Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Assault on the Checkpoint
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“I do not even know how many times it has been already.”
Passing the corpse of a dead Magic Beast, Bazkal muttered.
As if the priests’ claim that the day was auspicious had not been in vain, clear weather continued for several days from the day of departure.
And that also meant it was an environment favorable for Magic Beasts to be active.
The large subjugation force of more than two hundred men had to face just as many challenges, and whenever the smell of blood from battle spread, even more challengers appeared.
In the end, over three days the subjugation force killed more than a hundred Magic Beasts but had to lose ten soldiers.
“We expected sacrifices of this level. Still, this is better than being discovered because we split the troops.”
They were not heading directly from the estate to the Gate Fortress but instead circling south and using a remote side path.
They had to encounter more Magic Beasts and suffer greater damage, but in return they could hide their movements from the raiders.
It was a ruthless thought, but avoiding detection by the enemy was worth the sacrifice of ten soldiers.
Fortunately, Arsen’s unit had suffered no damage at all.
They were positioned in the rear of the subjugation force out of concern that the mages’ peculiar presence might lower morale, and the unit also had a high ratio of Knights and Mages.
“I’m starting to get hungry.”
“Isn’t it time to eat?”
Hearing the soldiers muttering, Arsen looked up at the sky and saw the sun hanging directly in the middle.
Under normal circumstances it might be different, but during the harsh conditions of an external march, skipping lunch would be fatal for both stamina and morale.
The commander of the subjugation force was not foolish enough to ignore that.
“Looks like we’ll rest there!”
When a soldier ahead shouted, Arsen looked farther ahead and saw soldiers gathering in a wide open clearing.
Soon Arsen’s unit also joined them and entered the clearing.
Naturally, they prepared to rest at a place slightly apart from the other units.
“Check if anyone has problems with their equipment or their bodies. Confirm the headcount too. Anyone relieving themselves goes in pairs.”
“Yes, Captain!”
While giving a few instructions to Rino, Arsen noticed a soldier from the Exekia side walking toward him.
Since he could guess the purpose, Arsen had to struggle not to let his face twist into a frown.
“The Estate Lord wishes to dine with you, Sir Arsen.”
“Tell him I will come.”
“Yes, sir!”
Perhaps even staying briefly near the mages was uncomfortable for him, because the soldier left that message and hurried away almost as if fleeing.
Watching him go, Arsen gave orders to his unit.
“Eat first. Don’t worry about me. Cook something warm.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Have a safe trip, Sir Arsen.”
At the center of the camp stood a single tent.
It was so large that it looked capable of fitting ten people inside.
When he entered, the Estate Lord and several Knights were seated around a large table.
Matthias, the Estate Lord of Exekia and the overall commander of this subjugation force, waved at Arsen.
“Come in, Sir Arsen. You look tired.”
Arsen modestly replied that he was not, then went to sit in the empty seat.
Not all the Knights were gathered here.
Most of the Knights of Exekia were eating outside in preparation for Magic Beasts, and only the Estate Lord and one elderly Knight were present here. The rest were all guests from outside.
“Then shall we eat first?”
That was the reason Arsen did not want to come here.
Since fires could not be lit during the day, the only available food was poorly prepared dried rations.
Arsen’s unit had Mages, so they could cook with heating spells and prevent the smell from spreading with deodorizing spells, making fairly decent meals. However, they could not share that with others or help them cook.
None of the people here wanted to eat food prepared with the help of Mages.
In the end, when dining together at the Estate Lord’s invitation, the quality of the food inevitably dropped.
But refusing the Estate Lord’s goodwill and earning his displeasure would not be wise, so Arsen had no choice but to participate reluctantly.
“The cheese tastes a bit strange today. Has it gone bad?”
Because Exekia was a region with many mountain goats, dairy products were common in its cuisine. Among them, goat cheese was their most common staple.
Arsen was also eating the same cheese as the Estate Lord, but it did not seem spoiled.
Most likely the Estate Lord had grown tired of eating similar foods due to his high status.
Near the end of the meal, the Estate Lord asked the elderly Knight a question.
