Chapter 101: 101

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“…….”

I gulped. I could intuitively tell that a chaotic battle was now going to unfold.

Both charging at a single point with cavalrymen and attacking from a distance with mounted archers no longer worked. The imperial army has only 2 options left. The first option is to retreat.  There’s no general who would choose to retreat without accomplishing anything or when there’s nothing to gain by retreating. Therefore, they actually have only 1 option left.

A black, shadowy wave approached from the wall of fog along with a piece of refined marching music unique to humans. Different from the noisy clanging of gongs performed by the mountain villagers before, the imperial army performed with horns and drums. The sound of horns resonated all throughout the fog.

“It has begun.”

A close-quarters battle with foot soldiers at the front.

The imperial pikemen formed a line as they slowly approached us. The orc javelin throwers and goblin slingers barraged them relentlessly. However, they would lose their strength since their projectiles would collide at least once against the many pikes being held up. Similar to how the ripples in a lake would calm down after a while, the imperial soldiers didn’t budge at all by our ranged attacks. Damn it.

It was at that moment that our catapults set up in the back were used. They were the very catapults that caused us quite a lot of trouble back on the Black Mountains. They sacrificed range for power, and instead of being used for sieges, they were perfect for night battles like this. General Zepar had taken all of the catapults from the fortresses for this very moment.

10 boulders flew across the sky at the same time. They flew beyond the fog and bombarded the enemy below. Due to the characteristic of pikemen, they were advancing in rather compact formations, and these types of formations are extremely weak to bombardment. Cannons haven’t been developed in this world yet, but catapults were a pikeman’s worst nightmare.

“Guaaah!”

“D-Dodge them!”

“Don’t dodge them! You fuckers, don’t leave your positions!”

Large boulders swept away imperial pikemen wherever they landed. Not only were they suffering from a substantial loss, but they were also experiencing psychological atrophy. Imagine, boulders were falling like meteors from the foggy sky. There are only an extreme few people who could maintain their composure and stay in formation when boulders are falling from the sky.

Laura made a simple evaluation. 

“Hm, their mistake was using all of their catapults in order to hold our left wing and center army down.”

“They wound up losing strategically after stubbornly pursuing a tactical victory.”

The imperial army naturally also has catapults; however, since it’s difficult to use catapults due to their limited vision in the fog, they decided to use them to fire relentlessly towards the left wing and center army of the Demon Lord army for the sake of holding them down. The imperial army accomplished their goal, but at the price of being bombarded by us right now. All tactics have their pros and cons.

I calmly observed the enemy troops before clicking my tongue.

“Tsk.”

I was hoping that the catapults would have a better effect at ruining the enemy’s formation. My hopes were easily betrayed. The imperial army panicked, but their formation didn’t collapse. They maintained their pace as they gradually encroached on our position. These crazy bastards.

“The same thing happened with the soldiers back at the fortresses. Is the imperial army full of only superhumans? They never back down. This goes against common sense.”

“They are most likely regular troops and not conscripted soldiers. It is widely known that the regular troops of the Habsburg Empire are brave. ……They might even be soldiers under Margrave Rosenberg’s direct control. Soldiers that have constantly trained under the pretext of protecting mankind. They are not like normal soldiers.”

“Damn mankind.”

I growled.

“For mankind. To protect mankind. These are all catchphrases that reek of rot. Allow me to tell you the truth, Laura. You cannot possibly move a large number of people if there is nothing to gain. The Habsburg Empire provided their soldiers with proper bait for the sake of this expedition of theirs.”

All things considered, I’m the one who brought upon this war. Since several months ago, I’ve been utilizing the Keuncuska Firm’s information network to get a firm grasp of what was happening throughout the continent. I even know what sort of propaganda the leading members of the Habsburg Empire used.

“Since the start of this year, every nation throughout the continent has begun to harvest black herbs in mass. And yet, the commoners are still dying to the Black Death. Do you know why? It is because they are giving black herbs to their armies first. Black herbs are being grown by every governmental body. They have plenty to spare even after treating all of their regular soldiers. Despite this, they refuse to open their storages……They are telling the people to join the army if they wish to receive black herbs!”

There is no nation that goes to war with only their regular soldiers. In this era, conscripted soldiers are made into pikemen and used as meat shields. When trying to draft more soldiers, not only do they have to face the strong dissatisfaction and resistance from the villages they visit, but they use up a lot of time traveling to each and every village in the region. A majority of the nations decided to use black herbs as bait to make the people come and apply by themselves.

In the end, people put their villages behind them and walked towards the army assembly places for the sake of obtaining black herbs. For the sake of bringing medicine to their families. For the sake of protecting their villages. Many sick people put their last hopes on the line to crawl there. However, the sick would rarely make it all the way through the long journey. They would often die on the road. In every corner of the continent, the sick were going on a pointless venture…….

“Something like the protection of mankind is nothing more than a pretext. If those lords responded properly in the beginning, then that would have drastically decreased the number of commoners plagued with the Black Death. They cultivated black herbs with the money paid by taxpayers, but that was no longer enough as they began to threaten the people to join the army if they wished to get their hands on black herbs. All of the responsibility and suffering were passed on to the people. To call that for the sake of mankind……There is no bullshit as great as this!”

Margrave Rosenberg was the same. He made sure to give black herbs to his cavalrymen and elite knights. This is the reason why barely any of his elite soldiers deserted after the Margrave lost his land while retreating. He had shown them kindness.

