Chapter 56. Indika (3)
After the enemy commander died.
The Indika army rapidly collapsed.
It was a planned operation and a planned result.
This was because once the two threats—the artillery and the war elephants—were eliminated, there was nothing special about the Indika army.
More than half of the two thousand soldiers were slave soldiers, and even the regular troops were no match for the Imperial army.
In the first place, there were not many human armies that could match the organization, tactics, and equipnt of the Imperial army.
The Imperial army was the result of centuries of refinent and standardization, forged through countless civil war threats and invasions from other races without ever collapsing.
Of course, the advantage shifts when it cos to dwarves, orcs, or elves, but….
Those are different races altogether, so they should be considered an exception.
“Prisoners over here! Check the bodies one more ti to see if they’re survivors before burning them!”
We collected the bodies and reorganized the troops.
The enemy corpses were gathered in one place and burned, and the 1st Company took charge of the prisoners.
This battle was the first to result in casualties since the rcenary band's reorganization.
Our fallen comrades' bodies were temporarily buried in a sunny spot, and the location was marked on a map.
Their belongings and last wills to be delivered to their families were collected separately and placed in a box.
“Captain, here are the last wills you ntioned.”
“Thank you.”
“I took a peek… and they all wrote down trivial things. Like asking for their mother to have warm white bread just once. Things like that.”
Wishes that were far too modest for a dying plea.
As if he had the sa thought, Brol returned to his n with a subtle expression that was sothing between a bitter smile and sothing else.
In any case, we had prepared a manual and conducted mock drills for situations like this, so there were no major difficulties.
However, while the mbers were busy moving about, I was personally experiencing a situation not covered in the manual.
“Captain, that was dangerous.”
“I know.”
“No, it was truly dangerous. It was a speed that even I, a high-ranking knight, would have found difficult to react to. If you wish to interrogate an enemy commander, please let do it instead.”
I was being nagged.
Nagging I had rarely even heard from my parents.
And I was getting it from a subordinate knight on a battlefield in a fantasy world.
Of course, in terms of age, he was old enough to be my parent.
“This old soldier earnestly requests it. A commander must value their own life.”
“If sothing happens to you, Captain, the entire rcenary band will falter.”
“Of course, I agree that you are a genius of the century, and perhaps, as Priestess Alina says, you might be a holy… no, a noble person of the Empire. However, for that very reason, you must be more careful.”
It felt like he stumbled at the end there.
Anyway, what should I say?
It seed a little overprotective, but what Olif was saying wasn't baseless.
He hadn't been like this even when we attacked Tribus' hideout.
It seed that the foreign swordsmanship had left a much stronger impression on him than the familiar necromancy.
It was, in fact, dangerous.
For the sake of interrogation, I had told Karen not to snipe the enemy commander, and when I approached, I had even used the Indika honorific to lower his guard.
But for him to suddenly charge like that.
I had placed Olif nearby just in case, and I was even prepared to use my strongest asset, the vampire school spells, if things went south, but….
‘It was indeed dangerous.’
The very mont that man swung his sword.
I instinctively unleashed the copied swordsmanship, and by executing it perfectly, I seized victory.
It was fortunate that the difference in proficiency was overwhelming.
If the opponent's proficiency had been higher, or if my physical abilities had been the sa as before, the result would have been the complete opposite.
Of course, even then, I would have survived thanks to the unique skills I had copied from the Princess of Blood, but….
That would have made the aftermath a headache.
In any case, perhaps because I had dramatically overco the crisis.
The gains were substantial.
‘[Tuivat High Priest's Swift Sword]. A level 4 swordsmanship.’
The magnificent Tuivat mountain range of Indika.
A martial art created by the high priests who secluded themselves on those mountain peaks to fight the monsters of the range.
It is now one of the secret techniques passed down only to the royal guards who protect the royalty of Indika.
Although it boasts explosive speed and precise strikes, the true value of this swordsmanship lies elsewhere.
‘…I’ve obtained a proper anti-monster swordsmanship.’
