Faith
"Waaaaah!"
"We held them back!"
The victorious cheers filled the alley. The sound swelled until it seemed ready to burst, and Meyril snapped back to her senses.
"Mage-sama!"
Hendri came running through the crowd and snapped off a salute at a sharp, exact angle.
"We eliminated every last one of them. We have won!"
"We won...?" Meyril let out the breath she had been holding. Now that the tension had finally gone out of her body, dizziness surged up in its place.
"Mage-sama? Are you all right?!"
Hendri steadied the swaying Meyril, his eyes full of concern.
Seeing that look, Meyril's expression filled with confusion.
He said the same thing even before battle began.
"Are you all right, Mage-sama?"
Back then, it had sounded as though he were more worried about his own future than about Meyril herself.
"You didn't overuse your mana and end up in pain, did you..."
But now she could feel that he was truly worried about her.
"Ah, I-I'm fine. Oh! Right. Is anyone injured? Are you all right, sergeant?"
The battle was over, but the mission was not. No, there was still a great deal to do.
"I am fine! There are injured men, but they are all only lightly hurt, so you needn't worry. None were struck by a troll's weapon either. They were scratched or bruised while moving the barricades."
"Then what happened to your hand, sergeant?!"
Meyril stared in shock at Hendri's swollen palm. Blisters covered both hands.
"Ah, this is nothing. I only rubbed it raw because I gripped my spear too tightly while fighting."
"Now that you mention it, why are you bare-handed? Didn't you have gauntlets on...?"
"I had the militia wear the gauntlets first. We only stand behind them in armor and stab with spears, so we were never in much danger. The militia, on the other hand, fought right in front of the trolls. In truth, we should have given them our armor too, but then their mobility would have dropped because they aren't used to it..."
"Ohhh, so you hurt your hand because you gave your armor to someone else. That's truly wonderful!"
Meyril was astonished by his considerate heart.
"Ah, this is all on the Byeonbangbaek's orders. We merely followed them."
Learning that it had actually been their lord's consideration made her even more surprised.
"Even so, that's still so impressive. It must have hurt terribly..."
She took his hand in both of hers. Cold gathered in the space between their joined palms.
"W-Whoa. Mage-sama, what is this?!"
Hendri jumped. The swelling and pain were already beginning to fade.
The chill flowing from her hand was colder than the autumn air, but Hendri somehow felt as if there were warmth hidden inside that cold.
"Proper treatment isn't something I can do alone. This will handle that for you."
Then she applied healing salve, and the wound closed as cleanly as if it had never been there.
"Oh? That works even faster than a healing potion!"
"A-ah, right. Please call all the injured people over to me!"
Meyril treated the other wounded soldiers in exactly the same way.
"Mage-sama, thank you so much for healing us."
"Your tactics and your magic were both incredible!"
"No wonder the Byeonbangbaek entrusted everything to you."
Meyril was flustered by the flood of gratitude and praise.
"I'm not a priest, so... honestly, the healing salve our lord invented did all the real work. My magic can only ease your pain, so I'm sorry..."
Hendri shook his head.
"Only ease the pain? That is no small thing. No, it is remarkable magic."
"Remarkable? With this little, shabby mana?"
"At first, I thought it was nothing special. Forgive me for saying so, but... because it was weather magic, it didn't really sink in. I have seen mages before, but never a weather sorceress like you, Meyril-nim. I admit I also underestimated you because you were young."
He let go of Meyril's hand and continued, seeing that she only blinked in confusion and showed no offense.
"But those spells just now were truly incredible! Causing an earthquake, then shifting the magic circle and freezing the trolls solid... I regret only catching them from a gap in the alley. The residents who took part in today's battle will be talking about it for a long time. Everyone will exaggerate their own role by a great deal. But no one will deny that those brilliant consecutive spells were the greatest reason we won."
"Thank you for thinking so well of it."
At his fervent praise of her efforts, the weather sorceress gave an awkward smile.
"And yet, the spell that left the strongest impression on me was... the small warmth you brought forth amid all that cold. That warmth is what let us push through."
Hendri had managed to calm his excitement somewhat.
"Even the cold magic you cast for me just now moved me deeply. Of course, I have seen cold magic a few times before, but it was always either ice bolts hurled at monsters or freezing attacks like the ones used on those trolls. The stronger those spells were, the more spectacular they looked. I imagine that's why Meyril-nim called your own magic 'shabby'."
Having his unspoken thoughts laid bare, Meyril was startled.
"But magic with obvious, overwhelming power is not necessarily good magic. I am not a mage, but even an apprentice would know that if you gulped down mana potions or poured out all your strength, making a huge wall of ice would not be difficult."
"Hee? You know quite a lot about it, don't you?"
"Ah. I overstepped in front of a great mage. I apologize."
"A great mage? N-No way! Ah, it's fine, so please keep talking."
Hendri cleared his throat and went on.
"Carefully adjusting mana to the exact amount needed in the exact place needed is not something just anyone can do. You froze the trolls to the bone with cold magic, yet your spell gently tended to our wounds. And what about the earthquake magic? You knocked the trolls down without so much as cracking the houses of the residents. That is why I say it is truly extraordinary magic."
