The Paramere Subjugation Battle (6)
The Paramere Subjugation Battle (6)
The outer wall of Paramer heaved violently. Part of the mass of flesh enveloping the buildings collapsed.
The end was approaching. Ashval Haltz inspected the army. He straightened the formation and checked the progress.
"Apostle Estelle. Is the blessing of the weapons finished?"
"We're in the final stages now."
An eerie light streamed from the weapons engraved with complex formulas. At least they wouldn't go down without a fight.
"Sir Svalants. Have you sent people to the surrounding villages?"
"Yes! They should be guiding the evacuation as we speak!"
"What about notifying the Empire?"
"We've sent carrier pigeons! They should arrive without delay."
"Well done."
Ashval mounted his horse. He spurred it lightly and turned his back on Paramer.
Countless eyes were watching him. Those who had not left his side even as death closed in.
The plateau was howling. Beneath the horse's rough snorts and matching strides, everything was becoming one.
Ah.
It blows.
The wind was coming. The stench of rot was mixed into the wind.
Soon now.
Just a little further.
Ashval Haltz spotted a boy soldier trembling among the ranked troops. His face, tense and gripping his weapon tightly, was beaded with cold sweat.
"Soldier."
"Y-yes!"
"Are you afraid?"
"N-no, sir! I'm not afraid!"
The voice he forced out was shaking. Ashval Haltz dismounted in front of the boy soldier. He tightened the loose helmet strap and brushed off the ill-fitting gear with his hands.
"You may run. You're still young, and no one will blame you."
"I-I won't run, sir!"
The boy soldier swallowed his tears. He gripped the hilt of his sword with trembling hands.
He looked up. He looked at him. Those eyes were so upright that, for a moment, Ashval found himself asking.
"Why?"
"Y-your Excellency took care of my mother! You helped us survive the winter when we had nothing to eat!"
"I don't remember."
"But I remember! Y-your Excellency! I was taught that repaying what you receive is a person's duty! At least, that's what my mother taught me!"
The voice, full of fervor, trembled. But he did not stop speaking.
"Please let me stand behind you, Your Excellency! I will repay this debt without fail!"
"......"
Ashval looked into the boy soldier's eyes.
"...What is your name?"
"V-Valken, sir! Your Excellency!"
"Valken. Do you see that writhing wall?"
"I see it, sir! Your Excellency!"
"Before long, that place will collapse and monsters will pour out. Do you have the confidence not to flee even then?"
"I will not retreat even if I die, sir! Your Excellency!"
"......"
Ashval released the boy soldier's shoulder. He stepped back one pace.
They were watching. Countless eyes. The soldiers who had followed him all the way from the Haltz family territory, who had followed only him, were all watching him.
"...Valken."
The outer wall heaved violently once more. Ashval Haltz mounted his horse. He looked down at the boy soldier.
"If you mean to repay the debt, don't die."
"Y-your Excellency!"
"Live and leave meaning behind. Valken."
The sword he drew gleamed eerily. Ashval closed his eyes.
There were many people he had to keep alive. So many that his shoulders were heavy.
But beyond that, his heart was burning. A sensation a commander should not feel. The feeling of hooves that made him feel alive as a knight.
Ah.
It comes.
The battlefield is calling me.
"...Sound the horn."
The horn-blower put the horn to his lips. He drew a deep breath.
Bwooooooooooooooooo.......
The silent plain was covered in sound. The writhing outer wall vibrated violently.
"...So it begins."
The mercenaries checking their weapons raised their heads.
"Ra. Watch over me."
The inquisitors finished their prayers and mounted their horses.
"In Naga's name..."
The black scales let out a heavy breath.
The ranks were forming. Ashval Haltz turned to Divine Judge Dimona standing beside him.
"Judge. I'll entrust you with command of the remaining units excluding the Imperial Army."
"...Is that all right?"
"They're units I've never commanded. Better to split them off. In return, don't even think about reaching for command on this side."
"I have no intention of doing so."
"Who knows. I'd have to be able to trust a sly fox like you."
Dimona let out a short laugh. She drew her sword.
