Translator: Rockgollem
Editor: Ruzenor, Tear, Skythewood
The signal for the start of the battle did not come from the cliff on the other side, where Ikuta was focusing his attention, nor from below the cliff where the Phantom group had been working secretly, but on top of the Imperial Army that was stretched out along the path.
“The mountains are our world! Prepare to open your eyes wide and be surprised, you devils from the plains!”
A barrage of fire arrows rained on the soldiers’ heads with a girl’s announcement. Everyone was bewildered by an attack from an unexpected angle, and the wagons and clothings hit by the arrows started to burn.
U-Up above?! What’s this! There shouldn’t be a place big enough for an army up there.
Matthew, who had taken after Ikuta to prepare for the worst and memorized the marching path along with the surrounding terrains, could not hide his surprise. Just as his assumptions were flipped upside down and his head turned into a cacophony, Ikuta spoke stoically.
“Calm down Matthew. There’s no place to put soldiers above the cliff. Speaking normally, anyways. This is simply a desperate push by a trapped enemy.”
“Yeah, I think so too. It would be an impossible ambush except for the nimble Shinaak tribesmen, but considering the damage from the fire arrows, there are not that many of them. The shock will only last for a moment. If we can take care of the confusion now—”
While Torway was speaking, a scream erupted out as to mock his assumption. Captain Sazaruf’s troops, who had been walking in front of Ikuta’s group, were groaning while bleeding from the shoulders or their sides.
“What, gunfire…?! Is this from the above as well?!”
Captain Sazaruf shouted while taking cover, but the reality was different. Confirming that the damage from gunfire were concentrated to soldiers who were walking at the edge of the cliff, Ikuta bit his tongue after fully understanding the situation.
“No, they’re shooting from the cliff from the other side… Damn it, they were there as I thought.”
“What? From the cliff on the other side..?! Don’t be foolish. It’s at least 200m away to the other side! Even if they shoot from there, there’s no way it could reach all the way here—”
Torway, who had the related knowledge grasped the situation immediately without waiting for Captain Sazaruf to come to his own understanding. His expression soon froze into a tremble.
“Ik-kun, this means… they have the same as us…!”
“Yeah, you’re right… They’re snipers armed with air rifles!”
Just as Ikuta came to the conclusion, several allied soldiers at the edge of his vision fell. If they did not know where the shots were coming from, they could not do anything—. The moment he realized that, the boy stopped watching from the side idly.
“Torway, how long as you going to just sit there? Run over to your squad and return fire! The only squad that can do anything about this is your squad that is armed with air rifles!”
“Ug, got it…! We’ll suppress them soon enough.”
Torway quickly sprinted away after having realized his role. Even Ikuta could not formulate a response for the current situation. It was a wise precaution to have officers protected with shields, but…
“... Since we can’t avoid casualties from the snipers, only way is to speed up the march and get out of this valley as soon as possible. We just need to get out of the range of the air rifles.”
However, a messenger who waded in through the crowd of people shattered Ikuta’s optimistic outlook.
“Lieutenant General Safida! The entire front column is being attacked and further advance is not possible! I request that the rear column to wait—”
“Impossible! Do you not see this situation? This place is under attack as well, and you still ask to slow down the advance….!”
Lieutenant General Safida’s face grew bluer by the moment. But Ikuta felt the same way inside. They could not fight the enemy, and escaping via advancing was also not an option. The only way left was—.
“...Captain Sazaruf! What do you think about ordering retreat for all the squad to the rear of here?”
“I agree— but at this point, a retreat is beyond my authority!”
Then you need to convince the Lieutenant General— As Ikuta was about to say that, a warning from Yatori came from behind.
“Everyone, above you! They’re coming!”
Everyone snapped to look to the sky in surprise and several shadows jumped on in succession. The Shinaak tribesmen who had set up camp above cliff had slid down holding rope in one hand. The soldiers’ thinking process stopped at the inconceivable ways the enemy suicide squads were appearing.
“Matthew, Haro, fix bayonet! They’re coming from this side, too!”
Ikuta shouted as he fixed his bayonet to his bowgun. It was a laughable situation. The group of officers being protected front and rear by hundreds of men and surrounded with shields were being targeted by the enemy.
“Agh, arrgh… What is this. It’s not going in…!”
Haro, who was some distance away from the other knights, was struggling to insert the bayonet onto her bowgun. She could just use it without fixing it on there, but she could not think that fast amidst the chaos. She was not used to battles as there was a lot of work that needed to be done in the field hospital at the rear.
“Haro, calm down! I’m going over right now!”
Ikuta ran. Yatori was guarding Lieutenant General Safida, Torway had gone off to return fire, and Matthew was barely managing to defend himself. By the process of elimination, the only thing to do was to go save Haro.
The soldiers’ confusion piled on. The fearless Shinaak warriors had landed amidst them and started to attack. The majority of the soldiers had not fixed bayonet and could not adequately respond to sudden close-quarter combat that landed amidst them from the sky.
“Haro, watch out! Above!”
“Ah—”
They probably thought that a girl who was struggling to fix bayonet was a ripe target. An enemy who had slid down half way from the cliff kicked against the stone wall and jumped. And landed— right beside Haro.
He’ll get there a step too late at this rate. Ikuta decided that in a flash, abandoned his bowgun and flung himself at Haro, who was standing upright. He fell while grabbing just below her waist. At that moment, the enemy’s kukri just grazed the back of his head.
“Ha…. you bastard…!”
There was no time to relax even though he had dodged the attack. Instead of his abandoned weapon, he borrowed the bowgun from Haro’s hand and stood up. The enemy who couldn’t finish off his prey was coming for them again.
He barely received the kukri’s heavy blow with the shaft of the bowgun. It became a battle of strength with a blade against a shaft, but Ikuta’s chance of victory at this point had disappeared. He fell on the ground from the force pushing in from the blade and became defenseless as if asking to be finished.
“I’ll join innnnnnnnn!”
Then with a voice loud enough to tear his eardrum, someone unexpected came to the rescue. Warrant Officer Deinkun’s gigantic sword slashed and blew away the enemy who had rushed in to finish Ikuta.
The kukri fell on the ground split in two, and the enemy’s body, which even had its spine smashed, rolled down the cliff. Even Ikuta could not keep his mouth closed at this turn of events.
“Stand up quickly, Ikuta Solork! Even this one will not be able to save you twice!”
As Ikuta tried to get up, he finally saw Warrant Officer Deinkun’s gear. The armour was centered around the chest, thick plates covered various parts of the body and he wielded a claymore for mounted combat. That unfaltering medieval appearance was that of the Northern Defense Command’s final defense troop, a Cuirassier platoon leader’s formal wear.
“Thank you, Warrant Officer Deinkun. You said you can’t save me twice, but considering the last time, it has already been twice.”
“You do not need to count the last time. This one was in a hurry back then as well.”
Warrant Officer Deinkun picked up the bowgun dropped a bit away and responded cooly while giving it back. The boy extended a hand to Haro to help her up in one while glancing at the face of the giant who was a full head and a half taller than him.
“There is one question. When this one had hit you and you collapsed… you did not become angry, but thanked me instead.”
“Mmm, ah… Thanks to that, we could avoid the villagers’ resentment.”
“But you would have lost face. Were you not apprehensive about something like that would shame you?”
It was a direct and in your face kind of a question. So Ikuta replied back without hesitation.
“— No. It was a bit embarrassing, but didn’t change the fact your powerful strike fixed the situation. Well, just for reference… I never had a face that would be slighted after getting beat up in the first place.”
“... Is that so. Then, conversely, what kind of situation would you lose face in?”
“Ah. Hmm, that would be—”
While talking to Warrant Officer Deinkun, Ikuta handed over a bowgun with a bayonet strapped tightly on it over to Haro. The boy spoke with a serious expression on his face while brushing off the dirt on her face with his fingers.
“— Not being able to say everything when I have wanted to, not being able to protect things when I have wanted to, those kind of situations.”
On his words, Ikuta remember the face of a woman he met twice, but could not meet for the third time. But he sealed it up immediately. He closed the lid on his memories and chased away the reminiscence of the past.
That was a face he had already lost. What he needed to focus on now was the ones who were not dead.
“... I don’t understand, but I do know one thing. We do not go well together.”
Warrant Officer Deinkun spoke very clear-cut while holding on to the claymore on top of a horse. Ikuta understand immediately. There was no room for misunderstanding. He even thought that it would be hard to find two people who were so different from another. Even still.
“But… that’s the kind of a knight you are.”
The moment he heard those words, there was a self-mocking smile on the boy’s face. — He misunderstands many things. If he concluded things on such friendly level, then the words they had exchanged so far would be meaningless.
Amidst the noise generated by allies and enemies mixing together, Yatori Igsem was staring at the sky while holding her trademark twin sword in her hands.
Standing directly in front of Lieutenant General Safida, she was practically the centre point for the guards. She was confident she could defeat any enemy, no matter which direction they came from.
The tip of her twin swords shuddered like an antenna that had picked up on something. It was because of a small body that was not just content on sliding down the cliff, but was running with a rope in one hand came into sight.
Yatori felt an untimely awe. Even amongst Shinaak tribe who were famed for being nimble, there were not many who would act so recklessly.
“Lieutenant General Safida, do not move from that spot!”
Half way down the cliff, the shadow kicked off the wall. It was a superhuman jump taking advantage of nimble movements, but did not immediately aim for Lieutenant General Safida. Because she had also instinctively sensed the existence of an obstacle she needed to overcome.
“Tyaaaaat!”
A downward strike using gravity and a precise counter which aimed for vital point thrust out from above and below. The moment their blow met each other, steel collided and sparks flew.
“Che…!”
After the first blow was intercepted mid-air, her small, cat-like body landed nimbly.
“... We meet again, red one.”
A pair of kukri in her two hands were too brutish compared to the owner’s small body. But looking at her carefully— beneath that big cape covering her, peeks of a frail yet muscular body that showed off functionality brought awe. Her large eyes, burning with a cause made everyone who looked into them hold their breath. Her black hair faded under sunlight was braided into two strands, left and right. From a glance, her partner sprite didn’t seem to be nearby.
“Yes, we meet again.”
She was cute, but not frail. She had an aura of an experienced warrior about her. It was the kind of a strength that couldn’t be conveyed from a distance when they first met.
Yatori recognized the opponent’s strength, took a stance with her twin swords without showing an opening and revealed her name as per the knight’s code.
“Imperial Army Skirmisher 1st Training Platoon leader cum Light Cavalry 1st Training Platoon leader, Warrant Officer Yatori Igsem. My partner is the fire sprite, Shia. I’m glad to meet you again, young chieftain of the Shinaak tribe.”
“Shinaak Chieftain, Nanak Dar. Hahashik is Hisha of the wind. I responded to your introductions, but don’t get cocky. I won’t remember any of your long and boring titles!”
Nanak Dar made herself clear and aimed the point of her two knives. Yatori took her simple and direct animosity with pleasure.
“It doesn’t matter… Experience the sensation of these blades and die!”
“As if—!”
Nanak ran forward like a loosened arrow. She did not care for the sabre being thrust forward to counter and struck heavily with a kukri as if intending to break the blade. Countering this, Yatori turned her blade to deflect the strike and immediately thrust at the opening. But—
“Ugh…”
At that moment, Nanak Dar used the blade stuck onto ground as a centrifuge to rotate her body and swung for the second attack. It was a series of attack that could not exist in a conventional swordfight. Yatori managed to stand her ground by retreating a little, but the girl’s truly ferocious strikes were just beginning.
“Ryaaaaat!”
The blade on the right was plucked out from the earth and attacked Yatori as it rose instead of going back to the owner. She tried to defend with the handguard of the sabre and go on the offensive, but the blade on the left dived in aiming for her left thigh. Yatori admired her moves. Each attack was unreasonably wide, but there was no opening to drive into.
“What’s up, red one! Can’t move around?”
Nanak Dar’s assault continued. All the officers who wanted to help Yatori by jumping in hesitated and stopped. That bladework was like a windmill with blades attached to it. If they approached carelessly, that would be the end.
On the other hand, Yatori was carefully observing from the middle of the windmill’s attacks. Shifting her centre of gravity with the shaft of the blade, unending rotation, stance to maximize the small stature— receiving the heated blades with a cool demeanor, she analyzed that those would be the key in breaking through Nanak Dar’s swordplay.
Including Igsem’s twin sword style, the majority of sword stances emphasized centre of gravity in the lower body, in other words, the hip. It was because it allowed for the most stabilized offense and defense. It is considered to have an opening when one couldn’t maintain that. Even styles that had various stances, it was considered physiologically impossible to not have the centre in the lower body.
But Nanak had a different method. Amidst her attacks, her centre of gravity was obviously not in the lower body. That small body being swung around by overly heavy and large kukris maintained form without defying the laws of physics and continually moved while using a sword as the centre of gravity.
— The result was this rotating sword dance.
A blade that slid deep inside sliced a few strands of red hair. To relentlessly attack using the heavy and large pair of kukris, Nanak Dar rarely took the motion of retracting her blade. She continuously kept on the ferocious attacks by finishing a swing to link into a next attack, or stuck the blade into the ground to use as a centrifuge. Those motions gave birth to a unique motion of never-ending rotation of sword.
“You may only be an adept, but I can’t help but admit that it’s excellent.”
Compliments came out from Yatori’s mouth. Along with Shinaak tribe’s hardiness and toned muscles, Nanak Dar’s small stature has created a whole new style of sword fight. Still, no matter how much of an acrobatic stance she maintained, there was no way someone who was limited to circular movement would not reveal an opening to someone who moved in a straight line like Yatori.
The only thing that made her style possible was the lowered stance because of her small size. Compared to Yatori who could only attack downward against a smaller opponent, Nanak could retain her low stance and slash away at the opponent’s lower body. The time for the attack to reach the other would be in Nanak Dar’s favour. That advantage was supplementing the natural delays in the circular motion.
“... Kuuh. Stop it, now!”
Yatori took a blow with the guard on her main gauche and over-extended a little to drive into the circular sword style. If the sword style was focused around rotating, then she only needed to stop the rotation. However—
“No, not going to stop!”
With the kukri stuck in the guard as the centre, Nanak Dar’s body floated up in mid air. The rotation did not die out, but only had its centre axis tilted to a side. Yatori opened her eyes wide at this.
“Is that— you changed to a vertical rotation?”
“That’s correct!”
A final blow utilizing gravity came from above her head. Yatori received the attack by crossing her two swords and reduced the impact on her blades by jumping back a little.
She took a defensive stance thinking the gap between them would be closed instantly, but Nanak Dar unexpectedly stopped moving and simply watched Yatori.
“You’re lasting longer than I expected. I’ve hit you that much, but your blade isn’t broken either…”
“I’m barely holding my ground. It’s amazing. I’m being outclassed by a technique I’ve never seen before.”
