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Chapter 295

Rei escaped from the crumbling earthen dome. As the earthen dome literally fell apart before Rei, it caused a great hit to the morale of the Bestir Empire soldiers who were in the vicinity……especially to those who reported directly to General Kastom.

The earthen dome where General Kastom, their commander, had been was destroyed and Rei had been the only one to come out. It was easy to imagine what had happened inside.

In actual fact, by the time Rei had broken in, the Behemoth Bracelet had already wiped out everyone inside, including General Kastom. However, the soldiers of the Bestir Empire had no way of knowing that.

「G-General Kastom!?」

「Hey, wasn’t General Kastom inside!?」

「Y-Yes. He should have been……」

In the midst of this rapidly growing chaos, a warhorse approached Rei. Rei gave sigh of relief when he saw Siminar, the commander of this ambush unit, on the horse.

It was unexpected that General Kastom, his target when breaking into the earthen dome, was already dead with only skin and bones remaining. Seeing that, Rei had been hesitant about loudly announcing anything. Considering the possibility that he could be accused of spreading false information if things went wrong, it was a good thing that Siminar had come over.

「Rei, what’s with all the commotion? Did you defeat General Kastom?」

Around the crumbling earthen dome, the Bestir Empire soldiers had frozen in shock. But further away, the battle between the ambush unit and the soldiers guarding the headquarters was still continuing. If Rei had killed General Kastom, then it would be necessary to stop fighting immediately, but strangely, Rei could only look back in confusion.

If Set, who was keeping an eye on the surroundings, was here, he would have probably tilted his head alongside Rei.

「……What’ happened? Seeing that the earthen dome has collapsed, you were successful in breaking into it, right?」

「Ah, that’s right. But, when I rushed in, everyone who had had been inside was already dead with only skin and bones remaining.」

「What?」

「By my guess, it looks like some magic item went out of control. The corpses were so dry that it was hard to tell which one would have been General Kastom. It could also have been a ruse to pretend that he died……what do we do?」

Even so, there was nothing that Siminar could do. Rather, since he hadn’t seen the situation with his own eyes, it only added to his confusion.

「Even if you ask me what to do……any how, since we definitely saw that General Kastom had hidden inside the earthen dome, why don’t we just claim that you have killed him?」

「……Me?」

Siminar nodded at Rei’s instinctive question.

「Naturally. After all, it was Rei who broke through the dome.」

「……I think it would be best to not do that.」

The two of them turned to the voice that interrupted them and it was the person they had expected.

「Elena-dono. Looks like you’re safe. No, I mean, I didn’t expect the General Princess to have any difficulties in this kind of battle but……」

Siminar stumbled through his words as he looked at Elena.

Elena was wearing pure white half-plate. It would have been natural for blood and other stains to appear on her armour during the turbulent battle, but there was no sign of any stains. Not just blood from wounds, not even dust could be seen.

This was due to an effect of the armour, which was also a magic item, but Siminar had no idea as feelings of love welled up and he looked at Elena with a light blush.

In order to hide his feelings, he started speaking in a loud voice.

「Rather, why are you against claiming that Rei defeated General Kastom? The Bestir Empire’s army won’t stop fighting until they know that their chief commander is dead.」

「Didn’t you hear Rei? He couldn’t identify General Kastom. In other words, once this war is over, some people might claim that it wasn’t actually General Kastom. Even the Mireana Kingdom’s army. After all, Rei was an adventurer hired by Daska-dono. He has an item box, fought the Bestir Empire’s vanguard and rescued the ambushed Count Arius. If you give this credit to him as well, Rei will probably end up being the person with the greatest achievements in this entire war rather than just a candidate.」

The reason why Rei had only been a candidate up until now, it was basically because he was only an adventurer. No matter if he had a Griffon following him, that his name was famous in Gilm, where the most elite adventurers gather, or that he held the record for the fastest rank up to rank C, an adventurer was still and adventurer. If he had been a rank A or rank S adventurer, it might have been a different story, but he wasn’t.

「I’m sure that Rei has already become the focus of a lot of resentment, even if he doesn’t know about it. It’s enough for people to target him immediately if he shows any openings. If we said that he killed General Kastom but weren’t able to directly identify the corpse, it would become an opportunity for those people who want to target him.」

Hearing Elena’s words, Rei recalled Renodis, who had tried to mess with him before the war had even began.

(That’s true, if they were that kind of people, if I gave them an opportunity, they would probably take advantage of it.)

Rei nodded in understanding.

「Then what do we do? We can’t just keep fighting until one of us gets wiped out. And don’t forget the possibility that their reinforcements, will be heading back from the front lines.」

「Of course I know. I also don’t have the habit of letting people die for no reason. Because of that……」

Elena turned to look at Siminar in a meaningful way.

Although the person herself probably didn’t realise it, her gaze was close enough to make Siminar’s heart palpitate.

「W-What? Is there anything about me?」

「……I see.」

Following Elena’s gaze, Rei looked at Siminar in understanding.

「Well, I’ve already stood out in this war, so I can’t take too many more achievements. In other words, if a Royalist takes the credit, there won’t be any issues.」

「Wait, hold on. Doesn’t that mean that I will be taking Rei’s credit!?」

After getting this far, it seemed that Siminar finally understood where the discussion was going. He raised a voice of surprise.

However, Rei and Elena just nodded back at his surprise.

