「…Snow's no good. I can't let my successful campaign go the way of a narcissistic midget.」
Straf grimaces at the falling snowflakes while the battle rages on.
「Are you cold, Straf? If you became a vampi-」
「No, Lily, stop it. I'm not cold, but they will be.」
Lily chimes in, tilting her golden head. A smirk grows on her face, but Straf cuts her off and points his hand at Redwing Kindom troops, then lets out a troubled sigh.
「…What does it matter, then?」
She asks while watching the infantry encircle and slaughter the last of Parnatau Kingdom's cavalrymen.
「It matters because war is organized violence, Lily… And one man doesn't exactly make an organization.」
He lowers his fists to his hips while his eyes dart around the battlefield, thinking.
Though initially at an overwhelming advantage, Parnatau Kingdom forces have shrunk more than a half in size. Though the battle is still far from won, from the corpses and stained banners scattered across the field, it is clear the battle has been heavily one-sided, and not in their favor at all. What few casualties there are on Redwing Kingdom's side, they are quickly scooped up by horse-drawn carts and teams of men collecting the wounded. The handful of dead are mostly victims of projectiles, lying in the field with an arrow in their necks or armpits.
「…What are they doing?」
Lily asks, pointing at the men scooping up the wounded, barely alive Parnatau Kingdom forces from the corpse-filled, cratered dirt.
「Ah. That's casevac, Lily. It's just a fancy term for picking up people and treating them before they can die. As to why they're picking up the enemies…」
Straf replies, rubbing his chin. He glances over the battlefield, looking for somebody wounded, but only finds enemy troops writhing and screaming on the ground.
「…I guess they have nothing better to do. I'm fairly sure I saw an officer get captured too. That's going to be something for you to do, Nona.」
He shrugs, returning his fists to his hips.
「Huh? Me?」
She tilts her capped head, blinking her amber eyes at him.
「Yeah. Later, though. Since you're the Ministry's interrogator, and this is technically a matter of security, I guess it falls under you to get some workable information out of them.」
He nods while watching the battlefield. He turns his eyes to the forest, briefly rubbing his chin, before something falling out of the sky draws his attention.
…Thump!…
A collection of boulders drops down from high above. Some of them land on a formation of Parnatau Kingdom's swordsmen waiting in the rear to reinforce the battered front line, crushing a sizable portion of them, even though most of the rocks scatter harmlessly between the two lines. The infantrymen panic, shocked and confused by the abrupt death where they should have been safe. Stripe's head perks up, and she blinks in disbelief at the shattered ranks across the field.
「Ah. What happened? Did you see that!? It looked like those rocks fell out of the sky!」
Pointing at the scattered rocks, she turns her gaze to Straf, who has a massive smug grin on his face.
「…Finally. Just as I thought, that's a pretty good range.」
He declares, looking up at the nearby mountains.
「Huh!?」
Stripe tilts her head, narrowing her eyes. She looks up at the mountain with Straf, but can't see anything worthy of note.
The remaining bulk of enemy forces are slowly losing their flank as Redwing Kingdom pushes in with relative ease through the demoralized troops, slowly enveloping them all like an amorphous maw about to snap shut. After a few minutes of constant, ceaseless clashing, the troops suddenly pause their melee to look upwards. With a tilted head, Straf furrows his brows and looks up as well.
「D- Dragon! They have a dragon!!…」
One of enemy infantrymen screams as he drops his weapon and turns back, fleeing the abruptly suspended melee. The battlefield dims briefly when the huge black shape above orbits over it in the way of the descending sun. The sudden panic is highly contagious, and soon even the units that were holding fast are now breaking and tripping over their feet as they run in complete disarray. The enemy officers give up any hope of trying to rally their men, and instead join the fleeing deserters.
「D- Did you somehow… Get a dragon to drop the rocks on them?…」
Stripe asks with her eyes wide open, pointing her shaky finger at the fleeing enemy troops.
Snap.
「No. But that's a cool cover story, so we'll go with that…」
Straf snaps his fingers and points at Stripe, who only becomes more visibly frightened as a result.
《Straf Katastrof Vindict… I was awakened by loud noises. I was about to incinerate the fools responsible, but then I noticed a battle unfolding here…》
A loud, booming male voice echoing in Straf's mind says. Straf looks up at the dragon orbiting high overhead.
《…I did not expect to see you here. Are the humans up on the mountain your men?》
He asks with vertically-slit golden eye staring directly at Straf.
「Yeah, they are, so pardon them the noise disturbance. They will be moving soon.」
Straf replies, staring up at the dragon with his fists on his hips.
「Y- You're talking- You're talking to it!?」
Stripe shouts as her jaw drops. With her fists on her hips, Lily scoffs with a smug expression on her face.
《Interesting. I thought the mountain I picked to be far too steep for any human to climb. It appears I have underestimated your kind…》
Deathwind remarks, turning its head to look at something on top of the mountain ridge, before returning his eyes back to Straf.
