Since When Did You Have The Illusion That You Don’t Have Magical Powers?!

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Sapphiras Perfectio, former 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Aurora Steinfeld, daughter of the Duke of Bloomfield

Veritas Perfectio, 1st son of the Earl of Aldridge, Sapphiras’ former older brother

Adrian Aeternitas Sternkurst, Crown Prince of Sternkurst

 

“Are you heading to Et Ketra now?”

I called out to Aurora in passing before I left to retrieve my wand and ring. Even though I’ll be back soon, I’m sure she’ll be worried if I suddenly disappear.

“Yeah, I have something important to do. It looks like everything is safe here now, so I thought I’d go while I can. I’m going to be clearing up some magical beasts along the way, so I might not be back until tomorrow or the day after.”

Since it is not possible to travel directly to Et Ketra, where I’ve never been to in this life, I’m planning to use stepping-stone transfer to the nearest border to enter the country. Since that is the case, I talked to Percival about exterminating the magical beasts while we were on the move.

Although the royal capital has settled down, the outbreak of magical beasts is still continuing in the surrounding areas. Even the knights and magicians of the kingdom probably won’t be able to cover so much ground, and it will be hard for the lords of each region to deal with it with just the knights and soldiers of their own territories.

If I can defeat magical beasts with room to spare, I can help the other territories. It’s a difficult time, so we should cooperate with each other.

“Sapphiras-sama……we are very grateful for your help in defeating the magical beasts. We cannot reach out to all the lands right now on our own. However, that doesn’t mean that we should leave what we can’t do to you, Sapphiras-sama. It is true that Sapphiras-sama’s magic is very powerful. I don’t know how many times I have been saved by your power in the past……to be honest, I wished that Sapphiras-sama is here right now when the magical beast flowed into the royal capital. So I was deeply relieved when Sapphiras-sama and Percival-sama rushed to the royal capital. However, I now deeply regret that we may have been too dependent on Sapphiras-sama’s generosity. Sapphiras-sama is neither a magician in the service of the kingdom nor a commissioned adventurer, but one of the people who should be protected. Moreover, you are still a student……more than anything else, I am worried about your health. Last night you passed out while we were eating. I think you might be pushing yourself too hard for us……”

“No, no, wait a minute!”

You’re talking about me like I’m some kind of very good person!

My principle of action is whether I want to move or not. I’m not being generous or anything.

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Aurora is the daughter of a nobleman with straight ideas. No matter how close you are to her, she doesn’t appreciate being pampered unconditionally, and she doesn’t take it for granted that she can rely on you. She also doesn’t impose her devotion to others on them.

Surprisingly, there are many people who are the exact opposite of Aurora’s attitude, and I have met many of them during my time as an adventurer. Of course I won’t respond to those people’s requests!

That’s why I’m willing to get involved with people like Aurora. Maybe I’m a bit of a softy myself. I’m not necessarily good-natured towards anyone, either.

“Aurora-jyou, I’m glad you’re worried about me. I know you’ve given it a lot of thought, but in the first place, I’m a person who only does what I want to do. I never do anything I don’t want to do, even if His Majesty the King bows his head, even if it may seem disrespectful. And I’m not a good person, so I don’t have the slightest idea that I have to use my strength for someone else. Everything I do is something I want to do myself, so if you make too big a deal out of it, it makes it harder for me to do what I want, so I’d appreciate it if you could just not worry about it. Also, I slept soundly last night and completely recovered so it’s okay! I also ate a lot of delicious soup in the morning.”

Even now, I am much stronger than before. Although I am still quite frail because I grew up in a poor environment for many years. I’m eating a lot of meat now, so I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of growth in the future.

“……I have to thank the Goddess Fortina for allowing me to meet such a rare friend.”

Aurora’s face breaks into a smile. Aurora is worshipped as a saint, and she must be worried about it a lot. I don’t want her to think too much and I want her to relax.

“Sapphiras-sama, I will leave it to you, but I appreciate your understanding. Percival-sama, please do your best to ensure that Sapphiras-sama does not do anything unreasonable.”

