The Punitive Force a.s.sembles
It was the height of autumn. Cold winds were blowing.
In the end, Hikaru found the hotel they were staying at to be too comfortable to even move to a different one.
Ville Zentra had gone a drastic change. First, a huge campsite was built on the outskirts of the city where troops from different countries were housed.
The first batch that arrived was composed of two thousand soldiers from Quinbland, two hundred from Ponsonia"s Knights, seven hundred from Forestia"s army, and two hundred temple knights from Bios.
Einbeast still had not expressed whether they would join or not. As such, Bios, wary of Einbeast, could only send two hundred troops. The nations down south had not sent any men as of the moment.
「Oh, look at them go.」
Hikaru was out in his Silver Face getup alone, watching troops from different countries train near the campsite.
Each country had their own specialty. Quinbland used spears as their main weapon. Ponsonia"s troops were clad in heavy armor. Forestia, although lightly equipped, used huge, powerful bows to engage enemies from a distance. Bios specialized in holy magic.
「Scouting in the middle of the day? You got nerve.」a man said.
Hikaru actually noticed him approaching with Mana Detection, but decided not to conceal himself.
「Hey there, Captain.」
It was none other than Lawrence D. Falcon, leader of the Knights of Ponsonia, and also known as the Master Swordsman. Hikaru defeated him before in a fight, but in a head-on battle of pure strength, he wouldn"t stand a chance.
Hikaru thought it"d be fine since he knew Lawrence would be joining in the expedition to Grand Dream, but just in case, he shifted his center of gravity.
「No need to be so cautious.」Lawrence said.「Her Majesty told me to try to get along with you.」
「Oh… Is it okay for a big shot like you to leave the kingdom?」
「There are no signs of neighboring countries attacking. They"re sending troops here as well. I don"t think there will be a war any time soon.」
「We don"t know what Einbeast will do.」
「Oh, but we do. It"s fine.」
Hikaru raised a brow at Lawrence"s a.s.surance.
「Over there.」the captain said.
「What?」
A cloud of dust was rising at the direction Lawrence pointed at. A considerable number of people were headed towards the campgrounds.
「Whoa… seriously?」
Hikaru recognized the mana of the man leading the group. The man seemed to have noticed Lawrence, or perhaps Silver Face, as he sent his horse into a rapid dash.
「Hahahahahaha!」
His laughter was just as loud as the horse"s hooves. It was none other than Gerhardt Vatex Anchor, a lion Beastman and King of Einbeast.
「Master Swordsman Lawrence and Silver Face!」he shouted.「This is great! My two sworn enemies together in one spot! Draw your weapons! I"ll get rid of you two first!」
Hikaru did, in fact, play Gerhardt for a fool. But he only did that so Einbeast would turn its attention away from Ponsonia and onto Bios. It wasn"t like he hated the man or anything. Even if he knew this, Gerhardt probably still couldn"t stomach Silver Face.
Why is the king himself here? Is he going to Grand Dream too? Hikaru was shocked.
「Gotthold! Bring out my halberd!」
Gotthold, a tiger Beastman, pulled his horse to Gerhardt"s side. He was also a rank A adventurer and leader of the party Polar Tiger. He had a bit of history with Hikaru.
Polar Tiger worked together with Rising Falls, another rank A adventurer party. The latter possessed the Drakon Ball Staff, a magic item that imprisoned Drake.
「Your Majesty, please think of the problems that would rise if you went on a rampage here.」
「I don"t give a d.a.m.n! I kill anyone who p.i.s.ses me off!」
「A battle will break out among armies if you start a fight here. If that happens, the expedition to the new continent will be postponed. Once resumed, we might not even be invited.」
「Then we"ll go on our own—」
「I believe you"re aware that we only have a few warships.」
Gerhardt gave a low grunt. Gotthold—the king"s chaperone, it seemed—managed to talk the man out of his urge to fight.
I"ll have to consult him if any problems arise, Hikaru thought. The disturbance, however, didn"t end there.
