Ch.38It’s a Fox Not a Dog (1)

The conversation between Tedman and Adora continued afterward.

Adora rarely shared personal stories. Most of the conversation flowed from Tedman opening up about his inner thoughts.

“I don’t know where Dietz has gone, and the Magic Stone Officer unit is on the verge of disbandment…”

That was why Tedman couldn’t quit smoking.

“Yes. It must have been difficult for you.”

“Especially losing Battalion Commander Lohnstein—that’s a real shame. He was a man with a reputation in the unit almost as good as the admiral’s.”

“Battalion commander? At most, he’d be a major or lieutenant colonel, right?”

“You brat, you went to the same school and don’t know Erich Lohnstein? That friend of yours became a Level 1 Mage several years before you did!”

Adora closed her mouth.

“He was a handsome fellow. Tall, good-looking, smart, and had a good personality too. Do you know what Admiral Dietz always told me? He said he wanted to introduce his daughter to him someday.”

“And then?”

“I told him I’d take him first.”

“Dad.”

“When the war ends, shouldn’t you start looking for a partner and get married too?”

Adora frowned deeply.

“Yes, I’ve told you before. I don’t have time to meet men. If I had to name someone, it would be the Supreme Leader. My body and heart already belong to him.”

“Don’t say things like that. It causes misunderstandings.”

With those words, their conversation came to an end. Adora checked the quartz clock on the wall, offered a brief moment of silence, then turned around.

“I might come back here soon.”

“For what reason?”

“It’s confidential for now.”

“So confidential you can’t even give your father a hint?”

“Yes.”

Adora pressed her chest firmly and let out a shallow breath.

“Is your body doing alright?”

“I have no problems moving around. That too must be thanks to the Supreme Leader’s grace. Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Alright, take care of yourself.”

Clunk.

After Adora left, Tedman let out a long sigh like a flock of sheep.

Long ago, Adora Giford had an undiagnosable heart condition.

Adora had been given a terminal diagnosis.

However, thanks to the Supreme Leader’s secret technique, who specialized in magical medicine, she had now recovered to the point where she could live normally except for occasional minor pain.

After the Supreme Leader took power, Adora became his fervent follower, and when war broke out, she rose to become the youngest general in the Magic Kingdom.

While he couldn’t help but smile as a father seeing his successful daughter, he was also worried.

Because his once-bubbly daughter seemed to have grown cold at some point.

She still showed affection, but why did even that feel so artificial?

“Phew.”

Just as Tedman exhaled cigar smoke, his adjutant entered.

“The Major General said she forgot to tell you something as she left and asked me to relay it.”

“What did she say?”

“A personal message: ‘I will definitely succeed in this operation to avenge the humiliation at the Tatangkur naval battle, push the front line, uphold the Supreme Leader’s dignity…'”

“Just get to the point.”

“…She asked you to save the military’s face.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

Tedman stroked his beard and rose from his seat.

“Quickly assemble the officers.”

***

The Phoenix, which had been dispatched to the Tatangkur Waters to search for missing persons and investigate abnormal mana phenomena.

When the Phoenix capsized in a storm, the Holy Spirit Kingdom’s command headquarters was thrown into chaos as well.

“The Holy Maiden has passed away?”

“It’s not confirmed yet! If there’s other land inside the barrier, she might be there!”

“…But that would be Magic Kingdom territory, wouldn’t that be even worse?”

The Holy Spirit Kingdom, using all available intelligence and observation technology, had already identified the Magic Kingdom’s suspicious movements. They also knew that something was being plotted within an internal space called a “barrier.”

“We must rescue the Holy Maiden no matter what.”

At the very least, they needed to recover her body. Otherwise, the foundation of the Holy Spirit Kingdom, where church and state were one, would be severely shaken.

A shaken foundation meant wavering public sentiment. When public sentiment wavers, military morale collapses too. And when military morale collapses, the war is lost.

“We provided so many escorts.”

“If we had known this would happen, we shouldn’t have sent her.”

“It couldn’t be helped. Besides the Holy Maiden and the Pope, there’s no one else who can perform exorcism and sea purification simultaneously… and we couldn’t send the Pope.”

“In this situation, we must at least perform the sea purification.”

Break through the barrier and deploy troops inside. No matter what, they had to find the missing persons, including the Holy Maiden.

That was the judgment of the Holy Spirit Kingdom’s command.

And so, a certain engineer corps blessed by the Goddess of Creation was assembled.

“Everyone, we have work to do!”

Directly under the Holy Spirit Kingdom’s Supreme Command.

The Divine Engineer Corps.

“It’s our turn to act, beastfolk!”

The Divine Engineer Corps was different from ordinary engineers. Many of its members were beastfolk.

Blessed by the goddess, these beastfolk could easily accomplish tasks impossible for humans. With their animal senses, they quickly built fortifications, constructed bridges in difficult terrain, and excelled at destroying Magic Kingdom equipment.

An elite unit rivaling the Valkyries.

Riyo was a fox beastfolk belonging to this unit.

“Hey! Wake up! I said wake up!”

Five o’clock in the morning.

An officer suddenly barged into Riyo’s sleeping unit, shouting.

While a cat beastfolk jumped up and a dog beastfolk organized his blanket with a blank stare, the fox girl covered herself with her blanket, half-opening her eyes.

