The Last Wedge
Baron Eton looked every bit the rigid, exacting type. If Baron Melun gave the impression of a fair and unyielding career soldier, Baron Eton felt like a scholar who had spent decades sequestered in a study. And in truth, as commander of a mage unit, he was closer to a scholar than a knight. In Solari World, mages occupied the same niche that scientists and engineers did back in the real world.
I led him toward the Ernest Fief encampment. True to a mage unit, their marching speed was abysmal. War Mages were a subset of mages physically trained and modified for combat, but at their core they were still mages. There was no way they could march like knights or well-conditioned soldiers.
I watched the mage unit trudge along like a column of defeated stragglers. The grueling march had drained the light from their eyes, leaving only a dull haze, and they leaned on their staves just to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
They hardly looked like they had any talent for battle, but every last one of them was a formidable asset. If they joined the Ernest Fief army, the territorial war would be as good as over. Even I couldn't handle a mage unit of this size. Luna, as she was now, probably couldn't either.
It was about time for the call. I glanced at Baron Eton.
A faint hum rose from inside his robes.
He drew a fist-sized orb from his breast. A communication item.
Baron Eton — "What is it, Baron Melun. We're nearly there. We're moving with the soldiers you sent to meet us."
Baron Melun — "Baron Eton. Their movements are unusual. It seems they're preparing an all-out offensive. We've observed large-scale troop movements."
Baron Eton — "Hrm. That's not good. How many of them are there?"
Baron Melun — "Excluding the War Mage Division, we'll be at roughly even numbers. To keep our casualties down, we need the War Mage Division to join us quickly. Is the Assault Commander with you?"
Baron Eton — "He is."
Baron Melun — "Have him cooperate fully and get here as fast as possible. This war is a race against time."
Baron Eton — "Hmph! Don't you dare give me orders. You may be the main force commander, but we hold the same rank."
Baron Melun — "This is not my order. It is the Count's. Surely you don't mean to defy His Lordship?"
Baron Eton — "Then I suppose I have no choice. Very well. We'll go as fast as we can."
The moment Baron Melun invoked Count Ernest, Baron Eton clicked his tongue and gave in. He answered reluctantly, but the part about cooperating fully with me clearly sat badly with him. He turned those sharp, slit-like eyes on me and glared.
"It seems the Coulon army is preparing an attack. Baron Melun wants us there as fast as possible."
"Yes. I heard. It'll be hard, but we'll have to pick up the pace."
The Coulon army's all-out assault was, of course, my doing. I had already fed them the location and condition of every Ernest ambush post. And as if that weren't enough, I had pulled the 1st Assault Unit and a considerable number of knights with me under the pretext of escorting the War Mage Division.
While I was away playing escort, the Coulon army had prepared a large-scale frontal assault. The last wedge to end this grinding war. So far, everything had gone according to plan.
With the forces Ernest had left, holding off a full Coulon offensive would not be easy. Even if they managed it, the cost would be ruinous.
"No helping it. Everyone, move faster! Linger here and we may end up resting for the rest of our lives."
Baron Eton understood the gravity of the situation well enough. We picked up the pace.
"The path seems to be getting rougher."
The trail we were walking grew steadily worse, and before long it vanished altogether.
"It's a shortcut. A little rough, but we'll arrive much faster."
"Hrm. At this rate, I don't know if we'll be in any condition to reinforce their firepower the moment we arrive."
Baron Eton's face was tight with worry. A wasted concern.
We had already passed the Ernest Fief encampment. Even an outstanding soldier trained in orienteering would struggle to find his way in the mountains with nothing but a map and a compass — and Solari World's maps were a joke compared to the real thing.
There was a reason I had come out to meet them. A guide's duty — leading reinforcements to the main force — was an extremely, extremely important mission. That was precisely why Baron Melun had sent the man he trusted most. They had followed my word like gospel, and as a result, I had been able to lead them all the way here.
"This is strange... Are you certain this is a shortcut? It's taking far too long."
"This is the right path. If we keep going this way, the encampment will come into view."
"If we'd taken the ordinary route, we would have arrived by now. Damn it all. How the hell did an idiot like this end up as Assault Commander? Tch!"
"M-my apologies! Please wait a moment! I'll go check our position!"
With that, I peeled off from the column. Baron Eton glared at me like he'd bitten into something rotten. If there hadn't been so many eyes on us, he looked ready to put a fist through my face. Then again, if I were in his shoes, I probably would too.
I dropped the disguise and covered my body in wounds. Then I pulled from my inventory the sack that held Hendrick and Dedric's heads.
The place we had come to was not the Ernest encampment. It was the Coulon one. I moved toward the territorial army's camp. The Coulon forces were already fully prepared to sortie. The moment I approached with the disguise gone, Count Coulomb — gleaming in polished armor — stared at me in shock.
"Master Walker! What has happened?!"
Count Coulomb swung down from his horse in a rush and came toward me.
"My lord! They found us out in the end! There was a traitor in our own army!"
"Wh— what? A traitor?!"
"It was Lord Dost! He was the informant all along! The two young masters' ambush failed! I was exposed as a spy myself — I barely escaped with my life!"
I pinned everything on the knight who had been pulled out alongside Dedric for the raid on the War Mage Division. The dead tell no tales.
