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Chapter 260

The front gate of the frontier city of Gilm. Many people were currently gathered there.

Soldiers, knights and adventurers. Numerous carriages. Lovers, family and friends to see them off.

There were those who cried as they hugged, some who encouraged others to do their best and others who didn’t hide their worried expression. It was a bittersweet day.

Yes. Today was the day that Daska, Margrave Rowlocks, would lead his army to war.

Normally, it would be rare for the lord to head out as well, but Daska was a veteran warrior himself. Furthermore, his experience and instincts were screaming that this war would be different from past ones. Many schemes had been prepared in Gilm, a remote city at the frontier. There had also been many Demon Soldiers and magic items that he had never seen before. Wary of that, he decided to take part in the war with most of his available forces in Gilm, leaving behind a minimal defence.

Of course, he had instructed the other members of the Neutral faction to provide as much military strength as they could as well. In addition, he even urged the Nobles and Royalist faction members in Gilm to spread the news of the danger of this war and to prepare as much strength as they could.

(The Nobles faction listened to me. It seems that those from this city have taken it at leat half-seriously. But the royalists……)

With those thoughts in his mind, he turned to look at the army he led.

800 adventurers, 500 knights and 3000 soldiers, including volunteers. Including other people here and there, Daska led about 5000 troops.

Given that the population of Gilm was about 100,000 people, the number of people that could still fight and were left in the city was minimal. Only in Gilm was it possible to extract so much military power and still have enough to defend the city.

The reason why there were that many adventurers was probably due to the fact it was on the frontier. Since there were also knights and soldiers that were needed at the frontier, the relative military power was high and their skill level greater than most. However……

(It’s not enough. If the Bestir Empire is serious about destroying this kingdom, a force this size would soon be swallowed up. After all, cooperation with the Nobles and Royalists will be……)

Muttering to himself, Daska turned to look at his Knight Leader.

The Knight Leader caught his gaze and gave a small nod. At the same time, he gave a loud shout that echoed around.

「Listen up-! Margrave Daska Rowlocks has some words to say!」

As expected of the man entrusted with the command of the knights that protected Gilm, the 5000 people……no, 10,000 people, including the ones who were sending them off, all heard him. All the mages had an impressed expression.

Yes, the Knight Leader’s voice reached everyone by using wind magic. However, the heavy power and enthusiasm contained in the voice was definitely due to the Knight Leader.

The Knight Leader used the same magic on Daska to allow him to speak directly to the ears of everyone there.

「This war is unmistakably an act of aggression by the Bestir Empire. As many of you know, they have long wanted a port……access to the sea. Certainly, a port would bring a lot of wealth to their country. It is the same as increasing national power. But does that mean our homeland, the Mireana Kingdom, can be invaded by the Bestir Empire? No! No way! No matter how much they want it……can we allow others to invade our country to obtain it? That is impossible! We head to battle to protect our homeland. It is not a war against the monsters that are commonly found on the frontier. It is to kill other people. But don’t hesitate. If you hesitate to kill your enemies, those who live in this country……your friends, your parents, your children and loved ones will be at their mercy. The invaders are the enemy. Moreover, they are an invader of our country. I’ll say this again, do not hesitate. My friends, my children, my dear people! You are the ones who live on the frontier of the Mireana Kingdom. That is to say, you are the strongest people in this country!」

At Daska’s resonating voice, silence followed. But the next moment……

『UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!』

Every one there started to shout……including adventurers, knights, soldiers and those who had come to see them off.

「We’ll do it! We will definitely protect this country!」

「That’s right! We’ll kill all those Bestir Empire guys!」

「This country……this city, I’ll never give up on it!」

「I’ll smash them with my sword!」

「And I will use my bow!」

「If it’s attacks with a wide area of effect, there is no match for magic!」

Daska nodded in satisfaction from the voices he heard in his surroundings. Waving his hand from side to side, the excited people gradually quietened down.

「The, Rowlocks army, we set off!」

『OHHHHHHHHHH-!』

With that shout, the Rowlocks army, led by Daska, left for the battlefield.

About half of the adventurers led the way. Since they usually did requests on the frontier, they were vigilant of their familiar surroundings. Particularly for thieves, rangers and archers, it was possible for them to detect monsters before they attacked. At the same time, both Rei and Set were assigned to this group. After all, a Griffon’s senses were much sharper than an adventurer’s. Furthermore, the fact that a Griffon was here served as a form of monster repellent, not dissimilar to insect repellent. Even so, there were occasional attacks from monsters like Goblins, but most were cleared by the adventurers the moment they appeared.

Following the adventurers were a group of wagons and Daska’s knights. Normally, they would have had to load a large amount of supplies onto wagons to carry it all, but this time almost half the supplies had been stored into Rei’s Misty Ring. As a result, the group had an overwhelmingly smaller amount of supplies than usual in the wagons, which allowed them to march without fatiguing the horses pulling the wagons as much.

