Chapter 3: 3

Chapter 3 – The Mighty Froysel Empire

On Lute’s order, the fifty-three men who had volunteered to join the troops gathered in the square inside the fort. The sight of fifty-plus soldiers lining up without any disorder was truly spectacular. They were, after all, men of valor who had willingly stayed behind to die for Lute. Even their facial expressions were different from ordinary soldiers.

Standing in front of them, Lute once again strengthened his resolve. These men had such spirit and loyalty. There was no way he was going to let them die for nothing, or let them bear the disgrace of having abandoned their homeland and lead them into exile.

With that resolution in mind, Lute slowly opened his mouth in front of them.

 

“Well then, gentlemen. … No, weirdos who remain in this place of your death for the sake of a lazy bastard. Thanks for gathering all here. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d be here, but I’m really impressed that you didn’t get scared off at the last minute and lose your numbers.”

“Your Highness is as sarcastic as always!”

“Can’t you talk to people without resorting to sarcasm!?”

“Shut up! We’re caught in such a stupid situation, you know!? You have to be sarcastic to get by!”

“““That’s for sure.”””

 

As soon as Lute shouted, all the gathered soldiers burst into laughter.

This was a spectacle that would be unthinkable in an ordinary army, interrupting Lute, a commander from the royal family, with teasing remarks and making a joke out of it. However, Lute, who had never considered his status to be all that important, felt that this was much better rather than being spoken to in a stiff and formal manner, and was therefore extremely tolerant of this kind of verbal exchange.

So, after the soldiers had gotten their fill of laughter, Lute decided to get down to business.

 

“As I was saying, the situation is as bad as it gets. The original ａｓｓｈｏｌｅ who caused the problem died shortly after provoking the monster nation. The only ones left are the monster – the empire – whose eyes are gleaming at the perfect bait that suddenly appeared in front of it, and the bait – our country – who is about to be eaten up because of the imprudent thinking of a pathetic fool.”

 

Lute’s grand irony was, sadly, a perfect representation of reality.

The local army led by Margrave Rize, who started the whole thing, was destroyed in less than a day by the Empire’s retaliatory invasion. The Margrave was reported killed in action, and his territory was being taken over by the Empire at a frightening pace. And the Empire, who now had a justifiable reason for the invasion, would not stop its momentum until it had swallowed all of Land.

On the other hand, the Land Kingdom had no means to resist the Empire. In terms of military power they were overwhelmingly outnumbered by the Empire, and even if they were to ask other countries for reinforcements, the Empire was the one with the just cause for invading. If they were to send reinforcements in such a situation, it would be as if they would ourselves become fodder for the Empire. Even if the Empire didn’t have justice on their side, none of the friendly nations to the Land Kingdom that we could request reinforcements from had the military power to fight the Imperial Army. … In the first place, even if we did ask for reinforcements, the possibility of the Land Kingdom to still be in existence by the time they arrived was basically zero.

“Anyway, I’m going to explain how the ““Empire”” is dangerous, as well as give an analysis of the strength of the Imperial Army. … Well, you probably know most of this already, but it’s also a way for us to share and confirm information, so shut up and listen.”

“““Yes, sir!””

 

After confirming that everyone had agreed, Lute began to speak about everything he knew about the Empire.

 

“The Empire, officially named ‘Froysel Empire’. It’s a monster nation that, excluding the lands unexplored by humans, controls a quarter of this continent in land area alone. Including its vassal nations, its influence may extend to nearly half of the continent. In terms of national power, military power, and technological power, it is a superpower unrivaled by any other.

 

“In case you’re wondering, the land area of the Land Kingdom is about one-tenth to one-twentieth that of the Empire. Although it was regarded as one of the top small nations because of its fertile lands and rich ore resources, it’s still incomparable to the continental champion.

 

“The main reasons that the Empire, which is a world apart from our own in terms of national power, is a threat can be summed up in three main areas.

 

‘The most advanced magic system on the continent’

 

‘The best industrial technologies on the continent’

 

‘Possessing superior military strength in a single horseman that matches the strength of an entire army’

 

“Those are the three threats.”

