"Yaaawn."

Ragna opened his mouth wide and let out a breath, announcing just how sleepy and bored he was.

Watching him, Encrid wondered whether he ought to be amazed that Ragna could walk while dozing. Or should he admire the complete lack of nerves before a battle, and a dangerous one at that? Or perhaps he should follow Ragna's example in treating the Penn-Hanil Mountains like a walking trail on the hill behind his house?

Was yawning and nodding off as he walked even in a situation like this a strength, or was he simply mad? Best to call it a strength. It wasn't as though Encrid's own hands were trembling with nerves. Seeing things as virtues was better for his peace of mind.

"These mountains lack spiritual essence. The air is heavy."

Sinar spoke beside him. Encrid nodded and kept walking.

Their pace suggested a stroll on a hill behind someone's house, but these were the Penn-Hanil Mountains. They had orders to intercept the enemy, but they would have to find them before they could intercept them or fight. That was why they were walking. In military terms, one could call it a march.

Tell an ordinary person to march through the Penn-Hanil Mountains, and they would likely ask whether you'd swapped heads with a Ghoul. Not these people, though. That didn't mean they were actually taking a leisurely stroll, either. They were advancing while keeping track of the enemy's movements, one might say.

Of course, it would be a stretch to say they were doing the reconnaissance themselves. Another group led the way: a ten-person ranger unit, including Pin.

"Been a while, hasn't it?"

They had met Pin as soon as they entered the mountains. She sidled up to him with a smile.

She was the scout captain who had fought alongside him during the operation against Cross Guard. Afterward, she had briefly belonged to the lunatic unit, but she now served under Sinar. A deep scar marked her left cheek, but her expression was bright.

"You seem to be doing well."

"Not bad."

"Don't die."

"I'd like to ask you to save me if things get dangerous, but I've practically been living in these mountains. Have faith in me, Captain."

She finished with a military salute. Encrid nodded. Stepping aside, Pin led her unit far ahead, out of sight and to a distance where he could barely locate them by sound. Then they drew too far away even for that.

Meanwhile, Sinar, who had watched their conversation, approached.

"What a womanizer."

"Who do you mean?"

Sinar gazed steadily at Encrid with emotionless eyes, then launched a surprise attack.

"Surely you don't think I mean our absent big-eyed housekeeper? Or the brawler who calls himself a devoted husband? Or perhaps the swordsman who could find himself trapped in the maze that is this continent at any moment? Lastly, yes, our friend Jaxon certainly could be a womanizer, but he has only one lover, and he visits her faithfully. Did you know she has a perfectly respectable shop right in the middle of the city?"

Encrid failed to evade the Fairy's ambush, delivered gently and softly but without a moment to catch his breath. Under that attack, he realized anew that Sinar knew every member of the unit inside out. Admittedly, they were a distinctive lot.

"The continent's a maze? You ought to be able to find your way just by looking at the stars."

Ragna roused himself from his dozing to scold Rem.

"... Captain. Serious question. We don't really need this one, do we?"

Rem asked with one hand resting on his axe and the other pointing at the continent's own maze enthusiast. Ragna's remark irked him so much that his eyes narrowed into triangles. To Encrid, it looked as though Ragna now knew exactly what he was doing.

"Jaxon's lover has a shop?"

Encrid changed the subject. Trying to stop them now would only make their exchange nastier. His question consigned the Fairy's accusation of womanizing to the darkness of a bottomless pit and swept Rem and Ragna's argument aside as well.

"A teahouse. A small one."

The explanation was so excessively detailed that it invited any number of further questions, but Encrid asked none. That wasn't important. He was merely surprised that Jaxon had a lover, and that he was so diligent about visiting her.

It was also a front for managing his organization, but his lover really did run it, so there wasn't a single lie in what had been said.

After that, they all fell silent. Rem hummed for a while, then stopped. Ragna fought off his drowsiness and kept trying to take the lead, but Encrid stopped him.

Jaxon and Sinar's footsteps sounded alike: both were almost inaudible. This, despite Encrid's hearing having grown far more discerning since he had awakened his Will.

'If they deliberately silenced their footsteps, I wouldn't hear a thing.'

One had deliberately learned that skill; for the other, it was something like an inborn gift. Fairies were naturally light and nimble on their feet. Of course, not all Fairies would be the same, but Sinar certainly seemed that way.

Then they spotted a marker left by Pin's advance party.

"White," Jaxon said, the first to notice it.

A thin strip of cloth was tied to a branch.

Blue meant contact with the enemy; white meant traces had been found. Red would have meant combat and casualties, but if there had been fighting, they would have sensed the change in the air before reaching it. Their keen Sixth Sense would have picked up the traces of battle.

