CH 2

Chapter 2: A meeting with a girl

The morning breeze.

A somewhat lethargic atmosphere after breakfast.

Even so, the equipped Nelpha soldiers guarded the fortress tightly.

The guards standing at the entrances to the fortress made one feel as if even a mouse was unable to slip in. There were no holes in the fortress that provided an alternate entrance. The windows had been barred so they were inaccessible.

The security was a little strange.

This kind of fortress… But…

Ryner and Ferris had somehow managed to slip in…

Their invasion tactic was very simple. They walked to the main entrance boldly and Ferris knocked out the eight soldiers with an astounding efficiency without rousing the alarm…

Like that…

“Please have a little common sense. We should plan on how to invade this place first, then find a back door where no one will notice and then slip in, that should be the proper etiquette.”

An invasion could not be counted as etiquette, though…

Just as a side note, they were already in the fortress and walking down to the stairs to the underground room where the treasure might be hidden.

Ferris started to turn to reply to Ryner when suddenly, from ahead,

“Who, who are you…”

An unlucky soldier shouted from where he was on the stairs.

In a moment!

“Au—”

In a split second, Ferris had leapt forward, swiftly executing a karate chop on the soldier’s neck. The soldier collapsed soundlessly.

Ferris seemed to release a breath of relief and ignored the soldier,

“Yes, like what we planned, no one has discovered us.”

“…So the word ‘plan’ can be used under these circumstances… If it’s about violence, I can understand if the word ‘force’… No, forget it, it’s fine if you’re happy…”

Ryner avoided the unconscious soldier and continued down the steps.

In the end, both of them did not appear to be nervous at all.

As they walked down the stairs, Ferris asked,

“Talking about that, you haven’t mentioned… What Heroes’ Relic could be protected in this fortress?”

“Eh? Yeah, that, it should be something… like a sword.”

“Sword?”

Ryner nodded his head and folded his arms as he recalled the information.

“That should be the legend.”

As he talked, he looked up,

“From a distant land.

It spreads life, birth and death.

Flaming fires

Night made day by the flames

Distant, twilight, jealousy, nightmare.

It will bury this world and hell in shadows at midnight…”

Until here,

“Talk in layman’s terms.”

Ryner appeared to be helpless,

“There isn’t any other way to explain this. That was the introduction to the legend, the story has just began… What follows will be more interesting.”

But Ferris’s beautiful face remained bland,

“Oh, is that so. I have no interest. Talk about the ending.”

“Ah? … Ah, that… no interest… You’re so straightforward… Forget it…”

Ryner was slightly disappointed, but he reluctantly continued.

“Anyway, about what I was talking about, the beginning part was introducing the Demon King of the world then.”

“Demon King?”

“Yes, this case is different from the legend of the Dark Emperor who was a tyrannical king of his empire. This was a real Demon King. See you can tell from the line ‘From a distant land’. It’s a story about him appearing suddenly and plunging the world into an era of fear. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?”

But Ferris,

“Wu~”

She only let out a disinterested sound…

Ryner sighed when he saw this…

“You… actually said ‘wu’… Don’t you mind a monster engulfing the world?”

But towards this,

“No. After all, it’s just a legend.”

“I say… It’s because of these legends that we are sent to travel the world.”

Ferris shrugged,

“My only interest is to defeat these Heroes’ Relics that were used by the monstrous Heroes.”

“…How unromantic…”

Ryner continued with a disappointed tone,

“But let’s leave that aside… The main point was that. Anyway, a Hero’s sword might have been left in this fortress. Simply said, a powerful Demon King appeared then and a knight called Claus Gabardi… defeated him and was named the knight in the legend of the Heroes. After that knight died, the sword that he had used to defeat the Demon King was left in the ground somewhere near here…”

“Wu.”

“But there’s been some discussion that this sword cannot be retrieved by anyone…”

Ferris tilted her head,

“Cannot be retrieved? Will the sword that cannot be retrieved still be in this fortress?”

Ryner nodded his head hard,

“That’s it. The sword in this legend… cannot be removed from the ground no matter how much strength is used and it is obviously something good. So according to common sense, this will become a famous tourist site, right?”

Ferris nodded,

“But I haven’t heard any rumors of this sort.”

“So I was thinking of this, in order to hide the fact that the sword that cannot be removed from the ground in here, they constructed a fortress here and named it the important historical site of the Imperia Nelpha…”

Ferris folded her arms,

“Yes, that idea’s not bad. This means that this area that has a heavily protected historical fortress…”

“That’s it. So…”

Ryner looked rather nervous and narrowed his eyes. They had reached the end of the stairs and were in a large underground room… or rather, a hall.

There were some lamps lighting up the dark hall, but these lamps were not bright enough to light the big hall.

Ryner looked at the dark hall,

“If there were really a Heroes’ Relic here, that’d be good~”

“If there are none, your brain…”

“Alright, don’t talk about that now… What’s that?”

He scratched his chin and pointed into the dark depths of the hall.

Ferris revealed a mystified expression,

“Wu, there are eight presences. It seems to be the guards protecting this big hall.”

“Right. Our opponents haven’t noticed us… What do you think we should…”

But Ryner had not finished speaking when Ferris disappeared. There were eight groans…

From the darkness,

“I’m done. Let’s investigate quickly.”

“…”

Ryner scratched his head and weakly said,

“Forget it. But I feel that I’m not enjoying this at all~”

Saying this, he walked into the hall…

Ryner observed his surroundings.

The first impression that this hall gave people was ‘Treasure!’ because of the seemingly old boxes.

It was a marvelous place. But compared to these ancient boxes, the room seemed to be kept clean, at least a single speck of dust couldn’t be seen in this darkness.

Ryner looked and said,

“Alright, which box should we start from?”

“Eh? Why not we open everything.”

But Ryner shook his head.

“Too~naïve. With these many boxes that appear to hold treasure, there is only one genuine article, the rest are ambushes!”

“I see, is that so?”

“It’s like that. In majority of the stories, they would do this so as to prevent the other party from being victorious.”

“Mm-hmm. So which box is the real one?”

Asking this…

“Eh? … Ah, that…”

Ryner started to inspect the boxes.

“…”

They had already reached this stage. If he failed now, then it would mean that he was still a novice. Ryner carefully checked the boxes again and again. He used skilled methods to check if there were any traps, were there any markings and what was the structure…

“…”

Finally, he had checked all of the boxes…

Ryner lifted his head with a determined expression,

“Fine! It seems as if I still don’t understand, so let’s open… all the boxes… this way…”

As he said this, he peeked at Ferris’s expression, Ferris replied,

“Yes, let’s open all of them.”

“I say, you should have at least made a quip…”

As Ryner said with a upset face, Ferris opened the first box…

He looked at her for a moment.

Ryner and Ferris looked into the treasure chest at the same time…

It was filled with documents.

It was obvious that it wasn’t a sword or old documents, but new documents…

That meant that this was certainly not any Heroes’ Relic…

That meant that this chest could be disposed of…

But that didn’t happen…

Ferris used her emotionless voice to say,

“… Oh, that ambush was amazing. Even I felt as if I could have lost my life, Ryner.”

“Wuuu… Don’t bully me…”

Don’t mind the nonsensical conversation.

The two continued to open the chests.

But,

“…”

“…”

All of the chests were filled with documents…

Ferris pulled out a piece of paper from the documents and narrowed her eyes. Then she passed it to Ryner.

“How are you going to convince me?”

“Ah? Convince you?”

Ryner received the paper and read it.

The paper recorded that the governor of this district had made numerous improper acts regarding the tax payment to the king. Ryner was stunned…

“…Ah, then this fortress… was to hide this…?”

“It seems so.”

Ferris nodded, Ryner started to tremble.

“Then, then, the relic?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then what will happen to me who woke up early and worked so hard?”

“I don’t know. But I can confirm one thing.”

“Ah?”

When Ryner raised his head, Ferris had already unsheathed her sword.

“Before you convince me why we have to spend so much effort, I will cut down your head first…”

“Aaaaaaah!! Wait, wait a moment! Don’t get impatient! Uh, how should I say this, even the perfect me can make one or two mistakes… and, and I have leads on other Heroes’ Relics…”

Ferris narrowed her eyes at this, planning to swing her sword,

“I don’t want to hear your excuses…”

“They’re not excuses! So I told you not to be impatient! About that, actually the position of this fortress and the map on the records are slightly different… The real relic should be somewhere in the forest.”

“Oh, what about it?”

Ryner continued to retreat and said,

“Then… that… the place where we camped at, yesterday? In the forest.”

“Mm-hmm.”

He retreated a step as he said,

“Actually it’s somewhere near there… From the map of the records… the sword should be nearby there…”

“Oh… why didn’t you tell me this…?”

At this point, Ryner had already escaped Ferris by taking small steps away from her,

“No, that, because we didn’t see the sword, so I thought it could have been removed by someone, or it would just a rumour… or it might be that, since it has been a long time, it was buried underground… If, if that’s the case, you would force me to dig, right? I don’t want to do something so troublesome. Anyway, isn’t the probability of the relic being in the fortress higher than it being buried under soil that has accumulated for hundreds and thousands of years… Don’t you agree… And that… So that… I, I’m sorry… Don’t kill me?”

Ryner explained and ended with an apology…

But Ferris raised her sword…

She pointed the sword in a different direction from Ryner,

“Who is that who has been watching us from since just now?”

Ferris said in a loud voice that could be heard in the hall and was louder that her usual volume. Ryner turned in the direction of where Ferris was looking in,

“Yes, yes, we wouldn’t attack you suddenly, what are you doing there?”

He looked in the same corner of the room where Ferris was looking in and said.

Although it was very dark and the lamps were not shining on them so there weren’t any shadows or silhouettes… But from earlier, there were two presences that could be felt from there.

They were different from the Imperial Nelpha soldiers, they didn’t call for their companions and they didn’t release any killing intentions to Ryner and Ferris. It seemed as if they had some motive and had silently watched the situation…

A girl’s forceful and slightly high-pitched voice spoke,

"Ah, geez! It's because Sui-niichan was making so much noise that they noticed us!"

Following from that was a timid, gentle voice,

"Eh? It's my fault?"

“Of course! It’s all because Sui-niichan always fails, so I always don’t want to help you! You idiot! Slow! Silly!”

