Call Me Father
Disguised as Dedric, I made my way back to the Coulon Territory army's camp. A string of unbroken victories had the troops' spirits riding high.
High morale among the soldiers was always an excellent sign. Morale was like a snowball rolling downhill — once it started to grow, it only kept swelling larger. Getting it to start rolling in the first place, of course, was the hard part.
I sought out Count Coulomb's tent. He sat inside, poring over supply ledgers. The moment I entered, his face brightened in welcome.
"Dedric. It took you longer than I expected. Well then, what did Lord Walker pass along to you?"
"Father! I have obtained information of the utmost importance."
"Wh— What did you say?"
Count Coulomb stared at me as if he had seen a ghost. Enemy intelligence was important, certainly, but was it really something to be that shocked about? He had not reacted like this when I had reported in Derick Walker's body.
"Say that again! What did you just say?"
"I have obtained information of the utmost importance."
"No! Before that."
"Pardon? Ah... Father?"
At that, Count Coulomb clapped his hands together in delight, looking for all the world like a child who had just been handed the game console he had been pining for. I had never seen this side of him. It was unsettling. Had I made some kind of mistake?
"At last, you call me Father. You always addressed me so stiffly as 'Count'! Have you had a change of heart?"
I swallowed hard and gathered my thoughts. Looking identical to Dedric was one thing, but fooling family was never easy. Blood relatives could tell identical twins apart.
Thank god I have the Deception skill.
"Ah... yes. That is so. Through this territorial war, I have come to understand how much you have devoted yourself to our Coulon Territory. I thought I might change the way I address you."
"Haha! I am grateful. However strictly we must separate public duty from private affection, we are family in the end. To hear you call me that... I could die without a single regret."
Apparently Dedric Coulomb had been even more tight-lipped with his family than I had thought. To think the Count would be this overjoyed over something as simple as being called Father. For a man who had sent both his sons to the battlefield, he had a surprisingly tender heart.
Then again, this territorial war was a matter of the fief's very survival. Sending both sons to the front may well have been a choice he had no way of avoiding. In fact, the deployment of Count Coulomb's two sons had done wonders for the army's morale.
I was starting to feel a little sorry for him. Dedric was already in the next world. Still, if a fake son could give him the joy his real one never had, perhaps he would not go to his grave with any regrets. I had no plans to kill him just yet. But in the end, he would die by my hand.
"In any case, I have obtained vital intelligence on the enemy. It concerns the movement route of the Ernest Fief army's War Mage Division."
"Wh— What?! You have obtained intelligence that vital?"
"Yes! Lord Walker said he earned Count Ernest's trust and only barely managed to acquire it. The document was densely encrypted, but I was able to decipher it. Allow me to mark the route on the map."
I took a quill and drew a line across the map of Mount Aden the Count had been studying. The route I marked was a mountain trail several kilometers from the Ernest Fief army's current position — the roughest, most treacherous path on the entire mountain.
"They are scheduled to rejoin the main force by this route. If we mean to intercept the War Mage Division before they link up, we will have to send troops here as well."
"A harsh road. Not one suited to moving a large force. Push too many men through there and we could well suffer a devastating counterattack."
The path I had chosen was brutally rugged, and reaching it meant passing through several danger zones tailor-made for ambushes. Moving a large body of troops through it would be extremely difficult.
"Precisely. They chose this path to avoid any attack from our forces. But that cuts both ways — it is also an opportunity. They cannot escort the War Mage Division with a large contingent either."
"Then you would have us strike first?"
"That is my assessment. If the War Mage Division joins the main force, we will have no chance of victory. We must intercept them."
I pressed the point hard. Count Coulomb already knew it well enough. He nodded, then struck the desk with his palm.
"Very well. I will form a special detachment and have them lie in ambush. When is the War Mage Division expected to arrive?"
"Lord Walker said they would arrive in two to three days."
"Then the detachment must be dispatched at once."
I spoke up, my voice ringing with confidence.
"Father! Allow me to take that mission."
"Hm? You, personally? Would this sort of work not suit your brother Hendrick far better?"
Count Coulomb's judgment was perfectly sound. Dedric had never been gifted in martial prowess — his strength was his mind. Strategy was his domain, not commando work. Even so, I insisted on going myself.
"This mission requires me specifically. The truth is, I have not fully decrypted the coded document. I am certain they will pass through this area, but to pinpoint the exact location, I will need to see the terrain with my own eyes."
"Hmm. If even you are struggling with it, they must be using an exceedingly complex cipher."
"Yes. This is it."
I showed him a document written in Korean — a novel titled The Translucent Dragon. Count Coulomb, of course, could not make head or tail of it.
