“Hilda! Are you all right?”
“Dad!? Why are you here?”
Just as I’m going back to the terrace, a stout man comes running with heavy footsteps. Apparently he’s Hilda’s father.
“I contacted him.”
Says Hilda’s attendant while putting her knives away under the folds of her skirt. I’m sitting on top of Hipota, curious about where the knives went, but even more curious about how she contacted him.
“Thank goodness you’re safe… Hilda…”
“Dad, I can’t breathe. I’m not a kid. I can fight too.”
Says Hilda with an angry voice in her father’s arms, but I can see her expression between his arms, and she looks relieved.
I look around to see if any monkey-lions are still breathing, and hop down from Hipota.
“Reny, that was great! That spear!”
Hilda escapes from her father’s arms, grabs one of my hands as I’m coming down, and looks at me with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Ah, ahem. Is she your friend, Hilda? It’s a pleasure to meet you, I am Hilda’s father. I apologize for the short informal introduction, but that is all this situation allows.”
The stout man greets me with a grace that isn’t really fitting of his appearance, as he looks at me. It’s clearly the formal greeting of an upper class man.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Renystar Struna Hartnicks. Hilda is always a good friend to me.”
I respond with the warrior’s bow that Roa taught me, with the spear still in my hand. I don’t think I can do a lady’s bow when I kind of stink of blood.
Hilda’s father doesn’t look too concerned about that, and continues.
“Well then Lady Hartnicks, I apologize for rushing things, but where is your home? I will take you there. You are also welcome to take shelter in our home…”
“Thank you very much for the concern, but I have already proved myself with this spear.”
I hold out my spear while lightly enveloping it with magic elements, and speak like Roa.
It happened earlier today, but I did receive the pledge of initiation, so that’s not a lie.
“How wonderful. Despite being the same age as Hilda, you have knowledge of military arts. I apologize for being presumptuous, but since you are a friend of Hilda, our family will always be ready to assist you. Feel free to visit any time.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
Then Hilda turns to me with a smile.
“I’m looking forward to you visiting, Reny. But your house is in the same direction, right? How about we go together?”
◇◆
I head home, accompanied by Hilda, her father, and her attendant. They invited me to go in their wagon, but I said no, and I’m riding Hipota instead.
That said, I’m still talking to Hilda through the window.
We’re cautious the whole way back, but we don’t come across any more monsters, and I make it home without any problems.
I’m standing in front of the same house I’m so used to seeing. I take a step towards it, but for some reason my feet just stop.
What is this? What am I feeling?
I strain my eyes, and see something.
There’s something in the air in front of the house. Remnants of a power I’m not used to seeing.
It’s not dad’s magic elements or mom’s skills.
Hm… Did someone fight here? If monsters appeared here too, that makes sense…
I stand still and braced, and I hear Hilda’s father behind me.
“Lady Hartnicks, is there something wrong?”
“Yes. It’s small, but I get this feeling that something isn’t right…”
“Hm…”
Hilda then raises her hand.
“Reny, leave it to me! Stand back a little.”
Hilda activates a scroll from inside the wagon, as her father watches over her with a concerned look on his face.
Hilda touches the scroll with the tip of her finger, and slowly pulls back. And then, a tiny mushroom appears on the tip of her finger. I’m sure it’s a transmuted beast.
That mushroom sprouts legs, and jumps out the window.
It keeps running towards the door.
“Reny, can I?”
“Yes, please do, Hilda.”
I respond, thinking about the fight earlier. That transmuted beast probably has enemy searching abilities.
My response is the cue for the tiny mushroom to start shaking its body.
My eyes I inherited from my parents let me see very well, and I can see very tiny things enveloped in magic elements being released into the atmosphere. And then, they infiltrate my house.
Those are probably spores. It looks like they’re searching around my house.
“Hm… There is no one home. Ah, wait. It’s not alive but… Ah, a trap!?”
And then, Hilda’s tiny mushroom transmuted beast is blown back from inside the house.
Something that looks like a black haze starts pouring out, and approaches the wagon like it’s sliding towards it.
There was no sign of a magic circle or a skill. That’s a curse… And with divine protection mixed in!
There are four powers that rule over this world. Magic elements, curses, divine protection, and skills. My eyes can see them all.
By the time I see what that haze is with these eyes, it’s too late. It follows the connection between the transmuted beast and the scroll, and that destructive black haze is already right in front of Hilda.
To erase that haze of curses mixed with divine protection, I need to fortify a skill with magic elements. But I won’t make it in time!
“Hilda!”
Hilda’s father gets up inside the wagon, and covers Hilda with his body. He grabs the active Manifest scroll tightly, and forcibly takes control of it.
The haze hiding the power of curses and divine protection uses the scroll as a base point, and burns Hilda’s dad’s hand, corroding his arm with that black haze.
I’m finally ready to activate a skill reinforced with magic elements.
“『Blink』!”
My spear is painted crimson. The biggest drawback of this skill is having to say that.
I push my spear with the skill reinforced by magic elements through the window, twist my wrist, and sever the scroll in the hand of Hilda’s father. The black haze corroding his arm fades away.
This 『Blink』 skill has the effect to stretch the user’s perception just in the moment it’s used. It’s great for when I have to do delicate movements with the tip of the spear like this.
I think my mom’s 『Ground Running』 is a lot cooler, but my skills are all plain like this…
“…Ah! Thank you Lady Hartnicks… Behind you!”
Hilda’s father should be feeling an unimaginable pain in his arm, but he looks this way and yells.
I pull my spear away from the window, and activate another skill.
“『Layer』!”
A crimson light envelops the tip of my spear again. I rotate my spear in my hand, and push it behind me. It’s one of the movements of the spear dance.
This 『Layer』 skill has the effect to make the spear sharper when I use it in a sequence. This spear can pierce a rock, but it catches something.
“A doll?”
“…A type of golem… Guu…”
There’s a doll the size of a kid bouncing up and down on the tip of my spear. It’s crumbling because of the crimson skill and the magic elements on my spear.
Almost at the same time, I hear a thud inside the wagon.
“Dad? Dad!?”
Hilda’s father lost consciousness, with his arm dyed black.
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