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Hana's Side
"First thing we need to do is contact the troops coming up behind us. Branca, pick about ten people with good stamina and fast legs, and send them as messengers."
"Sis, isn't ten people a bit much?"
"If he sticks to the planned route, there's no problem—but what if he changes course halfway through? He might say something like, 'This way seems faster.'"
"Ah... yeah, that's fair."
"Plus, knowing him, he could just be going the wrong way and refuse to listen when people warn him, keeping right on going in the wrong direction... Yeah, that's entirely possible."
"That is certainly possible too."
"Actually, if he's taking a different route altogether, I'd say Amur's guess is more likely... Got it. I'll pick about fifteen fast runners and send them to Bro's unit. Sis, I'll need that letter ASAP."
Casually allocating more people than I'd requested—that's so Branca for you. He hasn't spent all that time watching that person's bad habits up close for nothing.
"I'd love to hurry to the western side of the Royal Capital right away, but since we already told them we'd make camp here, we should probably hold off on moving today... Someone, bring me a map!"
"If it's a map you need, I've got the one the military uses. His Excellency the Grand Duke said this is the most up-to-date map of the Royal Capital's surroundings, so there shouldn't be anything better available right now."
"You should've handed that over sooner, honestly... It is remarkably detailed, though. And how considerate—they've even highlighted the territories of the fence-sitting nobles in red."
So the idea is to use these nobles as leverage while marching to the Royal Capital. Even the nobles currently sitting on the fence might change their minds once they hear that over ten thousand southern troops have entered the Royal Capital—and even if they're slow to react, seeing the southern army pass through their territories should be enough to eliminate any thought of playing the waiting game.
"Among the fence-sitting nobles around the Royal Capital, the troublesome ones are... just one count's house, it seems. Hm? There's something written here... 'Regarding the count's house, refer to a separate letter'?"
"Oh! Come to think of it, I was holding two more letters!"
"That's exactly why you should hand those over first!"
After giving Amur a good crack on the head, I took the letters. One was addressed to me, while the other bore an unfamiliar name. I opened the letter addressed to me first, and inside was detailed information about the count's house. Apparently, the reason the count's house was sitting on the fence was that the head of the household had an indecisive personality—and since the eldest son was the more reliable one, I was to deliver the other letter to him (the unfamiliar name, it turned out, belonged to that eldest son). His Majesty likely intended to issue a royal decree to the eldest son, have him inherit the count's title, and bring him to the Royal Capital.
"So what we need to do is threaten them first, then send a military force led by the heir to the Royal Capital… Amur, head to the count's domain immediately and make contact with the heir."
"Wha—!? Why?! I just got here!"
"Quiet down! This is an order from the head of the Viscount's house! Even with a royal decree, it may take time for the heir to seize control of the count's house, so we need to hurry as much as possible. Right now, the fastest anyone in our army can reach the count's domain is you, riding Raiden! Given Raiden's temperament, you're the only one who can ride him, since you borrowed him directly from Tenma. So you have no choice but to go. Besides, no matter what, you're a lady of the Viscount's house — they won't dare treat you dismissively! Understood? Now get going!"
I handed Amur the letter addressed to the heir and gave her a push on the back. She grumbled and complained, but headed off toward Raiden all the same. However, watching Amur's retreating figure, I somehow got a very bad feeling, so I grabbed a map and chased after her. Then—
"Raiden, I'm sorry to ask this, but could you take Amur to this location? Amur is absolutely hopeless when it comes to remembering directions."
As I said that, I unfurled the map in front of Raiden and held it up, pleading with him. Raiden began staring intently at the map. Behind him, Amur was voicing her protests, but when I glared at her and asked, "Can you really remember the way?", she fell silent and averted her gaze.
"Amur, just memorize the name of the count's house and the name of the heir… I'll write them on paper, so don't lose it. At the very least, if you know the family name, you should be able to find your way there."