“Yeah, I know that, I know that. Sorry, Kuu, but what should we do under this kind of circumstances?”

“Of course I understand! We should flee now!! The entrances of the fortress are not guarded by the Imperial Nelpha soldiers, we thought it would be a good opportunity to steal the treasure… but we were caught by that monster that cut down all the soldiers! What should we do!”

“No, that, Kuu… you don’t have to explain that, I understand that this is not the time to be fleeing.”

“Aaaaaaaahh really! Sui-niichan is really an idiot! Didn’t I tell Sui-niichan! We have to let that strong woman hear what we are saying. We have to show that we have no wish to snatch the treasure from you, if that succeeds, then we can escape? Do you two understand!? That’s what I’m saying, so you can’t chase us!”

Even so, the tone of this voice could be too forceful or pleading…

Ryner listened to their conversation then asked Ferris,

“What should we do, Ferris?”

Ferris replied,

“Yes. Hmm, anyway, we didn’t find what we looking for here. But don’t the two of you hold some interest in these chests?”

Hearing this, the two people who were hidden in the dark… or rather, the younger sister called Kuu appeared to panic, the change in mood could be sensed by Ryner and Ferris.

“No, no, no! We can’t be tricked, Sui-niichan!? This is a trap! With the darling in front of them, it’s impossible that no one would be interested!”

Sui used a calm voice,

“No, I have no interest in the darling.”

“Eh!? Then why did you want to invade this place!”

“Right, I said this before, this place has been guarded by Nelpha tightly for the past few years, so there must be something important hidden in here, right? Mysterious themes are quite rare. As an author, of course I would be interested.”

“Are you serious!? If anyone can survive just by writing mysteries, then no one would need to work! Ahh, really, this is why I hate authors… you’re already twenty six years old but you completely lack the ability to survive… you even need a fourteen year old child to work to support you, don’t you feel embarrassed!?”

“Wu… I… do feel embarrassed.”

“And and, yes… If I continue to look after Sui-niichan for the next few years, I will grow old without even having a relationship or marrying… That will definitely happen… Ah, I’m so pitiful… What do you think? I said, what do you think?”

“Ah? You’re asking me what I think…?”

“I’m referring to the fourteen year old girl who has not even had a romantic relationship but has grown old and weak. As my brother, won’t you think of rescuing me!?”

“Old and weak… I would say that’s not good, I’ll be disturbed. I wish that Kuu will be able to live happily.”

“That what are you doing now!”

“Ah?... Yes, getting the treasure… right?”

“That’s it! Alright, let’s go! The preparations for escaping are done! Right! I’m going! Aiaiaiaiaiai!”

Saying this, a girl energetically rushed forward to Ryner and Ferris.

She was an adorable girl. Although she was fourteen years old already, but she was quite short and appeared to be small.

She had a reddish… or better, a certain rare pink hair colour. She was dressed in black and was very petite. She had an appealing face and beautiful eyes. In contrast to the tough tone, she was a delicate and charming girl.

This girl slapped her palms together with a ‘pa!’ and bowed to Ryner and Ferris,

“Because of that, in order to rescue this pitiful fourteen year old girl, could you share some of the treasure with us? Ah, really, Sui-niichan, come help me!”

As she said this, Kuu pulled a tall man out from the dark corner.

He was slightly taller than Ryner but he had no powerful presence. He seemed to be a weak man who was only able to laugh foolishly in this situation. Because they were siblings, he had the same hair colour as Kuu. His long hair had a comb stuck in it.

He looked like Kuu…

Only, the colour of his eyes could not be determined because his eyes were squinted as he was smiling.

That man also bowed to Ryner and Ferris,

“That… because of that, for Kuu’s dowry, please give a treasure chest to us.”

That’s what he said.

Ryner looked at the other party that did ignored them and who forced their opinions on them,

“Ah~ But, you heard what we were talking about just now, right?”

Kuu tilted her head,

“Ah? What are you referring to…?”

“That, I mean the chests here are not treasure chests… Ahh, forget it, anyway, it’s all yours.”

Before he finished speaking, Kuu and Sui were already quickly opening the chests.

Several minutes later,

“I say, what is this! There’s no treasure at all!!”

Sui added,

“Compared to that, Kuu, look at this. This is amazing, this place has all the things that the governor has tried to hide. So it’s like that. The corrupted tax officers… Then the village boy who tried to rebel against them with a girl who was in love with him… Ahh, my mind is filled with a torrent of ideas of what will be a good novel…”

Kuu replied harshly,

“How can such a stupid story sell out!”

In that moment,

“…”

Sui’s face was filled with a sadness, as if his soul had been sucked away, it was particularly amusing,

“Wuuu… Kuu-chan… Do you know the sentence that one cannot grow if they are not praised?”

Kuu ignored him and turned to Ryner and Ferris,

“What is this? Where is the treasure?”

Ryner sighed and replied,

“There is none.”

“Have you taken all of them?”

Ryner shook his head,

“No, from the beginning, it was like that.”

“Then, why did you come here?”

“Wu? That is because we are finding the Heroes’…”

Suddenly there was a killing intent and a strong force moved towards Ryner’s head…

“Ah? I meant- wait…”

PA! Ryner collapsed to the ground.

Ferris checked the collapsed Ryner and sheathed her sword,

“We are government officers under secret orders from the king of Imperial Nelpha.”

What she said…

Ryner held his aching head,

“Why, why did you hit me suddenly…Wa!?”

Ferris stepped on his back immediately, preventing from speaking…

Then she said in a small voice,

“The fact that we are hunting for the Heroes’ Relics is a secret to other countries, I’m sure you’re aware of this? What were you planning to say?”

“You don’t need to hit… Yaaaaah!?”

Just as Ryner was about to be hit in his weak area, Kuu said with a look of incomprehension.

“Government officials? What is going on?”

Ferris nodded her head gravely,

“Mm-hmm. Our mission is to uncover all the improper actions of the governors of different districts to save the people. We were sent here to investigate because the nearby governor Fahier has been acting quite suspiciously lately…”

She took out a piece of paper from the chest as she said this,

“This man, Fahier… He has actually been coveting the tax payment, doing these improper actions!”

Kuu became more confused,

“That… I have something I want to ask…”

“What?”

“The governor who rules this district seems to be called Belos…”

Ferris did not seem disturbed,

“Yes, Fahier is his nickname. The nobles call him Fahier-chan.”

Upon hearing this, Ryner said,

“…You can actually say it’s a nickname… You actually told this nonsensical lie with a straight face… Ah, no no… I understand, please don’t step on me…”

He rose from the floor, ignoring the pain of being stepped on,

“That’s how it is. Let’s go quickly, Ferris. The next evil governor is waiting for us.”

“Mm-hmm, that’s right.”

As the two of them spoke, they prepared to leave the area.

They walked out of the hall and headed up the steps…

“…”

“…”

But for some reason, Sui and Kuu followed them quietly…

Ryner turned around and asked,

“I say, why are the two of you following us?”

Kuu replied,

“Ah? Aren’t you going to punish that evil corrupted governor? Then, just by following you, if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll be able to get a fraction of that money?”

Sui entered his own daze,

“Yes, secret investigation officers… what a mysterious name… ‘The Emotionless Woman Secret Investigation Squad’… Yes, compared to treasure, this topic is much better!”

Ryner seemed to be rather helpless,

“I meant are you going to continue following us…?”

“Of course!”

Ryner and Ferris continued to walk up the stairs…

Ryner said weakly,

“…Ai… what should we do… if we bring them along, we’ll be unable to find the relic.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Mm, no matter what, according to what you said, the relic can be dug out from underground?”

“Ai, you really want to dig?”

Ignoring Ryner’s annoyed tone, Ferris continued,

“Then we still aren’t prepared, we have to make preparations for a long stay in the forest, and we’ll need shovels, right?”

“… I say, you seriously want to dig… dig… You’re going to trust that two thousand year old legend and dig… You’re not joking?”

“Mm-hmm, if what you said is the ‘truth’.”

“Ah, is that so… ah, no, don’t worry about the future. Yes, that’s right… Then the next destination is the city… but what about the two of them behind us?”

“Hmm…”

“…”

Ryner and Ferris exchanged looks…

Then they started to sprint wildly.

Upon seeing this, Kuu and Sui shouted,

“Ah, why-why do you have to run! Wait!”

“Ohh, did something happen? This is indeed the investigation officers! They have to investigate!”

The two of them chased after Ryner and Ferris…

But Ferris and Ryner did not turn back, they increased their speed and escaped…

She dreamt.

It was that dream again.

It was that dream of the orphanage.

It was the dream of that boy.

The dream of Ryner Lute…

And like usual… like usual, it was filled with death…

In the dream.

The boy’s unexpected change was sudden.

That opportunity was only a small matter…

She had been severely injured by the instructor because she had made a mistake in her lesson and collapsed on the floor, this was an opportunity…

It was a fatal wound.

This attack had made her body lose strength and her head started to bleed. The amount of blood was more than expected and she was unable to move. The fresh blood spread on the ground. Her body could not move.

This represented death.

People who were unable to fight could only die.

This was the only rule in the orphanage.

The number of people who could survive had been decided. If one person died, another person could be saved. So everyone would not let off the people that could not move.

Not only the adults.

Even the friends who had been laughing and chatting with her yesterday lunged towards the motionless her.

This was the end…

She thought.

Her vision had gone blurry. The fresh blood flowing from her head made her vision become more blurry. In this blurry world, she still tried to look at her surroundings.

She tried to find the silhouette of that boy…

She wanted to look at his silhouette for the last time.

Where was he?

She searched for him

What would he say if he saw me in this terrible condition?

Would he be angry?

Or would he feel slightly sad?

She thought…

But the boy did not reveal a sad expression.

There was no rage.

He only blankly and dazedly used that intrigued expression to look at her…

“…Mi-Milk… Why… ai… what should I do… it’s as if everything…what… is this… save… save… Ah, ah, ah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaha”

She heard his laughter.

What happened next was unbelievable.

The people disappeared one by one. Like words, they disappeared, shattered and collapsed…

She could only hear that unending laughter.

The presences around her disappeared one by one…

The moaning sound did not stop.

“Mon-monster!?”

“What is that person!? Quick, escape quickly…”

“Stop Ryner!? Stop aaaahh….”

“Don’t kill me. Don’t, I don’t want to die!? I don’t…”

Every sentence stopped before they were completed.

