"Has that information been relayed to the King or Lyle?"
"Not yet. As things stand, the Southern Viscount house has not yet officially entered the war. So in situations like this, we've received orders from Lady Hana to report to the Ootori household first and act in accordance with Tenma's instructions."
"Then please hurry to the Royal Castle with the report. When you do, fly the Ootori household's flag alongside the Southern Viscount house's flag, and tell the guards to summon either the butler Kurif or the maid Aina. If you explain the reason for coming to the Royal Castle to one of those two, a report should reach the King or Lyle immediately."
I'm not entirely comfortable with the Southern intelligence operatives being under the Ootori household's care, but since I was the one who suggested lending them a corner of the Ootori estate, it's only natural to take responsibility. Besides, the Southern Viscount house would want to avoid having Reni and the others carelessly used by someone other than us, or having their accomplishments stolen away. That's probably why they intend to protect the operatives until the Southern Viscount's forces assemble, in exchange for letting the Ootori household be the first to receive the intelligence they gather.
Even if Reni and the others went straight to the Royal Castle in their current situation, they'd most likely be turned away at the gate or have their information seized by someone else. To prevent that, they'd carry the Ootori household's flag and rely on either Kurif or Aina — both of whom have met Reni and can report directly to the King.
There was also the option of me taking the report or going along with Reni and the others, but that would mean the credit — even if only temporarily — would go to the Ootori household they belonged to. To leave a stronger impression of the Southern Viscount house, it was better to have Reni and the others go on their own.
"Oh, and as the Southern Viscount house's acting representative, please don't forget to include Amour's name as well."
"Understood!"
Amour hardly does any work for the Southern Viscount house, to put it mildly, but among the Southern affiliates in the Royal Capital, he's the only one of viscount blood. Having his name attached would further strengthen the Southern Viscount house's presence. Of course, he'd probably complain about it being a hassle, but Lady Hana would absolutely approve, so I decided to just consider Amour as having no veto power.
After Reni headed off to the Royal Castle with her subordinates, I immediately gathered Grandpa and the others for a discussion. Uncle Mark was also among the members.
"So what you're saying is, if the zombie horde moves exactly as the Southern intelligence operatives reported, the Royal Capital could end up surrounded from all directions?"
"That's the general idea. But no matter how large the zombie numbers are, I don't think they can completely encircle the Royal Capital. So they'll probably concentrate the bulk of the horde on the eastern side, with small-to-medium groups attacking from other directions."
Small-scale groups would be easy for Albert's patrol unit to handle, and medium-scale ones would be manageable too. However, even if every group that attacked was small-scale, if they struck multiple locations simultaneously, it would be impossible for the patrol unit alone to respond — they'd have to pull troops from other units. That would reduce the forces stationed to face the largest horde likely coming from the east, making this report unwelcome news for the Kingdom's side.
"If that's how it's going to turn out, maybe we should have attacked from the Kingdom's side instead."
"But then the Reformist Faction would be pleased, so it's true the judgment was difficult."
"That's right. Still, if we had pushed all the way into the Margrave's territory, we could have relied on the Margrave's forces or the Duke's army, and perhaps fought on equal or better terms."
"Tenma, there's no point talking about that now."
The conversation had veered off into the zombie horde's movements and the strategy the Kingdom had adopted, but Amour's entirely predictable retort brought us right back to the original topic.
"So, regarding the Ootori household's course of action — Grandpa and I will be stationed near the front lines to prepare against the Lich. While we're away, Primera will take command of the Ootori household, with Jeanne and Uncle Mark assisting her. Especially you, Uncle — I'd like you to handle matters related to the people of Kukuri Village as well, so coordinate with Aunt Martha and look after them."
"Huh!?"
"Leave it to me!"
Jeanne made a thoroughly worried face, but she'd already packed her belongings and food into easy-to-carry bundles, so the only thing left was to remember Juubei and the others when it actually came time to flee. I relayed that to Jeanne, and it seemed to ease her anxiety a little.
As for Uncle, he'd already experienced Kukuri Village being attacked by Zombies, and he'd practically become the representative of the Kukuri Villagers living in the Royal Capital, so his position wouldn't change much from what it was now. With Aunt Martha helping out too, there shouldn't be any particular problems.
"Tenma, what's my role?"
