“See you again, my lady. Please take care.”

After yet another visit from the obnoxious Selene Donkrig, the Warden escorted her back to the ground floor and, at the gloomy entrance of the prison, he bid her farewell. Secretly, he was elated that she was finally going to be away for a couple more days, in which he could rest and deal with his own affairs.

“Don’t forget to find Bibi! I want it back!”

Bernard wryly smiled and nodded his head. He was tired of hearing her whining about the black mouse. She was literally ordering the Warden of the Shadow Keep Penitentiary to find a mouse, which might be anywhere in the Skywall Fortress.*

Considering the size of this entire place, it was no different than trying to find a needle in a haystack.

After one last round of grumbling, Selene got into the luxurious and magically-reinforced carriage.

It was exquisite in design, had the emblem of the Donkrig Aristocratic Family, and cost a ludicrously exorbitant price to make.

It was thanks to it that Selene was able to travel from and to the Skywall Fortress without having to worry about any attacks from bandits and whatnot.

The carriage was considered a magical artifact, capable of withstanding explosive spells and ensuring the safety of those inside of it.

The carriage and the presence of Zenzo were enough for Selene’s father to be confident of his daughter’s safety.

Even if the carriage were to ‘malfunction’ or sustain heavy damage, Zenzo was powerful enough to get Selene out of almost any situation. The banal title of ‘Strongest Knight in Donkrig’ wasn’t just for show.

“Hey Zenzo! What do you think I should bring my darling next time?”

As was her wont, Selene was insufferably talkative and wouldn’t shut up. The carriage was considerably faster than normal ones, but the trip to Donkrig would still take an entire day.

As Selene visited her ‘lover’ twice a week, she spent four days traveling and only one day at home. Her obsession ran so deep that she didn’t mind the constant traveling.

“...”

Zenzo kept silent and simply looked outside of the carriage, peeking the pulled curtains and always looking out for potential ambushes.

The trip continued as usual as the self-driving carriages, which were awe-fully eye-catching amidst the dirt-road, kept moving at insane speed.

However, three hours after leaving the Skywall Fortress, somewhere in the Vast Sindus Plains, the carriage suddenly came to a halt.

Selene didn’t seem worried as she giggled to herself and kept looking at the old picture of her lover, meanwhile, Zenzo furrowed his brow.

“My lady, don’t leave the carriage.”

“Hm? Okay…”

She shrugged her shoulders as he carefully opened the door and unsheathed his sword. He scanned his vicinity before quickly noticing a figure blocking the carriage’s path.

It wasn’t his presence that stopped the carriage, but a swirling and thick green mist. One of the carriage’s functions, or more specifically, the functions of the Magic formations engraved on it, was the detection of Magical spells. It was a bit similar to the ones in the prison, but relatively weaker.

The carriage, colored gold and white, let out resplendent specks of light which formed a semi-spherical barrier all around it.

With a scary-looking stare and the sword in his hand, Zenzo took a couple of steps forward and stopped in front of the carriage.

He first checked the mist, which vanished thereafter, revealing the previously hazy silhouette of the unknown arrival.

“Greetings.”

Masquerading as the red-haired gentleman, Leonis Sanguis, the parasite performed an elegant bow as he spoke up with a clarion and calm voice.

As expected, Zenzo wasn’t in the mood to chat. In fact, he looked as if he was going to attack at any second.

“I’d like to talk with Lady Selene, if you don’t mind.”

Albeit his clean and visibly expensive clothes, his noble demeanor and polite tone, Zenzo didn’t take any chances. This entire situation was odd and forebode nothing good, so instead of responding, he attacked.

His body literally blurred before appearing in front of the parasite, bringing with it a powerful milky-white blast.

“I’m not here to fight.”

A shiny yellow-ish barrier, which was over 3 meters in height and rectangular in shape, appeared just in time to block the attack. However, it had many cracks on it and crumbled thereafter.

Zenzo’s expression turned uglier once he saw his attack blocked. He grabbed his sword with both hands and rapidly swung it multiple times at the stationary man.

Green mist burst forth, shrouding the area and obstructing the knight’s vision, but even that lasted a couple of moments as the powerful blasts extinguished everything and filled the entire road with wide craters.

Even the nearby trees and bushes were razed to the ground.

At some point, Zenzo’s body blurred for the second time before it appeared next to Arthur.

Startled to see the man move with such velocity, Arthur couldn’t react in time and was hit and stabbed in the chest.

No blood gushed out as the blade went through the somewhat frail skin of the parasite, but what disturbed Zenzo was seeing his supposedly injured target grin broadly and grab his sword.

A frosty energy spread from Arthur, momentarily slowing down the knight. Thereafter, his hand, which was holding the sword, emitted a steam of vermillion flames that coursed through the blade like electricity.

Zenzo retaliated by unleashing his milky-white energy, which extinguished the flames. Nevertheless, he wasn't able to overpower the parasite’s grip and pull his sword.

“This fight is meaningless. I just want to talk.”

Before the fight could escalate, the door to the carriage opened and Selene peeked her head out.

“Zenzo! What’s taking you so long?!”

Her expression immediately changed when she saw the devastated road and the man right in front of her knight, who had a sword piercing through his chest.

“Close the door!” Urgently shouted Zenzo.

Alas, it was too late as the parasite’s body turned misty and semi-intangible. It flew in an arch and quickly made its way toward the carriage.

Just as the door was about to close, a hand appeared from the mist and stopped it.

Arthur had actually bumped into the semi-spherical barrier, but it wasn’t particularly troublesome. One [Wither Touch] was all it took to make it crumble almost instantly.

“Hello, lady Selene.”

“A-ah… h-hello.”

She looked petrified, but since ‘Leonis’ had a kind smile and didn’t directly attack her, she felt a bit relieved.

Moments later, Zenzo’s sword cut through the bit of mist around Arthur and stopped inches away from his neck.

“Let go of the door!”

Arthur ignored the overly-serious and aggressive knight and talked to the girl.

“I get that this is scary and surprising to you, my lady. However, what if I told you that the Warden is planning to kill your lover?”