Chapter 264
–Aegir POV–
3000 out of the 15 000 Royal army soldiers were assigned as convoys to deliver the prisoners back to Odoros while the remaining 12 000, led by me, will head to provide back up for the governorate army .
「If we meet up with the governorate army, we won’t fall behind in terms of numbers even if we redirect a portion of our soldiers now . 」
「If we’re going to crowd in this small base, it’ll be impossible either way for Karudia to be conquered without reinforcements . 」
Leopolt and Tristan offer their insight .
「If the chief is going, the enemy will quickly be routed!」
Gido is speaking in an unusually cheerful tone .
Sweat seems to be dripping down his healthily tanned forehead even though it’s not hot .
「「……」」
「It’s not good to fuck one of the town girls! Cumming down her throat and choking her isn’t good either . 」
Celia, Myla and even Irijina pressures him, making him feel uncomfortable .
He still has much to learn .
「I returned Malin back to her husband and did everything I could for things to go smoothly . 」
We matched our stories and told him nothing happened so their relationship was not affected negatively .
「It couldn’t have gone well!」
Myla snaps back .
「Who is going to believe you when you bring her back covered in hickies while supporting her unsteady legs and then say ‘nothing happened’?」
Celia also follows up .
「You heard her ask ‘will I see you again?’ in front of her husband while blushing, didn’t you? Her husband was slamming the ground frustratingly!」
Oh, he was?
「Not to mention you said ‘thanks, it was fun’ while giving her a kiss right in front of her husband . 」
「That girl, she replied with ‘It felt so good I thought I went to heaven’ . 」
Well, don’t sweat the small details .
「Anyways, we should be able to see the enemy base soon, right? The information we received prior made it seem like a small base . 」
If we were to assume the enemy actually drove the 10 000 soldiers of the governorate army back, does that mean the base has been turned into a fortress?
Or perhaps they had over 5000 soldiers stationed there?
「We can’t form a plan based on the limited information from the messenger . We need to assess the situation in person . 」
In any case, the one who formulates the plan is Leopolt or Tristan, so I can leave that to them .
What eventually comes into our sight is black smoke rising into the sky .
It looks like they had a fierce fight .
「It seems like the governorate army constructed their own encampments . They suffered quite some damage . 」
Myla’s voice becomes grim .
The governorate army positioned themselves in an area outside the town where arrows wouldn’t reach them and set up camps .
They propped up simple fences and dug shallow moats .
And then they launched flaming rocks accompanied by that familiar sound .
They probably put together the catapults within their camps while continuing their attack .
The rocks crashed into the enemy camp, causing flames to spread and smoke to rise, but the enemy quickly controlled the damage .
From that, they determined that it won’t be easy to bring down the city .
「Are they planning to drag out the battle?」
This fight is supposed to prepare us to conquer Karudia .
They were supposed to finish this base off quickly so we can move on to the main event .
「R-reinforcements!」「Thank goodness…… with that we can pull through somehow . 」
The governorate army soldiers cheer when they see us .
I wave my hand in response, but I’m surely not smiling .
「Get me Governor General Dunois . 」
That strict-sounding voice surprised even myself .
A soldier quickly runs to the headquarters .
「Their morale is in ruins . It’s like they weren’t prepared to attack at all . 」
Wittmann comments in an exasperated tone .
I wonder why their morale is so low .
Soon after the Royal army entered the camp, Dunois and the other commanders gathered .
I can also see some familiar faces among them .
If I remember correctly, they’re Baka, Aho and Oroka . 1
「Awawa, what a blunder . 」「A truly frightening situation . 」「I deserve to prostrate . 」
The worn out and trembling trio plus Dunois, who casually lowers his head, don’t seem particularly shy .
Nothing will come of them apologizing, so seeing them be so excessively grateful kind of annoys me .
I speak to Dunois who is standing in front of me .
「Tell me what happened . 」
Honestly, if he tells me that the attack failed because of his subordinates’ incompetence, I can only reply with ‘I see’ .
When it gets to the point where these three idiots are the only choice to handle leading soldiers, you can’t help but feel sorry for them .
「We conducted two total attacks; the first one didn’t get over the wall while the second barely made it inside only to be counterattacked by a strong enemy, isolated, and destroyed . Ever since then, our morale hasn’t gone up and we weren’t able to mount a decent attack . 」
「How many casualties?」
「1000 deaths, plus another 2000 who are injured and immobilized . 」
The enemy should have at most 2000 soldiers, how one-sided was the battle for it to turn out like this .
