Chapter 183. The Prelude (3)
Though the loss of life was less than expected, it took a considerable amount of time for the chaos among the freelancers and citizens caused by the sudden attack of the magical beasts to subside.
And even in the midst of it all, discussions to control and deal with the situation were constantly taking place.
The command center set up at the freelancers’ temporary base.
Immediately after the attack, inside the long, jet-black tactical tent erected there, the leaders of the interims who had been summoned by the Victoria army had all gathered.
Enoch was no exception.
Looking around, for a hastily set up command center, it was quite large and spacious, as if they were using high-end equipment.
Similar to the freelancers who were accompanied by their team members one by one, Sirocco stood next to Enoch, and right next to her was Alicia.
In the midst of the ominous silence, the tent flap was suddenly thrown open and several people entered.
Red coats symbolizing the Victoria army. They were regular soldiers, wearing uniforms of a slightly different design from the Dragoons.
“Finally, the messengers of the infantry have graced us with their presence. For having been summoned, you took your sweet time getting here, didn’t you?”
Damastes, the freelancer who had been sitting with his axe on the ground, said as he stood up.
Among the Victoria soldiers, the one who appeared to be the highest-ranking officer calmly received his words.
“Aggressive for a first meeting. Are mercenaries who roll around in the outsourcing district always this rude?”
At the soldier’s gaze, which was filled with unconcealed hostility and contempt, Damastes laughed lowly in response.
“Ha, for a mouth that’s been ripped open, you sure run it well!”
Damastes glared at the soldier with his mechanically designed axe on his back.
“According to the information you gave us, the attack was supposed to start tomorrow. What happened? We didn’t expect to fight such a sudden battle!”
“The same goes for us. Don’t you think you’re blaming the wrong person?”
The increasingly heated atmosphere in the room showed no signs of progress in the discussion.
I knew everyone was agitated because of the sudden battle, but it wasn't a situation I liked.
Enoch slowly glanced at Sirocco, who was sitting next to him, and calmly thought.
Unfortunately, if things went this way, it couldn't be helped. Since time was of the essence, I had no intention of refusing to take the lead if I had to.
A rough outline for a performance to seize control of this situation was already forming in my mind.
Let's see. First, starting with tying both the infantryman and the freelancer Damastes upside down and hanging them side by side on the high outer wall of this temporary base’s abandoned building…
“─You two, be quiet.”
Just then, a clear voice rang out sharply.
Looking to the side, Sirocco was looking down at the freelancer leaders with her head held high. Her ruby-red eyes shining clearly, she added.
“The weaklings should be quiet. If you have something to say, say it quickly and go. I’m not in a good mood.”
The room instantly fell silent.
Not only did Damastes and the Victoria soldier stop their actions, but I could hear other freelancers whispering from the side.
- Th-the beast-kin. The 10th-rank…
- It’s best not to get on her bad side.
“That’s right, you know well, don’t you? Then everyone be quiet.”
Sirocco, who had established discipline with a single word, crossed her arms and glanced at Enoch.
“How was it, is this enough?”
Enoch’s eyes widened without him realizing it.
“…How did you know?”
“Just. I just thought this is what you would do.”
Sirocco replied, twitching her ears once.
Suppressing my inner surprise that Sirocco had read my intentions without even listening to my words, I slowly nodded.
“Yes, thank you.”
“What. As long as you know.”
For some reason, she made a pouting face, then puffed out her white cheeks and turned her head to the side.
For some reason, with a sulky attitude that seemed to declare with her whole body, “I’m in a really bad mood right now,” Enoch tilted his head for a moment.
“Are you in a bad mood, Sirocco?”
“……Hmph, not really?”
As if I had hit the mark, Sirocco whipped her head away.
Then, in a slightly dejected voice, she glanced at Alicia, who was standing beside her, and muttered.
“…I’m really strong, so I can be of help to you. Just make sure you know that.”
Enoch tilted his head in slight confusion.
Could it be that she was this anxious because, unlike Alicia in the previous operation, I hadn't given her the order to actively annihilate the magical beasts?
Looking at her, Sirocco was indeed puffing out her white cheeks slightly and glancing at me.
Her luscious tail, sticking out from under her short skirt, was nervously swishing back and forth.
At her cute and honest expression of emotion, Enoch let out a faint smile without realizing it and slowly opened his mouth.
“As my Follower Family just said, I too will get to the point.”
At those words, the representative infantryman turned around.
“Speak, Direct Lineage Member.”
“First, I would like an explanation.”
Thanks to Sirocco taking control of the atmosphere, Enoch, on behalf of the quiet freelancers, stared at him and asked.
“The attack date of the magical beasts that was conveyed to the Elsyde by the Victoria Kazimieśi was one day from now. What is the situation?”
[I will answer that myself. Direct Lineage.]
The one who answered was a completely different person.
The infantryman took out a terminal from his pocket from which the voice had come.
Then, placing it on the floor, he operated the terminal once, and a translucent virtual monitor was projected into the air.
Seeing the person who appeared on the screen, a collective gasp was heard in the room.
Enoch narrowed his eyes.
“Colonel Shepherd.”
In the screen, he looked directly at Enoch with a rigid gaze and nodded.
[I cannot leave the command headquarters, so I hope you understand that I am sharing the current situation this way.]
Before Enoch could say anything, new translucent windows appeared next to his screen.
[I mentioned that I sent some of my most elite Dragoons on a reconnaissance mission near the border of the outsourcing district. It was to grasp the enemy’s movements and gather information.]
That wasn't a lie.
Without even thinking deeply, it was clear why the Dragoon, Alicia, had gotten lost and fallen behind.
At the very least, the purpose of the reconnaissance she and the other Dragoons were conducting seemed clear.
