Golden Experience

It had been eight days since they had departed from the capital. Now, they could finally see La Colline in the distance. They left the campsite at sunrise, very early in the day.

Nine days ago, the notice suddenly came to form an expedition force, and those who normally would be too young as well as those who had already finished their service were forcefully conscripted. Where they were going to be dispatched was a mystery; all anyone knew was that the kingdom’s officials determined that those in active service wouldn’t be sufficient.

What exactly were these soldiers being tasked to fight?

As far as the majority of the kingdom’s citizens knew, there had never been a war on this continent. The troops had simply been gathered together and supplied with arms with no idea of where they were going or what they would be facing.

It made no sense.

Without knowing where they were going, they couldn’t plan a march. That also meant they couldn’t prepare a supply train, not that the kingdom had provided any means of transportation or supplies. After being rushed to finish preparing without really knowing what was going on, once they were finally ready to leave the capital, a knight from the royal guard tasked with the direct protection of the royal family finally got in touch with the commander, an individual who outranked even a centurion, that this force wasn’t going on an expedition but a subjugation, and also informed him what their target was.

A threat to humanity.

There was nearly no information about this catastrophe. It was apparently spreading its evil influence in the Great Liebe Forest next to the city of Erfahren.

This information came from the patriarch of the Holy Church of Hiers, so it was reliable. Speaking of the church, apparently the bishops had received an oracle from God. Even among them, though, the patriarch was given more detailed information, and with regards to this expedition, he was the only one who had been told where the catastrophe could be found.

When they had learned all of this, the commander and the other officers fell into despair. A catastrophe was not something that humans could defeat. They were akin to natural disasters; even the angels from the sky castle that would appear suddenly every so often were powerful enough that even ten men may not be able to prevail against one. The actual catastrophic being was purported to be the archangel who led the angels, but there had never been any witness accounts to his existence in history. Rumors abounded that any who met him ended up dead, without exception.

This army was tasked with vanquishing such a catastrophe. No matter how many soldiers they had, they could never accomplish something like that. The leaders of the kingdom should have known this. So then why was this plan approved?

Then the knight from the royal guard disclosed another thing to the commander and the officers. This catastrophe had only come into being very recently, so it should be nowhere near as mature as the catastrophes found on other continents. Therefore, if they attacked it now, they might be able to defeat it.

“‘Might’… That’s not very convincing…”

“I know, I completely understand. But, we also can’t just ignore it. This catastrophe was born in our kingdom’s lands, after all. It’s as if the sky castle suddenly landed in the corner of the courtyard. If you think about how we might have to live with the threat of the catastrophe hovering over our heads every day, versus betting on a possibility, we must attempt to kill it.”

“Sir royal knight, I understand. I really do, but…”

“Commander, the subjugation army has already been formed and is about to depart. The die has already been cast. The present situation came about from the influence of an ungodly number of nobles. Even if you run away and try not to fight…”

“There’s no place for me in the kingdom anymore, is there… In that case, we should at least keep this from the soldiers, just let them believe we’re going to the forest to cull some monsters…”

“Certainly, that was our plan from the start. That’s why I only informed the leadership.”

At this point, there was nothing else that could be done. And if that’s how it was going to be, then all they could do was grit their teeth and hope for the best. Above all else, there was no way that the commander and the officers could appear weakhearted in front of the soldiers.

On the road, they faced no issues or obstacles, and they even made better time than expected toward the conclusion of the journey.

Since they had prioritized speed above all else, they set off with barely any rations or other provisions. They relied almost entirely on resupplying at every town along the way; normally, such an army couldn’t expect a warm reception, but the reactions were unexpectedly subdued. Of course, orders had come down from the capital to these towns beforehand, but what the hell did they say to convince them to be this accommodating?

They took the shortest route to their destination, which meant they stopped by various border cities situated near monster territories. Even when traveling on the highways, when there were so many humans so close to monster territory, monsters would observe them and sometimes try to make a pass. Even if those encounters ended up as nothing more than light scuffles with no casualties on any sides, between the personnel and safety checks that had to be performed every time, time could still easily be eaten away. However, this march had none of that. It was as though the monsters had more important things to do. Things were so unnaturally quiet that they felt it had to be some kind of ill omen, and the commander was overcome with a sense of dread.

“Well, it’s good that things are going as planned. Right now, all I want is to reach our destination even one second faster. The only thing on my mind is finishing this mission.”

