“Whew… Iroha survived that fall…” Carol was on her knees, looking across the gap in the direction Iroha ran off into.

“I had a feeling she’d be alright. I wasn’t expecting her to run up the broken bridge like that.” Flanne stood next to Carol and looked over in the same way. The two had just finished a small fight, and she lightly stretched her body to release some of the tension.

“You had a feeling she’d be alright? After a fall like that?”

“She always manages to pull some kind of ridiculous stunt when she needs to. That’s just how she is. Compared to the horde of monsters she fought, a fall like that should be nothing to her.”

Yet she was such a wimp when she first showed up… Carol immediately thought to herself. She doesn’t know anything about Iroha, does she? The only reason Iroha can pull off the things she does is because of the VISS Driver she told me about. Iroha probably didn’t tell Flanne about it.

“What now? Iroha might be in trouble while on her own.”

“I don’t really know about that. Iroha should be fine on her own. But it is very important that we get Bea back safely, so we must move. I know of a detour nearby. Let’s go.” Flanne lent Carol a hand, and the two ran to catch up to Iroha as soon as possible.

She’s really clueless… Does she think Iroha’s immortal or something? Iroha can’t do everything on her own, that’s why I’m here. I mean, she did say she wasn’t going to hesitate anymore, so she might do a little better now, but… If she settles everything on her own by the time I catch up, then what am I doing here?

“…”

----------------------------------------

A demon, huh? They were pretty hard fights every time one appeared in the game, but that hasn’t been the case thus far. They had the advantage against a larger number of our human soldiers, but they couldn’t overwhelm them. Demons are probably stronger than humans, but not by much. Which is why I was able to beat them relatively easily before.

But this woman’s different. Just like there are humans like Flanne and Sarasa, it’s obvious that the demons too would have people who stand out from the rest. Unless I’ve mixed something up, I’m pretty sure she’s the one that escaped because I hesitated. I sent her sword flying before, but she was probably holding back for some reason.

And she still has two swords! The red-haired woman in front of me has a short sword in each hand, even though she left one of them behind. No… That’s not it… Her current pair of swords has a different design. The quality on them looks much higher. Why didn’t she use them before? Was she trying to hide them? To conceal her identity? No wonder I didn’t have any trouble before.

“Dammed little girl… Causing me so much trouble. You just don’t know when to give up, do you?” She glared at me while tensing up her body. I readied myself for an attack, but her body turned into a shadowy smoke. “Die!” The next second, I heard a voice behind me.

Sh- she’s fast!! Much faster than before! She was just in front of me… When did she get behind me? Agility Burst! I dodged one of her swords, but the second one hit me in the back. My black dress prevented the sword from cutting me, but the impact still caused me some pain.

Damn… That was a bad start… With that type of attack, she should have said ‘nothing personal, kid’ instead of ‘die’, though. I guess we’re one to one on mistakes. Can’t let her catch my surprise like that again, though.

“I’ve never seen something like that… What kind of fabric is that?” The demon lady stood in the place where she attacked me and looked between me and her sword.

“I wonder…” We have pretty cool tech in our world, it’s only natural that she wouldn’t know. Even I have no clue what it’s made of.

“Hphm… So you’re not gonna tell me…? I’ll figure it out once I rip out of your dead body!” She suddenly broke into a dash, and I did the same.

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I can’t let her keep the initiative, so I used Heart Piercer during the approach. She could tell it was a stronger attack, so she blocked with both swords. A small cut tore through the clothes on her belly, and a thin red line appeared on her skin shortly after. Now we’re even.

I followed that up with a regular attack. She blocked it with one sword, then swung at me with the other. Why isn’t she using that shadowy movement skill? I can actually keep up with her like this. Does it have some sort of cooldown? She used it to grab Bea, then again to escape, but it seemed like she had to wait for a while. I see… That’s how it is…

Our exchange of blows continued for a while longer. My attacks were stronger, but she could block and attack at the same time. I couldn’t commit to anything without taking a big risk, so I was at a disadvantage like this.

Okay… How about this? I attacked, my sword was blocked, then Slash Flurry! The sudden barrage of quick attacks interrupted her swing, but she still managed to block everything. What the hell? Last time I was able to disarm her with this. Why is it so hard now?

“I see now…” She put some distance between us after deflecting my flurry. “Armand-sama isn’t going to be happy so many of our troops had to die during what should have been a simple operation…” Armand? “But if it means taking a nuisance like you out of the picture, then it will all be worth it.” Armand… huh?

Where did I hear that name before? Armand was the merchant who set Ririna up to attract the horde. He was the one who gave Ririna the fake recipe that attracted the monster, and it turned out he was associated with the demons. This woman is working with him? Is he a demon as well? Why is his name popping up again now? Is he causing problems for Ririna again?