"Aren't you going to give a speech?"
"How could I not? This may be my final battlefield, so I'd better come up with one hell of a line."
The outer wall began to collapse. Centered on a massive monster, endless monsters crawled out onto the plain.
They surged out like a great rotten wave. Through the collapsed outer wall, a colossal monster raised its head.
Groooooooooooooo......
"Wh-what is that...?"
"Holy shit..."
"Please... please... my omniscient and omnipotent god..."
First, one.
Then, ten.
A hundred are devoured, and a thousand tumble out.
A thousand are trampled, and ten thousand howl.
Monsters.
Monsters tumbled out endlessly.
"Ah... aah..."
The soldiers who saw the surging monsters trembled in fear. Ashval Haltz raised his head.
He trembled too. Who could look upon such a host and not tremble?
For a human, it was a natural reaction.
"My soldiers. Raise your heads."
But a true human had to be able to shake off even that.
"Trample your fear! We advance!"
The old veteran straightened his back. One of the continent's mighty warriors, who had once fought across battlefields as a knight, raised his sword.
A mana blade flared up. His swelling back and bulging muscles filled the inside of his armor.
"Even if we fall, I will be the first to fall! Sound the horn! Teach these rotten wretches who owns this land!"
The warhorse reared up. A fierce light blazed in Ashval Haltz's eyes.
"Teach the rotten monsters that crawled out of Paramer the greatness of humanity! Carve into them the names of the Empire's greatest warriors!"
Black mist covered the sky. But even so, there was light leaking through.
The sun does not set. Even through the mist, it is there beyond.
"We do not fall. We are the sun of the Empire!"
The horn resounded.
"Scatter the light! Warriors! Carve fear into the monsters of Paramer!"
A growling cry.
The fighting spirit sleeping deep in their chests forced its way out through their throats.
Loudly.
Louder!
"I proclaim in the name of Ashval Haltz! Warriors!"
The soldiers who had trembled in fear gripped their swords. They were still afraid, but they no longer glanced back.
"Throw your lives away for honor!!!!!"
The soldiers shouted. They screamed until their throats burst.
That name, once renowned as a great general of the Empire. The name of a lion famous even among the continent's High Knights, they roared with their whole bodies.
"Ashval Haltz!"
"Ashval Haltz!"
"Ashval Haltz!"
War.
The Paramer Subjugation Operation had begun.
. . .
She ran.
She charged. Just forward. She charged as if she would trample the rotten monsters.
Dimona gritted her teeth. She raised her sword, tangled with complex formulas.
The knights were at the vanguard. Under Ashval Haltz's command, the knights held lances.
The warhorses were fast. The knights' lances, coated with magical power, were no different from charging bombs. They would pierce through anything in their way and shatter it all.
But that wasn't enough. The soldiers were still shaken. A powerful opening move.
They needed a decisive first scene to lift morale that was steadily sinking to the ground.
I have to show them here...!
"Judge!"
Someone pulled up beside Dimona. Rosemary, charging on horseback. Her pink hair fluttered in the wind.
"Rosemary...?"
"Leave it to me! I'll break through the path, so please conserve your strength, Judge!"
"But..."
"I can do it."
Rosemary gritted her teeth. She drew her axe.
"Please leave it to me. Judge."
"......"
Had Rosemary ever been that earnest before?
Zahard. Something must have changed while she traveled with him. Dimona nodded.
She didn't know what was inside that place. At the very least, if they were going to fight that massive monster before them, conserving strength seemed right.
Sacred Power was not infinite. It was like stamina. Use it, and it was bound to run out.
But still...
"Can you do it? Rosemary?"
"Trust me."
Rosemary smiled faintly.
"Because now I'll prove it with my body, not my mouth!"
Dimona whispered slyly.
"That's a... lewd remark..."
Rosemary fumbled the reins for a moment.
"Wh-what do you mean?!"
"I mean relax. Rosemary. Show me."
Dimona smacked Rosemary on the back.
"Who's the strongest among the inquisitors!"
"......"
Fire lit in Rosemary's eyes.
