The tension was so intense that Meld reacted with a reaction that surprised even himself. The moment the opponent's hand touched his shoulder, Meld's right hand reflexively moved, and he suddenly drew his knight's sword. A silver flash of the sword pierced the darkness, and Meld swung it horizontally at the person behind him.

"babble!?"

However, the blow he launched with the determination to die together with his opponent was missed due to the opponent's astonishing reaction.

Or rather, the other person sat down on the ground, his legs weak with fear and tears in his eyes.

"...H-Kousuke?"

The man with a sad face and nodding rapidly is the scout of Nagayama's frontline team, and the man with the weakest presence in the class - Endo Kousuke.

"Captain, have I offended you in any way?"

Kosuke spoke tremblingly, tears welling up in his eyes. Meld finally understood the situation, hurriedly put away his knight's sword, and helped Kosuke to his feet.

It was a well-known fact that his presence was weak, and even when he was chatting with others, he would be forgotten without realizing it. The automatic door would not open two out of three times, and he would often not be called when his name was called. He was a man with an innate ability to hide his presence.

So it's no surprise that he was able to avoid Meld's detection.

"No, no, sorry. You suddenly stood behind me and I accidentally—"

“…Captain, when did you become a Skull?”

Kosuke, who was nearly beheaded by Meld "accidentally", complained coldly. Meld coughed to cover it up, trying to change the subject.

"By the way, Kousuke, why are you still awake at this hour?"

"...I pushed myself too hard during training today, so I rested in my room in the evening and accidentally fell asleep..."

Even if he wanted to answer his own question, Kousuke was going back too far—Melder thought. However, Kousuke's next words made Melder's eyes well up.

"In the end, no one came to wake me up when it was time for dinner."

"I see."

"I woke up well after dinner time and rushed to eat. But the kitchen staff said that although they noticed an extra portion, they ate it without thinking too much. I guess no one noticed I didn't go to dinner."

"I see."

"It can't be helped. I was late, and I was too embarrassed to ask the kitchen staff to prepare another portion for me. I thought it would be okay to skip a meal, but I was so hungry that I couldn't sleep that night... So I ran to the kitchen to find something to eat. I found what looked like leftover vegetables and ate them, but..."

"But?"

"Not long after, I had severe stomach pain... I fought it for about two hours in the bathroom near the kitchen. It was a truly brutal battle."

"What on earth are you fighting in the middle of the night..."

"After the battle, I discovered a new problem."

"Is there a sequel?! What's in that toilet?!"

"On the contrary, there was nothing, not even toilet paper."

"..."

Unfortunately, Kousuke didn't explain how he got the toilet paper afterwards. However, considering that the toilet near the kitchen was quite far from here, he must have wandered around the restrooms in the palace without any post-war preparations.

"Kousuke...that's enough, go to sleep."

"Okay, good night, Captain."

He was forgotten, skipped a meal, had to eat leftovers and got an upset stomach, wandered around the toilet late at night, and was almost beheaded by the Commander of the Knights... Why was Kosuke's life so miserable even though he was in the royal palace?

Kosuke walked back to the room dejectedly. Meld watched his dark back and saluted him subconsciously.

After the above incident, Meld's nervousness was greatly reduced. He returned to his room, took a deep breath, untied the knight's sword from his waist, stood by the wall of the room, and then sat down heavily on the sofa, massaging the tip of his brow with his fingers.

After a short rest, my mind started working naturally.

"...A demoralizing spell? Normally, it would be the work of demons, but could they attack the palace directly? Impossible. If they could, why didn't they use more powerful magic? Why did they target the lower-ranking soldiers and knights? If they could use magic without being detected, why didn't they target me? Taking the Knight Commander's head would be the most effective way to undermine our morale, right? Why? What exactly happened?"

His thoughts blurted out unconsciously. Ever since sensing the crisis, Meld had been constantly on guard against the unknown enemy and its tactics. While his mind wasn't completely overwhelmed, there were many things he had to consider, and the fact that the nation's top brass didn't understand his sense of crisis was wearing him down.

Meld felt a heavy fatigue accumulating deep within his brain, and a sense of anxiety spread like black ink dripping onto a pure white canvas.

"...I wonder what that guy is doing right now?"

Suddenly, a young man flashed through his mind. He had miraculously reunited with him in the Great Labyrinth of Orcus, and witnessed his overwhelming power. The boy had even used a legendary elixir to revive him, proving to be his benefactor.

After briefly recalling the situation at that time, Meld showed an indescribable expression, slowly stood up and walked towards the desk.

He took out two sheets of letter paper and two envelopes from the drawer, picked up a pen, and began to write solemnly.

