Fran reminded me in a low voice that only I could hear. I nodded, smiling the elegant smile Rosina herself had imparted to me.

Only the knight standing at the front had his helmet under his arm. He was a big, middle-aged man with reddish brown hair. I looked at him carefully, and found that he was agile in movement, upright in figure, and possessed the commanding air of a martial artist. When he had knelt before the Head Priest, the other knights knelt in unison with a clatter of armour.

“Lord Ferdinand, I’m glad you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Well, so are you, Castid.”

The man named Castid, who was talking to the Head Priest, must be the head of the Order.

“Why are there so few people?”

“There are many who have not yet returned from the Harvest Festival.”

As if the Head Priest didn’t want to ask any more questions, he answered ‘Yes’ and raised his hand to Fran. Fran put me down and gave me a gentle push on the back as a sign that I should move forward.

“Castid, this is Maine, the trainee priestess in charge of the ceremony. Please take good care of her.”

“This is Maine, Lord Castid, and I would appreciate your advice.”

Castid was an aristocrat, so I knelt down respectfully and greeted him. When I caught his eye, his pale blue eyes narrowed as if to spy my thoughts.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Let’s go.”

With a voice from the Head Priest, all the knights rose at the same moment and touched the gem on the glove of their right hand. The next second, the gems were shining, and the square was instantly flooded with many animal statues. The gems on everyone’s gloves had disappeared, leaving only round holes, which showed that these animals of various shapes had all been transformed from the gems on the gloves.

“Castid, get two men to carry my two attendants. Maine, you come here.”

The Head Priest put on his helmet as he instructed me. When I reached him, he picked me up and sat me down on a lion with wings. To keep steady, I straddled the lion. Then the Head Priest leaped upon the lion’s back and grasped the reins, as lightly as if he were not wearing any heavy armour at all. The next moment the lion, which I thought was a statue, began to move like a living animal.

“Ah!”

This was really unexpected. I gave a sharp jolt, and the back of my head hit the Head Priest’s chest hard.

“It hurts…”

“Keep your mouth shut or you’ll bite your tongue.”

I gritted my teeth and leaned forward a little, grasping the reins that swayed before my eyes. The winged lion ran lightly forward, then fluttered its wings and sprang into the air. On the way, I had the feeling that I had broken a thin spider web, but it was gone in a flash. The lion’s wings beat powerfully and flew toward the commoners’ quarter.
“Whoa, that’s high…”
“Don’t you think it’s scary?”

“I was just surprised by something I had never seen before. And I can hardly feel any bumps now, so it’s no more scary than riding in a carriage.”

I sat on the magical lion’s back and felt like I was on a slow roller coaster. The lion was not so bumpy as the carriage, but very stable. The lack of a safety rope was very dangerous, but the Head Priest was sitting behind me holding the reins, and his arms were just holding me from either side, so I didn’t find it scary at all.

After a while, other animals began to appear around us, flying in neat formation like geese. Pegasus seemed to be very popular, because I found that they were the most numerous. As far as I could see, pegasus of different colors were flying gracefully, transforming the sky into a prairie. I also saw a few wolves and tigers, but I would say that the rabbits with wings were the loveliest.

“What are these animals, Head Priest?”

“They are animal mounts from magic gems. They are free to be controlled as long as the owner gives them magic power. As for their form, it’s up to the owner to decide.”

The lion flew over the commoners’ quarter and then over the gate of the city. Looking down from the sky, I saw that the city was surrounded by fertile farmland and vast green forests. Between the farmland and forests, some streets winded their way into the distance, at the end of which the outer walls of other cities loomed.

“Where are we going, Head Priest?”

“There.”

The Head Priest pointed to the forest where the orphans and I used to go, but where we were going now was deeper. It was the only place in the dense forest where there was a crater – like hole. As I gazed at the large hole, I saw that there was not even an ordinary plant there, except for a giant tree, whose long branches were waving and writhing restlessly. And as the tree’s movements became more frantic, the hole grew larger.

“What’s that?!”

“It is the demon tree called Tronbay.”

“Huh?! That’s Tronbay?!”

The branch-waving Tronbay and the fast-growing tree I knew were so far apart that even seeing them with my own eyes, I couldn’t identify them as the same thing. In retrospect, Lutz and other children in the commoners’ quarter would rush to cut down a tree when they heard that it was Tronbay, and if it was a big one, the city would send more than half of its gatekeepers to deal with it. I had even heard that if the Tronbay was too big for the gatekeepers, the Order would have to be sent out. However, the magnitude of this Tronbay was beyond my imagination.

… It was too horrible.

When I first started making paper, I suggested planting Tronbay. Now I could see why Lutz was fuming at that suggestion.

“You won’t come out until the Order has defeated it. It’s a dangerous journey. Hide in the forest first.”

After the Order had destroyed the giant Tronbay, it was the job of the priests or priestesses to restore magic to the land that has been drained of it. This time because the Order was too small, the Head Priest had to help the Order before he could help me.

… The Head Priest was truly omnipotent.

The Head Priest let the lion land in an open field some distance from the hole, and the knights followed him.

“Maine, Fran and Arnaud, you three stand by here. Castid, send two men to protect them.”

The Head Priest leapt nimbly from the lion’s back and turned to give Castid an order. Castid nodded and immediately selected two men.

“Damour, Skicossa, you two serve as their guards.”

“Yes, your Excellency!”

Having accepted the task of guarding us, Damour and Skicossa jumped off the pegasus, and the pegasus disappeared. Two beams of light flew toward them, turning into gems and resetting themselves in the holes in the armour gloves.

“Thanks for giving me a ride.”

After thanking the knights who had given them a ride, Fran and Arnaud jumped off their animal mounts. Just as I was about to follow their example and leap from the lion’s back in a handsome way, the Head Priest, as though reading my thoughts, stopped me with angry eyes.

… I forgot I had to be elegant.

I was reminded of where I was now, and I turned on the back of the lion, which had completely turned back into a statue, and waited with my legs folded. “You are really…” The Head Priest murmured as he took me from the lion’s back.

“Protect the trainee priestess, don’t let her get hurt.”

The Head Priest gave the word, and the two knights who were to be our guards answered at once, “Yes!”

In the meantime, the giant hole created by Tronbay continued to grow. Out of the blue, a great flock of birds flapped up, and then there was a great crash of something falling, and the ground shook violently with it.

“Ah!”

I saw a big tree suddenly fall in the direction of Tronbay. Tronbay’s roots then shot out of the soil and wrapped themselves tightly around the fallen tree. In a blink of an eye, the fallen tree’s leaves were completely withered and its thick trunk shriveled. When the tree’s nutrients had been drained, the roots sank back into the soil as if they had done their job.

Tronbay was so scary… I broke out in cold sweat. As I looked from the crazy Tronbay to the Order about to fight it, I grew more uneasy and knelt in prayer.

“The Head Priest and all members of the Order, wish you all the best in this battle. May Angleff, the god of valour, protect you.”

As soon as I had finished my prayer, the ring the Head Priest had lent me shone blue on the Order. Sensing that the sapphire on the ring had taken away my magic power, I hastily suppressed it, so that its light vanished.

“The priestess has given us her blessing. Come on!”

When I heard that, I realized what I had done. I glanced up at the Head Priest, who was looking at me with a complex expression.

“Maine, do not, do not act before your turn.”

After the Head Priest left this instruction to me, he mounted the lion and flew up into the sky again.