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“Ah, I’ve been put in charge.”

“Come on, you two. I won’t do anything reckless anymore!”

The two looked at me as if to say, ‘I don’t trust you at all’. No, no, it’s not just me who’s reckless. Percival’s recklessness is also quite something.

However, when Percival does something reckless, I’m usually involved, so I decided to keep quiet about it.

Aurora saw Percival and I off and we headed for Et Ketra.

We didn’t prepare for the trip in particular, as we could always come back by transfer. If I need something, I can just come back and get it.

By the way, I love travelling, so I only do such tactless things in an emergency.

After clearing up the overflowing number of magical beasts along the way and having a bit of delicious food, we arrived at the border of Et Ketra. The sun was setting as we wiped out magical beasts here and there.

“……From here on, it’s up to Orthus’ sense of smell. There’s a guy with a magical tool that smells like me, can you track him down?”

Orthus turns each head to the surroundings and sniffs.

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Soon after, Orthus, who had smelled my magic, turned his two heads in the same direction and started to run.

He runs effortlessly through the shrubbery and down the slope, where the footing is poor. I have no idea where Veritas is, but Orthus probably already knows where he is.

“Come to think of it, this Et Ketra doesn’t seem to be overrun with magical beasts, does it?”

“Yeah……”

Indeed, as Percival said, the area was quiet and there was no sign of any magical beasts. In fact, it’s so quiet that it’s almost creepy.

I feel like Percival is deep in thought from behind me.

“Is something bothering you?”

“……Yeah. There are mass outbreaks of magical beasts in many places, but so far nothing has happened here in Et Ketra and Vanderwall…….doesn’t it feel like a buffer zone of some kind?”

“Now that you mention it”

What these two places have in common is that they border Sternkurst.

The other half of Sternkurst faces the sea. On the land side, there is Et Ketra and Solmontana, and then there is the country of Admare. If nothing has happened near the border of Admare, Percival’s theory of a buffer zone gains credibility.

Is the buffer zone to keep out the magical beasts that have caused the outbreak from entering their country, or is there some other intention? We don’t know what’s going on, but we have to get back what’s important first.

Orthus, which had been sprinting through the pitch-dark forest, suddenly started growling and started to get excited.

“What is wrong with Orthus?”

Orthus looks a little scary to begin with. If they were to turn into wild beasts and swing their two heads around, even Percival would be worried.

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“It looks like Veritas’ group is nearby.”

I found Veritas sooner than I expected, but it’s so dark that I can’t see what’s going on around us. Even if I shine a light, I can’t see anything.

Orthus increases his speed and rushes through the narrow animal path at a ferocious pace. Somehow, they don’t pay much attention to details, so they ruthlessly trample and break thick bushes and branches that block their path. Heading straight for Veritas.

“Hey, wait a minute, Orthus! I’d like you to run a little quieter if you could!”

The flying twig fragments and leaves hit me in the face, so I put up a barrier.

“Sapphiras, I see a light ahead.”

“Eh?”

The lights of torches can be seen dotting the area in front of Orthus as he rushes forward. Apparently, Veritas is camping there. Without having time to think about how to appear in front of them, Orthus bursts out of the forest with a mighty leap.

As soon as he made a spectacular landing with his large body, making a ground-shaking and dusty sound, Percival’s presence changed in an instant. He is totally a perfect fighter.

“……Mmnnn, I wish he had been a little more selective about where he jumped in.”

The swords of more than a dozen knights were aimed at us all at once, and their rearguard was lined with magicians. It looks like we jumped into the middle of the enemy camp, but aren’t there too many of them to be the bodyguards of a single magician?

“Oya, I’m surprised. I didn’t expect the spirit that ran away to come back to me on his own.”　

Behind the double protection, there was Veritas and someone else I didn’t expect to see. I see, no wonder there are so many guards.

“……Well, well, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Adrian Aeternitas Sternkurst. Thank you very much for your hospitality.”