亚洲综合一区二区三区四区五区

Translator: FusionX

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This request turned into an all-out battle for the Royal Knights.

Originally, we would leave behind a guard unit for the defense of our base when going out.

However, there were exceptions when we had to utilize the full force of the Royal Knights, like during the subjugation of Comprachico.

In my opinion, if we failed to stop the Dwarf Republic’s rampage, there was a high probability that the Dwarf Republic would fall and a dark age would occur.

After all, the Dwarf Republic was the strongest nation in terms of technology.

In fact, in the original story, the demons used unbelievable technologies like magic cannons and mobile fortresses.

According to the setting, they obtained those by absorbing the technology of the Dwarf Republic.

In other words, even for the sake of my own happy future, we absolutely had to protect the Dwarf Republic.

Furthermore, even if we couldn’t protect the republic, we at least had to secure the divine sword somehow.

“Teacher, I want to be of help to you as well.”

“It’s too dangerous, Helia.”

While the other members weren’t a problem, Helia’s safety was still the biggest concern.

Until now, I had Helia stand by in the rear with Cluna. Because she was still young.

She was only just turning from 13 to 14 years old.

In modern times, that would only be a first-year middle school student.

How could we put such a little girl on the front lines?

Naturally, we had no choice but to put her in the rear.

However, this time, Helia’s determination to stand with me at the front was firm, too firm.

Not only I, but Cluna also opposed it.

But the rest of the members took Helia’s side.

“Shouldn’t we let her do as she wants?”

“It’s up to oneself to choose one’s own path.”

“We, well, I think it’ll be fine if we protect her…!!”

Well, you guys have been talking since you were 3 years old and hunting bears, so of course you’d say that.

But humans were different.

Compared to other races, humans had a longer infancy and were weaker in many ways.

The same applied to Helia.

No matter how tremendous her talent was, she was still just a young child.

But what if something went wrong and Helia died or got seriously injured?

It could possibly affect the development of the original story.

That was the one thing I wanted to avoid.

If it was a positive influence, that would be one thing.

But if it had a negative impact, who knew what the future would hold.

Yuren maintained neutrality.

Perhaps because she had the experience of losing family, only Cluna, who thought of Helia as a daughter, was the sole member agreeing with me.

“Helia is lacking in experience and too young. There’s absolutely no need to move so hastily.”

“I’m sorry. But I don’t want to just watch from behind anymore either.”

“Why are you going so far?”

“I find it hard to just watch Teacher get hurt from behind.”

“That’s…”

Cluna’s soft voice faltered.

It was because she made eye contact with Helia, whose eyes were as gloomy as if shrouded in dark clouds.

The girl’s red eyes were heavily downcast.

“I don’t want to just be a burden to Teacher anymore. I will do my utmost to help Teacher as well.”

“Goodness, how can you two be so alike…”

“Mother!!!”

“I suppose it can’t be helped at this point.”

Cluna smiled and brought her hand to her cheek.

At Cluna’s words, Clara’s face turned red as she shouted.

Regardless, in the end, Cluna took a step back.

…Excuse me?

What am I supposed to do if you back down like that?

As I looked at Cluna with that feeling, she showed me a smile.

Just as I was about to say something, she spoke first.

“Didn’t you say the same thing to me, Commander?”

“…”

“You told me to protect my daughter by my side directly. Then, Commander, you should do the same, shouldn’t you?”

I shut my mouth.

I never expected my own words to come back like a boomerang.

I had said it so confidently that I couldn’t refute it.

My head hurt, the headache was too severe.

“I have no choice. However, in case of emergency, you must follow my words absolutely. If you don’t follow that, I’ll send you straight to the rear.”

“Thank you! Teacher!”

“Great! We can finally fight together!”

“Hmm! Helia would be more helpful than some lump of ore!”

“Why is this mineral brat picking a fight again?”

As a bonus, Clara and Ruby, who started fighting again, were at it.

At first, I also tried to break them apart every day.

But they were constantly stuck together and fighting.

Now, I just let it be.

Moreover, even though their words were rough, there wasn’t a single instance of it leading to actual swordplay since I became the commander.

