FORTUNATELY, THE KING AND THE CHANCELLOR took my cliché declaration entirely seriously—maybe in part because some nearby villagers were tearing up.

King Dino said to Aperta, “I firmly believe that I’ve given my children the best education possible, yet this boy is wise beyond his years. Is this what true genius is like?”

“Honestly, he’s more talented than most of the current lords,” the chancellor replied. “Still, his choice to defy you is a point of contention. Now that Lord Van has peerage and control over this land, he likely sees everyone around him as a potential enemy. Given this situation and what would happen should he make an enemy of you, I imagine obediently moving to the capital would be the safest choice for him.”

What a terrifying scenario Aperta painted. Everyone is a potential enemy, huh? Well, I am a lord with territory.

Until this point, I’d been under Marquis Fertio’s protection—whatever form it took. And for better or worse, he’d never reached out after putting me in charge of this village. But things were different now. If I made a single misstep, my father might do something; in fact, he almost certainly would. It wouldn’t surprise me if my two pesky older brothers antagonized me, at the very least.

Even if I were summoned to the capital, not much would change. I would be an eight-year-old with a title who was treated favorably by the king, but I would be inadvertently picking fights with other nobles. If I didn’t play my cards right, I could get poisoned. I could totally see some evil nobleman or woman thinking it was fine as long as they didn’t get caught.

Man, this sucks. This village really is the safest place to be—I only ever need to be cautious of visitors. But wait, what if someone has already infiltrated us…?

Meh, all I can do is make sure I’m prepared for the worst.

After about ten seconds, I managed to switch gears. “Pardon my saying so, but if my only option is to abandon my citizens, then I will find another way forward.”

It seemed that the king and the chancellor had already given up on trying to convince me otherwise. They both sighed deeply before the king acknowledged my insistence. “Fine. Your abilities are genuinely precious. If you were to turn against the kingdom and defect to another country, it would be disastrous for us. Even if you can’t come to the capital, we are still capable of sending envoys here to request your aid.”

What kind of aid is he talking about? I wondered, politely bowing my head.

“Of course, Your Majesty. I will do everything within my power to assist you.”

I made sure to really hammer home the loyal subject act, and King Dino made a sound that was somehow both a laugh and a sigh. “You’re not fooling me anymore. I no longer view you as just a child.”

Aperta nodded and showered the king with praise. “A wise choice indeed. Lord Van is likely a half-elf or some other breed. I would not be shocked if he was fifty years old or more!”

“Ha ha ha! Really now? You might be right. In that case, we’re almost the same age!”

Aperta’s frivolous conjecture was enough to please King Dino, but I wasn’t laughing. How can anyone think cute little me is fifty?! Hey, I see you laughing over there, Panamera!

“Then that’s settled,” I said, trying to redirect the conversation. “Shall we return to the manor? You must be exhausted.”

King Dino approached me, laughing again. “Bwa ha ha ha! Turn that frown upside down, Baron! I only mean to compliment you! You truly are amazing. So much so that I would love to have you handle my son’s education.”

“But we’re the same age.”

“Nonsense! I know you’re really fifty-something, old man.”

He was getting all up in my business. Who slipped this old dude alcohol?

There’s no way he’s sober right now!

At my narrow-eyed scowl, he finally took it down a notch. “Ahh, it has been quite some time since I last laughed like that. Thank you.”

“It is an honor,” I replied in the flattest tone imaginable, which only made him grin wider.

“Unfortunately, I cannot be away from the capital for too long. If I am not to bring you home with me, then I need to wrap up my investigation and return posthaste. If it won’t take too much time, I would like to inspect the dungeon you discovered.”

“Oh, um, it’s real far from here,” I said bluntly, forgetting formal​ities yet again. “A full day even if you’re going round trip. Should probably hold off till tomorrow.”

King Dino frowned. “Am I imagining things, or are you getting more and more casual with your king?”

Aperta, Panamera, and the nearby royal guard snickered. Their laughter proved to be infectious, and soon Till, Khamsin, and even Arte were giggling. Eventually everyone was grinning ear to ear. I started to get the sense that, barring any unexpected disasters, I would be able to maintain a positive and friendly relationship with the king. As long as the two of us got along, my chances of being harassed by other nobles remained low.

