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「Inglis!」
「Miss Inglis!」

Voices called from above her. When Inglis looked up, there she saw Leone and Liselotte riding the same Flygear. With Inglis moving at a super high speed, tearing down the forest as she went, she seems to have caught up with the girls who should have gone ahead of them.

「What happened?! Are you okay?! What was that light?!」
「Not to mention, your appearance! You seem to have fallen over, too?!」

Inglis tried her best to give a smile to her two worried friends.

「I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, go ahea……dh——?!」

In the middle of her sentence, Inglis’ foot kicked the ground below her. The earth cracked, releasing a thunderous creak. She didn’t do it out of her own will. It was Tiffany who manipulated her body again.

The force behind the kick was so overwhelming that Inglis herself couldn’t properly react to it. And this time, instead of zooming ahead, her body was made to plunge into the soil.

And her kick’s momentum did not die down from the impact. She pierced the ground itself, gouging out a hole.

The sound of her own body boring its way through the earth reverberated in her ears.

「Kgh……?!」

Inglis dived into the earth for a good while, surfaced, dived again, then surfaced again; she repeated the motion.

『Fufu……How does the soil taste? Or what, have you no more room to answer?!』
「I-, it’s not the most exquisite, for sure! I don’t fancy being in the ground, the dirt gets into my hair and everywhere!」
『Oh dear…I can tell even if you try to play it tough, you know? Your life force being drained away, that is! You used such enormous amount of strength, your life force should been depleted just as much!』
「I suppose! I’m sure this is how a lot of Holy Knights of the past lost their lives! You know of this, which is why you refused your duty as a Hyrule Menace and call it nonsense!」

Of course, Tiffany shouldn’t be the only one who knew about it. Eris and Ripple should have been aware of it too for sure.

Thinking back to three years ago, when Inglis was still twelve years old, when she met Eris for the first time, Eris got angry at Leon for introducing her to Inglis and Rafinha, Raphael’s close relatives.

The reason for that is because, in case Raphael lost all of his life force fighting a Prisma, Eris wouldn’t be able to face Inglis and Rafinha. Which was why she evaded them, taking as much distance away from them as possible, as though she was afraid of them.

Now that Inglis thought about it, that awkward attitude was really typical of Eris.
She was delicate as a person, and despite her unapproachable look, she was compassionate too.

Which was precisely why she couldn’t turn a blind eye to Inglis getting caught in Rahal’s outrageous demands and made a move to protect her. She must have still felt guilty every time she met Inglis and Rafinha, the fear of having Raphael die in case he were to wield her plagued her conscience.

The fact that she always tried to keep a distance away from them was a testament to this.

And then, the Holy Knights must have been aware of this too. That’s why Leon said what he said before he defected to the Ironblood Chain Brigade

Even if I’m just a sorry excuse of a Holy Knight, I’m still a Holy Knight. I have the resolution to throw my life away so long as this country and everyone in it is safe.

That turned out to be not an exaggeration or an idealism, but a pure, unadulterated fact. When a Holy Knight fulfills their mission, that is to fight off a Prisma, they will have their life force drained and scattered by the Hyrule Menace they wield.

Which was precisely why Leon would question the righteousness in his duty. Is his duty really worth his life? What will he leave behind once his life is gone? And when he thought that Charalia wouldn’t change anyway, that the country would still be trampled over by the Highland either way, Leon sought to put the value of his life on something else.

Even if that meant the family he left behind would be disgraced as the kin of the traitor, he did it for a greater cause. Inglis had to say that his sentiment was understandable.

And that must have been the case for Eris and Ripple, too. Eris was furious at that moment, but she never showed signs of resentment towards Leon afterwards. Neither Ripple nor Raphael said anything on the matter either. They understood him.

It was the same with Ripple. Silva had said that that affable girl didn’t look so spirited when Silva told her he cherished the memory of Ripple saving his life in the past and thus aimed to become a Holy Knight to fight alongside her.

That was because her remorse for Silva was stronger than her delight. Should Silva become a Holy Knight like he dreamed and fulfilled his mission as one, his life would be lost.

How insufferable it would have been for Ripple. She would have to take away Silva’s life, who had trained hard and grown to become a Holy Knight for her sake, with her own two hands.

Silva didn’t seem to know anything about it, but he should have been informed of it when he was officially appointed as a Holy Knight. Ripple also said something to that effect.

The reason as to why this fatal side effect of wielding a Hyrule Menace is not known widely is because there really isn’t a reason to let it be known by the public. People qualified to become a Holy Knight might refuse ever becoming a Holy Knight, and the impression of Hyrule Menaces being the Guardian Deity for the people of Midland would be tarnished, making it possible for the people to support their own means of survival. From the perspective of a ruler, this information should never be revealed to the public.

Silva, perhaps, would embrace that contradiction and choose the path to become a Holy Knight nevertheless, as he believed that it is the path that allows him to protect Ripple! And that feeling of his must have reached Ripple too. And precisely because of that, Ripple fell even deeper into anguish.

『Hyrule Menaces are tools! Nothing can change, nothing can be changed! We exist only to assure Highland’s control over the Midland! However, even this deceptive power can have its uses depending on how to use it!』
「Which is…to kill the enemy that is me?」
『Exactly! I mustn’t be defeated here! Not until I’ve risen to the position of a Highland Commander and, just like the Three Archdukes who were given their own territories due to their achievements, gained my freedom and my own world!』
「I see, so that your reason to fight!」
『It is! I may be selfish, but being selfish is far more meaningful than being a mere tool! Your friend hates me for that, though!』

Then, Inglis, under Tiffany’s control, suddenly stopped in her tracks. They had already reached the former site of Lekrea, right in front of the large hole that had been gouged even deeper by Inglis’ Ether Strike.

「Glis?! What’s with the getup?! You okay?」
「Inglis?! You’re the one who made that hole, right? What’s up with that?!」

The voices of Rafinha and Lahti who were boarding the Star Princess unit came from above.

「That armor is Lady Tiffany’s?! B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲, what did you do to Lady Tiffany?!」

Following them, Hallim also made his remark. He seemed to have come out of the town of Lekrea to intercept Rafinha and Lahti who had gotten close to the levitating town.

It was good that Inglis somehow managed to catch up to Rafinha before she was caught in some kind of danger, and having her well within Inglis’ view meant she could take her time fighting in peace, but… Now’s not a good time. Inglis still had no control over her body.