“...What did you just say?”
At Cassian's icy retort, Silian hastily dropped his gaze.
“Thank you, that you'd think of me that way.”
Not one to miss the opening, Ollia curved his eyes warmly and stepped closer to Silian. Then he turned to look back at Cassian and said,
“There's more I'd like to talk about with Priest Silian. You must be busy too, so why don't you head off now?”
“...”
“See you later.”
As if he wouldn't permit any further interference, Ollia took hold of Silian's arm and drew him away to another spot.
Cassian stood rooted in place, staring at the backs of the two men as they slowly grew more distant.
A fierce blizzard raged from every direction, yet his insides boiled so hot that he couldn't even feel the cold. His head throbbed, and a vein stood out on his forehead.
Put simply, he was pissed off.
Because Ollia hadn't done as he'd said?
Because Ollia had ignored him even after he'd warned of the danger?
No, Cassian could tell there was an even more pathetic reason.
So it wasn't just hero candidates he took an interest in.
The very fact that Ollia was showing interest in Silian left him displeased.
The man who'd clung to him alone, forever going on about heroes, now offering kindness and drawing close to a man who could never be a hero candidate, and never should be, it grated on him.
At the same time, a faint realization surfaced.
That for Ollia, his obsession with hero candidates and romantic attraction might be two different kinds of feeling.
It was stranger to have equated the two in the first place. Ollia wanted a hero to save the world alongside him, but that didn't mean he was passionately in love with that hero.
...Does he have feelings for Silian?
Certainly, even to Cassian's eyes, Silian counted among the good-looking. He was tall, and though he gave off a gloomy air, someone like Ollia might well take pity on precisely that sort of thing and grow attentive to it.
“...Damn it.”
Muttering a low curse, Cassian turned on his heel.
Whether Ollia had feelings for Silian or not, what did that have to do with him? He wasn't dating Ollia, nor did he love him.
He was simply annoyed.
The man who'd feigned hollow affection and even tried to offer up that sacred body of his in order to bind Cassian as a hero now treated him as little more than a bothersome obstacle in front of the one he truly cared for.
Wouldn't anyone be annoyed at being treated that way? It'd be strange not to be.
Right. There's no way the priest would come to harm in a camp crawling with knights.
So there was no need for him to trail after Ollia, fretting like a parent who'd left a child by the water's edge.
He'd put it out of his mind.
Forcibly cutting off the thought, he headed back to camp for the training he'd broken off.
And the next day.
The moment the sun rose, the mages of the two expeditions opened their portals.
While they waited in formation, Ollia stole glances at Cassian behind him.
After he'd left with Silian, Ollia had thought Cassian would be angry.
But even after Ollia returned, Cassian made no attempt to talk it out or to persuade him. He looked after Ollia's meals as usual and silently received his treatments.
Even when Ollia subtly fished, wondering whether he was hiding his anger, there was no reaction that caught on anything. That was both a relief and an ill omen.
To think not being able to see his affection would be this inconvenient.
When on earth would he be able to see Cassian's affection again? If he could figure out why Cassian's affection alone stayed hidden, he might be able to solve it.
As he diligently stole looks at that expressionless, handsome face today too, the order came to cross through the portal.
The Republic of Halen.
Until the disaster spread, it had been a nation the empire kept in check, boasting formidable military power and strict control.
But as the erosion of the northern continent advanced, the Republic of Halen couldn't escape decline either. That it had still managed to preserve the form of a nation could be credited entirely to the consul's outstanding governance.
Just how outstanding was that ability? Enough that even after his term ended, in light of the special circumstances of the disaster, they appointed him dictator.
Yet he still called himself consul, so his popular esteem was considerable as well.
The consul, Delux Hawk, unlike the king of Naria, used all of the nation's military might to protect his people.
The state itself took the lead in instilling courage and a fighting spirit, and the councilors and their children inherited that resolve. With those who led and upheld the nation setting the example by taking the front lines of the battlefield, the citizens naturally came to devote themselves to struggle and unity.