“No. You had enough room to watch my skills and be amazed about it.”
Nanak Dar’s expression hardened against an opponent she could not fully measure up. Yatori also felt a likeableness to the opponent who did not underestimate an opponent despite the superiority.
“Seems I can’t help it since I got found out. But what I have now is enough. Preliminary exchange for measuring up is over.”
Yatori readied her twin swords again after speaking without any frill or deception. The atmosphere changed. From a stance focused on defense, she switched to an offensive stance to finish the fight. It was also conveyed to the opponent facing off against her.
“... Are you saying you saw through my techniques. From that short skirmish just now? Load of rubbish!”
“You don’t need to believe everything I say. If you’re a warrior, trust in your abilities and attack.”
A sound of laughter came out from the girl’s mouth. There were no truer words.
— It did not matter even if a swordmaster was here. At this moment she still believed the girl who claimed to have seen through it all would not win against her.
“... That arrogance. I’ll make you regret it in hell, red one!”
Nanak Dar rushed forward with certain victory in heart. Compared to that, Yatori waited for the enemy without any movement. The point seemed to be to wait for the opponent to make the first strike and aim for a counter. It was a completely countering stance just like the proclamation that preliminary exchanges were over.
“Ryaaaaat!”
Nanak Dar swung the first strike. It was a powerful strike with all her might to break the blade. But Yatori stepped back to dodge, and the Kukri missed the mark and struck the earth. Using the stuck blade as an axis, Nanak Dar’s body circle around. That scene was the same as just before. It was the same horizontal slash from an impossible position that surprised Yatori when she first saw it.
But— the same trick did not work twice.
The blade passed by in front of the thigh. Right after missing an attack, a gap that wasn’t exploited for the first time appeared. Nanak Dar’s body was still rotating in a circular motion. That small back was open for attack until the rotation finished and the next motion started.
Yatori’s knees recoiled and sprung out like a spring. With a rapid step, she thrust the main gauche in her left hand. A killing blow that did not miss an opportunity— it was a true strike that would end the opponent.
“Ha—! Got you, fool—!”
Nanak Dar was aiming for that moment. While showing her back defenselessly, Shinaak tribe’s young chieftain was laughing heartily. From her cape covered back, a trap let out its first cry.
A dry sound of air igniting sharply rang out, cutting across the sound of battle.
“Hyaaaaat!”
***
Part 3
A vertical strike from the claymore smashed the head of a Shinaak warrior. They were not even a proper match because their kukri could not handle the massive weight of the sword.
“Wow, amazing… I know it’s sudden, but I’ll have to reclassify you from a mere sandbag.”
“.... What did you say?”
Said Warrant Officer Deinkun as he glanced over. Ikuta tried to gloss things over by simply shaking his head. Truthfully, thanks to Deinkun’s efforts, the damage from Shinaak tribe suicide squad had decreased.
“It seems Torway is managing his job of returning fire properly since the shots from the other side of the cliff lightened up. If we keep this up, we can get through this. Just hold on a bit longer Haro and Matthew.”
“Ye, yeah!”
“I’m so sorry for burdening you!”
From in between Warrant Officer Deinkun and Ikuta, Matthew and Haro replied back.
Ikuta looked around. The battle was continuing, but he felt that the real hump was over. It was something that was exceedingly obvious. If they could withstand the initial shock of the ambush, the scattered enemy coming downhill could be taken out piecemeal.
“To attack with such reckless strategy must mean that Shinaaks are cornered as well… It’s difficult to counter an opponent when you don’t know what they are going to do.”
“Hmph, you sound like a coward. No matter what they do, you can simply wipe out them out as they come.”
Ikuta shrugged his shoulder at Warrant Officer Deinkun’s rather simple answer to the situation. That was when a soldier’s scream resounded.
“W, what?! It was close by!”
Matthew looked around hurriedly. Their gaze, which had been facing upwards to spot any incoming enemies going down the cliff, was finally back to horizontal view of the surface thanks to that.
They quickly spotted where the scream came from. The soldiers who were standing by the edge positioned behind the officer group, which including Ikuta, were collapsing on the ground bleeding from the right side. At first Ikuta thought it was another round of shots from the other side of the cliff and clicked his tongue, but what followed was astonishing..
The marksmen who wounded them were not on the other side of the cliff, but were here.
“... Reinforcements from below the cliff?! Damn, the troops are preoccupied with what’s above..”
Ikuta stood still as he spoke. The soldiers climbing up from below the cliff did not dress much differently from the Shinaak warriors. But their quality was different. From the way they moved as a group to their proficiency on how they handled their carbines, it was obvious that they were highly trained soldiers.
“Sly as always. I will face you head on!”
“...Ugh, don’t be too rash, Warrant Officer Deinkun! They’re completely different!”
Warrant Officer Deinkun ran forward past Ikuta’s warnings and faced the enemy head on.
--There was nothing to fear. Holding the claymore in hand and protected with armour, he was certain that only person who could beat him in close quarter combat was that red haired girl.
One of the enemy who noticed his approach, turned around and stared at him. The man simply pointed the tip of the wind carbine at the giant approaching with a roar.
“Fu, do you think that pea shooter will work on me!”
Warrant Officer Deinkun saw the enemy’s action and covered his face with the sword. Using the large blade as a shield, he protected the head which the enemy would obviously aim for. All vital areas outside the head were well armoured in the first place.
But it was a move that limited his own line of sight as well.
In front of the vision blocked by the sword, the man drew a knife from his waist. It was not a kukri they saw so many times until now. It was a dagger with ominous glint that was thinner and smaller. The man kicked off the ground while holding the dagger in opposite hand from his carbine, the right hand. He made no noise, like a phantom.
“HYAAAAAAH!”
Deinkun swung down his claymore at where the man used to be with all his might. But there was no expected resistance or any blood spurt. The mighty strike finished with simply cutting across the air.
“Hmm…? You, where did you go--.”
The moment Warrant Officer Deinkun tilted his head curiously, a burning sensation cut across his throat without any warning. And a second later, blood gushed out.
***
The time between those two were stopped at a critical moment. .
“--- You---.”
Shinaak tribal chief, Nanak Dar squeezed out her hoarse voice while looking at the main gauche blade stabbing her in the back with an expression of disbelief.
“How did you…”
“You want to ask how I knew about that trap?”
Maintaining the stance with main gauche in her left hand thrusted out, Yatori lightly slashed with the sabre in her right hand.
The cape that was covering the girl’s back slashed in half and what was hidden inside revealed itself. It was a wind sprite fixed with a belt and a mechanism with a very short wind gun barrel. From the pierced area, air was pulsating out.
“I felt some things were amiss. First, you looked like you didn’t have a sprite with you. But you properly introduced your partner’s name as well during our exchange.”
“What…. W, with just that?”
“No, those two occasion were not everything. The moment I started suspecting something is after watching how you fight.”
While looking at the pair of kukri in the girl’s hands,Yatori continued quietly.
“...Courageous, yet bold style of dual wielding. I was truly amazed by that rotating style of fighting. But as we fought, that boldness felt unnatural. Because while we were fighting, you never bothered guarding your back. Especially in a middle of this melee where you could get stabbed in the back at any time.--”
“-- Of course, you might have been thinking about it a little bit, but you were never on guard enough to block an attack coming from behind. Since I was on guard the whole time, something felt even more wrong.”
“Kuhh….”
“Not only the Igsem dual wielding style, but the fundamentals of any dual wielder against multiple opponents is that being on guard from an attack from any direction is always a given. When you were being lazy with that, I knew for certain that you weren’t someone who only use two swords like me. That you had something hidden behind so you didn’t need to worry about your back.”
Yatori looked at that hidden card-- the sight of a wind sprite pierced along with the barrel of the wind gun.
It did not look to be in pain even after being pierced, but its eyes clearly conveyed the tension. It was not afraid of its own end. That sprite had thrown its body to stop the main gauche. Its partner’s death was only a sheet’s distance away.
“....”
“The duel’s over. Gather your tribe and surrender, Nanak Dar.”
Yatori urged her to surrender with a quiet voice. But she did not anticipate for two things here. First, that a girl named Nanak Dar would not accept defeat. Second, how the partner who knew only too well about her, Hisha, would act.
“..... Nana.”
Because of the cracks in its body, even the voice calling for its partner was not very clear. But it did not hesitate even with a body centimeters away from being broken. It was always with its partner and to help and protect life-- a duty as a sprite-- it barely clung onto life wanting to carry it out to the end.
“....?! Wait, what are you..!”
It was that kind of a situation.
“Hisha was it… If you move, your partner will die. Of course, you know that.”
Through the main gauche, Yatori could feel a violent vibration carry through to her arm. Right now, Hisha was using a wind sprite’s ability to compress air. Even though it knew that its body would not be able to handle it, to make sure its partner will live on to the future. Using the power that Shinaak tribe called it “divine” for. With its final wish--.
“.... Live.”
With its final word, wind sprite Hisha exploded itself from internal pressure.
“Kuuh….”
Yatori instinctively took a step back to protect herself from the shrapnel mixed into the wind. Escaping from a dire spot because of her partner’s sacrifice, Nanak Dar stood up from her posture that seemed like she was about to fall forward from the explosion, and looked at her shattered partner with a devastated expression.
“..... Hisha…”
It was a voice that was dumbstruck. The sight in front of her eyes and the missing weight from her back played havoc in the girl’s mind.
While feeling sympathetic, Yatori’s will to capture the girl did not waver. She removed the shrapnel from her arm and walked towards Nanak Dar once again.
“-- Don’t be too rash, Warrant Officer Deinkun!”
Her ears picked up a familiar boy’s shout nearby. When she instinctively looked around, Yatori witnessed the sight near 30 meters away.
The scene of a giant collapsing on his knees spurting blood from the neck while standing straight proudly.
Shadows were passing by as if ignoring that body.
Those coordinated movements showed they were no ordinary people even at a glance. Especially after looking at the man standing in front of the group, an indescribable chilling sensation ran down Yatori’s back.
Those shadows cut through all interfering imperial soldiers and advanced without hesitation. They were headed straight towards Yatori, who had Lieutenant General Safida at her back.
***
The sight of Warrant Officer Deinkun as he collapsed and the critical amount of blood he was losing registered in Yatori’s mind. Her gaze was constantly going back and forth between him and the enemy. And roughly 4 seconds later--
“.... Ah.”
-- Swing your swords
An instinctive feeling from her gut commanded her so.
“.... Arrrgh!”
“Kuugh?!”
Glint of the sword rose like a dragon formed a heated wave to deliver death. The leader of the shadows, who was the first to feel the fiery gale, had to concentrate with all his might to dodge it.
First exchange: deflected the first sabre strike with a dagger - lost sensation in the fingers.
Second exchange: blocked the follow up main gauche attack with the barrel of the carbine - cannot fire anymore due to the hole in the barrel.
Third exchange: parried the third strike which twisted into different direction with the armour on the arms - forearm guards were cracked.
Fourth exchange: shielded against the kick aimed at the lower stomach with two hands - the fourth and fifth digit on right hand have dislocated.
“...Ugh… kuh… ugh!”
The shadow responded without a mistake in the tug of war, which would’ve lead to death if one had made a single wrong move. He barely kept his life, widened their distance and stopped. Below that turban, the face made a surprised expression for the first time.
There was no way that Yatori, who made him make that expression, knew what a rare sight that was.
“... Phuuuu! ”
“Che..!” “...Kuh.”
Two shadows that tried to slip by her side to get to Lieutenant General realized it was a reckless plan and backed off. They could not pass. Yatori’s chilling amount of killing intent drew an invisible line of life and death.
“Matthew’s Squad, surround them!”
An order came from behind in an announcing voice. Ikuta had ordered Matthew’s squad, which was relatively close to the officer group to move.
Between the riflemen who were rushing over people, and the red haired warrior, the leader of the shadows realized it was time to back off. They rushed towards the edge and before any soldier could stop them, every single one of them went down the steep cliff slope without hesitation.
“They j-jumped..?! Ah, damn, they have ropes over here as well!”
Matthew swung his gun down the cliff in anger, but the ropes seemed to be installed some distance away from the edge of the cliff, so he could not reach it. Yatori was also looking down the cliff like him, but looked back after remembering that she had left Nanak Dar unattended.
“... Got away…”
She grinded her teeth. As expected, the disheartened girl who had lost her partner was gone. Did she escape down the cliff along with the shadows or climb up with the help of her comrades.
She thought of possibility of pursuit for a moment before giving up, took in a breath and turned around. She ran towards that spot. Ikuta and Haro were also there. They surrounded Warrant Officer Deinkun, who was keeping a shallow breathing while still being upright.
“--- Haro, how is it?”
Haro opened her mouth while standing by the head and trying to stop the bleeding.
“His artery is cut. I’m trying to stop the bleeding, but he already lost too much blood…”
That there was little chance to save him was not in the mood and voice alone, but was also evident around the ground. Around the wound in the neck, there was a puddle of blood about the size of a carpet. It was more amazing that he was still breathing after losing that much blood.
“Dein… Dein… don’t die. No…”
On the other side from Haro, Warrant Officer Deinkun’s partner, water sprite Niki was trying to desperately talk with its partner. He seemed to have heard that voice and tried to move his arm, but didn’t have enough strength to lift it. Yatori moved his hand instead over to the sprite.
“... Yatori. Can you listen to his final words while he’s still conscious.”
“Alright. I’ll do that…”
Yatori took Haro’s place by Deinkun’s head. She whispered to him that she would take his final words and took her ear near his mouth.
Deinkun moved his blue lips to squeeze out words. After hearing those words, Yatori brought her mouth close to his ears and replied. Warrant Officer Deinkun’s head looked like it nodded slightly -- and with that, even his shallow breathing stopped. His death and silence ruled that place and even overwhelmed the noise of war.
“... Yatori. Can I ask what his last words were?”
Ikuta asked hesitantly. Yatori replied back in surprisingly light tone.
“There were four in total. “I leave my comrades in the Empire to you”, “I want my partner Niki to go to my sister”, “next time, duel with me properly with those two swords” and the last one was closer to thinking out loud than a will.”
“Thinking out loud?”
“Yeah. He wondered if he kept his face as a knight.”
Yatori looked up into the sky as to hold back something from coming out of her eyes.
“He’s a modest man. He died an honourable death. There was nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Yeah, he did… What did you say to him?”
Yatori coughed once and replied, speaking with her usual brave but slightly hoarse voice.
“A knight who loved his country and comrade more than anyone, you fought braver than anyone. Deinkun Harguska, may there be blessing and glory upon your soul.”
A fitting eulogy. Ikuta thought that in his head. He could never find good enough words for situations like this.
“Thanks for not saying anything about it. I thought it when I came up with it too, but it seems old fashioned now that I say it again. It looks like fitting words don’t really come out when you need them.”
