Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

Chapter 50: Arkland War ⑦ The End of One Thing

–Aegir POV–

Arkland Kingdom, Capital City Arkland, Punitive Forces Encampment

「The battalion commander has come back!」

「He’s the immortal brave general!」

「He’s a god of battle with 200 kills!」

「He’s an indomitable woman admirer!」

Celia and I were at a corner of the capital that was being sieged, and we were welcomed back by the Goldonia Central Army guys with cheers. Before I knew it, the rumors about me have started to spread.

「You did well to come back, battalion commander.」

「Lord Hardlett, you did well coming back.」

Agor, the others and Erich also came to greet me.

「Celia-dono, you also did well nursing the commander.」

「No, it was something natural.」

「...somehow the atmosphere around you has changed.」

「It’s nothing at all! Everything is as usual!」

Erich and I talk about what will happen next.

「Your battalion will remain the same as that time. I’ll return command to you.」

「Yessir. What happened to the volunteer soldiers?」

「Up until we came here, including the enemy soldiers that have fled, their numbers have inflated. We will treat them as one army and have a representative to handle it.」

The number is already approaching 20,000. It is one tenth of the citizens of Arkland. With this, they should not be able to maintain the nation properly. I also think that it will be a matter of time before the castle falls...

「Has the enemy been persisting this whole time?」

「Conversely, the consecutive rebellions has caused only those who are deeply loyal to participate in the defense of the siege; I can’t imagine that there would be more defectors. The city itself is robust just like a fortress.」

The Arkland troops who have barricaded themselves in number 10,000 but with 20,000 of its citizens on our side, we can send them out in some sort of formation. The punitive forces for each nation combined are around 40,000, adding in the volunteer soldiers would make it 60,000.

And although the capital is not like the White City in the Federation I visited before, it has a thick and quite a high castle wall protecting them in its own right. To break down a wall like that would take a considerable amount of time, and that is only if the opponent doesn’t resist either.

Nevertheless, relying on the 60,000 soldiers and attacking it seriously, the walls will eventually be taken down, except it will take time. If too many sacrifices are made the volunteer soldiers will feel their position is uneasy and they may panic.

「If it’s a short-term battle, then we can use an elite squad to break through a single point, and if one part of the gate gets destroyed then it would eventually crumble like snow and the numbers will do the rest.」

「I agree, but that line was tested several times. The gate is thick, and made up of steel; battering rams and longbows have no effect.」

With its unique sound the ballista growls, the oil is burning and the stone is thrown.

「We will continue harassing and hurling flaming rocks at them continuously, but how effective will it be?」

Looking at it from a distance, it doesn’t seem that a large scale conflagration was occurring. The gate must be apart from the houses, the fire fighting team is doing their job.

「In the worst case, we have food supplies from our homeland. If we surround them, eventually, those guys will starve and come out.」

But if we do that those guys will literally come out right before they starve in order to resist us. And then if the army’s soldiers were to starve then that means the citizens would have already died out.. If that happens, the capital will be a city of death and the profit from occupying the city would be lost.

「We’ll somehow think about it on our side. It will be mainly Leopolt though, but」

Erich laughed.

「That’s right, that guy is quite skilled even if he is somewhat lacking in appeal.」

He watches closely.

「So that’s how it is, do you have any good ideas?」

After so long since meeting Leopolt again, aside from his courteous greeting, nothing has changed.

「I have an idea. From my position, my proposal would not go through so I was waiting for you to return, Lord Hardlett.」

They haven’t given my follower/military strategist authority to suggest ideas to the supreme commander. Erich will probably allow it, but we can’t disobey the rest. Even if it’s just something roughly thought up, if it didn’t come from me then it wouldn’t be allowed.

「The basic objective is the same as what we have been doing so far. We will concentrate on attacking one gate and break through, then from there we will rush in like an avalanche and settle things.」

But from what I’ve heard, all that we’ve done up till now like night attacks, raining arrows on them, and even assaulting them – all our attempts have failed and our soldiers died meaninglessly.

「There are two problems: there are no places to hide around the gate, so we’ll take concentrated attacks and the sturdy gate itself, which even battering rams have no effect.」

It’s painful that even if we ignore the losses, we’ll suffer from the concentrated attack to break through the gate and still we would not able to destroy the gate. And as expected, it’s not like my Dual Crater can cut through that clump of steel like a butter knife.