From the margrave’s perspective, this was most likely a wise decision, but what about his remaining people? He threw them away under the justification of protecting mankind. Who is this humanity for? People will naturally begin to ask this. If commoners don’t exist in the mankind that the empire and the margraves want to protect―then there’s only one mankind left. A nation for aristocrats. The royal family. What kind of mankind is that!? The commoners most likely want to spit on their faces.

This is why it didn’t take much effort for the commoners to switch from serving aristocrats to Demon Lords.

Under my instructions, our 6th legion distributed black herbs, the same black herbs that the margrave refused to give out. The Keuncuska Firm had formed contracts with herb farms and began to grow black herbs in large numbers since last year. According to my contract with the firm, I own about 5% of all the black herbs they grow. That’s what I distributed. The families that had death waiting at their front doors were saved. The commoners praised our army. They voluntarily accepted Commander Barbatos as their new earl……Who protected mankind?

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In the end, the Habsburg Empire put forward a justification that only served as lip service as they deluded the world and deceived the people. I will destroy that façade of theirs.

Not yet, but not too far in the future either. Crushing the pride of the strong who put forward their justification as these guys do is something that I enjoy doing the most. I really look forward to that day.

Laura made a troubled face once she saw my expression.

“Mm. Your Lordship is thinking of something bad…….”

“Please do not slander me. No other Demon Lord thinks of pure and bright thoughts as much as I do.”

“I feel like I just heard a word that does not fit Your Lordship one bit, did this young lady hear wrong?”

“You misheard it. A complete misunderstanding.”

Laura let out a breath from her nose as she smirked. It seems that her respect for her lord was gradually fading. Was this truly not a cocky and impious vassal? Once this battle is over, I’m going to have to patiently teach her the courtesy between a sovereign and their subject on top of a bed.

“Grrhhkkb!”

“Push! Push them back!”

The orc spearmen and the imperial spearmen finally collided. It was a dogfight. Even though the other side were obviously holding out their spears, they had no other choice but to dive into the swamp of spearheads. In this situation, the side that naturally had an advantage was the side with the longer spears. In terms of length and thickness, the spears used by orcs were far superior to that of human spears.

In order to make up for this disadvantage, the imperial army used dismounted cavalry knights. Knights holding two-handed swords instead of lances stood in front of their spearmen. They cut down the orcs’ spears with their aura swords and struggled desperately to make an opening for their spearmen.

This method was rather effective. Knights are an appropriate counter for ogres and they can also be made to stand between soldiers in order to cut spears. On the other hand, it’s difficult for ogres to be used in such a way because of their massive bodies. The imperial army’s morale increased as the knights cut down the orcs’ spears.

I was waiting for this moment.

I gave an order in my mind. The death knights that were hiding in the orc spearmen’s shadows jumped out as soon as they received my order. Due to the sudden appearance of the death knights, the imperial knights wound up taking a surprise attack. The knights were helpless as they were impaled and killed. 10 imperial knights ate dust as their faces fell to the dirt.

The enemy army immediately sent in another group of knights. The knights charged in bravely in order to fight the death knights even though numerous spears were stabbing at them. I laughed as I watched them.

“A pointless effort.”

I made another command. I told them to submerge themselves. All of the death knights entered their spectral forms as they hid in the shadows again before the imperial knights could reach them. The knights were obviously frustrated as they began to shout about how cowardly we are.

“The greatest compliment one could offer. We win because we are cowardly and they lose because they are not cowardly. The price of defeat is the mass deaths of your elite soldiers. There is no need to discuss which option is more of a virtue.”

“They are most likely not saying that genuinely. ……More importantly, Your Lordship, I do not think those are words someone who claimed to be pure a second ago should be saying.”

“I am purely cowardly.”

I answered frankly. Laura gave me a sour look, but what? It’s not about what you say, it’s how you say it.

The knights stubbornly stabbed at the shadows with their blades, but that was literally a waste of time. They soon gave up and went back to their main task. Earnestly cutting down our spears. Once they did, it felt like the imperial pikemen would overwhelm the Demon Lord army, but―.

“Da capo.”

I hummed merrily as if I were conducting an orchestra. The death knights surged out from the shadows. The imperial knights that were preoccupied with the orc spearmen fell for the surprise attack again. The imperial knights let out a cry as they were struck down. This same scene repeated itself over and over again.

The imperial knights had to constantly be wary of an abrupt assault from death knights while also being stabbed at by a bunch of orcs. This was probably maddening for the knights. They’re already dealing with dozens of spears in front of them, but they also have to worry about the ground under their feet. This is asking for the impossible. In the end, the knights either ran out of their auras and got stabbed by the orcs’ spears or they got slaughtered by a death knight.

Auras aren’t something that can be maintained forever. Only swordmasters could maintain their auras for long periods of time, but these knights had to use their auras if they wished to cut the orcs’ hefty spears. The imperial knights used up their auras at a drastic pace. There was nothing to fear about a knight without any aura. The imperial knights were resolved to die as they kept swinging their two-handed swords endlessly.

The imperial knights were true to their fame as they fought desperately. The orc spearmen had no other choice but to back away because of their valor. 

Exactly 5 meters.

The orcs backed away exactly 5 meters from their initial positions. More than 50 imperial knights died for the sake of 5 meters. If you do some simple calculations, then they have to sacrifice 10 knights per meter.

We don’t know exactly how many knights the imperial army had sent here. However, there was one thing that was certain. A battlefield where they have to sacrifice 10 knights per meter―is definitely not an engagement that’s worth it for the imperial army.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Head empty, no thoughts. This section really is long. Already on the 14th chapter of this part, and there’s still another 3 left. Nothing much else to say since I’m still trying to figure my life out, so I’ll see you guys in the next release.

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