Ikuta swayed his head at Yatori while smiling bitterly. She was being modest. When asking a knight to deliver a eulogy for a knight, there was no one more fitting than Yatori to deliver those words.
Following her, Torway, Matthew and Captain Sazaruf approached and offered their words one by one before Warrant Officer Deinkun’s body.
The march resumed an hour later and the casualties from the ambush were moved to the rear, with destination for the dead and the living diverging completely.
The dead were going back and the living continued forward. To the next battle. Forward and onward.
Part 4
“My suspicion about this was already very high, and I got a clear answer from the battle earlier ─ The Kioka Republic manipulated this civil war.”
When they were almost at their destination. Using the chance when the soldiers all sat down to take a breather during a long break, Ikuta Solork said confidently.
“I haven’t awakened to the joy in spreading conspiracy theory. But since an enemy unit with Air Rifles appeared, then this is the only possibility left. Because in the Empire, only Torway’s unit possessed 40 of such experimental weapons.”
“If any other Air Rifles appeared, it must belonged to Professor Anarai who escaped to the Kioka Republic… Is that what you mean, Ik-kun?”
Torway concluded through logical thinking, but Torway wasn’t entirely convinced and asked:
“Are you suggesting that Kioka is helping the Shinaaks rebel…? Is such a thing possible?”
“Of course. Judging from the attitude that country treats military matters, this is the most proper of their orthodox methods. If we are to discuss the history of the Kioka Republic, when they face an opponent like the Katjvarna Empire which they have no chance of defeating in a straight fight, they would rely on other factors both inside and outside their enemy to gain an advantage. That’s how they survived for so long.”
Yatori who was wiping and maintaining her swords interjected:
“‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ ─ This doesn’t apply only to their military, this is basically Kioka’s diplomatic policy.”
“That’s right. In response to the arrogance of the powerful Empire, they would act in a meek manner, that is the Kioka way of doing things. To avoid fighting amongst themselves, and to incite other factions to do so. They made use of the Shinaaks this time.”
“I… I see. After all, the Shinaaks are potential rebels within the Empire in the first place…”
“In other words… Not only are they supporting the Shinaaks, the entire war was planned by Kioka from the very beginning?”
Haroma and Matthew both looked uneasy, while Ikuta nodded without holding back.
“If not, how did things dragged on for so long… Be it the death of Major Taekk who was the pillar of the Northern command, or the guerilla battle in the mountains after that, all their actions are crisp and sharp without unnecessary movements. It is clear that they had been trained carefully in combat by someone.”
“By the way, their supply of Wind Cannons are too plentiful and could rival an army matches this speculation. Anyone who fought here can feel the existence of an organization that is supporting the rebellion of the Shinaaks… I just didn’t expect them to interfere so directly.”
Yatori who remembered something from the earlier battles said with a hint of fear. Ikuta agreed without a word, and a short later, said an inauspicious name suddenly.
“... They are probably the ‘Phantom Unit’.”
“Phantom Unit…? That… That’s a pretty frightening name.”
“It’s just a name they are known by, because never leave behind corpses on the battlefield. Their real identity is a secret unit used by the Kioka army to carry out covert missions… There is no doubt such a unit exist, but from the rumours heard about their exploits, they sound like legends of the battlefield.”
Assassinating key personnels, obtaining top secrets, inciting revolts, training local guerrilla units and others… They handle secret task that could not be disclosed to the public. It was said that this unit completed all their mission in accordance to the needs of the government and military.
As the actual situation of their activities were shrouded in darkness, they were recurring characters in the speculations of conspiracy theorists. For example, ‘So and so was actually assassinated by the Phantom Unit, so this is the scheme of Kioka!’ had become dank memes.
“Inciting and increasing the hatred that the Shinaack held towards the Empire, and providing military training that focus on uprising. That should be the mission of the Phantom Unit. And in this process, even the brilliant execution of a jihad was worked into this.”
“In that case, I think they were ones who came up with the plan to ‘lure the Imperial army into the Grand Arfatra Mountains to conduct guerilla warfare’. That is because the Shinaak seldom use the tactic of making good preparations before waiting in the mountains in ambush.”
“Which means the proposing and planning of the war was done by the Phantom Unit, belonging to the Kioka Republic, and the ones carrying it out are the Shinaaks… Kioka might look like they are an accomplice, but they are actually the mastermind.”
Everyone nodded in agreement to the simple summary by Yatori.
“There was a group that looked suspiciously like the Phantom Unit in the previous battle, with one group shooting from the other side of the cliff, and another group charging into the Imperial forces. The melee group was about platoon size, and from the scale of the shooting, the ranged unit should have about similar numbers… But I don’t think that’s their full forces.”
“They taught the Shinaaks how to fight guerilla battles, so they should have quite a number of personnel… However, this is a separate issue from how many people they left here right?”
“It is as you say, but as this is very plausible, we should assume they are one company strong. I think this should be the upper limits for the number of people that could infiltrate and hide in secret operations.”
“I feel the same as Yatori. And the problem is, after all the battles so far, those guys probably didn’t lose any men. In other words, there is an entire unharmed company lying in ambush, and they are elites where a part of the soldiers are equipped with the newest Air Rifles.”
A heavy silence shrouded the group. Feeling that he might had made everyone too cautious, Ikuta tried to lighten the mood.
“What we did just now was discussing the possibilities, and even if these are all true, what those guys would do next is another problem. Maybe their mission is complete once they’ve incited a civil war that will hurt the Imperial Army seriously. As for their assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Safida, maybe they are hoping for a bonus if it happens to work.”
As Ikuta spoke, he felt his optimistic view sounded really hollow… So far, the situation had been going from bad to worse. Nobody even considered that it might turn for the better out of nowhere… And they couldn’t afford to.
“Everyone get up! Form your ranks! We are moving out!”
The loud voice echoed out. The soldiers who thought they could enjoy a longer period of rest got up grumbling. The other knights followed suit, and asked as soon as they saw their superior officer:
“What’s the matter, Captain Sazaruf. It has just been 30 minutes, isn’t this a long rest?”
When he heard Matthew who sounded more uneasy than upset, Captain Sazaruf answered with a stiff expression:
“I feel bad for the soldiers, but the schedule had been pushed forward. The unit ahead of us seemed to have run into some problematic situation, if we don’t get there early, it might be difficult to resolve.”
“Problematic situation… is… is it an enemy attack?”
Haroma asked timidly, but the Captain shook his head with an expression that says that might be better.
“This is a war that never bores its participants… Our allied forces had gone out of control.”
The girl dragged her heavy feet and kept running as she endured the scorching pain on her back.
“Huff… Huff… Ughh… Huff… Puff…!”
Groans of pain broke her ragged breathing every few moments. She used her torn cape as a bandage to stop her bleeding, but her wounds seemed to be protesting the shoddy treatment and felt more painful as time went by.
“Huff… Puff…! … Hurry… I have to hurry back─”
Although Nanak Dar tumbled down the cliff after grabbing a rope she just happened to find, she merely escaped from the fate of becoming a captive of the Imperial soldiers, but she paid a heavy price.
Be it the wounds of battle or the injury from the fall, neither of it was an issue. However ─ she couldn’t feel the weight behind her that made her feel at ease. This small void was equivalent to despair for the girl.
“... Ughh… Shia… I’m sorry… Shia…”
In her hasty escape, she couldn’t even pick up the soul stone that dropped amidst the debris. If she was lucky, the enemy would pick it, if not, it would fall into the cliff… There was a good chance that she would lose Shia forever. As her knees would grow weak when she thought about that, the girl tried her best to think of other things.
“Unforgivable… Unforgivable…! Those demons… Those damn soldiers…!”
The only thing that was supporting Nanak Dar was this hatred and fury. Even after losing her partner which was half of herself, there was still things she needed to protect. Many of her Shinaaks who lost their homes to fire and the warriors who were still fighting were gathered in the village ahead.
“... Everyone… Wait for me… Grandpa… Grandma… Nana is coming back…”
Nanak Dar climbed over boulders and parted the grass as she moved forth as fast as she could. However ─ When she was about to lose her sense of time, a pungent smell stimulated her nostrils. It was the same similar to what she smelled in a burned village ─ spurred by an ominous feeling, Nanak Dar sped up with a stumble.
“─ No… Stop… Stop…!”
With an expression on the verge of tears, she made a beeline through the dense vegetation. But after she crossed the grass field ─ she understood that her wish didn’t reach the heavens.
“─ Ah──”
When her field of vision widen, she could see the building burning red. Under the glow of the flames, there was a massacre happening in the village. The ground was filled with corpses, and those still alive were fleeing for their lives. There were men and women; the elderly and children. Soldiers were chasing and slaughtering them with bloodshot eyes.
Yahhhh! A woman whose chest was pierced by a blade screamed. The soldier kicked the woman down, and then twisted the bayonet that was embedded. Her screams turned into howls, and the smile on the soldier’s face deepened.
For him, the pain felt by the other party was the best form of joy, and there was no limits in their greedy pursuit of this happiness. He pulled out the bayonet, and stabbed it into the mouth of the woman.
“... Stop…”
Her voice was trembling, her teeth clattering with each other. The girl who was living normally in this village, but it was now hellish. Nanak Dar witness the Imperial soldiers she and her tribesmen had been calling demons becoming a literal evil existence. She never knew that real demons would kill and torment others with such a gleeful smile.
“... Stopppppp…!”
Nanak Dar gripped her Gauches tightly and pushed the pain on her back to the back of her mind and dashed right into hell. She killed the demons she saw one by one as she advanced… But the more she moved, the heavier her body got. After rushing here with her wounds, she lost a lot of blood.
More importantly, her back felt cold. There wasn’t anything protecting her back─
“... Grandpa… Grandma…”
After Nanak Dar found the large house where the elders of the tribes should have gathered, she didn’t hesitate on kicking open the door and barging in. The hell inside was more restrained than outside. Because it was already over, aside from a few demons ransacking through the house in search of valuables, there were only the corpses of the elderly.
“──”
For the Shinaaks where life expectancy averaged around 30, the elderly were a rare existence. Without regards to blood relations, all the young ones would address the elders who accumulated wisdom from their long life as ‘grandpa’ or ‘grandma’, and the elderly would treat the young ones like their own grandchildren.
In the heart of the tribal chief Nanak Dar, the 17 elderly who died were such an existence to her. They were all grandfathers and grandmothers she was closer to than blood, and she shared memories with every single one of them.
And now ─ Some of these elderly had become corpses who would never speak again.
“─ Ahhhhhh…!”
If her partner Shia was one half of her, Nanak felt that the remaining half was being torn off of her. Her restraint of rationality broke down, and her killing intent spurred Nanak Dar’s entire body. Before the other party was ready, she sliced off one of the demon’s head ─ But that was a fatal mistake.
“... Ah…...!”
She felt the feedback of hitting something hard, and the gauche in her right hand wouldn’t move. Because she used too much strength in cutting off the head, and she cut right into a pillar in the room.
… For the dancing sword style that require a vast amount of space, its weak point was in fighting indoors. The girl lost herself in her rage, and didn’t even notice that.
“Damn it, this girl…!” “What the hell! Restraint her!”
The soldiers around rushed Nanak Dar who was defenceless. She attempted to swing the gauche in her left hand, but her entire arm was caught; another soldier grabbed her hair. The girl who was thrown hard onto the ground looked up at the troopers above her, and felt a chill.
“This girl cut off Sinha’s head!”
“Damn hillbilly…! I will let you suffer the same fate!”
The enraged soldier raised the gauche he seized from Nanak Dar and aimed for her neck. Feeling her imminent death, she closed her eyes. But as she imagined the cold blade touching her on reflex, another soldier said with a calm voice:
“Hey wait─ That is a woman.”
When they heard that, the other soldiers all stopped instantly. A different type of silence spread in the room. Several frenzied gazes fell onto the body of the girl with a different sort of emotion unlike bloodlust.
When all these action ended, that soldier continued saying with a simple and forthright smile:
“We can kill her after we used her.”
“... What the heck are they doing…”
Captain Sazaruf, Ikuta and the others who rushed on scene after getting the report of their allies going out of control, saw soldiers who lost all semblance of order and discipline, and had completely turned into rioters.
“What is their commander doing? Hey! We are friendly forces! Get the person in charge over here!”
After Captain Sazaruf shouted several times, a middle aged officer who was smiling wryly appeared from the shade of the trees some distance away and walked towards Sazaruf. He was a Captain too, but he was much older than Sazaruf.
“Ara, sorry you have to make a trip. I couldn’t do anything, and it turned out like this.”
“What do you mean turned out like this!? Why didn’t you stop them? Aren’t they your subordinates!?”
Captain Sazaruf said agitatedly, and the middle aged officer rebuked him with an unhappy face:
“Don’t exaggerate it so much, they are just letting their rage get into their head. They probably accumulated a lot of anger over the long campaign. It happens all the time in long expeditions, they will cool down after venting it out, I know this very well.”
“How many violations are you going to tolerate before that happens? Even on enemy grounds, pillaging for purposes other resupply are against military law! It’s the same for violence against non-combatants! Don’t you know that you will be court martialed for turning a blind eye to this!?”
Tch! The middle aged officer clicked his tongue, as if he was facing someone who couldn’t understand his language.
“Don’t use military law to pressure me. The officer on the ground has to react to the situation. You are probably battlefield promoted so you don’t know. Forget it, it’s only natural you don’t understand the situation─”
“There’s no end to this. If that’s all you have to say, I will start cleaning up.”
Captain Sazaruf ignored the unhappy middle aged officer and walked past him. Ikuta and the others followed without any protest. That officer continued complaining behind them, but no one was willing to listen.
The Captain was thinking about how to suppress the terrible scene before him when Ikuta said hurriedly:
“Captain, please let Yatori and my platoon go in.”
“Not yet, there are too many rioting soldiers, we need to consider what can be done…”
“Please listen Captain. We will protect the survivors that are important in this tactical situation, it will be too late if we don’t act now!”
Captain Sazaruf opened his eyes wide, and the rare sight of this youth being flustered also left a deep impression on the other members of the Knight Order.
At this moment, his old friend supported Ikuta’s sudden request.
“Captain, I wish to ask for this too. I can’t stand aside idly as a soldier when there are civilians being hurt.”
“... I understand. But you all have to move in large groups, and don’t agitate those guys too much.”
Ikuta and Yatori thanked their commander for his understanding, and started moving with their units. To increase efficiency, they split up and search in squad level. This might go against the advice of the Captain to move as a large group, but Ikuta was willing to go that far.
“That house is the biggest building, Yatori, come with me!”
“Understood. I am charging, don’t fall behind!”
Yatori sprinted with a speed that could rival felines, and Ikuta followed behind. Even so, she still arrived several seconds earlier, but didn’t break open the door and barge in right away. Doing that might spook her allies inside, and they might get attacked.
