I had a certain amount of work to do because of my position as the king. Most of the things can be left to Rico, Ferris, Ruara, and Chario, but there are many things that require my approval and I have to make decisions on them. In case I cannot be in the capital in time of war or other reasons, I have decided on a person who can act on my behalf, and Rico is to be in charge of that person. Normally, I would have liked to leave everything to Rico and go to Karza Castle, but Rico did not take kindly to that.
"We are doing our duty as Agartha, since we are offering our wisdom. There is no need for Linos to go to work at Karza Castle every day.
Well, yes. But, after all, I'm involved in this battle, so I don't know anything about it anymore, teeheehee. I can't say, "I don't know any more.
At the same time, there is the hope of Sidhi and Escalina. At any rate, since we had succeeded in cutting off the water supply to Karza Castle, Rico was convinced that this battle would not last very long and allowed me to go to work at Karza Castle from after lunch to dinner time. Of course, I agreed to have Rico take care of any problems that may arise while I am gone.
So, after lunch, I took Ilimo, Sidhi, and Escalina with me to the transfer station. By the way, Escalina had come to work in the morning and was eager to go to the Karza Castle. However, when I told her that I would be coming to work from noon due to these circumstances, I thought she would become grumpy, but she stayed at the mansion and took care of the children. His expression did not change much, so I could not read his feelings very well, but I guessed he was a surprisingly nice person.
"Well, let's go."
When I activate the shifting ward, the area in front of me is instantly transformed into a forest. At that moment, I almost screamed out. There was a person's back right in front of me.
Just before the transition, I had put up a ward that hid everyone's presence and prevented them from being seen. Otherwise, the creatures in the forest would start to make noise. No, it's really a good thing that we had wards up.
It was a woman who had her back to us. When she looked back at me, I almost screamed again. Yes, it was Julia.
She didn't notice us at all. She was scurrying around and going deeper into the forest. What is she looking for? ...... Well, I have a pretty good idea.
I looked over and saw that Siddee was completely withdrawn. Escalina is as expressionless as ever, but she still seems to be taken aback by Julia's behavior.
Anyway, we headed down the mountain. As soon as we reached the riverbank, we got on the Ilimo and went up into the air.
"Well, you surprised me. What was Julia doing?"
"Of course they came looking for us."
"You think so, too, Sidney?"
Yes. That woman is quite obsessed with us.
"Wow~ that's a pain in the ass."
"It's not that I'm doubting us, it's just that ....... It's not that he suspects us, it's just that ...... he can't leave us alone, or something like that."
"That's pretty messy, isn't it?"
"......, right?"
We observe Karza Castle from the sky while exchanging such words. There seemed to be no noticeable movement of the enemy, and there was no sign of a battle.
After checking the battle situation, we turned our heads toward the position where the commanders-in-chief were encamped downstream.
After flying for a while, the position came into view. We were in the middle of the mountain, and the road was wide and narrow. They were encamped at the place where the road had narrowed.
"Oh, they have set up camp here. "Oh, you have set up camp here. This is the best place to be attacked by the enemy. But it will take some time before we can start the attack. When the enemy forces sail from Karza Castle to the back of the mountain, it will take a long time to move to attack. ....... I would set up a little further north in the triangle where the river and the river meet. There is a forest right next to it and good visibility. If the enemy attacked us, we could concentrate our troops in the triangle and defend ourselves.
With these words, I landed Ilimo a short distance away from the camp.
Now we are about to head for the main camp, but Sidi says it is better not to take Ilimo with us. Indeed, he was talking to that commander-in-chief as if he had come on foot. If we take Ilimo with us here, it will surely raise suspicion.
I wired the transfer and went back to the residence in the capital once and sent him back to the stable. Then I transferred again and went to the commander-in-chief's house.
When the soldiers saw us, they all stopped moving and stared at us. I could see that they were wondering where we had been. We moved through them, cutting our swords with our hands, saying hello, hello, excuse me.
"You ......"
Suddenly a voice called out to me, and I turned around to see a man I had seen before standing there. He was one of the staff officers of the Safanid army, as I recall. I still do not know his name.
He is what you might call a stocky guy. He approached us with a big step and started talking to us, breathing hard.
"Where have you been?"
"Where? Uh, in the mountains. ......"
"In the mountains! You were in the mountains all night?"
"Well, yes."
"...... I'm surprised you're still alive. No, I was worried."
According to him, this mountain is inhabited by demons of rather high rank, and dragons inhabit the mountain tops. They sometimes come down to the foot of the mountain, and adventurers who are on their own are most likely to fall prey to them.
He explained that high ranking demons have acquired a certain level of intelligence, so they will not attack an organized army. On the other hand, if the army is destroyed and in a state of collapse, they might attack us.
"Oh, really? Then, if we lose, the damage would be quite severe.
Yes, that's right. It is thanks to these demons that we have been able to defeat NONO's army so far. Every time they attacked Karza Castle they were attacked by more than a few demons. It was because of them that we were able to defend the castle.
Nodding my head, I wondered if this Safan army had some way to control demons.
Soon after, we were led into the camp where the commander-in-chief and his men were. When the commander-in-chief saw me, he gave me a reproachful look.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Well, through the woods, you know. I got a little lost."
"...... I see."
He turned away with a pout.
"By the way, how's the war going? By the way, what is the status of the battle?
"Right now, we're just sitting on our hands. But more importantly, did you succeed in building the wall?
"Yes. I think it's a pretty good job.
"...... I have one question."
Well, whatever you say.
"The river north of here, near the Karza castle, has dried up. Is this the work of your people?
"Ha ha ha!"
I didn't give a clear answer. This exchange would have given you some idea of what I was talking about.
"Mr. Kenshin!
I shivered when he called my name so loudly. I looked and there was Holm of the Karza Castle.
"I didn't expect the river to dry up overnight. I had thought that it would take two days for the 20,000 troops to drink the river dry, even if the waters were stopped, but I was right. I'm very much obliged to you. This gives us a slight advantage in the war.
"A little, sir?"
"Yes, I think so. It's not a good place to march. You see... You have to go through that passage to get to the castle of Khaza. It is not a suitable place for a large army to operate.
...... This man seems to have a far more accurate understanding of the war situation.