Kikanshita Yuusha no Gojitsudan : Chapter 40

Chapter 40 Revisiting The Hero 7

　I directed my gaze at the area around the center of the Imperial Army to assess the situation.

　Most of the heavy cavalry that would be leading the charge had been stopped, as planned, and were now engaged in a melee with the infantry units of the Allied forces.

　However, from what I could see, the battle situation was completely tilted in favor of the Allied forces, and the second infantry unit of the Allied force was getting close to a position where they could make their entry.

　And on the Imperial side, there’s still a kilometer or so gap between the infantry units that are behind the heavy cavalry.

　Although these infantry troops numbered somewhere around 15,000, they were armed with only small round shields and short spears and wore no armor whatsoever.

　I guess they’re the so-called “Slave Infantry”.

　A “Slave Infantry” is different from a so-called “war slave” in that it is not a person enslaved as a result of war, but a slave that is used in war.

　Of course, there are those who were enslaved by the aforementioned war, but slave infantry also includes criminal slaves and those who were enslaved for simple reasons, but are strong or have enough ability to fight.

　According to General Regin, in the case of the empire, they offer to free you from slavery and grant you the status of an imperial citizen if you’ve made achievements during war, but in reality, they rarely ever actually free you. It seems that the slaves are simply treated as expendable goods to be used up.

　You’ll think because of their low morale, that they’ll be of no use during war, but I’ve heard that by assigning them as the first line of infantry, where they’re most vulnerable to damage, the empire will be able to reduce the damage to their main unit.

　There’s nothing good about it, oi.

　And then, following behind the slave infantry with a little space between them, are the archers and magic soldiers of the main unit.

　These guys’ objective is to prevent the slave infantry from escaping and to attack the enemy together with the slave infantry in the event of a melee.

　In this world, there is no such thing as a slave collar that can control the user’s mind, like those often found in light novels.

　However, there is a similar item, a collar that can be tightened at the owner’s discretion. I think it’s like the circlet that is attached to Sun Wukong’s head. However, it is very expensive, so there’s no way they would use it on a slave infantry that is expendable.

　Normally, a magic mark is branded on the slave’s hand like a tattoo, and it will be removed when the slave is freed. It seems that the shape of the magic mark is used to determine whether the person is a criminal slave, a debt slave, or a war slave.

　So, if you don’t care about your future, you can harm your master or run away, and if you are enslaved through illegal means, you can also run away and ask for protection from the authorities.

　Although, in the case of the empire, the whole country is supposedly involved in slave hunting, so there is no point.

　We’re getting off topic.

　That’s the reason why there is a slight gap between the slave infantry and the troops that are following them.

　I’ll take advantage of that for the next phase.

　After all, If the Imperial infantry were to engage in a melee with the Allied infantry, the casualties would be great.

---

　I accelerated my beloved bike as soon as I confirmed the position of the Imperial troops follow-up troops.

　The target is the archers and magicians that are following the slave infantry.

　I blow them away with barriers, just like I did with the heavy cavalry, and throw around the remaining fireworks, “Colored Smoke,” which cost 110 yen (4 pieces) including tax, one after another.

　In an instant, the area behind me was filled with smoke of an unnatural color.

　Compared to the heavily armed cavalry, the imperial troops were bounced around in a more deliberate meandering motion while at the same time I scattered a generous amount of 400 smoke balls in total.

　Fortunately (and unfortunately for the imperial army), there was almost no wind, which made visibility in the area to decrease drastically.

　Of course, I couldn’t hope for the smoke to cover the entire area, but it would be fine as long as it blocked some view and caused some unrest.

　The archer and the magician of the imperial army retreated in an uproar, perhaps thinking that it was poisonous gas because of its flashy color. Well, it seems to have had a better effect than expected.

　When I turned to look behind me after getting through, I saw that the slave infantry had started to flee from the battlefield, grateful for the lack of attacks from behind them.

