Zero no Tsukaima

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Chapter Three: The Priest of Romalia

The Tristain and Germania united army landed in the port-town Rosais, which was located about 300 leagues south of Albion’s capital Londonium.

Upon landing, the allied forces expected an enemy counterattack. First of all, land units formed a circle around Rosais.

Yet... Albion made no counterattack.

The Supreme Commander of the united army, De Poitiers, lost the momentum to invade. Their strategy assumed the enemy would attack after the landing. The "decisive battle" was to happen near Rosais, where it would let them destroy the enemy’s large army in one blow and march to Londonium unopposed.

They planned for the campaign to finish in three weeks, when Yara’s month would begin... essentially, before Founder Brimir’s Advent Festival, or "New Year’s Day".

In other words, they had prepared for a quick, decisive battle.

This strategic failure could not be helped now. A large amount of food would be necessary to maintain a large army of 60,000 people. To recite strong spells, specific medicine (especially Water element-based healing medicine) would be needed, along with war materials like bullets, gunpowder and cannons. And it all had to be carried from their own country to the army in the front.

Fighting a long war in the enemy’s territory would be nothing but a nightmare. Besides, Tristain’s economy made such a long war impossible.

Albion’s main army successfully retreated from Dartanes, and barricaded itself in the capital city of Londinium.

The enemy army avoided fighting a decisive battle; after Albion’s air force received damage beyond imagination, and lost control of the sky, the Albion army seemed to have abandoned counterattack tactics.

The allied forces were prepared for Albion’s attack.

But because expectations went down the drain and physical damage did not occur, constructing positions and preparing for a decisive battle became pointless. The allied forces wasted food for a week and a half.

The allied forces could not plan anything but a quick decisive battle, so they only brought enough food supply for six weeks. But now it became necessary to carry food and gunpowder from their own country by ship. For the two countries that organized the expedition army with very limited finances, the situation was worrisome.

By the eighth day after the landing, a tense atmosphere surrounded the future invasion plans.

The air base in Rosais began as the Royal Albion Air Headquarters before turning into the Sacred Albion Republic Air Force Headquarters, and had finally become the Tristain-Germania United Martial Army Command Base. These walls of red brick had changed masters three times in one year. A great hall on the second floor was where history was made.

The Supreme Commander of coalition forces, General de Poitiers, sat at the round table on the central seat. He listened to two opposing opinions.

The first one came from Germanian General Marquis Handenburg, who insisted, while shaking his fist and white mustache, upon a quick, decisive battle.

“Let’s march! March! March! We have food only for four and a half weeks. Make a detour at a fort on the way and march straight to the castle! Anyway, let’s aim for Londonium. Fortunately, we control the sky. We have to end the war before Founder Brimir’s Advent Festival, for morale will drop after advent festival!

It seemed like Germania’s General insisted upon advancing like a flame.

“Ending before the Advent Festival is fine, but I wonder why there are no such short war stories in Halkeginia’s history?”

Wimpffen, the Chief of Staff, objected, coldly staring through the frames of his glasses.

“Then, we’ll be the first,” Marquis Handenburg said and gave a piercing glare to Wimpffen.

“By circling Londinium, we would expose our back to their castles... We can’t act without strategy. Moreover, if we start marching, the supply lines would be left behind. Without supplies we would end up in a deadlock. Although it is troublesome, we should proceed carefully, step-by-step. We should advance by capturing fortresses and castles along the way.”

“Capturing fortresses and castles would inflict too much damage! Supplies? We only have to take over Londonium before Advent Festival!”

“As the Marquis said, we control the sky, right? So the damage upon capturing will be kept to minimum. Londonium taken over by the Advent Festival? That’s nonsense!”

Marquis Handenburg exclaimed with a face full of contempt,

“...this is Wind-element thinking, wind that evades obstacles in its cowardice.”

“As if Fire-element thinking, which hastily burns itself out, is any better.”

The two men glared at each other.

“Courage is what cowardly Tristains need to be taught.”

