“I see,” Gaspard of the Noble Citadel said, stroking his beard. “The Empire’s aim is likely to sever our connection with the North, our source of funds, and inflict an economic blow upon this kingdom.”
Gaspard, a Mage and advisor to Count Missgancia, was the sage I was explaining everything to.
Including the strength of the enemy.
…Honestly, though we won, it was practically a surprise attack.
If they had known I was a Mage and faced me accordingly, they would have deflected my magic with weapons and shields and closed the distance.
I deliberately showed them I was losing badly in swordsmanship to make them lower their guard, had Kaede whittle them down beforehand… and then unleashed a three-hit combo of destruction-focused magic that could kill you with the aftershock even if you guarded, followed by an area-of-effect attack. It was quite the display of cowardice.
I didn’t go into specifics, but I made it clear that I was no match for them in a straight fight.
“Understood. Count Missgancia says you have done a great service,” the old man said. “He will reward the Strider patrol with five million Lido, and the two of you who took down the Hound Brigade with ten million Lido.”
“Hahaha!”
“Yes sir!”
And so, we received a large sum of money.
Apparently, Count Missgancia, the Lord of this area, would now have his direct Knight order patrol the area. That should take care of the security problem.
Both the old man and Count Missgancia said that this kind of thing was rare.
After all, the South was currently in a heated conflict, right?
Even though disrupting trade was important, they wouldn’t abandon the front lines, where every soldier was needed, to send troops to the South… or so they said.
Well, I thought so too.
From what I saw with my Far Sight magic, this country, the Garnia Kingdom, was winning.
At this rate, they would fight for a while, negotiate a peace treaty with favorable terms, and then settle into a stalemate for decades… or so it seemed.
But still…
“Old man, please make sure this is the last time, okay? I don’t want to do magic battles if I can help it…”
“You’ll have to tell that to the Empire…”
Well, that was true.
So, I made some food and headed to the Striders Guild.
Kaede said she had various things to report to the Blue Comet.
There…
“So, we mowed down those Imperial grunts left and right! They were pretty tough, with no openings! But with our three-man teamwork, we calmly took them down one by one!”
“Ooh!”
“You’re amazing, Bro Bull!”
“Yeah! Do it! Do it!”
With a wooden cup of ale in hand, Bull was boasting about the battle.
“Oh! You’re here! I want to hear about the fight with the Hound Brigade!”
“Man, we barely survived!”
“I thought I was going to die! Hahaha!”
Bull, Bucky, and Jose. The veteran trio of the Fang of the Wolf Gang.
Regarding the recent Highway Patrol mission where they fought the Imperial reconnaissance unit, the three were bragging like crazy at the Guild’s tavern.
There was no gag order. Apparently, they decided to adopt an attitude of, “The Empire sent its regular army, but they lost to Striders like us… how pathetic.”
Wouldn’t they get angry and start a fight if we openly mocked them like that? I thought it would be better to keep quiet, but that was a Japanese way of thinking.
This was a society of face, after all. If you didn’t beat the crap out of those who insulted you until they couldn’t stand, your human rights wouldn’t be guaranteed here. You had to assert, “We fought back!”
A policy of non-interference? That was a bad move in this world. If you were seen as someone who wouldn’t fight back even if you were hit, someone who had no one to protect you, you would be beaten and bullied to death.
…Well, it was a great achievement.
Striders, half-mercenaries, half-bandits. The fact that we drove back the regular army…
They did a good job.
You might think, “Against mere soldiers?” but there was basically no such thing as “mere soldiers” in this world.
That’s because anyone who was a soldier had received basic training… but it wasn’t just that.
Fighting another person was actually quite difficult, time-consuming, and, above all, “scary.” Even more so if they were armed.
You often see master characters in manga saying with a smug look, “You can kill a person by cutting their neck by an inch,” but reality isn’t that simple!
The first battle is usually a sloppy battle where neither the enemy’s attacks nor the allies’ attacks hit, like when you’re level 1 in Wizardry, you know? That’s how it is in reality.
In any case, the enemy wasn’t like goblins that you could easily kick aside.
Fighting and winning against soldiers who outnumbered you by more than twice was really difficult. They were allowed to brag about this for a while, and it was even a standard topic to use when hitting on girls.
What would you compare it to? Hmm… what would it be? Like succeeding in a cold call to the president of a major company, or something? It’s like being able to say at a hostess club, “I got that president over there to buy our company’s product!”
“No, you guys are the ones who deserve praise. You protected our backs well there, thanks to you I was able to concentrate.”
As I said that, I placed the smoked meat, cheese, and garlic toast I had made at home on the table.
These things were important.
I usually did whatever I wanted, so I couldn’t forget the gifts to maintain my human rights.
“Oh! Is that okay? Sorry about that!”
“Dru’s smoked meat is delicious because he doesn’t skimp on the salt!”
“Oh, this is good!”
And…
“So, about the Hound Brigade?”
“That’s right! That’s right! That Knight was quite skilled, wasn’t he? How did you kill him?”
“My trump card… well, I used a Magical Device, but Kaede was strong.”
“A Magical Device! The kind that could buy you a house in the Royal Capital if you sold it?!”
“Yeah, Jose. I can’t go into detail, but it was found in an ancient Elven ruin… I don’t want them to take countermeasures, so I won’t show it to anyone, okay?”
Ancient Elven ruins.
A good excuse.
In fact, the Elves’ ancient dynasty was destroyed by the runaway Magical Device civilization, so it wasn’t wrong to say that dangerous Magical Devices with offensive capabilities were found in ancient ruins.
By the way, I was a Third-Class Strider, but in terms of ability, I was considered to be close to a Second-Class by those around me…
When you become a Second-Class Strider, it’s natural to have one or two trump cards.
“I see… I can’t ask about that, can I?”
So, the people around me didn’t ask about those “trump cards.”
Even though we were in the same profession, showing off your trump card… especially your “finishing move,” the technique you used to kill, was something only an idiot would do.
“I supported Kaede with that trump card and somehow managed to defeat him… but the amazing one is Kaede, you know? She was fighting two Knights all by herself.”
“Oooooh…!!!”
“There were two Knights, one wielding a Halberd and the other a Flail. You guys know, right? How amazing it is to face a long-range weapon user with a sword… ah, no, a saber.”
“The range is completely different.” “And if you don’t control your strength, the saber will snap.”
“Flails are dangerous too. The movements are irregular, and it’s hard to defend against them without a shield.” “But the user needs to practice a lot to master it!”
“I guess you can’t underestimate a woman… scary.” “Yeah, the Blue Comet is strong…”
“That’s how we secretly approached the Knights who were fighting… and then, boom! with the Magical Device. The Knight who couldn’t be defeated without Kaede’s skill and two people was sloppy on his back!”
“I see…”
“If you’re fighting a strong enemy and you’re attacked from behind with a strong Magical Device… even a Knight would die.”
“Haha, how cowardly!” “What are you saying! That’s what makes him ‘Strange Sword’!” “I like guys who use those kinds of tricks.” “It’s convenient to have someone like that around.”
The dimwits… hmm, excuse me. While receiving warm cheers from the Striders, I told my heroic tale for a while.
And then, I drank alcohol like it was water and went home drunk…
Yes, that should be enough.