How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 261

(261)

As soon as Benoit crossed the border, he sent out hundreds of reconnaissance parties.

“You have to see and listen properly before you can hit properly.”

The scouts were all excellent warriors who were physically fit and could bless themselves with prayer.

They worked in pairs of two to five, armed with daggers, spears, thick cloaks, first aid kits, and biscuits.

Their primary mission was to move ahead of the advance of the Republic of Langso soldiers by a few days, report on any unusual situations, and scout the areas around the supply route from the home country.

“Fourth report. Team 6 in charge of the Demonic Realm. No signs of flooding.”

“Confirmed. Please continue to watch closely.”

The Demon Realm was an abnormal situation among abnormal situations, and naturally, the Demon Realm was included in their reconnaissance range.

If the magic realm floods, both the advancing soldiers and the supply route could be destroyed.

"oh my god."

“Beyond that valley is our land again.”

“Oh God of Light, look down on us.”

“Oh, how can a human do such a thing?”

“Valencian!”

So the scouts could see clearly.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sight of the scoundrel Grand Duke Valencianus burning the entire field and pushing back the alien forces towards his beloved homeland, the Republic of Lancelot.

Kookookookook!

Thousands of foreign objects running destructively towards the west.

What was happening before their eyes was as far as it went, but their imagination did not stop there.

'Eww!'

'Save me!'

'mom!'

They thought of the villagers along the border who would be gored by the hooves of those creatures in a few hours, and of the citizens of the big cities who would be gored by the horns of those creatures in a few days.

“This little bastard!”

Enlarged fire spirits roamed the burning fields, laughing like Valencian.

“Hahahaha!”

A shameless and arrogant laughter echoed in the ears of the scouts.

They saw a vision in the swirling flames.

'How dare these lowly beings rebel against the imperial family?'

'That's right. Who told you to invade the empire?'

'Get on your knees and bow your head.'

'You are slaves forever.'

The Grand Duke of Mangnani looked back at them in his dignified uniform, his golden eyes flashing with a bitter smile.

The scouts instinctively swore, but they knew they had no time for swearing now.

“You must report it immediately.”

“Send everything you have to the West!”

“We must also send a message to the home country. Issue an evacuation order and have the follow-up units turn to defense-.”

“First, I will convey this letter to Commander-in-Chief Benoit and the commander of the follow-up unit. I will risk my life to deliver this letter.”

* * *

Dozens of reconnaissance teams spread across the area of Ma-gyeong moved busily like bees in a stirred up hive.

Sererazie and Valencian gave them a brief glance, then looked away again.

The scouts looking down from the rocky mountain looked like dots, but the two were able to identify them.

“Brother. There’s no need to kill them.”

Sereraji rolled her eyes.

“Of course. Rather, I want to help you get back quickly and report back.”

Valencian smiled wickedly.

“What are you saying now-.”

And then Benoit sat down on the spot like a leading actor in a play.

“Commander!”

“Tell me again! What did that scoundrel Archduke do?”

Benoah cried out in a panicked voice, and the messenger trembled as he spoke.

“A pyrotechnician, believed to be the Archduke Valencianus, has caused the demonic realm to go berserk. Currently, approximately 1,200 of these aliens are rushing towards the Republic of Langso.”

Benoit bit his lip until it bled.

'We're almost there.'

Unless the two countries deliberately developed it into a trading city, the border area was an undeveloped area with no towns or cities to speak of.

Borders were often determined not by lines drawn on a map, but by natural boundaries such as mountain ranges, valleys, wetlands, or seas, and naturally, these areas were not good places for people to live.

But now, if we advance just one more day, it will be real imperial territory.

It was an imperial territory with a population exceeding tens of thousands of people, a city as big as a barony, and tens of thousands of serfs suffering under a single knight.

Benoit spat out blood.

“We must first inform the home country of this fact. Send a messenger immediately. Send the news to the follow-up unit. We must prevent a surprise attack.”

"All right."

“And send the witch hunters. Whoever that sorcerer is, we will kill him. There will be a fitting reward for the evil schemes using the magic mirror!”

“I will do that. I… … .”

The messenger looked as if he was waiting for some further orders.

Benoit looked away from those eyes.

“Let’s go and take a look.”

The messenger left the tent in confusion.

The officers gathered in the tent had similar looks in their eyes.

Dozens of eyeballs fluttered like candles before a typhoon.

“Your Majesty… … Are you not going to give the order to withdraw?”

Daniel asked on their behalf.

“… … .”

A suffocating silence descended on the barracks.

Benoit did not answer.

* * *

“They aren’t turning back.”

Helena wore brass armor, a helmet with a red, axe-head decoration, and rode a bicorn with pitch-black fur.

Helena's adjutants and officers answered as the two-horned beast looked down the mountain.

“I don’t know if I can’t turn back.”

“You might be shaking and not knowing how to deal with it.”

“Well, maybe they’re not that incompetent or ruthless. The demon realm has already overflowed, and it’ll be too late to go back now.”

“It would be a tactically wiser choice to gather a follow-up force and take over this ownerless land. If we advance a little further, we will come across a bunch of towns and cities without a lord to protect them.”

It was a voice full of laughter and sarcasm towards the other person.

“That was a great analysis.”

Helena smiled with great satisfaction and looked down at the campsite at the foot of the mountain.

Eight thousand soldiers from the Republic of Korea and Langso were camping on the lakeside at the foot of the mountain.

“With fields in front and a crescent-shaped lake and mountains behind, they probably thought there was no chance of being taken by surprise.”

A staff officer who was the student body president of an academy during his cadet days and led a large-scale fight said:

“It was a good decision to spread out the scouts here and there. He is not an incompetent commander.”

Helena nodded.

