Episode 11

Simon rampaged across the battlefield, his huge body shaking the ground. As he roared and smashed the earth apart, scattering the knights before him, he looked every bit a giant. Faced with the berserker who had appeared out of nowhere, the knight order could do nothing but panic.

“What is that thing!? Where the hell did it come from!?”

“He’s huge…”

“Don’t approach recklessly! Keep your distance!”

The commander issued orders, but the troops could not be controlled as intended. Swords and spears could not reach him in the first place because of the difference in size. Even if they did hit, the blades were simply deflected by his sturdy body. This unforeseen existence broke the knights’ spirits.

“Regimental Commander! What the heck is that!? This is bad, right!?”

“W-We never anticipated a situation like this. Regimental Commander Eltia, what should we do…?”

Like the other knights, Garbera and Selsia were also panicking. Normally composed, Selsia had gone pale, and Garbera was visibly flustered.

“That is most likely… Simon Titan, captain of the Lagias private army. It seems he was the one maneuvering so skillfully.”

Eltia had long been gathering information on Lagias. Simon’s shadow had always loomed behind the advances of the Lagias private army.

There had been rumors of a giant appearing in the Lagias Domain at night. She had dismissed them as the foolish reports of drunk villagers, but perhaps it was ironic that the truth had now been revealed here.

“A-A giant? Nobody told us about that! I mean, is something like that even allowed!?”

“As you can see, this is no ordinary matter. There is no doubt that Zeke Lagias is involved.”

Judging that attacks with weapons were ineffective, the knights switched their method of attack to magic. They struck with a variety of elements—fire, water, and wind—but whether it posed little threat or not, Simon ignored them and kept advancing. Seeing his unstoppable onslaught, the knights grew frantic, and magic was misfiring everywhere.

(The drawback of magic is that one’s mental state shows itself clearly. It hurts that we couldn’t bring the Mage Corps.)

Though they belonged to the same national military, their organizations and chain of command were separate. They had successfully maneuvered many knight units into place, but they had been unable to bring in the Mage Corps.

“Uoooooohhhhhhh—!”

Simon’s roar drowned out the commander’s orders. Swords, magic, tactics—none of it worked. Every time Simon took a single step, the earth split and fierce winds blew. Unreasonable violence was trampling the knight order.

“Wait a second!? The carriage is getting away, isn’t it!?”

In the direction Garbera was looking, the carriage had started moving. It advanced along the path Simon had forced open. Beyond it lay the route to the border.

“Are they planning to use the giant as a decoy and escape!? Regimental Commander, at this rate—”

“…I will draw the giant soldier away. You all aim for the carriage.”

Eltia ran off, leaving her subordinates behind. Her target was the giant soldier rampaging across the battlefield. If they could not deal with that thing, they could not capture the target. And that meant Eltia would not obtain the result she wanted. —That would make this meaningless.

“…Flame Lance!”

She launched a blazing spear of fire at Simon. She aimed for his neck, his vital point, and it hit beautifully, but the giant soldier did not fall.

(The larger he is, the broader his weaknesses become as well…?)

Normally, that single blow would have taken his head clean off and ended the battle, yet Simon remained standing. Just like the other attacks, the effect was weak. —But Simon’s eyes were now fixed on Eltia. That meant he had recognized her as an enemy.

“Mr. Giant. Won’t you dance a waltz with me?”

From atop the cabin, she looked out over the battlefield.

With a single swing of his enlarged arm, Simon shook the ground violently and sent knights flying. He ignored the magic flying at him from all sides and scattered the knight order swarming around him. He was truly in a state of complete domination.

“Eris! If you stay up there, you’ll be a target!?”

“Forget that! You focus on driving. We can’t let Simon’s efforts go to waste!”

Eris snapped at Kratz, who was driving the carriage. They could not allow the resolve Simon had staked his life on to be cut off here. No matter what, they had to keep moving forward.

“Stop! You there!”

“You shall go no farther!”

