Two small towns and one large city have been almost completely conquered and destroyed.
Curious about how this happened, I raised my hand to ask.
“Was it a surprise attack?”
“One of the large cities was occupied before we arrived. The others were due to an aerial assault.”
That made me recall when, during the raid on Latnia, Pron had escaped by flying.
“Skeletons rained down from the sky. They fell from those heights and got back up again.”
I also heard that ghouls dropped down from the sky as well.
“How can that be?”
“The skeleton knight leading them rides a flying horse.”
A ghost horse.
The cavalry that had chased us when we came here.
“That guy is clever. He drops immortal soldiers from the sky and obliterates the city in an instant.”
“What about the defense?”
“Well, we’re not just sitting on our hands. We’ve formed an aerial unit to keep them in check.”
Python kindly explained various things.
“Can I join that aerial unit?”
“They selected flying demons from among the knights, but is it really necessary for you to go?”
If the higher-ups weren’t dealt with, the war would just drag on.
Undead don’t eat or sleep, but we, as living beings, need to consume and rest.
The longer the delay, the more advantageous the war would be for the undead legion.
The subsequent meeting proceeded without any significant conflicts.
The atmosphere among the Knight Order leaders was surprisingly not as bad as I had expected.
Python didn’t seem inclined at all to propose a change of leadership.
However, it was clear there were factions within the Knight Order.
After the meeting ended, only the leaders supporting the current commander remained.
Unexpectedly, Alex was still here.
The person who had led the meeting moments ago introduced himself as Leon, the commander of the First Knight Order.
Aside from Alex, the commanders appeared to be mostly in their late 30s.
Among them, one person who looked considerably young approached to speak.
“Um, Aila is in this situation, and you came temporarily, right?”
“It’s a personal matter.”
She didn’t introduce herself as the commander of the Seventh Knight Order.
From her mentioning Aila, it seemed like they knew each other.
“Why did you stay, Mr. Alex?”
When Leon asked with a mixture of curiosity and doubt, he pointed his finger subtly at me.
“Since we’ll need to move together in the future, let’s talk about what we can beforehand.”
“How many members does each Knight Order have?”
The commander of the Seventh Knight Order raised a hand lightly to ask Leon.
“We have a total of six, including me.”
“We are five.”
The number of knights was unexpectedly small for what was claimed to be a Knight Order.
On average, there were about four to five.
It felt more like a team than a full-fledged order.
I now understood why no one raised objections when each order was assigned a hundred soldiers.
Ultimately, gathering as a team would still amount to the level of a battalion.
“Mr. Alex, could you come talk with me for a moment?”
Leon disappeared with Alex into a room set aside in the meeting area.
“Shall we head out too?”
“Sure.”
Exiting the meeting room, Iwaf was waiting in the hallway.
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Frey.”
“You look much younger compared to the others.”
“Yes, I was appointed not long ago.”
In a way, it could be said that Frey was in a similar situation as me.
“How do you know Aila?”
“We’re not friends, just acquaintances from long ago.”
They seemed to be of similar age, and they could easily be viewed as friends.
However, Frey insisted they were not friends.
From Frey’s tone, it didn’t give the impression of disliking the person.
As we descended the stairs, I had a brief chance to glance down at the castle entrance.
I saw the commanders, including Python, all getting into vehicles and leaving the castle.
“Looks like they’re leaving now.”
“When do we depart?”
“There’s no need to move together, but it might be after the conversations of those two finish?”
Frey looked up at the seventh-floor meeting room while speaking.
“Then we’ll head out first.”
“Oh, I have some things to do, so I’ll go separately.”
After parting from Frey, I returned to the room assigned to us.
Riki and Jie were already ready to depart from the room.
Three bags containing personal belongings.
I had no items to pack, so it didn’t matter that I was empty-handed.
“Let’s get going.”
While waiting in front of the castle entrance, Jie drove up in a parked vehicle.
We moved to a base located a bit away from Filon.
“From here on, vehicle travel isn’t possible.”
Riki unfolded a small map and showed it to me.
“Then, what do we do?”
“We’ll have to walk.”
In my case, I could fly if necessary, so it wasn’t a problem.
“By the way, why are there so many humans in our knight order?”
I hadn’t seen members of other knight orders, but the Second Knight Order seemed to have a high ratio of humans.
Both Riki, who was next to me, and Jie, who was driving, were humans.
Iwaf was clearly a demon at first glance.
“We don’t know.”
“That just shows how excellent we are.”
