Sold.

Sold.

《It is a fortunate thing that an incident of this slight a scale should have come early. With the intelligence gleaned from this affair, a proper defence will be possible from here on.》

It was not flattery, nor a courteous veneer for the sake of reassurance. It was the sincere assessment of an experienced soldier. Gus smiled, small but warm.

《…I am grateful to hear you say so.》

《Grateful, my lord? What manner of thing is that to say? I take no side here — not the castle lord’s, not anyone else’s.》

The woman grinned, then with a clang shut her face-cover back down and locked it.

《Our destination is near. I shall go to the rear and pass on your word.》

《I trust you.》

《Aye.》

The old soldier pulled at her horse’s reins, turned about, and rode to the rear of the company.

Now the castle lord had only to ride forward.

《Something’s a bit odd.》

A soldier whispered at the castle lord’s side.

《They don’t look like the usual defectors. Their clothes, their horses — all turned out and tidy, the lot of them…》

《Mm.》

The intruders were different from the ones they ordinarily faced. They had not the look of the petty rogues who slipped over the northern border to dodge taxes, conscription, or criminal investigation. Tidy in appearance, fine swords. And the longbows and spears strapped to their backs: these were unmistakably men in full battle array.

《They’ve come quite set on this.》

《And yet, for that, their numbers are few. What is the count?》

《Just over forty.》

Together with the soldiers from the midway village who had joined them, the count was roughly equal on either side. Forty. To the people of the populous nations of the east, the number would sound like a joke; but given the scale of the population here, it was more than enough to mark the opening of a war.

In the next instant, a sound came ringing through the air — tuuung. A reverberation every warrior of the north knew. Thirty-five soldiers reflexively raised their targes and shielded their heads.

《Ah, then — there’ll be no negotiation, it seems.》

The sound of a longbow’s released string. A pre-emptive strike. But the arrows all glanced off the targes and arm-shields of the northern soldiers and were flung aside.

Charge.

The castle lord gave the cry by raising a hand with index finger, middle finger, and thumb extended straight. The silent cry rang across the field like a roar.

《Strike them on the flank!》

“— - ——-!”

Shouts in two different tongues, the clang of iron on bronze, the cry of a horse stabbed in the thigh — all rang through the frozen air. The shield-bearers and spear-cavalry charged out at the head.

Booo —

《What the…》

They have trumpeters too? This was no simple band of rabble.

《Damn it all…!》

It was they themselves who were the rabble, the ones who had ridden out light-hearted. The northern soldiers, registering the fact, gripped their weapons all the more firmly.

《Spearmen!》

The southern invaders pressed forward. But momentum and battle-cry were precisely the “barbarians’” strong suit; the northerners held their formation unbroken and kicked back the fair-haired men shoving their way in. Klang, klaang, taang, the sound of iron meeting iron rang across the whole field.

《Curse it! Bean-sized little scrawnies, the lot of them — and yet they’re wearing such fine armour they won’t go down!》

Ugli, in the midst of trying to kick an opponent out of the saddle, was instead shoved back and went tipping over. An enemy spearpoint aimed for Ugli’s exposed nape —

《Ugli!》

Kaang — a hulking great soldier sprang out and smashed down on the spear’s haft, breaking it apart. Ugli, who had just barely held onto the cord of his life, raised his right hand discreetly and signalled his thanks to the soldier.

“— ——-!”

《Hah! No idea what the bastard’s saying, but I’d swear he just made some racist comment!》

The soldier’s identity was the old woman who had moved to the rear.

Somehow, she had already darted out to the very front and was systematically smashing the enemy’s spear-shafts with a cudgel.

《Don’t lose your nerve, you lot! Any sorry bastards who die at the hands of these scrawnies, don’t bother coming in to work tomorrow!》

There was a thing many who had never taken part in a war of this age did not know — that in battle, a weapon is a consumable. A battle proceeded thus.

First, bow and arrow take the field. The archers of each company loose their arrows at the other side, while shield-bearing cavalry charge into one another’s formations. Once cavalry meets cavalry and friend and foe become entangled, the archer’s role ends there.

Second, the riders mounted on horses and bearing spears command the field. No matter how skilled a swordsman, he cannot beat a mounted man with a spear.

But the spear has one weakness: it does not last long, and a man cannot carry two or more at a time. Within a few minutes after the start of a battle, the spear’s head falls off, or its shaft breaks, or it goes flying far away, or it gets wedged so tightly into a corpse that it will not come free.

