16. Sunset (6)
16. Sunset (6)
"Captain Evernoir!"
"What is it?"
I stopped in my tracks at the sudden call while on my way to fetch medicine for Her Highness.
I had intended to deliver the medicine to Her Highness and receive her report first, but the urgent demeanor of the knight made me instinctively sense something.
The instinctive alarm bell telling me I absolutely had to hear this report right now.
It was truly regrettable, but it seemed I would have to postpone delivering the medicine to Her Highness for a little while.
Evernoir grew tense.
Please, let this report be an unfavorable one.
But this instinctive bad feeling of mine had never been wrong before, so...
"......We found it. The abnormal phenomenon of the demon beasts that Her Highness mentioned......"
"......!"
Why did it have to be now?
At least if Her Highness were in good condition, we could have moved.
What should I do?
Should I form a special detachment?
But the enemy wouldn't be as easy to handle as usual.
According to Her Highness's explanation, they would at least be under the control of a commander.
Demon beasts were already tricky with their traps and collective intelligence, and now they had a leader they followed.
I couldn't see any possibility of a special detachment winning.
Even if the entire knight order fought together, we didn't even know how many demon beasts were on their side.
Forming a detachment for anything other than reconnaissance would be suicidal.
But the problem was, if we missed them this time, we might never find them again.
Perhaps we might not encounter them even once until they directly attack the empire.
No, I should rather expect that.
"Hoo."
The mission of the 2nd Knight Order was to stop the demon beast offensive even at the cost of our lives.
But to stop that demon beast offensive, we needed Her Highness.
The imperial princess, and the Divine Sword that only Her Highness could wield.
Both were indispensable.
Then naturally, Her Highness took priority.
"There's no choice. We'll wait until Her Highness's condition improves."
"B-but Captain!"
I could understand his outcry to some extent.
But there was literally no choice.
No matter what, not protecting the imperial princess I swore to protect would be a contradiction.
"No, I will accompany you."
"Y-Your Highness?"
At that moment, the knight's gaze turned toward behind me.
There stood Her Highness, having thrown off her blanket.
"Your Highness, your health is more important to me."
Her Highness's physical condition wasn't normal right now.
So naturally, letting her go like this was even more unacceptable.
Especially since where we were going now was a place where we would literally be risking our lives.
"If we don't follow them now, we might never find them again."
"It's not allowed. Absolutely not allowed, Your Highness."
"Don't worry so much, Captain. I have the Divine Sword, don't I?"
Even so, it was impossible.
No matter how overpowered the Divine Sword's abilities were, we shouldn't rely on it alone.
"My Lord, I didn't want to go this far but......, the responsibility I mentioned last time. Keep it now."
"Huh?"
It was sophistry.
Although I did say I would take responsibility, bringing up that promise in this situation was cowardly.
Even though this decision was purely for Her Highness's condition, if Her Highness herself came out like this, I couldn't overturn the opinion.
It was truly, literally cowardly.
"Sir Evernoir, as I said last time, you don't need to be so protective of me. Despite appearances, I do pull my own weight."
"No, that's......!"
That wasn't it.
Last time too, I tried to say it wasn't like that, but didn't Her Highness dismiss me first?
"My Lord, at least I will watch over my own body."
"......Haa."
Her Highness didn't know how dangerous and gamblish this situation was.
Even so, since the soldiers' opinions and Her Highness's opinion aligned, the only person opposing this opinion here was me.
This wasn't a majority vote either.
If all the knights were in agreement and only I opposed, that would be close to causing trouble.
If it came to this, no matter that I was the captain, I couldn't insist on my opinion.
"......Understood."
With Evernoir's permission, all the knights began preparing for battle.
They checked their blades once more and inspected the contact points of their armor.
Of course, Evernoir had no time to stop them or persuade them.
####
"Th-there it is......!"
The knight who had found the traces earlier whispered to us.
And there were horrifying footprints engraved there.
