episode_0036

The place where La Francia handed over the Royal Navy was a remote coast not far from Saint Marg. Having completed the mission given by the Francian royal family, it was now time to carry out the orders of the army. Captain Georges, feeling good after urgent repairs, left, declaring that he would buy drinks for all the members of the Royal Navy when they met again in Paris.

The coast where the navy landed was hidden behind a narrow white sand beach and cliffs, giving the impression that it could be used for smuggling or criminal activities.

As they passed the sandy beach and went deeper, they saw people guarding a group of horses. A man who seemed to be in charge approached Claire and bowed his head.

“Captain of the Royal Navy?”

Claire looked at the line of horses behind him and spoke as if she knew who he was.

“Then you are from the Royal Intelligence Service…?”

“Shh. How can you speak so loudly about that? Anyway, it’s a message from the royal family.”

It was fortunate. They had been worried they might have to walk all the way to Saint Marg, but the royal family had arranged it in advance. If it had been ordinary navy infantry instead of the Royal Navy, they might have had to walk. And if not, there should have been horses belonging to the army here.

Even though everyone in the navy had taken a horse, there were still a few left. They were told to ride them alternately, but that wasn’t the case. People from the intelligence service got on the horses and said:

“We’re going with you. Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Jeremy Bo.”

Just because he said he was from the intelligence service, Claire suspected that it might be a pseudonym.

“Oh, is the intelligence service coming too?”

He just smiled at my question and didn’t answer. Wait, did he say he was coming with us? Claire asked again, apparently curious. It seemed uncomfortable to have an information agency involved in a military operation.

“Mr. Jeremy is also heading to Saint Marg.”

“The army will do its job, and we will do ours. We have something to confirm on our own. Since we’re all going the same way, wouldn’t it be reassuring for fellow Francians to help each other?”

When I asked, he didn’t respond, but when Cler asked, he answered very briefly. This time, too, he didn’t seem to want to respond to my words, so I asked again.

“Was it difficult crossing the Delphine River? Except for the Delphine Legion, the eastern side must be lawless territory.”

“Well, it was more or less okay.”

“?”

Jeremy’s vague response this time. Is it his nature not to mix well with others unless he’s a noble? If that’s really his nature, there was no reason to continue the conversation.

“How about the Eastern Plains? Are the savages stirring up trouble?”

It was Cler’s question, but I was also curious. When all of the Franquia Kingdom’s army retreated to the west bank of the Delphine River, would that vast plain left behind really remain safe? Even if they weren’t savages, if such a desolate area remained defenseless, there could still be bandits.

“It seems you haven’t seen it yet. The east I’ve seen while coming here… has become desolate. Due to the savages, there are very few people left, and everyone has fled south, so you can hardly find anyone.”

Even in a place far from Saint Marguerite, savages could appear at any time, and with the army having withdrawn, the ominous rumors would naturally worsen the security. Ultimately, as the Franquia Kingdom, it was important to destroy the unfortunate situation of Saint Marguerite and reclaim the Eastern Plains.

Cler and Jeremy exchanged a few words, and the Royal Mado Corps and the Intelligence Bureau group set off for Saint Marguerite. After leaving the coast and passing the cliffs, the horizon of the Eastern Plains came into view. Since it was winter, the golden waves that come to mind when thinking of the savannah were not visible, but one could imagine them. Endless fields of grain spread across this vast land.

But now, it was a bleak landscape as cold as the northern wind. There was no sign of vitality on the endless, desolate ground. Only abandoned farmhouses and various farming tools that were no longer maintained could be seen where people had lived not long ago.

It’s a half-day journey to Sang Marg. As we got closer to the city, the color of the land grew darker, as if it had been sucked into a colorless box. By the time Sang Marg was faintly visible in the distance, the ground was not just colorless but filled with pitch-black mucus. Fortunately, the horses seemed unbothered.

“What is this?”

