Each to Their Own Operation (5)
In the wake of the retreat, the atmosphere at headquarters had grown so grim that even calling it serious felt like an understatement.
"The Magic Legion Commander himself…"
"Has a legion ever moved like this in such rapid succession?"
It was all because Arcel, the Magic Legion Commander, had appeared in person. His presence should have meant the Magic Legion itself was nearby. And yet…
"And yet there's no sign of the legion at all."
Whatever he was thinking, he hadn't come at the head of his forces. Some wondered if he might have used invisibility magic the way he had before — but that didn't seem to be the case either.
They couldn't be certain, but they could make a reasonable guess. If the legion had shown up, the enemy wouldn't have stayed this quiet.
Two days had already passed since the retreat, and Grandis hadn't moved an inch. The Magic Legion Commander hadn't made any moves of his own either. If he'd brought his legion with him, there would have been no reason to leave this side alone — so concluding that he hadn't brought them was the right call.
Karna's report only reinforced that judgment.
"The golems they call the Magic Legion Commander's Masterpieces were riding on that thing's back."
"…So if the Magic Legion Commander moved out alone with his Masterpieces, that would make sense."
"There has to be a reason for it, though…"
"Maybe he was testing us. Gauging the strength of the force that wiped out the Oblivion Legion…"
As the speculation circulated through headquarters, I sat quietly off to one side.
My head was a mess. I'd thought the operation was going smoothly right up through the middle — and then a single existence had shattered everything. The shock of that still hadn't worn off.
I never thought we'd lose like this…
Aside from half my hand getting blown off, we hadn't taken any real casualties — but in terms of the operation failing, it still counted as a defeat.
The sting of losing was bad enough. What really left me feeling powerless, though, was the realization that the moment a monster like a Legion Commander showed up, every carefully laid plan became completely useless.
Eris, who'd led the Oblivion Legion, had clearly been the weakest of them. Even if she'd held a slight edge over Arcel in strength, agility, and stamina… none of her stats had been monstrously high the way his were.
A mana stat of 2010… I couldn't even begin to imagine how much firepower he could put out on his own. I had no idea how we were supposed to take down a monster like that, or how we were supposed to break the current stalemate.
"What are we supposed to…"
"…It's all right, Albrecht."
"…Huh?"
At some point, Letisia had come over to me.
"We bought ourselves some time, at least. Erinn might be released soon… and once word gets out that the Magic Legion Commander has appeared, the countries that have been hesitating on support might scramble into action."
"…They'd move that fast?"
"That's how dangerous the Magic Legion Commander is. Not quite on the level of the Apocalyptic Legion or the Ruin Legion, but still."
Letisia gave a slightly bitter smile.
"When their own safety is on the line, that's when they finally start moving."
"…Yeah, that's true."
"So cheer up. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the Magic Legion Commander as a variable, I'm sure we could have taken that monster down with your plan."
Mersius, who'd been standing nearby, chimed in with her own words of comfort.
"She's right, Benefactor. You did everything you could."
"…Thanks for saying that."
I appreciated the encouragement, but it didn't exactly lift my spirits. Doing your best doesn't change anything on its own. Results are what give it meaning.
I ran through the strategies used against the Magic Legion Commander back in Dungeon in Evil.
Originally, you exploit the fact that his strength and agility stats are relatively low…
Plenty of melee fighter characters had strength stats that outclassed the Magic Legion Commander's, so the standard approach was to close the distance fast and pile on damage.
But that was only when he didn't have special defensive units like the Masterpieces protecting him.
On top of that, we were critically short on people who could even get near him right now. You could practically say Karna was the only one.
Was there any way to take down the Magic Legion Commander under these conditions?
Even assuming I could dismantle his magic, I couldn't suppress that astronomical volume of mana entirely. And I wasn't sure I could time it right, either.
Breaking the magic he'd cast on Grandis had taken ages — could I really dismantle a spell before it even finished casting?
