Chapter 777

As we were heading south, going around the horde of antidemons, we heard some heavy metallic sounds behind us.

That's probably the dwarves beginning their assault. The antidemons had been aware of the dwarves for some time, and began to adjust their movements.

Their eyes, which had been looking east, now turned to the west behind them.

The commander must be responding by splitting the horde in half. The left and right flanks of the army were thinning out in the center of the field.

『And that thin part is where we should target.』

「Nn. Guys, when we get a little further ahead, we'll move in on the center.」

「Got it!」

Diggins replied in kind, but the other adventurers were apprehensive. The sight of a 20,000-strong army must have been terrifying for them.

「Don't worry. I'll save you if it gets dangerous.」

「Hehe! If you say that, I'll be 100 times braver!」

「Nn!」

「……」

Well, they understood that Fran was strong, but they couldn't be sure exactly how strong.

The other adventurers looked at Fran and Diggins with doubt in their eyes.

Sorry, adventurers. I'll save you if it comes down to it! Not that I can say it out loud here, so it's impossible for me to dispel your fears.

Fran walked further in with the blue-faced adventurers in tow. Maybe I should tell Fran to give them some words of encouragement.

She stopped and crouched behind a group of thick bushes. After making sure antidemons' attention was fully drawn to the dwarves, she pulled me out. Maybe I should bring up the subject now?

「Let's go.」

「Yeah!」

「……Yes.」

Fran glanced back at the listless adventurers. Then she opened her mouth, before I had the chance to tell her anything.

「I can use healing magic. As long as you don't die instantly, you'll be fine. Even if you collapse, I will never leave you behind.」

「……」

「And Urushi is here too.」

「Woof!」

Urushi emerged from the shadows. He had been hiding his presence the entire time, so not even Diggins noticed him. Everyone was astonished.

「Uwah! W-What the heck is this puppy?」

「Grrrr!」

「Whoa!」

「Urushi is not a dog. He's a wolf. If you get it wrong, you'll be in trouble.」

「Woof!」

「U-Urushi-san, the w-wolf. I'll never make that mistake again!」

「Arf.」

「He says he'll forgive you.」

「Heh heh!」

Urushi, I guess you still have enough wolfyness to get angry at being mistaken for a dog. Also Diggins treats Urushi as a superior too, huh?

And it was not only because he was Fran's servant, he had recognized Urushi's strength. How many adventurers would be able to notice that, seeing how he looks like a medium-sized dog and is concealing his mana?

Diggins looked like a muscle brain, but I guess he had a good eye and knew when to lower his head.

「Also, it would be amazing if we beat the commander with this many men. I'm sure they'll reward us handsomely.」

「That's true!」

「Don't worry, you just have to follow me.」

Fran smirked, while purposely activating her intimidation aura. Though I doubt anyone but me would be able to tell she was smiling.

I guess Fran was trying to encourage her temporary subordinates by showing off a portion of her strength.

「Urushi is also super strong… stronger than Diggins. We'll protect you all, right?」

「Woof!」

The adventurers were feeling a little more energetic now, I guess? They were listening intently to Fran's words, their faces slightly less pale than before.

Rather than getting encouraged, they probably felt embarrassed to have such a little girl worrying about them, but it doesn't change the fact that they were feeling better.

『Fran, that's great! You look like a real commander!』

（I was remembering guys like Donadrond.）

『I see.』

That was back in the town of Alessa, where Fran and I had our first experience of participating in a large battle. Fran was thinking back to Donadrond, who was in command at that time.

（And others too, like the Knight Commander in the capital and the Beast King.）

Fran had seen many different commanders in many different places and on many different battlefields. I guess that experience paid off.

「Just follow me.」

「Woof!」

「Got it.」

「That's a good face. We can do this, so have confidence.」

「Yeah!」

Diggins was yelling along with them. We shouldn't have any problems with morale now.

「Let's go!」

「「「Yeah!」」」

Fran held me up high in the air, then we ran toward the antidemons in the distance. The adventurers followed closely.

『Time for a preemptive strike.』

「Nn!」

We first attacked the antidemons in front of us with the Fire Arrow spell. About 40 Fire Arrows from Fran and me rained down on the antidemon army.

Then we repeated that for a second, third, and fourth wave. That alone had killed more than a hundred antidemons. The reason why the number of antidemons killed was less than the number of fire arrows was because there were many antidemons that Fran and I were both aiming at.

「Eh? Black Lightning Princess-san! It's not a good idea to attack such a wide area……!」

「Don't worry, I only hit the antidemons.」

「Huh? You used that many spells and only aimed at the antidemons?」

「…? Yeah…?」

「T-That's amazing!」

「You mean to say that you have complete control over that much magic?」

「S-So this is the power of the alias bearers!」

The adventurers were amazed to see Fran's superior control of magic. Now I could see the smiles return to their faces. They must have been truly relieved to see Fran's abilities.

「We're going in.」

「Hell yeah! Let's do this!」

「We've come this far, might as well go all the way!」

「Don't look down on a Rank C! We'll show them how it's done!」

「Woooh!」

Everyone, hang in there!