Side Story 47. Anemone Smiled Brightly (23)
After destroying the wall and visiting the Imperial State, Doomstone and I destroyed military facilities as we moved on to Enharayton, the capital of the Imperial State.
On the first morning, we lit a fire and burned division-level barracks, and in the evening robbed the military supplies. The next day, we hit and destroyed the front-line command and thoroughly smashed the corps-level troops that rushed at us.
However, the problem was that a few days after crushing them, the territories in most of the northern parts of the Imperial State could become lawless and the public order could temporarily deteriorate. I shouldn’t make things difficult for those who will be accepted as citizens of the Empire in the future. Therefore, we sold weapons that we robbed from the military supply station to some seemingly capable nobles to take care of public order instead.
Naturally, I received gold bars and jewelry and not the money of the Imperial State; that would be ruined anyway. I thought it would be nice if the nobles who received weapons rose as warlords and brought about a civil war. But since there was a risk that the warlords would turn into a resistance later, I should take action to make sure the resistance dissolves on its own later.
"Hmm…?"
By the time we almost arrived at Enharayton, Doomstone stopped Wheat Crepe No. 1.
"What’s wrong?" I asked as I stopped Wheat Crepe No. 2 alongside him.
He put his index finger to his mouth, gesturing towards me to be quiet and then closed his eyes. He opened his eyes after a while and laughed as if he had found something fun.
"We’re surrounded."
“Surrounded?” Surprised, I looked around. But in my eyes, it just seemed like a normal forest path.
"Yeah. I don't think the leader is an ordinary person. They’re very far away, so I haven't been able to detect them, but I think they've been monitoring us for a long time."
"What? Then you’re saying they didn't attack us the countless times we were defenseless?"
"That's why I think he’s not normal. He probably thought he didn't have a chance of winning.”
There were only two of them, but since the other party had concluded that there was no chance of winning, he seemed to possess an insight and did not judge just by appearance.
"Considering I managed to barely feel it when we came close to Enharayton, I think he camped in his favorite place and waited."
I took out a map that was taken from a military supply station. "Where do you think they’re camped?” I asked.
Doomstone pointed at the canyon at the top of the narrowing road. It was a perfect place to ambush on this straight road to Enharayton. Attacking from the front was not bad, but it was a very difficult position to attack from, topographically.
"Should we take a detour?" I suggested.
He shook his head. "He has probably blocked all the detour routes. Well, I'm confident that I can break through even if he blocked it, but don't you want to go at it head-on?” he suggested with a playful smile.
I smiled and nodded. "Of course."
We lightly bumped fists.
I covered myself with various protective magic tools; these were among the items we stole from the military supply station. The best magic tool was an object that endured five attacks from Doomstone at full power and looked similar to the cloak the commander was wearing. The official document in the military supply base stated that it was the cloak of the Dragon Tribe, so I should be protected even in a fierce battle.
"Shall we go then?"
"Good!"
As Doomstone and I galloped, a whistle rang from all sides. It seemed that we really were surrounded. From as far away as I could see the entrance to the canyon, a cloud of arrows flew over.
No, it wasn't arrows. Crazy! They were ballistas.
You're not attacking a big castle, but trying to catch just two people. Yet, you’re shooting siege weapons?
"Ahahaha! The Imperial State’s arrows are big!"
No! Even before I could shout that, Doomstone lightly jumped onto Wheat Crepe No. 1 and swung his arm so fast that it was invisible.
"Enlightenment! Cutting the Rain!"
Hundreds and thousands of strands of fist aura poured out of his arm, hitting the ballistas. The ballistas that were hit and bent did not fall in the direction we were heading. He hit them away, calculating the angle at which they would fall, one by one. It was really a superhuman-like feat.
Doomstone jumped high, did a somersault, and landed lightly on Wheat Crepe No. 1.
"Ahahaha! How fun!"
As we crossed the field of ballistas, masses of rocks from catapults were sent flying next.
Looking at the flying rocks, Doomstone muttered, "Oh, that's a little dangerous.”
A ball of rock was dangerous for a person who hit away ballistas?
When compared to a ballista, the area of a rock is certainly large and hence burdensome to hurl. However, this superhuman had even destroyed the walls of a castle that could deal with hundreds of thousands of people in one blow, to say that it was dangerous seemed a little far-fetched.
… Or so I thought. The net surrounding the rock was loosened and the rock mass broke.
No, it didn’t break! They put smaller rocks in the net and made it impossible to hit them away like the ballistas!
"Anemone!"
Doomstone reached out to me and I grabbed his hand. He put me on his back and took out a long spear from the space expansion pouch that we got from the military supply station and grabbed the end of the long spear.
"Improvisation! Tentative name, Spear Umbrella!"
Doomstone held the spear high over his head and put a strong aura on it. Then he quickly spun the spear. There was a bluish umbrella of strong aura with a radius of 2 meters. An umbrella made of a spear, the name was just right. Numerous rocks poured down over the strong umbrella like hail. The brutal sound of the surrounding trees breaking in the rain of rocks resonated for a long time.
"Hiiing!"
Wheat Crepe No. 2, who was not protected by Doomstone, collapsed brutally.
Ah, I was attached to it! Your end was like this because you met a bad owner. Since the situation couldn’t be helped, let's mourn briefly.