「Rei was hired by Daska-dono, a Neutral. I am part of the Nobles faction. In that case, the only remaining option is Siminar-dono from the Royalists.」

「No, but even the Bestir Empire soldiers saw that it was Rei who destroyed the dome right? Even the Ambush Unit would have seen that. Can you even say that it was my achievement?」

「That’s a good point. However, the Royalist faction should have enough influence to turn lies into truth and truth into lies right? Besides, rather than having people disparage Rei, who is only an adventurer, wouldn’t it be better to claim that the Royalists had defeated the chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army?」

「……That’s true, but……」

Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of Elena’s words, Siminar understood that the advantages were definitely greater. It wasn’t just achievements for the Royalist faction. It also meant that Rei wouldn’t end up drawing too much jealousy for his achievements. And……

(The advantage for Elena is that Rei won’t end up being targeted because of this.)

Thinking to himself, Siminar sighed as he nodded.

「I understand. It’s true that this basically fits all our aims. It’s not too bad for me to take the credit here either, as someone who is considered an outcast among the Royalists.」

Rei and Elena gave a sigh of relief at his words.

They honestly didn’t want to be dragged into any unnecessary trouble.

Elena aside, who was a noble and had an established position as the General Princess, Rei had gathered numerous achievements, let along the achievement of killing the enemy’s chief commander, so there was no doubt that Rei had attracted a lot of jealous and envious people. Still, considering everything, Rei still decided that it would be better if he didn’t take credit for killing the enemy’s chief commander in addition to everything else.

(Or, if they misunderstood that Siminar, a Royalist, snatched my achievements, their jealousy towards me might also be reduced.)

Thinking to himself, he looked towards Siminar, who was heading towards the earthen dome. However, the next moment, it would Renodis that popped into his mind.

The reason Rei thought of Renodis was because Renodis was someone who probably wouldn’t hesitate to make an enemy out of Rei. Rather, he would be more than happy to gleefully pursue Rei.

「Well, if that happens, Elena would do something about it.」

She probably heard Rei’s mutter, Elena turned to look at him.

「What’s wrong?」

「It’s nothing, I was just saying that you would help me out if I got into trouble.」

「……If I can help you, I will always lend a hand.」

「Guru~」

In case he forgot about him, Set also came over and rubbed his head against Rei.

As Rei stroked Set’s head, a voice was heard from the earthen dome.

「General Kastom has been slain by Siminar Gupsos of the Mireana Kingdom!」

In the surrounding area……no, in the entire headquarters camp, a voice echoed out. There were cheers from one side and mourning from the other.

Looking around, Rei silently turned to look towards the collapsed earthen dome.

Of course, he wasn’t praying for the souls of General Kastom or the soldiers that had died in battle. Nor was he happy that the war was over. No, it wasn’t that he didn’t have such feelings, but Rei’s current thoughts were on something else. That is……

(That magic item that could create that earthen dome……I really wanted that.)

That was a matter of fact. Of course, it had the clear drawback of randomly absorbing the magic power of people around him. However, it had the ability to create a strong earthen dome that wouldn’t collapse even when hit by Rei. With his hobby of collecting magic items that could be used it combat, it was natural that he had wanted it.

(of course, to make such a high quality magic item, a certain level of alchemy is needed. Thinking about that, it might be good to head over to the Bestir Empire at least once.

Rei thought that in his mind, but with his prominent actions in this war and his feared title of Crimson among the Bestir Empire’s army, there was no doubt that it would be difficult in many ways if he went to the Bestir Empire.

「Rei……Rei-! Can you hear me!?」

Rei, who had been absorbed in his thoughts, finally noticed Siminar, who had been standing in front of him.

「Ah, sorry. I was thinking about something. What’s going on?」

「Hah, I know this war has been tiring, but please focus for a bit longer. I want you to tell Count Arius that I have killed General Kastom. Set is the fastest out of all right?」

「Guru~!」

That’s right! Set seemed to say as he puffed out his chest and gave a cry.

The surroundings seemed to calm down for a moment at Set’s cry, but the next moment, they realised that the battle was still on going on the front lines. They all immediately took action. Siminar gathered the remaining ambush forces while Elena gathered up and disarmed their captives. Rei got on Set to fly to Arius.

「……It seems that headquarters has fallen.」

The forefront of the fierce battle between the Bestir Empire and the Mireana Kingdom’s armies. Among the fighters, Gilgos, who was ordering a group of Demon Soldiers, spoke to Theorem.

Upon hearing those words, Theorem gave a faint smile while instructing the Demon Soldiers to wrap around the enemy’s left wing.

「Well then, what happened to our chief commander?」

「Unfortunately, he is dead.」

「I see.」

Theorem responded to the death of their chief commander with two simple words. Since Kastom’s death had been according to his expectations, that was his only reaction. However, he frowned at the words that followed.

「It seems that General Kastom wasn’t killed by the enemy but died due to the effects of a magic item, giving to him by the the Ministry of Magic, going out of control.」

「……That’s not very good. Regardless of whether he was killed by the enemy, if it was partially caused by a magic item given to him by the Ministry of Magic……」

At the end of his line of sight, a strange centaur with the upper body of a lion and the lower body of a horse plunged into the Mireana Kingdom’s flank, sending it into confusion. The rest of the Demon Soldiers followed up, driving a wedge into the front lines and forcing an opening. However, Theorem’s expression didn’t appear to be happy at all.

The Ministry of Magic had a close relationship with the Third Prince, Mercurio. If General Kastom had died from a magic item given by the Ministry of Magic going out of control, Third Prince Mercurio would naturally be suspected.

The headache for Theorem was that the suspicious wasn’t necessarily incorrect. After all, he had known that the Mireana Kingdom’s ambush force was aiming for the headquarters camp, but had let them attack.

「Theorem-sama, that may be important, but I think it would be better to consider withdrawing for now.」

「That’s true. If we don’t do anything, our morale will drop and the enemy’s will rise as reports of the death of our chief commander spread.」

Nodding, Theorem began giving the orders to withdraw.