After the first round concluded, I stood before the three hundred men who had returned from the drill grounds.
To be completely honest, it still felt surreal. In our very first appearance at the royal capital's military competition, we had defeated an opponent that had broken through the opening round last year. And on top of that, it was a far more respectable victory than I had ever anticipated...
"Well done! You made it past the first round!"
The moment the words left my mouth, the faces of the lined-up soldiers brightened all at once.
"I did say fifth place would be plenty... but frankly, I'm happy we won a round. You guys did way better today than I expected. But don't do anything reckless tomorrow, got it? There's no point in winning if you just end up covered in injuries."
"YES, SIR!!"
What a thunderous reply... Well, having high spirits is a good thing, I suppose...?
When I looked over at Raisa beside me, she was wearing a strangely amused look.
"What's with that grin?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that you're genuinely happy about this, Danna."
"Of course I'm happy when we win. What do you take me for?"
"A man who only ever thinks about gold coins?"
"How rude!...That's only about seventy percent of it."
Raisa burst out laughing, and chuckles rippled through the surrounding soldiers as well.
We had only won the first round; it wasn't like we'd secured fifth place yet. Even so, it felt as though the trouble of dragging three hundred men all the way to the royal capital had paid off just a little.
◇
The next morning.
I had been in high spirits straight through yesterday's victory. One win in our very first military competition. Our opponent had even been a house that made it past the first round last year. Defeating them was a more than satisfactory result for our debut.
So surely there was no harm in taking things a bit easy this morning.
Or so I thought, but—
"Vain! It's almost time to go!"
Just as I finished breakfast, Clarice spoke up as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"...We won once, so isn't that enough already?"
"What are you saying?! There are still eight houses left, aren't there?"
She shut me down instantly. Even though I wasn't the one fighting, it seemed the head of the house who brought three hundred men couldn't simply skip showing his face on the day of the second round.
"After rejoicing in front of the soldiers like that yesterday, you're already wanting to go home the moment morning comes?"
"I am glad we won! But wanting to work from the crack of dawn is an entirely different matter."
"Yes, yes... I'll listen to the rest while we walk."
She had absolutely no intention of listening.
Resigned, I stepped out of the inn.
The royal capital was bustling from early morning with the Founding Festival crowds, but as we drew closer to the Grand Drill Grounds, spectators heading to watch the military competition began to outnumber those there purely for the festival. It felt like there were even more people than yesterday.
Given that only the houses that won the first round remained, I suppose it was only natural...
Today's opponent was House Belga. I had been told they entered the military competition practically every year and had placed near the top on several occasions.
"...Aren't they strong again?"
"It's the second round, so of course. None of the houses that lost yesterday are left, after all."
"I suppose that's true..."
Seeing the logic in it only made my mood heavier. Ideally, I wanted them to win today too. But I had no desire for them to act recklessly against an opponent stronger than yesterday's just to win at the cost of piling up injuries.
In that regard, I was a little worried about our men, who had been raring to go since morning.
"...Those guys won't get carried away and do something reckless, will they?"
"Raisa and Lydia are with them, so leave it to their hands."
"Right. Not like I'd understand even if I gave it thought."
Deciding to leave it at that, I entered the Grand Drill Grounds.
◇
Before the match, the staging areas for House Razgrim and House Belga were situated in close proximity.
As the soldiers clad in dark blue surcoats checked their weapons, armor, and leather straps, several knights from House Belga approached. The man leading them seemed to have noticed Raisa the day before, sporting an unpleasant sneer from the start.
"Looks like you got lucky and won the first round, Raisa."
Raisa looked at him and slightly narrowed her eyes.
"You, huh... You're still with House Belga?"
He was a man she had crossed paths with several times during joint drills back when she was in the Kingdom Knights.
"That's my line. I heard you fell so low as to become a mercenary after quitting the Kingdom Knights... but to think you're leading a duke's soldiers now."
When the man shifted his gaze behind Raisa, laughter spilled from the Belga soldiers accompanying him.
"Yesterday's opponent had rotten luck, too. Having their flag taken by a ragtag bunch like this."
"And the one leading them is a woman who abandoned the knights to stoop to mercenary work? What a splendid commander he found himself!"
"Duke Razgrim really has no eye for talent, does he? When I heard he became a duke, I wondered what kind of man he was, but to think he gathered up bandits and mercenaries and entrusted three hundred troops to a washed-up former knight! He's nothing but a greenhorn whose only merit is his title!"
