The horde of enemy cavalrymen rushed forward while the members of their back lines fired off a rain of countless arrows. They yelled as they engaged—“Kill! Kill!!! KILL!!!”
I gave a quick shout, “Don’t try to defeat them! If we can injure them enough to make them retreat, that’ll be more than enough to—”
“Lady Hakurei, look at what the enemy is doing!”
Before my eyes, the cavalry was splitting into multiple smaller teams, moving so smoothly and in sync it was as if their entire army were a single living beast. Like this, our forces were forced to shoot arrows in a more scattered pattern, making them less effective. In the blink of an eye the enemy had closed the distance.
I clicked my tongue. One of their cavalrymen had managed to get so close to the abandoned fortress that there was just a wall between us, and I aimed and shot an arrow at him. He blocked it with a leather shield.
They’d finally managed to invade our stronghold.
“I’ll kill you!” the soldier yelled. Leaping over the stone ramparts, he swung his scimitar down at me.
I blocked the blow with my bow, but it wasn’t able to withstand the weight or the polished edge of the oncoming blade; the wood snapped. I rolled away from the attack and, in the same motion, unsheathed my sword. Two enemies gathered...three...four... I was barely managing to fight off attacks from all sides.
“Ah!”
It was the fifth cavalryman who thrust out with his spear and knocked the sword out of my hand. All around me, my soldiers were fighting for their lives.
“Lady Hakurei!!!”
Every time one of them swung their sword to try and save me, an enemy cavalryman parried the attack. Confident in their advantage, the enemy’s expressions were painted with barbaric satisfaction. Their complexions and hair were both dusky—too dark to come from the Ei Empire. Fighting back tears, I gripped the hilt of my dagger and whispered, “Sekiei...”
The cavalryman who had broken through my guard held the tip of his spear close to my face and said something to me in a foreign tongue. I couldn’t understand but knew that guttural gasp that ended his sentence wasn’t natural. The cavalryman fell off his horse, an arrow penetrating his neck.
“Huh?” I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. More and more arrows were raining down from outside the abandoned fortress. The enemy cavalrymen had been gloating, proud of their imminent victory. Now they were all lying on the ground, arrows protruding from their foreheads, chests, and necks.
Wh-What is happening?
With a sudden thunk, an arrow landed in the wall right next to me. I stumbled towards it and saw that there was a piece of paper wrapped around the shaft. My heart skipped a beat and I hurried to tear free the note and open it. I would recognize the hand that had written the message anywhere, for I was more familiar with it than even my father’s writing.
“Gramps and Asaka are on the way with reinforcements. Hold the line until they arrive. You’re in for a scolding tonight!”
Courage welled in my heart; he was such an idiot. I picked up the spear from the ground next to me and yelled to my soldiers, “Everyone, keep it up! Reinforcements—Raigen and his troops—will be here soon!”
Like me, the soldiers who had been taken off guard by the situation raised their voices and cheered. With new strength, they started to repel the enemies that still remained.
We can do this! Thanks to those arrows of his reducing their number, we can still do this! My will to fight burned, but before I even had a chance to move, a voice rang out over the battlefield—
“Listen, you scum! My name is Chou Sekiei, son of the National Shield, Chou Tairan! If any of you lowlifes think you can take my head, then come and get it!!!”
All of the remaining soldiers in the abandoned fortress looked at each other in shock, their breaths catching in their throats in an audible gasp. Then, one by one, we all turned our attention to the direction the voice had come from.
On the hill behind the enemy cavalrymen, a young man with black hair pulled on the reins of the white horse he rode, a bow held aloft in his hand. We were still in a perilous situation—and yet I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of relief upon seeing him.
Of course, part of me was deeply angry with him. I couldn’t endure the fact that he announced himself without hesitation, using his own life and head as bait without even a second thought. The joy at seeing him was so overwhelming, however, that it drowned out any negative emotion.
He must have been so worried about me and my stubbornness that he’d set up multiple plans in advance on the off chance that something happened. That way, he would be able to come to my aid without wasting any time.
Sekiei has always been this way. He always makes sure that I— I didn’t have time to finish my thought.
Sekiei’s white mount started moving, and as it did a young female soldier who had been scouting the enemy yelled, “It appears that about half of the enemy’s forces are pursuing Lord Sekiei!”
I took a sharp intake of breath and clenched my fist. You idiot! Sekiei, you idiot! I’m going to have so many words with you when you get back! I slapped my hands against my cheeks and looked back at my soldiers.
“Everyone, take up your arms! We must survive until reinforcements arrive!”