The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 4
“So you lot are the mercenaries from Olrein.”
“Aye. So yer that Captain Weld, the leader of that mercenary group “Wolves of the Desert” I’ve been hearin’ ‘bout.”
In response to the captain’s question, the enemy’s side parts, and a huge, red-headed man with a scar on his forehead reveals himself while surrounded by a group of shielders. That man was probably Bardstein, the captain of the mercenary group “Hellfire Lizards” that ran and controlled the city of Olrein who was mentioned in Wilson’s report.
“Why would you do such a cruel thing to the citizens of Ishtvan?”
“Hmm, well, there has to be some sort of tragedy in events like this, ya know? T’was just unfortunate that they got caught in it,” the red-haired giant said indifferently without an ounce of remorse.
“If this continues, the anti-monarchy faction will slowly lose its momentum… so this tragedy has to rile them up ya know. So when I learned that Ishtvan had refused our offer and went to the capital for help, I came up with this great idea. Y’see, I was plottin’ to have the kingdom’s soldiers purge the people of Ishtvan for supportin’ the anti-monarchy faction.”
“Ridiculous. You would slaughter a whole town just to spread such lies!”
Ignoring Weld’s disgust at the horrible self-serving plot, the red-haired, hulking man continues his manic rant.
“If we tell those anti-monarchy factions in the cities who know nothing of this tragedy, their anger towards the royal family will grow and it’ll blow out of proportion!”
“You bastards!”
“Bark as much as you want, but I won’t accept surrender. We’ll purge ya lapdogs of the monarchy like the villains you are and we’ll be the heroes of the anti-monarchy faction. Finish ‘em,” saying this, he glanced at us with cold eyes and disappeared into the crowd.
“Tsk, we’re going to have to break through them. Anyone will do, just get this information back to the capital! Everyone, chaaarge!!”
“OUUUH!!!”
As the enemy once again rained down arrows on us to slow down our momentum, I joined in cutting down the enemy soldiers as they closed in on us.
“Graaaaaah!!”
“Guh, uaaaaagh!?”
Taking the initiative, I striked down on the edge of my opponent’s sword which was held in the middle position and slid my blade down to cleanly cut through their neck. Beside me, Sakura, who was locked in battle, half-turned her katana from the contact point of their blades and struck her enemy’s lower jaw with the hilt of her sword.
“Guuugh, urgh.”
The enemy soldier, whose leather-armored chest was subsequently slashed through, groaned and fell to the ground. As I continued to mow down more of the enemy soldiers, I could see a little bit of the town from behind them.
“Sakura!”
“N, I’ll make a path!”
Prioritizing getting through the encirclement, Sakura wove in and out of the enemy lines while making multiple, fine cuts to break their formation. Once we broke free, we jumped into a nearby alleyway to observe the situation.
It seems some of our allies had broken through the weak points of the enemy’s formation during the initial attack, but since we were outnumbered everyone was gradually taken out by the enemy.
(Nngh, right now the priority is to escape.)
Breaking free from my thoughts, I ran through the alleyways with Sakura to the western gate of Ishtvan where a platoon of archers had already been deployed.
It wasn’t reassuring that there were no soldiers lurking to ambush us along the way, since it only meant that they didn’t need to take such measures.
“Looks like they’re really serious about killing us off.”
“True…”
From the looks of it, their current formation was probably one made for hunting down stragglers, with mobile archers and horsemen guarding all exits. However, given the scope and range of their military manpower, I couldn’t help but feel like the neighboring countries also had a hand in this.
Chills ran down my spine as all the archers ahead simultaneously trained their bows on us.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Sakura looked grim for a moment but after gathering her resolve, she flashed a fearless smile and charged recklessly toward the bowmen.
Impressed by her fearlessness even in the face of death, I followed behind her with a sense of finality, but… those few meters from the enemy felt almost infinite.
“Au, uugh…”
“Guuh… cough”
Countless arrows pierced our bodies as Sakura and I both fell to the ground.
(K-killing… and being killed is the way of the mercenaries… uurgh, I was prepared for my own death, but it feels so… frustrating.)
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sakura lying on the ground and bleeding from every part of her body. I could hear her moaning faintly, but I couldn’t help her since I was also on the verge of death…
Suddenly, I remembered the other day when the four of us, including Eric and Gaston, were drinking together and talking about silly, mundane things and I felt a sense of loss that such a thing will never happen again.
As an orphan, I’ve always tried my best, but now that I couldn’t even save my friends, I must have been lacking in something.
(Hahh… o-of all times… ugh… why…)
As my consciousness slowly faded away, the only thought that remained in my mind was regret at how inadequate I was.
And that is the end of the prologue. I will be uploading the subsequent chapters in the following days, so stay tuned!
Oh, and if you enjoyed this chapter, please consider supporting me by buying me a ko-fi!
