---

Rose glanced back at Margaret for a moment before collapsing onto the floor. Jeongjae reached out his hand to help Rose, but she waved it away, declining his offer.

“No, I’m fine. I’m perfectly alright. There’s no way I could have lost this fight…”

Yet, anyone could see that Rose’s eyes were unfocused, and blood was dripping from her nose. In short, she was not in a normal state. As Margaret approached Jeongjae, she spoke up.

“Did my advice cause this mess, Wizard?”

“Uh? Ah, well, I’m sorry. I just…”

“Good job. Sometimes you need to discipline a younger sibling who doesn’t listen. However, I lack the skill to discipline this one. At this point, she should have regained her senses.”

“Did I… lose…?”

Rose still couldn’t overcome the shock of receiving a ‘Van Fleet’ to the face and began babbling incoherently. Jeongjae tilted his head.

“It seems she’s not quite back to reality.”

“A little nap will do her good. You know the resilience of Rose Caprice.”

“That may be true, but…”

At that moment, a squad of fully armed imperial soldiers rushed toward Jeongjae, having noticed the commotion in the restricted area had quieted down. A soldier, appearing to be the squad leader, looked back and forth between Rose and Jeongjae, then bowed his head and asked Jeongjae.

“Baron, did you cause this disturbance? Is there an attack on Her Highness the Crown Princess…?”

“It was all my doing.”

Jeongjae readily admitted, having no reason to deny it.

“If that’s the case…”

The soldier hesitated while simultaneously gauging Margaret and Jeongjae’s reactions.

“I-I’m sorry to say, but the imperial army must arrest you, Baron. Violence against Her Highness is strictly dealt with under imperial law, so… If you could cooperate with the arrest, we would appreciate it…”

“Go ahead, arrest me! Go ahead and arrest me!”

Margaret, who had been quietly observing, burst into almost hysterical laughter.

“Your Highness the Princess of Eramenia. As a comrade, I understand your discomfort with our actions, but this is due to imperial law…”

“Do you even know who this person is while enforcing your duties here? She’s a gift from another world, the greatest Grand Mage in the world, and at the same time, the Crown Princess who is currently collapsed here! Does the Empire treat even such trivial squabbles between friends like this?”

“That’s a bit too trivial to say…”

The imperial soldier stuttered, glancing around the devastated closed-off area, virtually obliterated by Jeongjae’s onslaught. Margaret stood her ground, showing no signs of stepping aside. No matter how many imperial laws there were, the Empire’s soldiers could not lay a hand on the Princess of Eramenia.

“If you have time to hassle me, perhaps you ought to attend to the Princess instead. Isn’t that your job?”

Determining that Margaret’s advice was sound, the imperial soldiers approached to assist Rose. The squad leader awkwardly turned to Rose and asked.

“Your Highness, how shall we proceed with this matter…?”

“You fools.”

Rose, with her unfocused eyes, slowly succumbed to unconsciousness while muttering.

“Can’t you see this fight took place in an empty closed-off area? It was a legitimate duel. Stop with your nonsense and get lost.”

With those last words, Rose completely fainted, losing consciousness. Jeongjae gestured toward the soldiers.

“That’s enough. Hurry up and escort her to the Imperial Palace.”

“Yes, understood!”

The soldiers simultaneously saluted Margaret and Jeongjae before supporting Rose and exiting the closed-off area. As Jeongjae picked up a revolver from the floor, he stifled a chuckle.

“Those guys are probably just following orders. Was it really necessary to say all that?”

“True. But I guess sometimes I also get unnecessarily worked up. Usually when it involves you, that is.”

Jeongjae felt a deep sympathy for those ‘ordinary soldiers.’ Having also served in the military while sick, he imagined how it would feel to be in a position like that, akin to a commander being spotted for trying to arrest the president, only to get scolded by the UN commander present.

“By the way, you’re armed now.”

Jeongjae pointed out the bow and dual swords Margaret had strapped to her waist. Margaret cleared her throat and nodded.

“I had no choice.”

“Are you… ready to fight again?”

“There are moments when you must move even if you don’t feel like it. But I’m not so sure. This time, I anticipated what you guys would do and acted hastily, but honestly, just shooting the bow earlier made my hands tremble. I’ve never felt scared while holding a weapon before.”

