Chapter 4: The Battle of Fort Clonfert

“Why me?”

“If I told Reggie, he’d just try to stop me, so I’m getting the permission of his second-in-command.”

“I see...”

That was a good enough explanation for Alan. He covered his face with both hands and hung his head.

Since I couldn’t do anything without Cain’s approval, I brought him into the conversation, too.

When I told them my idea, Alan seemed to think it was worth considering, while Cain expressed his disapproval. However, when I reminded him that it was safer than rushing into open fire, he reluctantly agreed to go along with it.

I couldn’t forget about Groul, either. I needed him and the rest of the royal guard to hold Reggie back.

I had Cain call for him, then told him the specifics of my plan, requesting that he lead Reggie as far away from me as possible during the battle.

Groul looked conflicted. “I have no issue with your proposal, but His Highness will notice you’re planning something. His instincts are terribly sharp.”

“That’s exactly why I need your help. Even if Reggie figures it out, once I’ve already put it into motion, it’ll be too late for him to do anything about it.”

“Quite the strategist, aren’t you?” muttered Groul. After a few seconds’ hesitation, he agreed to my scheme.

The next day, I attended a strategy meeting with Cain. Inside the large tent, one after another, people took their seats at the tables and chairs that had been set up for us.

From Évrard, there was Alan and Chester, who was serving as his head knight-guard in Cain’s place. There was also Dexter, the thirty-or-so-year-old man promoted to cavalry general when the previous commander had remained behind on account of his injuries, and Gale, garrison commander of the margraviate.

Then came Lord Reinstar’s grizzled uncle, Edam. At Edam’s side was his junior and Lord Limerick’s younger brother, Jerome. They each had a knight accompanying them.

The last person to take a seat was Reggie, still a blond, with Groul by his side.

Before we could begin to talk strategy, I stood up from my seat.

“As our spellcaster, I would like to propose a change in our strategy for retaking Fort Clonfert.”

The first person to respond was Alan, who pretended this was news to him. “What’s most important to us is that you handle that golem of yours. Has something happened that would require us to rethink our strategy? It’s not that you’ve become unable to control it, correct?”

“Quite the opposite. You could say I can provide an even better service now.”

Edam and Jerome’s faces brightened, holding high hopes for the spellcaster’s military contributions.

“Do tell. Considering the long series of battles to come, we would like to prevent the loss of as many soldiers as possible,” Edam said.

I nodded at him. “This should give us an even more advantageous position over the enemy. Their morale will be dampened significantly; we can anticipate a further decrease in their numbers due to desertion.”

“What do you plan to do?” Dexter asked, leaning forward.

“I’ll use my golem to destroy the fort wall as soon as the fighting breaks out.”

“Yes, that’s certainly possible for you,” Jerome said with a nod. He had, after all, stood witness to me destroying part of Limerick’s castle walls.

I am so, so sorry about that. I fixed it, so please forgive me!

“I was under the impression that you couldn’t leave your golem’s side,” Reggie countered. In contrast to his gentle tone, the look in his eyes told me he wouldn’t let me get away with a lie.

I looked him straight in the eyes and answered, “I won’t go anywhere. I’ve learned how to control it from a distance.”

Everyone unanimously agreed that in that case, there were no issues.

Alan got the ball of consensus rolling. Since I wouldn’t be charging directly onto the battlefield, Reggie couldn’t come up with an argument against my proposal. He clearly thought it was strange that I’d suddenly acquired a new skill, but I dodged the issue by saying it was something I’d achieved after learning various methods from Master Horace.

With that, we successfully devised a plan to capture the fort, factoring in the chaos caused by my golem’s charge and the destruction of the fort wall.

Once the strategy had been decided, we had the two halves of our troops meet up again. We moved north, then eventually started marching west along the high road. There was no longer any need to camouflage our true numbers.

During our morning break, I took Cain and moved to an area a short distance away to perform another experiment.

There, I had a golem slightly larger than Master Horace scurry around. As I looked on, the corners of my mouth quirked up.

So cute!

“Mmheehee! Looks like you’re getting the hang of it, kid.”

“Yeah, it’s going really well. Why didn’t I just do this from the start?”

Drawing a blank on something always made it feel as though there were a wall blocking you from reaching the right answer. Once you actually thought of it, you’d wonder why you’d never thought of it before, when the solution was right in front of you all along.

Cain spoke bitterly, in stark contrast to my delight. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not happy about this. I’m sure anyone who saw what happened to you that time will be horrified.”

