Chapter 35: Beastwoman 1

The sound of wooden swords was echoing under the blue sky.

The place was a small clearing surrounded by trees, a day's walk away from the Grabalt's castle.

The place was a camping site often used by travelers from Grabalt, and there were several simple tents left standing, two of which show signs of having been used.

A bonfire was being used, and an iron pot hanging above it.

Inside, a soup was being made with many vegetables and various herbs, giving off an appetizing aroma, and a beautiful silver-haired girl, Meltia, was stirring the soup roughly with a ladle to prevent the ingredients from burning.

From the look of her, it was obvious that she had no experience in cooking.

Her hand movements were so violent that the ingredients in the soup were crumbling...... she didn't even notice it because her gaze was elsewhere, not on the pot.

"Shall I prepare the soup instead?"

It was said by one of the soldiers standing by her side.

It was one of the five guards that King Baldur provided them as they traveled to a place far from the capital of Grabalt to retrieve the Hero's sword.

The five helped prepare the tents, took care of the horses, and prepared food.

Of course, since they were soldiers, their main job was to fight, but they understand that their duty included taking care of the two people who were not used to traveling, so they have no complaints.

"Oh, no. I would like to help in some way."

"I see. Please let me know if there's anything I can do."

"Thank you"

She smiled back at his kind words, but inwardly she sighed at her inability to do anything.

Her gaze was drawn to the source of the wild clashing of wooden swords that was still being heard a short distance away.

It was the complete opposite of the silver-haired, red-eyed Meltia, with her black-haired, black-eyed sister Mariabelle who was dressed in black, and a woman with long, beautiful gray hair and ears and tail like that of a wolf of the same color.

"Fufu. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of teaching someone how to use a sword like this."

The woman who said that was Fornelis, a woman dressed in a black military uniform whose long gray hair shone beautifully in the bright light of the sun.

She had a well-defined face and was tall for a woman. Her waist, fastened by a leather belt, was so thin that one wondered if it was filled with internal organs, but her breasts were so big that one wondered if they were filled with large fruit.

Even though she was wearing thick clothes, her breasts swayed as though flaunting their softness whenever she made a slight gesture.

It was also the case with her sibling, Meltia, who wondered what she ate to get such big breasts―― a beautiful girl who was shorter than her sister, but had bigger breasts, so much that she wondered at herself.

The hem of her military coat, fastened with a leather belt, fluttered with her movements.

She was wearing black pants and black lace-up boots, which seemed a bit outrageous for a princess of a country, but they suited her well, as she was tall and well-built.

However, in Grabalt, where the weather was often warmer than in Fonteau, where the elves lived, she looked like she might break into a sweat due to her clothes, but she charged at the wooden sword without sweating. She was nostalgic as she played with Mariabelle's wooden sword.

"Your father is now known as a hero, but when we first met, he didn't even know how to wield a sword. But for some reason, he really liked using a sword."

However, Mariabelle was so breathless that she couldn't even reply to her.

Her lustrous black hair stuck to her sweat-soaked cheeks, and her black dress, which was hardly suitable for battle, absorbed the sweat and stuck to her skin.

Her dress was made of such thin fabric that it clung to the shape of her small but well-formed breasts, which look modest compared to Meltia and Fornelis, and the skirt also clung to her legs.

As time went on, her sword swings became rougher and her footsteps became more unstable, which was not very interesting to watch, but Fornelis felt nostalgic when she saw Mariabelle's conviction.

"Yeah, you two are very similar, always trying too hard."

They were different in appearance, size, and even gender.

But Mariabelle was indeed the daughter of the hero―― and Fornelis felt joy.

The hero whom she accompanied in his travels.

The hero who saved her country.

The man her best friend loved.

And now his daughter was in front of her.

Her best friend was in danger...... The worst-case scenario crossed her mind, but she strengthened her grip on the wooden sword with the hope that everything would be okay.

That was how it had always been.

No matter how critical the situation was, if they didn't give up, miracles do happen. Even if their enemy was a demon king who wanted to destroy humanity.

And that hope was right in front of her.

"But you don't have to be so dangerously similar."

"Haaa!!"

The wooden sword's momentum that she swung out was gone then a voice leaked out, she was surprised.

When the momentum disappeared from her slash, it would only become a poor blow, and when Fornelis cleaved the wooden sword to the side to match her attack, Mariabelle's body was swept by the wooden sword.

The lower half of her body, which was exhausted, couldn't endure it and got swept away, and her lower body fell to the ground.

"If you're going to save your mother and your country, you're certainly going to be reckless―― but if you get stuck here like this, you won't be able to save yourself let alone others."

It was no wonder that Fornelis had said that.

The sun was already high in the sky, and it was long past breakfast time.

Mariabelle had asked to be taught how to use a sword after waking up, and she was accompanied by Fornelis, who was preparing breakfast, but Meltia and the soldiers accompanying them had not yet eaten breakfast.

Fornelis didn't deny the idea of guts.

She knew that talent was important, but some things could be gained through hard work. Even if there were areas that one could not reach without talent, there were also areas that one could reach through hard work.

