Phoebe watched from behind nervously as Alexa stood in front of a caravan of horse-drawn wagons that carried hundreds of despondent refugees. Some of them dismounted when their carriage stopped, and many of them, mostly men, seemed to eye Alexa warily, who stood beside Wilhelm and Alfred.

  U-um…what am I even supposed to do? Smile? How will that fix any of these people?

  They needed food, water, medicine, healing mages…hell, she’d bet most of these people would just want some directions where they could find shelter. There were so many of them fleeing the Schengen Region, which had been declared a Defense District.

  Everyone knew what that meant. It meant demons were coming, no matter where it was declared, so naturally, people would leave their homes and belongings they had just to flee. Each time demons advanced deep into human territory, this was said to be common.

  Refugees, all afraid of demons, would almost always swell in numbers.

  “But…the demons aren’t here anymore…” Phoebe softly muttered as she looked down. “Surely, many of them can just stay in their towns and cities.”

  “And that’s exactly where you come in.” Alexa grinned as she patted Phoebe’s back, surprising the meek girl.

  “W-what?”

  “As I’ve said before, these people need hope,” Alexa declared, as if that were an absolute truth. “What happened before was an absolute disaster caused by something utterly out of their control. No, it was out of everyone’s control. They therefore have no reason to trust the words of us—the government.”

  Alexa turned a bit until determination flooded back into her graceful face. This person, the Crown Princess, since Phoebe first met her, seemed to always suddenly have this certain air whenever things went bad.

  While most people would cower and turn meek like her when faced with such adversities, Alexa always held her head high. At times, yes, she became way too arrogant, many times petulant, and perhaps even annoying. But in times like this, she seemed like she was above everyone, including Phoebe.

  She was a woman who kept her head high, no matter what.

  Phoebe was again patted from behind by Alexa. No, it was more of a push.

  “Go on. Introduce yourself,” Alexa said. “You are the prophesied saintess, remember? And now, you are the same person who just killed a Sin Archdemon, and saved an entire city. Tell me, what do you think these people need? Me, a princess telling them to go home, or you, the saintly hero, telling them that you will make sure that they are safe?”

  “I…” Phoebe was unsure of herself. “I still don’t see myself as a hero. I just…I don’t even know why I have all of these powers. Isn’t it unfair that everyone’s just expecting too much from me?”

  “Of course it’s unfair. The fact that I want you to be a hero for my subjects is quite an arrogant request. But your powers are on you. Regardless of how much you shirk from this, there’s responsibility dangling in front of you. It’s up to you if you want to embrace it or refuse it. So what do you choose?”

  Phoebe’s eyes widened as she gazed at Alexa’s.

  “If you have no reason to fight, run! If you have a reason to fight, then stay and fight!”

  Even if she wasn’t conscious back then, she’d somehow heard everything that Alexa said whenever she used that ability. Well, she couldn’t remember it with full certainty, but that line was what had always resonated with her.

  When she woke up, not sure what to do with her newly awakened holy magic—twelve magic circles in total, enough that Phoebe’s mana heart reached the ‘Ascendant Stage’, the final stage of a mage’s magical development, she hesitated to pick up her staff and fight.

  For what reason, after all, should she do any of that?

  It wasn’t like she chose to be the future hero. That was just what the people who took and raised her said, day and night. That this was her destiny.

  But she never chose that. Why should she face something like a Sin Archdemon all because of that? Couldn’t she simply run?

  Until…

  She realized that the Archdemon was about to kill Alexa.

  Now, she looked at the crowd in front of them. Were they her responsibility? No. She could just stand back, and let Alexa deal with them. But…

  No. I already chose to have a reason to stay and fight back then, because my friends were enough of a reason to take this responsibility.

  She stepped forward, walking close so that the people could hear her.

  Yes. This is no different. Just because it’s not my responsibility, does not mean that I can choose to bear it myself!

  “I…” Her voice cracked before she steeled herself as her golden halo glowed brighter. She planted her hand on her chest, and she spoke loudly to be heard. “I am Phoebe d’Lumiere, the Holy Saintess of this land. If you are running from the demon horde, I suggest you abandon those fears for now, because I will fix that problem for all of you!”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  +++

  Alexa watched as Phoebe spoke to the crowd passionately, even showing them her magic to convince them that they were safe. While it was met with some resistance and skepticism at the start, soon, the crowd was overjoyed at the news.

  Alexa finally managed to speak to the much more relaxed crowd later, telling them to go straight to the Monile Palace to grab food, because she had ordered Alfred earlier to ensure that a lot of food would be going near the palace as a distribution node.

  While it wouldn’t help them fully just yet, it should get these refugees to the point where they wouldn’t be so abysmally starved. She also advised them to check on their hometowns and cities afterward and return if the authorities there deemed it safe.

  Soon, they moved onward, traveling through the Schengen Defense District with one goal in mind: to make sure that Phoebe’s words and promises about the entire region becoming safe again would be true.

