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Prologue: The Hawks and Wolves of the Northern Plains
The Demon Lord’s Domain spread out across the north of the continent of Landia.
This was the land mankind had lost when one day, suddenly, a massive number of monsters appeared. Now the monsters ran wild across it, and it was rumored that demons and the Demon Lord lurked deep inside. However, such rumors were no more than guesses, and it would be fair to say that the actual situation inside at this time was a complete unknown.
Though it was called the Demon Lord’s Domain, there was no clearly defined border.
After the miserable defeat of the combined forces of mankind led by the Gran Chaos Empire, the entire area where people had abandoned their homes because they were unable to fend off the attacking monsters had come to be called the Demon Lord’s Domain.
At present, due to the initial, rapid expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the concentration of monsters was now spread thinly enough that the various countries could handle them, and thus the expansion had stopped.
For the countries bordering the Demon Lord’s Domain, fighting monsters was a daily affair.
Though the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain was now suppressed, battles between mankind and monsters from the north unfolded nearly every day.
There were times when the monsters attacked alone, and there were times when packs of around ten would attack at the same time.
On exceptionally rare occasions, swarms of over a hundred monsters would attack, and in those cases, a single, small nation from the Union of Eastern Nations couldn’t handle them alone and would have to coordinate with neighboring countries to deal with the situation.
In one such country bordering the Demon Lord’s Domain, the small Kingdom of Lastania, which belonged to the Union of Eastern Nations, there was a battle currently going on near the border with the Demon Lord’s Domain.
This hadn’t happened often in recent years, but around twenty monsters had just appeared near the Kingdom of Lastania. They weren’t all the same type, having all come from different races. They varied from zombified, rotting ogres and goblins to bizarre beasts that defied explanation, like a winged snake and a two-headed black panther.
What the monsters did have in common was the glint in their hungry eyes with which they glared at their prey.
The Kingdom of Lastania, with its population of 20,000, only had about 500 pure soldiers, and only a hundred of those could be immediately mobilized, so it wasn’t an easy number to handle by any means. If it came to it, the people themselves would have to take up arms. For now, though, that wasn’t necessary.
“Defend! Defend!” a soldier shouted.
“Form up! If we leave any gaps between us, they’ll get in!”
On the battlefield, soldiers were stopping a fierce assault by zombie goblins.
The zombie goblins eschewed any sort of tactics in favor of just charging in, so by keeping them back with shields and thrusting out spears from the gaps in between them, the soldiers were taking them out one by one.
In among those shield-bearing soldiers was one who wore armor and carried an even larger shield, shouting at the rest.
“Archers, aim for anything that flies first! If we let even one through, our families will be eaten alive!”
The words were brave, but the pitch was high. The bearer of the large shield was a woman.
She was twenty-three years old. She was tall at 180 centimeters and was quite muscular, but her facial features still retained a touch of femininity.
This was Lauren, who, despite her young age, was the captain of the Kingdom of Lastania’s troops.
Though her rank was captain, with the low number of troops the Kingdom of Lastania had to begin with, she commanded all of them.
At Lauren’s order, a unit equipped with crossbows made bolts rain down on the flying snake that was trying to pass overhead, taking it down.
Then there was a scream from the shield-bearers.
“Captain! It’s an ogre!”
When she looked, a single ogre of over three meters in height, its flesh festering like a zombie’s, was dashing toward the shield-bearers like the zombie goblins. Rotten or not...it was still an ogre. It put tremendous pressure on the line, sending four of the soldiers flying at once.
“Urgh!” Lauren cried. “Cluster together and stop its charge! Don’t let that thing get into town!”
When Lauren gave the order, she raised her large shield and stood in front of the zombie ogre herself.
“Captain! Hey, we’re going to help!” a soldier called.
“Reservists, gather around the captain!”
With eight shield-bearing soldiers, Lauren included, blocking the ogre, they were finally able to halt its advance. Though its advance had pushed them back, the ogre was stopped just in time.
“Lancers, archers, finish it while we’re holding it here!” Lauren ordered.
“Yes, ma’am! Archers, fire!”
“Go down, you oversized monster!”
Arrows and lances bit into the zombie ogre’s putrefied flesh.
However, though countless arrows and many lances had pierced its body, the zombie ogre just wouldn’t die. With each swing of its log-like arms, one soldier, then another, were sent flying. Another soldier immediately came to fill the gap in their defenses and hold it back, but their formation had been thrown into chaos.
““Raaaaaaaaaaaar!”” the two-headed panther roared.
“Whoa! Gagh!”
