Manowa

It was a hot spring trip with the Queen, so they went by a carriage prepared by Yuuko-nee. Kazane advocated using Hippo-kun, but she was rejected by Roger since it was too conspicuous. And although the prepared carriage wasn"t fancily decorated in order to hide the ident.i.ty of its occupants, it was st.u.r.dy with plenty of s.p.a.ce, making it as comfortable as any in this age.

The head knight Roger drove the carriage while the Queen and Kazane"s party sat inside. They were not accompanied by anyone else, unlike the time they came to the Royal Capital.

And now, Kazane and the others were chatting with Yuuko-nee in the carriage.

「Kazane, you seem a little sleepy.」

「I got Fire Principle: Third Chapter yesterday, so I was adjusting the Slicer for a long time.」

「Ah, that.」

That brought Yuuko-nee"s memory back to 20 years ago. Its usability wasn"t bad, so she put it in her list without changing the settings, although these days she wouldn"t have many opportunities to use it.

「Slicer? What is that?」

Louise, as a true magician, couldn"t help but be interested when it came to magic.

「Hmm. I guess the best explanation is that it is a Flame Wall compressed to an extreme density. Since the fire is compressed and thinned to the absolute limit, strong and long range fire blades can be made.""

「No, don"t say it carelessly like it"s that simple.」

Louise, the only proper magician in this group, exclaimed her tsukkomi with a surprised face.

「Well, it certainly comes from the high ability of Kazane"s concentration and Activation Formula.」

Yuuko-nee returned. An Activation Formula was a magic formula that was invoked at all times to simplify the operation of magic, and according to every school there were efficiencies and attribute affinities. Yuuko-nee"s words were not lies, since Kazane and the others"『Window』could be considered one.

Louise groaned while Yumika smiled bitterly beside her.

「It"s painful, that one.」

Yumika remembered being killed in interpersonal warfare and dying once. Of course she was talking about the game.

(I was chasing after the opposing group of enemies when my body was cut right in half)

She recalled that Yuuko-nee did it, though she remembered to apologize afterwards.「Nice decoy」was said afterwards, which made her feel a little down and made it a sad memory.

「By the way, isn"t Zinray-san Yumika"s teacher?」

「Yes.」

The subject being brought up by Her Majesty made Zinray feel obliged to respond. The difference in social position meant they would normally never meet, let alone talk together. She was not a former companion like Mefirus.

「Is Yumika properly receiving your guidance?」

Behind her Yumika made a face like「Wait a second,」but Zinray answered as he pleased.

「Yes, Yumika continues to grow daily at a pace that exceed any I"ve seen in my 40 years. She will surpa.s.s me and reach higher heights before long.」

That was the highest compliment Zinray could give a disciple. On the opposite side Yumika was embarra.s.sed, but Zinray unquestionably told the truth. Zinray was in awe as her teacher.

Satisfied that Zinray wasn"t lying, Yuuko-nee nodded.

「So it seems. Please continuing taking care of this girl in the future. Ah, Kazane too.」

「Certainly.」

Zinray said, then lowered his head. From the beginning it didn"t need to be said. By the way, Kazane was also opposite him and was asking why she was included in being taken care of.

「Fufufu.」

Yuuko-nee appeared to find something funny and laughed, and while Zinray didn"t say anything, he tilted his head slightly in confusion. Yuuko-nee apologized after she saw it.

「No, sorry. As a matter of fact Irichan said that Zinray-san"s inflexibility was like a fly in the ointment. I was just thinking about what she said.」

(That brat ......)

The face of his former party member floated to the top of Zinray"s mind. Though perhaps that young face would be quite different now.

「I think that Zinray and the rest of you can meet with that girl again after this trip is over. That girl is extremely reluctant, I"m looking forward to it.」

It seemed like Iria"s reluctance was why she was looking forward to it. To Zinray, at face value this queen didn"t seem to have the mannerisms expected of one. And he was right.

「If you"re calling her that girl, her appearance must not have gotten much older.」

From the side Louise voiced her suspicions. From the start Louise spoke candidly to Queen Yuuko. This was the result of Louise"s interpersonal skill that allowed her to measure how far she could push the boundaries with a partner.

「Yeah, she told me she was still young for a half elf. She said she"ll grow up to have a figure like mine.」

「Ara ara. But that chest is impossible, right?」

Louise pointed to Yuuko-nee"s t.i.ts. Although she was close to 40, Yuuko-nee looked younger than her age. And although they were not a match for Louise, she possessed enough to contend with Tiara.

『Fumu. She hasn"t shown up in a long time and I was considerably worried about her. I"m looking forward to returning and meeting with her.』

Mefirus laughed from within Louise"s arms. From somewhere in his voice it could be felt that he was thinking bad things.

「Nn, mm?」

said Kazane, and she looked outside.

「What"s wrong?」

Yumika asked, thinking it was the usual monster discovery. It wouldn"t be unusual for ogres to approach in this area.

「No, it"s nothing. There"s just a lot of flowers growing around here. I smelled them.」

After Kazane spoke, the group looked outside and certainly saw rows of yellow flowers beyond the road.

「I did not notice them when we first came.」

「I"m closing the window. Just while we"re here.」

While replying to Tiara, Kazane inconspicuously launched a window and started a private chat with Yuuko-nee, who was already registered in her party. This was to hide it from Yumika.

