"Pegasus!"
"Oh!"
The friend who beat its wings, enjoying the soldiers' cheers, was named Odd-Eye.
"Aurelia."
Cypress's judgment was quick. He called Aurelia and told her to bring a simple snack and the supplies needed for flying in the sky. It was a clear, decisive call befitting a man who had led a knight order for a long time.
"What exactly is needed?"
Naturally, Aurelia had no idea what sort of things were needed when you had to ride and fly.
"Try using that fine head of yours."
"First, I'll cork the canteen and fill it with water."
Basically, he was similar to a courier bearing an urgent written order. They ate and drank on horseback, matching their rest to the horse's rest and breaks. Any trained courier did that.
Enkrid was a knight, so he wouldn't need separate rest times. He would handle that on his own.
'The key is taking care of eating and drinking.'
A knight ate as much as a giant. He consumed rations enough for ten soldiers. That was why he had to carry oily, highly nutritious foods like seasoned jerky as field rations. And on top of that, he had to eat while flying through the sky with the wind in his face.
'Cut it small so it's easy to eat.'
Aurelia ended up playing the cook, which didn't really suit her. In her mind she pictured tearing jerky into strips longer than a finger, shaping it into sticks.
Shinar, watching Enkrid who was about to depart, quietly handed him a pouch. Fairies ate less than humans, but if you were at the level of a knight, then even a fairy had to eat well. The pouch she passed him was a fairy's wisdom that contained no meat.
In the pouch she had given him were sixteen round bites that fit neatly in the mouth.
Pine nuts and walnuts, raisins, dried figs, and pitted dates, all thinly sliced and mixed with honey. Even without meat, they provided more than enough nutrition.
"It's called the Fruit of Life."
It didn't actually grow on a tree; it was prepared by fairy secret methods, but it did look like a fruit. The name, of course, was whatever the fairies chose to give it. It held their secret craft.
"Thank you."
"It will be very delicious. Extremely. I put my heart into it."
"Did you use poison?"
"Your jokes have improved, fiancé."
Whether it was deliberate or not, they spoke right next to Aurelia. Shinar nodded and suddenly declared:
"Yes, fiancé."
Enkrid did not bother to correct her. If he added one more word here, this fairy would only toss out even noisier jokes.
Instead of joking, Enkrid picked out the words he wanted to say and spoke them.
"Feed it well. Squire."
He was speaking to Aurelia. The rare beauty, a squire whose grandfather happened to be the kingdom's foremost knight, stared at Enkrid and asked back:
"…You?"
She was so flustered she even forgot the title she should use for a superior. What was more impressive was Enkrid. He did not show the slightest sign of embarrassment.
"Odd-Eye."
He pointed at Odd-Eye, who had come back to stand by his side after happily flying about.
"Ah, the horse. Yes, Sir."
Enkrid watched her stiff manner. He saw several points to improve. Things that showed without him needing to think hard. The eye he had developed by getting his hands on more than a few knights also helped.
If he changed the way she trained, the results would be better than now. Of course, it was not something to meddle with right away.
'Aurelia, huh.'
The problem that Rem and even Ragna had failed to see was visible to Enkrid.
It was the eye he had earned by not starting from the base of the mountain but crawling up from underground, checking each peak and even studying the grain of the wood as he climbed.
'Talent, effort, she has everything.'
But she's stiff.
Cypress always demanded flexible thinking from his granddaughter. As captain of the Red Cloak Order of Knights, he also had abundant experience raising knights with his own hands. He knew the answer too.
However, the effect of his methods varied depending on who was receiving them. Looking at Aurelia as an individual, it would take a long time for his intent to really get through. Enkrid was different.
'I can see the method.'
If you spoke only of training methods and left aside skill, there were few who could be compared to Enkrid.
"Once I get back, we should talk."
He packed all of that into his words.
"Without me?"
Shinar kept throwing out jokes.
"Watch together. A fairy's training methods will also be useful."
Aurelia nodded, saying she would.
By the time all preparations were complete and Enkrid mounted Odd-Eye's back, the sun had already tilted its body far to one side. Odd-Eye, as one would expect, was brimming with energy.
Hiiiiing!
Its neigh rang clear, and its hooves struck the ground with sharp, lively clops.
It had spent the day as a warhorse, and had even fought a whole battle in the sky, yet showed no sign of fatigue.
