Zanoba had gone off somewhere.
Something about taking the enemy general's head.
I had no idea what that meant.
Even so, I couldn't leave my post.
That said, Zanoba had already held meetings with the battalion and company commanders beforehand. He couldn't possibly be reckless enough to charge in front of the magic Rudy and I would be casting. He had to have thought this through.
Anyway, even if I went after him now, Zanoba and his group were already in the forest. He hadn't gone alone — he'd taken about a hundred soldiers with him, so this had to be a coordinated operation. All I had to do was follow instructions. That was the plan.
"...Haaah."
Calm down.
Zanoba had to have come up with a strategy. If that was the case, then I just needed to move according to plan.
"In... haaah..."
Good, I was calm.
Now that I'd calmed down, first I'd observe the enemy.
The enemy had moved while I was flustered and set up camp just in front of the traps.
Just as planned.
From that position, their magic wouldn't reach us.
Well, ours barely wouldn't reach them either.
The real battle would begin once about half the enemy force entered the pit trap zone.
"There sure are a lot of them."
"Looks like around three thousand."
"There are reinforcements coming."
The soldiers were having that kind of conversation.
To count enemy soldiers, you were supposed to look at the flags, right?
"Rudy! Please cast Resist!"
"Huh?"
Roxy suddenly shouted.
I looked toward the enemy.
From somewhere near the center of the enemy formation, a tornado-like column of earth was rising into the sky.
"They're going to fill in the traps all at once with earth magic!"
Ah, that was the Saint-class earth magic "Sandstorm."
So that was it.
The existence of our pit traps had already been confirmed by enemy scouts or something. So their plan was to bury them with a massive amount of earth.
But this was all within expectations.
"Understood. I'll use Hurricane to resist it."
I made that declaration and aimed both hands toward the rising cloud of dust.
The magic I'd use was wind magic.
The Saint-class wind magic "Hurricane."
It had a grand name, but it was simply a spell that generated a powerful gust of wind.
However, the "Saint-class" title wasn't just for show.
The Saint-class water magic "Cumulonimbus."
The Saint-class earth magic "Sandstorm."
Both were close to hybrid magic combining an element with wind.
But wind magic produced only wind.
Despite using roughly the same total mana, it generated nothing but wind.
Its power was tremendous — it could blow away the phenomena created by water or earth Saint-class magic all on its own.
It was also extremely effective against airborne monsters.
Though for surface-dwelling creatures, other magic tended to deal more damage. Perhaps because the farther the distance, the more grass and terrain would dampen its power.
According to one theory, it had been developed specifically to counter weather-altering magic used in warfare.
Then again, it was only a theory.
Even with the power attenuation, if you poured in enough mana, it could rip trees out by the roots.
Besides, while its power attenuated on the ground, it didn't attenuate much in the sky. It was entirely possible it had been developed to take down flying dragons.
Well, given that dragons flew through the air with those massive bodies, they probably manipulated wind magic themselves.
Also, according to one theory, using it too much would make you go bald. Something about the wind ripping out hair follicles. The headmaster of the Magic Academy was bald, so this theory had some credibility to it.
Alright, alright, I'm calm.
While I was thinking all this, my magic casually blew away the enemy's dust cloud.
"Ooooh!"
Cheers erupted from the surrounding soldiers.
But as expected, with this much distance between us, the damage to the ground was negligible.
Normally, a wind powerful enough to blow away a sandstorm would cause considerable damage to the terrain as well...
Perhaps it was because the spell was highly directional. I'd aimed it upward after all.
Or maybe it had something to do with the mana involved.
Or maybe my magic was just wrong somehow again.
Oh well.
Anyway, with this...
"Rudy, it's coming again!"
"Huh? Again?"
No matter how many times they tried, it should be pointless...
Actually, wait — maybe it wasn't pointless. Normally, wouldn't they run out of mana first?
It was possible they were using magic circles on their side, just like we were.
In other words, instead of a single Saint-class mage, there could be several casting magic.
With ten times the forces, they'd likely have ten times the mages as well.
If they kept firing in succession, it was entirely plausible that we'd run out of mana first.
Hm?
Wait, if I thought about it that way, did that mean there were no apostles of the Human God on their side?
If an apostle were there and knew of my existence, they wouldn't allow that kind of mana-wasting barrage.
"For now, I'll keep resisting until they give up. That alright?"
"Ah, yes. Is your mana... okay?"
"It's fine."
The company commander shot me a look of dread, but it was too late for that.
