Ch. 144
Chapter 144
After Jeremy and Garius left.
I revised the plan watching the legion urgently start moving.
‘The witch intervening this directly is unexpected. I thought she would just complement the magic at best.’
I don’t know if she liked the two more than expected or really thought they needed practical training, but Jeremy and Garius were added to the combat power.
‘Still, at least the immediate fire is extinguished.’
If Garius takes charge of supporting the two Counts, it means three 6-star level individuals are gathered, so they should be able to block the Legion Commander without difficulty.
‘With Jeremy, making stacked magic stones will be much easier too.’
I briefly fell into thought watching the knight still running with Orcs on his back.
‘Excluding the Legion Commander, only small fries remain… If I deal with all of them, there might be talk from the Royal Army side.’
Although the Royal Army is cooperating for now, there was no guarantee it would be the same after the battle ended.
Seeing them openly looking for opportunities even while the legion is advancing, it was clear they still didn’t feel a sense of crisis.
‘So one blow wasn’t enough to bring them to their senses?’
I could guess the Royal Army’s thoughts well enough.
They would think they were only defeated before because they were careless, and since they won a great victory in the preceding battle, they must think Orcs are easier than expected.
Once the sense of crisis disappeared, other thoughts would have started creeping up.
“Since we have some leeway on this side too, I should change the plan.”
If they can’t believe it because they can’t see it, it can’t be helped.
“Calua, can you find where Hoodwock is?”
- Of course! I am a great dragon!
Calua, proudly raising his head, flared his nostrils, then came in front of me, extended two paws, and shouted.
- Found him! Let’s go!
After unconsciously hugging Calua, I fell into thought for a moment.
‘Is this okay……?’
I clearly remember him saying he disliked being held because it felt stifling, but lately, he seems to go anywhere and extend his paws asking to be held first.
‘Even the Special Mission Unit members whined that it was hard because he wouldn’t come down once caught…….’
According to Calua, dragons are a cold-hearted and individualistic race so it’s hard to get close to them, so shouldn’t he not be held by just anyone like this?
Yet seeing his tail wagging with satisfaction as he buries his head in my bosom, I wonder if I’m worrying for nothing.
‘Eh, he’s probably just too lazy to walk. Well.’
Being a dragon in name, there’s no way he likes being held by humans.
- Human, what are you doing! Over there, over there!
Seeing him still calling me human, thinking no special affection has formed, I moved towards Hoodwock following the forepaw extended like a swing.
* * *
Hoodwock, who was already preparing for battle, couldn’t hide his fluster.
“Pardon? Retreat?”
“Yeah. As soon as the battle with the Legion Commander starts, all remaining personnel will move back.”
“Then the remaining Royal Guards…….”
“Naturally, they will charge into the Royal Army formation.”
Hoodwock shook his head vigorously.
“Absolutely not, Commander. The Royal Army waiting in the rear must have finished evacuating already. If someone doesn’t stay behind and activate the traps, the entire remaining legion will sweep into the Royal Army camp.”
“Well, naturally.”
“The Royal Army is completely unprepared to block the legion. They say there is a makeshift wooden fence-level barrier, but since they made it by tearing apart carriages and supply boxes brought from outside, it’s at a level that can’t even be called a barrier.”
“Barrier my foot. When I saw it last time, it wasn’t even a wooden fence, just a level of piled-up wooden planks.”
“That makes it even more problematic. If the Royal Army, unprepared to block the legion, cannot even utilize the advantage of defense, even if we stay and help the Royal Army, we cannot prevent damage.”
As I nodded at Hoodwock’s words, he stopped speaking after explaining for a while.
“…Unless that is the purpose.”
Exhaling a breath ‘Hoo’, he nodded and asked.
“Do you intend to use it as a warning to the Royal Army?”
“Someone needs to give a warning.”
“I wonder if it’s too dangerous a warning…….”
It’s true.
Even if the Royal Army and Garme acted cooperatively from the start, the moment battle breaks out, damage to the Royal Army cannot be prevented.
Nevertheless, there is a reason why the battle must take place in the Royal Army camp.
“How is the ranger unit?”
“Ah, I was about to mention that. They are acting extremely cooperatively. To the point where I can’t believe they are Kingdom bastards?”
That’s exactly it.
Until now, I vaguely thought the Royal Army would feel alarmed if I just showed the threat Moner faced.
That without Moner, monsters of the forest of demonic beasts would trample the Kingdom.
I hoped they would realize that without hunting dogs, the next ones to die are inevitably the hunters.
“But seeing the ranger unit, I realized. The warning that needed to be conveyed to the Royal Army wasn’t just one from the start.”
“Pardon?”
“Why would the ranger unit, said to be directly under the Royal family, be so cooperative?”
“Well, because they saw us fighting… Ah!”
In the end, to not let the hunting dogs be eaten, I have to convey it clearly.
“The second warning is Moner’s warning.”
That if things go wrong, the ones bitten are the hunters.
“Well, so to speak.”
Of course, the real warning to convey to those bastards remains further behind, but for now, let’s say that much.
“So let’s go back to the Royal Army camp. I am a bit curious. They ignored us so much before, will it be a bit different now?”
“Eh, Commander. It’s not like the Royal Army only has idiots, and since the ranger unit must have finished reporting already, wouldn’t they naturally lie flat on their own?”
Looking at Hoodwock speaking as if it were natural, instead of answering, I smacked my lips lightly and thought.
