LEGEND

Chapter 291

Before Rei and Elena’s eyes, the main armies of the Mireana Kingdom and Bestir Empire collided head on.

A group of about 30 people on warhorses watched on from a distance. In addition to Rei and Elena, Siminar was also present. No, rather, it could be said that Siminar was the commander of this unit, considering its formation.

As they moved, Rei heard some voices talking as he sat astride Set.

「An ambush? Count Arius must be in over his head.」

One of the adventurers hired by the Royalists said that out loud. The irony in his words was unavoidable considering the current situation.

「Does he want to return what was done to him? Well, it’s not like I don’t understand since he lost a lot of respect due to that as the chief commander and leader of the Royalist faction.」

「Probably. He’s trying to use reverse psychology. They’d never think they would fall to an ambush similar to the one they just did.」

「Kukuku~, it’s quite a change, isn’t it? It’s hard for nobles who care a lot about how others look at them.」

At the adventurer’s words, laughter spread throughout the entire ambush unit.

Normally, Siminar would have reproved them, but he stayed silent without saying anything. No, he even had a smile on his face as if he agreed with the words of the adventurers. But, as the commander of the ambush unit, he couldn’t help but speak out.

「Hey, calm down a bit. I believe you understand the situation, so that’s why this ambush has to be successful. Of course, being selected for this ambush unit will have its own rewards. ……However, if this ambush fails, you can’t expect any rewards.」

At Siminar’s words, one of the adventurers replied without thinking too deeply.

「No, captain, if this ambush fails, we would be isolated in the middle of the enemy’s main camp anyway. I don’t think rewards would matter in that situation.」

「That’s true, but then what? You don’t want a reward if that happens? No, that may be a great spirit to show as an adventurer, but I have pride to show as the leader of the ambush unit.」

「Hey, wait a moment. Nobody said anything about not wanting any rewards!? This unit has an adventurer with a Griffon and, above all, the General Princess, right? There’s no way this ambush will fail. So we definitely should be rewarded.」

The adventurer’s panicked words made everyone around him laugh even more.

From the looks of it, there was no sense of tension……even though they were about to ambush the enemy’s main headquarters where the chief commander would be located.

(This is all due to Rei……no, it’s probably due to Set.)

While travelling alongside the adventurers, Siminar quietly turned to look at Set, who was leading the unit, and Rei, who was on top Set.

At the same time, he felt his heart pounding when he saw Elena moving next to Rei, but he forced himself to quash those emotions.

He was able to move forward with peace of mind because of the Set. Even though they were going to ambush the enemy, there was no anxiety thanks to Set.

In addition, they had Rei, who had created the fire whirl that had driven the enemy’s vanguard into retreat, and Elena, the famous General Princess. With that much strength, Siminar could understand why the adventurers that made up the ambush unit weren’t feeling uneasy.

(But……that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down.)

As Siminar thought to himself, the appearances of Demon Soldiers, who could be called the spawn of monsters, passed through his mind. The figure of Theorem, the Flash, also passed through his mind. It was no exaggeration to say that each Demon Soldier had the strength of more than dozens of ordinary soldiers. And Theorem, who led them all, seemed to be stronger than a Demon Soldier.

(As for the Demon Soldiers, we should be able to deal with them if we consider the people in the ambush unit.)

Most of the people in this ambush unit were talented adventurers hired by the Royalist faction. In terms of skill, they probably weren’t as good as the adventurers from Gilm, which was famously known as the frontier city of adventurers. Even if the Demon Soldiers had the strength of a dozen ordinary soldiers, it wasn’t impossible to deal with them given the skills of those in this unit. And since they were ambushing the enemy, there was no need to fight the Demon Soldiers head on. Their goal was the head of the Bestir Empire’s chief commander.

If Count Arius had known about the Prairie Wolves, he might have asked Daska for help. However, Count Arius was completely unaware of the existence of the Prairie Wolves and Daska had no intention of telling Arius and simply wasting them.

(But, the Flash is different. Since he is good at conducting ambushes, it’s highly likely he will expect this move. If that’s the case, there’s no doubt that they will prepare something for it. And, the only people who can take on the Flash in this unit are Rei and the General Princess. What will the situation be like at that time……)

As he repeated his unanswered questions in his head, a hand was suddenly placed on his right shoulder.

Looking back, it was the adventurer who had been talking about rewards with him earlier. Although he was riding a warhorse, it seemed that he was accustomed to handling horses as he was selected to be part of the ambush unit.

「There are a lot of thing to worry about as a noble, but, at the very least, I am not worried about this ambush unit. So we don’t we just relax and don’t think too hard about it?」

「Even if you say that. In fact, there’s no doubt that the outcome of this ambush will decided this war. With that in mind, taking it easy is……」

Impossible. When he was about to say that, Set, who had been walking at the front, stopped walking. At the same time, Elena also stopped.

Even the other members of the ambush unit, who seemed to be playing around, immediately stopped their horses as they took a look at their surroudings.

Finally realising that the surrounding atmosphere had changed, Siminar’s expression tightened as he asked Rei.

「What’s wrong?」

「Ahh. ……In the end, it looks like they are wary of ambushes. Maybe it’s because they had just ambushed us themselves that they are more cautious about it.」

Hearing those words, Siminar turned to look at what Rei was looking at, but unfortunately he couldn’t see anything.

「……Can you see anything? I can’t see anything.」

「Siminar-dono, over there.」

Next to Rei, Elena pointed over to some trees growing on the grassland. It was a small forest about 1km away and to Siminar, they looked like ordinary trees.

「Do you see anything?」

He asked the adventurer he had been talking with earlier, but the adventurer simply replied by shaking his head to indicate he didn’t know.

