Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: The Death of Dunan
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Battles erupted simultaneously across the eight fronts, plunging everything into full-scale war, and the upper echelons of each nation were thrown into utter chaos.
In one such place, the royal palace of Caliper, the king and the highest nobles had all gathered to discuss the current crisis.
“Svenner has truly stirred up a mess!”
King Gares sighed.
“With over 800,000 troops mobilized on both sides combined! They’re dead set on a war where blood will flow like rivers. Svenner will face divine punishment!”
It wasn’t exactly something for Caliper—which had consecutively invaded Albad and Madon—to say, but at least Caliper’s wars had some pretext.
In contrast, Svenner’s invasion was driven purely by ambition to conquer the continent.
The other nobles were just as flustered, having never anticipated that Svenner would commit to all-out war.
Gilbert Salleon spoke up as if continuing a conversation.
“Duke Helian. What’s the state of our forces? Do you think our army can repel the enemy?”
“War is something you only know once you fight it. That said, General Dunan is indisputably our army’s top asset. If we can’t trust him, who can we trust?”
“I’m not doubting Dunan’s abilities. It’s just that the enemy commander, Kraus Faulkner, has such a notorious reputation that I can’t help but worry.”
“Don’t worry. According to the incoming reports, he’s successfully repelling the enemy cavalry raids.”
At that moment, a count from the Salleon faction spoke up as if he’d been waiting for his cue.
“With a veteran like Lord Altiore, wouldn’t he be more reliable than General Dunan? Even though he’s retired, given the circumstances, if we earnestly ask, he might agree to return.”
Duke Helian ground his teeth inwardly.
‘These schemers…! Now they’re scrambling to reclaim influence over the military with these pathetic flailing efforts!’
Of course, he didn’t show a hint of it on the surface.
“The military has already been reorganized under General Dunan’s leadership. Lord Altiore’s skills are beyond question, but bringing him back now would only sow confusion in the ranks.”
“Exactly! If we can’t trust General Dunan, who can we trust?”
“If he truly plans to return, have Lord Altiore come forward and say it himself!”
The Helian faction countered in unison, steering the decision toward trusting Dunan for now.
But soon after, the news that arrived left everyone speechless.
A report came in that Caliper’s forces had suffered defeat in the Galran Mountains, with supreme commander Dunan killed in action.
“Dunan… is dead?”
Duke Helian muttered in a daze.
“What about casualties? What’s our army’s damage?”
“Close to 20,000 casualties. Fortunately, the timely retreat preserved most of the troops, so our numbers are still roughly even with the enemy.”
Caliper’s army: 48,000. Toonkai’s army: 52,000. The latter had depleted their cavalry in prior raids.
The king paled at Dunan’s death.
“What are we to do? Dunan was the pillar of our forces!”
There were other generals, like Second Army’s Delbadova, but he was essentially an honorary royal guard commander, making it awkward for him to step up. The rest paled in comparison to Dunan.
With Dunan gone, deploying them wouldn’t change a thing.
“Must we truly recall Altiore….”
The Salleon faction perked up at this, but Duke Helian wasn’t about to let it slide.
“Your Majesty, leave the military matters to me.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“…I’ll summon Mercenary Wade.”
“Oh! The Kirin Child, Kasper Milias!”
Surprisingly, the king believed Wade was Kasper. The Salleon faction’s impersonation ploy and Duke Helian’s counter-scheme had worked.
Helian couldn’t hide his bitterness.
‘Even His Majesty is getting on in years.’
In the past, he would have seen through such petty tricks.
But King Gares was now an 83-year-old man, having largely withdrawn from the front lines to focus on educating the crown prince.
Thus, he failed to notice the Kasper impersonation.
Helian had no desire to correct him.
If the king learned Als’s true identity, he might use the princess for a marriage alliance or promote the Ilrain barony to pull Als into his camp.
That would complicate things, and above all, with that level of power backing him, who knew what Als might do.
“But Gilbert. Didn’t you say Kasper Milias wouldn’t be able to take the field for a while?”
“Y-Yes…. That’s true.”
“Then how can Regnart summon him?”
Gilbert, realizing Helian truly intended to hire the real Wade, was busy gauging the situation.
He racked his brain for a way to exploit this, but Duke Helian nailed it shut.
“Gilbert, this is a national crisis. Let’s not use him for personal gain. If you try anything foolish again, I have my own plans.”
It was a warning not to exploit the situation politically.
Gilbert had no choice but to back down.
“Urgh…. Understood. Your Majesty, I’ll support Duke Helian in every way for this.”
“Is that so! Ah, yes, with Kasper stepping up, we can count on him! He’s young, but he’s the commander who crushed Albad and conquered Madon.”
With the decision made, Duke Helian wasted no time.
He immediately set off for the Galran Mountains.
*
*
*
The camp’s mood was utterly despondent after the defeat.
It felt as if the world had ended.
That was the impact of losing the supreme commander.
Worse, Toonkai kept sending carts of executed prisoners, plummeting morale to rock bottom.
Some of those prisoners were even cadet officers.
By continental treaty, cadet officers captured as POWs were to be released unconditionally, but Kraus Faulkner had them executed without a second thought.
This crushed the cadet officers’ morale.
“Als!”
Banningss approached with a weary expression, as if he’d been looking for me.
“You’re alive. Thank goodness.”
Banningss patted my shoulder reassuringly, then bowed his head deeply.
