Lyle's Side
"Your Excellency, the enemy is reportedly approaching the first encampment at the expected speed."
"Understood. We'll pull back to the rear as planned. Make sure to remind the men at the first encampment not to hold out too long!"
Not just the first encampment—the farther an encampment was from the Royal Capital, the simpler its construction. These positions were treated less as places to hunker down and fight, and more as storage depots for essential supplies, with plans to abandon them before the enemy arrived. However, the area in front of the first encampment had the most usable space, and there was no need to quietly wait for the enemy to close in, so a trap had been set. That said, to maximize the trap's effectiveness, the danger faced by the knights holed up in the first encampment had increased considerably from the original plan.
"At the same time, tell the second and third encampments not to neglect their preparations for receiving and covering the retreat of the first encampment's forces!"
"Understood!"
Whether the trap would succeed, and if it did, how much damage it could inflict, remained unclear. Fortunately, there were precedents—multiple successful deployments across two battles. Lyle had consulted with those veterans before proceeding, but given the nature of the trap, going in without a dry run was still worrying.
"Tenma did say that if it failed, we'd just have to accept that we couldn't achieve the secondary effects... but I'd like to shave off as much as we can while we have the chance. Still, if it backfires on us, it'll all be for nothing."
In truth, he wanted to push for success no matter the cost, but if the trap failed, the resulting distrust toward leadership would inevitably tank morale.
"It would've been most reliable if Tenma could handle it, but Tenma has to conserve energy for the Lich, so that's not an option."
As he murmured these words—
"Your Excellency! A massive pillar of fire has been spotted in the direction of the first encampment!"
"Good! Well done! Any casualties on our side?"
"My apologies. So far, we've only confirmed the pillar of fire. There's been no report from the first encampment yet."
"I-I see. Right. At the very least, we've succeeded in triggering the Fire Tornado. I'd like to wait for the report, but we need to leave this position as planned."
This location, less than a kilometer from the first encampment, had been hastily set up specifically to verify the trap's outcome. If it failed, the military staff were supposed to stay here as long as possible and use it as a temporary command post to issue alternate orders. When Lyle had first announced he'd be checking the trap's results from here, nearly every military officer present had objected. He'd managed to strong-arm them into agreeing, but the condition was that regardless of the operation's success or failure, he would immediately return to the headquarters built near the Royal Capital once the trap was triggered.
"You remaining here—when things get dangerous, prioritize your lives over everything else! And the documents—just abandon them if it comes to it. After all, our enemies are zombies. Even if you leave information behind, they don't have the brains to understand it!"
With those orders given, he climbed into a carriage kept ready for immediate departure and quickly left the temporary command post.
"Unknown how much damage this trap can deal... but even if we only manage to take down a handful, it'll be a morale boost for the Kingdom's forces."
The executives riding alongside me nodded at my words. We had pulled off a flashy operation. I wanted to ride this momentum and keep the battle advantageous from start to finish. Even if it only *looked* like the trap had succeeded, we could fudge the numbers however we pleased.
As I was thinking this, I returned to the command post in the royal castle—only to be seized by my elder brother, who had been lying in wait, and forced to sit seiza in front of our mother. Apparently, heading to the front lines—without getting permission from Father and my brother, among other things—had been a mistake on my part... But this was my duty as Minister of Military Affairs, so honestly, I couldn't make sense of the situation. Well, I couldn't exactly say that out loud.
Lyle's Side — End
Amour's Side
"Hmm! Another goblin horde spotted!"
I was currently heading south, away from the Royal Capital. It wasn't that I had fled or anything. I had simply been assigned the role I was best suited for by Tenma.
"At this pace, we might reach Nanao in twenty days with room to spare? ...Whoa! Raiden, don't get too excited!"
Raiden charged straight into the goblin horde on his own, scattering them like he was crushing ants beneath his feet. I swung my beloved Bardiche at the goblins too, but Raiden was overwhelmingly the better slaughterer. It seemed like he was in a bit of a foul mood.
"Well, Raiden doesn't really like being ridden by anyone other than Tenma, so I guess that can't be helped."
If he were tied to a carriage and given orders, he'd obediently listen even to my commands—but actually being ridden was a different story. Though, he didn't mind when it was Tenma, so maybe his pride just wouldn't allow him to carry anyone on his back other than the one who had defeated him.
"His running is a little rough, but that's made up for by the speed, and he isn't doing anything directly to me, so there's no problem."
That was the conclusion I quickly reached right after leaving the Royal Capital.
