Chapter 168
By the time Leo and the others reached Rostock.
Farther east, the Imperial army had deployed.
It was a unit dispatched from the Northern Border Defense Army, which guarded the northern frontier.
The unit was led by Gordon, who had risen to deputy commander of the garrison.
His orders were to monitor the Spirit Turtle and rescue as many civilians as possible.
But.
"What did you just say...? !"
At headquarters, Sonia stood before Gordon and slammed her hand against the desk.
That order was unbelievable.
"Don't make me repeat myself. We won't send in the unit."
"Haven't you heard the reports that there are villages in that forest!?"
"I have."
"Then you should send a rescue unit immediately!"
"The Spirit Turtle has stirred the monsters into activity. Sending troops in there would result in considerable losses. This is not the time to waste our limited manpower."
Gordon folded his arms and stared down Sonia as she voiced her objections.
Gordon had been sent to the north and separated from his aides. As a result, Sonia, too, had been kept alive as a valuable asset without being held responsible for her failures.
Sonia had lost the will to live, believing she would eventually be killed after all her failures. But the crisis facing the civilians had restored her resolve, and she proposed sending a unit to Gordon. He rejected her proposal all the same.
"Waste...? Isn't protecting the people a soldier's duty!?"
"My duty is to protect my men."
"Are you merely justifying yourself!? The orders you were given are to save as many lives as possible! You should draw your own sword to save both civilians and your men! The least you could do is try!"
"The decision has already been made. It won't change."
Gordon waved his arm as if to dismiss her.
Seeing this, a guard seized Sonia by the arm, but Sonia glared at him with such intensity that he backed off.
"Let go."
"Ugh..."
"...Your Highness. This is my final appeal. You should lead the troops to rescue the civilians immediately. That is the path to becoming emperor."
"You're persistent. I don't fight battles that have no value."
Hearing that, Sonia let out a deep sigh.
For someone seeking the throne, helping the people was only natural. It was a matter in which one ought to give one's all.
Once he became emperor, he would have to save all his people. That was what it meant to be emperor.
Yet Gordon's eyes held no concern for the people. He thought only of his own men. Surely that was because he would need them in the struggle for the throne.
If he would not protect those he did not need, then such a man could never become emperor.
"As I thought, you don't have what it takes to be emperor..."
"Whether I have what it takes isn't for you to decide."
"You're right. But I will never acknowledge you as emperor. Nor will I acknowledge a soldier who refuses to protect the people. You have failed both as a prince and as a soldier."
Gordon did not move in response to Sonia's declaration.
He could draw his sword and behead her right now, but that would be nothing more than a pointless death. If she was going to die, he might as well make her useful to him first.
As Gordon was thinking this, Sonia proposed something as if she had seen right through him.
"I'll lead the unit myself. It will consist only of volunteers. That way, you can dispose of me and any other malcontents who are a nuisance to you, while also showing everyone around you that you made at least the minimum effort. How does that sound?"
"Oh? Are you planning to die for my sake?"
"Not for your sake... I... I'm just doing what I can."
Those were the words Grau had said to her.
Do what you can.
Sonia had thought about those words constantly.
What had she been able to do? What could she do now?
When she thought it through, Sonia returned to her father's teachings. Her father had taught her military strategy for her sake and for the sake of the people.
Just as he had saved Sonia, her father had always acted for the people.
That was why Sonia had admired him.
However, after her family was taken hostage, Sonia had become the opposite of the father she admired.
Sonia had always employed fifty-fifty strategies—plans that could go either way.
They were convenient for Sonia and always gave her an excuse. She had become completely unlike her father.
What would her father have done? He would surely have thought about what was best for the people and acted on it.
Until then, Sonia had been like a bat, never committing to either side. That was precisely why Grau had reprimanded her.
Sonia could not claim that she had done everything she could. And yet she had wished to be saved.
That way, no one would save her, and she would be unable to save anyone.
Once Sonia had prepared herself to die, her vision became clear. She would act solely for the people, so she would not disgrace the father who had raised her this far.
Even if it ultimately brought about her father's death.
"This military strategy exists for the sake of the people. Your sword, too, should be wielded for the people. Those who forget that can never achieve victory. I was the same way."
"I'm not like you. If you're going to die, I won't stop you. Die however you like—for my sake."
Sonia realized that words would accomplish nothing and turned on her heel.
She gathered all the soldiers and called for volunteers.
Of the more than three thousand soldiers, thirty-seven resolved to accompany Sonia and save the people.
For a unit under Gordon's command, that was an almost miraculous number.
Leading them, Sonia headed into the forest.
■■■
After entering the forest, Sonia and the others came under attack from a huge number of monsters.
Their survival instincts had been stimulated by the mighty threat known as the Spirit Turtle, making them unusually aggressive and confused.
While repelling them, Sonia and the others made their way toward the forest's exit.
"We're almost there! Don't stop running!"
Sonia and the others had found villagers being attacked by monsters in the forest and succeeded in protecting them.
There were more than fifty of them.
Their numbers were far too few to fight while protecting all those people, but Sonia nonetheless defended them with precise instructions and guided them toward the forest's edge.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry, but please hang on a little longer."
"Nonsense, I'm fine. What about you, young lady?"
Sonia spoke to the elderly dwarf they had rescued along with the villagers. The old man appeared to have gotten lost in the forest, and Sonia and the others had found and protected him when they happened to pass by.
The short, white-haired old man walked with a white cane, so Sonia kept an eye on him. Each time, however, he assured her that he was fine.
"Still, you're awfully kind for an elf girl."
"Huh?"
"I'm a dwarf, you know, and it's been a long time since an elf girl treated me kindly. You're a good-natured young lady."