Knights moved around to block their way. While many of the knights had fallen into panic because of Simon’s advance, others calmly aimed for the carriage. It seemed the knight order was not just a mob of nobodies after all.

“No choice. I’m changing course!”

“No. Keep going straight through them. —Break Aura. Wind Aura.”

Eris chanted multiple support spells. The targets of the buffs were Eris, Kratz, and the horses pulling the carriage. Strength surged through them, and the wind pushed against their backs. The carriage’s speed rose drastically, and it smashed through the knights and charged ahead.

“W-Wait… it’s too fast!?”

“Get a grip. You just have to follow after Simon. It’s an easy road to understand.”

The carriage kept racing forward at tremendous speed, mowing down knights. When there were too many, Eris’s magic flew from atop the cabin and opened a path. Eris and the others continued onward like a bullet piercing through the battlefield.

A massive arm, sharp as if slicing through the wind, came at Eltia. She dodged it, leapt onto the giant arm, and ran upward. It was a feat only possible because of the physical enhancement granted by magic. Of course, she had never had any experience climbing the wall of a giant while ignoring gravity.

“—Flame Lancer!”

Double Cast—casting physical enhancement and a fire spear simultaneously. Multiple flaming spears struck Simon as Eltia aimed for the area near the top.

“Uoooooohhhhhhh!!”

Simon shouted. That single roar alone became a fearsome attack from Eltia’s perspective. The violent sound shook the air, and Eltia was thrown from his giant body.

“How forceful…”

She regained her posture while creating footholds of wind and landed on the ground. —There was no follow-up attack.

(So it is as I thought. This giant soldier…)

A considerable number of knights had already been struck down by Simon. Their formation had been destroyed, the chain of command was no longer functioning, and the giant soldier’s path had gouged the land terribly. —And yet, not a single person had died.

(So that was the source of the discomfort I felt. This giant soldier cannot kill people.)

She did not know the reason, but she was almost certain. It was unnatural that there were no dead after battling this many knights. If his aim was to let his allies escape, he should have slaughtered them all, and given the difference in size, that would not have been difficult.

To begin with, the principle itself was absurd. She had never heard of a human growing giant and fighting like this. It had to be some kind of ancient magic or magic tool. It would not be surprising if there were some kind of restriction.

(Perhaps he intends to buy time… but the same applies to us. Precisely because you are a warrior who does not kill, our fighting strength will not be greatly reduced.)

The injured knights stood back up with first aid. As long as their spirits were not broken, they would challenge him again and again. —Above all, reinforcements were steadily gathering on the Telone Plains. A giant soldier like Simon stood out whether he wanted to or not.

(A kindhearted giant… would that be the way to put it?)

The reinforcing knights unleashed magic all at once. Rather than single spells, coordinated combined magic exploded against Simon. Perhaps his stamina was finally running out, because his earlier momentum waned and his advance slowed.

“!? It seems… this is the end for you.”

Simon came to a halt.

As he let out a groan, a change overtook that massive body. The giant soldier, once so large one had to look up at him, changed form and returned to his original size.

“Is the waltz over, Captain?”

Simon dropped to one knee, breathing hard. The bracelet that had been glowing had lost its color.

The knights surrounded the weakened Simon. Looking behind him, Eltia saw reinforcing regiments surrounding Eris, the others, and the carriage.

“You did well against this many knights. Why don’t you rest now?”

“No. I can still… fight.”

The knights surrounding the carriage were blown away. It was a powerful wind spell cast by Simon. Even in this state, he could still move?

“For the sake of my master, I still cannot die. You’ll have to keep me company a little longer.”

He spread body-enhancement magic over his entire body. He wrapped wind magic around the sword in his hand. It was a tactic his master, Zeke, had hammered into him. How much blood he had coughed up to master this.

It had been a strange event. Zeke, who had acted outrageously just like his parents, had changed completely after a certain day. His mouth was still foul as ever, but the way he treated the private soldiers, the servants, and the people of the domain had changed.

