“To appoint one of the leaders of the Rebel Army as a knight… Is that really okay?”
As soon as Pelaine escaped from the prisoner group, she voiced her concern.
She seemed worried that I was acting rashly and might get chewed out by the emperor.
But there was absolutely no problem at all.
My decision to appoint Darius as a knight posthumously was made after thorough calculations.
“The two leaders of the Rebel Army? No, there’s only one person worthy of being called a leader, and that’s Duke Lorraine.”
“Darius didn’t lead the slave rebellion, after all… Ah!”
Realizing my intention, Pelaine clapped her hands and her eyes widened.
“You’re trying to pull subhumans over to our side, aren’t you?”
“Exactly.”
The slave rebellion that broke out in the south.
And with Lorraine’s southern stationed troops supporting it, a civil war ensued.
To be precise, the Southern Republic was a country established by the cooperation of subhuman slaves and Lorraine’s warlords, but separating the two wasn’t too difficult.
The abuse and tyranny of Lorraine’s slaves incited the rebellion, and it was easy to say they aimed for independence from the Empire using this rebellion.
That way, subhumans remain victims and subjects to be freed, while it becomes possible to limit the hostile target strictly to Lorraine.
The fact that Darius was hailed as the hero of the slave rebellion was part of this plan.
Honestly, there was no way to properly surveil and control the 200 prisoners, to begin with.
Rather than doing something inefficient like that, it was easier to crush their will to resist.
“Currently, the enemy is strengthening their military to oppose the Empire. They can’t help but squeeze the lifeblood out of the residents. Up to now, everyone might think it’s fine to sacrifice for freedom, but what do you think will happen if they hear that freedom is guaranteed under the rule of the suppression army, and their taxes might even decrease?”
“Ah… Then they will turn friendly towards us.”
For now, the enemy’s strength was much stronger, so the residents wouldn’t openly side with the suppression army.
But when the tide truly turns.
Or when it’s judged to be fairly even.
At that time, public sentiment would completely turn in our favor.
To begin with, the suppression army assumed they would solve all supplies themselves and employed hundreds of supplies, so there was no need to requisition anything from the villages.
So, there was also the method of significantly lowering the tax rate to gain the residents’ support.
Of course, creating such a precedent would later become a significant burden for the duke who would govern this land…
But that wasn’t my problem.
First, we had to win the war.
“But there is an issue, Schlus.”
“Issue?”
“Yes. The residents’ impression of the suppression army must have been quite damaged.”
“That’s something we can gradually improve.”
“Until now, the suppression army has been raiding private homes to pillage, capturing free subhumans to enslave, and even raping and killing them.”
“………”
Uh… Shit.
Even with an abundance of supplies, they were still pillaging private homes?
Why on earth?
Why did they choose to do things that would turn public sentiment against them?
Looking back, it was clear the Imperial Knights were really terrible at executing a war.
How could they make such foolish decisions even worse than me, someone who was just tapping on a typewriter all day?
“Damn it. It’s going to be a bit tough then.”
“Still, if we implement policies as per your words, Schlus, maybe we can somehow turn the public sentiment back.”
“We’ll have to hope for that…”
They went in and looted and killed for no reason at all, and now after losing 90% of their troops, they suddenly push for a public-friendly policy?
Even I think this looks insincere.
This is really driving me crazy.
The shit the suppression army did was way too huge.
The only thing that could solve this would be time… but the residents’ resentment was too great.
It seems we can only hope Iris will do something.
Surely the saintess Iris, equal to all, would be able to sway the residents.
‘Is this a vain hope?’
No, I didn’t think Iris would blatantly side with the suppression army.
The only reason she followed me was to treat the injured, not to join the suppression army in combat.
But it would be nice if she could help a little…
“Everyone, listen! We will recover all weapons and armor the enemy left behind! Let’s all start the recovery operation!”
“Yes?”
When Pelaine’s command was issued, complaints erupted here and there.
In a mood of victory, they probably wanted to pop open some wine right away, but there’s still plenty of cleanup to do.
If Iris had been here, she would have said it’s only right to recover the enemy corpses and properly bury them.
Since Iris was not here, we wouldn’t be doing that.
“Are we stripping the equipment off the corpses too?”
“Yeah. Absolutely. Don’t leave behind even a single dagger.”
“Hah…”
Just a moment ago, the knights charging valiantly towards the enemy formation were now rummaging through corpses, collecting armor and weapons in a bizarre scene.
Some gathered the gear together, while others took it and hung it on their horses, transporting it back to the fortress.
There were a whopping 500 enemies dead or captured, so gathering all that would take quite a while.
Of course, all this was necessary work.
The rebels, under siege by the Empire, had no means to produce additional gear.
No matter how many soldiers there were, if they lacked gear, they would be useless.
In fact, sending soldiers into battle without proper weapons or armor would only serve to demoralize them.
Therefore, exhausting the enemy’s equipment was even more important than depleting their troops.
“Huh? Commander in Chief! Look at this!”
“………?”
In the midst of this, one knight discovered something interesting.
Slowly, the working knights and soldiers gathered to one spot.
It was the corpse of a subhuman soldier pierced by a spear.
At a glance, it looked like he was wearing steel full-plate armor, but…
“Hmm?”
After examining closely and touching it with my hands, I realized.
This was leather armor.
It had been painted with silver to be mistaken for steel.
“Are there more such armors? If so, gather them all separately.”
“Yes.”
Silver-painted leather armors began to pile up in one spot.
As Pelaine watched this, her expression gradually turned serious.
The ratio of non-steel armor was about 30%.
“On the day the suppression army was surrounded and annihilated, how many cavalry did the enemy have, Vice Commander?”
