With a wide flap of her wings, the massive red dragon Sia soared high into the sky. I struggled to keep my balance, and my hands gripped the dragon's horns, which were just within my reach.

Alice and Alyssa also held onto my military uniform, almost falling when Sia flapped her wings.

I tried to close my mouth tightly, if I screamed and panicked, it would make it difficult for me to control my body's balance, which was fighting against the strong pulling force from Sia's flying speed.

Boossshhh...

Boossshhh...

My ears were ringing from the strong wind, and my eyes were closed to endure the stinging sensation of the rapid friction of the air, making my eyelids fill with tears that eased the stinging sensation.

Without being able to say a word to Sia, I already knew she was so excited that she'd forgotten one important thing...

I wasn't used to riding a dragon soaring through the sky like this!

"S-Sia, can you fly slowly?" I asked Sia.

Boossshhh...

Booossshh...

My words had left my mouth... but they didn't reach Sia's ears, swallowed by the sound of the wind that silenced my voice.

With a single flap of Sia's powerful wings, she had propelled her body high into the sky, dazzling my closed eyes with the warm sunlight.

My eyelids slowly opened, and I saw a vast expanse of dense forest, a forest that must be explored to understand its potential hidden from the outside world.

My eyes, narrowed by the strong wind pressure and the dazzling light of the setting sun, suddenly saw a point of light emanating from the deepest part of the forest and white smoke rising high.

Such white smoke who is not created alone...

There must be someone who has ignited the fire and produced white smoke that rises high into the sky.

My hand still held Sia's long horn, and it was still within my reach to hold tightly.

From this vast sky, I can't help but feel the weight of my responsibility for mapping this dense forest. Adding some information that Earl Timoti didn't find and matching it with the information provided by the Forest Elves to create a more accurate map of the deepest forest.

Seeing this vast, dense forest... it reminded me of the report my twin sisters had given me, which already mapped this dense forest from above. But... Alice and Alyssa's report wasn't very detailed, as it was just a brief overview of their work.

I could already guess some of the things that went into my twin sister's report.

For example, a reports about the deepest areas of the dense forest are directly connected to the territory of Duchess Kaori, more precisely, close to the area of the old castle town, which has become the sacred territory of the Goddess of Destruction.

If my guess is correct, I can submit a proposal to build a road through the dense forest to connect Marquess Rommel's territory with Duchess Kaori's territory.

It was just a rough guess, must to be confirmed, as Alice and Alyssa hadn't yet reported their findings to me. But with the expanse of dense forest before my eyes and the small dot in the distance, my eyes seemed to be seeing a cherry blossom crown filled with the blessings of the Goddess of Destruction.

The distance was so far that I doubted my own eyesight...

Even if it were relatively close to the old castle town within Duchess Kaori's domain, the connection between my magic core and the magic staff, which was currently casting the magic circle mapping the surrounding area, would certainly not be interrupted.

To connected two territories with a long distance would require lengthy road construction, and a long-term negotiation with Duchess Kaori.

To offer such a proposal for cooperation, I need to know the contents of this dense forest and survive the upcoming season of war between nobles.

That sounds quite troublesome to my ears...

High in the sky, I tried to open my eyelids and take in my surroundings. A vast expanse of dense forest, far from human touch. The forest was lush and shady in the near-evening twilight. The orange sky was slowly dimming, and the white smoke visible from the depths of the forest was growing thicker.

It appeared that Marquess Rommel's main unit was preparing for a short rest and had set up separate kitchen tents.

Even from this height, I couldn't see any clear space to set up tents in close formation.

Sia's wide flapping wings took some of the cold air from approaching night. It felt so cold that my body trembled.

Without warning, Sia dived, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Sia, have you forgotten that I'm still riding on your back!" I shouted, trying to compete with the wind pressure that was covering my words.

Wooossshhh...

Wooossshhh...

From the high sky, without able to see the vast expanse of forest and the sun that would set in a few minutes, Sia positioned her body to shoot down at high speed. The heavy air friction and the sound of the wind covering my ears, it was certain that it triggered a scream that came from my twin sister, who was holding tightly to my military uniform.