“…Graenghem is dead. You remember him, right? That guy from Julia Academy who always acted on his own.”
“Not really.”
“Well, maybe not. You hardly ever talked to him. But I… I’m different. I even visited his estate once…!”
“Calm down and sit first, Banningss.”
I slowly comforted him.
“Whew! Thanks, Als.”
“Feeling a bit better?”
“Yeah. Besides, I don’t have time to wallow. Dorothy’s the one who’s truly heartbroken. I’m heading to her now—what about you?”
“I’ll come along.”
Fortunately, Toonkai wasn’t pressing the attack just yet.
They had to extinguish the fires they’d started first.
If they attacked without doing so and we held them off, their rear would be engulfed in flames, turning the tide against them.
That was why Kraus was making sure to put out the fires, secure his rear, and reorganize his forces.
That bought us three days.
Our army needed to establish a new command structure within that time.
So, quite naturally,
All eyes turned to Kasper with expectations.
On the way to see Dorothy with Banningss, we spotted Kasper.
“Kasper—no, Mercenary Wade. It’s your time to step up.”
“Please. Avenge General Dunan. Avenge Graenghem and Peter!”
Not just the cadets, but regular officers too, were pleading with Kasper.
Begging him to take command.
To smash these hated foes just as he’d outdone Bekavia’s genius princess and Madon’s Grand General Julian Craig.
“I-I…”
Kasper paled and said nothing.
When Dorothy finally appeared, tear-streaked, he began trembling like he’d seen a ghost.
“Father surely gave his life guarding the rear, believing you’d take command. So, Kasper… please. Lead the army.”
“Ugh…”
He was like a sandcastle on the verge of collapse.
Cornered, Kasper made the worst choice.
Before dawn the next day, he vanished without a trace.
“No way…”
He’d deserted.
Yet his fellow cadets were spinning happy delusions, claiming he was just preparing to return as Wade.
‘This is hopeless. Better to retreat.’
With troops still intact, it was wiser to head to the nearby left flank—Elon Plains—and join the Albad & Bekavia coalition.
Losing one front was a blow, but fortunately, the Galran Mountains were at the edge of the eight fronts.
Even if we lost it, merging with Elon Plains’ forces could hold the line.
Plus, Strategist Kaien was commanding there, so we could trust him with it.
“Lord Als.”
Eo spoke up.
“At this point, wouldn’t it be best for you to take command?”
“Nah.”
Dunan had asked me to take over, but I had no intention of blindly following through.
“Lead the army” sounded nice, but bluntly, it was just “clean up my mess.” And the reward wasn’t much.
Besides, if he’d listened to me even a little, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
I felt no responsibility for the defeat. I’d spoken up plenty about the plan. I’d warned it was a trap and not to go in.
Dunan had ignored it.
“The top brass will send someone soon anyway. They’ll decide something.”
By then, I had a pretty good guess.
That Duke Helian would come.
Deep into the night in the camp.
Duke Helian sat in my tent, having visited secretly.
I could tell what he wanted, so I spoke first.
“If you’d read the after-action report, you wouldn’t have the gall to show up here.”
“I know Dunan ignored your advice. But that’s not Dunan’s fault—it’s mine. I should have prevented him from dominating the military so thoroughly. He needed someone at his side to check him.”
If Supreme Army Officer Gaits had backed my opinion, or other officers had supported me, things might have turned out differently.
But they’d played it safe, letting Dunan dictate the plan. Mere yes-men.
“Or better yet, I should have appointed you supreme commander from the start.”
“I wonder. If I’d been put in charge from the beginning, there’d have been backlash from all sides. Unlike the Madon war, this isn’t a national crisis, and most importantly, the army’s core is the nobles’ private troops. Plenty would’ve resented my command. Isn’t that why they didn’t approach me initially?”
“More like your demanded terms were too steep. Either way, it’s on me.”
“Sigh…. So? You didn’t come here just to admit failure.”
“Indeed, Als. I want you to salvage the army.”
“Better to fall back to Elon Plains and join Albad’s forces.”
“That would spark diplomatic issues. Bekavia aside, merging with Albad is too much.”
“So you want me to take it?”
“I’ll grant you full authority. I’ll personally ensure no officers dare defy you.”
“…”
That changed things a bit.
One reason I hadn’t wanted to take command as Wade was to avoid clashing with Dunan’s cronies.
If Duke Helian handled that, commanding would be much smoother.
“…And the price?”
Now it was worth negotiating.
He answered.
“80 million silane.”
“Not appealing. I no longer need money dictating my choices.”
“Then name it. Something besides gold.”
He seemed ready to agree to anything. But nothing came to mind.
“That’s the problem—I don’t have anything.”
I didn’t need money or land.
As I pondered, an idea struck.
“Then, may I take some prisoners?”
“Prisoners? What for?”
“There’s someone I want to recruit.”
“If you capture them yourself, I permit it. But I can’t hand over POWs taken by other nations’ forces.”
“That works. And as a bonus, toss in 20 million silane. I want to give bonuses to my unit’s soldiers who fought hard in the last battle.”
“I’ll handle rewards like that myself.”
“Come on. You think I’d embezzle it?”
“Who’s to say you wouldn’t?”
Always so prickly.
“Settled, then. Take command now. Time is critical.”
“…Understood.”
The right to certain prisoners as payment for taking command.
I planned to use this to seal the deal on recruiting Bayolaf.