—I don’t want to die.

Thinking only that with her whole being, the girl ran.

Through the wasteland, she ran at full speed, just to escape her impending doom.

Her breath got heavier and she could slowly start feeling pain on her sides.

With that reality in her face, the girl felt unpleasant.

Unlike your usual noble lady, she felt she had trained a decent amount.

She had learnt reasonable self-defense art from a former adventurer her house had employed.

Her physical abilities should be above average as well.

However, the reality of the situation was that her body was reaching its limit.

“Why…!?”

She couldn’t help but mutter that out loud.

Her breath kept getting even disheveled due to consuming too much oxygen.

That said, it was only natural.

The girl said ‘why?’, told herself that this is a scam and what not—but this is just the most obvious outcome of the situation.

No matter what daily training she had gone through, ultimately, it would just be something reasonable enough for a young girl—not even an adult. To top it off, training is, at the end of the day, just training.

Being thrown into an “actual fight”, the girl’s mental state was far from calm—it had been disturbed into pieces and just this would mercilessly shred through what little stamina she has.

Despite that, the girl could not afford to halt.

She must keep running.

She must run from the “enemy” who grew ever closer with each passing moment.

If they were to catch up with her even once, that would be the moment her luck runs out.

However—

“Uh-oh, so unfortunate. This is a dead-end, miss.”

Easily going round to cut in, the man appeared from behind a rock.

She frantically came to a halt, shaving the bottom of her boots against the ground.

She had immediately turned around to make another run for it but of course, her path was blocked not only from behind, but also from her sides.

—There was no escape route.

And within a matter of seconds, the girl had been completely surrounded by the men. An unarmed girl against a bunch of armed mercenaries.

“That’s the end of our little tag game, huh? Don’t sulk now, I’d say you did pretty good, you know. After all, that viscount miss from the other day couldn’t go more than two minutes. Keeping us on the chase for five whole minutes, now that’s something.”

That viscount is most likely no longer in this world.

She hoped—such that, at the very least, the girl would have an easy pass—but such hope meant nothing now.

The men wore a vulgar grin.

It was easy for her to imagine what vile acts they might’ve done to that girl before killing her off.

“Now that we’re done with the warm-up, let’s move on to the actual work… ah, but before that.”

The man who had been talking—possibly the lead of the group—leaped upon her.

“….Kgghh.”

The girl swiftly tried to move away.

However, her legs gave in to the exhaustion and she sank to the floor.

Taking advantage of that, the boss came over to her and held her down.

“Now then, let’s have our fun, shall we? The previous missy started screaming and begging for her life at this point, what will you do?”

The girl was the only daughter of the Gardiner family.

As such, she couldn’t possibly die in a place like this.

She had a mission.

A pledge that must be adhered to in her family, unconditionally.

She can’t die now.

There was no way she could.

Ergo, she spoke out, even as her body trembled with fear.

“H-help me….”

“Huh? What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”

The boss asked, as if he was a beast inflicting pain on its prey.

Without paying any heed to him, the girl began shouting this time.

“Help me…! Someone, please, help me…!!”

The girl desperately asked for help.

She asked for help, she screamed out loud… for someone who was not there.

She chose asking for help rather than begging for her life.

While she was young, she was still from a proud bloodline.

Of course, she knew that begging for her life wouldn’t do her any well but the reason why she despised that choice was due to her “pride”.

That said, it was also true that her strength alone wouldn’t get her out of this peril. Therefore, what the girl chose was to shout for help as loud as she could.

However—

“Pff… Gyahahah! Oi, oi, did ya’ll hear that?! She’s calling for help!”

The boss roared with laughter, pinning her down.

The surrounding men also sneered from the pits of their stomach as if it was the funniest thing they’ve heard.

Even still, despite all that—the girl continued screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Good work making us laugh till the end, girly. Who in the world would come to your help here, in the middle of nowhere?”

That is correct.

They were at a wasteland with nothing of presence anywhere nearby.

There was no one to be seen in the surrounding and no matter how much one was to scream, it wouldn’t reach anyone.

And if in the extremely unlikely event that there actually is someone close who hears her calls, there is no way they would be such an eccentric to go against more than 20 mercenaries to save a girl they do not even know.