“Hnnnnng.”

“Stop being lazy and get up now! One! Two!”

Purple bob-cut hair and eyes so dark they were almost black.

Up to here she seemed ordinary, but unlike her typical kin, she had two tails.

“Grab your tools and move! We’ll start working as soon as we reach the barrier!”

Riyo was the last to follow the officer’s instructions. Two multi-purpose axes, a tool set, and a sacred mark plate for dismantling barriers were all the equipment she needed to bring.

“Everyone assemble on deck!”

The weather was clear, and there was no sign of Magic Kingdom forces. After the Tatangkur naval battle, the area had been secured by the Holy Spirit Kingdom. There was no reason for enemies to appear.

“Huaaaaaahehunghehung.”

“Sleepy?”

“Maybe.”

“So lazy.”

Before long, Riyo’s ship approached the area in question.

“Huh?”

Plop. A water droplet fell on Riyo’s ear.

One drop, two drops.

What started as a light drizzle quickly turned into a downpour.

“Why is it raining?”

“I thought today was supposed to be sunny?”

“I’m getting depressed. I want to go inside.”

“Woof! Woof! Rain! Rain!”

The officers had to struggle to control the fully transformed beastfolk with strong wild instincts. In comparison, Riyo was an incomplete beastfolk who could control her instincts, looking just like a human if her ears and tails were covered.

“Yawn.”

Of course, she was also sleepy.

Just as she was thinking about finishing quickly, going back to eat cherry pie and sleep…

“Enemy attack!”

Something happened that made Riyo’s eyes open wide.

The appearance of the Magic Aerial Corps from the southeast.

Hundreds of unmanned suicide aircraft loaded with White Phosphorus Stone and Piercing Blue Stone were swarming toward them, maintaining their balance even in the storm.

“Where did they come from?!”

“They appeared suddenly! They weren’t even detected on radar!”

“Could they have emerged from the barrier? You Magic Kingdom bastards…!”

An unexpected engagement.

Of course, the Holy Spirit Kingdom had anticipated this possibility and provided an escort fleet to support the Divine Engineer Corps.

However, continuous fleet battles had limited the number of Holy Spirit Kingdom vessels, and above all, the main fleet was busy holding back the enemy at the front.

Relatively inferior forces.

A desperate weather situation where anti-aircraft guns were ineffective.

And a swarm of killer flies steadfastly flying through the downpour as if demonstrating the pinnacle of magical engineering.

“Barrier removal is postponed! Retreat! Retreat!”

Despite the officers shouting until their voices broke, the situation escalated to the extreme.

When she came to her senses, Riyo found herself in the sea.

“…Huh?”

Why is the ship I was on sinking?

[‘Run away.’]

Now was not the time to think about anything else.

Beastfolk, no, even non-beastfolk have a clear survival instinct.

She needed to escape from this place as far as possible.

Riyo began swimming with all her might across the vast ocean.

***

My companions—the female soldiers from the enemy country—and I were moving in a lifeboat when we encountered a serious problem.

It was a squall.

The sudden violent rain and wind couldn’t be managed with oars. In the face of nature’s treachery, we could only hold onto each other and pray that the boat wouldn’t capsize.

“Hold tight!”

“Bail out the water quickly!”

“O-oh holy Lord, please give us the strength to overcome this trial…”

“Stop praying and bail out the water!”

How much time passed like that?

The rain and wind stopped, the fog cleared, and the sun came out again.

Only then did we breathe sighs of relief. Thankfully it was just a temporary downpour; if it had been a longer storm, the three of us would have become fish food.

“Wow, we’re soaking wet.”

“The firewood is all damp too.”

“We need to start a fire as soon as we arrive. Mage, is that an island?”

The Holy Maiden pointed to an island in the distance.

Originally, we were heading for twin islands shaped like dumbbells.

But that place…

“I think we’ve gone off course.”

It seems we’ve come in a completely different direction because of the storm. Sure enough, when I checked the Origin Stone, it was pointing in a completely different direction.

“We have no choice. Let’s rest there for a while. We’ll regroup and set off again.”

The Holy Maiden spoke, and the Valkyrie and I nodded.

So as soon as we landed, we took off our clothes… yes, all of our clothes.

It was an unavoidable choice since we were completely soaked.

“Ah, o-once or twice is one thing, but to be naked in front of a Mage three times… this is wrong. Now I’ll never be able to get married!”

“Three times…? Major?”

“Ah.”

We had to dry even our underwear, so we were completely nude.

I quickly set up a bonfire and placed our clothes nearby. Fortunately, dry branches were easy to find on the island.

Next, I made grass skirts by weaving leaves with twine. I made three since all three of us needed them.

“Phew, that’s a bit better. Don’t look this way!”

“Never mind that, let’s decide what to do after we dry off.”

This island seems quite nice from what I can see. The terrain is manageable, there are animal sounds, and while there’s a forest, it’s not dense enough to be called a jungle.

Maybe this is actually a good thing?

I was thinking that when…

Splash, splash, splash.

“…?”

The heads of myself and the female soldiers turned simultaneously.

A purple mass was dog-paddling toward us.

“Heung, natives! Help! Help!”

“…A beastfolk?”

What is that now?