YnO14

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Periodic Subjugation Mission

The Knight School students who met the qualifications to become apprentice knights would receive missions from the Knight Order.

That was one of the regular subjugation missions.

They were tasked with subjugating fiends such as goblins and orcs, and low level demonic beasts in the wilderness.

With the Demon Lord defeated by the Brave, high-ranked demons and monsters were no more; therefore, much of the damage was caused by the unrelated low-level monsters.

For that reason, the Knight Order would undertake a biannual subjugation mission.

The mission was perfect for the new apprentice knights to gain actual combat experience.

This year, Knight Apprentice Locke Marine was directed to participate in the mission.

“…And that’s how it is. Wynn, please come with me.”

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘And that’s how it is’, but I have work, and I’m not an apprentice knight, you know?”

Returning to the room in high spirits, Locke declared to Wynn, who had returned earlier.

“With this subjugation mission^[1], Doesn’t it take a month? What would I do about class!?”

“At most, won’t your grade drop a bit? Besides, wouldn’t real combat experience on the mission be more useful training?”

“That is true, but…”

This was his fourth year here.

In his classes, he would be able to earn back the points on the tests.

Tossing his coat onto the bed, and picking up the sword leaning on the wall, Locke sat on the floor.

The sword in his hand wasn’t the normal practice sword that Wynn used every day, but a standard Imperial Knight’s sword.

On the blade, the magic words were inscribed. It was the standard magic sword issued by the Imperial Knight Order to use against monsters.

Whether it’s goblins, kobolds, or wild animals turned into demonic beasts by miasma, they multiply like humans and animals. ^{Death rate, so mission is to increase Death Rate.”>[2]}

Since the monsters spawned have physical bodies, using a normal weapon to attack it was enough.

However, mid-rank to high-rank demons born from the Demon Lord and Elite Demons, since they possessed a miasma nucleus in their core, couldn’t be damaged by physical means.

The only way to damage them was by using magic, or using magic-reinforced weapons.

For this reason, humanity’s age-old weapons, such as the bow and other wooden weapons, were ineffective.

Though there was Enhancement Magic, it wasn’t efficient to enhance each arrow one by one, and there was also the problem of the effective time of the enhancement magic.

Therefore, though there was a way to inscribe the words directly onto the blade, the blade would need a special steel alloy to allow it to conduct magic power well.

Since there were long gaps between combat, most people prefer easy-to-use weapons, so the common wooden spears couldn’t hold the magic inscriptions.

Even though there were metal spears created, the weight, cost and other problems prevented it from becoming popular.

Of course, powerful magic weapons existed in myths, but…

The standard Imperial Knight sword merely had its sharpness magically enhanced, and the magic sword’s core was made of the cheapest materials, but the country does not give it out unless one is at least an apprentice knight.

Locke treated his yet unused sword very carefully.

Even now, while Locke polished his sword with a loose expression, Wynn gazed at him with envy.

The sword that he was granted, after all, was the first step to achieving his aspirations of becoming a knight.

“But my magical ability is practically nonexistent, so can’t I at least make up for it in martial arts class? Even then, I also want to earn my living expenses, so I can’t skip work.”

Even now, Wynn worked at Wandering Bird’s Roost after class.

He was the main waiter in the peak hours of the evening, so if he was suddenly absent for a long period of time, Hanna would, undoubtedly, start to complain.

At worst, he would be fired.

Even if he weren’t fired, the the tuition was expensive.

Apart from working at Wandering Bird’s Roost, Wynn would use the breaks to do odd jobs and simple requests at the Adventurer’s Guild, so the mission would prevent him from taking those jobs.

However—

“Ah, but isn’t it fine if you don’t worry about the money?”

Locke stopped his hand that was polishing the blade, gave a satisfied nod at the blade’s gleam, and returned it to its sheath.

“Perhaps, within a few days, I think that a directive will also arrive for you.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because, a person expected to participate in the mission was named Wynn”^[3]

“Why!?”

