Chapter 38 (1/2)
The Great nobleman
Reiji rides his horse north He hurries straight through the grove of trees instead of detouring around the h he’s surrounded and hidden by trees, the path forward fills hier All he sees are shadows against an ash-gray background With caution overtaking his recklessness, he slon
Aster soldiers appear out of nowhere and block his path The co officer says, “Halt!”
Reiji pulls his horse’s reins to avoid crashi+ng into the soldier Many horses can be heard neighing as they’re forced to stop
The man directs a harsh tone towards Reiji and his party “Who are you? Answer me!”
“We’re…”
The senior knight, Gregory, steps forward as Reiji gives a meek reply and places himself between the two “Insolent fool! Who do you think you are? You dare obstruct Princess titania and Yuusha Reiji?”
“What!?”
Gregory’s strict expression and thunderous voice shocks the soldiers The faltering soldiers take nervous glances at the two Gregory mentioned and realize their mistake All of theive y!”
“Do not worry Judging from your appearance, you’re soldiers stationed at Klant, correct?”
“Yes, we serve Duke Hadrias” The soldier is grateful to titania’s leniency
The atrows heavy at the soldier’s response Only titania, thanks to years of practicing self-control, doesn’t break her form “Duke Hadrias is here as well, correct?”
“He is ahead with the main camp”
“Take us to him”
The soldiers acknowledge the command with another, “Yes” Despite their nervousness, they encircle the party within a protective formation and lead them forward Fresh leaves recently fallen crunch underneath the soldier’s boots as they march forward
titania has her horse move with the formation While Reiji does the same, Luka rides up to him Mizuki, who sits behind Luka, leans towards Reiji for a private conversation “Reiji-kun, about Duke Hadrias”
“Yeah, he’s the guy who used Suiht he’d be here”
“Ar-are we really going to see him?”
“…Looks like it” They’re off tohis eyes, notices Mizuki turn stiff Even though they’re about to meet the person who tricked their friend, he cannot let his anxiety overwhelm him
Mizuki appeals to him with a face full of worry “Reiji-kun, don’t rush Even with Tia, there’s no telling ill happen if we involve ourselves with the aristocracy”
“Yeah… I understand Thank you for worrying, Mizuki” Is she worried that I’ll lose er and attack hiory is who they should worry about His concern as to whether or not he should say so is cut short
A clearing within the oak trees reveals an organization of knights, soldiers, and round anddifficult, their resolution stands firanized, a testament to their years of discipline
In the athered soldiers, wrapped within the tension, stands an iure in jet black arer A large scar runs down the side of his face Underneath it is a well-kept beard His body, at about six feet of height, is wrapped with toned muscles Despite his relaxed state, he exudes a natural aura of authority that eneral
The commander is notified of Reiji’s party’s arrival After two or three words, the gathered knights and soldiers part to allow him a path towards them Once he’s before titania, despite his impressive military power, he kneels without hesitation
titania says, “Please stand, Duke Hadrias”
The commander, Duke Hadrias, rises at her words “Princess titania, quite so party several o”
“It has been a while, Duke Hadrias You look well despite everything that’s happening”
“Your highness, this is nothingbreeze I am Lukas D Hadrias While many consider this an unpleasant rain, tobreeze…”
“This a cool spring breeze? That would make my concern needless”
“……”
Everyone becoe between titania and Hadrias It’s both a and painful to watch The words titania spoke after the greeting were like a slap to the face Ad like this because of friendshi+p is difficult Despite those feelings, Reiji’s expression from atop of his horse is full of contempt
The silence filling the encah her words are not spoken to offend, Hadrias neither receives them as jest or with a smile He returns thehness are quite sever –Is that man over there our summoned Yuusha, Shana Reiji-dono?”
“Yes”
Hadrias turns towards Reiji with a composed expression Fro sense of pride This ht in uy…
That guy is the one responsible for setting up Suimei and the merchant caravan He doesn’t hold a shred of doubt over what he did Instead, he stands there with his pride on full display for everyone to see That inhuer and adopts a tranquil attitude
Hadrias closes his eyes and says, “Excuse , Yuusha-dono I am the one entrusted with his Majesty’s western province, Lukas D Hadrias I caught wind that the mazoku plan to invade our nation and came here to repel them”
Out of arrogance, he both introduced hi there Next he says, “Princess titania, our summoned Yuusha-dono, why have you come here today?”
Reiji prepared a response to that question earlier “…The mazoku are more active here The situation in Aster worried me so I hurried here from the Nelfila Empire”
“I see You were forced to coies”
“No, as the Yuusha, this is my duty”
Reiji uses a business like tone and in no ti Hadrias
“Duke Hadrias, are the mazoku further ahead?”
“Taking our situation into account, I believe so”
“Then, once you finish here, do you plan on launching an attack?”
“That depends on what ”
Scouts, in other words, reconnaissance soldiers Right now, judging by the number and formation of his soldiers, he looks ready todisconnect between Hadrias’s words and the ie presented It makes the conversation between titania and Hadrias difficult to follow “To challenge the mazoku…isn’t this force too small?”
That’s right, the ely small There’s only one to two hundred soldiers At least 1,000 soldiers should be required for this sort of operation
“Yuusha-dono, have peace of mind This isn’t the full force of my military I have ed attack Furthermore, I have set others aside for ambushes”
“I see I suppose that was needless worry on my part”
“In truth, I plan to h we’ve combined our forces, the best plan was to divide ourselves The situation around you has been carefully crafted I’ve even taken the weather into consideration That’s why this is our current situation Therefore, please forgive me for that”
Reiji, upon hearing Hadrias explanation, tells him of his own plans “Once the scouts return, we’ll head out as well”
“How inspiring Yuusha-dono, if you wouldn’t ress”
Hadrias is sneering Reiji is certain he sees the edge of Hadrias’s lips curl upward