Desperate Battle (3)
My forces were steadily retreating. The emperor probably thought he was pressing us back completely.
But things must be rough for the Imperial Army—there’s no sharpness in their movements thanks to having their useless emperor tagging along.
He was probably personally leading the troops to strengthen his own prestige.
“Well, I don’t care about playing along with some idiot. They’re all going to die anyway.”
They can keep dreaming for all I care. This army is just bait. No matter how much damagician they take, golems don’t feel pain or suffering.
But the emperor isn’t my main target. In fact, he’s fairly low on my priority list. This defeat will strip him of power. Whether he lives or dies makes no difference.
My goal is to inflict devastating losses on the Imperial Army and deal a fatal blow to their continental conquest plan—in other words, kill as many soldiers as possible.
It’s obvious they’ve been conscripting civilians into the army. Some units have clearly low morale, and the Woofers Squad has already begun to crush them. They can’t even put up proper resistance—they’re just in complete chaos.
If I can kill several hundred thousand soldiers here, I’ll sap the Empire’s momentum.
And that chaos will be a golden opportunity for Arland. With the Empire too unstable and unable to deploy forces abroad, Arland can develop rapidly. In ten years—no, in five—Arland will be strong enough that the Empire won’t be able to touch them. Even without me, the outcome would be the same.
Arland already has efficient enchantment techniques and can overpower opponents with powerful magical weapons.
“There’s not enough mana concentration to activate that yet… The modifications made the activation conditions way too strict. I don’t even know how many will respond.”
Still, I’ll wait. As I stood there with my arms crossed, only a single golem stood nearby, carrying the Viceroy banner. A blue field with a bird in flight, a crossed staff and sword in the foreground.
It couldn’t be more obvious. I’m standing here without any guards. Come out, Second Knights Order!
By the way, even if I get taken down, the Alicetia Army won’t stop or fall into disarray. Each regiment operates independently… and honestly, even my clones wouldn’t bother to come help if I were dying. I wouldn’t go help them either. We’re even.
I continued pulling back toward the plains. The Imperial Army decided to push civilian soldiers to the front line.
The spearmen positioned behind them made it obvious. The civilians, with no escape route, desperately charged forward. I’m in no position to criticize after killing civilians myself, but… isn’t this that famous Soviet tactic? What was it called… a penal battalion with enforcers behind them? Depressing stuff. Not that it changes the fact that I’ll kill them, but it’s unpleasant killing those with no will to fight… No, I can’t let myself get soft.
As my forces gradually fell back, I could sense the morale of the main Imperial force—who had shifted to the rear—rising. Seriously? Weren’t you just getting routed and fleeing after a crushing blow? Your cavalry’s been nearly wiped out! What are you so happy about? I don’t get battlefield psychology at all.
Well, my forces are being worn down little by little. The golems are weak—no helping that.
But now they’re abandoning their siege on the fortress and coming at me with their entire army. That’s just insane. Even I’d have left some troops behind to keep pressure on the fort.
“Thanks, Emperor. I’ll make sure history remembers you as the most incompetent and disastrous ruler ever.”
They’re clearly moving under the emperor’s orders. If they’d stayed in the Empire, my plans wouldn’t have worked this well.
By the time I reached the middle of the plains, the magic circle finally activated.
“Hey there, you dumb Iris. Walked straight into my trap, huh?”
A man dressed ridiculously for a battlefield, alongside a woman in gothic lolita fashion.
Maybe I shouldn’t ruin their moment by saying I knew they’d come all along. They looked so smug, so certain this was their perfect plan.
Actually, this guy’s face… feels familiar. Or is it just me? No, I don’t remember him… Wait, he’s one of Iris’s acquaintances? I have no memory of him.
Who…? Joseph’s son was fat and looked Japanese.
Iris barely knew any Japanese people, and since I don’t remember this guy, he must’ve been someone too insignificant to remember.
“You people are the so-called Second Knights Order?”
“Don’t you interrupt me, you damn brat.”
“Whatever. The Second Knights Order? Oh, you mean those useless idiots who got half-destroyed by just Draconia? Yeah, they’re here too. But I’m the head of the First Knights Order.”
He kept rambling, smugly bragging about himself.
Apparently, the First and Second Knights Orders are basically the same organization since this guy, supposedly the head of the First Knights Order, had taken over the Second as well.
Yeah, I didn’t ask. He was getting loud and annoying, and his smug attitude was grating, so I drew my revolver from its holster and fired.
An old knight appeared in front of him, catching the bullet.
Figures. My father could flick rifle bullets away with his finger too.
Guns wouldn’t cut it after all. I realized these guys couldn’t be underestimated. But I wouldn’t back down. As a soldier ready to die, I could at least drag some of them down with me.
The guy’s face turned bright red after I suddenly fired.
“You really haven’t changed… always a rude little brat. You need a bit of discipline.”
