The Kingdom's Expeditionary Force of adventurers was advancing through the forest in the western region of the Duchy.
The western parts of the Duchy were not completely under Union control, but the main roads were.
Therefore, they pushed their way through narrow roads, beast trails, or grass paths that only locals knew.
Although the grandmaster, Finley Forsythe, was the supreme commander, the march was basically divided into five parts: north, south, east, west, and center where the Royal Capital is located.
The east was at the front, followed by the center, then the north and west, and finally the south at the rear.
"Does the grandmaster dislike the south?"
"Ryo, that's a line you shouldn't say aloud."
Ryo asked the question that came to him suddenly and Abel running next to him chided him.
Hugh McGrath, running right behind them, sighed deeply.
"It's probably my fault anyway. Forsythe hates me."
The reason why the south was at the rear seemed to be because of Hugh, who was in command of the southern forces.
Ryo and Abel were at the forefront of the Southern Forces. Immediately behind them, Hugh McGrath and Chloe, their Duchy guide from the Intelligence Bureau.
Initially, that position was reserved for the remaining three members of 『Crimson Sword』, but the rapid pace caused them to gradually fall behind …
Despite all of the adventurers having C-rank or higher, except for Ryo, running in the woods was more exhausting than they imagined.
And even now …
"The tail is starting to lag. Should we walk?"
Ryo asked Hugh.
"Yeah, let's do that."
Hugh whistled through his fingers sharply.
At that signal, the entire Southern Forces stopped running and started walking.
The reason why they didn't stop and take a break was to advance as soon as possible.
Of the four in the leading group, three were not out of breath.
However, Chloe, who was dispatched by the Intelligence Bureau as a guide for the Southern Forces, was breathing heavily.
"Chloe, here's water. Please drink."
Ryo created a cup of ice and water in it and handed it to Chloe.
"Thank you."
She was fairly fatigued but her words of gratitude were clear.
She downed the glass of water in one go.
And she commented to herself.
"As expected … of the Hero of the Great War and B-rank adventurers … I was confident in my physical stamina and movement in the woods, so I volunteered for this role … but it took my all to follow.
"It's okay, you're doing alright. The other people behind are barely able to catch up too. These two are just abnormal."
Ryo said and comforted Chloe.
Chloe was a lovely woman with maroon short hair and eyes of the same color that shifted actively.
She was likely a little over 20 years old? And had two well-maintained daggers on her waist.
She was a little shorter than Ryo, which was probably above average for a woman.
As a member of the Intelligence Bureau, it seemed that she could fight in close combat as needed.
The other expeditionary forces also had intelligence personnel, but all others were men and Chloe was the sole woman.
"I would rather not have ugly men. Since all of you would have the capability, it's far better to have you here where there are fewer women in the Southern Forces. It seemed that Hugh forcibly pulled Chloe as the guide for the south for that reason."
"Hey, don't say such irresponsible words."
Hugh corrected Ryo as he said words that were borderline sexual harassment and irresponsible.
Upon hearing the exchange, Chloe laughed slightly.
"Laughter is also effective in recovering from fatigue. Hugh, as calculated!"
"I'm hearing that for the first time! I didn't calculate anything."
When Hugh said that, Chloe laughed more than before.
Ryo nodded many times when he saw that.
Abel, who was watching the conversation from the side, murmured.
"Ryo is tactful in these types of situations."
Abel was honestly impressed.
"So why is Hugh hated by the grandmaster?"
Grateful that they were now walking, Ryo asked Hugh the question.
"You're back to that? Well, to put it simply, I declined to talk about marrying Forsythe's daughter."
Hugh replied and Ryo opened his eyes wide and stared at Hugh.
His appearance of walking in front and turning only his face toward Hugh was quite surreal.
Chloe, who was walking next to Hugh, looked at Hugh with a little surprise.
Only Abel sighed lightly and walked on. Apparently he knew.
"Is it … that the grandmaster's daughter … that … you didn't like her appearance …?"
He had to be careful about his words …
Not that the concept of sexual harassment exists on 『Phi』.
However, it is not because gender equality had not caught on, but on the contrary, because women's power was considerably stronger here compared to on Earth.
Indeed, men are often stronger than women in terms of muscle strength, but 『Phi』 has 『magic』.
There seemed to be some research showing that women have a slightly greater affinity for magic than men, and there were more women among magic users.
In occupations that deal with death closely, such as the Knight Orders, the Magician groups, and adventurers, ability is naturally the deciding factor so career advancement delays or discrimination 'because he's is a man' or 'because she's a woman' never happens.
In such a world, women were strong enough.
You had to be careful with words.
A mistake in word choice could spell immediate death.
"Appearances … Miss Elsie is one of the most beautiful women in the Royal Capital."
Hugh replied, remembering something.
Ryo continued to ask more questions, tilting his head.
"The family of the grandmaster … Yes, the social status doesn't match or isn't enough for Hugh, who is called the Hero of the Great War …"
"Forsythe is a well-established aristocrat with the rank of Count, and Elsie is his only daughter. The man who becomes his son-in-law will succeed to the Count position."
Hugh sighed and answered Ryo's question.
Ryo's neck tilted further.
"Oh! Elsie-san's feelings for Hugh-san … hmm, she likes a man with more of a slender, aristocratic feel?"
"You're somewhat mistaken, Elsie likes men with fierce looks like me."
Hugh replied with a deeper sigh.
And Ryo's neck was tilted almost at a right angle by now.
"So why did you decline?"
Ryo had no idea why he refused.
Such a good match …
"It was three years ago. At that time I was 36. Elsie was 18 years old. I thought it was too pitiful to marry me, who is nearly 20 years older than her."
Hugh's answer was that.
How trivial …
Yes, it was nonsensical.
Love transcends the difference in years!
Ryo thought, but he refrained from saying it.
Hugh McGrath was a guildmaster, Ryo's boss.
He had to support his boss.
Ryo nodded while thinking so, remarking to himself how open-minded he had become.
Hugh, who was watching him, said.
"Ryo, I'm certain you thought it was nonsensical."
"Wha …"
Ryo was really surprised.
The Hero's insight was not just for show.
"Ah, but the chaos that happened in the royal capital …"
When he said that, even Ryo realized that he made a slip of the tongue.
If they were aristocrats living in the royal capital, they would have been caught up in the chaos …
"Oh … it's okay, they were not involved. It seemed that Elsie was going to the west at that time. Or, was it Twilightland? Well, anyway, they were not in the royal capital."
However, Ryo's interest was more towards the word he heard than Elsie's safety.
"Twilightland … A country in twilight? So cool …"
"I've never heard anyone call Twilightland a country in twilight … It's a country southwest of the Kingdom. It's a young country, founded a hundred years ago. It was a big deal because they pioneered and founded the country in an area where no one lived."
(The 'Twilight' in Twilightland isn't translated into twilight … in that case, who named the country …?)
(TLN: Twilightland is in English, and was not translated to mean twilight, the time right before sunrise or after sunset, in Phi language.)
Another unsolvable mystery was born in Ryo.
The Southern Forces continued walking.
Then, Ryo's
"Hugh, battle, 400 meters ahead."
"All right."
Ryo reported and Hugh acknowledged before he sharply blew into his finger.
With the finger whistle as a signal, the Southern Forces gathered around Hugh.
They numbered seventy.
Landenvia, the guildmaster of Acre, who was in charge of the rear, caught up and the entire Southern Forces were ready.
"It seems that there is fighting 400 meters ahead. Depending on the situation, we may have to force our way through. I called everyone to convey this."
Hugh announced with a lack of expression.
Normally, there would be criticisms such as 'Are you abandoning your allies?', but everyone knew that Hugh would not do that for no reason. ..
The title 『Hero of the Great War』 had a tremendous effect, especially on the battlefield.
"The reason is that the battle between the Duchy and the Union may have already begun on the main battlefield. I want to leave the border as soon as possible."
Chloe of the Duchy Intelligence Bureau responded to Hugh's words with wide eyes.
"Anyway, we shall advance to the battle area. When we arrive, we will observe the situation. The formation is the same as before. Landenvia, I leave the rear to you. We would be crushed if we get surrounded with just our numbers."
"Understood."
It was common sense in a march to have reliable units at the front and rear.
Attacking the rear was the easiest and most reliable strategy for anyone who wishes to crush their opponent so Hugh assigned the positions to counter that.
At the forefront, the sole B-rank party Crimson Sword and Abel.
