Ren quickly prepared his magic spear, but he was unable to respond to Filia's attack and ate the fire magic, his face contorted in pain.

　After all, it seemed that I was the only one who recognized that Ren was the enemy. It's because I can't use magic on Clarice, Arte and the others.

　However, Filia was here.
　To Ren, Filia was just a frail imperial princess, but the Filia I knew was a magician.

　After being caught by surprise, Ren is frightened and has let go of Arte's arm as well.
　Now is the time.

　I pick up the treasure sword.

　Then, with my other hand, I take hold of Arte's small hand and pull it over to me.

''Arte.''

　With a jolt, Arte trembled, and then I held him in my arms.
　Its body was slender and small.

"Senpai?

Don't worry, I won't hand you over to Ren.

... yes. Um ... thank you very much.

　Arte looked at me with a tearful face and nodded his head in agreement.
　Ren, on the other hand, was staring at me with eyes filled with hatred.

''Cowardly ... you tricked me, didn't you?

'I wouldn't want to be told by a hostage-taking coward. Now what do we do?

　Neither Clarice nor Arte are in a position to reach Ren any longer.
　Ren is wounded by Filia's attack magic and is in a desperate position to be attacked by both me and Filia.

''This........!　If this happens, I'll kill Mr. Solon, no, I'll kill all the princesses and maids.

'I can't. Ren has already lost.

　Ren bit his lip in frustration and gave the magic spear a spin.
　The magic circle painted in the room glowed purple, and in the next moment, Ren disappeared.

　He escaped, I suppose.

　I sighed with a sigh of relief.

　The battle was over and we had won.

'Clarice you're okay!

　Filia runs up to Clarice.
　Clarice had been injured and was bleeding quite a bit.

　Her expression looked a bit pained, but still Clarice chuckled.

''Thank you. Solon-sama and Filia-sama saved me.

''No........it was my fault for injuring Clarice-san. I should have been more vigilant....

'Don't say that. It was cool, right?　Master Solon and, of course, Lady Filia.

　Filia blushed a little when she heard that.
　She seemed unusually embarrassed.

　I looked at both Filia and Clarice and smiled.
　When I cast a recovery spell, Clarice's pain seemed to have eased considerably.
　The wound doesn't seem to be as deep as I thought, so I'm relieved.

''Ugh........''

　I heard crying and I turned back, startled.
　When I looked, I saw that Arte was sobbing.

　She was sitting on the floor, slumped over and spilling big tears.
　It wasn't a wise woman, but just a little girl, younger than me.

　I gently walked up to Arte and bent down.
　Arte's cheek had a distinct mark on it from the beating.

'Were you scared?'

Yes.

I'm sorry for what I put you through, but as long as you're here, I'll protect you. But as long as you're in this mansion, I'll keep Arte safe.

　I reached out and tried to stroke Arte's hair.
　If it had been a crying Filia or Clarice, I would have actually stroked her.

　But I decided against it.
　I reached out my hand to try to reassure Arte, who was looking too vulnerable.
　But Arte must not like me, and he would never want to be stroked on the head by someone like that.

　Arte looked up.

''Um ... why ... why ... is Solon-senpai being so nice to me?''