Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

“Yesterday, my men got hold of vital information. It seems a large group of bandits will be using a limestone cave located in the outskirts of the royal capital as a gathering place.”

“……A limestone cave? Are you referring to the Range limestone caverns?”

“Yes, that should be it. We’re expecting more than 300 bandits gathering there.”

“Three hundred! ……What exactly is their purpose?”

“That I do not know. They wouldn’t be able to mount an attack on the royal capital with just three hundred men, so they might just be gathering in order to escape the crackdown together.”

The bandits seem to be keeping a pretty tight lid on any info regarding their plans, and we didn’t obtain any more useful intelligence from the bits installed inside the pubs around the capital.

We only managed to discover their plans to gather in such numbers after a drone managed to notice the figure of a bandit acting suspiciously and boarding a carriage. It then tailed the guy and made the discovery.

“Perhaps you’re right, Your Excellency. It is already well known that you are about to depart toward the Sea of Trees soon. They might be thinking of evacuating the royal capital until your departure.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought too. Well?”

“This is a heaven-sent opportunity, Your Excellency.”

“I knew you’d say that. Alright. Let’s organize an attack tomorrow. How many men from the defense force can you afford to deploy for this operation?”

“As many as you need, Your Excellency. If we are mounting an attack by tomorrow, then it is possible for us to deploy up to a thousand men.”

“Alright. Please prepare a total of three hundred men. We’ll be sending seventy Shining Star members on our end.”

“Alan-sama, why not take some of the adventurers we hired with you as well? They were complaining about being bored because they had nothing to do, you see.”

The one who made the suggestion was Adjutant Dalshim. The adventurers we managed to hire huh. I guess they really should be getting pretty bored since they didn’t have anything particular to do until our departure from the capital. Well, I suppose I could take them along since they’re so free.

“Alright. We’ll take the adventurers who are willing to work in exchange for the average daily wage with us. Now then, please take a look at these materials.”

I’ve already created a detailed sketch of the limestone cavern the bandits are going to use as a gathering spot. There was only one opening in the cave that can serve as an entrance and exit. Well, it’s not like there aren’t really any other openings they can make use of, but they’d have to travel pretty deep into the cavern network in order to reach them, so I think those can be safely discounted.

It would be quite troublesome if they end up sealing the cavern entrance and hunkered down inside for a siege though. We all agreed that in the worst case, we’d have no choice but to use magic in order to burn them all into ashes.

We finally finished hashing out the attack plans after thirty minutes or so.

“Your subordinates are as amazing as always, Your Excellency. With this much information in hand, the operation tomorrow is certain to be a resounding success.”

“I hope so. ……Hermann, I wish to bring everything to a swift end tomorrow. We will accomplish the royal order without losing even a single person.”

“By your will, Your Excellency.”

The number of bandits and criminals we’ve already managed to capture currently amounts to 488 people. Once we successfully manage to secure the 328 bandits tomorrow, we would accomplish the royal order with plenty of leeway to spare. We’ve already secured more than enough supplies. Roberto and his men will soon be arriving here as well. It’s about time we depart for the Sea of Trees.

The next morning, we assembled before the city gate once dawn arrived. There were seventy Shining Star members participating as promised. Since this was the last operation we’ll be conducting, I’ve gathered all the main party members as well. The horses and carriages carrying the adventurers and royal capital defense forces were arriving one after another as well.

It looks like there weren’t that many adventurers who agreed to participate. The ones who answered our call to arms only numbered twenty-five in total. Well, we only informed them of the operation yesterday after all. And they’d only be getting the average daily wage of 250 Guineas for participating, so I suppose it can’t be helped.

“Yo, Alan. We’ll be in your care today.”

The one who called out to me was the B-rank adventurer I met the other day in front of the book store, Hans. Hans and his party ended up accepting our request at the guild and will be joining us in the expedition to the Sea of Trees.

“You cretin! Just who do you think you are addressing!? Properly address His Excellency by his title, Baron Corinth, you fool!”

The former Starveek royal guard member Sasha, who was acting as my escort today, immediately admonished him.

“Well, that’s how it is, Hans. Please mind your words when there are other people around.”

“It should not only be while in the presence of other people, Alan-sama. They should address you properly at all times. Do you understand, adventurer!?”

“O-Okay, I got it.”

The defense force troops lined up before me. It looks like they were done with their preparations.

“Good morning, Your Excellency.”

“Good morning, Hermann. Nn? Is it just me, or is there something different about your men today?”