"Amour, if the Southern Viscounty comes to the Royal Capital, your affiliation could change, so help out with whatever Jeanne needs while staying ready to move at a moment's notice."
Amour was among the top-tier fighters of the Southerners currently in the Royal Capital, and as a blood relative of the precious Southern Viscounty, Hanah might have some role in mind for her. That was precisely why the Ootori household couldn't assign her to any official position.
"In other words, with certain conditions, Amour is to be the captain of the irregular unit."
"Got it!"
The moment I said her affiliation might change, Amour made a deeply displeased face, but the moment Grandpa stepped in to smooth things over, she perked right up. Well, "irregular unit" sounded impressive enough, but for now—since it was Grandpa's spur-of-the-moment idea—Amour was the only member, so there was no telling when the ranks would actually grow. Perhaps some reinforcements would arrive from the Southern Viscounty, and when that happened, we'd have her take charge of leading them.
"So, the worst-case scenario of evacuating the Royal Capital remains unchanged, but I'd like to change the primary escape route from the south side to the west side. According to Ren's report, the Zombie hordes are spreading laterally as they advance, which means the risk of having our path surrounded by the horde after leaving the Royal Capital has increased. There's also the possibility that the southern exits have been locked down by soldiers fortifying their defenses."
"Tenma, wouldn't the same thing apply to the western exits?"
Primera raised that point, and Grandpa and the others nodded in agreement, but—
"The western part of the Kingdom is mostly Reformist territory, right? Which means the soldiers concentrated on the west side are almost certainly Reformists. If the Reformist nobles ever needed to flee, escaping to the west would be more than enough for them to rebuild on their own."
"I see… So if anyone were fleeing from the west side, it would be Reformist nobles and soldiers. And if nobles abandoned the Royal Capital—no, abandoned the Royal Family—it would be tantamount to renouncing their status as Kingdom nobles. In other words, they could be judged as traitors, or more precisely, an enemy force. Against that sort, scattering them wouldn't be a problem."
"It could become a problem, but the Kingdom won't have the luxury of worrying about that. Besides, if things deteriorate enough that we have to flee the Royal Capital, we'll already be opposed to the Reformists anyway. 'Someone with an extremely high chance of becoming an enemy' simply becomes 'completely an enemy'—so shouldn't we prioritize improving our own survival odds?"
"Well, that's true."
Both Grandpa and I—or rather, the Ootori household as a whole—generally disliked the Reformists, so nobody had any objections to scattering them if it came to that.
"So, if the other side happens to be the Reformists, that's one thing… but the worst-case scenario would be running into the 'Royalist Faction' or the 'Neutral Faction.' If it's a noble we know, we could probably work something out through negotiation, but the odds of a noble we know just happening to be stationed somewhere important enough for the Reformists to prioritize are pretty slim."
"Besides, most of the nobles with ties to the Ootori household are influential members of the Royalist and Neutral Factions—people the Royal Family would consider trustworthy—so I imagine they'd be deployed to even more critical positions. I wouldn't say the chances are low; I'd say there are none."
"If that's the case, they might agree to talk but still not let us pass through cleanly…"
If the Ootori household's associates were to escape from the Royal Capital, that would also mean Grandpa and I—currently on the front lines—would likely withdraw as well. They might think that as long as Primera and the others were kept from leaving the Royal Capital, Grandpa and I would continue fighting for at least that long. Or they might conclude that since they couldn't judge whether letting them go was acceptable, they should hold them in place until orders came down.
"If it comes to that, we'll have no choice but to force our way through! The Ootori household isn't even noble to begin with, so we don't need permission from the Royal Family or any nobles to leave! …Probably."
"Well, Amour has a point. We'll be joining the fight under the guise of a commission from the Royal Family, but in truth it's cooperation born of goodwill. Even if we formalize it with a contract, only I and Tenma would be deployed to the front lines. So if they made any moves to hold our families and associates hostage, we could void the contract on the spot and turn against them without anyone being able to complain."
"I think that plan works, but when we formally contract with the Royal Family, I believe it would be wise to specify in writing that Tenma and Grandpa are the only ones who fight, while the Ootori household and its associates serve in a support capacity. That way, we can argue that our withdrawal from the Royal Capital is a tactical move to allow the two of them on the front lines to fight without holding back—and we might be able to avoid a situation where we have to force our way through."