"Lord Dost? Impossible... that cannot be!"
"Kh-hhk! But it's the truth. He already had our entire plan figured out. And the two young masters fell into Lord Dost's trap, were captured, and were executed by the Ernest army!"
At those words, Count Coulomb collapsed.
"My lord!"
His escort knights rushed to him in alarm.
A raw, animal wail tore out of him. "Dead? You're telling me they're dead? My two grown sons?! Hendrick! Dedric! Are you truly gone?!"
"They cut off the young masters' heads and desecrated them! I was being tortured in their dungeon — I barely escaped, recovered their remains, and came back. Forgive me! This is all my failure!"
I drew Hendrick and Dedric's heads from the sack. The knights recoiled at the sight. Count Coulomb clutched his sons' heads and wept without shame.
"What is this? Hendrick! Dedric! Why... why have you come to this?!"
"My lord! There is no time for this! They dispatched a pursuit party to recapture me after I fled. I managed to shake them off around here, but they're still nearby! We have to move the army now! This is the perfect chance to avenge the two young masters!"
"Nnghhhaaah! The Ernest army that murdered my sons...! I will have my vengeance! Hendrick! Dedric! Don't you worry! I will personally cast your enemies into the deepest pit of hell!"
And just like that, Hendrick and Dedric became martyrs — the spark that set the Coulon army ablaze. Their sacrifice drove the soldiers' morale to its absolute peak. I led the Coulon forces toward the area where the War Mage Division was waiting.
"That's them! That's the pursuit party!"
"I'll never forgive them! I will wipe out the Ernest army to the last man! Attack! All of you!"
Baron Eton couldn't even process the sudden Coulon assault.
"What in the world is this? Where is the Assault Commander? Why are the Coulon forces—?!"
He only grasped the situation once we had completely surrounded them.
"Something's gone wrong!"
A mage without an escort was a cannon without powder. The 1st Assault Unit and a handful of knights were present, but they were nowhere near enough to face the entire Coulon army.
"Kill them! The murderers of my sons! I'll chew the marrow from your bones!"
"Avenge the young masters!"
The Coulon army's death-defying charge, drunk on rage, swallowed the War Mage Division whole. In the end, the War Mage Division was annihilated in ten minutes. Count Coulomb had no intention of taking prisoners — he had every last one of them executed. It was a far cry from the merciful lord everyone knew.
Losing his kids had pissed him off something fierce.
Unfortunately, the real culprit was standing right nearby.
"These men... surely this isn't the War Mage Division?"
"It appears so."
"Using the War Mage Division as a pursuit party? Does the Ernest commander not possess a single thought in his head? I'll never forgive this! That my sons were killed by a fool like that — I will never forgive it!"
"This is our chance. We should press this momentum and strike them now!"
"Of course! I shall kill them all! For my sons!"
My, how terrifying.
The Coulon army rode that momentum straight into the Ernest forces. Stripped of their firepower, the Ernest army was visibly panicked. The War Mage Division and the 1st Assault Unit that were supposed to return never did, and the enemy moved as if they knew the location of every last ambush post.
After a savage battle, the Ernest army was routed completely. Count Ernest himself barely managed to flee with a handful of knights. Everyone else was captured.
Because Count Coulomb had personally ordered that no prisoners be taken, every captured soldier was put to death. I ordered Arme to secretly hide Elper, my personal cock-sleeve, somewhere out of sight.
"Good evening, Baron Melun."
Luna and Sera caught him in a pincer and pinned him down. I walked toward him with a smug little grin, intending to finish him myself. He stared at me with the eyes of a man who could not believe what he was seeing.
"This is impossible... If this is a dream, it's a vicious nightmare. Why would I have a dream like this... How did any of this happen?"
This was how terrifying it was to know the future. I could play with a capable man like Baron Melun as if he were a toy. Of course, this operation hadn't been possible on future knowledge alone — it had taken every kind of power I possessed.
A fair amount of luck had gone my way, too. The Transformation Potion had let me play spy, and Baron Horton's existence had stacked the board in my favor. Count Coulomb's two sons throwing themselves into the fight with such enthusiasm had helped as well. Things had flowed so smoothly that I'd barely had to touch any of the Plan B's I'd prepared.
I really did feel like the protagonist now.
It was time to put the finishing touch on the finale.
"How... how could something this absurd..."
I spoke to Baron Melun as he muttered, staring into nothing.
"Probably because of Bert Hux. Or maybe Gion Pirean. If not them, then Derick Walker."
I grinned, splitting my face wide, and recited every name I had worn. Baron Melun's eyes flew open as if something had just slammed into place.
"Those names... surely... you...?"
"When a man changes, shouldn't you be suspicious? Well, you did suspect me a little, I'll give you that. Compared to that gentleman over there — the one who's lost his mind to the rage of a father who's just lost his sons — you did rather well."
I pointed without hesitation at Count Coulomb, who was busy beheading captured soldiers. There was no trace of the benevolent lord he had been. Right now, Count Coulomb was vengeance incarnate.
"Good God... how is something like that even possible? You... what are you? Don't tell me you're of the Demon King's bloodline?"
And with that, I cut off Baron Melun's head.