She had traveled with the other heroes, stood side by side, and fought countless monsters.

It was the result of her continuous effort with the sword since birth.

She was not loved by the world like the hero.

She was not a genius in magic like Leticia.

Fornelis and the priestess who traveled with them had no talent.

Therefore, she knew that "skills" in any field were not so easy for an amateur to master.

Sometimes one needed to take a break, especially if she were a princess who had never held a sword before.

She knew that forcing herself to work harder would only make her body collapse sooner or later.

"Even so, every day, rain or shine, I swing my sword and slay monsters...... But before I knew it, the skills I had acquired could not compete with that guy."

That was talent, Fornelis thought.

She was not talking about skipping a step on the stairs of growth. Not even skipping two or three steps.

It was like it jumped over the stairs and flew.

A talent that could not be reached by hard work.

A genius who was given a talent by the heavens. That was the hero and his wife.

"Yes. Well, for your first time, you did well."

Saying it somewhat happily, Fornelis held Mariabelle and gently hugged her to her chest.

She held the black-haired princess's head in her ample chest and stroked and combed her sweat-soaked black hair, as though she were her own child.

However, a normal mother would not let her daughter carry a weapon, even a wooden sword.

Even more so in a peaceful world.

Even though the elves were good at using magic in battle, they didn't have many skills in protecting themselves, so Fornelis understood that her mother, Leticia, really loved her two daughters and wanted them to live a normal life.

Mariabelle closed her eyes as she was being stroked and fell asleep, probably having used up all her energy.

Her breathing was slightly uneven due to fatigue, but she was breathing calmly.

She moved until she had used up all her strength and then fell asleep as though she were passing out. She was like a baby, and it brought a smile to Fornelis' face.

"Now, let's eat. Mariabelle will also eat when she wakes up."

"She's okay, isn't she?"

"Yes. She will suffer some muscle aches for a week, but the human body is not so weak that it will break down from this."

While saying that, Fornelis made a simple pillow out of a blanket from the tent and laid Mariabelle down.

She stroked her dark hair one last time and went to the others.

One of the soldiers poured the soup, where the ingredients were crumbling due to overheating, into a wooden bowl and handed it to Fornelis.

For a moment she wondered if it would be bad manners, but tired and not caring of it, she stood and took the soup, which was full of vegetables and the meat of a beast that one of the soldiers had hunted, into her mouth.

The soup tasted a little salty because it had been boiled for too long, but it was just the right flavor for her tired body.

After taking the first bite, she then took two or three more bites with vigor. Before Meltia and the other soldiers had even finished half of their food, she was emptying her bowl and refilling it.

Looking at Fornelis, who had a strong appetite instead of being tired even though she had been training Mariabelle since morning, Meltia sighed and resumed eating on the other side of the pot facing her.

"It would not go back to 'normal' until we took back the castle. Let's take it slow while Mariabelle healed."

There was no question in her mind, though.

Because it was Meltia and Mariabelle who chose to do that.

Mariabelle would become a hero. Standing on the front lines as a flag to reclaim the country.

By doing so, it would raise morale and win against powerful and huge monsters―― the hero.

But.

Seeing her sister exhausted to the point where she couldn't get up after only one day, her feelings seem to be shaken.

She had the same black hair and black eyes like their father.

Proof that she was of the hero bloodline.

But her sister, Meltia, did not have them.

In a world where the demon king had fallen, the number of monsters had decreased, and there was no hero, proving one's bravery was a burden, and she knew that her sister was troubled by it.

But now that she had lost her country, her mother had been taken away from her, and yet she had felt the joy of hoping that her power would be of some use.

She could see it in the way she swung her sword until she collapsed, exhausted like an infant.

"Well, isn't that a bit too much for a first day......?"

"It can't be helped. Mariabelle wants it, and to be honest... it's true that she doesn't have much time."

Without expressing her impatience, Fornelis told the truth to Meltia.

"Leticia is still being violated―― If I could, I would go straight to Fonteau by myself."

"Captain, that's――"

"I know. It's reckless... but I want to get to rescue her as quickly as possible. Meltia, I hope you understand that you are not the only ones feeling impatient."

"……Yes"

Slowly and gently, as if to say to herself.

She wanted to say the same thing to Mariabelle, but she was exhausted and asleep. When she woke up, Fornelis thought, she would tell her.

The reason why she went along with her reckless sword training was to make her understand her own abilities.

No matter how much she wished for something, some wishes never come true.

But she wanted to tell her that people could grow―― that even if it was not possible now, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow...... someday, there would come a time where she could make her wishes come true.

The only thing she knew was that she couldn't say half of what she wanted to say in her current state.

That was why she pushed her to her limits until she collapsed.

"And did she underestimate it, or was it just bad luck? Or she was inferior in ability?....... Either way, I don't think we can beat someone that Leticia can not beat on her own."

"That's right. I heard that Fornelis-sama is second only to my father in swordsmanship. That's why Mariabelle wants you to teach her how to use a sword."

Delighted by the way she said it, Fornelis brought the soup to her mouth while smiling.

