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I’m not sure how we managed to run.

Either way, I frantically searched for the escape route to avoid the explosion behind as well as not step on any Fire Phosphorite, and ran. As a result, Finia and Michelle had not a single wound as we reached the foot. Of course, the bag of Fire Phosphorite was also safe.

However, Michelle was extremely pissed about this situation.

“Geez! Who decided to use a fire spell in a place like this! I’m not gonna forgive them!”

She was swinging her Third Eye around as her veins bulged in anger. But even that looked quite adorable coming from her.

She wasn’t very scary even when angered. Though Cloud had denied with all his might that ‘that was definitely wrong’ when we talked about it last.

In other words, that guy managed to truly anger Michelle back then. He’s really something to manage angering a gentle girl like her to that point.

“I’ll shoot the crown of their head if I see them!”
“Okay okay, leave it at that. That aside, we have to return back quickly or Finia will have a hard time.”
“Ah, right! Big sis Finia, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. But we really should depart quickly, considering there’s trouble nearby.”
“Yeah. I’m also worried about Elizabeth and the other two, so I wanna go back and calm them down quickly.”
“Yeah. Stella and Spica are probably frightened due to the earlier explosion.”

Horses were certainly cowardly animals. Even if they were tied, it was quite possible that the earlier explosion made them panic and they got themselves injured while struggling to break free.

I very much would like to go check on them now, but before that… I put a hand on my katana.

Someone was approaching us. Their footsteps were still faint, but their light and irregular rhythm still reached my ears.

The lightness was probably due to the person’s low weight. It was probably a child or a woman. And probably mostly unarmed. And the irregular rhythm was probably due to them being extremely fatigued.

Michelle and others also sensed my vigilance.

Cloud moved the board Finia was riding on the opposite of where I was looking… that is, behind me.

Michelle moved near the said board and switched over to her normal hunting bow.

After some time, a woman’s voice coupled with the rustling of the bushes being pushed aside reached our years.

“Goodness, can you be any more persistent? Do you know? Persistent men are hated!”
“My lady, please wait! At least hear me—”
“I said you’re persistent! Firebolt!”

Even while grumbling, she made use of the timing her pursuers spoke up to chant a spell, which was nothing short of magnificent.

But above all else, I remembered that voice.

“…This voice…”
“No way… Letina?”
“But why is she here?”
“I don’t know. But looks like she’s being chased, so we have to save her!”
“W-Wait, Michelle, did you hear that conversation?”
“Huh, what do you mean?”
“I mean, they called her ‘my lady’. It’s probably a servant who’s chasing her.”
“I see. So we can’t kill him.”
“You got it!”

Michelle ran off without waiting for my reply.

She reached the bushes and climbed up on the nearby tree. Her movements no longer had the childish clumsiness.

Cloud also waited for the other party to rush out of the bushes and set up his greatshield.

Before long, a tall woman jumped out of the bushes.

“Kya! Huh, you—”
“L-Letina? No waaay.”

That woman about as tall as me in my past life certainly looked like Letina.

She had her characteristic drill hair in place too. But her height was clearly different. She had grown by at least 30 centimeters.

I reflexively exclaimed at such a drastic transformation.

“Nicole… is that you? Why is your eye—”

Letina spoke in surprise at this sudden reunion. The latter half probably referred to the eyepatch I wore. But her pursuer quickly caught up with her. We had no time to casually talk.

Michelle, who stood at the highest point, was the first to know the pursuer’s location.

Nocking an arrow, she gazed towards the enemy with a sharp gaze instead of her nonchalant one, and took aim. That mercilessly loosed arrow would certainly find its target.

“Gyah?!”
“What the? Is it the enemy?”
“It’s an ambush, cover yourselves!”

Michelle’s arrow wounded the leading man’s foot to stop him in place. She had not missed or anything. She just knew that they were Letina’s servants, so she let him off with a graze.

Still, managing to simply graze the skin of a moving target was something I could never imitate.

“Come on… You’re already a monster, Michelle.”
“I haven’t seen her miss lately.”
“It has been the same for much longer.”

As Cloud and I exchanged surprised comments, Michelle loosed second and third arrows.

One grazed the foot of another person, and the third one dug itself into a tree with a high-pitched sound. The final pursuer was hiding behind that tree.

That became a deterrent and he could no longer come out from there.

“Uph!”

Once she neutralized all three pursuers, she vigorously jumped down the tree branch. It was only about two meters tall, so it was not difficult to do that.

“Kh… Brandon, Mathews! Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah. Just my leg was grazed. I got lucky!”
“Same here. Thank god the enemy sucks!”

The men started conversing as if trying to provoke Michelle. They most likely failed to see her position, so they were trying to provoke an attack and identify it.

Naturally, that was like gambling with life. But they were determined to recover Letina enough to resort to such means.

“We can’t move. Lawrence, can you chase her?”
“Yeah, but I can’t move after being targeted like this.

Only one of them could move among them, so it was up to him to chase after Letina. However, if he rushed out, Michelle would shoot him… he was convinced. They had been perfectly restrained in their place.

“Grr, I can’t forgive them for saying I suck. I’ll go shoot them for a bit.”
“No, don’t actually hit them! Let’s just make our run while we can. Letina, just follow us for now.”
“U-Understood. Nevertheless, I see Michelle’s skill has improved by another level.”
“Well of course. It’s my Michelle we’re talking about here.”

I hugged Michelle’s head and kept Cloud away. They’ve been pretty close lately, so I had to keep such checks on them.

“Ah, don’t shake that board, it’s dangerous. It’s packed with Fire Phosphorite.”
“Pyah?!”

Letina jumped back at my warning. Even this action was reminiscent of her younger days.

Like this, we decided to take our old friend along and returned to the carriage.