Chapter 3: Departure from Évrard

A week after Reggie’s recovery, the day of our departure finally rolled around.

Alan was put in charge of the troops. Normally, the prince would be the one with that authority. Unfortunately, Reggie still wasn’t feeling up to snuff, so the plan was for him to stay behind and catch up to us later. Thus, in the interim, Alan was given the title of acting general. Game-Alan was the straight-up commander-in-chief, so I was confident he could handle the responsibility just fine.

“This was meant to be my father’s job,” Alan had grumbled, but Lord Évrard’s injuries were too severe for him to join us on a long trip.

The disorientation of being thrust into a position beyond his rank and his regret over not rescuing his father sooner had probably left him shaken.

During the march, I was to be crammed inside a carriage whenever we traveled along the high road. It felt bad to be the only one taking it easy, but when I tried to protest, everyone unanimously argued back, “It’ll be worse if we can’t depend on you in an emergency.”

If I pushed myself too hard and ended up incapacitated by muscle cramps, it was doubtful I would be able to wield my magic to its full potential. That was a fairly likely scenario, so I was to travel in the carriage as much as possible. Whenever I couldn’t, I would ride with Cain on his horse.

They weren’t wrong to be worried. If I were too exhausted to use my magic, I would be little more than extra luggage.

When we made it to the castle gates, Lady Évrard was there to see us off. She gave me a hug goodbye.

“Come back safe, dear. But in the event things don’t go as planned, I have made arrangements to flee the country together with Vayne.”

If we should fail, she wanted us to run away together. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Thank you, but I’ll do my best to make sure we come out victorious. And I’ll bring Alan home safe.”

“Then we shall await your return.”

Lady Évrard didn’t say anything about winning at all costs, nor did she ask me to look after Alan for her. This was a war, so you never knew what was going to happen until the moment came. She was prepared for the possibility that we wouldn’t make it out of this unharmed—both me and Alan.

She probably wanted to come with us. But alas, since Lord Évrard was heavily injured, she had to protect the territory in his place.

“Well, off we go!”

I peeled myself away from Lady Évrard and moved on.

The soldiers were already lined up outside the gates. In the center of the formation were Alan and the knights, plus the carriage intended for me. Behind them continued the lines of the soldiers, followed by carriages packed with supplies and commercially minded merchants who planned to join us on the front stretching past them.

“There you are, Kiara.” Alan ushered me toward my carriage as soon as he saw I’d arrived. “Get in. Wentworth is waiting for you.”

“Okay.”

I nodded and walked over to the carriage. The one I was instructed to board was made of wood, making it simple and low-profile.

Cain, who was standing there waiting, opened the carriage door for me like a servant. I took the hand he offered and climbed inside.

The servant ladies had already loaded my luggage onto the carriage. Granted, I only had two bags; one was full of clothes and other items I would need for the journey, and the other was a smaller bag of the bare essentials in case I had to grab it and make a run for it. If I didn’t even have time for that, I had some money tucked away on my person along with Master Horace.

Before long, the bugles rang out in harmony, sending vibrations through the carriage windows. As the carriage began to roll forward, I gazed up at the towering castle walls. The doctor had ordered Reggie to stay in bed, so he wasn’t there to see us off. Lord and Lady Évrard stood in front of the gates, watching the soldiers leave.

The four days it took to get out of Évrard territory passed without incident. We’d been on alert for Llewynian soldiers who might have infiltrated our ranks, but fortunately, that turned out to be a needless worry.

In the evenings, we would stop close to the larger towns, so I spent the night at inns whenever possible.

After all, I was a lone girl traveling in a pack of men. Even if the majority only saw me as the arcane spellcaster, we couldn’t take the chance of someone trying something while I was asleep. It sounded like having me stay elsewhere was a weight off everyone else’s minds, too.

One day, when I entered my room at the inn where my bodyguard and I would be staying, an idea suddenly struck me. I sat down at the desk and took a pen, ink, and paper out of my bag.

The paper was similar to a notebook, its pages bound together with thread. Thankfully, this world had the technology to make paper from plants. It was a low-quality product, made from thick straw, but that was better than nothing.

“Do you have something to document, Miss Kiara?” Cain asked when he came to check on me.

“I’m going to write down everything I know.”

This was one idea of what I could do for Reggie.

I had memories passed down from my previous life. Buried among those memories was information on the placement of soldiers on the battlefield and the location and timing of ambushes.

The circumstances were different now, so there was no telling if the war would proceed according to the script. Since things changed in real time, there was always a chance we could run into an enemy squad while on the march, and it was possible that the Salekhardian army would move in from Trisphede.

Still, I assumed it would be helpful to have the information. Winning our battles would serve to keep Reggie safe.

“The next place we’re sure to clash is Fort Clonfert. There’s a section of the game devoted to fighting the Llewynian soldiers stationed there, protecting a group of Cassian evacuees from bandits near the Tyrone River. Then there’s the battle against some mercenaries in Maynard City...”

Fort Clonfert was one of the first really hard parts of the game. After a fixed amount of time, more enemy soldiers came out of the fort, increasing the number of units you had to fight.

In the game, it happened after ten turns, but I wasn’t sure how much time that would equate to in the real world. There was no way to know, so I just wrote down that the extra enemy soldiers would show up later. Since they came out of the fort to attack the heroes, the battle took place nearby.

If I remember correctly, there were archers stationed here, and foot soldiers and knights over here... The archers’ strength is boosted inside the woods. If we know where they are, maybe we can overrun them by charging in from the side? There were three units stationed here, which probably amounts to thirty or so soldiers. Maybe more?

In an ideal scenario, I would send the enemy packing before more soldiers appeared, but given my stamina and the size of the battlefield, I was bound to run out of steam first. And once the reinforcements showed up, it would get even tougher.

While I scribbled away furiously, Cain stared down at the map with a frown.

I asked him, “What do you think? If we know where the enemy is lurking ahead of time, can we take them by surprise?”

“Eeeheehee! Gotten sneaky, have we?” Master Horace laughed with delight as he painted me as some sort of devious schemer.