I didn't know how intelligent Raiden was exactly, but if he possessed intelligence close to that of a bicorne and could understand human language to a certain degree, then Amur's help might not be necessary at all. On the other hand, if he could only remember roughly which direction to go, then Amur — who could speak human language — would be needed.
As I was thinking this, Raiden looked up from the map, so I quickly wrote the count's family name and the heir's name on a scrap of paper (the envelope from the letter) and handed it to him, then together with the letter addressed to the heir, I made absolutely sure to impress upon him not to lose either before sending them on their way.
"As expected, Raiden is fast. He's already shrunk down to the size of a grain of rice."
At that rate, the letter would reach the count's heir by tomorrow at the latest. If the person His Majesty described was accurate, there was no mistake in judging that the count's house would become an ally. That being the case, the only remaining problem would be the opportunistic neighboring nobles…
"If I'm going to pay a visit to the count who's set to become our ally, I'll need a gift, won't I… It might get a little rough, but perhaps I should prepare something truly special? Fufu…"
"Sister-in-law, the messengers are all ready. As for the letter— Wait! Sister-in-law, what are you scheming!?"
While I was contemplating the perfect gift for the count (soon-to-be), Branca returned from having finished the messenger preparations. Then she shouted something rude upon seeing me. That said, when Branca heard my ideas for the gift for the count's house, her face contorted into an expression so vicious and fiendish that it absolutely could not be shown to Yoshitsune — so I don't think she's in any position to judge me.
"I'll write the letter now, so have them wait a bit. Given the kind of person he is, I only need to mention the change of destination and that Amur has joined this army — no further explanation should be necessary."
"Well, that's certainly true…"
Once even Branca was convinced, I finished the letter in great haste. It was only two lines long, so even writing fifteen copies was no great trouble.
"Alright, here you go. The stretch from here to the area where the rear guard is believed to be stationed is relatively safe, but you never know — the situation could change suddenly because of the zombies. Worst case, even if you fail to link up with the rear guard, we'll end up meeting at the Royal Capital eventually, so don't go thinking you need to 'risk your life to deliver this!' If you can't link up, it might be because the honorary Viscount Robo's forces are blocking the planned route, and I have no intention of holding you responsible for that."
I say I won't hold them responsible, but that's only on the condition that they do their job properly. slack off or try to run, and I'll cut them down without a second thought. The ones Branca personally selected should understand my intentions without being told.
"Now then, go!"
The fifteen messengers, their faces slightly pale, ran back along the path we'd come from at tremendous speed. They obviously couldn't compare to Raiden, but in terms of sheer speed alone, they could probably rival even me or Branca... I just hoped their eagerness wouldn't lead them to overexert themselves and lose control.
Having dispatched messengers to the rear guard, we began our march early the next morning, raiding the territories of fair-weather nobles along the way... though "raiding" was perhaps putting it strongly — we committed no acts of combat. Without any advance warning, we marched straight into each territory, and when a noble (or their associate) came out to voice complaints, we showed them a letter from His Majesty (only the sealed envelope bearing his name and seal, without revealing the contents), demanded to know why they hadn't sent reinforcements to the Royal Capital, and used the pressure of our army numbering over ten thousand to secure their pledge to dispatch troops. Incidentally, since we couldn't take them with us, we instructed them to finish their preparations and stand by until our escort came for them.
Repeating this sort of "raid" over three days as we advanced, we succeeded in bringing ten baron and viscount families under our command before entering the Count's territory. Given that we had His Majesty's orders behind us, subduing ten noble families in three days without anyone coming to harm was probably an unprecedented achievement. There hadn't been a large-scale war in decades, so to find a comparable precedent, one would have to look back even further.
Passing through the Count's territory with a sense of pride, we received word that an army of several thousand was waiting in position just a few kilometers ahead. We also had reports that Amour was sitting atop Raiden at the army's vanguard, looking rather self-important, so we could safely conclude they were allies. Worst case, even if the Count's army
Southern Army
intended to ambush us, we had the numerical advantage, so we'd manage somehow.