"What are these picture-like markings? I have never seen a cipher of this kind."
"If you look closely, you can see that the characters follow a regular pattern. Do you see it here? These letters are formed of three components that combine into a single syllable."
"Oho! Now that you mention it, I can see the pattern."
"Once you work through the regularity, the answer reveals itself. In any case, I am the only one who can fully decrypt this and confirm the War Mage Division's route with certainty. That is why I must go myself!"
"But this is exceedingly dangerous work! You do understand that?"
"There is not a single person in this war doing work that is not dangerous. And the one in the greatest danger of all is Lord Walker, who remains alone in the enemy camp."
"That is true enough. Had it not been for Lord Walker, we would have lost this war long ago. The feats he displayed in the first engagement were truly dazzling."
"Lord Walker is a mere merchant, yet he has thrown himself into harm's way for our sake. How could I sit comfortably while he does so? I know the danger. Even so, I will do what I am able!"
At that, Count Coulomb let out a low breath and nodded.
"Very well. I have felt your resolve. I shall assign Lord Dost and ten knights to you. Do your utmost. And... do not die."
The love of a father for his son was painfully clear in Count Coulomb's final words. Dedric was probably laughing up in heaven.
"Yes, Father!"
The special detachment was assembled in short order. Because the mission was a race against time, Count Coulomb assigned me ten of his finest knights.
I packed my gear and set out with the knights toward the location marked on the map. Had they been ordinary soldiers, they could have walked all day and still not arrived — but a trained knight moved on an entirely different plane. The detachment reached its destination in a mere three hours, the result of running without a single rest until the sweet tang of exhaustion filled their mouths.
"You have all done well. The War Mage Division will pass through here within three days at the latest. Our mission is to destroy them."
"Hah... So this is the trail. We should set up a temporary encampment nearby."
Lord Dost, a middle-aged knight with a thoroughly receding hairline, surveyed the surroundings as he spoke.
"No need to rush, Lord Dost. We still have time. And after a run like that, you all need rest. Gather round, everyone."
I pulled a bottle of cola from my pack. The knights gathered around me at once, curiosity plain on their faces.
"What is that? Wine, perhaps?"
"It is not wine. One can hardly afford to be drunk on the battlefield, can one? This is a precious beverage imported from the East. Lord Walker gave it to me — it tastes every bit as fine as a quality wine, and it will not intoxicate you. I thought we might raise a simple toast with it. It may be a touch premature, but this war will end in our victory regardless, will it not?"
"The Young Master is right. An Eastern beverage, though — how intriguing. And what are those cups? They have a most unusual appearance."
"These too are trade goods from the East — cups made of paper. Quite convenient to carry."
I poured the drink into the paper cups. The knights each accepted a cup of cola and drank. Their faces underwent a fascinating transformation at the sharp, fizzing bite. Solari World had no cola — this was not merely an exotic flavor. It was an otherworldly one.
"What a curious flavor. It is not wine, yet it has such a sharp, fizzing bite. Rather like the sparkling water they sell at the Magic Tower, is it not?"
"Have another cup. We have a critical mission ahead of us — we ought to fortify ourselves, should we not?"
Once they had tasted it, they came back for more, again and again. I had packed plenty of cola. Every last knight drank three or four cups at least.
"Nnh... I suddenly feel rather sluggish. Haaah..."
"The tension has likely drained out of you. There are no enemies anywhere near here. Rest easy."
"We still need to set up camp... nnh..."
The knights who had drunk the cola soon sank into sleep.
I had brought an especially potent sleeping draught from the real world, distilled from monster byproducts. I had worried the knights might have some resistance to it, but my fears proved unfounded. Whether the draught was simply that potent, or whether even trained knights who wielded mana had no resistance to sleeping agents, I could not say.
Plenty of high-rank Dungeon Hunters back in the real world had resistances to poisons and drugs, but things apparently worked differently here. Or maybe these knights simply were not at that level. Then again, the Reiss Knights were a bunch of loyal morons.
"Arme."
At my call, she dropped her stealth and appeared.
"Yeah. These guys. Just gulped it down without a shred of suspicion."
"Even you have to admit that was a flawless performance, no?"
"Not bad. Honestly, I figured the Count would catch you. Guess he didn't talk to his own son much."
"Anyway, take care of all these knights. You can handle it, right?"
"What do you take me for? Knights or not, when they're sleeping this defenseless, slitting their throats is nothing."
And with that, Arme slit the throats of all ten knights. Then she buried the bodies somewhere convenient.
Never a dull moment. Time to head back to the Ernest Fief army.