Episode 21: If They’re an Enemy, Age and Gender Don’t Matter, But If Not, It’s Unforgivable.
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Time rewinds a little, to France, where Holy Maiden Charlotte was diligently performing her duties.
During the Ibinom attack, she had been prioritized for protection and was heavily guarded.
Thanks to that, she was unharmed, but the town she lived in was half-destroyed. The number of victims was also considerable.
However, Charlotte possessed healing powers but no combat abilities, so even if she had remained on the battlefield, she wouldn’t have been a combat asset.
Moreover, if she had remained on the battlefield, it would have truly been a nuisance.
After all, she had no means to protect herself.
Therefore, guards would inevitably have to be assigned to her, reducing their combat strength by that much.
Naturally, such a situation had to be avoided, so Charlotte was quickly evacuated to the depths of a shelter.
And now, many injured people were flocking to the church prepared for Holy Maiden Charlotte.
For Charlotte, this was her battlefield, a place where she could demonstrate her true worth.
“Bring the next patient here.”
“Yes!”
Charlotte, dressed in white robes befitting a Holy Maiden, was saving many lives by making full use of her Healing Gift and Regeneration Gift.
Even now, she saved one person and immediately moved on to the next patient.
Unlike Kazuma, she couldn’t heal multiple people simultaneously, but she was still a unique existence in the world.
Charlotte used her Healing and Regeneration Gifts on the patients brought to her, and once their treatment was complete, she immediately instructed her subordinates to bring in the next patient.
This work continued for several hours, and Charlotte’s stamina and willpower were nearing their limits.
Praying like a Holy Maiden with her hands clasped, beads of sweat formed on her white, beautiful forehead, and her shoulders heaved greatly.
“Holy Maiden-sama. Any more than this will affect your health. How about taking a break for a while?”
One of Charlotte’s guards, concerned for her, suggested she rest, but she shook her head and refused.
“I cannot. I will fulfill my duties as a Holy Maiden.”
“But if you continue any longer, you will collapse! Please, choose to focus on recovering your stamina now!”
“I can still go on. Besides, compared to others, I have rested a lot.”
“We are warriors! Our stamina is different from yours, Holy Maiden-sama. So please, rest before you push yourself too hard and collapse!”
“…I’m sorry. For being such an unworthy Holy Maiden.”
“What are you saying? It is because you are here that we can fight with peace of mind. Even if we were to fall before our mission is complete, we would gladly die to protect you.”
Unlike the Holy Maiden, guards are replaceable. To put it bluntly, they are expendable.
No matter how many guards die, new ones can simply be hired. However, the Holy Maiden is irreplaceable.
There might be those with the Healing Gift. There might be those with the Regeneration Gift. But no one other than Holy Maiden Charlotte possesses both.
An exception named Kazuma recently appeared, but he is not a French Gifted.
“Don’t say such things—”
“Sorry to interrupt your tear-jerking story, but Holy Maiden-san, you’re coming with me.”
“What—”
“Too slow. The guys outside were the same, but there’s no one with any backbone in France.”
Azrael, an executive of the Ivera Church who had suddenly appeared, used Spatial Manipulation to dice the Holy Maiden’s guard who lunged at him, and then approached Charlotte.
“Ah, ah, ah…”
“Well now, the nuisance is gone.”
The guard she had just been talking to was diced before her very eyes, and Charlotte’s legs gave out in terror.
Azrael forcibly pulled up the collapsed Charlotte, used Spatial Manipulation to go outside, and then leisurely walked towards a back alley as if taking a stroll.
“Wh-what do you intend to do with me…?”
“Who knows? I don’t really get it. Well, maybe you’ll be used as a test subject or something?”
Hearing “test subject,” Charlotte’s face turned pale, and she resisted desperately, even knowing it was futile.
“No, no, no!!!”
“Hey, don’t struggle.”
“Let go! Someone! Someone help me!”
“No one’s gonna come. I took care of all your guards. The guys outside are just waiting politely and won’t check inside, so they don’t even know you’re gone. It’s useless to expect anything.”
Charlotte struggled to escape Azrael’s grasp, but with her feeble strength, she couldn’t even break free.
“Oh, right. I remember, you have a GPS embedded, don’t you? In your ear.”
“Eh…”
The next moment, Azrael reached for Charlotte’s ear and forcefully tore it off.
Just as she heard an unpleasant ripping sound, she heard something fall to the ground with a splat.
Charlotte looked in that direction and saw her own ear, which she had seen countless times in the mirror, lying there. The moment she understood, excruciating pain assaulted her.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!”
“You’re noisy. Shut up for a bit.”
“Ugh!?”
Azrael mercilessly slammed his fist into the screaming Charlotte’s face.
Her nose broken, Charlotte clutched her face and collapsed, but Azrael forcibly pulled her up.
“What, trying to collapse on your own? Hurry up and walk.”
“Ugh, uuh…”
After walking through the back alleys for a while, Runazeru appeared before the two of them.
“Did I keep you waiting?”
“No, not that long. More importantly, why is the Holy Maiden bleeding?”
“Ah. She was noisy, so I punched her in the face.”
“Don’t be too rough with her. The Holy Maiden has her uses.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Reprimanded by Runazeru, Azrael released Charlotte.
Having lost her support, Charlotte collapsed to the ground and lay there, but the two showed her no mercy.
“What are you doing lying down? Get up, quickly.”
“Ughh…!”
Azrael kicked the fallen Charlotte in the side.
Charlotte groaned, clutching her side and shedding tears, but there was no one here to comfort her.
“Azrael. I told you to stop being rough.”
“This much is nothing. If it comes down to it, she can just heal herself with her Gift.”
“That’s not the issue, but fine. More importantly, let’s hurry back to the hideout.”
