As the battle between Rei and Noiz grew fiercely, so did the battle between Mercurio’s army and the punitive force.

It was safe to say that whoever won this battle would also be the winner of the civil war.

「Fufufufu, ahahahaha, what’s wrong? Please entertain me more! You came to the battlefield out of your own desire, did you not? Then you should be able to handle attacks like this, right!?」

「Damn it, what’s this……should a princess be more elegant!?」

「She’s gone over there! Protect Luron!」

「Damn it, of course she’s targeting the archers, but her speed is no joke!」

「AHHHHHHHH-!」

With a scream, the archer called Luron collapsed to the ground.

Nearby adventurers couldn’t see any visible injuries on Luron, but they knew that wasn’t the case.

That was because the warrior in their party, who should have been their shield, had been the first to be taken out.

They normally wore leather armour and used a shield to protect the rest of his party members, but this time he was wearing metal armour due to the war.

However, the person who had just taken out their archer had also taken out their warrior earlier in one hit, as if saying that such armour was pointless.

Fortunately, even though they had been taken out, they had only collapsed to the ground and weren’t dead.

That said, it wasn’t much consolation to the rest of the part, who could see their bodies convulsing.

(Damn it, I really shouldn’t have joined this war. There was already information that Crimson was on the other side, so I should have taken it more seriously!)

One adventurer swore at his friends, who had decided to join the war……and at himself for not opposing their idea.

There were few adventurers who had joined the punitive force to begin with.

This party was one of those few adventurers.

As a C rank party, their skills weren’t weak.

No, if you considered that only a few talented adventurers had the ability to reach B or A rank, they could be considered among the top of ordinary adventurers.

That was why the party had a certain degree of confidence in their own strength……but, their greatest misfortune was to run into Vihera on the battlefield.

「Damn it! There’s only one enemy! Use the difference in numbers to hold her down!」

The man shouted out and his friends shouted in sync.

Such cries……no, roars, served to encourage themselves.

Even if their enemy was a princess of the empire, they would attack with the hope that their numbers would be enough to suppress her.

However……

「Fufu~, a deadly blow is powerful. But unfortunately, with your skills, there’s no way to compete with me, you know?」

Avoiding the long sword swinging towards her, Vihera touched the torso of the adventurer with her hand, causing them to collapse to the ground.

The same went for the adventurer with a spear, followed by the adventurer with a hammer. ……Before they knew it, the whole adventurer party fighting against Vihera had collapsed to the ground.

The only fortunate thing for them was that Vihera had no intention of killing them.

Although they knew they were outmatched, they had still fought head on without running away. That took courage.

One wrong move and their courage would be nothing more than recklessness. In fact, in their situation, it could be considered recklessness. Still, Vihera considered it courage because she quite liked their response.

This was a civil war after all, and Vihera understood that.

In other words, if she wanted to avoid causing the Bestir Empire to lose strength, it was important to keep as many people alive, albeit unconscious, and not kill them.

Of course……

「Ahahaha, a good woman, there’s a good woman! I got her, I got her, I got this woman!」

A man attacked Vihera from behind.

Seeing Vihera’s voluptuous body from behind, he intended to cut away one of Vihera’s limbs with his long sword before taking her prisoner.

Vihera’s clothes, made of thin fabric, like those of a dancer or prostitute, exuded enough charm to drive men on the battlefield crazy.

But……unluckily for the man, he had no idea who Vihera was.

Vihera herself knew that she gave of a charm that attracted men.

But, it was also true that she continued to wear such clothes knowing that.

For that reason alone, Vihera knew that anyone who was attracted to attack her would eventually cause problems in the empire, whether big or small.

That was why she poured magic power into her gauntlets to form claws……before turning around as she tried to cut the man’s head off. However, the man was able to avoid her attack as he quickly jumped away.

「Hehe, what’s wrong, sister? Are you scared of me? But you’re my guragheh……」

The man was unable to finish his words as he was suddenly eaten up by a dragon that flew in from the side.

The body was sucked into the dragon’s body, which was made up entirely of water.

Yes, a water dragon had suddenly appeared before Vihera.

It was about 10m long.

Undoubted the largest figure in the current battlefield

Vihera smiled as she faced the water dragon.

It wasn’t the smile she had as she had fought the adventurer party earlier, nor was it a mocking smile that had appeared on her face at the words of the vulgar man who had attacked her earlier.

It was a shining smile that would captivate anyone who saw it, whether man or woman.

It was a smile that she only had when she encountered someone she felt was strong.

「I wondered if it was Water Dragon Digma……I’ve heard of you before, I heard it from Rei, but……can I ask what you’re planning on doing?」

Vihera’s words meant to question why Digma had attacked one of their own allies.

Vihera didn’t think that the man standing next to the water dragon was her ally.

Of course, any A rank adventurers in Mercurio’s army would be much talked about.

Although Mercurio’s army now included over 10,000 people, it would be a surprise if someone like Digma wasn’t noticed.

