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Chapter 296

「What, is this……?」

Rei and Set flew over to the Mireana Kingdom’s headquarters to report that they had defeated General Kastom, the chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army. However, when Rei arrived at the site of the battlefield, he only saw the forces of the Mireana Kingdom and not the fierce battle he had expected. From the sky, it seemed that they had taken considerable damage.

「Guru~?」

What do we do? Set seemed to ask. Stroking Set’s head, Rei turned to look at the Royalist headquarters, which fortunately didn’t seem to have suffered any damage unlike the troops that were on the front lines.

(Well, if they haven’t at caused at least 2-3 times more damage to the enemy, they probably won’t earn any achievements.)

Thinking to himself, Rei asked Set to land to head towards the headquarters.

(But why is the battle already over? First of all, I came straight over from the enemy headquarters. Why haven’t I encountered any enemy forces withdrawing? They probably knew by some means that we were going to kill their chief commander, so they managed to withdraw somehow so that they wouldn’t be seen by Set flying through the sky? It doesn’t look like something they didn’t expect, it’s as if it was planned from the beginning……no, that’s impossible. There shouldn’t be any reason for them to go out of their way to let us kill their chief commander.)

While thinking of that, Set descended to the ground as he arrived near the headquarters tent.

Rei was familiar with this tent. When Renodis had complained and said that he wasn’t convinced that Rei deserved to be in the vanguard, he had been called to this tent.

And the same as before, there were two guards in front of the tent.

「I’m Rei, who was assigned to the ambush unit. I want to report to Count Arius, please tell him I have come.」

「-!? Did you succeed!?」

「Either way, they are withdrawing……」

As soon as they heard Rei’s words, the guard looked astonished. Eventually his astonishment turned into admiration.

「Ah, it ended without any issues. Rather, could you let Count Arius know?」

「Y-Yes. Wait a moment.」

Seeing the guard enter the tent, Rei called out to the other guard.

「So, what’s going on the battlefield? It looks like the Bestir Empire has already withdrawn.」

「……Weren’t you on a Griffon? In other words, weren’t you flying through the sky? Couldn’t you see the Bestir Empire withdrawing?」

Contrary to what Rei had expected the guard asked back in confusion.

「Count Arius has called you in. Please come in.」

The guard who had entered the tent came back out to tell Rei.

The time needed could be considered to be exceptionally fast. Of course, it could have been because that this was the battlefield and they wanted to hear the report from the ambush force as soon as possible, but Rei had still been expecting to wait for a certain period of time.

Still, since it was more convenient for Rei this way, he didn’t hesitate to enter the tent. Of course, that was after leaving behind the Mithril Knife at his waist.

「Rei, you’ve worked hard. With the enemy withdrawing, can I assume that the ambush unit was successful?」

Arius asked Rei as soon as he saw him.

(……Is the situation unclear to them as well?)

Rei nodded while thinking to himself.

「Yes. Siminar……-sama has successfully defeated General Kastom, the chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army.」

Rei was about to call him just Siminar before managing to rephrase his words. The Royalists who noticed that just smiled at him.

「Yes! Did the ambush unit defeat the enemy’s chief commander? This will maintain the honour of us Royalists.」

「No, that’s not right. It should be said that defeating the enemy’s chief commander would be the greatest achievement of the entire war. ……Rei, was it? You would say that the greatest achievements in this war belong to the Royalists, wouldn’t you?」

A noble near Count Arius asked Rei.

Of course, the noble wasn’t ignoring Rei’s achievements. However, to maintain the Royalists’ honour, it wasn’t possible for a single adventurer to have the greatest achievements for the entire war.

Because of that, he tried to get Rei to admit it himself. If Rei later went against his own words, the Royalist faction would then be able to move against him.

However, Rei nodded without hesitation at the serious question.

「It is true that it was Siminar-sama who killed the enemy’s chief commander, so it can be said that the greatest achievement in this war belongs to Siminar-sama.」

Hearing Rei’s words, the noble’s cheeks twitched for a moment. It was no surprise as Rei had told him that Siminar deserved the greatest merit rather than the Royalists as a whole.

However, Count Arius spoke out before the unhappy noble could say anything more.

For Count Arius, it was more important to understand the current situation and to leave the personal pride satisfying actions of the nobles for later.

「So, the fact that you’re reporting to us now means that you were flying on the Griffon, right? Did you see the Bestir Empire withdrawing on your way?」

「……No. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any of them. When I arrived, I was surprised that the battle had already ended.」

A few nobles frowned at Rei’s choice of words, but they probably realised that as an adventurer, Rei wasn’t so concerned about his wording. They didn’t say anything in particular, but instead prompted Rei to continue.

「Since that was the case, I’d also like to ask when did the Bestir Empire start to withdraw?」

「I don’t know how long ago it was. I can only say that they withdrew long before you arrived.」

「……I long time ago?」

Rei muttered with a frown.

He didn’t know the exact time, since watches were an expensive magic item, but if the whole army had already withdrawn, it would have been at least 10 to 20 minutes ago, which would have been when Rei had destroyed the earthen dome……meaning that they would have already started to withdraw after General Kastom had died from having too much magic power absorbed by the Behemoth Bracelet.

(Then, it was a set up from the beginning?)

It felt like they had fallen into a trap. The discussion within the ambush unit that Theorem may have read the ambush from the Mireana Kingdom’s army passed through his mind.

(But, what good is it for them if we kill their chief commander?)

「What’s wrong? Is there anything you thought of?」

Rei, who had been absorbed in his thoughts, was brought back to reality at Count Arius’ question.

