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(259)
“The war has already been decided. The results were unexpected, but that doesn’t change anything.”
“Bnoah spoke in a still overbearing tone.
Just behind him, Daniel was being carried out on a stretcher.
I asked with a faint laugh.
“Where on earth does that unfounded confidence come from?”
“This is not confidence. Even if the results had been much more one-sided, my intentions would not have changed.”
"under."
I'm starting to feel a little dirty.
It felt like I was talking to a wall.
I looked around, careful not to let my pupils, which I had just barely managed to close, tear vertically again.
Many soldiers were looking at me and Sir Tentia with wary eyes, while many more were going about their own business.
They cleaned their weapons, said prayers, anointed the winged cross with holy oil, and drove their carts here and there, laden with fodder for their horses.
“Are you planning to kill them all?”
“I will be there too, Your Highness.”
“Call His Majesty, you lowly being.”
“… … I serve not one person, but the will of the country and its people. I cannot do that.”
At that moment, I thought that I might have misunderstood something about this general.
“… … .”
There was no sign of erosion, and he was not carrying any magical tools other than a cross.
Even if you slightly raise the energy of the dragon's words and solidify or shake all the mana in the area, they don't even bat an eyelash.
“?”
Instead, he even gave me a suspicious look.
It meant that he was a normal person who couldn't feel mana at all.
“The will of the people… … .”
“All I ever wanted to do was fight for my country and my people, and the council ordered me to free the oppressed serfs of the empire. And I had no right to refuse that order.”
Benoit stared at me intently.
I caught a glimpse of myself in those thick, hazel eyes.
Even if he pulled out the sword at his waist and swung it with all his might, it wouldn't even pierce my eyelid, but I sensed some form of strength from Benoit.
And I was a person who was good at trampling on that kind of toughness.
“If you don’t return, I will kill you.”
“Then the next general will come. We have already finished organizing our 100,000-strong army.”
“I must ask His Majesty the Emperor to summon the meteorite.”
“A meteor may destroy our buildings and take our lives, but our spirit will remain.”
“What’s the point of creating 100,000 corpses?”
“The whole world will know that the nobles of the evil Soletaras Empire killed 100,000 because they did not want to improve the treatment of their serfs even a little.”
I blurted out what I thought was not what I should say.
“Is it worth risking 100,000 lives to make that fact known?”
The general furrowed his thick eyebrows.
“There are many things that cannot be done without saving one’s life. There is nothing more joyful than knowing that there is something more valuable than one’s life. That is what makes life fulfilling.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“This seems to be going beyond the level of being sparing. Even the penal corps wouldn’t send one if there was this much difference in power.”
I saw that Benoit was wearing a wedding ring on his hand.
“After the death of the martyr, Caesar will send assassins. Your family will die in long agony. Even if your children are caught alive and hung in front of your shield, will you still be able to order the advance?”
“It’s a long story, not as good as the rumors say. Who would think that the Grand Duke wants to spare us?”
“What a bad father.”
I screamed with all my might, and a convulsion occurred in Benoit's face.
“… … I admit it.”
He raised one hand, and heavily armed soldiers approached and grabbed Senator Eric's arms.
“General Benoit!”
Eric shook his body violently, but he couldn't get away.
He spoke in a businesslike manner.
“Senator Eric. Your activities clearly exceed the scope of your duties as a Senator, which is ‘negotiation and diplomatic missions during wartime.’”
Eric shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
“This is a republic that started out to save people!”
“I can only say that the congressman’s actions are a reactionary act that seeks to overturn the sacred order to send troops, which was duly passed by Congress.”
“Killing 100,000 people in the name of the people is the most horrible crime the Republic can commit. Why did this war start? Wasn’t it because of the pride and approval ratings of the senators? What makes us different from the nobles we used to hate so much?”
“Please stay in the barracks until the battle begins.”
“Let go! You bastards! I can’t kill you all. This is national suicide!”
Congressman Eric was dragged away.
“Please go back now.”
A soldier came to me and said.
I had Lord Tentia throw that soldier away.
“You want me to walk to the Grand Duke? Bring the horse and carriage!”
* * *
As we returned to our camp, a procession was approaching, carrying the Hammer Standard of the Brass Knights and the Imperial Three-Headed Dragon Standard at their head.
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“Make way! This is the procession of Her Royal Highness the Archduchess Helena!”
“The officer knight of the Brass Knights has been kidnapped.”
“He is the banner-bearer of His Majesty the Emperor, and the crusher who will judge those vile traitors.”
Although the slogans and phrases they shouted were radical, the mechanics and gunners greeted them warmly, and they smiled brightly at us as well.
“You came!”
“I’ve been waiting for you!”
“I left some for you.”
The day after the mock battle, Helena and I gathered the soldiers together and treated them to a banquet.
This was a tactic to prevent the mock battle from causing ill feelings between my private soldiers and Helena's men, and further splitting the already fiercely contested and infighting imperial military groups.
This plan suggested by Lord Tentia worked very well, and thanks to this, the meeting between the two military groups was very amicable.
“Valencian!”
A passionate voice was heard, like the blazing midsummer sun.
“Helena.”
She rode into the camp on a huge warhorse with two horns, a beast of demonic blood, a bicorn.
When he took off his brass helmet, his long, golden hair flowed down, shining brightly enough to look like metallic luster.
In her long red eyes with eyelashes, a burning heat seemed to be formed, as if all kinds of greed, including greed for food, lust, money, and fame, had been gathered and forged.
Perhaps because of the daily training of rolling on the ground and running through mud with the soldiers, his once white skin had become much tanned, but it suited him well.
Helena jumped down from the black bicorn and approached.
