“Enemy attack, enemy attack! Enemy attack at the rear!”
Krische was the fastest to react to that shout.
The supply train consists of several dozen carriages.
Krische is in the middle and quite far from the end of the train, but could hear the screams in the distance.
“Stay here Krische-sama. Please stay calm――”
The soldier that had been fussing over Krische lost sight of her before he could finish his sentence.
He found her again on top of the carriage behind their’s, staring towards the rear.
Krische ignored the man’s call and thought about how to deal with this.
This is Bogan’s supply train.
If it suffers damage, the first thing affected would be Krische’s next meal.
She calmly examined the carriages at the rear.
They are stretched out in an extended line――it would be difficult for them to reorganise immediately.
This forest is behind the frontlines. This area should have been safe.
That is why there is only the bare minimum number of guards.
Their numbers are too few to fight back. They might not be able to hold out depending on the scale of the enemy.
Krische quickly ran through the possibilities
――The enemy broke through the frontlines and attacked the supply lines in a blitz attack?
In that case, they would have been informed.
Messengers would reach this train before the enemy. Unlikely.
――They snuck through and were not noticed?
This possibility is almost impossible.
If that is the case, the supply train would suffer a lot of losses, but it is unlikely the enemy would go so far just to temporarily disrupt the supply lines.
If they did, it would be to completely cut off the supply lines or to attack the main force from the rear.
Either way, if enough soldiers were sent to accomplish these goals, the risk would be too large. It would also be unnatural to attack the rear of the supply train if it was the latter.
If that were the case they would need to lie in wait for a chance to deal such a devastating blow that they did not have the time to send a messenger.
――An ambush?
Close to impossible. But what if their numbers were small?
――They somehow gathered a force on this side and set up an ambush?
Using gold or other bribes, they could have hired mercenaries or bandits.
They just needed a spy, so this possibility is very likely.
The largest probability is disruption of the supply lines with small numbers.
Nothing can be known for sure unless Krische checks it out.
Krische leapt down from the carriage and sprinted through the forest.
The road is too narrow to ride one of the spare horses and Krische does not like riding, it hurt her butt.
She instantly made the decision that it would be faster to run through the forest.
Krische’s mana flexed, acting as imaginary muscles and allowing her to run like the wind.
Like an arrow released from a bow, she ran through the forest, ascertaining her route as she kicked off trees and accelerated forward, twisting to dodge branches that would tear her clothes.
She arrived in no time.
24 enemies are visible, but there is definitely more.
Their wore varied leather armours and were filthy. There is no crest or anything of the sort to indicate they are soldiers.
Judging by appearances, they are bandits.
Which means they are easy to deal with.
Krische drew and swung her sword in the same motion.
She swung her sword in a backhanded grip, beheading one and dashing by before the blood could stain her clothes.
She spun the sword in her hand and killed another two as she spun onto the road behind the supply train.
In that instant, all eyes turned to Krische.
And before they recognised her as an enemy, Krische beheaded the nearest person.
Krische avoided the spine and only cut the soft flesh in the neck.
The silver naginata-like sword was stained a rich red without a single nick on the blade.
Using the fountain of blood as cover, Krische vanished from the field of vision and awareness of everyone around――and when they found her again, another flower of blood had already bloomed.
The attacking side and the soldiers that had been about to be killed all felt a chill run down their spines.
Krische dislikes being dirty――the thick red blood clung only to her blade.
Her stainless deep green cloak and silver hair danced, creating an abnormal, out-of-place beauty.
“That one! Get that white one!”
The man that looked like the bandit’s leader screamed. At that point, Krischee had already beheaded nine people.
Three men stood around the leader.
Krische drew a knife from her belt and threw it.
She threw smoothly even as she ran, the knife spun through the air and sunk into the neck of the man standing in front.
The two behind and the leader widened their eyes as they watched the man collapse, but still took a stance.
Unlike the other small fry, they seem capable.
Krische did not sense any mana from them, but that does not mean it is safe.
Even if Krische can use mana like springs to reinforce her muscles, she does not become more durable.
Even Krische would die if her neck was broken and a small cut in the right place could be fatal. If they all threw their lives aside and grabbed for her, she would die too.
Krische’s only weapon is her superhuman speed and strength.
So to be safe, she needs to slip through the chinks in their consciousness.
The man on the left wields an axe. The man on the right, a short curved sword. The leader wields a long sword in his right hand and a buckler in his left.
Krische instantly decided to go left and slipped under the right arm of the man wielding the axe.
The man swung the axe as predicted.
Most of the bandits only wore light leather breastplates and gauntlets.
