Knight’s & Magic: Volume 6, page 15
“There’s no need to chase them, as long as the fleet is safe. We’re not here to eradicate the monsters,” said Ernie.
The Izumo and the flying silhouette knights saw the monsters off, refusing to let down their guards. Luckily, none of the small monsters had reached the levitating ships. No fatal damage had been done, and the flying silhouette knights were likewise fine. It was a miraculous result, considering the nature of the monsters they’d fought.
“I’m glad it all turned out okay. I was worried there for a while.” Tolsti let out a long sigh of relief from the Order of the Violet Swallow’s flagship.
He might have expected a monster that was powerful on its own, like a behemoth, but he’d never prepared for a species that was powerful in numbers. If they hadn’t been able to take advantage of their weakness—the nests—they would have had to prepare themselves to sacrifice at least one ship.
His gaze shifted to the armored warrior standing atop the Izumo. “So that’s Ikaruga, the personal silhouette knight of the captain of the Order of the Silver Phoenix. It looks very intimidating, compared to its pilot. Still, that bombardment was insane.”
The Order of the Silver Phoenix was also known for its incredible proficiency in combat. Though its captain, Ernesti, always started with his creations when talking about achievements.
They were already head and shoulders above the other knight orders, and yet Ikaruga still had this much power. At this point, Tolsti was just being repeatedly impressed by how incredible the Order of the Silver Phoenix was.
“Of course His Majesty would rely on them. Having him protecting this fleet is nothing but reassuring.” Tolsti’s faith in the success of this journey rose considerably.
The flying silhouette knights continued to be vigilant of their surroundings as the monsters left, but after a while they returned to the ships.
Raphael looked out at the once-again-quiet skies and bit his lip. “In the end, we weren’t enough to protect the ships. Why are we even here...?”
The Izumo’s rear hatch opened, and the crane arm grabbed the units and brought them inside.
Eventually, it came to Raphael’s turn, and he could feel some slight shaking as the crane arm pulled his unit in. After the crane arm, it was the silhouette gear’s turn. The knight runners couldn’t get out until their units were properly secured. In the meantime, he absentmindedly gazed out at the goings-on in the hangar.
Eventually his eyes settled on Ikaruga, which was secured in the rear of the hangar.
“The leader unit of the Order of the Silver Phoenix... As expected of the real thing. But we don’t plan on staying in the supporting role!” As soon as Raphael disembarked, he walked off with renewed determination.
◆
Almost a month had passed since Ernesti had left for the Great Bocuse Forest.
Today, in the Kingdom of Fremmevilla—more specifically, Fort Orvesius—Dietrich, Second Company’s commander, was lazing around. “I wonder how Ernesti and the others are doing right now?”
“Probably defeating monsters left and right,” Helvi replied listlessly. She was also lazing around.
“The Bocuse is absolutely crawling with monsters, after all...”
Dietrich and Helvi weren’t alone. The entire fort was wrapped in a laid-back—or rather, totally listless—mood. The reason was simple: Most of their order was essentially on vacation and had nothing to do.
Without their captain, the order had basically stopped. Though they would be asked to help eliminate monsters every once in a while, it wasn’t much different from a full vacation compared to the flurry of activity when Ernie was around.
Thanks to that, Dietrich was lazing around in front of the workshop.
“In the end, Guairelinde fits me way more than a flying silhouette knight,” he said as he looked at his personal unit, which was sitting on a maintenance table. He clenched his fist tightly.
Beside him, Helvi stretched her arms up to the sky. “Hm... As for my company, we’ve gotten pretty used to them. I think I’m okay with either at this point.”
“Of course Third Company would be like that. But does that mean you won’t be using your Tzenndrimbles anymore?”
“I don’t think so. In the end, when First and Second Companies need moving, we’ll have to go back to the carriages.” Despite what Helvi said, it’d been a while since they’d last used Tzenndrimbles, since flying silhouette knights had been the order of the day for the past while. She didn’t sound too confident.
