Extra Story: The Story of a Certain Group of Adventurers 2

It happened a few days before the ultimatum to the three dukes.

I was in a dark room with Hakuya, poring over a big map of this country

that was spread out across the table. There were pawns of various sizes, all

shaped like upside-down "T"s, at various points on the map.

At the point representing the royal capital, Parnam, there was a large

pawn and a medium-sized pawn. In the central city of the Carmine Duchy,

Randel, there were four large pawns. In the central city of the Vargas

Duchy, Red Dragon City, there was a single pawn that was smaller than the

others. These T-shaped pawns represented the forces positioned in each

location.

Hakuya was using a long stick to explain each of the pawns.

"The large pawns represent a force of 10,000, the medium ones a force

of 5,000, and the small ones a force of 100. In other words, the number of

troops you can mobilize is 15,000, while Duke Carmine has gathered

around 40,000. There were many deserters from the Army, such as Glaive

Magna, but they seem to have made up their losses from that with the

personal troops of the nobles who were engaged in corruption."

"So, no change to the numerical values, there, huh," I said.

"Correct. Furthermore, according to the information we received from

Duchess Walter, Duke Vargas has done as he declared he would. He has not

called up the Air Force. It seems he intends to go into battle with only 100

of his own troops."

"Hm... Still, if they're Castor's troops, they're all wyvern cavalry,

right?" I picked up one of the medium-sized pawns from beside the map

and replaced the small pawn at Red Dragon City with it. "I've heard a

single wyvern knight can do the work of 500 soldiers from the Army. If

we're looking at comparative power, we should think of them as being

equivalent to 5,000 of our troops. Even if there are only 100 of them, we

can't afford to underestimate their power."

"I am awed by your astute powers of observation." Hakuya bowed

reverently. He made a big deal of it, but I knew he was probably just

flattering me.

"Please, stop. I take no joy in being able to point out how bad the

situation is for us."

"I suppose not," he said. "It appears as though the situation is still

worsening, too..."

With those words, Hakuya placed three large pawns on the southwest

border with the Principality of Amidonia. These three large pawns

represented the forces of Amidonia which were about to invade this

country.

"The armies of the Principality of Amidonia are prepared to advance

through the valleys of the Ursula Mountains to invade," he said.

"Their total manpower was 50,000 or so, right?" I asked.

The Principality of Amidonia was only half as powerful a nation as the

Elfrieden Kingdom. Because of that, they could only maintain half the

standing army. On top of that, the Principality of Amidonia shared borders

with three other countries in addition to us, so they had to leave troops to

defend against them.

"Given their circumstances, 30,000 is a lot to be sending," I said.

"You can see how serious Gaius is just from that, I suppose," he replied.

"He is ready to win or die trying."

"That's just going to mean problems for us," I sighed. "...What will the

principality do from here?"

"They likely mean to occupy the southwestern city of Altomura," he

replied. "Once Altomura falls, they will sweep all opposition from the

surrounding area and move to secure the grain-producing region. Once they

have de facto control of this area, I expect they will declare it part of their

domain."

Gaius was mobilizing his army with the resolve to win or die trying, but

then he was just going to do the equivalent of burglarizing a building while

it was on fire.

"For all his resolve, he's not doing much," I said.

"With the manpower Amidonia has, I believe this is the most they could

accomplish," Hakuya responded. "If they get too out of hand, the nobles

who have been taking a wait-and-see approach to your conflict with Duke

Carmine would likely gather to your side, after all."

"I see... What's the strength of our border defense force?" I asked.

Hakuya moved the medium-sized pawn that was in Parnam to the

southwest border. "I have already dispatched 5,000 from the Forbidden

Army to the area near the border."

"We're sending a land force of 5,000 to face a force of 30,000 which

will have air forces as well, huh..." I murmured.

We were outnumbered by more than six-to-one. I had known this would

be the case, but... I didn't feel good about those numbers.

"...How long can they hold out?" I asked.

