Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Eintorian’s War

Voltaire Castle.

Eintorian was situated in the west of Runan, and the domain that lay along the road between Runan Castle and Eintorian was none other than the Voltaire Domain. The fires of war had not spread to Voltaire Castle yet.

Though the northern territories had already fallen into Naruya’s hands, and many of the nearby castles had seen their lords flee, the Lord of Voltaire, Lican Voltaire, had shut his gates tight for one simple reason: Lican had gotten drunk with all of his retainers and, in the elevated spirits brought on by drink, had declared, “I’ll defend this domain, come whatever may!” Lican was brazen enough that he could have pretended to never have said it, but stubborn enough to follow through on his declaration.

Seeing how moved his retainers were by his will to do what was right for the country, he could no longer suggest they run away, and so found himself in this predicament.

“Like His Excellency said: if we die, we’ll do it here, in this land. It would be far too pathetic to die with our backs turned!”

Those words oozed with contempt for the king who’d died just such a pitiful death on the run. Of course, every time one of his men said something like that without knowing how Lican really felt, he thought he would go crazy.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right...” Lican agreed. He was a timid man when sober. “Word has spread that His Majesty was captured while fleeing, and that they lopped his head off. Countless refugees have attested to it, so there can be no doubt.”

Many of the people escaping Runan Castle had passed by Voltaire Castle by necessity. That, of course, led to the natural spread of such rumors. Valdesca was not the kind of commander given to massacre, especially civilians. Him laying hands on the commonfolk was rare. Not that this had any effect on the people of Runan’s decision to evacuate.

Many of them feared that they might become slaves under Naruyan occupation, and naturally, people wanted to live in their own country.

“I don’t care if the commonfolk flee. Don’t stop them. We don’t have the resources to detain every person who flees in fear of Naruya, or to save everyone who stays.”

Lican gave these orders in the hopes of leaving himself some opportunity for escape.

“Yes, sir!”

The decision only served to further ignite the passions of his retainers who were spoiling for a fight.

That’s when it happened.

A cloud of dust rose in the distance, and not long after, a unit of cavalry were spotted making their way toward Voltaire Castle.

“Your Excellency! It’s the enemy!” one of his retainers shouted in surprise.

Lican nearly let out a gasp of astonishment. To think the enemy would be upon them so quickly! He had been seriously contemplating whether or not to flee, but now he thought he was just going to die without being able to put up a fight.

What were his retainers thinking, getting all fired up like this instead of proposing that they retreat? Useless fools! he mentally cursed them.

“Close all the gates at once! Hurry!”

“We’ll defend them to the death! Close the gates, quickly! We’re going to keep this place safe with our own hands!”

What are they saying? Maybe it’s too late, but still... I have to swallow my pride and suggest we flee!

Indecisive though Lican was, his own life still took priority. There was no need to defend his pride now, in his final moments.

Yeah. What good’s pride going to do me?

Lican made a firm resolution.

“This is it.”

“Your Excellency...!”

“They’re charging toward us at a terrifying speed... We should flee...”

“They’re a cavalry unit! If we close the gates, we have an absolute advantage over them! Wouldn’t going outside actually be more dangerous?”

“Oh, right... You have a point! Darn it, I never said we should run away. If that’s what I wanted to do, I’d have done it long ago. We’ll stop them. All right, bring it on!”

“Oh, look...! Your Excellency!”

“What is it now?”

His retainer had his head cocked to one side. That’s because, as the cavalry approached, the man was finally able to distinguish the color of their uniforms.

“Blue! They’re blue!”

“What’s blue?”

“Their uniforms, sir. They’re on our side!”

“How can you be so sure? What are they riding toward us for?”

Lican shook his head. It was true that their uniforms were blue, but still, reports from the front lines told of one defeat after another. There was no way any cavalry unit could be coming to support them.

“I see how it is!”

“What do you mean, Your Excellency?”

“It’s a disguise. The Naruyan Army is wearing Runanese uniforms to trick us. We mustn’t open the gates. We mustn’t!”

“I-I see. It does seem entirely possible.”

Lican’s retainer nodded in agreement. They reclosed the gates and prepared for combat.

“Have the archers ready to go at once. We’ll make pincushions out of those Naruyan scum who dare try to trick us!”

With that command, his retainers prepared to make it rain arrows.

“But...what if they really are our allies?” Lican wondered aloud.

“Huh?”

Lican’s indecision had reared its head again.

“Well...” his retainer didn’t know what to tell him.

“I might become an incompetent lord who slew his own comrades!”

Lican’s retainers looked at one another when he said this.

“Th-Then, what do we do...?” they asked.

“For now, we stand by. A cavalry unit won’t be battering down our castle gates in a hurry. We’ll wait and see what’s happening. Stand by! Archers, hold your fire!”

The castle fell silent at Lican’s words. Finally, the cavalry arrived in front of the castle gates. It was an iron cavalry unit whose uniforms bore the crest of Eintorian.

Jint and Erheet stood at the front of the group.

“Who goes there? State your affiliation!” one of Lican’s retainers shouted from atop the gates.

“Is that you, Count Voltaire? It’s been a while. My name is Erheet. Could I trouble you to open your gates?”

“Why, Lord Erheet! It’s you!” Lican shouted as he recognized Erheet. “Open the gates at once! We’re saved! Saved, I say!”

With that, Lican let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know what brought Erheet to his domain, but all he had to do now was follow him. Lican jumped down from the gates to greet Erheet, thinking he had found a good excuse to escape.

“Jint, you’re certain that Count Erhin said to meet him here?”

Jint merely nodded at Erheet’s question. His attitude was rather rude, but Jint acted the same way toward Erhin. It was just who Jint was. Erhin didn’t mind, obviously. If the man was loyal to him, then who cared about his attitude. Erheet wasn’t the type to be bothered by it either.

“He said to wait here. That’s all. I was told to wait, so I’ll wait here even if it kills me!”

Erheet actually laughed at this. He’d taken something of a shine to Jint.

“Your Excellency! Your Excellency!”

It goes without saying that, once Lican finished racing over to them, effective control of Voltaire Castle passed over to Erheet.

*

With the king dead, Runan was headed toward certain doom. Perhaps if he had chosen to meet his end in a decisive battle at Runan Castle, things might have been different. If he’d put up a hard fight until I came back from Rozern, it would have raised his chances of survival.

Of course, I knew that wasn’t the kind of king he was, so I’d predicted him dying as he fled, and the man never once defied my expectations.

Thanks to that, Valdesca had Runan Castle, and I now had justification to avenge my king.

I sent out scouts, confirmed the status of the king, and then immediately rushed to the checkpoint. Following that, once I received a report that Jint and Erheet had met up, I waited for about two days and then headed for Voltaire Castle.

The story was that I’d been in Rozern, after all. The king had ordered me to go there.

While I set out on the trip a little early, the key thing is that I went to Rozern and came back. My image as a loyal commander who wanted to save Runan but couldn’t is going to be vital in the future. If they think I refused to save Runan, I’d be criticized even more harshly than the king who fled. That’s why I had to go to Rozern and return. I’ll use everything at my disposal to unify the continent!

That’s the goal of this game, after all. I’m just doing what it takes to beat it.

The people’s opinion of me was going to be important for unification, so it only made sense that I would try to win them over. Even if that meant resorting to underhanded methods.

And so, two days later, I arrived at the Voltaire Domain.

Voltaire Castle

Domain Opinion: 60

Voltaire Domain Army: 3,000

Troop Types: 2,500 Infantry, 500 Archers

Training: 30

Morale: 30

Reinforcements

Eintorian Iron Cavalry: 9,330, Demacine Infantry: 2,800

Troop Types: Cavalry, Infantry

The domain’s army is three thousand men. That’s pretty low, but also to be expected. This isn’t a border territory. It would be weird for them to have a lot of troops.

The information I was able to confirm with the system wasn’t that far from my expectations. The walls of Castle Voltaire were low. It wasn’t built with a focus on making it defensible. Since it wasn’t on the border, wasn’t the capital, and wasn’t a checkpoint, that was to be expected.

This place wasn’t a place of any particular strategic importance.

I had chosen to send Jint and Erheet here entirely to influence the people’s opinion of me. The Voltaire Domain was on the road to Eintorian whether you were coming from Northern Runan or from the capital. That meant a lot of refugees would pass through here. In order to sway their opinions, I needed to do something here that would result in favorable rumors about me.

“Who goes there?!” shouted a man, presumably one of Lican’s retainers, when I appeared alone in front of the gates.

The gates were shut tight, and I could see lines of refugees all over. The walls only protected the center of the city, so the closed gates wouldn’t stop the refugees from fleeing to the southwest. Since they weren’t attacking me, they must have seen my Runanese armor. I was about to identify myself when, suddenly, the gates opened. As they did, a single man rushed out. It was the commander who’d shouted down at me a moment ago.

“Why, you’re Count Erhin Eintorian!” he declared, looking pretty tense. He must have heard of me.

“That’s right. Where have Count Voltaire and Count Erheet gone?”

Even though we were all counts, there was still a hierarchy. As things stood, Erheet was unquestionably higher than me. Since I still needed to rely on the name Runan, I couldn’t defy that hierarchy just yet.

Lican, on the other hand, was beneath me.

Bearing the name of the Old Kingdom, Eintorian, was seen as an honor, and so most counts who hadn’t been elevated, like Erheet, were lower than me in the hierarchy. Of course, this was all separate from ranks in the military.

“Lord Erheet is recovering, but Lord Voltaire will arrive shortly!”

“Oh, yeah? Anyway, there’s one thing that’s bothering me. How did you know it was me?”

“Well, there’s a man with us who claims to be an Eintorian retainer...”

I figured out who before the man could even finish speaking.

Jint’s been waiting for me on top of the wall the whole time, huh?

At just that moment, the ground-shaking sound of hoofbeats echoed through Voltaire Castle. The iron cavalry appeared in front of me—roughly ten thousand of them, all rushing in my general direction. They formed up into orderly ranks as I watched, then all dismounted to bow before me.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Your Lordship!”

These were my soldiers, so it was only natural they would greet me. It was such an obvious thing for them to do, but the sight of ten thousand cavalry forming into ranks must have intimidated the Voltaire retainer, as his expression grew even more tense. I didn’t need to look to know the man who led the iron cavalry to me was Jint.

No sooner had he dismounted than he ran over to me, shouting, “I completed the mission!”

