Master and Slaves

“Haa. For now I would like to talk about what comes next.”

Helene said that to me while sighing with an exasperated face.

Then Muriel stood between Helene and me.

“Master is still unwell, so I will.”

Muriel looked at Helene as if glaring.

“I spoke with you just now, didn’t I?”

Helene also intimidated Muriel as if she were in the way.

Sparks were flying between the two of them.

“Hey, Helene. Is here no good?”

They would probably gather the main people and hold a meeting, so here would likely be no good, but I asked just in case.

I didn’t want to worry the Dules too much.

“Yes, here is fine.”

Helene nodded readily.

“Ah, I see.”

I was a little taken aback, but I sat up from Sophia’s lap pillow and sat down.

Helene also sat in front of me, and the Dules moved behind me.

Behind Helene two men who looked like knights were standing, perhaps as escorts.

It felt like an open-air talk.

“Then… There are several matters that were decided while Hiroyuki-sama was absent.”

“In other words, even if I object…”

“The content of the decided matters will not change.”

Helene declared that airily.

In other words, that. Quietly listen to what you’re told.

“Well, I’ll listen for the time being.”

“Yes. First, it was decided that we will act separately from the people of the Cardilia Kingdom. They headed to take Cardil, the capital of the Cardilia Kingdom.”

“…Haa?! You split an already small force even further?!”

“Yes. Including dissatisfied elements was also dangerous.”

Was that old man that dangerous.

“So, can they take it with half the forces?”

“They can seize a base. However doing both maintaining it and taking Torrestia is unreasonable.”

“No, even just taking Torrestia is unreasonable, right.”

I ended up jabbing at Helene’s far too reckless statement.

Taking a capital-class city with only about a thousand people…

Muriel also could not find words and opened and closed her mouth.

“We have prepared a hidden hand for the time being. However first we need to seize a base.”

“Use that as a decoy?”

“No. We will certainly have soldiers hold out there, but whether the Torrestia army tries to take it or ignores it, we will take Torrestia.”

“How?”

“A small elite force will sneak in.”

“…It’s the royal capital, right.”

“Yes.”

“…Can you sneak in?”

“I will speak about those details later. First, I intend to seize the base within tomorrow.”

That’s awfully sudden.

“So, the base is?”

“That town.”

When I looked where Helene pointed, there was a town surrounded by castle walls on a low hill.

“That is a town called Senden, a fortress city against elves. However until now the elves have never crossed the border even once.”

“Of course. Who would go of their own will to a place with no forest.”

Sophia said words of condemnation in a somewhat high voice.

Helene’s temple twitched when she heard that.

Come to think of it, Helene hated elves.

“Sophia, be quiet a bit.”

“…Yes.”

When I admonished her to move the talk forward, Sophia drooped her ears and answered meekly.

Confirming that, Helene continued the talk.

“Senden was the last town on the road from the west to the royal capital, so it flourished as a post town. However when the rebel army occupied the royal capital, the royalist faction fled into this town and fought to the end. They defended it well, they say, but Senden fell about a month ago.”

Helene explained with a grave look.

Holding out for fifteen years near the enemy’s home base was nothing if not amazing.

There were various things that concerned me, such as what they did for food and necessities, and how they maintained morale.

Though there was also that the enemy had no interest.

“…What happened to the townspeople?”

“I do not know. However the surrounding towns and villages were already occupied by the rebel army, so there was nowhere to flee. Which means…”

“Still inside the town.”

“They may have fled into the forest, but…”

Helene looked at Sophia.

“I haven’t heard of a large number of humans fleeing into the forest.”

Sophia shook her head and answered.

“Well, it probably hasn’t become anything terrible.”

Even a rebel army, they are human.

When I spoke that optimistically, Helene denied it.

“I do not know. There is a high possibility that people of the Demon World are involved behind the rebel army. Besides there is also making an example… For now Senden is good conditions as a base. It is close to the royal capital, it was occupied recently so it will not be thoroughly dyed by the rebel army, and because it is a fortress city we can harden the defense after we occupy it.”

Well, if you think of it that way they are certainly good conditions.

“So I understand the reason for occupying Senden, but why tomorrow? It’ll be almost a forced march, right? The soldiers will be tired too.”

“That is…”

Helene pointed at Senden.

Drawn by that I also looked at Senden.

Because it was on a hill, it was easy to see.

…So that’s it.

“In other words, the fact that we can see well from here means they can also see well from over there.”

“That’s right. We never thought we would come out in a place like this.”

Helene said that as if groaning bitterly.

However then this isn’t a surprise attack, it’s an assault.

“We can’t turn back anymore, huh.”

