The northern army confronting the Old Kingdoms' loyalists. Their commanding officer was the Twenty-Fourth General of Aureatia, Dant the Heath Furrow.
I don't like it.
The Imag North Flats had the perfect topography to set up camp. To the east, there was a large canal. In front of them, in the direction of Toghie City, was a thick forest. Behind them on their southern flank was Imag City, assuring that they wouldn't have any trouble with their supplies. As long as they were able to handle this plateau, conveniently free from harmful insects and fauna, Imag City wouldn't fall.
…However. All of this only served to make Dant feel like the ease of their position was being exploited.
On the other side of the forest, the Old Kingdoms' army, from their base in Toghie City, was still recruiting participants from the frontier beyond Aureatia's reach, and they were growing in numbers. Up until only a few days prior, the calamitous Particle Storm threatened Aureatian home soil, and the necessary division of their large forces here left them unable to expect any reinforcements for the time being.
Doesn't seem right. My forces alone can't keep them in check forever. So I'm supposed to throw my troops at them little by little and try to get them out by attrition? Royal games, Particle Storm… Every single one of them going on about heroes and champions, spouting absolute hogwash. Am I the only one who can see the real problem right in front of us?
The general commanding this northern army was Twenty-Fourth General, Dant. With him was the Ninth General, Yaniegiz. If they were solely holding out and keeping the enemy in check, they had enough military power to do so—that much was certain. There was a difference in both equipment and training between Aureatia and the Old Kingdoms' army. However, given their strategy to use the Particle Storm to attack Aureatia without using any of their troops ended in failure, it was all but assured they would quickly attempt a show of force. The Old Kingdoms needed to bring the war with Aureatia to a close in as advantageous a position as possible. If there was a target they could set their sights on for such a task, it would be Dant's troops, facing off against them as one of Aureatia's main frontline forces.
Holding out against an attack isn't enough. If we're going to win, we need to completely stamp them out. Aimlessly drawing out the conflict is going to exhaust our own troops and drain the resources of the territory we're trying to take back in Toghie City.
Troop strength had been divided to help with the evacuation of the Gumana Trading Post, where the Particle Storm was set to pass through, but conversely
there were no reinforcements for this region, where a clash of arms was all but guaranteed. Dant believed this rigid troop placement was linked with the management of the Royal Games.
Sixth General Harghent and the like had cast aside any appearances of being a military officer and were off searching for candidates to become the True Hero. An appalling state of affairs.
No reinforcements are coming here. Yet Gilnes plans to make his move in a few days. Taking command of the front lines is that Caneeya the Fruit Trimming... So it'll all depend on her tactical approach, then?
He heard Caneeya the Fruit Trimming was a valiant woman of Herculean strength, no less than Gilnes himself, and born with an extremely large physique. If this current deadlock was something she intentionally set up herself, then he couldn't afford to make light of her tactical ingenuity, either.
The Imag North Flats were suited for defense. The same was true for offense, however.
In addition to the narrow road utilized for merchant travel built to pass through the lowland forest, the marsh that circumvented the forest was a wurm habitat, making it impossible for even an army like Aureatia's to avoid enormous losses.
A forest that restricted a large army's freedom of movement—and a marshland that carried the danger of wurms. There was no means to skillfully deploy the massive force of arms defending Aureatia.
Nevertheless, if necessary, they could easily retreat back and hole up inside Imag City. If it came to this, they would likely be able to hold out for a considerable period of time.
Though, the burden placed on Imag City would be substantial. It could possibly cause a decline in Imag's support for the Aureatia Council. Once there's a negative effect on the people, they were quick to turn hostile.
At the moment, with the Royal Games close at hand, Dant wouldn't be let off lightly if he prolonged Aureatia's plans.
When his thoughts had reached this conclusion, a messenger made their return to camp headquarters to give their report.
