Departure
Manir was taking the training of the private soldiers far more seriously than anyone had expected. He covered basic formations and how to shift them according to the situation, how to use the terrain to seize advantageous ground and throw up a defensive line, and fundamental strategy tailored to the enemy's composition. Having served on the northern battlefield, the content of his instruction was remarkably thorough. He had been promised an artifact if this subjugation succeeded, and he clearly had no intention of phoning it in. Thanks to that, the conscripts' training transformed with startling speed.
"At this rate, I might fall behind myself."
Auger was pleased by the private soldiers' growth, yet a part of him felt left out. He would have liked to sit in on Manir's lessons himself, but that simply wasn't an option.
"Could we receive that training as well?"
Auger wasn't the only one interested. Joseph's private soldiers had taken a keen interest in the tactical instruction too. They were already receiving separate training from Refn and the castle soldiers, but being drilled by a knight was an entirely different caliber of education.
Joseph was glad his men had the drive to improve, but he didn't nod immediately. In this subjugation, their role was simply to form a wall in front of him. They couldn't even do that properly yet — was it really right for them to be sitting in on lessons like these?
I'd be better off attending myself.
After a moment's thought, Joseph decided to sit in as well. He intended to expand his private soldiers' numbers eventually. If the opportunity presented itself, there was no harm in learning.
When Joseph showed up with his men in tow, Manir looked distinctly flustered. A mage appearing at soldier training — no ordinary mage would ever do such a thing. To them, soldiers were little more than servants whose job was to keep them alive.
"Don't mind me. Continue."
Manir resumed the lesson soon enough, though he couldn't help glancing at Joseph from time to time.
"So you're telling me the mercenary was actually an enemy soldier... and the mage caught him, and now he's suddenly training with us?"
Several more days passed, and the scouts who had been stationed at Malešov returned. They were startled to find Joseph's house in ruins — and even more startled once they heard the full story. Their faces said it was complete nonsense, but the other soldiers had no other way to explain it.
"...Just who is that mage, really?"
One of the scouts muttered. No one had an answer.
Until now, they had thought of Joseph as a mage of considerable skill with a mild temperament. But after he defeated an enemy knight and then recruited the man, they couldn't help but start to feel it.
"He might actually be someone incredible."
The soldiers who reached that conclusion treated Joseph with even greater deference than before. They even started watching themselves around his private soldiers — the very men they were supposed to be training — to the point that Derik and Auk found it uncomfortable for a while. Like timid privates whose father had just been outed as the division commander.
"Don't let it get to you."
Joseph said as much, though he found it awkward himself. Watching Derik and Auk flounder just gave him enough distance to observe it from a step back.
Time passed quickly. He trained with his private soldiers by day and practiced magic by night. Before long, he could feel the cold beginning to ease.
"We're lucky it hasn't snowed this year."
Joseph agreed with Auger. Unlike the modern world, this one had no one to clear the snow when it piled up. Infrastructure was so poorly developed that if snow accumulated on the roads, you simply had to wait until the weather warmed and it melted on its own. That would inevitably delay their departure — a problem for men who wanted to resolve the Malešov situation as quickly as possible.
Once the weather had warmed enough that their breath no longer hung in the air, Auger began preparing to leave. They had hunted periodically throughout the winter, so food, at least, was not in short supply. Instead, he led the soldiers into the forest to gather dry firewood.
Meanwhile, Joseph made his own preparations. First, he collected the equipment he had commissioned from the blacksmith and the villagers. The number of shields Gapoi had produced — working under Derik's watchful eye — was considerably higher than expected, so Joseph decided to distribute those among the conscripts as well.
Once everything was ready, the wagons began to move for the first time in a long while. Word that a noble was leaving the village brought the residents flooding to the entrance. The atmosphere was quite different from when Joseph had last left, practically driven out. That was only natural — most of the villagers were family of the conscript soldiers.
The soldiers, facing an impending campaign, spoke with their families. Some were sorrowful. Others talked of coming back with a fortune.
"Your families didn't come?"
Joseph asked Auk and Jiren, and they shook their heads.
"We've already said our goodbyes."
Once the Malešov business was finished, Joseph intended to head south, and they knew it. There was a real chance they would never return — and yet they seemed to have little attachment left.
Joseph's party — or more precisely, Auger — left Doran Village to the cheers of the village chief and the people. After all, their own safety depended on the expedition's success.
Five wagons set out. With more people came several times more cargo. Joseph had handed his wagon over to the scouts, so he rode with Auger once again. The increased numbers and baggage slowed their pace considerably, which Derik and Jiren seemed none too pleased about.
"We're going slow because of those guys."
"Bunch of weaklings."