Many had remained wary, thinking he must be plotting something, but it had not been a passing thing. He swung his sword, used magic, and shed blood for the sake of the people. He never spoke his true intentions, but his actions themselves proved everything. Little by little, the feelings that those connected to the House of Lagias held toward Zeke began to change.

(I’d originally killed my heart and served them only because it was for my homeland. And now I’m the captain.)

He had thought of quitting many times after witnessing the unreasonable words and deeds of the House of Lagias. He had even thought that if it was for his homeland, all of Lagias should be slaughtered. If someone did not act, all of the domain’s people would die. That was how abnormal the Lagias family’s conduct had been.

(Who could have imagined that it would be Lagias itself trying to change Lagias?)

It was Zeke who had acted before him. How much resolve and determination had that young boy needed to choose to stand against his own parents? All alone, he was trying to settle Lagias’s sins up to this point. He was fighting with his life on the line. —The choice of Simon and the private army had already been decided.

“—Gale Storm!”

A storm swallowed up the knights gathered around the carriage. The knights cut by the wind blades suffered no small amount of damage, but they would not die. Zeke would not kill, even if the enemy were bandits. Against monsters was one thing, but if the opponent was human, then as his subordinates they too respected Zeke’s wishes. If that was called naive, then so be it—but because Zeke had power, he could make such lofty ideals reality.

“Your back is wide open.”

“Guh…”

Pain ran through his back. Fighting this many knights while also keeping an eye on a regimental commander of real ability was too much. He barely managed to retreat as far as the carriage, but Eris and Kratz were both at their limit as well.

The knight order attacked with overwhelming numbers that surpassed individual strength. Their approach was simple, but this regimental commander seemed to know how to fight.

“…Eris, Kratz. Listen quietly. I’m about to… launch a final attack.”

He explained the plan to the two of them briefly.

He would charge at the regimental commander with his mana raised to the absolute limit, then cause it to erupt violently in a self-destruct attack that would drag the surrounding area into it. Given the little stamina and mana he had left, the tactics available to him were limited.

“Slip away when you see an opening. If the head of the unit is removed, there should be at least some confusion.”

“…Then I’ll go with you too. I’m a soldier too. I’m prepared.”

“And what do you plan to do about the driver? That role is mine, not yours.”

“When he wakes up, he’ll be confused if you’re not there. …So I’m counting on you.”

Even with death looming over them, not one of them tried to run. Perhaps this too was because of the bonds Zeke had built. A smile slipped out of him.

Just as each of them steeled their resolve and was about to step forward, a change came over the knights as well. —For some reason, many of them suddenly collapsed to the ground. Some of the knights, including Eltia, managed to maintain their posture, but their faces were twisted.

“This is… gravity magic…?”

Multi-attribute magic layered from multiple spells. There were only a handful of people who could deploy magic over such a wide area to this extent.

(This mana… I felt it two years ago as well…)

Ignoring the fallen knights, a man strode forward boldly. A figure dressed in what looked like ordinary clothes, utterly unsuited to the battlefield, had taken control of the field.

“Heh~, you’re holding out better than I expected.”

That breezy voice. That attitude, somehow seeming to toy with them, was familiar. The Mage Corps, which had refused to cooperate with this request—yet for some reason, its regimental commander was pointing his staff at the knight order.

“…Regimental Commander Yorn. What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

Though they belonged to different organizations, Eltia and Yorn were both regimental commanders. As a leader, Yorn’s conduct and speech were often unbecoming, and Eltia had never thought well of him.

“What do you mean? Isn’t it obvious?”

Eltia was still under the effects of the gravity magic. She was desperately trying to keep her sinking body upright, and in this situation he was behaving so frivolously. It unsettled her composure.

“…Then let me change the question. Do you understand the meaning of siding with the wanted criminal Zeke Lagias?”

“Even if you say that, I’m on vacation, so I don’t know anything.”

“!?—On vacation… you say…!?”

Yorn handled his staff like a cane. Was that provocative attitude intentional?

“Do you truly think such nonsense will work?”

“Hearing that from a knight order rotten with corruption is a bit rich.”

