The Battle of Cogen

The next day, after the main unit arrives, we prepare to wipe out the Minotaur outbreak.

“Prince Matthew,” General Ritchie tries to convince me again, “you don’t have to fight at the frontline.”

“Again, thank you very much for your concern, but I’m going, anyway.”

“But the danger…”

“… is manageable!” I interrupt her. “I trust my party.”

“In the worst case, there’s still me,” Sobe announces proudly.

“Thanks, Sobe. It’s good to have you with us.”

“Sobe? As in Sobe Tagun? The Mithril Rank Adventurer?!” General Ritchie is taken aback.

“Yes, that’s me!” he cheekily answers.

“If… If he’s with you, I’m sure you’ll be safe.” General Ritchie leaves. I sigh a breath of relief.

“She’s way too stiff! How are you supposed to show guts if you get to safety every time it might get dangerous?”

“I agree, but… don’t be too harsh on her, she just means well. She’s always had a sweet spot for me… Sometimes, I do wonder why she favours me over my elder brother…”

I wish I could have convinced her even without Sobe being here.

It’s _{11 (do-one): ()00 (bells)}, just a bell after noon. The attack starts. We rush in with the army and start killing Minotaurs. Our party is split into two groups: it’s Sobe, Swift, Luna and me at the front while Pat and Kat stay behind. Patrick and Luna are to concentrate more on healing and support.</sub>

“Shield Bash!” with Swift’s Ice enchantments on our weapons, we seem to do more damage than yesterday. Luna finishes off the Minotaur I just knocked back.

“Shadow Ball!” Swift keeps on attacking with his Dark Magic.

I see one different Minotaur. It’s not hard to spot: it’s slightly taller and has a crown on its head.

“It’s a Minotaur Queen,” Swift mutters. There’s just a problem: she surrounded by even more Minotaurs! We might need to retreat.

“Storm Wall!” Kat buys us more time by slowing down the enemies.

“Great Amazing Punch!” Sobe shoots a beam towards the Minotaur Queen. That’s not a punch, Sobe!

“I’m off,” he says as he races towards the Minotaur Queen.

“Greater Full Potential!” Swift rebuffs Sobe before he gets out of his range. “Good Luck!”

Sobe comments with a short “Thanks.”

We continue fighting the “regular” Minotaurs. The number of Minotaurs doesn’t seem to decrease at all…

“Shield Bash!” the Minotaur barely takes a step back. This isn’t good — my hits are losing their power!

“Enchant Deep Freeze!” Swift re-enchants my shield. Didn’t he use a different spell before?

“I think we need to step up the game,” he says.

“Thanks, Swift!” I answer, “Shield Bash!”

The Minotaur I thought I’d be sending flying back shatters instead. Yes, this is a different, much more powerful enchantment! We can do this!

We continue fighting. But then, I spot another different Minotaur: with its height, it’s towering over the others. It also has something looking like a tiara on its head.

“Wicked villains!” it yells, “The Pretty Minotaur Soldier of Love and Justice, I am Sailor Moo-n! And in the name of the…”

“Greater Shadow Ball!” Swift hits it with a big ball of Dark Magic before she can even finish her speech. She’s instantly annihilated, leaving nothing behind.

“She was still talking, Swift,” I comment, glossing over the destructive magic.

“Was that against etiquette? The last I want to do right now is listen to a long-winded speech of our enemy’s!” For some reason, Swift is visibly annoyed by the enemy he just annihilated. So even the keeper has his dislikes. It’d be best not to ask him about it later…

Thinking more about him, I know he has a lot of Magic Skills, but his capacity still seems so unreal! He’s keeping us buffed and uses Attack Magic quite frequently. How doesn’t he run out of energy? I’m glad to have him as my friend. Well, I guess that’s what you gain when you get chosen as the keeper. If he had more experience, he alone would outclass Sobe. That’s why it’s so important to keep the scheming nobles away from him, with both him being the keeper and him being my friend.

“Looks like Sobe is done as well,” he says while pointing over to Sobe. It seems he’s back to his usual self. All that is left to do now is just cleaning up the rest of the mob. I hope no third advanced variant turns up. Even if another one were to turn up, with Sobe and Swift being here I doubt they’d be a problem at all.