334. The Worst Reunion (2)
334. The Worst Reunion (2)
- 1 -
Elena had been under quite a lot of stress lately.
It was not the burden of running state affairs, nor the shallow flattery of nobles.
In the first place, state management was more her sister Adelaide's domain than her own, and she handled nobles with a brazenness that left them speechless.
The problem came from her specialty — in other words, 'combat.'
'Those Zenota bastards.'
Zenota had repeatedly violated Leophere's borders.
For them, it must have been a justified action.
Though Elena's attack on the Cheoks Margraviate had been carried out with built-up justification, only the fact that they had been attacked would remain in their memory.
Moreover, Elena fought far too well whenever she did fight.
At first, lacking experience, she repeatedly struck and withdrew using cautious methods, but after discovering her own abilities, there was no need for such things.
Advance, and advance again.
Those who witnessed her battles naturally remembered only 'what was done to them' rather than justification or the course of the fighting — such was the unreasonable nature of things.
Elena had earned a reputation fitting the epithet Libertas had given her: the 'Winged General.'
For her enemies, the early days of Leophere's establishment had been an opportunity.
[Elena Leophere has only been defending lately.]
[It's only natural, as the Duchy of Leoper is a newly risen nation.]
[Then... isn't this a chance to reclaim our lost territory? There is no way she can defend every front alone.]
Yet she did.
To be precise, she was not alone, but since the harpies and flying monster army supporting her from the air were considered Elena's forces, the world regarded her as having single-handedly stopped Zenota.
[Why in the world was such a woman born in my generation!]
[They say she was not originally a woman.]
[Is that really what's important right now!!]
Such was Elena Sandota Leophere, who made Zenota's strategists clutch their heads in despair.
"Commander of the General Knights! The enemy!"
"I am going."
However, Elena herself was likewise unsatisfied with this situation.
"Elena. Are you alright?"
"I am fine. Do not worry, sister."
Elena nodded with a smile that had become natural before she knew it.
'These Zenota bastards...'
Of course, there was no way she was fine.
The time she spent building up her heart step by step as she managed state affairs together with her sister was not merely a simple pleasure — it was happiness itself.
But even that precious time was being eaten away by Zenota's ceaseless provocations.
Whenever she left her post, enemy raids came. Even though the army deployed on the front lines was so thoroughly drilled that repelling the enemy was practically second nature, she still had to return to the field.
Such a life had gone on for over half a year now.
It would have been strange if she were not stressed.
So.
[Relieve them of their grudge. And let your own grudge be resolved as well.]
On the first day of October.
When this order came down, it was only natural that a smile spread across Elena's lips.
Kwaang — !!!
The spear tip struck the earth.
Soil dust exploded upward, covering the battlefield in a black veil.
At the center of that chaos stood a woman.
A woman clad in black armor like a death knight.
Dugudugudugudugu — !!
She was charging forward.
The black warhorse that burst forth from the earth galloped like a black shooting star.
Every time the black horse's hooves shook the earth's axis, a thrill like the dregs of accumulated stress bursting out surged through her entire body.
The silhouette of her, mounted upon the jet-black warhorse, exuded overwhelming presence even within the chaos.
Directly ahead of her were Zenota's soldiers pressing in like a tidal wave.
Behind her, a mere few dozen elites.
"Drive them all from this land — !!! Never again shall they set foot upon our soil!"
Yet she did not hesitate.
No, as if she had been waiting, she adjusted her grip on her spear.
"Stop Elena!!"
"Die, witch of Leophere!!!"
The foremost Zenota knights roared and charged.
Swords, axes, spears... weapons of all kinds rushed toward her.
Kwajik — !!
Their cries were crushed into bloody foam in their throats.
Whenever Elena's black horse galloped, the earth groaned,
And whenever her spear rent the air, black flashes split the lives of her enemies.
Where death danced.
That place was wherever Elena stood.
Peo-eok!! Kwang!
In that charge and spearmanship, there was no finesse.
Only speed and power. Pure destructive force.
Weighted thrusts pierced shields and tore armor, and sweeping movements sent men flying wholesale.
Her spear was not a mere weapon — it was like the tail of a mad dragon.
A calamity that smashed and ground down everything it touched.
"Kuaaak — !!"
