The manipulator, and…

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 A purple flash was aimed at us.
 
 That attack exploded mid-air and spewed out smoke, covering the surroundings in smoke.
 
 “…”
 
 Within my obstructed view, Auto Defense’s protective film rippled from the shock wave of the explosion, glittering iridescent.
 
 The smoke gets blown away by the wind.
 The smoke cleared.
 
 Holding the staff up high while looking up this way was the fur-wearing 『enemy』.
 
 Those eyes were opened wide in surprise.
 
 “Tsk!”
 
 The man^[1] once again pointed his staff at me.
 
 Woosh ——— Boom!
 Woosh ——— Boom!!
 Woosh ——— Boom!!!
 
 The spells fired at Anna and I exploded in succession, their fumes scattering around.
 
 The iridescent protective film rippled greatly, covering the surroundings in black smoke.
 
 “『Oh force of wind, dispel this smoke. Gust 《Fact Breest》』!!”^[2]
 
 A strong wind blew through the surroundings alongside my chant, blowing away the smoke.
 
 
 
 The fur man looked up at me with an astonished expression.
 The man tried to raise his cane once more———
 “Hah, hah, hah… Ueghhhh!!”
 ——— falling on the spot to his knees, he vomited on the ground.
 
 A never-before-seen powerful barrage of attack spells.
 I don’t understand the principle behind it, but I did know that a single shot likely required a considerable amount of magic power.
 
 If you were to fire that repeatedly, of course you’d get magic sickness.
 
 
 
 While the man was vomiting, I turned my eyes to the Cyclops before me.
 
 “Goh, gah…”
 
 The giant stood there with unfocused eyes.
 It wasn’t normal no matter how you looked at it.
 
 I aimed my muzzle at the Cyclops’s head,
 “Sorry,”
 and pulled the trigger.
 
 A flash and an explosion.
 
 Having lost his head, the Cyclops backed off unsteadily, then fell backwards as is.
 
 This is a battlefield.
 A moment’s carelessness can be fatal.
 
 I cannot afford to die here yet.
 There was no room for hesitation.
 
 Once again, I shifted my eyes to the fur-wearing man.
 
 
 
 “Hah, hah…”
 
 He’s probably calmed down after vomiting a little.
 The man glared this way while breathing roughly, and pointed his staff my way with shaky hands while getting up.
 
 ——— However,
 “This is the end.”
 
 With my target dead-centre of the sight floating over my right eye, I set the selector to 『1』.
 I pulled the trigger of my readied magic rifle.
 
 Da.
 
 A dry sound rang out.
 
 The lead bullet rushing out of the muzzle was reaccelerated by the acceleration magic circle and shot out.
 
 Bash.
 
 The bullet passed straight through the hairy enemy.
 His staff was blown away, and red stuff splattered on the ground behind him.
 
 “… Guh!!”
 
 The fur-wearing man held down his shoulder, kneeling down on the ground.
 At his feet, a black sphere tumbled down from his breast pocket.
 
 “-!”
 
 Seems it’s quite an important item.
 He reached out to the sphere with the left hand that had been holding down his shoulder.
 
 But the sphere heartlessly rolled round and round, getting further and further away from him.
 
 Standing up in a hurry, the man chased after it.
 
 However,
 “Don’t move,”
 Anna’s voice rang out.
 
 Descending to the ground and standing in his way, we pointed our guns at him.
 
 
 
 “Hands behind your head. Turn around, and get on your knees.”
 
 The petite man raised his head at my attendant’s words, opening his eyes wide.
 
 His hairy hood was already off, revealing his bald head and wrinkled face, then his goblin-like triangular ears.
 
 “Quick!”
 
 Anna pulled her trigger halfway, activating the acceleration magic circle.
 
 However———
 
 “…heh.”
 
 The man with his wrinkled face laughed weakly, muttering something.
 
 “Huh?”
 
 I questioned back.
 
 But, ignoring my words, he stared fixedly at me while saying some unknown words.
 
 “Da, dodo, daadaa, da…”
 
 (——— what language is this?)
 
 I tried recalling the regional and national languages I knew. However, not a single one matched.
 
 “Anna, do you understand what he’s saying?”
 
 “No. It’s a language I’ve never heard before.”
 
 It’s a primitive language, obviously not from the northern continent.
 
 “Wait. You can’t speak Continental Standard?”
 
 The man shrugged his shoulders at my words, making a 『I don’t know』 gesture.
 
 ——— all the while speaking in that mysterious language.
 
 
 
 I was careless.
 
 Until it happened, I didn’t realise the purpose of the unknown language the man kept speaking.
 
 
 
 It was only after a strong magic power ran through the man’s body that I realised there was a clear intention behind those words.
 
 “&|<!”
 
 At the same time as his shout, magic power filled the finger on his left hand and gathered in his ring, bursting it open.
 
 Ba, bababa, baba, baaa!!
 
 A powerful magic power was emitted in succession.
 The overflowing magic power wrapped around the man himself over and over———^[3]
 
 “-!!”
 
 ——— and attacked.
 Thinking so, I pulled my trigger without hesitation.
 
 Tang!
 
 A shot fired from close-range.
 
 The next instant ——— the fur-wearing 『thing』 emitted a flash of light from its entire body, and exploded.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “Ojou-sama!! Are you hurt???”
 
 Inside the defensive film shining in rainbow-colours.
 
 I unintentionally shielded my face with my arm from the sudden explosion.
 I nodded to Anna, who was panicked, as I lowered my arm.
 
 “I’m fine. And you?”
 
 “I’m also ok.”
 
 I sighed with relief at the reassuring response, and looked at the smoke covering what lay ahead.
 
 “That was dangerous just now.”
 
 The ground right in front of us was smouldering with sooty smoke from the roughly 5 metre radius crater left behind.
 
 Along the outer perimeter were what appeared to be the blood-stained fragments of what the man was wearing.
 
 “As expected, I don’t feel like investigating that.”
 
 “I’ll tell Lionel to inspect it later. ——— Or rather, Ojou-sama, look there!”
 
 Looking in the direction Anna pointed… I turned my head to Cocomel.
 
 Over there, a surprising sight spread out.
 
 
 
 Flustered, the monsters ran frantically about.
 
 Goblins, orcs, saber tigers, even cyclops.
 As though the offensive up till now had been a lie, they turned their back to the city in a frenzy and ran away.
 
 My companions continued to attack them from atop the city walls.
 
 “Somehow, it looks like it’s over.”
 
 Heaving a sigh as I muttered that, my attendant nodded with a 『yes』.
 
 “By the way. Ojou-sama, what will you do with this?”
 
 Saying so, she showed me, held within a handkerchief, the black sphere in question.
 
 “Wait, that’s careless, Anna! If it exploded from thoughtlessly touching it, what then!?”
 
 “My apologies. I will be careful next time. ——— So, what will you do with this?”
 
 My attendant said this with an indifferent conscience.
 She’s probably thinking 『If I leave it alone she’d probably pick it up herself』.
 
 Well, that’s right though.
 
 I sighed, then spoke to her.
 
 “Of course I’ll bring it back. ——— Let’s go back to where everyone is.”
 
 “Ok!!”
 
 Thus we once again soared high into the sky.