We stayed in Dragonjaw Gate for a full day to recover the strength we would need for the trek to the capital. Three days of marching without rest was harsh on the priests and attendants, and the soldiers and dragon riders needed the rest as well.
A room with a roof, and warm meals. Pretty simple, yet it felt like the finest luxury.
I awoke the next morning to the sound of garrison soldiers racing around the barracks. I arbitrarily nabbed someone and asked what was going on, only to find out the orcs had appeared at the entrance to the valley. An emergency order had been issued. I gave the soldier my thanks, got my appearance in order, and made for the watch tower where the head of the garrison was supposed to be.
Sir Rigel was one step ahead of me, deep in discussion as he and Herbert glared out at the orcs. Noticing I’d arrived, they bowed to me briefly and then turned back to the enemy again. Herbert’s eyes were so sharp, I could hardly recognize him as the same despondent old man I’d seen only yesterday.
“I never thought I’d see the day when orcs would advance on these walls,” Herbert said with a groan.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m not chastising you, Rigel. But with those numbers… I didn’t doubt your report, but I didn’t truly believe it until I saw it for myself.”
The orcish legions were gushing forth from the forest near the mouth of the valley. Their front line was already in formation at the entrance, and there they seemed to come to a halt.
“Are they blocking off the pass? If they came up to us, we’d flood them out,” Herbert said.
“That will make it difficult for our other expeditions to return.”
“Hmph, a fitting end for those impudent fools who ignored Her Majesty’s summons and went off to line their own pockets.”
“But that will leave this year’s harvest at a terrible low. Her Majesty would not have wanted the people to starve.” Rigel spoke calmly. Still… What were they talking about? I thought I got the general idea but needed to be sure.
“Sir Rigel, there were expeditions besides ours? Also, what is this harvest you speak of?”
“You weren’t informed? Then let me explain.”
“If you would.”
“To start with, the orcs are a foul race that was created by the False God when the world was first formed. Therefore, it stands to reason that vanquishing them is the duty of every knight. For fame and virtue, the feudal lords have each formed subjugation forces in their own territories.”
“I see. Then the other expeditions would be those detached units.”
“Indeed. Once upon a time, the orcs resided in the distant wasteland of the south. However, in the past hundred years they’ve migrated north. Now they’ve built settlements only a few days from the mountains. We must push their territory south again. As I said, it’s a knight’s duty to subjugate them.”
“And what about the harvest?”
“Truth be told, fame and virtue aren’t enough to move anyone. Even amassing an army takes money.”
“That’s the feudal lords’ main objective,” Herbert cut in. “Alongside defeating orcs, they also take the food and goods they find at their settlements. It’s an outrageously profitable enterprise. That’s how I made a name for myself.”
Pretty much what I expected.
Rigel went on, “As you might imagine, the orcs don’t always submit. They will, at times, gather numbers and resist. In those cases, it is the duty of the monarchy to unite our forces and fight them off. On this campaign, when we heard the orcs had amassed a great army in response to our invasion, we sent a summons to the subjugation parties that were already on that side of the gate.” He sighed. “But only half of them gathered. Worse yet, our dragons chose that time to go to the peaks.”
It seemed that I had been summoned as this unit was coming together. Meaning that the folks of this world called me with the intention of having me aid their pillaging. Hey, I’ve been summoned for stupid reasons before. If I’m remembering right, I ended up in my fourth world when someone tried to summon a “helper demon” to find a lost item.
The intent of the summoner notwithstanding, whenever I’d been summoned, there was always some crisis putting the world at risk. Whether I fulfilled the goal of the summoner or not, I couldn’t return until the world was saved. Right, I never did end up finding what they lost.
I just wanted to finish things quickly and go home. This would be my thirteenth disappearance. My mother probably wouldn’t be too worried at this point, but some…troublesome things might happen if I took too long. Who’s to say my mother wouldn’t finally give up on me while I was gone and leave my room an empty shell? If that room goes away, I’ll have nowhere left to go. That would be troublesome indeed.
Now, back on topic.
“You’re saying that the subjugation forces that didn’t answer Her Highness’s summons are stranded on the other side of that orc army.”
“That they are. But they get what they deserve. Had they marched with Her Highness, perhaps the war would have turned out differently,” Herbert said with disgust.
But I had to wonder. Even if we’d had double the troops, I doubted we would have been able to win in those circumstances.
Small firearms echoed at the mouth of the valley. I focused my eyes but couldn’t see where they had been fired from. Most likely a blind spot from here. Would those stranded armies try to return, oblivious, only to run into the orcish legions? Perhaps they would try to force their way through.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Rigel said. “Time is of the essence. We must return to the capital and report the gravity of the situation.”
With Rigel urging me on, I turned to the stairs. I needed to get ready to go.
✦ ✦ ✦
Our arrival at Dragonjaw Gate marked the dissolution of the allied armies, who had united for the sole purpose of combating the orcs. The few survivors were offered meager travel fees and food—little reward for their efforts and losses. But they took it with lips shut and set off to their homelands. Modest as the rewards were, they were lucky that they even had their wounds treated. The title-less mercenaries were not provided even that.
Taking along a few of the major priests, Rigel and I hurried down the road to the capital.