Yorn activated healing magic. The targets were the wounded Simon and the others. The knights were shaken by this obvious act of hostility.

“…You would be wise not to think this will end without consequences. The name of the post-Sage will weep.”

“I don’t care. I don’t mind even if I get fired as regimental commander.”

(This guy… he’s completely shameless about it.)

He was the foremost problem child among the mages, notorious for his careless behavior. Under normal circumstances, it would not have been strange if he had already been dismissed, but what stood out even more than his misconduct was his skill with magic.

A genius who could use many attributes. Not only that, but his ability with the sword was also high. Above all, he was so capable that Sage Glanz Fort himself had declared him to be one of the central mages of the next generation. And yet… he was saying he was on vacation? What was going on here?

“You’re siding with Lagias instead of the knight order? That’s madness…”

“Well, you see~, the knight order didn’t save Westen. …But he did.”

With a single swing of his staff, flaming arrows rained from the sky onto the knight reinforcements that had gathered. Eltia saw the panic that swept through them at the sudden attack.

“That alone is reason enough. Lagias and everything that came before doesn’t matter… don’t underestimate me, little girl.”

“Guh!?”

The gravity pressing down on her body grew even heavier. She had barely managed to keep herself upright, but now she could no longer endure it and collapsed to the ground. Yorn had suppressed the knight order gathered here.

“…We’ve met before.”

“Indeed. Well, I owe him one too. So I’ll help out.”

Simon and the others gathered around Yorn. Adventurers, a foreigner, private soldiers, and now a mage—it was a strangely assorted group. Just what sort of connection did they all share?

“I don’t really get it, but you saved us.”

“That’s an amazing reinforcement!”

“Now, now, calm down. …The effect’s about to wear off anyway. My mana’s completely empty too.”

“Huh? …Huh!? Then why are you dawdling around! Everybody, get on the carriage already! We’re getting out of here!”

(Yorn Grin. He really is fooling around after all. I simply cannot like this man.)

The criminals moved to climb onto the carriage. But their feet stopped. On the border side, soldiers had deployed as if watching them. Nearly a hundred soldiers wearing armor of a design different from that of the Kingdom of Diabalet had gathered there.

“W-Why? Those are foreign soldiers…”

“I thought something like this might happen, so I made a request from our side. That the demon of Lagias might try to enter the country illegally.”

Despair spread among the Lagias side. They truly had done well. Even with the regimental commander’s betrayal, they had fought well against a whole country. …But this was as far as it went.

“…Crossing the border is out. It puts us at too much of a disadvantage.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We hide ourselves once. Compared to a foreign country where we have no connections, there’s still more possibility within our own country. …I also know a reliable priest.”

His judgment of the situation was quick. He was extremely suspicious as an ally, but troublesome as an enemy.

Perhaps agreeing with Yorn, the driver took hold of the horse and turned the carriage around. Just as they were finally about to leave this place—

The battlefield was engulfed in an abnormal chill. The scythe of death was at their throats.

“…So you’ve come here at last. Zeke Lagias!”

Ice pillars suddenly appeared across the Telone Plains. Thousands of them overlapped one after another, surrounding the battlefield. Like a prison built to keep the knight order from escaping.

“Simon. What is the meaning of this situation?”

That cold voice crushed the knights into utter despair. Many of them lost consciousness from fear alone. For the knight order, it was a nightmare—but for those on his side, it became a ray of hope.

(What is this mana…!?)

The carriage froze solid in an instant and shattered apart. The one who appeared amid the glittering spray of ice fragments was the demon of Lagias, hated by all.

As proof of his loyalty, Simon dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

“Yes, sir. I report that battle broke out between the knight order, which sought to target Zeke-sama, and us, who refused them. …There are wounded, but no dead. On either side, enemy or ally.”

“Hmph, I don’t care… but… well done.”

The healing wind that blew out from Zeke instantly healed the wounds of Simon and the others.

“It seems I need to make them understand… exactly who they’ve picked a fight with.”

His eyes shone blue. It seemed the knight order had touched the dragon’s reverse scale.