The Existence Known As Summoned Soldiers

Hmm, it was flashy.

It was such a flashy and easy-to-understand battle that there was no other way to describe it.

Kiriku’s blue army mainly used schemes and close combat, while Ilmitt’s red army mainly used magical attacks.

Both sides fought in ways that looked flashy and emphasized making Einheria’s power easy to understand.

This time, it ended in Kiriku’s victory, but I supposed we could hold a review session after returning to the castle.

“You both conducted a splendid exercise. I will speak with the Holy King and Lord Guriel from here, so I leave the rest to you.”

““Yes, sir!””

After giving Kiriku and the others brief words of appreciation, I canceled the abilities I had activated.

When my vision returned to normal and I looked at Efaria sitting beside me, she was frozen in place with her eyes wide open.

Furthermore, Guriel, who was right beside her, also had an expression utterly unbecoming of a regent… His mouth was hanging open as though his jaw might fall off, and he too seemed frozen stiff.

I took my eyes off the two of them and looked around. The people from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom in the other tents were also… well, mostly looking at the plain where the exercise had taken place with similar expressions.

I would not say, “Did I do something wrong?” …Yeah, perhaps we had gone a little too far?

I looked at Efaria’s face again… Yes, we had definitely gone too far.

“…Holy King, the exercise is over now. How was it?”

“…Eh, ah… m-my apologies! Your Majesty, King of Einheria. Um, regarding this exercise…”

When I spoke to her, Efaria, still somewhat dazed, barely managed to react.

“Judging from your expression, it seems we surprised you sufficiently.”

“Surprised… Yes, that is right. I was very surprised, but… y-yes! Are the people of the Einheria Army all right!?”

Ah, I see… Efaria had frozen not so much because she was overwhelmed by the flashiness of the exercise, but because she was shocked by attacks that looked like they were meant to kill.

“There is no problem. The soldiers of my army do not die.”

“…”

No, that line made me sound like some brutal superior or merciless bastard.

“I am not saying that as bravado or a joke. I mean it literally. Our soldiers absolutely do not die… Well, if they take more than a certain amount of damage, they will fall like normal, but they do not die.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Hmm… Since this is a good opportunity, let me speak a little about our Einheria Army. So, Lord Guriel, could you return to your senses soon as well?”

“…Hah! M-my apologies! The situation was so extraordinary that my thoughts could not keep up…”

“If you are that surprised, then it was worth putting in the effort on our side as well. I could not explain various things during the exercise, so I was thinking of telling the Holy King about our Einheria Army now. Will you listen as well, Lord Guriel?”

“!? I would certainly like to! However, Your Majesty, King of Einheria, if possible, would you also allow our general of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom to hear this explanation? Neither I nor His Majesty the Holy King are very well-versed in military matters, so if possible, I would like to hear the opinion of our own general as well.”

“I do not mind. It is not so secret as to be called classified. Call that general here.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, King of Einheria.”

Guriel bowed deeply and hurriedly told a guard soldier to summon the general here, and the soldier who received the order ran off.

If I recalled correctly, that soldier was the female royal guard who had also served as a guard when Efaria and I had a tea party at the royal castle of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom before.

I had forgotten her name… Well, if there was an opportunity, I would probably be introduced to her, and I would properly remember it then.

Now then, leaving that aside… It had been the same with General Saga of the Kingdom of Est, but… speaking proudly about the military in front of military professionals made me incredibly nervous.

Inside, I was worried that I might be confidently spouting nonsense, and I could not help being anxious about whether I would be able to respond well if they poked holes in what I said.

I felt like keeping Kiriku beside me, but right now I had entrusted him with managing this exercise… and I felt like making a complete fool of myself in front of Kiriku and the others would be worse.

Well, if I was asked any tricky questions, I would get through them with Overlord-style evasions…

With that determination hidden within me, I was about to speak to Efaria when I heard something like a roar from a tent located a little distance away.

What was that?

Not only I, but Efaria and Guriel also reacted to the roar we heard and looked at the tent with puzzled expressions.

Furthermore, the guards of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom who had been protecting our tent seemed to increase their vigilance, and all of them placed their hands on their weapons.

