Is it stiff (?) I’m bad at writing conversations ...

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Adjacent to the barracks is the headquarters which had regained back its former role. Various tribes and their representatives gathered in the meeting room established on the topmost floor of the six story building.

In front of the people surrounding the table, Ordy was standing straight at ease, the table was shaped like the topography of the map, a diorama of model pieces representing every enemy and friend, their tribe and numbers.

“Then, begin the report.”

A man past middle age who had been sent from the Imperial City to act as a mayor who will manage the politics of this fort city urged Ordy.

“First, the position of the Alwina Army Headquarters is around here when my subordinate scouted it...... they had set a camp here, about an hour by horse from Shrem Village.”

Shrem Village is the name of village where Reona and Rina used to live.

―――― so it is correct to express it with past tense now.

“They are already that near!? Then they could attack this place within the early morning of the day after tomorrow at the soonest!”

The one who had snorted and barked loudly at Ordy’s report was his senior officer, a male Centaur who was the Commander of Citadel Defence Force.

He displayed a muscular human upper body and his lower body had a fairly large horse frame too, being a race much bigger than human beings, his head seemed to be nearly rubbing against the ceiling.

“There should be villages in the area, did they destroy them as well ?”

The person wearing a jet black robe with complex gold-thread pattern asked.

Judging from that person’s voice, you can determine that it was a woman’s voice, but as her face was covered behind the robe, it was hard to discern whether she was an old or a young woman.

Her slender lady-like fingertips knocked on the frame of the topographic map. The colour of her skin was so pale surpassing that of a deadman’s, her skin only had a distinctive bluish-white color without a shred of complexion.

“When we arrived at Shrem Village it was already...... aside from my daughters and another villager, what remained was of catastrophic condition. I would assume that the other villages are in a similar fate.”

“That is a disaster. I am glad that your daughters are safe, but still it is a cruel experience for those young children. After settling down this issue, you should take a break and accompany those children.”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

The tone of the woman in robes was similar to those old fogies than Reona’s vulgarity.

The mayor wore a difficult expression while stroking his goatee that grew from his chin.

“Then it must have meant that the Alwina force was able to procure considerable amount of supplies from the villages they attacked. The villages around this region mostly have food as their special product.”

“The food situation of this city is depending mostly from that area. What is the Imperial City’s thoughts regarding this matter?”

“Originally, this city is a frontline base for anti-Alwina forces therefore, the supply line isn’t being neglected. And to suffice the adequate scale of supplies being transported, the roads had been taken care of as well .”

The one who answered was a nervous young man with glasses, a messenger sent from the Imperial City as a reinforcement.

As a representative of the Belkan Allied Nation’s leader, he had a power much higher than the mayor of this city .

“We don’t have to worry about our supplies right now. What is the exact number of the Alwina force?”

“Yes ―――――― considerably large. According to my subordinate, there are at least two divisions.”

The meeting room was covered in complete silence in an instant, to the extent not even a breath could be heard.

In this world, the allocation of soldiers within a unit was as follows:

A Company consisted of 200 people.

A Battalion consisted of 600 people.

A Regiment consisted of 2,000 people.

A Brigade consisted of 4,000 people.

A Division consisted of 10,000 people.

In other words, according to Ordy’s report, the number of Alwina forces that will attack the fort city of Citadel would amount to more than twenty thousand troops.

“Where on earth could they have gathered all those soldiers from!”

“They had probably hired quite a lot of mercenaries. The Imperial City obtained the information that Alwina had been secretly recruiting all human mercenaries from all regions, with the reward several-fold than that of the market price.”

“After all, they always have a good financial state even in the past. It could have been from the remains of the gold, silver, copper, and treasures from the mines and lands that they have completely robbed when they ruled as a large nation long ago.”

“It is not only just human soldiers. From the report, there are also Orcs and Trolls mixed in their unit.”

“Orcs and Trolls! They are going to be troublesome!”

The one that raised a voice so loud that it could numb the ears, was a short Dwarf with a thick mustache covering his face.

He was not a soldier from the regular unit, but a representative of the voluntary army who had rushed there upon hearing the invasion of the Alwina forces. Wearing a strong, thick chest and shoulder plates, it indeed showed that he was a veteran soldier.

However, because of their racial characteristic and weakness caused by their height that was comparably similar to that of a child, him alone stood on a platform just to be able to peer onto the topographic map. The scene where his manliness was coupled with his atmosphere seemed to be on a mismatch.

The remark of the Dwarf soldier seemed to be the reflection of all the thoughts of the members.

“To think that the Alwina forces employed demi-humans, not to mention they are Orcs and Trolls......”

“What a bunch of bloodthirsty animals! Anyways, their aim is to increase the slaughter for sure!”

In this world, except from the Alwina Kingdom and a minute portion of humans, for the demi-humans and other tribes to co-exists together had become the norm, only Orcs and Trolls remained the representative of demi-humans that was still detested for many years.