That’s the first thing out of his mouth? How cute.

“Well done. Now take the iron cavalry back. Why did you bring all of them here? The men need rest.” I gave Jint a slap on the back, then turned to look at Lican’s retainer.

“Can you take me to Lord Erheet?”

“Yes, sir!” he responded in a loud voice, then led the way. As I was following behind him, Lican hurried over to us.

He was a little pudgy and looked like he had trouble running. There was certainly something to be said for the man as a lord, given that he hadn’t run away yet, but... His ability scores were absolutely nothing to write home about.

“Would you happen to be His Excellency, the famed Count Eintorian?” Lican asked between wheezing breaths.

He wasn’t being so obsequious just because I outranked him. Considering that the majority of the soldiers in his domain answered to me, he didn’t have any other choice.

“That’s right. For now, I’d like to meet with Lord Erheet.”

“Oh, certainly!”

Erheet was lying in bed. He’d suffered a fairly deep wound in the battle at the checkpoint. But even injured as he was, he’d made it here with the unfaltering belief that I would follow suit. If I entrusted him with troops, he was the kind of man who’d risk his own life to see that they all made it to me.

It was why I respected him, and so badly wanted to recruit him. He had the soul of a true warrior, something that I, who would stop at nothing to clear this game, did not possess myself.

Of course, I wasn’t going to try to hire him right this moment. If I rushed things, I would make a mess of it. I needed to be cautious when trying to gain a man of his caliber. Either way, we shared the common goal of fighting Naruya, so I could take my time winning him over.

“Your Excellency, are you all right?”

“You came!”

Erheet shot up in bed, like an exuberant child. If that caused his wounds to reopen, we’d lose a valuable asset.

“You’re here, at last! I’ve been waiting for you!”

“I came from Rozern as quickly as I could, but, well...the capital has already fallen...”

“What happened to His Majesty?”

“He was caught by the Naruyans while he was making his escape... It’s too late for him...”

I shook my head, laying the act on thick, and Erheet clenched his fists.

“He fled without trying to defend the country and paid the price for it, then... And what happened to His Highness, Duke Ronan?”

“I don’t know.”

He was silent a moment before saying, “I see.”

“Your Excellency, the duke’s a heartless bastard who abandoned us!” said one of Erheet’s retainers who had withdrawn from the checkpoint along with him. The man’s face was full of anger.

Honestly, thanks for the assist.

Erheet’s retainers were probably highly dissatisfied with the duke over the slight they must have felt when he sent them to the border, since they wouldn’t have known anything about the discord between Ronan and Erheet. Given Erheet’s personality, he’d never have told them the secret details involving the slave traders.

“Enough of that,” Erheet said, shaking his head at his retainer. Then he looked at me. “What do you plan to do from here on?”

His eyes were unswerving as he asked the question. There could only be one answer to it, of course.

“I will fight Naruya,” I replied instantly, earning me a big laugh from Erheet.

“Gah hah hah hah hah! Really now... The enemy has an army of a hundred and fifty thousand men. Just how do you plan to face such a... No, wait. If you’re the one to take the lead, it just might be possible. Because you’re you!”

Erheet got up out of the bed, his body wrapped in bandages.

“Then use me as you see fit in that war. I’ve already died once, as far as I’m concerned. No matter how reckless your plan, so long as it has some chance of success, I will risk my life to carry it out!”

That’s just what I wanted to hear. It didn’t mean I’d recruited him, but it did mean we had a common cause in the war against Naruya.

“First, the people are shaken up, and we need to settle them down. I mean to hold out for a while using Voltaire Castle as our base of operations. We’ll make it so that the people of Runan can evacuate to the southwest, avoiding the battlefields.”

My true goal was to lead the people of Runan to the southwest of the country, and then later make them my subjects.

For that, word needed to spread that, after both Ronan and the king fled, I became the shield of the people, buying time for them to escape. Such rumors would secure the people’s opinion of me. This operation would be vital to swaying public sentiment in my favor. Honestly, it was a sort of show I was putting on for them.

“What do you mean? I-It’s impossible to hold out here. My domain only has three thousand troops, and cavalry are not well-suited to fighting a defensive siege battle!” Lican, who had been listening to us quietly, interjected, his face ashen. “Why don’t we pull back to Eintorian and fight another day? I’ll lead my domain’s forces and go with you!”

So, basically, he wanted to run away.

“We can do that later. The priority right now is winning back the people’s trust before they completely give up on Runan. Doing that will help us later when we need their support to draft men as we regroup. There’s a world of difference between forced conscription and conscription done with the support of the populace.”

“But...!”

“If you’re that frightened, you’re free to part ways with us here. I have no intention of stopping you,” I responded instantly, since I didn’t need him either way. Lican immediately backed down.

“No! The safest place is with you, Your Excellency! But why... Ah! Could it be that the Naruyan scum have started heading south, without coming this way first?”

“As if they’d ever do that!”

Lican looked like he wanted to cry.

Valdesca’s not the type to ignore me and head south. I’m sure he’ll have read my mind, though I can’t say to what degree, and he’ll constantly be on guard. I’m the only irregular variable in this war. So he’s guaranteed to come try to kill me. Lican seems torn over whether he’s better off running for it, or staying here with me.

Agonize over it all you like. I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t get in my way. There’s a whole lot that’s about to start.

I have detailed information on Naruya that I got from the Droy Company. It’s time to use it, along with the Eintorian forces that I’ve trained in order to gain as much as possible.

*

After their bloodless takeover of Runan Castle, Valdesca met Istin in front of the throne. The throne once belonged to the king, but now Valdesca stood at the foot of it, his brow furrowed.

“You’re telling me a unit of iron cavalry intervened?”

“Precisely!”

“They took away Erheet, the battle god of Runan. This has gotten troublesome.”

“We’re terribly sorry, Commander!”

Lucana stood by Istin’s side, bowing her head repeatedly.

“They were able to kill Kediman too. These enemies aren’t to be taken lightly. And it was an iron cavalry unit... When could they have trained soldiers like that?”

Runan is not a country that can mine iron, and these troops weren’t in the intelligence reports, so they must have been trained by Eintorian. To think he’d be able to produce iron cavalry in a nation without iron.

It was far too unexpected.

“He says, ‘I’m sorry. This was a failure on my part,’ Commander!” Lucana said on Istin’s behalf.

“Well, it’s fine. We’ll leave Kediman’s Third Army to Rump. Fortunately, our side suffered no major losses. I will hold you responsible for this later. For now, think of how to redeem yourself.”

Still, this is frustrating. I really didn’t want to lose.

Even though he’d gained Runan Castle, Valdesca couldn’t help but feel defeated in some way. Valdesca immediately slammed his head into a pillar. There was a loud thud, leaving a red indentation in his forehead.

“I won’t let him have his way this time. I’ll tolerate no indolence. Deploy all our forces in front of Runan Castle, save for Commander Istin’s troops, who shall remain here as guards. I shall lead the rest of us for Voltaire Castle, where the iron cavalry withdrew to!”

“He says, ‘Let me go!’ Commander.” Lucana relayed Istin’s intentions, but Valdesca shook his head.

“With such an overwhelming numerical advantage, it would be a poor idea to divide our forces. I won’t give them any chance to fight back. We’ll leave only enough forces to guard Runan Castle, and all the rest will advance on Voltaire Castle.”

This wasn’t a foe he could beat with his forces divided. It would be the worst possible plan to divide his men and risk them being defeated in detail, so Valdesca had no intention of doing that. It would only be giving the enemy a chance of victory, no matter how remote.

I swear I’ll win, and I’ll beat him with strategy, Valdesca resolved as he gave his commanders their orders.

*

Are we going to face Valdesca’s main force on these low walls?

It would be madness, pure self-destructive madness, not even fit to be called a strategy. Once a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers surrounded the walls, we would no longer hold any kind of advantage. The elite iron cavalry I had raised would be fenced in, without any chance to distinguish themselves, and then we’d all starve after the attack began.

That sounds like a good way for me to end up getting hit with the same tactic I used in Brijit. And to have it happen here, at Voltaire Castle, where I haven’t been able to prepare for it? That won’t do.

“Your Excellency. Lord Erhin. Your Excellency!”

As I was coming up with another way to make Naruya suffer, one of Lican’s retainers ran over to me.

“What is it?”

“It’s Naruya! A massive Naruyan force is pressing toward us! See the dust cloud rising in the distance?” he shouted, terrified and out of breath. Was he going to be able to fight properly in this state?

“A massive Naruyan army? Well, I’ll go take a look, at least,” I answered calmly.

“R-Right!”

It was impossible for the Naruyan Army to have arrived so quickly. They had a hundred and fifty thousand men, after all. There was a great difference in the marching speed of an army of ten thousand versus an army of a hundred and fifty thousand. Although, if Valdesca had divided his forces, perhaps sending in an advance party like the King of Brijit had, that would be another matter.

I’d appreciate it if he did, but there was no way the Valdesca that I knew would ever do such a thing. He was a strategist on a whole different level from the Brijitian Army. Regardless, I followed Lican’s retainer to see for myself.

*

“Not this way. They’re over that way!”

As I hastened to the east side, the direction of Runan Castle, Lican’s retainer pointed to the west.

“Naruyans coming from the west? You’re sure you saw their uniforms?”

“N-No, they were too far away for me to tell what color they were.”

Yeah, go figure.

I’d come to see if Valdesca had done something that diverged from my expectations, but no, he hadn’t. The Naruyan Army weren’t the only unit I was expecting. Still, just to be certain, I scanned the unit off in the distance.

Eintorian Domain Army

Manpower: 20,000 men

Troop Types: 15,000 Infantry, 5,000 Archers

Morale: 90 (+5)

Training: 95

It was safe to say these were friendlies. They were my own troops—the Eintorian Domain Army which I had gone to great trouble to train! These twenty thousand men, together with the iron cavalry, were part of the thirty thousand elite troops I had managed to raise.

The +5 Morale bonus proved that Euracia was with them too. That Morale buff was a halo effect from having a commander with a Command score of 95 or higher.

“Were your eyes even open when you were scouting? They’re on our side.”

“Huh? Hold on... Where do we have allies coming from?!”

“It’s the Eintorian Domain Army.”

“You mean it?! I never expected reinforcements!”

