“Twisting heads? Crazy woman? Have you ever fought with these guys?” Cecilia watched as several goblins twisted their heads and fled, asking Rita, who was still clutching her waist tightly, in confusion.
“How could I have? How could a human possibly twist off a goblin’s head? Even if you tried, you’d have to be someone built like Johnson, right?” Rita’s lips twitched as she quickly explained.
When did these goblins ever see me twisting off heads? Do I look like some kind of monster to them?
Forget it, the situation is urgent anyway, and Cecilia isn’t going to dig into it with me right now.
“Let’s go, out of the city.”
As Cecilia spoke, she lightly patted Rita’s hand. Only then did Rita realize her hand was still wrapped tightly around Cecilia’s waist. She hurriedly let go of the girl in her arms and instead took Cecilia’s hand to continue moving forward.
The noisy clamor of voices faded into the distance, though the sounds of chaos and muffled wails from battle could still be heard faintly. The two made their way through street after street, quickly arriving near the city gate.
“Who goes there…?” The guard on duty barked out at first, but then recognized the people below the gate. “Your Highness, the Princess?”
Rita was no stranger to the soldiers, and immediately shouted up at the sentry in the tower, “You’re already aware of the incident inside the city. Lord Angus ordered me to escort Lady Cecilia out of the city to safety at once.”
“Understood! We’ll open the gates for you right away!”
The soldiers sprang into action, turning the hinges and opening the city gates with a heavy rumble, leaving a gap wide enough to pass through. Rita pulled Cecilia by the hand and hurried towards the opening.
Cecilia pinched Rita’s fingers. “Rita, didn’t you think to get a horse?”
W
Rita came to a sudden realization. She’d gotten used to relying on her little wings when alone, and instinctively thought that just getting out of the city was good enough. “R-right, but I…”
Seeing that Rita clearly hadn’t thought of it, Cecilia cut in first, “Can you even ride a horse?”
M
Honesty was one of Rita’s virtues. Hearing the question, she instinctively used one of those interview tricks she’d picked up somewhere. “No, but I can give it a try.”
“Forget it, I’m afraid you’ll throw me off. Let’s just keep walking.”
After leaving the Inner City, Cecilia walked ahead, occasionally closing her eyes as though recalling something.
Since Cecilia had already said she’d be giving the orders and was clearly thinking up some kind of plan, Rita didn’t disturb her.
After a while, Cecilia suddenly stopped, looking back at an unremarkable patch of land ahead.
“From here, keep heading east, it’s a bit over a kilometer away.”
“Which way is east?”
Cecilia shot Rita a look like she was an idiot. “Forget it, just follow my instructions.”
“Oh…” Rita nodded obediently.
Ten minutes later.
“I can’t walk anymore, let’s rest for a bit,” Cecilia announced with complete frankness.
Huh? How far have we gone? How can she already be out of breath?
On second thought, it was normal. Cecilia was the princess, after all. Whether or not she was favored, it wasn’t like she’d ever had much experience with long treks—although, to Rita, this distance could hardly be called a trek at all.
Rita, on the other hand, was used to acting alongside people like Promi and Momoka, plus she had a dream demon’s constitution. A walk like this didn’t even make her break a sweat.
And besides, Rita didn’t need to race back into the city to save all the residents by herself. There was no way she could save everyone alone, so when Cecilia said she had another plan, Rita had quickly agreed.
But if Cecilia wanted to rest, didn’t that mean they’d lose more precious time?
Rita sighed, letting go of Cecilia’s hand for the moment. She strode forward a few steps, knelt down in front of Cecilia, and bent her knees.
“What are you doing?” Cecilia let out a soft sound of surprise.
“Lady Cecilia, let me carry you,” Rita said, scooting closer to her.
“Alright.” Cecilia didn’t hesitate for a second, wrapping her arms around Rita’s neck and pressing her chest to Rita’s back.
Huh? Why did she agree so quickly? Rita thought for sure Cecilia would be a little bashful.
“What are you waiting for? If we don’t hurry, it might be too late.” Cecilia’s voice sounded right beside Rita’s ear, urging her onward.
Rita suddenly wondered if she’d walked right into a trap.
But with things in the city so urgent, she really didn’t have a moment to lose.
Meanwhile, inside the city.
Angus, wielding his greatsword, charged at the front lines. His sword flashed, and a troll’s head, with an expression of utter disbelief, tumbled to the ground, the enormous body collapsing limply.
His boot kicked a soldier who had fallen and was waiting for the troll’s fist to come crashing down.
“Get up! It’s not your time to die! Is this what I taught you to do?”
The soldier jerked in fright and scrambled to his feet, grabbing his broken spear and dropped sword from the ground, then charged back at the oncoming low-ranking demons with a fearful roar.
