Gate: Thus the Reich Empire Fought There, Revised

Chapter 5: The Flame Dragon

"Merde. Why do they make us do this?" Jean sighed.

The Royaume knight flew atop his dragon, Silver. His dragon-esk armor and helmet gleamed in the morning sun while his epaulet jacket cape flowed in the wind behind them. Both stared at dozens of men in the grassy hillside below. Some were armored, some were unarmored, and some were not men at all but orcs, pig beasts, or minotaurs.

Just as Frederick predicted, Molt's scattered vassal troops now turned brigand and swarmed towards the small farming village below. Or rather, they tried to. Jean aimed his right pointer finger at the raiders closest to the village and sent a magical beam of silver light straight down. The explosion consumed six marauders and scattered the others.

"Vorwärts, tapfere Kerle!"

Jean heard the cries of his horsemen below. Dozens of hobelar light cavalry adorned in quilted gambesons or brigandine rode with more heavily armored mounted sergeants in more extensive brigandine or plate armor raced across the hillside, jabbing with spears or slashing with swords. None rode equoferri but made short work of the dismounted brigands. A few of the warriors fought on horseback but found themselves no match for the sergeants.

Suzaka flew across from Jean on Crusher, and the knight almost heard him grumble. The samurai halted a few brigands who made a break for the village with his gravity magic before swooping down to decapitate them. However, his flare and enthusiasm from Alnus Hill went dim that morning. Jean shook his head at the samurai and kept picking off bunched-up groups of marauders with his light magic, careful not to hit his men, when Silver shrieked.

"What is it, girl?" He said and patted her head.

The dragon shared her vision, and Jean's heart raced when he saw two minotaurs and a troll come in from the far end and smash into a small house. Even from the air, Silver's heightened sense of hearing let Jean hear the screams and pleading. Though they spoke a foreign language, Jean got the message, and his heart raced as he imagined children torn to pieces and devoured by the monsters.

"Saint Petronas, guide me! Silver, let's go!"

Silver shook the air with her thunderous snarl and propelled herself like a mortar. Jean braced himself against the g-force but endured. As a Royaume knight and champion of Prince Frederick, he would not fail. The troll raised its club and did not see Silver before she pounced on him. The dragon tore open its chest with her razor-sharp claws while Jean slashed the first minotaur in half with a gleaming silver light around his sword.

The second huffed and swung its club in his direction. Jean turned, still in his saddle, and blocked it. The minotaur's eyes widened a little when the human held his weapon at bay. Jean narrowed his eyes from behind his helmet and shoved the beast back. With another gleaming slash, he severed the monster in half.

The knight exhaled and surveyed the area to be sure no enemy remained. Once certain, he dismounted from Silver and sheathed his sword. Once down, Jean looked inside the house at a woman who cradled two boys in her arms. Despite the monsters' deaths, all three trembled before the knight, who appeared as nothing short of a giant before them. Jean's heart sank a little when he looked into their quivering faces and tear-soaked eyes.

"We are not in Royaume or the Reich anymore, Silver. I shall have to show them proper chivalry." Jean removed his helmet and held both hands up.

Without a commonly spoken language, he tried to ease them with a warm smile. However, their terror just shifted to Silver, who poked her head in and sniffed the half-destroyed house. Jean gave his dragon a stern look before another idea floated into his head. He very carefully walked over and guided one of the boys over. His mother and brother wailed while the boy thrashed and sobbed, at least until Silver licked his face.