Chapter 89: Dragon Flames and Judgement

Author’s Note: Even though this chapter is about war, please rest assured that there won’t be any hard-to-follow military tactics or elaborate strategies at play in this novel. I don’t think anyone would enjoy that.

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We transferred to a ‘Portal’ we had set up near a road a short distance away from the city of Liraluka. As you might expect, we can’t just suddenly appear in the middle of the city, now can we?

“This… It’s terrible.”

I muttered to myself as I checked the current situation in the city on the map. Looting, rape and murder were all rampant. It was pretty bad all things considered.

“Yes… And the worst of it all…”

“The fact that residents from the Eludian side are also taking part in looting, isn’t it?”

Currently, there are three main groups of people inside Liraluka: residents of the Kastal side; residents of the Eludian side; and the Eludian army. As Sakura and Sera just commented on, the Eludian army and some residents from the Eludian side seem to have joined hands in looting the Kastal side and committing various other despicable acts on its residents. Now, if it were just the Eludian army that was doing all the looting, then that would still have been somewhat understandable, but what the heck are the residents of the Eludian side thinking, helping them? They’re looting their neighbours, with whom they’ve lived in close proximity everyday until now, and they’re acting as if it were only natural…

And by the way, the Adventurers’ Guild on the Kastal side has also been targeted by them. What happened to the unspoken agreement? …Ah, I guess there’s no need for Eludia to worry about that any more.

“We’re going to have to change our plans somewhat. I was only going to crush the army and the adventurers participating in this war, but this is just pure banditry. Take them down without mercy, residents or not.”

“Come to think of it, Master did say something like that before. Un, as expected, this Mio-chan can’t let this slide. They’ll get what they justly deserve.”

Given how this was originally going to be a war, I had previously decided not to kill anyone who didn’t actively take part in it, but seeing as it has now turned into a run of the mill bandit extermination, and with the residents participating in looting being clearly involved, I see no reason not to annihilate them as well.

“Then, let’s wipe them out, shall we?”

“How do you wish to proceed, Jin-sama? With your permission, I will personally destroy them all.”

Maria suggested as per usual, but it would take too long, and I want to liberate Liraluka as soon as possible.

“Nah, It’s fine. We spent a little too much time on getting here, so from here on, let’s go with instant extermination instead. Elle, come out.”

“Did thou call, Master? Is there something I can help thou with?”

When I called out, the Ancestral God-Dragon, Elle, suddenly appeared. She’s not allowed to manifest outside of the mansion without my permission, so, naturally, I had a reason for summoning her this time around.

“Yeah, can you fire your ‘Dragon Breath’ at the enemies indicated on the map? Using ‘Ancestral Dragon Arts’, you should be able to give it an auto-tracking function, right?”

“Hmm, I can, however, there are a lot of them. I am not sure if I can control it all by myself.”

When I fought against Elle the other day, she used her ‘Ancestral Dragon Arts’ skill to give her ‘Dragon Breath’ a tracking function, so I figured I could have her use the same thing against the enemies in Liraluka, but she didn’t seem too confident in her ability to control it to such a degree. Looks like for all their power, dragons are pretty weak when it comes to precise control, Elle being a prime example.

A: I will assist you.

“T-then, in that case it should be fine… Mhm, it should be…” 

With Alta’s help, there shouldn’t be any mistakes. Then again, if Alta’s going to help, then I probably could have done it without asking for Elle’s help to begin with, right? Since I can also use ‘Ancestral Dragon Arts’… Thanks to the effects of ‘Give and Take LV8’, I have acquired the characteristics of an Ancestral God-Dragon and can now use both ‘Ancestral Dragon Arts’ and ‘Dragon Breath’. Still, I can’t exactly say that I’m used to using them yet, so I decided to leave it to Elle this time around. …Well, it’s probably fine. She wanted a chance to prove herself anyway.

“Then, here goeth!”

Saying that, Elle raised her head and started vigorously spewing fireballs into the sky above.