And Encrid's Sixth Sense, which had developed alongside his markedly sharpened five senses, whispered to him that the enemy seemed to have moved faster than expected.

It was an intuitive judgment, but also the result of a calculation completed in an instant. Intuition had merely shortened the process and supplied the answer first.

Encrid and his companions had only just passed through the entrance to the Penn-Hanil Mountains. According to Krais's prediction, they should have met the enemy somewhere past the midpoint. In terms of time, that meant two or three days from now. Encountering them already meant the enemy had moved earlier.

Revealing their intentions to one another didn't oblige either side to follow them to the letter. The enemy had made the first move. Striking first would benefit them if Encrid's side wasn't fully prepared, and arriving early would let them secure favorable terrain as well as the initiative. Under those circumstances, Pin could discover the enemy here and now.

Then were the timing of the discovery and all these circumstances coincidence? Perhaps not. Unless the enemy were fools, they wouldn't leave such easily discovered traces.

Complex calculations became intuition, bringing several facts to his attention. In an instant, Encrid's mind sorted what had happened from what would happen.

Pin's scouts were there to find the enemy if they diverted onto another route. She would do her duty, even at the cost of her life. But...

"There's more than one."

Besides the white cloth tied to the branch, they found white cloth folded into birds on the ground. One had its beak pointed right, another left. That meant the enemy was taking at least three routes.

In other words, even Krais hadn't predicted this. But there was no need to panic. His calculations complete and his intuition at work, Encrid spoke.

"Jaxon, join Pin's scouts. Ragna and Sinar, follow them straight ahead. Rem, take the left. I'll go right."

With no reason to hesitate, he moved as he spoke.

"Very well."

Jaxon was already climbing a tree. Above them, through the branches and the sunlight filtering between them, moved a figure far larger than a bird yet with far less presence. He began leaping across the branches, kicking off and all but flying, making less noise than a bird's wingbeat.

Encrid's gaze swept the place where Jaxon had vanished. At the same time, he reconsidered his decision. If the enemy had split up, should they split up too? Could this be a trap? If anything looked wrong, they could simply confirm the situation and return immediately.

An enemy they had expected to encounter days later was suddenly right under their noses.

'Did they want us to panic and fumble? Or hope the urgency would shake our chain of command?'

That was a plausible aim. When several people with knight-level strength gathered, disagreements would be commonplace. But Encrid's lunatic unit faithfully followed one man's orders.

"Don't go overdoing it. I'll clean things up quick and come find you."

Rem moved as he spoke, and Encrid turned right. Ragna and Sinar alone continued straight ahead in silence, walking twice as fast as before.

* * *

'Have they pulled something?'

Krais still felt anxiety gushing up like a fountain from deep in his guts, but outwardly he was perfectly composed.

He drank tea, smiled, traded jokes, and got all his work done. In his position, letting his anxiety show would affect others. So he couldn't show it. He could bounce his leg nervously when alone, but if anyone was watching, he had to act as though everything was fine.

["Don't try too hard out there."]

That was what Encrid had said at the departure ceremony. Good grief, was that any way to address soldiers heading into battle?

Though he screamed inwardly, Krais deftly turned Encrid's words to his advantage.

["He means we'll win even without trying."]

Of course, rather than taking the platform himself, he had the commanders pass that along.

The speaker was the Demon Killer, the master of Border Guard, the King's Dear Friend, the Savior of the Western City, the man who had silenced the Gray Forest. In truth, even a single bark of "Woof" would have sent morale soaring. By now, they would believe even his barking carried some profound meaning.

["We will!"]

["Win!"]

["Without even trying!"]

["Win!"]

One hell of a chant. Krais had watched the troops depart to the chant their commanders had devised, then continued attending to one thing after another. All the while, his anxiety swelled of its own accord, pressing against his brain and forcing him to think.

'Would those fucking bastards in Aspen really have done nothing?'

We won't fight an all-out war, but we'll put on a show of force, so let's not actually fight. That's what we've agreed, right?

'And what if they don't keep to it?'

What are you going to do about it? That one question would settle things. The winner's word would become the truth anyway. What did it matter if they broke a tacit agreement?

So Krais had taken a few little measures of his own. Of course, he was the one who considered them little. The enemy facing them might think differently.

* * *

The two armies massed far apart across Green Pearl. They had gathered at roughly the same time, but Aspen finished forming ranks first. Its troops numbered over five thousand. Border Guard had perhaps three thousand at most.

But these weren't just any three thousand. Krais had been pouring Krona into military spending, and this was the result. Three thousand elite soldiers, with every bit of rabble weeded out.

