"Ah—. If only it weren't for Leah, we could've made a killer headstone in memory of Dominic!"
A playful voice broke the stillness of the dark, where only the sound of horse hooves had echoed.
To Rian, who had volunteered to guide the way as he rode his brown courier horse ahead, it was nothing more than faint noise.
However, to Sion's disciples following behind Rian in rows of three and two, Taerin's voice carried clearly enough.
Because of that, the dull-blond-haired Dominic scowled—creasing his already fierce features—and reacted immediately.
"Bullshit!! What the hell would someone like you know?! I'd already calculated my next move and was just about to react when Leah got in the way!"
"Keuk-keuk-keuk...!"
Taerin, whose short brown hair resembled the winding paths of the Greenwave Forest, giggled hard enough to make her faint freckles bounce.
It was unmistakably a blatant provocation, as though she found Dominic's predictable reaction endlessly entertaining.
"Why, that little......."
Dominic badly wanted to get back at Taerin somehow, but since they were riding with Leah between them, all he could do was shoot daggers with his eyes and grind his teeth.
In the midst of that, the heavy voice of the silver-haired giant, Berkir, rang out from behind them.
"Had it been me, I would have struck his hand to keep him from drawing his sword while smashing his ribs with my shoulder at the same time. Then Leah would not have needed to step in, either."
"Shut up! We didn't even fight properly, so don't talk like I lost, you thick-skulled oaf of a bear!"
"Hoho. This is all due to a lack of training. Once we finish our mission and return, let us spend some time training together!"
Berkir bent his massive arm and flexed his muscles.
Of course, just as he had ignored Dominic's words and said whatever he pleased, not a single one of them paid any attention to Berkir.
Perhaps finding that rather pitiful, Phine, with her long, cascading green hair, turned her attention that way.
'Sure enough, Sir Sion gifted Beki the finest horse of all. To think it isn't even gasping for breath once while carrying a massive frame like that.'
Even that was not interest in Berkir himself, but merely interest in the muscular white horse he was riding.
Soon enough, she shifted her gaze toward Rian riding in the lead and joined in the ongoing topic of conversation.
"It was definitely a thrust without a shred of hesitation. If you really calculated a next move, that also means Leah basically saved your life."
"Tch......."
Dominic no longer reacted to the voices teasing him under the guise of advice.
Even if he did react, it really was an excuse, and nothing but excuses came to mind anyway.
'As if there was a next move.......'
Just as Phine said, he himself knew full well that if he had tried to calculate a next move, his heart would have been skewered in the process of transitioning his motion.
Because of that, he had been unable to pull back his sword and had instead put even more force into his swing with the mindset of mutual destruction.
And it was an undeniable fact that he had kept his life thanks to Leah.
'.......'
Dominic's gaze landed on Leah and her dark blue bobbed hair.
Rather than gratitude, his eyes were closer to looking at a wall he still could not surpass.
Yet Leah herself, as though Dominic's gaze were none of her concern, had her attention fixed on Rian riding in the lead.
'Rian Kade, did he say?'
Jet-black hair and dark eyes housing an abyss. By those alone, it would not be an exaggeration to say he carried all the impurity and ominousness of the world.
With his handsome features added on top of that, he readily brought to mind those creatures that wielded magic through the medium of ugliness.
So it was fair to say he met all the conditions to provoke a blind attack from Dominic, who shuddered in loathing at black mages and cultists.
However, she felt nothing unpleasant or foul from that man.
Instead, the comfort offered by that darkness came to mind, and curiosity and a competitive spirit took precedence.
That was why she had intended to watch his standoff with Dominic for a moment, yet because of the sense of incongruity she felt within the murderous intent that suddenly erupted, she had been forced to step in.
How should she put it? It had felt as though he were saying he was not afraid of death—that death was useless against a human like him in the first place, so Dominic was welcome to try if he dared.
Indeed, he had completely disregarded his own death, focused solely on killing, and aimed the tip of his sword straight at Dominic's heart.
It went far beyond the level of boldness a mere platoon leader could display. The same went for his physical abilities.
