A Man Caught In A Whirlpool Of Desire (7)

Meanwhile, Demina, who was staging a situation where she was being chased by knights, could not understand the relaxed man riding on her back.

He had no particular skill to speak of, yet he was so very relaxed that it was almost strange. Just then, Hare looked back as well, and Demina confirmed that she had an expression similar to her own, realizing that she was not the only one feeling something strange.

“Are you not afraid?”

She asked while running, and the voice that came from behind Demina gave an answer that was completely off the mark.

“I think your back is very broad, Demina. It makes me feel quite at ease, I suppose?”

They were words she was grateful for, but… Demina thought that since she was a woman, a reliable-sounding comment about having a broad back was not very appealing.

However, another answer soon came as well.

“I am acting relaxed because I think it is a back that can protect me no matter what happens. Besides, the more relaxed I am, the more their anger will surge.”

“There are quite a lot of them, but it seems only the knights are chasing us. What are you planning to do?”

“Once we reach the destination, the ordinary soldiers will surely enter the fortress as well anyway. The second operation will proceed in time with that, so unless something unusual happens, we will be able to annihilate them.”

“I cannot understand it.”

“We are only going through troublesome measures in order to give them less information anyway. Whether they are annihilated late or annihilated early, the number of enemies who can return must be small. And Duke Balsen must be included among them.”

Demina shook her head as she looked at the lord, who kept showing an obsession with Duke Balsen, and Hare beside her also had an expression that said she could not understand him, so Demina thought they were sympathizing over something useless.

How long had they run like that?

The part where the bridge had been cut off could be seen in the distance, and after confirming it, she spoke to the lord.

“We will reach the destination within five minutes. Did we arrive too quickly?”

“No, it is appropriate. If we have run for about twenty minutes, that is enough. And by now, the Imperial Army should also be entering the fortress and looking through this and that. Though there will be nothing to pick up and eat…”

Everything had already been cleared away except for the buildings. The only things left that could be taken were the feces and urine in the toilets, so I thought they would certainly burst with rage and come along the bridge somehow.

And because there was a certain distance between us, if we used freezing shells to annihilate the knights, the Imperial Army would certainly keep advancing toward us without knowing that the knights had been wiped out.

After that, all we had to do was pour firepower on the target as we had prepared in advance.

Moreover, in order to run away, their best choice would be to jump ten meters down, but that was a height even a well-trained ordinary person could not easily jump from.

Furthermore, even if they found the courage to jump from such a height, the guerrilla unit was also deployed below, so it was correct to see them as having no chance of surviving.

“Once we arrive at the destination, blow the whistle, and we will cross over to the other side.”

After running for a while like that, we were able to reach the location where the bridge had been cut off.

The cut-off distance was roughly around twenty meters, so as I immediately used Construction to create a path only we could cross, Demina strongly blew a whistle that supposedly only beastkin ears could hear, and soon, together with Hare, who was scolding her that it was noisy, we crossed the bridge and used Construction again to erase the path I had just made.

‘I suppose this is the kind of thing that can be done because I have the fraudulent ability called Construction…?’

Honestly, if they were knights, they might be able to push themselves, jump down to the ground, and then climb back up onto the bridge where we were.

However, I wondered whether they would go that far. They had probably felt something unpleasant even while chasing me.

They would be uneasy and even afraid, so I thought it would be cleaner and better to send them off without pain. Decisively, they had no ability to cross twenty meters.

That meant they would naturally have no choice but to stop.

“Now then, shall we pull back a little farther and avoid the damage radius?”

The two women nodded at my words, and since they had already witnessed the power of the freezing shells, they quickly pulled back without hesitation, making a smile naturally form on my face.

‘Please, let it not be painful…’

I thought this was a day when truly many humans had to die.

“Damn it, that dog-like bastard!! How can he sweep everything clean without leaving even a single thing behind!!”

At Duke Balsen’s words as he vented the impression he had while climbing the fortress and looking around, Marquis Islant Bransch was admiring it in a different sense.

“It certainly is amazing. To think he abandoned such an incredible fortress and fled…”

“It must be as you said; he had no spare strength. And he will be trying to pull some trick.”

“That may be so, but what could he possibly do? Did you not say that from here onward, only that vast bridge continues on and on? Even if he proceeded with fortification, he would likely have fortified only this place or the next rest stop.”

“That is true. From what I heard, he prepared a great deal, such as walls and whatnot… but if it is our Imperial Army, we will be able to overcome them sufficiently.”

Just as Duke Balsen was confident, the Imperial Army was indeed an army of strong soldiers. But they were strong soldiers only when they were equipped with sufficient gear, and in reality, Marquis Islant Bransch was now thinking that they had to execute the war quickly no matter what.

First, among the reports he had received, there was one regarding supplies, and he had just been told that nearly seventy percent of their food had been lost.

