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The pane of viewing glass in the door cracked with the force of the door being slammed open.
Simultaneously, both Michelle and Letina jumped up, apparently surprised by the noise.
The one recklessly doing opening the door was the bearded old fart, Maxwell.

“Ch-Chairman? What brings you here!?” (Tricia)
“Hmph, I heard you were going to check every nook and cranny of Lyell’s daughter.” (Maxwell)
“What’s with that lewd phrasing? Also, it’s rare seeing you leave your office, but please don’t break the door.” (Cortina)
“If you keep complaining you’ll just get more wrinkles.” (Maxwell)
“You wanna die!?” (Cortina)

Maxwell busted into the infirmary gently riling up Cortina while he was at it.
I heaved a sigh knowing gramps was just going to rouse up more trouble.

Maxwell just rudely makes himself at home sliding open a cabinet to grab some tea leaves.
Michelle and Letina just looked on astonished with their mouths agape.

“That’s nothing to be so surprised about, they often come here to relax.” (Tricia)
“Is… that so?” (Nicole)
“If they’re seen outside it causes quite a stir, so they just come here instead.” (Tricia)
“Honestly, you make me sound like some timid old fart.” (Maxwell)
“You’re a part of this country’s royal family, how about you take notice!?” (Cortina)

Hearing Maxwell starts to quarrel with Cortina, I took the chance to speak to him, knowing from past experience, if left alone they’d just keep going on.

“So what brings you here?” (Nicole)
“Hm. For now. C’mere Nicole.” (Maxwell)
“Huh?” (Nicole)

I trudged along towards Maxwell who had called me while setting down his cup and pulling out a chair, before he sat himself down and picked me up.

“Ah, that’s not fair, I thought that was for me.” (Nicole)
“First come, first served.” (Maxwell)
“Um… So anyway…” (Nicole)
“Ah. If it’s about the Queen Blossom, there should be one in the southern forest.” (Maxwell)
“Seriously!?” (Nicole)

I looked up at Maxwell from his lap. Being able to grasp the whereabouts of rare species, as expected of royalty.

“Treants aren’t said to be hostile but they are still monsters. Moreover, there are many of them. Now, what would you do if by some chance they rose in revolt? Wanting to keep up with the current state of things is natural.” (Maxwell)
“Well, that is certainly true. The Queen Blossom is said to have intelligence, so leading the treants is completely within the realms of possibility.” (Cortina)
“The Queen Blossom probably won’t revolt if we don’t mess with them, but if we’re trying to steal the nectar…” (Maxwell)
“That seems like it’d be a trigger for a revolt. It’s supposed to be intelligent right, so maybe we could negotiate with it.” (Cortina)
“Since you don’t have any backings, the odds of that are pretty slim.” (Maxwell)

Similarly to me, Cortina doesn’t have any particular backing.
Gadius, Lyell, and Maria each had ties to higher-ups in the country, however, Cortina and I don’t have such ties.
In Cortina’s case, she was deeply involved with the military, but when she left her country, that power became ineffective.

“Even if I say we need a backing, it’s not such a grand thing as that, we just need a few people. This is why personal connections are important.” (Maxwell)

Saying that, Maxwell tried to clap his chest.
Seeing as my head was currently there, I grabbed his fist in defense right before he hit me.

“And so, I figured I’d go face the Queen Blossom!” (Maxwell)
“Huuuh? What are you going to do about the academy?” (Cortina)
“About that, I’ve been meaning to leave it since the beginning, it’ll work itself out.” (Maxwell)
“No way, no how! There’s no way you’ll head to battle.” (Cortina)
“These kinds of moments are what we live for.” (Maxwell)
“We’re both rearguards!” (Cortina)

Cortina and Maxwell both are basically frail on the battlefield.
If negotiations with the Queen Blossom break down, then they likely won’t be able to withstand the full brunt of its attacks.

“That’s not the only problem, the Queen Blossom’s nectar must be processed into medicine on the spot and administered as quickly as possible. That means…” (Tricia)
“It means Nicole will also need to be at the site…” (Maxwell)
“That’s right. So a strong vanguard will need to be there to protect us huh?” (Cortina)
“Then we should call on Lyell, since it’s for his daughter’s sake, he’ll jump at the chance.” (Maxwell)
“That’d mean Maria would also be joining, wouldn’t that be too many rearguards?” (Cortina)
“Hmm… Should we get Gadius in on this?” (Maxwell)

A hero who was a defensive specialist who hailed from the Matara Alliance on the eastern continent. A master of defense capable of skillfully deflecting all types of attacks.

“That’s…” (Cortina)

In this case, he’s perfectly qualified. However, Cortina looks grim.
It seems that the pair haven’t fixed up the issues from ten years ago.

Taking me to the scene of my death.
That was something Gadius didn’t know about, and a situation Cortina could do nothing about.
Laying the responsibility for it at Gadius’ feet was irrational, and she herself knew that.

However, emotions aren’t so easy to control.
And because Gadius knows, he keeps away from her himself.

“You’re still going on with that? Well, it’s not like I don’t get it, but… well, it’s not like we can leave this in someone else’s hands.” (Maxwell)

We… No, their level as rearguards required an equally exceptionally high leveled vanguard to keep up with them.
Thinking back to my death and the thought of Gadius’ non-participation made me tremble in fear.
For someone like us who were getting by with the bare minimum personnel, it was easy for us to fall short in terms of war potential.

“I’ll fight too.” (Nicole)

For that reason, I nominated myself as a vanguard.
In any case, it’s necessary for my health that I go to the Queen Blossom.
It wouldn’t hurt to insist on being a vanguard from now on.

“Hoh, now that you mention it, you defeated the kidnappers before. I’ve got great expectations for your future!” (Maxwell)
“That’s why…” (Nicole)
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I’d appreciate it if you’d just settle down.” (Maxwell)
“G- got it…” (Nicole)

Well, I got the response I expected.
However, there were a couple who jumped on the bandwagon after my outburst.

“Me too! I’m going too! If it’s for Nicole’s sake, I’ll fight too!” (Michelle)
“I’ll head out too! I’m pretty confident when it comes to fire magic.” (Letina)
“Ho, Hold up!?” (Nicole)

It was my two friends who raised their hands.
I understood Michelle’s friendship and Letina’s kindheartedness, but having them ask to join in danger was unexpected.
As you can expect, I’m not ok with this.

“It’s dangerous, this will be a real battle.” (Nicole)
“There’s no way I can pretend to not know about a threat to my friend’s life!” (Michelle)
“That’s right, that’s right!” (Letina)

It seems my objection simply caused them to get more fired up.
The two clenched their fists in defiance.

I’ve started to realize Michelle could be pretty obstinate. Now that it’s come to this, she won’t back down.
And if I have to take her, I can’t not take Letina.
Watching their vigor, Maxwell threw his head back.

“I, I got it, I got it already, calm down.” (Maxwell)

They got reluctant permission to join us.
With these two added in, the total number of people needing protection becomes four, including me and Tricia. That means we need more vanguards to cover us.

“Ughh… I guess it can’t be helped, can you call up Gadius?” (Cortina)
“You sure?” (Maxwell)
“We can’t handle this ourselves without risk, what’s more, this is as good a time as any to try and get past it.” (Cortina)

Maxwell gave a satisfied smile watching Cortina shrug her shoulders so deeply.
And like that, it was decided that we’d take a trip to the south of Raum.