Volume 2 - CH 3.1

The rest of the day passed without incident, and finally the day of departure arrived. As I was watching the soldiers in their winter clothes busily preparing the carriage, someone came to see me off.

The only people I knew who came to see me off this time were Sophie and Robert. Sophie didn't seem to be hiding her concern at all, and repeatedly wished us well. I don't think she doesn't trust me, but I guess she's quite a worrier too.

Robert's serious face was still twisted into a grim expression. If I hadn't spoken to him, he would have just walked away, as if he didn't want to talk much.

The two of them and the others from the castle saw us off and we set off. The only person I know this time is Elle, so I feel like I can be quite reckless.

After leaving the royal capital, we were heading in the same direction as the fortress, so we followed the same path we had taken before. However, just like before, I had nothing to do, so I could only pass the time by teaching Elle how to use her magic.

Elle, who had probably found out that I had slept with Tia and then Natalia, had been in a bad mood since that day, and to be honest, she didn't want to be in the same space with me. But still, as long as we are in the carriage together, I have to talk to her to some extent.

「Elle, are you able to control the technique?」

「...... Yes, while master is playing with the other women.」

「...... I see.」

The air in the carriage deteriorated even more when the sarcasm was returned. I had a feeling that this was a problem that would interfere with our mission if I didn't do something about it. But I couldn't think of a good solution, so I decided to consult Tia.

I connected the telephatic to Tia, explained the current situation, and asked her what I could do to bring her back into a good mood.

(Isn't it wrong to hold her?)

(It's not that I don't want to hug her, but it's just that I don't want her to feel anything for me. And I've had enough of aggressive elves on my own.)

(Then it can't be helped. But I think you have to listen to what she has to say a little bit, too. Even though Master loves me, sometimes I get jealous of other women.)

(I'll do my best.)

I hung up the telephatic and turned to face Elle again. She was looking at me with a sullen expression on her face.

「Elle, I don't know what's wrong with you, but if you have something to say, say it.」

Elle looked as if she was thinking about something a little bit at those words, but she quickly turned around to face me. Unlike before, she had a serious expression on her face.

「After all, Master doesn't see me as a woman, do you?」

「...........It's not that I don't find you attractive, but there are things that take precedence over that. Well, I can't say that I will never fall in love with you.」

「So if I'm aggressive like Natalia, does that mean I have a chance?」

「I don't think you'll be able to change my mind by being as aggressive as she is, but you'll have a chance.」

At these words, she turned her head and started to worry, but then she let out a sigh and looked up. Her face was not as grim as it had been earlier, and a smile appeared on her face.

「I understand. I'll stop worrying about Master sleeping with other women.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. But I'm going to be proactive from now on, too.」

Elle said and hugged me. I felt that if I pushed her away here, it would ruin the whole conversation, so I let her do what she wanted to do quietly. I felt like my guard was already down on her, but I guess it couldn't be helped.

That's how she stayed in my arms until we reached the next town.

※

The road leading from the last town to Fort Istrian is different from the previous roads in that it is only wide enough for one carriage to pass through, limiting the movement of troops. In addition, the surrounding cliffs and forests make it impossible to build another road. Even if you try to attack here with a large army, it will be difficult.

As long as this place is occupied by the other side, the kingdom can't send a large army against the Demon Empire, and the Demon Empire side can easily attack from the high ground. However, the other side of the fort has a similar terrain, so if we can take it from the Demon Empire, we will have a significant advantage.

Naturally, the kingdom has attacked the fort many times in the past with this idea, but the results have always been disastrous. It's true that it's very difficult to bring in huge siege weapons, and since we can't use a large army to attack withouth food, it's extremely difficult to take down that fort.

Well, for me, everything I just said is fine. I don't need siege weapons, I don't need a large army, and I don't want to march in favor of the other side.

I stopped the troops once the Istrian fort was approaching. The fort was not yet in sight, but the other side must have noticed that this force was marching here. We need to be ready before the assault, and we can't afford to be the first to be attacked by the enemy.

In addition, I need to set up a quarantine ward to prevent people from coming by accident and gather the soldiers inside it. Even if the enemy were to find us, we would not be attacked for a while.

Before making the next preparations, I checked the condition of the soldiers, and they were all trembling with fear, saying that it was impossible to attack with such a small group. Normally, this small number of soldiers would just be going to their deaths against a new commander, albeit a brave one. In fact, it is a miracle that there were hardly any deserters.

The soldiers were useless as it was, but this had been expected from the start, so there was no problem.

After instructing Elle, I stood in front of the frightened soldiers. Immediately, they looked at me with anxiety and fear in their eyes. Some of them even seemed to want to kill me. Most of them probably thought they could escape by killing me, but I would not allow them to be so naive.

「Soldiers. First of all, I am glad that you have followed me this far without missing much. From now on, we will attack the Istrian fortress.」

There was a murmur among the soldiers when they heard my words. Somewhere in the background, I could hear them saying, "It's impossible, there's no way we can do it," but they didn't say it out loud, probably because they were afraid of going against the nobles.

As I was thinking this, a man stepped out from among the soldiers. As I recall, it was the captain of this unit.