“There’s nothing to learn from barbarians.”

They both pulled their wands out at the same time. Supreme General de Poitiers stepped in between them.

“We argue too much! Marquis! Marquis! Show Germanian courage in the battlefield! Wimpffen! Stop disgracing yourself!”

At last, they both calmed down.

“For now we have to admit that the first plan, beating Albion’s main forces and then advancing to Londinium, getting Cromwell’s head, and raising the White Lily flag in Whitehall, failed. but completing the war according to plan is still possible.”

After overthrowing the Albion’s revolution government, they would rule in the name of Henrietta. Of course, part of the territory would be ceded to Germania. Afterwards, the remaining survivors of Albion’s royal family would be searched for and placed on the throne of the territory under Tristain’s rule, thus reviving the monarchy. To avoid possible revolutions they decided to look for Albion’s surviving royal family members, once a suitable noble with royal blood was found, the throne would be passed to him.

De Poitiers shook his head, trying to brush off these thoughts.

It was not the time to think about it. Right now they needed to think about how to annihilate the enemy.

De Poitiers bit his lip. My promotion depends on this.

If he could win this war, he would be promoted to Field Marshal.

Everything could have been easily settled by one decisive battle... De Poitiers felt a grudge against the Albion army. Why would Cromwell barricade himself in Londinium?

What about the enemy occupying the country?

What about facing ministers, nobles and the public’s opinion?

What is he counting on?

Momentarily lost in thought, he noticed the allied General and his Chief of Staff looking worriedly at him and announced their new strategy himself.

“...there is no decisive battle anymore, but the plan must be executed anyway. We have to take over Londinium and the Emperor’s palace, Havilland, and raise Her Majesty‘s flag there. Now, it would be too dangerous to attack Londinium directly. And capturing castle after castle could take decades.”

The Marquis and Chief of Staff nodded and frowned. De Poitiers showed the map that had been laid out on the table and pointed at the place between Rosais and Londonium.

“The City of Saxe-Gotha. It is an ancient town an favorite tourist spot. We will take it over and turn it into the foothold for the capture of Londinium. We will leave 5,000 soldiers here in Rosais to secure the supply lines and path for retreat. The remaining troops will participate in the capture with the support from our air forces. If the enemy’s main army comes out, we will finish it with a decisive battle, of course.”

The Marquis and Chief of Staff nodded. The proposal was a compromise, and though it was a noncommittal strategy, it wasn’t bad.

Saxe-Gotha was a big town. The crossing of all roads. If it were taken, it would possibly be effective against other castles and towns. Even if the war was not settled before the Advent Festival, it would be easy to hold out longer as it was a big city.

As they debated the strategy, someone knocked at the door.

“Who?” asked a guard.

“It is me. It is Her Majesty’s Court Lady, La Vallière.”

De Poitiers signaled the guards to let her in, even though he wasn’t particularly eager to let the girl take part in army business. Although he couldn’t treat her unkindly as she was Her Majesty’s Court Lady and the user of the legendary Void, she still might be bothersome.

De Poiters saw Louise as nothing more than a "tool".

“Aah, Miss Void. We have prepared a gorgeous tent for you. Leave all the trouble to servicemen and take a rest. I will call you if you are needed.”

Louise was nervous about the great surroundings. However, she couldn‘t do what she decided to if she acted cowardly. So, she gathered her courage and spoke up,

“W-well...”

“What? Oh, you were not rewarded for your work at Dartanes. As expected of Void. You did well. Gentlemen! Applause!”

Indifferent applause echoed in the conference room.

“I will request the royal family for a reward.”

“N-no that...”

“What? Are you still here?”

De Poiters tone became diluted with dour.

Is a single reward not enough? What a greedy girl!

Human beings are greedy, it is one of the basic habits of human beings. De Poitiers felt offended that after praising her, Louise wanted more.

“It’s not that. Umm, I did not come here to get a reward. It’s about the dragon knights who returned alive...”