“Three of you, go break her limbs.”
“Brother, can I join in?”
“You too, Shiori?”
“I’m going to be your wife, after all. We should teach her some manners… as family.”
A chill ran down my spine.
Every instinct in my body screamed alarms. I knew what this was. This was that thing called a lolicon. The type that lurks near elementary schools and causes public outrage.
The kind who parks a suspicious van nearby and damagicians Toyota’s reputation by association—I’d heard of that too.
And I’m a princess, you know? There’s no way I’d marry some nobody off the street. Unless I properly built up my status in Arland or defeated the Royal Knights Order and my father to prove my strength, it’s impossible.
“Disgusting man…”
“Grr! Get her!”
The gothic lolita girl called Shiori and three men lunged at me. Wait, wasn’t it supposed to be three? Now it’s four!
I reflexively deployed a magic barrier called Aegis. It was a strong barrier that could withstand both magic and physical attacks, but I felt an intense sense of danger and crouched down.
Sure enough, Aegis was shattered. If I hadn’t crouched, that strike would have finished me off.
“Short-Range Teleport!”
Crouching limited my mobility too much. I teleported away before they could grab me, but another man was already rushing at me from the front.
“It’s useless. That guy’s got magic eyes that let him see mana. A short teleport just shows him exactly where you’ll pop up.”
The nameless man gloated with a self-satisfied grin… wait, is he drinking wine? Does he even realize he’s on a battlefield?
I was puzzled, but honestly, magic eyes didn’t feel that threatening. He lunged with a knife, but when I cast Aegis again, it blocked him easily.
“Burn, Flame Bullet!”
The man with magic eyes dodged the Flame Bullet effortlessly. Ah, I see—he can even see the path of magic.
My mind raced. Taking out the guy with magic eyes wouldn’t be too hard. I just had to use a wide-area magic he couldn’t dodge. If it was just him, it’d be simple.
But the other two would definitely interfere.
… Hold on, the third guy… isn’t he General Dordlet? His facial features match what Father described, and so does his spear.
Why is the mighty general of the Syluria Republic, a warrior rivaling my father, here? Didn’t the Republic lose the war? Did he survive and join the Empire? No, Father always said he was a battle-crazed patriot—that shouldn’t be possible.
As I dodged, I kept observing. Then I noticed—none of the three men had any expression. Must be some sort of brainwashing spell or something. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any dispel magic on hand. And even if I did, there are so many types of brainwashing, there’s no way I could dispel it while fighting them. I’d have to kill them.
“Out of my way!”
The guy with magic eyes wouldn’t let me get distance, Dordlet had slow but lethal strikes, and the third guy kept casting spells.
Their coordination was good. The only way to counterattack was to break their rhythm. I fired off an Explosion, but they all dodged it easily.
“May as well go for it—Gravity Press!”
The two without magic eyes dropped to their knees, enduring the pressure from above. I was using it at full power—normally, this would crush them.
“Alternate Dragon Breath!”
The guy with magic eyes dodged, but the magician and Dordlet got burned by the flames.
I flew into the air with Flight to reposition, but a spear shot out from the flames.
I barely dodged, but by then, Dordlet had already jumped up after me.
“Protect—ghk!”
Dordlet, who had jumped nearly 50 meters, punched my crossed arms directly. Even Protect, my strongest defensive magic, creaked from the impact.
But apparently, Dordlet couldn’t stay airborne and fell back down—landing normally. Yep, the powerhouses in this world are monsters.
“This is seriously getting annoying.”
“You know, you could always surrender.”
That smug bastard yelled from the back while just watching. Shut up, you’re irritating.
And Dordlet was completely unscathed. He wasn’t even using magic armor—just raw fighting spirit.
The magician… well, he was dead. That’s one down at least, I guess.
I grabbed the dragon staff from my back and started chanting.
“Surrender? As if! Hellflame!”
I fired a red-black flame at Dordlet. Considering his position, he might try to protect Shiori behind him.
“Hey, don’t dodge! You’ll get me killed!”
As expected, Dordlet, following Shiori’s order, drew a new spear from his waist pouch and tried to blow away Hellflame with a slash of fighting spirit. But the Hellflame was way too intense—that wasn’t going to work.
Shiori dashed out of the line of fire, and Dordlet dodged too, though parts of him were singed.
Seriously, what am I supposed to do with this general… This feels like being forced into an RPG boss fight at level one.
And what’s the deal with this Shiori girl?
“Hey! That was dangerous! I’m not forgiving you for that—get out of the way!”
Shiori kicked Dordlet, who had taken considerable burns. Guess there’s no team spirit there.
“Just as the rumors said—you’re hopeless in close combat. Yet you come waltzing out here, you idiot.”
“Not nearly as dumb as your outfit.”
“Unforgivable!”
Shiori closed her parasol, switched to a thrusting stance, and charged straight at me.
What do you think about this chapter?