Weaving through the gaps, the two-headed black panther broke past the shield-bearers and bit one archer’s head from both sides. His head being bitten and torn from two directions, the archer fell, covered in his own fresh blood.
Its prey felled, the two-headed black panther set its sights on the exposed backs of Lauren and the shield-bearers who were holding back the zombie ogre.
“Damn! It’s behind us...”
““Grrr!”” The two-headed black panther tried attacking Lauren from behind.
“I won’t let you!” Someone stepped in-between Lauren and the two-headed black panther.
It was a muscular man who wore clothing like a Native American’s and carried a kukri in each hand. He was protecting Lauren. The man blocked the monster’s fangs with the kukri in his right hand. Then, holding his left kukri with a backhanded grip, he stabbed it into the top of one of the creature’s two heads.
To finish it off, he stabbed its other head in the throat.
The two-headed black panther fell to the ground with a thud.
Once he’d confirmed that the enemy was completely neutralized, the man tore his kukris free and rushed over to Lauren.
“Are you all right, Madam Lauren?!”
“Sir Jirukoma! You came!” Lauren’s face burst with joy at the sight of reliable backup... but her seriousness quickly returned. She kept her guard up against the zombie ogre she was holding back as she asked, “If you’re here, is the volunteer army here too?”
“Yes. However, I’ve come ahead by myself. We need to hold out for a while longer...”
While Jirukoma was still talking, the monsters on the other side suddenly began roaring.
A group of around fifty armed people had joined the fray, catching the monsters from behind.
Within that group was a young man, taking command as he rode around on horseback. This man, who had an air of nobility about him, looked at the battlefield with keen eyes and gave orders to the group of men.
“These witless monsters see only what’s in front of them. Attack from the rear and flanks to make quick work of them!”
The young man’s name was Julius Amidonia. He’d once been the crown prince of Amidonia.
The force he now led was a volunteer army composed of refugees seeking to return to their homelands, which were now part of the Demon Lord’s Domain.
Normally, the volunteer army should have been commanded by their leader, Jirukoma, but Jirukoma preferred to fight as a single warrior. In most situations, Jirukoma left command to Julius, who was a visiting general in the Kingdom of Lastania.
“Indeed. Sir Julius’s commands are as apt as ever. I can feel at ease watching him,” Lauren said, feeling impressed.
“You’re right,” Jirukoma agreed. “When it comes to commanding troops, he’s far more capable than I am. He does complain, ‘Why is it that I must always clean up after your messes?’ all the time though.”
“Sir Julius is dependable after all. I can see why you’d end up relying on him.”
While the two of them were talking, Julius and the volunteer army’s charge threw the monsters’ ranks into disarray. Not missing their opportunity now that the pressure had lessened, the shield-bearers moved up, knocking down the zombie ogre and other monsters.
The lancers swarmed around the fallen zombie ogre, stabbing it again and again. The archers loosed their arrows from a distance, and when its body was finally turned into a pincushion of spears and arrows, the zombie ogre stopped moving at last.
Having confirmed their enemy was dead, the soldiers raised their voices.
“I-It’s dead! We killed it!”
“We brought down the big one!”
“““Yeahhhhhh!”””
Having killed a powerful enemy boosted the soldiers’ morale.
Now they moved on to mopping up the remaining monsters, and Jirukoma and Lauren both breathed a sigh of relief.
While they were wiping their brows, Julius rode over to them on his horse.
“Jirukoma! You pushed the troops off on me and charged in again! You’re supposed to be the leader of this volunteer army! And you, Madam Lauren! It should be unthinkable for the captain to be out on the front lines! If anything were to happen to you, who would keep this country’s soldiers together?!”
The moment he arrived, Julius started giving them both a piece of his mind.
Jirukoma and Lauren both listened with wry smiles.
Getting chewed out by Julius had become a regular part of what happened after a battle with monsters. The two of them kept charging in no matter how much they were lectured about it, and Julius continued lecturing them, even knowing it was hopeless.
None of the three had learned their lesson.
“Besides, the problem with you people is...” Julius insisted.
Cutting him off, Lauren said, “Now then, the monsters are wiped out. Let’s head back. All right, people, we’re pulling out!” She clapped her hands.
“Hey, I wasn’t done...”
“Now, now, Julius,” said Jirukoma. “We can listen to you tell us off on the way back, so let’s get going for now. There are people eagerly awaiting our return, you know?”
“...Hmph.”
Having been mollified by Jirukoma, Julius looked away, unamused.
He didn’t say any more, though, so he must have accepted it.
Seeing the way Julius was acting, Jirukoma and Lauren looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
“Jirukoma,” Julius said. “What do you make of the recent monster attacks?”
