Caroline, who had been gripping her bow and quietly staring in this direction, suddenly spoke.

“Why don’t you stop hiding and come out? I’ve known you’ve been following me all along.”

Even after hearing those words, I remained hidden without moving.

I wasn’t sure if she had really sensed my presence or was just bluffing.

Then Caroline nocked an arrow to her bow and spoke again.

“I said come out! I heard all the rustling. If you don’t, I’ll consider you a monster and shoot!”

I continued to remain hidden and still.

If I revealed myself now, the entire plan would be ruined.

The moment I showed myself, Caroline would realize she was being watched.

From then on, she would be even more thorough and secretive in diverting monsters.

For that reason, I stayed hidden while holding my breath. Caroline drew her bowstring taut.

“I’ll count to three. If you don’t come out, I’ll really shoot. One―”

I prepared to dodge the arrow in case of emergency.

Meanwhile, Caroline opened her mouth again.

“Two―”

The bowstring was drawn so tight it looked like she might release the arrow at any moment.

As soon as she let go of the string holding the arrow, it would fly straight towards me.

Just as I was considering whether to reveal myself at this point, an unexpected stroke of luck came to my aid.

Rustle.

A wild raccoon dog sprang out of the bushes near me and ran past Caroline’s line of sight.

Seeing the raccoon dog, Caroline sheepishly put the arrow back in her quiver.

Fortunately, it seemed she had mistaken my footsteps for those of the raccoon dog.

If the raccoon dog hadn’t jumped out at that moment, I would have been caught red-handed.

After that, I followed Caroline even more quietly.

Caroline walked for a long time, looking at the map I had drawn for her.

Then she stopped. At the bottom of that large cliff Oscar had told me about earlier.

As Oscar had said, there were 3 monsters near the cliff.

All 3 had the appearance of spiders, and the area was covered in a messy tangle of spider webs.

To catch decisive evidence, I continued to hide and watch Caroline.

Caroline took her weapon, the longbow, in her hand and quietly nocked an arrow.

Ping―!

With a sharp sound, the arrow was released.

As she shot the arrow, Caroline simultaneously activated her ability. It was the ability of wind.

The wind generated by her ability soon swirled around the arrow, giving it power.

Thwack―!

The arrow, which had gained even more destructive power from the wind, easily shattered the monster.

This was the reason why Caroline, despite her usual arrogant behavior, wasn’t easily expelled from the Order of Knights.

Caroline was strong.

The accuracy of each of her arrows was considerable, and she could increase their destructive power by using her wind ability.

As I watched Caroline shatter the spiders one by one, I quietly drew my sword.

I planned to jump out and arrest her the moment she showed any sign of trying to divert the monsters.

It would be good if she surrendered quietly, but if not, I had to subdue Caroline by force if necessary.

I had to fight and defeat an awakened one who could penetrate monsters with a single arrow shot.

I swallowed dryly as I watched Caroline’s actions, and in that time, Caroline shot her third arrow.

Thwack―!

The third one was quite fast, but in the end, it met the same miserable fate as the other two.

Watching Caroline dispatch all the monsters without a trace, I fell into confusion.

Since living monsters were needed to create chimeras, if she was acting on Ernant’s orders, she should have captured the monsters alive.

But strangely, Caroline had killed all 3 monsters.

What on earth…?

While I was puzzled, Caroline started moving again.

Towards the remains of the dead monsters.

I watched Caroline quietly while holding my breath, and soon saw an even more perplexing sight.

For some reason, Caroline started picking up the monster remains.

Of course, she wasn’t just picking up anything randomly.

She was picking up sharp hooks attached to the spider’s legs and pieces of hard exoskeleton.

Was she planning to hand over the monster remains to Ernant for research?

Ernant would probably need living monsters more, but if he was conducting some kind of research, the monster remains could also be good material.

At that point, I stopped hiding and came out of the forest shadows.

“Caroline, what are you doing now?”

“…!”

Caroline belatedly hid the bag containing the remains behind her back.

I raised my sword more sharply and asked Caroline.

“Who are you planning to hand those remains over to?”

“Hand, hand over? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just training by―”

“I’ve already seen everything. You collecting the monster remains. You know that’s illegal, right?”

