Having met with Hadem and returned, I went straight to see Syaren.
No matter that it was a choice made for the territory and the people, in the end, I had decided to treat my vassal as a weapon.
I thought that speaking clearly about that was the courtesy I owed my vassal as a lord.
It might be an excuse, but I really tried!
That crazy Lu Bu bastard is the one throwing a fit!!
“This is how things have become, so I have no choice but to ask this of you. Syaren, I beg you. Lend me your strength for the people, and for me.”
Syaren listened to my words, hearing me out to the very end.
And then quietly opened her mouth.
“It is alright, my lord. I understand everything.”
She gave a calm smile.
That appearance made it seem as though she already knew everything without me having to say a word.
“The fact that you strive for the people, my lord, and that you hesitated to use my strength until the very last moment—I understand all of it.”
She stood, grasping her red staff.
At that, a storm of tremendous magical power began to rise, so immense that even I, who possessed neither magic nor blessing, could feel it.
Wow… They say even a mage like this gets attacked by bandits once every two days when traveling?
The bandits outside must have about nine lives each.
“And it is precisely because you are such a lord that I decided to become your vassal.”
She knelt gracefully before me.
It was the formal posture a vassal took before her lord.
“Give your command, my lord. Red Mage Syaren is ready.”
With her own resolve, she became the mage of me and our household.
Then, as a beloved lord, it was my moment to meet those expectations as well.
“Syaren! Burn every last one of those monsters that have invaded our territory!!”
At my words, Syaren raised her head and met my eyes.
Her eyes, glowing red, burned with a more blazing and beautiful light than when I had seen her in the game.
“Understood. My lord.”
With Syaren accepting my command, I was able to commence Operation ‘Monster and Lion,’ hunting Deeprock while keeping the Ryan household in check.
Now! It's time to show them a good spectacle!!
* * *
The Ryan household was the first to sense the anomaly.
Lagos, the right hand of Lord Hadem, witnessed it while smoking a cigarette and conducting reconnaissance at the border.
“The knights… are increasing?”
Hadem's order had been to charge into Cron's territory the moment a gap showed itself.
And Lagos had spent several days scouting to find that gap.
If they moved knights to hunt monsters, it seemed he could dispatch the Ryan household's knights through that gap and occupy it very easily.
But knights were being deployed into that gap with great speed, causing it to disappear.
“How do they plan to respond to the Deeprock if they deploy knights like that?”
Lagos had experience participating in a past Deeprock subjugation campaign.
Because of that, he believed they were by no means easy opponents, and that Cron would have to commit its full forces to repel them.
Just as Lagos was thinking that, he saw two figures riding horses toward them from the Cron household’s side.
One was a girl with white hair, and the other appeared to be a knight escorting her.
The girl who arrived before him spoke without a hint of timidity.
“Hello. I am Noah, a vassal of Lord Calix. I have come to deliver a gift that my lord has sent to Lord Hadem.”
“A gift?”
“Yes!”
Noah took out a small box.
And inside were black sunglasses meant to protect the eyes.
“My lord said that another sun might rise today, so he sends this gift to protect Lord Hadem's eyes.”
“I see. Very well. I shall deliver it to my lord.”
“Yes! Then I shall take my leave.”
With that, Noah turned back.
Lagos felt he could somewhat understand the message Cron was trying to convey.
It seemed like a warning that Red Mage Syaren's magic was so tremendous that they had to make such preparations.
But Lagos had also fought mages several times and witnessed high-level magic before.
It had certainly been impressive, but he hadn't felt it was impressive enough to require preparing sunglasses like these.
“Still, you never know.”
Lagos's creed was, “As long as I survive, that's enough.”
He valued survival above all else, and all his efforts to survive had borne fruit, raising him to his current position.
He quietly pocketed one pair of sunglasses from the box before returning to Lord Hadem.
* * *
Near Rag Beach, where the horde of Deeprock was coming ashore, a veritable hellscape was already beginning to unfold.
