Bofuri (The Strongest Shield Of Tensura)

Chapter 145 - One Hundred And Forty Five

The tension in the plaza shifted the moment he arrived.

Tingle felt it before she saw it. The quiet that moved through the assembled Riders like a wave, the way the floating constructs overhead dimmed almost imperceptibly, the way even Giva’s constant plasma arcs settled briefly against its frame.

She turned toward the eastern archway, to see the two figures that had entered.

The Archmage Lord of Maple Tree walked without urgency. He was younger than most people expected when they first saw him, his red hair pushed back beneath his hat, his checkered robes practical rather than ceremonial.

Behind him, keeping pace without effort, was Lady Hachi.

She was tall, with long dark green hair. Her only visible Antari features were the slender antennas resting at her forehead and her dark green eyes, which swept the assembled Riders in a single quiet glance that seemed to take in everything at once.

Tingle immediately straightened her wings.

Kanade stopped at the center of the plaza. He didn’t reach for notes. He looked out at the group for exactly one moment before speaking.

"I’ll be brief. Most of you already know I dislike wasting time."

A few of the older Riders exchanged glances. The newer ones simply watched.

"Walpurgis has changed things." He didn’t frame it as an opinion. "The Forest of Jura now has two Demon Lords. Lady Kaede, and Lord Rimuru. The rest of the continent has been paying attention, and they will continue to pay attention. Every move Maple Tree makes from this point forward will be watched, interpreted, and carried back to someone who is already looking for a reason to be afraid of us, if they aren’t already."

Kanade glanced briefly toward Hachi.

Lady Hachi stepped forward. "Lord Kanade and I have separate obligations requiring travel outside the Forest." She paused once, letting the statement settle. "It has come to our attention that neither of us maintains a dedicated unit of our own. Given the current climate, we cannot travel in such conditions."

She did not apologize for the oversight. She simply named it and moved past it.

"You are the most mobile of the forces of Maple Tree, which is why we decided on you." Kanade picked up smoothly. "You will be divided into two groups. One accompanies Lady Hachi to Raja and the country states. The other travels with me to the territory of Demon Lord Leon Cromwell."

Leon Cromwell.

Tingle knew that name. She was older than him, technically. She had known of him when he was still human, still a hero. She knew what he had become afterward and she knew exactly how dangerous that made him.

She noticed Azeeza’s hand shift slightly toward her side. Noticed Liu Fei push his glasses up without looking away from Kanade. Noticed Odessa uncross her arms slowly.

They were probably assuming how powerful a Demon Lord was. Tingle knew that whatever they were thinking, wasn’t even close to an estimate.

"Both assignments carry political weight." Kanade continued, his tone unchanged. "Full mission merit pay upon completion. Conduct yourselves accordingly."

A brief silence followed.

Then Hachi spoke again, quietly. "Group assignments are being distributed now. Collect yours from Lord Kanade’s assistant."

A small hobgoblin girl stepped out from behind Kanade’s shadow carrying a neat stack of folded papers, moving through the crowd with considerably more confidence than her size suggested.

Tingle immediately darted toward the front of the forming line.

Behind her, she heard Odessa lean toward Azeeza. "Leon Cromwell." Not a question exactly.

"I heard." Azeeza replied.

"Nervous?"

"Not, really. Though I don’t think there was a need to come out like this and explain anything. They could have just had the commander assign us to them without any of the theatrics."

Azeeza then sighed. "Can’t really blame them, I guess. Kanade is pretty scary smart but he’s still young in the end, and doesn’t really know much about this kinda stuff, and Lady Hachi probably knows less than him."

Tingle glanced back once at Liu Fei, who still hadn’t moved toward the line. He stood with his hands in his pockets, watching Kanade across the plaza with an expression she couldn’t quite read. "I don’t think that’s it."

Azeeza turned to him. "Oh?"

"Never mind. It’s nothing." Liu Fei shrugged.

"If you say so."

Nvel drifted close to Liu Fei’s shoulder and chirped softly.

[xxx]

Tingle ended up on Lord Kanade’s team. Azeeza too, which helped.

She found that out while glancing across the road to where the other Riders were finishing preparations around three large carriages fastened to massive armored dragonflies. Each one was considerably larger than the ones she had seen Lady Kaede use around the capital. Even from this distance, she could feel the slow vibration of their wings building in her chest.

"Why aren’t we using the cars?" she asked.

"You’re thinking trains. The city uses street cars, and there’s no built in rails from here all the way to El Dorado." Azeeza shook her head slightly. "And besides, Maple Tree’s technology is further ahead than most of the continent. When we travel abroad, we default to what they’re used to seeing."

"So it’s a secret?"

"Not exactly." Azeeza shrugged lightly. "We were never told to hide it. Envoys who’ve visited the capital have already seen plenty. But there’s a difference between something being known and something being announced."

Tingle considered that, then decided it made sense.

"Come on." Azeeza tapped the top of her head lightly. "I’ll introduce you to the others."

"You know everyone already?"

"They’re our comrades." Azeeza replied simply. "We should know each other. That includes you."