A roar of laughter erupted. Raisa offered no retort. The Razgrim soldiers lined up behind her remained quiet as well, but the lighthearted banter that had filled the air completely vanished.
They were used to being mocked as bandits and mercenaries. In fact, it was the truth, so they were content to let people say what they pleased.
However—it was a completely different matter when it came to Raisa and Lord Vain, the master who had saved them, being ridiculed.
Once the Belga soldiers walked away, a former bandit soldier spoke in a low, simmering tone.
"...Big sis. They can say whatever the hell they want about us. It's true we were bandits, and we ain't gonna get mad about it now. But mocking Lord Vain on top of you, big sis... that's crossing the line, ain't it?"
"Same here. They don't know why you quit the knights, big sis, and they sure as hell don't know that Lord Vain took us in, fed us, and let us train this hard... Spouting whatever garbage comes to mind."
Low murmurs of agreement rippled through the surrounding men.
Raisa looked at her soldiers for a moment. Back when she was a knight, the people she had tried to protect were also nameless soldiers from the perspective of the higher-ups. She had defied orders for that purpose, and after being relentlessly condemned, she had walked away from the Kingdom Knights.
Now, those very soldiers were furious on her behalf. A faint, ticklish warmth welled up deep in her chest, but Raisa simply lifted the corner of her mouth in her usual smirk.
"Calm down! I'm annoyed too, you know. But if we throw punches here, we're just fools, right?"
She gestured toward House Belga with her chin.
"We've got a match right in front of us. Rather than talking back, why don't we show them on the field so they can never laugh again? But winning comes first! If any of you lose your heads and forget your posts, I'll personally deal with you when we get back."
Smiles returned to the soldiers' grim faces, and one of them lowered his voice slightly.
"Big sis... if a punch accidentally lands on their faces during the match, it's just an accident in the heat of a melee, right?"
"Yeah. If it's an accident, it can't be helped, right?"
After answering instantly, Raisa slightly curled her lips upward.
"Besides, Danna isn't the type to tell us to 'stay quiet' after we're insulted however they please and he gets mocked too! He might not look it, but he hates having his own people looked down upon."
Grins spread across the soldiers' faces.
"However—if you pull something on your own and get penalized, that's a different story. What Danna hates most is suffering a loss over foolish pride. If you're going to do it, keep it within the bounds of the competition and make sure you don't get caught."
"Heh-heh... Understood."
Lydia, who had been listening slightly behind them, wore an indescribable expression.
She probably ought to stop them. However, she herself had been quite infuriated by the remarks earlier. Above all, she was far more displeased than she'd expected at hearing Raisa, whom she respected, being dismissed as "washed-up" by people entirely ignorant of the circumstances.
In the end, Lydia said nothing and turned her gaze toward the voice announcing the start of the match.
◇
The second round was an engagement to seize and hold an encampment established in the center of the drill grounds.
A team that planted their house's flag inside the area enclosed by low wooden palisades and defended it until the designated time ran out would claim victory. If the flag was taken partway through, the defending side would switch.
When the starting signal rang out, House Belga sprinted toward the center in unison, planting their flag inside the palisade visibly faster than Razgrim.
"Hey?! They already took it!"
When I unintentionally cried out from the spectator seats, Duke Eldran sat to my left, chuckling in high spirits for some reason.
"What are you laughing at?! They've already taken the position!"
"Just watch... It seems they had no intention of claiming it first from the start."
I rested my elbow back onto the armrest and looked down at the dark-blue-clad soldiers below.
◇
The former bandit soldier did not panic even when House Belga's flag was raised in the center. Just as Raisa had instructed, if the enemy funneled troops inside to defend the position, their numbers outside would thin out accordingly. All they had to do first was whittle down the perimeter.
And—he remembered the faces of the ones who had laughed at them before the match with absolute clarity.
"Here they come!"
Bracing his shield at his comrade's shout, a Belga soldier slashed in from the front. Deflecting the parried sword to the outside of his shield, he slammed in with his shoulder, and a former mercenary comrade beside him drove his shield straight into the opponent's exposed flank.
"Guh?!"
The staggering man looked familiar. He was the one who had laughed before the match, sneering about them surrounding wagons on the highway. The former bandit soldier stepped forward without hesitation and swung his tournament sword.
Thwack!
Just as aimed, it landed cleanly against the helmet's cheek guard.
"Gwah?! That hurts like hell!"
The man collapsed to the ground, and the referee declared him unfit for combat.
"Sorry! Couldn't see in the melee!"
He tossed out the apology as he pulled back. Of course, he had seen everything with crystal clarity.
