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Merry, being the Nightmare she was, needed neither rest nor sleep, and I had ridden her all the way back without a single pause. I had traveled straight from Asbel, across the border and entered into Spada proper in 6 and a half days, just over half the 12 days it had taken us to get there.

In the time we were out subjugating the Lust Rose, winter had settled into the city. It had been around 3 weeks since I was last here and there was already a thin layer of snow covering the streets and roads. It was snowing tonight.

I would’ve arrived a day, or at least half a day faster if the highways hadn’t been so buried in snow... but let’s not dwell on the past.

That aside, the only reason I was able to shorten the time this much was because it was only me and Merry who had made the journey, that is to say, I’d left Lily and Fiona behind... actually, they had noticed my sense of urgency and even encouraged me to go ahead. I was extremely grateful to have such understanding party members.

Now then, since the enemy had finally made their move, let’s get down to business.

“I read the letter.” I said, “But I had to hear the details ASAP... tell me, how close are they?”

“Now now, do calm yourself, Kurono, my bosom friend.” Will returned, his words as exaggerated as ever, but with a sober expression and serious tone.

Him and I were currently seated at the lounge of my dormhouse.

“You best have a cup of tea before we begin,” Will advised, “You’ve traveled night and day to arrive, do have some and warm yourself.”

Seria, Will’s guard maid was accompanying him of course. The steaming tea she had brewed sat on the table between us, letting off a relaxing fragrance.

Maybe it was because of that that I was calm and didn’t lash out yelling that this was no time for tea.

Right, first, I had to clear my head. Will was a friend who believed in me, and so he understood more that anyone in Spada, the menace that were the Crusaders.

“.... Thanks, Will.” I said after a sip of the tea.

It really did calm the searing agitation in my heart, even if slightly.

“I mind not. Your ability to appease yourself like this only proves your strength of heart.”

“Huh... and uh, sorry for calling you here so late at night.”

“Ha ha ha. Once again, I mind not!”

It was all thanks to Wills preparation and foresight that I was able to meet with him to discuss details as soon as I arrived.

When I burst through Spada’s main gates, just as rashly as I had once done bursting out of those gates to head to Alzas, Seria had been already ready and waiting.

It was impossible for me to know how she knew I was coming or how long she had been waiting there, but thanks to that, in no time, Will was able to know that I had arrived. Will was, as always, staying in the elite boys’ dormitories, and it was only a 5 minute walk away to our dorm.

That being said, it was only because Will was so efficient in what he did that he was able to prepare anything and everything in under an hour after I stepped through the gates.

“Well then,” Will started, “first comes the topic of their numbers, I suppose.”

I nodded, prompting him to continue.

“At the current stage, it appears that their main forces have not left Fort Alzas yet.”

But seeing how I received that personal letter, I couldn’t imagine Spada jumping to any false conclusions. But if the Crusaders weren’t using their main army, how were they able to determine that the enemy were advancing?

“They’ve begun thawing the snow. By that I mean, the transnational highway through the Galahad Mountains, the only route that connects our country to Daidalos.”

The cage of winter had deterred road travel in Spada and Daidalos alike.

But geographically, it was likely that winter had hit Daidalos even harder than here. It was like the difference in snowfall between Japan’s west, and pacific sides. The tall mountainous region of Galahad mostly blocked the wind and snowclouds.

“Despite now being a time when the snow would easily render the route impassable, the Crusaders have been laboriously opening up that highway for some time now.” Will explained.

Sounded like a long process.

Will further explained that they were using a variant species of dortus, those mammoth-like monsters, which had ice attribute extra magic, and worked them as snowplows. They also employed a number of cryomancers who could do the same and pyromancers who could use heat to melt the snow and ice. Even the Crusaders couldn’t afford to let their soldiers freeze by trudging through the deep snow.

One of Spada’s top class Summoners stationed in Galahad Fortress had been using a bird familiar, ‘servants’ as they’re called, to perform recon and surveillance over enemy activities. Will told me that the summoner had directly seen them removing the snow so there was no risk of false reports.

“So can’t we go and crush their snow removers now?” I suggested.

“No,” Will denied, “quite unfortunate, but we cannot. For two simple reasons.”

The first was definitely because we would have to deal with the snow on the Spada side too.

Even the Crusaders with their huge armies couldn’t march their armies through snow that thick, so obviously Spada would have to do the same from the other end to march theirs. Thinking on it, it was simply bad strategy.

“The second of which has to do with foreign relations.” Will said. “Avalon and the other territories would not stand idly if Spada were to proactively invade Daidalos land.”

I knew that Spada was only one of the powerful city-states that ruled Pandora from back when I was a novice adventurer in Irz. And these different nations had maintained peace thus far only because they had tied alliances to one another.

As it was well known that the late Dragon King Garvinal enterprised to conquer the whole of the continent, the city-states had had a natural common enemy to join arms against. In a state of intermittent war, it was easier to maintain peace.

