The Hiba Corps, dispatched by the San Rogel Monarchy, rushed into the kingdom's main camp, which was not yet ready to intercept. It is not a bad idea," he said.

There was no response at all.

　When the captain stopped Tobi Ma, a young man lined up next to him to say a few words.

''It's not unreasonable. The other half of our group. And for them, it's a sudden and forceful attack. They probably didn't even consider that they would be involved in a battle.

　Of course, since this is a battlefield, this is just carelessness.
　The captain's words were expressing sympathy for his opponent, but his voice was laced with contempt.

"Shall I pursue them?

Of course.

　They had already defeated the opposing commander and a young man who looked like royalty.

　The Royal Army will no longer have anyone to command the entire army and will not be able to mount an organized rebellion or resistance.
　In a normal battle, they would withdraw their troops after having gained enough points.

　However, in this battle, the situation was different.
　The goal of this battle is to win, of course, but also to strike an impossible blow to the kingdom's war potential.
　It was the basic policy of the Imperial side to further pursue the defeated enemy and thoroughly reduce its war potential.

'But there would be no need to send an entire army to them.

　Recalling the Kingdom's main camp's pathetic fighting style shown in the earlier battle, the captain gives instructions to the young man.

''I'll leave you with a thousand horsemen. Go and do what you can. I'm going to support the right flank while we clear out the rest of the surrounding enemy.

Ha!

　The young man was one of those whom the captain usually looked up to and had high hopes for.
　Despite his young age, he has distinguished himself in the elite Flying Horse Corps, and is serving as the captain's assistant in this dispatch.

　There will still be some heads of honor among the fleeing enemies.
　If he can defeat them, it will be a great gift to him when he returns home in triumph.
　There is no doubt that he will be promoted along with his captain after he has completed his mission and returned to his home country.

　The young man, with a surge of emotion on his face, quickly led half of the flying horse squad in pursuit of the kingdom's army.

　After watching them, the captain began to organize the troops he would lead himself.
　He turned his course to the southeast in order to clean up the Kingdom's soldiers who had failed to escape and, although it was probably unnecessary, to support the imperial right wing troops.

　It wasn't until quite some time later that the flying horse squadron, which had been continuing on its way, encountered the cavalry acting alone in front of them.

''About thirty cavalry ahead. Don't let them escape if it's a royal decree.''

　When the scouts reported that they caught the cavalry in the direction of travel, the captain ordered his men to capture them.

　The other party seems to have noticed the flying horse squad, and they immediately turned their horses and began to flee.
　Behind them, the thirty mounted flying horse soldiers chased after them as if they were hunting.

　They wouldn't be able to escape.
　To begin with, there was too much difference in the speed of a mounted horse and a flying horse.
　It's only a matter of time before they catch up with you unless your horse is a very fast horse.
　It's not a matter of time before they are able to catch up.





　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get the best out of it.

　Two reactions at the front. They were followed by about sixty more reactions.
　All of them are probably mounted soldiers, since they seem to have magic power that is twice as big as a human and twice as big as a human, which seems to overlap with each other.

''They're being chased?''

　The approaching figure is gradually coming into view.
　I'm not sure if it's the same thing as the other two.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more information on the subject.

　This means that inevitably the thirty horsemen in the rear are the imperial army.

''...... What do we do now?''

　Kirill hesitantly asked Ardis.

'We don't have much of a choice, do we?　There's no way you could hide out in a place like this: ......

　While saying it with a flat face, Aldis looked around.
　If it was a forest or mountainous area, but the battlefield is a wilderness with few places to hide.
　It's not often you can find a place where more than thirty people can hide.

　Hearing Ardis' words, the students other than Kirill instantly turn blue in the face.
　If we were to talk about just the number of people, it would be an even match.
　However, this is a student who has just made his or her first appearance today, and his or her opponent is a supposedly elite cavalryman.
　The outcome of the game was as clear as daylight.

It's okay ......, right?

　Kirill understands Aldis' abilities better than anyone else here.
　It seems that he believes that even if a group of cavalrymen are against him, he won't fall behind, but the slightly uneasy tone in his voice was probably because he couldn't shake the worry that he and his students would be shackled.

''I don't care about the thirty horsemen in front--''

　Kirill murmurs with a dry chuckle to Aldis, who says it as if it's nothing, "Well, you don't really care .......

'I suppose the problem is the number of groups following behind it.

What?

　Kirill hurriedly turns his head forward.

　What she could see in her vision were thirty imperial soldiers chasing after the kingdom cavalry.
　But when I looked closely, even far behind the thirty horsemen, a cloud of dust was rising.
　It's proof that someone else is there.

It's the cavalry in the back, too. It's roughly a thousand horsemen.

What?

　As expected, Kirill also rolled his eyes.
　The number of them was so unexpected that the students, except for Kirill, were in raptures.

　Despite the fact that it was a hopeless enemy of thirty horsemen, and being told that what would come after them was, as the word suggests, an order of magnitude greater, Kirill felt squirming and spoke hopefully.

'Well, is it possible that it's ...... an ally?

If they were on our side, there would be no reason for the Royal Guard to flee alone.

