Now, in all seriousness. How many spellcasters do you guys have?　Oh, I mean a sorcerer who can use a soul-load.
　That's three. Also, according to Tetra, there are nine people who can carry the soul of King Ferm's soul, and three of them were defeated in a surprise attack. Three of them were taken down by surprise.

　I replied, and Bartolo nodded with satisfaction.

　'I see. We have five men with us. And we buried two of Ferrum's soul-bearers. That means there are only four left...
　Bartolo puts a hand to his chin.

　'Okay, here's the deal. We'll send three of you to the rebels. The other two and your three will focus on breaking the enemy's wards.
　Yeah. That's fine with me.

　There are two types of wards.
　Anti-sorcery wards that prevent witchcraft and physical wards that reinforce matter.
　The warding in this case is a physical ward.

　Matter reinforced by spellcraft is of a certain strength and is an obstacle when destroying defensive equipment.
　However, it's only that.

　If it were a stone wall, it would be a threat, but it's only wooden.

　Experiments have shown that the entire ward can be destroyed with gunpowder.
　Warding only reinforces defensive equipment.

　We all begin to march together.

　While we were advancing for a while, the hawk came back.
　The hawk stops on the shoulder of the sorcerer on his carriage.

　The sorcerer opened his eyes.

　'I have delivered it,'
　Yeah. By the way, has the battle begun?

　The sorcerer nodded deeply at Bartolo's question.

　''Yes. The rebels have already dropped the city and are holed up in the palace. King Ferrum is attacking it in an attempt to drop it. It was not easy, the rebels were persistent. And on their return, they engaged and defeated the enemy sorcerer.

　The Ferrum King is attacking the city...
　It's the opposite situation.

　'This is an opportunity. If we launch a strong attack now, we can pin them down.
　Yeah. But the sorcerer we saved for the destruction of the wards has been wasted, but...

　We'll speed up the march.

　"By the way, your men are tireless. What kind of training do you have?
　'Not really. I guess it's a good thing you hunted every day.
　I knew it. Good, now we'll include hunting in the training of the Kingsguard. By the way, is it okay if we hunt in the Romano forest?
　''Yes. Or rather, Gryphon-sama's territory is deep in that forest. As long as you don't hunt deep in the forest, you won't come into contact with the Gryphon-sama's wrath, and if you do go deep into the forest, you'll only be warned and not killed immediately. Master Gryphon is a generous man.
　'Seriously!　

　Bartolo's shoulders slumped.
　I guess it's only natural, since we've missed a lot of wood and beasts so far.

　But if you get too carried away, you'll get mad at me, right?
　Master Gryphon has a short temper.

_______________________________________________.


　On top of a small mountain.
　The sounds of battle can be heard from just below.
　Looking down, we see the city of King Ferrum.

　Two banners are waving loudly.

　"Oh, we're doing it, we're doing it. It's just as we predicted. It's just as we've scouted. The enemy won't have any more sorcerers to send out to watch. Good, the surprise attack will definitely be successful.
　Oh, look out!
　I hold Bartolo's head down as the soldier on guard tries to turn toward us.
　The soldier quickly averted his gaze.

　'Hey, you're hurting me. You just hit your chin on the ground.
　Well, well, well, let's just charge in, shall we?

　Me and Bartolo are going down the mountain.

　And we give the order to the soldiers who have been hiding.
　"All right, let's get the whole army in line.

　At Bartolo's command, the soldiers begin to form up.

　We follow Bartolo's example and form a line.

　'Hey, how come you're better than us!
　'We're all like a family, you know? There's a difference in how we stick together.

　It's easy to form up in formation.
　The hard part is staying in line and moving without disrupting it.

　Soldiers drafted from the peasantry don't have the ability to organize, they have to learn it through training. But we have it in us from the beginning.

　''Well if we run into you guys, we might lose...''

　Bartolo mutters as he looks at us.

　Three hundred over there and fifty over here.
　No matter how you look at it, I think Bartolo is going to win...

　We'll charge in first.
　''d*mn I don't want to let you take all the credit but you guys are definitely faster than me and you're definitely faster than me...''
　Bartolo glares at me in frustration.

　You've done enough work.
　I don't see any reason to take any more credit for it.

　By the way, it's not because we want credit that we're taking the lead in this fight.
　Our lives are more important.
　It's just that Bartolo and the others in front of us will get in the way. That's just one of those things.

　We need to stay in formation.
　We're close enough to see them. They'll have seen us.

　We're going to pick up the pace.

　Let's go!　All forces, charge!

　We start running at once.
　I can't stop anymore even if I wanted to, and if I did, I'd die. Crushed behind us.

　As expected, they seem to notice, and King Ferrum's army begins to sway.
　The rear line is pointing their spears at us.
　Are you going to catch it?

　The quintessential King Ferrum, I should say.
　He was extremely quick to form a formation.

　But.....

　All right, ready to fire!

　I raise the explosive spear in my hand.
　One after another, my friends running in the front row with me held up their spears.

　''Let go!''

　The spear draws a parabolic line and lands on King Ferrum's army.
　The ground shakes greatly.

