Chapter 106

There appeared to be no sign of the enemy in the footage transmitted from the drone.

Checking the tablet screen, Lady Clara looked up.

“That is enough, Kota. Retrieve the drone.”

As she spoke, she turned off the power to conserve the battery.

Lady Clara had become quite adept at handling the tablet.

My own drone-piloting skills had improved significantly too.

Currently, we were at a point about seventy kilometers away from our destination.

At our rest stop, we checked the situation ahead from the sky, but there wasn’t a shadow of any enemy soldiers.

Ever since we dropped below one hundred kilometers from the staging ground, we had been marching under high alert like this, but so far we hadn’t faced any ambushes, nor had we found any traces of combat.

The highway was entirely peaceful.

The soldiers’ morale was high as well.

At the front, a Knight Bachelor from the Ansbach family—renowned for their martial fame—was leading the unit, and at the absolute rear, we even had a summoned hero.

With a Knight Bachelor capable of taking on an entire company single-handedly and a hero said to rival a battalion equipped with magitech cannons, the soldiers’ calm composure was perfectly understandable.

“We move out in ten minutes. Start getting ready!”

Checking my wristwatch, I called out to everyone.

“That watch looks so cool.”

Gary was staring intently at my wrist.

“This? It’s an outdoor watch by a manufacturer called Suunto.”

“Whoa… I really want a watch too, maybe a Hamilton or something.”

“Sure thing. I’ll pick up a catalog next time, so you can choose whichever one you like from it. I’ll buy it for you.”

Gary’s watch was a pocket watch made in Saxens, but it apparently went out of sync by several minutes a day.

I frequently visited watch shops for sourcing inventory anyway.

If there was one he liked, I’d just buy it for him.

In fact, it might be a good idea to source a large batch of highly durable watches and sell them to the military officers.

With a twenty-percent markup on the price, of course.

Even so, I felt incredibly lucky that the first hero I encountered turned out to be someone as friendly as Gary.

As for the other people from Earth in Saxens, there was apparently Yuichi Kitano from Japan, and a guy named Rajeev from India, but I wondered what kind of people they were.

“Yuichi is a good kid. He even gave me one of his last four pieces of Hi-Chew.”

Gary… you’re way too easy to win over…

“We are moving out!!”

Our conversation was cut short by Emma’s signal.

As dusk approached and the encampment preparations proceeded as usual, we were in the middle of a meeting.

“I am sorry to report, but it will begin raining before dawn.”

According to Weather Prediction, tomorrow’s forecast called for rain, and the temperature was set to drop near zero degrees.

The horses had accumulated quite a bit of fatigue from the forced march up to this point.

With their hooves and the carriage wheels getting caught in the muddy paths, tomorrow’s march was bound to be brutal.

“Kota, could I trouble you to handle the recovery of the horses?”

If I used my God Finger skill, it was entirely possible to remove the horses’ fatigue without leaving a trace.

However, there were thirty-one carriages in total.

Counting the spares, there were sixty-eight horses altogether.

Even if I spent just five minutes per horse, that would take over 340 minutes.

It would be a massive undertaking lasting past midnight.

I couldn’t finish this alone.

I decided to have Yoshioka help me out.

While God Finger was a magnificent skill, recovery magic specialized in treatment was many times faster when it came to execution speed.

“Understood. May I request backup from Corporal Yoshioka?”

“Umu.”

“Please wait. Is Sir Yoshioka not on standby back in the Royal Capital?” Emma chimed in, looking puzzled.

Since I didn’t want the details of the Transfer Portal skill spreading around too much, I kept it a secret from Emma as well.

Instead, I simply told her, “It is by the divine blessing of Lord Seraphim.”

Once I phrased it that way, Emma wouldn’t probe any further.

Oh right, I should introduce Yoshioka to Gary.

Since they were fellow geeks, they would probably hit it off immediately.

Because I had re-anchored the Home in my room at Amida Trading, meeting up with Yoshioka was easy.

Setting up a Portal inside the forest, I leaped over to Dresden.

I’d make sure to remove the forest Portal once I returned.

Stepping into the third-floor living room of Amida Trading, I found Yoshioka having dinner with Miss Bianca and another woman I didn’t recognize.

“Welcome back, Master Hinoharu.” Miss Bianca stood up immediately.

She truly was a dutiful person.

“I’m back. Don’t worry about me, please go on with your meal.”

“What’s the matter, Senpai? Don’t tell me your mission is already over?”