My secret relief didn’t last long. Frantic cries from the road yanked me right out of the moment. Something beyond the wall?

I looked to see one of the watchmen on the wall looking down at me in consternation. “An ashen dragon!” he shouted. “It’s not that big, but it’s flying quite close!”

I leapt into action. “Everyone, take up defensive positions! Alert the adventurers!”

Having received their orders, the villagers all moved at once. Dee and Esparda gathered their respective Chivalric Orders and took up combat positions.

“Do you require my assistance?” Panamera asked me, wearing that invincible smile of hers.

I responded with a smile of my own. “Much obliged, but…is it just me, or do dragons always attack when you’re around? Is there some trick that makes you attractive to dragons?”

Panamera arched an eyebrow. “You dare say that to me, a young woman of marriageable age who has yet to find a fiancé?”

Sensing that Panamera’s low voice signaled something far more dangerous than a dragon, I broke out in a cold sweat. “All right, folks!” I called to the others, breaking into a run. “Hurry to the front gate! The adventurers’ town might have already been destroyed!”

I cut across the village as screams and angry shouts filled the air. When I reached the front gate, I called out to the men and women on the wall.

“Where’s the dragon?!”

One of the villagers pointed to the sky. “It’s above the adventurers’ town now! They just shot a cluster of bolts at it, so now it’s cautiously circling in the air!”

“Did any of the bolts hit?!”

“Two in the arm and leg! I can’t confirm any others!”

I groaned. If the beast had received any lethal wounds, it would have collapsed to the ground like the forest dragon and charged us from there. That meant this ashen dragon was still largely unscathed, which was bad news. A wounded dragon was a fierce, crazed beast. If it attacked now, it would be difficult to handle.

“That’s it. We’ve got no other choice—time to bust out the prototype! Till,

Khamsin—can you help me get it ready?”

They nodded firmly. “Of course!”

Arte, meanwhile, looked quite worried. I tried to think of something to say to her, but I was interrupted by Dino, who came at me with a serious look on his face. “Allow me to lend you my assistance. Even a powerful fortress city like this will have trouble against a flying dragon. With our help, you should be able to repel the beast.”

I nodded right away. “We’d greatly appreciate it. The people who can’t attack at long range will have to handle reloading the bolts, though. I’ll show them where to go.”

I led the group up the stairs to the top of Seatoh’s outside front gate.

 

The King

WHAT A STRANGE BOY. FAR BE IT FROM ME to compare him to my own son, but not once in my several interactions with Lord Van did it feel like I was speaking to a child.

He wasn’t a bad person, nor did he bear ill intent toward our kingdom. And though he was the same age as Pista, he was a shockingly talented individual. Going out of my way to make an enemy of him would be pure foolishness. I would give him exactly what he wanted so he would be in my debt. Given his personality, doing so would also make him emotionally attached to our country. If his power to build a fortress in minutes ever fell into enemy hands, our nation would be in grave danger.

Having heard his almost refreshingly earnest determination as a lord, I highly doubted he would do anything as daft as launching an invasion into enemy territory. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to make an ally of him.

“My word. Lord Fertio has quite the son,” I said aloud, prompting a quick response from Aperta.

“Actually, I heard that the marquis chased him out of the house. Among the nobles you’ve appointed, the marquis is one of those who value distinguished service in combat over all else. The young baron’s lack of elemental aptitude is undoubtedly one of the reasons he was chased out.”

“That…pains me to hear. In the name of building a strong nation, I opted to change the nobility’s fundamental philosophy. Perhaps I, too, am partially to blame for the boy’s fate.”

I would have to rethink our beliefs about different types of magic. I had put elemental magic at the top and divided the rest into mid-and low-tier rankings, yet here we were with a lord whose “low tier” magic gave him the power to perform incredible feats. When I returned to the capital, I would need to restart my research into the various magics.

“Well then,” I said, “all that’s left is to drive back this dragon.”