　Abandoning their short spears, they rush into the void that the Allied forces had deliberately left open for their escape.

　These slave infantry have no sense of duty or loyalty to the Empire. Of course they would flee if they had the chance.

　The Allied forces too will not attack the fleeing slave infantry as it was part of the strategy. They will keep a watchful eye and be alert just in case, but they will point out the escape route and give instructions. Seeing this, the slave infantries do not approach the Allied forces any closer than necessary, and flee from the battlefield as fast as they can.

　Perhaps there are some slave infantry who might not flee as their acquaintance is being held hostage by the empire, but frankly, we can’t take care of them to that extent.(TL: Not sure about this part)

　We can’t even take care of the ones who have escaped.

　I’ll leave that to the slave themselves and the higher-ups of each country to figure out.

---

　At any rate, the second phase of the operation is complete with this.

　Let’s move on to the next phase, since I don’t really have any leeway to think about unnecessary things.

　I drove my beloved bike once again, this time towards the headquarters of the Imperial Army, right in the center of their formation.

　Needless to say, my wheels were caught in the rough ground as it was trodden by cavalry and infantry.

　As expected, it’s a bit unreasonable unless I use an off-road bike.

　Well, at least it’s still better than if I were using a race replica…… 

　Needless to say, there were a lot of soldiers around the headquarters.

　Although it is obvious as their number of soldiers is twice as many as ours, it still would take a long time even if I were to use barriers to blow them away. After all, the density is too different.

　it’s likely I’ll be surrounded in no time and unable to move if I’m not careful.

　Even so, I somehow managed to reach the innermost part of the formation, and finally I could see a flashy hoodless wagon that looked like a command vehicle.

　There were large drums and gongs on the lower part of the wagon, and on the upper part of the wagon, there was an aristocratic-looking man dressed in extremely gaudy armor shouting something while pointing at me.

　It seems that he is the commander-in-chief of this army.

　I can’t tell for sure because there is still some distance between us, but I have a feeling I’ve seen him before.

　Although, because I don’t remember any decent imperial aristocrats when I met them before, I suppose I don’t need to worry about it.

　At any rate, having found my target, I turned my course in that direction.

　However, when you’re sending hundreds or thousands of soldiers flying away, even though the barriers prevent most of the impact from being transmitted to the bike, it is still going to kill some of its momentum.

　The momentum that previously propelled the bike at over 100 kilometers per hour has now dropped to about 50 kilometers per hour.

　I can’t get back the momentum even if I open the throttle.

　Damn it. I really want a big bike after all.

　Specifically, I want a Honda CB1300 SUPER FOUR. Sincerely,

　I don’t care if it’s in another world or not; I want to ride it!

　Ahem!

　Well, there’s nothing I can do about that now, so I’ll leave it at that.

　When I reached about 50 meters to the command vehicle, a large knight jumped in front of me with a powerful murderous intent.

　The knight struck a large sword that seemed to be almost two meters long at me as I charged forward without hesitation.

　Gakun!

　The great sword hits the barrier and completely kills the bike momentum.

　Serioulsy?!

　Needless to say, the attack doesn’t seem to be able to break the barrier, but the fact that it didn’t send the knight flying shows that the slash just now was incredibly heavy.

　To oppose the knight that tried to strike for the second time, I immediately put my beloved bike in the item box and took out a long sword instead while still maintaining the barrier.

　It was the sword that I used when I was traveling as a hero back then, a Gladius-type double-edged sword with a 120cm blade, which was quite hefty, sturdy and sharp, which is my favorite.

　I was also entrusted with a holy sword, but it was so valuable that I didn’t dare to use it unless I absolutely had to. After all, I was afraid of breaking it.

　I lifted the barrier after blocking the second blow and faced the knight again with my sword at the ready.

　I remembered that I had seen this knight before.

　I believe he was some kind of general or something. I remember how he was unnecessarily intimidating the people around him.

“You are, the hero! Weren’t you supposed to have returned to your world!!”