-Pon!Pon!Pon!Pon!Pon!…-

Her ‘Dragon Breath’, released in a lively rhythm, was a series of small fireballs about the size of a fist, but their power was still clearly evident. Once she was done, we all headed toward Liraluka, chasing after the wobbling fireballs, when beside me…

“Dora wanted to use breath too…”

It would seem that the fact I asked Elle to use ‘Dragon Breath’ this time made Dora sulk a bit. Well, if I had asked Dora to do it, the city of Liraluka would have been cleansed of enemies and allies alike. Maybe I can ask her to fire her breath towards the royal castle of Eludia next time. In there, everyone is basically an enemy, so there’s nothing to worry about.

“You can do it next time.”

“Yay, it’s a promise~!”

“There probably won’t be many chances for Dora-chan to use her full-powered breath…” (Sakura)

If you think about it, Dora’s full-powered breath is already strong enough to instantly obliterate a LV150 opponent.

We arrived at the city of Liraluka while I made such a reckless promise to Dora. It shouldn’t have been more than a couple minutes since the fireballs got here.

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“Gyah-! W-what is this fireball! Medic! Mediiic!”

“I-I’ll give you money, so please don’t kill me- Gyaa!”

“Hot, it’s hot… hot…”

“Why the heck is it following me! Hey, wait a minute-”

“I represent the city of Liraluka, I’ll have you know! You think you can get away with doing this to me!? Wait, no! I don’t want to die-”

“What in the hell is this? Ugh, I thought if I stayed behind, I wouldn’t have to fight on the front line, and could have a good time instead! I’m a hero. Isn’t whatever a hero does supposed to be the right thing!? Why is this happening to me- Gyaaah!”

When we arrived in the city of Liraluka, it was a veritable hell scape. The ‘Dragon Breath’ burned soldiers, merchants, residents, nobles, and heroes alike, raining down on all who took part in looting. It was useless to run away, or try to destroy it. Even if someone hid inside their house, it would still come after them.

“You haven’t caused any harm to the victims on the Kastal side, have you?”

“Mhm, it is all right. It doth no damage to anyone but the target.”

That’s a pretty convenient feature. Actually, isn’t it like one of the features of ‘Engage Link [Bond of Contract]’, but without the need for subordinate contracts? (ED: ‘Engage Link’ can be set to prevent friendly fire between Jin and his subordinates)

“Ugh… This is hard to stomach…”

“Are you okay, Sakura-sama? You shouldn’t push yourself. Here, have some water.”

“T-thank you, Mio-chan…”

Sakura was looking sick from watching the hellish scenery. What’s that? The ‘hellish scenery’ part is all my fault? Ha ha ha, it was a veritable hell-scape to begin with, even before I stepped in.

In addition, among the enemies we burned down, there was a single hero who stayed behind in the city. Considering his age, he must have been a 3rd-grader, but since he was in the middle of committing a criminal act, I mercilessly burned him down without giving it a second thought. For now, I had Tamo-san mimic a bird-type monster and recover his ‘Garbage [Blessing’s Remnant]’. The Blessing itself was pretty shabby, so I won’t bore you with the details though.

“…So, what should we do?”

“Right. You can work on the rescue operation alongside the members of the Chamber of Advanced Commerce. Unfortunately, this has somehow turned into a major publicity stunt, so, in order to keep us out of the limelight, you’re going to have to become the face of it.”

“Okay, got it. Is everyone ready?”

“Ou!” x7

I gave instructions to the Kastal Queendom’s adventurer slaves party led by Claude. So yeah, currently, in addition to our main party, I’ve also summoned Claude’s group and a number of people from the Chamber of Advanced Commerce. The reason for this, as I just explained, was to secure more manpower for the rescue efforts, as well as to have someone become the face of the operation, in order not to draw too much attention to our main party. I’d rather leave all the fame and glory to Claude and his group, thank you very much.

And it’s the same for the members of the Chamber of Advanced Commerce. They trade in potions and stuff, so it shouldn’t be too weird for them to be able to help out, right? Alibi-wise, they are here to check for whether it would be worth opening a branch store in the city, and so they came with a carriage fully-loaded with their products, just in case. Claude’s group’s story is that they came as their escorts. Truth be told, they were in the middle of another request only an hour ago, but I decided to just ignore it for our own alibi’s sake.

