“Well, I have caused inconveniences to other guardians, so perhaps I should handle this for the day?”
Twirling her hair, Nainiae mumbled quietly. Looking at the four people, she said,
“I am sorry, but now that I learned of your objective… I cannot allow you to climb any further.”
“What?”
“That maid, it cannot be…”
“No. I am not exactly a guardian of this mountain, but…”
The four people were about to make strange assumptions about her, so Nainiae shook her head and said that was not the case. She blocked their path and explained,
“It’s just that…”
Nainiae swung her right hand with force, and ice walls with icicles formed to left and right of Nainiae. The walls were exuding cold energy.
“I… Ice walls?”
“She is a mage?”
The four people were quite surprised by her magic. They each drew their weapons and got ready for the battle.
“You just said you are all Brave Heroes. The words you spoke earlier… I do not like what you have done.”
Was she thinking about how Riley suffered in his past life? Nainiae was exuding atmosphere that was just as cold as the ice walls that were tightly packed next to her. She swung her hand once again.
“…?!”
The sound of someone gulping could be heard.
It was the brown-haired young man.
“I’ll warn you.”
Several hundred grey colored icicles appeared from the ice walls, and… They were aimed at the four boys and girls who were looking at Nainiae.
The icicles were like arrows on tightly drawn bows. It appeared as if they contained strong resentment toward the four people. The icicles looked like they would be launched and pierce the four targets as soon as Nainiae’s order came. The icicle arrows were all very real.
“Please, all of you, turn back now and go down the mountain.”
Several hundred icicle arrows were floating next to Nainiae. Watching her, the brown-haired young man appeared to be overwhelmed. His sword was shaking. With surprised look, he opened his mouth.
“…”
Due to the shock, they were petrified. Despite the warning, it seemed they were not intending to move at all. Having noticed this, Nainiae shot one of the arrows as a warning.
“… Tsk.”
From where the boys and girls were, someone clicking the tongue could be heard.
‘Um?’
Immediately after the icicle arrow was shot, a girl charged forward. Watching this, Nainiae floated a question mark on her face.
Kaaang!
Afterwards, the arrow was deflected by the girl’s sword with a clashing sound.
‘She defected it?’
To save vacantly petrified young man, the dark-haired girl charged to the front and swung the sword. She quickly hid the sword behind her back and said,
“W… We understand!”
She deflected one, but there were still several hundred icicle arrows left. It seemed the girl who clicked her tongue earlier was scared as well. She was shaking as she lowered her head.
“We didn’t know our place. We are very young, so… We were being foolish. As you advised, we will turn back immediately and go down the mountain. Please forgive us.”
She dropped the sword and pleaded for forgiveness. Nainiae vacantly watched her and looked at the other three.
“P… Please forgive us!”
“We will never come back!”
The other three followed after the dark-haired girl and lowered their heads. They turned around and started to go back down without ever looking back.
“… Just now…”
Of the four, instead of the brown-haired young man who introduced the group as Brave Heroes, Nainiae was more bothered by the black-haired girl. Nainiae glared at her back and mumbled vacantly,
“That swordsmanship. I think I have…”
It was a warning shot, but the girl was concerned the brown-haired young man might get hurt by the icicle arrow, so she charged forward. Nainiae was thinking about her swordsmanship.
“I think I have seen it from somewhere?”
Nainiae disengaged the ice walls and icicle arrows. She held her chin and thought hard about this. In middle of it, she shook her head.
“It’s no time for this. I should follow after Young Master…”
To catch up to Riley who went ahead, she used magic.
It was the spell that she didn’t think about earlier. If she had, climbing the mountain would have been so much easier.
“… Fly.”
She used the magic that temporarily allowed her to fly. Her body floated up to the sky.