CH 29

Chapter 29 – Battlefield Looters

Now, this war.

From the point of view of the enemy, the kingdom’s army, it’s not even a war; it’s just a subjugation by sheer numbers. In fact, from our point of view, it’s a suicide mission.

In other words, the key to this battle is how much we can reduce, disrupt, and disable the enemy’s forces before the war begins… or the only thing that will keep us alive.

In addition to limiting the enemy’s line of movement, the Casemaian, like a natural fort, is located high above the ground, about 100 meters above the ground. We could start with a slight advantage, but we were not optimistic considering the difference in strength.

After all, we were outnumbered to the point of being uncomfortable. If we, an army of less than a hundred, were to go head-to-head with an army of thirty thousand, we would be swallowed up by the violence of numbers, regardless of our geographical advantage or our machine guns.

The muscle brain beastman said, “We only need to kill 300 soldiers each, right?” But that’s not the point. Even if that were the case, the other side would have 30,000 chances per turn, and we would only have 100 (actually about 40). Even an idiot can understand that – and it’s a matter of probability that is hard for our Liberation Army members to understand.

“So, let’s do some work, shall we?”

“Hmm, that’s interesting.”

“Uhyaaa!?”

As I was about to sneak off, I was caught off guard and let out an involuntary scream. Before I knew it, Myrril was behind me, holding my shoulders tightly.

She has a big smile on her face, but her cute forehead is covered with blue veins, and her back is covered with an aura of anger. To be honest, I’m scared to death.

“Where do you think you’re going when a war is about to break out?”

“I’ve got some things I really need to do before the battle. I’m sorry, but it’s my top priority right now. Please don’t stop me.”

Myrril was perplexed by the fact that I was trying to make the most of my second glance, but she seemed to agree with me.

“I-I’m not going to get in the way of that, but… what is the purpose?”

“Money!”

“…Huh?”

Yeah, I’m screwed.

I need money as soon as possible to order more from Simon ― or rather, to make up for the deficit in the budget that is already running out. The quickest way to do that is to raid the Transportation Corps.

According to the report from the elven scouts, the advance team is heading towards us in several groups, but for some reason, the first group is the Transportation Corps, which is not well guarded. They are camped about fifteen miles from Casemaian.

If a mile is equal to a mile in my original world, that’s about 24 kilometers.

As of now, I have the ability to teleport within sight. The distance and number of times I can teleport depends on how much magic power I have left.

I can use teleport, store, and teleport back. That’s why I can’t take anyone with me. I don’t even know the limits of my skills and magic, so I’m just testing the waters. If it goes well, it could greatly reduce the enemy’s strength.

…It should be.

When I arrived in front of the church an hour later, the dwarves were in the middle of a discussion about burying IEDs in front of a map.

I taught them the simple principle and how to use it and gave them samples of gunpowder, explosives, and detonators, but after several experiments and analysis, they now seemed to know more about it than I did.

To be honest, I don’t know much about bombs, so this is very helpful.

“Oh, Yoshua, you haven’t gone out yet?”

“No, I went. Here’s the first one.”

“O-oh!”

Myrril and the rest of the dwarves open their mouths wide, but there’s no time to waste.

“Yoshua!?”

I went back and unloaded the luggage, then went back and unloaded the luggage again.

Sometimes I hear Myrril’s voice somewhere, sometimes I see her out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t care less. I let my mind go blank and repeat mechanically. This is just a task. It’s a game of speed until the enemy starts to take notice.

“Hey, Y-Yoshua, can’t you wait a minute!”

“See you later; I’m busy.”

As I go back and forth several times, the capacity of the storage and the distance of the teleport increase, while the magic power consumed by the skill seems to be decreasing little by little. It’s also possible that the total amount of magic power is increasing, but there’s no time to look at the status right now. I should hurry back and go again…

“Wait, I told you!”

“Gefuh!”

I was tackled by Myrril, who was waiting for me when I got back from the teleportation, and I fainted in agony when she tackled me on my solar plexus.

“How long are you going to keep doing this?”

I must have gone back and forth a total of seven or eight times before I realized it. My body felt a little dull. I thought it might be a symptom of low magic power, so I decided to take a break.

“Hmm, but if I could, I’d like to take a break for a little while longer… Huh? Isn’t it dark in here?”

“Of course it is, you idiot! I tried to stop you many times, but you wouldn’t even listen to me!”

…Hmm.

As I looked around the church vestibule, the carriages of the kingdom army that I had brought in for teleportation and storage were piled high, forming a thick wall. I don’t remember stacking them three high, but I must have done it.

“You’re going to crush us to death?”

“Well, this much material before the war starts would be tremendously helpful.”

A minimum of twenty and a maximum of thirty carriages must have been stored in each teleport, so there are roughly two hundred carriages here. Certainly, if this collapses, you might die.

I knew from experience that living things could not be stored and would be repelled, so I repeatedly tried to store them at random and then escaped by shifting. The horses that had been tied to me ran away annoyingly, and occasionally a soldier who had been sleeping or hiding in the back of the wagon popped out naked (I guess the equipment was still stowed), so there must not have been any enemy soldiers among the ones I brought.

Since I was desperately trying to make up the numbers, I didn’t see or hear anything about our situation. The residents of Casemaian had already started to sort out their belongings, and the unused carriages were being carefully dismantled and sorted to be used as building materials or firewood.

“Oh, yeah. …Sorry.”

“I know what you’re thinking… What I don’t understand is why you have to go through all this trouble.”

There was a military story like that. But now I understand. Maybe people who want to have a huge buffer are afraid of having more than they need.

“We can’t even fit food in the church anymore. We opened up a storehouse at a nearby merchant’s house and decided to store it there.”

“There were some barrels of water, but it was only a matter of time before they went bad. We’ll put them here and boil them.”

“The weapons are mostly low-grade mass-produced swords and flimsy shields. But, I suppose we could use them to reinforce the gun turrets if we put them together in the shape of dragon scales.”

The conversation between the old Dwarven men is interesting because they talk in the same tone as Myrril, except the first person is me.

The young dwarf seems to be talking rather normally, so why does the old man talk like that?

“Myrril, did you find any gold?”

“Oh, they’re all in a barrel over there.”

The one that Myr pointed to was a large barrel that seemed to be filled with water. I’ve seen them filled with wine in my previous world, but I don’t remember the capacity… If it were a barrel, it would be about 120 liters.

The amount of gold coins is less than half of that. I don’t know how many, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be heavy enough to carry when they fill up the barrel. Before that happens, I’ll throw them in the market.

“I don’t need the silver and copper coins; we can share them with everyone…”

“We have no use for them either.”

“That’s right. There’s no such thing as stores or merchants here.”

“How many wagons have you checked for cargo?”

“About ten. At this rate, it’ll take all of tomorrow to process them.”

“I see. Then we’ll suspend the operation. I’m going to store the carriages, leaving only the contents. Just check and organize what you need. Where do you need to be covered up?”

“The blockade at the bottom of the hill and the horse fence at the front. Then we can place them on the battlefield and set traps.”

“Alright. If you give me a location, I’ll take the wheels off the wagon and put it there.”

We’ll take away the enemy’s assets and counter their attacks. It’s not just killing two birds with one stone. As a matter of fact, it’s simply fun to rob the enemy.

Casemaian’s camp was filled with bright air.