“Ugh... I already want to go home...”
It was obvious at a single glance that we were losing this battle, and badly.
We were riding through a vast forest, on the western edge of the mountain range that cut across the center of the continent. The closer our horses got, the louder the screams and roars echoed between the trees. As I started to hear the men’s dying cries and the shouts of joy amid the clamor, my spirits sank at the thought that we were about to step into the middle of it all.
“It’s all right. I’ll protect you, Alicia!”
Riding just ahead of me, Cion gripped her horse’s reins tightly. She had an unusually serious look in her eyes; she’d clearly been locked in and ready to go for the kill well before we’d arrived. So her next move didn’t exactly take me by surprise, but still—!
“Cion?! Slow down! We need to stick together!” I shouted after her as she jumped off her horse and danced into the middle of the chaotic free-for-all between the mercenaries and the demons.
We were hopelessly outnumbered. The demons were physically stronger than us to begin with, and the forest surrounding us was hampering our vision. As the mercenaries had fled Arshelm, they’d played perfectly into the demons’ hands. Now, they were on the brink of total annihilation.
“But, Alicia! At this rate—”
“I know!”
Next to me, a mercenary stood with his back unguarded. As a demon lunged for his neck from behind, I kicked him out of the way and held up my bible as a shield to block the encroaching talons.
We were losing this battle.
A few moments ago, I’d caught a glimpse of a certain innkeeper leading the mercenaries, but I couldn’t get close enough to talk to him. I scanned my surroundings as best as I could, but it wasn’t much use. Beneath the dense tree cover, the beast-like forms of the demons blended in with the thick foliage, and I couldn’t spot the person I was looking for...
“Gods dammit... Why do I—?!”
A blow from a minotaur sent a heavyset man flying straight into a tree trunk. As he coughed up blood, I started healing him with an orison and sent down a thunderbolt to blind the monster.
In my peripheral vision, I could see Cion moving behind me to fend off incoming attackers. With her guarding my back, I reached out to grab the arm of a mercenary and pull him away before a demon could split him in two. I’d extended his life just a little longer, at least. I jumped up to kick the horned demon in the jaw.
If you’re gonna drop dead, do it somewhere I don’t have to think about it, dammit!
Amid the whirling chaos of the battlefield, for a brief moment—just the tiniest instant—I ground my teeth in frustration as I recalled the soft smile of the “witch” who’d sent me out here. I kicked away another minotaur charging at me; I wasn’t striking to kill, so I just used his own momentum against him. But my anger gave my kick a little extra force, and his huge body went flying, knocking into several other demons along the way.
That’s friendly fire. Not my fault.
“If you don’t want to die, stand down! I need to speak with your commander!” I shouted out into the brief stillness.
I glared out at my surroundings... But it was no good. The battlefield was overflowing with screams and cries; no one was listening to me.
“Why do I always get stuck with the worst jobs?!”
As I griped to myself, a group of monkey-like demons leaped at me from the trees. I dodged them, grabbed a tail as it slipped past me, swung it around, threw it, healed more mercenaries, shielded, kicked, parried—
“Aargh—! Dammit!!!”
I felt like my head was about to blow a gasket. Entrusting my back to Cion, I took a brief pause to catch my breath and get my thoughts settled.
How had things ended up like this? Well, that was obvious. It had all started when my boss, High Cardinal Salamanrius, had disappeared.