When everything had disappeared…

Only she and Ryner were left…

She would be killed…

She knew this. She already understood. Whoever was standing by her, was not Ryner.

This was the true power of the Alpha Stigma who would spread disaster and chaos…

This was why he was called a monster and was hated by everyone…

But she only closed her eyes, smiling.

“Are you there? Ryner. Are you going to kill me?”

“…”

Ryner did not reply. But she knew he was there. She could hear his breathing. He was in front of her. He was standing in front of her because he was going to kill her.

“But, you don’t have to mind. I am very happy. I feel that it’s not bad if Ryner kills me.”

“…”

The laughter that she had heard just now could not be heard now.

But she knew that she would be killed. Once an Alpha Stigma bearer went mad, he would be unable to return to normal. So they were unable to survive alongside the humans.

But… even so…

She still wanted to see him one last time.

Even if he wasn’t him anymore, but she had sworn once.

She would never let go of his hand…

She tried her best to wipe away the blood on her face and opened her eyes. She withstood the pain in her eyes and opened her eyes…

But what she saw was a stretch of red.

It was not the blood that had flowed down her face.

Everything living was dead.

Only she and Ryner were left living…

Ryner stood in the middle of the blood stained ground, dazedly looking at her…

“Was… it I, I who killed…? I… I don’t want, don’t want to kill… I… I am a mon-…”

She raised her voice.

“Even if you’re a monster, it’s fine!”

Ryner looked at her with empty eyes.

Tears flowed out of his eyes.

Tears flowed out of those black eyes with the red five-pointed star, watching her…

She looked at his eyes and said.

“Even if you’re a monster, I don’t care. You haven’t killed me. But everyone else… the adults killed my-my friends and my parents… If you are a monster who hasn’t killed me, then I would rather you be a monster! So, don’t cry? So…”

But her words were interrupted.

A few black-armored men appeared suddenly and surrounded him.

“This monster is indeed special; he’s different from the other Alpha Stigmas recorded. He has a response to #837 as he stopped going berserk. This is worth researching.”

#837 was the number that was allocated for her. In here, they were not called by their names. After all, they were pawns that could be disposed of so there was no need for names.

She had never been treated as a human before.

In the end, she had no name, monster…

But now, she felt somewhat happy because of this.

See, Ryner. I’m like you…

So… you’re not alone…

She wanted to say this, but,

“#837 might have some effect in this monster’s research work. Don’t kill her, take her away.” When the black-armored man decided that, a heavy blow struck her from the back…

She lost consciousness.

“Eh… Hufuah~… It was that dream again. I haven’t had it for some time… What’s happening…”

Milk Callaud woke up as the sun rays shone on her face through the window.

Looking out of the window, she noted that the weather was good and it would be comfortable for the rest of the day.

Milk smiled but suddenly found that there were tracks of tears at the corners of her eyes.

“Ah, I still cried…”

She frantically wiped her tears away and got off her bed, not looking as if she had just woken up.

She started to tidy her bed.

This was the habit that she had started ever since she entered the Callaud family. After arranging her bed, what would await her would be strict training…

It was so strict that she would vomit blood… actually she had vomited blood a few times, but the training would not stop.

This was her usual day.

But she no longer had that training.

Where she was now was not the Callaud House.

No, to be more accurate, it was no within boundaries of the Roland Empire.

This was an inn in one of the cities in Imperial Nelpha. So there would be no teachers or instructors from the Callaud Family here.

But a habit that had been kept for many years could not be changed easily. She did some warm-up exercises to stretch her body and tidied her hair as she looked in the mirror.

She stretched her limbs,

“Heh, then I’m counting, one~, two~, three~…”

When she reached ten, she had already plaited her hair. She had big adoring eyes and a doll-face. Her body was smaller than what was usual for a sixteen year old, making her look younger than her age.

But even so, she was the sixteen year old leader of the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad…

At this moment, there was a knock on the door,

“Captain Milk, are you up~?”

“Ah, Luke? It’s alright, I’ve woken up—!”

“Ah, that’s impressive. You actually woke up early.”

“That’s great! I was praised!”

“He he, impressive child. Well, breakfast has been prepared, come down and have it while it’s warm. I’ll wake the rest of the squad.”

“Okay~! But I’m hungry, what’s for breakfast?”

…That seemed like a conversation between a kindergarten teacher and a child…

Even though it was like that, Milk still had the responsibility as the leader of the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad.

But this was the first mission…

They were an unbelievable elite squad.

Catching citizens of the Roland Empire who could use Roland magic but had left the country for no reason or escaped—this was the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad who arrested the Taboo Breakers. Ever since the end of the war, most of the combat missions assigned to the Roland army had disappeared, only this duty was the most dangerous as it constantly required the members of the squad to come into contact with danger.

Shouldering such a heavy burden…

“Come down to eat now!!”

Luke opened the door and said loudly.

At this moment, a boy who looked to be slightly older than Milk but still looked to be quite young walked out from the adjacent room. He had a sleepy expression…

“Ah, hu~ Morning… Captain.”

He greeted as he yawned.

Milk smiled,

“Ah, Moe! Good morning. Today’s weather is good! Breakfast is ready!”

“Ah? Really? Was it Luke-senpai who cooked?”

“It seems to be so! Luke cooks delicious meals! Moe, which of Luke’s dishes is your favourite?”

“Yes, as long as it’s curry, I’m fine with it.”

“Yeah! Me too, me too! Because, because I like Luke’s curry the most!”

As soon as she said that, a tall man with a gentle expression, who seemed to be twenty five years old but had white hair walked out of the neighbouring room.

“Really, although I feel happy that you like the curry I cook… but you don’t have to eat curry for breakfast, do you? And today’s breakfast is made by the lady boss.”

Moe said with a tinge of unhappiness,

“What—”

Milk smiled,

“But, but, just by talking about eating, I feel hungry! As long as I’m able to eat with everyone, I’m happy!”

Saying this…

Luke and Moe exchanged glances,

“Ah, what a good child…”

The two of them said, touched.

Let me repeat myself, Milk is the captain, Luke and Moe should be her subordinates…

Luke said,

“Alright! Because Captain has been very good this morning, so everyone will have large servings for breakfast today!”

“Ah? Truly!? That’s awesome!”

An energetic youth who looked to be the same age as Moe jumped out of the room Luke had just exited from, the door slamming open with a loud ‘bang!’

He yelled energetically,

“Ahh, ahh, wait! Is it only Captain who gets to have a large serving? I want to have a large serving too!”

Upon hearing this, Moe said,

“Eh!? Ah, then I want it too, I want it too! Because if Lach can have a large serving, then I can too, right?”

Luke appeared to be rather helpless,

“Alright, then Moe can have a large serving, but because Lach overslept, so he wouldn’t have one~”

“Ahh!?”

Upon seeing Lach’s upset expression, Milk said,

“Then Lach can have mine!”

“Really, Captain! Awesome! I’ll follow Captain for my whole life!”

“Ah, Lach is sly! I’ll follow along, too!”

Luke smiled at their conversation.

“Then let’s stop joking and go eat. Ah, I will give Lach a large serving, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Okay~”

Watching them walk into the canteen, it wasn’t the problem of who was the captain but were they really an elite team? Does this question rise in your mind…

Even though it was like that, Milk and her companions’ mission was important in maintaining the power between countries.

Protecting the secret of magic…

Every country’s magic was different. How was it activated? What was used as its medium? Was there a need to recite the spell? Or was there a magic circle to be drawn? Everything was different… If their magic’s secrets were known by other countries, then it was the same as saying that the other countries would know about the Roland Empire’s military power, national power and everything else.

If that happened, then war would start easily and in the worst case scenario, the Roland Empire would be wiped out.

So the duty of Milk and her team was especially important.

If a ‘Taboo Breaker’ escaped, just only this, a war could erupt and cause many people to die.

The mission of killing their ex-comrades…

Their mission was entangled with danger.

The risk was especially high if they had to venture into countries that were unable to help them to catch these people who could work with magic.

The real elite…noble-born people would never work in this environment.

But for the sake of protecting the happiness of their country, friends, family and companions…

Even though they would be hurt, even though they would have to work hard- even though they would be sad…

This was something that needed to be done by someone.

This was the duty they had.

When they reached the canteen, they started eating happily…

Moe said,

“Wa, this is delicious! Come, Lach, try this.”

“Ah, Moe, you know that I hate vegetables.”

“Ah~! Captain Milk! Luke-senpai! Lach’s being picky!”

Luke used that gentle and slight strict expression to look at Lach,

“If you don’t eat it, I won’t give you dessert.”

“Wuuu… I, I know. I’ll eat it… Wu.”

Seeing Lach frantically eating, Milk happily laughed, “Ahaha.”

This was her first time happily having a meal.

As the substitute of the real daughter of the nobles, she had been a convenient fighting marionette. That was her.

There was no need for a useless marionette.

Useless marionettes would be disposed of.

They would not be treated as humans.

Seating at the dining table and talking with her companions, living a happy life every day…

These things were not needed. It wasn’t that they weren’t allowed to have these.

They were not needed.

What she had been demanded to do was to absolutely follow her orders and achieve the highest and required power in the military.

So…

Luke carried a worried expression,

“Ah, Captain. You seem to not have eaten much. Does, does your body feel uncomfortable?”

“Ah?”

Milk raised her head, Lach and Moe had been watching her uneasily for some time.

“Talking about which, you haven’t been talking when we started eating. Is everything alright?”

“Captain Milk… are you feeling unwell?”

Hearing this…

“…”

Milk suddenly…

For that moment, she felt as if she were going to cry.

She had never thought that this day would come.

She had never thought that this would be allowed…

But she was their captain. She could not let them see the weak side of her. This was not needed… She could cry…

So she forced a smile,

“No! I’m feeling great! It’s delicious! I’m going to dig in!!”

As she said that, she started eating.

She desperately forced a smile.

But her tears still…

Luke, Moe and Lach stood up frantically.

“Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa, Ca-Captain is crying… Wha-wha-wha-what are we to do…”\n“Idiot! It’s because you made me eat vegetables! Captain also hates eating vegetables!”

“Ahh!? That can’t be!? Is that true?”

Milk shook her head to their responses.

“No…no… that's not it! That's not it! I’m fine, everyone can continue eating! That that that, this, this isn’t tears.”

