Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: You Shall Bear My Shield
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There was no need for complex orders.
“Unit, prepare for combat!”
A single command was all it took.
“Formation, circle!”
“Shield bearers to the outside! Wounded to the center!”
“Close the gaps!”
The Decurions barked out orders one after another.
Our allies moved in perfect sync.
In the meantime, I assessed the enemy forces surrounding us.
“They’ve brought a little bit of everything, haven’t they?”
Their numbers were just over two hundred, a diverse mix of species.
The scrawny, green-skinned dwarves were goblins.
The dog-headed creatures standing on two feet were gnolls.
Next to them, the short, stumpy dog-heads were kobolds.
Among them were some familiar faces.
The few remaining soldiers from the defeated orc unit, for instance, or the Valkyrie and her protectors who had barely escaped with their lives.
The young Valkyrie glared at me relentlessly.
It seemed a half-hearted fight followed by an escape was out of the question.
“I authorize the use of the Flame Pouches we’ve been saving.”
The eyes of the Decurions and the former Tri-line Infantry scouts lit up.
“Finally…!”
“Burn them. Burn them all.”
“Red. I like red.”
I flinched at their unexpected reactions but tried my best to ignore it.
At least it was a relief that morale wasn't low.
A sudden ambush.
But it wasn't entirely unexpected.
On missions like this, the real challenge was always the return trip.
“Who was that idiot spouting nonsense earlier?”
Not that I wasn't still annoyed with the soldier who'd run his mouth so carelessly.
“He's right next to your foot, Centurion.”
“Ah, this one?”
I nudged the injured soldier beside me with the tip of my boot.
The soldier, who had been groaning and clutching a thigh pierced by a black feather, looked up at me in surprise.
“We’ll talk when we get back.”
“Yes. Sir?”
I gave a final glance at the fool blinking cluelessly, unaware of what he'd done, and checked our unit's formation.
Out of our fifty-odd men, seven were injured.
There were no fatalities.
For a surprise attack, the damage was minor.
It was less about luck and more likely a situation the enemy had orchestrated.
Burdening us with the wounded was a common tactic for Valkyries.
But that wasn't the extent of the Valkyrie's cheap tricks.
Goblins, kobolds, and gnolls.
They were so pathetic they were classified among the weakest of the non-human species.
The Valkyrie's intention in bringing along only these weaklings was painfully obvious.
A force large enough to maintain numerical superiority, but not strong enough to provoke a knight's fighting spirit.
In such cases, proud knights usually refused to engage in battle.
It sounded absurd, but it was true.
“Tsk.”
As expected, Rangfin Haime clicked his tongue, his face a mask of indifference.
His expression seemed to say:
*Drawing my sword against such creatures is a disgrace in itself.*
This was a disaster.
Right now, our strongest asset was Rangfin Haime.
If he fought passively, our casualties would inevitably increase.
It seemed using him in this battle was a lost cause.
...Or so I thought, but I was wrong.
*Shing.*
Rangfin Haime drew his sword.
Our eyes met, and with the same indifferent expression, he said,
“Cutting them down is an insult to my blade, but I cannot stand by and watch them render my efforts meaningless.”
In other words, he meant that the effort he'd put into wandering the plains in the rain to save stragglers was too precious to waste, so he would try to save as many of our allies as possible.
“That is all.”
His words sounded almost like an excuse. I stood there dumbfounded for a moment before cheering inwardly.
*Yes! Jackpot.*
Silently, of course.
It would be a disaster if I ran my mouth and made Rangfin Haime change his mind.
But he didn't change his mind.
“Open a path.”
In fact, he became even more proactive.
*Shuffle.*
The soldiers, who had been standing shoulder to shoulder, quickly stepped aside.
As he started down the newly formed path, Rangfin Haime stopped and looked back at me.
“...?”
Staring blankly at his gaze, I realized a second too late.
He wanted me to follow.
“Over-ten Quentin. I'm leaving you in command.”
“Leave it to me, sir!”
The Decurion's reply was so crisp that even I, who hadn't particularly wanted him to stop me, felt a pang of disappointment.
A subordinate who shows not a shred of concern while sending his commander out to face the enemy.
So much for camaraderie.
“Ooh!”
“This time, too...!”
My sense of betrayal aside, the soldiers' morale wasn't bad.
As Rangfin Haime and I left the formation, their gazes were filled with a strange sense of anticipation and excitement.
It seemed our previous charge against the orcs had left a powerful impression on them.
“Go get 'em, sirs!”
“Bring back lots of enemy heads!”
Hearing their unhinged encouragement, I stepped out of the formation.
* * *
Rangfin Haime assessed his physical condition.
It was clearly not at its peak.
Injuries he would have normally shaken off long ago still lingered, and the steel armor that was always like a second skin was gone.
Of course, he didn't mind in the slightest.
The enemies were so pathetic he was reluctant to even draw his sword against them.
A few hundred of them were hardly a problem for him.
But for an ordinary human, it was a sufficiently daunting number.
*Thud, thud.*
Nevertheless, the footsteps following behind him showed not a hint of hesitation.
It was just as he had expected.
The kid who had plunged alone into the midst of orcs for his sake while he was struggling—of course he would be like this.
“Grrrrr.”
A bestial growl pierced his ears.
Shaking off his sentimentality, Rangfin Haime’s eyes locked onto the enemy.
