CH 364

Chapter 364 – Chrysanthemum War II (5)

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“Baroness De Blanc!”

“Y-Yes!”

Was she alarmed because Laura had suddenly called out to her? Mercenary Captain Juliana De Blanc was startled as she had been blankly watching the two of us converse.

For some reason, there was a new type of expression on her face when speaking to Laura now. It wasn’t something wholesome like respect. It was a little more subversive. You could call it a type of fear.

“I will leave 250 troops under your command.”

“Will……I be dealing with the scouts?”

“No. Take the troops and go toward Pavia. There should be a forest near the city. I ask that you start a grand fire there.”

A bitter smile appeared on my lips as I listened to their conversation. The forest near Pavia was a location I was acquainted with. It was none other than the place where the Slave Merchant Jack Aland committed suicide by slamming his head against a boulder…….

“A fire, is it……?”

Baroness De Blanc seemed confused.

“This will cause smoke to rise from the direction of where Pavia is located. This should put some more urgency in the Earl’s feet.”

Baroness De Blanc let out an ‘Ah’ of realization once Laura explained her reasoning.

“The Earl will consider two possibilities. First, the possibility that we have already entered his territory and are pillaging wildly. Second, we are in the middle of sieging his city. Either way, he will believe that he has a chance of coming out victorious if he attacks us from behind. This will make him pick up his pace more.”

“I see…….”

The Baroness responded weakly. Laura took heed of this as she proceeded to give stern orders.

“Baroness! The number of troops you are leading in this battle may be little, but the responsibility on your shoulders is great. If you fail, then our ambush on the Earl will fail as well. This will lead to the downfall of our expedition!”

“……Understood, Your Highness!”

The Baroness responded firmly as she came to terms with the weight on her shoulders. Laura gave her a firm nod in response.

“I will put eleven mages under your wing. Cast an anti-communication spell across Pavia and use them to also set fire to the forest.”

“As you command!”

The Baroness shouted valiantly in response.

Our troops split down the middle like a forking river. The Baroness led two cavalry squadrons down a byway. With this, Laura now had no magic users under her command.

Our troops sped up.

It was around the point the sun had nearly set and the darkness of the night was starting to reach out.

Laura finally ordered our troops to hold their position. We were in a forest a fair distance away from a road that must be crossed when trying to travel quickly from Milano to Pavia.

“We will lie in ambush here.”

Laura then secretly positioned scouts ahead of us.

Our cavalrymen plopped themselves on the ground. We had been moving for half a day straight. They were in desperate need of rest.

Our soldiers either rested against trees or took out snacks to eat in preparation for the upcoming battle. Our warhorses used the cold night air to cool their bodies that had heated up while running under the summer sun.

I looked up to see the moonlight leak between the branches. However, there was also a sound I was hearing from the trees.

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– Look, there are elves…….

– There are also a bunch of dwarves. Why are they here?

– Why are they here? They’re scary-looking. They must be here for a scary reason…….

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The forest spirits were whispering to one another while hiding behind the branches.

They were probably frightened by the sudden intruders. The spirits muttered nervously between the gusts of wind as the leaves rustled loudly.

I gave them a wave.

“My apologies. We will be borrowing your home for a moment.”

The small spirits started to poke their heads over the branches.

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– No way! A great master is here!

– Isn’t his wind too small to be a great master……?

– Idiot, dummy! Since when have you been unable to distinguish between a storm and a breeze?

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Soon after, specs of light started to fill the dark forest.

The hundreds of specs of light were all spirits. They shone dimly and hazily as if they were receiving the moonlight from the sky. The light was closer to being sky blue than white.

“Dear Lord…….”

“Oh, Artemis.”

The soldiers’ mouths fell open as they looked up.

As sub-races, spirits were a familiar existence to them. However, spirits are fundamentally shy beings. The mercenaries were overwhelmed by the sight of so many spirits gathering together to light up the dark forest.

I spoke with a smile.

“I appreciate the warm welcome, but could you turn down the light? We are actually in the middle of playing hide-and-seek. It would be bad if we were to get caught by the seeker. I would appreciate it if you contained yourselves.”

My tone naturally became soft as I thought about my spirits who were probably playing back at my dungeon. The spirits turned to each other and started whispering.

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– They’re playing hide-and-seek! Everyone be quiet! We’ll get scolded by the master if we interfere.

– Idiot, you’re being the loudest right now.

– Shush!

– Shhhh!

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The light slowly dimmed. Their light didn’t go out completely, but it was now on the level of fireflies. Hmm, this was good enough. This shouldn’t be enough to attract the enemy’s attention.

The spirits wriggled their way around me. Were they trying to be quiet in their own way? They whispered to me questions.

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– Master, Master. Who are you playing hide-and-seek with?

– Is it with an ugly orc? A centaur in heat? Or is it a terrifying basilisk?

– Everyone died a long time ago. A long, long time ago. We’re the only ones left here…….

– Humans killed them all. They also burned down a lot of forests…….

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The spirits lowered their heads sullenly. Dear me, they are so cute.

I lifted up the child nearest to me. The spirit tilted their head. I unveiled the secret move that I had left sealed for some time now. I tickled their armpits.

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– Kyaha.

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Right as the spirit was about to let out a laugh, they hastily covered their mouth with their hands. It seems they had just remembered that they had promised to be quiet. They flailed around with the urge to laugh, but they never removed their hands from their mouth. How praiseworthy!

I gave the spirit a fatherly smile as I spoke.

“We are playing hide-and-seek with humans.”

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– Kyaha, humans?

– Humans aren’t trustworthy enough to play with.

– They’re always burning down forests. Master, you can’t trust humans.

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Trustworthy, is it? They’re using some difficult words, huh?

