Chapter 73

It was an unusual sight.

More than a hundred members of the 'Holy Knights' surrounded a single girl, unable to take a single step.

"───It's a bit uncomfortable, isn't it?"

A composed voice echoed in the room.

It was so cold and devoid of warmth that it was hard to believe it came from the girl who had been dancing joyfully just moments ago.

"...No. To be honest, I'm feeling very uncomfortable right now.

I didn't expect to be treated with such disrespect, not only towards me – my friends – but also towards my country."

But it was indeed the voice of the girl surrounded by the knights.

"Princess Linnheburg.

We are restraining you. If you resist──"

"...Restrain...?"

The girl, dressed in a pure white dress, calmly looked around.

Facing the knights with their weapons drawn, she tilted her head as if she had been stopped by an acquaintance during a walk and replied.

"...Me?"

"...It seems you still don't understand the situation.

We will have to use force, and I ask for your understanding."

The knights, with their swords drawn, closed in on the girl.

The silver blades, reflecting the light, were pointed at her chest.

Seeing the blades, the girl in the white dress looked puzzled.

"Are you really going to restrain me? Truly?"

Thus, the question came from the girl's small mouth.

"───With this number of people?"

Her voice was even colder than before.

"Princess Linnheburg.

You may not know, but we are the elite of Misra.

Six of the 'Twelve Holy Knights' are here."

"Yes, I am well aware, Sir Leiva of [Heavenly Reason].

That one must be Sir Hailroot of [Holy Sword].

And──this one is Sir Cain of [Bladeless].

The rest of you, I assume, are from the 'Port Side'."

The girl spoke the names of the knights as if she were greeting them at a dinner party.

"Hmm. It's an honor to know so much about us.

I believe you now understand our capabilities."

"Yes, of course, I have heard of them.

However, if you want to restrain me, I would recommend bringing another hundred people of equal strength."

The air in the room froze at the girl's words.

A tense atmosphere emanated from the knights facing her.

"......What did you just say?"

"It sounds like you're saying we are not a threat... not even worth being cautious about."

The girl, undaunted by the increasingly tense atmosphere, continued calmly as if it were nothing.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean.

However, even if there were another hundred of you──I doubt it would buy much time. The gap in strength is too great."

"───Princess Linnheburg. Your words are too harsh.

Even if you are angry, provocation is not a good thing."

"No. I am being restrained in my words.

To be honest──I don't even consider you a minor obstacle."

"......Are you serious?"

"Yes, I realize it may be presumptuous, but since you seem to lack this awareness.

I am saying it to warn you.

This is also a warning to prevent you from getting hurt."

"......So you are not worried about yourself, but about us getting hurt?"

"Yes, that's correct."

The knights, visible to the audience, showed increasing agitation and frustration.

"......You are putting up too much of a struggle, Princess.

We are treating you with respect right now.

If you continue to insult us, you might end up with injuries to your precious body...?"

One of the knights spoke, and the girl, who had not moved a muscle until then, raised an eyebrow.

"Me, injured?"

The voice that came from the girl was very clear.

"Being a direct disciple of the [Six Holy Knights] and───a disciple of Mr. Noor.

Do you really think I can be stopped by just a hundred or a thousand troops?"

She spoke without any emotion, stating only the facts.

"───Princess.

Just to be clear, we have been granted permission by His Holiness to cause bodily harm, with the intention of treatment. Therefore, even if you are favored by His Holiness and the Prince──we will have to use force."

"Yes, that's fine.

───But.

When that happens, please make sure to attack all at once.

Otherwise, it won't even be worth my time."

The girl's cold voice echoed, and the knights silently gripped their weapons.

"───Go."

That was the signal.

"A noble from a small country should stop getting too full of themselves───!!"

One of the knights, standing expressionless in front of the girl, revealed his anger and swung his long sword with a speed that could not be seen by the naked eye.

But──

The target of the sword.

There was no one there.

To everyone present, it seemed as if the girl had simply disappeared.

The knight's sword cut through the air, and the knights surrounding the girl opened their eyes wide.

"......Damn, did we lose her...!? Where did she go!?"

"Search! She can't have gone far──"

The knights, who had lost sight of the girl they were supposed to capture on the Pope's orders, panicked.

As they frantically looked around, they saw a white shadow above them.

"Excuse me, I take back my previous statement."

The girl, dressed in a pure white dress, was standing on the ceiling.

Her voice, like the sound of a bell, rang out as she slowly drew a golden sword from her white skirt and held a gray dagger in her other hand.

Standing upside down on the ceiling, she looked down at the knights with a cold gaze and said in a cold voice.

"......Your training is worse than I imagined.

Your sword swings are very slow.

And your follow-up is very, very poor.

I apologize, but it would be a waste of time to match your pace──"

The girl, who seemed to be stuck to the ceiling, quietly crouched and then──

"I will take the initiative."

In an instant, a white shadow disappeared from the air.

A golden flash of light ran through the knights' field of vision.

But no one could catch the source of the light──

Only the fact that their swords had been cut off was clear.

"Wh───!?"

All the knights standing in a row were stunned as the cut swords danced and scattered on the floor with a dry sound.

Before the audience could even react to the unusual scene, the area was immediately enveloped in a dense mist of magic──

"[Lightning]"

Lightning struck all at once.

When the knights realized that electricity was coursing through their bodies, they had already lost the strength in their knees and collapsed.

The knights, clad in holy silver armor, fell to the ground, their heads hitting the floor, powerless to resist.

