196
Barony of Delphius.
In an outer forest north of Delphius, which served as the central area, more than a dozen demons were facing off against a single human.
“W-What the hell is that bastard saying?”
One of the demons spoke roughly as he looked at the ash-gray-haired man.
But perhaps because two of their comrades had just died right before their eyes, his gaze was filled with tension.
And it made sense.
Right in front of them, the heads of two of their kin had been taken in the blink of an eye.
They glared as if they might rush in at any moment, but no one moved.
“……”
As the demons hesitated, exchanging looks over whether to fight or flee—
From behind them, accompanied by the sound of hooves, a demon with a dignified presence approached.
“L-Lord Karios?!”
“How did you get here?!”
“You were clearly with the division commander—!”
“Step aside. They are not your opponent.”
Ignoring the demons who approached with expressions half confused and half relieved,
the dignified demon slowly urged his horse forward and came to a stop before the human man.
“I am Karios, a commanding officer of the 3rd Division, 1st Legion of the Demon King’s Army.”
His thick, steady voice carried authority as it struck the man.
However, the man only twitched one eyebrow and tilted his head.
“So?”
“If you are a knight, then when your opponent first announces his name and affiliation, you should at least show basic courtesy.”
“……What kind of stupid nonsense is that? Why should I tell you anything?”
“……Because that is the basic attitude of a warrior, beyond race. At the very least, the other humans understood courtesy.”
Karios lowered his voice at the end, exercising his patience.
“A warrior…? Did you get a hole in your brain or something? Looks like you don’t even remember what your people were just doing.”
The man twisted the corner of his mouth upward and replied with his usual mockery.
He was talking about how more than a dozen burly men had surrounded a single fleeing woman like hunting a wild boar.
Of course, it was something his subordinates had done on their own, and Karios had only come personally to gather those who were late to assemble.
‘I have no taste for tormenting those who have lost their will to fight. If the situation allowed, I had intended to back down appropriately and let the woman live.’
“Hey. You’re acting all noble and trying to look cool in every possible way, but take it easy. It’s disgusting to look at.”
Regardless of whether his subordinates’ actions were barbaric or not, the man’s attitude was extremely irritating.
“You insolent bastard…!”
A vein bulged on Karios’s forehead.
Dark demonic energy began to scatter violently around him.
He raised the heavy greatsword in his hand at an angle and took his stance.
“I intended to show mercy since words could be exchanged and you were better than a beast… You will regret repaying my consideration like this for the rest of your life!”
The human man was fairly strong.
That much was obvious just by looking at the corpses of his subordinates lying around with their heads severed.
But even so, he was nothing more than a green rookie.
Goooooo—!
Compared to himself, who had spent decades on battlefields, accumulated experience, and finally reached the sixth demonic realm, this man was no different from a newborn baby!
“I’ll make you clearly realize reality, you frog in a well who can’t even judge his own worth despite having a bit of talent!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
With rough breathing, the horse, affected by demonic energy, charged forward violently.
In an instant, the distance between Karios and the man who stared at him with arrogant eyes closed.
“You said something interesting to my subordinates earlier. That they weren’t your match.”
The distance vanished in a blink.
The man muttered as if amused.
“You’re not wrong… but, mister, before lecturing your subordinates, shouldn’t you work on being more self-aware?”
Seeing that insolent attitude and the way he kept pretending to be relaxed until the very end made Karios’s eyes bloodshot, but there was no need for further words.
Karios swung the greatsword in his hand, adding the horse’s speed to the strike.
Claaang—!
“?!”
The greatsword Karios swung with the intent to kill shattered like glass, as if it had struck something invisible.
He did not see the man draw his sword, nor did he see him swing it.
There was only the result—the shattered blade.
Karios’s eyes shook.
‘I, who have reached the sixth realm… couldn’t even perceive it for a moment?!’
Just how overwhelming did the difference in rank have to be for this to happen?
But Karios would not receive an answer to that question.
“Wh—”
“There are only small fry here.”
Slash—!
His vision spun.
Until his head fell to the ground from atop the massive warhorse, Karios could not even comprehend what had happened.
Thud—
A severed head rolled weakly across the ground.
The air sank heavily.
“L-Lord Karios is…”
“The warrior ranked fifth in the division… was defeated by… a human…!”
As the reality before their eyes finally sank in, the demons flinched.
Looking calmly at them, Glen let out a short breath and spoke plainly.
“Next.”
“He’s not human! Run awaaay!!”
As if they had seen a ghost, the demons turned and fled.
Thinking their weapons might be a burden, they threw them away and ran as if crawling.
But Glen had no intention of sparing even one of them.
