The day of fierce battle dawned.

The knights prepared their swords, and the mages their staffs, to climb the mountain.

Ken agreed to guide the way in front with Arasila, while Albi would follow behind with Demian.

Still displeased that she was in charge of the front, Demian approached Arasila, who was checking the magic stone state of her staff.

“My lady, it’s still not too late to change. Why don’t you hand over the front to me?”

“Not a chance. Are you saying you want to meekly provide support from behind?”

Arasila playfully pointed her staff at Demian and wrinkled her nose.

Demian pressed his forehead and sighed. Having failed to change her mind until the end, he was left with only one option.

“Then at least take Isaac as your guard.”

“No, Demian. Do I look that weak to you?”

Demian shook his head firmly at that question.

Though he had subjective impressions as someone who had experienced confrontation, objectively speaking, Arasila was by no means weak. If one had seen her fight even once, they couldn’t say such things.

Yet, there was only one reason Demian urged Arasila to take a guard.

“It’s because I want to put my mind at ease.”

Though he trusted Arasila’s skills, six high-level magical beasts were by no means easy opponents.

Even if Arasila were to fall into danger, Demian, who had to lead the knights from the rear, couldn’t be by her side.

She had volunteered to be at the vanguard to prevent his death, and he couldn’t focus on the battle while worrying about that.

So the next best solution he came up with was to at least have Isaac stay by her side.

“I know you don’t need anyone’s protection, but I still want at least one person to be by your side in my stead.”

Reading his heart from the desperate look in his eyes, Arasila let out a small groan.

“Hmm, but isn’t the vice-captain of the knights too much?”

“It has to be someone of Isaac’s caliber to fight alongside you at the front. Anyone below that would more likely hinder you.”

That was also true, so after some deliberation, Arasila accepted the proposal. She could no longer ignore Demian’s earnest gaze.

“Alright. Then I’ll take Lord Wind with me. Will that put your mind at ease?”

“Yes, much more so.”

Indeed, Demian’s expression visibly softened. Arasila shook her head as if to say he was hopeless.

Shortly after Demian left, Isaac approached her.

“My lady, I look forward to working with you. If a dangerous situation arises, please don’t hesitate to hide behind me.”

He said, bowing his head respectfully. Arasila wore a faint smile.

“Is that so? So when a magical beast attacks, should I not use defensive magic and instead go behind you?”

“…I apologize, let me rephrase that. I’ll try not to hinder you, and I hope we can fend off the magical beasts’ attacks together.”

The quick-witted Isaac promptly corrected his words.

Arasila, with a satisfied expression, gestured for him to follow. Isaac moved like a shadow, sticking close behind Arasila.

Sally’s eyes widened as she saw her senior approaching with a knight in tow.

“Senior, why is Lord Wind coming along?”

“He says he wants to be in charge of my guard. So I specially decided to let him join us.”

“Yes, that’s right. I look forward to working with you, Miss Sally.”

Isaac greeted her with a kind smile. Sally bowed her head reflexively.

She whispered worriedly to Arasila in a hushed voice.

“Will it be alright with a knight mixed in? If our magic were to accidentally miss…”

“That’s why you need to focus and attack carefully. Unless you want to send an innocent knight as a sacrificial lamb.”

At the heartless reply, Sally turned pale and stepped back. She couldn’t even imagine what would happen if she accidentally harmed Isaac, a noble young master.

She glanced uncomfortably at Isaac and gradually moved away.

The reactions were similar when introducing Isaac to the other mages.

If they were nobles, they were uncomfortable because he was a knight, and if they were commoners, they were doubly uncomfortable due to the added reason of social status.

What was unexpected was that Isaac behaved amiably despite such reactions from the mages.

‘Is this also why Lord Wind was assigned to me?’

Because Isaac had a personality that could somewhat smoothly mingle with the mages among the knights.

Seeing him confidently sticking by her side despite the piercing gazes, it seemed like a plausible guess.

Arasila stood at the very front of the procession, with Ken on her left and Isaac on her right.

When the scouts who had gone early in the morning to locate the magical beasts returned, the subjugation team also began to move.

Ken advanced resolutely towards the location indicated by the scouts. He even climbed the mountain without getting lost once, without even looking at a map.

The subjugation team tried to move as silently as possible, muffling their footsteps. This was to prevent the magical beasts from sensing their presence and fleeing.

About an hour after they started climbing the mountain with their mouths tightly shut.

“It’s around here.”

At Ken’s soft whisper, Arasila raised her hand. The mages following behind came to a halt all at once.

Arasila used a scouting spell, dispersing magical power in all directions. After carefully searching the area, the magical beasts were quickly discovered.

“There’s a cave within a 50-meter radius. They’re huddled together inside.”

As she flicked her hand twice, the mages raised their staffs and prepared to attack.

Slowly approaching the cave in that state, the figures of the magical beasts soon came into view.

The magical beasts, which looked like giant maggots with a deep purple hue, were crawling around inside the cave. Some people made gestures as if they were about to vomit, frowning.

Honestly, Arasila also furrowed her brow, finding it disgusting. Isaac’s expression wasn’t very pleasant either.

