The grey-skinned orc dropped to the ground with a thud. Julia swung her blade to get rid of the blood and Kazuya dismounted to examine the remains.

"(This person…)" Julia was a little shocked at how natural Kazuya was while curiously looking over the headless corpse.

Though she was not unfamiliar with killing monsters, there was still a part of her that was disgusted with the remains of creatures that were human-like in shape. A royal knight was responsible for the protection of the royal family and the n.o.bles. As someone who had just reached the age of two decades, as much as she didn't like to admit it, she was still inexperienced.

"How strange…" Kazuya muttered.

"Is something wrong?" Julia sheathed her sword and approached.

"Are orcs like this one supposed to be close to the capital?" he asked a leading question to make Julia think about the current situation.

"Huh?" realizing that the hero's question had meaning, she answered. "No. Though we are already a distance away from the capital, we have just reached the entrance to the western forest. Grey-skinned orcs should be located closer to the mountains that's supposed to be a day away."

"I see…" he examined the body and pointed at the wounds all over the orc. "It was wounded before you fought with it."

"Come to think of it… this orc was alone as well. Grey-skinned orcs are ferocious, but they are known to act like goblins and overwhelm their enemies with numbers. This is strange…" she looked at him strangely.

She felt a little bitter towards Kazuya for pointing out the things that she herself should have realized. He shouldn't have much knowledge of this world.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kazuya rained his eyebrow at her.

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"It's nothing… if I didn't know any better, I would say that it seems that you know quite a lot for a person who has only been in this world for a few days."

"sigh…" Kazuya shook his head. "For a person who's supposed to protect people for a living, you are a bit slow."

"What are you talking about?"

"Whether it is a simple job of escorting or rescuing, shouldn't you always be aware of the dangers and risks that are involved? Though I don't dare brag that I know everything, I have browsed through compendiums of monsters that can be found in this world."

"Monster compendiums… y-you decided to help the kingdom?" she tried to hold back her excitement.

"Why do you seem happy about whether I help or not? If I decide to help, that means you, MY subordinate, will be put in danger along with me." He pretended not to notice what was on her mind.

"Whoever's subordinate I am doesn't change the fact that I was born in this kingdom. Why wouldn't I want to help in saving it?"

"Hmm… you have a point." He bent down to pick up the fallen orc's weapon and pouch. "Though I'm sorry to burst your bubble, like I said earlier, I need more information before I decide. Though I've gotten you as a subordinate unexpectedly, like I've already said earlier, I am not a warrior nor am I strong."

"But that's normal." Julia finally got her chance and didn't want to let go of the opportunity. "Like you say, you are from a world that has no mana. Records say that heroes that are summoned only realized how much affinity they have with mana after reaching our world. Don't you feel it?" She recalled what had happened earlier.

"You even sensed the orc before I did. Your senses are already sharper than a royal knight like me. You would only need to learn how to harness your potential though training and it should be fine." She encouraged.

"Though I've already thought about that. I find it suspicious that you're overly enthusiastic about all of this so suddenly." he looked at her suspiciously.

"W-why are you looking at me like that? W-what's wrong with being glad that I wont just be a regular servant and get to use the training I've had since I was a child to good use?"

"You're even stuttering…" he stared at her with half open eyes. "Oh! I see. I think I understand what you're thinking about." he grinned.

"W-what a.s.sumptions are you thinking about now?" she nervously looked at him. She wanted to curse herself for being too excited.

"I've looked a little into the so-called heroes of the past. Although I wasn't able to completely read everything because I was called to the castle, I know that there were times that the heroes were sent back with their friends or loved ones." he grinned.

"You… you don't mean." Julia s.h.i.+vered.

"Why would I leave such a loyal and talented subordinate alone in this world?" he smiled.

Ignoring Julia's state, Kazuya stored his spoils after cleaning the blood and entered the forest. He was able to successfully change what the knight had been thinking about. In Julia's current state, there would be a low chance that she would be able to figure out that this orc had gone up against humans rather than monsters.

"(There shouldn't be any trouble with how this person thinks. Though I said the purpose of this trip was to sightsee, she hasn't questioned why we've been running around at top speed.)"

Entering the forest, they couldn't keep making the horses run at top speed. While Julia had been lamenting over her situation, she was also able to discover just how much the hero had learned in such a short time.

They would often stop whenever Kazuya caught sight of herbs, some of which she was not familiar with. At first, Kazuya did it out of habit. After seeing that Julia didn't put much thought into it, he continued picking up anything that he could use while they made their way through the forest.

"Strange… are forests normally this peaceful?" Kazuya took the initiative and started a conversation.

They have been going deeper into the forest, but they hardly encountered any monsters. Though they encountered a stray orc near the outskirts of the forest, there hasn't been any sign of even goblins that were supposed to be common there.

