Rune Troopers: Self-Defense Forces Adventure - Chapter 5: The Eye of the Storm (Part 2)

Richarda felt the silence surrounding her. She had never felt such silence on a battlefield, even on the front lines. But in the courtyard, there were a great number of dead bodies of her soldiers lying around.

A slain Black Dragon and what appeared to be the wreckage of a strange object could also be seen. Behind them, there was an awkward formation of piled up furniture and other objects, perhaps to protect them from arrows.

There, someone existed. 

They were standing in front of the Imperial Army. Someone with the power to destroy the Dragon Knights Order, the strongest force in the world, in an instant.

The fate of the world would no longer be the same. But she wanted to be satisfied in the end.

As a warrior and a knight, it was her desire to know the identity of those who had the honor of killing them, and it was also the duty of her killers to let them know their identity.

“Wait here.” Richarda relayed an order.

“General?”

“You are in danger!”

Ignoring the orders of her men, she walked forward. As she walked, she thought.

Who was the enemy?

She was certain that it was not the army from the Nation of Marysea. She was sure of it. The forces she had fought before coming here were strong, but they were no match for the Imperial Army.

The warships that floated like Demi-Gods in the Gulf of Capital City, Seyrord.

Had they arrived onboard? Where in the world did they come from? From far away, from the ends of the four continents? Did they volunteer themselves to block the hegemonic path of the Succession Empire?

She didn’t know. Her mind was filled with different speculations.

“Please stop.”

When she was close enough to see the other man’s face, she heard a voice from the other side. Richarda did not move at all, but raised her voice in an imposing manner.

“My name is Richarda von Adler! Commander of the Filborg Succession Empire’s Souther Expeditionary Mixed Force, bestowed the title of Fourth rank General by His Majesty the Emperor! I request an audience with your Commander!”

It was then she heard a voice of agitation, probably from the soldiers of the Nation of Marysea. It was not them. They were not the ones who had defeated our strongest army.

Suddenly, a man stood up from a stacked pile of furniture in a shabby position. 

“I am 3rd Lieutenant Kuze from the Ground Self-Defense Force of Japan. I am the Commander of this unit.”

He walked up to Richarda. He was young and strange. He was dressed in a strange, mottled pattern of green, brown, and black.

However, upon closer inspection, one could see that he was wearing some sort of armor and had a knife on his waist. She found the equipment to be quite functional.

Observing the hapless champ, she found that there were about 30 people dressed the same way as him.

‘These guys?’ Richarda was half-convinced.

The man in front of him was probably younger than he was. He held his palm in front of his forehead with a sophisticated motion.

She didn’t know for a moment what the hell it meant, but she understood that it was their way of being civil. She nodded her head in a hawkish manner.

The silver-haired Commander had no intention of retreating.

“I take it you’re not the Commander-in-chief…”

“I am the Field Commander. The Commander is on that ship, so I’m afraid you can’t meet with him right now.”

“I see.” 

Richarda composed herself. Even if this man was the Commander-in-chief, she was not going to be intimidated.

“You have come from a country called Japan, have you not?”

“Yes, although we had no intention of coming here.”

“Hmm. What a strange thing to say? But this is a country that I have not heard of. What continent is it on?”

“It is a country that does not exist in this world.”

“What?”

“We are the forces from another world. The Self-Defense Forces.”

“Another world…”

The group that the Nation of Marysea had on its side was thought to be mercenaries or a volunteer army of some sort. They were clad in unfamiliar clothing and carried oddly shaped weapons.

It was impossible for her to not recognize them. There was no way to guess their existence outside of this world. To her astonishment, the man added.

“I’m going to be frank with you, Commander.”

“What is it, Mister Kuze?”

He opened his mouth slowly.

“You must withdraw your forces.”

“The transportation bird I rode on has returned to the other side. I had every intention of winning.”

“Then surrender to the Nation of Marysea.”

At those words, Richarda laughed outright.

The Nation of Marysea would take them captive after they had burned their city and slaughtered their own people? If they laid down their weapons, they would be beheaded or hanged at best. At worst, they would be tortured and enslaved or killed.

“If you are not joking, then you must be a hypocrite.”

“We shall be the mediator. According to the Geneva Convention, we can guarantee your lives.”

“No! We live and die as warriors on the battlefield. We lay down our arms and die off the battlefield, and we will not be humiliated.”

“Then why did you come to see me?”

“What did you say?”

The man quietly asked the young Commander of the Imperial Army.

“You do not wish to save your men?”

“Let me tell you something.”

Richarda turned her deadly gaze on him, as if she were a predator.

“I will never accept that my generals have been defeated by you, you nonsense virgins!”

She pulled her magic sword from her waist.

Kuze mounted the rifle on his shoulder. But he could not shoot. He was hesitating to shoot a living person at close range.

Her word ‘hypocrite’ was painfully obvious to Kuze. He could not shoot a young woman, even if she meant him harm. He could shoot an Imperial soldier who was trying to kill a child, but not a beautiful female Commander who was trying to kill him.

But hesitation to kill an opponent at close range was not uncommon on the real battlefield. One couldn’t shoot a man unless the conditions were urgent. 

Kuze’s sense of guilt was stronger than his defensive instincts.

“Howl, O sword! Dwell the flame that destroys all!”

Richarda’s chant covered the sword in flames. The sword was called Magic Sword Balmung.

In this sword was embedded a blue jewel that sealed a noble and cruel spirit of fire. Her ancestor, Count Gunther, was a renowned figure in the Empire as a hero who defended Fort Mars on the eastern border with a mere 100 men against the invasion of a neighboring country.

The Balmung was his weapon of choice. It was said that he obtained it in the Labyrinth of Saral when he was an adventurer. It could slay magic, and even if it is used against the undead or spirits of the dead, who were kept alive by the power of magic, he would not be defeated.

“Only on the battlefield could a warrior die! O knight of the other world!”

She challenged him to a duel. As a knight, she expected the honor of crossing blades with her enemy. But in the next moment, she felt something penetrate her body.

With a jerk, her body lost its strength.

In time, she heard a dry sound in her ears. She looked at her chest and saw a hole in her armor.

She remembered the report that her Generals had been killed by ‘invisible arrows’ one after another.

“Puhak..?”

The moment she realized that she had been hit, she fell to the ground, coughing up blood.