The swift attack I carried out ended after the bows of all Marquess Rommel's knights were damaged. I didn't want to do anything that would be detrimental to myself, especially during this ongoing military expedition.

But there was no other choice rather than to do this, especially with Alice and Alyssa's reflexes being so slow to evade this kind of surprise attack.

Ah, no...

Technically, this wasn't a surprise attack by Marquess Rommel's knights. They simply counterattack the incoming attack in a structured panic. Their response to Sia's surprise appears was much quicker than before, which could serve as a valuable assessment for improving the performance of Marquess Rommel's knights counterattack.

Previously, when a herd of dragons controlled by Marquess Arisawa Von Bloomgard attacked, they seemed like knights who panicked easily, forcing me to intervene to control the situation.

Even though I only stood and watched the situation at the time, I still took part as the leader of the military expedition, which increased the morale of the knight, Marquess Rommel.

So it was not wrong if I had taken part in controlling the situation that was happening at that time.

"Haaaahhh... I hope they won't be too surprised when they see the afterimage I left when I attacked their bow," I muttered softly as I put the sharp blade of my cursed katana into its sheath.

Srraaakkk...

Ctttaaakkk...

I shouldn't have felt relieved about this, but seeing Madam Estelle's mouth wide open and her hands raised in the air was enough to tell me that Madam Estelle had already figured out the situation.

On the other hand, I also noticed a holy magic circle emanating from the Goddess of Sky surrounding Sia. From the dense formation of the magic circle, I could read the activation sequence of her magic, which would form a protective dome.

The time zone that had been moving slowly around me began to return to normal. My black-and-white vision, held in a state of intense concentration, now saw the myriad colors of a dense forest slowly being covered by the blanket of night.

Before I have dinner and hold an important meeting to evaluate every event that happened today, it seems... I have to clear up the misunderstanding that is currently happening.

The slow flow of time now returned to its normal pace, and my ears were filled with Madam Estelle's screams as she tried to halt the ongoing counterattack. Without her screams, Marquess Rommel's knights wouldn't have realized that their bow had been damaged.

"STOP THE ATTACK!!"

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!!"

With a simple command from Madam Estelle and a shrill howl in the air, it was enough to stop the counterattack that was taking place.

Swoooossshhh...

Wooossshhh...

The dust that covered Sia's dragon form began to clear, slowly revealing a protective dome of holy magic circle formation surrounding Sia, large enough to protect my twin sister and the other passengers on Sia's back.

After time returned to normal and the smoke and dust obscuring Sia's dragon form dissipated, I breathed a sigh of relief that this ridiculous incident was over. Their response to surprise attacks had improved, but they did so without confirming whether they were friendly or enemy.

There was almost a ridiculous friendly fire, incidents.

I breathed a sigh of relief and used Sakura Dash to approach Madam Estelle, who was giving additional orders to the military officials nearby.

"Immediately cleaning the Central Command tent and prepare dinner, I'm sure there will be some trouble after we attack Lily-sama."

"Prepare yourselves to receive punishment from Lily-sama, Alice-sama, and Alyssa-sama."

"Because, this is a shameful act of a dog biting its own master," with gentle and calculating words, Madam Estelle gave an order that made me smile at her.

My face felt stiff with a forced smile like this.

I can also feel that the smile I'm wearing right now is cold and scary-looking.

"What a warm welcome, Madam Estelle..."

"And also... Mio," my lips felt stiff and sounded cold with a hoarse voice that held back the coldness of my body.

After flying high above the sky and diving down quickly, wearing only this military uniform that showed off my skin, of course, I felt cold with a hoarse voice like this.

Madam Estelle and Mio looked at each other, made up their minds, and suddenly knelt before me.

Sluuuussshhh...

Buuugggghhh...

With natural and elegant movements, they both knelt in front of me and doing a natural prostrating position.

"Welcome home, Lily-sama. We have been waiting for your arrival. You must be exhausted after fulfilling a call from Duchess Kaori. We will make a dinner, immediately!" said Madam Estelle with a trembling voice and her body prostrating low before my eyes.

"Welcome home, Lily-sama. I have carried out the task entrusted to me... U-Umm, to assist Madam Estelle in leading the military expedition that explored the deepest part of this forest. Although there were some problems... that just happened a few minutes ago," said Mio in her respectful tone, and remembered the mistake she had made earlier.

Seeing a mature woman and a young woman prostrate themselves in front of me like this, it was like I was seeing a confession of sin that both of them had committed.

"There's no need to prostrate like that, Madam Estelle and Mio."

"I'm not angry with your response of counterattack with full speed and force."