But Luke approached her in concern,

“But aren’t you crying? Where is it that pains you? You can’t withhold this from us. If it is painful, then tell us honestly, that would be…”

Milk shook her head again,

“No, it’s not like that, because… eh… I was very happy that I could be with everyone. I’ve never had this… seating with everyone and talking happily… so…”

“Wuuu… I’m touched…”

“Me too… I really want to follow Captain Milk for life…”

Just as the four started crying, the door to the canteen opened… A good-looking, cool youth walked in.

Upon seeing the team of four crying, he revealed a surprised expression,

“… That… what happened to cause this…?”

Milk raised her head,

“Ah… Lear, you’re back!!”

Standing there was the last of her group, Lear. He was in charge of gathering information in the group. Ever since they had reached this city yesterday night, he had started collecting information.

Lear nodded,

“I’m back, Captain Milk, Luke-senpai. Now, what is going on?”

Hearing this, Moe replied,

“Listen to me, Le…”

He had not finished speaking when Lach stopped him in a soft voice,

“Idiot, repeating what happened in front of Captain- she might be embarrassed.”

“Ahh, is that so. Then, Lear, we’ll continue later.”

Lear tilted his head, more confused,

“Ah? Is it something that is very touching?”

Luke drew the topic away from that by saying,

“How was it, Lear?”

Milk added,

“Ah, breakfast is ready. Do you want to join in, Lear?”

Luke nodded his head,

“Ah, yes. Let’s talk about this while we eat, Lear.”

“No, actually…”

Lear looked at the door behind them, then,

“Actually I’ve found someone who has some interesting intelligence and brought them here…”

Luke narrowed his eyes in that moment, appearing to be somewhat nervous. It was different from the gentle expression he’d had earlier.

“Are you saying they’re asking for something as a price for their information? You brought them here without extracting the information from them, which means that you wanted to consult me about the fees for the intelligence… No, it’s because you wanted to discuss this with Captain Milk, right?”

Lear turned somewhat frustrated,

“About this…”

He had not finished when the door behind him slammed open,

“What is it? What is happening!? Is the price of providing breakfast for us in exchange for the information so difficult? Isn’t this room filled with the smell of food! What do you say? Are you going to treat Sui-niichan and I to a meal? Or do you not want to? What do you say? If you don’t decide quickly, we’ll starve to death!”

Suddenly, a girl walked in. She was smaller than Milk, around twelve or thirteen years old. In contrast with her tough tone, she was a beautiful girl.

“Ah, it’s like that, don’t mind my younger sister, do you truly intend to treat us to a meal? I would prefer to eat fish in the morning…”

Lear looked at this nonsensical pair and expressed his frustration,

“It’s like that, anyway I need to treat them to breakfast, so I thought why not bring them here to eat with Luke-senpai and everyone else, so that everyone can listen to what they have to say…”

Luke looked at Milk,

“What do we do?”

Milk nodded her head,

“Then, let’s eat together!”

Just like that, breakfast continued.

As they continued eating, Lear glanced at the two people who were eating frantically and explained,

“According to them, they are siblings. The brother is Sui Orla and the younger sister is Kuu Orla, they have been wandering the world in order to expand their horizons…”

As he reached here, Kuu interrupted,

“No! It’s the other way round! The other way round, the other way round! It was I who brought Onii-san to that place! If there wasn’t me, Onii-san would be someone who would not do anything!”

Hearing this, Lear looked at Sui with an uneasy expression. But Sui smiled foolishly like usual,

“It’s fine, I don’t mind. To tell the truth, I can’t do anything, so I’m always looked after by my sister. Ahaha.”

“That’s right! If I don’t work hard, Onii-san would definitely run off to somewhere else and then die horribly! That’s why I hate authors! As long as they see their dreams, their ability to survive becomes zero!”

“But Kuu is very hardworking…”

“Really… the gods are unfair. I don’t have the ability to look after you… See, you have soup on the corner of your mouth.”

Saying this, Kuu wiped the corner of Sui’s mouth…

Milk smiled at them, although she treated him harshly, they were siblings and their relationship was good.

She was slightly jealous.

Luke said,

“If the two of you have any information, we hope you can tell us… As well…”

Saying this, he looked at Lear. Lear nodded his head,

“Yes, I’ve already told them we’re the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad from the Roland Empire and that we’ve received permission from Imperial Nelpha to investigate the ‘Taboo Breakers’ from Roland.”

“Alright, then.”

Luke raised his head.

“Ah, that, I’m busy eating. Sui, you tell them.”

“Ah!? I tell them? You know I won’t say it right?”

“You know if I say too much, the other party would be troubled. If it’s Sui who tells them, then it would be better!”

Luke smiled,

“I’m sorry to trouble you.”

Sui started, his content was roughly like this.

In a fortress a little to the southern side of this town, they had met two people. One was a lazy person and the other was a good-looking warrior…

This pair had said that they had received secret orders from the Nelpha king and they called themselves the Secret Investigation Officers.

Hearing this, Milk said,

“Nelpha’s Secret Investigation Officers?”

Luke added,

“That’s interesting. Is there such a job in Nelpha? This is a little like the investigation work in Roland? But this is our job?”

Kuu continued,

“But from our perspectives, they were definitely lying. Right? Sui-niichan.”

Sui nodded his head and smiled foolishly,

“That… They were definitely lying~”

Moe couldn’t help but ask,

“Ah? Lying? Why do you think so… Ah, ouch!? What are you doing, Lach! Ow…”

Lach knocked on Moe’s head, interrupting him and said,

“Idiot! Leave this to Luke-senpai, didn’t we decide this when we were in Luke’s team.”

“Ah… that… that’s right. Then, then Luke-senpai. I’m sorry to trouble you.”

Luke sighed after looking at the two who had interrupted their conversation,

“I apologize. Then… why did you think the two of them were lying?”

Sui wanted to reply, but Kuu covered his mouth and smiled meaningfully,

“Ah, are you interested? Interested? Then, let’s talk about this at lunch…”

At this moment, Luke immediately said,

“There’s no problem with lunch, dinner and the stay for tonight—we’ll pay for these expenses. We hope that your brother will be able to write a good novel, too.”

“Really!?”

“That’s great, Kuu.”

Looking at the happy duo, Luke continued,

“Then you don’t have to worry about tonight’s stay. Continuing on our earlier topic, why did you think that the two of them were lying?”

Kuu nodded,

“That was simple! Because the two of them… wore armor with the insignia of Roland.”

When he heard this, Luke revealed an expression of surprise and turned to Milk,

“It seems as if Major Miller’s information about the ‘Taboo Breakers’ was right. About the two who were escaping towards Nelpha.”

Milk seemed enlightened,

“That means, it’s really…”

“Yes, we must catch them. This is the first mission.”

“…Yes.”

Milk nodded her head forcefully. Then she looked in the direction of Sui and Kuu,

“Then, about the direction in which the two people wearing the Roland insignia escaped in…”

Kuu replied,

“We know where it is! Or to be more accurate, from last night until we reached this city, we have been following them. But we lost track of them…”

Moe couldn’t help but cry,

“In this city…”

Then he was hit by Lach again…

“Fool!”

“Wuuu… I’m sorry…”

Sui ignored them,

“But we can predict the place where they are headed in. I think they will probably return to the forest surrounding that fortress.”

Luke asked,

“Why do you think so?”

Sui replied,

“About this, the duo seemed to be searching for something. And that something seemed to be in the forest. We heard this when they were talking. Ah, but I feel that if they knew that we had heard this, then we could have been killed, so we’ll pretend we didn’t hear anything… right?”

Kuu nodded,

“Yes, those two were so strong that it was scary. They were definitely dangerous characters. But Sui said that they would definitely be good material for his story so he wanted to do something foolish like following them…”

“Ah? But didn’t Kuu…”

“I was fine with anything!”

Milk and the rest ignored the nonsensical ways of the siblings and started to discuss.

Lear crossed his arms and said,

“Feeling that they would be killed if the two of them knew what they were talking about… According to this, the duo must be quite fierce. What are they finding… and their item is actually in the forest…”

Luke nodded,

“It must be something dirty that they buried… Or maybe that forest has some vegetation that can cause hallucinations that are forbidden in Roland and have been smuggling them frequently… No matter what, they are breaking the law, that much can be confirmed. What should we do, Captain. The information from Sui and Kuu was gotten last night… It’s quite fresh. Should we consider leaving early so that we can chase them down?”

Milk nodded and closed her eyes, entering deep thought.

This was the first mission.

What followed might be a combat with those violent people who had escaped from Roland. Their opponents would be powerful and they could use magic. According to the source, there was a companion…

It was a dangerous mission.

But she had understood this from the very beginning. I can’t avoid doing this, I must catch that ‘Taboo Breaker’. Then I have to make sure that there are no sacrifices from my team. These two points.

She did not want to see anyone else die.

She had act quickly so that there would be no sacrifices. She had to make use of this opportunity. She had to be a step quicker than the ‘Taboo Breakers’ and lie in wait to ambush them. This was the best plan.

Then…

Milk revealed a determined expression and said.

“Alright, let’s leave immediately!”

“Yes!”

Her companions chorused. As they said this, they prepared quickly and prepared to leave…

Seeing this, Kuu who was still eating, said,

“I say, wait! That…”

But without waiting for her to finish speaking, Luke placed a few gold coins in front of her,

“Thank you for your help, we are in a rush, we’ll leave first.”

“Okay. As long as we have this, we have no use for you. Good luck.”

She waved at them. Milk waved back.

“Thank you! Good bye!”

Milk’s team started to chase after the Taboo Breakers.

Three days later.

On a night where the moon shone brightly.

Milk and company were in the thick foliage of the forest… controlling their breathing.

(They’re here… They’re really here… ‘Taboo Breakers’…)

She quickly discovered their targets.

Like what their source had told them, it was a pair.

A tall, slim and slouching black-haired man. And a unbelievably beautiful blond warrior woman.

“…It’s the ‘Taboo Breakers’…”

She whispered, feeling her pulse rate increase.

Wa, it was beating really fast…

She made a sound and controlled her heart. She had not felt like this for a very long time. Even if she had never stopped training or even felt death, she had never felt nervous. No matter what tests she’d had, she had never felt nervous. But when the ‘Taboo Breakers’ appeared in front of her eyes, she had felt unexpectedly nervous.

