Volume 1, Chapter 58 – The Reckless Ones

Seeing Fia stop in her tracks, Claire explained in a low voice.

“The Church relies on executing those afflicted with the Darkborn Disease to mitigate the negative impact of yesterday’s Darkborn incident. This kind of thing is quite common in Aurora City.”

“Mm, I know.”

As she spoke, Fia swept her Wind of Exploration across the square. Perhaps wary of her presence as the Elf Princess—or fearing that the uncaught Darkborns might return—the square was heavily surrounded by Paladins, most of whom were between the second and third tiers in strength.

What puzzled Fia, however, was the presence of four third-tier individuals among the crowd. At first, she assumed they were plainclothes Paladins disguised as spectators, but after retracting Wind of Exploration, she noticed that none of them carried the demeanor of Church members, nor did they exhibit the subtle vigilance of undercover agents scanning for suspicious activity. Instead, their eyes burned with unmistakable fury whenever they glanced at the priest on the stage.

By now, the knights on the platform had already pushed the first Darkborn Disease patient onto the guillotine.

The afflicted are innocent.

Fia couldn’t help but frown.

Rеаⅾ оn ΚatRеаdіոɡСαfe

I need to find a way to stop the Paladins.

The square was packed with people—using magic here risked harming civilians—

Just as Fia was considering this, the four individuals suddenly sprang into action. The blue-haired girl leading them summoned a massive ice spear and hurled it straight at the priest.

The abrupt attack sent the crowd into a panic, scattering in all directions, while the Paladins on stage rushed to shield the priest, leaving them no room to focus on anything else.

Well done.

This was her chance to rescue the three unfortunate souls. As for the main event, she’d leave it to these protagonists—the kind you’d find in stories. They might not be heroes rescuing damsels in distress, but they were still heroes fighting against injustice.

“Claire, I’ll be gone for a bit.”

“Do you need my help?”

Rеaⅾ οո KаtRеaԁіոgCαfе

“I’ll handle it alone.”

There was always the risk of being discovered, and dragging Claire into this would be disastrous. Even with her curse of being forgotten, if any of the Paladins had known Claire for a while, they might remember her—and trace her back to the clinic.

Once Claire nodded in agreement, Fia used her superhuman agility to leap across nearby rooftops, quickly reaching the tallest building overlooking the square.

From here, she had a perfect view of the chaos below.

They might be storybook protagonists, but they’re straight out of the tutorial zone…

Comparing the two sides’ strength with Wind of Exploration, Fia sighed inwardly.

The four, led by the blue-haired girl, were all third-tier—strong enough to be revered as warriors in a remote town. But their opponents were no pushovers: three third-tier Paladins and over a dozen second-tier ones. Unless the four had some game-changing secret technique, they were either reckless or hadn’t done their homework before charging in.

As Fia pondered, the blue-haired girl’s actions revealed exactly which type they were.

Rеaⅾ on КαtRеadiոgСаfе

—The impulsive kind.

As if oblivious to the seasoned third-tier knight lurking in the platform’s shadow, the blue-haired girl swapped her short staff for a scythe and charged straight for the three prisoners. Meanwhile, the veteran Paladin had already locked onto her, poised to strike the moment she leaped over the priest’s head.

Unless the girl could cast Flight, she’d have no way to dodge mid-air.

It’s good to want to help others, but you need the strength to back it up.

Calculating the trajectory in her mind, Fia summoned ten fireballs—each a meter in diameter—and launched them one after another along the Paladin’s ambush path.

Notably, she didn’t bombard the knight from all angles. There were two reasons: first, out of respect for Claire’s wishes to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, and second, to avoid drawing too much attention. If the Paladins abandoned their attack on the girl to hunt her down instead, things would get messy.

Just as Fia predicted, the moment the blue-haired girl vaulted over the priest, the Paladin lunged from her flank—only to be blasted away by the Fairy Fire before he could land a hit.

Maybe I should learn something gentler, like Ice Bullet or Snowball. Fairy Fire is still an explosion, and explosions are… a bit excessive against living beings.

Reαd οո КatRеаⅾіոɡСafе

Wait, if I could master Ice Bullet…

Considering that Fairy Fire could summon up to 120 fireballs at once, using Ice Bullet would essentially turn her into a magical machine gun—no, even faster than the ancient machine gun. Sure, Fairy Fire had a cap of 120 projectiles, but with near-infinite mana, who said she couldn’t spam it in rapid succession?

Come to think of it, the World Tree Continent had not only magic studies but also a discipline called Magitech Engineering, focused on crafting magical weapons and artifacts. If she could get her hands on that, she might actually be able to create a magical version of the machine gun. That would be far more entertaining than mages slowly chanting spells.

The blue-haired girl, clearly not expecting backup, froze for a second upon landing.

Instead of standing there stunned, I’d rather you finish off your opponent and go help your friends.

Mentally sighing, Fia glanced around the square.

The Paladins had come prepared. The moment the ambush began, they swiftly surrounded the girl’s three companions in groups of three to five—let’s call them the Blue Team. Every time one of them mustered the courage to break through, the targeted Paladin would dodge, while the others closed in, leaving fresh wounds on the Blue Team’s fighters.