At the end of the rain of rocks, the spear in Doomstone’s hand was so damaged that it was impossible to use anymore.
"Let's get revenge for Wheat Crepe No. 2," I said.
Doomstone nodded. "Of course!"
He grabbed a bundle of long spears out of the space expansion pocket then added a strong aura on them and hurled them towards the two sides of the canyon. The string on the bundle broke as it flew and the long spears rained down on the canyon.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom-!
The long spears raining down seemed stronger than the ballistas, definitely not weaker. Struck by hundreds of strong auras, the canyon turned into a beehive.
Boom! Boom! Boom-!
Then a huge explosion broke out in the middle of the beehive canyon. Its sides caught up in the explosion began to collapse. As he watched, Doomstone raised up Wheat Crepe No. 1.
"What kind of Enlightenment is this?" I asked.
Doomstone shook his head. "I didn't do it. I just infused strong aura and threw them.”
If so, it seemed that explosives were installed in the canyon by the other side. If they failed to stop us and we passed through the canyon, they must have planned to bury the whole canyon.
"Uh... If this road is blocked, do we need to cross the mountain?"
The shortest road to Enharayton we were about to take had collapsed and disappeared.
"No. I think it would be easier to walk over the collapsed place than to take the horse over the mountain," I said.
Doomstone nodded. It would be too much to ride Wheat Crepe No.1 over it, but it seemed possible to guide it across slowly.
However, perhaps thanks to the canyon collapsing, there were no more attacks. They probably didn’t think we’d counterattack like this, and got buried when the explosives blew up earlier than planned.
"Shall I make it easier for us to pass?"
Doomstone infused his arms with a strong aura and aimed at the collapsed canyon.
"Enlightenment! Breaking a Mountain!"
Doomstone’s powerful aura hit the collapsed debris, and a pile of dirt rose like a tsunami, creating a clumsy path. The road appeared less rough than before and it was easier to go through. Now, as we were about to enter the road, Doomstone flicked his finger and the force struck a pile of debris.
"Who’s there?" he demanded.
A young man jumped out of a pile of debris and shook off the dirt.
"Tweh tweh! Ah, there's dirt in my mouth.”
He spat out the dirt and spoke with a sly smile, "Who am I? If I came out from here, it's natural that I’m an enemy."
Doomstone took a stance with his fist clenched, and threw away the sword around his waist in surprise.
"Whoa, whoa, I don't want to fight a monster like you. I was just hired to block you."
"Hired?" I said.
The man nodded. "Yeah. I'm a mercenary. I’m a harmless person who doesn't fight while risking his life and not worth any money even if taken prisoner."
He was a good talker. Even though he was a member of the army that had attacked us so far.
Doomstone looked at the man tiredly but said confidently, "It's you. You’re the one who was in charge at the canyon."
The man’s eyes opened wide. "How did you know? No, well, that's not important, so let's move on. I just took the helm because I had a somewhat high war record. Since I’ve already failed, there is no reason to be hostile to you. Also, I was hiding here because I was just trying to run away.”
There seemed to be no lies in his words.
"You were in charge because you have a high war record? It's not easy to have that as a mercenary. What's your name?” I asked.
The man smiled and asked back, "My name? Why? Are you going to hire me later? Then, I'm thankful. I don't think I'll be able to work as a mercenary in the Imperial State in the future."
"Oh my? Do you want to be hired by the Empire?” I said.
The man’s expression turned a little stiff. "Ah~ That’s too difficult. I killed a respected general there last year. A person called Joshua. He was an old man that I got along well with, but personal and business matters are separate."
Joshua? Could he be Malecia? I glanced at Doomstone.
Duke Arthemius had once mentioned that General Joshua was close to Doomstone's father. I was curious as to how he would react when the person who killed his father's friend stood in front of him.
Doomstone asked with a calm face, "How did you do it?"
"Huh? Since the body was respectfully sent to the Empire’s military, are you asking me how I killed him?"
General Joshua's funeral was held as a large-scale state funeral. As far as I was aware, he was buried in a tomb in his own territory according to his will.
Malecia pondered for a while and talked about General Joshua's last moments. "I fought one-on-one and killed him with my own hands. In fact, I didn't want to kill him, but I had no choice but to kill him because my skills were lacking. If we had fought longer and my view of the battlefield had continued to be distracted, the damage to my forces would have been so severe that our chance of victory would have diminished. So I had no choice."
"What were his last words?"
“... Do I have to say it?"
"Say it." Doomstone coerced.
Malecia avoided looking at him. "… You idiot. I’m sorry- That was what he said.”
I didn't know what that meant, but Malecia seemed to have his own interpretation of the last words.
"Is that so? I understand.”
Doomstone seemed to have come to terms with it in his own way.
"Go then. I won't capture you."
"Well then, thank you!"
No sooner had Doomstone's words landed, than the young Mercenary King took to his heels.
As he watched the fleeing figure, Doomstone apologized to me.
"Sorry for releasing a man who killed a respected person of the Empire."
I grinned. "There's nothing to apologize for. Doomstone, if you have determined that the Mercenary King’s actions stand justified, I’m sure it must have been so." I believed in Doomstone's instincts and his integrity.
"Now! Let’s go make the cheeks of the King of the Imperial State red!" I shouted energetically.
Doomstone shouted enthusiastically in response, "Let's go!"
To Enharayton!
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