Lican’s retainer jumped up and down with glee. We couldn’t expect any other allies to show up yet. But if I showed off that I was still here, and that I had Erheet with me, it was true that there were domains between Voltaire Castle and Eintorian that would join the battle. Even so, considering the efficiency of leaving Eintorian empty to send all my forces here, that was all a part of the strategy.

This battle was all part of my plan to win the hearts of the people.

“Open the gates and welcome my forces in at once.”

“Understood. I’ll go do that!” Lican’s retainer shouted, jumping for joy.

*

Because our numbers had increased with the arrival of the unit from Eintorian, we immediately set about providing food to the refugees.

If we do this, word will spread that, “If you can make it to Eintorian, you won’t starve,” and people with nowhere else to go will gather.

“Eat well.”

I took a bit of time to join in, handing out food personally.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

There probably weren’t many noblemen who cared this much for the people, especially in Runan. Thanks to that, most of the people offered me their heartfelt gratitude. Still, there were all sorts of refugees.

“Is this all?”

Some of them were audacious enough to say that kind of thing during a war, and to a nobleman, no less. Maybe they were simply taking their usual frustration with the nobility out on me.

“That’s all you get. Try and have a thought for the people behind you. We’re awash with refugees, but we’re still doing all we can.”

At those times, Euracia stood by my side and spoke powerfully on my behalf. I’d sent her to the Rozern Kingdom, just in case the invasion pushed all the way to Rozern, but as I predicted, the Naruyan Army settled for just occupying Runan. That being the case, Euracia had come back to my side.

Being a princess who put the people first, she volunteered to help out with distributing food on her own. When she spoke, the people who had been making snide remarks fell silent, unable to say anything in response.

Erheet, who had recovered somewhat, joined the effort too. He decided he would donate all of the assets from his domain, but that didn’t really mean anything now. His domain was in the south of Runan, and it was impossible for him to bring supplies from there immediately.

“Don’t push yourself. You should rest... You’re not fully healed yet.”

“I’m fine. I can’t rest when no one else is. I wouldn’t have expected us to be distributing food to the people at a time like this.”

“If it’s provisions you’re worried about, then don’t be,” I responded, thinking he might be concerned that we wouldn’t have enough left for the troops, but Erheet shook his head.

“I didn’t mean it that way. You’ve thoroughly impressed me.”

“Oh, what are you saying? Anyway, just rest. I’m going to put you to work out on the battlefield, so I can’t have you exhausting yourself here.”

“Hah hah hah! Fair enough. I get it. I’ll rest, then!”

The refugees who passed through here were just a small portion of the population flowing out of northern Runan and the capital. The refugee flows would be going to the south and the southwest. The people of the southwest were the ones who would’ve heard all the old rumors that went around Runan about me, so I needed to take extra care with them.

Turning that around, however, this influx of people couldn’t go on forever. No, there would certainly be an end to it. That was why the best move was to buy time here for as long as was appropriate and then pull out.

“Yusen.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

“I plan to head out of Voltaire Castle leading a unit for a little while.”

“You’re leaving Voltaire Castle?”

I explained my first strategy of the war to Yusen.

*

Naruya’s massive army of a hundred and fifty thousand men marched on Voltaire Castle. Valdesca had them all advance at the same pace without dividing the infantry and cavalry units. As they were on the move, his scouts came back to the main unit.

“You’re telling me Erhin headed out?”

“Yes. Once the unit from Eintorian joined up with the forces at Voltaire Castle, he took his iron cavalry and headed out.”

Valdesca furrowed his brow at this.

Why did Erhin leave so suddenly?

It was strange that he’d brought such a large-scale force from Eintorian too. It would leave his domain lightly guarded.

What is he plotting?

Valdesca spread out a map. He expected that Erhin had left the bare minimum needed to defend Eintorian, but this would still make attacking Eintorian incredibly easy.

Does he mean to fight at Voltaire Castle? What in the world is he aiming for?

It would be easy to isolate Voltaire Castle.

With a hundred and fifty thousand men surrounding them, a castle like that wouldn’t be able to hold out for even two days. Members of the Ten Commanders like Istin, Lucana, and Rump, Valdesca’s own retainers, and the Naruyan nobles who had come along on this campaign all looked at one another. That was because of the serious look that came over Valdesca’s face as he agonized over what to do.

“Commander, will you organize a party to pursue him?” Rump asked, but Valdesca shook his head.

“No. We continue advancing as planned. The sooner we reach Voltaire Castle the better.”

He could only imagine it was for an ambush to lower their morale. That, or perhaps to cut off their supply lines. However, now that they’d taken Runan Castle, it wouldn’t be so easy to break their supply lines. If Erhin meant to try and retake Runan Castle with so few troops, it was an incredibly poor idea. He’d only be gifting Voltaire Castle and his main force to Naruya.

Surely he wouldn’t do that. So that only leaves an ambush.

What still remained completely unintelligible was why he had dug in at Voltaire Castle.

Whether the fight took place at Eintorian Castle or Voltaire Castle, it was still just a matter of isolating them there and then winning, so it made no difference to Valdesca which Erhin chose. If anything, the low walls of Voltaire Castle raised serious concerns about the defensibility of the place. It frustrated Valdesca being unable to figure out why Erhin went out of his way to choose to fight there.

“I have no intention of giving the Runanese forces in the direction of Brijit time to join the battle. Even if those reinforcements did come, we would still outnumber them... but I’d prefer to remove as many uncertain factors as possible.”

His intel told him that there were fifty thousand troops in Brijit. But if they all came, Runan would instantly lose control of Brijit. The men would scatter, and the domains of Runan and Brijit would all lose their owners. Either way, Naruya held an overwhelming advantage. Valdesca also had no intention of letting Erhin join up with the reinforcements in Brijit. He’d already come up with a strategy to win the battle at Eintorian quickly!

“Well, anyway, our best move is to surround and exterminate them.”

“Do you still plan to keep the Fourth Army a secret, Your Excellency?”

“The moment they retreat to Eintorian, the Fourth Army will move into action. I can’t imagine they plan to stay at Voltaire Castle for long.”

Valdesca couldn’t figure out what kind of strategy this was. Whether Erhin chose to fight at Voltaire Castle or in Eintorian, neither was advantageous to him. The terrain wasn’t favorable. If Erhin had wanted to take advantage of terrain, he should have fought near the checkpoint or at Runan Castle.

“There’s no need to get confused. Let’s proceed as we have been.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

“I expect he’ll ambush us with five thousand cavalry. Be sure we’re thoroughly prepared for them!”

The massive Naruyan army of a hundred and fifty thousand men continued advancing under Valdesca’s orders.

*

Eintorian’s army composition diverged a fair bit from established theory. Because we had more cavalry than usual, we were specialized more toward offense than defense. We were also ill-suited to fighting siege battles. Cavalry units were only able to show their full power on the flatlands.

The reason I had gone to such great lengths to raise ten thousand of them before developing my infantry was that I expected to need their mobility. That was factoring in the fact that Naruya had more soldiers than us to begin with, and only my unit and Erheet’s were really going to function.

Basically, the premise was that we would be facing an overwhelming disadvantage in troop numbers, which meant that fighting a siege battle was a no-go from the get-go.

Even if we went back to Eintorian, we’d be isolated. Sure, we could hold out for a while. With enough food held in reserve, I was confident that Eintorian Castle could hold out for a fairly long time, even if it couldn’t last for as long as Runan Castle. But that was still a battle of attrition. I’d have allowed Runan to be destroyed only to gain nothing from it as I watched my dream of uniting the continent fade off into the distance.

So the key point in this war was going to be how much I could whittle down Naruya’s forces as they advanced. My plan was to make things as painful for my enemies as I could while slowing the rate of their advance. The better a job I did at that, the more refugees would pass by Voltaire Castle and hear the rumors.

It wasn’t as if Naruya’s massive hundred-and-fifty-thousand-man army didn’t have cavalry units of its own. But Valdesca was forcing them to advance at the same pace as the rest of the army to avoid his units being picked off.

That means they’re no faster than common infantry.

I had the iron cavalry stand by in the area while Jint and I climbed a nearby mountain to scout out the enemy forces. When an army is as massive as a hundred and fifty thousand men, its movements are obviously going to be noticeable. That isn’t a scale where they can advance covertly. The enemy had assumed a complex formation. They had cavalry in the front, infantry in the rear, and a supply unit in the middle with another unit of cavalry to protect them.

It was clear at a glance that they were all moving as one clump just from this positioning.

As was to be expected from a military embarking on a war of conquest, their composition was centered around infantry—a hundred thousand of them—in order to fight siege battles. The remaining fifty thousand were archers and cavalry.

Traveling as a pack is effective against ambushes. The man’s clearly an excellent student of military strategy.

But even if the enemy units didn’t move around on their own, there were still other opportunities to pick them off individually. In fact, them moving around all bunched up together like this could prove to be a weakness.

In order to make that possible, what I need is mobility and a weakness in the enemy’s ability to command their troops. He’ll have heard about the tactics I used in Brijit. If that makes him timid, it’ll give me even more of an opportunity.

The key was the Third Army.

With the death of Kediman leading to a sudden change of commander, their internal cohesion wasn’t all that great, and their morale had fallen. That meant the Third Army wasn’t as well-commanded as was standard for the Naruyan Army, and if we could throw them into disarray with a surprise attack the effect of it would spread. The Third Army was at the rear of the advancing enemy column.

The most important thing to do now was to make the optimal use of our mobility to execute a hit-and-run attack.

“Jint, I want you to take two thousand cavalrymen and charge the front of the Third Army. All you have to do is charge them. Once the momentum from the initial charge attack takes down the enemies in front of you, charge through and then pull away!”

“Got it!”

“Euracia, I want you to take two thousand cavalrymen and charge the center of the Third Army. Do like Jint, and charge until you come out the other side of the enemy.”

“Understood!”

If we temporarily separated the front and middle of the Third Army with charge attacks, then the forces in between them would be isolated. While those four thousand cavalrymen were charging the enemy, I would take the other six thousand and cause chaos among the enemy’s isolated forces.

Basically, this was a plan to defeat them in detail.

“Okay, time to charge!”

This plan would work best not when the enemy was camping, but while they were advancing at a steady pace. Since we were attacking an infantry unit with a cavalry unit, we would have an overwhelming advantage in mobility.

If the enemy’s cavalry breaks off to pursue us, all the better. We just have to pull them in and destroy them in that case.