"I'm actually proud of this quick counter-attack response, although it needs to be improved, especially regarding the identity of the target of the attack... whether it's friend or foe," I said with a subtle sarcasm that made Madam Estelle and Mio rub their foreheads on the ground.

Srrookkk...

Srrroookkk...

By rubbing their heads like that, I heard their voices begging for forgiveness at the same time.

"I'M SORRY, LILY-SAMA!!" Madam Estelle and Mio shouted, raising their dirty, tear-streaked faces.

Actually... what am I looking at?

It was unusual for Madam Estelle and Mio to do something like this that tarnished their dignity.

As a female knight who holds the title of Madam, honorary given by Marquess Arisawa Von Bloomgard, Madam Estelle should act like a mature woman filled with various experiences in the battlefield and respected by all knights.

As for Mio, who had worked as my Exclusive Maid since childhood, she should know that I wouldn't get angry over something as silly as this.

There were no casualties either, so I'm not too concerned about this one.

"You two... Stand up and forget about this problem," I said while taking a deep breath after seeing the ridiculousness of this problem.

I don't really like to drag out unnecessary issues, so I consider this one resolved without any casualties.

Fllaapp...

Fllaapp...

Sia, who was in her red dragon form, flapped her wide wings, blowing out dust smoke that covered her red dragon form.

"As a grand surprise welcome. This seems too much, Lily-chan," Sia said as she released her holy magic circle formation that formed a protective dome around her body.

"I agree with what you said, Sia. But don't forget that it happened because you flew down quickly and looked like a predatory monster that had set its sights on its prey," I replied while watching my twin sisters who got off Sia's back with a pair of chicken monsters and cursed weapons.

Tap...

Tap...

After setting foot on the ground, Alice and Alyssa looked like they were having difficulty standing, with their legs shaking.

"I thought... I was going to die," Alice said with a pale face, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I was thinking the same thing, Alice. Flying high into the sky suddenly and then flying down so fast... I felt like my stomach was going to vomit out," Alyssa replied, covering her mouth with her hand, too.

Alice and Alyssa seemed to have just experienced nausea after flying at high speed on Sia's back.

That made me look at Sia and say, "This is what happens with your fast-paced actions, Sia."

There was no bad intention in my words, just a small scold to Sia to fly at a normal speed when ridden by a human.

"I almost fell and had trouble balancing myself when you were flying at full speed," I continued, while letting go of Ellen, who was now flying low beside me.

Clliiinnggg!!!

Clliiinnggg!!

"Ahahaha!! I-I'm so sorry about that, Lily-chan."

"I didn't do that on purpose..."

"I swear about it!" Sia replied as she released her red dragon form and returned to being a dragon girl wearing a Shrine Maiden outfit.

The entire body of the red dragon Sia glowed a dazzling golden-white holy magic from the Goddess of Sky, shrinking her body into the shape of a human girl, showing off her red dragon tail and small horns on top.

After transforming into a dragon girl, Sia stuck out her tongue and blinked her red eyes as if joking with me.

A slightly dangerous joke that almost put my twin sister in danger, I wanted to scold Sia even more, but she had protected my twin sister using a holy magic circle formation that formed a protective dome around her body.

Although, it was a bit late to do that, I had to protect my twin sisters from various attacks coming my way.

I can accept her good intentions and believe that it was an unintentional action by Sia to fly down quickly.

"Come here... I need to hit my naughty older sister's head," I said in a relaxed tone and changed my body shape into a dragon girl, just to punish Sia.

Of course, I said that just as a joke, too...

I didn't mean to hit Sia's head hard and just wanted to give her head a little flick.

Sia smiled awkwardly at me and approached me slowly, my little anger seemed to have become a serious matters in her eyes.

Tap...

Tap...

With heavy footsteps and dragging her red dragon tail that left a straight line trail on the ground, Sia approached me, preparing her head to be hit by my fist.

Sia brushed her bangs to the side and lowered her head in front of me as she said, "P-Please hit my head gently, Lily-chan."

My hand immediately shot up and gently flicked Sia's forehead.

Instead of physically punishing her, which meant nothing to her, I simply gave her a small, gentle flick, to expressing my annoyance to her reckless action.

Cttaaakk!!

With that gentle flick on her head, I used a little of my newly recovered magical energy to mark Sia's forehead with red rash.

The gentle flick was loud enough to echo in the air, "Don't be reckless like that again, Sia Onee-chan!"

My words sounded spoiled and made up to tease Sia, "I-I know... I'm sorry Lily-chan..."

A gentle flick on Sia's forehead invited a small laugh from the knights of Marquess Rommel around me.