"So, Fornelis-sama. Does Mariabelle have a... talent on swordsmanship?"

These were the words that she herself wanted to ask since this morning. But she had never even seen her sister holding a sword before, so Meltia's concern was understandable.

"Hmm."

Fornelis thought for a while, bringing her fingers, whose skin had rouged up from continuous sword training, to her shapely chin.

"I don't know. I don't know if she was talented or not."

"Eh......"

She must have been thinking about it. Meltia asked with a serious face, but Fornelis told her honest feelings.

"It's not a matter of talent or not, it's a matter of having the right physical strength and skills."

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"……Is that so?"

"No matter how good your skills are, they are useless if your body can't keep up with them. Your father started out...... very badly, too."

"Really?"

"Yes"

He had the same powerful magic as Leticia, who was probably the strongest mage in the world, and his sword skills were even better than Fornelis, who was proud to be the best among beastmen with their superior physical abilities.

While he had such extraordinary abilities, his body was that of an ordinary man. At first.

When she first met him, he was an amateur who was strong but could only fight for a short time―― but he quickly surpassed Fornelis.

Thinking about it, Fornelis at the time felt more "jealousy" than surprise or envy.

(Maybe my father asked me to babysit the two of them so that I could have time to calm down.)

As she played with her gray-colored bangs with her fingers and remembered the past, she suddenly thought about that.

Meltia stopped eating and listened to her father's story, her eyes the same as a girl of her age, not a princess of a country. Her eyes shone as though she were a girl who had found a treasure, and she began to talk to Fornelis.

It was only natural that Fornelis's mouth would loosen when she saw her looking at her like that.

She thought in her head that she would wait until Mariabelle woke up, and she couldn't help but laugh about Leticia's past.

The hero left this world when Meltia was young enough to remember. For Mariabelle, it was before she was born.

That was probably why.

That was why her eyes shine so brightly when it comes to her father.

Fornelis thought that the reason why Mariabelle wanted to learn to use a sword was that it was the sword used by the hero―― her father's sword.

It didn't matter if there was talent there or not.

“I want her to use our father's sword.”

It may have been a manifestation of their strong desire to make a difference.

When she turned her gaze to Mariabelle, who was exhausted and asleep, she saw that the beautiful black-haired girl was covering her eyes with her right arm, as though the sun's light was too bright, and she was moving around to find a comfortable position to sleep.

"I don't want you guys to fight like him."

"Yes?"

The whisper didn't reach Meltia's ears, and when the silver-haired girl asked back, Fornelis pretended not to notice and tilted the wooden bowl containing her food to hide her expression.

She was sure that Leticia, their mother, would think the same thing. Although she had no proof, she had a feeling of certainty about it.

There was a sticky sound.

As it dripped from the ceiling, it made a sticky sound as it collided with the mucus on the floor.

The basement was empty, lit only by the few remaining torches.

The only sounds were the occasional strong breeze shaking the fire and the wriggling of the mucus, for anyone who knew the place, it felt like another world.

A dimly lit but majestically decorated place where the sword of the hero was enshrined.

The hero of salvation. The one who defeated the Demon King―― the hero from the other world.

The holy sword that was said to have been used by the hero could not be used by anyone other than him, but it could not be left in the capital of Grabalt, the heart of the country, because of the magic contained within it.

Therefore, it was stored inside the ruin, which was far from the capital and was said to be the place where the goddess who summoned the hero to this world, first appeared.

Yes. It was a ruin.

A place that was nothing more than an underground space.

But when they realized that it was a place associated with the goddess, the beastmen and demi-humans built a temple there.

Not being familiar with the concept of "decorating" as human beings do, they kept it simple but made the best use of the technology they had, and built a small but delicate gate. They transformed it into a temple with a tranquil and solemn interior.

The entrance was covered with a barrier to ward off evil, and at the far end, they built a temple underground but illuminated by the light above dug deep into the ground.

The carvings on the rock walls and stone pillars, and even the candlesticks that adorned the torches showed an artistic design made by a skilled dwarf.

There was only one path leading to the innermost part of the temple, but along the way, resting places were prepared for travelers, and preserved food was prepared to be used in case of emergency.

However, the number of travelers coming to the temple had been decreasing for the past few years.

It was because the demon king had been defeated.

Forgetting to pray to the goddess daily, the people engaged in what they could to rebuild, live and grow.

Build a family. Provide food for their families. Plow the fields. Pass on their skills to future generations. Eliminate the remaining threat of monsters.

These busy days caused them to forget worshipping the goddess, and fewer and fewer people came to the temple.

As a result, the temple became dusty and the preserved food was deteriorating.

The temple was not a place for wild beasts, because the entrance was protected by a barrier, and because it was the place where the holy sword of the hero was placed, as no one could use it.

Inside the temple, something was wriggling.

Illuminated by the feeble light of the remaining torches, It was the Black Ooze.

It was one of the few remaining monsters.

However, the Black Ooze had destroyed the barrier that could wound even the dragons, a creature different from monsters that even the bravest warriors had struggled against, and had entered the temple.

