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Chapter 9: Help Arrives
Ludwin, who was leading the reinforcements, rushed over the moment he saw me. “Your Majesty! I’m glad to see you’re safe.”
There was no way the 60,000 reinforcements from the Kingdom of Friedonia could enter a small-scale fortress with 3,000 soldiers already holed up inside, so the main body of the reinforcements camped in the nearby field, while their leaders were now at the fortress.
We who were in the fortress were meeting them with our key members all together.
Ludwin knelt in front of me, clasping his hands in front of him as he gave his report. “Ludwin Arcs has just now arrived with the reinforcements.”
“Well done,” I said. “You can take it easy now.”
Having exchanged some formal greetings, Ludwin stood up and immediately voiced his complaints.
“Still, sire, this is too much! What were you thinking, accompanying the advance party yourself?! Taking non-combatants like Lady Roroa and your little sister with you too!”
“Our former enemy Julius was in Lasta. There was no telling if the Dratroopers could coordinate well enough with him on their own, right? Roroa and I had to act as intermediaries. Besides, if I wanted to gather more information, having Tomoe’s ability was a necessity. I brought Aisha and Naden too, so we could flee if it got dangerous, meaning there was no problem.”
Incidentally, I had brought both Roroa and Tomoe from Lasta to the fortress too. I figured that Tomoe always had Inugami guarding her, and if things got dicey, I could have Naden carry them away, so it was probably fine.
Ludwin pressed his fingers against his temples with a sigh. “Still, there’s always the remote chance something could happen. If the princess heard of this...”
“Urkh... I think maybe I’ll have you keep quiet about this to Liscia...”
I was justified in my actions, but Liscia would worry. The more we worried her, the longer I would get scolded later. I appreciated her concern, but I still wanted to anger her as little as possible.
Ludwin shook his head in exasperation. “The soldiers are already telling stories about your bravery in leading an advance party into a city hopelessly surrounded by monsters. When the soldiers return home, it won’t be long before the princess hears of it.”
“I guess I’ll have to turn myself in, huh...”
I was likely to get a lighter scolding if she heard about it from me rather than someone else. But still... I was usually told I wasn’t much like a hero, so wasn’t it unfair that Liscia told me off anytime I did something that required bravery, for once?
“Aw, well, it shows how much Big Sis Cia cares for ya, now doesn’t it, Darlin’?” Roroa asked.
“That’s right,” Aisha nodded. “You have to accept it.”
“I mean, I just carried you around like you told me to,” Naden said.
Those three were all in agreement.
“No, I think you’ll all be getting an earful too, you know? Naden for being my accomplice, Roroa for acting just as reckless despite being a non-combatant, and Aisha about her responsibility in watching over us.”
“...Big Sis Ai, Nadie, how about we avoid goin’ to see Big Sis Cia for a while?” Roroa asked.
“Y-Yes, let’s do that,” Aisha said.
Naden nodded. “Roger that.”
“Isn’t that kind of unfair?!” I cried.
While we were talking, Julius, Jirukoma, and Lauren came over.
When Ludwin noticed Julius, he put on a grim face.
In the battle of the forces of the Elfrieden Kingdom and Principality of Amidonia facing off near Van, Ludwin had been commander-in-chief of the kingdom’s forces, and Julius had participated as a top commander alongside Gaius VIII. These two, it could be said, had directly fought one another.
“Sir Julius Amidonia,” Ludwin said in almost a whisper, and Julius extended his hand.
“The Amidonia name now belongs to Roroa alone. It’s just Julius now, Sir Ludwin Arcs of the kingdom’s Royal Guard.”
“You know of me?” Ludwin asked.
“I took command on the front line in place of my father during that battle. I remember the name of the one I fought. Your command was solid, and I could find no place to break it apart. I thought you were quite a difficult opponent.”
“I see now,” Ludwin said slowly. “The reason we couldn’t break the principality’s forces, even with their low morale, was because you were there.”
Ludwin and Julius exchanged a firm handshake. There was none of the awkwardness I had felt meeting Julius again. That was likely because they held something as common as warriors who oversaw commanding troops.
Besides, Ludwin was an affable young man, so it was hard to dislike him.
“I’ve heard about your exploits from His Majesty,” Ludwin said. “He said something about the Lastanian royal family entrusting you with the command of their armies, and you breaking through the encirclement with only 3,000 troops. I couldn’t be more reassured to have you on our side.”
“No, that was only possible with the Dratroopers’ assistance,” Julius said. “Besides, Lastania’s soldiers alone will not be enough to exterminate the tens of thousands of lizardmen that are no doubt on the other side of that river. I am keenly grateful for your assistance.”