The generals for a moment could not understand what she was talking about... But then they remembered the dragon knight unit that had returned alive and nodded.

“Aah, what about it?”

“Well... it’s great, but don’t you think it’s strange? A whole week passes after the crash and they return safe and sound, and all the while they don’t remember anything in between?”

“Indeed.”

The annoyed generals listened to her. How was it effecting the army? They were about to say it.

“It’s a place near Saxe-Gotha. I think it should be investigated.”

When Louise said that, the General waved his hand.

“Oh, Okay. Near the marching route. A search expedition will be organized to investigate the mystery," he said in a dull tone not really supporting such an expedition.

“Did they hit their heads and see some kind of ghost?”

“...they reported it was a fairy.”

“A kind fairy!”

Someone said; the conference room was wrapped up in laughter. It did not matter whom she asked. The ten surviving knights were just another war miracle and they would not explore it even if the knights minds were clear.

“No way! What if behind it lies an important secret?! Something that might change the course of the war!”

“Miss, though it certainly is a mysterious event, it is not likely that it would change such a grand situation. We do not have time to care about such trivial matters.”

“But...”

Then, as if just having an idea, De Poitiers added.

“Right, I want you to go to investigate it. Can you do that?“

Louise left the red-brick command center as if being driven out. Saito and Rene, who were waiting at the entrance of the building, ran up to her.

“How was it?”

Fuun, Louise looking the other way walked directly past them.

Saito snorted. He had hardly talked to Louise since yesterday. After leaving Louise in front of the tent of the dragon knight squadron, the couple had been in a very ugly mood.

Saito walked behind Louise’s back.

“Haah, princess and her servant.” Rene said sarcastically.

Then he lowered his voice and whispered into Saito’s ear.

“Just between us... Are you Academy researchers?”

“Academy?” Saito looked at Rene in utter amazement. Interested dragon knights gathered around the boy.

“I guess the flight machine was made by the Academy.”

“Are there any new magical weapons?”

“Like in the recent mission, where one was used in Dartanes to confuse enemies?”

The boy knights’ eyes were sparkling brilliantly while talking to Saito. Apparently, they thought that Louise and Saito were researchers from a magic laboratory. Indeed, the only ones that knew about Louise’s Void were a few generals.

Though it was easy to convince the masses outside the court that it all was a war miracle, the same excuse didn’t really work with nobles. So the most plausible explanation would be " the Academy’s new magical weapons".

Louise, listening to Saito’s conversation attentively, halted.

*Pon!* Saito stopped as well. Everyone stood upright. A tense atmosphere that emanated from Louise sank into all of them. What else would one expect from a duke’s third daughter?

Louise, without turning around, said in a clear voice.

“Not exactly. I am not an Academy researcher. I am Her Majesty’s Court Lady, under her direct control.“

Saito panicked. Hey! Louise you idiot! Void should be kept a secret! It might cause trouble if the rumors would reach the enemy! They would be targeted! He thought in a feverish haste.

“We are the members of ‘Zero Organization’ responsible for researching new weapons, under the direct command of the royal family.”

Huh? Saito was speechless. What Zero Organization? Never heard of it.

“I-is that so?! Great!”

“Though I do not really understand, it sounds like a really powerful organization!”

“Really? A secret organization? Then you can’t tell anyone? Then you research magical weapons, but how does it differ from the academy’s research? There must be a death punishment for revealing it.”

“R-really?”

“Everyone, swear by the founder to not disclose it!”

All of them, being kind, swore sincerely.

We could pretend to be members of Zero Organization researching new magical weapons. This way enemies or allies would not be able to even imagine the existence of Void.

Saito thought.

If someone started denying the rumors, it would cause even more rumors. But one could make a plausible "true" rumor, to avert curious eyes from the truth.

It was the right thing to do in order to manipulate the information.

He ran up to Louise and whispered.

“...but what have you told me about such a plan. Not much.”

“...I only said following the order of the Princess. Even allies should not know about the Void, thus I came up with an excuse.”

