The small reinforcement, and the wriggling thing

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 I wonder how long I’d blacked out for.
 
 Angry voices fly about.
 The sound of machine guns.
 The death cries of monsters.
 
 And———
 
 “Ojou-sama…”
 
 ——— the familiar voice of my attendant.
 
 With the touch of her cool hand brushing the hair out of my face, I somehow managed to open my eyes.
 
 
 
 “An…na?”
 
 “Ojou-sama—”
 
 In front of me, I found a face that seemed on the verge of tears.
 
 “How’s your body???”
 
 Seeing her so worried about me, I somehow tried giving her a smile.
 
 “… I’m fine. The magic sickness was just very bad.”
 
 Saying so, I tried to raise my body.
 
 “Ojou-sama!”
 
 However, I fell to Anna’s knees once more, dizzy.
 
 “Ojou-sama, you can’t stand up yet. Please rest a little more.”
 
 “But, if I don’t fight, everyone will…”
 
 “It’s alright. A cheeky someone is defending so-so.”
 
 “Someone…?”
 
 I followed Anna’s gaze as she looked toward the city wall’s edge with a complicated expression.
 
 The one standing there was ———
 
 “…Theo?”
 
 With my magic rifle at the ready stood a black-haired boy.
 
 
 
 He pulled the trigger halfway, slowly enlarging the magic power convergence bullet in the muzzle, then fully pulled the trigger.
 
 Bang!
 
 A flash.
 And then an explosion.
 
 Theo bent over on the spot after firing one shot, placed his hand on his chest to adjust his magic power circulation, then stood up once more and readied the gun.
 
 “Why is Theo here?”
 
 Hearing my question, Anna seemed to pout.
 
 “It seems that when he heard about what was happening this time, he chased after Ojou-sama. It’s disgusting to say, but he’s being useful right now.”
 
 “I, see…”
 
 I closed my eyes.
 
 
 
 ——— Even though I had told him such cruel things, he still came.
 
 Deep in my chest, I felt warm.^[1]
 
 I took both of my hands, and similar to how Theo did a short while ago, I regulated the magic power circulation within my body.
 
 Even while I was unconscious, Coco and Mel kept using the 『Magic Power Stabilisation 《Queskio Magia》』 spell.
 
 Although it had calmed it down considerably, if it was that disorderly then I’d have no choice but to do the finishing touches with my own magic power control.
 
 Doing that as maintenance for my own magic power for some time, I then opened my eyes and raised my upper body.
 
 
 
 “Theo.”
 
 When I called out to him, Theo, who had been plopped down while regulating his magic power, looked up with a start.
 
 “Letty!”
 
 Standing up, Theo came over to where I was while stumbling.
 
 “Letty, are you ok?!”
 
 “Yes, I’m fine.”
 
 “I see. I’m so glad…”
 
 Just like that, Theo limply sat down on the spot.
 
 Seeing him like that, I felt some indescribable feelings within me.
 
 “… thank you. For coming.”
 
 “Yeah. When I heard about it, I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. So, I came over with these flying boots you gave me.”
 
 Saying this, he pointed, showing me the flying boots I gifted to him before.
 
 “But, is it alright? You know, for you to have come to such a dangerous place all alone.”
 
 “Oh, yeah. It’s probably fine. I left a note.”
 
 Saying so, Theo averted his eyes.
 
 “Just as I thought…”
 
 I held my head in my hands.
 
 This could become a diplomatic issue.
 As I was thinking this, Theo spoke out with a forcefully light tone of voice.
 
 “Well, whatever happens, happens! Putting that aside, we need to do something about that guy.”
 
 When I turned around after he said this, at the end of my gaze was a roaring Cyclops.
 
 “I guess so.”
 
 I took Theo’s hand and stood up.
 
 “Theo, my gun.”
 
 Seeing my hand held out, Theo hesitated for a moment.
 
 “… will you be fine?”
 
 “Yes. As long as I don’t do anything unreasonable, that is.”
 
