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“I’m late but I’ve just returned.”
Having returned to the mansion and quickly finished her bath, Mitina said this to Kyelse, who was already preparing for bed.
While making various preparations for the monster subjugation, the time had gotten quite late. However, being a workaholic, she didn’t particularly mind, and tried to inform Kyelse of the mission as Zeffen had told her.
“If you’re going to be late, tell me in advance, otherwise the food will go to waste.”
“Oh, have you disposed of it?”
“…it’s still in the kitchen.”
“Well then, I’ll eat. I missed dinner, so I’ll have some. Thank you.”
“At this time…?”
Kyelse looked as if she was trying to say that it was insane. To him, eating a meal so late at night was probably unthinkable.
“I was busy preparing for a sudden mission.”
“In that case, come and tell me when you get a mission. Your workplace will probably be pretty much the same.”
“Well, that’s true. I didn’t even want to bother.”
If Kyelse would be there when she returned to the mansion, it would be better to wait until nightfall rather than taking the trouble to visit the Silver Knight in between work. That’s what Mitina had decided.
Also, he rarely wanted to go to Kyelse’s workplace where the Silver Knights were wandering around.
“What mission is that? If it’s the Black Iron Knights’ jurisdiction… subjugating a demonic beast?”
“You’re right. It looks like this will take more work than I expected, so I’ve decided to leave the mansion vacant for a while.”
In my head, I could picture Kyelse laughing and saying how comfortable it must be for her to have that plain, ugly girl out of my sight. I thought that this man would be happy to temporarily stop living with me.
However, Kyelse stopped trimming her nails and looked at Mitina with a serious expression. Just as she was surprised by her unexpected reaction, his dignified voice echoed throughout the room.
“How many demonic beasts do you expect? How many Black Iron Knights will you mobilize? What are your plans for the annihilation route, formation, and weapon preparations?”
“picture?”
“There’s no way it hasn’t been decided yet. I can’t imagine that Zeffen is that weak-willed.”
For a moment, hearing that story, I wondered what on earth she was up to. However, judging from Kyelse’s expression, it seemed that she probably wasn’t planning anything sinister.
“There’s no need to ask for your help, Kyelse. Captain Zeffen himself made the final decisions on the size of the horde of demonic beasts, the number of our troops, the route, and the formation. We’ll be ready in plenty of time for the deadline.”
“There might be a hole!”
“We’re used to defeating magical beasts, you know? It’s outside of your jurisdiction, Silver Knight-sama, so please don’t go looking for flaws like that.”
“I-I’m not trying to nitpick! I’m just, well…”
Kyelse hesitated for some reason, and Mitina tilted her head slightly. If she wasn’t trying to find fault with the plan, then what was her reason?
Thinking about it, she asked, even though she didn’t think that would be the case.
“What is it, are you worried about me?”
“Huh?! Why should I be worried about you?”
“No, I wasn’t worried about me, I meant about the Black Iron Knight.”
“Ha…!”
Seeing him with a look on his face as if he had dug his own grave, Mitina was simply stunned. Could it be that he was really just worried about Mitina going on a mission?
“Do I look weak enough to make you worry? Even if your fiancé gets injured while defeating a monster, it won’t have any effect on Kyelse, who is in charge of internal affairs.”
“I don’t like working in internal affairs. And I’m not worried about you, so don’t get the wrong idea!”
“I see, that’s good to hear. It means that you recognize my abilities.”
“No, no one said that!”
Kyelse responded as expected, rolling around in the palm of her hand in an amusing way. Mitina was exhausted from work, and seeing him like that made her feel a little comforted.
“Anyway, please enjoy your life to the fullest while I’m gone. Well then, good night.”
Without responding to Kyelse, who still seemed to want to say something, Mitina finished off her cold but delicious dinner, then went to bed early to rest her exhausted body.
After a few days had passed, they set off on a mission to defeat demonic beasts.
◆
Zeffen, the leader of the Black Iron Knights, is still young to be a captain, but having been in this role since he was a boy, his abilities are unquestioned by anyone in the kingdom.
“It was a pretty large group, but it’s going surprisingly well. Well, it seems that none of the monster exterminations that Commander Zeffen has dispatched have failed, let alone resulted in any fatalities.”
“Vite, the operation is still in progress. Don’t waste your time.”
A little over a week had passed since the operation was put into action. In the forest off the highway, under Zeffen’s command, the monster extermination was proceeding smoothly.
Already, more than half of the estimated number of magical beasts have been defeated. However, this is a rather high estimate, so it can be said that only a very small number actually remain.
“The commander himself is trying to hunt down all the special specimens, right? It’s almost over.”
“When you say that it just sounds like a flag.”