At my command, Jint and Euracia charged into the rear of the enemy’s massive army in the area where the Third Army was located. Because this was the plains, the enemy’s rear units could easily see them coming and prepared for battle. However, due to how absolutely massive the enemy force was, the units in the front didn’t notice. Either that, or they couldn’t stop marching.

Thanks to that, a gap formed between the front units and the rest, temporarily splitting up the enemy!

“Follow them without delay!”

And with a part of the enemy temporarily split off, I charged in with the six thousand cavalry under my command.

“Yahhhhhh!”

Six thousand powerful and motivated cavalrymen trampled over the infantry of the Third Army.

Separated Naruyan Third Army

Troop Types: 20,000 Infantry

Morale: 60

Training: 92

The middle portion of the army that had been split off by Jint and Euracia’s individual charge attacks was the Separated Naruyan Third Army.

“Charge! Kill every enemy you see, then pull back here!’

Eintorian Iron Cavalry

Troop Types: 6,000 Iron Cavalry

Morale: 93

Training: 97

Naruyan Third Army Infantry: 20,000

Eintorian Iron Cavalry: 6,000

Battlefield: Plains

Type Advantage: Iron Cavalry, 50% Attack Bonus

Morale Bonus: Additional 50% Attack Bonus

This was a battle on the plains.

In a battle between common infantry and iron cavalry on the flatlands, we received a massive troop-type advantage. Naruya’s Third Army did hold a numerical advantage, but my vastly superior iron cavalry let us cut them down one after another. The center of the Third Army was currently cut off by Euracia’s charge attack. They’d probably also broken ranks to attack Euracia’s unit.

I assaulted the portion of the army cut off by Jint and Euracia.

Also, because their current commander, Rump of the Ten Commanders, was at the very rear of the Third Army, cut off from this segment of his forces, we’d be long gone by the time he arrived to help them.

Naruyan Third Army: 15,000

Eintorian Iron Cavalry: 5,700

Once the battle began, Naruya’s Third Army quickly panicked and took more than five thousand casualties. While this was a surprise attack, this result was born of the attack power advantage generated by the difference in troop types! However, Naruya’s Third Army were obviously well trained, and they began organizing into ranks and fighting back.

“Withdraw!”

I didn’t plan to keep up the attack. Surprise attacks like this are only meaningful during the first exchange, while there is the element of surprise.

If we stay too long, we’ll face a pincer attack. Jint and Euracia’s units will be pulling out by now, so I’ll get out of here too! The fundamental rule here is to hit and run.

This strategy wasn’t a one-and-done kind of thing. We’d be ambushing them as many times as we could between here and Voltaire Castle. The enemy knew this too, but they had no means to prevent it. The moment they organized a force to pursue us, they would have defeated the purpose of advancing all in one bunch like this.

It’s a long column of a hundred and fifty thousand men. We get to decide where and when we’ll cut off parts of it. All they can do is remain alert night and day. Not that we’ll be able to do anywhere near enough damage to truly influence a force so massive... This first raid is probably the one that will hurt them the most. They’ll be alert against future ones, and we can expect a more vigorous response.

But I’ll bet this has massively lowered the enemy’s morale. Just how much we can sap their will to fight will be the key to this strategy.

*

“Hey, did you see?”

“Yeah, you bet I did. The Eintorian cavalry were racing all over the place, cutting down those Naruyan bastards!”

Eintorians were seen launching surprise attacks in many places. And as Erhin had predicted, the refugees began to speak about it. As the rumors spread, they grew increasingly exaggerated.

“I hear the Lord of Eintorian is the only one still fighting after all the other lords fled.”

“Yeah, he must be. I mean, even the king made a run for it!”

The king was the subject of harsh criticism everywhere. Not only had he done nothing for the refugees, his terrible decisions had earned him a miserable death. All of the resentment and blame for the current plight of Runan was pointed squarely at the king. All of which only served to expand on the rumors surrounding the opposite example Erhin was setting.

“Should we evacuate to Eintorian, then?”

“It sounds like the best idea.”

Thanks to that, more and more Runanese people came to believe in Erhin.

*

Valdesca was smashing his head against the table. He knew that Erhin’s raids with the iron cavalry would be coming, and yet he was powerless to stop them. The areas already weakened by those attacks were only getting hurt more and more. But even so, if he were to reorganize his armies now, he would lose control over all of them.

“If they come again, this time we’ll go after them and crush them completely!” Lucana shouted with indignation.

“We have cavalry of our own, do we not? Those bastards strike, and then they hide... We should go after them!” insisted Rump, whose Third Army was taking the brunt of the losses.

The other commanders were just as frustrated and enraged. Valdesca stopped banging his head and rose to try and calm them.

“No. That is the one thing we absolutely must not do. If we fail to control our anger and divide our forces, we will only be doing exactly what the enemy wants us to. For now, we can only bear the pain...”

Looking at the individual raids, the casualties weren’t that great. However, the fact of the matter was that, as the days went by, they were growing to a number that couldn’t be ignored. The great army of a hundred and fifty thousand men had been reduced to an army of a hundred and forty thousand men.

The measures they had taken meant that there wasn’t much loss in troop numbers, but with the threat of the iron cavalry looming over everyone at all times, all of them—from the highest commander to the lowest common soldier—were at their wits’ end.

Normally, they would have organized a pursuit and gone after the iron cavalry, driven by berserk rage. However, if they did, they would only meet with another ambush along the way and lose the troops of the pursuit team.

This was clearly a strategy that took advantage of people’s anger, but Valdesca could control his.

“We will move cautiously, without being driven to impetuous actions. Let your anger build and build until it comes time to unleash it on Voltaire Castle. We’ll be arriving there tomorrow regardless. Let them feel all of your wrath then. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Commander!”

As a duke, Valdesca’s position demanded absolute respect. Everyone had to nod in agreement.

And so, the following day, having suppressed their anger and moved cautiously, Valdesca’s massive hundred-and-forty-thousand-man army finally arrived at Voltaire Castle without breaking ranks.

*

In the war room at Voltaire Castle, with everyone in attendance, I made the obvious announcement.

“We will abandon Voltaire Castle.”

Digging our heels in here would be suicide. There was a big difference between just retreating, and retreating after taking measures to shake up the enemy, though. The enemy losses were good, but the real reason was that showing the will to fight as we withdrew was necessary to keep the people’s opinion of me high. Having done enough to ensure that was the case, now it was just a matter of retreating at once.

“You mean it?!” Count Voltaire cried, sounding almost happy about it. He also understood fighting here would be the death of us.

Of course, he followed this with a cautious, “Where will we go, then?” That was a question that should have been on everyone’s mind. Everyone who wasn’t a retainer of Eintorian, that is.

“The Naruyan Army number a hundred and forty thousand. Meanwhile, we have only around thirty thousand. Even if the other lords rally to our banner, they would only add another three to five thousand. We stand at an absolute disadvantage.”

The fact of the matter was that, whatever we did, this entire situation was practically suicide. Unlike the north of Runan, these were flatlands, with hardly any terrain we could use to our advantage. At best, there were some hills here and there, but they weren’t going to be of any use to us.

“We’ll withdraw to Eintorian.”

That had been decided from the beginning. Going anywhere else had never been an option.

My own retainers already knew the plan, so they just looked at one another and nodded, but Erheet and the others who had joined up with us cast doubtful looks in our direction.

“So, it’s finally time to execute the plan?” Yusen asked.

Erheet couldn’t hold his tongue any longer.

“What exactly is this plan you speak of? I think that it’s about time you let me in on it.”

First, I’d need to explain this to Erheet. But anyway, if this plan was a success, I’d finally graduate from being a lord under someone else to creating my own country, and jump into the competition for mastery of this continent. It was all on the line now.

*

A short distance from Voltaire Castle, Valdesca laid his camp and immediately sent out scouts.

“Commander! Something is strange!”

“Strange, you say?”

“The castle is strangely quiet.”

Voltaire Castle was on the plains. It made the place easy to attack, but also difficult to approach in order to conduct intelligence operations. The scouts were repeatedly being found and chased off by archers. Also, with refugees becoming scarcer, the scouts couldn’t blend in with them. Especially with Erhin having returned to eliminate the scouts, they hadn’t been able to gather information, and it was only as they got closer that they realized the castle had been vacated.

Valdesca’s brow furrowed at the report.

“Quiet, you say? What does that mean?! Explain!” Rump shouted in frustration.

“Their banners fly above the walls, but the gates are closed with no soldiers anywhere in sight. It’s as if the castle is empty!”

“An empty castle?” Rump turned to look at Lucana. “I thought this might happen. They never planned to fight at that castle with its low walls. Their real goal was to split us up and ambush us with their iron cavalry. Have the Second Army scale the walls with ladders and scout ahead, exercising the utmost caution. There is a risk they may be planning to burn the castle with us inside.”

“Understood!” Lucana replied. Once Istin nodded as well, they led their unit toward the front gates.

However, the Naruyan camp were only getting angrier now that they heard the castle lay empty.

They had been planning to vent all of their rage on Voltaire Castle, but with no one there, the camp was dominated by despondency and anger that had lost its outlet. Because of that, the retainers prayed for the castle to not actually be empty, but Lucana returned with a look of intense anger on her face as she reported in to Valdesca.

“Commander, the castle is empty! There was nothing there!”

The retainers bit down on their lips hard when they heard this.

“Is that right?” Valdesca, of course, was his usual, calm self.

“The captain said he would check and make sure, but it would seem they aren’t planning to burn the castle. There was no oil spread around, and no piles of kindling.”

“Understood. When you’ve finished scouting, open the castle gates.”

“Yes, Commander!”

The gates of Voltaire Castle were soon opened at Valdesca’s command.

But as they had suspected, there was no one in the castle. The only thing that they’d gained for their efforts was a comfortable place to rest. No supplies had been left in the abandoned castle for them to seize. Worse still, because they had to pursue the Eintorian Army immediately, they couldn’t even avail themselves of the comfortable resting place.

“Well, I had already anticipated this, considering that the castle is of no importance, but to think he’d withdraw without preparing any scheme...”

Valdesca had been sure there would be a trap, but his retainers didn’t feel the same way.

“Commander, he’s only human. Are you sure you’re not overestimating him...?”

The Ten Commanders were just following orders. They didn’t get why Valdesca was so nervous about Erhin.

Neither did the King of Naruya.