My mana reserves were practically bottomless.
Well, ten or so Saint-class spells would still be easy.
After that, Sandstorm was used five more times, and I resisted every single one.
If I could use Disturb Magic, I could reduce my own consumption, but at this distance, it simply wouldn't reach.
"...And so, the enemy's advance came to a halt.
They'd either run out of Saint-class mages, or the magic circles they'd prepared had been depleted.
Or perhaps they'd realized it was pointless...
"Will they attack again?"
"Hard to say."
Company commander Billy stared at the enemy with a stern expression.
If I were the enemy commander, I wouldn't just charge headlong into a trap-laden battlefield.
I'd pull back.
If you misjudged your opponent's strength from the start, you'd withdraw and reassess their forces.
That's what I'd do.
"Oh... it looks like they're coming."
Sure enough, the enemy formation had begun to move.
Lurching forward like they were dragging something, they crept slowly toward us.
Well, that made sense.
They'd held extensive strategy meetings and drafted all manner of plans to get here.
They'd burned through supplies, and there were morale concerns with the troops.
After falling behind on the opening exchange, they probably couldn't just shamefully retreat.
Besides, they might have figured that our mages had been spent in that exchange.
If so, they could potentially navigate the pit trap zone safely...
That was the kind of calculation they might have made.
"Archers, prepare!"
At the company commander's order, the archer squad moved forward.
Arrows nocked and aimed at the enemy soldiers attempting to cross the pit trap zone.
"Loose!"
At the company commander's command, the arrows flew.
At most fifty archers.
Against five thousand enemy soldiers.
The effect was negligible.
The enemy general must have thought so too.
After a short while, the sound of a horn rang out.
At the same time, the enemy's advance speed increased.
Enemy soldiers occasionally fell into pits, but they bridged some of the traps, circumvented others, and continued to pour across in waves.
Apparently, after seeing our arrow volley, they'd concluded we had no magical attacks left.
Well, we did, though.
"Magic squad, prepare!"
The company commander gave the order, and our mage soldiers leveled their staffs.
We had about twenty mages total.
Of those, eight moved to the rooftop's edge.
Another eight positioned behind them.
The remaining four ran to the magic circle Roxy had drawn.
"Lure them in as far as you can!"
From the fortress rooftop, the mages raised their staffs.
Roxy also had her staff raised, eyes closed in concentration.
I should do my part too.
Alright.
I clenched my fists and steeled myself.
The bulk of the enemy had entered the pit trap zone.
"Incantation — begin!"
The eight at the front began chanting fire magic in unison.
When they'd reached the halfway point, the eight behind them started their chants with a staggered timing.
"—Fireball!"
Flaming spheres shot from the front eight's staffs.
The fireballs arced through the air and struck the heart of the enemy formation.
Several soldiers were charred black.
The ones who'd fired immediately fell back and began chanting again.
"—Fireball!"
The rear eight launched their fireballs with a time delay.
With half-chant intervals between each volley, fireballs rained down in succession.
However, around the fourth rotation, countless water projectiles began flying from the enemy's side.
They didn't reach our fortress, but they collided with the fireballs and evaporated.
They were resisting.
We hadn't eliminated all the enemy mages in that earlier exchange.
Of course.
"Lady Roxy, it's the scorpion flag on the right wing."
"Yes. I can see it."
At the company commander's words, Roxy turned to me.
The scorpion flag on the right wing.
That was roughly where the water projectiles had been coming from.
Somewhere around there, the enemy's magic squad was clustered together.
In other words, if we took them out, the chances of our spells being resisted would plummet.
"So, Rudy... or are you just going to watch from there?"
"No, I'll do it."
"Good."
Roxy gave a small smile and began her incantation.
I steeled myself and poured mana into both hands.
And then.
I killed people.
---
After that, it was one-sided.
Their mages had been taken out and they could no longer resist.
Most of the remaining soldiers were helplessly burned away by the Saint-class fire magic our mages were unleashing.
The enemy's formation had completely collapsed, and the pit traps prevented any organized retreat.
Their chain of command must have broken down at some point, because their movements became scattered and chaotic.
On top of that, Roxy's and my Saint-class magic struck them like a finishing blow.
They were like ants in a rainstorm.
Scrambling in every direction.
In the chaos, some were blown into pits by gale-force winds, others were struck by lightning.
People died, one after another.
Now I understood what that person had meant.
People looked like garbage.
Of course, not everyone was scrambling aimlessly.
Some had cleared the pit trap zone and were outside Saint-class range.