They both shared the common point of having hideous appearances. Both carried a large build and their brute strength far surpassed those of humans and other races. They possessed great stamina, and most crucially, a strong impulse for slaughter. Through the ages, there had been many cases where villages and caravans fell as their victim.

What made them even more troublesome was the fact that they were fairly intelligent despite their ferocious nature. They would divide into factions and freely used simple battle tactics to attack. If you become careless, the tables could turn against you. There were past records where people employed Trolls and Orcs into the army where in return, they were given the authority to do as they please in the land seized as a spoil of war.

Be it a man, child, or the elderly, they would be massacred on impulse. If not, they would be eaten alive In the case of young women, they usually would end up being taken away to their base for breeding purposes.

Yes, Trolls and Orcs would take humans and demihuman women alike and impregnate them by force to increase their number.

“In the end, I think they will only be used as sacrificial pawns. Do you know the size of their mage unit?”

“According to the report, their mage unit is no smaller than a battalion. In addition, it is reported that the scale of the Sky Cavalry is of the same size.”

“Another grand scale huh.”

The existence called magicians in this world referred to a person who utilized spirit magic to perform magic canons and other long distance attacks. So to speak, instead of firing with cannons, they are recognized as firing arms using staffs and magic.

Out of two hundred to three hundred people, one would be born with the abilities to manipulate spirits better than the rest. This was the qualities of those that can become magicians.

Regarding spirit magic, there existed a huge wall between human beings, the demi-humans, and other races.

With the exception of Elves who excelled in controlling spirit magic than humans, the demi-humans were unable to release the spirits from their body. That was their one weakness.

To be more specific, even though demi-humans were able to use spirit magic, they can’t use it to attack for long distances as compared to human magicians. The specific cause wasn’t clear.

It was also the very reason that allowed the Alwina Kingdom to be able to oppress the demi-humans despite their superior physical strength, and rule over the majority of the continent.

The spirit magic that the demi-humans were able to use was mainly physical strengthening. Even when their tough physical strength was reinforced, if they were bombarded one-sidedly with long range attacks, there was no way that they could win.

Even when portions of humans who can’t remain indifferent to the oppression to other tribes joined hands with the demi-humans to revolt, the Alwina Kingdom could still manage to thrive on ruling the continent as they possessed the knowledge of long distance magic mechanisms. Even until now, where a large part of the information had already been leaked out to other countries, Alwina Kingdom was still one step ahead with the techniques of long-distance offensive spirit magic.

Furthermore, for some reason, humans with the talent to become magicians were easily born into Alwina Kingdom. Thus, the ratio of magicians in their armed forces was considerably higher than the army of other countries.

With the cooperation of other countries, they were able to cope with the military offense of the Alwina forces so far by attacking multiple times simultaneously, distributing their war power. Slowly crushing them over a long period of battle gained them the upper hand.

――――――But, it seems that their limit is near .

The flow of war was tilting in favour of the Alwina Army.

“What is our current war potential?”

“There is 2,500 Defense Force stationed here, the reinforcement that was sent from Imperial Capital at present is four thousand. The total Sky Cavalry till now is around one hundred people, furthermore, the same amount of soldiers are being sent along with the supplies, but it would take them at least three days to organized the unit to march.”

“What about the voluntary army?”

“Up until now, it is around five hundred people. More than half of them are from races other than humans, and they would be more than pleased to exchange blows when they see the opponent’s face, but the Orcs and magician units could be rather problematic.

“How many magicians are there available for us to use in this defensive war?”

The young representative looked at the women in robe.

“At present, the ones adept enough is a platoon consisting of thirty people. Even if you include me, we would still be in a disadvantage.”

Even though her face couldn’t be seen, she probably had a shameful frown. It can easily be noticed from her tone.

Seven thousand troops against twenty thousand troops. The difference between the fighting power is nearly threefold.

Even though the side holding the defensive war was usually on the upper hand, that advantage would be diminutive in comparison to the large difference in fighting power.

Above all, the difference in power between the magicians and Sky forces are too much. The difference of the magician\'s power equaled to the difference of firing power. Especially for magicians to deal with fixed targets like fortresses and towns sieges, with just a small number of elite magicians they could easily make one or two castle towns vanish, not to mention that there was also the Sky Cavalry as well.

Besides, about half of the magicians were mixed in the Sky Cavalry unit, so in reality they had another three hundred people’s worth of war potential added there.

In other words, the Defense Force was in an overwhelming disadvantage right now.

“Did you found out who is the commander that is going to lead the invasion force? Could it perhaps be the new king in question that commands directly? If it is so, then the situation is grave.”

The room fell silent once again.

Aside from Ordy, the very person who scouted the Alwina Army with his own eyes when the moment he shook his head, everyone sighed in relief. At the very least it was not the worst situation.

For a moment, but.

“No. When my subordinate scouted it, they weren’t able to discover it.”