Aperta grimaced. “Moving in a small group to disguise your trip outside the capital has backfired on us.” He sounded exhausted. “I imagine that we should be able to drive back a midsize dragon with the people here, but…”

I smiled at him, following Van as he proceeded up the wall. “We might get to see something rather fascinating.”

“I think I’ve had my fill.”

“Ha ha ha, understandable!”

“Y-Your Majesty!” the royal guard cut in. “These are the front lines! You mustn’t—”

“Fear not, I can fend for myself.”

I gently brushed him off as we finished our climb and emerged atop the wall. I surveyed the surrounding area and found people clad in strange armor standing by the ballistae, waiting for orders. This must be the Chivalric Order that Lord Van recruited from his villagers.

When I looked up in the air, I saw the silhouette of a small dragon flying high above. “A wyvern flying alone…?” Only a single creature was visible from my vantage point, soaring through the sky. This gave me pause. “Chancellor, what say you?”

Aperta bowed his head low and lifted his staff with one hand. At the end of the rod sat a magic crystal that had been crafted to the highest purity. He pointed it at the sky. “First and foremost, wyverns do not fly solo, nor do they attack alone. There is another threat nearby.”

That confirmed my gut feeling. “Agreed. Yelenetta, then?”

“Geographically speaking, that’s the most likely option. We would detect a massive armed force, so this is probably a small group—perhaps the Chivalric

Order of a neighboring land.”

Wyverns were fairly small dragons that usually flew in groups of five or more. In the worst-case scenario, you would find yourself dealing with a group of a hundred beasts hunting together. They couldn’t use breath weapons, their species’ most fearsome attack, and they weren’t particularly graceful on land.

They were treated as a low-end subspecies, but even one still posed a threat.

With marionette magic or the brainwashing powers of illusion magic, one could capture a wyvern and turn it into a familiar. The former made the wyvern your ally, whereas the latter enabled you to control it. This was how some of the nations to the far north utilized them. Was Yelenetta doing the same?

Either way, it was safe to assume the wyvern overhead was being ridden by a marionette mage. The problem was that using a wyvern to cross borders was hardly stealthy. What was the enemy’s objective?

“Why would they target a village in the middle of nowhere instead of a strategic point like a fortress city?”

“Scudet, the nearest fortress city, has successfully stopped Yelenetta’s invasion forces three times,” Aperta told me. “They might intend on using this village as a foothold. They probably didn’t expect this place to be…what it is now.”

“I don’t imagine so. I heard the reports and even I was stunned. I’m betting that Yelenetta’s information network didn’t grasp the full situation.” I looked around. The splendid wall and the breadth of the defensive facilities made me hesitate to call this place a village. But the Chivalric Order was more difficult to appraise; they had a unique look, but there was no way to know yet how skilled or well trained they were. “On the other hand, this could be an excellent opportunity.”

“Indeed. Hmm, it looks like the enemy’s giving orders from atop the wyvern. Which means…”

I listened closely to Aperta’s words and made my move. “Lord Van! That wyvern is not your only enemy! A small, elite force is likely headed this way.

Tread carefully!”

“Got it! The adventurers’ town isn’t set up to defend against an attack just yet, so I’m going to send everyone our way!” Van replied. “Dee!”

“Yes, sir! I’ll alert them immediately!”

Van acted on my advice, quickly issuing orders to all his men. He had a good head on his shoulders, and he was decisive. His troops also trusted him enough to follow his commands without pause. It felt like I was watching a seasoned Chivalric Order carry out training exercises; the sensation was enjoyable.

“How do you plan to defend against your attackers?” I asked.

Van’s answer was prompt. “Normally, the Esparda Chivalric Order would set up our first line of defense in the adventurers’ town, but we haven’t had the chance to practice that. Instead, they’ll lead the adventurers back here, and we’ll put up our actual line of defense in the village.”

“Isn’t this your first time fighting against humans?”

“It’s no problem. I’ve already thought things through.”

“Hmm… Be that as it may, things are not so simple when your enemies are other humans. If the opposing side possesses a wise and talented commander, they might come at you with unforeseen tactics.” I offered him guidance like I would my own son, but Van replied to me readily, barely taking the time to think.

