A Man Caught In A Whirlpool Of Desire (5)

The Imperial Army all stared blankly as dark, murky spheres cutting through the air with noise seemed to graze past above their heads.

And the spheres that fell toward their destination froze the entire area solid, bringing down blue death.

“Wh… What in the world… is happening…?”

Duke Balsen, who was staring blankly, could not help but flinch in shock at the chill he suddenly felt. On top of that, he could not believe the fact that the mages waiting in various places were being helplessly struck down without even being able to do anything.

The enemy had cleverly avoided the magic forces and attacked while targeting only the ordinary troops.

“Gr… Grasp the situation! Hurry!!”

As people hurried back and forth around him at the urgent shout, he turned his gaze and looked at the leader of the mages.

“Sir Damush, if you have a mouth, try speaking.”

“According to the prior investigation… there were only two mages… that was the situation reported to us. This is impossible…”

After glaring at Damush, who was flustered and merely prattling on about what everyone already knew, Duke Balsen immediately climbed onto the siege vehicle set up for command and looked around. What entered his eyes was hell.

“….Is this… a dream…?”

It was an unbelievable sight. That was because the number of soldiers burning to death and soldiers who had frozen to death looked to be well over one hundred thousand. It was an unbelievable result for something that had happened in barely even an hour since the fighting began in what was called a war.

On top of that, the ones who had rushed into the forest came fleeing out of it as if being chased by something, and watching them sprint out bare-bodied after throwing away weapons and everything else made his head complicated.

He could not tell what in the world was happening. Moreover, the only enemies he had seen were the group atop the strongpoint that doubled as a rest stop and had been turned into a fortress, so Duke Balsen could not understand where, what, or how things had gone wrong.

At that moment, Marquis Islant Bransch approached beside him, let out a small exclamation, and spoke.

“Could it be… that we knew far too little about the enemy…?”

Duke Balsen thought it was far too late a realization, and he felt like hurling every curse he could at the hateful silhouette presumed to be Viscount Ingrad, who was leisurely looking this way right now.

“As expected… it is excessive. But the efficiency is lower than when it was used at sea, is it not?”

Demina and Hare, who were listening to an impression that seemed to carry no particular emotion, smiled bitterly. An immense number of lives had disappeared in an instant before their eyes.

Demina and Hare felt the human standing beside them, who had thought up something so tremendous, seemed unfamiliar, but apart from that, another impression came.

“I do think freezing to death in an instant would be easier than burning to death, but the problem is that its efficiency is low… I suppose?”

Hare asked a question upon seeing the lord pondering something.

“There are still many things yet to be shown… but you are not thinking of using all of them, are you?”

“I think there is no need to give them any more warning. Since they have already had a terrible experience from the mana cannons and bombardment shells alone, let us wage the war using only firearms at the end.”

“It seems things like hand grenades were used as well, though?”

“Hmm, those can be called a type of weapon for close combat. The production cost is low and the efficiency is high, so let us use those. And since the damage radius is only fifteen meters, the fear the enemy feels should be less.”

Demina wondered if that was truly the case.

She was in the middle of thinking that. To put it bluntly, Demina wondered whether something falling from the sky or bombs suddenly flying in at tremendous speed would really be less frightening.

“I understand that two rounds have been supplied to each soldier, but they will not be able to use many of them, so it would be good to use them as strategic weapons. Besides, this is at the commander’s discretion, so there may be cases where they are not used.”

“But in this situation, would it not be better to simply pour firepower on them and deal with them all at once?”

“I have no intention of letting Balsen and the noble trash escape. So I intend to draw them in and wipe them out in one swoop. And high-ranking nobles will surely have sufficient value as prisoners. However… I intend to release only Duke Balsen.”

“Why are you showing Duke Balsen such favoritism?”

After hearing Hare’s question, her lord, who smiled faintly, began to laugh. Then he began giving one example.

“Long ago, there were people who very much liked invading. One commander of that people was an incredible human being, enough to make one shudder with how incompetent he was. At least through the political sense and reputation he had built up in ordinary times, he was able to become commander-in-chief, and he conducted war while commanding the occupying army, but that man’s thinking was not normal.”

“In what sense?”

“First, he acted in a way that ignored the necessity of supplies. He said that supplies should simply be procured locally.”

Hare and Demina wore expressions of disbelief, and he merely smiled at the looks on their faces and continued speaking.

“On top of that, after mobilizing things like oxen and horses as transport to move weapons, he left behind a famous remark that they could just slaughter and eat them while hastily procuring replacements. But if that method could truly have worked, that would have been one thing… He neglected to manage those livestock through forced marches and the like, and as a result, the livestock began dying, and problems started occurring.”

