I’m Not Good at Offensive Magic, but I’ll Do My Best With Support Magic!

Their eyes are serious and ready to strike at any moment, no, they are looking for an opening to strike.
Shia-san moves in time with Snow-san’s movements, shifting and timing her steps in a way that does not allow her to be measured.
The opposing Snow-san holds her sword in front of her, ready to react whenever Shia-san makes a move, but also swings her sword and deliberately makes a move to create an opening.
The air is tense between Shia-san, who is aiming for a momentary opening, and Snow-san, who is aiming to counter it.
I silently stare at them… not!

「What are you two doing!!!」

Of course, we are making our clients, Rose-san and Laura-chan, and others, wait.
Their shoulders jumped at the sound of my voice.
Regardless, I approach them.

「What. Are. You… doing?」

I ask them both with a smile.

「Well, Shia wants to have a mock battle…」
「W-Wrong. Snow invited me」
「Shia got into it too!」
「Not really. I had no choice…」

They both behave suspiciously and answer my question.
And it’s even more infuriating when they’re trying to pin the blame on each other!
We are friends, what’s wrong with you!

「It doesn’t matter which one of them invited who. What I’m asking is why both of you who are supposed to be on guard duty are having a mock battle!」

I ask them both, with as little anger as possible.
Kiara-chan and I were doing our job properly, you know.
Yet these two abandoned their watch duties and engaged in a mock battle.
It would be fine if we weren’t in the middle of a request, but we currently are.
It should be prioritized.

「I was… on watch」
「Yeah, Shia is right, I was keeping watch while confronting Shia」
「Even though you didn’t notice until I called out to you?」
「「…………」」

My words silence them both. This is evidence that they were completely blind to their surroundings.
If, while the two of them were doing this, they allowed monsters and bandits to approach and put Rose-san and the others in danger, I can’t apologize enough. Nor is it a matter of apology!
In the meantime, I am always on the alert with detection magic, but that is different from this.
I am responsible for the work that Shia-san and Snow-san entrusted to me. It wouldn’t be a party if we couldn’t do what we could do and trust each other.

「Do you have any other excuses?」
「No」
「None」
「What if you did something wrong, then?」
「「I’m sorry」」

They bow their heads together.
Since the others have been waiting for a long time, I will allow it to go on longer.
It may be naive, but everyone makes mistakes.
Even I have my moments. It is important to reflect on them and learn from them the next time.
If it’s the first mistake, I don’t think I have to keep telling them. I don’t think these two would make the same mistake.
But I will give them a warning. If by any chance they do the same thing, it will be a very painful punishment for both of them.

「If you do the same thing again, I’ll make sure the only food you two eat is dried meat」
「Ugh… be careful」
「I’ll be careful too」

Naturally, I asked the two of them to apologize to Rose-san and the others, since they had seen what had just happened.
I am glad that Rose-san and the others laughed and forgave them, but in some cases it could have been considered a failed request because they were offended.

「That was cool, Yuan-san!」

When I returned with them, Kiara-chan suddenly said something like that to me.

「That’s not true. It’s just that some things shouldn’t be allowed to go wrong」
「No, I don’t think I would have gotten between those two」
「You can stop them too, Kiara-chan. We’re all friends」
「Yeah, we’re friends. I’ll do my best too!」

Kiara-chan seems to be motivated by me, but I just hope that her motivation doesn’t take a strange turn.
It was finally time to eat, despite such an event.

「Don’t worry about it, because that’s just the way it is when you’re young」
「I appreciate you saying that」
「Besides, I got a good souvenir to tell Emeria-sama!」
「Keep this matter confidential… please」

Snow-san’s reaction brought laughter. Rose-san successfully turned it into a funny situation.

「Umu, I’ll think about it」
「You definitely want to report this…」

We are having dinner together at the invitation of Rose-san.
Normally, we should have shifted the dinner time for our party and separated it from the guards, but since we had prepared the meal, the guards… the female knights, Karina-san and Fiona-san, offered to help us.
Sorry I just took it out of storage.