「DIdn’t I tell you that it was lazy to launch rocks endlessly?」
Myla flares up at Dunois .
As a soldier, she probably can’t agree with the shabby way he does things .
「Wha-, how dare a mere Baron like you speak to Count Dunois like that!」
「How arrogant of someone so useless as you to speak to the Governor General in that manner!」
「You deserve to be impeached!」
As the three of them get angry, they start surrounding Myla .
What unpleasant things are these guys doing to my woman?
「Shut up . 」
I kick over a table, which makes a loud slamming noise as it hits the ground .
Crap, it shattered to pieces .
「「「Hiiiiiiiih!!」」」
The three of them grab each other and collapse on the spot in fear .
「If you have time to pick a fight after a single thing was said, then go quickly reorganize your squads . Along with the Royal army-……」
Before I could say ‘start attacking’, Leopolt whispered something in my ear from behind .
「The enemy is in high spirits, trying to conduct a siege with just brute force will likely result in many casualties . I have plan so let’s have them attack on their own for now . 」
「……after reorganizing, the governorate army will quickly resume attacking . Mount your third all out attack . 」
「At once!」「Awawawawa!」「Hiieh!」
If Leopolt says so, everything should be fine .
It was probably worth destroying the table, since it didn’t take long for them to completely reorganize their armies and get ready to attack before evening .
「Begin the attack . 」
At Dunois’s command, the 7000 of the governorate army marches out altogether towards the city walls .
The city’s defences are not much different to that of the base we brought down earlier .
The simple fences and empty ditches scream out hurried construction .
「The morale of the soldiers are abnormally low . 」
Myla mutters as she watches the governorate army advance forward .
I don’t know if they’re disappointed that neither us or the Royal army will be participating but they seem to be moving unwillingly .
Their pace is slow and out of sync, plus they seem uncoordinated and unstable .
「They’ve entered the range for arrows . 」
As soon as Celia reports, arrows from both armies fly past each other at the same time and towards each respective side .
Despite losing some soldiers, the governorate army still has close to three times the enemy’s forces and the number of arrows is overwhelmingly many .
However the side which seems to panic from the soaring arrows is clearly the governorate side .
No more than 100 were taken down yet their formation is scattered and their marching speed slows down further .
Because of that disorganization, the next volley resulted in even more casualties .
Wittmann and I scowl .
When we look at each other, we could tell the other was thinking the same thing, ‘what a horrible sight to see’ .
「They’re past the wall . They’re starting their attack!」
Gido shouts .
It didn’t matter how disorganized they were, with close to three times the enemy’s numbers, arrows alone couldn’t stop their advance .
I don’t know if demolishing that table had any effect, but the commanders are desperately shouting at their soldiers .
The axe-wielding soldiers broke apart the fences and gates, those holding ladders put them against the wall and start climbing up .
And then soldiers start clashing within the gates and on top of the walls…… .
「Aaah–ah, that’s no good . 」
Tristan sighs .
Their allies have invaded past the gates, yet the rearguard doesn’t appear enthused . .
In fact, they’re trying their best not to move forward, their steps becoming lackadaisical .
They seem almost apologetic when they release their arrows and weakly prop up their spearline to threaten the enemy only .
「They’re not giving their all . It’s so obvious they don’t want to fight . They won’t win like this even if they had ten times the number of soldiers . 」
Tristan’s exactly right, the situation is gradually worsening .
The soldiers fighting on top of the walls were chased down and killed while those fighting within the gates are quickly routed .
Since no allies followed behind, the invading squads within enemy territory were waiting to be surrounded .
Although orders were given for the others to provide support, the soldiers didn’t react in time to help .
I glance at Leopolt and he nods like everything was going as planned .
「Move the rearguard up more . Get Viscount Bonsho’s battalion……」
Dunois tries to regroup his army by giving out instructions .
「We won’t win if we continue like this anyways . Let’s retreat . 」
「……alright . 」
Trumpets sounded to signal the retreat and the soldiers of the governorate army ran backwards, seemingly with a look of relief on their faces, while the commanders look pale .
The enemies chased all the way up to the gate, then gave up after seeing the Royal army waiting outside on standby .
It looks like the enemy’s commander is superior to Dunois .
「The soldiers aren’t listening to what we say, so that’s why we were defeated!」
「It was because the other battalion didn’t help that we lost!」
「The headwind reduced the power of our arrows, that’s why we lost!」
The three idiots each gave excuses for their defeat after returning .
They went with the classics; ‘it was my subordinates’ fault’, ‘it was my ally’s fault’, ‘it was the weather’s fault’ .
