First, I went back to our tent and took my short sword. I then hurried back to the branch office, scraped off the excess charcoal, put the lit ones in the center, and then I placed a brick in front to prevent the lit charcoal from flying away. I also put the displayed goddess statue in my pocket as a lucky charm and took the spear. Its total length is about 120 cm, and it will be effective if the cave is not quite narrow.
Since it’s an escort job, it would be better to have a weapon that can attack in the distance. If I have to abandon it, I should try to at least bring back the spearhead. With two weapons in hand, I returned to the command post again. There’s a leather armor for the upper body there. It’s for me I guess.
“Is it all right for me to use this?”
There are other people in the tent, including Miss Frederica, so I spoke to Marius in a polite tone.
“Yes, you can use it. Hey.”
“Yes”
Marius replied to me and called out to the female soldier nearby. She then took the armor and put it on me. Well, I’m not used to wearing it either…
However, I thought that she was very skilful on this. When I looked closely, I saw that she was the servant in the Eimurl mansion who also changed my clothes before. She seemed to have realized that I recognized her so she smiled at me.
With the armor on, I looked like a lightly equipped infantryman. I lack a shield to enter the phalanx, though. As the servant left, “You look good on it”, she whispered to me in a voice I could barely hear. Somehow it kinda feel embarrassing. And as I felt like that, I noticed Miss Frederica’s gaze at me.
“Does Eizou-san have military experience?”
Miss Frederica asked me that when our eyes met.
“No, none at all. That’s why I had help in dressing up.”
“I see. You look good on it though.”
“Thank you.”
I smiled and I gave her a slight bow as I excused myself. Well, we have to leave already. When I glanced at Marius and his servant, they had a warm expression on them. No way, is Miss Frederica in the command post for healing purpose?
After I left the command post, I lined up behind the soldiers in the square. It seems that I will be under Marius’ command later. Marius came out of the command post shortly after I lined up. Soldiers then lined up and saluted on command. The form of the salute is not the raised hand on the forehead but a fist on the chest. Marius raised his hand and then everyone lowered their hand.
“Gentlemen, today is the day that we will bring down the hammer on those filthy creatures and we will be completely victorious!”
Marius looked around as he speaks in a loud voice.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say that I will reward you all as much as you want for this achievement. The treasure house of the Eimurl House will be vacant so if any of you wish to live in a vacant room, you may do so. I will even earn accommodation fee for your stay.”
The soldiers burst into laughter. That’s a good trend. The joke aside, the moment they were cornered, they couldn’t laugh like this anymore.
“Today, I want you to think of this as your first step towards getting the reward you deserve. I hope this will be your first victory and I hope it will go down in your history!”
The crowd erupted in cheers. I hope this will raise their morale and make today’s subjugation a success.
Leroy led the majority of the soldiers towards the cave first. They were lined up in an orderly fashion and were in high spirits. Their footsteps were somehow in sync, and they must have been quite intimidating if you are to suddenly run into them.
It seems that me, Marius, and a small group of soldiers are going to meet up with the escort target as a separate unit. It’s not a special operation, he just don’t want to send a lot of soldiers on detour. He said that it takes a lot of effort just to get 10,000 soldiers in and out of the square, and even if it’s on a much smaller scale, he would want to reduce the number of times they have to lead them out.
“The planned location is in this way.”
One of the soldiers led the way. I recalled seeing him at Eimurl mansion. He must have brought one of his servants who knows military arts as his personal guard. I first thought that it would have been better to send him to escort the escort target but I realized that it’s no good as Marius’ personal guard will not stay with him.
We walked through a cluster of trees that were too few to be called a forest, but too many to be called woods. I was impressed by the fact that some of the lower branches had been cut down, as if they were being managed as a lumber forest.
It was a little more than a quarter of an hour later when the number of trees had increased a little. An elven woman was standing there facing away from us. There were several elven men who had escorted her here and they were conversing with her.
“It’s that woman.”
The soldier leading the way said that to Marius and me. Then as if she heard us, the elven woman turned around. Fine silver-white hair cut around the shoulders, almond eyes and thin long ears. It’s a feature that that’s quite distinct to an elf. But I was quite surprised.
―The elf woman I would be escorting was none other than Liddy-san.