The king believed that Valdesca had lost last time because he had come without any proper commanders, then let his guard down on top of that, so things would be different now that he had the Ten Commanders accompanying him.

The only one who thought differently was Valdesca, who had been so thoroughly defeated before.

“Anyway, we’ll begin the pursuit at once. I know you’ve all just lost the outlet for your frustrations, but I, on the other hand, have been waiting for this moment. The moment when the Eintorian’s forces return to their domain. Now, while they are retreating, is when we have our chance. We’ll strike from both sides and drive them into a corner!”

“Wait, does that mean...”

“Then the Fourth Army is finally making its move...?”

Valdesca nodded at Rump and Lucana’s question before pointing at the map.

“He will likely continue his retreat all the way to Eintorian. I don’t know what strategies he’ll use, but I believe in my own strategy. We will attack them from the front and back here. After that, the remaining soldiers will enter Eintorian, and destroy them using the mana circle I’ve prepared in order to take Eintorian Castle. He’ll have nowhere left to run.”

*

“Your Majesty, it’s about time we prepared ourselves. If the Naruyans push all the way into southern Runan, then our own lands in Rozern will be next!”

The conflict had lit a fire under the butts of everyone in Rozern, so the palace was abuzz with activity.

“Has my sister requested reinforcements?”

“There has been no word from Her Highness just yet. But we don’t have the spare troops to send to reinforce them.”

“But they have Erhin, don’t they? I’m sure he’ll protect them again,” the young king said, but the nobles were still quite shaken.

“He was right to tell us not to send Runan the promised supplies. Thanks to that, we will be able to tell Naruya that we’ve severed ties with Runan. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to cut our ties to Erhin too, and then build a good relationship with Naruya.”

“How could you say something so shameless, even in light of the current situation!” roared a noble who backed the princess, rising to his feet.

The nobles in the king’s faction pushed back against this, and a riotous debate soon broke out.

“Brijit and Naruya are different. Naruya has a whole ten commanders who are just like Brijit’s Ganeif. Besides, the ingenious strategist, Duke Valdesca, who is from one of the Twelve Continental Houses, is with them too. We must prepare for the worst-case scenario!”

They could debate this endlessly and never come to a conclusion.

Ultimately, they agreed to be cautious and wait a little longer to see how the war situation developed before making a decision.

*

“The Naruyans are behind us again!” Gibun shouted with a look of exasperation. “Looks like we’re definitely being pursued. Those guys don’t even look at the other castles. They’re so persistent. Maybe they don’t plan to occupy any of the other domains of Runan?”

“You said it. They won’t suffer us to let our guard down for even a moment.” Yusen agreed with a nod.

“I beat their commander-in-chief really badly during the last war. He must think that if he doesn’t get me out of the way, I’ll do it again.”

I was of the same opinion as Gibun and Yusen. If the guy would just look down on me, let down his guard a little, then it would make it a bit easier to fight. Instead, he fought cautiously, as though he were the one at a disadvantage despite the overwhelming superiority of his forces. Because of that, although I was able to do some damage with the iron cavalry, it wasn’t as much as I’d expected.

“Well, whatever. If he’s not going to relax his guard, I’ll just use that to my advantage instead.”

If this were a situation where I was trying to defend the Runan Kingdom from Naruya’s invasion and live on as a Runanese noble, then maybe it wouldn’t have been that hard to assemble all of Runan’s troops and stop the attack at the checkpoint in Northern Runan and at Runan Castle.

But then I’d always be nothing more than another pawn of the king and Duke Ronan.

That’s why Runan had to be destroyed, even if that meant letting someone else do it for me. I need to walk this risky path in order to declare independence later. Overcoming these difficulties is what’s going to let me create a legitimate nation of my own.

If Runan was destroyed, and I were to try to defend Eintorian as the surrounding countries were looking to get a piece of the fallen nation’s lands for themselves, then I’d be surrounded on all sides by enemies and nothing good would come of it.

“We’re going to settle this in Eintorian, just as planned!”

I pointed to the vast plains of Eintorian, where the idea was to lead the enemy in.

We hurried to the stage of the final confrontation.

My total current manpower was thirty-three thousand men. In some ways, that might seem like it wasn’t enough. But in war, the important thing is to decide on and prepare the battlefield, and we had a one-day lead on the Naruyan forces. Even if we hadn’t been that far ahead, because we were mostly cavalry we had an advantage in marching speed, but I deliberately had us slow down.

“Your Excellency!”

As we were approaching Eintorian at that relaxed pace, Bente, who I’d left behind in Eintorian Castle, raced over to me. “We’ve got big trouble, Your Excellency!”

The man could give Gibun a run for his money when it came to being thoughtless. When he reached my side, he jumped down from his horse to give me his report.

“Bente? You’re supposed to be protecting the castle. What are you doing here?”

If the guy who’s supposed to be protecting Eintorian Castle with Hadin is here, then that means...

The people behind me, which included Yusen, Gibun, Euracia, and even Lican and Erheet, all looked rather surprised too. Jint wasn’t particularly interested, but that was par for the course with him.

“It’s the Naruyans. They’ve crossed the border to attack. They’re marching this way right now!”

“The Naruyan Army?”

“Yes, Your Excellency!” Bente gave me a big nod.

Shocked, Yusen asked him, “No, the Naruyan Army should be behind us... No, don’t tell me they had yet another army?! Is that it, Bente?”

“That’s exactly it!” Bente nodded vigorously. “Judging by their course, they aren’t heading for Eintorian Castle. They’re heading straight for here, where you are, Your Excellency!”

It seemed everyone but I was stunned to silence by what Bente had told us. If what he was saying was true, we were caught in a Naruyan pincer movement. Of course they’d all be stunned.

“Damn it! I knew it... I should have run away from the beginning...” Lican blurted out despite himself, then hastily covered his mouth.

“What does it matter? They’re all enemies we’d have to fight eventually,” Erheet said coolly, adjusting his grip on his spear.

I’d anticipated this from the beginning. It was why I’d deliberately slowed our march.

Because by deliberately walking into this pincer movement, I could get the Naruya Kingdom to display its full might to us. This was what I used the Droy Company for. I’d spent copious amounts of gold coercing Naruyan nobles who’d illegally purchased slaves into giving me accurate information.

What I learned from them was the total manpower that Naruya would be mobilizing for this war of conquest: roughly three hundred thousand troops. However, only a hundred and fifty thousand came across the border. Where did all the rest go?

According to my intel, a hundred thousand of them went off to occupy another country under the direct command of the emperor. Where did that leave the remaining fifty thousand?

They were right where I expected them to be. So I was right to lower our marching speed. I had a simple reason for walking into their pincer attack: it was better to take down Naruya’s entire army all at once. And thus, I’d waited for them to all gather in one place like this.

“What basic troop type are the new enemy?”

“They have cavalry and an infantry unit. They’re using an incredibly basic formation, with the cavalry up front and infantry in the rear!”

It was a formation so rudimentary I’d hardly even call it a strategy.

“Will you go with the iron cavalry, Your Excellency?”

“No, we’ll go with infantry first. I intend to assume the fish scale formation!”

The fish scale formation involved positioning infantry in a solid arrow shape. If the soldiers at the tip are defeated, the row behind them engage the enemy, and if the enemy’s cavalry charge into the center of the formation they’re easily surrounded.

“Understood!”

My well-trained troops changed formation in an instant.

“The archers will stand by in a position in front of the fish scale formation, and release their arrows the moment the enemy appears. They will then quickly pull back to the rear, and the foot soldiers of the fish scale formation will engage the enemy cavalry. Yusen will lead the fish scale formation, and Gibun will handle the archers!”

“Yes, sir, Your Excellency!”

Now that those two had their orders, I looked to Jint. “You’re coming to drop in on the enemy commander with me.”

“Got it!”

With all those orders given, Erheet looked at me vacantly.

“What should I be doing?”

“You’re not at your best, Your Excellency. So, for now...”

“What are you talking about? I’ve almost fully recovered!” Erheet said firmly. In all honesty, I had been waiting for him to say that.

“Then can I ask you to command the iron cavalry? Once the enemy cavalry slam into the fish scale formation, I want you to circle around behind them and hit them in the back.”

“I swear I’ll accomplish that mission. Let’s go!”

“Yes, Your Excellency!” Erheet’s retainers nodded enthusiastically and followed him.

There’s just one problem. Who exactly is controlling the new enemy unit? That’s going to be the most important question.

I had a bad feeling about this.

Valdesca had gone to great lengths not to split his forces, and yet the very same Valdesca had deliberately set this unit aside.

Whoever it is, Frann trusts them more than anyone else. My greatest fear right now is that we’ll take major losses. At the very least, I can’t retreat until Frann’s unit catches up with us. I want to avoid a situation where my forces are damaged. Actually, the best thing would be if we could break this new enemy unit before the main force arrives. If we break Frann’s unit after that, then we’ll be able to take out two hundred thousand Naruyan troops in one stroke, so that’s pretty efficient.

But...there’s no way he doesn’t see that coming.

While I was still lost in thought, Euracia spoke to me.

“Is something wrong, Erhin?”

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this...”

“A bad feeling?”

“Well, it doesn’t change what I can do, so it’s not a problem. If my plan fails, head back to Rozern immediately. You mustn’t die here.”

Of course, I had no intention of failing. But all the same, I didn’t want her to die fighting in what was really my battle. As soon as Euracia heard me, she drew Rossade and fell into a fighting stance.

“You’re talking like that again! I really will stab you this time!”

Despite her harsh tone, she looked sad.

“I need you to make it home safe, even if I die on the battlefield.”

“I’ve cast aside Rozern to be with you. It’s not so easy for me to go back now. I’m not a Rozernan anymore. I won’t leave you until you show me the world you promised. Even if that means I die at your side!”

It was a thrill to hear her say that.

I’m such a lucky guy, having people willing to die with me.

“Okay, okay, I get it. Lower your sword, please. I won’t say it again.”

“As long as I’ve made myself clear.” Euracia bit her lip as she lowered her blade. It looked like she still had more she wanted to say.

Well, I’ll try asking her after the battle’s over. First, I need to make this plan work.

“Jint.”

“I feel the same. My life’s been in your hands for a while now.”

“What are you talking about? You need to survive too, for Mirinae’s sake.”

“Well...” Jint sounded just a little hesitant. “I’ll die in your place. I’m sure you’ll look after Mirinae after I’m gone. That’s good enough!”