The sacred aura emitted by the lingering presence of the goddess and the solemn atmosphere created by the beastmen and demi-humans would disturb the monsters' senses, and if it was not strong enough, it would drain its strength just by being there.

The Black Ooze, however, slowly entered from the entrance. Little by little, the Black Ooze stained the finely crafted stone pillars, rock walls, and candlesticks with its own mucus.

It was black.

The mucus stained the beautiful, dusty white carvings, and with each stain, the presence of the goddess in the temple faded.

The Black Ooze's range of activity became wider, and its counterpart, the holy presence, became smaller and smaller.

It had been two days since the black mass of mucus arrived at the underground temple.

It was a monster that had absorbed thousands of elves, learned magic, and gained knowledge and will―― but it was the first time it had seen it.

The innermost part of the temple.

The light shone through the hollowed-out ground which was illuminating the underground like an aurora.

In the center of it, there was a sword.

A sword in a mithril scabbard was displayed on a pedestal made from the branches of the castle tree.

It was the holy sword that the hero had used, the sword that held the power of the goddess.

The scabbard was meticulously engraved with beautiful designs, and on the hilt was a large, transparent jewel. And while the light shining from the ceiling made the holy sword look divine, the cloth wrapped around the hilt was dirty, as though it had been left there for a long time.

Blood, perhaps? It was blackened in places.

However, that stain was proof that the holy sword had been used on the front lines.

When the Black Ooze reached the innermost part of the temple, it extended its tentacles from its huge body without caring about the beauty of the holy sword or the atmosphere around it.

To the silvery-white holy sword in the center of the light, a tentacle that had captured various lives reached out, but it never even reached the pedestal on which it was displayed, and its tip disintegrated just by touching the veil of light.

Yes, it disintegrated.

Not evaporation, not freezing, not destruction.

It literally "turned to ashes and fell to the floor.

A small amount of its mass completely disappeared, and it did not recover even after turning into ashes.

The Black Ooze increased the number of tentacles it extended from one to ten and extended them to the holy sword, but all of them disappeared the same way, just by entering the area illuminated by the veil of light.

In short.

It was the same power that defeated the Demon King.

It was not just from the light of the sun.

It wasn't due to the light―― it was the barrier emitted by the holy sword.

The Black Ooze continued, shattering the stone floor, piercing the hard bedrock, and extending its tentacles toward the holy sword from the underground temple.

But it had the same result.

The tentacles were disintegrated, but there was no change, so the Black Ooze let its own mass take over and extended its tentacles underground, collapsing the "space where it rested".

It was a weapon that could hurt it―― it could disintegrate it. The slime decided that if it couldn't destroy or absorb the sword, it would secure it and keep it out of everyone's hands.

The beautiful stonework, the sacred light, and the holy sword used to defeat the demon king.

All of them were lost when the temple shattered.

It was so easy.

The Black Ooze returned its outstretched tentacles to their original position, but did not move from its spot.

The aura of the holy sword. It could still feel the goddess's power.

It was different from the magic it had acquired. A completely unknown power.

It didn't understand what it was.

Until now, It had learned knowledge, how to formulate magic, how to steal it, and how to use magic by absorbing others.

But this time, It couldn't do that.

The holy sword would disintegrate the Black Ooze just by getting close to it, and if it took it into its body, it would disintegrate a huge amount of mucus that could swallow a country.

That was the Black Ooze's instinct telling it.

Its sense of danger made it understand its incompatibility between itself and the holy sword, and it chose to destroy the temple rather than acquire it.

However, at the same time, the countless wills that existed within the Black Ooze yearned for new power.

It was its instinct and the will of countless people. And the significance of their existence was shaping the monster.

All of these things were mixing together to form a single entity, the Black Ooze.

It was a change that had never happened before.

For the first time in its life, the Black Ooze, who had always prioritized growth and increasing its own kind as a monster and a creature, thought "I want it".

The power of the hero.

The power of the goddess.

The symbol of the hero and the goddess, the embodiment of the hope that the will of the people within it desired.

But it was buried in the rock, and if it tried to touch it, it would cause the Black Ooze to disintegrate.

It was buried by rocks because it could not touch it, but the countless wills inside the Black Ooze yearned to touch it.

However, the Black Ooze had stopped moving in the depths of the collapsed temple.

Half a day had passed and it was night. Then the night fell and morning came, but the Black Ooze did not move.

A few days passed as it remained frozen, like a statue, and then the Black Ooze resumed its activities.

It was not that it had come up with a way on how to overcome the power surrounding the holy sword, which it could not touch.

It felt a presence.

The countless mucus that it let out were still defiling the temple while the Black Ooze was not moving.

Someone had touched them.

Even though they were far away from each other, they were the same as the Black Ooze, and what they felt and perceived was transmitted to Black Ooze, though only slightly.

It was used in the place where it was born―― the abandoned mithril mine in the far north of Fonteau, a place where even beasts rarely came near, and where it was difficult for life to survive.

They mimic the stone walls, they mimic the furniture, they hide in the shadows, and they concealed their presence much better than beastmen or men.

