Volume 5, Chapter 42 – A Team of Four

It happened just as we finally managed to bring the messenger back from his frozen state and were about to head deeper into the forest.

An arrow flew in from the depths of the woods.

“This is… Lu-chan!?”

The arrow flew straight toward my face with pinpoint accuracy, but it was deflected by my Barrier.

However, it definitely carried the Purification Magic I had enchanted into it.

“It seems we know where they are now,” Shizuku-san said.

“Yes! Let’s hurry!”

We sprinted at full speed toward where the arrow had come from.

Since the arrow came from Lu-chan, the distance should be no more than a few hundred meters.

Shizuku-san cut down the Goblins blocking our path one after another, and I followed closely behind her.

“S-Saint-sama, please don’t leave me behind~!”

The messenger followed a few meters behind us, letting out a pathetic wail.

“Messenger-san, it’s fine if you just head back to town now.”

“Please don’t say that! Huff, puff … y-you’re too fast~!”

He’s supposed to be trained, yet he’s being left behind by us women.

Is his training really not enough?

Following the path Shizuku-san carved out, we arrived at an open area.

There, we saw a massive horde of Goblins filling the area, a mountain of Goblin corpses, and a giant Goblin with a disgusting, smug grin on its face, standing against the evening sun.

“Chris-san! Lu-chan!” I called out desperately.

“Fiene-sama! Lumia has… an arrow in her chest!”

Chris-san’s grief-stricken scream reached my ears.

The sheer horror of it nearly made me faint, but I forced myself to stay calm and gave instructions to Shizuku-san.

“What! Shizuku-san! Clear a path! Over there!”

“Leave it to me!”

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Shizuku-san charged into the Goblins with blinding speed, carving a path toward the source of the voice.

I followed after her, and behind me, the pathetic messenger struggled to keep up, chin tilted up and mouth agape, gasping for air.

Finally, I reached Chris-san.

“Lu-chan!”

I rushed to Lu-chan’s side.

I gasped when I saw an arrow embedded in her left chest, right where her heart should be.

This is already… wait, huh? There’s no blood?

I timidly observed Lu-chan’s left chest.

The arrow had pierced through her clothes and stopped, lodged in her underwear.

The arrow swayed slightly with her breathing.

Hmm? Why?

I touched the underwear with my finger; it felt like normal underwear.

“Lu-chan, why are you unconscious? Lu-chan? You’re not actually hurt, are you?”

I shook Lu-chan, and she opened her eyes, mumbling something.

“…O-Onee-sama. Where’s the ramen?”

Honestly, this girl. It seems she was dreaming of ramen while everyone was worrying about her.

Ah, thank goodness.

“Sigh, Lu-chan is the same as always. Ramen is just a dream; we’re currently in the middle of a battle with Goblins.”

Saying so, I lightly poked Lu-chan’s forehead with my index finger.

Lu-chan sat up as if suddenly remembering, then looked at the arrow stuck in her chest—or rather, her underwear.

“Huh? I thought I died after taking an arrow to the chest… Ah, that’s right! It’s thanks to Onee-sama’s enchant!”

Hmm? Ah, I see. That’s right. Come to think of it, I had gone out of my way to sew silver thread into Lu-chan’s underwear and enchant a Defense Wall onto it.

Yes, I’m glad I did. Better safe than sorry with enchantments.

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I gave Lu-chan a tight hug and then turned toward Chris-san.

“Now, the General forced us to split up, but since we’re all together now, we can relax. I have my Barrier, so don’t worry about defense; please fight to your heart’s content as usual.”

“Fiene-sama! Yes! Yes! Leave it to me! You lot! Fiene-sama has finally arrived. Victory is as good as ours! Push them back!”

Chris-san shouted with the authority of a captain and charged into the Goblin swarm.

“Chris-dono, I hope you haven’t forgotten me!”

Shizuku-san followed suit. The soldiers watched this scene with looks of utter bewilderment.

The soldiers looked quite battered. Furthermore, about five heavily wounded soldiers were collapsed on the ground.

“Um, first, I’ll heal everyone. Ei!”

I cast Healing Magic on the seven standing soldiers and five fallen soldiers all at once.

“O-ooooh, amazing!”

The soldiers seemed deeply moved. Ignoring them, I spoke to Lu-chan.

“Lu-chan, aren’t you going to fight?”

