– Squeal!
Demy responded before me.
His long and round tail rose up and he walked off of the picnic mat.
The way he slowly opened and closed his mouth over and over made it seem as if he was threatening something or wary of it.
"What was that noise just now?"
I asked Cardinal Boutier about the situation. She had a picturesque smile on her face and did not respond.
– Rumble...
I heard a thunder-like noise roar through the ground again. The people in our group started stirring.
I opened my Holy Domain without any hesitation.
The circle of golden ether lit up the top of the picnic mat and started expanding at its master's will.
My Holy Domain's maximum diameter was about 30m.
It was large enough to easily cover the seven people on the mat, as well as the Imperial Prince, Christelle, and Demy, who were standing near us.
As for how to make it even larger than this… well… there is a way, but it is impossible to do right now.
"Demonic beasts."
Imperial Prince Cédric answered in a low voice. Ganael gasped in shock.
I quickly stood up and walked over to Demy.
I could see a few red dots once I stared into the distance so hard that my eyes started to hurt.
"Why are there Demonic beasts here? I heard that there was a strong barrier around the Imperial Palace..."
I stopped talking mid sentence. I then turned to look at the Cardinal.
'No way, right?'
"You all seemed a bit tense so I had them undo the barrier around the mountain range for a bit. I also had the Imperial Guard help me put some bait out."
"Your Eminence."
"Frédérique gave me permission. Do you remember what you did to the Empress's favorite training ground?"
I gulped.
'So basically…'
The two main characters had destroyed the interior training ground. In return, the angry Empress and Cardinal decided to teach their one and only son and someone else's precious daughter a lesson.
'But still, drawing demonic beasts to the rear mountain of the Imperial Palace? What about the civilians?
Why do both of them have such terrible personalities? Is the Imperial Prince the way he is because he takes after both of them?'
"You can't properly prepare for the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts by practicing against other people, so I had some demonic beasts prepared."
'Don't talk about this as if you are talking about today's lunch menu!'
– Stomp stomp stomp stomp...
"They're coming."
Christelle commented. Bean sized drops of water started floating up from around her feet.
The red dots far in the distance were rapidly coming closer to us. The dots were each now about the size of a fingernail.
– Pound pound pound pound...
"One, two, three..."
'Four, five.'
A total of five creatures were rushing toward us.
I walked to the front of the picnic mat.
The Imperial Prince and Christelle were standing in the very front while I was standing behind them to protect the Cardinal and the others.
"Please don't step out of my circle."
"Don't worry, your highness."
Benjamin responded in a calm voice.
The mountain keeper, Agnes, was looking around the back for any boulders or trees we could hide behind.
The others seemed to have seen Demonic beasts before, unlike me, as they calmed down almost instantly.
Well… everybody except Ganael.
"I'm just going to be cheering you all on."
The Cardinal teased us in a relaxed voice. I couldn't help but scoff.
I shook my head and had my ether flow to the tips of my hands.
Warmth soon flowed down to my palms and ether (TL: Ridibooks announced a special TWSB board game where it is spelled as Ether so spelling change it is) orbs the size of steamed buns soon appeared.
"Young lady Sarnez, please feel free to take them down without worrying about running out of ether."
"That is great, your highness. I'm glad to hear that."
I clenched my hand into a fist before reopening it.
The golden ether orb flickered on and off like a fluorescent lamp.
I needed to activate the flow of ether early in order to support her as quickly as possible.
I haven't used any healing powers yet, but I'm sure it should be doable if I follow everything I read...
– Pound pound pound pound pound...
– Mooooooooooo...
I could hear a beast roar. Then, I could start to see the demonic beasts in the distance.
They looked like disgustingly red bulls with a mane around their necks. Their skin was glossy like snake skin.
They also seemed twice the size of normal bulls.
Their eyes were glowing white as they ran toward us, making them look extremely scary.
"They are Toxin Bulls."
The previously silent Imperial Prince commented.
He slowly took a few steps forward before pulling the sword out of the scabbard on his right hip.
