We ran for a bit, but Katharina was honestly too slow for me. If I wanted to be quicker, I had to carry her, that's why...

"Hold on tight."

I grabbed her in a princess carry, how fitting. I really didn't want her armor poking against me the whole time so this was all I could think of.

"KKKYYYYYYAAAAAAAA!!!!"

I'm running at full speed with Katharina in my arms. I also use a bit of spatial distortion to move myself slightly to the sides so I can concentrate on running straight forward without hitting any trees. I thought of this technique for combat purposes, but this turned out to be a good way to use and train this.

"You're holding on too tight, your armor is poking my chest."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! SLOOOOOW DOOOOWWNNNN!!!"

What a pain, why is she even still wearing her armor?

"We are almost there, calm down."

"HHHIIIIII!!"

... If I didn't know magic it would be a pain to clean this off again. I'll let her go for this, only this one time.

* * *

As I reached the outside of the forest, I started hearing many voices.

"It's already been 2 days since we lost the princess, we can't wait for reinforcements for the next search! With every moment we waste our chances of finding her get slimmer!"

"I know! But after yesterday we don't have the manpower to keep going into the Black Devil Forest! At least we didn't find her corpse among those of the assailants..."

They seem to be the guards Katharina was talking about. Looks like they've been searching for her diligently risking their lives, all while she was enjoying sweet safety. Well, it's not like anyone can blame her for this.

"Hey, we arrived at your people."

"..."

"You don't look happy, didn't you want me to bring you out?"

"...Haaaa...Yes..."

"Mm."

She must be embarrassed because of before. Well, no time to wait for her recovery.

"Everyone get ready, we are going in again!"

"HA! YES SIR!"

Just as everyone picked up their equipment.

"Hop!"

I appear in the middle of their camp with their princess in my arms.

"What? Who are-- PRINCESS KATHARINA!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and only grabbed their weapons. Hoh, getting ready to fight me? Perfect time to play around.

"How dare you?!"

I gently place the princess on the ground. Her legs are still weak from fright.

"Identify yourself! Now!"

Naturally, I could pull out my black card, but that would be boring, I need to try out some of my spells at least.

"Maybe you’re hesitating because the princess is 'still' unharmed?"

"Huh?"

"YOU!"

Rightfully the princess was shocked at my words. But if I don't do this much, they won't attack before the princess can properly speak again and explain the situation.

Mostly I want to play around with spatial distortion. With the sages’ circuits and my modern understanding of physics, many fun things are possible.

The loud guard runs towards me with his sword in hand and executes a beautiful sideward slash. If I stayed like this it would connect with my throat. I take a step back and... he misses by at least 2 full steps.

"What?!"

Hmm, compared to teleportation this feels a lot smoother, it always feels choppy when you teleport in battle. This method of space manipulation also doesn't affect anyone directly but the space between us so magic resistance should be ignored. But I think if I distort space like this the surrounding could get affected in some way. I'll have to figure out the rest of the pros and cons after experimenting some more.

I step forwards again and touch his shoulder with my finger before he can recover his stance.

PAT! CRACK!

"KUUAHH!"

He falls to the ground due to my gravity multiplying magic. I heard some bad noise there, I can also see some blood, he didn't die but this much was probably still too much. This is a good reference for the future.

"Attack!"

"NO!"

One of the other guards called out, despite the princess's call everyone is running towards me.

If I can properly do this, I will look really stylish, if not I will have to heal a few people...

One hand on my sheath one on my katana grip, I enter an Iaido stance.

Before anyone can enter my reach, I draw my sword with a 480-degree spin, slashing everywhere and putting the blade back into the sheath in one single motion.

CLANK!

""?!""

Everyone stopped. Naturally not because they are dead. Thankfully. But because I cut all their weapons. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off with so many targets but somehow it worked out. This isn't exactly a practical move but I thought it might be cool if I could pull it off. Surely people would be impressed.

I should create some kind of third eye skill or magic so I can watch myself do this spin again from a top-down view. With these clothes that must look pretty cool.

This move has two criteria to use, firstly I need to be able to send out a slash through the air even if it's only a few millimeters, secondly, I need to control the spatial distortion well enough to send the slash right into, and only into, the weapons of everyone. Thanks to that my mental exhaustion is at its limit with just that single attack... Worth it.

"Huuu..."

"What is everyone doing?! This is my benefactor! Don't you see that I am unharmed?!"

Ah, since the first guard got hurt, I should heal him without anyone noticing. I covertly put a recovery herb in his mouth. Since he is face down, I use magic to make him swallow it. He should be good with this.

"B-but."

"No but's! He saved me when I was in danger and even brought me back here!"

She surely gets fierce now that she is in her used environment.

"Thank you again, Hermit-sama, for returning me here without harm. I am indebted to you... but why did you fight with my guards? You could've done with without causing a misunderstanding, and your words from before..."

I guess it's bulshitting time.

"I wanted to test them. I will stay with you until we reach the capital."

"Eh? I couldn't ask for that much, you already did more for me than you needed to!"

"I said I would bring you back and protect you, so I will do just that. Once you're back in the royal capital I will quickly root out the place the assailants originated from and leave."

"You're really coming with us...?"

"Yes. Once this guy wakes up, we can start going back. So, everyone should prepare."

"If that is what you wish for... Everyone you heard him, get everything ready for departure!"

""HA!""