“This voice…”
It was Jack. It was Jack, whom I had left alone to taking care the front line.
Could it be that handling things alone had finally become too much for him?
Jack’s cry, echoing like a sob, hit me like an icy dagger, piercing through.
What am I doing in someone else’s territory while leaving our people behind?
I felt a sudden wave of regret as I turned to look in that direction.
“Dame Cherrya!”
“Hey, Cherrya, there’s trouble!”
“Emergency, emergency!”
It wasn’t just one voice. The voices of the Emblem knights started blending together, reaching me in a chorus.
For a moment, I froze, blinking in disbelief.
‘The front line is arranged so that Emblem and Gray intersect. While Gray and Emblem might cross paths, Emblem knights should only stick with their assigned squad. There’s no way Emblem and Emblem would meet unless all the Gray knights between them were wiped out.’
So why am I hearing the voices of the Emblem knights all together?
Even though the frontline had narrowed, it was still the mountain range—an entire range, not just one tall mountain.
A series of mountains that formed a natural barrier.
There was no way they could merge squads this quickly.
“This must mean the front line has collapsed. Or…”
I recalled a page from an old bestiary my dad once read to me. It mentioned a creature that could mimic human voices, luring people by imitating friends, comrades, or lovers—then devouring them.
A chill ran down my spine.
“Is it really a creature that can mimic human voices? Ugh, I’ve always been more terrified of ghosts than people.”
If it had been any ordinary monster, that would have been fine.
But a monster as creepy as this—one that seemed ghostly—was something I absolutely hated.
The feel of my sword in my grip was more reassuring than ever.
Ready to strike before that monster even opened its mouth, I stilled my movements and held my breath.
“Where are you?”
“Hey, Jack. It should be around here!”
“It’s here, right around this area.”
The voices and presences grew closer and closer. Even though I kept telling myself to stay strong, my hands started to shake.
Facing ten high-level monsters all at once would have been less nerve-wracking than this.
“Oh? There’s the remains of the monsters Dame Cherrya took down… Ahhh!”
Jack, who had been keeping his presence hidden, spotted me and screamed, falling backward. Lucas, who was right behind Jack, bumped into him in surprise, and they both toppled over.
As I watched those two, Senior Osric, casually sidestepped them with a slight shift of his body.
“Ack!”
“Oh, come on, Jack!”
Listening to Jack and Lucas scream in unison, I chuckled bitterly. They weren’t monsters—they were our people. Even a mere monster would probably be more collected than these two.
“Senior Osric, why are you and Lucas here? Weren’t you assigned far from our squad?”
Osric, my senior, and Lucas had been grouped together with me and Jack.
But seeing them here in front of us when they were supposed to be stationed several lines away made me feel that something serious was unfolding.
“Cherrya… it’s a big problem.”
“Why? Is someone hurt? Are there casualties?”
“Yes, there are. Of course, there are.”
With a heavy sigh, Osric’s face darkened, sending a chill through my heart.
“Who… who got hurt? Senior Henry? Or perhaps the Gallard and Gerard brothers? Or Marty and Rosa?”
“…From the names you just listed, I can tell these are the people you generally find unreliable.”
“Aren’t they? If it’s not them, then there shouldn’t be anyone else at risk…”
As I bit my lip anxiously, Lucas and Jack, who had fallen earlier, groaned as they lifted themselves up.
“The Emblem squad is still intact. The problem lies with the Gray squad, Dame Cherrya.”
“Gray? What happened with Gray?”
At Jack’s words, I widened my eyes in surprise.
“Well, the thing is…”
Lucas hesitated, unsure of how to explain, and then looked to Senior Osric for support. Responding to his plea, Osric finally spoke up.
“The Gray knights are missing. We circled the front line to look for them, but we only found traces of fallen monsters around the lower slopes.”
“So, you’re saying they were defeated at the lower slopes?”
“I hate to say it, but we’re talking about the Gray knight squad here. There’s no way so many of them would have fallen to mere intermediate or advanced monsters at the very beginning of the slopes.”
This was an ominous sign. I looked up at the sky again.
The smoke rising from the main force signaled us to advance the frontline.
“Do you think the main force is aware of this situation?”
“I’m not sure. Either the Gray squad retreated without us knowing, or something must have happened to them.”
“We couldn’t make a decision, so we came to find you.”
I nodded quietly in response to Osric’s words.
If the Gray squad had truly vanished, then the frontline had already collapsed.
If the Emblem knights advanced alone, we wouldn’t be able to establish a proper defense, and gaps would inevitably form.
Those gaps could allow monsters to reach the villages below, which would be disastrous, or, alternatively, the monsters could push upward, blocking the knights’ retreat.
“We need to either retreat or proceed according to the main force’s signals. Either decision could carry political consequences if we’re not careful.”
“Exactly.”
The signal from the main force is essentially the crown prince’s command, meaning it is an imperial order.
Disobeying it would mean defying the imperial command—a grave offense for any knight.
Just being associated with such disobedience would make the knight’s future career path extremely difficult.
“My mom… what about the commander?”
“The commander broke through to the center alone and is currently driving the monsters downward, so she should still be at the center.”
Clicking my tongue in frustration, I fell deep into thought.
The Gray squad was missing, and Enoch hadn’t returned as promised.
While it was hard to imagine that the entire Gray squad had fled in fear, it wasn’t impossible.
But Enoch Gray… he wasn’t the type to say he’d return and then not show up without a reason.
“Before we retreat, we should assess the Emblem’s remaining strength and check for any remaining Gray knights. Let’s split into pairs again and scout outwards.”
“Good idea.”
Osric’s face brightened at my suggestion. It seemed that having a task at hand helped him shake off his ominous feelings.
“If you encounter any Gray knights, inform them of the current situation and see if they’ve received any special instructions. And if we come across other Emblem knights, let’s regroup.”
“…But what about the main force’s signal to advance?”
“We’ll hold off on it for now. I’ll take responsibility as the leader of Emblem.”
“Alright.”
With the commander absent, I was the only one who could bear the political responsibility. Unlike others, I had the advantage of a strong social standing that could act as a protective shield.
“Senior Osric and Lucas, you’ll take the left. Jack and I will go right.”
“Alright. Let’s pass through the area where we lost track of the Gray squad at the lower slopes, and meet up later.”
“Understood.”
Without further delay, we each set off in our assigned directions.
The frontline had already crumbled. I started to worry that, by now, someone might have already been injured because of it.