What followed next could be a massacre between the two parties…

If that happened… If that happened, then Luke, Lach, Lear and Moe… everyone would be in danger. When she was near death, she had never felt nervous, but knowing that everyone’s lives were her responsibility…

No, no… what should she do…

Towards the cowardly side of her, she shook her head hard.

(No, you can’t be discouraged, Milk. You can do this! Yes! Don’t worry, as long as I work hard, this kind of people will be easily dealt with!)

She told herself that in the dark forest.

Don’t worry, as long as I follow how I trained, move with accuracy, no one will be injured, this will be successful!

At this moment, Luke’s deep voice spoke from behind,

“Captain, although we can’t see clearly from this position, but they do have the Roland insignia on their chests.”

“Then they are ‘Taboo Breakers’?”

Saying this, Milk turned her attention to the two people. Like what their source had told them, they were using shovels to dig the ground. If this was the case, then the theory that Luke had about smuggling was impossible, that meant that they had to be digging out something illegal?

Anyway, this hinted at crime.

The man was unusually unmotivated, from his lazy movements, he seemed to have abandoned all risks in his life.

The plan about letting them turn themselves in honestly…

“Very grim.”

Milk said softly.

What should we do? They don’t seem to have discovered us, so we should take the chance to capture them. This is the most effective plan, isn’t it? Then how should I strategize? There are two methods. One is under the circumstance that we do not know how strong they are, separate them and focus our attacks. This way, when they retaliate, they will employ a similar method, this allows for our survival rate to increase…

Another method is to trust Luke and everyone’s abilities, spread out and attack them. Under this situation, we can prevent them from escaping and increase the probability of capturing both of them. But similarly, the risk that Luke and everyone else face will increase…

Then, which should I choose?

At this moment, Luke asked,

“What should we do? Captain.”

At Luke’s sudden question, Milk started,

“Ah? Eh, that, what do I do, Luke.”

“It’s your choice, Captain. Do we attack? Or should we continue to observe the situation?”

Milk pondered.

She had already made a conclusion. They could only attack. If they continued to observe, they might be discovered by the other party. They had to attack immediately. It was only whether they should focus their attack or disperse and attack…

Milk looked at Luke’s face, then turned her eyes to the target.

Should she choose the success of the task or the safety of her companions…

There was only one choice.

Milk revealed a determined expression and said.

“Gather all the squad members. Capture them.”

“I understand.”

Saying this, Luke disappeared into the thick forest.

Not long after.

Luke, Lach, Lear and Moe had gathered together and were preparing for the upcoming combat.

After Luke confirmed, he said,

“Captain, please give the orders.”

Hearing this, Milk said,

“Eh, ah, right. Yes~”

Saying this, she looked at the sky. The clouds were slowly, slowly covering the moon. She made sure that the surroundings were covered in darkness,

“Anyway, let’s use magic first to control them, then Luke, Lach, Lear use weapons to attack. I will use magic and Moe will back me up.”

Luke revealed a satisfied expression and nodded, then the battle started.

Milk started to draw a complicated design in the air with her finger. This was the special magic that Roland had that allowed them to draw the magical circle in the air.

It was faster than the normal magic.

It was completed in a moment.

“WHAT I SEEK IS THUNDER>>>IZUCHI!”

In a moment, a strong light was released from the magical circle and lightning accompanied with the sound of thunder headed towards the target!

It should be like this…

But—in a split second, the unmotivated man who had his back towards them had had already started drawing in the air and sketched a magical circle that absorbed Milk’s lightning…

“What!?”

Milk and her subordinates cried in surprised at the same time.

“Were- were we discovered!?”

“No… even so, they were able to block at that moment… we didn’t think that was possible…”

Then, what was that just now?

What was that?

To tell the truth, Milk’s magical power should have been very strong. It was at least stronger than the ordinary person. To react to the speed of Milk’s magic and form the counteract, especially under ambush…

This…wasn’t even human.

This was a moment where everyone could understand the truth. So the impact on Milk and her subordinates was quite big.

Anyway, using magic to counteract was a difficult magic that had little worth. But the magic to decipher the magic being used by your opponent, analyzing it and then coming up with a method to counter it…

No one was able to do that.

If there was…

Then that would be a magician that she could not compare to, or it was…

A monster…

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!?

How would she protect-protect everyone…

At this moment, the blond woman reacted to Milk’s attack and unsheathed the sword at her waist.

Luke shouted,

“Oh no! Protect Cap…”

But his voice was cut off.

The female warrior moved at an unbelievable speed, Luke didn’t even have to time to draw his sword and his neck was struck with the butt of the sword.

Luke collapsed.

The remaining three people were struck on their neck with the butt of the sword, only Milk was left…

Milk blankly stared at this.

This was unbelievable.

The woman’s movements- not to mention the sword movements- were so fast that she could not see them at all.

Luke and her team had collapsed…

She had not protected them. But they were still alive. Then I…

At this moment, the blond female warrior in front of her looked in her direction…

I will be killed!

She thought. After seeing such a strong power, she momentarily thought of giving up.

But… She looked at Luke and the others on the floor…

That sentence resounded in her mind.

Long ago.

In that orphanage…

What that boy had said.

“So you can’t die.”

That sentence had supported her until now.

In this place, she couldn’t…

And she could not die without protecting her companions. She definitely couldn’t die…

The woman in front of her moved her sword.

“Damn it! I can’t! I can’t be killed by you!! I still have things I have to so…”

But she spoke until here.

The swordswoman struck in the direction of the magical circle that Milk was frantically constructing.

“Being killed and not accomplishing what you want to do are two different things.”

That unbelievably beautiful woman said.

But she had no expressions…

That face made one think of assassins. Wiped of emotions, only living to assassinate…

She couldn’t win… that was what she thought. They were on a different level from her. No matter whether it was that unmotivated man or this beauty…

But…

“But, but even so, I can’t be killed by you!!’

This moment,

“Eh, is that so. Then escape.”

“Ah?”

Upon hearing this unexpected interruptions, Milk stopped. She thought she would be killed…

But the beautiful swordswoman in front of her continued with that empty expression of hers.

At the same time, she pointed behind her,

“That foolish-looking man who is walking over now is a pervert. If you don’t escape now, he will capture you and do this and that kind of stuff…”

“I say. Don’t say those kind of things with that emotionless face.”

At this moment—

That voice… that way of talking, her body reacted unconsciously.

She had heard this voice before.

It sounded tired and unmotivated. But actually it was very gentle…

What, what am I saying! That can’t be possible! Because the ‘Taboo Breaker’ here is a dangerous character that can block my magic easily!

No… If it is him… If it is his power, then he could block my magic… But even so, he is not a pervert, he is not a enemy of womankind! He couldn’t abandon me and go on this strange trip with this kind of beauty!

In that moment, Milk understood.

She was going to die… Because she was going to die here, so she would suddenly hear that boy, Ryner’s voice.

No… maybe Ryner was already dead.

She thought until here.

So, Ryner had come to meet her.

Milk had finally understood. So she would die here. But… but if it was like that…

I have to finish my task.

I won’t let a pervert do what he likes!

So that Luke and the others could wake up and escape, she had to be in an advantageous position, at least she would have to harm the two of them…

Deciding this, Milk looked at the pervert and shouted,

“What is that, you pervert!? Do you think I would let you do what you like without fighting back…Ai…”

Then,

“…Ah…?”

Milk stared at the man and foze…

She saw the black-haired man’s face, she actually knew…

Along with his black eyes, the red five-pointed star had appeared because he had read Milk’s magic formation…

Anyone would hate that curse… That power…

Her body trembled.

How could this, this was impossible…

“Liar… That five-pointed star… Black hair… You are Ryner!?”

“Eh? How do you know my name?”

The man looked at Milk in surprise.

No… this, this was really… really Ryner…

When she understood this, Milk felt a little dizzy.

The two of them stared at one another for a while…

Then that emotionless woman spoke,

“Hmm. What’s wrong, you know each other. Was it someone you attacked before, Ryner?”

“No!!”

Milk and Ryner yelled together…

Milk frowned and looked at the beauty in front of her. Who was this woman. She didn’t even understand Ryner. Ahh, really, this wasn’t the time to be saying these…

Because Ryner was right in front of her now! She had always, always been finding him, always wanted to meet him, always wanted to thank Ryner… what should she do now. Where should she start from? Should I start from myself? Should I start from what happened after I left the orphanage? Ahh, or should I start from… that… promise to marry?

Wa… no, I can’t pop that out suddenly. I-if I knew this would happen, I would have applied cosmetics.

Where, where should she start from, where should…

Milk’s mind whirled as she said,

“But, but, then you… are really Ryner!? Ryner Lute? The one in Roland #307 Special Facilities…?”

Ryner appeared to be surprised,

“Ah, you actually know about that facility. But, who are you?”

Milk felt so dizzy that she felt like she was going to stop breathing.

“Ah? Don’t you remember me? It’s Milk? It’s me, Milk!”

Ryner revealed an expression of enlightenment….

“Ahh, ahh, who… is that?”

“It-it can’t be? You-you even forgot about that? That- that promise to we-we-wed when I was brought from the orphanage…”

As she finished speaking, the blond beautiful woman said expressionlessly,

“So it’s like that! You started using wedding promises to bait young girls into become your prey…”

“It’s not like that!”

Ryner replied weakly…

“But, about that. Anyway, do that to her, Ferris.” He gave the blond woman a meaningful glance.

“Yes, alright.”

Suddenly, the two of them caught Milk and used the rope that Ryner brought to tie her up… Milk was dazed.

What? What was happening? Why was Ryner…

At this moment, Ferris asked,

“But do you recognize this young lady?”

“Eh~”

Ryner pondered over this.

Milk couldn’t help but yell,

“You can’t recall it!?”

But Ryner was like his old self,

“Wu… no. I can’t recall anything. But it’s like that, isn’t it? We grew up in that orphanage and you had a wedding promise with me when you were brought by the nobles? Then you wanted to marry me, no matter what, so you chased after me?”

“No, no! That’s wrong… we did promise to marry once… But, but that was when we were young… But anyway, we are childhood friends…”

What, what am I saying. I only continued to live because I wanted to meet Ryner again…

But Ryner… forgot me…

She felt like crying when she thought of that.

