I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

“…She’s gone.”

“…Yeah.”
The adjutant and Albert exchanged blank stares and those few words.
The moment the Hero heard that her acquaintances were inside, her immediate reaction was to sling the Holy Sword over her back and sprint toward the location.

She burst out like a wild beast, radiating killing intent, as if she didn’t need any vehicle—and they didn’t even have time to stop her.
“What do we do now, General?”
“……”

Hmm.
What could they do?
Against a catastrophe-class demonic beast, throwing in regular soldiers was nothing more than senseless loss of life. The best course of action was always to deploy only key strategic forces.

And now that their top strategic asset—the Hero—had already run off on her own, there was very little left for them to do.
In that case—
“Have you eaten?”

“…?”
“If not, come eat with me. Might as well watch while we chew.”
“……”

A short while later.
With sandwiches hanging from their mouths, Albert and his adjutant quietly munched away while staring at the magitech monitor broadcasting the live battlefield feed.
“…General, is this really okay?”

It felt like just yesterday he had sworn to serve the Capital Defense Forces with pride and honor.
Was it really acceptable to sit here idly, when people much younger than himself were charging into the jaws of death?
But Albert’s response to such a concern was frankly absurd.
“Oh, right. You weren’t around last time, were you?”

“Sir?”
“Didn’t seem like you saw what those kids did when demons showed up in the capital.”
“…?”

It was true he hadn’t been there…
But why bring that up now?
Reading the expression on his aide’s face, Albert let out a dry chuckle and continued.

“I had the same exact concern once, you know.”
He sipped his coffee, eyes fixed on the screen.
“And I reached the conclusion that worrying about it is a waste of energy.”
And the one who helped him reach that conclusion?

Was now once again appearing on the screen.
Carlyle Belfast.
The young man who had performed a literal miracle during the capital’s demon crisis.

“Just sit back and enjoy the show.”
From that day onward, Albert came to a firm realization:
Nothing good ever comes from interfering with monsters.

“……”
Hmph.
The adjutant glanced sidelong at Albert.

“You don’t need to look at me like I’ve lost my mind the moment I got this general’s post.”
“……”
“Just watch. It’ll make sense soon.”

“But sir, with all due respect—!”
On the screen, what was visible—
From the adjutant’s point of view, were just kids. Practically infants. Throwing themselves recklessly into danger.

There are things in this world you can do and things you shouldn’t.
And ramming a motorwagen full-speed into a catastrophe-class demonic beast definitely fell into the latter category.
…Leaving aside the question of why a student was even operating a Motorwagen that should’ve been reserved for high-level Tower officials in the first place.

—...
—...!!
A monstrous cry echoed from far off—the sound of the Black Mirror having detected nearby lifeforms.
And it wasn’t just a noise from beyond the screen—it was so loud and dreadful, it reached even them, far away from the actual battlefield, in a real, physical sense.

Then—
What looked like black tendrils of mana began unfurling from beneath the Black Mirror.
Seeing this, the adjutant muttered like a groan.

“…Even an entire magic battalion wouldn’t be able to handle that.”
Even through the screen, it was obvious.
Even if you threw a full battalion at it, the sheer volume of that dark, tendril-shaped mana would crush them like minced meat.

And the one standing up to such a terrifying entity—
Was someone dressed in a manner that didn’t fit the setting at all.
Someone peeked out from inside the motorwagen.

“…A maid outfit?”
The bizarre sight made the adjutant tilt his head—but before long, the woman in the outfit clasped her hands together.
As if in prayer.

[Please…]
Even her soft-spoken words carried a tone of solemn reverence.
And then, the moment those words left her lips—

A blinding light, as if she had summoned a second sun, exploded from her body.
…Its meaning was perfectly clear.
“…General?”

“Yeah?”
“That’s… mana, right?”
“Obvious, isn’t it? That’s walking-fusion-reactor level stuff. Wouldn’t you say?”

“…She’s doing that with no incantation?”
“Even a full battalion couldn’t pull that off.”
“….”

…Even among the mages of the Tower, how many could possibly pull something like that off?
Maybe not even the dragons—those beings of pure mana—could mimic that.
And here this girl was—dressed in a maid uniform—doing it effortlessly.

“……”
Seeing the adjutant’s dumbfounded expression, Albert let out a snort of laughter.
Yeah. That’s how it goes.

Everyone has to go through that phase to reach this state of mind.
And what happened next only sealed the deal.
[Hup!]

With a slightly underwhelming battle cry—
The dazzling white light gathered at her fingertips, and she fired it toward the Black Mirror’s writhing tendrils.
A moment later, the screen flared completely white from the massive explosion.