There were countless inside the temple.

In the past few days, the temple, which had been covered by the power of the goddess, had lost most of its power.

The last one was right in front of the Black Ooze.

The innermost part, where the holy sword was displayed, was the center of that power.

When that area collapsed, the aura pouring inside the temple stopped.

Once the aura was cut off, the only thing left to do was to absorb the remaining power.

The power, which was not as powerful as the holy sword, was stained by its mucus for several days. White became ash. Ashes turned to black.

Taking its time. Slowly. certainly.

The Black Ooze had almost no concept of time.

Was it morning or night? That was all it thought about.

It didn't matter how many days had passed since it defiled it.

Because it had no lifespan, and as long as there was nourishment it could absorb, it would continue to be active and keep growing.

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That was how it swallowed Fonteau.

At first, it was no better than a spider crawling on a stone wall, but it grew steadily, taking in bugs, beasts, livestock, and people.

And now it wanted to swallow the hero's power, the goddess's power... Even though it was aware of the intruder's presence, it still waited patiently without moving from the room where the holy sword was placed.

"What is this...?"

As the temple came into view, Fornelis muttered in a surprised voice as she could not contain her shock.

It was hard to believe that the beauty of the temple's exterior had been destroyed, and one of the four pillars that were said to protect the temple had collapsed.

Fornelis rode her black warhorse to the collapsed pillar and dismounted to check how it happened.

Meltia moved after her, and Mariabelle looked at the shattered pillar, not at the door leading into the destroyed temple, but at the ground.

She noticed that the grasses had broken and the soil had been slightly but unnaturally deformed, as though something had crawled across it.

The five soldiers spread out and searched the area, making sure that there was no danger in the vicinity.

Then two of them went to Mariabelle's side, and the other three went to Meltia and Fornelis' side.

"Fornelis-sama, this is..."

"What does this mean? I haven't heard that the one who built it was an amateur."

In the first place, the temple was protected by the divine power of the goddess, even though it was not visited by many people. Both Fornelis and Meltia understood that natural disasters would not be able to affect it.

That was why they were surprised and puzzled by the irregularity of the destruction.

"No, it was only recently destroyed."

"Eh?"

"The fragments have not been destroyed by wind or rain. The last time it rained in Grabalt was five days ago, but the signs indicated that it was destroyed more recently than that."

Fornelis reasoned, noticing that the small pieces that would have been blown away by the wind were still intact.

When Meltia was told that, she looked around and noticed the shattered pillar and temple.

When she looked at the gate that served as the entrance to the temple, she noticed that it didn't look like much time had passed since it was destroyed either.

She tried to approach it, but...

"Wait. Meltia, can you use magic without your wand?"

"Y-yes, for now. Besides――"

In reply to Fornelis' words, Meltia boldly rolled up her light pink dress skirt.

Her thin, supple legs wrapped in white garter stockings were exposed, and at the joint between the garter belt and stockings was a rugged leather clasp that looked out of place on her beautiful underwear.

Concealed in the skirt and its clasp was a short cane, not much more than a wand.

Meltia pulled out her short staff and held it in her right hand, then was filled with a little amount of mana.

It was a torrent of powerful mana, Fornelis felt, even though she was a beastmen who was not good at magic.

The air trembled so much that her long silver hair and the hem of her dress swayed just from the mana, and the pebbles under her feet trembled slightly.

It was proof that the amount of mana she let out that could affect the surroundings was top-notch and combined with her beautiful silver hair, Meltia's petite frame seemed to overlap with her previous comrade for a moment, Leticia.

Meltia released a little more mana and a fireball the size of a fist was created at the tip of her short staff, distorting the surrounding air with heat.

After performing basic magic which she thought, Meltia extinguish the fireball.

"Plundering the ruins... perhaps?"

"I hope so. It's hard to believe that a mere robber could break through the temple's barrier that was blessed by the priestess."

She had heard about the barrier from Fornelis before they came here. According to her, monsters and people with evil hearts would be repelled by the barrier and would not be able to reach the temple.

Meltia noticed that there were three other pillars in addition to the shattered one, and she understood that they must have been the ones deploying the barrier.

At the same time, she was wary of her surroundings feeling a bad premonition.

Fornelis was also impressed by Meltia's reaction and was getting ready for battle without letting her guard down.

She pulled out her oversized sword, which was as tall as she was, and thrust it into the ground, then roughly unbuttoned two buttons on the chest part of her black military uniform.

Her white skin, slightly steamed with sweat, and her ample cleavage was boldly exposed, but Fornelis didn't mind one bit.

The cool air made the heat fade away, and she seemed to feel good.

Rather, it was the soldiers accompanying her who looked troubled.

In fact, even though she cared about her surroundings, the woman named Fornelis...... has a messy personality.

She often left her dirty clothes on the floor of her private room after she changed, and she cleaned her room only once a month.

When surrounded by people, she ate politely, but when she was alone or surrounded by her friends, a mug full of malt liquor was placed next to her elegant meal.

In addition, she liked to drink, but when she got drunk, she became annoying, and It often annoyed Meltia's parents and traveling companions with her drinking habit...... It had not yet been told to them though.