Granted, dismantling a completed spell was harder… but there was no telling how fast the Magic Legion Commander could finish casting. Judging by the skill with which he'd handled mana back then…
As long as I couldn't be sure of that, the plan of locking down his magic and then taking him apart wasn't viable. So then what…
"Deputy Commander Calber!"
Just then, a soldier came bursting into the tent, gasping for breath. The flag strapped to his back marked him as a messenger from somewhere else.
Recognizing the banner and the man's affiliation, Deputy Commander Calber asked,
"You're from the Second Frontline?"
"Hah… hah… Yes, sir! Sergeant Goden, Second Frontline!"
The Second Frontline? That was the line a bit farther north than our First Frontline. A messenger arriving from there could only mean one thing.
It almost certainly wasn't good news. Calber had to know that, but he asked calmly all the same.
"All right, Sergeant Goden. What's the situation?"
"The Magic Legion has appeared at the Second Frontline! I've come with a request for reinforcements — specifically, for the Hero stationed here to be dispatched!"
The news the messenger brought was staggering. The Legion Commander had shown up here with his golems, and the legion itself had appeared from a completely different direction…
"A diversion…"
Simple, but devastatingly effective. One wrong move and both the First and Second Frontlines could collapse at the same time.
"Is the Second Frontline that short on strength? The Magic Legion Commander Arcel himself is here right now!"
"…What!?"
The messenger went pale, then managed to speak.
"Th-that is… our current forces at the Second Frontline are nowhere near enough to hold off the Magic Legion. The legion's second-in-command has also been sighted there…"
"…Advalt is over there?"
When I asked, the messenger looked slightly startled, then nodded.
"Yes. Because of the Covenant, it seems the full Magic Legion couldn't cross over — but their main combat strength has all been confirmed present. Including Hellfire Advalt…"
"…Then a Hero has to go."
Hellfire Advalt. Even in Dungeon in Evil, he was a boss you absolutely had to deal with before moving on to the Magic Legion Commander.
As a game mechanic, if you skipped Advalt and went straight for the Legion Commander, he'd show up mid-fight — and at that point Advalt was an absolute mountain of a problem, skyrocketing your odds of failing the Magic Legion Commander fight.
He was that powerful a boss, and he had a particular quirk: you needed a party that included a Hero to take him down. It came down to one of Hellfire Advalt's traits.
"Nothing short of a holy relic can deal meaningful damage to him."
In the game, if you weren't classified as a Hero character, you simply couldn't put real damage on Advalt. He took heavy damage from holy relics, but shrugged off almost everything else. That trait had almost certainly carried over into this world now that it was real…
Calber's adjutant spoke up.
"But the Legion Commander is here! How can we send the Hero away!?"
"Exactly. Even if we have to give up the Second Frontline, holding this position is…"
"That's exactly what the enemy wants."
Letisia cut in.
"The fact that they ran a diversion means if we half-commit to both places, they'll swallow us whole. We have to hold the ground we can actually hold."
She was right. I backed her up.
"If Hero Karna goes to the Second Frontline, that side can be locked down for certain. The Masterpieces are here, and the Legion Commander himself is here too."
"That's…!"
"But Albrecht."
Karna, who'd been listening, called my name and looked at me.
"If I go to the Second Frontline, what happens here? Are you saying we abandon this place?"
Karna went on.
"The First Frontline is the key junction connecting every other front. Giving it up is the same as handing over the spine of the entire line. That cannot be allowed to happen."
"…Once the other Heroes arrive as reinforcements, it won't be a problem."
"And until then? He's sitting still for now, but there's no telling when he'll move… and if I head to the Second Frontline, the Magic Legion Commander will definitely get a report that a Hero has appeared over there."
Karna's brow furrowed slightly as he asked,
"If I leave my post and they start moving — do you have a plan for that?"
"That's…"
"Then I'll hold the line here~♡ Until the other Heroes show up."
At that voice, every head in the tent turned. We couldn't help it.