“You! You are not paying attention to my words. You are not listening to what I say at all!”

“It would be useless, as you cannot act, idiot.”

With a snort, Louise turned her face away and started walking.

“What’s the matter with you and your mistress; you two are moody lately.”

Rene muttered.

Saito answered casually.

“Fuh. You are imagining things.” Hearing his words, Louise turned around.

“You were acting uneasy ever since we returned from giving that report, you were acting dejected and angry. That’s unusual.”

“I am not angry,” Saito repeated.

Louise gave a cold stare to Saito.

“Wha-what...”

With a snort, Louise turned around and walked away in silence. Saito, remembering his decision to ignore her, turned his face away as well.

However, Louise’s destination was not Saito‘s tent.

“Hey, where’s she going?”

She passed the port where two iron towers were lined up... past the arsenal blast-furnace... and the training grounds on the great plaza.

“Not to our corps.”

Rene said. Indeed, there was the tent of the dragon knight battalion headquarters, which they had visited yesterday. For some reason she passed all the other tents and walked alone, looking around as if searching for someone.

Nearby there were 20 wind dragons tied to a stake, roaring and barking. It was dangerous going there so far away from the other units.

There was only one person taking care of them.

It was the beautiful and tall priest of Romalia... Julio.

As if spoiling a lover, Julio patted the scruff of the wind dragon’s neck. He was talking about something with the dragon. Seeing Louise heading straight towards Julio made Saito’s mood drop even more.

He ran after Louise. Rene followed Saito.

“Mister Cesar.”

When Louise called, a smile appeared on Julio’s face. He approached Louise in a hoity-toity manner, took her hand and kissed it.

“Please inform me with an owl or pigeon next time. I would have escorted you.”

“No, I have a business concerning you and your wind dragon.” Louise said.

“Me and my wind dragon?”

“If you are free now, I would like to fly with you.”

Julio, without asking why, bowed with a smile plastered all over his face.

“Not everyday one gets the chance to help such a beautiful lady! There cannot be any question about it! Really, this is an unexpected pleasure!”

“What are you doing?! Stop playing around!”

Saito muttered in an unpleasant tone.

“That’s just how Romalians are.” Rene frowned.

“In any case, where should I fly you to?”

When Julio said that, Saito instantly forgot his oath to ignore and grabbed Louise’s shoulder.

“Hey, Louise.”

“What? You’re in the way. Move it.”

Saito, after taking a few deep deep breaths, said,

“If you want to fly, why aren’t you using my Zero Fighter? Why this foppish... No, why did you ask this priest of Romalia.”

*Snort* “Because you are unpleasant,” Louise said clearly.

“Huh?”

“He is well-mannered, gentle and smart. Moreover, he doesn’t have strange thoughts. T-T-Those strange thoughts. Anyone would be better.”

“But that doesn’t matter when flying!”

“I will tell you clearly. When riding behind someone, it’s better to ride behind a good-looking boy.”

The moment Louise said that, Saito’s body hardened.

“...W-W-Wha-what?”

While dripping in cold sweat, only by thinking, Saito said - Louise pointed her finger at Saito.

“What? Jealous? Are you stupid? Whom are you comparing yourself against? Isn’t this handsome, well-dressed priest of Romalia, three, four, five, six-times better than a dog-mole; yet it compares itself against him and is jealous? Isn’t it funny? Are you stuuupid? Why don’t you drop dead?”

“Y-you...”

Saito, as if suffocating, closed and opened his mouth few times. The flame of jealousy blazed up violently, almost burning his body up.

“Better luck next time. Since this handsome Priest and I are going on a secret duty, you can clean the tent meanwhile, since you made it dirty. Make sure to make it sparklingly clean. And do the laundry.“

Louise stuck her tongue out at Saito.

Julio, who had climbed on the dragon, called out to Loiuse.

“Ready to go, Miss Vallière.”

“Hold it! I’m coming!” Louise jumped onto the wind dragon.

