After spending an enjoyable time in the hot spring, Alaine and I were walking in a forest to our next destination. 

“…….. So you will really never let me go?”

“Hm.”

Alaine nodded without any hesitation when I questioned her.

“I see.”

I muttered, as if I had completely given up. As of now, Alaine was still tightly holding onto me. 

…….Well I don’t feel uncomfortable so it’s fine. 

Our next destination was the secret base of an evil god cult just a short distance away from here.

The evil god cult. It was a bunch of dangerous guys who did all kinds of evil deeds and  worshiped the evil god that used to rule this world a very long time ago. An extremely evil bunch. 

Evil god. That guy might be the one who did something wrong to me and caused my body to become like this. I was holding onto that sliver of hope but in the first place…. I didn’t even know for sure if an evil god actually existed or not. 

Alaine was walking slowly while holding onto me. 

“Hey, do you not want to take a carriage?”

“Hm? Why?”

“No, I mean, won’t it take a long time for us to get there at this rate?”

“I don’t see anything bad about it though? I’m here after all…. A-And Zero is with me. I-I like it when we’re together.”

Alaine said so, the tip of her ears looked flushed red. 

………..Why are you feeling so shy like that when you’re holding onto me so tightly like this?

“So as long as we’re together, it’s fine?”

“Huh? ….. Yeah.”

“Then I will use magic to carry us there.”

I activated wind magic. The wind appeared, gently wrapping around us. Then we were floating with the wind carrying us. 

“Ooh, how convenient.”

“I know, right? I’m very proud of this magic of mine.”

This magic was the most convenient magic when I needed to carry multiple people. 

For a while. For a while, we were chatting together as we continued our journey when we heard a voice coming from a distance.

“KYAAAA-!”

We could hear the sound of someone screaming. 

“Shall we go?”

“Hm.”

Alaine nodded. 

I deactivated the wind magic. Alaine kicked the ground and I once again activated a different magic. The ground was gouged, the trees got blown away. The slow moving we had been doing seemed like a lie now that we were traveling at an unthinkable speed. Our vision opened up and we reached a big road.

There were a lot of people on that road. A luxurious carriage was toppled over and that carriage was being surrounded by multiple men. A man who looked like a knight was holding onto a sword and there was another boy who looked like he was a noble with high social standing. 

“『Kneel』”

One word. I only uttered a single word and the many men before our eyes kneeled all at the same time in accordance with my word. 

Magic word. One of the over a thousand spells I had created. A magic that was effective against frail people. This magic forced those who heard my word to obey me.

“Now then, what’s the situation here?”

I asked them with flames burning on both of my hands that I created using magic. On the other side, Alaine just stood silently beside me.