「That’s enough, go reorganize again . 」
I don’t bother reprimanding them before dismissing them and then look to Leopolt .
「You’re satisfied with that, right?」
Leopolt nods slowly .
「Yes, thank you for being patient . The enemy feels that they’ve defeated us but feel a new threat from the reinforcing Royal army」
「What should we do next?」
「Set up camp for the night, light up many bonfires and illuminate the catapults . 」
I think for a second .
「So the fires will be in the camps while we have the soldiers wait somewhere else . 」
Leopolt’s movements stop for a split second .
He’s as expressionless as ever but his eyes seem to widen slightly…… I think that was just my imagination though .
「I didn’t expect Lord Hardlett to understand . 」
That was the only thing Leopolt said before he left to make his own preparations .
Fufufu, so I surprised even him .
I take a look around feeling good about myself .
Then I see Myla look troubled .
I take a deep breath and it suddenly came to me .
「……If I think about it, that guy’s been treating me like a fool . 」
I look for Leopolt so I can complain but he isn’t around anymore .
Whatever, you’ll do .
「Wah, what are you doing!? Stop that! I’m not involved at all . 」
I pull the ear of Tristan who was yawning on the side .
You’re a staff officer too, this is called joint liability .
「That’s so mean . This is tyranny . That’s why I hate the army . 」
I continue dragging the grumbling Tristan, pulling his ear not hard enough to tear it off, as I look in the distance at Dunois .
He gives an excuse like the three idiots and gets happy when he doesn’t get scolded, meaning he probably doesn’t have much sentiment about it anymore .
He doesn’t get mad, he doesn’t seem urgent, he doesn’t even seen sad either .
It appears he is indifferent to everything he does
「It’s bad enough with Leopolt like that……」
Unlike his sour face though, Dunois looks like something in his head is completely broken .
「I need to stop . I’ll start feeling depressing too . 」
It’s not like I’ll be living my whole life with him .
After this rebellion is suppressed, I can say farewell to him .
Let’s not think about this too deeply .
Late night .
In the dead of night, only our allied camps are brightly lit up .
I rest my chin on Schwartz’s head and gaze at the light .
「Do you see anything out of the ordinary?」
「No problems here . 」
Celia reports promptly .
We secretly left the campgrounds and hide ourselves in the dark night .
Besides us, the Royal army have also hidden themselves in several other places around the camps .
Of course, they did not light any fires .
「Without campfires, it’s cold at night . We might just end up catching colds if the enemy doesn’t come . 」
Thinking I could at least keep my hands warm, I shove them inside Celia’s armor .
While reluctant at first, she eventually guides my hands to the warm pocket in her crotch to warm my fingers .
Fufufu, when it’s dark like this the others can’t see anything we’re doing .
「They’ll definitely come . With an inferior number, high morale among their allies and their recent victory…… adding to that the carelessly lit campfires, all the conditions would be met for them . There is only one way the enemy can win . 」
Leopolt seems sure of himself .
「In a certain sense, I’m grateful for the incompetence of the governorate army . After fighting so poorly that many times, the enemy won’t be wary of our traps . 」
Tristan doesn’t seem to have any doubts either .
The plan is simple .
We pretend to set up camp and position our entire army in the surrounding area around the campgrounds .
We invite them to ambush us and turn the tables of them instead, instantly wiping out the enemy forces .
In preparation, we knowingly had the governorate army make a failed attack and carelessly set up camp .
Illuminating the catapults is to threaten them, saying ‘we’ll be using these things to hurl rocks tomorrow’ .
That will trigger them into wanting to destroying those siege weapons before we can use them .
I stick my fingers deeper into Celia’s pocket and when I start feeling a warm liquid, I start hearing a faint sound .
「They’re here . 」
「Aau . 」
When I quickly remove three fingers, Celia lets out a soft moan .
When I strain my ears, I can hear the rustling sound of dry grass being stepped on .
「The enemy is here . Their numbers are unknown…… but they probably have no more than 100 or 200 . 」
That’s to be expected .
We have more than 20 000 .
They might be ambushing us, but it’s not going to have any effect unless they gather a certain number of soldiers .
It won’t be strange even if they sent their entire army .
「I don’t hear any metal scraping sounds from their armor . That works in our favor . 」
Myla turns to me and smiles .
In order to prevent themselves from being sensed, they’re wearing light equipment rather than heavy armor .
That’s common sense when carrying out an ambush but the worst choice for them .
