CH 270

Chapter 270 – Calamity in the Kingdom of Tigris

It was about two weeks after our scouts had detected the enemy’s initial movements that the enemy was ready to launch a sortie. Soon after that, there was a movement not only in the Duchy of Dihart but also in the Kingdom of Tigris, and both sides seemed to be coordinating with each other by sending messengers back and forth on horseback.

“Aren’t they on bad terms even though they are neighbors? Even though both sides are like vassal states of the Holy Kingdom.”

“The relationship between the two countries was not so good to begin with, but now the Duchy of Dihart has succumbed to the pressure of the Holy Kingdom and is practically a puppet of the Holy Kingdom. Having witnessed this and the devastation of the former Merinard Kingdom, the Kingdom of Tigris surrendered to the Holy Kingdom. As a result, the Holy Kingdom became the leader of the two countries, and now they are the spearhead of those who stand side by side on the battlefield.”

“The sorrow of a weak country, I suppose… When I hear of such a situation, I almost hesitate to turn it into a beehive from now on.”

“That is not the way it works either. We have no other choice but to use force against invasion.”

“Can’t we try some more diplomatic efforts or something like that…? Well, I guess it’s impossible since we’re dealing with such an opponent.”

In the past two weeks, I’ve been in touch with Sylphy many times via the golem communicator, but there has been no diplomatic contact from the Holy Kingdom, the Duchy of Dihart, or the Kingdom of Tigris. Well, it seems that there is not much culture in this world of declaring war or slapping down ultimatums before a war.

“The Holy Kingdom still doesn’t recognize the new Merinard Kingdom as a country. Between the Holy Kingdom, its vassals, and allies, the Kingdom of Merinard is still a vassal state of the Holy Kingdom, and we are the bandits who have thrown it into chaos and taken it over.”

“I wish those drunkards would get a little more realistic.”

By “drunkards,” I mean those who are blinded by religion and their own ideals. Perhaps the stinking priests of the Holy Kingdom are drunk on alcohol and other things as well.

“Whatever the case, we must respond immediately when the enemy makes a move… Are you ready?”

“Everything is in place. I am ready to go at any time, and surveillance is ongoing―Hmm?”

The golem communicator in the ops room is receiving a transmission, and Worg picks up the receiver and begins to talk.

“Okay, keep monitoring. If you see any strange activity, call me immediately.”

With that, Worg puts down the receiver.

“There was movement. Let’s go.”

“So, the minute we get a head count, we’re going to move. You don’t have a lot of time to spare, do you?”

“Both countries used to import a considerable amount of food from the Kingdom of Merinard when it was a vassal state. I think they want the Kingdom of Merinard to return to being a member of the Holy Kingdoms and supply them with food at a reasonable price.”

“We can sell them as much as we can at a fair price if they will beat the Holy Kingdom together with us.”

We left the operation room while discussing such things.

☆★☆

Duchy of Dihart’s POV

“Damn, they’re flying again.”

Antonius Dels Giranzam, commander of the Duchy of Dihart, looked up at the sky in the warm spring sunlight and swore. Ahead of him, in the sky where no arrow could reach, was the shadow of a large bird―well, it was too large to be a bird’s shadow, and above all, birds don’t look like that. It was a flying subhuman, a harpy. They are a race of women who only have arms and legs like birds.

According to reports, they have been flying near this border fort two or three times a day since last winter, and since about two weeks ago, when we started bringing in rations to the border fort, they have been flying incessantly and keeping an eye on us.

According to the archer with good eyesight, they are carrying some kind of magical tool, but we don’t know what it is. It is definitely not something pleasant for us. I guess the purpose of those damn birds is to scout.

“Antonius-sama, there is a message from the Kingdom of Tigris… that we should march forward as well.”

“Tsk… our information has been compromised, and we have few effective defenses against the anticipated attack. To ask us to march in such a situation would be like asking us to die.”

It’s not that there are no countermeasures at all, but… I have to say that I’m very skeptical about how effective they will be.

“Even if we stay here in the fort, the soldiers will have to eat every day. It is not as if we have an endless supply of food, huh…? It makes me want to cry.”

Antonius let out a sigh and scratched his head. He is a general who leads 8,000 soldiers in the Duchy of Dihart. Even if he has to go there even if he knows it is a place of death if he is told to go.

“Announced to all the troops. We will begin our march on the Kingdom of Merinard. Our target is a military facility that was built during the winter.”

“Yes!”

The messenger who received Antonius’ order runs to the border fort to inform all the troops of the Duchy of Dihart that the march is about to begin.

“Oh, shit. At least make it effective against the damn birds.”

According to what I’ve heard, they drop explosives with tremendous power from the air, beyond the reach of our bows. How the hell are we supposed to counter them? Should we all wear thick black steel armor or walk around with thick steel walls? Antonius sighed again.

“What will be, will be… At least we have to use countermeasures at the right time.”

☆★☆

After receiving a report from the front line that the forces of the Duchy of Dihart and the Kingdom of Tigris were on the move, a battalion of 400 magic riflemen set out from the border fort. The Harpy Bomber Squadron took off from the fort and waited in the air, watching for the enemy to cross the border. They were scheduled to launch an aerial bombardment when they saw the right moment.

