"Mm."
Artoria, eyes still closed in meditation, asked calmly, "What about the Kingdom of Falmuth's army? Have they departed?"
"Not yet."
"Hmph."
Artoria shook her head. "The humans of this world are too inefficient."
Opening her eyes, a trace of impatience flickered in her emerald gaze.
"Rin told me the Eastern Empire's military is far superior to the Western Nations'. In that sense, I'm honestly a bit envious of Snow Empress."
Snow Empress was handling the eastern front, far from the human battlefield Artoria was focused on.
The monster forces Rin had assigned to each of them were also different.
Snow Empress had the Tengu Clan, experts in aerial warfare, and the Oni Clan, whose average combat strength was at Special A-rank.
Although her numbers were smaller than Artoria's, in overall combat power, she had the upper hand.
"The human nobles in the West are just like that, Lady Artoria," Haruka said. "But the Holy Empire of Lubelius arrived fairly quickly, didn't they?"
"Hinata Sakaguchi?"
Artoria had accepted Rin's command to intercept the human armies coming from the West.
She didn't take the Kingdom of Falmuth seriously at all.
Thirty thousand demi-humans were enough to completely wipe them out.
As for the Dragon and Wolf Clans, their role was to encircle and cut off any escape routes for the Kingdom's forces.
And she would personally lead the Dragon Clan straight to the front lines—to test the strength of that awakened Saint.
"Those in front, why aren't you moving?"
"Why are you blocking the way?"
At the city gate, wheel ruts crisscrossed the flagstone road. The screech of carriage wheels grinding against stone echoed like rapid drumbeats.
The city guards' eyes swept the crowd like hawks, sharp and wary as they scrutinized every passerby.
This was a border city of the Kingdom of Englassia.
It was also a fortress city, guarding against invasion from neighboring nations and wild monsters.
Upon hearing that the Kingdom of Falmuth was preparing to invade the Great Jura Forest, Shizue had rushed back from the academy with the children.
She rented a large carriage with enough space for all five children.
The group consisted of two girls and three boys.
The girls were Chloe Aubert and Alice Rondo.
The boys were Kenya Misaki, Ryota Sekiguchi, and Gale Gibson.
"War?"
Just as they were about to cross into the Kingdom of Falmuth, their carriage was halted by city guards.
"Yes. Because the Kingdom of Falmuth is mobilizing a large army, the Kingdom of Englassia is temporarily closing the borders."
That was the official explanation from the guards.
The crowd erupted instantly, especially merchants traveling between countries. For them, not being allowed to leave was a catastrophe.
"How can this be?!"
"I only have a few days left to deliver this shipment. If I don't make it, I'll go bankrupt!"
"Englassia has no right to restrict our freedom of movement!"
"This isn't in line with the law!"
But the protests fell on deaf ears. Englassia deployed soldiers to crush all opposition on the spot.
Seeing this, Shizue's face grew grim.
Because just now, she had attempted to use Spatial Magic to teleport herself and the children directly to preset coordinates in the Great Jura Forest.
And it had failed.
'How could this be?'
Shizue looked up, golden light flickering in her eyes.
In the next moment, a pale blue magic barrier came into view.
"A barrier...?"
She could see the wide-range magical barrier that covered the entire border fortress.
It was that barrier that was interfering with her Spatial Magic.
"Shizu-sensei?"
A soft voice called out.
The one speaking was Chloe, the small black-haired girl who looked like a fragile bunny.
"What is it, Chloe?"
"Can we not get out?"
"..."
If it had been the old Shizue, she would have followed Englassia's policy to protect the children's safety.
But now, she was a quasi-Demon Lord-level being with hundreds of thousands of magicules.
There was no way a bunch of common soldiers could stop her.
'Should I break through by force?'
She was completely confident in her ability to take the children and leave without anyone realizing.
Once she got past the barrier, she could use Spatial Magic and reach the Jura Great Forest in an instant.
'But something about this feels off...'
Her Spatial Magic was already top-tier among general skills.
To interfere with it would require something at the Unique Skill level or above.
She didn't have a Unique Skill related to space-time.
But would Englassia really go this far over a simple war?
'Maintaining such a massive barrier costs a ridiculous amount of magical energy and resources.'
'Just because the Kingdom of Falmuth declared war on the Great Jura Forest?'
That was hard to believe.
To anyone unaware, it might even look like Falmuth was invading Englassia itself.
'No... something's definitely wrong here.'
The only conclusion Shizue could draw was that the one who erected the barrier wanted to keep certain individuals from leaving.
'Someone powerful enough to cast a barrier of this scale...'
'And at this exact time...'
She couldn't help but suspect someone was targeting her directly.
And honestly, who else in the city warranted this kind of precaution?
"Never mind."
Shizue had three options.
One: wait and stay put.
Two: call Rin.
With his Spatial Magic, he could teleport her and the kids across thousands of kilometers in an instant.
Three: break through the barrier and escape, then teleport once outside its range.
'I can't bother Rin.'
'So, I'll fight my way out.'
In the span of a dozen breaths, Shizue had analyzed the situation and made her decision.
She raised her hand.
An invisible barrier of magicules enveloped the children's carriage.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)