Chapter 6 – Bonfire

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Evening of the sixth day after the start of the march.

Even though the imperial army had lost officers and soldiers during the battle, reducing its number to less than 8,500 in total, it resumed its march. The provisions, which were about to run out, were resupplied thanks to the Ninth Imperial Knight Order. In spite of Rio, the leader of that knight order, neglecting her work and joining the night raid.

However, anyone falling into chaos and panic because of this would be unsuited as a member of the Ninth Imperial Order, was the argument of Rio’s geezer and adjutant. Chrono had exchanged a few words with him when receiving the resupply. It was a conversation that merely lasted ten-odd minutes, but it was very uncomfortable as he made it clear just how much he cherished Rio.

“If you betray Rio, you’re a dead man,” were his parting words, accompanied by a clap on Chrono’s shoulder.

His smile had been gentle, but his eyes were teeming with such a cold light that it gave Chrono the chills.

According to the information Chrono got from him, the high grounds in Argo would increase the closer you got to the capital, making it inevitable for the roads to wind through the few valleys in-between.

Chrono sat down on a rock and stared down the road. Just as Rio’s adjutant had said, the road was flanked by steep slopes. You could even describe them as cliffs. During spring he’d be able to enjoy this scenery which seemed to tickle the urge to hike, but right now winter was reigning. The plants growing on the slanting surfaces had withered away and the trees didn’t carry any leaves. Probably because of that, Chrono felt a pressure as if the ground was closing in on them.

The reason why he embraced such a feeling was to be found in his vigilance of enemy surprise attacks. With this landscape it was simply that easy to imagine the sight of the enemy swooping down on them or letting huge rocks roll down the slopes.

If it was me, I’d ambush an invading force here, while holding such thoughts, he shifted his eyes to his men.

“Today we’re goin’ t’camp here! Hurry up and set up the camps!”

Upon Mino’s order, the men started to briskly set up the tents. The performance of those, who had just recently become Chrono’s subordinates, was bad. Chrono suspected this to originate in their lacking comprehension of role-sharing. However, the veteran members took the initiative and thanks to that no one was left out.

“…Once we get back to the Erakis March, I must apply for a transfer.”

“Lord Chrono is pulling a troubled face.”

“He’s kinda planning to make us do ‘that’ again.”

Arided and Deneb snuggled up to him. Chrono guessed ‘that’ referred to the sniping tactic of using live bait.

“What about you girls’ work?”

“We’re already done.”

“There’s a lot of people, so it’s kinda easy-going.”

“Mufufu,” Arided and Deneb answered with rough nasal breathing.

“So, how about it kinda?”

“That part interests us.”

“I want to do it if there’s an opportunity, but what about it?”

“I think psychological attacks that use sniping and corpses are a valid tactic, but I cannot approve of the lack of restraint.”

“If we act too brutally, it’ll kinda dampen the morale of our men.”

“You got a point,” agreed Chrono.

Now that they had mentioned it, he saw the validity of their argument.

“What about you two?”

“We’re kinda alright since we’re shouldering a relatively tragic past anyway.”

“We can do what’s necessary by disconnecting the emotional level.”

“…Got it,” answered Chrono after a short pause.

Arided and Deneb’s opinion was reasonable. No matter how efficient a tactic might be, it’d come to nothing if it led to a lowering of the morale among the troops. Chrono thought that it’d be best to choose subordinates, who had the right aptitude to keep up their morale, and organize them into a sniper unit.

“S-Somehow, your face doesn’t look like you got it.”

“A-An evil, sinister aura is coming out of you.”

“That’s not true.”

“”Muh, how fishy.””

The two elves looked at Chrono doubtfully. He thought that they were quite perceptive, but decided to remain silent. But at that moment――

“Marquis Erakis!” Beltil approached while yelling.

Arided and Deneb stood up and straightened their backs. Chrono tried to get up as well, but Beltil held out a hand, signaling him to stay as he was. Chrono felt reluctant, but he couldn’t do much about an order.

Beltil planted himself in front of Chrono, and cleared his throat.

“A-Ah, Marquis Erakis?”

“Yes, what might it be?”

Beltil looked left and right, at Arided and Deneb. It seemed as if he was wavering whether he should talk in front of them. Since he had looked at the two elves, Chrono assumed that it was going to be about the night raid.

“The two participated as well.”

“O-Oh, I see.”

Beltil’s face softened once Chrono reassured him while deliberately not using night raid.

“A-Ah, yeah, well, that was splendidly done.”

“Thank you.”

“As a matter of fact, His Highness Alfort brought up the granting of land.”

“Congratulations.”

“Yeah, I told him that I felt very grateful, but took the liberty to recommend you for this reward.”

“”Does that mean Lord Chrono’s territory is going to increase?””

Arided and Deneb leaned in, causing Beltil to frown unhappily.

“I think it’d be fine to think of it like that. Of course, I will proactively handle the matter with the medical treatment and reward, but…”

Beltil averted his face from Chrono, mumbling something under his breath. Chrono couldn’t quite catch it, but he felt like he heard him say sorry.

“Are you unhappy about receiving territory?”

“No, not at all. Thank you kindly,” Chrono lowered his head.

If he had to be honest, it came slightly unexpected. He had expected Beltil to be the type of man who wouldn’t keep his promises. Given that he had bullied Fay and tried to kill Arided and Deneb, only bad impressions about this man had taken root in Chrono’s head, but it didn’t seem like you could call him a genuine villain.