If I use this well, I might even be able to slice off a wyvern's neck.
* * *
In ‘Warlord Conquest’, the boundary between traits and skills is ambiguous.
However, there are a few characteristics.
For sothing to be a skill, its process and result must be sowhat regularized.
Abilities where the process or outco varies dramatically depending on an individual's discretion are usually classified as traits.
Typical examples are a blacksmith's [tallurgy] or a knight's [Aura].
Despite having the cheat-like trait [Warrior's Insight], for the reasons ntioned above, it was not easy to obtain weapon skills.
This is because the number of skills itself is extrely small.
A spell is a technique that moves mana according to clear formulas and rules to produce a fixed result.
Miracles are no different; although their source is divine power, each result is clearly defined.
On the other hand, martial arts are ambiguous.
The weapon techniques of this era are far from the standardized martial arts taught in dojos today with basic stances and forms.
The weapon techniques here are defined simply.
An extension of the struggle to live and for the enemy to die.
rcenaries roll on the battlefield, risking death.
Even at a swordsmanship school, they only teach a few tips; the foundation is no different.
The only advantage is that one trains in the sparring grounds of a school rather than on a battlefield, with the risk of injury instead of certain death.
It is only in armies with a highly advanced military system like the Imperial army that they operate doctrines for each branch for the sake of standardization.
‘Of course, even without a system, very powerful weapon techniques are separately classified as unique skills, but….’
That would be a completely different story.
Anyway, thanks to this, I obtained a powerful swordsmanship.
Level 4 is a level comparable to an Imperial high-ranking knight.
Of course, it would still be difficult to guarantee victory in a head-on fight with a high-ranking knight.
The swordsmanship itself is specialized for fighting large monsters rather than dueling, and my physical abilities are still not exceptional.
Still, I should at least be able to fight on equal terms.
In addition, I obtained a few more skills.
What stood out were the Imperial army doctrines.
[Imperial Spearman Doctrine]
[Imperial Halberdier Doctrine]
[Imperial Greatswordsman Doctrine]
And so on.
When all the doctrines, which had been classified differently for each branch, were gathered, they rged into a single trait.
[Integrating skills.]
[Imperial Infantry Doctrine]
I had almost forgotten.
This thing could rge, too.
It was a skill I had rarely seen, as it was uncommon even for an Imperial hero to master the specialties of all branches.
Anyway, aside from the unexpected gains, not everything went well.
The original plan was to capture the commander of the Indika army as a prisoner.
I had no choice but to take him down when he suddenly charged, but the original intention was to interrogate him and uncover who was behind him.
This was because Indika's intervention had never happened before.
Not once in the thousands of repeated worlds.
My gut told that this incident was also an extension of the variables caused by the 4.0 update.
Just like when I predicted Tribus' appearance after seeing the Soul Core Trap, or when I guessed that the statue was related to the cult.
Fortunately, I found a blood-soaked letter in the dead commander's pocket.
It was a letter written in the Indika language.
Bart, an elite rcenary and a graduate of the Imperial University, knew how to speak Indika.
“To the commanders sent as reinforcents to the Empire's anti-imperial faction. As opportunities arise, you are to raze the villages of the Empire. Leave no witnesses and kill everyone. This will be recognized as a ritorious service in the future.”
The letter's content was an order for organized massacre.
“If the act is discovered, claim that the said village was a spy force allied with the pro-imperial faction. The responsibility is scheduled to be placed on a person under Marquis Ricardo. This has been arranged in advance.”
And they were even prepared to pull out at any ti if things went wrong.
“What a horrible order.”
“Indika… I only knew it as a land of spices, but it seems to be ruled by demons in human form.”
“Weren't these guys on Marquis Ricardo's side? How, no, why on earth are they doing this?”
The company commanders who listened to the contents together were disgusted.
Letting their words go in one ear and out the other, I thought while staring at the letter.
As one might expect, I had played as an Indika hero hundreds of tis.
