“Capture the intruders!”

The moment Reginald shouted that, a sharply honed blade came crashing down from above.

Raul barely managed to dodge. Drawing the sword from his belt, he shouted:

“Enzo! Cover the rear!”

Not far away, Enzo hurled aside the soldier he had been fighting.

He rolled low across the ground and pressed back to back with Raul.

“We need to stall.”

At his hurried words, Raul nodded.

Turning, he saw that Astie was still rummaging through the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° haystack inside the barn.

From beyond the knights came Reginald’s furious voice:

“What are you doing over there! Seize them immediately!”

The knights hesitated.

But Reginald swept them with a contemptuous glare and roared:

“Don’t just stand there, spread out! And take alive the one who did this to me first!”

“Y-yes!”

Bustling in agitation, the knights split into several groups.

One rushed toward Raul and Enzo. The rest ran past them and headed for the barn.

Seeing a soldier dash by, Raul shouted desperately:

“Basto!”

Basto, standing at the entrance to the barn, nodded.

He pulled a small dagger from his pocket and tossed it to Bale.

“Bale!”

With his less injured hand, Bale caught the dagger.

With a strained expression, he spun the blade lightly in his palm and lowered himself.

Then he immediately engaged the soldiers charging straight at him.

“S-surrender quietly, ugh—!”

Bale first swept the leg of the knight charging at the front and knocked him down.

Before the man even hit the ground, Bale struck the second soldier on the back of the head with the hilt.

But as he dodged the spear of a third, he still let out a pained groan.

“I won’t last long! I’m wounded!”

At those words, Basto, who had just begun fighting, turned toward Bale. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“Nothing for it! Hold out as long as you can!”

Basto himself was also surrounded by soldiers.

Moreover, he was fighting them barehanded, without a proper weapon.

Gritting his teeth, he drove his fists one after another into the charging soldiers.

‘If I had known, I would have brought the War Hammer.’

Originally, their plan had been to quietly extract Bale.

Not to clash head-on with Reginald’s army like this.

Basto recalled the situation from a few minutes earlier.

‘The will!’

When he had first heard that word, he had been bewildered.

A will?

Indeed, in this situation there was only one item that could be called that.

The missing will of the former lord, Adeline’s father.

But there was a problem.

‘This is not the time to calmly examine some will.’

Of course, it explicitly stated Adeline’s legitimacy as lord.

But even if they found it now—what could they do with it immediately?

Reginald and his soldiers were already approaching the barn with drawn swords.

So, if only for a moment, Basto hesitated.

‘Maybe I should just throw Tie over my back and run.’

He might be reproached later—but at least everyone would be safe now.

But at that moment—

‘Ahem! I think... now is the time to say this.’

Casting a glance at the approaching soldiers, Bale turned to Basto.

And, as if wary of his reaction, whispered:

‘They took my mercenary identification. Apparently... they searched me very thoroughly.’

Bale showed the empty inner pocket of his collar.

That was where he usually kept his mercenary identification.

Now it was empty—the soldiers had taken it.

Only then did a short, muffled sound escape Basto’s mouth.

He gripped his temples. Pain throbbed in his forehead.

Then he flung his eyes open and ordered Raul and Enzo:

‘Hold them off! We need to stall until Tie finds the item!’

The fact that Bale’s identification had been taken meant one thing.

Agavert was already in serious trouble.

With high probability, Reginald had prepared to file a protest with the Imperial Cabinet.

Which meant the expulsion of Agavert from the capital was only a matter of time.

Even if they managed to escape, that would not solve the problem.

‘Then there is only one way left.’

The only way to turn the situation around and safely enter the central district of the capital as planned—

was to prove that Reginald had illegally usurped the position of lord.

If his treason were proven, then Bale’s beating would also be recognized as justified.

‘Adeline! Go to Tie and find the will together!’

After Basto’s words, Adeline, frozen by the fence, stood momentarily with a bewildered expression.

But soon she hurried into the barn.

“Hah, hah... Basto! I can’t... anymore...”

At that moment, Bale’s groan from the front scattered Basto’s thoughts.

Bale’s legs were buckling. He staggered visibly.

“Just a little longer!”

Basto shouted.

He quickly looked around and picked up a spear with a broken tip lying nearby.

With one swing he pushed back the gathered soldiers and was about to break through toward Bale when—

“Where do you think you’re going.”

A massive soldier roughly his height stood in front of him.

“Seize him!”

At the knight’s command, the soldiers gradually tightened the circle.

And at the moment when something—blood or something else—ran down Basto’s forehead—

[Ha. This is exactly why I cannot stand humans.]

With a soft chime, a transparent dome, like glass, formed around them.

Lifting his head, Basto saw Lucarion hovering in the air, wrapped in black smoke.

Returned to the form of a small dragon, he still calmly wore the device made by Berugon.

Bright red eyes fixed on Basto and Bale.

[Let me warn you in advance—I am not helping because I like you. I am helping because of Tie.]

Bale’s and Basto’s eyes widened.

At that moment, Reginald’s voice rang out nearby:

“Wife! Destroy this barrier at once!”

He pointed furiously at Lucarion’s barrier.

“Quickly! Didn’t you say breaking barriers is your specialty!”

The slender woman standing beside him frowned.

It was Recia—Reginald’s wife and, as they said, a mage.

She stared at Lucarion and began gathering magic in the air.

But it was useless.

“W-what? Why is nothing happening?”

Recia’s concentrated magic could not leave even the tiniest scratch on Lucarion’s barrier.

As if expecting this, Lucarion curled the corner of his mouth in a faint smile.

Recia’s brows drew together.

Meanwhile, inside the barn—

“Are you sure it’s really here?”

Adeline asked, watching what was happening outside.

Tie wiped the sweat from her forehead and nodded.

“Y-yes!”

But even after all the piled hay had been removed, there was no trace of the will.

Only hard ground scattered with stones remained.

“This won’t do. Come here, Tie.”

In the end, as if having made up her mind, Adeline stepped forward.

Rolling up her sleeves, she began digging the earth with her bare hands.

Tie watched her in astonishment.

Then—

Thud—

“Uwaa!”

Someone approached silently and roughly seized Tie by the collar, lifting her into the air.

The child’s face went pale.

“Damn little intruder!”

One of the soldiers previously knocked unconscious in the barn had grabbed Tie by the scruff.

“Astie!”

Realizing what had happened, Adeline sprang up.

But it was too late.

“You’re next!”

A knight in a plated gauntlet shoved her away, and Adeline, losing her balance, crashed into the corner.

“Kill them! At least one—seize them quickly and finish it!”

Under Reginald’s shouts from outside, the soldier cast a cold gaze at Astie.

[......How dare you.]

Suddenly, heavy damp air surged forward, and a gigantic shadow fell before the soldier.

He flinched and lifted his head.

[To whose majesty do you think you are daring to lay your hands on?]

In an instant, grown enormous, Pupu—shrouded in crimson smoke—looked down at the soldier from above.