The Main Family Is About to Die Out, so I, from a Branch Family, Am a Seed Provider (WN): Chapter 34

 

Episode 34: Retreat Battle 1

 After a poor speech that I will surely regret tomorrow, we, the 2500 units, left Gruve City and ran through the night toward the burning Jubelia Castle. When we reached a path a short distance from the city, we stopped.

"If they are going to escape from the castle, they will take this road."

 Elfie said. She said that if they were suddenly attacked in the middle of the dark night, they should take a large road, which would have been easier to locate enemies.

"Okay, then we'll split up into two groups. Elfie, can you handle it?"

"Please leave it to me."

 I turned my head and rode off to give instructions to the other nobles following behind.

 When I saw the soldiers were moving and changing into a formation that would block the road, I ordered my family's soldiers to set up bonfires in various obvious places.

 This would allow some of them to run toward the light. The downside is that it makes it easier for the enemy to find them, but that is unavoidable for now.

"Young master!"

 Just as they were arranging the fences in a zigzag pattern, Armes, who had been sent to check on the surroundings, returned.

"Good work. So how did it go?"

"Yes. The general story was as told by the knight. As they were on guard duty......"

"Help!!"

 As if interrupting Armes' report, a fat man literally rolled in front of me with his thick, yet slightly high-pitched voice.

"Who?"

 The man's appearance was, to put it bluntly, hideous, covered in black soot, with tattered clothes and minor burns showing through the gaps. In addition, his eyes are slightly excited.

 I was about to trample him down with the horse I was riding, but a few soldiers nearby rushed over to help him.

"I'm Viscount Bilz."

"Ahh~... eh? No, who are you."

"Look, he was standing next to the young master at that time. The nobleman of the Beymond family......"

"Oh, that guy, I'm sorry for calling you that way."

 As Armes told me, I was trying to remember, and the name of the man in front of me came to me.

 Yes, he was the one who had stared at me when I had ordered Armes to do various things when Prince Lim was being congratulated.

 At that time, I saw him only as an ordinary nobleman and had a little impression of him, but now he has made a strong impact on me because he has escaped from that castle.

 Apparently, he was the first person who had escaped to here. I'm not too keen on him because he's a rootless nobleman, but I'll help him out.

"Hey, someone give water...... whoa!"

 Just as I was about to say that, Viscount Bilz, who was being cared for, broke free of the two soldiers who were helping him and jumped at my horse's feet.

 I barely managed to calm the horse that was about to go berserk and keep my distance, but Viscount Bilz looked at me with bloodshot eyes and seemed ready to leap at me again.

"P-please, help me!"

 Or perhaps it would be better to say that he was in dire straits. I got off my horse and was about to go to Viscount Bilz' side when I stopped in my tracks.

"……You're kidding me."

 Viscount Bilz' rounded back. There were countless sword wounds and several bullet holes.

 I looked at his face with a certain doubt, because I could tell at a glance that the wounds were fatal.

 His face was also distorted with a smile, more precisely a smile of despair and fear, and I kicked Viscount Bilz far away before I could utter the answer that my intuition had led me to believe.

"Young master……"

"Get down, Armes!"

 A moment. Viscount Bilz' abdomen swelled unnaturally as he rolled around on the ground, and a loud explosion roared through the area with a flash of light.

 Immediately, I took Armes's arm in my hand and dove to the ground to cover her, falling to the ground on top of her.

 However, it is not possible to kick a person far away, and the shock of the explosion struck me on the back, and the air in my lungs leaked out at once.

 A sickening high-pitched sound that continued to shake the back of my ears tormented my mind, and when I opened my closed eyes a moment later, my vision wavered as if I had looked from the surface of the water to the bottom of the river.

"......Damn it, are you okay, Armes?"

"I-I'm fine, but Nii-san is..."

 In a shaky voice, Armes says that and puts her hand on my left cheek. Then I felt a dull pain and frowned.

"Is it a burn? Or a cut?"

"I think it's a cut, so just stay still for a minute."

"Huh?"

 The next moment I thought Armes' hand left the wound, and with a giggle, Armes' face came closer, and I felt a soft touch on the wound, kissing it.

