The time had come.

I led a special forces team of one hundred, including myself, through the portal back to my dungeon. While exiting the dungeon, moving in formation made us look just like a proper army, and I left the dungeon to my subordinates.

"We're not over capacity?"

"Well, they belong to Gremory's dungeon anyway."

The dungeon's capacity and system only applied inside the dungeon. Once outside, none of that applied, and there were no system buffs at all.

"Lune, tell me right away if you see anything."

"Yes. But Master, are you really going this route?"

"Of course."

Lune looked at the route on her map and tilted her head. It was clearly different from the path marked on the map, but it was the shortest route to Zabiyaba.

Shortest route.

Straight line.

"We're cutting through the forest."

If there's no path, we'll just make one. I left the dungeon with exactly three monsters for the hundred-person special forces. None other than the three slime dragons that Lune, Eila, and I were riding.

Since I'd evolved them to three stars anyway, I named them Unit 1, Unit 2, and Unit 3 in order of their summoning to our dungeon. I rode Unit 1, Lune rode Unit 2, and Eila rode Unit 3 as we moved forward.

"I feel a bit bad that only we're riding these."

"Commanders always ride something."

"That's right, Lune. Even in infantry-focused formations, the knights leading them ride horses."

Eila pointed to the reins around the slime dragon's neck.

"At this speed, it's actually pretty fast. Horses move at about this speed too."

"Eila, you're gonna become a slime knight at this rate."

"As long as they don't crawl on the ground, they're plenty mobile. Truly worthy of being Master's subordinates."

"Damn right."

The slime dragons had long eel-like bodies, but their crawling speed wasn't slow at all. Matching the orcs' stamina and walking speed, the slime dragons were crawling at around 8 km/h.

'The orcs are keeping up just fine too.'

At this speed, we could arrive within half a day even if not quite to Zabiyaba. We'd need to take breaks along the way, and even if we arrived near Zabiyaba, we'd have to wait a bit and plan our strategy.

"But Master, there's something I'm really curious about. Even though my military insight is shorter than yours...."

"I'm just lucky, I don't really know that much either. Go ahead."

"Are we really okay like this?"

Eila pointed to the orc forces at the rear. They were well-built but poorly equipped.

The adventurers' gear didn't fit the orcs' builds, so they all wore the worn, tough cloth outfits they'd been summoned in, armed with nothing but wooden clubs carved from wood.

"Normally the underwear brigade is the scariest."

"What?"

"Our equipment is definitely problematic in many ways. Even you, Eila, that leather armor you're wearing doesn't fit right."

Eila wore looted leather armor that she'd modified, but the chest area was too small, so she could only wear the torso part. It happened to cinch like a corset, making Eila's chest stand out. That was the best outfit available.

"If I had my way, I'd cover everyone in full plate, but our situation's basically primitive tribe level, so what can we do? Think about it, Eila. Imagine orcs in full armor charging on warhorses with lances."

"...Even imagining it is terrifying."

"But to do that, we'd need tons of materials, and craftsmen to work them, and there's just so much we'd need, right?"

"Do you have somewhere to get it?"

"Yup."

After this war ends, there's more to do than I thought. Once the Legion of Wrath gets officially recognized by conquering the barony, the first thing I'll do is more war.

"There are several ways to get resources. And I'll make the most efficient, demon-like choice."

"You're going to plunder?"

"Right, Lune. You disgusted that we're using human stuff?"

"Nope? Elves are stubborn, but we actively adopt good things from other races' cultures. Just look at this."

Lune slightly lifted her skirt. Naturally, under Lune's skirt were white panties. But that's adopted culture?

"What do you mean?"

"After the Demon King's army was formed, demons occasionally came to attack the Elven Forest. They looked under our skirts and said they were insulted. The guardians felt ashamed and wanted to take special measures. While pondering what could cover under the skirt, a sage who visited the Elven Forest at the time said this."

Lune cleared her throat and lowered her voice.

"Ah, this is called 'panties.'"

"Alright, I definitely need to kill that bastard."

The source of evil that covered good culture with bad customs must be destroyed. The Demon King and the sage. I can't forgive them for putting the restraint called panties on the elves' lower halves.

"So we absolutely have to make Zabiyaba our foothold for world conquest. Hold up! We'll rest in this clearing."

We'd walked for about an hour without stopping. Of course, Lune, Eila, and I rode the slime dragons, but we needed about ten minutes of rest.

"Father."

"Call me Legion Commander right now."

"...Legion Commander, we're still going strong."

Arthur showed confidence that they could walk more. In fact, Arthur wasn't sweating at all and didn't look tired. But even without seeing the soldiers' expressions subtly contorting behind him, I knew.

"Arthur. If you walk full speed for an hour, you absolutely need ten minutes rest. Otherwise you won't be a good officer. Want to get cussed out?"

"But."

"No buts about it. When the legion commander guarantees the soldiers' rest, you can't argue."

"...I apologize."

Arthur stepped back with an expression that said he didn't understand but had no choice since it was an order. I got off the slime dragon and fed them the slime hole slime I'd brought as a snack.

"That kid's not gonna make a good officer."

"Are there even good officers?"

