Those ambushes were originally intended to stall Frizione’s army.
Attacking from a distance with bows, fleeing before they could be attacked back, and inflicting injuries in Frizione’s army. To treat the injured, Frizione’s army would have to use potions and healing magic. Although there wouldn’t be any deaths, the loss of supplies and need to prepare against attacks would lower their morale……or at least it should have.
Yes, if it hadn’t been for Rei and Set, who could move through the air, the plan would likely have been successful.
But because and Rei and Set’s actions, Kabajid’s calculations had gone awry.
From Kabajid’s point of view, all he had lost were bandits and a few mercenaries.
Even the mercenaries he lost were mostly made of bad behaving people, so it wasn’t that much of a loss for them to be killed by Rei’s attacks.
If anything, he might even had expressed his gratitude to Rei for getting rid of those who might have caused unwanted trouble for him in the future.
Regardless, defeating all the ambushes lying in wait, Frizione’s army continued along the road on their way to join up with Mercurio’s army.
「Today……is probably impossible, but we should arrive by tomorrow afternoon.」
「Probably. If Rei hadn’t defeated the ambushers in advance, it might have taken a few more days……but it should have only taken us two days to begin with.」
Angela sighed from horseback as she rode alongside Rei.
In fact, they were already half a day behind schedule……or maybe even a little more, which made Angela depressed.
Still, they had brought a certain amount of supplies with them, so at the very least, there was no shortage.
Frizione was also popular with the people, so if absolutely necessary, it probably wouldn’t be that difficult to resupply at villages and towns along the way.
Fortunately, it was already autumn. The crop harvest was already over, so most villages could spare some resources.
Of course, taking supplies didn’t mean taking them unconditionally. They would buy and pay for them at the proper price.
Frizione was someone who cared about her people, so there was absolutely no compromise on that point.
……Unsurprisingly, there were many people in Frizione’s army who admired her for that reason.
They understood her character and they weren’t without financial means, so this wasn’t a particularly major problem for them.
「If it comes down to it, I can also give you some of my supplies.」
Rei’s Misty Ring contained a large amount of food, ingredients, and monster corpses.
For an army of this size, he should be able to provide at least one meal.
「I’m jealous that things don’t spoil inside your item box.」
「Yeah, to be honest, being able to store food to be eaten whenever I want is extremely useful. I can buy pots of soup or stew in town and then store it away.」
「Gururu~!」
Set, who had been listening to Rei, gave a cry to say Rei was right as soon as food was mentioned.
Alongside Rei, Set had tasted many dishes and learned how delicious they were.
Although Set didn’t mind eating things he killed, that was in addition to the food he could eat in villages, towns, and cities.
「Fufu~, I wonder if Set is hungry?」
「I don’t think so, but Set will be happy to eat whatever he’s given. Same for me as well.」
The reason why Frizione’s army was able to continue their march while they conversed casually was because Rei had defeated all the bandits and mercenaries who had been preparing to harass them over the next few days.
In the end, Rei’s actions had brought great benefits to Frizione’s army.
Not only did they not have to worry about ambushes any more, but they also managed to obtain a considerable number of horses.
Rei had left notes whenever there were horses left behind by the forces lying in wait before moving on to the next ambush.
As a result, while some of the horses had been taken away by other people, Frizione’s army had managed to recover most of them.
Naturally, there weren’t enough horses for all the infantry, but it was true that it did increase their marching speed somewhat.
Frizione’s army continued their smooth advance until……the White Rose Knights, who were traveling at the front to guard Frizione’s carriage, noticed a presence heading towards them.
It was a situation where one side was being chased by another.
As the chase was taking place on the road, those who had been traveling along the road had moved aside and kept their distance to avoid getting caught up.
It could only be called a strange situation as both parties gradually approached Frizione’s army.
「Princess Frizione, what should we do?」
「Well, sorry, but could you go and put an end to the fighting? I’ve seen a lot of blood recently, so I’d rather not see any more now. However, my safety is still your top priority.」
Following her words, the White Rose Knights rushed out.
「Let’s go! Fight and live up to our name as the First Unit of the White Rose Knights!」
As the voice of their captain echoed out, the knights of the First Unit increased their momentum.
The group being chased seemed to notice the White Rose Knights. Some of them grimaced as they saw the White Rose Knights charging towards them, but seemed to sigh in relief after recognising the female knights in white armour.
The White Rose Knights were the only knight order in the Bestir Empire comprised of beautiful women wearing white armour after all.
In other words, it was proof that the group being chased held no animosity towards them.
(But, if that’s the case, then the pursuers have to be a different matter.)
The captain of the First Unit muttered to herself as she gripped her rapier tightly.
Rapiers weren’t a weapon commonly used by cavalry.
But, the captain of the First Unit was very familiar with rapiers and was able to use it as a powerful weapon, even from horseback.
「Leave this to us, you guys go ahead!」
「Sorry and thanks!」
Exchanging a few words as they passed each other by, the men being pursued headed for Frizione’s army while the First Unit of White Rose Knights continued their charge towards the pursuing force.
The pursuing force seemed to hesitate for a moment regarding what they should do, but seemed to judge that if they retreated now, they would still be chased after. Following the orders of who seemed to be their commander, they charged at the First Unit as well.