"Commander, sir. Regarding the scouts sent to try breaking through the woods—three were killed in action, and another's been heavily wounded. Traps and skilled guerilla soldiers lay waiting in ambush, making an advance through the forest difficult."
"…I see. Safe to assume the forest's been fully fortified. Send the scouts who
made it back to headquarters. Once I've gathered all the info on the current state of affairs, I'll share it with everyone."
The soldiers, fed up with the deadlock, had recruited volunteers to attempt a reconnaissance mission, but things ended exactly as Dant expected they would. Would these four sacrifices be enough to check the soldiers' impatience?
Charging through with brute force would lead to heavy losses. Though it wouldn't be totally impossible, this should be enough to make them think twice about any aggression on our part.
Burning down the entire forest surrounding the main road was likely the quickest method.
However, surely their enemy was aware that wasn't something they could do easily.
This forest was a valuable asset for Imag's lumber industry, and if Aureatia burned down the forest, he'd have to bear in mind the several years of compensation they'd need to pay the city for their loss.
On the other hand, the Old Kingdoms' loyalists did not have such shackles placed on them. Their foe could burn down this protective barrier and come attacking them as soon as they finished making the necessary preparations.
Advance forward and sacrifice the forest or fall back and place the burden on Imag City. If we'll be criticized either way, it'd be better to act fast, but…
If they could hold out until Aureatia dispatched reinforcements, they could send a large, detached force around, avoiding the marshlands while they traveled, and besiege the Old Kingdoms' loyalists while Dant kept things under control where they were. This was currently the role Dant's assistant was asked to play.
If their reinforcements made it there faster than the enemy army could make their move, there'd be no need to take any risks. However, that truth also served to make them hesitant to act at all.
"…Commander, reporting, sir! An army believed to be with the Free City of Okafu is currently advancing this way!"
"Okafu?!"
"Two thousand strong! Currently, they're marching down the Kameeke Highway!"
Dant quickly spread out a map. The arrangement was supposed have Twenty- Seventh General Hardy keeping Okafu's movements in check. In fact, they had suffered significant losses from the attacks of Kazuki the Black Tone, who Hardy had dispatched to handle things, and Dant had assumed they'd be unable
to make any moves.
That wasn't it, though. First of all, why were they purposefully making their way to Dant's encampment? Even if they did have plans to make an attack on Aureatia, there were a number of other important positions it would be better to attack first.
"Mercenary bastards… Are they trying to join up with the Old Kingdoms' loyalists?! Muster all the unit captains together. We're turning back to Imag City!"
"You're saying to abandon the plan?!"
"That's right! They're charting a course to split the battle lines from the flank! If our retreat path is blocked off, and they restrict our link to Imag City, this plateau'll turn into nothing but a weather-beaten tomb! We need to withdraw as soon as possible, or we're all going to dry up!"
There was time to withdraw the entire army, judging from the Okafu army's position. As long as they had the forest blocking their advance, the Old Kingdoms' army wouldn't be able to charge down Dant's retreating forces.
Nevertheless, Dant had ultimately been driven into choosing to retreat.
Did this mean Okafu's schemes had gotten the best of that old man Hardy? If the Old Kingdoms' loyalists anticipated reinforcements from the Free City of Okafu, then just how much were they playing into their hands?
Dant gnashed his teeth.
I don't like it.
"Really."
Commander of the front lines, Caneeya the Fruit Trimming, smiled and nodded, just as she would've in peacetime.
The soldiers' eyes weren't able judge whether she was truly smiling, but even when standing on a blood-drenched battlefield, no one had ever seen this expression of hers waver.
"What exactly is Okafu's goal here?"
"Maybe they intend on gift wrapping Aureatia's destruction before surrendering to our forces. Whatever it is, right now they're neither our enemy nor our ally…"
Caneeya's thick arms twirled her sword, shaped like a thick cleaver.
She had a hunch a fight was coming. This hunch wasn't of an intense battle where both sides straddled the line between life and death, either, but instead of a ravaging overrun bringing victory.