The reason Tenma had me take Raiden—who was also our ace escape route for emergencies—and ride south was that suspicious activity had begun in the western part of the kingdom.
It was information Renitan (and his subordinates) had secretly gathered: the Duke Dalam family in the western kingdom was apparently stockpiling weapons and food in one location. That alone could be explained as preparations against the zombie hordes, but the critical point was that they had begun this—something that could be taken as a major military operation—without even telling the royal family. As a precaution, Tenma had rushed the information from Renitan straight to His Majesty, but not only His Majesty—even Lyle, the Minister of Military Affairs, had been completely blindsided.
Upon hearing this, His Majesty had apparently tried to summon Duke Dalam to the royal castle immediately, but Lyle had persuaded him that inviting a traitor within their midst into the castle under the current circumstances would only make things more dangerous, and instead decided to deploy Albert and his security forces to the western side. However, that alone would be nowhere near enough to suppress, let alone control, Duke Dalam's army, so he also ordered that soldiers be gathered from the Royalist Faction nobles who still had reserves to spare, as well as trustworthy Neutral Faction nobles. Even so, facing Duke Dalam's army—which could mobilize tens of thousands—was beyond what they could handle, so they planned to also request cooperation from the two remaining ducal families besides the Sanga ducal house.
However, even if they could scrape together enough troops, time was still sorely lacking. That was where I came in. Since reinforcements from the south should already be marching toward the Royal Capital, they wanted me to have them alter their planned route westward and enter the capital from the west in a way that would pin down Duke Dalam's army. For that purpose, Raiden—who was likely the fastest creature on land in the capital—became my partner.
He himself
was probably unhappy about being assigned this without being consulted, though.
"The southern army should have already departed from Nanao, so if they haven't deviated much from their planned route, we should be able to rendezvous within a few days."
I couldn't say for sure, given both Raiden's speed and the southern army's pace of advance, but according to Renitan's estimates, they should have already covered nearly half the distance to the Royal Capital, so we could link up in ten days at the latest. Even after that, changing course—they should still arrive well before Duke Dalam's army... I didn't know the fine details, but if Renitan said so, then that was probably how it was.
"Whoa! Tenma, don't just suddenly take off running toward the next herd!"
While I was lost in thought, Tenma spotted his next prey — a pack of several orcs this time — and took off running. It seemed that the monster herds that had been on the east side were now moving west, displaced by the zombie horde.
If it were goblins or orcs, I could leave everything to Tenma without worry, but if he suddenly bolts like that, there's a risk of falling, so I might not be able to relax until our next break... As I was thinking this, the orc herd had already been reduced to minced meat. Mud-covered mince that looked absolutely inedible, at that.
Amour SIDE — End
"Grandpa, Lyle's carriage just entered the Royal Capital."
"So the war has begun. What are we going to do?"
"I think we should stay put for now. If we move closer to the front lines from here, there's a high chance we won't be in position when the Lich attacks the Royal Capital from a different direction."
Grandpa and I have to be ready for the Lich, so even if the front lines collapse and our allies are routed, we wouldn't be able to go help them.
"From here, we can't tell how the battle between the kingdom's army and the zombie horde is going, but barring something extraordinary, the kingdom's army shouldn't lose."
By "something extraordinary," I meant things like a swarm of four-armed monsters attacking all at once, or a Lich or Lich-class monster showing up.
"If there's anything else to worry about, it would be abnormally powerful zombie monsters like a Dragon Zombie. An Ancient Dragon-class Dragon Zombie was probably the last we'll see of those — we hit the limit back at Kukuri Village — but there's a real possibility that Earth Dragons or Running Dragons below that level have been raised as zombies. Well,
even if they become zombies,
they should lose the resilience that is the dragon race's greatest strength, so they should be perfectly possible to defeat."
The kingdom's knights should be able to handle even an Earth Dragon-class monster turned into a zombie, but the problem is that they'd have to let their guard down against the other zombies during that time.
"If things get really bad, Grandpa or I might have to step in, but the knight order should have a fair number of mages as well."
"As long as the zombies don't advance close to the castle, I think it's best for us not to move."
"Aye. Moving carelessly would just get in the way."
We had already told Lyle that Grandpa and I would be focusing on the Lich and received his approval, so acting on our own judgment would likely end up being a hindrance. Even if we were to move, it would be better to wait until there was an official request from the military.
"Alongside the clashes with the zombie horde, the Reformist Faction's movements have been getting more and more suspicious, and what scares me is that there's no way to predict how things will turn out... Tenma, when the riots break out in the Royal Capital, do you really think you can suppress them?"
