Chapter 163

To my surprise, the Kingdom of Hydra seems to have a so-called ‘counterintelligence agency’.

Considering that this other world is at a civilization level similar to the Middle Ages or early modern times, this is an extremely advanced thing.

The counterintelligence agency has its investigative powers and can restrict the passage of gates and bridges, and even arrest citizens at will. Even the aristocracy cannot resist the orders of the counterintelligence agency, so one can only admire the thoroughness of this national policy.

However, the presence or absence of a counterintelligence agency is a trivial matter for the children of <Nadeshiko>.

The four <Nadeshiko> and their followers that we had infiltrated into the Kingdom of Hydra were able to extract all kinds of information from the country in just two days.

It seems that the majority of the army that the Kingdom of Hydra boasts is currently gathering in the capital.

The capital is close to the border with the Kingdom of Rapier, so they are probably planning to use this as a starting point to mobilize their forces.

As evidence of this, it seemed that the government had been vigorously purchasing food supplies in the capital for about two months, and the prices of foodstuffs traded in the market had risen considerably.

It was four days later, on the 11th day of autumn when Yuri received the information about the Hydra Kingdom.

This time, a follower of <Nadeshiko>, who had been hiding in a city called Luster in the Kingdom of Rapier, sent Yuri a report with the word ‘urgent’ written on it.

Luster is the name of the city ruled by Count Mikhail, who is connected to the Kingdom of Hydra.

Yuri opened the envelope, and sure enough, there was a copy of the latest letter from the Prime Minister of Hydra Kingdom to Count Mikhail.

According to the copy of the letter, the departure from the capital of the Hydra Kingdom is scheduled for the morning of the 16th day of the autumn month, and from there it will take two days to travel to the border of the Rapier Kingdom.

The next day, on the 18th day of the autumn month, they will cross the border and invade the land of the Rapier Kingdom, and the day after that, on the 20th day of the autumn month, they will face the defense forces of the Rapier Kingdom, which are expected to be stationed in front of the city of Luster.

The date of the march seems to be a little earlier than expected, but this is probably because they didn’t want the march to be hindered by the snow.

In this world, as soon as the calendar enters the “Winter Moon”, the climate will completely change to that of winter. The Kingdom of Hydra is planning to invade as soon as possible and end the war itself during the “Autumn Moon”.

(I see they haven’t learned that the Rapier Kingdom signed a mutual defense treaty with the Yuri Empire.)

Yuri chuckled inwardly at the fact that the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hydra envisioned a ‘field battle’ between the armies of the two countries facing off in front of the city of Luster.

In reality, even if the Hydra Kingdom’s army attacked, the Rapier Kingdom’s army would not be deployed. This is because it has been agreed that the Yuri Empire will take care of repelling them, and the Rapier Kingdom’s troops will stay in the city and wait.

As long as the other party is planning to fight in the field, it is safe to assume that there will be no information leaks to the Hydra Kingdom, at least for now.

The letter also described the full extent of the invasion force.

In addition to 14,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalries, the Kingdom of Hydra was also planning to send out 300 dragon cavalry. Also, it seems that 1,000 Transportation Corps will accompany them.

The reason for the rather small size of the Transportation Corps is that there is a river along the border between Hydra and Rapier Kingdoms, and water can be replenished there. After all, drinking water is the heaviest of all military supplies.

(Isn’t this―――overkill?)

Yuri couldn’t help but tilt her head when she saw the quantity of the invading army.

According to the information provided by <Nadeshiko> four days ago, the army currently gathering in the capital of the Kingdom of Hydra should have 16,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, and 300 dragon cavalry.

In other words, if you go to war as per the copy of this letter from the Prime Minister, there will be only 1000 infantry defenders left in the capital of Hydra Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Hydra seems to be planning to send out almost its entire army to crush the Kingdom of Rapier in a total war.

It is often the case that sending an overwhelming military force, to begin with, will result in less damage than sending a lesser military force. It seems that the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hydra is very unhappy with the loss of military power.

(I wonder what his face would look like if his military power was destroyed by a single meteorite.)

Yuri smiled bewitchingly as she imagined it.

I would love to break the cowardly Prime Minister’s heart to pieces by confronting him with the cruel reality of a 100% loss rate.