But Garnival had fallen, and this unknown enemy by the name of Crusaders now ruled over Daidalos. This had caused lots of headache among the allied city-states’ leadership on how exactly they were to deal with their new foe to the west.

“In my opinion, they’re only wasting time doing all these meetings when they should be dealing with the threat immediately.” I spoke frankly.

“But alas,” Will dismayed, “They feel not the looming danger as we do, and likely won’t until arrows are fired.”

Will went as far as to say that Avalon was too used to peacetime which was the main reason for the delayed response... anyway, there was no use blaming the alliance at this point.

“So you’re saying we just wait?” I questioned. “Do nothing as they get closer every day?”

“Oh? But it might not be as bad as you think,” Will claimed, “They are, after all, heading straight towards our impregnable Galahad Fortress, where we will be ready and waiting.”

In other words, the enemy would need to face Spada from behind their greatest line of defense. There was no reason not to make use of a fortress that would give Spada their biggest advantage.

Meaning that protecting Galahad would be the best course of action Spada could take. The Crusader’s couldn’t reach the capital without first overcoming the fortress boasted at impregnable. Well, they could, but that would involve taking a much longer route around the mountains, or sending in air units.

“That’s, a good point...” I muttered, more convincing myself that I didn’t need to rush, than agreeing with Will’s point.

This was, after all, not Alzas.

“So how long are they estimating the Crusaders will take getting there?” I asked.

“Indeed, at this pace,” Will thought, “it would surely take a month’s time. They may hasten the process, but it’d be impossible to reach Galahad in fewer than 2 weeks.”

The Crusaders would be launching an invasion into a whole nation, so the forces they’d deploy should be several times larger than what they had sent to Alzas.

This may be obvious to hear, but the more soldiers there are, the more time it takes to displace them. Moving armies numbering in the tens or hundred thousands would require immense time and resources. Even in our effort to evacuate the villagers from Alzas, we had to keep the Crusader’s at bay for a whole week at the very least. And that was only around 10,000 soldiers, while the main armies would number much higher.

In addition, the highway was frigid and piled in snow. The armies wouldn’t have sick, elderly or children to take care of, but everything considered, there really was no way for them to make it there any earlier than 2 weeks.

I could only pray there to be an avalanche that killed them all... No, too much optimism is dangerous. I might as well expect the worst, for example, a new Apostle appears and happens to have the unworldly power to transport their whole army to the base of Galahad Fortress as quick as tomorrow.

Uh, no, please tell me there isn’t an Apostle like that, there isn’t right...?

“I wanted to ask,” I said, “once we gather our main forces over at the fortress, who’s going to protect this place (Spada)?”

The Apostle might not be able to bring an entire army, but there was a big chance that they could teleport themselves, or even a small, elite group and invade the city itself.

I based this assumption on the fact that we had had a similar experience before when the 11th Apostle, Misa, had somehow passed our defensive line and massacred the villagers. Now that I think about it, we still had no idea how she did that. There’s always the chance that she used a teleportation skill.

“But of course we have minimal defenses set up for the city itself...” Will explained, “In wartime, there are occasions where the enemy sneaks into towns in few numbers. We have countermeasures set up to deal with a certain degree of such rabble, so you need not worry.”

Oh, of course they’d have measures in place. Otherwise they’d be helpless against information leaking via foreign spies or terrorist activities.

I mean, it was a functioning country after all. They had to have put proper thought and measures for stuff like that.

“Again, you, Kurono, have no need to worry about matters concerning our foreign affairs. You need simply to focus your attention on the encroaching enemy.”

Somehow, it felt like we’d come full circle, back to whether Spada could beat the Crusaders.

No, even if our army was weaker, we had to win. What reason did I obtain all my strength, my divine protections, for if not to win?

“Got it, Will. So where do I fight?”

“You make haste, Kurono.” Will remonstrated me, but his lips had crept into a fearless grin.

“It is not yet time to set out for Galahad.” He continued, “I need not tell you that you need to first make preparations, do I?”

Right, of course. Not only did I need to prepare, but Lily and Fiona weren’t back either. The three of us made Element Masters, and if I was alone, I’d barely make a third of out combined potential.

“Very soon, Spada will switch over to war footing, and the adventurer’s guild will be putting up an emergency quest to aid the war.” Will said, informing me of the country’s plans.

Which reminds me, all this time, there had been no public announcement about the fall of Daidalos and about its new Crusader rule.

The main reason for this being the existence of the Crusaders themselves, a never before seen force that showed no sign of replying to their attempts at making contact. Basically, even if they tried to inform the public, there wasn’t much to say.

But now that an army was headed our way, the country had no choice but to consider them an enemy. Maybe, in the background, Spada had tried their best to maintain peace with them, but the other side had now compelled us to fight.

“Emergency quest? Do you mean they’ll force all the adventurers in Spada to join the war?”

“Not exactly, when emergency quests involve national war, forced participation is more lenient.”

Basically, an adventurer could refuse if they paid the cancel fee, which is lowered in this case.

