At that moment, the black mass screamed and struggled fiercely.
“Keuuuuuk!”
It felt as if blood was pouring down from all around.
“…Keuuk.”
Eventually, Vishnusin, split in half, collapsed to the ground with a thud.
“Huu…”
I carefully watched the scene, avoiding the splashes of blood. It shouldn’t have been possible if the control device was functioning correctly. Monsters for hunting competition should return to their original form once the magic is dispelled. If Vishnusin was a monster created by enchanting black paper, it should have reverted to black paper. But this…
It stays the same even in death. Either the control device was tampered with, or some other trick was used. I wanted to grab whoever was behind this immediately. However, what mattered most at the moment was…
I need to get Redian out of here…
The hologram floating in mid-air for broadcasting was annoying. I gripped the Astra that had fallen to the ground again. Then, I aimed at the hologram capturing all these events and pulled the trigger.
Bang, bang! The hologram shattered pitifully after being pierced by the bullets. With that, the broadcast ended. Only static darkness would be visible in the holograms set up in the audience seats.
“Redian?”
“…”
I called out his name and slowly approached. My feet squelched in blood. The small room seemed to vibrate with the smell of blood. Maybe that’s why.
“Rere?”
“…”
There was no response, no movement from the dark drape, making me hesitant to pull it away.
“If there’s a problem with your knights today, it’s your fault, Siani.”
Ash’s words kept troubling my mind.
He’s just staying put like I told him, right?
My hands trembled as I grasped the drape. Why am I doing this? I didn’t tremble at all when I held the sword hilt and slashed through the monster… As I forced myself to pull away the drape,
“Redian!”
I ended up yelling. Redian’s eyes were too peacefully closed.
* * *
I couldn’t remember how I got here. All I could remember was that Kailus appeared before the magicians stormed the barrier and that he silently transported me and Redian here.
“So, they’ve decided to postpone the award ceremony.”
“Who messed up this competition?”
“Yes… According to the Minister of Magic, it seems so.” Aeron answered cautiously after appearing a while later.
Before even declaring the competition closed, the Ministry of Magic had gone into an emergency meeting. Aeron and Irik attended in my place.
“The situation was delayed because no magician could open the barrier.”
So Kailus had to come in himself… His divine power must be extraordinary.
“Didn’t His Holiness come back here after moving you two here?”
“No.” I shook my head.
So, this was inside the temple. The competition ended safely, more dramatically than ever, but the award ceremony and banquet were postponed. The Ministry of Magic acknowledged there was a problem with the competition.
“The duke was furious, so the minister must have been quite shocked.”
That must have been the case. The minister seemed completely unaware. If he had known everything, he couldn’t have welcomed Kailus so warmly.
“Technically, the result should be voided since there was a flaw in the competition itself.” Then Aeron added, “But it’s certain that Redian killed the original form of Vishnusin…”
Redian did kill the normal state of Vishnusin. The problem was that it evolved due to strange magic.
“The issue is Vishnusin’s resurrection after evolving, but then Princess cut it in half…” Aeron scratched his cheek. “Regardless of the competition’s mistake, there’s an opinion that Felicity won, so the meeting took a long time.”
It seemed the conclusion was to acknowledge our victory. Of course, it should be like that.
“Plus, Princess shattered the hologram, so the Minister was a bit troubled.” He glanced at me sitting on the bed. “That hologram was quite difficult to make…”
“If we won, tell them to deduct it from the prize money.”
I frowned as if their concern was misplaced. There was an accident, and they couldn’t even manage a proper resolution, and now they’re worried about the hologram?
“Yes, yes.” Aeron’s gaze wandered, bearing the brunt of my message.
Just you wait.
I was truly angry. After repeating this nonsense for n times, my temper was bound to worsen. But this was different from just being angry. This overwhelming feeling, as if my head would explode, was a rare sensation.
“So, they’re looking for the magician who did this?” I looked down at Redian again, who was still asleep.
“…”
Redian lay quietly beside me. Fortunately, he was said to have lost consciousness but had no significant issues. I was shocked to see him soaked in blood, just like the first day we met.
The wound is only around his eyes.
Whatever method Kailus used, Redian was cleanly washed off the blood. The scars on his face were clearly visible because of that. The area where the mask was worn was swollen red.
“Yes. They’re investigating now. Since a magician’s trace remains on the monster they create, the results should come out soon.”
“That’s what I’m saying, Aeron.”
While I placed a new towel over Redian’s eyes, I shifted my gaze. “There’s bound to be a trace, so why did they do it? They must have been confident it wouldn’t be traced back to them or that it wouldn’t matter if it was.”
“…That means.”
“Someone else instructed them to do it.”
Since the kidnapping incident, something had been off. Incidents too large for minions to handle kept occurring. That meant…
I won’t tolerate it twice.
I gritted my teeth, tossing the used towel to the floor.
“Oh gosh!” Aeron jumped, startled by my reflexive action.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just, I’ve been thinking about it, Princess. How on earth are you so good at wielding a sword…?”
He had known I was fearless, but is it really surprising? He marveled as if amazed.
“Moreover, the sword you used is not something anyone can wield.”
However, I couldn’t exactly say I was a monster hunter’s daughter in my past life.
“By the way, Aeron, did you send Norma off in carriages as I instructed?” I changed the subject.
“Ah, yes, Princess. As you ordered, the doctors have also been called, so they should be examining Norma by now.”
Of course, Francis, Inein, and Vallentin seemed fine, but I had them examined just in case. I was worried that the monsters they dealt with had any undetectable issues.
“Then that’s a relief. Please tell the butler to take special care of them. They must be very tired.”
“Yes, I will.” Aeron nodded.
“Anyway, the investigation should be over by late evening or dawn, so I’ll have to stay here until then.”
This place was the temple. I felt fortunate that Kailus was there at the time. If he had been even a bit later, given that the magicians couldn’t break the barrier, who knows what would have happened.
“Please tell my father not to worry.”
“Uh… but Princess, this place…” Aeron’s eyes widened. “There’s only one room. How will…”
As he said, it was true that there was only one room. But that one room was almost the size of a 240 square meter studio apartment. To think I’d see a 240 square meter studio in my life.
“It’s just for tonight until dawn, so it’s fine.”
“Yes, but… you also need to sleep… there’s only one bed.” Aeron was unusually flustered.
Bed? I looked down at the bed where Redian was sleeping.
“Well, it’s smaller than the one in my room, but it’s not bad.”
“No, that’s not the issue.” Then Aeron uncharacteristically stomped his foot. “Redian is… a man!”
A man?
“And he’s at an age full of vigor, with great strength and energy…!”
I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. “So?”
“My goodness, what do you mean, ‘so’? Princess!”
Ah, so sharing a bed with Redian, even if nothing (?) happened, seemed like a big deal to him. To his eyes, Redian and I might appear as peers, not much different in age… If I told him we had already slept together (?) once, he’d probably faint.
He’s sleeping well.
I looked at Redian, peacefully asleep, and chuckled. “What do you mean with such a child?”
“…”
His disheveled silver hair covered his long eyelashes. He looked just like an innocent angel, unaware of anything.
“Innocent angel”? Sure👀