Interception (2)
"Hey!"
Finnet ripped off his face covering and leapt down from his mount. The rest of the knights who had accompanied him in the pursuit squad drew their swords, throwing themselves into the fray without missing a beat.
"Did just like you ordered! Well? How'd you like that?"
"Well done."
"Haha! Never underestimate the Red Fang of the Third Knights!"
Insolent fool, I thought, watching Finnet effortlessly swing his blade. A small smirk tugged at my lips.
There was a fellow just as loud and rowdy back in the guild.
He had been unmatched when it came to lifting everyone's spirits—even if his life had ended far sooner than the rest of my subordinates.
"Keep acting up like that, Sir Finnet, and you'll find an early grave."
"Huh? You know my name?"
"Do you think your name is the only one I know?"
I had committed the names of every knight in the Third Order to memory the moment Edwin began training alongside them. And not just their names, either—their ages, origins, family ties, and criminal records. As the men living closest to Edwin, having their backgrounds committed to heart was the bare minimum.
"Oho, our Sir Kyle is more sociable than he looks!"
"I am no knight. Drop the title."
"Oh, really? Then I'm just calling you Kyle from now on!"
"Suit yourself."
Finnet cackled, planting a kick squarely into the head of the monster before him. "By the way, whose bright idea was that iron chain?" He pointed to the thick length of iron sprawled across the grass.
"Mine."
Clashing head-on against a stampede of monsters that charged blindly like enraged bison was nothing short of suicidal. The human body was fragile enough to be trampled to death by ordinary cattle, let alone beasts like these.
"Hoh, so you really were a mercenary specialized in monster subjugation! Guess you weren't bluffing after all!"
You hardly needed to be a subjugation specialist to come up with such a notion. When contending with a herd of four-legged beasts, the most efficient method was simply to take away their legs.
"Still, you could've given us a heads-up beforehand!" Finnet shouted over the din, slashing his sword in a wide arc. "The monsters went tumbling down all at once, and we almost tripped right over them!"
"Dodge it yourself next time."
I grabbed Edwin by the arm and yanked him back. An instant later, the massive carcass of a beast crashed down with a heavy thud right where he had been standing.
"Aren't you the empire's finest Gloria Knights?"
Finnet burst into hearty laughter at my retort. Several knights fighting nearby let out amused chuckles of their own.
"Man, that's the first time anyone's ever said that to the Third Order!"
"He's not wrong, though! We're still the Gloria Knights, after all!"
Trading shouts back and forth, the knights of the Third Order cut down the remaining monsters.
"Haaaah!"
"Pin down its head!"
"Lend a hand over here!"
Joining forces with the private soldiers stationed at the Second Prince's camp, putting down the beasts proved far easier than expected.
Looks like they're wrapping up over there as well.
Glancing toward the First Prince's camp, the monsters driven in that direction appeared to have been wiped out completely.
Still...
My mind drifted back to the man who had thundered across the plains.
Kaiden Ram.
To volunteer as bait all on his own.
He's definitely out of his mind.
Mounted upon his black stallion, leading that monstrous horde, he looked less like a human king and more like a sovereign of beasts commanding his own demonic army.
Did he catch on to my trick?
He had broken off toward the First Prince's camp midway through the charge, so he shouldn't have seen our pursuit squad peeling off a portion of the pack. Even if he had, there was nothing to be done about it. This subjugation was nothing more than a chessboard for the imperial succession, and Kaiden understood that better than anyone.
Besides, he was the one who handed me the tactical map in the first place.
I gazed steadily toward the First Prince's camp. With mountains of monster carcasses and swarms of soldiers milling about, Kaiden was nowhere to be seen.
How will he react when he finds out I made my own move?
Would he be furious that I hadn't adhered to his grand strategy? Or would he flash that inscrutable smile of his and claim it was amusing?
"Still, you're the one who altered the plan first, so don't you dare blame me," I muttered under my breath.
"Huh?" Edwin turned his head at the sound of my voice. "What did you say?"
I shook my head without offering an explanation.
"Here they come again!"
A shout rang out across the field. Shielding Edwin with one arm, I lifted my gaze. In the distance, another pack of monsters was being driven forward by the Adamant subjugation force.
No variant monsters in this batch, either.
Thankfully, none of the newly arriving beasts seemed to have mutated.
"Your Highness." I lowered the arm that blocked his front. "You remember what I told you, don't you?"
"Yes!" Edwin nodded vigorously, tightening his grip on his sword. "When fighting monsters, never stray more than five steps from Ra—I mean, Kyle! I remember!"
"Then that is enough."
I drew the remaining dagger sheathed at my waist. Holding twin blades once more, old memories rushed to the surface.
Back then, I never fought monsters out in the open like this.
I twirled a dagger in my palm before snapping my grip tight around the hilt.
