"Something's definitely wrong. First Orun-san, now Lu-nee too—both suddenly leaving for urgent business. What do you think, Rogue?"
Sophia asked me from inside the carriage.
She was right. The situation didn't add up.
If it was just Master having urgent business, I could accept that.
If trouble had broken out in the territory, it wouldn't be strange for someone as capable as Master to be asked for help.
But Lu-nee leaving too was unnatural.
Just a moment ago, she'd said she was heading to the capital with us.
For her to suddenly get off the carriage like that was clearly suspicious.
Something major must be happening that we didn't know about.
"Well, she did say she'd catch up to the carriage soon. Let's trust her words. She's your comrade, right?"
Before I could answer, Abel-sama spoke up in response to Sophia.
True, Lu-nee had said that—but how exactly would she catch up?
Could she use fairy or spirit power to move faster than the carriage?
"Yeah, yeah! Lu-nee said she'd be right back, so let's just wait for her!"
Carol agreed with Abel-sama.
It was an incomprehensible situation, but there was nothing we could do right now. Like Carol said, all we could do was wait for Lu-nee to return.
Sophia seemed to reach the same conclusion. Though she still looked dissatisfied, she didn't press the issue further.
After that, the four of us chatted casually for a while.
When we first met, I'd been tense around Abel-sama because he was the son of Count Eddington.
But over these past few months, I'd learned he was actually easy to talk to, so I wasn't as nervous anymore.
I used to think all nobles were scary people, so I was really surprised when the Eddington family treated us so kindly.
While we were talking, a short scream-like sound suddenly came from outside.
At the same moment, the carriage we were riding in jolted slightly and came to a stop.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
In that situation, Carol casually pulled back the curtain to look outside.
The soldiers who had escorted us from Roils as Abel-sama's guards were lying on the ground.
(Wait… what's that red puddle around the soldiers?)
As I wondered—
"—! Everyone, stay still!"
Abel-sama raised his voice sharply.
Then he activated a ring-shaped magical tool on his right hand, and we were enveloped in something like a mana barrier.
Immediately after, an explosion erupted inside the carriage.
Thanks to the mana wall protecting us, we survived—but the carriage itself was blown apart.
And we were thrown outside.
Thanks to Master's teachings, even in the chaos, I managed to land properly.
When I looked around, there were several red puddles.
A sound like something collapsing came from nearby. I turned—and saw Abel-sama collapsed, covered in severe burns.
"—! Abel-sama!"
Only now did I finally grasp the situation.
I hurriedly joined Sophia in casting recovery magic on him.
We managed to save his life, but Abel-sama's consciousness remained hazy.
"He… protected us…"
"Fred, what are you doing? No one's dead yet."
"Huh~? That's weird~ I thought it was a perfect surprise attack, but maybe trying to keep it inconspicuous backfired~?"
While treating Abel-sama, voices came from a short distance away—a girl and a boy.
Their voices still carried a childish tone, so they were probably around our age.
As I thought that, I turned toward the voices.
There stood two children dressed entirely in red.
As expected, both looked about the same age as us.
"…Eh, why—"
From beside me came a bewildered voice from Carol—the most shaken I'd ever heard her.
When I looked at her, her face was deathly pale, her body trembling violently.
"What's going on…?"
Next, Sophia looked at the pair who had likely attacked us, her expression as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Guided by Sophia's gaze, I looked at the two again—this time properly at their faces.
They were identical.
Twins, probably.
That alone wouldn't have shocked Sophia so much.
But when I looked closely at their faces—I felt the same confusion she did.
Because despite differences in build and hairstyle—their faces were exactly the same as Carol's.
"Next time, I'll make sure to finish all of you off~"
Saying that, the boy readied his staff.
"…You three—run…!"
Abel-sama spoke in a weak voice.
Hearing him snapped me back to reality—but Carol was still trembling, seemingly unaware of his words.
"Sophia! Carol! Protect Abel-sama!"
"Yeah!"
Sophia reacted to my voice, but Carol remained unresponsive.
