“Where on earth are the reinforcements!?”
[They will be leaving soon, so hold on. I’ve heard they have restored the first defensive line in the West… The enemy isn’t that strong, right?]
“What did you say?”
Sir Ziklint cursed as he pulled his hand from the cracked communicator, fearing that if he didn’t, he might just smash the crystal ball instead.
“These damned pig-like bastards…”
How utterly repulsive the sight of the fat city nobles seemed now.
[What did you just say?]
“Nothing. More importantly, reinforcements are hard to come by right now?”
[As you know, it takes time to assemble a large expeditionary force.]
‘Who doesn’t know that?’
Sir Ziklint was fully aware it would still take quite a while to deploy forces. The real problem was that the royal family hadn’t even made a proper decision about the deployment.
From the commander’s perspective, barely holding the Western front thanks to Sir Quartz’s company, it felt like impending doom.
Not to mention, many commanders had perished during the fall of the first defensive line, and in the midst of reorganizing, it was questionable whether they could fend off the next assault without any support.
‘At the very least, we should receive some supplies.’
“Could you send us some supplies first? We’re in such a dire situation that we can barely manage two meals a day.”
[I’ll see what I can do. But don’t expect too much.]
The communicator went dark. Sir Ziklint covered his eyes with his hand and sighed heavily.
“Damn, it’s a mess.”
How pathetic that he was so caught up in the fight for the throne that he couldn’t even notice important matters. Sir Ziklint felt despair over how he would convey this grim news to his mentor, Sir Kalintz.
‘It wasn’t like this in Sir Kalintz’s time.’
If Sir Kalintz still had his influential power and voice, the reinforcements would’ve been arriving right on their doorstep by now. Sir Ziklint sighed at the blatant cracks that were starting to show.
“…So, are there no reinforcements?”
“Sir Kalintz.”
Sir Ziklint couldn’t even bring himself to speak. The thought of conveying such bleak news to his mentor, who should ideally be enjoying his twilight years watching his granddaughter, felt utterly pitiful.
“Ziklint.”
“…That’s correct.”
“Ha.”
It was as expected from Sir Kalintz’s dismal expression, yet he could still feel the heat rising to his head. If they were near the royal palace, he would’ve stormed in and grabbed the ministers by their collars to yell at them.
Sir Kalintz managed to suppress his rage and looked at Sir Ziklint. Sir Ziklint could only rise from his seat at the unmistakable angry expression on Sir Kalintz’s face.
The memories of the past flooded back.
“Can you reconnect me?”
“I’ll try once!”
Sir Ziklint quickly contacted the royal palace, like a young soldier on edge.
1 minute.
2 minutes.
3 minutes…
After persistently calling the royal palace, which seemed annoyed at the constant ringing, Sir Ziklint finally faced the somewhat exasperated face of the royal minister.
[What is it?]
“Montague Palace Chief Minister… it’s been a while.”
[Sir, Kalintz? What are you doing there?]
“What do you think I’m doing?”
As deep fury seeped from Kalintz’s mouth, Sir Ziklint clamped his hand over his mouth and quietly took a few steps back. He didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire. Kalintz’s wrath… could be life-threatening if not handled properly.
[Oh, the old man who retired claiming his body was in pain, what are you doing there?]
“What do you think I’m doing?”
Hearing the voice of former Duke Kalintz, Count Montague trembled. The chill in Count Kalintz’s voice was unmistakable.
[Are you participating in the war?]
“Did you think it was just me? Merlin and Geren have also joined the fray.”
[W-What? The situation in the West is that serious?]
Finally aware of the severity of the situation, Count Montague looked pale as Kalintz let out a long sigh. The corner of the table he had grabbed had crumbled to dust.
Count Montague’s face turned ghostly as he witnessed the intense expression of Kalintz, who seemed ready to charge into the royal palace at any moment.
He had a good understanding of Kalintz’s temperament—if he got angry, politics and the throne were of no concern to him.
“Immediately organize the reinforcements. As many as you can gather. Assemble all the elite troops!”
[But that’s not an easy task! You know the situation too!]
“Do you really think the throne dispute is more important than the empire’s stability!?”