The approach toward any nobles who might be blocking the exits was largely settled, and next they needed to discuss escape routes and a rendezvous point with Tenma and Grandpa… but this part could only be decided in broad strokes.
First, the escape routes. The Royal Capital had an enormous number of passageways, the situation would depend on how the battle unfolded at the time, and since the capital had never faced such a crisis since the nation's founding, there was very little reference information to draw on. For these reasons, they could only set a rough priority order for the direction of escape.
Similarly, regarding the post-escape rendezvous point, the westward direction—geographically the safest option—was mostly Reformist territory, so they couldn't stay in any one location for long. On top of that, it was unclear exactly when Grandpa and I would leave the Royal Capital. In the end, they decided on a general path for Primera's group to follow, with Grandpa and I flying to catch up afterward.
However, with that plan, there was a possibility they might not be able to rendezvous at their destination of Nanao in the south. Still, the consensus among everyone except me was that rather than slowing down or stopping—which risked inviting danger—Primera's group pressing on ahead to Nanao alone was the less dangerous option.
"Tenma, you do worry too much. But Martha and the others are looking after Primera, and for combat, there's Slarin and the rest. Besides, over a thousand Golems, plus several beyond-spec Scorpion-type Golems on top of that. No ordinary noble, however many band together, would pose a real threat."
Even if they encountered several thousand enemies, the standard Golems could form a wall to protect Primera and the others, while Slarin's group of Familiars and Percival and the other beyond-spec Golems—including the Scorpion-type Golems—fought. A thousand or two would be no match, and they might even hold their own against ten thousand.
"More importantly, the Golems can form walls while on the move. They won't be pinned down and whitt away. And the attackers themselves would likely retreat once they realized it was going to take too long. After all, the longer it takes, the more likely it is that I and Tenma—or the Southern Viscount's army—will intervene."
"Mm. If we share our route with Mother through Reni, the South will come to help no matter what, even if it's a stretch. Because… it's an opportunity to do Tenma a favor!"
It was the kind of statement from Amour that left you wondering if there had been any other way to phrase it, but it was so incredibly persuasive that I agreed with everyone's plan.
"Then let's call it a day for now? Next time, let's get Reni in on the discussion."
If they were going to inform Hana about the escape route, Reni's cooperation was essential. Besides, Reni might know the safe routes used by the South's intelligence agents—including paths within the Royal Capital itself—and as far as escape and evasion went, she was among the most capable and knowledgeable people I knew. Frankly, I could think of someone who might be even better than Reni… but they were either too far away or difficult to consult with, so in every sense, Reni was the best candidate.
Everyone agreed, and the day's meeting was adjourned.
Uncle Mark hurried out of the mansion to relay what had been discussed to the others, but since the rest of us had no urgent business, we stayed together and ran through an escape simulation. What proved invaluable at that point was Primera's experience from her active-duty days.
Primera—or rather, Gunjou City—had no history of being caught up in warfare, but just in case, the knights trained in both siege warfare and castle defense. Since the knowledge from that training wouldn't be fundamentally different from what other knight orders possessed, they decided to base their strategy on Primera's expertise…
"In the end, if things get dangerous, we can just put the Scorpion-type Golems in front and that should solve most problems."
That was the conclusion we arrived at.
The Scorpion-type Golems were rarely used, and while actual combat experience with them could be counted on one hand, we had periodically tested their movements and made improvements. As a countermeasure against Liches, we had modified them as much as possible to prevent them from being controlled. As a result, their speed and maneuverability surpassed the Minotaur-type Golems but fell short of the Knight-type, and while their single-strike power was below the Minotaur-type, it exceeded the Knight-type. In short, they occupied a middle ground between the Knight-type and the Minotaur-type. Moreover, there was another particularly noteworthy advantage—
"The biggest strength is that even with all these improvements, they still cost less than the Knight-type or Minotaur-type."
Since we hadn't designed them for the kind of fine, precise movements the Knight-type was capable of, the joints and other components were built relatively simply. And unlike the Minotaur-type, which was a massive biped, the Scorpion-type didn't need to support its entire weight on two legs—if the body couldn't bear the load or looked like it might collapse under its own weight, we could simply add more legs to compensate.