'Is it the realm of talent? If Sir Sion were here, would he have seen that man as a gem in the rough?'
No, he was far too reckless for that.
Fighting like that, he would obviously end up dead long before becoming a knight.
Just like the others who had died from their own recklessness thus far.......
'So that man is nothing more than a passing interest. That's as far as it goes.'
Clop! Clop!
Deciding not to focus on Rian any longer, Leah rode through the night.
***
With his forces spread out in a straight line like a net, Monclay was crossing through the Greenwave Forest.
Since he and several of his guards had to advance on horseback, they followed behind the troops along the winding path regardless of the formation.
'Those imperial scum... they're running for their lives.'
They ought to have been so exhausted that the distance of the pursuit would narrow, yet it was not narrowing at all.
Moreover, there had already been a report from the vanguard that the enemy had exited the forest and entered the Dandelion Plains.
'What can't be helped, can't be helped.'
It would have been nice if he could round them all up and capture them alive just like this, but if he pushed the pursuit too hard, they might fall for another one of those scum's tricks.
Excessive greed always invited disaster.
'Since their commander bolted ahead first, he might've stashed reinforcements somewhere.'
It would be far more advantageous to set up a new camp at a reasonable spot on the Dandelion Plains and, once Sion's disciples arrived, have them scout out the enemy's movements.
Clop—. Clop—.
Thinking as much, Monclay rode his horse slowly.
It was right then.
Rumble, rumble.......
From somewhere, Monclay faintly heard the sound of hooves kicking off the ground in a gallop. Rather than hearing it, it was a sensation closer to feeling it.
Because he had already nearly lost his life when the Imperial Army deployed elite soldiers and a mage, his heightened senses had picked up on the slightest change.
"What is that sound?!"
Monclay asked his adjutant about the foreign noise he had felt.
Riding beside him, the adjutant hid his inner thought of wondering what nonsense his commander was spouting and wore a bewildered expression, yet before long, he too felt the hoofbeats tickling his ears, looked back, and shouted.
"It's from the rear, sir!"
By the time he shouted that, the hoofbeats and the trembling of the ground had drawn much clearer.
"All forces, rally!! Assume rear guard formation! Something is coming!!"
Monclay shouted in an urgent voice, and—
"Rear guard! Rear guard!!"
"All forces, rally! Protect the Battalion Commander!"
Rumble—.
As the company commanders repeated Monclay's cry, the soldiers who had been spread out in a single line rapidly rallied around Monclay.
While the soldiers rallied, the adjutant and several guards turned their horses around and drew their swords.
Dozens of archers who happened to be nearby took up positions around Monclay and aimed into the darkness.
Clop! Clop!
From the curving path between the hillocks, the approaching hoofbeats grew unmistakable.
Before long, dark specks rounded the bend and came into view.
Faint moonlight seeped over the dark specks as they gradually began to take shape. Even so, it was still too dark to distinguish friend from foe.
Raise—.
Watching the approaching silhouettes, Monclay raised his hand, mentally calculating the effective range of the arrows.
Then it suddenly occurred to him that they might be allies. Because the soldiers who would protect him had gathered all around him, he could afford a little composure.
'Could it be Sion's disciples?'
Well, that was possible, but even if it were, on the off chance this was an enemy ambush, they would be the ones struck down if they hesitated to loose a volley of arrows.
'We shoot. If they're allies and Sion's disciples... they'll survive on their own anyway. I can always apologize afterward.'
Thinking as much, just as the word to attack was about to leave Monclay's lips—
"Friendlies!! I am with Sir Sion's disciples!!"
Seeing his allies poised to attack beneath the blazing torches, Rian shouted out.
Monclay did not immediately recognize Rian Kade, but since he could make out the words "Sion's disciples"—
"Stand down! Do not shoot! They are friendlies! Haha!!"
At last, the reinforcements he had been waiting for had arrived. They were not an army, but they were the disciples raised by the knight Sion.
Monclay judged that since they possessed the talent of knights, he would no longer be in any danger.