Anyway, Helia also officially joined the Royal Knights’ forces.

But was this really the right thing to do?

Bringing a child who’s only 13 years old to the battlefield…

Of course, it was a multi-race alliance. And the current time period was closer to the Middle Ages rather than modern times, but still.

As I was getting weighed down by various thoughts, something soft like a glutinous rice cake stuck tightly to my arm.

Startled, I turned my head and met red eyes.

“Now we can always be together! Teacher!”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right.”

Her red eyes were shining ominously.

I got an eerie feeling.

Certainly, Helia was smiling. And I clearly knew that emotion was goodwill, but…

It was not like there was a problem though.

Perhaps it was due to her continued education together with Cluna.

Compared to before when she would immediately resort to swordplay, her personality had definitely improved a lot.

In fact, she was often seen getting along with her fellow members Bayard, Clara, and Ruby.

However, I had a thought.

Could it be that Helia had been moving behind the scenes aiming for this?

I quickly denied that thought.

There was no way Helia would go that far.

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Ambassador Viral’s request was simple.

Save the rampaging Dwarf Republic.

He said he would give everything he had as compensation.

I thought it was nonsense, but when he paid 10,000 gold upfront, my mind quickly changed.

When people are too desperate, they can talk like that, yes. Indeed, indeed.

But more than the money, above all, it was to our benefit for the Dwarf Republic to hold out.

If the Dwarf Republic collapsed, one of the two pillars supporting against the demon attacks would be breached in an instant.

So we put in our utmost effort to prevent the fall of the Dwarf Republic.

Realizing that, I entrusted the fortress to the Human Kingdom and mobilized all our forces.

Fortunately, thanks to the advance payment from Ambassador Viral, we were able to provide quite a big help to the kingdom as well.

As a result, we were now riding carriages and heading straight to the Dwarf Republic.

Thanks to Ambassador Viral covering all the carriage expenses, we could travel as if we were on a trip.

“What is the current situation in the Dwarf Republic?”

“Frankly, it’s not looking good. They are showing an attitude that it’s natural to sacrifice others to improve their own skills.”

“Wasn’t it always like that?”

“Good skills are imbued in good craftsmen. It’s a proverb passed down among dwarves. But now…”

“It seems there are neither good skills nor good craftsmen.”

At my words, Ambassador Viral fell silent.

I also didn’t know the details.

The setting related to the Dwarf Republic wasn’t elaborated much in the original game or even in the setting collections.

Only bits and pieces were revealed.

Moreover, even the dwarf heroine Bell Sapphire didn’t think very highly of her homeland.

She chose to rebuild the republic just for the sake of her fellow people as the last royal.

Later on, she would be freed from that heavy burden and live happily with the protagonist, which was Bell Sapphire’s normal ending.

The good ending… Let’s stop thinking about that now, damn it.

“By the way, is it okay for other races to go to the Dwarf Republic together?”

“I will guarantee the safety of the Royal Knights.”

“I see, I suppose we can trust the word of someone of the Ambassador’s position.”

According to Ambassador Viral, dwarves basically liked to hone their skills.

It was their racial characteristic or something.

But if all dwarves were blacksmiths, the nation wouldn’t function.

So they create positions that allowed the nation to function at a minimum and appointed dwarves to those positions.

Although they couldn’t hone their skills, they were respected by other dwarves to that extent instead.

Because if by any chance they quit, the next person to take that position could be themselves.

Therefore, we could trust Ambassador Viral’s word.

Though I didn’t know how long it would last.

“Come to think of it, hasn’t Cluna been to the Dwarf Republic before?”

“Of course. Let’s see, was it about 500 years ago?”

“…I guess there won’t be any helpful information then.”

Dwarves do live longer than humans, but not to the extent of living for ages like elves.

Moreover, if it was 500 years ago, the times would have changed more than enough.

Naturally, it wouldn’t be of any help.

Perhaps because we were talking about too difficult topics, Helia was nodding off at some point.

For Helia’s sake, I lent her my shoulder.

Only then did she fall asleep with a stable expression.

“You two seem to have a very good relationship.”

“It’s not bad.”

But at the end of the day, it was just a relationship between a teacher and a student.

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