At the rear, former B-rank adventurer Landenvia.
'B-rank' was valuable.
Even the 'Southern Forces', which had adventurers centered around Acre, the largest city in the south, and Rune, the largest city in the frontier, the only active B-rank party that could participate was the Crimson Sword.
However, that was still a good thing, and the number of B-rank party participants in each region was one in the eastern forces and one in the central forces. Zero in the north and west.
Of course, no A-rank party participated.
In the first place, there is only one active A-rank party in the Kingdom belonging to the royal capital.
And this time, they didn't participate.
According to an adventurer belonging to the royal capital, the party was stopped from participating in the war by those 'above' … When he heard that story, Ryo tilted his head.
He understood the need to stop the Knight Orders from joining the war, but the reason to stop adventurers … maybe they thought this expedition would not succeed.
Or simply, now that the Knights of the Kingdom have been destroyed, the armed forces in the royal capital were considerably less, so even if they are adventurers, as A-rank, they wanted to keep them at hand … was that the idea? ..
That was also one of the unanswered mysteries.
A few minutes later, the Southern Forces reached the outer edge of the battle.
The battle was taking place in a fairly open area in the woods.
The Southern Forces checked the situation while hiding in the woods.
"Muddy swamp …"
Ryo muttered unintentionally.
Adventurers were desperately defending against long-range attacks in areas where the ground under their feet have turned into mud.
The Union forces did not charge in and surrounded them as they stuck to using long-range attacks.
"Such muddy ground didn't exist here …"
Chloe told Hugh in a soft voice.
Chloe was born in the western part of the Duchy, seemed to have grown up around this forest, and had a fairly detailed map of the forest terrain in her head.
"In other words, a Union trap. To create a swamp of that size, you'll probably need thirty Earth-Attribute Magicians. Unless that is a number they can gather readily, the Adventurers here were led to this spot."
Hugh calmly judged the situation.
Not only Hugh, but the Southern Forces adventurers observing the situation were not impatient.
It was true that the adventurers were trapped and attacked unilaterally, but they were also forming what seemed to be formations and were strengthening their defenses centered on Magicians.
They should hold up for a while.
"Ryo, look around. Focusing on the placement of enemies and especially if there are horses."
"Roger that."
To Hugh's instructions, Ryo once again focused on
"The enemies are divided into the north and south parts of the swamp. There are 200 people each. There is the same number of unoccupied horses beyond their positions."
"Horses without riders? They aren't cavalry?"
"Maybe those were the horses of the ones attacking now? It looks like they got off their horses and switched to long-range attacks."
Ryo made a guess.
"Horses used only for movement? That's convenient. We'll rush the enemy on the south side from the side and crush them. After that, we'll take their horses and rush to the City of Fion where the Duchy's army is. Once the southern foes collapse, the adventurers in the swamp will break through on their own."
-x-X-x-
The City of Fion sits in the center of a basin.
Since the east and west ends are sandwiched between 100-meter-tall mountains and the Devil's Mountain is in the south, a large army could only attack from the northern side of the basin.
In the north, the mountains converge on the left and right, forming a natural bottleneck.
It resembled the neck of a bottle or the waist of a gourd, in the way it narrows tightly, and expands outward once you advance further forward.
Truly a location that is difficult to attack and easy to protect.
"Enemy attack!"
A soldier on the lookout shouted and rang the bell.
The sound of the bell echoed throughout the City of Fion.
The military leaders, including Loris, the Duke of Inbury, anticipated it.
That said, everyone was still nervous when they heard that a large army was attacking.
The military leaders were tense.
"Launch the 'Green Storm'."
Instructions from the garrison captain Meredith echoed in the Fion Central Command Center.
At the same time, Loris, the Duke of Inbury, and Stanley, the Knight Captain, arrived at the command center.
"What is the situation of the enemy?"
"Currently north of the bottleneck. Cavalry. At their speed, they will enter our range in a minute."
Knight Captain Stanley's question was answered by Garrison Captain Meredith.
Garrison Captain Meredith … a man who once served as the deputy garrison captain in the Duchy capital Aberdeen.
Under the instructions of Nigel, the Duchy capital garrison captain, he retrieved the two wind magic stones that powered the Green Storm from the Duchy capital and delivered them safely to the City of Fion when the Duchy capital fell.
Naturally, he later become the garrison captain of the City of Fion and was appointed responsible for the firing of the Green Storm.
"Okay. Draw them deeper to some extent and then wipe them out with a diffused beam."
Instructions from the Knight Captain flew across the room.
The garrison captain Meredith was certainly responsible for the Green Storm, but in reality, its operation was decided by a higher position.
For example, like this time, the Knight Captain.
Little was left to Meredith to command.
However, since he had seen the fall of the ducal capital, he couldn't help but give his opinion.
"Your Excellency Knight Captain, it's dangerous to draw them in too much."
"I understand your feelings, but if we defeat just a few of the enemy and frighten them from entering, we will not be able to make effective use of this weapon."
The Knight Captain was justified in his strategy.
As long as there was an overwhelming difference in strength, if they aimed for a reversal, it depended on the effective use of the Green Storm … there may be no other way.
But in reality, neither concern became a reality.
The Union stopped at the border between the bottleneck and the basin, that is, at their range limit.
After that moment, the Union army split down the middle and 'something' came out slowly.
"Artificial golem …"
Knight captain Stanley muttered softly.
They had received a report.
In the Duchy capital, the converged beam of the Green Storm did not work.
"Meredith!"
Loris, Duke of Inbury, looked at the Garrison Captain Meredith and called out.
He could understand what Loris was trying to say.
"Your Excellency, that's the artificial golem. Green Storm won't work on them."
Meredith reiterated facts that were heartbreaking but must be told.
Of course, he mentioned it in his report when he arrived, but he repeated it once again now.
"Stanley, what will you do?"
Loris looked at Knight Captain Stanley and asked.
That was because the person in charge on-site was Stanley.
Stanley understood that, and he had to make some suggestions as his face contorted.
"If we know that the Green Storm won't work, we have no choice but initiate the assault."
"Is it possible?"
"I don't know, but if it's an assault of the Knights Order who bet everything in this battle, or …"
To be honest, even Stanley didn't know if it would work.
But there was no other way.
"Okay. Stanley, please do so."
When Loris, the Duke of Inbury, announced, Knight Commander Stanley bowed and left the Central Command Center to lead the Knights himself.
Three minutes later.
The gates of the City of Fion were opened, and the Duchy Knights led the assault of the Duchy Army.
The rain of arrows falling from the Union could not stop their assault, nor did they even slow them down.
The Knights' assault took just over a minute to reach the Union forces and artificial golems a kilometer away.
The enthusiastic assault unbelievably broke the vanguard of the Union army in an instant.
At that instance, cheers naturally rose in Fion's central command center.
The Union army managed to endure the Duchy Knights crushing their vanguard in a single charge.
However, the morale of the main body of the Duchy's army, which arrived after the Knights, was also unusually high.
From the beginning of the war, even though it was an operation, they had repeatedly withdrawn and were never allowed to engage in full-scale battles.
The wrath that had accumulated was substantial.
The sole artificial golem that the Central Command Center could confirm had already been swarmed by many Duchy soldiers, stopped working, and was abandoned in the bottleneck. A true embodiment of the violence of numbers.
About 2,000 soldiers from the Duchy army participated in the assault.
It was considerably smaller than the entire Union Army. But, at least in the bottleneck, their momentum and frenzy were overwhelming the Union.
Finally, the Duchy army pushed the Union forces beyond the bottleneck and pressured them further.
The Duchy Army rushed forward.
The Union Army repeatedly withdrew.
The scene was repeated many times.
However, the commander classes of the Duchy Army were also calmly observing the battle.
"Isn't it too brittle?"
They started thinking so.
Already, most of the 2,000 attacking Duchy soldiers had passed through the bottleneck and were fighting on the northern plains.
What if a Union detached force gets in between the Duchy and the bottleneck?
The two thousand Duchy soldiers would be trapped.
The enthusiasm had subsided, and the Duchy's frontline commanders, who had come to that conclusion, lost the strength to command the assault.
Their subordinates were also sensitive to the change in the commanders.
Even if they didn't know they could be trapped, they could tell that the commanders were worried about something.
Morale on the battlefield was slipped away easily.
And Stanley, the commander-in-chief of the Knights Order, could not dispel the suspicion that arose in him, and finally gave the order.
"Retreat!"
Fortunately, the bottleneck had not been closed yet.
