Sara walked at the very back of the trade group, alone with her bow and arrows. Her mood was complex, her eyes unfocused, unsure where to look.
Suzanne's words earlier had overwhelmed her with embarrassment, making her completely unable to make any contact with Shirou.
"How awful."
This wasn't about Suzanne or Shirou, but about herself.
Sara was angry at her own shameless behavior from before, so much so that her face was now completely red.
How could she have been so bewitched back then that she actually asked Shirou to join their adventurer team?
Even though Suzanne and the others had already explained that someone as talented as Shirou wouldn't join an adventurer team of their level, Sara wasn't satisfied and still made a shady offer to Shirou, only to be rejected as expected.
How to put it.
When she heard Shirou's rejection, even though she knew his reasons were good, Sara still felt disappointed, even unwilling to accept it.
Why didn't he want to join?
It wouldn't be bad to join their team instead of adventuring alone.
Sara knew that the [Counter Arrow] wasn't a strong adventurer team and held no appeal for someone with Shirou's unlimited potential.
But even though she understood this in her heart, Sara still felt incredibly lost when Shirou refused.
"..."
It was then that Sara realized her mind was full of the idea of Shirou joining the adventurer team, completely filled with thoughts of him.
Why was she so concerned about that guy?
Didn't she dislike him?
Could it be that she didn't actually dislike Shirou?
"No, no!"
That wasn't it, how could it be like that.
She just thought he was strong, so she simply wanted him to join the team to strengthen the [Counter Arrow].
Yes, she just acknowledged his strength and his skill as an archer.
Besides his archery skills, Shirou clearly had many other talents, including sharp observation skills, intermediate magic, and possibly even more abilities she didn't know about.
"Yes, that must be it…"
Shirou was from a noble family. Although he didn't seem like a noble, having noble status was the main issue.
Sara hated arrogant noble young masters pretending to be adventurers, and she hated nobles in general.
Her hometown was destroyed because of the laziness of the nobles, and her parents died because of it.
Even now, Sara couldn't forget the feeling of despair she felt back then, so she undoubtedly hated nobles and Shirou with his noble name.
But Sara's heart was still wavering.
That wavering made it impossible for her to simply treat Shirou as an enemy or to hate him one-sidedly.
In this confused state, Sara didn't notice the warnings from her adventurer companions ahead about incoming monsters. Nor did she notice the group of Lasta Bears, stained black with mud, that suddenly appeared from the side behind her.
"Rumble!"
Without realizing it, the ground suddenly trembled.
A huge commotion suddenly erupted in the once empty snowy field, shaking snow off the branches of the trees.
Even if she was slow to notice, Sara recognized the situation and realized that hundreds of Lasta Bears were charging towards them from a short distance away.
"How is this possible! This many… How did they get so close?"
Sara's face changed instantly, finding it hard to imagine such an overwhelming number of monsters launching a surprise attack.
Because the Lasta Bears' fur wasn't this color, those who knew more about monsters were less likely to notice these hidden enemies in the shadows.
Sara didn't realize the danger until the monsters were close, but there was nowhere to hide.
"There are too many!"
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
Suzanne and Timothy's voices came from a distance.
They immediately realized that ordinary adventurers couldn't handle this many monsters and that they needed to retreat as soon as possible to survive.
The trade group's leader, Bruno, made a quick decision. He abandoned a wagon full of goods and led everyone to escape.
Faced with such a life-or-death situation, he clearly knew which was more important – wealth or life – and had no hesitation.
Money could be earned again, but if a person died, they would lose everything.
The adventurers admired Bruno's decisiveness and followed him into the valley, using the complex terrain to hold back the overwhelming number of bears.
Shirou also moved with the trade group.
Facing this many monsters, if he was in perfect condition and had the Sword God Style and Longsword of Light, he should be able to defeat them easily.
But he couldn't now. Not only was he restricted from using a sword, but he was also wearing that heavy armor.
In this state, if Shirou faced this large group of Lasta Bears head-on, he wouldn't have a good solution unless he used projection and the Holy Sword.
