I need to focus on the enemies in front of me, putting aside familiar faces for now.

Bang!

Before even stepping into the teleportation magic, I swung the sword I had been holding with all my might. With just a single swing, I sent three fully armored knights stumbling back a few steps.

As I quickly scanned my surroundings, I noticed one more guy approaching the butler, who was trying to stand up with trembling legs, separate from the three that were targeting Rizeria.

“I’ll borrow this for a moment.”

But I didn’t need to move my feet. Asking for Rizeria’s permission, I stealthily took a dagger that didn’t quite match her delicate hands from her grasp.

As I adjusted my grip for throwing, I immediately assessed the weight of the dagger, the length of the blade, and its balance before launching it at the guy who had his back turned to me.

Swish! The sound of slicing air accompanied the dagger as it plunged through the gaps in the knight’s shoulder armor.

The knight, who was raising his sword to strike the butler, lost his grip on his weapon as the dagger buried deep into his shoulder.

As soon as I confirmed that I had rescued us from a crisis, Rizeria, along with the two maids who had stepped forward to protect her, quickly pulled back to hide behind me. Just in case there were snipers or a wizard supporting the attackers.

Of course, since I had only one body, I couldn’t shield the butler, who was farther away. But I wouldn’t complain since I just saved him from nearly being killed. The knights, who had declared themselves rebels, were primarily after Rizeria anyway, so they probably wouldn’t target the butler in this situation.

Fortunately, there was no additional support, and only the three knights who had been knocked back stood up and approached me. Glancing over, I saw that the one with the dagger embedded in his shoulder was now approaching me, holding a dagger pulled from his own shoulder instead of his fallen longsword.

In an instant, four men were surrounding me. Given my feminine physique, the size difference was already considerable, especially with them being fully armed, which made their imposing statures and the weight of their armor quite intimidating.

But really, I had no reason to be afraid. After all, they were just four knights. No matter how prestigious the royal knights might be, four average knights wouldn’t be a difficult match for me, not even the captain of the knights.

No matter how heavy their armor was, could it possibly outweigh the name Sword Master?

Being the pinnacle of swords is not a light matter.

As we stood facing each other for a moment, the silence was brief.

Without exchanging any signals, all four charging towards me simultaneously.

Due to the differences in stride, I swung my Holy Sword to parry the knight’s attack who came in first. His sword might have been decent, but it was like a twig compared to the Holy Sword. Not even the energy contained in his sword could reach my toes.

So what was the result?

Clank! The sound of shattering glass echoed as his sword shattered into pieces. Seizing the fleeting opening, I kicked him in the side, sending him crashing through the wall into the adjacent room.

Close combat is Anne’s specialty, but my own skills learned from receiving half-hearted punches from her are also quite formidable.

The knight, being encumbered by his heavy armor, was knocked out cold.

Three were left.

The two who arrived next swung their swords from either side. They were likely hoping that if one of them broke my sword like earlier, the other could land a hit on me. A pretty decent line of thought.

But this time, I took a subtle step back and extended my sword forward without exerting much force against the air.

Suddenly, the knight on my right was pulled toward my sword as if it had been there all along. Giving my wrist a light twist, his sword redirected toward the one who was swinging his sword from the other side.

Thunk!

In an instant, the direction of the knight’s sword plunged into our ally’s side. As a result, the other knight who was initially targeting me ended up stumbling and swinging his sword into thin air.

Not caring for the consequences, I kicked the leg of the knight facing me, effortlessly causing him to lose his balance and tangle with his comrade. Given their heavy armor, it would take some time for them to disentangle themselves.

There remained one.

The distant knight, who had been targeting the butler, approached with one hand pulling out Rizeria’s dagger stuck in his shoulder, clearly not intending to pick up his fallen sword.

I summoned my aura. Even among the best of swords, the glowing silver blade of the Holy Sword appeared extremely sacred. Of course, it still couldn’t compare to Selian’s golden aura.

He lunged directly for my heart with the dagger, but I evaded it by just slightly shifting my body. Then, without any fancy maneuvers, I raised the Holy Sword imbued with aura.

Slash!

With that single action, his wrist was severed, and blood gushed from his arm. He seemed to have considerable tenacity, not even letting out a small scream despite the pain. Instead, one of the maids hiding behind him gasped in horror at the sight of the blood. I certainly couldn’t allow such a sight to show up.

I kicked him away to quickly clear him from my feet, sending him crashing down on the knight I had already knocked out. They both passed out together. Even though he was bleeding profusely from the severed wrist, there was no need to fuss over it.

“Oops…!”

Instead, I reached up to snatch the severed wrist mid-air. Of course, this wasn’t out of a kind-hearted notion to reattach it.

I extended my fingers one by one, grasping the dagger he had been holding tightly, and tossed the now useless wrist onto the floor.

Taking out my handkerchief, I wiped the blood off the dagger thoroughly until it gleamed.

“Here you go, thank you for lending it to me. I put it to good use.”

Grabbing the now-clean blade, I offered it to Rizeria.

“Yes, yes….”

Receiving the dagger from me, Rizeria’s face still bore a dazed expression from the sudden turn of events.

“So, how did I look? Did I seem pretty heroic?”

Even when I attempted to joke, Rizeria remained as though she had seen a ghost.

It was only natural to be stunned in a life-or-death situation, and even more so since she probably never imagined it would be me who would come to her rescue.

I nonchalantly kicked the one groaning at my feet into unconsciousness and flashed a bright smile at Rizeria, intending to reassure her as if nothing had happened.

Slowly, Rizeria approached me, raising her hands to feel my face.

“Elysia…?”

“Yes, it’s the hero who came to rescue the princess! Ah, would this get me accused of blasphemy?”

Well, considering that Rizeria was also the daughter of a duke, her status might be on par with that of a princess, so I figured it should be fine.

However, even after hearing my voice, Rizeria slowly traced her fingers over my cheeks, nose, and lips repeatedly. Finally, it seemed she began to believe that I was really standing right in front of her, her expressions shifting one after another.

Her surprised face quickly turned into astonishment, followed by her turning away in bashfulness. But ultimately, her face flushed crimson with embarrassment, and she smiled brightly back at me.

At the same time, Rizeria opened her arms and dove into my embrace.

She buried her face in my chest, sniffling as if she were about to cry.

Perhaps she had forced herself to be brave in front of the enemies and her maids, but now that she felt relieved, her tension had melted away.

Not wanting to show her crying face, she pressed deeper into me, hiding her face in my embrace.

Considering the situation, I knew we should be moving to a safe place immediately, but instead of rushing her, I gently stroked her hair with my hand, allowing her the comfort of knowing she could relax now.

*

With Rizeria finally calmed down, I gathered the scattered enemies together. I was certainly skilled at killing, but the reason I didn’t take lives needlessly was to interrogate them. Who was behind this? Who was involved in the rebellion? What were their motives?

However, as I gathered them, I suddenly noticed something.

It was none other than the arm of the man whose wrist had been severed. Normally, it should still be bleeding without even a first aid, but that arm was already miraculously healed.

No matter how much better their recovery might be due to their aura, this was ridiculous. But the wound was undeniably healed, and the sight of it chilled my face.

It looked as if it had been forcibly closed up, covered in familiar purple mucus.

I rushed to remove his helmet, and his eyes were bulging with a lack of focus, with violet veins running across the sclera. I checked the other three’s helmets as well, but the situation was the same.

As far as I knew, there was only one person capable of such an act.

“…Glen.”

The one we had been searching for in all the wrong places, the Four Heavenly King Glen.