That distinctive mischievous smile, the twin-tails of golden hair — and a woman just a little on the short side. There wasn't a person here who didn't recognize her.
"Did I keep you waiting long~?"
She was the Hero we'd been stalling for all this time — the comrade we'd been waiting for.
"…Erinn!"
"Hero Erinn!?"
"…So she's finally here."
It was Erinn.
"Pfft, you look just like a puppy waiting for its owner~♡"
At the same hour that the First Frontline's forces were scrambling into combat readiness under Albrecht's plan…
"…Whoa, Clara."
Back in Obern, Ser-Aria was genuinely stunned. She nearly dropped the bottle in her hand.
No exaggeration — she was that shocked. And she had every reason to be.
"You finished that insanely fast!"
It had been less than six hours since she'd handed Clara the checklist of things to verify, and Clara had already come back with every scrap of evidence collected.
"How'd you pull that off? There must've been plenty of people making things difficult when you went to check."
Thinking back on all the headaches Ser-Aria had dealt with while investigating alone after Erinn left, the speed was almost beyond belief.
Clara answered like it was nothing.
"…I snuck in and stole a look. Going through people one by one would've taken forever."
"Ahh…?"
"In the end, all we needed was to confirm the trading companies existed and check the ledgers to see if the deals actually happened."
Clara made it sound simple.
"I've also secured the people from the companies confirmed to have dealt in weapons."
At that, Ser-Aria poked her head outside — and sure enough, a group of people lay bound hand and foot, out cold and dreaming peacefully, having been taken completely by surprise.
To pull all of that off in under half a day… the reputation of the greatest living thief clearly wasn't empty talk. Ser-Aria laughed heartily.
"Hahaha, you're incredible, Clara! Perfect — then all that's left is to get their testimony and we're good!"
"…Yeah."
Clara gave a small nod and looked over the "witnesses" she'd brought in.
"Let's get it out of them fast."
Ser-Aria and Clara proceeded to persuade the witnesses using extremely peaceful and gentlemanly methods.
Fortunately, the place had once been used as a private army training facility, so the tools needed for "persuasion" were in abundant supply. There were chairs and rope, and more than enough sticks to go around.
Faced with such thoroughly peaceful and gentlemanly methods, the witnesses had no choice but to talk — and before long, the two of them had the answers they wanted.
"Y-yes, it was the Achilles Ducal House that made the purchase!! I'll tell you everything, just please spare my life!"
To the merchant begging for his life, Ser-Aria spoke with a smile.
"Spare your life? Why would we kill you?"
"Th-thank you…"
"So it was the Achilles Ducal House that bought them? You're sure?"
"Y-yes…! The crest on the chest of the person we dealt with was unmistakably the emblem of the Achilles Ducal House!"
"Do you happen to know the name?"
"Th-that much I don't…"
"Is that so? Then I guess we'll have to spend a little more time until it comes back to you!"
The moment Ser-Aria started wedging two wooden rods between his legs again, the merchant shrieked in panic.
"I-I'm not holding back — I really don't know! They never gave a name…!"
"You did business with someone whose name you didn't even know?"
"W-well… as I said earlier, it was clearly someone from the Achilles Ducal House, so…"
"Hmm."
They put the same peaceful methods to the other captives, but the answers all came out roughly the same. Setting the sticks aside for a moment, Ser-Aria turned to Clara.
"At this rate, bringing that woman down is going to be tough. We can't prove the Minister of Military Affairs ordered it herself."
"…But we can put plenty of pressure on them."
Clara said,
"At the very least, the treason charges they pinned on Erinn will end up stuck to the ducal house itself. If they're going to put Erinn on trial, they'll have to face a proper trial of their own…"
Ser-Aria nodded.
"Meaning Erinn can get out."
"…Yeah. We don't have time to waste. Let's go free Erinn."
"Right."
Ser-Aria and Clara took the evidence and the witnesses and headed straight for the imperial capital, Defern.
Not long after they left, armed men from the ducal house arrived at the private army training facility — but by then, there was nothing left to find.