From the red sky of the Delphius territory visible in the distance, it was obvious what they had done.
They had to pay the price.
“Kill them all, Romina.”
Glen muttered in a cold voice devoid of mercy.
Immediately after, a black flash streaked from behind him and pierced through the fleeing demons.
Ping— Ping—
Each time the flash passed, the wind it left behind stirred Glen’s hair.
“Aaaah! I don’t want to die—!”
“P-Please spare—!”
Whenever a scream erupted, a black flash unfailingly pierced through their heads.
The accuracy was terrifying enough to make even Glen admire it inwardly.
Romina, whom he had raised, had grown into a monster.
“Well, she is our Romina.”
Leaving the massacre behind, Glen slowly turned around.
The platinum-blonde female knight standing there shrank back and raised her sword.
“……!”
“Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine. Th-Th-Thank you so much for saving me. But… I-It may be rude, but if possible… could you please not come any closer?”
Her eyes were filled with fear, and her body trembled like a quaking tree.
Even if the opponent was a demon, witnessing such one-sided slaughter right before her eyes must have terrified her.
“……I don’t want to.”
“Hik! D-Don’t come closer!”
But Glen smiled mischievously and strode toward her.
“If you come any closer—!”
She stepped back, but it was clumsy at best.
Soon, the distance between them was close enough to reach out and touch.
Just as the female knight was about to tightly shut her eyes, Glen suddenly extended his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Isabel Delphius. I am Glen Wordsworth, from the Wordsworth territory.”
His tone was exceedingly gentle.
The female knight—Isabel Delphius—stared blankly at the hand Glen offered.
“……Pardon?”
“I said Glen Wordsworth.”
“Glen… Wordsworth……”
She repeated the name a few times with a dazed expression, and then her pupils began to shake violently.
“G-Glen Wordsworth?!”
“Yes. That’s me.”
“Th-That Glen Wordsworth is the third Saint officially recognized by the Order, isn’t he?!”
“And additionally, I am the reinforcement dispatched from Wordsworth for Raygle.”
“W-What… did you say?”
As if her thoughts could not keep up with reality,
Isabel Delphius simply stared at Glen for a long while.
“Alright, that should do it.”
“Th-Thank you……”
While receiving treatment from Ridenhall for the injuries she had suffered from arrows and being thrown from her horse, Isabel Delphius bowed her head carefully.
She occasionally tilted her head slightly, seemingly wanting to see the face of Ridenhall in the pure white robe, but each time, Ridenhall turned his head away.
“The injuries to your bones and muscles have recovered, but you should still avoid overexerting yourself for a while.”
“Yes…… Thank you. If you don’t mind, may I know your name…?”
Seeing Isabel express gratitude while still looking confused and uneasy, Glen let out a small laugh.
‘I didn’t really expect much, but I never imagined we’d meet like this.’
Isabel Delphius.
To put it simply, in the original work she was a supporting character with little importance.
She was the daughter of the Delphius baronial family and a character who assisted Helia, a playable character from the Raygle territory.
For reference, based on the original work, Isabel’s strength was about 4-star in the early scenario and probably reached 6-star by the ending.
With the scenario now accelerated, her strength was somewhat ambiguous.
However, beyond mere combat power, Isabel was a good person, and Glen hoped that the world he would create would have as many people like her as possible.
That was why Glen was glad to meet Isabel and felt satisfied that he had saved her in a moment of crisis.
“Um… Saint.”
After receiving treatment, Isabel approached Glen hesitantly.
“I’m truly sorry about earlier. As a servant of the god of Miniss, to not recognize a Saint blessed by the gods……”
“It’s alright. I understand.”
As he looked at Isabel, Glen put on his usual public smile.
Her territory had fallen, a dozen men were chasing her on horseback—was it even possible to think normally in that situation?
The fact that she was trembling yet still managed to thank him for saving her was admirable enough.
“Miss Isabel, you made a brave decision in a very difficult situation.”
When they first encountered each other, Isabel had clearly been heading toward the Magernis Mountains.
It seemed she had been desperately trying to request support from the Wordsworth territory, no matter what.
“Of course, it wasn’t a good choice. Right now, the Magernis Mountains are impossible for an ordinary person to pass through.”
Unless it was Glen, who was anything but ordinary.
Anyone below a certain level—roughly around 7-star—would freeze to death without exception.
And Isabel had even been injured by the demons’ black arrows.
“……I sent messenger crows to Wordsworth in a hurry, but I saw several of them get shot down……”
“You would do better to assess the situation more calmly next time.”
“Yes……”
When Glen patted her shoulder encouragingly, Isabel lowered her head deeply.