“Indeed,” Ludwin said, nodding. “Let us overcome this crisis together.”
Suddenly, an energetic voice broke in. “Brother!”
For a moment, I thought it was Roroa, but she didn’t tend to address her brother quite that way. Looking in the direction the voice came from, Jirukoma’s little sister Komain was rushing over.
Behind her was Poncho, who was in charge of managing logistics, and the head maid who was assigned to be his assistant, Serina.
Komain ran straight to Jirukoma. “Brother! Thank goodness you’re all right!”
The appearance of the sister he had left behind in the Kingdom of Friedonia made Jirukoma’s eyes bulge wide. “Komain?! What are you doing here?!”
“King Souma arranged it. I’ve come together with the man I now serve.”
“The man you now serve?”
“Sir Poncho.”
With that said, Komain went to stand beside Poncho, who was slowly walking over.
Poncho placed his right hand on top of his head, bowing repeatedly to Jirukoma. “I-It’s been too long, Sir Jirukoma. Komain has been helping me a lot as my assistant, yes.”
“Oh, you were the one she wanted to serve with, Sir Poncho? We are in your debt for the food you gave us refugees in our time of need. If my little sister can be of help to you, please, work her hard.”
“No, I couldn’t do that...” Poncho said nervously.
“Don’t worry. Sir Poncho is too considerate to do that to another person,” said the woman in the maid uniform who was standing opposite Komain.
Jirukoma looked at that woman who was wearing a maid uniform despite being in a war zone. He cocked his head to the side. “Who might you be? Are you Sir Poncho’s maid?”
“I am Serina, the head of the castle’s maids. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”
Serina lifted the hem of her maid uniform’s long skirt and curtsied.
“My mistress is Princess Liscia, but for various reasons I now act as an assistant to Sir Poncho. Ah, yes... You may think of me as a colleague of Madam Komain’s.”
“You’re...colleagues?” Jirukoma asked, taken aback.
Well, strictly speaking, it was less that they were colleagues, and more that they’d both been entranced by the food Poncho made, but a capable woman like Serina was never going to give off any hint of that.
Komain noticed the woman in armor standing awkwardly behind her older brother. “Brother? Who is that woman?”
“Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is Madam Lauren, the captain of the soldiers in the Kingdom of Lastania, where I now reside. Madam Lauren, this is my little sister. Her name is Komain. And this is Sir Poncho of the Kingdom of Friedonia, who has been taking care of her, and Madam Serina.”
Then Jirukoma pushed Lauren forward and introduced her to everyone.
Lauren’s face was a little tense as she saluted the three of them. She seemed flustered by the sight of Komain. “I-I’m Captain Lauren. You’re Sir Jirukoma’s sister? S-Sir Jirukoma is always helping me...”
Poncho and Jirukoma probably assumed she was just feeling shy to be meeting someone new, but Komain and Serina knew exactly what was going on.
Komain asked Serina in a hushed voice, “Um... Serina. What do you think about this?”
“I don’t know what else there is to think. It’s exactly what you’re imagining, isn’t it?”
I knew it, Komain thought as her shoulders slumped. It seemed this Lauren woman had a thing for Jirukoma. In which case, one thing concerned her. “Do you think my brother has noticed her feelings?”
“I would suspect not,” Serina whispered. “Look, he has the same expression as Poncho, like he’s looking out for a girl who’s younger than him.”
“Ahh... There’s no way he’s noticed then.” Komain scratched at her cheek.
She had no intention of inserting herself into her brother’s love life, but it was going to be awkward having to deal with his partner as his younger sister. That said, Lauren didn’t seem like a bad person, so Komain gave the tense female soldier an awkward smile.
“Um... I’m sorry. It seems you’re doing a lot for my brother.”
“Oh, not at all! If anything, he’s the one who’s always helping me. Sir Jirukoma has saved me on countless occasions,” Lauren said, blushing.
Ohh...she’s got it bad, Komain understood. And seeing how big a crush the woman had on her brother, his utter lack of self-awareness about it started to irritate her as a fellow woman.
Komain deliberately put on a charming smile. “I see you and my brother are close. Are you two in love, maybe?”
“I-In love?! No, we’re not, um...” Lauren was clearly unsettled and started fidgeting. She may have looked like the dashing warrior type, but the way her actions were oddly maidenly was cute.
However, as for Mr. Clueless...
“What’s this, out of nowhere?” Jirukoma exclaimed. “Isn’t that rude to Madam Lauren? We have no such relationship.”
He didn’t get it at all. Komain could see why Lauren was a little depressed.