　The enemy soldiers who had been waiting with their spears at the ready are enveloped in white smoke.
　It would be a big mess.
　Or rather, it's a direct hit, so they're dead.

　''Cut them down!''

　I kick the horse in the gut.
　The horses are working as usual, thanks to the training to get them used to the sound of explosions.

　Ron, Rosward and Gram line up beside me.

　'I will avenge King Ferm's head!

　I walked into the white smoke.

_______________________________.


　As you can imagine, the enemy was in chaos.
　They wielded their spears at random.
　The enemy can't even form a line and are just running away.

　But it's going to be hard to find King Ferrum.

　Suddenly, I see a guy wearing gorgeous clothes in my field of vision.
　It's not King Ferrum. He's not the King of Ferrum, but he's definitely an important man.

　"You there!　You're the commander. I'll take that head!

　I slam my spear into the gorgeous bastard.

　'Humph, this much!

　So he yells and the guy in the fancy dress catches my spear with his sword and...

　Geez!

　The whole sword was slashed.
　The bronze sword, broken in half, danced.

　I'm sorry.
　The difference in weapons, and also the difference in blessings.
　If you're going to hold a grudge, why don't you hold a grudge against God?

　I got it!
　A strong killing spirit from behind.

　I turned around and saw a soldier raising his sword.
　Tasteless!

　"f*ck!

　The soldier falls to the ground.
　An arrow is stuck in its forehead.

　'Are you okay?　Mr. Alms.
　Gram approached with his bow at the ready.
　Behind him were Ron and Rosward.

　'It's dangerous to be so dogmatic, you know?
　Yeah, I'm sorry. Thank you. By the way...

　I stare at the longbow Gram is holding.

　''You, how can you take out a longbow in this melee? And on horseback.
　Hmm?　Is something wrong?
　No, no, no.

　At the same time I pull back, an enemy soldier slashes at Gram.

　''Die!
　You did.

　Gram calmly grabbed the arrow in his hand and inserted it into the enemy soldier's eyeballs.
　This is painful.

　I mean, you're using it wrong.
　Use the spear from the start.

　'Gram is always weird, isn't he? Come on, let's go find King Ferrum. I'll go first.
　Ron said, kicking his horse in the gut and disappearing into the midst of his enemies.

　We followed.

_______________.

　Time goes back a bit.

　'd*mn it!　Why are we caving in!
　Ferrum glares at the flag inscribed with the As family crest.
　The defensive facilities have burned marks on them.

　A hundred troops had been left behind, and the capital had been prepared with both digs and fences.
　There must have been multiple layers of warding to increase its strength.

　''I'm sorry. Suddenly there were flames...''
　'I don't care what your excuses are!　We'll get it back soon. We're going to get pinned down!

　Ferrum gives the order for all the soldiers to attack.
　The number of troops has increased to six hundred since they came here while conscripting soldiers on the way.

　But because of that, morale is low.

　''We're not making much progress,''
　'What's up with the Asses, why do they have such high morale?
　I don't know. I want to hear it.

　Suddenly, the image of the girl in Ferrum's mind comes to mind here.
　The girl I once missed.

　Could it be.........

　(No way.)

　Ferrum shakes off the unpleasant imagery that pops into his brain.

　That's when.
　The soldiers behind him begin to buzz.
　At the same time, an earth shaking echoes in Ferrum's ears.

　''What's going on!''
　'Oh my God!　Rosais's army from behind!
　What?

　Ferrum panicked for a moment.
　But instantly he calmed himself down.

　'Order the soldiers in the rear to intercept!
　Ferrum orders the commander.

　He also says to his second in command and to the Kingsguard around him, "I'm giving up this country.
　'I'm giving up this country. We will seek asylum with King Domorgal. We will rebuild there!

　Ferrum mounted his horse and rode off with his kinsmen to leave the battlefield.
　But at the same time as they started to ride, a roaring sound occurs.

　In no time at all, all hell breaks loose.

　''d*mn, is this the fire and smoke they were talking about.......the nasty stuff!

　Ferrum and the others start running frantically.
　The battle lines are no longer broken.
　They can't even stall for time.

　'Hurry!　The horse will be crushed, guh!
　The second in command screams and falls off his horse.

　Ferrum turned around and saw four horsemen.
　Among them was a young man who called himself Almus.

　One after another, the soldiers around Ferrum were shot down.
　Ferrum stopped.

　'You ... how dare you interfere with my dreams? You're all a part of the way!
　Ferrum readies his spear and charges at Almus and the others.

　Almus meets it with his Damascus steel sword.
　The spears and swords of both sides cross.

　''Shit.....''
　Ferrum grunts and falls over, glaring at Almus.
　Almus's sword sticks deep in his stomach.

　'Your mistake was letting Tetra live. Well, I'm grateful I met her because of it, okay?
　'Ha, I knew it was a mistake...'
　Ferrum laughs ruefully and amusedly.

　'You'll make him happy as best you can, won't you? There will be no point in me missing out.'
　Ferrum said, and then he died.