“My goodness…”

“That was not all. Once the livestock died off like that, what should they have done when their means of transport disappeared?”

“Surely… the soldiers?”

“Correct. They made the soldiers carry the loads. And so the military operation, which required them to advance a set distance each day, no longer proceeded as intended. The operation went awry like that, and gaps appeared. And that was not all.”

The lord continued speaking with a serious expression in response to Demina and Hare’s question asking what else there could have been.

“The soldiers were exhausted too. Naturally, they began lightening their loads by secretly throwing away supplies. On top of that, what happens when there is no livestock?”

“The supplies…”

“Correct. The supplies disappeared too. So they began eating grass in the fields, dying, or suffering problems. All kinds of epidemics ran rampant, and in the end, nearly one hundred thousand soldiers were reduced to around ten thousand without a single battle and were defeated. I understand that among them, there were not even three thousand soldiers who were still in decent condition.”

He finished off as he looked at the two women, who wore expressions of cultural shock.

“What that general said when he died was truly something. Do you know what it was?”

“….What was it?”

He even opened his mouth to Demina and Hare, who looked as though they were now too dumbfounded to be shocked any further.

“He supposedly said he had done nothing wrong and that it was all his subordinates’ fault. Is it not wonderful? A commander’s incompetence sometimes acts very beneficially for one’s allies. That is why I intend to keep Duke Balsen alive.”

When the two women, wearing complicated expressions, could say nothing and looked confused, he first shouted to the surroundings for the work that had to be done.

“Please secretly withdraw to the rear in order. And relay this to the guerrilla unit. Could you tell them not to engage the enemy too excessively?”

I saw several beastkin run off quickly.

“Now then, let us try playing an amusing game.”

“What… are you going to do?”

“We are going to open the gate. Wide open.”

“…Were you not planning to make the enemy come over?”

“The firepower of the mana cannons was too strong, so the enemy is frightened. So I think we need to provoke Duke Balsen.”

“….Do you think the enemy will withdraw like this?”

“I expect they will withdraw if they are shocked one more time. So we need to stimulate them in order to draw them in. It is an act that was not planned… but it will not cause any disruption to the schedule.”

Then I went down from the fortress and used Construction. After opening the entrance leading into the fortress wide, I began descending the ramp with Demina and Hare in tow.

At my action, the beastkin looked at me with worried expressions, but I told them.

“Please move one thousand-man unit at a time to the planned operation site in ten-minute intervals. That is an order.”

A short while later, after descending the ramp, I settled down at a position where the siege vehicle was visible fairly far away, made a chair with Construction, and sat there.

Then I tried to meet eyes with Balsen, who I expected would be there, and Hare asked.

“Will this… provoke him…?”

“With Duke Balsen’s pride, it will provoke him enough. Besides, the enemy leader has appeared so openly and is clearly provoking him, so if he does not respond, Duke Balsen’s command ability will be doubted. It is already a complete mess… but will he not come?”

She wore an expression that said she did not quite understand. But I was certain Duke Balsen would mobilize knights to capture me.

That was because if knights ran at full strength, it would not take long for them to reach this place. At that time, I intended to ask Demina for help and run up the ramp, then keep luring them while maintaining a visible distance from them.

‘If he were a truly wise commander, he would not enter the fortress interior. Literally, if they were to suffer concentrated fire inside, then no matter how many troops they had, they would have no choice but to suffer enormous damage…’

If it were me, I absolutely would not enter the fortress and would instead move the army into the forest as it was and make them advance.

The point was that I would judge this fortress to be a trap and ignore it.

To put it bluntly, all he had to do was assign only enough restraining troops so we could not come out from the fortress and continue his advance.

But what about Duke Balsen?

‘He will definitely chase me. Because he must believe the Imperial knights are strong.’

I had no doubt that Duke Balsen, who had not yet grasped what the real problem was, would make a foolish choice, and I thought he would definitely act once the battlefield was more or less cleaned up in order to make up for his mistake.

Since the Imperial Army was currently prioritizing organizing the surroundings, I simply spent the time leisurely, talking with Hare and Demina.

“This is composure that does not suit a battlefield.”

“No matter how much it is me, I cannot deal with every situation.”

I nodded at Demina’s words.

“I know. I do not intend to make you deal with everything, and I do not intend to drag out this war either.”

“Then what will you do?”

“I intend to make an example of the soldiers who have invaded now. They will suffer damage close to annihilation, and the survivors will carry stories of our domain to the outside world. And around that time, the news Linda is preparing will strike the continent.”

“….What are you trying to do?”

“I have prepared something interesting. Well, for those who already know, it will not be particularly special news.”

The two women shook their heads at the sight of my meaningful smile.