He was sure that the Knight Order only selected knight cadets above a certain ability, and then sent the mission dispatch directive.

Even as a cadet, official missions from the Knight Order, or the Empire, they would receive a reward, even if they weren’t apprentice knights.

If that were the case, then Wynn’s monetary qualms would be nonexistent, and since it would be an official directive, he would have no choice but to quit working for a while.

Nonetheless—

“Up until now, I have never gone on a mission like this.”

“Isn’t that proof that their evaluation of you has improved?”

Most of the students that attended the Knight School were of noble blood.

Among children of the aristocracy and the wealthy in the school, who possessed high magic power, Wynn had low magic power, so his evaluation was similarly low.

Since there were many of those who had risen in the ranks from being a soldier among the knights, not all the knights had strong magic power, but Wynn’s lack of magic power was a disadvantage to him in school.

“Is that so…? That would be good… “

Apart from his abysmal practical magic grades, his performance in his other classes was better than the nobles.

He took the classes seriously, even if it wasn’t his fourth year. ^[4]

Even in close-quarters combat, he had reached the point that he could fight evenly against strengthened opponents.

Locke thought that it was strange that Wynn hadn’t become an apprentice knight.

“Well, the people who see it, see it.” ^[5]

“Apart from me, won’t there be other participants?”

“I have a hunch on how many people will be there. However, Wynn, this mission, depending on the circumstances, is a chance for you to become an apprentice knight.”

His face breaking into a smile, Locke faced Wynn.

Even though one was a Knight Cadet, and the other is an Apprentice Knight, they were both students.

Despite the mission, there was also training, however—

“Since it is a real battle, if you achieve good results, it is a shortcut to becoming a knight!”

As Locke said, actual military achievements are the best achievements, after all.

“I understand, but I should be careful to not be too reckless in my actions.”

The next day, the directive reached Wynn.

Just as Locke said, it was the dispatch order for the Periodic Subjugation Mission. /*Not sure, plot-wise…(just my reaction) Did he get the order due to benevolence, or malevolence? both?*/

On the highway between Imperial Capital Simurgh, and a nearby city, Clennad^[6]

Wynn, who was appointed to go on the subjugation mission, was amongst Locke and the other apprentice knight students, while several knights rode their horses ahead of them.

The platoon that was mixed among the inexperienced students were those stationed in the relatively safe surroundings of the imperial capital.

Thus, in a place far from the frontier, the knights organized small platoons to carry out the subjugation.^[7]

The students that were participating numbered twenty, including Wynn.

In addition to the four knights dispatched from the Imperial Capital, six knights from the fort would make up the platoon.

With the knights’ horses in the lead, they rode forth on the highway.

As expected, unlike the nervous students, the knights maintained composed expressions.

While engaging in some idle chatter, they advanced.

While riding in formation next to Locke and his horse, Wynn looked ahead at the knights before him.

At the vanguard was Nigel, a knight of noble birth, and the captain of the platoon.

He looked to be in his mid-thirties.

He had a tall and lean body, and wore a new suit of armor.

Beside him was a young knight riding alone on a horse, Jade.

For a son of high nobility to participate in this sort of mission was highly unusual.

Upon seeing his figure in the Knight School’s plaza, Locke was very surprised.

“Oioi, why is Jade-sama participating? It’s not like a dragon will appear…”

“Stop that… Don’t say something so ominous.”^[8]

Why Locke blurted out those words, Wynn understood.

However, possibly because he was participating, there was an unusually large amount of noble apprentice knights participating…

They were also wearing new suits of armor.

But strangely, they didn’t talk to Jade, and Jade advanced by himself.

That he wasn’t surrounded by his lackeys was strange.

Jade was a student, but in this mission, he was considered a knight.

‘What sort of strings did he pull?’ was Locke’s negative assessment of him, but for the purposes of this, he also held slight admiration for him.

Behind the two senior Knights, Jade merely looked ahead and rode his horse forward.