"To hear you say that, I don't know what to do with myself... Thank you."
Fine control of mana required a high level of skill.
Meyril had not yet reached the highest tier in magic as a whole, but her considerate nature naturally manifested itself as delicate, precise mana.
"Mage-sama, then what should I do now? Please give me your orders."
Hendri was now ready to obey anything Meyril said.
"First, please bottle the troll blood. Once that is done, move all the troll corpses to the mountain entrance over there."
"Yes, ma'am. I will assign the workers."
Collecting troll blood was not strange, since it was an ingredient for healing potions.
"Move the troll corpses? Sergeant Hendri, why go to all that trouble? Isn't it easier to burn them all?"
As for why the corpses needed to be moved, the soldiers could not even guess.
"This is Meyril-nim's order, so stop talking and carry it out. She must have deep reasons for giving it."
"Mage-sama said that? Yes, sir. We'll do it at once!"
As soon as they heard it was Meyril's instruction, the soldiers no longer objected.
"Honestly, they're completely taken with her. But Mage-sama, is it all right not to go support the other places? Those areas will have trolls arriving soon too."
"We mustn't send aid rashly unless we're asked for it. Even to prepare for any possibility, we need to hold this place. We'll also need an escort force for moving the troll corpses."
An "any possibility" meant something like sending support somewhere else and leaving their own place vulnerable to a raid.
"Don't worry, sergeant. Just as the lord trusted us and entrusted this place to us, we can trust him and wait."
There was limitless trust in Meyril's eyes.
"I am not worried about the relay station. The veteran soldiers, including Captain Rio, are guarding it, and above all, the Byeonbangbaek is there. I trust the Byeonbangbaek just as much as you do, Mage-sama."
"Ah, now that you mention it, you once said you saw our lord save Captain Rio yourself, didn't you?"
"Yes. To see him alone cut down every troll in sight was a truly incredible feat. His strategy was excellent too. But the reason I said I trust the Byeonbangbaek is not merely because of his military brilliance. It is because I saw him do everything he could to protect our guard force and the residents, who could so easily have been passed by and left behind. Then, as now, he has never changed."
"That's right. He's such a wonderful man!"
Seeing the steadfast faith Hendri held toward his lord made Meyril feel warm inside.
"Yes. That is why I said I was not at all worried about the relay station. The side I am concerned about is the other one."
"Darckovo Village?"
Because it was a small village, the number of trolls heading there had been set lower than elsewhere.
"That's right. The one in charge there is some associate knight named Shrakhim. Considering the way that man looked the last time I saw him, I simply cannot trust him."
"You know Sir Shrakhim?"
"Yes. I saw him last year when the Kihara Barony delegation traveled to and from the capital. They stayed at our relay station. He was completely insufferable then. He'd become a knight through noble backing without having earned any merit, and yet he treated the soldiers protecting the country like his inferiors."
Hendri clicked his tongue.
"Those associate knight types are generally like that. Their ability and character are both lacking. I don't know why the Byeonbangbaek put a man like that in charge of the defense. Even if Darckovo is only a small village, to assign such a person to it..."
Meyril deeply sympathized with his feelings. She had seen Shrakhim before his edification too.
"He may have strength, but he didn't seem particularly skilled in martial arts. Of course, even a rotten associate knight is still a knight, so he is probably stronger than I am, but is he stronger than a troll? He didn't seem to know much about warfare either. I can only feel sorry for the soldiers stationed in Darckovo Village."
As Hendri sighed, Meyril gave him a faint smile.
"Sergeant, you didn't trust me at first either, did you?"
"Well, of course, but..."
"Then this time, let's trust Sir Shrakhim. No, trust the lord who trusts Sir Shrakhim."
* * *
Darckovo Village.
Because it was a village stranded alone on the grassland, it had no proper wall, not even a flimsy fence. There wasn't even a separate entrance in and out of the village. So the trolls ended up advancing in a straight line toward it.
That meant the same tactic used in Bojedo Village, sealing off the road, could not be used here.
- Troooooll!
While the trolls lumbered closer, one knight stood waiting for them with his chin held high.
Sir Shrakhim, the Kihara Barony's foremost knight among its mere two knights, former dispatch guard captain under the Tamer Territory, and current chief of the monster management division.
"Hhhhhh... whew."
Shrakhim was doing his best to steady his trembling breath.
"T-Then what should we do? Should we use the houses as cover and fight?"
"You idiot. You want to smash the few houses this place has?"
"If not that, then what in the world are we supposed to do? The militia said the only things they've ever swung are iron flails and hoes..."
"Use the two things you do best. Same goes for the militia."
At first, the Byeonbangbaek's words had sounded like some sort of riddle.
"Shrakhim. You are the one leading the Kihara Barony's dispatched guard force. In other words, you are their 'guide.' This time, just lead Darckovo Village's militia well."
"A guide..."
When the lord patted his shoulder, Shrakhim felt courage and wisdom surging through him. And on that vast open field, he saw a single road.