“If you guys are just gonna stay in the same units, does that mean Third Company’s going to be the only ones fighting in the sky?”
“Ah...you know the new equipment for melee silhouette knights? It’s not something I really want to use in aerial combat. It’s more of a support piece.” Dietrich crossed his arms, thinking of the new equipment he was shown before the Izumo left. “Also, most of the knightsmiths left on the Izumo. Without the captain or the boss, I can’t just test it as I please.”
Without the people that would fix things if something went wrong, there was no point in conducting tests. The new equipment would have to wait, gathering dust, until the others were back.
“There’s not much to do, so why not just rest?” Helvi asked.
“Are you sure you should be saying that when you’ve been training in a flying silhouette knight too?”
“Oh, come on, what’s wrong with that? Testing out new models is my hobby.”
“You sound like Ernesti...”
Helvi groaned at that and averted her gaze.
Dietrich shrugged. “So? In the end, you refused too, didn’t you?”
“Hm? Oh, well, yeah.” Helvi’s gaze met his again, but her expression was still unclear.
“Oh, I get it. You’ll go with Edgar, whatever he decides, right?”
“Grk! I’m actually anxious about that. If anything, my reasoning is close to yours, Dee.” Helvi looked over at her flying silhouette knight. “Part of me thinks it’d be fun to continue being a test runner while sometimes fighting in a Tzenndrimble or a Twedianne.”
Long ago now, when the Tellestarle had been made, she’d been appointed the test runner. She had accepted in order to recover from her loss, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t enjoyed it. She’d gotten to stay with the new models as they took shape, stood on their own two feet, and were eventually sent off to battle. Anyone would have gotten at least somewhat attached. Also, they’d stayed at the forefront of things with the Tzenndrimble and the Twedianne, sharing both pain and joy.
“And in the end, I don’t think I’m suited to being a knight captain,” said Helvi. “I’m honestly amazed I made it as a company commander.” She shook her head with a wry smile.
“You were chosen to lead Third Company because you like new things so much,” said Dietrich.
“By that logic, you’d be the only one capable of leading Second Company.” Helvi couldn’t help but laugh thinking of Second Company’s unofficial designation. Meanwhile, it was Dee’s turn for a wry smile.
A single silhouette knight appeared while Dietrich and Helvi were talking. It was a pure-white machine: Edgar’s Aldiradcumber.
Dietrich watched the white silhouette knight walk into the workshop while the ground rumbled around it, and he raised his hand in a very apathetic greeting. “Well, if it isn’t Fremmevilla’s newest lord knight captain. It’s been a while.”
Edgar had been away from the fort for some time. Once he disembarked from his machine, he hung his coat nearby and took an empty seat. “Hearing you call me that is really weird. Anyway, things have been going well, I’d say.”
Edgar had contacted the scouts who’d come to Fort Orvesius the other day and gone off to talk to them.
“To tell you the truth, I met with a certain noble,” Edgar confessed. “He saw Aldirad and was very impressed. His first offer was to head up a guardian knight order of a fairly large city, but from the way he was talking, the offer might get bigger.”
Dietrich’s immediate reaction was to whistle. “That’s amazing. Leading a guardian knight order normally requires a lot of prior achievements and a pretty significant amount of trust. You’ve managed to surpass that requirement. I’d expect nothing less, milord.”
“I told you that’s weird. Knock it off,” said Edgar. “I can’t stand it.”
“Can’t stand it? Now who’s being weird?” Dietrich retorted.
“But now you’ve joined Ernie as a knight captain,” said Helvi.
“And now I’m suddenly not sure I should be happy about that,” said Edgar.
It was understandable, given what their nearest example of a knight commander was like. In a sense, Ernie had a wealth of trust and achievements, but at the same time he was an incorrigible silhouette knight nerd and was basically always running riot. The same image came to all three of their minds, and they exchanged looks before bursting out laughing.
