Once Again, the Monster Subjugation
"Haa..."
I sat behind Mireia on horseback, my arms around her waist, and sighed again. And again. Trailing behind us were supply wagons, a host of adventurers, and knights and soldiers dispatched from the capital.
How in the world had it come to this?
The stares boring into the back of my skull were so sharp I didn't dare turn around. If looks could kill, I'd have been torn limb from limb already — and then some. Sharing a saddle with Mireia was a bed of thorns. In this entire massive monster subjugation force, I was an unwelcome guest to everyone but her.
"What's the matter? Is the saddle uncomfortable?"
When I kept heaving sigh after sigh, Mireia glanced back over her shoulder and asked.
"No..."
I answered in a voice so small it wouldn't carry to the people behind us. What I actually wanted to say was that the saddle was uncomfortable, the murderous stares at my back were uncomfortable, and this entire situation was uncomfortable — but I held my tongue.
The most terrifying presence in this whole subjugation force was Mireia herself.
Having received a sharp rebuke from Yunoa during the previous monster subjugation, Mireia had resolved that this time, she would not repeat the same mistake.
No, look — if you don't want to repeat the same mistake, you just need to change your own mind. Why drag me into it?
To Mireia, Yunoa was the one fated advisor who existed in this world — and this world alone. She meant to keep him at her side throughout this campaign, so that she would not err in her judgment.
I should have noticed from the moment her attitude toward me started turning strangely off. Her approaching me had been so uncomfortable that I'd kept putting up walls, and I'd thought I was doing a reasonably good job of turning her down. I never saw this coming.
And if it was simply a matter of having me join the subjugation force, I could have ridden in the back with the supply wagons like a normal person. There was no need for me to be up here at the vanguard, sharing a horse with Mireia.
The departure had already been delayed because they'd waited for me, and the rest of the force was thoroughly furious. On top of that, now a Silver Rank nobody was riding at the head of the column on the same horse as the commander. It would have been strange if those stares weren't flying.
But if I'd refused Mireia's offer then and there, things would have been even worse. We were already late setting out. If I, a Silver-rank adventurer, had rejected the commander's request, and Mireia had dug in her heels and insisted the force couldn't leave without me...
The mere thought of it made my brain hurt.
The sun began to sink during the march, and the subjugation force set up a makeshift camp for the night.
The scale of this force dwarfed the one I'd joined back in my Novice days. There were far more adventurers, plus knights and regular soldiers dispatched from the capital — which meant the monsters we were here to put down were that much greater in number.
Was there even a role I could play in a force like this?
Everyone knew I was a Silver-rank adventurer. I hadn't been summoned as part of the original call-up; I was here because Mireia had specifically insisted on it. I was so restless I wanted to take a walk and get some night air, but I couldn't, not with all those eyes on me. In this atmosphere, the moment I stepped even a little away from Mireia's side, curses would come flying from every direction.
The only reason nobody was saying anything to my face despite those murderous stares was that Mireia was sitting right next to me.
"Mireia, I distinctly told you at the time."
"Told me what?"
"That I would be your advisor. Not that I would accompany you."
Honestly, I resented her a little for putting me in this situation. I'd just wanted to take some ordinary Silver-rank guild requests and rest. What kind of mess was this?
What worried me most were the looks I'd get from other adventurers even after this campaign was over. Mireia wasn't an ordinary adventurer. She was among the most renowned of Gold Rank adventurers, and her every action was the kind of thing that got talked about. A Silver-rank adventurer receiving special treatment from someone like her? There was no way that would look good to anyone else.
Inside the subjugation force, people might curse me with their eyes, but they wouldn't dare actually do anything with Mireia right there. Once this was over, though, I was worried even walking into the guild would become uncomfortable.
"That's why I brought you as my advisor."
"Without even consulting me? By putting me in a situation with no choice and forcing me into it?"
"That's..."
Watching her answer so casually with that expressionless face, I felt a flicker of anger. Did she not consider my predicament at all?
"You could have at least told me in advance, couldn't you? Right now I feel like I got dragged out of bed and hauled onto a battlefield."
"I'm sorry."
Mireia apologized without protest. Even on that blank face of hers, I somehow felt a genuine apology. Well. The damage was already done. What was the point of getting any more worked up about it?
"As I told you before, my role as an advisor is to give you advice when you come find me because you need it."
I spoke to Mireia in a somewhat softened tone.
"This time it couldn't be helped, but next time, at least tell me in advance. All right?"
"I understand."
Sitting in front of the campfire, I surveyed the atmosphere among the other members of the force. They sat in clusters of two or three, some as many as five or six, resting among themselves. It was a distinctly different feeling from this side, where Mireia and I sat alone.
If I hadn't been here, Mireia would probably have been alone even now. Adventurers all admired her, but they also feared her and found her intimidating. She never had any expression, and she wasn't the sociable type — she wouldn't even try to insert herself among people.
The Narration had said it once, too. Mireia was a lonely woman. She knew how to fight, but she couldn't express her feelings or get along with people.
Thinking that, I felt a little sorry for her. She probably hadn't meant to put me in an awkward situation on purpose. She was just clumsy at this sort of thing. That was all.
Mireia turned Yunoa's words over in her mind, reflecting in earnest. The fact that he was scolding her made her secretly glad — and, at the same time, sad.
Listening to the Narration flowing through my head, I looked at Mireia's face. Outwardly, she was so expressionless you couldn't tell what she was thinking or what she felt. And in that state, that was what was going on inside her head?
Ever since the monster subjugation at Daina Village, she had lost all confidence in her own judgment. Mireia had always stood in a position where she had to lead and command other adventurers. A single mistaken decision on her part could annihilate the entire force and erase a village from existence.
"..."
Whenever she had a spare moment, Mireia recalled the things Yunoa had said to her. That casualties had been so few in her previous hunts was owed entirely to her overwhelming martial power. One might even call it luck.
The Narration kept pouring out stories about Mireia. I, for my part, had never imagined the things I'd said would affect her this much.
This subjugation force was larger than any in recent memory. Mireia was leaning on Yunoa. She had no confidence that she could make the right calls and command the battlefield herself.
I didn't have any confidence either. Why had she come to rely on me this much? I hadn't done anything.
I glanced at the other members of the force again. I could feel their sidelong looks flicking toward me. It was an uncomfortable night in more ways than one, and it was growing deeper.
Three days later, we arrived at our destination: Horn Canyon.
Horn Canyon was a place from which the land known as the Demon Realm could be faintly seen in the distance. On a map, it was the starting point of a strip of unclaimed land sandwiched between the Demon Realm, which occupied most of the eastern continent, and the Kingdom, which occupied most of the west. A delicate region — too close to the Demon Realm for humans to live, too close to human lands for demons to settle.
The monster subjugation force made camp in Horn Canyon and unhitched the supply wagons.
"Lady Mireia. The monsters appear to be gathering here, and here."
I was catching my breath beside Mireia when an armored man approached, unfolding a map as he spoke. It was the same man who'd glared at me with burning eyes back at the guild when Mireia delayed the force's departure.
"We should split the force into two units and strike before they can consolidate further. Please give the order."
Mireia studied the map he held out. The man waited for her answer, then glanced at me and twisted his face into a nasty scowl. It was a moment of realizing you could curse someone with nothing but a facial expression.
I had a bad feeling about this.
Mireia quietly took the map from the man's hands. Then she held it out to me.