Episode 80
* * *
The kingdom was burning.
But the plundering taking place across the island of Britannia was no longer ‘the work of a single deserter’.
There were no such things as deserters from the beginning. It was just a camouflage of the imperial army to disperse the kingdom’s forces.
Moreover, the fleet carrying 20,000 imperial troops did not cross the Strait of Calais and return to the continent.
The kingdom was at peace as the empire withdrew.
The fleet turned its bow and spread out along the outskirts of Britannia, taking control of the main landing sites in each area, and immediately afterwards, a large-scale plundering of the entire island by a large force of Imperial troops began.
That’s what war is.
Kill and kill, steal and be stolen. Kill before you die, or steal before it’s stolen.
And around that time, heavy rain began to pour down across the entire kingdom of Britannia.
* * *
It was raining.
“If we die, we die in place!”
In the pouring rain, the Black Armor Company shouted at the approaching cavalrymen.
On both wings, the Imperial longbowmen built barricades by driving stakes in, and the Imperial cavalry was also ordered to dismount and fight alongside the Black Armor Company’s heavily armored infantry.
A large, unbreakable structure.
In the pouring rain, the Imperial Army deploys its troops to guard the hill.
Between the two sides, deep mud blocks the way, thanks to days of heavy rain.
Immediately afterwards, the cavalry of the Britannian Kingdom’s army attempted a simultaneous charge.
The kingdom’s mobile strike force to stop the imperial army’s plundering and quickly destroy the enemy. In any case, as long as the imperial army is not gathered together and is scattered and plundering in various places, they will be no match for the kingdom’s cavalry, which has the upper hand in terms of type and mobility.
It should have been so.
“Sweep away those imperial bastards!”
Immediately afterwards, in front of the charging cavalry, in the dense formation of the Black Armor Company.
The black surcoat of the ‘Black Prince’ began to flutter, gathering black magic along the tips of his fingers.
“Black barrel, Gatling type, 5.56x45mm.”
A living, writhing evil was shot.
By deliberately increasing or decreasing its power.
Dale’s purpose was not to annihilate the cavalry. There were several reasons.
The enemy cavalry is too numerous to be wiped out with just one Dale spell. And sometimes, ‘leaving them alive’ can have a greater effect than killing them.
But above all, he needed a victory that was not achieved through his own efforts alone, but rather through moving the military.
Death swept in. A hail of shadowy bullets. Armor pierced, skulls shattered, blood, brains, and intestines splattered.
“What the heck is that… … !”
“That’s it, that’s the magic of the ‘Black Prince’… … .”
“We are going to die, we are all going to die!”
Fear spread like a plague among the cavalry.
“Retreat, retreat! Everyone, turn your horsemen!”
The cavalry that took charge of the first assault broke their ranks and collapsed.
“Second line cavalry, charge! Cover the retreating cavalry!”
Immediately after that, the rear cavalry, which was attempting to charge one after another, got entangled with the retreating cavalry that had charged ahead and got stuck in the mud.
In the mud and mud that has been sloshing around due to the heavy rain that has been falling for several days, retreating and advancing soldiers are caught up together.
They bumped into each other, pushing and falling in the sticky mud.
Mud sticks to the highly absorbent steel plates of their plate armor, dragging them around their ankles like a swamp.
The swamp of death.
In order to escape from that swamp, the knights stretched out their arms to their comrades like water ghosts. They pulled each other, and it was not uncommon for them to be crushed to death by the weight of their armor. The enemy’s strength, which was several times greater, was being destroyed.
The same tactic that the Holy Virgin used to defeat an Imperial force nearly four times her size.
“… … .”
Dale watched his enemies’ self-destruction indifferently.
“How are you?”
After watching, he opened his mouth. Towards the ‘captive’ who was keeping silent beside him.
“Is this the ideal kingdom that Lady Aurelia hopes for?”
“… … .”
The swamp of death. There were knights of the kingdom struggling in that swamp.
The virgin Aurelia was also there.
In front of that hell where the knights of the kingdom were dying helplessly, I was in a position where I couldn’t even move a finger due to the binding magic of the white magicians. I bit my lips helplessly.