I asked again in a subdued voice towards the silent Caroline.

“Who were you planning to give that to?”

“…”

“Tell me right now.”

Even when pressed to speak, Caroline kept her mouth tightly shut.

It wasn’t incomprehensible.

The person Caroline was dealing with was probably Ernant.

If she mentioned the Emperor’s name here, the matter would get out of hand, so she was keeping her mouth firmly shut like this.

If that’s the case, she won’t confess with kind words. I let out a deep sigh.

“Anyway, drop your weapon and surrender. If you don’t, I’ll have no choice but to subdue you by force.”

Caroline, who had listened to my final warning with a blank face, suddenly pulled up the corners of her mouth and smiled.

I thought it was ominous, and sure enough, that premonition came true.

“I have no intention of being subdued by the likes of you.”

As soon as she spat out those arrogant words, Caroline aimed her bow at me.

The arrow itself might be at a speed I could dodge, but the problem was the whirlwind enveloping the arrow.

It would increase the arrow’s destructive power several times over, so if I got hit even once, I’d be shattered like those spiders earlier.

I pointed my sword at Caroline, my body tense.

“…Are you really going to fight me?”

“Why not? I don’t sense any other presence, so it seems you came alone. And I’ve hated you ever since you joined the Order of Knights.”

As I furrowed my brow, Caroline continued.

“If the Emperor hadn’t forcibly inserted you into the Order, I could have become the Vice-Captain.”

“…”

“But because you came in… Your life must be so easy, huh? Seducing and using the Emperor and the Captain with your pretty face.”

Seducing and using the Emperor and the Captain with my pretty face.

For a moment, I couldn’t hold back a bitter laugh that threatened to burst out.

“So you’re saying that I seduced and used His Majesty the Emperor to unfairly take the Vice-Captain position?”

“That’s right. Am I wrong?”

“Ha.”

While Ernant had used me many times, I had never used Ernant.

Even joining the Order of Knights was all because I was being used by Ernant.

Yet in Caroline’s eyes, I seemed to be a vile person who had unfairly taken the Vice-Captain position by using Ernant’s power.

I could understand this fact even more clearly from Caroline’s next words.

“Despite lacking skills compared to me…”

“Are you certain that my skills are inferior to yours? You’ve never even seen me fight properly.”

Caroline and I had never worked together to attack a rift.

This was because we both had similarly specialized offensive abilities.

It was unnecessary waste to put two excellent attackers on one team, and for that reason, we had always been active in different teams.

In other words, Caroline had never actually seen me use my ability to dispatch monsters.

Perhaps that’s why Caroline was openly sneering as she talked about my skills.

“I don’t need to see it to know. You were born as a noble, probably protected and supported by others your whole life. You’re probably overestimating your own abilities.”

“…”

“I’m different from you. I was born a commoner and worked hard, over and over again, to get to this position!”

Caroline’s cry was filled with intense anger.

The bowstring Caroline had fully drawn was much tighter than before.

It wouldn’t be strange if she shot the arrow right away.

I smiled at the corner of my mouth as I looked at the arrowhead aimed at me.

“If I look that easy to you, why don’t you try to kill me?”

As soon as she heard my last words, Caroline immediately released the arrow.

I was also highly tensed, so it wasn’t difficult to dodge.

I immediately rolled to the side to avoid that ferocious arrow.

Bang―!

The arrow I dodged hit the huge old tree behind me and soon shattered it.

As wood fragments flew in all directions, a second arrow came flying.

I, who had thrown myself to the side to avoid the first arrow, rolled on the ground again to avoid the second arrow as well.

Thwack!

The second arrow struck the ground, creating a huge hole.

If she had shot a third arrow in quick succession, I might not have been able to dodge anymore.

However, no archer, no matter how skilled, can attack that quickly without any time gap.

To shoot an arrow, one had to take it out of the quiver, nock it to the bow, and aim.

As expected, Caroline, who had shot all 2 arrows she was holding, started to pull out 2 more arrows from her quiver and nock them to the bowstring.

Thanks to that, there was a momentary gap, and I didn’t miss that opportunity and immediately pushed off the ground.