It was impressive that they were not only paying attention to the direction the roar had come from.

Incidentally, Einheria’s security… the summoned soldiers did not even twitch and continued operating as usual.

Well, I was not worried because they would properly respond to hostile attacks and such, but when there were people to compare them to, it did make me wonder if they were really all right.

That aside, as for the tent where the roar had risen, it did not seem that some sort of disturbance had occurred. I saw one person come out of the tent and head this way together with the royal guard who had gone to call the general earlier.

What was going on?

His face looked stern, but his steps were somewhat unsteady… or rather, he looked like he might fall over if pushed… It was a strange feeling.

We should not have served alcohol… but perhaps his legs were bad.

Huh? In that case, was that roar earlier… the kind of thing where that person with bad legs had to psych himself up when standing? No, if his legs were that bad, he should just use a cane.

If he was the sort of person who normally let out roars like that, it felt a little strange that Efaria and the others had been surprised, and a person with the rank of general would not get excited just because he was called by the king… So what was that roar?

Although his steps were somewhat suspicious, the man reached our tent without falling, knelt on one knee, and bowed his head.

As expected, he did not look like the kind of person who would let out a roar.

“Your Majesty, King of Einheria, this man is Krielt-Smark, who serves as general in our Lufelon Holy Kingdom. The reason we can afford to remain ignorant of military matters is because he fulfills his duties perfectly. The Smark family are hereditary retainers. They have held important posts in the military for generations and are a family deeply trusted by successive kings. As for him personally… he is somewhat stiff, but he is a trustworthy general.”

“Heh heh… From Lord Guriel’s perspective, nearly every retainer would likely be judged stiff.”

I answered Guriel’s introduction with a slightly sarcastic tone.

“You jest. In the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, when one says stiff, my name is the first to come up, you know?”

“Is that so…? I did not know that. To think the meaning of stiff was different between Einheria and the Lufelon Holy Kingdom. It seems we will need to focus on reconciling the meanings of such words going forward.”

“Ha ha ha. As always, Your Majesty, King of Einheria, you are excellent at jokes… I keenly feel that I too should learn a little more of this thing called humor.”

“Your Majesty, King of Einheria, and Regent… I believe that is enough jesting.”

Two adults being cautioned by a composed young king…

“…Lord Guriel, this is what stiff means.”

“…I am well aware, Your Majesty, King of Einheria.”

When we said that with a shrug, Efaria smiled brightly, so we ended the farce there.

Well, it would not be good to keep ignoring the general who had come all the way here either.

“General Smark, I am about to explain the Einheria Army to the Holy King and the others. Lord Guriel and the others requested that I allow you to hear this explanation as well. If you are interested, will you listen to my explanation together with the Holy King and the others?”

“If I may be permitted to hear it, it would be an unexpected honor.”

“Then sit in a chair.”

“Yes, sir! Excuse me.”

General Smark raised his face and sat down in the prepared chair with brisk movements.

…Huh? His legs and hips seemed normal, so what had that unreliable way of walking on his way here been?

Well, if the atmosphere seemed right later, I might ask him.

“Now then, regarding the casualties from the exercise just now, which the Holy King was concerned about…”

I should start by explaining this and reassuring her.

After all, I could not even joke about there being a massive number of deaths in the exercise just now to Efaria, who was still only ten years old.

“There were zero dead, and injuries… twelve at most.”

“…Why twelve?”

“Because twelve people participated in the exercise just now.”

In response to Efaria’s question, I showed her a grin.

That was an excellent question. I wanted to give Efaria a gold star.

Well, Efaria herself had question marks floating across her face, though…

“Heh heh… Forgive me. I will stop being dramatic and say it plainly. Twelve people participated in the mock battle just now. That is the number of generals in the red and blue armies. And the other twenty-five thousand soldiers… they are not people.”

“…Since this is you, Your Majesty, King of Einheria, you do not mean that they are not humanfolk, do you?”

“Of course not. They are neither humanfolk nor fairy-folk. The soldiers of the Einheria Army… are not alive in the first place.”

When I said that, the faces of the two people other than Efaria stiffened.

Did something come to mind for them…? Ah, crap.