From there, we all worked together on the rescue operation. I’m sorry to Sakura and the rest, who came here ready for a fight, but it’s a waste of time fighting these people. Well, in most wars, the difficult part only comes after all the fighting is over.

It’s not a pleasant thing to talk about, so I’ll just mention the highlights of the rescue operation.

“Are you alright? I’ll heal you now. Wha-? What’s the matter? Why are you suddenly hugging me?”

Claude, the flag-raiser, raised yet another flag with a widowed woman (confirmed with the map).

“We’re distributing rations, yes. Ah, you over there, get in line properly, yes!”

Nino, the Cooking Maid, was in charge of distributing the emergency rations.

“…”

Split Tamo-san was secretly collecting corpses from all over the town. They might be useful for something later.

In addition, the Construction Maids worked on removing all the rubble, while the Medical Maids were in charge of enslaving people who were about to die from missing body parts, and then restoring them. Also, what did they talk about? They instantly turned into yellow believers’ markers on the mini-map. What on earth did they talk about…? And so, by midday, the rescue and reconstruction (provisional measures) were mostly complete.

The gratitude of Kastal side’s residents was overwhelming, and they looked up to Claude’s clan (we were also treated as a part of it) and the Chamber of Advanced Commerce as their saviours.

In contrast, residents of the Eludian side… Well, as expected, they become the target of counterattacks as a form of revenge by the Kastal side’s residents. The ones still here should be those who didn’t take part in looting, but that didn’t seem to matter to the victims. Now, I won’t deny them revenge per se, but I don’t really like putting the blame on people who had nothing to do with the crime. The remaining residents of the Eludian side may be guilty of failing to stop the looters, but then again, they might have had no other choice, given the high risk involved in turning against them. As such, I asked Claude and the others, whom they now saw as their saviours, to go around persuading them, and they managed to calm down the ones bent on excessive revenge. Perhaps it also helped that the city had already been rebuilt to some extent, making the tragic scene fade somewhat.

And thus ended the historical event that would later be known as ‘The Flames of Judgement Incident’. Next, it’s time for ‘The Eludian Army’s Disappearance Incident’.

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Thanks to the combined efforts of Claude’s party and the Maids, the town of Liraluka had regained its composure for the time being. Leaving the full reconstruction to the Chamber of Advanced Commerce, it was now time for us to go after the Eludian army, which should currently be marching towards the city of Konoe. We prioritised the liberation of Liraluka following Alta’s recommendation, but didn’t that cause any problems on that front?

A: There are no problems. It will still be more than a day before the Eludian army arrives at Konoe.

Come to think of it, it does take almost a full day to reach Konoe from Liraluka by carriage. And at a marching speed, it would take even longer, so If they only left earlier today, at the very least they shouldn’t be able to reach it before the end of the day. It would seem that constantly using ‘Portal’ has skewed my sense of travel time somewhat…

While I was thinking that, I received a message via telepathy from Sakuya.

“Ah, Onii-chan. Do you have a moment?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I forgot about it earlier, but I was thinking of giving you guys a magic item that should be just right.”

Sakuya sometimes randomly gifts me magic items. When she was in trouble before, I usually asked for them as a go-to reward, so I’m sure she thinks I like collecting them. …Well, she’s not wrong.

Usually, when one gifts someone a magic item, it’s chosen based on its usefulness in daily life. Of course, in my case, I tend to appreciate the unusual and the unique items instead. If you’re wondering why, it’s because if it’s something that’s useful for daily life, I can just ask Sakura to make it for me using her special power. Much appreciated.

So then, what is this magic item that Sakuya, who understands my (unusual) tastes, says is ‘just right’?

“Oh? What kind of magic item is it?”

“It’s called the ‘Disguise Mask [Mysterious Nobleman’s Mask]’! It’s a mask that covers only the eyes, but when you wear it, your face becomes hard to properly distinguish. It seems to have the effect of blocking recognition.”

