"It's possible, Instructor. If it can control an opponent's time, right? The ultimate form of that control is not just slowing down but stopping…"
Platanus answered in my stead.
"So, Hero Shion isn't dead. It's not freezing or petrification like in fairy tales involving monsters. His body's time has stopped, right?"
"Yes, probably."
It seems the Time-Flow Sword's ability to decelerate an opponent's movements, when taken to the extreme, doesn't just slow them down but brings them to a complete halt.Using that ability, it would indeed be possible to stop Shion's time.
"Isn't that a bit odd?"
While poking the immobile Shion's cheek with her finger, Saffron muttered.
"Being super fast yourself and being able to stop the opponent, that's almost invincible, isn't it?"
"Well, using acceleration and deceleration simultaneously diminishes the effect of both. It's not like your Vacuum Sword, Saffron, where each sword holds a different ability. Using two opposite abilities at the same time is quite a stretch. So, it's usually just used for one's own acceleration."
"Still, that's practically invincible. Why leave Shion immobilized like that? It'd be easy to kill him, right?"
Saffron casually mentioned the terrifying concept of being able to kill Shion.
"Don't say something stupid, Saffron. If you kill the hero, we all die when the Demon Lord revives. Even the perpetrator wouldn't survive."
"Well, yeah, but think about it. Would someone who's expecting the hero to defeat the Demon Lord do something like this to the hero?"
"Ah…"
Instructor Cattleya was silenced by Saffron's casual observation.
"If we were to betray you guys and planned to assassinate Crow or Platanus, we'd never lay a hand on Shion. Actually, to avoid angering him, we wouldn't touch Crow either."
What a ridiculous thing to say.
And the fact that she naturally thinks it's okay to switch sides to those opposing us if our interests align is terrifying.
"Not that we can't kill him, but rather we can't?"
Platanus muttered softly.
"I don't know the reason, but Lord Shion's body, with time stopped, has become terrifyingly hard. In this state, no blade might be able to cut through. Rather, any physical attack might stop the moment it touches Lord Shion's body."
Then, Saffron suddenly took out one of her Vacuum Swords and poked Shion's arm with it.
"Ah, it's true. The blade doesn't go through."
In an instant, Instructor Cattleya smacked Saffron on the back of the head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"What do you think you're doing, idiot!"
"What if you had hurt Shion!"
Instructor Cattleya and Iris angrily pulled Saffron away from Shion for her thoughtless act."Anyway, it has been proven that Lord Shion cannot be harmed by any physical attack right now. This means he won't suddenly be killed or die," Platanus muttered, clearing his throat.
"Damn... I thought it was impossible for Shion to be targeted, even if I was. That was a mistake..."
"That was everyone here's understanding, Lord Crow," Platanus added, placing a hand on my shoulder as I clicked my tongue in frustration.
"We were all deeply entrenched in our preconceptions. We believed that there was no benefit for anyone, no matter their motives, to harm the hero. The Demon Lord possesses the power to destroy the world alone, and the only being capable of defeating him is the hero. Considering this fact, harming the hero would be all loss and no gain, by any common sense."
"…"
I haven't told anyone but Holly that I had temporarily allied and fought alongside Amaranth, Cinelaria, and Jasmine.
Their leader seemed to think there was some benefit in hindering the hero like this.
Something about the hero and the Demon Lord being two sides of the same coin, and by eliminating both, they could create a world where the Demon Lord could never resurrect.
Is this part of that plan?
Really, can such actions lead to a world of eternal peace without the Demon Lord ever resurrecting?
If so, any interference would be meaningless...
"No!"
I denied my own thoughts.
The opponent's motives, the success or failure of their actions, whether they're good or evil, it doesn't matter.
Even if this act was meant to prevent the resurrection of the Demon Lord, I cannot condone doing this to Shion.
This child... Shion is just a normal girl.
A girl who looks up to me, chosen only by the hero.
To see her subjected to this and do nothing...
"Damn it!"
I yelled in frustration, alone, and everyone else in the room looked at me with concern.
"Lord Crow. We were hoping for your guidance on how to break this situation. What should we do to return Lord Shion to her original state immediately?"
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be so pissed off!"
I snapped at Platanus, lashing out without reason."It's understandable. None of us have any idea either. That's why we were waiting for you to return. We thought that maybe, with you back, a solution might become visible."
"Don't be ridiculous, Platanus. The only reason I managed to come up with strategies or squeeze out any ideas was because I could see Holly. Without Holly, I'm truly incapable of doing anything. I have no idea what to do..."
As I spoke, I felt embarrassed by my own admisshion.
But there was nothing I could do.
Without Holly, my greatest supporter, I am literally just an ordinary person.
There's no way I could come up with a method to save the hero from this crisis.
In fact, I'm at a loss for what to do, everything seems utterly bleak.
"There's... nothing I can do anymore..."
As I sank into despair, Instructor Cattleya approached me.
"That's not true, Crow."
Instructor Cattleya looked at me intently and offered a reassuring smile.
"Sure, having Holly's knowledge speak through you was convenient. Being able to fly the Pegasus Sword too. But you're not someone who can't do anything. There have been many times when we were saved because you were there, right?"
"Instructor... I was just acting as Holly taught me. Without Holly, I wouldn't have even been able to find Shion..."
"Then, was it Holly's instruction when I first met Saffron and you told me not to kill her?"
"That was..."
"What about the plan to save Iris when she was kidnapped by Cinelaria? The way you saved me when I was about to be executed? When Platanus, that idiot, tried to kill you and you decided to forgive and include him as an ally, who was that?"
I looked up, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room: Iris, Saffron, Platanus, and Instructor Cattleya.
They were all looking back at me, smiling.
"Everyone here owes their life to you, man. Despite having such grandiose weapons like the divine saintly swords, it's thanks to you, someone who's neither the chosen hero nor anything special, that we're all still alive."
"Have confidence, Crow. You can figure this out. We're with you."
Really, though.
Even when I regress to acting like a child, throwing tantrums or crying.Being with this person, I truly can't get used to it.
The more time I spend with them, the more respect I feel.
"…So, uh, Crow…"
However, Instructor Cattleya seemed to hesitate with her words.
"Right now, you're feeling down about Shion, and I know this might be a bad time to bring this up, but..."
"?"
"There's another problem, Crow."
"A problem? What happened?"
"Heath has gone missing."
"…"
After a moment of silence, I said,
"Right now, finding the wielder of the Time-Flow Sword is our only option, right?"
"That seems to be the case. And, there's likely a time limit to the act of stopping the hero's time. No saintly sword's ability can sustain its effect forever, I believe."
"That's true. Even my Ice Sword's ice disappears after some time."
"If they use the ability nearby, maybe we could sense the magic, but..."
We began to think of a plan to save Shion.
"Hey! What about Heath? He went missing right after Shion turned to stone!"
"We'll have to leave that be for now. Not having him is better than the alternative, but currently, Prince Heath's absence isn't as pressing as the fact that Lady Shion is incapacitated."
"You! Platanus! You've known Heath for a long time, haven't you? Show some concern!"
"I know him well enough to say he's not the type to die easily. He's probably alive, isn't he?"