“Please hold me tightly. You are a jewel of Tristain. There would be a great diplomatic problem if you were to fall!”

“You flirt!”

Louise, giving Saito a wide grin, wrapped her arms around Julio’s waist. And, smugly, fixed her hair.

The wind dragon flapped his wings powerfully. Sand and dust flew off the ground, making Saito and others instinctively shut their eyes.

When they opened them, the wind dragon was already high in the sky, flying vividly. Feeling like a fool, Saito watched the wind dragon disappear.

“What’s with her?! What was that?! What an attitude!”

Saito pulled out Derflinger from his shoulder and brandished it in anger. Rene and others jumped away from Saito, panicking; watching him with blank surprise.

“Hey. Nooo, partner, I am also having a tough tiiime!”

“What was that?!”

“Someone, save me from this guyyy...”

“Take this and that! What malicious words!”

“Snap out of iiit... Listen to me, partner. Ah, well, don’t pay attention.”

Extending over the wind dragon, Louise looked down at the ground. The people at the tent were quickly becoming small. The look of blank surprise all over Saito’s face put an oversized grin on Louise’s face again. Look! Such a stupid expression on his face! Whaat? Feeling jealous?

“Bleeh!” Louise stuck her tongue out towards the ground again.

“Now then, where should I fly to?”

A voice coming from the front, brought Louise back.

“W-well...” she hesitated whether to say it or not.

“Where should we scout?” Julio repeated.

“F-from where do you know that it is a scouting mission?”

“Even a child could guess that! It can’t be anything but duty! But, one thing I cannot understand!"

“What?”

“A VIP researcher of the academy like you doing a scout’s duty! Unimaginable! Don’t familiars usually work as scouts?”

Louise was tightly holding the Founder’s Prayer Book with her left hand. In order not to lose it, she made a bag for it, reaching down her waist with a leather string over her.

“That’s a test from the upper department. To see... how good our researched magical weapons are. Surely all of the tests will be passed.”

“To check the good and bad sides.”

Louise nodded.

Louise started thinking about her legendary power – she learned that it was nothing more than just a gear in the giant country and army mechanisms. How much can you use it? What can you use it for? Can you use it for your own needs? The great generals also looked at me with those kind of eyes.

Though it is natural, there is no point in lying to myself. I am not Louise Françoise, I am a user of Void.

But the two might be one and the same. I‘m just fooling myself with family members and classmates, because I am just a user of Void...

While she was lost in such musings, a laughter echoed.

“W-what?“

“Ah, sorry! The City of Saxe-Gotha!”

“An ancient town. I heard it is beautiful. We cannot let it be destroyed by war.”

This made Louise speechless and Julio turned around.

“Well, I understand - there is war now. However, I am a priest,” he laughed.

He gave her a charming smile. This made Louise’s cheeks blaze on their own.

“I, I see.”

Julio, still turned around, brought his face close to Louise’s.

“You are truly beautiful, Miss Vallière.”

Pulling away slightly, a confused Louise asked,

“B-but why is Romalia helping? They’re not our allies...”

“On our own will! Small help! Today’s Albion may affect all countries in Halkeginia. If the monarchy were to be overthrown, what would happen with the nobility in the republic? If that happens it would be a serious threat! A republic nightmare for all countries. Romalia is no exception, governed by the Pope."

“I do not understand politics well.”

“I am the same. I also do not have much interest in it. I am much more interested talking about other things...“

“Like?”

“Like, how can you be so beautiful, just like a fairy?"

He asked with a serious expression, Louise looked down slightly.

“Don’t say silly things, look more carefully. You are badly mistaken.”

“Excuses. According to Azuro, we are going the right way. We are flying to the city of Saxe-Gotha, right?”

Louise became suspicious. This priest was not a mage. In other words, his abilities were those of a commoner. And even for a mage, it would take some time to establish a connection between him and his familiar...

So how could a priest, who was not even a mage, communicate so well with a beast that was not a familiar? How was this possible?