On the way back to the castle with the soldiers, Jirukoma was walking beside Julius as he rode on horseback. Jirukoma could ride a horse too, but he preferred to walk because his style was more suited to fighting on foot, and it served as training.
Hearing the question, Jirukoma cocked his head to the side.
“Has there been something about them that’s caught your attention?”
“There has been an increase in both the number of monsters and frequency of attacks of late. If the numbers increase any further, the soldiers will not be able to handle them alone.”
“If you’re right...” Lauren said seriously, “the people will have to take up arms.”
Though it was called a kingdom, Lastania was no bigger than a mid-range noble’s domain in Elfrieden or Amidonia. The population was around 20,000, and that naturally included non-combatants like women, children, and the elderly. Even if they enforced conscription, only 5,000 of them could fight, at best.
Julius held his chin with a pensive look on his face.
“Even if we could get the numbers, a haphazardly assembled force won’t be much use in battle. Even with the volunteer soldiers added to their numbers, this country has fewer than 600 soldiers. If the monsters come in greater numbers than that, it’s inevitable that we’ll struggle. If their number exceeds 1,000...it will be the end of this country.”
Julius had a serious look on his face. He probably wasn’t exaggerating.
To wipe away the oppressively serious atmosphere, Jirukoma deliberately chose to be optimistic.
“The Union of Eastern Nations was formed to prevent that, right? So that they can coordinate their response when a situation a small or medium-sized country can’t handle alone arises. Besides, if it comes to it, won’t the United Forces come to help?”
The United Forces that Jirukoma was speaking of was shorthand for the United Forces of the Eastern Nations, a battalion created with troops levied from each of the members of the Union of Eastern Nations. (In the case of small countries, this was ten percent of their army, and in the case of medium-sized countries, it was thirty percent.)
If a member of the union was threatened by the Demon Lord’s Domain or another country, the United Forces would be dispatched.
However, Julius shook his head.
“It’s true, if this country were the only one being invaded, we could count on the United Forces to come to our aid. However, based on the information I’ve gathered from the traveling merchants, this country is not the only one seeing a rise in monster attacks.”
“You’re a visiting general, aren’t you?” Jirukoma asked. “Do they even have you handling intelligence?”
“There’s no one else to do it, so what choice do I have? I’ve experienced firsthand the terror of what can happen when you are negligent about gathering intelligence,” Julius said, frowning.
His knowledge of the importance of intelligence gathering had come from his experience of misreading the political situation inside the Elfrieden Kingdom, dispatching troops too easily, then suffering a major defeat.
Julius shook his head and tried moving on. “From what the merchants tell me, monster attacks have risen in every country bordering the Demon Lord’s Domain. If there’s a major monster offensive across a wide area of the border, even the United Forces will be unable to handle it. Besides, the United Forces will head out to help the countries that contribute the greatest numbers of troops first, I’m sure.”
Because it was a force composed of troops contributed by each country, it was, in some ways, inevitable that the countries most of those troops belonged to would be a higher priority. If the countries with the greatest numbers of troops were in trouble, the United Forces may wholly collapse, and assisting other countries wouldn’t boost morale.
That was why a small country like the Kingdom of Lastania may be at the bottom of the list.
“Urgh...” Jirukoma groaned. “Then what about asking the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom to provide reinforcements? Lastania has an alliance with them, right?”
The Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, which had many powerful dragon knights in its service, was said to be theoretically capable of fighting the Gran Chaos Empire on even footing in a defensive war. The kingdom had been allied with the Kingdom of Lastania for a long time, since before the founding of the Union of Eastern Nations.
The alliance had remained in place even after the Kingdom of Lastania’s accession to the Union of Eastern Nations, and now their kingdom served as the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom’s point of contact with the union.
It was no exaggeration to say that this country, which seemed so small and insignificant that it might blow away in the wind, still existed at all thanks to that alliance.
But Julius shook his head.
“I told you the increase in monster attacks has affected every country that borders the Demon Lord’s Domain, didn’t I? The Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom is a bordering country too. They must be seeing an increase in attacks themselves.”
“You mean they may be too busy looking after themselves to be able to spare anything for us?” Jirukoma asked, appalled.
If worse came to worst, they would have to fight with only this country’s forces. That reality put Jirukoma in a dark mood.
Julius sighed slightly. “In times like this, I can’t help but wish I had the 10,000 troops I once commanded.”
In the time between the death of his father, Gaius VIII, and his sister, Roroa, driving him from the country, Julius had been the sovereign prince of Amidonia. He’d only served as prince for a short while, but during that time, Julius had held 10,000 troops at his command.