 “Got it.”
 
 Theo passed the gun slung from his shoulder to me.
 
 “Can I borrow a weapon?”
 
 “Yes. ——— Lionel, a machine gun for His Highness Theobald!”
 
 With Theo’s amount of magic power, he can shoot even without a magic stone.
 This will probably get rid of the time loss from exchanging magic stones.
 
 Thus we once again faced off against the advancing wave of monsters.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Barely a moment after Theo, myself, and Anna lined up and began shooting.
 There was a certain something that I noticed.
 
 “… there’s something weird mixed in.”
 
 “Huh?”
 
 Theo, who was replacing an emptied magazine, looked up.
 
 I pointed in the direction of the wave of monsters coming from the north.
 
 “——— around there. Hidden in the signs of other monsters, I can feel a weird magic power coming out.”
 
 “Magic power?”
 
 Furrowing his brows, Theo turned his eyes in the direction I pointed.
 
 Over there stood a single Cyclops.
 
 One size larger than those of the same species, it stood dauntingly at the furthest of the monsters, glaring at its surroundings as though not intending to move a single muscle.
 
 “That Cyclops?”
 
 “Yeah, maybe… no, not him! By his feet!!”
 
 When I shouted like that, Theo and Anna strained their eyes to get a better look.
 
 “… 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝, I can’t see, those goblins are swarming all over.”
 
 “I guess it’s difficult to see with the naked eye.”
 
 In fact, I couldn’t see it with my eyes either.
 
 However, by overlapping the direction of my vision and my magic sensing, I could certainly 『see』 an odd magic power with intermittently changing wavelength emitting from around the Cyclops’s feet.
 
 “——— I wonder, but perhaps that’s the enemy’s control tower.”
 
 “What do you mean?”
 
 “I mean that there might be 『something』 that’s controlling the monsters! ——— Anna.”
 
 “Yes!!”
 
 Pleased for some reason, my attendant returned a cheerful response.
 
 “I’ll ask you to support me. Let’s fly. ——— Theo, it’s just for a bit, but I ask you to take care of things here. We’ll be back right away.”
 
 “Huh? Wait, Letty?!”
 
 After making sure Anna activated 『Flight Assist 《Forle Edio》』 on her teddy,
 “We’re off!”
 I took off alongside Anna.
 
 
 
 We soared over the lead of the advancing monsters, headed flying to the magic power in question.
 
 Gyaaah!!
 
 Aiming at us as we took off, the surviving crows attacked.
 
 “『Auto Defense』!!”^[2]
 
 Woom
 
 Coco and Mel’s magic activates, catching them at close-range.
 
 “𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜!!”^[3]
 
 Dada! Dada! Dadadada!!
 
 Aiming at the crows caught in the defensive film, Anna delivered the promised rapid-fire into them.
 
 As a matter of fact, her gun was the first to get the light machine gun modifications.
 In order for her to serve as my support, it was absolutely necessary.
 
 While pulling along Anna as she kept intercepting, I dashed through the skies of the battlefield.
 
 For me, who was flying at speeds of 100km/hr, that was but an instant.
 
 “——— I see it!!”
 
 The Cyclops standing up straight.
 And hidden behind it, there was that something I mentioned.
 
 It was a black, wriggly, fuzzy something.
 
 『That』 looked up.
 
 Our eyes met.
 
 “-!!”
 
 I gasped.
 
 There was no mistaking it.
 
 Those eyes, they were different from the red eyes of the monsters attacking the city.
 
 Black pupils in white eyeballs.
 Human eyes, which widened when they saw us approaching to close range.
 
 The next moment, from within the fur, a black arm unexpectedly came out.
 In its hand was a short staff made of wood.
 
 The direction the tip of the staff was pointed… was at me!!!!
 
 “Guh!!”
 
 I didn’t even have time to brace myself.
 
 Bing
 
 A flash of purple lightning.
 
 Boom!!!!
 
 In that instant, the purple glint exploded.