“We are friendlies! We are coming in now, don’t shoot!”
Yatori announced with a volume that echoed to the surroundings before opening the door. At this moment, Ikuta arrived too.
The two of them entered at the same time, and what they saw were the crazy scene of soldiers beating each other up.
“As the superior officer, I should go first!”
“Shut up! A woman tainted by your dirty hands can’t be used anymore!”
“If you can’t get in line, then get out! Use the branching spot of twigs to get yourself off!”
At the feet of the soldiers cursing and beating each other up, was a girl who was tied crudely with her body curled into a pile. Yatori who fought her before recognized her instantly. She was the tribal leader of the Shinaaks, Nanak Dar.
“Hey ─ You lot better watch it.”
Ikuta’s voice was low and deep. Yatori knew he was like this when he was angry for real.
As someone was talking to them within the same room, the subjects finally realized that there was an intruder. Four of the five soldiers froze after seeing Ikuta and Yatori’s rank, but there was an exception. On the left chest of that man was a rank that had one more star than Ikuta.
“... You are putting on a big front huh. But these guys are all my subordinate, and the ranking officer here is me, why should I listen to the orders of a mere Warrant Officer? Huh? Tell me a reason that I can accept!”
Seeing that forceful and unreasonable attitude, something snapped in Ikuta’s heart ─ Captain Sazaruf’s order and the strategical importance of Nanak Dar… Listing out the reasons to refute his adversary was his usual method. In fact, the contents were already appearing in his mind. However, despite that…
“... Saying everything I want to say when I want to say it is my principle. However─”
Ikuta muttered and walked towards the other party in large strides─ Reasons, logic, persuasion, coercion. The Ikuta at this moment wasn’t the usual him, so he sealed away all these familiar methods…
“─ Don’t assume that I will prepare a speech that you will understand and accept!”
He changed his approach to the primitive way of ‘swinging his fist with all his might into the other party’s face. In other words, it was a method that was surprisingly unlike his style.
“Ugh…!”
As Ikuta didn’t show any signs that he would resort to violence, the Second Lieutenant took the punch solidly. He knocked aside the furniture, and hit the ground behind him hard.
“Yatori, protect Nana. It would be better for a woman like you to go.”
After witnessing the series of events, even Yatori couldn’t hide her surprise. But she acted immediately after hearing Ikuta said that. She lowered her body and approached Nanak Dar, and used verbal and body gesture to indicate that she meant no harm. At the same time, she checked Nanak’s messy attire casually. After judging that it wasn’t serious, Yatori sighed in relief.
“Looks like we made it in time, Ikuta.”
The moment Yatori told him that, Ikuta felt his strength waned. As he endured the urge to sat down right away in relief, he muttered:
“... Is that so. So we made it in time for one person this time?”
In fact, it was probably preposterous to even say that they made it in time. In the bloody flames of war, this was merely a whim of the gods. The small fortune that was like wood shavings wasn’t even worth mentioning for many people.
… However, Ikuta was saved by this luck right now. And only within the confines of this result, he didn’t have to feel disappointed by himself; because of his minor actions, a small part escaped destruction and managed to survive.
On the other hand, the Second Lieutenant who was bleeding from the nose was crawling, attempting to reach his bow gun that was leaning on the wall. However, Yatori’s sword stabbed his fingers before that.
When he saw the man pull back his hand with a shriek, Ikuta said in his usual sarcastic tone:
“Men can be heroes or warriors… but not animals, Second Lieutenant.”
After apprehending Nanak Dar and handing her over to Haroma’s unit, Ikuta and the rest started suppressing their rioting allies again.
It wasn’t easy, but by making use of the habits of soldiers such as the sounding of gongs as a signal to gather was very effective. The troops remember that this wasn’t the time to do such things, and regained their composure; with commanders like Ikuta warning them personally, the unit was finally restored to order.
“... Really, have they finally calmed down? Even so, they have done considerable damage…”
Captain Sazaruf looked at the bodies of the Shinaaks everywhere and sighed heavily. But when he noticed that none of his subordinates could say anything, the Captain decided to change the topic.
“... This might be the worst way to end it, but this war has finally concluded. We have apprehended Nanak Dar, and it would be hard for the Shinaaks to mount any further organized resistance.”
Captain finished his speech with complicated emotions, and there were some who started to sob when they remembered their fallen brethren… All of them thought they had lost too much in this war. Only the slow witted and those who didn’t know the situation at the frontlines would think of this pyrrhic result as a victory.
“Ara, well done gentlemen! We have taught those barbaric Shinaaks a thorough lesson!”
It was the perfect timing to show how obnoxious Safida was. The words of Lieutenant General Safida who came all the way to the front lines was the perfect example. All the members of the Knight Order felt the same thing, that there was compliments they were better off not hearing.
However, before the eyes of the group annoyed by the hollow speech of the Lieutenant General, something strange happened. A never seen before unit came from the other end of the village. About a platoon in size, their uniform was obviously different from the Imperial forces, and a priest like man was at the head of the group.
Lieutenant General Safida only noticed the arrival of the other party when they were within earshot of each other. He finally halted them with a warning, stopping them from advancing further.
The mysterious group stopped, and the man who appeared to be a priest stepped forth.
“We are the Situational Inspection Team from the Church of Alderamin, is the person in charge present!?”
When the party state their identity, the expression of the Lieutenant General stiffened visibly. He hesitated for a moment before reluctantly introducing himself.
“... I am the commander of the Northern Stronghold, Lieutenant General Tamshiikushik Safida. This is an Imperial warzone, what is the Situational Inspection Team doing here?”
“We received a report, claiming that the northern region of the Empire commit heresies going against the teaching of Alderamin on a daily basis. The suspect is the Northern Stronghold, and content of the suspected crime is cruelty towards Sprites.”
Lieutenant General Safida’s mouth twisted with an ‘ughh’, he knew this very well.
“We are here to confirm the actual situation. However…”
The priest stopped here, and surveyed the surroundings carefully. Ikuta frowned when he saw that, and felt that this would be bad.
To think that the first thing they would see were the bodies of the Shinaaks be it elderly or the young─ but that didn’t matter right now, and the Alderamin Inspection Team wasn’t interested in that. Their point wasn’t the murders that would definitely occur during a war, but whether the non-human existence that accompanied them was treated with cruelty.
“... There is no need for a formal investigation. Just from what I can see here, there are obvious signs of attack against Sprites that exceeded that of self defence, and there are innumerable amounts of them.”
That was right, this was their main focus. The Imperial soldiers who lost control not only targeted the humans that couldn’t mount any resistance, they didn’t let the partner Sprite go either. There were decapitated Sprites, Sprites with missing limbs and Sprites they literally shredded─ Such horrible sights could be found everywhere in any number.
“According to our inspection, there is no doubt that the northern base is guilty of cruelty towards sprites. Our mission is to report this back to headquarters. Farewell then.”
“Wait… Please wait!”
Lieutenant General Safida stopped the inspection team that declared they had completed their tasks one sidedly. His face was a shade of green others had never seen before.
“Please wait, we have our reasons, allow me to explain─”
“I refuse. My mission is to report the truth that I see directly. If you wish to appeal, you have to do so after headquarters officially raise their protest.”
“What an accommodative way of doing things! No matter what, I won’t let you leave just like this!”
“Are you planning to arrest us? Don’t forget the priests of Alderamin have diplomatic immunity. If our freedom are taken against our will, that action alone would be a heavy crime diplomatically.”
Lieutenant General Safida was at a loss for words in no time. Even though he was the commander of the Northern Stronghold, he couldn’t ignore the authority of the Alderamin church that was revered as the national religion. The diplomatic immunity of the priests were the highest form of authority, so the Lieutenant General didn’t have any proper reason to detain them.
After noting that the Lieutenant General was completely silent, the priest led his inspection team away without a word. Everyone present thought that Lieutenant General Safida’s military career was over with that.
Even if the Lieutenant General talked his way out of the huge number of unnecessary losses during the civil unrest of the northern region, the big diplomatic issue of mistreating sprites was still waiting for him. If Ikuta was in his shoes, he couldn’t think of any perfect way to avoid taking responsibility and keep the position of Stronghold Commander.
─ He is getting his just desserts. His retribution was too lenient, but it was still an adequate result.
Ikuta wanted to dispel his dissatisfaction and frustration with such thoughts. However, the subject himself still haven’t given up.
“I… I want to catch up with them! You lot follow me!”
When they heard their commander who had fallen into a desperate situation issue such an order, the soldiers all had the expression that seemed to say ‘enough already’.
“... Even if you say that, what can we do when we catch up?”
“Follow alongside and persuade them of course! Captain Sazaruf! Pick a company that is still energetic from your battalion! They will escort me!”
Captain Sazaruf pressed his forehead as if he was nursing a headache, then look at his subordinates… Energetic unit, he felt like telling the Lieutenant General the truth that there were no such units. But he chose to be mature and endure it.
“... Company Commander Ikuta, my apologies, but can you and your unit go?”
If there was a relatively lively unit, this would be the right choice. Ikuta hated war that was always accompanied by annoying complements, and forced himself to nod.
“... Then the 200 men of Ikuta Solork will accompany Lieutenant General Safida.
If he wasn’t indebted to Captain Sazaruf, Ikuta would claim to have a stomache.
The pace of the Inspection team was faster than they imagined, and Ikuta’s group couldn’t catch up after moving off for quite a while. In the end, they weren’t sure which splinter path they took, and the soldiers subtly give out the message that they should ‘give up and go back’. But it was impossible for Lieutenant General Safida to understand this.
“Climb higher! To the place where the field of vision is wider!”
Lieutenant General Safida seemed to be planning to look down from a high vantage point to search for the Inspection Team’s position. Would he give up if he couldn’t find them? Ikuta’s company climbed up the hill with such expectations in their heart.
After scaling to the top of an exceptionally tall ridge, they could see the entire north from the Grand Arfatra Mountains. If they were here on a leisure trip, this would be the best spot to enjoy the scenery, but everyone was already seek of high places.
The group searched with their eyes open. They would scan the area with their eyes, and zoom in with binoculars if they spot plausible targets. However, they couldn’t find the Inspection Team after a long search. Ikuta told the Lieutenant General that they might be walking along the blindspot of the mountain path, but he got an angry response, asking him to find them once the Inspection Team exit that blindspot.
At this moment, Torway spotted ‘that’ with his great eyesight.
“... Ah… Erm… Ik-kun… That…”
“What is it? Found them? Even if you did, it will be better to pretend you didn’t.”
“Not that… Ik… Ik-kun, look… at… that…”
Torway handed him the binoculars with trembling hands, making Ikuta feel uneasy, but he still took it. He adjusted the focus as directed by Torway, and found the target a few seconds later.
“─ That─”
His breathing stopped for a moment ─ there was a group of people over there, but that definitely wasn’t the inspection team.
It was an army that numbered over 10,000 men.
“─ What is that…!”
At the head of the long formation, a flag was flown. A pure white star on a dark green background─ That was the crest that represented the star of the Alderamin church. There was only one army that uses this crest as a banner.
“Ra-Saia-Alderamin… The army of the Aldera church…!”
Ikuta hoped that this was an illusion because of altitude sickness as he stated the identity of the other party.
Ra-Saia-Alderamin─ This was a religious country to the north of the Grand Arfatra Mountains. Other than being the headquarters of the Aldera Church, it also functions like an autonomous nation. It borders the Katjvarna Empire and Kioka Republic, and maintains a neutral position throughout history without siding either country. This nation being located to the north of the Grand Arfatra Mountains played a huge part in maintaining the myth that no enemy could pass through the ‘stairway of god’.
“... That nation would only display the one star banner when they are on a Jihad right?”
“They are heading our way, towards the south… Which means…”
“─ They want to punish us in the name of the god… Is that it?”
Yatori who came to his side without him realizing was looking through her own binoculars as she finished his sentence. The others who noticed the sudden change also gathered around them.
“How could this be… Those priests aren’t an inspection team, but an army’s vanguard that is doubling as an inspection team. They are already certain of the northern stronghold’s guilt, and what happened earlier was just the ultimatum before the war─”
Ikuta who was observing the army through the lenses recalled the itch in his heart all this time.
“... Is that so… Those robes…!”
The logic of all these clicked in his mind ─ The day Major Taekk was murdered, there were many robes left in the room. Ikuta had been wondering what this could mean.
The most plausible hypothesis was Shinaak thieves getting into the house by impersonating as Alderamin devotees. In that case, the clean way they killed all the humans in the house without letting anyone outside notice could be explained. First of all, they were invited into the house as real guests, and only showed their true nature when the people inside let down their guard. The robe that covered the entire head would conceal the features of the Shinaaks as well.
However, one more actor would be needed to enact this plan, which was an Alderamin priest leading the pilgrimage. If the priest wasn’t there, they would be unconvincing. In other words, if this theory was correct, then there must be a priest─ or someone pretending to be a priest— present back then.
Ikuta deduced this much, and admit that this was a well executed plan. However, he didn’t expect such a development. The Kioka Republic actually allied with the priests of Alderamin, and persuaded the Ra-Saia-Alderamin to invade the Empire out of their ‘holy duties’, using the misdeeds of Lieutenant General Safida as the excuse─ On top of that, they also incited the civil unrest of the Shinaaks too. For the speculation of one man, the scale of this conspiracy was too big.
“... Torway… Try your best to gauge how far Ra-Saia-Alderamin… the Holy Aldera Army and their headquarters behind are…”
“Ik… Ikkun…”
“And from that estimate, calculate how long they would take to reach here. We need to know how much time we have left. How long they would catch up to us, and the time needed to withdraw our all our forces…”
As Ikuta said that, he predicted in his heart that the plan this time would yield some very harsh numbers ─ They would be fine if the army simply pulls back from the battlefront. If they could abandon their heavy and bulky resources, they just need order the units who were ready to fall back.
But if they did that, what would happen once they leave the mountains? It would be safe to assume that the goal of the Holy Aldera Army was to destroy the Northern Stronghold that violated their religious law, and suppress the northern region.The Northern Stronghold that was exhausted from the long campaign against the Shinaaks would need to face the prospect of a Northern invasion they had never imagined before. Not only was this a new threat, it was an unexpected one. If they couldn’t mount a well equipped defensive position, could they stand against their adversary?
The answer was no.
In conclusion— no matter what, the Northern Stronghold needs time. They need time to retrieve the minimum amount of equipment and resources they committed into battlefront, pull back their entire forces, and mount a proper defence after returning to the plains. If possible, having the time for central to dispatch reinforcements after learning about the emergency would be ideal…
“What a messy war… To think the complimentary bonus would be larger than the war itself─”
The heavy workload was becoming overwhelming. In order to resist the temptation of abandoning everything, he uttered these words with a trembling voice, and his tone sounded really like a prayer.
