CH 103

Chapter 103 – Meteora

“So, what’s going on?”

Myrril-san looked up at me from her gun seat, looking dumbfounded.

“What about?”

“About the cat.”

After all the messy attempts to make things go away with incomprehensible stories, we decided to take a detour before heading to the marquis’s territory.

Naturally, my suggestion to go to the marquis’s territory first was rejected by Myrril (and for some reason by the marquis as well) with a silent sneer, and on top of that, I was beaten with the nojaloli’s hook and comforted by two horsemen as I tried to persuade them. That was the scene where I had to show everyone in the car as a Demon King.

Since I was also comforted and encouraged by the two young sisters and by Luvia-san, I’ll call it a plus/minus of zero. That’s the way it is.

“It’s dead.”

“You’re lying.”

“…What’s with that immediate response? I’m not lying. After living for 14 years or so, it left almost together with my grandma in Koriyama. It’s probably happy now. In some other world.”

“I suppose so. You are that kind of person.”

I was a little relieved to see Myrril-san looking angry and dismayed and somewhat happy. With this, I can’t complain about Simon being an ass before.

“I’m grateful for your help, Yoshua-dono, and Myrril-dono. But what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing much. We’re going to go to that town, kill the magical beast, kill the mage who’s using the beast, and that’ll be the end of it. Then we will go back to the marquis’s territory and bring back our friends. As for the killing between humans, it would be better to let the kingdoms settle the matter themselves, wouldn’t it?”

“As expected of Your Majesty, I admire your wisdom.”

What are you doing with your head, Nojaloli-san? I can tell that you are embarrassed at being treated like a wife.

The sun went down on the way to Meteora, so we decided to stop the car and make camp.

I asked the two horsemen to take over the night watch (since they said they were not doing any guard-like work), and we decided to have everyone rest inside the car and only eat outside.

The menu consisted of the standard flatbread, cream stew (with Wyvern meatballs), herb tea, and cream cake.

The Casemaian women had made the cake based on an American cake that was so sweet; it was far more delicious than the original, and everyone who tasted it was in awe.

“Did you always eat this kind of delicious food at Casemaian?”

“Not always, but usually we are served something like this. The ladies are very good cooks.”

“The food is good, but the ingredients are good, too. These flavors are more than ordinary.”

The horsemen nodded silently and gobbled up the food. They had a hard march when they came, they said, and it was mostly just dried meat and some kind of dry bread.

“””Delicious…”””

The mother and daughters are humming with emotion.

The mother, who had been pale for a while, had regained her color and a look of relief after we promised to save the town.

Instead, the two winged girls were looking less cheerful.

“Your Majesty, it looks like it’s going to rain tomorrow. I am sorry, but it may be difficult to provide full support in the sky.”

“Don’t worry, Luvia-san. As long as we don’t encounter any big monsters, we can handle them with our firepower on the ground.”

“The mages will be taken out by my “Uuji.” The orcs will be no problem as long as we finish them off early.” [T/n: Uzi.]

“And what of the giant monsters?”

“They are like kin to the orcs. It won’t call in any big ones, even if they’re dying, but it’ll send them into a frenzy.”

“Then, AKM will do the trick. Are those legless dragons big?”

“They look like worms, but they are dragons. It should be a quarter of a mile long at the biggest.”

Eeeeehh… 400m worms! That’s science fiction, like the planet of sand.

“That would require an RPG, indeed. I don’t know about “sea wolves” or something like that, but…”

“I think it’s a wolf that lives in the sea. Is that right, Marquis?”

“They live in the open sea, further east in the kingdom. They are as big as horses and far more powerful than horses. The only way to protect Meteora is to position ourselves along the coastline, but they move quickly and attack in packs, making it difficult to deal with them. We have to defend ourselves against their claws and fangs, but if we wear armor, we will drown if we are pulled into the sea without being able to move.”

“Then we’ll take them down from the air; can the M4s handle them?”

“I don’t think 5.56mm rounds will be effective against a target larger than a human. So if you use a gun, it would be an AKM… or maybe an RPK. Though it would be a little heavier and have more recoil.”

I wish I had a BAR, but the only weapon I have in storage right now that would be effective would be an RPK. However, I thought that the RPK would be too heavy for the winged tribe.

“I can handle it. I’ve shot one in training. It’s a little slower, but I have no problem flying with it.”

Among the winged tribe, Owe-san seemed to have more physical strength than the others. She is tall and slender and has a beautiful figure with a short haircut.

Just to be safe, I also gave Luvia-san an RPG. Well, if this doesn’t work, we’ll find another way.

“I’ve heard about ‘gun,’ but is it really that powerful?”

“Yeah, it is. In the last battle, if we didn’t have guns, we would have been overrun, and that would have been the end of it.”

“…Hmm. The reason why we refused to participate in the battle was because of the royal family’s interest, but if we had turned against Yoshua-dono and your people, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

That night passed uneventfully, and the next morning we took a light meal and set out. The sky is still light, but the wind is beginning to pick up, and dark clouds loom in the distance.

We would like to drop the mother and daughters off before entering the battlefield, but we can’t afford to build a separate unit now. We should ask them to evacuate and escort them when the battle starts.

Around noon, when we reached the ridge of the pass, we could see the coastline in the distance.

There was a peninsula-like terrain jutting out into the sea, with the walls of Meteora spreading out around it.

The distance is still about 10 km, so we cannot see the battle scene, but we can see collapsed sections of the wall here and there, and we can also see large ships in the sea, perhaps the military ships of the royal family.

Luvia-san flew off to check on the battle situation before the weather broke.

“Is the marquis’s army also there?”

“The local duke’s army is the main force holding Meteora at the moment, so the only troops we are sending out are messengers and transportation soldiers. There are also light cavalry and infantry, but they are mostly escorting the transportation corps.”

“Let’s go into the camp there. I don’t want to be suddenly surrounded by the duke’s army.”

Under the marquis’s direction, the car headed toward the northwest side of the Meteora walls. The main gate is currently blocked because the duke’s army, the main force, seems to be preparing to launch a sortie.

Gathered on the northwestern side are auxiliary forces and a mixed force of supporting lords’ armies. A large number of wagons are coming and going, and various banners are lined up.

“How many soldiers are there?”

“I don’t know the exact number because of the fluid situation, but according to the preliminary military discussions, it is about 10,000.”

The position of Marquis Yerkel’s men was lined with about 20 tents of various sizes and about 40 wagons.

“Thanks for the good work.”

“Welcome back, Your Excellency. And who is this?”

“A guest. He will help us for a little while. Make sure everything is in order.”

“””Yes!”””

Perhaps it was the family culture of strict politeness, or perhaps they were tense on the battlefield, but no one made a fuss at the sight of the bear-faced bus. At best, they just look at it with a suspicious look. They probably thought it was a new weapon or something. They were not mistaken, though.

“What is the situation?”

“The duke’s army is pushing, but we haven’t been able to capture the enemy. As soon as we go out, they pull back and put distance between us, and they will not give up. Last night, we heard that there was a huge attack by the enemy and that the main force was damaged. If the weather breaks, they may push us back.”

I must have had a doubtful look on my face. The marquis explained to me.

“It’s the sea pack wolves that ride the rains into the deep land.”