When Ordy’s platoon approached Shrem Village, Rezado’s corpse had already been wrapped in cloth and sent to the Alwina Forces Headquarters who had arrived earlier.

“Perhaps it was the trusted generals of the new King who had led them..... However there are several things that I need to report.”

“What is it? Because of the urgent situation, please make it brief.”

He continued his report without faltering from the young man’s sharp remark.

“―――― actually, there was a person who had engaged in war with the Alwina Forces before we could capture them.”

“What? Is there a unit who was making a sortie beside your unit?”

“It is unlikely. I didn’t give a scout order besides Ordy’s unit, and even them are also permitted to engage in combat either. But it could have been locals who acted on their own accord after hearing the invasion of the Alwina force.”

“Is there any clue about the guy who moves about without permission and clashed against them?”

“..... Yes. His identity is still unverified, but we have discovered the traces of an unknown power and battle with the Alwina forces.”

“And then?”

“Around the empty fort for travelers, distanced at around half a day from the citadel by foot, we found corpses of Magicians and Sky Cavalry units, as well as a company (around 200 people). We had also identified a commander in chief class body as well”

They became silent for the third time.

They looked at each other eyes, at loss on how they should react to the news, and turned back towards Ordy again.

“Is this the truth?”

“Yes. I have confirmed it with my own eyes. A lot of bodies were in pieces, and there are at least a platoon (30 People) of magician unit included in the Alwina force that had been annihilated.”

“For a battle of such scale to have happened, surely you would have notice it have you?”

“Yes, however when we heard the noise of the intense battle and arrived at the site, the battle had already ended. There were numerous corpses of soldiers scattered around, traces of multiple explosions around the fortress, and countless footprints of people and horses at the forest away from the fort. I assumed from the circumstance that there is a high possibility that the Alwina Army retreated in a stampede after receiving the big blow in just a short time.”

“In other words, this unknown power was able to crush at least one company of Alwina force that includes a magician unit.”

“I have never heard of any story or rumors about a power that could win against several hundreds of enemy hiding around the area. Who is this guy? I would like to see the face of such a person ”

The robed woman turned her face towards Ordy. Her eyes seemed to gleam with a light of that a cat which had found its prey from the shadows of a dark night.

Even under the stare of such eyes, Ordy stood in attention, not shaking a single hair.

“Be it a win with quantity or quality, at least we could assume that he is hostile towards the Alwina Forces!”

“Can we leave aside the identity of this mysterious power for the moment? Captain Ordy, there is one thing I would like to ask. Are you sure that the commander’s body that you found was really of a high ranking general?”

“There is no mistake about it. Judging from his equipment and uniform, we are certain that he was fairly of a high ranking class .”

“If that is the case, there is likely a confusion to occur within the chain of commands of the Alwina forces to some extent. It would be good if things were to stay like that until our reinforcement arrives.”

“Even so, we can’t keep depending on such accidents either. We will need to buff our defenses as much as possible before the Alwina forces attacks!”

“In case where the enemy are to break through our outer defenses, what about building barricades along the main roads of the evacuation area? Even stuff made with haste, it could stall the enemy for a while at least.”

“In that case, we should enforce the defense of wide roads where their magician troops are more likely to pass ―――――”

The contents of the meeting gradually shifted from Ordy’s report to the discussion about the defenses of the fort city.

The women in robes left the mayor, centaurus. and the dwarf representative who were busy arranging the diorama pieces around the fort city on the topographic map in a heated discussion, and came towards Ordy’s side and whispered.

“So, what is it that you are hiding? It is unusual for little boy to tell a lie.”

“As expected, you have seen through it. And please stop calling me little boy”

“Fu fu fu, isn’t it fine? After all it is the truth. No matter how much you have aged , it is not as if the difference in the gap between us would shrink.

“..................”

「?????????」

“Maa, you don’t need to bother explaining it. I can find it out for myself, since I could sense an unfamiliar presence immediately.”

“...... please don’t make a disturbance as much as possible. He is the benefactor of my daughters.”

“Alright.”

“――――――I will convey the words from the king.”

Inside the tent that was used as the center of the mobile tactical meeting of the Alwina forces, a dignified voice of a woman resounded.

In front of the woman knight with a long crimson hair darker than the fresh blood and fiercer than any flame, tied in ponytail, the chief commanders who led the invasion forces to the Belcan Allied power were kneeling on the ground with their heads lowered deeply before her.

She wore a mithril armor that gave off a dazzling silver color, and at her waist was a long sword with a precious stone embedded on its hilt.

From her point of view their faces were hidden in a glance, but even without looking, it was easy to imagine one from the shivers of their frightened shoulders that they were breaking in cold sweat.

She coldly looked at their unsightly figures and declared.

“―――― Three days. Capture the enemy’s base in three days, and the king will show mercy to you bastards who were unable to protect the king’s younger brother.”

“Is, is that the truth!!!?”

“Are you doubting me who was given a message directly by the king?”

“The, there is no way!”

“Then move quickly. time is limited.”