“Agreed. That’s why I’ve considered everything: long-range attacks with siege weapons and magic, destroying our wall, storming the village without any other attacks… Depending on how things go down, I’m also prepared to abandon the village if necessary.”

It was an answer not unlike that of a veteran Chivalric Order commander. He considered every possibility. It made me want to press him further on the details, but time was of the essence.

“We’ll be providing cover fire, so please don’t rush,” he told his people. “Stay calm, collect your valuables, and evacuate!”

Van’s orders were not panicked, but they were just tense enough for the adventurers to respond immediately.

“Aye!”

“Ah, I forgot my coins!”

“Where are they?! I’ll get them for you!”

“Like hell you will, jackass!”

In tumultuous fashion, the adventurers hastily evacuated as instructed by the Esparda Chivalric Order. After everyone was safely within the village walls, the main gate was closed and the drawbridge pulled up. The evacuees had apparently been assigned duties ahead of time: everyone who fled took up a post without waiting for further orders.

Even if this village were a normal fortress city, it would be exceptionally difficult to bring down. There weren’t many citizens to speak of, certainly, but they were all loyal to Van—and ready to think on their feet to save the village.

“I may not be able to bring him back to the capital with me, but I will have to give this some thought,” I said to myself, grabbing the crystal staff in front of me.

 

Yelenetta’s Army

“WHAT? A FORTRESS CITY? NONSENSE! There’s no way something like that has been built already,” I said.

The officer frowned. “It’s not as large as Scudet, but it is definitely fortified.

There are two villages in this area. Would you like to go to the other one?”

“You idiot! We came here to take down Scudet! Like hell we’ll change our objective now!”

“Right! My apologies, sir!”

The officer who received the scout’s report knelt and apologized. I looked down at him and clicked my tongue. “I heard they were building a fortress city, but I would never have imagined they’d finished it already.” What had our intelligence unit been doing while I—Unimog Yelenetta, the eighth prince of Yelenetta—went out of my way to lead the charge myself? I chewed my right thumbnail. “Curses! Is everyone out to make a fool of me?!”

I was already thirty-two, yet my orders were to take down some border village in enemy territory. Sure, it was a part of a greater plan, but my brothers had all been given important roles and positions, so I was thoroughly displeased. At the very least, I thought I’d be assigned to a more significant location. My father, the king, was already getting old, and he would soon step down—but here I was, given no opportunities to prove myself. I ground my teeth as I looked over everyone.

“There hasn’t been enough time for them to complete a brand-new fortified city,” I said. “Which means they focused on building up the walls to make it look more difficult to conquer than it actually is. We will proceed and take them down!”

The kneeling knight lifted his head to offer his opinion. “P-please, wait! Regardless of how it appears, taking their city will be difficult now that they have a wall! We only have three hundred troops! Attacking with those numbers is just—”

Scowling, I kicked him in the head. He stumbled back like a fool, blood pouring from his nose. “How insolent. Were you not listening to me? That wall is just for show. In fact, we should destroy it before the fortress is fully functional. Are you too stupid to realize this?”

“I-I understand…” He lowered his head, covering his nose.

I glared at him, then heaved a sigh before looking up. “Any reports from the air?”

“According to them, the settlement up front is empty. Everyone appears to have evacuated to the fortified city.”

“Then the place with the wall is our target? But there’s quite a bit of distance between here and Scudet. Evacuating there would make no sense…”

A knight chimed in to present his own deduction: “Well, according to the wyvern squad’s reports, there is a fortress city to the rear of the village.”

This put me in a foul mood, but I held myself back and simply clicked my tongue again. “You imbecile. Look at the wall! It would take at least a year, if not two, to build something like that. Even if they mobilized an absurd number of people, the fastest they could have completed it would be about six months.

What purpose would there be in building another town nearby? Answer me.”

“Um… No reason, Your Highness.” Sufficiently browbeaten, the vacuous fool lowered his head.

The reports we received from the wyvern were limited, and we only had a vague idea of what was happening. The marionette mage riding the wyvern could lose control if their concentration wavered for even a moment, and that could mean being thrown off the wyvern’s back. They had to continuously feed magical energy into their spell, which meant they couldn’t be detailed in their reports.