The Republic of Halen also gladly took in immigrants who had fled the disaster, and so it could ceaselessly replenish its talent and manpower.
In the end, what protected the Republic of Halen was endless struggle and harmony.
“Spread the flames!”
“Reinforce the barrier on the gate! Hurry!”
“Front, one hundred fifty meters, multiple monsters detected! Ready ranged magic and fire!”
The two expeditions, having opened a portal onto Halen's border defense line, were swept into the middle of a frantic battlefield the moment they set foot on the new land.
Flower Heads were massed on every side of them, and the thickly settled black energy made it hard to get one's bearings.
“Looks like the black fog kept them from noticing we came through the portal. We'll have to clear the monsters and move to the wall to attempt contact.”
After giving orders to his squad leaders, Hersta spoke to Heilon, who had come through with them.
“The Republic's soldiers are going to pour fire down on us. Let your expedition take charge of the defense.”
As long as they hadn't caught on to this side's presence, the attacks aimed at the monsters would rain down on the expeditions too. So he proposed a division of roles, but Heilon snorted.
“If you need defense, you handle it. My knights have no talent for covering others. All of you! Break through the monsters in front of you and advance to the gate!”
“Yes, ma'am!”
She seemed to have not the slightest intention of cooperating with Hersta. Baring her belligerence, she plunged into the monsters at the front. Clicking his tongue briefly, Hersta turned his horse's head.
“Third squad, throw a barrier over the knights' heads! First squad, help the princess's expedition and clear a path! Second squad, the instant you see an opening, rush the gate! Priest Ollia, focus on clearing the fog!”
As each squad scattered to follow the orders, Ollia too swiftly spread out his divine power.
If it's going to be like this every time we cross a portal, isn't that a problem?
The one saving grace was that the monsters here were Flower Heads, the kind the knights were used to.
If new monsters and beasts had appeared as they had in the Lowe Mountains, quite the headache would have unfolded.
When he released his divine power from among the mages, light rapidly flooded out, brightening the surroundings and revealing the situation far more clearly.
Fireballs falling like meteors over the knights' heads, and a rain of arrows pouring down as if chasing their trajectories. As the monsters struck by the attacks toppled one after another with raucous shrieks, the monsters in the rear trampled the corpses of their fallen kin without hesitation and charged.
The Flower Heads' long arms collided with sword aura and even deflected the attacks coming from the sky. The attacks crisscrossing every which way turned the battlefield into pandemonium.
Amid that chaos, the violet eyes keenly watched a single man.
Silian Constance.
He was mixed in among the mages of the princess's expedition. Whether there'd been some special order or he was simply frightened, he showed no particular action. He merely looked around among them as if surveying his surroundings.
The gaze sweeping over him suddenly fell to Silian's fingertips.
It looks oddly... black.
Perhaps the black fog surging back in the moment it was driven off had cast a shadow, but Silian's hand looked unusually dark.
Maybe he was using an ability. He could be healing the princess's knights hidden in the fog, or trying to drive the fog away.
But couldn't there be some other intent?
Just as his eyes narrowed, following the suspicion.
“All forces, advance to the gate! Advance!”
From afar came the urgent shouts of Hersta and the squad leaders. Ollia spurred his horse and raced along the path the knights had cleared.
Unlike the front, which had been cleanly cleared in the meantime, in the rear countless monsters were still pursuing their allies.
But the moment even the rearmost third squad finished moving up before the gate.
Fwoooosh!
A blast of scorching wind swept up behind Ollia's back.
Reflexively turning his head, an unreal scene filled his sight.
Beneath a bluish magic circle spread across the sky, flames of every color blanketed the ground. Sparks as gorgeous as peacock feathers were devouring every last monster within their range.
The flames that swallowed the monsters soon sucked up their lives, swelling in size as if delighted, then shot up into the sky and burst like a splendid firework.
As Ollia gazed blankly at the flames adorning the sky, a familiar voice came from above his head.
“Priest? You arrived later than I expected.”