Did those days in the orphanage had meant nothing to Ryner, did he think of them as ordinary days…? He actually, actually…

At this moment, Ferris spoke,

“Then, why did this childhood friend, who this unfair man easily abandoned, attack us?”

“Abandon… I, I wasn’t abandoned! That was only when we were children… Wu.”

Milk stopped when the sword pointed at her neck. This woman was dangerous. Although she was a beauty, but she was extremely strong… this was lethal to a mage as she had an abnormal strength. With her strength, no matter how strong the mage was, he would be killed before he managed to activate his magic.

I can’t win…

Even so, Ryner will…

This dangerous beauty said emotionlessly.

“Answer me.”

Milk looked at Luke and the others, if she did not reply now, there was the chance that her companions might lose their lives…

This woman was this dangerous.

There were only two choices: betray her country or not save her companions…

Milk made her decision without any delay.

“I… am the leader of the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad. You are ‘Taboo Breakers’ that Roland will arrest. That’s, that’s it! Even if you kill my teammates, and me, it’s meaningless! The information on what you have been doing in this forest will be sent back to the country quickly. Even if they lose contact with us, they will send another Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad here!”

This was a lie.

The information about what Ryner and his companion had been doing had not been sent back to the country. So if Milk and rest were killed here, then everything would end. But, for the sake of rescuing her companions, she could only do this…

Hearing this, Ryner was surprised,

“Ah!? What is happening, Ferris!? We’re chased by Roland? How come I didn’t hear of this? And, and we’re here because of Sion’s order…”

Suddenly, the sword of the dangerous beauty gleamed. From Milk’s point of view, it was a pretty skill she had. The sword stopped, pressing lightly against the skin of Ryner’s neck,

“You’re so troublesome~… So I said do you want to really open this head of yours…”

“No, that…”

Ryner swallowed what he was about to say with a tired and desperate expression.

In that moment, Milk understood.

So this was what was going on!!

Ryner, Ryner was only tricked, threatened and used by this slightly prettier but fierce and violent woman.

She must have found his weak point…

As long as soon as she thought of this, the riddle was solved. Even if he said he did not remember or know Milk, it was because Milk was an important existence to Ryner, so he did not want that dangerous woman to know of this…

What, what should I do. I have to rescue Ryner. Aside from me, there’s no one else who can rescue Ryner!

You have to think, Milk! What did Ryner want to tell me in that conversation. Because Ryner has an intelligent mind, he is a hero who can obtain the highest scores under any circumstances…

What did Ryner want to tell me…

What did Ryner…

“Any-anyway, we are here because of Sion’s order…”

Ferris cut Ryner’s words off.

Sion… this must be the keyword. That man, Sion, was the boss of some criminal organization that was using Ryner.

Then, how should she snatch Ryner away from this criminal organization…

Just as Milk continued to think…

Ryner and Ferris continued to talk. Ferris was withdrawing the sword from his neck and smoothly sliding it back into its sheathe.

“Alright, we’ll continue with the nonsense later. We’re being chased by Roland now. The Nelpha soldiers are also after us. But, according to our orders, we cannot kill the opponents. If we kill the people from Roland, then we will be interrogated. If we kill the people from other countries, there might be a war. The situation now is very dangerous. If you understand, then continue our mission quickly. Dig quickly.”

“Wait, wait a moment, I said I have never heard of…”

Whoosh!

“Ah, alright, alright. I’ll do it, I’ll do it, fine!? Please keep your sword!”

Saying that, they returned to the place where they using the shovels to dig.

Seeing this, Milk yelled,

“Wa-wait! Untie these ropes!”

Ryner and his companion ignored her.

“Ahh, I’m lazy, I can’t do this. I’m tired. How many pits have we dug since yesterday?”

“Seven.”

“And we didn’t guess correctly for all of them, right? But it’s normal if we didn’t guess correctly.”

“But didn’t you say it was here?”

“… But~ It has already been two hundred years. This place does have the legend of the heroes—”

Ryner told the beautiful swordswoman as he dug slowly.

“About the weapon that the Hero used, even if we dig this deep pit, I think we will still be unable to find it. But it was me who made this suggestion to dig… No, but this is impossible. Roland must have misunderstood, coming here to capture us…”

Saying this, Ryner looked in Milk’s direction, sighing,

“I can’t do this, can we go back there? I can’t do this, can’t do this can’t do this can’t do this…”

At this moment.

The shovel made a sound ‘kachang!’, as if it had hit something hard, stopping Ryner…

Ferris raised her head and looked at Ryner.

The two were silent,

“This, this is a joke, isn’t it?”

Ryner raised his head, feeling amused.

Ferris shrugged. Although it was impossible to guess what she was thinking from her unemotionless expression, but this was probably to express her own surprise.

Anyway, the two of them continued to dig.

Then—

“This, this can’t be…”

What they had dug out…

It was something… that seemed to be a dagger. It wasn’t completely a dagger because the blade was made of a green inorganic matter and it did not looked that it was made for cutting anything… It was only due to its short blade and handle, and looked like a dagger…

Ferris asked,

“Is this the sword that was left from the legend of Heroes that you told me? It doesn’t look like a sword…”

But Ryner didn’t reply Ferris, his unmotivated eyes had narrowed, seriously analyzing this dagger.

“What is this material… And what exactly is this faint inscription…”

“What is it? Is it the same as what your essay said?”

“… Don’t rush me. I still don’t know… it seems to have signs of using some sort of power… Eh? Ah, if I do it like this…”

The two of them carried out their muttered conversation.

At this moment, in another place.

Milk, who was left aside by Ryner and Ferris, was struggling to remove the rope that was wrapped around her body.

She crawled, like a green worm, to the side of Luke and the others, and bumped into them,

“Alright, wake up quickly! Luke, Lach, Lear, Moe!”

The one who reacted to voice and woke up first was Luke.

“Wuuu… Ah! Captain Milk! Are you alright?”

“Yes! What about you, Luke? You’re not injured, are you? Are you alright?”

Luke moved his neck to check,

“It seems that I’m fine. But… How did…”

“I’ll explain later, wake everyone else first.”

As she said this, they woke everyone else one by one.

Then when everyone had woken up…

Moe said,

“Wa!? We’re tied up!”

Lach added,

“Wu… Nh, ha! Damn it… I can’t break it…”

The last was Lear, who moved his wrist calmly. There was an odd ‘kacha!’ sound from his wrist, but he shook his head,

“… I’m sorry. I’m unable to pull free from the rope even though I dislocated my wrist. These Taboo Breakers aren’t ordinary people.”

As he said this, there was a ‘kacha!’ sound again and he relocated his joint…

Moe frowned,

“Le-Lear, was that the sound of you dislocating your joint?”

“Eh? Yes…”

“Wa… It seems painful. Are you alright? Why do you look like it’s nothing to be worried about?”

Lach replied,

“Don’t you know how to dislocate your wrist joint? Shouldn’t you have learnt it in the beginning of the military education?”

“Ahh!? I didn’t learn it! To be more accurate, I don’t want to learn it! Captain Milk. Captain shouldn’t know this kind of skill that seems painful, right?”

Towards this, Milk said,

“Ah? I’ve received training in how to dislocate almost all the joints in my body except for my neck?”

Milk’s reply made the whole squad fall silent…

Luke said,

“A-all of them?”

“…I am reminded once again that the path that Captain took was so painful…”

Lear shook his head and sighed.

Lach’s and Moe’s response was,

“The whole body?”

“It, it seems as if the pain is unimaginable…”

It was a warm exchange.

But Milk studied her surroundings.

It was no time to be talking casually. What was most important was how should she save Ryner. For the sake of doing that, she had to get rid of these ropes before that dangerous beauty returned…

At this moment.

She discovered that the voices of some people were approaching.

“Hey, it should be somewhere near here, right? The place where the Roland spy escaped this morning.“

“Those guys… attacked the fortress of Nelpha, and used magic to attack the patrol unit… There should be a limit to how they look down on us!”

“That’s right! We have to prove our worth to them! We have to catch them and force them to tell the reason why they infiltrated that fortress… why they were wandering around this area. And why they captured that beautiful woman… heh, heh heh heh. That’s why we called out a team made out of fifty people.”

Hearing this, Milk’s subordinates exchanged looks and breathed in deeply.

Luke said softly,

“…Yes. Nelpha’s security soldiers. It’s a good thing we’ve gotten permission from Nelpha to chase the Taboo Breakers from Roland. If we were caught, there would be no problem. But it would take some time for them to identify us. If that happens, then the Taboo Breakers will escape…”

But Milk ignored Luke and looked in the direction of the Nelphan soldiers.

Oh no, they were looking for Ryner and that woman.

Ryner had seemed to do something bad. This could be confirmed. And the Nelpha soldiers had brought fifty soldiers to deal with them…

To catch Ryner and that woman…

This situation was not good!!

What to do. Ryner was clearly innocent, if he was caught by the Nelpha soldiers…

In that moment, the word ‘death’ flashed across her mind. If he was caught, Ryner would be killed…

Milk shook her head.

I will definitely not allow that to happen!

There was still time. If I tell Ryner about the presence of the Nelpha soldiers, Ryner can escape…

If it’s now…

Even if we are caught, it will be fine. But Ryner…

Luke said, “We have to lie down, so that the Nelpha soldiers don’t discover us…”

But Milk didn’t hear what he said.

I… I have to protect Ryner!

She opened her mouth,

“Toi-toilet!?”

“Ah?”

Luke was shocked, but Milk continued,

“Wait!? You two, don’t you feel embarrassed about tying a girl up! Pervert! Release me!! … I should say, please untie me! There are many inconvenient things that a girl has to do! That, for example… toi-toilet issues and the like… Don’t make me say it out loud!!”

Hearing this, Luke frantically tried to stop her,

“Ca-Captain. This is the enemy’s territory? If you say that out loud… Bear with it!”

But Luke’s shout was fruitless. Like what she expected, the Nelpha soldiers yelled,

“Found them! They’re there! Gather the group! We have to make them pay for what they did the previous time.”

Towards the situation, Lach and Moe shouted,

“This can’t be!? This is a joke, right?”

“What should we do, what should we do.”

Lear continued,

“Isn’t this too troublesome. What is the captain thinking…”

He narrowed his eyes at Luke to confirm his suspicions. Luke nodded his head and turned to Milk,

“What is it? Captain.”

Towards Luke who was asking gently, Milk couldn’t help but look down.