While driving, Jie glanced back slightly, puffing with pride.
If those two had been born in Latnia, they would undoubtedly have become some excellent magic swordsmen.
I already knew Jie’s skill from having fought alongside him once, but I had never seen Riki’s ability.
According to Iwaf, he definitely spoke highly of Riki’s strength.
As I thought about it, I remembered seeing Riki’s strength just once.
Though it was a very brief moment, he had easily taken out two soldiers in Latnia.
Even that didn’t showcase all of Riki’s real abilities, and it made me all the more curious about his true strength.
Jie parked the car near the entrance to the mountains.
“From here, you can’t go up.”
“Then, let’s leave the car in that city below and follow along.”
At Riki’s command, Jie seemed to give Iwaf a fist as a greeting.
“Whoever loses will take care of it, right? Senior.”
“Alright! This time I won’t lose.”
It was a fair challenge, but from Iwaf’s words, it didn’t seem very fair.
Watching Jie drive the departing car to the city below, I asked Jie why he didn’t help out.
“I have to walk back, but you can fly, right? And you can only show rock-paper-scissors.”
“You suggested it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Anyone who gets tricked deserves it.”
While chatting, we began to ascend the path in the mountains.
The trail that started from the entrance abruptly ended midway.
From here to the base, I had to find my way, but as a newcomer, I didn’t know the route.
Worrying whether I would get lost in the mountains, someone suddenly came down from the trees.
An elf wearing bright brown leather armor with a bow slung over her back.
“Is this the Knight Order of Roran?”
“That’s correct. Who are you?”
“I’m Melorna, here to guide you to the base.”
She politely knelt down to offer a salute.
When Melorna lifted her head, I noticed that her eyes were different colors and shapes.
One was a typical human eye, while the other was a vertical bright yellow eye seen in demons or werebeasts.
“You’re a hybrid.”
Jie commented, and she stood up and brushed her hair.
Perhaps she had hidden them, a pair of animal ears revealed themselves.
“Please call me a half-beast rather than a hybrid.”
Though it meant the same, it seemed she preferred to be called that.
As I walked behind Melorna, I noticed something fascinating.
No footprints were left where her footsteps touched the ground.
Occasionally, faint footprints would appear, erased by her tail that followed behind.
“But even if you erase the traces, our footprints will remain. Is that alright?”
“It’s fine. It’s just my habit.”
It was a unique habit, but it didn’t seem to slow down her pace.
After following her for a while, a large base came into view between the ridges.
From there, I could feel multiple gazes from the surrounding trees.
“The defenses are tight.”
“Oh, be careful over there. There are traps.”
Melorna carefully walked only where she had stepped and arrived at the base.
Numerous soldiers were resting here and there, taking care of their equipment.
“This is the area assigned for you.”
As Melorna guided us to the tent set up for us, it was spacious and comfortable, even though it was only for four people.
Melorna chose a spot inside the tent and sat down.
“Please make yourselves comfortable.”
“Do you live here too?”
“Yes. If there’s anything you need, feel free to ask.”
Melorna explained that the elves were assigned to the knight order, as they would greatly help in restraining the undead legion due to their familiarity with the terrain of these mountains.
“Doesn’t seem like the undead will pass through here.”
“Would you like an explanation?”
As I nodded, Melorna brought out a movable blackboard.
On it was a drawing resembling the surrounding mountains from the sky.
“In order for the undead to invade the city on foot, they must pass through this area.”
“Is that so?”
“There’s a river, but by the time they cross, the troops assigned there will probably engage them.”
The base was located at a strategic chokepoint where the undead could approach the city.
“And in special situations, you and I will move.”
It was a watertight defense plan, but flaws still existed.
While they had measures prepared against aerial assaults, the risk remained.
If the aerial unit failed to stop the enemy leader, an entire city could vanish in an instant.
Unlike on the ground, it was most concerning whether they had capable individuals to deter the undead leaders in the air.
“It seems like my explanation is not to your liking.”
“No, the explanation is fine. There’s just one thing that bothers me.”
I spoke to Melorna regarding the aerial assault.
“They are also working on resolving that issue within the military.”
No matter how formidable the army was, it seemed they hadn’t found a solid solution for aerial assaults yet.
“Oh, we have one companion who might not know the location here.”
“Isn’t it fine? As long as your senior can fly.”
“One who can fly should find them quickly.”
Even if Iwaf might not be able to find this place, I could use tracking magic to locate and bring him over.
