“Jeez, why does a pacifist retiree like me have to get involved in a skirmish like this?” Yuuto complained.
“Probably because you’re looking down on them,” Kristina replied.
“Looking down on them? How so, Kris? I just put them in their place a little, is all.”
“That’s exactly what looking down on them is.”
“Huh? If they’re mad about something like that, they’re never gonna get anywhere.”
“Spoken like someone who has no one to answer to.”
“Huh? That’s not true. Mitsuki wears the pants in our family.”
“And considering her magnanimity when it conies to your concubines, that’s certainly good for you. But to most others, a superior is someone who forces others to do their bidding.”
“Hrmph.” Yuuto frowned.
Nozomu couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. They were enjoying a leisurely conversation without any hint of tension. Their complete lack of concern only served to make him more anxious.
“What should I do, dad?” Unlike everyone else present, who had weathered many of Yggdrasil’s toughest battles and by this point didn’t need to be told what to do, Nozomu was a complete novice and wanted at least some direction.
“You? Hmm, there’s nothing in particular I want you to... Oh, actually never mind, there is. Don’t do anything,” he answered.
“Huh?!” That angered Nozomu, and his face went taut. Sure, to Yuuto he probably seemed like an immature child, but he’d received years of training from Sigrun and had become well-rounded in the martial arts, even earning her approval to join the upper ranks of the Muspell unit. He knew he wasn’t that useless.
“Ah, just to clarify, it’s not like I doubt your ability or anything,” Yuuto explained. “It’s just that since this is your inaugural battle, it’s much better for you to simply observe.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure the tension of being a hair’s breadth away from death is weighing down on you pretty hard right now.”
“Oh, I already get that all the time when training with Miss Sigrun, so I’m used to it.” During Sigrun’s lessons, there were more than a few times he’d thought he was seriously going to die. He wasn’t going to be scared off by something like that now.
Listening to Nozomu’s response, Yuuto merely smiled. “I know that, of course. It’s just that, well, a mock battle is completely different from experiencing the real thing, and above all...” Yuuto paused, then smiled once again, though this one was filled with self-loathing, “...the first time you kill someone...it gets to you.”
Hearing the ice in his father’s voice, Nozomu was shocked into silence. True, he was experienced in combat, but he hadn’t yet taken a life. He wanted to say it’d be fine, that he’d be able to handle it, but when it came right down to it, he didn’t have the confidence to definitively declare that it wouldn’t shake him up.
“Hm, it seems you’re not trying to contest me or assert your strength. That’s good. If you had, I’d have you sent back to the ship immediately,” Yuuto said.
“So that was a test?”
“Of course it was. This is war, after all. Being useless is one thing, but I have no need for those who are just going to get in my way.” Yuuto’s words pulled no punches. His usually warm, easygoing demeanor had become cold and unforgiving. “Run, I know it’s going to be a bother, but can I ask you to watch over him? I have an army to command.”
“At once, Father,” Sigrun replied dutifully.
“Nozomu, you listen to everything Sigrun says. If you disobey her even once, don’t think I’ll let you off easy because you’re my son.”
“R-Right. I understand, dad.” Under the intensity of his father’s glare, Nozomu swallowed and nodded obediently. His authority brooked no argument. “So, this is the true face of the war god!” He knew it wasn’t the time or the place for it, but he couldn’t hold back his excitement at seeing this facet of his father for the first time. For so many years, he’d longed to catch even a glimpse of the Yuuto who commanded such respect and fear!
Truthfully, Nozomu was terrified. His father was even more intimidating than the prospect of the upcoming war. The aura Yuuto exuded made Nozomu tremble and nearly wet himself in fear. Even so, he idolized his father. That peerless strength, that majestic and terrifying presence—it was exactly what Nozomu wanted to possess when he grew up.
“Hm. For the time being, let’s size up the enemy and see what they’ve got.” With a smirk on his face, Yuuto looked out over the area. The city of Megiddo was situated atop several hills, and Yuuto’s retinue had taken up camp on a particularly steep one where they could get a good view of the entire town. There, before Yuuto’s eyes, was...