“No need to thank me. I just kept my word. Yep, I just kept my word. Various things happened, but I’d like to share a positive relationship with you for at least the duration of this war.”

“Yes, I also wish to build a good relationship between us.”

“M-Mmh, right, right.”

Chrono exchanged a stiff handshake with Beltil.

“Please excuse me then,” with those words Beltil headed to his own tent.

“Bah, getting along with that mustache is next to impossible.”

“He intends to trick us with only his words being sweet.”

“I don’t think he’s such a bad guy.”

“”He almost got us killed!””

Arided and Deneb bent forward, clapping their own chests repeatedly.

“Compared to the other battalion commanders, you can at least talk with him.”

“But that’s kinda just a comparative assessment!”

“It’s like comparing pickpocketing and robbery!”

Arided and Deneb shouted.

They’re views are valid, but someone who listens to what you say is still better that people who ignore you altogether. I won’t mind being used by him, if he’s willing to pay the proper price for it.

“Now then,” Chrono stood up. “There’s still some time left until dinner.”

“A-A-Are we kinda being invited at last?”

“I-I’d be happy if you could be gentle with me.”

The two elves fidgeted around while looking embarrassed.

“……Let’s have a meeting.”

“Yeah, yeah, I already thought it’d be something like that!”

“Ugh, I’d like you to tell us when our spring is finally going to arrive.”

Arided stomped her foot regretfully while Deneb dropped her head in disappointment.

※

Igniz lay on the slope, his breath going hard. He suspected that his internal organs might have taken damage. His breath had the taste of blood. The god worshiped by Igniz, the War God ruling over Crimson Destruction, reigned over destruction as his name already gave away. And although it wasn’t as though his worshipers couldn’t use healing arts, the effectiveness of the healing fell behind in comparison to other gods. Allowing Igniz to move was the most the healing art could do. Then again, Igniz assumed that he was only alive after having so many injuries because of his god’s divine protection.

While contorting his face in pain, Igniz let his eyes wander. The soldiers were also laying on the slope, just like him. He guessed their numbers to be less than 2,000. And all of them were covered in wounds.

Why did things turn out like this? No, it’s moot to ask that since the reason is clear: we’ve reeled from that night attack. More than 500 soldiers were killed and the surviving soldiers lost their fighting spirit due to the enemy’s cowardly way of fighting.

During the following battle on the next day, the battle lines collapsed in no time. The survivors talked about a massacre that couldn’t even be called a battle while trembling in fear.

If I hadn’t lost to Chrono and his men or if I had at least been able to stay conscious, we wouldn’t have ended up running away like beaten dogs. But, will we be able to get away?

Igniz stared at the wounded soldiers. Usually it would take three days to reach the town of Marcab from the hilly area. And now that they were also carrying injured soldiers, it was easy to see that it’d take a lot more time than that.

“General Igniz!”

A hysterical voice filled the air ―― the Official of Divinities’s voice. Igniz thought that he should probably hurry over, but his body didn’t allow for that.

After a short time, the official came running himself.

They had suffered a huge defeat after receiving a night attack, and yet the official had remained uninjured. Only a bit of dirt had found its way on his priest’s garb.

The soldiers glared at him, their eyes seething with hatred. But that was only natural. This man had run away faster than anyone else when their camp got attacked at night. But that wasn’t all either. The same happened during the battle on the next day.

“W-Why have no reinforcements come from the border fortress, no, Marcab!?”

“I don’t know,” Igniz answered honestly.

He could guess that the former pointed to the road being blocked off. But, he didn’t know anything about the latter. Igniz could imagine that maybe someone was aiming to have the Official of Divinities lose his standing or maybe the town wasn’t able to gather provisions and peasants from the neighboring village, but――

“Ugh! As if I could bear to die in a place like this! We will hurry back to Marcab.”

“The enemy will likely catch up to us.”

“So what should we do instead!?” The official whined hysterically.

And then he started to pace back and forth in front of Igniz, repeatedly asking whether there wasn’t something they could do.

If only you had done so from the very start. Now we’ve only got praying left.

Suddenly the official stopped his feet. He quietly dropped his head, making it impossible for Igniz to notice the evil light gleaming in his eyes.

※

Early morning of the seventh day after the start of the march.

The imperial army resumed its march, heading for Marcab. Given that the provisions had been resupplied just recently, the amount and freshness of the food felt like it had improved compared to before. Even if you couldn’t ask for much when it came to freshness, the amount of food was crucial. If it was too little, one would start to wonder whether the war progress might not be bad. At least, this applied to Chrono.

I lost quite a bit there, Chrono sighed while advancing along the road. The number of his men grew, so he had ordered extra hard bread from Shaela, but it had cost him a hefty sum of money. Of course, he negotiated with her. And although he had offered to pay with his body, she had turned it down, claiming that she’d make a huge loss if she gave him a discount for that. He felt devastated. Yet, he also wondered how she ended up making a debt of 100 gold while being so level-headed.

‘This world is full of mysteries.

Suddenly, his visual field slanted. He had stumbled over a stone. His eyes flew wide open as a fist-sized stone filled his visual field. Unsure how to save himself even if he were to use both hands to stop the fall, he resolved himself to getting injured. But, just then he stopped with a jerk. Looking back over his shoulder, Mino was holding onto his mantle.

“Yer alright, Captain?”

