The Brans Army's Invasion (1)
Who, on the Garand Continent right now, stood the greatest chance of unifying the land?
Ask anyone, and only one name would ever come up.
The legitimacy of imperial blood. Vast territories won by pacifying the entire north. Countless talented retainers. The tyrant Serpina von Aingart would end the wars and unify this continent—
Storytellers in the taverns and ordinary folk going about their livelihoods all spoke her name, calling her the next unifier of the realm.
And after that.
If one assumed Serpina failed to unify the continent—who then held the next highest chance?
That person was the leader of House Brans, the gifted third daughter: Lin Brans.
Long, straight blue hair. A beauty of such natural refinement that even strangers felt an instinctive goodwill toward her at first meeting.
She held the richest lands of the continent's central region, and day by day her power swelled as she absorbed one minor state after another.
With the densest population and the greatest number of ambitious small nations rising to claim their place, the hegemon of the heartland was, without question, destined to be the Brans Army.
And now, seated upon her throne with an expression that looked faintly bored, Lin Brans was receiving a report from a man who appeared to be one of her vassals.
"My lord. We have won the battle for Tirandi and successfully liberated it from the Walnut Army."
"Is that so? Well done, big brother♡"
So we've finally finished off the Walnut Army after trading a few blows with them recently.
Lin smiled with satisfaction and turned to the kneeling man—her second elder brother, Kalintz.
"How many prisoners?"
"Five in total. Please decide their treatment. Bring them forward!"
"Yes, sir!"
At the reporting man's shout, soldiers behind him led five bound generals forward and forced them to their knees before her.
Among them was the man who had once been their leader: Walnut Castor.
"……"
"Let's see."
Lin slowly looked over the prisoners.
There was one halfway-decent talent among them—someone who actually managed to make my army look foolish once.
"Attention, everyone! I believe there's a general among you who once managed to seize Heisel Castle. What was the name again… right. Gurupa. Who is it? Which of you is Gurupa?"
"……I am Gurupa."
A long-haired man lifted his head and answered.
Lin looked him over, her expression turning thoroughly seductive.
"My, my…… so it was you? The one who put me in such a difficult position. Fufu♡ I thought there wasn't a single force nearby bold enough to strike our territory first. You've got quite the nerve, don't you?"
"……"
Gurupa said nothing.
Lin seemed to like that all the more. She let out a peal of laughter, rose from her seat, and walked slowly toward him—then lifted his chin with two fingers and looked down into his eyes.
"Well? How about it? Care to become mine? I'm terribly, terribly, terribly good to useful people, you know? Working under me would be far more fun than under that Walnut-whatever fellow. Hmm?"
"……Kill me."
Gurupa did not avert his gaze. He wrung out what little strength he had left to answer.
Lin watched him with a smile…… then her expression turned ice-cold.
"Hmph. Fine. So you have no intention of serving under me."
She shoved Gurupa roughly with her hand.
With a heavy thud he toppled over—and she issued her order to the soldier beside her.
"Take this one away and kill him."
"Yes, ma'am!"
And so Gurupa was seized by the soldiers and dragged off somewhere.
Everyone present understood where he was being taken: the execution grounds.
The remaining prisoners understood it just as well.
They had watched the entire scene with their eyes wide open.
"Haa. How dull. I don't understand why anyone would refuse to be mine. I could show them far more interesting sights than some outdated old man like that."
Lin fell silent for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth again.
"I'll ask the rest of you, excluding Walnut, all at once. Will you serve under me, or won't you?"
It was another offer of recruitment—but the temperature was nothing like the one she had extended to Gurupa.
The nuance was clear: she didn't particularly care whether they joined or not, but if they wanted to, she would put them to work.
Perhaps because they had just watched Gurupa being hauled off to the scaffold with their own eyes, the remaining prisoners bowed their heads in perfect unison.
"I—I surrender."
"From this day forward, I shall serve Lady Lin Brans."
"P-please—please spare my life! If you only spare me, I will give you my absolute loyalty!"
"……"
Lin approached the last man—the one who had overdone the groveling—with cold eyes.
She looked down at him and spoke.
"Hey."
"Eek……!! P-please…… please, just my life……!"
"……Ugh."
Lin let out a long sigh, then turned to a soldier.
"Hey. Just let this one go."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Y-you're releasing me……?!"
The man looked up at Lin in shock.
"You're free. I'll just set you loose. I don't feel like paying a salary to someone like you."
In other words: I'd rather free you than waste money putting you to work.
It was an extraordinarily insulting thing to say, depending on how one heard it—yet the man seemed so overjoyed simply to have kept his life that he slammed his forehead against the floor again and again, pouring out his thanks.
"Thank you, thank you……! Truly, truly, I am grateful! I will never forget the mercy you have shown me!"
"Yes, yes. Off you go. Take him out."
"Yes, ma'am! This way."
Even as he was led away, the freed man kept babbling tearful thanks over and over.
Of course, no matter how many times he said it, none of it reached her ears.
Lin turned her head, smiling sweetly.
"And the other two will work for our Brans Army from now on. Understood?"
"Y-yes! Understood!"
"I receive your command!"
Even with two new talents joining the Brans Army, she felt no particular joy.
The tastiest prize had slipped away, and the rest were nothing but mediocrities.
"……"
"Ah, right."
As if she had only just remembered, Lin finally approached Walnut.
"Is there anything you'd like to say, Mister Walnut?"
"……I—"
The completely bald old man Walnut trembled faintly.