“Yo, pretty impressive of you to have gathered this many troops in so short a time. But don’t you think this is a bit ostentatious?”
“Mgh.” Hearing a familiar voice above him, Thutmose III jerked his head up. There before him, was the man he couldn’t forget even if he tried, standing atop the hill with a smug smile on his face. He had a number of troops behind him, some of them women, but there was no sign of any other forces in the area. Thutmose grinned in satisfaction.
“Suoh-Yuuto! I’ve come to absolve my earlier humiliation!”
“In other words, you couldn’t win alone so you had to get help? That’s pretty lame.”
“Say whatever you like! It will not matter, because I will erase you here and now!”
“I don’t recall doing anything to deserve such treatment.”
“Do not play dumb! You are here to conquer the Orient, are you not?!”
“Nope. I just came here on merchant business.”
“Who would believe such drivel?!”
“But I’m telling the truth...”
“What a stubborn man. It seems negotiation is pointless. All troops, charge!” Thutmose unsheathed his sword and pointed the tip of his blade at Suoh Yuuto as his troops bellowed with vigor, charging up the steep hill. Assured of his victory, Thutmose grinned up at Suoh Yuuto, but the man simply let out an exasperated sigh. Perhaps he had thought he could use his silver tongue to weasel his way out of this situation, but Thutmose wouldn’t let him off that easily. This was a man who needed beheading right here, right now, or he was going to cause trouble for Thutmose further down the line.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A hail of arrows came from the sky. However, Thutmose’s guard unit was made up of elite soldiers that he himself had taken great pains to cultivate. They were well-prepared for such an attack, handily blocking the volley with their leather shields.
“Gah?!”
“Gyah?!”
Or at least, that’s what they had thought. Pained cries could be heard from one soldier after another. Unbelievably, the arrows had pierced through the leather and right into their chests.
“Impossible. From that distance?!” The distance between Thutmose’s army and Yuuto’s was roughly two khet, an ancient unit of measurement equivalent to approximately fifty meters each. At that distance, it wasn’t guaranteed an arrow would even reach its target, so how were they able to fire arrows with such force?!
“They must be using incredibly powerful bows. Hmph. Repel those arrows! Do not let them hit you! It shouldn’t be too hard; we heavily outnumber them. Do not be afraid—charge!” Coming to a swift and rational decision nonetheless, he issued one order after another. A future conqueror of the world had to be able to do that much.
Thutmose’s army began to charge up the hill, not letting up their momentum in the slightest. In response, Yuuto quickly leaped atop a horse-drawn carriage and turned tail, heading in the opposite direction. Had he scared him off? If so, that was awfully anticlimactic—or perhaps Yuuto simply had the sense to know when he’d been outmatched. Either way, Thutmose didn’t intend to let him escape.
“Radames! Take half the troops and circle around from the left! We’ll get him in a pincer attack!” Thutmose barked.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” After he’d given the order and divided his troops appropriately, he assumed command of the remaining soldiers and headed after Yuuto. Arrows occasionally rained down upon them, wounding some, but that was no concern of Thutmose’s. Finally, as if the enemy had exhausted their supply, the hail of arrows ceased. Before long, they could no longer see hide nor hair of the enemy army.
“Hmph, don’t think you can get away that easily!” Thutmose licked his lips, his tongue like that of a snake’s. Thutmose’s purpose in this land had been planning the invasion of the city of Megiddo, so naturally, he already had a good grasp on the geography of the area. If Yuuto was heading toward the Kishon River, they’d be able to get the jump on him if they circled around from the left, even considering the speed of the carriage. He’d be trapped like a rat.
Or so Thutmose had thought.
“Tch! Nothing?!” When they’d finally caught up to him, only the carriage that had been attached to the horse remained. Neither the horse nor Yuuto nor any of his men were anywhere to be found. It was as if he and his army had realized Thutmose would catch up and abandoned the horse carriage posthaste, choosing to ride on horseback instead. That was probably because they were out of options and had no other choice, but he was surprised at how comfortable Yuuto’s army seemed to be with riding horses. That was because, from Thutmose’s perspective, horseback riding was a remarkably high-level technique.
