The Art of Conquest
"Will you be alright?"
After the bishop departed, a soldier quietly asked me.
"About what?"
"This... What if we get caught?"
It was only natural for him to feel anxious.
After all, what I had done right in front of the bishop was nothing more than a massive charade.
"If they find out the truth... won't they be furious?"
"Most likely."
The villages the bishop saw along his journey, and the village he finally arrived at—every single bit of it was a deception.
It was true that the enemy had swept through these areas. However, the fires had been set by my own soldiers.
Contrary to what the bishop believed, the citizens of Arcteria had not died at the hands of the mercenaries. I had moved far more swiftly than the raiders, leaving them to wander through empty, evacuated villages.
Mercenaries were not a unified force. Even if they found a village completely cleared out, they would simply assume another band of mercenaries had beaten them to the plunder and move on.
"...It doesn't matter. The fact remains that they set foot on our land."
The mercenaries themselves had no idea how far other bands had penetrated. They simply pushed forward, driven by the assumption that their rivals were looting massive fortunes and the fear of falling behind.
Even the citizens of our fief did not all know that everyone was safe.
They only knew that their own neighbors were unharmed. Meanwhile, they were constantly bombarded with rumors that other villages had been plundered and wiped out in the blink of an eye.
Of course, those rumors were deliberately spread by tight-lipped soldiers I had instructed beforehand.
"Even if someone harbors doubts, they won't be able to conceive that all of this is a lie. In the end, they will have no choice but to believe our words."
I had escalated the situation. I had manufactured a level of damage far beyond what Pecigen could control.
What he wanted was a moderate check on our power.
He likely expected a minor clash with the Arcterian army to build tension, while we suffered just enough damage from unpreventable raids. That was the scenario he envisioned.
But I had no desire for such a half-hearted conflict.
"We have lost our territory. Grifort has stolen it from us."
I wanted a full-scale war. Arcteria could not maintain its current system forever, and I needed a conflict.
I exaggerated the damage. I made it so severe that anyone looking at it would think, There is no way to resolve this conflict without going to war.
I framed it not as simple raiding, but as a systematic conquest.
We smeared animal blood on our bodies and faked wounds.
"Therefore, what we do from this moment on... is a righteous retribution. Retribution to protect Arcteria."
The Arcterian army, which had endured and endured until now, was thirsting for war.
And so, they marched.
"The order has been handed down."
Selen, clad in her armor, wore a smile. Irene bit her lower lip.
"It is finally beginning."
They had held back and held back. They had endured all they could.
The vast army assembled alongside her trembled with anticipation on the eve of actual combat.
Irene knew the power of an army. She knew what well-trained soldiers, united under a single purpose, were capable of achieving.
She knew what miracles could be wrought by secure supply lines, reliable intelligence, and men willing to lay down their lives for what they believed in.
Therefore, she did not doubt.
The soldiers stood in neat ranks before her. Irene spoke in a low, resonant voice.
"Our enemies are mere mercenaries. They seek gold and slaughter, not honor. They are shameful excuses for human beings."
"Waaaaaaah!"
Their morale was higher than any soldiers she had ever seen. Even Eleonor's troops had never displayed such absolute conviction.
The mercenaries were scattered, while her army stood united as one.
There were no high-ranking nobles pressing down on her from above, nor were there refugees to make her hesitate between saving lives and striking down the enemy.
"Let us begin."
This was a battle they could not lose. They would simply claim the victory that was rightfully theirs.
Irene drew her sword.
"W-We have a major problem!"
The captain of the mercenary band that had crossed into Arcteria frowned at the voice of his subordinate waking him.
"What is it now?"
"An army! The Arcterian army is descending upon us!"
"...What?"
They had only come to plunder, not to engage in a pitched battle against Arcteria's main force.
"It looks like there are quite a few of them."
"Yes. Their cavalry..."
"Cavalry?"
That was dangerous.
The mercenary band was composed of relatively swift and agile men, but no matter how fast a human was, they could not outrun horses.
"W-Wake the men! Full retreat!"
"Understood!"
Yet, even then, the mercenary captain did not feel a true sense of crisis.
The Arcterian army was supposed to be far weaker than this.
They weren't even a proper standing army—just a bunch of cowards who had fled because they couldn't even stop a few mercenary raids.
Besides, the mercenaries they had to deal with weren't just his group. He figured if they retreated quickly, the Arcterians wouldn't bother chasing them down.
"Tsk, we barely got to loot anything, and now those bastards are throwing a fit..."
The mercenaries grumbled, but they were still seasoned veterans.
They understood the necessity of retreat, and they moved fast.
They abandoned the village and withdrew before the Arcterian army even came into view.
"We didn't get much out of this, but at least we kept our heads. Once we get the promised reward from Grifort, we can wash our hands of this—"
However, their relief was short-lived.
"C-Captain, isn't that the Arcterian army up ahead?"
"How did they get here so fast...?"
They weren't many. At most, a few hundred infantrymen.
Under normal circumstances, or if there were a massive bounty on their heads, the mercenaries had enough strength to fight them off.
But they had no time. The moment they clashed swords, the main Arcterian force pursuing them from behind would crush them.
"We detour. If we just pass each other by and pretend we didn't see—"
But that was not the end of it.
Not long after they changed course, they saw the glint of spears and swords of regular soldiers blocking their path.
...We've been played.
The captain bit his lip. Edrin's army was moving far more strategically than he had anticipated.
"Break through the front! As fast as you can! Now!"
They lacked intelligence. Although many mercenary bands had entered the territory, they were not in close communication with one another.
They couldn't gauge the enemy's numbers or their deployment. And judging by the way things were unfolding, the Arcterian army clearly had a firm grasp on the mercenaries' movements.
If so, they had to do the one thing the enemy wouldn't expect.
"There are other mercenary bands nearby! If they hear the sound of battle..."
"They won't join the fight to help us, will they?"
"They'll run! And the Arcterians' target can't possibly be just us! At the very least, the encirclement tightening around us will weaken!"
The captain wanted to avoid a fight just as much as the rest of his men. But at this moment, there was no other way to break through this crisis without drawing blood.
Mercenaries wielding greatswords and carrying massive shields stepped forward.
Whew...
These were men who had killed before. They weren't just thugs hired for assassinations or gang wars; they were true mercenaries who had taken lives on the battlefield.
Even in a disadvantageous position, they were not the type to go down without a fight.
"Where do you think they got all these soldiers? Most of them are probably raw conscripts—peasants who hadn't even held a spear until yesterday! We can win this!"
It was a logical assumption. The men silently agreed with their captain.
If Arcteria had possessed such a large standing army in the first place, they would never have been pushed back this far.
We pushed too deep...
It was still true that they would survive if they could just make it back to Grifort, but they had ventured too far in their greed for loot.
Even if they won this clash, there was no telling how tight the rest of the Arcterian dragnet would be. The captain's face darkened.
...Ah?
But soon, the captain realized that his worries were entirely pointless.
What is that...?
To their left, the cavalry led by Irene appeared.
There was no escaping this. The soldiers blocking their path stood waiting, arrows notched to their bows, their faces set with grim determination.
The captain's battlefield experience gave him a chilling certainty.
Those men were no rabble. With the strength of his mercenary band alone, they could never break through that line.
"D-Do we keep charging?"
The distance was closing. The gap between the regular army of Arcteria and the mercenaries was starkly apparent.
"..."
The captain knew it was time to make a decision.
"We surrender."
This was an unwinnable fight. If so, they had to at least preserve their lives.
They were merely mercenaries who had taken to the field for a better life, not knights who fought and died for honor.