Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11
We hurriedly organized the formations and finished the emergency mobilization in the blink of an eye.
Northern Grand Duke Atlin went to personally command the forces diverted to the monster front, while Philion took charge of the battle against the other races.
He must have judged the unpredictable hordes of monsters to be more dangerous than the more standardized army of the other races.
Even so.
'Father seems to have high expectations for Brother Philion.'
It was more surprising than I had expected that he had entrusted command not to the Knights Order, but to Brother Philion himself.
Maybe he had been placed on the chopping block of the Northern Grand Duke's test.
'More importantly, is this my first deployment? I don't remember the other races invading around this time. Or maybe they didn't.'
Originally, this would have been around the time I was still desperately trying to win the Grand Duchess's favor.
Maybe proving my skill through the spar with Cannon, after advancing the timeline, had mattered more than I thought.
“Kairun. I heard from your tutor that you have yet to study military science properly. Your first deployment may be burdensome without a proper education in the field, but taking that into account, I intend to assign you a reconnaissance mission. You can handle that much, can't you?”
At Philion's order, I nodded and let confidence show on my face.
“Of course.”
I recalled the military science I had learned in my previous life.
I could have handled a far weightier duty without issue, but I refrained from acting too conspicuously.
“Good. Then I shall attach three ranger squads to you, so you may fulfill your role from the position of a commander.”
“Three squads will be enough. Ah, I'd like to take Nine with me. That won't be a problem, right?”
“You mean that little magician? In any case, he's one of ours. Letting him taste war a little early won't be a bad thing.”
***
Thus, with Nine and thirty rangers under my command, I set out before the main force.
“I’m worried.... Do you think we can really do this?”
“Don't worry. We can.”
Ending my reply with that short answer, I mounted up and quickly led the thirty rangers onward.
The scout rangers stared at me in surprise as I handled horseback riding with practiced ease.
“What, is this your first time seeing someone ride a horse? Hurry up and get ready. We don't have time.”
They blankly stared at me as I urged them on, then all at once nodded and mounted their horses.
A beacon fire had risen from the outpost.
The longer we delayed, the greater the danger to the base.
I lashed the horse onward.
How many hours had we ridden?
Just as the outpost became visible to the naked eye, I abruptly stopped my horse with a hand signal, and Nine looked at me in confusion.
“What is it? Why?”
“From here on, we dismount and proceed on foot. Our tactical objective is reconnaissance. Don't forget that. We'll tie the horses here and move in.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Achieving overwhelming results was all well and good, but only so long as the situation allowed it.
I couldn't stand out too much.
Having made that judgment, I walked toward the forest.
How long had we been moving through the woods?
“...It's quiet, Commander.”
One of the rangers whispered to me.
It was strange.
Far too quiet.
So quiet that not even the chirping of insects could be heard.
There was wind, yet I couldn't hear the leaves rustling.
That fact alone made me raise my clenched fist.
The squad stopped at once.
In a silence so complete even their breathing had died away, I looked down at the ground.
Footprints.
They were not human.
“...A beastman.”
I spoke in a whisper, and Nine beside me nodded.
The heels were deep, and the stride was short.
They were the typical footprints of a beastman with a heavy average body weight.
Scouts. At least one group of them.
I raised two fingers.
No engagement. Observation first.
Without a word, the rangers scattered.
It took them fewer than ten breaths to blend into the forest.
Then it happened.
A low, very low cry drifted through the woods.
It resembled the call of a wolf or an owl, but it carried meaning.
I had heard sounds like that countless times on battlefields in my previous life, so of course it sounded familiar.
“Tch!”
The beastman scouting party noticed us first.
Something moved in the trees.
In the next instant, an arrow flew in and struck the ground at my feet.
I did not shout.
Instead, I chopped my hand downward.
Withdraw.
But it was already too late.
Another shadow burst out from behind us.
“It’s an ambush!”
A brief clash followed.
A ranger's arrow brought one beastman down,
and the claws of a wolf beastman tore open a ranger's arm.
Bright blood fell to the ground.
We could win this fight.
But if we won, reconnaissance would end there.
We wouldn't be able to wipe out all the enemy scouts, and our own casualties wouldn't be light either.
'Even if we take a slight loss.'
I swung my hand wide.
Smoke screen.
Gray smoke spread through the forest.
The rangers scattered just as they had been trained to do,
and the beastmen's pursuit did not continue for more than a few steps.
When the forest fell silent again, I counted the survivors.
Thirty men. Of them, two were wounded.
An arrow had lodged in one man's leg, and another's arm had been torn open by a beastman's claws, blood pouring from it.
“One of you head back to where the horses are tied and manage them. The other will act as a messenger and report this skirmish.”
“I can still fight.”
