Robert Ferrum. That was King Ferm's real name.
　His father said to him before he died, "Listen, Robert.

　"Listen, Robert," he said before he died, "you were born to be a man. "You were born to be a man and you will rise above it.

　Robert followed his words.
　As a wealthy clan, he stretches his voice a little more and submits to the wealthy families around him.

　Their master, Lagow As, is a man who is only good at being kind, and he is constantly losing power.
　He gradually gains the trust of his people.

　Then one day, a famine strikes.
　The famine is so great that the people have to abandon their children in droves. Lagow was unable to offer any solution to it.
　Naturally.
　Nothing he could do would increase the harvest or make the bread gush forth.

　But unreasonably, the dissatisfaction with the unreliable tycoon continued to grow.

　'Lagow is exploiting the wealth of his people and living a life of luxury!　I will not allow this to happen!
　Robert shouted loudly.
　Many of the great families and people agreed with him.

　In no time at all, the rebels led by Robert surrounded and attacked the residence of Lagow.
　They succeeded in taking Lagow's head off.

　But there was one problem.
　The whereabouts of his wife and children - Lagow's wife, two sons, and one daughter - are not known.

　Robert leads his best men to search for this.
　He finds them trying to escape into the woods and kills his wife and two sons.

　Then he raised his sword to kill the last child.
　He thought.

　(Is he still so young?)

　Robert looked at the girl in front of him - Tetra.
　She looked nothing like Lagow. He remembered that she was a very clever child.

　The As and the Fermes were relatives, and Robert had taken care of this little girl for a while.

　Of course, keeping her alive was not an option.
　Because there is nothing to be gained by letting her live.

　There is no option to make her his wife because this child will hate him.
　But if you confine him, there is a possibility that he will be carried away someday.

　Letting him go is out of the question.

　But he didn't kill her.
　He let it go.

　The child, the wolf would kill him anyway, or he would die of hunger and eat poisonous grass.

　He killed his master, killed his innocent wife and children, and yet he missed his youngest daughter.
　His actions seem inexplicable.
　Did he owe them a little bit of a debt, or was he trying to atone for his sins?

　Regardless, he had made the biggest mistake of his life.





　'A bad crop....'
　Ferrum laments as he looks at the field.
　The harvest is only a month away, but I can tell by looking at them that the wheat is not doing well.
　We managed to survive last year's famine with the tribute from the village in the forest and the grain we plundered from King Rosais' country...
　It looks like we're going to have to do the same thing this year.

　At the same time as Ferrum lamented, a soldier came in.
　He held a small tube in his hand.

　The soldier handed the tube to Ferrum.

　'What's wrong?'
　The deputy asked Ferm.
　To which Ferm replied with a grin.
　'A messenger pigeon from the rats we had lurking in King Rosais's country. 'They say King Rosais has fallen.'
　Hearing this, the second in command grinned too.

　'Well, it won't kill you. It's the usual seizure. However, it's true that we can't take command. We're going to invade King Rosais's country.
　But we're running out of food.

　The deputy says.
　He grins.

　'What are you talking about? You're going to fight to secure those troops, aren't you?　At the very least, it's enough for three days' worth of food. We can take the rest.
　Ferrum stared at the forest.

　'Up until now, I've avoided a massive march through the forest for fear of the Gryphon's wrath. But last time I found out. I'm sure his territory is deep in the forest, so as long as he doesn't violate it, there will be no problem. After all, people live in their own forest and don't complain about it. It doesn't matter if they pass through,
　Is it possible that those men are specially favored by the Gryphon?
　'None. If there were, the gryphon would come out when you asked for 80% of the food.

　Ferrum assured himself that he was full of it.
　The Gryphon didn't come out even though he threatened to take eighty percent of the food that would normally be enough to starve to death.
　In other words, the gryphons are neutral.

　''Let's go through the forest and take King Rosais' palace by surprise.

　The deputy rolls his eyes.
　Surely you can say that if you can get past the forest.
　After all, King Rosais' palace is just a short walk through the forest.

　But no one has ever done it before.
　All because of the fear of the Gryphon's wrath.

　After all, many of the people even think that the reason for the bad harvest is because of the Gryphon's anger.
　So they throw their children into the forest as a sacrifice.
　In truth, it's a curse by the same people.

　''But if you think about it as a retreat...''

　An army always has to think about the time of withdrawal.
　If they are defeated, they are guaranteed to be destroyed. You must avoid a backwater battle.
　Of course, there is no such place in the forest...

　There must be a stronghold. There's a village that was granted to me last year.
　'But that village doesn't seem to be bending its knees.
　Then attack and destroy them. We'll secure our men and kill two birds with one stone.

　The sooner you decide, the better.
　Ferrum will call the sorcerer.

　'Go scouting.
　Yes, sir.





　The three sorcerers were flying their hawks for reconnaissance.