That judgment brought a bright smile blooming across his face.
'I knew it! There's no way scum who bolted for their lives would ever think of lying in ambush to hit our rear!'
Breathing a sigh of relief, Monclay welcomed Sion's disciples.
However, before exchanging greetings with them, one matter he needed to address caught his eye.
"Rian... Kade?"
When Rian gave a military salute to Monclay, who was staring at him in bewilderment, Monclay waved a hand to brush off the salute and continued.
"What about your wounds? You were standing there as if it were nothing earlier—were your injuries really that minor?"
It seemed Monclay really had viewed his injuries as serious. As the image of Monclay riding off and leaving him behind despite knowing that overlapped in his mind, Rian quietly tightened his fist.
Even so, there was no reason to throw a punch. Instead, judging that it was thanks to that very irresponsibility that he had been able to come this far without arousing any real suspicion, Rian answered the question.
"Yes, sir. That is correct."
"Hmm.... Is that so."
It was a lukewarm exchange. It felt like a tacit agreement to stop paying attention to each other with this.
Monclay needed to relay instructions to Sion's disciples right away, while Rian needed to hide his undying ability; thus, their different intentions aligned in a strange way to wrap up the conversation.
Meanwhile, Sion's disciples, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, were left bewildered.
'He withstood my sword while wounded?'
'Oh. If that man's body had been uninjured, Dominic really might've been in danger.'
'Does that mean he endured his wounds through steady training and took on Dominic? I like him. Hoho.'
'Well, now. If he'd been in top shape, Dominic really would've been sent to the afterlife, wouldn't he?!'
Fearing that the bewilderment each of them felt might show, Leah, Phine, Beki, and Taerin made their faces even more expressionless to hide their emotions.
Only Dominic openly showed his feelings, furrowing his brow.
'Damn it...! Does that mean I nearly got killed by some wounded soldier?!'
Apart from that, as though his curiosity had been satisfied, Monclay moved to wrap up his conversation with Rian.
"Well, it is fortunate that you are fine for now. However, as you know, your platoon is... not here, so if there is a unit you wish to be reassigned to, let me know."
He had no platoon to rejoin.
There was no way Monclay did not know that.
Even so, at Monclay's unnecessary remark, a corner of Rian's heart ached as though pricked by a thorn.
The guilt of having survived all alone weighed heavily upon his entire body, yet he could not afford to be buried in emotion.
"I request that you assign soldiers to me so that I may guard the rear of the main force, sir."
"The rear? Why?"
Monclay tilted his head to the side.
It was a path they had already swept through in a net-like formation. Moreover, had Rian himself not just ridden all the way here along that very path with Sion's disciples?
To the doubtful Monclay, Rian stated his reasoning.
"Seeing how the Empire hid elite soldiers and a mage to launch a calculated invasion, I judge that the Imperial Army will not return empty-handed like this, sir. Since we do not know when or how they might launch a surprise attack, I wish to prepare for it."
"Since you eliminated the mage, that will not be an issue... And would their elite soldiers really risk having their escape route cut off just to launch a surprise attack? Even if they did, there cannot be even a hundred of them left. Unless they are knights, there is nothing they can do to us."
"Assassination might still be possible, sir."
Monclay felt a sudden chill run down his spine, and as if to hide that feeling, he stroked his beard and nodded.
He had been planning to halt the main force around here anyway and order Sion's disciples to handle the pursuit.
When someone was offering to let him rest easy without the threat of assassination, there was no reason to refuse.
"Understood. I will select capable soldiers and entrust the rear to you."
With that, Rian gave Monclay a military salute and took his leave.
Sion's disciples followed Rian with their eyes alone.
Their lips were pressed tightly shut in expressionless faces, yet their eyes were shaking as though struck by an earthquake.
Even Leah, who excelled at controlling her emotions, had no way of hiding her wavering gaze.
'He killed a mage? It looks like I'll need to test his skills one more time....'
Leah wanted to chase after Rian right then and there to request a formal spar, but under Monclay's orders, she had to set out in pursuit of the Imperial Army instead.