“Enemy monster forces sighted a quarter-mile ahead!”
“Ready the long-distance magic! …Fire!”
On Hilda’s command, magic bullets of all four colors were unleashed. They traced an arc over the highway, raining down and tearing a good portion of the monsters to pieces.
“Enemy forces are still advancing!”
“No problem, just keep firing. The soldiers at the front can handle this. Vanguard, forward!” This time Rod, commanding the front lines, gave the orders. The mages that excelled at close-quarters combat readied their magic wands and swords capable of channeling their power.
“They may outnumber us, but we make up for quantity with quality. Don’t falter! Force them back!” Rod commanded as he led the charge, clashing with the approaching goblins and ogres.
The Nur and Bauer soldiers were well trained, but there was no escaping injury in this battle. Once injured, however, a soldier traded places with another and fell back to receive healing before immediately returning to the front line.
Just like during the invasion of the capital, the monsters seemed to attack with no fear of death. Thankfully, none were attacking from behind, but the density of monsters we encountered drastically increased as we neared the capital. The imperial army seemed a bit unused to fighting monsters that didn’t fear death, having been used to fighting wars against humans until recently.
“How vexing,” Claire quietly muttered. It frustrated her to only watch as everyone else fought.
Our Bauer-Nur alliance was advancing on Ruhm just before the end of the two-week deadline the Demon Queen had declared. Actually, Manaria and Lene were also participating in this battle, so I supposed it would have been more accurate to call this a four-nation alliance rather than strictly only Bauer and Nur. Manaria’s participation was understandable with her power, but it probably came as a surprise to hear Lene was with us. She wasn’t here to fight, however, but to work together with Dole in Bauer on directing the flow of supplies and provisions. The Nur forces numbered in the tens of thousands. Add in the Bauer reinforcements, and you had an army so large that upkeep was no joke. Money, supplies, and provisions needed to be moved, and Lene had the business acumen to manage those logistics. She might not have had any fighting prowess to speak of, but she was as irreplaceable an asset to this battle as Dole. Between the two of them, both ends of the supply chain were secure.
As I’ve touched on before, the ones who were going to fight the Demon Queen directly were a small group that included Claire and me. This was because the Demon Queen was too vastly powerful, so we had to face her while using Claire as a shield, as reluctant as I was to do so. The real purpose of the alliance was purely to deliver us to her. There was a chance that the Demon Queen would strike us along the way, but I doubted it, as if she did, she would risk accidentally striking Claire. Anyway, while indeed vexing, for now we needed to preserve our strength as the rest of the allied army fought for us.
“The problem is Platos and Socrat,” Claire said.
“Right. Unlike the Demon Queen, those two won’t hold back on killing you,” I agreed. Rather, they will be actively going out of their way to kill you, I thought, though I didn’t voice the concern.
According to reports from scouts, Platos had taken up position in front of the imperial castle, but Socrat’s whereabouts were still unknown. Because of that, we had to advance while remaining vigilant of ambush by Socrat. But who was to say exhausting us psychologically wasn’t his true aim from the get-go?
“It’s been a week since we departed from Zurück,” Claire said. “We should be within sight of the imperial castle soon. I feel if Socrat were to attack, now would have to be the time, but…”
“Nothing’s happening,” I said, finishing her thought. At this rate, we would reach the capital without encountering Socrat. I would be thankful if we could avoid needless battles, but something felt off.
“There’s no point worrying about it, though.”
“Sister…”
“Lady Manaria…”
Having overheard us, Manaria came over and put a hand on Claire’s shoulder. Claire seemed to relax a touch, but I grew a little heated. Who said you could touch my Claire like that? I’ll bite you! Grrr.
“We just have to do our best. There’s nothing to gain from worrying over what’s outside our control,” Manaria said.
“Yes, you’re right,” Claire said.
“So you say, but you still seem a bit concerned.”
Claire smiled sadly.
“Are you worried about May and Aleah?” Manaria asked.
“It seems there’s nothing I can hide from you,” Claire said with resignation.
