I Favor the Villainess - CH 248

Feb 04 2021

“A monster horde has been spotted, about 500 meters ahead!”

“Prepare long distance magic… Fire!”

In response to Hilda’s commands, a four-color medley of magical bullets was fired.

Drawing an arc over the main roads, the magic blew away a significant portion of the horde.

“The horde is still charging straight at us!”

“Ignore them and keep firing. Deal with any ones that come too close by hand. Vanguard, advance!”

Rodd-sama was in charge of our front lines.

Mages who were also proficient in close quarter combat put away their wands and pulled out their swords.

“They may have the numbers, but quality over quantity. Don’t falter! Push them back!”

The oncoming horde of goblins and ogres clashed head first with Rod-sama’s force.

Regardless of how much experience Naa and Bauer’s soldiers had, it didn’t mean that we’d come out of the fight unscathed.

The wounded would temporarily fall back, receive healing, and then return to the front lines. Our battles were a repetition of that.

Similar to the assault on the capital, the monsters charged forward disregarding death.

Though I was grateful they never assaulted us from the back, their numbers were overwhelming. The closer we got to the capital, the more seemed to appear. I had to wonder where they were all coming from.

This fight against a horde of monsters who did not fear death ended up being different in nature to what the Naa soldiers, accustomed to battle with humans, were used to.

“… How vexing.”

Those words leaked from Claire-sama in a tone that could not be described. It seems that she was frustrated that she had no choice but to sit and watch the current fight.

Without waiting for the end of the Demon Queen’s two week ultimatum, the Bauer-Naa alliance had begun their march toward her territory.

In actuality, we also had Manaria from Sousa and Lene from Appalachia participating, so technically it should be called the Four Country Alliance.

Manaria-sama taking part made sense, but as for Lene, she was working with Dor-sama, who was back in Bauer, to manage our supply chain.

The total size of our force was in the tens of thousands, even only counting Naa’s soldiers.

Considering Bauer’s soldiers as well, large amounts of money, material, and food were required to maintain our troops.

As previously mentioned, Claire-sama and I, along with a small group of elites were to confront the Demon Queen.

Though I would prefer otherwise, Claire-sama would need to act as our shield or we would stand no chance against the Demon Queen.

While it was possible that the Demon Queen could attack during our march, considering that attack may also harm Claire-sama, the chance seemed rather low.

It was certainly vexing to only be able to watch the alliance’s efforts from behind, but we had no choice but to conserve our strength for the final confrontation.

“The problem is Plato and Rates…”

“Yes. Unlike the Demon Queen, those two have no reservations in harming Claire-sama.”

In fact, I’m sure Plato and Rates will aggressively target Claire-sama.

Our scouts have reported that Plato is positioned at the front of the imperial palace, but Rates’ location was completely unknown.

As a result, during our march, we had to constantly be wary of our surroundings.

It was possible that Rates was intentionally trying to wear us down through this kind of psychological pressure.

“It’s been about a week since we left Zurück. We should be able to see the imperial palace soon. If someone like Rates were to attack, I feel like it would be around now.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any indication of it though…”

If things go on like this, we’ll reach capital without having faced Rates.

I’d be grateful to not have to expend the effort, but something’s up.

“It’ll do us no good just worrying about it.”

“Onee-sama…”

“Manaria-sama…”

Having overheard us, Manaria-sama lightly tapped Claire-sama’s shoulder.

I’m sure she wanted to relieve Claire-sama of her worries, but I wish that she wouldn’t touch my Claire-sama so casually.

I bite you know, grr.

“We’re already doing the best that we can. All that’s left is to wait for fate to be revealed, isn’t that right?”

“You’re right.”

“… In spite of what you’re saying, you’re still worried, aren’t you?”

「……」

Claire-sama spoke in resignation.

Mei and Alea were currently stationed at about the middle of our forces along with TAIM.

TAIM said that would be safest, but it seems we just can’t bring ourselves to trust it.

After all, it threatened to kill Mei and Alea if we refused to bring them along.

It’d be impossible to suddenly trust such an individual.

