End’s Wall.Under the gate of the outer wall, the one closest to the Demon Realm among the three giant walls that protect the Human Realm—"Everyone gathered?""Yes, my lady!"For this short expedition whose purpose was to intercept the abnormal appearance of a high-grade monster, Dvralis knights and elite soldiers had gathered together.Their number was about fifty.They were veterans Aslan had personally selected and selected again.Aslan swept her gaze over the soldiers in front of her, then slung an arm around my shoulder."My little brother Loen will also be joining this expedition. And—""I’ll be joining as well. Please take good care of me, everyone."Freya bowed her head to the soldiers.Seeing this, Aslan added in a troubled tone,"…Unexpectedly, Freya, daughter of House Gunhild, will also be participating in this expedition. Keep that in mind."I understood her feelings as I watched Aslan’s expression.Freya’s desire to accompany the expedition itself was commendable, but if anything happened to her, it would instantly blow up into a diplomatic issue.No, even before that, she was some other house’s precious daughter and like a younger sister Aslan was close to. She wouldn’t have wanted to take someone like that on a dangerous expedition.But if Freya said she wanted to go, Aslan’s personality wouldn’t let her stop her."Give a round of applause for that courage."Clap, clap, clap—.The soldiers sent Freya a round of strong applause.When Aslan sharply raised her fist, the clapping stopped."Good. However, from this point on, there’s no need to treat Freya specially. She’s a mid-level Sword Expert knight. Evaluate and treat her as that level of fighting strength, and nothing more. The same goes for Loen. Don’t treat him specially just because he’s my little brother… not that anyone would, anyway."Eyes turned toward me.Just like Aslan said, they’d been dying to pick a fight with me, not pamper me because I was a descendant of House Dvralis.I’d better stick close to Aslan and Ciel so no one picked a pointless fight with me."This expedition will be a short one, about two weeks. Everyone packed?""Yes!"The soldiers adjusted the packs on their shoulders and shouted back.Those packs held sleeping bags, small tents, and all kinds of essential gear and emergency rations needed for an expedition.At a glance, they looked over thirty kilograms.That was when—"My lady, where is Lord Loen’s pack?"One knight, puzzled by the fact that I wasn’t wearing a pack, spoke up.He must have thought I’d dumped my load on someone else as a special favor.Aslan explained,"This brat carries his stuff in a subspace pouch. He says you barely feel any weight and you can store a ton of things in it. Lucky bastard.""Boo—!"When they heard I’d be the only one moving around comfortably, the soldiers booed.In the midst of that—Another knight raised a question to Aslan."But your pack’s not visible either today, my lady?"Normally, Aslan also carried her own pack like an ordinary soldier.But for some reason, her pack was nowhere in sight today.Aslan put a hand on my shoulder with a smug smile."Ah, this time I put my pack into Loen’s subspace pouch too. Share what’s good, right? I’m thinking of getting one myself while I’m at it. Heh."When Aslan propped a hand on her hip and laughed confidently, the soldiers cried out in protest."Please supply us with subspace pouches too!""Traitor! This is tyranny!""She just wants to make things easy for herself…"Then Aslan pointed a finger and said,"Idiots, how long do you expect your Duchess to be lugging a pack around? If you want one, save your salary and buy it!""Then please raise our salary!""That’s right!""It’s way too low!"The soldiers and knights seized the moment ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) to playfully demand a raise.They were comrades who’d lived and died together on the front line, so the mood was friendly regardless of status or rank.The fact they joked around with Aslan said it all."Raise it! Raise it!"The soldiers chanted in unison for a salary increase.Watching that scene, Aslan pressed her fingers to her forehead and let out a long sigh."I should just not talk."She might roar at the high nobles of the house, but when it came to the soldiers, Aslan was extremely generous."You seem to get along well with your troops."Freya spoke in an envious tone at the friendly atmosphere, and Aslan gave a firm warning."