Based on that experience, let try to guess.
Why did the Indika military command issue such an order?
“……”
The first reason that ca to mind was the obvious one.
That they intended to use the civil war as an opportunity to thoroughly wear down the Empire's national power.
However, I couldn't see what benefit the leaders of Indika, a country so far away, would gain from this.
In the first place, if they continued this, the anti-imperial faction they were supporting would only get weaker.
The hint, surprisingly, was not in the content of the letter.
On the back of the envelope containing the letter, two seals were stamped.
One was the seal of the Indika military command.
And the other one was….
“The seal of the Count Maenenwood family.”
Olif was right.
The trade city situated on one of the Empire's two great lifelines, the Maenenwood River.
One of the largest cities in the south-central Empire, ruled by the Count family, and a powerful noble of the anti-imperial faction, practically Marquis Ricardo's right-hand man.
According to the letter, if the Indika army's organized massacre were to be discovered, the Count Maenenwood family was to take responsibility.
That ant the Count family had conspired with the Indika military command on this matter.
It was still sothing that didn't make sense from a common-sense perspective.
They had already sided with the rebels, so what did they hope to achieve by siding with Indika, located on that distant southern continent?
But this city….
“It's not far. It's a fortnight's journey west from here. It almost overlaps with our route.”
It was a city near the rcenary band's operational route.
* * *
After achieving victory against the Indika army.
The rcenary band spent a month steadily retaking territory within the anti-imperial faction's lands.
The conditions were not good.
It was an operation carried out with several penalties.
Limited troops.
Limited supplies.
Enemy forces that could appear anyti, anywhere, and so on.
Fortunately, the training at Wolfskrig shone through.
To be honest, it was genuinely tough.
It was by no ans an easy task to not only recruit twelve hundred n but also to train them with maximum efficiency within a limited period.
I had even suffered from headaches due to lack of sleep for a while, personally creating the curriculum with the company commanders and giving feedback on their progress every day.
The fruits of hard labor were sweet.
[The riflen deploy [Volley].]
[The 4th Company deploys [Wedge Formation Charge].]
The rcenary band crushed the enemy in every field battle.
Seven battles.
Seven victories.
And what's more, there were no losses.
Of course, the opponents were not proper armies but reconnaissance teams, supply units, or rchant caravans in charge of supplies.
The largest battle was against a recruiting officer leading three hundred soldiers gathered from the rear.
However, even considering the difference in class, the fact that there were no deaths was a positive factor for morale.
The news from the main force, delivered through the crystal ball every few days, was also like that.
[Forwarding on behalf of Division Commander, Archduke Gabir. A clash with the rebel army occurred yesterday morning, and we inflicted considerable losses on the rebels and induced a strategic retreat.]
[As you reported, we have spotted the Indika army that has joined the rebels. Archduke Gabir has stated that he will personally reward this ritorious service later.]
[Reinforcents from the northern grand duchy are coming down from the north, having received the call of His Majesty the Emperor.]
The results of minor battles.
Or general information about the movents of allied and enemy forces.
Since I had reported the existence of the Indika army in advance, it was information that didn't matter even if the communication was eavesdropped on.
We maintained communication silence as much as possible on our end.
It would be like advertising, ‘We’re having a grand ti ssing up your main base—’.
Instead, we made pre-arranged noises, such as clashing swords.
It was a code we had set up in case a normal mission report beca impossible for so reason.
I hadn't expected to use it for anti-eavesdropping purposes, though.
Then one day.
[This is the 3rd Division of the Empire. We are gathering our forces along the Jilber River. We will soon rendezvous with His Majesty the Emperor's 1st Division.]
The final stage of the civil war scenario I had drawn up was just around the corner.
Local conflicts, the formation of fronts, the gathering of armies, skirmishes between division-sized units, light clashes, total mobilization, and finally, a full-scale battle.
Before the era of trench warfare, the tide of all wars was decided by a single all-out battle.
The battle was not far off.
And the rcenary band had arrived near Maenenwood.
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