“How are the soldiers doing, Sir Yoren?”
The old Knight, whose beard had turned white and who in Beluan would probably have already retired, answered.
“It is not very good, I’m afraid. We have already suffered casualties without even meeting the enemy yet. Still, the Knights are controlling things well, so there is no need to worry.”
The Estate Lord nodded with satisfaction and chewed on jerky soaked in water.
The next question turned to Arsen.
“How about your unit, Sir Arsen? Since your unit tends to stay separate, it is difficult for me to keep an eye on it.”
“Thanks to your consideration, there are no problems, my lord.”
“If anything happens, tell me immediately. Isn’t your unit one of the sharpest blades in our subjugation force?”
The Estate Lord laughed heartily and drank a cup of water mixed with wine.
Since he had paid quite a great price, the Estate Lord had high expectations for Arsen’s mage unit.
Normally such excessive expectations would be burdensome, but Arsen accepted those looks calmly.
He had already seen how powerful Mages could become against raiders, so no matter how much the Estate Lord expected, he was confident he could satisfy him.
Perhaps satisfied with Arsen’s attitude, the Estate Lord smiled and turned to the next group.
“And you?”
“We’re fine as well. Two soldiers were slightly injured, but they’re all just scratches.”
The ones who answered this time were three Knights wearing armor intertwined with Magic Beast bones and metal, unlike the Knights of Exekia.
“The Knights who came from the southern Elta Estate…”
Elta was an estate quite far from Exekia, so far that there was almost no exchange between them in normal times.
The reason they had come all the way here was that these young Knights claimed they had set out on a journey to escape their boring daily lives and earn achievements through glorious battle.
They were truly souls thirsty for battle.
Naturally, for people who had set out for such a purpose, subjugating a powerful Raider Lord was an opportunity they could never miss, and throughout the journey they appeared excited as if they could hardly contain their anticipation.
“That is good to hear. Take care of your bodies. As promised, the vanguard will be yours.”
“Thank you, my lord!”
Finally, the Estate Lord looked at a gloomy-looking Knight who was staring down at the table and picking at his food.
“Sir Karik, do you not like the food?”
“…No, my lord.”
The Knight who had come from the western Manar Estate to purchase ore, only to lose all his companions, had the despair of a sole survivor clearly etched on his face.
Perhaps he looked like someone living simply because he could not die.
The Estate Lord looked at Karik’s lifeless appearance with some doubt, then patted his shoulder and offered hollow encouragement.
“Stay strong. Now you have the chance to take revenge on those who slaughtered your companions. You must repay that hatred.”
“Hatred… yes, that is right. Hatred.”
Arsen classified Karik as someone to watch carefully.
The Manar Estate he came from was one of the estates that rejected Mages, just like Exekia.
Unlike Exekia, which merely drove Mages away, Manar was said to be a place where hatred for Mages was so widespread that they would hang any Mage they saw.
Perhaps because the Estate Lord had warned him, or because he was still in shock from losing his companions, Karik had not caused any trouble.
Arsen watched him muttering half absentmindedly for a moment before the Estate Lord cleared his throat to change the mood.
“In any case, everyone has worked hard marching for two nights, especially since we took the side route. We should arrive at the Gate Fortress by this evening.”
“Oh.”
“Finally!”
When the battle-hungry Elta Knights responded eagerly, the Estate Lord smiled with satisfaction.
“We will attack just before sunset. While there is still light, but when Magic Beasts are not actively hunting.”
Fighting hundreds of raiders during the day would be extremely dangerous.
The blood shed by the raiders, and the blood shed by the people fighting them, would constantly attract Magic Beasts.
In small-scale operations like the one Arsen had once experienced, finishing quickly made daytime better due to visibility. But battles of this scale had to be conducted at night.
However, if it became too late at night, even the mounted riders could not perform properly, so dusk was the most suitable time.
“First we will leave the vanguard to the warriors of Elta… Sir Arsen, you should focus on exterminating the raiders.”
“Understood.”
