by Dojyomaru
“‘...it’s because the stress is keeping him awake, so be careful.’”
“Urgh...”
They’d nailed it. Liscia, Aisha, and Juna all knew what I was like when pushed to the edge psychologically. But Roroa and Naden weren’t supposed to know, so the fact that they did meant there was a sharing of information between my fiancées.
“Nadie, you hold that end,” Roroa said.
“Roger that. One, two...”
They yanked me away from the desk, then sat me down on the bed. Then, as if keeping me from escaping, they held my arms tight.
“So, what’s got ya so worked up?” Roroa asked. “Don’t ya have a plan for winnin’ all worked out?”
I gave in and confessed my feelings. “It’s still a heavy burden, the fact that people are going to die on my orders. We’re facing merciless monsters this time. They only have the instinct to survive, and in this situation, the damage will only spread if we don’t kill them, so we should exterminate the monsters. I don’t feel any hesitation about that. That’s why, compared to declaring war on the principality, this is easier on me emotionally.”
“Souma...” Naden patted my head with concern in her voice.
“Even so, when I see the corpses of people eaten by the monsters, I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t brought them here, if I hadn’t ordered them into battle, those were lives that wouldn’t have been lost. I obviously know that there are those I’ve saved by fighting, and even more lives would have been lost if I had chosen not to. Still, I hate myself for playing a numbers game with people’s lives.”
“But that’s what a king does, ain’t it?” Roroa said with a serious look on her face. “The man at the top does as much as he can for those supporting him from below. He keeps as many alive as he can, protects as many as he can, and keeps losses as low as he can. Naturally, because he’s doin’ ‘as much as he can,’ there’s gonna be things he can’t do. That’s a given, but it’s the belief that the guy up top is doin’ everythin’ he can that makes the people below feel can fight. You know that, don’t ya, Darlin’? If you’re still worryin’, then I’m sure it’s because...”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
This was something I’d accepted. I’d done it like this all along after all. But I couldn’t help but stop and think. Because if I didn’t...
“I’m scared of getting used to it,” I explained. “If I imagine myself not worrying like this and being able to just make the decision...then someday, somehow, I feel like I’m going to become something terrible. Then, as a result, I’ll lose the things most important to me.”
The experience I’d had of starting to become nothing more than a system called a king had set off alarm bells for me.
“The king,” “the hero,” “the man from another world,” “the one who formed a contract with the black ryuu”...those sorts of unique titles would draw people to me. And if I allowed myself to be lifted by those people, a thing that wasn’t me would begin to take on a life of its own.
I worried constantly about that.
“I don’t want to stop agonizing over my decisions,” I said. “But the more I agonize, the more wearying it is. So I focus on work to avoid thinking. Is that a contradiction?”
“I think it’s fine. Just be yourself.” Naden hugged my arm tight. “I love that un-kingly side of you, Souma.”
“That’s right. If you started actin’ too much like a king, Big Sis Cia’d get worried, don’tcha think?” Roroa hugged me tight too, as if not wanting to lose.
Naden giggled. “But if you’re going to run away to your work, I wish you would run away to us instead. We’ll listen to your uncertainties, your complaints, anything.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Roroa agreed. “Oh, we’re good for drinkin’ too, y’know? We’ll stay with ya until mornin’.”
I felt my heart lighten a little. “If we drink the night away, Liscia’ll probably scold us later.”
“We can all get yelled at together.”
“If you want, we can let Big Sis Cia in on the action too.”
“Ahaha, that’d be great...” I let out a yawn despite myself. The moment my spirits had lightened, I was suddenly stricken with sleepiness. The days of moving around and fighting battles had caught up with me. “This is no good... I’m tired...”
As I lay down on the bed, Naden and Roroa, who were clinging to my arms, came down with me.
““Uwah!””
Oh... The sudden sleepiness had robbed me of the ability to think.
Roroa was like a child, apparently. When I nuzzled up to her, she had a high body temperature.
Naden had a comparatively low temperature, she was even a little cool. Both of them felt comforting, and I was pulled closer and closer to sleep.
In my hazy state, I heard their voices.
“Hey, Nadie. Are we gonna end up sleepin’ with him like this?”
“L-Looks like it. That’s an unexpected perk.”
“Ah! I remember Big Sis Cia and Big Sis Ai’ve slept with Darlin’ before. It sounds like he was pushed into a corner mentally those times too.”
“He was? Then this may be effective on Souma!”
“I’m thinkin’ so. But I dunno about this position. I mean, we’re all lyin’ sideways on the bed.”
“Our legs are sticking out, yeah. It’s not that relaxing.”
“Once Darlin’s totally out, let’s change positions. Help out, will ya?”
“Roger that. But first...”
And that was where my consciousness cut out.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Good night, Darlin.’”
“Good night, Souma.”
And the two of them kissed Souma on the cheek in unison.
Chapter 11: The Dabicon Is Burning
Dawn broke.
The morning sun shone brilliantly on the surface of the Dabicon River.
The combined forces of Elfrieden and Lastania began moving on their operation to exterminate the lizardmen.