“If I still had those troops, I wouldn’t have to worry like this...” he murmured.
“But during the time when you were leading those troops, you wouldn’t have given a second thought to a small country like this, would you?”
“You may be right.” Julius took on a sad face for a moment, then laughed bitterly. “Honestly... There are so many things you only understand the value of once you’ve lost them.”
“But there are also many times you think you’ve lost something, when you haven’t lost it at all,” Jirukoma said, as Julius laughed mockingly at himself. “We were driven from our homelands as refugees, but they are not lost to us. Though they are now part of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the mountains and rivers that raised us are still in those lands. So it is for our families too. Though I have parted ways with her, my sister Komain is still alive and well in the kingdom.”
Granted, Komain’s last letter had said, “I have found the one I am meant to serve!” in somewhat excited writing, so Jirukoma was more than a little worried about her.
“My homeland and family...huh,” Julius murmured.
For Julius, the Principality of Amidonia was his homeland, and his only family was his younger sister Roroa. His last memories of each were bitter ones, but they hadn’t faded away and disappeared entirely.
He’d heard the Principality of Amidonia was now incorporated into the Elfrieden Kingdom and Roroa was King Souma of Elfrieden’s fiancée, but...they did certainly both still exist.
“You’re right... If it comes to it, I suppose I’ll bow my head to my sister,” he said. “It will be humiliating, but if it gets us reinforcements, my self-respect is a small price to pay.”
To encourage Julius, who was smiling faintly, Jirukoma slapped him on the lower back.
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“I only know you as you’ve been in this country. No matter what type of person you may have been in the past.”
Julius was silent.
“But the way you are now, you’re not that disagreeable,” Jirukoma went on. “When we first met, you had the eyes of a lost man, searching for answers, but now you seem full of life to me.”
Hearing Jirukoma assess him that way, Julius let out a “Hmph,” and looked away from the man. “The House of Amidonia is a house of warriors. I must have regained my true self while fighting these monsters.”
“Hmm... Is that really all it is?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Couldn’t it have been someone else’s influence? Look, it seems you have someone waiting for your return.”
Jirukoma directed the upset Julius’s attention to the castle gate.
In front was a charming young girl wearing a light-colored dress that resembled a knee-length Tyrolean dirndl, and she was waving at Julius. Her attire was common, but, on closer inspection, a pretty tiara was sitting atop her head.
The lovely girl had short, airy hair and a face that retained traces of youth.
“Lord Julius! I’ve been waiting for you to come back safely!” The girl waved her hands as if expressing her joy with her entire body as she called out to him.
In that moment, the soldiers smirked, and their jealous gazes all focused on Julius. This girl was Lastania’s princess, Tia Lastania.
When she called out to him in front of all the soldiers, Julius held his head in his hands.
“Princess Tia... Why is she at the castle gate? It’s dangerous.”
“That must simply be due to how much she’s missed you. Be on your way now, quickly.”
Jirukoma gave the horse Julius was riding a hard slap on the rear. The way the horse suddenly began running nearly made Julius fall, and he shot Jirukoma a vengeful look for a moment, but he quickly continued the race to Princess Tia.
“Those two make a cute couple, don’t they?”
When Jirukoma turned back to the voice behind him, Captain Lauren was standing there with a smile.
“Sir Julius is royalty too, so there can be no complaint about his pedigree,” she went on. “More than that, Princess Tia is very fond of him, so the king fully intends to take him in as her groom.”
“Julius says he’s ‘not ready for a family yet’ though.”
“Oh, the princess doesn’t stand a chance then?” Lauren asked.
“No, I think it’s a matter of determination. Julius seems to have been saved by the princess’s cheer, so if he just finds the resolve to live here until his dying days, the rest may go quickly.”
The two of them watched as Julius reached Princess Tia and immediately began scolding her about something. Princess Tia covered her ears as if to say, “I’m not listeniiing,” and looked away peevishly. They were like a close pair of siblings.
Frustrated, Julius picked up Princess Tia by the arms and sat her in front of him. From there, the two of them rode into the castle together.
Princess Tia was tucked snugly in front of Julius and leaned back against him with a soft smile.
Jirukoma and Lauren watched the two of them, grinning.
“They sure do get along well, don’t they?” Lauren asked.
“Haha! You may be right.”
“...U-Um... Sir Jirukoma,” Lauren ventured. “We’re both single, so would you join me for drinks tonight in celebration of our victory?”
“I couldn’t ask for more. Let’s drink together.”
“Okay!”
With that said, the two of them passed through the gate. And, having the well-liked Lauren to himself for the night, Jirukoma was subjected to jealous stares from all the single soldiers.