Something to Boast About

The enraged Crown Prince, Alexander Arken.

The adjutant who had delivered the report nervously answered once more.

“Y-Yes, Your Highness. The knights tried to strike at their flank to break their momentum, but ended up isolated instead….”

“What, that….”

How could they have been caught so foolishly?

No matter how Alexander thought about it, he couldn't understand.

The staff officers heard that and murmured,

“Even tactics that worked against the North’s most ferocious barbarian warriors were helplessly countered….”

“That operation should certainly have had a success rate of over ninety percent….”

The staff officers spoke as though none of it were their fault.

Alexander said irritably,

“What were the enemy’s losses?”

“Estimated at… three thousand. Of those, Meltid accounts for twenty-five hundred.”

“But it still achieved something, right? Right?”

“…….”

“Why aren’t you saying anything!? Answer me instead of hemming and hawing!”

“W-Well… Meltid are essentially just lumps of flesh. The core fighting force is the beast-type monsters….”

Killing creatures that were nothing more than lumps of flesh was useless. The most important ones were the beast-shaped monsters, yet for every five hundred of them killed, eighty thousand had been sacrificed.

It was enough to drive him mad.

Eighty thousand in total, including noncombat personnel. Could it make any sense for an entire legion to be sent out only for every one of them to make a futile blunder?

This was a tactic devised by the Empire’s foremost brains, deep in the heart of the Empire, and approved by every relevant department.

But this result had come about because they had devised their operation by treating the monster race as simply stronger monsters.

More than anything, they had sent over four times as many troops—two and a half times as many in terms of actual soldiers—so they had naturally assumed they would win overwhelmingly.

Alexander clenched his teeth and told the adjutant,

“Send reinforcements. Overwhelm them with numbers! Rework the anti-monster tactics for the Second and Third Legions, and send reinforcements, I said!”

“As you command, we should prepare reinforcements, but….”

At the lukewarm response, Alexander saw red.

In the end, he threw the chess piece in his hand at the adjutant’s head.

“What’s the problem!? Huh!? There are thirty million people in the Imperial capital—can’t you make up the numbers!?”

“The thing is… all the commanders who would be sent with the reinforcements… are lying in sickbeds.”

He was left speechless.

“All the commanders are bedridden!? Does that make any sense!?”

“After hearing the news of the annihilation, I contacted them first… They all say they’re recuperating at home. Apparently it’s some kind of epidemic, so entry to their homes is currently prohibited….”

Had the men who had been laughing in good health just that morning suddenly contracted an epidemic?

It was obvious.

They had hidden at home after hearing first that even an army of eighty thousand could not prevail.

Because they did not want to die.

With eighty thousand dead, what clever solution could they possibly have?

They were washing their hands of it.

“You… you….”

What useless bastards!

They had put on such a show of bravado, pretending to be valiant, only to act like this when they were actually needed?

His face flushed red and purple, but he cooled his anger as much as he could.

Getting worked up would only hurt him right now.

That was what he thought, but the situation continued to turn cruelly against Alexander.

“We’ve received word from the Far Eastern forces.”

“What are they doing over there?”

“They say they have eliminated six colossal monsters that breed monsters.”

They had taken out six of them in one go?

Alexander wore a blank expression, but the messenger, oblivious, continued excitedly,

“They didn’t encounter as much difficulty as expected, so they also say they’ll divide their forces again and pursue the monsters spreading toward the small villages.”

“They’re even going to pursue them…?”

“And they ask us to tell you that they’ll eliminate all six of the remaining ones within three days.”

“Within three days??”

It was an unbelievable situation.

To Alexander, it was impossible that a ragtag army could distinguish itself while even an elite legion was floundering.

“H-How many casualties did they suffer?”

Alexander estimated inwardly.

Roughly two thousand soldiers had moved out and faced several hundred monsters, so at least fifty percent—one thousand men—should have died.

Even if not, twenty percent, four hundred men, should have been killed.

The messenger answered,

“Fifty.”

Yet his estimate missed by a spectacular margin.

He wondered if the messenger had omitted a unit such as a hundred or a thousand after the number, but that was not it either.