It wasn’t a form of restraint that was easy to understand, like handcuffs or chains. But Aurelia was now just a ‘helpless maiden’.
The daughter of a serf who had no choice but to watch the destruction of her country.
“The time has come.”
Dale opened his mouth as he saw the enemy cavalry in shambles in the mud.
“Kill them all.”
As if to show off the cruelty and notoriety of the ‘Black Prince’.
“It is the captain’s order!”
“Kill them all!”
The Black Armor Company, which had been building a dense formation, finally began to move. Five hundred heavy armored cavalrymen who existed solely for Dale.
Immediately afterwards, Dale gave orders to the rest of the Imperial forces.
“Move the knights in the first row onto their war horses and charge.”
“Prepare for a surprise attack from the enemy’s special forces.”
“Archers, take your positions behind the barricades, but hold your fire.”
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Commands given precisely at the right time and place.
The dismounted knights of the Imperial Army, who had been blocking the enemy cavalry’s charge together with the Black Armor Company, mounted their war horses waiting in the rear. To begin the encirclement maneuver according to Dale’s orders.
“Charging!”
It wasn’t exactly a victory achieved by overcoming overwhelming odds.
Even if there was a difference in the number of troops by several times, it would not have made a difference. The enemy was feeling anxious, and this side also had the luxury of taking advantage of the geographical advantage.
It was a battle we had no choice but to win.
It’s easy to win a battle you have to win.
But at the same time, nothing is more important than winning the battles you have to win.
For example, an empire that devoured an army nearly four times larger than the Virgin’s Independence Army, or a idiot who gave away the Bulrock fortress ‘Bell Fort’ for free and devoured half of the army.
That was war, and Dale understood that fact more than anything else. Usually, defeat in war begins with ‘not winning the battles that should have been won.’
“Lady Aurelia had to think.”
Dale opened his mouth blandly, as if to say that this scene was the result of her blindness.
“… … .”
In the pouring rain, the virgin Aurelia quietly bit her lips.
Under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army, the ‘Black Prince’, the Imperial Army was slaughtering the knights of the Kingdom who were struggling in the mud.
* * *
20,000 Imperial troops spread out across the island of Britannia, pillaging and plundering.
Each time, the cavalry that pursued the imperial army was defeated, and the entire kingdom was engulfed in flames of plunder.
It was ‘inevitable’.
Soldiers need to eat to fight. However, the war has been going on longer than necessary, and the Imperial Army’s supplies are also running out.
The large amount of military supplies released to free Philip were also fatal.
Therefore, there was only one easiest way to solve the supply problem in war.
Stealing someone else’s rice bowl is plunder.
* * *
Around that time, an imperial messenger arrived in Rheims, the capital of the Kingdom of Britannia.
The purpose was to deliver a letter from Dale, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army, to King Charles.
And the letter contained just one sentence.
── Si vis pacem, para bellum.
(He who desires peace, prepare for war.)
Around that time.
The Imperial Army also stopped its indiscriminate pillaging throughout the Kingdom’s territory and began to gather at one point to end the war.
The capital of the Kingdom of Britannia, which the virgin Aurelia took over without bloodshed against the Black Prince.
It was Rangs.
* * *
Some time later, in Burgundy, an imperial territory within the island of Britannia.
The virgin Aurelia was in one of the rooms of that very castle.
Although the White Mage’s binding magic was restraining her abilities, she was treated with more courtesy than any other high-ranking noble could ever receive as a prisoner.
“The Imperial Army will soon begin a siege to reclaim the royal capital, Rangs.”
Right there, Dale opened his mouth.
“There is no need for a little mercy.”
To Dale’s words, the virgin Aurelia answered.
That day, I saw the appearance of the Holy Swordsman revealing his ugly desires towards me.
King of Pigs.
Either spend her life as a pig’s sire, or commit suicide before that. That was the ending the virgin should have faced.
“… …Why do you protect me?”
It was the ‘Black Prince’ who prevented that ending, and that’s why the virgin asked back.
“I’m sure there’s something else you want to achieve through me.”