Once everyone’s spears are broken, only then does the true battle of swords begin; and once even the swords are broken, what is left at that point is corpses.

《Fall back!》

That was the reason the north had been pushed onto the back foot. In individual combat the north had the upper hand in momentum, but in numbers and in the durability of their weapons they could not best the southern thugs.

It was a slightly early retreat. But there were no fools in the north who would disobey the king’s word on the battlefield, and so the soldiers, one by one, hauled hard on their horses’ reins and started kicking the flanks of the pitiful beasts with their spurs.

《Hey, there — that idiot Seller’s been thrown! No time, scoop him up onto your horse, Reori!》

《Got it!》

《Thank you, damn it all! Where the hell’s my horse gone?》

The intruders, sensing the “barbarians’” confusion and retreat, instinctively scented victory.

“— ——-!”

“— - ——, ——!”

Newly stirred up with momentum and reckless courage, they bellowed cries of triumph and tore across the field. The pounding of hooves grew steadily fiercer, and the tendons standing out on the hands that gripped the reins ever more distinct.

The castle lord had been the first to advance, and was the last to retreat. Only after he had confirmed that every one of his subordinates had pulled out without a single fall from the saddle did he take up his own reins…

“— —- -!”

《Tch…!》

His retreat had come a moment too late. With a clang that felt as though it would tear his eardrums out, something heavy collided with Gus’s helm.

A spear. A sharp spear had struck the side of the castle lord’s helm and fallen to the ground. Fortunately it had not pierced the armour, but the shock, as though he had been clubbed, rang through the man’s skull.

“—- -…!”

《Do you imagine that’s enough to bring a beast like…》

“—— -!”

《…down!》

He stretched a leg back long and kicked his opponent in the belly, then ran. He ran and ran, chasing after the subordinates who had ridden ahead.

But the southern invaders’ horses did not fall behind. The enemy kept coming, and the distance between them narrowed steadily.

《Castle Lord!》

Someone riding ahead shouted back at Gus. No doubt one of the enemy was about to drive a spear into him again. But Gus neither looked back nor flinched. He only kept driving his horse on, and on. Waiting for something. Soon, just a little longer, just a little longer and the very moment would come…

“Gwahh!”

Now. Taang, kwadaang, the sound of a great body falling and crashing onto hard ground rang out.

《Slow your pace!》

Only then did the northern soldiers, hearing the castle lord’s shout, realise where it was they had fled to.

《Ah!》

Black rock bed. Black rock bed! The region where frost melts and freezes in slick succession, and where, on top of it, slippery fungi grow in thick mats.

For any child raised in the cold lands, the finest sledding ground there is.

For hoofed beasts, a death-mire.

“Gwah!”

“——, ——…! Uwaht!”

The reason the gap between the two companies had been narrowing was right there. Even the beasts of the north knew well the danger of the black rock bed. And so the north’s native horses, as soon as they spotted the black ground, began to shorten their stride and run with care.

But the horses of the south had no such instinct. Worse still, they were not fitted with the shaggy hooves of the north’s native breeds but with sleek iron shoes, the poor things. The pretty short-haired beasts, one after another, slid their legs out from under themselves and dropped their masters head-first onto the hard, cold ground.

《Those who lay down their weapons, take alive; those who do not, subdue!》

In a flash, the tide of victory was reversed. The soldiers, not letting the upturn go to their heads, were calm — and yet brimful of pride and valour as they began to settle the southern invaders one by one.

《Phew…》

After confirming the danger was settled, the castle lord dismounted and removed his helm. The side of his face that had been struck by the spear was still throbbing dully.

《Damn — feels as though I took it on the bone.》

He stripped off the glove of his left hand, confirmed that his hand was clean, then pressed firmly against the wounded area to ease the pain.

《About half of them have been taken alive, my lord. Now — now… My — my lord!》

《Mm?》

That’s odd.

His hand was unaccountably damp. Gus furrowed his brow and looked at the left hand he had just lowered from his face.

《Ah, this is…》

He furrowed his brow still deeper and muttered.

《…I’m going to catch hell from my wife over this one, damn it all.》

[27.]

The company’s return was slower than its sortie. They had to pace their march to the footsteps of the prisoners tied behind the horses. By the time they came back into sight of the castle, the sun was already melting into orange and bleeding down onto the horizon.

The first thing Ugli, returning from the fight, saw was an unfamiliar statue placed before the castle’s main gate.

《What the…》