But Rei, unconcerned by Siminar, got off Set’s back and called out to Set while stroking his back.

「Set, can you go?」

「Guru~」

No problem! Rei turned to look back at Siminar after hearing Set’s cry.

「There seems to be a Demon Soldier in that forest. Probably a lookout. I’d like to have Set take them out with a single attack. That said, can you give your opinion as the captain of the ambush unit?」

「If there really is one, I can only leave it to you……is that fine?」

He knew of Rei and Set’s strenght, he had seen it with his own eyes. Even so, to be told that they would get rid of some enemies that were at a distance he couldn’t even distinguish……because they had seen a Demon Soldier, he would definitely be confused. Still, if there really was a lookout, he couldn’t just ignore them. Because of that, Siminar gave his permission. Seeing that, Rei nodded at Set to signal him.

「Gururu~!」

With a brief cry, Set dashed forward and ran up into the sky. The ambush unit silently saw Set off.

After that, about 5 minutes passed……

「Gurururururu~」

Set returned from the forest indicated by Rei. With the scales of a Lizardman, compound eyes like an insect and the tail of a fox, a Demon Soldier was brought back in Set’s beak.

「……Should I say, as expected.」

As the adventurers around him settled back down, Siminar murmured those words. The adventurers nodded silently in response.

To kill a Demon Soldier, who had considerable strength, in just a few minutes……and to kill one with almost no sound, was not possible for any of the people who were part of the ambush force, despite how skilled they were.

「Gururu~」

At Siminar’s words, Set gave a proud cry before dropping the corpse on the ground and turning towards Rei.

Set silently appealed to him for praise as Rei stroked his head with a wry smile.

「Kyu!」

And here’s my praise! Yellow seemed to say as it jumped from Elena’s shoulder to Set’s back before making more cries.

「……Hey, Rei.」

「What?」

「Um, those two are of completely different species and their cries are also different……can they actually communicate with each other?」

「……Ahh. I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, they can talk with each other.」

「Maybe they’re communicating more with gestures rather than actually understanding each other.」

Elena, who was listening in to Rei and Siminar’s conversation, smiled at the two creatures.

Even though the ambush unit was a place where stern people had been gathered, the atmosphere flowing around the place was warm and friendly.

The few female adventurers in the group had to endure the urge to hug them as they watched the two interact.

Seeing the two of them give off an atmosphere unlike a battlefield, Siminar spoke up apologetically

「Sorry, but don’t forget that the battle is still ongoing. While we’re here, the battle with the Bestir Empire is still continuing. Prepare for the ambush and ready the signal.」

Everyone nodded with a disappointed expression at those words before continuing their march.

It took them about an hour to make a large detour around the battlefield. At last, Set, who had been walking at the front, stopped.

「Guru~」

Set turned to look into the distance with a short cry.

Since they had spotted the Demon Soldier earlier, they all understood what that meant.

That was right……the headquarters where the chief commander was. They had found it.

「……Elena-dono, I need a messenger.」

「Mm, I understand.」

Nodding a Siminar’s words, she turned to look at Yellow, who had sat itself on her shoulder. Then, flapping its wings, Yellow rose into the sky.

「……It’s faster than I expected.」

One of the adventurers muttered.

In fact, Yellow’s speed was much faster than when it had delivered the letter to Rei. Of course, it wasn’t as fast as Set, but it was still overwhelmingly faster than the speed at which warhorses could run at. And since the Bestir Empire had few means to attack in the sky, it was a faster and more reliable means than sending a messenger on a horse. However, this method only worked because the strategy had already been decided. If difficult decisions needed to be made, a human messenger would still be needed.

「How long will it take to get to Count Arius.」

「If nothing happens, it will take less than 30 minutes. All we have to do now is to wait for Count Arius to move before we ambush their headquarters, where we’ll take out the Bestir Empire’s chief commander.」

「Do you think it will work?」

In response to Siminar’s question, Elena shook her head. With that momentum, her gorgeous blonde hair danced through the air, distracting Siminar for a moment.

「This strategy has considerable uncertainties. In the first place, the success of an ambush is completely reliant on striking the enemy by surprise. In fact, wasn’t that what happened to us? While the troops at the front collided, Demon Soldiers suddenly appeared behind us and ambushed the main army. As a result, the Royalist forces were thrown into confusion and broke apart. ……It was only because we had exhausted the enemy’s vanguard that we managed secure enough forces to launch a counterattack……I doubt the Flash doesn’t understand that. To be honest, I’m sure the Bestir Empire’s chief commander will be there, but there’s also the possibility it will be a trap.」

「So it could be a bait to lure us out.」

Rei nodded at Elena’s words as he muttered. The members of the ambush unit looked at him in surprise.

Since most of the ambush unit was made up of adventurers hired by the Royalists, they understood the strength of the Demon Soldiers and had seen Theorem lead them with their own eyes, so it was only natural.

「However, in the end, it’s still only a guess.」

Siminar said that to ease the tension in the ambush unit. It was also because as the leader of the ambush unit, he couldn’t allow words that would lower the morale of the unit. And above all……

「Even if they read our ambush, we have the General Princess. There’s also the Griffon, Set, and Rei, the one who created that crazy fire tornado. Even if there are Demon Soldiers, there’s a good chance we will win.」

Hearing those words, the morale of the ambush unit rose.

Many of them had seen Elena and Set’s power directly with their own eyes. And since everyone had seen Rei’s fire whirl, it was only natural that morale would rise.

And……after about 40 minutes, as the front lines started to get noisy and the chief commander’s camp started to get busy, the ambush unit spurred on their warhorses as they plunged into the enemy’s main camp.