Rumors of the destruction of the supply and reinforcement units began circulating in the city of Terra Kaine shortly after they were actually destroyed.
Naturally, Patrick, the general of the garrison unit, immediately denied the rumors so as not to disturb his troops, but later turned blue when he received word from the home country. The reinforcements had indeed been destroyed.
Patrick could only groan when he heard the deed.
Troops on the move were vulnerable because they could hardly use the magic artifact’s defensive weaponry. Furthermore, they targeted easy-to-kill non-combatants and supplies, a guerrilla-style one-hit-wonder that focused primarily on disabling rather than defeating them.
And the carefulness with which they immediately advertised the results of the battle.
Food and fodder were bought up in the surrounding areas.
On top of this, they were waging an information war to further demoralize the population by cutting off their supply and making them immobile.
–I never thought they would use such a devious method … No, no, no. Why did I assume that the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” was a fool!?
Patrick was biting his tongue in his temporary office in the castle.
It was not so much a devious plan that could be called a scheme. It was a common strategy.
However, a common strategy was, on the contrary, a highly versatile and useful one that had been used for a long time.
If common strategies were taken as a matter of course, an unprepared army would be fragile. They could be crushed like an egg being swallowed by a snake.
The way monsters fight was generally simple.
They might have played tactical tricks such as ambushes or trickery, but that was the limit.
It was common knowledge that only the Demon Lord’s Army… was fighting properly as an army at best.
However, the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” was different.
Patrick had heard from Bertil, the Commander of the Second Order, what had happened at the time of the fall of the capital, and he had calculated that if he gathered the right forces and fought properly, he could defeat the “Princess Rose of Hellrage”.
Perhaps his calculation was correct. And “Princess Rose of Hellrage” probably thought the same way. Because the “Princess Rose of Hellrage” was thoroughly avoiding a head-on collision with the Noacurio forces, and was trying to break their foothold.
… “Princess Rose of Hellrage” was not going to let Noacurio’s army fight.
Patrick was lost in his own mind.
Almost all of the current garrison wee Patrick’s vassals.
He would have had all the credit, but he would also have had all the losses. And if he pushed his soldiers too hard and caused animosity, he would have to pay the price after returning to his country.
It was a gamble to attack the capital with no supplies or reinforcements. If they could not win quickly, they would be wiped out slowly. But even if they waited for the situation to improve, they would still lack food supplies.
If push came to shove, they could resort to looting.
Noacurio was currently working toward setting up a puppet government in Ciel-Terra and taking over peacefully, which was why they were still acting like gentlemen toward the people of Ciel-Terra, but they could also switch to invasion. If that happened, there would be no need to hold anything back.
However, if they provoked a backlash from the lords, it might exceed the garrison’s ability to deal with the situation. It would also give Gireshtal an opportunity for them to take advantage of the situation.
They wanted to secure the Glacelum deposits at all costs. Since they were the first to enter Ciel-Terra with an army, and with the justification of “reinforcements”, it would be a shame to retreat at that point.
But it was unlikely that Gireshtal would sit on their hands indefinitely. Not only that, but Marks, the crown prince’s backer, was also planning to join hands with the Holy Kingdom of Diletta.
It was a headache.
–After all, I will consult with the home country once again and ask for instructions.
Shaking his heavy head, Patrick stood up.
It was no longer a situation he could handle on his own.
He should leave the decision (and responsibility) to his superiors.
He glanced out the window. The sky was filled with thick snow clouds, like the landscape in Patrick’s mind.
*
The Noacurio army had established a garrison camp like a lump attached to just outside the city of Terra Kaine.
An enclosed area, made from wood procured in the area, could no longer be described as a simple fortification wall. It was a magnificent one with a walkway, magically modified to increase its strength, and a magic artifact weapon to intercept intruders. And the tents were neatly lined up in the middle of it.
It was when the sun was setting behind the snow clouds and the area was growing dim that a pair of girls appeared in front of the gate of the encampment.
“Stop, who are you!”
Two figures dressed in shabby protective cloaks arrived with a cart full of their goods being pulled by a horse.
The soldiers on guard intimidatingly whooped and stopped as they sounded their spears.
One of the girls was in her mid-teens, the other even smaller. They were probably sisters, the soldiers guessed.
“We are from a nearby village. Would you like to buy some preserved food?”
The girl who seemed to be the older sister said exactly what the soldiers had expected.
Food, weapons, daily necessities, entertainment…
The military was a big consumer of just about everything. People came to the encampment one after the other, looking to make a profit.
Especially now, it was food supplies.
Rumors that the Noacurio army was running out of food seemed to have already spread.
Perhaps this was why so many peddlers and farmers were coming to sell provisions in this way.
“… I’ll check your luggage.”
“Go ahead.”
When the top on the wagon was stripped off, barrels of pickled vegetables and dried meat were stacked on top of each other.
The soldier gulped. The food had obviously not been going well recently, and he was always hungry.
It would be so refreshing to have all this dried meat to himself and eat it right then and there, he thought. Though he only thought of it, he did not do it.
Anyway, if this food was bought by the troops, he would be able to eat at least a piece of it himself.
He would have liked to get the girls inside right away, but he couldn’t just check their luggage and let them in.
The soldier looked at the strange object placed by the gate.
It looked like a golden bonfire stand with a lump of crystal on it. Inside the crystal, a starlight-like light was flying around.
He had no idea what this was. But it was said to be a magical tool to detect the evil energy emitted by monsters and the undead.
It was introduced because the enemy was undead. It should have been able to detect the appearance of undead pretending to be human.
However, this was only an aid, since the targets to watch out for were not limited to the undead.
“No evil detected.”
“Good.”
The soldiers then proceeded with the physical examination.
They would touch their bodies over their clothes to see if they had any weapons or other items concealed.
…In addition, the physical examination of women who came to the camp was a bit of fun for the soldiers.
“Wait a minute! Don’t touch me so freely!”
The older sister protested and backed away to escape the evil hands.
” I’m sorry. But, you know, we can’t let you bring in weapons, so we have no choice but to check you.”
“That’s right. If you don’t want to be suspected, you’ll be searched.”
“…I understand.”
The soldiers carefully rubbed the body of the girl who seemed to be unwillingly.
It took about twice as long as a normal physical examination, but finally it was over.
“How was it?”
“… I guess that’s what you call a washboard.”
“Kahaha, I’m sorry.”
“Farmer’s potato girls are stiff, aren’t they? I guess I’ll have to get a businesswoman for my next off-duty day…”
The men laughed and whispered to each other.
There were no soldiers here with that kind of taste, so the sister was done quickly.
Incidentally, she had magically shut off her sense of touch, but that was another story.
“All right, go in. When you get inside, go straight to the right. Don’t look around too much. Follow me.”
“Understood.”
The makeshift gate creaked open and one of the gatekeepers led the girls through.
They had just arrived at the tent of the Transportation Corps, which was inspecting the goods to be purchased.
“Is there anyone? A farmer who came to sell food…”
As he was saying that, he heard a watery thud and a splash, and turned to see a pile of bodies.
The bodies were piled up.
At least a hundred corpses.
There were piles and piles of skeletal corpses in armor and decomposing remains.
There should have been nothing like this before, but there it was.
“Wha…!?”
“≪Create Undead≫”
The younger girl chanted a spell, and the swarm of corpses took up arms and rose to their feet.
“I’ll give you hungry folks a hearty feast. Despair.”
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