“But if I’d done this from the beginning, everyone would have assumed this is just how magic works. Don’t you think so? People are plenty likely to get hurt if they fight with a sword, but nobody stops them, because that’s just how war is.”

The knight furrowed his brow. “Why is it that you become so articulate in moments like these? I’m almost of the mind to conspire with His Highness and keep you locked away until the war is over.”

With a sigh, Cain walked over and lifted my hand by the wrist.

What?! Is he planning to make good on that threat NOW? I panicked, but he didn’t do anything more than that.

“I suppose it’s preferable to dashing through enemy territory in small numbers.”

“Exactly. Oh, but Sir Cain? Even with this strategy, I’ll probably find myself standing in the middle of the battlefield again. I’m sorry I always cause you so much trouble, but I’ll be counting on you to keep me safe.”

I grasped the hand of his that was holding my wrist and made a wish.

I couldn’t let myself become someone for Reggie to protect. I couldn’t let myself rely on him too much. If I wanted to stand by his side as an equal, I had to learn to take care of myself. The reason he wouldn’t let me protect him was because he wasn’t convinced I could fight by his side. He thought of me as weak, so he prioritized keeping me safe above all else.

Unfortunately, my physical ability was, in fact, worse than garbage. Unless I had someone to physically defend me, I was bound to be shot by an oncoming arrow or slain by a charging soldier while I was busy casting my magic. That was why I needed Cain’s help.

Cain stared down at me. “Do you remember when you fought with Lord Alan back at Évrard Castle?”

“Uh? Yes...?”

He was talking about the time Alan had refused to believe my reincarnation story.

“It was when I saw you pressing on in the face of every hardship that I decided to help you. I’d forgotten that for a while, I think. You look so small and weak that it’s easy to lose sight of your strength.”

Having him look me in the eyes and tell me that was so embarrassing that I had to stare at the ground. My face had to be bright red. Cain’s confession of respect for me was flustering like nothing else.

When I glanced back up, I saw a smile on his face, shadowed by the sun’s glare behind his head. For a brief moment, something about that expression of his looked strangely bleak, until I blinked it away.

“But the fact is, you are weak. There are limits to what I can do to protect you. Nothing ever goes perfectly. There’s always a chance I could slip up and get you killed. And considering you don’t even know how to swing a sword, I would prefer to keep you off the battlefield as much as possible—particularly when it’s liable to turn into a bloody battle. However,” Cain went on, “His Lordship has ordered me both to protect and obey you. If you command it, I cannot stand in the way of what you wish to do. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

In other words, he was telling me to make it an order. Cain didn’t want to abide by my decisions, but if it was my command, he had no choice but to obey.

That idea didn’t sit well with me at all. I’d never ordered anyone to do anything before. In my past life, I had been raised not to boss people around, and those values had stuck with me.

“Think about your priorities, kid,” Master Horace egged me on with a cackle. He took my lack of response to mean that I was torn.

He has a point, I thought. If there was something I wanted badly enough to order Cain around for it, then perhaps I had no choice but to bend him to my will.

Still, I wanted to get him to agree to help me if I could. As I wondered to myself if that would be such a difficult task, I peeked up at Cain’s face.

“I won’t be persuaded.”

He turned me down before I could even say anything. That’s harsh, Sir Cain.

“And we don’t have time for that, either way.”

“Ugh...”

I was at a loss for words. Cain had outplayed me. The man had years of life experience on me; I was no match for him. Plus, I assumed having siblings had made him good at getting people to listen.

I wasn’t willing to give in, however. In the coming battle, I was going to protect everyone to the best of my ability.

“I command thee to protect me.” I groaned as I gave the order, and what left my mouth came out sounding really bizarre and stilted. Still, it did have the word “command” in there, so Cain gave me passing marks nonetheless.

“Very well. Until the battle is over, I will assist you in getting wherever it is you want to go.”

So... that’s his way of saying he’ll help me out this time, I think.

There was no telling about next time, though.

◇◇◇

After joining up with the troops lagging behind, the Évrard army arrived near Fort Clonfert around midday. According to a scout’s report, the enemy had begun forming their lines of battle in preparation for our assault. The Llewynians must have left scouts of their own along the high road.

Our scouts really were impressive to infiltrate enemy territory in such small numbers and come back alive. The role called for stealth over swordsmanship. The moment you were discovered, it was all over, so I couldn’t imagine how much courage it took.

In accordance with the report, the Évrard troops marched up to Fort Clonfert in one long stretch.

We stopped just before reaching the spot where their archers would be able to trap us in a pincer attack. A separate group was already on the move to take care of the bowmen.

