Shinigami wo Tabeta Shoujo Chapter 6 (1/2)
Royal Capital Liberation Army, Food Storehouse, Outskirts Campground. The Liberation Army furnished 1,000 regular soldiers for defense.
Furthermore, they invested a large amount of money and employed a mercenary force of 3,000 strong. Their discipline was slack, but they were a well-equipped infantry force.
Tactician Diener had been expecting an a.s.sault a second time. However, he couldn’t divide any more fighting power away from the main battlefield, and he was only barely able to station this amount of soldiers on defense.
—-Nevertheless, they were given the epitome of defense equipment.
“……Commanding Officer, the sc.u.m from the Kingdom are really coming. The strategist did say it was a fifty-fifty chance though.”
“Well now. We will just do our jobs. Once they come, We’ll kill every single last one of them. Simple right?”
“Let’s tear it up; then the knights might be promoted. And then, you’ll also join the n.o.bility, Commanding Officer!”
“As long as I get paid that’s enough. I ain’t got much interest in n.o.bility. Just what’s there to be so envious about, I ain’t understanding.”
Spit out the Mercenary Commanding Officer, and the group member sighed.
“What a waste ain’t it. With your skill, I bet you could make it, Commanding Officer”
“Excessive greed brings ruin onto oneself. People have their limits. It’s good enough to just strive to not die.”
“Yeah-! I got ya!”
“Do you really get it? ……Well whatever.”
The Mercenary Commanding Officer stood up after finis.h.i.+ng maintenance on his large sword. Their military strength was a little lacking to defend the storehouse, but he wasn’t worried that much. Noisemakers had been laid out around the circ.u.mference, and furthermore, their trump card, Sorcery Landmines, had been laid out. They were also going to be used for the engagement this time, these new weapons.
Made of iron and as large as a human child, it looked like a wine barrel seen in bars. Ordinary at a glance, and junk if slandering it.
However, the magic power crammed into it was absurd, and if it exploded, it could inflict a great deal of damage.
There were wielders of large destructive power, so-called Sorcerers, but there was a reason why they were not often used on the battlefield. One couldn’t gather a large amount of them, and they took time and money to train. Incidentally, if one raised someone with no talent, it would be impossible for them to utilize magic–that was decided by the Magical Capacity they had from birth. No examples exist so far of people who have acquired that postnatally.
Moreover, it demanded considerable time to chant before using sorcery. The time to chant would increase in proportion to increasing power, and it could not be used continuously. There was also the fatal flaw that once one’s magical power was exhausted, magic would become unusable. In other words, for large scale engagements, it would more efficient by far to ma.s.s produce cheap arrows and let them fly.
In the time it would take to unleash sorcery one time, ordinary soldiers could shoot 100 arrows. This was “Strength in Numbers.”
Sorcery was just that inefficient, but its destructive power was guaranteed. Every nation conducted research, looking for a way to make it practical. By the Empire’s Sorcery Engineering Department, and based the excavated technology from the Labyrinth City:
A weapon having the power of one Sorcerer had succeeded in being manufactured. That, was the Sorcery Landmine. It took a lot of time to make, to pour magic power into the special metal barrel, to write down the chant incantation, and to just be careful.
And then, when the Sorcerer would chant the keyword, or when the iron barrel detected an action that would make it detonate, it would immediately explode.
—-Simply put, it could also detonate simply by being stepped on.
“A scary weapon has finally been made man. Eventually, there’ll come an era when we can’t walk freely.”
“The guys laying them have to be careful else they will be in danger too though.”
“Honestly what an annoying matter. We also have to clear them or else.”
“Tru dat!”
“—–wait, woah-!!”
An earth-shattering explosion blasted underneath the soldiers that were joking around.
“—–W, what!?”
“A landmine exploded from the forest!”
“Oi! Who tripped it!? The enemy, an ally!?”
Someone set off a landmine. While praying that it wasn’t a comrade, they hastened to check.
“The flag of the Kingdom’s Third Army! A raid from the enemy cavalry is coming!!”
“So they’ve come!”
The mercenary soldiers stood up.
“The enemy set off the landmines; their men and soldiers seem to be in disarray!”
A first news came from a reconnaissance soldier.
“This’s our best chance! Everyone has already completed preparations!”
“Let’s go Commanding Officer!”
“Finally a time to make some profit!”
“Alright, Regulars tighten the defences on the storehouse!! Mercenaries follow me! With the enemy in chaos, we’ll bring them down in one breath!!”
“Understood-!!”
The Mercenary Commanding Officer jumped onto his horse, unsheathed his large sword, and raised an enthusiastic shout to intercept them.
The Kingdom’s cavalry had fallen into turmoil. They had exited the woods and plunged into an open field area, and at the last moment when they were going to charge at the storehouse, they received some kind of attack. The ground had erupted, the horses were swept off their feet, and there were many victims among the soldiers. It was as if they had received a sorcerous attack. However, there was not a hint of a sorcerer figure.
The Cavalry Commanding Officer raised his voice while the color drained from his face.
“Heeeyyyy! We’ve come this far, we can no longer retrace our steps! Put your att.i.tude in order and charge!! Attack!!”
“B-but Commanding Officer, our h-horses are stunned and are not listening to us!”