Perhaps because he had once been the leader of an army that had warred against her own—even if he was a prisoner now—Lin was still using a measure of polite speech with him.
"……If you spare me, I will do everything in my power to aid you."
"My, is that so? That the once-illustrious Walnut, former ruler of a nation, would offer to help us—well, that is rather delightful news♡"
Lin smiled faintly—then her expression shifted, and her voice dropped low.
"But no."
"……W-what do you mean……?"
Lin tilted her chin slightly and looked down at him.
It was the gaze one might turn on an insect.
It was different even from the look she had given the man who thanked her for his life after being insulted. That gaze had held a mix of contempt and a touch of pity—the look one gives someone useless from the start. The gaze she turned on Walnut held something beyond that: pure, concentrated scorn, as if she were looking at garbage of a higher order.
"You're a leader. How pathetic is it for a leader to beg for his life? You can't even match half of Gurupa, who died to keep faith with you—so what exactly do you think you're accomplishing?"
"Th-that…… G-Gurupa acted on his own—"
"Shut your mouth. You reek. Do you know why an army led by trash like you managed to retake Heisel for even a moment? Because Gurupa was there. And you didn't even understand that—what made you think you could raise an army?"
Lin glanced sideways at the soldier standing nearby.
The soldier understood with perfect clarity that the look meant: Drag him to the scaffold.
"This way!"
"W-wait…… Lady Lin Brans! Spare me! P-please, show mercy……!"
Walnut continued to cry out piteously—but Lin ignored him completely, returning to her throne with elegant steps and seating herself once more.
"Ugh. Taking a hit from a pathetic wretch like that—what a blow to my pride."
Once the prisoners had been dealt with, Kalintz, who had remained kneeling the entire time, carefully opened his mouth.
"My lord. What do you intend to do next?"
"Hmm? Same as always. Strike the surrounding minor states and expand our territory. We need to pacify the central region as quickly as possible if we're going to stand on equal footing with Serpina's army in the north. Right—what became of the spy we sent to Zeiland?"
"He has returned. As before, Lunarien Iniang holds it. Roughly three thousand soldiers, and a total of three generals under her command."
"Three? A few days ago you said two. Some old man and a predatory-looking woman, wasn't it?"
"That was certainly the case last time…… but he reports frequently seeing a young white-haired man accompanying Lunarien Iniang. It seems likely she has recruited a new general."
"Hmm? A new general joining the Lunarien Army when it's already on the verge of collapse? Are you sure he didn't just mistake some boy she's keeping around for a general?"
"Well…… I couldn't say that far."
"Hmph."
It was all rather uninteresting.
The campaign against the Walnut Army had been invigorating because victory promised Gurupa as a prize.
But conquering the Lunarien Army would yield nothing more than the small city of Zeiland.
And the talents under her didn't look particularly appetizing either.
Still, what choice is there. The more annoying the task, the faster you get it over with.
Lin looked at Kalintz.
"Big brother. Chel is down south right now, isn't he?"
"That is correct."
Chel Brans.
Kalintz Brans's elder brother, and Lin Brans's eldest brother.
A man so strong that anyone asked to name Brans's First Sword would name him without hesitation.
"Mmm…… can you handle it alone, Kalintz?"
At Lin's words, Kalintz bowed his head.
"Without question. Entrust it to me, and I will bring you Zeiland Castle. Negotiations have already been concluded."
Negotiations already concluded, is it.
She wondered whether that was really necessary—but Kalintz would handle things well enough on his own.
Lin nodded.
"All right. I'll assign you a reasonable number of troops. Finish it quickly."
"Yes!"
Including the Lunarien Army, five more factions remained before the central continent would be fully pacified.
The Acesius Army, which they would likely face last given the distances involved, was a mild concern…… but she was confident she could manage somehow.
After all—who was she? Was she not Lin Brans?
The one who will unify this continent is me.
She smiled with satisfaction.
It was a smile of extraordinary beauty, elegance, and refinement.
Having received the messenger's report, Luna and Swen hurried back to Zeiland Castle.
Inside, Tifa and Kane were already waiting, having gathered at the news.
"You're here?! You heard, right? Those Brans bastards are coming for us?!"
"……I heard. Who's leading them?"
"Most likely Kalintz Brans. We obtained testimony that he was seen assembling an expeditionary force in a village."
At Kane's words, Luna's face darkened.
"Kalintz Brans…… not an easy opponent."
Kalintz Brans.
I knew the name as well, of course.
When playing as the Brans Army, two generals always stood at the vanguard of every battle: Kalintz Brans and Chel Brans, the elder brothers of the sovereign Lin Brans.
Kalintz, Lin's second brother, was not as outstanding a general as Chel—but where Chel was somewhat reckless, Kalintz possessed a cooler temperament, making him an S-Class General who rarely fell for stratagems.
I myself had preferred using Kalintz over the unpredictable Chel.
So in the end, do we have to abandon the town and flee?
I had poured money into raising popular support as high as I could.
But no matter how I looked at it, I could find no path to victory in this fight.
Including the lesser generals under Kalintz, they would easily number more than five—while on our side, counting myself, we had only four people total.
The disparity in troop numbers was more than double. It was a hopeless situation.
"Swen. What should we do?"
Luna sought my counsel.
The one silver lining was that my Intelligence was 100.
If we just do as it says, something will work out.
With that rather naïve thought, I fed Luna's question into my mind.
And then.
……Hmm?
The answer my mind produced was—
Make Kane the vanguard commander and meet them in battle. That is the optimal strategy available to you now.
Once again, an utterly absurd answer was coming out.