Knight's & Magic: Volume 8 (Light Novel) (eBook)

Hisago Amazake-no (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8867-3 (ISBN)

Infos

The astragali arc finally comes to a head as the Order of the Silver Phoenix dives back into the forest to rescue their captain! They will not find themselves uncontested, however, as the Rubel clan has detected their unwanted advances and are preparing drastic measures in response.

So will it be war? The Rubel clan is beset (partially unknowingly) by the other genoses, the newcomers from the west, and the goblins under their own aegis. The clan's response will likely cause one of the groups-or even all of them-to resist the Rubel clan's attempt to claim hegemony. And of course, this will only be further complicated by Ernie's participation.

Still, a lot is riding on Ernie's actions. Will he be able to reunite with his knight order? Will he ever get Ikaruga back or fix Kasasagi into a state fit for combat? And will he be able to navigate the situation to coordinate efforts between all sides, lest the Rubel clan divides and conquers its way to victory?

Textauszug

Prologue

The light of dawn chased away the darkness, lighting up the mountain ridges. Dietrich Künitz filled his lungs with the cool air of daybreak and shivered slightly. The wind blowing across the deck made his overcoat flap. There were no obstacles to the wind here, so it only had him to buffet.

“This really was too much for a whim...”

The levitating ship he was on was a winged boat that flew through the air instead of sliding over water. Though things were fine if they skimmed the surface, the higher up they got in the air, the colder it got. And the upper deck got the worst of it.

He’d woken up early for some reason, and now he was regretting his decision to come out here instead of going back to sleep.

“Oh well, it’s too late now. Still, I’m getting tired of this scenery... The Great Bocuse Forest is all the same.”

The light of dawn slowly illuminated the forest under him. The scenery reaching Dietrich’s eyes was nothing but an endless sea of trees.

The Great Bocuse Forest was a monster’s paradise—a place that rejected human activity. It had once made a meal of a great number of knights, and entering it had been forbidden to the denizens of the Kingdom of Fremmevilla ever since.

“The boss said he encountered them near the edges of the forest. Is this it?”

The undulations of the dense, thick vegetation hid faraway peaks from view, making it look as if the forest was truly endless.

“He fought and fell here. Is our tiny knight captain...alive?”

The levitating ship he was on—Izumo, flagship of the Order of the Silver Phoenix—had come to the forest previously as part of an advance scouting team for the second expedition.

They had encountered a powerful, unknown enemy then and were forced to retreat, losing their knight captain, Ernesti, and his aide, Adeltrude, in the process.

Dietrich hadn’t participated in that fight. It was already past, but he couldn’t help but think he could have prevented this had he been there. He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. They hadn’t returned to this forest to look backward.

“But with this much forest, it’s going to be backbreaking searching for that tiny knight captain.” Despite his words, Dietrich was smiling slightly.

At the end of a battle with bug-type monsters that spawned acid clouds, Ernesti and Ikaruga had fallen, with Adeltrude chasing after him.

Finding just two people in such a large expanse of dangerous forest would be nearly impossible. Even so, for some reason, Dietrich didn’t actually think it was.

“Wheeew... The wind really is strong! I guess I should go back to the bridge now... Huh?” He turned around to go back inside as he spoke, but he suddenly stopped. His senses as a skilled knight runner were telling him that there was something within the daybreak light.

Indeed, in the faintly wavering light, there was a small black shadow. Something was flying over the great forest.

It wasn’t a windine-style silhouette knight. Such a machine would have Magisgraph lights flickering on and off. Nor was it a levitating ship. All of their ships were behind the Izumo. So the only remaining option was...

Dietrich’s expression turned into a bold smile. “What hardworking monsters. But this is perfect. If those really are what I suspect they are, that means we weren’t wrong!”

He dashed back inside the ship. A busy day for the Order of the Silver Phoenix was about to begin.

◆

This was the borderline, when nocturnal beasts were returning to their abodes and diurnal beasts were waking up. A large shadow loomed during this time, right after daybreak when the world was just getting lighter. Its thin wings glowed with a rainbow light, and it looked like a beetle.

“To think we would be forced to use kratovastias. Approaching from the sky... What troublesome invaders.”

There were figures sending the things off—astragali, humanoids large enough to rival monsters. One stood head and shoulders above the rest. His five eyes swiveled around as he spat that line out.

“Nothing can rival us on the ground. However, those who swim through the air are hard to fight. Just like the kratovastias used to be.” A four-eyed giant behind him nodded seriously.