Their laughter calmed down after a while, and Dietrich took this opportunity to ask another question. “Leading a knight order is a dream any knight would have. Anyone would be happy to have it so close to coming true. So what’s up with that look on your face?”
Edgar froze, surprised, and he looked over at Helvi.
“He’s right. You’re about fifty percent more tedious than usual,” she confirmed.
“What?” Edgar’s brows shot up in shock. Dietrich was one thing, but even Helvi had agreed. He was usually calm, with a lot of self-restraint, so his expression was hard to read, but that didn’t apply to the other two; they’d known him for too long. He reflexively let out a breath and a strained chuckle. “It’s good that things are going so smoothly. Just... I’m worried about what will happen to First Company.”
“Right. Isn’t someone supposed to come to replace you?” Helvi tilted her head.
“I heard about that, but I’ve been with them all this time. It’s only natural to wonder what’ll happen to them, right? Especially since this is basically me being selfish.” Edgar’s gaze went to the Kardetolles in the workshop. The ones with white crosses on them belonged to First Company.
“Jeez, you’re so serious. You don’t need to worry about that. It doesn’t really matter who takes the job, before the might of our lord knight captain. In fact, I’d be more worried if the newbie would be able to keep up...”
The Order of the Silver Phoenix’s most important mission was to support its captain’s stunts. That, and to challenge powerful monsters that could shake the very earth. Either way, no one normal would last very long among its ranks.
“Actually, no, it’d work out no matter what,” said Dietrich. “If whoever comes lacks the skills, I can just beat them into shape. I won’t let the successor of our generation’s greatest make a fool of themselves.”
“You... Did you actually enjoy playing instructor?” Edgar looked exasperated at Dietrich’s creepy smile. It seemed something had awakened within Dietrich when they’d trained the Order of the Violet Swallow. Special training from an elite veteran of a war in the west would be waiting for this mysterious successor.
“Well, basically what I’m saying is that you don’t need to worry, Edgar,” said Dietrich. “You can feel free to go down the path you’ve chosen.”
Edgar gasped, his eyes widening. They’d seen through what had been niggling inside of him. Now he could only laugh. Finally, the crease in Edgar’s brow disappeared. “Yeah, I owe you one. I’ll definitely pay you back someday.”
“Sure, I’ll wait. Not that I’m expecting much.”
Helvi had been listening while leaning back in her seat, and now she looked up to the sky with a full-faced smile. The sky was nice and clear, and while it was quiet now, in the near future it might be filled with passing levitating ships.
“Mmm!” she said with a big stretch. “Now then, I wonder when our little captain will be back? Let’s keep taking it easy until then.”
With that, the three thought of what lay far to the East.
Chapter 53: Poison-Spreading Monster
The fleet continued across the skies over the Great Bocuse Forest, proceeding with increased vigilance after their encounter with those unknown monsters.
They were avoiding danger as much as possible while watching out for any abnormalities. All this effort bore fruit; while they occasionally encountered monsters, most of these ended peacefully with them able to make detours.
Even if combat were to break out, they had two companies of flying silhouette knights, spellfire-specialized silhouette knights, and Ikaruga to complete an iron wall; not many monsters could pierce through such a defense. Monsters with special abilities or the tendency to attack with massive numbers were a rarity.
At any rate, they had safely traveled through the sky for two months.
“The map’s gotten a lot bigger,” Ernie said.
“We got into some scrapes, but I’d still say this trip’s been going smoothly,” replied Tolsti. “We’ve done well gathering the information needed to chart detour routes.”
The two knight captains were conversing as they peered down at a map. This map charted aerial routes, marking where they’d been along with some topographical details of the surrounding area. It had gotten much bigger compared to its original state.
“It seems there aren’t as many monsters in the forest as we thought either. And this is just referencing the view from the sky, but it didn’t look like there were that many powerful ones.”