Beneath the bicorn's hooves lay three corpses, trampled beyond recognition.

As the bicorn was carnivorous, a significant portion of the corpse was eaten.

It was only on this mountain that we encountered several similar scouting parties.

Of course, there will be regular reporting procedures, so if you hide in the mountains, you will be found out right away.

“You can’t expect that in this dire situation. The home country is on the verge of collapse.”

Helena sometimes thought that she must be an incarnation or apostle of the god of war.

'Otherwise, my heart wouldn't be pounding like this before a battle.'

Her and Tentia's perspectives on the fight were similar yet different.

For knights like Tentia, fighting was essentially a means.

Fighting was a tool to prove one's worth and raise one's honor.

For Helena, on the other hand, struggle was life.

'Thinking about how to do better, giving it your all, and trying again when you fail. If that's not life, then what is life?'

She gave the order, smiling so clearly that it could be seen even through the gap in her helmet.

“Battle Mage Commander?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The cantata is here.”

The wizard who led a huge gang of cadet thugs bowed his head.

“It’s not your highness, it’s the commander. Yes. That’s not important. You will attack across the lake with magic. We need to take out their spirits before the cavalry charge. I will give you a guard of heavy infantry, so take a suitable position. Be careful not to go too low or you may be counterattacked.”

“Your name.”

Cantata gave a salute, and a group of magicians retreated to one side, accompanied by a guard of heavily armed infantry.

“Cavalry unit?”

Helena's fellow brass knights and heavy cavalry made up of Ademi graduates stepped forward.

“Here it is.”

“When the campsite of the magic-battered Langso and the others is in chaos, we will then bypass the lake and charge. Timing is everything, and be careful of being surrounded.”

“Your name.”

"All right."

“I will do my best, Your Majesty.”

* * *

Helena gave additional orders to the infantry, priests, and necromancers, her small but clear voice drawing everyone's attention.

“My brother, Archduke Valencian, is planning to use a brilliant strategy to bring them back. That’s not bad. A true victory is one that is won without shedding a single drop of blood.”

There was a brief moment of genuine fear in her voice.

Although she was an outstanding commander in her own right, she could not bring herself to think of driving away all the foreign evil spirits of the Demon Realm.

'The idea is different. The idea. How did things turn out like this? I don't even know how much of it was intentional. It could have been a plan to accept the proposal from Rep. Eric from the beginning.'

'But what is certain is that if things continue like this, Langso and those guys will be destroyed.'

'The attacks by the alien demons will cause great damage to the mainland. Supplies will be cut off and morale will drop. No matter how many thousands of troops there are in that state, they will never be able to defeat me.'

'100,000 young people will die, and the cities along the border will be reduced to ashes. Both the army and the country will be uprooted. If we strangle them economically like we did with Doroisen back then… … it will be a virtual conquest.'

'In one year, we've half-dead two Western powers. It would have taken years and cost a ton of money and blood if we had done it the right way.'

I couldn't even imagine what kind of thoughts I had in my daily life that could lead me to commit such a heinous act.

“But if they shed a hundred drops of blood and we shed only one or two drops of blood, that would be fine.”

Helena's army was mostly made up of cadet thugs, and they weren't afraid to shed blood.

“You have been fighting a very vain battle for a very long time.”

She knew exactly what they were made of and delicately stimulated that part.

“Up until now, you have won nothing, even if you have. The next day, other students will come to take away your rooms, classrooms, and bread. If you defend it, there will be another day, and if you fail to defend it, you will have to go and take it again.”

"you're right!"

“It was.”

Voices of agreement erupted here and there.

“But if you win this fight, you will get their ransom, riches and honor. The best business in this world is war.”

The atmosphere was getting more and more heated, and Helena's voice was also getting more and more heated.

“What I desire is not wealth, but victory. I will share the glory of victory and wealth with you. Is there anyone who will go with me?”

Since it was an operation based on a surprise attack, there was no thunderous cheering.

But the sight of hundreds of pairs of determined eyes turning toward Helena and hundreds of hands rising in an instant was all the more majestic because it was so still.

“We will attack them when they start moving at dawn. Everyone, rest in your respective positions.”

* * *

The night was deep.

Eric crept out of the tent slowly.

A similarly built attendant washed his hair with beer, dyed it blond, and lay down on Eric's bed.

'Witch hunters are dangerous. Archduke Valen could die. Then the Empire will launch a full-scale counterattack for the sake of its prestige.'

'If this continues, it's the end for Langso.'

'Is what I'm about to do treason or patriotism?'

Many thoughts passed through his mind.

He was a politician who took pride in his efforts to protect the lives and property of the people.

The calculations Helena had made were running through his head as well.

'Archduke Valencian is truly… … crazy. Trying to use the magic mirror.'

'I don't know what Benoa is hesitating for. If he doesn't return, it's the end for Langsoir.'

'If, if Archduke Valencian had foreseen all this… … .'

If he had predicted that Eric would come to him and had pretended to help him, and had bought Eric's trust, he would have caught Benoa's ankle, and then he would have used the magic to attack Langsoir.

It was a scary thing to even imagine.

I was even more scared because I thought that arrogant and haggard-looking man might actually do that.

'Did I… … sell out my country?'

Eric slipped under the fence and grabbed a horse.

At that moment, a soldier suddenly jumped out from the grass.

“Congressman Eric.”

“!”

Eric's eyes went dark for a moment.

But instead of shouting, the soldier spoke in a sad voice.

“Go.”

"……you."

“I hate the Empire too. But this war has been strange from the start. I don’t understand why General Benoa doesn’t withdraw.”

The voice gradually became filled with tears.

“I’m from a village in the border area. I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t know what to do, but please do something, Senator. Please.”