“Yeah. Got i—”
Before he could finish, Azrael was sent flying by a surprise attack.
Startled by the sudden attack, Runazeru stood dumbfounded and checked who had attacked Azrael.
“The Crimson Knight…!!!”
There stood a knight clad in crimson armor, his face filled with fury.
◇◇◇◇
Going back in time a little, Kazuma arrived in France.
News flashes immediately spread about a mysterious flying object crossing the Asian continent at super high speed and entering Europe.
The public was abuzz, wondering if it was a new Ibinom attack, but government officials who had been informed by Ema that the Crimson Knight had been dispatched reported to their superiors and ministers.
Thanks to that, the confusion quickly subsided.
“Crimson Knight! Welcome to France!”
“We can do welcomes later. Where is Charlotte?”
“This is her GPS. Fortunately, she hasn’t gone far yet.”
“I think some time has passed since it became news, but do you know who the kidnappers are?”
“Not yet. However, it’s certain they are considerably skilled.”
“I’m going to rescue her immediately. Lend me that.”
“Ah, understood.”
Kazuma borrowed the device and immediately headed out to rescue Charlotte.
Watching Kazuma leave like a storm, the government official could only be overwhelmed.
“Hahaha… So that’s the Crimson Knight. He’s an even more incredible man than the King.”
The man, with a dry smile, gazed for a while in the direction Kazuma had departed.
Using the device he received, Kazuma had arrived at the location of the GPS embedded in Charlotte.
What he discovered there was Charlotte’s ear, forcefully torn off.
Kazuma crouched down to examine Charlotte’s ear, his shoulders trembling with anger.
“You scum…”
His brow furrowed, openly displaying his anger, Kazuma burned Charlotte’s severed ear and stood up swiftly.
“Back to square one, huh…”
Without the GPS, he couldn’t find Charlotte’s location.
If this were the other world, he could have searched for Charlotte’s magical power, but magic doesn’t exist in this world.
“It can’t be helped…”
He would have preferred not to use it, but Kazuma decided to search for Charlotte using a swarm tactic.
Kazuma created multiple rat-type and bird-type Golems for reconnaissance, released them all at once, and shared their vision.
“Ugh…! As I thought, this feels disgusting.”
Right now, Kazuma’s vision was like having multiple monitors connected.
A vast amount of information was flowing in all at once, and Kazuma felt dizzy and nauseous.
However, right now, since Charlotte’s rescue was the top priority, he was desperately searching for her, despite his unsteadiness.
“I found her…!”
After a while, Kazuma finally found Charlotte.
But, the situation seemed urgent.
In front of the injured Charlotte, two members of the Ivera Church wearing Ibinom’s Masks were standing, talking about something.
He couldn’t make out the content of their conversation, but Kazuma, realizing Charlotte was in danger, immediately sprang into action.
◇◇◇◇
And that brings us to the present.
Kazuma, who had just sent Azrael flying with a punch, glanced at Charlotte out of the corner of his eye, then turned his gaze to the stunned Runazeru.
“So it was you…! You’re the ones who hurt Shar…?!”
“Nngh…!”
Under the overwhelming pressure, all the hairs on Runazeru’s body stood on end.
His instincts told him it was dangerous to stay here, and though his brain was screaming at him to flee immediately, he couldn’t move.
He saw a future where if he moved now, he would be killed.
“I’ll deal with you later…”
“Nnnngh—”
Kazuma glanced at Runazeru, then went to the fallen Charlotte. He dispelled his Illusion Magic in a way only she would notice and gently helped her up.
“To do such cruel things to a girl…”
“Ah, uh…”
“It’s alright now. I’ll fix you up right away.”
Kazuma smiled to reassure Charlotte, held his hand over her face, and healed her face and ears with Recovery Magic.
Her scars vanished, and Charlotte, her beautiful face restored, shed tears of relief and thanked Kazuma.
“Ah, thank you very much, Kazuma-san.”
“No need for thanks. More importantly, you must have been terrified, right? I’m sorry I was late getting here…”
“Ah…”
The dam broke.
She had been so, so scared, unbearably so, but Charlotte, who had been holding back her tears the whole time, looked at Kazuma’s kind eyes and began to cry like a child.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I was scared! I was so scared! I thought I was going to be killed! That I was going to die! All my guards were killed, so I thought I couldn’t be saved…! I… I…!”
“There, there. That’s right. You were scared, weren’t you? But it’s okay now. Don’t worry. I’m here now, so you don’t have to be scared anymore.”
“U-uuu! Kazuma-san! Kazuma-saaan!”
Charlotte, wailing like a frightened child, clung to Kazuma’s chest, seeking comfort.
As if soothing a crying child, Kazuma stroked her head with a gentle, affectionate touch, reassuring her.
“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t you go forgetting about me, Crimson Knight!!!”
“Stop it, Azrael! He’s not an opponent we can match! We’re retreating!”
“It’s not in my nature to take a beating lying down! I’m going to kill him right here!”
“I can’t afford to lose you here and now! Listen to me!”
Runazeru desperately tried to calm the enraged Azrael, but he was too furious to listen.
“Shar. Wait here for a bit. I’ll finish this up quickly.”
“Ah… Kazuma-san.”
“Don’t worry. Because I’m the strongest.”
Kazuma gently pulled Charlotte away, patted her head gently once more to reassure her, then turned to face Azrael and Runazeru.
“Stop yapping, small fry.”
“What did you say, you bastard…?!”
“Did I strike a nerve? If so, my apologies. I must have said something to upset you.”
“I’ll slaughter you!!!”
Azrael, completely falling for the obvious provocation, ignored Runazeru’s warning and lunged at Kazuma.