On the battlefield where Ern and Epherna had disappeared, Simon decided to annihilate the Living Armors first.
‘I can finish this in 10 minutes.’
He was composed.
He was certain Epherna hadn’t died, seeing the magic cast by the witch.
‘It must have been teleportation.’
Teleportation is not a magic that harms the body, it’s just a magic that moves.
Teleportation is a spell that merely moves the body without harming it.
Since Epherna and Ern had been transported somewhere without a scratch, they wouldn’t be in immediate danger.
Even if they had moved to a dangerous place, they would be fine for a while.
Neither of them were weak. Simon was more annoyed by other aspects.
‘Did she deem the First Princess the greatest threat?’
Epherna’s large-scale spell had wiped out half of the Living Armors.
From the witch’s perspective, it was a reasonable judgment.
‘It hurts my pride a little.’
‘I’ll end this in five minutes.’
Simon looked at the witch, who had lifted her invisibility, and charged at her like lightning.
The Living Armor blocked his path, but Simon swelled his muscles and swung his greatsword wide.
Swish—!
A large radius was cut, combining the lengths of his arm and the greatsword.
The armor clattered to the ground with a metallic sound as the souls of the destroyed Living Armors dissipated.
Simon continued to swing his greatsword swiftly and powerfully, cutting through several at once, clearing a path for Lemea’s warriors to follow and destroy the Living Armor.
Simon honed his mana into a blade, extending the length of his greatsword.
The sword, now almost 10 meters long, leaped across several steps and sliced off the witch’s arm.
The surrounding dozens of Living Armors were also cut down in the process.
Meanwhile, in the rear ranks of Lemea’s warriors, the mages Simon had commanded were assembling.
As ten mages drew their spells in the air, a massive spell was completed in an instant.
Fire, lightning, wind.
The large-scale spells of these three attributes swept through the rear ranks of the Living Armor.
Although the huge aftershock also engulfed the frontline warriors, their heavily armored bodies withstood it easily.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the witch used invisibility to hide.
Simon, judging she hadn’t gone far, continued slashing around mercilessly with his mana-infused blade, skillfully avoiding his own warriors.
He also avoided all of his warriors, using a divine power to control them so that they wouldn’t be cut.
But after a moment.
‘There’s no feeling of cutting flesh. No presence, either.’
Simon suddenly lowered his greatsword.
The witch’s traces and mana had completely disappeared, making further exertion a waste of energy.
‘What was that witch?’
Forcibly casting teleportation meant she wasn’t an ordinary witch.
If she had fully utilized her magic, she could have caused even more damage.
‘And also…’
The witch’s appearance was also unusual.
Though hidden deeply by her hat.
‘The feeling of cutting her arm was closer to a human than a monster.’
*****
Ern lay on the dirt ground in the middle of a bush, looking up at the sky.
‘A witch using forced teleportation, of all things.’
Teleporting a being beyond the range of a mage’s body is a high-level spell that even Epherna could barely perform.
‘Did she designate an area to teleport us? The difficulty wouldn’t differ much.’
After pondering for a moment, Ern pushed the thought aside and got up.
He had more important matters.
‘Where could she be?’
He decided to look for Epherna.
They had been caught in the teleportation together, so she should be nearby.
Seeing he was unscathed, she wouldn’t be seriously hurt. Just as he was reassured and started looking around.
“Ugh…!!”
A sudden wave of nausea hit him with a twisting pain in his gut.
His vision blurred with inexplicable dizziness.
Fortunately, he didn’t vomit, but he had to cling to a tree for a moment to catch his breath.
‘My mana circuit got slightly twisted.’
It wasn’t a severe symptom.
It was common for mages who used magic beyond their capacity.
‘Was it because of the teleportation?’
Somehow, it didn’t seem like a normal teleportation.
It seemed to overload the target to forcibly activate the teleportation.
‘Such techniques are often seen in black magic.’
