Common Sense of a Warrior

…….it seemed that a separate unit was probably following after me.

When I was concentrating on listening to the noise outside for a while, a guest appeared to have arrived where we were.

As the door was opened hastily, the man who kidnapped me appeared.

He entered the room in a fl.u.s.tered manner, but came to a stop as soon as he saw the sword in my hand.

"Ojou-sama, just what is that for?"

"Naturally, I plan on using it."

"Ojou-sama using a sword? I do think it would be better to stop, you know? You"d just get hurt with some half-hearted swordsmanship."

"Why don"t you try and see if it"s half-hearted or not?"

I thrusted towards the man as I said that.

The man swung his sword reflexively.

……how slow.

Moving my body slightly in order to avoid his swing, I sliced upwards as I dodged.

The man didn"t let out a single moan as he collapsed.

……did he die?

Before I confirmed his death, I stabbed my sword towards the fallen man"s vitals.

To prevent him from moving in case I was mistaken.

This place only had me alone. ……and behind me were children who couldn"t fight.

I want to minimize the risk as much as possible.

When I raised my sword and swung it, the crimson blood slid down the edge of the sword and dripped down.

I promptly remained on standby close to the door.

And then, after a period of time, the next to come were two men.

The heavy sound of footsteps resounded as they approached.

Before they completely entered the room, I drew near to one of them and took him down.

While the other man was still surprised at his companion being cut down, I utilized my previous momentum and cut him down.

The men collapsed to the ground.

After stabbing the finishing blows into the fallen men like before, I then moved them around a bit.

As expected, if several people were to enter at home, even I would find it difficult to fight.

No, more precisely, it would be difficult for me to protect everyone alone.

All the more so because this was a considerably s.p.a.cious room.

If they split up, I would be a delayed in dealing with them no matter what I did.

However, it was around the doorway, I could force the enemy to crowd the entrance when entering the room.

There was no choice other than to make use of that.

The uproar that entered my ears was gradually becoming louder.

It"s seems that a separate unit was approaching.

As I thought about that, I once again felt the presences of people coming towards the room.

This time it was also a pair of people.

Using the same trick as before, I cut up the first person.

And then, I was about to swing my sword towards the second…….but I didn"t. Instead, I put strength into my legs and jumped backwards in a split second.

Just the tip of the enemy"s sword chased me, and tore my clothes.

The enemy holding the sword exposed a bewildered face for a moment……but then laughed.

"Even though I thought I managed to cut you…….Ojou-sama has quite a good intuition, it seems."

"Yes, so it would appear."

I wiped away a cold sweat while gazing at the man.

…….he"s strong. Not only that, but he was realms away from the three men from earlier.

Though I continued to observe him like this, I couldn"t find a single usable gap in his defense.

The man moved first.

While clicking my tongue internally at his quick and precise swordsmanship, I dealt with each of his attacks one by one.

Clang clang clang, the sound of blades clashing resounded.

My center of gravity shifted slightly. In that instant, the man predicted my next movements and swung his sword.

As I dodged his swing, I took a small distance.

……I wonder why?

Even though it was a disadvantage to have a strong enemy at this time, I wonder why I currently feel happy.

To the point where, at this moment where my life was on the line, I was even finding it fun.

"Oi oi, just what kind of spirit is that……"

The words the man muttered in amazement didn"t reach my ears.

……do not miss even the slightest gap.

……predict the future from the enemy"s movements.

The me inside of myself whispered that.

In the next instant, I closed in on the man.

The man reacted to my movements, and swung his sword down from above.

I parried that, and then aggressively swung my sword again.

In trying to avoid my blade, the man"s stance crumbled slightly.

I will not let that moment go.

While taking one step forward, I swung my sword.

Together with a certain feeling of resistance, there was a crimson splatter.

And then, the man collapsed.

"……If another two people had come at the same time as you, then it would have been dangerous."

If that had happened, it likely would have been difficult to be able to protect those children.

After dealing a finishing blow to the fallen man, I readjusted my breathing.

A small amount of blood dripped from my flank where I had been grazed by the sword.

However, there was no way I could rest, as I focused on sensing the presences nearby.

I sensed the sound of noisy footsteps once again approaching the room.

And then, they entered from the door.

……they were the members of the Army that I knew well.

"Thanks for waiting, Mel-chan! Are you safe!?"

"Yes, somehow…….does this mean you"ve gained complete control of this place?"

"Yes. Thanks to Mel-chan, we were able to fight without any hesitation. Thanks!"

"That"s good then……..for now could I have you help with taking that apart?"

As I said that, I pointed towards the quasi-fort. For a moment, he and those around him looked at it with surprised expressions, but eventually those expressions transformed into bitter smiles as they helped clean it up together with me.

At the same time, they took the bodies of the men I had taken down to the side, so that the girls would not see them.

"Everyone, the gentlemen from the Army have come to save you. Is everyone alright?"

Standing in front of everyone from the Army, I spoke.

Taking into consideration the fact that they had been kidnapped, I felt that it would be better for me, who was of the same gender and was someone that they had spoken to previously, to step forward.

At my question……no, seeing my appearance, Sharia made a face as if she were about to cry.

"We are fine. Because you protected us. More importantly, that wound of yours……"

"This much is fine."

What, so it was that…….-as I thought that, the fact that she had been worrying about my being caused a smile to escape me.

"Truly, thank you. Because you protected us……I am, we are all safe. I cannot thank you enough."

Saying that, she approached me.

"You shouldn"t, you will get dirty."

Remembering that my body was covered in blood, I put a stop to her actions.

However, she shook her head, and hugged me.

"……how could I despise the mud that you were covered in for our sakes? I truly am grateful."

For some reason, her actions made tears overflow from both my eyes.

"……everyone, it is about time……"

One of the members of the Army called out to us in an awkward manner.

Sharia gently parted from me.

……after that, I saw the girls off as they were sheltered by the members of the Army and taken home safely.