「This is only my thoughts, but the Bestir Empire’s army withdrew and took a detour so that I wouldn’t spot them on my way back to report the success of the ambush. ……Since that is the case, I think it’s all according to someone’s plan……」

「Don’t be stupid-! You’re saying that the Mirena Kingdom’s army was used by someone!?」

The nobles around Count Arius all shouted at Rei. The rest of the nobles who agreed all looked at Rei unpleasantly with a sharp stare.

「Stop, it was I who asked for his thoughts, and he also said it was only a possibility. There is no need to judge him. ……But, used by someone? The chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army was General Kastom, right?」

A subordinate near Count Arius nodded at his question in confirmation.

「Yes. He is said to be one of the leading military figures of the Second Prince’s faction.」

「……What about the Flash?」

「He belongs to the Third Prince’s faction.」

「In that case……」

Count Arius looked like he had just bitten into a bitter worm. It was no wonder as they had just been used to eliminate someone’s political opponent and key military figure.

「Count Arius, we can’t confirm it, but it’s likely that we were used. Even if we weren’t used, it is still a fact that the ambush unit formed by the Royalists defeated the chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army. In that case, it wouldn’t be a mistake to say that this war, where we stopped the Bestir Empire’s invasion, protected our lands and defeated their chief commander, was a complete victory for the Mireana Kingdom’s army.」

「That’s absurd! Then, that means we only good enough to be used by the enemy! Is there any pride as a noble of His Majesty to be happy about victory gained from the whims of the enemy!?」

「Wait, it might not be pleasant that we were used by the enemy, but that is all. They must have done it because it was worthwhile for them. Could they have done that because they feared the strength of our forces and wanted to reduce it as much as possible? Of course, it doesn’t change the fact that they used their chief commander as a pawn and threw him away.」

The nobles around him all argued loudly about their current view of the matter.

Their opinions were roughly divided into three groups. The first admitted that it may be true that they were used, but should still maximise the gain from what had happened. The second could not accept that they had been used and proposed to counter invade the Bestir Empire. The third group claimed that the enemy had been afraid of the Mireana Kingdom’s army strength and had abandoned their chief commander in an attempt to split their forces.

It was fortunate for Rei and the Mireana Kingdom that the majority of nobles supported the most realistic first option after hearing everyone’s opinions.

(In fact, in our current state, it would be impossible to launch a counter invasion even if we wanted to. In the first place, the Mirena Kingdom was weaker in terms of national power.

The Mireana Kingdom was a large country compared to the surrounding countries. However, the Bestir Empire was even bigger than the Mireana Kingdom. In terms of national power, the Bestir Empire was around 1.5 times stronger than the Mireana Kingdom.

Moreover, since the King’s orders had been to repel the invasion, if they had tried to counter invade now, they would be punished for violating orders.

While thinking of that, Rei listened in to the discussion between the nobles before noticing that Count Arius’ eyes were on him again.

「Rei, I would like to hear your opinion again since you actually fought General Kastom’s troops. What do you think?」

「In my opinion, even if we were used, General Kastom’s death is still the outcome. Then, shouldn’t we take the maximum profit we can from that?」

At Rei’s words, most of the people in the tent agreed. A few nobles glared at him, but didn’t say anything unnecessary.

Since Rei didn’t have a choice in expressing his opinion, all they could do was to pass on their feelings with their eyes.

Count Arius nodded at Rei’s opinion and made his decision.

「Rei was actually in the ambush unit, we should consider his opinions. ……Okay, give the orders out to the whole army. There may be some important information or magic items in the enemy’s camp. We should also recover the prisoners of war that the ambush unit has captured. Anyhow, there is no doubt that this war has ended with our victory. Let’s declare it proudly and make a triumphant return.」

They might have been used, the but result was that they had still killed the enemy’s chief commander and repelled the Bestir Empire’s invasion. For Count Arius, who had spent a considerable sum of money to become the chief commander of this army, it was more than enough. As for the attack of the Demon Soldiers, which could be considered the enemy’s secret weapon……it was definitely a great achievement for him to be able to repel the ambush, which had used transition stones in an attack that had never been seen before.

(Although I did make a blunder and was ambushed……even though I struggled, I still did resist against the transition stone attack. I also launched an ambush back against the enemy’s chief commander. In that case, I shouldn’t have made any fatal mistakes.)

Thinking to himself, he turned to look at the adventurer standing before him.

It was battle with many unexpected issues, but it was definitely due to the adventurer standing before him that they had won this war. At first glance, he looked like an apprentice mage, but the ability hidden within that small body was definitely first class. Furthermore, he held an item box, a rare item in this world, and was accompanied by a Griffon, a famous high ranking monster. If you considered his negative factors, he just didn’t show any courtesy to his superiors.

(But, I can change anything I want from here on. There’s no way I’m going to miss out on someone like this.)

Glancing towards the nobles who were celebrating their victory in this war, Arius turned towards Rei.

「Rei, what do you plan to do in the future?」

「What do I plan to do? First of all, I plan to report the success of the ambush operation to Daska-sama.」

Of coure, Count Arius shook his head at Rei’s reply.

「No, not that. After this war is over. If you wish to do so, would you like to serve under me?」

The moment he said that, the nobles who had been celebrating all turned to look at Rei.

That was because the nobles all knew of Rei’s talent and didn’t want let him go. However, they hadn’t expected Count Arius to be a step ahead of them and give Rei and offer right here.

However, Rei shook his head before the worried expressions of the nobles.

「I’m sorry, but I’m more fit to work as an adventurer on the frontier than serve nobility.」

Rei replied simply and turned down Count Arius’ invitation, which the nobles though he would have accepted.

「……I see. Come see me if you ever feel like it. I don’t hate strong people like you. For now, go report on the ambush to Margrave Rowlocks.」

Count Arius didn’t push the matter any further as he let Rei leave the tent.