The March of Guzzle in the Carpa Kingdom.

　　It was the most southern domain in the Carpa Kingdom. Amongst the countries in the western part of the South Continent, the Carpa Kingdom had the largest territory, but despite of that, there was hardly any difference in temperatures in the respective regions.

　　That said, it applied to the whole western part of the southern continent, not just the Carpa Kingdom alone. In other words, just as the capital was currently welcoming the season with the strongest sunrays within the year, so the March of Guzzle was undergoing the murderous heat as well.

　　This season was life-threatening to children or elder people when they stood in the sun for an hour without protection, and unsuitable for large-scale battles, only topped by the rain season.

　　These circ.u.mstances made it extremely unlikely that a war “amongst humans” would break out during this season according to a mutual understanding between the rulers of the South Continent.

　　However, there was a hostile existent on the continent that paid no attention to the conveniences of humans.

　　A species that adopted the best to the hot and humid South Continent. The predominant animal on the continent, which surpa.s.sed humanity by far in the term of simple habitat.

　　The carnivore dragons.

　　The Guzzle army marched out during the second most unsuitable season for battles, in order to restore the business on the “Salt Road” that was a.s.sumed to be disrupted by these carnivore dragons.

　　With a troop strength of around a hundred soldiers, they slowly advanced north on the “Salt Road”.

　　In the morning it was still relatively cool, but the descending sunlight already had an aggressive tint and vividly lightened up the green of the trees standing left and right to the road.

　　Although the “Salt Road” was a peerless state road in the Carpa Kingdom, it was built quite plainly in the eyes of a person from the modern age.

　　The middle of the road was levelled a bit elevated and shallow ditches were trenched on both side of it, so there was little chance that it became flooded even during the rainy season, but even so, next to no one from the modern age would agree to call this gravel-less path an “important traffic route of the Kingdom”.

　　It didn’t even compare to the gobbled state roads of the Roman Empire that have existed before the Common Era, much less the concrete highways of modern j.a.pan.

　　Never mind that the technology was low in this world, they had magic that could manipulate the soil, so they should have better preconditions than the ancient Rome, yet the current state of affairs might be an evidence that the forces of nature were so much stronger here than on Earth.

　　Not to say that the flouris.h.i.+ng road works of the Roman Empire might just have been an exceptional case in the history of Earth, considering the road conditions in Europe or Middle East after old Rome.

　　Anyway, the army of the March slowly proceeded along the “Salt Road”.

　　The vanguard was composed of knights mounting big and green “Raptorial Dragons”.

　　There were five in total of them. Each knight always had one squire accompany him.

　　The other soldiers, all carrying short spears, were following behind them on foot.

　　The whole infantry wore a thick cloak with a hood over their leather armour against the sunlight, but the vicious sun blazed down on them regardless and pressed out the water from their body.

　　More than half of the troops had already emptied their drinking bottles hanging from their waists.

　　The only exception was the supply corps at the back. They travelled on freight wagons pulled by ‘Hulking Dragons’.

　　Compared to “Raptorial Dragons”, the “Hulking Dragons” moved at a snail pace, but they were much stronger in compensation for it. They easily pulled the freight wagons, which were loaded with spare weapons, rations, water, firewood and cauldrons for cooking, and left big and deep tracks in the ground.

　　There were a couple of these wagons pulled by “Hulking Dragons”. A haul of this size was certainly necessary, considering the dietary needs of the hundred-strong army until the end of the operation.

　　If anything, the capacity of transporting from the “Hulking Dragons” was abnormal when faced with the common practice during the Middle Ages on Earth, as they could carry the estimated supplies for a hundred soldiers during a long-term operation on just a few wagons.

　　Five knights. Five squires. Ten Suppliers. Fifteen escorts for the supply corps. And lastly, a little bit more than seventy foot soldiers.

　　Compared to a typical formation, the number of knights was somewhat small, but the operation this time a.s.sumed that “the carnivore dragons had to be suppressed inside the forest” after all.

　　The knights were a branch of the army, who unfolded their high offensive power and mobility on open terrain, but on the other hand, they were underachieving in an area, where movement was restricted like on this occasion.

　　In reality, the five knights would dismount from their raptorial dragons and entrust the reins to their squires when it was time to fight.

　　“…Fuh.”

　　One of these five, a young knight with a small build and black hair and eyes, was repeatedly taking short, deep breaths for a while now, careful that no one nearby would notice it.

