As the left and right battlefronts shifted in the favour of Mercurio’s army……the central battlefield also started to heavily favour them as the battle neared its end.

「HAAH-!」

Vihera swung her arm with a determined shout.

The claws created with magic power that extended from her gauntlets easily cut through the long sword of her opponent. The soldier, shocked by Vihera’s attack and the loss of their weapons, lost consciousness soon after as Vihera’s palm touched their armour, the internal shock from Magic Palm knocking them out.

「What! Sorbos was defeated so easily!?」

A nearby soldier shouted out.

It seemed that one of soldiers Vihera had just knocked out was quite well known.

Of course, Vihera’s strength was also well known at this point.

Since he had appeared before her and challenged her to a fight, there was no doubt that Sorbos was confident in his own skills. But……

「Hahaha! A woman, a woman! And a top class one at that!」

There were also a number of men that were attracted by Vihera’s beauty and outfit, which only served to arouse their desires further, fueling them to attack her.

「We don’t need people like you.」

Muttering to herself, Vihera dodged the long sword targeting her arm before placing her palm against the attacker’s leather armour and using Magic Palm.

「Guh, what, what the hell is this……?」

Blood burst from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth as they died without even understanding what had happened to them.

Although they had been hit by the same attack as the previous soldiers, the outcome was completely different.

The others were just lying on the ground unconscious.

They, on the other hand, had blood bursting from all their orifices as they died.

Seeing the difference in the two soldiers who collapsed before her, the remaining soldiers only felt even more intimidated by Vihera.

「Now then……who wants to dance with me next? Would you like to dance with me?」

Vihera cast a flirtatious glance towards the surrounding soldiers, but none of them dared to take up her offer after seeing what had happened to the soldiers who had.

「Oh, that’s too bad.」

At Vihera’s words, several soldiers exchanged glances before running away from her.

Most didn’t seem to have any intention of abandoning the battlefield, but they also had no idea what to do as they continued to hold onto their weapons.

「Vihera-sama, it’s about time……if things stay like this, Gurgast will be too far ahead and we might be at risk of a focused attack. If it were just Gurgast, it might have been fine, but with the number of soldiers with us, it would be best not to waste them here.」

At Tilleyle’s words, Vihera looked further ahead.

Just as Tilleyle had said, Gurgast and his soldiers were recklessly charging ahead.

As they continued to advance, cutting through the core of the punitive force, their power could only be described as astounding.

Vihera gave a small smile as she saw that.

「Despite this being the decisive battle, Gurgast has proven to be surprisingly reliable. Even though he said he would fight his own way, he couldn’t have done much better.」

What a pain, Vihera thought, but there was no harshness in her expression.

Knowing Gurgast’s personality, she could see this coming a mile away. In fact, if Gurgast didn’t do that, he wouldn’t have been Gurgast anymore.

「For Gurgast, this is probably his last rampage of the war. I really don’t get his craze for battle. ……Tell the archers to provide supporting fire in the direction Gurgast is heading.」

「Yes sir!」

After quickly issuing orders to his subordinates, Tilleyle turned back to Vihera.

What do we do now? Understanding his implicit question, Vihera lightly brushed her hair back before speaking.

「You already know what we need to do, don’t you? There’s no need to worry about the left and right wings. All we need to do is to break through the enemy lines here and capture Kabajid and Shurus. If the others get there first, they might not be captured, but killed.」

「……You think so? Prince Kabajid aside, I’ve heard that Prince Shurus is quite a skilled fighter.」

「That’s true. Shurus is certainly quite skilled. But that’s only compared to the average person. To give a basic example, he would probably be at the level of a C rank adventurer, he wouldn’t be able to reach B rank.」

「I see. There are definitely many people present on the battlefield with that level of skill.」

Tilleyle agreed with Vihera’s words.

While Tilleyle was greatly devoted to Vihera and was also capable enough to support Gurgast on the battlefield, his personal strength wasn’t that good.

Of course, as a former member of the Second Princess’ faction, he needed to possess a certain level of skill. However, that level was definitely not at the same level as would be required in other factions.

「Well then, shall we get going? If we stay here for too long, Rei will end up coming back to support us.」

「No way, he can’t be back so quickly……」

That’s impossible, was what Tilleyle wanted to say. But, he quickly shut up after seeing Vihera’s serious expression.

「Don’t underestimate Rei’s strength. You’ve seen it many times before, haven’t you, Tilleyle?」

「……Considering that, it took him quite a while to do what he needed to do.」

「Well, there were a number of reasons for that.」

Digma had told her that Rei had been fighting Noiz, and judging from Rei’s tiredness, it was probably true.

However, she didn’t mention Noiz’s name as she didn’t want the soldiers around her to know that Noiz had been on the battlefield.

Noiz’s name carried a great deal of weight within the Bestir Empire.

If she were to say that Rei had fought Noiz and won……would she even believe it herself? Vihera didn’t think so.

At best, there was only a 50% chance she’d believe it.

Given that, Vihera felt that it would be better to continue fighting as things were rather than bring up Noiz’s name and risk throwing her own soldiers into confusion.

Of course, it was impossible that they might find out anyway from the punitive force soldiers.

「Well, let’s get going then……hm?」

Vihera tilted her head as a familiar figure appeared in her vision.