“It’s possible,” Cain replied, considering the idea seriously. “However, this diagram is too rough to use as a guide. The site is located upstream on a steep slope. It would take quite a bit of time to navigate around the mountainside so that they won’t see us coming.”

“I was afraid of that.”

Not to mention it was much easier to shoot arrows downhill.

“If we know for a fact that they’re going to be somewhere around here, we can send one party out there first and have the rest of the troops lag behind. That way, we can take up our positions before they arrive and lie in wait for them.”

“In other words, we use a delay to our advantage?”

I made a note of Cain’s idea and moved on to the next part.

“Next comes the Tyrone River. This part of the story happens when Alan is traveling in a small group. If he’s marching around with an army of ten thousand men, the bandits won’t come out to play.”

“Good. If we can intimidate them into falling back, we won’t have to worry about a fight.”

“The group of mercenaries in the city isn’t exactly army-sized, either, so the next place we’re likely to have a full-out battle is Cassia Castle.”

“So here it will be our turn to go on the offense. The enemy will have a good deal of archers, I see.”

At Cassia, the only option was to charge in, weaving through the oncoming arrows.

The characters in the game could just use healing items, so it wasn’t such a big deal. But thinking about all the people who might get hurt or die, it was bound to be a grisly fight in real life.

We didn’t have a potion that could make wounds instantly disappear. We did have fast-acting salves and great fever reducers, though—perhaps even more advanced than the medicine in my past life. Since magic existed here, I assumed the composition of the world and the creatures living in it was different.

Thus, it was possible to buy some time by stopping blood loss or pain in the middle of a battle. But wounds were wounds, so if someone broke a bone or suffered a severe injury, they were down for the count.

In the first place, how many people were there in one unit? Let’s say about a hundred. In that case, losing half its HP could mean the equivalent of fifty dead soldiers.

Imagining it sent a shiver down my spine. Did healing just mean recruiting new soldiers? You could call that a recovery, in a way... but yikes!

Rambling to myself throughout the whole process, I spent the first five days writing a strategy guide based on my memories.

On the fifth day, we entered the territory of Limerick. There were quite a few soldiers stationed at key points along the border. Unlike Évrard, they didn’t always have soldiers at the ready, so among the border guards were a fair number of people who had been conscripted from rural villages.

Perhaps because Limerick was outside the Llewynian army’s path, the townspeople gave us some uneasy looks as we marched by, but they seemed pretty relaxed on the whole.

On the sixth day, we finally arrived at Limerick Castle, located southwest of Évrard. The marquis’ castle emphasized aesthetics over durability. The white castle walls were a feast for the eyes.

The first ones to come greet us were Lord Limerick and his younger brother, plus the House of Reinstar, who had arrived before us. Lord Limerick was a mild-mannered, older gentleman. Standing next to his younger brother, Jerome, he looked almost a full size slimmer.

First, Alan greeted them on behalf of Reggie. Looking at him from a slight distance, I saw that he had become the spitting image of his game sprite.

Then Alan called for me. Accompanied by my watchful protector, I timidly stepped forward.

“This is the spellcaster of Évrard, Kiara Cordier.”

Taken back to my days as a noble’s daughter, I gave a formal curtsy.

“Yes, I did hear of her from my uncle... What a lovely young spellcaster.”

Lord Reinstar stared at me with wide eyes. I could hardly blame him for being surprised; he was in his thirties, so I probably looked like a child to him.

The flattery was nice to hear, too. I’d been scared out of my wits that he would call me a disgrace, or a mere child, or something like that.

Then again, I supposed he was in no position to call me a child. It would be an insult to our acting general, Alan, who was only a year older than me—not to mention our real commander, Reggie.

“It is our deepest regret to drive you onto the battlefield, but I’m afraid we have no choice but to call on your help. We are in your hands, Lady Kiara.” Lord Limerick, who was even older than Lord Évrard, regarded me politely.

When I had met their relatives back at Évrard Castle, they had also addressed me with respect, so perhaps this was how all noblemen had learned to behave toward spellcasters.

We were to stay at the castle for two days to hold meetings and stock up on supplies. After that, the plan was to head north and capture Fort Clonfert in Cassia.

Time was limited, so our mealtimes were appropriated for more meetings.

“Fort Clonfert is located just off the high road. It was supposed to be one of Farzia’s most fortified strongholds in the face of a foreign invasion, second only to Évrard, but we can see how that turned out.”

“Évrard sent a post-horse warning them to stay vigilant, but it was captured far more quickly than anticipated.”

Thinking and eating at the same time wasn’t easy on the stomach. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much choice. The commanding officers and higher-ups didn’t have time to rest.

Tomorrow, we would have to go over our formations and battle plans one last time. I was also supposed to hold a demonstration so the soldiers could get used to seeing my magic. We couldn’t have them running off scared when it came down to it.

Thinking back on it, the Limerick and Reinstar soldiers had seemed pretty distraught during the fight on the hills of Dilhorne. The Évrard soldiers had only accepted my magic without explanation because we were in dire straits. They would’ve gone along with anything so long as it bailed us out.

While I came close to getting lost in my thoughts, the conversation pressed on.

“Do we know the whereabouts of the baron of Cassia?” Alan asked.

“New information keeps coming in, so it’s been difficult to pin him down... but it seems he was killed during the invasion of the castle,” said Lord Limerick.

“A handful of townsmen who escaped the attack reported seeing his severed head on display,” Lord Reinstar supplemented with a grim expression.

“I never imagined Cassia would be overrun so thoroughly. It seems the men at Clonfert balked at the defective spellcasters Llewyne sent out first, only to be pushed back and trampled under their army, and that loss has had lasting effects. At Cassia Castle, some soldiers fled before the battle even began, for fear of magic.”

“Evidently, Llewyne knows an easy way to make people into defective spellcasters,” Alan commented, and Lord Limerick nodded.

“I only witnessed it for a brief moment at Dilhorne, but it’s only natural that soldiers with no prior experience would be shaken,” said Lord Reinstar’s uncle, Edam, who had fought with us on the hills of Dilhorne.

Defective spellcasters were a pain to deal with, but if nothing else, I was thankful that Llewyne couldn’t just mass-produce them.

