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The Prince’s Virtue (2)
The campaign’s size was not small. The number of regular knights mobilized alone amounted to about four hundred: four knight platoons serving the royal family directly and four that belonged to the Third Legion. The number of soldiers dedicated to the operation was one legion belonging to the Central Army and two Balahard Ranger companies.
A total of 3,200 troops were mustered. To facilitate the extermination, the royal family mobilized all the champions except the palace knight commander.
It was clear that the king was taking this issue seriously, that his will was firm.
He did not want the catastrophe in the County of Brandenburg to spread throughout the kingdom; it had to be ended as soon as possible. The troops began to move as quickly as possible, reflecting the will of the king.
Before the march, Vincent split his troops in five. Each unit included experienced senior rangers who were to search for any traces of monsters. And he chose the champions to lead each unit.
“You will be heading to a different area, not to Brandenburg.”
It was only Count Brandenburg who had sent a messenger to the capital, but Vincent did not rule out the possibility that other provinces were already in a similar situation.
This was entirely in accordance with my warning that non-human things would appear throughout the kingdom, and it was in line with the king’s will to end the chaos as quickly as possible.
I gathered the champions to me before they left.
“Don’t miss a single clue. Even if it is considered a false rumor, be sure to check it.”
I asked them again and again, one by one, making sure they looked me in the eyes.
“Because everything that will happen from now on will be strange things that you have never experienced before.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Whatever it might be, would it be odder than what we experienced in the forest?”
The curt yet powerful answer was Arwen’s, the drawn out and impertinent question was Eli’s.
The old knights, including York Willowden, responded briefly to my words and promised to keep them in mind.
“See you again soon,” Arwen greeted me, and the champions marched off in their separate directions. Now, the only Master left at my side was a good and gentle woman, yet an out of control woman whose eyes only shone when she shed blood.
“Now you don’t have to stay in a stuffy carriage,” Vincent said from behind me as I watched the champions lead their troops away.
“I’m escorting you to the target.”
“There’s no law saying the escort can ride outside a carriage, now is there?” quipped Vincent adding, “And how bad do you think I am? Do you think I don’t have eyes to see for myself?”
Vincent laughed, revealing his teeth. Seeing him smile, I suddenly looked around. The Blizzard Knights of Winter gave me deep, wordless glances. Gwain and the other Dawn Knights stared at me; their faces sickened, as if having nothing in familiar with anyone.
It was only then that I realized that all warriors present were pure Winter Castle troops.
“It’s been a while since I felt like this.”
“Enjoy the mood and only the mood. Never forget that your Highness’s job is to appease public sentiment.”
“We have to move as fast as possible, it will be a big deal if the monsters move on to other villages,” I said with a bloody smile, and Vincent started marching again. After a brief pause of looking at their commander’s back, the troops of winter marched after him.
The light-bodied rangers and northern knights marched on tirelessly, almost day and night. So, we soon reached the borders of Brandenburg County.
“Company Captain Jordan.”
“Yes, commander.”
“I’ll leave half of the rangers in your charge, with the order of letting the count know of our arrival. Afterward, start your search.”
Vincent had become a duke, yet the Balahard rangers still treated him as their count, Winter Castle’s commander. They treated him as if they didn’t much care about titles but rather deeds.
Vincent also seemed to have no intention of correcting his title.
“What happens if you find signs of the monsters?” I asked Jordan.
“The monsters, who have just fed, will stay in one place. But if they have already moved on, it will be harder to track them down.”
“I will leave it to your judgment, whether you pursue them or even engage in battle. If necessary, you can use my name and ask for the support of Count Brandenburg,” Vincent ordered Jordan without hesitation.
It was possible to miss a monster by making a mistake, or the rangers could become injured, but I knew the possibility was extremely slim. Jordan was a ranger who served long enough to be counted among the best in Winter Castle.
“Then I’ll start right away.” Jordan turned around and started marching off, but then he turned around and came to stand before me.
“Don’t be too disappointed if I take all of your Highness’s kills. Because… I almost forgot that you are a noncombatant on this mission. Why did I keep forgetting that?”
And this was how Jordan chose to greet me at the very start of our mission. Seeing that nasty face of his, I wanted to jab my fist out and punch him on his disgusting snout right away.