That person was supposed to have infiltrated the punitive force……and she had also been told by Rei that they might have been brainwashed since.

As she glanced over at Rhodes, who had appeared before her, Vihera hesitated on what to do for a moment.

Strangely, Rhodes seemed to be able to approach her without any of the surrounding soldiers noticing anything.

Vihera had assumed that since he had been brainwashed, he had to be an enemy, but from the looks of it, Rhodes didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking any of Mercurio’s soldiers as he walked over.

「……Rhodes, was it? What’s wrong?」

「Vihera-sama?」

When Vihera spoke, Tilleyle asked curiously, but she didn’t reply. Instead, she just looked towards Rhodes……who Tilleyle didn’t recognise.

「Uh……ah……」

Rhodes gave a groan.

Hearing his voice, Tilleyle finally realised who it was.

「Isn’t he……」

「Yes, you’ve noticed? Rhodes, and acquaintance of Rei……and the only son of Elk, Axe of the Thunder God, an A rank adventurer from the Mireana Kingdom.」

「I did hear about him. I believe he infiltrated the First Prince’s faction, but ended up being partially brainwashed. He supposedly could absorb flames generated from magic power and also gained a constant healing effect.」

Information regarding Rei’s previous battles was obviously known by anyone in Mercurio’s army above a certain rank.

It was one thing for Rhodes to have infiltrated the First Prince’s faction, but it was a different matter now that he seemed to have lost his own mind.

There was now the risk that he would attack his own allies.

That much was clear from the fact that he had previously attacked Rei.

……Of course, Rhodes had a strong inferiority complex towards Rei and some, like Theorem, felt that it may have played a part in his attack.

「……I don’t know how he’s managed to escape the notice of others, but if he attacks, we’ll have no choice but to respond.」

Rhodes was someone she had traveled with for a while and they knew each other reasonably well.

He hadn’t been particularly strong, which was what Vihera valued, but she still considered Rhodes a good friend.

Unfortunately, Rhodes had wanted love, not friendship, and Vihera’s affections were directed only towards Rei.

That was likely one of the reasons why Rhodes had even considered joining the First Prince’s faction in the first place.

「Uhh……ahh……」

Vihera spoke to Rhodes as he approached, his voice barely resembling a human.

「Rhodes, can you understand me? Or can you not? If you can, please stop where you are for now.」

It probably wouldn’t work. That was what Vihera thought as she spoke, but to her complete surprise, Rhodes stopped dead in his tracks.

「You……understand me?」

「Uhh……ahh……」

A nod. Rhodes nodded, clearly stating his assent as Tilleyle spoke excitedly.

「Vihera-sama’s charm even works on those in a state like this!」

「……You……」

Tilleyle himself was so devoted to Vihera that he seemed immensely pleased that her charm appeared to work on Rhodes, who didn’t seem to have any real control of his own actions.

Vihera sighed at Tilleyle’s excitement.

However, she decided that now wasn’t the time to bother with Tilleyle as she focused her attention on Rhodes again, calling out to him.

「Whose side are you on now? I heard that you were brainwashed by Kabajid, but judging from your current state, can we assume you’ve freed yourself from it?」

「Uhh, ahh……」

Rhodes only responded with uhhs and ahhs no matter what Vihera asked him, making her feel annoyed.

He didn’t appear to be hostile against them, but he didn’t appear to be on their side either.

What was she supposed to do with someone like that?

「……Tilleyle, what do you think we should do?」

「Well, it doesn’t seem like he has any intention of fighting against us, but we can’t bring someone who’s been brainwashed like that to our main camp……why don’t we send him to where the prisoners are kept for now? We can leave the specifics of how to deal with him with Rei.」

For a moment, Rei’s figure flashed through Vihera’s mind.

Rei might not seem to be concerned about Rhodes on the surface, but deep down, he did care.

Vihera knew Rei well enough to know that.

Would Rei be sad to see Rhodes like this?

That was what Vihera thought at first, but in order to send Rhodes back to the Mireana Kingdom, she would have to tell Rei eventually.

(Even if Rei were sad……he’d still probably say that it was a path Rhodes chose for himself.)

Thinking of Rei in her mind, Vihera quickly made her decision as she spoke.

「Tilleyle, arrange for Rhodes to be sent to the rear guard. However, don’t forget to disarm him first, including any weapons and magic items. As for how to deal with him……treat him as a prisoner for now until we’ve spoken with Rei. That said, Rhodes has provided us with a lot of valuable information up until this point, so please treat him with utmost respect.」

「Yes, I understand.」

Tilleyle nodded as he went over to Rhodes.

However, Rhodes didn’t seem to notice Tilleyle at all, keeping his gaze on Vihera.

Then, as Tilleyle’s hand touched him, Rhodes’ immediately lost consciousness as his body collapsed to the ground.

「……」

It was completely unexpected. Tilleyle looked at Rhodes in shock before eventually gathering his senses as he called his subordinates over to remove any weapons and magic items before carrying him to the rear.

The battle continued to rage on in the midst of all this. The forces led by Vihera had already wiped out all the punitive force soldiers in the area as they began to press forward.

「Well then, I’ll leave Rhodes to you.」

Vihera spoke to Tilleyle’s subordinates before heading back to the front lines herself to continue the fight.

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