"I'm... a half-elf."
When the conversation turned to elves, Sonia told him this with a downcast expression.
But after the dwarf raised his eyebrows in surprise, he smiled.
"I see, I see. Then that makes sense. Elves are beautiful and skilled at magic, but their reclusiveness is their one flaw. You have human blood, too, young lady. You're beautiful, good at magic, and kind like a human. You've got nothing but good points, don't you?"
"Nothing but good points...?"
It was an answer Sonia never could have expected.
She had never met anyone who viewed half-elves so positively.
What was more, he was a dwarf, a race on notoriously bad terms with the elves.
"Grandpa... don't you dislike elves?"
"There are some I dislike. But there are good elves, too. Humans are the same. It would be foolish to lump them all together."
"I see... You're kind, Grandpa."
"Kind...? I wonder. I've lived as I pleased. I listened to voices and traveled wherever they drew me. I simply act as I please wherever I am, so I suppose that isn't kindness. You, on the other hand, are undeniably kind."
"I'm... not kind either."
"You are. You're risking your life to protect someone."
"I'm... a soldier."
She did not officially belong to the military.
Even so, Sonia considered herself a soldier, just as her father had been.
She had wanted to be a soldier who protected the people.
"That can't be lumped together, either. There are good soldiers and bad soldiers. You're a good soldier. You wear a uniform bearing your country's crest. You understand very well what that means."
The old man said this and smiled at Sonia.
Then he immediately looked ahead.
They had reached the edge of the forest.
Sonia and the others burst out of the forest.
But what greeted them was a fierce melee between Leo's group and the monsters. From where Sonia stood, the battle was taking place diagonally ahead to the right. The civilians faltered at the sight of the fighting so close by.
"What is this...?"
For an instant, Sonia did not understand what was happening, but she quickly assessed the situation.
The knights were fighting the monsters, spread out in a line.
They were probably fighting to prevent the monsters from getting through to the rear.
That was all she needed to know.
"Run straight ahead! Don't look back!!"
Sonia gave them the order, then told the soldiers to spread out in a line.
They had to stop the monsters coming from that direction.
The fact that the knights were holding that line meant that everything beyond it was a safe zone.
They had to get the civilians there.
Having made that judgment, Sonia ordered all the soldiers to ready their bows.
"Hold until my signal! Now, run!"
At Sonia's words, the civilians suppressed their fear and started running.
Meanwhile, the old man was looking toward the other side of the forest.
"You too, Grandpa! Hurry!"
"Hmm, it seems the place I wanted to go was over there."
"We can't do that now! Hurry!"
Sonia forced the old man onto the horse she had been riding and set it running.
"Whoa there! Young lady! Isn't this a little reckless?"
"It's all right... I'll protect you. I promise."
Sonia said this as she drew the monsters that had spotted them toward herself.
Then she gave the signal at the last possible moment.
"Fire!!"
Sonia herself unleashed fire magic, blasting the approaching monsters.
The volley made the monsters recoil.
During that opening, Sonia issued another order.
"Fall back ten paces!!"
They opened up some distance and prepared for the next volley.
It was an effective way to buy time.
However, it was not a way to overcome their current situation.
It was a strategy that sacrificed her own safety. Even so, Sonia chose it.
A halfhearted strategy that could go either way would save no one.
The civilians' safety came first. Once that was secured, if they still had the strength, they could use every means at their disposal to break through the danger.
"I'm being persistent today...!"
Sonia repeatedly intercepted the monsters and drew their attention toward her group.
As a result, most of the monsters turned their attention to Sonia and the others.
The melee broke apart, freeing Leo and the others to move to protect the civilians Sonia had sent running.
Amid this, Linfia spoke in a surprised voice.
"Grandpa?"
"Oh! Aren't you the kind young lady I met before? Have you been well?"
Linfia was bewildered by the dwarf's carefree voice, which made it hard to believe he had been chased by monsters.
This was the lost old man she had met in the south. Why was he here?
"What brings you here?"
"I thought I'd finish a job I'd left undone long ago. Entering the forest went well enough, but I got lost in it for a whole week and was quite at a loss."
"A whole week? Why didn't you get someone to guide you...?"
"There aren't many kind people around. When I was in trouble, that girl over there came to my aid."
Saying this, the old man pointed at Sonia, who was surrounded by monsters.
Seeing Sonia, Leo reacted.
"Her... I believe..."
"You know her, Prince Leonart?"
"Huh? Ah, not well enough to call her an acquaintance... Have I met you somewhere before?"
"We met once when you were a child. How is your father? He doesn't seem to have been governing the country very well lately."
"Oh, yes, he's well, but..."
"A country with too many grieving people is no good. The fewer voices calling for me, the better."
Saying this, the old man slowly dismounted and looked a short distance ahead while leaning on his white cane.
At the end of his gaze, Sonia and the others were surrounded by a huge number of monsters. Escape was no longer possible.
Amid this, the old man slowly twisted his white cane. When he pulled on it, a concealed sword emerged from inside.
He readied it and muttered:
"That one would notice me. I would rather not wield this, but... I cannot abandon those waiting for my help."
With that, the old man swung the sword casually.
No—it only looked that way. In reality, he swung the sword repeatedly at a speed that could be called divine.
The slashes that sprang from those swings cleaved the monsters surrounding Sonia and the others with precision and mercilessness.
Seeing the monsters before her fall in an instant, Sonia turned in surprise toward the source of the slashes. The dwarf stood there calmly.
"Who are you...?"
"My name is Egor. I am Egor, an SS-rank adventurer. People call me the Lost Sword Saint. I've come to slay the Spirit Turtle."
The dwarf, Egor, said this and laughed merrily.