Kuro no Maou 410

Gladiator

There was a notice at the guild that we would be assembling before Spada’s big main gate. The ones who had accepted the emergency quest and are publicly in Spada’s 4th military squad, ‘Gladiators’, are required to meet up here and head for Galahad fort after receiving a simple explanation.

Spada’s big main gate is also its entrance and one can reach there if they were to just follow main highway straight. It’s a path that even Nell can’t mistake.

However, the traffic this morning was quite congested. ‘The Spada main highway’s one path leads to a dead end’–such a car navigation voice reverberated in my head.

Either way, this congestion was due to all the adventurers currently in Spada all gathering up to aim for the main gate. Since getting on the road, the adventurers started advancing with horses as well as by foot. Among them, there were also larger carriages which carried an entire party of adventurers and cargo carriages carrying supplies. On top of that, Spada civilians have also gathered on both sides of the road to see off the adventurers. Although not as big as a triumph parade, the scale of it was similar to that.

And so, we also quickly entered a group of adventurers forming a line. As I thought, Merry’s big body and aura stood out, attracting attention from here and there and also sparking secret talk. They seem interested but it looks like they know that there’s no point in chasing the topic further.

“Ohh, there’s a lot assembling, huh.”

The area in front of the main gate is so huge that an entire arena could be built there. But now, that place was also filled and jammed with people. And on top of that, the adventurers advancing now are also arriving there so the density of people at that spot just keeps on increasing. Although it is winter now and even snow is piling up, the commotion there felt like the Koshien Baseball Stadium in the middle of summer.

“This is the first time I have seen this many adventurers gather up at one place.”

Fiona said beside me. In contrast to her words, she looked quite uninterested as she looked at the open space. As we were on the horses, our line of sight was higher and so we could see much better.

“That’s probably just how much danger they are feeling from this battle.”

“No, they probably just want to be a part of a winning battle.”

I feel like Fiona has been crushing my expectations all the time recently… is it just my imagination?

However, now that she mentions it, I do agree.

“I had heard that even adventurers from other countries came in to join so that’s what it was about…”

If they had the beliefs of a patriot, they would have been promoted to the chivalric order long ago. Adventurers only act when there’s a reward. There’s not much difference between an adventurer and a mercenary. Or rather, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there’s no difference at all.

The ones called mercenary are just called that because they belong to a mercenary organization.

“After all, this would make it the 4th time Spada has stopped Daidaros’ invasion so everyone probably thinks that they will win this time as well.”

The war between Spada and Daidaros—in other words, the war of Galahad, began with Leonhart’s grandfather. From the time of the 50th Spada king.

It is said that the first battle took place just before the senile 50th king passed his throne to his son. Although they did succeed in stopping the invasion, the 50th had died due to a wound given to him by Garvinal.

And in the 51th time, the 3rd and 4th Galahad battles took place. I also got to know about this just recently but the previous king was said to be a typical tyrant. It seems our school also went through some rough times. However, fending off Daidaros’ invasion two times in his period is nothing short of a great feat and the people also praise him for that.

Although it seems like the current king, Leonhart, had the most achievements when he participated in the 3rd war as a 13 year old prince..

And the 4th war took place about 10 years ago. It is said that the king Leonhart had a one-on-one fight with the black dragon Garvinal and drove him back—a legendary fight. On top of the diligent efforts to bring back the country on a proper road from the predecessor’s misgovernment, he also has many achievements in these defensive battles. With these two pillars to support him, the current king Leonhart is ardently loved by his citizens.

“Whether the enemy is Daidaros or the Crusaders, it doesn’t change the Spada army’s strength. Of course they would end up expecting a lot.”

On top of all these, they say that one of the incentive for participating in this battle is that their soldiers’ achievements will also be upheld.

In return for fending off Daidaros’ invasion as the shield for the allied city-states, Spada receives a great amount of aid from the other city-states. Even if Spada were to generously reward the adventurers, it won’t hurt Spada’s pocket.

Although they can’t directly ask for military power from other countries. At most, a squad of knights can come over from the neighboring countries, Faren and Avalon.

Well, there would be a lot of confusion with command and cooperation if too many people were to assemble from different countries. Most importantly, they have been able to pull this off well till now with this structure and so they can also react to the emergency this time promptly as well. I had from Will that quite a lot of money and goods are coming to Spada as it is.

“Hey~ Kurono~, there’s a very glittery one over there, look.”