There was no warmth missing from the words. Tingle had noticed it before, the way Azeeza moved through the Spirit Riders differently from how Lady Kirara did. Less casual. More deliberate.

She studied her for a brief moment. "I bet you’re going to be one of the captains eventually."

Azeeza was quiet for a second. "...We’ll see." she said finally.

---

The first rider she met was leaning against one of the carriage wheels with her arms folded, watching the dragonfly handlers with mild disinterest.

Red hair much darker than Azeeza’s, cut short on one side. Sharp brown eyes that moved toward them the moment they approached. Her Automara hovered close behind her shoulder, a compact sphere wrapped in slow rotating bands of deep violet that pulsed steadily like a heartbeat.

"This is Cassy." Azeeza said.

Cassy looked down at Tingle with a flat expression. Then back at Azeeza. "You’re introducing me to the small one."

"She has a name."

"I know."

Tingle puffed her chest. "I’m a Spirit Rider just like you."

Cassy studied her for exactly one second. Something at the corner of her mouth shifted almost imperceptibly. "Sure you are."

Her Automara drifted forward and emitted a short curious tone toward Pip.

Pip responded with an immediate enthusiastic burst.

Azeeza was already moving. "Keep up."

---

The second was seated cross-legged on top of a supply crate with a worn paperback open in his lap. Sandy brown hair, medium build, entirely unbothered by everything happening around him.

His Automara drifted beside him in a slow lazy orbit, its frame shifting gradually between pale green and soft gold.

He noticed them without looking up. "Azeeza."

"Floyd. This is Tingle. She’s on our team."

Floyd looked up. His eyes settled on her with genuine curiosity rather than surprise. "The sprite. Heard about you."

Tingle blinked. "You did?"

"Word gets around. You’re one of the original thirteen." He closed the book loosely. "Your [Thought Link] is a perceptive type. Most of us ended up with offensive or defensive fusions. Yours is different."

She hadn’t expected anyone outside her immediate circle to know the details of her ability. Her wings straightened slightly. "That’s right."

Azeeza moved on without ceremony.

---

The third was harder to find.

Tingle nearly walked past her entirely before Azeeza stopped.

A girl sat quietly near the rear wheel of the third carriage, positioned just outside the natural flow of foot traffic. Small frame, pale features, dark hair falling slightly forward over her face. Her uniform was neat but worn like she was trying to take up as little space as possible.

Her Automara wasn’t floating. It sat directly in her lap, its surface a deep charcoal grey with faint silver lines tracing slowly across it. Still. Quiet. Not drifting toward the other constructs the way every other Automara in the plaza had been doing all morning.

"Maureen." Azeeza said.

The girl looked up. Her eyes were calm in the way of someone who had been watching everything for a long time without being noticed. "...Azeeza."

"This is Tingle. She’s the one I told you about."

Maureen’s gaze shifted briefly to Tingle. A small nod.

Tingle opened her mouth. Then heard footsteps approaching from somewhere behind them and watched Maureen’s fingers tighten almost imperceptibly around the construct in her lap.

The footsteps passed. The grip loosened slowly.

Tingle closed her mouth. Then smiled, more gently than she usually did. "Hi."

Maureen blinked once. "...Hi."

Pip drifted forward carefully toward the charcoal Automara.

The construct was still for a moment. Then it emitted a single soft tone. Quiet. Tentative. Almost like a question.

Pip answered warmly.

Something shifted in Maureen’s expression that Tingle couldn’t quite name.

---

"She’s one of the newer ones." Azeeza said quietly as they walked away. "Summoned about a month ago."

"Is she okay?"

"She’s adjusting." A brief pause. "Some of them take longer than others. Her death was particularly bad."

Tingle understood without needing it explained further.

Dying and waking up somewhere else entirely wasn’t the same experience for everyone.

---

The route was straightforward enough, or at least it looked that way on paper.

Exit the Forest through the western boundary. Fly south of Falmuth at altitude, avoid their airspace where possible. Cross the buffer regions west of the Council’s jurisdiction. Straight run across the western plains into Ingracia. One stop in the afternoon to rest the dragonflies and resupply. Arrival in Leon Cromwell’s territory by tomorrow morning.

Tingle turned it over quietly in her head and tried to find the part that didn’t make her wings fidget.

It was the middle stretch. The long open sky over human nations that were still quietly deciding what Maple Tree meant now that its Empress was a Demon Lord.

They wouldn’t be stopping. They wouldn’t be making themselves known.

But they would be visible. Three carriages bearing Maple Tree’s crest, crossing the sky in broad daylight over nations that had every reason to be watching.

Pip chirped softly beside her ear, feeling the shift through their link.

"I know." Tingle murmured. "It’ll be fine."

She said it with enough confidence that she almost believed it.

The handlers called final boarding.

The carriages lurched once as the dragonflies spread their wings in slow synchronized rhythm. Then the ground fell away and Kyusha rose beneath them, vast and glittering against the endless green of the Jura Forest.

Tingle pressed her face against the carriage window and watched the city shrink until the treeline swallowed it completely.

Then she sat back.