Town of Akito.

I was standing on the walls of the town gazing out.

About a kilometer away, Maxim's troops were visible.

The vanguard was made of cavalry riding the two legged horses and behind them were spear wielding soldiers.

「2,000 of them huh……」

That's an estimate…but it seems about right.

The fact that they sent all these people out seems to prove that they're serious about this.

「Master」

Risha called out from behind me.

「The preparations have been made」

「Alright.」

I nodded and glanced behind me.

Akito's outer wall was armed with 20 nitokas. Plus, there were 100 people who wielded gradiks.

Mira was commanding the nitoka division and Yuria was left to command the gradik division.

Looking at them it was obvious. The townspeople were feeling the pressure of the 2,000 soldiers bearing down on them…they were nervous, or frightened you could say.

「Master! They've begun to move!」

Risha said sounding fl.u.s.tered.

I looked back and saw the cavalry kicking up a cloud of dust as they charged.

「Fire the nitoka. There's no need to aim carefully just fire.」

「Ok!」

Risha ran over to Mira. Then the battery division began firing their rocks.

The lump of rocks drew a parabola in the sky before becoming disjointed and falling to the earth. Many missed their targets, but a portion of them slammed right in the middle of the cavalry.

「Don't stop firing.」

The rocks flew out one after another.

The cavalry charge was becoming obviously slow. The aim was all over the place, but having huge rocks fly towards you is scary nonetheless.

But still they didn't stop. Once they'd pa.s.sed the nitokas' range, they once again increased their speed and charged.

Then…they entered bow range.

「Gradik unit, fire with everything you've got!」

I ordered and Yuria's 100 people pulled back on their bows.

And fired their arrows all at once.

One hundred bowmen…equaling to 500 arrows after they split.

The arrows fell like rain as they pierced through the cavalry, knocking one after another from their horses.

From long range we had the nitoka bombardment, and in mid-range we have a gradik firing line.

We pitted our stockpile of arrows and rocks against Maxim's soldiers and they could not get any closer.

「It seems like this might just work.」

「I suppose…」

I nodded and looked towards the battlefield.

「Umm, Master?」

「What?」

I looked at Risha.

「Are you not going to fight? If Master went out, then I think you could win easily.」

「?」

Risha tilted her head confused.

Honestly, completely wiping them out wouldn't be difficult.

If I took Risha into my blade and put a lot of magic into the flames, then I should be able to eliminate all these soldiers.

With the experience from fighting monsters, regular soldiers aren't my opponent.

But there's no point in me going out to fight by myself.

Take for example…what if I went out to fight and was caught up by a thousand of them? What would the other 1,000 do? They'd invade the town.

After so long I finally had a healthy number of people and the towns were rebuilt. All that work could disappear in mere moments.

That's why it is necessary to engage in group on group combat.

We don't 'just' need to win, we need to win the least possible sacrifices.

Maxim's soldiers once again tried to charge.

However, the nitoka and gradik bombarded them creating an invisible line that they were unable to cross.

The soldiers were shot down one after another.

「Mu~…」

The flow had changed.

The charging and retreating had finally stopped.

Instead a single man charged out.

He rode a s.h.i.+ning gold two legged horse and held a katana in each hand.

「Concentrated fire on that man.」

The rocks and arrows rained down on him.

His katana danced through the air as he cut down arrows and shattered rocks.

「Cease Fire!」

I cried out and the bombardment ceased.

The man charged even closer. It probably wouldn't make a difference no matter how much we fired at him.

「Master?」

「——Yes!」

He's no average man, I thought, and sucked Risha into my sword in antic.i.p.ation of battle.

I faced him and began to charge, the man raised his speed even further.

*Clas.h.!.+* and our swords met.

「You're Maxim huh?」

「Yes. Won't you stop this? We're all fellow people struggling in this screwed up wasteland…it's already hard enough!」

「They are not limited! The resources I have are nearly limitless!」

「Eeeiii!」

I shouted as we exchanged blows.

I can't convince him with words and he won't stop attacking.

The flame sword's strong point is its heat ability.

That high temperature isn't able to reach Maxim like this…

「Yuria!」

I called the name of my other slave and touched the white jewel. I changed from Risha to Yuria.

She entered the sword and we connected.

「I'll leave it to you!」

(Yes)

From a flame sword it turned into a predictive radar sword.

Yuria expanded my senses.

I drove away Maxim's sword creating a small gap where I was able to stab my sword through.

However---it didn't bear fruit.

「Fuu」

I definitely hit his skin with my sword…but the blade wouldn't go through.

「UOOOO!」

I stuffed magic into the sword and was finally able to spot another gap…this time when I hit him it caused a scratch.

Maxim controlled his gold horse and took his distance.

He traced the scratch and licked the blood off of his finger.

「Pretty good, what is that?」

「Eternal Slave……kukuku, ha-hahahahaha」

Maxim looked up into the sky and laughed.

「I see so that's it…Fumu, I'm at a disadvantage. In both my soldiers and in a one on one.」

「……」

I didn't speak. I was at an advantage, but I didn't feel like I could win like this.

Maxim pulled on his reins and headed back to his army.

「Today you've won. I'll admit…that you're not a man that I can beat with such lukewarm attacks.」

「Next time I'll be coming at you seriously, prepare yourself.」

Maxim then left gallantly.

Then he and his army all retreated.

Seeing that, the people of Akito let out a victory cry.

I continued to gaze at them.

In our clash of armed forces we'd come out on top overwhelmingly, in our one on one combat I'd also surpa.s.sed him.

But, Maxim's words bothered me.

He didn't seem like the kind of man to use such a bluff…he seemed like the kind of man who'd back up what he said with action.

I think that our armed forces can continue as is…but I myself need to get stronger.

I looked at the sword in my hand.

If I was able to combine Risha and Yuria in the sword then I would've been able to win.

Yeah, I had thought of it before, but if I was able to combine multiple powers then the power would increase exponentially.

Red, Blue, and White.

I touched the jewels one at a time,

And thought…if only I could utilize them at the same time.

After a moment, my bag began to s.h.i.+ne.

It was my DORECA, the source of all my power.

Inside of it a new item was appearing.

True Eternal Slave.

I had a new objective.