 

With that said, Lute began listing each of the threats’ characteristics one by one.

 

“Let’s start with the first one. ‘The most advanced magic system on the continent’ is the result of the compilation of magic worked on by the previous emperor and his predecessor in his later years. In the empire of those days, and incidentally in most countries even today, ‘magic’ is considered a secret technology that has been passed down only within one’s clan. This is mainly due to the fact that magic can perform miracles that ordinary people can’t perform, and those who were once powerful insisted on it to justify their privileged status.

 

“On the continent, it’s known as the ‘Magical Nobility Theory,’ and even today it’s an argument that has deep-rooted support among the race of people known as the Noble Race. In short, they make claims like, ‘We who are able to use magic and perform miracles that ordinary people are unable to do, are obligated to subjugate and lead those ordinary people. Therefore, this symbolic magic should only be handled by those chosen for it,’ and justify keeping their magic a secret by saying that they’re a privileged class.

 

“Well, that’s the official reason they give but in reality, the rulers and magic users probably want to avoid mixing with other people and diluting their blood, since magical talent is often hereditary and passes down the blood line, and it would be troublesome for the number of magic users to increase in the event of a rebellion or such.”

 

Still, the truth was that a good number of the Noble Race were the annoying kind that wholeheartedly believed their own justification.

 

“Your Highness is a part of the ruling class, right? Is it really okay to be saying all this?”

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“I’m not involved in any work that relates to ruling others, so it’s fine. I’m not involved in most work, to be honest.”

“That’s why they call Your Highness incompetent…”

“Even if you’re excellent, it’s only proper to be considered incompetent if you don’t do your job…”

“You fool. It would be more troublesome if the ones low in the succession rank were not competent at all, right?”

“I guess that’s true, but…”

 

Well, in fact, the reasons he gave them were just a front, and in truth he was just slacking off. Basically, it was in Lute’s nature to be lazy.

 

“Anyway. Our next door’s great former emperor and his predecessor smashed away this belief that rulers had thought of as common sense. With their two generations of terrible political skills, they suppressed the opposition and forced the disclosure of information on magic that every single Noble family in the empire had kept secret, and actively researched lost magic and gathered magic users who had drifted away or been banished from their hometown. The culmination of these efforts was the creation of a new academic system called ‘Sorcery’. As a result, the skills of the empire’s ‘sorcerers,’ or magic users as they’re called in other countries, rose dramatically.”

Magic, which had long been kept secret within the family, was systematized as sorcery and refined to a frightening degree. From the information gathered about their magic, all excess was eliminated in training, effective training methods were shared, and new ideas were born.

 

Furthermore, even though it was conditional on belonging to a special faculty, since the range of the sorcery to learn had become much bigger the number of sorcerers themselves had increased. As a result, people hidden in the countryside who were, as if due to mutations, overflowing with magical talent, were discovered one after the other, and the empire quickly gained the status of a magical superpower on the continent.

 

“There are still quite a few magic users in the military, but this trend will probably not stop. If we’re unlucky, one out of every ten soldiers in the army is going to be an advanced magic user, which for anyone from the outside will mean the completion of an army straight out of a nightmare, right?”

“… That’s certainly very scary.”

“Most regular countries use magic troops as their trump cards, you know.”

“I think it’s downright dirty to have at least one magic user in every unit. While we’re here doing our best with swords and bows, they’re firing guns and cannons and on top of that their bloody magic?”

 

Perhaps remembering the previous clash, which was a one-sided overrun, the soldiers began to speak out in fear.

The fact was that magic users were the most fearsome beings on the battlefield. Firearms were the most destructive weapons on the battlefield, but it took a high level of technology to manufacture them of a quality that could be used on the battlefield. It was impossible to produce effective numbers of such weapons for the battlefield without possessing a certain amount of national power, and swords and bows were still the main weapons of war in small countries. In such a situation, it was nothing but a nightmare for a mere man to unleash a long-range attack that could blow away several people at once at any given moment, or to go on a rampage with a rock-crushing strength. Magic users were the decisive battlefield weapons for nations that lacked firearms, and it was the empire that had a large number of those decisive battlefield weapons all lined up.