Unable to even properly scream, soldiers were cut down.
The black armor became stained with blood and dirt, but her movements did not slow in the slightest.
Rather, the further she advanced, the wilder and more ferocious she became.
"Capture her — !!"
"Kill her!!"
Having plunged into the enemy's dense formation, Elena paid no mind to the attacks pouring in from all directions.
Only her goal was visible to her.
To end this tiresome situation called a defensive war.
To trample the arrogance of those Zenota bastards.
Kwareureureuk — !!!
Her spear rotated, sweeping away the surrounding enemies all at once.
Bodies launched into the air scattered like fallen leaves.
The stench of blood shook the air, but no expression could be read on the face hidden beneath her black helmet.
Only a cold and terrifying aura flowed out from her.
"Stop her!! Hold her off!!"
The Zenota commander shouted frantically, but his orders were nothing more than hollow echoes.
Already, the soldiers' eyes were filled with terror.
That thing was not human.
It was a death knight riding a black horse.
"Hup...!"
Elena did not stop.
She gripped her spear tightly and advanced, splitting the enemy lines.
It was like a hammer smashing apart a massive boulder.
In her wake, only blood, flesh, and shattered weapons remained.
A single knight was trampling hundreds of soldiers.
'Next...'
That was the fighting style of the 'Winged General,' Elena Leophere.
And today, she intended to release all of her half-year's stress on this battlefield.
Her spear tip flashed, seeking its next victim.
- 2 -
The battlefield viewed from the fortress of the Driaz Duchy was truly a scene of utter chaos.
In the center of the battlefield, a jet-black figure was stirring up a storm of death.
Though Zenota's soldiers surged in like a massive wave, the black knight was like a single, gigantic reef splitting and shattering that wave.
Every time her spear flashed like lightning, the enemy's formation was torn apart, and dozens of figures were flung into the air.
A spectacle beyond all common sense.
A single knight and a few hundred elites following her were carrying out a one-sided massacre against an army of tens of thousands.
It was a performance that literally reduced the army following behind her to mere 'bystanders.'
"It's over. Completely over."
Duke Driaz, who had been observing the center of the battlefield through a telescope, muttered with a pale face.
Cold sweat ran down his cheeks.
"Is that a person? Surely, it must be a monster?"
His adjutant's voice wavered.
His eyes were bloodshot, and the telescope in his hand had been rattling for some time now.
During the last war for the Cheoks Margraviate, the Duke's former adjutant had lost his life to Elena.
He had not seen that spectacle firsthand back then, and because of that, he had not known what a terrifying existence she was.
"No. That is a human. Even though she suddenly became a woman, the circumstances are clear. It's just..."
The Duke answered, his body trembling as he covered his mouth.
"She is merely a special human."
This battlefield was no longer a place where strategy held sway.
That black knight could not be stopped by any tactic he knew.
No, the very idea of stopping her was arrogance from the start.
"That is... the Wing of the Steel Lion..."
The knight commander standing beside him muttered in a trembling voice.
He was the strongest military force of the Driaz Duchy, but he sensed instinctively that comparing himself to the existence before his eyes was meaningless.
"Those fools back in the mainland... underestimating Elena Leophere just because she was only defending..."
Deep regret was etched in Duke Driaz's eyes.
He had instinctively known that Elena's 'defense' was not simply due to a lack of strength.
She had merely been biding her time.
And today, that waiting had ended.
"We missed our chance, Your Excellency."
The knight commander spoke in a low voice. His words precisely struck the Duke's heart.
They did not have the courage to strike that monster.
When the Duchy of Leophere had just risen — that was when they should have attacked the enemy nation with all their might.
Justification was a matter for later. They should have uprooted that monster before it could take root.
Pure martial force that rendered both justification and strategy meaningless.
A calamity that transcended the laws of the battlefield, the very embodiment of terror that made every enemy nation clutch their heads in despair.
That was Elena Leophere.
"Those fools... They'll get what's coming to them this time."
The Duke gritted his teeth.
Zenota's defeat was now clear. The problem was what came next.
The adjutant cautiously asked.
"Your Excellency... What becomes of our relations with the Duchy of Leophere going forward?"
At that question, everyone on the fortress fell silent.
Elena Leophere.
