Chapter 66: Burn, Volden 2 (3)

Chapter 66: Burn, Volden 2 (3)

"You forgot? ......if you forgot! Cut the chant off! And start from the very beginning!"

Although Drei was slender just as most mages were, she did have strong arm strength due to the modifications performed on her. If she did not go easy on the other party, she could easily inflict a whole lot of pain to the head.

"Arghhhh! It's going to crack! It's cracking! My brain's going to crack! My brain is splitting in half! Ah, was that how I was before...... Ahh, it hurts, it hurts, please forgive me!"

"I don't see any remorse, hah!?"

"Please forgive me~!"

About four or five minutes had passed. The roof of the church they were using as a foothold began to collapse due to the fire, so they moved to the air but the beratement continued.

"Damn, I don't know if you're useful or not. Both Opus 04 and you."

Drei released Seis as if getting tired of it. On the other hand, the manmade elf girl who was able to finally escape her punishment opened her mouth with tears trickling from her eyes while rubbing her aching head.

"Sniffsniff... I think Charl is a useful person."

"Anyway, be careful with magic next time. It doesn't matter how powerful it is, a mage who can self-destruct randomly is definitely not useful."

"Okay......, but you'll admit my magic was at least powerful, right? Right?"

"Hmph. That's just it. However, if I don't see much improvement in control, I'll have to suggest to master to have you be a suiciding bomb on enemies."

"Ehhhh~! I'll do my best! I'll do my best so father won't abandon me!"

"Do that from the start, you idiot."

In the meantime, the huge fire on the ground was being extinguished. This was because the extremely high temperature of the powerful flame magic had quickly burned up the combustible materials on the ground. Where there used to be an idyllic rural village, only a blackened and charred land remained.

The man on the horse, General Jurgen Bauer, commander of the Army of St. Gallen's invasion of Volden, muttered with a stern expression. This was the sixth time his army had come across the remains of a burned-out field like this. They had aimed to replenish their food stores that were lost in a fire a few days ago, but the rural villages they visited were all razed to the ground, as if their movements were anticipated. The lack of food, which had always been the weak point of the St. Gallen army, was now being exploited to an extreme.

One of the cavalrymen asked a question while steadying his horse.

"So the General is saying that this is an intentional act by Arquell?"

"Indeed."

Bauer answered immediately.

"It's what we call a scorched earth strategy. It's a technique used to control abnormal monster outbreaks in remote rural areas. I did not think it could be used in wars between humans, though."

There were omnivorous monsters, eating the same food as humans, such as highly reproductive goblins. They would multiply in the hundreds and thousands and attack rural areas. What would happen then? Even the children of the monsters, who would normally be weeded out due to lack of food, could gain a stable supply of food. This would free the monsters from starvation, allowing their numbers to increase more than ever. In order to prevent this from happening, humans would burn down the fields and food stores with their own hands rather than let the monsters steal them. This way, the enemy would no longer be able to fill their bellies, and the abnormally multiplying monsters would die from famine and cannibalism.

Of course, this was a last-ditch effort. It was a double-edged sword and the last resort. If the fields, the source of income, were destroyed, the farming village would die. It was only natural that the tax base of the nobles and the food supply of the people would both be wiped out. If they wanted to revitalise the lands, it would take at least ten or twenty years to do so.

"They arent used in human wars, right?"

"Of course not. Do you think the aristocrats who live off the land will burn it just because they want to win? Do you think the peasants who live on the land would approve of that?"

"Yes. It was a stupid question."

The subordinate was satisfied with Bauer's answer and withdrew.

Yes, a scorched earth strategy would never be used in an ordinary war. For countries in Ithuselah, where feudal aristocrats were in power, it was never used. For the nobles, it would be foolish to taint their own lands, and for the king who stood above the nobles, giving such an order would cause him to lose the support of all the local nobles. Furthermore, if the people below him were to have their fields burned due to war, they would boldly raise their flags of revolution. Even if they were to win the war, the rest of the country would rot and self-destruct in rebellion or revolution.

The reason why it was only used against monsters was because it was a competition for survival between species without mutual understanding. If humans were on the brink of being destroyed, then there would be no time to explore every single option. If they could stop the monsters by burning the village, then that was the best strategy.

On the other hand, this was not the case when it came to humans. War is just a means of diplomacy. The goal is to get the other side to accept your demands through violence. Destruction and killing was just part of the process. It was nonsense to wage war to the point of self destruction. The power of humanity as a whole would be diminished, and only monsters have to gain from it.

From that point of view, the invasion by the St. Gallen army might have been over the top. However, even though they were looting, they were only taking a year's worth of reserves. Compared to a scorched-earth strategy that would damage harvests for years to come, or even decades, it was much more moderate. To put it bluntly, it was the difference between barely committing a foul and committing the foul. It isnt like 50 paces laughing at 100 paces (TL: proverb from Mencius describing the lack of difference). There was a big difference between stepping on the edge of the ring of political drama, such as the peace conference and postwar diplomacy, and not stepping on the edge at all.