"Even if they shut themselves up in the fortress near the border, they

would be doing well to last a day," he responded. "The intent is only to buy

time, so the commander has been ordered not to be reckless, and to carry

out a staged retreat."

"That's easier said than done... She can pull it off, though, I guess. But

even if we assume the troops are fine with all this... what do you plan to do

about the people living in the area?" I turned a harsh eye towards Hakuya.

Unless they were expecting an ambush, armies would avoid the steep

slopes and advance along roads across flat land. Those roads saw the daily

coming and going of people, and people gathered at them to form towns

and villages. There would be towns and villages at points along the route

the armies of the principality would be advancing through to reach

Altomura, as well.

"We don't have long before the armies of the principality strike," I

added. "Should we issue a royal order to encourage them to evacuate?"

When I asked that, Hakuya shook his head silently. "Please, refrain. If

we show we are aware of the principality's intentions, their armies will be

on alert. It could make all our preparations for naught."

"...You're telling me to abandon them?"

"I believe we have no other choice," Hakuya said firmly, his eyes never

wavering from my glare. "Now that you have made the decision to fight,

sire, you must be aware that that means the blood of your people will be

shed. As king, sometimes you must swallow your tears and be prepared to

make sacrifices to save a greater number of people."

Hakuya said this with a serious look on his face. It might have sounded

cold, but he was taking it upon himself to say the things he knew would

hurt for me to hear. So that I couldn't run away from making those choices.

"...Yeah," I said. "I get what you're saying. That's probably the more

guaranteed, safer way. But... is it really the only option?"

He said nothing.

"On this occasion, I don't mind if the method is a little bit rough, or

dangerous," I added.

With a war coming, there was going to be some number of people

sacrificed no matter what I did. Even so, if I didn't work to lower those

numbers to the absolute minimum, that wasn't being safe, it was being

negligent.

"I'll take whatever you've got," I said in a strained voice. "Is there

something, anything we could do?"

Hakuya paused for a moment to think. Then... he let out a sigh,

shrugging his shoulders in exasperation. "And here I had thought you had

been acting quite kingly of late, sire."

"I've still got a long way to go if I let compassion get the better of me, is

that it?" I asked.

"If you are aware of that, then very well. Good grief... It seems I have no

choice."

For all his complaining, this was the closest I had seen to a smile on

Hakuya's face in some time. It seemed that even Hakuya had some

reservations about abandoning the people along the highway to their fates.

"I do have one idea," he said. "However, this is a rather rough

method..."

The plan he proposed was definitely very rough. For the people along

the highway, it was sure to be a real nuisance. Still... it was far better than

abandoning them.

"Let's go with that plan," I said. "There's little time. Contact the

adventurers' guild at once."

"By your will."

◇ ◇ ◇

Unidentified monsters had appeared in the southeast of the Elfrieden

Kingdom.

The monsters were bipedal and humanoid, had patchwork, clown-like

bodies, and their heads were on fire. These were monsters that had never

been discovered before.

From their appearance, the monsters came to be known as flame

pierrots.

Flame pierrots would appear in groups, attack a village, then use the

flames on their heads to set houses aflame. While it wasn't common for a

new species of monster to appear like this, in a world where there were

dungeons everywhere, it was far from unheard of. These flame pierrots had

no doubt been born in some dungeon or another.

Dealing with new monsters like these was mainly a job for adventurers.

So, soon after reports of the flame pierrots came in, a quest was issued by

the adventurers' guild. "Protect the refugees displaced by flame pierrot

attacks," it said.

This quest had been issued by a kingdom under the king's own name. It

seemed that the king's first thought had been to evacuate people from the

villages near where the flame pierrots were appearing. However, the current

king, King Souma, and the General of the Army, Georg, were currently in a

state of conflict, so he couldn't afford to dispatch troops.

By having the guild issue a quest, he had probably hoped to have

adventurers protect the refugees. As a quest issued by a country, it seemed

like there would be a good payout for it, so all of the adventurers accepted

the quest and worked to protect the refugees.

Here, too, there was another party that had accepted that quest.