It’s totally a joke item, isn’t it? And there’s a 100% chance a Japanese person was involved in making it. It’s the kind of mask you would see in a manga, that would make someone say ‘Are you even trying to hide your real identity?’. Of course, it’s not like I particularly dislike that kind of thing.

“You are going to do a lot of violent things from now on, aren’t you? So use it when you want to hide your real identity.”

“It will certainly be useful. That’s very helpful, thank you.”

“Eheheh~”

I don’t intend to become famous for fighting in a war, nor for killing heroes, so it’s not a bad idea to hide my real identity as I do so. …Not that there’s much point in doing it this time around, as I’m already planning to annihilate the entire Eludian army in the upcoming battle. I mean, it’s not like there will be anyone left to tell the tale.

As a side note, there are multiple heroes accompanying the Eludian army, so it’s entirely possible for some of them to be my acquaintances. Unfortunately for them, that’s not a good enough reason for me to forgive their random acts of violence, so I will still have them fall together with the rest of the army. Sakuya is much more than a mere acquaintances, after all.

“Ah, I’m about to start a meeting, so I have to go now. I put enough ‘Disguise Masks’ for everyone in the ‘Inventory’.”

“Thanks. I’ll return to the royal capital once we’ve crushed the Eludian army.”

“Un, good luck. Then, I’ll see you later.”

After cutting off the telepathic connection with Sakuya, I took out one of the ‘Disguise Masks’ from the ‘Inventory’. …I had a hunch that it would be more ‘tuxedo’ than military type. Am I really going to wear this to a battlefield?

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Having learned the current position of the Eludian army from Alta, we transferred to a ‘Portal’ just ahead of it.

Kastal Queendom is currently the country with the highest number of Chamber of Advanced Commerce branch stores, and since the Chamber’s main goal is to make advance preparations for my future journeys, that obviously also includes setting up ‘Portals’ in various locations. In other words, I can now get pretty much anywhere in Kastal Queendom in an instant. I can even move to a place from where I can easily ambush the Eludian army, which is precisely why we are currently stationed by a road that they are expected to take. 

Now, we’ve got a bunch of time to kill, so let’s get some things ready in the meantime.

“Eeh…? We are going to wear these masks…?”

“Yeah, it looks like Sakuya got them for us all in different colours…”

“Sakuya-chan, talk about doing something unnecessary…”

Sakura became astonished when she saw the ‘Disguise Mask’.

“Hmm, it’s kind of funny in a manga-like sort of way, but not really something I’d choose to wear myself.”

Mio eyed the ‘Disguise Mask’ with this remark, but despite her comment, her interest was clearly peaked.

By the way, Dora, Maria, and Sera put on their masks without complaints. What a dodgy-looking bunch we’ve become… Well, It should be fine. I checked the map and no one should be passing through here except for the Eludian army. I mean, I also wouldn’t want some rando to see me like this. I know it’s a mask to hide your true identity and all, but how come it makes you not want to be seen while wearing it?

“Umm… I’ll be watching from a distance, so I don’t really need to wear it…”

“We don’t know what might be out there, so even if you’re far away, it’s better to put it on.”

“Yes…”

Sakura’s shoulders slumped as she gripped her pink-coloured mask. Sorry, Sakura, but you’ll be accompanying me in this. I definitely won’t let you run away.

And thus, a suspicious-looking group of six masked people was born.

Incidentally, when one looks at a person wearing this mask, the outline of their face becomes blurry, so it’s hard to determine their exact facial features. I also found out that the effect is a form of a mental manipulation skill, and as such, can be prevented by the mental protection provided by my special power, ‘Avatar”. In other words, it has no effect on people in my group.

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After about 30 minutes of waiting, the Eludian army finally became visible in the distance.

“Jin-sama, the army came into sight.” (Maria)

“Yeah, I’ve already confirmed it.”

