As the three Ice Arrow scrolls were torn apart, Silver Fox witnessed Anna's final spell.
His shock did not end there. He felt the ground tremble as some colossal creature prepared to burst from beneath it. The first thing to appear was a bird's head, its sharp beak almost touching his face. Stranger still, he could make out a humanlike expression on the face of the bird, which was formed from Ice Element.
It was looking down at him with contempt.
Humanity—or rather, the entire city block—seemed utterly insignificant before the colossal beast.
Bound by vines, Silver Fox could do nothing but tilt his head back and bear witness to everything unfolding before him.
Anna had used three spells, yet he couldn't name a single one. They seemed unlike any spells a human could cast. As he faced the colossal beast poised to take flight, he felt the vast gulf between humanity and nature.
Anna climbed onto the beast's back. It raised its head and let out a deafening shriek.
The shriek lit up the lamps across half the city. Silver Fox felt the fear spreading through the city, and even the lofty nobles were no exception. Neither was he.
The scene before them had stirred the deepest fear in every resident of the Imperial Capital, forcing them to remember the city once frozen in ice, and the being whose name could never be spoken.
And the history the Church had named the War of Corruption.
Silver Fox watched the colossal beast spread its wings, carry Anna off the ground, and fly toward the Kingdom Army's camp on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital.
The Kingdom Army's knights were roused by the beast's shriek, too. Torches and gas lamps drove back the darkness. As the beast rapidly approached, the riflemen had already taken their positions atop the walls. Though terrified, they still aimed their guns at the sky.
"Wait! Hold your fire! There's someone on that bird!"
A slender figure climbed onto the wall using a grappling hook. She wore light armor, with a rapier and a pistol slung at her waist. Her orange-red hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail, and the riflemen on the wall immediately found someone to rally behind.
The woman drew her pistol and sword and stood at the front of the line, ready to meet them, her eyes brimming with excitement.
The colossal beast didn't attack the walls or the camp. It landed steadily in an open space between the tents, then lowered itself and let Anna slide down its wing to the ground as if she were on a slide.
"Miss!"
The youth, already standing at the head of the line with his sword in hand, stared at the scene before him in disbelief. Everything happening at that moment seemed like a dream: a bird descending from the sky, carrying the girl he loved to him. It was the sort of scene found only in fairy tales, and he stood there dumbstruck, at a loss for what to do.
"Lance!"
Anna called out the youth's name and ran toward him.
Lance instinctively caught the figure who rushed into his arms. The real, slightly chilly touch told him that everything before him was truly happening.
The expeditionary force stood in formation in the open space before the camp. Under normal circumstances, they would have whistled and teased the new knight about his relationship with the noble young lady. But not now. Everyone knew the nature of this expedition.
In truth, quite a few people had been surprised when the youth joined the expeditionary force partway through.
Their embrace might have lasted ten seconds, or perhaps longer, until Lance blushed and stammered, "Miss, there are a lot of people watching."
Anna refused to let go. She looked up at him. "Can't you stay?"
"Miss, please don't say such foolish things."
"If you go, then you'll all..."
Anna's mind was full of Silver Fox's vicious curse. Every person she saw now would soon be cut into cold chunks by the villain's magic.
Lance pressed his index finger to Anna's lips, stopping her from saying what she wanted to say.
If anyone took these morale-shaking words seriously, Anna and her entire family could be implicated.
"I'm grateful for all the care you and Butler Horn have given me over the years. Now that the Empire's border is in turmoil, it's my turn to protect your kingdom, Miss."
"But, but..."
"Miss Anna, a knight can't break his oath, you know."
The fiery figure from the wall had appeared behind Lance at some point. She crossed her arms and watched the farewell unfolding before her with keen interest.
She noticed the glimmer of tears in Anna's eyes, and her expression softened.
The way of the knight really was the most troublesome faith in the world. The moment they went against their hearts and cast aside their virtues, the gods would take away their power. So even knowing full well this was a one-way expedition, the knights would still go without hesitation. This had always been the legacy of the Netheriel Holy Church.
Their armor bore the weight of their country and its people.
"So, let's make a deal. Leave him to me, and I'll make sure he comes back alive. As for the terms..."
The red-haired woman propped her chin on one hand and looked up at the colossal beast in the camp, her eyes shining with envy. "Let me ride it around the Imperial Capital once. No, even five minutes would do!"
The beast seemed to understand human speech. It lowered its head to look down at the tiny, colorful figure, taking in her yearning gaze.
The next moment!
Its enormous body shattered into four pieces, then transformed in the blink of an eye into drifting ice flowers that vanished into the air, without leaving even a drop of water behind. Before it disappeared, it gave the red-haired woman a haughty look.
In your dreams!
That was what its look conveyed.
The look struck home. The woman's hearty smile froze on her face, and her life seemed to stop at that moment. Mouth agape, her eyes lost focus. All the dreams and joys in the world no longer belonged to her. Her whole body seemed to turn grayscale, stiffening before everyone's eyes until cracks appeared.
A knight had lost her dream.
The eerie scene continued for a long while. At a loss, Anna could only bury her face in Lance's chest rather than look at the woman's plight.
The strange atmosphere lasted until the woman had finished putting herself back together after her breakdown. She forced a smile even worse than a grimace and said, "Even so, our deal still stands."
She heard footsteps drawing nearer. Clearly, the commotion caused by the colossal beast had disturbed everyone.
Beyond the camp, she also saw an imposing old man in red robes hurrying toward them amid a crowd.
Every fairy tale had to end sometime. And after that came cold reality.
As the culprit behind all this chaos, no one knew what would happen to Anna next.
"If there's anything you haven't said, you'd better hurry."
Her crimson eyes flicked toward the two. She concealed every trace of emotion and passed them, returning to the image of the Valkyrie that people knew.
She headed toward the great procession outside the camp.
"By my name, Other Shore, I swear an oath to you."
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