They’d brought them out at Évrard, when they wanted to take us by surprise and overrun us as quickly as possible, and then at Clonfert, which they’d expected to be their second-toughest battle... but they hadn’t tossed any into the fray during their conquest of Cassia Castle, apparently.

Contract stones were rare and valuable, so it was likely only a big shot among the main body of troops and Lord Credias himself who were in possession of one.

Learning that Lord Credias was a spellcaster had made a lot of pieces of the puzzle fall into place. It meant he was the one who had made Game-Kiara into a spellcaster. Lord Patriciél had married her off to him as a means of surreptitiously putting her on the path to sorcery.

Lord Credias was on the queen’s side. If Game-Kiara had been forced into it by her spellcasting mentor, it was no wonder she fought instead of just running away.

Once dinner was over, I reaped the rewards of staying in an actual building and had a bath drawn for me. Lord Limerick’s servants wiped my hair dry with a warm, dry towel.

After tying back my freshly dried hair, I changed into a dress Lady Limerick had prepared for me, then went to see Alan.

In his room, I found Alan likewise fresh from the bath.

“What is it?”

“I want you to take a look at this,” I said as I handed him my homemade strategy guide.

“Oh, right... Wentworth told me about this. You wrote down the enemies’ battle configurations and the locations of all the conflicts to come to the best of your recollection, is that right?”

“Exactly. Do you think you can use it?”

“Let me see. Hmm...”

Alan studiously looked over my slightly wonky maps and the explanations I’d jotted down.

I was ashamed to show him my horrible drawings. If only I’d had a little more artistic ability, I could’ve drawn much better maps—but sadly, that wasn’t a skill I was blessed with in either this life or my previous one.

As long as it gets the point across, it’s good enough, I reassured myself as I waited for Alan’s response.

“I doubt the enemy will move exactly as you’ve written, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were positioned like this.”

“Really?”

“If they were to do things by the book, this is about how they’d station themselves. As far as the numbers go, it’s probably not as simple as dividing things cleanly into a hundred men per one of these markers. It’ll be dependent on our own numbers. And in close-range combat, archers can take up a sword and be treated as foot soldiers... though they’re picked out for their skill in archery, not swordsmanship, so they’re not completely interchangeable. Thinking about it that way...”

In the real world, an entire unit could undergo a class change depending on the situation, such as shifting from foot soldiers to archers. And the answer to my question of “How many soldiers are there in a unit?” appeared to be a vague “It depends.”

“This is our country, so we have a better grasp on the lay of the land. And if we use this to get a sense for the enemy’s formation patterns, it’ll be easier for us to predict their movements.”

Thankfully, my work hadn’t amounted to a bunch of useless doodles. But considering I knew the future and added a spellcaster to our ranks from the get-go, there had to be more I could do to minimize the damage we took. I had to think of something else... something that could allow us to capture the fort with minimal sacrifices.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of issues pertaining to my stamina and the options available to me.

Problem number one: the duration of my magic depended on the size of whatever I made. If it was something small, I could control it for about half a day. But if it was as big as my golem, I could only keep it walking for an hour. If I made it run around or move more dynamically, I would be lucky if it lasted twenty minutes.

If arrows were flying around, or if enemies were slashing at the golem’s feet out of desperation, its lifespan would be even further reduced. Every little bit of damage added up.

Problem number two: it would be difficult to go destroy the fort with my golem.

Taking my time limit into account, I would have to sneak as close to the fort as possible before bringing my golem onto the scene. Otherwise, time would run out while I was in the middle of knocking down the fort, and the only thing I’d have accomplished would be intimidating the enemy. Completely spent, I would need Cain to carry me in his arms and make a dramatic getaway through a mob of several thousand soldiers. It was way too risky.

In that case, it would be less trouble to just stay with the rest of the army, run as fast as we could to the fort, give the structure a solid punch, ride back on my golem, and repeat the process as many times as it took.

Still, I wasn’t sure how effective that would be.

After talking with Alan, I headed back to my room. I then dove into bed and asked Master Horace, who was sitting next to my pillow, “Have you ever fought in a war, Master Horace?”

“Sure, back when I was a young whippersnapper. Heheh.” He must’ve been nostalgic for days gone by.

If he was young back then, I guess it was about forty years ago?

“I was living in Salekhard at the time. There was a civil war raging, and my mentor and I didn’t want to see our home laid to waste, so we lent a hand here and there. Mmheehee!”

“What kind of things did you do?”

“Throwing arrows off-course with gusts of wind was pretty standard. What with my mentor being a fire-user and all, there was one time I fanned those flames and burned down an entire mountain full of enemies! Eeheehee! Pretty sure the mountain’s been bare ever since, though I have to wonder what it’s looking like these days.”

“You didn’t stay in Salekhard?”

“Well, I’m no spring chicken, and Salekhard is a cold place. I heard the south was kinder on the lower back, so I packed up and moved thataway.”

After that, Master Horace ended up wandering around Farzia. When he was trying to earn some pocket change, he was tricked by Lord Patriciél and forced to swallow a sliver of a contract stone controlled by Lord Credias.

Apparently, a spellcaster’s way of fighting was exactly what I had envisioned.

“I figured fire was the element most suited to offense.”

It was a big contrast to my earth magic. Hurling pebbles around could be a little painful at worst. It didn’t instill the same fear fire did.

Granted, I could always make a giant golem and threaten people with a trampling to scare them off. But flames were daunting even in small quantities, so rather than sustaining and moving around something so big, they got more bang for their buck. I was green with envy.

“If I want to sustain my magic for longer, maybe I should try using a medium.”

I’d been gifted some copper ore by Lord Évrard, so I had a sizable stash. I wondered how long I could extend my time limit if I made use of that.

“It’d have some effect, sure. ’Course, it depends on the size of whatever you make. If you make the whole thing out of copper, you’ll be able to control it twice as long. Eeeheehee.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to manage that without owning a copper mine?”

Disappointed, I went to sleep.

◇◇◇

Two mornings later, we split our army of 15,000 in two and set off separately. We were heading north-northwest, toward Fort Clonfert in the province of Cassia.

