Katahane no Riku

Chapter 11.Delivery of goods and the smell of?blood

Cutting through the night wind, there was a group riding their horses.

The black carriage and the horsemen wearing a black coat were blending with the darkness of the night.

If it wasn′t for the sound of the horse hooves hitting on the ground, then except for the animals adapted to seeing in the dark, noticing them would have been extremely difficult.

The one leading all the fifty members of that horse group was first lieutenant Riku. Hiding under her hood the red hair that would stand out even at night, she kept concentrated, looking forward. She changed her gaze to a stone lying on the roadside which had some letters engraved on its surface. Giving one look to the letters, she once again looked forward. And then, still looking to the front, a horseman beside her raised his voice.

“Soon we will have contact to the target. Are you ready?”

“Yes, no problems.”

“Is that so? Good.”

The corners of her mouth rose.

Breathing the cold night air that was going against her face, it made her burning like feelings refresh a bit. Even so, couldn′t be settled with just that. With her eyes shining in a fiery gaze, she spoke.

“To all soldiers. From now on, the mission will start. With the resolve to keep up even if your life is in risk, execute lieutenant general Leivein′s order.”

“…No, ojou-chan. It was lieutenant general Gortoberuk′s orders, actually.”

The horseman beside her… Warrant officer Vrusto, said while giving a sigh.

Vrusto′s eyes looked like they were dead. His usual combative face nowhere to be found. Only showing a apathetic expression, his horse kept moving on.

“Besides, it is not a job that you need to risk your life for, you know. The job given to us was to just to send lieutenant general′s birthday present to his grandchild.”

“…It′s the transportation of important goods…”

“Yes, yes… Ahh, why did I need to be transferred as well…? You are already seventeen, so you don′t need me to babysit you anymore.”*1

Riku didn′t say anything to answer.

She thought it was very rude of him to say he was babysitting her, but she didn′t feel like answering to the provocation.

She would complete her task perfectly. That was the one dominant thought in her head. In order to protect the place she belonged to, and to become a more useful to Leivein even if it was only a bit, she would act.

If it was for that sake, even if it was some chore that couldn′t even be considered a job suitable to be given to a first lieutenant no matter how one would think. Something such as the chore of sending a birthday present, even that she would do.

She would send the package not too soon, nor too late from the time lieutenant general Gortoberuk ordered to send it, but right at the time. Of course, during the course, that present mustn′t suffer any damage. Sending the present in a perfect state too was one of Riku′s responsibilities.

“Like I was saying…You are putting all this enthusiasm in the wrong place. You should be angrier about this unreasonable job. Good grief, and also what was captain Leivein even thinking? From anyone that it could have been, for us to be transferred to lieutenant general Gortoberuk′s army.”

As she heard Vrusto murmurs, Riku kept going forward.

Gradually, firelight began showing through the gaps between the trees. Soon they would leave the forest. And right after that, near there should be where Gortoberuk′s villa is.

This job, that from the Myuuz castle, where Gortoberuk was stationed, they had to go through the mountains and keep fast pace until nightfall, was about to end.*2

“I wonder if it is here.”

Leaving the gloomy forest, there was a castle in there that was so white it seemed to be made of chalk.

Because of the demon′s circumstances, they were forced to live hidden. And to such demons, it was said that Gortoberuk′s home was the one of most splendor. If Gortoberuk home wasn′t one of a demon′s but of a minister that served the king, then comparing it to the buildings from the noble′s district, the ones from the noble′s district were several times more elegant.

Pulling the reins of the horse, Riku slowly advanced towards the gorgeous gate.

“From the Demon Lord army third, under lieutenant general Gortoberuk, it is first lieutenant Riku Barusak. By the orders of the lieutenant general, I came to deliver the present to his grandchild.”

As she spoke to the gatekeeper, he nodded.

“The delivery was just in time. Good job. We will take care of the present. There wasn′t any damage, was there?”

“There were no problems… Here it is.”

Riku lightly made a sign with her hand.

Following that, together, the soldiers began an operation to lower down the present.

There was a reason why only for this time′s job of delivering the present, fifty cavalryman were needed. It was simple. First, the amount of presents for the single grandchild was over thirty. And more over, each of them were fragile pieces of handiwork that had glass easy to break on them. Even with the slightest impact, they would end up breaking, and so, one soldier would be carrying a present, and for each one of them, the remaining would ride their horses near them as to protect the present.

