The knights might have had a less-than-stellar opinion of my brothers, but they became almost unrecognizably brave after I used my magic. They were going along with Lukbar and the other knights and charging at the monsters without hesitation.
Scheat was keeping an eye on the battle as he casually remarked, “The knights in the First Knight Brigade are elite. Now that you’ve enhanced their capabilities with your magic and the princes are actually pulling their weight, it doesn’t look like our help will be necessary. Also, I’m curious, Princess. Why didn’t you cast any healing magic?”
“Huh? Well, because they’ve already got two saints with them.”
Since the saints with my brothers were already using healing magic on them, I wanted to do something else to help.
My response earned me more praise from Mirach and Miaplacidus, both of whom looked thoroughly impressed.
“Amazing. Even though fighting fenrirs is an enormous task, the princess still has the wherewithal to afford courtesy to the other saints.”
“I mean, is there even a six-year-old who can show such restraint? I’m truly in awe.”
I was the one in awe. My knights chatting away despite all those fenrirs right in front of them made it seem like they had way more wherewithal than me. Or maybe they were taking my earlier declaration, “It’s better to praise than belittle,” to heart. Oh dear, that would make me nothing more than selfish princess who insisted on compliments from her knights.
I was starting to feel really ashamed of myself when a sharp, menacing growl suddenly echoed through the clearing, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Grrrr!”
“Aaaooowww!”
It wasn’t just one fenrir making all that racket—the noise was coming from all around. When I glanced up, I saw fenrirs poking out from holes all over the cliffside.
“Eek!” I couldn’t help but exclaim.
Except for the single, narrow escape route, we were surrounded by sheer cliffs that stretched up at about a 300-degree angle. Multiple fenrirs baring their fangs were emerging from the ten horizontal caves in the cliffs. The growls echoing from all directions made it feel as though we were surrounded by them, and I could feel my body trembling with fear.
“C-Canopus!”
I instinctively tugged at my personal knight’s uniform, prompting him to explain in a soothing voice, “Don’t worry. They’re just trying to be intimidating. In all likelihood, the princes were targeted by the alpha pack, which is why the others didn’t intervene. However, thanks to the princes stepping up, only two fenrirs remain. The others seem to be biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike.”
“Not all the fenrirs will join the attack, so you don’t need to worry,” Fackt added, as my knights formed a protective circle around me. “However, it’s best to play it safe, so you might want to be prepared for a considerable number of monsters coming our way.”
I was starting to get really scared. Being surrounded by monsters is something you never get used to, no matter how many times it happens. As the knights had said, many of the fenrirs were just trying to intimidate us and wouldn’t actually come out of their burrows, but some of them would definitely be aggressive.
As we’d feared, about ten fenrirs came out of three different burrows, licking their chops.
This is really bad! I thought, clutching my skirt tightly. It seemed I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. The knights surrounding me raised their swords and braced themselves.
Altogether, there were about thirty new fenrirs closing in on us.
Just when I was thinking there were way too many of them, I noticed something coming down the slope from the top of the cliff. I turned my head up to get a better look, and that’s when I saw Sirius and Commander Wezen sliding down the cliff.
“Sirius! Commander Wezen!!” I yelled in surprise. The knights couldn’t seem to hide the shock in their voices as well.
“V-Vice-Commander Sirius?”
“What? Seriously? Even if he’s an Ultra Mother Hen, to think he’d sense the princess was in danger and come rushing out here!”
“Hey! You’re not supposed to use that nickname in front of the vice-commander! Just great! Now that he’s here, we have a much better chance of survival, but it also means our chances of getting a tongue-lashing have exponentially increased!!”
Even though there was a lot of complaining mixed in, my knights sounded much more optimistic than before. I was sure they were all feeling relieved now that Sirius and Commander Wezen had appeared on the scene. On the other hand, I was astonished to see them sliding down the cliffside.
“I didn’t know those two could use magic!” I exclaimed, amazed to see they were using wind magic to help them descend. But when I saw that none of the knights looked particularly surprised, I realized this was something everyone already knew.
Sirius didn’t stop until he reached my side. “You did well, Serafina,” he said, ruffling my hair. “You’re the bravest one here.”
That made me wonder if he’d been watching the whole time. Seeing the questioning look on my face, he tried to explain why he was there, though he seemed to be stuttering quite a bit.
“A-ah. You see…I was out picking flowers with Commander Wezen, and we just so happened to, uh, come across all of you.”
“You were picking flowers, Sirius?”
“The vice-commander was picking flowers?!”
My surprised exclamation was drowned out by an even more surprised exclamation from all the knights. Sirius couldn’t even tell the difference between medicinal herbs and weeds. Just what sort of flowers would he be trying to pick?
I was really curious to find out, but Sirius winced like he’d misspoken and quickly tried to change the subject.
“That’s quite a pack of fenrirs… If we’re going to take down the lot of them… Serafina, can I ask you to keep me, Commander Wezen, and the rest of the royal guard healed?”
“Of course!”
Sirius had asked me to take on the duties of a saint, so I happily agreed right away. He then turned his gaze to the saints who were helping my brothers. They seemed to have been listening as well, and when Sirius saw them nodding in agreement with the division of roles, he looked back at me, his expression calm.
“All you need to cast on me and Commander Wezen is healing magic. We’d be able to defeat the entire pack of fenrirs all on our own if you enhanced our abilities, and that wouldn’t look good.”
“Got it,” I chirped.
I didn’t really understand why he’d think that, but I nodded, assuring him that I’d do as I was told. Seeing that, Sirius turned to my brothers. “Vega, Capella, Rigel, that was pretty decent sword work!”
It was only a few words, but my brothers’ cheeks flushed with elation.
“Yeah.”
“Well, of course we can do this much.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
The three of them tried to maintain their composure, though it was obvious they were pleased. Seeing this, my knights began to mutter quietly among themselves.
“Gah! I’m so jealous! Even if it’s just once, I want to be praised by the vice-commander as a knight!” Mirach said.
“That’s something everyone in the Náv Horned Beast Knights dreams of. But if that ever actually comes to fruition, it probably means I’ll be dead the next day,” Fackt lamented.
“You got that right,” Canopus agreed.
No way that’d happen! In a quiet voice, I chimed in, “That’s not true. Sirius compliments me a lot, and I’m still alive.”
“The difference between you getting complimented and us getting complimented is like the difference between heaven and earth,” Scheat said.
“If the vice-commander treated me even remotely like he treats you, I’d probably keel over on the spot,” Miaplacidus added.
The knights were being way more overdramatic than usual. I wondered if being on the battlefield was getting to their heads.
I was still trying to wrap my head around it all when Sirius and Commander Wezen grabbed their swords and started advancing toward the fenrirs.
“Sirius, shall we make a little game out of it? See who can slay the most fenrirs?”
“Sounds good to me. If I win, you’ll give me that mithril sword you received the other day.”
“You don’t miss a beat, do you?! Then, I’ll ask for a hundred bottles of wine imported from your domain!”
Their bantering concluded, the two of them drew their swords and advanced on the fenrirs without a hint of hesitation.