Their armpits are not protected――and Krische knows that blood flows well from there.
Krische casually stabbed his right armpit.
She then stepped behind the man as she tore through with her sword.
The leader’s reaction was quick, swinging the longsword in a horizontally sweep.
Krische dodged it by crouching and hacked at the back of his knee.
Without a glance at the collapsing leader, she drew the other knife and threw it at the neck of the man approaching with the short curved sword, taking him down――then stepped on the back of the collapsed leader, putting her sword to his neck.
Then she looked around.
“Bo, Boss was defeated!”
“Run! Or we’ll be caught!”
The bandits’ decision was fast.
Once they realised they were at a disadvantage, the bandits turned tail and escaped single-mindedly.
Krische watched them go and confirmed that all hostility was gone before letting out a breath.
Even Krische was slightly out of breath after running such a distance.
The surrounding soldiers stared at Krische, stunned.
Some of them had spoken to Krische before, but they also looked shocked.
They stared speechlessly at the abnormal girl.
Krische wandered why they were frozen, but focused on rendering the leader powerless first. She stepped on the leader’s right shoulder and grabbed his arm.
“Hii, gii!?”
――then dislocated his right shoulder.
And then his left shoulder.
Another tearing scream echoed through the forest, bringing the soldiers back to their senses.
“Kr, Krische, sama……wh, what are you……?”
“……? Preparing for torture. There might be more enemies.”
Why would you ask that? Krische tilted her head, perplexed.
Blood was everywhere.
In the middle of the carnage, Krische alone was beautiful. But the action of tilting her head to the side was no longer cute, it was creepy.
Krische got off the leader and held up her skirt as she squatted down in front of him.
His fierce face was pale and streaked with tears as she spoke to him.
“It is bad to attack the army’s supply train. Did you know that?”
“Ah, ah, ga……”
“Well, it does not matter whether you know. According to Alberan law in this situation, you will be given the heaviest sentence, death.”
Krische held up a finger, as if she was explaining to a child.
“If you were a soldier of the enemy country, in this case the Holy Elsren Empire, you would be treated as a prisoner of war and after necessary medical treatment, be sent to the rear and detained. No violence will be used in your interrogation and your rights will be protected by the Sacred Convention but……”
Her purple eyes examined the man’s body.
There is no crest or anything similar.
“You do not appear to bear any proof of identity. Do you own any?”
“Hii……”
“If you do, please present it before the count of five. If not it will be assumed that you do not have any and be treated as a bandit.”
Five, four, three, two, one, zero.
Krische counted to five, then smiled and declared.
“It appears you do not have any. Usually you would be detained then executed, but fortunately, soldiers have the right to carry out informal executions as well as the right to do physical harm and torture in order to obtain information if there is such a need.”
Krische did not explain this to threaten him, but it is still clearly a threat.
The men stiffened as Krische stepped on his thick right arm.
“Krische will now conduct torture by cutting off your fingers one by one, this is a legitimate method in accordance to Alberan Criminal Law. Please understand.”
And with no hesitation, she severed his pinky.
“Hii, Gii, AAaaaaAaah!?”
“Do you have more allies other than those that ran away just now?”
“O, oow, finger, my finger……! My, gii!?”
Next was the ring finger.
Krische just needed to let the heavy blade drop and it easily sliced off his finger.
“Krische will be troubled if you do not answer Krische’s questions. Krische will have to take of your shoes and cut off your toes as well at this rate.”
“Hii, gu, no, there are no more……”
“Nnn, I see. Krische will kill you either way but Krische thinks its better to die quickly rather than painfully. Please continue answering Krische’s questions.”
His screams rang through the forest.
The soldiers that had been in the heat of combat a moment before now trembled as they watched a young girl slice off a man’s fingers with no qualms.
No one could speak as all the fingers on the man’s right hand was chopped off.
Krische’s actions are completely correct from a military perspective, but people that can take the initiative to torture someone is extremely rare.
Even if they resented that man for killing their comrades, not a single soldier here could indifferently chop off his fingers without hesitation or emotion like she does.
Nobody felt any satisfaction from watching the leader of the enemy that had killed their comrades and almost killed them, have his fingers cut off. In fact they were overwhelmed by the situation and felt only fear and pity.
“That was all Krische wanted to ask. Thank you for your coorperation.”
Krische said that with the look of someone that had finished her job, then stomped on the man’s neck.
With an unpleasant crack, the man’s body convulsed for an instant then stopped moving, but by that point, there were already eight fingers scattered around it.
Krische retrieved her two knives from the corpses and approached a soldier, the supply train’s commander.