“That would be recklessness. For a ranger, losing mobility is directly tied to life and death. And the beastmen are sensitive to the smell of blood. Are you planning to drag that blood around? Do you want to get us all killed? Enough talk. Do as you're told. That's an order.”
I indicated the two wounded men with a jerk of my chin.
At my firm tone, utterly unlike that of someone on his first deployment, the two rangers, gritting their teeth through the pain, withdrew.
“...Kairun. If their scouts have already come this far....”
Nine was worried. What he was worried about was obvious.
“I know. The situation might be worse than we thought.”
We had come close enough to see the walls clearly.
Fortunately, the figure of the sentry on the wall was human, not beastman.
***
“I am Commander Harel of the Third Outpost.”
“I am Kairun Nordiar, leading a ranger unit. What is the situation?”
The commander frowned at my casual speech, but given the circumstances, he seemed willing to let it slide for now.
“It is not good. There are several magicians on their side around the 4-Class level. For now, they seem exhausted as well, so the battle has entered a lull. We somehow held off the first assault, but I do not think we can stop the second.”
“I see.”
“More than anything, we lack troops. At present, the garrison numbers around four hundred, but their forces look to be at least a thousand. Even those men are already worn down, so I cannot say how long we can endure.... When will the main force arrive?”
“It will take some time just to finish preparing for departure.”
“Will the Grand Duke be coming personally?”
“No. His eldest son, Philion Nordiar, is in command.”
“I see. This is grave. I don't know whether we can hold out until the main force arrives....”
The truth was, I had already sensed that they would not survive a second attack.
The wounded were sprawled everywhere, and morale had sunk.
At this rate....
'We may have to abandon the fortress.'
I thought about what to do.
Ordinarily, the standard move would have been to fold the reconnaissance party into the garrison and fight alongside them.
'But then troop losses would be severe, and we might end up abandoning the fortress anyway. More importantly, that isn't my style.'
I thought for a long while.
Then,
“You said the battle is in a lull, right? Send a letter to the enemy.”
I made my decision.
***
Harel.
Commander of the Third Outpost, and a junior knight.
Under the Northern Grand Duke's orders to hold the outpost, he had defended the Third Base like an iron wall.
But this time, it was impossible.
There was too little morale to hold with sheer will, and too few men to hold with numbers.
'Please.'
Never had he been so desperate.
About an hour had passed since the letter had been sent.
There was no reply.
But then, far in the distance—with a thousand troops behind him, a single wolf beastman stepped forward.
The sight of a commander stepping out in front while leaving his troops behind felt strange for an instant, but now Harel was glad of it.
'It worked!'
“Grr! Come out! The promised hour has passed!”
Then, as the gate on the allied side opened, one familiar face slowly walked out.
'Kairun Nordiar.'
When Harel had first seen him, he had taken him for a brat soaked in aristocratic vanity, a greenhorn who had never known the brutality of war and had no grasp of the situation.
No matter that he was a Nordiar, the boy had spoken casually from their very first meeting.
And yet.
After reading the contents of the letter, Harel could no longer bring himself to curse him.
-I'm going to fight a one-on-one duel. Tactically speaking, a full battle is only a matter of time. In the end, we need to buy time.
-A duel? Will they really accept that?
-I'll make it so they have no choice but to accept. And this likely won't happen, but if, by chance, I fail to return—Fail to return.
There was no way Harel wouldn't understand what that meant.
-Abandon the fortress and run. If it's a warrior strong enough to beat me, then naturally this fortress cannot be held. Besides, this is only an outpost. It isn't a base worth defending with our full strength.
-You can't mean that.... How can we sacrifice you?
-Listen to me.
The first prerequisite had been cleared.
The enemy had to agree to the contents of the letter.
And the second...
“Grr! You bastards, of all people, should know best that we have no reason to dance to your tune! If we press forward with our forces as they are, victory will be ours! We know just as well as you that you're at your limit!”
“And yet you still had no choice but to come out, didn't you? Isn't that right? If we keep dragging this out and fight to the death, your losses will be severe as well. Our main force is on its way too. More importantly, wasn't it written in the letter?”
The wolf beastman's brow furrowed.
“Answer me! How do you know the warrior chieftain tradition of our other races?! That's classified information!”
“You're curious about that?”
Kairun.
The noble Harel had thought was just a mad dog raised his sword.
A black sword stripped of any trace of flashy ornament.
“I can't just tell you so easily. If you want, try severing my limbs and taking me alive.”
Kairun smiled viciously.
“Grr! Are you confident in your skill?!”
“Of course I am.”
“Good! Then enough with the mouth—prove it with your skill! If you have the right to speak of the sacred tradition of the warrior chieftains!”
“Fine.”
“In the name of the legendary Great Chieftain, Ei, let a sacred duel be held! This stakes the name, seat, and honor of the warrior chieftain! Stake your life!”
“I agree.”
And then, the two swords collided in midair.