“I think it would be best for you to prepare to use defensive magic at any time, my lady.”
Maxi was enjoying the feeling of freedom when Gabel, riding in front of him, shouted abruptly.
She looked at him confused.
There were no wild animals in sight, much less monsters.
Wondering if they were being watched, Maxi looked around in terror.
Gabel pointed up.
Her gaze reflexively followed his finger towards the sky, and she almost let out a scream.
Five or six gigantic birds of bizarre proportions circled above them.
"They're harpies, my lady.
I don't think they intend to attack us at the moment, but it's best not to let your guard down."
If she remembered correctly, harpies were monsters that had the body of an eagle and the face of a human woman.
Squinting up, Maxi studied the creatures.
They were too far away for her to see clearly, but she thought she could see a pale female face where the eagle's head should have been.
Maxi's grip on his reins tightened as a shiver ran down his spine.
Ulyseon brought his horse closer to hers and calmly warned her, "Don't worry, my lady.
Keep your gaze ahead.
We should be heading down a slope with a rocky path soon, so you need to be careful."
Maxi turned his eyes ahead.
As per Ulyseon's caution, a precipitous cliff soon came into view.
They led their horses over the edge and stopped on the side of a steep slope.
At the foot of the road going down, there was a deep, rocky valley.
The knights carefully observed the bottom and hesitated.
They needed to descend, but they could not do so immediately for fear that the harpies would roll stones at them from the cliff.
“I suppose we’ll have to get rid of those pests first,” Hebaron exclaimed impatiently, grabbing the hilt of the claymore slung across his back.
Riftan raised his hand to the burly knight.
“They’re not the ones we should be worrying about,” he said, his cold gaze fixed on the bottom of the cliff.
The knights followed his gaze.
From behind, Maxi couldn't share the view.
She strained to hear what was happening when Riftan gave his command.
"There are five drakes at the bottom.
The two“no, three ranks will prepare for battle.
The rest must wait here and keep an eye out for the harpies."
The knights drew their swords in unison.
Maxi gaped as twenty or more riders galloped down the slope as fast as the wind.
They swung their horses along the steep, rocky path, as agile as acrobats.
The knights who remained at the top split into two groups.
One would keep an eye on the harpies and the other would keep his bows ready to cover the descending group.
The crisis left Maxi a little desperate.
“W-What should I do?”
“Just stay still until it's all over, my lady, and be prepared to cast your barrier, just in case,” said Gabel, drawing his sword.
The pack of harpies suddenly increased by twenty.
They simultaneously shouted a high-pitched scream as they circled above the campaign group.
Covering her ears, Maxi followed Gabel's instruction and made her mana flow along the lines of the rune.
At that moment, a louder scream echoed behind her.
Maxi looked down at the petrifying sight.
At the bottom of the cliff, the knights were engaged in battle with monsters.
The creatures appeared to be about 20 kevette in size.
Sharp scales covered their bodies, giving the impression that they were roughly carved with a chisel.
Pointed horns crowned their lizard-like heads, and rows of sharp teeth filled their mouths.
So, that's a drake...
They were much scarier than his illustrations.
Their yellow eyes twinkled as they charged at the knights, their massive legs stomping the ground.
The knights did not appear intimidated as they dispersed among the rocks to confuse the beasts.
Horse and rider galloped across the rocky terrain as if they were one.
As if it were a simple boar hunt, the knights skillfully lured the gigantic creatures into one place.
"Commander!"One of the knights dodged a massive tail and wrapped the iron chain attached to a mace around the monster's leg.
The drake staggered, and Riftan seized the opportunity and plunged his sword into the drake's throat.
Dark red blood spurted out in all directions like a fountain.
Maxi stared at the scene in shock before Ulyseon called out to her.
"My lady!
Please don't stand so close to the cliff!
The harpies can charge and push you."
Startled, Maxi quickly backed away from the edge.
The harpies now flew close enough for her to see their faces clearly.
When some of the knights pointed their bows at them, Gabel hurriedly stopped them.
"Don't attack yet.
It will be too much to handle if they join the fight now."
“But they are“”
“We’re not the ones they’re after.”
His calm voice was drowned out by the cries of the drakes.
Desperate with worry for Riftan, Maxi prayed for the battle to end soon.
The shouts of the knights, the heavy footsteps of the drakes, and the clanking of swords continued for a long time until a shout from below finally announced the end of the battle.
"It should be safe now, my lady.
Please go down first with the junior knights."
Following Gabel's instruction, Maxi dismounted and carefully made his way between the rocks.
She was not as skilled as the riders at galloping up a steep slope.
When she finally reached the foot of the cliff, one of the knights who had been cleaning up the drakes' corpses hurried to take her reins.
“Are you hurt anywhere, Lady Calypse?”
"I-I should be the one to...ask.
Was anyone hurt?"
"Sir Evan Crude has a burn from the drake's gastric fluid.
Could you take a look at him?"
Maxi nodded and hurried over to where the knight was.
When he got there, Sir Evan was taking off his breastplate and tunic with the help of his comrades.
