Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 466

466: EX18. An Archer’s Day

I belonged to the Second Army.

…When I said that, I was often asked if I was a Dark Knight, but I was not.

The Dark Knights were indeed the flower of the Second Army—no, of Listrea. The soldiers who belonged to the Second Army also honed their skills, in admiration of that jet-black armor. Or, in admiration of the crimson armor worn by the commander.

But I was not a knight.

That person was my idol. So much so that I thought she was wonderful, even though we were of the same sex.

But I had never thought of honing my swordsmanship. Since I had also received general training, I probably wouldn’t lose to an ordinary soldier. But if I were to cross swords with a Dark Knight, or with those who were expected to become one, then I would lose, nine times out of ten.

Then what was it that I was valued for, in the Second Army? My skill with a bow.

I was an archer.

Compared to a Dark Knight, it was a plain job. But it was an important job.

In peacetime, I would stand on the ramparts of Litalside and become an ‘eye,’ and in an advance—or a retreat—I would read the enemy’s position, eliminate their sentries and scouts, and at the start of a battle, I would fire arrows to chip away at their momentum. That was the job of an archer.

If necessary, and if ordered, I would also pretend to be an assassin. If I were to cast an enhancement spell on my bow and my body, then the range of my bow would be immense. But that was not a precision shot. Therefore, when I was sniping to take out a commander, I, too, was risking my life. With every step closer, the chances of hitting increased, and the chances of escaping decreased. And yet, if necessary, we would do so.

Those who would say, “You just have to shoot from a safe place”—did not know our resolve. They had probably never crawled on the ground, reading the tracks, listening to the sounds that traveled through the ground… and had never been covered in mud.

…It wasn’t a ‘slander,’ but the one who had said that directly to us archers had had the misfortune of having the newly appointed commander of the Dark Knights pass by. No, it wasn’t his luck that was bad, but his daily conduct.

But the other was a Dark Knight. I had thought that at most, she would just reprimand him.

…All of the archers who had been there had not thought that she would draw her sword.

The other, too, probably hadn’t. But she—the Blood Knight, Bringit Finis—had drawn her sword with a sudden movement and had placed it on his neck. She, who still bore the heavy shadow of the Sixth Battle of Litalside—was a sight that sent a shiver down your spine. A murderous intent, so strong that it was a wonder his head hadn’t fallen, even though not a single inch of his skin had been cut.

At that time, she had still been alone on the battlefield. Looking ahead to the coming Seventh Battle of Litalside. She had looked at the knight, who was elated with his ‘victory’ and had made a contemptuous, lighthearted remark to me, with cold eyes.

When she had said, “There will be no next time,” to the stammering, apologizing knight and had withdrawn her sword, everyone who had been there—even we, the insulted archers—had been relieved.

The performance of the newly appointed commander, to tighten the discipline… no one who had been there would have said that. She would have probably taken his head, if he had continued to speak so disrespectfully.

Later, during that ‘joint training exercise,’ where the young knights had gotten into a scuffle with the Sixth Army, it had been rumored among those who knew of that time that “the commander has mellowed.”

But after the joint training, it had been rumored that “it would have been better to have been seriously scolded by the commander.”

And yet, all ten of them, who had suffered a crushing defeat that was almost worthy of sympathy, had survived the Seventh Battle of Litalside, and the subsequent retreat, and even the Battle of the Itria Plains… so perhaps that ‘training’ had had a meaning.

But the reason we archers had offered our bows to that commander was not because we were afraid of her.

We were, compared to the Dark Knights, worthless. …We, of all people, had thought so. The flower of the Second Army was the Dark Knights. After all, it was the ‘Dark Knights.’ They were the ones who held a sword, wore an armor, and charged into the enemy lines on a battlefield where offensive magic and arrows rained down. …There was no way we could argue. The ones who had protected the country were, without a doubt, the Dark Knights.

And of course, the warriors of the beastmen and the undead, the powerful mages who were the demons, and the dragons. If there was a pinnacle of each army, then the Dark Knights were one of them. And yet, the commander of the Dark Knights, even though her position was higher, even though her strategic value was greater, had shown, with her sword, that she would not forgive an insult to an ally.

And it wasn’t just words. Unfortunately, due to my deployment, I had not seen her in action during the Sixth Battle of Litalside.

But we had seen the valiant figure of that commander, many times.

