LEGEND

Chapter 289

「Haah, haa, haah……」

A soldier looked around with unbelieving eyes as he panted heavily.

Next to him was the figure of a fellow soldier who had been fighting Demon Soldiers with him until a moment earlier.

「H-Hey. ……Why do you think they suddenly disappeared.」

It must have been a fierce battle. The soldier asked as he tried to smooth his breathing, but the man sitting on the ground beside him found it to difficult to say anything and just shook his head.

Looking at his fellow soldier, he roughly understood why the Demon Soldiers had retreated.

Some fire magic had been shot up into the sky. Seeing that, the Demon Soldiers immediately stopped fighting and fell back. It wasn’t just one or two of them. It was all the Demon Soldiers around them.

(Well, if that didn’t happen, I might have died.)

Continuing to adjust his breath, he looked around again.

In the beginning, there were nearly 100 soldiers in his unit. But now, there were less than 10 still alive. All against just a few. They had suffered so much damage from just a few Demon Soldiers. In fact, he was sure that they would have died to the Demon Soldier they had been fighting if they had fought for a few more minutes. On the contrary though, they were saved by the Demon Soldiers’ retreat, so rather than feeling resentment, he was thankful to the person who had sent out that signal flare.

「Phew……anyhow, we managed to survive. That’s all that matters, right?」

Maybe he had finally composed himself, the man sitting on the ground murmured in a quiet voice. The survivors around him all nodded.

「But the damage suffered was also massive.」

At the end of his line of site were the corpses of numerous soldiers cut apart at the torso.

The soldiers had been fighting a Demon Soldier who looked like a hybrid of a crab and a human. Their upper body was covered in a crab shell which negated the attacks of all swords and spears while their scissor like claws easily cut through the soldiers. The foam from the Demon Soldier’s mouth poisoned and slowed the soldiers down, making it impossible to avoid any attacks as they were beaten to death by the sturdy claws.

It was against such a Demon Soldier that the man had fought. Of course, there were other Demon Soldiers that the others had fought, including ones with the face of a dog, ones with scales all over their body and hybrids of beetles and humans. They were just ordinary soldiers. Being able to survive against such enemies, the man felt that they were quite lucky.

As he was thinking about that, several knights on horses appeared.

「……Are you the only survivor here? Who is the commander?」

The soldiers stayed silent at the knight’s words.

「What’s wrong? Does this unit have no commander?」

When the knight asked a second time, seeing that no one around him was saying anything, the man spoke up.

They couldn’t stay silent, and above all, they couldn’t anger the knight.

「The commander was killed by one of the enemy monsters during the battle……」

「……I see. I apologise for my bluntness. In that case, who was in charge during the fighting?」

It was almost impossible to fight against Demon Soldiers without a commander. When the knight asked that question, the rest of the soldiers turned to look at the one who had told the knight of the commander’s death in battle.

He had been the first to speak after after the Demon Soldiers had left.

「Uh, yes. That would be me.」

The soldier, being stared at by all the other soldiers and the knights, quickly answered.

「Then, gather everyone up. The meeting place is ahead. Everyone scattered around the battlefield are to gather there to reorganise their troops. ……Rest assured, you only have to lead the soldiers until you get to the meeting place. Once your unit has been reorganised, a proper commander will lead you.」

At the knight’s words, the soldier gave a sigh of relief.

Although he had commanded his unit and survived the battle, it was purely due to luck.

That was quite natural. In the first place, soldier were not trained as commanders.

「I understand. I will head there right away.」

「That’s right. It’s true that all those monsters have withdrawn, but it’s not clear what will happen in future. It depends on Count Arius’ decision……」

Despite the knight’s vague words, it carried the implication that they were definitely going to go on the offensive.

He also understood the implications. The soldiers stood up with an involuntary sigh.

Their position was nothing more than soldiers. It would be possible for nobles to disagree with that order, but such a thing was impossible for for soldiers even if the world was turned upside down. In other words, as soldiers, all they could pray for was that they would at least be assigned a competent commander in their unit that would let them survive the war if they followed orders.

「Anyway, let’s hurry up and group up. I have to gather up everyone else scattered on the battlefield.」

Saying that, the knight left on his horse alongside the other knights.

Seeing them leave, the soldiers used what little stamina they had regained after their short break to stand back up.

The soldier, who ahd been told to lead the others, hoped that they would get a decent commander. ……However, at the meeting place, he ended up being appointed as the official commander for his unit. The soldiers with him were assigned as his subordinates and, in the end, the soldier’s wish to be assigned a good commander were not met.

Still, the unit led by him would survive the war without a single loss. As a result, the soldier that was forced to become a commander would have his role evaluated by the some senior military personnel and eventually awarded the rank of baron. In addition, many of his subordinates that survived the war ended up becoming his vassals.

「Count Arius, are you okay?」

Arius gave a snort at the person who called out to him as if he was worried about Count Arius.

The noble’s face distorted unpleasantly for a moment, but he immediately erased it as he spoke again.

「I was very surprised at the sudden ambush. I had no choice but to act on my own discretion to block any enemies from appearing in the surroundings……but because I was keeping watch, it seems that the Bestir Empire didn’t dare to send any more reinforcements.」

His words could only be considered shameless, but Arius just listened to the noble in silence.

Of course, Arius hadn’t forgotten that the noble had been the first to escape when the Demon Soldiers had appeared. However, because the man was also from a Count house, the same as himself, and a more powerful one at that, there was nothing he could do.

The most Arius could do was to put the man in a position where he would be unable to earn any merit from this war.