This meant he would be excluded from hunting the Lord, which would bring the greatest glory and achievements. But since Arsen had no intention of settling here, it did not matter to him.
In fact, avoiding that danger was something he welcomed.
“Now, before we fight, let us each have one last drink.”
The Estate Lord began passing around strong wine without water.
The Gate Fortress cast a long shadow under the evening glow, displaying its imposing presence.
Unlike other fortresses that were usually built with wooden palisades or low stone walls, the Gate Fortress had high stone walls because there were many huge stones nearby that could be used as materials.
Now, however, half of it had collapsed from the battle during the fortress’s fall.
In front of the fortress stood dozens of crude huts.
Since raiders were not greatly threatened by Magic Beasts, it seemed they had even established dwellings beyond the fortress.
The number of raiders was said to be five to six hundred, so the fortress alone could not hold them all.
The atmosphere of the village formed in this way was peaceful.
Along the way, whenever they encountered small groups of raiders, the Knights personally hunted them down.
This was to ensure that no survivor could return to the enemy’s base with news.
Smoke rising here and there made it seem as if the raiders were ordinary people living their lives.
Though thinking about whether the ingredients were Magic Beasts or the people who once lived in the fortress quickly made one’s stomach churn.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Confirmed.”
A Knight behind the Estate Lord answered.
“Good. All forces… attack!”
Following the Estate Lord’s command, the subjugation force hidden in the forest burst out at once and charged toward the fortress.
More than two hundred troops might not seem impressive on Earth, but in this world it was an army that could never be ignored.
Especially with more than a dozen Knights among them.
Raiders rushed out of huts everywhere holding weapons, but when they saw the size of the army charging toward them, they screamed and began fleeing.
Naturally, the subjugation force had no reason to let them go.
“Lightning!”
At Arsen’s command, now that he had gained control of the operation, the Mages riding their mounts extended their staffs.
With rumbling thunder, more than ten bolts of lightning crashed down and the raiders collapsed.
“It’s magic!”
“Damn it, Master! Please spare us, Master!”
“Aaaaaa!”
Only three or four waves of lightning attacks had passed, yet dozens of raiders were already lying on the ground.
And finally, the Knights of Elta who had been running at the front reached the raiders.
“O whole body, witness my battle!”
“Let there be glory!”
Shouting like berserkers, they began slaughtering the raiders mercilessly.
Every time the three Knights swung their swords, spears, and axes, the raiders’ heads and limbs—sometimes their entire bodies—were torn apart in sprays of blood.
The leopard-shaped mounts they rode, with flowing manes, roared ferociously and ripped raiders apart with their forelegs.
Perhaps stirred by the overwhelming power, the ordinary soldiers running behind them on foot also shouted.
Hundreds of soldiers shouting together sounded powerful enough to collapse the fortress walls.
“Follow the Knights, kill them all—!”
■■■■■■■---------!
Was it a response to the Estate Lord’s boiling voice?
From inside the wall came an enormous roar.
The strange vibration seemed to suppress the activity of all living beings, and the subjugation force involuntarily halted their pursuit.
Moments later, the gate in the wall opened, and hundreds of raiders poured out to counterattack the insolent estate army that had ambushed them.
“Kill them all!”
“Our Master is with us!”
The raiders emerging from inside radiated such vicious momentum that those who had remained outside looked like mere rabble in comparison.
Among them, dozens wore metal armor, and it was not hard to guess who the original owners had been.
Most likely the unfortunate soldiers who had died defending the fortress.
Among the raiders were also beings far larger and more twisted than them.
A tiger standing on two legs, a giant bear with a sharp beak, a winged mantis…
Their appearances varied, but it was not hard to guess that the ones fighting alongside the raiders were Ma-in.
And finally, above the collapsed wall, something enormous slowly slithered upward, stood tall, and looked down at the subjugation force.
One of the Knights muttered as if groaning.
“What… is that?”
The being that appeared above the wall was incomparably larger than the other Ma-in.
A gigantic serpent’s body that seemed to stretch for dozens of meters, with the upper body of a human attached to it.
The Lord had appeared.