The rebel camp was in an uproar after the sudden commotion that occurred in the middle of the night.
It was only natural. Up until now, the biggest fusses to happen had mostly been fights between adventurers, mercenaries, and soldiers. However, what was happening this time was far from that.
The rebel leaders were particularly shaken after hearing the news.
The commotion had taken place were Sobble, a valued subordinate of Kabajid, who the rebels considered to be their greatest enemy, was being kept under house arrest.
Ordinary soldiers hadn’t been told about Sobble at all.
That was why everyone other than the rebel leaders hadn’t thought the commotion to be that serious.
「What’s going on!? What’s happened to Sobble? Are you still not done suppressing the violent people?」
The angry voices of nobles echoed throughout the magic tent, the rebel army’s headquarters.
The one being yelled at was a soldier who had come to report on the situation.
For the soldier being yelled at, their job was nothing more than unfortunate.
「Calm down, what good will it do us if we lose our cool here? We should stay calm and find out the truth of the matter rather than yelling at this soldier.」
「I know! But……it’s Sobble! If he escapes, our losses in the upcoming battle will undoubtedly increase.」
「……But, it’s strange. That area should have been on high alert with highly skilled soldiers on guard……but most of them were killed, and the attackers are still rampaging around? What do you think, Theorem-sama?」
As the noble turned to look at him, Theorem shook his head slightly.
It was clear that the attackers weren’t just a little skilled.
Sobble’s tent had also been guarded by a Demon Soldier.
If the Demon Soldier had still been alive, there wouldn’t have been such a fuss.
In other words, it wasn’t clear whether the Demon Soldier was dead or unconscious, but they had definitely been neutralised by the enemy.
(An enemy with the skills to defeat a Demon Solider managed to infiltrate the camp? That’s not very good in various ways……but at the very least, it’s good that this was targeted at Sobble. If it had been against Prince Mercurio……wait.)
Theorem, who was relieved that his master was safe, suddenly noticed that another important person, Mercurio’s sister, Vihera, who had been in the tent a moment ago, was no longer present.
Frantically looking around, he found that it wasn’t just Vihera who was missing. Even Gurgast had vanished.
「Y-Your Highness Mercurio. Where is Vihera-sama and Count Obrisin?」
「Hm? Come to think of it, they’re not here any more. Well, it’s those two we’re talking about. You can pretty much guess where they went, right?」
At Mercurio’s shrug, Theorem could only nod.
Yes, it was certainly easy to guess where they had gone. The fact that the battle hadn’t ended yet meant that the fight was definitely dragging on. In other words, there was a good chance that some strong enemies were present.
The two people who loved fighting the most had disappeared.
The answer was obvious as to what this meant.
「Your Highness Mercurio, if you had known, I wish you could have stopped them. You understand that those two are irreplaceable to us, right?」
「That’s true. But, you know those two. There’s now way to stop them. If anything, the more we try to stop them, the more likely they are to go crazy.」
「T-That’s……」
Theorem couldn’t deny Mercurio’s words.
In fact, Theorem thought the same.
But, even so, he couldn’t just nod and say ‘Yes, of course’.
「Don’t worry.」
Before Theorem could say anything else, Mercurio spoke first.
「Those two are strong. So strong that I don’t think anyone here can beat them no matter what they do. No matter how strong the people rampaging around currently are, they won’t be able to do anything against those two.」
「That’s……true, but just in case.」
「Besides, Rei isn’t here as well. I guess that’s why they’re also worried.」
It had been less than 10 days since Rei disappeared and yet something like this had already happened. In other words, it must feel bad to them that the rebel army had become such an easy target without Rei. Theorem couldn’t help but agree with Mercurio’s words, which made him feel frustrated.
However, Mercurio’s expression quickly changed as he smiled.
「Although, I suppose what they’re looking forward to the most is still fighting. I don’t know who caused this disturbance, but I think they’ve probably been subdued by now.」
She twisted her body as she moved forward to avoid the attack of the long sword coming towards her.
She then struck a sharp blow towards her opponent’s jaw as she passed by them……
「Huh?」
Vihera tilted her head at the feeling of her punch.
It was only natural. It had been an attack powerful enough to knock someone out in one hit. However, her opponent didn’t seem to be affected at all, remaining calm.
「Was that hit shallow? No, the hit didn’t feel that light. ……Then!」
Dodging another attack from the long sword, she leaped into her opponent’s arms.
Then, instead of punching them, she gently touched their body……
「Hah-!」
Along with a short cry, her opponent stopped moving and collapsed to the ground.
Magic Palm. A technique created by Vihera that poured her magic power into her opponent, destroying them from the inside.
A blow to the chin had barely affect them, but there was nothing they could do with all their internal organs destroyed.
「It seems they’re not immortal or anything like that……but despite that, I couldn’t sense any rationality in their eyes.」
「Hmph, fighting these guys is no fun at all. Their strength isn’t something they’ve gained through physical training, it’s false strength.」
Vihera nodded in agreement as Gurgast took a step back, speaking with an unpleasant look on his face.
「That’s certainly true. Even when we fight like this, I can’t sense any will. I mean, they’re just driven by instinct.」
「Saying that is being disrespectful to monsters and wild beasts.」
「That may be true.」
The two of them looked at the approaching enemies as they exchanged words.
IT was true that the enemies weren’t interesting to fight, but it was also true that they were too much for the average soldier to handle.