May and Aleah were near the center of the allied army, together with TAIM. TAIM claimed that was the safest place to be, but we found it hard to fully trust her. Rather, how could we fully trust her after she threatened to kill our beloved daughters? I honestly doubted my sanity for having even entrusted the twins’ well-being to her, but logically, I understood it was better to act on the very real chance of an imminent attack and not the unknown potential danger TAIM represented. We had managed to group Yu and Misha with them at least—oh, and Ralaire was with them too, of course—but that was all we could do. I couldn’t shake the fear that we were dancing in the palm of TAIM’s hand.
“I don’t trust that TAIM either,” Manaria said. “But I get the feeling she really can’t lie.”
“Yes, Rae thinks the same,” Claire said.
“I doubt anything bad will happen to May and Aleah for the time being, then. But even if something does happen, Cardinal Yu and Misha are with them,” Manaria said. However, Claire’s anxious expression didn’t clear. We should have been in Yu and Misha’s place, but we had our own duties to fulfill. If Platos or Socrat attacked, it would be our job to buy time until the main fighting force could arrive.
Platos and Socrat were exceptionally strong for demons. The average mage would only needlessly add to the body count if they tried to face them. But we couldn’t have our main fighting force grouped up from the get-go or we’d be too slow to respond.
“The imperial castle is within sight!” someone from the front reported. As I looked forward, I could somewhat make out the imposing structure myself. The path to it was littered with monsters.
“Just a little farther! Clear a path!” Hilda rallied the troops.
The soldiers cheered, raining down long-distance magic and cutting away the monsters from up close. In this way, our march continued for a couple more hours.
“Mages, cease fire!”
“Vanguard, fall back!”
Without warning, Hilda and Rod withdrew the troops. Wondering what had happened, I strained my eyes forward and saw a large figure standing at the fore.
“Enjoying your walk, humans?” He wore a simple animal pelt of the sort a caveman might wear and held a large club. His muscles looked as impenetrable as a fortress, and a pair of bat wings stretched from his back. There was no mistaking him: Platos of the Three Great Archdemons.
Claire and I ran forward to the front as planned.
“Good afternoon, Platos,” Claire greeted him. “Lovely weather today, is it not?”
“Well, if it ain’t Claire François herself. Yeah, it really is lovely weather. Fitting for yer sorry species’ last day on this earth.”
“Why has one of the Three Great Archdemons been relegated to guard duty?” I asked. “Is the demon army that lacking in personnel?”
“Hah, please. The demon army is just for show. If she wanted to, our queen could annihilate everyone herself. All of this? Just her killing time.”
“No. As long as I’m alive, she can’t do a thing. And we’re keeping it that way,” Claire said.
“Humph. We’ll see about that.” Platos swung his club down and bashed the ground. Previously, this wide-area attack had devastated us. But not now.
“You really think the same move would work on me twice?” I asked as I manipulated the earth between us with my magic, stopping the shock waves in their tracks.
“Feh… Quit your pointless struggling already.”
Something felt off. Platos lacked spirit. He had been far more hot-blooded the first time we encountered him, as well as that time with the Demon Queen. “What’s wrong, Platos?” I asked. “Where’d your usual vigor go?”
“Heh, looks like I couldn’t hide it. You’ll understand once you meet the Demon Queen. Not that—” He swung his club “—I plan on letting you through!” He yelled, charging toward us as he brandished his weapon.
“Barrier, stop his advance.” A calm voice reached my ears.
“Hrrk?!” Platos groaned as he collided with something invisible.
“Your Holiness!” I shouted.
“And Lady Yu and Misha!” Claire echoed.
“It seems we managed to gather in time,” the pope said.
Yu and Misha followed on her heels.
“I hope you don’t mind us joining in.”
“We’re here to help.”
Our earlier conversation with Platos hadn’t been to build rapport or anything. As I had explained, our role was to buy time for our main fighting force to arrive.
“Mama Rae, Mama Claire!”
“We’re here too!”
“And me!”
May, Aleah, and Lilly arrived as well. Now all our main fighters were present.
“You all keep crawling out of the woodwork like pests. But that’s fine by me—I’ll take you all down!” Platos yelled.
And so our battle with Platos of the Three Great Archdemons began.