So Which Side Is He On?
A whole week had already passed since I became Supreme Commander, and today was the day of the rookie knights' first patrol training. Apparently the exercise included supply transport and escort training for key personnel, or so I was told? It seemed the role of the VIP had traditionally gone to the Supreme Commander since the old days, so I ended up coming along. Not that I minded—the clones had been glued to their desks all week, and I was just about due to get out for lunch anyway.
In pursuit of fresh air, I set out on the patrol with the knights.
"If he's royalty, he should act like it and rest inside—why did he even come along……"
"Ugh, this helmet is killing me."
"They said the first patrol was practically a picnic, so I'd actually been looking forward to it……"
But the knights seemed awfully uncomfortable with me. Whispers and sidelong glances; unfriendly stares came raining in from every direction. That's how it always is with the boss, I suppose—the higher up he is, the more his presence grates. Besides, big things and small had been changing in the military since I'd arrived, so no doubt grievances had piled up on top of it all.
How could a wren ever hope to understand the heart of a phoenix?
Paying them no mind, I let my head refresh itself on the scenery drifting past. Before long, Ian, who had been leading at the very front, came over to my side.
"It's been about an hour since we set out. How are you holding up, Your Majesty?"
"Wonderful. Aside from being turned into a court jester."
"A jester……?"
Ian blinked, then seemed to catch on, and leveled a murderous glare at the knights. The men jolted, dropped their eyes, and hastily put distance between us.
Ian smiled, a touch bitter.
"I'll apologize in their place. And I'll knock the discipline back into shape myself, so try to be the bigger man about it."
"Just leave them be. As long as they don't cross the line, fine. If they do—well, even I won't be able to help what happens then."
"Wahaha! There's that generous heart of yours. I'm not taking their side, mind you, but try to understand where those boys are coming from. The royals have been so wildly unorthodox lately that it's got even them on edge."
……Royals?
"Come on, you know the one. The previous Sun, who fought a bear so valiantly."
Ah, now that he mentioned it—there had been someone like that. From what I'd heard, the military had shouldered the entire blame for the incident of Cain's death. Every knight who had stood guard that day was stripped of his uniform without exception, and among the soldiers, more than a few were sentenced to die. That so many people should pay the price for one cripple…… Thinking about it even now, I wanted to drag him out of his grave and kill him all over again.
"It's a poor substitute, but let me at least be someone to talk with. You must be getting bored by now, no?"
"With you and you alone, I will never discuss romance."
"A shame~ But will you be all right? We've still got three more hours to go."
"…… If it bores me, you'll answer for it."
The forest was dense but utterly silent with it; far from weak monsters like goblins, the occasional squirrel was all we saw. There are limits to refreshing oneself—at this rate, three more hours would bore me to death.
Ian, who had sworn he'd keep me entertained, mulled it over as though searching for the right word, then opened his mouth.
"Have you by any chance heard of the Oswald Knights, Your Majesty?"
"Oswald?"
The name meant nothing to me. It wasn't among the hundred-odd knight orders of House Lawrence, nor had it ever once appeared in the original story. A knight order from some other country, then?
"The order that was, in name and in fact, the shield of House Lawrence. Mind you—only until twenty years ago."
"A knight order doesn't disband easily, as I understand it—not unless it commits treason or is wiped out. Which was it?"
"Wiped out. Not one left. Every last man died."
"……"
My mouth shut of its own accord. I didn't miss the faint thread of anger woven into Ian's voice the instant he said wiped out. The air shifted, just a little.
"That would be right around when Your Majesty was born, I suppose? Twenty years ago, the entire world was struck by a great monster upheaval. Oswald was the order that fought on the front line through all of it."
"…… I see."
"No matter how many of the comrades who'd shared their hardships died, no matter how badly they were wounded, they never voiced a single complaint—it was their duty, they said. But when they returned from their final mission, they were turned away at the gates like dogs."
"……"
Ian chuckled, low and ominous.