“Thanks, Mino.”

Being pulled up by Mino, Chrono felt relieved. He lifted his face, looking down the road.

“Stones.”

“Aye,” Mino nodded.

Stones were scattered all over the road. He narrowed his sight, but Chrono’s eyesight didn’t allow him to tell for how long this would go on.

“Ye think those have been dropped here?”

“It’s probably General Igniz.”

“How can ye tell?”

“The stones have traces of having been burned. Probably, on top of the slope…”

Once he looked up, a part of the slope was scorched with huge holes having been gouged out.

“For him to be alive after getting stabbed in the side and being blown away by a shock wave…”

“He survived his body bein’ covered in flames, but he’s a divine arts practitioner, so the divine protection of his god must have saved him, right?”

“And yet I have to fight him alone. How unfair,” Chrono muttered reflexively.

Mino loudly snorted, but Chrono ignored that.

“They might be quite cornered to rely on stalling us like this.”

“We’ve gotta be on our guard then.”

“Yep. Let’s move onwards while bracing ourselves. I’ll inform the others as well…no wait, maybe it’s better for me to tell them directly?”

Chrono had extended a hand for his pouch, but stopped.

“Then I’ll go tell ’em.”

“Sorry. I’ll use the magical communicator if something happens.”

“Aye,” Mino nodded and left Chrono.

A short while later, his visual field darkened. Chrono thought Mino might have returned, but then he felt a hit against his temple. Unable to endure, he fell to his knees, blood trickling down his face.

“Oh my, is that a scenery you’ve seen somewhere before?”

He lifted his face while holding a hand against his wound. Thereupon, he found Beltil’s adjutant, Cecily, looking down on Chrono from atop her horse. Her foot was outside the stirrup, making it obvious that the earlier hit originated from her kicking him.

“…What an underhanded thing to do,” Chrono spat out.

“I was just spurring my horse onward as usual. In the first place, it’s unthinkable for a person, who is a noble, to march on foot, so no blame is to be found with me. Oh, wait. Forgive me, you were the son of a filthy mercenary, weren’t you?” Cecily said full of sarcasm.

“So, what about an apology towards the son of a filthy mercenary you kicked?”

“Shouldn’t you apologize for having dirtied my foot instead?” Saying so, Cecily drew her sword, telling him she’d cut him down if he didn’t apologize.

“So what will it be?”

“I wonder?”

“I’ll be kind and wait for a tiny fraction of time. I’m a deeply merciful noble after all.”

Cecily’s smile deepened. She was apparently convinced that Chrono would apologize. But, he had no intention to apologize. The part worrying him was something entirely different.

“…I made up my mind.”

“So you decided to have a duel then?”

“No, wrong.”

Chrono grabbed Cecily’s wrist and pulled with all his strength.

“What are you――”

Cecily gasped. An arrow had grazed her neck.

“Enemy attack!”

Chrono had pulled Cecily off her horse and dragged her towards the slope just like that, before covering her with his body. Thereupon――

“Y-You brute!”

“What a slander even though I just saved your life!” Chrono took out his magical communicator while regretting having saved her.

“Enemy attack! Everyone, hide at the slope. No need to care about the provisions!”

“What are you deciding all by yourself!? If we lose our provisions――” Cecily screamed hysterically.

But, she was unable to finish her words as Chrono had thrust a finger into her mouth. And as might be expected, even Cecily hadn’t expected that.

“Make sure to protect the landlady, our doctor, and the other staff at all costs!”

In the next instant, a rain of arrows came down on the road. Pierced by those, soldiers collapsed with clattering noises and horses went loose. A soldier, who was close to a horse, had his face kicked by it, getting slammed against the slope. Right besides Chrono and Cecily.

“Guffh!”

“Hiii!”

Cecily screamed as blood spurted out of the soldier’s mouth. But, Chrono didn’t have any time to mind either.

“Is everyone fine?”

『Everyone’s fine!』, Mino’s voice thundered through the magical communicator.

Chrono sighed in relief. But, now wasn’t the time to feel relieved since arrows kept pouring down on them. The imperial army had fallen into panic due to the enemy surprise attack. One part of the soldiers had started to run, falling over each other. Chrono guessed that one of them had initially tripped over as stone.

Of course, the enemy didn’t miss that either. A focused fire of arrows went down on the place where the soldiers were laying. Short screams were audible intermittently while the surroundings turned into a bloody mess in no time.

『Captain, what are we gonna do!?』

“Once the enemy stops shooting arrows, Arided and Deneb will shoot Flame Dance into the sky! Gather beneath! Afterwards, form a circle.”

Chrono waited for a pause in the arrow shooting while covering Cecily. It was a terrifying period of time. Several times he almost succumbed to the anxiety that the arrow shooting might not stop at this rate. But, suddenly the arrows stopped coming and a detonation could be heard. Arided and Deneb had used their Flame Dance. Chrono stood up and looked in the direction of the explosion. He estimated it to be around 100 meters away. He wanted to join up with his men as quickly as possible, but he looked down at Cecily. She was still completely dumbstruck while lying on the slope. He held out a hand to her.

“Come on, now’s not the time to space out. Get up.”

“I’m fine by myself. Humph,” Cecily snorted and stood up.

But, even after standing up, she showed no signs of running. Having no other choice, Chrono grabbed her wrist.

“Run, girl.”

“K-Know your place, you son of a filthy mercenary, and don’t touch me!”

