LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 151
– 1 –
In the inner castle of Siggnon, a city at the rear of the Mathefit Territory, Count Markelia Rub sat on the throne with a shadow cast over her face.
The 40-something noblewoman was facing a significant crisis in the territory she governed.
Still, she maintained her composure as usual.
At least in front of the screams from the vassal in front of her.
“Your Excellency. This is something we cannot overlook!”
One of the retainers shouted in a heated tone inside the conference room.
“How dare they ruin Your Excellency’s property and not even cooperate with the investigation! Do they think an apology will suffice? If you forgive this, everyone will mock us!”
Calls for revenge were rising within the territory due to the death of a girl from their land.
But that wasn’t the only issue.
“urgent report!”
A breathless messenger rushed in.
“Another village has been plundered…! The enemy seems to be mercenaries from the United Kingdom!”
“urgent report!”
Before he could finish, another messenger barged in.
“Military supplies headed from the Grand Duke’s homeland have been damaged…! The culprits are wild monsters!”
Inside, cries for vengeance rang out, while outside, the territory was in chaos from the plunder by hostile mercenaries and the rampaging monsters.
However, Markelia responded calmly.
“We must proceed cautiously with any declaration of war.”
A heavy voice laden with authority.
She carefully selected her words to persuade her retainers while simultaneously confirming the damage to the territory from the letters the messengers provided.
“It’s true that we have a slight edge in justification, but if we recklessly initiate a war and increase casualties, that justification will quickly become meaningless.”
“But Your Excellency…!”
“This is a matter of the country. It cannot be decided by our emotions alone.”
Next came the orders for responding to the mercenary raids.
“I have already sent the knight order. Have they not arrived yet?”
“When they did arrive, it was after the enemy had already struck and retreated…”
“Find them. They can’t have gone far.”
“Yes!”
Naturally, she also came up with an immediate solution to the military supplies issue.
“Request additional military supplies…”
“There are reports that due to the recent monster disturbances, the homeland is preparing a large force, which will cause delays!”
“I see. Then even if the weapons are delayed, request that they at least send supplies first.”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
Markelia’s calmness was expected.
She was a seasoned lord who had maintained the Mathefit Territory for over a decade without issues. Common turmoil could barely shake her.
That is, until the word ‘common’ came into play.
“Urgent, urgent report!!”
The face of the third messenger, who arrived sweating, was extremely pale.
“What is it?”
“A report from the knight order monitoring Damalon!!”
Markelia hastily accepted the letter handed to her by the messenger, which her aide opened and read.
Seeing the aide’s face filled with the same urgency as the messenger’s, her gaze and thoughts sharpened more than usual.
“A large enemy has invaded from the Damalon side. Currently occupying many villages. The knight order is confirming the scale of the enemy while retreating…”
“What!?”
Bang!
This time, she lost her composure. And rightly so, as the situation had far exceeded normal expectations.
Although ethnic sentiments were negative, Markelia privately acknowledged Count Dorian Aisaaf of Damalon.
While he had his insidious traits, she viewed him as a lord who governed his land gently and wisely.
Thus, she had never expected him to initiate a full-scale war without even a hint of ‘etiquette’.
“What kind of rude act is this! To begin a full-scale war without a proper declaration!”
“What…?”
“Those insane people…!”
The vassals around her showed clear signs of panic.
Damalon’s despotic actions had become rare in recent times.
A war that begins recklessly without proper coordination or negotiation was a cultural concept that had disappeared since modern times.
To start a war in such a way was hardly acceptable in current circumstances where nations had grown substantially larger, and on top of that, the continent was unusually stable.
While small scale battles occurred anytime, this was a matter between territories.
Wasn’t it a ‘state matter’, as the Count had said?
“What the…!”
“Your Excellency!!”
Just as the Count and her vassals’ fury was about to explode, a guard, so urgent that he didn’t even think to dust off his muddy shoes, rushed into the conference room.
“A messenger from Damalon has arrived!”
“…What on earth is happening?”
This time, Markelia’s expression turned to one of bewilderment.