「It’s all right, you two don’t have to share a mealwith us」
「I guess so. I would be nervous too if I had to share a meal with Emeria-sama」

For what it’s worth, Snow-san seems to be fine with Rose-san. Is it because she is not her direct subordinate?

「There’s a lot of things that go on in that area of interaction with the nobility」
「Umu, Snow no stranger to them」

It seemed to show on my face and I was told so. I don’t know about the connection to the nobility, but maybe there is a connection to Snow-san’s family.
I ask what’s bugging me, as if I’m fooling around.

「Come to think of it, there are a lot of female knights, like around the Princess and Rose-san」

So was Snow-san, and the captain, Ellen-san, was also a woman.
Perhaps female knights are prevalent?

「That’s because the Peace Faction is trying to improve the treatment of women」

Mist-san, the driver, answered me.
And, Snow-san adds to what he said,

「In the Imperial capital, there is a strong tendency toward male chauvinism, and women are inevitably looked down upon. To improve this situation, the Peace Faction is trying to employ more women」
「Of course, there are also male knights. However, if they are all of equal ability, it is easier to travel with the same sex」

I agree with what Rose-san said. Our party is made up of only women, and I think it would be a little awkward if a male adventurer joined our party.

「So that was the intention」
「Well, there’s also the reason that the hardliners will take the male knights. Men are inevitably more powerful in terms of physical strength」

If we look at physical ability alone, men are more capable than women.
That’s not all there is to a battle, though.

「Well, with friends like Yuan to assist me, I intend to keep up with the male knights. And I have Shia and Kiara too」
「I don’t intend to lose in the first place」
「I’ll do my best too」
「I hope I can live up to your expectations」

Thus the meal proceeded with chatting and laughter, and a pleasant meal time passed.

「Neither of you have learned your lesson, have you?」

After the meal was over, all we had to do was rest, so we had some free time.
Of course, it is temporary.
We will be taking turns on the lookout, so that’s what we are doing until then. Right now, Karina-san and Fiona-san are the ones doing it.
It may seem like I am forcing them to do all the lookouts, but the first lookout is actually the easiest, because once the first lookout is done, they can rest until morning.
It is very difficult to keep an eye on things in between, because you have to sleep, wake up, and go back to sleep.
Once you go to sleep, you don’t want to wake up in the middle of it, right?
That’s why I have free time…

「Free time… no?」

Long time no see, Shia-san’s “no”! As usual, she’s sly.
Shia-san and Snow-san insisted on asking to continue their mock battle.

「It’s free time, so it’s fine… but please do it in a way that doesn’t bother other people, okay?」
「Understood」

Because we had camped early, Rose-san and the others were fast asleep and watched our interaction.

「It’s important to know the strength of the escorts. You are free to do as much as you like」

Even Rose-san said it in an encouraging way, so I can’t stop them.

「I will be the referee. For safety reasons, I will cast defensive magic on both of you. In addition, I will paralyze the area where you are hit, so you can think of it as an actual wound」

It’s one of the reasons I got angry earlier.
Even though it was a mock battle, the two were facing each other seriously. Because it was serious, of course they would get hurt, and depending on where they were struck, they might die.
I know that the two of them would not make a mistake, but there is a chance that they would, so I was angry with them.
I don’t want to lose my friends over something like this.
Therefore, I asked them to promise that whenever they had a mock battle, they would either go through me for safety or use a bladeless sword when I was not around.
It may lack tension, but that depends on your awareness.
I don’t think it’s necessary to have a mock battle if you just know it’s safe and you’re not nervous. Then just have a friendly match.

「Then, when I give the signal, it will start at that moment… are you ready?」
「Un」
「Anytime」

They nodded, Snow-san readied her sword, and Shia-san relaxed and let her hands hang lazily.

「Then, start!」

In the light of the moon, their battle began.