“… … .”
“Do you intend to refute my revelations by submitting me to the Inquisition?”
“If I were to deny the holiness of the Virgin.”
Dale answered.
“There is no surer way than to hand over Lady Aurelia as the sire of that pig.”
That was right.
“Then what do you want from me?”
“I just.”
Dale answered.
“I hope Lady Aurelia will see the end of this war.”
The end of this war.
“The words of one who calls himself a puppet of heaven.”
“… … .”
“And I hope you will think of it as Aurelia’s will.”
“What are you talking about?”
To Aurelia’s question, Dale answered.
“About the true ‘way to save the Kingdom of Britannia’.”
* * *
At that moment, in the cellar of the Burgundy fortress.
“That damn Saxon brat… …!”
The Holy Swordsman, Count Brandenburg, raised his voice in unspeakable rage.
He also knew that his own avatar was the embodiment of unspeakable ugliness.
However, it was the undeniable idea of the Holy Swordsman itself, and in a sense, the pig-headed beast could be said to be his true form.
That is why he tried to get his hands on the ‘virgin’ even if it meant enduring the humiliation. But he failed to get his hands on it.
Thanks to the oath of redemption engraved on his heart.
On that very day, the Saxon darling made a geass by risking his heart and responsibility for the defeat.
‘One, in all future battles and operations, you will absolutely obey my orders.’
‘Two, the treatment of all prisoners taken in this battle will be left entirely to my discretion.’
Could it be that he knew from the beginning that this would happen? Was he, the greatest man in the world, just a piece of chess played in the palm of the ‘Black Prince’s’ hand?
Unbearable humiliation squeezed my heart.
It goes without saying that the complex he had throughout his life was exposed in front of everyone.
Secondly, among the Knights of St. Magdalene, there is none who does not know the secret.
“Absolutely, absolutely, we can’t let this go on like this… … .”
The Holy Swordsman clenched his lips as he looked at the hilt of the Holy Sword Durandal.
* * *
Ding, ding, ding.
The sound of the battle drum was ringing. It was the sound that announced the beginning of the Siege of Rheims.
20,000 Imperial troops surround the capital of the Kingdom of Britannia.
The ‘Black Prince’ of Saxony was also there.
As the commander-in-chief of a large force of imperial troops, he has a virgin who is a prisoner of war by his side.
“Let’s give the people of Rheims a chance.”
Dale opened his mouth.
“An opportunity… …?”
“Lady Aurelia, please persuade them yourself and persuade them to surrender.”
“… … .”
“I swear on the name of Saxony.”
Dale continues.
“If they surrender obediently and give up Rheims, there will be no more massacres or pillaging by the Imperial Army.”
“Are you asking me to believe your words?”
“You don’t have to believe me.”
Dale answered as if he was okay with it.
“I just want Lady Aurelia to think on her own.”
“… … .”
Silence fell.
“Give me a chance to convince them.”
At the end of the silence, Aurelia nodded and walked away, escorted by Imperial soldiers, towards the capital of her homeland.
It was just then.
“──The wh**e of the empire!”
“It’s a witch! A traitorous witch has appeared!”
“Get out of here, you wh**e of the empire!”
I heard a taunt.
It was not the mockery of the Imperial Army. It was the voice of the people of the Kingdom of Britannia, whom she had to protect.
“Why… … .”
At first, I couldn’t understand what he meant.
“When the Virgin was captured at Orléans.”
It was just then.
“I spread false information.”
Behind me, a voice was heard again.
“The virgin Aurelia betrayed the kingdom and joined the empire in order to survive.”
“… … .”
“It took only a few weeks for them to disprove everything the Virgin had built.”
It’s only been a few weeks.
“Now, in their eyes, the Virgin is nothing more than a traitor who sold her country to the Empire.”
Until the entire kingdom of Britannia turned its back on the banner of savior.
“Was it worth it?”
Dale asked back.
“Becoming a puppet of the heavens, I devoted my all to fight for the kingdom.”
“… … .”
“──Was it really ‘worth it’?”
Dale asked. Aurelia couldn’t answer.