The fort was located along the high road that extended all the way from Évrard to the royal capital, although it branched off in a few places. In short, whether Farzia was making an expedition from the royal capital to Llewyne, or whether Llewyne was marching on the royal capital, taking the high road would be the easiest path.

That was exactly why the fort had been built, with soldiers always garrisoned there in case something happened. So much for that.

Évrard had sent Cassia word of Llewyne’s invasion, but in the face of their defective spellcasters and overwhelming numbers, the territory of Cassia had been surrendered nonetheless.

It made it clear how fortunate Évrard was to have withstood their attack.

The main Llewynian troops were moving pretty far west, so Alan and the other commanders predicted that there were at most 10,000 men currently occupying the fort. Unfortunately, so long as they remained barricaded inside, the battle was bound to drag on for a long time, even if we had twice the firepower.

That was where we had gotten the idea to split our forces in two. One half would lead the charge, and the other half would follow after some delay. That way, even if a Llewynian scout spotted us, we could buy some time before they learned our true numbers.

Alan and I were part of the advance party. It would take us five days to come within the vicinity of the fort, and on the sixth day, we were to begin our assault.

It happened on the fourth day of our march.

During one of our breaks, I used some of my copper ore to make a golem. Of course, I didn’t want to scare any of the soldiers on their break, so I made sure to do it a short distance from where we’d set up camp.

“Wow, what a nice view!”

This time, I made a boarding dock on the golem’s left shoulder. After getting on, I looked out over my surroundings.

“Forget that. How’s your magic holding up, kid?”

“Oh, right.”

At Master Horace’s prompting, I took note of how much mana I was allocating to my golem. Yeah, this feels easier than usual.

The copper ore I’d used for the core was amplifying my power, so it felt like the gears of my magic were turning smoothly.

“Better than usual. I think I’ll be able to keep this golem going for a—”

Mid-sentence, I suddenly noticed a group of people in the distance. They were on a narrow path near the foot of a mountain off the side of the high road.

Due to the trees blocking the view, they weren’t visible from our resting spot. It was off the high road, too, so it was possible even the scouts we’d sent to check the path ahead hadn’t seen them yet.

When I squinted, I saw a carriage packed with people, flanked by men on horseback, and another group of people in pursuit. Yet another group was running up from the high road, perhaps rushing over to join the chase.

“Look, Master Horace! I think those people are being chased!”

“What’s this now? Cassian refugees? Seems like a waste of time to chase down ordinary civilians, though. You think those could be bandits cashing in on all the chaos?”

Master Horace’s words jogged my memory.

Isn’t this a scene from the game?

Said scene, however, was supposed to happen after the battle at Fort Clonfert—or so I thought. Could this be a modified version of the fight along the Tyrone River to protect the escaping townspeople from bandits? I was curious about the other group that was potentially trying to save them, too.

I shouted down to Cain, who was keeping an eye on me from the ground, “Some people are being chased up ahead! I’m going to go rescue them!”

Additionally, I told Cain the exact location. He passed it along to the other knight-guards of Alan’s who were with us, then began following after me on his horse.

That said, I took a route that completely ignored the beaten path, simply cutting through all the trees in my way. Unsurprisingly, Cain chose to follow me along the high road instead, so he was lagging a short distance behind.

My golem charged forward, sending reverberations through the earth with each mighty step it took and alerting the people fleeing in the carriage to my approach.

Both the fugitives and the pursuers kept glancing over in my direction. The ones in the carriage, who had the bearing of regular townspeople, were gaping most of all.

Once I was close enough to tell, the pursuers didn’t appear to be bandits at all. Their black capes had made me wonder if they could be Llewynian soldiers, and that hunch turned out to be right on the money.

The tawny capes worn by the men guarding the carriage on horseback weren’t associated with any army, so they were most likely companions of the people on board.

Furthermore, the knights dashing up from the high road were wearing blue capes, which meant they were affiliated with Farzia. Cassian soldiers, perhaps? We weren’t too far from the border with Évrard, though. What were they doing all the way out here?

Whatever the case, thanks to their efforts, the carriage riders were likely to be rescued faster than I could get to them. Still, I was hung up on the differences from the game version. It could spell trouble if this had an impact on events down the line, so I wanted more information.

Running forward on my golem, I desperately braced myself against the tremors, much worse than anything I’d experienced during my carriage rides.

Then again, I was starting to get used to this, too. Or maybe I’d just built muscle from clinging to my golem all the time.

Master Horace shouted from where he was strapped to my waist. “Hey—hrk! Little disciple... guh... just what are you doing? Ggh!”

“This might be the same event that happened in the RPG!”

“Do you... HAVE... to join in?! Blech!”

“I want to see it... for myself... to get an idea of... what’s to come!”

While I was explaining, my golem’s large strides finally brought us to the scene, leaving a trail of toppled trees in our wake. By the time we got there, the blue-caped Farzian knights were already crossing swords with the Llewynian soldiers.

The numbers were nearly even—twenty enemy soldiers, and twenty-odd Farzians.

Already exhausted, the men guarding the carriage were struggling to put up a fight, but that turned out to be a non-issue. The Llewynians, taken aback by the situation they’d found themselves in, were steadily cut down by the Farzian soldiers.

Blood splattered across the ground as swords slashed in wide arcs.

It was a gruesome scene, but for a brief moment, I was entranced by the startlingly impressive show of swordsmanship. However, the black stains forming along the path as blood soaked into the soil, combined with the corpses littering the ground, reminded me that this was reality.

When I spotted a Llewynian soldier who saw that the odds were against him and was making a run for it, I reached out for him with my golem’s hand. The golem found its mark, grabbed hold of the soldier, and lifted him off the ground.

“Eeeeeek!”

I hadn’t meant to make the golem’s grip especially tight, but the Llewynian soldier screamed all the same. Immediately after, his body went limp, head lolling to the side.

“Oh no! Did I kill him?!”

Please no! I thought as I laid the man on top of the golem’s left hand. Oh, his chest is rising and falling. He’s breathing!