The command was in time.
But a sharp withdrawal was much more difficult than a frenzied assault.
Subordinates did not fully understand why they were withdrawing.
Furthermore, they did not know how far they should retreat or how they would retreat.
In addition, the Union pushed back in an unusually orderly manner.
Without exhausting themselves, not overextending, orderly.
Knight Captain Stanley acted as the rearguard and commanded the withdrawal while tying up with the Union forces that were rushing to the front line.
However, Stanley felt uncomfortable with the Union's style of battle.
(There is no edge or sharpness. Is it really led by the rumored Great General Lord Aubrey?)
The Duchy army was slowly returning to the City of Fion from the bottleneck.
The withdrawal was succeeding.
And finally, Stanley also left the bottleneck.
With the rearguard Stanley crossing the bottleneck, it meant that the entire Duchy Army had left the bottleneck and could retreat to the City of Fion … he saw hope.
At that moment, Stanley wasn't aware that Lord Aubrey's mouth was raised into a grin.
The Duchy army was returning to the City of Fion after the bottleneck … but the skirmishes continued.
Naturally, fights occur while withdrawing, but the battles in this withdrawal were not only at the rear but even in considerably deep positions within the Duchy army.
The Duchy and Union armies were in a mess.
And that jumbled mess approached the City of Fion.
The first person to notice this was the Garrison Captain Meredith.
He was thinking about firing the Green Storm, which he could command at any time.
However, if he gave the command to shoot now … he would hit his allies.
That had continued since they passed through the bottleneck. That was obviously strange?
"Your Excellency. The enemy and our allies are jumbled into a mess, and I can't fire the Green Storm."
"Hm? There's no need to fire yet?"
Loris, Duke of Inbury, did not understand what was wrong.
"Your Excellency, a mixture of enemies and allies are approaching the City of Fion. This will allow the enemy to reach the city while preventing us from firing the Green Storm."
Loris finally noticed.
The Union's aim.
"Parallel pursuit!"
A tactic that causes the city to hesitate from launching a large-scale attack by pursuing in parallel with or mixing with the withdrawing Duchy Army.
The city gates were also open to receive the withdrawing Duchy army.
And even Green Storm, Fion city's greatest deterrent force, couldn't be shot because it would likely hit allies.
Invasion of the city by parallel pursuit.
That was Lord Aubrey's aim.
With artificial golems that repel the magic weapon, they would have no choice but to set up for close combat.
From the beginning, the Duchy army was operating on Lord Aubrey's palm.
Once the Duchy's army was drawn to the bottleneck, they pursued at the same pace as the Duchy withdrew.
He had intentionally made the Duchy withdraw from the bottleneck.
It was also intentional to not defeat them on the way.
On the contrary, he may have even intentionally allowed for a successful first assault.
"Crafty!"
Loris squeezed out a word of praise but he felt empty inside.
-x-X-x-
At the moment, Lord Aubrey and the other Union leaders had placed the main army on the flat land on the north side of the bottleneck where they commanded the battle.
Lord Aubrey felt a sense of discomfort from the rear, north of the main army.
There wasn't any war cry or outburst.
However, Lord Aubrey, a veteran of countless battles, felt something unusual.
He couldn't hear voices he should be hearing?
Or sounds he should be hearing disappeared?
For the moment, no one noticed except Lord Aubrey.
However, instant judgment made differences. They were on a battlefield.
(Something is wrong. What? No, this is the battlefield. If anything is strange, it is due to an enemy attack.)
After concluding that, he got up from his chair and shouted.
"Enemy attack! Take defensive formation."
The ones who moved immediately after Lord Aubrey's instructions were his subordinates, apprentices he trained from young.
Captains who fought under Lord Aubrey's banner ten years ago before he became the commander-in-chief.
They immediately pushed aside the cloth enclosure that surrounded the main camp and shouted instructions to their subordinates.
They didn't understand exactly what was happening or what was about to happen.
But Lord Aubrey's words cautioning for 'enemy attack' was enough.
Since he called for 'enemy attack', the enemy would be attacking from somewhere.
And the main army would be in battle soon.
That was why he gave instructions to intercept.
Because they didn't know where the enemy would come from, they formed up to cover all directions.
(
Rounded tip icicle lances struck the Union soldiers in the form of uppercuts, angled diagonally upwards from below.
And aimed directly at their chins too.
He didn't kill them not because of mercy but because the smell after too much blood is spilled would make him feel sick.
The Southern Forces advanced after many Union soldiers were eliminated.
Ryo was at the forefront, followed by Chloe from the Duchy Intelligence Bureau, Crimson Sword, and Hugh McGrath.
Basically, Ryo was responsible for eliminating the enemies at that stage.
How long would he do so?
Until the enemy notices.
(It's strange. I was brought in as a luggage carrier, but I feel like I'm being worked like a carriage horse …)
While thinking that, he kept firing icicle lances.
"Ryo seriously has inexhaustible magical power …"
Rin, the Wind-Attribute Magician following after him was amazed.
(Strange. As D-rank, I shouldn't be qualified to participate in battle but I feel like I'm doing more than a B-rank adventurer …)
He thought to himself as he kept shooting icicle lances.
"It's really convenient to have Ryo around."
Abel praised Ryo's skill with admiration.
Except for Chloe, the leading group with Ryo all understood Ryo's abnormality.
Even during this period, Hugh was still careful about leaking Ryo's information.
In fact, a few rumors were already circulating in the Southern Forces.
However, since Hugh McGrath didn't seem to want to reveal his identity, no adventurer tried to disseminate Ryo's information.
Throughout the kingdom, the name of Hero McGrath was respected, but in the south, it could be said that he was gathering faith like a god.
That was how influential the name of 'Master McGrath' was.
The icicle lances were fired at the bewildered Union soldiers multiple times, knocking them out.
Finally, the cry 'enemy attack' echoed from ahead.
The moment they heard that cry, the seventy Southern Forces members, who had been quietly advancing, started running all at once.
After the surprise attack was revealed, it was a race against time.
The goal was the enemy headquarters.
The aim was Lord Aubrey's neck.
Everyone knew that there was no other way to reverse the outcome.
Perhaps the Union forces would not withdraw from the Inbury Duchy even after Lord Aubrey is killed.
But even so, they might be able to do something against the Union Army without Lord Aubrey's leadership.
The actual difference in combat strength was hopeless, but … that fact was solidified with Lord Aubrey's presence.
Just like the Hero McGrath in the southern region of the Kingdom, unparalleled influence.
The Southern Forces other than Ryo sped up and aimed for the enemy's main army.
Ryo slowed down and drank a homemade magic potion to restore his magic.
As a matter of fact, he wasn't clear how much magical power could be recovered with a single magical potion, and how much magical power was consumed by his continuous firing of icicle lances up to that point.
That was because he hadn't used magic to the extent that he ran out of magical power these days.
However, he was on a battlefield.
Ryo was drinking a magic potion, thanks to Hugh McGrath's recommendation to recover when possible, as long as they didn't know what would happen.
After he finished drinking a bottle and took a breather, a thunderous roar pressed down on the area.
Then, Ryo saw a person flying through the sky.
"...Eh?"
They weren't flying by magic, they were thrown … the person flying was the Swordsman from 『Switchback』, Ra.
The appearance of an imposing, over 185cm tall vanguard Swordsman flying through the air seemed like a joke.
Ryo ran toward the point where Ra landed.
There was no one else around where Ra fainted.
His allies seemed to be surrounding the enemy who threw Ra.
Only Ryo was available to help Ra.
Ryo forcibly poured a potion into Ra's mouth.
It might flow into his windpipe … that would be a serious problem if it was a normal drink, but it wasn't a problem because it was a potion.
Since potions could be absorbed from anywhere in the body.
For now, it was important to introduce it into his body.
Two seconds after pouring the potion into his mouth, Ra woke up.
He coughed … it had flowed into his windpipe instead of his esophagus after all … but don't mind it~.
"Ra, can you hear me?"
Ryo asked, without bringing up the reason for Ra's cough.
"O-oh, Ryo. I'm okay … ah, the guys!"
"It looks like they're surrounding and fighting from a distance."
At a short distance away, he saw another party along with 『Switchback』 without Ra, confronting something.
"Ryo, please go help them. I'll join as soon as I can move."
"Understood."
Ryo replied, stood up, and headed toward where Switchback was.
"That is..."
Four … legs?