　This soul ride is extremely difficult.
　First, they had to get their own souls out of their bodies while they were still alive.
　An ordinary sorcerer would not be able to return and would die.

　Furthermore, you have to have a heart-to-heart relationship with the creature you are putting your soul on.
　A bond is created by caring for and nurturing it every day from its infancy.

　With repeated training, they will be able to see the world with the eyes of a hawk or the nose of a dog.

　A hawk has about eight times the vision of a human being.
　It is the best species to use for scouting.

　(Better defended than when they came before...)

　The leader thought as he looked down at the village from directly above.
　It was dug deep and empty, with reverse bushes and huge wooden fences inside and out.

　The most troublesome looking structure was the wooden tower.
　Probably for shooting arrows and dropping stones and hot oil.

　(That's over-equipped for wolf-proofing.)

　So this is anti-military defense equipment.
　

　The three sorcerers observe the village with their eyes.
　The topography of the village is drummed into their heads.

　(It won't be a problem anymore.)

　There is nothing particularly alarming.......no mercenaries or anything like that.
　The population of the village does not appear to have changed either.

　(We're coming home.)

　He made a single sound to convey his intentions and changed direction.
　It was right after he turned his back on the village.

　''Cah........''

　A scream came from behind us.
　When I turned around, I saw a hawk that was a size bigger than us, its eyes glazed over.

　On its big hawk's leg was the hawk it had been scouting with earlier.
　Its claws were digging into its throat and the way it didn't twitch indicated that it was dead.

　The leader gives a snort and orders the hawk to flap its wings at full speed.
　Because they can't win because of their size difference.

　(Shit!)　(Why is this happening?

　The leader resents his own bad luck.
　On rare occasions, when they are scouting with an animal, they may encounter the animal's natural enemy.
　It's easy to focus too much on scouting and not enough on alerting others.

　(We have to get away quickly. If the animal dies while we're carrying a soul, we'll die too!

　Just as he was thinking this, his companion, who had been flying in front of him, suddenly disappeared.
　I looked down and saw my companion and a large hawk struggling with it.

　He tried desperately to get away from the claws, but in vain.
　But in vain, the companion was struck hard against a tree and killed.

　(The second one!)

　Confused, the leader flies frantically.
　At this rate, he and his partner's lives are in danger.

　(Ha!)

　A creeping feeling runs through his body and the leader twists his body to the right in a panic.
　A large hawk's claw passes through it.

　(A third one!)

　Hawks don't flock together.
　If there are two of them, you can assume that they just happen to be there by accident, but if there's a third, it's a different story.

　(A sorcerer!)

　The enemy flies around the leader, gradually closing the distance between them.

　(Why!　There can't be three High Sorcerers in a small village like that!　(What do you mean ... you're not a sorcerer in King Rosyth's country?

　Either way, we have to report in.

　The leader lowers the altitude.
　The enemy is bigger than your partner.
　So they shouldn't be able to make a small turn.

　If we can get to the forest, we might be able to get away with it.

　(Almost there!)

　At the point of entering the forest, a shock hit my whole body.

　(?)
　My partner (myself) has a stick-like object stuck in his chest.

　It turned out to be an arrow and the leader lost consciousness at the same time.





　'Alright!　I got him!
　Gram picks up the hawk he shot down.
　He's still brilliantly skilled as always.

　
　Tetra stood up and contorted her face in regret as she put her soul back into her own body.

　'I even ate some bitter grass.
　Saying that, Tetra takes the soul release grass out of her mouth.

　''Hmm. How's that? We've pulled off our first surprise attack!
　That's what I'm talking about, Lulu. She's the best!
　　Gram works on Lulu when she returns.

　The wards we had put up in the village came in handy.
　There are many different types of wards, but there are some that alert us to the approach of animals with their souls in them. I put up the wards in advance.
　And just when I thought I was caught in the warding, there were three hawks in the sky....

　To be honest, we don't want the village's defense equipment to be seen.
　So I asked the three of you to go into battle.
　We'll only have to fly out of the village for a short time so we'll hardly ever be able to return.

　Are you sure you want to kill them, by the way?　This will turn us against each other, though.
　Tetra says with concern.

　'I'll be fine. It's a fact that sorcerers have been attacked and killed by natural enemies in the course of their duties. King Ferm wouldn't think that a village with a population of only about a hundred people would have three competent sorcerers. And as soon as they sent a scout, we knew they were planning to attack us.

　I'd say the negotiations are already halfway broken down.

　'When you're done eating, let your body rest. We don't need to do anything.
　Building wards and curses can be done by a few other spellcasters.

　But they're the only three who can carry a soul.
　We don't want you to fall down.

　"Then throw your arms around me for the next mission.
　I'm sorry, but I'll take care of things.

　We have to inspect the pitfalls and check for weapons such as black powder.
　...and make it up to you when we're done.