Magic cast by sacrificing something as an offering. Though the recent teleportation was too mild to be considered black magic, its principles were certainly involved.
Ern, having momentarily paused, shook off the aftereffects and started walking again.
The lingering mild headache was bearable.
After a few minutes.
‘I can’t see her.’
Ern began to worry about the absence of any sign of Epherna.
Moreover, the headache was worsening instead of subsiding.
Enhancing his senses with mana, Ern suddenly noticed warmth.
‘…Feeling warmth in this cold place?’
Ern walked towards the source of the warmth.
Before long, Ern discovered what it was.
A hot spring.
An obviously unnatural hot spring appeared in the middle of the mountains.
The moonlight shining in the night made its presence clear. When he approached and dipped his hand in, he was even more certain of its identity.
‘A real hot spring.’
It wasn’t an artificially made hot spring.
It was a natural hot spring formed by underground water boiling up from below.
It had been decorated by someone, but that was all.
Ripple.
A slight wave reached the hot spring.
It meant someone was there.
The hot spring was divided into two areas by a line of dense bushes.
Ern pushed aside the bushes and peered through the gap.
“…”
There stood a woman, completely naked, without even a single garment.
Though the night and moonlight obscured her form, there was one thing he could unmistakably discern.
She was beautiful.
More perfect in proportion than any woman Ern had ever seen in his life.
Was it because of the lingering headache?
Or perhaps the atmosphere of the hot spring combined with the transparent moonlight?
Ern felt an unusual emotion he had never experienced before.
‘… Is this what it means to be ‘enchanted’?’
He wanted her.
Ern felt awkward at this greedy thought. It was a desire he had never entertained before.
Instinctively, he reached out his hand.
His will to possess the woman manifested in his actions.
However.
‘…Huh.’
The woman had disappeared while he was entranced.
Ern’s hand lingered in the air for quite a while.
*****
It didn’t take Ern long to find Epherna after regaining his senses.
As he expanded his perception using mana, he quickly located her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No. But my clothes got a bit dirty.”
Epherna showed her discomfort.
Ern looked at her clothes and thought it was understandable.
Her clothes were covered in grass and dirt, as if she had rolled around somewhere.
But since her face was unharmed, Ern told her to take solace in that and asked,
“Where did you land?”
“Near here.”
“You fell quite far from where I did.”
“It’s probably because the coordinates shifted while the spell was activating. It was a hastily deployed teleportation.”
When she said they’d have to investigate the details later, Ern nodded.
“Any problems?”
“Since it was a forced teleportation, my mana circuit got a bit twisted. But I’m fine now. You didn’t have any issues, Mister?”
“I had the same experience.”
His mana circuit had been slightly twisted, but he had fully recovered.
Other than that…
“Oh, I found a hot spring.”
Ern clapped his hands and described what he had seen.
“It looked like a natural hot spring that someone had decorated. But there was someone there.”
“…Really?”
“It was a woman, but she disappeared in an instant. Maybe she was a spirit protecting the mountains?”
“…”
Ern fell into thought.
Mentioning the hot spring brought back the image of the woman he had seen earlier.
‘I want to see her again later if I get the chance.’
Perhaps that woman was the future spouse the fortune teller had mentioned.
Ern held onto that hope.
He knew it didn’t make sense. He knew the chances of meeting her again were almost nonexistent.
But even knowing that, he was so captivated by the woman at the hot spring that he still hoped.
‘Is this what a first love feels like?’
An inexplicable feeling of anticipation and longing.
People often call this phenomenon love at first sight.
Ern concluded that this phenomenon was similar to his current feelings.
And then.
‘Let’s bury it for now.’
Ern decided to keep his hopes tucked away and not think about it for the time being.
He still had work to do.
To be honest, he had long thought marriage was out of the question.
Then.
Plop.
Something fell on Ern’s head.
He looked up at the sky, and the something that had hit his head began to pour down.
“Rain…?”