Quickly, quietly they got into position. Each of them in their respective places, each performing their duties, eagerly anticipating the beginning of the final battle.
For my part, I was on Naden’s back, over the Dabicon river north of the fortress.
“Grr...” Swimming through the sky, Naden let out a (telepathic) groan of dissatisfaction.
If she had been in human form, she’d have puffed her cheeks up, I was sure. I knew why too.
“I’m really sorry about this, Naden.”
“You’d better be. Why do I have to carry her?”
“Hehe, that’s because I’m the cornerstone of this operation,” Excel giggled.
That was the reason Naden was upset. Excel was riding on her back with me.
“There’s a custom that says a dragon should never let anyone but her partner ride on her back!” Naden complained.
“Oh, but that’s why I’m not riding on your back, you know?” Excel teased.
Excel was sitting on my lap while I straddled Naden’s back. In addition, to keep from falling, she had her slender arms wrapped around my neck.
We were posed like a knight letting a princess ride with him on his white horse, you could say.
This was because I needed Naden to carry Excel, but she would only let her partner ride on her back, and though she was the grandmother of one of my partners, the logic of “the partner of my partner is kind of like my partner” didn’t work for Naden like it did for Aisha and the others.
“She could have just used a gondola, you know!” Naden said with a growl, but Excel was unperturbed.
“I wouldn’t like that. It’s boring. I came all this way from the kingdom, so you can allow me this much, at least. Right, sire?”
“Souma, say something!” Naden snarled.
...What did she want me to do? Naden was my important fiancée, and Excel was a key person in the coming operation, so I couldn’t turn her down. That was why I kept my warning her at a minimum.
“Excel, don’t tease Naden too much. She’ll throw you off for real, you know?”
“Hehe, I’m sorry. Her reactions are just too cute. I couldn’t help myself,” Excel said and stroked Naden’s back. “Besides, I feel a strange kinship with Naden. I mean, look, we’re so similar. We have antlers on our heads, and though the colors are different, we have similarly shaped tails too, don’t we?”
“Well, yeah, I guess we do...” Naden admitted.
“The sea serpent race is said to have been descended from sea serpents that are also called kouryuu or jiaolong, so maybe they were ryuus just like you.”
Yeah, that thought had occurred to me too.
The idea that Juna’s family, the House of Doma, were descended from something vaguely similar to humans like loreleis was one thing, but it had never sat right with me that the descendants of massive sea serpents were shaped like humans. Maybe those kouryuu sea serpents had been ryuus like Naden, and that was why they had human forms.
Excel chuckled and smiled. “Maybe members of the sea serpent race aren’t half-dragons like the dragonewts, but half-ryuus instead.”
“But I’m not meaty and voluptuous like you,” Naden muttered.
“Chalk that up to individual variance.”
“It’s not fair!”
And the two of them started arguing.
One was talking in my head, and the other was sitting on my lap, so it was pretty noisy.
Hal had Ruby in her dragon form come up next to us. “Sorry to interrupt your fun, but it’s almost time for the operation to start.”
“Gotcha,” I said. “Let’s get started then.”
Looking around the area, there were several hundred wyvern cavalry hovering in the air and waiting for my command.
The time was ripe.
I gave the order to the woman sitting on my lap. “Okay, Excel, make it flashy.”
“Understood, sire.”
Erasing the smile from her face and putting on the look of a serious retainer, Excel removed her arms from around my neck, crossed them in front of her, and lowered her head. The speed with which she could change modes was like flipping a switch. It was little wonder she was renowned for how capable she was.
“Now, let we show you my full power, the reason why I was once the talk of Elfrieden, and the reason why I am called the mage who is invincible anywhere there’s lots of fresh water.”
Excel clasped her hands in front of her and focused. As she did, her body tilted, so I hurriedly put my hand around her waist to support her.
As I held her surprisingly delicate hips, Excel giggled. “Thank you, sire. Hold me just like that, if you would.”
“Murgh...” Naden telepathically voiced her displeasure, but this was part of the operation, so she was going to have to deal with it.
Excel closed her eyes, holding her hands tight as if focusing. Then...
Splooooooooooosh!
Suddenly there was a swelling in the surface of the Dabicon directly below us, and five massive pillars that could have been mistaken for high-rise buildings rose up. They were so massive, the sight of them was overwhelming.
The droplets that splashed off the forcibly raised water hung in the air like smoke, and in an instant, we were in the middle of a light shower.
The scene in front of me shocked me silly.
This is Excel...when she gets serious...
It seemed what Excel had said about being invincible anywhere there was a lot of fresh water was no exaggeration. I was guessing the only reason she was limiting it to fresh water was that, at sea, all magic was difficult to use.
Fighting her in a desert would be one thing, but if I had to take on Excel over a river where there was abundant fresh water, I’d have to be prepared to commit all the wyvern cavalry here.
“Souma!” Naden shouted. “Look straight down!”
“Whoa...” Doing as Naden said, I looked down and let out a gasp of admiration.
No river had a fixed width, and a river’s depth varied from place to place. That meant a place where any given river was thin and shallow made for an ideal crossing point.
Basically, that was the area right below us.