[These are the photos and video data taken there.]
A video of a swarm of magical beasts on the ground, already gathering in countless numbers on the border, began to play. He continued.
[Thanks to the reconnaissance of the Dragoons, especially the investigation of those with detection abilities, we were able to find out one interesting fact.]
“What do you mean?”
Shepherd silently raised his cane into the air.
Then the screen expanded, and photos of the border forest and ground-level photo data appeared one after another in a wide space, sliding past.
Turning back and looking up at it, Shepherd clasped his hands behind his back in the screen and slowly opened his mouth.
[A sophisticated detection-jamming and line-of-sight-blocking spell has been cast on that huge border forest.]
A sharp silence fell in the room. A female freelancer raised her hand and asked a question.
“Line-of-sight blocking? You mean a disruption-type magic?”
[That’s right. It was a large-scale magic so well-constructed that it was impossible to attempt to dispel it from the outside. It seems they used some of those huge trees as a medium.]
“What? Magic on the trees in the forest?”
A gasp of astonishment erupted.
Indeed. Looking at the photos on the screen, most of them were either filled with noise or strangely distorted, clearly showing an anomaly.
A border forest made of unusually large and strange trees, dozens of times taller than a person.
It seemed certain that the vegetation of the forest, filled with those bizarre giant trees, had become a biological camouflage that blocked drone reconnaissance due to some kind of magic.
From the side, another freelancer quickly slammed his hand on the table and shouted.
“Wait! Someone cast a spell on that many trees with just pure mana, and is still maintaining the enchantment? Colonel, that’s…!!!”
[Yes. It is literally in the realm of Unique Magic.]
At those words, everyone fell silent. The tense gazes of those who had instantly understood the meaning of those words were exchanged. Shepherd continued.
[There is a 10th-rank, or an equivalent, mage cooperating with the experimental magical beasts created by that black mage.]
He added in a confident tone.
[You can believe me, gentlemen. I, too, am a 1_th_-rank nobody, so I can be sure of that much.]
The atmosphere in the room grew cold.
“That’s…….”
Everyone knew it wasn't an empty boast.
It was proof of the tremendous pressure and trust that a 10th-rank expert commanded.
Since Shepherd himself had guaranteed it, it would certainly be impossible to obtain information about what was happening inside the border forest from the outside.
[To summarize. We have no information about the enemy. On the other hand, the enemy has gathered almost all the information about our forces through a prelude battle in which they consumed only one type of magical beast, the flying type.]
He added in a confident tone.
[At this rate, we cannot seize the initiative in the battle. Since the core of this operation is to prevent the outsourcing district from being breached, securing information about the enemy is the priority.]
“Get to the point.”
Enoch, unfazed by the chilly air around him, stared at him and asked back calmly.
“So what are you trying to say?”
[…Analyzing the fragmented information that wasn’t hindered by the jamming spell, I believe the magical beasts will definitely attack around noon tomorrow.]
Shepherd’s eyes gleamed eerily as he spoke.
[The proud Victoria infantry will stand at the vanguard.]
The colonel spread his hands low and, with a look that seemed to look down on the freelancers as a matter of course, said.
[Including the Enoch direct lineage, the freelancer gentlemen who have formed an interim by meeting the minimum combat personnel requirements will fall back behind our infantry and support us from the rear.]
An order from the commander of the Victoria army’s high command, who held practical control and authority on the ground.
At the irresistible tone of his voice, the freelancers silently looked at him in the screen.
[Our infantry will block the enemy’s full-scale offensive, and at the same time, we will split off a detached force and advance into the forest where the enemy is, attempting a counterattack.]
If that plan went awry, he was saying he would entrust the aftermath to them then. In other words, it was a declaration of their practical exclusion from the operation.
“……I’ve been thinking this for a while.”
Enoch stared at Shepherd and added.
“You’re blinded by ambition. Seriously.”
If one thought about it a little, it was obvious. If he truly wanted to win the battle, he would have somehow sought cooperation from the freelancers in the outsourcing district and formed a joint front.
As expected, Shepherd’s eyes shone fiercely as he met my gaze directly.
[I won’t deny it. Direct Lineage.]
Looking at the silent Enoch on the other side of the screen, Shepherd smiled faintly.
[We are both in the same boat, having to constantly prove our skills and be recognized in the Empire. You, of all people, would surely understand me.]
“……”
[Then, do you understand why I am telling you the essence of my plan in such detail?]
“You’re telling me not to interfere.”
It was an extremely dogmatic attitude, without even needing to be questioned.
Colonel Shepherd was undoubtedly an invaluable asset to the squad in terms of his skills, status, and abilities.
But the reason why Enoch had never once considered bringing him into the squad was precisely because of this personality of his, which was blinded by ambition.
And that would be the root of the disaster.
According to the Official History, the 19th Victoria outsourcing district would be occupied by magical beasts, and all the innocent people would be sacrificed. The seed of that tragedy.
Having thought that far, Enoch slowly opened his mouth.
“I have a proposal.”
Even so, the current Enoch was in the ambiguous position of a direct lineage member dispatched on a mission.
Furthermore, even if he knew the future, as long as he couldn't present clear evidence that this operation would fail, there was no valid reason or carrot to persuade Shepherd.
However, to change the predetermined future this time, there was definitely one move he had thought of in advance.
At those words, Shepherd’s eyebrows twitched once.
[Speak.]
“You said earlier that reconnaissance of the forest was impossible from the outside. And that you would attempt a counterattack. But that would be a huge risk.”
Infiltrating without reconnaissance meant accepting the sacrifice of troops.
To Shepherd, who was silent as if in agreement, Enoch slowly lifted his head and opened his mouth.
“Therefore. My squad and I will reconnoiter the forest.”