CH 30

A beautiful plain lush with greenery shining in the radiant morning sun. 

That plain had become completely dilapidated after only an hours-long battle. Blood stained the earth red, and the sky was shrouded in the black smoke of the artillery bombardment. 

Even after the King and his men had fled, the Beastvania army continued to resist desperately. No, they had no choice but to continue resisting. 

It is not just because a death warrant has been issued. The reason was simply that the command structure itself had been completely severed and the entire military was in a state of massive disarray. 

They don’t know what to do, whether to run or fight. 

Therefore, they attack the enemy in front of them anyway. That’s the current situation. 

And in the midst of such chaos, some of those that continue to resist are… 

“Prince Leon! This is the end of the line for us!” 

“Old General Mar, don’t give up!” 

There was Leon, the young prince of Beastvania. 

Based on his look he is about 14 years old. He is a young lion-type beastkin prince who has not even grown a mane yet. 

He had come to the battlefield with Mar Lion, an old general who served as his instructor. In the midst of all this, he was left behind by Lycan II, just like any other soldier. 

The Yamato Empire’s tanks are approaching the main camp where he is… 

“…Prince, please escape! This Mar will buy you some time!” 

“I can’t do that! I can’t just abandon you, or my men, and run away!” 

The old general’s desperately trying to persuade him. Leon refuses to do that. Then he draws his sword and makes his final resolve. 

When we are victorious, we are victorious with our soldiers; when we die, we die with our soldiers. 

Leon is that kind of man. 

Seeing such a prince, Old General Mar thought. 

He wondered if he could afford to lose this young prince. He wondered if it would be worth losing a kind prince who could not abandon his people. 

Surely, we will lose this war. Just from this battle alone, Mar understood that there was a huge gap in their technological capabilities. 

No matter how many times we gather our forces and fight again, the results will be the same. 

It is an unwinnable war. We should end this war as soon as possible, no matter how great the sacrifice is, even if it means throwing our pride away. 

However, that prideful Lycan II wouldn’t know how to end this war. 

But this prince may be able… 

“How do you think this war will end, my prince?” 

“How, that’s…” 

“I cannot say it out loud, but the defeat of Beastkin is inevitable. It is a complete and utter defeat.” 

Mar admonished him and said, “But don’t worry, their goal is not our extermination.” 

“This Mar may not be smart, but I am not stupid either. Having seen what the human army has done so far, I can understand roughly what their objectives are.” 

“…What are you talking about, Mar.” 

“Prince, don’t you think it a bit odd that they waited in this city until we rallied our forces when they could mobilize their army at any time they wanted. Even though they were able to attack us completely defenseless.” 

Leon gasps. 

Throughout the months it took for the Beastvania armies to assemble, the Yamato Imperial Army could have launched an attack from Tigervania and attacked nearby cities if they had wanted to. 

But they did not do it. 

The reason for that… 

“Do they think that there’s a reason for this battle, these decisive battles where all the Beastkin’s forces united?” 

“That’s right, Prince. That’s to show the overwhelming differences in power…” 

“Are you telling me that they want us to admit defeat by demonstrating their overwhelming strength.” 

“They originally wanted diplomatic relations with us. Perhaps war is not what they want.” 

Leon falls silent. 

The Beastkins regarded the Yamato Empire as no more than “some human barbarians from across the sea who had suddenly attacked them.” 

We are the victims of an invasion, and humans are the invaders. That’s what he thought. 

That is sort of inevitable. In this world with an almost infinite number of different species that are constantly killing each other. It is no exaggeration to say that other races are the enemy. 

However… Indeed, the Yamato Empire was the first to send an emissary to establish diplomatic relations. 

“If they really don’t want this war… this whole war, this mountain of corpses…” 

“Don’t even think about it. Now is the time to think about the future. There is no need for more meaningless bloodshed.” 

“If we want reconciliation, do you think they’ll answer us?” 

Mar nods firmly. 

That is the only way to save our country. 

However… 

“But still, I can’t run away. People will not put their trust in a royal family that abandons their soldiers!” 

Leon readies his sword and takes a big step forward. There are still tens of thousands of soldiers remaining on the battlefield, exposed to the onslaught of the Yamato empire. 

As a member of the royal family, he cannot just ignore this and run away. 

His philosophy is the exact opposite of that of his father, Lycan II. 

“…How you have grown, Prince Leon. However―I’m sorry!” 

That is why we need you to survive. 

This young man is the only one who can save the Beastvania Beastkin Nation. Mar quickly got behind Leon and knocked him out. 

“Hey, young knight over there.” 

“Ye, Yes sir!” 

“…Take the prince. Bring the prince back to the royal capital while this old fool is buying time.” 

Then, leaving the unconscious Leon in the care of a nearby lion tribe knight, Mar draws his sword. 

The knight runs away with the prince, and Mar doesn’t turn to look at him. 

That is because the tanks of the Yamato Empire are already right in front of them. The tanks push forward with creaking metal. 

