(...What am I fighting for?)

To that question, Verrier always remembers the answer she has told herself.

(For my older brother, for the people, to reclaim this country... because I am a princess―)

However, the answer was somewhat ambiguous.

Perhaps it was because it was a role that had been forced upon someone.

The question was heard again.

"―Why are you fighting?"

(...I am.)

Verrier confronts the depths of her own heart.

(―I... I want to help my older brother. First... for now... I want to fight for that. Because he's my precious family. I'm scared to fight, but even so, I... I want to swing my sword to protect someone. Of my own will… So―)

A cry from Verrier's own soul.

With that pure will, she reached out her hand.

(I need your help...!)

It was the moment Verrier's hand touched Darius's sword.

Dazzling light flooded the surroundings.

"...This is―"

Verrier didn't have time to worry.

She gripped the sword tightly and glared at the Nightwalker.

The Nightwalker also seemed to have noticed the glow of its magic.

They show an atmosphere as if they were panicking for the first time.

The Nightwalker pushed aside the surrounding knights and charged in as if to kill Verrier.

As if to meet it head-on, Verrier raises her sword to an upper guard.

"―It's over!"

Verrier unleashes a single strike with all her might.

The blow, unlike anything before, shattered the Nightwalker's greatsword and bisected its body.

With a death cry, the Nightwalker disappears into particles of light.

(...I-I did it...!) Now, my older brother should be saved...!)

As silence returned there, the surviving knights managed to speak, their voices strained.

"...We won...?"

"...V-Verrier-sama! Are you alright?!"

"...Y-yeah, I'm alright."

The final blow was a magic sword.

However, she had been carried away as she had consumed too much magic, and Verrier was exhausted and about to collapse.

As Verrier was being supported by the knight, Sofia opened her mouth.

"...I will proceed with regenerating the barrier as it is."

"...Please, do so."

They watched as Sofia's magic unfolded.

There's no doubt about her abilities. As proof, the barrier has been deployed again, and the stagnant magical power that was enveloping the space is quickly being purified.

Young grass begins to revive on the cracked earth.

On the withered trees, small green leaves were beginning to appear as if by a miracle.

Life is returning to the place once called the Land of Death.

"...Oh...oh...!"

The surviving knights cheered with tears in their eyes.

The feeling of having defeated the Nightwalker and the sight of their homeland being reborn seemed to fill their hearts.

Having reclaimed Tigress, the group quickly returned to the Asteria Kingdom.

Upon returning to the royal capital, Verrier immediately had an audience with the king and reported everything that had happened in Tigress.

The fierce battle with the Nightwalker, the miracle of the regeneration of the barrier's core.

The report caused a stir in the audience chamber.

Having finished her report, Verrier immediately headed to the room where her older brother, Kylan, was sleeping.

"Older brother...!"

She opened the door and called her older brother's name.

But there was no response to that voice.

Lying in bed, Kylan was exactly the same as before, as he was simply lying still with his eyes closed.

Anxiety suddenly surged in Verrier and rushed toward her older brother.

Sitting by the bed, she held his cold hand in both of mine, as if in prayer.

"Older brother... I'm back. I... won. I have reclaimed a part of our homeland... So please, open your eyes..."

Verrier speaks.

It was then, as the tears streamed down her cheeks and fell onto Kylan.

Slowly, those eyelids opened.

"...Ver, rier...?"

"Older brother...! Oh, older brother, I'm so glad you're safe...!"

"...I... come to think of it, I fought monsters―"

"Yes. That monster has already been defeated...!"

Seeing Verrier's face contorted with tears, Kylan seemed to have sensed something and smiled softly.

"...I see... It seems I have caused you a lot of trouble."

At the sound of her older brother's raspy but unmistakable voice, Verrier collapsed in tears.

Her brother came back. There was no greater joy.

Later, this battle would be remembered in history as the Miracle of Tigress.

Thanks to the combined power of Sofia and Verrier, the barrier of the Aldrian Kingdom, which should have been destroyed, was magnificently restored.

The biggest reason this feat was so highly regarded was that it was humanity's first act of defiance against the shrinking barrier.

The Asteria Kingdom established an unshakable position on the continent and brought hope to the world.

And every one of the heroes who achieved that miracle uttered the name of the same one man.

The miraculous sword that guided Verrier, and the power of the saintess that became the foundation for the barrier's regeneration, both had their source in the existence of the magical blacksmith from the border forest, Darius.

However, not all battles are over yet.

To reclaim the entire Aldrian Kingdom.

The battle was just about to begin.

Chapter 43