CH 293

Chapter 293 – Puppet War(10)

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Queen Henrietta went ahead first with her cavalry knights.

These knights, who had charged repeatedly the previous night, had to suffer further as they were forced to march again. Their armor was damaged and the warhorses were tired after having run for two hours. Despite all this, Brittany’s knights had to gather their strength again.

“We must get to Parisiorum before the enemy!”

The two armies raced with the Marne River between them. Brittany’s cavalrymen were famous for their speed. If they were under the same conditions, then there would’ve been no concern about arriving later than the enemy.

However, Queen Henrietta knew that they were already fairly late.

For starters, her army had only started to march now. On the other hand, the Demon Lord army had already sent the units that had finished crossing the river earlier. If you consider the fact that the battle took about two hours, the Demon Lord army had roughly a two-hour head start…….

Second, there wasn’t a single troop from the Batavia Republic in the battle just now. To be more exact, there wasn’t a single human soldier in sight. Demons may have been a majority in the enemy’s army, but how could they have not seen even a single human?

They didn’t participate in the battle. In that case, that could only mean one thing.

‘The republic army was a part of the group that crossed the river first.’

Queen Henrietta rode her horse intensely as she thought to herself. Why did they go out of their way to make the human part of their army cross the river first? The answer becomes evident if you consider that the enemy’s goal is Parisiorum.

‘It’s so that they can enter the city safely.’

If a unit of monsters tried to enter the capital, then the people would panic. Even if the monsters promised to never pillage them and emphasized that they were an army made for the sake of humanity and not the Demon Lord army, it would be weird for the people to not be terrified when their troops have the faces of orcs.

That’s why they sent the humans over first. In order to not create a panic and be allowed in comfortably.

“Dantalian……!”

The other party had perfectly split their roles from the very beginning. They positioned the demons with high offensive power at the front. The human portion of their army, which was weak but politically effective, was sent to march to the capital while the demons kept Brittany busy.

People say that war is only an extension of politics, but this was going too far. The battle that unfolded earlier was nothing more than a distraction. Their true goal was to enter Parisiorum. Going further, to snatch the Emperor and Empress Dowager. From start to finish, the enemy only had a political goal…….

“Your Highness, we have almost arrived.”

The cavalry captain’s words woke Queen Henrietta up from her sea of thoughts.

They had arrived at the outskirts of Parisiorum. It took them forty minutes to get here. They basically ignored their horses’ stamina and came here as fast as possible.

“Open the gate!”

“The ruler of Brittany is here!”

The flag bearers raised their flags high. The Black Lily that represented Brittany fluttered in the wind.

The guards that were protecting the east gate were surprised. They hastily went to open the gate, but the speed at which the drawbridge came down was inevitably slow.

“You fools! Bring the bridge down faster!”

“M-My apologies! But the bridge might get destroyed if we lowered it any faster than this…….”

The knights shouted at the guards.

The Brittan soldiers were clearly feeling impatient. It wasn’t a surprise. A ruler’s emotions tend to get transferred down to their subordinates. Once Queen Henrietta started to feel mentally pressured, the pressure spread to her generals and soldiers like a plague.

“……Hoo.”

Henrietta realized how rash she had been after she saw the way her subordinates reprimanded the guards. A ruler has to be calm and composed at all times. She had forgotten about this fundamental rule for a moment.

Henrietta made a conscious effort to calm down. She turned to observe the rampart instead of the drawbridge.

‘There aren’t a lot of guards protecting the walls. The flags got folded by the wind and they haven’t unfurled them.’

You can get a feel for a group’s military discipline through the state of their flags. Currently, there were several flags that were folded messily. This meant that they were too preoccupied to be concerned about their flags.

Furthermore, there were barely any sentries around even though the sun was coming up. They were protecting the east gate with the minimum number of guards. In other words, this meant that something was happening somewhere in Parisiorum, so most of their troops were dispatched there.

‘The republican army most likely captured the south district or at least a portion of it.’

The Empress Dowager or the Emperor has probably escaped from their detached palace and joined up with them…….

If the republican army captured a portion of the city, then Henrietta had to be ready for a fight. This was their last chance since the main body of the Demon Lord army hadn’t arrived yet.

– Clunk.

The drawbridge finally finished descending.

Henrietta spoke up to her troops right before her cavalrymen could rush forward.

“Men. We have done our best to arrive here. I guarantee that there is no army on the continent that is faster than you all. If, despite this, we are still late, you are blameless. The heavens are the ones to be blamed.”

“…….”

The knights looked at their queen. Their faces were filled with exhaustion, but their eyes were still very much alive.

Impatience leads to mistakes and mistakes lead to defeat. The more experienced you are, the more dangerous impatience becomes.

Whether a soldier becomes impatient or not depends on their commander. What a commander needs most is the trust of their soldiers. A fanatical belief that makes people believe they don’t have to worry as long as they can rely on their commander even if they’re in a bad situation.

Henrietta opened her mouth in order to fan that belief.

“Our homeland is a narrow peninsula. Even farming is difficult due to the salt in the soil. Our ancestors have always sought to expand into Frankia since ancient times. This is a wish that has been passed down for 700 years. You are the ones who fulfilled this wish.”

“…….”

“In other words, you are the strongest in the history of Brittany.”

Henrietta removed her helmet and raised it high in the air.