She couldn’t say…

About Ryner… Ryner being chased after by Roland…

But, I don’t want to lie to this gentle Luke…

But Luke suddenly smiled gently,

“Is that so. There seems to be some reason. That’s fine. We’ll be on Captain’s side. Alright, let’s think of what we should do in this situation.”

Hearing this, Milk… bit her lip.

“That, Luke…”

Just when she was about to say something,

“What is this! It’s not the people from this morning.”

“But, these people have the Roland insignia. They must be the companions of that detestable duo.”

A large number of Nelpha soldiers surrounded them at this moment.

Milk frantically tried to explain, but she heard Luke saying calmly,

“Please calm down. We aren’t any suspicious…”

But the Nelpha soldiers shouted,

“Don’t lie! You Roland bastards! Just when your king said he wanted to deepen the relations between our countries, he immediately sent spies over! I was a fool in trusting you Roland bastards!”

“Please wait! We really aren’t any suspicious characters. We are the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad and we have gained the Imperial Nelpha’s permission…”

Just as Luke was desperately trying to explain…

Boom! A bright light shone across the sky and thunder rumbled above Milk and the other’s heads.

Following that was a dazzling bright light.

The Nelpha soldiers looked to the sky and cried out in surprise.

“Wu, wa!?”

“What, what was that!?”

Luke squinted,

“What’s going on? Just now that was… Roland’s magic… IZUCHI…”

But their voices stopped half-way through what they were speaking. The shouts of the surrounding Nelpha soldiers had suddenly disappeared as well.

Milk and Luke exchanged glances.

Both of them understood what was happening now.

This special magic that made the surrounding noises disappear and causing silence…

This was an ANTE in Roland magic. This was used to counter the magic from the Estabul Kingdom during the war. To counter the sound wave magic that Estabul used, Roland created this magic. Although this was a simple magic to stop the air vibrations and preventing sound from travelling…

But when the voices vanished suddenly, the Nelpha soldiers entered a state of confusion.

It was an amazing tactic.

They had carried out lightning and thunder attack magic, letting them understand that they were in a dangerous situation, then created a world that had no sound at all, causing their terror to increase.

Not long later.

Sound returned to the world again…

“What, what happened!?”

“Oh no! Is it the enemy!? Is it the enemy!?”

Luke said in surprise,

“It’s undeniable that this is Roland’s magic… But what is going on. Unless… it’s the Taboo Breakers that are rescuing us? But the Taboo Breakers shouldn’t be rescuing the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad…”

Hearing what Luke said, Milk started.

Yes, they couldn’t have rescued us. But if it is Ryner who said he did not recognize me…

But he… Ryner rescued me…

Ahhhhh! But I created an opportunity for him to escape with much difficulty. Even if the Nelpha soldiers capture us, there would be no problem…

Although she thought this, her face softened…

At this moment.

The Nelpha soldier in front of them collapsed, as if he were hit on the head by something.

He, he’s here!?

Ryner has come to save…us…

But! The one who appeared in front of them was that slightly pretty woman called Ferris, her blond hair glittering as she used her elegant sword skills to defeat the soldiers…

This woman seemed to be protecting Milk and the others, blocking the Nelpha soldiers…

“Ah!?”

Why would this person!? Why would she protect us!?

She was unable to understand, what was going on?

Un-unless, this woman, Ferris, wasn’t a bad person who was using Ryner…

But loved…

At this moment, Ryner finally ran over to Milk’s side lazily. Upon seeing him, Milk couldn’t help but shout,

“Ah! You idiot, Ryner! Where have you been to! I can’t believe this! You could come quickly to rescue me! What if I had wet my pants!?”

The heart of a young girl…

She had done this to save Ryner with much difficulty…

What- what had Ryner and that woman been doing in the forest?

Milk felt like crying when she thought of this.

“Wu… I came here to save you, but you called me an idiot, it’s a little disappointing…”

There, there was no such matter…

“Any-anyway, untie the ropes quickly! This is an order! Even if I look like that, I still have the position of a captain…”

“I, I know that, be quiet for a moment. We distracted the soldiers’ attention with much difficulty. If you continue to shout, then this will be meaningless…”

At this moment, the emotionless woman standing away from them said. “It’s too late.”

“Ah?”

When Ryner looked back, the Nelpha soldiers had already regrouped…

They carried swords, axes, clubs and other various forms of weapons. The Nelpha soldiers charged forward,

“You!? You are companions, after all!? Roland spies! Die!”

Luke tried to explain frantically,

“I-I said this was a misunderstanding… Talking about which, why would the Taboo Breakers come and rescue us… What’s happening…”

As they spoke, the Nelpha soldiers had already reached them…

“This, this can’t be happening!? Wa, wa wa!”

Ryner was forced to dodge as he was unable to fight. But he lost his balance and was unable to block the enemy’s attacks…

He used that strange object in his hands to block the next blow.

It was a strange green, inorganic object.

It was like a dagger, but the hilt and the blade was undistinguishable and it was hard to determine if it was truly a weapon.

“…That… what… I should say, even if he uses that to fight, there would be no possibility of him winning…”

As Milk said that, Ryner was facing a barrage of blows. Even if it was him, he was unable to block them…

“Damn it… What should we do, Ferris… Wa!!”

At that moment.

An unbelievable scene unfolded in front of their eyes.

A blow from a pole struck Ryner’s head and sent him flying.

Ryner’s body soared through the air…

Then he landed on the ground, and stopped moving like a broken puppet.

Milk looked.

Ryner’s head had been struck at a dangerous angle… and it could have been hit with a fatal amount of strength…

“Li-liar… you’re lying, right…?”

It was unbelievable.

She had finally met him. But she had not passed on anything. She had not thanked him. And she hadn’t told him ‘I like you’… She hadn’t told him anything…

Ryner was…

“No, nooooooo!? Ryner!?”

Milk cried in despair.

Following that, the beautiful woman, for unknown reasons, used a happy tone and said…

“Oh? Impressive, he’s dead?”

She said something unbelievable.

Wha-what!? What was this woman saying! Ryner had been forcefully used by this woman.

Ryner, Ryner was…

But.

As if he were reacting to this woman’s words, Ryner slowly got up, cradling his head,

“I say! Don’t curse other people.”

Saying thi…

Milk was shocked.

Liar… He had faced that, but was still able to stand up…? No, compared to that, did this woman know that Ryner was fine…?

Milk looked at Ferris.

Ferris stuck out her tongue and used a slightly disappointed tone to say,

“You’re still living, that’s great.”

“… Why don’t I hear a tinge of happiness in that?”

“You think too much. If you were killed by that kind of strike, then you should have died two thousand times after facing my sword.”

“You thought that politely of me, huh.”

"Yes. Jokes aside… But this situation is not good. Ryner. If you still want to protect these men and this woman that you abandoned, then we cannot fight this number of people. Think of something.”

“Ah? What to do!?”

“That’s simple. What are you holding now? The Hero’s sword? Then the one who is holding it is a Hero, right? Then you should think of something to do.”

“Your logic is twisted. Anyway, I haven’t analyzed this object, how do I know how it works?”

“Then analyze it now.”

“Where do I have the time in this situation—”

“I’ll back you up.”

What was this conversation.

Ferris took a step forward, fighting the soldiers as if she were protecting Ryner…

Milk looked at this scene, speechless.

What was the relationship between these two people…?

“This is too difficult… Even if I analyze it now, what is there to discover… Wa!?”

At that moment, Ferris’s sword lunged towards Ryner, then it returned to holding off the soldiers.

She said,

“If you say something like that again, I’ll make sure your body and head divorce.”

“Wuuu… Yes…”

Ryner frantically started to analyze the object. He followed Ferris’s orders and tried to analyze this dagger-like object.

He seriously studied it, examined it, analyzed it, studied…

Then he finally!

“I – don’t know!! Under this kind of urgent situation, how can I analyze it!!”

He simply gave up.

And he threw the dagger aside with an annoyed expression.

The dagger stabbed the ground…

In this moment.

Crrrrrreeeeeeeeaaaa

Releasing a sharp sound, the dagger entered the ground, spinning quickly.

“What!?”

Milk couldn’t help but raise her voice upon seeing that.

Not long after, abnormal changes started happening.

Suddenly.

Crraaaaaaaaacccccccckkkkkkkk!!

The earth started to shake vigorously.

“Ah? Ah? Ah? What is this, what is this?”

Luke said.

“What-what is going…”

Lach, Lear, Moe, even the Nelpha soldiers were shocked and troubled by this strange sudden events.

Only Ryner, who caused this to happen, remained calm…

What, what has Ryner done? What has Ryner been involved in?

Just as she wanted to ask this, Ferris asked,

“What have you done?”

But…

“Who knows?”

Ryner answered simply.

Then, things started to happen.

A large fire column appeared in the hole that the dagger had drilled.

No, it was not only fire. This column of fire had an enormous jaw, sharp teeth, red eyes…

This fire column had the structure of a dragon. This fire column opened its huge mouth,

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!

It let out a sound that definitely belonged to a monster.

At this moment,

“What, what is thaaat!?”

Milk cried.

This was a strange and unimaginable scene.

Or to be more accurate, a character that only appeared in storybooks had suddenly appeared in front of their eyes.

Death was right in front of them. This fire column gave a threatening feeling. Towards this, of course,

“Wa, it’s a monster!?”

“We, we will be killed~”

The Nelpha soldiers shouted and escaped…

But as for Milk and the rest who were tied up… Moe shouted, “Cap-caaaaptaaaaaiiinn what is thaaaat!?”

“I, I don’t know!?”

Lach continued,

“We’re done for! We’re definitely done for! Because we’re definitely done for! We can’t escaape!?”

Then Lear,

“……Eh~”

Last was Luke,

“Any-anyway, everyone calm done! Use the gre-green worm method to escape from here quickly…”

Then, the dragon did this again,

Wuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Milk and the others froze in that moment…

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

They couldn’t help but scream…

Just like that.

About ten minutes passed…

Only the large dragon that had grown tired from crying, Milk and the rest who were on the ground and Ferris and Ryner were left in the area.

Ferris stood by the side of Milk and the others, and said to Ryner who was looking dazedly at the dragon,

“Amazing. Is that the legend of the Heroes?”

