The Princess of War

by Hyougetsu

  “You may be my elites, but remember there are only a hundred and twelve of you. And here, there are no replacements to replenish our ranks.”

  Casualties will of course be inevitable, but Eleora wants to keep as many of her precious men alive as possible. For one thing, Eleora knows that they won’t betray her, no matter what. For another, they’re far more skilled than any member of the liberation army. But Eleora doesn’t want it to seem as though she’s only making the Meraldians fight. So while she would prefer not having her mage corps fight at all, she can’t afford to hold them back forever.

  “As I mentioned before, from today onward the Blast Canes are no longer a grade 1 classified military secret. Go wild with them!”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  The officers salute again, but this time they’re grinning like children who’re about to play an especially naughty prank. Inwardly praying for their safety, Eleora then adds, “We need to show these lowly mongrels the strength of Rolmund’s army. But don’t feel the need to go overboard and get yourself killed. Just fight like you always have, that will be enough. The last thing I want to do is have to tell your family ‘My deepest condolences. Lady Natalia died in a reckless attempt to show off how amazing she was.’”

  The woman who spoke earlier blushes bright red.

  “Wh-Why’re you singling me out!?”

  “Because you’re the most likely to do something brash, Warrant Officer Natalia.”

  The other officers chuckle.

  “I like those expressions, gentlemen. I’m expecting great things from you.”

  No matter how fierce the fighting, these men have never betrayed Eleora’s expectations. And she’s confident this time will be no different. Thus, she orders, “29th Imperial Mage Corps, move out!”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  Eleora’s men click their boots together and give Eleora the crispest salute yet.

  * * * *

  “Oooh, it’s finally started.”

  I leisurely watched the battle unfold from the safety of a forest near Vongang. I had a nice vantage point from where I was, nestled in the branches of a large tree.

  “It’s hard to spot us here, so it’s nice and safe.”

  “Safe my ass! Why’d you have to bring me up here too!?”

  My newly minted vice-commander desperately clung to me. Seeing his reaction, the other werewolves serving as my guards guffawed.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll catch you if you fall,” Monza said playfully. Kite shrieked and said, “Stop shaking the branch! I’m gonna fall!”

  “Like I said, we’ll catch you even if you do.”

  “Well I don’t want to fall even if you will, so stop!”

  Sorry dear vice-commander, but that’s only going to make Monza want to bully you more. Monza enjoyed toying with her prey, and that part of her personality bled into her interactions with everyone. Terrified, Kite turned to me and said something truly befitting of a vice-commander.

  “You know, normally vice-commanders aren’t supposed to scout out battlefields personally!”

  “Normally they aren’t.”

  You’re in for a rude awakening if you think the demon army is a mere normal army. Since Monza was keeping an eye on Kite, I didn’t have to worry about him falling. I trained my telescope on the battlefield and shifted my focus there. The majority of the encirclement was made up by volunteer soldiers, which matched the information I’d received. They were all wearing cheap breastplates over their civilian clothes, and were armed only with spears.

  “Looks to me like they’re all just there to make up numbers,” Vodd muttered as he looked through his own telescope. Among us, he was the one with the most battlefield experience.

  “Don’t look like they’re gonna participate in this battle at all. If the army’s recruiting people to just stand there, I shoulda signed up.”

  “So Eleora’s not planning on using her militia as disposable pawns to batter down the city?”

  I cocked my head and Vodd replied happily, “Nah, no way. Just look at those cowards’ faces. If the city sent out even a single cavalry sortie the whole formation would break.”

  Meaning Eleora had some other plan in mind to take the city. I turned back to Hamaam’s squad.

  “Get as close to the battlefield as you can without being spotted, and gather all the intel you can. If possible, try and talk to some of the troops.”

  “Understood, Vice-Commander.”

  Hamaam nodded and adjusted his rucksack. Inside it were some salves and a Sonnenlicht charm.

  “I’d say I’m as good as you at impersonating traders, Vice-Commander.”

  Wow, it’s rare to see Hamaam cracking jokes. However, Hamaam then added, “I often ambushed caravans that way...”

  “It doesn’t matter what you did in the past. Right now just focus on the mission before you.”

  “Roger, Vice-Commander.”

  Hamaam may have done underhanded things before coming to our village, but that doesn’t matter. Right now he was a diligent, loyal member of my troop.

  Kite, who was using wide-area detection magic all around us, suddenly shouted, “Veight, I just sensed a bunch of mana shockwaves near Vongang’s main gate! But whatever this is, it’s not magic I’ve seen!”

  I had an idea of what they might be, and instantly trained my telescope in the direction Kite was pointing. A second later, there were a series of white flashes.

  “Wh-What the—!?”

  The other werewolves all looked that way as well. Through my telescope, I could see a row of soldiers carrying long staves. One end of the staves were curved, and they looked just like medieval arquebuses. The way the soldiers were holding the staves was just like how you’d hold a gun too. I guessed these were the larger versions of the Blast Grimoires.

  “Kite, were you able to analyze those mana shockwaves?”