Clare momentarily halted the group. She conjured the mucus with the tip of her saber. Observed up close, the mucus writhed incessantly. Unsettled by the living sensation of the mucus itself, she infused her saber with magic and incinerated it. Jeremy, who had been watching, scooped up a handful of the mucus from the ground and carefully placed it in a glass jar. Strong stomach.

“Intelligence agents have a strange hobby of collecting odd things.”

I said to Clare, not really expecting a response. Of course, I spoke loud enough for Jeremy to hear.

“It’s not a hobby; it’s to collect this mucus that’s polluting the land.”

Jeremy responded to Clare’s dismissive remark about the intelligence agency. He intentionally made such a statement, which surprisingly resonated well. However, he couldn’t avoid the expression of seeing her as an ignorant person. Looking at the faint Sang Marg, Clare spoke.

“The Mado Corps plans to approach closer from here. What will the intelligence agency do? If the mission was to collect the mucus, it seems like you’ve already accomplished it.”

“We need to know why this has occurred. It’s probably because of the colorless box, but I still want to see it with my own eyes.”

“Then from now on, stay behind the Mado Corps. We were lucky not to encounter any monsters, but considering the state of the land, there might be a battle soon.”

The intelligence agents, including Jeremy, likely possessed basic combat abilities, but since the Mado Corps took the lead, they had no reason to object.

Approaching the barren land, which seemed to turn into mucus, I thought that was the end, but it wasn’t. The piercing stench grew stronger. A smell of corpses? No, it was different from the putrid odor I had already encountered in Granbier. It even made me feel like a valiant warrior heading to conquer Pluto, with the sky ominously overcast.

“It’s strange we haven’t encountered any abominations so far. We saw more near Paris.”

Clair nodded at my words. We had approached the hill where the Battle of Saint Margot took place, yet we hadn’t encountered a single abomination. There was no unusual activity within Saint Margot as seen from the hill.

The foul-smelling box and the stench, along with the mucus, were the only indicators that this was the abomination’s territory. “Hey, isn’t that bigger than before?” Clair pointed at the foul-smelling box.

“Marianne, doesn’t it seem larger to you too? It looks almost twice the size,” he said.

“Yes, it does appear larger to me as well. It will take quite a few days for the artillery to break it.”

Jeremy, who was behind us, plugged his nose and approached, wide-eyed at the immensely large foul-smelling box. It was surprising even for someone like me, who had experienced the skyscrapers of the 21st century.

“Are you saying that such a large object is floating on the sea?”

“It’s not floating like a ship, it’s literally hovering in the air. The navy is going to enter Saint Margot, but the intelligence agency…”

“Of course. If possible, I’d like to get close to that foul-smelling box for observation.”

“You should hold back. There have been cases of entire magical infantry units being wiped out when they approached closely in the Black Forest.”

Despite Clair’s opposition, Jeremy stepped back for now, but his expression didn’t show it. He looked like he really wanted to get closer to satisfy his curiosity.

Marianne, second lieutenant. C Company takes the lead. We may not see any monsters, but we’ll be getting close to the foul box and dangerously close, so we don’t know when those big guys will come out.

That monstrous creature that tore through the Royal Army and the Mado Infantry in the dark forest, devouring Pike Battalion and Mado Infantry at the Battle of Sang Marg. Now, it won’t be as defenseless as it was then, but it’s still not an opponent I want to fight.

“Wouldn’t this level of reconnaissance be enough? It doesn’t seem necessary to enter Sang Marg.”

“Maybe if we had fought countless monsters coming here, it might have seemed that way to Marianne too, right? We’ve left the gate open for them to come and smash the box. At the very least, we need to figure out why there are no monsters around.”

“Phew. Understood.”

It didn’t make sense to push the entire army into Sang Marg in this uneasy state. I took a deep breath and looked back at my squad members. Except for Claire and me, everyone was seeing the foul box for the first time. Even those with much more experience than me seemed overwhelmed by the overwhelmingly large foul box.

“C Company, take the lead. We’re entering Sang Marg now.”