The five-eyed giant’s mouth twisted in displeasure. “I know. That is why we handed this role to the beasts.”

The other giants nodded in agreement before quickly tilting their heads.

“However, we are sending out fewer kratovastias than before,” the four-eyed giant said.

“What our Marga is saying is that we have yet to replenish those that were lost in the previous battle.”

The five-eyed giant’s expression took on a vicious dint, like he was about to explode. His expressions seemed to change like sand on the wind. “I suppose we cannot solely rely on the kratovastias. Quickly, call upon our Margas and Oberon.”

“Understood...”

The other giants left to follow their orders. One of the five-eyed giant’s eyes watched them depart, with the rest pointed toward the sky.

“Invaders from the sky who can beat back kratovastias, eh? And they come right as I am about to solidify my reign over all astragali. O Argos, why are you sending me another trial?”

No answer came as his question melted into the morning air.

◆

The loud ringing of a bell filled the flying ship. The knights, forced awake by the emergency alarm, hurried to their stations.

“Enemy sighted ahead! They are far away, numbers unknown!”

“No movement on the surface! There does not seem to be a separate unit!”

“Magisgraph communications with other ships are all green!”

Voices came from all over the ship through speaking tubes, giving numerous reports. The bridge of the Izumo—the flagship of the fleet—busily gathered all these reports to grasp the state of battle.

“Heh, so they’re already here!” David “Boss” Hepken, who was sitting in the captain’s seat, said with a warlike smile as he listened to the reports.

“Seriously, and they seem to only try to stop us from coming to this area,” Edgar C. Blanche said from beside the boss while looking down at an aerial map. The map was packed with scribbles and notes from navigators detailing monster territories. They were currently in the bugs’ territory.

“Okay! It’s up to you guys!” the boss shouted.

“Hey, you’re just immediately going to put it all on us, boss?” Helvi Olbarri replied, a little disappointed and wondering where all his bravado had gone.

Edgar seemed exasperated too as he looked at the boss, who simply puffed out his chest and said, “I don’t give a shit about anything but smithing! But I’ll man this boat properly, so don’t worry about that.”

“The Izumo is already like one of our limbs, after all!” Batson Termonen said, echoing the feelings of the smithing crew on the bridge. They all nodded, full of confidence. They weren’t combat personnel for sure. Edgar and Helvi exchanged looks and small sighs.

“How reassuring,” Edgar said.

Basically, combat was a knight runner’s territory. Just as the company commanders were about to make a move, Dietrich ran into the bridge. From his dress, he was clearly ready to deploy anytime.

“Are you going out personally, Dee?” Helvi asked after taking a look at him.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I can’t very well not go out knowing those monsters are the ones out there. I’m going to borrow a squad of fliers and a knight.” With that, he turned around and left.

“We’ll protect the fleet,” Edgar called out. “Don’t worry about your back.”

“Of course.”

Dietrich hurried straight to the ship’s hangar. There were flying silhouette knights that the knightsmiths had already finished preparing, waiting impatiently to be deployed. He jumped into one and quickly assessed its readiness.

“Totally ready to go, as expected. This is Dietrich, deploying in a Twedianne!”

People in silhouette gears pushed the machine into position to be grabbed by the crane arm.

“Fight hard, Commander!”

“I will. Leave it to me.”

The crane arm groaned as it threw the Twedianne into the air. Dietrich’s unit quickly opened its fin stabilizers and caught the wind, smoothly activating its thrusters and flying ahead of the fleet.

A company gathered around Dietrich, using the fire of his unit’s thrusters as a guide. They quickly arranged themselves into a close formation, the front edge pointing at the enemy. The sky was becoming brighter, further illuminating the rainbow glow of the figures—large monsters that used ether to fly.

“Bug-type monsters sighted! We have visuals on five!”

“That’s not a lot. They must be a preliminary force meant to test or scout us. Not that we’re any different,” Dietrich said.

Direct conversation was difficult in the sky, with the sound of buffeting winds getting in the way. The flying silhouette knights’ loudspeakers used magic to further enhance their voices, but even then, the effective range wasn’t large. That was why they maintained close...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.10.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Knight's & Magic (Light Novel)
• Illustrationen: Kurogin
• Übersetzer: Kevin Chen
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: giant robots • Isekai • Light Novel • Mecha • Reincarnation • science fantasy and technology • tensei otaku
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8867-5 / 1718388675
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8867-3 / 9781718388673