!

　As the hotel owner turns back to the back, Gaston sips his coffee once more.

''Yuto's husband, as expected, is late. Is he being attacked after all?　You know, my husband is a.... It's because he gets caught up in all sorts of crazy things after the first request that finally arrives. He is really a person who always draws in worthless things, mister.

　Gaston lets out a sigh, but his face looks happy as well.

'But I'll have to make things a little easier for you from now on - as a friend. I have a lot of things I need to tell my husband sooner rather than later. That enemy's abilities, and the relationship between Matou-san and Guaran-san, hey.

　Gaston grinned to himself, as if he couldn't wait to see Yuto.

''Do you think Yuto's husband will admire me~?　I told him that the country is not only in danger of becoming a democracy now, but an existential crisis. I've worked pretty hard on it too, haven't I~?

　Gaston hummed and reached for his coffee again.