“Seems like I really can’t underestimate him. All the more reason why I have to kill him here.” With his resolve renewed, he advanced his army further.
“Huh?!” But when they got to their destination, it wasn’t Yuuto or any of his army that they found. It was the elite unit he’d just entrusted to Radames. Apparently, they hadn’t even seen Yuuto in the area. That was when he realized he’d screwed up. He belatedly remembered that the enemy had abandoned the carriage. It was true that this route was the only one horse-drawn carriages could pass through, but if they were on horseback, there were a number of other paths they could traverse. They’d probably used one of those to avoid a pincer maneuver.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The all-too-familiar sound of whistling through the wind accompanied a hail of arrows, and from all directions, no less. At some point, Thutmose’s army had become surrounded. However, by his own count, there were still only fifteen or so enemies. That was far too few for an effective encirclement. He knew that, but...
“Rrgh, how frustrating!” Thutmose spat with hatred. Even though their own arrows couldn’t cover the distance, the enemies’ arrows were not only reaching their target, but they were quite deadly. The enemy had realized that and came to attack. “We won’t get anywhere at this rate. We need to get closer.”
He angrily urged his army forward, but each time he did, the enemy army pulled back an equal distance. All the while, arrows rained down upon his men. As he gave it more thought, he realized that a mere foot soldier was no match for the speed of one on horseback. The casualties on his side continued to rise.
“I was in the palm of the enemy’s hand the whole time?! Fortify your defenses! They’ve got to run out of arrows sometime! That’s when we’ll strike back!” Even if each of them had fifty arrows, that would still only be 750 arrows—far less manpower than Thutmose had at his disposal. What’s more, only one in five of those were likely to hit their mark, and even a direct hit didn’t guarantee a fatality. At some point, the enemy would have to let up.
“Huh?! Ha ha ha! They must’ve already run out, because now they’re charging at us. Perhaps they think we’re worn out from chasing them down? Sony to disappoint, but we have plenty of stamina to spare. That’s why we’re going to win.” Convinced of his victoiy, Thutmose let out a loud cackle.
Even though their weapons hadn’t reached the enemy, the enemy had always seemed to find their mark. If this had happened to a normal unit, they might have panicked, unable to tell right from left in their confusion, but Thutmose’s army was made up of highly skilled, battle-hardened professionals paid handsomely for their services. Thutmose himself had built rapport with each one and had earned their loyalty. If he gave the order for them to kill themselves, they would do so in a heartbeat. That unwavering devotion was just another factor that made them the strongest unit around, Thutmose’s pride and joy.
“Fight back!” he shouted, but his order was suddenly drowned out by a rumbling from within the elite guard unit. Thutmose had no idea what had happened—it seemed like the enemy had thrown some sort of spherical object. The soldiers had dodged it, but in the next instant, a roar split the air like thunder, and the surrounding soldiers all went flying, their uniforms and skin burnt black. A second explosion followed, causing more of Thutmose’s soldiers to fly through the air. The enemy soldiers then charged forward on horseback. Each of them seemed to have mastered the art of horseback riding—Thutmose’s bodyguards may have been the cream of the crop, but their enemy’s horsemanship alone caused them to panic.
“D-Don’t be fooled! The enemy is few in number! If we maintain our composure, we’ll surely win!”
“Ha ha, unfortunately for you, the great Homura and her friends aren’t so generous as to let the enemy rest up.”
“Huh?! Gahhh!” Suddenly, he heard a female voice from behind, and the next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. The last thing he saw before his consciousness left him was the face of a stunningly beautiful girl with long, flowing black hair.
“One Thutmose III, captured alive, as requested!” Hearing Homura’s cheery voice, Nozomu breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his shoulders—
Thonk! Which got him a whack on the head. “Fool. Don’t let your guard down just because we’ve won. Did I not teach you that one should always be prepared for a counterattack?” his instructor Sigrun said with a sigh. It was true—capturing the enemy army’s commander did not prevent their men from staging an attempt to rescue him. The fight was not yet over for them. He’d been too quick to relax.
