The memory of Buser came to Neia’s mind.
The Sorcerer King reached into the sleeve of his robe and, after a brief delay, he withdrew a purple, poisonous-looking potion. Normally, potions were blue.
Neia did not question the Sorcerer King even as he poured that poisonous-looking potion on her. What the Sorcerer King did must surely be correct.
Reality turned out as she had imagined it. The purple potion that he poured on Neia’s body instantly healed all of her wounds. It would seem the Sorcerous Kingdom’s potions were of a different color.
“While it seems a full recovery will be a long way off, you should recover your energy before that ― what a pain. Tch. The militiamen are all dead… looks like there’s a few left over there. In that case…”
The Sorcerer King turned to face the demihumans as they attacked him from behind over and over again.
There was fighting all over the city at this very moment, and someone was dying with every second that passed. However, in that moment Neia completely forgot about that, because her eyes were stolen by the glorious back of the Sorcerer King who had risen to protect her.
Her unease and worries about the demihuman army were completely gone.
That was ― what Neia had longed for.
So it was here all along. I see…
Neia was certain that she had found the perfect answer to the doubts that she had been holding on to all this time.
The Sorcerer King casually cast a spell.
A dazzling stroke of electricity raced along the top of the city wall. It was apparently a spell called 「Chain Dragon Lightning」.
The demihumans on the wall were swept away, so easily that it was hard to imagine there had been a life-and-death struggle here earlier.
“Did… yhou… dhefeat… them… all?”
“No, there were some people still fighting nearby, so I was trying not to catch them in it. However ― 「Napalm」 ah, that’s all of them. Next we have to deal with the idiots climbing up.「Widen Magic Wall of Skeleton」.” A wall of bones suddenly sprang up on the outside of the city wall, where the demihuman forces were. While she could not see the other side because her vision was blocked, she could hear the demihumans on the ladders wailing, followed by the sound of objects falling and hitting the ground hard.
“Now to take care of their forces which are already in formation… I sent some undead over there earlier, they’ll deal with it soon enough.”
As he spoke, he took out another potion. It was completely different from the one just now, being stored in a beautiful, slender phial. While she had no idea what the potion inside it could do, it looked like it must be a very valuable item.
“I, ahm fhine, Yhour Mhajeshty…”
“…Enough of that. I’m sorry I was late in saving you.”
The Sorcerer King shielded the upper halves of his eye sockets like he was being dazzled as he poured out the contents of the bottle. The sense of weakness she had been feeling since just now melted away. However, her body still felt heavy. She felt like something had been scraped away from herself, but matching it ― no, exceeding it ― was a warmth in the core of her body.
She could get up like this. While her body still hurt so much that her tears had leaked out, she could not remain in such a disgraceful posture in front of the person who had come to save her.
“Stop ― Miss Baraja. There’s no need to force yourself to stand.”
While she wanted to get up, Neia obediently lay back as he pushed her shoulders down.
“Yes, like that… I’ll get someone to carry you. ―You lot, over here!”
The Sorcerer King waved to what seemed to be militiamen.
It was at this point that Neia realized that for the sake of expressing her gratitude, she had not yet asked a question which had to be asked.
“Your Majesty, will you be alright? You came to help us and used the mana you should have been saving to fight Jaldabaoth.”
“It’s fine. When you think about it, it couldn’t be helped considering that it was for the sake of saving you.”
“Your Majesty…” A weighty stone seemed to have fallen from her chest. “I understand now.”
“Hm? What is it?”
The Sorcerer King waited for Neia’s reply.
“I understand what justice is.”
“―Ah, so you’ve found the justice that belongs to you? That’s good…Is it protecting the weak, or something?”
His voice was full of tenderness, and so Neia replied with confidence.
“Your Highness is justice.”
For a moment, the Sorcerer King froze.
“….Hm?”
“I understand now! Your Highness is justice!”
“…Ah, is that so. You must be tired. Don’t you think it would be better to rest? You’ll think of strange things when you’re tired. Surely you won’t want to roll around on the bed and make weird noises after you calm down, right?”
“I’m a little tired, but more importantly, my heart has cleared up. I am absolutely certain that Your Highness is justice!”
“No, nono, I said so back then, but I’m not justice. Look, what they call justice ought to be something like protecting the weak is common sense, that kind of… uh, abstract concept. Right? I mean, normally speaking.”
“No. Justice without power is meaningless, but power like what Jaldabaoth possesses is not justice either. Therefore, being strong, and using that strength to aid others is truly justice; in other words, you are the incarnation of justice, Your Majesty!!”
As Neia’s eyes went wide while she spoke, the Sorcerer King suddenly raised his hand, and then placed it over Neia’s eyes like he was coaxing her to sleep. The pleasant coolness of his fingerbones made Neia’s cheeks relax.
“…Ah. If you shout too loud, won’t it make your wounds hurt? After this, we can slowly continue what you were talking about just now.”
“Yes! Your Majesty!”
She heard the sound of several footsteps, and by shifting her gaze, she saw the forms of paladins and militiamen approaching her.
“Your Highness! Thank you very much for coming here to help us!”
“Don’t mention it.”
As he answered, the Sorcerer King slowly rose to his feet. Neia felt lonely as he stood up and wanted to reach for the Sorcerer King’s robe, but then she realised that doing so would be terribly shameful and so she curbed herself.
“―No, actually, maybe you should. Therefore, I hope you will take Squire Baraja to a safe place in order to show your gratitude. While you can’t see it from here, I’ve already sent the undead I made into the demihuman encampment, so it should be alright for you to stand down for a while.”
“Your Majesty―”
“―Neia Baraja. And also, the people of this country. Let me handle the rest. I promise you that I will do my best to save the people of this city.”
The Sorcerer King floated lightly into the air.
“Also, there’s one more thing. Can you help me move the bodies of those three demihumans over there? They were strong foes, so I want to study them carefully.”
The three corpses to which the Sorcerer King pointed looked like they had once been very impressive demihumans.
“Move them with their wargear. Don’t worry about being rough with them, but do not misplace their equipment. I’ll leave that to you.”
As he watched the Sorcerer King fly into the air, a paladin turned to Neia.
“Squire Neia Baraja, while we would like to carry you… the lack of materials for a stretcher makes things difficult. Can you stand?”
“Yes, though it’s difficult.”
Neia slowly got to her feet. Her legs were trembling, and they ached as soon as they took her weight. Neia leaned on a militiaman’s shoulder and hung on tightly to him.
Looking down from the city wall, the unit that was supposed to be defending the west gate was gone, and there were no bodies. The sound of clashing blades on the wind seemed to be coming from far away, so taking the shortest route down from the side tower ought to be fine.