Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

The human body certainly cannot be forged from metal; the secret must be hidden under the bandit's dirty, tattered cloak.

Mizuno Yu pulled back her cloak, revealing a light armor pierced by the general's arrow.

Mizuno Yu was also familiar with this style of armor; she had seen it in person not long ago, and the soldiers who had stopped her were wearing the same armor.

Mizuno Yu then turned her gaze to the katana that the bandit had dropped to the side.

That's right, this is also a military knife.

The people who came to plunder this village were not bandits at all, but a group of soldiers from the monarch city.

They were the pursuers who came to intercept and kill the general.

The general must know about this too; he can recognize the weapons the bandits are carrying, so there's no way he wouldn't.

Anyone who arrives in the monarch's city will surely see the same weapons on the soldiers as those in the hands of the bandits.

Having discovered such a great secret, if anyone were to speak of it, it would surely cause chaos in the city once again.

Unless the entire country is completely rotten, military personnel posing as bandits will definitely cause more trouble in an already chaotic situation.

So that's why the general told the villagers to go to the monarch's city for help?

It must be said that the general's move was truly brilliant.

The general may have used these villagers, but he also truly protected this group of unarmed villagers all by himself.

But this also means that the general has to deal with a group of well-trained soldiers all by himself.

Thinking of this, Mizuno Yu's heart skipped a beat.

She could not delay any longer. She immediately put down the corpse, returned to the general's warhorse, mounted it, and galloped through the village, which was already lifeless in the morning light, following the direction of the corpse.

As they left the center of the village and approached the exit on the other side, they found more and more corpses of bandits, which pointed out a clear path for Mizuno Yu.

In the blink of an eye, Mizuno Yu had already traversed the entire village.

She even saw the horse the general rode in the village, lying by the roadside with its head severed from its body, its white mane almost completely stained red with blood, reminding Mizuno Yu of the blood-soaked regicide sitting on the throne in the spacious main hall.

Apart from the village, there were almost no corpses to be seen, so Mizuno Yu could only barely make out the direction by looking at the bloodstains under the dim sky.

But she did not find the general's body, which should have been good news for her.

A general who has lost his horse will certainly not be faster than himself, and will definitely need his warhorse.

Now, Mizuno Yu just hopes she won't arrive too late.

Under the rising sun, Mizuno Yuu finally caught a glimpse of the general's figure in a patch of tall grass.

The general had fallen to the ground, and several corpses lay scattered around her, some human, some horse-drawn, including a warrior who had accompanied the monarch when he visited the general's stronghold.

But the general wasn't surrounded by corpses.

At least one person is still standing.

Her golden hair flowed in the wind like a cloak, her bright golden eyes were looking in her direction, and even the warhammer in her hand shimmered with a brilliant gold in the morning light.

It was Helica Tenrai; Mizuno Yu would never mistake her for her best friend's figure.

But this only made Mizuno Yu even more confused.

Why is Helica, who should be in the city, here?

Besides being confused, there was an overwhelming surge of anger.

Why did Helica, the Thunder Goddess, appear beside the general with a group of soldiers disguised as bandits?

Chapter 112 Despair, Growth, Revenge

"Helica the Thunder! Tell me! Why are you here?!"

Anger made Mizuno Yuu's face turn bright red instantly, and her clenched teeth rubbed against each other, making a teeth-grinding sound.

Mizuno Yu stepped forward, grabbed Herika by the collar, and stared at her with wide eyes that were almost bloodshot.

"Calm down!" Herica angrily flung Mizuno Yu's hand away.

Mizuno Yu, whose hand had been flung away, staggered a few steps and fell to the ground, her eyes seemingly bulging out of their sockets.

Why would Helica, the Thunder Goddess, show such an unhappy expression? Shouldn't she be the one who should be angry because she was betrayed by her most trusted friend?

Overwhelmed with grief and anger, Mizuno Yu pressed her hand against the ground, trying to get up, but felt her hand touch something cold.

Mizuno Yu subconsciously turned around, wanting to see what that complicated-shaped thing was.

She was able to see it clearly; the shape was not difficult to distinguish at all. It was just that it was too cold for her to recognize it immediately.

The thing that Mizuno Yu's hand touched was also a hand, a hand that had lost its warmth.

It was the general's hand.

The general's hand was half-open, covered with wounds and bloodstains.

Mizuno Yuya also saw clearly that the general's face had lost all color.

"General... General..."

Looking at the general's face, Mizuno Yui disregarded everything else and turned around to hug the general who had collapsed behind her tightly.

She could feel the general's cold body stealing her warmth. He seemed a little warmer in her arms, but even so, the general's eyes could no longer be opened.

With knife wounds, arrow wounds, and more than one bruise, the general's body was covered in wounds. Just looking at the corpses on the ground, one could imagine the despair the general had experienced before his death.