"...It's super weird hearing you say that, Eila."

We exchanged trivial jokes while resting.

***

Long marches. Brief rests.

The legion continuously advanced at almost regular intervals. The soldiers grew accustomed to the pace and efficiently handled personal business during the ten-minute breaks.

Some filled their wooden canteens with water, others went into the forest to relieve themselves. They followed quietly during the march and had no particular complaints.

"...."

Instead, complaints came from Arthur and his siblings assigned squad leader roles. The peak of dissatisfaction was Lancelot, who was goading Arthur to petition Rok once more.

"It feels like we're walking super slowly. Can't we walk a bit faster? I'm also wondering if we really need to rest this much."

"Walking slowly makes my body all itchy...."

"...."

Arthur was still lost in thought. Percival, who was closest to Arthur, asked cautiously.

"What's wrong, brother?"

"I was mulling over Father's words."

"...About how you won't become a good officer?"

Rok had muttered to Eila like talking to himself, but Arthur definitely heard it. Arthur had been interpreting what Rok's words meant throughout the entire march.

"Brothers, what is a good officer?"

"According to Mother Eila, they don't exist. Father must be planning to raise you into such an existence."

"...Really?"

"That's right. Unlike us, you're also serving as the chief of Ras Village, aren't you?"

"That's only because I was born first...."

"Nevertheless, Father entrusted you with that role. Making you the leader of us squad leaders is a trial for when you'll someday lead an army in Father's place."

At Percival's words, Arthur's ears perked up. He felt like a tangled thread was unraveling.

"...Ah!"

"Have you realized something?"

"We're barely tired at all. In fact, we're no different from when we started."

Arthur surveyed their physical condition. Not a single orc was whining about being tired.

"We're not just moving. We're going to war. Father is conserving our strength so we can fight immediately upon arrival."

"I see."

Arthur realized the reason for the intermittent rests during the march. Rok's back riding the slime dragon at the front looked bigger than ever.

If he someday became a commander leading large forces, how much would he have to think about? Arthur made a resolution to himself and gently persuaded Lancelot.

"Father definitely has a plan. So stop whining."

"But brother."

Lancelot tilted her head and took a running stance.

"...We could probably walk about 1.3 times faster than this and still be fine?"

"What do you mean 1.3 times?"

"If we're walking slowly and taking rests to preserve strength, I think we could walk about 1.3 times faster than this speed."

"So why specifically 1.3 times?"

Lancelot tilted her head for a while, then raised one leg.

"Just a feeling!"

"...I'll offer advice after this battle, youngest."

"I really think we could go faster right now...."

Lancelot stuck to her opinion to the end. Only Percival quietly felt that Lancelot's intuitive 1.3 times was valid.

"...At a speed where enemies won't detect us, this seems like maximum speed."

No one heard Percival's muttering.

No one knew the reason for Rok's chosen marching speed.

Rok just wanted to advance at the most comfortable speed for shooting the shit with two women.

***

We'd rested about five times, I think.

We arrived at Zabiyaba at a pretty good clip going straight.

Roads made by humans appeared here and there, but we used our physicals to cross rivers and hills and quickly arrived near the city. We set up a temporary camp on a hill overlooking the city.

We just sprawled out and rested, basically.

"It's pretty small for a city."

"I understand most of the population is concentrated at Spica Castle, the center of the barony."

"Right. Which means there aren't many soldiers here either."

"But the wooden fence...."

The wooden fence surrounding the city was much higher and sturdier than our Ras Village's. It even had proper watchtowers, and guards stood in the towers watching the surroundings.

"They really built it up tight."

Except for the side where the river flowed, they'd built a long, high wooden fence in a half-moon shape. Houses were scattered beyond the fence too, but things like waterwheels and warehouses were all inside the fence.

"If we attack from the front, the guards in the watchtowers will spot us. And attacking along the river...."

"It's too noisy, we'll get caught. Same with a night raid."

Basically, a surprise attack was off the table. For a fence protecting a village with well over a few hundred people, it was pretty thick, but considering this was the Barony of Virgo's greatest granary, it was a strategic point in many ways.

"Heh, they let their guard down thinking it's the rear. Baroness."

"Would their response have been different if they knew about the dungeon?"

"Who knows. Even if they knew, they couldn't have imagined we'd come from the dungeon all the way here like this, right?"

Lune said there were no scouts who'd discovered our advance. Even if they found traces, we'd have already conquered Zabiyaba by then anyway. The soldiers' stamina was pretty good, and we just needed to deal with the fence.

"Heh. Since we came all this way, let's give them a real shock."

"How?"

"Listen up. Especially you, Slime Dragons Unit 1 through 3. You have a big role."

I gave the slime dragons a really important mission. I was worried whether they'd understand, but true to their ★★★ rank, they'd gotten pretty smart, even if not quite at Lime's level.

"Stand in a line for a sec. Yeah. One, two, three, four...."

I gauged the width when the three slime dragons lined up side by side.

"Heh. This'll be enough to charge."

"Charge...?"

"Yeah."

I pointed at the thick wooden fence.

"We're charging at that."

We are,

toward a fence reaching several meters,

charging.

"Straight ahead."

No backing down.

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