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THE Eylish army proceeded with the scorched-earth strategy at a steady pace, taking advantage of the fact that the Farunian army wasn’t pursuing them. The soldiers seized food from towns and villages and poisoned wells. Then, they said this to the citizens: “Rely on the coming Farunian army. Get food supplies from them. That is your duty.”
The country that ought to have protected them, its own people, had betrayed them and was trying to use them to obstruct an enemy country. And it was hard to imagine that the notorious Farune would extend a helping hand to the citizens of Eyland. In the midst of a desperate situation, the people of Eyland were overcome with sorrow.
Unsurprisingly, one of these places—the village of Nest, which had been the very first to lose its food supply—had fallen into destitution. The villagers were quenching their thirst with water from the nearest river, but the few scraps of food they had hidden away were already almost exhausted. The surrounding towns and villages were in a similar state, so it wasn’t like they could seek help from them either.
“At this rate, we’ll starve…”
Were they supposed to eat grass, or start gnawing on tree roots? Tormented by their empty stomachs, the villagers began to fear that they wouldn’t even live to see the next day.
It was then that the Farunian army came along. Luckily, they were only passing nearby, and showed no indications that they would be stopping at the village.
Farune’s main force was made up of a bunch of battle maniacs known as the Hundred. They were practically demons, said to suck the lifeblood out of monsters and devour their flesh. On top of that, they also engaged in fights to the death with each other in the arena back in Farune on a nearly daily basis. The citizens of that country got their kicks from betting money on the outcomes of those very fights. Basically, the place was a total hellhole.
As one might expect from people who had heard these stories, the villagers paid close attention to the Farunian army’s movements. What in the world did they look like? How fierce were they, really? Depending on the answers to these questions, the villagers might have found themselves with no choice but to flee their homes.
Following a village-wide conversation, three young people were selected to go investigate the Farunian army. They discreetly approached using their knowledge of the lay of the land, then observed their targets from a distance. Contrary to expectations, though, Farunian warriors in the flesh looked no different from regular humans—though they were certainly extremely muscular.
And what was this? They were marching ahead calmly while engaging in friendly chatter. They hardly gave the impression that they would be unwilling to talk, and they didn’t seem like they were going to attack and loot the village, either. The important-looking man riding a horse up front had to be the king of Farune, and although he was wearing a forbidding-looking suit of pitch-black armor, he had ordinary, kindhearted features. A woman rode a white horse next to him, someone who looked pure and beautiful, like the reincarnation of a goddess. She was speaking to the king affectionately, while he responded curtly. From an outsider’s point of view, his attitude could have been taken as a sign of hidden embarrassment, so the two looked from afar as if they were flirting.
It hardly seemed the terrifying army of rumor.
The three lookouts hurriedly returned to the village and reported to the mayor that the Farunians didn’t look so bad.
The mayor thought it over—this changed things. If, in contrast with the rumors, the king was someone they could make a deal with, maybe he would share his supplies with them. And, considering the fact that the other towns and villages were in similarly dire straits, it would be in the village’s favor for them to seek aid quickly.
“Let’s get the king of Farune to help us,” the mayor decided. After all, they wouldn’t be able to endure their hunger for much longer.
Guided by the three young lookouts, the mayor headed to the Farunian army—after cautioning everyone to flee the village if he didn’t come back.
Meanwhile, the Eylish army had organized mercenaries, adventurers, and other irregulars into a separate detachment and made them lie in wait for an ambush on the highway the Farunian army was expected to use for their supply route. The Eylish had stripped the land of its food supplies, but that would be meaningless if they didn’t also cut off the enemy’s own supplies. The hidden detachment silently waited for the Farunian supply corps, which was bound to come soon.
However, days passed, and it still didn’t show up. It was odd. There was no way an army with several thousand soldiers on the march could go without supplies. Their daily food consumption should have been quite high, so regular replenishment would have been absolutely necessary. In theory, they could have been using wizards to teleport their supplies, but magic wasn’t suited to carrying massive quantities of goods—it was just too inefficient. Ultimately, the safest choice would have been to transport their supplies by cart.
What the hell are those Farunians eating? the adventurers and mercenaries of the Eylish detachment wondered, suspicious of their enemy’s behavior.