(Damn it, if I had the power……at the very least, if I were a Marquis, I would be able to punish him on the spot.)

Suppressing the anger in his mind, he ignored the noble’s excuse without any expression on his face.

Siminar looked at Arius with a bitter smile.

That said, Siminar was now in a position much closer to Arius……closer than when Rei had been called up previously. This was of course because he had fought on the same battlefield as Arius and was different from the other nobles in that he didn’t run away in that situation.

To Siminar, that was only to be expected. If the chief general was defeated, they would lose. Because of that, it was natural for him to protect the general.

Arius’ evaluation of Siminar was relatively high because many of the nobles had scattered instead of protecting him.

As Siminar smiled at the situation he was in, he suddenly noticed all the soldiers and nobles around him start buzzing.

It was same for Arius. He looked around questioningly. The soldiers around him started to split left and right as they opened up a path……

「It’s great that everyone is safe and sound.」

As she said that, Elena, surrounded by a dignified aura as usual, and Ara, the leader of her knight guard, appeared. Alongside them was Rei. Yellow was naturally sitting on Elena’s shoulders but there was no sign of Set. Rei wasn’t able to bring Set here, partially because the nobles would be scared to see a Griffon.

Seeing them……especially Elena, made Siminar’s heart beat rapidly as his face flushed lightly. Realising what was happening, Siminar thought to himself with a bitter smile.

(Such a thing. I never thought I’d fall in love with the General Princess.)

Even Siminar had gone to brothels along with his noble friends and subordinates. Of course, the places he went to were called ‘luxury houses’ which were only visited by nobles and other wealthy people. Since he had experienced similar feelings in those places, he knew the situation he was currently in.

(That said, as a Royalist, any thoughts I have about the General Princess will probably never come true. Well, these thoughts will go away soon anyway. ……I hope.)

Seeing everyone else locked in place, Siminar shook his head at the confused feelings in his heart from seeing Elena and out to her.

Of course, there were others that wanted to talk to Elena. However, those that had run away at the beginning of the fight had no choice but to shut up at Elena’s cold gaze when they wanted to speak. On the other hand, the nobles who had fought alongside Arius and wanted to thank her were unable to say a word due to the difference in their standing.

For those people, they were envious but grateful that Siminar had spoken up first.

「Elena-dono, thank you for your help.」

「Siminar-dono? It looks like you’re safe as well. It was quite impressive that you were able to fight evenly against the Demon Soldiers.」

「No, not really. In fact, I was almost done in by that woman with the plants. ……Well, I would like to talk for a bit longer, but we have to decide what to do from now on. Count Arius, what do you plan to do now.」

At Siminar’s reply, those around him also recollected themselves as they turned to Count Arius.

Arius was the only noble not facing any pressure from Elena as he spoke to answer Siminar’s question.

「It is true that the main army was ambushed. However, it’s also true that we repelled the attack and are currently pushing the Bestir Empire on the front lines. Because of that, we will go on the offensive immediately.」

「That’s right! We repelled the ambush! That means that it should be possible to destroy the Bestir Empire’s army!」

「I agree with Count Arius. Let’s ready our troops right away.」

「If we take the time to reorganise the troops, we might miss our chance. In that case, first of all, everyone that can move……」

「Don’t be stupid! No matter what you say, it’s impossible! The ambush exhausted our forces considerably. At the very least, we have to reorganise the units that lost their commanders and rebuild our strength……」

At Count Arius’ words, all the nobles around him were united in their opinion to launch an all out offensive. But at that moment.

「Wouldn’t it be better to stop here?」

Elena’s words entered the ears of the noisy Royalists.

「……Elena-dono, what did you just say?」

Among the Royalists, Count Arius, who wanted to achieve great merits to outweigh the blunder of ambush on the main army, turned to look at Elena with a strong gaze.

There was no sign of gratitude in his eyes for being saved earlier. Instead, his gaze had turned into one where he wanted to eliminate the opponent that was trying to prevent him from earning any merit.

But, of course, Elena wouldn’t be frightened by such looks.

「I said no more fighting is needed. The purpose of the Mireana Kingdom’s army is to prevent the enemy invasion. In that case, haven’t we already achieved our goal?」

「No, I don’t think so. If we let the Bestir Empire’s army return safely as it is, we will be invaded again in the near future. In order to prevent that, it is necessary to do as much damage as possible now. 」

「……Can you still say that after seeing the strength of the Demon Soldiers? Although we succeeded in repelling the Flash, more than half of the Demon Soldiers were still alive. Now that they’ve been publicly revealed, there’s no longer anything preventing them from appearing on the front lines.」

Elena’s words made the nobles buzz.

In the first place, the Royalist nobles had fled because of the difference in strength between them and the Demon Soldiers. It wasn’t strange that they would be scared when told that they may have to fight them again. No, rather, Arius, who wasn’t as concerned, and Siminar, who was currently distracted by Elena, were the odd ones out.

「Unfortunately, I don’t agree. Elena-dono, you also saw how the Demon Soldiers looked like, right? Even in the Bestir Empire’s army, I don’t think the soldiers on the front lines would be able to see the Demon Soldiers as their compatriots. Perhaps their use of the Demon Soldiers will be limited.」

(Like where the Flash used them as a strike force.)

As he thought that in his mind, Arius spoke up again, voicing his final decision and settling down the surrounding nobles.

「And, unfortunately, I have overall command of the Mireana Kingdom’s army. Because of that, the plan will not change. According to the information I have, the enemy’s vanguard has already joined back up with their main army due to their total collapse. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity. Because of that, we’ll carry out a full scale offensive.」