It was normal for extremely powerful monsters that could be categorized into division-class or above to be suitably large. Their size would make them easily noticeable from far away, and they’d leave behind large traces as well. Any monster not visible from the sky likely wasn’t powerful enough to be that big.
“We have enough leeway with our supplies. But we should think about how far we want to go,” said Ernie.
“An easy distance for levitating ships would be difficult in the extreme to traverse on the ground. Even if we referenced this map, it would be hard to go this far all at once. Considering that, it might be best to return while we still have some leeway, but...”
They exchanged opinions before coming to a decision. They hadn’t encountered many monsters, and the initial nerves were leaving the group. Furthermore, they’d been spending some time living in the sky now, and both the knight runners and maintenance team were starting to miss the ground.
Also, they needed to bring these results back; but right when they decided to head back, it happened.
◆
A flock of birds rode the wind through the sky. Eventually, they noticed something large approaching from behind them, and they turned around with large flaps of their wings.
Flying boats—called levitating ships—parted the air through where the flock of birds had just been. This was the exploration fleet for the Great Bocuse Forest formed by Fremmevilla Kingdom’s Order of the Silver Phoenix, with their Wing Carrier—the Izumo—as the flagship. Ernesti watched the birds absentmindedly from the Izumo’s bridge as the ship traveled at the head of the fleet.
“To starboard. It seems we’re at a dead end,” shouted the boss.
David’s loud voice came from behind Ernesti, and the bridge crew echoed the orders. Batson spun the wheel, eliciting slight creaks, and the view outside the glass slowly started flowing to the side. The flock of birds left view, and Ernie pouted a little.
In front of the fleet, far off in the distance, lay a range of mountains shrouded in clouds. With how the levitating ships were designed, changing elevation consumed a lot of resources. If they tried to rise high enough to cross the mountains in front of them, they’d quickly eat through their etherite reserves.
So, the fleet slowly changed headings, grazing the feet of the mountains instead. Ernie looked down, finding a river and following it along its path.
“Those are some steep mountains,” he said. “Like the Auvinier Mountains.”
“Maybe even bigger,” the boss replied. “The upper reaches are so cloudy I can’t see their peaks.”
This natural wall created by the steep peaks continued so high up that the sky itself seemed to hide their true height. As the boss said, they could have been even taller than the Auvinier Mountains.
“There’s a river flowing down from the mountains, and the terrain here at the base is full of gentle slopes. If we manage to get this far, this could be the site of a second Fremmevilla,” Ernie noted.
“Seems we found a good souvenir just as we were about to turn back.”
They made sure to note the details of this new, promising land they’d found on the map. That was when they noticed the first stirrings of what was to come.
The first one to notice was the patrolling Twedianne platoon. A section of the forest suddenly erupted in noise as something strange appeared. It rose before their eyes, approaching the fleet. The trained knight runners had sharp vision, and they quickly caught onto the shadow that was approaching.
“Is that a monster? It seems different to what we’ve seen so far.”
“A warning to the Izumo: Hurry! This one seems at least duel-class. Don’t let your guards down!”
The knight runners immediately lit up their Magisgraphs. The fleet behind them received their warning signals and tensed up. During this time, the flying silhouette knights turned to get a good look at their enemy.
“That shape... A bug type, I see. It’s big; I said it was duel-class, but it might be more.”
The monster was completely covered in a shell—a beetle type with wings spread out of its back. Especially noteworthy were the long horns extending out of its head. All combined, the creature was longer than the flying silhouette knights. It buzzed its wings, emitting a low sound as it ascended.
“Watch out for those horns. Seems like it could gore even a Twedianne.”
“I know. But...there’s only one? Let’s just kill it with spellfire.”
The scout platoon continued to be vigilant of the surroundings for a while, but nothing strange popped up other than the monster in front of them. So, they decided to eliminate it with a preemptive attack. The platoon separated from each other, positioning themselves so as to surround the monster before bathing it in spellfire. The bug-type monster saw the scarlet firebolts coming at it and attempted to ascend faster.