「We’ll engulf the enemy in time with their attack . 」
The enemy while still on the move remains alert since they don’t know when they’ll be discovered so they’ll end up escaping if we attack too hastily .
The best timing to spring the trap is right when the enemy is about to attack .
That time soon came .
「Chargeee!!」
The enemies who approached with bated breath eventually stood up and, along with the commander’s shout, ran forward while yelling out their own war cries .
「Charge!」
I also gave out the order at the same time and our soldiers rush out from the sides of the enemy who ran into the unmanned camps .
Having been fully prepared from the start, ally archers immediately nock flaming arrows to their bows .
「They got us! We walked right into a trap!」
An enemy exclaims, but it’s already too late .
They’ve ventured in too deep for them to do anything at this point .
They can’t regroup their disorderly ranks after their charge spread them apart .
Ally soldiers hidden around the enemies instantly loose their flaming arrows .
A rain of light poured down on the heads of the enemy, shining light on the entire field .
「The enemy has roughly 2000! I believe that is pretty much the entire army . 」
「Alright, then we can move on after cleaning them up . Go!」
「「「Ooooooooh!!」」」
The collective shouts from our ally soldiers drown out the voices of the enemy as they close in from all directions .
The governorate army with low morale is waiting behind us, but even without them we have more than 10 000 to the enemy’s 2000 .
On top of the enemy being surrounded on all sides except the back, they’re only equipped with light armor geared for ambushes .
They have no way to win at this point .
「I was going to head out…… guess not . 」
「There is no need anymore . Please hold back . 」
In just a few minutes after the start of battle, the enemy has already collapsed .
Resistance has decreased to almost nothing and they’re only focusing on running back to their own camp .
「After them . We’ll follow them right into the city!」
Wittmann roars, deploying his troops to chase the enemy .
「Oh, he did it . 」
A soldier is waving a torch above the gates of the city walls .
「Agor’s battalion has secured the gate . Our entire army can push through . 」
Wittmann states happily .
We’ll return the ambush by stealing the gate .
If we can finish them off as cleanly as this, it makes even me feel good .
「It’s over . The enemy has no more moves available . We’ll wait until dawn before the whole army steps in . 」
Leopolt remains expressionless as he speaks .
Your plan worked like a charm .
I still haven’t forgotten how you treated me like an idiot though .
One day I’ll get you to spill the beans on your sex life with Nina and then expose it on the bulletin board for all the people of Rafen to see .
And so the enemy’s night raid squad was annihilated, most of whom got either shot to death or completely surrounded and forced to surrender .
It was doubtful whether ten percent made it back to the city safely .
We’ve already captured the gate so we have no need to hurry .
We’ll wait for the sun to rise and slowly make our way inside .
The Next Morning .
「What is this?」
With the enemy powerless to put up any resistance, we waited until sunrise to invade the city…… there we saw a shocking scene .
「……I believe they’re corpses of the residents . 」
「I know that . 」
I unconsciously snap back at Wittmann’s honest answer .
Sorry, this is making me quite heated .
After walking into the city, we were about to head towards the feudal lord’s mansion to search for any remaining enemies holding out, while also doing a brief investigation of the city to ensure there were no traps .
Then we found this .
It was the rubble from tearing down several residential homes to create a defensive structure of sorts and the mountain of corpses .
None of the bodies were armed and the corpses were clearly that of ordinary residents .
All of them were killed with swords or spears, and they ranged from young men to elderly to girls and children .
「Aegr-sama, I’ve searched the town and all the houses are empty . Probably these are-……」
Celia gives me the report .
This town is about the same size as the other town we took over so it should similarly have around 1000 residents living in the houses .
The number of bodies laying in front of me just happen to be around that amount .
「Killing even women and children…… what devils!」
Myla angrily slams her sword into the ground .
Agor remains upright and motionless but I can feel his anger .
I crouch down in front of a woman’s corpse .
Her clothes are disheveled and anybody could surmise what had happened to her .
After I cover her with a blanket and close her eyes with my hand, her face seems to become a little more relaxed .
「To not just kill citizens…… but women in particular, what a fool . 」
I don’t know these people so I’m not sad .
I just feel anger building up from thinking about how these guys from the independent faction tormented harmless women who can’t defend themselves .
If the girls of this city were still alive, they may have eventually become my women .
Those guys took that possibility away .
「Aegir-sama! Survivors!!」
My attention shifts to Celia when she shouts .
So there were some still alive .
Agor nods and sends some soldiers in their direction .
「There are twenty of them, just young females!」
「What did you say!?」
I run past Agor and the other soldiers after hearing this unexpected follow-up news .
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