"Branca, just to be safe, I want you to stay behind."
"...Understood."
Branca was visibly a little displeased but obeyed the order without protest. She probably thought that if we were meeting them to both size up the situation and make a first impression, she should be the one to go rather than me. But at the same time, she would have recognized that formally sending a proxy instead of the head of a viscount family — which was subordinate in rank — to greet a count would be considered disrespectful and was certain to cause problems down the line.
Naturally, I shared those concerns, but I was also confident that as long as no one in that group possessed the combat ability of Tenma or Merlin, I could escape unless caught completely off guard by an utterly unforeseen ambush. And even if I were ambushed, I trusted that Branca would come to my rescue before too much time had passed.
So, with my guard up, I approached to pay my respects to the new Count — only to be thanked before I even had the chance to offer a greeting.
I had assumed it was for my role in helping oust the previous Count, but... apparently the gratitude was for having sent Amour as a messenger.
As it turned out, the previous Count had been tormented by worry — due to his own indecisive nature, he had missed the window to send reinforcements to the Royal Capital. Now, even if he did send them, he feared the Count's army would end up bearing the brunt of the fighting on the most brutal front lines, on the grounds that they had arrived too late.
And there, Amour had come before the eldest son as a messenger from the Southern Viscount family,
R
A
I
D
E
N
And so,
Apparently, the former baron believed that by coming, something might be done.
What the former baron had feared was the abolition of the baron house itself. However, the letter from His Majesty that Amour brought only contained instructions to pass the baron's title to the eldest son and dispatch reinforcements to the Royal Capital — there was no mention whatsoever of any punishment upon the baron house. And so the former baron interpreted transferring the baron's title to his eldest son as
a
punishment
upon
the
baron's
house,
and immediately elevated his eldest son to the position of baron while making preparations to send reinforcements.
He had interpreted the letter in whatever way suited him, but since the only thing resembling a punishment actually written in the letter was that, he figured that as long as he complied, they wouldn't saddle the baron house with additional punishment once everything was over. Furthermore, the fact that His Majesty had gone to the trouble of entrusting the letter to the southern viscount house and having it delivered by someone from the Otori family — who was apparently identified as such from the fact that they were riding a Raiden — suggested that they wouldn't go so far as to pull a surprise attack on the baron house while dragging the southern viscount house and the Otori family into it.
And so, the new baron before him was overjoyed that the transfer of peerage had been completed without a single casualty, and he expressed his gratitude to me. Moreover, the situation had completely reversed from the precarious point where one wrong step might have made them appear opposed to the royal family. Now the baron house could march toward the Royal Capital with its own forces alongside the armies of surrounding nobles that the southern viscount house had brought to heel. As long as they didn't make some terrible blunder, there was even a real possibility of earning a considerable reward.
From my perspective as well, the baron's performance should be welcomed. After all, the more the baron distinguished himself in this war, the higher my own reputation would rise. It wasn't that I was happy about the prospect of my peerage being elevated — my rising reputation simultaneously meant the south's reputation would rise as well. Recently, now that we had officially received the viscount title, certain nobles had begun trying to encroach upon the south's privileges, so one of the purposes of this campaign was to simultaneously sell a favor to the royal family and demonstrate the south's strength to the entire kingdom.
After a brief meeting with the baron to secure passage permission through his territory, the southern viscount's army and the baron's army set off in different directions. If one were heading to the Royal Capital, the route would overlap for a stretch, but the baron had the task of rallying the surrounding nobles. Well, from my perspective, things were actually easier without the baron around, so as long as I had passage permission through his territory, that was all I needed.
It was the tenth day since meeting the baron. We had been making good progress along the way, and were close enough that we might arrive at the Royal Capital in another day or two. Things were going so smoothly that I was starting to wonder whether something was about to happen — smooth to the point of making me anxious.