"That is… strange..." Julia looked around.

The western forest near the capital was dubbed the 'goblin forest' by the adventurers since this was the place they went to whenever they took upon goblin subjugation quests.

"(Is it because I came a few months too early? Or is it because I've changed?)" Kazuya was speechless at how different this Julia was compared to the one in his memories.

"(Did I take the fight between the king's faction and duke Eberbach lightly?)" he thought.

Not much was written between the infighting between the fallen Eberbach household and the king's faction when Kazuya learned about it in his previous life. It had yet to be written in the kingdom's history, so the information was simplified when he was told about it.

He didn't know about Alicia who seemed to not have changed all that much with her schemes, but Julia Tisdale was still unable to hold her emotions as he had known her to. She was still undoubtedly loyal to the crown, yet, the startling difference between the two was staring at Kazuya so much that he wasn't able to deny it even if he wanted to.

"Hey, I have a question." Kazuya stored the herbs he extracted and turned to Julia. "Have you killed many humans before?"

"What kind of question is that? Do I look like a soft kind of person to you?" Julia felt insulted and immediately glared at him.

"It looks like there hasn't been that many." He felt convinced that he had found a reason for the difference in the person he knew.

Even with his past naïve self, Kazuya was curious about the Zweifel kingdom. He learned a little about its history. Though there were skirmishes between some of the kingdoms, the Kingdom was free from any major wars for nearly five decades before he arrived.

"Why did you suddenly ask such a… Are you looking down on me?" her eyebrow twitched. "I may be young, but I am… or used to be the princess' Royal guard. I only go to the battlefield when she does. Even so, I've slain a fair share of humans that have tried to bring harm to her."

"I see. So you haven't partic.i.p.ated in any major wars." He casually smiled.

"What wars? I'll have you know, our kingdom is one of the most powerful human kingdoms in Edea, if anyone wants to fight against us, there should be a—"

"So, this country has been in peace for a long time huh…" he grinned.

"That's not the point! Don't change the top—"

"Shh!" Kazuya stopped walking and immediately gestured to be quiet. "Do you hear that?"

*clang!*

"Huh?" Julia frowned but extended her senses towards the direction he was looking at.

"Looks like there's a battle nearby." They secured the horses near a group of trees before shurrying towards the direction of the sound.

"It could be the group where that orc got separated from." Julia commented and kept her guard up.

She warned him because she didn't like the fact that Kazuya was taking the initiative to seek trouble. Julia had no right to command him so she could only warn him. No matter what he did, she would have to keep him safe because her life had been bound to him the moment he was given authority over her soul.

"Looks like there should be people near here…" Kazuya stopped as they arrived at a place where several grey-skinned orc corpses were scattered around.

With the number of them, Julia immediately realized that the wounds they have suffered should not have been from any other monsters. These orcs were definitely killed by bladed weapons and the culprits seemed to be engaged in battle judging by the current sounds nearby.

*CLANG!*

The two hid their presence and made their way towards the clearing where the sounds came from. Kazuya secretly glanced over to watch Julia's expression the moment they were able to see that the commotion wasn't done by orcs but by two groups of humans.

"Ojou-sama! Please step back!" one of the knights spoke to a girl pointing her sword at the group of masked people.

"I will not. These people aren't here by coincidence." The young girl replied with a resolute face.

"Who are you people? Why are you attacking me?" She remained vigilant as they were currently outnumbered.

Her group consisted of only two knights and a number of trainees that were yet to be a.s.signed to any of her family's units. They were currently outnumbered as they were slowly getting pushed back by more than ten a.s.sailants who seemed to have been highly trained.

They had just finished the battle with a group of orcs that they stumbled upon. Their conditions were not optimal to go up against such a group and despite the courage the girl was showing in front of her enemies, they were currently in dire straits.

"Dead people don't need to know!" Half of the masked group attack while the others tried to surround the girl and her companions.

The girl knew that their chances of survival would severely diminish if they let themselves be surrounded so she initiated an attack with the help of one knight. The other knight teamed up with the trainees and prevented themselves from being surrounded.

"(This isn't good. It's only a matter of time before we fall apart.)" the girl jumped back after successfully disabling one of the attackers with a series of pierces.

She couldn't help but feel bitter. If they hadn't dealt with the orcs before these men showed up, they might have stood a better chance against these mysterious people.

"(This…)" A scary thought came to her mind. "(Did these people make us fight the orcs to wear us down?)"

Before she could unleash her rage towards them, a sudden shout distracted her.

"UGH!" one of the a.s.sailants' sword pierced the trainee's neck.

"Jay!" the other trainee shouted in rage and immediately raised his blade towards the attacker.

"Stop!" however, the knight's pleas were too late. His subordinate had lost himself after seeing his friend suffer a critical wound and immediately tried to save him.