“Actually, I’m out of MP. And I don’t have a single arrow left…”

I see. Friendly Fire happened at a very convenient time.

“In that case, please drink this. Let’s have Mashiro-chan work a bit harder.”

I took an MP Recovery Medicine from Storage and handed it to Lu-chan. Lu-chan drank it in one gulp, though she had a sour expression on her face.

Yeah, I know the feeling. That stuff tastes terrible.

“Mashiro! I need your help again!”

Having recovered her spirits, Lu-chan summoned Mashiro-chan.

For some reason, the summoned Mashiro-chan perched on top of Lu-chan’s head.

It looked like Lu-chan was wearing a white hat, and it was unbelievably cute.

Mashiro-chan proceeded to create Wind Blades one after another, shredding the Goblins.

Yes, it’s cute, but those attacks are quite vicious.

By the time I finished treating the soldiers’ injuries, I turned to them.

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“Um, soldiers, things are fine over there, so could you please take care of the Goblins heading toward the town?”

I asked the soldiers to handle the Goblins in the direction we had come from so they wouldn’t get in Chris-san’s way.

After all, with Chris-san and Shizuku-san rampaging on the front lines, and Lu-chan acting as a fixed turret firing Wind Blades from within the Barrier, we could annihilate most enemies.

Yes, the four of us are one team; we can’t afford to lose a single person.

“U-understood!”

Whether they understood my intent or not, they headed off to defeat the Goblins on the opposite side of the giant Goblin. It was then that the giant Goblin, which had been wearing that smug, disgusting smile, moved.

It launched a fireball toward the soldiers.

“Defense Wall!”

I blocked it with a wall.

“You can use Fire Magic despite being a Goblin. Though it’s pretty low level.”

Upon hearing my words, a look of fury crossed the giant Goblin’s face.

“Grrr… you call me, the Goblin King, low level?”

“Hmm? But you’re all size and no substance. Maybe instead of the Goblin King, you’re the ‘Self-Proclaimed’ Goblin King? Hehe, aren’t you embarrassed?”

I provoked the giant Goblin with a mocking tone.

“Shut up!”

Falling for my cheap provocation, the Goblin charged straight at me.

“Yep, calling him ‘Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed)’ is more than enough.”

It ripped a large tree out of the ground and slammed it down toward me.

BOOM

The tree the Goblin swung slammed violently against my Barrier with a thunderous crash.

However, the tree could not withstand the impact and snapped cleanly.

“Lu-chan.”

“Yes! Mashiro!”

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Mashiro-chan’s Wind Blades assaulted the Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed)’s face.

It hurriedly covered its face with its arms to guard, but in that opening, Shizuku-san lunged in from behind with blinding speed.

With a single, precise strike, she sliced through the back of its left knee and sprinted past to the Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed)’s front-left.

“GRRRRRAAAAH, CURSE YOU!”

The Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed), face twisted in pain, twisted its body to try and catch Shizuku-san. However, having had its left hamstring severed, it couldn’t maintain its footing, lost its balance, and clumsily face-planted into the ground.

“CURSE YOUUUUU!!”

With a look of rage, the Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed) tried to push itself up using its right leg and arm.

I created a Defense Wall exactly where the back of its head was to obstruct its movement.

CLUNK

With a sound that seemed incredibly painful, the Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed) gave the ground another magnificent kiss.

“Hah!”

Taking advantage of the opening, Chris-san leaped with a shout of determination and drove her sword powerfully into the Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed)’s left chest, putting all her weight into it!

After twisting the blade around for a moment, she pulled it out and leaped back quickly.

“Guh… gah… hah…”

The Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed) sprayed a massive amount of blood from its chest and collapsed, motionless.

Yep, just a Goblin King (Self-Proclaimed) after all. Seems it was just a mediocre piece of trash.

“The Goblin King has been slain!!”

Chris-san let out a loud victory roar. The soldiers responded to Chris-san’s roar with their own.

“””UOOOOOHHHH!!!”””

Maybe intimidated by the roar, the Goblins instantly lost all sense of coordination; some attacked blindly while others fled in panic, their actions becoming completely disjointed.

Chris-san, Shizuku-san, and Lu-chan—or rather, Mashiro-chan—hunted those Goblins down with incredible momentum.

I watched the scene blankly from within my Barrier.