"They couldn't let them in, you see—too many monsters still roaming about. Utterly shameless, wasn't it? To calm a populace drowning in fear…… they used the dead to do it, dressing their deaths up as a 'voluntary' last stand."
He looked at me. With eyes naturally slit so thin, the man put me in mind of a serpent sizing up its prey. Cold. Chilling.
"And yet the one who made that decision, who gave that order, was none other than His Majesty Lawrence two reigns back."
"……"
"Your Majesty's father, I mean."
With a faint grin, he slipped a hand into his breast. My own hand drifted to the sword at my waist.
So that was why he'd double-checked whether Elise hadn't come with me today.
It made no difference either way. This body was a clone's—and Ian didn't know it. Even if he cut me down now, the main body would take no harm—
"?! HALT!"
"……!!?"
That was the moment I'd chosen to throw a punch I couldn't win anyway—and then Ian's expression flipped all at once, and he bellowed like thunder. He swept his gaze around as though something were off, then snatched out a bow and an arrow. The knights, question marks still floating over their heads, felt the atmosphere snap taut.
Creeeak. The bowstring drew back to its very limit. With a thwip—!!! an arrow streaked into the forest and struck home against something.
And immediately—
THOOM-! THOOM-! THOOM-!
Massive footsteps came thundering from deep within the forest.
"Wh-wh-wh-what is that!?"
"They're coming! Something's coming……!!"
The very next instant, the owner of those footsteps burst from the treeline.
[GRRAAAAAAAAAGH—!!!!!!]
A hulking frame and a face ugly as sin. A round, bloated torso. Behind it, countless more footsteps came chasing at its heels.
[KIIIK-KIK-KIK!]
[GRRAAAAH—!!]
"A tr-troll? And a goblin horde, too!?"
"Wh-why are they all together!?"
"It's a Monster Wave!!"
A Monster Wave was something like a natural disaster that existed only in worlds like this one: a phenomenon in which monsters—who normally thought of each other as nothing but food—joined forces, for reasons unknown, to attack humanity. The odds of one occurring ran about two percent.
You absolute bastard!
Was he planning to feed me to the monsters, same as Oswald? And here I'd given him credit for not being the type to drag his own men down with him.
The rookie knights, panic-stricken, were frozen in place with no idea what to do—
KA-BOOM—!
"All of you! Battle stations!!!"
"!?!"
Into that place, stupefied by the vicious emotion called fear, Ian drove his drawn greatsword into the earth.
"Redeploy the formation! We slaughter the monsters and return to headquarters!"
"S-Sir Vice-Commander……"
"Afraid of a battle sprung on you? Terrified of monsters starving for blood? Have you resigned yourselves, telling yourselves this is as far as you go—to a death you never made ready for?"
The most tremendous, most ferocious voice any of them had heard in their lives crashed down upon the trembling knights.
"You're wrong!!!"
"……!"
"We have always won! We have never known defeat on the battlefield—and even when driven into a corner, we sink our teeth into the enemy's throat and drag him down with us! Because that is our way!"
"……"
"Today, we do not die here. Even if God himself ordained that our fates end on this spot, it is we—the Knights of Lawrence—who can strike that God across the face!"
Fierce fighting spirit drummed against the knights' hearts. Embers kindled, little by little, in their dying eyes, and color came back to their faces.
"I say it once more! Every soul, to battle! While I remain standing, no one falls! Open the way!!"
"UOOOOOO!!!!"
Stirred by it, the knights hurled themselves at the monsters. The beasts, which had faltered for a heartbeat at Ian's voice, threw themselves into the attack as well.
Having drawn his sword, he spoke to the knights around me.
"Alex, Hughes. You two will escort His Majesty out of this place."
"!? B-But Vice-Commander!"
"What must be protected is His Majesty. Do not forget that the fate of Lugnica rests upon your shoulders."
"!!!"
Grasping the weight of the mission, Alex and Hughes snapped off salutes. Ian returned them lightly and sprinted for the troll.
What is with that guy.