“No, no matter what, that definitely looks like a dragon… Although it is from the legend…”

“Mm-hmm. No matter what, we’re saved. You’ve done well. It’s enough. Keep that dangerous and meaningless dragon and we can continue.”

But Ryner turned to look at Ferris and said,

“…How to keep it?”

“…”

An irresponsible conversation.

At last, Milk witnessed an unbelievable scene.

Ryner and Ferris ignored the abnormal scene of the dragon growing from the ground… or to be more accurate, they seemed to be escaping from this situation that they had caused, ignoring Milk and the others as they left…

“But leaving the matter of the dagger being a Heroes’ Relic or not, the world actually has something like this, huh.”

“Of course, it’s just like what the sources said.”

At this moment, Milk shouted.

“Wa-wait, Ryner! Didn’t I tell you to help me untie these ropes!”

But her words were completely ignored.

Not only that woman, even Ryner did not turn back, but they continued to walk.

Milk couldn’t believe this, “T-this has to be a lie…? Why?”

Ryner and Ferris continued to walk,

“But, I didn’t really think that there would be something like this, so troublesome~ Are we still going to look for Heroes’ Relics next time? I don’t want to go~”

“Exactly. Being together with a pervert like you is dangerous for me.”

“No, it should be my head that is in more danger.”

This wasn’t the time to be cracking jokes!!

There was a dragon by their side? Or it should be said…

“A-anyway, what is this dragon!? Don’t leave me by something like this!!”

But the two still didn’t turn around…

Finally, their figures disappeared.

Milk only looked after them dazedly…

This was strange, really strange.

But according to this, she could guess that Ryner had met some bad things.

Because, wasn’t this strange. He had rescued them, but didn’t turn back to look…

What was going on?

Milk narrowed her eyes.

This was extremely odd. She had been saved by him. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be living now.

And that blond woman. She didn’t know what relationship that woman had with Ryner.

Although she did not understand, but this was trivial.

She was very certain that Ryner had met something troublesome.

Then…

This time, it’s my turn to rescue Ryner!

She thought.

For this, I will be willing to sacrifice everything…

At this moment.

“Ah! My teeth hurt!? But the ropes have been bitten through!”

It was Lach’s voice. Then,

“Good work, Lach. Now I’ll help everyone to untie their ropes.”

The voices sounded from behind her…

But Milk didn’t turn around…

Then Moe said,

“Great! The last one is Captain Milk!”

He said… but…

At this moment, Luke…

“… That… Captain Milk?”

“…”

But Milk… still didn’t turn around.

Because she would give up everything, yes, she had told herself this. That meant, she would have to betray them, betray her subordinates.

I don’t have the right to continue to be their leader…

At this moment, Luke and the rest fell silent.

“…”

Then, Luke said again,

“Captain Milk. That, what we said earlier, do you still remember?”

Suddenly saying something like that…

What they had said earlier? What had Luke said earlier? From earlier, her mind had been filled with Ryner, she completely couldn’t remember what Luke had said…

“What, do you know I was once in Major Miller’s team?”

“What… are you saying…”

Luke interrupted Milk and continued in his gentle tone.

“Anyway, I was once Major Miller’s subordinate. I wanted to tell you about the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad when Major Miller was still the captain and when I was still a newbie…”

Hearing this, Milk couldn’t stop herself from turning back, revealing a surprised expression and looking at Luke’s face.

What was Luke trying to say?

But Luke smiled that gentle smile,

“This was something that happened when Miller’s Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad was sent to the Runa Empire. I wouldn’t mention the details but the Taboo Breakers were a family of four who had escaped from Roland… Parents and two adopted children from an adoption facility. Then Roland sent the order to capture them and it was an order to kill them too. Not only the parents, but the two children too…”

Milk frowned.

Yes, what Milk and the others were doing was this kind of work. Even if the other party had a reason, they still had to follow the orders and carry out the punishment. No, there were no Taboo Breakers that had no reason to be punished.

And this was what Miller had said.

“I’m asking you this again. Why do you want to know the history of the Taboo Breaker? What if you feel sympathy for that Taboo Breaker’s history? Would you be sympathetic to him and not kill him? Our duty is that kind of duty. The dirty things that people do not want to do. But, there must be someone…”

It was a job that had to be done…

Miller had said that.

So what Luke had said, that family had, of course…

Luke continued.

“We caught up to the targets quickly. The parents initially resisted and put up a fight… But we caught them successfully… then the parents desperately and tearfully begged for us to let them go. No, we could do anything to their lives. But, only the kids… Yes, that was what they had said… and like what Captain Milk knows, Major Miller…”

As he reached there, Milk turned her face away.

She didn’t want to hear the ending.

For the sake of other people’s lives, what Miller had done was right. And he had mentally prepared himself for this job.

But, there wasn’t any need for him to tell me this.

Luke continued calmly.

“Even if this didn’t happen, from the situation then, there was no other way to save them. And they themselves understood that. But when they heard that the children would be killed too, they were forced to escape… This was the family’s reason for escaping Roland…” For the sake of protecting the children…

That was the reason. This reason should be justifiable. Under those kind of circumstances, anyone would want to escape too. And nobody could be blamed…

Nobody could be blamed…

Luke continued.

“They told us that they loved their sons. Even though they weren’t their biological sons, but they truly loved these adopted sons that had spent the last five years with them. They couldn’t let the children be killed because of what they had done. So they had tried to protect them, no matter what. Please save these two children… But…”

He paused, “But… Major Miller… killed the children first.”

“…”

Milk was speechless.

Luke continued.

“After that, he punished the parents and brought them back to Roland. Eventually, they were given the death sentence… and then the mission ended. After that, there was another mission… This is the job of the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad. Those who are unable to do these are the people that the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad do not need.”

“…Yes.”

Milk nodded her head honestly.

She had already understood what Luke wanted to say. Luke had understood.

Her desire to save Ryner…

The fact that I am already unable to be their companion…

“I…”

Milk said in a whisper.

“I will leave the Taboo Breaker Pursuit Squad…”

But Luke suddenly interrupted what Milk was about to say,

“Ah, as a side note, Captain Milk. The names of the two children that Major Miller killed… Coincidentally, they were called Moe and Lach… What do you think of that?”

Milk couldn’t help herself but reply in a dazed tone, “Ah?”

Raising her head, she found Luke, Lach, Lear and Moe smiling at her for some unknown reason…

“Ah? Ah? That, how can that…”

Towards this, Luke said,

“This is exactly what happened. Major Miller didn’t kill the children. No, he couldn’t bear to kill them. Don’t be taken in by how he said that so seriously. He himself couldn’t kill them.”

He frowned,

“But, you see… Looking at the situation then, the parents… could not be saved… Even then, he didn’t kill the children. At that time—the reign of the previous king, there was the probability of being killed even though it was treason… Ignoring that insane era Roland was in… Major Miller didn’t kill them but he secretly brought them back to Roland and hired them as his own personnel…”

“But, but but, then…”

Milk was unable to say anything. Luke continued,

“I should also mention that I could have accused Major Miller for treason but in the end, I still followed him. My companions also decided on the same course of action. No, we didn’t only follow him. We thought that Major Miller’s decision was always right. We put our complete trust in Major Miller’s personality and decisions, so we didn’t say anything and followed his decision. I think that should be how a squad should be like. Then…”

Luke looked at Milk meaningfully. Lear, who had always maintained a cool and composed expression smiled,

“I trust Captain Milk.”

Then Moe and Lach,

“Yeah, me too!”

“Me too.”

Last was Luke, he revealed a slightly serious expression that he seldom had,

“Captain Milk. When Major Miller first ordered us to become your personnel, we were a little reluctant. We were Major Miller’s personnel, we were unable to work for other leaders.”

“Really?”

Milk asked. Luke nodded with a warm expression,

“But after seeing you and talking with you, our views changed. We decided to follow you. From that moment on, we decided to become your family. We think that a squad should be like that. We like you, so we became your subordinates. Because we like to be with you. So we also wish that you will be able to regain what you lost and we wish that you will be happy. We don’t fight for the country. We fight for its people. So that we will be able to save our important people…”

Saying this, he looked at Milk…

Milk didn’t say anything.

Luke continued,

“So, Captain, as long as you think it is right, then do it. We will follow you, like how we trusted Major Miller and followed him. You don’t have to feel troubled over this. If you do something wrong, we will correct you. No matter what happens, we will always be your companions. So you don’t have to feel troubled over what kind of decisions you should make. No matter what happens, you will always be our leader… and then…”

He laughed in embarrassment,

“Everyone can eat together cheerfully and noisily. Because that is family.”

Saying it like this…

“Family…”

Milk was unable to move.

This was the first time it was said like that.

Family… family…

She had never thought she would desire…. This word. She never had any family… She didn’t even know what exactly it was like…

But the people in front of her…

Family…?

“Family…”

She didn’t know why she was unable to say it.

She didn’t know what is was and she had never given it much thought. So why would she feel so touched…?

Her vision slowly blurred and disappeared.

Luke frantically ran over, shocked by her tears and patted her head as if comforting her…

Lach and Moe desperately joked about, wanting to make her laugh…

Lear only looked on, as if protecting her and smiling…

She didn’t know that there was such an existence in the world.

She had never known that Man was not lonely.

When had this appeared? When had the world become so warm…?

I…

Am not alone.

And I can still rescue Ryner.

It was a happiness that was indescribable.

It wasn’t tears of sadness that leaked out from her eyes… Milk smiled. She smiled brightly.

After that, Luke suddenly told Milk who was smiling brightly,

“Ah, then, although we said this earlier… Since the problem has been resolved, shall we enter the next stage of our journey?”

“Next stage?”

She asked Luke, not understanding. No, it wasn’t only him, even Lach, Lear and Moe pointed to the side at the same time…

In a moment.

Milk understood.

Her mind had been so filled with thoughts of Ryner that she had completely forgotten…

She looked to her side. That enormous dragon had stopped moving and was at the place where it had grown from…

Towards this,

“Au…”

Although it was already too late, but Milk said softly.

“I, I understand. Everyone, with-withdraw quickly.”

“Yes!”

Although it was too late, the voices of Luke and the others were soft…

Lach and Moe carried Milk, who was still tied up,

“Then, let’s escape quickly!”

“Yes!”

Putting aside their thoughts, Milk’s team quickly fled the area.

As to the dragon, it was as if it wasn’t grown there and it remained unresponsive…