Not that it matters.
In those days, I had fought alone or alongside only a handful of comrades. Now, the field was crowded with allies. And among them all, there was only one person I needed to protect.
"Five steps," I reminded him one last time, my eyes fixed on the oncoming beasts. "Stick to it."
"Yes!"
Edwin's resolute answer was the last word exchanged between us for a long time.
And so, the first day of the subjugation drew to an end amidst the ceaseless clash of steel.
The joint subjugation campaign between the Ventrum Empire and the Adamant Kingdom.
Their first battle concluded in overwhelming triumph.
"Casualties among the subjugation forces are far lower than anticipated," Oliver, commander of the Adamant forces, reported, looking around with a chest full of pride. "In particular, they say the Third Prince's camp suffered almost no casualties at all."
Monster carcasses lay piled like mountains in every direction. As living creatures of this earth, their slaughter might have stirred pity under different circumstances, but there was no helping it. Wherever monsters roamed, the soil was poisoned by venom and filth until it was rendered uninhabitable for mankind; every last one had to be eradicated before the land was ruined forever.
"It is all thanks to Your Majesty personally serving as the bait, after all."
Kaiden wiped away the blood spattered on his cheek with the back of his hand, replying with an indifferent expression. "Indeed. Though it wasn't particularly entertaining."
"You looked like you were enjoying yourself plenty, Sire."
"I would have enjoyed it far more had I been alone."
Who in their right mind hunts monsters alone? Ah, right. My lord does.
Oliver sighed deeply at his own unspoken retort. "A subjugation campaign is no tourney joust, my liege."
"I am aware." Kaiden took a clean cloth from an attendant and wiped the grime from his armor. "By the way, it seemed several monsters broke away from the herd midway through. Did something happen in the rear?"
"Ah, I was just about to report on that." Oliver snapped his fingers and lowered his voice. "A suspicious pack of bastards charged out from behind out of nowhere. The monsters broke rank and chased after them, veering completely off course."
"Suspicious bastards?"
Could it be the Breath of the Angel? Or perhaps the Holy Kingdom?
Kaiden's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Yes. The monsters were so riled up by them that they stampeded straight toward the Second Prince's camp. It caught us completely off guard."
"...Toward the Second Prince's camp?"
Strange. If it were the work of the Breath of the Angel or the Holy Kingdom, their target would have been the First Prince or the Third Prince.
"My heart nearly leaped out of my throat. From my position, there was no way to wheel around and give chase. I was terrified the men left behind at the Second Prince's camp would be slaughtered without a chance, but..." Oliver trailed off, then continued at his master's silence. "...knights from the Third Prince's side suddenly intercepted them."
Kaiden arched an eyebrow. "From the Third Prince's camp?"
"Yes. As if they'd known it would happen all along, they were standing ready right in front of the camp." Oliver cleared his throat, leaning in even closer. "And that escort guarding the Third Prince... is no ordinary mortal."
Well, she certainly is far from ordinary in every sense of the word.
Kaiden gazed steadily at Oliver, silently prompting him to go on.
"I mean it—that person cut down dozens of monsters single-handedly in the blink of an eye!"
The fact that the Third Prince's contingent had suffered virtually zero casualties was undoubtedly that escort's doing.
Oliver continued with genuine earnestness. "Yet that wasn't the only surprise. The knights of the Third Order under the Third Prince weren't half bad, either."
Common knowledge held that the Gloria Third Knights were the lowest, least capable unit among the imperial orders.
"Even in the face of such a sudden crisis, they swept the monsters' legs with heavy iron chains as if they'd been waiting for that exact moment."
As his adjutant spoke, a strange gleam deepened within Kaiden's golden eyes.
"Hmm."
The young king recalled the brilliant gaze he had encountered the previous night—eyes of vibrant emerald that bore an uncanny resemblance to the one he had spent so long searching for.
"...Insubordination, is it? How delightful."
"Pardon? What on earth do you mean by that?!" Oliver flinched, jumping back in sheer alarm. "I have never once disobeyed your commands, my lord! Please, don't say things that will stop my heart!"
"I wasn't referring to you." Kaiden tossed the soiled cloth back to Oliver. "I'll leave the cleanup in your hands."
"Where are you going all of a sudden?!"
"Where do you think?" The king offered an enigmatic smile. "To apprehend the one who defied my orders."
Insubordination was the gravest offense under military law. Yet for a man setting off to arrest a traitor, Kaiden looked positively thrilled.
My lord isn't the sort of monster who gets giddy over executing someone... is he?
Oliver gnawed anxiously on his knuckle, his legs trembling.
"Please, let nothing terrible happen..." he muttered under his breath, watching Kaiden's retreating figure. His voice, laden with dread, drifted faintly across the bloodstained field.