Though clumsy, his frenzied attacks brought down several goblins who couldn’t react in time, and he drove his spear into the chest of a lizardman.
Angus nodded in satisfaction, swung his greatsword, and clashed with an orc’s battle-axe. Switching his grip to both hands, he sliced the still off-balance orc clean in two.
The middle-aged Lord of the City stomped onto the orc’s halved corpse, raising his sword high.
“Soldiers of Solus City! These filthy demons dare to set foot on our land! To burn our homes! For the people of Solus City! For the wives and children waiting for us at home! Fight on! Stay alive! When we win, tell them of this victory—let it be the laughter at our table!”
The soldiers, still fighting, responded in unison with excited shouts.
“Uoooooh!”
M
“Kill them! For Solus City!”
“To protect our families!”
“For my wife’s war drums and thunder!”
“How disgusting! Look at what kind of men you’ve raised!” A spirited, irreverent female voice rang out alongside her greatsword. The fully-armored swordswoman swung her blade like cutting grass, mowing down a swath of demons. “Old man, enough with the speeches, just kill a few more—that’s what counts!”
Behind Maggie, the ranks of soldiers with great shields advanced like a wheel of steel toward the great gate, shielding fleeing citizens and the wounded, crushing any demons in their way into paste.
“Ooooh! For General Maggie!” Another soldier cheered, but shrank back when Angus shot him a look even scarier than the oncoming demons.
“That one shouting for me! I’ve got your face memorized. When we’re done, you owe me a drink!” Maggie just grinned, swinging her sword again. The blade ran through a troll from chin to crown.
Maggie’s heroic presence made the soldiers even more fired up.
“For General Maggie! I’ll buy you a drink too!”
“Me too! General Maggie is a genius! General Maggie is peerless!”
“
“A young girl like you, drinking?” Angus grumbled, but his sword only swung harder, as if venting all the frustration these men caused him.
With the soldiers surrounding them, the demons’ numbers rapidly dwindled, and the situation was nearly under control.
Only Jonny looked troubled, focused with the other magi on deciphering the runes covering the giant gate.
The wind at the top of Solus City was strong, riffling the stack of books at Jonny’s side.
“Teacher, is it really alright for us to be doing this here?”
“Want to join the fight? Go ahead, I won’t stop you! If you want to use your biggest fireball to roast those bastards, be my guest! If you think that’s right, go do it!” Jonny snapped.
“Hey now, deciphering this magic circle is the top priority! So many have died already—it could activate at any time, so we have to race against the clock,” another magus whispered.
Someone else quietly asked, “Can’t we just destroy the gate?”
Someone immediately pointed at the fighting by the gate. “You think Master Jonny hasn’t suggested that to the Lord already? If it were possible, it would’ve been done by now! That stone gate’s already protected by layers of magic. Even if you tried to smash it, it’d take time. Look at us—do we have time?”
“This magic circle has not only teleportation magic and energy magic, but defensive spells, too. So many things all built into the same formation, and each uses completely different magical logic. The one who set this up… is probably far stronger than even I am,” Jonny sighed.
“Stronger than you, Master? Then…”
“Yes, at the very least, they’d need knowledge on the level of a court mage.”
Cecilia felt light as she lay on Rita’s back—just as Rita always felt about Cecilia: like a feather.
The slender thigh Rita held, the chest pressed to her back, gently rising and falling—they were all so light, and yet Rita could keenly sense Cecilia’s real weight.
That weight didn’t slow Rita at all. She was running at her fastest speed.
Cecilia’s heart was pounding as well—maybe from the speed, maybe from the way her chin brushed Rita’s shoulder, or the slight friction of her arms around Rita’s neck.
“Tired?”
Cecilia asked in Rita’s ear.
“Not at all,” Rita replied, shifting her grip slightly. Taking advantage of Cecilia’s question, she finally found the chance to voice something that had been stuck in her mind for a long time, however trivial it was.
“Lady Cecilia, you knew I’d do this all along, didn’t you?”
Cecilia, as always, never withheld her praise.
“Yes, when your master is tired, it’s your job to carry her onward. You’ve gotten so much smarter, Rita. I’m very pleased.”
I knew it! I knew I walked right into her trap!
How could I let this woman have me dancing in the palm of her hand?
Honestly, it was my own resolve to run away that wasn’t strong enough. If it had been the old me, I’d have left these people and Cecilia behind and flown out of this mess with my little wings.
Rita shook her head, throwing away all those messy thoughts.
“By the way, where are we going?”
“Mm, we’re almost there.” Cecilia let go of Rita’s neck and pointed at a small cluster of buildings up ahead. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s our destination.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.