We left for Meratoni and were well on the road, but in the evening, something strange happened to Estia.

　This time, Lionel and I were ahead of her, and Kefin was moving the carriage as the guru.
　We were having a normal conversation in the carriage, with Ketty keeping an eye on Estia.

　Then in the evening, as we were about to find a village to stay in, Estia suddenly jumped out of the carriage.
　Before I could move her, Forenoire seemed to choose to approach her, and she ran towards Estia.

　It's not like a horse to act like a horse, but I believe it's my partner, so I decided to take Forenoire's will and go after Estia as it is.
'Estia, don't run away! What the hell is wrong with you?
　I told her to shout and I felt Estia's body shake for a moment.

''It's very similar to the terrain where Estia used to live.
　If I were to call myself Estia, the only being talking to me right now was the dark spirit.

'It's only just setting sun, why are you swapping with Estia?
'I was looking outside and Esther started getting confused and the cat-beast man started talking to me, but he got less and less engaged and jumped out.
　I feel like I've been forced to deal with all sorts of troublesome things.
　Can't even the dark spirits see through it?

"Our decision to go to Meratni is final. There's no going back? And if there's any trauma to it, you, the dark spirit, didn't know that?
'I don't know everything about Esther's memories. I'm sorry, but can you give me a little more time?
Okay, but we'll keep going. But we'll keep going. We just need to go a little further and we'll find the village.
...thank you.

　Keti and Lionel came over as we were talking and I'm going to be honest about what happened this time... except about the spirits.
'Apparently Estia saw a place similar to this one when she was sold to the Empire. Apparently, she remembered that shocking event and it freaked her out.
''Well that's just the way it is. The stronger the shock, the more ingrained the memory of being small is in the memory.
Could it be that he was kidnapped by Melatni or one of the surrounding villages... or sold?
Hmm. Should we hurry up and rest in the village?
'Aye. If a demon shows up at night, it won't be a problem as long as the three of you get in, but if you get some rest, it might calm you down mentally.
　I encouraged Esther to lie down in the carriage, Ketty and Kefin sat in the coach in good company and we began to move forward.

　We finally arrived at the village just as the sun was about to set, but something was wrong.

I am Luciel, an S-class healer belonging to the Healer's Guild Church Headquarters. Is the village headmaster here?
　I thought I saw a hint of impatience as I identified myself to the men who were alerting us at the entrance to the village, but when I came to, Keti and Kefin, who were in the governor's seat, had disappeared.

　And when I looked at the men, they seemed to have passed out before I knew it.
''What do you mean...?''
　I was confused as to what the two of them were thinking when they attacked the villagers, but it wasn't Lionel who admonished me, it was Forenoir.
　He suddenly stood up on his hind legs alone, like Willie, and I fell, unable to react to the quicksilver.

''Ouch! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say "burrrrrrr".
　I got up and saw Forenoire's face in front of mine, angry.
　That's how I felt, and I gradually cooled down.

'Lionel, what is this?'
It looks like you ran into a bandit or something, which is unusual.
Aren't bandits an urban legend?
''You may not have had a chance to see the security of the St. Surreal Cooperative State because it's so good, but it's real. Even the Empire has bandits on the scale of sending an army.
　Lionel demanded a rope as he dismounted, lecturing me, so I gave it to him and he started tying up the bandits.
　I had expected a gradual increase in the commotion, but the villagers showed no signs of coming out, and I didn't feel that Ketty and the others had been captured.

'Wake Estia and put the carriage in the magic bag and the horses in the hermit's stables.
"All right. Forenoir. I'll call you tomorrow, can you stay inside?
　But Forenoire shook her head.
　He felt as if there was determination in his eyes.

''Huh~. If that's the case, can I take Estia for a ride with you?''
　Then he hung his head in a gulp.
　Apparently, they had compromised.
'Master Luciel! There could be enemies out there, too.
　I can understand Lionel's concern, but I call Estia, the carriage, to me.

'Estia, stay with Forenoire, as there may be some kind of bandit out there.
Yes, sir.
　I'll leave the dark spirits to Estia, and I'll put the bandit that Lionel has tied up in the carriage Estia dismounted in.