“Can’t you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds handle even a single horse sufficiently!!? What was all the daily training for!?”
“E-even if you say that, s.h.i.+t, your orders—-”
“d.a.m.n it! s.h.i.+t-, Arrows—-”
“C-commanding Officer, we are being shot at by bows! We have been found out!!”
Many arrows pierced the bodies of the unit soldiers having a difficult time pulling at the reigns. The Liberation Army garrison had noticed them. The Cavalry Commanding Officer’s spirits rose when the soldiers who rode on horseback arrived from the storehouse’s direction. Their opponents did not number many. They should be able to do it.
Or so the Cavalry Commanding Officer judged.
“We’ll be sniped at if we stay like this!! Those that can move follow me!! Forward-!!”
He hoisted his spear, kicked his horse’s stomach, and started the a.s.sault. Further explosions roared again behind him, but he did not have the luxury to turn around. He could hear the sounds of hoofbeats, so they probably had not been annihilated. No matter what damage they sustained, it would not be a problem if they could just destroy the storehouse. Strike and then break away was the cavalry’s duty.
—-Cavalry and cavalry crashed face to face, both with momentum behind them.
“Your head is mine!”
“Silence rebel sc.u.m! Become rust on my spear!”
“Just try it, dog of the Kingdom-!”
“HAAAAAAA-!!”
“TEYAAAAAAAAAAA–!!!”
The Cavalry Commanding Officer and the Mercenary Commanding Officer brandished their weapons and clashed.
The one who lost the bout,
—-was the Commanding Officer of the Cavalry.
Mercenary soldiers rushed to his body which had fallen off his horse. They too were frantic since if they took the head, they could get a monetary reward.
“The enemy commander has been killed!! Just like him, slaughter the Kingdom’s army-!!”
The Mercenary Commanding Officer vocalized from the depths of his stomach. This was for no other reason than to raise the morale of his comrades and to crush the enemy’s will. While shaking the clots of blood from his sword, he sonorously touted his sword.
“Ou-!!”
“If we win, we can expect a reward!”
“Kill them!”
The cavalry whose commander had been killed was completely disheartened. Individuals were surrounded and wounded, and their numbers diminished.
“S, s.h.i.+t-! Hahh, stay away!”
“—-Woah, hehe- Like that spear will hit me!”
“You’re full of openings! Die-!!”
Aiming for the gap inbetween spear thrusts, a mercenary’s sword approached the body of the Kingdom’s soldier. That instant,
“—-eh?”
The face of the Kingdom’s soldier instantly was dyed bright red. The face of the enemy soldier that had been aiming at him was hideously gouged out and removed. It was the spurt of blood from that that had rained on his entire body.
“If your horse will not listen to you, then dismount and fight. Come on, if you do not want to die, hurry up!!”
“S, sir!!”
“Hereon, I will take over command!! If our opponents don’t have a leader, they are just regular mercenaries! Calm down and kill them!!”
“Un, understood.”
“What a miserable voice, I’ll be the one to kill you!!”
“Understood-!!”
“Good-! Give them no quarter and mow them down-!!”
Schera inspired the cavalry with a heroic voice that did not match her visage. Even in this situation, her large scythe had harvested the lives of three mercenaries.
“—-I wonder if that mercenary guy is the commander. His movements are different from the others’.”
She identified a bearded horseman cutting down cavalry of the Kingdom with a large sword. She licked her lips, turned her beloved horse in his direction, and charged. Deciding to obstruct the charge from a rider, mercenaries gallantly turned their swords and spears towards her.
Schera ma.s.sacred those riff-raff prey, flouris.h.i.+ng her scythe like a windmill. Helmets were crushed, heads were severed, and blood spray gushed out from gouged limbs. Schera’s path of advance was immediately stained red.
“You’re the mercenary group’s commander-!? Your head please!!”
“A brat with a d.a.m.n cheeky charade-!! Go to h.e.l.l-!!”
“HAAA-!!”
When Schera held her scythe aloft resolutely, the mercenary Commanding Officer grinned and chuckled. His own large sword would clearly be faster. Faster than the large scythe could swing downward, his own sword would pierce her body.
He quickly visualized the path of his sword. His sword sailed with practiced movements. Satisfactory power went into his upper arm. It was a simple cut. His expertise in combat swordsmans.h.i.+p had gotten him out of life and death situations many times.
“I’ve got you!!”
“Slow.”
“—–!?”
The Mercenary Commanding Officer’s brandished sword was flicked away by the scythe’s handle, and there with his balance broken, Schera swung down her prized weapon with all her power.
The Mercenary Commanding Officer’s body was vertically cleaved in two. Helmet, armor, and the horse’s head were all involved.
‘Unbelieve,’ said his bloodshot eyes. His body opened up, and while a feeble breath leaked out from his oval mouth split in half, he died.
“It seems I went and made an artistic cadaver. Won’t this be hard to clean up?”
After gazing at the red-dyed body dead from their duel, she spun her large scythe to clean it and vigorously thrusted it at the skies.
“The enemy commander, has been killed!! Cavalrymen, continue to exterminate the dogs of the rebel army-!!”
This was an off-the-cuff mercenary force after all. If their commander that unified them were to be killed, they would promptly collapse.
“C, commander has been done in-!”