From the waist to the head, it was humanoid, with two arms and a head, but it was clearly artificial …
"Ryo! Did you go to Ra? How is he?"
『Switchback』 Scout Sue noticed and called out to Ryo as he approached.
"He's okay. He woke up after I gave him a potion. He'll be joining soon. More importantly, that is …"
"Probably a golem."
Surrounding the foe with 『Switchback』 was Acre's guildmaster Landenvia and Acre's C-rank party 『Six Petals』.
As the name suggests, Six Petals is a six-person party.
In other words, they were attacking while surrounding the enemy with a total of ten people.
But that didn't matter to Ryo. What was important were the words that Landenvia said.
Yes, he said, 'Golem'.
Ryo had seen wild golems.
He fought them with Abel in the Rondo Forest.
Those were just rocks no matter how you looked at them, but this 'golem' … albeit four-legged, matched the words artificial life perfectly.
"It's not a wild golem, right?"
"Yes … I understand what Ryo is trying to say. I agree. It's an alchemically-powered artificial golem, a country in the West is said to even have a squad of them."
Landenvia agreed with Ryo.
Ryo was visibly trembling.
It was a mixed emotional expression of the excitement of being able to finally see one and, for some reason, the slightest regret of being overtaken.
I made the first in the Central Nations! … He didn't actually have that thought but he probably wanted to, just that he wasn't aware of it.
Of course, objectively speaking, it was still impossible with Ryo's level of alchemy, but … that's beside the point.
Ryo took a deep breath and calmed down.
This time, he calmly looked at the 'Golem' in front of him.
Four legs.
Did it have difficulty walking on two legs? Even on modern Earth, biped robots required fairly intense coordination to maintain balance.
To put it bluntly, they had to always maintain balance with sensors.
He didn't think there were 'sensors' on 『Phi』, and considering that it must have been made with alchemy and magic, it was understandably easier to maintain balance by making it a quadruped rather than to completely resemble the human figure.
Atop the four legs was a humanoid upper body … by description alone you might imagine a centaur, a human's upper body on a horse's torso, but unfortunately, the 'golem' in front of him was not.
The 'Four legs' was not that of a quadruped animal, but rather more like a 'spider'.
If it had eight legs, it might have resembled the imaginary creature Arachne.
Arachne, a creature with a woman's torso from the waist up and the lower half of a body of a spider that appears in Greek mythology.
However, the golem in front of him was not a biological creature, with a surface made of some kind of metal, an artificial construct that seemed to be very solid.
And it was easy to imagine the power it held from how Swordsman Ra was blown away.
To be honest, it was an opponent you would want to avoid facing in close quarters.
On the other hand, Ryo looked at his allies surrounding the golem.
Acre's 'Six Petal' is a party of a Swordsman, a Shield-bearer, a Priest, and three Magicians, an extremely rare party that excels in long-range attacks.
Moreover, there was the former B-rank adventurer, guildmaster of Acre and Fire-Attribute Magician, Landenvia.
Excluding the Scout Sue, 'Switchback' also had the Wind-Attribute Magician Tan and the Priest Nuda.
To be frank, it was encirclement by a lot of Magicians.
The golem was understandably surrounded.
However, even with that much offensive magic available to them …
"All our magic isn't working …"
Ash, the Fire-Attribute Magician of 'Six Petals', muttered.
Ryo looked toward Ash.
Ash noticed and continued.
"Fire, Wind, Earth, all attack magic were blocked."
Ash glanced at Ryo and immediately turned his gaze back to the golem
"It has a magical barrier that blocks spells, but it is incredibly tough. My Fire Javelin was also deflected."
Landenvia added on.
Ryo didn't really know how a 'magic barrier' worked, but he could understand the meaning in their words.
"The only thing you haven't tried is Water-Attribute Magic."
Ryo nodded as he said so. And he chanted.
"Let's give it a try.
Ryo created an ice spear and fired it at the golem.
Garri.
The ice spear smashed into an invisible wall that seemed to be in front of the golem.
At the same time, the invisible wall seemed to have been taken down along with the spear as the magic barrier broke.
"Ku … I couldn't get through."
"No, no … the magic barrier broke."
Ryo seemed bitter.
However, Nash, the second child Wind-Attribute Magician, pointed out that his spell took down the magic barrier too.
However...,
"As expected … it'll regenerate right away."
The golem's magical barrier quickly regenerated, leaving Ash in amazement.
"I wonder if we can just ignore it …"
Nash murmured.
"At first glance, it doesn't seem to have the ability to attack from a long distance, but I have an inkling that as soon as we turn our backs, it would attack from behind."
Landenvia pointed out the problem.
"Stalling … when it comes to stalling, it's water magic!"
Scout Sue of 'Switchback' declared for some reason.
"I don't know what you're trying to say …"
Ryo was bewildered but was certainly good at stalling. He chanted to live up to expectations.
"I'll try …
That was quintessential for stalling.
A generic ground freezing magic that can be used quite versatilely for things that move on the ground without any long-range attack capabilities.
The ground froze and the golem couldn't move even if it wanted to.
However, because it had four legs, it didn't fall.
If it was just ordinary ice, the golem could have moved by stabbing its sharp appendages into the ice, but Ryo's special ice was very hard.
The ice was as hard as his ice wall.
"Oh..."
The ten people plus Ryo surrounding it exchanged opinions through eye contact.
It looks like it will work!
All of them began to step away from the golem.
Ryo started to move away while keeping an eye on the golem as much as possible.
That's why he noticed.
Something was happening between the palms of the golem.
"Discharge?"
The moment Ryo muttered that, the golem pointed a shining white light between its hands on the ice at its feet.
Then the ice began to melt.
"No way …"
Even though it was happening in front of him, Ryo couldn't believe it.
So far, the Ice Bahn had never been cracked or melted.
It was not particularly impossible because many of his ice walls were broken before, but … Ryo wasn't thinking about that at that moment.
The only action in his mind was to inform his allies who were walking away slowly.
"The golem is starting to move! Run!"
Upon hearing his shout, Six Petals and Landenvia turned back once to look at the golem and then started running.
As for Switchback, Ra joined midway and started running without looking back.
"
Ryo fled, creating ice walls in front of the golem to buy time.
Then, when he turned to the golem to confirm … it was chasing while melting the ice walls with the white light appearing between its palms.
It could not use the 'White Light' to attack at a long distance and could only melt the ice walls in front of it one by one, so the distance between it and Ryo's party gradually increased.
Eventually, it will catch up, but in the meantime, let's have our allies do their best … Ryo had that terrible thought.
(And if possible… I want that golem …)
-x-X-x-
"The headquarters."
Hugh McGrath muttered softly.
Already, no one was around.
Just a few seconds ago, the four 'Crimson Swords' who followed him up to that point entered into battle with the Union Guards.
Probably Lord Aubrey's personal guard.
Abel and his Crimson Sword party pulled the personal guards away from Hugh.
With a sword in one hand, he pushed aside the cloth enclosure and faced a man sitting at the back.
"Finally we meet face-to-face, Aubrey."
There sat Lord Aubrey, the Union commander-in-chief.
"That was a lot faster than I had imagined, Hugh McGrath. Impressive."
"It's an honor to be praised by the 'Great General'."
Hugh approached Lord Aubrey cautiously as they exchanged light banter.
"Honestly, even if you beat me now, the outcome of the battle won't change. Well, I suppose you are aware of that too."
"Oh, I know. But there's no other way to change the outcome. All other methods have a zero percent chance. But if we beat you here, there is a chance to reverse the flow of battle. Since that's the case, you can't fault us for trying."
"That's a lie."
He rejected Hugh's explanation and laughed with a raised corner of his mouth.
"If the Union completely swallows the Duchy, the Kingdom of Knightley will have a fairly long border with the now growing Union. It's already a considerable burden just to face the Empire, so it would be even more worrying if the Union weakened from the Great War regains strength, right? Even more so when there's already so much chaos within the Kingdom."
"Those are confident words. Do you have any grounds for that confidence?"
Hugh answered with a question of his own, not affirming or denying the contents of Lord Aubrey's long explanation.
That was because he decided that he should collect information.
"Fufufu, admirably quick judgment. Yes, it is important to collect information. Sigh … won't you become my minister, rather than remain as the guildmaster at the frontier? I'll welcome you with open arms."
"No. I trust you have the information I want? You might be able to pay for your sins if you tell me before you die?"
"Oh but I don't plan on dying. I don't know what information Master McGrath wants, but … let's see, information you seek … half of the turmoil in the Kingdom was caused by me. For example, the chaos in the Royal Capital."