"...Yes!"
. . .
A slave.
Rosemary's starting point had been a slave market.
When she came to her senses, she was mixed in among countless Beastfolk slaves. Her tribe had been destroyed, and she, the chieftain's daughter, had become someone dragged around by humans.
She held no resentment.
Because it was only natural for the strong to crush the weak.
But even so, Rosemary's life did not end there. A priest she happened to encounter recognized the Sacred Mark engraved on her.
Rosemary, who had been dragged away almost by force, looked back. She saw the gazes of the other slaves watching her with envy.
...I am.
I really am different from others.
That incident became the moment when Rosemary, who had lived her whole life as a chieftain's daughter, came to believe she was special.
The superior physical abilities unique to the Beastfolk and her innate Sacred Power shone brighter the more she honed them. Her peers who had joined the church with her soon could not keep up.
Rosemary's confidence ran endlessly forward. Until she met 'him.'
"Not much to you, is there? I thought you were a rookie, but you're just average."
A bored sigh. Knees that had never once been brought to the ground.
When she instinctively looked up, Apostle Fabian was shrugging his shoulders.
"You. You're pathetic."
That incident ended Rosemary's specialness. She felt a wall she could never climb and gave up on effort.
But even so, her shattered pride did not easily disappear. It reached the point where, instead of moving her body, she opened her mouth to make excuses.
I'm different from others. He was an Apostle, so it couldn't be helped.
I'm strong enough. This much is strong enough.
But that mindset shattered after she met Radatok. A junior who had joined years after her had somehow become far stronger than her.
The time she had let slip away in hours without effort.
She knew it was the wrong direction. But Rosemary shied away from effort. Instead, she sharpened her edge.
She belittled the silent Radatok and cracked down on the paladins of the Inquisition Office. Despite having the ability to become a judge, she remained in the Fifth Inquisition Office.
Because she was afraid.
Afraid that if she faced the sky once more, she would break. So she stayed in that place.
...But.
But now it was different.
"...Ngh."
Rosemary raised her gaze. A decayed, rotten monster was right in front of her.
She let her axe hang. Flames ignited at the blade's edge. But that alone wasn't enough.
She had honed her skill. Even after arriving at the Holy See Headquarters, she had not rested even once.
She had poured her soul into saving Inquisitor Zahard.
Practice upon practice. Even when her body was driven into a corner, she kept charging. Forward. Further forward.
In the brutal training, Rosemary realized belatedly. That fighting spirit still slept within her.
That even when she looked up at the distant sky, there was no reason she had to retreat.
"...This... this rotten flesh...!"
She had been ashamed when she fled and left him alone.
So she would never feel that emotion again.
The flame that had reignited on Rosemary's once-extinguished wick was growing without limit.
It was blazing larger than even she herself knew.
The shape of the axe twisted. Flames scattered and a rough whirring sound burst out.
In the grinding noise, the air was split.
"I'll blow them all awaaaaaaay!!!!!"
Shape Transformation, said to be reachable only by a chosen few paladins.
That perfect rotary saw tore across the battlefield.
Immediately after.
-An explosion erupted.
BOOM!!!!!
"Wh-what?!"
"What just...?!"
The soldiers running behind the knights raised their heads. They saw the bodies of rotten soldiers—not just dozens, but hundreds—rising into the air.
The sky was covered in black for an instant. The stench of rot that had been spreading suffocatingly was blown away, masked by the smell of burning.
The torn and shredded bodies were screaming. The rotted souls split apart and fell to the earth.
A rain of corpses.
The stinking flesh charred black.
A single clash.
A single strike.
Flowing flames covered the plain. It blew away the entire area so cleanly that even Paramer's rotten forces briefly recoiled.
The vanguard of the rotten army was completely shattered.
By the hand of a single paladin!
"...Huh?"
Divine Judge Dimona's eyes went wide.
"Huuuh?"
A path opened by an unexpected strike. It was far larger than she had originally imagined.
A sound escaped her gaping mouth on its own.
"Wh-what did you teach her?! Zahard?! What the heeeeeeeeell?!!!!!"