Sraaakkkk...

My waist suddenly felt tight as if being pulled by my twin sister. I forced myself to open my eyes and saw my sister's hand, which was now holding my military uniform skirt tightly.

"Alice!!"

"Alyssa!!"

"Don't pull my military uniform skirt or it will rip!!"

Wooossshhh...

Wooossshhh...

I tried to scream as loud as I could, but my voice was drowned out by the strong wind.

Alice and Alyssa's strong grip was enough to tear through my thin military uniform skirt.

No matter how loud I screamed, Alice and Alyssa couldn't hear me.

My only hope at this point was that my military uniform skirt wouldn't rip so easily.

Sia shot down her body toward the larger smoke sources. My eyelids struggled to open wide, bracing against the strong wind to see where Sia was heading as she rapidly descended from high sky.

Sia's fast flight somehow reminded me of something some noble families had done to taming dragons by stealing their eggs and casting tamer magic on them while they were still weak. As air transportation, using a tamed dragon was certainly a quick and sensible option to do.

Now I understand why they do such heinous acts to taming a dragon, because it is cheap and a useful long-term investment.

Baaaammm!!

While my head was filled with thoughts of what the other noble families who had devoted their time and energy to training the dragons herd, I now had to bear the weight of my body, which was suddenly pulled down by Sia, who landed on the ground quickly.

Baaaammm!!

A loud bang was heard, and thick dust spread quickly.

My body's instincts suddenly screamed, and directing my hand that was pulling the hilt of the cursed katana.

It was as if I already knew there would be an attack coming from... the front of me.

"What am I doing?" I grumbled in annoyance after pulling Ellen's sharp katana blade from its sheath.

The hilt of Ellen's cursed katana was in my hand, and my instincts suddenly feels a sense of danger, starting with my vision being in a time-slowed zone. The thick of dust that had been spreading around me suddenly parted, revealing a throwing knife coming towards me.

I wanted to avoid the attack, but my position was standing on Sia's back, and my twin sister, who was still behind me, still holding my skirt and military uniform.

If I move, they will be in danger.

I caught a glimpse of the shape of the throwing knives that were aimed at me.

The unique shape of the throwing knives... I know that well. It came from Mio throwing knives, and some of them contained a thick green liquid.

My hand immediately swung the sharp blade of Ellen's katana and deflected the throwing knife with a light slash.

Ctaanngg!!

Ctaannggg!!

The crackling fire from the throwing knife that hit the sharp blade of my katana changed the direction of the throwing knife attack and hit Sia's hard dragon scales.

Paaannggg!!

But it bounced off in another direction.

"I-It would be a bit dangerous if it bounced back at me," I muttered as I glanced at Sia's dragon scales that had just deflected Mio's throwing knife attack.

My distracted gaze returned to the scene in front of me. This time, it wasn't a knife attack, but an arrow that shot through the rapidly spreading dust and smoke.

My hand that was holding the hilt of the cursed katana immediately parried the arrow attack, trying not to shake my concentration that was protecting Alice and Alyssa.

In this slow-moving time zone, I didn't want to make a single mistake that would harm my beloved twin sisters. My position, obscured by the dust and smoke, of course, unknown to Mio, who perceived it as a threat attempting to attack her.

That assumption is not wrong...

It was because Sia swooped down from high sky, creating a loud crashing sound, and covering her body with a smokescreen of dust that created a misunderstanding.

From any angle, Sia looks like a monster that has descended from the sky to hunt its prey...

"Now..."

"How do I explain this misunderstanding?"

"The time zone I'm looking at is still moving slowly."

"There's no other way I can do... only survive option, huh?"

With a small mutter like that, I prepared to face another attack that was much more deadly than the throwing knife attack or the arrow attack.

Piinngg!!

At that very moment, a gleaming spearhead blazed with fire before my eyes. It whizzed past me, forcing me to tilt my head to avoid it.

This is... no longer a misunderstanding.

They already intended to kill!