“Shut up and run!” Chrono roared and started to sprint.

He heard war cries from behind. When he looked back over his shoulder, a group of enemies was just rushing down the slope. They numbered less than a hundred. All of them were wounded. Chrono guessed that they had stayed behind as rear guards to allow the main army to get away.

But, he had a bad feeling about this, wondering whether Igniz wasn’t the type of guy who would stay behind in such a case.

No, I don’t have any time to think about stuff like that. The enemy is coming down the slope, attacking the imperial army.

“Captain!” Mino yelled.

Looking in the direction, his subordinates had formed a circle just as Chrono told them to do. Chrono leaped inside that circle while pulling Cecily by the hand.

“Captain, it’s great to see ye safe.”

“Yeah, I somehow made it.”

Discovering Shaela in the center of the circle, Chrono felt relieved.

“Safe or not, it’s not the time for that! We must go and save them!”

Cecily tried to shake off Chrono’s hand, but he didn’t let go.

“Let go of me!”

“There’s no need to go save them.”

“How…can you say something like that?”

Chrono looked at the state of the battle. The enemy soldiers were fighting well, but――

“The enemy is wounded all over. So they’ll run out of stamina and willpower soon.”

“”Ooohh! You’re totally speaking like a commander!””

“I am a commander,” Chrono muttered as Arided and Deneb clapped their hands together.

※

Igniz grabbed the Official of Divinities by the collar.

“You bastard, just what are you thinking!?”

“I merely fulfilled my duty as commander!”

“You’re telling me it’s a commander’s duty to let his soldiers die in vain!?”

“T-That’s not it!” The official screamed shrilly. “T-That’s not it. Not at all. I simply decided to cut off the few to let the many live. They were much heavier wounded than the other soldiers! Advancing while covering for them would have led to sacrificing the other soldiers! So I had to make a very painful decision! Even they should have understood as much!”

The official’s voice gradually gained in passion, and his last words were spoken with a voice as if he was believing them from the bottom of his heart.

He doesn’t understand. Certainly, as commander you have to sometimes sacrifice a small number of soldiers for the sake of allowing the majority of an army to survive. But, that mustn’t be done for the sake of preserving your own life. If you forget that, you’ll make a mistake like this official here.

Igniz had slowed the pace of the imperial army’s march by blowing up the slope and covering the road with stone fragments. Despite knowing that, the Official of Divinities had deployed 600 soldiers in five places.

A number that goes far above what is necessary. A number you can only describe as waste. It’d have been a lot more efficient to choose soldiers who are familiar with the terrain or mountain trails, and have them execute a hit-and-run strategy. It’d also increase the survival rate of the soldiers by a lot.

Once Igniz let go, the official sank down on the ground.

Even if I were to use my who life for it, this man would likely remain unable to understand my arguments. And as for the 600 soldiers…very likely they can’t be saved. The very least we can do now to honor their deaths is to reach Marcab and fix our ranks.

※

The imperial army adjusted its formation and resumed its march. The ones leading the army as vanguard were twenty lizardmen as heavy infantry led by Chrono, and a mixed unit of a hundred elven archers and fifty beastmen infantry led by Taiga.

The one leading the archers was an elven veteran called Nasul. His hair had a color similar to wheat on the verge of being harvested and his looks were quite handsome. His hands were full of scars, telling a tale of his combat experience so far. Moreover, several old scars, which had apparently been caused by blades, remained on his arms.

“Ugh, what a humiliation for a noble like me to march on foot.”

“It’s inevitable since your horse ran away, no?”

“That horse is of the highest breed. Father raised it for me. So don’t come at me with inevitabilities!”

“Arided, Deneb, what about the enemy?”

Chrono ignored Cecily’s bickering and spoke into the magical communicator.

『…Arided speaking. I kinda spotted the enemy』

『Deneb speaking. I also kinda spotted them』

Both answered with quiet, stifled voices. Both――to be precise, the mixed units led by them――were currently atop the slope.

“Does it look like you’ll be able to capture them alive?”

『It’ll be hard, but if you order it…』

『Same here』

The two answered Chrono.

“Alright. No need to take any prisoners then, if it’s not possible.”

『『Roger』』

The communication stopped. After a while, you could hear explosions, metal clashing against metal, and noise akin to voices through the magical communicator. All of those sounds were indistinct, but they left no doubt about an intense battle unfolding. Before long, enemy soldiers came running down the slopes along the road. They had been cornered, so Chrono suspected the enemy planned to at least get revenge by launching one attack.

“They number something between fifty and sixty. Heavy infantry, infantry, get ready to move at any moment. Nasul?”

“Line up! In two rows!”

As soon as Chrono called out to him, Nasul swiftly started to hurl out orders. The archers formed two lines while making sure that the front and back row wouldn’t overlap.

“FIIIRE!”

Upon Nasul’s command, the archers fired their arrows. The projectiles swooped down on the enemies as they were descending the slope. Enemy soldiers got pierced by arrows and then tumbled down the slope. However, they only managed to take out around ten people. The rest were still running their way.

“Back row…FIIIRE!”

The second row released its arrows. Indeed. Only the front row had shot its arrow during the first volley. Making the two rows use different timings was for the sake of lowering the time until the next volley of arrows would be released. It lowered the density of arrows, but being able to continuously attack had a huge merit.

