Reincarnated as the Count's Plum Blossom Swordmaster
For the first time in a long while, Sharnel stepped down from the carriage dressed not as a maid but as a mage. She wore a black skirt, a white blouse, and the black robe that served as a mage's unmistakable emblem.
The problem was that her chest was so enormous the clothes had no chance of looking flattering. Up close it was somewhat tolerable, but from a distance she looked like a stout woman.
Loose, baggy clothes aren't the way to go. Something that cinches the waist would suit her better. Exposing the upper swell of her chest might work too.
I had used more than three hundred bottles of Breast-Enlargement Potion to push her breasts to L-cup. Wrapping up an L-cup I'd gone to that much trouble to create would have been a waste.
Sharnel herself showed not the slightest joy at the enlargement. Looking embarrassed by the sheer size of them, she tried to cover her chest with one arm while gripping her mage's staff in the other. The funny part was that her breasts were too big for a single arm to cover completely.
The male soldiers trailing the carriage stared at Sharnel in open shock.
"What the hell? Why is there a little kid here?"
"Some plaything of Count Pruker's…?"
"You idiot. She's holding a mage's staff. Look at what she's wearing — that's a mage's robe. That girl who looks like a child is a mage. Watch your mouth. Cross a mage and you might end up dead."
"But what's with those tits? They can't be real, right? Stuffed with cloth or something?"
"Way too big for a body that small. Makes them look even bigger, honestly…"
"Those are some goddamn incredible tits. I'd kill for one night with a woman like that."
"You're insane."
The soldiers muttered among themselves in low voices. An ordinary person wouldn't have caught a word of it — but I was an Aura Master, and Sharnel was an Archmage. Right now, especially, her senses were razor-sharp in preparation for casting magic.
Sharnel's eyes welled with tears, her face burning red at the soldiers' reactions. Her composure was clearly cracking. I could understand it. Those once-flat breasts had suddenly become massive, milk-producing things. She couldn't even see her own lower half anymore.
I stepped up behind her, rested a hand on her head, and stroked her hair.
"You can do this, right?"
"Don't treat me like a child! Who do you think I am?!"
"Priscilla's disciple, and an Archmage — Sharnel."
Sharnel lifted her head and stared at me in surprise. My answer had clearly caught her off guard.
"Th-that's right. You know it well enough. I'm Archmage Sharnel Gurchi."
She straightened her back with pride. Her enormous breasts swayed with the motion.
"That fortress. Blow it open with that fire magic you're so proud of."
"…Do I really have to? There have to be at least a few hundred people in there."
"You don't need to level the whole fortress. Just take out the entrance. My knights and soldiers will handle the rest. I'm not forcing you to commit a massacre. The sooner you cooperate, the sooner we can save Priscilla."
"…I know."
Sharnel's expression turned resolute. She tightened her grip on the staff and focused her mind. Mana surged and her robe billowed. Standing behind her, I took a step back — the heat rolling off her was intense.
Sharnel raised the staff in her hand. Scorching mana climbed toward the sky. At the same time, her feet lifted roughly ten centimeters off the ground.
She swept the staff through the air. With every stroke, a crimson line was drawn across the heavens. Those lines soon formed a blazing red magic circle that roared to life. The circle had to be at least thirty meters across.
An Archmage's magic — and fire magic, the school renowned for the greatest destructive power of all.
Our allied soldiers stood speechless, staring blankly at Sharnel's spell. The enemies hiding in the fortress scrambled in panic like an anthill under attack.
"Hellfire!"
Sharnel chanted.
The burning magic circle collapsed into a single point and became a colossal fireball. Leaving a trail of black smoke, the fireball streaked toward wherever her staff pointed.
KRAAAAAANG!
Hellfire slammed into the front of the fortress. A tremendous explosion erupted. The ground shook and fragments of the fortress scattered in every direction. A single spell had brought down half the stronghold.
"That's your full power?"
An Archmage.
In large-scale warfare, a being whose firepower surpassed even an Aura Master's. A creature purpose-built for war.
I was starting to understand why people feared Archmages.
"If I cast at full strength, it wouldn't stop at this. A fortress that size, I could erase entirely."
"Fair enough. It was a pretty small fortress."
I looked around. The Golden Rose Knights were already fully armed and mounted. Clad in dwarven-forged armor and lances, they shone brilliantly even on the battlefield.