Euracia and Jint both know what to say to make a guy happy.

They were the only ones in my entire army who I’d really trust with my life. I’d started out all alone, without a friend in the world, so having two people I could feel this way about was incredibly moving.

Anyway, I have zero intention of dying here, in a place like this. And I’m confident I won’t.

Regardless, as far as I recalled, the events that were about to play out weren’t in the game’s history. I was getting a little sentimental because I had no idea what the future would hold from here on out.

All I can do is believe in myself and fight on.

“Jint, Euracia. Both of you charge at the enemy from your respective positions. I’ll advance along with you.”

Of course, my goal was to identify the enemy commander.

*

“I suspect that the Fourth Army should be encountering the Eintorian Domain Army around now,” said Lucana.

“Yes, you’re right,” Valdesca agreed. “Knowing them, they’ll be throwing the Eintorian Army into disarray.”

“Of course.”

Lucana shook her head with dismay as she remembered Medelian. The color drained from her face as she recalled the unpleasant memory of the time she’d almost died while training with her. Any unit paired with Medelian’s destructive power would be the strongest. She expected the Eintorian Army would struggle against that power.

The Fourth Army were their ace-in-the-hole.

“There isn’t a commander in Eintorian who is a match for my little sister. Only His Majesty can control—”

“Oh? I have to disagree.” Lucana cut Valdesca off. “She’s always running away from His Majesty, so clearly no one can control her.”

*

The Fourth Army had been separated into its own unit just before the invasion of Runan. There was a young lady in the House of Valdesca—Frann’s little sister, Medelian Valdesca. Bearing the blood of House Valdesca, she was every bit as gifted at controlling mana as her brother.

That’s why the Naruyan Army needed her power.

But as far as she was concerned, war was a bore, and she was always running around, avoiding the orders of King Cassia. That didn’t stop her from being the highest-ranked of the Ten Commanders.

The moment she graced the battlefield, victory was assured. Even the most capable commander was just another grunt before her.

It was why she was allowed a degree of leniency. Medelian had been optimistic that, with this dispatch of troops to Runan, so long as she kept on groaning about it, she might not have had to go to the battlefield. Or she was, up until the point Valdesca threatened her with, “If you won’t join us, then I’m going to throw you out of the house.”

She could be a little rebellious, but now that he was laying down genuine threats, she couldn’t disobey his orders.

Valdesca and Medelian had lost their parents at a young age. They were each other’s only kin, and Valdesca had practically raised her too. Left with no other choice, she put in an appearance at the front while making it very clear she didn’t want to be there.

Once Medelian joined them, Valdesca entrusted her with command of the Fourth Army of Naruya’s Runan Subjugation Force. This unit would move completely independently of the First through Third Armies which he would be leading. They were the unit that would be the core of his operation to catch Erhin, and so it was important that they have the person who boasted the greatest martial prowess.

Medelian Valdesca—the strongest of the Ten Commanders, and the most capable in Naruya next to only King Cassia himself.

“Am I really going to have anything to do, big bro?! I’ve got more important things to be doing!”

However, Medelian had visited her brother’s camp that morning to complain about it at length.

“Don’t ignore me! Your adorable little sister is talking to you!”

Of course, this wasn’t a conversation between the commander of the Runan Subjugation Force and his subordinate. The way she was playing up the cute little sister bit, it was a sibling squabble. Medelian had never thought of her brother as a superior officer anyway.

“Save it. I’m busy. Can’t you tell?”

“You’re the one who called me to join the military! And I’m busy too! I’ve got stuff I need to be doing!”

Medelian punctuated her complaints by slamming her fist down on the table. After being given the Fourth Army, Medelian had made a habit of visiting Valdesca every day to vigorously object. That said, there was no changing the plan now.

Also, before dispatching troops, he had his hands full with checking over his provisions and other supplies, as well as gathering information on other countries. Sure, his sister was cute, but he didn’t have time for her. Finally at his wit’s end with her, he slammed his forehead into the table.

“Medelian! What do you even have to do?!”

He knew that his sister was somewhat self-centered. Perhaps he’d coddled her too much as she was growing up. Because of that, she was temperamental, and all too happy to act in ways that he couldn’t predict. She just wasn’t suited to an organization like the military. But he needed her to get out there and work for him.

“Hmm, all sorts of stuff? Well, things that are more fun than this war, I guess!”

War was tiresome for her. She enjoyed fighting, but not when it was totally one-sided. And yet, no matter where she went, there were never any commanders who could put up a decent fight against her. Too strong to find a rival, she always left the battlefield feeling unfulfilled. It was starting to really get to her.

Obviously, Valdesca understood his sister’s frustration with not being able to put her skills to their full use.

“Medelian, this war won’t go like the others before now. I expect things will happen to make it interesting for you too.”

“Impossible. You’re trying to tell me there’s someone strong enough to take me on in Runan, of all places?”

“Yes. Not only will it be an even match, he might even beat you.”

Of course, Valdesca himself didn’t believe that. He knew the strength of Erhin and his cadre, but even in light of that he was certain that Medelian’s victory was unshakable. That was why he needed to provoke her curiosity, even if he had to deceive her a little to do so, in order to get her to head out.

“Hmm...” Medelian crossed her arms and regarded him suspiciously.

She was pretty sure he was leading her on. But if Valdesca was willing to say this much about them, then maybe she was just a teensy bit curious.

“So, who exactly are we talking about?”

“Erhin Eintorian.”

“Oh! That guy you fought? He’s tough in battle too?!”

“He is. And his retainers have considerable talent of their own.”

“They’re that good...?”

She’d taken the bait. Valdesca decided to give her one last push, just to be sure. “How’s this sound, Medelian? If you distinguish yourself in this war, I’ll grant you one wish. So just stay on task, and lead the Fourth Army as you’re instructed.”

Medelian’s eyes sparkled at this.

“You mean it?”

“Yeah... I know you’ve been avoiding His Majesty. If you’re so sick of him, I’ve been thinking it might be good to dismiss you from military duty so you can wander the world for a while...”

Medelian instantly turned to leave.

“I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go beat them all!”

Medelian ran off with fierce speed before Valdesca could finish telling her all he had to say.

*

The battle began.

Naruyan Fourth Army

Manpower: 50,000

Troop Types: Cavalry, Infantry

Morale: 92

Training: 95

The enemy was a unit called the Fourth Army. Frustratingly, they were made up of elite soldiers. On top of that, I hadn’t been ambushing them, so their morale hadn’t fallen like the rest of the armies had. It was going to be hard to gain an advantage on that front. Though I was able to use our respective troop type and combat formations to put myself in a better position. They also didn’t have a strategist like Valdesca with them now, so I was confident in my ability to win at mind games.

Assuming the enemy commander moved as I hoped, that was.

“Yahhhhhh!”

“Kill them!”

“Dieeeeee!”

The battle began, and the enemy cavalry charged toward our prepared formation, just as we’d planned. The front line of cavalry went down in a hail of arrows from my archers.

Naruyan Fourth Army: 48,000 men

Eintorian Domain Army: 33,000 men

With five thousand archers firing, those numbers kept dropping. When the enemy approached, the archers pulled back to the rear, and the infantry moved up front. The cavalry finally charged into the fish scale formation. The enemy had the troop-type advantage here, but all I could do was hope that the fish scale formation would minimize it.

“We’re heading to the enemy commander!”

Euracia, Jint, and I all jumped into the onrushing mass of the enemy together. As the cavalry in the front row of the enemy army pushed on with incredible momentum, the infantry were behind them, preparing to jump into the action. Erheet’s iron cavalry unit would get around the very back of the infantry and then break them from there.

Even before troop types were considered, Erheet’s ability to command meant his troops had a higher morale.

When we were about to charge the enemy commander, a blindingly bright flash of light demolished the fish scale formation. Light rushed forth from the same place several times, and with each blast of light, my army’s numbers dwindled. The momentum let their cavalry break my fish scale formation, and with my troop a disorderly mess their numbers fell in no time.

Mana exploded off in the distance. I started to feel more and more panicked. I spurred my horse onward, racing toward the scene.

When I arrived, there was an incredible woman up ahead. She was using the countless swords that had fallen on the battlefield to slash apart my soldiers. Any weapon they dropped became hers, floating into the air and then raining back down on my forces, always exploding with a burst of light.

I couldn’t help but furrow my brow.

Medelian Valdesca

That name...

Her family name was the first thing to make a real impact on me. She was a Valdesca. House Valdesca was one of the Twelve Continental Houses, and also the one that Frann Valdesca was head of.

Age: 21

Martial: 99 (+1)

Intelligence: 34

Command: 72

As should be readily apparent from her Martial score, Medelian Valdesca was the strongest of the Ten Commanders of Naruya, a great nation that was seen as the biggest threat on the continent.

She was their number one.

Now that I saw her for myself, she lived up to the rumors.

She had more than enough martial prowess to hold the first rank among the Ten Commanders, which also meant that she was the mightiest commander in Naruya. She even had a bonus applied to it. That meant her actual Martial was 100 right now. She must have had a treasure like Euracia’s Rossade.

Two more swords hung at her waist too. I couldn’t view detailed information on them, but it was safe to assume that since she was keeping them in reserve, they were treasures in their own right. I didn’t know if she’d been given such destructive weapons at such a young age because of the special nature of House Valdesca, or if it was purely a recognition of her talent, but that wasn’t important right now.

She’s too strong. That’s the problem here.

That said, I couldn’t exactly ignore her or retreat.

Running into Valdesca as we withdraw would be the worst.

Still, there were too many issues with leaving her alone. She’d already completely shattered my fish scale formation. For every dead soldier, another sword floated up into the air to assault my forces once again.

It was maddening.

My men were dying, beheaded one after another. I realized that if this kept up, I was going to lose them all, so I summoned Daitoren. I got in range of the flying swords, but Medelian wasn’t paying attention to me. She just slashed at me like any other soldier.

The style was unorthodox, but Daitoren was more than capable of stopping attacks like these. It was a wide-area skill, but not one that particularly increased her attack power.

Her Martial score of 100 was reflected in the attack, which was common for many area-of-effect attack skills. It meant that each of these attacks were at Martial 100, so ordinary soldiers couldn’t possibly handle them.

I completely avoided Medelian’s attacks as I approached her. The closer I got, the fiercer the attacks grew, but I could still stop them.

Once I closed in, Medelian drew her sword and came at me. It must have been a Valdesca family treasure.

