"I’m sorry, but I’m pushing through—even if it means killing you."
There was no other way; I had to take them down.
I cut the first knight down and immediately crossed blades with another who was scrambling to draw his sword.
"What is with this brat?!" the man barked.
At that moment, Gald-san and the others, who had been approaching under the cover of the terrain, charged in on their Emblem Horses.
More knights emerged from the checkpoint, but there were only about five of them in total. It seemed there weren't any Knight Commander-class fighters among them—which made sense, given they were just sentries. We could definitely break through this.
"Lord Sora!"
"I know!!"
If we let them stall us here, more enemies would converge on our position and trap us. Abandoning any pretense of a prolonged duel, we forced our way through the checkpoint by sheer momentum.
Once we were clear, I hopped onto the back of Gald-san's Emblem Horse, and we sped away.
"Should we pursue them?!" one of the enemy knights shouted behind us.
"No, we don't have the numbers! If they have a Commander-class with them, we're as good as dead! Just send word!"
They didn't follow. Good, I thought, letting out a breath. We made it through safely.
The blockade had been unexpectedly thin, which was a lucky miscalculation on our part. We kept our eyes forward, intent on putting distance between us and the checkpoint.
That was when I saw it.
"……Eh?"
From my seat behind Gald-san, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye.
One of the knights was tapping his finger rhythmically against a device connected to a large wooden box.
I had never seen the device before, but I recognized the motion instantly.
"……Morse…… code?"
In my previous life, staring blankly at the TV had been part of my daily routine. I had seen it once on a program. Morse code was a communication method that used two types of signals—dots and dashes—to represent characters.
It wasn't a live voice transmission like the smartphones I used to know, but it allowed a person to convey complex information to someone far away.
"We did it, Lord Sora! No casualties! At this rate, we’ll—"
"…………"
"Lord Sora?"
"Hey, Gald-san. Do you know what a telephone is? Or... Morse code?"
"Morse code? Hmm... No, I can't say I've heard of it."
"It's a way to send information over long distances. How do people usually talk to someone far away in this world?"
"Ah! You mean carrier pigeons? They lack accuracy, you see. Unless you’re communicating between established, trained bases, it’s quite difficult. We couldn't arrange for any this time."
"…………"
It was just as I thought. There were no telephones in this world.
I had wondered if my village was just particularly backwater, but even in a city like Fastress, the civilization level didn't include electricity. At night, they used oil lamps; laundry was done by hand. Even with running water, I had never seen a single electric pump. Magic tools or convenient enchanted items didn't seem to exist either.
This world was roughly equivalent to Medieval Europe or the Three Kingdoms period. The very concept of electricity shouldn't exist.
"Gald-san, we need to hurry. I have a bad feeling about this."
"……Understood!"
If that really was a communication device, we might already be walking into a trap. There was likely a reason why the blockade at the pass had been so thin.
They had already dispatched the pursuers.
Setting that aside, if a country with the equivalent of long-range telecommunications fought a country restricted to primitive warfare...
It wouldn't even be a contest. The information gap was too wide.
"…………That’s just cheating."
I wasn't an expert on military strategy. However, I could feel dark clouds gathering over the future of this kingdom as it blundered into a war with a powerhouse like Dragonia.
"Gald-san, how much further!"
"According to the map…… we should already be within the Featherfield Domain, but……! Wait, I see it! That’s the city!"
We pushed the horses to their absolute limit.
After about an hour of riding through rough, mountainous terrain, buildings finally began to flicker on the horizon. They were still far off—at least several kilometers away—but the scale became clear as we drew closer. It was a fortress city, completely enclosed by massive stone walls.
"That is the heart of the Featherfield Domain, ruled by the Five Star Sword, Lord Gaia Featherfield. That is Gracefeel!! Lord Gaia resides in the manor at its center!"
Gracefeel was much larger than Fastress. It wasn't flashy or ornate; it looked rugged, robust, and entirely practical. The surrounding area was lush with nature, and I could see a large body of water nearby—either the sea or a massive lake. It looked like a pleasant place to live.
"We might actually make it in ti—!?"
Just as I started to feel relief, twenty knights suddenly surged out from our flank.
They were clad in the distinct armor of Dragonia.
"Looks like we made it just in time," one of them said, his voice cold. "So, you're the knights who broke through the blockade, as the report said?"