All enemy soldiers had fallen. Nasul picked up a bow himself and started to shoot the limbs of the grounded enemy soldiers. Only five enemy soldiers were still moving at all.

“…You can arrest them,” Nasul whispered.

“Taiga Crops, arrest the enemy soldiers! Disarm and tie them up! Their limbs have been shot by arrows, but don’t become careless because of that! A cornered mouse will even kill a cat!” Chrono shouted.

“As you command, Sir! All of you, do not be careless!”

The beastmen led by Taiga readied wooden staffs and slowly approached the enemy soldiers. The soldiers resisted frantically, but on top of being wounded, they were heavily outnumbered. They got beaten up by the beastmen’s staffs, before they were captured after having stopped to move.

Chrono used his magic communicator to call out to Arided and Deneb, “What is the situation on your side?”

『A few wounded, but no casualties』

『Ten minor injuries, but no heavy injuries or casualties on my side』

Chrono breathed out in relief.

“We’re going to interrogate our prisoners, so you two stay on standby over there.”

『『Roger』』

Chrono put the magical communicator away into his pocket.

“Taiga, come with me.”

“At your will.”

Chrono walked up to the enemy soldiers. The five men had their hands bound behind their backs. Chrono called out to one of them.

“You, what’s your name?”

“…Kyle,” answered a young boy, somewhat hesitatingly.

“What’s your age?”

“…Fifteen.”

“Are you a regular soldier?”

“No, I was brought here from my village to fight you people. My friends were with me too. But, even the last survivor…was killed moments ago.”

Kyle shook his head feebly. No hatred could be felt, just simple resignation.

“Why did…you attack…us?” Kyle asked with his voice being hard pressed.

“What are you talking about!? You people attacked us, so we had no choice but to attack you in return!” Cecily roared.

“I…we haven’t done anything.”

“How dare you be so shameless!”

Cecily placed a hand on her sword, but then stopped moving.

“You’re not going to cut him?”

“It’s a disgrace to cut down prisoners of war!” Cecily folded her arms and turned her face away.

It’s OK to suddenly kick someone else’s head, but it’s a disgrace to kill prisoners of war…to be honest, I don’t get how she defines disgrace.

“Hurry up and take the prisoners away! They’re disgusting to look at!”

“Taiga, hand them over to the 12th Imperial Knight Order.”

“As you command, Lord Chrono.”

Taiga agreed and took the prisoners away with his men. Chrono thought it might be a bit too blatant when it comes to earning brownie points, but he suspected even Beltil would easily understand if it was done so openly.

“What the hell was that just now!?”

“You don’t listen to the son of a filthy mercenary anyway, right?” Chrono muttered while feeling fed-up.

Cecily scowled his way, “I didn’t ask you!”

“Ah, I see. So who were you talking to?”

“T-That was…Right! I was talking to myself! A MONOLOGUE! I just turned the anger seething in my chest into words! I’d never talk to the likes of you!” Cecily blared with her face bright red.

“I wonder what’s going to happen to that kid.”

“He fought bravely, so he should be treated honorably.”

“So they won’t torture him or such?”

“Y-You are really…!” Cecily’s eyes flew wide open.

“They won’t?”

“This is why mercenary brats are such a pain. What are you taking imperial nobles for!?” Cecily asked with her pretty eyebrows raised.

“Well, if they don’t do it, it’s all fine as far as I’m concerned.”

“There’s no way they would!” Cecily spat out with irritation dyeing her voice.

※

Early morning of the eighth day after the start of the march.

The five prisoners had died. The guards claimed that their wounds had deteriorated over night, but there was no way a worsening of the injuries would lead to ripped out nails, missing teeth, and broken fingers. It was easy to imagine what had taken place, now that the ranks had been reshuffled, unless you were quite an idiot.

While the disassembly of the camp advanced, Cecily had watched the burial of the dead prisoners with a pale face.

“You said they wouldn’t be tortured, didn’t you?”

“T-That’s…! There must be some mistake here!” Cecily screamed in response to Chrono’s comment.

She was so confused that it was painful to look at. Chrono stroked his hair. At the place where Cecily had kicked him. It was just a light touch, but it still caused a stinging pain. The feeling of wanting to pay her back for this welled up within.

“They were tortured due to some mistake? They got tormented and killed because of a little blunder? Could you please explain it in a way that the son of a filthy mercenary can understand it as well?”

Cecily didn’t answer. She bit down on her lips and cast her face down.

“Some battalion commander had probably bribed the guards and tortured the prisoners. Why? That’s obvious. For the sake of getting the ambush locations out of them to gain a merit of war like I did yesterday. But man, if they’re so flexible in their ways, I’d have really liked it if they had actually approved of my night raid.”

“S-Shut up!”

Cecily swung her palm, but she only hit the air. Chrono had dodged her slap. It was more than easy enough to evade her attack if she was this shocked. Rather, he suspected that it hadn’t even been necessary to dodge. Just when he opened his mouth to harass her a bit more――

“Marquis Erakis, could you please leave it at that?”

“Oh, Sir Deputy Corps Commander Beltil, a good morning to you,” Chrono bowed.

Beltil smiled bitterly at that, but immediately shifted his attention to Cecily.

“Cecily, I need to talk with Marquis Erakis, so leave us alone for a while.”

“Yes, Sir,” Cecily vacated the place right after Beltil ordered her to while stroking his beard.

“So it was torture after all, huh?”