They weren't numerous, but those mages who had our soldiers within range fired back.
Nearly all of it was resisted, but a few spells still hit the fortress rooftop, causing casualties.
The archers switched to swords and became infantry, while enemy infantry reached the walls.
The remaining three-hundred-odd defenders surged to meet them.
Naturally, the rooftop squad rained down magic from above.
In the end, only a handful of enemies remained.
Some had lost the will to fight, others continued to resist.
Some were taken prisoner, some were killed.
I couldn't tell the criteria.
Our losses amounted to perhaps a few at most.
In what could be called a historic victory, the enemy withdrew.
When the battle ended, Battalion Commander Garick raised a victory roar.
The mages and archers around me shouted with elated faces.
I shouted too.
I wasn't sure if I was celebrating or not.
The sensation of having killed people was faint, and the awareness of having won was faint.
But everyone around me was uplifted.
Soldiers who had been too intimidated to approach before now came close, slapping my back.
Some put their arms around my shoulders, others embraced me.
One of them was a young female archer.
"Thanks to you, we did it. Thank you."
When she said that, joy overflowed in my heart too.
Last was Roxy.
Roxy threw herself at me.
She seemed excited too, and for once she was the one who kissed me.
The crowd whistled and cheered us on.
I was happy. Simply happy.
It wasn't that I was happy because a woman had thrown herself at me.
It was what they called mob mentality.
The frenzy had definitively numbed my heart.
It wasn't bad.
I didn't have to think too much about the fact that I'd produced a massive number of dead with just a few gestures.
Oh well.
Anyway, we'd suffered virtually no losses and won.
I should just be glad about that.
That was enough. I didn't need to overthink the details.
It was fine.
I'd tried it for the first time and it was surprisingly no big deal — that was a perfectly fine way to feel about it.
That was what it meant to live in this world.
There was no need to forever cling to the ethics of my previous life or the rules of the past.
Do what needed to be done, and hold back when it was time to hold back.
Killing one person didn't mean I'd lose all restraint.
I was in control.
"Prince Zanoba has returned!"
A messenger's voice from downstairs snapped me back to reality.
From mid-battle onward, I'd completely forgotten about Zanoba.
I practically jumped downstairs.
When I reached the bottom, I froze.
Among the soldiers surrounding a group of ten, there were clearly individuals with distinctly different hair color.
Only they were covered in dirt, leaves stuck to their bodies, faces smudged with soot, and hair matted with blood and sweat.
One of them — a formidable man in ornate armor — spotted me and called out in a bright voice.
"Oh, Master!"
I'd been wondering who it was.
I really had been wondering.
His hair was stiff with dried blood.
His armor bore wounds that hadn't been there this morning.
There were traces of blood wiped off his glasses.
"Zanoba?"
Zanoba. Yes, it was Zanoba.
He looked like a different person, but it was unmistakably Zanoba.
Right, I had something to complain about.
If he was going to do something, he should've notified me first.
"You—"
As I stepped forward, the crowd of soldiers parted.
That was when I swallowed my words.
At Zanoba's feet, someone was kneeling.
This person was also caked in mud, but alone was wrapped in a net.
A net I recognized.
The one I'd given to Zanoba.
An enchanted item.
"Thanks to you, Master, the surprise attack was a success, and we captured the enemy general!"
"Ah, yeah..."
The soldiers around us were praising the ten mud-covered warriors.
The way they looked at Zanoba was completely different from when he'd first arrived at the fortress.
Those skeptical eyes were gone.
Now they were eyes of respect.
Wait — ten.
Why were there so few?
When I'd last seen them, there had been about a hundred.
"Um, where are the others?"
"They died in battle. An honorable death."
Ah, I see.
If they'd charged into that army with only a hundred, that would be the result.
But wait, wasn't something off about that?
In this battle, we could have won without a charge, couldn't we?
Why had nobody pointed out that the charge was unnecessary?
"So, they were, uh... worth the sacrifice of ninety men?"
"Naturally. This man is royalty of the enemy nation. Use him as a hostage in negotiations, and the war will end."
Ah, I see.
I see.
Hmm.
I understood now.
When you looked at it that way, the charge had been necessary.
From a strategic perspective, this battle alone wouldn't have constituted a real victory.
But Zanoba had turned it into a victory through his desperate charge.
When you thought about it that way, ninety casualties were necessary.
They might even have been few.
No, wait — don't be deceived.
We'd dealt a devastating blow to the enemy.
A thousand, maybe two thousand.