The girl, while knowing all that, did not stop her calls.

That is because that was the only thing she could do at the moment, no matter how futile it may be. The words ‘give up’ do not exist in the Gardiner family’s dictionary. And thus, the girl gave her all till the very end.

“Well, I guess this will be more fun than doing it with a woman who gives no reaction.”

Leaning over, the man grabbed the girl’s clothes and ripped it apart.

Her small chest got exposed to the open air, striking the girl with terror.

“Oh, well, well, what do you know, you can make a good expression after all. That strong attitude from before was good in itself but I prefer this one much more, missy. If I were to call it something, it’d be ‘despair’.”

He said with the most vulgar grin, as if he was filled with joy.

No, he must actually be delighted.

After all, his face was just distorted with it.

Like a beast drooling with saliva in front of their prey.

The man’s hand went to the girl’s trouser next.

Once taken off, it would all eventually come tumbling down.

With the last ounce of her strength, the girl shouted out.

“Someone—someone please, help me!! Please, save meeeeeee———!!!”

She let out a shriek so hard that her voice went dry towards the end.

It resounded throughout the wasteland and was gradually dying down——but, just before it had completely faded away, it had reached the ears of one eccentric.

“————Eh?”

Who had leaked such a stunned voice?

It might’ve been the girl. Or perhaps one of the men who were surrounding her.

However, it is certain that it did not come from the man who was leaning over the girl.

After all, the man had already passed away—from his head exploding like a watermelon.

What could have happened just now?

The girl, as well as the surrounding men, could not process this abnormality in front of them and were frozen in place.

And right there———

[What are you stunned for?! Stand up already!]

A frantic voice resounded inside the girl’s head.

She hurriedly looked past her surroundings but all she could spot were the dumbfounded mercenary men. The owner of the voice could not be seen anywhere.

She perceived that she was possibly the only one who heard the voice, judging from the mercenaries’ reactions.

[I told you to stand! Or do you want to die?!]

The voice hit her hard.

The loudness of it was enough to make one shake.

Despite that, the girl properly grasped what it said. And amongst all the chaos, her rebelling heart fired up again.

“I don’t want to die, there’s no way I want to die. I asked for help exactly ‘cause I did not want to die. I won’t stand dying here”—there was no way the owner of the said voice could hear the girl’s thoughts but it continued on.

[Stand up if you don’t wanna die! Stand and start running towards the sun——!]

She responded immediately—standing up after throwing aside the lifeless body on top of her.

Despite her chest being bare, she had no leeway to try and hide it—she just took a run for it as the voice had ordered.

She spotted mercenaries blocking her path.

Even still, the girl just pressed forward, believing the ‘voice’.

Doing so, suddenly a crimson color glowed on the mercenary’s forehead. About one diameter long hollow circle opened up there and the bloody insides came leaking out.

Slipping beside the now falling body, the girl broke past the encirclement and headed straight towards the setting sun.

“W-what was that, just now?!”

“Is it a sniper?!”

“Boss—!!”

“Idiot, he’s already dead! More importantly, the woman, she’s getting away!”

The girl just ran as fast her legs could carry her.

But that doesn’t change the fact that she was out of stamina.

Her overworked cells begged the owner, ‘please, let us rest now’.

But even then, the girl wouldn’t stop.

All because the ‘voice’ told her to run if she does not want to die.

However, the problem at hand is the fact that the difference in physical abilities between the girl and the men behind her was evident.

Chasing after the girl, the men were steadily and surely catching up.

They would catch up to her within another 10 seconds.

If they catch up, this time it’ll be over for certain.

The men had already given up on the ‘taste’.

She had seen all their faces—the faces of these professional mercenaries.

The only thing on the men’s mind was to catch up to the girl and immediately kill her before withdrawing at once.

And that would be the end of that.

It was for certain that something had intervened. But surely they wouldn’t be eccentric enough to come pick a fight with all these mercenaries after they lost the girl—the target for saving.

That was only common sense in this wasteland and thus both the girl and the mercenaries knew of it.

[Tch… Lieve, go ahead!