The blade crossed with Daitoren, their powers colliding.

I didn’t understand mana, but the basic way it functioned was that Daitoren was a mass of mana that released white light, not unlike the sword before me.

There were bright flashes each time Daitoren and Medelian’s powerfully mana-charged blade clashed.

“Hey, there is someone pretty good here,” she said as if she were enjoying the situation. “Hee hee! I was getting bored, so you’ll do just fine. Let’s play!”

The problem was that she kept using her mana skill while crossing blades with me. Even as we fought, every sword that fell on the battlefield became her weapon, flying up to rain back down on my troops. There was a bright flash each time.

She’s tough. Even as she’s fighting me, she’s still able to keep doing massive damage to my troops. I never knew monsters like this existed. No wonder she’s S-class.

If this keeps up, we’re going to lose. Even if I can hold out against her, eventually Valdesca’s reinforcements are going to arrive. In short, I’ll have to accept the punishment of death on top of my failure to beat the game. That’s the one thing I don’t want.

The only reason I was able to fight her when she had a Martial score of 99 was that she wasn’t taking it seriously. This was all just fun and games for her still.

Now was my chance. I’d take her out with True Crush before she got serious.

Even if Medelian had skills for single combat, True Crush had the awesome effect of nullifying enemy skills. I could only do this now, before I’d tipped my hand.

But there was a reason that I couldn’t act right away. Her floating swords were fighting me ceaselessly, as though she had an inexhaustible supply of mana.

What is she hiding?

I turned my horse around. If this fight dragged on, that would mean my forces took that much more damage, and the risk of the main force joining up with them increased. I needed to settle this as soon as possible.

“Where are you going? It’s a pain, but my brother told me I couldn’t let so much as one mouse slip away from this battlefield. So you aren’t going anywhere. And you’re such a good way to kill time too!”

Even with Daitoren, I’m just an idle plaything to you, huh? I’ve got a half-hour time limit, so I need to hurry. Now’s the only time for it!

I used True Crush on her. Daitoren emitted a flash of white light and shot toward Medelian. There was a twinge in her expression for the first time. The swords flying toward my men all switched to defending her, but the moment True Crush touched them, her skill was nullified, and they fell to the ground.

She began to assume a defensive stance with the treasure sword in her hands, but it was already too late for that.

“Swegg! Rollins!”

Or so I thought, but then she threw the sword at me. Another shot off of her hip as if following the first. Perhaps because she’d revealed the names of her treasures, their effects displayed for me now.

Swegg gave her Martial a +1, while Rollins was a Martial +2.

The two blades collided with Daitoren! As they did, True Crush nullified the mana skill, and with the loss of momentum, Swegg and Rollins fell to the ground.

Normally, equipping two or more swords wouldn’t have given her any further boosts to her Martial score. However, because her personal skills allowed her to control the blades simultaneously, the system considered them both to be equipped. That meant that with the combined effect of Swegg and Rollins, her Martial rose to 102. If I were still using Crush, it would have been deflected, and I’d have died for sure.

Fortunately, True Crush could negate it. That meant her Martial was now 99.

I can win with True Crush!

But it looked like Swegg and Rollins’ resistance also affected True Crush. They delayed it hitting Medelian, if only by an instant. That was long enough for her to call the name of her final sword.

“Valdesca!”

Perhaps sensing the power of True Crush, she gripped her last sword and attempted to deflect Daitoren. Valdesca gave an incredible +5 to Martial. I’d used True Crush anticipating she would use her last sword.

Her base Martial was 99. Another +5 brought that up to 104. As for me, with Daitoren my Martial was 99. True Crush raised it to the same 104.

Our numbers are even. But there’s still hope!

Under the game’s system, when two powers of S-class or greater collided, they would counter each other, creating a blast wave that dealt damage and caused a knock-back effect. Many players criticized it for being too cartoonish, but right now, I could only be grateful that the system existed.

If I miss with this, I’m a dead man. Now! Please!

At that very moment, we were both blown away. I’d been getting ready to use my 30 Second Invincibility, and activated it at the perfect moment to completely avoid the blast wave. I was blown backwards, and then sent rolling across the ground, but since I was invincible, it didn’t hurt.

The pain wasn’t why I’d used my 30 Second Invincibility, though. The blast wave itself had a Martial of 104.

“Whew...”

The powerful mana explosion blew all of the soldiers around us to smithereens, and Medelian collapsed off in the distance. I was fine because of my 30 Second Invincibility, but she’d taken the force of that blast wave to her entire body. Her legs were still twitching a little, though, so she apparently wasn’t dead.

That was the top-ranked member of Naruya’s Ten Commanders. Who knew she’d be so formidable? If she had gone exclusively for me from the beginning, without bothering with the soldiers around us... No, if she’d used that Valdesca sword from the start... This ended the way it did thanks to her arrogance.

But before I could go and deal the finishing blow, she was suddenly wreathed in light and disappeared.

Looks like it’s that tool activating again. It was the same with Valdesca. He collapsed right next to me, but used that tool to escape. I think I remember hearing that, in the time of the Ancient Kingdom, the House of Valdesca were the ones who designed those tools, the ruins, and that kind of stuff. Mana circles, ruins, tools, and treasures. Their family’s deeply involved with all of them.

If I hadn’t been sent flying, that might have been a chance to finish her, but because I was so far away, I couldn’t do anything. Daitoren had vanished too. Because my battle with her had already dragged on for so long, my time had already run out once I used True Crush. Fortunately, I was still able to do a good amount of damage.

That blast wave was really something. Who knew that it would be so dangerous when two special attacks from evenly matched commanders collided? Anyway, judging from the way she was looking, she isn’t going to be able to rejoin this war in any hurry, at least. We’ll call it a victory by decision, I guess.

This wasn’t how I’d wanted it to be, but at least I was over the hurdle.

“Whew...!” I let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

The moment I did, arrows rained down on my forces.

These weren’t fired by Medelian’s Fourth Army. No, the Fourth Army didn’t even have archers to begin with.

Valdesca’s massive army had finally arrived.

*

“The enemy is estimated to have roughly twenty thousand men. Lady Medelian most definitely ground their numbers down.”

“I see. Still, it’s hard to imagine that proud girl retreating.”

Valdesca cocked his head to the side in confusion at Rump’s report.

“Regardless,” he continued, “They had no supply unit. They pulled back from Voltaire Castle to here without resupply. You understand what that means, right?”

Lucana clapped her hands and answered, “They have supplies in Eintorian?”

“Correct. Ultimately, the heart of our enemy lies in Eintorian. If the Fourth Army had held out a little longer, then we could have kept the number of enemies who were able to flee back to Eintorian to a minimum... It’s unfortunate that things worked out this way.”

“Incidentally, we don’t have a full grasp of the situation,” Rump explained. “The soldiers near Lady Medelian all died, without exception... No one knows what happened.”

Valdesca scratched his cheek. Right now, winning was more important than his sister.

“Let’s take an orthodox approach. We’ll surround Eintorian Castle. There is a limit to the amount of supplies they can have in there, and the enemy only numbers twenty thousand.”

If the Fourth Army hadn’t been beaten out on the open plains, the battle could have ended there. That it hadn’t was disappointing, but the Naruyan Army’s overwhelming advantage remained unshaken.

They outnumbered the enemy eight to one. Even if the battle happened at a castle with fortifications instead of out in the open, it was still indisputable who would win. On top of that, most of the Ten Commanders were still alive and well. And so, Valdesca’s massive army of a hundred and sixty thousand men began marching on Eintorian Castle. As they were chasing a fleeing enemy, he positioned his cavalry at the front and had the infantry follow behind.

But then something changed about the enemy they were pursuing.

When the report came in, Valdesca didn’t even know what to make of it.

“You’re telling me a small number of the enemy’s troops entered Eintorian Castle, while the remainder headed south?”

“Yes, indeed! Will we pursue both groups, Commander? We await your command!”

What in the world does this mean? There isn’t a single benefit in splitting their forces like this. If this is some sort of an attempt to confuse their enemies, then it’s not a method any strategist ought to use. They’re already down to just twenty thousand men. It takes a whole lot of guts to divide that number further and still expect to win somehow.

He said that a small force entered Eintorian Castle, but what am I supposed to conclude from that...?

“I don’t think there’s any need to dwell on it, Commander,” said Rump. “Perhaps there was a rift between their commanders due to the crisis they’re in?”

“I feel the same,” Lucana agreed. Istin maintained his silence but appeared to concur with the other two.

It was the same with all of Valdesca’s other officers and retainers. They had pursued the forces of Eintorian and pushed them into a corner. There was nowhere for them to go now. Victory was all but in their hands.

“In the end, strategy relies on manpower. That’s something that I can say with confidence after the long time I’ve served under you, Commander.”

Valdesca nodded. No matter how he looked at it, there was no way the enemy could turn things around on them now. No matter how highly he overrated Erhin’s abilities, it just wasn’t going to happen.

“Where did the gray-haired man go? Erhin Eintorian?”

“He entered Eintorian Castle!”

“Then we go to Eintorian Castle. Ignore the rest of them!”

“Understood, Commander!”

As the officers ran off to carry out his orders, Naruya’s forces rushed toward Eintorian Castle.

“Create a multilayered encirclement of Eintorian Castle. We mustn’t leave so much as a single gap.”

I’ll handle this with the orthodox strategy.

Valdesca decided not to think about anything else.

*

This was to be Eintorian’s final battle. That’s what the current situation led the refugees to believe.

“We all came here to rely on Eintorian, but they’re getting beaten. What’s happening?!”

“The people who’ve seen it in person are saying that they’re hopelessly outnumbered, so you can’t really blame them.”

“They don’t have the numbers to win, then?”

The refugees who had gathered nearby whispered among themselves as they wandered in search of somewhere to go.

“Eintorian’s over there, right?”

“Yeah. A big battle’s going to start there soon.”

“Everyone’s saying this will be the final battle.”

“Yeah, after the king died on the run, the Lord of Eintorian showed up too late, the only one willing to keep fighting on... What are the other lords even doing?”

“It sounds like he was the only one who had his troops ready too.”

“He was able to stop the Naruyans last time. Do you think it’s just too much for him to do it again?”

“I hear by the time he got back from Rozern, the north had already fallen, or something like that?”

“Yeah. That’s where I fled from. The enemy tore through the area so fast we barely knew what had hit us.”

