I—Agnes—was currently at the border between Polpystan and Myzahn. I believed that an ordinary noblewoman would have to stay back at her estate and hold the fort at times like this. Despite that, I’d been unreasonable and tagged along with everyone else, because I’d felt that there would be many cases where my magic would be useful. I didn’t want there to be many casualties, for both allies and enemies, so I’d like the two countries to quickly reach an armistice. My magic should be useful to that end.
I stayed quiet and carefully listened to Lord Nazel and Prince Valen’s conversation. They were talking about Master Robin’s magic being duplicated and utilized here.
Master Robin’s magic really was duplicated by someone back when he escaped. And that person is now using that magic to toy with the Polpystani soldiers. From what I heard, the soldiers had suddenly blanked out, and their magic was also sealed when they came to.
According to Defi’s information, Prince Rivage possessed sealing magic. If Master Robin’s mental recovery magic and Prince Rivage’s sealing magic were being used in succession, the person who’d duplicated Master Robin’s magic should be right next to Prince Rivage.
At the moment, Lord Davier had gone to assess the situation. It was a rare kind of magic in Desnim and ideal for investigating from various angles, making it extremely useful for gathering information. From what he’d told me before, his magic worked on animals up to a certain size—magical or not—and allowed him to communicate with them, move them, and even share senses like sight with them. This was all he’d told me, but it seemed that there were other things he could do that he just hadn’t mentioned.
Charite was happy to have her dear Davier on her back. I’d secretly reinforced both of them with my magic.
“Now then, I’ve finished reinforcing Lord Nazel’s barricades, so what should I reinforce next?”
As I rolled up my sleeves, full of motivation, Lord Nazel let out a long sigh. He looked dashing like that too.
“Agnes, you can’t go any farther. You ended up coming along with us in the end, but you aren’t used to the battlefield. Let’s see... How about you go to the horses and mountbeasts in the rear and reinforce th...eir equipment? To, uh, make sure they don’t get injured.”
“All right, I understand! I don’t want to get in your way, and I’d feel terrible about the mountbeasts getting injured. I’ve reinforced all the ones from Desnim.” I nodded obediently. “Please be careful, Lord Nazel.”
“I will. I love you, Agnes. Could you give me a kiss before I depart to raise my morale?”
“Huh? Um, s-sure.” I was awfully embarrassed since so many people were watching, but this was an important moment. I wanted to fulfill Lord Nazel’s request. I stood on tiptoe and gave him a firm kiss on the lips.
“Aaah, thank you, Agnes.” Lord Nazel hugged me tight and kissed me all over the face while he was at it.
“U-Um, Lord Nazel, please be really careful. Don’t do anything reckless.”
“Yes, don’t worry. I know from past experience that if I do anything reckless, you will follow suit.”
“Urk...”
“However, Prince Rivage’s army will likely come to seal my magic. An encounter with the person who copied Robin’s magic might be inevitable.”
“In that case, well... I know. Please take Defi with you. He strained himself to come all the way here with us.”
Defi was a former Myzahni spy who’d accompanied us all the way to the border, perhaps because he felt responsible for Master Robin’s magic being duplicated. His magic was absolute release. Ordinary release magic could only be used on people being affected by sealing magic. However, Defi’s absolute release not only made him impervious to magic, it could undo the effects of any magic, not just sealing. For example, let’s suppose that Lord Nazel was targeted by Master Robin’s mental recovery magic, leaving him in a trancelike state. If Defi was by his side, he could immediately undo the magic, allowing Lord Nazel to recover in an instant.
Defi wasn’t officially one of Lord Nazel’s subordinates. I figured he couldn’t raise a blade against soldiers from Myzahn, his homeland, so I’d intentionally brought him along without putting him among the soldiers. Defi was a Myzahni, so he was wearing a bandana to cover his face at his own request. But if he was helpful with his absolute release, even the Polpystanis, who were at odds with his people, should eventually come to trust him.
“Is Defi himself okay with that?”
“Yes, I’ve already talked to him about this. I told him that going against his former comrades would be difficult, so he should stay in Sutrena and do nothing, but he really feels responsible for Master Robin’s escape and said he wants to help with just auxiliary tasks. Also, it seems that he wasn’t particularly fond of his previous workplace.”
“Ah...” It looked like Lord Nazel also more or less understood where Defi was coming from. From the start, it seemed that Defi had been working as a spy out of habit, so he spoke the truth.
