Chapter 26
Alzen was already close enough that the end of the journey was in sight.
Then, all at once, the thunder of a horse at full gallop cut through the air, and before anyone could react, a knight tumbled down in a miserable state.
“Monsters have crossed the barrier!”
He shouted the words between ragged breaths he could barely steady.
The entire party erupted at the shocking news, and the first to speak was the princess who had been leading the procession at its head.
“At the barrier? Why? I was under the impression there was a fair distance between the barrier and the land that hasn’t been purified. Sir Siwiak reclaimed Tenebris three years ago, didn’t he? What were the watchmen in the tower doing?”
At the princess’s sharp command, the knight trembled all over as he answered, “I-I don’t know. For the past three months, communication had been coming in only sporadically, and I understand that a number of people were injured in the earthquake that struck a week ago. As you know, the tower is quite far away, and though we do use transmission magic, there’s no other way to keep in contact unless mana stones are properly supplied.”
“If communication had been sporadic for three months, then they should have reported it properly.”
“W-we did. Surely to the Imperial Palace…….”
It had been in the report. That was why they were here in the first place. As if trying to cover for the princess, Heston cut the knight off and stepped in himself.
“What kind of monsters can be identified? And how many are there?”
“A great many. I-I’m told they were mostly low-ranked at first, but since the evening before last they’ve suddenly gone mad…… The lord has thrown every available knight and mage into the defense, but there have already been quite a few casualties. Sir Crozen is commanding the battle, and they’re requesting support at the barrier as soon as possible.”
“Understood. Please lead the way.”
At Heston’s gesture, the knights immediately broke into a battle formation and ran ahead. Sylvia kept her eyes on his back as it receded into the distance, then lowered her body against the roughening wind.
* * *
By the time they had ridden hard for a full day, the barrier finally began to come into view. It stood a long way off, yet because it was so high and so vast, it dominated the horizon even from afar.
Sylvia recalled hearing that Duke Araspe had obtained a holy relic in order to build this massive barrier where it split the empire’s border. Apparently, he had used the relic’s power to research a way to erect it quickly. Just as he had boasted, he had raised such a long barrier with a little over a thousand people in only three years, and then he had delivered the secret to the Emperor.
“If there really had been no barrier, we would have been in serious trouble.”
In truth, at first there had been plenty of talk about whether a barrier was even necessary, even at a border territory that touched the unpurified lands. After all, knights would keep being dispatched to purify the land, and the empire’s territory would only continue to expand. In that case, wouldn’t the barrier they had built now end up useless later on?
But the duke had said that if they would only lend him the holy relic, he would take responsibility for everything else. With the Holy Empire’s permission, the relic had been handed over to Duke Araspe.
Sylvia had thought even the barrier was too long and too large for an experiment, but now that she saw it, she suspected things would have been much worse without it. The farther they went in, the more violently the smells of blood and burning monsters churned through the air. Thankfully, there were not many dead, but there were quite a few injured, and among them were civilians.
“For now, they’ve devoted every resource to the defensive magic. It’s still daytime, after all. The problem is what those creatures will do once night falls. We’re lucky you arrived before then.”
Sir Crozen looked deeply exhausted, as though he had just fought a great battle, but he did not neglect their welcome for a moment.
Through Sylvia’s Posmata ability, the defensive magic circle stretched over the barrier was visible in a great wash of light. Though it was nowhere near comparable to the one laid over the Imperial Palace, she could tell they had done their utmost with very limited manpower.
The princess went to meet the lord, and because all authority over the battle had been handed to Heston, there was no choice but for Heston to be the one to clasp Sir Crozen’s hand.
“I’m glad we arrived in time. What stage do they seem to be?”
“Well, most are low-ranked, but there have been quite a few reports of middle-ranked ones. Some even say they’ve seen high-ranked ones, though to be honest, most of us have only received training and haven’t actually fought monsters before, so it’s been hard to tell for certain. My guess is that they haven’t gone as far as high-ranked. We were still in contact with the tower until two weeks ago.”
Sir Crozen spoke with a heavily shadowed expression, staring out over the land beyond the barrier.
“Even middle-ranked is fast. No matter how far the tower has fallen…….”
“Well, who can say? There have always been too many variables when it comes to monsters. We still don’t properly understand the holy relic’s use, either.”
“Yes. Understood. We’ll do everything we can to resolve it.”
After that, Heston went on discussing a variety of matters, gathering the situation so they could prepare for the battle that would come at night. Countless people came and went to report to him. He also made sure not to forget to send word to the Imperial Palace through transmission magic, requesting additional troops.