The same went for both man and horse. Enkrid's face was clear. Not a trace of grease on it. He had even washed thoroughly.
"Then I'll be off."
His attitude was light, as if he were going out for a short drink. Temares considered ways to go along but, no matter how much of a Dragonkin he was, he could not match a Pegasus's speed.
"I'll wait."
His course of action was clear. He would watch Enkrid. If there was something unusual, it was that he had no lingering attachments when it came to things falling to irresistible fate. He had no such emotions and would never show them. He was a Dragonkin.
He was interested in the human named Enkrid, but if Enkrid disappeared, he would simply accept it and move toward his next goal.
If it weren't for Enkrid, he would already have entered the Demon-lands, killing or dodging every monster in sight and hunting down anyone who obstructed his duty.
No one knew any of this inner truth.
"There could be more than one knight."
Crang spoke. There had been no observation of the enemy's full strength. To begin with, just looking at the surface, it was hard to tell how many knights there were. How could you hope to detect and withdraw from beings whose eyes and ears were sharper than a scout's before they even saw you?
No matter how skilled a scout was, at best they confirmed roughly the size of the enemy army.
And even if, by luck, they had succeeded in observing the knights, there was currently no way to receive that news. A magician's crystal orb could carry speech over a distance, but that was an item that could only be used under certain conditions. It was not a tool that let you leisurely exchange words in the middle of a battlefield.
For that reason, they had repeatedly sent out carrier crows, and they had even received a written message from Marcus.
-The preparations are complete. We will win and then join you.
Was the fate of the kingdom riding on Marcus's battle? No. Even if the Rihinstetten army headed straight for the capital, there were defenses in place. All of this was simply in obedience to the king's will. Though he stood to meet a foreseen disaster, Marcus instead expressed joy. He added that his choice had not been wrong. The words he spoke then proved his life, convictions, and values.
"If by sacrificing just me, we can protect thousands of people of the kingdom, isn't that a good death?"
Hadn't he once said his father died in his bed, but he himself had no such hope?
"When you meet that Enki brat, please pass him my words. This is how you fight without knights."
Crang had passed those words on exactly. And Enkrid was now set to go and see it with his own eyes.
The sun set, casting long shadows. The left side of Enkrid's face was dyed orange.
As the air cooled, his cloak stretched and fell down to his calves. Enkrid pulled the cloak closed in front and tightened the clasp. The temperature had dropped, so he prepared for the cold.
It was cold in the sky. It would be even colder if he moved for a long time.
Twilight—the time when the sun, which had lit this day, died. The dim light told him that its death had been postponed for now. Even if it died, that was fine. Its death was temporary. Tomorrow it would resurrect and light the world again.
"Well then."
Clack.
Odd-Eye again galloped down the road that cut through the middle of the camp they had made earlier. The sun gained speed as it fell and the light faded. Bursting through the dimming light, Odd-Eye soared up into the sky.
Enkrid felt his innards sink downward. He held his breath and clenched his teeth. Having ridden a few times, he had picked up the knack.
"Hey, leave something for me to play with and bring it back, will you!"
Down below, a mad barbarian shouted. When Enkrid looked down, he saw him soon chatting amiably with Ragna and their weapons.
"You've played enough. It's my turn now."
Well, wasn't that what Ragna would say? Enkrid could not actually hear it, but it was easy to guess.
With such stray thoughts, Enkrid flew. There were no clouds. Rising into the sky, it felt as if the glow of sunset slipping over the ridgeline in the distance now filled the heavens overhead.
Odd-Eye, excited about something, beat its wings a few times, then soon caught the wind. From then on, it was not as hard as he had expected.
The wind pounded his face so hard he could not straighten his back, so his posture was a bit uncomfortable, but it was a more pleasant journey than he had expected.
Enkrid leaned his upper body forward tight, as if charging atop a galloping horse, and flew prone the whole way. He could not straighten his back even once until he reached his destination.
***
Rihinstetten had used gryphons in the south to pin down the Red Cloak Order of Knights. They struck at the weakness that those men would be unable to abandon their army.
In the meantime, the main army, including knights, split into two and swung around.
It was hard to predict all of this from within Naurillia. They had failed even to predict the route Rihinstetten's advance would take.
If you looked for a reason, it was because Balrog was absent.
'Balrog is gone.'
