Celestial Fire (5)

“Splendid bowmanship!”

The person in question, Aramis himself, gave Azadine a thumbs-up for his skill with the bow.

“Now then, don’t waste your attention on pointless things.”

Azadine approached the tree the giant had dropped and secured the dryad fused into it. At that, the Bri suddenly went berserk and charged in.

They were no longer the same Bri who had been hesitating and wavering over whether to flee just moments ago. Like a swarm of bees after their hive had been struck, they rushed in to protect the dryad, heedless of their lives.

“Good! Come at me! I’ll wipe out every last one of you!”

Even in this situation, Aramis instead rejoiced and swung his ceramite longsword.

And with that, a chaotic melee broke out.

The seasoned soldiers tried to deal with the Bri using the advantages of metal armor, metal weapons, and larger physiques, but the Bri attacked by leaping over their formation with their tremendous jumping ability.

Moreover, unlike the Bri soldiers who had been pursuing the refugees, the Bri here were enormous in build.

And on top of that, cavalry riding trained muks were mixed in among them, so even the veteran soldiers and knights could not confidently predict victory.

‘Everything is fine, but how about giving some commands? This won’t do.’

Azadine, in Aramis’s place, jumped into the most powerful and difficult section of the enemy force, cut down the charging muk cavalry, and signaled to the soldiers.

“Fall back to a wider space where you can use your spears!”

“But!”

“I’ll hold them off in the meantime!”

Azadine personally brought down the strongest enemies and protected the soldiers while moving them to a place where they could make use of the advantage of their arms and armor. Under Azadine’s command, the tangled knot of the melee began to unravel.

The Bri fell into a frenzy and fought to the very, very end.

Like undead that knew no fear, they showed an absurd fighting spirit no ordinary living creature should have possessed.

Because of that, this time their side’s losses were far from light as well. Sir Sutton, who was also the lord of this place, died in battle, and the ordinary soldiers also suffered considerable casualties.

At least because Azadine took command, the soldiers’ losses could be reduced, but even so, about two-tenths of the entire force lost their lives or became unable to fight.

Meanwhile, the villagers were ecstatic with hope that they had regained their village, and with Aramis, who had led them.

“My heavens! He slew a giant and saved the village!”

“Three cheers for Sir Aramis!”

It had been Azadine who killed the giant, but before anyone knew it, the people were treating it as Aramis’s achievement. No one had directly seen the battle scene, and he was the commander leading the troops.

Azadine had no intention of competing over merit, so he left them to say whatever they pleased.

“Ah, um… Sir Azadine.”

A man who looked like a veteran among the soldiers approached Azadine and spoke to him.

“What is it?”

“Well, um, thank you. Truly.”

The villagers were absorbed in Aramis’s flashy exploits, but the soldiers, especially the experienced veterans, knew that Azadine had protected them and were grateful.

“I only did what had to be done. More importantly, the dryad?”

“Ah, she is over there.”

The soldiers were surrounding the dryad in a cordon.

The dryad, merged with the tree, could do neither this nor that after the Bri giant who had been meant to carry her had died, and she was left standing in the middle of the village like a decorative ornament.

“You didn’t harm her, did you?”

“Of course not. They say if you kill a dryad, you get cursed.”

“Then shall we hear what she has to say?”

Azadine intended to interrogate her and extract information.

But as Azadine approached, the dryad began trembling all over, then changed her expression.

“P-please spare me! Sir Knight! The one who insulted you and harmed the people until now was not me, but the Bri sorcerer who took over my body. I….”

As the dryad writhed like that, she suddenly let out an evil scream and went limp.

Then flames suddenly began to rise from her body.

“Kyaaaaah!”

The dryad writhed in pain.

“Damn it!”

Azadine immediately took off his cloak and covered her body with it, but the flames did not go out.

“What are you doing?!”

Aramis, who saw that sight, came running over.

“I’m putting out the fire!”

“Damn!”

Aramis brought over a nearby bucket and poured water over her, but the flames still would not die down.

“Kyaaaaah!”

When the dryad only seemed to suffer even more, Azadine, unable to bear it any longer, swung his sword and cut off the dryad’s head.

“Ugh!”

Only then did the dryad’s screams cease.

“Bastards!”

Azadine, having cut off the dryad’s head, cursed aloud in fury.

It was something he had done to save her, but the horrible sensation of splitting through her neck bone remained vividly in his hand.

Azadine had steeled himself to never hesitate if there was reason to kill someone, but no matter how many times he did it, he could never grow used to this kind of slaughter.

“Hmm. What in the world is this….”

“Sir Aramis. This is a trap.”

“A trap?”

“Yes.”

Azadine sheathed his sword and took a deep breath. Arael’s Voice was still being obstructed.

Even though the dryad, the spellcaster, had died, the magic spread throughout this entire forest had not disappeared.

In other words, it was not the dryad who was interfering with Arael’s Voice. There were still more Bri forces operating secretly in this forest.

For something like this to be happening in the territory of the Rescue Knights Order south of Fireglyph.

“Sir Aramis. Are there any other knights nearby? The size of the enemy force is no ordinary matter. We need a large-scale force. If necessary, from Fireglyph as well….”

