Robbing an Empty House

“Wow…….”

“Wow…….”

Jedd and Penelope were looking at the wound around Ferda’s chest.

The two of them let out the exact same exclamation.

“How are you still alive?”

“It wasn’t a fatal wound. That’s the only reason.”

“Still, it’s lucky it missed your heart.”

“The bleeding wasn’t severe, so there’s no need to make such a fuss.”

The wound was fairly deep, but since the damage and bleeding were both minor, it had ultimately amounted to nothing more than a light injury.

Ironically, it was precisely because Ferda’s body was so weak that the injury had remained minor.

“Exactly.”

Penelope peered into the hole and grinned insolently.

“So you embraced him without realizing that you had horns growing out of your own head?”

“Yeah……”

“Is that Grand Duke person perhaps an idiot?”

“……”

Ferda couldn’t bring himself to answer no.

So all he could do was glare at Penelope as though he intended to kill her.

Penelope didn’t even spare that glare a thought. She merely stared at Ferda’s chest and muttered,

“Wow, I really can’t say anything but ‘wow.’ You almost went straight through the chest, didn’t you? Off to that distant place?”

“……”

“You who left a hole in my chest. You are my companion~. Ooo-ooo~. My eternal compa—pfft!”

Before Ferda could lift a hand, Jedd struck Penelope on the back of the head and knocked her unconscious.

Then he changed the subject as though nothing had happened.

“Are you still planning to set out on the campaign?”

“There wasn’t any particular problem, so I should go. And this should be more than enough to ward off bad luck, shouldn’t it?”

“That’s true. But are we really allowed to just sit here and do nothing?”

All the knights except William had been ordered to guard the main camp.

In practice, that was little different from being told to take it easy.

“There’s no role for you to play in the operation itself. It would be better for you to guard the castle and report anything that happens. And……”

“And?”

“As long as Garnet is in this castle, we can’t afford to let our guard down.”

Both Luri and Ferda would be leaving on this expedition.

The thought that Garnet might do something in this empty castle while all the key personnel were away weighed heavily on him.

“Keep an eye on Garnet. Can I trust you?”

“Don’t worry. Even if he is an old friend, he’s a knight of this castle now.”

“All right. I’ll trust you.”

“Then I’ll be off.”

Jedd dragged the unconscious Penelope away like a piece of luggage.

Then, just before the threshold, he slowed to a stop and turned his head.

“Um……”

Jedd opened his mouth as though he had been itching to say something.

“Congratulations on your first time……”

“……?”

He gave Ferda a thumbs-up, then disappeared.

Ferda didn’t understand what he meant, but he belatedly realized it had come from a thought similar to Penelope’s.

I forgot those two were birds of a feather.

With no energy left to get angry, Ferda simply closed his eyes and decided to wait for tomorrow.

……Or he tried to.

Whenever he began to fall asleep, the melody Penelope had sung kept circling in his ears.

Ferda decided to beat the hell out of that demoness the moment he got up.

* * *

Morning came.

The soldiers who had finished their preparations the night before moved busily about as they prepared to begin the march.

The forces were divided into three units.

One was the First Regiment, under Olivia’s overall command.

Another was the Second Regiment, commanded by the son of the Duke of Lutenia, the chief strategic advisor.

The last was the main force, which would remain at the castle to protect the civilians and young ladies.

Their strategy was to lure monsters from two locations at the same time, eliminate them, and secure two of them.

The provisional alliance had to deal with four in total.

The Far Eastern alliance gathered in Count Consilius’s territory would also move, but since it had no magitech, it would take on only one colossal monster.

Erika, who was carrying out the special operation, had selected twelve adventurers and formed the Eri Adventuring Party to tackle one colossal monster and eliminate six in total.

Their main objective was to completely destroy the line within three days, including travel time.

Everyone wore a grim expression.

That was true even though the monsters’ entire force was heading toward the Empire, effectively robbing an empty house.

The fact remained that they were entering a place of death.

No matter how one looked at it, this was war.

The mere word war was enough to wear people down.

“The capital of the Empire will serve as our shield, while we become the sword and eliminate the source. For your homelands and your honor……”

The princess’s practiced speech inspired everyone.

It did raise their morale, but it seemed difficult to get them fully fired up.

Olivia had said herself that she wasn’t expecting much from it.

She had a separate plan.

-We’ll force-march and approach the monsters as quickly as possible.

-What effect do you intend to achieve by doing that?

-We need to boost morale by deploying the magitech riflemen, the ones called tactical infantry.

The tactical infantry had already proven their effectiveness several times.

She had judged that if they could kill the monsters charging at them without suffering heavy casualties, morale would undoubtedly soar.

“Then I’ll contact you once we reach the first point.”

“I wish you luck.”

She looked at Ferda while fidgeting with the Alte Church’s amulet.

It meant that she was praying for him.

More than three thousand soldiers and wagons carrying supplies moved along the rough path.

The two fully prepared forces split off and continued on their way.

The First Regiment was led by Princess Olivia, with the Imperial Army at its head,

while the Second Regiment placed the son of the Duke of Lutenia, the chief strategic advisor, and his troops at the front.

Ferda moved alongside the Second Regiment, where the young master of the Lutenia family was stationed.

Ferda’s force consisted of fifty tactical infantrymen, Isabella, who served as both commander and core combatant, and Luri, who traveled alongside him.

As they proceeded along the rough path, dense forest greeted them.

“I can’t help feeling worried. It feels like we’re entering the belly of a leviathan.”

The chief strategic advisor, the son of the Duke of Lutenia, said that as he peered into the dark forest ahead.

He could not have been the only one who felt that way.

Everyone must have set foot here carrying the thought that they might die.

Ferda thought so as well.

It was then.

A sudden gust blew in, and a gigantic shadow momentarily blocked out the sun.

“W-What is that?”

“A-A monster?! Already?!”

Everyone looked up at the sky at the sudden anomaly.

They wondered if a battle would break out as soon as the march began, but that wasn’t what was happening.

“Ah……!”

“That’s……!”

The moment they recognized what it was, everyone let out an exclamation of awe.

Even Ferda did the same when he saw it.

Lower in the sky than the sun, its scales burned an even deeper red.

Two pairs of horns and wings so enormous they seemed capable of covering heaven and earth.

“A red dragon!”

“It’s Waldrova!”

“The Grand Duke has appeared!”

Waldrova made a wide circle through the sky before landing atop a lonely mountain peak.

Its bearing was like that of a sovereign who ruled over an entire mountain.