The private soldiers snickered as they trailed behind the wagons. Compared to their easygoing demeanor, the conscripts were openly tense. They hadn't felt it in the village, but now that they were truly outside, it was starting to sink in. Before long, they would actually have to face demonic beasts.
"If you just do as you were trained, not a single one of you will die."
Refn and the private soldiers said things like that, but the men listening knew by now that it wasn't sincere. Even so, believing those words was the only thing they could do.
"There's something up ahead!"
Someone shouted as they made their way toward Malešov. Joseph leaned out of the wagon and saw three beasts standing dully in the middle of the road. They spotted the wagons from a distance and immediately broke into a run.
"No — those are demonic beasts!"
Refn, who had been watching them closely, shouted a correction. Even starving animals wouldn't charge a group this large. The fact that they were charging at all was proof they were demonic beasts.
Joseph and Auger's expressions hardened. Both hurriedly climbed down from the wagon to get a look at what was coming.
Those are...?
Joseph's brow furrowed. They were the same as the wild dog demonic beasts he had hunted near Kudna Village.
"H-hey! They're coming this way!"
The conscripts began to murmur at the word "demonic beast." Auger shouted at them.
"Get a hold of yourselves! Move the way you were trained!"
Only then did the conscripts scramble to grab their shields and form up in front.
"Here they come!"
The wild dog demonic beasts launched themselves at the men just as they had before — a mindless, headlong charge.
"Hit them!"
The private soldier commanding them shouted, and the conscripts shoved their shields forward with all their strength.
"Huh?"
But they were too tense — the timing of their shield-push was all over the place. Gaps opened in the wall.
Thud! A demonic beast slammed into the fractured line, and one conscript went flying backward with a scream. Fortunately, the other soldiers immediately shoved with their shields, and the beast leapt back, putting distance between them. In that brief window, the fallen soldier picked up his shield and rejoined the line.
"They're coming again! Ready!"
At the private soldier's shout, the men standing behind the shield-bearers drew their wooden spears.
"Thrust!"
The instant the beast charged again, they drove their spears through the gaps in the shields as one. Wooden spears shouldn't have been able to pierce a demonic beast's hide. But the creature's own charging speed drove them clean through its body. The beast, riddled with wooden shafts, shrieked and rolled across the ground.
⟨ Flame Bite ⟩
Boom—!
Meanwhile, Joseph had already taken down the other two. They were fast, but he had fought this same type of demonic beast before. The instant they launched themselves at the shields, he fired Mana Orbs in the same breath.
In a matter of moments, all three wild dog demonic beasts were down.
The soldiers grew immediately confident after a successful hunt. But those who knew the situation at Malešov did not look pleased.
"Don't tell me the demonic beasts have spread this far?"
"That's a possibility."
It was strange. Demonic beasts were, by nature, creatures that guarded their own territory. For them to be clustered in the middle of a road like this was bizarre no matter how you looked at it.
"...We're running out of time."
Auger stared down at the corpses, then urged the soldiers onward.
"Load the bodies onto the wagons."
The soldiers promptly pulled the spears from the carcasses and loaded them as they were. They couldn't butcher the beasts this close to where they had appeared, so they took them along.
"I've never had demonic beast meat before."
"You think any of us have had it more than once?"
The conscripts swallowed at the mention of demonic beast meat for dinner. Among people, it was considered a delicacy. For Joseph, who had no desire to put unidentified meat in his mouth, it was simply an ordeal.
With the hunt concluded, the party set out once more.
The demonic beasts had vanished again.
The ones he had released at Malešov had wandered off on their own. That meant only one thing: the artifact controlling them had reached the end of its lifespan.
"Fuck..."
The man spat a curse. The artifacts' lifespans were growing shorter and shorter. Proper materials were hard to come by.
His gaze drifted to the crude sculptures piled in the corner — the products of repeated attempts with cheap materials. Combined with the forbidden magic he had been casting over and over, he was reaching his limit.
"A-at this rate, I'm going to fail."
The word "failure" becoming a real possibility sent him into a panic. His emaciated hands trembled as he groped inside his clothes. The garments were so oversized they hung off his gaunt frame, making the pocket hard to find.
He finally pulled something out. It resembled the failures piled in the corner, except a small gem was set in its center. The moment his hand touched the artifact, the gem and the characters inscribed upon it glowed faintly.
"Hhh—"
A sound escaped him like air leaking from a puncture. His pupils dilated, then slowly contracted again.
"...W-where are you?!"
He scanned the darkness, urging frantically. A massive shadow slowly emerged from beyond the dense forest. Blood dripped from between yellowed teeth, running all the way down to its jaw. And in its right hand, it clutched something enormous — a gorilla-like monster that should have been nearly as massive as the shadow itself. It was a torn-off ogre's arm.
The man laughed, a sound like grinding metal.
"I-I have no choice now. I'll have to g-go north!"