Julio laughed at Louise’s vacant look.

“The same way that you can use Academy’s magic weapons, I can use God’s miracle.”

“Stop joking.”

God’s miracle? It must be some kind of joke. God is a metaphysical being. Such power in a world where magic rules the reason of the world is impossible.

“What! Yes, it’s a joke! However, I know about animals more than others! Naa, Azuro!”

The wind dragon barked and started increasing his speed.

Two people were flying through the sky of city of Saxe-Gotha for one hour.

The town was encircled by walls, with colorful brick houses behind them. The town’s population was close to 40,000 people.

“Fly lower.”

Julio nodded and started to fly lower. They could see townspeople waving. They probably mistook them for allies. Then Julio smiled and muttered something to the wind dragon. Azuro spread his wings and started to shake in a strange way.

“What are you doing?“

“Mimicking Albion wind dragon’s movement. With this ‘dance’ Albion’s wind dragon looks for a companion. Albion dragon knights use it to identify foe or friend.”

“Your Azuro is from Albion?”

“Are you kidding? I trained him myself!”

“You’re great.”

Louise felt admiration. It is not easy even for an average mage to train a dragon.

“It is good to study enemy movements beforehand.”

When Louise nodded and looked at the town scenery below. She could give a report while using the "Illusion" spell, providing vivid images seen from above. After seeing this, she could create images from her memory with the Illusion spell.

The instructions to use "Illusion" came from the staff section. Louise’s Void could be applied in military planning. It was the moment when she finally realized that she was just a tool.

In the town’s plaza, they noticed a big monster striding.

“An orc.”

“Yeah. Is it my imagination... or are there a lot of soldiers missing?”

Not just her imagination. There were just orcs, trolls and demi-humans armed with spears and clubs. Though they could see a mage commanding them... there were no soldiers in sight.

“Using demi-humans as an army replacement is cheap stuff. However... those brutal orc demons are following the humans as well...”

“There must be some kind of trick. However I do not know how that mage can make them obey.”

Louise concentrated her spirit and began imprinting the spectacle in her mind.

When one used the Void element for big, one-time spells, collecting willpower took time. And since it was already used a few days ago... she could not turn such a huge landscape into an illusion.

“Circle over the town once more.”

“It might be dangerous. This cover will not last forever.”

Julio muttered - he was dancing an Albion wind dragon dance for five minutes.

“Facts and figures are needed. The amount of will for the spell is insufficient, so I can do nothing but write on paper.”

Louise, ignoring the danger, wrote down information regarding the town on the parchment, while shuttling many times over the town. With those notes ’Illusion’ was used in order to take as many facts and figures home as possible. While seeing Louise in such a state, Julio smiled.

“There was no point for jealousy, right?”

“Eh? Eeh? What are you talking about?!”

“Without weapons it is dangerous and you were worried. Not for yourself... but for that familiar. Danger cannot be helped. It is because of duty. However, I cannot be brave in rash danger. Do you differ? Why oh why, are you leaving this calm part out in anger. I wonder if it’s because you’re a girl?”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

Louise said with a furious blush on her cheeks.

“That flying machine is out of bullets, right? There are no other secret weapons. Other than for fast flights, it’s useless.”

“...How do you know this?”

“I was onboard the Varsenda. Being curious, I examined that flying machine attached to the deck. Extremely well made! Amazing!”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

Julio laughed from Louise’s threatening words.

“Please be relieved! I am your ally! I wasn’t thinking of any ploy to use you, unlike your generals... Now then, our time has run out.”

“Not yet. Wait a little.”

“It’s impossible.”

“It’s an order!”

“It’s an enemy.”

Julio pointed with his chin. Nine wind dragons were flying directly at them.

Louise was stupefied.

“Escape!”

“...nnh, impossible. I’ve become too addicted to this chat!“

Smiling, Julio muttered. The enemy was faster in the sky. It was not possible to get away even when flying at one’s best.

