CH 78

It’s Ko-Fi’s Supporters’ chapter (26/63), enjoy~

“What’s wrong? Kosuke.”

“I just thought that flags are just an occult thing.”

A few days later, we were leaving the city of Mayswood without any trouble and traveling to Erichburg.

What happened on the way, you ask? No, there really wasn’t any trouble. The route that the Liberation Army took had been cleared and free of monsters, or should I say that there were no attacks by monsters at all, and there was no such thing as encountering the guerrilla forces of the Holy Kingdom Army.

“…Don’t underestimate the importance of intuition, such as bad premonition or bad sign. Some people can sense these things from the slightest sign that they themselves are not aware of.”

“I see… that’s how it works.”

“Hmm, yes. But of course, it could be just your imagination, or you could make a mistake by worrying too much. Just do everything in moderation.”

“Right.”

Then I heard a thunderous sound… in the distance. It’s probably the sound of Sylphy and the others fighting ― or perhaps the aerial bombardment of the Harpies.

“It’s the bomb, isn’t it? It looks like the princess is doing something fancy.”

“I guess so. It looks like they were preserving it until Mayswood, so they’ll be playing it big today. However, even though they’re being pushed this far, the Holy Kingdom’s army isn’t making any moves?”

“It’s not that they don’t want to; it’s that they can’t. Kosuke has blown away all of the cavalries that they can’t afford to attack us.”

“Oh, you mean their mobile forces have been destroyed?”

“Even if they are not, the Liberation Army, or rather the Harpies and crossbows, are too strong. If they don’t at least take measures against the Harpies, the Holy Kingdom army won’t be able to defeat us.”

“I see.”

The Liberation Army, which is equipped with powerful long-distance weapons such as crossbows, is extremely strong in defensive and siege battles. But if the enemy wanted to fight in the open, they will be detected immediately by the Harpies flying in the sky, and if they are crowded on the plains, they will be a good target for the Harpies’ aerial bombardment.

Then there was the option of laying low, but again, this would be detected by the Harpies, who were on the lookout from the sky, and if they were detected, they would immediately be reported to the main force by a communicator, and countermeasures would be taken. An ambush whose existence and location are known is no threat to us. In fact, they are just easy targets.

“Still, I don’t think we’d be safe from a charge by a bunch of cavalries.”

“Well, there will be damage, but will it be that bad? I can only see the Harpies’ bombing and hand grenades stopping the cavalry charge.”

“Hmm, explosions are effective against cavalry. If the sound of those bombs sends the horses into a panic, they won’t be able to charge.”

“I see.”

That makes the Liberation Army very strong, doesn’t it? Is it possible that I’m worrying too much? This world is a different world with magic. I wonder if there will ever be an opponent that… crossbows won’t work on and bombing won’t work on? A dragon, maybe? Or something like a hero or demon king?

As for me, well, if I know it’s coming, can I manage to withstand it? I’ll just have to defend myself and run away.

Hmm? When I think about it, my endurance, defense, and survival abilities are as good as a dragon’s, with some conditions…? I’ll try not to think about it too much. Yeah.

“Won’t the Holy Kingdom army just start throwing out their tiger cubs?”

“I don’t know. There is a possibility that the mage troops will be deployed.”

“Yeah, will that be okay?”

“There are other mages besides me, so it’s probably safe. As long as we can prevent the Holy Kingdom’s mages from using their magic without fighting back, we should be fine.”

“But if we can’t prevent them… Oh, we have the riflemen.”

“Hmm. They can’t aim their magic if they can’t see the enemy.”

“No matter how many magic barriers they have, they can’t prevent bullets from a bolt-action rifle. A mage who is standing still with magic is a good target, right?”

There’s no way that Danan and Sir Leonard, who has been tormented by the mage troops of the Holy Kingdom’s army, have not taken measures to counter them. Probably, even if they had been deployed, they would have been beaten to a pulp by the riflemen.

Even as I speak, the distant thunderous sound continues. They’re playing a really big game… Since I’m arriving, maybe they’re planning to spit out the entire inventory. No matter how much they destroy the defensive wall, I can fix it in no time.

