Episode 15: Appointment Operation
“Now that I think about it, I wonder what happened to the ten thousand troops we left behind as a decoy?” Nephthys muttered, casting her gaze southward.
Facing them were five thousand Ortenos soldiers led by that foolish eldest son, barely twelve years old.
Most likely, they’re still too scared to initiate combat, or at least they’re holding out against the half-baked Stella-Class attacks.
“We don’t have much time before departure! Prioritize healing the military officers until they can move again! Wake up only the Dust who are in one piece! Leave the ones who look like they can’t move! How many horses do we have…? Two hundred? That’s not enough! Get more!”
Nephthys was single-handedly reorganizing the troops.
The reorganization was taking longer than expected.
The reason was the trouble she had undoing the paralysis caused by that mysterious “Intimidation.”
“Damn it! I don’t know who’s doing this, but they’re pulling a pointless stunt!”
Barbat, who had disappeared earlier, returned.
“Your Highness! Where have you been?”
“Huh? What do you think? I was searching for any Stella-Class Ortenos soldiers hiding somewhere.”
“What?! That’s dangerous! Please don’t act alone!”
Nephthys facepalmed at Barbat’s lack of awareness.
“Hmph, the culprit probably approached rapidly, timed it to coincide with the interval between my detection pulses, unleashed full-force ‘Intimidation,’ and then immediately retreated.”
“But isn’t it impossible to dispel ‘Maten’ with ‘Intimidation’?”
“No, knowing Ortenos, they must have found some dirty trick to undo ‘Maten.’ …I don’t know who’s responsible, but I’ll find them and torture them to death!”
Barbat was desperately trying to bring the situation within the scope of his expectations.
From Barbat’s perspective, it was certain that a Stella-Class Ortenos soldier was nearby.
Since Sharka, who remained on the hill, was naturally excluded from the candidates, Barbat continued to chase after the existence of a culprit who wasn’t even there.
“Your Highness, it’s almost the designated time. What shall we do?”
“We’ll use ‘Maten’ and head to Fort Ronchant immediately! Get ready quick—”
“Messenger! Messenger!”
Just as Barbat was about to order Nephthys to command the troops, a tattered military officer ran up with a frantic expression.
“…What is it?”
Barbat asked, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.
“Hah, the ten thousand Naia troops led by Knight Jelnard, who were stationed south of here to contain the Ortenos army… they’ve been annihilated!”
“Annihilated?! I-Impossible! What are you talking about?!”
Barbat grabbed the messenger by the collar and roared.
“F-Five hundred Ortenos cavalry charged down the hill at once, and with the speed of demons, they trampled our ten thousand troops!”
“Five hundred cavalry?! Impossible! There’s no way that could happen!”
Barbat couldn’t comprehend the absurd report.
He waited for the officer to continue, trying to understand what was happening.
“Hah, our knights were unable to withstand their breakthrough power and were defeated one by one from the front, and the citizen soldiers scattered and fled!”
“Impossible! Hah?! Where are the cavalry heading now?!”
Barbat realized that something extraordinary was happening. He imagined where such a powerful cavalry force would target next, and a chill ran down his spine.
“…The five hundred Ortenos cavalry are currently advancing towards our army at an unbelievable speed.”
“!”
Barbat saw red magical power rising in the distant southern sky, and cold sweat poured out.
◇◇◇◇
A little earlier, below the hill near Pekion Village.
I called this operation the “Appointment Operation.”
The plan was to deal with the ten thousand Kingdom of Naia troops who had taken the Intimidation Orb (Appointment) later, and in the meantime, use five hundred cavalry to scatter the ten thousand troops below the hill, and then finally deal with Barbat.
And now, the first phase of the operation was about to be completed.
“Heave-ho.”
“S-Stop it, monster! …Gah!”
From horseback, I used a pipe nearly twice my height to bludgeon the last of the enemy’s Satella-Class soldiers to death.
I smashed the enemy Satella-Class’s head, causing it to explode (splatter), swung the pipe, and knocked off the splattered blood.
It was a task I had repeated many times.
Objectively speaking, a twelve-year-old boy dealing with Satella-Class soldiers as if he were cracking coconuts was beyond words, but even as a boy, I was still a noble.
I was reminded once again that in this world, I was a figure to be feared.
“…Phew, cavalry charges are truly amazing!”
I wiped the sweat from my brow with the refreshing air of someone taking a break from farm work and spoke to Getrude.
Since the annihilation of the main Satella-Class force of the ten thousand troops below the hill was complete, I temporarily released the “Maten” on the military officers.
“Guh! …Haa… Haa… No, it’s just that the amount of enhancement from Minashiro-sama’s ‘Maten’ is off the charts.”
When the “Maten” was released, Getrude’s face momentarily looked like the flesh was sagging from the intense G-force of a roller coaster.
“…Hey, are you really okay, Getrude? Should I reduce the output of ‘Maten’ a little more?”
“Haa haa… No, there’s no need. This is the first time everyone has experienced this level of enhancement, so the backlash is severe. We must get them used to it like this.”
Looking back, perhaps due to the reaction from the “Maten,” the military officers were barely breathing, dismounted, and lying on the ground.
The sight of the guys who had been whooping it up until just now, looking gaunt and staring at a single point on the ground, was like a group of college students who had gone too wild at a welcome party.