There was their leader, the young and muscular swordsman, Dece, the

baby-faced, female thief, Juno, the quiet, affable priest, Febral, and the

shapely, quiet beauty, Julia. This was the party that had once gone on a

quest with Little Musashibo.

This time, in addition to those four, there was the brawny, macho

brawler, Augus. The reason Little Musashibo had joined their party last

time was that Augus had been unavailable and they had been looking for

someone to fill in for him.

They, too, had taken on the quest issued by the kingdom.

The closer a village was to the capital, the sooner a group of adventurers

had claimed it, and so, having gotten a late start, their group accepted a

mountain village near the southeastern border. They were now pushing on

towards the east through the dense forest, protecting thirty or so villagers.

So far... All clear. The party scout, Juno, was surveying the area from up

in the treetops.

In the process of protecting the villagers, they had to be on alert for

more than just flame pierrots. There were vicious wild animals, and, in

areas where public order was poor, they also had to watch out for brigands

during an escort mission. Because of that, Juno was jumping from tree to

tree like a monkey, surveying the area.

For pay this good, there haven't been many problems... I'm kind of

disappointed, Juno thought to herself while leaping through the air.

Most of the time, if a quest paid well, it was going to be highly difficult.

Even for quests that appeared to not be so difficult at first glance, if there

was a good reward, you could count on there being something more to it.

"Beware anything that seems too good to be true" was an iron rule among

adventurers. Even if the quest came from a trustworthy kingdom.

However, once they had accepted it, no flame pierrots had appeared, and

it was turning out to be a simple quest where they just went for a walk with

some villagers.

When Juno finished her patrol mission and returned, Dece and Febral

were talking.

"I think this quest really is too easy," Febral said.

"Hey, what's wrong with easy?" Dece replied to the more pensive

Febral, swinging his arms in a circle as he did.

Febral was the party analyst and also served as advisor to Dece, the

party leader.

"For starters, we haven't even seen the flame pierrots that were

supposed to be the reason for this quest," said Febral. "There's been a lot of

talk about how dangerous they are, but... I can't help but feel it's

exaggerated."

"Ah, I've been thinking that, too." Juno said, joining their conversation.

Dece looked to Juno. "What's the situation?"

"All clear. The forest was quiet."

"I see... So, what is it you were thinking, too, Juno?"

"This is an escort quest where we protect people from the flame pierrots,

yeah? I was wondering why it wasn't a subjugation quest against the flame

pierrots. From what I've heard, there aren't many of them. Rather than

make all these villagers move, wouldn't it be faster to wipe out those flame

pierrots?"

"I think that's a reasonable opinion," Febral said with a nod, but Dece

still seemed doubtful.

"Doesn't that just mean they're too dangerous to put out a subjugation

quest for them?" he asked.

"If they were, you'd expect reports of more extreme damage than what

we're seeing," Febral replied. "The only damages I've heard of are an

empty village or two burning to the ground after its residents were already

evacuated..."

"...Well, I guess that does seem a bit odd," Dece said.

As would be expected of a party leader, Dece knew how to listen to

others. When he thought an opinion was worth listening to, he was openminded enough to follow the advice of others.

Dece spoke to Juno, who had her hands behind her head, her fingers

interlocked.

"Juno. I'm counting on you to be thorough with your scouting. From

here out, keep an eye out for more than just monsters or animals."

"Roger that!"

With those words, Juno climbed up into the tree again, then jumped

away.

After watching Juno go, Dece said, "Febral, go tell Augus and Julia up

at the front everything you told me. I'll stay here and guard the rear."

"Roger."

As he watched Febral run off towards the head of the party, Dece let out

a sigh. Here's hoping this quest stays this good until the end...

That was Dece's fervent hope.

After splitting off from Dece and the others, Juno went back on patrol.

The forest was as quiet as ever, but when she came out onto one of the

narrow mountain paths, Juno's sensitive ears picked up something.

Juno descended from the trees, getting down on all-fours and putting an

ear to the ground. This noise... Is it the sound of hooves?