Instead of their usual equipment, they were sporting hard leather armor that was fitted with metal plates in several critical areas. The armor looked sufficiently tough.

“I have brought a total of 250 Royal Capital Defense Force magic users for this operation, Your Excellency. Everyone is able to use fire and wind magic spells. Today will be the last operation, so they wanted to contribute their strength and join you in battle.”

We’ll be taking on more than three hundred enemies today so a force of 250 magic users will certainly help a lot. Is it just me? It looks to me like they’re all displaying eager and fearless expressions.

In any case, a chance to observe how this country’s army fights up close is certainly a pretty valuable opportunity.

“Let us fight together then. Very well. Let us depart.”

It would take about two hours for us to reach the Range limestone caverns located in the outskirts of the royal capital via horse carriage. In order to return to the city while the sun was still up, we’d have to start the operation by 8 o’clock in the morning.

Our mixed unit of adventurers and soldiers departed from the royal capital riding on horseback and via carriage.

“Your Excellency, His Majesty has instructed me to report to him about the results of today’s operation later, but in the case this operation succeeds, I would like to ask your Excellency to personally pay a visit to the castle tomorrow.”

A personal summons by the king!? I wonder what it’s about?

“That was quite sudden, Hermann. What does His Majesty want to talk to me about, I wonder. No, I would certainly come, of course, but……”

“It is about your reward, of course, Your Excellency.”

“Reward?”

“You will have completed the royal order with resounding success, so it is only natural for there to be a reward, Your Excellency. I am sure His Majesty has been in a very good mood ever since we began our operations.”

Oh, so it looks like I’ll be receiving a reward for completing the royal order huh. I wonder how much I’ll get. Well, I’ll take whatever I can get.

About thirty minutes after our departure from the capital, a man on horseback was spotted trying to overtake us from behind. Just as expected.

“Catch him.”

Hermann gave the order to his subordinates, and they successfully captured the man. Most likely, this guy was rushing to his comrades to warn them about our departure from the royal capital.

It was pretty suspicious to be in such a rush on the highway at this time of the day. Even if we end up being mistaken, we’ll just chalk it up to performing an investigation on behalf of the crown, so there’s no problem.

Afterward, we proceeded along the highway without any further incidents and managed to reach a spot near the Range limestone caverns before long. We’d probably get spotted by the bandit lookouts if we advanced any further though.

“Isn’t it about time, Your Excellency?”

“Yes, you’re right. Send in the cavalry.”

I wanted to take them down in one fell swoop. It would be troublesome if they attempt an escape, so I sent in men on horseback in advance to swiftly close the net. About 100 men comprised of Shining Star members and defense force cavalry troops quickly closed in on the limestone cavern entrance.

It looks like they’ve already been spotted huh. Footage of two lookouts rushing inside the cavern entrance was displayed on a virtual window.

However, no matter how you looked at it, our men would be able to reach them before they could attempt an escape.

Before long, we also managed to reach the cavern entrance. The area around the limestone cavern was free of any obstructions and the visibility was good. We were about seventy meters from the entrance.

However, as expected, they did seal the entrance up. As I confirmed via surveillance footage, they neatly closed the entrance using an earthen wall. There appear to be some peepholes used to check the situation outside placed in various spots of the wall. There were also larger holes that a single person could crawl through. There’s no mistake. This wall was made using earth magic.

I zoomed the footage and confirmed the presence of lots of bandits peeping out from the eye holes. The thickness of the earthen wall should be about 30 centimeters or so.

While I was checking the place out, the final group of carriages managed to arrive as well. With this, everyone was finally assembled.

“To think bandits were able to create something like that…… We will proceed with our preparations, Your Excellency.”

Hermann issued commands to prepare for the attack.

“Alan-sama, how do you propose we proceed?”

Adjutant Dalshim seems to be thinking about methods to overcome that earthen wall.

“Let’s use magic spells for the time being. I’ll leave it to Hermann and his men. I want to observe how the army will choose to overcome that earthen wall.”

“Understood.”

The defense force soldiers began to get into a square formation. The front row was comprised of soldiers wielding large metal shields. Behind them was a row of 25 people, and furthest back were lines made up of ten people each. A twenty-five by ten square formation huh.

I see. Twenty-five people will release spells all at once and then fall back to be replaced by the person behind them one after another for a continuous barrage. It seems to be a basic but solid tactic.

“Your Excellency, if it’s fine with you, we shall commence the attack.”

“Yosh, go ahead. At them.”