Volume 2 End
Translator: Rockgollem
Editor: Ruzenor, Tear, Skythewood
The signal for the start of the battle did not come from the cliff on the other side, where Ikuta was focusing his attention, nor from below the cliff where the Phantom group had been working secretly, but on top of the Imperial Army that was stretched out along the path.
“The mountains are our world! Prepare to open your eyes wide and be surprised, you devils from the plains!”
A barrage of fire arrows rained on the soldiers’ heads with a girl’s announcement. Everyone was bewildered by an attack from an unexpected angle, and the wagons and clothings hit by the arrows started to burn.
U-Up above?! What’s this! There shouldn’t be a place big enough for an army up there.
Matthew, who had taken after Ikuta to prepare for the worst and memorized the marching path along with the surrounding terrains, could not hide his surprise. Just as his assumptions were flipped upside down and his head turned into a cacophony, Ikuta spoke stoically.
“Calm down Matthew. There’s no place to put soldiers above the cliff. Speaking normally, anyways. This is simply a desperate push by a trapped enemy.”
“Yeah, I think so too. It would be an impossible ambush except for the nimble Shinaak tribesmen, but considering the damage from the fire arrows, there are not that many of them. The shock will only last for a moment. If we can take care of the confusion now—”
While Torway was speaking, a scream erupted out as to mock his assumption. Captain Sazaruf’s troops, who had been walking in front of Ikuta’s group, were groaning while bleeding from the shoulders or their sides.
“What, gunfire…?! Is this from the above as well?!”
Captain Sazaruf shouted while taking cover, but the reality was different. Confirming that the damage from gunfire were concentrated to soldiers who were walking at the edge of the cliff, Ikuta bit his tongue after fully understanding the situation.
“No, they’re shooting from the cliff from the other side… Damn it, they were there as I thought.”
“What? From the cliff on the other side..?! Don’t be foolish. It’s at least 200m away to the other side! Even if they shoot from there, there’s no way it could reach all the way here—”
Torway, who had the related knowledge grasped the situation immediately without waiting for Captain Sazaruf to come to his own understanding. His expression soon froze into a tremble.
“Ik-kun, this means… they have the same as us…!”
“Yeah, you’re right… They’re snipers armed with air rifles!”
Just as Ikuta came to the conclusion, several allied soldiers at the edge of his vision fell. If they did not know where the shots were coming from, they could not do anything—. The moment he realized that, the boy stopped watching from the side idly.
“Torway, how long as you going to just sit there? Run over to your squad and return fire! The only squad that can do anything about this is your squad that is armed with air rifles!”
“Ug, got it…! We’ll suppress them soon enough.”
Torway quickly sprinted away after having realized his role. Even Ikuta could not formulate a response for the current situation. It was a wise precaution to have officers protected with shields, but…
“... Since we can’t avoid casualties from the snipers, only way is to speed up the march and get out of this valley as soon as possible. We just need to get out of the range of the air rifles.”
However, a messenger who waded in through the crowd of people shattered Ikuta’s optimistic outlook.
“Lieutenant General Safida! The entire front column is being attacked and further advance is not possible! I request that the rear column to wait—”
“Impossible! Do you not see this situation? This place is under attack as well, and you still ask to slow down the advance….!”
Lieutenant General Safida’s face grew bluer by the moment. But Ikuta felt the same way inside. They could not fight the enemy, and escaping via advancing was also not an option. The only way left was—.
“...Captain Sazaruf! What do you think about ordering retreat for all the squad to the rear of here?”
“I agree— but at this point, a retreat is beyond my authority!”
Then you need to convince the Lieutenant General— As Ikuta was about to say that, a warning from Yatori came from behind.
“Everyone, above you! They’re coming!”
Everyone snapped to look to the sky in surprise and several shadows jumped on in succession. The Shinaak tribesmen who had set up camp above cliff had slid down holding rope in one hand. The soldiers’ thinking process stopped at the inconceivable ways the enemy suicide squads were appearing.
“Matthew, Haro, fix bayonet! They’re coming from this side, too!”
Ikuta shouted as he fixed his bayonet to his bowgun. It was a laughable situation. The group of officers being protected front and rear by hundreds of men and surrounded with shields were being targeted by the enemy.
“Agh, arrgh… What is this. It’s not going in…!”
Haro, who was some distance away from the other knights, was struggling to insert the bayonet onto her bowgun. She could just use it without fixing it on there, but she could not think that fast amidst the chaos. She was not used to battles as there was a lot of work that needed to be done in the field hospital at the rear.
“Haro, calm down! I’m going over right now!”
Ikuta ran. Yatori was guarding Lieutenant General Safida, Torway had gone off to return fire, and Matthew was barely managing to defend himself. By the process of elimination, the only thing to do was to go save Haro.
The soldiers’ confusion piled on. The fearless Shinaak warriors had landed amidst them and started to attack. The majority of the soldiers had not fixed bayonet and could not adequately respond to sudden close-quarter combat that landed amidst them from the sky.
“Haro, watch out! Above!”
“Ah—”
They probably thought that a girl who was struggling to fix bayonet was a ripe target. An enemy who had slid down half way from the cliff kicked against the stone wall and jumped. And landed— right beside Haro.
He’ll get there a step too late at this rate. Ikuta decided that in a flash, abandoned his bowgun and flung himself at Haro, who was standing upright. He fell while grabbing just below her waist. At that moment, the enemy’s kukri just grazed the back of his head.
“Ha…. you bastard…!”
There was no time to relax even though he had dodged the attack. Instead of his abandoned weapon, he borrowed the bowgun from Haro’s hand and stood up. The enemy who couldn’t finish off his prey was coming for them again.
He barely received the kukri’s heavy blow with the shaft of the bowgun. It became a battle of strength with a blade against a shaft, but Ikuta’s chance of victory at this point had disappeared. He fell on the ground from the force pushing in from the blade and became defenseless as if asking to be finished.
“I’ll join innnnnnnnn!”
Then with a voice loud enough to tear his eardrum, someone unexpected came to the rescue. Warrant Officer Deinkun’s gigantic sword slashed and blew away the enemy who had rushed in to finish Ikuta.
The kukri fell on the ground split in two, and the enemy’s body, which even had its spine smashed, rolled down the cliff. Even Ikuta could not keep his mouth closed at this turn of events.
“Stand up quickly, Ikuta Solork! Even this one will not be able to save you twice!”
As Ikuta tried to get up, he finally saw Warrant Officer Deinkun’s gear. The armour was centered around the chest, thick plates covered various parts of the body and he wielded a claymore for mounted combat. That unfaltering medieval appearance was that of the Northern Defense Command’s final defense troop, a Cuirassier platoon leader’s formal wear.
“Thank you, Warrant Officer Deinkun. You said you can’t save me twice, but considering the last time, it has already been twice.”
“You do not need to count the last time. This one was in a hurry back then as well.”
Warrant Officer Deinkun picked up the bowgun dropped a bit away and responded cooly while giving it back. The boy extended a hand to Haro to help her up in one while glancing at the face of the giant who was a full head and a half taller than him.
“There is one question. When this one had hit you and you collapsed… you did not become angry, but thanked me instead.”
“Mmm, ah… Thanks to that, we could avoid the villagers’ resentment.”
“But you would have lost face. Were you not apprehensive about something like that would shame you?”
It was a direct and in your face kind of a question. So Ikuta replied back without hesitation.
“— No. It was a bit embarrassing, but didn’t change the fact your powerful strike fixed the situation. Well, just for reference… I never had a face that would be slighted after getting beat up in the first place.”
“... Is that so. Then, conversely, what kind of situation would you lose face in?”
“Ah. Hmm, that would be—”
While talking to Warrant Officer Deinkun, Ikuta handed over a bowgun with a bayonet strapped tightly on it over to Haro. The boy spoke with a serious expression on his face while brushing off the dirt on her face with his fingers.
“— Not being able to say everything when I have wanted to, not being able to protect things when I have wanted to, those kind of situations.”
On his words, Ikuta remember the face of a woman he met twice, but could not meet for the third time. But he sealed it up immediately. He closed the lid on his memories and chased away the reminiscence of the past.
That was a face he had already lost. What he needed to focus on now was the ones who were not dead.
“... I don’t understand, but I do know one thing. We do not go well together.”
Warrant Officer Deinkun spoke very clear-cut while holding on to the claymore on top of a horse. Ikuta understand immediately. There was no room for misunderstanding. He even thought that it would be hard to find two people who were so different from another. Even still.
“But… that’s the kind of a knight you are.”
The moment he heard those words, there was a self-mocking smile on the boy’s face. — He misunderstands many things. If he concluded things on such friendly level, then the words they had exchanged so far would be meaningless.
Amidst the noise generated by allies and enemies mixing together, Yatori Igsem was staring at the sky while holding her trademark twin sword in her hands.
Standing directly in front of Lieutenant General Safida, she was practically the centre point for the guards. She was confident she could defeat any enemy, no matter which direction they came from.
The tip of her twin swords shuddered like an antenna that had picked up on something. It was because of a small body that was not just content on sliding down the cliff, but was running with a rope in one hand came into sight.
Yatori felt an untimely awe. Even amongst Shinaak tribe who were famed for being nimble, there were not many who would act so recklessly.
“Lieutenant General Safida, do not move from that spot!”
Half way down the cliff, the shadow kicked off the wall. It was a superhuman jump taking advantage of nimble movements, but did not immediately aim for Lieutenant General Safida. Because she had also instinctively sensed the existence of an obstacle she needed to overcome.
“Tyaaaaat!”
A downward strike using gravity and a precise counter which aimed for vital point thrust out from above and below. The moment their blow met each other, steel collided and sparks flew.
“Che…!”
After the first blow was intercepted mid-air, her small, cat-like body landed nimbly.
“... We meet again, red one.”
A pair of kukri in her two hands were too brutish compared to the owner’s small body. But looking at her carefully— beneath that big cape covering her, peeks of a frail yet muscular body that showed off functionality brought awe. Her large eyes, burning with a cause made everyone who looked into them hold their breath. Her black hair faded under sunlight was braided into two strands, left and right. From a glance, her partner sprite didn’t seem to be nearby.
“Yes, we meet again.”
She was cute, but not frail. She had an aura of an experienced warrior about her. It was the kind of a strength that couldn’t be conveyed from a distance when they first met.
Yatori recognized the opponent’s strength, took a stance with her twin swords without showing an opening and revealed her name as per the knight’s code.
“Imperial Army Skirmisher 1st Training Platoon leader cum Light Cavalry 1st Training Platoon leader, Warrant Officer Yatori Igsem. My partner is the fire sprite, Shia. I’m glad to meet you again, young chieftain of the Shinaak tribe.”
“Shinaak Chieftain, Nanak Dar. Hahashik is Hisha of the wind. I responded to your introductions, but don’t get cocky. I won’t remember any of your long and boring titles!”
Nanak Dar made herself clear and aimed the point of her two knives. Yatori took her simple and direct animosity with pleasure.
“It doesn’t matter… Experience the sensation of these blades and die!”
“As if—!”
Nanak ran forward like a loosened arrow. She did not care for the sabre being thrust forward to counter and struck heavily with a kukri as if intending to break the blade. Countering this, Yatori turned her blade to deflect the strike and immediately thrust at the opening. But—
“Ugh…”
At that moment, Nanak Dar used the blade stuck onto ground as a centrifuge to rotate her body and swung for the second attack. It was a series of attack that could not exist in a conventional swordfight. Yatori managed to stand her ground by retreating a little, but the girl’s truly ferocious strikes were just beginning.
“Ryaaaaat!”
The blade on the right was plucked out from the earth and attacked Yatori as it rose instead of going back to the owner. She tried to defend with the handguard of the sabre and go on the offensive, but the blade on the left dived in aiming for her left thigh. Yatori admired her moves. Each attack was unreasonably wide, but there was no opening to drive into.
“What’s up, red one! Can’t move around?”
Nanak Dar’s assault continued. All the officers who wanted to help Yatori by jumping in hesitated and stopped. That bladework was like a windmill with blades attached to it. If they approached carelessly, that would be the end.
On the other hand, Yatori was carefully observing from the middle of the windmill’s attacks. Shifting her centre of gravity with the shaft of the blade, unending rotation, stance to maximize the small stature— receiving the heated blades with a cool demeanor, she analyzed that those would be the key in breaking through Nanak Dar’s swordplay.
Including Igsem’s twin sword style, the majority of sword stances emphasized centre of gravity in the lower body, in other words, the hip. It was because it allowed for the most stabilized offense and defense. It is considered to have an opening when one couldn’t maintain that. Even styles that had various stances, it was considered physiologically impossible to not have the centre in the lower body.
But Nanak had a different method. Amidst her attacks, her centre of gravity was obviously not in the lower body. That small body being swung around by overly heavy and large kukris maintained form without defying the laws of physics and continually moved while using a sword as the centre of gravity.
— The result was this rotating sword dance.
A blade that slid deep inside sliced a few strands of red hair. To relentlessly attack using the heavy and large pair of kukris, Nanak Dar rarely took the motion of retracting her blade. She continuously kept on the ferocious attacks by finishing a swing to link into a next attack, or stuck the blade into the ground to use as a centrifuge. Those motions gave birth to a unique motion of never-ending rotation of sword.
“You may only be an adept, but I can’t help but admit that it’s excellent.”
Compliments came out from Yatori’s mouth. Along with Shinaak tribe’s hardiness and toned muscles, Nanak Dar’s small stature has created a whole new style of sword fight. Still, no matter how much of an acrobatic stance she maintained, there was no way someone who was limited to circular movement would not reveal an opening to someone who moved in a straight line like Yatori.
The only thing that made her style possible was the lowered stance because of her small size. Compared to Yatori who could only attack downward against a smaller opponent, Nanak could retain her low stance and slash away at the opponent’s lower body. The time for the attack to reach the other would be in Nanak Dar’s favour. That advantage was supplementing the natural delays in the circular motion.
“... Kuuh. Stop it, now!”
Yatori took a blow with the guard on her main gauche and over-extended a little to drive into the circular sword style. If the sword style was focused around rotating, then she only needed to stop the rotation. However—
“No, not going to stop!”
With the kukri stuck in the guard as the centre, Nanak Dar’s body floated up in mid air. The rotation did not die out, but only had its centre axis tilted to a side. Yatori opened her eyes wide at this.
“Is that— you changed to a vertical rotation?”
“That’s correct!”
A final blow utilizing gravity came from above her head. Yatori received the attack by crossing her two swords and reduced the impact on her blades by jumping back a little.
She took a defensive stance thinking the gap between them would be closed instantly, but Nanak Dar unexpectedly stopped moving and simply watched Yatori.
“You’re lasting longer than I expected. I’ve hit you that much, but your blade isn’t broken either…”
“I’m barely holding my ground. It’s amazing. I’m being outclassed by a technique I’ve never seen before.”