I was at the head of the troops with Cain, surrounded by ten other cavalrymen led by the Cassian knight Aubrey.

The Llewynian men were a few hundred mers in the distance. When I saw the archers and foot soldiers lined up waiting for us, I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. With all the soldiers’ eyes on me, my legs started to shake.

But this wasn’t the time or place to lose my nerve.

I got down from Cain’s horse, took out the copper ore I’d kept in the pocket of my jacket, and placed as much of it as I could hold on the ground. Next, I stealthily removed my knife from its sheath and made a shallow cut on the back of my hand.

I swallowed my cry of pain. I’d used the back of my hand because I wasn’t sure I’d draw enough blood if I just carefully sliced a fingertip, but it was a deeper cut than I’d meant to make.

I touched the ore with my bloody, dripping hand.

“Alright, let’s get started.”

Channeling my power through the blood and ore, I perceived the mana in the soil so clearly that I could count the exact number of stones lying before my eyes. I molded it all together, and from the earth rose a golem housing my blood-stained ore within.

Due to the nature of the soil in this region, the golem was an off-white color. It was the same size as the one I’d made in front of Évrard Castle.

The chill that ran through my body alerted me as my mana was drained away, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. If anything, after a passing feverish haze, I felt uplifted.

“Oh, this is pretty easy!”

“Don’t get complacent. Even if it feels easy, push yourself too hard and you risk running yourself dry before you know it. Eeeheehee! Once your hands are gone, it’ll be too late to start panicking!”

I nodded at Master Horace’s advice.

The Llewynians who saw my golem cried out in distress. The soldiers who had seen my golem before recalled how their commander had been murdered, while the ones who hadn’t were shaken by the sight of the bizarre giant.

I made my golem hold the remainder of the bloodied ore in its hand and ordered it forward.

“Go!”

At my command, the golem began walking step-by-step toward Fort Clonfert. This time around, it was easy to move it, almost like it was an extension of my own body.

As I suspected, using blood made my magic easier to control than ever before. I’d experimented with smaller objects, but I was relieved to have proven my theory with something more sizable.

The idea struck me when I was remembering how Reggie had nearly died. In the heat of the moment, I’d just thought, “Well, the contract stone dissolved into my body, too,” and mixed my blood into Reggie’s body to make the process more efficient. But the ease with which I’d guided his mana after that gave me an idea: if I used my blood, perhaps I could control my magic more easily.

My prediction was spot-on. With this, I could control the golem from my side of the battlefield and destroy the fort.

Cain frowned when he saw my wound. It must have reminded him of how I’d drenched my hands in blood and nearly lost my fingers when I was trying to save Reggie. He was probably keeping watch to make sure my fingertips didn’t start disintegrating.

Regardless, he was under my orders, so he didn’t complain.

The Llewynian soldiers screamed and tried to run out of my golem’s path. After all, this wasn’t an opponent they could hurt with their arrows. Even chipping away at the behemoth with their swords would take a staggering amount of effort.

At the sound of a bugle echoing in the distance, the Évrard army charged forward. Crowds of soldiers rushed ahead, passing me by.

The bugle was the signal that the archers in the forest had been subdued. Just as planned, no arrows came flying out of the woods. Soldiers and horses alike ran straight ahead, with nothing to block their path.

The tremors in the earth shook my feet and hands, still pressed to the ground.

As I remembered that Reggie and Alan were part of the blitz, I was overcome with concern for their safety. However, I couldn’t afford to divide my attention.

As my golem walked around, sending the enemy soldiers into chaos, I directed it toward the fort.

The Llewynian soldiers holed up inside the fort were in quite a panic. I could hear alarm bells ringing like crazy all the way from where I stood.

Once my golem had advanced far enough, I took my hands off the ground. Insisting that he take care of my cut, Cain picked me up and climbed back onto his horse. I was impressed by his strength.

He took the medicine I’d been keeping in my pocket, applied it to some cotton gauze wrapped in oil paper, and dabbed at my cut.

“Ouch, that stings!”

It was a different flavor of pain than when I’d cut it. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.

“Of course it does. Now hurry up and wrap it in a bandage.” He paused. “And don’t tell me you carved out the back of your hand this time.”

“N-No, it’s fine.”

Hurrying me along, Cain drew his sword from its sheath, standing alert. After rushing to wrap my hand in bandages, I turned my attention to the battlefield enveloped in the scent of blood and iron.

Having judged that it was too dangerous to stay inside, soldiers were flooding out of the opened gates of Fort Clonfert.

