Defeating the fenrirs was proving to be no small task. They were formidable monsters with strong attack power, inflicting injuries on the knights one after the other. Sirius had once taken out a whole bunch of them on his own, though I’d found out later that this was usually considered an impossible feat. When I’d talked with my other knights about it a few days afterward, they told me how a fight like that normally went.
“Usually, fenrirs can only be taken down by a couple dozen knights working together. If they’re decent knights, a group of ten or so could possibly do it, but that’d be pushing the limit. They’re not the type of monsters you battle one-on-one.”
“The only exception to the rule would probably be Vice-Commander Sirius.”
“Or maybe Commander Wezen? But those two have both abandoned their humanity, so they’re not really a good point of reference at all.”
Those snippets of conversation floated through my mind as I looked back at my brothers and their group. The saints were using their healing magic to tend to the wounds of the knights, but they could only heal one knight at a time, and there were more knights than saints. The knights continued to desperately fend off the fenrirs as the saints cast their healing magic, but all the while my three brothers remained frozen stiff. Although I hadn’t intended to, I found myself calling out to them.
“Brothers, your saints and knights are struggling! Please help them!!”
No one had expected me to do that, so the knights around me all looked down in sheer shock. My brothers mirrored the knights’ startled reactions as they also stared at me wide-eyed. However, it also seemed that was the moment they realized we were there, and their response was one of frustration.
“Looks like reinforcements finally showed up!”
“Hey! What are you doing?! Stop standing idly by and come help us at once!”
“I’m a prince, you know!! How do you plan to take responsibility if something happens to me?!”
Despite my brothers bellowing furiously at them, not a single one of my knights moved a muscle.
“Hey! Don’t just stand there! Help us!” My brothers screamed in an angry chorus once more, but this time, Lukbar answered them in a sharp tone.
“It’s futile, Your Highnesses! They belong to the second princess’s Royal Red Shield! They won’t come to help us and risk endangering their charge!!”
“What did you just say?”
“But I’m a prince!”
“That’s preposterous!!”
My brothers argued back, but when the reality that not a single one of my knights was coming to their aid, they gritted their teeth in frustration.
“We’ll remember this, just you wait and see!!” they cried out, clearly vexed.
I raised my own voice and called out to them once more, “Brothers! Can’t you see your companions are in trouble?! You’re all fine knights! Please, help them out!!”
Maybe it was my pleading that finally spurred them into action. Or perhaps it was the sight of my motionless knights that made them realize they had no other choice. Either way, my brothers tightened their grips on their swords and turned their gaze toward the fenrirs closing in around them—monsters far larger than themselves, with sharp claws and teeth to match.
But just as I feared, the reality of actually having to fight the monsters hit them, and my brothers froze in place. Their torsos stiffened in terror, and their legs trembled uncontrollably. Clearly shaken by the overwhelming terror, they instinctively took a step back.
Oh dear! I’m sure my brothers would show just how strong they are if they weren’t paralyzed by fear. But they’re proud knights, after all, so they must rise to the challenge!
My determination was so overwhelming that, although my brothers remained in place, my own feet began to rush toward them—one step, two steps, three steps… Before I even realized it, I was running toward them.
“P-Princess?!” one of the knights called out.
“Where are you going?!”
It sounded like they were starting to panic, but I kept running forward without acknowledging them. I only stopped when the knights who’d come chasing after me were about to catch me.
“Th-thank goodness. Did you finally come to your senses?!”
“We thought you were going to beeline straight for the fenrirs!”
The knights’ panic shifted to relief, but it wasn’t going to last for long.
“I wanted to come to this spot.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I-Is there something here?”
Disregarding the knights’ bewildered questions, I looked up at the sky and called out to my far-away friend in the spirit language.
“Come to me, Seven!”
No sooner had the words left my lips than Seven was right there in front of me.
“What’s going on, Fi?” he asked, then took in the surroundings, his eyes widening as he looped around in the sky. “Hold up! You’re surrounded by monsters! What the heck have you been up to?”
“Seven, my brothers are in trouble! I’ve got to help them right away.”