An emergency quest is ordinarily not something one can refuse so easily. It’s seen as something like a duty that every adventurer must perform, and so the cancellation fee is usually pretty steep.

But then, wouldn’t a national emergency like war cause the cancel fee to hit the roof? Not quite, as it turns out.

“Many adventurers hail from other lands after all.” Will explained “And since they cannot be considered as belonging to our nation, we cannot exactly enforce conscripting them.”

The country isn’t so much concerned with the freedom of adventurers as the backlash they’d likely receive from their allied countries, so it’d be a quest they wouldn’t force too much. And the guild couldn’t force adventurers to comply from their end either.

Though, there’s still the possibility of them getting conscripted anyway if they’re Spada born.

“Well, we aren’t planning to refuse in the first place.”

It was actually a relief to hear that we could participate in the war just by taking on a quest. It’d be like just another monster hunting quest, except this time, we’ll be crushing the slimy devils that only looked human from the outside.

“Indeed. And to incorporate those adventures that do join the effort, our army will form a new regiment to accommodate. It will be the 4th Spadan Regiment, Gladiator.”

Apparently, it’s named Gladiator as an homage to the fierce warriors who had fought in the founding of Spada.

And as a cultural heritage, even today there exist professional gladiators who are technically adventurers, but work as a mercenary corps that help defend the nation much like knights.

“Kurono, you will also be a member of Gladiator, on paper that is.”

“... what do you mean ‘on paper’?”

“In practical terms, you Element Masters will have freedom to move as you wish in the battlefield, something like a small raid force. I shall request my father Leonhart for this, nay, I promise to you that I will convince him!” Will proclaimed, tightly gripping his fist.

This sort of stuff... yeah, it’s a little too awkward to honestly appreciate.

“I don’t know, receiving special treatment like that...” I said doubtfully, “is that really alright from the army’s standpoint?”

“What’s there to worry? It isn’t as if we’re giving you the authority of a knight. It simply means that you can wreak as much havoc as you desire without having to fall in line.”

He wasn’t wrong there. It’d be annoying if we were to fall under some hard headed boss who made us go along with his orders.

But then again, going too independent might bring danger to the army as a whole. I mean, Will even has personal experience on that.

“That being said, most of Gladiator will be split into small raid squads regardless.” Will said. “They are adventurers, so it’s foolish to expect the discipline of knights.”

“But we’re defending the fortress, right? We can’t just open the gates and rush out, can we?”

“That no, but there is no rule against going after the enemies that climb up our walls.”

Okay, you can stop looking at me all starry eyed as if to say I’ll definitely run off like that. I’ll have you know, I’m the type that focuses on defense more than offense. It’s what I did back in Alzas, blackened the guild house and mostly stayed put inside.

“Moreover, it’s certainly not just you. Other rank 5 parties would also receive this privilege.”

Probably because you tend to get some crazy strong folks among rank 5 adventurers. It’s not a good idea to expect those types to fall in line, but rather, leave them to do their own thing and they’d kill lots of enemies all the same.

“Hold on. You do realize that I’m not so insane as to ignore our side of the army when we’re fighting a war together, right?”

“You’re not? And here I believed you were a berserker.”

“I’m completely sane, alright!? Also, please get it in your head already, I’m a black mage!”

“Eh? You are? Did you not declare yourself the Nightmare Berserker, the mad ravager of darkness?”

“No I didn’t! You did, Will! You’re the one who keeps calling me that!!”

Oho, really now~? Will went, looking honestly confused. I’d like to give him a good smack on the face.

Although, I’ve heard that back in Iskia, Nell of all people had slapped him so hard that his monocle cracked and flew off, so in light of that harsh misfortune, I forgave him this time.

“To repeat my point, you need not show any reserve. All of Spada knows just how strong you Element Masters are and so accept this as a right you rank 5 adventurers have earned.”

If Will says so then I didn’t need to worry about it. In that case it isn’t awkward anymore but simply something to appreciate.

“In other words, we need to get our things in order and make preparations until they call us to enter the regiment.”

Ah, it’s great that we’re actually getting time to get ready this time around.

In all honesty, I wish I had enough time to finish receiving the rest of my divine protections, but the Crusaders weren’t going to make it that convenient. That, I’ve known for a long time.

I now had 4 out of the 7, more than half. Here’s to hoping it’s enough.

“Aside from that, Kurono, I happen to hear on the grape vine that you’ve prepared something truly outrageous in anticipation for this war――”

Neither Lily nor Fiona were the type to leak information of our secret weapon, formation Anticross. Which left... Simon, I guess.

Oh well, there’s no harm letting Will know too. In fact, I should take this opportunity to properly explain it to him.

“Sure, I’ll tell you all about it.” I said. “This is something we developed to beat the Apostles, no, to beat a certain 7th Apostle, Sariel.”

This is something we came up with close to 2 months ago.

We had returned from Iskia, received the royal decoration and attained rank 5 status. Soon after, Fiona picked out a lich subjugation quest to use for practicing our divine protections, and the day after, on the 10th of Blue Moon――