“Now then, to all enemy soldiers. Lay down your weapons, get on your knees, and put your hands behind your back. Obey me, and I guarantee the life of your pharaoh!” Yuuto’s voice, amplified with a megaphone, echoed throughout the battlefield. As if on cue, the enemy soldiers, apparently realizing there was no other way out, immediately tossed their weapons aside and got down on the ground as instructed.
“Is anyone wounded?” Sigrun asked. Replies of “nope” and “not at all” came from here and there. Apparently, there had been no casualties on Yuuto’s side, which was even more unbelievable to Nozomu. “It was fifteen against one thousand, arid no one was even hurt?!” He felt like he was dreaming, but honestly, he wouldn’t have believed it even in his wildest dreams.
Yuuto then appeared before him, back to his usual nonchalant tone. “Oh, Nozomu. Looks like you’re unharmed. Thank goodness.” He’d just achieved a victory worthy of being recorded in history books, and he was acting like it was no big deal. He wasn’t whooping, hollering, or celebrating—that fact in itself was perhaps the scariest thing of all.
“Wow, dad, that was incredible. You made it look so easy.”
“Oh, that? That wasn’t anything special. If you look at history, others have used horses to stage landslide victories without anyone getting injured as well, one even being two thousand against seventeen. Not to mention I’ve got the technology of the future on my side, as well as a multitude of Einherjar, and my own special power.”
Yuuto waved it off like it was nothing, but Nozomu couldn’t see it as anything but remarkable. “It’s like he really is a war god...” Plenty of people had explained his father’s peerless nature to him, but it had always seemed like a fairy tale—a story with only a grain of truth, embellished to facilitate the management of the nation. He’d never dreamed he’d be shown a divine feat even more amazing than the ones in the stories!
“Well, you know how it is. Use one cheat after another, and you’re sure to win,” his father humbly said, but even Nozomu could tell there was more to it than that. His sense of timing and distance had been perfect— he’d always had the horse-drawn carriage precisely where only his side was able to attack, yet not far away enough that the enemy had thought they couldn’t catch up. Then, when he’d seen his opportunity, he’d abandoned the carriage and encircled the enemy on horseback, taking them by complete surprise. Even after that, he’d maintained enough distance to constantly rain arrows down on the enemy, thrown the enemy’s men into a panic using tetsuhaus, and subsequently took that opportunity to charge forward, putting the enemy commander right in Homura’s clutches.
It certainly sounded simple enough when put into words, and he knew that his father had merely made use of tactics like the “Parthian Shot” and “Fisher and Bandit,” but the fact that he’d had the skill to implement them practically and gotten real people to dance to his tune as a result was more than impressive. It was almost as if he was always able to see the battlefield, and the positions of both ally and enemy, from overhead. A greenhorn hke Nozomu had a hard time putting it into words, and perhaps because he’d had a front-row seat to witness the spectacle, he was so entranced by the magic of his dad’s military prowess that he wouldn’t have been able to anyway.
“At any rate, if there’s anything I want you to learn from this experience, it’s that there’s no such thing as fairness in war. Do whatever it takes to win. If you don’t, you’ll die.” His father’s words were cold, harsh, and clearly spoken from experience. Nozomu gulped without meaning to.
Come to think of it, he’d heard his knowledgeable sister Wiz quote a famous commander one time: “It matters not if a warrior becomes a lapdog or a brute, as long as they claim victory in the end.” Perhaps that was what Yuuto was getting at.
“Tee hee, you may say that, but you’re just about the softest person I know, Big Brother.” Felicia appeared from behind Yuuto with a snicker.
Yuuto frowned in disapproval. “Hey now, I’m trying to teach my son something very important here, so don’t ruin the moment.”