Of note in this group, in addition to the knights on horseback, there were also others on horseback. The additional horses had originally been intended to pull wagons, but as the wagons themselves had been stored into the Misty Ring, they were ridden instead. Aside from carrying supplies, the additional wagons would be used to carry injured people, and if some were still left over, they could be used to carry supplies to places that couldn’t be reached by Rei alone.

Following them were the soldiers and volunteers from the general public. This group was close to the middle of the army led by Daska and they marched without any particular care of their surroundings. The only exception were the elites that were placed at the outer edges to guard their flanks. Because morale was so high, there would be occasional shouts as they travelled down the road.

That said, even though they were monsters, some monsters with higher intelligence might attack them from behind, so a reliable force was needed to take up the rear. Perhaps the most prominent group in the rear guard was the rank A party, Axe of the Thunder God. Almost everyone in the army, not just Daska, believed that Axe of the Thunder God would be able to deal with any attacks from the rear, if there were any attacks at all.

Of course, there were other A rank parties in Gilm. However, when it came to adventurers of that rank, their numbers were few, let alone S rank. As a result, they naturally mostly did requests like hunting down monsters that couldn’t be defeated by low rank adventurers in the Mireana Kingdom, searching for dungeons, escorting nobles and securing rare materials in unexplored lands. Because of this, there were many that were unable to get back to the city they were based in.

The fact that Rei happened to meet Axe of the Thunder God during the Orc settlement raid was due to luck as they didn’t have any solicited requests at that time.

Of course, there were also other adventurers closely related to Rei, such as Scorching Wind and Eternal Power. But as of right now, they weren’t so prominent and weren’t talked about as much.

「Gururu~」

Next to Rei, who was assigned to the leading group of adventurers, Set gave a cry as he watched the forest next to the road. Right after, Rei could feel the signs of many creatures leaving that area.

(No. It’s not that they’re retreating, it’s more like they’re running away.)

「What’s going on? Are you thinking about the receptionist girls by any chance?」

Runo, who was walking next to Rei, called out to him.

「Not really. Or rather, if you have magic eyes that can directly see magic power, shouldn’t you have noticed?」

Glancing at Runo beside him, Rei looked back towards the forest.

macriuRuno possessed magic eyes that allowed him to directly see magic power. He also had the skills of a thief to the extent that he was placed into the scouting group placed at the front, alongside Rei.

「Ahh, maybe it was Forest Wolves or something. Normally, they are a wolf like monster that attacks in packs, but they are also low ranked……」

There, Runo stopped talking and looked back.

At the end of his line of sight were people, people and more people. Although they were mostly walking on the road, with 5,000 people moving, some walked alongside the road.

「The Forest Wolves don’t have the courage to deal with this number of people, let along a rank A monster like Set.」

「Gururu~?」

Set turned his head around with a cry at Runo’s words, but immediately continued walking down the road as he watched the surroundings.

「Rather, how about it?」

「How about what?」

「What’s up with receptionists, Lenora and Kenny? They came to see you off right?」

Runo looked at Rei with a teasing grin on his face.

In response to Runo, Rei gave a small sigh and shook his head.

「There’s nothing like that. I was just told to be careful and come back safely.」

「……I think that’s a big deal. Hey, Rei. You may have become used to them and forgotten about it, but both Lenora and Kenny, or rather the guild receptionists in general, are hugely popular with the adventurers you know? I’m worried that other adventurers might be jealous and hold a grudge against you for having those two beautiful women. That’s why you have to watch your back in this war.」

Runo said those words jokingly as he stroked Set’s head with a grin.

「Lenora doesn’t see me as a man. More like a younger brother that keeps getting into trouble. Kenny……well I’ll admit she has strange tastes.」

「A naughty brother. Well, it seems you do get into a lot of trouble, so she’s not wrong.」

Smiling as he muttered that, Runo threw a gaze towards Rei.

In fact, although it had been less than a year since Rei had come to Gilm, the trouble he had caused was already too numerous to list.

「……」

Perhaps Rei was aware of that, he quietly diverted his eyes and ended the story there as he continued to scout his surroundings.

As there were more than 5,000 people, they didn’t manage to make it to Abuero the same day.

If it had just been adventurers, knights or people on wagons, there would have been no problem and they would have made it to Abuero within the day. However, the largest group of people under Daska were the soldiers. ……And volunteers.

Of course, although they were called volunteers, they had all done some training before applying. There were also quite a few former adventurers. However, volunteers were still volunteers and it was expected that their marching speed would be slower.

Eventually, they ended up setting camp 70% of the way to Abuero from Gilm.

Because it was the frontier, it was normal for monsters to pop up at night. Fortunately, few monsters were able to take on an army of 5,000 and they were able to get through the night with only a few injuries.

……On a related note, Rei was very busy that night taking out food and tents for 5,000 people from the Misty Ring. At the end of the day, he was probably the most tired person. It was a fact acknowledged by the upper members of the military, including Daska.

As a result, Daska shelved the thought of asking Rei to store military supplies for other forces that had been initially discussed.