The noise was coming from not far away. There was more than one of

them, and the noise was loud.

For now, all she heard was the sound of hooves. Taking into account that

she didn't hear wheels, as well, she judged that the sound was likely coming

from horsemen... a group of heavy cavalry, at that.

There's heavy cavalry galloping along this mountain road?

Suspicious, Juno decided to scout in the direction of the noise. But,

before heading off to scout...

"Awoooo!" she howled, imitating the cry of a grey wolf.

This was a message to Dece and the others. "Abnormal situation

detected. Be on your guard," was what it meant.

Having done this, Dece and the others would stay alert. If something

happened to delay her return, they would probably come to rescue her.

Juno remained even more silent than before, jumping from tree to tree as

she searched for the individuals making the noise.

After some time, she heard the rustling of armor in the distance. Juno

hid in the shadows, surveying the area around her.

When she did, as expected, she spotted a group of heavy cavalry

galloping along the mountain path. There were five of them in total. Each of

them wore black full-plate armor.

What're they doing here?

While Juno was suspiciously observing them, the emblem on the shields

they carried caught her eye.

That crest... It belongs to the Principality of Amidonia. Then... are they

horsemen from the principality?

This was Elfrieden Kingdom territory. It was strange for horsemen from

the Principality of Amidonia to be here at all. Adventurers wandered the

continent in search of dungeons and quests, so their loyalty to any given

state was weak. However, because they wandered the continent, they were

very knowledgeable about the relations between different countries.

The principality is supposed to be hostile to the kingdom, she thought. If

principality horsemen are out here... has the Elfrieden Kingdom been

attacked by the Principality of Amidonia?

She recalled there having been talk of the Principality of Amidonia

massing its forces on the border.

The adventurers' guild had a system that allowed a country that was

under attack to pay a certain amount of money to conscript all adventurers

inside their territory. Because of that, adventurers working in the kingdom

had been keeping a close eye on the movements of the principality, but the

guild received no request for support from the kingdom. Because of that,

she had thought nothing would come of it.

Incidentally, Souma had canceled that contract with the guild, declaring

it a waste of money for the same reasons as hiring mercenaries, but the

adventurers themselves hadn't been informed of this.

Judging from their numbers, they're a scouting party. In that case, is the

main force nearby?

If the soldiers came across the villagers the party were escorting, it was

going to be very, very bad. The party might be fine against five horsemen,

but if they came at them in large numbers, the party didn't stand a chance.

The villagers might be dragged off as prisoners of war, but they, the ones

escorting them, might just be killed. Even so, if they abandoned their quest

and fled, they would find themselves on the guild's wanted list.

Juno let out a little sigh, trying to set her feelings aside. For now, I need

to stall them.

Juno hid in the foliage, hiding herself as she gradually approached the

five horsemen. Then she took a stone into her hand and threw it at the head

of the horse running at the head of the group.

Whack.

"Neighhhh!"

"Whoa?!"

Having been hit in the side of the neck with a stone, the lead horse

reared back. The surprised principality soldier was nearly thrown from his

horse.

His comrades clustered around him. "What happened?"

"I just suddenly lost control of the horse..."

"Did it get stung by a bee, or something?"

"Dunno. I think something came flying this way, though..."

While the principality horsemen were talking about it, Juno circled

around behind them. Then, once again, she threw a stone at the horse that

was at the rear of the group.

Whack.

"Neighhhh!"

The moment she hit it, the horse that had been at the rear jumped and

ran wild.

"Whoa! Hey, calm down!"

"What?! Is there something here?!"

The horsemen looked around restlessly. With two of their horses having

been startled by something in short succession, they seemed to have

become very cautious.

When she saw that, Juno was relieved.

Good. That ought to bring their pace down.

The more cautious they were of their surroundings, the slower they

would advance. Now she just had to join up with Dece and the others, then

get the villagers to hurry up. With that in mind, Juno was turning around to

leave when it happened.