Mitina, who was constantly on guard, looked around, but then she found what looked like animal tracks. The claw marks that seemed to have dug into the ground were too large to have been made by a wild animal.
(…The soil has changed color. Is it a special specimen?)
Up until now he hadn’t really left any traces behind, but now he left behind claw marks large enough to tell where he had gone.
Was this a trap, or was he so cornered that he didn’t have time to cover his tracks? Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say.
(Our destination is… the supply depot is nearby. The commander is heading in the opposite direction…)
Naturally, there are guards stationed at the supply depot, but they would not escape unscathed if attacked by a special individual. This is why Zeffen takes the initiative in hunting down special individuals.
Unfortunately, we can’t get help from Zeffen right away. In this case, the basic strategy is to hold back and wait for help.
(If it’s a special individual that also has poison or curses, I’ll be worried about my current equipment, but I can’t just leave a special individual that escaped the commander’s capture. Besides…)
After checking to see if there were any antidotes or substitute curse-receiving devices, Mitina turned her gaze to Vite who was nearby.
“You go to the contact and tell the commander where to get to the supply depot. I’ll follow the claw tracks on my own.”
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Have you found something dangerous?”
“You’ll only get in the way, and it might even make things worse. Go and call the captain as soon as possible.”
Leaving that behind, Mitina tried to silence her footsteps as much as possible and began to follow the tracks left on the ground while holding her bayonet tightly.
Mitina had never defeated a demonic beast before; she had done so many times. When she was a new recruit, she struggled in many ways with the harsh environment, but now she had gotten used to it.
To begin with, she was used to living in a difficult environment. She had never experienced extreme hunger, had a poor place to sleep, or even had no time to worry about keeping herself clean.
If I had been just a little bit more unlucky, I might have died. I think about this many times when I think back to my childhood.
That’s why he was determined to repay the favor, even if it meant sacrificing his entire life.
(Defeat magical beasts is a good-paying job. At this scale, the allowance seems to be generous, and if you can take down a special beast by yourself, you should even get a special reward.)
It was something that was always on her mind, so much so that it was something she rarely thought about herself.
Then this winter will be peaceful.
For a moment, I remembered the familiar cold that pierced my skin and relaxed my tension.
Something came charging in with incredible force from between the trees beside me.
It is a quadrupedal magical beast with sharp claws and fangs.
“!”
He leans back and somehow manages to avoid the large claws that are swung at him. If his body had been a little thicker, the wounds would have been shallow.
“Ah, I’m glad I have a flat chest and a flat body type…!”
Mitina quickly regained her balance and fired a magic bullet. It was an explosive type that would deal damage even if it hit the ground nearby, but the agile monster would circle around it faster than the bullet could hit the ground.
(Four-legged animals have different mobility and are faster.)
With a fearless smile on her face as she faced the imminent danger, Mitina deflected the attacking claws with the sword attached to the end of the gun barrel. At the same time, she pulled the trigger again, shooting the demon beast through the joint of its front leg.
The roar of the monster echoed nearby, numbing her hearing. Mitina flinched for a moment, but she pointed her gun forward, aware of the danger.
(If we don’t take the hits seriously, now――!)
–It’s not like I’m so obsessed with life that it’s ruining me.
Suddenly, I remembered what I had said to Kyelse.
She didn’t particularly want to die. If she died, she wouldn’t be able to earn any money, and she wouldn’t be able to repay the people who had taken her in when she was an abandoned child despite being poor. So, from Mitina’s perspective, throwing away her own life was something she should avoid.
But her mentality is still selfless.
“Damn it…!”
She deflected the sharp claws with a powerful kick, leaving a shallow red line on her calf. But without even caring about that, she thrust the gun and sword together into the beast’s mouth with precision, even in her unstable position.
“– That’s it.”
If she pulled the trigger, she would be hit with the sound of gunfire and the death throes of the beast at close range. But she didn’t flinch, and after firing several shots at it, she saw that the beast had completely fallen silent, and then she took a deep breath and pulled out the gun.
The excitement of the battle had made his head feel feverish, and even though he was dazzled by the prize, he couldn’t help but praise himself for his precise movements.
“Ah, so Commander Zeffen told me to fix these things… But, depending on the amount of the reward, wouldn’t it be okay for me to stop living with Kyelse-dono?”
Without time to think about his wounds, his mind began counting.
Yes, the woman named Mitina always cared more about money than herself.
“Well, the more support the better. I don’t know when I’ll no longer be able to earn money.”
As she was talking to herself in an excited manner, her vision started to shake and she immediately dropped to one knee. However, the dizziness did not go away and she felt like she was going to get dizzy.
“That’s right… I forgot about the poison…”
Unsteadily, he managed to lean his back against a nearby tree, took out an antidote from his equipment, and injected it into his leg without hesitation. He had been poisoned before, but the time it took for the antidote to take effect was the most painful.