　　Xavier Guzzle.

　　That was the name of this fledging knight.

　　He was the third and only living son of Marquis Guzzle.

　　On a closer look, Xavier’s facial features closely resembled the Marquis’.

　　However, his physique was completely different. Unlike Marquis Guzzle, who wasn’t all that tall himself, but sustained his efforts to keep his body muscular even at an advanced age, Xavier’s body looked frail and extremely unreliable on a glance.

　　Right now, he was riding a raptorial dragon, so his height was hard to tell, but it seemed like he was even shorter than Zenjirou. Zenjirou was a hundred and seventy-two centimetre tall, so Xavier’s height must only amount to a little less than a hundred and seventy or around a hundred and sixty-five at worst.

　　A young lad with a small and meagre build.

　　He definitely didn’t look like a reliable commander. As he himself was aware of that, he was excessively straightening his back on top of the raptorial dragon this whole time so as to appear taller even just a bit.

　　Riding as the vanguard with his raptorial dragon gave him the illusion that all the hundred soldiers behind him were observing his every action.

　　Of course that was entirely his imagination. Even though the sun was only just starting to raise, the foot soldiers had to march on and on amidst the brutal heat, so they could hardly afford to pay any special attention to their spearheading commander. Thus Xavier’s effort was in vain.

　　“Xavier-sama…”

　　The young and fair-skinned squire, walking next to him with a spear, looked worried up to Xavier on the raptorial dragon, but Xavier wasn’t composed enough to notice his look right now.

　　Nonetheless, it was rather impressive how well he sat on the dragon despite his nervous state. A proof that he was well trained in the military arts in spite of his frail appearance.

　　That said, it would exhaust him sooner or later when he kept up a riding position with strained shoulders over a long time, and provoke mistakes.

　　“Xavier-sama, it may it bit a early, but I suggest that we take a break. There will be a suitable place for an encampment a little bit ahead, so how about we set up our camp there?”

　　The one making this proposal while concealing a wry smile, was a middle-aged knight riding on a raptorial dragon at an angle behind Xavier.

　　His age was probably forty-some. The knight with a deep black moustache was in the prime of his life. Xavier trembled his body with a s.h.i.+ver in reaction to his words and looked over his shoulder.

　　“Sir Joseph…”

　　He uttered the name of the knight, a retainer from his father.

　　Knight Joseph was a veteran soldier with a long military service, who had become renowned in the previous war.

　　Normally he acted as a close aide to Xavier’s father, Marquis Guzzle, but Queen Aura had sent him, carrying the power of attorney to command the March’s army and the movement order in hand, to the March with her magic.

　　There was no reason to have a knight of his standing deliver the mere power of attorney and order.

　　His father most likely sent him to ease the burden on his son for his first operation a little bit.

　　Xavier appreciated his father’s concern, but at the same time, he felt ashamed.

　　Shaking off his thoughts that tended to wander into an abject direction, Xavier called out to Joseph.

　　“Isn’t it a bit too early for that, Sir Joseph? I think the original plan was to cover a bit more distance during the morning.”

　　The veteran knight had aligned his raptorial dragon next to the son of his lord and spoke with a polite tone to persuade the fledgling, who was tense from nervousness and a sense of duty.

　　“Indeed, Xavier-sama. That was the plan, but the temperature exceeds our presumption today. The soldiers are already starting to become tired. I believe it would be dangerous to push on any further.”

　　“I, I see.”

　　Hearing his subordinate’s suggestion, Xavier raised a voice as if he was caught off-guard.

　　It was said that the power of observation came with years of experience.

　　If Xavier had been walking on his own feet, he probably would have noticed the fatigue of the soldiers through his own, but unfortunately he had to preserve his dignity as the commander, so he was riding a raptorial dragon.

　　Riding a dragon for a long time was quite tiring in itself, too, but it still didn’t compare to the fatigue of the foot soldiers, who were walking under the blazing sun on their own feet.

　　The young son of the Marquis, properly educated in leaders.h.i.+p, nodded with “okay”, then turned around on the back of the dragon and declared to his men following after him with a voice as loud as possible.

　　“We will set up a camp at the clearance ahead! It’s not that far off, so hang in there!”

　　They would get to rest when they proceeded just a little farther.