“Huh? You wanna help those no-good brothers of yours? Do you really need to do that?”
Oh dear. What a terrible thing for my benevolent spirit to say. I looked up at Seven and clasped my hands together in front of my face.
“Seven, they’re my big brothers. Please.”
Seven puffed out his cheeks in annoyance before giving me a reluctant nod.
“…Fine. I’ll help, but only because you asked me to, Fi.”
He spun around in circles as he soared higher into the sky and began channeling his spirit powers into me.
I thrust one hand into the air and cast a spell in the direction of my brothers.
“Invigorate! Attack x1.2; Speed x1.2!”
At that moment, my magic instantly boosted the strength and speed of not only my brothers but all the members of the First Knight Brigade with them as well.
“Huh?”
“What’s going on?”
My brothers looked down at their bodies in astonishment, then swung their swords in disbelief. Their knights were acting in a similar fashion, gazing at their bodies in surprise before tapping their arm and chest muscles.
Conversely, my knights had fallen to the ground with their heads in their hands.
One of them groaned, “Now it all makes sense why she ran here! This was the point where her magic would reach the princes.”
“Ugh! She really didn’t need to go and do that! Once the princes experience something like that, they’ll be hooked for sure!!”
Judging by their reaction, it seemed I shouldn’t have cast that spell. However, given my lack of battle experience, I wasn’t sure what the right choice would have been. Well, what was done was done. Determined to do the best that I could, I went ahead and cast another spell.
“Unseen chains, grow stout and ensnare that which lies before me! Bind!”
That was the spell I had first used during the fight with the demon lions from the Lodrigone Continent, so this was only the second time I had used it in an actual battle.
Last time, I had only managed to fully capture three monsters, or about ten percent of them; if you included random monster limbs, it would’ve been around thirty percent in total. But this was my second attempt, and while there had been about thirty monsters before, there were only six now. I was confident I could do a better job this time around. At least, that’s what I thought as I cast my magic toward the fenrirs.
Please, go well this time! I prayed really hard before looking to confirm the results. But, just like last time, I only managed to completely snare three monsters. My shoulders slumped at the realization.
“Wh-what? That’s the same number as before! And the other three weren’t affected at all—objectively, I got better results the first time, didn’t I? But hold on… I managed to capture three out of six, so that’s half of them, right? So…does that mean I’ve improved overall?”
Regardless, it looked like I was going to have to practice this binding magic more.
I was still feeling disappointed when my brother, Capella, took a step forward with a determined look in his eyes. Raising my head, I saw him run toward one of the ensnared fenrirs and cleave his blade through its shoulder.
“Yes! You did it!” I cheered. I clasped my hands together tightly, impressed by what a knightly strike that was! But then, the knights around me started throwing around unnecessary comments.
“Good grief, that was just pathetic. The fenrir’s stuck in one place for crying out loud. That blow should’ve taken off its head.”
“He should’ve gone for one of the ones that’s still free.”
“That’s all he’s capable of despite having his attack power and speed enhanced?”
Oof. They were being so harsh…
“This is my brothers’ first real fight. Wouldn’t it be better to encourage them with some praise? During my first battle, Sirius and the other knights showered me with compliments,” I said, scolding them.
The knights grimaced when I suggested that they be a little nicer.
“Anyone who criticized your magic would need to have their head checked, Princess.”
“Your first battle was in the Forest of Lent, wasn’t it? I only heard about it through a fellow knight, but your performance was extraordinary from start to finish. If that’s not worthy of praise, then I don’t know what is.”
“It’s hardly fair to make a comparison to someone as extraordinarily talented as you, Princess. Not to mention you’re still just six years old.”
Hmm, it didn’t seem like anyone wanted to spare a kind word for my brothers. Since they were all knights, maybe they were just tough on each other when it came to judging their skills. Or maybe everyone took it easy on me because I was six.
Even so, no one likes to be criticized, right?
“It’s better to praise than to belittle,” I declared again, hoping to make my point clear. But the knights remained silent, making it clear they had no intention of saying anything nice about my brothers.