Chapter 55: Things you can obtain in someone elses territory (18)

And so the march began. As we climbed up the mountain, the temperature began to drop. The biggest problem in crossing the Krill Mountains was exactly the temperature. The climate of this world is basically mild, and the winters are not cold. That’s probably why they are vulnerable to the cold.

In fact, the notoriety of the Krill Mountains probably stems from this cold. But if anything, the Japanese winters felt even colder to me. It was cold enough for me to endure, but not for the cold-sensitive soldiers. They were shivering and complaining. They didn’t seem to be able to adapt at all.

The steep terrain was not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s not as high as the Alps, maybe around 2000 meters. Of course, it was dangerous terrain. I had [invincibility for 30 seconds], but there were soldiers who fell off cliffs or lost their lives in landslides. In other words, the number of my soldiers was dwindling.

Thanks to this, the morale which I managed to keep up, started to drop. Even so, they seem to be holding out for the prize money that will guarantee them a lifetime of riches if they take over the Bridget Kingdom. Even Zint just shrugged silently.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine”

“Are you shaking?”

“No. I did it on purpose. I’m not shaking.”

“Okay.”

Although he’s trembling, his self-esteem is high. As I was talking with Zint, Fihatri came to me with a lot of blankets.

“”Fihatri.”

“Yes, sir?”

“What do you think is the most important thing for a commander?”

I asked him a somewhat abrupt question.

“I think it’s courage, because if the commander is afraid, there’s nothing he can do.”

“Of course, courage is important. But isn’t the most important thing maintaining morale? If the morale is high, the soldiers will naturally follow. That’s why I don’t need a blanket.”

If only the commander uses a blanket, it would increase the jealousy of the soldiers. Instead, I needed to show them that I was struggling just as much as they were. I had to do something to stop their morale from dropping. I quickly made my way through the soldiers, ate with them and showed them that I too shiver in the cold. To raise their morale I also gave a speech.

“I’m sure you’re tired from all the walking we did today. I’m sorry to have to ask you to gather here during your much-needed rest, but let me make this clear. It’s hard for all of us, even for me. And yet, I endure under the same conditions as you. So you must endure, too. If you endure here and now, Bridget will be ours. That means you’ll get your prize and also be remembered in the history of the continent. You will be a living witness to history that your descendants will be proud of for the rest of their lives!”

The prize money they would receive and the pride they would feel after returning. With these things, I was able to win over the soldiers. Thanks to this, the number of grumbling soldiers steadily decreased. The look in the soldiers’ eyes changed, and their morale did not drop any further, it stayed above 70.

We braved the cold and kept walking; I was with the soldiers until the end. It was hard work, of course, but we persevered because we had to overcome it to reach the Bridget Kingdom.

After stopping the morale from plummeting in this way, I moved on to take a more practical approach, a way for the soldiers to stay warm, if you will. Shivering in the cold would only exhaust their strength. If I could keep them even a little warm, wouldn’t we be able to get through this summit area? Then I thought of one of the videos I had seen on the Internet. I don’t know if it will work, but it’s worth a try.

“Fitri! Gather only stones that are half the size of a person’s head and burn them in a bonfire. Gather as many stones as you can with the soldiers!”

“No way, general! You want me to hold that baking stone……? It’s too hot! I don’t think that’s quite right……”

Fihatri shook his head in astonishment at my words.

“That’s not so bad. What do you say we give it a try?”

“Oh, no, we can’t hold a baking stone……! No, I’d rather not.”

Fihatri was dismayed.

“If you hold it directly, it will be hot and burn you. Gather all the rocks in one place and put out the fire. Rebuild the fire in another place and dig the ground where you put out the fire!”

I immediately started digging with the soldiers.

“Throw in all the remaining stones!”

Baking stones have the property of not cooling down easily. This means that the heat will last longer. Especially on the ground warmed up under the fire.

“Cover the top with dirt!”

Soon the stones were out of sight. I touched the ground where the stones were buried, and it looked pretty good.

“Lie down on this.”

Fihatri, who looked far, more convinced than when I told him to hold the baking stone, quickly lay down.

“General……it’s warm!”