Not only that, but forcing a living thing to go against its primal instincts required a substantial amount of magical power. For example, getting the wyvern to do something like dive-bomb the wall would be exceedingly difficult. I couldn’t possibly use a high-ranking marionette mage for that. As a commanding officer, I couldn’t let these fragmented reports confuse me. I would have to take everything in and judge the situation for myself in order to identify the optimal strategy. That was what it meant to be in command.

I sighed and shook my head. How can someone with such a clear mind as mine be treated so poorly? Are they that jealous of my abilities?

“I will break through their fortifications no matter what, and I am going to show off my true skills,” I declared before turning to my army. “Listen well! According to our eyes in the sky, a number of the villagers have evacuated. They might have already noticed us. Take care as we press onward!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

We marched down the road, large shields held up in anticipation of an ambush, yet it never came. We arrived at the wall without encountering a single obstacle. We looked up at the wall, then exchanged glances.

“After coming all this way, I cannot imagine this is a trap,” I said. “In reality, their villagers are probably few in number. They likely fled elsewhere after they spotted the wyvern.” If there was no seasoned Chivalric Order permanently stationed here, it made sense for the villagers to flee at the first sight of a wyvern. “This might be the best possible scenario. If we can take over a base of operations like this without damaging it, it will prove useful to our conquest of Scudet. Now then, open the gates!”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldiers tried to begin destroying the gate, but no matter what they did, they couldn’t even put a crack in it. “Wh-what is the meaning of this?!” one asked.

“Prince Unimog!” said another. “Our iron hammers are doing nothing to it!” “What?! That can’t be!” I chewed my lip.

The gate isn’t made of mithril… Is it composed of some kind of new monster material?

“Wait, weren’t the villagers fleeing through the back? In that case, the back gate must be open! Come on, men! We’re cutting around the other side!” I continued delivering orders as I resumed my march. “Offensive mages, follow from the rear. Heavy infantry out front! Stay on guard!”

“Yes, sir!”

Before we could get around to the back of the village, we saw something that stopped us in our tracks. “Wh-wh-what the hell is that?!” someone cried.

Not even I could blame him for losing his head. We had already been surprised by the walled stronghold, so how else were we to react when we saw the gigantic fortified city on the other side? “It can’t be!” I said again. “Is that Scudet?!”

“That’s impossible,” said a confused soldier.

“Scudet is supposed to be circular, so this is something else!” said another. “It must be a military base that they built in secret!”

“Silence!” I roared, then looked at the distant fortress again. “What a strange form. Do you think it is operational?”

One soldier nodded. “There appear to be objects lined up at set intervals atop the wall, likely for defensive purposes. There also seem to be people nearby.”

“So they’re going to hide and throw magic at us, eh? Arrows and stones are also a possibility…” I rubbed my chin and groaned. “This would have taken more than three years to build. I cannot imagine how our nation’s intelligence unit overlooked an entire fortress city.”

“I agree, but don’t tell me you’re planning on—”

“Taking it over? Of course!” I declared. A few of the knights grimaced in response, and I glared at them. “There are no troops around the fortress. That’s information straight from the wyvern squad. Our first step is to examine its defensive capabilities, and then, should it prove possible, rip it from the enemy’s hands. It should be a piece of cake.”

My cowardly knights went silent in the face of my plan. I shook my head and sighed. Useless, the lot of them.

 

Nothing happened as we continued our approach. Well, there was movement from the soldiers on the wall, but not a single attack. Even though we were close enough that they should’ve been able to fire arrows at us, the fortress maintained its relative silence. I commanded my men to adjust their formation so that their shields could block incoming arrows, then advance carefully. Eventually, we were close enough to look up at the front gate.

“Is it not fully functional yet?” I wondered aloud. But no sooner had I spoken than a voice came down from above.

“This is Seatoh, Lord Van’s territory! State your affiliation!”

It was the voice of a child. That combined with the insipid question made my soldiers burst into laughter before I could so much as snort. Given how nervous everyone had been over attacking the fortress with our small force, telling them not to laugh would be cruel. But we couldn’t afford to just stand there and cackle; we were well within range of longbows.