 

“Well, the first reason alone makes it obvious that we shouldn’t fight the empire, but unfortunately we’re not done yet. Which brings me to threat number two. ‘The best industrial technologies on the continent.’ The difference in technological prowess is frightening in itself. After all, they can produce all of their own firearms, which are known as high-end products. Furthermore, a new technological revolution that combines magic and industry has appeared, which means nothing but terror to other countries. … But to be fair, that’s just something I’ve heard through the grapevine and I don’t know much about it. Anyway, I’ve tried to summarize the information I’ve heard and investigate it, but it seems that they’re doing a wide range of experiments and discoveries, such as activating magic without needing a person to do it, increasing the effectiveness of magic, and combining phenomena brought about by magic with physical phenomena.”

 

With that said, Lute ended his explanation. No matter how intelligent he was, it was impossible for him to accurately grasp the unique technology of another country, especially technology that he had never laid eyes upon and only knew about through rumors. The best he could do was to let his fantasies take wing and call it an analysis.

 

“Is Your Highness really this scared even when Your Highness doesn’t know the details?”

“Unknown technology is a threat in and of itself, you idiot. Frankly speaking, according to the rumors, the technology of the empire is extremely advanced. Don’t tell me it’s just a stupid rumor, okay? The difference between the Imperial Army and this nation’s army is obvious just from the equipment that we saw during the last clash. There’s not only a gap in terms of technology, but also in terms of our culture! Can you guys defeat an army clad in iron weapons and armor with only wooden clubs, spears, and pitchforks?”

““It’s impossible!!””

“That’s what I mean. And this analogy can really be applied to our situation with the empire.”

 

In all seriousness, the empire was not only ahead of its time, it was full on living in the future. This technological revolution would eventually spread throughout the continent, but it was extremely likely that by that point, the empire would be even further ahead. At worst, the empire could be two or three generations ahead of the latest technology in other countries.

 

“And finally, the third one is the most important of them all. ‘Possessing superior military strength where a single horseman matches the strength of an entire army’. The most powerful and renowned magic user in the empire, ‘The God of Flame’. A magic user recognized by the empire, the birthplace of sorcery, who uses ‘magic’ in the true sense of the word, and which cannot be classified as sorcery. There are currently only two such magic users on the continent, and they are capable of defeating armies and nations on their own. In other words, as magic users, they possess the rank of ‘demi-gods’.”

 

‘Demi-god’. The term referred to the super-powerful magic users on this continent who had been recognized by the Froysel Empire and Romas Republic, which was a continental powerhouse equal to the Empire.

 

── ‘The God of Flame’ of the Froysel Empire turned the battlefields of enemy armies into scorched earth with a single magic spell.

 

── ‘The Apostle’ of the Romas Republic transformed, with a prayer that reached everyone, pious soldiers into tenacious soldiers of god with unparalleled strength.

 

Although different in type, both had super-powerful fighting capabilities comparable to the heroes of myths and fairy tales. What was most frightening was that, although there may have been some exaggeration, all of these anecdotes were true.

If his demi-god descended on the battlefield, he would bring nothing but despair, and even if he didn’t, one could never rest in peace, and would constantly wonder when he’d appear. With or without his appearance, the empire possessed a terrifying presence.

 

“Still it seems that the God of Flame is not participating in this progression, and there’s no need to worry about that at the end of it. He’s the most important force against the Republic, and can probably not be moved around much. However, under the current circumstances, if he does show up, the war will end in an instant.”

 

That was, of course, in the form of the defeat of the Land Kingdom.

 

“… For now, those are the empire’s dangerous elements. Just to be clear, this is only an analysis of the fighting power of the empire, and even the points I made now are only a part of the story. There are still loads of things to be afraid of, such as the abundance of human resources and a strong political system. To be frank, as someone from a small country who is called incompetent, the country seems immeasurable to me.”

 

Lute muttered to himself, “There’s really nothing to do but laugh, being at war with such a country,” but this time, none of the soldiers made any teasing remarks. Confronted once again with the might of the enemy nation, they could not help but comprehend the fate of their nation, which was “destruction”.

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