All of a sudden, there was some kind of commotion at the front of the formation. Those in the lead had spotted La Colline. After passing through here, their next stop would be the Lourdes, on the border. Beyond that was their final destination: Erfahren, and then the Great Liebe Forest. There were no monster territories near La Colline, and it was also an important traffic hub, so it didn’t have a city wall. The city was built on slightly elevated land, and it positively glowed as they saw it spread out before them. Even without a city wall, its size rivaled the capital, and its energy far surpassed it. For the soldiers who were seeing it for the first time, their excitement was understandable.

One of the centurions, who was supposed to be in charge of the leading squad, ran back to the commander. If it was just to report that they had arrived at the city, it should have been fine to send a messenger. This wasn’t a job the squad leader had to personally perform.

“What is it?”

“Sir! We will be arriving at La Colline shortly! However, look, up in the sky…”

On horseback, the commander had only been paying attention to the ranks and files of soldiers who were below his line of sight, so he then looked up for the first time. Far in the distance, he saw La Colline sitting atop a small hill, and the foremost of the subjugation army about to enter the city. This was unchanged from before. The problem was above that. Beyond La Colline, it appeared as though a dark cloud was approaching the city. No, it was too coarse to be a cloud; it was more like a bunch of grains that were steadily growing larger.

“What the hell are those…?”

“We aren’t sure, but it would be best to hurry up and get inside the city as soon as possible.”

The centurion’s suggestion was sound. No matter what they were and whether or not they had to be dealt with, now that the army was here, they had to consult with the city lord. If those things were the catastrophe or monsters related to it, then it wouldn’t only be La Colline’s problem. It would be a problem the subjugation army would have to solve.

Although if that were the case, it would mean that the catastrophe had already left the great forest, and the subjugation army’s chances of victory would have dropped to nearly zero.

“You’re absolutely right. Have all the troops march double-time—get them into that city.”

Within La Colline, which was normally bustling with activity, all had fallen silent. Normally, it wouldn’t have been odd for the morning market to still be open at this time. But now, the residents were holed up in their homes, anxiously looking outside through their windows. Seeing their expressions of relief when they spotted the subjugation army was a source of comfort. They were all worried about the skies to the east, though.

After getting into the city, they were able to identify the strange cloud. It was actually a swarm of wasps carrying ants. Even though they were still far away, they were so large that it was possible to make out their shapes. Their sizes were so different from the wasps that the commander was familiar with that the longer he stared at them, the more he felt his sense of distance warp. He wondered if they were coming to La Colline, but apparently they had stopped in midair a certain distance away from the city. From a different point of view, he thought that maybe they were waiting for something.

“First, inform the city lord of our arrival. Then send a pigeon to the prime minister as planned. In the message, mention that we will be making contact with a swarm of giant wasps carrying giant ants, and that we seek the prime minister’s guidance.”

The wasps were flying in from the eastern skies. In their original plan, they were to rest for one day at La Colline, camp outside the city for a night, then head for Lourdes the next day. However, it would be extremely difficult to recuperate in the city or camp at night with that huge swarm of monsters hovering over their heads, not to mention that Lourdes was east of here. He didn’t know if they could just march underneath the wasps without instigating them.

In any case, it would take a few hours for the pigeon to return. Though the army arrived earlier than planned, once the bird did return, the sun would be up. They couldn’t expect the enemy to just wait patiently until it did. They had sent their report, but chances were the situation would require immediate action before they received direction from the prime minister. The soldiers were clearly worried, but this army was originally put together to defeat a catastrophe. Since the only catastrophe the Kingdom of Hiers had ever faced were the angels, many soldiers had received training on how to fight enemies who came from above. The conscripted youths hadn’t received any training yet, but they were paired with the veterans who had already retired from service. This group could both follow orders competently and function as a support team. All along, though, the main combat force would be the soldiers in active service; this operation required precise coordination, so even the veterans had to be excluded since they hadn’t trained regularly with the rest of the troops.

“Most angels engage in hand-to-hand combat without a second thought. Facing them would be soldiers experienced in coordination. We’re facing wasps and ants, but… the fact that we’ll have to fight them in melees makes them no different from angels. If there are only that many enemies, we should be able to fend them off.”

None of this generation of soldiers had any first-hand experience fighting angels, but since they were trained according to their historical records, that should minimize the amount of losses. It was self-evident that the training methodology was very effective.

The commander left the support team in the city while ordering the deployment of all active-service soldiers to attack squads to the east of La Colline. They were ordered to be careful not to incite the enemy by straying too far from the city, though.

As the centurions set off, the messenger returned from the city lord’s mansion. The lord wanted to meet, it seemed. The commander left his adjutant in charge then left for the lord’s mansion.

It was fine. There shouldn’t be any problems.