When Elena and her companions arrived in front of the house, they were met with the sight of several people lying on the ground.
Naturally, the fallen were overwhelmingly more likely to be members of the organization than soldiers or knights. On one side were soldiers and knights who trained for combat on a regular basis; on the other were underworld figures who, while accustomed to rough business, didn't train daily. When those two groups clashed, this kind of result was only to be expected.
"How strange."
Elena murmured softly as she took in the scene before her.
Those like Rei and Ara picked up on what she meant immediately and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. For a battle this one-sided... the house still hasn't fallen, for some reason," Rei muttered.
He wasn't wrong. From what they could see from the outside, the Marquis Seisole's House's combat power was clearly overwhelming. The Seisole Marquisate wielded significant influence within the Noble's Faction, and while their forces didn't rival those of Duke Kerebel's House, they were among the larger ones among the Noble Faction nobles. They hadn't brought their full strength to Anesis, but precisely because of that, many of the soldiers and knights accompanying them as escorts were elites. Not every soldier fit that description, of course—as was plain from the ones who had just tried to bar Elena's path—but the overall quality was high.
"Who's there!"
A sharp voice rang out, much like the soldiers from before, having apparently noticed Rei and the others.
The speaker was a knight who looked to be in his mid-thirties. Thanks to the moonlight and the bonfires burning around them, even those without Night Vision like Rei and Elena could make out his face. He likely held a considerable rank among the Seisole forces attacking the premises. As such, when he spotted the conspicuous figures of Elena and Set, he immediately understood who they were. As for Rei, the knight had probably recognized him because of Set.
"Lady Elena... and Lord Crimson? Forgive me. But why are you in a place like this? And with so many people in tow, no less."
"My target is that house as well."
The knight's face twitched at those words.
He had vaguely suspected as much. Otherwise, there was no reason for famous figures like Elena and Rei to be here. No—it wasn't that there couldn't be a reason, but this was by far the most likely one.
"However, as you can see, we have already eliminated most of those inside the house."
"...And yet it seems you haven't been able to take the house itself, have you?"
"Guh!"
As if she had struck a sore spot, the knight was at a loss for words.
Elena was right. The defenders stationed around the house had been defeated by the Seisole forces with only minor casualties on their end—a near-perfect victory by any assessment.
But the problem was what came after.
The moment they entered the house—no, the moment they set foot on the grounds—traps of all kinds had been triggered. Soldiers and knights were trained for head-on combat; they couldn't disarm traps the way bandits could. If there had been former adventurers among them, some might have possessed such skills, but unfortunately, there were none.
Unable to disarm the traps, they fell victim to them one after another. Worse still, a trap that had already been sprung wasn't finished. By some unknown mechanism, a triggered trap would reappear the very next moment. Nor would it necessarily be the same trap—it might become something entirely different, or it might remain exactly as it was.
The result was that merely trying to enter the house left scores of soldiers wounded. The most insidious part was that while the injuries were serious, they weren't fatal. No one had died yet, but carrying the wounded to the rear and treating them was tying up a tremendous amount of manpower.
They were stretched thin. That was the plain truth of why they were struggling to take the house. A handful of soldiers had been lucky enough to reach the building itself, but the moment they opened the door and stepped inside, a trap had inflicted a grave injury—either killing them outright or leaving them to somehow drag themselves back to their comrades for treatment.
In short, the Marquis Seisole's House was badly bogged down.
"If that is the case, I see no reason we cannot enter. In the first place, we are acting on orders from my father—Duke Kerebel. Given that, obstructing our actions here in Anesis would hardly serve the Marquis Seisole's House well."
Faced with Elena's declaration, the knight couldn't find his voice.
Because she was right. If they tried to forcibly stop her—even with sheer numbers—it would unquestionably become a serious detriment to the Seisole Marquisate. The knight had been entrusted with this sector, but not with full authority; he was merely one of several commanders. Asking him to make that kind of judgment call was unreasonable. He could probably force a decision if he tried, but being held responsible for it afterward was absolutely out of the question.
Leaving the speechless knight where he stood, Elena addressed the forces of Duke Kerebel's House.
"Rei, Ara, and I will storm the house. The rest of you, surround it—make sure no one escapes if someone breaks out. And also..."
Elena glanced at the still-speechless knight before continuing.
"And also, there are many injured among the Marquis Seisole's House. See to it that they receive treatment to the extent possible."
"Is that alright?" Ara asked briefly.
From Ara's perspective, this incident amounted to the Marquis Seisole's House running wild. Aiding them after that felt questionable. It was a natural concern.
But Elena shook it off.
"This incident aside, it wouldn't do to have the Marquis Seisole's House's combat power diminish needlessly. We should treat them. Besides—selling a favor costs us nothing."
Convinced, Ara immediately began issuing orders on Elena's behalf, one after another.
