Volume 8 Side Story Part 3

Katarina remarked.

Not only would that unnecessarily provoke Waldrind, which is obsessed with keeping up appearances, but there was even the possibility that it would hinder their negotiations with getting the Artuk Treaty to help them deal with Waldrind in the first place.

「I don’t know what the enemy is thinking, but we have no choice but to settle the matter on the battlefield. Don’t worry, I’ll lend you my strength. 」

Nina looked at her from the corner of her eye.

「Please, Katarina. Show me your power! 」

「Un, leave it to me! 」

Nodding to each other, the two rulers each began to prepare for battle. Dirk took the declaration of war very seriously, so they were sure that he would be coming back to settle things on the battlefield soon.

As expected, Dirk returned with his army only half a day later.

In the midst of the battlefield, Katarina opened her eyes widely. She couldn’t hide her shock, since she never expected that things would really go this far.

「Lady Katarina! 」

Marta’s voice beside her brought Katarina back to reality.

Suddenly, a bullet of light grazed Katarina’s hair and passed through her mount. After taking a breath, another blast came from behind her. The light from earlier–it must have been the crossbow belt infused with Crest’s holy light exploding. The groans of her allied soldiers confirmed this.
Bitterly, Katarina looked at Waldrind’s army. The heavily armored Heavy Knights and Dragoons lined up the frontlines.

The ranks of the Heavy Knights of Waldrind are made entirely of Lords who possess their own Crests. The source of their strength and the thing that made them be hailed as the strongest knights on the continent, lies in their heavy crossbows and the Banner of Marine Kraische that imbues the bolts of said heavy crossbows with the Crest’s power. Katarina knew that as well.

However, hearing it and seeing it with her own eyes are completely different things.

「Don’t stop! If you stop, you’ll be targeted! Keep running! 」

Giving instructions to her soldiers, Katarina focused on her own crest and activated her Banner, 「Pathfinder」, and also fled. The radiance enveloped the mounts of both Katarina and her men, doubling their running speed.

Katarina run to the right and left, dodging the Crest-imbued bullets that rained down on her. However, she couldn’t see any chance to jump out of their way for good.

「Even though there are only a few of them…! 」

Dirk’s forces were not a large one. There were several hundred soldiers and about fifty Heavy Knights that he brought against them, which was half the numbers of the combined Fargard and Medinia’s army.

But even so, those hundreds couldn’t be stopped by them. They brought the Heavy Knights to the front, advanced and subdued them with a volley of Crest-imbued crossbow bolts. Just by repeating that simple strategy, Waldrind was able to cause great damage to Fargard and Medinia’s side.

Now, the soldiers of both countries who were fighting against the Demonic Realm were by no means weak. However, besides Katarina, the only person who could resist the crossbow bolts of Waldrind’s army was Ink, a Medinian mercenary. She is an Arts user who wielded a weapon projected from another world, a gun. It is comparable to the heavy crossbow imbued with the power of the Crest in terms of range and destructive power.

However, it was impossible for them to hold back the entire enemy army with only Ink and Katarina alone.
The light of the Crest ran across the battlefield once again. Then there was an explosion, a scream, and a roar. Also, some of the soldiers died from the crossbow bolts this time.

Katarina turned the head of her mount towards the heavily armored knight. Then she tried to kick it in the stomach to charge forward…

「Please wait, Lady Katarina. 」

But Marta stopped her.

「Don’t stop me, Marta! I won’t let them do this to us anymore. I’ll charge at them and… 」

「You know as well as I do that a Lord cannot be allowed to die before her people. 」

Katarina was at a loss for words.

「Even if this castle falls, as long as Lady Katarina and Lady Nina are going to be safe, we’ll be able to fight another day, so please, don’t take this opportunity away from us by acting rashly. 」

Martha remarked while remaining calm. On the other hand, Katarina was still hesitant, but she only just now realized that she was about to say that she was going to charge the Heavy Knights of Waldrind with nothing but a glimmer of hope that charge will be successful… and then she realized something else.

Despite their advantage over them, for some reason, Waldrind’s formation was in disarray.

She thought that another ally of theirs had done something, but that wasn’t the case. This was because the trembling soldiers of Waldrind were turned with their backs against them.

Marta, who also noticed this, loosened her mouth slightly.

「Looks like he made it in time. 」
「Eh? 」

At the same time as she spoke those words, something flew high into the sky. It was not a rock or a weapon. They were Waldrind’s soldiers that have been launched into the air and were falling back towards the ground while screaming.

Surprised, Katarina strained her eyes.

Beyond the stunned Waldrind army, what could just be seen was a strange-looking giant colored in blue and white. Every time its powerful arms were swung, soldiers were blown away. That was…

「Orca! 」

Katarina spoke the name of a certain friend who once fought together with Katarin and Nina and the others to liberate the Tree Dargon Forest.

He is a young Beastman who has the appearance and power of a killer whale sealed in his body. However, after the liberation of the Demonic Realm, he should have left Fargard and gone on a new journey…

「Marta called me back. And now that I’m back here again, Lady Katarina… 」

「I know! 」

Katarina activated her Banner again.

「Orca has created an opening for us! Now is our chance! Everyone, follow me! 」

An even brighter glow covered the mounts of Fargard’s soldiers. With speed as fast as that of the wind, Katarina and the others dared to charge at the Waldrind’s army.

Orca’s surprise attack was a major turning point in the battle.
A beastman suddenly appeared at the back of Waldrind’s army and defeated the Heavy Knights with his overwhelming physical strength. Heavy Knights of Waldrind immediately tried to launch a counterattack against him, but Orca’s wounds were healing faster than Waldrind’s soldiers were able to inflict them, so they were unable to defeat him even though they were doing their best. The Beastmen’s regenerative abilities are simply too powerful for humans to ever hope of standing a chance against them.

Furthermore, when Orca entered the battlefield, he allowed the mercenary Ink and Katarina’s squad to exploit a gap that has been made in Waldrind’s formation, thanks to which Fargard’s and Medinia’s forces could start to divide them.

However, Dirk of Waldrind, who sensed their inferiority in the current situation, moved quickly. Instead of forcing his soldiers to keep trying to attack, he gathered his army and begun a retreat.

There were many injured soldiers on Furgard’s side, and the Medinian army did not have the strength to pursue Waldrind o their own. That being said, the battle that was meant to be Waldrind’s crushing victory ended up with their defeat.

In the evening, Orca was the last to return to the castle. He had many injured people with him.

「Orca! 」

As Catalina trotted closer to him, Orca carefully lowered the soldiers to the floor, undid his transformation and stood back up straight.

「It’s been a while, Katarina. How have you been? 」

Orca shows his teeth and smiled. His appearance as a human is that of a tanned, refined young man.

「Thank you for coming back, Orca. 」

「I told you before, didn’t I? This is my place. I’ll always come to your rescue in case of any crisis. 」
Orca pat himself on the chest.

Just like a year ago, the goodness in people oozed out of him.

「Orca! You saved us! As expected of you! Thank you! 」

Nina also arrives late.

「It was a really close call, but thanks to Orca and Ink, we managed to escape and are now safe! 」

「..No. The enemy has retreated way too quickly. They might be planning something dangerous again. 」

A sudden voice came from behind them. Before they all knew it, a girl with a cloak over her body and a hood was waiting for them there.

「What do you mean by that? 」

「They’re probably wait to see how that retreat goes, and they were measuring our strength. Next time, they’ll attack us in a way that will ensure their win. 」