48 Chapter 49. Arkland War: Collapsing Country (1/2)

Goldonia Royal Palace, Late at night

「Urgent report from supreme commander Radhalde!」

「Ooh!」

「You came!」

The king ordered that if an urgent report came from Baron Radhalde, he would want to be woken up even if it was late at night. The guards hurriedly rushed to let him know, but there was no need. The king appears taking along his close associates.

「Sorry for my rudeness this late at night, but it is from the supreme commander…」

「Enough! Hurry and tell me!」

He interrupts the messenger's speech. The king is also feeling quite nervous as his face stiffens.

「Yessir! Our Central Army has collided with the enemy Arkland Northern Army's main force in the suburbs of the town of Datrohn, and as a result of a furious battle, they have been defeated! The enemy suffers heavy losses and has run away scattered!」

「Ooooh!」

「They won!」

「As expected of lord Radhalde!」

High-level officials of the minister class and high-class nobles were showing emotions and cheering as if they were soldiers of the lowest class.

「I see, they won! Good…that's good!」

The king is also filled with emotion as he gazes up to the skies.

「The allies have suffered quite the loss too, but after shuffling some soldiers here and there, an additional invasion is possible.」

「Send the messenger immediately! Tell them to resume the invasion as soon as possible. It's fine if they just advance.」

The king chuckles. Erich has fulfilled his role, and all the moves that the king has played in advance are starting to come together. The king feels elated in his heart. Arkland, that abominable insect of a country, will disappear forever from the map.

–Celia POV–

At the same time, Datrohn Feudal lord's mansion; A room, Celia

「It seems that he somehow managed to hold on.」

The concerned people all breathed sighs of relief. Even amongst them I sat on the floor weakly. On top of the bed, the hero who cut down 200 people and protected the town, lord Hardlett who is Aegir-sama, is sleeping.

「There are no places on his body, which don't have wounds. There are also several places where it reached his organs too…no matter how good of a medicine I use, losing that much blood and still being able to stay alive, I can only believe that he is someone loved by the gods.」

The doctor spreads his arms as if to say that a miracle happened.

「He'll probably be awake soon. Keep him steady for a while, have him eat nutritious food that have been broken down gently, wipe his body down and apply the medicine. He should be fine.」

The doctor left, everyone didn't want to disturb him while he was recovering so they also left and only I remained.

「I'm so glad…I'm really glad…」

I cling onto the hand of my unconscious master, and press it to my face.

On that day, I was relieved when he was talkative and rubbing my butt, but his entire body was covered with not only the enemy's blood. When I went to give him first-aid treatment and took off the broken armor, I was shocked. The tip of the spear, arrows, bolts – all of them were pierced through his body.

(He can't be saved)

I immediately thought so. If I found another soldier who suffered the same injuries, I would not let him suffer and my first thought would be to put him at ease.

But I wouldn't do that to this man, I absolutely won't let him die. For now, I have to let him lay in bed, although the battle is still going on right now outside the gate and there is no help. I threw away the heavy armor, lifted him up and carry him into the town.

My master, who was quite muscular, was more than twice my weight. My whole body was screaming, my muscles were hurting as if they were being torn apart. But I can't drop him or pull back. Even if my limbs are torn off that would be fine, as long as I get him to a safe location to let him sleep as soon as possible….

I finally arrived and laid him down at the town square to call the servant's family to allow us to borrow a bed, and have them call the doctor. But the doctor's, as well as the family's expression was dark. No matter how anyone looked at it, it was a fatal wound. I would give out as much money as necessary to get them to use the best medicine, but they told me that he lost too much blood and that he wouldn't last even one night.

That day I was outside the resident's house, sitting down as if guarding the door. Even if I was inside there was nothing I could do, and if my master died then I felt like I would kill the doctor.

Eventually, the doctor's movements began to panic. At first he was doing his best to care for him, but whether it was his well-trained body, or because of the blessings from the war god, it seems the possibility that he would recover was increasing.

Because his wounds could rot if he was left in an unsanitary place, we carried him to the feudal lord's mansion. It's something rude to say, but it was normal for the regular citizens' homes to have rodents and insects crawling in them. Starting with Mack, we gathered strong men from the squad, and moved him to the bed without letting it shake.

And then we arrive at this moment. Thinking about it, three days has passed since then and I haven't taken a nap. When he departed, I was ready to quickly follow after him , even if it was a place like the underworld I felt like we could do it together.