It was a precautionary arrangement. One letter was addressed to Lord Jegan of the Principality of Ankaji; the other was addressed to the young man. Perhaps the letter would be passed on to the young man through Lord Jegan. That way, even if something unexpected happened to him, perhaps the letter could help him recover.

Moonlight shone into the quiet room, and only the sound of writing could be heard.

When Meld finished writing a paragraph and was reviewing the contents of the letter, there was a knock on the door.

Meld was startled and could not help but pick up the knight's sword standing by the wall. He concealed his vigilance and pretended to be calm to inquire about the visitor.

"who is it?"

"...Um, Captain Meld, it's me, Hiyama."

"Daisuke? What's wrong? Why are you visiting me so late?"

"Well, I... there's something I'd like to discuss with Captain Meld no matter what."

Hearing the visitor's tone, which was both urgent and weak, Meld opened the door despite his surprise.

Hiyama Daisuke stood alone in front of the door, looking dejected.

"You said you wanted to discuss something with me...at this time?"

"...I'm sorry. I know this is very troublesome to you, but...I don't want anyone in the class to hear about this."

"Is that so... No, it's not a bother at all. Come in, please."

Meld seemed to guess what Hiyama wanted to discuss from his dejected look and welcomed him into the room.

Hiyama found himself in an awkward position within the class. His reckless actions had put his companions in dire straits and caused one of his classmates to fall into an abyss. Although Hiyama had apologized, and his classmates were reluctant to discuss the incident, no one publicly criticized him. However, that didn't mean there was no resentment between him and his classmates.

Upon learning that Hajime is still alive, Meld feels that Hiyama seems to have changed.

Meld also cared about this matter, and since Hiyama was willing to take the initiative to discuss it with him, he had to respond.

Hiyama's expression couldn't be seen because he had his head bowed, but the gloomy air about him was somewhat unsettling, as if he had reached a dead end.

Melde asked him to sit on the sofa, and Hiyama obeyed obediently, but he was slow to speak. Hiyama hunched his back, clasped his hands, and swayed his body.

"...Daisuke, I can probably guess what you're going to say, so there's no need to embellish your words. Just say whatever comes to mind. As for any questions or what we should do, we can think about it together later."

Melde spoke soothingly, but Hiyama's body continued to sway, and he didn't raise his head, seeming to be very uneasy.

He must have been under considerable pressure without realizing it—Melder thought so and was about to persuade him again—

There was another knock on the door. He thought to himself that there were quite a lot of guests tonight, smiled wryly, and asked again who was coming.

Then, Melde heard the voice of Jose, whom he had just said goodbye to, saying that he had an urgent matter to report.

The timing was really unfortunate. Hiyama was also here, and depending on the content of the report, it might be something he couldn't hear.

Perhaps sensing Meld's concerns, Hiyama spoke:

"...It's okay, Captain Meld. I can wait in the hallway until you're done talking."

"I see... I'm so sorry, Daisuke."

Meld frowned, looking apologetic. Hiyama replied briefly, "No," and stood up from the sofa.

The captain turned the handle, ready to escort Hiyama out and usher Jose in. The door opened with a click, and it was indeed Jose standing in front of it.

It was Jose with an 'empty' look on his face.

Meld's hair stood on end, and the moment he instinctively issued a strong warning -

「!?」

He let out a soundless cry, his body tilted, and a knight's sword pierced past him at astonishing speed.

"Jose! What are you doing!?"

Meld roared, but José responded with a diagonal slash. Meld rolled to avoid it, then with a fluid movement, he raised his knight's sword and blocked José's silent pursuit. The sound of metal clashing echoed throughout the room.

"Damn it, is this really brainwashing!?"

A closer look revealed José's glazed eyes, a perfect match for the "Empty" condition. Assuming José's attack had occurred after they'd separated, and then he attacked him immediately afterward, the stark difference in his actions compared to previous attacks suggested this must have been directed by someone. The "Empty" condition was indeed a brainwashing-style mental attack, and Meld's face was filled with trembling and anxiety.

In short, in order to remove Jose's brainwashing, the only way now is to remove his fighting power. Meld shouted and pushed away Jose's knight sword.

"Forgive me for letting you get hurt!"

Meld rushed towards Jose. After the knight's sword was pushed away, Jose's posture was slightly off balance. Meld judged that if he could just hit his body now, he should be able to subdue him.

However, at this moment, José made an unexpected move. Since he had been targeting Melde, Melde had always thought that his target was the Knight Commander. However, José turned his gaze away, ignoring Melde's charging attack, and approached Hiyama, who was standing there in a daze.