“Yes sir, as you say, sir,” Felicia teased, clearly insincere, and she stuck her tongue out for good measure before retreating. Felicia loved Yuuto and had eyes for no one but him, so perhaps it was her way of making sure that Nozomu didn’t misunderstand and make his father out to be some coldhearted tyrant.
“Anyway, I know you don’t want to hear some long lecture, so I’ll finish with only this. If you, your siblings, or your friends are ever in a life-or-death situation, do not allow pleasantries, appearance, or honor to cloud your judgment. Okay?” Yuuto stared straight into Nozomu’s eyes, deadly serious.
Felicia’s brother, Sigrun’s instructor, and even his own mother (on paper, at least), Sigrdrifa—Nozomu had heard that Yuuto had lost many people dear to him back in Yggdrasil, which gave those words even more weight.
“...Yeah.” Though he felt hke he was somewhat forced to answer that way, he also understood. He was the eldest son and had a duty to protect his siblings. Nozomu etched those words of Yuuto’s into his heart so that he would never forget them, going over each syllable twice for good measure.
“Well, just file that away in your head for now. More importantly, are you all right?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Nozomu, not understanding the meaning of his father’s question. He’d already said he was fine—no injuries or anything.
“You killed someone, didn’t you? With your own hands.”
In the next instant, the sensation of piercing flesh he’d felt through his spear ran through his hands once more, and the pained expression on the enemy soldier’s face manifested in the back of his mind—
Before he knew it, he’d emptied the entire contents of his stomach onto the ground. He’d been so focused during combat he hadn’t had time to worry over it, and he had been on such an adrenaline rush afterward that it had completely slipped his mind, but the instant he recalled it, he was hit with a wave of revulsion.
He’d thought he’d been prepared, yet actually taking someone’s life had affected him far more than he’d ever imagined. He felt sick. Even the thought of murder was enough to make him vomit once more.
“Ugh... haa... I’m so pathetic. I can’t believe I can’t even handle this mu—bleeaghh!”
“You’re not pathetic, son. After killing someone for the first time, that’s the correct reaction to have,” Yuuto said gently, patting Nozomu’s back. Nozomu was shocked at the guilt in his father’s voice. He was said to have been a god of war, so there was no telling how many he’d killed, either directly or indirectly. Just how many sins did he carry behind that carefree expression of his? When he thought about how much Yuuto must be suffering even now, it honestly frightened him.
“Obviously, I’d like for you to live a peaceful life and get by without killing anyone if I can help it, but these are the times we live in. That’s why I figured it’d be best for you to experience it here, so you can be prepared when the time comes.” There was no sign of his father’s devil-may-care attitude anymore. All that remained was a man heaving a sigh of regret and bitterness. Even though he understood it was necessary, his heart couldn’t accept it—that was the feeling Nozomu got.
“Thanks for watching over him, Run. You’re the reason my son’s still in one piece right now.”
“I’m relieved as well. Many end up dying in their inaugural battle.”
“Yeah,” Yuuto agreed. Nozomu detected a hint of relief in his voice. He may have been seen as some god of war, but he was just a regular guy. Sending his own son off to battle had to have been tough for him. He’d probably been beside himself with worry the whole time.
“It’s said that a lion drops its own cub off a cliff to prepare it for adulthood, but it’s not so easy when it’s your own son, I guess,” said Yuuto with a sigh.
“But in this case, our preparations were sufficient, and there was no cliff anywhere in the area to speak of.” Sigrun flatly denied Yuuto’s musings to himself.
“I was speaking in terms of feelings, Run.”
“Tee hee, again, that just shows how soft you are, Big Brother.” Felicia had returned, another grin on her face. Perhaps neither of them intended to be that way, but Nozomu felt that they were both kicking him while he was down. It was becoming more and more apparent just how sheltered Nozomu had been up until now, and how far he had to go to catch up to his father. He felt hke all the effort in the world wouldn’t be enough. And yet...
He was made well aware that he couldn’t continue to be the pathetic wimp he was now. He would take that frustration he felt toward himself and use it as fuel to grow and mature. Nozomu swore in his heart—one day, he’d be a man even his father would have to tip his hat to.
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