To begin with, entrusting those two to that thing is not something anyone in their right mind would do. However, rather than worry about a potential danger, we needed to concern ourselves with the enemies assaulting us right now.

We were worried about entrusting those two to TAIM alone, so we had Yuu-sama and Misha accompany them.

Of course Relaire is with them as well.

But in the end, that’s all that we were able to do.

It’s possible that we were all dancing on top of TAIM’s palm, but we were really at our limits.

“I can’t say that I fully trust that TAIM fellow either. However, I don’t think it can lie.”

“Yes, Rei seems to be of the same opinion.”

“That’s why, at least for now, Mei and Alea will likely not be in any danger. If something were to happen, Cardinal Yuu and Misha are there as well.”

In spite of Manaria-sama’s words, Claire-sama’s expression did not clear up.

Ideally, Claire-sama and I wanted to trade positions with Yuu-sama and Misha, but we had our own roles to fill.

Should Rates or Plato appear, we would be the ones to buy time for the officers to gather.

The strength of those two demons really stood out.

If our regular mages were to fight them, the casualties would needlessly increase.

That being said, we couldn’t just keep our officers together either. If we did, should something happen to our allies, it would be harder to follow up.

This really was a difficult position to be in.

“The imperial castle has come into view!”

A report came in from our vanguard.

Looking forward, it was true that the ever imposing imperial palace entered our vision.

The road leading up to it was completely covered by monsters.

“Just a little more! Cut open the path!”

Hilda gave a motivating shout to the soldiers.

Responding to her words, the soldiers rained magic upon nearby enemies, sweeping through them.

Our march continued like this for another two hours.

“! Cease fire!”

“Vanguard, halt!”

Suddenly Hilda and Rodd-sama gave the order to halt.

“When I strained my eyes and looked ahead, I saw a large figure standing in our way.”

“… Yo. You all seem to be getting ahead of yourselves.”

The figure wore only animal fur like a caveman. In their hand was a large club.

They had what seemed to be an impenetrable fortress for a body, and a pair of bat wings stretching from their back.

There’s no way that I could mistake them.

It was one of the Three Great Archdukes, Plato.

As we had planned, Claire-sama and I quickly moved to the front.

“How do you do, Plato? Doesn’t today just seem to be a splendid day?”

“Claire François. Yeah, for sure. The weather fits perfectly, for us to hand you humans your last rites, that is.”

“One of the Three Great Archdukes, just playing gatekeeper? It seems that the Demon Queen’s army is a tad lacking in personnel.”

“Get real. The army is just a decoration. If she wanted to, the Demon Queen herself could extinguish you lot. This is just a way to burn time.”

“She can’t, and we wouldn’t allow it. As long as we’re here.”

“Hah, sure can bark.”

“Having said that, Plato lifted his club and slammed it into the ground.

Previously, this move had caused many people over a large area to stumble.

However―.

“I won’t fall for the same tactic!”

I used my magic to control the ground between me and Plato, blocking the shockwave before it could reach us.

“Tch… a pointless struggle. Just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

Something felt off.

“Plato, what’s wrong? It seems you’re not at your best.”

“… Heh, I guess I had no way of hiding it. If you meet the Demon Queen you’ll find out for yourself. However―”

Pausing his words there, Plato held his clup up with one arm,

“I don’t have the slightest intention of letting any of you pass here!”

Howling those words, he swung his club wildly and rushed us.

“… Barrier, reject.”

As we took stance and waited, a calm voice slipped straight by us.

“Nngh!?”

It appeared as though Plato’s huge body had been obstructed by something.

“Pope!”

“Yuu-sama and Misha too.”

“It seems we managed to regroup in time.”

“From here on, we’ll lend our strength.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

It’s not like Claire and I were simply shooting the breeze with an old friend.

As we stated earlier, we were buying time so that our officers could gather.

“Rei-okaasama, Claire-okaasama!”

“We’ve come to assist as well!”

“Lily is here too!”

With Mei, Alea, and Lily-sama also joining us, we had assembled our best members.

“You’re all just crawling out of the cracks. Fine, I’ll take you all on!”

The first fight that would lead to our final confrontation, our battle with one of the Three Great Archdukes Plato, had begun.