Chapter 175: A War That Wasn’t a War (5)

The loud noise continued without end.

Deborah, feeling stifled, shook the iron bars of the cage desperately, but it was useless.

“Isn’t there anyone out front?”

No presence could be felt near the tent’s entrance.

Only the sounds of people busily running around filled the surroundings.

Then, the tent that had been pegged to the ground began to shake violently and was suddenly ripped away as if swept up by a typhoon.

“……”

Deborah saw a raging water cyclone swirling in the middle of the camp.

The cyclone grew larger and larger, swallowing nearby wagons and people whole.

“What on earth is going on?!”

Clang! Clang!

Panicking, Deborah shook the iron bars of the door even harder.

Yet, the cage didn’t budge.

“Don’t tell me Raion made that? He’s not trying to kill me too, is he?”

It was unmistakably magic. There was no way such a phenomenon could happen naturally.

Since Deborah knew that Raion possessed exceptional magical prowess, he was naturally the first person to come to mind.

That only made her more anxious.

Clang! Clang!

Then something poked its head out from inside Deborah’s clothes.

[Noisy! Noisy!]

“…Huh?”

[Noisy! Noisy!]

“Ah! You—no, you’re still here.”

The creature was Grapheos.

When she had met Raion at the palace annex, she had kept it with her just in case—and then completely forgotten about it.

If they had talked from time to time, it might have been different, but since she knew Grapheos’s true identity, she had been too scared to even speak to it.

“I—I have a favor to ask. Could you help me?”

[What? What?]

“Could you maybe… break this cage for me?”

[Okay! Okay!]

Grapheos floated out into the air and released energy.

Fwaaaah—!

A translucent jet-black aura burst out, and the iron bars were helplessly blown apart.

[Done? Done?]

“Huh? Oh—th-thank you.”

[What now? What now?]

“For now, just stay with me.”

Her first priority was to get out of there.

Deborah picked up a sword lying nearby and looked for an escape route.

[Want a sword? Want a sword?]

“A sword? Oh, right. Yes, please.”

From the small, translucent sphere that appeared before Grapheos’s chest, a finely crafted sword emerged.

It was a mithril sword—one Raion had requested from Jade beforehand.

“Perfect!”

Once ready, Deborah was about to move when—

An arc of aura flew straight toward her.

Boom—!

The one who had unleashed it was Spessen Akraden.

“Where are you going, Princess?”

“Tch—!”

He was an opponent she couldn’t defeat with swordsmanship.

So Deborah had only one option.

“Sir Grapheos! Could you deal with that man?”

[Me? Me? I’m Graphi! Graphi!]

“Yes, Sir Graphi!”

Grapheos darted around Deborah, then stopped midair.

Since it was smaller than a woman’s fist, Spessen tilted his head curiously.

“Were you secretly keeping a pet?”

“I wouldn’t call it that.”

With the water cyclone ravaging the camp, Spessen needed to get Deborah out of there quickly.

Then, his gaze fell upon the mithril sword in her hand.

‘Where did she get that?’

He couldn’t ignore the sudden question.

Of course, he didn’t think much of the strange little creature flying around her.

“Will you come with me willingly?”

“Do I look like I will?”

“It would be better to comply while I’m still being polite.”

His voice was calm yet coercive.

Hearing that, Deborah motioned for Grapheos to go forward.

“…Please, Sir Graphi.”

[Okay! Okay!]

As they exchanged words, Spessen began striding toward her.

“The prince is waiting, so come qui—what in the—!”

The tiny bird-like creature before his eyes suddenly expanded.

It grew to the size of a person, then even larger—massive enough to rival the water cyclone itself.

[What’s this? What’s this?]

Having returned to its original size, Grapheos first eyed the water cyclone rather than Spessen, licking its lips.

[Can I eat that? Can I eat that?]

The massive mana concentration had stirred Grapheos’s appetite.

“No! Not that! That guy!”

Panicking, Deborah pointed her finger straight at Spessen.

Meanwhile, Spessen’s eyes were fixed on the enormous Grapheos hovering in the air, wings spread wide.

Where had such a monster suddenly appeared from?

If it were merely large, he might have attacked—but the pressure radiating from the beast was overwhelming.

Just meeting its gaze made him feel as though he’d be devoured whole.

Those fleeing nearby soldiers felt the same. Some were so terrified that they dropped to the ground.

[Who? Who?]

The deep, resonating voice of the now-gigantic Grapheos echoed throughout the area.

Each time its gaze swept across someone, their bodies froze in fear.

“That one!”

Grapheos’s eyes stopped on Spessen, who stood frozen, sword still in hand.

The yellow beak flicked its tongue for some reason, as if tasting the air.

[Humans get scolded. Get scolded.]

It was because of a warning Raion had given earlier.

Deborah knew about that as well, so she didn’t dare provoke it.

“Then please, protect me so that I don’t get hurt!”

[Okay! Okay!]

Even as Grapheos answered, its gaze kept drifting toward the water cyclone.

It seemed to be drooling at the mana energy wafting from it.

[Slurp.]