The refugees bemoaned their current situation.

At this point, it was probably best for them to accept that they were going to be Naruyans, but they had vague misgivings about becoming the people of another country.

“Oh, who cares. I’m gonna go see this final battle.”

“You’ll die!”

“You think I’ll be able to see it if I climb that mountain over there?”

“Seriously, stop! It’s dangerous!”

For many of them, curiosity won out over fear. Many of the people began climbing the mountain to watch the battle. Word of the situation had spread, so no one expected Runan to win. But there were also rumors that Erhin was the last lord in Runan to still put up a fight, so onlookers flocked to see it—even knowing it was dangerous.

“By the way, the people in Eintorian are being awfully quiet, don’t you think?”

“They are, now that you mention it.”

Throughout it all, the refugees had one doubt lingering in their minds: there was no sign of the people of Eintorian trying to evacuate. Not only that, there was nothing inside the domain.

“It’s like there’s no one but soldiers in this vast domain.”

They weren’t just talking about inside the castle, of course. They meant the entirety of the Eintorian Domain.

*

Finally, the time had come. The armies of Naruya had assembled. Honestly, Eintorian was not a good territory in which to found a country. Especially not when there were so few people that I could trust, and so few soldiers—and on top of that, we were also surrounded by Naruya. Not to mention, the vast majority of the Runan Kingdom’s manpower was currently in Brijit.

Of course, the king sending his troops there, blinded by a juicy prize, had all been part of my plan, because I’d wanted Runan ruined more than anyone. Even if all of that manpower joined up with me, I couldn’t amass power here. This land was ideal for starving people to death—an exposed territory, under pressure from more than just Naruya.

It just wasn’t suitable as a place for me to declare the founding of my country and then keep growing stronger. But even if I was going to lay the foundation for my country somewhere else, I still had to break the Royal Naruyan Army first. It would be impossible to regroup while on the run.

First, I need to defeat Naruya, then gather the people, organize my armies, and build the strength to invade other countries. This is the first step toward that.

I’d sent the main body of my forces elsewhere while I led a smaller force into Eintorian Castle in order to lure in Valdesca. I surveyed his army from on top of the castle walls.

They surrounded Eintorian on all sides, with an encirclement that was several layers deep. What genuinely disciplined troops.

I couldn’t be happier to see so many of them here.

To be honest, it was the secret hidden in Eintorian Castle that was making this entire plan possible.

Those secret passages that were created in the time of the Ancient Kingdom existed in Eintorian too. The room with the gold and the room where I’d found the bonus both had nothing to do with the Ancient Kingdom. The former was created by the descendants of Eintorian, and the latter was made by the game’s management team. However, Eintorian, which had shared the same fate as the Ancient Kingdom, also had another secret room—a secret passage that I couldn’t have entered without Euracia’s ring.

I’d searched the entire castle. There’s no way that Brijit would have one and Eintorian wouldn’t, I’d thought, and was proven right.

The plan now was to use myself as bait to lure Valdesca’s massive army into attacking an empty Eintorian Castle. The sun was setting, but he’d probably attack anyway. All without realizing that Eintorian was now empty.

Valdesca’s not going to give me time. He’ll want to use his current momentum to take Eintorian Castle in one push.

This was my chance. Valdesca must have assumed it would be easier to attack under cover of night, because his forces stayed quiet until the sun went down, and then as soon as it had he ordered the assault.

*

“All forces, charge!”

Valdesca had no intention of dragging out the conquest of Eintorian Castle. He had all of his forces charge toward the castle. The first to go in were the Third Army, using ladders. Due to the death of Kediman, Rump had asked Valdesca to let the Third Army take point in order to redeem themselves. With no defenders protecting the castle, the massive army quickly got in and opened the gates, allowing Rump’s forty thousand men to rush inside.

The burning gates lit the way, allowing a fairly rapid advance. The troops who were inside also opened the other gates, allowing even more soldiers to rush in.

But no matter where they pushed toward, they found no one to fight.

Rump thought the enemy were lying in wait for one last ambush, so he ordered all of the rest of the gates be opened, but search as they might, his men couldn’t find a single Eintorian soldier.

“Report to the commander-in-chief at once!”

Finding this suspicious, Rump sent a messenger to Valdesca. After that, a small unit came rushing out of the castle gates.

“Captain, the enemy is ahead of us!”

“Were they hiding, then, like I thought?”

Rump nodded and then went to stop that unit, but Erhin was at the front of the group, and Rump’s head quickly flew. Enough time had passed that Erhin could use Daitoren again, and Rump paid the price. Meanwhile, at the same time, Rump’s messenger arrived at Valdesca’s camp, which was positioned at the very rear so that he could command all of his forces.

“Commander! Commander!”

“What is it?”

“We have trouble. There’s no one in Eintorian, just like at Voltaire Castle. The place is completely empty. There isn’t a soul to be found!”

“What do you mean? You’re telling me he abandoned his own home base?”

Valdesca felt like he’d been bashed in the head with a hammer. He thought that Eintorian already had other units deployed, and they were using them to disperse his attention. It was unthinkable that Erhin would truly abandon his main stronghold.

“Have everyone pull out of Eintorian Castle at once. At once, I say!” Valdesca shouted.

Faced with the incomprehensible, he had a bad feeling about all of this.

*

The massive Naruyan force entered Eintorian, more than sixty thousand of their troops all pushing forward at once.

The Naruyan Army had gathered nearly all of their forces—an army of a hundred and sixty thousand men—in the area around Eintorian Castle. The secret space was full of insults directed at the Twelve Houses by the ancient king who had been forced by their betrayal to retreat from the original capital of the Ancient Kingdom to Eintorian. This ancestor had developed the mana circles, and built secret passages all over the continent. After retreating all the way to the area currently called Eintorian, his heart broken, he began work on completing the last mana circle of his life. It was a self-destructing mana circle—his most horrible technique, one he meant to use to take the world down with him.

However, in the end, the Eintorian ancestor never actually used it. It was still unclear why.

After Jint had helped evacuate all of my remaining subordinates and subjects through the underground passage, Euracia and I stayed behind in the castle—just the two of us—waiting for the enemy.

“They’re here... Euracia, we’re going underground!”

“Got it!”

There was a vast, open space that led into the underground passage. When Euracia stood there, a mana circle appeared. Holding up her ring, she was able to activate it, and the mana circle flashed a blinding white light.

At the same time, there was a great rumbling from underground. The self-destruction circle was working.

“Okay, let’s run!”

We had to get to our horses quickly. I’d explained that it would take a fair amount of time for the mana circle to get going, but we couldn’t know exactly how long that would be, and that gave us reason to hurry. I was willing to take this risky gamble because I could still use 30 Second Invincibility two or three more times.

It’s a race against time, but as long as we can escape it’s all good!

Euracia nodded. And so, the two of us tried to slip out of the mana circle.

However, just as we did, the light of mana vanished!

“...”

Euracia and I stared at one another.

“It would appear...it doesn’t work once the user leaves the mana circle,” she said.

It had that kind of secret? Don’t tell me that the reason the Eintorian ancestor couldn’t use it was because he was afraid to die and just ran away.

As I was struck by a wave of despair, Euracia bit her lip.

“You go on by yourself,” she said to me. “I’ll stay here.”

That was out of the question.

“Not a chance! If it means sacrificing you, I’d rather just run away! Even if Naruya defeats us, so long as we survive, we’ll have a chance to recover. Let’s give up and get out of here.”

The ring, once worn, couldn’t be removed until death.

Yeah, that’s perfect for something you’re going to commit suicide with! Even though he made the tool himself, once he put it on, there wasn’t any way for him to take it off again!

“If this ring is the key...then perhaps we could just leave it here?” Euracia suggested, and then...

“Wait, Euracia!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, she sliced off her own finger with Rossade.

Blood splattered the ground, and Euracia winced with pain as her finger fell into the circle, causing it to activate once more.

At this point, we left.

With the ring touching the mana circle, this time it kept on working.

“Damn it...! We’ve got to get out of here!”

There was no more time to think, so I grabbed Euracia by the arm.

We raced through the underground passage on horseback. The light of the mana circle was growing stronger, already setting off sparks outside Eintorian Castle. The Eintorian ancestor had apparently built this thing without the determination to blow himself up or even to sever his own finger.

Once we got outside, the design of the mana circle underground was being projected up into the sky.

This was after I had mercilessly cut down Rump, and we slipped out the gates!

Soon a massive flash of light spread out and engulfed the entirety of Eintorian Castle.

I spurred my horse onward, using 30 Second Invincibility as I did.

*

“What in the... This is impossible!”

A massive mana circle was projected in the sky. As the circle began to shine white, the ground shook. The land where the mana circle had been carved began breaking apart.

It was an earthquake of intense magnitude with Eintorian Castle as its epicenter, the disaster rippling and tearing through the land to affect the surrounding areas. The ground crumbled away like melting chocolate, and the earth swallowed up soldiers as the powerful quake kept spreading out.

Fissures continued to form in the splitting earth, closing in right before Valdesca’s eyes. Magma spewed forth from the ground, engulfing his soldiers.

Eintorian Castle collapsed completely.

“Commander! You have to flee!”

The retainers of the House of Valdesca immediately took Valdesca by the arms.

“Run away! You have to run! Now!”

The soldiers who hadn’t been part of the encirclement went pale, running like madmen in the opposite direction of Eintorian Castle.

It was the same for the Ten Commanders.

Unable to defend themselves, they could only survive by fleeing.

The Naruyan Army, which had been focused on bunching together for the sake of unity, were separated as they ran off in all directions.

“What is this...? This mana circle is impossible! What kind of power could...”

As Valdesca stared at the mana circle with hollow eyes, he began trembling as it occurred to him what this was.

“No, it can’t be a mana circle from the Ancient Kingdom... They used that relic of old?!”

The mana circle spreading out from the castle closely resembled the designs of the Ancient Kingdom. Having studied them all his life, Valdesca was certain this had to be a remnant from that period.

I was up against a descendant of the Ancient Kingdom. I shouldn’t be surprised that he has the same kind of thing. Considering how suspicious his movements were, I should have been on guard against something.

No, I’ve already lost. What good does realizing it do me now?!

Valdesca had a hollow epiphany as he watched the earthquake strike.

“Your Excellency, you must flee this place at once!”

Valdesca’s retainer forced a tool into his hand, then triggered it.