After sneaking out of the royal castle, the First Knight Unit Ribezal brought around 50 subordinates with him and went towards Horant. His goal was the city of Münster, where the Second Knight Unit was stationed.
It was a suntanned small man around the age of 30, who was signaling by swinging both of his arms in a big motion, but Ribezal had no intention to respond.
Although he shouted with a loud voice, the man didn’t seem to have the intention to make way for them. Ribezal was then surprised by the man’s next words.
“What?”
He looked closely at the man, but his eye color couldn’t be seen as he was smiling so much that his eyes turned thin. But it was not a man he had any recollection of.
“Yes, I’m known as Beirevra, and honestly, I’m a spy from Vichy…”
“P-Please wait! I was waiting here because I wanted to help you!”
“Well, you see, a guy named Hifumi was looking for me and it seemed as if the country would sell me out. So with the help of an intermediary, I went over to Horant…”
“And then as I was about to leave the capital, I heard that Hifumi had arrived at the royal castle. I thought someone from the castle should hurry over towards the Second Knight Unit over by Horant, so I left the capital early in order to wait here.”
“So, what’s your objective?”
Seemingly embarrassed, Beirevra scratched his head, as all the knights made suspicious faces.
“Oh? I’d certainly be of some help, right? Because I can arrange some of Horant’s magic tools, you see.”
“Well, if you were to check what happened to the Second Knight Unit over at Münster, you’ll know.”
Not understanding what he’s implying, Ribezal ordered his men to capture the still smiling Beirevra.
Being pulled into something, Ribezal felt that it was best to keep the small man alive for now.
Beirevra was bound without any particular resistance, and was brought with Ribezal as they continued towards Münster.
Hifumi and Origa were riding their horses along the highway towards Fokalore in a good mood.
“Hifumi, there’s a response from the echolocation. There are 20 people 10 minutes ahead of us. They seem to be carrying weapons.”
Now that you mention it, that thing existed, Hifumi thought, admiring Origa as she put forth great effort to increase the accuracy.
“Most likely. It’s close to the highway, and there are few monsters, after all.”
“That reminds me…”
“About the promise to pursue Beirevra – it might be somewhat hard. Since we didn’t get an answer from Vichy, by the time we finish dealing with the central committee, he might’ve escaped somewhere.”
Origa covered her face.
“… I believe that as long as I journey the world together with you, we’ll be able to catch him at some point.”
In response to Hifumi’s short answer, Origa felt miserable. Wasting the consideration of Hifumi, as well as delaying the conclusion of the matter,in order to ensure a place she could call her own. Origa felt she was dishonest.
“There’s no need to hesitate. If you think you should kill, just kill. That’s reason enough.”
It seems like he misunderstood the reason Origa was feeling down, but more than anything else, that Hifumi showed concern for her made her happy.
Responding to Hifumi, Origa grasped a shuriken in her right hand, before running to catch up with him.
“Since when did the Orsongrande soldiers deteriorate this much!?”
“Well, Horant may have a fewer amount of soldiers than us, but even if we assault them with arrows and magic, or cut off their arms, they still charge right at us. Truthfully speaking, it’s abnormal.”
“Moreover, their magicians seem to easily perform inhuman acts, like getting their own allies caught in their flame spells. It frightens our soldiers, so the morale is plummeting.”
“Anyhow, Aiperos is currently at the headquarters. If we keep this up and fail to rise any military achievements, we can’t return to the capital. We need to inflict at least some damage to the enemy, so we can’t retreat.”
“In the first place, Horant suddenly trespassing the national border is the problem! With no official statement, this is a complete surprise attack… Behaving like bandits, the magic country Horant sure has fallen.”
“Captain…”
“It can’t be helped, we need to borrow Count Biron’s territorial forces. We’ll increase our numbers and push them back in one go.”
“Stifels. How is the war progressing?”
“Yes. Horant’s resistance is stronger than we expected so we’re currently struggling for supremacy. The strategy we have now is to force them back.”
When they are about to win, Aiperos needed to come out to take the helm.
“Coming out afterwards…”
It seems like witnessing his sister Imeraria actively participating in the national politics, and getting the support of the people, had made him somewhat impatient. Maybe the throne would be snatched away like this, so that’s why he made that previous announcement to Stifels, as well as bringing with him a huge number of chamberlains and his private army.
“At any rate, we’ll increase our soldiers and strike the enemy with overwhelming power! Send a messenger to Count Biron.”
Hifumi let out a sigh as he looked at the sickle he had just reaped several human lives with.
“Y-you…”
“I’ll need to use another weapon for now.”
“This one is still okay.”
All at once, attack!”
At the words of the man who looked like the leader, the remaining 10 men all attacked.
One person got his throat pierced by the pick.
Averting an incoming club, Hifumi kicked the person in the crotch with all his strength.
Finishing with the pick, he retrieved the spear he took from Ribezal.
“Don’t mess with us!”
The bandits who lost their leader threw their weapons on the ground and began to scatter in all directions.
“Nice weather… I hope it’ll stay like this all the way until Fokalore.”
Origa felt some ordinary everyday happiness looking at Hifumi merrily killing people.
“I refuse.”
“But why? We’re asking you in order to cooperate to protect this city…”
‘That’s something you should also know about’, Bifron said as he stared at the vice captain.
“Reinforcements?”
The vice captain couldn’t hide his irritation at that carefree manner of speaking.
“Oh? Didn’t prince Aiperos say that you were ‘struggling for supremacy’? Furthermore, if we put importance on the walls, don’t we have enough defense?”
Of course, Biron was sarcastic, as he knew about the crisis with the army over by Horant. But as it was virtually the same thing Stifels had said, as well as being the truth, there was nothing the vice captain could say.
If he could calculate the reinforcements coming, he could integrate them into the plan they had.
“You didn’t request reinforcements from the capital?”
Biron elegantly tipped his cup of tea a little, enjoying the smell of tea, before smiling.
“Wh… How can you…”
Seeing the vice captain not being able to close his mouth after hearing that, Biron felt a little better.