“All right. Then we’ll retreat.”

I carry the unconscious Fourlock and call out to Nina as I do so.

“I understand.”

Nina also whispered in reply to my voice and nodded lightly.

Nina and I left the room slowly, careful not to make any footsteps, and walked down the hallway and down the stairs.

Then we go through the front door and open the door so we don’t make a sound too.

“That went well.”

Nina calls out to me from behind.

“Yeah, I know.”

I was prepared to some extent for the soldiers to notice me and it would be a turbulent battle.

Don’t the soldiers here have any crisis management skills at all?

I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a party, sleep in, and then be caught by the general.

Is it working too well?

Suddenly, such concerns come to mind.

Now that the general itself is in our hands, I think that’s overthinking it, but I can’t help but feel that things are going too well so far.

“Ragnus, watch out!”

Nina shouts suddenly.

A moment later I was pierced in the left shoulder by an arrow that flew from in front of me.

“Guh ……”

A sharp pain runs through my body and I involuntarily fall to my knees.

I managed to pull out the arrow that was stuck in my shoulder by force, but along with the pain, a small amount of blood spurted out.

When I calmly looked ahead, I saw that several soldiers were aiming at us, with arrows at the ready.

You weren’t there when I came before, but you suddenly appeared!

“Damn, did I missed it?”

From behind the soldiers, a man appeared with an obnoxious laugh.

A dark-skinned, skinheaded, burly man. The man’s appearance was familiar to me.

“You’re …… Cliff!”

“Hello, kid. I’m glad you remember me.”

That’s the man who once sold me information about Nina in this town.

Cliff the informant, that’s who he was.

“Ragnus? Do you know him?”

Nina asks me, casting a healing spell on my shoulder.

“He’s just the guy who sold me the information that you were in the Ecute Forest.”

That’s all I told Nina, and I turned my attention back to Cliff.

“That line you just said. It was as if you were saying you were aiming for Fourlock.”

Fourlock I was carrying. The arrow pierced my shoulder as it narrowly missed him.

And Cliff’s one word, “Did I missed it?” There can be no longer any doubt.

“Kuhahaha! What if it was?”

But instead of denying it, Cliff smiled broadly and looked at me with suspicious eyes.

A chill runs down my spine.

“Nina, release Fourlock’s restrain.”

I instructed Nina in a whisper.

Nina nods cockily and makes the ivy that was restraining Fourlock disappear.

Me and Nina can’t compete on our own.

I felt that way intuitively, and I unbind Fourlock to add him to our forces.

I just hope he manages to regain consciousness afterwards.

“So it’s nothing to do with me and her. If I give Fourlock to you, will you let us go?”

I ask and put the Fourlock on the ground.

“You realize that’s not possible, don’t you?”

“Well, I suppose so.”

Hearing the expected answer, I took out the longsword I had stored in my item box.

“Nina, prepare the healing magic.”

Next, I had Nina prepare her magic and thrust the longsword I had drawn from its sheath into Fourlock’s left hand.

“Aaah!”

Nina looks at me with a puzzled expression.

He’s not going to wake up anytime soon, so I’m going to have to do this.

Then Fourlock opened his eyes in anguish.

“Ugh!”

Fourlock glared at us while holding his left hand with his right, which was probably in extreme pain.

“Nina, hurry!”

I urge Nina to launch healing magic.

“I see. The three of you are going to fight me? But!”

When Cliff gives the signal, the soldiers lined up in a row start shooting arrows at us all at once.

It’s impossible for me to avoid all of these at my current level.

Even if I avoid it, there’s a good chance they’ll end up hitting Fourlock or Nina behind me.

There’s no other choice.

I stood up and became a meat shield in front of the two of them.

“Ragnus!”

Nina’s panic voice could be heard behind me.

A moment later, the arrows fired from the soldiers pierce my extremities.

An intense pain that was incomparable to what I had just experienced ran through my body.

But this should have taken care of everything.

“Fool! How dare you sacrifice yourself because you have no plan?”

I took the lethal arrow and laughed as I collapsed to my kneel.

“Don’t underestimate me too much.”

What happens if I’m low level and get hit with a lethal arrow?

The arrows that was stuck in my body falls to the ground by themselves.

The blood that had been flowing out had stopped before long, and the wound had closed up.

The pain is gone.

“What happened to you? Surely you must have been pierced by arrows. How can you stand up again?”

Cliff’s voice was slightly raised and he looked impatient.

You get the idea, this is the combo of precociousness and super recovery.

“Explain the situation to me. What the hell is going on here?”

Then, as if his wounds had healed, Fourlock stood up and lined up beside me.

“Hello, Fourlock. Are you finally Wake up?”

“Are you ……, Leon-san? What brings you here?”

I wonder if Leon …… refers to Cliff.

Do these two know each other?

“What else? I’m on a mission from a certain someone.”

“Mission?”

“Kill Fourlock Arekright. And the capture of the princess alive, which you will fail to do. This is the mission I was given, no…… it’s a mission I volunteered for.”

Cliff laughs loudly again.

“What?”

“The mission to die from the beginning would be too pathetic. At least as the same Captain of the Seven Stars, I’m willing to give you a guidance as parting gift.”

“Why? Why should I be eliminated?!!”

Fourlock sounds unconvinced as he screams on Cliff.

“Because you are an illegitimate child.”

But Cliff shook his head and sighed, and kicked it off.

“With such unholy blood, you have risen to the rank of Captain of the Seven Stars with your extraordinary talent despite being scorned. There are many people who don’t like it. That’s all I’m saying.”

“That’s not a convincing excuse!”

“It’s not a matter of convincing or not. Well, it’s about time.”

Cliff gives the signal again.

And then the soldiers with bows all shot arrows at the Forlocks at once.

“Damn it!”

Fourlock takes out a large sword from his own item box and cuts off all the arrows flying at him.

“Did you really think you could beat me like this?” (Fourlock)

“I don’t think so.”

“Nn…!”

As soon as all the arrows are dealt with, Cliff closes the distance to us with great speed.

He then aimed at Fourlock’s neck with the dagger in his hand.

Clang!

A hard metallic sound rings out.

That’s the sound of my longsword stopping that dagger’s cutting edge.

“Thunderspire!”

Then Nina’s Thunder Spear flies in, aimed at Cliff’s stomach.

But Cliff dodged it by twisting his body and backstepped far away.

As expected of a seven-star captain.

It is regrettable that Peerless cannot be activated at this moment.

“That was a chilling moment. I underestimated you as a small fry, but it seems you’re up to the task.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Nina and I took up a fighting stance alongside Fourlock.

“Hey, Fourlock. I know you have a lot on your mind, but we’ll talk about it later. For now, let’s fight together.”

I throw the word to Fourlock without taking my eyes off Cliff.

“Am I correct in assuming that you are not an enemy ……?”

Fourlock sounded a little uneasy in return to me, as if he was still paranoid.

“Yeah. Me and Nina are here to back you up, you know.”

I’m not going to lie to him. I never imagined I would be in this situation, we must work together to survive.

“You have to trust us!”

Nina also strongly assures Fourlick, as if to cover my words.

“I don’t know what the purpose of you two is, but it’s an offer I appreciate right now. I’m sorry, but I need your help.”

As he said this, Fourlick readied his greatsword.

Nina and I nodded our heads in affirmation.

“One against three. That’s a good handicap against this [Puppet Master].

And three times Cliff let out a loud laugh.

“Now, entertain me, [Sword Saint] It’ll be boring if you die soon!”