''Lionel. I'll listen to Forenoire's selfishness from time to time. Besides, if the enemy comes, Forenoire will notice, and if he gets hurt, I'm going to lock him up in the hermit's stables as punishment.
Well it's not much of a choice, is it?
　Lionel had no choice but to compromise, and Forenoire looked at us with an indescribable expression, but I could anticipate that the dark spirit would be a force to be reckoned with in the sunken world.

'So, Lionel. In a case like this, would it be better to just wait and see? Or should we head to the village chief's house?
Do you know the chief's house?
'Yeah. I've been to this village a few times, you know.
Then let's head to the chief's house. Maybe the head bandit will be there.
Yes, sir.
'....Only, in that case, we'd have to put the carriage away, including the horses, or they'd find us...
''Huh, that's a pain in the ass. Lionel, we're going to go straight for it. If they see us, all we have to do is destroy them from the front. Those two would probably stun the enemy.
Yes, sir.
　I activated the area barrier and then decided to proceed.

　Although there were no signs of a struggle in the village, there wasn't a single house with a light on, even though it was getting dark in every house.
''........You mean they were gathered somewhere?''
'Yes. The only thing that bothers me is that there are no signs of a struggle...
　We wondered, but as we headed in the direction of the village chief's house, we could see the lights.

'I don't see Keti and Kefin, but...'
''If those two are bandits that can't get away with it, they should have to be quite strong and large to win.......''
　As they got even closer, they could hear what sounded like cheers, and there was a feast going on in front of the village chief's house, but that wasn't the norm.

　Keti and Kefin were being crowded by the villagers as they struggled to avoid the magic of the demon race.
　While wondering why there was no sound of battle at all, me, Lionel, and the dark spirits also immediately took stock of the situation and moved.
''That demon race? Do you think using the Sanctuary Circle will block the movement?
''The demon race is vulnerable to light and holy attribute magic. If you can activate the Sacred Circle, they might not die, but you should be able to weaken them.
If I could, I'd ask you to restore my status quo as well.
I'll be ahead of you.
Yeah. Take care of those two.
Yes, sir.
　Lionel ran quickly.

''Luciel, sister, if the human race does not return to normal after activating the Sanctuary Circle, I will use my magic. At that time, please take care of Estia's body.
　I could hear that voice, but I didn't answer it.
　It was because I had already activated the magic circle chant of the Sanctuary Circle.
　The pallor of darkness spread over the entire place where we were feasting, and the next moment I saw a swirl of light, I heard a shout.
　


''Haha........Haha.......Luciel-sama, we were saved. If this guy wasn't playing with the battle, it was a close call.
　If you look closely, you can see that Keti and Kefin have been gutted by something, and the large shield that Lionel had is nowhere to be found.

The three of us managed to take advantage of the gap between the demon tribe's suffering and the fact that all of the villagers stopped moving right after the demon tribe began to suffer.
　Sweat could be seen gushing out of Keti's face, and I could guess that she was as strong as a red dragon.

''........Why is there such a large number of demon clans leaving the empire? I'm more concerned about that.
　Lionel seemed to be concerned about the demon race, even though he had lost his great shield and his left arm was bent in a direction it shouldn't have been bent.

　The demon race that the three of them tossed out was as tall as a person and their faces were not much different.
　They just had horns, tails like beastmen, and the tips of their limbs were covered with solid scales like a dragon man.
'How could you fight this?
　I decided to put the body of the demon tribe that showed its presence even in death into the magic bag.
　I was a little wary of this, but I was able to finally calm down after I got in easily.

''We'll have to listen to the villagers when they wake up, including this demon race and the empire. Before that, we need to treat everyone first.''
"Burrrrrrr.
　I felt that Forenoire, who came to my side, wanted to leave Estia's unconscious body with me.
''The dark spirits lent you their power...''
　Only Forenoire heard my mutterings and nodded.

　Although I didn't actually see the battle at the scene, I can guess that it was the power of the dark spirits that caused the villagers to fall.
　I don't know the purpose of the dark spirits, and I can't trust everything, but I'll try to trust them a little.
　With that in mind, I'm going to cast the highest level of recovery magic, purification magic, and state recovery magic on Lionel and the others just in case, and I'm going to cast recovery and dispel on the villagers.