In other words, the person before her was definitely from the punitive force.

He had also just killed someone who had tried to attack her, so Vihera’s question was only natural.

However, Digma replied as if it were only natural.

「Those who sully the battlefield with their own desires are an eyesore.」

The voice that came from Digma’s was truly beautiful.

Vihera replied without any particular reaction at the sound the voice which would cause people to fall in love.

「Fufu~, I see. You’re just as Rei described you. ……May I ask? Why are you in the punitive force?」

「It’s nothing difficult to say. I just wanted to fight Crimson without any restrictions. That’s why.」

「……I see.」

Didn’t you already fight in the tournament? She could have asked that question, but she didn’t.

The tournament arena was an extremely restricted battlefield which limited many attack options.

In addition, like Rei, Digma, who was able to create a dragon using water spirit magic, was someone who specialised in wide area attacks.

In other words, it was easy to understand that Digma hadn’t fought with all his strength in the tournament.

In fact, the water dragon Digma had used in the tournament had only included the head. Rei hadn’t been able to use his favoured fire magic as he wanted either and he had also been missing Set.

「In that case, do you have the time to play with me here? You already know Rei isn’t here, right?」

「Yeah. He must be the one causing trouble at the rear of the punitive force. ……But, unfortunately, someone has already picked to deal with him. The higher ups in the punitive force requested for them specifically to deal with Crimson, so I can’t really argue against them.」

「……Someone to fight against Rei? If I had to guess, I would have thought it would be you.」

Digma was quite famous as an A rank adventurer.

Even though Vihera was only meeting him for the first time, she could tell that he had that level of skill.

She had thought that Digma would have been an appropriate opponent to face Rei when the figure of someone suddenly came to her mind.

The best friend of her father, the emperor of the Bestir Empire.

The S rank adventurer who had fought and defeated Rei in the fighting tournament.

However, she quickly shook her head, thinking it wasn’t possible.

According to the information that had come to Mercurio’s army and what she had heard from Rei, that person……Noi, had gone to the Demon Mountains, having received permission to enter an area that was normally off limits, as a prize for winning the fighting tournament.

Considering the time it had been since then, it was impossible for Noiz to be here if he had already gone to the Demon Mountains.

To begin with, Noiz rarely assisted in battles and the rare exceptions were on request from his best friend, Tragist.

However……the reality betrayed Vihera’s thoughts.

「Isn’t there someone? The one who actually fought and defeated Crimson in the fighting tournament.」

Impossible. Vihera couldn’t help but hope in her heart, but Digma continued speaking as he held his magic sword in his hand.

「He might have defeated me, an A rank. But……can he defeat the Immovable, an S rank?」

Vihera’s expression stiffened up at the answer she least wanted to hear.

Why?

Noiz was someone who shouldn’t have been here.

Digma seemed to understand the question in Vihera’s eyes. He let out a small sigh before speaking.

「I think he also felt the same way as me.」

「You mean he wanted to fight Rei without any restrictions?」

「Yeah. Especially for Immovable, his skills were stolen by Crimson. Considering that, it’s not such a strange story, is it?」

「That is……」

Despite how close Noiz was to the emperor, Vihera had never even spoken to Noiz in a direct conversation.

Considering that, she wasn’t able to fully agree or deny Digma’s statement.

「Anyway, my main goal has been taken away by someone else, but it’s impossible to leave without fighting since I’ve been hired by the punitive force. Just as I was thinking that, I saw what was happening over here.」

Digma swung his magic sword swiftly.

His speed was worthy of an A rank adventurer as he easily cut down the arrows flying towards him.

The arrows had been shot at him from the side, but he had still been able to cut them down without using his water dragon or even looking at where the arrows had come from.

「I see. So you mean to fight against me.」

「Simply put, that is the case.」

「……Even though I look like this, I’m still in charge of my own troops.」

Vihera might be able to leave command of her troops to her subordinates for a short while, but she couldn’t do that indefinitely.

Under normal circumstances, she would have wanted to enjoy a fight against an A rank adventurer to her fullest, but with what was at stake in this civil war, she was unable to to let her desire to fight overrule the role she needed to play.

「I see. But if you leave me alone here, I could cause considerable damage, is that okay?」

That was true.

Vihera couldn’t help but nod at Digma’s words.

Even right now, Digma’s water dragon was extremely prominent on the battlefield.

That wasn’t all either. The punitive force knew who controlled the water dragon and weren’t confused by it, but Mercurio’s army was forced to pay attention to it, in case it ever bared their fangs at them.

The split in their attention gradually caused the losses suffered by Mercurio’s army to increase.

……That said, the punitive force wasn’t in a necessarily better position either, with Rei rampaging in their rear.

Vihera’s clothes made a rustling sound as she took up a defensive stance against Digma.

「It seems like we need to do something about you here. And I’m the only one who can deal with you.」

Vihera muttered to herself as an unmistakable……seductive smile crept onto her lips.

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