“Fifty? Only fifty?”

“There were fifty casualties, and only ten of them died. They say they’re all safe overall. And….”

Crash!

He could say no more.

Alexander had thrown a crystal glass and smashed it into the messenger’s head.

“Drag that damned bastard out!”

Capturing the colossal monsters meant cutting off the supply of monsters.

Yet it was even more irritating news than hearing that eighty thousand men had died.

“If this continues… if this continues….”

Everything would be blamed on Alexander.

It would not merely be blamed on him; public opinion would boil over with accusations of incompetence.

That was the problem.

Failure was acceptable, but incompetence was not.

For Alexander, who had already been branded an incompetent crown prince, this was the worst possible situation.

Alexander tried to wring every bit of wisdom from his empty head.

The legion had suffered a crushing defeat.

The commanders of all the other armies that should send reinforcements were washing their hands of it.

If that happened, the operation itself would pass to the Second Prince.

The Second Prince, who had already joined hands with mercenaries and was gathering an army of his own, would gain legitimacy for his claim to the throne.

The moment this incident ended and the reckoning began, Alexander’s imperial future would be over.

‘Olivia.’

My beautiful, damned little sister.

So you’re trying to screw me over again like this.

‘The Empire….’

Alexander clenched his fist tightly.

His nails dug into his palm, and bright-red blood dripped down.

No matter what,

No matter how,

‘The Empire must be mine!’

And so Alexander sprang to his feet.

If resolving this crisis would do it, he was ready to sell even his soul to the devil.

“Y-Your Highness, where are you going?”

Ignoring the voices of those witless staff officers, Alexander started walking.

Thus, Alexander stood before the ornate door at the very rear of the Imperial Palace.

That door had not opened even once in fifteen years.

It was no different from a place where a demon had been sealed away.

But what lay beyond it was not a demon.

This was a being more awe-inspiring than a demon, an existence beyond even the Crown Prince’s power to do anything about.

Everyone took him lightly, but he was anything but easy to deal with.

Alexander knew that more keenly than anyone, so he approached the door with the utmost caution and called out,

“Father.”

The only man he could call his father was the Emperor, Godfrey Arken.

There was no answer from beyond the door.

“It’s me. Your son, Alexander.”

He continued, cringing and bowing his head obsequiously,

“The monsters are coming. I sent an army, but they say it was annihilated and the monsters are on their way to the Empire.”

“…….”

“And now, no one is willing to listen to me. If this continues, Ureus and Olivia will take everything.”

“…….”

Alexander’s blood boiled at the silence that came back.

“You always said so yourself, didn’t you, Father? You said Olivia was the best card you had. She’s moving about on her own now.”

“…….”

“She’s clearly planning to take over the political world, just as you said she would. Are you going to let her run wild as she pleases?”

He pleaded again and again, but when silence was all that came back, Alexander finally let go of the last thread of his reason.

“And you call yourself a father!?”

He exploded and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“You never cared about me from the moment I was born. You’re old, and now that your son has come of age, you should quietly hand over the throne—how much longer do you intend to cling to it!?”

“…….”

“My rebellion against you is ancient history now! Haven’t you tormented me enough as punishment? How much do you have to screw over your own son before you’re satisfied!? It’s not as if you’re going to live forever! You rotten piece of—!”

Before he could decide whether to shout even louder, a note shot out from beneath the door.

A note with only a few words written on it.

Alexander shuddered when he saw what was written on the paper.

In his heart, he muttered,

‘Choosing this damned bastard was the right decision after all.’

People went on and on about how incompetent he was, but he was a man who shone when it mattered.

Alexander grabbed the paper and hurried away.

The Crown Prince did not even thank him for his wisdom, and the door to the bedchamber of the Emperor, Godfrey Arken, remained firmly closed.

* * *

Around dawn, Ferda led the soldiers onward.

Their main strategy was to split into two battalions, spread out, get ahead of the paths of the advancing monsters, and fight a defensive battle.

The sound of hooves pounded against the ground like drums.

They would only arrive at the first point just in time if the horses kept moving without rest.

As a result of urging the horses on, the first point came into view.

The farmers who had come out early to inspect their fields wore bewildered expressions.

