Chapter 546: Road to Kingdom ③ The Enemy is Before Your Eyes
Translator: Nat
We march on, climbing over hills, crossing rivers, cutting down bridges, and burning towns.
The path to the capital, which I always hum as I travel, is indeed far away.
The bow cavalry joined with us from the rear and our military strength instantly increased.
Our only group who hasn’t caught up is the mountain nation without equipnt acting as transportation for the infantry.
No matter how much mobility a squad of cavalry boasts, their speed will naturally decrease when more people are added.
「We are 20% behind schedule. An option would be to get rid of so bulky fodder and water.」
「This much of a delay is within the margin of error. We should not throw away supplies for the sake of the mountain nation and infantry that will be joining us from behind. ……we also have a different option.」
Leopolt and Tristan look to for input.
Myla also sends a sidelong glance with an expression of disapproval and distress on her face.
「It should be fine if we don’t throw anything out yet. We can also pillage, but that will take extra ti.」
Myla sighs in relief.
Irijina ca along when she heard the word pillage to tell how it was wrong to do.
She left feeling satisfied after I gave her a boiled egg.
「Accounting for the delay in our march, the ti we will arrive at the capital is――enemy spotted.」
A harpy flies back screaming.
「Piii! Red, red, blue, blue, black! Don’t raise red, no black or blue!」
Leopolt decided that a red flag would be the signal for an ard group, a blue flag would be the signal for an unard group, and a black flag would be the signal for if the group noticed our presence, but obviously the harpies can’t rember everything and are waving all the flags.
I think we should be grateful that they at least told us “sothing” was spotted.
「Everyone, halt. Standby until further orders are given.」
I scan the surroundings and ride Schwartz towards a slightly elevated plateau.
Celia and Leopolt follow behind .
I strain my eyes atop the plateau.
Plodding in our direction was definitely an army of so sort.
「They are too heavily-ard to be guards of the territory. Their composition is solely infantry, amounting approximately 300. Each platoon is led by a knight――they are the armies of the regional lords, not the royal army.」
I think I heard a hint of relief mixed with Leopolt’s voice just now. I can’t really tell from his tone though.
「Muu, I don’t get the point. There are too many of them for this to be a coincidental encounter, yet there are too few of them to subjugate us.」
Celia cocks her head to the side in bewildernt while I can sohow understand what this could be.
Tristan catches up to us and explains before I can open my mouth.
「Ah, first of all the ones who witnessed the tragedy in Salaedo rush back to the capital. But they can’t make it to the capital in one trip so they stop in the feudal lord’s land to replenish their horses and water. In this ti, the lord is inford of the disaster.」
I’ll take over from here.
「Once they hear the investigation team is in serious trouble, they don’t ask for any details and run off with their troops to help. Many of them are guys who think of what to do during the march. I’m sure so guy in the new nobles……is an impulsive type.」
「That flag……if I recall, belongs to Count Oylun.」
I’m not sure if I’ve heard of him before.
「We are in the basin, out of their line of sight. And they are simply going south without understanding the situation or sending any scouts. It is not impossible to wait for them to pass……」
It would take hours for infantry to pass by on foot.
「Ti is precious.」
「It is at least more precious than their lives.」
Leopolt’s words match mine, while Myla gulps and mutters.
「Can’t we negotiate? Or maybe there are ways to make them surrender……」
I shake my head.
「We can’t spare ti to persuade them. Bring the bow cavalry forward.」
The bow cavalry waits for my instructions.
「H-hey, the enemy is coming, right? We started a rebellion, aning our enemies are……」
「Don’t say it! My heart will be conflicted. Just watch the feudal lord’s back……I’m going to stare at Celia-sama’s legs.」
I disregard the few comnts of uncertainty from the soldiers and give the order in an unwavering voice.
「Advance, climb up the hill.」
Maintaining a horizontal line formation, the bow cavalry instantly ran up the slope.
「A row of cavalry on the hill in front! Numbers, more than a hundred!! They appeared suddenly!」
「Could they be barbarians――no, I can see a flag! It’s Margrave Hardlett’s flag.」
Count Oylun’s troops……the enemy troops don’t hide the relief on their faces.
