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Let\'s do something about the luggage first, Fey and Berd, you\'re up since you\'re the power types here. Dan is better with his adaptability, so let\'s not make him use his mana here."

Bester spoke while pushing up the bridge of his glasses. Lala continued after him and stated her opinion.

"In that case, how about the five of us — Dol-kun, Coco-kun, Parry-kun, Sophie-san, and I — climb up first? We\'re limited by our mana, which would determine everyone\'s pace, so this would save us at least 10 minutes. The best course for us is to cover for each other and earn time for the task."

After being prompted by Coco earlier, Schal stepped forward and gave his perspective, clearing up everyone\'s hesitation.

There was something that they must avoid in this assignment at any cost— a seed of discord being sown between the group.

With their minds sharper than their swords’ edges, Class A immediately noticed the underlying meaning hidden behind his words. The realization instead dampened their positive outlook, but at the same time, they were beginning to understand that this wasn\'t a task they could get through by just playing it safe.

However, little did they know that this decision would end up backfiring on them.

◆◆◆

"H-Hey, hold on boyyy!"

The silver-armored old fogey raised his voice, trying to make me halt my steps, however, I had many more things to tackle rather than listen to a senile person’s ramblings.

I turned a blind eye to his actions and turned on my heel just when the knight started his self-introduction which, by the way, I didn’t ask for.

"Hmph, what a cold guy. I\'m Maxim Achilies, Stella\'s uncle. I’ve known Stella since she was this small and was there when her talent blossomed. She\'s the apple of my eye, my lovely angel. So...... how far have you gone with her? Hold up brat, don\'t tell me you’ve already k-k-kissed!?!?"

......What a pain in the butt. I felt like my head was going to split in two.

"Don\'t follow me, you nuisance!"

I spouted and swiftly walked away from that place.

"So that\'s how it is, huh?....... You’ve done something you feel guilty about, and yet, you\'re not even attempting to take responsibility...... You scumbag!!"

That old fogey\'s body started to shiver like a newborn fawn, seething with rage for some reason.

I didn\'t even want to talk to him...... I ran out of that place at my fastest speed ever.

◆◆◆

"Get up, Stella! A madman’s chasing after us! We need to run now!"

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Stella was focusing on her mana recovery when she raised a face full of question marks in response to my words.

"Hrrgh?! W-W-W-What is happening?! How come there\'s such a madman in Impala!?"

I couldn\'t afford to slow down so I scooped Stella into my arms, in the so-called princess carry style, as I ran straight for the exit.

"It\'s me, Stella~! You bastard, why the hell did you not bring her if she was with you?! And you blasted scumbag, how dare you leave my lovely Stella in such a dark place, all alone!"

Stella tilted her head at the appearance of her uncle.

"Uncle Maxim......? H-He\'s my relative, and I know him very well. He’s usually so calm, did something irk him?"

"Like hell if I know! He just suddenly sprouted nonsense like \'Fight me, and only if you win will I accept your courtship toward Stella\'. When I ignored him, who knows what delusion he’s cooked up in his rotten mind, he kept saying stuff like I’ve done something to be guilty of, take responsibility, and he kept calling me a sleazebag."

"What the hell!! Even I haven\'t gotten a hug from my lovely Stella lately! But hmph, Stella used to bathe with me until she was 8! Are you jealous~?...... Haaa, you\'re not jealous?! Y-You whelppp!! So you’ve even crossed that line!!"

A vein popped up on Stella\'s forehead.

"......Put me down, Allen. I\'m going to kill him."

"It would be a waste of time and mana."

"Damn you, are you trying to flirt in front of me?! You\'re definitely doing that to taunt me, huhhh!? Shit, what a slippery brat! Let meeee innnnn tooooo!!"

"......"

"......"

◆◆◆

Atop the cliff, evening.

For the five whose mana was limited, they had climbed up first so that the others didn’t need to slow down for their sake.

Coco noticed the abnormality first.

"?? ......Something isn\'t right. It\'s too quiet......"

Barely a second passed when Coco expressed his doubt when two large rocks, big enough for an adult to have difficulty wrapping their arms around it, fell from above, snapping the tree branches along the way.

The other four had barely managed to notice the abnormality after Coco, but their luggage slowed them down. In the end, the rocks directly hit Sophie and Coco.

"Sophie-san! Coco-kun!"

Lala, who barely managed to avoid the rock herself, shouted with a ghastly expression.

Coco had promptly covered his arm with mana, but it did little as blood dripped from his head as he collapsed like a puppet.

Sophie tried to distance herself but to no avail. As her right leg got caught under the rock, a groan escaped her lips.

"......Gigantic Crows.... with earth element...... W-we need to move to an open space......"

"Don\'t talk too much, Coco! Parry! Take care of Coco, and Lala, you tend to Sophie! Take them by the ridge we passed earlier! There are no trees around there. I’ll stop it with my magic!"

