The Legion Commander Takes the Field
“……What did you just say?”
The glass set upon the table jerked and trembled, spilling several drops of wine.
The subordinate who had brought the news hurriedly dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
“Th-that is……”
His lips quivered under his master’s twisted expression.
Edrian Valenruuk.
As one of the Second Prince’s closest confidants, he felt his face contort at the report his subordinate had delivered.
“You’re telling me Legion Commander Velkain…… is taking personal command?”
His voice was a tangle of fury and disbelief.
Velkain had always been the man who coordinated the entire North. In all the years since he had risen to Legion Commander, he had never once led soldiers onto the battlefield himself.
……I was certain he’d summon General Ulgreit and send him out. In the present situation…… that would have been the best option.
Edrian tapped the table with a fingertip. Then his hand stilled, and a deep crease cut between his brows.
Did I think too simply?
No. That couldn’t be.
He shook his head at once. This assassination had been a decision made after thorough consideration of every circumstance.
The forces gathered at the Helikel Canyon outpost…… the capital’s attention and scrutiny fixed upon the North…… and the point at which departure could no longer be delayed……
They had killed General Brentar at the absolute optimal moment.
And yet this—this was a variable even he had failed to foresee.
A curse slipped between Edrian’s lips.
“That mad bastard……”
He had never once imagined the man would make such a choice.
At his master’s muttering, the subordinate carefully asked,
“……What should we do?”
“Huu.”
For an instant his mind went blank—so much so that even the subordinate’s question about the next plan grated on his nerves.
Yet Edrian forced the agitation down and closed his eyes.
In this situation, there was nothing he could do at once. No—rather……
“From this moment, halt every operation and focus on reports. Any conspicuous move now risks exposure.”
That, above all, had to be prevented.
If this affair were traced back and the Second Prince’s name surfaced, everything would come to nothing.
The subordinate nodded.
“Understood. Until further orders, we will freeze all operations and stand by.”
“Leave.”
Once the subordinate had withdrawn, Edrian sank deep into his chair alone.
Exhaustion washed over him, but his eyes still glittered with cold light.
This may even work in our favor.
If—by some remote chance—
If Velkain truly died on that battlefield, the gain would be enormous.
And even if it did not happen that way, they could simply lay a new board.
It was only……
A slight delay in the timetable.
Nothing else had changed.
The wineglass that met Edrian’s fingertips flashed with crimson light as it filled his mouth.
Word that General Brentar was dead sent a deep tremor through the ranks.
“Th-that can’t be……”
“Who in the world……? He was perfectly fine only yesterday—how……!”
Shock and rage erupted, and the assembly turned chaotic in an instant.
But only for a moment.
“Silence!”
The mana-laced roar drove into every eardrum. The soldiers clamped their mouths shut as one and looked to Velkain.
Empty quiet settled over the formation again. With a rigid face, Velkain looked down upon them.
“This expedition was more critical to us than any before it. To those creatures, our advance would have been the thing they feared above all else.”
He urged his horse forward, gaze sweeping the ordered lines.
“The only thing those base savages could manage was a night raid and an assassination.”
A bitter tragedy had befallen them—yet:
“We have lost a valiant general. But because of that loss, we now know with certainty how deeply they fear us.”
He laid every responsibility upon the Kar Tribe.
Though he knew it was not the truth, Velkain cast the whole of it upon them.
And then—
Shiiing!
Velkain drew his sword.
The sharp ring of steel cut the cold air, and every eye locked upon the blade’s tip.
“Hear me, great soldiers of the Empire! We will now advance into northern lands upon which our history has never set foot, and we will seize and trample everything they possess! The ones who murdered our valiant commander cower there even now!”
Flame-like spirit flared across the soldiers’ faces.
Rage surged up and drove out fear; the humiliation of a fallen commander and the thirst for vengeance began to boil.
“They sought to bind our feet. I have no intention of dancing to their scheme.”
In this very moment—
“And at the vanguard……! I myself will stand with you!”
“……!”
“Th-the Legion Commander?!”
“This isn’t just for morale…… he’s truly coming with us?”
The soldiers’ eyes wavered hard.
Not a soul among them had expected this.
Startled faces mixed with bewildered murmurs.
Since the day he became Legion Commander, Velkain had never once taken the field in person. Even across the whole of his campaigns, the times he had directly led an army could be counted on one hand.
Yet every man knew how great a commander he was. How many battlefields had the Empire won because of him?
Into the brief stir that rose through the ranks, Velkain raised his sword high and faced his soldiers.
“Soldiers of the Empiiiiiire!”