“Let’s proceed with caution. If we run into another unit that’s trying to flank or hinder Sylphy and the others, we will be trapped.”

“That’s for sure. Well, I think it’s okay because the Harpies are watching, but let’s be as careful as we can.”

The carriage moves forward with the sounds of battle in the distance.

Sylphy’s POV

“They’re very tenacious in their defense.”

“If they lose this place, the southern part will be cut off. They must be desperate.”

“So that’s it?”

The strong wind that continues to blow from behind us nullifies most of the arrows of the enemy archers, but the crossbow bolts that we fired hit something like an invisible wall before they could reach the enemy soldiers on the defensive wall and were bounced off.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t kill them all with our shots.”

“They were surprisingly quick to react.”

The invisible wall is the work of the Mage Corps, the tiger cub of the Holy Kingdom’s army. It seems that they are using magic to put up barriers to prevent our attacks.

“So they now use their magic without having to expose themselves to the wall.”

“What an impudent bunch.”

In the beginning, the mage troops of the Holy Kingdom exposed themselves on the wall to unleash attack magic on our troops, but while our mage troops were blocking them, Jagira and the riflemen shot them.

It was heartening to see the enemy’s mage troops, who had once tormented the forces of the Merinard Kingdom, fall to the ground, but when they realized that the riflemen’s attack could not be blocked by magic, they quickly hid behind the walls.

After that, it was like this. Both sides are plowing the soil of the battlefield with their arrows having little effect on each other.

“This is Pirna; we have confirmed the target.”

“Go ahead, drop two bombs in turn.”

Pirna and the rest of the Harpy squad, circling in the sky, are ordered to attack via the Golem communicator.

“Copy that. We’ll start the bombing.”

At my signal, an explosion erupts as if to wipe out the enemy on the defensive wall. It seems that we were able to inflict some damage on the enemy, but most of the damage was done by shattering the magic barriers.

The enemy might have been relieved that they had prevented it. However, a second bomb went off with a slight delay.

“It seems that the second bombing could not be prevented… and the mage troops are like insects before the bombing.”

Leonard’s mouth twisted in amusement.

This double bombing is a bombing tactic where the first bomb destroys the magic barrier and the second bomb wipes out the enemy soldiers along with the mages. It is a technique for anti-mages that was devised through discussions with Isla and the other mages.

“The effect is confirmed. The damage to the enemy soldiers at the target point, including the mage, is enormous.”

“Good. Re-arm and continue to attack the enemy soldiers. The first priority target is the mage.”

“Copy that.”

Now, the enemy has lost their only hope of a mage unit. I’m sure their morale will drop drastically.

“What are we going to do now? Should we break down the gate?”

“No, there are still several air bombs that Kosuke entrusted to me. Kosuke said he would be joining us by the end of the day, and he also mass-produced weapons, bombs, and ammunition while he was over there. There was no need to take the risk of losing our troops. Let’s just bomb them to death slowly, like choking them with cotton.”

“…Cotton is a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

“It’s not cotton; it’s more like a steel wire with thorns or something. As for me, I’d prefer to burst through the gates.”

“You can’t. You may not die so easily, Leonard, but your men will.”

“It’s regrettable.”

Leonard said with regret and stroked the hilt of his twin swords at his waist. Both Leonard and Zamir want to go forward and fight after Kosuke has made them mithril weapons. I don’t know how they feel about that, but I can’t bear to let my soldiers die for nothing.

However, in this situation, the Harpies would be in sole control. Not only us, but even the other soldiers would have nothing to do. At any rate, we’ll just have to destroy them with the Harpies’ aerial bombs.

If we get too close to the defensive wall during the bombing, we might get caught in the blast, so we can’t do anything to the enemy until the bombing is over. So, let’s instruct the soldiers to make a battering ram. If the enemy surrenders, it will be useless, but if not, we will need it to break down the gates.