Lord Aubrey easily admitted it.
Hugh was silent as he heard it.
His eyes conveyed that there were others.
"The turmoil in the East, such as the collapse of Rho Bridge, wasn't me. Whitnash was my doing."
As he listed, the angle at which the corner of his mouth was raised increased.
"I learned later that the organization I was using was the same as the 'Other party'. It's an easy-to-use organization after all, they would do anything as long as there's gold."
"I'm a guildmaster too so I can imagine what kind of organization you used. I'll deal with them at a later date."
Hugh's information network caught wind of the so-called 'Order of Assassins' he probably used. And the 'Other party' was almost certainly the Empire.
But …
"Your words imply that you are unaware. The headquarters of that organization seemed to have been destroyed. When my men finally arrived, there were no corpses but the entire village was frozen. I thought it was done by someone from the Kingdom, but I appear to be wrong."
No, it was someone from the Kingdom.
If Ryo was there, he would have thought so. No matter how he tried to hide, it was clearly Ryo who destroyed the village.
"The entire village frozen …"
A certain someone came to Hugh's mind.
The evidence was too glaring for Hugh to miss.
He could think of … a certain adventurer who was definitely the culprit.
However, he suppressed that realization.
"Re-really? That sounds terrible …"
"Hmm? Hugh, that expression, you know something, don't you?"
"No, I don't. You're imagining things."
Lord Aubrey did not pursue the matter further, though he was not deceived at all.
"Well, that's all the information I will give."
Lord Aubrey stood up from his chair and pulled out his sword at the same time.
Even then, his movements didn't leave any gaps in his defense.
Hugh was looking for a chance, but even in Hugh's eyes, he couldn't find a chance to charge in.
Lord Aubrey, a person who crossed battlefields since he was young, was naturally competent on that front … Hugh was honestly impressed.
However, he couldn't just admire him.
He was very worried about what the war situation was like.
Naturally, he had to do something before the City of Fion fell.
However, when two masters of the sword faced each other, neither of them could easily take the first step.
Entering an opponent's reach is synonymous with leaving yourself open to attacks.
Entering an opponent's reach of your own volition is synonymous with creating an opportunity for both sides.
If you plan to enter an opponent's reach, you have to defeat the opponent perfectly with that single strike.
That could happen in the flow of events, but in a confrontation … it's hard to hope for.
For those who have not mastered the art, their balance may be upset by minor tricks such as moving the tip of the sword a little, changing the distance with a foot sliding forward, or pulling a feint with the shoulder a little … but at Hugh and Lord Aubrey's level, that was unlikely.
The stillness was broken by something falling right next to them.
They couldn't afford to see what fell.
The two moved at the same time, and a fierce swordfight began.
On their tenth clash, when they were close to each other, they finally saw what had fallen beside them was a frozen person.
Hugh didn't recognize them, but he could imagine who did it.
But that was not the case for Lord Aubrey.
In the first place, Lord Aubrey had the basic knowledge about Water-Attribute Magic that people cannot be frozen.
As long as you are a battlefield commander, this is common knowledge.
However, the object that fell right next to them transcended that common sense.
There was just a hint of discomposure.
But in that clash, it was a decisive difference.
Of course, it was a decisive difference because Hugh took advantage of it.
Hugh, from their locked swords position, moved his center of gravity to the left, released his left hand from his grip, and punched Lord Aubrey's right flank.
"Combat Art: Pierce"
It was impossible with Japanese kendo or kenjitsu, but here there was a difference in the swords and also a difference in the 'locked swords position'.
The armor worn by the commander, Lord Aubrey, was a custom-made leather armor, which would nullify a Swordsman's punch … normally.
However, Hugh activated a 『Combat art』.
The strength was several to dozens of times that of a simple punch.
Naturally, Lord Aubrey was blown away.
But he utilized his combat experience to break his fall the moment he was about to hit the ground and knelt on one knee, ready to counterattack immediately.
Although his posture was stable, there was blood mixed in the spit he spat out. It seemed that his internal organs were injured.
(Damn, Master McGrath, his sword skill is incredible … or rather, that was a punch … he always does such interesting moves!)
Lord Aubrey was laughing fearlessly in his heart.
It's an overwhelmingly unfavorable situation, but he knew that he'll soon be in a situation where he could laugh fearlessly.
And that was...,
"Your Excellency!"
From behind Lord Aubrey, his guards tore through the cloth enclosure.
Six of them.
The situation was reversed.
Until a few seconds ago, Hugh was in a situation to put an end to Lord Aubrey, but now he found it very difficult to act.
If they were common riffraff, six or even ten would not give Hugh a disadvantage.
However, his opponents were Lord Aubrey's guards.
(They're probably well trained …)
Hugh sighed a little internally.
He didn't think he couldn't beat them.
However, it would take a considerable amount of time, and above all, he would not come out unscathed.
(I might have to sacrifice one of my arms …)
Of course, his side had high-ranking Priests like Rihya capable of even regenerating lost limbs.
But still …
(Losing an arm would hurt.)
"Well, Hugh, sorry but it appears I have won."
"Why would the Great General claim victory even though it isn't confirmed yet?"
Hugh questioned but he had a bad feeling.
Lord Aubrey is called the 'Great General'.
The surprise attack was successful because it exceeded all his expectations, but a chance like this would only come once every ten years.
In this war, such an opportunity would never come again.
Lord Aubrey would never easily say the words 'win'.
Was there anything Hugh overlooked?
Hugh focused on picking up signs of his surroundings while keeping alert.
But that was a feint.
By the time Hugh noticed, Lord Aubrey's right hand was opening the lid of a bottle … and he immediately drank it.
"No …"
He was speechless.
After downing the drink, Lord Aubrey grinned and laughed.
"Yes, it's a potion. I healed my injury."
It was at this moment that Hugh realized that all his measures had failed.
Six personal guards … it would be hard, but it was not impossible to win with sacrifices.
However, adding a recovered Lord Aubrey to the mix and it was unlikely he could win.
There was not even a one-in-a-million chance of winning.
Lord Aubrey said 'win' to divert Hugh's perception as much as possible.
By diverting his attention and healing his injuries with a potion, he created a winning situation.
"Well, Hugh McGrath. Why don't you surrender?"
"I refuse."
Hugh reflexively turned down his offer.
No way to overcome the situation came to mind.
However, surrender was not an option.
The 'Surrender of Hero McGrath' would have too much impact.
"But what will you do? I have six excellent subordinates. Hugh, who do you have?"
He didn't have any.
It was a desperate situation.
But the situation changed the third time.
"Hugh, here you are. The enemy made a golem …"
From behind Hugh, a Water-Attribute Magician wearing a robe entered past the headquarters cloth enclosure.
-x-X-x-
"Finally making an appearance at this juncture, huh?"
Hugh McGrath couldn't suppress his laughter as he muttered to himself.
"Kukuku…"
He couldn't hold it back…like a villain stifling a laugh in his voice.
"Sorry Aubrey, I win."
Hugh said confidently.
Aubrey looked at him quizzically and then looked at the man beside him who appeared to be a Magician.
"You really think you can turn this around with just one more Magician?"
"You bet. If you surrender now, I promise to send you back to your home country unharmed. What say you?"
"Screw you!"
Hugh's suggestion was met with a yelp from one of the guards.
Lord Aubrey remained silent with a quizzical look in his eye.
He was wondering if Hugh was bluffing.
"Oh, by the way, Ryo, did you say something about a golem?"
"Yeah. But let me confirm, this person in front of you called Lord Aubrey or something, will all these be over if he's out of the picture?"
Ryo said as he pulled out Murasame from his waist and formed the blade.
Hugh looked sideways slightly surprised.
"So that's your weapon, Ryo. An ice sword, you've got another strange…"
"It's for Water-Attribute Magicians only. It was given to me by my sword master."
Ryo was on his guard, readying Murasame as he replied.
"He is a Magician, but he can also fight at close quarters. I see, Hugh's confidence may not necessarily be without basis."
Lord Aubrey muttered in a low voice.
He could tell from Ryo's posture with Murasame at the ready that he had a good command of the sword.
Of course, Hugh did not hear Lord Aubrey's mutterings and said.
"You can't take the golems home with you, even if you defeat him just so you know."
Ryo's eyes widened in despair at Hugh's sudden declaration.
"W-Why not…?"