A skilled soldier, knight, adventurer, or mercenary might have been able to deal with them, but it still wasn’t an enemy that could be defeated unscathed.
「Undead? ……No, they’re not!」
Cutting off the spear tip that was thrust towards her with the claws on her gauntlets, she sneaked under her enemy’s guard.
Normally, if someone managed to sneak under their guard like that, they would have shown some sort of reaction. But, this enemy showed no response.
To Vihera, if she knew how to deal with them, they were no longer enemies.
The same was true of Gurgast, who slaughtered his enemies with an almost one-sided, brute force, style of combat.
The battle quickly ended from there.
Soldiers came to help, but the battle had ended before they could do anything.
「……Now, the question is, where did Sobble disappear to.」
Vihera muttered as she looked at the enemies lying on the ground……the dolls left behind by Mulla.
They had already confirmed that Sobble was no longer in the room where he had been held captive and his body wasn’t one of those lying on the ground.
「So he escaped, huh?」
Vihera nodded at Gurgast’s words.
「That’s probably because someone came to help him. ……Hurry and look around the camp. If we’re lucky, they may not have escaped yet.」
「Yes, I’ll arrange for that right away!」
Many of his fellow soldiers had been killed, but the soldier who had survived thanks to Vihera and Gurgast’s help quickly saluted before leaving.
Vihera spoke again as she watched the soldier leave.
「……Well, it’s probably useless.」
Gurgast heard Vihera’s words, but didn’t voice his own opinion.
Even if the chances of finding them were low, they still had to try.
There was always the possibility that they were still inside the camp due to some kind of mistake.
(I don’t think that would be possible though.)
Vihera sighed as she turned to look at the corpses on the ground.
It wasn’t just dolls, the soldiers who had been guarding the place could also be seen dead on the ground.
When Vihera had first rushed over, the body of a Demon Soldier had been found a short distance away.
Of course, even now, Demon Soldiers weren’t something publicly known.
Everyone had been focused on the commotion near the tents, so hardly anyone had seen it. But there had definitely been a few people who had seen the dead Demon Soldier.
Vihera had ordered knights to carry away the body without being seen, but she was doubtful to as to its effectiveness.
(An opponent capable of killing a Demon Soldier, huh. I would have liked to fight them if possible.)
The clear night sky made it seem like the commotion was not a big deal at all.
That was what she thought as she looked at the large, round moon, illuminating the night sky.
About 10 minutes later, a report was delivered to Vihera that some people had forced their way out through the entrance to the camp on horseback.
「Woah-!」
Under the bright night sky, Mulla, Sistoi, and Sobble were desperately riding their horses towards the Imperial Capital.
Sistoi, who was riding at the front, suddenly felt a chill down his spine as he called out.
Their current formation had Sistoi at the front while Mulla and Sobble rode side by side behind him.
「Hey, did something happen Sistoi? Is anything wrong?」
Mulla, who had known Sistoi for a long time, noticed that something was off with her partner and shouted out to him.
「No, it’s nothing. I just had a bad feeling.」
As their horses were sprinting at full speed, the only way for them to hear each other was to shout.
Sobble, who was riding alongside Mulla, was amazed at how they were able to communicate like that.
Of course, Sobble could also shout while riding at full speed. However, if he did that, he would almost certainly bite his tongue, and he wanted to avoid that in their current situation.
That said, since he was being helped by the two of them in this situation, he had no objections to anything they might want to do.
They had said that they didn’t know who had asked to rescue him, but since they had been told to bring him back alive, Sobble judged that it was still better than being held captive by the rebels.
「Mulla, let’s slow down the horses for a moment.」
As Sistoi said that, his horse, which had been galloping at full speed, slowed down.
Mulla and Sobble, who had been behind him, naturally slowed down as well. However, Mulla spoke up in dissatisfaction.
「Hey, are you sure? Aren’t there people pursuing us from the rebel camp? If they catch up to us, we can’t win.」
No matter how strong Sistoi was, he wasn’t invincible. And Sistoi aside, Mulla no longer had any dolls and Sobble wasn’t the most athletic.
「I know, but the horses are at their limits.」
Mulla glanced at their horses at Sistoi’s words.
They were definitely foaming at the mouth. If they continued to sprint at their previous speed, they’d be dead in no time.
Understanding that, Mulla could only agree with Sistoi’s decision.
「But, where should we rest? If we rest along the road, we’ll definitely be caught by the pursuers.」
「Over there. It’s just a feeling, but I think the inside of that forest would be good.」
「Okay. I get it. Let’s do that.」
「Wait.」
It was Sobble who put a stop to Mulla and Sistoi’s exchange.
Not only had Sistoi decided on the place to hide, Sobble couldn’t believe that Mulla would agree to the arrangements without any hesitation.
「What? Do you have any objections?」
「No, it’s not that……but are you just going to decide on a place to hide without any real reason?」
「Yes. You can trust Sistoi’s instincts. Besides, you know that your horse won’t last if we keep going like this, right? If we have to rest, it would be better to do so inside the forest.」
「That’s……certainly true.」
Sobble could understand the reasoning.
But even so, it was surprising to him that they would make a decision purely based on instinct without any real reason and it was hard for him to accept it.
Still, he was the one being protected right now……or captured, by the two people in front of him, so he had no choice but to follow their decision.
And so, about 30 minutes after they entered the forest, they heard the sound over several soldiers on horseback, riding down the road, giving them relief that they had manged to avoid what seemed to be a pursuing force.
……That said, Sobble remained somewhat unconvinced.