Following Yoshino's trail, I ran until I spotted Itsuka-kun and Tohka soaring through the air atop a giant sword.
“Itsuka-kun!!!”
“Hieta?!!”
At my shout, Itsuka-kun turned his gaze toward me.
“Did you bring Yoshinon?!”
“Yeah!!! I've got her!!!”
Thankfully, he had remembered to grab Yoshinon. With that settled, we turned our attention forward and headed straight into the heart of the ice storm.
As we reached the edge of the tempest, Tohka began drawing the AST’s attention.
“I won’t let you interfere with Shido!”
“All units! Change target to [Princess]!”
While Tohka lured the AST away from the storm, Itsuka-kun flew up to me and handed over Yoshinon.
“This is...”
“Hieta. You go and give Yoshinon to Yoshino.”
“But for the seal, Itsuka-kun has to be the one to deliver her...”
“No. It wouldn’t matter even if I went. And besides, Hieta, you’re Yoshino’s [Knight], aren’t you? Hurry up and go save the lady.”
Perhaps I was still hesitating. Maybe I was wondering if Yoshino might actually like Itsuka-kun, and if there was still a chance the seal could succeed through him. To still be thinking such things after hearing the commander’s words... as someone who called himself a knight, wasn’t that a failure?
“...Haha, fair enough. I'll be right back.”
As I started toward the ice storm, the commander stopped me.
“Hey! That’s way too reckless! You’re seriously going to charge into that ice barrier with nothing but that one set of armor?! You’ll be shredded in seconds!”
“Commander, did you forget? I’m the Ashen One.”
“So what if you are!”
“No matter how many times the Ashen One dies, they always come back.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?! If you go in there, it’ll be like walking face-first into a shotgun blast! And if the storm senses spirit power, you’ll freeze solid!”
“Freeze solid, huh... I’ve already experienced that more times than I can count.”
“Stop spouting nonsense and don’t you dare—”
Since the commander wouldn't stop pestering me, I had no choice but to cut the intercom and step into the ice storm.
The moment I entered, a barrage of massive ice chunks came flying to greet me.
“At least [Warm Flame] makes this bearable.”
I had activated [Warm Flame] just before entering to raise my frost resistance as much as possible. Even so, trapped within the storm and pelted by flying shards, the cold continued to build up relentlessly.
“This much is still bearable—”
In the end, the frost meter filled completely. My frozen body was smashed to pieces by the ice chunks, shattering into a thousand fragments.
“Still not giving up.”
Before long, my shattered remains turned to ash, gathered in one place, and began reforming my shape once more.
How long did I keep moving forward like that—freezing over, breaking apart, and being rebuilt from ash again and again? Eventually, I began to hear a girl’s voice.
“Hic... Yoshinon... sob, Yoshinon...”
A voice trembling through tears. It was Yoshino. The moment I heard her, I pivoted and stepped straight toward the source.
“Yoshinon...”
“You cal—”
I tried to imitate Yoshinon’s voice, but my body froze once more as the frost accumulated. Seeing me in that state, Yoshino climbed down from her rabbit monster and ran toward me.
“H-Hieta-san... your body...!”
Yoshino cried out, but I couldn’t hear her through the ice encasing me. I moved what I could and gently touched her cheek.
Crack!
My body, frozen through to the core, couldn’t withstand the movement and shattered again. If anything, it was lucky my eyes didn’t break, as they were still fixed on Yoshino. Tears streamed down her face. Just as she was about to hug my broken remains and wail, my body turned to ash and rebuilt itself once more.
“Haha, ta-da. Surprise?”
I tried to break the tension with an awkward laugh, but Yoshino rushed into my arms and burst into tears.
“I-I thought... you d-died because of me...”
Slowly stroking Yoshino’s head, I whispered, “Yoshino, I am your knight. Unless you tell me to die, or until you die first, I won’t be leaving you.”
Yoshino stopped crying and looked up at me.
“R-really...?”
She looked so pure and innocent that I cleared my throat and continued.
“Ahem. Of course. Anyway, I kept my promise and brought Yoshinon back. Well, Itsuka-kun was the one who actually found her, but still.”
“Sob, h-heee...”
Yoshino suddenly started crying again. Her reaction left me completely flustered.
“W-what is it? Please don’t cry. Did I do something wrong?”
“N-no... I-I’m just... h-happy...”
I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Good. It seemed I hadn't messed up.
“But how are we supposed to get out of here...?”
I asked, scratching my cheek in embarrassment. I couldn’t break this barrier by sealing Yoshino’s spirit power on my own.
Just as I was thinking that, a window—similar to the one that appears when obtaining an item—suddenly popped up in front of me.
“Huh?”
“W-what is it...?”
The window displayed a single item: [Hermit]’s Soul.
“What in the—”
Out of habit, I reached out and claimed the item. Instantly, Yoshino’s clothes began dissolving into particles.
“Y-Yoshino, your clothes—!”
Panicking, I quickly pulled the robe from the Fire Keeper set out of my inventory and wrapped it around her. Then, as if by magic, the barrier surrounding us and the dark clouds in the sky vanished, leaving a rainbow in the clearing sky.
*
After Yoshino’s seal was complete, we returned to the [Fraxinus], where Itsuka-kun, Tohka, and a narrow-eyed commander were waiting.
“How did you seal her spirit power?”
“Hmm... I’m not really sure.”
“Huh?!”
“I really don’t know. It just... somehow happened?”
“Do you seriously think that makes any sense?!”
No, even if you put it that way... it really did just happen.
“Ah, right. Maybe this will explain it.”
I took [Hermit]’s Soul from my inventory and placed it in my palm.
“What is that?”
“Uh, how should I put it... Yoshino’s spirit power turned into an object? Something like that, anyway.”
At my explanation, the commander let out a heavy sigh and pressed a hand to her forehead.
“So what are you going to do with that thing?”
“If I give this to Itsuka-kun, maybe he can absorb it?”
“W-what?!”
Itsuka-kun, who had been listening from the side, looked shocked. Hey, it might actually be possible.
“No, just in case, keep it with you. We can’t hand some suspicious object to Shido.”
I nodded at the commander's order and put it back into my inventory. Still...
“Yoshino? Why are you hiding behind me?”
Yoshino carefully shifted her gaze toward Tohka.
“Ah, that’s Tohka. She’s the one who helped, along with Itsuka-kun.”
“Tohka...-san?”
“Mm! I helped too!”
“Then what do we do now, commander?”
The commander replied that Yoshino would need to undergo an examination, just as Tohka had. With that, Yoshino left with Murasame.
“Can we go now?”
“No. Tohka and Shido can go, but you’re staying.”
“Why?!”
“Why do you think? Obviously, you’re the one who pulled out that ‘thing,’ so you need to help us inspect it.”
“No, wait. I’m completely ignorant about that kind of thing. I won’t be any help at all.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
The commander said that and dragged me away. Help me!!!
--------------------
[Hermit]’s Soul
One of the strange souls that carries power.
A blue-hued soul that gives off an inexplicable chill.
Using it allows you to seal [Hermit]’s spirit power within the body.
[Hermit] is a spirit with the ability to control the water and cold around her; it is said that a rabbit doll always stays by her side.
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