CH 257

Chapter 257 – The Blue Hydrangea of Farnese(2)

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Preparing a bunch of battleships was the first urgent matter.

The Republic of Batavia……in other words, the nation that was actually being controlled by Paimon in the background boasted the strongest naval force. They had more than sixty large galleys that were affiliated with the army. It would be fine to call them a monstrous maritime country.

Paimon came up with a simple solution.

“We will frame it so that it appears as if the Demon Lord army stole the ships.”

Large battleships were often used for trade purposes during times of peace. The monsters under the command of the Mountain Faction ambushed the battleships that were doing business inland. Seven vessels were easily hijacked.

Normal merchants naturally got killed by the maws of monsters.

I couldn’t help but find this funny.

“Don’t those ships belong to Batavia? All things considered, you basically stole from yourself.”

“Dear me. I do not consider the republic as my own. The privatization of a nation is the shortest path to tyranny.”

Paimon smiled. Tyranny is created in dictatorships.

“I am simply borrowing something that belongs to the people for a very brief period of time.”

“Although you slaughtered all of the merchants who happened to be on the ships when you went to borrow them…….”

“They were all from a company that had been making a mess of the marketplace by trying to create monopolies. I have been wanting to slaughter them whenever I had the chance.”

Paimon said something ominous with no hesitation.

“They immediately took the bait when they were told by the government that they could borrow the ships for a low price. It seems they were planning to create a monopoly in a few small cities……fufu. It is only natural for trash to get cleaned up, am I wrong?”

“Hahaha…….”

It was in moments like this that I was reminded of Paimon’s status as a Demon Lord.

Despite being both an idealist and a republican, Paimon has no qualms about killing people. She plunged hundreds of humans into a river and drowned them simply because she wanted to ‘clean out the trash’.

The republic nation most likely didn’t fall because this sort of individual was directing everything from behind. Their land was as small as a peanut, but they boasted a military strength that was as strong as the other nations of the world. I don’t know the exact number, but the number of humans Paimon had ‘cleaned up’ must easily surpass a thousand. I’m certain that some of them were probably killed unjustly as well…….

Well, it’s not my problem.

The ships were bound tightly together by chains and positioned in a line. After building a pier on both sides of the river, a sturdy bridge of boats was completed.

Heidelberg was encircled while the troops stationed in the fortress were busy being confused.

It isn’t surprising, but the troops stationed in the fortress made a detached force in order to try and destroy the bridge. The river being blocked meant their supply line was cut off, and having their supply line cut off while being encircled meant death.

And we had expected the enemy would attack us.

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“The enemy forces most likely know how dangerous it would be to fight the Demon Lord army at night.”

Laura was able to speak in front of us Demon Lords since she had been appointed as our highest advisor. Laura becoming Barbatos’ lover was a rather open fact, so Paimon and Sitri treated Laura with respect.

“They will undoubtedly use their knights as their main force and create a small group of elite soldiers. They will try to break through a single point with the strongest unit they can create. That is their plan.”

“This is troubling…….”

Paimon slowly flapped her fan.

“Knights are a mighty force to be reckoned with. We most likely will not lose, but we will incur heavy losses.”

“Yes. However, there is a way to wipe out the knights without incurring any losses.”

“Oh?”

Sitri folded her arms and gave Laura an interested look.

“How? I’m not some Demon Lord who’s easy to scare, but even I hate knights. It’s impossible to wipe out knights without incurring any losses unless you’re Agares. It’d be hard for even Barbatos.”

“It may be impudent of me, but.”

Laura responded confidently.

“Our side currently knows where and with what unit the enemy is going to attack with. It would be fine to say that we have already won half the battle.”

“Very well, then. Dantalian’s soldier, tell us your plan.”

“Understood.”

Laura pointed at the map.

“We will use all of our mages to turn the area around Neckar into mudflats. The knights will most likely do a surprise attack at night in order to keep their element of surprise. However, no matter how formidable warhorses may be, they become useless if their legs get stuck in the mud.”

“…….”

“The battlefield will be at the side of the river, so the mages should be able to use water spells as much as they want.”

Laura smiled slightly.

“The river of Neckar will become the final resting place for these knights.”

Things proceeded so precisely according to how Laura predicted that it was almost scary.

The knights that were residing in Heidelberg aimed for the bridge at night.

We found out later that almost 600 knights had been dispatched. In other words, 2/3rds of the total knights in the fortress were sent out. Reinforcements were also sent from other nearby cities.

Adding them all together, a knight cavalry of about 1,500 troops attacked under the shadow of night. They may have been a cavalry, but a majority of them were either knights-in-training or apprentices from an academy. Nevertheless, they were still a powerful cavalry. They intended to rush us swiftly and leave after setting fire to the bridge.

“Charge! For the glory of our leader!”

“Glory to the Republic! Glory to the Leader!”

However, the entire battlefield had been terraformed into mudflats just as Laura had suggested.

The cavalrymen panicked once their warhorses suddenly slowed down due to the mud. Nonetheless, they bravely continued to advance towards the bridge. Thus, they proved that bravery wasn’t the cure-all for war.

“Focus on the horses.”

Laura calmly ordered from the headquarters that was built on top of the bridge.

Our forces started to rain arrows and spears down upon the enemy as soon as they entered the mudflats. The spears thrown with the strength of an orc were enough to make shish kebabs out of the warhorses.

Stakes, fences, and now mudflats. The knights did their utmost to advance, but their warhorses continued to collapse one by one due to the arrows and spears we were sending their way. What could they possibly do now? They could only get off their horses and charge themselves.