“Awoooo—!!!”
“Awook!!!!”
Deeprock—monsters with grotesque fish heads and humanoid arms and legs—were gathered in groups of dozens.
The creatures were attacking and devouring fish, cattle, pigs, chickens, and other livestock near the shore, as well as animals like rabbits and foxes.
“Truly grotesque.”
“Indeed, my lord.”
Hart and I, watching from a distant hill, spoke with furrowed brows.
Ugh, how can something be so repulsive?
I may like sashimi, but looking at them, I felt I wouldn't be able to eat any for the foreseeable future.
As we were watching, a soldier ran up and spoke.
“The preparations are complete, my lord!”
“Yes, well done.”
At the soldier's words that preparations were done, I mounted my horse and rode out.
Then, I could feel the eyes of the knights and soldiers below the hill turn toward me.
They stood waiting for my command.
Their gazes were filled with morale, yet at the same time, fear could be felt.
They had every reason to be.
Because the main forces had all been deployed to the border to keep the Ryan household in check, the number of soldiers was very small—less than ten percent compared to the Deeprock monsters.
If they fought head-on like this, it was certain that the human side would be massacred to the last man.
Feeling that fear, I took a breath and steeled my resolve.
And then I stepped before everyone and shouted so that all could hear.
“You must all be afraid!!!”
At my words, all eyes converged on me.
I spoke as the Lord of Cron and as the one who proposed and commanded this operation.
“They are too many, and we are too few. Furthermore, behind us, hyenas wearing lions' skins are lying in wait, baring their fangs for a chance at us.”
The people here were elites even within the Cron Knights.
Thus, they knew the situation better than anyone.
But knowing and overcoming are two different things.
For a person to muster courage, they need a message that resonates in the heart—
in short, they needed hype!!
“But we must overcome it!!!”
I thought of my past life.
Recalling the countless war movies I had seen in my past life, I said the words that could deliver the most hype.
“If we fall, our families and friends will be put in danger. Our lands will be trampled by fish bastards and lion whelps!!”
I pointed toward the territory, toward the border.
Reminding them of what had to be protected there and of the enemies that awaited.
“We alone, gathered here now, are the only ones who can stop that!!”
I could feel the eyes of the knights and soldiers gradually blazing.
Hype was filling their hearts.
Now for the finishing touch.
“And when you are afraid, do not forget that I, the Silver Dragon of Cron, stand behind you!! For Cron!!!”
I had learned recently that I was being called the Silver Dragon of Cron.
Honestly, I didn't want a nickname that would only stoke hostility like that.
But now was the time to use anything and everything that could be used.
At my words, as if their hype had exploded, the knights and soldiers began to shout.
“For Cron!!”
“For our lord!!!”
“We shall be victorious!!!”
“Uwooooooh!!!!!!!”
They looked ready to charge at the Deeprock immediately.
Hmm… it's good that their morale is high, but I hope they haven't forgotten that this battle is a lure operation…
“Then from this moment, ‘Operation Deeprock Annihilation’ begins!!!”
“Let's go, you bastards! It's time to roast these fish freaks!”
At my declaration, Brock, the adjutant leading the knights in Ricain's stead, mounted his horse and charged toward the Deeprock.
Though they were knights, they had removed all their armor and were armed only with light gear, bows, and crossbows.
Brock, having closed in on the Deeprock horde, commanded.
“Fire!!”
Shwik! Shwik shwik!!
At Brock's command, they all fired their bows and crossbows at the Deeprock.
Dozens of arrows rained down on the pack of Deeprock that were hunting.
“Awoooooo!!!”
“Kwoook!!”
The Deeprock, turned into pincushions, looked at the humans who had attacked them.
Enraged, they began to charge after them.
“Good! Then on to the next pack!! Hyah!!!”
In this manner, the knights shot at and fled from the Deeprock groups consisting of dozens near the coast, luring them.