...or can it? Should I try?

「Please stop, this time you will die.」

As if she was reading my thoughts Celia interjected. Well aren’t you smelling quite nice now. Ever since she lost her virginity she has instantly become more womanly.

「During this time, sunny days will have the wind blowing from west to east. We will set many fires to the west of the capital city and have the smoke flow.」

「I see, use it as a smokescreen and then attack, but then wouldn’t this inform them of our attack beforehand?」

「I guess so. But we are an army that are not proficient in cooperation. So a frontal attack is the best.」

「Would there be enough smoke built up to blind the enemies?」

「No way. That’s why we’ll use this.」

Leopolt points at a basket, inside there was some reddish-black firewood and...a gigantic caterpillar.

「Hiih!」

Even Celia, who normally doesn’t get agitated from bugs or rats, took a step back from this. The size is almost the same size as a cat, and numerous amounts of needles are wriggling on it.

「...Are we going to throw these disgusting insects at the enemy?」

「The firewood is from the Norowl tree, it’s a poisonous tree that causes itching if you touch it. The insect is called Gugrill, well as you can see it’s poisonous too. It has a strong poison.」

Before I noticed Celia has already left the room. If possible, I don’t want to be near it either.

「If we throw these into the fire then a poisonous cloud will be created. If we gather a large amount of them and burn them, we won’t be able to kill anything, but we’ll be able to affect their eyes and throats so they won’t be able to shoot arrows or throw stones at us as they wish.」

It’s a good idea but if the smoke goes to where I am, I’m letting this guy take a deep breath of this stuff.

「This will be enough for the smokescreen I guess...on to the next problem.」

「Lord Hardlett will take advantage of the opening the enemy presents, breakthrough and slice the gate in half.」

「......」

「It’s a joke. I obtained information from the soldier who was able to approach the gate during their earlier charge. It’s a gate that is solidly made and no matter how many times the battering ram hit against it, it wouldn’t even budge.」

He says a joke and talks about serious topics with the same straight face, so I don’t know when he tells jokes.

「But I’ve pulled back the paved stone which the ground is made of since after the burning rocks drop the ground gets exposed. In other words, if you pull back the stone paving the ground underneath is soil. The depth is 1 meter so if we dig about 2-3 meters further we would get under the gate and we would burrow our way through.」

To dig a hole in front of the enemy...if they held shields or anything else above their heads, they might not be able to tell if we were going to hit them with battering rams or dig a hole under them. It would be a success if we can cross over the gate with several people and are able to open it.

「Of course, it’s a small group that will breach through the enemy lines so they will be ganged up on. However, if we have the bravery to beat up the enemies and just open the gate then we can take down the capital in one blow.」

It’s pretty much going to be me that’s doing it though. Even though I just recovered from my injuries, it seems like I’ll be crossing over to the death ground again.

「Very well. I’ll convey it to Erich. The current situation is pretty much a stalemate anyways, so we can try out that plan of yours.」

「Preparations are already almost complete. Just give the order and we can go at any time.」

He’s really a clever man. So that means that he’s finished gathering all of this wood and that disgusting bug...

「Kyaaaaaa!!」

A woman’s scream, the only one close by is Celia. When I rushed out in a hurry Celia was crawling on the ground.

The source was the poisonous bug we talked about, it was gathered, packed in wooden boxes and left in a corner of the camp in large amounts. In order to avoid the worst things to be shown they were hidden with a cloth, but it seems Celia sat on top of it.

「A-Aegir-samaa! I squashed those wiggly things! It went squelch!」

She was crawling around and hugging my foot. Celia is clinging to me while crying, although that’s not a bad thing. Even if the cause was an insect. It’s getting me a little turned on.

「Celia, there’s some hair stuck on your butt.」

「You’re lying! Where is it?! Please take it off!」

She is desperately feeling her butt but the needles of the insect didn’t seem to pass through the cloth that was covering it. There was nothing sticking to her butt.

「I’m taking this tent.」

Celia, who was following obediently at first, took off everything even her upper half when she finally realized.

「Aegir-sama you tricked me! You shouldn’t do this here since you just arrived and something like this...」

Nothing will happen even if I delay telling Erich.