"You totally aimed that just now, didn't you?"
His comrade beside him chuckled.
"It was an accident, an accident! Big sis said it couldn't be helped, right?"
"Then it can't be helped!"
Though laughing, the two immediately moved on to their next target.
Similar scenes were unfolding all over the field. Whenever a Belga soldier who had laughed before the match pushed forward, two men would collide with him simultaneously, forcing him back shield and all. Another took a blow to the shoulder that broke his balance, only to have his helmet struck from the blind side immediately after.
"Y-You bastards! Haven't you been targeting only us this whole time?!"
"Must be your imagination! We're just fighting as ordered!"
His reply, at least, was thoroughly upright.
To be fair, the Belga soldier's accusation wasn't wrong. They were blatantly targeting them. However, they never followed up on fallen opponents, nor did they strike dangerous, forbidden areas. The moment the referee declared an opponent unfit for combat, they backed off immediately, and whenever Raisa's commands rang out, they prioritized orders over personal grudges.
"That's enough over there! Fall back to the center! Right flank, advance; left flank, hold them where they are!"
The instant her voice reached him, the former bandit soldier backed away from the opponent before him. While he wanted to land one more solid hit, breaking orders would mean facing a big sis far scarier than any Belga soldier after the match.
The Belga soldiers remaining on the perimeter had already been drastically reduced in number. Though many remained inside the encampment, they could not maneuver freely as long as they remained penned in.
When a messenger carrying Lydia's instructions dashed forward, the Razgrim soldiers closed in on the palisade from the left and right, applying pressure from three directions almost simultaneously. If the defenders reinforced one spot, another grew thin; if they diverted troops to cover it, enemies breached from the opposite side.
Before long, a section of the palisade could no longer hold.
"Charge in!"
The dark-blue soldiers surged in all at once, shields clashing violently around the flag. The former bandit soldier shoved opponents aside alongside his comrades, and in the chaos, another soldier tore down House Belga's flag.
In its place, the silver wolf was hoisted high, and roaring cheers enveloped the Grand Drill Grounds.
From there, it was Razgrim's turn to defend. The Belga soldiers swarmed in repeatedly to take it back, but without overextending, Razgrim fortified the palisade's entrance, reinforcing only where the pressure was heaviest, with someone immediately stepping up to fill the gap whenever a defender pulled back.
Even in the thick of it, whenever the men who had laughed before the match drew near—the blows landed against them were just a little heavier. Truly just a little... at least, that was how they justified it.
Before long, the designated time elapsed, and the signal for the end of the match resonated through the grounds.
—House Razgrim's victory in the second round was officially confirmed.
◇
Facing the soldiers who had returned from the drill grounds, Raisa remained silent for a long moment.
Several of them blatantly averted their eyes.
"...You guys. That was painfully obvious, you know."
The soldiers' grins froze.
"I told you to do it without getting caught, didn't I? Aiming for the exact same guy's face three or four times—how is that an accident?"
"Well... his face just happened to be right where I swung my sword."
"As if someone's face would pop up that conveniently over and over!"
Laughter broke out among the ranks, and Raisa exhaled an exasperated sigh without actually losing her temper.
"Well, we won, so I'll let it slide this time... I was pissed off too, after all. But if you pull that again, do it a bit smarter, got it? Halfway through, it was broad daylight who you were gunning for."
"That's your takeaway, big sis?!"
"Of course! There's no point if we get penalized and throw the match!"
Lydia, who was listening a short distance away, spoke up with a conflicted expression.
"...Raisa-dono. I was quite infuriated by the way those men spoke as well. However, aiming for the same person's face repeatedly is perhaps a bit..."
"It was an accident, apparently."
"Can there truly be an accident where a strike lands on the exact same spot three or four times?"
"Strange things happen sometimes, you know..."
Lydia moved to retort, but ultimately let out a soft sigh. Normally, she ought to instruct them never to repeat it, but remembering the men who had laughed at Raisa and Vain before the match, she couldn't bring herself to press the issue.
"...Next time, at least ensure it is far less noticeable."
"Oh? And here I was sure you'd tell them to stop."
Lydia averted her gaze slightly.
"Even I have things that make me angry!"
Hearing that retort, Raisa burst into boisterous laughter, and the soldiers couldn't help but chuckle along with her.
One of them casually looked up toward the spectator stands.
"...Big sis. Do you think Lord Vain will be pleased?"
"Yeah. Danna is definitely thrilled."
"Then... I wanna win the next one too."
At that single sentence, the smiles across the soldiers' faces subtly transformed.