Chapter 123
Chapter 123
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: The Tail War Ignites
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The news of Byulang's advance arrived at dawn on the third day after I had set up camp in Elton.
"Reporting! Byulang's massive army is marching south along the border! They should enter the Dalia region by tonight!"
"Dalia...?"
Dalia, the southern sector where my fief of Mowbray was located. Byulang was advancing with that as their target.
My brother Fudge, who was by my side, pressed the messenger for details.
"How many are the enemy? What do you mean by 'massive army'?"
"Estimated between 70,000 and 90,000!"
"Nearly seventy percent of their forces to the south...?"
Byulang's bold gambit.
"...Als."
"Yes, the enemy has made quite a gutsy choice."
Our military had initially judged that Byulang would plunder the lands near the border for visible gains. That alone would deal us a significant blow.
"The enemy's intent is to paralyze the south, preventing Crossing's army from moving to the Madon sector. That way, they can delay the timing of Crossing's intervention."
"But wouldn't that make their supply lines vulnerable?"
My brother Fudge was right. A single-point breakthrough ignoring the flanks always left weaknesses.
If the army advancing south got bogged down even slightly, the tide would turn sharply in our favor. Our First Army in the west would push down and press the front lines.
"Yes, so the enemy will move for a swift resolution to turn the tide in their favor. And there are only two ways to do that."
Either concentrate forces to capture a key city.
Or disperse them for large-scale guerrilla operations.
"At this moment, Byulang will definitely choose the latter."
"Wh-why is that?"
Dorothy asked, clearly puzzled.
"Won't forming many guerrilla units make supplies unstable? As Officer Fudge just said, Byulang's weakness is their logistics, right? Wouldn't they be better off concentrating forces now to topple a key city?"
"That might have been the case originally. But Byulang's situation is special right now."
"Special how?"
"Their military lacks unity. From what I've heard, there are over ten factions within their army."
"Ah...!"
"Try a siege with an army like that. It'd be chaos. Sieges always require someone's sacrifice."
That made this operation a clever ploy.
The enemy would form guerrilla units with each faction as a unit. They'd use the factions to minimize discord in the army.
For their vulnerable supplies, they'd rely on plundering through guerrilla ops.
'Whoever the enemy commander is, they're no slouch. And this unnecessarily aggressive tactic...'
I was certain.
The general who proposed this plan—and their faction—must be connected to the West.
*
*
*
The war between Byulang and our Caliper had begun.
Positioned in the rear, I had no need to move immediately.
Unless ordered otherwise, I just needed to defend Elton and Horton on the road to the capital.
After ordering the army to heighten alert status, I was sorting through intelligence from my spies.
One fact became clear here.
'Prince Eldric proposed this operation?'
According to top-secret info from Crossing's spy Dalmore Sting, Prince Eldric had held secret meetings afterward with Cassius Lloyd and a few others.
Dalmore himself hadn't attended those meetings.
He speculated it was because he wasn't tied to the West.
'Frightening.'
The meaning of Dalmore's report was something else entirely.
It meant Juras had known from the start that Prince Eldric was colluding with the West.
"...?"
At that moment, a strange sense of unease made me shudder.
'Juras already knew Prince Eldric's secret? Then when did he find out? During the Chimera War?'
According to the info Juras gave me, Dalmore infiltrated Byulang five years ago.
But he started building close ties with Prince Eldric from the Chimera War onward. He caught the prince's eye alongside Cassius, who shone in the war, and got promoted.
On the surface, it wouldn't be odd if they learned his identity during the Chimera War.
'But Juras was already wary of the West two years earlier, during the Three Lions War. He knew back then about their ambitions to advance onto the continent.'
This led to two hypotheses.
First: At that time, Juras didn't know about Prince Eldric's collusion.
In that case, he'd simply used Bekavia as bait to lure the Western homeland's army.
The problem was the second case. What if he knew back then—or even earlier? What if he knew Prince Eldric was propping up a nation through proxies to hand it over to the West?
The impression of one figure would change completely.
"No, that can't be...!"
My head throbbed.
"Sir Als, are you alright?"
Eo asked worriedly as I clutched my forehead.
"Shall I bring some honey water?"
"Yeah... please."
To clear my head, I decided to sip the honey water Eo prepared and skim the book where I'd noted the story details.
I focused on characters currently in Byulang's camp. Looking closely might give hints on recruiting them.
My gaze stopped on the description of Liser Haldras.
—Liser, who sought someone stronger than himself, hears of the protagonist's feats and seeks him out. In their duel, he slips on cratered ground and injures his knee but fights undaunted to a draw. Later realizing the protagonist had held back for his injury, he's impressed. Once his knee heals, they have a fair rematch; Liser loses and joins his service.
Liser was a talent I'd eyed but couldn't recruit due to tough conditions.
His martial prowess was 93, on par with Eo. Beating him one-on-one was impossible for me.
It made sense that the protagonist—with official prowess 97—beat him, but the timing was the issue.
The protagonist's feats happen after the academy martial tournament. That is, after the first year at Pensilon Academy.
'What? The event timing... got moved up?'
