"Hup."
The moment she crossed the gate, Eve felt her breath catch. The horrific scene spread before her looked as though it might swallow her whole.
A legion of black monsters was trampling the outpost base, surging toward the gate. It was an overwhelming number—like looking out over a field of death-blackened land.
Now that the gate behind them was closed, they had to clear the enemy ahead and open a path.
Jingbeol and Baegya spread out little by little to the left and right as they fought.
At the center of the semicircle they formed—like a protective enclosure—were the members of the Imperial Family.
'This should have been our base… but right now, I'm undeniably in the middle of enemy territory.'
Still, this was better than when they'd been locked in a stalemate outside the gate.
Unlike the defensive battle where allies had been jostling each other in a chokepoint, now they could spread out and use space broadly—an advantage for the knight orders.
"Scatter across the entire village and respond with individual engagements. Protect the residents, push the monsters back beyond the palisade, and then wipe them out with wide-area magic."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Mikael, nearby, answered.
He was originally the knight commander who should have been standing at the vanguard. But since they were in the heart of the battlefield, he didn't leave Eve's side, focusing on guarding her.
When Eve glanced back, Sylvestian was the same. He was guarding Rosenitte, who was clinging to the gate like she'd been frightened out of her mind.
Eve was just about to tell Mikael that she was fine and he should focus on battle—
When she spoke.
"Wait. What is that?"
Even though it was still early afternoon, the western sky was dark.
It wasn't storm clouds—black dots were blotting out the sun.
It didn't take long to realize those countless dots were winged monsters.
'Ha. It's to the point you'd think someone summoned them with dark magic.'
The monsters had crowded toward the gate by instinct, but with the gate now closed, they'd lost their target.
If they were the kind to retreat quietly just because there was nothing to do, they wouldn't have been called monsters in the first place.
The monsters would obviously attack the village.
'No matter how much we widen the front on the ground, it won't matter if they swoop in from above. We have to kill them before they get close.'
Mikael seemed to reach the same conclusion, proposing,
"Let Baegya handle the ground, and Jingbeol will take the sky. First, I will deploy Aegis at the front—"
"No. It'd be better if I cast the barrier."
"Your Highness?"
Mikael asked back, startled. In this situation, there was only one kind of barrier Eve could cast.
That was when—
"Kya— kyaaaah!"
Rosenitte's scream rang out from the rear. A troll had climbed the Gray Wall, swung around, and came down over her head.
Of course, Sylvestian cut the troll down in a single strike, so nothing truly dangerous happened.
But there was a minor mishap.
Shaaah!
"A-Ah...?"
The troll's black-green blood poured directly onto Rosenitte. Drenched head to toe in viscous fluid, she became the world's prettiest green liquid monster.
"Ah—"
Thud.
"Your Highness, Eighth Imperial Princess!"
Sylvestian caught Rosenitte as she fainted.
Holding her without caring about the smell or the sensation—his chivalry was something anyone would have to admire.
Seeing that, Eve spoke as if things had worked out nicely.
"Perfect. The most troublesome witness is gone, too."
"Are you planning to use Silver Thread Arachne after all?"
"I think this is the moment to pull out the trump card."
"It's long-range, and the area is wide. Can you cover it?"
From Mikael's perspective as a homunculus, Eve's mana reserves were bound to look somewhat lacking.
'Even so, among humans, I have a pretty large amount of mana.'
Eve felt a bit wronged, but as a magnanimous Imperial Princess, she decided to understand Mikael's standards.
"I'll have to calculate the coordinates well and cast it as efficiently as possible. If I draw mana down to the very bottom, I think I can manage somehow. If there are any monsters I miss, you handle them, Mikael."
With that final instruction, Eve urged her horse forward.
The knights of Jingbeol and Baegya were also just beginning to fully register the monster army surging in from the sky.
Mikael shouted so everyone could hear.
"His Highness will take the sky—focus on annihilating the ground enemies!"
Of course, from the homunculus knights' perspective, it was a confusing statement.
"Fight…? The Imperial Princess personally?"
"With that many?"
Even knowing it would be disloyal, they couldn't help but harbor doubts.
As Brigitte had said before they entered the outpost base, it was well known that Eve—specializing in everyday-life magic—was far from battle.
Still, regardless of their misgivings, an Imperial command was absolute to homunculi.
The knights of Jingbeol and Baegya each thought,
"Seventh Imperial Princess must have something in mind."
"Even if she plans to abandon the knights and run, there's nothing we can do. It's an Imperial order—we can only obey."
Even so, Jingbeol—who had a bit more faith in Eve—steadied themselves quickly and focused on the ground battle.
Around then, Eve rode out to the middle of where monster corpses had piled up.
A wind mixed with foul turbidity whipped Eve's green-gold hair and dark green robe into wild motion.
Without blinking, Eve stared up at the distant sky, blackened with pollution, and raised her right hand.
Her graceful fingertips traced lines through empty air.
Whiiik. Whiiik.
Along the arcs she drew, dozens of strands of silver thread appeared in the sky.
Silver Thread Arachne spread a gigantic web across the wide vault of heaven.
Sshhiiik!
The monster army, accustomed to cutting through an unobstructed sky, couldn't reduce its speed in time. With the same momentum that had been slicing through the wind, they slammed their bodies into the web—sharp as blades.
Kku-eheeek!
Kke-eheeek!
The monsters were shredded as if carved into pieces, then plunged straight down to the ground.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands—repeating that brutal death.
Echoes of dying screams covered the sky, and shredded flesh and bodily fluids rained down on the ground like a storm.