Apparently, he had only fainted. Relieved, I moved the golem’s right hand over its left, forming a lid to keep him sealed inside.

By that point, the battle was already over.

“Lady Kiara!” someone called out. When I looked down, I saw it was Groul.

“What...? Sir Groul, what are you doing here?!”

If a member of Reggie’s royal guard was here, did that mean the people I had pinned as Farzian soldiers were all Reggie’s knights? And yet I hadn’t caught a glimpse of that familiar silver hair.

“Where’s Reggie?”

I felt my stomach go cold. Had he not healed yet? Had his recovery period been prolonged?

But if that were the case, there would be no reason for Groul and the other knights to be here. As I was puzzling it out, another one of the cavalry came to Groul’s side.

“Did you come all the way out here by yourself, Kiara? Bad girl. You’re in for a lecture later.”

“Huh?”

The one who threw back his hood was a man with long, golden hair, half of it tied back into a ponytail. However, those blue eyes of his undoubtedly belonged to Reggie.

“Reggie?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

He smiled back at me. The golden hair was such a good look on him, it was enough to make me wonder if it had always been that way.

Honestly, though, I think he could pull off just about anything.

“You dyed your hair?!”

“After considering all my options, yes. More importantly, if you intend to take him prisoner, could you lower that man to the ground? We’ll go ahead and tie him up.”

I followed Reggie’s instructions. I couldn’t keep my golem out forever, so if they would take care of arresting him, I was better off leaving it to them.

Under Groul’s orders, a few knights bound up the unconscious Llewynian soldier.

The other knights had begun talking to the group who had been escaping in the carriage. Both the rescued citizens and the knights who had been protecting them expressed their gratitude over and over. I was relieved to see they were all unharmed.

Then Reggie called me over. “Come here, Kiara.”

“Coming!”

After lowering myself back to the ground, I moved my golem to the side of the road and dismantled it, leaving a large pile of dirt behind.

Oh, right. Is there any of my copper ore left? Whenever I use it as a medium, it turns to black charcoal... but maybe I can still salvage some of it.

I considered digging it out so it wouldn’t go to waste, but someone suddenly took me by the hand.

“Oh!”

“Is something the matter?”

The owner of the hand was Reggie.

“I made my golem using copper ore as the medium, but I don’t think I used the whole thing up. I was going to check if anything was left of it.”

“But you already consumed part of it, no? Then you’d be better off using a new one. If you need extra, I’ll make arrangements to supply you with whatever you need.”

Spoken like a true prince. He offered to buy me more like it was nothing.

Well, maybe he wasn’t the weird one here. Considering I’d lived as a member of the aristocracy before, my knee-jerk reaction not to let anything go to waste might have had more to do with my past-life sensibilities.

“Oh, alright then. That might be for the best. Erm...”

Embarrassed, I tried to pull my hand away, but Reggie joined our hands more firmly.

Hey... Reggie? Us holding hands out here is worse than embarrassing. It’s definitely not appropriate behavior for the prince and the spellcaster!

Just as I was about to make attempt number two to slip my fingers out of his grasp, Reggie stole away my opportunity by tugging me by the hand.

“For now, let’s go ask whom it was we just saved.”

Well, yes, I did want to know that. Still, walking over to them hand-in-hand was a little too much to bear. And Reggie still wouldn’t let go. He was like a dog owner worried that I’d run away if he took me off my leash.

“Did you find out what’s going on, Groul?”

“Yes, Your Grace. They fled from the castle town of Cassia... and among them is a member of the baron’s family.”

“A survivor of the House of Cassia, hm?”

That explained a lot. No wonder they had knights guarding the carriage.

Then, a knight standing beside Groul opened his mouth to speak. The man looked to be in his forties. He was taller and broader than Groul, and there wasn’t a strand of hair to be found on his well-tanned head.

That’s right—he was even balder than Master Horace before his transformation. The intimidating aura he gave off was only enhanced by the suit he was wearing.

“We offer you our most humble thanks for coming to our rescue, Your Grace. I am Aubrey, a knight in service to Lord Cassia.”

As he bent down on one knee, sunlight gleamed off the smooth surface of his head.

“To save the people of my country is my natural duty. So, who is this relative of the baron’s?”

“Right. You there, bring him over.”

At the order, one of the knights—unsteady on his feet as he was—helped a child out of the carriage.

Dressed in a beige shirt and a black vest and trousers, the boy looked like the son of a reasonably wealthy merchant. He couldn’t have been older than ten.

“This is Lord Charles, son of the baron of Cassia.”

Prompted by the man beside him, Charles timidly bowed before Reggie.

I began to fret over this new turn of events. In the RPG, the baron’s child wasn’t among the rescued townspeople. All you got for defeating the bandits was more information on what the Llewynians were doing.

Right then, Cain finally caught up to us.

“What’s going on, Miss Kiara? And I didn’t realize you were here as well, Your Grace.”

I didn’t know what was going on myself, so I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. While I struggled to respond, Felix began to explain the situation from beside Groul.

Meanwhile, from where he stood next to Charles, Aubrey started to tell his side of the story.

“It is truly a heart-wrenching tale.” That was apparently no exaggeration, seeing as tears were already forming in his eyes. “Over twenty thousand Llewynian soldiers stormed the castle. Thankfully, the residents of the castle town had been evacuated after the fort was taken. We helped the baron’s son flee along with them, just in case.”

Even though they’d left the castle one step ahead of the enemy, Aubrey and his companions hadn’t quite managed to escape to a neighboring territory. On top of the Llewynians, there was the Salekhardian army to deal with, so all the paths to the royal capital were blocked.

Left with little choice, the knights and the refugees had moved around from town to town, hiding and biding their time, all to keep Charles hidden from the enemy.

“While we were on the run, I heard that the baron’s severed head was paraded around, and his eldest daughter, Lady Flora, was taken prisoner. I’m afraid Lord Charles is the only remaining survivor of the House of Cassia.”

Having lost the lord he served, Aubrey focused his efforts on getting Charles to a safe place. He was headed to Évrard, which he’d heard was taking up arms against Llewyne. Along the way, they were discovered by Llewynian soldiers searching for the baron’s son.