Their formation had started to fall apart because of this as the trainee who had tried to help immediately got attacked by the group of men. He had been too focused on his friend and neglected to notice one of the attackers approach him from behind.

The knight clicked his tongue and blocked the other three trainees with his blade. The small hope they had even diminished further. They now needed to make a choice. They all served one house and though they didn't dare to vocalize their suspicions on who these men were, the skills these people were using betrayed them.

"Milady!" signaling towards his partner, the girl was pulled back before she could launch another attack.

"No!" she immediately replied.

Of course, she knew what they intended to do. They had intended to sacrifice themselves in order to give her a chance to get away. She didn't want to take such a chance because she already knew that the chances of her escaping from these skilled people were almost nonexistent.

They meticulously planned to tire them out with monsters. With this being premeditated, how can they not have measures to prevent them from escaping. Even the place they were currently fighting in was advantageous towards the a.s.sailants.

"Milady please understand. If you die here, all of our comrades will soon follow. You know how the duke will react if something happens to you…" the knight reasoned.

He was right and she couldn't deny it. Even though she hadn't been aware of the ident.i.ties of these people, with the current circ.u.mstances, even she had her own suspicions.

The timing for this attack was too coincidental to have been planned by outside forces. Elrich's friction against the king's faction recently was only known to those attending meetings in the castle and their direct subordinates. If his only daughter died here, the duke would not rest until the culprit is found and slain.

Their attackers didn't plan on letting them plan anything and intensified their attacks. Though the knights and trainees carried s.h.i.+elds, they were gradually suffering several wounds since they had started being on the defensive.

"I will make whoever is responsible pay for this…" she gripped her weapon tightly and concentrated the mana she had been saving up.

The attackers noticed the sudden increase in pressure and hesitated for a split second. That was enough for the two knights to initiate their desperate attack to secure a path for their liege.

"For house Eberbach!!!" the knight roared as he raised his s.h.i.+eld to take on the attacks.

Using mana to enhance his body, the two knights took on several blades and abandoned defense. They let the blades pierce and slash their bodies but made sure that these weapons couldn't be pulled out while they were still alive.

The trainees themselves didn't waste their superiors' actions and attacked with all they had while defending the girl's back. The a.s.sailants who had their weapons embedded in the knights' bodies were the first victims of this suicide attack.

"House Eberbach truly deserves the reputation of producing the kingdom's most reliable of subordinates." The leader of the unknown attackers couldn't help but speak.

He had stayed back and watched the whole process along with two other subordinates. Taking pleasure in witnessing what the famed subordinates of the Eberbach house would do, he gestured the two standing behind him to go after the girl.

"(I have to get through this and take revenge for the people who sacrificed themselves for me!)" she readied herself to break through the two who were trying to stop her.

She could sense that skills and mana of these two attackers were definitely above hers, but there was no other choice left but for her to believe she could do it. These two were the only thing stopping her from the escape path that her escorts sacrificed their lives to give her.

"Zephyr Rus.h.!.+"

Strong winds converged on the tip of her rapier that had been pointed in front of her path. Leaves from the trees scattered around violently as she knew that this was her moment between life and death.

"STOP HE—" the masked leader's command was interrupted by loud sounds that he couldn't identify.

*THUD* *CRASH*

The clash between the three people ended up not being within the masked leader's expectations as he watched his two subordinates powerlessly got blown away by the girl's skill. He clicked his tongue and immediately ran towards the direction the girl went.

She had broken through. Though the girl didn't understand how the two men who tried to stop her get blown away with little resistance, she had no time to consider this as there were still enemies coming to chase after her.

"Everyone after her!" the leader turned towards the rest of his subordinates who were supposed to have been done with the remnants of the girl's escorts but what he saw immediately made his mouth gape wide open in shock.

All of his men were scattered on the ground. There was currently only one survivor and it was one of the trainees that had been on their knees with heavy wounds.

"What the h.e.l.l!?" after closely looking at one of his people, he found that a small hole could be seen on the mask that had been distributed to hide their ident.i.ties.

"Heya!" a call from behind him had startled the leader of the mysterious attackers.

A boy walked out from the forest together with a person who had been wearing a hood to hide her face. It was a duo of a young man who had two unknown metallic objects in his hands and a woman who had a sword on her waist.

"You did this!?" there had been no one else in the area so the frustration of losing his subordinates was immediately directed towards the two.

The commander's rage caused the atmosphere to turn heavy. He did not have any intentions to fight seriously because there hadn't been a need to but he wanted to make the two who ruined his perfect trap to wish they had never been born before he found out who they were.

"What a scary guy." The boy's smile made him sense something that made him a little cautious.

"I figured I should try out the role that was expected of me, but since it's too troublesome to handle multiple things at the same time. I simply let the damsel in distress go so that i can put the a.s.sailant under duress."

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