Chapter 7.1 – Lowly Slave Knight Order

Well then… in this whole affair, the one bearing the greatest risk is Tistria.
No matter what anyone says, she’s the one with the most to lose.
If things go wrong, her stellar record will be tarnished and her reputation will plummet.
The ones fretting most are the knights attached to the Supreme Knight Commander.
They were even critical of their lord’s decision.
“Supreme Knight Commander, I must oppose this. In any case, the risk is far too high.”
“Why bother granting them the rank of a Knight Order? You’d be taking on far too much responsibility!”
“Even if they’re the ones who defeated Avior… to be honest, I can’t wrap my head around it.”
Inside Count Borick’s castle, they protested—but she stayed completely unfazed.
“I appreciate everyone’s concern. But, honestly, I don’t think I’m that impressive.”
At her words, the knights fell silent.
If she’d said, “I just adore myself,” that’d be weird—but for her to claim she doesn’t even like herself is awkward too.
In a way she’s admirable. All the more reason I’d hoped she’d consider self-preservation.
(With that one line, it’s basically over…!)
The knights weren’t idiots; they caught the implication—at worst, she’d shoulder the blame and die.
And since she’d accepted that, there really was nothing left to argue.
“Besides… how could I not give the title of Knight Order to those I’m assigning the exact same duties to? Of course, in practice, we’ll wait until they’ve completed a few missions and proven themselves…”
“But… can we really trust them? If they mess up in the field… no, if they commit atrocities—even if you take responsibility…”
If it were just a failed mission, that’d be bad enough. But if they ran rampant, it’d be a catastrophe.
Even if she stepped down, it wouldn’t undo the harm done.
One knight spoke bluntly.
“A request came in, but there’s no Knight Order available to dispatch. Who’ll be in trouble then, I wonder?”
“…So, it’s better to have someone than no one?”
“Exactly.”
Even if a request goes to the Knight Order, everyone’s already out.
In that situation, it’d have to be postponed, and those who requested aid would suffer losses far beyond mere misconduct.
“There’s also…”
“Yes?”
“Honestly, I can’t even imagine how that ‘trick’ works.”
Here, she finally showed emotion.
A feeling of wonder and bewilderment.
“Can you think of anything? Can you imagine what kind of mechanism it uses?”
“No… maybe if I saw it in action, but right now, not a clue.”
“That figures… it’s an incredible sleight of hand.”
Magic shows exist in this world too.
Of course, the audience knows there’s a trick and some even aim to see through it.
Yet magic deceives them all—it’s what makes a trick a trick.
So calling what Gaikaku did a magic trick isn’t an insult—it’s praise.
“In that field, he’s a genius who even surpasses me.”
“…Isn’t that too much praise?”
Tistria, who pushes human versatility to its limit, was being outdone in her own specialty by another human.
The knight denied it, but she spoke of it with delight.
“That may be so… but it does give us hope.”

※ Gaikaku Hikume was a genius mage.
He excelled at research, development, and field operations.
Though he looked young, he possessed vast knowledge.
Yet his genius was strictly within magecraft.
He wasn’t a criminal mastermind.
No—in the first place, a true criminal genius exploits legal loopholes and avoids punishable acts.
By knowingly breaking the law, he wasn’t a criminal genius but a common criminal.
Still, luck was on his side—Supreme Knight Commander Tistria was the one who uncovered his wrongdoing.
She saw his value and, in exchange for not digging too deep, demanded he serve as a military asset.
In other words, if he played along, he could keep his position—research and test weapons freely.
Contrary to the count’s fantasies, Tistria had guaranteed it explicitly.
Moreover, it was concrete. As a tactician, Gaikaku accurately assessed their forces.
“Me as head of the Knight Order…? There’s no way those guys could handle a Knight Order’s duties…!”
Gaikaku pursued romantic ideals in tactics, but he never ignored reality.
In tactics, the stronger side wins.
The weaker side must exploit the stronger’s complacency.
And forming a Knight Order only puts the enemy on high alert.
“No, wait… calm down. First, I need to consider what happens if I refuse…”
In this case, “if I refuse” meant fleeing her, not quietly submitting.
“What would I have to give up to escape…? If I abandon all the land—big equipment, even bound documents would be too bulky… I’d have to run away with nothing but myself… ah…”
Gaikaku was exceedingly self-centered.
Thus, he felt no special attachment to the slaves.
Yet they were trained soldiers—assets and creations in his eyes.
Abandoning them all would hurt as much as discarding his other research achievements.
“…Let me think of it another way: what’s needed to fulfill a Knight Order’s duties?”
If he ran, he’d lose too much.
At the very least, he wasn’t prepared for that.
So he considered what it would take to meet those duties.
“Right now, I have twenty Ogre heavy infantry, twenty Elf artillerymen, twenty Goblin engineers, ten Beastkin grenadiers, and ten Dark Elf scouts… no matter how I deploy them, they only add up to the work of two knights. Just more numbers won’t cut it anymore.”
Elf artillery and Beastkin grenadiers have too few attacks, and Ogre heavy infantry can’t fight for long.
Dark Elves and Goblins aren’t real combat forces.
“Until now, we’d overpower them by relentless force… but that won’t work moving forward. That means relying on specialized troops as the main force is impossible.”
Gaikaku’s conclusion was exceedingly mundane.
Yet reaching such a mundane conclusion proved he was facing reality.
“Human… infantry exists, and in large numbers…!”
It’s unrealistic to find full knights en masse, and other races are hard to gather.
Illegal weapons can’t be outsourced, so mass production is out.
Thus, no matter how ordinary, he had to gather human infantry.
Even putting Gaikaku’s situation aside, human infantry is inevitable.
Without them, there’s no war.
“It’s impossible to train them from scratch now… I must hire mercenaries. I just hope they meet my conditions…”
Gaikaku glanced at the sky.
It was already evening.
Most shops were closing.
“The mercenary guild was nearby… I should hurry.”
What made Gaikaku competent was his ability to make swift decisions.
Facing reality that could make anyone want to bury their head in their hands, he began moving immediately to achieve his goal.
There was no hesitation in his steps.
“Thankfully, I brought plenty of cash… I don’t care if they’ve got issues… actually, odd ones might be even better? I must hurry…!”
He hurried toward the mercenary guild.
In this country, mercenary guilds are relatively common.
They handle road security, town disputes, and temporary guards—armed force only when needed.
Thus, most large towns, especially castle towns, have one.
Gaikaku had visited often and knew where it was.
Still, this was his first time entering.
“Excuse me! Is the guild still open?”
It was a two-story building with the atmosphere of a large tavern.
As soon as Gaikaku entered, he shouted before even taking it in.
“Sorry, I need mercenaries urgently. The more, the better—but do you have any available right now? I’ve brought cash and want to sign a contract immediately.”
The staff member he addressed was a broad-shouldered man who looked like a former mercenary.
Upon hearing Gaikaku’s request, he was inexplicably astonished.
A last-minute mercenary request shouldn’t be that unusual, yet his eyes went wide.
“Y-yeah… there’s only one mercenary group.”
“One group? Fine—where are they…?”