This unexpected action made Meld hesitate for a moment. Meld turned his gaze to Hiyama, but the situation was beyond his expectations. Hiyama was so frightened that he sat down on the ground.

Hiyama was, after all, a frontline unit, a vanguard by nature, but their loss of will at this crucial moment was truly beyond Meld's expectations. No, this was what Hiyama wanted to discuss, Meld internally smacked his lips, and quickly changed direction.

Meld changed direction with an unnatural gesture, without slowing down. Even though he could feel the foot, the pivot, groaning, he kept stepping forward. There was a snap, and the sound of floorboards being crushed could be heard from behind. Meld was standing between Hiyama and Jose.

"Hmm, this power is..."

The two knightly swords clashed again, a sharp metallic clang echoing. Having barely parried the blow, Meld wasn't in perfect condition to receive it. Even so, Jose's blow was too heavy, and the instant he received it, his arm went numb, unable to even instantly dissipate the force.

Melde was well-versed in José's swordsmanship. José's slender build meant his swordsmanship was not masculine, but rather feminine. His exceptional skill was his greatest weapon. But the destructive power of José's previous strike was enough to rival Melde's.

Meld couldn't dodge, as he had someone behind him to protect. His posture was unstable, not enough to push back the attack, nor could he use his full arm strength. As a last resort, he decided to attack with magic.

"You better hold on, Vice Captain!"

Although this attack might not only cause minor injuries, Meld believed in the strong physique of the Vice-Captain of the Kingdom Knights and prepared to launch a wind cannonball from a very close range.

“Howl! The omnipresent wind—‘Wind—!?”

The magic didn't activate, and he stopped chanting midway—a dagger pierced Meld's side.

"Da,suke?"

"Tsk! You can still avoid the vital points by attacking at this time."

Meld turned back with an expression of disbelief, only to see Hiyama's eyes flashing with murderous intent as he thrust his dagger forward. That was indeed the look in his eyes that said "murderous intent."

"Daisuke, you..."

Although the details were unclear, Meld could already see that Hiyama was closely connected to the cause of the "Void" phenomenon. Perhaps driven by instinct, Meld's body unconsciously moved the moment he sensed danger. Otherwise, he might have been fatally wounded. Hiyama truly intended to kill Meld.

Ignoring Meld's roar, Hiyama drew his dagger with all his might, preparing to strike again.

“—Wind Hammer!”

Even after being stabbed by the dagger, Meld didn't interrupt his chant, but rather paused. He then cast a spell, aiming directly below him. The compressed wind shells struck the floor with a thud, sending fragments and a storm of wind pelting Meld, Jose, and Hiyama. The powerful impact sent each of them flying.

Meld's body hit the ground, blood splattering from his flank. Given Meld's condition, most people would have felt excruciating pain, but his expression betrayed no sign of injury. He swiftly stood up and rushed towards Hiyama, who had finally managed to pull himself up.

As a member of the frontline team, Hiyama infiltrated deeper into the [Orcus Great Labyrinth] than himself, so Meld judged that Hiyama was more dangerous than Jose.

However, more enemies joined the battle at this time, and soldiers with empty eyes poured into Meld's room.

"Hey! My every move is clearly under my control!"

Meld swung a single horizontal strike, deflecting the three soldiers' swords. Jose, rising, met his blow with a slash from his knight's sword, but Meld dodged sideways. Hiyama, standing nearby, quickly rushed forward, swinging at him repeatedly. Meld, using the blade to redirect the blows, narrowly avoided the combo.

Meld, omitting the chant, launched a wind bomb to distract the soldier who was coming from behind, and kicked up a fallen chair, tripping Jose who was approaching.

Hiyama seemed impatient and was about to use magic to attack, but was slightly distracted by it.

Meld seemed to have been waiting for this moment, and the tip of his knight's sword drew a circle in the air. Then, as if by magic, Hiyama's dagger was caught in the circle and deflected far away.

“Drink!!”

"ah!?"

The next moment, Meld dodged Jose's horizontal slash, lowered his body, and charged towards Hiyama with his shoulder.

The collision hit Hiyama's chest. He groaned and flew out, knocking over the sofa and falling to the ground.

Two soldiers flanked Meld after the collision.

Meld rolled forward, avoiding the soldiers' attack, and took Jose's pursuit with his knight sword. He used the force of the impact to make his body fly out, and then regained his footing.

"Blow it away—[Wind Wall]!"

Taking advantage of the brief time gained, Meld cast a spell to defend against and disrupt the enemy's attacks with wind pressure.

Jose, who was swinging his knight sword, was disturbed by the sudden strong wind pressure and lost his balance.

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