“Since it’s repulsive, let’s end this quickly.”

Quickly counting the number of magical beasts with her eyes and confirming that all six were present, Arasila raised her staff to signal.

The group of mages split in half with Arasila as the center. Half of them formed a protective barrier surrounding the entire group, while the other half spread out to the sides and unleashed attack spells.

Magic orbs rained down on the magical beasts like meteors from all directions.

“Keeeeek!”

“Kueeek!”

The magical beasts, ambushed suddenly, burst out of the cave, twisting their bodies and screaming. They were peacefully crawling around just a moment ago, but now they started rampaging and thrashing about.

Thump, thump.

Every time the magical beasts moved, the ground shook and trees crumbled with a cracking sound.

Then, an unidentified liquid gushed out from their writhing mouths. Everything that thick, yellow, sticky liquid touched melted away.

“Everyone be careful not to get hit by that liquid!”

Arasila warned loudly while aiming her attacks at the magical beasts’ mouths.

However, as they were frantically thrashing about, feeling their lives threatened, it wasn’t easy to aim.

Isaac, standing beside Arasila with his sword drawn, muttered softly.

“Wow, I really feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Hold it in, we’re not done yet.”

Arasila glanced sideways at half of the six magical beasts escaping to the side. Those would probably be handled by the Crimson Hawk Knights in charge of the rear.

‘Just in case, I should take care of these quickly and go help them.’

Arasila drew several times more magical power than usual into her staff’s magic stone. Then she concentrated and fired it all into the magical beast’s mouth.

“Keeeek―!”

With a dying scream, one magical beast collapsed. After twitching slightly one last time, it soon fell silent.

Arasila, who had quickly discerned the enemy’s weakness, shouted towards the mages.

“Attack the mouth! We can finish them in one go that way!”

Hearing those words, the mages focused their attacks on the magical beasts’ mouths.

As one fell, the remaining two seemed to feel a greater sense of crisis and thrashed about even more violently than before, spewing liquid in all directions.

Then, in an instant.

“Ahhh! W-What is that?”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to someone’s shout. One of the magical beasts that had been writhing in agony suddenly stopped, and its mouth started to split open from the center.

Just as they thought it might have been hit by a misplaced attack, the body split in two began to take shape as separate individuals.

It was attempting self-division right before their eyes, as they had been warned about beforehand.

“It’s trying to divide! Kill that one first!”

Those who were startled quickly poured out attacks. Fortunately, both creatures that hadn’t fully formed were quickly dispatched and fell to the ground.

While the mages were engaged in such an intense battle at the front, the Crimson Hawk Knights were also struggling quite a bit to deal with the magical beasts on their side.

Since they couldn’t attack from a distance like the mages, they approached in a formation where several knights pressured one magical beast at a time.

“Attack the body all at once to kill it!”

Following Demian’s command, the knights moved in perfect unison. Having worked together for a long time, they coordinated their movements without needing to speak, ensuring their paths didn’t overlap.

With precise movements, they stabbed and slashed specific areas with their swords, cutting off the magical beasts’ breath.

Demian took charge of the first and last attacks that were too dangerous to entrust to his subordinates, bringing down the magical beasts.

By the time they had eliminated the last magical beast in the front and came down to the rear, the others had also finished the battle by cutting the last remaining magical beast in half.

They had perfectly eliminated all six magical beasts without letting a single one escape.

“Wooooah, it’s over!”

“We’ve defeated the magical beasts!”

Knights and mages alike, the entire subjugation team cheered in unison.

Demian and Arasila, confirming each other’s safety, also let out sighs of relief.

Just as they were about to roughly reorganize their ranks to descend the mountain.

Boom―.

An ominous sound shook the earth. Everyone looked towards the cave with startled expressions. Vibrations were spreading from there.

Boom boom―.

The cave shook violently, and soon something glowing brightly appeared from inside the pitch-black entrance.

It was scraping against the cave entrance with just its body, struggling to crawl out.

Finally, bursting out as if breaking through the stone walls, was a magical beast that looked exactly like the ones they had just defeated, but more than twice the size.

“…We’re screwed.”

Someone quietly muttered, expressing everyone’s feelings.

Oscar Vandermir had a nasty temperament.

He was an extremely fickle man who would quickly lose interest in something after obtaining it, even if he had been fascinated by it initially.

He quickly grew tired of the mansion maid he had seduced as soon as he arrived in the capital, after just a few days.

Ignoring the maid who was crying and wailing at his sudden change of heart and cold treatment, he sent her away and thought while yawning widely.

‘Phew… Now that I’ve warmed up a bit, shall I start for real?’

In fact, playing around with the maid was merely a warm-up before he began seriously seducing Iris.

Just then, a report from his servant detailing Iris’s whereabouts and schedule came up. Oscar hummed a tune as he unfolded it.

「Meeting scheduled with Eric Roberts tomorrow at 2 PM.

※ VIP seats reserved at the Parkshian Opera House.」

Oscar narrowed his eyes as he read the last sentence.

The first step in stealing Iris Hugo from Eric Roberts was simple.

“Reserve a seat for me next to them as well.”

For now, it was to follow and interfere with their date.