'Just what did we get ourselves into...'

That was the single depressing thought I had as I looked around me...

Knights filled my entire sights despite me trying to look for any possible way to escape... No realistic opening was visible as far as the eye could see...

It was simply absurd the number of knights that were in front of us. All handling spears, grimoires, lances, bows and swords... The number of knights neared the hundreds, which left me wondering.

'Just how did this army mobilize so quickly?'

It was absurd, Sakura had not even been allowed to leave the guild as she was still inside...

Yet... all of these knights were still before us... Standing impotently as they pointed their lances and swords, while the mages amassed magic...

This could only be the work of someone with a lot of power... And sadly, there were not many candidates...

In the end, I could only logically think of a single person with enough authority to force this many troops and knights to mobilize so quickly...

"Myria... do you think-?"

"Yeah... It's very likely that that's the same reason my uncle was in there..."

...

So I was right huh? Frankly, I wanted to be wrong as I could feel the distress and anxiety seeping out of Myria's eyes and expression quite vividly...

I felt pity for her...

...

But that pity was quickly brushed off as a man wearing shining golden armor, with a bushy mustache and many wrinkles decorating his face, got off his horse and declared boldly:

"SURRENDER YOURSELVES, YOU TRAITORS!!!"

Those words echoed throughout the street as the entirety of the knights quieted down...

Myria and Scarlet, who were beside me just remained calm as the man boldly declared again:

"Surrender yourselves calmly as you have disgraced our kingdom... You worthless pieces of trash..."

...

...

...

"You know we can kill all of your army in the snap of a finger, right?"

...

...

...

Yeah, I kind of had enough...

I was quite angry, to say the least...

After all of the bothers, we had gone through, I did not want a single person telling us what was right or wrong. And I definitely didn't want a person I didn't even know calling me a traitor.

I do know I had gotten in trouble for talking out my displeasure before... Clearly remembering that incident with Pietro...

But seriously, I believe my actions are justified enough... Who else has spent days and weeks of their new life fighting for this kingdom? Well, I know Myria kinda had to overlook me so I couldn't really leave either... But that's not the point.

I was actually offended by these people underestimating my work over and over and over again, and I'm really starting to get tired of it...

But I guess that guy in the golden armor didn't quite receive the message...

"Ho Ho Ho, Little girl. I know your strength. I know what you're capable of. Mr. Callum here has seen you fight, and we're confident we can beat you!"

...

I turned to look at Myria and Scarlet who were left with nearly baffling smiles...

They both were trying to contain the laughter as I turned and looked over at a wryly smiling Callum...

He seemed to notice my stare as he turned to me as well while I asked curiously:

"So you told him... Everything?"

"If I would've told him everything, do you think he would still be here?"

"Fair point"

That short interaction was enough to send the entire army into whispers and mayhem...

It was quite obvious no one had been expecting Callum of all people to talk so bluntly regarding the disparity in our powers...

But once again, JUST HOW DENSE ARE THESE PEOPLE?!

"Yeah right, Callum is only supportive because he hasn't been able to appreciate the true power of the elite army from the Litherm kingdom! Comprised of B-rank adventurers or higher! This army represents the very core of our nation and we will not fall back under any circumstance!"

Seriously, I'm not even kidding... We're still supposed to be SS-ranked adventurers for a reason you know?

First, it was Pietro, and now this guy? Just why do they think that an SS-ranked adventurer party will not be able to take care of an army?

I mean, this time even Myria was ashamed as he hid her face in behind her hands... And in between strangely embarrassed sobs uttered a single word repeated multiple times

"Sorry- Sorry- Sorry- Sorry- Sorry-"

...

I was left a little speechless seeing her so relaxed as her, technically, personal army going up against her...

Yeah, I mean, B-rank adventurers are weak and all... But it's still an army! Right?!

...

Yeah no, to Myria seeing this army was for some reason, similar to a game for her? As she kept apologizing away while hiding her face in embarrassment.

"Sorry Reika, I'll be sure to scold my parents afterward..."

...

'Scold your parents?! They called an army on you, you know?! How will you just solve everything through scolding?! I mean, in my case I would solve everything over a nice looooooooong chat... but scolding?!'

I mean, It was quite clear Myria nor Scarlet seemed very trouble after hearing the man talking... but rather, I was the one who was left troubled?

'I guess this is how Myria and Scarlet feel when I pull off my share of absurdity huh?'

I was truly left shocked by the words Myria had uttered as well as Scarlet's playful grin...

They honestly, looked like children taking a scolding as a random amusing activity, it was rather weird...

Yet, I guess the man in the armor caught onto this too...

And he seemed quite irritated...

Because as a vein was popping on his forehead while the rest of the knights were still uneasy...

He yelled:

"Hey, brats! Listen to me! Stop fooling around and surrender yourselves! Who do you think you are?!"

"..."

Yeah no, I was too busy trying to get Myria to stop apologizing to even listen to the guy behind me rant on...

And obviously, Scarlet wasn't interested either as we both tried to cheer Myria up through our... very different methods...

"Come on Myria, you know they didn't mean it..."

"Yeah Myria-sa〜n! Just remember that we can always slaughter them later if necessary〜!"

Yeah... Scarlet's approach was quite obviously a lot more gory than mine... And obviously much more mental... but... I guess Myria and Scarlet are too good of friends by this point...

"*Sobs* T-thanks Scarlet... You're right... *Sobs* We can always kill them later..."

...

I just shook my head as I listened to my fearless companions say quite dangerous sentences in the most comfortable of ways...