I called out to Defi, who was among the soldiers from Sutrena.
“Defi, could you come here for a moment?”
Defi quickly noticed my voice and hurried over.
“Lady Agnes? Is something the matter?”
I nodded.
“You see, I’d like you to accompany Lord Nazel.”
“Huh?!”
“If Lord Nazel falls prey to Master Robin’s magic, you’ll be able to help him, right? And if you can afford to, I’d also like you to release any other people under the effects of Master Robin’s magic.”
“That’s fine by me since that’s why I came here, but you sure work people into the ground.”
“I’ll lend you Dunk. She has a lot of stamina and is fast to boot. She’s also very tough thanks to my magic, so she shouldn’t get injured. I also used my magic on you before we came here, so I don’t think you’ll get wounded easily either.” I whispered the second half to make sure the nearby Prince Valen didn’t hear me.
“Yeah... I carelessly bumped into a boulder earlier and it cracked.”
“Oh dear, I’ll adjust the strength a little. But just because I’ve reinforced you doesn’t mean that you should rely on my magic more than necessary. If you’re in danger, please don’t hesitate to flee. Lord Nazel has collapsed from poison before, so be careful... Oh, I’ve also used magic to make you resistant to poison, just in case, so I think you should be fine on that front now.”
“Anything goes with you, Lady Agnes.” Defi blinked, looking somewhat astonished.
“Now that everything’s decided, would you come with me, Defi?” Lord Nazel asked.
“Yes, Lord Nazelbart.”
Lord Nazel got on Geni, while Defi got on Dunk.
“Goodbye, Agnes. Make sure not to do anything dangerous while I’m gone.”
“O-Okay! Take care, Lord Nazel. You too, Defi.”
“Yeah, see you.”
The two of them got on their mountbeasts and rose into the sky. Geni revolved in the air as he flew, just like usual. He always followed the beat of his own drum.
“All right, I also need to go reinforce the Polpystani mountbeasts.” I greeted King Bertrand and Prince Valen and was about to leave, when Prince Valen suddenly lost his balance and fell to his knees near me.
Huh? What just happened? He was acting kind of odd. He was holding down his chest and was struggling to breathe.
I rushed over to Prince Valen.
“Your Highness, are you all right? Does it hurt to breathe?”
“Lady Agnes...” Prince Valen said in a faint voice, looking up at me feebly—his face was also pale. “It seems that I was exposed to a slow-acting poison in the fight earlier.”
“Poison?!”
“Yes. I suffered many small injuries while I was fighting on the front lines...and one of them was probably poisoned.”
“Oh no!”
The battlefield was currently in chaos, so even if we called a Polpystani doctor, it would take some time before they arrived. It would be simple if someone with detoxification magic was nearby, but no one like that seemed to be here. There was also the possibility that other people had been poisoned, and any doctors were busy dealing with them.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty...” I turned to King Bertrand, who’d fortunately stayed behind. He nodded and quickly called a team of doctors he’d brought from Desnim. The doctors had just come out of his storage magic, so they were still nearby.
“Counteract Prince Valen’s poison,” King Bertrand ordered.
While the doctors were treating and looking after Prince Valen, I watched over them from a short distance away. I had psychological trauma when it came to poison because of the time Lord Nazel had nearly died from it...
While I’m waiting, maybe I should reinforce Prince Valen too. If he gets hurt, Queen Latriche, Paul, and Ryuk will be sad. Besides, I can’t just sit by and watch someone I know well get hurt.
I stealthily approached Prince Valen from behind to make sure I wasn’t spotted. I looked a bit suspicious sneaking around like that, but fortunately, everyone was bustling about so no one paid me any mind.
Get stronger... I silently prayed as I cast my magic.
A short time later, the doctors started making a commotion.
“Huh? Wait, is the poison going away?”
“You’re right. There was definitely a reaction earlier.”
“And it was even the vicious, powerful venom of a manabeast known as the toxic desert centipede... To be honest, even we would have needed some time to counteract it, so it’s a godsend that it wore off so quickly.”
“What’s going on here?”
King Bertrand seemed to have noticed something and was staring intently at me.
“Heh...heh heh...” I gave an ambiguous laugh to evade the situation, then quickly left to go and use my absolute reinforcement on the mountbeasts. King Bertrand would surely sidestep any questions and keep my magic secret. I believed he would.