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With Ease
After climbing to the fourth floor, we finally began to hear some kind of sounds inside the building as well.
But it was not the sounds of battle, but simply of someone doing something and nothing more.
“Someone inside that last room. It’d be nice if it was Ralf or Esta, but it’d be pretty bad if it’s an enemy.”
“If it really is an enemy, Mielle, blast them with your magic. I want to save my stamina.”
“Eh, you can still fight if you put in a little more effort, no?……..Well, Milworc’s already done for and I still have lots of mana left so I guess I can at least handle the scrubs for you.”
As we bantered and I declared my intent to not fight any more to Mielle, we approached closer to the room from where the noise was coming from.
I could activate [Hearing Enhancement] to check what’s going on inside but, I really was very low on stamina so I wanted to avoid using any skills for as much as possible.
I had been acting as the vanguard until now but, this time I had Mielle take that position as we entered the room.
I entered the room fully expecting to get assaulted by the enemy but——what came to our view was the scene of Ralf restraining a member of [Under Eye] with rope.
“[Flame Bul—]—-Wait, Chris-san, is that you?”
Hearing a magic spell being chanted, I looked to the side to see Esta hiding in the room’s blind spot, and was readying her magic while being stuck close to the wall.
Before she fired it, she noticed it was me thankfully, so she stopped midway but……..I really didn’t even sense her hiding there.
“Yeah, it’s me. I got worried so I came to check on you guys but…………by the looks of it, the subjugation went very smoothly huh.”
“Well, we just now defeated the last remaining member that Ralf is tying up right there, and with that, this building is fully cleared.”
“Guess, I was worried for nothing then. Any injuries?”
“Ralf got hurt a little but, it’s just a light one so nothing to worry about.——or rather, us aside, I’m more worried about your condition Chris-san………..you’re covered in blood. Are you really okay?”
“No need to worry about me. I really pushed myself to the limit today so while I have a lot of muscular fatigue, I don’t have a single wound on my body.”
“So all the blood is not yours eh………..that is worrying in and of itself but, regardless, I’m glad you’re okay Chris-san!”
Her expression revealed her worry after seeing my blood soaked body but, when I told her I didn’t have any injuries, she seemed a lot more relieved.
Afterwards, Ralf was also finally done completely tying up the [Under Eye] member and came running towards us having noticed our presence.
“Chris! We finished our job perfectly here——wait, what’s up with your appearance!? No way, did you get hurt??”
“No I did not. I told Esta just now as well, but this is all from blood sprays from others.”
“I see! Then that’s okay——-NOT ACTUALLY THOUGH!………..just how many did you kill, man?”
“……….I don’t know.”
While I still had my memories, I had lost count on how many I had actually killed.
Seeing Ralf and Esta take down the entire building without killing a single one, I almost felt a bit inferior to them.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!……….but still, I’m glad you’re not hurt at least! There weren’t really too many strong enemies on our side, and we only need to restrain a few more, so you can go and help the royal knights instead!”
The royal knights eh……..
It’s true, there’s not much else here for me to do and I understood that it was probably best for me to quickly go and aid them but, it didn’t sit well with me that I had to go and help that Bruce guy and his ilk.
But Alexandra was not a bad person, in fact she was very humble and polite with me.
And she seemed to be quite close with Charlotte so, if Ralf says it’s okay to leave, then I guess I really should go and help the royal knights now.
“Fine. We’ll head to the building with the royal knights next. If something happens, you two should regroup with us there as well.”
“Understood. Once we’re done restraining all of them, we’ll head to that building as well.”
“We’ll be there in a jiffy, so don’t worry about us ‘kay!”
These two must be feeling quite confident after subjugating the entire building by themselves, as Ralf spoke with a confident smile which only made me chuckle.
These two definitely were a little anxious before the assault but I’m glad they were able to build some confidence like this.
Being seen off by them, me and Mielle decided to head to the front side building next.
“Hey, can I also stay here to help Ralf and Esta?”
“Already going back on what you said just a moment ago? My body is at its limit, so you’re supposed to be my helper Mielle. Besides, if you help Alexandra, who knows, maybe Charlotte might value you a bit more as well, right?”
“I don’t give a damn about that dumb princess’ ‘evaluation’ or whatever. I always prioritize my own life first and foremost.”
“If a really dangerous enemy appears, I’ll fight them so don’t worry. Besides, it’s not like there’s anyone here that’s more dangerous than Milworc right?”
“Well if there was one inside the capital, it’d have to be Klaus himself and no one else.”
“And I don’t sense Klaus anywhere near so in that case, we are all good.”
While chatting with Mielle, we began walking to the building that was being handled by the royal knights.
The battle seemed to be still going on as we could hear the sounds of an intense battle going on even outside the building.
The royal knights don’t have anyone that’s exceptionally powerful so  it’s turned into an all out battle inside it seems, as the sounds were coming from all over the building.
And as before, the strongest presence in this building was also coming from the top floor, and so was another presence that I think belonged to Alexandra.
“At the top floor there’s someone with as strong of a presence as Prudence, as well as Alexandra.”
“I can hear a bunch of battles from here as well. I guess they’re all still neck deep in battle huh.”
“It’s me, Ralf and Esta that are just a bit too efficient and superior that’s all. Normally, subjugating an entire building takes this much time so it can’t be helped.”
“Hey, why was I not included in that list!? But anyway, what’s our next move? Are we going to get rid of the scrubs first? Or are we going straight to the top to help Alexandra?”
“Of course, we’re heading straight to support Alexandra. Honestly, I don’t care whether the rest of the knights live or not.”
“……..What an outrageous statement.”
It’s the truth, so I can’t help it.
With our course of action set, we ignored all the other battle sounds and made our way straight to the top floor.