　　As soon as the soldier understood that, their faces showed delight for the first time today and they weren’t hanging their heads all that much anymore.

　　Witnessing that, Xavier became aware of his own incompetence once again.

　　(Oh yeah, looks like everyone’s really tired. I’m just no good. I’ve to notice something like that myself before Sir Joseph mentions it…)

　　He must have been born with an earnest disposition.

　　The third son of Marquis Guzzle, Xavier clenched his fists so tightly that his delicate body shook on top of the big raptorial dragon and admonished himself like that.

　　* * *

　　Several days later at noon.

　　The hundred-strong army from the March of Guzzle, lead by Xavier Guzzle, had set up a camp after they had marched considerably far north on the “Salt Road”.

　　The thick forest on both sides of the “Salt Road” was growing trees in abundance and there were no natural spots to encamp with a hundred people, but the “Salt Road” was still a state road of the Carpa Kingdom in a way.

　　At set intervals, wide areas had been cleared by cutting down trees, so that a large number of people could pitch up their camp.

　　The voices of the soldier resounded all over the place on this man-made lawn.

　　“Hey, the sunblock wall’s too short here. I need someone, who can perform ‘Earth Wall’!”

　　“We want to start cooking! Someone give us a hand with ‘Ignition‘!”

　　“We’ve brought the water! Please perform ‘Water Purification’!”

　　The most noticeable thing for making a camp was “magic” as expected.

　　Although there were few people worth of the t.i.tle “magician” by having mastered a lot of spells, there was still a relative great number of people, who could use just one spell convenient for the day-to-day life, even amongst the commoners.

　　These kind of people were rather useful for pitching up a camp like this.

　　On the other hand, there was hardly any use for magic once the battle started. After all, the magic required the “correct intonation”, “correct perception” and “correct amount of magical power” to activate.

　　The “correct intonation” and “correct amount of magical power” aside, it was extremely difficult to sustain the “correct perception” in the middle of a battle.

　　Only when you were one of the handful elite like the royal court magicians, you could perform offensive magic from the rear of the battlefield, but performing magic while swinging a spear around was princ.i.p.ally impossible.

　　Due to that, the relative importance of magic in the military mainly inclined towards matters outside the battlefield like this.

　　A temporary headquarter was built by putting up four walls with the “Earth Wall” magic and spanning a white tent over them. Inside of it, Xavier Guzzle sat on a wooden folding chair and was craning his neck after he finally got off the raptorial dragon.

　　“Kuh…!”

　　Relieving the tension of his whole body from the long ride, Xavier grimaced in both pain and ease and a sound escaped his mouth.

　　He had experienced riding for a couple of days during his training numerous times, but he still ended up like this.

　　As expected, he must have been too worried about the eyes of his men, straining his body more than necessary.

　　Right now, he was all alone with his trusted squire inside the tent. Since Xavier didn’t have to worry about his men seeing him now, it was an irreplaceable time for him.

　　A mere tent couldn’t really block off the intense sunlight, but the earth walls raised with magic could perfectly shut it out.

　　In the shadow of the wall, Xavier doused himself with the water from the small wooden washbowl, which his young squire had prepared for him.

　　“…Fuh.”

　　The water drops dripped from his short, black hair down onto his neck and from there into his clothes.

　　“Here, Xavier-sama.”

　　“Oh, thanks, Andrés.”

　　Remaining seated on the folding chair, Xavier took the offered towel from the youthful squire and wiped his wet face with it.

　　A bit of water like that would dry in no time under the blazing sun, but it would still felt uncomfortable regardless.

　　After he had wiped his face and neck, the young squire— Andrés took the used towel back in a casual manner and offered him a wooden cup filled with lukewarm water instead.

　　Xavier drunk the content of the taken cup in one gulp half out of reflex. At that very moment

　　“Xavier-sama, it’s me, Joseph. The advanced reconnaissance party has returned. I would you to hear their report at once. May we come in?”

　　A low, but clear voice could be heard from beyond the cloth of the tent.

　　“Oh, Joseph? Yes, come in.”

　　While instructing Andrés, standing at attention next to him, with a glance to tidy up the interior, he called out like that to the knight standing outside the tent.

　　Inside the makes.h.i.+ft headquarter with its earth walls and cloth ceiling, Xavier Guzzle still sat on the simple folding chair and heard the report from Knight Joseph and a soldier supposedly in his thirties, who was the captain of the reconnaissance party.