“No. You had enough room to watch my skills and be amazed about it.”
Nanak Dar’s expression hardened against an opponent she could not fully measure up. Yatori also felt a likeableness to the opponent who did not underestimate an opponent despite the superiority.
“Seems I can’t help it since I got found out. But what I have now is enough. Preliminary exchange for measuring up is over.”
Yatori readied her twin swords again after speaking without any frill or deception. The atmosphere changed. From a stance focused on defense, she switched to an offensive stance to finish the fight. It was also conveyed to the opponent facing off against her.
“... Are you saying you saw through my techniques. From that short skirmish just now? Load of rubbish!”
“You don’t need to believe everything I say. If you’re a warrior, trust in your abilities and attack.”
A sound of laughter came out from the girl’s mouth. There were no truer words.
— It did not matter even if a swordmaster was here. At this moment she still believed the girl who claimed to have seen through it all would not win against her.
“... That arrogance. I’ll make you regret it in hell, red one!”
Nanak Dar rushed forward with certain victory in heart. Compared to that, Yatori waited for the enemy without any movement. The point seemed to be to wait for the opponent to make the first strike and aim for a counter. It was a completely countering stance just like the proclamation that preliminary exchanges were over.
“Ryaaaaat!”
Nanak Dar swung the first strike. It was a powerful strike with all her might to break the blade. But Yatori stepped back to dodge, and the Kukri missed the mark and struck the earth. Using the stuck blade as an axis, Nanak Dar’s body circle around. That scene was the same as just before. It was the same horizontal slash from an impossible position that surprised Yatori when she first saw it.
But— the same trick did not work twice.
The blade passed by in front of the thigh. Right after missing an attack, a gap that wasn’t exploited for the first time appeared. Nanak Dar’s body was still rotating in a circular motion. That small back was open for attack until the rotation finished and the next motion started.
Yatori’s knees recoiled and sprung out like a spring. With a rapid step, she thrust the main gauche in her left hand. A killing blow that did not miss an opportunity— it was a true strike that would end the opponent.
“Ha—! Got you, fool—!”
Nanak Dar was aiming for that moment. While showing her back defenselessly, Shinaak tribe’s young chieftain was laughing heartily. From her cape covered back, a trap let out its first cry.
A dry sound of air igniting sharply rang out, cutting across the sound of battle.
“Hyaaaaat!”
***
Part 3
A vertical strike from the claymore smashed the head of a Shinaak warrior. They were not even a proper match because their kukri could not handle the massive weight of the sword.
“Wow, amazing… I know it’s sudden, but I’ll have to reclassify you from a mere sandbag.”
“.... What did you say?”
Said Warrant Officer Deinkun as he glanced over. Ikuta tried to gloss things over by simply shaking his head. Truthfully, thanks to Deinkun’s efforts, the damage from Shinaak tribe suicide squad had decreased.
“It seems Torway is managing his job of returning fire properly since the shots from the other side of the cliff lightened up. If we keep this up, we can get through this. Just hold on a bit longer Haro and Matthew.”
“Ye, yeah!”
“I’m so sorry for burdening you!”
From in between Warrant Officer Deinkun and Ikuta, Matthew and Haro replied back.
Ikuta looked around. The battle was continuing, but he felt that the real hump was over. It was something that was exceedingly obvious. If they could withstand the initial shock of the ambush, the scattered enemy coming downhill could be taken out piecemeal.
“To attack with such reckless strategy must mean that Shinaaks are cornered as well… It’s difficult to counter an opponent when you don’t know what they are going to do.”
“Hmph, you sound like a coward. No matter what they do, you can simply wipe out them out as they come.”
Ikuta shrugged his shoulder at Warrant Officer Deinkun’s rather simple answer to the situation. That was when a soldier’s scream resounded.
“W, what?! It was close by!”
Matthew looked around hurriedly. Their gaze, which had been facing upwards to spot any incoming enemies going down the cliff, was finally back to horizontal view of the surface thanks to that.
They quickly spotted where the scream came from. The soldiers who were standing by the edge positioned behind the officer group, which including Ikuta, were collapsing on the ground bleeding from the right side. At first Ikuta thought it was another round of shots from the other side of the cliff and clicked his tongue, but what followed was astonishing..
The marksmen who wounded them were not on the other side of the cliff, but were here.
“... Reinforcements from below the cliff?! Damn, the troops are preoccupied with what’s above..”
Ikuta stood still as he spoke. The soldiers climbing up from below the cliff did not dress much differently from the Shinaak warriors. But their quality was different. From the way they moved as a group to their proficiency on how they handled their carbines, it was obvious that they were highly trained soldiers.
“Sly as always. I will face you head on!”
“...Ugh, don’t be too rash, Warrant Officer Deinkun! They’re completely different!”
Warrant Officer Deinkun ran forward past Ikuta’s warnings and faced the enemy head on.
--There was nothing to fear. Holding the claymore in hand and protected with armour, he was certain that only person who could beat him in close quarter combat was that red haired girl.
One of the enemy who noticed his approach, turned around and stared at him. The man simply pointed the tip of the wind carbine at the giant approaching with a roar.
“Fu, do you think that pea shooter will work on me!”
Warrant Officer Deinkun saw the enemy’s action and covered his face with the sword. Using the large blade as a shield, he protected the head which the enemy would obviously aim for. All vital areas outside the head were well armoured in the first place.
But it was a move that limited his own line of sight as well.
In front of the vision blocked by the sword, the man drew a knife from his waist. It was not a kukri they saw so many times until now. It was a dagger with ominous glint that was thinner and smaller. The man kicked off the ground while holding the dagger in opposite hand from his carbine, the right hand. He made no noise, like a phantom.
“HYAAAAAAH!”
Deinkun swung down his claymore at where the man used to be with all his might. But there was no expected resistance or any blood spurt. The mighty strike finished with simply cutting across the air.
“Hmm…? You, where did you go--.”
The moment Warrant Officer Deinkun tilted his head curiously, a burning sensation cut across his throat without any warning. And a second later, blood gushed out.
***
The time between those two were stopped at a critical moment. .
“--- You---.”
Shinaak tribal chief, Nanak Dar squeezed out her hoarse voice while looking at the main gauche blade stabbing her in the back with an expression of disbelief.
“How did you…”
“You want to ask how I knew about that trap?”
Maintaining the stance with main gauche in her left hand thrusted out, Yatori lightly slashed with the sabre in her right hand.
The cape that was covering the girl’s back slashed in half and what was hidden inside revealed itself. It was a wind sprite fixed with a belt and a mechanism with a very short wind gun barrel. From the pierced area, air was pulsating out.
“I felt some things were amiss. First, you looked like you didn’t have a sprite with you. But you properly introduced your partner’s name as well during our exchange.”
“What…. W, with just that?”
“No, those two occasion were not everything. The moment I started suspecting something is after watching how you fight.”
While looking at the pair of kukri in the girl’s hands,Yatori continued quietly.
“...Courageous, yet bold style of dual wielding. I was truly amazed by that rotating style of fighting. But as we fought, that boldness felt unnatural. Because while we were fighting, you never bothered guarding your back. Especially in a middle of this melee where you could get stabbed in the back at any time.--”
“-- Of course, you might have been thinking about it a little bit, but you were never on guard enough to block an attack coming from behind. Since I was on guard the whole time, something felt even more wrong.”
“Kuhh….”
“Not only the Igsem dual wielding style, but the fundamentals of any dual wielder against multiple opponents is that being on guard from an attack from any direction is always a given. When you were being lazy with that, I knew for certain that you weren’t someone who only use two swords like me. That you had something hidden behind so you didn’t need to worry about your back.”
Yatori looked at that hidden card-- the sight of a wind sprite pierced along with the barrel of the wind gun.
It did not look to be in pain even after being pierced, but its eyes clearly conveyed the tension. It was not afraid of its own end. That sprite had thrown its body to stop the main gauche. Its partner’s death was only a sheet’s distance away.
“....”
“The duel’s over. Gather your tribe and surrender, Nanak Dar.”
Yatori urged her to surrender with a quiet voice. But she did not anticipate for two things here. First, that a girl named Nanak Dar would not accept defeat. Second, how the partner who knew only too well about her, Hisha, would act.
“..... Nana.”
Because of the cracks in its body, even the voice calling for its partner was not very clear. But it did not hesitate even with a body centimeters away from being broken. It was always with its partner and to help and protect life-- a duty as a sprite-- it barely clung onto life wanting to carry it out to the end.
“....?! Wait, what are you..!”
It was that kind of a situation.
“Hisha was it… If you move, your partner will die. Of course, you know that.”
Through the main gauche, Yatori could feel a violent vibration carry through to her arm. Right now, Hisha was using a wind sprite’s ability to compress air. Even though it knew that its body would not be able to handle it, to make sure its partner will live on to the future. Using the power that Shinaak tribe called it “divine” for. With its final wish--.
“.... Live.”
With its final word, wind sprite Hisha exploded itself from internal pressure.
“Kuuh….”
Yatori instinctively took a step back to protect herself from the shrapnel mixed into the wind. Escaping from a dire spot because of her partner’s sacrifice, Nanak Dar stood up from her posture that seemed like she was about to fall forward from the explosion, and looked at her shattered partner with a devastated expression.
“..... Hisha…”
It was a voice that was dumbstruck. The sight in front of her eyes and the missing weight from her back played havoc in the girl’s mind.
While feeling sympathetic, Yatori’s will to capture the girl did not waver. She removed the shrapnel from her arm and walked towards Nanak Dar once again.
“-- Don’t be too rash, Warrant Officer Deinkun!”
Her ears picked up a familiar boy’s shout nearby. When she instinctively looked around, Yatori witnessed the sight near 30 meters away.
The scene of a giant collapsing on his knees spurting blood from the neck while standing straight proudly.
Shadows were passing by as if ignoring that body.
Those coordinated movements showed they were no ordinary people even at a glance. Especially after looking at the man standing in front of the group, an indescribable chilling sensation ran down Yatori’s back.
Those shadows cut through all interfering imperial soldiers and advanced without hesitation. They were headed straight towards Yatori, who had Lieutenant General Safida at her back.
***
The sight of Warrant Officer Deinkun as he collapsed and the critical amount of blood he was losing registered in Yatori’s mind. Her gaze was constantly going back and forth between him and the enemy. And roughly 4 seconds later--
“.... Ah.”
-- Swing your swords
An instinctive feeling from her gut commanded her so.
“.... Arrrgh!”
“Kuugh?!”
Glint of the sword rose like a dragon formed a heated wave to deliver death. The leader of the shadows, who was the first to feel the fiery gale, had to concentrate with all his might to dodge it.
First exchange: deflected the first sabre strike with a dagger - lost sensation in the fingers.
Second exchange: blocked the follow up main gauche attack with the barrel of the carbine - cannot fire anymore due to the hole in the barrel.
Third exchange: parried the third strike which twisted into different direction with the armour on the arms - forearm guards were cracked.
Fourth exchange: shielded against the kick aimed at the lower stomach with two hands - the fourth and fifth digit on right hand have dislocated.
“...Ugh… kuh… ugh!”
The shadow responded without a mistake in the tug of war, which would’ve lead to death if one had made a single wrong move. He barely kept his life, widened their distance and stopped. Below that turban, the face made a surprised expression for the first time.
There was no way that Yatori, who made him make that expression, knew what a rare sight that was.
“... Phuuuu! ”
“Che..!” “...Kuh.”
Two shadows that tried to slip by her side to get to Lieutenant General realized it was a reckless plan and backed off. They could not pass. Yatori’s chilling amount of killing intent drew an invisible line of life and death.
“Matthew’s Squad, surround them!”
An order came from behind in an announcing voice. Ikuta had ordered Matthew’s squad, which was relatively close to the officer group to move.
Between the riflemen who were rushing over people, and the red haired warrior, the leader of the shadows realized it was time to back off. They rushed towards the edge and before any soldier could stop them, every single one of them went down the steep cliff slope without hesitation.
“They j-jumped..?! Ah, damn, they have ropes over here as well!”
Matthew swung his gun down the cliff in anger, but the ropes seemed to be installed some distance away from the edge of the cliff, so he could not reach it. Yatori was also looking down the cliff like him, but looked back after remembering that she had left Nanak Dar unattended.
“... Got away…”
She grinded her teeth. As expected, the disheartened girl who had lost her partner was gone. Did she escape down the cliff along with the shadows or climb up with the help of her comrades.
She thought of possibility of pursuit for a moment before giving up, took in a breath and turned around. She ran towards that spot. Ikuta and Haro were also there. They surrounded Warrant Officer Deinkun, who was keeping a shallow breathing while still being upright.
“--- Haro, how is it?”
Haro opened her mouth while standing by the head and trying to stop the bleeding.
“His artery is cut. I’m trying to stop the bleeding, but he already lost too much blood…”
That there was little chance to save him was not in the mood and voice alone, but was also evident around the ground. Around the wound in the neck, there was a puddle of blood about the size of a carpet. It was more amazing that he was still breathing after losing that much blood.
“Dein… Dein… don’t die. No…”
On the other side from Haro, Warrant Officer Deinkun’s partner, water sprite Niki was trying to desperately talk with its partner. He seemed to have heard that voice and tried to move his arm, but didn’t have enough strength to lift it. Yatori moved his hand instead over to the sprite.
“... Yatori. Can you listen to his final words while he’s still conscious.”
“Alright. I’ll do that…”
Yatori took Haro’s place by Deinkun’s head. She whispered to him that she would take his final words and took her ear near his mouth.
Deinkun moved his blue lips to squeeze out words. After hearing those words, Yatori brought her mouth close to his ears and replied. Warrant Officer Deinkun’s head looked like it nodded slightly -- and with that, even his shallow breathing stopped. His death and silence ruled that place and even overwhelmed the noise of war.
“... Yatori. Can I ask what his last words were?”
Ikuta asked hesitantly. Yatori replied back in surprisingly light tone.
“There were four in total. “I leave my comrades in the Empire to you”, “I want my partner Niki to go to my sister”, “next time, duel with me properly with those two swords” and the last one was closer to thinking out loud than a will.”
“Thinking out loud?”
“Yeah. He wondered if he kept his face as a knight.”
Yatori looked up into the sky as to hold back something from coming out of her eyes.
“He’s a modest man. He died an honourable death. There was nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Yeah, he did… What did you say to him?”
Yatori coughed once and replied, speaking with her usual brave but slightly hoarse voice.
“A knight who loved his country and comrade more than anyone, you fought braver than anyone. Deinkun Harguska, may there be blessing and glory upon your soul.”
A fitting eulogy. Ikuta thought that in his head. He could never find good enough words for situations like this.
“Thanks for not saying anything about it. I thought it when I came up with it too, but it seems old fashioned now that I say it again. It looks like fitting words don’t really come out when you need them.”
