To Protect a Maiden’s Dreams and Hopes

“DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Bloodshot eyes like an evil demon, Carla charges at Peroni.

──She couldn’t forgive it.

Resolutely couldn’t forgive it.

That her fave, the work she wrote, and above all the content she could truly say she “likes”, was treated with contempt like filth.

The words Peroni uttered were synonymous with a declaration of war to Carla.

Then the rest is simple.

Only all-out war.

Kill or be killed.

Destroy or be destroyed.

As a person of the shadow (yin) who loves maiden content, she cannot let only that one live.

Alban-kun and Letitia-chan’s happiness…

And those who live in the same world of shadow who love the work she wrote…

Carrying all their dreams and hopes, she will strike down this evil person of the sun (yang)!

──Solidifying her resolve, Carla turned into an Absolute Kill Peroni Woman.

Peroni also flinched at her overly menacing appearance,

“Ah geez! ──<Quantum Stealth>!”

She activates magic immediately.

Instant──as if melting into the air, Peroni vanished from before Carla’s eyes.

“! Disappeared…!? Where to…!?”

Carla’s feet stop.

Having suddenly lost sight of Peroni, she searches for the figure, but there is no human shadow around at all.

Where did she go…? While Carla is looking around,

“Ei.”

Kotsun, a pebble hits Carla’s head.

The pebble is light, and in itself causes absolutely no damage but──Carla felt intensely pissed off.

“Yaaaay idiot idiot! I can’t be fighting with a dangerous In-kya (gloomy character) like you!”

“…Magic of ‘Invisibility’… huh.”

“Correct~! How is it, my magic is super Spy-like, right!”

Magic to make the body transparent, making oneself invisible to the opponent.

It is the magic Peroni, born into a Spy family, is most skilled at, and the reason she is said to excel at infiltration and solo action.

Naturally clothes become transparent too, and if touching her body, objects up to a certain size can be made transparent.

If it’s about the size of the flag set in the Ancient Settlement Ruins area, it would be possible to take it back while transparent.

“Bye then! I’ll just snatch the flag like this, and farewell baby~!”

The voice gradually moves away from Carla’s vicinity.

But there are no footsteps.

Peroni had mastered the art of completely erasing footsteps.

“I won’t let you…”

“Caaaw!”

Dark Assassin-maru spreads his wings ba! and flies up into the sky.

“Caaaw! Caaaw!”

“──<Shadow Clone・Ran-A (Chaotic Crows)>”

Carla activates magic.

Instant──Dark Assassin-maru splits, and a massive amount of crows appear in the sky.

Hundreds, no, maybe thousands.

A large flock covering the sky, obscuring the dungeon ceiling.

The sound of wings cutting the air basabasa, high-pitched cries caacuu, overlapping like a grand chorus, echoing throughout the Ancient Settlement Ruins area.

“…Dark Assassin-maru… search for that child…”

Carla commands.

Immediately after, the crows flying overhead descend all at once.

Flying around as if filling every path of the Ancient Settlement Ruins area, entering even into the ruins.

That scene is as if a flood of crows is flowing into the town.

“““Caaaw! Caaaw!”””

Then, multiple crows collide with “something invisible” in the middle of an empty road.

“““Caaaw!”””

“Uhyowa!? Wh, what!? Ouch ouch ouch! S-Stop it!”

The crows immediately surround the “invisible something” and begin pecking with sharp beaks.

As if conveying to their master, “Here she is!”

“…There.”

Carla moves instantly.

Sucha, readying a kunai,

“…Die.”

Throwing.

Aiming for where the head likely is.

“Whoa, close!!!”

Peroni lowers her transparent head, succeeding in dodging at the last second.

But she remains surrounded by crows as before.

“Tchn… Don’t underestimate me! ──<Holy Flash>!”

To break the deadlock, Peroni activates Light Attribute magic.

A intense flash is emitted from her transparent palm, and Carla and the surrounding crows are blinded.

“! Oh n…!”

“““Caaaw!?”””

As soon as they receive the flash, the flock of crows vanishes in an instant.

Furthermore, Dark Assassin-maru falls pote onto the ground.

Rolling onto his back, he has fainted.

──Crows possess extremely excellent “eyes.”

Their visual acuity is said to be several times that of humans, not missing small objects kilometers away but──that becomes a weakness.

Having received an intense flash in his too-good eyes, Dark Assassin-maru lost consciousness.

“Ahaha! Even a Spy knows a crow’s weakness!”

Peroni shouts triumphantly.

──Intelligent and clever crows are often used as tools for Spies.

Therefore, Peroni grasped that the crow’s weakness is its “eyes.”

“Caaa~…”

“Dark Assassin-maru…!”

“Hmph! Serves you right, you damn crow!”

Thinking footsteps sounded tattatta for a moment, Peroni’s presence disappears from Carla’s side.

It seems she escaped for real this time.

──Without noticing that a single “feather of Dark Assassin-maru” is caught on her transparent body.

“…”

Carla, having lost sight of Peroni, gently picks up her fainted partner.

