Chapter 435 (1/2)

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Translator: Nat

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–Aegir POV–

As soon as I enter the headquarters where Erich is, I bellow without any preamble.

「Is it true that we've been betrayed?」

My voice was louder than I thought and it scared a girl doing ch.o.r.es, making her fall over.

「Details are unknown, however, there is no doubt that three feudal lords colluded with the enemy. According to reports from our information officer, they are raising armies around their mansions.」

If they're gathering an army at this time, it's practically certain then.

I help the girl stand up, gently brus.h.i.+ng the dust off her a.s.s while checking how plump she is at the same time.

「Although I don't believe these three households can prepare a large army, South Yuguria may have a hand in helping them. Unfortunately, they are in a bad spot. Our soldiers will panic if they detour and simply threaten to attack the capital. Moreover, they can target your territory by moving south.」

They are starting to retreat in front.

Yet they seem to be fairly aggressive with that earlier offensive.

If we show any kind of weakness, it doesn't necessarily mean they won't return.

The girl realizes that I wasn't only brus.h.i.+ng dust off and looks downward, her face turning red.

She doesn't run away, so she doesn't totally dislike it.

「In any case, if we consider the time needed to transmit the information, we should act right awa ――hey, look at the hill to the southeast!」

A lookout shouts, interrupting Erich in mid-thought.

Coming up from the southwest is an enemy army.

Their numbers total 10 000…… no, not less than 20 000.

「They prepared quite the welcoming party.」

「This is no time for jokes. I didn't want them to see us in trouble.」

Erich bitterly commands his army to intercept.

However, their reactions to a second consecutive battle immediately following a large battle are slow.

When I was about to ponder our options, Pipi and Luna each tug on my left and right sleeves respectively.

I narrow my eyes to confirm the ident.i.ty of the new enemy and――

「Wait, halt the attack! Stop.」

I cancel Erich's order without consulting him.

He glares at me, incredibly upset, but now is not the time.

「That's a friendly army. Why, that flag is familiar.」

「It is Lord Hardlett's own flag.」

I ignore Leopolt's comment.

Who we thought was a new enemy is waving my flag.

The flags of the three feudal lords believed to have colluded with the enemy were torn diagonally and raised on display.

Straining my eyes further, I see that the soldiers wearing simple body armor and wielding spears closely resemble militia.

Only the core group of the army are wearing a nice set of armor that I've seen before――oh, they're the security unit.

「Hey, that's the squad I a.s.signed to Myla. Why are they here?」

Leopolt shakes his head when I turn to him for an answer.

He doesn't overreact, but it seemed like he was staring sharply at the security unit.

「Myla, you've done it now.」

I smile wryly, picking Pipi up in my arms and stroking the underside of her chin.

Celia, who was in the corner, twitches, but silently keeps her head down.

I ordered Myla to protect my territory.

If Leopolt didn't overrule me, then Myla must have acted on her own.

「Anyways, let's hear what she has to say.」

I continue stroking Pipi, not paying attention to Erich as he pats his chest in relief.

Celia stays depressed in the corner, while Sekrit, who came from nowhere, watches with a grin.

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「Explain yourself.」

Leopolt urges in his monotonous voice and Myla begins retelling her story.

「I-I completely expelled the enemy from the territory. Results from sending scouts into enemy territory showed no signs of a rearguard or reinforcements…… and I also judged that another invasion would not be strategically possible from the enemy stand point……so instead of letting precious soldiers go to waste, I decided to join the main battle……」

It's very like her to start off speaking clearly and then gradually become evasive near the end.

Leopolt glances over the report doc.u.ment.

「This is from when you were in the territory to when you were exterminating the enemies――right? There wasn't a change in orders.」

「W-well…… the situation was fluid and…… I missed the opportunity to exchange reports……」

Myla shrinks more and more.

Seeing her normally dignified self look so uneasy stimulates both my protective instincts and my s.a.d.i.s.tic impulses.

Leopolt continues to speak in a cold, detached manner.

「In other words, Lady Hyuutia accomplished the order to ”recapture the territory”, abandoned the order ”defend the territory” and decided to mobilize the army on your own, am I understanding this correctly?」

「Hau.」

Myla becomes smaller.

She's about the same size as Celia now.

