Tsk. The Commander clicked his tongue and glared at the Imperial Guard Captain.

“We don’t have time. We’ll evacuate, so you deal with the golems however you see fit.”

“Thank you for your permission. We will prove our worth through this battle.”

The Commander glared sharply at the Imperial Guard Captain before ordering our unit members.

“Did you all hear that? They say they’ll prove their worth, so let’s quietly step back.”

We immediately followed the Commander’s order and moved to a different position.

However, we didn’t go far.

The Commander stood on a hill not too far from the Imperial Guard and watched them.

Even though they were Ernant’s Imperial Guard, it seemed he had no intention of letting them be crushed to death by the golems.

After all, protecting humans from monsters was our Silver Knights’ job.

“Yulia, Karl, Maxilian. Be ready. We may need to intervene if the situation looks dangerous.”

“Yes!”

After responding energetically to the Commander’s standby order, we all watched the Imperial Guard together.

Soon, 3 golems appeared before them.

Kuwooooo—!

The golems charged towards the Emperor’s Imperial Guard, letting out bizarre cries.

To cut to the conclusion, a situation where we needed to step in did not arise.

It seemed Ernant had put quite some effort into nurturing this unit. The Imperial Guard fought well against the monsters without being pushed back.

Watching their dazzling battle, I spoke to the Commander in a small voice.

“I’ve heard rumors about the Imperial Guard before. That they operate secretly in the shadows, solely for His Majesty and not for the Empire… I wonder why such people have appeared before us?”

As I said, the Emperor’s Imperial Guard were not originally those who operated in the open.

That’s why although I knew of the existence of the Imperial Guard and what emblem they used, even I was seeing them directly for the first time.

Meanwhile, the Commander nodded and replied to me.

“I’m curious about that too. What purpose they’ve come for.”

Hearing the Commander’s words beside me, Karl spoke in a slightly cautious voice.

“Whatever their purpose, they seem to be quite good at fighting, don’t they? They’re handling the golems calmly without being pushed back.”

As Karl said, the Imperial Guard were showing quite a decent battle despite saying this was their first time dealing with monsters.

Maxilian, who had been watching them all along, muttered with his usual tired face.

“Let’s find out their ulterior motives later. For now, how about we put them to use?”

Click. He continued speaking while yawning.

“It would take at least two weeks for the five of us to deal with that Winter Queen or Princess… But with them, we could return faster, right?”

He was always one who liked to rest, so he seemed to want to quickly finish the subjugation by getting some help.

Following Maxilian, Oscar spoke.

“I agree. It seems one of them has the same clairvoyance ability as me. Wouldn’t it be much safer if we take turns scouting the surroundings with that person?”

Oscar still seemed bothered that he couldn’t detect their approach earlier due to the limits of his magic capacity.

After all, during the times when Oscar couldn’t use his clairvoyance, there was no way to detect any approaching dangers.

He must have wanted to keep the unit members safer.

As everyone expressed their opinions one by one, the Commander looked at me.

“Yulia, what’s your opinion?”

Hearing the Commander’s question, I looked over all the unit members.

Karl, who was admiring their battle—

Maxilian, who wanted to return home quickly by getting their help—

Oscar, who wanted to keep us safer with the help of another clairvoyant awakened.

Having heard each of their opinions, I answered after careful consideration.

“Let’s go with them until halfway. But—”

Then I continued, looking at the Commander.

“I think it’s better if we face the Winter Queen on our own. Getting stabbed in the back while dealing with such a powerful monster would hurt quite a bit.”

Yes, it would be fine to get their help in dealing with a few minor monsters like golems on the way.

But getting help when dealing with the Winter Queen carried too much risk.

What if Ernant sent them with the intention of killing us?

What if they suddenly turned on us and attacked while we were facing the Winter Queen?

We would be completely annihilated without a single survivor.

“So you’re saying we should only use them on the way there.”