Because she had turned suddenly, the branches rustled slightly. That

vibration, unfortunately, startled a bird perched on the branch above Juno

and it took off. With the loud beating of wings, the principality soldiers

looked in Juno's direction.

"Is there something over there?!"

"Oh, crap...!" Juno fled at once.

Making a snap decision, she took off in the opposite direction of the way

she'd come. She couldn't lead these guys back to where the villagers were.

The horsemen chased after Juno. "Don't let her get away! Make sure

you capture her!"

Juno could hear the voices shouting from behind her. Juno fled through

the areas where trees were densely packed, making use of tight turns to try

to shake her pursuers, but horses were faster on land. The horsemen deftly

controlled their horses, diverting around the dense trees to pursue Juno.

Dammit... These guys just don't give up!

Juno wasn't convinced she'd get out of this alive. As an adventurer,

Juno had no particular loyalty to the kingdom. However, they weren't likely

to care about that. If she was caught, there was no telling what they might

do to her. The thought sent a chill down her spine.

Huff... huff... Someone, save me...

It happened just as she was praying for salvation.

She saw flickering flames ahead of her. Six of them, in total. If she could

see them so clearly from this far off, they had to be pretty big fires. Juno

nearly came to a stop, despite herself. Then, "Whoa!"

An arm suddenly reached out and pulled Juno into the bushes.

"O-Ow...!"

Pompf.

Juno started to scream, but something soft covered her mouth. Now that

she got a better look, there was a round-ish, puffy thing in front of her.

When she saw it, Juno let out a little cry.

"Y-You?!"

Juno knew this thing. That roly-poly body. That face wrapped in white

silk with acorn eyes peering out. The wicker basket on his back, the large

prayer necklace he wore, the naginata in his hands.

This was the one known in rumors as the Kigurumi Adventurer, Little

Musashibo.

"You're Mr. Kigurumi! What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed.

In response to Juno's question, Little Musashibo brought a round hand

up to cover his mouth.

"..." (Little Musashibo was saying, "Be quiet, please. They'll find us.")

Find us? My pursuers are right there... she thought.

"..." ("It's okay. Just look," he said, gesturing for Juno to look.)

Hmm?

After going through one of their usual conversations, where they

managed to communicate somehow, Juno poked her head out of the bushes

in time to see the flames from before passing by. They had patchwork

bodies, tattered clothing, zombie-like movements, and flames blazing from

their heads.

The flame pierrots...

Juno instantly recognized them as the new monsters that had been

reported to the guild. However, when she looked at them closely, something

seemed wrong. Their movements were strangely jerky, almost like they

were marionettes.

While she was thinking that...

"Ahhhh!"

"Wh-What are these things?!"

...the principality horsemen who had been pursuing her started shouting.

Once they saw the flaming aberrations moving towards them with a

click-clack noise, the horsemen had bigger things to worry about than their

scouting mission. They had nothing to gain by staying here and fighting

these unknown monstrosities. Notifying the main force about the existence

of these things came first.

"Tch! We don't have time to deal with these guys. We're heading back!"

the leader shouted.

The horsemen retreated. Juno breathed a sigh of relief, but she wasn't

out of danger yet.

Now, she had a swarm of flame pierrots near her. Juno drew her short

sword, so she would be ready to fight at any time.

Pompf.

Little Musashibo placed his hand on Juno's head.

It was so sudden, Juno's eyes went wide. "H-Hey, Mister?! What do you

think you're doing at a time like this...?"

"..." ("It's okay now. The danger has passed," he said, patting her head.)

"The danger has passed...? But, those things are still here!"

"..." ("Never mind them. Let's hurry back to Dece and the others," he

was saying.)

Then, Little Musashibo lifted Juno up, throwing her into the wicker

basket on his back.

"Whoa! This again?!"

Ignoring Juno's protestations, Little Musashibo plodded off. Juno was

bewildered for a while, but once she came to her senses, she rested her chin

on Little Musashibo's head.

"...This is the second time you've saved me now, Mister."

"..." (Little Musashibo gave a thumbs-up.)

"What are you doing here?"

