“I have one more thing to report.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
As Jin seemed to continue working on the Magic Tool that could use the “Dig” spell, Laojun quickly continued his report.
“It’s about the composition of Magi Crystals…”
“Sorry, Laojun. I’d like you to wait until everyone is here before you continue talking about that.”
“Understood.”
Jin was waiting for Stearleana, Saki, and Reinhardt. He wanted everyone to be present when Laojun revealed the new information he had.
First, he had to continue working on the Magic Tool.
It wasn’t a particularly difficult thing to do. It was simply writing the Magi Formula onto an earth-attribute Magi Crystal.
The work itself was completed in less than 5 minutes.
“Thank you very much, My Lord.”
“With this, you should now be able to replicate this and make more Magic Tools like this one here, Laojun.”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
As Laojun received the Magic Tool from Laozi, who had in turn received it from Jin…
“…My Lord, I have just received a report from Deneb 4, the Quinta in charge of Toka Village.”
“Hmm? What happened?”
“It appears that a total of nine soldiers that were stationed in Toka Village have been recalled into the Royal Capital.”
Originally, soldiers would be stationed in remote areas like Toka village because of locations such as the Inad Mine. Because criminals would be normally used as a labor force, 10 soldiers were stationed there at all times, just in case something happened.
However, the Inad Mine had become no different from an abandoned mine, and would be delegated to Jin as of the 1st of August, so it seemed that the number of troops stationed there was increased.
“It appears a single soldier will be left behind to guard the feudal lord. Lithia has nominated a young soldier named Fred.”
Jin remembered that name. When Jin went on a business trip to Toka Village, Fred was a new soldier who was being constantly picked on by a senior soldier.
“Hmm, Lithia must have seen some promise in him, huh?”
Jin had imagined that even if his suitability as a soldier was low, he might have been good for office work.
“Since the timing was appropriate, Miss Gloria will be leading these nine soldiers in their return to the Royal Capital. That would be all.”
She must have been entrusted with leading those soldiers since she was the deputy captain of the female knight corps.
However, Jin was a bit concerned about the party being formed by Gloria and 9 other men.
“Should we have Deneb 4 join that party?”
“If we do that, there will be no one left in charge of Toka Village.”
“We’ll send someone from the backup unit to cover for him. Since Toka Village is going to be an important point from now on, we should have a Covert Unit stationed there.”
“Understood. I’ll take care of it.”
＊ ＊ ＊
“Quit dragging your feet! Step up the pace!”
Meanwhile, Gloria was marching towards Rakno Village.
Since they departed late from Toka Village, Gloria realized that they wouldn’t make it all the way to Doppa, and decided to stay at Rakno for the night.
(Tsk, that’s what we get with a woman leading us.)
(The nerve of that woman! Some knight she is, that damned aristocrat!)
(You’re the only one who gets to ride a horse. We’re on foot here!)
The nine soldiers were lazily following her while whispering their complaints.
“Ah, it’s so hot out here.”
The midsummer sun was shining overhead, burning the skin. It was no wonder that such a complaint would leak out unintentionally. However…
“Stop complaining! Can you really afford to whine like that on the battlefield!?”
Gloria quickly scolded the soldier for wasting his breath.
(Damn this conceited wench.)
Thus the dissatisfaction of the soldiers kept on rising.
(They’re bad… Too bad…)
Gloria was taking a thorough look at the soldiers.
(Even though they’re a bit superior to the female knights, they’re still far from the elite…)
Most of the female knights were aristocratic daughters who would take their knighthood as some temporary thing to do until they married, but one or two out of ten would actually be highly qualified and motivated. Compared to those women, the soldiers she had been put in charge of now were merely small fry.
In addition, Gloria had heard from Jin the other day about how they were picking on the rookie soldiers, and was thinking of taking this opportunity to work them hard a little as a result.
“One more hour until we reach Rakno! Hurry up!”
“Huff, puff.”
“Haah, haah.”
“…Just you wait, you damned aristocrat!”
The soldiers who arrived at Rakno, who were camping as opposed to staying in an inn, were still quite resentful, and kept on complaining behind the scenes. They had set up camp in the outskirts of the village.
At that moment, Deneb 4 caught up with Gloria and her party.
(“It looks like the soldiers are somewhat dissatisfied.”)
Deneb 4 communicated with Laojun through his built-in Mana Comm so that he wouldn’t be heard by the soldiers.
(“Please proceed with caution. Miss Gloria is a bit more than just a mere acquaintance to My Lord, but not enough to be called a true friend. I don’t know how their relationship will develop from now on.”)
Then, Laojun continued.
(“I’d like to have a chance to examine in detail the microscopic Magic Eye her father, Mr. Bolton Ohlstat, possesses.”)
Laojun was a bit disappointed that he had only managed to conduct a stealthy but brief study of it back when he obtained it during the Giant Centipede incident.
However, despite Jin and Laojun’s worries, nothing happened that night.
“Get up, everyone!”
On July 24th, Gloria roused everyone out of bed at 4am. Of course, it was still pitch black outside.
“Get yourselves ready! Everyone is to prepare their own meal!”
A lot of portable food had been provided to them when they were stationed in Toka Village, so Gloria had thought of having them have that for breakfast on this occasion.
There was a chance that they would throw away their portable food as soon as they returned to the Royal Capital. In an environment with a lot of delicious food available, it would be only natural that they wouldn’t even look at their old portable food.
“Wahh, I’m so sleepy.”
“Tsk, that damned princess. I’m sure she’s having a feast all by herself.”
But that was a misunderstanding. Gloria was having the same portable food as them, but the soldiers had no way of knowing that.
“Alright, get ready for departure!”
It was 4:30 am when the mountains to the east finally started to become brighter. At that time, Gloria ordered the departure.
“Let’s move!”
Having somehow managed to finish their preparations, the soldiers departed from Rakno. There was a disturbing conversation in the back rows.
(I bet it’s going to be 5 hours of nothing but rocks from now on.)
(If we were to get attacked there…)
(I’m just hoping to see her having to get down from her horse.)
“Ehehe, I’m looking forward to it.)
Completely unaware that such a conversation had taken place, Gloria continued to march forward on horseback.
After leaving Rakno, they had to traverse a mountain trail for 4 hours. Then, after 2 more hours, another mountain road. The rest of the way would be roughly flat all around.
The place where Count Walter had previously caused a landslide was just halfway there.
The party started to go slowly and gently uphill. The breathing of the soldiers became rough.
“Keep at it! Just a little more and we’ll be at the mountain pass!”
But even then, Gloria’s words of encouragement…
(Tsk, of course you can say that, you’re on your pretty little horse.)
(Just you wait…)
…didn’t reach the hearts of her soldiers.
They eventually reached the mountain pass. All that was left was to go downhill from there.
“Okay, stop, everyone! Let’s take a short break here. Everyone, take this chance to drink some water.”
Gloria also got off her horse in order to rest.
That place in the mountain pass was a small, open space that travelers could use to take a break.
Gloria wiped off the sweat from her neck.
Seeing that, the soldiers’ eyes shone with a dangerous gleam.