「Yeah, they're kind of a special breed… Just pretend they don't exist. They officially don't, at least.」
Straf shrugs, ignoring Stripe as he replies to the dragon.
《…I see. Would you like me to scorch your enemies to return the favor to Redwing's kin?》
The booming voice asks, looping in figure-eight high above over the fleeing forces of Parnatau Kingdom.
「Nah, we're good. Thanks for the offer, I'll take a rain check on that… The battle is already won as far as I'm concerned.」
Straf replies, and turns his eyes down to the field. Enemy infantrymen and officers alike have scattered and ran off into all available directions at the sight of the dragon.
《…A rain check?》
Deathwind's voice takes on a confused tone as he returns to an orbiting pattern, flapping his massive wings.
「Yeah, it means not now, maybe later. We're good.」
Shrugging his shoulders, Straf turns his lightly grimacing face back up to Deathwind.
《I see. That is a shame, I had a whim to kill… I will then return to my resting place… Until we meet again, Straf Katastrof Vindict.》
Deathwind replies, then with a powerful swing of its wings, it swivels its body around towards the mountain, deftly cutting through the air despite his size and mass.
As he flies behind the mountains, a faint sliver of his wings can be seen flapping wildly to land on its ridge, before disappearing entirely behind it.
「Well, then… Now that's over and dealt with…」
Straf rubs his chin while looking over the trees and the scattered corpses.
「…Hey!」
He turns around and shouts at the group of commanding officers in celebratory mood standing nearby. Straf's shout spooks then, and immediately knocks them out of their revelry.
With a wave of his raised hand, he gestures them closer as he makes their way towards them. Ursa and the rest hurry to meet him.
「Yes, minister!?」
Ursa asks while they stand at attention.
「…Regroup everyone, collect a shitton of firewood, and strip winter clothing from the dead. We're going to need all that. Scout the forest for stragglers, then move the cargo wagons up there.」
Straf instructs the group, sweeping his hand over the corpse-littered field, before pointing his finger at one of the leafless forests.
「Sir!」「Yes sir!」「At once!」
Ursa and the mustached officers nod and salute, then with a stomp of their feet, turn on their heels in a practiced manner and run off to mount up on their horses.
「Let's get moving too…」
Straf turns to the girls and nods towards the kubelwagen a few paces away, casually placing his hands in his coat's pocket…
…
A few minutes later, in the Parnatau Gap, on the road to Parnatau Kingdom…
Though they had time to calm down, the shaken troops of Parnatau Kingdom are retreating in a hasty half-jog. Their armor plates clatter against each other with each hop, slowly catching up to the distant palanquins carried by scrawny men as the dusting of descending snow builds up.
THWACK!
A blurry shape slams into the column of troops. Dismembered and bisected bodies are thrown sideways, and blood covers the freshly fallen snow.
「B- Ballista! They have a ballista!」
Stolen story; please report.
A terrified scream of a soldier brings everyone's attention. He points at a hill overlooking the road, some distance away. Green-cloaked shapes are already in the process of loading the next bolt.
「What do we do!?」
「Do we go fight them!?」
「Sir, what do we do!?」
A swarm of panicked faces surrounds an already shocked and overwhelmed junior officer. Slack-jawed, his head swivels around while he tries to make his call.
「Incoming!-」
THWACK!
Someone barely has the time to shout, before another bolt comes crashing through the men standing right next to the officer. Their terrified faces are now frozen in their terror as mangled bodies lie lifeless on the side of the road some paces away, spewing blood and organs onto the snow-dusted grass.
「R- Run! Everyone run back!」
A voice from behind the officer cries out, and with the way forcefully cleared, he concurs and begins running towards Parnatau Kingdom.
「…Shit.」
A cat-masked man curses out under his breath, kneeling right next to the ballista.
「Doesn't matter, good hit anyway. Aim there!」
Hunched over with his gloved hand on the cat's shoulder, a growling wolf points his free hand's finger at en empty stretch of the road.
Krrk-krrk-krrk-krrk-krrk…
As the cat rapidly spins a wheel strongly resembling a ship's helm beneath the ballista's arms, skipping loudly on its mechanisms, it turns right where he is pointing.
Clunk…
「Loaded!」
A fox loads a massive bolt into the ballista and quickly hops away. The wolf raises his hand off the cat's shoulder, lowering his pointing hand to his knee.
「…Now!」
Fwap!
The wolf growls out, throwing his raised hand down with a flap of his cloak. The bull quickly raises his wooden sledgehammer and bears it down on the trigger mechanism.
Thud-FHWUMP!…
The ballista recoils, noisily sending the heavy bolt flying towards the road. Wood creaks from the stress, and the wolf begins turning another helm-shaped wheel at its back, winding the thick ropes.
