Published: September 10, 2025
Correction made on 2016/8/12.
Note added to afterword on 2016/4/9.
This chapter is not from Satou's perspective.
“Captain! The capital of the Makiwa Kingdom is visible ahead!”
“Stop. Signal the communications officer to halt the following units as well.”
The weasel tribe’s war machine, shaped like an iron box, stopped at the cliff’s edge.
Though it resembled a golem carriage, its shape was peculiar—a flat box with another box stacked on top, and a slender rod protruding from the upper box.
The tigermen and lionmen slaves riding on the vehicle jumped down to keep watch over the surroundings.
After the slaves surveyed and confirmed there was no danger nearby, the lid of the upper box opened, revealing the face of the man called the captain from the weasel tribe.
Lying on the cliff, the captain used a magical artifact that looked like two distant viewing tubes joined together to observe the capital.
Unlike a soldier, he wore no armor; only sturdy clothes.
From here to the capital was about one and a half ri in weasel measurement—roughly three kilometers by Earth standards.
“The Rocket Raccoon unit and Iron Hopper Cavalry have already deployed before the capital… As expected of the magic beast soldiers who emphasize mobility.”
On the vast plain before the capital, 100 Rocket Raccoons, towering at three times the height of an adult, and 3,000 Iron Hoppers, about the size of a horse, lined up.
Suspicious magical devices shaped like screws were attached to the monsters’ heads.
Presumably, these devices allowed the riders sitting in the basket on their backs to control the monsters at will.
“Captain, do you think the Makiwa Knights will appear?”
“They will.”
A younger captain from the following vehicle slid over with a distant viewing tube in hand.
“If they don’t come out, the Rocket Raccoons and Iron Hoppers will just leap over the outer walls and ravage the capital freely.”
“So we’re just pawns in the strategist’s hands, huh?”
The captain scowled, clearly disliking the strategist mentioned.
“This is cutting it too close from here. We’ll move to the ruins of the hunting lodge visible over there.”
“Understood.”
At the captain’s command, the vehicles set off again.
With strange noises—doldol and kyurakyura—that matched their bizarre appearance, they moved forward, leaving mysterious ruts behind.
If a modern Japanese person were here, they would surely call these vehicles—tanks.
◇
“Captain, incoming message from headquarters. Scouts infiltrated the capital and confirmed only ‘Water’ and ‘Earth’ are present in the Royal Castle; no ‘Wind’ or ‘Fire’ found.”
“Good!”
The captain smiled slyly and punched his palm.
“This battle—we’ve won.”
“Were you really that scared of fire—the Marquis Dazares’ Crimson Lotus Staff?”
The loader, bored, chimed in and got his head stomped by the captain’s military boot.
Among the weasel tribe’s territories, the closest to the Makiwa Kingdom was the Marquis Dazares’ domain, but even after conquering the lionmen and tigermen kingdoms, they had never invaded the Makiwa Kingdom.
It was well-known that the predecessor lionmen kingdom had launched numerous invasions into Makiwa but was always repelled by each generation of Marquis Dazares like clockwork.
They were infamous for ruthlessly burning enemy armies that invaded their lands but showed mercy by not pursuing defeated troops who fled beyond their territory—a reputation for benevolent command.
“The general also ordered us to retreat without attacking if Marquis Dazares appears.”
“And what about the strategist?”
The loader’s head, as if implying the strategist outranks the general, received another stomp from the captain’s boot.
“Listen. It’s not Dazares himself that’s scary—it’s that Crimson Lotus Staff he wields.”
The Crimson Lotus Staff, passed down in the Dazares Marquis family, is famous as a treasured staff that seals a fire spirit, but it’s also said to be cursed, attracting fire monsters.