Kuro no Hiera Glaphicos - Volume 4

「…Contrary to expectations, it was settled easily」

While walking in the corridor, Lucius muttered.

「Ma, Diaghilev-geika did put in a good word for us, after all」

「She’s most likely thinking of using the joint development as an opportunity to adopt our country’s advanced mining technology. What a shrewd person」

「I suppose so」

As its mining technology was also immature in its own way, Haiderota which lacked mine resources wasn’t at a level that could be compared to Amaddo. Even if they could only obtain 30 percent of the mining amount, if they could learn the advanced mining technology of Amaddo in that process, it might be helpful in enriching Haiderota in the future.

「Dii-kun」

Isaac spoke to Dimitar at the rear while rubbing his eyes.

「—You should rest a little too. Even though your wounds were healed quickly with magic, the blood which you lost won’t be recovered immediately, right?」

「Thank you for your concern」

Dimitar bowed to Isaac and headed for the room where Valeria’s party was resting.

「…?」

Although Dimitar tried to open the door of Valeria’s party’s room after knocking lightly on it, perhaps something was stuck, and he could only open it slightly. When he exerted his body weight and pushed with all his strength, a heavy sound of “gagon” was heard and the door finally opened.

「U, pu…?」

Stepping over Bettina who was lying down on the floor, Dimitar entered the room.

「…I’ll ask just in case, but what’s she doing here?」

「It seems that she was going to keep a night watch」

「She fell asleep three minutes after taking up her position there though~」

Karin and Petra who were sitting side-by-side on a sofa answered all together. Dimitar rolled and shifted Bettina who was sleeping deeply, and then closed the door tightly.

「You didn’t sleep?」

「We were woken up when we were sleeping. By Valeria and Bettina」

「What’s the state of Our Eminence?」

「It feels like she changed her clothes and fell asleep immediately~」

「Ma, as one would expect, she’s probably tired」

Dimitar ruffled his dark grey hair and sat down on an empty chair.

Valeria was breathing quietly while sleeping on a bed that was lined up in the inner part of the room. Despite loud noises of “gagon, goron” being made, there was completely no sign of her waking up. In addition to not sleeping for almost a whole day and night, to have fired flashy magic in rapid succession, fatigue was probably accumulating in both her mind and body.

Karin closed the book that she was reading and rested her chin in her hands.

「As far as Richternach-kyou can see, what’s the number of the enemy force?」

「There’s no way that I’ll know such a thing. I also didn’t count when they were lined up… in the first place, it was after sunset when we arrived at the other side」

「But His Highness—」

「Ma, if he’s asked by His Excellency, he’ll answer with an appropriate number」

Of course, if one thought about the scale of Luberuteiyu, it was difficult to think that 30,000 soldiers, for example, were staying there. To begin with, according to the newest parish’s believer register, Luberuteiyu was a town with approximately 1,000 houses and a population of less than 5,000. Even if they imprisoned the residents as prisoners on the warships that were anchoring at the river, used all the private houses as a substitute for barracks, and moreover, put up tents on the outskirts of the town, the limit was probably 20,000 at the most.

「However, can Yururogu capture this Delbrück with a number of 20,000, I wonder?」

「If one think about it normally, they probably can’t. The stationing army of this town is approximately 8,000, surpassing even Harun’s; additionally, the military force which is rushing from Aurillac together with the Gale Chivalric OrderRorudor Rafuale is around 1,000 horsemen. Moreover, if Haiderota gathers together the war potential that can be mobilised at the present stage, it might even exceed 10,000 within two, three days」

The plan to hold a castle where there was no hope of reinforcement would only produce a disastrous outcome, but in this case, it was understood that reinforcement from various places would come gathering eventually. In short, they could just seclude themselves in this Delbrück with a military force of 10,000 and defend against an enemy of 20,0000 for a while. For Delbrück which had strong rampart, that was a simple matter.

However, there were a few disquieting elements.

「…First of all, it’s impossible that that old man called “Euchemard” can’t predict the things which even I can predict」

「That’s to say, the enemy might still have some kind of trump card or a large-scale reinforcement?」

「At the very least, the other side has the conviction that they can make this town fall. Otherwise, they probably won’t thrust a condition that aggressive at Haiderota. —Besides, there’s one more thing」

「What is it?」

「When we entered the other side’s headquarters, we saw some kind of cargo being transshipped at the port. The stones which were cut and carried off from the rampart were also transported somewhere」

It was impossible that a proper business activity was taking place in this state of emergency; if that was the case, that was a part of some kind of military activity. What was Yururogu transshipping onto the small ships, and where were they trying to transport them to—even though he had a bad feeling about it somehow, Dimitar didn’t know what it’d cause. He simply felt a vague uneasiness.

「Petra」

Karin picked up the borrowed gown and stood up.

「—Let’s go to where Sigibert-kakka is」

「Eh~? Why?」

「There are a few things that I’m curious about, so I want his permission to use the library here」

「Mo~, even though you don’t have to study until you came to a place like this」

「If there’s something that I’m curious about, I can’t help but investigate it. …My character, you know it, right?」

「Hai hai, I know that it’s a troublesome character~」

Petra, who had been calculatingly taking off her boots, laced up her shoes over again with a sigh mixed in and looked at Dimitar fleetingly with upturned eyes.

「—But is this fine~? If that’s the case, it’ll only be Valeria and Richternach-kyou in this room though~?」

「There’s Bettina」

「That child doesn’t count when she’s sleeping~. Even though she was kicked away by Richternach-kyou just now, she didn’t even wake up and was saying something like “u~n, pee-pee~”」

「It’s all right. —Hora, let’s go」

「Aan (crying loudly)」

Petra left the room, half-pulled by Karin.

「……」

When he had firmly secured the lock and the crossbar on the door, Dimitar held Jagieruka, including its scabbard, in his arms and flopped onto the sofa with a “battari”.

From Krutoreto to Aurillac, Delbrück, and then Luberuteiyu; having repeated long-distance travelling almost every day without even the time to slowly rest his body during these ten days or so, as one would expect, Dimitar was also at his limit.

“Come to think of it, did I lock up the window?”; such a thing faintly crossed the corner of his mind, but before he got up to check that, Dimitar’s consciousness was totally swallowed up into the deep darkness.