That said, the Dabicon was known for being a massive river, so even at a crossing point, the river was about 200 meters across, and the water was up to shoulder-level, even on a large man. It was just barely crossable on horseback.
However, Excel was pulling the water up now. That lowered the water level, making it so we could even see the rocks at the bottom. Excel released her clenched hand, then lifted it up.
“Water God Calling,” she whispered.
With those words, the five massive towers of water took on a shape like snakes with their heads raised. Then, when she brought her hand down, there was a loud hiss, and the five massive snakes of water dove into the surface of the river downstream.
The water from upstream was pulled up, and then flowed to the opposite side of the shallows downstream. This produced five great arches of water.
That caused a great drop in the water level beneath the arch, and the narrow area where it was shallow expanded greatly.
This was the plan Hakuya had come up with.
If the shallows we were going to cross were narrow, and it was difficult to bring a large army to the opposite shore, we could expand the shallows, and have the lizardmen on the opposite side come to us.
Hakuya had concluded that based on the information I’d given him and sent me the number one water mage in the country, Excel Walter, along with many other water mages.
Incidentally, the other water mages were in little boats floating on the river’s surface, slowing the current of the water that would flow from upstream to downstream, and adjusting the current of the water Excel sent downstream so it didn’t flow backward.
Thus, a shallow path across the Dabicon with five great arches of water over it was formed.
I felt like I was watching that one miracle from the story of Moses.
“Hakuya sure came up with an amazing plan...” I sighed in admiration.
“Sire, this magic is extremely taxing, so I would appreciate it if you moved on with the operation,” Excel told me with a pained look on her face.
Whoops. It was such an incredible sight, I had stopped thinking.
I quickly gave the order to an equally astonished Hal. “Hal! Like we planned, have the lizardmen cross at once!”
“Huh?! R-Right! Let’s go, people!” Hal, who had come to his senses, ordered.
“““Yeahhhhhh!””” the wyvern riders around him roared.
Then, with Hal and Ruby the red dragon leading the charge, half of the wyvern cavalry flew to the opposite shore where the lizardmen were.
◇ ◇ ◇
Halbert and Ruby were at the front of the wyvern cavalry as they reached the opposite bank where tens of thousands of lizardmen were camped.
They were flying high enough that no lizardmen attacks came at them, but the countless flying chimera-type monsters attacked Halbert and his team.
Halbert pierced the monsters with his two spears, and Ruby cooked them with her fire.
Hal told the wyvern cavalry, “Listen! Our job here is to act as herders! Now let’s drive those scaly, long-tailed lambs to the opposite bank, like shadow hounds chasing cotton sheep!”
“““Yes, sir!””” the wyvern riders replied quickly and spread out.
Taking out any monsters that crossed their path as they went, the wyverns reached the edge of the lizardman pack and breathed fire toward the ground.
Bompf! Bompf! The flames hit the ground one after another.
“Gugyagyagya!”
The lizardmen pushed and shoved one another to get out of the way of the flames, and the pack was gradually driven toward the Dabicon.
Halbert had Ruby blow flames that were incomparably greater than anything the wyverns could produce and drove the lizardmen into the shallows.
“Haha! My fiancée is vicious! Go o
n! Run! Run!” Halbert yelled, getting excited.
“Murrgh, that’s not a nice way of saying it,” Ruby grumbled. “You can expect Kaede and me to give you an earful later!”
Roarrrrrrrrrrrr!
Ruby’s roar echoed, and the frightened lizardmen fled blindly across the shallows.
Once a pack began moving in one direction, it wouldn’t change course easily.
Having deemed further pursuit unnecessary, Halbert told the assembled wyvern cavalry, “That should get the pack to go to the other side. We’ll leave enemies on the ground to Ludwin’s main force, while we return to Souma... His Majesty... and exterminate the flying monsters! We’ll support the main force from up in the air!”
“““Yes, sir!”””
Then Halbert and Ruby turned south, along with the wyvern cavalry.
◇ ◇ ◇
The lizardmen on the far shore had started to move.
Looks like Hal and the others pulled it off, I noted.
The lizardmen were crossing the path through the shallows beneath the water arches.
Watching the lizardmen splashing through the shallow water, it reminded me of a nature program I had seen long ago introducing gnus crossing a river.
If this were a nature documentary, this’d be where the crocodiles attack...
Although it was the guys crossing the river in a pack that looked like the crocodiles, in this case.
“Is there any need to let them reach the opposite shore?” Naden, who was watching the same scene, asked. “Around half of the pack is in the river, so wouldn’t it be easy to have Duchess Walter cancel her magic and wash them away?”
“Well, if they were armored soldiers, that’d be the right answer, but they’re buck naked. Washing them away might not kill them, right? If we wash them downstream, it’ll make killing them a pain, so we’ve got to let them cross and then encircle and wipe them out.”
“For my part...I’d like them to hurry up and finish crossing, though,” Excel said with effort, sweat beading on her forehead.
I guess if it came to controlling this much water, even the usually aloof Excel couldn’t keep a cool face. Her teeth were gritted, and her hands were shaking.