Today, it seemed the Damalon side was determined to perpetrate a remarkable affront.
A messenger and an enemy envoy arriving together.
This indicated that the army and the envoy had almost departed simultaneously.
“Quickly, bring him in!”
“Yes!”
Flustered as she was, there was still work to be done.
Bowing her head to follow the Count’s orders, one of her retainers moved away from the table, and the Count walked out of the conference room to receive the enemy envoy.
This envoy wasn’t a ‘guest’ worthy of the reception room given the current situation.
“Baron Ranke of Damalon, I have come to meet Count Rub of Mathefit Territory.”
Seeing the resolute expression on the face of the baron facing her, Markelia shook her head.
“I have no idea what kind of act this is. To send you along with the declaration of war, does Dorian intend to let you die?”
“He probably does. He assured me that he would take care of my family.”
“Ha.”
Letting out a sigh mixed with lament, she shook her head, before accepting the document the envoy had handed over.
“What is this…?”
And once again, her face showed deep bewilderment.
The contents of the document were truly unheard of.
“Your Excellency has vowed not to stop until the perpetrator who dared to kidnap and murder your daughter is found. And that is the will of all the subjects belonging to our Count territory.”
“This is a lie. Who would do such a thing…!”
“The evidence of the lady’s murder was found by the mercenary group that intruded into your territory for a reconnaissance mission. Do you not understand what that means?”
“Ha…”
Markelia pressed her forehead.
She didn’t know what evidence the enemy’s mercenary group had supposedly found while raiding, but if the cold-hearted Count deemed it a sufficiently proper justification even in a state of losing composure, it was undoubtedly valid evidence.
At least, that was what she believed.
The Count realized.
“It seems it’s too late to hold talks.”
If a negotiation were to happen, it would have to be after the enemy’s enraged advance had stopped.
Whether Dorian would stop after a battle was still uncertain, but at the very least, doing nothing now would violate the duties entrusted to them by the state.
That was unacceptable.
The prestige of the state was at stake.
“You will not be able to return to your territory.”
“I am already prepared for death.”
At the baron’s words, the Count shook her head.
“No, I will confine you. We must prove our resolve.”
“Understood.”
After firmly instructing to imprison the baron within her estate and ensure he was not killed, she declared,
“Prepare for war! It’s a full-scale battle! Immediately send out messengers to summons forces from all the lords!”
“Yes! Your Excellency!”
Count Markelia Rub raised her voice, looking around at her comrades.
“Oooh!!”
“Let’s kill them! Let’s kill them!”
As she raised her sword high, cries for battle erupted from all around.
Within the empire that prioritized expansionist policies, many belligerents was present who fully embraced that culture.
In fact, it was rare for a lord like Count Rub to be a moderate.
This was also the reason Count Rub could become the lord of this border territory.
A lord who easily initiates war could never hold a position near the border.
“Let’s make the old monkey of Damalon pay for looking down on our Arilite!!”
And this also meant that once a war had begun, it would not end easily.
Just as someone seemed to hope.
– 2 –
The atmosphere of war was rising between Damalon and Mathefit in the Zenota-Kaisen-Arilite border region.
This war began with a surprise preemptive strike from Damalon, defying everyone’s expectations except one.
“Kill the dogs of the empire – !!!”
Black smoke rising from the ground covered the sky, and blood and yellow flesh flowed across the land.
Most of the villages swept by Damalon’s forces were empty, but not those on the front lines.
“Wow… How much is all of this worth! How much gold is this!”
“P-please don’t do this…!”
“Shut up! I finally get to stretch my legs, don’t ruin it with your bad luck!”
Massacres, rapes, and plunder were taking place all over the place, carried out by the mercenaries forming the army.
Nevertheless, Damalon’s advance was rapid.
It was precisely because their lord’s visible rage was so immense.
“Strike! Burn everything! Kill anyone who resists fiercely! Leave nothing that can’t be carried away!! It’s the Count’s order!”
With the cruel commands of the commander, arrows launched by Damalon’s mercenaries were filled with flames.