‘Absolutely not.’
Noble reason is not something that can be understood with rational thinking.
Even wizards whom everyone acknowledges as half-crazy shy away if it’s nobles.
Unless a noble higher than General Garme steps forward, it absolutely won’t be resolved easily.
‘No, since Garme is a General, maybe it’s a bit different? Since we decided to become enemies, I wish he would come out boldly.’
Smacking my lips ‘tsk’, I left words to convey to the Black Noble Troop and the Knight Order including Vergil, then headed to the Royal Army with the Special Mission Unit.
* * *
“This makes no sense! Just until when are you telling us to wait!”
At Hoodwock’s huffing shout, the gatekeeper looked at me with a troubled face as if asking me to stop him.
“Hoodwock, stop it. It’s not like that soldier has any power.”
However, Hoodwock, glaring at the gatekeeper as if he couldn’t understand at all, shouted.
“I told you to go and check again right now! My Commander is Moner’s Young Duke! The person in charge and owner of Moner, the Young Duke!”
No, temporary but Duke…….
“I told you several times already, there is an important meeting within the command currently so…….”
“So! Right! Now! Go! And say Moner’s Young Duke has come! Or do you want to die for insulting a noble!”
At Hoodwock’s aura as if he would draw his bow any moment, the soldier pointed inside and said.
“As I said earlier, I definitely conveyed the Young Duke’s visit. However, the order is not to let anyone into the camp until the meeting ends.”
“This bastard until the end!”
I was briefly surprised by Hoodwock drawing an arrow and thrusting it at the gatekeeper’s neck before I knew it.
‘Seems twice as fast as before?’
He said he would look for improvisation using arrows instead of swordsmanship saying arrows suit him better, and it seems that technique is also part of it.
“Wh-what is the meaning of this!”
Seeing the soldier, whose face turned deathly pale perhaps not expecting a real weapon to be thrust, shouting, I called Hoodwock.
Like Hoodwock said, we could punish him mentioning noble insult or insubordination, but Garme was moving exactly as I wished.
“No, Commander! It is certain that bastard didn’t convey the message inside! Even if the Kingdom only has morons, does it make sense to act like this when the legion is coming?!”
“It makes sense.”
The opponent is a noble.
And a high-ranking noble, the commander of an army responsible for one axis of the Royal Army.
“If Garme really bows his head, it will go straight to the King’s ears, could he do that?”
“Is that the problem right now!”
Unfortunately, ‘that’ is always the problem.
If politics and power weren’t the problem, the Royal family wouldn’t have become enemies with Moner.
Since it was too useless and trivial to understand here, I replaced the answer with a slight smile, and Hoodwock, whose face turned red as much as the nasal steam he puffed showing how angry he was, shouted as if wronged.
“It’s certain that bastard is really lying! He must have heard strange rumors somewhere and thinks the Young Duke is a scoundrel who lies, tortures servants, and seeks only alcohol and women!”
Mm. The most specific and realistic description among the rumors I’ve heard. Before I entered this body, those words would have been exactly right.
“It’s really not! You don’t know how wronged I feel every time I really hear those words. Although our Commander acts somewhat recklessly and is a devil making us do nonsensical training all day, and he himself is crazy only about training living in the training ground every day, and seeks places to die in dangerous missions every day on his own, he is such a kind person…….”
Whatever he felt so wronged about to say with reddened eyes, it seems a lot has accumulated meanwhile.
More importantly, the latter words are sincere, right?
The former seems more sincere…….
As I glared at Hoodwock with narrowed eyes, Hoodwock slightly avoided my eyes and continued.
“Khm! Anyway. Commander, that bastard really opened his eyes strangely, I tell you?”
“I have no intention of killing him because I don’t like his eyes so give up.”
After a brief interrogation, I could know that suspiciously specific rumors had spread in the fortress and army.
‘Did it spread as the Royal Army entered?’
I don’t know who thought of it, but it’s a method excellent enough to be unpleasant.
‘A dark wizard would have been better.’
Looking at the face encountered every day, it’s hard to imagine groundless rumors like a dark wizard, but rumors like abusing subordinates or being violent are easy to imagine.
Plus, the ‘probability of incorrectly engaging with a scoundrel Young Duke’ would look higher than the ‘probability of me, a soldier, becoming a sacrifice for dark magic’.
Thinking so, that crude barrier guarded by the gatekeeper looked different.
Those things were doing their best to bring me down somehow even in this dark forest, while this side was showing leisure calculating the optimal situation to consume the Royal Army.
“Really diligent.”
“Just what is diligent! We haven’t even entered yet.”
Laughter leaked out at Hoodwock’s anger who still couldn’t accept the fact that we were turned away at the door.
Does that gatekeeper know Hoodwock’s anger is anger to protect him?
“I will wait here, so you go and rest now.”
“Commander! Rather ignore him and enter!”
I shook my head looking at Hoodwock hitting his chest as if frustrated.
“If I move, we can enter, but it will look coercive. Garme will try to move public opinion by punishing that gatekeeper personally.”
This much was an obvious intention visible to the eye, but Hoodwock’s mentioned rumors are added to that.
“Then the Royal Army soldiers will think the rumors weren’t wrong.”
Then soldiers with conviction will step forward directly and spread rumors.
Didn’t I feel every day how difficult it is to change an already established perception.
Stretching towards the largest tent standing in the Royal Army, I said.
“So, enjoy fully when you can afford to be leisurely.”