“Hmm. In truth….”

Sir Aramis looked troubled and glanced toward the heavily armored infantry.

These heavy infantrymen were the knights’ retainers, and among them was a scribe carrying a cage for messenger pigeons.

He came forward and shook his head.

“Sir Aramis. He is listening.”

“It does not matter. He too is our brother.”

“But….”

The scribe still looked at Azadine with suspicious eyes. As he continued to hesitate, the veteran soldiers who had been watching stepped in to defend Azadine.

“If Sir Azadine had not helped us, we would have died.”

“He even took down a giant in one shot.”

The scribe reluctantly revealed the truth.

“Sir Aramis. The messenger pigeons are strangely unable to find their way. Even when I release them, they keep coming back to me.”

Apparently, the magic interfering with Arael’s Voice was also affecting the messenger pigeons.

“If that is the case….”

At that moment, the sound of horn trumpets began to ring out from far away.

The Bri army that Aramis’s party had defeated had been nothing more than a mere vanguard.

The scouts who had gone out to confirm the enemy’s movements returned one after another and reported in.

“There is a force of no fewer than four hundred looting the northern lumber mill.”

“In the west as well, there appear to be around four hundred Bri soldiers raiding the stockyard, killing people, and devouring pigs.”

“In the northwest too, it looks like three hundred, no, around four hundred.”

Forces of similar scale had split into three groups and were looting villages. When they heard the news, shadows fell across the soldiers’ faces.

To begin with, the number one thousand two hundred was overwhelming. A force of this size could destroy even a small county.

Moreover, this movement itself was the problem. Even soldiers ignorant of military strategy could now understand it.

The fact that they had split their troops meant that the Bri were not simply barbarians gathered for plunder, but an organized army moving under someone’s command and direction.

And the forces visible now might not even be all of them. There could be follow-up units or reserve forces organized as well.

“Sir Azadine.”

Aramis called to Azadine.

“The hippogriff can still fly, yes?”

“Of course.”

“Then, could you perhaps request reinforcements from Fireglyph?”

“I can make the request, but the road to Fireglyph is blocked by enemy forces. Rescue will not be able to come.”

“The opposite. If troops come out from Fireglyph, we will instead be surrounding them from both front and rear. Is this not the perfect opportunity to encircle and annihilate the enemy?”

“…What?”

For an instant, Azadine nearly lost control and started cursing him out.

If they gathered all the troops in Fireglyph, they would number about a thousand. But the Bri outnumbered even that, and on top of that this was dense forest terrain, making it difficult for humans to make use of their advantages.

Yet Aramis was proposing that they surround the enemy from front and rear and use hammer-and-anvil tactics.

Even setting aside Fireglyph’s forces, how exactly were the meager troops under Aramis supposed to serve as either the hammer or the anvil?

“That is impossible!”

“Whether it is encirclement and annihilation or hammer and anvil, in order to hold the line we need at least equal numbers.”

The veteran soldiers and retainers were also shocked by Aramis’s proposal and spoke out against it.

“Is that so? Even though we are justice and the enemy is evil, it still cannot be done?”

“That is….”

“Hmm.”

Everyone wore troubled expressions.

In a rigid place like the King’s Church, those words could be interpreted like this.

‘Are you trying to jinx us by talking as though we might lose? Do you want to be punished by military law? Whether we win or lose is not for you to think about. If your superior tells you to charge, then you must charge even before an army of a million.’

It was a dogmatic statement that rejected the private judgment of subordinates.

But Aramis had been asking that in complete sincerity.

“Are you serious?”

“It seems I have committed a discourtesy. It is likely because I have not been awake for very long.”

“You have not been awake for very long?”

“Ah, dear. I was told not to say that.”

Aramis tilted his head in embarrassment.

‘He is like a child. Come to think of it, Izmilla also knew little of how the world worked. Of course, Izmilla was not this bad… Could it be that all Celestials are like this?’

He felt he could now somewhat understand why the knightly order kept the existence of the Celestials veiled and secret.

“Sir Aramis. Forgive the rudeness, but your age?”

“Why do you ask? That is hardly what matters right now.”

“Is it a secret that must not be answered?”

“Not exactly… but it is troublesome. It feels as though you doubt my wisdom because my age is young.”

“No, the opposite. It is not because your age is young that I doubt your wisdom, but because your words and conduct make one doubt your wisdom, so I am asking your age, am I not?”

The surrounding knights and retainers were struck speechless. Azadine had openly said what they had been too frightened to say.

“What do you mean by that? Are you insulting me?”

“If it felt like an insult, then forgive me. In trying to scrape together whatever wisdom I can to save as many people as possible, I must have become rude. But is there perhaps another Celestial Fire force nearby? It does not seem as though only your group came.”

Azadine changed the subject so that Aramis’s emotions would not flare up.

“The commander is in Sacklton to the south.”

“The commander?”

“I mean Sir Karna, commander of the Celestial Fire.”

“Sir Karna. He is here?”

At those words, Azadine’s eyes lit up.

From the start, this journey had set out in order to investigate Karna, commander of the Celestial Fire. And yet he had been this close.