Seeing Ferda’s group dressed as they were, they realized they were important people, removed their straw hats, and approached.

“You seem to be an important person, but what brings you here…?”

“Has nothing happened here?”

“If you mean anything happening, not particularly…?”

It seemed they had arrived earlier than scheduled.

“Monsters! Monsters are coming!”

Correction—they had arrived right on schedule.

Ferda issued orders through amplification magic.

“All troops! Form a square formation!”

Clack-clack!

The sound of armor moving in perfect unison reverberated through their chests.

Bark bark!

The farmer let out a horrified cry, and a wolf came charging toward him.

The wolf monster had spotted him some time ago and was in the middle of chasing him.

There was no way an ordinary farmer could outrun a wolf at his own speed.

There would be casualties before he could even reach the square formation formed by Ferda’s battalion.

“Luri.”

At the same moment he called her name, Luri’s figure vanished.

She had leaped high into the sky.

Then she gripped a huge ax in both hands and drew it behind her head,

“Hup!”

And threw it straight down.

Boom!

“Aargh!”

The farmer fell forward from the tremor in the ground.

Wondering what had happened, he turned around.

The entire area had been overturned, and at its center lay the corpse of a monster, bleeding purple.

Luri’s small body settled onto the ax embedded in the ground.

She picked up the heavy ax as if it were nothing and casually let her gaze slide toward the farmer.

A shiver ran through him when he met her eerie silver eyes.

“Run. Quickly, human.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The farmer ran again.

The wolf monsters could not bring themselves to move rashly.

Those creatures, which did not feel fear, had sensed for the first time that they stood before a powerful being.

If she swung her ax, they would be beings cut down as fleetingly as a wheat field in autumn.

But Luri turned around and came back.

The wolves could not understand Luri’s actions.

But that glimmer of reason lasted only a moment before they quickly returned to their nature.

-Bark! Bark!

The wolves charged the knights forming the square and turned it into close-quarters combat.

“Hold fast! Brothers! We’re right behind you!”

“Don’t just stay behind us—help!”

The knights shouted angrily, but held firm with reassuring resolve.

Ferda was the only one fulfilling the role of a mage.

But that was enough.

He used the three third-circle mages he had brought as mana reservoirs and had them supply him with Mana Bolts.

Ferda stopped the wolf monsters’ movements by catching them just as they were about to attack, creating openings.

That was all, but even that was sufficient support.

They finished the job by driving swords into the chests of every wolf monster.

In the end, without relying on the mage’s role, the knights alone successfully drove off all the monsters.

“Hooray!”

“Victory!”

They slapped their plate armor and shouted cries of victory.

Ferda’s First Pursuit Battalion had a total of 108 men.

Five young masters, their subordinates, and troops from the young ladies’ side were moving together.

The Second Battalion consisted of 250 men, showing an overwhelming numerical difference of 142.

The numbers alone made the arrangement conspicuously uneven, but the First Battalion had no complaints.

They knew Luri’s capabilities.

She looked like nothing but a young girl in a maid’s uniform, given her small build, but there was nothing more reassuring in the world than seeing her carry an ax much larger than her body over her shoulder.

Though her falling back to the rear had left them more exposed, their morale did not fall.

Ferda’s command and support had been provided exactly where needed, allowing them to repel the monsters without a single casualty.

The young masters who had fought on the battlefield puffed themselves up with triumphant expressions.

“I can’t understand how the Imperial Army was annihilated.”

“Indeed. They’re such easy opponents.”

“Of course, it might have been impossible without Regent Ferda’s command and support!”

In reality, it had been impossible.

Creating openings by making monsters hesitate with a small amount of mana, as Ferda did, was not a technique ordinary people could perform.

‘Because I’ve fought alone so many times to capture them alive.’

He had learned firsthand where they revealed openings, and what he had learned remained unchanged even across time.

In any case, they had protected the village without relying on the Dragon Spawn.

That was what mattered.

The residents of the small village, who would have ended up as monster food if they had been even a little late, clasped their hands and prayed.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you, sir knight!”

“Might we ask your honored name?”