　The knight barked at me.

“It seems that the garbage cleanup was halfway done; you see. So I had to come back.”

　I say purposely to provoke him while smirking evilly.

　…… I’m doing it properly, right?

“Nonsense! The summoning magic circle should have been destroyed. How did you get here!”

　You even did that, huh? Well, it’s meaningless, though.

　We struck our swords against each other for two or three times while exchanging such conversations.

　Tsk! Aren’t you quite strong?

　Of course, it’s not to the point I can’t win, but if I take too long, I’ll be surrounded and the commander-in-chief might run away.

　Let’s just get this over with.

“Uriya!”

　I strike down from above with all my strength.

　At the same time as the knight raises his great sword above his head to catch it, I take out an item from earth that I store in my item box. It’s a pervert’s repellent spray, “Don’t touch me, pervert! Ver. II” (3,580 yen including tax) and immediately sprayed it at the knight’s face.

“Guah! T, that’s cowardly!”

　The knight held his face with one hand and writhed in agony, though he did not drop his sword.

“Don’t say stupid things like cowardice while you suddenly invade with a large army!”

　I stepped in at once while paying attention to the spray droplets that drifted in the air and swung my sword sideways.

　After a slight contact and a dull sound, the knight who was cut in half from the abdomen collapsed.

“The, the general is …….”

　The imperial soldiers who had been surrounding me from the distance backed away in agitation.

　I rushed towards the command vehicle after glaring at the surrounding soldiers to keep them in check.

　There is still a distance of around 40 meters, and there are several infantry and cavalry soldiers in between, but I just mow down the soldiers blocking my path.

　As expected from the soldiers who are protecting the commander, they don’t run away, but they seem wavering under the pressure of my momentum.

　I swing my sword with one hand and then kick another soldier flying.

　When there is a gap, I twist my body and swing my sword forcibly, and once I’m less than 10 meters from the command vehicle, I leap at once, put my foot on the lower part of the command vehicle, and jump up to the upper part.

　I don’t lay a hand on the soldiers who give signals using the drums and gongs on the lower level.

　The guard in front of the commander swings his spear at me, but instead of dodging, I flick it with my sword, and then cut his head off.

“B, bastard, d, do you think you can get away with this!!”

　The commander bellowed at me while backing up from me as far as he could while making no attempt to hide the look of fear on his face when I landed on the upper part of the command vehicle.

　No, what is this idiot talking about after he took part in war?

　……When I thought I had seen this guy somewhere, now I remembered that he was the crown prince or prince of the empire or something like that.

　Perhaps, he thought that he could not lose with the difference of more than twice the number of troops, so he participated, whatever. I’ll leave the handling of this guy to His Highness.

　After all, it’s impossible for me to make political decisions, and rather than killing him, we might have some use of him.

“Hiee! Guah!

　I casually approached the commander and knocked him out without saying a word, reaping his consciousness, then I grabbed his collar and use “Transfer magic” to return to the main camp of the allied forces.

　I moved to the rear of the main camp and handed over the captured commander to a knight of the kingdom who was standing by.

　The knight immediately tied up the unconscious prisoner, since this was something that had been expected.

　I walked over to where His Highness Leon is after confirming this.

　His Highness Leon was at the forefront of the main camp, glaring ahead from a position where the flag of the Kingdom was fluttering, a position that was clearly visible to the Imperial troops.

　I walked diagonally behind him to the right and followed his gaze.

　There’s a scene that we expected to see.

“…… So you have returned. How did it go?”

“There is no problem. It seems that Leiria has done well too.”

　I answered the question that His Highness’ uttered when he noticed me.

　Not long after, there was a faint sound of drums and gongs coming from the direction of the Imperial troops, presumably signaling their retreat.

“We won, huh”

　His Highness muttered, still maintaining his stern expression.

　We’ve won. For now, at least.

---

Translator’s Note:

Damn, he’s scary.

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