“Please don’t claim things we can’t say for sure. I was asked the same by Sir Leonhart as well and I only got him to withdraw after firmly promising to take responsibility and run a thorough investigation.”

“You have my sympathy.”

He couldn’t offend the eldest son of the Duke Palatium family, nor could he delay the march. As a point of compromise, they agreed on finding out the truth about who killed the prisoners after the war was over and offset this with the merits of war.

“You’re offering me your sympathy despite getting cornered by my adjutant, huh?”

“She repeatedly made snide comments about me and even kicked my head, so I plan to pay her back in full. Still, some people do nasty stuff, and yet prattle about noble honor and so on.”

“Some people are using honor as nothing but an excuse to justify their own actions and feelings. The true essence of honor is to sacrifice yourself for something or someone, and yet… How foolish,” Beltil spat out with a sigh.

※

Evening of the tenth day after the start of the march.

The imperial army had arrived at the town of Marcab. Or to be precise, the hill giving them an unhindered view of the town that lay at the end of the narrow path.

Chrono had sat down on a fallen tree, gazing at his men. Currently they were skillfully setting up their tents. And probably because of that, Mino had nothing to do either.

“Captain, why yer pullin’ such a troubled expression?”

“I’m slightly worried since things didn’t go as planned.”

“That’s how wars go.”

“Well, I can’t refute that, but still…”

Chrono knew that wars had their own rules and often went counter to plans. Their initial schedule planned for them to arrive here in four days, but they ended up needing twice that. Somehow he couldn’t settle down. He was questioning himself whether it was really such a smart idea to set up camp here. He thought that we was worrying too much about this, but――

“Sorry! We’re going to change the camp’s location to the narrow path’s vicinity!”

“I’d hoped to be allowed to sleep on soft grass today, so it’s quite a bummer.”

“I’d really like you to take into account the opinion of us subordinates who are obediently following your orders even under such whimsical instructions.”

Arided and Deneb began to fold up their tent. Thereupon, the other men also followed their example. Chrono felt sorry for giving them unnecessary extra work, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy about this place here.

“I’m going to check the situation of the town.”

“Gotcha. I’ll manage things over here.”

Chrono entrusted the rest to Mino and headed for the top of the hill. Halfway up the slope――

“Wait!”

A voice he knew struck him from behind. Cecily. He hurried onwards while ignoring her, but got overtaken by her. After going several meters ahead of him, she elegantly whirled around.

“Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“I didn’t feel like listening to your sarcasm or getting insulted as the son of a filthy mercenary by you, duh.”

“Y-You are to stop when I-I call you to halt!” Cecily demanded with a bright red face.

“So, what’s your business with me?”

“I-It’s not like I have any business with you or anything! I just wanted…to talk a bit with you. That’s all,” Cecily barked, her face averted.

“Are you anxious?”

“What are you talking about?” Cecily revealed a puzzled expression.

He had thought that she had drawn close to him in order to defend herself while being aware that all her talk about noble honor or power bore no meaning, but――

No choice. I guess I’ll protect her as well.

Chrono sighed lightly. He didn’t like Cecily all that much, but his dislike didn’t go as far as him wishing her to experience something tragic.

Once Chrono and Cecily reached the peak of the hill, they ran into visitors who came here before them. Leonhart, Beltil, and Alfort. The two kept their distance from the three, gazing at Marcab. Unfortunately, they couldn’t tell the town’s state from up here.

If I had known this would happen, I should have brought Arided and Deneb with me.

“Tomorrow we’re going to attack that place, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness. We will quickly capture Marcab, displaying the empire’s might.”

Chrono could hear Alfort and Beltil speaking. Immediately following that, fires were lit at the outer parts of Marcab. The fires spread like a blossoming flower, covering the town’s circumference in no time. Those were bonfires. Moreover, an absurd number of them.

Chrono clicked his tongue. His worry proved to be right. Argo had gained time by making them cautious of ambushes to get the ranks back in order.

No, I suppose it’s too hasty to draw that conclusion. If they fixed their ranks, there would be no meaning in lighting bonfires. It’d be more efficient to launch an attack on us while we’re careless. That means, it’s probably a bluff, huh? Come to think of it, I heard a story about Tokugawa Ieyasu deliberately leaving the gates of his castle open when he had suffered a crushing defeat against Takeda Shingen in his former world.

Suddenly a long shpop could be heard and a nasty smell hit Chrono’s nose.

Is this possibly――

“Aaahh!”

“Please wait, Your Highness!”

Suddenly Alfort ran downhill, resulting in Beltil chasing after him. After a moment, Leonhart drew close. His face remained completely unfazed despite the shameful event just now.

“What do you think, Lord Chrono?”

“I think His Highness just shat himself.”

“Pfft,” Cecily broke into laughter.

“I don’t mean His Highness, but the bonfires.”

“Those are a bluff.”

“Why?”

“I think it’s a nice plan to let us know that they got this many soldiers.”

“I agree. Then again, we cannot afford to act on the suspicion that this is a bluff.”

“Certainly.”

“Very well, I’ll go ahead then,” Leonhart announced and descended the hill.”

I want to leave as well, but…, Chrono looked next to him.

Cecily was absentmindedly staring at the bonfires.

“Don’t space out. We got a war council to attend.”

“I’m not spacing out!” Cecily barked back testily and began to go downhill by herself.

Chrono sighed weakly and took out the magical communicator from his pouch.

