第４５０堀：しんのゆうしゃはまけない (Part1)
**Chapter 450: The True Hero Does Not Lose**
**Side: Yuki**
"Repeating: The defense of Ranks is a success. Those who were on standby, please return to your respective posts. Detailed reports will be provided tomorrow. This concludes the battle situation report."
Eris finished the transmission with those words.
"Phew. I thought it might go south for a moment there, but it seems it went well."
"Indeed."
Taizo-san, sitting next to me, settled deeper into his chair and reached for his tea.
"Still, to think the enemy had a commander present."
"The initial reports suggested there shouldn't have been one. I’ll go and verify the details myself."
"Is it really something you need to handle personally, Yuki-kun?"
"There are many things that are easier to understand when you confirm them face-to-face. Since I’m a Doppelganger, safety isn't an issue, and besides, it’s Taiki-kun’s territory. You should get some rest, Taizo-san. We have a meeting in Ranks tomorrow afternoon."
"Understood. I’ll take you up on that."
Taizo-san left the command room after saying that.
His back looked a bit drained, perhaps from the fatigue. I can't blame him. After I left him in charge of the negotiations with Nonoa, he came straight back here, and just as we were discussing increasing the number of investigators for the Kingdom of Swords and the methods to use, the Ranks invasion happened.
Even though they are distant relatives, Taizo-san, who has a close uncle-nephew-like relationship with Taiki-kun, was initially raring to go, gripping his katana and ready to jump into the fray as reinforcements. I had to hold him back and convince him to settle for just watching the battle from the command room.
Of course, Hifii was the most effective at keeping him in check. She was busy taking care of him, bringing him tea and tending to his needs; it was good to see their marriage seems to be going well.
"Alright, we have one more push to make. Deryu, Ratz, Samantha, and Cleena, you’re coming with me to Ranks. The rest of you stay here to continue organizing information and relaying reports from the various regions."
" " "Yes!" " "
Good, the orders are given. Time for us to head to Ranks as well.
*Sigh*, working in the middle of the night is tough.
Well, setting aside the usual complaints...
"Still, the enemy was strange. I don't really understand why they marched on us."
Deryu, who was traveling to Ranks with me, muttered that. Indeed, there were many things about the previous battle that were frankly baffling.
"They stopped their advance once, so they must have been planning something. But in the end, they moved forward and confronted the defense unit led by Mino-chan. Normally, that would mean the raid on the royal capital had failed, yet for some reason, they kept coming."
As Ratz said, they had stopped their advance when we first discovered them, but they marched normally when they faced the defense unit. I don't understand why they made that judgment.
"And they had a human as a commander. That makes their decision even harder to comprehend."
"Hmm. If there were no commander, one could assume they were simply following orders, but since there was a commander who chose to advance, there must have been a reason for that decision. That is what I cannot grasp... Or perhaps, it was a decoy."
"A decoy? But I can't see what other objective they could have had."
"Hmm. I’m not confident. Actually, I don't think it was a decoy either. If they had enough spare strength to use those forces as pawns, the power balance in this entire region would have shifted by now."
"That’s true. I have no idea what they were trying to do."
Samantha and Cleena voiced their opinions, but in the end, they were just tilting their heads in confusion. As Cleena said, while the possibility of a decoy exists, however slim, I agree with her assessment—if they had that much power to spare, they would be acting as an open enemy by now. There would be no need to skulk around.
"Well, the commander was crushed in an instant before they could even try to escape. Perhaps they just overplayed their hand?"
"Ah, that seems likely. Maybe they intended to break through in an instant and push all the way to Ranks?"
"That sounds plausible."
"Hmm. That is the most likely scenario. To begin with, the enemy doesn't know about Earth's weaponry. Also, Mino-chan's subordinates are primarily Orcs and Goblins. They might have misjudged that it would be easy to break through."
" " "Ah..." " "
I almost started to say that other countries should know the strength of our monster units by now, but if they had actually researched that properly, they wouldn't have picked this fight in the first place.
...Is it that they only extracted the information they could understand and discarded the rest as misinformation?
"And Yuki, you’ve been quiet. Do you have any ideas?"
"Hmm. I understand everyone's doubts. But for now, we have to get to the site. Talking about it now is just speculation. And at the very least, it doesn't seem like this speculation will lead to anything troublesome."
"That’s true. We’ve captured the commander, so it’ll be faster to just ask them directly."
"I hope they’ll talk quietly, though."
"Hmm. If it comes to it, we can make them spill the beans by any means necessary. They are the ones who led monsters to attack us; execution is unavoidable. It’s possible they are just a disposable pawn or don't know the real information. Even if they do talk, we shouldn't take the commander's words at face value."
Cleena’s opinion is sound. Unless they are someone of great importance, we’ll probably just interrogate them and say goodbye. In this world, the disposable field commanders rarely know the truly important information.
While we were talking about this, we passed through the gate to Ranks, where Ruth was already waiting for us.
"I have been expecting you. Please, this way."
As we followed her, I asked Ruth about the situation.
"What’s the status?"
"There have been no problems since the battle. General Mino-chan is currently withdrawing the defense lines at the site."
"Then, the detailed battle report can wait."
"That would be best. General John, who was monitoring the situation, has returned, so you should be able to hear from him."
Ah, right. John was the closest, monitoring and disrupting the rear. Rough day for John.
"By the way, what about the Gartz contingent?"
"It seems there was a minor issue, so General Rowell and Staff Officer Higil have returned to their home country."
"Something happened in Gartz?"
"No, it was described as a personal matter. Prince Teague has come in their stead."
"Why would a personal matter cause the General and Staff Officer on the scene to leave, only for the next king candidate to show up?"
"I don't know. I haven't heard the details."
...Shera hasn't sent a message, so it must not be that big of a deal, right?
Well, since Teague-nii is here, I’ll just ask him.
"This way, Your Majesty. I have brought Yuki-dono."
"Enter."
A dignified voice echoed from behind the door. He seems to be playing the part of a king well. That’s not for me, though.
When I entered the conference room, John and Teague-nii were already seated at the table. It seems I was the last one.
"Please, have a seat."
Prompted by Taiki-kun, I took my seat, and Teague-nii immediately bowed his head toward me.
"Yuki-kun. I am truly sorry about Rowell."
"Yes? Did something happen?"
"Judging by that reaction, you don't know. It seems that ever since she went into debt over that shield incident, she’s been mooching meals off Mino-chan and John. Frequently, at that."
"Ah..."
I mean, she mooched off me, too. Well, it wasn't exactly mooching; I knew the circumstances, so I felt bad for her.
"It just came to light to Higil a little while ago, and she went straight to Scharl. It could have become a diplomatic issue."
You can't just say "don't worry about it." Debts like these aren't good—not for royalty, or even nobility. If rumors spread that a member of a royal family is eating and drinking on someone else's dime because they have no money, their reputation would be ruined. For the family at the top of a country that relies on the support of its people, doing something like that is problematic in many ways.
From our side, we can't really refuse if asked; it would look like we were treating royalty poorly. This is something she has to judge and restrain herself on, but well... it is Rowell, after all.
"For now, don't worry about it. We’re friends, after all."