Torn Asunder by War, A Sword Saint for Tomorrow X The Knight Wizards!! – Chapter 64

Chapter 64: The Battlefield Is a King’s Pastime
  Perhaps due to the fatigue from the long journey, I fell asleep while pondering complex matters… and the next time I woke up, the sun was shining through the window.
  
  Resisting the chirping of the birds, which seemed to whisper for me to wake up, I turned over to the corridor side where the glare was somewhat less intense.
  
  ‘Morning training… It’s okay to skip it when I’m away from home, right?’
  
  While thinking such lazy thoughts and indulging in a second sleep, after a while, the door of my room was knocked on noisily.
  
  “Claude, are you awake? It’s morning~”
  “I’m asleep, be quiet…”
  
  I reflexively tried to send Revia away, but since she came to wake me up, I must have overslept more than I thought.
  
  In other words, the possibility of her giving up easily was low. The fact that I understand that and still don’t feel like moving means I’m probably a bit sleepy.
  
  “Ahh~, in that case, there’s no choice but to charge in!”
  
  The red-haired girl, who had called out to me several times, groaned, and as I raised my upper body in bed, she barged into the room without hesitation.
  
  “Oh, you were already awake.”
  “Just now.”
  
  She approached me, looking a little disappointed, and handed me a white military shirt she had grabbed from the table on the way, which was nice of her, but… she was giving me a rather direct look.
  
  “What’s wrong? Do I have some terrible bedhead?”
  “No, it’s just that Claude when you’ve just woken up is a refreshing sight, and looking at you now, I realize how strong you are…”
  
  Right now, I’m only wearing form-fitting military underwear, so my body lines and well-trained muscles are clearly visible. Revia, blushing slightly, averted her gaze as if embarrassed.
  
  Her gesture overlapped with Izana’s when we first entered into a political marriage, and while I found it somewhat amusing, I made sure to point out what needed to be said.
  
  “…The lower half covered by the bedspread is also underwear.”
  “Haa~, I’ll wait in the hallway.”
  
  Seeing off the red-haired girl who retreated dejectedly, I put on my usual, familiar knight’s uniform.
  
  I fixed my bedhead by using my hand, which I dipped in a bucket of water, as a comb, and then went outside so as not to keep her waiting too long.
  
  “I haven’t greeted you yet, good morning.”
  “Yeah, it’s already breakfast time, though.”
  
  Following Revia, whose beautiful red hair caught the sunlight streaming through the window as she started walking, we headed to the dining hall on the first floor where we had dinner yesterday.
  
  There, we waited for all the members of the Knight Kingdom, including the resident officer Zaisel, to gather. After having scrambled eggs, ham, etc., on top of rye-mixed black bread cut in half, we left the capital city of Vern, seen off by Ms. Miranda and others.
  
  After increasing the speed of the giant knights to a level that wouldn’t be a burden and advancing for about an hour and a half towards the central-western part of the principality where the fallen defensive city was located, Dino’s voice came through the device from the Modified Guardia Clawsolas at the head of the formation.
  
  『Multiple knight silhouettes ahead, probably from the Principality.』
  『If I remember correctly, their independently developed Albus units are mixed in, right?』
  
  『Apparently so. Are you interested, Lise?』
  『Yeah, a little…』
  
  Inspired by the casual conversation she overheard, Kotono, who had become close to the two due to the circumstances of how she was found, joined in casually.
  
  『Actually, I’m also interested in the sniper type.』
  『Because our Svel units also have bows as their main armament.』
  
  Hearing the words of the black-haired bow knight and her mage partner, I imagined the engineers and maintenance crew who had finally completed the giant bow and arrow after much trial and error.
  
  If they were accompanying us, the petite twin elf girls, among others, would be extremely curious about the knights possessed by other countries and would swarm around them… and we would be flooded with complaints.
  
  『Anyway, it seems like there won’t be any problems until we rendezvous with the 1st Regiment.』
  『We still have some distance to cover, Claude-sama.』
  
  Because the overall height of the knights is considerable, the range visible through the pseudo-eyeballs is also wide, and in open fields with no obstacles, the distance to the target after it comes into view is long, as Eleia pointed out.
  
  A clever person like Lady White Fox could probably calculate the distance to the horizon visible from our viewpoint based on the Earth’s radius using mental arithmetic, but unfortunately, that’s an impossible feat for me.
  
  『It’s probably less than a quarter of an hour at the knight’s cruising speed…』
  『No, I don’t think it will take that long, based on my senses.』
  
  Although I was a bit frustrated, Lloyd’s words, who had been riding a Clawsolas longer than me, were spot on, and in the end, we reached the Principality army in less time than I had expected.
  
  As the soldiers suddenly raised cheers, a light blue giant knight, who seemed to be in command of the current situation, stepped forward from the formation.
  
  『I am Vict Elator, Vice-Captain of the 1st Regiment of the Lichtea Principality’s Knight Order. You are the knights of Lizel, are you not?』
  
  『Indeed! I am Xenos Danberk, Captain of the Knight Order, who has rushed here from the royal capital of Asia!』
  
  Captain Xenos, who had moved to the front to match the other party, gave an unfamiliar surname and turned the face of his Clawsolas L-type towards my Clawsolas, which was following a little behind.
  
  『In your country’s tradition, it was customary for the king to take to the battlefield, wasn’t it? It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.』
  
  『Ah, likewise.』
  
  I nodded at the straightforward words and behavior of the Albus S-type knight, who was about to kneel, and stopped the formal greeting I was not comfortable with.
  
  『I’m relieved that you seem to be a reasonable person. As you can see, we are in the midst of an embarrassing retreat… but this is not the end.』
  
  After nodding at the chilling voice filled with fighting spirit, we had a simple lunch and discussed our course of action with the personnel from both sides. As a result, we decided to retreat to a point about 16km northeast.