They ought to have been grateful that only a single city district was destroyed. Many houses were on fire and white plumes of smoke reached to the sky, but the total casualties were almost nil.
While watching the battle, she had seen cyclones, blazes, strokes of lightning and other tremendous manifestations of power that were beyond man’s knowledge running wild. Each of these discharges of energy could have easily taken countless lives.
Especially―
“It’s beautiful…”
What had truly moved Neia’s heart was the ball of white light that she had seen twice.
It was power which consumed everything and made it disappear without a trace. It felt like something good to Neia, although she could not confirm whether it was truly the work of divine might. The incredible devastation she saw in the wake of the light’s disappearance frightened her, but her admiration of its great power had won out in the end.
It seems the fighting is still going on. I can’t believe the battle still isn’t over after using all those spells… Jaldabaoth is really strong.
She had heard about it, and she had even seen it with her own eyes. Yet, Neia’s thinking had still been too naive. That naivete was now thoroughly eradicated.
The king she served ― though only temporarily, and only within the Holy Kingdom ― was fighting. She felt that searing his heroic visage into her eyes was only natural as part of her squire’s duties, which was why Neia was keeping watch from here. Yet, if she could―
―Neia tightly squeezed the bow she was carrying.
If one looked closely, they would see several other shapes battling the Sorcerer King in addition to Jaldabaoth. Those were the maid demons, who were rated at difficulty 150. Neia could not do anything but admire the Sorcerer King’s power for fighting so many powerful adversaries at once without giving ground.
It was at this moment that Neia finally realized something about herself. She envied the people of the Sorcerous Kingdom ― those people who were protected by justice. How happy they must be to live in a country ruled by such a being.
“Weakness is a sin, so one must become strong, or humbly accept justice similar to that of His Majesty.”
At this point, Neia voiced the words she had been mulling over all this time. The way she repeated it over and over sounded very much like a prayer.
Suddenly, there was a large explosion as a meteor fell.
It threw the carcasses of buildings high into the air, and they rained back down to the earth amidst a shower of gravel and sand.
“Captain… isn’t Jaldabaoth… too powerful?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“The Sorcerer King ― His Majesty is also incredibly strong. If he becomes an enemy of our nation… what will we do?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Captain?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She could hear Remedios talking to three paladins.
The paladins asking her questions had probably not seen how Remedios had ended up being toyed with like a child even after unleashing the holy sword’s power and stabbing Jaldabaoth in the back.
Ahh, maybe they didn’t see it. Still, anyone who saw that fight would have understood. Both the Sorcerer King and Jaldabaoth were unimaginably powerful. Still, it was too late to think about things like that now. No―
If His Majesty could take this country under his rule, we would not have to suffer demihuman invasions again.
Neia was startled at how perfect that idea was, and even a little afraid.
Merging with the Holy Kingdom… if he were a frightening tyrant, even I wouldn’t think about it. But the Sorcerer King isn’t like that. He is justice. In that case… I ought to gather people who feel the same way as me!
Neia pondered the matter.
Many people had come to respect and idolize the Sorcerer King. There were those who were drawn to his overwhelming power, those who were grateful for being freed from suffering, those who hated the demihumans and who were glad that he had taken revenge on their behalf, and many such others.
From them she would select those people who had always been praying for the peace of this country, and then let them hear her words.
Neia knew that she was still young and lacked life experience. However, adults with good sense could stop Neia if they felt that her judgement was in error.
Let’s start by looking among my subordinates in the archery unit.
There were people among them who had lost their loved ones and harbored hate in their hearts. It might be better to try persuading them, because Neia could understand how they felt.
As she pondered this, she heard a doom as an exceptionally large explosion rang out.
After that, a tall building began to collapse far in the distance.
The Sorcerer King would not have destroyed that building for no reason. Neia narrowed her eyes to try and see what was going on, but she could not tell what was happening in the building as it collapsed amidst billowing clouds of dust.
It was followed by a massive stroke of lightning from the sky.
It would seem he was working towards some objective here, as she had expected.
After a while, all manner of spells wrecked the city, and the situation repeated itself.
Neia was uneasy.
That they were incredible spells went without saying, but could the Sorcerer King’s mana really hold out?
Neia shook her head and banished the fear and unease from her heart.
It’ll be fine! The Sorcerer King must have taken all this into account! He’s already wasted so much mana on this country, but even so―
Still, hypothetically, if Jaldabaoth won, there would be no salvation for this world, only despair. What should she do if that happened?
Your Majesty, I’m counting on you!
And then, two shapes soared into the sky, as though Neia’s wish had gotten through.
The first to ascend trailed darkness in his wake, while the one pursuing him flapped his crimson wings and left a streak of fire behind him.
The fact that the maids were not pursuing them meant one thing ― the Sorcerer King had defeated those difficulty 150 monsters among monsters while battling Jaldabaoth.
―He’s amazing!
Neia was so moved that she shivered.
His Majesty is more powerful than Jaldabaoth!
Indeed. There was no need to think anything else.
In turn, the maids were far weaker than Jaldabaoth, who was a notch below the Sorcerer King. That was why he could defeat them while fighting Jaldabaoth.
Neia struggled to contain her delight. As she carefully engraved the greatness of the person she respected into her eyes, she was so filled with joy that it seemed like it would explode out of her.
Neia’s heart pounded, to the point where it almost hurt.
They were all watching a scene that would one day be enshrined in a heroic saga.
―No, that’s not right.
It would seem they were going to fight again in the air.
Crimson spheres and glowing spheres blossomed in the sky.
Each of these spells could probably destroy an entire city district by themselves, and they were hurling them at each other in wild flurries. However, they looked kind of cute from a distance.
Even so, that was an exchange of power within a realm that mankind could never reach.
This is…
As she looked out the corner of her eyes, she saw the people lining the city walls gulping as they saw all this. It would seem that they understood as well. They watched the aerial battle in silence, with earnest looks on their faces.