“I heard that you are in unexpected trouble.”
Is it 'missing'?
Or maybe I went in?
“I wish I could help you. I may not have been of much help so far, but I’m your older sister.”
It was always nice to hear an offer to help.
But it was clear that her help would have a slightly different direction than what I was hoping for right now.
Helena said in a very excited voice.
“Look what kind of soldiers I brought, Valencianus.”
He was like a lustful man facing a beauty, a dragon facing a treasure, and a dwarf facing a glass of beer with ice on it.
* * *
“First of all, the six knights on the other side are all comrades of the Brass Knights. They lead the heavy cavalry composed entirely of sword users.”
A group of cavalrymen wore full-body plate armor inscribed with magical circuits, even on their horses.
“And the heavy infantrymen next to them are swordsmen from the Academy’s swordsmanship department. They are all fighters who can fight hundreds of people alone, and they are soldiers who live and die by orders.”
The heavy infantry are armed with various consumable magical tools including potions and attack magic scrolls, round shields engraved with shock reflection spells, and huge one-handed half-swords.
“It was quite a difficult task to teach the doctrine of battle mages to research mages. But now they are warriors who can fight while casting spells while making magical tools in the field.”
The wizards wore plague doctor-like masks over their faces, wore spell-engraved leather coats, and were armed with spiked staffs and estokes, crossbows, or bows inscribed with destructive spells.
It was certain that it would provide consumable magical tools, while also unleashing a terrifying barrage of magic, and would be able to withstand a surprise attack until the escort arrived.
“The priests won’t be directly involved in the battle, but they’ll help treat the wounded, and those guys will be in charge of collecting the bodies.”
The group wearing white robes and hoods were, as expected, priests, but the ones next to them, holding skull staffs and wearing bone armor, were somewhat unfamiliar.
Sereraji muttered in a strange voice.
“Bringing them along with the priests must have been a difficult task even for the royal family. The world really does change.”
Helena's army included a dozen sorcerers.
Helena shrugged as if to say, "What's the problem?"
“You can’t just leave the corpses out in the field and let them rot. You can’t tell the exhausted soldiers after the battle to just collect the corpses you killed.”
I nodded, and she continued confidently.
“I don’t want to see a horde of zombies, skeletons, abominations, wraiths, ghosts, and ghouls everywhere I go. I need to gather them all together and cremate them properly. Funerals are also important for maintaining the morale of our troops.”
Helena smiled like the best field commander I know.
“We are still lacking in numbers. Our individual skills are inferior to those of your machine knights. However, I know how to use full-scale assaults, surprise attacks, and lures, and I know how to utilize the terrain of the area, which is a mixture of rocky mountains, plains, and lakes. I know how well my soldiers can fight.”
It was a laughter as hot as the flames of hell.
“Of course I can’t defeat an army of 100,000 people head-on, but I’m confident I can defeat a thousand men 100 times.”
She shrugged again.
“What are you hesitating for, Valencianus.”
Then he came up next to me and gave me a refreshing pat on the back.
“Let’s dive into the flames of battle together. You’re good at it, aren’t you?”
* * *
I stood on the edge of the rocky mountainside and felt the wind blowing as I looked west toward the setting sun.
Saaaaah.
Even the cold winter wind couldn't blow away my hair that was hardened with perfume.
A cloud of dust rose from beyond the distant mountain ridge.
Kookookookook.
It seemed like Benoa was trying to bypass us and enter the Imperial territory.
Considering that wars with names like 'Liberation Wars' mostly result in people being liberated from this world, it might be right to run and throw spears of fire right now.
As a member of the royal family who collects taxes, I had sacred and inviolable duties and rights that I had to uphold.
It was our duty and right to ensure that not a single fingertip or a single stalk of wheat of our people was harmed by their weapons.
To do that, he had to drop a meteorite on the Republic of Langso, spread a plague, and torture the President, and he would do it.
“What are you so worried about?”
At that moment, a dry, bitter voice was heard.
I looked to my left and saw Marcus wearing a pair of monocles and smiling wickedly.
I didn't bother to answer, and he continued talking without being asked either.
“Technology is meant to be used. Launch the Nibelungen right now, fire a hail of musketry from the sky, and drop your machine knights on enemy officers. Can’t you do that?”
The wind blew once more.
As the blazing sun and the gaze of the God of Light disappeared below the horizon, the creepy aura of the devil's realm was carried by the wind.
At that moment, Sereraji approached me to my right.
“Brother. Isn’t there a way to grant Eric’s wish? He’s the only junior in this country of fanatics who knows what’s reasonable. … … If you kill Benoa and show an overwhelming performance in battle, won’t he run away on his own?”
It was a rare sight, with his eyes fidgeting as if he was watching me closely.
He kept sighing as if he knew that this was nonsense.
I just had that thought too.
The expectation was that if I burned about 3,000 people to death with one spell and threatened them with lightning, they would all run away.
But as long as the upper echelons of the Republic were presumed to be the invaders, there would only be new generals and new soldiers.
… … I really don’t know how the invaders are hiding in that faithful country.
For a moment, I swore at the world, saying, “fu*k the world, fu*k the world.”
Then, suddenly, an idea crossed my mind.
It was an operation I had tried once or twice before returning.
If we did well, we might be able to bring back both the Langso and Republic armies, while also uncovering the true nature of the encroaching forces hiding among the Senators.
* * *
“Valencian. Are you crazy?”
Helena's eyes widened, Tentia's mouth dropped open, and Sereraji doubted her ears.
Valencianus pointed to the place where a cross was marked on the map and said:
“Let’s send all the foreign objects to Langsoir. If they don’t want to die, that great council will order Benoit to return to his army.”