The Great Battle of Zetta (3): An Unexpected Visitor

Several days had passed since we arrived at Kitzar Fortress.

"Hey, she's being chased again." Where Frein was pointing, Lufa was running away from the twin knights.

"They really like her," Ryuzel said, watching with an exasperated look.

Whenever Lufa ran away squealing, the YuiMei twins became even happier and chased her all the more. They were like cats practicing their hunting skills on a small animal.

Since Lufa was Zackhart-sama's adopted daughter, the people of the Fourth Knight Order had initially hurried to stop them. However, the twins displayed such perfectly coordinated teamwork that they could never be caught, and we ended up witnessing the bizarre sight of a large number of soldiers chasing the twins who were chasing Lufa.

After a while, the people of the Fourth Knight Order gave up.

Once they learned that Lufa's role was that of a war maiden, the older soldiers watched the three of them chase one another with fond smiles, while the younger knights looked on with interest.

An older soldier explained to me that a war maiden's role was less about earnest prayers to the gods and more about giving everyone a chance to relax like this.

It was true that maintaining a state of tension, never knowing when a battle might break out, was mentally exhausting. People in the old days had a surprisingly practical reason for bringing war maidens along.

Though I doubt they were chasing her around with anything like that in mind.

As for YuiMei, given the sort of pair they were, we naturally started calling them by their nickname. There was also the problem that when we called them Yuizest-san and Meizest-san around the people of the Fourth Knight Order, it took them a moment to realize who we meant. Even though those were their real names.

In any case, it was a good thing that Lufa helped improve the atmosphere inside the fortress. Being chased by those twins was tough, but I supposed she could keep it up a little longer.

But wait, didn't the twins need to make preparations, too? The commander of the Fourth Knight Order, Boldras-sama, looked busy running around coordinating things everywhere... Wasn't that the sort of job meant for a deputy commander or a close aide?

In any case, that was how the other units operated. It wasn't my place to interfere.

The Fourth Knight Order currently stationed at this fortress numbered 5,000 in total. Another 3,000 were at Ellen Fortress. That was the maximum number the Fourth Knight Order could mobilize.

Since this was originally the front line, roughly that many soldiers had always been stationed here. Our Roa unit, 1,800 horsemen strong, had joined them.

Boldras-sama had his hands full preparing to deploy nearly 7,000 soldiers without a hitch.

Incidentally, the Tenth Knight Order numbered more than 10,000 when fully mobilized, making it the largest of the knight orders. In contrast, the Second Knight Order, composed solely of elite cavalry, was the smallest, with just over 4,000 horsemen in total.

In terms of troop numbers, the Fourth and Fifth Knight Orders, which guarded the front lines against Golbel and the Empire, and the First Knight Order, which guarded the royal capital, came after the Tenth Knight Order. Each maintained a force of around 8,000. The remaining knight orders had roughly 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers each.

As for the Sixth Knight Order, since it was still being rebuilt, some of its members had been sent to reinforce other knight orders, leaving it with around 4,000 soldiers at present.

Even the troop numbers alone made it clear how important the Tenth Knight Order was considered. That was why, in major battles like this, it was always expected to take the front line.

For this battle, we had to conserve as many soldiers as possible and prepare for the fight against the First Knight Order...

"Roa~ Stop spacing out and give me a hand~"

Just as I was about to sink back into a sea of thought, a voice called me back to reality.

"Ah, sorry, Dick. What is it?"

The moment I turned toward Dick, a woman's scream rang out—different from Lufa's. I hurriedly looked toward the source of the voice. The one screaming was... YuiMei.

"Aaaah! Why are you here!?"

"Aaaah! Go away!"

They were noisy whether they were chasing someone or being chased.

But when I saw who they were chasing on horseback, I was surprised, too. Why was that person here?

"Hock-san...?"

"Oh, it's Roa-chan! I just came by!"

She had "just come by." This was not a "teehee" situation.

"Why are you here? Isn't the Second Knight Order on standby for deployment?"

"It's fine. My knight order can operate properly even without me."

...Didn't that mean the knight order didn't need its commander?

"Oh my, what a cold reaction. I went to all this trouble to bring you a message from Rays."

"A message from Rays-sama?"

"Yes. We received word that the Tenth Knight Order's main force would be a little late reaching its position. I came to let you know."

"The commander of the Second Knight Order came all this way just for that?"

"Sitting still isn't in my nature. Besides, I wanted to play with YuiMei for the first time in a while♪"

"No way!"

"Go back to your den!"

YuiMei tried to chase Nizhok-san away in perfectly identical poses.

"Oh my! Is that any way to speak to your teacher?"

As she said this, Hock-san slowly edged closer to them.

"Aaaah! Don't come any closer!"

"Run, Yui!"

YuiMei took off running, and Hock-san lightly urged her horse after them, calling, "Wait for me~"

Before I could make sense of what was happening, the three of them had vanished like the wind.

"...What was that all about?" Frein said, bewildered.

"Huh? That was Nizhok-sama? Huh?" Ryuzel looked utterly confused. I see—the two of them had never seen Hock-san act like that before.

"...Anyway, let's continue preparing. I'll explain everything in detail later." I brought the matter to a close, somewhat forcefully.