"I knew it, you were definitely thinking of taking it home with you, weren't you? But sorry, whatever spoils you get here, basically becomes the property of the Duchy. That's an ironclad rule of the 'Mercenary Commission'. So give it up."
Hugh said sternly.
"And here I was looking forward to having one… It's got quite an interesting mechanism you know, I mean, discharging plasma…uh, little lightning bolts from its hands. That's a mechanism with various many applications, I tell you."
Ryo tried persuading Hugh with words but to no avail.
Instead, it was Lord Aubrey, not Hugh, who responded to Ryo's words.
"Lightning…"
Lord Aubrey then recalled.
The conversation that Dr. Frank, the maker of the golem, and he had in the spire of the ducal capital, Aberdeen.
He had explained that it was a mechanism that had repelled the Duchy's Vaedra imitation by 'generating lightning'.
Even Lord Aubrey, who had seen the real thing, could not imagine that it was lightning, but the Magician of the Kingdom in front of him noticed the mechanism and somehow seemed to understand it.
"Hugh, that Magician over there has some interesting knowledge."
Ryo became surprised to suddenly become the center of the topic.
Hugh doesn't react visibly.
Both Hugh and Lord Aubrey were looking for an opening while exchanging light conversation.
"Did I say something funny?"
Ryo tried to confirm in a reasonable whisper to Hugh next to him.
"I have no idea, but it seems to have caught the attention of a Great General and commander-in-chief apparently."
Hugh answered in a reasonably loud voice.
"You're right, it caught my attention all right. How about it, magician. If you come over here, I'll give you one of those golems."
"What…"
With an expression that was neither joking nor serious, Lord Aubrey proposed to Ryo.
Ryo was shaken by the proposal.
"Hey, Ryo. Don't get swayed by that."
"I won't, but it's really fascinating. I am very curious about what exactly is the identity of the energy source that produces that much plas…lightning. It couldn't have been done with the magic stones available around here…"
Ryo tilted his head, but was still poised to be on guard at least for the moment.
Lord Aubrey and his six guards in front of them were all on their guards with no gap in defense whatsoever.
Since they all looked like swordsmen, he thought about using magic to end it altogether, but he had a bad feeling about something since a while ago.
But as if ignoring Ryo's hesitation, the camp curtain behind Lord Aubrey fell.
And then it appeared.
"Reinforcements, dammit?"
Hugh muttered.
(It can't be helped then.)
Ryo made up his mind.
"
To keep the reinforcements from joining them, he generated an ice wall at the place where the camp curtain was located earlier.
Well, he tried to generate it, but…failed.
"Wha…"
"Magic nullification…?"
Ryo exclaimed, and Hugh muttered involuntarily.
(No, no. Not magic nullification…jamming, so to speak. Yeah, it's more like that magic used by the Order of Assassins 'Hassan', that introduces another magic into the initiation of my magic and makes it fail to generate. But this was not done by a Magician…)
"Alchemy that interferes with magic, not magic nullification."
Ryo concluded strongly, although his voice was not loud by any means.
"Correct. You are an interesting lad after all, Magician. Our genius alchemist created it. You can no longer use magic in this area."
"Tsk."
Hugh clucked his tongue at Lord Aubrey's explanation.
But then a voice came from behind Hugh and Ryo.
"Finally…. Guilmas, sorry for just getting…wow, you're here too, Ryo."
It was Abel's voice.
The Crimson Swords, who had been fighting another group of personal guards, had finally joined up with them.
But it also prompted Hugh to make a decision.
(Now that Abel has joined up, we have no choice but to retreat.)
Frankly, if it had been anyone other than Abel, there could have been a way to forcefully strike at Lord Aubrey who was in front of him.
The reason is that even a melee battle might be manageable if Ryo, who is said to be strong enough to fight 'Sera of the Wind', is there.
However, even if they were to defeat him, they won't come out unscathed either. They would certainly suffer casualties on their side as well.
In this war, there was only one person who absolutely must not be allowed to die.
Abel, the King's second son.
And that very man, who must not be allowed to die, had joined their forces.
So, they had no choice but to retreat.
"Good, you're finally here, we're retreating."
Hugh intentionally announced in a loud voice.
"Eh…"
Ryo and Abel exclaimed in unison. It sounded strange, but they could only express themselves with that.
They looked at Hugh, their eyes seemingly saying, "Why?".
"There you have it, we are retreating. Lord Aubrey, I hope you will refrain from pursuing us."
"You think I'm going to heed your suggestion?"
"Yeah, you'll do well to do so. A cornered cat will also put its claws on the lion if it has to. You're not after us, but the Inbury Duchy, aren't you?"
Hugh and Lord Aubrey exchanged glances for only a couple of seconds.
But behind the facade, numerous thoughts were being considered amongst one another.
"Fine."
Lord Aubrey said and nodded.
From beyond where Hugh McGrath had left, the sound of a sharp finger whistle could be heard.
It was probably to rally the adventurers to retreat.
"Phew…. That was quite intense."
In a low, really low voice, Lord Aubrey muttered.
And he was glad that Lamber, who was always by his side, was not around.
He had been away on another mission.
"Lamber is no good with swords or magic after all."
Lord Aubrey said with a wry smile.
Then, a messenger arrived in a hurry.
"Your Excellency, the Duchy has begun to unleash that weapon."
"What…"
On the battlefield, the unexpected always happens. Or the worst thing that could possibly happen, happens.
Lord Aubrey had experienced this to the point of disgust.
And this time, too, the 'worst thing that could happen' did happen.
Meredith, the Garrison Commander, was the first to notice the approaching Union soldiers amid the retreating allies.
She reported this to the Duke of Inbury, Loris, the highest authority in the situation, and it became clear that the enemy was aiming for a parallel pursuit into the city.
For a good five minutes, the command center did not move at all.
Loris could not give any instructions.
At this rate, the enemy would breach the city.
Not only could they not use Green Storm, but the city gates were even open to retrieve their allies.
It wasn't looking good.
It was as clear as day to anybody. Loris as well.
But what should he do?
Their allies were out there.
And not just any allies.
They were, to say the least, the last elite force of the Duchy's army, including Knight-Captain Stanley.
They were not an asset that he could easily cut loose.
Even if he closed the gates and unleashed Green Storm to wipe out everything including his allies…what then, the Duchy would no longer have the chance to turn the tables around.
Who would follow a country's leader who would make such a decision?
Loris was about to make up his mind.
He was about to give the order to allow the enemy into the city and conduct the last defensive battle in the city center.
He was about to give that order.
As he was about to give that order, Loris looked back and saw his family.
His wife and two daughters…who were not yet adults, and the older daughter was not even ten years old yet.
They were praying to God in accord.
What would happen to them if he let the enemy into the city….
Loris' decision changed at the last minute.
The city gates were closed and Green Storm was unleashed in diffusion mode.
Wiping out the enemy…and their allies.
-x-X-x-
Chapter 0178 Method and System for Shockwave Attenuation via Electromagnetic Arc
-x-X-x-
"How bad is it?"
Lord Aubrey tried confirming.
"Around two thousand, sir…"
"Tsk."
As one would expect, he could not help but click his tongue at this point.
The largest number of deaths in the Inbury expedition was caused by the sweep from the Vaedra imitation weapon during their attack on the capital…but, even then the casualties were only a few dozen at most.
Considering that, the number of deaths had increased dramatically.
"And all this…is because I underestimated the possibility of the enemy shooting Vaedra out of fear, I suppose…"
Certainly, it had led to the confirmed death of the Duchy Knight-Captain Stanley, who was in the line of fire, and reports came in that the elite soldiers of the Duchy's army were apparently wiped out too.
Still, the fact remained that the Union had suffered many casualties as well.
Lord Aubrey let out a deep, loud, really loud sigh….
Lord Aubrey's silence was not a happy one for those around him.
Nevertheless, it would be a reckless endeavor for anyone to try and break the silence.
The only one who could break it was…
"Your Excellency, I am back."
It would be Lamber, Lord Aubrey's self-appointed right-hand man and aide.
"Mm-hmm. Good work."
Lord Aubrey nodded.
"We were done in pretty badly uh."
Dr. Frank came in behind Lamber and offered his unreserved opinion.
Lamber had gone to the ducal capital to pick up Dr. Frank and the rest of the artificial golems.
"Things proceeded faster than we had planned. Even the golems, the first unit was used as a decoy, and the second unit was used to protect the main camp. It bought us some time. The second unit is still intact. However…a lot has happened, Doctor."