“We have come to inspect your village!” I shouted back, blending a lie with truth in my search for clarification. My intent was to demonstrate that we meant no harm. “There should not have been a wall here—where did this fortress city come from?!”

“It was completed just recently! We get a lot of monsters around these parts, so we’ve been strengthening our defenses! Um, why have you and your forces come all the way from Yelenetta?”

“H-how did you know we’re from Yelenetta?!” We had no flags raised, and our armor bore no insignia. How had they figured out our affiliation?

“Uh, it was a leading question, actually. The fact that you went straight from Espar Town to this village leads me to believe you’re not all that bright, huh?” the child said, exasperated.

“How dare you insult me! Come down here this instant! Don’t think I’m going to take it easy on you just because you’re a child!” I bellowed.

Much to my dismay, my furious response was met with chortling from atop and beyond the wall. They were laughing at us! Someone else on the wall said, “He’s an idiot! A full-blown idiot! Ha ha ha! If this is who we have to deal with, this will be simple!”

“Indeed it will,” said another.

“Grrrr!”

I was nearly blind with rage. They were completely underestimating us! This was all because they felt safe on the wall. Their assumption that we could not reach them had inflated their egos.

I took a deep breath and yelled back, “You are the true idiots! Our wyvern can attack you from above! Your wall means nothing!” The voices on the wall fell away at the sound of that. I turned to the soldier standing diagonally behind me. “Order the marionette mage to fly low and threaten them. In their fear, they will soon surrender!”

“Prince Unimog, that kind of recklessness seems unwise…”

“Why?!” I glared at the soldier, who grimaced but still dared to reply.

“If they have an elemental mage, our wyvern may come under fire.”

“Are you a blockhead?! A wyvern is still a dragon!”

“Of course, Your Highness,” the soldier answered, clearly dissatisfied.

It was no mean feat to hit a dragon flying at high speed. Even if they did manage to land a spell, one or two magic attacks wouldn’t be enough to kill it. This would be a good opportunity to measure our enemy’s fighting prowess.

Why does nobody understand something so simple?

“I’ve issued the command to the mage,” my soldier said.

“Good. Once they’ve been overwhelmed by fear, they might take extreme measures. Stay on your toes.”

I glowered at the top of the wall. People were moving, but there was little they could do from up there. At best, they could fire off some ineffectual shots with their longbows.

I can’t wait to see the shock on their faces, I thought as the wyvern drew an arc through the air. It was flying at high velocity above the wall. “Go! Remind them of the true power of a dragon!”

A cackle tore from my lips just as a voice from above the wall shouted, “Fire at will!”

An instant later, black objects rained down on the wyvern in a fan shape from above, engulfing it. The projectiles whistling through the air mixed with the wyvern’s cries as it faltered and dropped, smashing its head on the middle of the wall and collapsing to the ground.

Shortly thereafter, the speed of the black rain eased up, and it began to shower down on our heads instead. “Th-the shields! Get the shields!” someone screamed.

I hurried to hide behind the heavy infantrymen. A moment later, the horrible screech of metal clashing against metal echoed amid the pained groans and shouts of the people around me. Unsure what was happening, I ducked.

A few seconds later, the torrent of black objects came to an end, and I fearfully opened my eyes.

Terror seized me as I took in my surroundings. “N-no way! What the hell?!”

My soldiers had collapsed all around me, crying out in pain. From what I could see, only a few were dead, but none of the injured were in any shape to fight.

Someone asked, “What happened?! Is this magic?!”

No answer came. Though a decent number of us were unharmed—myself included—none of us could say what had transpired. I checked on one of the fallen soldiers, and their armor had barely a scratch on it.

This has to be magic, I thought…until I knelt down to get a closer look at the projectiles. They were flat pieces of metal with sharp tips poking out in four directions. They were as thin as the palm of my hand, which meant they were also light. I scanned the area and found dozens of the things littering the ground.

“What are these?!” I asked. “Is this what the enemy used to attack us?!”

Shockingly, it was a child who responded. “It’s a four-sided shuriken, a type of throwing star. Since they’re thin and light, I stuffed them into a container and tried making a shuriken bomb. We shot a whole bunch, and I’m happy to see it worked out. The problem is that we only have two shuriken ballistae, and each can only fire a single shot, so we can’t exactly take on a massive army. At least not yet.”