After quickly finishing her morning duties, Yuri used her Transfer Magic.

The destination was, of course, the capital of the Kingdom of Rapier. She was guided through the castle by the guard at the main gate of the castle, whose face she recognized from her recent visits.

“King Raven is in his office. Please wait in the reception room for a while so I can summon him immediately.”

“All right.”

As soon as Yuri sat down on the sofa in the reception room, two maids came and made a cup of tea for her.

The two maids came in and made a pot of tea for Yuri. Maybe it was because she had been here so many times before, but she had already memorized the faces of the maids in the parlor.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“You can take your time if you want.”

Within a few minutes, King Raven came into the reception room.

The maid made tea for the two of them, including Yuri, and then left the room immediately.

They had been told to leave the room when he arrived. I guess King Raven had been careful beforehand not to let anyone else listen to the conversation between the heads of state.

“Here’s a souvenir for you.”

“Souvenir…? What’s this? It looks like a map of our country…?”

“It’s a map that shows the location of the Rapier Kingdom’s natural resources.”

As soon as Yuri said that, King Raven took the map in his hands and peered at it with vigor.

He was surprised and delighted to learn that there was a large amount of silver, iron, coal, and even hot springs buried in the land of the Kingdom of Rapier.

It seems that he had been struggling with his finances for quite some time.

“Thank you, thank you Yuri-dono…! I don’t know how to express my gratitude…!”

“I-I’m glad you like it so much.”

King Raven grasped Yuri’s hands in both of his, and shook them up and down.

Yuri was a little taken aback by the sheer joy in front of him.

This map, by the way, was created by Yuri, who used her Transfer Magic to bring Kanayama-Hime to the Rapier Kingdom and have her survey it.

As the “Goddess of Mines,” Kanayama-Hime is no stranger to examining the resources buried beneath the ground. But if the Raven King was so pleased with the results, it was well worth the effort.

“So, here’s the deal. ―――They’re finally coming for you.”

“… Let’s see.”

His face, which had been full of joy, instantly changed to a grim one.

The Raven King nodded his head “Hmm” after reading the report from <Nadeshiko>.

“That’s pretty much what I expected. After all, they don’t want the war to drag on into winter.”

“I’m sure they do. In any case, the sooner they come, the better for me.”

The sooner they arrive and the sooner we can destroy them, the sooner we can get the skeleton soldiers.

Should we use them to defend our trade routes with our allies, or should we lend them to our allies to defend their cities and villages?

“As promised, the eradication of the invading army will be left to the Yuri Empire.”

“I have no objection to that. Our troops will be stationed in the city of Luster, is that all right with you?”

“No, you can’t do that. If we station a large number of troops in the city of Luster, which is the enemy’s first target, there is a possibility that the enemy will wonder about it and hesitate to invade.”

“Well, that’s certainly true… If we station a large number of troops in the city of Luster, the enemy might wonder about it and hesitate to invade.”

“That’s no good either. You can assume that their secret agents are stationed both inside and outside the city of Luster. Even if we exclude Count Mikhail, inevitably, the information will eventually be passed on to the enemy from the secret agents.”

The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hydra seems to be quite a petty person, so he will do at least that.

―――There is a solution to this problem, though: Yuri can use【Spatial Grasp】to uncover the existence of secret agents inside and outside the city and capture them all.

“Mm… That’s a problem.”

“Gather your military forces in the capital. If you need me, I’ll send you to the battlefield with Transfer Magic, so distance won’t be a problem.”

“What a surprise. Yuri-dono is capable of transferring an entire army?”

“Yes, I can. I don’t like to do it, though, because it’s exhausting.”

Yuri is a little hesitant about transferring several thousand people at once since the amount of magic power consumed is not worth it.

Well―――it would be better to set up a【Transfer Gate】and have the troops move in, which would be less of a burden on Yuri.

“By the way, how many troops can you gather in the Kingdom of Rapier?”

“Well… The best we can do without difficulty is about 6,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalries. If we want to bring in more than that, we’ll have to cut back on the defenders in other cities.”

“Oh, that’s not enough. ―――King Raven, I have a suggestion.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Why don’t we use the Rapier Kingdom to take the Kingdom of Hydra?”

King Raven’s eyes widened when Yuri told him that.