novelraw Chapter 29 : Stampede (1)
Chapter 29 : Stampede (1)
Stampede (1)
Rejir's eyes sparkled as if he had met his savior. After seeing the letter Kadim showed him, he couldn't help but have hope.
That letter had been written by his father, Duke Alber.
Its content was simple: a request to dispose of soldier Louis and deputy-commander Silia. The reward was a huge bounty for all of Kadim's squad.
He was none other than one of the 7th Legion officers commissioned by the Bisted family.
The very fact that they had exchanged such correspondence served as proof.
"To meet you in a place like this... It's truly an honor! If I just do as you say, will I be able to survive?"
Kadim was on the side of the Bisted family.
He wouldn't be able to ignore Rejir, the heir of that house. To the still-hopeful Rejir, Kadim spoke.
"I told you, didn't I? If you want to live, just obey me."
When Kadim spoke threateningly, Rejir flinched. Whether he found that attitude offensive, he frowned and refuted.
"Isn't your tone far too rude? Do you know who I am..."
"A prisoner dragged here by the 7th Legion. Nothing more, nothing less."
"What? How can you say that—"
"Shut up and just do as I say. Or do you want to die?"
"......"
Although Kadim's attitude still wasn't to his liking, Rejir had nothing to refute.
Here, there weren't any guards he could order around at will. Survival was impossible without Kadim's help.
"Yes, I'll follow you."
"Then, I'll tell you what you need to do from now on."
Kadim showed Rejir a certain magitech device. The compass-shaped device was the "R-Type Guide".
"This is... Isn't this a pathfinding magitech device?"
Rejir reacted as if he knew what it was, marveling. Since he already knew, Kadim briefly got to the point.
"Do you know how to use it, by any chance?"
"Well, I've received various kinds of education, so I have some knowledge in magitech."
Hearing there would be no problem using it, Kadim smiled.
"Then, do you know what this is?"
This time, he held out a small orb. Rejir—puzzled upon seeing it—asked,
"What is this?"
"You don't know?"
It was something impossible to tell whether it was a magitech device or a pill.
Seeing Rejir's confusion, Kadim smirked and explained.
"It's a pill that allows you to temporarily avoid monsters."
"Really?"
When it was placed in his hand, Rejir's face lit up with joy. Seeing the clueless Rejir, Kadim laughed inwardly.
****
The monsters' attack routes didn't discriminate between places.
In the sky, bird-shaped monsters; under the ground, insect-like monsters—all began charging at each other.
Since most of the monsters were terrestrial, the ground was an obvious front.
Warnings about their advance were delivered by detection magitech devices and by the spirits contracted to Klein.
"It's about to begin now."
At last, the day of the stampede had arrived. All forces inside the fortress moved to the positions assigned to their squads.
Since no one knew when the monsters would burst in, everyone had to stay on constant alert.
"You all know our role is the most important, right?"
Eike spoke from a hill around 150 meters away from the fortress.
Though he was new, he had been put in charge of directing the soldiers in that sector.
The soldiers, too, had been instructed on what they needed to do here.
"We run at full power to lure the monsters. If you get scared and run away, you'll all lose your heads. Got it?!"
Eike shouted fiercely at the soldiers. The soldiers, swallowing their grievances, had no choice but to reply in unison.
"So, in short, we're just meat shields?"
"Yep, exactly."
At Rio's gloomy question, Dimo nodded resolutely.
Of all people, that frightening officer Eike was their squad leader.
That meant he would always be sticking close to them.
"Will this really be any help?"
Rio turned her eyes to the rucksack on her back.
There was the bag they'd won from their previous bet against Kadim's squad.
Inside were plenty of supplies necessary for the current situation, now distributed through the squad members' rucksacks.
"At least it's better than having nothing."
It contained not just medicine and antidotes, but various medical supplies as well.
There were plenty of potions for emergency reinforcement, too.
It also included signal flares to shoot into the sky in case of danger, and magitech devices to generate barriers that monsters couldn't easily penetrate.
However, the signal flares were standard issue for general units.
No one would respond to a distress flare from them—it was obvious. Aside from those, the rest of the items were fairly useful.
"But they're useless if you die."
"Well, that..."
At Rio's pessimistic comment, Dimo paused, trying to change the mood. But he couldn't think of any suitable reply, and Rio continued.
"Dimo, are you afraid of the young master?"
"You mean young master Louis?"
Louis was definitely a frightening person, so Dimo nodded in response.
Just thinking back to the time he was waterboarded for a single mistake made Dimo's knees shake.
"I'm scared, but I can't hate him. I owe him too much."
Just surviving those harsh one-month trainings was thanks to him. If not for his help, they'd have died long ago.
"Of course, he did throw me into the training hall... but thinking back, I can understand why the young master did it."
Young master Louis's help wasn't infinite. That was something made clear in their recent mock battle with Kadim's squad.
"We have to survive. For that, we have to become stronger. That's how we can repay the young master's kindness."
"What if the young master treats you harshly? Doesn't it matter?"
Rio cocked her head, asking in all seriousness. Louis's method of protecting his squad wasn't always peaceful.
If there was a problem, he'd yell. If someone made even a small mistake, he'd kick their butts or smack their heads.
Remembering how much that hurt, Dimo's lower back still ached.
"There was no helping it. It was probably the best way to help us survive here."
"But it's still a bad thing."
"Yeah. But sometimes bad things are a necessary evil."
Rio seemed not to fully understand, tilting her head.
To be honest, Dimo was the same. At their age, the concept of "necessary evil" was hard to accept.