The knights ended up having to swim through the mudflats while wearing heavy medium armor.

Sitri burst out into laughter as she watched everything unfold.

“This is a masterpiece! Dantalian, look at that! They’re like caterpillars!”

Mm. Sitri was also someone who gave off a Demon Lord vibe if you look at how she was laughing at the sight of people being slaughtered. As I thought, I’m the only normal person in the Demon Lord army.

Competent knights were unfazed by the mudflats and used their aura to charge in like grasshoppers. The problem was that it was only a small minority that did this.

A minority of knights charging in without maintaining a formation wasn’t particularly scary, so they were hunted down by the monster unit led by Sitri. They really couldn’t do anything unless a bunch of swordmasters rushed in together.

On this night, the knights charged a total of 16 times.

They weren’t as impressive as the knights from Brittany, but the knights from Habsburg were also impressive. However, they were different from Brittany in the fact that they didn’t have any sort of tactical advantage. They slowly died off to our barrage of arrows.

“Mmm. It seems like about 400 of them ran away. Should we give chase?”

Sitri tilted her head. She was covered in the enemy’s blood.

“Yes. They should be slow since they are running while wearing heavy medium plate armor.”

“So you’re saying we should snuff them out? Hehe, you may be a human, but I’ve taken a liking to you. I now understand why you’re cherished by Dantalian and Barbatos.”

Sitri patted Laura’s back. Naturally, since Sitri’s strength wasn’t a joke, Laura let out a short cry and almost fell face-first into the ground. Sitri grinned.

“You can call me Sis from now on.”

“M-My apologies……Miss Sitri, but.”

“Ah, jeez. Just call me Sis!”

Laura looked like she was fed up a little as she spoke.

“……Yes, Sis.”

“Good, good. Hehe.”

Sitri let out an energetic cheer before climbing up on her wolf.

“I’m now the sister of Barbatos’ lover! Barbatos’s lover’s Sis! Hell yeah!”

She led her wolf rider unit and disappeared into the darkness.

“…….”

“…….”

There was an awkward silence between Paimon, myself, and Laura who were left behind in the headquarters. Paimon finally spoke up after a fair bit of time went by.

“Uhm, Miss Farnese? Sitri isn’t doing that because of malice or anything. She purely wanted to become Barbatos’ lover’s sister. That child still feels indebted to Barbatos.”

Laura smiled uncertainly.

“This young lady does not doubt that Miss Sitri is being genuine. However, this lady cannot help but wonder what I must have done in my past life to become the lover of one Demon Lord and the sister of another…….”

Laura looked at me with dead eyes.

Me? What did I do?

“Wouldn’t this be the first time ever for a human? How splendid. You should be proud, Laura.”

“……Haa.”

Laura let out a sigh for some reason.

This lass does some incomprehensible things sometimes. Is this just how women are? The world is a mysterious place.

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The battle ended with Habsburg’s utter defeat.

Out of the 1,500 knights, only 200 of them returned alive. Total annihilation, this was the perfect phrase for this. Laura de Farnese proved her talent.

The forces within Heidelberg used up almost all of their knights in this battle. The remaining knights were probably busy trying to defend the fortress. Our encirclement became unshakable.

Now the only reinforcements they could rely on were the troops dispatched from the main capital, but……unfortunately, the New Habsburg Republic lacked the ability to genuinely fight a war.

The Mountain Faction wasn’t the only group that was currently threatening Leader Elizabeth’s nation. Barbatos’ Plains Faction, Marbas’ Neutral Faction, and Gamigin, the Habsburg Republic shared its borders with all three of these groups. They were surrounded by enemies.

It was because her nation was like this that Elizabeth established fortresses in key points. She wanted to decrease her war funds as much as possible by defending fortresses. In other words, this meant that she probably didn’t have the extra manpower to do anything beyond defending fortresses.

“Nonetheless, this does not mean that the enemy will simply stand idly by.”

Laura declared a few days after the battle ended in our victory.

“The military authorities of the Habsburg Republic are extremely capable. I am certain that they will devise a plan to save their city without using any of their war funds.”

“Hm? Is that possible?”

Sitri asked while eating some cake. Referentially, Sitri really liked cakes. I’m not sure where she’s been getting them from, but she would always be eating some cake or biscuits during meetings or on the battlefield.

“Yes. If the enemy has an intrigant, then they would have realized by now that this encirclement relies on whether they can destroy the bridge or not. They will not have to utilize their knights or their remaining troops as long as they can destroy the bridge.”

“Mmm……I don’t get it.”

Sitri still looked confused.

The surrounding mood became warm. Sitri really does have the unknown ability to make the people around her feel warm.

“If I were the enemy strategist, then I would prepare a large fleet. I would then fill the ships with bundles of straw covered in oil. I will then crash these ships into the bridge and set the bridge on fire with the boats. It would be difficult for us to prevent this since we do not have much power on the water…….”

Laura smiled gently.

“If we didn’t figure out their intentions beforehand, that is.”

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Author’s Afterword

The Blue Hydrangea is the symbol of Farnese. In the past, the house of Farnese caused a civil war in Sardinia and fell because they lost. Laura was sold off as a slave after falling like this.

And I’m not sure if people know this, but all of the battles that appear in Dungeon Defense are homages to battles that actually happened in history. There are two, no, three battles that appear in the war of this chapter.

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Laura really showing off her abilities here. If only I actually paid attention in my history classes to know what battle this is supposed to be a homage to. Oh well. I’m feeling pretty okay now. The booster didn’t kick my butt as much as I thought it would. The headache lasted longer than I expected though. Uh, nothing much else to say so I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.