Ikuta swayed his head at Yatori while smiling bitterly. She was being modest. When asking a knight to deliver a eulogy for a knight, there was no one more fitting than Yatori to deliver those words.
Following her, Torway, Matthew and Captain Sazaruf approached and offered their words one by one before Warrant Officer Deinkun’s body.
The march resumed an hour later and the casualties from the ambush were moved to the rear, with destination for the dead and the living diverging completely.
The dead were going back and the living continued forward. To the next battle. Forward and onward.
Part 4
“My suspicion about this was already very high, and I got a clear answer from the battle earlier ─ The Kioka Republic manipulated this civil war.”
When they were almost at their destination. Using the chance when the soldiers all sat down to take a breather during a long break, Ikuta Solork said confidently.
“I haven’t awakened to the joy in spreading conspiracy theory. But since an enemy unit with Air Rifles appeared, then this is the only possibility left. Because in the Empire, only Torway’s unit possessed 40 of such experimental weapons.”
“If any other Air Rifles appeared, it must belonged to Professor Anarai who escaped to the Kioka Republic… Is that what you mean, Ik-kun?”
Torway concluded through logical thinking, but Torway wasn’t entirely convinced and asked:
“Are you suggesting that Kioka is helping the Shinaaks rebel…? Is such a thing possible?”
“Of course. Judging from the attitude that country treats military matters, this is the most proper of their orthodox methods. If we are to discuss the history of the Kioka Republic, when they face an opponent like the Katjvarna Empire which they have no chance of defeating in a straight fight, they would rely on other factors both inside and outside their enemy to gain an advantage. That’s how they survived for so long.”
Yatori who was wiping and maintaining her swords interjected:
“‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ ─ This doesn’t apply only to their military, this is basically Kioka’s diplomatic policy.”
“That’s right. In response to the arrogance of the powerful Empire, they would act in a meek manner, that is the Kioka way of doing things. To avoid fighting amongst themselves, and to incite other factions to do so. They made use of the Shinaaks this time.”
“I… I see. After all, the Shinaaks are potential rebels within the Empire in the first place…”
“In other words… Not only are they supporting the Shinaaks, the entire war was planned by Kioka from the very beginning?”
Haroma and Matthew both looked uneasy, while Ikuta nodded without holding back.
“If not, how did things dragged on for so long… Be it the death of Major Taekk who was the pillar of the Northern command, or the guerilla battle in the mountains after that, all their actions are crisp and sharp without unnecessary movements. It is clear that they had been trained carefully in combat by someone.”
“By the way, their supply of Wind Cannons are too plentiful and could rival an army matches this speculation. Anyone who fought here can feel the existence of an organization that is supporting the rebellion of the Shinaaks… I just didn’t expect them to interfere so directly.”
Yatori who remembered something from the earlier battles said with a hint of fear. Ikuta agreed without a word, and a short later, said an inauspicious name suddenly.
“... They are probably the ‘Phantom Unit’.”
“Phantom Unit…? That… That’s a pretty frightening name.”
“It’s just a name they are known by, because never leave behind corpses on the battlefield. Their real identity is a secret unit used by the Kioka army to carry out covert missions… There is no doubt such a unit exist, but from the rumours heard about their exploits, they sound like legends of the battlefield.”
Assassinating key personnels, obtaining top secrets, inciting revolts, training local guerrilla units and others… They handle secret task that could not be disclosed to the public. It was said that this unit completed all their mission in accordance to the needs of the government and military.
As the actual situation of their activities were shrouded in darkness, they were recurring characters in the speculations of conspiracy theorists. For example, ‘So and so was actually assassinated by the Phantom Unit, so this is the scheme of Kioka!’ had become dank memes.
“Inciting and increasing the hatred that the Shinaack held towards the Empire, and providing military training that focus on uprising. That should be the mission of the Phantom Unit. And in this process, even the brilliant execution of a jihad was worked into this.”
“In that case, I think they were ones who came up with the plan to ‘lure the Imperial army into the Grand Arfatra Mountains to conduct guerilla warfare’. That is because the Shinaak seldom use the tactic of making good preparations before waiting in the mountains in ambush.”
“Which means the proposing and planning of the war was done by the Phantom Unit, belonging to the Kioka Republic, and the ones carrying it out are the Shinaaks… Kioka might look like they are an accomplice, but they are actually the mastermind.”
Everyone nodded in agreement to the simple summary by Yatori.
“There was a group that looked suspiciously like the Phantom Unit in the previous battle, with one group shooting from the other side of the cliff, and another group charging into the Imperial forces. The melee group was about platoon size, and from the scale of the shooting, the ranged unit should have about similar numbers… But I don’t think that’s their full forces.”
“They taught the Shinaaks how to fight guerilla battles, so they should have quite a number of personnel… However, this is a separate issue from how many people they left here right?”
“It is as you say, but as this is very plausible, we should assume they are one company strong. I think this should be the upper limits for the number of people that could infiltrate and hide in secret operations.”
“I feel the same as Yatori. And the problem is, after all the battles so far, those guys probably didn’t lose any men. In other words, there is an entire unharmed company lying in ambush, and they are elites where a part of the soldiers are equipped with the newest Air Rifles.”
A heavy silence shrouded the group. Feeling that he might had made everyone too cautious, Ikuta tried to lighten the mood.
“What we did just now was discussing the possibilities, and even if these are all true, what those guys would do next is another problem. Maybe their mission is complete once they’ve incited a civil war that will hurt the Imperial Army seriously. As for their assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Safida, maybe they are hoping for a bonus if it happens to work.”
As Ikuta spoke, he felt his optimistic view sounded really hollow… So far, the situation had been going from bad to worse. Nobody even considered that it might turn for the better out of nowhere… And they couldn’t afford to.
“Everyone get up! Form your ranks! We are moving out!”
The loud voice echoed out. The soldiers who thought they could enjoy a longer period of rest got up grumbling. The other knights followed suit, and asked as soon as they saw their superior officer:
“What’s the matter, Captain Sazaruf. It has just been 30 minutes, isn’t this a long rest?”
When he heard Matthew who sounded more uneasy than upset, Captain Sazaruf answered with a stiff expression:
“I feel bad for the soldiers, but the schedule had been pushed forward. The unit ahead of us seemed to have run into some problematic situation, if we don’t get there early, it might be difficult to resolve.”
“Problematic situation… is… is it an enemy attack?”
Haroma asked timidly, but the Captain shook his head with an expression that says that might be better.
“This is a war that never bores its participants… Our allied forces had gone out of control.”
The girl dragged her heavy feet and kept running as she endured the scorching pain on her back.
“Huff… Huff… Ughh… Huff… Puff…!”
Groans of pain broke her ragged breathing every few moments. She used her torn cape as a bandage to stop her bleeding, but her wounds seemed to be protesting the shoddy treatment and felt more painful as time went by.
“Huff… Puff…! … Hurry… I have to hurry back─”
Although Nanak Dar tumbled down the cliff after grabbing a rope she just happened to find, she merely escaped from the fate of becoming a captive of the Imperial soldiers, but she paid a heavy price.
Be it the wounds of battle or the injury from the fall, neither of it was an issue. However ─ she couldn’t feel the weight behind her that made her feel at ease. This small void was equivalent to despair for the girl.
“... Ughh… Shia… I’m sorry… Shia…”
In her hasty escape, she couldn’t even pick up the soul stone that dropped amidst the debris. If she was lucky, the enemy would pick it, if not, it would fall into the cliff… There was a good chance that she would lose Shia forever. As her knees would grow weak when she thought about that, the girl tried her best to think of other things.
“Unforgivable… Unforgivable…! Those demons… Those damn soldiers…!”
The only thing that was supporting Nanak Dar was this hatred and fury. Even after losing her partner which was half of herself, there was still things she needed to protect. Many of her Shinaaks who lost their homes to fire and the warriors who were still fighting were gathered in the village ahead.
“... Everyone… Wait for me… Grandpa… Grandma… Nana is coming back…”
Nanak Dar climbed over boulders and parted the grass as she moved forth as fast as she could. However ─ When she was about to lose her sense of time, a pungent smell stimulated her nostrils. It was the same similar to what she smelled in a burned village ─ spurred by an ominous feeling, Nanak Dar sped up with a stumble.
“─ No… Stop… Stop…!”
With an expression on the verge of tears, she made a beeline through the dense vegetation. But after she crossed the grass field ─ she understood that her wish didn’t reach the heavens.
“─ Ah──”
When her field of vision widen, she could see the building burning red. Under the glow of the flames, there was a massacre happening in the village. The ground was filled with corpses, and those still alive were fleeing for their lives. There were men and women; the elderly and children. Soldiers were chasing and slaughtering them with bloodshot eyes.
Yahhhh! A woman whose chest was pierced by a blade screamed. The soldier kicked the woman down, and then twisted the bayonet that was embedded. Her screams turned into howls, and the smile on the soldier’s face deepened.
For him, the pain felt by the other party was the best form of joy, and there was no limits in their greedy pursuit of this happiness. He pulled out the bayonet, and stabbed it into the mouth of the woman.
“... Stop…”
Her voice was trembling, her teeth clattering with each other. The girl who was living normally in this village, but it was now hellish. Nanak Dar witness the Imperial soldiers she and her tribesmen had been calling demons becoming a literal evil existence. She never knew that real demons would kill and torment others with such a gleeful smile.
“... Stopppppp…!”
Nanak Dar gripped her Gauches tightly and pushed the pain on her back to the back of her mind and dashed right into hell. She killed the demons she saw one by one as she advanced… But the more she moved, the heavier her body got. After rushing here with her wounds, she lost a lot of blood.
More importantly, her back felt cold. There wasn’t anything protecting her back─
“... Grandpa… Grandma…”
After Nanak Dar found the large house where the elders of the tribes should have gathered, she didn’t hesitate on kicking open the door and barging in. The hell inside was more restrained than outside. Because it was already over, aside from a few demons ransacking through the house in search of valuables, there were only the corpses of the elderly.
“──”
For the Shinaaks where life expectancy averaged around 30, the elderly were a rare existence. Without regards to blood relations, all the young ones would address the elders who accumulated wisdom from their long life as ‘grandpa’ or ‘grandma’, and the elderly would treat the young ones like their own grandchildren.
In the heart of the tribal chief Nanak Dar, the 17 elderly who died were such an existence to her. They were all grandfathers and grandmothers she was closer to than blood, and she shared memories with every single one of them.
And now ─ Some of these elderly had become corpses who would never speak again.
“─ Ahhhhhh…!”
If her partner Shia was one half of her, Nanak felt that the remaining half was being torn off of her. Her restraint of rationality broke down, and her killing intent spurred Nanak Dar’s entire body. Before the other party was ready, she sliced off one of the demon’s head ─ But that was a fatal mistake.
“... Ah…...!”
She felt the feedback of hitting something hard, and the gauche in her right hand wouldn’t move. Because she used too much strength in cutting off the head, and she cut right into a pillar in the room.
… For the dancing sword style that require a vast amount of space, its weak point was in fighting indoors. The girl lost herself in her rage, and didn’t even notice that.
“Damn it, this girl…!” “What the hell! Restraint her!”
The soldiers around rushed Nanak Dar who was defenceless. She attempted to swing the gauche in her left hand, but her entire arm was caught; another soldier grabbed her hair. The girl who was thrown hard onto the ground looked up at the troopers above her, and felt a chill.
“This girl cut off Sinha’s head!”
“Damn hillbilly…! I will let you suffer the same fate!”
The enraged soldier raised the gauche he seized from Nanak Dar and aimed for her neck. Feeling her imminent death, she closed her eyes. But as she imagined the cold blade touching her on reflex, another soldier said with a calm voice:
“Hey wait─ That is a woman.”
When they heard that, the other soldiers all stopped instantly. A different type of silence spread in the room. Several frenzied gazes fell onto the body of the girl with a different sort of emotion unlike bloodlust.
When all these action ended, that soldier continued saying with a simple and forthright smile:
“We can kill her after we used her.”
“... What the heck are they doing…”
Captain Sazaruf, Ikuta and the others who rushed on scene after getting the report of their allies going out of control, saw soldiers who lost all semblance of order and discipline, and had completely turned into rioters.
“What is their commander doing? Hey! We are friendly forces! Get the person in charge over here!”
After Captain Sazaruf shouted several times, a middle aged officer who was smiling wryly appeared from the shade of the trees some distance away and walked towards Sazaruf. He was a Captain too, but he was much older than Sazaruf.
“Ara, sorry you have to make a trip. I couldn’t do anything, and it turned out like this.”
“What do you mean turned out like this!? Why didn’t you stop them? Aren’t they your subordinates!?”
Captain Sazaruf said agitatedly, and the middle aged officer rebuked him with an unhappy face:
“Don’t exaggerate it so much, they are just letting their rage get into their head. They probably accumulated a lot of anger over the long campaign. It happens all the time in long expeditions, they will cool down after venting it out, I know this very well.”
“How many violations are you going to tolerate before that happens? Even on enemy grounds, pillaging for purposes other resupply are against military law! It’s the same for violence against non-combatants! Don’t you know that you will be court martialed for turning a blind eye to this!?”
Tch! The middle aged officer clicked his tongue, as if he was facing someone who couldn’t understand his language.
“Don’t use military law to pressure me. The officer on the ground has to react to the situation. You are probably battlefield promoted so you don’t know. Forget it, it’s only natural you don’t understand the situation─”
“There’s no end to this. If that’s all you have to say, I will start cleaning up.”
Captain Sazaruf ignored the unhappy middle aged officer and walked past him. Ikuta and the others followed without any protest. That officer continued complaining behind them, but no one was willing to listen.
The Captain was thinking about how to suppress the terrible scene before him when Ikuta said hurriedly:
“Captain, please let Yatori and my platoon go in.”
“Not yet, there are too many rioting soldiers, we need to consider what can be done…”
“Please listen Captain. We will protect the survivors that are important in this tactical situation, it will be too late if we don’t act now!”
Captain Sazaruf opened his eyes wide, and the rare sight of this youth being flustered also left a deep impression on the other members of the Knight Order.
At this moment, his old friend supported Ikuta’s sudden request.
“Captain, I wish to ask for this too. I can’t stand aside idly as a soldier when there are civilians being hurt.”
“... I understand. But you all have to move in large groups, and don’t agitate those guys too much.”
Ikuta and Yatori thanked their commander for his understanding, and started moving with their units. To increase efficiency, they split up and search in squad level. This might go against the advice of the Captain to move as a large group, but Ikuta was willing to go that far.
“That house is the biggest building, Yatori, come with me!”
“Understood. I am charging, don’t fall behind!”
Yatori sprinted with a speed that could rival felines, and Ikuta followed behind. Even so, she still arrived several seconds earlier, but didn’t break open the door and barge in right away. Doing that might spook her allies inside, and they might get attacked.