Accordingly, the sky that had been nearly covered in black dots was cleaned clear in an instant.
'No matter how many times I see it… it's a cheat-like ability.'
Faced with the mass slaughter unfolding in the far sky, Mikael reacted with relative familiarity.
But the knights of Jingbeol and Baegya—seeing such an ability for the first time in their lives—were different.
So much for their trained blank expressions; their faces were filled with shock.
"Who said Seventh Imperial Princess specializes in everyday-life magic?!"
"At this level, even destruction enters the realm of miracles."
"Does a reaper dwell in the Seventh Imperial Princess's body?!"
It was, truly, a rediscovery of Eve.
"Hoo...."
Meanwhile, Eve felt dizzy and swayed.
Setting aside the fact that she'd gone all-out until her mana ran dry, even calculating the coordinates in the distant sky while using vision-enhancement magic placed an enormous load on her brain.
"Your Highness!"
Mikael hurriedly caught Eve, wrapping an arm around her as she nearly lost her center.
"I'm fine. Focus on battle rather than me."
"We've already pushed the enemy back to the palisade."
"Huh? Already?"
"With such overwhelmingly slaughtering magic, even mindless monsters are affected by survival instinct. They seem terrified and are retreating into the forest."
"H-Hey, slaughtering magic… It's a barrier, so it's clearly defensive magic."
No matter how thoroughly loyal and devoted Mikael was, it was impossible for him not to look at Eve like, 'Where are you pretending to be weak?'
Perhaps even Eve realized she'd pushed it a bit; she cleared her throat and changed the subject.
"...Okay. Anyway, tell the knight orders—don't chase monsters that ran into the forest. After a short rest, have some set up a watch, and get the rest ready to be mobilized for village recovery."
"Understood, Your Highness."
As Mikael stepped back, Sylvestian approached this time.
He was holding Rosenitte in his arms, still drenched in troll blood.
"Your Highness, the Eighth Imperial Princess is..."
His face was heavy with worry for the one he was imprinted to. Eve reassured him.
"Don't worry, Lord Millard. Roji just fainted."
"She was drenched in a monster's blood. Could she be poisoned…? This is all my fault."
"It's not something you should blame yourself for. If anything, from Roji's standpoint, this turned out well."
"Pardon…?"
"Troll bodily fluids are a material used for the highest-grade healing potions. It's like she took a beauty bath in the undiluted essence—so if anything, don't wipe it off. Leave it be so it can absorb into her skin."
Sylvestian felt something was off, but once an order had been given, he had to follow it.
"If you tell me a place we can use as a base, I'll set up a barracks and enshrine the Eighth Imperial Princess inside."
"It looks like this is the square, so it seems suitable for the expedition force's position."
"Yes, understood. And..."
Sylvestian hesitated slightly, then said,
"Currently, Seventh Imperial Princess, you are the overall commander inside the gate as the senior Imperial. Under military law, it is proper that you also speak down to me."
Though it was advice in the name of propriety, there was a subtle wish tucked inside. Eve sighed inwardly and replied,
"Fine."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Sylvestian withdrew, still holding Rosenitte.
Now it was time to look after Dandelion's residents—exiles and mid-grade homunculi.
Eve swept her gaze around the square.
Only then did Eve realize it.
Countless residents of Dandelion had been staring at her, long since having lost their wits.
When their eyes met Eve's, they flinched their shoulders as if startled, or shuffled backward.
It was plainly a reaction of fear.
Eve felt a shock like being struck in the back of the head.
'Good heavens. Mikael called Silver Thread Arachne "slaughter magic." And I'm already an Imperial Princess, so my image is bad enough—looks like I showed them something far too brutal from the very start.'
To people for whom she needed to earn trust and sincerity, she had instead become an object of wariness.
It was a fatal mistake, hard to undo.
Eve tried, somehow, to change their first impression.
"Um… I'm not a bad person, even if I don't look like it, and I came to help you...."
It was when she was rambling, unlike herself.
The moment they heard Eve's voice, Dandelion's residents shut their eyes and opened them again, as if they'd snapped back to their senses.
And almost all of them, at the same time, threw themselves face-down on the ground in a bow.
A thunderous shout filled Dandelion's square.
"Welcome, O Savior!"
"We have been waiting, O King of humans and homunculi!"
"Huh?"
Eve couldn't adapt to the sudden atmosphere of reverence. More than anything, the misguided honorific aimed at her flustered her.
'If I become Emperor, then being the King of humans is… technically true, but the King of homunculi is Mikael?'
As Eve stood there, stunned, an old woman with a cane approached her.
"Savior, I am Morien, the jiju (支柱) of this place, Dandelion."
As one could guess from the meaning of "pillar," in a harsh environment, the representative was something beyond a mere village chief. Eve treated her with courtesy in return.
"Evienrose Cholelle Hadelamid. I am the Empire's Seventh Imperial Princess."
A direct visit from an Imperial was beyond Dandelion's residents' expectations. Shock and confusion rippled through them like waves.
It was the Imperial Family, after all, that imposed punishment on exiles and duty on homunculi, making them suffer.
Just as complicated emotions inevitably began to settle into the residents' eyes as they looked at Eve, Eve hurriedly spoke to them.
"Be at ease. I am on your side. I swear it on my name and honor."
At that, the old woman silently studied Eve.
Her eyes, carrying the weight of years, looked as though they might read straight through her.
Then the old woman opened her mouth.
"Our home is humble, but we will invite you inside. Will you hear our story, Imperial Princess?"
"There is much I want to hear—and much I want to tell you. I ask you, as well."
A meeting—across a long span of severed time—was formed.