After saying that, the woman who had suddenly appeared walked straight toward Carol, completely ignoring the soldiers around her. The soldiers immediately surrounded her, sharp crossbow bolts aimed at her head, waiting only for Claude's command to shoot her full of arrows.
But she did not care in the slightest, as if the heavy bolts capable of piercing armor did not exist. Her eyes held only her target. It was not until the sound of a blade scraping against its sheath rang out behind her that she seemed to sense something. She turned around warily and looked at Claude.
"Wait! Wait, Mr. Claude! I know her."
At that critical moment, Grani stopped Claude, then stepped forward to stand before the woman.
Grani looked utterly surprised. "Skadi, what are you doing here? Did you take the same mission as me?"
The silver-haired woman called Skadi frowned, but still gave Grani her second sentence.
"Hand over the mayor of Dripping Water Village. Now."
"No. I absolutely will not hand her over to you. She still has something very important to do. I will never hand her over to you."
But Grani's answer came without hesitation as well. She stared firmly into Skadi's eyes, waiting for a reasonable explanation.
Yet Skadi's expression was rather telling. She did not explain her reasons, and her brow furrowed as though she found explaining troublesome. After a long while, seeing that Grani truly had no intention of yielding, she sighed and reached back to grip the hilt of her sword. It seemed she had decided to take Carol by force.
The massive greatsword was as light as a sheet of paper in her hand, yet she effortlessly cleaved it into the ground, unleashing a deafening crash and clouds of dust... Yes, not stabbed into the ground, but