Chapter 155
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Translator: “Hakou” Editor: “Weasalopes”
After the sun goes down, the temperature in the Imperial capital drops as if the heat of the day was a lie.
Because it’s located inland, the temperature differential between day and night is great.
And then, in a mansion near the palace.
The window of the study on the second floor was open, inviting a slightly chilly night breeze.
(They’re more vigilant about this than expected.)
A lamp was lit on a massive desk. While the orange light illuminated half of his face, the gentle-looking old man spoke to himself.
Ghost Knight, a Knight which seems to be secretly being developed by the Kingdom.
He had sent spies to the Royal capital to obtain the information about it.
The Blacksmith Guild who’s likely to be the one behind it. And the Merchant Guild that seems to own the experimental unit. He focused on these two, but hasn’t got any significant information yet.
(Not only that, I also lost contact with them.)
The wrinkles between his eyebrows become deeper.
He’s sending a lot of people, but they went missing one after another.
(Were they eliminated?)
That possibility is high.
(But what we’re doing was only gathering information on private organizations)
It’s not like we’re trying to assassinate someone from the royal family, yet our spies were eliminated one after another, he thought.
It was obviously strange. Their alertness level already rivaled that of the royal family.
(As I thought, they have what we’re looking for.)
The gentle-looking old man is convinced.
The light on the eyes of this old man who’s good at collecting information is far from gentle.
(Being unable to get any information from a brothel was a miscalculation.)
The result he expected the most was from the honey trap he set for the Merchant Guild’s pilot.
But this person. Despite his hobby of visiting brothels, he never showed himself in luxurious brothels.
(To think that he only goes to lowly stores even though he’s a pilot. What kind of nonsense is that?)
If you are a celebrity, you should go to a place that is suitable for a celebrity.
What does he think, playing at cheap stores, mixing with commoners? He couldn’t grasp his intention at all.
(If I keep making no progress like this, I wouldn’t be able to show my face on the next round table meeting)
At this moment, the gentle-looking old man recalls the face of a middle-aged woman with a chiseled face.
She was highly acclaimed for discovering the flaws of Ghost Knight.
He grit his teeth, the sound of his back teeth squeaking can be heard.
(I shall make my move then.)
If this goes on, there won’t be any progress at all.
The gentle-looking old man who thought so stood up from his chair.
(He should still be working in his office at this time.)
As the face of the Imperial Knight Commander floats in his mind, he orders his butler to prepare a golem carriage.
Several Knights are absolutely necessary for the next operation.
He boarded the carriage controlled by one of his servants and headed to the Imperial Knight Order’s headquarters to negotiate.
***
A few days later.
In the mountains near the Kingdom’s border in the northeastern part of the Empire.
The cedar trees that fill the slopes fall down one after another while letting out screeching sounds.
Every time a tree fell, the ground would shake greatly, and the birds would fly away from the forest as if fleeing from there.
What appeared there was a giant demon beast that looked like a mantis.
And not just one.
The mantis who’s in the lead wields a large ax on both arms, knocking down the trees as it moves forward. Behind the mantis who keeps swinging its ax, were more than a dozen of the same kind following it in a line.
「It seems that it worked well.」
From the slope of the mountain beyond the valley, a figure of a B-class Knight is looking at the situation.
The man sitting in the cockpit muttered to himself.
Next, he switches on the external sound system, and gives out instructions to the other three B-class Knights behind him.
『We’re going to get ahead of them and place the net now. Don’t fall behind!』
(If the demon beast terrorizes the highway, the Merchant Guild’s Knight will show up for sure.)
That was a fact they found as a result of the investigation.
Based on that information, they led giant demon beasts into the territory of the Kingdom.
They have prepared bait in the towns along the highway so that the beasts could reach the highway.
(As expected, women’s screams seem to be effective.)
The bait they prepared was the mantis that they caught the other day. It is the female of the demon beast called Double Ax.
With a spear stabbed into her, she was squeezed into a cage and hidden in the suburbs of the town.
The screams she keeps raising seem to reach her kin even if they can’t be heard by humans.
And so the angry giant double ax mantis are rushing towards the town.
(What’s left to do is to just watch how the battle unfolds. Then defeat and capture the Knight after that.)
That’s the strategy for this operation.
The Knights’ bodies were completely painted brown to match the colors of the environment to remove anything that would reveal their affiliation.
(Even if we cause some commotion later, it’ll be fine as long as we don’t leave behind any evidence.)
If they are suspected later, they can just deny it and they won’t get any blame. Of course, the cease-fire agreement will also be maintained.
In short, it’s fine as long as they aren’t openly hostile to them.
It was such a world.
***
The stage jumps to the south-southeast and moves to the Royal capital.
A big stone building that looked like a spinning mill, near the eastern gate of the Royal capital. It’s the hangar for the Merchant Guild’s Knights.
There, I received the briefing about the next request from the herbivore mechanic.
「A herd of giant double ax mantis? Now that’s rare」
I give him my impressions while looking at the documents he gave me.
The picture attached on it is a giant mantis.
It likes mountains and didn’t come out to the flat ground so much, so I’m a bit surprised.
Their threat level is not by any means low, but they are slow and don’t fly like a normal mantis would.
They’re a demon beast that specialized in close quarter combat by sharply swinging their axe-like arms. I didn’t sense any danger up to this point.
「They’re very compatible with the Old Lady. It doesn’t matter if there are many or few.」
The herbivore mechanic seems to have the same opinion and nods.
When we’re talking about the details of the sortie, a knocking sound resounded.
「I’m coming in.」
Who appeared was the Guild Master.