That aside.

Princess of a country. Knight commander.

Fornelis's appearance was a bit unusual with those titles, but she seemed to fit in well with Meltia's eyes.

"You look better than when you were teaching Mariabelle how to use a sword."

"I'm not a fan of formalities. Actually."

Meltia laughed bitterly at her words, which were in a whispering tone, like a child pranking a friend. The soldiers around her shrugged their shoulders as though to say they understood.

She then turned her gaze towards Mariabelle.

"We will lead the way. Mariabelle, you and Meltia will follow us from behind... what are you doing?"

A little farther away from the two women, who were ready for battle, Mariabelle, who dismounted from her horse, was patting the ground with her fingers, not looking at the part of the temple that had been destroyed.

"No. Fornelis-sama, there's a mark here that looks like something was dragged."

"What?"

At Mariabelle's words, Meltia turned her gaze toward her, and Fornelis looked at her feet.

And when she noticed that the place where Mariabelle was―― and the entrance to the temple―― was a trail of something she said was like dragging marks, Fornelis thought that she had been distracted by the broken pillar and was only looking forward.

(I've been away from the battle for too long.)

She muttered in her mind and pulled herself together.

She kneeled down on the ground and decided to find out what it was that the intruder was dragging.

The strange thing was that the area where the trail had gone was unnaturally devoid of grass.

Not all of them―― especially the grass―― seemed to be growing unevenly than the ones around the trail.

"If there is only one trail, it's not some kind of carriage, right?"

It was not a footprint, so it was not a horse, either. She thought that it was not a mark made to carry something, but even if it was, she did not know what it was.

The width was large, with more than enough room for two Fornelis side by side.

......Fornelis felt a little embarrassed that she had failed to notice such a large mark.

It wasn't so much that she neglected seeing the signs, but simply that she was more focused on the pillars and temple that were major landmarks.

Also, she was feeling loose―― the fact that she was with her best friend's beloved daughter was not an excuse. Rather, she reminded herself that she should be even more cautious since they were with her.

"Anyway, let's take a little look inside first. All of you, secure the horses! We will now secure the temple!"

"Yes!"

The five soldiers responded to Fornelis's call and dismounted from their horses, securing their reins in the trees near them and putting the long swords from their saddles at their waists.

Once they had their gear ready, they lined up in front of Fornelis.

Their actions were swift. The two of them, who had never seen an army up close, even though they were the princesses of a country, let out a sigh of admiration at their actions.

"Shall we go in?"

"I'd want to find out who intruded the place, besides, the holy sword is inside. I want to protect that sword at least."

In the first place, they didn't agree that they were just thieves.

She couldn't stand the thought of someone touching the sword of her friend.

In fact, she hadn't even been able to do anything about her friend Leticia, who was still trapped. With a slight sense of elation at the appearance of a person who could turn the frustration, the helplessness that had been building up in her heart, Fornelis went to the entrance of the temple.

One of the soldiers looked through the entrance and saw that the temple was illuminated by the sunlight shining through the broken door and the slight glow of torches.

The entrance was large enough for three adults to stand side by side.

Inside, the ceiling was even higher, and on the ceiling, a metal chandelier cast a dull glow, bouncing off the torchlight.

There was no light source there. As they stepped into the temple from the entrance, they could smell the faint smell of dust.

"No sign of people, huh?"

Fornelis, who was still in the entrance, paused for a moment, letting the sun shine on her back as she surveyed her surroundings.

No one in Grabalt could hide their presence from Fornelis, who was a skilled swordswoman and had the instincts of a beast, so she trusted her instincts and stepped inside.

The entrance to the temple was made up of stairs leading underground.

Left and right, stone statues carved by dwarves from the olden days were lined up at even intervals, and in between them, a few torches still illuminate the temple, though many of them were in tatters.

People from the nearby villages who clean the temple occasionally replace the oil from the torches.

However, they were not cleaning the temple thoroughly now.

(It's no wonder that when the battle ended, faith in the heroes and the goddess fades.)

Once the danger brought by monsters was now gone, everyone had to worry about living now.

The gratitude that they used to have for the Goddess, the object of their prayers, was replaced by the busyness of their everyday lives, and the time they had for prayer was reduced by earning money.

Once the faith faded, the memory faded and the gratitude was forgotten.

The only thing they could do was to occasionally clean the temple and replenish supplies inside.

However, Meltia and Mariabelle, who followed Fornelis into the temple, looked up at the stone statues that were said to have been made by old dwarves, which were rarely seen in Fonteau and exhaled in admiration.

"It's amazing. There aren't many old buildings like this in Fonteau."

"That's true. The elves have only been out of the forest for a short time and there are few buildings that can be called 'old', right?"

"Yes, everyone said that our father developed the city, but it is also wonderful to see the architectures from Grabalt, where these things still exist."

Fornelis grinned at Meltia's straightforward words.

The new things introduced by the hero were convenient.

However, because it was old, there were things they could learn from it... Meltia thought as she touched one of the stone statues of a woman, probably the goddess, with the opposite hand that held the short staff.