Maxi held back a gasp at the sight of his horrendous wound.
The skin from his left shoulder down to his chest was raw as if someone had poured boiling oil over it.
Hebaron, despite observing the terrible wound, just clicked his tongue.
"Good job getting hurt in our first battle.
Why did you let a drake vomit on you like a fool?"
"Don't be so harsh, Sir Hebaron.
Even you didn't know there was another drake hiding in the cave," Evan grumbled as he groaned in pain.
There must have been six drakes in total, not five.
After taking a look at the drake's corpse scattered across the rocks, Maxi leaned over to inspect the knight's wound.
Almost all the skin on his shoulder was burned away, revealing red muscles underneath.
She was about to touch the wound when Hebaron stopped her.
"Don't touch it, my lady.
The fluid could burn your hand too."
“Then we should clean the wound of the fluid immediately.”
Maxi asked the junior knights to bring clean water and quickly wiped the fluid off his body.
Although the contact must have hurt terribly, the knight endured it with clenched teeth.
He even managed to give her a smile.
“It would have been a disaster if you hadn’t come with us, my lady.”
He sounded calm despite his horrendous wound.
Shocked, Maxi stared at him before healing his wound.
When the burns healed completely, the tension dissipated from his shoulder.
"Thank you, ma'am.
I feel much better now."
"If you're already repaired, then hurry up and put your armor back on.
We're leaving as soon as we collect all the magic stones from the drakes.
We don't know when these pests will start to act," Hebaron said, pointing to the harpies that were now perched on the edge of the cliff.
Their faces were silhouetted against the light, and their feminine features carried hints of a chilling smile.
Maxi looked away and looked around to see if anyone else needed treatment.
Fortunately, no one else had a scratch.
Riftan was washing the drake's blood from his armor near a puddle, while the other knights were cutting into the drakes' chests to collect their magic stones.
Maxi watched perplexed.
She knew that parts of the dragon subspecies were worth a lot of gold, but she couldn't understand why they were wasting time looting monster corpses when they should have been on their way to saving their comrades.
"D-do we really...
need to collect the stones?
I know they're expensive...
b-but shouldn't we hurry...?""We're not collecting just because we think it's a waste not to.
If we don't collect them, the stones will absorb mana from the environment and create an undead.
In fact, if we followed the teachings of the Orthodox Church, we would have to purify the corpse by burning it completely.
It's practically impossible to incinerate such a large monster without magic, however, so people tend to extract the magic stones instead."
“Those pests will take care of the corpses.”
Riftan approached them dripping with water.
Maxi carefully examined him from head to toe.
Aside from the fact that he was soaked due to his efforts to wash off the monster's blood, he appeared unharmed.
Running a hand through his sodden hair, he watched her briefly before turning his gaze to the cliff.
"The harpies followed us because they were waiting for us to kill the drakes.
As soon as we leave, they will get busy cleaning up the corpses."
“Does this mean they will stop following us?”
“There’s a good chance they’ll follow us again in search of their next meal.”
He looked at the monsters perched on the edge of the cliff as if they were annoying flies.
"But we'll just have to stay well ahead of them before they decide to chase us.
I have no intention of allowing such annoying hyenas to follow us around," he said coldly before pulling on Talon's reins.
Realizing he was trying to get away from her, Maxi followed him.
She couldn't understand why he treated her as if she were invisible.
“R-Riftan… aren’t you hurt anywhere?”
“I'm fine,” he replied brusquely, tugging on his gauntlet.
Maxi blocked his path, forcing him to look at her.
“Riftan… y-are you still mad at me?”
Her mouth tightened into a thin line, and she could feel his sharp gaze dissecting her damp face, messy hair, and dusty clothes that she had been wearing since yesterday.
Blushing, Maxi crossed her arms.
"Wasn't it...
lucky that I c-came along?
Someone got hurt...
just two days...
on the journey“"
“We are leaving immediately,” he said coldly.
“We have no time to waste, so return to your place in the lineup immediately.”
“I-I think we could spare some time to“”
“Wasn’t it you who wanted me to treat you like a mage and not my wife?” he said sharply, mounting Talon nimbly.
“You were the one who insisted on joining the campaign against my wishes, so you better obey your commander’s orders.”
Maxi stared at his sharp face, hidden in shadow, before turning on his heel and taking Rem's reins.
Gabel laughed embarrassedly and tried to explain Riftan's side.
"Don't take this the wrong way, my lady.
The commander is just nervous because of the battle.
He tends to get a lot scarier when there are monsters around.
One mistake could cost him his life, so it makes sense that he would be tense like a wild animal."
"I...
d-don't care.
Riftan...
I mean, Sir Riftan is right.
He is now...
my commander, and I am his m-mage.
It's only fair that he demands my absolute obedience," replied Maxi, speaking as clearly as he could for Riftan to hear.
However, Riftan just glanced at her over his shoulder and showed no other reaction.
Feeling discouraged, Maxi returned to her place in the formation behind the other knights.