The contents were:

Kazane:「It"s like someone"s keeping pace with us, is it fine?」

Yuuko-nee:「I think they"re my guests but I"ll ignore them for now. Wait until the next issue.」

When is the next issue? If it"s one week they will have already returned to the Royal Capital. While thinking such an inconsequential thing, Kazane returned「Okay.」

Without change the party reached Caronzo Village and then arrived at Winlard City the following day.

◎ Winlard City, Batroa Workshop

「No, it"s fine, isn"t it?」

Master barely managed to squeeze out even that much. The active Queen suddenly showed up with a「Yaaho~.」He was surely only able to give that reaction because he had a long a.s.sociation with the Queen, around the same as Louise and Mefirus.

Roger stood by the entrance with a grim look. Kazane the and others were outside. They did not want this conversation to be known to people, since they spoke about concrete details of war.

「You seem to have stopped it.」

Yuuko-nee replied「Yep, I did it.」

「You"re saying that Soldard is already withdrawing their forces and what they say is true?」

The two people were talking about the war with the northern country that Kazane and the others had been constantly hearing about since they came to this world. It was a finished story.

「In the end, they retreated without crossing swords with Minshiana even once? Congratulations.」

「Don"t make such a face, Johnz-san.」

Master smiled bitterly at that remark. Master wasn"t sure what to think about the fearsome Witch of Annihilation who, as the name implied, annihilated 1000 Soldard soldiers by herself. As someone who both procured and created enchanted items for her, Master was one of the few people who had a certain understanding of the queen"s true abilities.

「What"s the best way to reply to someone who was able to rout the Soldard army by herself?」

Master candidly told her. To be precise, the damage to Soldard was mainly due to a secret technique『Sunrise』that multiplied the destructive power of『Corona Gate』by collaboration with her summoned spirit Yuukei. The settings were for maximum range with just a little power and shot at the Soldard army.

Although in Zexiaheart"s large scale battles making the range so formidable would just be showing off, here it was a finishing move that caused many deaths and serious injuries. For the commander cla.s.s forces that successfully resisted and took comparatively little damage, the Queen and Yuukei separately picked them off with more Corona Gates and completely killed the chain of command. As a matter of fact, that was the goal in the first place.

「Well, apparently it wasn"t me that did it but a Dragon-san.」

Yuuko-nee said with a smile. It was a lie circulating among Soldard"s army.

As a matter of fact, Soldard did not declare war on Minshiana yet. They had only increased diplomatic pressures and provocations and stationed soldiers near the border. There was no doubt that they were picking a fight, but the Soldard army, which had not even crossed the border yet, suffered a mysterious one-side attack that destroyed them to the point that action became impossible.

「It seems that way. All the merchants coming from that direction say the same thing.」

It took the wind out of their sails ... Soldard didn"t even know they were attacked by Minshiana and suffered so much damage that the soldiers had to hastily withdraw and reorganize the army. And since the mysterious attack was being considered a dragon attack, the final victory was camouflaged by the misinformation being spread by merchants coming from the north.

「The war will finish with this? If that stopped the war there"s nothing I need to do, why did you arbitrarily feel like coming to discuss this with me?」

「I was going this way anyway and you were on a business trip earlier. In addition, I want you to still fulfill the request.」

「Do you think war will still come?」

「As long as it"s not certain I"m not letting my guard down. That way I won"t be thrown off balance, and at worst I can strengthen my position.」

After the Queen spoke Master shrugged his shoulders and said「As you wish.」

「By the way Queen Yuuko.」

「What is it?」

「What is your relationship with Kazane and Yumika?」

Master was worried about it. At least Master had not heard about them having contact with the Queen, and their behavior didn"t suggest they knew her.

「They are friends. If those kids are in trouble I"ll help them, and if I am in trouble I will receive their help, that kind of relationship.」

「Is that so?」

Master did not quite understand according to her answer and so replied.

「Come, even though there are various things to think about, the details of what we were talking about are se・cret.」

So saying『Yuuko-nee』laughed. This led to a heated conversation with Zinray and the others.

After all, even though Soldard had withdrawn their soldiers as they had discussed, the country"s stance hadn"t collapsed and preparations for war still continued. And the promise of funds made here would soon be officially agreed upon.

After that Kazane and the others left Winlard and arrived at Conrad the next evening. They stayed overnight before heading for the hot springs.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Silver Breastplate, Silver Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Carapace Bull Trousers, Berserk Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Spirit Summoning Ring

Level : 22

Health: 77

Magic Power: 132+300

Strength: 33

Agility: 27

Endurance: 17

Wisdom : 34

Dexterity : 20

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』

Skill : 『Goblin Language』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog"s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv2』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Second Chapter』 『Air Jump』 『Killing Leg』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Insight』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』

Kazane:「By the way, Sieg can win against Yuuko-nee"s Yuukei. Even grouped up with Yuuko-nee wouldn"t be a problem.」

Yuuko-nee:「Yeah yeah, I don"t have a chance to compete. A properly outfitted warrior is impossible for a magician to beat.」

Yumika:「Could you still win without proper equipment?」

Kazane:「Depending on the circ.u.mstances.」