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"See? This is what makes him the protagonist. Even running on empty, he can still beat people senseless!"
Kaito watched Chiaia getting thoroughly thrashed by Kenshi below and shook his head with a look of helpless admiration.
'Dagmyer Mest has already slipped away to go after Lashara. If Wahanly doesn't show up soon, the whole story might end ahead of schedule.'
Just as Chiaia was struggling to hold her own against Kenshi in her Seikijin, Dagmyer Mest, who had been lurking nearby, slipped aboard the Swan in his blue Seikijin.
"Where did you come from?!"
"Who sent you?!"
Lashara looked at Ulyte, who had been sent flying, and furiously demanded an answer from Dagmyer's massive Seikijin.
Seeing that he offered no response, Lashara turned and ran.
She had barely taken a few steps before an ice wall thrown up by the opponent cut off her path.
Lashara turned around with a sharp expression and stared down the Seikijin Dagmyer was piloting.
Just as he was about to finish her off, the Seikijin that had been sitting quietly in the cargo hold let out a sudden roar.
"The Seikijin... what is happening?!"
Dagmyer turned toward it in shock.
In that moment of distraction, an earth-coloured Seikijin came crashing into him from the side.
"There should only be one Seikijin on Swan!"
"Right on time! Saving Her Majesty the Princess at the last second. That is a massive impression boost!"
Wahanly Shume looked at the fleeing Lashara with the deeply satisfied expression of someone who had landed exactly where they intended.
"Tsk. Wahanly."
"Wait, where's Lashara?!"
Seeing Lashara had vanished, Dagmyer turned his fury on Wahanly.
Unfortunately for him, not only did he fail to take her down, but his Seikijin took damage from the gunpowder weapon she used.
"Damn it!"
Dagmyer felt the extent of the damage and growled with barely contained frustration.
"Very promising. Very, very promising!"
Wahanly, for her part, was thoroughly satisfied with the results of her newest weapon.
Just as she was preparing to press the attack, a completely black Seikijin appeared from nowhere and pulled Dagmyer out of range.
Being carried off, Dagmyer looked back at Kenshi, who still had not managed to deal with Chiaia, and shouted at him in fury.
"Useless! It's your fault we failed! You couldn't even suppress them! I'm pulling back for now."
"You are still responsible for taking Lashara's life!"
"If you pull it off, I'll send you home as we agreed!"
Kenshi, in the white Seikijin, heard this and clenched his fists through the discomfort tearing through his body.
Kaito watched Dagmyer berate Kenshi and said to Sakuya beside him with a speechless expression.
"If Kenshi weren't sick, he could beat a hundred like him without breaking a sweat. What exactly is he afraid of?"
Hearing Kaito's words, Sakuya smiled.
"Heh heh! He is just a sheltered young master who has never hit a wall in his life. People like that never think about consequences."
Kaito nodded in agreement and said nothing more, returning his attention to the scene below.
Time passed. The plot unfolded exactly as it had before. Kenshi's Seikijin's legs gradually gave way, unable to withstand the strain of his power in his current state.
He was forced to abandon the Seikijin and, pushing through his failing body, make his way toward Lashara on foot.
Lashara stood on the Swan's balcony. She turned, looked into the shadows, and said with an approving expression.
"That was a splendid fight, Seikishi."
No sooner had she spoken than Kenshi stepped out of the shadows, and her expression shifted to one of pure shock.
"You... are a man?"
A brief explanation of why this stunned her so completely.
Due to compatibility issues with Ahou energy in Geminar, the vast majority of Seikishi were women.
Male Seikishi were as rare as giant pandas, and as such were treated as something close to sacred in this world.
Beyond that, the union of a male Seikishi and a female Seikishi produced children with significantly stronger talent.
This meant that various countries used male Seikishi as breeding stock, stripping them of any right to choose their own partners.
That was why seeing that her would-be assassin was a male Seikishi had left Lashara speechless.
Kenshi paid no attention to her shock. He pulled the dagger from his waist.
Breathing hard, he looked at Lashara with a steady expression and said.
"I'll... take you..."
Lashara looked at the heavily breathing, very clearly ill Kenshi and said without missing a beat.
"Hmm. It is an honour to be assassinated by such a powerful male Seikishi."
Looking at Lashara, who was, at the end of the day, just a young girl, something in Kenshi softened. He lowered the dagger.
"Huff... I... huff... will take... you..."
Lashara put her hands on her hips and laughed.
"Oh? You want to elope with me? Tempting as that sounds, given how severe your Ahou sickness is right now, do you actually have the strength left to carry me off?"
"I think he does. You might be underestimating him."
Just as Lashara was enjoying her moment of triumph, a voice drifted in from the side with a touch of amusement.
"What! There's someone else?!"
Lashara spun toward the voice.
Standing there with his arms crossed, looking at her with a playful expression, was a young man with an extraordinary bearing and a face that was, frankly, unreasonably handsome.
Behind him stood a young woman in a maid's uniform, equally striking.
"My, my. You look a little rattled, little girl. Things not going quite as planned?"
Kaito kept the smile in his voice as he looked at Lashara.
"You are not with him, are you?"
Lashara looked at Kaito and his maid and said it as a statement rather than a question.
"As expected of someone raised with a royal education. Your instincts are sharp."
"Princess Lashara!"
Just as Kaito was about to say more, Chiaia came running up, visibly alarmed.
Taking in the scene in an instant, she did not stop to think. She drew her longsword and charged straight at Kaito.
"You!"
Kaito stared at her, genuinely baffled.
Why are you coming at me? Go find Kenshi, he's the one who tried to kill her.
Chiaia raised her sword to strike.
Kaito did not move.
Instead, Sakuya, who had been standing behind him, stepped in front of Chiaia in an instant.
With a perfectly composed expression, she raised her foot and kicked Chiaia squarely in the stomach.
Thud.
"Ugh... Pfft!"
Chiaia left the ground immediately, flying backward through the air.
She covered more than ten meters before crashing heavily down.
Lying on the ground, the pain radiating through her body was intense enough that something surged in her throat. A mouthful of blood came up with it.
"Chiaia!!!"
Lashara ran toward her in a panic.
"Cough cough... Princess Lashara, I am fine. They held back."
Looking at Lashara anxiously checking her over, Chiaia forced a smile through the pain.
"Chiaia, are you really fine? You are spitting blood!"
"Heh heh! Sakuya is very precise. She won't die, don't worry..."