"But we can use them."
"If now's the time our enemy makes their move, then now's the time we should make ours."
"Indeed. We'll pass through the forest."
The Old Kingdoms' army placed their elite troops in the forest, blocking reconnaissance attempts from the Aureatian side.
They were waiting for the moment Dant's army withdrew. The Aureatia army, taking the high ground on the plateau, thought they could look out over the entire forest. However, as long as they were only looking at the forest from the Imag City side, they were bound to have blind spots. It was information even the Aureatian spy unit infiltrating Toghie City wouldn't have picked up on from their position.
"Passing through the path we cleared, of course."
The dense forest had been largely carved out on the Toghie City side.
The impenetrable wood that blocked any invaders was deforested except for the single defensive stretch—and carried by the canal to the east side of the forest. From the moment she had created a deadlock with Aureatia's force, Caneeya had begun planning for this moment.
Without the dense forested terrain, their cavalry troops wouldn't have their mobility limited. Quickly launching a large force was possible. Using this defensive opening, they would charge into Aureatia's retreating forces with everything they had.
None of the Aureatia army would be safely arriving in Imag alive. "Let's go. Gilnes is sure to be happy, too."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Thus, Caneeya placed the cavalry unit under her command on the vanguard, and the large army made the ground quake.
Most of those who gathered in Toghie City were ragtag foot soldiers, but that wasn't true of Caneeya's troops. They were all battle-proven warriors, once part of the Central Kingdom's regular army, and all regulated under one idea.
"Onward, cavalry troops! I'll prove there's no ambush waiting for us!" With Caneeya's battle cry came a loud response echoing over it.
The thunderous sound of hooves trampling over the earth. The entire army
flowed into the empty stretch of forest under the enemy's blind spot. As they charged forward, Caneeya's smile widened even further.
The enemy general remained unaware that such a massive host was closing in right behind them. She envisioned her enemy awakening to their tactical defeat and dying amid complete bewilderment.
"All right, all right, all right! Twenty-Fourth General Dant. Your head's mine!"
She charged up the hill at full speed. Naturally, there was no ambush after she exited the forest. In response to the Free City of Okafu's movement from the flank, Dant must have acted to ensure the smallest number of casualties. Since he had always had a secure path of retreat, there was also no reason to risk his troops' lives by placing some of them in the rear guard.
When she created the deadlock, that terrain became the winds that would drive her army and her army alone to victory, as if she had personally ordered it made that way herself—
…Suddenly.
A suspicion flashed in the back of Caneeya's mind.
…As if I ordered it myself?
It was at that exact moment.
A terrifying rumbling, different from the kind made by soldiers and horses, sounded along with agonized cries at her back.
The soldiers charging alongside stopped their horses one after another, looking to their comrades behind them. Caneeya saw it last. Disaster had struck.
Turbid waters flowed out from the canal like a powerful dragon, fully swallowing up all the soldiers left behind in the lowlands.
As if she ordered it herself.
The trees that originally would have prevented any flooding, Caneeya had cut down herself.
"It can't be… The levee!"
Right as the large force behind Caneeya passed through the lowlands, the levees on the eastern canal were destroyed. Why?
There shouldn't have been any elements of the deforestation that had been leaked. At the very least, not to Aureatia.
…Who? It was someone. Not Aureatia's army.
It couldn't have possibly been Aureatia. She could see from atop the hill.
There were people lying in ambush on the higher ground, shooting down and killing the soldiers as they fled piecemeal from the floodwaters pouring in.
A small, nimble, and unseen—or at least, not seen in the past several decades
—race of creatures.
Goblins appeared from within the forest and killed her soldiers. A trap. Battle strategy. Group tactics. Her elite guerilla troops, completely and unilaterally bested by base, inferior goblins.
"...Rescue those who lagged behind. Any objections?" "…General Caneeya! Wh-what is that?!"
