After reducing the first Boar to dust, two more monsters charged headfirst at Camula. Even in the face of that savage assault, I didn’t think for even a single second about rushing to defend her. Seeing how well she had dealt with the first one, I wanted to see the limits of her true abilities—but that created a problem.

"Gulp!" Alicia swallowed hard as the other two Boars came towards us.

Although my initial plan had been to test how well the two of them could fight together, the two boars in front of me weren’t exactly making things easy for that plan.

Camula’s two enemies slammed into her body. The sound of the impact against her arms was loud enough for me to imagine what she must have been going through. But thanks to her sturdy defense, she managed to tank her enemies’ offensive.

But I stopped watching her battle, because I had my own problem to deal with. The two Boars were staring at me with their red eyes.

"Looks like I’m going to have to do something about this," I said to no one in particular, just as one of those monsters leaped at me with its fangs aimed at my chest.

"Holy Li–" Alicia was about to call upon her stun skill, but stopped halfway through the chant.

It seemed she had understood the problem. It wasn’t only healing skills that could damage Camula. Just like in our fight against Derug, Holy Light could also hurt our companion, unable to distinguish her from other creatures of darkness.

Unfortunately, that brief confusion kept her from intervening during the creatures’ attack. But that wasn’t such a big problem. In moments like this, adaptability was necessary.

I didn’t block the wild boar’s attack with my sword. Instead, I deliberately used my arm as a shield against the creature’s charge.

"Ugh!"

I won’t lie, it hurt when I felt the swine’s tusks mark my flesh, but not much. Just enough to irritate me.

I pushed the creature back to where it had come from with my injured arm, without much difficulty.

"Rick..." Alicia said my name in a wavering tone. I was glad that she understood my objective. "Heal!"

If it wasn’t possible for her to cooperate with Camula, the best thing would be to create an opportunity for her to provide support. And now that my arm was back to normal, with none of my flesh exposed, I could retaliate.

I went after the same Boar that had attacked me. Despite the attack I had suffered, I didn’t feel any hatred towards that creature. Just as it had merely been following its nature—seeking revenge when one of its own was slain and attacking humans—I was simply following mine by slicing monsters apart.

"Flash Thrasher."

With a simple use of my skill, I dashed towards that single Boar, and by the time I was behind it, its body had already been divided into three parts and was quickly dissolving into dust.

’Ooooh! I-Impressive, Rick!’ Brandish said to me. ’You’re much stronger than before!’

I really did feel that my body had grown stronger, but I still had a long way to go. That Boar had only been destroyed because the difference between us was far too great.

Although I had defeated one, another was still standing. But instead of coming at me, which would definitely have reduced it to a piece of bacon, it went after Alicia, taking advantage of the distance that had opened up between us.

"Don’t even think I’ll let you!" I ran towards the two of them, ready to split the creature in half.

"Barrier!" Alicia didn’t wait to see whether the enemy would reach her. She blocked its path with her magic, making it slam its snout into her shield.

I didn’t waste any time and swung my sword horizontally, splitting the creature in two. I didn’t even stop to watch its body scatter into the wind and went over to Alicia. She was breathing deeply, as if trying to calm herself after the battle she had just gone through.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes," she said to me in a calmer tone.

Alicia’s improvement was visible. Even facing a monster head-on, she remained aware of the fight despite being alone, even managing to block the attack. I was very proud of her, and certain that she would continue to be useful to our team.

"Die, you ugly pig! You don’t deserve to be in my Master’s presence!" Camula shouted before absorbing all the life from the monster she had trapped in a rear naked choke.

I realized I had lost track of a few things, so I was a little confused when I noticed she was holding a pig in a chokehold. Regardless, at least we had managed to eliminate that group.

There was still something strange about the relationship between the two of them. Camula approached us, but didn’t say anything to her, visibly trying to avoid Alicia’s gaze.

"Is there something you’d like to say to Alicia?" I asked her, urging her to say something.

Frankly, this silence between the two of them had already gone on for too long, and they needed to start interacting somehow. Besides, Alicia had helped Camula back there, so it was only fair for her to say something after that.

"What should I say?" Camula asked, avoiding my gaze.

"You could tell her, ’Thank you for saving my ass from that scary Boar. You’re an angel who fell from heaven.’ Something along those lines sounds good."

"I don’t want to," Camula answered directly.

"Hey, hey. We’re a team, so at least thank her for saving you."

"No," she said to me, turning her face away.

I was even trying to handle the problem between these two maturely, trying to solve the communication issue between them, but the childish way Camula was answering me was starting to piss me off.

"Hey, Camula," I said through gritted teeth, holding back my anger, "I’m your creator—no, your Master, right?"

"Huh, yes."

"Good, so you’ll obey what I tell you, right?"

Camula was hesitant to answer me, but still replied, "I will obey... even if it costs me my life."

"Excellent. Then thank Alicia for the teamwork."

"Hmm." Camula brooded while staring at me.

"Hey, you’re willing to give your life for me, but you don’t want to thank Alicia?"

"I probably wouldn’t have died from a tackle by that monster..."

"It doesn’t matter whether you would have or not. She definitely helped you face those creatures, so why wouldn’t you two get along?"

"Master, she’s a Saintess, isn’t she? It’s kind of—no, it’s very strange for a Demon to be friends with a Priestess, especially a Saintess. It may not look like it, but I do have my pride."

"I hate to break that pride of yours, but even though you’re a Demon, you were born into this world through the power of a goddess. In fact, the same goddess who made her a Saintess."

Within seconds, my words seemed to have shattered Camula’s demonic pride, like glass cracking after an impact.

"B-But, Master..." For some reason, Camula’s pride faded away, and she hid behind me. "She could smite me at any moment."

"Alicia wouldn’t do that." I turned to my Saintess, looking for support. "Isn’t that right, Alicia?"

For a fraction of a second, I saw Alicia wearing a wicked smile, as if she were enjoying the fear in Camula’s heart.

After that brief moment, her smile became gentle and benevolent, and she said softly, "I would never do that, Master."

"Alicia," I completely regretted asking her, "you’re not making me feel very safe about that."

"Don’t be mean to me, Master," Alicia said, pressing her fingers together near her chest, "I am merely your faithful Valkyrie. I would only purge a Demon from the face of the Earth if she presented any risk to you because of her savage nature. As long as she understands that and acts like a little dog, nothing bad will happen to her. You have my word."

Even though her smile didn’t falter for even a moment, an aura of menace surrounded her, and her words were sharper than Justine’s had ever been.

After that conversation, I stayed by Camula’s side. Alicia had a cannon of holy magic pointed at her at all times.

I had made one wrong assessment during the fight. Alicia saw Camula as some kind of tamed animal. Hurting her in the middle of battle would be counterproductive, but to her, Camula was just as threatening as Derug or Zalrorg.

"Alicia, you don’t need to be so overprotective. Camula obeys every word I say, so there’s no risk that she’ll kill me."

"That’s right, I would never hurt my Mas—"

"Anyway," Alicia said, turning around with a happy, contented smile, "we still have a lot of Boars to hunt, my prince. But don’t worry, I will always be by your side, and I will protect you from anyone who tries to hurt you."