I whirled around. The drawbridge had been quietly lowered without my noticing, and the gate was half open. Past it was the child who’d spoken—and he was far younger than I’d expected. He wore a pained grin as he padded up to us.

“I’d say this experiment was mostly a success. But, well, the attack range was narrower than I thought. Some of the shuriken also got deflected back at us, so that was kind of dangerous. We won’t be able to use these again without making modifications, unfortunately.”

Armored men with swords and shields guarded him on all sides. There were no visible gaps in his defense, but at this distance, we still stood a chance at victory.

I moved faster than I could think and began to chant. The quickest of my spells could be completed in fewer than ten seconds. The soldiers raised their shields in defense, but it was too late for them. “Burn to death! O flames—”

Before I could finish casting, someone else activated their own spell in a low, masculine voice: “Water, come forth.” The battlefield was suddenly flooded.

“Freeze.”

That one word was enough to turn all the water to ice, locking my feet in place and dispersing my spell before I could complete it. That spell was followed up by two more voices, belonging to an elderly man and a middle-aged man. “Earth Wall.”

“Wind Scythe Wall.”

An immense earthen barrier rose up before me, followed quickly by a fierce wall of whirling gusts.

“Bwa ha ha ha! I remain the best! I have the most experience, after all!” A man clad in flashy attire appeared from beyond the wall, accompanied by a beautiful and alluring woman. The child from before was with him as well, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the man’s face. “I-It can’t be! You’re the…!”

The man looked down at me with a frown.

 

Van

MOST OF US LOOKING DOWN FROM THE TOP of the wall were exasperated. The enemy soldiers had circled around town without even attempting to investigate it, plopping themselves right at our doorstep. Didn’t they wonder whether we might have soldiers hidden in town? Weren’t they worried about the possibility of a pincer attack?

“They’re here!” I said. “Ready the ballistae!”

The villagers were a bit panicked about the knights marching on us, but King Dino, Aperta, Panamera, and Dee simply looked annoyed. To put it simply, everyone present who had proper combat experience was thoroughly unimpressed.

“They’re really just walking toward us?” the king said.

Panamera sighed. “Their commander is just doing as he pleases. Shall I torch them? I promise to keep them alive.”

Though her manner was utterly relaxed, her words sent a chill down my spine. Still, nobody objected.

The problem was that we didn’t know whether that was an appropriate response to this particular enemy. Their brazen invasion of my territory was an open act of hostility, but it seemed they might just be idiots who had been sent as an envoy from Yelenetta or something. “Let’s hear what they have to say first. I’m curious why they crossed the border with so few soldiers,” I said.

The people around me went silent. I took that to mean they were willing to accept my will as the lord of the land.

“All right. Till, Khamsin—ready the anti-air weapons!”

“Would the ballista types be okay, Lord Van?” asked Khamsin.

“Yeah. The catapults aren’t stable yet, so just get all the ballista types ready to fire.”

“Understood!” Till and Khamsin both sprang into action.

It didn’t look like the wyvern planned to attack anytime soon, but the rest of the hostile force had drawn their weapons. The army marched forward with shields at the ready.

“Hmm, we’ll have to tread carefully,” I said. “Are they within range of elemental attack spells, Lady Panamera?”

“Yes, but it will take some time from casting to activation to impact. When humans are fighting other humans, that amount of time typically provides an opening in which the opposing side can take out the enemy mage. There’s also a limit to how many times spells can be cast at long range. I would argue that fewer than one hundred meters is the optimal range for practical magic combat.”

The king grunted in agreement. “And it would be safe to assume that the enemy has elemental mages as well. It all comes down to determining the best uses of magic and minimizing wasteful moves.”

I see, I see. Then this stupid march isn’t necessarily a boneheaded decision? Aperta let out a deep sigh. “Well, they certainly are idiots.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Makes you want to take out their commander.”

Aperta’s comment had seemingly been enough to prompt the others to dunk on whoever the poor enemy commander was. They’re not wrong, though.