As expected, the details have not been relayed to them yet.
「We ca after hearing about the attack on Salaedo. Please tell us any information you have. If there is anything we can do, we’ll assist you.」
A man who seems to be the count himself waves his hand at .
「He’s a bit slow on the uptake, but he’s a nice guy. Sorry for this.」
I swing my hand down at the count.
Not even one second later, hundreds of bow cavalry released the taut bowstring of their composite bows.
An ambush from a high place with plenty of ti to aim and overwhelming skill.
「…………」
It was just one volley.
In the ti it took Myla to look away, 80% of the enemy troops were shot down.
「――charge.」
The bow cavalry gallops down the hill before the screaming ends.
Although the bow cavalry aren’t typically suited for close combat, the enemy is already close to being torn to pieces.
Three seconds in and one volley turned the battle into an extermination operation.
「Resu the march. No need for battle formation.」
Leopolt orders for the troops to move.
The ti lost was five or ten minutes, which is about what their lives are worth.
「W-what are you doing!? I-I am Oylun! Like you, I serve His Majesty and Lord Radhalde!」
Whether it was good luck or bad luck, none of the arrows hit the count.
He frantically appeals to as his eyes dart around at his fallen soldiers.
I kick Schwartz’s belly and urge him forward.
「It’s pointless.」
Ignoring Leopolt, I stand before the count.
The count shouts at with a confused expression.
「Lord Hardlett!? What are you doing here personally!? Don’t tell you have mistaken this face of mine as a barbarian’s! So ti ago, we were drinking with Lord Radhalde and comparing――」
I rember now. This guy ca up several tis in my conversation with Erich.
Erich said he has a talent for military prowess, but lanted that he is not perceptive and has a tendency to rush into things.
It is also rumored that he enjoys using oil from the territory for perverted play, and when Nonna and I tried it out, it was amazing.
I suppress my emotions so my face resembles Leopolt’s as much as possible and look down on the count.
「You can’t tell?」
「Call off your attack……」
Cavalry, bow cavalry, and wagons near ten thousand in numbers, and even the chariots and field artillery appear on the hill.
「W-wait, is this a rebellion――!!」
I reflexively smile.
「How slow can you be? This is why Erich complained for so long.」
I say as I dismount and wait, resting my Dual Crater on my shoulder.
My shoulders slump again as the count stares blankly at .
「I shot arrows at a fellow new noble and noble of Goldonia. What is there to discuss at this point……fool.」
I waited because killing him like an unknown small fry made feel bad, but he’s truly too slow.
Count Oylun naturally becos flustered and looks around him, but there aren’t many survivors left.
「――very well. Although I don’t know Lord Hardlett’s circumstances, it appears you have beco my enemy…… I am also one who rose up with a single sword.」
Oylun assus an overhead stance with a two-handed sword 120-130 cm long, a tad bit smaller than the Dual Crater.
「Here I co! Haaa!!」
He steps in firmly and swings his sword down.
The steel sword, weighing around 10 kg, makes a whoosh as it falls.
A fast and sharp swing.
I see, although I did not fight with him side-by-side, it is true he has excellent skill.
I swing my Dual Crater upward while looking at Oylun’s razor-like spirit contained in his eyes, and cleave his head together with the incoming blade.
The man’s eyes change from being amazed to accepting defeat, then lose their light.
「Swinging above his swing……」
「He can do it because his speed and power are many tis greater……that guy was no match.」
Myla and Celia mumble.
I pick up the severed head and toss it at Leopolt.
「I don’t have ti to do the burial, but I’ll put him in a visible spot. Oil play is still one of my favorites now.」
「This is unnecessary effort and dangerous. I suggest you avoid these needless actions.」
Leopolt takes the head and advises coldly.
There is so little change in his expression that it’s hard to tell who spoke.
「This much shouldn’t be a big deal. You went ahead and did as you liked, let do at least this.」
I hop on Schwartz and survey the battlefield which is closer to the aftermath of a trampling.
「We’ll have to ignore the rest of the soldiers.」
Crows swoop down from the sky and start to gather, having caught wind of the scent below.