"It won't be a sure thing, but since the Reformist Faction will be the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes, if we can detect that in advance, I don't think it'll escalate into anything massive... The Royal Capital is a big place, though. In the worst case, military force would be used to suppress the ordinary citizens who joined the riots, and there'd be a significant death toll."
Sacrificing the few to preserve the many... It was an unpleasant way of thinking, but as someone who belonged to the many, I couldn't very well object to the idea of sacrificing the few if it meant keeping my family safe. At best, all I could do was make sure none of my acquaintances ended up among the few, and try to talk them out of it if it looked like they might.
"Well, that's all part of what you'd call 'war'... It's enough to make your blood boil that a bunch of idiots who are supposed to be fellow citizens are trying to stir up trouble during a national crisis like this."
Grandpa seemed to accept that civilian casualties were unavoidable, but he clearly couldn't stomach the idea that those casualties might be caused by the Reformist Faction.
"Since Tamers with keen-nosed Monsters as Familiars—like Light's Hard Lynx and the others—are patrolling the Royal Capital, I think it should act as at least some kind of deterrent. When you think about what comes after we win, the fewer civilian casualties, the better."
The patrols throughout the city—one of the Guard's main duties—were being carried out primarily by Tamers who had been integrated into the Guard.
This was something I had proposed to Ernest based on the concept of police dogs from my previous life. I wasn't sure yet whether it was successfully keeping the Reformist Faction in check, but there had been no reports of them making any moves so far.
That said, the patrols did seem to help with stress relief for the Tamers' Familiars—maybe the walks had something to do with it—and they could investigate places that human eyes would easily overlook. You could say that patrol duty was perfectly suited for Tamers and their Familiars.
"Also, Light secretly leaked the escape routes she'd identified. It's only preliminary intel for now, but combined with what Reni knows, I think it could come in handy when the time comes."
Apparently, some Tamers were investigating escape routes in parallel with their patrols, preparing for the possibility that the Royal Capital might fall into a state of crisis. Leaking information about the capital's defenses wasn't exactly commendable, but Light had shared her findings on the grounds that the Otori family—which might include members of the royal family—would likely need to evacuate when things went south. The reasoning was that using that as leverage would lower the chances of punishment, and doing the Otori family a favor would make it easier to tag along with them during the escape.
"If Light is making moves like that, you should probably expect the Tamer's Guild to come knocking on the Otori family's door when the time comes. From my perspective, any reliable combat strength is more than welcome."
Grandpa was on better terms with Agri than I was, so for that reason too, he was apparently pleased that the Tamer's Guild might end up allied with the Otori family. For my part, the Tamer's Guild would be a huge help and someone I could trust when it came time to flee with everyone from Kukuri Village. Having them on our side was a blessing.
"Grandpa, let's check our meals and supplies while we still have time. If possible, I'd like to get a little sleep too, to conserve our energy."
"Aye. As for checking supplies, I've already gone over my trusty weapon countless times, and there's not enough time to properly inspect the Golem and the medicines—so all I can do is confirm the types and quantities... Well, that much can be done easily enough while we eat."
Even though we were still in the relatively safe rear camp, eating openly or napping would draw too many stares, so we headed back to the tent the Otori family had prepared and ate while going through our supplies.
I'd only made a small amount of the hard-cooked porridge—designed to be easy on the stomach—since I didn't know when we'd be called into action, so it wasn't quite filling, but it was better than eating too much and becoming unable to move.
"Grandpa, hold back on seconds, okay?"
"Unn... Well, can't be helped. I suppose I'll lie down for a bit, then."
Grandpa held out his empty bowl to me, then Reluctantly pulled it back and lay down on the floor. I followed his example and lay down as well, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. I noticed someone had entered the tent and opened my eyes to find Chris standing at the entrance, looking down at the two of us spraw out on the floor with an exasperated expression on her face.
Primera's Side
"Primera
-sama, Kelly and the workshop staff have come to see you.
"You may let them onto the grounds. After that, have the employees wait in the garden and bring Kelly here to me."
Unlike usual,
Jeanne—
who calls her
"San" instead of
"Sama"—
was the one I asked to bring Kelly here.
Kelly and the others' evacuation was proceeding as planned, but I needed to at least formally ask the reason for their visit while also discussing our future course of action.
"Primera-sama, I cannot express enough gratitude for accepting me and my subordinates."
"It was a promise we made previously, so there's no need. In return, however, you'll follow the Ootori family's instructions in the event of an emergency—is that acceptable?"