One of them—was exactly ten years after the Sixth Battle of Litalside. The army of Rank Kingdom had deployed near the city walls… on the very edge of the defensive zone, as a show of force and a provocation. If they had made a single mistake, then the Seventh Battle of Litalside could have begun, with an unprecedentedly short interval.

She had dismissed the opinion that they should wait and see and, after receiving a report from the archers and the assassins that there was no sign of reinforcements, that their supplies were low, and that it was “presumed to be a kind of a political performance”… she had led the army herself and had sortied.

She had left the faction that had strongly opposed her to defend and had even written a letter, saying that if she were to die, she would recommend the leader of the opposing faction as the next commander of the Dark Knights—at the very least, she would entrust the command to him until Your Majesty had made a decision.

…It was I who had made the report. It was not the entire army that had sortied, and the scars of the sixth battle still remained. And the coordination… was questionable.

We could win. No, we had to win. Now, here. To carve a fear into the hearts of the enemy army, a fear that would not disappear for a generation.

Whether she knew of that tragic resolve or not, she had been smiling. Her bright voice, which echoed with the amplification spell.

“At ease. —What, we have ‘reliable comrades’ who will protect our backs, don’t we?”

…Was she talking about the ones who were holed up? A dry laugh went up.

“If we lose, they will take command. —Those who do not even know the role they must fulfill now will be entrusted with the defense of this Litalside.”

He was startled.

“Some of you may know… and some of you may not. But the fact that the Sixth Battle of Litalside became such a quagmire… was an avoidable situation.”

…The condition of the leaders of the Second and Third Armies had not been good. In a word, the change of generation had not gone well, and the chain of command on the ground had been in a state of chaos.

The only ones who could be relied on were the Fourth and Fifth Armies, which had an absolute chain of command that had not changed since the founding of the nation. A chaotic battle situation, where a request for the deployment of the dragons of the First Army, the final line of defense of the Listrea Demon Kingdom, and even the direct command of Your Majesty the Demon King, for the first time since the Second Battle of Litalside, was rumored.

If there had been a saving grace, it was that the Third Army had been quickly united by Lathus, the Broken Fang. And yet… the core of the Litalside garrison was the Second Army, and the supreme command was with the commander of the Dark Knights. Therefore, the Sixth Battle of Litalside had become a passive defensive battle, where they had relied on the city walls… and the word ‘quagmire’ was truly appropriate.

“I do not want an enemy at my back. …Ah, of course, ‘they’ are our allies. If only—is not a word that a supreme commander should say.”

The sarcasm in her words, which had been said lightly, with a smile, was so sharp that he couldn’t help but flinch.

If only they were the enemy.

…Then what about the one we were facing now?

Without a doubt, they were the enemy. In a situation where there was no ally to hold them back, they were facing the enemy. —That was all.

“Elite of the Litalside garrison, the strongest in Listrea, I believe in you. Our forces are equal. Then there is no loss. I will open the front lines, follow me.”

Her laughter—was tinged with a faint madness. Ah, this person.

“—You can follow, can’t you?”

I squeezed my longbow. The stock of arrows was sufficient. I would not die, until I had shot them all. I even checked the short sword and the knife at my hip. I would not let that person go alone.

The heart that thought of desertion as a shame was not in an archer. And yet. —And yet. I would not be left behind.

Our forces were equal. I, too, had investigated as a scout. That was not a mistake. But they were here on an order, to show a half-hearted ‘performance.’ And we were all planning to go to war.

…Ah, and yet, our forces might not have been equal. We had ‘that’ Blood Knight. At the time of the sixth battle, she had not even been a ranked member, and yet. And yet, a military achievement that could not be denied. The recommendation of all the ranked members who had fought alongside her. An absolute, skill.

…A fighting style that was like throwing one’s own life before the enemy’s sword.

That was what had made Bringit Finis be called the Blood Knight.

I would follow this person. I didn’t care where we went. Even to hell. If this person was there. —It was better than a world without this person.

Probably, everyone who had gathered there had felt the same.

We didn’t want to die. But there was someone we didn’t want to die, even more than that.

We archers. The Dark Knights, the soldiers. The beastmen of the Third Army, the undead of the Fourth Army, and even the demons of the Fifth Army.

The reason the ‘Litalside garrison’ had placed their trust in that person was because they couldn’t leave her alone, who seemed to embody the ideal knight, who would take up a sword to protect, and yet was somehow clumsy and reckless.

Because everyone loved that person.