“Mino, things have changed, so get ready for a night raid.”

『……Gotcha』

Chrono put the magical communicator away and headed towards the tents. Upon entering the tent with the war council, he found the battalion commanders and their adjutants surrounding the table just like last time. For some reason, Alfort was present as well. However, he looked rather unwell, as if he was going to faint any moment. His body swayed even as he sat on a chair.

“Okay, let us begin the war council,” Beltil announced at the start.

The council’s discussion proceeded in the direction of capturing Marcab just as initially planned. Chrono assumed that they were bringing this up under the ulterior motive of wanting to appeal their bravery to Alfort, but the victory in the hilly area probably played a role in this as well. The morale was so high that Chrono started to believe that they might be able to win, if things were like this. But, all of it changed with just a single comment from Alfort.

“W-W-We retreat! W-W-We’re going to run! A-A-All of you are j-j-just saying that we can w-w-win because you haven’t s-seen the number of b-b-b-bonfires surrounding Marcab!”

“Your Highness, the enemy would have no need to light bonfires if they had prepared military forces capable of overwhelming us. This is probably another attempt at stalling for time. Even if we are going to retreat, we should do so after inflicting damage to the enemy,” Leonhart pacified Alfort.

They couldn’t quite conclude that the bonfires were a bluff, but the problem lay with people like Alfort seriously believing it. What made it even much worse was the fact of Alfort being the corps commander. No matter what plans they made here, nothing would move without Alfort’s approval.

If it wasn’t this sort of occasion, the option of tricking him with eloquent words would have been available.

“B-Be quiet! D-D-DD-Don’t d-dd-defy me! Even you, the eldest son of the Palatium family, are my subordinate right now! I-I won’t let you say that you forgot the fate of those who oppose me!

“Please wait! If we lose Sir Leonhart, we won’t be able to protect you fully!” Beltil covered for Leonhart.

As might be expected, the execution of a duke family’s eldest son would be way too tyrannical.

When he came to the frontline base ten days ago, he acted like a total coward, but now he has apparently undergone a huge change. Very likely Alfort has grasped the weight of his authority through the matter with Joseph. Things have become annoying, but it’s an issue that has to be resolved.

“Are you okay to not watch Marcab?”

“R-Right! S-Surveillance! The enemy might be closing in on us as we speak!” Alfort yelled as if labeling Chrono’s comment as a groundbreaking idea.

“S-S-Someone, go and watch t-them!”

“In that case, I will have my men stand watch.”

The one volunteering was the guy who had insulted Leo’s grave.

“I-I see. T-Take care of i-it.”

“As you command,” the man bowed his head deeply.

“A-Anyway, we’re retreating. I-I-I won’t allow a-any o-o-objections!”

“At your will. If you have made up your mind to such an extent, it cannot be helped.”

Probably guessing that it’d be a folly to persuade Alfort, Leonhart readily backed down.

“Let us withdraw so that we won’t waste the lives of or soldiers either.”

“A-As long as you understand, all is fine. A-As long as y-you understand.”

Alfort smiled in satisfaction. Chrono thought that Alfort had dropped a relatively biting remark there, but the young prince apparently didn’t realize.

Leonhart left the tent and Chrono followed as well. He hadn’t expected for things to turn out like this even in his wildest dreams, but he was happy about being able to return home. Chrono’s lips naturally curved into a smile.

“That looks disgusting,” Cecily hissed, apparently having left the tent at some point.

“I’m just enjoying the prospect of being able to get back alive.”

“Oh my, are you scared?”

“Yes, I am.”

Chrono’s answer was apparently unexpected to her. Cecily’s eyes flew wide open.

“Cecily, you’re not scared?”

“Could you not call me without any honorific titles?” Cecily retorted angrily, “Nobles put their lives on the line for the sake of honor and prestige. Though I doubt you understand this.”

“You’re right. I won’t die for the sake of honor and prestige for sure.”

He couldn’t help but be scared of his subordinates’ death and his own death. Even under normal circumstances he was already fully engaged with this, so he wasn’t able to even consider risking his life for honor and prestige.

“Our morning will start early, so hurry up and go to bed, okay?”

“I’m no child!”

“If you’re scared, you’re free to visit my tent.”

“As I said, I’m no child!”

Cecily stomped away. Chrono intended to tease her with a light sexual harassment, but she apparently hadn’t noticed.

She’s a young noble lady, so I guess it can’t be helped, he thought as he headed towards his tent at the narrow path.

As he approached the entrance to the narrow path, Mino rushed over to him.

“Captain, how did it go?”

“Our retreat has been decided.”

“…That’s…”

Mino wrinkled his snout. His feelings aligned with Chrono’s. He wanted to say that they shouldn’t have gone to war in the first place, if they were going to retreat so easily.

“Let us keep our guard up to the very end. We’re still at war until we return to the Erakis March.”

“Aye, gotcha,” Mino nodded deeply.

※

Early morning of the eleventh day after the start of the march.

Chrono was woken to the sound of horse hooves and screams. He quickly grabbed his longsword and dagger before rushing out of his tent, just to see how Argo’s cavalry was galloping down the slope. He estimated them to number less than 500.

Just what happened? Yesterday night they informed us of their presence by lighting bonfires. The imperial army also positioned guards.

“Captain, it’s an enemy attack.”