The general will not despair, nor will she stop fighting. Even though she no longer has a bow and arrow or a long sword, her stiff body still maintains the posture of holding weapons.

The general fought until the very last moment of his life.

Upon noticing this, Mizuno Yu's vision began to blur, and tears welled up, obscuring her eyes.

She nestled against the general's chest, sobbing softly, letting her tears slide down her cheeks and fall onto his clothes, which were stained with dried blood, gradually seeping into them.

"No, no... It shouldn't be like this... It absolutely shouldn't be like this!"

Mizuno Yu's lips moved, uttering broken syllables, until finally all that remained was a wail that was completely unintelligible.

It doesn't matter anymore, nothing matters anymore.

With the general gone and the monarch gone, Mizuno Yu no longer knew what meaning there was left for her to remain here.

Perhaps the best thing would be for your former best friend to deliver a blow from behind, giving you a sense of relief.

Just as Mizuno Yu had predicted, Helica did indeed make a move against her.

But Helica used not the warhammer in her hand, but her clenched fist.

Herlica's fist struck Mizuno Yu squarely in the cheek, the force of which sent Yu, who was lying on the general's chest, flying.

Mizuno Yui, who had been knocked to the ground, rolled several times until her back hit a protruding boulder and she came to a stop.

Herlica's punch left Mizuno Yu somewhat dazed. Apart from the buzzing in her head and the silver stars falling before her dim eyes, she couldn't think of anything.

It was this punch that stopped Mizuno Yu from crying.

"I've told you so many times, calm down! Don't you understand? Are you stupid? Are you out of your mind?! Is this really your personality?!"

Herlica's clenched fists cracked, and she looked even angrier than before.

Mizuno Yu still didn't know why Helica was angry, nor did she hear if Helica said anything to her before throwing a punch. At that moment, her heart was filled with sadness and she couldn't think of anything else.

Thanks to Helica's punch, Mizuno Yuu's mind calmed down a bit, and perhaps her recent crying also contributed to the result.

Mizuno Yu's mind was exceptionally clear now. Although her face was swollen from the beating and she didn't look very bright, she seemed to have figured out the whole thing much better.

The reason the general brought him to the monarch's city to assume the position of prime minister was because the previous prime minister was dead—no, as the monarch said, he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Next, the person who got into trouble was Sakura Hanako, the person the general trusted most besides himself.

Sakura Hanako was one of the few people whose status was similar to her own, and who was also someone the general's army trusted.

If news of the successive deaths of the monarch and the general reaches back into the city, Sakura Hanako will surely lead her army to the monarch's city to demand an explanation and avenge the monarch.

With the general's military strength, it would be easy to overthrow the country. This means that the general and the monarch are old friends who have fought together, and the monarch trusts the general enough. Otherwise, the general's army would definitely be the monarch's biggest threat.

However, with Sakura Hanako gone, and the shogun's trusted men who had been brought into the city perishing in the fire, there was no one left qualified to lead the shogun's army.

Even if a few people wanted to avenge the general, none of them could convince the masses.

To put it another way, even if troops are deployed under multiple leaderships, without a central leader, the fighting capacity of such an army will inevitably be greatly reduced, or it may even collapse on its own.

In summary, the enemy, who had been lurking in the shadows, had already made preparations long before the monarch decided to personally visit the general and invite him to serve as prime minister.

They had long planned to assassinate both the general and the monarch, leaving the general no chance to recover.

Mizuno Yu doesn't know exactly who the person who would do these things is, but she has a range that includes everyone within that range, who are all her enemies.

Yuuki Yukino, Nishio Reki, Inuyama Tomoe, and her best friend Tenrai Helica.

She could understand why Helica did it. Just as she had thought, Helica had no loyalty to the monarch, and naturally, the same was true for the general. The only path she would choose was the one that would allow her to survive in this game of power.

It's understandable, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable.

One day, Mizuno Yuu will take her revenge on them.

But now is not the time; I am too weak, too weak in every sense of the word.

Therefore, she still needs to accumulate strength.

"What's wrong? Did you knock your brains out?" Helica moved closer and squatted down in front of Mizuno Yu.

Mizuno Yu shook her head with difficulty; Herica's punch must have also injured her neck.

"The general's death has nothing to do with me, understand?"

Herlica's tone remained assertive, much like Mizuno Yu remembered.

Mizuno Yuu could guess what Helica meant: to hide the truth about the general's death and remove Helica from the picture.

Mizuno Yu knew even better that she shouldn't have fallen out with Helica here. The fact that Helica said those things to her meant that she still intended to help her.

Perhaps what I'm experiencing today is something Helica, whose family suffered a devastating blow, has also gone through in the past; maybe it's a case of shared suffering.

With Helica's assurance, his plans should go more smoothly, right?

Mizuno Yu thought for a moment, then nodded, dragging her aching neck.

"That's good."

She saw Helica breathe a sigh of relief, then straighten up and cool her body.