“No, I came back on my own. I have a favor to ask you, Yoshioka. But before that, who might this be?”

“This is Miss Christa. You know, Hans’s older sister.”

Ah, Hans’s older sister, whom we had been planning to hire at Amida Trading.

I exchanged greetings with Miss Christa as well.

She was seventeen years old but looked like a thoroughly dependable young lady.

She had a cute face, with her long, flaxen hair tied back.

Her voice was crisp, giving off a lively impression.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Christa. I have been undergoing training here since yesterday.”

It was wonderful to see our staff steadily coming together.

Once dinner concluded, Miss Christa and Miss Bianca stepped out to handle the cleanup.

“So, what do you need me to help you with, Senpai?”

“I want you to help me treat the horses.”

When I explained the full situation, Yoshioka readily agreed.

“I actually just mastered an area-of-effect recovery magic. This is a perfect opportunity, so I might as well test it out.”

Look at him tossing out such a dashing line!

Despite being so busy, he was properly keeping up with his magic training.

I gestured for Miss Bianca, who was clearing the dishes, to come over.

I didn’t want Miss Christa to find out about my abilities just yet.

“Miss Bianca, I’ll be heading out with Yoshioka for a bit.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll be back sometime tonight. You can go ahead and lock up the place. Please pull down all the shutters as well.”

“If you do that, won’t Master Kawagoe be unable to enter?”

“It’s fine. There’s a secret entrance in my room. Ah, don’t worry. It’s an entrance that only I can use, so no suspicious characters will be able to get in.”

Miss Bianca nodded in understanding.

“You are going to perform another miracle, aren’t you?”

“It’s nothing that grand, really.”

Though I suppose instantaneous movement might be classified as an exceptionally rare form of magic.

Yoshioka had mentioned that he couldn’t use teleportation magic either.

Just as I was about to leave the room, Miss Bianca stopped me.

“Master Hinoharu. Thanks to the wages and the preparation funds you provided, I was finally able to send a letter to my family home after more than ten years.”

Miss Bianca was originally from Veneria in the south.

She had mentioned that ever since she eloped, she hadn’t contacted her family even once.

Her parents would surely be relieved.

“My life had been nothing but hardship for so long… but I was finally able to write to my parents that I am living happily now. It is all thanks to you, Master Hinoharu.”

My face grew intensely hot, and I instinctively turned my back to Miss Bianca.

When I thought about everything she had been through, it brought tears to my eyes.

Actually, they were already spilling out.

“What are you saying? This is only the beginning. You deserve to become even happier, Miss Bianca.”

Waving my hand behind my back, I left the room just like that.

I was so glad.

…I was truly, deeply glad.

Holding hands with Yoshioka, I moved via the Portal.

It was a bit awkward for grown men to hold hands like that.

“Akito, thank you for coming.”

“It has been a while, Lady Clara. Since time is short, let’s get this over with quickly.”

With our greetings out of the way, we immediately set to work on treating the horses.

Since Yoshioka’s recovery magic was also supposed to be kept a secret from the ordinary soldiers, Hans gathered the horses, and Yoshioka went around restoring them using his area-of-effect magic.

I went off on my own to gather the horses that were particularly lacking in stamina to administer their recovery.

“Hey there, partner.”

“Snort…”

I spoke while stroking the neck of the horse in front of me.

This horse was especially lacking in stamina among the unit, and its power to pull the carts was weak.

“Today was pretty brutal too, wasn’t it? You must be exhausted.”

“Neighhh (If you think so, just let me sleep already).”

“Hahaha, pretty impatient, aren’t you? Well, just listen to me.”

The horse let out a suspicious whinny. Even so, I kept talking of my own accord.

“Hey, don’t you want to get stronger?”

“Neigh? (Say what?)”

“You’re no pack mule. You’ve got the latent potential to become a fine steed, you know.”

“Nei… gh… (W-What are you…)”

“Well, I guess you wouldn’t believe me. You’re the one everyone calls the slowest beast in the unit, after all. But look here, I can draw out your talent.”

I gently placed my fingers along the horse’s jaw.

“First is this jaw. Your bite alignment is off. Just fixing this alone will cause your physical capabilities to instantly skyrocket. Hmm… fatigued muscles, unused muscles, a misalignment in the pelvis… What do you say? Why don’t you trust your body to me?”

“Neigh! (Pops!)”

“Looks like you’re motivated. Don’t worry, I’ll completely transform you! Tonight is your happy re-birthday!”

That night, on the plains of eastern Saxens, seven horses were completely reborn.