Possession enhances physical abilities.
Release allows the use of special abilities.
And Manifestation brings a distant divine sword back to one's hand.
Probably, the assassin from the other day used this skill, Manifestation, to retrieve their own divine sword.
"You were careless, Crow. To think there's a user skilled enough to use Manifestation."
"But... why didn't they retrieve it until now? If they did it while I was sleeping, I wouldn't have noticed until the next day."
"For now, that doesn't matter. Let's chase after the departed Kurtana. We conveniently have a saintly sword suitable for pursuing it."
"...What?"
Could it be... am I about to ride Ramlei to chase after the departing Kurtana?
"Can I ride it without Shion?"
"You rode it just a moment ago, didn't you? And Shion herself has relinquished it, so you should be fine. However, to make it fly, either Shion or I must be present."
"...Oh! That horse!"
Ignoring Holly's urging, I searched for Instructor Cattleya within the castle and brought her to the courtyard where Ramlei was tethered.
"That horse!" was Instructor Cattleya's first reaction upon seeing Ramlei.
"Instructor, did you know what this was?"
"Well, not just 'knowing', everyone who tried to ride it died. It's a rogue horse. Despite not being fed, it didn't die, leading to rumors it might be a demon or monster."
"Ah..."
Those who tried to give me this horse seemingly wanted me dead.
Whether or not the king himself had this in mind is debatable.
"Instructor, the saintly sword I obtained earlier returned to its owner through Manifestation."
"What? That's why I told you to kill its owner! We finally had one of the saintly swords, and now it's been taken in vain."
"That's why I'm going to chase after it on this horse. Please come with me."
"...What?"
"I'll hold the reins. Please sit behind me. I'm too scared to go alone."
"You're kidding! Did you not hear what I said? This is a rogue horse that's killed everyone who's tried to ride it!"
"Trust me."
"What are you saying...huh? Huh?"
Ignoring Instructor Cattleya's objections, I mounted Ramlei.
"Whoa!? Wait, why are you okay riding it? Wait..."
Ignoring her further, I pulled the small-framed Instructor Cattleya onto Ramlei with one hand.
"Wait! What? Crow... Ahhhhh!"
As Ramlei began to run, I heard Instructor Cattleya scream in a tone I'd never heard before.
Facing the absurdity and the surreal events that had occurred, my nerves seemed to have snapped.
I couldn't react to the situation in front of me.
Ramlei truly was a Pegasus.
It didn't run on the ground but soared in the sky.
With both Instructor Cattleya and me on its back, Ramlei flew around in the air, heading in the direction Kurtana had flown.
Its speed was extraordinary.
We flew out of the castle, high enough to oversee the town below, and the scenery around us changed rapidly.
Instructor Cattleya, sitting behind me on Ramlei, was crying and screaming.
Thrown into an unexpected situation, she seemed somewhat panicked. Well, I'll pretend I didn't hear that scream just now and keep it to myself. It's somewhat pitiable, after all.
"Hey, Holly."
"What is it?"
I addressed Holly, who was flying at the same speed as us.
"This horse is convenient, but if the hero flies on this horse, the others would be left behind, right? If the Demon King's castle is in the sky, would only one or two people ride to it?"
"No, Ramlei's capabilities aren't just this."
"Oh?"
"I'll explain in detail after we retrieve Kurtana. Please focus on the current matter, Crow."
"Yeah, well, I'll probably leave it up to the instructor anyway."
With that, I continued flying through the air on Ramlei.
When we reached the forest where the cabin, believed to be the base of the girl who tried to assassinate me the other day, is located, Ramlei landed. From the sky, we could see that the cabin where the girl had been was burning. Smoke was billowing all around.
I got off Ramlei and looked around with Holly. There was no sign of the assassin near the burned cabin. However, something was strange. In addition to the smell of the fire, there was a scent like blood. This was an ominous atmosphere.
"Instructor, it seems like a dangerous situation. Please be careful."
I called out to Instructor Cattleya, but there was no response.
"Instructor?"
Looking, I found Instructor Cattleya still frozen on Ramlei. It seemed she couldn't handle the sudden flight through the air.
She's someone who's been through a hundred times more hardships than me, so she shouldn't be this shaken.
"Instructor? Are you okay?"
I held Instructor Cattleya with both hands, gently helping her down from Ramlei. The moment she was on the ground, she looked up at me with teary eyes and began punching me.
"You! You! You!"
"Sigh, what's the matter, Instructor?"
"Don't act dumb! You could've warned me! You idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"
It seemed that Instructor Cattleya was extremely flustered, to a point where she might feel embarrassed about it later.
"Instructor, please calm down. This horse isn't a rogue; it's one of the saintly swords. Holly told me so; that's why I knew it was safe to ride."
"Shut up! That doesn't matter! You should've told me it could fly! I almost—ah!"
"Sigh, I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time."
Behind me, Holly was watching the scene with a half-closed eye.
"So? The assassin from before is nearby?"
"Yes, it seems so."
After hitting and yelling at me for a while, Instructor Cattleya returned to her usual self.
I guess I should keep what happened today a secret from everyone.
"This time, I'll kill her. Don't stop me, Crow."
"Depending on the situation, we might not avoid a confrontation."
Instructor Cattleya and I walked around the burning cabin.
"This burning cabin, it's where the assassin lived, right? Why is it on fire?"
"Maybe it was torched? It's unlikely she set it on fire herself. There's the smell of burning and the stench of blood. It's a smell I'm familiar with."
"Huh, I've been smelling something like blood for a while. So it wasn't just my imagination."
"Wait, you've smelled blood before?"
"Not really. Before I was taken in by my foster father, I lived in a place where decaying corpses were left here and there."
"Hmm..."
I don't remember much from before I became self-aware. I continued searching around the cabin in silence with Instructor Cattleya. Holly, who accompanied us, was also silent behind me. Since only I can see Holly, speaking with her in public would make me look like I'm talking to myself. To prevent this, I had previously asked Holly to limit our conversations to the bare minimum in public. Well, because of that, she talks to me a lot at night, and it has become a daily routine to play chess with her before sleeping.
We investigated around the cabin silently for a while and gradually expanded our search area.
Soon, we found several people lying in a bloody state not far from the cabin.
"...They're dead, these guys."
The fallen individuals had already succumbed.
Moreover, each one of them was armed with swords or bows and arrows. Clearly, they were not ordinary people. Considering the number of bodies around and the fact that Instructor Cattleya wasn't very shaken, it was clear that, despite her youthful appearance, she had been through numerous life-and-death situations as a soldier.
"All of these guys died from slash wounds, right?"
"Don't ask me that. I can't determine the cause of death just by looking at a corpse."
"Haha. Sometimes, I can't tell if you're brilliant or just useless. Even the strongest men tremble and become useless at the sight of corpses or when they're injured. I've taken some of the most outstanding graduates from the military academy to the battlefield, and more than half of them were incapacitated without even being injured."
"Well, normally that's how it is. Nobody wants to die or kill."
"The duty of a soldier is to kill so they don't get killed. How can someone aim to be a soldier at the military academy without understanding that?"