Chapter 93

Chapter 93 – The Beginning of War

 

It was a sunny day around the middle of April1, I went to the adventurer guild to get a quest.

However, the air on the guild was different than normal. It is as noisy as usual, but a different kind of noise… And it’s busy, very busy. Besides, it seems that adventurers are in a bad mood as well.

In the tea room, instead of the usual relaxed air, people are seriously discussing with one another.

…… What happened?

For the time being, I decided to ask a receptionist before looking at the quests.

「Good morning. Things seem to be quite hectic, but what happened?」

At the receptionist’s desk, Airi-san also seemed to be pretty busy, but she looked to me and explained the situation.

「Ah, Fujino-sama … Good morning… Eeh, an emergency request came early this morning… The army of the Soutinsu2 country has been advancing towards the border…… All adventurers are to prepare for the departure. You can’t refuse unless you have special circ.u.mstances. Fujino-sama also needs to go. The king decided that we’ll be part of the defense line. The departure is in 3 days and it is a top priority request, all other quests have been suspended, so please see the details on the board.」

She seemed out of breath, but she still explained it in one go.

There have been rumors since a while back, but did it finally come…? It seems like there were already tensions with the surrounding countries due to monopoly of rare ores and summons of heroes. There were also rumors of them contracting mercenaries a while back. It might be the fault that there have only been small skirmishes on the recent times.

It was common to have large battles every 10 years or so, but there has been no big battle on the last 40 years.

「What is the size of the army and their current position?」

If the adventurers are being forced to partic.i.p.ate, Soutinsu’s army is probably on the tens of thousands. Considering that the departure is in 3 days, Soutinsu’s army probably departed a few days ago. It takes about 8 days by carriage, or 15 days on foot to go from the capital to the border area. Sobyuuru’s3 army should depart an advance team tomorrow to prepare the defense line.

「The information we got says that Soutinsu’s army has about 60,000 troops and departed from the capital four days ago. Sobyuuru’s troops dispatched 3,000 as an advance group, together with the border defense, they should have about 8000 people for the defense.」4

60 thousand…! That’s almost the whole army! No, I don’t know the details of these days…

25… No, 26 years ago, 60,000 was about 80% of Soutinsu’s Army. I don’t know how much it grew, but I doubt it was much. In other words, they are departing with full strength while only leaving the bare minimum left, intending to end it all with a single decisive battle.

The kingdom troops are around 120000. If more soldiers are recruited, it could grow up to 200000. Considering the strength of each nation, a prolonged battle would be disadvantageous for Soutinsu. Since our borders are with friendly countries, we don’t need to keep many troops, but village and guards are still necessary. If you exclude those, it should be possible to move about… 70000 people? The kingdom has the advantage on the numbers, but we don’t know what will happen on the battlefield. It’s also possible they use forbidden techniques on it.

I thank Airi and head to the quest board.

There was a crowd of people in front of the board, as expected. The content of the convocation was there in one big parchment.

Contents are “The army of Soutinsu marches upon the ki

ngdom of Sobyuuru. Adventurers are drafted to help on the border for an indefinite amount of time, until the case is settled. An appropriate compensation will be given according to the time spent there.“ There were other details on it, but it was similar to what Airi-san told me.

 

Three days later, on the morning, I went to the gate..

On the preparation time, I did what I deemed necessary.

First of all, I asked Chiffon-san to take care of Eru as usual. I’m worried because I don’t know when I’ll be back, but Eru is smart, so it will probably be fine.. When I come back, I should give something to Chiffon-san as thanks.

As for the house… While I can’t do anything about the cleaning, I asked the Guild to take the money from my account to pay the rent. It would be sad to come back, only to see my home gone…

There weren’t many more things to do, I didn’t need to prepare anything in particular for the trip. My equipment is in good shape, food will be provided by the country. Maa, I’ll bring some preserved meals, but there isn’t much else.

There were already other adventurers gathering at the plaza. I was in a bit of an isolated place, but the surroundings were quickly being filled. I don’t think there are a thousand of them here, but it should be close to it.

I heard there are only about 20000 people on the capital though? The number seems too big, they probably came from the surrounding towns as well.

Ever since the convocation, every day a group of knights could be seen leaving towards the border. The town’s people can see it, and rumors of Soutinsu’s advancement spread. When I went shopping, a lot of people asked me about it….

Maa, I don’t want to fight in a war, but this is part of the obligations of an adventurer, so there is no choice. Hopefully it will end quickly..

Looking around, I could see many groups talking. Though there is one guy that seems to be alone, he is watching them while walking back and forth. Aah, he is uneasily looking at the ground. From his looks, seems like a beginner, probably F-rank? Just as he registered, a war broke out…

Thinking of it, there are really few women working as adventurers, I heard it was about 20%, but isn’t it closer to 10%?

Eh? Why is no one looking at me? Am I too small to be seen from afar? …… I’m partic.i.p.ating too!

I’m sitting atop my luggage a bit far from the rest. It would be impossible to see this many adventurers together if not for such a troublesome time. We will work together, so it would be better to get close to those I don’t deem dangerous.

By the way, some people end up being trouble on the battlefield due to no having the discipline of the army, or they get too stressed due to spending too much time on the field. At first, alcohol will solve it, but with time, they end up entering fights or a.s.saulting the women. As expected, there are no knights that do this, but with adventurers, one needs to be careful with whom they’re close to…… Due to that, the women tend to rest in groups, as they can trust it other more easily.

Maa, it won’t happen on the first days though.

While I was looking at the adventurers, a loud voice came from the gate.

「We are leaving for the border! The expected arrival time is in 14 days, so please be prepared! Troublesome behavior will lead to punishments by the guild, so please be careful! We’ll proceed without stopping at any villagers or town! Then let’s move out! 」

The groups started to move out. I decided to leisurely accompany the groups on the back.