Instead of answering her, the staff officer pointed at the hill. Caneeya looked at the individual up in front of them.
A grotesque monster was waiting for them.
As if it had known somehow that Caneeya's troops would show up at this spot.
"ANYONE. ANYONE HAS, IN THEIR BODY, THE GROUNDING OF A HERO."
It looked like a massive wolf, but its gleaming silver-and-blue fur was nothing like a wolf's natural fur.
The creature slowly moved its head and looked at the young new recruit. "THE TENDONS OF THAT MAN'S FEET POSSESS WONDERFUL
INSTANTANEOUS FORCE. JUST HIS LEG STRENGTH ALONE…HAVE TALENTS EVEN RIVALING DOMENT THE GREEN SASH."
The soldier didn't wait for any orders before aiming his bow at the wolf. A dangerous creature, beyond any doubt.
The wolf didn't move. It seemed to be sizing up the people in front of it. "...YOU, OVER THERE... YOU POSSESS A BODY ILL-
SUITED FOR ARCHERY. THE CONDITION OF YOUR BRACHIAL MUSCLES SUGGESTS AN UP-AND-DOWN MOTION. TECHNIQUES THAT INVOLVE SWINGING DOWNWARD—SWORDPLAY, FOR EXAMPLE."
There was the twang of an arrow being loosed, and the monster violently shook its body.
However, that was the extent of it. The beast tossed the arrow it had stopped with its teeth to the ground before continuing to speak.
"…OTHERWISE, THIS IS ALL YOU CAN MUSTER."
"I'm going to bring this thing down," Caneeya muttered as she twirled her massive sword.
With eyes betraying none of its emotions, the monster replied,
"IT IS REGRETTABLE TO BE MET WITH HOSTILE BEHAVIOR…
THOUGH, I AM AS MUCH TO BLAME. LET ME TELL YOU MY NAME."
With a loud smacking sound—its colossal back spread open.
It was an indescribable transformation, an inconceivable shift from its elegant wolf form.
Sprouting up in droves from within its body's cavity were an innumerable number of arms.
"I AM OZONEZMA."
Patched together with tendons and gold wire, each one carrying sharp medical instruments…the white arms of minian corpses.
"I AM A CHIMERA."
Shortly after wiping out the Old Kingdoms' army, an Okafu army messenger contacted Dant the Heath Furrow. The contact came promptly, as if they had foreseen Aureatia's path of retreat.
"...What's going on?!"
He thought it was a trap, attacking from their flank to cut off their retreat, but given that the Old Kingdoms' army was annihilated in an instant, it was clear to Dant that they weren't a military force he had originally taken them for.
"Okafu made their move! The Old Kingdoms' army is destroyed! None of this makes sense!"
"...A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Milord Dant."
The messenger coolly began to speak. A lone goblin followed at his side.
His name was Hiroto the Paradox. The musket distributor, the Gray-Haired Child. An enigmatic visitor.
"Hiroto the Paradox…! What…? Just what are you plotting?! Working for Okafu, are you?!"
"Not at all. This is not under Okafu's orders, but rather, my own idea. I came calling because I felt it best to assist you, Milord Dant."
"…You think I'll believe those words? Trying to make feel me indebted by stepping into a battle out of the blue and saving us? Your pretext for conquering Aureatia, is it, then?!"
"Milord Dant. Please think over it carefully."
Hiroto casually leaned over while lacing his fingers together.
"How does the Aureatia homeland view this situation? I imagine they don't want you making any unnecessary moves during this deadlock with Toghie City and are planning to suppress them with reinforcements from the homeland as soon as the aftermath of the Particle Storm is dealt with. Wouldn't these current events be viewed as you making negotiations without permission from General Hardy, tasked with suppressing Okafu, and utilizing their mercenaries as your reinforcements?"
"And from that situation, I'm saying that this all must be some trickery of yours! Do you think I won't arrest you right here and make you tell me the truth?!"