The Deeprock groups, recognizing them as enemies, began to pursue.
Groups of dozens instantly swelled into a horde of hundreds and thousands.
“No one stop!!! If you stop here, you'll be crushed to death!!!”
“Yes!!!”
And so the Deeprock legions pursued them.
The Deeprock horde, now a single mass, gradually began to speed up.
Trampling their slower kin, they grew faster and faster, and to avoid being caught, the knights rode their horses for all they were worth.
And they arrived at the final location of the operation.
“Everyone… scatter!!!!!”
“Yes!!!”
It was the widest valley in all of Cron territory.
It was very far from civilian homes, and due to the eerie dampness and the marshes scattered throughout, even animals rarely lived there.
At the entrance, the knights scattered, and instead of the dispersing humans, what appeared before the Deeprock legion's eyes were boar carcasses piled like mountains.
“Awuuuuk♥!!!”
“Woooook wook♥♥!!!”
At the sight of the delicious chunks of meat before their eyes, the Deeprock paid no heed to the knights who had attacked them and rushed into the valley.
The once-quiet valley was instantly filled with hundreds and thousands of Deeprock.
With this, all preparations were complete.
I, who had arrived earlier at a safe location some distance from the valley, spoke to Syaren.
“Syaren, finish this.”
“Understood, my lord.”
Syaren flew up into the air.
Before flying away, she looked at me and spoke.
“It's dangerous, so please be sure to wear the sunglasses and stay inside the protective spell.”
“Got it.”
Following her warning, I put on the sunglasses and stepped inside the protective spell.
And she, having soared into the sky, began her incantation.
Then, red magical power began to stir around her, little by little.
“Domine Ignis. (O Lord of Fire.)”
Syaren was called the Red Mage and was respected and revered by people, but there was a subtle difference from what I knew.
I learned the reason for that after taking her in as my vassal.
“Incarnatio Draconis. (O Incarnation of the Dragon.)”
I had first encountered Syaren as a game character and knew her abilities.
Therefore, I knew how powerful she was.
“Supplico tibi. (I beseech thee.)”
But people did not know that.
Because Syaren had ‘hidden’ her abilities until now.
“Flamma diei ultimis orbis. (O flame that burns on the last day of the world.)”
Syaren had doubted all lords and had always used her abilities to the minimum.
It was said that even when she hunted orcs, from her perspective, she had used only very weak basic flame magic.
“Descende. (Descend.)”
In other words, the first time Syaren truly used her real magic before everyone…
was this very moment.
“Ignis Lanyx. (O Flame of Lanyx.)”
《Flame of Lanyx》
The ultimate flame magic that Syaren could use by borrowing the power of the Fire Dragon God Lanyx,
and a magic usable only by the successor of the Red Magic Tower.
As Syaren's incantation ended, red magical power gathered above the valley and began to take the form of a fire dragon.
What must that scene have looked like to the Deeprock below?
In the middle of a joyous meal, they looked up to see the sky burning and a fire dragon from hell glaring down at them.
It was nothing short of a scene straight out of the Cthulhu Mythos.
“Awuu…”
“A… awuu…”
If there was one difference from Cthulhu, it was that the fire dragon desired not corruption or mutation, but their total annihilation.
The Flame of Lanyx fell straight down into the valley.
And then…
Whoooooom—---
A nuclear explosion erupted before my eyes.
Kwa-aaaaaaang!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Uwaaaack!!!”
Even though I was quite far away and Syaren had cast a protective spell on me, a tremendous heatwave surged over me.
Barely coming to my senses and looking at the blast center…
“…Dear god…”
The pillar of fire exploding from the valley created a column of flames hundreds of meters high and sent a mushroom cloud soaring into the sky.
I remembered that in the description of Syaren's ultimate move, it had said it possessed power like a nuclear explosion.
But it had not been a metaphor; it was literally a nuclear explosion itself.
That day, I came to possess a nuclear button in another world.