The cause was obvious. The detailed story had changed.
In this world, Cassius already had high fame at this point, unlike the game. As a young warrior of Byulang's Third Prince faction.
I checked other parts too.
'Sure enough. Some events haven't happened at all, but others have occurred earlier than scheduled. The Chimera War too—subtly earlier than in the game.'
I'd thought the story was utterly broken after Juras assassinated Byulang's king.
But if even that hadn't shattered the story's foundation?
Take the Chimera War, for example.
Bekavia should have collapsed after the Three Lions War but somehow clung on. Conversely, Madon—which shouldn't have fallen—did because of me.
Despite such massive butterfly effects, the Chimera War still broke out.
Liser Haldras's case was similar. Beneath his goal of finding someone stronger lay a desire to serve a young lord who could bring new winds of change.
That rationale made him seek Cassius in this world too.
Such inevitabilities—events with inherent rationale—would still occur, even if details changed.
Reaching that conclusion, a new picture of the board began to emerge for me.
The future story. Timings shifting earlier. Events with rationale.
Only one thing came to mind.
*
*
*
Day 6 of the war.
Gilbert Salleon waited for someone with an anxious expression.
He kept glancing around nervously, fearing mischief at any moment.
He had good reason— he was in Byulang's royal palace.
'Byulang won't kill me, but...'
As Als had said, Byulang wanted to end the war on good terms. They wouldn't kill a dispatched diplomat like Gilbert.
'I'm in a tough spot all around.'
Bad rumors were spreading about him in Caliper.
That he'd put Casper up to killing Jolette.
The timing of Gilbert "discovering" Casper's murder scene had amplified suspicions.
It looked like he'd used Casper then discarded him like a worn shoe.
'I did aim to swallow the Militas Marquis house's capital, but not like this...'
And then he'd made a major blunder, shaking his position.
So he had to turn things around in this diplomatic battle somehow.
"Hmm, kept you waiting."
"Prince Oscar!"
Byulang's First Prince Oscar Schwarzer smirked at Gilbert.
"So, what brings the de facto head of House Salleon all the way here?"
"Let's drop the pretense. We need to clear up this misunderstanding."
"Hah. Misunderstanding?"
"That we assassinated His Majesty King Wilfried. This absurd false accusation is deeply insulting and infuriating for us. But we know full well our anger isn't aimed at you Byulang. And you feel the same. Our true enemy lies elsewhere."
"And where might that be?"
"The ones who deceived us, of course."
"Who deceived us? Haha, first I've heard of it."
Gilbert ground his teeth at the infuriating act.
"The Western barbarians. The evidence points clearly to them."
Gilbert recited what Als had told him. Prince Oscar narrowed his eyes.
"Quite persuasive."
"Then...!"
"I get it. We'll verify step by step. Relax until then."
"No, we can't! At least a ceasefire until—!"
"As you know, our military unity is lacking lately. They won't take kindly to my words. I'll pass on the message to proceed cautiously."
"...!"
Byulang had known from the start that Caliper wasn't behind the king's assassination.
They'd just needed a sandbag to punch for their itchy fists—and an excuse to do it.
Prince Oscar stood, signaling no more talk.
"Please wait! Just a bit more discussion—!"
"No point. If there's progress, I'll come to you."
Despite Gilbert's pleas, Oscar turned away coldly. Then a man who looked like the Minister of Military Affairs rushed up to him.
The harsh clack of military boots made Oscar frown.
"Rude. Can't you read the room?"
"S-sorry. It's an urgent matter."
The minister pulled Prince Oscar aside, out of Gilbert's earshot.
Gilbert craned his neck to see what was happening.
Oscar was talking not far away. When they finished, his face was grim. The earlier leisure was gone.
He hurried back to Gilbert.
"Gilbert, let's continue that talk. Ceasefire between our sides? Fine, so be it."
"...Pardon?"
The sudden shift.
Gilbert, at max level in politics, caught something in it.
'The war situation has changed!'
He didn't know why, but something had rattled Byulang badly.
Gilbert schooled his expression.
"Aren't you being too hasty?"
"What?"
"You said to verify step by step. I've decided on that. Let's... take it slow."
"You bastard...!"
"I'll withdraw for today. We'll talk later."
Once out, Gilbert immediately gathered intel. What event had twisted that smug face?
'Did Father win a battle? Or the Helian faction? Whatever it is, if he's like that, we've scored a victory.'
But there was no news of Caliper victories.
Hearing the report from his spy, Gilbert's mind froze.
"Say that again."
"Yes, the Europhe Kingdom has invaded the Tunkai Kingdom! And then..."
War between historic foes Europhe and Tunkai.
But it didn't end there.
Bekavia, harboring grudges from the last war, chose this moment to invade Tunkai.
In response, Svenner invaded Europhe to aid their ally Tunkai.
The Western peoples cheered at this unforeseen chaos, quickly mustering forces to join Svenner in invading Byulang's west.
Finally, Albad signed a pact with Europhe, striking Svenner's north via them, plunging everything into mayhem.
The Tail War.
The major event meant to happen a year later in the story had erupted now.