Blaze in the Cocoon
Hindukush Basin, outside the commercial capital of Abadi.
Beast claws ground over the earth. Sunlight struck the dust filling the sky, forming strange patterns of light and shadow, and banner after banner snapped sharply in the haze.
This was fresh force from the Beastmen Royal Court, neatly armored and marching in unison. At the very rear of the column was an enormous carriage, upon which lay one of the Beast God's Favored. These troops were the supervisory force the Royal Court had sent down, and they were also among the more elite fighting strength of the Beastmen Plateau.
Among the orc banners, there was also a slightly smaller galloping-horse flag. Several hundred Human Race Mana-Wielders formed a sparse, straggling line and followed behind the Royal Court's forces.
Beneath the galloping-horse banner, Toloniz Gallop, in the figure of a high-ranking knight, walked at the very front with his head high and chest out. Though he was bare-chested at the moment, and the troop behind him was nothing but a motley mob, this knight from a remote branch of a declining clan had finally become the leader of the Hindukush Human Race.
"Heh, heh, just look at the troops behind us!" Toloniz said to the mage apprentice Pinketo beside him. "Several hundred Mana-Wielders—even inside the Human Empire, that's a force no one could possibly ignore!"
Mage apprentice Pinketo looked back at their dispirited compatriots and completely failed to understand where a former miner like Toloniz got his confidence. He asked in a low voice, "Toloniz, you don't actually think the Beastmen Royal Court is sending us to Gallop Plains to become kings, do you?"
"Of course not. They're definitely sending us to be cannon fodder!" Toloniz said, unconcerned. "Isn't that obvious? They didn't even issue us armor."
"Then