Huh.
Watching her, Rei was mildly surprised. The Ara he knew was someone utterly besotted with Elena. But seeing her rattle off commands with practiced efficiency, he had to admit—she commanded Elena's Escort Knight Order for good reason.
Rei, however, wasn't just watching. He had his own instructions to give.
"Set, you keep watch from the sky. If anyone tries to bolt from this house, pin them down. Can you handle that?"
"Gruu!"
Leave it to me! Set purred.
Set had Night Vision to begin with, and with the bonfires the Seisole soldiers had lit on the ground below supplementing the moonlight, he could see far more clearly than usual. Anyone foolish enough to try escaping would not slip past him.
Once Rei had briefed Set and Ara had finished dispatching the soldiers, Elena spoke.
"Now then. Shall we?"
Her expression as she said it was fierce and beautiful—a sight truly befitting the name Princess General. Rei, following behind her, lacked Elena's gallantry, but the sheer force of his presence was overwhelming in its own right. Ara, inevitably, fell a step below the two of them, but that was only because her yardstick was exceptional.
The knight of the Marquis Seisole's House watched them advance onto the grounds, unable to stop them. His duty demanded he try, but he knew—even if he attempted it, he couldn't halt them. And if he did try, there was no telling what the soldiers of Duke Kerebel's House surrounding the area might do. In the end, he stood frozen until Rei and the others had crossed onto the premises.
"Whoa—right out of the gate?"
Rei had naturally taken point. The instant his foot touched the ground, an arrow flew from out of nowhere, and he batted it aside with Death Scythe, drawn from his Misty Ring.
He'd taken the lead partly out of gentleman's instinct, but the bigger reason was simple: the Dragon Robe he wore gave him exceptional defensive capability. Being able to deflect projectiles like that arrow with Death Scythe or the Twilight Spear was a significant advantage. Elena, wielding the whip-sword Mirage, could have managed the latter feat herself, but she needed to stay free to issue orders to Rei and Ara if anything went wrong. In that sense, keeping Elena in the center and Ara at the rear wasn't a flawed formation at all.
"Rei, I doubt there's any danger, but stay sharp."
"I know. If it's just arrows of this caliber—what!?
Arrows wouldn't be a problem. That was what he'd been about to say. But the moment he took a single step forward, the ground clamped shut around him like a bear trap.
He'd never expected a trap like this right after the arrow trap, but he swung Death Scythe and severed the earthen jaws—which had somehow sprouted sharp blades in the interim.
"...That caught me off guard."
That was his honest reaction. The trap had given him absolutely no sign of its existence until it activated. Rei might not have matched a bandit's eye for traps, but he had a decent degree of confidence in his ability to spot them. And yet he hadn't detected that one at all.
Of course, the fact that a sprung trap could instantly revive and transform into a different one made it obvious this was no ordinary mechanism.
Force my way through? No—that risks the traps chaining together. If that happens...
Rei called back to Elena, Death Scythe still in hand.
"Elena, at this rate the sheer number of traps is going to be a nuisance. How about we just burn the ground out from under them with magic? I don't know what method they're using, but I think we could wipe out a good number of traps at once."
"Hmm. But would that not cause harm to the Seisole forces?"
"I'll adjust the range."
Elena considered this for a moment, mentally reviewing the chain of traps they'd just witnessed, then nodded.
"Very well, do it. But as I said—make absolutely certain no harm comes to the Marquis Seisole's House's people."
"Yeah."
Rei nodded and channeled magical power into Death Scythe as he began his incantation.
Flame, thou shalt exist only within the domain I designate, and in all other domains, thine existence shall be impermissible. As compensation for thy brief life, feed upon my magical power within the domain, and in an instant, sublime thy life.
As the chant progressed, a red line was drawn through the air, connecting Rei's group to the house. The line expanded into a transparent dome, and from within it, Fire Spirits shaped like red lizards began to materialize—several, then dozens, then hundreds.
Wild Dance of the Fire Spirits.
The spell completed. The magic activated.
The lizard-shaped Fire Spirits exploded, each detonation triggering the next in a cascading chain that swept through the dome. The dome itself only spanned the distance from where they stood to the house, so it wasn't particularly large. The explosions were violent, but they subsided quickly.
When the last blast faded, the dome dissolved. All that remained was churned earth, the ground literally plowed by the force of the blasts. Not a single trap was visible. Rei prodded the scorched dirt with the butt cap of Death Scythe—no response. No new trap triggered.
"...Well, that takes care of that. The traps out here are gone. It's just the house now. What do you think—want me to burn that down too while I'm at it?"
"That's tempting, but I have things to investigate inside. Let's leave it standing."
Elena stepped forward, and together with Rei and Ara, she crossed the ravaged ground—arriving at the front door without incident.