「While your actions may be justifiable, why did you not get permission from the main army before moving?」

「I kept sending notices saying the enemy was retreating and there were no signs of a counterattack, yet I always got back messages saying to do as I was ordered! If things continued, my chance to partic.i.p.ate in the decisive battle would sli―― ah.」

Myla, who raised her head to rebut, realized she dug her own grave.

By the way, I didn't see any of those notices. Leopolt was the one who responded to everything.

「In other words, Lady Hyuutia disobeyed orders knowingly――」

Myla has shrunk to about the size of Pipi now.

Erich watches with a strained smile.

Myla's infraction was evident so he doesn't try to stop Leopolt from scolding her.

However, he is looking at me like he wants me to do something to progress the conversation.

Actually, Leopolt is giving me a side glance as well.

I guess ceasing his rebuking is my job.

Alright, I'll offer a helping hand.

「We can save the scolding for later. She went through a battle on the way here, right? Let's hear the details of that first.」

Myla swells in size.

「Yessir! As I was marching towards the main warfront, south of the capital, an army waving the South Yuguria flag suddenly appeared in a city along the way. If I recall…… their numbers were close to 2000 or 3000. We were numerically superior and the enemy was carelessly marching in a disorderly fas.h.i.+on, so I quickly a.s.saulted from the side and dispatched them.」

「Kukuku, those guys were unlucky.」

Sekrit bursts out laughing. Erich also sighed in relief.

「Afterward, I encountered similar armies in the next two cities. Altogether, they might have had over 10 000 soldiers, though they were excessively fl.u.s.tered and I dealt with them separately, so I didn't suffer any losses worth mentioning. It was a one-sided affair……」

I'm sure the enemy planned to have the three feudal lords gather somewhere and threaten to flank us from the rear.

They just coincidentally ran into Myla and were defeated before the plan could be executed.

Obviously, the three forces were not combined yet and they were getting ready to leave their city, so they couldn't have been prepared to fight.

「Anyways, the commander―― the feudal lord, as well as his followers, all surrendered, so I captured and arrested them.」

Myla proudly sticks her chest out.

「Is that the end of the report? Let's get back on topic then.」

Seemingly dismissed by Leopolt, Myla shrinks again.

That was when help came from an unexpected source.

「From what I heard, there isn't anything to criticize.」

It was Sekrit, who had been grinning and chuckling by herself.

She looked to Erich and me for approval before resting her feet on top of the table, but when she didn't get it, she decided to lean against a pole supporting the tent instead.

「Independent actions are flowers on the battlefield. If lucky, it will be overlooked and if unlucky, then it will be punished accordingly.」

Sekrit turns to Leopolt.

「It's not something a mere staff officer should be stressing about.」

Leopolt gazed back when he was addressed.

Although he maintained his composure, he seemed a little angry. I can tell. Since it's so rare, I'll stare a bit longer.

Erich curiously tilts his head.

I hear him mumble, ”Where have I heard that before……”

「At the very least, she's better than a certain battalion commander who got c.o.c.ky and let their army get isolated, don't you think?」

「Hauu!」

Celia flinches and deflates until she's even smaller than Myla.

「What a thing to say.」

Celia's depressed as it is, don't pick on her.

You're making her shake like a leaf.

「Well, I'm not the one who gave the order so it isn't like I can say anything.」

Erich, seeing the issue has settled, spoke out.

「Luckily, Lady Hyuutia's actions have produced a fortuitous result. The enemy was looking for a chance to stand their ground as they were retreating…… but they should have completely given up once they saw the arrival of reinforcements and should back off all the way. We can push the warfront up.」

Erich opens the tent flap and overlooks the situation, beginning with ”On top of that-”.

He slowly scanned his surroundings from right to left.

Everyone waited in silence for a few seconds before Erich continued.

His voice was trembling slightly.

「Such awful…… awful casualties!」

Erich goes silent after squeezing out his sentence.

I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Erich to share his view.

No matter where I looked, the ground was covered with dead bodies.

I bet there are at least 100 000.

It feels like there are more corpses than living, breathing people.

Of course, this also includes the enemy's casualties……

「Roughly estimating the death count, the ratio of ally deaths to enemy deaths is 3:7 in our favor.」

Leopolt whispers.

Is that so?

「Many who died were the recruits with lack of proper equipment and training. Strategically, the damage isn't very significant……」

I know what Tristan is trying to say.