　Tetra said, puffing out her cheeks in frustration.

　But first.....
　'Ial, will you go to King Rosyth's country and ask for reinforcements?　We don't have the heart to be alone.
　I understand.

　With that, Ial headed to King Rosais' country.





　But soon after he returned, Ial's report was not very good.

　'They say King Rosais had a seizure and collapsed...'
　What!　Then what about reinforcements?
　And yet... 400 of King Ferrum's troops moved in just as King Rosais fell. And I've heard that the neighboring countries and the great tribes are moving uneasily and that it's at least three days before they can provide reinforcements.

　Three days.
　By that time, you'll be done with it.

　Oh, well.
　It's within the realm of possibility.




　Leader!　Black powder check, done. No problem.
　Brother!　The horse is fine. We're ready to go, man.
　'We had a good stockpile of arrows and food!

　Ron, Roseward and Gram will report back to me with their mouths.
　It's all good for now.

　Good. The pitfalls and warding are clear. We're ready to go.

　Now we just need to see if things go according to plan.

　'In the meantime, there's a chance we can make peace, so have some wheat ready.
　Is that possible?
　As long as they're willing to play their hand at 40 percent.

　Up to 60% (two-field standard), you won't starve.
　We can concede enough here, too.

　We can't go any further, though.

　"Mr. Alms!
　I heard a voice at the gate.
　'It's Ial.

　'King Ferrum is gathering his soldiers. We didn't get a number, but...
　I knew you were going to fight. What about the Boros?
　They say they are going to rise to the occasion.

　Boros and his faction of about sixty people.
　If we fight them from the front, they will be defeated in the blink of an eye.

　We need to get them to rise to their feet to see the situation.




　My king. The sorcerers have not returned.
　What do you mean?　Have you been attacked by a natural enemy?

　It is an eventuality that a hawk is attacked by its natural enemy while scouting.
　This is because it carries the soul of a sorcerer, so it will inevitably lose its vigilance.
　This rarely happens, but it's not entirely unheard of.
　Besides, that is the terrain of the forest. The possibility of being exploited for an opening is high.

　''Or.........''
　So King Rosais and a young man named Arumus have joined forces.

　But this line is low.
　If the three sorcerers had defeated King Rosais's sorcerers, then more than three sorcerers would have been sent to that village.

　But these days, Ferrum has sent spellcasters to King Rosais' country to scout out the spellcasters on numerous occasions.
　And he knows the number of sorcerers that will come out to intercept them.

　Three, there was never a day that they were missing.

　And no matter how many alliances we've formed, it's unnatural to place three spellcasters in such a remote village.

　The other possibilities I can think of are........
　'You mean there are three good sorcerers in that village?　Masakana.
　It's impossible. Even in King Ferrum's country, there are only nine people.

　Perhaps they were accidentally killed by a natural enemy. It's bad luck.
　This means that the same natural enemies are still in the vicinity of that village.
　Then it would be the same thing all over again.

　I guess it would be safer to give up on the reconnaissance.

　"There are only six sorcerers left that can carry souls and two of them are to be assigned to the defense of the country. I'll send four of them to fight King Loseys.

　The sorcerers nodded at Ferrum's instructions, and one by one, they put the detachment grass in their mouths.

　''The troops are ready to go.
　Good, take two hundred men and go to that village and occupy it. This time, take the Hammer to break the wall. This time take a hammer to break the wall and take more archers with you. I'll ride behind with 400 men. The woods are notoriously difficult to penetrate. I'll take three hundred and attack King Losey's country. Defeat him.

　Of the generals ordered by King Ferrum to attack King Rosais' country directly, the general who was ordered by King Felm to attack the country directly said with trepidation.
　'O king can't we get at least another hundred? The enemy will get at least a thousand........
　No, four hundred at the most.

　Ferrum assured him.

　'King Rosais's great families have been completely sidelined by their last defeat. They will not cooperate with King Loseys. If that's the case, he can only move a maximum of 2,000 men on his own, taking into account the losses from the last battle. He has set King Evil's kingdom and Belvedere's kingdom against King Loseys' kingdom, which are already facing his own. Well, I suppose we'll just have to bring our troops to the borders of these two countries and send at least five hundred each to deal with them.
　King Ferrum continues with a grin.

　'And I'm asking a great tribe with ambitions in King Loseys' country to move their troops. Actually, he won't move them unless I win, so I dared King Rosais to let him know that they are rebelling against him. He needs five hundred men to guard the borders of the great tribes for the defense of his land. And one hundred to guard the palace, and that's exactly four hundred.

　The generals gulped.

　The objective was to take over the capital of King Rosais' country.
　And to secure food.

　The odds are good enough.

　Now let's celebrate in King Losey's palace. Cheers!

　Ferrum raised his glass of wine high.