Soon, threads of blue mana seeped out from the cyclone and streamed into Grapheos.

Shuaaaaah!

Even though it lasted only a moment, the cyclone shrank to nearly two-thirds of its original size.

[I-I didn’t eat it! Didn’t eat it!]

“……”

[No! No! It just came into my mouth by itself!]

What kind of ridiculous excuse was that?

Deborah could only stare quietly without saying anything.

It was such an absurd sight that no one could laugh.

Rather, everyone was simply stunned that the cyclone had shrunk because of Grapheos.

The tense standoff dragged on a little longer.

Finally, Spessen, having regained his senses, began stepping backward.

There was no way to stop a griffin large enough to fill half the camp.

Escape was the only option.

“…Ah!”

Seeing that, Deborah wanted to stop Spessen, but she couldn’t bring herself to order Grapheos to attack.

For now, all she could do was flee.

“Sir Graphi! Let’s get out of here first.”

The camp was already in chaos. No one remained to stop her.

Then Deborah politely pleaded with Grapheos, who still seemed to be drooling at the cyclone.

“We need to get out now.”

[Hmm? Now? Really?]

Its eyes remained fixed on the swirling mass of water.

“Hurry! In that form, you stand out too much—please change back to before!”

It was large enough to cover half the camp.

At that size, there was no way they could run anywhere unnoticed.

[…Okay! Okay!]

After a moment of thought(?), Grapheos instantly shrank back to its smaller form.

At the same time, the cyclone that had been devouring everything vanished in the blink of an eye.

“……”

[Urgh…]

Seeing the sudden silence fall over the camp, Deborah turned and began running as fast as she could.

On her shoulder perched Grapheos, its belly oddly swollen and round.

Was it a signal?

As soon as the cyclone disappeared, which had been tearing through the camp with torrents of water, the forest began to stir.

The terrified soldiers who were fleeing fell to the ground one by one as they met the incoming figures.

“Enemies!”

“Enemy attack!”

Only now did a few manage to regain their senses and shout.

The knights were the first to grab their weapons and move forward to counter the assault.

They seized the fleeing soldiers, throwing them to the ground to shock them back to awareness.

“Do you want to die here?! If not, grab your weapons now!”

Either way, death awaited them.

So they forced themselves to stand and fight, refusing to die as cowards.

Tatatatat! Tatatack!

Clang! Clang—! Clangclangclang!

The sound of weapons clashing echoed between collapsed tents and overturned wagons as enemies burst out of the forest.

There was something strange about them. They weren’t wearing armor—just light uniforms with a strange snake emblem drawn across the chest.

At first, some thought they might be bandits.

But that thought didn’t last long.

Their disciplined formation and refined swordsmanship were more like that of foreign knights.

Even stranger, some of them stayed standing after being slashed across the arms or torso, completely unfazed.

.

.

.

As the enemy assault became clear, Rasfer’s irritation spiked when he saw Spessen return empty-handed.

“What was that thing just now? And where is the princess?”

There were too many questions running through his head.

But the most important one was about Princess Deborah.

“The enormous griffin appeared to have been summoned by some trick of the princess.”

“What? How could she possibly summon such a thing?!”

“I’m not certain. But from what I saw, it seemed to obey her words.”

Even now, Spessen couldn’t believe what he had witnessed.

Then he realized—the Lord of Conforta, who had been with Rasfer just moments ago, was gone.

“Where is Marquis Conforta?”

“He went to intercept the enemy assault.”

“Retreating to Huffo Territory is too dangerous for now. You must return to Moratz.”

Rasfer stomped the ground in frustration.

Yet he had no way to take control of the situation, which had turned into chaos.

“Where is Count Rusta?”

“His tent has already been blown away.”

Count Militas Rusta had been intended as the scapegoat to cut off the tail—but now, his life and death were unknown, which only worsened Rasfer’s anxiety.

“You must go quickly.”

The attack had started from the east and was slowly consuming the camp.

They were currently on the western edge.

There was still a little time before the enemy reached them.

“Understood. Let’s do that.”

With the princess missing and Marquis Conforta potentially returning at any moment, there was even the risk of a counterattack.

Thus, Rasfer departed with Spessen, two knights, and one mage who had been guarding the area around the tent.

.

.

.

At the bottom of the ravine, where the battle raged, two Death Knights beneath Raion’s feet crumbled into dust.

They were the last of the Death Knights summoned by Malphas.

“To think you could wield the Light of Zigasis that way… But you don’t seem to be doing well yourself.”

“…You never shut up, do you.”

Raion glared at Malphas, visibly exhausted.

He had poured all his remaining strength into focusing the Light of Zigasis to unleash an attack stronger than Terrasion’s Blessing, which had been cast on the Death Knights.

“With my generous heart, I’ll give you a choice. How about becoming my slave?”

As Malphas grinned slyly, a jet-black sigil rippled above his hand—the same one from before.

At that moment, Raion let out a short, scoffing laugh.

“Restoration.”

He aimed his hand toward himself.

At once, a colorless light enveloped his entire body, restoring everything that had been damaged back to its original state.

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