Vrusto still considered it to be a wasting of time of capable personal. But since it was orders coming from Gortoberuk, there was nothing to be done about it.

Without saying a single complaint, Riku had followed as she had been told to.

Riku looking at the presents contents being carefully checked, and when she was about to give a sigh of relief, right at that moment…

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Riku felt a chill at her back.

While still riding her horse, she looked behind. But all there was there was the dark forest. The blowing wind was roaring. With that, she frowned. Although she kept looking at the roaring forest, nothing happened.

While looking to the forest, she thought there was something wrong in there. After finishing unloading the presents, Vrusto came close to her, sick and tired of the job.

“What′s the problem, first lieutenant Riku?”

“No… I kind of felt a bad feeling about something.”

“Stupid, you are only overthinking… Hm?”

Vrusto′s nose started to move.

Right at that moment, Vrusto′s face returned to his usual face full of ambition. His face that previously looked like he was about to die seemed like it was a lie. With eyes shining with ferocity, he looked at the dark forest.

“Girl…I am smelling blood.”

“Blood?”

“Yes, from behind. It′s coming closer.”

Riku regained her grip over the reins.

Making the horse turn, it slowly walked to the direction of the forest. As Riku came closer, her demon subordinates separated as to open a way to her. As the horse was slowly walking, Riku was gripping her halberd that was on her back. Her sharp eyes were look*3

“First lieutenant Barusak, are there any problems?”

The gatekeeper, who thought Riku′s actions were suspicious, came closer.

The gatekeeper was keeping his hand onto the sword at his waist. But Riku wasn′t even looking at him. She only looked at the darkness of the forest concentrated. With Riku not answering anything, he ran out of patience. When he was about to raise his voice, it happened.

The forest trees unnaturally trembled, and then, like a ripe fruit, some sort of black figure fell down to the ground.

When the figure was about to touch the ground, right at that instant, Riku wielded her halberd. And then, she pointed her halberd to the black silhouette.

“Who is it? Depending on the answer, I will kill you.”

Being pointed by the halberd, the figure was moving in panic.

Riku, who was intently looking at the figure, let out a surprised voice.

It was actually a demon with rabbit ears. His whole body to even his long ears were covered in mud and sweat. His face and arms were covered in wounds and his breathing was unsteady. But even with all that, it wasn′t that what Riku was surprised about.

What she was surprised about was that the rabbit eared demon was wearing an armor of the Demon Lord army. And more so, one with the symbol of the third army, which was under Gortoberuk.

It was clear that something happened with the main forces.

“F-f-from th-the third army, of the messengers unit, I′m sergeant major Roppu Nezaarand. I have an urgent report to the first lieutenant Riku Barusak.”

Roppu was speaking with a voice that was close to screaming.

Because of the unusual situation, everyone in the surroundings fell silent. Without doubt, it couldn′t be good news. Riku looked at Roppu′s face covered in sweat.

“What is it?”

Was the only words that left her mouth.

Roppu hurriedly started speaking the message.

“The fort Rein is suffering heavy assault from the spiritualist forces. Even though lieutenant general Gortoberuk himself participated the fight, it was a major defeat. The lieutenant general′s forces successfully retreated to the Myuuz castle, but at this state, they will soon end up being pushed into an encirclement.”

Everybody fell into deep silence.

Nobody did a single sound. Including the gatekeepers that were gathered nearby, everyone had their face color change. Most people lost the color of blood from their face and kept their mouths shut closed without being able to say anything. It was as if they were hoping that Roppu would suddenly say all of that was just a joke.

Nobody opened their mouth. Eventually, the silence was becoming more and more unbearable.

As to break the silence, somebody raised his voice.

“Hey, that′s a lie, right? Because, the Myuuz castle should have twenty thousand soldiers, right? Hey, you too say something.”

“Y,yes, right. Yes, it′s twenty thousand! There is no way for someone to corner this amount of force in one night…”

“Hahaha, it was a lie then. It′s obvious that it is a lie! Somebody say that it is a lie!”

But nobody could say for sure it was a lie.

Even if they wanted to believe it was a lie, there was no way they could really believe so.

