Chapter 137
Chapter 137
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Use for a Traitor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Oh my~ This… it seems we’ve been completely outplayed. Truly~ a life-or-death crisis? Hehe.”
“Damn it all! We’ve been utterly fooled.”
“Of course, there was no way to avoid being tricked. Anyway, announcing that we’ve been tricked here should be the first priority… The problem is that right now, only we know we’ve been completely duped, while the troops who went to provide support have no idea, correct? Sending a messenger while surrounded would be impossible.”
“So… what do you want us to do? Do you have some clever plan?”
“I do indeed. I’d like you to sign a few documents here. Even though you’re acting as the Count’s proxy, if I alone give the OK, that itself would be problematic as it wouldn’t have the consent of the nobles present here.”
The Neumel Chancellor took a few documents from her bosom and subtly offered them to the nobles.
Even without looking, a sense of unease made it clear the contents were unlikely to be favorable, but the situation was far too dire.
With the current forces inside the castle, stopping the enemy troops in front of them seemed difficult enough, let alone sending a request for support.
“Will that document alone solve things?”
“Yes, it will resolve things immediately.”
“May we… look at it?”
“If you’d like to review it~”
Though the slyly smiling Neumel Chancellor’s grin was unpleasant, the nobles currently had no other choice.
Having already burned half the grain and declared war, defeat would mean being held accountable for the war, facing massive reparations, potentially being taken prisoner as hostages, having territories seized, or even risking the extinction of their houses.
“L-let’s see! This is……!”
“It’s a document granting military passage rights and approving an alliance with our Garkan Republic. The Count’s part is already done, but we can’t ignore the vassals, can we? Hohohohot.”
‘That cunning vixen! She knew everything all along!’
Only then did Baron Vanilo’s vassals realize the Neumel Chancellor had seen through this entire situation.
Right—ultimately, the Neumel Chancellor was a half-elf ruler of the Garkan Republic, a Garkan Republican first before anything else.
But they couldn’t blame her alone; all initiative had lain with them, the vassals beneath the Baron, and being deceived strategically and tactically was entirely their own fault.
A situation born of their own misjudgment and foolishness. The responsibility for that choice fell on them, so they proceeded with the proper procedure of choosing the less painful option.
“I’ll sign. Then… you’ll be able to solve that mess, right? You’re not using us as discarded pieces just to get these documents, are you?”
“Huhuhut, so many concerns. I swear on the name of Neumel, called the Serpent, that I will absolutely deliver victory in this war.”
“Fine, let’s do it then!”
The confident attitude of the Neumel Chancellor made Baron Vanilo’s vassals think she must have something up her sleeve, and having no other recourse, they began one by one signing and stamping the documents she offered.
Once the nobles with the greatest influence among the vassals signed and stamped, the lower-ranking nobles and knights naturally had no choice but to follow suit. None dared refuse, and after a brief moment, with signatures and seals from all nobles collected, the Neumel Chancellor tucked them away and instructed the high nobles to follow her.
“W-where are we going? Surely we’re not leaving this place?”
“No. I’m about to show you magic. The magic of House Neumel.”
“Magic? But you’re not a mage, are you?”
“There’s a saying that outstanding schemes and tactics are comparable to magic.”
Carrying anxiety and concern, the nobles had no choice but to follow her.
And their destination was atop the castle walls. Below, the Kermel army and the Imperial Capital army that had come on the expedition were busy preparing for siege warfare.
In a few hours, they would launch their full-scale assault, and this castle with its meager forces would undoubtedly fall in an instant.
“What exactly do you plan to do with this?”
“Now, now~ Since you’ve signed, you can relax and watch. The power that our Garkan Republic… has cultivated over centuries.”
“What…….”
Rip!
The Neumel Chancellor smiled leisurely, pulled a different piece of paper from her bosom, and tore it.
Immediately, a magical formula unfolded in the air and shot skyward, and the nobles could tell it was a magic scroll.
The firework shot into the sky exploded in a vivid purple, dazzling even in daylight, illuminating the surroundings.
“This is… some kind of signal?”
“Now, you can just watch comfortably. Ask the servants to bring some snacks even.”
“Hmm…….”
And the signal launched by the Neumel Chancellor was also seen by the Kermel army and Imperial Capital army. Although Duke Kermel didn’t know exactly what the signal meant, he thought it suspicious and ordered his surroundings to be on alert, then racked his brains to think what variables the Vanilo Barony could possibly create now.
“Magic… or whatever it is, if they can do something? Could it be that the Garkan Republic bastards are trying to intervene?”
“Ah, that… the country where monsters and demi-humans live together. I considered the possibility when the Neumel Chancellor intervened, but it’s not that big a country anyway……”
The Garkan Republic. A small country located southeast of the Empire, which had signed a peace treaty and primarily traded with the Vanilo Barony’s domain.
Composed of demi-humans, it was notorious for hating slavery, but since it was a gathering of various races living together under a representative council system by race, the perception was that it was always noisy with internal conflicts.
After the Iron-blooded Elf Neumel Chancellor took power, it was known to have somewhat stabilized through strong rule and internal purges, but even so, the impressions and information held until now couldn’t change, and since they had never actually fought a war with each other, everything remained shrouded in mystery.
‘Even if they prepared their military in advance… they can’t be stronger than us.’
The Kermel family, bordering the Vollea Kingdom, and the Valderian family, bordering the Dyna Kingdom, had to always be prepared for conflict, and were currently engaged in covert struggles within the Empire.
However, the Garkan Republic was on peaceful terms with all bordering countries and had never experienced anything worthy of being called a war.
A battle between an army tempered by constant struggle and real combat, and one that wasn’t. Duke Kermel thought there was nothing more to calculate.