They were orcs.
Among the enemy forces, they were the only ones worth looking at, but they were just as pathetic for being prideless creatures who had tucked their tails and run after losing their leader.
An opponent far too unworthy to satisfy his pride as a knight.
There would be no honor in felling a hundred, or even a thousand of them.
Naturally, he felt no anticipation or exhilaration for the impending battle.
His grip on his sword loosened on its own.
But he forced himself to tighten his grip and muster his fighting spirit.
This was not a battle for himself.
The kid who had barely slept, determined to bring back even one more soldier alive.
The effort the boy had invested was far too great to let the soldiers die here in vain.
That was why he had stepped forward.
He hadn't asked for it, but it was an undeniable fact that he was in debt.
If not for the boy, he would have undoubtedly been remembered as a pathetic knight who died struggling against lowly non-humans.
Compared to that, the stigma of being a person who brawled with an unworthy opponent without any pride was nothing.
A fighting spirit that hadn't existed even a hair's breadth before finally began to stir.
He had to move before this fighting spirit died out again.
*Thud, thud.*
Rangfin Haime’s pace quickened.
“Kwoooargh.”
The orcs howled fiercely and charged.
As if they were trying to avenge their leader now, of all times.
“Ridiculous.”
He swung his sword.
*Swish.*
An orc's head flew off instantly.
That was the beginning.
Orcs began to charge from all directions.
Rangfin Haime continued to strike with his sword.
“...?”
Then, he suddenly felt a sense of something being off.
The battle was going unusually smoothly.
Pondering it, he soon realized why.
“Hap!”
“Uracha!”
“Waaaah!”
Loud kiai shouts.
The kid was darting around him frantically, keeping the orcs in check.
He raised his shield to block the hand axes thrown by the orcs and threw a dagger to take down a goblin about to spit a poison dart.
*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.*
A strange-looking crossbow, obtained from who-knows-where, spat out a continuous volley of bolts.
Thanks to him, it was Rangfin Haime himself who had it easier.
There was no need to crash about chaotically.
Simply stepping forward and swinging his sword was enough.
He had stepped out prepared for a dogfight unworthy of his station.
*Isn't this a rather dignified battle?*
The moment he realized that fact.
Even the last trace of reluctance in his heart vanished.
And Haime's suppressed lightning flash awakened.
Though it lacked the divine blessing, its speed was still unparalleled.
*Sh-sh-sh-shk.*
Orcs collapsed one after another, spraying fountains of blood.
“Kraaaaaaah!”
One of them roared fiercely and charged at him.
The lightning flashed once more.
*Clatter.*
The orc tumbled to the ground with the same momentum it had charged with.
He was starting to get into it.
He continued to unleash his lightning flashes.
The face of the enemy changed.
The orcs blocking his path were no longer in sight.
In their place, large and small dog-headed non-humans and dwarves with small blowpipes in their mouths blocked his way.
It was strange.
The opponents were far too pathetic to get excited about.
Normally, his excitement should have subsided by now.
But his sword, far from slowing down, was getting faster with each passing moment.
Lightning flashes covered the area.
The enemies, terrified, began to hesitate.
But that, too, was only for a moment.
*Gwoooooo.*
Just as he felt a strange sensation, the enemies' eyes suddenly rolled back in their heads.
“Grrrrrr.”
Drooling and growling like beasts, they began to charge again.
He paid them no mind.
*Shk.*
He simply scattered his blade.
How long had he been swinging his sword, caught up in the excitement?
“*Gasp, hack.*”
A rough gasp for breath stabbed at his ears.
The ragged gasps sounded like dry coughs.
Rangfin Haime looked back.
The kid was there.
His body a wreck, clutching a shield riddled with poison darts and hand axes, heaving for breath with his shoulders.
Seeing him, he belatedly realized something.
While scattering his blade in excitement, he hadn't defended himself even once.
He hadn't even checked his surroundings.
He had only stabbed and slashed at the enemy before him.
It was a habit.
The habit of a knight who fought while entrusting his body to heavy steel armor.
But now, he wore nothing but light clothes, not even steel armor.
It wouldn't have been strange if he had sustained a few injuries, large or small.
But there were none.
Not a single wound could be seen.
The reason was obvious.
The kid had used his entire body to block the attacks flying at him.
Sometimes with his shield, sometimes with his own body.
In truth, it wasn't that surprising.
That was the role knights expected of their squires, after all.
But that was only the ideal image of a squire; no knight ever expected a squire to perform their role perfectly.
In reality, most squires would pant and struggle to keep up with their masters, often falling behind.
In the first place, it was absurd to think that a non-knight could perfectly keep pace with a knight.
And yet, here it was, happening.
The kid before him was the proof.
“*Gasp, gasp.* Throw the Flame Pouches!”
He even realized now that the kid was commanding the soldiers as well.
It meant that while blocking all surrounding attacks so the knight could focus solely on the opponent before him, he'd also had the presence of mind to assess the battlefield.
“Ah...”
Rangfin Haime couldn't help but let out a sound of admiration.
The ideal squire that every knight had ever wished for was right here.
The moment he realized this, he could no longer hold back.
“You, you shall bear my shield.”
With the one being who could inherit his name and star, everything he had built over a lifetime, standing right before him—if he could hold back, he wouldn't be a knight.