At least, since many soldiers had died along with it, one could say there was no significant problem with the actual ratio, but Marquis Islant Bransch was seriously wondering whether this was something he should consider fortunate.

“Bring the ladders and advance. And send a messenger to the rear. Tell them to quickly bring reinforcements of two hundred thousand troops and siege weapons!”

“However, if that happens, the attack on the Ishtar region may be disrupted.”

“That place is not important. You saw it as well, did you not? The new weapon that Viscount Ingrad created. We must seize it. If that is possible… we will surely be able to achieve a great dream.”

Marquis Islant Bransch could not know what Duke Balsen was thinking, but he thought the intent behind that thought could never be good. However, the problem was that the marquis too was beginning to take as much interest in the new weapon as Duke Balsen.

Judging from the traces, it had been reported that he had made an explosive magic tool, but such weapons had never been used in the history of warfare until now.

From the very beginning, both Balsen and Marquis Islant Bransch were equally tempted by its unexpected power.

Moreover, the point that they could seize that weapon if this attack succeeded was what appealed most to the two nobles.

With their interests aligning, the two nobles proceeded smoothly and swiftly, and soon Duke Balsen sent messengers running toward the rear and ordered the advance.

Meanwhile, at that time, the knights who had arrived at the cut-off bridge and were glaring at Viscount Ingrad, who was standing far away, could only be dumbfounded.

They could not grasp how in the world he had crossed over. Moreover, although they had not been pursuing him closely, the others had never vanished from their sight, so the knights were even more confused.

“What in the world… is he scheming?”

The one who had run ahead while leading the knights was Viscount Drirong, a vassal of House Giltian, and at his adjutant’s words, he too was just as confused and could not say anything as he looked at Viscount Ingrad.

While he expected that Viscount Muriel had been captured, Viscount Drirong wanted to rescue their lord somehow.

However, he disliked that the situation was not leading into as easy a structure as he had expected.

“Is there a way to cross?”

“….It looks to be well over twenty meters. If we had to make a method… we would have to go down to the ground and climb back up again, but if we do that, we will lose our horses.”

“So in the end, that means there is no answer. He is right before our eyes, yet we must let him go?”

It was something to make one’s anger burst. To put it bluntly, how many people had died or been injured because of that one man?

That was not all. People who could be called treasures of the nation had been captured in large numbers, and even Princess Riana, who was called the future of the Empire, had somehow been captured for reasons that could not be known. From what he had heard, there had been rumors that she had been kidnapped after assassins were brought in.

There was a rumor that the reason Duke Balsen was forcing himself to target the Ingrad Domain was also to build merit by rescuing Princess Riana. The problem was, even if they attempted such an attack, whether Viscount Ingrad would leave them alone when facing death.

“Was this deployment nothing but a war where our defeat was expected no matter what…?”

At Viscount Drirong’s words, his adjutant also looked miserable with a bitter expression. But at that moment, Viscount Ingrad’s voice rang out as if amplification magic had been used.

“If you throw down your weapons and surrender even now, I intend to at least spare your lives. Any knights who will accept my generous offer, please jump down to the ground within one minute.”

Hearing the abrupt proposal, they thought it was absurd, but the adjutant asked with an uneasy expression.

“…Surely he is not going to unleash that terrifying attack again, is he?”

At the sight of the adjutant looking up at the sky and checking the surroundings, Viscount Drirong barked at him and spoke.

“Nonsense! How could a knight of the Empire compromise with death? You said you were Viscount Ingrad!?”

As Viscount Drirong’s voice, shouting with mana imbued into it, spread far away, an answer came back.

“That is right. And you are?”

“I am Viscount Drirong. I am a proud knight of our Empire. Surrender can never exist, and I am a glorious knight who lives by honor and dies by honor!”

“In the end, you are choosing to lose your life to useless stubbornness. Well, I do not think that is bad. But in future history, you will be evaluated as ‘morons.’”

They were harsh and unpleasant words. ‘Morons,’ he said. It was just when Viscount Drirong was about to say something because his feelings were hurt.

“One minute has passed.”

With those short words, he looked around in confusion. That was when something began flying in from all directions at tremendous speed.

And this was the last sight Viscount Drirong saw in this world.

Dozens of freezing shells fell onto the bridge, and the sight they created was brutal. Watching thousands of knights freeze to death in an instant did not feel particularly pleasant, but considering that we had been able to handle it cleanly without missing a single one, I spoke to Demina.

“Leave only the confirmation unit and begin moving. Please tell the guerrilla unit to prepare as well. And Duke Balsen must be thoroughly kept alive. Since he is the most important part of this operation, please tell them there must absolutely be no mistakes.”

Demina and Hare had expressions as if they were sick of hearing me repeat the same order over and over, but I thought they would not disobey my command.