Mostly goblin footprints.
But there were countless, truly uncountable numbers.
At a glance, at least three digits?
The ground was that much of a mess.
The number of goblins that attacked this village was just part of a very large group.
"......Your Highness, over here for a moment."
"Understood."
Evernoir brought Jaina to a place separated from the other knights.
Then she spoke with a resolute gaze.
"Your Highness, this is neither overprotection nor worry."
"Hmm."
"The place we're about to enter is a battlefield. A place where you could lose limbs to traps or your life at any moment."
"I know."
"And of course, you are more important than us. If I fall first or if more than five knights become incapacitated...... Please flee, Your Highness."
"But My Lord, that's......—"
"Didn't I tell you? This is neither worry nor overprotection."
"......Understood."
I didn't know if it would actually happen or not, but at least I gave Her Highness direction.
Based on the Her Highness I've seen so far, I was confident she wouldn't panic on the battlefield and get hurt.
Anyway, having finished my admonition and preparations, it was truly time to depart.
"Follow while avoiding detection as much as possible."
""Yes!""
And so all members of the 2nd Knight Order maintained combat posture and began advancing through the grassy fields.
####
"......Captain!"
"......I see it."
It was a sight I'd never seen before.
Of course, everything was new to me since leaving the imperial palace, but nevertheless, it was astonishingly serious.
My first impression was truly unbelievable.
Several dozen? No, nearly one hundred and several tens.
That many goblins were working in unison.
Even if it was simple labor, that didn't make sense.
How on earth were goblins building structures?
"......Huh."
Only then did it truly sink in.
That the time of the Demon King's resurrection was approaching.
"......My Lord."
I carefully called Captain Evernoir.
"......Yes."
"It seems we'll have to kill all of them."
"......I think so too."
Leaving them like this could be truly dangerous.
I didn't know what the purpose of that building was, but if we left it alone, who knows what bizarre results it might bring.
The 2nd Knight Order, including me, was assigned to prevent that, so our job was to stop them here.
If we failed to stop them here, they would just hide more deeply.
"Hoo."
Before drawing the Divine Sword, I first checked my physical condition.
Having spent half a day, my body had cooled down somewhat.
I couldn't ignore the heat still felt in my lower abdomen, but it wasn't uncomfortable enough to hinder sword use.
"First, I'll explain the plan."
As expected, the difference in experience couldn't be ignored even if she was young, as Sir Evernoir seemed to have already formulated a plan in that short time.
"Facing that many numbers at once is suicidal. So let's move in divided groups."
First was unit reorganization.
Three teams total.
After assigning ten members to each unit, the common objective was assassination of goblins.
Reduce the number of goblins as much as possible without being detected.
Of course, it was normal to eventually be detected after reducing their numbers to some extent.
And when detected,
"All members will regroup in one place and proceed with combat."
If that happened, it would be sufficiently possible for all knights to face two-digit numbers of goblins.
But things don't always go according to plan.
"If we're detected too early, or if there are more than seven incapacitated wounded or fatalities, immediately withdraw from the battlefield."
The number of wounded Sir Evernoir mentioned was different from what I had heard earlier.
When I looked at Sir Evernoir, she met my gaze and spoke with her eyes.
It seemed she was telling me not to mention it to the others.
'......I see.'
Sir Evernoir seemed to intend to evacuate me, the princess, first.
Of course, only if such a situation occurred.
"I will personally protect Her Highness at my side."
"Hmm, understood."
Words about overprotection tried to spring out again, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
Sir Evernoir already knew my body was feverish, and I had somehow persuaded her about that.
Though it was persuasion in name only—it was practically throwing a tantrum.
So I had no choice but to concede this much.
Sir Evernoir had conceded a lot in her own way too.
"Then, I wish everyone good fortune. All knights, follow the orders of your temporary unit leaders and commence the operation. Everyone, dismissed!"
""Dismissed!""