That name was no longer simply the commander of the general knights of an enemy nation.
She was a living legend, an insurmountable wall, a monster whose very existence exerted enormous influence over the surrounding nations.
Dalkak.
Duke Driaz set down his telescope.
His gaze was still directed toward the battlefield where the black knight was running rampant.
A hellscape of blood and screams.
"We must choose."
His voice sank infinitely low.
"Whether to submit to that black lion... or be destroyed."
Upon the fortress, only a cold wind blew.
The future of the Driaz Duchy was being decided by a single black knight dancing upon the battlefield.
"... Adjutant. Send an envoy."
"Your Excellency?"
The one who had originally frequently stirred up unrest in western Hysen — the master of the Driaz Duchy and the Cheoks Margraviate.
The young knight of House Ironfield who had raised her fame by thoroughly blocking those minor offensives.
"Surrender."
The reunion on the battlefield where the two met again was the worst possible one.
Before the Duke's eyes, Zenota's expeditionary force of 30,000 was being pushed back by a combined force of a mere 10,000.
- 3 -
"They say Duke Driaz has surrendered, Master."
At Evangeline's words, I set down the book I had been reading and raised one eyebrow.
"Already? That is remarkably fast."
Merely three days.
It was excessively short for the time it took for a central army of thirty thousand to be routed and a border duchy to surrender.
Even without receiving a detailed report, I could well imagine what had happened on the battlefield in that time.
"They say Lady Elena led ten thousand and dealt with thirty thousand in three days."
Evangeline added calmly. A faint smile lingered on her lips.
At her words, a quiet laugh formed on my own lips. I was feeling much the same as Evangeline.
Of course, this did not mean Elena had become a slaughterer who killed every last one of them.
The role I had entrusted to her was indeed that of the Pacifier of Arms, but I had not meant for her to take on its drawbacks as well.
"It seems her grudges ran quite deep."
She had been plagued by Zenota's petty provocations for over half a year.
A situation where she was bound by the shackles of 'Leophere's stability' — absolutely necessary, yet stifling.
Elena's stress at being unable to properly demonstrate her abilities in her own field of expertise must have reached its peak.
The result of that stress exploding all at once was precisely this current situation.
"It appears so. They say her momentum on the battlefield was incredibly ferocious. The Driaz Duchy side now treats Lady Elena not as a human but as a witch or a monster."
"Ha."
At Evangeline's explanation, I let out a small laugh.
Not human? A monster?
Well, the sight Elena showed on the battlefield did indeed stray from the realm of ordinary humans.
Her spearmanship focused on pure destructive power rather than technique, and her charge was like a living storm.
The only ones in this world who knew that appraisal was 'real' were us and her sister.
"This will be a painful defeat for Zenota. Losing their central army and having the Driaz Duchy, which served as a breakwater for their border, surrender as well."
I rested my chin in my hand and sank into thought.
Leophere's attack could have happened at any time.
In other respects, perhaps not, but for them, the events that had transpired thus far served as ample justification.
Zenota's border violations, the Driaz Duchy's instigation of unrest...
Elena, Adelaide, and Leophere had endured for a long time.
"Riding this momentum, Lady Elena might advance further... or she might turn her eyes toward another direction."
Evangeline's eyes gleamed.
She too was closely watching the repercussions this incident would bring.
Elena's action this time went beyond simply resolving a border dispute — it had brought about the effect of demonstrating the Duchy of Leophere's power to the surrounding nations.
'On top of that, the border has been tidied up as well.'
Previously, Leophere's border had been divided into northwest and southeast, making the border line wide.
But Leophere, having now absorbed the Driaz Duchy, could much more easily defend against external forces while holding the Eisenlight Mountains.
In addition, since they had secured 'Kaitna,' a port where they could directly interact with the Kingdom of Reinrak and the Kingdom of Buran on the Western Continent via Zenota's coast.
Zenota was surely desperate to reverse this situation by any means.
"Send additional reinforcements."
"I will go myself."
"Good. I leave it to you."
I placed my hand on Evangeline's chin and smiled slightly.
What remained among the immediate concerns were the Arilit front, the Norn front, and the matters of Orbis and Hilsa.
But however those parties might act, the answer was already decided.
The order of the continent would be reorganized in my favor.