　　“What!? You’re saying you found the corpses of the salt merchants?”

　　Hearing the information from the captain, Xavier leaned a bit forward on his chair and raised a surprised voice.

　　“Yes, we found a few toppled wagons and dead hulking dragons as well as the corpses of humans on the road ahead! Each of the corpses were heavily injured and it is self-evident that the cause of their deaths was an attack from the carnivore dragons!”

　　The soldier replied with a loud voice, so that the three-day-old beard around his mouth vibrated.

　　The advanced reconnaissance party consisted of several light-footed soldiers. It was pretty unlikely that they would be able to retaliate when they encountered the powerful carnivore dragons, which were disrupting the salt road. Therefore, the man said, they had immediately turned on their heels once they discovered the dead merchants.

　　A wise decision.

　　Reporting the fact that “the salt merchant were dead on the road ahead” as quickly as possible to the main force took far more priority than gathering more information in that situation.

　　Sitting on his folding chair, Xavier unconsciously clenched his fists tightly on his lap.

　　The real battle would finally commence. Of course he was going to be nervous, since it was his first battle.

　　“I see… Then we can’t waste any time. I guess, I ought to put the entire force on the alert.”

　　The young commander said that and stretched his small and frail body on top of the chair.

　　So as to advice the fledgling knight with the tensed shoulders, the veteran knight spoke.

　　“Xavier-sama, the soldiers are still preparing lunch. I fear the younger soldiers without experience will be on the edge and unable to get a proper rest when we disclose this information to them now. Shall I proceed nevertheless?”

　　“Mh?”

　　Xavier was just about to stand up from the chair, but upon the words from the experienced knight Joseph, he lowered his bottom onto the chair again and mused with his hand against his chin.

　　It could indeed prove to be difficult for the young and inexperienced soldiers to execute the command, when they were told “The carnivore dragons might be near. Be careful and take a rest”.

　　To make matters worse, the contingent of “young soldiers” in the body of troops was so large that it couldn’t be ignored.

　　Die-hard soldiers, who fought in the previous war, were a minority here.

　　“…Joseph, what’re the odds that the dragons will attack us here?”

　　The question of the youthful commandant made the long-established knight raise an eyebrow, then

　　“Well, I cannot say for certain, but I would say it is quite unlikely. We more or less have an army of hundred fully equipped soldiers. The dragons in this area should be fearing us humans quite a bit after all.”

　　he answered smoothly like that.

　　“Hmm, I see.”

　　For a moment, Xavier was about to make some kind of decision after hearing that answer, but Knight Joseph continued and interrupted that resolve.

　　“However, even if the possibility is low, it does not mean there is ‘none at all’. Who knows what a hungry dragon will do.”

　　“Hmm…”

　　Xavier closed his opened mouth again upon Joseph’s words and became absorbed in thought once more.

　　If they were to put the entire body of soldiers on the alert, a bunch of soldiers would be unable to make the most of the long-awaited break. But if they didn’t do it, they were at risk of being attacked off-guard by the carnivore dragons.

　　Put them on the alert, or not?

　　Xavier suppressed the impulse to ask the veteran knight in front of him what he ought to do, and pondered.

　　Joseph already had given him his objective opinion. As the commander, Xavier himself had to make a decision.

　　“….”

　　While he was thinking, the numbers “1, 2, 3, 4…” started to dance in the back of his head.

　　That was a habit, which was drummed into him by his teacher for military leaders.h.i.+p.

　　Contrary to the duties of a landlord, who was supposed to consider matters carefully, a swift decision from the commander on the battlefield was often better than an elaborated one.

　　“A decision on the battlefield should always be made within ten seconds. And at the sight of the enemy, it is required to make a decision within three seconds.”

　　His military teacher had driven that doctrine into Xavier till he was blue in the face.

　　Before long, Xavier exhaled a big breath and straightened his back on top of the chair, then gave his orders to his subordinate before him.

　　“Okay. No need to put the soldiers on the alert. Only pa.s.s on the information to the knights and unit leaders. Let the other soldiers finish their lunch and recharge their energy as always.

　　In the afternoon, we’ll head to the scene of the a.s.sault. It’s quite likely that fighting will break out.

　　Once the lunch break’s over, we’ll disclose the report from just now to the entire body of soldiers and march along on the alert. That’s all.”