“…”

Helene nodded with a solemn look.

“I see. Then shall we do it.”

I stood up while saying that.

“Helene, where are Harold and the others?”

“They are over there.”

Helene also stood up and pointed toward the riverside with her hand.

Several tents were pitched that way as well.

“All right, Muriel, come with me. Sara, watch the other Dules.”

“”Understood, Master.””

Muriel and Sara answered at the same time.

“What should I do.”

Sophia asked me.

“That’s right…”

Sophia can use magic, so it would widen our tactics.

“All right, come with us.”

“Understood.”

Taking Muriel and Sophia with me, I walked toward Harold, the mercenary captain.

…

“So, what do we do.”

“For now we watch the situation.”

Harold asked me with a one-handed sword slung over his shoulder.

I also stabbed Destroyer into the ground, put both hands on the bottom of the hilt, and answered.

This was a battlefield.

Yesterday after that I talked with Harold, then together with Harold held a meeting about the fighting with Helene, Julius, and the others.

Bernfried and Giacomo had taken separate action to retake the Cardilia Kingdom, so of course they were not attending the meeting.

Most of the knights had gone with Bernfried, so our forces here would mainly be infantry.

Baldo took charge of the few knights and the infantry.

However our long-range attack power was abundant.

Almost all of the archers were under Marcel’s control, and Hein led the entire magic unit.

And the healing unit had Rosina and the others as well.

Except for there being few knights, the troop types were balanced.

“So the first charge is us, huh.”

Harold muttered sarcastically.

Apparently he was remembering yesterday’s meeting.

“Isn’t that good, first spear.”

“Heh, no mistake.”

When I teased him, Harold shrugged his shoulders.

In the meeting, if the opponent was infantry, the arrangement was that we mercenaries would charge first.

If they were cavalry the knights were scheduled to charge, but what was in front of us now was infantry.

Soon after we took position and formed up, the town gate opened and enemy soldiers came out.

They also wore no armor, only several layers of clothes.

The weapons they held were hoes and spades.

Axes were still better; there were even some holding kitchen knives.

They were clearly ordinary citizens living in the town.

“Oh, oh, is this all right? Those are just townspeople.”

“…Can’t we say we won’t kill them as much as possible?”

“Haa? We’re fighting a war. If you say something that soft you’ll die.”

Well, that’s true.

“No, it’s fine. Forget it.”

“Yeah, I’ll build a mountain of corpses.”

Harold licked his lips.

For mercenaries, whoever the opponent is, if they kill them the allowance increases by that much.

The enemy in front of them was clearly an amateur when it came to war.

For Harold they would probably become a good source of money.

While feeling like I would vomit at Harold’s words, I was thinking how we could reduce damage to both friend and foe.

However in the end we had no choice but to fight with all our strength.

And finish it quickly.

If the fighting ended immediately morale would fall, and if we occupied the town the enemy soldiers would surrender, I thought.

At that moment the enemy soldiers suddenly started moving.

Still holding their weapons, they ran toward us.

There was no formation; they moved all over the place.

It was just like a disorderly mob drawn in a picture.

“All right! Shall we go too!”

When Harold raised a loud cry, the mercenaries thrust up their swords and raised war cries.

“Then I’m going, General!”

After that he spoke to me and ran toward the enemy taking the mercenaries with him.

In numbers they were a few tenths of the enemy.

However the difference in experience would be like heaven and earth.

Well, they shouldn’t lose.

While thinking that I stood on the spot.

This time I would not go to the front line.

Of course the Dules stopped me, and Helene and the others did as well.

The reason was probably that it would be a problem if I died in a place like this.

And so I had decided on watching from on high.

And this time all the Dules were around me.

It was that it would be fine because I was in the rear, but more than that the whole force had decided on a last-stand formation, so there was apparently no safe place.

Well, at our backs it was not water but the elves’ forest.

However the Dules, still unused to a battlefield, did not seem at ease.

Cathy’s face was pale, and Rina, Ilma, and Helma were barely standing with their legs trembling.

If something happened, I would flee carrying Rina, Ilma, and Helma, Muriel, Sara, and Sophia would hold the enemy soldiers, and Tiria would guard us.

Now then, having thought that far I looked at the front line.

I could tell that Harold and the other mercenaries were gradually whittling down the enemy soldiers who were attacking with numbers.

However they seemed to be struggling quite a bit.

The reason for that was in the enemy soldiers.

They faced Harold and the others with desperate looks and clung on as if ready to die.

Even if their weapons broke, even if their limbs were torn off, they crawled over their allies’ corpses and came while twisting their faces in fear.

Harold and the others were also trembling at that abnormal situation.

“…This is bad… maybe?”