Just by looking at the Roppu, who was full of wounds, that one could see how obvious it was that all of it wasn′t a lie. They didn′t know about strategies that were deployed against the spiritualists, but for the lieutenant general Gortoberuk to be cornered like that, it could be said that the annihilation of the third army was certain.

With much more the reason, now that she understood the situation, the halberd that was being placed right next to Roppu′s neck remained unmoved.

Looking at Riku, who was unmoving even by the slightest tremor, Roppu trembled a bit.

“L, lieutenant?”

“Roppu Nezaarand, was it? Can I ask you one thing?”

Riku looked at Roppu′s round and teary eyes.

It didn′t look like Roppu was telling any lies. Probably, the fort Rein indeed had fallen and lieutenant general Gortoberuk had been put in a difficult situation. But even so… No, exactly because of that that Riku needed to confirm something.

“Did you see the flags of the spiritualists that attacked?”

“The flags, you say? It should have been… One with an unicorn and another one with a griffon.”

“A flag with a griffon?”

Hearing that, she unconsciously put her hand near her mouth.

Very old memories were emerging.

The unicorn family crest would be from the Bistolrur household. For generations it had been a spiritualist family whose head was always a female, and the current head of that family was a girl that should have the same age as Rook.

But the problem wasn′t there.

“Yes, a griffon flag! A griffon emblem, right!?”

Riku started to press near her mouth with more strength.

If she didn′t that, she wouldn′t be able to stop herself from showing a warped smile. If she were to calm down a bit, she would instead be dancing in happiness. It was to that extend that she was happy. So happy that she couldn′t bear.

A spiritualist family whose family crest was one of a griffon, it could only be one.

“If there are spiritualists from the Barusak family, then I really need to go face them.”

If it was any other spiritualist family, she would just leave someone like Gortoberuk to his death and go back to Leivein.

First, going to an army that has is about to be trapped into an encirclement is difficult. In this situation, even if she were to go back to the Dragon Demon Division, nobody would say anything against.

But if the Barusak spiritualists were involved, then it was a different case.

Whether it was her little brother, or her father, or her big sister, she needed to prove she could crush them.

The people that didn′t accept her were now in front of her eyes. Was there even a reason not to engage? No, there wasn′t. In fact, not going to kill them was what was unreasonable.*4

Her arms and legs and her heart were being embraced by a indomitable intent. It made her want to break, twist, crush, to destroy until not even a single thing was left undamaged. From the insides of her body, a scorching happiness she hadn′t felt long ago was going through her body, making it surge with a burning wrath.

“First lieutenant Barusak. Could it be that you…were secretly leaking information to them?”

The guard keeper that already had drawn his sword was now in a severe tone asking her.

Seeing the stupid gatekeeper with a stiff face, she couldn′t keep herself from smiling anymore.

“Leaking information? Me doing that for them? Pffhahahahahahaha!”

In a high pitched tone, she started laughing at the gatekeeper.

Without hesitating over doing it in front of so many people, she kept laughing. In that moment, the gatekeeper was shrinking away from her, but Riku didn′t even pay any heed to it. After laughing for a while, she went back to her serious face. And then, she pointed her halberd to the useless gatekeeper that was suspecting her of betrayal.

“No way I would do something like that. Are you making fun of Leivein′s Dragon Demon Division? Well, since you won′t believe me anyway, what about if I go take a few of their generals′ heads? Whether it is one, two or three.”

Still with her serious looks, she looked at the gatekeeper.

While looking at the halberd that was pointed right in front of his nose, the gatekeeper weakly fell down, sitting on the ground. Completely ignoring the gatekeeper that had completely lost his boldness, she moved her halberd aside. Turning away from the gatekeeper, she looked at the fifty demons she had brought along with her. Like they were already imagining what was about to happen, most had faces that were sinking into despair.

With a tone of voice not different from her usual, she asked them.

“What was the job that was tasked to us?”

“It was… Delivering the present and going back to the Myuuz castle.”

Among the soldiers, one person timidly answered.

And to his answer, Riku nodded. Putting her halberd onto her shoulder, she exchanged glances with the anxious soldiers.

As always, her face was expressionless, but her eyes were shining with ecstasy. Magnificently, Riku declared.

“Yes, until we come back to the castle, our job isn′t finished. Even if there is something hindering us along the way… Don′t worry, I have a plan.