"Actually, our family was helped by the young master's house, even before I was brought here."
In the past, Dimo's parents were merchants who dabbled in the black market.
Their main business was moving illegal goods like drugs, but they themselves took no pride in it.
In fact, the real power pulling their strings was higher up—they were forced into being illegal merchants.
One day, following orders from above, they had to distribute drugs in a domain—specifically, the Seifert domain ruled by Louis's family.
But, whether by luck or misfortune, the locals reported them and uncovered the black market dealings.
Their superiors, apparently having no use left for them, abandoned them.
Of course, that was to be expected. Even if they'd been forced, it was still breaking the law.
In the end, baron Seifert decided their fate.
"I really thought our family's life was over then."
The person who should have been most angry was the lord.
There was no way he'd let people who tried to pollute his domain with drugs go free.
He had the right to judge anyone who brought trouble to his domain.
"But then..."
Instead of being sent to prison or sold into slavery, the lord accepted Dimo's family as residents of the domain.
It made sense if you knew their circumstances, but even so, as lord, he had every reason not to let them off.
"My parents said that nobles always pay back any slight double, or else they're laughed at in society. Since those who'd forced my parents were nobles, they knew how that world worked. They thought Lord Seifert, as a noble, would be the same. But he was... far too generous."
Maybe it's because we weren't nobles ourselves? No, definitely not.
If a fellow noble had harmed you, you might hesitate due to power balance.
But if you were hurt by commoners and did nothing, you'd just be mocked as "someone who's pushed around by mere commoners".
And yet, the lord gave their family another chance. Except for a stern warning, he never treated them harshly.
Thanks to that, Dimo's parents always remembered the lord's grace.
And since their superiors had abandoned them, there was no more need to go back to black market life.
"His lordship was a truly good man. Our family could never forget his kindness."
Young master Louis was that lord's son. No matter how scary he was, Dimo could trust and follow him because of the grace he'd shown them.
"It's funny, though. I should be the one protecting the young master... but I'm the one being protected."
Dimo bitterly lamented his own weakness. Seifert house had shown so much grace to his family, and he wanted to do the same.
But rather than helping in any way, he was being protected by the young master of that house.
Thinking about it anew, he was overwhelmed with shame and couldn't bear to show his face.
That's why, even recalling the water torture incident, he couldn't resent Louis.
Given this place, Louis's choices were completely reasonable.
"So this time, I have to help the young master. I'll make up for all my uselessness so far."
"Just don't die,"
Rio replied coldly to Dimo's vow.
Of course, it was natural for her to worry. But saying "just don't die" in this kind of place hardly made sense.
Just as Dimo was about to smirk—
"They're coming!"
"What are you doing?! Get ready!"
At that moment, Dorve and Brook—the officers in charge of the same diversionary squad—shouted.
As they said, monsters began pouring over the ridge line. At the tidal wave of approaching monsters, the soldiers' legs shook.
"Don't even think of running! If you do, you'll die by our hands instead!"
Eike, leading at the front, shouted. Survival instincts awakened, and the soldiers started running madly.
"Turn on your magitech devices, quick!"
The magic soldiers pulled out the orbs they'd each been carrying.
Tapping them, they shone beams of light in one direction.
When the lights shot upwards, illuminating the darkness, monsters started charging toward them.
"It's the Forest of Death!"
"Everyone's got a pathfinding magitech device, right?"
The soldiers entered the forest—a place you could never escape once you entered.
Magitech soldiers began activating their navigational devices, the only way to find a path.
"Advance!!"
From then on, there was only one thing to do. Run for your life.
The goal was the exit on the far side of the forest. There were traps there for the monsters—they had to lure them in that direction.
Once the monsters, chasing their bait, stepped on certain points, traps set by Klein's magic would activate.
Originally, this small-scale magic was for secret intruders, but once a mass of enemies gathered, it could destroy them all at once.
Thanks to it, Klein could conserve magic power while still clearing out armies of monsters.
Using troops as bait was an insane idea, but it was possible in the 7th Legion.
No need to worry about how many bait survived.
― Keeek!
Suddenly, as they advanced, a monster burst from the ground and attacked a soldier.
They'd forgotten: monsters didn't only appear on the surface.
"Help me!!"
A mantis-like monster that leaped out from the earth decapitated a fleeing soldier.
Next, it swung its bladed arm at Dimo.
― Keeek!!
But Dimo drew his sword in a flash and severed the mantis' arm. Rio finished it off by chopping its head.
Though everyone was briefly amazed at the two children's fighting, insect monsters kept popping out of the ground.
"Eek! Gross!"
Pram shrieked in disgust and fled from the monsters.
"Heeek!!"
Simon, equally terrified, ran even faster—faster than anyone. The rest focused entirely on escaping, not fighting.
After all, the aim this time wasn't to fight the monsters.
"Just hang in there a bit longer!"
At this point, Eike was leading Louis's squad members. The squad trusted him and followed.
But as they ran, Louis sensed something off.
"Wait! Why can't I see the other soldiers?"
When she said this, Eike's stride slowed. The squad, looking around, stopped in shock.
In the rush, no one had noticed who was around them.
"Where are we? Are we really on the right path?"
"......"
Eike did not answer that question. Instead, he heightened suspicion with odd actions.
Pop!—
Eike suddenly set off a flashbang magitech device, blinding the squad.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Eike abandoned them and ran, leaving the squad in collective shock.
"DIE!!"
At that moment, Rejir suddenly appeared from behind and slashed his sword at Louis's neck.