I was glad we had arrived in time to save them... but this really wasn’t anything like the plot of the game.

The House of Cassia was never touched on in the RPG. The only explanation the players got was that Cassia had been occupied, and only Llewynian soldiers remained there. In other words, every last person in the castle had been killed.

But this time around, Charles had survived. Perhaps it was thanks to the message Évrard had sent to Cassia.

I mean, it was definitely a good thing that more people were alive... but when I thought about it that way, it meant that sending out advance notice still hadn’t been enough to stop the fort from being captured, and saving a single boy from the baron’s family was the absolute most we could manage.

Maybe we really were stuck on hard mode.

I hadn’t expected Llewyne to send out so many defective spellcasters, either, just like I hadn’t expected them to ally with Salekhard.

It would have been a big help if we could ally with another country, but the king had yet to make any attempt to do so. Apparently he had issued a call to arms for the area between the royal domain and Sestina, but he hadn’t taken any action beyond that.

According to Lady Évrard, even if Reggie tried to handle the negotiations himself, there was no telling whether other countries would acknowledge him as a representative of Farzia. So long as the king wasn’t confirmed dead, Reggie had no authority to promise territory cessions, which was the biggest draw for a potential ally. Nevertheless, Lord Évrard was attempting to push negotiations forward.

For the time being, everyone decided to head back to the Évrard army’s resting spot, so I put my thoughts on hold.

“Come this way, Miss Kiara,” Cain called out to me.

I glanced over at Reggie, who was still holding my hand. With a small smile, he finally let go.

So why was he holding it in the first place?

When I went over to Cain, he scolded me. “I understand it was an emergency, but in the future, I would prefer you wait for me before you charge in. I need to be there to protect you in case anything happens.”

“Sorry.”

“As long as you understand. Let’s be off.”

Cain was about to help me onto his horse, but I asked him to wait.

“Once everyone is gone, there’s something I’d like to do.”

“What might—Oh. I see.”

As soon as Cain followed my gaze, he understood what I was talking about. Excluding the one man I’d captured, the rest of the Llewynian soldiers had been slain.

The more time passed, the stronger the scent of blood hanging in the air. It seemed I was gradually getting used to it; it was certainly unpleasant, but it didn’t make me nauseous anymore.

However, the strong odor was bound to attract monsters. If we left the bodies out in the open, they were fated to become a meal for the beasts. Even if it was the result of a fight, I didn’t want to leave them to such a miserable fate.

And that was why I wanted to bury them... but I’d seen the hatred in the eyes of the carriage riders as they looked at the corpses. I figured I shouldn’t bury the soldiers while they were watching, so I waited for them to leave.

Since Cain and I were just standing around a little ways away from everyone, Reggie guessed what we were up to and urged the carriage and the Cassians to go on ahead.

Once only Reggie and a few other knights were left, I used the miniature hill of dirt to craft a doll twice the size of a person. Using the golem, I moved the bodies to the side of the road, then covered them with dirt. For a finishing touch, I dismantled the golem on top of them, and then I joined Cain on his horse.

When they saw I was finished, Reggie and his knights spurred their horses forward.

As we followed after Reggie’s group, Cain asked, brusquely, “Why are you so insistent on burying the enemy?”

I recalled that he’d asked me a similar question a little while ago.

Back then, I’d chalked it up to a manner of hygiene, but that excuse was a little too flimsy this time around. We were far from any residential areas, and only a small number of soldiers had died. He probably didn’t understand why we couldn’t just let the monsters take care of them.

So this time, I decided to be honest.

“I don’t want to grow accustomed to death. Or killing.”

“Wouldn’t you be better off that way?”

Cain assumed that would be preferable to my constant distress. But I shook my head.

“It’s probably because of my past-life memories. I was raised to believe that you should never resort to murder, even if it’s in self-defense... so all the killing is hard for me to bear. But I know that I have to if I want to protect the people I care about. This is how I decided to come to terms with it.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier for you to let yourself grow accustomed to it, rather than taking each and every death like the passing of a close friend?” The look on Cain’s face told me he didn’t understand. “Besides, these men have hurt the people you want to protect. Don’t you hate them?”

Lord Évrard had been injured. Lady Évrard had endured a close shave, too. Cain found it bizarre that I didn’t hate the men responsible for that.

Cain had hated the Llewynians ever since they killed his family. It was only natural for the people of this world to feel that way. Most likely, if someone did the same thing to me—even in my past life—I might have hated them enough to kill them without hesitation, too.

After the siege, I tried to pretend that the Llewynians had killed my family. And in practice, some soldiers I was acquainted with had been lost in the battle. But that wasn’t enough to change how I felt.

“My past life is in the past. I know it would be easier on me to just live in the present. But if I just tell myself that none of it matters anymore... it would be like saying my memories of my old family, which have kept me going for so long, don’t matter. And that would devastate me.”

I’d never had a real family in this life. Instead, the family from my past life had occupied that place in my heart.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I remembered extending my hand without the slightest trace of fear and another hand reaching back, filled with unconditional love. If I denied the importance of those memories, it would feel like cutting ties with my old family, and I would lose sight of the very ground under my feet.

“I’m sure it’s hard for you to understand... but it really is true that I want to protect everyone. I’m burying these men so that I can fight while mollifying the part of myself ingrained with those past-life beliefs. Mourning the dead feels like some sort of atonement for what I did to them.”

I did my very best to explain myself to Cain, but I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten my point across. I was worried about his reaction, but once I was done talking, Cain looked to be deep in thought.

Then he simply murmured, “I see,” and went quiet.

Maybe it was too much to ask him to understand.

The horses trotted along, coming up on the area where the Évrard army had stopped for a break.

There, Cain finally opened his mouth to speak. “I won’t hesitate to protect you. To do that, I will kill without reservation. If I think it will create more trouble down the line, I might even kill someone we could have taken alive. I believe that is my duty as the one tasked with your protection. Knowing that, do you think you’ll come to hate me?”

“Not at all,” I answered. “I know you’re doing it to keep me safe. I’ve just been held back by my memories. I know the rest of you think differently.”

