Chapter 59 - 59 Request for Support from the In-Laws
Steve, accompanied by Christina and Bella, teleported to the Earl of Macintosh's residence. Steve himself had already gone ahead and teleported a few days prior to inform them. Since it is not as casual as visiting Aurora, he is properly sending a head start like this.
They cannot treat the fact that he teleported here as something to be dismissed, and the other party will provide a certain level of hospitality, but since the Earl himself is not present, a sudden visit by everyone is not possible.
And today, the other party is all gathered to welcome Steve and the others.
"It has been a long time, Lord Macintosh."
"Welcome, son-in-law."
"It has been a long time, Father."
As expected of one's in-laws, Christina greets them with a composed atmosphere. It is a world of difference from when she greeted Aurora.
Afterward, she greets her mother and siblings as well.
Once the greetings were finished, Steve brought up the purpose of their visit to Earl Macintosh: the matter of the clothespins.
"Then, shall we first deliver the clothespins you requested? How many would you like?"
"Your request is quite large. If you could give us about a thousand, we would be grateful."
"A thousand, then."
Saying that, Steve used magic to pile the clothespins before them. A cheer of "Oh!" rose from the people of the Macintosh household. Everyone had seen mages use fire or water magic, but this was their first time seeing magic that creates such objects.
Earl Macintosh, seeing the thousand clothespins appear in the blink of an eye, regretted hesitating and saying only a thousand. He thought he should have asked for more, but it was too late.
Just as he was thinking that, Steve brought up the topic of general sales.
"In fact, we have decided to sell these clothespins to the general public through the trading company we use. At first, they will likely sell out in the western region, but eventually, we plan to distribute them throughout the entire country."
"I do not understand, but judging by the servants' talk, it seems drying laundry will become easier. There must be quite a demand for it."
"Yes. So, originally we had no intention of general sales, but the head of the trading company insisted and pushed through the request."
Upon hearing the news of general sales, Earl Macintosh thought he should distribute the clothespins immediately. If these spread widely, the sense of gratitude would diminish.
With the clothespin matter settled, just as they were about to have a meal, a soldier rushed over to the Earl in a panic.
"My Lord, I apologize for interrupting your guests. An urgent matter has arisen that must be reported immediately."
Reported thus, the Earl, whose daughter's homecoming was being disturbed after such a long time, felt annoyed inwardly but outwardly maintained a face as if nothing were wrong and received the report.
"What is it?"
"The Kingdom of Pasture has crossed the border and invaded our country."
"What!? What has become of Lord Adams?"
The Kingdom of Pasture is a country bordering the north, and minor skirmishes had occurred between it and the Kingdom of Cascade for years. Lord Adams refers to Margrave Adams, who is in charge of northern defense. The north has both Margrave Adams and the national army. For the border to be breached is no small matter.
"The border fortresses, starting with the main fortress, have all fallen. They are currently believed to be besieged within the capital city. Considering the time the messenger arrived, it is not surprising that it has come to this."
"If the fortresses have fallen, the open field battle must be even worse for them. However, their movements are quite urgent. I did hear there were signs of reinforcing troops along the border, but I did not hear of such a large-scale offensive."
"It is said there is a remarkably strong knight among the enemy."
"Hmm."
Hearing this, Earl Macintosh glanced briefly at Steve.
The story reached Steve as well, and he realized this was not a situation where he could just say "do your best" and return.
"If what I heard is true, there seems to be no time left. I do not know how the northern national army will move, but since I am here by some fate, if there is anything I can cooperate on, I will cooperate."
"It would be a help to hear you say that, Son-in-law of the Dragon Wing Medal. We will prepare the first wave immediately, so please head to the capital of Margrave Adams."
"If so, could you provide a map to that location? Before the army is ready, I would like to scout the area."
A map was brought immediately, and Steve, relying on the direction of the map, decided to head to the capital of Margrave Adams via continuous teleportation.
Christina watched Steve with a worried expression.
"Steve-sama, please return safely."
"Christina, wait here. I will be back by night."
"Steve, what about me?"
"Bella, wait here. When I return, we will go together."
"Understood."
Leaving the two behind, Steve began teleportation.
Upon arriving at Adams Land, the capital of Margrave Adams, the situation was that enemies were clinging to the city walls. Some had flooded into the capital, and street fighting was breaking out.
"This is quite a bad situation. One person is not enough, so I should go back and bring Earl Macintosh's army."
Saying that, he teleported to Earl Macintosh's castle. Then, he reported the situation to Earl Macintosh.
"My Lord, the situation is very dire. The enemy has penetrated inside the capital."
"As I thought. I have a vanguard unit waiting in the garden."
"I understand. Then let us transport them to the capital."
Stepping out into the garden, Steve introduced himself to the waiting unit.
"I am Steve Archibalt. I am bringing you to Adams Land at the request of Earl Macintosh. You may feel unwell due to the unfamiliar teleportation magic, but upon arrival, you will already be on a battlefield. Do not let your guard down and deal with it."
"It is an honor to be able to run across the battlefield together with Lord Dragon Wing."
When the unit captain said that, Steve nodded.
The unit was hastily organized and consisted of only 100 men, but they were all elite. At least, there were no new recruits who would be a hindrance on the battlefield.
Seeing that everyone had made up their minds, Steve thought there would be no problem.
"Then, let us go."
Saying that, Steve teleported the entire unit to Adams Land.
Immediately upon arriving in Adams Land, Steve used a body enhancement magic on all members of the unit.
He also used the same body enhancement magic on Bella, who had come along.
With this, they should at least be able to move like a Royal Guard Knight Commander or higher.
"Be careful of friendly fire. I will go find a strong knight among the enemy."