"I'm not speaking about the truth here. I'm talking about whether there's any room for interpretation. Why, Milord Dant, are you delaying reinforcements during this most difficult turning point in the war? The other general commanding the northern army… Ninth General Yaniegiz is behind in Imag City, yes? He isn't standing on the front lines himself, as the one in charge?"
"..."
"Milord Dant, you're part of the Queen's faction that doesn't wish to see a Hero-led reformation, yes? From the outset, I think it's very likely that your stationing here was something directed by the reformation faction organizing the Royal Games…to drive you into being routed back to Imag City and diminish your position and political influence. You must have realized this yourself, though."
The circumstances around the response to the Particle Storm had been different compared to a response to a onetime disaster. A military operation that incorporated multiple end goals.
There was an acceptable reason behind the delay in reinforcements from the Aureatia homeland—they were dealing with an unprecedented calamity, the Particle Storm. However, because it was such an understandable reason, it also prevented any criticism about the excessive division of troop strength between the homeland defense forces and the Particle Storm operation.
If they were just keeping the Old Kingdoms' loyalists subdued, Dant's army alone was enough for the job. However, maybe, if Caneeya the Fruit Trimming's stratagem to utilize the terrain had actually been realized in this battle…
"It will be all too easy for the reformation faction to trap you by claiming you hired Okafu to snag an expedited victory for yourself. With that in mind…we would like to aid not Aureatia, but the Queen and you yourself, Milord Dant."
"..."
In front of Dant, unable to give his answer, Hiroto used his open, outstretched palm to indicate the goblin standing beside his chair.
"Let me introduce you. His name is Zigita Zogi. During my dealing with Toghie City, I manipulated the market craftsman contractors for cheap, while conversely buying lumber at high prices. Everything was based on his ideas. The shape of that deadlock, with the forest in the middle, was simply Caneeya the Fruit Trimming turning the image she conceptualized into a reality."
"It was natural to think, from the Old Kingdoms' loyalists' perspective, they'd want to use the delay in reinforcements caused by the Particle Storm to their advantage to settle things quickly. In truth, the forest was blocking their march and getting in their way, as well. I made them consider what the quickest way for them would be to clear out that obstacle. Kwah-ha-ha-ha."
Zigita Zogi let out a chuckle, his mouth twisting hideously.
"Really, with military strategy...the more you think you've hit on some brilliant idea on your own, the easier it is to fall right into the trap laid out for you."
"..."
"What do you think? Your army is unscathed. Furthermore, our goblin army is filled entirely with his personally trained soldiers. Behind them still is the army of the Free City of Okafu. I can lend it all to you."
"A-are you trying to instigate…a revolt? Or is that intimidation?"
His outward appearance was of a boy in his early teens. His grizzled hair was the only thing that aged him.
This man was weak; that was much was certain. Weaker than both Caneeya the Fruit Trimming and Dant the Heath Furrow.
Despite it all… This man…
"Well, then. Who's to say, really. You're the ones who can decide the answer for yourselves."
"What the hell do you take me for? I… I am not a shameless man who would sell out Aureatia like this. Nor do I plan on pulling the trigger on starting a civil war, either."
"In that case, I can arrange a path forward for you that involves neither option. A path where the Free City of Okafu's army is dissolved, and they are placed completely under Aureatia's jurisdiction. I will present you the achievement of brokering such negotiations."
Even in Dant's present circumstances, appearing to have moved forward with Okafu negotiations entirely of his own accord, there was only one path that
would let the man escape being a target of criticism. It was having the threat that the Free City of Okafu posed vanish entirely.
"It doesn't make sense. What benefit do you all get out of that?"
"You seem to be gathering heroes yes? Aureatia's Twenty-Nine Officials are searching for them, I've heard."
Heroes, yet again. It was the only thing anyone was concerning themselves with.
Dant didn't like it. From the very start, nothing about this battle had sat right with him. What rubbed Dant the wrong way more than anything, though, was that he himself was getting caught up in the tide, too.