Perhaps three thousand.
No competent commander would attack again after that.
"We can't keep you and the others locked up in this fortress forever, Master. I'm glad the plan succeeded."
Zanoba smiled warmly.
So that was his reasoning.
Even after this devastating defeat, the enemy might not stop their invasion.
There was a chance their commander wasn't in his right mind.
Even after taking heavy losses, the enemy still outnumbered us.
If Roxy and I were gone, the fortress could fall.
Neither Roxy nor I could stay here for a year or two.
But if they captured the enemy royal and signed a ceasefire agreement, the war would end.
We'd take the initiative and end it for certain.
But couldn't there have been another way?
For example, if I went to the enemy fortress...
No, I couldn't entrust that to the guy who'd been agonizing over killing in the field before the battle even started...
"Oh, but everything went exactly as planned.
Your Saint-class magic, Master, and Lady Roxy's.
Combined with this 'Nab-Catching Casting Net.'
I believed it would be possible to capture the enemy general with these tools, but I never expected it to go this smoothly."
Either way, Zanoba had plunged into the heart of Cumulonimbus's storm, used the chaos as cover, targeted the enemy commander, and succeeded.
He'd pulled the chestnuts out of the fire.
He'd taken a gamble and seized the prize.
He'd used Roxy and me to create the opening, pushed himself to the absolute limit, and achieved the greatest possible result in a single battle.
"My word, but seeing Saint-class magic from afar versus being in the midst of it are two entirely different things!"
"Ah, yeah... well, I'd imagine so."
A chill suddenly ran down my spine.
Cumulonimbus's range was vast.
It was a spell that swept away large swaths of enemies at once.
Don't tell me...
"Um, hey, Zanoba... you didn't get hit by the lightning or anything, right?"
"Hmm..."
Zanoba placed a hand on his chin and struck a thoughtful pose.
Then, with a perfectly serious face, he said:
"...Master, casualties are an unavoidable part of war."
He'd been hit.
One of our lightning bolts from Roxy's or my Cumulonimbus.
On someone from this fortress.
Or maybe they'd been blown away by the storm and fallen into a pit.
It could have been someone I'd shared meals with.
Someone Roxy had been teaching magic.
I hadn't had much interaction with them, but among the faces I'd seen over these past few days, some were now gone.
"And all responsibility for those casualties lies with me, as the commanding officer. You mustn't trouble yourself over it, Master."
Even hearing that, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd done something terrible.
"You must be exhausted as well, Master. Please rest well today."
With that, Zanoba patted my shoulder gently, as if brushing it.
Then he led the prisoner deeper into the fortress.
While barking orders left and right to the surrounding soldiers.
I watched him go in a daze.
No words came.
"...Ah, right."
I had to prepare for the Death God's assault.
There was no time to be dazed.
There was no time to rest.
I had to stay near 'that thing.'
So I'd be ready whenever the enemy came.
---
That night, the attackers came.
But they weren't the Death God.
They hadn't come for me.
They'd come to rescue the royal who'd been taken hostage that day.
I didn't have to kill them.
Because they were weak.
I knocked them unconscious and handed them over to the fortress soldiers.
I didn't know what happened to them after that.
At least my self-restraint still worked.
I was fine. I was fine.
Right now I was unstable, but I could hold back.
I was in control.
So I was fine.
I told myself that through the night.
The Death God never came.
There was no attack.
---
The next morning, I asked Zanoba to have the hostage interrogated.
It was the royal from the northern country, as expected.
Did they know of the existence of the Human God? — No.
Had anyone in their nation made statements resembling precognition abilities? — No.
Then how had they managed to gather five thousand troops and launch an invasion in such a short time? — The Shirone Kingdom had been their target for years. They hadn't assembled the forces in a short period.
So the northern country was clean.
They had no connection to the Human God.
The catalyst that had prompted them to target Shirone might have been the Human God, but this man was definitely not an apostle.
The hostage was just another clueless, incompetent commander — the kind you'd find anywhere.
There was no Death God attack, either.
The northern country was clean.
Every prediction I'd made had been wrong.
This sensation of spinning my wheels futilely was a familiar one.
I'd been fundamentally mistaken from the start, just as I'd suspected.
For example, the whole affair — maybe there'd been no trap from the beginning.
More than that, maybe the Human God had nothing to do with any of it.
Even as I entertained these thoughts, I maintained my vigilance.
Half-aware that it was probably pointless, but prepared just in case.
And then, after about ten days had passed, things began to move.