“Approximately 5,000… I estimate.”
“Correct, leader. I saw it. It was definitely between 4,000 to 6,000.”
“………”
5,000 cavalry.
Something felt off.
How could a rebel army, having only captured four castles and a southern grassland, have 5,000 cavalry?
It would be reasonable to have that amount of mounts in the grassland, but the armor was a different story.
Even the Empire, as a hegemony, could not muster more than 20,000 cavalry in their standing army due to the high cost of armor.
There’s no way they could have supplied that quantity of armor from the Great Forest where steel doesn’t come from.
Maybe all of this was a sleight of hand.
“Was it an illusion…?”
It seemed Pelaine had the same thought.
There was plenty of room for the possibility that the numbers of cavalry were inflated by at least 1.5 times, or even up to 2 times.
“Is reversing the situation… really possible?”
“It might be worth a shot, huh?”
The expressions of the knights and soldiers were gradually brightening.
Even those who had just been bewildered after routing a thousand cavalry were now starting to see the path toward victory.
*
“So Darius, the Vice Commander, has fallen…”
“Yes…”
Meanwhile, in the Southern Republic military camp.
Lorraine clasped her hands to her mouth and fell silent.
The soldier who reported this was bowing his head and trembling.
“Are you sure he’s dead?”
“Yes. I saw him struck by flame magic with my own eyes.”
“Hah. Hah. Shit. He took a thousand with him and lost half while he himself didn’t return?”
Lorraine gritted her teeth and let out a hollow laugh.
It’s been a while since Darius started moving around 4th Castle before dawn.
She didn’t think he would take off with his cavalry without a report.
Believing it was that urgent, she didn’t expect he would suffer such a crushing defeat.
“What the hell happened? What did you do to lose 500 cavalry?”
“They charged in a tight formation and were swiftly shattered by flame magic… and then…”
“Enough.”
Lorraine felt a severe headache coming on as she cradled her head.
There was no need to hear any more.
“Since last night, a spell has been cast above the 4th Castle. Why did you charge in a tight formation without considering the enemy magicians?”
“Well, you see, the Vice Commander probably thought that even if there were enemy magicians left, they would have poured all their mana into the spell above the 4th Castle.”
“Does that even make sense? You expect that the enemy is left with magic users, but they’re wasting all their mana on a spell that only leaves a little dent in the castle wall? Was Darius drunk or something?”
“Commander in Chief, excuse my boldness, but I must correct you.”
“………?”
At that moment, a magician mercenary stepped forward, who had been quietly listening.
“It’s not a spell that merely leaves a little dent in the walls.”
“Then, was it a spell that would put a hole in the walls? Does that mean there are at least 20 magic users left…?”
“No. It’s a spell that could engulf the entire castle in flames.”
“What?”
Lorraine’s jaw dropped.
Were the flames powerful enough to burn the entire castle?
For such mana, it would require at least 60 magic users, right?
No, could there even be a person capable of crafting such a monstrous spell without error?
Sure, she had heard of spells that could obliterate a castle for siege purposes, but this was the first time she had heard of a spell that could take down an entire fortress.
“It was a trap…”
If I had been there, I would’ve likely made the same judgment as Darius.
Assuming the opponent had no mana left, I would have aimed to kill the magic casters and launched an attack.
Darius had made a reasonable assessment, yet he ultimately fell and died.
Lorraine rubbed her forehead, feeling a chill run through her body.
It seemed that everything was occurring under someone’s meticulous calculations.
“How many people recently joined the suppression army fortress?”
“Confirmed to be five, including the saintess.”
“………”
I thought the other four were simply attendants accompanying the saintess.
But among those four, there was definitely a magician who had carried out this absurd act.
Perhaps all four of them…
“What about Darius’s corpse?”
“We couldn’t recover it. I believe it was burned beyond recognition…”
“Damn it. This isn’t the time for this. We need to reconsider how to respond to the magic above the 4th Castle immediately.”
Losing Darius was a significant blow.
It was akin to losing the focal point for the subhuman soldiers, but it wouldn’t immediately lead to the dissolution of the Republic.
As long as the suppression army continued their oppression of subhumans and the Republic guaranteed freedom, the subhumans would have no choice.
While it would be quite challenging to lead the subhumans without Darius, that wasn’t the pressing issue at hand.
“I think we still have some time until completion. Should we gather our troops and attack again?”
“No.”
That would be foolish.
The enemy had just mercilessly routs a thousand elite cavalry.
If infantry came forward, they would only see their numbers dwindle against those monstrous magic casters.
“Then it would be wise to evacuate the residents.”
“………”
That was the best course of action.
No matter how you looked at it, it was the right choice.
Morally, at least.
“Who knows about the large-scale spell?”
“Nobody besides the people in this room.”
“Then we keep it a secret. We will not begin evacuations.”
“Commander in Chief?!”
Where should we evacuate tens of thousands of residents?
If so many people fled and confusion ensued, or if a tense atmosphere about losing the war began to arise, that would be the worst-case scenario.
We had to choose not the best, but the least worst option.
One that would allow victory in this war.
That was to observe the 4th Castle’s total destruction.
They must see that scene in the South.
So the subhumans would all weep with blood tears, hate the suppression army, and resist the Empire.
“Only the main force must secretly slip out of the castle. I will let the 4th Castle go for the greater good.”
“Commander in Chief! Are you serious?!”
“Commander!”
Ignoring the uproar from all directions, Lorraine simply squeezed her eyes shut.
I didn’t want to do this.
But in order to win the war, sacrifice was unavoidable.
Of course, the best possible scenario would be if that spell turned out to be an illusion… but…
I didn’t think things would unravel in such a hopeful manner.