Lord Aubrey, who had already regained his composure, was not offended by Dr. Frank's comment.
It was true that they were hit pretty badly.
The elite of the Duchy's army had been annihilated, but his headquarters had been ambushed, and the assault force on the city had suffered heavy casualties.
Lord Aubrey had already accepted this fact.
"The second unit…oh you mean the one I sent ahead because it had a complete set of parts. If it was useful, then it's all good."
The 20 units that had been heavily used in the attack on the ducal capital were originally supposed to arrive, but only one other than the first unit could be sent out earlier.
That was the unit that gave Ryo, Landenvia, and the others such a hard time.
"No more cheap tricks. We will push forward with a large army and powerful weapons, and proceed with the invasion calmly."
"Then you can use the golems to their full potential."
Dr. Frank grinned at Lord Aubrey's declaration.
The battle for Fion began to move toward its final phase.
The Kingdom's Southern region Adventurers, who had withdrawn from the assault on the Union command post, were hiding in the woods on the side of the bottleneck at the northern plains.
Even though they were all elite C-rank adventurers and above, there were eight casualties.
There were a few seriously wounded, but they all survived thanks to the priests, led by Rihya.
However, all the priests in the southern army were near the limit of their physical strength.
Although they had recovered their magic power with Ryo's special magic potion and commercially available magic potions, the physical exhaustion caused by the prolonged use of light-attribute magic could not be managed by the potions.
One could easily imagine that feeling of extreme tiredness.
Taking time to rest was the best way to recover.
Finally, adventurers from the eastern, northern, and western regions, as well as the central region where the royal capital is located, broke through the trap and joined the southern forces.
Hugh's report revealed that they had been delayed, and they looked regretful.
The only one whose expression did not change was Grandmaster Finley Forsythe.
"All right. Thank you."
That was all Finley said after Hugh finished his report.
That came as a surprise to Hugh as well.
He had considered the possibility that he might be accused of acting arbitrarily, or that he might be blamed for the failure of the surprise attack. However, Finlay did not mention any of these.
Did his evaluation of him change?
He would be lying if he said he did not anticipate that.
But….
The new formation was thus; eastern and central as the vanguard, northern and western as the second vanguard, and southern…as rear guard.
In the end, nothing changed.
Hugh was a little discouraged.
But when he returned to the rest area of the southern forces, he reconsidered.
The fatigue that had built up during the surprise attack had not worn off at all, especially for the priests, including Rihya.
If they had been assigned to spearhead the attack in that condition, they might have been in serious trouble.
Hugh felt.
Only a handful of adventurers weren't feeling tired…
"Don't work so hard that you get tired. My father used to say that to his men."
The only magician who wasn't showing any sign of fatigue at all…a Water-Attribute Magician was explaining something to a B-rank adventurer Swordsman, who also wasn't feeling at all fatigued.
"If you're tired, you make mistakes. That's why you have to manage your subordinates so that they don't get tired."
"Manag…what's that?"
"Well, it's the way you direct subordinates."
Such a conversation between Ryo and Abel reached Hugh's ears.
(By that standard, I guess I'm a failure. I worked my subordinates so hard till they became this tired.)
Hugh thought with a wry smile.
Make no mistake, it's not for the sake of the subordinates.
As a person in a position to direct subordinates, they must direct them in a way that does not tire them out.
A person in the lead position to solve problems is supposed to keep his subordinates from getting tired so that the problem can be solved smoothly.
If they get tired, they will make mistakes. Mistakes require extra time, effort, and materials to recover.
That is where management comes in.
"So…why are you telling me all these?"
Abel asked Ryo.
"Because you said you are the son of the King. If you become king, you will have many subordinates, right? Please make the most of it then. Well, if you become King, that is!"
"You don't believe that I am a prince at all, do you? Besides, I'm the second son, so I'll lead the Knight Order or something…"
"Not a black company, black knight…? That's kinda cool." (TLN: Black company is a Japanese term for an exploitative employment system)
Ryo was somewhat pleased. Then he continued.
"Well, speaking of fatigue, a golem that doesn't feel tired is the best kind of subordinate, right?"
That was the conclusion Ryo was working towards.
Fifteen minutes later, a message from the Grand Master came to the Southern forces, which was still pretty exhausted.
"Please receive the message. The enemy is on the move. The Southern forces is to keep a close watch on the rear."
"Received. In other words, stay put."
Hugh waved his hand to dismiss of the adventurer who was acting as messenger, and then sat down on the grass.
And so, the conversation between the Magician and Swordsman drifted to Hugh's ears.
"I don't suppose we can see the situation at the front lines from here. If we go up to the top of the cliff, where it narrows down, I believe we should be able to see a lot."
"Don't even think about it. Going up is…hm? To begin with, it would be almost impossible to climb up, but coming down in the case of an emergency…is likely doable?"
Ryo said he would like to see the situation from atop the cliff that formed the narrow path, and Abel corrected him at once but also admitted it was possible.
(Hmm. It's certainly not a bad idea.)
Although he was told to stay in the rear, Hugh, too, was concerned about the transition that was to follow.
It would be difficult to put a large army on the cliff, but a cinch for an elite group of C-rank adventurers and above.
If the Union forces attacked the city of Fion again with the main force set on the city, they could succeed in a surprise attack against Lord Aubrey once again….
Hugh realized that Lord Aubrey was unlikely to make such a mistake twice, but he couldn't dismiss the possibility that he might.
That being the case, he needed to understand the overall state of the war.
Which was impossible to do while sitting back.
If one could get on the cliff of the bottleneck where Ryo and Abel were discussing, they could certainly see the entire battlefield ... and, if the need arises, they could rush down the cliff to the bottleneck, or even appear on the north or south side of the bottleneck.
(The order was only to 'watch the rear'. Well, from the top of the bottleneck, I can be on the lookout for the rear. Although it's just a technicality, it can put up quite a strong argument. The only other matter now is that I don't think Lord Aubrey would leave such a fatal vulnerability unguarded.)
"There are five sentries."
Ryo reported to Hugh the information probed using
"Good. Neutralize them as planned."
Hugh gave the order, and five scouts, including Sue, the 'Switchback' scout, disappeared into the woods, and a minute later, the cry of a bird was heard.
The signal that it was successful.
As Hugh and Abel led the way, they found that the five Union sentries had been knocked unconscious, gagged, and tied up.
They had not killed them.
"Well done."
Hugh praised them, and the five scouts nodded happily.
Usually, they are in completely separate parties.
Since there would only be one 'Scout' in a party to begin with.
The five of them had become very close during the expedition, as it was rare for them to work together in such a joint effort with people of the same profession.
It's a secret that Ra, the 'Switchback' Swordsman, was glancing sideways at Sue chatting amicably with the male Scouts.
It was definitely not jealousy. Yeah, he was just a little worried. Wondering whether they would try and poach her or something!
It wasn't personal, he was merely looking out for the interests of the party!
"We definitely have a better vantage point from up here."
The forest rose to the very edge of the cliff above the narrow passage, and the entire battlefield could be seen while they remained out of sight in the forest.
Moreover, since they were hidden in the forest, they would probably not be visible from below the cliff or from the battlefield.
Below, the Union forces that had advanced through the narrow passage were about to advance into the basin where the city of Fion was located.
"Those guys leading the way, is it just me, or are they unusually huge…wait, four legs? So they aren't human!"
Hugh was surprised to see 'them' advancing at the head of the Union forces.
"Yeah. Those are the golems of the Union forces."
For some reason, Ryo explained with a serious face.
His face was like, "See? Now that you've seen them, you want to have them too, right?".
"No matter how badly you want it, it's still a NO."
Seeing the look on his face, Hugh again refused him.
"Damn…"
With a look of frustration on his face, Ryo staged a fake cry and pretended to wipe away his tears.
Glancing sideways at the drama, Abel shook his head several times in dismay.
"The golems are all lined up in the front row, and they're getting closer."
"Aggressive."
"If they've come in full force, then the Duchy will not have any weakness to take advantage of."
Those were the opinions of Ryo, Abel and Hugh respectively.
The three did not see the parallel pursuit assault previously, so they were surprised to see Lord Aubrey, who was even called a Great General, simply use the overwhelming number of his forces to the fullest.
And they were, of course, unaware of the secret weapon installed in the city of Fion.
At that moment, a brilliant green light flashed from the spire of Fion city.
The ray of light swept across the battlefield from left to right.
Essentially, that flash of light was the scythe of the god of death, which could take thousands of lives with a single sweep.