While I was thinking about unnecessary things, the demon lady went on the offensive again. She attacked with both swords at the same time, making it hard for me to defend. If I tried to counterattack, it’d get blocked, so there was only one thing I could do. Heart Piercer! Even if she blocks this, she’s still gonna be receiving some damage!

“Tsk…” Another cut appears on the woman’s body. “The thrust is some kind of skill, huh?” Seems like she figured it out, but who cares? It’s not like she can block them.

Heart Piercer! I lunged forward once more, but this time I didn’t stab into any blades. What the hell? She didn’t even try to block. I glance at what my sword has stabbed, and I see a shadow. Not a person, but a shadow. That’s… That’s her skill!

I turned around just as I made sense of the situation. There’s a sword coming straight for my neck on both my left and my right. Dammit! Slash Flurry! I deflected both attacks, but I wasn’t safe yet. The demon lady pressed her attack, and I couldn’t do anything but block her long string of attacks.

This isn’t good… Because of her two swords, there’s no opening for me to turn things around. She’s too fast! This is why it’s so important to be on the offensive… One sword is not enough for this! If I had a second sword, would I be able to match her?

“I got you now, you pest!” With a swing and a thrust coming at me at the same time, I was faced with a difficult situation. I was still recovering from deflecting her previous attack. Even if I use Slash Flurry, I don’t see how I’m gonna stop both swords. I’d have to hit both at the same time from two different angles. It’s just not possible. Do I just have to take a hit and hope it doesn’t kill me? No! It’s too early to give up! I’m not used to this. The angle’s too precise, but I have to try!

I swung my blade between the demon’s short swords, not hitting either of them. *Clink!* The sound of two different sword clashes overlapped. At the same time, both her attacks veered off course and missed me. “One? Two? Three? How many swings was that?!” My opponent couldn’t understand what just happened. Butterfly’s Wings. My newest skill that can turn a single slash into two in a V shape. Since I don’t have much experience with it, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to aim it so that both slashes would hit, but I guess it worked out!

The demon lady was flustered, and I took this opportunity to turn things around. She took a step back, and I chased with Agility Burst. She went for symmetrical downward slashes, and I used Butterfly’s Wings again. This one was a much easier read, and she was disarmed this time. I sent the swords into the air and kept up the pressure. I’m not gonna commit the same mistake as last time! Agility Burst, Heart Piercer! The black mist again?! Where did she go?

I found her on one of her knees near her swords. She hasn’t given up yet. She still wants to fight! But… It looks like she didn’t escape my last Heart Piercer unscathed. Time to finish this then… Agility Burst, Heart Piercer!

“STOOOOP!!”

“Ehh?” I immediately froze. From a nearby bush, a sudden, high-pitched voice screamed out, demanding that I stop. B- Bea?!

“She can’t fight anymore. Capture her alive, Iroha. We lured out the demons for more information. I have a lot of questions I need to ask her, so don’t kill her.” Bea stepped out of her cover and walked to my side, closely observing the wounded demon.

L- lure? What? Is that really Bea? What’s she talking about? “Tch… I guess this is the end for me… You got lucky, princess. A little more, and we would have taken control of capital. If it wasn’t for your last-minute guards, you’d be our puppet right now.” The demon looked up at Bea with a glare. Why is she calling her princess? Is Bea actually a princess? No…

“You’re right, I also wasn’t expecting my new guards would prove to be this useful. Now, are you ready to spill what your kind has been up to? What are you doing in the capital? What’s your goal? You’re gonna tell me everything you know…” The innocent girl I knew from earlier now had a scary look on her face.

“Kuhuhu… Ahahahahaha! Did you think it’d be that easy? I’m not gonna tell you anything! None of us are! It’d be nice to have more human territory under our control, but it doesn’t matter. Even if you try to oppose us, you can’t stop us. No… not anymore! We’ve already won!” The demon laughed maniacally even when faced with defeat. *Crunch!*

“Oh no…” The lady started convulsing, and Bea crouched right next to her. “It’s poison! Iroha, do something!”

“What?” Do something? Did she poison herself? What can I do? Was there an antidote in my bag? I reached over my shoulder, but there was nothing there. Right… I left it in the carriage… “Uhmm… I… It’s back in the-”

“It’s too late… She’s already dead…” Bea stood up while shaking her head.

“S- sorry…”

“It’s not your fault. With poison that strong, I doubt that there was any way of saving her. I would have liked to have gotten a little more out of her, but no such luck. Hopefully we can still get some information out of this attack.” Bea thought while looking at the body, touching her chin with one of her hands. I’m so confused.

“Is that so…? Uhmm… Bea, wh- who are you?”

After my question, Bea turned my way. She stared quietly for a second, then smiled just like she did on the first day we met. “Well, I guess it’d be fine to tell you. I think you’ve earned. I introduced myself as Bea, but my real name is Beatrize Elablyon. As you may be able to guess, I’m the princess of Ebrilyon.”