“Annnd they got awfully close while we’ve been chatting,” I pointed out with an exasperated sigh. Maybe I could test the waters by making first contact. I looked down and shouted to the oncoming forces, “This is Seatoh, Lord Van’s territory! State your affiliation!”

Next to me, Panamera burst into laughter. “I swear, you have zero sense of urgency…” she explained between chuckles. “Look, even your enemy is laughing.”

I glanced down at the cackling enemy troops. Yup, they’re definitely my enemies, Time to die for the sin of being rude jerks!

“We have come to inspect your village!” a voice shouted back. “There should not have been a wall here—where did this fortress city come from?!” I see you evading the question. I asked for your affiliation, pal.

“In all likelihood, they are the Chivalric Order of some noble from Yelenetta. I am curious as to why they crossed the border with a wyvern in tow, but considering how stupid they appear to be, they may simply have given it no thought,” the king theorized.

With this information, I managed to trick the guy into admitting he was from Yelenetta. I was so delighted by how easy he was to handle that I got a little too big for my britches and made him angry. How childish can you get?

“He’s…he’s a buffoon!” the king said, pointing and laughing. “A full-blown imbecile! Bwa ha ha ha! If this is who we have to deal with, this will be simple!” While I understood the king’s behavior, I did find myself wishing he wouldn’t further antagonize our enemy.

“Indeed it will,” agreed Aperta.

The enemy commander and I went back and forth a few more times, but it only served to aggravate him more. “Our wyvern can attack you from above!” he screamed. Wyverns didn’t have dragon breath, but their aerial dominance still made them a genuine threat.

I looked at Till and Khamsin, who were finishing up the anti-air ballista prep. “Are we ready to go?” I asked, and they confirmed that we were.

These new ballista models had a unique form, with a tube in the center that resembled a gun barrel. To the left and right were long, thin holes through which the bow traveled like a rail. As for projectiles, they fired barrels. The bottom region of the barrel that contacted the string was made of a hard wood block, but everything else had been deliberately constructed to fall apart easily. Once the barrel passed the bump installed at its tip, it would burst into pieces, blasting out shuriken at high speed.

It would be hard for any flying monster to dodge. We tried it out, aiming for the wyvern as it swooped down toward us. “Okay! Khamsin, open fire!”

“Yes, sir!”

One shot to start things off. Khamsin operated the ballista and, just as planned, the barrel burst into pieces as it was launched. The cluster of black shuriken spread through the air with incredible power. These new ballistae were designed to fire off only a single shot so that all their force would go into each projectile.

The shower of high-velocity shuriken smashed directly into the wyvern. As I predicted, the shuriken tore the beast to shreds, and it tumbled through the sky. It occurred to me then that I’d failed to consider one important thing. “Ah, I didn’t think about where it might fall,” I said just as the wyvern vanished from sight and collided with the wall not far below us. A deafening boom shook the wall, and I grimaced. “Did anything break? That sure was dangerous… A bigger dragon might’ve destroyed the wall.”

But the king and his cohorts were gazing down at the wyvern with sparkling eyes. “It’s full of holes!” said Aperta.

“What absurd firepower,” the king said. “If those ballistae were used to wage war, they would rival even elemental mages, depending on how long they take to construct…”

They continued with their super-serious conversation about the practical applications of my anti-air ballistae, but things on the ground were grim. The angle from which we’d we fired meant that the shuriken, having ripped straight through the wyvern, ended up raining down on the people below. Beyond our wall was a portrait of hell, complete with groans and screams of pain.

I stared down at the crumbling enemy forces. “Okie dokie. I’ll go talk to them directly.”

“You should disarm them first,” the king suggested, looking concerned.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I have extremely talented men working for me.” I gestured to Dee and Esparda, who stood in front of me.

We lowered the drawbridge and opened the front gate while my men took up positions from which they could swiftly respond. For whatever reason, though, it felt kind of embarrassing to come out of the fortress under such intense protection, so I split them off to the right and left.

“Now then,” I said with a smile, “let’s see if we can’t get some answers. I really hope they’re willing to tell the truth.” I cast my gaze toward a man who was staring blankly at a shuriken in his hand.