Incidentally, the elite riflemen who have been trained will remain at the base this time to defend it. It would be a big problem if the enemy took a detour and took the base. I have placed heavy machine guns with unlimited ammunition on the base’s walls just in case, so they should be fine even if something should happen to them.

“Now, what’s going to jump out at us?”

“Well, as anti-aircraft measures, arrows and spears with wind magic will probably be used. Maybe they have some explosion magic.”

“Is that kind of thing common?”

“Sometimes they are used to counter powerful flying monsters such as wyverns and griffons, but they are expensive to produce. A country’s military may have a good number of them, but… even if they are given wind magic to begin with, it does not dramatically increase their range. Basically, it’s something you shoot at or throw at them as they swoop down to attack you.”

“So it wouldn’t work against carpet bombing from high altitude.”

“Probably.”

While talking with Worg, I watched the riflemen building a field position in the land of the Merinard Kingdom on this side of the border. The magic riflemen are trained for melee combat as well, but their main focus is still on suppressive fire with their magic rifles. It would be a disaster if they were caught off guard by a fast cavalryman or other attackers, so I gave them instructions to build a simple field position just in case.

“They will be surprised, won’t they?”

“I don’t know. They might be surprised by the sighting of the harpy, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, that’s a possibility.”

☆★☆

Duchy of Dihart’s POV

“Hey, hey, what the hell is that?”

It was the fourth day since the Duchy of Dihart began its march. When Antonius arrived at the border, he saw a simple field position built on the Merinard side and opened his eyes wide. It was not something like a fortress, but it was clearly a position designed to intercept the enemy.

“But, Your Excellency, there are not many of the enemies.”

“There seem to be only about four hundred of them.”

“That’s true, but…”

Antonius had a bad feeling about the defensive position he had never seen before.

He had heard a rumor that the Holy Kingdom’s 20,000-strong force against the Merinard Kingdom had been defeated by only a few dozen Merinard Kingdom troops. When he heard the story, he snickered, thinking it was a bit too much to be true.

He had a bad feeling about this, he almost said, but managed to swallow the words.

“Tell them that the vanguard of the attack will be the Kingdom of Tigris. They have more archers than we do. The army of the Duchy of Dihart will deal with the harpies.”

“Yes!”

I can’t stop having bad feelings about this.

☆★☆

“Another sign. Kosuke likes signboards, doesn’t he?”

“It’s like a greeting. And a psychological indulgence.”

“There is no way that a single sign like that will stop an army that is on the move… Look, they’ve been kicked down.”

Worg, who was looking through the binoculars next to me, let out a sigh. Well, I knew that, you know.

“It looks like the vanguard is the Kingdom of Tigris, doesn’t it?”

“It looks like it. The number is about 8,000―Notify everyone to open fire as soon as the enemy group is in full range.”

“First company, copy.”

“Second company, copy.”

The vanguard, which is the Kingdom of Tigris, is advancing little by little, holding up large shields. These shields are very impressive, but can they protect against bullets from a 15mm caliber magic rifle? According to the data we have, the shield should be made of thick metal that is hard to lift.

Against the Tigris Kingdom Army, which is approaching slowly, the battalion of riflemen is patiently watching the enemy’s approach. The front line is already in range. If we start firing now, we will only be able to catch a portion of the enemy in range.

At the moment when about half of the enemy group was in the range of the rifles, about a hundred rifles opened fire all at once.

The soldiers of the Tigris Kingdom Army fell to the ground, followed by a thunderous sound like distant thunder. Immediately, more shooting, shooting, shooting. Deadly bullets were sent into the Tigris Kingdom Army one after another in four shifts of one hundred soldiers each, and the Tigris Kingdom Army was annihilated.

“This is terrible.”

“This is one-sided.”

When the shooting began, the distance between the vanguard of the Tigris Kingdom Army and the defensive position was about 200 meters. The people of this world have slightly better physical capabilities than the people of my former world, but even so, with armor and a large shield, it would take less than a minute to reach the position even if they ran as fast as they could.

It is only a little less than a minute, but it is still less than a minute. If the instructions had been given from the beginning to close in on the enemy at full speed, it is not impossible that they would not be able to intercept the enemy in time with a hundred men shooting at each other and that they would have been crushed by the numbers…

“Well, this is what happens.”

“Yes, exactly.”

Of course, they are human. No, there might be some subhumans mixed in, but that is not the issue.

The vanguard, who was carrying a ridiculously large shield, was suddenly killed by an unidentified attack. Not only that, but their allies are dying, with large holes in their armor-protected torsos and shredded limbs―not many people would not panic in such a situation.

“Waaaaah!”

The morale of the enemy vanguard under fire instantly collapses, and they begin to try to flee. However, they cannot fall back because of the rear guard. As a result, they stop dead in their tracks, and more shots are fired at their defenseless backs.

“Oops, here comes the chase.”

Flying out of position and securing their altitude, the harpies begin to throw a hail of their new anti-personnel air bombs at the enemy rearguard. Although the power of each shot is reduced, the total firepower of each of the harpies equipped with heavy bombardment frames is approximately two and a half to three times greater than the previous model.

“This is terrible.”

“This is far more than a total annihilation.”

The Tigris Kingdom army of approximately 8,000 men suffered more than 80% of the damage in just a short time and retreated back to the Duchy of Dihart with crawling bodies.