Jeongjae began to suspect that Margaret might be suffering from serious PTSD. No matter how strong-minded someone is, they can experience PTSD. After all, among the Hero Party, excluding Rose, who seemed totally disconnected from this world, Bernard, who had this as his original calling, still bore some mental scars from the prolonged wars.

Until recently, Margaret hadn’t been linked to mental issues, but since her crushing defeat by the Demon King in the canyon, just stringing an arrow to her bow felt like a struggle, signaling her despair.

“So, you fired at us while trembling? What were you planning to do if you missed?”

“Well, it turned out fine, didn’t it? Let’s not sweat the small stuff.”

“How shameless. I thought you’d say something like, ‘I can still hit that much with trembling hands.’”

“That might have been a better response, indeed.”

Jeongjae and Margaret shared a smirk at each other. However, noticing Jeongjae’s expression darkening, Margaret spoke up.

“It’ll be okay.”

“Who? Rose?”

“Rose, yes, but also you. To someone like Audrich, born with innate talent, duels hold significant meaning. Do you know that before you came to this world, Rose was beaten by Walter in a spar?”

“No, that doesn’t seem possible at all.”

Jeongjae frowned. Walter was undoubtedly strong, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine Walter beating Rose down. Margaret smiled brightly.

“Since ancient times, the power of blessings couldn’t surpass the power of the Holy Sword. Whether it’s the Swordsmanship Blessing or Iron Wall’s Protection, there isn’t much difference. Power is something Audrich reveres, and your helping her avenge Harker’s previous defeat definitely has a meaningful significance. Above all, she herself acknowledged that it was a legitimate duel. All that’s left is for me to go comfort her. You’ve done your part, Wizard. If that kid had arrived, she would have struggled to defeat Rose again.”

From the moment Rose called him out, it was clear to Jeongjae that it was a sort of challenge to a head-to-head battle. As Jeongjae and Margaret fell into silence, Bernard, who had been hidden among the remains, timidly emerged, clearing the debris.

“Is it… over? W-who won?”

“Oh my gosh, you scared me! Silverpoint! When did you hide there?”

Margaret’s eyes widened as she perked up her ears. Even the keen-eyed Fairy Queen hadn’t noticed Bernard hiding so close. Jeongjae shrugged.

“I got here faster than you.”

“Sorry if I startled you. My class is one that enables me to go unnoticed even by vampires in the night, so a daytime elf is quite a challenge for me, I too was startled.”

Margaret’s senses had likely dulled recently, which contributed to her failing to notice Bernard. Now realizing how dull her instincts had become, she looked down at her own hands.

“Sometimes, I think I may never return to the battlefield again. Even if I do, I have this ominous feeling that I won’t come back alive if I returned now. I am the worst general in the history of Eramenia. The Fairies have never lost this many soldiers against another race in a single battle.”

“Has a Fairy ever fought another race with that scale of troops?”

“Probably not.”

“Then it’s not exactly something to feel shame about, is it? You might just be the commander of the Fairies who’s caused the most deaths among demons.”

“Your words echo those of my subordinates. Yes, you’re right. But knowing the truth doesn’t always lead the heart to sincerity.”

Jeongjae nodded. He understood very well how empty ‘fact-based advice’ can be for someone suffering from emotional wounds. After all, when he had failed his midterm exams by running out of time, remarks like ‘those exams won’t mean anything in the future’ or ‘you can make up for it in the next exam’ hadn’t meant a thing to him.

For someone like her, who’d lost ten thousand brothers due to a miscalculation, and who cared deeply for her kind enough to call even humans ‘brothers,’ mere words of comfort wouldn’t reach her.

“Still, your consolation resonates a bit. Maybe it always depends on who’s saying the words.”

“Uh? Oh, yeah…”

Jeongjae was taken aback by a reaction that was the opposite of what he’d expected. Seeing his confusion, Margaret smiled again and gazed up at the sky, continuing her voice.

“I will take care of the council issue. This time Rose probably won’t interfere.”

“Can you be sure?”

“I can be sure.”

Margaret crossed her arms, donning a slightly arrogant expression.

“Because she’s sensitive to her standing relative to others, as arrogant as she may be. Luckily, while I have a high chance of losing to her in a fight, at least I’m recognized above her in rank. In other words, she won’t dare act up toward me. Sometimes you have to get hurt by vanity to grow. What remains after shedding all those superficial wounds is a true sense of pride.”

The expression on Margaret’s face was so bitter that it sounded as if she was speaking not to Rose, but to herself.

 

---