CH 165

“Sarge, stop! Isn’t that a person? And …… it’s being chased by monsters!”

A flickering fire moves from the forest to the main road, and I see it running dazed and confused, with three wolf-like beasts chasing behind it.

“I’ll go first, Sarge, you go down too.”

“Be careful!”

Sarge begins his descent, and as I fly with levitation, the headmaster jumps down with me.

“I’ll go with you!”

“Please leave the backup to me! There, that’s a [fatal wound critical]!”

“Kyaun!?”

Basleigh-sensei takes aim at the first wolf, and her throwing knife is sucked into the back of the first wolf.

“As expected ……! Next! ”

I landed quickly and fired a fireball at the second wolf, killing it. The last one died when the headmaster’s aqua bullet pierced its head.

“Are you okay?”

“Lars-kun! And headmaster too!”

“Lu-Luciel! You’re safe!”

When I turned around, a frightened-looking Luciel rolled her eyes and screamed, then hugged me and continued talking.

“…… I didn’t know where I was, so I went out to the main street, but I didn’t know which way to go …… Kya!?”

“Uaaaaaahh, thank God! I’m sorry, it’s because I’m not good enough! What about the kidnappers?”

Basleigh-sensei hugged Luciel, sniffled and squealed with delight, and voiced our questions. At the same time, Ryuuze and the others came down.

“Are you okay, Luciel!?.”

“Thank God …… but what are you wearing?”

“I’m a little nervous …… I’m glad you found me ……”

When Ryuuze, Makina, and Kudelica rushed to Luciel and called out to her, she was so overcome with emotion that she opened her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

“Sniff …… I don’t know what happened after I was put to sleep …… but when I woke up, I found myself in the woods, wearing my sister’s clothes and collapsed …… When I woke up, I was being chased by the wolf from earlier, and I had just come out onto the main road ……”

I think Luciel can defeat them with magic, but I think it would be difficult to stand up to three wolf monster …… I think it would be difficult to stand up to three forest wolves. Besides, it’s nighttime. More importantly, I’ve been having a bad feeling about this whole thing. 

“Isn’t Luciela nearby?”

When Luciel shook her head at Tigre-sensei’s words, the headmaster opened his mouth. He said that he agreed with me, which means that the crisis situation is still ongoing.

“…… I think Luciela may have switched places with her at some point, probably.”

“But her hair is longer than mine, so she’ll find out soon enough ……!”

When she heard that she had been replaced, Luciel stiffened and shouted to the headmaster. But Tigre-sensei took a handful of her hair from her dress and her expression clouded.

“Luciel’s clothes are covered with long hair, the headmaster must be right …… We can’t stay here much longer, we have to hurry!”

“Hmmm. Either way, we have to catch the kidnappers. Sarge, can you give us a follow-up?　The children will remain in the basket and we will be the only ones to catch them.”

Tigre-sensei and Basleigh-sensei nodded, and Sarge took off again, searching the sky below with his eyes like saucers. I asked him to fly low and just above the tops of the trees to continue the search.

“Damn it …… speak up ……”

“If she calls out carelessly, she’ll provoke the kidnappers. If we find them, we need to hit them hard.”

“……”

“Lars-kun ……”

Makina grabs my hand and mumbles a few words when she sees my grim face. Luciela has finally gotten rid of a lot of things, but this can’t happen …… we have to quickly find her and save her!

While I was looking down and squinting, Patty jumped up and down, pointing. 

“That ……! There’s a carriage running over there!”

“It’s true!”

Kudelica shouted, as if she had found it too. I also went towards them, and sure enough, there was a carriage going through the trees.

“So that’s it ……!”

“Hey, Lars, don’t be reckless!? Damn it, Sarge! Hurry up and get in front of that carriage!”

I can hear Ryuuze shouting behind me, but I jump out of the basket first and use the levitation to close in on it from behind. I could see the shadows in the sky above me going over my head.

“Haaaaah!”

If I’m wrong, I’ll pay for it. I pulled out my sword and slashed the top off the roof!　Immediately afterwards, I saw a limp Luciela.

“W-What!? It’s a child!?”

A man in his thirties wearing armor looks at me on the roof and gives me a shocked and confused look. I didn’t listen to him, and stepped into the back of the cart with Luciela at my back.

“I found her ……! I’ll have Luciela back!”

“Is the girl’s acquaintance? …… Don’t tell me, it was you who was riding the dragon ……!?”

“That’s right. There are others, though. I don’t know why you did this, but for now …… I’m going to make you regret scaring Luciel and Luciela!”

“Shut up! What the hell can you do with this narrow cart!”

A thin man with a gloomy face tries to grab me in the shaking carriage. I point my sword at him, interrupting his actions, and holding Luciela in my arms, shouting at his feet 

“!”

” ” ” !?” ” “

Immediately afterwards, the back of the carriage exploded and blew wide open.

“Guaaaaahhhhhhhhh!? W-What’s going on!?”

The man was thrown to the ground before he knew what was happening, and the three people on the back of the cart also rolled on the ground from the impact of the explosion. He was going so fast that his whole body must have been hit.

I quickly escaped to the sky, so there was no problem. As I landed on the ground with Luciela on my back, the man grunted and stood up, using his sword as a staff to slash at me.

“A kid’s doing such a thing ……!”

“Shut up! You guys are already done!”

“Shut your mouth! Enough! Die with the girl!”

The man with the sharp slashes tells us that he is a veteran. But not many people are as strong as Tigre-sensei. I avoid the man’s sword and grab his wrist before he can return to attack. There are covers on the breastplate, waist, and around the feet, but they don’t cover the wrists.

“Wha-, Let go ……!?”

“Fine. There.”

“Gah!?”

I twisted his wrist just before I let go, and there was a cracking sound, and the man dropped his sword and fell to his knees. The other three stood up and each drew their weapons and came at me. But he opens his mouth as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing.

“Ga, Gadar!? What did you just do, kid?”

“…… I didn’t do anything special. I just twisted my wrist. Well, I think I broke a bone?”

“……!?”

The kidnappers took a step back, as if my words had given them a shiver.

And then–

“Now then, you can’t get away anymore. Give up.”

“D- …… Dra-, gon ……!?”

Sarge landed behind the three kidnappers, roaring in anger, and Ryuuze and the teachers came down from the basket.

“Well then, you’ve kidnapped my student, I hope that you’re ready for this?”

“It’s better if you think that you’d rather be dead.”

In all honesty, I’ve never seen a face like that before when Tigre-sensei and the headmaster said that to the kidnapper. Today, there is no one to stop them. I don’t know what kind of evil they’ve done in the past, but these people …… are finished here ……!

Counterattack Start ……!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Whew, kill them ……”

You’re so scary since last time!?