In the distance, the bolt intercepts another group of fleeing soldiers. Only a handful manages to leap out of the way in time, scattering further in their panicked retreat.
「Shouldn't we hit the palanquins?-」
The cat asks while observing the road.
「No, military targets only. You know the orders.」
The wolf leans in, shaking his cloak-covered head.
Clunk…
「Loaded!」
The fox exclaims, stepping away.
「…Now!」
Thud-FHWUMP!…
The wolf throws his hand down. Another bolt is sent racing towards the retreating troops…
…
An hour later, in the early evening, after dark…
The road below the hill is now littered with corpses coated in snow, pale and frosted over. The cat is staring up at the mountain ridge, while the rest of the team continues observing the road.
A glimmer of light appears in the dark above, then disappears, then appears again. It repeats in quick bursts, appearing for only a split second at a time.
「…We've got the signal, captain.」
The cat says, turning his metal mask to the wolf.
「Alright. Pack it up, load everything back up onto the autowagons!…」
Kneeling, the wolf waves his raised arm in a circle, then throws his hand towards the dark forest sticking out behind the hill.
「…Return affirmative. We're moving to phase two.」
The wolf-masked man taps the cat on his shoulder, and stands up, helping the rest dismantle the ballista piece by piece.
「Aye aye, capt'n…」
The cat nods, and detaches an object strongly resembling a lamp housing from the belt beneath his cloak. Still kneeling, he raises it up and points its side towards the mountain.
Clak-clak… Clak-clak-clak… Clak-clak…
He slides up a metal hatch for a split second at a time, briefly revealing a lit candle inside towards the mountain.
After just a moment, the light appears in bursts again. The cat lowers the hatch, attaches the candle lamp back to his belt, and stands up.
「Let's go, hurry up!…」
The wolf exclaims, hauling the ballista's arms on his shoulder in a heavy jog…
…
Less than an hour later, on the road to Parnatau Kingdom…
Vrrrroooommmmmm…
Leading the army towards the Parnatau Gap, Straf takes the gently turning road in his car. Lily's golden head perks up, and she lets out an amused huff out of her nose.
「Heh… It appears you were well prepared for this, Straf…」
She says with her arms crossed, leaning to the side against Nona.
「Gotta be prepared for everything, Lily. Be polite, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.」
Straf shrugs with a nonchalant grimace on his face, keeping his eyes on the corpse-littered, snow-covered road. The troops trailing behind him on the sides of the caravan are draped in bloodied, torn, and otherwise stained winter clothing ripped from the corpses of Parnatau Kingdom, with some wearing extra layers over their armor, still shivering from the cold.
「Tsk… It's unbelievable how much of a scumbag you are. You basically caused this war.」
Stripe clicks her tongue, shaking her cloth-hatted head while looking at the frozen corpses as the car slowly rolls by.
「Watch your mouth, beastman. You may not be a human, but I will not permit you to badmouth Straf!-」
「Let her be, Lily. She can't physically attack me, so this is the only way she can get some steam off. Let her have a little freedom of speech, alright?」
Lily glares at Stripe from behind, but Straf cuts in and shrugs. His smirking face peeks over his shoulder at Lily, then quickly turns to Stripe, growing more smug by the second.
「Tsk…」
Stripe clicks her tongue, and continues watching the signs of carnage. Massive bolts stick out of the frozen ground.
「…Ballista?」
She utters out, tilting her head with her brows furrowed.
「Hey…」
Stripe calls out, turning her eyes to Straf.
「Yeeaah?…」
Straf tilts his head with an amused smirk on his face.
「…Why didn't you just wipe their army out on the battlefield? You can do that, right? As much as I want to call you stupid…」
Stripe asks, then lets out a large, resigned sigh with her arms crossed.
「…That wouldn't really be accurate. Nothing ever seems to be dangerous to you. Nothing ever seems to get your blood pumping. So, why didn't you?」
She begrudgingly admits, then turns her golden gaze back to Straf's nonchalant, almost bored face.
「'Cause this is a training exercise. Kind of.」
He replies with a casual shrug of his shoulders.
Vrrrooommmmm…
「Huh? A training exercise? You really need those?」
Greatly bemused, Stripe narrows her eye with a tilted head.
「Not me, silly. The officers, the soldiers…」
He replies, and points his thumb over his shoulder in some vague direction backwards.
「…There's this quote how it takes, uh… Well, I forgot, but it takes some casualties to train an officer. You're absolutely right that I could just completely stomp them…」
Straf briefly furrows his brows, gazing upwards as he thinks, before giving up and paraphrasing the quote on his mind.
「…But going from point A to point B takes some time, and I can't exactly split myself into two. I'm kind of lazy, so it'd be mighty convenient if I could just order someone to win a battle for me.」
He adds with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, and turns his bored eyes to Stripe.
Still thinking, she lowers her gaze to her legs, blinking down at her knees. The more thought she gives it, the more bewildered her face appears…