At first, the High Pontiff had doubted it. Wasn't that monster a demon with a wanderer's heart? While he kept his doubts and watched, a demon of the Demon-lands swore it was true. Balrog was dead.
Until now, that name had weighed down one flank of Rihinstetten. Its very existence had been a deterrent.
He killed everything that entered the territory he had marked out, and that territory bordered both Rihinstetten and Naurillia.
More precisely, it was closer to Rihinstetten than to Naurillia. It was as if one convenient route of movement had been blocked.
Of course, to Naurillia, it had been something to make them tilt their heads. That route involved passing through the Demon-lands.
It was only possible because the High Pontiff had made a contract with a demon of the Demon-lands.
For these reasons, Balrog's death had opened Rihinstetten's windpipe.
Naturally, neither Enkrid nor anyone else knew, but Balrog's death itself became the very opportunity that set the south in motion.
'The path has opened.'
The High Pontiff split his forces into four large pieces. One, with himself at its center, was the central army.
Another was the Gryphon Riders and the four knights of the Amethyst Order. Their role was to tie down the Red Cloak Order of Knights.
The purposes of the remaining two corps were different. One unit headed toward Nauril.
The other swung around the opposite side, racing along the main highway Naurillia had paved. At the end of that highway lay a city that had recently made a name for itself.
"What did they say our destination was?"
"Border Guard."
It was a conversation between the commander and the knight with him. Naturally, Rihinstetten also knew of the existence of the Mad Order of Knights. It was hard not to.
They had made far too much noise.
They had ended a civil war, torn out the heretical cult that had taken root across the continent, and smashed several bandit groups besides. Even the things they had done in the city of Oara had spread in bits and pieces.
Once you knew, it was only proper to prepare. That was natural. The High Pontiff added a simple logic to that.
If you wanted to scatter united strength, what should you do?
You ransack their home. Call it a simple yet certain tactic.
If they occupied, smashed, and plundered the two cities of Nauril, the capital, and Border Guard, the enemy's morale would scrape the bottom, and they would suffer severe difficulties in supply as well.
The High Pontiff pictured his army encircling the nation of Naurillia as a whole.
'There is no need for a long war.'
The High Pontiff's judgment was the same as Crang's. Only, perhaps from a difference in measure, one side boldly revealed himself and cried out for the enemy to come at him, while the other tried to force simultaneous battles by striking at the enemy's home base.
This was what the High Pontiff had overlooked. He, too, had failed to predict Crang's intent.
***
Marcus Baisar had been aware of the danger from the south since childhood.
"If I had to pick the most dangerous of the swords that threaten us, I would choose them."
That was what his father had taught him, and since he had been born a noble's son who wouldn't starve even if he didn't work and had studied history, it was only natural.
Marcus's father had observed and watched what the south did for more than ten years.
Later, Marcus used that information to gauge where the enemy would come if they fought his side, and if war broke out, he sketched how they would have to fight.
He had been that way from childhood to now, as a man in his prime. Perhaps you should say his father's brainwashing had finally borne fruit.
Marcus had the habit of pondering what form a fight against the south would take.
"Simply praying that the enemy will come where you want them to is the worst plan. Trying to block every place just because you don't know where the enemy will come is a middling plan."
Those were the words of Kraiss of the Mad Order of Knights. He had learned a great deal from spending time with that bastard.
Could Marcus really have spent time watching Enkrid and learned nothing? Enkrid's willingness to listen and hunger to learn had influenced him as well.
"What's the best plan?"
He had learned what he could from Kraiss, that impudent salon businessman. At the same time, he had promised to invest in part of Kraiss's business. Kraiss, fired with enthusiasm, took part in Marcus's habit.
"You guide them. You lure them and entice them."
If Rihinstetten advanced, what would they do? Where would they go?
You could not prepare for everything, so the right thing was to gather strength in one place and guide them there.
'And it's even better if the enemy doesn't notice.'
Marcus had gained an insight, and once he became a member of the royal family, he siphoned off part of the military budget, hired woodcutters, and summoned builders.
For the last few years, the core of Marcus's work had been changing the terrain. He dug up earth where it had originally been flat, rolled rocks, and piled soil into mounds. All of it had been preparation for this moment.
"Baisar's secret art: Swallowing the Terrain."
Marcus murmured. It was a technique he had invested years in, and this was the way ordinary soldiers fought.