I’ve been tracking their movements ever since they reached the adjacent area, i.e., when they appeared on the map. They finally came close enough to become visible, but an army of 20,000 isn’t nearly as intimidating as what I expected. …I guess it’s only right that I wouldn’t feel threatened one bit by it after facing a 50,000-strong dragon horde the other day.

Leading them is a unit of about 5000 adventurers, followed by the main body of the Eludian army, and then more adventurers. Basically, it looks like they think of adventurers as disposable pawns. Are they leaving half of them in the rear in case they get pincered? Since most adventurers are on foot, the marching speed seems to have been matched to that of the infantry. There are also some cavalrymen, but they only make up around 20 percent of the main force, so there’s only about 2000 of them at the most. Incidentally, the heroes are travelling in horse-drawn wagons. …Well, I’d imagine marching must be pretty tough for modern Japanese people.

“…Then, we’re not doing a pre-emptive strike?” (Mio)

“No, we’re the prestigious Kastal Queen’s Knights right now. Even against the Eludian army, we ought to at least offer them a chance to retreat.”

I came to the conclusion that if we’re going to fight with the masks on, we might as well go all the way and use fake names to go with them. As such, I asked Sakuya to prepare five more names for temporary Queen’s Knights to use as fake identities for my party members. What’s that? What about me? I already have a fake name and a position as a Queen’s Knight, you know. Back when I saved Sakuya from the clutches of the evil Romarie, it was decided that the achievement would belong to a Queen’s Knight under Sakuya. The name’s ‘Jean’ by the way. Queen’s Knight Jean of the Kastal Queendom. That is my temporary position and name.

“But isn’t it a pointless pretence, Master? You already said you are going to kill everyone, right?”

“Well, it’s an important pretence to have, seeing as I don’t want to cause more problems for Sakuya. …Though, destroying the Eludian army will probably cause her a great deal of trouble anyway.”

By the way, I’m serious about the retreat proposal. I’m almost 100% sure that it won’t be accepted anyway, but just the fact that I make one is what counts. Now then, the Eludian army is in sight, so it’s time to check some statuses.

Let’s see, who are the biggest baddies in the Eludian army, and also the one commanding them? Ah, let’s exclude the heroes for now.

A: I will display it on the map.

Alta said, and then one of the red enemy markers expanded.

Name: Arthur Standit
LV31
Gender: Male
Age: 29 years old
Race: Human
Skills: <Sword Mastery LV4> <Shield Mastery LV4> <Mounted Combat Mastery LV3> <Body Strengthening LV5>
Titles: Duke of Eludia

I checked his appearance and he’s a good looking ikemen with silver hair and a certain feel of austerity about him. As far as his age and level are concerned, he reminds me of Gilbert, the Queen’s Knight from Kastal. Now, despite being an Ikemen, Gilbert cares about others, but what about this guy? …Somehow I don’t feel like someone who does would take part in a war of aggression though.

As for his skills, I can only say that they aren’t very impressive. No, I mean, he’s pretty strong by human standards, but at this point a guy of this calibre just isn’t an opponent, really. It feels like a wuxia novel where the power scale has already been fully inflated, and then some street thug randomly comes out. Run away, Street Thug! Super run away! …I won’t let you run though.

Incidentally, he is positioned really far to the front of the main body of the Eludian army, even though he is supposed to be the one commanding them. Maybe he’s at the border between them and the adventurers at the front. Certainly a good position to give instructions to both. Or maybe he’s just a battle maniac, given how he doesn’t have any commanding-related skills…

Next, let’s have a look at the heroes.

A: Displaying them.

As far as I can tell from the map, there are 108 heroes participating in this war. So, that’s 108 more special powers for me! Great catch, great catch.

And as for the identities of the heroes, which I was wondering about, none of those working with the Eludian army could be called my friends.

…It’s not that I don’t have friends, mind you. Even aside from my two best friends, Azuma and Asai, there were others that I would call as such, but after they totally cut me and Sakura out at Eludia’s Royal Castle, these ‘friends’ quickly became ‘former friends’. Still, it’s not like I’m looking forward to cutting them down on the battlefield (I’m not saying that I never would). Well, there is no way that someone I had recognized as a friend, even temporarily, would help in a war of aggression. If they were such a person, they would never have become my friend in the first place.