At the lion’s roar of the elder, Count Montague paled even more. The former lion duke coldly informed through the flickering communicator.
“Now, gather the reinforcement troops. And tell your son to hurry before I unleash hell upon him.”
———————–
“You seem quite angry.”
“I’ve barely put my feet up after letting everything go, and now I feel like I’m gonna choke on my frustration. I wish my son was at least half as capable as you.”
I brushed aside the lament of Sir Kalintz appropriately. Listening to it was utterly absurd.
He might be portrayed as incompetent in the original work, but hearing it in reality made me feel like he should just start over entirely. How on earth did these fools maintain the empire?
No, it makes sense why it ended up like that in the original.
“Anyway, we’ve successfully restored the first defensive line. If the troops that retreated to the second defensive line return, we can regain some footing.”
“The problem is the lack of people and supplies.”
He was right. After the first defensive line was ransacked, barely half the troops managed to escape and join the second defensive line. And now they were trying to return to the first defensive line with the same troop count.
Considering the West was already a neglected area in the empire, there was a clear limit to how many troops could remain.
Moreover, lacking both food and weapons, they nearly had no options aside from sending messages if the enemy were to attack again.
Yet that wasn’t everything.
They had managed somehow to restore the first defensive line, but the key lay in subjugating Harpas.
However, remembering that he only appeared when forcibly dragged out in the original story, there was no way he would show up just because some time had passed. To find Harpas, they had to advance beyond the defensive line.
“If I issue a mobilization order, I can confiscate supplies, but I don’t have the authority right now. Even if I did manage to gather supplies from this impoverished land, how much could I collect?”
“Hmm…”
I had no way to solve the food situation either. The paladins were barely managing to feed the soldiers by sharing what little rations they had. Yet, an old party would not suffice to hunt down Harpas, considering the uncertainty at the rear.
By now, it was obvious that Harpas was aware of our presence, and the moment we let our guard down, he would strike from behind. Even if we managed to return swiftly, the collapse of the first defensive line was unavoidable.
“To solve the current situation, we can only wait for reinforcements.”
“How long would it take if they loaded up supplies non-stop from the imperial capital?”
“At the earliest, a month.”
A month, huh… at this rate, there was no choice but to concede the first defensive line. The food situation was dire even in the best of times, making it hard to sustain resources.
“Nothing is easy.”
“Isn’t that just life? Still, you really have been doing well.”
“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t just be losing the first defensive line, we would have collapsed into the second defensive line and rushed straight toward the center.”
Where was Headmaster Merlin? I glanced up at him as he patted my shoulder, trying to offer comfort.
The great wizard… Merlin…
Oh.
“Sir Merlin, would it be possible to use teleportation magic from here to the academy?”
“It’s not impossible, but what do you have in mind?”
Anticipation sparkled in the eyes of Headmaster Merlin and former Duke Kalintz as they looked at me.
But it wasn’t anything that grand. I scratched my head and said.
“How about installing a portal here?”
“A portal? Here?”
“At the very least, we could quickly bring in some elite troops.”
Portals might struggle to transport large numbers of people, but sending a few with ample supplies should be entirely feasible. Plus, there were a few individuals I wanted to bring along if possible.
“Hm. However, creating a portal isn’t easy. It requires a lot of materials.”
“I’ll take care of that.”
Sir Kalintz stated he would handle it and pulled out a badge emblazoned with a lion’s emblem and handed it to me. I never expected to receive something like this.
It was something one could only obtain after completing all the interconnected quests of the Ryan family. Still, it was polite not to act like I knew anything, right?
“What is this…?”
“This is a badge that only the heads can hand over. With this, you can exercise rights as my proxy; gather our resources from the house to buy materials for the portal.”
“…Understood.”
“To use long-distance transference magic will take a while, so rest up properly. I also recommend grabbing a quick nap.”
“But where is Geren?”
“That guy went to scout around. Tsk, tsk. I told him not to go, but perhaps age has blocked his ears…”
So he was outside after all.
“I’ll just take a quick rest, then.”
“Go ahead.”
“Kalintz, please ask the soldiers to secure the open space…”
I headed toward the bedroom, trying to clear my head about whether this new breakthrough would bring hope or despair.
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