The shocking truth was hard to process. The fact that a demon could infiltrate the castle meant only one thing—this Arclight Kingdom was as good as finished.

And they had the audacity to talk about defeating the Demon King.

"You’ve saved me the trouble by coming straight to us," said a voice.

From behind the two classmates appeared our target, Princess Liliana Arclight, the Third Princess. It had been four months since I last saw her, but there was no mistaking her face. Seeing her, the source of all our problems, made my blood boil.

"And you didn’t stay hidden. Thanks for making it easier for us," I retorted.

"Hmph."

If she only intended to have us fight our classmates, she had no reason to appear herself. Perhaps she didn’t want to part from the classmates serving as her bodyguards. Why not just use knights or guards instead? And why wait for us here, of all places? So many unanswered questions.

"I have a few things I’d like to ask—"

"Hold on," Shimizu interrupted.

"What now?"

I turned to him reluctantly, only to see him glaring at me. Was he mad about something? What had I done?

"If you’re here, then... what happened to Manaka and the others?" he demanded.

"Huh? What else? We beat them down and came here, obviously."

Shimizu turned pale at my words, continuing in a shaken voice.

"Don’t tell me... you killed them...?"

"I didn’t kill them," I replied flatly.

At least, I was pretty sure they weren’t dead.

I glanced at Rio, who nodded vigorously in confirmation. While she had done most of the fighting, answering for her wasn’t a problem.

"I see," Shimizu muttered, exhaling in relief. Both he and Nagai seemed to relax, though it bugged me they thought we were that dangerous.

And yet, they didn’t ask about Neguro. Were they not close? Or maybe they just didn’t care. I glanced at Princess Liliana, but her expression remained unreadable.

"Don’t lump me in with Neguro," I said.

"...What?"

"You haven’t heard?"

"Heard what!?"

Despite everything, the Princess’s face remained neutral. Shimizu didn’t seem to know, but I wondered how he’d react if he found out.

"Neguro tried to kill Rio."

"What... did you just say?"

Shimizu whipped around to face the Princess, his expression filled with shock. But her calm demeanor didn’t waver.

"Is that true!?" he demanded.

"Silence," she ordered.

"—!"

The moment she spoke, Shimizu clamped his mouth shut.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but he stayed quiet. Was her word truly absolute? No, that couldn’t be it. He looked like he was on the verge of attacking her.

I glanced at Nagai, who seemed resigned, her expression hollow and defeated.

"Honestly... I was told he killed them. And yet here you are, perfectly fine. Meanwhile, Tact Neguro returns barely alive. A complete failure," the Princess muttered irritably.

Her words made Shimizu’s eyes widen in anger as he glared at me.

"—!!"

But once again, he said nothing.

The collar around his neck—it couldn’t be a slave collar, could it? That would explain why he couldn’t disobey her.

I discreetly used appraisal on it. Sure enough, it was a slave collar.

So the Third Princess was utterly corrupt. Summoning us, essentially abducting us, only to enslave us. What was her goal?

"So, you’re the one behind the attempts on our lives," I said.

Why was she so brazen about this? Did she think she could silence us, or rely on her authority to cover it up?

"And what of it?"

"Hah... So you’re the one who tried to kill Shu and me," Rio said coldly, her eyes sharpening.

"Thanks for walking willingly into your demise," the Princess sneered, her grin twisting mockingly.

I clenched my fists.

"The other classmates weren’t targets... Why us?"

"Who knows?" she replied dismissively.

So she wasn’t going to tell us.

"Both of you," the Princess ordered, "you may speak now. Mei Nagai, protect me. Masayoshi Shimizu, kill those two."

The two obeyed instantly. Nagai fell back with the Princess, beginning a chant for defensive magic. Shimizu unsheathed his sword, stepping forward.

"Tch. I’ve got my orders, so I can’t hold back. If you’re going to run, now’s your chance," Shimizu said.

The power of the slave collar was terrifying.

But that wasn’t the problem now—it was Shimizu.

Appraising him revealed his class: Holy Knight. Nagai was a Grand Sage. A Holy Knight... What could he do? It wasn’t clear. And apparently, none of us had the Hero class. I hadn’t appraised Neguro, but he didn’t seem like one either.

—In any case.

"I’ll handle this," I said.

I couldn’t let Rio take all the glory.