They would land a hit, scare them off, and then retreat.
That was probably what they had been thinking, but it was quickly overshadowed by their shock.
The female captain, rapier at the ready, moved her hand swiftly at the approaching cavalry.
Her hand had moved. That was all one of the pursuers could see from that distance. Even those who saw it from up close couldn’t understand what had happened as the pursuer’s eyes and neck were pierced from between the gaps in his helmet. His limbs were also pierced between the gaps in joints of his armour as he tumbled to the ground.
Falling off a horse galloping at full speed, there was no way for him to survive.
The bones in his limbs broke upon hitting the ground before he was crushed under the hooves of the horses his companions were riding on behind him.
The only fortunate point for the man was that the initial strikes to his eyes and neck had already killed him, so he hadn’t felt the pain for long.
At the very least, he was far more fortunate than the rider that been crushed by their own horse after losing their balance or the rider who had been trampled to death by the horses behind him.
And so, with their opponent how thrown off balance, the First Unit of the White Rose Knights started their own attack.
They seemed to realise at this point that they stood no chance of winning. The leader of the pursuing force gave the order to retreat as the survivors struggled away.
「Captain, should we chase after them?」
「No, we won’t pursue. I don’t think it’s a trap, but we can’t waste our strength for no reason in our current situation. Anyway, is anyone injured?」
「No. The battle was basically instantaneous and the captain took the lead.」
「I see. In that case, shall we return to Princess Frizione?」
The captain glanced down at the ground.
The dead were already dead and those who were on the verge of death would follow soon after.
「As for these people, we need to dispose of them properly so they don’t cause any harm.」
「Then, I’ll ask Rei-dono to……」
「Wait, I’ll do it!」
「Hey, that’s not fair! I should be the one to go.」
The moment one of the knight said they would ask Rei for help, the tension from early vanished entirely.
However the captain of the First Unit shook her head, while thinking that it was understandable considering Set’s cuteness.
「It’s true that if we use Rei-dono’s magic, it will be solved quickly……but to begin with, Rei-dono is not one of us, his job is to escort the army. Considering that we are already relying on him too much, we should do something about this ourselves. I’ll ask Commander Angela what to do with the bodies. Let’s head back first.」
They couldn’t rely on Rei too much. While they understood that, it was also true that they had no choice but to rely on him right now as a fighting force.
That was why they needed to do what they could do themselves.
With those thoughts in mind, the captain of the First Unit headed to where Angela was.
It was frustrating. She wished she had more strength, a thought that was hard to believe for someone who had the strength to singlehandedly pushed back the pursuit force earlier.
「Haa, haa, haa. ……You saved us, thank you.」
「I-I honestly thought we were done for.」
「Seriously, why did they have to be so relentless against guys like us……」
The men who had fled to Frizione’s army expressed their gratitude with panting breaths, savouring the fact that they had survived.
Some were so exhausted that they couldn’t even speak, showing the danger they had survived.
「Bring them some water.」
Following Angela’s orders, a nearby soldier immediately brought some water over.
「Here, drink.」
They must have been incredibly thirsty. At Angela’s words, they greedily drank from the cups that had been prepared for them.
After drinking a few cups, they seemed to have calmed down as one of the men gave a deep bow.
「Thank you very much.」
「No, it’s fine. That aside, may I ask why you were being chased?」
「Yes. But first, you are Commander Angela, the leader of the White Rose Knights, right?」
「Yes. That is correct.」
After seeing Angela nod, the man then turned his gaze toward a carriage a short distance away.
「Then, Princess Frizione is in the carriage over there.」
Angela nodded in response to the man’s question, but became more vigilant.
If he intended to harm Princess Frizione, she wouldn’t let anything happen.
However, the man simply let out a sigh of relief as he spoke.
「Thank goodness, it seems we managed to make it.」
「Make it?」
「Yes. I am Dornos, a subordinate of Viscount Visch, who serves Prince Mercurio. In fact, the area around our camp has been surrounded by the punitive force. Prince Mercurio sent us to inform Princess Frizione of this information with the intention of defeating the punitive force blocking the roads one by one to deal with them……」
As he was speaking, Dornos glance away.
The person he turned to look at was Rei.
Rei, who had been speaking with Angela before any of this had happened, was still present.
「I’m glad to see you’re safe Rei-dono.」
「We’ve had a few problems on our side as well……I see, they’ve decided to cut off our supplies. Certainly, since they were losing in terms of pure military strength, it was probably the expected decision.」
Rei nodded in agreement.
Among the people before him, Rei had seen several of them, including Dornos, several times in the rebel camp.
Some had even trained under Rei previously.
It was those people who had breathed a sigh of relief the moment they saw Rei.
That was because they knew first hand how strong Rei was.
Feeling those gazes, Rei frowned for a moment before turning to Angela and speaking.
「It seems that the relentless harassment attacks were targeted at us……no, wait. If they were going to cut off our supplies, in other words, starve us out, then there’s no point in slowing down our advance, right?」
「That’s right. It’s true that it will delay our arrival, but it’s not like we are going to spend months or years to travel a distance that’s only a few days away……so their goal isn’t a siege?」
Angela’s questioning voice echoed out into the surroundings.