Prioritize saving the girl first————I don’t care! It’s an order! Go already!]

The ‘voice’ delivered a sense of pressing crisis.

It seemed like that crisis wasn’t towards the girl, but rather someone else.

She did not know what it meant. She had no idea why she could even hear this ‘voice’. In the first place, she didn’t have enough strength left to even try and understand.

Her breathing got heavier.

Her legs ached even more.

She felt like her lungs would burst open any moment now.

Even so, the one thing she wouldn’t stop is her feet.

The Gardiner blood wouldn’t allow her to give up until the very end.

That teaching stimulated the girl’s body.

However, that too, would end soon.

One of the mercenaries was almost going to reach the girl.

The girl heard another breathing noise, one not hers.

That was how close the mercenary had gotten.

The mercenary put all his strength into his strides.

He was gripping a short sword on his right hand and had already taken the leap.

His eyes reflected deadly bloodlust.

And so, the mercenary was just about to pierce through the defenseless girl’s back with his blade—right there and then, the mercenary’s life came to an end.

“….So I made it in time, eh?”

A figure came striking down from the sky like a comet.

The figure was that of a woman—a tall, wolf-like silver-eyed woman.

With her momentum, she kicked on to the mercenary’s head and crushed it like a pomegranate.

A sudden intruder.

With such immense strength before them, the mercenaries flinched.

The girl who was being chased turned to see the woman blocking the chasers.

Her tone was similar. However, she wasn’t the owner of that ‘voice’. After all, the voice she had heard was surely that of a man and not a woman.

“Girl. As per my lord’s command, I shall protect you.”

Short, cold and to the point.

Saying just that, the woman took a stance towards the mercenaries.

“This woman, from where—”

“No, more importantly, she got James with one strike…!”

“Physical enhancement magic? But I don’t see any catalyst. Don’t tell me it’s a magic tool.”

“But it’s just one woman. We got a chance!”

The mercenaries took control and surrounded the woman.

They had the advantage of numbers.

They had lost two but still had many remaining.

As the girl wouldn’t really count as much, it was clearly a 23 vs 1 situation.

There was no way the woman could come out victorious here under normal circumstances.

Anytime, anywhere, the strength of numbers is just too strong.

No matter how skilled with tactics or strong position one might have, in front of overwhelming numbers, it is only normal for them to be swallowed up by that muddy stream.

That said, there are exceptions to everything and this world, in particular, was full of such exceptions.

And the fact that this woman was a part of such exceptions was fortunate for the girl, and at the same time, greatly disastrous for the mercenaries.

“Bleeggh——”

One of the mercenaries leaked such a voice.

It was the vice commander of the group, who had been standing at the back.

He checked his body, wondering why he had leaked such a voice… and ended up finding a huge hollow in his stomach—which was also the moment he had dropped dead.

“Wh…what just happened?!”

The mercenary standing closest to the vice commander shrieked in fright.

Or rather, he tried to.

The woman had dug into his stomach with a kick and sent him flying 30 meters above the ground the very next moment. The fact that his life ended before he even touched the ground could be said to be the silver lining for the man.

Witnessing such a scene fold out before them, the surrounding men instinctively took a step back.

“Th-this woman…?!”

They had made the wrong choice.

The woman in front of them wasn’t someone you could fight.

They should’ve just ran away at full speed when they could.

By the time they had realized that, it was already too late.

The woman mercilessly unleashed her fist and legs as lethal weapons on the mercenaries.

The assault rained down equally on all of them, even the ones who tried to flee.

While there were some who tried resisting, you can only go so far if you can’t even catch your opponent’s movement.

—In a matter of 20 seconds, with less than a second for each of them, the woman had successfully annihilated the mercenary group by herself.

After which, she pried the surrounding area cautiously for a bit to ascertain that that was all of them and then approached the girl.

Finally get her breath back, the girl could only stare at the woman in shock.

She couldn’t quite take in all that had happened in the past minute.

Even still, her etiquette as a noble reached the point of a conditioned reflex and demanded her to stand up and express her gratitude.

And thus, she did just that.

“Th… thank you very much for your assistance. Thanks to you, I have been saved.”

She curtsied with her left hand on her chest.