“You’re the rude one here, Brother,” she informed him.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Komain wanted to explain it until he got a clue, but she just barely managed to bite her tongue and hold back. If she pointed it out herself, she would be causing trouble for Lauren.
Serina whispered in Komain’s ear, “I see the situation is quite inte... No, I mean troubling.”
“Did you just start to say interesting?!”
“With these sorts of gentlemen, you must be direct, or it will never get through to them. So why don’t we have Madam Lauren come right out and say it?”
“You might be right, but...do you think she’ll plainly reveal her feelings?”
“Oh, that’s simple.” The corners of Serina’s lips turned up. It was only a slight smile, but it was like a glimpse of her inner sadist.
While Lauren was still looking happy about being asked if she and Jirukoma were in love, Serina said casually, “Madam Lauren, how many children are you hoping to have with Sir Jirukoma?”
“Three!”
It was an instant response. She must have thought about their future together in great detail.
The area instantly went quiet, and Jirukoma’s eyes were wide with surprise.
“M-Madam Lauren...”
“...Ah!”
Brought her back to her senses, Lauren instantly turned a bright shade of red as she realized she’d slipped up.
“Uwah...ah...”
With her face red all the way down to her neck, Lauren’s eyes filled with tears as she uttered ill-formed words. Then, in the next moment, she bolted like a startled hare and ran away.
As Jirukoma stared dazedly at her back, Komain asked him, “Brother, do you understand which of us was the rude one now?”
“Ahh... Ah! No, but...”
Now it was Jirukoma’s turn to panic. No matter how clueless he might be, he had surely realized how she felt now. Well, not so much realized as had been told the answer.
In exasperation, Komain asked, “So, how do you feel, Brother? How likely is it that I am going to have to call that person Sister?”
“I find Madam Lauren...desirable,” he admitted slowly. “However, I remain in this land for the dream of retaking our homeland. I couldn’t form a family...”
“I see... So that’s the reason...”
It seemed Jirukoma’s unawareness of her feelings had been not simply because he was clueless about such things, but also because in his role commanding the refugee volunteer soldiers who dreamed of returning home, he had put his own needs second, or even third. Then...
“Hmph. What’s the harm?” Julius slapped Jirukoma on the back. “There are other refugee volunteers who’ve made families in this country. If you have a fondness for Captain Lauren, why not respond to her feelings?”
Then Julius smirked.
Jirukoma was shocked. “I can’t believe this, Julius. Do you have a grudge against me for teasing you about Princess Tia?!”
“Oh, no, I’m simply returning the words you gave to me. ‘It seems it’s time to pay the piper, Jirukoma. Congratulations. Well, it was simply a matter of time, anyway.’”
“Grrr...”
Jirukoma could say nothing in response. At last, after everyone urged him to give up on ignoring her, he did so, and chased after Captain Lauren.
I watched the whole exchange in silence, thinking, Talking about settling down with a family when you’re on the battlefield is a death flag, so stop!
I seriously started wondering if I should have Jirukoma keep a pocket watch over her chest, but in this world, it was mostly sword wounds and the like, so maybe chain mail was better.
Well, leaving Jirukoma and Lauren to sort themselves out, what I had to deal with right now was the lizardmen across the river.
“Ludwin, do we know what the situation across the river is?” I asked.
“Yes. According to reports from our wyvern cavalry scouts, there are about 50,000 lizardmen amassed across the river. We’ve also confirmed various other species of monster. It seems many of the monsters can fly,” Ludwin reported.
50,000 lizardmen and countless other monsters... That was a lot. We had 60,000 regulars, and the wyvern cavalry was with us for air power. If we threw the whole army at them, they would never lose to the lizardmen, who had no concept of strategy or formation. However, there was the issue of geography.
“Them being a large force across a river is a problem,” I said. “Just like how they can only cross the shallows in small numbers, we can’t have our whole army cross at once either, right?”
“You’re right... If we send small groups one after another to establish a beachhead, the vanguard will be surrounded. That would increase casualties on our side. We could have the wyvern cavalry provide bombing support, but...”
“No, we shouldn’t do that,” Julius interjected. He must have been listening to us. “If we attack from just one direction, the enemies that have gathered here for us will scatter. If they are divided, the area damaged will expand that much more, and the time to put them down will be extended. Can we find some way to exterminate that pack in one stroke?”
“You say that, but...” I scratched my head.
I understood what Julius was saying, but to wipe them out quickly, we would need to get a large number of soldiers across the river fast. Inside our own country, there were many transportations on the table like the Rhinosaurus Train or the Roroa Maru, but this was a foreign land. We had limited options.
“The Dabicon is a major river, right? If we scrape some boats together, can’t we get them across at once?”