"That goes without saying. We may lack real combat experience, but we're well accustomed to rough situations, and above all, every one of us is confident in their handling of weapons. Please don't hesitate to use us... is that the right way to put it?"
"Yes, the Ootori family appreciates Kelly's cooperation, and all we need confirmed is that you'll act alongside us. After that, you're welcome to treat us as usual. Well, it would be appreciated if you could keep the time and circumstances in mind to some extent."
In short, this confirmed that Kelly's group would move under the Ootori family's banner when the time came, and until then, things could remain as they always were.
"For now, until that time comes, I think I'll take care of those weapons that Tenma collected and just left lying around. I couldn't bring a forge, of course, but I brought most of the other tools, so I should be able to do a reasonable amount of maintenance. Also, would it be all right if we set up a tent in one corner of the garden?"
"Yes, the mansion may end up hosting some very distinguished guests, so I'm sorry, but we're trying to keep it as empty as possible. In exchange, you're welcome to use the bath and toilet freely. The garden has simple divisions marked on the ground—within those divisions, feel free to choose wherever you like. However, the area near Jūbei and the others' shed does smell a bit, so I can't recommend it."
In the end, they might have to evacuate inside the mansion, but it could also be used when the royal family arrived, and there was the possibility of other nobles with friendly ties to the Ootori family—like House Silfield—coming as well. Additionally, rooms for strategy meetings and an infirmary would be necessary, so it had been decided in discussion with Tenma to keep the mansion's rooms as available as possible.
"Primera-sama, Mark has arrived with the people from Kukuri Village."
"Oh! If I keep dawdling, the good spots are going to run out. Alright then, I'll go figure out the tent location with my people, and then I'll get to work. Could you take care of preparing the bath?"
"Ah! Once the tent location is decided, please let me take a look."
"Got it."
Kelly said that and left the room in quick steps. Shortly after, Mark arrived with Aura.
"Primera, I brought about half of the Kukuri Village folks today. The rest of us—the ones running businesses, myself included—couldn't all get away at once."
The restaurant and shop owners planned to close up as soon as they ran out of ingredients or merchandise and join the group, but those running inns like Mark couldn't close until the last possible moment due to their guests.
Apparently, they had informed the guests that operations might be suspended depending on the situation, but in the worst case, they might have to leave the guests behind and abandon the inn entirely.
"Have you asked about future deliveries of cooking ingredients and merchandise?"
"Just from what I've heard, it sounds like future deliveries are going to be tough. The usual shipments from outside aren't coming in at the same volume as before, and what does arrive gets snatched up by the military first. Apparently, they've been sourcing from merchants they have personal connections with.
But with prices more than double the usual due to the current situation, even that's barely working out. Seems like only the big names or their affiliates can still do proper business."
"I see... In that case, how about the Ootori family purchases whatever ingredients and merchandise your shops have left? Since we don't know what's going to happen with the kingdom going forward, I think it would be best for us to gather in one place as much as possible."
Food could be used for meals starting today, and it would definitely be needed during the escape. As for merchandise, it could be converted into living expenses afterward. Above all else, if the kingdom's coins were to lose everything except their value as metal, they would need to acquire as many other assets as possible. Though with the Ootori family, as long as they had Tenma and her grandfather, they would probably never have trouble surviving anywhere... Still, the Magic Bag still had plenty of room, so gathering these supplies would not go to waste at all.
"In that case, I'll talk to the ones who haven't shown up yet. If they're going to sell, should they bring everything here directly?"
"That's fine. I'll make sure we can buy everything as soon as it arrives. The purchase prices can be whatever each shop is currently charging, so it would be helpful if you could have them put together a list beforehand.
Also, before you go, could you have everyone here decide on a tent location and let me know who's using which spot and how many people?"
"Sure, got it. I probably won't be around, so I'll pass the word along to someone else to report back."
"Primera, shall I make some tea?"
"Yes, please. Put out some snacks too, and let's have Jeanne take a break with us. I think Aura will be back soon, so make enough for three."
Once Mark left, Jeanne switched back to her usual tone and made tea. Lately—or rather, ever since her pregnancy was discovered—the tea had mainly been herbal tea, so Jeanne naturally began preparing three cups of herbal tea.
"I thought it would feel lonely without Tenma, her grandfather, and Amur, but it got even livelier than usual right away."
"It really did. But even so, the people who are normally just... there... not being here—it's still lonely."
I didn't know when the Otore household would fully regain its usual liveliness, but when I told Jeanne I hoped it would happen as soon as possible,
"That's true, but by then we might have one more person's worth of bustle added."
she answered.
End of Primera's Side