"…Hm? You're Caroline, aren't you?"
"…Hii!"
The girl—who had been standing bored beside the boy—noticed Carol and spoke.
Carol, who hadn't reacted to our voices, let out a small scream.
"Big sister, what are you talking about~? Caroline was disposed of a long time ago—oh~! It really is Caroline~ Why why~? Why are you here~?"
The boy—who spoke in a drawn-out tone—seemed about to deny the girl's words, but upon seeing Carol, he called out to her innocently.
"Ah… um… that…"
In contrast, Carol was pouring cold sweat, more flustered than I'd ever seen her.
"…Whatever. There might be a [White Mage] nearby, so become our wall. Even someone who hasn't received combat training like you should be able to do at least that, right? After all, you're an immortal meat shield."
"…If… if I do that… will you let everyone go…?"
Carol asked in a trembling voice.
"…Caroline, since when did you get important enough to talk back to me?"
"…Ah, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't say anything rude again! I'll do whatever you say! So please…!"
Carol bowed her head repeatedly, practically slamming it into the ground as she begged.
"Hey! What are you saying, Carol!? I don't know what connection you have with these two, but you don't have to listen to people who say such horrible things!"
I couldn't hold back anymore and shouted.
What the hell were these two…!
"Yeah! To do this to Carol… I'll never forgive them…!"
Following my words, Sophia openly expressed her anger.
"Shut up! Be quiet!!"
Just as Sophia and I took up combat stances, Carol suddenly raised her voice—leaving us stunned.
"…Carol?"
"You two don't know how scary those two are—that's why you can say that! With Master and Lu-nee gone, there's no way we can win against them! So don't do anything extra! If I just do what they say, they might let you two go! I don't want either of you getting hurt…!"
"That's our line—"
"Hey~ How long is this farce going to continue? Whatever~ Let's just kill them all."
The boy spoke while radiating killing intent.
He was about the same age as me—how could he emit such killing intent…!
"Please wait! I'll do whatever Luera-oneechan and Fred-onii-chan say! So…!"
For a moment, I froze under the boy's killing intent.
In that instant, Carol began walking toward the two, her body still trembling.
"I told you no!"
I grabbed Carol's arm as she tried to leave.
"Let go! If this keeps up, both of you will die!? I'll be fine, so—!"
Carol shouted in near-panic.
I'd never seen her this shaken.
"Five seconds—if you don't come over here, I'll kill everyone~ Five~ Four~"
"I'm coming right now! So please don't kill those two!"
Carol desperately tried to shake off my hand.
I activated [Strength Up] on myself and refused to let go no matter what.
Even if I was the weakest in the group—I was still the party leader.
The leader has a duty to protect his comrades.
No—even without that duty—I didn't want to see Carol make that face!
Carol should stay carefree and smiling—that's who she really is!
If fighting those two was necessary to make that happen—then I'd fight!
"Three~ Two~ O—"
Just as the boy's countdown reached "one," his voice suddenly stopped.
I didn't fully understand those two—but I could tell they were people with no hesitation about killing.
Thinking they were toying with us, I looked toward them—and both were encased in blocks of ice.
"What's this…?"
Even though the temperature was starting to drop this season, it was still far from freezing.
Yet without any warning, massive ice blocks appeared, easily covering their entire bodies.
It was clearly magic.
But who…?
As we all fell silent in the sudden turn of events, several footsteps approached from behind the ice blocks.
"Hm, looks like I caught them properly."
A clear female voice came from the direction of the footsteps.
Hearing that voice—my body trembled uncontrollably.
"…Why… are you here…?"
I muttered almost unconsciously.
Almost at the same moment as my murmur, four new figures appeared from behind the ice blocks.
At their center stood a woman with flowing silver hair.
That silver-haired woman turned her gaze toward us.
"Hm? You lot are… Orun's… right?"
She was one of the members of Amuntsāsu—the ones who had attacked us half a year ago on the 30th floor of the southern great labyrinth.
The person Master had called the "robed woman."