Someone was running toward us. Sensing that Eizerg’s attention had shifted toward the approaching presence, I seized the moment and leapt outside with the girl in my arms.

  It was a young man. From his appearance, I could tell he was a member of the town’s vigilante corps.

  He charged in head-on, recklessly swinging his blade. But his skill was nowhere near the level needed to face Eizerg. Every strike he made sliced through empty air.

  “Stay right here,” I told the trembling girl, then turned to assist the young man.

  Just as I moved, Eizerg leapt backward, crouching low in a defensive stance.

  “Megalo Zamber.”

  The flying slash I unleashed struck Eizerg across the face, halting its lunge toward the young man.

  “Run!”

  But he didn’t obey. Instead, he rushed straight at Eizerg—without a hint of hesitation. Even Yuna?san, a Brave Bearer, had frozen before Eizerg. Yet this young man showed no fear.

  “Land Meira.”

  We both activated the same defensive Arcane Art at once, but Eizerg’s tail swept through it like paper, shattering the barrier and sending me tumbling across the ground.

  The young man, though knocked back, dug in his heels and charged again. His blade still failed to land a hit, but his reckless assault, cloaked in fearless sword aura, bought me the time and space I needed to cast another spell.

  “Ex Fyme Arora.”

  Four flaming arrows, forged with all the Mindforce I could muster, ignited around Eizerg’s forelegs. As the rising flames obscured its vision, I closed the distance—and the young man stepped in beside me with a powerful lunge.

  “Aero Seizer.”

  Our voices overlapped. The combined shockwave of our Arcane Skills struck Eizerg with amplified force. The unexpected recoil sent me rolling backward, but I used the momentum to spring back to my feet. The young man did the same.

  “No good.”

  Even my only advanced Arcane Art, even our synchronized strike—none of it seemed to faze Eizerg. What had begun as a miraculous stand thanks to the young man’s sudden intervention was now shifting into a direct confrontation. And once that happened, one of us was bound to fall.

  Surely, the Zero Squad had sensed Eizerg’s presence by now. I had to protect him until reinforcements arrived. Just as I steeled myself in the grip of rising desperation—

  Eizerg suddenly turned and fled.

  “What…?”

  Had it sensed the approaching Subjugation Squad? Surely it hadn’t been driven off by our fighting spirit. I couldn’t say for certain. But the important thing was that the young man and the girl were safe.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I exhaled, letting the tension drain from my body, then walked over to him.

  “You’re brave. But… you didn’t know that was Eizerg, did you? If you ever run into it again, don’t do something so reckless. That’s our job.”

  As I praised his courage while gently admonishing his actions, the young man fixed me with a sharp gaze.

  “You… are you a Sacred Bearer?”

  His serious expression made it hard to read his emotions. He seemed surprised to learn I was a Sacred Bearer.

  “Yes. I’m the one tasked with defeating Eizerg.”

  “…Thanks. But you’re too weak. You’ll get yourself killed like that.”

  His words, offered alongside his thanks, made me take a half-step back.

  “W?Weak? You’re one to talk! You weren’t exactly strong enough to take on Eizerg either, and yet you still jumped in to help me!”

  His blunt honesty made me snap back without thinking.

  “Whether I’m strong or weak doesn’t matter. But for you, it does.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at me, as if trying to convey something with his eyes. I couldn’t quite grasp what he meant.

  “…Whatever. Let’s help your comrades now. I’ll take care of that one— you go check on the other. You can use healing Arcane Arts, right?”

  With that, the young man hurried into a nearby house.

  Still stung by being called weak, I made my way to Yuna?san.

  “I’ll heal you. Please hang in there.”

  Thanks to the efforts of an Arcane Healer who arrived shortly after, Yuna?san’s life was saved.

  She and Andira?san were loaded onto a carriage and taken to the medical ward. When I looked around, the young man and the girl I had rescued were nowhere to be seen. Only the other shrine maidens stood nearby, cloaked in heavy silence, their faces clouded with worry for our fallen comrades.

  During the massacre at the Founding Festival, I had collapsed without even being able to move. Back then, I had been overwhelmed by the sheer difference in power— so much so that I hadn’t even been acknowledged as a threat.

  But this time was different. Brine?san’s training had made me stronger. And I could feel, however faintly, the results of that effort.

  The two senior shrine maidens who had been gravely wounded received intensive treatment and made full physical recoveries. However, Andira?san, unable to heal the wounds in her heart, requested to withdraw from the Zero Squad.

  Though several people had already died in previous encounters with Eizerg, fatalities among the Zero Subjugation Squad remained rare. Even so, the number of resignations continued to grow— one after another, members left. Replacements were brought in, but the squad never quite returned to its full strength of ten.

  “Raymot?san left the squad too, didn’t he?”

  The one who said that was Harl, sweeping in front of the church.

  “Just earlier, Talia?san resigned as well.”

  Those who fought Eizerg often had their spirits broken. Even Yuna?san, a Brave Bearer, though she hadn’t left the squad, had quietly confessed, “The fear of death I felt that day still hasn’t left me.”

  “So that makes six, right? If one more person quits, that’s half the squad gone. What are we going to do?”

  “What can we do? Even when someone’s appointed, they just turn it down.”

  “So they’re refusing volunteers?”

  “I don’t know if there are any volunteers. But I do know the squad is made up entirely of shrine maidens.”

  To protect the secrets of the Order.

  “If that’s the case… I wonder if he was rejected.”

  “He?”

  “A guy who came by just before lunch today. I asked the girl who spoke with him—she said he was hoping to join the Zero Subjugation Squad. I only saw him from a distance, but he looked to be in his early twenties. Pretty handsome, too.”

  “Why would he want to join the Zero Squad?”

  “Maybe because the fatality rate is low?”

  “Harl, don’t joke about things like that.”

  “I’m not joking. You’re the squad’s divine protector, aren’t you? With that kind of blessing, it’s not strange if someone wants to fight alongside you.”

  If someone wanted to fight beside me because I was a Sacred Bearer… I could only feel sorry for them.

  “The bishops are the ones who select the squad members. If I haven’t heard anything, then he was probably rejected for some reason.”

  “Maybe because he’s too young? Or not strong enough? The Subjugation Squad is made up of First?Tier Arms?Bearers and above, after all.”

  “And yet, even those elite fighters are leaving.”

  “Amu, you’d better not die, okay? You promised!”

  “Of course. I will defeat the Ruinbeast Eizerg and become a true hero.”

  Even five days later, the rumors about that young man still hadn’t faded.

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