While I was thinking that, Branca, who had gone ahead to scout the situation at the front, returned.
"Sister-in-law, I think we should push a little farther today, but let's take a short rest around here first and reorganize our formation. From here on, the closer we get to the Royal Capital, the more likely it is that enemies could appear at any moment."
"That's true. Since we never know when combat might break out, if we don't reorganize our formation and stay sharp, even a fight we could win might slip away."
The moment Branca saw my face, she made that proposal. Her words made me realize just how much I had let my guard down.
During our march from the south, there hadn't been anything resembling real combat, and even when dealing with fair-weather nobles, all it took was brandishing the southern viscount's army and putting on a fierce glare to get our way. Even I, who believed I was staying vigilant, hadn't noticed my own complacency until Branca pointed it out — so among the army, there were surely soldiers even more complacent and off-guard than I was. Come to think of it, on closer inspection, there was someone dozing off on a Raiden right beside me. Being that obviously careless was rare enough, but the fact that I hadn't even noticed it proved I had let my guard down more than even I had realized.
"Seiya!"
"Gwuh! …Falling… Sa…fe… Mom, look out! Stop fooling around!"
I nudged the side of Amour with the butt of my spear—Amour, who had been dozing away without even noticing that Branca had arrived. The jolt threw her off balance, and she nearly tumbled from Tenma's back, but at the very last moment she managed to cling to Tenma's neck and avoid the fall. However, once she realized I was the culprit, she immediately forgot all about her nap and started blaming me.
"Come on, that was entirely your fault, Amour. You're someone who holds one of the most responsible positions in the Southern Viscount's army, and here you were, sound asleep. You deserved every bit of that."
I had only intended to be considerate—calling someone out in front of everyone like that would surely be embarrassing—but Amour didn't seem to pick up on that at all. Not only had she nearly fallen in the most dramatic fashion possible, but she also loudly accused me, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. Those who were quick on the uptake figured out that Amour was the one at fault.
"She's right. If you hadn't been dozing off in the first place, none of this would have happened. And to have the nerve to complain about me after that—talk about blaming the wrong person."
When I scolded Amour like that, she at least had the good sense to realize she was in the wrong and didn't argue back, sitting quietly.
"Amour, consider this your wake-up call. Go tell the company commanders behind us that we're taking a short break. Branca, I need you to handle the front, please."
We were currently positioned about a third of the way from the front of the army, so Amour would have more ground to cover since she was handling the rear. But since it was actually Tenma doing the running, she wouldn't exactly be winded.
"Mmm… Fine. Tenma, go! …Tenma?"
Tenma completely ignored Amour's command. Instead, she began scanning the surroundings. Then, without warning, she spun around to face the rear, glared up at the sky, and let out a roar. I had seen runner dragons bark before, but this was every bit as intimidating—if not more so—than anything a runner dragon could muster.
"What in the… Big Sister! Something's coming from above!"
While I was still fixated on Tenma's strange behavior, Branca had already locked onto the direction Tenma was looking.
Following her cry, I looked up—and saw something enormous plummeting from the sky, heading straight for the center of our army.
"Everyone, take defensive posit—Urk!"
I tried at least to issue orders to the soldiers around me, but before I could, the massive object that had been falling from the sky slammed into the ground. The shockwave and the cloud of sand it kicked up sent me flying off my horse's back. Fortunately, the shockwave had launched me upward, so I wasn't crushed by my falling mount. But when I scrambled to my feet and the dust finally cleared, nearly half the soldiers in the vicinity had been hurled to the ground, and half of those had been crushed by their own horses and cargo.
"Big Sister, the worst possible enemy just showed up! If we don't get our formation back in order immediately, we'll be wiped out!"
I turned my gaze toward the thing Branca was frantically staring at—the thing that had fallen from the sky—and what I saw was a massive, reddish-bodied 'dragon.'
[HANA SIDE — END]