CH 276

[Okay, here we go!] Mitsuha

Lined up in front of Wolf Fang’s home base, the vehicle hangar, are 14 members of the helicopter team that participated in the last battle and 20 members of Wolf Fang.

All of them are aboard their respective helicopters and vehicles.

The reason why there are many Wolf Fang members is that they have to show off the vehicles to make them look cool.

Light armored vehicles, trucks, and improvised combat vehicles(Technical)…… civilian vehicles that are a bit sturdy and are equipped with heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns and recoilless guns.

They have a lot of offensive power and look a little better aside from their paper-thin armor…….

[Transfer!] Mitsuha

=====

The new location is very close to the royal capital of the Kingdom of Darrisson, the country of Princess Remia. It’s far enough away that you can’t see it from the capital.

[Let’s go!] Mitsuha

Immediately after the transfer, the vehicle unit departed at my command. I will give instructions to the helicopter team by radio later.

My position is at the upper hatch of a light armored vehicle. My body was out and I was sitting on the roof.

It’s a march to show off, so it can’t be helped.

And because the distance was so close, we soon saw the main gate of the citadel surrounding the royal capital.

When the people in the other vehicles started to see more and more people around them, all but the driver put their bodies out of the windows and the back of the truck to wave and do various other services.

The main gate, of course, has been rooted out in advance, so it’s a non-stop free pass.

Before we went under the gate, I radioed the helicopter team to signal for take-off.

Then, the Royal Army that was waiting inside the main gate, as they were waiting for us to join them, formed a formation and started to slowly advance down the main street leading to the Royal Palace, then a helicopter flew in.

The helicopter accompanied the vehicle unit at a slow, almost hovering speed directly above us.

At a very low altitude, the engine noise, the wind it creates, and noise from the rotors would be too much, so I asked them to gain a little altitude.

The reason why we joined forces with the Royal Army was that they hoped that people would think that we and the Royal Army had defeated the Imperial Army in a joint operation. Of course, Princess Remia was the one who came up with the idea.

Well, I didn’t really say anything in words, so I’m not lying, yeah.

The only people who witnessed that battle were the people involved, the Imperial Army, and us.

And we won’t talk, and no one cares what those who have lost the battle have to say.

Yes, that’s what the bards do. <Facts do not matter!> Because no one is there that can prove it!

So I just mixed it up a little that seemed to work and leave a hint that would mess with their imagination.

The cheering crowd would be more likely to cheer if they could see their own troops marching with them, not just some strange, never-before-seen army.

The vehicle unit and the royal army proceeded from the main street to the royal palace, then went directly into the military training ground.

Then, we separated from the Royal Army and lined up the vehicles in the corner of the training ground.

Later, the helicopters landed in the middle of the training ground. They turned off the engine then the crew came to join us.

With that, the six Wolf Fang members who participated in the battle disembarked, while the others remained in their vehicles.

Then, the vehicles and unmanned helicopters with the remaining members still on board were transferred to Wolf Fang’s home base on Earth.

Of course, I didn’t stay on Earth for even a tenth of a second, rather, I turned around and went back to the other world.

No one would have been able to detect my momentary round-trip transfer, so all they would have seen was the vehicles and the helicopters that just disappeared.

The victory march has been watered down for those members, but only those who really fought at that time will enter the royal palace.

It’s not like the rest of them are being praised as well.

It would be disgraceful for a warrior to be praised for something he didn’t even do. They’re proud people, after all.

The fourteen troopers who had come for the parade agreed with me.

I sent the helicopters and vehicles back first because I was worried about leaving them there without a lookout.

I’m sure many nobles and soldiers would be interested in the vehicles and weapons of the Divine Soldiers.

Most people are okay, but even in hundreds or thousands of people, there’s no way there won’t be at least one bad egg, right?

Then we were led by the Royal Guards into the Royal Palace.

=====

We are headed for the audience hall.

[Hime Miko of Thunder, and all of the Divine Soldiers. Thank you very much for your efforts on behalf of my Kingdom of Darrisson.] Remia

Then came a long list of acknowledgments by Princess Remia.

This time, instead of us kneeling down and Princess Remia saying something like <It’s imperative> from a high place, Princess Remia is also in a low place.

