IV
Upon arriving at the training grounds just outside Leticia Castle, they were greeted by a rousing voice and a scene Neinhardt found quite bizarre. He quickly identified the owner of the voice as Claudia.
“Is that training?” Cornelius asked, utterly bewildered.
“I—I think so, but...” Neinhardt found he couldn’t honestly answer, for the reason that the new recruits, dressed in full armor, were being pursued by a number of beasts. If anything, it looked like some sort of show, though he doubted it was much fun for the recruits.
“Unless my eyesight is failing me, those look like dusksight wolves...”
Neinhardt spun around, unable to believe his ears, and his gaze met Cornelius’s. It wasn’t often that the Invincible General’s face went as rigid as it was now. Neinhardt turned his gaze back to the beasts.
He’s right, he thought after a moment. Those are definitely dusksight wolves. What’s going on here?
Dusksight wolves, with their purple eyes and glossy white fur, were class one dangerous beasts. The threat they posed to humans was comparatively low, but only if your point of comparison was class two dangerous beasts. In a pack, they could still strip the flesh from a person’s bones in the blink of an eye. Of course, they never took to humans, and the idea of taming one was total fantasy.
Not that anyone would ever even attempt to tame one... Thinking that for now he’d ask about the situation, Neinhardt turned to the shouting Claudia. That was when Olivia, who sat crouched at one side of the platform, caught sight of him. She tossed away something that looked like a twig as she came dashing down the bank to him, waving her hands excitedly.
“Mr. Fish—Major General Neinhardt! Lord Cornelius!” She greeted them with a smile. “Come to check out our training routine?”
Neinhardt cleared his throat several times. He, too, had been promoted to major general for his achievements on the central front, so there was no need for any formality between Olivia and himself now. Field Marshal Cornelius, however, was a different story. Neinhardt wasn’t about to start berating her like Otto, but she still ought to have shown the bare minimum of courtesy.
Olivia understood the meaning behind his cough at once. “I mean, have you come to observe our training routine, ser?” she corrected, clicking her heels together and saluting smartly.
She’s gotten so much more perceptive since I first met her a year and a half ago, Neinhardt thought, getting rather sentimental at Olivia’s growth.
“There’s that, but we also have something to talk to you about.”
“Is that right, ser!”
“Before that though—this is definitely training, is it not?” Cornelius inquired, looking over at the recruits who were wailing loudly.
Olivia’s eyes flicked over to the training ground for a moment before she answered shortly, “Yes, ser.”
A brief period of silence hung between the three of them. The voices of the recruits rang all the louder in their ears. Cornelius tugged at his beard with a harried air.
“The beasts pursuing those soldiers...” he tried again. “They are, ah, dusksight wolves?”
“Yes, ser. They are definitely dusksight wolves,” Olivia confirmed without hesitation. Judging by the blank look on her face, she didn’t think this was anything out of the ordinary. Neinhardt and Cornelius turned reflexively to look at one another when they heard Claudia’s bellow from in front of them.
“Come on, run! Run like your life depends on it, unless you want to be wolf food!”
They also saw another small crowd making desperate appeals to Ashton, who stood right nearby the platform.
I suppose it won’t do to just pretend I never saw any of this... Neinhardt thought. Olivia was commander of the Eighth Legion both in name and in reality. It wasn’t his place to comment on the details of how she trained her soldiers, but this was more than he could bring himself to ignore.
“Major General Olivia, as Lieutenant Colonel Claudia was just saying, don’t you think the wolves are actually going to eat them if you let this carry on? I really can’t guess what sort of training you are conducting here, but don’t you think this goes a bit far?”
These soldiers were valuable, even if they were new recruits. She couldn’t just say they were devoured by dusksight wolves in a training drill and brush it aside if anything should happen. He of course thought Olivia understood this, but even so, he couldn’t not check. Alas, Olivia was indifferent to his advice.
“Huh? They won’t eat anyone,” she said, her tone as breezy as ever. “See, we’re keeping it a secret from the new recruits, but I told them not to eat anyone.”
Neinhardt was perfectly baffled by this. “By ‘them,’ you mean the dusksight wolves?”
“Yes, who else?” As usual, nothing that came out of Olivia’s mouth was what Neinhardt had expected, and his bafflement only deepened. Seeing this, Olivia said she’d prove it to him. She put her fingers to the corners of her mouth and whistled loudly. At once, all the dusksight wolves that had been so intent on their pursuit of the new recruits stopped in their tracks. They all slowly turned their heads towards Olivia and the others, then came bounding towards them.
“Huh?!”
“Lord Marshal!” Neinhardt cried. He threw himself in front of Cornelius and drew his sword. But Olivia only smiled.
“I told you, it’s fine,” she said, squatting down and opening her arms wide. The dusksight wolves dived at Olivia, as though to pounce—
“Hey, stop licking! That tickles!” Olivia let out a peal of laughter as the wolves bowled her over, kicking her legs up and down in a transport of delight. The wolves at the very least seemed to have no intention of devouring Olivia. On the contrary, they rubbed their heads against her and whined for her attention. Neinhardt couldn’t string two words together. This has to be a dream, he thought. It was instead Cornelius, cold sweat beading on his brow, who spoke.
“These dusksight wolves, they’re...” he stammered. “They’re all right?”
Olivia slowly sat up. “Yep. Like I said, I told them they mustn’t eat humans—ser,” she added hastily as she softly petted the wolves’ heads. “I’m giving them food they like instead. Though it doesn’t taste good, so I don’t like it much myself.”
“Food they like?” Cornelius echoed. There was no telling what a dusksight wolf might prefer to feed on. Neinhardt felt a stirring of interest.