Dol hurriedly passed instructions to his classmates while he channeled his mana into his two-handed staff, conjuring a fireball. He hurled fireballs toward the two demonic crows, who had been creating another set of rocks, in successive motions.

Due to the huge distance between them, the two demonic crows easily dodged the fireballs, but in doing so, they ended up dropping the conjured rocks in panic, which missed their marks greatly.

Parry hurried to help Lala and lifted the rock pinning down Sophie\'s leg. Then he took Coco in his arms, shouting \'Hold yourself together, things may get rough!\' while making sure his head received little to no movement as he gently supported his back.

Lala, too, carried Sophie in her arms and followed after Parry.

With hazy eyes, Coco murmured, "Dol...... m-mana… save it......"

"Idiot, it\'s now or never!"

Dol continued to conjure one fireball after another and hurled them at the two demonic crows, hindering them from casting their own magic.

When a gap appeared between Dol\'s attacks, the Gigantic Crows started circling in the sky.

"Kraaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Shrieks echoed in the mountain.

"......Dol, you hold on to Coco. These bastards should be thinking that they\'re in the clear from your magic. In close combat, a long spear would serve better."

When Parry explained himself, Dol nodded and took Coco from him.

Perhaps looking for a gap like this, the two demonic crows glided through the air and mounted a pincer attack from the front and back.

"I’ll deal with the one attacking from behind."

Parry muttered, adjusted his breath, and after lowering his stance and drawing back sufficiently, he swung his spear around and thrust it forward.

"You\'re… slow!"

"Scraaaaaaaw!!"

Parry\'s spear pierced the heart of the Gigantic Crow.

With one of them dead, the other would probably either retreat or at least hold off from attacking… was Parry\'s thought. But instead, the remaining Gigantic Crow retaliated with a follow-up attack.

As his spear was still stuck in the chest of the dead Gigantic Crow, Parry couldn\'t immediately defend himself.

With his spearmanship that he had trained in the Martial Hall day and night, Parry\'s strength could contest with B-rank elemental monsters, however, he fell short in experience.

Parry tried to swing his spear along with the corpse, but the charging tackle of the other Gigantic Crow struck him squarely and he was blasted backward.

" "Parry!!" "

Dol hurriedly chased after him, but only an \'Arrghh...\' groan was heard from Parry. Dol guessed that Parry wouldn\'t be back on his feet for a while.

"......She might… be.... having some...... children. If she takes it as an attack on her nest...... there\'s no stopping her."

Coco murmured with difficulty.

Looking up, the Gigantic Crow had once again started to conjure a huge lump of rock.

There was one opponent, but three of them were injured. Now the responsibility of protecting them fell on Dol and Lala’s shoulders.

It was then, "Screeeeeeeeech!!!!", their enemy suddenly let out a shriek so deafening it even shook the air. Then, seemingly responding to it, the kids of that Gigantic Crow immediately jump out from a corner of the forest that Dol and his team had been moving toward.

Their numbers were so huge the northern sky was almost covered by their appearance.

At that moment, Dol could feel cold sweat drenching his back.

◆◆◆

At last, we were able to shake off that Maxim guy or whoever that madman was. I barged into the mountain — the shortcut route we had planned to take for the return trip — and dropped Stella there.

But...... an awkward silence had grown between us.

Afterward, for the next hour or so, Stella uttered no words as she continued to walk ahead at a brisk pace.

The silence was painful. I even started to doubt if that silver-armored old fogey was a ploy of that damned geezer too. I— I definitely didn\'t want to walk in the mountains like this, it would be pure torture.

......But Stella should have regained enough of her mana, I believe. We needed to quicken our pace now rather than later to save time.

With as cheerful a tone as possible, I tried to strike up a conversation with her.

"You know, you\'re quite lighter than I imagined!"

"Haahh? Are you saying I lack muscles?"

......Shit...... It seemed like people of this world didn\'t take joy in being called light. Oh wait, as I recall, it was a trend specific to certain regions even on Earth in modern times. I guess this was all on me.

It hardly sounded like a compliment to her when I praised her for being lighter than average since she was aiming to become a knight as well.

Damn you landmine, curses! Just when I least expected it, it reared its ugly head.

I hurriedly amended my words.

"I-I didn\'t mean it that way! I mean, you have enough muscles for a knight and are quite heavy too. It’s just that I was complimenting you in line with your femininity— "

Before I could finish my words, Stella sharply turned around and approached me with ghastly speed, tightly clasping my shoulders, while grinning.

"You tactless bastard! Who in their right mind calls a girl heavy?!"

Then, while still holding on to my shoulders, she delivered a not-so-light knee strike to my stomach.

"Gueeehhh!"

A strange yelp, like a flattened frog, escaped out of my lips.

What the hell?! So she really did like the compliment?!

Wait, then was her earlier reaction her trying to hide her embarrassment......

I don\'t think I’ll ever understand women.