“Jordan.”
But instead of caving his nose in, I told him with a gentle smile, “You are in a lot of trouble.”
“I am grateful for knowing that.”
“What do you think I’m going to do? This time, it will be particularly painful.”
“Yes, it’s just more hard work. I’m always doing it. There is nothing new about it anymore,” the ranger cheekily responded, bowed his head, then passed me by.
“We are going on a mission, guys! Let’s go!” Jordan shouted energetically, and the veteran rangers formed up in rank behind him.
“My company has to march out now. If we don’t get there now, we won’t be worth our names.”
“I hope you enjoy your work, Jordan. I hope so very much.”
“Shut up! Follow me, men!”
The scene was as it always is: Jordan arguing loudly with the senior rangers until they soon disappeared from view.
I muttered in their direction after they were gone.
“He does have a very hard time.”
I mourned a little when I thought of the tough days yet to come for the ranger.
Jordan and I met again exactly two weeks after meeting Count Brandenburg and after appeasing all the communities in his estate for the unfortunate thing that has happened. It was after I had expressed the firm determination of the royal family on this issue. Jordan’s face upon our Reunion was as exactly as I had expected it to be.
In short: He couldn’t sleep well one day, then the next, and for many days after that. Jordan, who had clearly not slept a wink after facing all manners of hardship, came out directly to face Vincent and started to complain.
“I’ve never seen something so weird in all my years in this world!”
The events of the past two weeks flowed out of the ranger’s mouth. It sounded good at first.
Thanks to the monsters rampaging everywhere, they left many traces of their passing. Things went smoothly at first, and it was exciting. But Jordan said that he wasn’t very excited when they lost all trace of the beasts three days ago.
“It suddenly rained, and all traces were washed away. Still, who am I? Aren’t I Jordan, the best tracker in Winter Castle? Somehow, I was able to use my wits and catch their tell-tale signs again.”
In a tired voice and with an exhausted face, Jordan still took the energy to praise himself.
“These guys run all day. They really seem to sleep while running. Even though the ground is like this, so craggy and rocky, they keep on running. If they are hovering around here, above our heads, I won’t be surprised.”
Only then did Vincent, who had been listening to Jordan for some time, speak.
“What kind of monsters are they?”
“I do not know. I couldn’t even see them – we could only follow along. That’s how fast they are.”
Jordan reported as much as possible as quickly as possible, and Vincent’s expression hardened to the blatant answer.
“But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have any income at all,” the quick-witted ranger said. “These guys go on horseback.”
“What?” Vincent frowned.
“I’m sure of it.”
“Even when I had seen monsters tame beasts like wolves, I’ve never known of any monsters taming horses.”
“That’s why I thought it was strange. I wondered if it was a horde of magical foes disguising themselves as beasts… But then again, if you consider the smell of their droppings, and you know what kind of meat they ate, the case is far different.”
Jordan poured out words that sounded like excuses, expressing doubts about some other mystery he struggled to understand.
When I asked what it was, he answered, “They never get off their horses. They eat rice on their horses – and sleep on their horses.”
Vincent said that this type of monster surely existed entirely upon their mounts.
The moment I heard this, a memory flared up in my head.
“Is it them?” I muttered, deep in thought. Vincent and Jordan turned to me.
“Have you guessed something?” the ranger asked me, and I nodded. Wanting a more immediate report, Vincent ignored me and turned to Jordan. “There are some things I don’t understand.”
Jordan’s report accurately pointed to one of the ancient beings I knew of. However, the carnage and horror unleashed here did not match their nature as I knew it to be. So, I found out.
“While you were pursuing them, have they attacked a village, even once?”
Jordan shook his head in response to my question.
“They just ran all day. They didn’t seem to have the time to raid a village.”
I frowned. “You were chasing the wrong group.”
Jordan countered my words.
“It can’t be. All of the traces left at the scene led to only one trail leaving the scene — that of the abominations that are neither beasts nor humans that we are pursuing.”
Vincent stepped up and looked at me and Jordan alternately.
After listening further to Jordan’s observations, I felt that what he was saying was right. The experienced judgment of the ranger got stuck in my mind.
“Another village four days west of here lies in ruin!”
