Arisugawa decided to retreat after seeing Piyo and Veronica fall.
“No way?! Are you serious, Brother?!”
Karubene’s voice rang sharply in his ears.
“That’s right, if we keep fighting like this, we’ll just have more casualties. Our opponent this time is not someone we can defeat. Then it’s better to have as many members as possible safe, right? The opponent is one person, if we scatter and run, we can buy time.”
Everyone listened to my opinion in silence. Except for Karubene.
“What?! Run away? I can’t believe it. I never thought my brother would be such a coward. That’s it, I’ll go alone.”
Elana blocked the way of the agitated Karubene.
“No, what he says might be right. Even if you go alone…”
“I know that, but if I have to live my whole life being laughed at by those Dark Elves, I’d rather fight and die!”
“You, stop that kind of thing where you pretend dying when you know it’s reckless is cool. If you die, nothing will remain.”
That’s right, if I die, nothing will remain. I should just pretend to withdraw quietly. It’ll be a detour, but I can go via a different route.
Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned around, it was Sharin.
“Arisugawa, do you regret it? About those two.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just… well. My plan failed, I can’t involve everyone any further.”
As expected, I couldn’t lie to Sharin.
“Don’t try to solve everything yourself. It was the same with the Deep Sea Witch, wasn’t it? You can’t fight alone.”
That’s right, I feel like I’ve become even more cowardly since the incident with Diepser. With every battle I fight on this journey, everyone grows stronger. Even Pauline, who initially just hid, has found her strengths and is full of confidence. I feel left behind, unable to be of use. Then I make plans and have everyone else fight. I’m not the one on the front lines. I feel very cowardly about that. I have no right to give orders.
“No, it’s just me, the one who isn’t fighting.”
Sharin’s eyes widened. Then, as if understanding something, she narrowed her eyes.
“What are you talking about? Look around you. It’s true that everyone, including me, might be stronger than you. But no matter how fast a horse is, if it has no reins, it’s just a wild horse. Do you understand?”
Just as I was about to ask what that meant, Karubene’s voice cut in.
“Then is Sister’s death in vain?!”
“No, that’s not it, if we don’t retreat here, it will truly be a dog’s death,” she said.
Are those two still arguing?
“Hey, you two, this isn’t the time for that.”
“…A waste of time. I’m going to fight.”
And Cecilia walked past a fuming Nina. I see, I can’t leave this as it is. I turned my gaze back to Gadou. He was calmly watching his companions argue. The enemy’s combat style, the void magic, was emitted like waves from his arms, fists, and legs. All of them were at extremely close range. Perhaps it could be sent flying at a distance, but let’s assume that’s not the case here.
All the attacks so far had been single shots. Both the explosions and the sword strikes. Could continuous attacks, like a stream of water, be defended against?