  “We’re here,” Wilhelm declared, as Alexa stepped out of her carriage. “This is Rost City. Seems like the panic meant a lot of people left.”

  “I can see that. The activity around here is eerily low. What was its population again?”

  “Forty thousand.”

  “I see.”

  Alexa and her team drove further into the city, going straight to the mayor’s office. The city officials remained, as soldiers across the Empire poured in. Of course, even with all their assurances to their citizens, many left, at least more than half of Rost’s population. The rest that remained were busy too, preparing to leave.

  None of them trusted what the government said. The news of the Battle of Perlenstadt had spread like a wildfire untamed, and whenever demons were involved, both for military and civilians, that was all that mattered.

  In the case of the Imperial Army, they deployed units filled with soldiers too nervous to do anything but garrison duty. In the case of the citizenry, they were razor-focused on surviving by fleeing. No one wanted to be on the frontlines once it inevitably moved, so Alexa couldn’t blame them.

  Still…

  Action had to be taken.

  “We’re here to pacify the dungeon beneath!” Alexa declared, her voice cold and determined. The city mayor was awestruck, but the man regained his composure.

  “Your Highness…part of the reason that the people are fleeing is the increased monster spawn rates in dungeons in this region,” the official said, as he squirmed a bit. “They believe that just like in Perlenstadt, demons could suddenly come out of a portal underneath the city.”

  “And even your city guards are affected by this?”

  “Even the Adventurers Guild is having a hard time finding people interested in extermination quests underneath. The Imperial Army on the other hand seems to be more interested in digging defenses. Poking the bear is out of the question. My point is, we can’t help you if you decide to do this!”

  The official stood up, his eyes wide.

  “You shouldn’t do this, Your Highness. I do not wish for royalty to be endangered in a city I administer. Both for your safety and my sanity, I urge you to reconsider.”

  “But your people are fleeing.”

  “I know.”

  Alexa looked down at the official. He seemed like he only cared about his reputation more than his people. Why care if the people decided to flee because of a false panic? They’d realize later to come back once they failed at surviving in whatever place they moved in.

  For now, there would be no reason to endanger his reputation by letting the Crown Princess waltz into a dungeon near his city, thus placing him in the crossfire should anything wrong happen.

  Alexa couldn’t blame him. Days ago, she was much the same as he. Maybe, even now, she was still no different.

  But I can’t let his fears affect me.

  “I have an entire team from both the Defense Forces and the Royal Guard to assist me,” Alexa declared. “Phoebe, the Holy Saintess, is here too. For what reason is there for me to back out? No, I’ll go down there. All I ask of you is that you open the gates to the Rost Dungeon.”

  “I...are you about this, Your Highness?”

  “I am. I’ll descend there and see to it myself that the monsters from the dungeon are culled to reduce the risk around Rost City.”

  “I see,” the mayor nodded. “Then please, do your best. We’ll give you as much support as we can give.”

  Finally, with that out of the way, Alexa and her team went toward one of the entrances of the city’s dungeon. The gate itself was heavily barricaded, and the area around it was watched by an entire company of Imperial Army soldiers, all of them preparing heavy defenses should anything come out of the dungeon’s gate.

  Alexa stepped forward, readying herself. She had spent a lot of her time earlier just using the Archdemon of Sloth’s blood to produce sixty glyph papers in total. Thirty for her defense, and another thirty for offense. Fifteen of them were basic fireballs, as she wanted to maximize her firepower should the situation require it, and another fifteen for water magic pulses.

  That was enough for most basic threats. Wilhelm on the other hand would cover much of the specialized problems with his glyph spellbook, something which he kept with him at all times. That book alone contained so much power, that Alexa realized that even Sir Alfred would struggle fighting it.

  At least, until his glyph papers run out, and Wilhelm is forced into a fight without his main weapon. Though Alexa suspected that such a scenario only happened in Perlenstadt because he chose to delay Sloth himself on his own.

  “Alright,” Alfred walked beside Alexa, as the dungeon’s doors opened. “I’ve had a lot of experience in dungeon diving, so I should lead at the front.”

  “My,” Alexa giggled. “Attempting to impress us, huh? Say, did your less-than-stellar performance in Perlenstadt compel you to act more?”

  “Yes,” Alfred replied.

  Alexa was taken aback. She was merely joking around with her knight. She didn’t expect him to be blunt. Indeed, since that battle, he seemed to be doubling down in his work.

  He clearly didn’t like the fact that Wilhelm outsmarted him so badly, that Alexa and Adele were in grave danger the whole time.

  “Trust me, princess. I’m never letting that one-eyed freak get ahead of us ever again, so I’ll be with you at all times if you decide to charge into dangerous matters.”

  “I see…” The dungeon’s door was wide open, and Alexa felt a gust of air hitting her from behind. She turned back to her team, both made up of her friends, and two squads from the Royal Guard and a group of shieldguards from Wilhelm’s Fuchs Brigade. “Everyone, let’s do our best!”

  She pointed at the dungeon.

  “This time, we’re not on the defense. So attack, and win back our people’s safety!”