“Haha, of course! I am Dmitri Nazarov, future heir to the House of Count Nazarov!”

The young masters took this opportunity to loudly proclaim their names.

Even in a small village, once one’s name spread, it could be a great help in advancing one’s career.

Luri looked at them pityingly and asked,

“Aren’t you going to boast of your name too, Lord Ferda, among those fools?”

“Is there any need?”

“If you aren’t going to do things like that, why did you refuse this unpleasant work?”

Luri asked with a grumble.

“I need something to boast about.”

“Something to boast about?”

Ferda had thought of it when he was told they had to split into two again.

That sacrificing a few small villages was only natural.

Like the other young masters—or rather, even more than them—he would have been indifferent to the sacrifices.

But, unbidden, Valdrova’s figure came to mind.

Would she weigh the pros and cons in a situation like this?

Even if she were mistaken for an evil dragon, protecting everyone, and loving everyone all the same, was the reason she lived.

That was why Ferda answered,

“Because she would never stand by and do nothing.”

Ferda had come here to do what Valdrova could not.

That was why Ferda could not stand idly by either.

At the very least, when he spoke with her again, he wanted to give her even a little good news.

That he had saved many people with his own hands.

He wanted to receive that purely joyful emotion as a gift.

That pure desire was what moved Ferda.

“So in the end, you did all this because you wanted something to boast about to Mistress.”

“Yes.”

“That’s very doglike.”

Ferda turned his head toward Luri.

“Was that an insult?”

“You always tell me I’m doglike, or like a dog and pig, and then claim it wasn’t an insult. Why is it an insult when I say it?”

“Isn’t that because you didn’t normally think of me that way?”

“I think of Lord Ferda as a masochist, so may I call you a masochistic pervert?”

“No.”

“Why not me?”

It was not only simple slander that was untrue; there was an even simpler reason.

“I’m the fiancé, and you’re the attendant.”

“……May I prod the place where you were pierced by Mistress’s horn just one more time?”

Veins rose on her face, making her expression look ferocious.

Her slender finger reached toward Ferda’s chest.

That was when it happened.

“An unexpected situation has arisen.”

One of the messengers being used as a mana reservoir spoke urgently.

“What is it?”

“They say the speed of the monsters spreading out has changed. They’re running at full speed toward the third point.”

Ferda’s next destination was where Hellus Fobidas, their primary target, was located.

Not only would they have to break through and pass through that place, but considering the horses’ speed, they would already be too late by the time they arrived.

In that case, they had no choice but to make the best choice.

“We’ll have to change the point and save the village beyond it.”

What could not be saved had to be abandoned.

It was a coldhearted choice, but unavoidable.

Nothing in the world could be perfect.

“There’s no need.”

It was Luri who interrupted.

Luri said as she rested the ax on her shoulder,

“I’ll go there.”

“You?”

“I’m the only one who can get there in one go anyway, and I should be able to handle it alone, so there’s no problem.”

If Luri went, the operation could proceed smoothly again.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. This is for my sake.”

“For your sake?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to look cool in front of Mistress?”

Luri snorted.

“I’m going to look cool in front of Mistress too.”

Though she said that, Luri did not actually need to do this.

This was for Ferda.

It was a kindness meant to ensure that the story he told would not include the fact that he had had to abandon a small village.

He was grateful for her thoughtfulness.

“Return safely.”

“Take good care of yourself, Lord Ferda. If you get even a scratch, you’ll have to scrub yourself hard to get the grime off.”

He did not understand how getting a scratch meant having to scrub off grime, but it did not matter.

It meant that Luri, too, simply wanted Ferda to return safely.

Luri spread the wings she had kept hidden.

And the instant she moved them once, her figure shot away like a comet.

“Whoa…….”

“That’s a Silver Dragon Spawn……!”

Since Luri had never shown off her horns or tail, the troops were spellbound by the sight and stared fixedly at the spot she had passed through.

They could not afford to delay even for a moment. Ferda shouted at them,

“We move too!”

More than a hundred horses raced across the plains once again.

Thanks to riding for about two hours, they reached the area before the monsters entered it.

But an utterly unexpected presence was waiting to greet them inside.