Anyway, the statuses of these heroes are low, to say the least. …No, considering that they have only been in this world for a few months, they may be high enough, but they’re not at all sufficient to compete with this worlds more powerful enemies. If you look at them, they are even lower than that of the army’s commander, Arthur.

However, the heroes have a cheat power to make up for it, the Blessings. And a powerful enough Blessing could potentially overturn the level difference.

So than, Alta, if there’s a Blessing that could potentially become a threat, could you tell me about it?

A: There is not a single Blessing that poses a threat to Master. As such, I will pick out some that might be of interest to you.

When Alta said this, markers were placed on the map next to several heroes. But still, there aren’t any strong Blessing holders that can be a threat, huh? …It’s nice to have weak opponents and all, but it’s also a little disappointing not to get any strong new skills. Then again, that’s not really something I should be worrying about when going against people from my home town…

Anyhow, let’s get back to the main topic and check out their Blessings. Let’s see…

<Invincible Hero>
The user becomes invincible and cannot be damaged by any attacks for 3 minutes. All stats are increased while active. Cool-down is 30 minutes.

This one’s pretty interesting, but the cool-down is too long. To put it bluntly, it’s probably the most useless skill possible when on the battlefield, since the enemy can just ignore you for 3 minutes. It should instead be used as a trump card by someone who already has a high status to begin with, whenever the need arises. Anyway, thanks for a treat.

<Tactical Force [Command Boost]>
Increases the statuses of allies within a 20m radius.

It’s basically the opposite of Sano’s ‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area]’. Unlike his, it seems to raise the strength of allies around you. Yep, naturally I like this one better. And the effect range is 20m, double that of ‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area]’. I guess it’s easier to affect allies than enemies then. But even so, the area of effect is still too narrow. It might be usable in a party, but on the battlefield it wouldn’t be of much use. The statuses of everyone within 20m would be frequently changing as you move about and it would be difficult for them to fight properly.

<Library Out [Magic Library]>
Allows various attribute magic spells of up to level 3 to be invoked without chanting. MP consumption is 1/10th the regular amount.

Oh? It’s certainly interesting, but I wonder if you can do something about the low level of spells available. Hmm, could it be that absorbing ‘Garbage’ would raise it, and possibly further reduce the MP consumption? If so, its final strength would be quite impressive. Ah, can you go call the magic nullifier, Sera, for a minute? By the way, ‘library out’ means running out of cards in your deck in collectible card games, and, in most cases, a loss. Isn’t this a death flag!?

<Cosplay [Masked Ball]>

By wearing a uniform with one’s face hidden, one can use the skills associated with it. (ED: The original name is ‘Full-facecarade’)

In other words, it’s an ability to learn specialised skills by wearing clothes. If one wears the apron of the best cook in town, one becomes the best cook in town, and if one wears the uniform of a master-level martial artist, one becomes a master-level martial artist. Is the limitation of hiding one’s face meant to disguise the fact that one is not the real deal?

<Shadow Clone [Remnant Alter Ego]>
Able to create clones with physical bodies. Clones can only follow simple instructions, and their status is 1/10th that of the main body. If a clone can be retrieved, the main body can inherit any information obtained by it. (ED: The original name is ‘Doppel-shadow’)

A ninja, huh? Ah, the owner of that Blessing also has the ‘Ninjutsu’ skill! Our school even had ninjas it would seem…

I understand that there are heroes with various interesting skills, but just as Alta said, they certainly aren’t much of a threat. It would seem that only those who either have a clear way to deal with any dangerous situation, or only have a Blessing so weak that they can’t even be taken seriously, are participating in this war. Some of the Blessings we saw at Eludia’s Royal Castle looked pretty dangerous after all.

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After another 10 minutes of waiting, the Eludian army was finally getting close.

L: Master, is it my turn again?

