CH 461

–After retreating from the town of Gust, we dragged our tired bodies towards the castle. The number of soldiers and the scale of the battle with the Ten Chief Priests, the damage is small in comparison. However, some people have been killed ……

“U-Uhhh …… Dear …….”

“My son is ……!? You’re kidding ……”

“……”

During the transfer, one of the people who greeted us was the family of the dead knight, and I saw them break down in tears.

“Lars, calm down. It’s not your fault.”

“…… Yeah. Sorry, Makina ……”

“Big brother, I should have tried harder. ……”

“Don’t say that, Sephiro. I wasn’t on the battlefield either.”

It seems that I looked so scared that Makina rubbed my back with a troubled face. As she was stroking the dejected Sephiro, I was approached by Kudelica, who was walking a little ahead of me.　

“Lars-kun, let’s take our time …… We tried our best, but it was no use ……”

“You can’t help it. They weren’t normal, no matter how you look at them. Damn it …….”

Kudelica grabbed my sleeve, half crying, and Tigre-sensei was dragging a battered weapon with a scary look on his face. 

Fortunately, the Everlide soldiers, including Prince Ryde, survived, and the knights who were fighting the soldiers in the town were probably only slightly injured. Hence, I feel sorry for those who died.

“Please come to the castle at night. This Urka-kun will let you see him for the last time.”

“Minister Basleigh …… Uhhhh ……”

“I’m sorry, it’s because we were not strong enough ……”

“Hawk-sama is also in shambles, let’s give him credit for protecting the Knight Commander ……”

As I listened to this, I walked into the castle with nearly five thousand Everlide soldiers, and Flugel-san called out to me. 

“Oh, Hawk and Eagle! You’re back! …… Hmm, looks like things aren’t looking too good, huh?”

“You’re right. I would like the Everlide soldiers to gather in the castle garden, if that’s alright?”

“Yes, I’ll arrange that right away. Would you like to report to His Majesty in the audience hall?”

“No, in the meeting room. Honestly, I can’t believe all this is happening ……”

After Hawk-san said that when he saw us, or rather me and Sephiro, he walked to the conference room.

The members of the Irving family were invited into the meeting room by the main force that was fighting the ten chief priests at the time. When the King appears, he asks for an explanation of the situation.

“Since you are all here, can I assume that the town of Gust has been occupied?”

“…… Yes. I did not fight directly, but a suspicious black mist enveloped the town. My son told me that they are members of the Gospel’s Descent, and that they were apparently possessed by something.”

“Is that right, Lars?”

“Possessed …… Are they something like a ghost?”

The King and Prince Orden asked me about my father’s words, I nodded and continued.

“Yes. It’s me, Fath-san, and Sarge the dragon. Also, Tigre-sensei, Headmaster Libre, Ryuuze, and whoever else was assigned to the points watched it. “

“Your Majesty, that was something out of this world. The one I saw had three heads and–“

“Well, me, Jack and Lars saw a man with a horse’s head.”

The conference room buzzed with the words of the headmaster and Urka. The King leans with a serious look on his and remained silent for a while, but eventually opened his mouth.

“…… I can’t believe that you’ve lost even with elites like Libre, Tigre, the two knight captains and Lars.”

“Yes. In fact, we were able to defeat them, but they turned into an unrecognizable black mist, so we retreated.”

“Umu. I have a general understanding of the situation. The ten chif priests of the gospel’s descent were deformed, and the city of gust was occupied by them. However, there is no point in lamenting about what was taken. Now we have to think about the future.”

The king looked at us with narrowed eyes as he said this. He implied that it was important that we survived even if one town was taken. Then Headmaster Libre raises his hand and speaks up.

“You’re right. The town was taken, but the enemy was defeated. He hinted that they would be revived, but I think we’ll be fine in the current situation. I guess the Gospel’s Descent will move when they realize that the ten chief priests and the Everlide’s soldiers are not coming back. I don’t know how high Berias value them, but it’s possible he’ll send out troops.”

“That man could use the town of Gust as a starting point to come to Reflexion …… What should we do?”

“…… It’s difficult to say, but one way is to attack from here, take Everlide, and then defeat the Gospel’s Descent, including Berias. Or negotiate that we’ll turn them in. The other is to wait for the other side to attack.”

The headmaster said the first idea with a bitter face. It’s not difficult to attack Berias if you take the Everlide because it’s closer to Reflexion. If possible, it would be better if the kingdom of Berias kicked out everyone, including the Founder of the Gospel’s Descent, but I somehow feel like he’s being brainwashed.

“…… Either way, we’ll be fighting the ten chief priests. Four of them are in our hands. But considering that there are still six of them, if they attack us all at once, it’ll be tough even if we fight together with the Luitzar Kingdom. We’ll have to wait and see if the three of them that turned into a mist revives in the town of Gust, and if they do, our chances of winning will be even lower.”

“Fumu …… If we attack immediately, we won’t have the strength to take on six people, huh. If we wait and train each of you–“

“So it’s faster for us to attack. This is troubling, father.”

As Prince Orden lowered his shoulders and closed the conversation, a silence fell over the conference room and the knight who was with Tigre-sensei opened his mouth.

“Do you mind? I am the Knight Commander of the Kingdom of Berias, Hitzrite. I’m a childhood friend of Tigre’s.”

“What ……! Why is a man from the enemy country here? I won’t say that. If you’re with Tigre, does that mean you don’t have a good opinion of Berias?”

“Yes, but it seems that it was the Gospel’s Descent that started the war. I think it would be better if they were eliminated. I will spare no effort to help you, as I am sure you can use my memories and other information about that country.”

Then the king got up from his chair, smiled at us, and said.

“Well, I’ll leave it to Tigre to deal with you. Thank you for your cooperation …… Anyway, you must be tired today, right? It’s not like they’re going to move today or tomorrow. We’re going to set up a team to go around the town of Gust to see what’s going on, and we’ll figure out what to do tomorrow. It seems that there are a lot of Everlide soldiers, so we have to deal with them too. Is that okay?”

“Ha ……!”

“Thank you to the others too, for your hard work, Roen. I know it’s frustrating to have your town taken, but you need to rest now. We’ll give you a room in the castle.”

“Oh, your Majesty. My Dad and the others are going to come to my house, so it’s okay.”

“Oh, really? Alright. Tell Flügel if you need anything.”

“Thank you very much.”

The meeting was adjourned, and we left the conference room and started walking outside.

“It’s getting out of hand, isn’t it …… our homeland ……”

“Yeah. But we will take it back.”

Dragging our exhausted bodies, we decided to go to our home.