‘It might become a bit annoying. We’ll have to set aside some troops… Hm?’
At that moment, even though it was still daytime, a shadow suddenly fell from the sky.
Thinking clouds might have covered the sun, he looked up and saw something glinting faintly, and soon its shape entered Duke Kermel’s vision.
Its identity was arrows—enormously large arrows.
Arrows as large as spears were falling down. Not just one or two, but dozens, hundreds, thousands of spear-like arrows filled the sky as they descended.
“W-what is this?”
“Uwaaaaah!”
“An ambush? An enemy ambush?”
“Where are these arrows coming from? Uwaaaah!”
Duke Kermel and the knights, with their quick reflexes and the power of aura, could deflect those threatening arrows and protect themselves, but ordinary soldiers caught in the unexpected volley were being pierced by arrows the size of short spears and dying in droves.
Duke Kermel quickly checked the direction the arrows came from and decided to deploy mounted knights that way.
“Baron Lawels! Take the cavalry and go deal with those damn arrow-shooters!”
“Yes!”
“Adrima! As a combat mage, detect their movements!”
“Yes! Your Grace!”
The Kermel family were those constantly challenged by the northern barbarian Vollea Kingdom. They wouldn’t be greatly shaken or bewildered by a mere ambush like this.
They were already numb to the cruel schemes, traps, and mysterious sorcery of the northern barbarians.
There might be casualties from the ambush, but those who panicked and froze were not part of the Kermel family’s army.
“S-see! That’s Duke Kermel. Everyone, pull yourselves together! We are the sword and shield that protect His Majesty the Emperor!”
“Yes! Sir Ional!”
On the contrary, the Imperial Capital army, which also suffered the ambush, was in greater chaos until they saw the fierce fighting beside them and regained their composure.
They too began sending mounted knights toward the archer units that had launched the surprise attack.
And watching this spectacle from atop the castle walls, the nobles of Baron Vanilo’s side glared with anger at the army that had entered their territory without prior agreement, but the Neumel Chancellor smiled as if nothing was wrong.
“Huhut, you have the permit now, don’t you? Besides~ if they hadn’t entered beforehand, we’d either be struggling in a difficult siege right now, or we’d be negotiating surrender with the Baron’s head in hand, wouldn’t we?”
“…Kkh!”
“If you feel wronged, you should have planned your strategy better from the start. Hohohot, anyway, everyone thinks our Garkan Republic did nothing in peace… but that’s not true. We’ve been preparing to unify and advance into the world through competition and unseen civil wars among demi-human races with different cultures and ideals. Look!”
As the Neumel Chancellor pointed with her hand, the forest where the Kermel army and Imperial Capital army cavalry were approaching began to tremble.
As the cavalry approached, an army emerged from within—soldiers in humanoid form but with overwhelmingly large musculature and stature, wearing armor, holding halberds and shields in one hand, forming a phalanx to face the charging cavalry.
“Wh-what are these soldiers?”
“Orcs! Lizardmen! And… beastmen too? A non-human army? The Garkan Republic bastards!”
The knights charging forward were astonished to see the Garkan Republic’s army forming a phalanx with no awkwardness at all, despite being different races, wearing the same armor and wielding the same weapons.
They felt an aura and fighting spirit from them that made it hard to believe they were an army from a country that had lived without war, but their eyes held disbelief.
“Flank them! Our first target is the archers! There’s no need to engage those… Ah!”
Even if they were aura-using knights, horses were living creatures.
So charging into that obviously sturdy phalanx would clearly cost them their horses, so Baron Lawels, in charge of the cavalry, tried to turn his steed to bypass the enemy infantry’s formation.
And as he circled to the side to look at the rear, arrows flew again from beside them, and the knights all deflected them as they advanced.
‘We need to take the rear and deal with those annoying archers first… No, is that? As expected, they were elves?’
Circling to the rear, what came into view were elf soldiers in black uniforms wearing light armor.
All held massive bows, drawing bowstrings to shoot arrows the size of short spears, and seeing the faint blue light gathering on their hands and bowstrings, it seemed they all could use ‘aura’.
Shocked, Baron Lawels tried to turn the cavalry to advance and deal with them, but then he noticed another shocking sight among the elves.
“Take this, you noble bastards.”
“Yeah, yeah, we got it, Mister Shit-sack!”
‘…Elves and dwarves formed a unit together?’
Assisting the elf archer unit firing short-spear-sized arrows with giant longbows were dwarves wearing the same uniform but with thicker armor.
They moved in perfect order, continuously supplying new short-spear arrows to the elves shooting.
Anyway, to stop that, Baron Lawels advanced, but suddenly one dwarf in the enemy ranks pulled out a horn trumpet and began blowing it loudly.
Buuuuu~!
“Enemy cavalry charging from the rear.”
“Let’s go! You bastards! These noble scum can’t do anything without us, so we gotta protect them! Hahahat!”
‘…So this is how they coordinate?’
The dwarves assisting the shooting, hearing the trumpet sound, all simultaneously pulled out the shields they were carrying, gathered, and began forming a new phalanx.
Though short in stature and with short legs making them slow, it didn’t seem too difficult for them to form ranks by the time the enemy cavalry approached, as if already trained.
Moreover, the elves also maintained their shooting formation facing the rear, ready to fire the moment the phalanx was breached.
‘…Damn it! This is impossible!’
“Such cowards!”
Fortunately, Baron Lawels, with much combat experience against the Vollea Kingdom, calmed his excitement with cold judgment and turned the cavalry’s charge once again.
An experienced knight, he coldly judged that this formation couldn’t be broken through by their cavalry alone and decided to first dismount some riders to send reports to Duke Kermel.