「Viscount, it's impossible to capture the fort with this many men. It has long been said that in a siege, the attackers need at least three times as many men as the defenders. And the impregnable Istrian fortress will require even more than that.」

「I see. And then?」

「I would like to know what kind of strategy you will use to capture that fort, Viscount. Right now, my troops are filled with fear and anxiety of having to go into battle with no chance of winning. With only a small army and low morale, there is no way we can win. I beg you, Viscount, to let everyone hear your plan for victory and remove their anxiety.」

This is the man who asked me to reassure the soldiers, but he is one of the ones who just tried to kill me. If I don't come up with a reasonable plan here, he's going to kill me and retreat. He may not be the best, but he can make a calm decision.

「That's fine, I was just about to tell all of you about my plan. However, it is not a noble plan. We will make a frontal assault with all our soldiers.」

「Is that a fact?」

「Yes.」

「I see. Then I have no choice.」

The captain let out a deep sigh and drew the sword at his waist and slashed at me. It was such a beautiful blade that everyone but Elle and I thought my head had been chopped off, but thanks to the barriers around me, it was flicked away without touching my skin.

「What!?」

Perhaps upset by the unexpected event, the sword left the captain's hand and fell to his feet. The scene was so unbelievable that not only the soldiers, but even the person who had slashed me stopped moving with their eyes wide open.

「What's wrong? You can cut me down until you're satisfied, you know?」

「...... No, apparently you knew what I was thinking.」

Elle tried to restrain the troop leader, who raised his hand in surrender, but I stopped her. With a quizzical look on my face, I looked back at the soldiers again.

「Now then, as you can see from what you've just seen, I can use a technique to prevent attacks like that. And I'll be able to use it on everyone here. No stone, no arrow, no blade, no attack from the enemy will ever reach you.」

At this point, I picked up the sword that the troop leader had dropped and swung it at the troop leader's head. Naturally, it was repelled by the barrier I had deployed on the captain, and the sword flew straight out of my hand.

「Just as you see. I hope you can now see that my assault is not a sign of ineptitude.」

「Is that true!? If you can use that kind of magic on me, I'll be fine!」

He wouldn't have believed me even if I told him in words, but when he actually saw the sword being flicked, he believed me even if he didn't want to. It seems that my prediction was correct, and the eyes of the soldiers, which until now had been radiating a tragic atmosphere, began to show signs of life. Except for one.

「Now then, what should I do with the troop leader who had just cut me off?」

「!!!」

The troop leader's face paled at my words. Of course, it's no surprise that the person who took a chance on me with no plan had a trump card that would likely lead to victory. His current position is that of an incompetent troop leader who mistakenly tried to kill me, the man with the trump card.

The soldiers around him probably think that the captain will be severely punished for attacking a nobleman, and he himself knows the gravity of what he has done, so he is not making any unnecessary resistance.

「I will not question the actions about what the captain did.」

「Wha!?」

「His actions were done out of concern for the soldiers on their way to their deaths. I can't say that the measures he took were entirely without fault, but I'll give him one chance to redeem himself for his spirit.」

There was a murmur among the soldiers at my decision. For those who believed that anyone who messed with a nobleman deserved to be put to death, my comment was an unusual one.

I just didn't want to upset the chain of command over something like this, but my stock went up, so that was good.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to use the barrier on all the troops. It would work now that they were all close together, but if they were too far apart, it would be impossible to maintain it. Besides, I have other preparations to make.

During the operation, Elle will only launch the barrier if it is needed for the front line soldiers. Combined with the other techniques I'm preparing, we'll probably be able to keep the damage on our side to almost nothing.

※

Now then, it's time to move on to the next step. I signaled Elle, confirmed that she had started to draw the magic circle, and told the soldiers who were making a bit of noise to shut up.

「I'm going to ask you to follow my apprentice, Elmair, and charge in. The enemy will probably try to check you with bows and arrows, but they will be terrified to see that they are completely ineffective agains all of you. And when they realize that even swords and spears cannot reach you, they will stop resisting.」

While the soldiers were listening to my words, Elle activated her <DaydreamHalucination>. No one was able to resist, and everyone looked momentarily dumbfounded.

「Of course. There was no way they could win against an opponent whose blade could not reach them. And a wise enemy would have thrown down their weapons and surrendered. You will show mercy to those who stop resisting, and you will not take their lives by making them prisoners. But is it really the right thing to do?」

「What do you mean?」

「Think about it, a lot of royal citizens have been killed by their hands so far. They've done all that, and yet they beg for their lives to survive? Do you think the people who were killed want to keep them alive?」

「Th-that's right! We have to make them suffer the same!」

「Look at where the fort is standing. The area around Istrian was originally the territory of the Kingdom, but the Demon Empire invaded the Kingdom's territory and built a fort. What has been taken must be taken back. This battle is not an invasion, but a recapture. Justice is on our side. You should give it everything you've got.」

「I see! As expected, Viscount!」

「Justice is on our side!」

「The soldiers of the Demon Empire, who have no shame in their outrageous actions, are no longer human beings, but are equivalent to animals. No matter how many unrestrained animals you kill, you will never feel guilty. Bring them to justice with your own hands!!」

「Ohhhhh! Bring the humans of the Demon Empire to justice!」

「Long live the Viscount!」

As the speech progressed, I could see the morale of the soldiers rising. The soldiers were in such a frenzy that they would no longer hesitate to kill unarmed people.