　It was reasonable.
　If the overwhelming majority of allies were nearby, there was no need for them to run in the direction away from their allies.

　The fact that the single-horse kingdom soldiers were trying to move away from them also made it highly unlikely that the thousand horsemen at the rear were allies.
　In the meantime, the distance between them is gradually decreasing.

"We'll take care of the enemies in front of us for now. Everyone stand back a little.

　When Kirill, with a worried look on his face, is made to step back with the other students, Aldis stands in front of them against the group coming towards them.

　Kirill's worry is understandable.
　It's true that in the battle just now, Aldis attacked alone in the middle of the enemy troops and returned safely.
　However, the opponents at that time were miscellaneous soldiers, mainly infantry.

　In contrast, the cavalry is the most elite unit in any country's armed forces, and its strength is incomparable to that of ordinary infantry.
　A thousand cavalrymen is an extremely dangerous and powerful mass of violence on the battlefield.

　However, Ardis remained unfazed and kept a calm gaze on the approaching cavalrymen.
　Eventually, when he drew the fleeing kingdom cavalrymen to a distance where their expressions were barely visible, Aldis began to chant ostentatiously.

''The projectile that strikes is a noble winter fairy sharpie ---- ice block (felte)!

　As if in response to the chanting, multiple blocks of ice surround Ardis, and they fly with the speed of arrows to the imperial cavalrymen with their sharp edges pointed at them.

　It's not a storm of the far north that engulfs the entire surrounding area, but rather, Ardis created multiple ice lumps so as not to involve the allied cavalry, but by nature, ice lumps are not something that can be created all at once.
　It's a good thing that you're able to have a good time with them.

''Hey, what was that ......?

"You don't think that's the 'ice block', ......?

'More than one at a time?　You can't do that!

　The students, who were still in a state of disbelief, were not bothered by the students' confused voices, and the ice cube that Ardis fired was a straight line that attacked the imperial cavalry.
　The cavalry seemed to have noticed Ardis' attack and began to slow down and deploy a magical barrier in front of them.

(All of the cavalry have magic?　It's not going to be a simple matter, is it?

　Originally, a cavalryman was an elite group made up of the elite in the army.
　Aside from handling a cavalry horse, they also don't learn the skills of fighting while mounted overnight.
　On top of that, if they have the ability to deploy magical barriers, one can only imagine their high level of skill.

　However, the "ice lump" that attacked them was not just any "ice lump".
　It's the same as the one fired by Ardis, who is able to manipulate the magical power at will and is far more powerful than any ordinary magician could ever be.
　Naturally, it was not a gentle thing that could be blocked with a half-hearted barrier.

　The magical energy accelerated chunk of ice is not aimed at the mounted soldiers, but it is aimed at the mounted soldiers and crashes into their deployed barriers.
　Its momentum weakened for only a few moments.
　The barrier was immediately shattered by its power.

　However, the ice block that seemed to hit the enemy soldiers as it was, showed an unnatural movement just before.
　The ice block that had been advancing straight ahead clearly deflected its trajectory and passed by it as if to avoid the enemy cavalry.

''It?　No, you've been deflected.

　No matter how far away the distance is, Aldis' aim is not so naive as to miss his aim at the target coming in a straight line.

　There is no doubt that there was some form of outside influence.
　The question is what forces influenced it.

''That horse ......, that's the one you heard about?

　'A group of people from the southern continent,' he heard in the Empire. It was said that they would be riding a beast that was unfamiliar to this continent.
　It was a rumor that they looked like horses and not horses, but Aldis now had the opportunity to confirm the truth with his own eyes.

　Certainly the silhouette resembles a horse.
　But a closer look would reveal a creature that was clearly different from a horse.
　The sides of its body were wrapped in what appeared to be feathers, which reached to the base of its thick legs.
　The feathers fluttering backwards as if to indicate the speed of the runner, gave it an out-of-place graceful look on the battlefield.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out the reason why the ice block was repelled by the slightly darker magical power that spread like a membrane around it, and Ardis guessed the reason why it was repelled.

'I see. So it's not just a strange look, is it?

　It probably has some kind of magical protection.
　Whether the mounted soldier can use it consciously or whether he has to let his beastly instincts take over.
　But Ardis could understand that an attack using magic power would not be able to show its full effect.

　It could be said that it would be a good idea to release a powerful attack that would cause widespread destruction, even if it would deflect a little bit of aim, but that would increase the likelihood of involving allied cavalrymen who would flee this way.

　It could be said that if Ardis was a pure sorcerer, he would have been forced into a somewhat troubling situation.
　But that's only if Ardis is a sorcerer.
　Even if he couldn't use a direct attack with his magic, Ardis wouldn't be troubled in any way.

''d*mn, that's troublesome.''

　As the words spat out following the tongue lashing, it only affects him with a little bit of effort.

　Aldis pulls out two short swords from his waist and lifts them into the air.
　It's because, as he is known as the 'Sword Magician', fighting with flying swords is his true essence.

　And above all, there was a fact that most people would probably not be able to understand.
　The fact is that Aldis is not a "sorcerer" who fights using magic and sorcery by nature, but a "swordsman" whose main function is to wield weapons with his hands and strike down his enemies.