Iris stared at the young girl who was standing on top of the man she had landed on. That man was dressed just like the other bandits, so Iris surmised she was not another enemy. The young girl, with her cream-colored hair cascading down her shoulders, seemed to be fifteen or sixteen years old. In these conditions, however, age could be deceptive.

Indeed, atop that hair sat a pair of triangular ears, reminiscent of canids like wolves or foxes.

(A beastfolk...!)

Iris couldn't help but follow the girl's swaying tail with her eyes.

Given their unique metabolism, it was likely this person was in fact younger than she looked.

After a brief pause, the beast girl looked at her tied-up hands and swiftly bit through her bindings with her bare teeth in a second.

(If she was tied up, then there might be other people held captive in that carriage.)

"Y-you wench! Are you with them?!" exclaimed one of the bandits who was located near the carriage as he lunged toward her.

Iris glanced at the two experienced D-rank swordsmen who were pressuring three bandits at the same time, with one of them having been taken out.

Iris had planned to assist them, but the beast girl's situation was more urgent. While she had managed to dodge the incoming bandit's tackle and retaliate with a punch, another one had harshly kicked her from behind, making her fall to the ground.

Sensing danger coming, Iris decided to give priority to coming to her aid. And, just as she had feared, the bandit unsheathed his sword and was about to swing at her.

“Watch out!!” Iris screamed as she dashed toward the beast girl, but there was no way she would make it in time.

(Tch...!)

Throwing her hand forward, Iris sacrificed a part of her armor and launched mana in the direction of the sword. She was preparing to cast a spell to reduce its kinetic energy and dull its momentum.

Yet, just as the mana started enveloping the blade, doubt crept into Iris' mind. Was there even enough mana? Would it really prevent the blade from killing the beast girl? Sure, a punch would be stopped. However, the sword's surface of contact with the girl would be so small that the resulting pressure might very well let it penetrate her skin even with a reduced momentum.

(What do I do?!)

At that moment, a part of Iris felt like there was another way. A quicker and surer way, a spell that would obliterate the threat in an instant.

She started to feel relieved and was about to let her magic type guide her, but stopped when the realization struck her like a mass. In the first place, what kind of spell would be more effective than a kinetic reduction in this situation? How would she even 'obliterate' the blade from this distance?

One word seemed to echo ominously in her mind, synonymous with devastation and destruction. It was a spell she had sworn never to use again since it was too terrible and dangerous to wield.

The terror gained her as she realized she had been about to unleash the power of annihilation, destroying not only the blade but everything in the vicinity. This was what would have happened if she had been a second late in coming to her senses.

Panic flooded through her as she saw the blade arc through the air. Her breath came in short gasps and her hands were trembling furiously. In those conditions, she wouldn't even be able to cast any spell on the mana around the blade in time.

Iris watched helplessly the sword that was about to complete its arc.

"Ah..."

While she wanted to look away, she felt compelled to face the consequences of her inaction.

Against all odds, however, the blade didn't penetrate. It didn't even stop like with a kinetic reduction or bounced back like with that rotund bandit's spell. On contact with the beast girl's arm, the sword simply shattered into many fragments. Even the fragments that hit her left her uninjured.

(U-uh...?)

Astonished by what she saw, Iris didn't pay attention to her surrounding and didn't register that Cyne was screaming, urging her to look behind her. It was only when the beast girl shouted and pointed at Iris that she realized something was wrong.

"Take this!" she heard a man scream before he slashed at her neck with all his might.

The few who could spare a moment to watch the scene averted their gaze.

However...

"Gaaah...! Dammit! That hurts...!" the supposedly beheaded girl exclaimed in a fury.

"H-huh? What the hell are you made of, you monster?!"

Slipping a hand beneath her hood, Iris felt the sticky wetness of blood on her fingertips. Although her head was still attached to her body, the blade had still pierced through the skin before stopping at some point.

(Tch. As I thought, the thinness of the edge makes the hit too localized to be completely absorbed. Just how dense in mana the armor would have to be immune against that...?)

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"... Well, that sure woke me up."

Iris looked around her, and when she saw nobody else nearby, she sent her armor toward the man and overwrote the mana with another spell. A moment later, neither the bandit's arm nor legs could move the way he wanted. "W-what the hell?! Let me go!"

"I don't want to move too much, so I'd rather you stay still," Iris said as she was applying pressure against her neck with her robe.

"I said let me go- Aaargh...!"