The relentless bombing has been going on for a while, but it won’t last forever. If Kosuke were here, though, he might be able to turn Erichburg into a pile of rubble.

“What about the remaining enemy soldiers?”

“It seems that a good number of them have retreated from the defensive wall and taken refuge in civilian buildings. We destroyed the barracks and other buildings, but we avoided warehouses that might have contained supplies, so we think they are hiding there as well. Even so, I think we were able to destroy most of them with the bombing.”

“All right. Go back to the main camp and rest your wings.”

“No, we’ll continue to circle above and continue our reconnaissance mission.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Understood.”

I finished my communication and looked up to see Leonard with a fierce smile on his face, his fangs bared. This warlike and gluttonous nature of his is beyond sick.

“So that’s how it is. It’s going to be a city battle; watch out for surprise attacks. I’ll go too.”

“Your Highness.”

“Would it not be better if I were to act as bait? Well, I’ll just lead the troops to the lord’s mansion, calling for them to surrender.”

“I think that would be dangerous. “

“It’s necessary in order to achieve our goal.”

It’s not in my nature to just give orders from behind and sit back and relax. The Merinard royal family has made the mistake of losing this country once. If I don’t step forward, at least in times of battle, the soldiers and the people will not be satisfied. That’s all I can do.

Soon after, the battering ram was ready, and the gates were breached. Leonard and Zamir were happy to charge in, but Danan and I ran down the main street after clearing the area. We were accompanied by an elite force of heavy infantry and light infantry.

There was no one on the main street to block our invasion. The inhabitants were probably holed up in their houses, or else they would have fled the city long ago. The news of our march to the north must have reached Erichburg long ago.

“It seems that the lord’s mansion has its own defensive forces.”

What should we do? Danan asks me with a glance. The answer is obvious.

“Push through!”

“Your Highness!”

With the help of the wind spirit, I put on an invisible wind robe and ran out. The enemy soldiers who were deployed in front of the lord’s mansion were shooting arrows at me as I surged forward.

“Arrows?”

“It’s magic! They’re coming! Ready your spears! Hold your ground!”

The wind swirling around my body deflects all of the arrows that fly at me. The enemy commander seemed to be quite good, and instead of focusing on attacking with arrows, he chose to immediately form a spear line against us as we rushed forward.

As I ran, I commanded the wind spirit to turn the wind robe I was wearing into a storm and hit the enemy group before we made contact with the spear line. With that blow, several people were blown away, and the spear line was disrupted.

“Aaaaaaah!”

I jumped into the spear line that was disrupted and had holes in it and swung the Pale Moon that I pulled out of its sheath in all directions.

The pale blue blade cut through the body, arms, and legs of the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom army, along with their armor. The cut-off limbs and upper body fly in the air. In just a few moments, the whole area was covered in blood.

“Your ears, your black skin… you’re the witch!”

One of the soldiers said so. The next moment, I chopped off her head with the Pale Moon.

“Drop your spears! Fight with your sword…!?”

I cut down the enemy soldiers standing in front of me, pulled out the Kukri knife from its sheath at my waist with my left hand, and threw it at a man who looked like a commander behind the lines. The spinning Kukri knife pierced the face of the commander guy, and the guy fell down violently as if he had been beaten.

“Mizel-sama! You!”

A man who looked like a knight, who was standing beside the man, turned red and charged at me. I pointed the muzzle of the revolver I pulled out of the holster at my waist at the man.

*Dor**Dor**Dor*! A thunderous sound echoed, and the man charging at me was blown backward. There was a hole in his armor, so he couldn’t have survived.

I could feel the morale of the enemy soldiers dropping rapidly, probably because the man who looked like the commander I had just killed and the man who looked like his bodyguard had been killed as well.

“Drop your weapons and surrender. If you do, I will not take your life.”

The soldiers surrounding us looked at each other, and when they saw Danan and the others charging at them with even more ferocity, they dropped their weapons.

Soon after, Erichburg fell, and the flag of the Merinard Kingdom was raised at its gates. It was only later that Kosuke arrived in Erichburg.