As I rushed towards her at high speed, Caroline showed her bewilderment.

“Wh-What…!”

Judging by her wide-open eyes, she seemed quite startled.

She must have been surprised by how quick I was.

However, like me, Caroline was also a skilled knight.

Unlike novice archers who turn their backs and flee when an enemy approaches, Caroline quickly erased her confusion.

Then she calmly nocked a second arrow.

Ping―!

The fired arrow grazed past the side of my head.

If I had dodged a moment later, I would have probably become a headless corpse.

“…Tch.”

Caroline clicked her tongue, seemingly disappointed that I had dodged, and immediately nocked the second arrow she was holding.

I’m sorry for Caroline, but I had no intention of waiting idly for her to shoot it at me.

I swiftly swung my sword, sending a sharp cold energy towards Caroline.

Caroline hurriedly fired her arrow to neutralize the cold energy flying towards her neck.

Bang!

The arrow wrapped in wind scattered the approaching cold energy in mid-air.

Thanks to that, Caroline was able to avoid the cold energy, but in exchange, she had used up both arrows she was holding.

When Caroline urgently tried to draw a new arrow from her quiver, I had already reached right in front of her.

Slash―

I swung my sword and cut off Caroline’s right arm.

Caroline’s arm, still gripping the new arrow, fell to the ground.

Seeing her own arm on the ground, Caroline spoke in a stuttering voice, overcome with shock.

“My arm… My arm…!!”

“That’s why I told you to surrender quietly.”

“Aah! Aaaah…!!”

Caroline screamed, overwhelmed by shock.

Then she pulled out a dagger hidden in her bosom with her remaining left hand and began wildly swinging it at me.

Every time the dagger imbued with wind power was swung, sharp gusts of wind rushed towards me.

It was a quick attack, but not difficult to avoid.

Caroline had already lost her composure and wasn’t attacking thoughtfully like before.

As I continued to dodge the reckless attacks coming at me, Caroline shouted as if in desperation.

“Damn it!! Why won’t it hit?!”

The more I avoided Caroline’s attacks, the paler her face became.

Then.

“Ugh…”

A gust of wind I failed to dodge grazed my forearm, tearing the skin.

At that, Caroline’s face finally brightened.

“I-I hit…!”

Seemingly filled with hope from landing one successful attack, Caroline began swinging her knife even faster than before.

Ignoring the injury on my forearm, I calmly waited for the right moment.

Hot blood was flowing down, but I didn’t panic.

There was no need to panic over this level of injury, and openings tend to appear in moments of panic.

Maintaining my composure as I waited, the opportunity finally came.

“…!”

Caroline, who had been using her ability recklessly to hit me, suddenly stopped her attack with a bewildered look.

It was easy to figure out what was happening.

Having lost her composure and used her ability recklessly, she had completely depleted her mana.

I, who had been waiting for this moment, immediately approached Caroline and swung my sword.

Slash.

As her one remaining left hand was also severed by my sword, Caroline finally collapsed to the ground.

She seemed to have no strength left even to scream.

This should be enough to prevent any further resistance.

I wiped the blood off my sword and sheathed it.

“I made a clean cut, so Karl should be able to reattach the severed arms with his ability. If you promise to behave, I’ll have your arms reattached.”

“No… No way…. After how fiercely I’ve fought against monsters… For me to… For me to…”

She likely wanted to say that there was no way she could lose to the likes of me.

But before Caroline could say that, I roughly grabbed her hair.

Then I whispered quietly.

“There wasn’t a single person in our knight order who didn’t fight fiercely. You weren’t the only one who fought hard. The captain, Karl, Elma… and I, we were all fierce.”

“Ugh…. Hic….”

“I’m sorry. It’s unfortunate that I’m not the pathetic person you described, who got the vice-captain position by relying on His Majesty the Emperor’s power.”

Hearing my words, Caroline hung her head low.

She seemed to have completely lost her fighting spirit.

Only then could I finally let out a sigh of relief.

While I was wrapping up the situation, members who had sensed the commotion came running.

“Looks like you had quite an intense battle. Are you alright?”

I nodded lightly at the captain’s question.

“Of course I’m fine. I wouldn’t be fit to be vice-captain if I couldn’t subdue one rampaging member.”

“Tsk, that’s an arrogant thing to say, but I can’t refute it. It’s truly impressive that you subdued Caroline, who’s famous for her outstanding skills, this quickly. Of course, you found evidence of Caroline dealing with monsters, right?”

“Yes, I clearly saw her collecting monster corpses with my own eyes. The body parts she collected are inside that bag.”

I brought over the bag where Caroline had earlier put the spider corpse parts and handed it to the captain.

The captain checked inside the bag, then approached Caroline with a hardened expression.

“You, were you dealing in monster corpses?”

“…Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Tsk, I’m greatly disappointed. We’ll talk about the details when we get back.”

The captain, who had let out a deep sigh, soon turned towards Oscar and Maxilian and ordered.

“Oscar, Maxilian. Properly restrain Caroline with the binding items and take her out of the rift first. The rest will close this rift with me and then return.”

“Yes!”

The members who received the captain’s orders moved swiftly afterwards.

They used ability-sealing items to seal Caroline’s ability and reattached her severed arms.

After that, Oscar and Maxilian took Caroline straight out of the rift.

As morning was breaking, they decided to move immediately without dawdling.

Those remaining inside the rift had a light breakfast and then took a short rest.

Even if the other members didn’t, the captain and I had been awake all night, so we needed to get at least a little sleep.

For us, lack of sleep was a matter directly linked to our lives.

“Get some good rest. You’ve worked hard.”

Hearing those words from the captain, I sat down leaning against a tree that cast a wide shadow.

The drowsiness I had desperately fought off during the night came rushing in all at once, and soon I fell into a deep sleep.

Was it because of the impatience to move quickly?

After about an hour or two of sleep, my eyes opened on their own.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I immediately looked around and soon realized.

That I had been sleeping all this time leaning on the captain’s shoulder.

“…Captain?”

A slightly surprised voice flowed from between my lips.

I hadn’t expected at all that while I was sleeping, the captain had come this close and lent me his shoulder.

Soon, his gently closed eyelids lifted.

“Ah, you’re awake?”

“Have I been leaning on your shoulder the whole time, Captain? You must have been uncomfortable because of me.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t uncomfortable.”

The captain’s voice was also hoarse, suggesting he had been asleep as well.

He then reached out and gently rested my head back on his shoulder.

“If you want, you can lean on me a bit longer. You didn’t get a wink of sleep all night.”

“…”

As I leaned on him, I could feel gentle vibrations every time he spoke.

Those soft vibrations and his low voice made me feel at ease.

I closed my eyes again while leaning on the captain’s shoulder as he suggested.

Or rather, I tried to but failed.

It was because of Karl’s voice that suddenly rang out.

“You’re awake? It wasn’t because of me, was it?”

Karl, who had been there who knows since when, approached us saying that.

Since I had already been caught with my eyes open, it felt awkward to go back to sleep, so I straightened up from leaning on the captain.

The captain also silently got up from his seat, following me.

He still looked tired, but perhaps because we needed to move quickly, he didn’t scold Karl.

He just spoke to Karl with a frown.

“I wish you’d make some noise when you appear.”

“Ahaha, was I a bit too quiet? I thought you and the vice-captain were asleep, so I walked quietly, sorry if I startled you.”

“…Never mind. We’ve had enough sleep, so let’s prepare to move.”

After saying that to Karl, the captain glanced at me.

Then he let out a faint sigh.

I wanted to ask about the meaning of that sigh, but we soon moved to where the Queen was without having the chance.