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Gadius, Finia, and I arrived in the pioneer village, but the state of it left me open-mouthed.

It used to be a tranquil countryside village. The villagers living in it were also similarly calm and easygoing.

But now, they were screaming and evacuating to the south—it was an unbelievable sight for me, who used to live here.

“Hurry! Take minimum luggage and evacuate as fast as possible!”
“Just leave that vase there! Even Lord Lyell can’t hold off such a number on his own!”
“Your leg hurts? That’s just a graze! All you need to think about is how to run as far away as you can!”
“Hurry up and run! If you don’t run, we can’t run either!”

The vigilance squad of the village was leading the villagers away. Since they were evacuating to the south, the enemy must have come from the north.

I spotted familiar faces among the squad members.

They were Troy and Jones from the kidnapping incident some time back.

“Troy, Jones!”
“Huh, Miss Nicole? Oh, Lord Gadius as well!”

They haven’t met me directly in this form, but I had Gadius disguised as me, so they knew I was Lyell’s daughter.

“What’s the situation? And what about Zell?”
“At first, two Devils with giant swords in hands appeared in the northern mountain. Lord Lyell and Lady Maria took them down, but soon after, five more Devils of the same type appeared and attacked this village. Lord Lyell, Lady Maria, and Zell, who can use magic, are facing them off now, but their numbers are too great…”
“Five of them?!”

Even Lyell couldn’t win against that number. Evasion wasn’t his specialty, above all.

He couldn’t avoid injuries, and Maria would be burdened with healing him continuously.

If Maria’s magic power ran out, Lyell would get outpushed as well.

“What about Fina?”
“Lady Cortina took her away. She said she could only take her and run in this situation…”

Cortina certainly lacked power among the Six Heroes. Her selling point was her battle knowledge that made up for it… but she couldn’t do anything now, where the enemy was pushing head-on like a storm.

“She did say she would definitely return once she entrusted Lady Fina to a trustworthy person…”
“If you meet her, tell her to evacuate instead.”
“Huh, um…”
“Gadius and I will head to where Lyell is. You focus on evacuating people here.”
“That’s too reckless!”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already defeated those Devils before!”
“Huh?”

Troy and Jones looked at me with blank expressions.

Well, I guess it was hard to believe given the way I looked.

But it was a fact, and I couldn’t leave Lyell and Maria alone. Besides, the fact that I was Reid would eventually reach this village. It would be far too stubborn to keep up the lie in this situation.

And even if it was Lyell we were talking about, he could get overpowered by those numbers if I didn’t hurry.

Regardless of the era, it was an established theory that a few elite people couldn’t overcome the numbers.

As we pushed our way through the crowd, people gradually decreased in number.

There weren’t that many residents in this village in the first place. The congestion simply formed because a few dozen villagers headed to the south at once.

That was enough to overwhelm the roads since there were also fields and houses on the inner side of the fence.

All the people rushed there and it led to that.

“There, I see Lyell!”
“Okay, I will go first!”

Gadius responded to my voice and he hurried ahead by using his short legs with all his strength.

In the past, Lyell and Gadius had competed during the excursion, so Gadius was quite a fast runner for a dwarf.

Speaking of Lyell, he was currently being overpowered by three Devils and was wounded all over.

Maria was squatting down with a hand on her temple, a typical gesture you did when you were out of magic power.

But as expected of her, she still had a defensive barrier set up and was pulling two of the Devils away.

Since she had a barrier active, she couldn’t send heals to Lyell, however. This was quite a dangerous situation.

“Lyell, get back!”

Lyell moved his gaze to the back at Gadius’ call.

He was likely aware of the danger that Maria was facing. So for that reason, he ended up reflexively looking back when he heard the relief voice.

But that could become a fatal opening against these Devils.

“Graaaaahhh!”

The Devil swung down its swords with a roar, making use of the slight opening that Lyell created in his disheartened state.

Lyell’s gaze snapped back, and he raised his trusty sword to block its attack.

But the Devils had two swords, and there were three of them attacking him.

Having swords coming at him from every direction, Lyell couldn’t react with his sword already in the swing.

“Lyell!”

Gadius was a fast runner, but for a dwarf. He had yet to reach Lyell, his shield unable to make it in time.

Maria quickly dispelled the barrier and tried to send a defensive spell his way, but it didn’t seem like it would make it in time, either.

All that information passed in my mind instantly and I grasped everything. The processing speed I had now was beyond even the past me.

Thrown in this situation, I anguished as I watched the situation moving in slow motion—and came to a decision.

I instantly invoked the Apport spell and equipped my gauntlets, and sent my threads. I had never been more grateful to God Hastur for making it possible to summon them so quickly.

I send the threads as I planned, and at the same time, direct the thread manipulation power internally.

Then, my threads caught Lyell and Maria, and I forcibly pulled them toward me.

When I was strengthened with thread manipulation, my physical strength could even surpass Lyell’s for a moment.

Using that strength, I forcibly dragged Lyell away, and the next moment, swords passed through the space where he was a moment ago.

Lyell was dumbfounded after being saved from that dilemma. Maria was much the same.

“Oh well. It was going to get busted anyway.”
“…Reid?”

I used the threads. Not just Lyell, but even Maria witnessed it.

No excuses would get me out of this. I had to resolve myself for everything for real this time.