"Advance."

Five hundred heavy infantrymen moved to the front. A small number, yet hardly insignificant.

Their equipment was uniform: plate breastplates over mail, with gambesons beneath. Armies rarely entered a war with standardized equipment. Heavy infantry in particular had often bought their own gear, which meant some men turned up in armor that looked like patchwork rags.

Usually, having armor of the same color was about the best one could hope for. Border Guard's heavy infantry, however, had standardized every piece of equipment.

Simply maintaining an army was like keeping pigs that swallowed Krona without pause. All they did was eat and shit. The battlefield was where those pigs proved their worth. With war clearly imminent, Krais had spared no expense on the army.

"I poured my life's blood in Krona into building this."

Alone at the rear, Krais ground out the words.

Even their weapons were similar in shape, despite slight differences in materials. From a distance, they simply looked identical. No single smithy could have produced that quantity in a short time, so they had been steadily making and stockpiling equipment.

Spearmen and archers divided evenly to form up on either side of the heavy infantry. Their gear was standardized too: blue gambesons and snug leather helmets. These troops had both matching equipment and the brutal training begun by Audin and carried on by Roford.

At the center, Graham stood alone on a hastily erected platform. The lord of Border Guard and its publicly recognized supreme commander drew a great breath, swelling his chest, then shouted.

"All troops! Prepare for battle!"

Drums boomed at his cry. Each commander issued orders simultaneously, and their army began forming ranks.

Drill demonstrated an army's discipline and precision. To judge how well an army had been trained, one needed only see how straight its ranks were. The continent's leading strategists and historians agreed on that. Here and now, Border Guard's elite troops proved their point.

CLACK, THUD!

They stepped forward and aligned their ranks. That simple movement proved how well trained they were. Not a man fell out of line or spoke, and every rank and file stayed straight even as they moved. From afar, the army almost looked like a single living creature.

Aspen's army had ranks of a sort, its troops grouped by their respective branches, but this was order of an entirely different caliber. An army standing straight as a wall. The wall Krais had prepared.

Matching uniforms and synchronized drill completed the spectacle of a finely honed army. That sight alone was a deterrent that made enemies swallow hard. Well? Still want to attack an army like this?

Some of Aspen's commanders did, in fact, swallow hard. What the hell? Why were those bastards' ranks so straight? Was fighting them really a good idea? Surely they weren't about to receive an order to charge?

Every army had men who styled themselves its assault troops. Aspen naturally had such men too, but even they faltered. Realizing that he himself had hesitated, their self-proclaimed captain opened his mouth.

"Bullshit. Standing in a straight line doesn't mean you can fight! Raaaah!"

With that roar, he swelled the courage that had briefly shriveled inside him. His men roared with him.

"Raaaah!"

Hundreds shouted together, and the cries spread through those around them like a contagion. It was loud. Their roars raced across the battlefield. By screaming at the tops of their lungs, Aspen's army created something resembling martial spirit.

It seemed as though some energy were gathering above the massed soldiers. One could easily imagine seeing such a vision. Watching it, Graham raised his left hand without a trace of a smile.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

The drum sounded five times. It was an order to count silently to five and shout. Amid the enemy's disordered curses and roars, every last one of Border Guard's elite soldiers obeyed their commanders and raised their voices as one.

"Without even trying!"

The commanders led the call.

"Without even trying!"

The troops answered.

"We'll win!"

Another call.

"We'll win!"

And the response.

It crashed like thunder. The unified roar, its meaning perfectly clear, crushed Aspen's haphazard shouting. Their half-formed martial spirit scattered like dust. The earth rumbled and the air trembled.

Listening to his army's thunderous cries, Krais thought they were off to a good start. That didn't dispel all his anxiety, though.

'Now, Audin. Finish the job, please.'

I believe in you, son of the God of War. Krais summoned the faith he only ever turned to in times of need.

Audin and Teresa were on this battlefield, along with Roford and Pell. He had deliberately left them here. Even if Aspen had kept a knight behind to attack, that force could find some way to hold them off.

But his anxiety hadn't faded, so Krais had played a little trick of his own. Abnaire had played his by sending the flanking force out unexpectedly early; Krais had made his move on the ground where an all-out battle might break out.

"Step forward, brother who knows how to fight!"

At the front, between the two armies' ranks, a Giant of a priest rode out on an enormous brown horse. His name was Audin.

They had said they would avoid an all-out battle, not that they wouldn't fight at all. If the enemy might charge them anyway, wasn't it perfectly reasonable to beat a few of them to death first and send their own morale soaring? That was Krais's thinking. Of course, Abnaire would never agree.