“Captain Nigel, though there are some rumors of bandits appearing around here, there haven’t been any attacks, have there?”

A student in front of Wynn called out.

“There are no bandits willing to risk attacking an armed group that includes us knights and you students.”

Nigel looked back, and answered the student’s question.

“In the first place, the likes of bandits would aim for caravans possessing money. What would they gain from attacking an armed force?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“Don’t worry.”

The two young knights in their mid-twenties looked back at the anxious students, drew their swords, and held them in the air.

“Whether it be bandits or monsters, we just have to subjugate them, don’t we?”

At that, they pointed their swords at the smiling students.

“Don’t draw your sword recklessly, Irusu.”^[9]

A stern and firm voice came from the back row.

It was a person who marched without talking to anybody, in the rearguard, Aldo.

Even Instructor Aldo was part of the platoon.

The instructors were also knights.

Unlike the other three people in the rearguard, he clearly stood out the most, wearing a worn suit of armour full of scratches.

“This isn’t a game. Face forward, and lead the way carefully.”

At Aldo’s reprimand, Irusu clicked his tongue, and sheathed his sword.

“Is that the mindset of the battlefield, Aldo?”

Nigel turned around to glare at Aldo in the back.

“Your words are important, befitting of a veteran Knight-dono who has returned from the front lines. However, Irusu drew his sword to encourage everybody. To reprimand him like that, disregards my authority and exceeds yours.”

Looking down, Aldo said no more.

Seeing this, Nigel pat Irusu’s shoulder with an unpleasant smile.

The young knight took a fleeting glance at Aldo, and smiled.

“What was that? So unpleasant…”

Riding beside Wynn, Cornelia whispered.

She was also picked for the mission as a knight cadet.

Two people, Wynn and Cornelia, were the only two knight cadet members on the mission.

Naturally, she came to interact with Locke and Wynn.

Originally, she was avoided by the other students, so it was natural.

“Instructor is amazing. Since that person is a commoner, he must have done a meritorious deed on the front lines and became a knight. “

Locke rode his horse side-long with Cornelia’s and whispered back.

“But don’t bring those human relations into the conversation. It is a relief that Jade is quiet.”

The discord between a noble knight from the capital ^[10] and a commoner knight returning from the front lines was sometimes visible.

Meanwhile, Jade merely remained silent, but since many of the other apprentice knights were also nobles, Nigel and Irusu’s position was viewed more favorably.

Upon seeing the Aldo who always yelled at them being on the other end of the stick in the argument, many students snickered.

Being somewhat related to the recent conversation, the student who talked with Nigel and Irusu appeared amongst the students.

Apart from those people, Wynn and the others were in front of Aldo, who was in the back.

Aldo was silent, and rode his horse without uttering a word since then.

Marching on for half an hour in a somewhat unpleasant atmosphere, they saw a rough small stone fort in front of them.

It was the fort that would become the platoon’s base.

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Translator Notes

1. 定期巡回討伐任務=title=Periodic Patrol Subjugation Mission. Any better wording for it? —back
2. so Birth Rate>Death rate, so mission is to increase Death Rate. —back
3. So Locke has inside info that Wynn is going, it seems… —back
4. he would have taken them seriously even in his first year. —back
5. a que sera, sera type thing? —back
6. クレナドOne katakana off from being Clannad —back
7. first part?? —back
8. If it were another series, I might have just translated it to “you might trigger a flag”, probably not the most accurate translation, but it’s that sort of feeling. —back
9. Another name…. —back
10. is there a nuance between imperial capital(皇宮) and capital(中央) used here? —back

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Well, I used Harvest Moon as my Iyashikei-ish diversion, and now I’m back… In less than two weeks, I go out of country. IDK whether I can translate anything, since family will be the priority. Will be gone for a month. After that, University starts. I hope I can aim for 1 chapter a week then, but we’ll see…

Thanks to:

• Deus ex Machina has volunteered to be my editor… He hasn’t edited yet of course…