Well, no matter how much of a princess she is, she can’t just look down and talk like that at Hime Miko-sama and the Divine Soldiers……

On the other hand, it would be problematic for Her Royal Highness, the acting king, to bow down to me, a viscount from another country, and it would be difficult in so many ways.

Which treatment would she give me, the viscount of another land or the angel of the goddess? And how should she treat the mercenaries as, the private army of a viscount of another country or the divine army?

And not just the soldiers themselves, the helicopters, known as the heavenly floating boats, and the armored vehicles are too alien to comprehend. It’s just too unbelievable……

Moreover, it’s too unbelievable that a battle resulted in the imperial army getting crushed with only a few people.

Well, I’ll give Princess Remia the ride that she wants. There’s no gain or loss for us, it’s just an after-sales service.

……Iya, it’s a little more of a piggyback ride, I simply gave a small favor to Princess Remia…

Of course, the Wolf Fang members and the helicopter team did not understand any of Princess Remia’s acknowledgments. They just listened in silence to a foreign language they didn’t know.

This is just an event to appeal to the people to see us invited to the royal palace and to impress the nobles and the military leaders that <The Divine Soldiers saved us with the help of Princess Remia>.

Well, even if they don’t understand the words, they knew that they’re appreciated, so the mercenaries won’t feel bad. It’s not every day that mercenaries were thanked by people, you know. It will be a memorial for a lifetime, especially coming from a pretty princess.

=====

And then…….

[Everyone, kneel down for a second……] Mitsuha

I translated Princess Remia’s words and instructed all the mercenaries to do so.

It may be a religious thing for a soldier to kneel to a human, but this is not a pledge of allegiance to Princess Remia, it’s just a ritual.

Everyone who played the role of the Divine Soldier didn’t care at all about the power relationship between the princess and the Divine Soldier, so they took it for granted that a mere mercenary would kneel before Her Highness, and kneeled on the floor without any hesitation.

[And lower your heads a little……] Mitsuha

Everyone obeyed my words honestly.

Princess Remia took the edged sword from her attendant, drew it with ease, and handed the scabbard to her attendant.

All of the mercenaries may seem unarmed, but each carries a small pistol concealed.

And she approached the first one with a drawn sword in her hand right in front of her.

Under normal circumstances, he would have jumped back and pulled out his gun, but of course, no one would do that here.

Because I told them in advance that <it’s possible that this will happen>.

And in fact, I had already had a meeting with Princess Remia, and it was already confirmed that this would happen.

Approaching everyone, Princess Remia raised the sword in her hand and lightly tapped both of the mercenaries’ shoulders with the belly of her sword… Starting with the captain who was on the right end of the first row, she did it to all 20 of them.

Arya~, There’s even someone who’s shaking and trembling with excitement.

Well, that’s inspiring, isn’t it? If you know what this means in some countries back on earth.

The accolade. A ceremony to confer knighthood.

This is not a hereditary nobility, not even a baron, but a quasi-nobility for one generation only, which means that it is not a title that you simply inherited from your parents, but an honor that you earned on your own.

Knight.

Even those who live in an era without a social division have a strong admiration for the word.

They are mercenaries, a bottom-feeder with no idea what tomorrow holds for them.

But now, as a hero in another world, they’re knights, A Knight!

Well, it’s not that they’ve actually become one…….

Yes, I told Princess Remia, <Do this kind of performance. In my family, it’s a great honor to receive this kind of reward from the king, so everyone will be happy. The best thing is that this reward does not cost any money at all>…….

So while Princess Remia recognizes that this is an honorary reward, she is completely unaware of the awarding of the title.

The knighthood ceremony in this country is done in a completely different way, so tapping the shoulder with the belly of the sword is a meaningless action for those in this country. Even if it happens to resemble the knighthood ceremony in some countries on earth・・・・, it doesn’t matter. This is not Earth, you know.

Yeah, as long as it makes all the mercenaries happy, why not?

I don’t think all the mercenaries will come here anymore anyways, and I don’t think they can expect to get a nobleman’s pension.

In a different world, they saved the country with modern weapons, were thanked by the cute princess, and were appointed as Knights(misunderstanding).

They’ve had their fill of two of their childhood dreams in full bloom.