As she had attired herself with a long-trip outfit, she had no hem to grip but her gesture was nothing short of what was to be expected from nobles.

“Thank my master, not me. I would not have tried to save you if not for my master’s order—to abandon his guard just to protect you.”

The tall woman said so bluntly.

Hearing that, the girl just thought “I knew it”.

Most likely, the owner of that “voice” is her master.

“Please wait a moment. Soon, the… ah, never mind, they have already arrived. Right there.”

The woman pointed towards a towering cliff.

Thinking that the woman was pointing towards the location she came from, the girl turned to look, but to her surprise, she found two figures leaping down from the cliff.

“Wha…?!”

Throwing oneself overboard.

That’s the first thing she thought.

However, those figures did not swoop down immediately, they majestically descended as if they had wings on their backs. They softly landed without disrupting even a speck of dust.

The two figures that came down from the sky belonged to a man and a woman.

She couldn’t tell what the man looked like as he had a hood on but the woman looked extremely proper and dignified.

“Beautiful”—was all the girl could think seeing that face. Her body looked as perfect as it could get and there was no doubt that she would easily attract the opposite gender in a social place.

Even the girl couldn’t help but feel drawn towards her, to which she had to try hard and resist.

Considering the fact that there was only one man here, he must be the owner of that voice.

She thought that she must start by expressing her gratitude to him.

“I’m glad you’re safe. Thank God we made it in time.”

An unexpectedly calm and gentle voice.

It resounded similarly to the voice in her head just a while back. There was no room for doubt that he is the owner of the voice.

However, perhaps due to the difference in emotion packed into the words, his natural in-person voice was gentle enough to think that they could’ve been different voices.

He turned over his hood with a bright smile and continued.

“While it was quite an emergency, I apologize for shouting at you.”

“No, that’s out of the question. It is I, who can’t fully express my gratitude towards you for saving this soul. I have no means to reward you for your honorable deeds but the very second I step foot in my hometown, I shall immediately prepare appropriate compensation”—or so she wanted to say in return.

However, the girl’s mouth had stiffened seeing the man’s face and she couldn’t say anything.

Due to her astonishment, she just stood there still, forgetting to even cover her exposed chest.

The man’s face was exceedingly ordinary.

He looked way younger than she had imagined, possibly not even twenty years old yet.

Other than the fact that his eyes were a bit sharp, his other facial features were very much common. Not much different from your average public.

That said, if you were to ask if this man could mix among the crowd, then the answer would be a decisive ‘no’.

The man—the young man, had a trait that stood out very much.

The color of his eyes and his hair.

“….Black eyes and black hair?”

A jet black color.

His eyes were so black it felt like she would be sucked into them; his hair was darker than even the crow’s black.

That was a special color in this world.

It wasn’t something an ordinary person would ever have.

“Ah… By the way, um, how should I say this… your appearance, it is slightly inappropriate.”

The young man approached her and tried to pass her his mantle.

However, the girl was out of this world.

She was lost in his eyes.

And so, as she didn’t accept the mantle no matter how long the young man stood there, he took another step forward, his eyes still averted from the girl’s chest and got right in front of her eyes.

Even in such short proximity, it did not seem like the man’s eyes and hair were colored. At the very least, to the girl’s eyes, it looked like they were his from birth.

And so, the girl followed her heart and asked the young man a question.

“——Could you please tell me your name?”

A sudden ask for one’s name.

The young man, now covering up the girl with his mantle, shortly answered.

“Helian.”

That was the girl’s meeting with the young man—Banma’s king, Helian.

The story now traces back two weeks before this event, on 14th October, 997—the Holy Era.

Translator: Tsugane

TL note: Ayo guys, Tsugane here. It has been a long time (to say the least) since I’ve last posted anything. We’re coming back with new novels as the previous ones were picked up by other translators. We’re going to try out best and be active this time around so make sure to come by every week!

As for this novel, I, myself, have not read far into it, but it looks very promising right from the prologue. The MC and friends’ group entrance was quite cool, if I do say so myself. I’ll be looking forward to reading and providing you guys with more chapters frequently going forward so let’s see where this takes us. Cheers and see ya next chapter!