“Yeah. It’s actually time for their lunch now, so you can come—I mean, would you like to come along, ser?” She leaned in close so they were almost nose to nose. Overwhelmed, Cornelius and Neinhardt were helpless to do anything but nod. “Then let’s be off. Claudia!” Olivia shouted and Claudia came hurrying down the bank towards them.
The first thing out of her mouth was an apology. “Please pardon my failure to receive you, sers!”
Neinhardt replied that as the visit had been unscheduled, there was no need for concern.
“Time for a break,” Olivia told her. “I’m going to feed Patches, Spot, and Pooch now.”
“Very well, ser,” Claudia replied. “And will you be joining her, Lord Marshal?”
“Indeed, I think I shall.”
“I see...” Claudia looked up at Cornelius with anxiety in her eyes, but when she turned to Neinhardt, she wore an evil grin, like a child plotting mischief.
There’s something odd going on here, he thought, and was about to say as much when Ashton called out to Claudia, and she hurried away back to the training ground.
“Let’s go then.” Olivia turned from Neinhardt as he stood there doubtfully and began walking, setting a brisk pace. The dusksight wolves followed close on her heels, like a personal guard. It was positively unsettling how they turned back at regular intervals to regard him and Cornelius.
Well, it’s too late to turn back now, but have we ever stepped in it this time. Thank goodness I didn’t let Lord Cornelius come alone.
As far as Neinhardt was concerned, whatever assurances Olivia might give, these were still wild animals—and class one dangerous beasts, at that. These weren’t any ordinary beasts. There was no telling when they might turn those savage claws and fangs on him, and as such, he couldn’t let his guard down for even a moment.
Keeping at a safe distance from the wolves, he and Cornelius followed them down a peaceful path, along which little flowers bloomed. After about five minutes, the mouth of a cave in the row of mountains on their right came into view. Olivia turned and, with a spring in her step, headed off towards the cave.
“Are we headed for that cave?” Neinhardt asked, keeping his voice low so as not to provoke the wolves.
“That’s right,” Olivia replied blithely, her face still pointed straight ahead. “It’s cool inside the cave, so it’s perfect for storing food.”
Not long after, the three humans and three wolves reached the entrance to the cave. Olivia said, “Off you go,” and the slavering wolves bounded off into its depths. To the other officers, she said encouragingly, “Let’s follow them.” Neinhardt felt cool air engulf him as they stepped into the cave.
“It really is chilly,” he observed.
“Right? It’s the perfect spot to take a nap,” Olivia said smugly as she led them deeper into the cave. It wasn’t nearly as deep as the breadth of the entrance suggested. It was only a short walk to the very back, and there was enough light from the sun that they didn’t even need torches.
“M-Major General Olivia,” Cornelius said breathlessly, reaching out a pointing finger, “is that what the dusksight wolves like to eat?”
“Yep. They look like they’re enjoying it, don’t they?” On the ground, with its beautiful golden coat and distinctive sharp horn, lay the lifeless form of a great beast.
There’s no mistaking it. That’s...that’s a real unicorn...! Neinhardt felt a rush of long-dormant emotions as cold sweat broke out on his spine. This was his second encounter with the class two dangerous beast known as a unicorn.
The first time had been half a year after Neinhardt had graduated top of his class at the military academy. His orders were to exterminate a unicorn that had suddenly appeared in a village. He took a hundred seasoned warriors and engaged the unicorn in what grew into a fierce battle. By the end, Neinhardt had sustained his own wounds, and though they slew the beast at last, fewer than twenty of his soldiers made it out alive. Everyone had lauded Neinhardt as a hero, but he had been crushed. He wondered if less blood might have been spilled if only he had done better.
I never thought I’d see one of these accursed nightmares again... Neinhardt took a deep breath to calm himself as Cornelius sank down onto a convenient boulder, looking utterly exhausted. Meanwhile, Olivia gazed at the dusksight wolves as they buried their snouts in the unicorn’s belly, a fond smile on her face.
“You didn’t kill the unicorn with the new recruits, did you?” Neinhardt asked, though he didn’t think for a moment that new recruits could do anything against a unicorn. Olivia confirmed the recruits had had nothing to do with it. This only left one possible conclusion.
“Major General Olivia, did you do this alone?”
“Yep. There aren’t many in the mountains or forests around here, so it was pretty tough hunting it down.” She laughed, like this was nothing. A shudder ran through Neinhardt.
Thinking back, there had been a report that during the liberation of Fort Lamburke they had been unlucky enough to run into a unicorn, only for Olivia to kill it in an instant. At the time, Neinhardt hadn’t paid much attention to the report of a new recruit. There were some beasts that closely resembled unicorns, after all. But now, with a unicorn laid sprawled before his eyes, he had no choice but to believe it.
The dusksight wolves seemed to have eaten their fill, because they came back to gather around Olivia, rubbing their heads against her legs with an air of satisfaction.
“Looks like your tummies are all full,” Olivia said, then turned back to Neinhardt and Cornelius. “Shall we go back to the training ground, then?”
“That’s quite all right with me,” Cornelius replied, fatigue audible in his voice. “But first, I wonder if you could explain the purpose behind that training from earlier. I’m afraid I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re up to.”
Olivia replied that it was to strengthen the recruits’ lower bodies. According to her argument, it wasn’t strength or skill that governed a battle, but speed. It went without saying for an individual soldier, but an army moving swiftly could catch its enemy unawares. Using the dusksight wolves in her training regimen was both running practice for the recruits and a way to make them tame their fear. Further questioning revealed that Ashton had proposed the idea, which puzzled Neinhardt. The risky idea didn’t seem like him.
“I don’t think dusksight wolves are all that different from stray dogs, really,” Olivia went on. There was nothing either Neinhardt or Cornelius could think to say to that.
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