  “Y-Yeah. It was some form of destruction magic. The closest thing I can think of is the light blast spell.”

  Put simply, light blast fired a beam of pure mana. The reason it was called light blast was because mana looked like sunlight in the visible spectrum. It wasn’t a very useful spell, though, since it took a ridiculous amount of time to aim. On top of that, it wasn’t even powerful enough to pierce armor. Furthermore, if you tried to pre-load the spell, even the slightest misstep would cause it to backfire onto you.

  “Umm, but... they just fired twenty of them at once. They must have trained a lot to be this in sync.”

  I shook my head.

  “They wouldn’t have been able to do that through normal incantations. I’m guessing this is one of Rolmund’s new weapons. Look, the power of their spells is abnormal.”

  The bursts of light had managed to melt Vongang’s prized metal-coated gates and ignite the wood underneath. That level of heat wasn’t normal. The power of their spells was on Master’s level. Monza whistled appreciatively, then looked up at me.

  “Boss, that was a weapon and not magic, right? Does that mean I can use it too?”

  “Maybe. But even if you could, it doesn’t shoot as far as a bow, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  The unit who’d fired those magic guns had needed to be protected by a row of shield-bearers. Arrows were still finding their way through the gaps though, and there were already a few casualties. Vodd nodded thoughtfully.

  “Still, those things are powerful. Look, they’ll be through the gate soon.”

  “Meanwhile, the militia still haven’t made a move.”

  The Meraldian Liberation Army was staying well out of bowshot. All they were doing was cheering Eleora’s troops on. A moment later, a group of knights charged out from the back line. But they weren’t riding horses. They were mounted on these huge birds that looked like ostriches.

  “Oi, boss, what the heck are those?”

  Jerrick looked to me for answers, but this was the first time I’d seen them too.

  “No clue. Master’s books didn’t mention anything that
looked like those. They remind me of the wyverns the dragonkin ride, though.”

  Dinosaurs and birds were pretty close evolution-wise, so I suppose it made sense that dragons and birds were too. I guess Rolmund’s domesticated these bird monsters. We watched as the mounted knights raised their own gun-staves and took aim. There was about 40-50 of them. With help from their allies, they charged right through the burning city gates.

  “So those are Eleora’s mage corps? They’ve got a lot of interesting equipment.”

  “This isn’t the time to be impressed, Veight. I’m sensing huge mana tremors inside the city.”

  It sounded like they were going all out in there. The walls blocked my view of what was going on, but the scent of blood was thick in the air. Now that the gates had fallen, the Senate stood no chance. Even if by some miracle they managed to rout the mage corps, Eleora still had her intact liberation army.

  After a few minutes, Hamaam’s squad returned.

  “Vice-Commander, the unit that broke into the city are known as Eleora’s imperial mage corps. The soldiers were all talking about them.”

  I knew it.

  “Did you find anything out about their size or equipment?”

  “There’s somewhere between a hundred to two hundred members total. Unfortunately, that was all the information I could discover.”

  That number caught my interest. For humans, units 100 men in size usually held special significance. Back on Earth, I’d read that humans had usually formed packs of 100 during the stone age. That was when human society first started to evolve, so it got cemented that a pack of 100 was a single unit which had a shared fate and goals. Supposedly, according to what I’d read, 100 was the optimal group size. I had no idea if evolution had occurred in a similar fashion here, but seeing as human society wasn’t too different from human society on earth, it was safe to assume it had.

  So, psychologically speaking, it was significant that Eleora’s elite battalion was around 100-200 in size. You could even consider it her personal pack. Naturally, troops she’d personally brought with her from Rolmund were important not only because of her familiarity with their abilities, but also because they couldn’t easily be replenished here if lost. The fact that Eleora was willing to invest her trump card here against Vongang meant that either she was determined to crush the Senate beyond any hope of recovery, or she was actually stretched so thin that she had no other choice. In order to prepare for the upcoming war, I needed to know which. If things went well, I might even be able to use that knowledge as a bargaining chip.

  “Does Eleora have any other Rolmund battalions?”

  “None of the soldiers have seen any aside from the mage corps, at least.”

  The battle was still raging on within the city, but once it ended we were likely to be spotted. Regretful as it was, it was time to retreat.

  “Good work, Hamaam. Let’s get out of here before they see us.”

  At my command, the werewolves nodded and dropped from the trees.

  “Uwaaaaah!”

  I picked up Kite, who was screaming in terror.

  “Kite, you recorded everything you analyzed about their staves right?”

  “O-Of course I—WAAAAAAH!”

  I leapt off the tree with Kite still in my arms. The soft ground cushioned my fall, and we dashed out of the forest, kicking up dead leaves in our wake.

  “Hold up, Veight! You’re going too fast! Waaaah! Shiiiiiit!”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

  We were going to keep this speed up all the way back, after all.

  * * * *

  —Eleora’s War Records: Part 2—

  “Report! The west gate has been breached! Enemy cavalry are pouring into the city!”

  “What are those incompetent lackwits doing!? Hurry up and repel them!”