“Who could have imagined that a nation from a small peninsula could rule the continent!? And yet, we, Brittany, have made that possible! No matter the hardship we faced, Brittany has not fallen!”

The knights removed their helmets and shouted.

“Glory to Brittany!”

“Glory to Her Majesty the Queen!”

They continued to shout over and over again. The generals and petty officers figured out what the Queen was trying to do, so they responded passionately in kind. The impatience that had been looming over their minds diminished as they cheered in unison. Henrietta nodded and crossed the drawbridge.

“We greet the Glory of Brittany.”

The gate captain welcomed Henrietta once she was across. It was a Brittan person and not a Frankian. This displayed how far Henrietta’s influence had seeped into Parisiorum.

“Good work. Report.”

“Yes. There are currently no problems here at Parisiorum’s east gate.”

“……?”

Henrietta’s forehead became wrinkled.

“No problems? Where are all the guards?”

“Ah, that.”

The gate captain looked troubled as he continued.

“A large fire had broken out in the city. We received a request for assistance, so I sent some guards at my discretion.”

“…….”

All of a sudden, an unknown feeling of unease spread throughout Henrietta’s chest.

Oblivious to this, the gate captain continued his report.

“This has caused us to neglect security for a moment, but the soldiers have returned safely and are currently taking a break in their quarters. I have taken measures so that they can be called out in case of an emergency.”

“……What about the fire? Why did that break out?”

“It was reported that a fire broke out on the merchant ships at the dock. Fortunately, there were no casualties whatsoever.”

The gate captain looked proud.

An unexpected accident occurred during the war, but the city guards and the gate guards worked together to deal with it quickly. There were no casualties as well. He had splendidly prevented the situation from getting out of hand. The gate captain probably thought that this was an opportunity to be personally praised by their great queen.

However, contrary to the gate captain’s expectations, the Queen’s expression gradually became more rigid.

“Anything else? Did anything else happen in the city?”

“No. From what I can tell, nothing else happened aside from the fire.”

“…….”

Henrietta placed her hand against her forehead.

Considering the gate captain’s tone, it didn’t sound like the republican army had even approached Parisiorum. If they had breached the south gate or even approached it, then it would have naturally been reported.

The other possibility was them using the chaos of the fire to extract the Empress Dowager or the Emperor……but this wasn’t what happened either. Naturally, Henrietta had specifically placed additional guards around the detached palace. If the Empress Dowager or the Emperor had managed to escape, then those guards would have requested help from all of the gate guards.

There were two potential answers.

They either slaughtered the guards around the detached palace so perfectly that they didn’t even have the time to ask for help, meaning they got the Empress Dowager and the Emperor out without anyone knowing—.

“……Where did those damned republicans go?”

—Or they never came to Parisiorum to begin with.

Henrietta led her royal guards into the city. The commonfolk looked on with curiosity and concern as a large number of cavalrymen passed through the streets early in the morning. Henrietta didn’t have the leisure to reassure the people as she headed to the detached palace.

The guard captain in charge of the detached palace gave a firm response when asked about the well-being of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.

“Of course. We have been guarding the palace rigorously, Your Highness.”

“…….”

Henrietta ordered them to check on the Empress Dowager and the Emperor just in case. Shortly after, the maids returned to report that there were no issues.

Henrietta muttered to herself.

“Then a fire really was the only thing that occurred.”

She didn’t understand.

The Demon Lord army had an opportunity to occupy the south gate. They could have at least encircled it for a siege. They could have easily communicated with the Frankian nobles in secret and got them to sneak the Empress Dowager or Emperor out. But none of that had happened. The Frankian nobles didn’t start an uproar and the south gate wasn’t captured…….

Every possibility was gone and only questions remained.

Where did the republican army disappear to?

Henrietta looked down at her map with tired eyes. Her head felt blank.

‘They took the risk of crossing the river, but missed the opportunity to arrive at Parisiorum, their goal……. What could they possibly be thinking? Don’t tell me that luring the Green Rose Knights in and wiping them out was their only goal? They moved on too much of a grand scale for that to be the case……. Wait, their goal?’

Henrietta paused.

‘What if Parisiorum wasn’t their goal?’

Henrietta’s gaze followed the river. Her eyes then stopped at a certain point on the map.

There was a moment of silence.

Henrietta’s head remained down for a fair while before she slowly raised it. The sun was fully in the sky as dawn had arrived. It was shining down on the land.

How much time had passed?

An attendant arrived saying that an urgent message was sent by the Habsburg Republic. Lines that were written personally by Consul Elizabeth were on the letter delivered by the envoy. It was a handwritten letter that consisted of only two sentences.

– Military rations. Be wary.

The piece of paper was crumpled in Henrietta’s hands.

Henrietta looked at the sky. The ends of her mouth twisted bizarrely. Like she was trying to smile, but failed to do so. A murmur that was close to a groan flowed out from between her lips.

“……You’re two hours late, Eliza.”

At the same point in time.

The Republic of Batavia’s flag was raised at the fortress where Brittany’s provisions were located.

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TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Everything is just going completely downhill for Henrietta, huh? I also noticed we’re getting close to the big three O. Chapter 300 soon. We’re more than halfway through the WN now. Time has been going way too fast lately… Might’ve been because of all those weddings…

In any case, it’s raining now so I can finally breathe a bit. I pray this weather lasts for a while, but it probably won’t. Oh well. I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.