Haystacks stored to survive the winter, living spaces of Arilite’s citizens, and granaries where the village taxes were gathered all caught fire.
The labor of farmers for the year and the village’s harvest had all been plundered, only to turn into ashes.
“Captain! At this rate, our army will be isolated! We need to…!”
“We can’t withdraw! If we even delay a little, the Count’s wrath will turn towards us!”
“But…!”
While the mercenaries had strong motivations for plunder, they also feared the punishment from Count Aisaaf.
The sons of his family had received beatings for saying this kind of ‘reckless’ war shouldn’t be continued, and there were rumors that an administrative officer had been hanged.
‘We could easily die by execution!’
If he treated even his family and ministers with such roughness, there was no telling how the Count would respond to the mercenaries’ failures, even if there was a contract.
Yet, if they tore up the contract now, the mercenaries’ trust would sink like a stone.
They had no choice but to follow the orders of the Damalon commander.
“All that’s left is to advance…! Go!!”
The commander of Damalon had bloodshot eyes.
Several territory soldiers mixed among the mercenaries felt the same urgency.
Viola Aisaaf, the daughter of Count Dorian Aisaaf, was beloved by all within the Count’s territory.
She inherited her wise father’s disposition, able to care for the sufferings of the citizens and always treating everyone kindly.
The rumor of losing such a person was enough, even for a moment, to ignite resentment in everyone.
“Stop the enemies!!”
Although they were taken aback by Damalon’s advance, Mathefit’s response was equally swift.
Their main force was a regular army trained by the nation.
Even under such a sudden battle, the soldiers, having undergone sufficient training to maximize their combat prowess, positioned themselves in a reinforced formation with their tower shields to meet the enemy.
“Ensure that the monkeys of Zenota do not step forward even a single footstep!!”
They set up their army in front to block Damalon’s forces spreading out in all directions while immediately introducing all the villages behind to evacuate the citizens.
At the forefront stood the knight order that the Count had trained with great care.
“Charge – !!!”
The cavalry’s charge began as the knights mounted on their horses.
Their thick silver spearheads reflected the sunlight as they bared their teeth, eager for a bloodbath.
Under normal circumstances, there would have been countless victims caused by the silver spears.
However, the casualties on the Damalon side were not as significant as expected.
“Scatter! Scatter!”
The charge with lances at the forefront was effective against the shield formations.
However, the shield formations held little meaning against the mercenaries, who were already scattered and prepared to spread out.
In usual scenarios, they may have been a mismatched mob, but these were veterans who had deeply ingrained their skills in fighting mid-level monsters from the Magical Realm without losing morale.
“Keep walking!”
“They’ll just come towards us on their own!”
Even while dispersing in all directions, some mercenaries calmly threw nets or ropes with hooks to drag down the cavalry on horseback one by one.
Some targeted legs with long polearms while others shot arrows at the gaps in their armor.
Each veteran mercenary was devising tactics based on their own judgment on the battlefield; it was an unpredictable territory for the regular soldiers.
Clang!!
“Damn! Get out of here!”
Most of these attempts were neutralized by the thick armor and well-trained techniques, but they weren’t negligible injuries either.
“Advance – !!”
Eventually, under the commander’s instructions, recognizing that the knight order could not inflict meaningful damage, the soldiers began their advance.
The mercenaries looked pale at the sight of the giant steel porcupine with sharp spears protruding through the gaps in its shields.
“Damn. It reminds me of a shield-wielding ogre.”
“I’m a giant porcupine.”
“Let’s go – !! Let’s tear them apart!!”
A command not to retreat came from the Damalon side as well.
The mercenaries, each wielding different weapons, ran towards the shield formation while launching their own throwing or shooting weapons into the sky.
“Submit, and we will spare your lives!!”
“Shut up – you bastards! There’s no surrender!”
Count Rub’s knight shouted, but all they received in return were venomous shouts.
Now, all that remained on this battlefield was the act of killing each other.
True war had erupted in this world.
It had been almost fifty years since.