It's the effect of <DaydreamHalucination> that makes them believe my words without question. If you use group psychology in this way, the effect can be more powerful than using a <Thought-GuidingGuidepost>.

In addition, once the effect of the technique wears off, the memory of the time when it was applied will remain only dimly, so it is the perfect technique if you don't want people to remember much of what you are about to do.

So far, I've been working on removing their anxiety and destroying the enemy. I don't want to take any prisoners if possible, because I don't think there's any place to keep them since I think almost all the soldiers of the Demon Empire will surrender.

But I don't want to kill too many. There are probably merchants, prostitutes, and maybe even the families of soldiers inside the fort. If I slaughtered them, it would be bad for my reputation.

「I'm sorry to interrupt your excitement, but I forbid you to take the lives of the people of the Demon Empire except for soldiers.」

「Why is that?」

「Those of you who are here may have wives, lovers, parents, and children. If the kingdom were to be invaded, all of them would be overrun by the Demon Empire. Imagine, you can hear the lamentations of those who died in agony while being tortured and raped.」

「Oh, no, stop it!」

「God damn it, I won't let his happen!」

「I'll kill you!」

I don't know if the guy screaming now really has a wife or children, but that's one of the effects of <DaydreamHalucination>.

Elle is creating the exact image in her brain that I just described, but the effect seems to be extraordinary. All of them were throwing hateful words in the direction of the fort and looked as if they were about to attack them.

I struck my hand to bring their attention back to me. The faces of the soldiers are different from before, they have the look of demons filled with hostility towards the Eemon Empire.

「All of you would find it hard to forgive the people of the Demon Empire. You can kill the enemy soldiers to your heart's content. But even if they are from the Demon Empire, they are not at fault as mere civilians. If we kill them without a fight, we'll be just as much of an animal as the soldiers of the Demon Empire. As human beings, we cannot commit the same atrocities as them. Kill all enemy soldiers, take civilians as prisoners, and do not assault them.」

The soldiers, who didn't know my true intentions, were thrilled by my words. Some of them say I'm a true hero, but I'm not that good of a person.

「Well then, I've been talking for a long time, but I have only one more thing to say. Take down the fort and give our kingdom victory!」

「Ooohhhhh!」

「Victory to the kingdom!」

「Let's all sail for the fort! Let's take down the fort!」

With Elle in the lead, the soldiers started moving towards the fort. I've instructed her to maintain the <DaydreamHalucination> she've placed on the soldiers, and to prioritize killing any enemy soldiers who resist the technique I'm about to apply.

I moved ahead of the troops to a position just out of sight of the fort for the next plan. At first glance, the fort appeared to be empty, but it was warded against magic and remote weapons, as well as against exploration.

The strength of the magic is such that an ordinary magician would not be able to break it, but with that level of magic, it would not be a problem as long as I give them a formula to penetrate the wards. Now I just have to get it over with before the enemy soldiers find out our troops.

I quickly drew up a magic circle and activated the fourth type of tactical class technique, <DemoralizePeaceful Mind>, so that the entire fort would be within the area of effect. I could sense that almost all of the people failed to resist.

The effect was to create a powerful aversion to the act of fighting or violence, and to make the attacker feel friendly and unresisting. They will not be able to fight or even try to escape. This means that the people in the fort will be caught without any resistance when the soldiers attack them.

Now my work is almost done. All that was left was to watch the troops overrun the unresisting enemy soldiers.

As I waited for a while, I could see the kingdom soldiers approaching the fort. Despite the fact that the Kingdom Soldiers appeared in a position where they could be seen from the fort, the guards at the fort were not on alert at all. Some of them were waving their hands as if their allies had arrived. It was a surreal scene.

Elle bursts through the gates and the soldiers rush into the fort, but from the outside it seems quiet, as if nothing is happening, but inside, it must be a hellish scene. I can easily imagine the soldiers relentlessly attacking the unresisting enemy soldiers as if they were trying to avenge their parents.

I thought about waiting outside until the battle was over, but a little while after Elle entered, I received a reminder from her.

(I'm sorry, Master. We've almost got it under control, but it seems that there are still some people resisting in the fort. We don't have enough help, so we need your support before they cause any damage to us.)

(All right. Tell me the location.)

Elle told me where the battle might still be going on, and I cut off the telephatic.

Apparently, more soldiers were able to resist my technique than expected. I'm sure it's because I incorporated a penetration technique that reduced its effectiveness.

In the first place, it is unlikely that all of the soldiers who went in would survive, but it would be better to have no damage than to have one or two die. I'll just follow Elle's advice here.

When I entered, it seemed that most of the soldiers in the fort had already been killed. As I looked for the place Elle had mentioned while avoiding the corpses lying everywhere, I heard some voices fighting, so I headed that way.