'Toxin Bulls?'
"Are they bull-shaped demonic beasts that release poison?"
"Yes."
My mind calmed down.
I had read about them while trying to find information on the red pandas when they first appeared in the Imperial Palace.
The Toxin Bulls were herbivores, but they release poison created from the plants they ate to attack humans.
Fire attribute would be the most effective against poison but we only had a swordsman and a water attribute user.
"We cannot let them get close. These things breathe out poison as well."
– Squeeeee.
Demy quietly screeched.
The little guy seemed to have some complaints as he roamed around my feet, so I lowered myself.
"Are you scared? Do you want me to hug you?"
– Squeeeee!
Demy shook his head to say no before standing up on his hind legs.
And then…
– Pruu!
– Shaaaaa...
The grass in front of Demy started to bend. No, to be more specific...
"They're knots."
Blades of grass were being tied with each other to create knots.
I reached over and pulled at one but the knot held firm with no signs of weakening.
A way to hold the demonic beasts down to prevent them from approaching us while we take care of them.
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
"Your Royal Highness, young lady Sarnez. Let's do it this way."
I offered a suggestion.
The clear blue water-like eyes and the burning orange eyes simultaneously turned to look at me.
– Mooooooooo!
– Rooooooar!
They were less than 100m away now.
The five Toxin Bulls were drooling as they charged toward us.
The saliva dripping from their tongues melted some of the wildflowers.
I channeled a lot of ether into Demy, who was in my arms.
"Demy, can you do it?"
– Whimper!
"It's okay, big sis and big bro over there will take care of it even if you make a mistake. Two, three..."
The red panda raised both front paws.
"Now!"
– Crack!
It sounded like a giant watermelon cracking in half as the path on the hill sunk down.
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– Moooooooooo!
– Roar! Rooooooooar!
There was a mix of mooing and roaring as the unbalanced Toxin Bulls fell into the sinkhole.
Demy had hit the location on the mark, unfortunately the hole was not very deep.
– Rooooooar!
The five fallen beasts flailed to stand back up.
The Imperial Prince started moving even without my signal.
He ran forward so quickly that I couldn't even see him. He then elegantly swung his sword-wielding left arm.
There was a faint white light and…
– Baaaaaaaaaang!
– Mooooooooooo!
There was an extremely loud explosion before the Imperial Prince's sword aura slashed through the vital points of three demonic beasts.
It was truly a sword art to the afterlife.
I couldn't believe that he was still not a sword master.
But this was not the time to blank out in shock.
The two Toxin Bulls that barely managed to avoid getting hit in vital points were stumbling as they crawled up the sink hole.
"Young lady Sarnez!"
I poured all of the ether I had been gathering into Christelle, who was still standing inside the circle.
I could see the main character smiling as bright as the stars. Christelle took a deep breath and then…
"Please leave it to me!"
– Tap!
She kicked off the ground and instantly ran off.
I was amazed by this special ability of Holy Knights that I had only read about until now.
They had amazing physical strength regular people couldn't even dream about.
This speed was something she would not have been able to get if the novel had progressed as written.
– Splash, splash...
Water quickly gathered around her boots once she approached the sink hole.
A broad stream of water followed the slope of the hill and into the sinkhole.
– Boom!
– Mooooooo!
The dry dirt turned into mud, becoming very slippery and forcing the demonic beasts that were climbing the walls to stumble and fall back in.
Large streams of water ruthlessly poured down to fill the pit.
Demonic beasts were naturally weak against water and fire, so they weakened as their bodies became wet.
– Roooooooooooar...
Only one of them was alive after a while.
– Mooooooooooo...
– Siiiiiiizzle...
The blood and saliva of the demonic beasts was being melted by the water, becoming a solution of poisonous liquid.
I was relieved that we were able to pool it into a single area.
We would not have been able to prevent the poisonous liquid from spreading everywhere if Christelle was going up against them alone, and the Imperial Prince fighting alone might have led to them splitting up to overwhelm him with numbers. .