With swift timing, a messenger from Count Brandenburg came and gave us the answer.
Jordan looked at me, and his face was full of doubt. I understood why he felt like that. The target Jordan was pursuing wasn’t in the west, nor was it four days away.
“Vincent.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
Vincent, while still contemplating the overwhelming chaos, answered me right away.
“I guess you’ll have to divide your troops again.”
I suggested that I share a bit of my accumulated historical knowledge with him.
Vincent frowned.
“What is the identity of the beings who attacked the village, and what is the identity of the beings we were instead chasing?”
“I still don’t know the identity of those who attacked the village.”
I had no way of knowing for sure, as I had not seen it with my own eyes.
Vincent’s face quickly showed his disappointment. But that lasted only for a while, as he soon asked me, with shining eyes, “That’s like saying you know the nature of the one’s we’ve been chasing.”
“Everybody knows that, surely,” I told Vincent, and the dark faces of those around me quickly brightened.
They were all relieved that I knew of the identity of at least one of the entities that had invaded the kingdom.
“Was is it?” Vincent asked me, and instead of answering him, I turned in Jordan’s direction, casting my gaze over the wide horizon.
“They think of running as a virtue — and of halting as sin. They are a tribe who call themselves ‘The Sons and Daughters of the Windstorm.’ Warriors who are born fierce and courageous; they are the hoofed ones.”
While looking over the vast plains, searching for any signs of riders, I told everyone what they were.
“Centaurs.”
We were chasing beings that were half-human and half-horse.
“As far as I know, they never attack humans without cause, nor do they covet human flesh. If they’re pissed of, though… that makes a difference.”
“Divide your troops,” I urged Vincent.
“This is urgent. We need to cover more land.”
“Go ahead, before the carnage increases.”
“Don’t worry about it, just do it quickly.”
I kept pushing Vincent. I told him it was necessary to hurry up to prevent innocent deaths.
Vincent looked at me with suspicious eyes and finally decided after contemplating it for a time.
“It’s a good point. I will leave the Winter Knights and half of the rangers with your Highness.”
Vincent turned to Carls, who stood beside me.
“Make sure that his Highness quickly reaches Count Brandenburg.”
Vincent didn’t forget to make sure I was closely watched and kept away from battle.
“I don’t think we’ll get into that much trouble,” I stated.
Vincent ignored me.
“I will come back as soon as possible,” he told the troops with me, unable to hide his anxiety, and then left as he headed off with the messenger.
“No way that the things we are chasing are the centaurs from the old stories…” Jordan stated.
“However… in all the stories I’ve heard, they are pretty peaceful. Aren’t they?”
I gave a slight nod.
“The centaurs are not hostile, but they are still vicious enough to sufficiently protect themselves. There have been very few times when centaurs have run wild, and there were always reasons for it.”
This was an exceptional case, with them being hostile to humans and butchering them in their villages. Still, I was sure if it was indeed the case.
“You said they are not hostile to humans!” Jordan yelled at me.
“In general, that’s the way they are.”
“Then what do you call that!”
A rising dust cloud could be seen moving across the plain, and Jordan’s finger pointed to it. The beasts were leveling their rusty cavalry spears. I saw about fifty centaurs charging on under that dust cloud.
“Rangers! Ready battle formation! Firing line!”
“Load crossbows!”
“Protect your charge!”
As I watched the rangers, Carls and others surrounded me, and I drew Twilight.
“I’m forced to do this,” I muttered and turned my gaze upon the dust cloud that was rising over the knights and rangers who surrounded me.
There was an extraordinarily huge centaur leading the charge.
His lower equine body had a bronze torc over its chest; the upper body was that of a copper-skinned man, and upon his head was a bronze crown.
This hoofed Sword Master was a clan hero of great power, and he could turn warriors into bloody messes in an instant.
He was the Prince of Centaurs, and his eyes stared into mine.
“Make way,” I whispered as I gathered light on my blade.
The knights saw the brilliantly shining Twilight and opened a path for me.
The centaurs charged without hesitation at the path being opened.
“Meet their charge!”
The voices of the knights behind me bellowed out, and the centaurs charging at us gave a fierce roar.
And in the middle of it all, I-
“I feel so good!”
At this, I laughed out loud.