But because of the Second North God's teachings, Shirou didn't want to rely too much on weapons and projection now. He wanted to fight with his own strength.
So Shirou retreated into the valley with the others.
Because the terrain was narrow, the Lasta Bears didn't dare to rush in directly.
Just as everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, Suzanne's expression suddenly became terrible.
The small group's leader, Timothy, was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly realized something and exclaimed:
"Where's Sara? Where is Sara?"
Hearing Timothy's words, many adventurers looked at each other and suddenly realized that Sara didn't seem to have rushed into the valley with the main group.
Because the Lasta Bears appeared so suddenly, and Sara was walking alone at the very back of the trade group, she didn't manage to keep up with the others during the retreat.
This was Sara's own mistake for failing to coordinate with the team.
"What should we do?"
The adventurers looked at each other, at a loss.
The fact that Sara was in a life-or-death situation and the many Lasta Bears outside the valley watching them made it so that none of the adventurers dared to make a decision at this moment.
After all, if they left the valley to rescue Sara, they would most likely not only fail to rescue her but also lose their own lives in vain.
"Sara probably isn't dead yet. If we go to rescue her now, we might still be able to make it…"
After hesitating for a moment, Captain Timothy tentatively made the decision to try and save her.
But Suzanne, who was closest to Sara, calmly and even coldly said: "No, we can't go save her, or we'll only suffer even greater losses. With so many monsters and the possibility of blizzards at any time, it's better to think that Sara is already dead."
"But…"
"There's no 'but'! Haven't we all prepared ourselves for this kind of thing since the first day we became adventurers! As adventurers, our lives are as light as a feather, but that's why we absolutely cannot make meaningless sacrifices. We have to struggle to survive to the very end!"
Hearing Suzanne's roar, Timothy hung his head deeply.
He also had the same thoughts as Suzanne at first, but he couldn't bring himself to make such a cold-blooded decision.
Shirou watched the [Counter Arrow] team's adventurers from the side. He could completely understand what they were thinking at this moment.
When forced to make an important choice, people will choose one side.
Even if they hesitate, they will still decide that one side is better or more feasible based on the situation at the time, and then they will make a choice.
But most people will regret their choice afterward.
Because making a choice means making a trade-off. If the sacrificed thing is too important, even if the choice is the right one, they will regret not choosing the other side, thinking they might have gotten a better result.
Even though if they had actually chosen the other side, they might have faced even worse results.
However, if they have sacrificed something important when making a choice, it will inevitably make them think that even if it leads to a worse outcome, maybe it's still worth betting on the chance that things will be better.
When Miyu was taken away, Shirou felt regret and despair. In reflection and despair, he simply went all out to end all the nightmares.
In the current situation, Sara was just a girl he had met not long ago, but Shirou couldn't just stand by and watch her die. He knew he was also facing a choice.
His thoughts only lingered for a moment before an answer formed in his heart.
"Click."
Shirou unbuttoned his coat and took it off in front of everyone.
"???"
Suzanne and the others looked confused. No one expected Shirou to suddenly take off his clothes at this time. Besides the fact that this behavior was a bit perverted, the problem was that the environment here was the extremely cold north. If he didn't wear clothes, he would catch a cold soon.
Shirou didn't explain much. He simply silently took off the heavy armor he was wearing.
"Rumble!"
The armor fell to the ground, causing a tremendous vibration.
The snowy ground sank several inches.
The moment he took off the armor, Shirou felt a long-lost sense of freedom. He didn't hesitate and went to leave the valley.
"Shirou!"
Suzanne was startled by his actions and quickly tried to stop him.
"Don't worry."
Shirou just gave her a comforting smile, "I'll bring Sara back safely."
"..."
Despite the fact that Shirou's words weren't based on anything, Suzanne felt a strange sense of conviction.
So she didn't stop Shirou. She just watched him silently.
Shirou first took out the long-sealed Dragon Sword of Beauty and Grace from his backpack, and then fearlessly charged into the snowy field filled with monsters, facing hundreds of monsters alone in the harsh, freezing environment!
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