…Freya, if you ever become the head of house, don’t be like me. Once you loosen things up, they start acting like they’re my equals. Make sure you always keep a little distance.""No, I still want to be like you.""You brat, are you listening with the back of your ears?"Smack—."Ow."Aslan flicked Freya’s forehead, then shouted to the soldiers,"Enough noise! Stop yapping and move out!""Yes, ma’am!"At Aslan’s order, the soldiers ceased their calls for a raise and answered strongly.Despite everyone acting familiar with each other, the command and control system was very much alive."Open the gate!"Rrrumble—.At Aslan’s command, the huge iron chains attached to the wall moved, and the gate opened.With Aslan in the lead, the expedition marched out beyond the wall in neat ranks.Neigh—.Carts loaded with various supplies, food, and weapons followed behind them.***The moment we stepped outside the wall, the atmosphere changed completely.For some reason, the sky glowed with a sinister red, even though it was broad daylight.Underneath it, black clouds drifted, and all over the ground we could see dried-up dead trees.'End’s Wall isn’t just a tall structure. It’s a sort of boundary that divides the world.'Outside the wall, the climate, environment, soil, vegetation, mana density, and distribution of demonic energy were all different.It was literally a contested zone between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm.It was an area where it wouldn’t be strange for anything dangerous to happen.You could think of it as similar to one of the higher-risk unexplored regions in the Yuseong Archipelago.I took in the barren landscape and turned my gaze to Aslan.'To think she’s been roaming this dangerous territory for years, leading expedition raids.'And yet she was still alive.It really drove home that Aslan was a capable commander.Maybe she noticed my gaze, because Aslan looked back and asked,"What are you staring at?""…Just thinking it’s impressive you’re still alive.""What, it’s all thanks to your big sister’s genius tactics.""…"The way she puffed herself up with a silly “heh-heh” was annoying to look at, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.One of Aslan’s traits was literally [Mercenary Tactics].Just then—"My lady, report from the rangers. A pack of Dire Wolves ahead."We’d barely left the wall when we ran into a monster pack.It was the same Dire Wolf pack Yulina’s team had struggled with in the practical exam."Good. Outram’s team, go intercept.""By your command!"Flash—.At Aslan’s order, a team composed of one knight and four soldiers moved out to engage the Dire Wolves.The soldiers formed up smoothly and slaughtered the Dire Wolves with ease.They didn’t forget to collect the magic stones from the corpses either.Each magic stone went for tens of thousands of krone, making them a nice bonus you could earn on a life-or-death expedition.'…Do you just keep the magic stones from the monsters you kill?'It looked like spoils were distributed according to performance.Now I understood Aslan’s words: if I wanted dark magic stones, I’d have to claim them myself.Watching the team return after finishing the fight, Aslan spoke to me as if explaining."Loen, you probably know, but activities outside the wall are based on five-person squads. That’s the minimum measure to handle all sorts of crises. So don’t just stick next to me—form your own team.""Five people, huh…"Even if I included Ciel and Freya, we’d still be short two.Maybe Aslan understood what I was thinking, because she jerked her chin to one side."I’ll assign you Crosen, the one you sparred with yesterday, and his lieutenant. As you know, Crosen is an excellent knight, and his lieutenant may be older, but he’s a seasoned veteran, so he’ll be a big help in getting used to things."At Aslan’s signal, Crosen and his lieutenant came over.Crosen gave me a light bow, and his lieutenant, who looked quite advanced in years, greeted me politely."My name is Malt. It’s an honor to serve with you, Lord Loen.""The honor’s mine. I have a lot to learn, so please guide me."I shook his hand.Just like that, my reliable team for this expedition was formed.***Thunk—."We’ll camp here for the night."It was still early evening.After lopping off a monster’s head and sending it flying, Aslan gave the order."Yes, ma’am!"The soldiers moved in perfect coordination to prepare the camp.Our squad also began setting up camp under Crosen’s and Malt’s guidance.I’d done plenty of camping back at Union, so pitching tents and starting fires wasn’t hard.I did feel a little wistful thinking how convenient it would be if we had a Cube like the one on Full Moon Island.Once we’d roughly finished setting up camp, Malt quietly gave me a heads-up."Those two over there… how would you like them to handle the bathroom?"Malt signaled with his eyes toward Freya and Ciel in the distance.Only then did I realize something.Back when we camped at Union, the gender ratio was roughly half and half, so they handled it themselves, but in a unit heavily skewed male like this, bathroom arrangements had to be set up separately."What does Aslan usually do?""I’ve heard she uses water spirits.""Ah, right."Aslan had spirit affinity too.Maybe that was how she’d managed for years in a place full of sweaty men.'