Chapter 225
Aegir POV–
「We’ll rout them in one go . 」
「「Ooooh!!」」
I’ve lost count of how many times we fought, but I’m leading the cavalry in another charge into the enemy .
The enemy tries to get into defensive formation, but they collapse before we even clash from a collective volley of arrows from the bow cavalry .
「Again, this will turn into a unilateral massacre at this rate . What a complicated feeling . 」
I speak while cutting down the soldiers in front of me, then running through the enemy commander on horseback and sending his upper half flying .
As long as they haven’t surrendered, they’re still enemies even if they are running away .
I don’t have to hold back .
「Damn it! Why did this have to happen to us……」
「You just have bad luck . 」
I run through the enemy soldier with my spear as he readies his sword while complaining .
「If we collapse completely, we’ll end up being chased down again!」
「How perceptive of you . 」
I smash the head of the soldier trying to encourage the people around him .
It immediately caused those in the vicinity to scatter in a frenzied state .
Not many enemies are resisting anymore .
They’re just running while we take them out .
「One squad should be enough to pursue them . Everyone else, return to the main army and get ready to move out . We’ll depart after a short break!」
I didn’t think there was any point in killing the few left standing .
I grumble to Leopolt when I return to headquarters .
「What is the enemy thinking? Facing off against us with such a small and unmotivated army force…… they should know they have no hope of winning against us . 」
After defeating the enemy on the borders, we meet up with the fortress soldiers and reinforcement mountain nation before heading south to invade Vandolea territory .
I wrote a letter, saying “we received an undeserved attack and will now march to retaliate” and had one of the enemy soldiers we captured deliver it for us .
「I don’t know if it reached them or not though . 」
「All the enemy is doing is buying time . They are sending detachments at us to prevent their main army from being chased down as they retreat . 」
「The enemy should be having a hard time too . They can’t do anything except slow down the speed of our advance . 」
Myla nonchalantly pulls up to my right side .
When I rub her ass, she furrows her eyebrows but looks somewhat happy .
Incidentally, my left hand is busy stroking Pipi’s chin, leaving no hand unentertained .
Celia, who was left out, is pacing back and forth around me while glaring at Myla .
「The Divine Nation of Altair acted quickly . 」
I don’t know what method Libatis used to make Altair believe, but they reacted immediately and seem to be starting their full-scale invasion on Vandolea .
In other words, Vandolea does not have any forces to spare to the north besides this army we are currently pursuing .
The army commander on that side must be at a complete loss too .
「The problem is how far we can advance I guess……」
「The requirement is up to Malt’s south line, but let’s go as far as we can go to the place we initially planned . Vandolea’s land will become ours if they end up getting destroyed and we might be able to offer different conditions for the exchange in return if the battle front becomes deadlocked . 」
「If there is no resistance, we can do whatever we want . Let’s do as much as we are allowed . 」
Both Leopolt and Malt are pretty merciless .
It’s not like I owe Vandolea any favors, so let’s go all out .
「Don’t tell Daša what we talked about just now . It’ll put unnecessary worry in her heart . By the way, where is she?」
「……yesterday, Aegir-sama made her squirt in front of the soldiers and she said she can’t show herself anymore so she went to sleep . 」
What a shy girl .
「More importantly, I’m concerned about Goldonia’s silence . 」
「…… that’s true . 」
Unlike what happened to Malt, we were invaded by 15,000 soldiers this time .
It’s a personal attack on me, but it can also be considered an attack on Goldonia .
I did give notice to them but their response was a let down .
Celia takes out the letter in her pocket and reads it out again .
「An express messenger arrived to let us know deserters from Vandolea are running wild . It appears Lord Hardlett has used appropriate judgement to deal with them . The Royal army is continually undergoing preparations for war but no invasion has crossed the border yet…… is what they replied with . 」
「So lukewarm . 」
「I looked into it to see if it was a trap in the beginning . 」
So Leopolt was thinking that it could have been a trap to screw with me .
「It doesn’t seem to be the case though . This response as well as the harmless and inoffensive remarks and policies…… my guess is that the top decision maker does not want to indicate any intent . 」
「Hmmm…… I thought the King was a greedier person . 」
This is the King who expanded his territory by finding some reason to take out Arkland, Magrado and Treia .
Rather, I would have thought that the problem would be restraining the Royal army from participating this time .
「Perhaps the situation has become one where the top decision maker is not able to take any government action?」
So this guy’s saying he is concerned about his surroundings .
「If the King collapsed, then we definitely would be contacted . 」
If the King is down with an illness, the country will be more or less in disorder .
There might be some nobles who are planning a revolt among those who were treated poorly .
At the very least, I believe I was treated warmly and I should be thought of as a friend .
I should have gotten some word from Erich to prepare for the worst just in case .
「In any case, everything is just conjecture . It’s meaningless until we know the details . 」
「You’re right, all we know is that the Kingdom won’t be sending their army . 」
I look to the side of our headquarters after saying that .
There, I see an irritating flag different from my black one, one which is gaudy with excessive and over-the-top designs, waving heavily overhead .
「So they’re the replacement . 」
「They shouldn’t drag us down despite how they look . 」
Lining up beside me are the vassal armies from Count Monashi, Viscount Binbo and Baron Wejini .
