Chapter 123: Assault on the Royal Capital
◆ Prime Minister ◆
It happened while I was having a smoke after breakfast.
“It’s terrible, My Lord!”
“What is it? You’re noisy.”
Coming in a panic is James, the steward.
I don’t know what happened, but you work in the mansion of the Prime Minister, even if in title; compose yourself a little.
No matter how panicked you are, it is your duty as one who stands above the servants to always behave calmly.
“Th-That’s the terrible part! An unidentified group has invaded the Royal Capital!”
“What did you say!? What was the Garrison doing!?”
The outer perimeter of the Royal Capital is protected by ramparts to prevent the intrusion of monsters and enemies. Furthermore, approaching enemies should be repelled by the permanently stationed Garrison.
“Apparently, the opponents approached the Royal Capital at tremendous speed, and disregarding the Garrison’s attacks, they approached the ramparts and jumped over the walls with surprising jumping power to invade the Royal Capital.”
“Jumped over the ramparts, you say!?”
Impossible!? The height of the Royal Capital’s ramparts is over 5 meters!?
To jump over that while dodging the Garrison’s interception is not something ordinary ability can do!?
No, more importantly, if the Royal Capital has already been invaded, countermeasures are needed.
“So, what is the scale of the enemy!?”
Does forcing an invasion of the Royal Capital mean they intend to attack the castle as is, or is their aim to take the people of the Royal Capital hostage?
“D-Details are unknown, but roughly about 100 people.”
“Hah!? Only 100!?”
What is that!?
Even in an emergency, the Knight Order protecting the Royal Capital can mobilize a thousand immediately!?
“What do they intend to do with such a half-baked number!?”
Uumu, I don’t understand.
Those who approached the ramparts disregarding the Garrison’s attacks and even jumped over to invade the Royal Capital number only about 100!?
In that case, wouldn’t it be better to just disguise themselves as merchants and invade without approaching from the outside?
Why go out of their way to take a dangerous method!?
“…Could it be a decoy!?”
Intentionally conspicuous invasion; that possibility is high.
But even so, it’s too dangerous.
Who exactly is behind this?
Could it be the neighboring Kingdom of Raingal?
Skirmishes are ceaseless along the border there.
But if the Raingal Knight Order attacked, the border fort’s Knight Order and neighboring lords wouldn’t leave it be, and in the first place, there’s no way they’d send a mere 100 soldiers.
Besides, if they had such capable individuals, they would use them more effectively.
“Could it be… Limos of the West!?”
The Magic Nation Limos; if it’s that country excelling in magic research, they should be able to mobilize Magic Knights capable of executing this assault.
However, when it comes to personnel who can handle both sword and magic at a level to become the main force of a Knight Order, the number is limited.
Thinking that way, maybe the reason for the small number of attackers this time is understandable.
But I don’t understand the reason.
Since Dragon Peak lies between our capital and Limos, they would have to detour around Dragon Peak to wage war.
Otherwise, they would provoke the dragons inhabiting Dragon Peak, and it wouldn’t be a war anymore.
Now that Dragon Knights have perished, dragons cannot be used as a fighting force, but they can be utilized as a natural fortress like this.
At the same time, to utilize the geographical advantage of Dragon Peak, our country has only laid roads connecting to Limos to a minimum.
It would be meaningless if we built large roads poorly and they were used by the other side.
And similarly, there is no meaning for Limos to go out of their way to develop our territory and march.
For both Limos and our country, Dragon Peak is a convenient reason for not warring with each other.
In other words, currently, Limos has no reason to attack our country.
If so, does that mean the group attacking the Royal Capital now has nothing to do with Limos?
I doubt it, but could it be the Dragon Emperor faction?
And was the information itself that the Dragon Emperor appeared in the town of Tatsutron a trap to disperse our forces!?
…No, no, there’s no way those lower-ranking nobles have such power.
Even for me, that leap in logic is too much.
But then, who exactly are the intruders!?
“M-My Lord. What should we do?”
James asks me for instructions timidly, interrupting my thoughts.
Good grief, if you’re a steward, act without being told!
“Assign all guards to protect the mansion! And send a messenger to the castle ordering the Royal Guard Knight Order to mobilize!”
“The Royal Guard Knight Order!? But their mission should be to protect the castle!?”
Irritation grows at James’s dullness, but I swallow it.
Yelling in this situation is a waste of time.
“The Royal Guard Knight Order’s role is to protect the royal family. But as long as there is no royal family in this country, there is no necessity to protect an empty castle.”
Yes, there is no royal family in this country.
As long as we nobles conduct all operations of the country, I, the Prime Minister, am the highest authority.
Then mobilizing the Royal Guard Knight Order under the pretext of protecting the Royal Capital would serve to protect myself.
“Ah, also, make sure valuable items can be taken out immediately!”
“Y-Yes!”
James rushes out of the dining room, but if the aim of the group attacking the Royal Capital is us anti-Dragon Emperor faction members, going outside carelessly is dangerous.
But staying still in the mansion is also dangerous.
“In this case, it was fortunate that it was before I went to the castle…”
◆ Royal Guard Knight Order ◆
“Captain, they show absolutely no sign of stopping!”
“I know without being told!”
The adjutant reports something obvious just by looking.
But I can see that too standing next to him!
Just a dozen minutes ago, a report came in that a suspicious group suddenly invaded the Royal Capital.
