……
………I couldn't see or hear anything.
I couldn't even feel which way was up and which way was down. Nor did I know if I was currently still in the sky or on the ground.
Even in such a state, my senses gradually returned to me, and I noticed that I was collapsed on the ground.
I was painfully lying face-down against the ground.
Not even mentioning the fact that I was ingesting a large amount of dirt and sand, I could only keep my mouth open weakly like a caterpillar's crawl as I breathed into the dirt. It was so difficult to breathe that I felt like I was drowning, even though I wasn't in the water.
Before attempting to breathe again, I finally expelled the remaining air in my lungs, and then somehow managed to start breathing somewhat normally.
I breathed to confirm the situation. If I tried inhaling as much air as my lungs wanted, they would instead expel the air back out of me again.
…It seemed that I wasn't dead after all.
Although my body seemed to be intact even if it was in throbbing pain everywhere, my hands and feet wouldn't obey my orders, and I was unable to lift them.
Had I taken a direct hit from the enemy's lightning? The ground I was collapsed on seemed to have been blown up by the thunderbolt, with the rice plants scattered about everywhere.
"Honestly, this is why I opposed leaving things up to an outsider."
What?
As if I was submerged in water, the voice sounded fuzzy and distant from me. If it wasn't for the current situation, I probably would have missed it and dismissed it as background noise.
When I dazedly managed to twist my head, I saw some people standing by my side.
There were two people wearing white cloaks. I was unsure as to their identities.
When did they-?
"…What's going on here, I wonder? Why did you get in my way? Wasn't I dealing with this child for you as you wanted?"
I could hear the blurry voice of the enemy girl from earlier who wasn't even trying to conceal her irritation. Unless I concentrated, her voice sounded so distant as if it was just one voice out of many in a crowd.
"It'll trouble us if you damage a valuable Flowerless Fruit simply to deal with a wilting weed. Just imagining the potential loss… Well, since you had your power stolen by demons, it's something you wouldn't understand. Flowerless Fruits are incredibly rare, you see."
"…Exactly what are you talking about? Flowerless Fruit?"
The girl's voice lowered after hearing something mysteriously difficult to comprehend.
"It's something that the gods have taught us. If you don't know, then that means there's no need for you to know."
This strangely high-pitched voice seemed to be coming from the other person wearing a white cloak. How passionate the voice sounded in tandem with the strange tone caused goosebumps to run down my flesh.
"Since it's come to this, it's fine to just forget about dealing with the traitor. It would be a waste to damage the Flowerless Fruit's sprouts just to deal with a wilting weed."
"Exactly what's going on? Weren't you guys the ones who wanted me to kill the traitor in the first place?"
"Ahh, ignorance is truly such a frightening thing. Even if we gathered ten rotten seeds that can't germinate such as yourself, all of you together wouldn't compare to Flowerless Fruit that has sprouted. Ahh, if only we had known about this Flowerless Fruit's existence sooner…"
"Guariere, don't reveal too much information. The Flowerless Fruit is listening. …Well, even if she listens, she probably wouldn't understand anything."
With a swish, one of the two people wearing white cloaks kneeled down beside me and looked into my face. "Red eyes," the person muttered to him or herself under their hood, and a nasty smile appeared on the person's face.
Suddenly, there was a sensation of heat as if there was a fire in front of my eyes. The white-cloaked person named Guariere held down my head as a burning sensation entered my body through my nose.
What exactly was this? What was going on? Even though there was clearly no fire, why was there the sensation of fire?
"Stop," I weakly managed to moan, but the white-cloaked person ignored me. Not only that, the fiery sensation amplified even further in magnitude, causing great anxiety within me as I was unable to escape.
My ears began ringing strongly, and my fear kept increasing at the abnormal situation.
"Get away from Milord!!"
At this moment, I heard voices from afar. Since one of my ears was pressed against the ground, I could feel the trembling in the earth from my soldiers rushing over towards me.
At hearing Rashiok's rather weakened roar among the hubbub, I let slip a sigh of relief.
"We'll have to stop now. Guariere, it's time for us to leave."
"To be satisfied when I've only finished with her face… No, I shall leave things up to the guidance of my god and my teacher."
Due to the constant ringing in my ears, I had to strain my utmost to listen in to their conversation.
Far before my soldiers could reach me, I saw the giant bird flying away through my field of vision that was still hazy.
The two white-cloaked people watched the bird fly off, then both glanced down at me. Due to the glare of the sun, I was unable to make out their faces clearly.
"Glory to our god."
Both of them muttered that in unison with fanatical voices.
And then, suddenly – as if something had gone wrong with my eyes and they were just my imagination – both of them instantly disappeared right in front of me.