Before this, their plan might have been to take down our forces with the first batch of soldiers they threw out, then hole up inside the fort if things weren’t looking good for them. But now, someone who could destroy the fort itself had come within striking range. They were probably running for fear of being crushed.

Of course, I couldn’t sit around and wait for them all to escape. My golem thrust a hand forward, and with a sound similar to an explosion, a hole opened up in the wall of the fort.

Seeing that their escape route had been destroyed, the Llewynian soldiers already out on the battlefield started to panic, only to steadily find themselves pierced through by Évrard’s swords and spears.

Voices calling for the Llewynian’s surrender rang out across the battlefield.

“You can’t run back inside your fort anymore! Surrender and we shall spare your lives!”

“Drop your weapons and put your hands up!”

However, the Llewynian soldiers refused to give up their struggle. At the orders of their commander, they consolidated their forces and continued to fight.

Then, a knight sprang forward to take down the enemy commander.

Is that Alan?

As they watched him knock away the soldiers in his path on his horse, the Llewynian soldiers trembled in fear.

Elsewhere, another group of knights galloped by, led by a man whose golden hair fluttered in the wind. Soon, the Llewynians were screaming and dropping their weapons as Évrard soldiers swarmed them like ants attracted to sugar.

The brunt of the battle had moved toward Fort Clonfert, so I asked Cain to get us a little closer. The closer we got, the more Llewynian soldiers I saw standing around with their arms in the air, being apprehended.

“CURSE YOU, wretched spellcaster!”

Meanwhile, a few knights and soldiers rushed forward from a distance, full speed ahead, in hopes that killing me could somehow turn things around for them.

Some were run through by the spears of Aubrey’s men, while others were slashed away with Cain’s sword.

Unlike the battle at Évrard Castle, I couldn’t afford to avert my gaze. If I wasn’t looking at my golem, I’d lose control of it. Still, my vision blurred every now and then, and I had to reach up to wipe my eyes. I wished I could make myself stop; surely people were going to think me strange for crying when I was the one winning.

“Let’s stop here, Miss Kiara. This should be close enough,” suggested Cain, but we were still a little too far.

“Could you take us just a little bit farther? We left them an escape route, but the people inside the fort might assume they have no way forward and resort to scorched-earth tactics. A hopeless fight is just exhausting for both parties, isn’t it?”

That was exactly why we’d decided not to chase down any soldiers fleeing from the fort during our strategy meeting. However, people could end up freezing in place when overcome with fear.

As soon as the petrified soldiers saw a human, they came running and frantically swinging their swords at the less frightening target.

It was clear that the enemy was holding out for longer than we’d accounted for. Thus, I had to do something drastic enough to crush their will to fight. For that, I needed to get close to the fort.

With a thunderous roar, my golem was making a new entrance in the outer wall of the fort.

However, all the blows from arrows and swords were beginning to chip away at its body. I wouldn’t be able to keep it going for too much longer. Thus, I had the golem place the copper ore in its hands on top of the outer wall a short distance away.

“Time to finish this.”

I hopped down from Cain’s horse and placed my hands on the ground one last time.

First, I dismantled my golem. The Llewynian soldiers standing nearby were completely buried. Next, I sought out the presence of the copper ore on top of the wall. It had my blood on it, after all, so I managed to track it down. I was lucky, though; if the fort had been made of wood, I might not have been able to pick up on it at all.

Then, I poured forth my mana.

Tremors gradually began to run through the top of the wall.

In the next moment, the stone turned to sand and collapsed like an avalanche. A large section of the wall melted away, and screams rang out all around it.

After that, no one would opt to stay inside the fort. Those who had kept on fighting, forgetting that retreat was an option, would realize that they had no choice but to run. At the sight of the supernatural phenomenon, a great deal of Llewynian soldiers had surely lost their will to fight.

I stood up and stared out at the fort, a large stretch of its wall completely gone.

The Évrard soldiers raised yet another battle cry. The fight was as good as won.

“How are you feeling, Miss Kiara?” Cain dismounted from his horse and grabbed hold of my arm.

“Oh, um...” He was probably worried because I passed out so frequently after using my magic. But this time, I wasn’t feeling all that tired. “I’m just fine.”

“Does your hand hurt?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. A bit more than I expected.”

Hmm. Cain’s expression was sterner than I’d ever seen it. He never moved his facial muscles much, so the candid look on his face really stood out.

“Erm... Are you angry?”

“You went much closer to the fort than we’d discussed. But things are about to end, so there’s no point in falling back now.”