He doesn’t show up here often. Usually he just works in the headquarters near the town square.
「I will cancel the request to subjugate the giant double axe mantis」
Me and the herbivore mechanic looked at each other.
「The Knight Order will do it instead. It seems they wants to let the newcomers gain some experience」
According to his story, there was an offer from the Knight Commander.
Looks like they want to let the four units of faked C-class– I mean, B-class Knights fight the demon beasts.
「There seems to be ten of them according to the story. Wouldn’t that be too much for four units of C-class Knights?」
The herbivore mechanic makes a worried expression.
「It’s B-class. On paper, that is.」
「Well, that’s right. but…」
Told off by the Guild Master, the herbivore mechanic didn’t continue his words.
There, I made a suggestion.
「How about the Old Lady sneakily followed after them?」
I can watch them from afar and support them in case of emergency. It’s enough as a precaution.
The problem, however, is that the Merchant Guild would gain nothing from this. There will be no request fee or anything.
「Alright.」
He gave his permission so quickly I can’t believe my ears.
「There are some people who used to be your classmates, right? You can watch over them from a distance and help if something goes wrong. I will tell the Knight Commander.」
That’s a big shot for you.
「Thank you very much.」
And thus I started preparing to sortie while feeling like a guardian angel.
***
Meanwhile at the Knight Order headquarters.
Four pilots were lined up in the conference room.
A girl with ponytail, a girl with big breasts, and two old men in their forties.
「Our goal this time is to repel the giant double axe mantis that appeared on the northern highway.」
A muscular man is standing in front of them.
Corneal, the pilot of an A-class Knight, continues his words with a stern look.
「Their number is ten. Challenge them without a plan and you’ll lose your life, so be careful.」
Then he looked at the old men and pointed at them.
「You guys should be more experienced since you fought them before. I’ll leave the command to you.」
The old man salutes.
Corneal is actually younger than him, but he has completely understood how things run here.
「Alright then, let’s roll out.」
Everyone else replied to him in a loud voice and rushed to their Knights.
(This will be a tough fight.)
Corneal thinks as he looks at those figures.
The two of them who came from the Adventurers’ Guild should be fine.
Defeating demon beasts is their specialty. That knowledge and experience far surpasses that of the Knight Order.
The problem is the two girls.
They have decent skill, but have no experience in combat.
If there were enough people, he would like to add a decent B-class to supervise them.
(Well, it seems that person will tag along with them, so I guess everything will be fine.)
He heard the news from the Knight Commander this morning.
He was honestly relieved from the bottom of his heart.
With no worries, he went out into the hallway to do his next job.
***
Four Knights that depart from the Royal capital and head north on the highway.
They enter the mountains and follow the road that swells to the left and right along the valley.
Eventually, their destination, a small town, was in sight.
At the same time, they can see the silhouette of the giant double axe mantis moving.
「There’s so many of them」
In the cockpit, Ponytail is frowning.
Over a dozen giant double axe mantis were flocking to the town.
「They say everyone has evacuated so no worries there.」
There’s no presence of people detected so far.
She switched on the external sound system and turned to the captain’s unit.
『What do we do?』
A former Adventurers’ Guild Knight pilot who was asked for instructions.
The old man thinks a little while looking at the situation.
And he nodded with the Knight next to him which was also ridden by an old man.
『They are slow. The two of us will be the bait, so you both wait here and await a chance to strike them down』
The old man’s thick and harsh voice echoes from the external sound system.
Ponytail nods and holds the two-handed sword in front of her chest. The Knight of Busty-chan pulls out a one-handed sword while hiding itself behind a big shield.
『Let’s go!』
『Alright!』
With a roar, the old men start advancing.
They throw rocks and fallen trees in front of the leader to create a reaction.
And made the beast follow them.
(They’re good.)
It does not attract the other giant double axe mantis, but separates it from them. It’s quite a skill.
『Do it!』
The old man shouts as he runs by their side.
With that as a signal, Ponytail sharply steps forward. Then she swung down her two-handed sword.
Along with intense metallic sound, the impact is transmitted to her hands.
(It got blocked!)
Realizing that it repelled it with one of its axes, she immediately jumped backwards.
A moment later, a large axe flies sideways in front of her. It’s the axe on the opposite side from the one it used to block her sword.
(Its attack really came from outside my field of view. It would have been dangerous if I hadn’t been warned about it.)
She wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand.
The old man warned her in advance that the giant double axe mantis would attack sideways from outside of your field of view.
(Ah!)
Sensing that her friend is in danger, she leaps forward again.
Busty-chan couldn’t completely block the attack with her shield and fell.
At that moment, another giant axe was swung.
(It’s heavy!)
She strikes the axe with her two-handed sword to repel it, but the impact makes the Knight’s body shake, it almost drops its sword.
『Alright, you did good.』
Along with that voice, the old men’s Knights who returned after making a U-turn, approached the giant double axe mantis from both sides.
The next moment, they swung down their swords, slashing its arms.
(They hit its joint!? That accurate?)
Next to the astonished Ponytail, the old man gave out his instruction as he crushed the head of the giant double axe mantis.
『We’re going to call them over one after another, keep your position』
Ponytail nods.
She was shown the difference in abilities and struck speechless.
A feeling of respect wells up in her chest.
『Damn it! Even though I joined the Knight Order, what I do didn’t change at all in the end. Not only that, the rank of the Knight I ride is even lower.』
『Tell me about it. If it’s B-class, we can just strike them head on and deal with it somehow.』
However, when she heard them complaining, that feeling instantly faded away.
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