Many soldiers confronted them in an attempt to block the way, but there was no way they could defeat the tanks by slashing at them with swords and spears. 

They are struck down in an instant by barrages of gunfire and shelling. 

“…This is useless.” 

Mar threw away his sword. 

he has not given up on his mission to buy time. But he realized that he couldn’t accomplish that by the means of using a sword. 

He then picks up the crown prince flag with a gold lion on a white background that was lying nearby. 

The next moment, he stood his ground. 

He held up the flag without a weapon and stood proudly in front of the tanks. 

That is one of the few correct answers in this case. 

If he had stood in the way with a weapon at this point, he would have been blown away without question. 

However, the Yamato Empire is not so despicable that they would attack a defenseless man who has no intention of resisting. 

……

…………

………………

“Sir, in the front there’s…” 

“An enemy soldier?” 

“Yes, but… well, how can I put it…” 

I looked out of the cupola to see what was there when I noticed that Captain Nishi, who was in charge of piloting the tank, seemed unsure of what to say… 

What is it, an old lion beastkin holding up a flag? On the battlefield, where bullets and shells are flying, there is a Beastkin holding up a flag and staring at us, not moving an inch. 

He is a strange man. 

Normally, if a tank came charging at you, you’d run away, wouldn’t you? How can he be so reckless? 

“Eryu-san, are we going to shoot?” 

And Ayame-san, the machine gunner, asked… As expected, defeating an old man who is not resisting and unarmed… 

“Wait a minute. Maybe they’re going to surrender… Captain Nishi, please stop.” 

The tank comes to a sudden stop with a sudden brake. 

We stopped about five meters in front of the flag-bearer old man. 

At that moment. 

“There are reasons why I can’t let you go any further.” 

The old man said in a sharp voice that echoed through the battlefield. 

He was staring at me with a fierce stare. 

……That’s scary. I do wish you would not look at this fragile Führer in such a way. 

“I see. And why is that?” 

“Because there’s a man I don’t want to die.” 

“…Is that the king?” 

“No. I devote my life only to Prince Leon.” 

Oh, I thought, this guy here is trying to protect the king… Instead the prince huh. 

If that’s the case, I don’t really care. 

Even if we capture the prince who has no real power, he is only worth about as much as a hostage. 

And to begin with, if they surrender just by taking hostages, there’s no need to think of an elaborate ‘shock and awe’ strategy… 

“If you want to go further than this, you must take the life of this Mar.” 

I was wondering what to do, about this Mar guy? …After all that he said, this old lion beastkin… 

“…Are you going to surrender? ” 

“I won’t” 

An Immediate answer huh. Yeah, of course he did. 

Hmm, that’s right. 

What I have to think about now is to take the most beneficial option for the Yamato Empire as Eryutheia and as the Führer. 

And then… 

For what the future may hold, it may be better to let the prince live. 

The strategy against Beastvania, ‘Shock and Awe,’ is a strategy to force the enemy head of state to surrender. 

In a circumstance in which the king and the prince died… If the royal family were to cease to exist, this would be a major obstacle to the execution of the operation. 

This would mean that the objective to press for surrender would disappear. 

This is why we have to have the king, the prince, or other royalty. 

So we want some of them to survive. 

Let this old man play the role of escorting the prince. They seem to be capable of communicating to some extent, and if they survive later on, they might play some role at some point in the future. 

“…I understand. I have no use for the prince, so I won’t chase after him. Look, why don’t you go after the prince as soon as possible? Or are you afraid we’ll be chasing after a defeated opponent?” 

“…Wha! I am grateful.” 

When I shooed him away, he bowed his head to me and left. 

When I pulled my head back from the cupola and returned to the interior, I saw Ayame-san peeking at me in the turret from the machine gunner’s seat at the front of the vehicle. 

“Oh, that’s really kind of you, Eryu-san. Are you going to let him go?” 

“I thought it would be more profitable in the future. Besides, there’s enough for the corpse.” 

How many Beastkin soldiers died in this battle?　

We broke through the enemy’s left flank and rushed into the main camp behind the enemy’s rear, which resulted in the enemy’s forces being half-encircled. 

Each division of the army is rushing into the breakthrough that has been made. 

The end of the army in this situation is tragic and doomed to be annihilated. 

Since most of the 100,000 enemy troops will be dead, adding one or two more corpses from here would be meaningless. 

Now, the question is, what kind of person is the prince? 

……I hope he is an agreeable and reasonable person who is easy to negotiate with. 

Oh, we will leave the prince alone, but the king is a different story. He is a powerful man with real authority. 

We must capture him and threaten him, or we will not be able to end this war comfortably. 

“The Imperial Guard will continue to advance with me and cut off the enemy’s rear. The reconnaissance cavalry should pursue the fleeing king.” 

Well, the worst that can happen is that we can’t catch them. 

I believe they understood our strength from this battle…