I step forward to roast him and toast him, but Julius annoyingly stops me again.
(Why are you stopping me?!)
There’s this saying in my world that even the patience of a saint eventually runs out. He’s already tried my patience too far! Ah, but the Bible says you’re supposed to forgive seventy times seven times.
……
Well, I’m not a saint! I won’t forgive him!
(Using magic will alert others that there’s an Analian sorcerer in this village. Once word gets out, it will reach Analia.)
(So what?! What’s so dangerous about that?!)
(Hunters will come if Analia discovers this place.)
(I’ll protect everyone in this village from them!)
(It’s not the village I’m worried about. You’re the one in danger, Elle!)
I flay Julius with my angry glare for stopping me.
(You should know, I created Elle Village because I wanted the freedom I never had in Analia. I want to stay free and I want the people of Elle Village to have freedom, too. Shaking in my boots in fear of the Demon Lord circle and dreading Analia to the point I can’t ever do anything is not the freedom I was seeking!) I convey to him in my mind, sharpening my gaze on him.
Julius hesitantly loosens his grip on my shoulder. Using his moment of wavering to my advantage, I shake free of his hand and reach out for the insolent messenger’s shoulder to roast him.
“Wh-What?! Y-You lout! Let go! Lemme go! Ow! You’re hurting me!” he starts moaning in front of me.
I definitely had my hand out to turn him into a nice rat-roast, but I haven’t done anything yet.
One of the armored men from the security unit the sexual harasser brought with him is twisting his arm behind his back. A member of his own escort party is doing that when he should be standing back and awaiting commands. I run my eyes over the rest of the guards, and all but one are in shock.
The one calm guard among the panicking group folds his arms. “I’m disgusted. I didn’t think my kingdom had rotted this far. I can only hope scum of your caliber are infesting only this territory,” he states calmly.
My eyes instinctively take in his relaxed stance, so clearly different from the rest of the confused guards.
“Who the Demon Lord’s spawn are you?!” the messenger angrily demands, overwhelmed. “Ghh! That hurts!” he cries when the man gripping his arm gives it an extra twist.
“Silence, lowlife! Bow before your lord!” commands the man restraining the rat-faced messenger.
Then, with everyone watching, the man with a commanding air of calm slowly removes the large metal helmet hiding his face. Lustrous hazel hair spills out from under the rising helmet. Strong-willed almond-shaped eyes pierce the messenger.
Aaah, I’ve seen him before. He’s—
“You are in the presence of Gaea Kingdom’s third prince—Prince Guido Fance Grimond!”
I freeze in place, my arm still in the air. I can easily imagine the manga narration box showing up beneath the character, announcing his name and title as he flashes his royal crest.
Guido…the third prince…is here…which has to mean the girl under the cloak is…
The shock is so great my brain draws such a blank I think I’m gonna faint. Meanwhile, red suffuses Ratface’s complexion, and he glowers at the man introduced to the room as the third prince.
“Royalty?! Y-You expect me to believe that blatant lie?! His Highness the Prince would never be here! Guards! Capture this fool pretending to be of the royal family! Do it now!” he thunders, shaking the whole room with his squealing voice.
The confounded guards hesitantly draw their swords and turn them on Prince Guido in the wimpiest gesture yet. As for the prince, he meets them with an intrepid smile and knocks down the entire indecisive party with a single flick of his sword.
Aaah. Yup. Knew that was coming. The prince’s sword is a cheat weapon that can store magic. In just one swing, he manifests the power of twenty strong men.
I dissect the situation as armored men comically do backward somersaults. Confirming their true identity has had the oddly positive effect of calming me down.
The messenger gags on his words after witnessing this slender slip of a man wipe out his brawny guards in full plate armor with little more than a flick of his wrist.
Haha! Serves you right!
But I kinda wanted to save the day after I wore down Julius with my cool speech.
I quietly lower my right hand, which I’d raised to save Canna.
The door opens at the same time. A petite figure hidden under a cloak is standing in the doorway. And behind them is a slightly flustered Laurent.
Something flies out from under the figure’s cloak. It’s a small humanoid creature about the size of a human head with dainty, transparent wings, long pink hair, and large yellowish-green eyes. The legendary creature, called a fairy, hovers in the air and thrusts her finger in Guido’s face.
“Hey, Prince Guido! You started without our signal! And we went through all that work to gather information from the villagers, too! Now that’s all for nothing!” the fairy decries in a bubbly voice. She snorts and crosses her tiny arms.
I don’t know what about that tirade was funny, but it gets the cloaked woman to softly laugh.
“Hehe. Lylish, it isn’t nice to point at people.”
A pretty dulcet voice fills the room. Even her “Hehehe” laughter sounds like beautiful chimes in the wind. How in the world does one become capable of laughing like that?
The reprimanded fairy goes “Hmph” and turns up her chin.
Guido lets out a delighted laugh. “Haha! My bad. I couldn’t stand watching this man a second longer. So, what did you hear from the villagers?” he asks, directing his loving gaze toward the cloaked woman.
“I was able to ask them a lot with Laurent’s assistance. The rumors about forced kidnappings appear to be false, as we assumed. Everyone said they willingly came to this village,” she answers, drawing back her hood and revealing beautiful long hair the color of night, healthy skin, slightly colored cheeks, rose-colored lips, and beautiful jet-black eyes framed by curled lashes.
I figured it was her. The real person is a hundred times more beautiful than her manga version. This is the girl I had been a die-hard fan of during my last life. I wanted to be just like her.
“A black-haired woman accompanied by a fairy… Don’t tell me you’re the village wench they call a saint?!” the messenger utters, shock causing his voice to tremble.
He’s a dense lout to only notice it now. I realized it the moment Prince Guido came on the scene! Ha! That’s right, she is—
“Oh dear, cat’s out of the bag already? Hello. I’m Aela. They call me a saint, but I’m just your standard sorcerer.”
Saint Aela. The heroine of my favorite manga series.
“Labeling your powers standard will make it difficult for anyone else to ever call themselves a sorcerer,” Guido says, walking over to Aela with a serene smile.
Third Prince Guido is a magic swordsman who fights by imbuing magic into his royal sword.
“Your Highness, Saint Aela, what would you have me do with this?” asks the armored knight restraining the messenger.
I’m betting this knight is Golem, the brilliant swordsman who was originally the captain of the prince’s guard.
“I leave the decision to His Highness,” Aela says with a sweet smile. The pink-haired fairy Lylish perches on her shoulder.
And behind her is the genius sorcerer Laurent, who’s still trying to figure out the situation.
“Take him away from here. I will hand down his punishment later,” the prince orders after careful deliberation.
With only one ear keyed in on their conversation, my mind goes into full panic mode over having finally come face-to-face with a scenario where all five of the manga’s main characters have gathered.
The magic swordsman Prince Guido.
The genius sorcerer Laurent.
The master warrior Golem.
The fairy Lylish.
And lastly, Saint Aela.
Every member of Saint Aela’s party responsible for killing manga Elle have gathered in the same room in front of me.