It must be more than ten meters tall. The statue was so big that she had to look up at it.

She wondered how many years it would take to carve one of these.

When she thought about it, Meltia became interested in the temple's history. In addition, there was the hero's sword in the innermost part of the temple, which was said to be the place where the goddess who summoned the hero first landed.

Anyone interested in history would find this place intellectually stimulating.

"Onee-sama, instead of being impressed at the stone statues, why don't we go deeper?"

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry, Mariabelle."

"You like historical structures, don't you, Meltia?"

"Maybe so"

As she said so, feeling embarrassed, three soldiers led by Fornelis guarded the front. Mariabelle and Meltia were escorted by two soldiers, who followed from behind a few steps away, keeping an equal distance.

Mariabelle, who was not good at magic and had only a dagger for self-defense, was guarded by Meltia, who possessed powerful mana inherited from their mother, and the two soldiers.

As they proceeded deeper, there were several forks in their path, but Fornelis, who knew the structure, took the correct route.

"There's no one here."

"Yeah"

One of the soldiers stood in front of Fornelis, brushing away the dusty cobwebs with his hand as he spoke up and informed her of the current situation.

His voice echoed through the passageway of the temple, surrounded by stone walls and statues.

When It was silent, only their footprints echoed in the passageway, making them nervous, and found themselves speaking out if they noticed something.

They must have made it about the middle of the temple.

Their steps had been slow at first due to wariness, but now that they couldn't sense any signs of human presence or danger, their nervousness was fading and their steps were quickening.

As time passed by.

The two of them, Meltia and Mariabelle, had grown accustomed to walking through the dimly lit temple with only the light from the torches to guide them.

"Wait"

Halting them with her hand and voice, Fornelis stopped the others who were proceeding, picked up a nearby torch, and kneeled down.

"This is where the dragging marks end."

Fornelis said, lighting her feet with the torch in her hand. Everyone else looked down at her words.

The place had nothing.

It didn't even branch out, just a straight path. There were stone statues of the goddess on both sides, and there was no sign of people but them.

They looked around for a while, listening carefully, but they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"Let's keep our eyes and ears open."

"Ye――"

One of the soldiers was about to reply to Fornelis' words.

When his right hand, protected by an iron armor, suddenly touched the stone statue beside him, but it sank.

"Wha?"

In the darkness, the soldier could not understand what had happened as his right hand sunk into the statue.

"Uwaaa!?"

The soldier screamed in disgust and tried to pull his right hand out, but no matter how much effort he put into it, he couldn't take it out.

The soldier, terrified and desperately trying to pull his arm out, touched the stone wall to support his left hand, but even that hand sunk into the wall.

The wall, which was mucus, penetrated into the armor and made direct contact with the skin. The unpleasantness of it confused the soldier even more.

However, Meltia stood next to him and pointed the tip of her short staff at the stone statue.

Then, in the dim darkness, white smoke rose from the stone statue. Gradually, the mucus that had mimicked the statue evaporated, releasing a strange smell.

"Are you okay!?"

"Ugh... where's my hand!?"

"It's okay, it's still attached."

The soldier crawled away from the stone statue, relieved that his hands were safe.

"I can't feel my hands! Somebody take off the armor!!"

However, no one else paid attention to his words, and they stared at the wall that had just swallowed the soldier's hands.

The stone statue of the goddess that the Black Ooze had mimicked stood in an unnatural position with only its right leg hanging down, and no further changes appeared.

When Meltia, who had been staring at the statue for a while, released her tension―― as though it had been waiting for it, the statue on the other side came crashing down.

There was no collapse on the ceiling or walls.

It was also a stone statue that the Black Ooze had been mimicking. And it mimicked a whole statue, unlike the other one, over several meters tall.

Even though it was not a rock but a mucus, a human body would easily be turned into a lump of flesh if crushed by such a mass.

However, Fornelis, who immediately understood the direction where it would fall, threw down the torch in her hand, roughly grabbed Meltia and Mariabelle by the collar, and jumped out.

"Ahhh!?"

However, one of the soldiers, who had fled to the other side had been crushed by the stone wall, destroyed by the mucus statue as he screamed and fell.

"Hey, are you o――."

Before she could finish her words, the collapsed statue "rose".

It undue its mimicry ability, and a mass of black mucus suddenly rose in the passage illuminated by the weak light from the torch.

The mucus, which appeared and rose that it almost reached the ceiling, slammed its huge body into the floor where one of the soldiers was.

"Kuh, what is that!?"

Before their mind could comprehend the reality of the situation, the stone floor cracked and shattered as it could not withstand the force from the mucus.

"Uoooh!?"

One of the soldiers was about to be caught up in the collapse, but Mariabelle quickly reached out and pulled him to safety.

"T-thanks!"

"Are you okay!?"

The two of them confirmed each other's safety and then adjusted their stance to get away from the mucus body.

"Pull your swords out! Keep running towards the back!!"

The soldiers were still confused.

When Fornelis, who had already drawn her oversized sword, recognized it as a giant slime, she gave instructions out loud.