The pain of her deflowering should go away soon.

「Aaaaaaaah–!!」

While she’s still standing I plunge my dick into her tiny ass from behind, the immoral scene with the large cock buried in the little girl, conversely causing her to moan with pleasure, extended for a long time.

Next Early Morning

「The sun will rise soon.」

「Yeah, the wind is also as predicted. Let’s start the fire as soon as day breaks.」

Erich and I, as well as the other battalion commanders are keeping watch over things; Leopolt’s plan is actually going to be executed. In the end, I will also be participating in the invasion at the gates. It seems each country has brought out troops that are individually strong at fighting.

Once we succeed in opening the gate then tens of thousands of soldiers will flood in; if we do so then Arkland will practically have no defensive options.

「Light the fires!!」

Smoke began to rise from the west side of the city. The enemy also realizes the smokescreen and had an abundant amount of archers lined up against the west wall. It would be obvious that we would come from the west so Leopolt’s plan had another layer of maliciousness to deal with the correct response.

「While we’re at it, let’s use the ballista to toss the embers inside as well.」

「I don’t prefer to do so while there are still living people there though.」

Celia was traumatized by that insect so she was hiding inside my cloak and covering her eyes. I thought that she became a woman but it seems she reverted back into a child.

「It smells horrible...」

Even though we are facing upwind, the smell is strong enough that we need to cover our faces with cloth. By now, those guys on top of the walls are certainly thinking long and hard. I can’t see their expressions from here, but it seems like they are moving about unnaturally.

「Let’s keep it smoking for a while. Let’s do it until it they don’t want to look down the walls.」

After harassing them with plenty of smoke for about 2 hours, a large army accompanied by a battering ram advances to the gate. This time, the battering ram will play no role, but I can’t let them read my plan in the opening stages.

The soldiers complain about the intense smell. Everyone was instructed to get cloths and cover their face but they couldn’t do anything for their eyes that were stinging. But even so, if we were to completely stop the smoke, it will be the same as before if we get baptised by arrows and rocks.

Unlike our enemies who need to strain their eyes and aim at us, we just need to face down while walking forward, so we should be able to endure this.

When we get closer to the gate, as expected, the arrows and rocks that come flying at us became more intense, even so, it seems better than before. With a large shield raised above their heads, the engineering corps and the battering ram approach the gate.

Well, until the hole is dug open there is nothing for me to do. I hug Celia in order to protect her from the arrows and thrown rocks.

「Aegir-sama! You can’t be serious about doing this on the battlefield, what are you thinking?!」

I should be asking what you are thinking. You’re just simply getting protected by me.

With cheers and screams, and angry shouting, the hole seems to be dug open. As I was about to approach the gate, some brave warriors(?) from each country want to determine who the best spearman is come flooding one after the other while we were waiting in line in the hole.

The engineering corps is second, the third hole is dug but there is a line of soldiers there who are going to their own deaths? No matter how I think about it, the first few people are going to be killed. The ones who can break through are the ones who jump in when the enemies are delayed.

Sure enough, I can only hear screams coming from the hole. As expected, if we don’t break through quickly then the amount of rocks coming down on us from above will increase.

「Move.」

I take a pot of oil used for the fires we lit and toss it deep in the hole. This time the scream came from the enemy.

I take the all-powerful cloak that is the symbol of Lucy and cover myself as I jump into the hole and breakthrough the fire. Since some soldiers were caught on fire, the enemies were distance themselves away as I came out in front of them.

「He came from inside the fire!?」

「Hey haven’t you seen this guy before?」

「It can’t be...the demon of Datrohn!!」

The entire enemy squad took one step back. I guess these heroic stories can come in handy besides being able to boast about it in a bar. Celia is following behind me, who skillfully puts out the fire. And a little further are the allies who will also follow through.

「Shoot your arrows!」

「Captain, arrows don’t work on this guy! In Datrohn, they rained arrows on him until he was a porcupine but he was still lively.」

That’s a misunderstanding. It hurt so much I was almost dead.

「Enough, the opponent is only one person! Just surround him instantly and there won’t be any problems, go!!」

6 heavily armed knights came rushing at me.

And with four swings, the treasured sword made from mithril, the Dual Crater sliced apart the six knights.