'Are they joking...? Please tell me they are...'

My expression was that of utter confusion as Myria recovered fron her embarrassed state.

But, as she began to feel better... a certain annoying insect began declaring baseless, absurd claims once more...

"DO NOT IGNORE ME YOU RUNTS!"

"..."

Of course, none of us cared as we remained calmly conversing between us.

"LISTEN TO ME I SAY!!!"

"..."

We remained talking and laughing as Myria finally regained her emotional comfort.

I had already noticed the guy was getting angry to quite risky levels, but I honestly couldn't care less.

I was quite sure there was no word in any conceivable language that could properly describe my desinterest in the frustrated man...

He was nothing but background noise to me as I was left speaking to my friends who had, like me, tuned out the annoying man and his insecure army...

...

But even background noise can be annoying...

"YOU ARE ALL WORTHLESS DISRESPECTFUL PIECES OF OVERRATED TRASH!!! LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK OR THERE SHALL BE NO MERCY ON YOU!!!"

"..."

Nobody really cared about him as his rant went on and on and on...

"YOU ARE ALL WORTHLESS TRASH!!! YOU TRAITORS!!! YOU WHORES!!! I BET THAT'S WHY YOU GOT RID OF THE HEROES AND PIETRO-SAMA!!! YOU WERE ENVIOUS!!!"

I could no longer tune him out at this stage as he was beginning to irritate me quite a bit...

But just as he was beginning to get under my skin... he simply gave up on haunting me... And looking at the still-recovering Myria... He did not even hesitate to start declaring absolute blasphemy boldly once more...

"PRINCESS YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOUR KINGDOM FROM SHAME AND DESTRUCTION YET YOU FAILED, YOU FAILED TO ALL OF US!!! YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE PAYING THE CONSEQUENCES!!!"

I was a little taken aback at how he suddenly decided to change his target of oppresion from us as a party... To Myria alone, who was clesrly the most vulnerable at the moment...

'That scum...'

I turned to face Myria once more who had become frozen in place from listening to the absurd words that guy had to say...

Without a moment's worth, I immediately felt my anger swelling as I wanted to yell that stupid guy to stop...

But I was once more, too late, as that  golden pig opened his mouth once more...

"YES, YOU SICK PRINCESS!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! THE REASON WHY THIS KINGDOM WILL NIW CRUMBLE IS BECAUSE OF YOU!!! YOU ALONE!!! YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE AND FAILED!!!"

...

I did not even look back to check on Myria's state...

Calling me furious was an understatement...

'You can mess with me... but not with my friends...'

In the end, the words of a stupid pawn such as Pietro had caused all of this...

Since when could a buffoon influence these many people with surreal claims...?

Who would've thought an ant would be so annoying to deal with...

Those were my immediate thoughts as I stared into the distance with the ocean of armored knights blocking any possible escape route... It was honestly a desperate sight... Since, judging from a certain familiar face, if we tried to fight back... he would be forced to intervene...

We were trapped...

I felt my feelings become troubled and stirred...

And... quite literally burn...

Despite Pietro's words being the ones that had caused the opinions of others to sway... the one who had caused all of this... was still me...

I shouldn't have done anything other than to listen to his baseless claims. Back there, everyone was still supporting us, yet out of me acting out, and even going as far as killing Pietro before their eyes probably gave them that final push from admiration into fear...

As always, I had made a blunder...

I had committed a mistake that had compromised our relationships, our friendships, and our entire reason for being...

But this time... This time it was all going to be different...

In contrast with every single other blunder, I've made... This time, I won't allow my stupid behavior, my irrational stupidity and my lack of criticism stop our progress or halt our lives...

...

"...All bets are off..."

That's what I had uttered silently as I began pulling all of my consciousness into deep concentration...

"YOU THERE! STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING!!!"

"..."

'Keep concentrating... Do not let yourself go...'

"I WON'T REPEAT MYSELF!!!"

"..."

I did not care what that golden pig had to say at this point... I just didn't want to lose myself to my rage...

"THAT'S IT! SOLDIERS ATTACK!!!"

...

...

...

"[Master Hide Presence: Off]"

...

A dismal aura of sorrow, hate and fury shot out from my body in all directions as the dozens of soldiers around us froze up...

I had specifically made this aura's presence quite weak, for these pdople to live through it... but it was still enough to render various soldiers unconscious...

I could clearly see the golden clad pig trembling from the fesr as he fell on his knees on my approach...

"W-what are y-you doing you useless so-soldiers?! G-get her!!!"

...

The pig screamed and declared and ordered...

But no one dared to move a muscle...

...

No one dared to utter a sound as I got drew closer to him...

Each one of my steps making the soldiers around me fall back in fear...

...

And as I looked with coldness deep into the pig's desperate, teary eyes... he begged for mercy...

...

He dared to beg for mercy...

...

But it was too late...

...

As he kept struggling away...

I grabbed hold of Boukyaku's hilt as I looked deep into his fearful and nervous eyes...

"Say that again..."

(AN: Please forgive me!!!!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!! I didn't upload for 4 entire days... I'm so sorry but seriously, school left me 4 huge projects nearly on the same day, and the stress was having me pluck my hairs out...

Anyways, I tried something quite different this chapter. I actually am having Reika defend her friends in the most badass way I could've possibly thought...

So my question is:

Do you want Reika to become braver and more outgoing?

Remember, that's what I tried to do this chapter... so if you liked it... maybe comment a yes?

Anyways, thanks for remaining with me this far ;3;

Thanks to all those who read, voted and shared my story!!!

Thanks)