"..." — Little Musashibo didn't say anything to answer Juno's question.

No—he never had said anything, but even Juno couldn't sense his feelings

this time. However, as she looked at his back, she felt that she could sense

something like sadness.

Juno scratched her head, then started bopping Little Musashibo's back

repeatedly.

"..." (S-Stop, please," he said, flailing his arms around.)

"Hmph!" she said. "If you want me to stop, then cheer up. Things don't

always work out in life, but still, just surviving is a victory. It means you

still get to eat tomorrow."

"..."

Little Musashibo said nothing in response. However, his footsteps

seemed a little lighter now than they were before.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Just surviving is a victory... huh."

Juno had gotten a little rough, but she had probably been trying to

encourage him. Juno's words had certainly reached Souma, who had been

controlling Little Musashibo and the flame pierrots from far away in the

capital.

This was the plan Hakuya had come up with to save the people of the

southeast from the principality.

By using Souma's power, Living Poltergeists, they would have a bunch

of bizarre dolls go around as a new breed of monster, the flame pierrots.

They would use them to attack towns and villages along the route of the

principality's army and force them to evacuate. Then they would issue a

quest to the adventurers' guild. This would lend the story credence, and

they could leave escorting the refugees to the adventurers.

In fact, he had even used the flame pierrots to burn some of the nowunoccupied towns to the ground. From the perspective of the people whose

villages were being torched, it was a terrible inconvenience. He did intend

to compensate them later, but he was still burning down their homes, no

doubt filled with precious memories, for his own benefit.

Little wonder Hakuya had warned him in advance that it was a rough

plan.

Despite that, Souma had still chosen it. He had thought it was better than

leaving the unsuspecting people to be tyrannized by the armies of the

principality. He had weighed his options, then made his choice to save what

he could and cast away the rest. His actions were certainly not

praiseworthy.

It had weighed on his heart, but Juno's words had lifted his spirits a

little.

"She's right. If they don't survive, I wouldn't even be able to apologize

later." Whispering those words to himself, Souma walked out of the

Governmental Affairs Office.

◇ ◇ ◇

Meanwhile, around that same time, Julius, who was with the main force

of the Amidonian army, was looking at the report he had received, puzzled.

The appearance of a flame monster... It was hard to take at face value.

There are reports that towns and villages along the army's path have

burned down...

When he'd received the report, he had thought that some soldiers must

have run wild, running ahead of the army to engage in pillaging. They were

aiming to annex this region after the war, so it wouldn't serve their interests

to alienate the local population too much.

Just as Julius had been thinking he should warn the entire army against

this, he had received a report saying that those towns and villages had

burned down a number of days before the principality forces had arrived.

While he was glad it hadn't been caused by rampaging soldiers, why had

the towns and villages burned down?

The next thing that came to Julius's mind was scorched earth tactics. In

other words, he suspected that the people had burned down the towns and

villages along the Amidonian army's route to keep them from replenishing

their provisions locally. In that case, it would mean the kingdom had

predicted exactly what they were up to. If so, it was dangerous to advance

now, and Julius should advise his father Gaius to retreat.

Still... It's too poorly done to be a scorched earth strategy.

With it being the end of the ninth month of the year, they were in the

middle of the harvest season now. If they were using scorched earth tactics,

they should have razed the fields and destroyed or poisoned the wells, too.

Yet all that had been burned down were the towns and villages

themselves. The fields were left untouched, and the wells were still usable.

The principality forces could still resupply in the field. Furthermore, they

had found valuables in the burned-out towns. This had to be proof that the

residents had evacuated in a hurry.

In the end, he came to the conclusion that the towns and villages in this

area must have been attacked by monsters or brigands. Because of that,

Julius did not advise Gaius to do anything.

The report of fire monster sightings is not inconsistent with the

conditions at the site... But, still.

Was it not all a bit too convenient? That was how it felt to Julius.

I can't help but feel there's something off about the kingdom right now.

—It's pandemonium.

While he looked off into the northwest, that was what Julius thought.