I was going to continue, but the four people at the back froze. It would make it easier for me if you came at me.

I side-stepped and turned those four into headless puppets. The sharpness of the Dual Crater is on a different level from other swords. I can easily bisect armored objects even if I swing it without putting in any strength.

「It’s over? Who’s next?」

「Mo-monster...」

「It’s a real demon of war....」

While the enemies are panicking, Celia successfully puts out the fire and our allies are coming out from the hole one after another. I guess my role is done with this.

「Everyone, follow him! Steal the device that opens the gate!」

A commander from some country gave out his order courageously. I don’t really like it when people shout in a loud voice like that.

I don’t run to get the gate’s opening device, but I run towards the commander of the troops that are frozen in place. I cut down the commander whose face changed in three stages: panic, fear, despair, and thus the resistance at the west gate was over. Before long, the gate was opened and soldiers came flooding in.

「Battalion commander, that was well done.」

Agor came in holding Schwartz’s reins. Schwartz huffed out a breath as he went over to nestle up to Celia. It seems that there are still no guys who can ride Schwartz besides me.

Then, inside the capital city of Arkland, it became hell.

In the midst of it all, the punitive forces are looting, from house to house the soldiers are busting in and screams of women can be heard. Those who tried to protect their valuables and women were mercilessly killed.

「This is normal when war finishes I guess.」

「During the rebellion of the southern nobles, it was an internal affair so it was prohibited but this time...」

Erich and I frown. We thought about this a lot, but to soldiers they need something like a reward when they win. For the Goldonia Central Army, we only allow them to confiscate assets, but punishment was issued for rape and murder. However, we could not give orders to the troops of the various countries, each country’s common sense was that after victory in battle you were allowed to search for women, and it was conventional to be allowed to kill those who resist. Giving the survivors an exploitable gap to take advantage of, it was common amongst each country that it was forbidden to set everything on fire.

「Let’s hurry and topple the royal palace, and stop this fooling around.」

In various places within the city, the surviving Arkland soldiers were beaten to death without them putting up any signs of surrender. The royal palace closed its doors, and a few soldiers are still trying to show their intentions to resist, but ballistae were shot from all directions and longbows flung in oil, and they were burned down.

「Sir knight! Please help me!」

A half-naked woman ran out in front of Schwartz. Her clothes were torn, so you could see her breasts. It was fortunate for her, if the one who jumped out was a man then Schwartz would probably have stepped all over him without stopping.

Are they chasing women down or something? Several soldiers came running out from the house.

「That woman, won’t you give her back to us? She ran away while her clothes were being taken off.」

I was going to confirm which army these guys are from but I stopped. The same thing was happening in the city right now, what difference will it make.

「Sorry but I’ll be taking this woman. Any objections?」

The soldiers looked to shout angrily but, it seems that they judged that I was a noble from my horse, armor and my follower, so while complaining they went off to search for some other prey. I would have killed them all if they pointed their sword at me.

「Uuuuuu....」

The woman took in what I said and started to cry, as she knew that the next time she was going to get fucked by me.

「I won’t fuck a girl who dislikes me. Christoph, escort the lady to the headquarters. If you try to embrace her by force then you will be hanged to death.」

I’ll leave it to Christoph, who is sometimes at my side. He won’t be able to help even if I took him along with me, but he should be able to protect her with his loud voice and his strong-looking appearance.

「Roger that...but it’s fine if she consents right? Hey lady, I’ll make you feel good, how about it?」

「No thanks.」

Christoph told the soldiers aiming for women ‘it’s because she’s the captain’s woman’ with a loud voice as he stood down. A strange rumor will start to spread again I bet.

「As expected.」

「How wonderful.」

Agor and Celia praises me. I am kind to women and guys that I favor. But for now, let’s bring down the palace quickly and end this war.

—Irijina POV—

At the same time – Inside the Royal Palace

「Extinguish the fire!」

「It’s no good, over there fire and oil are-!」

「It’s already beyond saving! Your Majesty, please escape!」

I hug my heirloom spear while being petrified. Who would have thought that this day would come. Enemies are overrunning the palace and burning it down.

「Irijina! Come and help put out the fire too!」

「Enough with the fire! Please escort His Majesty.」

「His Majesty had collapsed from earlier!」

Everything is over. The royal family of Arkland as well as the army, and so is my own life.