“I know! The Lizad and Horus units are to block the narrow path with their shields! The Taiga unit is to ready their spears for when any enemies break through! The Arided, Deneb, and Nasul units are to aim at the enemy cavalry and shoot them down!”

His subordinates immediately started to move as Chrono gave out his orders. The enemy cavalry had preferentially targeted the imperial soldiers camping on top of the hill. It was a hindsight-based opinion, but it was correct to have set up their tents in the narrow path.

“But, why? Last night, soldiers should have watched Marcab, and yet… Arided, Deneb! Are the ones fallen on the hill elves!?” He yelled towards the two girls.

Both of them had deployed their unit at the slope――the entrance to the narrow path――and were now shooting at the cavalry. They weren’t simply giving commands, but were shooting their own arrows as well.

“We have our hands full here!”

“It’s humans! Humans are laying on top of the hill!”

“Ahhh, god damn it! That utter fool!” Chrono lamented.

The guy, who had disgraced Leo’s grave by insulting him, didn’t use elves as lookouts. Chrono wondered why he had committed such a dumb mistake. It was said that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, but Chrono wished that things wouldn’t just go wrong as if it was intentionally designed for it to happen.

Still, now wasn’t the time to keep complaining. The soldiers escaping towards the narrow path were getting killed on the slope and the resisting soldiers were blown away without so much as a chance to do anything by the cavalry as it rushed downhill.

“I guess we have no choice but to sortie ourselves.”

If they didn’t drive the enemy cavalry to retreat, an annihilation would be inevitable, but no one would need help if you could drive away cavalry so easily.

As he worried what to do next, an enemy cavalryman tumbled down. Leonhart had severed the forelegs of his horse. As they had apparently recognized Leonhart as a threat, ten cavalrymen attacked him at once. But, Leonhart extended the blade of his sword with divine arts like Fay had done the other day, and cut all of them down in one stroke. Apparently fearing Leonhart who had changed their comrades into unmoving corpses in the blink of an eye, the enemy cavalry’s movements became sluggish.

“Now! Aim and shoot them down!”

“”Roger!””

“…Roger.”

Arided and Deneb replied energetically while Nasul shot his arrows indifferently. The other elves seemed to fall behind in archery skill compared to those three, but none of them did silly blunders like shooting their own allies.

Around the time when close to 60% of the imperial army had taken refuge in the narrow path, the enemy cavalry turned their horses around. Rather than suffering heavy losses by chasing too far, they chose to reunite with their main force, Chrono guessed. Most of the corpses strewn on the slope were imperial soldiers.

Alfort approached Chrono’s position together with Beltil while weaving his way through the corpses.

“T-That’s why I-I-I said we should retreat a-as soon as p-p-possible.”

“We don’t have any spare time to talk about such things now. Please come this way,” Beltil made Alfort sit down on top of a rock.

“We’re going to hold a special war council! All battalion commanders are to report here with their adjutants!” Beltil yelled loudly, his voice carrying through the entire narrow path.

The surviving commanders and adjutants started to move. Namely, Leonhart, Beltil, Cecily, and another pair in addition to Chrono and Mino. The man, who had insulted Leo’s grave, was nowhere to be seen.

“So you survived, huh?”

“I-I must live on!” Cecily’s voice was loud and shrill.

She apparently didn’t have the spare time to put on her plate armor, so she was wearing the white uniform which proved her to be an Imperial Knight. Given that she’d bungled up the buttoning, she must have been in quite a hurry. The council was over in less than ten minutes, but――

“I cannot agree with that.”

“Marquis Erakis, if your men don’t take care of our rear guard, all of us will die,” Belitl admonished Chrono.

The conclusion they had reached at the war council was to retreat. Now that they had less than 5,000 men, including the wounded, they had no other choice but to fall back. Even Chono understood as much. He truly did, but――

“But, why are only the humans retreating?”

“Human lives are more important than those of demihumans. You’re a noble yourself, aren’t you? So you should understand what I’m saying.”

“No, I don’t.”

Chrono shook his head assertively. Beltil had said that it was a noble’s true nature to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Hence, Beltil comprehended things, and yet he lied to himself.

Why can he persuade others with a lie that doesn’t even work on himself?

“If that’s what being a noble is about, I’d rather not be one myself!”

“If it’d solve anything if we stayed behind here, I’d do it myself! But, it’s impossible! All we can do right now is to sacrifice the 500 demihumans so that we…that we can run back home,” Beltil spat out, his voice full of irritation and his face a grimace.

He had said something he shouldn’t have. His expression was dyed with regret.

“Hah? What? So you’re not going to stay behind?”

“You shut up!” Beltil thundered at the surviving battalion commander’s ridicule. “Marquis Erakis, don’t pay any attention to his words. Humans aren’t that strong. Even if you opt to withdraw, I won’t hold it against you.”

Beltil’s voice was gentle. Chrono suspected this to be his true opinion.

Yeah, he’s right. Death is scary. I’ve still got things I want to do. The agricultural reform isn’t finished yet and the paper production has only started. I haven’t seen the new barracks either. And a lot, lot more.

If he went back to the Erakis March, he’d be able to do all of that. The fief would become prosperous and he’d be able to make a far bigger number of people happy than the number of subordinates he would be sacrificing here. He wanted to have lots of sex with Layla, Elena, Shaela, and Rio. He thought it’d have been fine to have made a move on Fay and to have fondled Tilia’s tits when she entrusted her body to him during the ball.

“I will…”

Chrono cast his face down.

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