…In real history too, bathrooms and sanitation were always a huge issue in war.'There were cases where more soldiers died from epidemics caused by improper waste disposal than from actual combat.The soldiers here had dug latrine pits under makeshift log-frame seats near the camp, but it was a bit much for Freya and Ciel to use."I’ll make a bathroom.""Make one, sir?""Just watch."Crackle—.Using Transmutation magic, I shaped the earth into a small building.I made about five toilets in seated style so the soldiers could use them easily.I couldn’t make a flush system with running water, but I replaced it by digging the pits deep.It wasn’t like we were going to drink groundwater here anyway, so there was no need to worry about soil contamination.Then I set up another bathroom some distance away, separately.It was consideration for the women.In no time at all, I’d made two bathrooms and dusted off my hands with a smile."That should do."Malt watched the scene and couldn’t hide his amazement."…Remarkable. Have you studied earth-attribute magic, sir?""No, it’s a type of alchemy magic."Even if someone had learned earth-attribute magic, they wouldn’t be able to craft building interiors and seated toilets like this.This was one of Transmutation’s main strengths.While I was shrugging, Aslan had wandered over at some point and was staring at the bathroom I’d made, her eyes shining."Wow~ you made this?""Yeah.""That golden dagger’s ability?""You could say that."Strictly speaking, it was my Transmutation magic."Hoo, not only is your combat ability excellent, but you can also reshape matter like this…"Aslan’s eyes gave off the vibe of coveting my Azoth Sword, so I cut her off in advance."You can’t have it.""Ah, why not? I’ll pay you allowance.""It’s not something you can buy with money."Besides, it was a product of coincidence. Even if I tried, I couldn’t recreate it.And she’d already cut off my allowance ages ago—what was she even talking about.When I firmly refused, Aslan soon gave up."Stingy brat. Fine, whatever."She smacked me on the head, then clapped her hands to gather the soldiers."All right, listen up. My stingy little brother here made a bathroom for you. So don’t hate him too much and cut him some slack.""Yes, ma’am!"Maybe because it meant they no longer had to go in some rough log enclosure, the soldiers looked happy to have such a fine bathroom appear."Then let’s have dinner and sleep. Night watch shifts will go by seniority. No complaints, right?""Seniority?"Eyes turned toward me.So that means… me, doesn’t it?***Fortunately, our squad got the hour right after lights-out, not something awful like 4 a.m.You just went to bed an hour later, so it was the best possible time slot for a night watch. When they said “by seniority,” I didn’t expect them to be this considerate.Snore—.Snoooore—.As I sat in a chair I’d transmuted from earth, standing watch, snores drifted from the camp.The fact they could sleep so soundly in this environment really drove home that these were hardened veterans.Managing your condition through sleep was one of the abilities necessary for battle, too."…"I gazed out into the distant darkness and quietly sank into thought.'What the hell am I even doing out here?'If you stand watch in a daze, your mind gets so bored that you end up thinking about everything.From the reason for human existence to the beginning and end of the universe, all sorts of random thoughts bubble up without distinction.I mean, seriously. What kind of big sister drags her younger brother, who came home on vacation, out on a monster-slaying expedition?I leaned back comfortably in the chair and corrected my thinking.'…Well, let’s look on the bright side.'To hatch Kavaltar’s egg, I needed a large number of dark magic stones anyway.If I could get even a few dark magic stones on this expedition, it would greatly shorten that timeline.I was staring blankly into the darkness, lost in various thoughts, when—Rustle—.I felt a presence behind me.

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