It was just the other day when my house arrest was ended, and rather than being forgiven, they didn’t have enough strength so they pulled me out. So, I entered the capital to prepare for a counter-attack, but there was no such opportunity, and we arrive at our current time.

Earlier, His Excellency the field admiral took a flaming arrow and died in front of my eyes. Normally we would make a big deal, but right now nobody is paying attention to the burning admiral.

Let’s think calmly as a soldier. Should I run away...but if I run where do I run to? Arkland is ruined now, so I am just plain old Irijina. Should I rely on burgling at night to earn money for daily income? Luckily I am a woman, but I am also confident in my martial arts.

Let’s stop these useless thoughts, the probability of escaping from this place being sieged by multitude of things is pretty close to zero. I guess there is no choice but to die splendidly in battle as best as I can...if possible, I want to disappear in these flames. If I’m defeated normally, even though I’m a large woman, a woman’s body will have some use.

「Irijina, So you’re alive! Gather the remaining royalty and horses. I’ll open a way out, you come too!」

You’re going to break through at this point?

「Where are you going to break through?」

「Those guys are engrossed with looting and raping in the city! Let’s breakthrough the eastern gate quickly. There are volunteer soldiers gathered outside, we can get away if there are a few of us.」

With my social status as a royalty I couldn’t possibly get an audience, but distinguished people whose names I don’t know are being led and appear one after the other.

「After leaving the town, you can hide and wait for you chance! First we need to escape...guh!!」

It seems we were a bit late. The door was destroyed, enemies...Goldonia’s soldiers are coming in one by one.

「Everyone! Please stand back!」

If it comes to this then I have no choice but to fight. It’s a 1 in 10,000 chance but it’s much better than just dying.

「My name is Irijina! Glorious Arkland soldiers, en garde!」

Hearing my voice, they look down on me because I’m a woman, but I thrust at one soldier who carelessly approaches and I turn him over. Right now, I need to find a way out. This place will be burned down really soon.

The following second and third person also come at me subsequently, but I thrusted at them and flipped them over, the fourth person was flung away after I spun my spear. My actions breathed life back into the surrounding knights, I finish the enemies one after the other who are aiming for the royalty.

「This one’s tough!」

「Don’t let your guard down against a woman!」

The enemy soldiers kept their distance while facing me, but this is still within my spear’s range, in other words this is my range. The weak soldiers of Goldonia can’t keep up with me.

I thrust my spear at god-like speed and the enemies don’t even have time to register the spear as they get their throats pierced. With this I can surely breakthrough!?

「Vice captain Agor! She’s tough so be careful!」

The enemy small fry steps back, a single man with a sword in his hand stepped forward. His equipment and his atmosphere was different. I am convinced that he’s tough, but to me there is no way that I will fall behind in a 1 on 1 fight.

A clash started without anything said. The man called Agor has speed and strength of a different caliber than the other small fries as he clashed with me. It could be said that his ability might be on equal terms with me. That’s how I feel after exchanging blows with him several times, but if that’s so then I can win. His is high-class but it’s just a normal sword, what I am holding is an heirloom and famous spear, and even as it is a spear holds an advantage over a sword.

「Sei~!」

「Guh!」

My spear scratches the man’s cheek, blood flies out. The man stops moving for a split second. That is enough, my spear thrusts into the man’s armor and pierces his side.

「Guha-!」

The man fell over, it’s not a fatal wound but it’s not the situation where I need to finish him off.

「Everyone over here! Go outside!」

As I was about to lead the noblemen out, a small shadow ran in from outside. I instantly guarded myself, a sharp metallic sound rang out and sparks flew. The shadow leapt behind me and once again came rushing at me.

「Tch-!」

I thrust my spear but it doesn’t hit. The shadow is small but fast, it’s running quickly like it’s crawling on the ground. The hand is holding a sword; I wanted to spin my spear so that the butt knocks away the sword but that was also avoided.

How nimble! The shadow thrusts out the sword, intending to stab me from the bottom.

「Eei! How about this!」

I spun my spear in a large motion to let the shadow dodge on purpose. Seeing the opening the shadow rushed in to finish things in a close range.

And then I kicked it back with all my might.