「It’s Baron Gokhin . 」
「Was that it?」
The total number amounts to 1500, which is impressive if you consider the financial situation of those three .
It makes me worry if they’re really doing alright .
As soon as it became public that my territory was invaded by Vandolea, Count Monashi came forward to support me .
「Lord Hardlett’s crisis is the whole southern region’s crisis, please allow us to deploy troops as well!」
He insisted even though I declined with the reason that increasing the number of troops would increase the burden on logistics .
「Don’t worry about it, new vendors will lend us money once they find out we’re acquainted with Lord Hardlett, so we can at least take care of our own food . It’s no problem!」
It’s a big problem, but I’ll let them do what they want since it’s their problem .
I don’t know what will happen in a fight outside our territory .
It might be better to have more numbers to fend off attacks from the side or an ambush from behind .
「If by any chance, an enemy appears and we can’t deal with them, remain in the rear……」
Don’t say that Leopolt, all three of their households sent out the head or eldest son .
It will cause a fuss if they get wiped out .
「Like I said before, they’re not as incompetent as they look . 」
As Myla said, the vassal lords’ armies only look incapable because they’re wearing crude armor frequently donned by peasants .
Moreover, they look well-trained and well-disciplined .
The seedy-looking equipment is…… because of financial reasons, though it should be sufficiently usable for a side mission like this .
「Speak of the devil…… isn’t that the Count over there?」
An extravagant noble…… or a seemingly extravagant noble who is actually a somewhat sooty is coming towards us on a horse accompanied by his follower .
With their bodies clad in shoddy armor and the misfortunate atmosphere, it’s definitely him .
「They came all this way even though they’re poor . It wouldn’t hurt us to treat them well . 」
We, along with the vassal lords’ armies, slowly but surely move down south .
A Certain Village Along the Marching Path .
「We won’t provoke you or do any conscription . You can rest assured, we’ll just pass through as long as you don’t do anything hostile . 」
I went to a nearby village we encountered along the way to speak directly with them .
It would have been trouble if the citizens became like those fanatics from Altair since I would have had to annihilate them .
「We do not…… intend to resist against the army either . I will tell those in the village to prepare to leave in about two or three days so if you would please pass through peacefully . 」
The person who appeared to be the village head didn’t seem to be extremely thankful nor did he seem to show any excessive amount of hate towards me .
They must be hoping to wait until the storm passes .
In that case, our talk here is done .
「That’s it then . We’ll end the war soon . 」
I return to camp after that .
Anyways, it seems like all the people who poked their heads out of their homes in this village are quite skinny .
Was Vandolea always such a poor country?
And then at night .
「Wait! Stop!」「Are you a spy!?」
「Please have mercy…… have mercy!!」
A problem occurred right away .
「What’s going on?」
I leave the convulsing Myla on the bed and exit the tent while my upper half is naked to see two soldiers pinning down a woman to the ground with their spears .
「Feudal lord-sama! This woman was messing around with the wagon packed with food!」
「Fumu, did she inject poison in it? Or maybe she was trying to start a fire?」
This is enemy territory .
It’s not unusual for an enemy spy to show up disguised as a civilian .
「T-that’s not it! It’s just there’s no food back at home…… and everyone here was eating happily……」
Oh, it’s just a food thief .
「It’s the same thing as robbing someone, so we should hang her……」
I look carefully at the woman’s face as a torch illuminates the area .
She’s at the age where it’s hard to tell if she’s 20 or not .
I think she’s pretty and well-endowed in the breast and ass department, although she is skinny . It’s a good thing she’s not just skin and bones .
「……I’ll hear about what happened directly from her . Come into the tent . 」
「T-thank you very much!」
The woman is happy while the soldiers sigh, dispersing silently back to their posts .
It’s a little lonely when they don’t say anything in return .
I cover the sleeping Myla with a blanket and have the woman sit on a chair .
「The first thing I want to know is, are you affiliate with Vandolea?」
「Of course not! I’m just one of the ordinary citizens…… nothing so outrageous……」
It doesn’t look like she’s lying .
「Then why did you try to steal food? Do you not have anything to eat?」
I can understand why just by looking at her feeble body but I’ll ask anyways .
「I haven’t eaten since the day before yesterday . We are experiencing a poor harvest this year but I somehow managed to get food for winter . Except an army came from the south provoked us and took it all away . 」
Oh, those guys we chased away?
According to Tristan, they’re some sort of hybrid army, but securing food from the locals of their own territory is pretty ridiculous .
For a second, I really thought they were deserters .
「Our stomachs are empty and my little brothers are crying, just a little bit is fine! Can you spare some food?」
「Hmm . 」
I can sympathize with her but if I have to distribute food to every citizen in the cities we occupy, our logistics won’t be able to support the burden .
However, abandoning this woman doesn’t sit well with me either .
「There are 200 villagers, huh…… I’ll give you a few days’ worth . 」
「T-thank you very much!」
This much can probably be attributed to measurement error .
It won’t solve the fundamental problem but it may shift the public opinion slightly in my favor .
And we aren’t finished talking yet .
「I would also…… like to give more only to your house . 」
I take the woman’s hand while speaking .
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