She recovered the mana and walked toward the beast girl. In the meantime, she had managed to stand up and defeat the bandit who had had his sword broken in pieces by her arm.

"Are... you alright?" Iris inquired as she saw the beastfolk's arm from up close. There was no damage whatsoever, even though the collision with the sword had been so violent.

"What about you? Your neck is bleeding, you know...?" she answered as she pointed to Iris' bloodstained robe.

"Er... I'm fine. It has stopped bleeding, I think. Anyway, you can rest here."

"I can still fight!"

Iris looked at the battlefield. The remaining six bandits didn't look as confident as before. Still, they had decided to gang up on Cyne and Patry who had already been struggling against many foes at once.

(Are they giving their all to defeat at least one of us? Even though there would be no honor in winning against only two men...)

"Alright, we'll go help my comrades over there then! You are immune to sword attacks, correct?" Iris asked as the two started running.

"Eh?"

"... Just a minute ago, you resisted that blade with your arm, right?"

"I did nothing... Since right after you escaped being beheaded, I thought it was your doing..."

"Eh...? I didn't do anything for you... Or rather, I did try something, but I messed up..."

"..."

"If you're not actually swordproof, Forget it. Go help the other people in the carriage you come from or something..."

"Y-yes!" The beast girl stopped in her tracks and returned to the carriage.

As Iris was closing the distance, two of the bandits locked on her. Just this gave more leeway to the two D-rank swordsmen.

Iris moved her mana swiftly and made the two attackers trip by messing with the motion of their legs. As she was starting to be low on mana, however, she couldn't completely stop two men in their tracks.

She didn't feel like moving too much and sparring with them was a good thing to do when she was injured, so buying time for Cyne and Patry was the better move. If they ended up catching up to her, she would confront them.

(I need more mana. I didn't want to ever show that spell to other people, but I guess I'll have to cast 'Ortu Solis'...)

Iris bid what little mana remained in her armor to start the factory-scale mana generator while she was still slowing down the two bandits with the rest of her mana.

Just then, however, she heard the unmistakable sound of running from the baroness' carriage.

As she turned, Iris saw the three other Sword Believers rushing into the scene as they drew their swords.

"... Really?" Iris couldn't help but mumble.

(Isn't it a bit shameless to join when we have a clear advantage...? Well, I guess we're even number-wise.)

Iris frowned, but this outcome was still beneficial to her. Therefore she canceled the spell as one mana panel had already turned completely dark.

With the combined strength of the five adventurers, the bandits quickly found themselves overwhelmed. One by one, they fell, until none remained standing.

The first thing Cyne did was rush to Iris, his face etched with concern. "Your neck," he began. "Let me see."

Iris stepped back, noticing the various cuts and gashes on Cyne. "You're one to talk. You're more beaten up than I am."

"It's different for a girl. We can't have you scarred."

"Y-you make a good point..."

(Mother would kill me...)

"Remove your hood," Cyne said firmly.

"... I can't, for obvious reasons."

"Then put up your fake hair, like you did earlier."

"F-fake? W-whatever do you mean?"

He gave her a pointed look, and she pulled her hood down obediently after a pause.

From the corner of her eye, Iris noticed the beastfolk making some people leave the bandits' carriage. Among them was a merchant and a small party of adventurers that looked sheepish. They exchanged words with the Sword Believers, but she couldn't catch their conversation.

"Your wound isn't particularly severe but it's not shallow enough for me to just suture it... You might keep a small scar after all."

"Oh..."

(I'm dead. Or maybe I could get away with it if I insist to take my bathes alone! Nobody would notice...!)

After a few minutes, Patry approached, "My party will escort the client to her destination and bring those captives to safety. They'll take this opportunity to call for guards. Feel free to join them, I'll stay here and keep an eye on these bandits."

"I'll stay too," Cyne declared. "I should attend to some of them."

"I'll remain here as well," Iris said.

Cyne nodded, "Patry, I'll tend to your wounds after I've seen to Iris."

The three other Sword Believers, looking a tad ashamed, hurriedly left the scene and entered their carriage.

"... Can I also wait here?" the beast girl asked, seemingly reluctant to join her party.

(Well, I suppose they immediately surrendered to those bandits despite her being a girl. I would have reservations about staying in the same carriage as those three Sword Believers guys too...)

"Sure, you can rest here," Iris softly said, a bit curious about what the beastfolk had done with that sword earlier.