“We are friendlies! We are coming in now, don’t shoot!”
Yatori announced with a volume that echoed to the surroundings before opening the door. At this moment, Ikuta arrived too.
The two of them entered at the same time, and what they saw were the crazy scene of soldiers beating each other up.
“As the superior officer, I should go first!”
“Shut up! A woman tainted by your dirty hands can’t be used anymore!”
“If you can’t get in line, then get out! Use the branching spot of twigs to get yourself off!”
At the feet of the soldiers cursing and beating each other up, was a girl who was tied crudely with her body curled into a pile. Yatori who fought her before recognized her instantly. She was the tribal leader of the Shinaaks, Nanak Dar.
“Hey ─ You lot better watch it.”
Ikuta’s voice was low and deep. Yatori knew he was like this when he was angry for real.
As someone was talking to them within the same room, the subjects finally realized that there was an intruder. Four of the five soldiers froze after seeing Ikuta and Yatori’s rank, but there was an exception. On the left chest of that man was a rank that had one more star than Ikuta.
“... You are putting on a big front huh. But these guys are all my subordinate, and the ranking officer here is me, why should I listen to the orders of a mere Warrant Officer? Huh? Tell me a reason that I can accept!”
Seeing that forceful and unreasonable attitude, something snapped in Ikuta’s heart ─ Captain Sazaruf’s order and the strategical importance of Nanak Dar… Listing out the reasons to refute his adversary was his usual method. In fact, the contents were already appearing in his mind. However, despite that…
“... Saying everything I want to say when I want to say it is my principle. However─”
Ikuta muttered and walked towards the other party in large strides─ Reasons, logic, persuasion, coercion. The Ikuta at this moment wasn’t the usual him, so he sealed away all these familiar methods…
“─ Don’t assume that I will prepare a speech that you will understand and accept!”
He changed his approach to the primitive way of ‘swinging his fist with all his might into the other party’s face. In other words, it was a method that was surprisingly unlike his style.
“Ugh…!”
As Ikuta didn’t show any signs that he would resort to violence, the Second Lieutenant took the punch solidly. He knocked aside the furniture, and hit the ground behind him hard.
“Yatori, protect Nana. It would be better for a woman like you to go.”
After witnessing the series of events, even Yatori couldn’t hide her surprise. But she acted immediately after hearing Ikuta said that. She lowered her body and approached Nanak Dar, and used verbal and body gesture to indicate that she meant no harm. At the same time, she checked Nanak’s messy attire casually. After judging that it wasn’t serious, Yatori sighed in relief.
“Looks like we made it in time, Ikuta.”
The moment Yatori told him that, Ikuta felt his strength waned. As he endured the urge to sat down right away in relief, he muttered:
“... Is that so. So we made it in time for one person this time?”
In fact, it was probably preposterous to even say that they made it in time. In the bloody flames of war, this was merely a whim of the gods. The small fortune that was like wood shavings wasn’t even worth mentioning for many people.
… However, Ikuta was saved by this luck right now. And only within the confines of this result, he didn’t have to feel disappointed by himself; because of his minor actions, a small part escaped destruction and managed to survive.
On the other hand, the Second Lieutenant who was bleeding from the nose was crawling, attempting to reach his bow gun that was leaning on the wall. However, Yatori’s sword stabbed his fingers before that.
When he saw the man pull back his hand with a shriek, Ikuta said in his usual sarcastic tone:
“Men can be heroes or warriors… but not animals, Second Lieutenant.”
After apprehending Nanak Dar and handing her over to Haroma’s unit, Ikuta and the rest started suppressing their rioting allies again.
It wasn’t easy, but by making use of the habits of soldiers such as the sounding of gongs as a signal to gather was very effective. The troops remember that this wasn’t the time to do such things, and regained their composure; with commanders like Ikuta warning them personally, the unit was finally restored to order.
“... Really, have they finally calmed down? Even so, they have done considerable damage…”
Captain Sazaruf looked at the bodies of the Shinaaks everywhere and sighed heavily. But when he noticed that none of his subordinates could say anything, the Captain decided to change the topic.
“... This might be the worst way to end it, but this war has finally concluded. We have apprehended Nanak Dar, and it would be hard for the Shinaaks to mount any further organized resistance.”
Captain finished his speech with complicated emotions, and there were some who started to sob when they remembered their fallen brethren… All of them thought they had lost too much in this war. Only the slow witted and those who didn’t know the situation at the frontlines would think of this pyrrhic result as a victory.
“Ara, well done gentlemen! We have taught those barbaric Shinaaks a thorough lesson!”
It was the perfect timing to show how obnoxious Safida was. The words of Lieutenant General Safida who came all the way to the front lines was the perfect example. All the members of the Knight Order felt the same thing, that there was compliments they were better off not hearing.
However, before the eyes of the group annoyed by the hollow speech of the Lieutenant General, something strange happened. A never seen before unit came from the other end of the village. About a platoon in size, their uniform was obviously different from the Imperial forces, and a priest like man was at the head of the group.
Lieutenant General Safida only noticed the arrival of the other party when they were within earshot of each other. He finally halted them with a warning, stopping them from advancing further.
The mysterious group stopped, and the man who appeared to be a priest stepped forth.
“We are the Situational Inspection Team from the Church of Alderamin, is the person in charge present!?”
When the party state their identity, the expression of the Lieutenant General stiffened visibly. He hesitated for a moment before reluctantly introducing himself.
“... I am the commander of the Northern Stronghold, Lieutenant General Tamshiikushik Safida. This is an Imperial warzone, what is the Situational Inspection Team doing here?”
“We received a report, claiming that the northern region of the Empire commit heresies going against the teaching of Alderamin on a daily basis. The suspect is the Northern Stronghold, and content of the suspected crime is cruelty towards Sprites.”
Lieutenant General Safida’s mouth twisted with an ‘ughh’, he knew this very well.
“We are here to confirm the actual situation. However…”
The priest stopped here, and surveyed the surroundings carefully. Ikuta frowned when he saw that, and felt that this would be bad.
To think that the first thing they would see were the bodies of the Shinaaks be it elderly or the young─ but that didn’t matter right now, and the Alderamin Inspection Team wasn’t interested in that. Their point wasn’t the murders that would definitely occur during a war, but whether the non-human existence that accompanied them was treated with cruelty.
“... There is no need for a formal investigation. Just from what I can see here, there are obvious signs of attack against Sprites that exceeded that of self defence, and there are innumerable amounts of them.”
That was right, this was their main focus. The Imperial soldiers who lost control not only targeted the humans that couldn’t mount any resistance, they didn’t let the partner Sprite go either. There were decapitated Sprites, Sprites with missing limbs and Sprites they literally shredded─ Such horrible sights could be found everywhere in any number.
“According to our inspection, there is no doubt that the northern base is guilty of cruelty towards sprites. Our mission is to report this back to headquarters. Farewell then.”
“Wait… Please wait!”
Lieutenant General Safida stopped the inspection team that declared they had completed their tasks one sidedly. His face was a shade of green others had never seen before.
“Please wait, we have our reasons, allow me to explain─”
“I refuse. My mission is to report the truth that I see directly. If you wish to appeal, you have to do so after headquarters officially raise their protest.”
“What an accommodative way of doing things! No matter what, I won’t let you leave just like this!”
“Are you planning to arrest us? Don’t forget the priests of Alderamin have diplomatic immunity. If our freedom are taken against our will, that action alone would be a heavy crime diplomatically.”
Lieutenant General Safida was at a loss for words in no time. Even though he was the commander of the Northern Stronghold, he couldn’t ignore the authority of the Alderamin church that was revered as the national religion. The diplomatic immunity of the priests were the highest form of authority, so the Lieutenant General didn’t have any proper reason to detain them.
After noting that the Lieutenant General was completely silent, the priest led his inspection team away without a word. Everyone present thought that Lieutenant General Safida’s military career was over with that.
Even if the Lieutenant General talked his way out of the huge number of unnecessary losses during the civil unrest of the northern region, the big diplomatic issue of mistreating sprites was still waiting for him. If Ikuta was in his shoes, he couldn’t think of any perfect way to avoid taking responsibility and keep the position of Stronghold Commander.
─ He is getting his just desserts. His retribution was too lenient, but it was still an adequate result.
Ikuta wanted to dispel his dissatisfaction and frustration with such thoughts. However, the subject himself still haven’t given up.
“I… I want to catch up with them! You lot follow me!”
When they heard their commander who had fallen into a desperate situation issue such an order, the soldiers all had the expression that seemed to say ‘enough already’.
“... Even if you say that, what can we do when we catch up?”
“Follow alongside and persuade them of course! Captain Sazaruf! Pick a company that is still energetic from your battalion! They will escort me!”
Captain Sazaruf pressed his forehead as if he was nursing a headache, then look at his subordinates… Energetic unit, he felt like telling the Lieutenant General the truth that there were no such units. But he chose to be mature and endure it.
“... Company Commander Ikuta, my apologies, but can you and your unit go?”
If there was a relatively lively unit, this would be the right choice. Ikuta hated war that was always accompanied by annoying complements, and forced himself to nod.
“... Then the 200 men of Ikuta Solork will accompany Lieutenant General Safida.
If he wasn’t indebted to Captain Sazaruf, Ikuta would claim to have a stomache.
The pace of the Inspection team was faster than they imagined, and Ikuta’s group couldn’t catch up after moving off for quite a while. In the end, they weren’t sure which splinter path they took, and the soldiers subtly give out the message that they should ‘give up and go back’. But it was impossible for Lieutenant General Safida to understand this.
“Climb higher! To the place where the field of vision is wider!”
Lieutenant General Safida seemed to be planning to look down from a high vantage point to search for the Inspection Team’s position. Would he give up if he couldn’t find them? Ikuta’s company climbed up the hill with such expectations in their heart.
After scaling to the top of an exceptionally tall ridge, they could see the entire north from the Grand Arfatra Mountains. If they were here on a leisure trip, this would be the best spot to enjoy the scenery, but everyone was already seek of high places.
The group searched with their eyes open. They would scan the area with their eyes, and zoom in with binoculars if they spot plausible targets. However, they couldn’t find the Inspection Team after a long search. Ikuta told the Lieutenant General that they might be walking along the blindspot of the mountain path, but he got an angry response, asking him to find them once the Inspection Team exit that blindspot.
At this moment, Torway spotted ‘that’ with his great eyesight.
“... Ah… Erm… Ik-kun… That…”
“What is it? Found them? Even if you did, it will be better to pretend you didn’t.”
“Not that… Ik… Ik-kun, look… at… that…”
Torway handed him the binoculars with trembling hands, making Ikuta feel uneasy, but he still took it. He adjusted the focus as directed by Torway, and found the target a few seconds later.
“─ That─”
His breathing stopped for a moment ─ there was a group of people over there, but that definitely wasn’t the inspection team.
It was an army that numbered over 10,000 men.
“─ What is that…!”
At the head of the long formation, a flag was flown. A pure white star on a dark green background─ That was the crest that represented the star of the Alderamin church. There was only one army that uses this crest as a banner.
“Ra-Saia-Alderamin… The army of the Aldera church…!”
Ikuta hoped that this was an illusion because of altitude sickness as he stated the identity of the other party.
Ra-Saia-Alderamin─ This was a religious country to the north of the Grand Arfatra Mountains. Other than being the headquarters of the Aldera Church, it also functions like an autonomous nation. It borders the Katjvarna Empire and Kioka Republic, and maintains a neutral position throughout history without siding either country. This nation being located to the north of the Grand Arfatra Mountains played a huge part in maintaining the myth that no enemy could pass through the ‘stairway of god’.
“... That nation would only display the one star banner when they are on a Jihad right?”
“They are heading our way, towards the south… Which means…”
“─ They want to punish us in the name of the god… Is that it?”
Yatori who came to his side without him realizing was looking through her own binoculars as she finished his sentence. The others who noticed the sudden change also gathered around them.
“How could this be… Those priests aren’t an inspection team, but an army’s vanguard that is doubling as an inspection team. They are already certain of the northern stronghold’s guilt, and what happened earlier was just the ultimatum before the war─”
Ikuta who was observing the army through the lenses recalled the itch in his heart all this time.
“... Is that so… Those robes…!”
The logic of all these clicked in his mind ─ The day Major Taekk was murdered, there were many robes left in the room. Ikuta had been wondering what this could mean.
The most plausible hypothesis was Shinaak thieves getting into the house by impersonating as Alderamin devotees. In that case, the clean way they killed all the humans in the house without letting anyone outside notice could be explained. First of all, they were invited into the house as real guests, and only showed their true nature when the people inside let down their guard. The robe that covered the entire head would conceal the features of the Shinaaks as well.
However, one more actor would be needed to enact this plan, which was an Alderamin priest leading the pilgrimage. If the priest wasn’t there, they would be unconvincing. In other words, if this theory was correct, then there must be a priest─ or someone pretending to be a priest— present back then.
Ikuta deduced this much, and admit that this was a well executed plan. However, he didn’t expect such a development. The Kioka Republic actually allied with the priests of Alderamin, and persuaded the Ra-Saia-Alderamin to invade the Empire out of their ‘holy duties’, using the misdeeds of Lieutenant General Safida as the excuse─ On top of that, they also incited the civil unrest of the Shinaaks too. For the speculation of one man, the scale of this conspiracy was too big.
“... Torway… Try your best to gauge how far Ra-Saia-Alderamin… the Holy Aldera Army and their headquarters behind are…”
“Ik… Ikkun…”
“And from that estimate, calculate how long they would take to reach here. We need to know how much time we have left. How long they would catch up to us, and the time needed to withdraw our all our forces…”
As Ikuta said that, he predicted in his heart that the plan this time would yield some very harsh numbers ─ They would be fine if the army simply pulls back from the battlefront. If they could abandon their heavy and bulky resources, they just need order the units who were ready to fall back.
But if they did that, what would happen once they leave the mountains? It would be safe to assume that the goal of the Holy Aldera Army was to destroy the Northern Stronghold that violated their religious law, and suppress the northern region.The Northern Stronghold that was exhausted from the long campaign against the Shinaaks would need to face the prospect of a Northern invasion they had never imagined before. Not only was this a new threat, it was an unexpected one. If they couldn’t mount a well equipped defensive position, could they stand against their adversary?
The answer was no.
In conclusion— no matter what, the Northern Stronghold needs time. They need time to retrieve the minimum amount of equipment and resources they committed into battlefront, pull back their entire forces, and mount a proper defence after returning to the plains. If possible, having the time for central to dispatch reinforcements after learning about the emergency would be ideal…
“What a messy war… To think the complimentary bonus would be larger than the war itself─”
The heavy workload was becoming overwhelming. In order to resist the temptation of abandoning everything, he uttered these words with a trembling voice, and his tone sounded really like a prayer.
Volume 2 End