「Gyan!?」

I will not lose to an ordinary man in physique. My trained body has developed muscle as well and my height is about 180. The shadow has taken my kick quite well, it flew all the way to the wall and seems like it lost consciousness.

If I look closely it was a young girl. I was surprised, but I don’t have time to stare at her.

「Let’s go!!」

Riding the momentum, the knights who charged forward came back. Only their heads though...

And then it made its appearance. It was the existence that brought me to the bottom in fear, and even destroyed me as a soldier. My breathing gets rough and I started shaking. I got in my stance with the spear but the tip is wavering up and down, left and right, as if I was playing around. Even I could tell.

On the day I met it, it was the first time in my life that I wet myself. And the next few days after I ran away I couldn’t stop shaking. Just thinking about it made me scared on the battlefield. Even though I recently thought that I wouldn’t think about it anymore, the real thing shows up.

「My apologies, battalion commander, I fell behind...」

「Will you survive?」

「Yes, somehow. That woman is tough, be careful.」

The man turns to face the spear and gives me, who is still petrified, a side glance as he heads towards the young girl. He picks up the fainted girl, checks if she is still breathing and takes her outside.

「Sorry for making you wait. Let’s go.」

After saying that, the man’s eyes lit up with passion that wasn’t there before.

「Irijina! What are you doing? Hurry up and go.」

「Move you peasant!」

The knights passed through my side to rush at the man in order to eliminate him.

「Don’t! He’s-!」

The knights’ upper bodies spun around as they fell to the floor, only the lower half remained running outside as they eventually fell over. Overwhelming destruction. Nothing has changed.

The knights consecutively charge at him, and they were dismantled at the same speed. The allies that have been fighting so well up until now were instantly gone and only the noblemen and I were left.

「Are you going to surrender?」

The man asks me while looking uninterested, but I will answer that voice. As if I could surrender now.

「What did you say! Yaaaa!!」

I shout unnaturally in a manner to deceive myself in believing that I am not afraid, I thrust my spear out. Something I used to say a lot was that losers were the ones that barked the loudest.

Although I’m scared, if it’s an average soldier it would be a thrust that instantly kills, but it was dodged easily. If that’s so, then I’ll gather strength from my entire body, and aim for the spot where he can’t dodge: the center of the body. I intended to pierce his armor and everything but the man did not dodge that one strike. The spear won’t move, and neither does the man.

The spearhead was grabbed by the man.

(Light Novels Illustration: Irijina in a Pinch!)

How could he see through my fastest deathblow? Even though I trained with men, why can’t my powerful self make him budge by pushing or pulling? I don’t care anymore.

I’ve done it, it’s all over. The man pulls the spear and I was pulled in along with it.

The spear leaves my hands, and the man is in front of me. I will be killed without a doubt, there is no reason for me not to be killed. I was even prepared for death, so why am I so afraid like this in front of him.

The man raises my depressed chin with his hand. I could not tolerate looking at the man’s face and a magnificent flooding sound came from my crotch.

It seems the man was a little surprised, but one of his companions came closer with a face covered in blood. Fear and despair were mixing together as I could not understand nor think about anything at all. My vision became blurred and my consciousness flew far away.

The last thing I saw was the man’s face covered in blood, and the enemy soldiers cutting down the royalty.

That day, the Arkland kingdom, as well as the army, were destroyed without a single trace remaining.

Aegir Hardlett 19 years old Autumn

Class: Central Army 3rd div. Mixed Battalion Commander

Squads: 1st div. Cavalry company Heavy cavalry 110 units, light cavalry 20 units (post-war)

3 infantry companies 140 men, 120 men, 90 men

Engineering corps 170 people

Total 650 people

Army Subordinates: Celia (follower), Leopolt (follower and strategist), Agor (infantry company commander), Carl (infantry company commander), Mack (engineering corps commander), Christoph (rank and file), Yogley (volunteer soldier manager)

Weapons: Dual Crater (large sword)

Equipment: Black Cloak (Cursed) , cavalry armor

Current Location: Capital City Arkland

Achievements: Enemy vanguard vanquished (Joint)

Villages captured x8 , occupied Datrohn , repelled the steel spear cavalry

Single-handedly defended Datrohn , 200 people killed

Arkland gate penetrated , Royalty annihilated

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