Saying that, he used magic to command nearby insects and birds to search for areas where the battle situation looked particularly bad.
And immediately, he discovered that the Margrave Adams army, trying to eliminate enemies at the northern city gate, was being counter-attacked.
The city gate was already open, and enemies could be seen invading through it.
"Bella, I found them. I am going right into the heart of the enemy now."
"Okay."
Confirming Bella's nod, Steve decided to teleport to the city gate.
The city gate was already broken. Outside, the Kingdom of Pasture army was trying to enter the city, and the Margrave Adams army was trying to intercept them. However, the Margrave Adams army was being defeated by a single knight, and enemies were pouring in through the gap.
The knight was wearing metal armor, but not a helmet. He had a youthful face, short brown hair, and a sword tattoo on his forehead. Steve estimated his age to be in his early twenties. His height was around 180cm; he was not particularly large, but there must be some secret to his overwhelming strength that keeps enemies at bay. Steve observed every corner using the eyes of insects.
The Margrave Adams army also had mages, and fireballs and water orbs flew toward the enemy knight, but all were dodged, and no effective hits were landed.
Around the knight, the bodies of the Margrave Adams army soldiers were piled up. Now, they were surrounding him from a distance and attacking with magic and arrows. Soldiers not participating in that attack were fighting other enemy soldiers trying to break through the circle.
Steve appeared right before the eyes of that enemy knight.
"A new enemy!"
One of the Margrave Adams army shouted, and Steve denied it.
"I am on your side. My name is Steve Archibalt. I have come as reinforcements at the request of Earl Macintosh."
The enemy knight reacted to the name first.
"Heh. I thought this was a boring fight, but it is lucky to meet the Dragon Wing Medal guy here. I was getting bored because all the enemies were so tasteless."
He laughed lecherously and pointed the tip of his sword at Steve.
When the knight mentioned the Dragon Wing Medal, the recognition that Steve was the Dragon Wing Medal spread among the Margrave Adams army. However, soldiers who only knew of Steve's exploits through hearsay felt uneasy looking at Steve, who clearly looked like a child.
"He is still a child."
"Did he really defeat the Kingdom of Forest army?"
Voices even arose doubting his achievements.
Steve stopped Bella, who was furious and about to jump at the Margrave Adams army.
"Bella, the enemy is not over there."
"Sorry."
"Well, it is fine. You got angry for my sake. I will handle the knight in front of me, so please take care of the others."
"Understood."
Saying that, Bella assumed a stance with her Short Spear. This also had a spring mechanism, and the tip could fly out if necessary.
"Bringing a woman to the battlefield, you have plenty of confidence, don't you?"
The knight laughed mockingly. Steve did not get angry at this and replied calmly.
"We are short on manpower. We cannot afford to talk about women or children."
"Well, it cannot be helped in that territory."
"You know well."
Even while saying that, Steve wanted to click his tongue at the fact that the enemy in front of him had investigated his territory. Having become famous, he had taken on unnecessary risks.
"Anyway, let's stop chatting. I want to bring back a souvenir of having defeated the Dragon Wing Medal."
"I refuse."
Saying that, Steve kicked the ground with his heel and attacked the knight.
A horizontal slash struck the knight, but he dodged it with a back step. Even though it was a non-serious strike intended to gauge the opponent's power, it was an attack with speed that even a Royal Guard Knight Commander could not dodge, yet it failed to hit the knight, causing shock.
The opponent in front of him was definitely a powerhouse above a Royal Guard Knight Commander.
"Heh. You can dodge that strike."
"It was not bad, but it means my power is superior."
Now the knight attacked Steve.
Steve deflected the two attacks from left and right with his sword, and now the knight was surprised.
"The Dragon Wing Medal is no joke. I did not think you could block that attack."
"I can feel magic in your attacks, so you are using magic, right?"
The knight nodded at Steve's question.
"You can tell that much? Yes, my magic is Sensory Enhancement. I have enhanced my vision and hearing, so I can see the opponent's movements in slow motion, and I won't miss the initial movements either. Well, since I taught you this much, I won't let you return alive."
"But since I blocked that attack, you cannot kill me anymore, right?"
"Not necessarily. I can enhance my senses further. It gets troublesome if I enhance it too much because it becomes hypersensitive, but..."
Saying that, the knight used magic to further enhance his senses.
Steve felt a chill at that action. It was the moment he learned a new magic.
"You seem quite happy about dying soon."
"I will not die. I can do the same thing now."
Saying that, Steve enhanced his own vision. Then, he could see the movement of the insect wings he commanded in slow motion.
"Heh. You can even see the movement of insect wings. This will be tough until I get used to it."
"Idiot! How can you use that magic?"
"How? You showed me, didn't you? Now, let's go seriously."
Saying that, he used magic to create chains from the ground and tried to restrain the knight.
However, seeing the knight move quickly at the sight of the earth beginning to form chains, he was not restrained.
"Hmm. If I can see the earth starting to deform with magic, it is easy to dodge."
"That is right. Or rather, can you use earth magic too! Double?"
"Now that you mention it, using two magics is called Double, wasn't it? But I am not that."
"It doesn't matter. I know that if I do not kill you here, you will become a major obstacle."
The knight closed the distance in an instant and dealt a rapid slash to Steve.
Just before the tip of the sword reached Steve, iron appeared between Steve and the sword tip, stopping the sword's movement.
Clang.
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed.
The knight, who had enhanced his hearing, reflexively covered his ears. The sound was too loud and hurt his ears.
And the sword he was holding had its tip snapped off.
"Well, since you have no weapon, if you surrender, I will not take your life."
Steve suggested surrender to the opponent, but the knight did not nod.
"Don't be foolish. I still have a weapon."
Saying that, the knight pulled out a sword from nowhere.