"Wait, eh? Armes?"

"Nhh... chu, chu, nhh, chupu... chu, chu."

 And with quite a bit of sucking, Armes covered the entire wound with her mouth. The dull pain is still there, but I can feel her tongue and a little warm saliva around the wound.

 All the while, I didn't know what to do, so I just stayed where I was until it was over.

 Eventually, after a long kiss, Armes finally removed her lips from my cheek.

"...What are you doing?"

 When I looked at Armes' face, which was stained a little red with my blood at the edge of her mouth, she didn't look embarrassed, just looked up at me with a normal expression.

"......Nhh, a spell to stop the blood. My mother used to do it when I was injured...... you didn't like it?"

"No, it doesn't mean that......"

 What she just did is probably a custom in Armes' hometown. But as someone who has never seen or heard of it, I was surprised when she suddenly did that to my wound, and to be honest, I was about to flip a switch that I should have suppressed.

"Aaaahh!!"

"......!?"

 Such an out-of-place atmosphere almost flowed for a moment, but a scream that tore it apart echoed in my ears.

 I turned my head in the direction of the voice, and there were two soldiers moaning with half of their bodies covered in blood. Moreover, there was something that looked like a short leg lying between them...... and it was probably Viscount Bilz' thing that had exploded.......

"Y-young master."

"Don't look at it too much, Armes"

 The blood drained from Armes's face at once as she saw the same scene, and she turned pale.

 Human bomb.

 It is a common method of effectively utilizing captured prisoners of war. It is a method common to the empire, in which captured enemy soldiers are offered a treacherous deal to help them later if they secretly detonate a bomb when they arrive at their bases. We don't see it much these days, but that's probably because there haven't been any real battles in the last few years.

 The reason it is called a human bomb is because the deal is almost never properly executed, and the survival rate is close to zero.

 If you go, you will almost certainly die, and if you refuse, you will certainly die.

 It was called a "gun bomb" at first, but some crazy bigwig changed the name because he didn't know whether it was a gun or a bomb.

 In other words, Viscount Bilz had betrayed us. He probably took advantage of the fact that he had no chance of surviving with the wound on his back, and was offered a deal that if he did well, the empire would treat him.

 He probably put his trust in the small chance of survival but with that wound, the chance of survival was zero to begin with. The spider threads that hung in front of Viscount Bilz' eyes were just an illusion.

 Oh, by the way, I think the two soldiers who were moaning in the center of the explosion were completely caught in the middle because I kicked Viscount Bilz in the wrong direction, yep.

"Young master!"

 Elfie, who had heard the explosion and was going around to inform the troops of their positions, flew in with a look of panic, which was unusual, or rather, the second time I had seen her do.

"Elfie, are you finished setting up!?"

"Ha! Without delay."

"Then get ready for battle at once! Now the enemy knew where we are!"

 From the other side of the already dark road―― a road that should have been painted black, the ground is shaking and the unpleasant sound of metal scraping gradually approach.

 And it's probably not my imagination that I can hear echoes of it...... plus the moans and wailing screams of people.

 And finally.

"...They came."

 Beyond the bonfire, just barely reaching its light, a figure appeared.

 Judging from its ragged, scorched appearance, he was one of our allies. They, too, were defeated soldiers approaching our camp, and after catching sight of us, they looked a little relieved.

 They formed a line for a while, and the area behind them was filled with a buzz of relief and joy.

"Musket, ready."

 Elfie raised her hand and gave a signal.

 Keeping an eye on them, from the darkness, unlike those who had fled from the castle until now, the decisive words, stained with negative emotions, began to reach our ears more strongly.......

"......! Shoot!"

 A roaring sound echoed around.

 All the muskets that we had brought with us burst into flames at once, filling the area with the smell of gunpowder.

 At the same time, the cries coming from deep in the darkness grew louder, but the ground-shaking footsteps never stopped, closing the distance between us.

"Archers..."

"No, everyone draw your swords! They're coming!"

 I said that before Armes could order the archers, and right after I picked up my sword and held it at the ready.

 An imperial soldier, bathed in bright red blood, appeared in front of us.