Owen went off to search through the monsters’ corpses to identify what species they were, while Sylvia and the other Supporters were called away to reinforce the barrier’s defensive magic.
Even to the members of the First Knight Order, who had seen plenty of such situations before, conditions here looked serious. If Heston and the other high-ranking knights had not come at the princess’s command, it would surely have been even bleaker.
“Oh, come to think of it, Appleton, you were summoned to the Celestial Palace every month, weren’t you? Aren’t you practically an expert at this kind of defensive magic?”
While they were discussing what sort of defensive magic had been deployed, Lena, a Supporter standing beside her, leaned in and whispered to Sylvia. Sylvia waved a hand.
“Not that much. Besides, anything about the Celestial Palace is strictly confidential…….”
“Still, you’d definitely be helpful. I think you should talk to the mages here.”
“Mm……. Maybe after I do what they tell me for now.”
“True. Mages hate it when Supporters step forward on their own, so that might be a little difficult.”
Sylvia gave an awkward smile.
If the mages who worked here were truly of high rank, would they really share the security magic protecting the territory with her, and even listen to her opinion? And even if they did, it might not be of much help at all.
Still, I should at least try telling them.
Probably useless, but still.
For the moment, she focused on following instructions and layering the basic defensive circles one after another, while thinking to herself.
* * *
Because they needed to preserve their mana for the battle that would come at night, the reinforcement work ended in short order. Sylvia moved among the endless rows of tents, looking for the mage affiliated with this duke’s estate.
“I’d like to meet Lady Vaila and discuss the defensive magic. I’m Sylvia Appleton.”
She had stopped a passing territorial mage and asked him to take her to the person in charge of the magic, and he seemed to recognize who she was, letting out a brief sound of surprise.
“Ah. Young Lady Appleton. I’ll show you to the tent.”
The mage, who had dipped his head in greeting, kindly took the lead. Before long, a tent much larger than any she had seen so far came into view.
Voices could already be heard murmuring from inside, so it seemed the mages were gathered there to prepare their battle strategy. The mage who had guided her went inside, briefly explained why Sylvia had come, and then lifted the flap, telling her to enter.
Inside, there was a large table with a map of intricate terrain spread across it, and around it stood five or six mages, while behind them some twenty lower-ranked mages listened in on the meeting.
“Ah, Young Lady Appleton, welcome.”
The middle-aged woman standing in the center, her hair going gray a little earlier than her age would suggest, greeted her warmly.
“So, you said you had something to tell us about the defensive magic?”
Because there were so many people inside, Sylvia could only manage a small step forward before bowing politely.
The curious gazes of everyone in the tent fixed on her face, and the countless flickering lights made the interior feel somewhat hot.
“I’m Sylvia Appleton, Supporter of the 146th Black Moon division. I came because I thought I might be able to help with the defensive magic.”
“You?”
Without a trace of mockery, Vaila asked back, genuinely thrown off. She simply could not understand how a Supporter would be offering to help mages.
“I’m not much, but I do help with some work at the Celestial Palace.”
Sylvia added politely, without showing any embarrassment. She had gone through this sort of thing many times. One mage standing beside Vaila seemed to remember something and let out a quiet “Ah.”
“Come to think of it, Young Lady Appleton is a Posmata, isn’t she? Is that the ability you use to help with the Celestial Palace’s work?”
“Yes.”
Only then did Vaila seem to guess why she had come and give a nod.
“Then you must have seen the magic circles laid over the barrier as well. Did you notice anything odd?”
“No, not that, but…….”
She paused briefly. The heat in the tent made it a little hard to breathe.
“I only thought I might be able to be of some help. In the Knight Order, we’re supposed to report our abilities to our superiors beforehand.”
“…….”
For a moment, an awkward silence fell. The mages exchanged uncertain looks, as if asking, So why did you even come? Their shoulders rose in small shrugs. Mages were divided by the magic they could wield, but they were generally independent in nature, so they didn’t really understand Sylvia’s reasoning.
Sylvia waited expressionlessly for Vaila’s answer. She had expected this much, so she wasn’t especially flustered or ashamed.
“Ah. I see. How considerate of you. But for now, I don’t think we need to devote major effort to the defensive magic. We should probably be discussing tactics for the evening battle instead.”
So even when Vaila said that and tipped her head in dismissal, Sylvia was able to bow politely and leave without flushing red.
From the start, the reason she had come here was so that if it became an issue later, she would not have the burden of wondering whether she should have said something.
Stretching out her stiff shoulders, she stepped out of the tent and headed back to where she had originally intended to go, only for someone to hurry after her and seize her arm.
* * *