“This should be the end of this attack. It was a harassment attack using bandits. Krische will be going back, but before that, can Krische have a clean cloth?”
“Ye, yeah……”
The commander ordered a nearby soldier to bring a cloth, his voice slightly hoarse.
The soldier hurriedly retrieved a cloth.
Krische carefully wiped the blood and oil off her sword and knives, then returned them to their sheaths and looked around at the soldiers.
Even Krische could feel something was wrong with their reaction.
She had killed bandits. But this is not in town, it is in the middle of the forest――and with the army’s supply train.
Krische had just properly disposed of the bandits, she had done a proper job in accordance to the army’s rules and doctrine, they should be happy.
But their response is a little weird.
Ah, Krische clapped her hands together as she realised why.
Today, Krische is not here as a soldier. She is simply the general’s daughter, here to deliver letters.
Simply put, she remembered that she was not on duty.
She came to the conclusion that they were bewildered because she had done their job for them, so she smiled and said.
“Please convey that information to the front and the general. Krische only came to deliver letters and is off duty, so Krische cannot meddle too much.”
After addressing a concern that nobody cared about, Krische trotted back the way she came.
Seeing her retreating back, spotless without a drop of blood, all the soldiers felt a chill run down their spines.
They took some time to reogranise the next day and it was night by the time they exited the forest and reached headquarters.
The soldiers of the supply train had stiff expressions as Krische thanked and bow to them before heading towards the general’s tent.
The Christand army had skirmished with the enemy three times, but is currently at a standoff and there is not much activity.
Krische was asking the way to Bogan’s tent when she heard a familiar voice.
“Krische!”
“Wah……”
A girl ran over and hugged Krische, pressing her cheeks to Krische’s.
Her golden hair glittered in the moonlight and her smooth white cheek was comfortable to the touch.
Selene is half a head taller than Krische and there were tears in the corners of her eyes as she smiled at Krische.
“Thank goodness, I was so worried after hearing there was an attack. Are you okay? Are you injured?”
“Ehehe, Krische is fine, as you can see. Selene seems fine too.”
Selene was dressed in red riding pants that flared out at the thighs.
She wore a red cloak with gold embroidery over a black vest made from thick cloth.
This combination of cloth armor and riding pants is the standard equipment that is worn under armour, but she is not wearing any armour.
That indicates that this camp is safe.
“Well, yeah. Are you going to meet otou-sama?”
“Yes, I need to hand him these letters.”
“Let’s go then. Otou-sama and Gallen-sama were also really worried.”
Selene happily took Krische’s hand.
Seeing her like that, Krische felt relieved.
“How is the situation?”
“A standoff…… We cannot make a move. It hurt to lose Wulfenite.”
Wulfenite is a fortified city positioned in the center of the Kingdom’s eastern territories.
The town is surrounded by a tall wall and a moat filled with water from a river. It was known as an impregnable town but was taken in the enemy’s blitz invasion and is now an impregnable enemy base.
The kingdom’s center is accessible from Wulfenite, retaking it is currently the most important objective.
The Elsran army is carefully guarding their supply lines to Wulfenite and has deployed forty thousand against Bogan in the north and another forty thousand against Dagren in the south.
In comparison, Bogan’s army numbers twenty thousand. Dagren’s army has apparently managed to scrape together thirty thousand, but the difference in numbers is large and though they could defend, they did not have enough to attack.
Taking Wulfenite would be time-consuming no matter how it was done.
Cutting off the supply lines and isolating Wulfenite is the most effective method, but that is currently impossible and they are at a standoff.
Because of the infighting in the capital, the central army has not been deployed and they currently cannot go on the counteroffensive.
“What is the capital doing? Anyone could see that things will only get worse if we don’t retake Wulfenite.”
“Nnn, Elsren is a large country, so they should have already gathered enough forces in Wulfenite……we can only react to what they do.”
Krische could think of multiple possible actions by the enemy.
This is because the enemy could choose any of them.
They could maintain the current front and take over the territory.
They could invade the center or the south.
They would not attack the north because of the large forest, but there are plenty of other options.
“This is the worst. Why can we only wait for the enemy to grow.”
Selene is the daughter of Bogan, who is also known as Lightning Quick.
Selene has been educated by him and reveres her father.
That is why she is aggressive and favours such tactics.
The current situation must be extremely unpleasant for her.
“If we do not make mistakes, we are still at an advantage.”
“The problem is we keep making mistakes.”
Selene pouted as they arrived at Bogan’s tent.
“It’s Selene. I brought Krische.”
“Come in.”
Selene pulled open the entrance after hearing Bogan’s reply, leading Krische in by the hand
-End-