The militia are amateurs, in other words, they are farmers, merchants, and hunters.

If this extent of them died, the impact to national power would be greater than if a real soldier died.

「It's fine for now. It just seems like things will continue.」

I don't respond to his last remark.

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――Night.

After the enemy fully retreated, we decided to take a break and reorganize our armies.

「Err, so this is the damage report. The 105th army and Aless army are here too.」

Tristan stands beside me and acts as my a.s.sistant.

I stare at him dejectedly.

「What's with that face?」

「Can't you tell without me spelling it out?」

「It can't be helped. She's in that state……yet she kicks me when I try to slack off.」

Celia, who is normally supposed to be my a.s.sistant, is sitting in the corner of the room.

I'd like it if she could stop purposely sitting on the ground with her legs crossed when there is an empty chair for her, it's pitiful to look at.

「Hey, Celia. Do what you always do. I'm losing motivation when this guy's doing it.」

「You're so mean…… I don't like this troublesome job either.」

Celia answers with her shoulders slumped.

「No thanks, Tristan is more suited than someone as incompetent and stupid as me. If I'm by your side, my stupidity might transfer to Aegir-sama. I left a stone on the desk, so please throw it at me if you get annoyed.」

Celia has been humbled.

I'm at fault for leaving her when we charged at the enemy general. She might have thought I abandoned her.

「What do I do?」

「What to do indeed.」

Tristan sighs as he sips his tea.

Politeness isn't my thing, but I don't even have water, while this guy has lemon tea. What's up with that?

「There we go.」

Sekrit sits down on the chair in front of me and props up her feet on the desk, still wearing her dirty shoes.

If Nonna was here, she would boil with rage.

「Hey, the guys from 105 complained so I gave permission for them to rest without standing guard until morning.」

「Sure.」

I don't need them to do anything so I give a simple acknowledgement.

「――!?」

Myla stands up abruptly after hearing that, kicking her chair in the process.

Oh right, Myla is strict on rules and regulations.

She probably got upset at the fact Sekrit gave orders without consulting me first. This could start a fight.

「……」

However, Myla doesn't say anything and sits back down, which causes Sekrit to chuckle.

「……Uuu. I don't have the right to criticize her when I mobilized the army on my own. Aaah, now that I think about it calmly, how could I do something so outrageous……disregarding orders like that makes me seem like a mercenary…… aah.」

Myla holds her head with both hands and starts hating herself.

Eventually, she gets up from her chair and joins Celia, sitting down on the ground while hugging her knees.

「Lord Hardlett. Rafen's defense needs to be altered due to Lady Hyuutia's actions. The independent battalion has also suffered heavy losses and needs to be reorganized. Please give your approval.」

Leopolt, can't you read the mood?

It can't be helped. I'll have to pitch in.

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「Fufufu, this is paradise.」

A smile appears on my face as I enter a large tent meant for war councils.

There is no desk or map under the tent, just a single chair and a leather mat.

A barrel full of warm water was also prepared.

「You may begin.」

I sit on the chair in just my underwear.

「Right.」「Oh!!」「Aye!」

Answering me are three girls also in their underwear, Luna, Pipi and Irijina.

They slowly ladle out warm water from the barrel and pour it over my body.

「Fufu, the smell of sweat is so strong.」

Luna giggles as she sniffs my neck and armpit.

「I've been running all over so it's only natural. Clean it for me.」

「Of course. But before that……」

Luna, with her face still over my neck, sticks her tongue and drags it across my nape.

She has no problem doing that despite mentioning how sweaty it was?

「The scent of a man's sweat…… well, it turns me on. Let me wash you with my tongue and body.」

She drops the towel she was holding and rubs me from the neck to my stomach with her tongue and smooth skin.

「I'll wash your back!」

Irijina exclaims loudly.

She scrubs my back with a towel in a steady 1-2 rhythm almost like she's doing calisthenics.

Compared to Luna's seductive way of was.h.i.+ng, Irijina washes me in a wholesome manner.

She will certainly achieve the most cleanliness this way, but I'd prefer if she added in a little eroticism.

「Irijina. Don't use the towel, use your body…… specifically, could you wash me with your b.r.e.a.s.t.s?」

「Mu? My b.o.o.bs? Got it!」

Irijina wraps her arms around my neck from behind, pressing her soft mounds against me and grinding against me.