“Ahh… the commander’s gonna be angry with me. I’m sure it won’t end with just a punch to the stomach, hahaha…”
It’s probably because I defeated them sooner than I thought. Zeffen hasn’t come yet, and it will be a while before I can find a place to rest.
“Wait, I feel so dizzy… my legs are really hurting… what’s this?”
Having finally confirmed the corpse of the attacking demonic beast, Mitina sighed deeply.
For poisonous ones, even a one millimeter wound can be fatal. And yet, her reckless movements had resulted in her receiving a small hit.
If we remember Zeffen’s words, there is a high possibility that new types of poisons will not respond to conventional antidotes.
“This is bad… I might die.”
The pain was so intense that I began to lose consciousness. It would be even more dangerous if I lost consciousness in a place like this, but my body was not listening to me.
As she crouches beside the tree, she has a sense of déjà vu. Come to think of it, when she was abandoned, she was waiting for the end like this too.
“A special reward for dying in the line of duty… how much is it… Ah, a secret mission.”
He wondered vaguely what would happen to Kyelse if he died here. Would she be betrothed to someone else? In the first place, the death of his fiance, even if only temporarily, might result in him shouldering some strange responsibility.
Feeling sorry about that, she muttered as her consciousness faded.
“Delicious food…”
While remembering the delicious taste of Kyelse’s home-cooked meal, Mitina lost consciousness.
……
My consciousness kept rising and falling. Even as this was happening, my body was taken over by intense heat and pain, and even breathing became a hassle.
“-But… it depends on your physical strength…”
I hear someone’s voice. My hearing is so blurred that I can’t make out who it is. As I listen to this, my consciousness sinks again.
“You…! What are you doing…!”
An angry voice rang out, harsh to the ears, and she grimaced. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she was in too much pain to think about it, so she let her consciousness sink again.
When she regained consciousness again, she was in such terrible physical condition that she didn’t want to wake up yet, but her throat was dry and she opened her eyes slightly. However, that alone made her so tired that she thought about closing her eyes after all.
However, when she saw the face of a man she knew, her eyes slowly shifted to his. As if he noticed her gaze, he widened his eyes and leaned forward.
“You idiot! You acted all that confident, yet you weren’t even injured and instead you were poisoned and nearly died! You’re no match for a knight!”
“…Kyelse, sir.”
“What’s with that loud voice… Wait, some water.”
There, she felt a warm sensation touching her hand. The hand that was tightly holding hers was undoubtedly Kyelse’s.
”How dare I touch the hands of such a sweaty injured person,” I thought to myself, when I felt a pitcher of water being placed over my mouth and the cool water flowing into my mouth.
However, perhaps because it was so sudden, she choked and spat out the water. That made Kyelse worried, as she was sure someone like her would be unable to hold in the vomit of another person.
“… Breathe slowly, don’t rush.”
Despite that, he spoke in a calmer voice than before and gently wiped my mouth.
Maybe it’s because he’s dying, but he’s being so gentle, Mitina thought. Her eyelids gradually grew heavy, and her vision became blurry.
“Keep your mouth open”
She half-opened her mouth, expecting him to pour more water, and for some reason something soft touched her lips. She was a little surprised at how lukewarm it was for her because she had a fever, but then warm water started to flow into her mouth. As she slowly drank it down, he put his hand on her hair as if to comfort her.
(Kyelse-dono’s face… it’s the closest I’ve ever seen…)
In her slightly blurred vision she could see his handsome face, and just as she seemed to pull away, Kyelse took another sip of water and gently covered her lips.
(Ahh… I’m a germaphobe, but I force myself…)
“Damn, why won’t my fever go down… This power is always useless at crucial times…!”
He is a man with immense confidence in himself, and it must be frustrating for him not to be able to cure Mitina’s poison.
Then, she suddenly wondered if he had been by her side nursing her like this all this time. Although she found him unpleasant, she felt strangely happy that he was a kind person after all, and a smile formed on her lips.
My consciousness started to sink again. As I continued to gaze at the dizzying sensation, I suddenly felt a commotion all around my body. It felt as if my clothes were being taken off.
Thinking that something was strange, I regained consciousness and again felt the warm body heat on my skin. However, this time it wasn’t just my hands, it felt like my whole body was being enveloped.
“…It’s okay…I won’t let you die…”
The pain immediately subsided as his large hands gently stroked my head. I felt as if my fevered body was gradually cooling down to a comfortable temperature as it touched my lukewarm skin.
As she was gently held in his strangely comfortable arms, she finally felt at ease and let go of her consciousness.
Without even thinking about what would have happened to me at that time.
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