I let out a small chuckle. Ever since I reached my current level as a Demon Lord, the kyaas and koos that I used to hear from the spirits now sounded like eligible words.

“I see. Those humans really are terrible.”

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– Yeah, those humans are bad!

– It wouldn’t be satisfying even if you hung their guts on a branch!

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The spirits laid out their complaints. It was only natural that fairies that were born and raised in forests would consider humans as enemies since they would burn down forests to reclaim the land.

“In that case, allow me to ask for a favor. Humans will be crossing that road ahead of us in a bit. If it appears like humans are approaching, I want you to secretly tell me. We will teach those bad humans a lesson.”

The spirits accepted my request unanimously as they told me to leave it to them.

Shortly after, Laura returned from positioning our scouts.

“You cannot imagine my surprise when I saw the forest start glowing.”

Laura was furrowing her brows.

“Lord…… No, Count Palatine. What did you do?”

I smiled at the girl who was about to refer to me as lord but quickly caught herself.

“I just hired the stealthiest scouts in the world.”

“……?”

Laura looked completely clueless. Well, she’ll figure it out in time.

“Look over there.”

Laura pointed at the horizon after about an hour since we arrived in the forest.

“It seems the Baroness managed to start the fire.”

She was right. The area she was pointing at was the only place that was glowing brightly.

Laura gave a satisfied nod.

“She started the fire at the perfect time. The enemy will take about half a day to decide on how to respond after learning of our destination, and it will take another half a day to rally reinforcements and come this far. So in total, this should take them at least an entire day.”

“Are we not running it close on time?”

“Very much so. That is why this young lady sent the main army to Milano…….”

Young lady? That wasn’t really an appropriate term for the supreme commander of an army to refer to herself as. I considered cautioning her about it, but there were no soldiers within earshot. I decided to shrug my shoulders and leave it be.

“The victory and failure of this operation depend on how much time it takes for the enemy to send their reinforcements. They do not have to delay it that long. It would be more than enough if the Earl of Pavia and the Duke of Milano argued for about an hour or two. That would suffice…….”

Laura closed her mouth. At that moment, a spirit stuck its head out from the foliage.

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– Master, a bunch of humans are approaching!

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I leaned down and patted the spirit’s head. The spirit squealed in joy.

A delay of about one to two hours, huh……? That was exactly how long it took for the enemy to approach after we arrived here. It was just as she predicted.

“Laura.”

“So those are the scouts you were talking about.”

Laura appeared to already know what I was going to say. She smiled as she turned around.

“Milord, watch me from a distance. I can remain strong if I know that you are watching.”

“If that is what you wish, Duke Farnese.”

Laura covertly gave commands to the squadron leaders. The soldiers that were resting freely quietly got back on their horses. The sound of horse snorting would occasionally resonate throughout the forest.

We could hear the sound of hooves approaching from a distance. The enemy was drawing near.

I was able to get a grasp of the enemy’s size and formation thanks to the information from the spirits. Despite advancing at full speed, they made sure to have an advance party at the front. It wasn’t clear how skilled Earl Pavia was at military tactics, but it appears that he knew how to be cautious.

“The enemy has about five thousand troops.”

“Oh? So he scraped together every cavalryman he could get.”

Laura smiled faintly.

“Either Earl Pavia’s authority is higher than expected, or the Duke of Milano did not want to be accused of abandoning his people. This is good for us either way.”

Normally, you would be afraid or nervous if you found out that your enemy has a large number of troops, but Laura was the exact opposite. She was like a warrior who would thank the gods for a bountiful harvest if she encountered a bear in the mountains during the winter. The larger her prey, the happier that made Laura.

Laura raised her right arm.

Once she did, our troops advanced.

At first, the horses moved at a trot. The warhorses moved forward like they were going on a light jog. The horses promptly picked up their pace once the first and second lines of our formation had completely left the forest.

Once the first line started their charge, the second line would follow, followed by the third, and so on. No one shouted at the others to speed up or give battle cries. The world’s quietest cavalry charge was being carried out here.

The cavalrymen of Sardinia were marching in a long line ahead of us, exposing their flank to us completely. However, even if we were being as silent as possible, it was impossible to silence the sound of horse hooves. Thus, it didn’t take long for them to notice us.

“A-Ambush!”

“Turn the horses!”

The enemy troops became panicked. They cried out about an ambush and a surprise attack.

The enemy soldiers had been advancing as fast as possible to save their territory. However, this made it extremely difficult for them to change their formation. Our troops were already charging them at max speed while they were busily trying to pull themselves together.

There was probably no need to stay quiet now.

I activated the amplification spell that was on my necklace and gave a loud shout.

“Soldiers of Helvetica! Charge!”

That shout released the floodgate.

The mercenaries that had been staying silent up to this point all let out their war cries.

“Kill those Sardinian country bumpkins!”

“Go! Get them!”

“Wipe ’em all out!”

Our warhorses charged intensely.

The enemy must’ve been fairly competent as well, as they managed to pull together a formation and respond to our attack in kind. The problem, however, was the distance.

They didn’t have nearly enough distance to increase the speed of their horses. Compared to our forces that had more than 400 meters to increase the pace of our horses, the enemy had less than a hundred meters available to them.

The result was clear.

Our first line and the enemy’s first line collided noisily as metal and metal slammed together. There were even enemy horses that were flung away after coming into contact with our warhorses. The enemy’s first line collapsed without being able to even let out a scream. They had quite literally evaporated.

The royal army’s first line couldn’t stall for any time whatsoever. They were just now starting to create their second line, but this incomplete formation ended up being exposed to us.

With this, this was no longer a battle.

My amplified order rang out throughout the plains that had suddenly become a warzone.

“All troops, slaughter the enemy!”

A one-sided slaughter had begun.