Chapter 3: Holy Knight ①
Before me lay three unconscious figures.
They’re not dead…!
“What should we do, Row-kun?”
Ash’s question posed a rather troublesome dilemma. We couldn’t just leave them as they were, nor could we form a party with them.
“I have a plan. Can you trust me with it?”
It seemed that there was only one real option available, but it didn’t appear to be a bad one.
“Of course.”
Just then, Angelica stirred and opened her eyes.
“Mmm… where is this…?”
She had lost consciousness from the shock of the countered Flame Strike. As she regained her senses, her memories seemed hazy for a moment, but soon she noticed us.
“Oh, you guys!” she exclaimed.
Immediately, she began to scan the surroundings. It was clear she was checking for Sena’s presence. Given how badly she had been beaten, it was understandable. Perhaps relieved by Sena’s absence, she quickly shook her two companions awake, urging them to regain consciousness.
With the three of them finally awake, I decided to ask.
“We plan to move ahead. So, I want you three to choose. You have three options: fight alongside us, let us lead the way, or you three can go ahead. Choose whichever you prefer.”
“Row-kun…”
I understood what Ash was trying to convey. Without hesitation, the three of them chose to proceed on their own.
“We were sent here by the Hero-sama. It is our mission to conquer the Sealed Labyrinth bestowed upon us by him. So, please take your time and follow behind us.”
“Exactly. So, you guys can feel free to go back if you want.”
With that, they left us behind and moved forward.
“Well, I figured this would happen,” I said.
“Eh?”
“See, Ash, while it seemed like I offered three choices, I knew they would pick the third option. In other words, I understood from the start that they would try to conquer this place on their own, ahead of us.”
“Going back is out of the question for various reasons. So, should we fight together? But without any trust between us, there’s no way we could do that—yet they wouldn’t simply fall back either. In the end, they had no choice but to choose to go ahead.”
I felt a twinge of self-loathing for using them like this.
“Still, I can’t imagine entrusting my back to them. There’s a chance they could ambush us alongside the enemies…”
“I see…”
Ash murmured, sounding somewhat disheartened in response to my and Sensei’s questions.
“It’s like drafting.”
Ash tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.
Drafting is a technique used in high-speed sports like road cycling. To put it simply, it involves sticking closely behind a leading competitor to avoid the wind and other factors that could slow you down.
“They may seem like that, but their skills are top-notch. Plus, the fact that we haven’t encountered any Fog monsters up to this point is likely because they’ve taken care of them.”
“I know their abilities all too well.”
Ash’s words were tinged with frustration.
“So, by letting them go ahead, they should handle all the countless weak enemies that lie ahead.”
“I understand Row-kun’s reasoning now…”
I didn’t truly want to say such things, but it was unavoidable. They were not the type to be easily approached. Sadly, some things in this world are simply unavoidable.
“I know you really don’t want to say such things.”
Following Sensei’s appropriate guidance, we resumed our exploration while keeping a safe distance from the advancing Hero Party. There were no monsters in sight, just as I had hoped. I had something I needed to tell Ash, and that thought weighed heavily on my heart.
“Hey, Ash—”
Gathering my resolve, I spoke up.
“Row-kun, there’s no need to rush.”
But Ash shook her head in response.
“Since that day, I’ve been betrayed many times. But I’m not going to give up on trusting people.”
Ash removed her helm, letting her strawberry blonde hair flow freely.
“Between them and you, it goes without saying who I would trust.”
With her helm off, her expression was fully revealed, and she offered me a strong yet gentle smile.
“Not here, but someday, when everything is over and we can talk about this incident in the Sealed Labyrinth with smiles, let’s have tea together, and you can tell me all about yourself.”
Her thoughtfulness touched my heart.
“And when that time comes, I want you to hear my story too.”
We absolutely must conquer the Sealed Labyrinth without losing anyone.
Beside us, Sensei nodded repeatedly, saying “Uh-huh, uh-huh” while wiping his eyes with a handkerchief he had pulled from somewhere. Whether he was truly crying remained a mystery.
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