The soldiers, who were not sure whether to fight or flee or what to do in the first place, did as they were told and drew their swords and ran toward the far end of the temple, where the holy sword was stored.

"Meltia, Mariabelle! We're gonna run deeper!"

"Y-yes."

"I understand."

The two of them also followed Fornelis' words and ran faster before they could take a glance at the slime that had attacked their country.

In times of confusion, it was effective to give instructions in a loud voice.

After finishing giving instructions to her companions, Fornelis took a glance at the soldier who had been taken into the body of the slime.

"I'm sorry"

With a few words of apology, Fornelis started running.

"We'll go all the way to the back."

"Y-yes."

"――――"

Fornelis picked up a new torch, and by its light, everyone ran.

A part of the Black Ooze, which had grown to a huge size and covered the entire passage, left the seven with no place to come back to.

Then, when they ran towards the innermost part of the temple where the sword of the hero was placed, the mucus that had been mimicking the walls revealed themselves after they had passed by, and a large amount of mucus was approaching behind them.

(It's too big!? Don't tell me, that's a slime!?)

Fornelis's astonishment was evident in her expression, and she put more strength into her legs.

The heat was building up inside her military uniform, and her sweat-soaked clothes were clinging to her skin, making it difficult to move.

Beastmen living in Grabalt, where the weather was relatively warm for a long time, were resistant to heat, but it was different. It had been a long time since she had felt nervousness, and the sight of the giant slime unsettled her as she laid her eyes towards it.

"Is that the slime that attacked Fonteau!?"

"Yes"

Meltia responded, breathing hard, and Mariabelle ran, looking around frantically.

As she was running, checking their path and making sure she didn't take the wrong path to the deepest part―― one of the soldiers tripped.

"Grab my――"

Another soldier who was about to lend a hand to the soldier noticed something.

His right foot had sunk into the stone floor. It was also a mucus mimicking the floor.

"No way!? There are traps all over the――!?"

The soldier who tried to tell him was bound by tentacles that extended from the stone wall behind him.

The tentacles stuck to the iron armor and wrap around the soldier like a rope, pulling him to the stone wall and trapping him like a spider's thread.

"Take off your armor!"

"I-i understand――"

While he was hurriedly trying to remove the clasp of his armor, the stone wall undue its mimicry and swallowed the soldier head first.

"――, ――!?"

The soldier flailed around in the liquid for a while with a look of anguish on his face, but his movements soon stopped.

"Hii"

"Don't stop, Mariabelle!!"

Seeing that, Meltia pulled on Mariabelle's hand and forced her to run.

"Just keep running straight! Hey, you remember the way to the deepest part, right!?"

"Yes!!"

"Me too!"

The two remaining soldiers responded to Fornelis's words, and Fornelis, who was at the rear, looked over her shoulder at the giant slime approaching from behind and put all her strength into her hand holding her oversized sword.

"I'll buy you some time! Quickly go to the deepest part and get the sword――!!"

Mariabelle looked back behind her. By that time, Fornelis had already raised her oversized sword upward.

She could see the outline of it shining so brightly that one could recognize even inside the temple where the sun's light did not reach.

It was magic.

A light of mana too powerful to be released by a beastmen who was not good at magic.

It was the magic from her sword―― a sword made of mithril, a magic sword that the sword saint who fought with the heroes used to fight the demon king.

"No, Fornelis-sama――"

However, she didn't listen to her voice and instead pointed the tip of her sword at the ceiling and released her magic.

Realizing that she couldn't stop the mucus coming at them like a tsunami, Fornelis shattered the ceiling and blocked the passage.

"N-no..."

Mariabelle and Meltia were stunned as they looked at the pieces of the ceiling that had collapsed, blocked the passage.

Immediately after, bang.

There was a shock from behind the wall that shook the entire temple.

However, there was no sign of the blocked passage collapsing, except for slight dust falling.

"Are you both okay......"

One of the two remaining soldiers called out to them, breathing unevenly.

"W-we have to help Fornelis-sama."

"No...... the commander thinks we can't fight that giant slime now, so she told us to get the hero's sword.

“…………”

At those words, Mariabelle fell silent.

Then, once again, she turned her gaze towards the rubble, where Fornelis was no longer visible.

"......Let's hurry up, sister."

"Okay"

They didn't think that it would come to this.

It was Fonteau that was attacked, and Grabalt....... they assumed that it was still safe.

However, slimes have already invaded Grabalt and even appeared in the temple where the hero's sword was stored.

Meltia thought for a moment that perhaps there was no safe place on this continent anymore, but she shook her head as though to deny such pessimistic thoughts.

And.

"Sister."

"Yes"

Reaching out her hand to Meltia, who was sitting down, Mariabelle looked ahead.

The temple was dim and dusty but decorated with beautiful furnishings and stone statues. Now, however, it had revealed its true appearance.

Threads of mucus dripped from the ceiling, the floor writhed, and the stone statues melted.

"Disgusting."

Meltia, who had supported Mariabelle with a soft smile, said so as though spitting.

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