I couldn't get a read on him. If he'd orchestrated all of this, he was committing far too desperately—and Alex and Hughes were rookies so skilled that even I knew their names. If killing me were the goal, he would never have attached men like them to my side. So what was his aim? Which side was that man on, in the end?
"……"
"Your Majesty, this way! Keep close behind me, please!"
"…… Never mind that. Among the supplies being transported today—there was blue pigment, a rust-stripping agent for iron, and alum, correct? Fetch them for me."
The knights flinched as I said it, shrugging off my outer coat.
"You mustn't, Your Majesty! The Vice-Commander said—"
"This is an order given not by an emperor too dim to read the room, but by your commander. Go—now!"
The knights glanced at one another, hesitated—then reluctantly brought the items from the wagon.
A week already, since all of this began. I was done wasting time on it, and done putting anything more into it. So I'd cut through this mess right now and settle it, once and for all—which side that man stood on.
FSSSSHH—!
I drew my sword, sprinkled the pigment over it, and poured in the alum and the chemical. I swathed the whole thing in my coat and touched flame to it—and a thick scent of almonds bloomed into the air, sharp enough that I turned my head away.
Three trolls. Kill just one of them, and they should manage the rest.
However green they were, they were still knights. Goblins, at least, were no problem—a few hundred swarming at once would hardly have registered. The problem was the trolls.
KWA-GAGAGAK-!! THOOM-!!
[KYAAAAAH!!!]
"Aaargh! Hold the line!"
"Damn it all……! Why trolls, of all things……!"
"And why did it have to be a Monster Wave!"
Red liquid sprayed in every direction across the dirt. Blood flowing from monsters—and blood flowing from men. The speech had kindled their will to fight, true, but a gap in strength is not something willpower alone can bridge. Lips were going bone-dry with anxiety.
And Ian was no exception.
That thing—now that I look at it, that's a Gigant Troll……!
Several meters tall, a monster that nothing short of a mana wielder could so much as wound—and this was a species far above even such trolls. A single one could raze a city to its foundations: a true monster among monsters.
Damn it all—!
A sweep of the thing's palm swatted knights aside like flies. Those who couldn't get a shield up in time were crushed bodily, screaming.
One troll alone, Ian might have handled by himself. But on this field there were no fewer than three.
"Guaaaaaaah—!!!"
Screams. Violence. Blood. There was no governing this tangle of chaos. In the worst case, there was every chance of losing this entire year's rookies right here.
"H-Hold them!"
"Just hold out until reinforcements……!"
Cries shouted to steel one another pierced through his ears. He had sent Alex and Hughes off with Dante, so reinforcements were certain to come. But at the distance involved, it would take thirty minutes at the absolute least. More than enough time for annihilation. Even if he wanted to order a retreat, the goblins were pressing the attack in concert with the trolls—even that would not come easy.
If only one—just one of them—!
If someone, anyone, would kill even a single troll, that would be enough. While the rookies held the line, he would take the head of the one before him and handle the last himself. That would open a road of retreat—and at this point, they might even come out of it without a single death. It was, in every sense, the most ideal happy ending imaginable.
But.
CRACK-CRUNCH!
The attack went on.
"UOOOO!!"
[KEEEEEEH!!]
He threw out the optimism that everyone could be saved. The sacrifice would be collected in full, and many comrades would die on this ground. So it was he who had to strain himself—to give what had to be given, and keep the losses as small as they could be.
He aimed for the throat of the one before him.
[KYAAAAAK!?!?]
"!?!"
It was at that moment. The colossal, skin-tearing scream belonged to a troll. But not from this side. One of the other two—from the direction where the rookie knights were fighting, a shriek of pure agony had torn loose.
Who?
Going by that scream, the thing had been caught utterly off its guard. Had there been a fighter of that caliber among the rookies?
"…… Huh?"
The instant Ian looked that way, the battle forgotten, his mouth hung open and would not close. The being who had wrung that scream from a troll's throat was none other than—
"The Emperor…… is killing a troll……?"