As the Commander muttered that, it seemed the battle on the other side had ended as well.

All of them came over here and reported to the Commander as if reporting to a superior.

“3 golems. Successfully eliminated.”

The Commander stared at the Imperial Guard Captain who was reporting, then sighed.

“You handled it quite neatly for your first time. I was originally planning to just send you back, but—”

He glanced at me briefly before continuing his interrupted words.

“I’ve changed my mind. Follow us quietly so as not to cause any disturbance.”

“Yes!”

Fortunately, they didn’t show any particularly suspicious movements.

For 2 days as we crossed the snowy fields, they simply followed us silently and helped eliminate monsters together.

Thanks to this, we were able to save a lot of travel time, and the unit members seemed satisfied with it.

Yes, if we’re careful, these people could be useful tools.

That’s what I was thinking when it happened. When Reymont, the Imperial Guard Captain, secretly called me aside.

“Sir Schnesternen. Please spare me a moment.”

“…”

I was on my way to gather firewood to prepare for camping when I was suddenly stopped. I didn’t hide my displeased expression.

“If you have something to discuss, wouldn’t it be better to do so later when we’re all gathered together? I need to go gather firewood now.”

“It’s urgent.”

Reymont. He stared at me with deep green eyes resembling Ernant’s as he stated.

“Sir Karl slipped and tumbled down a snowy hill. He needs help.”

Karl tumbled down a hill in the middle of this night?

As soon as I heard the news Reymont delivered, I dropped the firewood I was holding.

“Karl fell? Why are you delivering such news so calmly? No, rather than this, we should call everyone—”

“No, Sir Karl is only asking for you, Sir Schnesternen. He said he doesn’t want to worry the other unit members.”

“…”

“He used his healing ability to treat himself, so there are no injuries. It’s just that he fell too far down, making it difficult to climb back up. If you could clear some of the snow on the hill with your ability, Sir Schnesternen, it would be easier for him to climb up. That’s the only help he needs.”

Hearing this, it didn’t seem like such a serious situation.

He probably just slipped slightly while going to relieve himself.

It seemed Reymont had coincidentally discovered Karl who had fallen like that.

Should I go along for now?

Judging by the fact that I hadn’t seen Karl for a while, this person’s words didn’t seem to be a lie.

No, even if it was a lie to lure me out, it didn’t matter.

In that case, I could just subdue Reymont by force.

“Alright. Please guide me there quickly. Even if there are no injuries, I’m worried.”

“Yes, follow me.”

Reymont soon took the lead and started guiding me somewhere.

Contrary to my expectation that we would arrive at Karl’s location soon, we ended up walking for quite a while.

The sky was dark too, where on earth were we going?

Just as I was thinking that, Reymont stopped walking and pointed down a hill.

“He’s over there.”

“Karl!”

Reymont’s words were not a lie.

Looking down the hill, I could see Karl struggling in the snow.

“I’ll get you up right away!”

I said that and immediately used my ability to clear away the snow.

Until now, I had only used my ability to create ice and attack enemies, but originally my ability was to generate and ‘control’ ice or snow.

This meant I could also move existing snow.

So I cleared the piled-up snow to the sides to create a path, and Karl was able to easily climb up the hill through that path.

“Whew, I survived thanks to you, Deputy Commander. The snow was piled up so much it was hard to climb up.”

“Are you really not hurt anywhere?”

“Of course not. I slightly sprained my ankle but I healed that with my ability too.”

Karl showed me his ankle right in front of my eyes as if to prove it.

Seeing that it moved well, it really seemed fine, so I let out a deep sigh of relief.

“That’s a relief. Shall we go back now? By the way, why did you come so far to relieve yourself? That’s why you had an accident. Next time, take care of it somewhere closer—”

“But Deputy Commander.”

“Yes?”

As I was about to return while nagging, Karl suddenly called out to me.

It was a strangely different, subdued voice compared to usual, so I reflexively stopped in my tracks.