　　“Yes, Sir.”

　　“Very well.”

　　The captain of the advanced reconnaissance party and Knight Joseph respectfully affirmed the decision of their commandant.

　　Having given his order, Xavier strained his faced so much that his cheeks were seized with cramps, doing his best as not to show his anxiety.

　　Right after he finished his sentence, a doubt towards his own decision swelled up inside of him.

　　Was this really the right decision?

　　Now that he had given the order, it would undoubtedly be his fault if the “carnivore dragons” were to attack them during their break.

　　However, it would also be his fault if the new soldiers didn’t get to rest due to the announcement of the information, interfering with the operation in the afternoon as a result.

　　Whether they knew of these worries of the inexperienced commander or not, Knight Joseph and the captain of the reconnaissance party bowed once, then quickly left the tent.

　　“…..Fuh. The fighting hasn’t even started yet and I’m already like this…”

　　The tactful, young squire pretended to have not heard the unwitting grumble of his lord at all.

　　* * *

　　The hundred-strong army from the March of Guzzle, led by Xavier Guzzle, had halted in the middle of the “Salt Road” under the blazing sun.

　　Approximately one hour had pa.s.sed, since they had resumed their march after the break at noon.

　　To put the scene in front of Xavier’s party in a nutsh.e.l.l: “Horrific”.

　　Several freight wagons were toppled and blocked the road.

　　The hulking dragons were dead, still hitched up to the wagons with leather straps.

　　The torn burlap bags with salt were scattered all around.

　　And lastly, the corpses of many humans laid near the wagons.

　　The sad end of the salt merchants.

　　Quite a few days must have pa.s.sed since the attack. The corpses were slowly decaying and gave off a strong stench.

　　It was unapparent to the untrained eye whether the missing parts on the corpses were due to the carnivore dragons’ bites or due to the decomposition of the flesh.

　　The black insects crawling here and there through the rotten flesh, which had dissolved into a reddish brown colour, were a swarm of flesh flies and the white spots in patches were a colony of eggs laid by the flesh flies.

　　The sound of several wing beats, the kind that tingled inside the ear, could be heard in the wind when one p.r.i.c.ked up his ears.

　　“Agh…!”

　　“Ugh…”

　　“Don’t throw up! If you let this wear you out, you’ll be a drag in the battle later on!”

　　“Just you dare to throw up the good food! I’ll beat it back into you until it comes out of your ears!”

　　At the rear, the veteran soldiers were giving the fledgling soldiers, who struggled against nausea, a harsh pep talk.

　　Notwithstanding their greenness, they were all born in the borderland, where the forces of nature were at work. The majority of them must have seen the corpse of a dragon before, not to mention the one of a human.

　　Thus the reason for their nausea ought to be the stench.

　　When flesh decayed, it brought about a putrid smell. The stench tainted the air so much richer than a sweet-and-sour or fishy smell could ever hope to achieve. So it was only understandable that the young soldiers were seized with the feeling of wanting to vomit their stomach contents all over the road, as they weren’t used to it.

　　In fact, even Xavier would have succ.u.mbed to the boiling urge of his stomach, if not for his “sense of duty” and “vanity”, which corded up his gullet.

　　While the young commandant fought an inner battle with his stomach on top of the raptorial dragon, the veteran knight spoke as expected, to remind him of his duties.

　　“Xavier-sama, your orders please.”

　　The middle-aged knight skilfully steered his own raptorial dragon near Xavier and urged the novice commander with a slightly harsh tone.

　　Recalling the duty he had to fulfil through Knight Jospeh’s frank words, Xavier suddenly seemed to come back to his senses and took a deep breath. Then he gave his orders.

　　“Y- Yes. Have the inspection team come to the front and examine the corpses. I want a report once they a.n.a.lyzed the situation. The other soldiers will keep watch on the surroundings.”

　　“Roger!”

　　“You heard the man, guys! The first squad will keep a watch on the east of the road, the second squad on the west! Third and fourth squads will guard the supply corps at the rear!”

　　“Clear the road. The inspection team is coming through.”

　　The troops went into action as soon as they heard the orders from Xavier in a slightly falsetto voice.

　　The men of the inspection team trotted over to the corpses, whereupon the swarm of flesh flies, which had huddled together on the corpses like a layer of mud so far, took off all at once. The vicinity turned dark as if covered by a black fog.