「Food! Lots of food.」
「Stinks! Hard! Pii!」
Co on girls, you can’t eat the crows.
「So this is a rebellion. The allies we had in the past are now enemies……」
Myla’s face sohow becos more wicked as she resolves herself.
It’s like she is a brainwashed female knight and that kind of turns on.
「I simply follow Aegir-sama no matter where he goes. I have nothing to doubt.」
She is wearing a backward-facing hat, a dirty cloth around her neck, and chewing sothing in a vulgar manner.
This is Celia’s complete rebel image.
As for Irijina, who is wearing a headband with the character ‘defy’, I’ll leave her alone.
We travel further north.
As we go north, we pass through even larger cities.
「We can’t spare any ti to siege. It’s best if we can get them to surrender, otherwise we’ll have to set the place on fire.」
I don’t need Leopolt to remind , I’m committing after coming this far.
Fortunately, our forces are overwhelming enough to make low-level nobles and governors lose their will to fight from the beginning.
A few cities shut the gates to show resistance for form’s sake, but after two or three volleys of flaming arrows, they also quickly raised the white flag.
「It’s important that they at least appear to resist or the consequences will be brutal later. I think they honestly don’t believe the kingdom will lose. In other words, if we lose once, they will co attack from behind.」
So Tristan says.
When we have one day left until we arrive at the capital, heavily-ard kingdom knights finally appear.
「The kingdom flag with the emblem of the royal family. They are unmistakably the kingdom’s knights.」
Leopolt calmly states.
They number roughly a thousand, though the size of the rearguard is unknown.
「The timing is perfect if we assu they flew out from the capital, knowing of our rebellion and advance.」
Tristan chis in, also in a calm tone.
It is a thousand of them versus our eight thousand or so.
Normally it would be reckless for them to attack us.
「No, they’re coming. Get into battle formation.」
The knights move into a triangular formation.
It’s an assault formation used by heavy cavalry to ram into the enemy.
「Chargeee――!!」
The captain shouts heroically with his sword pointed at us, and his knights let out a war cry as they rush forward.
The sound made by the horseshoes of the heavy cavalry is fierce.
「It’s amusing that I’m on the receiving side.」
Because we are in a hurry to march, there is an inevitable gap between the vanguard and rearguard.
They must have seen our thinned out ranks and thought they had a chance of winning if they broke through.
「It’s not that easy though.」
Thousands of arrows rain down from the bow cavalry.
They are mounted archers so they can make effective attacks regardless of formation as long as they have a clear line of sight.
No matter how heavily-ard the knights are, they can’t hold a shield large enough to cover their whole body when riding a horse.
If arrows hit unguarded areas like the cracks in armor or the leg joints of the horse, they will instantly fall.
「Well, they were made for that reason.」
Fire blows out from the field artillery, and a split second later, sparks scatter from the body of a knight.
Unlike siege cannons, the field artillery have shorter range, but the speed of deploynt and firing can be perford at a much faster ti.
It wasn’t their mistake for not being cautious of cannons in an engagent like this.
「Spear unit, deploynt complete.」
A wall of spears lines up in front of the knights who ducked past the arrows and cannonballs.
Infantry alight from the wagons and assemble in an anti-cavalry formation.
The enemy, who likely aid to break through what they believed was the transportation corps, is t with the worst developnt for cavalry; they are skewered by the forest of spears or they stop in ti to be shot by crossbows.
「Retreat――everyone retreat――!!」
The captain shouts again, and half the original number of knights run back to the capital after the brief battle.
「It’s our complete victory!」
Celia rejoices adorably, only to realize she’s supposed to act like a rebel and corrects herself by letting out a crude grunt.
Isn’t she clumping rebels with barbarians? Whatever, she’s cute either way.
On the other hand, Leopolt and Tristan have a doubtful air about them.
「They gave up rather easily and retreated cleanly.」
「Agreed. Based on the situation, their only hope was to focus on a single point, yet they deliberately spread out. It was as if they wanted to take on our entire army. That is them scouting our strength.」
I have no qualms about that evaluation.
They are after all soldiers of the kingdom, in other words Erich should be the one commanding them.