“That’s fine, then,” Cain responded, letting out a short breath.

Perhaps he took that to answer a question of his.

On the other hand, it made me think. I was living in a different world than in my past life. If I never adapted to the philosophies of this world, I would start to feel uneasy about the differences between myself and everyone around me, and those people would find me troubling in return.

Would the day ever come when I would be able to accept it?

◇◇◇

Once we arrived back at the break spot, we sent Charles and the carriage crew back to the province of Limerick straight away. As we watched them set off, flanked by soldiers to guard them, bald mister Aubrey bit down on a handkerchief, his eyes watering.

Wait, what are you still doing here?!

“Lady Spellcaster, you have my deepest gratitude for your assistance just now.”

“There’s no need to thank me. I’m just glad I could help. Um, are you planning to join our campaign?”

“Indeed. The soldiers of Cassia have long since scattered, and His Highness’ march will serve to liberate our province. In place of our young Lord Charles, I must be of service to... snff!”

My first impression of him had been that he was a scary-looking man, but it turned out he was easily moved to tears. It made him a lot easier to talk to, that was for sure.

“I’ve officially joined under your banner. The margrave’s son, Lord Alan, has handed me command of one of his troops. I am most pleased to be fighting alongside you, Lady Spellcaster.”

Surely I was too young to be more than a little girl in his eyes, but he still regarded me with the utmost politeness. What a kind man.

As far as Reggie went, I finally found out what had brought him here when we all sat down to eat at the campsite.

Reggie left the castle three days after the rest of us had departed. Taking our schedule into account, he had set his pace so he could join up with us before the assault on Fort Clonfert. On the way, Felix’s sharp ears had picked up on distant screams and the whinnies of horses, and that was when they’d spotted the speeding carriage carrying Lord Cassia’s son. Based on the number of Llewynians in hot pursuit, Reggie and his knights had assumed there was more to it than met the eye, and rushed to their rescue.

That’s when I had shown up.

“I must admit, we were lucky to have you there. Our numbers were nearly even, but once the enemy faltered in the face of your magic, it was easy enough to mow them down.”

Did you really just say “mow them down,” Your Grace? Sheesh, sometimes you really scare me.

“Why did you dye your hair?”

“Groul and the others were worried that I didn’t have enough escorts with me. They requested I dye my hair, if nothing else, to throw the enemy for a loop. Now that we’ve finally made it, I plan to wash it out. How is anyone supposed to tell I’m Reginald from a distance otherwise?”

From the way he’s talking, you’d never guess he’d just been sniped... He really takes his role as our emblem seriously, huh?

“Wisen up, Reggie. You do realize we’ll be in trouble if our emblem is the first one to fall, yes?” Alan, who was eating with us in Reggie’s tent, butted in with a sigh.

Thank you, Alan!

“But wouldn’t that be bad for morale if the general stays hidden?”

“Mmheehee! You sure love the spotlight, huh?” Master Horace teased.

“If I don’t stand out, I’m failing to fulfill half my role,” Reggie countered with a smile. Tugging on a lock of his hair, he went on, “So you see, that’s why I’d like to remove the dye as quickly as possible.”

“Good grief! Just stay that way until we’ve taken the fort!” barked Alan.

“I suppose I have no choice,” Reggie said, heaving a sigh.

While we were absorbed in conversation, everyone finished up eating.

“I’ll go drop off our dishes.” I stood up and collected Reggie and Alan’s plates and cups.

“No, let me call for my lord-in-waiting. It’s not safe for you to wander around by yourself, Kiara.”

“It’ll be fine! I’ll only be gone for a little bit. Besides, Cain is nearby, and ever since I showed off my magic back in Limerick, everyone’s been too scared of me to try any funny business.”

“Ah, yes... that,” Alan muttered.

“Did something happen?”

“Kiara held a demonstration so the Limerick and Reinstar soldiers wouldn’t be shocked when they witnessed her magic. In her enthusiasm, she had her golem pull some bizarre maneuver, and part of the wall was destroyed as a result.”

“Eheheh... Hey, at least I fixed it!”

I attempted to laugh it off (and tack on an excuse while I was at it). I didn’t want to dig a deeper hole for myself by blurting out something like, “But wouldn’t it have been so cool if I made my golem do a right straight punch?!”

“Yes, there is that. But don’t forget there were soldiers standing right under the crumbling debris of the wall.”

“Were they hurt?”

“No, Kiara shielded them with her golem. But just think about it! From their point of view, a hand the size of their entire body suddenly descended upon them and lifted them up into the air. Both men passed out. The ones watching started screaming about how the golem was strangling them to death, and the whole scene turned into chaos.”

Once they had seen that the two men had only fainted, things had calmed down, but a healthy fear of me had been instilled in the hearts of everyone watching. The whole point had been to get them used to my magic, but they walked away more terrified of me than ever.

After the story was finished, there was a short pause, and then Reggie burst out laughing.

“Haha! Unpredictable as ever, Kiara!”

“Anyway. It turned out fine,” I pouted, and before anyone could say anything more about it, I hurried out of the tent.

Right then, Cain came walking over.

“You should wait for a lord-in-waiting to take care of that, Miss Kiara.”

Even Cain was scolding me. I had nowhere left to run.

He took the tableware off my hands, offering to drop it off himself, leaving me no choice but to return to being the laughingstock of the tent.

When I dejectedly made my way back to Reggie’s tent, I grabbed the tent flap, but my hand stopped where it was when I overheard the conversation going on inside.

“Don’t strain yourself. You’re still in bad shape, aren’t you?”

“You know me too well, Alan.”

“Of course. How many years do you think we’ve known each other? It’s your left shoulder, isn’t it?”

His shoulder was where the arrow had hit him when he’d shielded me. It was unsettling to hear that it was still hurting him. Was it an aftereffect of the contract stone? A regular doctor wouldn’t be able to tell what the issue was. Why hadn’t he said anything about it to me?

“The wound itself has healed up. I can still move—”

Reggie was cut off when I barged into the tent.

“Show me where it hurts, Reggie!”

Reggie stood up, perhaps attempting to make a getaway, but I held him in place.