“I see. But you didn’t need the stone earlier, did you?”

“No, not when it comes to this!”

“All right, now get up. You’re a noble.”

“That’s what……is for.”

“No commanders, including myself, are to use it. Give it to the soldiers!”

I dragged a reluctant Fihatri out and had the soldiers dig and use the same method to heat the stones. Of course, no matter how hard the stones heat up, they only last a limited time.

“Take turns trying to warm yourself up a little, even ten minutes lying down will warm you up a bit.”

Even if it is not of that great use, isn’t it important to show that the general is trying to do something? When I went around showing such a figure to each of the 1,000 soldiers, the morale indeed went up by 5 and became 73.

***

Thanks to all the efforts to encourage the soldiers, we passed the top of the mountain and finally began our descent. The further down the mountain we went, the more we were relieved of the cold. Of course, we lost soldiers due to the rugged terrain, but it was not so bad that we could not cross.

Still, the reason why we haven’t fought a war across this mountain range is because they were soldiers stationed in the Bridget royal capital. But now it’s different, Bridget capital it’s empty. So, if we get to the capital before the enemy does, it’s game over. The enemy’s capital is just down the mountain and as we hurriedly descended the mountain to reach our goal.

“What……?”

“What’s wrong?”

Yurasia, who had been following me so meekly in the cold that I couldn’t tell if she was there or not, suddenly stopped and tilted her head.

“It’s…….Suddenly there was a light from the ring. I’ve only ever seen it glow when I open the treasure vault……”

Indeed, there was a white light emanating from her ring. At that very moment the ground suddenly began to shake, as if an earthquake had occurred. The ground started to crack where she was standing. As the ground began to collapse, she fell down the cliff.

“Keep marching, Fihatri! I’m going to save the princess and then come after you!”

After shouting that, I jumped off the cliff without hesitation.

“General!”

Of course, I wouldn’t do this without any precautions. Jumping off this high cliff with no way to save myself is just plain stupid. After all I have skills; no matter where I fall from I can stay safe!

As soon as I jumped, I spotted her, but she was too far from me. The speed of our fall was almost the same, so it would be impossible to catch up with her at this rate. I summoned Daitouren and used [Crush].

Normally, I would have thrown Daitouren, but now I didn’t let go of it. It was as if [Crush] was pulling my body along with it. As a result, I caught up with her.

I guess I arrived at her precisely because I set the target of [Crush] to her. Just before I caught up to her with the thrust of [Crush], I disabled it and picked her up. Deactivation meant that it would take five hours for the skill to recover but I had no time to think about this now.

“Your Highness!”

“Erhin…….? Why…..?”

“Just hold on tight!”

I used [Invincibility for 30 seconds] just as I landed on the ground. My body hadn’t received any shock, so of course Yurasia was safe in my arms. She looked at me in disbelief.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“What in the world is this……?”

“It’s a mana skill.”

“Oh, the one you used to jump down from the castle wall! But no matter what, it’s still……It’s too dangerous to jump down like that without hesitation.”

“Your Highness is a friend who fought with me.”

“What?”

“I don’t abandon my friends, especially when I can save them. Even if it’s dangerous, if there’s a chance that they can be saved, I will definitely save them. I always want my friends to be happy. Well, I have such an ironclad rule.”

“Yeah, yeah……that’s…….”

I set her down on the ground and looked towards the cliff. The huge gate on the cliff was still shaking with a white light; it was the cause of the earthquake.

“Your Highness, do you happen to know anything about that gate?”

“No…….I’ve never seen that gate before.”

She said as she looked at the glowing ring that seemed to resonate with the mana formation of the giant gate. That gate must have a deep connection with the relics of the Ancient Kingdom. If that’s the case, we can’t just overlook it.

“Why don’t we go to the gate? We can’t climb the cliffs anyway…….”

“Yes!”

Yurasia, who had been sitting down, nodded and stood up, having regained some composure. I walked with her to the gate that was still generating vibrations and stopped.

“Do you want me to open it like the royal treasury?”

“Yes, please.”

When I nodded, Yurasia looked a little nervous and placed her palm on the gate. When the mana formation on the gate lit up, the vibrations stopped and the gate opened.