“Dark Assassin-maru… good work… Leave the rest to us…”

“Caaa~…”

“──<Shadow Dive・Black Feather Crossing>”

She activates Dark Attribute magic.

Simultaneously, her body sinks into her own “shadow” as if sinking into water.

Finally, her figure completely vanishes, disappearing from that spot.

▲ ▲ ▲

“Haa… haa… F-Finally found the flag…”

Having escaped from Carla, Peroni had somehow managed to reach the location of the flag.

Moving through the <Ancient Settlement Ruins> area while maintaining her <Invisibility> magic and suppressing the sound of her footsteps had left her absolutely exhausted.

But Carla was nowhere to be seen, and the flag was completely defenseless.

If she took this back, it would be Class C’s victory.

“I am, like, totes exhausted… B-But still, Peroni-chan for the win! Right?!”

Remaining transparent, she reached out toward the flag.

“Nishishi, time for Class F to expose their lame loss and—”

However—just as Peroni was about to grasp the flag, a single black feather that had been snagged on something unnoticed fluttered down.

The moment that black feather hit the ground, it melted with a gloop.

“Heh—?”

The dissolved black feather became a pitch-black puddle, expanding rapidly while making a wet, bubbling sound.

And just when it reached the size of a human being—Carla burst out from within the pitch-black puddle.

“My sworn enemy… I shall not forgive you…!”

“Gyyaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!?”

Peroni screamed, sheer shock overtaking her.

Carla lunged at her, brandishing a Kunai.

Using the feather of Dark Assassin-maru as a medium, she moved as if diving from shadow to shadow—<Shadow Dive・Black Feather Crossing>.

It was a spell perfectly suited for an Assassin, allowing one to close the distance to an opponent soundlessly… but when used by the current Carla, it was nothing short of a horror movie.

That single instant was enough to give Peroni trauma that would likely last a lifetime.

“E-Eeeek!”

Overcome with terror, she instinctively deactivated her <Invisibility> magic and drew her dagger, half-weeping.

Clang! The Kunai and dagger locked together.

The two remained in a deadlock, blades grinding against each other.

“Ah, geez, gross, gross! Just let me take the flag already, you gloomy woman!”

“I won’t let you… I will protect… the dreams and hopes… of the gloomy ones…!”

Carla could absolutely not retreat.

She could not afford to back down.

To avenge the regret of Dark Assassin-maru—

To protect the married life of Alban and Letitia—

To ensure the continuation of the “Al × Letty: The Happy Married Student Life of the Sweet Flirting Duo” series she was writing—

And to protect the pure, unadulterated dreams and hopes of her comrades who watched over their Oshi like a wall—

Carla was fighting for real.

For the justice she believed in.

With both eyes bloodshot.

Though—the moment she managed to stall Peroni in front of the flag, she was already convinced of her victory.

“H-Hmph… Whatever! I’ll just use <Quantum Stealth> again, and someone like you will never find me…!”

“…No… The moment you showed an opening in front of the flag… you had already lost…”

As she said this—Carla’s face, covered by a mask, cracked into a grin for the first time.

“…Guess who’s… behind you…?”

“Ha—?”

Creep, creep.

“────Ei!!!”

Thwack! With a dull sound, Peroni was struck hard on the back of the head.

Someone had smashed her with a square piece of lumber.

And they did it with full force, holding nothing back.

“Migyu!?”

Taking a critical hit to the brain, Peroni collapsed on the spot, unable to move.

It was ruled a death.

“I-I’m sorry! Did that hurt…!? That hurt, didn’t it…! I-I’ve been hit before too, so I understand perfectly…!”

The person who delivered the finishing blow to Peroni—was Shanoa Grain.

Under the strategy devised by Letitia, she had been entrusted with the role of the “Trump Card” to protect the flag alongside Carla.

“…Shanoa-chan… Good job… That was… a good hit…”

Carla gave a thumbs up, praising Shanoa’s efforts.

“T-This was the right thing to do, right…? Ugh, I feel resistance to hitting people…”

“Perfect… That girl, Peroni, was convinced that ‘only Carla is protecting the flag’… It was the ideal timing…”

—Remain hidden until the very, very end, and strike the moment the opponent lets their guard down in front of the flag.

This was the strategy Carla and Shanoa had arranged beforehand.

It worked, of course, but even Carla was a little surprised at how splendidly it had paid off.

“Shanoa-chan… you have Assassin sense… After graduation, how about joining me…?”

“N-N-No thank you! That’s quite alright! I’m going to inherit the family business!”

“Is that so… unfortunate…”

“B-By the way, um, well…”

Shanoa fidgeted, looking like she had something difficult to say.

Blushing slightly, she said,

“T-The plan went well, and…”

“Yeah… The new volume of “Al × Letty: The Happy Married Student Life of the Sweet Flirting Duo” series… I’ll let Shanoa-chan… read it first…”

“Yes… Thank you very mush…”

Steam practically rising from her face, Shanoa hung her head.

—That she later whispered, “If possible, please give me Sensei’s autograph too…” was a secret just between the two of them.