Sacred Forest (1)

Sanders quickly ran and grabbed the shoulders of the person who looked like Frondier, or rather was dressed like Frondier.

"Who are you!"

"Ugh!"

The person in Frondier's attire shrank back in surprise. Sanders looked at his face. It was a face he had never seen before. He was not a knight. He might not even be a soldier.

The scruffy face seemed ungroomed and a strange smell pierced through the cold.

"Who are you!" he demanded.

"I-I'm Grobel..."

"Grobel? Which faction do you belong to?"

"I, I'm just a prisoner, sir."

Sanders felt dizzy at Grobel's response.

A mere prisoner could not be standing in Frondier's attire. It must have been part of Frondier's plan.

To be able to escape anytime by changing clothes. Even the fact that he put on thick clothing mid-way was part of the plan.

"I just did as I was told..."

"I know that! What is Frondier's purpose?"

"I really don't know..."

With a swoosh, Sanders roughly pushed Grobel's shoulder. It was just venting his anger, yet he didn't feel any better.

Come to think of it, Frondier was just a student. Not even half an adult. Let alone a knight. It was wrong to expect anything from such a child.

"It's okay. I've done well even without him. The tactics remain unchanged."

While thinking, tension built in Sanders' jaw and his muscles bulged. It was a battlefield where winning was almost impossible, but Frondier's escape made the word "almost" waver.

With a feeling of vomiting blood, Sanders shouted, "Kill them! Do not set foot on this land of Tyburn!!"

* * *

"What, what? What's going on?"

Sybil was startled to see commotion on the battlement.

Sanders was shouting at someone and gesturing aggressively.

Aten also saw. She realized that the person Sanders was facing was wearing the same attire as Frondier, who had been on the battlement.

"...a fake."

"Huh?"

"I think Frondier set up a fake wearing his clothes."

"...What?"

Sybil looked up at the battlement. Frondier was indeed nowhere to be seen.

"...So, Frondier is not up there then?"

"No. Probably not."

Sybil and Aten were momentarily speechless at this absurd situation.

But they were not consumed by anger like Sanders. As they grasped the situation, they both simultaneously realized something.

"...Cassian."

"Did he ask for that to be borrowed, by any chance?"

Both simultaneously looked in a direction, not towards Tyburn, but towards the barracks.

Oddly, they didn't think that Frondier had escaped on Cassian. Rather, a more horrific assumption came to mind.

"Could it be, he crossed the barrier?"

"To go beyond the domain outside."

The two climbed atop the barrier. At this moment, Sanders' warning of danger was completely forgotten.

Aten utilized mana detection, while Sybil heightened her sensory perception to the maximum to search for Frondier.

And unfortunately, the conclusion they both arrived at was correct.

Almost simultaneously, they spotted Frondier. Riding on Cassian, speeding towards the 'Sacred Forest' with Selena also aboard.

Crack, a sound came from Sybil's teeth. She was so angry that she felt she might just break the barrier herself.

"You, really, make me laugh...! Frondier...!!"

Her voice trembled with rage, so much so that an aura began to emanate from her even though the monsters hadn't approached anywhere close.

Swoosh-

Aten caught Sybil's wrist. Sybil startled. Aten's body temperature was usually cooler than others, but the hand that grabbed her wrist just now was exceptionally cold.

"...We need to block the barrier."

No breath fogged from Aten's breath, indicating how close her body was to the freezing temperatures.

Her transparent eyes now looked like meticulously carved pieces of ice.

Aten became colder as her anger rose. Sybil profoundly realized this fact.

"...Right."

Sybil agreed.

Frondier might be detestable, but they had a mission to complete.