「Wow, is that the Master Swordsman?! Like, the real deal?! It"s my first time seeing him!」
「His aura and the way he carries himself… He"s like the perfect example of a warrior.」
「Stop staring at him. It"s embarra.s.sing.」
Hikaru"s mouth hung wide open. He recognized the three guys on horseback, friends he spent quite a lot of time with.
After the chaos that threw the whole of Forestia into confusion, Claude married Luka. His golden red eyes signified the blood of the past royal family.
Ivan was from Jarazack, a nation in Forestia. He looked like a middle-aged man with his beard, but he was young and a student of the academy.
Roy “Yellow Tiger” Rumania was, as his name suggested, from Rumania. Originally a weak-willed guy, he became more determined and gutsier after the activities concerning the Student Alliance.
Why are they with the Einbeast army?
Einbeast arrived with 3,500 soldiers, almost the maximum number of people that could operate together, and this was wholly due to Gerhardt finding the venture interesting.
Claude and the other guys accompanied Gerhardt as well, but Hikaru couldn"t go talk to them as he was in his Silver Face attire. It was in the evening when he learned of the situation. Hikaru returned to the hotel after a day of observing the situation when he spotted a familiar face in the lobby.
「Luka?」
It was Claude"s wife. She had short, blue hair and wore gla.s.ses. Once a somewhat introverted girl who constantly hid behind Claude, she now held her head high. Luka returned Hikaru"s gaze.
According to Lavia, who was with her in the lobby, she happened upon her while she was out shopping. Since she just arrived and had not decided where to stay, Lavia showed her to their hotel.
Despite being newly-wed, Claude was out joining the Einbeast army, and Luka followed him alone.
「Smells like trouble, but may I ask what"s going on exactly?」
Luka gave a nod and told Hikaru everything about what happened after he left Forestia. After she finished, Hikaru pressed his hand on his forehead.
「To sum it up, unable to endure their desire to test their skills, they went to sign up for the King Selection tournament in Einbeast, accompanied by Professor Mikhail. After showing promising results to qualify for the final selection, they caught Gerhardt"s attention and were invited to stay in the capital as guests.」
「Professor Mikhail left after receiving a letter from the academy telling him to return, but Claude seemed to have enjoyed his first trip out of the country. I thought it was a good idea at first. Since we married despite our nations" long-standing feud, we"d be in danger in Forestia. I thought that could be avoided if they stayed in Einbeast.」
「But they stayed longer than planned?」
「Yes…」
According to Luka, Claude liked the idea of being recognized for your own strength.
「I think Ivan was always like that, but Claude too?」Hikaru asked.
「Claude"s become much more confident ever since you trained him.」
「Uh, my bad.」
Hikaru felt responsible. After all, not only did he train him, he also tweaked the guy"s Soul Board.
「No, I don"t blame you for it. We wouldn"t have been married if it weren"t for you.」
「S-So… Did he say he wanted to go to the new continent?」
「Huh? I didn"t mention anything about that.」
「I just figured since he came to Ville Zentra around this time.」
「You"re right, actually. He said he could still become stronger.」
Oh, G.o.d. This is a serious condition. The muscle head disease. I mean, sure, you gain experience in actual combat.
Hikaru wondered if making someone stronger through the Soul Board made them overconfident. Perhaps if he explained everything and made Claude understand that it wasn"t just his own abilities that contributed to his growth, things wouldn"t have turned out like this.
「We had a big fight and he left.」Luka said.
「And you want to stop him, correct?」
「Yes. It must be fate that we met again. I think he"ll listen to what you have to say, but confidence is hard to erase. Even if he doesn"t go now, he might bring it up again on the next trip. I can"t really count on you every single time.」
Hikaru thought hard about it, then clapped his hands together.
「I got an idea, then. The Adventurers Guild is recruiting adventurers to go to the new continent. Apparently they want to open up a branch there as well.」
「Um… what does that have to do with anything?」
Hikaru flashed a smile.「You should come with us to Grand Dream.」he said.