"If a Knight-type and a Scorpion-type were to fight, the Scorpion-type might lose due to its limited evasion options and narrow attack repertoire, but it would likely come out on top against a Minotaur-type."
The basic attack methods—swinging its claws and tail—were predictable enough that a Knight-type Golem would probably read them. However, against the slower Minotaur-type, it should be able to destabilize and knock down its opponent before the Minotaur's attacks could land. Overall, it would probably rank as the second-strongest type.
"Plus, if we're up against swarms of humans or humanoid Monsters, it would probably outperform even the Knight-type."
The Knight-type's attack power was certainly high, but that was only when factoring in its weapon handling. The Scorpion-type, which could deliver a potential one-hit kill simply by charging in, was perhaps overly effective as an anti-personnel weapon.
"Yes, I think you're exactly right. That's why, even if we're intercepted during our escape, placing a single Scorpion-type at the front should convince the enemy to step aside and clear our path. And if they still refuse to back down, all we have to do is let it charge right through them."
As Primera pointed out, opponents clustered together in a narrow chokepoint like an entrance would make for easy prey for the Scorpion-type Golem. Well, there was a chance the impact would destroy the wall along with the entrance, but in that case, we could just deploy the Minotaur-types to force open a passage.
"Similarly, if we're surrounded by the Reformist Faction nobles' forces during transit, using the regular Golems as a wall and sending the Scorpion-type charging through should cause the enemy to raise the white flag and flee before we do. And while we advance the Golems serving as our wall, having the Scorpion-type and Knight-type rampage among them means the enemy won't even have the option of maintaining a standoff. They'll flee or surrender all the sooner. Well, if they choose surrender rather than flight, we'd be better off pressing the attack—refusing to accept their surrender would save more time in the long run."
Unilaterally attacking an opponent who had lost the will to fight might be called inhumane. But that could be a ruse to buy time and hold up Primera and the others, and besides, this wasn't a battle governed by rules. We were fleeing, and if we lost, everyone's lives could be forfeit. If you didn't want casualties, the simplest solution was to never engage an enemy like the Otori family in the first place—that was Primera's argument. And everyone present found it convincing.
"Then when it comes to a fight, we'll go with Primera's plan. Jeanne, Aura—the ownership of the Scorpion-types remains with the two of you, but when and how you use them is to follow Primera's orders."
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
The Scorpion-types were what I had given to the two of them, so Primera hadn't asked for the ownership to be transferred. However, in exchange, I made it clear that they were to follow Primera's orders without exception. Of course, as maids—or rather, slaves—of the Otori family, the two of them had neither the right nor the option to disobey or refuse Primera's commands in the first place. But at the same time, it wouldn't be acceptable for Primera to simply take away what I had bestowed upon them, so the arrangement was settled: when it came to usage, Primera's orders were absolute.
"Within the Otori family, when it comes to command ability in group combat, Primera is second to none… or rather, there simply isn't anyone else who can do it. Even if Tenma and I were to join up, it might be best to leave the coordination of the Golems and Mark's people to Primera."
Grandpa and I could certainly handle command over a small group, but neither of us had ever led a force numbering in the hundreds, including Golems. So even after linking up, it was decided that Primera should remain the commander. That said, accounting for the baby, in the worst-case scenario, Slarin would take charge of the Golems and the people of Kukuri Village would defer to Uncle Mark.
"If things were going to turn out like this, we should have made more multi-legged Golems like the Scorpion-type… using Earth Dragon magic cores, for instance."
With an Earth Dragon's magic core, we could probably create Golems even stronger than the Scorpion-type. Well, there was a possibility the will of the Earth Dragon might take root inside, but just like the Knight-type, it should be fine—no, the Knight-type could potentially harbor a malevolent spirit too. In any case, if the worst happened, we could simply destroy it with everything we had. And perhaps, even if it did house the Earth Dragon's will, it might listen to us like RaiDEN did.
Now, that was the kind of statement from me that would normally draw objections, but—
"Indeed, if it had worked out, it would have been quite the boost to our fighting strength. What a shame."
"Yes, there would certainly be various problems, but just the fact that something modeled after a dragon could move would exert considerable pressure on the enemy. It truly is regrettable."
"Tenma actually held back for once, and it ended up backfiring..."
Words of regret came from Grandpa, Primera, and Amur—completely the opposite reaction from what you'd expect.