After leaving Luttie in the hands of Rikka-chan we ran through the noble district aiming for the royal castle, but as soon as we arrived in front of it, Helvetia put her hands and forehead against the membrane of the barrier, closed her eyes and stopped moving.

I wondered what she was doing, or if she was trying to lift the barrier.

This went on for a while, and just when I was about to call out to her in desperation, Helvetia pulled her forehead away from the barrier and started speaking.

「 The situation is bad. That Marius is already right in front of the king, so the time is of the essence. I’m going to transfer you right in front of Marius, so as soon as the scenery changes, hit her. 」

「 What do you mean? 」

「 We really don’t have time for this. Just hit the person in front of you when the scenery changes, that’s Marius. Vanil Mirth will take care of the King, you don’t need to worry about him. 」

「 All right, Marius, is a woman, right? 」

「 I’m sure it is, but since it’s an undead, I can’t say for sure. It could be an exception, or it could be hidden by magic. Anyway, this one will transfer you, and the one who appears in front of you is definitely Marius. 」

「 Nn, alright 」

If Marius was the owner of the carriage that brought the giant, it would be obvious because it had red eyes. 

「 Alright, I’ll be right behind you. I’ll start the transfer as soon as the barrier is broken, be ready. 」

I clenched my fists tightly. Soon after, the sound of breaking glass echoed softly, and my vision was distorted. The barrier was big enough to cover the castle, but it didn’t make much noise when it broke.

The next moment, I see a beautiful chandelier hanging from a very high ceiling and a red carpet on the floor. And a woman in front of me with red eyes, golden shortcut hair and dark blue robe, is she Marius Wibberley?

I was the first to strike, but Marius reacted immediately and jumped backwards to avoid my attack.

「 Red eyes, no way, how did you get here alive? No, how did you get here? 」

「 I’m not going to tell you. 」

「 It’s not funny, maybe I should have killed the king first, but that wouldn’t have made me feel any better. 」

While Marius was mumbling, I glanced behind me and saw that Vanil Mirth-san had retrieved the king with the whip magic he had tried to use on me in that tournament.

He’s bowing his head, saying, “Please forgive my rudeness”.

「 I won’t let you. 」

Marius clenched her fists and started to move to stop the king from leaving the place with Vanil Mirth-san and the knights, but I stood in front of her way.

「 If you want to go, you have to defeat me first. 」

「 Kih, you! 」

「 Toto-san, please take this opportunity! 」

「 Leave it to me 」

Marius immediately threw a bottle of liquid from her pocket, and I spun around to catch it while killing its power so that it wouldn’t break, and she took the opportunity to hit me as hard as she could.

I caught the punch with my arm, and my arm was numb.

I tried to kick Marius’ legs to knock her down, but she avoided me with a small jump, and I quickly turned around and threw the bottle on the ground away from me while I ran after her for a few steps and hit her again.

「 You are such a pain. 」

Marius turned around as if she knew what she was doing and mumbled bitterly while also catching my attack with her palm. No normal person would be able to catch my punch, this means she’s very strong.

Immediately after catching it, she tried grabbing my fist, but I’ve already pulled back, because I learned the danger of being grabbed in that fight with the Giant.

I crouched down to avoid a high kick aimed at my head, and I thrust my fist up like an uppercut, but was avoided by a backflip.

You’re kind of used to fighting, aren’t you? You’re not just a mad scientist.

The king is already out of sight, and the knights are surrounding the area, but they don’t seem to be able to actively participate in the fight.

It seems that the people who are defending the royal castle have strong soldiers, but if they can’t fight at my speed and power, they can’t do anything about it.

「 In the meantime, I don’t think we can make a move until we get rid of you, and I hope you die before Vanil Mirth gets back. 」

Marius took off her robe and pulled out a dagger from the scabbard attached to her waist. It was a very small dagger, with a blade only about ten centimeters long.

The blade, however, shone with an unusually silvery glow that made me more cautious.

「 Now then 」

Marius holds the dagger in her right hand with her palm facing upwards, and her left hand loosely grasped just below her right hand, probably a martial arts stance, then took a large step forward and swung the dagger at my position.

As I dodged backwards, Marius swung her dagger down to strike me again with a sweep strike from the same position he had swung from, but I had anticipated his action and aimed a kick at him while doing a backflip to counter.

「 Kuh! 」

Marius narrowly dodged the attack and took her stance again.

It’s strange, that weapon must have some kind of magical enchantment on it, but I can’t hear Helvetia’s voice, which always tells me when I’m facing such a weapon.

I wondered why she hadn’t followed me when she said she’d be right behind me, or if that weapon was just a pretty dagger with no particular effect that was deceptive.

I don’t think it’s the latter, because I’m the one who wants to buy time now, and Marius has to kill me before Vanil Mirth-san returns.

But even if I wanted to know where Helvetia was, I couldn’t turn around while facing Marius, and without her advice, I’d have to fight with that dagger carefully.

It’s been two years since Helvetia has been to my side giving me advice, and I’m feeling a little sad.

I’m thinking of this only in a corner of my mind, and of course Marius doesn’t care and thrusts her dagger at me.

I brush off her outstretched arm and stand around to avoid touching the dagger, which can almost certainly cut through my body if she’s so confident with it.

If that’s all, that’s fine, but I’d be afraid if it had any strange effects attached to it.

「 Why don’t you guys stop looking and come and get me? She can’t beat me alone. 」

「 Kuh! Don’t! 」

Suddenly, Marius agitates the surrounding soldiers, causing them to become restless.

She’s probably trying to take advantage of the chaos to stab me with a dagger, and she’s doing it because she knows I’m not going to stand by and watch them get beaten to death.

I hurriedly try to restrain them, but there is a buzz of anxiety from the soldiers, which is not a good sign.

Once again, Marius kicks the floor and raises her dagger from the lower left corner. I drop my stance to avoid her and launch a fist at her torso, but Marius swats away my fist with her left hand and spins around to deliver a kick.

「 Wah! 」

I managed to guard myself with my arms, but the attack was so powerful that I was flung away, and at the same time the buzzing of the soldiers became even louder.

The damage was not serious, but the situation was not good. Of course, the soldiers might not be killed immediately, but there would certainly be many casualties.

I don’t know how she got so much power, but Marius is probably as powerful or more powerful than me. If that’s the case, a soldier with that level of skill could probably get a hole punched through his armor with a single hit.

What should I do? I can still manage for now, but if the panic spreads, I can’t avoid a horrible future……

As I was considering whether I should jump on her immediately, I heard a voice behind me. It was very reassuring, the voice that had always helped me.

「 You’ve waited long enough. You’ve endured long enough. It’s time to end this. 」