The battle had entered the wrap-up stages. Around us, Évrard soldiers were rushing to help their injured comrades up and begin tending to their wounds. All the captured Llewynians were gathered in one place, and some of our men had started sorting out what to do in the aftermath.

“I obeyed you regardless because you ordered me to do so, and because I knew you would never give up on something once you’ve set your mind to it. If I’d tried to stop you, you would have shaken me off and headed to the front lines on your golem, wouldn’t you?”

There was a trace of exasperation in his tone. I tried to laugh it off.

“Isn’t it better to minimize our losses? Look how many people we saved!”

“Is that right? Then let me ask you this. If you knew that everyone else could be saved with your sacrifice alone, would you roll over and die?” Cain asked, his expression as stoic as ever.

Put on the spot, I was taken aback. “Oh... Um, not for strangers, I don’t think...”

There was no way I could sacrifice myself for total strangers. But if Cain, Reggie, or someone equally important were one of those people, I’d probably go through with it after giving it some long and hard thought.

Right then, I had a sudden revelation.

What? Does that mean I’m not actually afraid to die? But I ran away from home all because I didn’t want to be killed! Back then, I didn’t want to die a villain... So does that mean it’s fine as long as I’m a good guy? No, that’s not it. I am afraid of dying. Maybe not as much as I used to be, though.

I thought back to when I’d saved Reggie, and how I hadn’t been afraid for my own life. Death felt like a faraway concept, somehow. I didn’t want to get hurt, but I wasn’t scared to, either.

How strange. Maybe I was getting so used to war that I’d grown numb to it. I’d never thought of myself as a self-sacrificing person, though.

Someone approached us and said, in a voice laced with annoyance, “Kiara won’t give in to intimidation tactics, Wentworth.”

It was Reggie.

There was no longer any need for the prince to lead the charge, so he’d retired from the fray. However, as evidence of his sprint across the battlefield, a few bloodstains dotted his uniform.

“I was concerned that the capture of the fort could drag on too long, so I allowed you to do as you pleased... but how could I have guessed that even out of harm’s way, you’d find a way to injure yourself?”

Reggie stared long and hard at my left hand. Crap... He’s scaring me again. I reflexively hid it behind my back.

“Show me your hand, Kiara.”

I silently held out my right hand.

“I clearly meant the other one.”

Reggie made a sudden grab for my left hand. After examining the bandaged area, he touched my regrown fingernails and fingertips one by one, tracing the pads of my fingers.

Hey, that tickles!

I tried to take my hand back, but Reggie gripped it more firmly, denying me my escape. What an inventive new form of torture.

“Good. Nothing’s missing.”

Apparently he’d wanted to check that my fingers were okay, but he could’ve let go a little sooner.

Ignoring my gripes, Reggie spoke to Cain. “I have an idea. Since you’re by Kiara’s side all the time, I could use your help with it.”

After some thought, Cain responded, “Tell me more. Later.”

This meant Reggie might have Cain on board for his next plan.

Crap... What do they have in store for me? I’m scared.

As I contemplated my escape plan, I sensed somebody’s eyes on me. But when I looked behind me, all I saw was the mountain on the other side of the high road.

Must have been my imagination, I thought.

◇◇◇

“A child, hm?”

A certain young man watched from a distance, his gray eyes narrowed, as the wind further tousled his overgrown reddish-brown hair. He’d brought his horse to a stop, but the boy by his side rushed him along.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty, that’s quite enough playing around! We must leave this place at once!”

“Can’t we watch just a little bit longer? I came all this way to get a sneak peek when I heard the spellcaster was here. Besides, I have plenty of outstanding men working under me. I’m sure they can handle the upkeep and cleanup of the territories we’ve conquered all on their own. It takes only a little bit of bloodshed, after all. I’d prefer to enjoy myself with someone who takes a little more time and effort to kill.”

As a chuckle rumbled in the man’s throat and the edges of his mouth curled up in a smile, his wolfish countenance took on an even more sinister air.

The boy with him sighed.

Whenever Isaac made that face, it meant he would go to great lengths to toy with his desired opponent. The boy himself had fallen victim to the same fate, so he sympathized deeply with the new target—in other words, the spellcaster who had summoned an earth giant.

“Say, Mikhail. Do you think that earthen giant would topple over if you smashed both of its feet in one strike?”

“How exactly do you plan to accomplish that?”

“You’re my strategist. You figure it out.”

“I am NOT your strategist! I’m a mere lord-in-waiting!”

Mikhail’s protest implied that he wasn’t happy to be on the battlefront in the first place, but his master paid it no heed.

“If I decide something, then that’s how it is. The king’s word is law.”