「They clashed with us once to see what we’re capable of. They will have a counterasure next ti, I’m sure of it.」
「But our only path is forward.」
At the end of the battle, peasants hiding nearby peek their heads out.
They breathe a sigh of relief when we’re the only ones remaining.
「I thought the era of war ended when my son ca back……will we always be oppressed?」
I turn my head at the source of the voice.
The peasant screams, but I’m not going to cut down a peasant who isn’t in my way.
「It’ll be over when I win. There won’t be anybody left to oppose .」
「Hiiii……」
I nailed the delivery. Wasn’t that cool?
「Lord Hardlett can be this frightening as the enemy……aah!!」
tallic clattering and heavy footsteps overlap with the trembling voice.
「Traitor who dares to draw their bow at the kingdom! Die by my honorable sword!!」
I guess this knight’s duty is to protect this farming village.
He rushes forward in between and the peasant and lunges at my neck with his sword.
「Fumu.」
I take half a step to the right before the tip of his sword reaches and avoid his thrust.
「He disappeared! I-is this witchcraft!?」
「You’re just slow. If you can’t aim properly, aim for the body.」
I sink my Dual Crater into the knight’s torso through his armor, and fling him up into the air.
「Aah! at, at!」
I stop the harpy from grabbing the knight.
Regardless of how shabby he is, it’s not right to let him be torn to pieces in front of the citizens.
「Tired! Rest!」
「Give water, give at!」
I pet the heads of the harpies that perch on my shoulders.
「H-harpies! Aren’t those monsters that eat humans……」
「Hey, look up!!」
The peasants gaze at the sky and discover dozens of harpies circling above .
「「Demon king……」」
No other words were uttered by the peasants from that point on.
Unwilling as I am, I have to scare them this much so they don’t think of doing anything strange, which might be a good thing.
The misunderstanding can be resolved after everything is finished.
「He’s really playing the part.」
「As the villain, yes. Ufufufufufu……kuuu, kukuku.」
I look over at Myla as she laughs cynically.
The patterns on her armor and undershirt have changed to more malevolent colors like red and black.
She is sowhat exposing more skin, she has an eerie glint in her eyes and she is licking her lips in a bewitching manner.
I feel like she’s also misinterpreting what a rebel is.
That initial probing attack was the last attack.
The sun was setting on the royal capital.
「All of you can rest. No need to keep watch.」
I have the soldiers rest up the fatigue built up from the extended march and combat.
It’s fine to extinguish the fires too.
「Normally in the middle of the enemy, we’d need at least half of them awake in case of a night raid.」
「I’d like to see them try to ambush vampires at night.」
Brynhildr and her subordinates will stay up in place of the soldiers.
Even humans with excellent eyesight are powerless against them.
I’ve never been able to openly say not to worry because we have vampires on our side, but there’s no need to hide them now.
I don’t have the luxury to hide them.
After telling her to bring all she has, she cos with 100.
If a small party of 100 or 200 raids us, it’s like they are serving themselves on a dinner table.
「Ah, here cos dinner.」
I wash Celia’s face, which now has an eyepatch, with a wet towel and then strain my eyes.
「No way, would anyone attack us head-on with torches in hand?」
I tell Brynhildr to let him through as she bares her fangs at seeking confirmation.
For so reason, I got bitten.
That guy wanders cluelessly in the darkness.
「Wagyaa!」
Brynhildr grabs the person by the collar and throws him at my feet.
「Lord Hardlett!」
「Hey.」
It’s a boy aged 14 or 15.
He has a pretty face that is androgynous, and if the front part of his body was hidden and I was asked to f――
「What do you say?」
「It’s misleading, so please don’t talk to yourself.」
Leopolt’s straight face snaps back to reality right away.
「I have top secret information. I cannot say it even if my master is dead.」
The boy sticks a hand into his mouth, and while gagging, pulls out a roll of parchnt tied with a string.
「I am sorry it’s dirty. I can’t let others see it.」
He washes it as he opens up the paper, which certainly has handwriting I’m familiar with.
