Chapter 481: A Chance to Shine

A group of twenty ogres attacked from the right rear of the saint’s procession. Since the ogres were attacking from within the forest, the royal guards were struggling with using magic to counter them.

In particular, those who specialized in fire magic were hesitant to use it for fear of igniting the surrounding area.

Some of them could use wind, earth, or water magic, but when going against ogres, fire magic—which is more offensively specialized—was more effective.

Other magic types could be used as substitutes, but they lacked the raw power of fire magic and required higher-tier spells to be effective.

Most of the royal guards excelled in physical combat techniques like swordsmanship, so using high-level magic outside of fire spells was beyond many of them.

As a result, the guards chose to fight off the horde of ogres without relying on magic. However, ogres were monsters that possess high resistance to physical attacks. Defeating them without magic would typically require at least a B-rank adventurer-level strength. So even for a strong group like the elite royal guards, this was a formidable challenge.

“Wh-What are you doing?! Guards, an ogre is closing in on our carriage! Guards, fend them off!”

The crown prince, who was already losing credibility with the saint, attempted to redeem himself by stepping up to take command in front of her.

His entourage was also composed of high-ranking nobles.

He began issuing conflicting commands to the royal guards, saying this and that.

This turned out to be disastrous.

The guards were initially trying to group themselves into units and set up an offensive formation, but due to the crown prince’s orders, some units were held back to protect him and the high-ranking nobles, others were sent to intercept the ogres, and some were suddenly instructed to flank the ogres and cut off their retreat—causing total chaos.

If he had simply left command to the royal guard captain, as it should be, they could have coordinated a full-on counterattack with reinforcements from the other units. That way, even against the ogres with their strong physical resistance, they could have fought on equal or better footing. However, the crown prince, acting like an amateur strategist, made the foolish move of dividing the force into three. The ogres, who were battle-savvy monsters, immediately took advantage of this and began picking off the divided units one by one.

The troops that had received orders to intercept began to be pushed back due to being outnumbered.

“Damn it! Your Highness, please fall back to where the saint is and allow us to re-establish the formation!”

A royal guard, realizing that the crown prince’s orders were putting them at a disadvantage, tried to get him away from the battlefield.

“Don’t be ridiculous! If I retreat now, I’ll lose even more of the saint’s trust! Guards, do not fall back—stand your ground and defend this spot with your lives!”

Essentially, he was telling the Royal Knight Guards to die.

“Your Highness, please leave this to us!”

Just then, Suguro, grandson of Marquis Haragura and part of the entourage, stepped forward with the other nobles.

Among them was a tamer of commoner birth.

“We’ll fight monsters with monsters! Mahodo the Tamer, go!”

Mahodo summoned his five monsters: two Spike Wolves, two Dark Wolves, and one stone-Throwing Monkey against the nearly 20 ogres.

He sent them charging confidently at the twenty ogres.

But it was over in an instant.

The Dark Wolves bit at the ogres’ arms and legs, but the ogres—feeling barely anything—swiftly cut them down with their weapons.

The Spike Wolves, true to their name, fired their horn-like spikes.

This was also no match for the Ogre’s physical resistance, and were quickly defeated.

The same goes for the stone-throwing monkey riding on Dark Wolf.

Having lost his prized monsters so suddenly, Mahodo fell to his knees, devastated. “N-No way…!”

“Damn! It was too much for a commoner Tamer like you…! –You lot, as the talented sons of nobility, now’s your chance to show your skills! Fight back against the monsters!”

Suguro barked at his noble peers.

“U-Us…?”

“Of course! We were gathered here as promising talents expected to lead the future! Now is the time to prove ourselves to Her Holiness the Saint and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!”

“Well, I – I’m more of an intellectual…so this sort of thing…”

“I’m also aiming for a career in research, not battle…”

“My martial arts skills are also utterly hopeless…”

Of course, there were a few among them who possessed martial arts skills.

But, there’s no confidence that they are stronger than the Royal Guard Knights.

And seeing those guards being pushed back, they lost all will to step in, believing it wasn’t their place.

“Damn it! At this rate, I won’t be able to make a good impression on His Highness!”

Just as Suguro yelled in frustration—

A sharp sound cut through the air. And an arrow of light streaked past them and pierced into an ogre with deadly precision. The arrows of light easily took down one ogre, then another, and so on.

Above the ogres’ heads, lightning began to crackle—then with a booming crash, a thunder struck down, electrocuting many at once.

It was a high-powered version of Aeris’s ”Lightning Shower.”

At the same time, a barrier of light appeared in front of the struggling royal guards, deflecting the ogres’ blows.

That was Ragune’s ”Area Defense.”

Then, two black shadows dashed in and attacked the ogres.

It was Ankh and Zion.

Ankh attacked the ogres with flying slashes with wind attribute, while Zion struck with gauntlets imbued with holy and dark elements.

Meanwhile, Tauro continued to snipe at them with arrows of light, and Aeris cast physical strengthening magic on Ragune, Ankh, and Zion, who had rushed to the scene.

Thanks to the swift intervention of the Black-Golden Wings, the ogres were wiped out in no time.

In defense of the royal guards: had their command structure not been thrown into disarray, they could have repelled the ogres with proper tactics.

The other Royal Guard units arrived shortly after, their heavy armor had slowed them down—unlike Tauro and his team. As a result, they had no chance to make an impact.

Wit the battle dust cleared, the crown prince and Suguro stood stunned, completely speechless. Eventually, they came back to their senses.

“…I-It was thanks to me holding the line with my command that we barely kept things together during this critical situation. That’s why you guys, who were late in arriving, had the chance to shine. Don’t get the wrong idea!”

With that excuse, the crown prince tried to save face and returned to his carriage.

　

Suguro, meanwhile, kicked the kneeling and distraught Mahodo.

“You useless fool! Go back to the commoner wagons where you belong!”

Just moments earlier, Mahodo had been promised a place of importance. Now, he was banished to the rear with the other commoners.

“Oh dear… I’m not sure what’s going on, but it seems like something happened.”

Tauro, observing both the crown prince’s attitude and Suguro’s behavior, realized that their timing was somewhat bad.

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