However, the scythe of the god of death was blocked by the shield of Aegis.
The moment the light gushed from the spire, a white light appeared in the hands of the golems who held it up in front of them.
The next moment, the green flash of light was deflected in front of the golems.
"What was that…?"
The words that escaped Hugh's mouth also spoke for all those watching from the cliff.
Only one of them had a fair understanding of one side of the events.
"Magical weapon…but…"
It was Abel.
After the uprising in the imperial capital, Abel was summoned by his brother, the crown prince, to share information and receive lectures on several state secrets.
Among them was a document on 'Vaedra', a magical weapon under development at the Royal Alchemy Workshop.
Since the chief developer was Baron Kenneth Hayward, an old acquaintance, it left a particularly strong impression on him.
However, he was also informed that it was currently under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs and that development was stalled due to financial difficulties, and that the wind magic stone to be used in Vaedra was the magic stone that Abel and Ryo had sold.
Needless to say, Abel listened to the lecture while breaking out in cold sweat.
That was why he was aware of the anomaly of what was happening in front of him.
Vaedra is the 'Kingdom's' secret weapon, so to speak.
The anomaly was that there was a magical weapon 'in the Duchy', that used the same principle and attacked with the same wind attribute.
"That was a Wind-Attribute attack by a weapon crafted using alchemy, wasn't it?"
Ryo tried to confirm with Rin, the wind magician on the other side of Abel.
A wind magician should be able to somehow perceive it even if it emanated from an alchemical tool.
"Yes, it was. I don't know what spell exactly, but…"
Rin frowned and nodded twice as she replied.
"I see…"
Ryo also furrowed his brow, then nodded once.
"That was one hell of an attack!"
Ra, the 'Switchback' Swordsman, who suddenly appeared next to them, said.
"While we were trying to launch a surprise attack, a few thousand soldiers just died from a sweep of that light within seconds."
"Damn…"
Ra had witnessed the ruthless Green Storm attack by order of Loris, the Duke of Inbury.
Hearing this, Ryo wasn't the only one who became speechless; everyone present felt the same way too.
"Wait a minute, then what the hell is going on with the golems who are fine even after being hit by that?"
Rin raised the question.
The golems had managed to avoid such a devastating attack.
"Indeed."
Hugh nodded and turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
Even as they spoke, the Union forces continued their unhindered march.
And once again, the green light flashed from the spire of Fion city.
This time, instead of a sweep, it was a concentrated beam at just one golem in the center.
But again, an intense light was generated in the golem's hands, and something invisible arose in front of the golem, preventing the green light from reaching the golem's main body.
"A shockwave…"
Ryo's murmur seemed to be much louder than he realized, and not only Hugh and Abel, but also Rin, Rihya and even Ra all turned their heads toward him.
"Ryo, do you know what that is?"
Hugh asked the question on everyone's minds.
What came to Ryo's mind was a snapping shrimp in the sea.
Yeah, the one in which Ryo passed out in the sea after being hit by a shockwave from the plasma formation of a gigantic snapping shrimp when it snapped its claw.
Snapping shrimps, which can be found in the seas around Japan, creates bubbles by clenching their large claws, and the shock waves are generated when the bubbles burst.
This phenomenon is known as bubble collapse or cavitation.
In the case of the snapping shrimp, plasma is generated, producing temperatures as high as 4,400°C.
The shockwaves allow some species of snapping shrimps to hunt, communicate, and…dig holes in corals.
On Earth, research has been conducted to see if plasma from snapping shrimps could replace plasma arc welding, a technique used by humans for underwater welding.
However, what was happening in front of their eyes was not 'underwater' but 'above ground'.
The snapping shrimp's cavitation was not effective in the air…which was not surprising since it is a creature that lives in the water.
So, what could that be?
There was no doubt that it was 'Plasma'.
Like the term 'plasma arc welding' mentioned earlier, it must be something similar.
Method and system for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc.
It is a patent obtained by a certain large aircraft manufacturer in the United States.
The patent is well known to some enthusiasts because it looks like a patent that might appear in a story about a light sword-wielding knight of the galaxy or something…Ryo happens to be one of those said enthusiasts.
It is a technology to protect people and vehicles from the shockwave of an explosion.
By generating plasma through arc discharge or the like, the temperature and air density in the area is altered, making it more difficult for the shockwave to propagate.
Simply put, it's a technology that protects against the shockwave of an explosion.
Ryo felt that perhaps that was what the golems in front of him were doing.
But how was he going to explain that….
"Those little thunderbolts that appear in the golems' hands, must have distorted the air rendering the wind magic useless."
He was not lying, and it was hard to determine whether or not he was wrong… but of course, his words and explanation were far from sufficient….
"I see."
The guys, Hugh, Abel, and Ra nodded solemnly.
Not that the guys understood his explanation logically, not by a long shot.
They just pretended to understand out of pride.
And Rin and Rihya saw through their sappy pride a mile away.
They just looked at the guys with pitying eyes without saying anything.
About fifteen golems in the front.
Behind them, the Union column followed.
Green Storm aimed at the line behind, avoiding the golems.
But even then, the golems generated the 'Electromagnetic Arc' up in the sky above them, blocking the Green Storm's attack.
"Seems like the shot from the city just now was completely blocked."
Hugh said, and Rihya and Rin nodded.
"What's the plan, guilmas?"
"What do you mean?"
Abel asked, and Hugh asked back.
The question was so vague that even Hugh was lost in it.
"No doubt, the city of Fion will fall. When it does, the Duke of Inbury and his family will make a break for it, won't they?"
"They most definitely will. In hopes of reviving the Duchy."
Loris, the Duke of Inbury, has only two daughters and no sons.
Since his two daughters are probably still in their tender years, Loris himself has no choice but to survive so he could rally under his banner in the future.
He definitely couldn't afford the option of gracefully perishing along with his country.
That was Hugh's view.
"Which begs the question, where would they escape from, and how are they planning to get out of that basin…?"
Landenvia, the guildmaster of Acre, who had somehow arrived behind Hugh, continued.
"I believe…they already have an escape plan prepared. The question is how they plan to get out of the basin…. And their destination thereafter."
"Probably the Kingdom, no?"
Hugh's words were questioned by Ra, the swordsman.
"Certainly, that is the most realistic option. But whether the Kingdom will accept them or not…. And I have a feeling that decision won't happen for some time. Which means, we would need a place to shelter them and their families from all things imaginable."
"How about we just launch another surprise attack on Lord Aubrey now…"
Swordsman Ra made the most radical suggestion, but Hugh slowly shook his head.
"Lord Aubrey is among the forces advancing into Fion city."
"No way…"
The Commander-in-chief himself was marching as the spearhead of the entire main army.
It was unthinkable, but for Lord Aubrey, who had been on all kinds of battlefields, it may very well be a rather comfortable place to be.
Turning a few dozen minutes back in time.
The main camp of the Union forces.
"Your Excellency. We've received reports that regular communication from the cliff tops has been cut off."
Lamber reported to Lord Aubrey.
A simple means of communication had been established from the cliff tops, using mirrors to reflect the sunlight to the reporting officers in the main camp.
But that communication was not made at two consecutive ten-minute intervals.
No doubt, something must have happened on the cliff.
"I suppose the adventurers of the Kingdom must have done something."
But Lord Aubrey was very calm when he received the report.
In fact, he even seemed a little relieved by the report.
"Your Excellency. What shall we do?"
"Leave it. We do nothing."
"Huh?"
Lord Aubrey's instructions came as a surprise, even to Lamber.
"It would be even better if the adventurers of the Kingdom who occupied the place are Master McGrath and his party…. Though I suppose, that would just be me wishing, huh."
As Lord Aubrey hoped, it was Master McGrath and his Southern forces that had occupied it, but that much could not be inferred from the report.
"Your Excellency…what do you mean?"
"Nothing much. Just that, it's better to have a grasp on the movements of a troublesome enemy, than to be in the dark altogether. It makes things a whole lot easier knowing they're on the cliff, although we have to be careful, than if they were say, somewhere in the woods, don't you agree?"
Guerrilla units are tricky to intercept because they're quite difficult to guard against.
But if a guerrilla unit were to take over a village somewhere and stay there, then the fear of 'not knowing when and where they will attack from' was out of the picture.
That was the gist in a nutshell.
"So now, I just have to join in the march to avoid being attacked directly."
Lord Aubrey said with a big smile and threw himself into the front line with the entire army.