"Wh───What is───!?"

Dozens of knights who had surrounded the girl just moments ago were now unconscious, immediately rendered combat ineffective.

The knights in the back, realizing this, frantically tried to draw their swords, but their movements were too slow to respond to the threat that was about to strike.

"[Ice Hell]"

The knights felt their holy silver full-body armor freeze instantly, and they could not move a muscle.

As the air-filled white dress floated over their heads, frozen to the floor, they saw──

"[Thunder Strike]"

Three massive bolts of lightning struck the immobilized knights.

"......A───aah......!?"

While still standing, they fainted, their holy silver full-body armor, known for its high magic resistance, frozen solid.

The girl in the white dress continued to move without stopping, cutting off the knights' swords with movements too fast to be seen.

No one could even see her, only the white shadow, like a dancing flower, left a residual image in the knights' eyes.

"───What is───what is happening───?"

All the knights gathered there doubted their own eyes.

The opponent was just one girl.

To think that we, the 'Holy Knights', would mobilize in full force to capture just one girl.

Even if it was not said out loud, everyone thought it was an overreaction.

The temple knights of the Holy Knights, chosen as the strongest of the strong in Misra, were the elite of the elite, equipped with the best gear.

A princess from a small country like the Kingdom of Creis would be enough with just one or two of us.

Everyone must have thought so.

Yet──why are so many knights in front of me falling?

I don't understand what's happening.

Before I can do anything, my comrades, who boast of the best skills in Misra, are falling one after another.

"───What is this? Why is this happening───"

The girl was advancing into the knights, using multiple spells of [Wind], [Lightning], and [Ice] simultaneously.

───[Multiple Casting].

Most of the knights there had never even seen such a thing.

Mastering double casting was rare enough.

No one had ever heard of triple casting.

A technique that required an extraordinary level of skill.

Quadruple casting and above were only known to exist in legends, by the [Holy Sage] Oaken.

To think that a young girl in front of them could wield it so freely──it was unimaginable, something no one had ever considered.

───It's impossible.

An event that should not have happened.

Many who knew the norms thought so.

No one could believe what they were seeing.

But──in reality.

The girl had already unleashed countless spells.

And even now, multiple spells were still visible, clinging to her hands.

"[Lightning]"

The knight, doubting his own eyes, was struck by a powerful lightning bolt and fell.

No one who had been in the girl's path remained standing.

Everyone was falling one after another, without even realizing they were in a battle.

It was an abnormal situation.

The elite of the Holy Kingdom of Misra, who should have been the elite, could not react at all.

Even the 'Twelve Holy Knights', who should have been the leaders of the elite, were all unconscious in a heap.

They remembered that just moments ago, the girl, who had not even held a weapon, was surrounded by them.

It had been only a few seconds since then.

Yet, what is this situation?

What is this girl?

───This is far too fast.

The remaining knights saw only the white dress dancing in their field of vision.

To the confused knights, it seemed like a nightmare.

The white shadow had become a symbol of terror to them.

"───There's no way we can defeat such a thing───!"

There was no way to defeat it.

The last remaining knight was also cut down before he could even say it.

Not everyone had lost consciousness.

But no one tried to stand up.

Their fighting spirit had been crushed by the overwhelming display of power.

"───Damn. To this extent.

But──it's not over yet...!!"

Even in the midst of despair, a figure stood up.

───[Heavenly Reason] Leiva.

The supreme commander, given the role of the leader of the 'Twelve Holy Knights', the strongest in the Misra Knights.

He drew a blue glowing sword from the black scabbard on the back of his armor, replacing the holy silver greatsword that had been broken by the girl.

"───This is the trump card sword granted by His Holiness. I never thought it would come to this...───"

[Heavenly Reason] Leiva, who had said this much, noticed a small crack in the holy silver great helm that protected his head, from which a thin light was shining through.

"What is this───"

"───[Phantom Blade]"

The girl, holding the gray dagger quietly, drew an arc in the air, and the holy silver great helm covering [Heavenly Reason] Leiva's head split in two and fell to the floor with a sound.

As his confused expression was revealed, the girl cast a spell.

"Please rest───[Sleeping Cloud]"

"Sh───Damn───!!"

In an instant, a dark magic mist enveloped Leiva's head.

[Heavenly Reason] Leiva, inhaling the dense mist, fell into a deep sleep while standing and then collapsed face-first onto the stone floor, making a dull sound and not moving again.

Thus──

After a few dozen seconds of confrontation between the Holy Knights and the girl.

Only the girl stood there.

The hundreds of elite troops of the great Holy Kingdom of Misra──were now all lying on the ground.

To anyone's eyes──it was the girl's overwhelming victory.

Looking around the now silent ballroom, the girl took a light breath and used magic to blow off the small pieces of holy silver metal that had adhered to her golden sword, then put it back into her dress.

"......Phew. I still have a lot to learn.

If it takes this long to neutralize such a small number of people.

Mr. Noor would have ended such a battle in a second──

I shouldn't have criticized their lack of training.

I may have lost my composure a bit. I really need to reflect on this."

Without receiving a single scratch, the girl, who had instantly wiped out the holy knights, sighed and then looked around, spotting the stunned audience and spoke quietly.

"───Everyone.

......Are you all unharmed?

I apologize for the disturbance.

I need to hurry ahead, so I will take my leave now."

With that, she bowed slightly and immediately turned around──

Still clad in her pure white dress, untouched by any dirt, she disappeared, following the prince's presence, without receiving any praise or cheers.