The cry burst forth like a howl, and every gaze fixed upon him.
It felt as though someone had seized every heart and begun to pump it with force.
“You and I—here, in this place—will leave a new footprint upon the Empire’s history, and carve names that later ages will never forget!”
Each word struck their chests like iron.
The bewilderment that had clouded their eyes slowly hardened into unshaken resolve.
And with that change—
Clatter!
Velkain turned his horse’s head toward the north.
The sword in his grip flashed in the sunlight, and from his back an overwhelming presence seemed to roll outward, enough to cow tens of thousands of men.
“Advaaaaaance!”
The long cry stretched out, and the soldiers’ burning fighting spirit gathered into a single point.
The chaos born of General Brentar’s death was gone.
In that charged air, Velkain thrust his sword forward and spoke.
“We march!”
The lightning-sharp command split the outpost, and the soldiers’ roar exploded like a storm.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The cry that filled the canyon shook the earth, trembled the sky, and rolled outward in a vast wave.
Watching it, Arteon clicked his tongue without meaning to.
……He just turned an internal assassination into the work of the Kar Tribe.
Had the truth come out as it was, the soldiers’ morale would have hit rock bottom.
Knowing a traitor within their own ranks was aiming for their throats would have made it impossible to throw themselves fully into battle.
Or perhaps……
They might have collapsed before the war even began.
But Velkain had taken that seed of rage and unease and cast it wholly upon the Kar Tribe in a single stroke.
The effect was twofold.
He had shattered the assassins’ scheme root and branch, and he had turned the soldiers’ fury solely upon the Kar, raising both morale and fighting spirit to a peak.
To take two rabbits with a single arrow…… what a terrifying commander.
Moreover, the fact that Velkain—called the Ogre of Benhard—was taking the field in person carried enormous weight of its own.
To the soldiers it was the stoutest of shields; to the enemy, a terror beyond measure.
Gazing at that back, Arteon clenched his fist without realizing it.
This war……
Though it had begun with a stumble, of one thing he was certain.
We will win. It would be recorded as a victory of unmatched glory in the Empire’s history.
And so, among the tens of thousands of soldiers now advancing, Arteon and the men of the 4th Platoon set out as well, their eyes sharp and cold.
The air in the infirmary was thick with the stench of blood and medicinal herbs.
And there, lying upon a cot, was one man.
Bowukartaon could not even lift his head; he flinched through his whole body at the presence that entered through the door.
The cool gaze looking down upon him was something to fear—utterly different from before.
“……Lord Kortzan.”
“How is the wound?”
The low voice struck his ear.
“I am sorry.”
Bowukartaon’s voice trembled, small.
He and Ulke—two elite units between them—and still they had let those two Empire rats slip away. And on top of that, he himself lay injured.
For the severed tendons to knit again……
He would need at least half a month.
Yet the Empire’s soldiers had already begun to move. There was no chance these men would forgive him for being unable to take the field at once.
“……I am sorry, Lord Kortzan.”
Bowukartaon bowed his head once more.
He knew full well that no excuse could reverse what had been done.
But—
“……”
Kortzan looked down at him without expression and spoke.
“If you cannot prove your usefulness, all of you will die. You, of course…… and your men and your tribesfolk as well. Every last one.”
“……!”
Bowukartaon’s eyes shook hard.
“Th-that alone……!”
He tried to force himself upright at once, but the wounds Arteon had dealt him were far too grave.
His body swayed, then tumbled from the cot.
Thud!
Fresh crimson welled from the injury and soaked into the bandages.
Even so, Bowukartaon clutched at Kortzan’s pant leg and pleaded.
“J-just one more chance……! The fault is mine alone. They have done nothing wrong!”
“Choosing a worthless chieftain is their responsibility. You know that. You know what decision Lord Krelmuk will make if this fails.”
“B-but……!”
“Still—if, as you say, you could have one more chance…… would you take it?”
In that instant Kortzan’s eyes flashed sharp.
Not the usual threat. A true and dangerous light.
Bowukartaon flinched at the sight, then nodded at once.
“If you will give me one more chance…… I will do anything.”
He had no choice left to him.
And at those words—
Swish.
Kortzan held something out.
Bowukartaon’s eyes went wide.
“Th-this is……”
“I believe you can control this power.”
What Kortzan offered him was the very thing that turned prisoners into madmen.
Kortzan spoke.
“Prove yourself. For your sake, and for your tribesfolk.”
And to that—
“……I understand.”
Bowukartaon placed the drug Kortzan had extended into his mouth.
Gulp.