While I was indignant at the incompetence of the Garrison supposed to protect the ramparts, an order to sortie was issued to us, the Royal Guard Knight Order, from the Prime Minister.
I was surprised to hear a mobilization order for us whose role is to protect the castle, but originally, a knight’s mission is to protect the people.
We mobilized immediately… but.
“Attack magic is hitting them, but no sign of stopping!?”
Since the battlefield is an urban area, we must prioritize the evacuation of citizens.
Therefore, even though we keep the use of bows and magic to a minimum, what does it mean that they don’t fall even after taking direct hits repeatedly!?
“And why don’t they fight back!?”
Yes, what bothered me most was that the bandits didn’t attack at all.
They don’t even counterattack against our attacks.
That thorough unresponsiveness was like puppets moving exactly as ordered, drifting with an eeriness.
Actually, subordinates are showing colors of fear at the bandits coming towards us without hesitation even when receiving attacks.
“Captain, evacuation of surrounding residents is complete!”
“Alright, well done! Vanguard units, do your best to stall the enemy! Mage units, prepare for simultaneous volley attack with grand magic! Immediately after, support units cast strengthening magic on assault units! Assault units charge all at once with the command!”
“ROGER!!”
“Show a fight worthy of the dragon equipment bestowed by His Excellency the Prime Minister!”
While the vanguard units desperately withstood the enemy’s charge with large shields, mages poured all their magic power to construct grand magic formulas.
And when preparations for magic activation were complete, I ordered the vanguard units to disperse immediately.
“All units disperse!”
The vanguard units separate all at once.
With nothing blocking them, the bandits start running again, but the distance to the mage units is far.
“FIRE!!”
“Burning Flame.”
The grand magic released by the mage units activated, and a super-high temperature flame mass was released towards the center of the enemy group.
The mass of flame, into which almost all magic power of the unit members was poured, was easily the size of a house.
No matter how powerful a mage, activating magic of this scale alone is absolutely impossible.
When the large flame mass landed in the center of the enemy, it burst as if scattering around.
“Uwaaaaa!?”
“E-Endure!”
Even though we kept a distance, if magic of this power explodes, we won’t get off scot-free either.
Surrounding buildings start burning from the aftermath of the magic.
“Holy Wall!”
“Guard Up!”
Priests and those skilled in defense magic cast defense magic on the shields held by soldiers, protecting us from the magic’s aftermath.
“Support units, hurry preparations for strengthening magic!”
I don’t think they could be alive after taking magic of this magnitude, but the opponents are monsters who didn’t care even after taking our magic many times.
The possibility that they endured with some trump card cannot be denied.
“Enchant Weapon!”
“Protection!”
Support magic users cast strengthening magic on the assault units.
Our Royal Guard unit’s equipment is top-quality goods processed from dragon materials.
We, clad in dragon equipment on these forged bodies, could be called small dragons, so to speak.
Hundreds of such people.
No matter how strong the opponent, overcoming this equipment and number is impossible.
There is a possibility the enemy also uses dragon materials for equipment, but the country buys up materials gathered and sold by scale-picking adventurers using its wealth.
We might miss some purchases, but the numbers are overwhelmingly different.
Furthermore, the equipment is of the highest quality made by military-employed blacksmiths disregarding profitability.
Moreover, with strengthening magic cast on it, there is no element to lose.
“Kukuku, because our mission was castle guarding, we couldn’t demonstrate our ability until now, but with this, we can finally prove we are existences worthy of calling ourselves Dragon Knights in the true sense.”
Yes, we Royal Guard Knights were allowed by the Prime Minister to call ourselves Dragon Knights, but those jealous of us made false accusations that it was presumptuous to call ourselves Dragon Knights without commanding dragons.
If we actually fought, we were confident we could definitely defeat dragons.
But told our mission was to protect the Royal Capital and unable to get the Prime Minister’s permission, we couldn’t demonstrate our ability.
Therefore, this situation could be called a chance to show our Royal Guard Knight Order’s ability.
Ah, in that sense, maybe I should thank the Garrison bunch who let the bandits escape easily.
Thinking such things, the aftermath of the large flame mass finally weakened.
At the same time, I can see black shadows flickering from deep within the flames.
As I thought, they survived!
“All units CHARGE!”
“OOOOOOOOOOOH!!”
Subordinates receiving the command charged all at once.
And the weapons thrust out by subordinates were slammed into the bandits while emitting reliable magic light.
And with a light sound of Pekin, the subordinates’ weapons broke.
“Heh?”
Eh? Broke?
“EHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?”
Im-Impossible!? It’s equipment made of dragon materials!?
It’s strengthened with strengthening magic!?
Why did that break!?
“…”
The bandits said nothing, didn’t even counterattack, and passed by us who were dumbfounded as if nothing happened.
And left behind were only us, the Royal Guard Knight Order.
“C-Captain… what should we do?”
“…What should we do?”
No really, what should we do?
“…”
“…Captain, some of the remaining bandits are doing firefighting work on houses that caught fire due to magic.”
“Eh? Why?”
“Who knows?”
“…”
Thus, finishing the firefighting work, the remaining bandits distributed potions to soldiers burned by the magic’s aftermath, bowed to us once, and chased after their companions.
“…What on earth was that?”
Not understanding the meaning of their actions, the vice-captain tilts his head, but I want to ask that too.
“Really, what did they come for?”
Weren’t they invaders who came to conquer this country?
Not knowing what to do anymore, we just stood there dumbfounded.