「The royal army has already gathered two army corps under the command of the military commissioner. Including the defense force, there is a total of 45 000 n who are combat ready. Another 30 000 will be ready the day after tomorrow and a provisional army of 30 000 will be ready one week later……uwah, they got us.」
Tristan closes his eyes and tilts his head up at the sky.
Our forces consist of 6000 bow cavalry, 1000 cavalry, and roughly 5000 wagon infantry and infantry in the rearguard combined, for a total of 12 000 altogether. It’s more than a little tough for the attacking side to have a fourth of the numbers of the defending side.
「I’ll continue. There are no troops to attack your rear or Rafen. You have also splendidly incited the Ribatis populace, the surviving Federation fleet, the Altair religious organization, and Aless.」
Leopolt and I exchange glances.
「Aless?」
「I do not have any recollection.」
They are a bunch of people who don’t make sense to begin with, so they probably did things that don’t make sense. We’ll ignore them.
「If you’ll excuse .」
I grab the boy’s shoulder as he tries to leave.
「Ahn.」
Don’t make weird noises.
You have a nice face so you’ll make feel weird.
「Why did you tell ?」
I knew the sender from the handwriting so I didn’t have to ask who it was.
The question is why.
「――said it was insurance.」
I smile and throw away the letter.
「I see, so I’m insurance? Fine.」
Certainly, there’s a chance she’ll be in trouble if she abandons .
Then that ans the possibility exists from her point of view too.
「If that’s all――」
I grab the boy’s shoulder again.
「Afuun.」
Like I said, stop with the sexy moans.
「One last thing……you’re not Rebecca’s lover, right?」
「I-I cannot answer!」
Is he referring to the sender? Or maybe it’s regarding the part about being a lover!?
「Further questions are a waste of ti. If the identity of the sender is confird, then the information is more credible. We will have to rethink our tactics.」
I’ll leave that to you guys, you can tell later.
「Excuse !」
The boy runs off.
「Are you the one penetrating Rebecca, or perhaps Rebecca is the one penetrating you!? Does Rebecca like penetrating n? Which one is it?」
The boy disappears into the darkness without answering.
「Fuu.」
I stare at the darkness feeling a lingering sense of regret.
I wasn’t really interested in the relationship between Rebecca and the boy anyways, much less wanting to pound his ass.
「Ready and waiting for us, huh?」
It must be a terrible situation.
But that’s not the important thing.
「I have to fight with Erich.」
I understood that much.
Although my heart is prepared, my mind is unsettled when actually confronting him.
「Aegir-sama.」
I almost forgot to pat Celia, as she quietly leans over to remind .
「We’re going to be killing each other. What an unpleasant path.」
This is Erich we’re talking about.
Surely he also covered for on this incident too.
Is he angry that I did sothing stupid?
Maybe he is holding his head in distress?
I wonder what kind of face he made when he heard I was rebelling.
An indescribable feeling wells up inside when I try to picture it.
If I can detour, I would have turned imdiately.
I wouldn’t mind taking a bit of a longer road.
However, there is no other path.
There is only one road to the kingdom.
I either keep walking or I stop, that’s it.
「My heart is a ss. I feel guilty. I might also feel sad.」
I scratch Celia’s chin.
She doesn’t purr like she usually does.
「But I don’t have any intention of stopping. I’ve co this far acting as the villain. All I can do now is put on a smile and go kill people.」
Military Strength Comparison
Hardlett Rebel Army
Forces
Human Troops
Cavalry: 1000, Bow Cavalry: 6000, Wagon Infantry: 800, Infantry (105th corps main force): approx. 4000
Chariots: 40, Field Artillery: 15
Night Battle Unit
Vampire Raid Unit: 100
Aerial Reconnaissance and Bombing Unit
Pochi: 1
Harpies: 50
Unard
Mountain Nation: Approx. 4000
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Goldonian Army
Ready to Fight: 45 500
2 Army Corps: 30 000
Capital Defense: 15 000
Kingdom Knights Survivors: 500
In Preparation: 60 000
2 Army Corps: 30 000
Provisional Army: 30 000
Other Feudal Lords’ Armies: Unknown
Regional Troops: Immobilized
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