"Now…what would happen if, say, there was, in fact, more than one hero? No one has yet to confirm for themselves how exactly the True Demon King died. What if, for example, there was an allegation that someone with a huge army at their command defeated that same True Demon King with that said troop strength?"
"That'd be totally impossible…! Have you ever seen the True Demon King's power to drive anyone mad with fear?! The power to bring death, the weaker you are, the more numbers you amass, the more you face off against, the more you're driven into insanely killing each other! It'd be absolutely impossible there'd be more than one Hero! Even a child can understand that!"
"That's not something anybody is able to prove. I'm talking about whether there is enough left up in the air for that interpretation. If that hero had a nation behind them, for Aureatia, or perhaps for a majority of this world's population, could the residents of said nation be considered enemies?"
"…The Royal Games. So you lot are after the Royal Games, too?"
"I'd like to dispatch him as a possible Hero. Zigita Zogi the Thousandth. He's received the support of a goblin army and Okafu's army—and defeated a Demon King. They are champions of a shared fate."
Sweat slowly began to bead on Dant's forehead.
The meaning here was not only limited to the right to appear in the Royal Games.
As long as there was a chance they had some relation to the Hero, Aureatia would no longer be able to make any moves against Okafu. At the very least, their public position would be forced to abide by that. Hiroto the Paradox. From the very start, this man was aiming for a participation slot in the Royal Games. If he had been the one to guide every part of the situation to this end, then...
"I'll take two of the slots."
"…Two…?!"
"Yes. I'd like you to give a recommendation to a member of the Twenty- Nine Officials you find easy to manipulate and who you have some rapport with. I'm sure a general of your renown has at least one person who can fit. I'd like you and this other official to back two of our choices."
He agitated the Old Kingdoms' loyalists using both material and immaterial information, driving them to their doom.
He ended the battle without spilling a single drop of Okafu soldier blood.
He entered into an advantageous peace between Aureatia and the Free City of Okafu.
And finally…he prepared the newest battlefield.
Hiroto the Paradox had carried out all his promises to the Okafu public. "HIROTO."
A giant silhouette landed from inside the encampment walls without a sound. It looked a bit like a wolf, but the beast's appearance was unlike anything Dant had ever seen before. There had been no voices from outside that forewarned the threatening infiltration. No one had even noticed.
"YOU ARE STILL GOING? I HAVE ALREADY FINISHED MY DUTY."
"I see. Thank you for your help as always, Ozonezma."
"…I AM NOT HELPING YOU OUT. OUR RELATIONSHIP IS NOTHING MORE THAN EQUAL COLLABORATORS."
…He didn't know when things had shifted.
Dant was no longer able to kill the frail boy where he stood.
While keeping his attention rapt with their negotiations, the boy summoned two types of brute force to his side. What was there Dant could do now? Okafu's army would be dissolved, the achievement would be credited to him, clearing him of any doubt, and in exchange, he would back the two in front of him as hero candidates. Could Dant think up any other solution right here on the spot that would surpass Hiroto's demands?
"Two slots. These two here, are my hero candidates." Tactician. Goblin. Zigita Zogi the Thousandth.
Medic. Chimera. Ozonezma the Capricious. And finally.
"You… Damn you… Hiroto the Paradox! Just what in the world are you?!"
Standing before Dant as he smacked his desk and jumped to his feet, Hiroto spread out his hands.
Now, shouldering the control over all of this military force, he gave a
flawless smile.
"You're the ones who can decide the answer for yourselves."
He possessed world-transcending speech and negotiating gifts that sealed away any deviating choices in his audience.
He was able to understand one's mind with a simple glance, fully learning all of his enemy's wants and fears.
He birthed an unknown nation, achieving a degree of development that outstripped minian civilization.
A cultural invader who twisted all the olden logic according to his otherworldly logic.
Statesman. Minia.
Hiroto the Paradox.