I drew mana up from my dantian and roared with everything I had.
"Golden Rose Knights! You take the vanguard! Charge!"
The Golden Rose Knights thundered toward the fortress, kicking up clouds of dust in their wake. Reaching it didn't take long. Soldiers with shields and spears blocked the entrance — a meaningless gesture. Ordinary cavalry might have been stopped. The Golden Rose Knights were veterans, every last one of them seasoned by war.
KRAAAAAANG!
The Golden Rose Knights trampled the enemy soldiers underfoot and poured into the fortress.
"My lord."
A woman with short crimson hair approached me. Dressed in military uniform, she was the general who commanded the army in my place. Her temperament was as cold as her sharp eyes.
"To boost the soldiers' morale, I request permission to allow plunder."
"Isn't their morale high enough already?"
"The war has only just begun. We've won an overwhelming victory — we should reward the men."
"The enemy force was small. There won't be much worth plundering."
"Granting permission is what matters. As I said, the war is only beginning. If it were only the troops under my direct command, this wouldn't be necessary… but the soldiers who've come in as reinforcements from all over are the problem. We need to show them that war is a chance to turn their lives around."
"Fine by me. I never cared about the enemy's property anyway. But… I don't need to spell out the rules of plunder, do I?"
"Of course not. Any beauties will be offered to my lord first."
"Good."
I smiled with satisfaction.
In the original story, Starlight had been one of the generals Kyle trusted — and she was ruthlessly efficient. Not once so far had she failed to meet my expectations.
I climbed into the carriage and led the army toward the fortress at a leisurely pace.
By the time we arrived, the cleanup was already well underway.
Floy was still organizing the fortress when Starlight approached me with her report.
"According to Dame Floy, there were no high-value personnel such as knights. After investigating the soldiers' identities, most turned out to be farmers dragged in from nearby villages. They say a mage appeared three days ago, raised the fortress in an instant, and ordered them to hold it."
"They just obeyed a mage without running? Were they threatened?"
"Viscount Cassiod came in person and ordered them to defend the fortress."
"Viscount Cassiod? Who the hell is that?"
"A noble of the Solfmed Kingdom. This area is Viscount Cassiod's territory. And Viscount Cassiod belongs to Marquess Daycurd's faction."
I knew Marquess Daycurd.
Originally the marquess had died a sudden, violent death, and his daughter had inherited the title.
Marquess Leona Daycurd. She was quite capable. She had repelled enemy invasions three times and rocketed to stardom. She enjoyed wild popularity among the common people, attracted nobles to her side, and formed an emerging faction. Her epithet was nothing less than the Sun of Solfmed.
The Solfmed royal family despised her for it. When the people were more loyal to her than to the king, hatred was inevitable.
"So the Sun of Solfmed has chosen to stand in our way."
We had already declared war on the Cobalt Kingdom.
We had also told the Solfmed Kingdom that if they simply stayed out of it, nothing would happen to them. And yet they had blocked us…
"It would seem they've struck some kind of deal with the Cobalt Kingdom."
"Right. Not outside our expectations."
More precisely, not outside Yuria's expectations rather than mine.
The Solfmed Kingdom was effectively collapsing. It wouldn't be strange for a Solfmed noble to sell out to another country for profit.
We had taken a total of one hundred twenty prisoners. Fifty soldiers had been caught in the Hellfire and killed. Another thirty had been trampled to death in the knights' charge. That meant roughly two hundred had originally been holding the fortress. The number was so low it genuinely surprised me.
"What should we do with the prisoners?"
Prisoner disposition usually came down to two options: ransom them for money, or make them slaves.
I doubted Viscount Cassiod would pay a single coin for them.
"Turn them into slave soldiers and put them at the front. Any female prisoners?"
"There are, but most are old women past menopause. Viscount Cassiod seems to have written the prisoners off from the start."
"Hand the old women out to the soldiers. …Think they'll like that?"
"A soldier's lust defies imagination. I don't regard soldiers as human beings — I regard them as beasts."
"So that's a yes. But are you all right? The men must lose their minds every time they look at you."
Starlight was no ordinary beauty.
"I'm fine. The army is under my complete control. Any soldier who made lewd remarks or ignored orders has already been executed."
Starlight swept her gaze across the surroundings. The soldiers didn't dare meet her eyes; they kept their heads bowed. One thing was certain — those executions had been anything but ordinary.