“It does hurt, doesn’t it? I heard Alan just now! He said you were in bad shape!”

“I see you were eavesdropping, Kiara. But there’s no need for you to worry; it’s healed.”

“That wasn’t a normal injury and you know it! I’m the only one who can take a proper look at it, so off with your clothes!”

I drove Reggie back toward the simple bed behind him, and once he’d staggered into a sitting position, I started peeling off his jacket.

“Wha... Kiara!”

“Be a good patient and stay still! Alan, come help me!”

Alan came over at my command, delighted at this development, and held Reggie’s arms in place.

Great, now I can strip him nice and easy!

Reggie, meanwhile, was panicking like never before.

“Alan, she’s the one you ought to be restraining!”

“No, no, this way seems more fun. Besides, she isn’t the only one concerned about your injury, and this is the only way you’re going to let us take a look at it.”

“Listen, you, there’s nothing fun about this!” I told Alan sharply. “It’s my fault he was hurt, you know. Here, could you pull his arm out of this?”

Alan pulled Reggie’s arm out of his sleeve, and I finally got the jacket off of him. Next, I went to work unbuttoning his shirt.

“You really shouldn’t be doing this, Kiara!”

Reggie tried to stop me, embarrassed, but I had no intention of backing off until I’d checked out his wound.

“It’s fine! Just stay still!”

“Yes, you should stay still, Reggie. It’s funnier that way.”

Alan snickered as he kept Reggie fixed in place. Another voice joined his in laughter, but Master Horace never stopped cackling, so it was easy to tune him out. All that mattered was getting the shirt off of him so I would be able to look at his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have thought this was your idea of a good time, Alan.”

Reggie fixed him with a baleful glare, but Alan just snorted dismissively in return. Reggie didn’t argue any further, so he probably wasn’t seriously angry. Whew.

However, as I exposed his chest and took note of his surprisingly muscular shoulders and collarbone, it finally dawned on me that I was, perhaps, doing something pretty awful here.

That was when Cain entered the tent.

“Are you... assaulting His Highness?”

Cain stopped where he stood in the entrance, staring at us with a vacant expression.

“What? Assaulting him?”

Why would he say that?

That was when it hit me. We were on top of the bed. Alan was pinning Reggie’s arms behind his back, and I was pulling off his shirt. Realizing our current pose couldn’t look like anything but me forcing myself on him, I froze.

When he saw my face, Alan released his hold on Reggie and burst into a fit of laughter.

“Ahahahahaha! This is too much!”

“See, Kiara? I told you not to do it.” Reggie heaved a sigh. He took one look at my stiff face, then with a dry laugh, he muttered, “You’re hopeless,” and wrapped his newly freed arms around me.

“What? Hey!”

Why are you holding me in place? Hold on a second, I can feel Reggie’s bare skin against my cheek! And it’s so smooth! God, this is embarrassing! I tried to escape his grasp, but Reggie wouldn’t let me go.

“You embarrassed me, so now I get to embarrass you. You can still perform your checkup like this, can’t you?”

Yes, I can! But that’s not the issue here! I don’t need to snuggle up this close to get a good look at the wound! Hang on, isn’t this pose even more inappropriate than when I was undressing him? I mean, it’s a half-naked man holding me against his chest... Look, Alan is totally put off!

“Now you’re taking it too far,” Alan griped.

“You have no one but yourselves to blame. I told you to stop, didn’t I, Kiara?”

Reggie flashed a beautiful, captivating smile right near my face, and my brain short-circuited.

Then, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Reggie.

“That’s quite enough of this nonsense, Your Grace,” Cain chided as he grabbed my shoulder, looking as deadpan and stony-faced as ever.

Reggie just laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t want to make Cain angry. That’s enough messing around for now, I suppose. This was about my wound, wasn’t it? If taking a look will give you peace of mind, here.”

Reggie slipped out of his left sleeve and showed me his back.

Grr... How does he manage to be sexier than the average woman? I was overcome with a mysterious sense of defeat, but checking on his injury took precedence here, so I took a step closer.

I hadn’t had the chance to take a proper look at it before we left the castle. There were long, vertical streaks of blackened skin where the arrow had hit him. They looked like jagged burn marks.

“Can I touch it?”

“If it’s necessary for the spellcaster’s examination, then by all means.”

It didn’t seem to hurt Reggie when I touched it, at least. Next, I felt out his mana. Everything seemed to be under control, but I definitely sensed a foreign presence in there.

“Mm... It’s about the same as before. Does it hurt?”

“Only as much as any old wound.”

Reggie smiled and put his shirt back on, as if that was all he had to say about that. There was nothing more I could do, in any case, so I didn’t probe further.

If we could just cut out the blackened part of his skin, the source of Reggie’s pain would be gone. All the power of the contract stone was concentrated there. Unfortunately, it was impossible to perform that kind of surgery with the medical technology of this world.

I barely possessed any medical knowledge myself, but even I knew that it wouldn’t be possible to pull off a procedure like that without blood transfusions or antiseptics, neither of which we had here. Perhaps if someone invented a surgery using that wonderful salve, we could manage something close to it. Or maybe it was just impossible without antibiotics.

Either way, if it still hurt, I wished Reggie would just rest until he recovered more of his strength. But of course, he had every intention of rushing out onto the battlefield as our emblem.

How was I supposed to stop him? He had forbidden me from doing anything to help.

Lost in my worries, I left the tent so Reggie could get some sleep.

If I had no way to stop him, the best I could do was make it so Reggie didn’t have to fight. In other words, I had to turn the tide of the battle overwhelmingly in our favor using my magic.

If I used enough copper ore, I could extend the time limit for my golem.

What I really wanted to do was to control it remotely. It would be ideal if it could move totally independent of me, like Master Horace, but my skills weren’t quite there yet. If only I could strengthen the influence of my power somehow, so many more options would become available to me.

“Oh!” I suddenly exclaimed.

“Hm?” Alan, who had accompanied me outside, looked back over his shoulder, then made a disgruntled face.

Perhaps the way I was grinning from ear to ear creeped him out.

“Teeheehee! Can I ask you about something, Alan?”