“I told you not to act on your own! Why did you attack?!”
“Well, they were flying right above the army, weren’t they? I assumed they were hostile and attacked. Is that wrong? They might be enemy spies, you know. I thought it would be better to shoot them down than let them get away. Do you disagree?”
“You have a point,” said Grascas. “But I am the one in command of this army. Your careless attack got us hit by a nasty spell. You’ve hurt the army’s morale. That is the result of your actions, you understand? Now, you are to refrain from further independent action.”
“It wasn’t independent action, though. His Majesty ordered me to lead the Black Legion. I am not under your command, General.”
Yes. That was exactly the issue. Surely nobody would be so foolish as to think one army should have two commanders. They may have been two armies cooperating, each with their own leader, but in the end, they were both armies of Estoll. It stood to reason that they should act as one. And yet, by royal edict, Grascas’s authority did not extend to Reanna.
Her black-clad army was the reason the weak-kneed king and his ministers had confidence that they would win the war the prime minister had sweet-talked them into. Their number was five thousand. But combined with the forces under Grascas’s banner, they still only numbered twenty-five thousand soldiers. The kingdom of Sindoria could easily muster an army two or three times that size, and that would not even reflect the totality of their fighting strength. If they really went all out, they could muster a force ten times the size of Estoll’s army.
“Do you not see that your attack caused damage to your own forces?” Grascas demanded.
“Hee hee hee! I don’t see the problem with that. Now, stop worrying and get back to marching, if you please. We are on a schedule.” She smiled. She seemed to be saying that they should leave the injured behind.
Grascas, for his part, felt miserable. “Just no more rash actions. Let’s avoid taking casualties if we can.”
This was an invasion. If they met their opponent in the open field, their chances of victory fell even further. They had demanded the cooperation of merchants who traded with Sindoria, but their familiarity with the terrain only went so far. And yet, the war had been met with unanimous approval. That itself spoke to the extent of the prime minister’s authority in the country.
It had been a scant few years since the king, who had been improving as a ruler, suddenly announced that his wife had returned from the dead. Since then, the kingdom had changed immensely. It had become twisted.
Grascas was a soldier. It had been immediately obvious to him that they stood no chance of winning. The prince had agreed and given Grascas a secret order: to withdraw before their army suffered too much damage.
“Don’t worry, General!” Reanna’s eyes shone with a sinister light. “Our objective is the downfall of Sindoria. We have more than enough fighting power for that. Now, advance! For Estoll!”
Reanna was a delicate, flighty, beautiful girl who had no place on the battlefield. A less suspicious person might look at her and raise their voice in wonder to find such a girl here of all places. But Grascas was certain that the girl’s smile was that of a devil.
~ ‡ ~
Estoll was a land to the northeast, reigned over by an independent monarchy. In the olden days, it was nothing more than one of several small kingdoms struggling against the Holy Land’s domination, but since forming an alliance with the kingdom of Sindoria and adopting the Order of the Elect as its official religion, its status in the world had risen, making it the most significant of the minor kingdoms. It was in a relatively secure position, wedged between the Leegh mountain range and the Caves of Celgg, and the south of the kingdom was rich in magic steel and other ores. Most of the lands to the east, including Sindoria and the Heptarchy, used imported Estollian ore.
Perhaps it was due to the war, but the outskirts of Estoll hadn’t seemed like they saw much traffic. The capital, however, was a different story. Euto Fia, the capital of Estoll, was full of bustling life—so much so that it hardly seemed to be a time of war. There was a long line of merchants and adventurers and villagers all awaiting inspection at the city gate.
Aisha grabbed Nacht’s arm.
“Hey there,” Nacht said. “Something the matter?”
“We shouldn’t sneak into the city...”
“We shouldn’t?” Nacht blinked innocently.
“No, we shouldn’t!” Aisha said. “I want to follow the rules. Oh, don’t make that face, Mistress...”
They had been in line for thirty minutes. Aisha could tell that Nacht’s patience was running out.
“But you know,” Nacht said, “we’re a pair of unknown travelers coming to the royal capital. If we were in Sindoria I could name-drop Theresia or Elenora, but you know they might not let us in, right?”
“That would be terrible!” Aisha said. “Or...would it?” Ordinarily, being refused entrance to the city would be a tremendous problem. Safe and comfortable sleeping arrangements were of self-explanatory importance, but Nacht had her Second Home. There was no need to worry about where they were going to sleep.
“Of course it would!” Nacht said. “Don’t you wanna see the sights?”
Viewed from the sky, the city of Euto Fia had a charm completely unlike that of Free Market City. The urge to explore it was tugging at Nacht’s heart. The castle gates. The street lamps. The iron buildings. The intricate metalwork decorating every inch of the city. It was all very appealing. It was a feat of engineering that made clear the quality of Estoll’s craftspeople.
“If that’s all, let’s do it right and wait.” Aisha’s tone sounded a bit scolding, so Nacht decided to pass the time by squeezing her servant’s cheeks. “H-Hey!” she protested. “S-Stop that!”