From Damuel's confused voice, it turned out that he didn't know I was a commoner. He must have thought I was a blue-robed priestess of n.o.ble birth when he explained the battle so gently. I quietly distanced myself from Skicossa, who had unleashed his malice against me, and Damuel, who had found out that I was a commoner. What would two aristocrats who knew my rank as a commoner do to me? It would be bad if it turned out to be something like the confrontation with the Temple Chief.

“I'm not talking nonsense. During the star-union ceremony, the Temple Chief, who had been a guest of mine, lamented to me that the order of the temple had been destroyed by a mere commoner.”

… Temple Chief, it was you who tipped me off!

As I had not seen him at the temple lately, nor had he taken any action against me, I had long since forgotten him, but as things stand today, he had been complaining to the aristocrats about me.

… I was in pretty bad shape.

As a commoner, I had no position or right to refute Skicossa, even if I wished to. And there was no doubt that the Temple Chief had distorted the facts for his own benefit. Such malicious gossip was an invisible sword to me in the company of the all-aristocrat Order.

“Commoner, say a word.”

Even if Skicossa asked me to say a word, I didn't know what to say. If I had accidentally said something to an aristocrat that I shouldn't, there would be no good coming of it. Still, my silence seemed to irritate him, and I saw him break into a cold smile.

“Don't you dare open your arrogant mouth without Lord Ferdinand?”

“Skicossa, stop! She's the one we're guarding!”

Status was not as important as duty! Damuel held me back from Skicossa. By doing so, however, he only made Skicossa more exasperated.

“Shut up! Remember who you are! How dare you order me?”

Damuel clenched his fist and moved slowly to the side. Without Damuel's shadow, my vision widened again, but now I could see nothing but Skicossa closing in on me. A man clad in heavy armour unleashed a torrent of malice and came toward me with a loud metallic thump.

… It was terrible. I felt my blood go cold.

My legs were shaking and my teeth were chattering. As much as I wanted to run away, I found I couldn't muster the strength. Perhaps recognizing my fear, Skicossa gave a sneer and raised his fist under the metal armour.

“Master Maine!”

“Get out of the way!”

Fran tried to protect me, but Skicossa pushed him away with his brute strength.

“Fran!”

I wanted to run to Fran, but Skicossa grabbed me by the hair. I felt a spasm in my scalp and then heard the sound of several hairs being pulled out.

“Ah!”

“Master Maine!”

“Don't act rashly, Fran! If you do, our master will be reprimanded more severely. Don't make matters worse.”

Fran quickly got up and tried to rush to my rescue again, but Arnaud stopped him harshly. Seeing Fran bite his lip in anger but did not dare to step forward again, Skicossa gave me a big, happy smile and pulled my hair roughly again.

“Pleb, I'll teach you the rules. At such times you must apologize for your attendant's rudeness.”

Fran had held back his anger for me, so I couldn't lose control. I had been told not to rebel against the aristocrats, so I decided to apologize for the moment.

“… I am very sorry, your excellency, that my attendant was so rude to you.”

But my apology seemed to annoy Skicossa again. He pushed me roughly away and I fell to the ground. My a.s.s was aching and my scalp was tingling, but at least he let me go.

“Are you staring at me?! Do you want me to gouge out your eyes?!”

With this thunderous roar, Skicossa turned the gem embedded in his armour glove into a wand. He raised his wand and muttered a short spell, the wand turning into a knife, its cold light looming over the sharp point.

I couldn't help swallowing at the sight of the knife. I kept breaking out in a cold sweat, my frantic beating heart seeming to burst out of my chest. My legs were weak with fear and I could only stare at the knife.

“Skicossa, no! She's still under our guard, and she's the priestess about to perform the ceremony!”

Seeing the knife, Damuel hurriedly put out his hand to stop him. But Skicossa, who had lost his mind, angrily pushed Damuel's hand away and raised the knife to me.

“Get out of my way! She's only going to lose her eyes. What's that got to do with the ceremony?”

I shrank into a ball at the sight of the knife coming down at me. I was at the end of my rope.

“A commoner should curl up in awe of an aristocrat, as you do now!”

I closed my eyes.

Then, beyond the roar of Skicossa, I heard the beat of wings. I looked up carefully and saw the blue cape blowing in the sky behind Skicossa's arm, which held the knife aloft.

“Head Priest!”

As soon as I saw my guardian, who presumably had the power to stop Skicossa, I stood up and asked for help. But at the same moment that I stood up, Skicossa called “Lord Ferdinand,” and hastily withdrew his hand with the knife. In an instant there was burning pain on the back of my left hand.

“Ah!”

“Fool, why are you suddenly on your feet?!”

I lowered my hand and looked at it. It was clear that the cut was quite severe, and that it might take some time for the bleeding to stop. Knowing that an aristocrat would not respond to my complaints, so I said nothing, but rolled up my sleeves quickly so as not to stain my ceremonial dress.

“Master Maine, I'll dress your wound.”

At once Fran opened the bag hanging on his waist. He even had emergency supplies in case of injury. My attendant was excellent beyond comparison.

“Thank you, Fran.”

Blood gushed from the wound and dripped down. As the blood dripped to the ground, it suddenly stirred and made a bobbing sound.

What's that sound? I looked down. My blood was still dripping down to the ground, and each time it hit the ground, the ground would bulge out. That strange bobbing sound came from deep within the bulge. Just as I was wondering, several Tronbay shoots popped up.

“Wow!”

The shoots that shot up from where my blood was dripping grew many times faster than I knew Tronbay to be. Before I could react, my feet were tangled in them.

“Go away!”

I struggled to free myself, but the branches clung to me like vines. While I couldn't move, Tonbay continued to grow as my blood continued to drip. With me at the center, the number of Tronbay shoots were growing at an alarming rate.

“It's… it's not my fault! It's all your own fault for getting up so suddenly!”

Skicossa blurted out these words as if he had spotted something. Then he began to cut Tronbay like crazy with his knife while distancing himself from me.

“Master Maine!”

Without any weapons, Fran tried to save me with his bare hands, but he was no match for the thickened branches.

The branches climbed from my ankles to my knees, then from my knees to my thighs. The green shoots first elongated into slender white branches, then gradually developed the characteristic brown of the tree. Slowly, but steadily, the branches thickened, and the forces that clung to me grew stronger, while new shoots reached out to seize me.

“Priestess!”

In desperation, Damuel ignored Skicossa's threat and turned his gem into a knife. Meanwhile, the Tronbay branches were still growing, layer upon layer, wrapped around me.

“Priestess, do not panic! I will call upon the blessing of the G.o.d of darkness to rescue you!”

Damuel began to recite a prayer. It was very similar to the prayer I was going to say at the ceremony, which was to praise the G.o.ds and ask for blessings. In other words, his prayer, like mine, was long enough to be memorized over and over again.

How much will Tronbay grow as he recites this prayer? The thought of it made me tremble with fear.

… How terrible!

My teeth were chattering. Oh, that fallen tree. Tronbay turned it into a “mummified corpse”. That terrible scene flashed through my mind.

How terrible… How terrible!

My tears welled up at last. Even if I waved my arms to try to drive Tronbay away, it would only make my blood splash and induce more shoots.

The branches wrapped around my thighs somehow crept up to my waist.

Fear broke me down. I opened my mouth and uttered a desperate cry for help:

“Lutz! Lutz! Lutz! Help me!”