– Hnnnng...
There was a loud breathing noise before the last demonic beast closed its eyes.
My body stopped being tense as I sighed in relief.
"Your highness..."
I could hear Ganael, who was quietly hiding behind the closest boulder, mumbling.
I turned around to see Benjamin, Natalie, David, and Agnes looking up at the sky and praying.
I scoffed in disbelief.
"Ah, son of a…"
I heard Christelle's voice at that moment.
I jumped in shock and turned to look to find her looking as if she was about to fall.
Demy had tied knots in the grass near the sinkhole in case the demonic beasts escaped, but it looked as if her foot got caught in one of them instead.
"...Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am okay, your highness. I completely forgot about these."
She smiled at me. I smiled back out of etiquette and looked at the Imperial Prince.
I saw that he wasn't injured at all, as I had expected, and then we made eye contact.
"..."
"..."
I wondered if he was going to try to provoke me again, but he did not say much.
He just threw his broken sword on the ground and started walking away.
It seemed that the swords he used were too weak to withstand his sword aura.
'How can someone who is the Imperial Prince not have a famous sword of some kind?'
"Good job, everyone. That was good for a warm up, wasn't it?"
The Cardinal's gentle voice descended upon the picnic mat.
She was drinking coffee in the same position she had been in before the group of Toxin Bulls had arrived.
Christelle chuckled and nodded her head.
I petted Demy, who was squirming into my arms, before whispering to him.
"Good job, Demy. You the real MVP today. You were the best."
– Screeeeech
The red panda screeched valiantly. My circle slowly disappeared.
Vice Captain Élisabeth, who had quickly emptied over half of a cup of plum juice, finally looked refreshed.
"I was wondering why her Eminence had summoned the Imperial Guard."
She smiled refreshingly as if her lingering curiosity from the past few days had finally been resolved.
Her olive-colored hair fluttered in the spring breeze that was blowing through the garden of Juliette Palace.
It had been one day since we pummeled those Toxin Bulls on the rear mountain.
Today's morning tea time was with my guest, Vice Commander Moutet, who had ditched work.
"Her Eminence has no interest in the knights or the military. We usually do not have any interactions with her."
She explained what she meant.
"But for some reason, she was looking for a few of our core members who had experiences clearing demonic beasts. I heard that she even asked if they had experience herding cows. I wondered what kind of joke it was, but it was for a unique field experience... I can't help but admire her."
Vice Captain Élisabeth's splendid grey eyes were sparkling.
Seeing this look of respect in her eyes for Cardinal Boutier, someone who was quickly becoming the icon of violence in my mind, the future of the Empire...
Probably has a speck of dust in it.
"Please include me in field trips like that in the future, your highness."
"It was not a field trip."
"Getting to eat dessert from the Juliette Palace in a scenic area and catching some demonic beasts sure sounds like a picnic to me."
She meant it. I had a bitter smile on my face as I wet my lips with my burdock tea.
Yesterday's experience was definitely constructive, but a part of my heart turned cold thinking about the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts, which was more intense and much larger in size.
Even though I knew nothing bad would happen while being with the two main characters...
– Rustle.
"Prince Jesse."
I heard the grass being stepped on as Benjamin appeared from one side of the garden.
He was holding a plate covered by a silver lid in one hand.
He must have brought snacks for Vice Captain Élisabeth and me.
"I have both good news and bad news, but I will start with the good news, your highness."
"Ah, okay."
'Don't people usually ask which one you would rather hear first?'
"The good news is that the coconut cake today is the best I have ever had."
He revealed the contents of the plate.
It was a dessert full of finely shaved coconut powder that looked like Korean shaved ice.
A dark chocolate symbol of the church of the Almighty God was at the center.
Vice Captain Élisabeth commented about how 'it is magnificent, it is splendid'. (TL: There's a trio of Korean compliments that goes, it's magnificent, it's splendid, it is a gift from God.)
The corners of my lips curled all the way up to my ears at this extremely good news.
"As for the bad news... You have received an interview request, your highness."