Come to think of it, General Saga of the Kingdom of Est had said there was a forbidden spell that created undead through ritual magic… They might think this was something like that.

“Ah, you seem to be misunderstanding, but they are not undead either. They are called summoned soldiers. They were never alive to begin with… Even if they fall on the battlefield, after a while, they simply disappear without leaving a body behind. Whether cut by swords or pierced by spears, they are beings that do not shed even a single drop of blood.”

““…””

Guriel and General Smark were speechless.

Efaria placed a hand at her mouth and seemed to be thinking about something.

“Soldiers who do not tire, do not suffer wounds, need neither food nor sleep, and never disobey orders. Well, they do not suffer wounds, but they do take damage. If they take a certain amount of damage, they fall and disappear, but as the name summoned soldiers suggests, we need only call them forth again.”

““…””

Of course, there were several restrictions, such as a time limit on how long they could remain summoned, the fact that they could only be summoned in places where a mana collection device had been installed, and the fact that while the cost was low, they could not be summoned without mana stones. Even so, they were soldiers so convenient that such restrictions hardly mattered.

Well, they were difficult to use as soldiers to send into remote areas… but if we marched as we always had while installing mana collection devices along the way, there was no problem at all. It was hard to send them into undeveloped lands far from human habitation, though.

Naturally, I did not tell them information that could become such weaknesses.

“…Could it be that the reason you do not even demand expenses when requesting the Einheria Army’s deployment is…”

“That is correct. Our army costs no money. It is not as though summoning the soldiers costs money either. Even if we wanted to demand expenses, we could not calculate the amount. Movement is instantaneous through teleportation devices. We need no provisions, and they have their equipment from the moment they are summoned.”

“Even the word tremendous seems to fade before this. It sounds as though there are almost no flaws…”

Efaria said that with admiration, but I shook my head at her.

“No, of course there are. If I ask them to brew tea, they will not brew tea, and they cannot do paperwork. They are loyal to orders, but they lack adaptability. Well, they are fairly flexible regarding matters related to war, but they cannot replace servants.”

“…I see.”

Efaria muttered while looking at the summoned soldiers guarding the tent.

As though taking her place, Guriel then asked a question.

“Incidentally… may I ask how many you can summon?”

“It easily exceeds six hundred thousand… but I do not know the exact number either. Kiriku would probably know.”

“…I see.”

After hearing my answer, Guriel fell silent with a straight face.

The maids had been working hard at the training grounds as well, so the maximum number we could mobilize had increased somewhat compared to before. That was why I did not know the exact number… but as a king, was that unacceptable?

No, it was unacceptable. Not knowing my own country’s military strength accurately was bad. Should I have said something like “around one million” instead?

“Your Majesty, King of Einheria, may I ask a question as well?”

As I was internally flustered over my mistake, General Smark spoke to me this time.

“You may, General.”

“Earlier, you said they have their equipment from the moment they are summoned. Are horses summoned as well?”

“There is no cavalry in the Einheria Army. All of them are foot soldiers.”

It was strange that running was faster than riding a horse… but in Einheria, that was common sense.

Well, General Smark seemed extremely surprised.

“You do not need the mobility or charging power of cavalry?”

“You saw the exercise just now, did you not? To put it plainly, they are faster running on their own legs than riding.”

“Pfft!”

At my words, it was not General Smark but Guriel who burst out laughing.

Even though he had been silent with a serious expression until a moment ago…

“My apologies, Your Majesty, King of Einheria. Faster than riding a horse… Somehow, at this point, I cannot help laughing.”

“It is the truth. Besides, summoned soldiers do not tire. They can keep running faster and longer than horses, you know? There is no point in deliberately riding something slower than themselves, is there?”

“Could it be that the reason Your Majesty is not used to traveling by carriage is because you too are faster when you run…?”

…He was probably referring to when I arrived at the Holy Kingdom’s royal castle.

We had talked about carriage travel and such at the time…

“That is a state secret. Do you wish to know?”

“I shall refrain… Heh, hehe.”

“…Pfft…”

For some reason, not only Guriel, but Efaria as well seemed to be holding back laughter.

Was the idea of me running that funny? Even an Overlord could sprint, you know?