“……Saint. I have a question.”
“Yes. Please ask.”
“You said earlier that you were reinforcement dispatched from Wordsworth, but…… have the others not arrived yet?”
“Oh, that? It’s just me. To be precise, me and these two are the reinforcements.”
“……Pardon?”
With a confused expression, Isabel looked between Glen, Ridenhall, and Romina.
Glen and Ridenhall aside—wasn’t this last one just a maid?
She stared at Romina with an utterly bewildered look.
“Tsk.”
As Romina, who had dropped her act, clicked her tongue as if wondering whether she should show something, Glen stepped in front of Isabel.
“As you know, Miss Isabel, war isn’t fought with numbers alone.”
“Well, that’s true, but……”
“Don’t worry. If you answer a few of my questions properly, we can reclaim Delphius.”
“……Yes, Saint. Please ask me anything.”
She still looked unconvinced, but in her current situation, Isabel lacked both the strength and the will to question it further.
“Thank you. Even the gods will admire your resolve. Then first, I’d like to know about the demons who invaded Delphius.”
“Yes. They arrived in Delphius territory the day before yesterday.”
Isabel’s fingernails slowly dug into the flesh of her arm.
Recalling memories she did not wish to remember, she began a long story.
And Glen listened quietly.
After finishing the conversation with Isabel,
Glen climbed up a small hill.
—P-Please… help… me… S-Saint… P-Please……
At the end of her story, the previously composed Isabel spoke while half sobbing.
That was how much she loved everything about Delphius, where she had been born and raised.
She loved the guards who held the walls until the very end even though no reinforcements came.
She loved the knight who failed to dodge an arrow fired from behind while preparing the panicking citizens.
She loved Baron Delphius, who forced her to live on while saying he would die fighting, and the baroness who took her own life early so as not to become a burden.
“……Cruel. The Demon King’s Army.”
Romina, who had approached at some point, stood beside Glen and looked out over Delphius.
After hearing Isabel’s entire story, she seemed deeply unsettled.
“When my dad was the Demon King, was the army like this too? What do you think?”
“War is always like this… But at least your father tried to avoid conflict with humans as much as possible.”
Romina did not bother asking how he knew that.
Glen had never lied to her until now.
“I see……”
Stretching lazily, Romina’s expression softened.
“Anyway, the numbers don’t seem small. Do you have a plan?”
According to Isabel, the unit currently occupying Delphius was the 3rd Division of the Demon King’s Army’s 1st Legion.
It seemed that after passing Solio Fortress, the 1st Legion led by Lowen had split into three divisions to attack each territory belonging to Raygle.
A division numbered around 500 demons, with several thousand undead summoned by legion spells besides them.
The size of the 3rd Division occupying Delphius was not overwhelmingly large.
‘Though the Holy Kingdom still falls to even that unless it’s a named noble family.’
Families that should have united around Raygle were being defeated one by one in their own territories, so the situation was bad.
Small nobles’ forces could not exploit their home-ground advantage against demons, who were far too specialized in disruption and guerrilla warfare.
Most likely, Delphius had held out well at first, but fell after incidents like the assassination of commanders due to demon sabotage.
Regardless, the 3rd Division that had taken Delphius was a force Glen could easily crush in his current state.
“Well, do we really need a strategy just to destroy one division?”
“That’s true. Especially with the numbers.”
Glen interlaced his fingers behind his head and smiled faintly.
Seeing that, Romina also showed a similar smile.
There were currently three combatants.
Honestly, there weren’t many strategies that could be used with this number.
“You’re here, brother.”
Ridenhall, having calmed Isabel, casually climbed up the hill.
“Oh. You’re back.”
“Yes. Is the meeting over?”
They had barely exchanged more than a few words.
Yet Glen and Romina, turning toward Ridenhall, already shared the same strategy in their minds.
“Yeah. It just ended. I’ll explain it now, so listen carefully.”
“It’s a very complex strategy.”
“Yes. I’ll be sure to understand it.”
Ridenhall nodded and clenched his fist, looking determined.
“From now on, the three of us will rush into Delphius and smash the division commander.”
“Uh…… is that really the answer?”
Ridenhall tilted his head.
Romina grinned mischievously.
“Is it hard?”
“Haha……”
Romina pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“Well, I thought that might be the case, but still…… Haha.”
Ridenhall let out a hollow laugh.
Judging by his reaction, it seemed Ridenhall had more or less expected that Glen would come up with a strategy like this.
“Any objections?”
Glen asked with a smile.
“None.”
Ridenhall replied.
At some point, the three of them had begun to think alike.
For better or for worse.