Staring at the closing wind dragons, Louise trembled. Gathering information for the generals, may have been overdone. She bit her lip, thinking about the possibility of death in terror.

She shook her head, trying to shake off such fears... Somehow... she needed to counterattack with Void. But how many explosions could be shot? Her willpower... was low. The scale would be small. Would they hit well enough?

While she was thinking that, the instructions came from Julio.

“Louise, are you good at horseback riding?”

Though she was suddenly called by her first name, it wasn’t the right time to complain about it. She nodded with a suspicious expression on her face.

“Y-yeah...I am.”

“Hold on tight then! As if you were jumping over fences and bushes with a gallop! Azuro!“

The wind dragon let out a small bark and sped up aiming towards the enemy.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t go there! You can’t use magic!”

Julio thrust straight into the enemy’s dragon knight formation. Louise screamed,

“Hey! Ah! Magic spell! Nooooo!”

All nine dragon knights shot spells one after another. Shining blades and fireballs flew towards them. When she started to recite magic too, Julio shouted at her.

“Don’t let go!”

When the magic was about to hit... the wind dragon suddenly pulled an unexpected movement. It twisted it’s body and suddenly shot up in the air, avoiding spells one after another.

Unbelievable. A wind dragon was moving at a speed that was unimaginable for such a body. It was moving like a small bird, surprising even their enemies. For a moment, their speed decreased.

“Breath! Azuro!”

A big breath of fire escaped the wind dragon’s mouth. It hit the dragon knight in the front making him crash down.

Then, passing through the other, it used its nails to tear up another dragon’s wings. Another one headed down.

Dumbfounded, Louise stared at the spectacle.

How can a wind dragon release such a big breath?! Unbelievable!

The remaining enemy dragon knights, whose number had decreased to seven, turned around and headed back at them.

It was as one would expect from Albion’s dragon knights.

Though for a moment they were surprised by Julio’s wind dragon’s movements, they regained their composure now. Dividing into two lines, they flinchingly moved forwards.

They started forming and closing a circle around them.

It seemed like they had closed their retreating paths carefully, planning to kill them.

In a movement that could be called casual, Julio’s Azuro entered the circle. The enemy in front tried to run, keeping a considerable distance.

But once Azuro turned a head towards that enemy, another one flew from the back. It appeared like the one in front was just a decoy.

“Behind you! Behind you!”

Though Louise screamed, Julio, with a smile on his lips, kept on running after the decoy.

The enemy from behind, thinking that Julio’s attention was surely focused on the decoy, started closing in steadily.

At the same time, when the enemy from behind released the spell, Azuro twisted around. Following the enemy’s movements from behind, dodging the attack with a wild somersault, Azuro spewed another breath.

Wrapped up in the breath, the attacking dragon knight fell down.

Shocked, Louise stared at the sudden development.

The movements of the dragon were unbelievably vivid, without making any unnecessary movements.

“H-how can you make a dragon move like that?!”

“Don’t talk, or you’ll bite your tongue.”

Julio’s tone of voice remained perfectly composed.

With three of them gone, the atmosphere around the enemy changed. Louise ducked her head, feeling the bursting anger. The encirclement loosened for a moment, and then, all of the dragon knights, at once, plunged at them.

For a moment, Louise rocked up and down, side to side. Her body felt like a ball in the hands of juggler. Forgetting to keep her eyes open she closed them... Louise was clinging to Julio.

Every time Azuro turned, he was doing a severe damage with his fangs and claws to the opponent‘s wind dragons. To avoid the enemy‘s attacks, he himself attacked.

In only four seconds, six of them were beaten and fell down.

“It has ended. Let’s return then.”

Julio said in a nonchalant voice.

“Wh-what happened?”

The wind dragon together with rider, were a single movement.

No, it was beyond any explanation, the movements of the unbelievable Azuro,

“I just brought out the true ability of the dragon. Everyone else’s dragons were making too many useless movements. That’s all.”

Julio said casually. And Louise understood... why he, not being a mage, had become the commander of the third squadron.