“No, we can’t use large ships in a shallow river like this,” Julius said. “It’s not realistic to have 60,000 men cross in smaller ships, either.”
“In that case, how about tying together small boats to create a bridge...” I began. “Wait, we’d need to get a rope to the other side of the river first.”
Julius and I both wracked our brains, but nothing good came out of it.
It seemed there was only one man we could count on. I turned to Ludwin, who had returned.
“Did Hakuya have any directions for you?” I asked.
Our last resort was the country’s bag of wisdom, Hakuya Kwonmin the Black-robed Prime Minister. I had been giving detailed reports on our situation here to the main body of reinforcements and Parnam Castle via messenger kui. That was because I figured that if he was aware of our situation, clever Hakuya would come up with some countermeasure.
Ludwin nodded. “Yes. The prime minister came up with an effective plan based on the information you sent him, sire. The people we will need for this plan have already been sent too.”
That was Hakuya for you, always quick. But what was this about people we’d need?
“Who are we talking about here?”
Ludwin began, “That would be...”
“Hehe! It’s me, sire.”
I turned toward the seductive voice that had suddenly addressed me, and there was a blue-haired beauty.
For a moment, I thought it might be Juna, but unlike Juna, this woman had antlers sprouting from her temples, she wore a kimono-like outfit which was open to reveal her ample cleavage, and a reptilian tail that was similar to Naden’s slithered out from her rear end.
“Excel?!” I exclaimed, letting out a cry of surprise at her unexpected arrival.
It was Excel Walter, Juna’s grandmother and the Commander-in-Chief of the National Defense Force.
She giggled happily covering her mouth with a fan. “Oh, my, sire. You’ll be marrying Juna soon, won’t you? You can call me Mother instead of Excel, you know?”
“No, but wouldn’t I be calling you grandmother...?”
“Did you say something, Your Ma-je-sty?”
“Nope, not a word, Mom.”
I immediately raised the white flag at her intimidating smile. Nothing good would come from pissing this lady off after all. It could get pretty nasty.
I cleared my throat, then started afresh. “So, why are you here, Excel? I ordered you to defend the kingdom while I was away, didn’t I?
“The Prime Minister asked me to. My powers are needed, so he asked me to join up with you. Don’t you worry, once the battle here is over and done with, I’ll nip right on back to the kingdom.”
Saying that, Excel wearily turned her shoulders in circles. “Honestly now, both you and the Prime Minister are so rough on your elders.”
“I’m sure you’d get mad if I treated you like an elder...”
“Well, I don’t mind poking fun at myself, but I won’t let anyone else say it.”
“Oh, I see...”
Well, the fact that a wise and experienced general like Excel had come bearing a plan from Hakuya was something to be happy about in this situation. I’d just been drawing a blank myself after all.
Excel put her arms around me from the front, pressing her body up against mine. “Hehe! Now that I’m here, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Too close too close too close!”
This was way closer than family were allowed to get, you know?!
While everyone was watching, it was super awkward to have the young-looking and buxom Excel making a move on me like this. Ludwin and Julius’s stares hurt.
While I was thinking that, Excel suddenly moved away. Just as I was feeling relieved...
The next instant, bzzap, a blue flash shot past my head.
When I turned back, Naden had an angry face and all her hairs were standing on end. There were so many sparks flying around her, it was clear at a glance that she was pretty mad.
Then the next thing I knew, someone grabbed me by both hands, and I was pulled back.
I stumbled back two, three steps, and there were Aisha and Roroa, each holding one of my arms.
“Duchess Walter! That’s enough fooling around!” Aisha shouted.
“Darn straight it is. Just ’cause Big Sis Cia and Big Sis Juna aren’t around doesn’t mean you can go makin’ eyes at Darlin’.”
“The next one will hit,” Naden snarled as she hugged me over the shoulder from behind. Maybe because of the electricity, my hairs were all standing on end. It was pretty scary to hear it crackle next to my ears.
Seeing my fiancĂ©es’ reactions, Excel laughed even more happily. “Hehe! Your desperation is so cute.”
“Please, don’t mess with my fiancĂ©es,” I begged.
“Oh, my, isn’t it nice I stir things up and help you reconfirm your love for each other on such a regular basis?”
“We haven’t gotten tired of each other, so all you’re doing is making me uneasy.”
“I see you have troublesome relatives too,” Julius said.
Even Julius was looking at me with sympathy... Now I was just getting sad.
Maybe she was satisfied with the response we’d given her, because Excel opened her fan and cheerily said, “Now, sire, I’m the best help you could ask for. How about we start the meeting on how we’ll eliminate those lizards across the river right away?”
...Honestly, this lady sure was having a riot in life.