And as the noise cleared—
A massive crater had formed on the ground.
The Black Mirror’s overwhelming tendrils, which had been filling the entire screen moments ago, were nowhere to be seen.

“……”
The adjutant stared blankly at the screen.
Then turned slowly toward General Albert, who was still chewing his sandwich without a care in the world.

“…General.”
“Correction. That’s not a walking fusion reactor. That’s a full-blown strategic weapon on legs.”
“……”

“She wasn’t quite that ridiculous last time I saw her. Looks like she’s grown a lot, huh.”
“……”
…There was one thing the adjutant could intuitively grasp.

That spell just now?
Was equivalent to a large-scale bombardment capable of blasting a skyscraper in half.
Something that would normally require two or three entire magic battalions, several days of preparation, and at best could be used once.

And yet—
She’d just fired it casually.
In a few seconds.

With no incantation, no mana array, nothing.
Just… tossed it out like a rock.
Who even knew how many core principles of magic she had just skipped?

[Wow—WOW! Carlyle! You did it!]
And the one responsible was now waving her arms in the air, bright-eyed and smiling, with no visible sign of strain.
No side effects, no fatigue.

[Yes, Vespa. Good job. But please come back inside now. It’s dangerous.]
[Y-Yes, of course!]
Then—

The maid-uniformed girl ducked back into the motorwagen, and in her place, a man with orange hair poked his head out.
And his gaze—
Was directed exactly at Albert and the adjutant.

As if looking through the screen.
“……”
“……”

Both men flinched in unison.
“…That’s a micro aerial camera, right?”
A top-tier surveillance device acquired from the Tower—marketed for its undetectable stealth, even from dragons.

And yet—
This man was looking straight at it.
Without hesitation.

[Thank you for your hard work—!]
He even bowed politely.
[We appreciate everything the Imperial Army does during these situations!]

“……”
[Especially with the Hero involved, I imagine this whole thing’s been a mess. My sincerest apologies!]
“……”

Hmph.
Regardless of how surreal the situation was, Albert and the adjutant both nodded involuntarily at the sincerity of his words.
What a polite young man…

[But from this point on, I’m afraid we can’t show you any more! Sorry!]
And with that—
His courteous smile was the last thing they saw before the entire screen went black.

As if every single micro-camera in the area had been simultaneously destroyed.
…Hundreds of them, gone in under a second.
“……”

Albert gave a dry laugh toward his stunned subordinate.
“What’d I tell you?”
“……”

After a long silence, the adjutant finally rubbed his face with both hands.
“…General. Do we have any coffee left?”
“There’s a grinder over there. Start with the beans. I’ll brew ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ you one.”

“…Thank you.”
They both seemed to have reached the same conclusion:
Some things in this world… just aren’t worth worrying about.

***
“Hmmmmm…”
Carlyle exhaled sharply through his nose as he lowered the Holy Sword.

Yeah, this is good.
By following the training methods the Dean had taught him, he had learned how to attack not with “points,” but with areas.
Now when he swung his sword, it wasn’t just a straight line—it covered entire zones.

It felt like his regular attacks had become AoEs.
“A-Amazing!”
And the one most specialized in AoEs was now swinging her arms in excitement, eyes sparkling.

“Compared to me, Carlyle, you’re just on a whole other level!”
“….”
No, actually—

If you were being objective, wasn’t she the more amazing one?
She had just overpowered a catastrophe-class monster in a pure mana clash. She had clearly transcended humanity long ago.
“Well… somehow.”

…Still, even if they looked like this, what they had just done amounted to barely blocking what was essentially a normal attack from the Black Mirror.
And they all knew that.
“…Definitely the Matron of the Azure Sea. I feel like she could throw those attacks out infinitely.”

“Agreed. In a battle of attrition, we’d lose for sure.”
“You think we can kill that thing?”
“We can.”

If they couldn’t, the three of them wouldn’t have come here in the first place.
But it was time to revise their objective.
Carlyle thought back to the myth Panhyma had told him:

—Wise and ruthless sea kings… as long as you don’t provoke that one, they won’t harm travelers crossing the sea. It’s a well-known tale in the Far East.
And now, looking up at the Black Mirror thrashing violently in the sky, behaving in a way that didn’t match those words at all—
If his intuition was right—

It wasn’t doing this to kill humans.
Its intentions were entirely different.
Which meant the course of action was obvious.

“Panhyma. We’re not here to kill that thing.”
“…What?”
Blinking blankly, Panhyma looked at him—and Carlyle grinned.

“We’re here to save it!”
They were going to rescue the victim.
Not slay it.

[…So now you’re expanding your rescue list to include non-human lifeforms?]
“…What are you even saying.”