  “Report! The Saint Koshpza knight order has been annihilated! Knight Commander Micchen died in battle!”

  “The Saint Theodoro knight order has suffered heavy losses and surrendered to the enemy!”

  “The Saint Oceamos knight order has surrendered as well! The regular army has been routed!”

  The Senate possessed many orders of knights ordained in the name of saints. Most of those “saints” were in fact old Senators who’d simply wanted their names and deeds to live on forever. Those Senators had created knight orders in their names, then appointed their own personal soldiers to lead those orders, thus giving them a permanent foothold in the military. However, each order had a limited number of knights allowed to be part of it, forcing them to split every time they grew too large. That muddled the chain of command, and made the knight orders highly inefficient.

  “D-Don’t falter, you fools! We expected this might happen! All of the city entrances are still blockaded! What are those damned mercenaries doing!?”

  “The Tiego Group surrendered to the enemy. Molks’s mercenaries fled through the east gate.”

  “We have a request for reinforcements from the east gate! The doors are still open there!”

  “Report! The Tiego Group didn’t surrender, but rather defected to the enemy!”

  “The Meniel mercenaries have betrayed us as well! The inner western gate has fallen!”

  Around the same time, at the Meraldian Liberation Army headquarters. Warrant Officer Natalia had returned to the command tent after completing her mission to blow open the gates, and was now talking to Adjutant Borsche.

  “Are there really mercenaries out there who’ll turn sides that easily?”

  Borsche gave her a sad smile.

  “Not normally, no. But the Senate has been cutting the mercenaries’ pay year after year, claiming that since they pay for year-long contracts, they deserve discounts.”

  “Wow, that’s awful! They’re treating them like slaves!”

  Smiling, Eleora turned to the two of them.

  “No, they’re treating them worse than slaves. At least a proper slave owner would feed their slaves.”

  “No wonder they betrayed their employer so easily,” Natalia sighed, and Eleora nodded in agreement.

  “That’s right. Even though it should have been obvious, those who wield power often forget the most obvious of things. I should take care not to make the same mistake.”

  Borsche’s expression grew grim, and he turned to Eleora.

  “But Your Highness, do you truly plan to employ them?”

  “They’re not loyal in the slightest, but if you pay them they’ll work for you. Meaning as long as we pay them fairly for it, we can work them to the bone.” Eleora grinned and ordered, “Have the mercenaries make up the vanguard of our assault. Tell them ‘The princess wants to see just how strong Meraldia’s mercenaries really are.’”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  The Senate fell even deeper into chaos.

  “Now that it’s come to this, we have no choice. Arm our staff!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, they’re civil servants, not soldiers. All we’d be doing is dragging our names through the mud.”

  “Then what do we do!? This all happened because you ordered the assassination of Zaria’s viceroy!”

  “This from the man who drove Krauhen to defect!?”

  “Stop arguing, you two! Our only hope now is to escape with the refugees!”

  But before the Senators could flee, the door to their conference room was kicked open by a squad of Rolmund troops.

  “This is squad four. We’ve captured the Senators. Our squad has four wounded and no dead.”

  Eleora smirked as she heard the report through her earring.

  “Well done, Lenkov. Secure the perimeter. I’ll be right over.”

  After speaking into her earring, Eleora turned to her men.

  “Follow me, everyone. It’s time to pay a visit to those fools still living in the past.”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  Once the squads three and four of the mage corps made it into the city, they had destroyed everything. Both the guard
house of the Senate’s royal guard and the city’s inner walls had been reduced to rubble.

  “Your men certainly made a flashy entrance,” Borsche said with a rueful grin.

  “That’s what I asked them to do, after all. With this, the Meraldians finally understand our strength.”

  The streets were filled with mercenaries who’d defected to Rolmund’s side. Eleora gave the mercenaries a small salute, then walked into the Senate’s headquarters.

  “Oho, so you’re the leaders of Meraldia’s north.”

  Roughly 30 men awaited her inside the audience chamber. They were trembling inside their old-fashioned robes. Most were wizened and old. The moment Eleora walked in they started either cursing her out or begging for their lives.

  “Surrender unconditionally. I’ll decide what to do with you after that. Those who don’t surrender will be killed here and now. What will it be, surrender or death?”

  It took less than ten seconds for all Senators to surrender.

  Once the last pockets of resistance had laid down their arms, Eleora invited the liberation army into the city. There, they saw the Federation’s Senators tied up in the city square.

  “Gentlemen, I present to you the rulers of Meraldia.”

  Behind Eleora, members of the liberation army wheeled out cartfuls of gold and jewels; all assets the Senate had stockpiled by taxing the cities. In truth, most was money needed to maintain the operation of the Senate, but to the members of the liberation army, it looked like nothing more than ill-got wealth. Eleora started passing out a single silver coin along with a wooden card to each member of her army.

  “I wish to give you, the citizens of Meraldia, the right to judge the fate of your former rulers. Meraldians should be judged by Meraldians.”

  A ripple ran through the liberation army. They had expected Eleora to be the one to decide the Senators’ fate. Sensing the growing tide of surprise, Eleora continued.