No, at Liraluka I used ‘Ancestral Dragon Arts’ because I needed to distinguish between friend and foe, but this time, since everyone is an enemy, there is no need to ask Elle for help. In the first place, Elle is kind of like a hidden weapon, so I don’t intend to use you so casually.

L: Hmm, that is a pity.

A: Don’t talk to Master without being called.

L: Ah! Hey! Wait-

Elle’s line was cut off mid-sentence. Alta must have forcibly severed her connection (figuratively speaking). It would seem a complete hierarchical relationship has already been established between those two…

Now then, once the Eludian army gets close enough, I will come forward and offer them a chance to retreat. Incidentally, I had Sakura and Dora move back a bit beforehand. I don’t intend to let either one of them kill anyone today.

While I was thinking about that, a few men dressed as knights detached from the approaching Eludian army and came towards us on horseback. That’s right. Since we can already see them, there is nothing strange about them noticing us too. Since we are currently blocking the road, did they come to complain?

“‘Fireball’”

-hyun hyun-

Too bad! The knights came to kill us instead! The proof being the fireballs and arrows they sent our way. …These damn barbarians.

Before their spells and arrows could reach us, they were respectively countered by Maria and Mio’s attacks. Seeing this, the knights stopped their horses in their tracks. Apparently, they are wary of us now.

“You bastards! Who are you!?”

One of the knights shouted a question at us. Is this what you call being thick-skinned? To think they would make a pre-emptive attack, and then try to have a normal conversation with us afterwards…

“I don’t think there’s any need for us to talk any more. Let’s move forth with the extermination instead. Don’t let a single one of them escape!”

”Yes!” x3

Even the prestigious Queen’s Knight Jean does not act polite after being randomly attacked. He is a gentleman in negotiations, but a fiend on the battlefield. Rather than talk peace, let’s skip ahead and go straight to the battle part.

The very next moment, the heads of the knights, who were still saying something, fell off. Maria instantly approached them with ‘Flash Step’ and decapitated them with her invisible short-sword, ‘Moonlight Sword – Luna’. As usual, she works fast.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes!” x2

Following that momentum, the three of us, Maria, Sera and I, charged toward the Eludian army. This time, we only decided on a rough strategy on how we’re going to deal with them. After all, when an army is coming straight at you, it’s only reasonable to face it head-on and crush it. That is the essence of Musou, you know. And it is also the way of fighting that befits a prestigious knight like Jean. This temporary knight is in high spirits today.

If there were random people about, like in Liraluka, it would be a different story, but right now we’re facing an invading force on an open plain, so there’s no problem if we go a little wild. There are quite a few of them, but they are just bandits at the end of the day. Nothing to get worked up about. Good thing we didn’t go with an all out ‘Ancestral Dragon Arts’ as our opening move, right? …Also, that would rend the terrain, and Sakuya would cry afterwards.

We split up before charging into the Eludian army. I was in the middle, with Maria on the left and Sera on the right. I launched a ’Flying Slash’ at the adventurers in front of me. Even though I had reduced its power, there was still no way for the adventurers, who were basically just hired thugs, to block it, and so the attack went through them reaching as far as the main body of the Eludian army. …Ah, the commander, Arthur, was also caught in it and died. Since he was in the front and all…

Well, let’s get back on track here. Our rough plan this time was basically this:

Force my way through the advance unit with a ‘Flying Slash’. Have a big battle within the main body of the army. Maria and Sera would crush any strugglers on the sides. Mio, who stayed back, would shoot dead anyone who tried to run.

Pretty simple, right? And it’s also an impossible strategy that can only be accomplished if there’s a significant difference in strength.

To be frank, it would be easy to annihilate them just by repeating the first step. Of course, it was completely unexpected that the commander of the Eludian army would die from just that. Really, what was he even doing up here?

Well, I guess it’s time to start step two: ‘Have a big battle within the main body of the army.’. Honestly, this is where the battle really starts.

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Author’s Note: Hats off to the 20+-years-old sense of “tuxedo” and “masks”. And I am still astonished that it’s not a gag anime, but a girls’ anime. (ED: Some old anime reference, I guess…)