Chapter 101: Running Around in Confusion
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Within the Admos army, advancing towards the Weimar border, Ota sat in an exceptionally conspicuous open carriage, clad in equally conspicuous armor.
Amidst the tense atmosphere of a military march towards war, a different air flowed only around him.
Brian, the Knight Commander of the Admos army who had once given swordsmanship instruction to Nara, watched Ota in the open carriage with bitter feelings.
Back when Nara was in Admos, this man named Ota had been an incredibly lazy individual.
Claiming he would become a mage, he completely neglected sword training and spent all day frolicking with women.
When questioned why he didn’t put in any effort, he insisted it was their fault for not bringing him a mage teacher.
No matter how many times it was explained that the Human Tribe didn’t have as many people capable of using magic as the Demon Tribe, he wouldn’t listen, saying he’d heard the Previous Summoner was also strong in magic and that there must be one somewhere.
The Previous Summoner, Kenta, was strong in magic because he himself had journeyed to the Demon Tribe Nation and had the Demon Tribe teach him. However, considering the current relationship between the Human Tribe and the Demon Tribe, having a magic teacher dispatched from the Demon Tribe Nation was not realistic.
As a result, Ota was not assigned a magic teacher, and they had no choice but to overlook his lazy daily life.
Brian, who remembered this, didn’t trust Ota’s character in the slightest, even if he had returned capable of magic surpassing the Demon Tribe.
As proof, here he was, about to go to war, dressed in flashy attire and heading to the battlefield in a flashy carriage.
He heard that Ota had demanded an unmarried princess as a reward for the war.
Whether it could be called fortunate or not, Admos had no unmarried princesses; all were already wed.
Perhaps Ota might have demanded one anyway, but when informed they were already married, Brian heard that Ota had declared, “I don’t want non-virgins.”
Brian, convinced this guy’s character was as rotten as ever, did not trust Ota at all.
Rather, as the Knight Commander tasked with protecting the country, he was beginning to harbor an unbecoming emotion towards the King for relying on such a person.
“Am I… truly okay serving His Majesty like this?”
This very march was an example.
A few days after sending an envoy to Weimar, they were ordered to deploy troops towards Weimar.
Upon receiving that order, Brian intuited that the King was trying to take this opportunity to seize Weimar as well.
A vulgar Summoner and a despicable King.
It was unbearably sad for Brian that such people were his superiors.
However, he was a Knight who had sworn loyalty to his country.
He could not betray it.
But…
Brian harbored these complex feelings, and his gaze towards Ota, the root cause of it all, naturally grew harsh.
Ota himself, completely oblivious to Brian’s harsh gaze, asked a carefree question.
“Hey, hey, Knight Commander-san.”
“…What is it?”
“Weimar, a Princess is in charge there now, right?”
“Yes. I hear Weimar’s King is in poor health, and Princess Victoria currently holds the real power.”
“Hmm. I see, I see.”
As Ota said this, he began to smirk.
Seeing that expression, Brian had a bad feeling.
“In that case, if we occupy Weimar, it’s okay if I take that Princess for myself, right?”
“…”
Victoria was a princess of an enemy nation.
Normally, she was not someone to whom mercy should be shown.
However, Brian’s honest feeling was that he absolutely couldn’t forgive her falling into the hands of this vulgar man.
Ota, completely unaware of Brian’s sentiments, was captivated by the developments that would likely soon occur.
“Kukuku, with this, I can finally get a Princess bride too. Ahh, I’m looking forward to it. Even if she resists at first, she’ll gradually fall for my strength and end up head over heels for me in the end, right?”
“As if that would happen,” Brian almost voiced out, but he managed to endure it with effort.
Looking around, he saw several others with similar expressions, so they had probably restrained themselves as well.
Besides, would any princess open her heart to the man who occupied her country?
Moreover, that Princess, though not yet enthroned, reigned practically as a queen.
For such a princess to open her heart to Ota was impossible, even if heaven and earth were overturned.
She would likely commit suicide before that happened, Brian was convinced Ota’s delusion wouldn’t be fulfilled, but he didn’t voice this either.
He even wished for Ota’s scheme to be thwarted, thinking, “You might as well despair when that time comes.”
It was at that moment.
“!! W-What was that!?”
Just after visually confirming that no troops were stationed near the border, as the advance party had reported, the Admos army was suddenly exposed to a powerful magic attack.
“E-Enemy attack!!”
Though he couldn’t fully grasp the situation, Brian shouted, halted the army’s march, and began to form a battle line.
“Where!? Where did the attack come from!?”
It was a magic attack.
Meaning, it wasn’t from Weimar.
In that case…
“Kenta Maya…!”
The magic attack just now was of a power he had never seen, even among the Demon Tribe’s magic.
Fortunately, it hadn’t directly hit the army; there were injuries, but no deaths.
However, it was magic of such power that if it did directly hit the army, he couldn’t imagine how much damage there would be.
Moreover, they had no idea where the attack had come from.
As far as the eye could see, there was no figure resembling Kenta.
“!! Again! Dammit!! Where are you attacking from!!”
While Brian and his men were running around in confusion trying to find Kenta, second and third waves of magic were unleashed.
They landed around the Admos army, one after another, as if to intimidate them.
It wasn’t hitting the army.
It wasn’t, but…
Brian looked at the surrounding soldiers and clicked his tongue.
“Tch! This is bad… The soldiers are starting to be consumed by fear…”
For a while now, the magic presumably unleashed by Kenta had been landing in places that just barely missed the Admos army.
It was a situation where they were truly being toyed with, and the Admos army had only suffered minor damage, yet the power of the magic being unleashed was extraordinary.
If it shifted even slightly, it would hit them directly.
If that happened…
This situation instilled fear in the soldiers, and fear had appeared on the faces of those who should have been stalwart.
This can’t go on.
It was just as he thought that.
“Hey! Come out, coward! Show yourself and fight fair and square!!”
Brian inwardly thought, “You’re one to talk,” but at the same time, he thought Ota had done well.
Kenta probably never imagined Ota would call him a coward.
If Ota said something like that, Kenta would have no choice but to appear.
Or so he thought.
“Oh, you finally came out, Senpa… Huh?”
“…Eh?”
The person who appeared was unexpected.
“Th-That’s…”
Brian had heard the report.
He had been truly relieved and happy at the time.
But he never imagined he would appear here.
“Could it be… Lord Nara?”
The one who appeared wasn’t Kenta, but Nara, whom he had once instructed in swordsmanship.