But there is no need to do that anymore. I can feel myself falling asleep with peace of mind for a few seconds.

–Third person POV–

Arkland Somewhere

「Hey did you hear?」

「About what?」

「Are you stupid? It seems like the northern army lost?」

「There's no way! The northern army is like the strongest army, and not to mention they have the famed general, His Excellency Aslodith, leading them!」

「It seems like there is no mistaking it. They came back looking all beat up and locked themselves in the garrison.」

「It seems like the strongest elite, the steel spear cavalry also came back with only half their members.」

In the town and in the village, the rumors circulated. The Arkland king and the government officials arrested several people for spreading bad rumors and publicly executed them but they could not keep the mouths of people from opening.

It was not only within rural areas, but even in the comparatively richer cities, there was a disturbing movement spreading amongst the citizens. A high tax rate, a long-term conscription, and anything and everything that dissatisfied them about the army's influence had originally been suppressed, and when things started to crumble, the kingdom has begun to collapse from the inside.

But rumors that leak naturally would not spread this quickly. They appear where people are gathered and spread the rumors, then they would go to another town. Those guys came from the north and are spreading the 'truth' of Arkland.

「Even if you say something like that, Arkland will be the one to win in the end. Try to think about it, up until now how many tens of fights have they won? Who cares if they lost once.」

「That's right, if an idiot is making a fuss and opposes the government then they will get killed. It's the same conclusion up till now.」

Even so, there are many that still believe in the influence that lasted for many years. If you make a bad move and nothing happens in the end, you will be the ones being hunted down after all.

「Look at that, the troops from the south are moving out!」

「They are compensating for their war potential. It seems it was true that they got beat up quite badly in the north.」

The battle lines of the troops that are coming up from the south was a scene that was seen quite often in Arkland.

「Isn't it weird? The garrison for the southern army is not here but a bit to the east?」

「Maybe they were doing training exercises in the east or something?」

「No, I have been in this town for a long time and I haven't seen them leave the garrison…」

Interrupting their conversation was the bell ringing in the town. If it rings it means that there is either a fire or the enemy is attacking, and then…

「Enemy attack!?」

「That flag is not the southern army! Is it the Treia kingdom? No way, those guys have crossed the borders!!」

A week from this day, it was 'the rebellion to bring back the safety of the land due to the suffering that the corrupt government is causing'

Northern region's Yurest Allied Nation, Western region's Stura Kingdom and Magrado Dukedom and Southern region's Treia kingdom.

The four nations have declared war on Arkland; Treia and Yurest which were connected by land crossed the national border, while Stura and Magrado across the river took advantage of the confusion and rode over to the port city on ships.

It's true that these countries were enduring the tyranny of Arkland, but underneath that, it was because of Goldonia winning a battle that the rule for dividing up the territory became important.

Nevertheless, they were able to decide to take their second step towards the Arkland army because of the victory at Datrohn. The victory of the peaceful country Goldonia, where people had doubts about its military strength, caused the leadership of that country to be restored, and as if they would miss out on their share, all the countries took action at once.

The strongest northern army was defeated, all the surrounding countries declared war together, and then the citizens are being abandoned one after the other. The nobles as well as the farmers, and then even the soldiers were forced to accept the unpredicted collapse of the Arkland kingdom.

–Aegir POV–

Five days later, Datrohn

「Hey, Celia I can go by myself to the toilet.」

「No! It's because you must absolutely relax so you can't get up. Give up and please go ahead right into this tub.」

How can I excrete when I am being supported by a little girl? I try to get up by force but pain runs through my entire body and my movements froze. I was immediately held down by Celia.

「Aegir-sama, your wounds will open. I'm asking you to please sleep.」

I gave up, and lay on my side obediently. Even so, I am bad with the steel spear cavalry. In the past, I was also injured by it if I recall correctly.

「I want to eat something.」

「Yes, immediately.」

Celia feeds me the porridge, which was left on the table, with a spoon. I really appreciate her caring for me like this, but..

「If I don't eat meat as well, I won't recover.」

The hard meat is chewed by Celia and she feeds me with her mouth. It was the same with chestnuts and pears. I could actually already eat by myself but I wanted Celia's mouth so I kept quiet.

She is also growing quite nicely enough to call herself a woman. The body that was recovering began to assert itself by raising the comforter.

「Celia…」

I place my hand on her small head but she said no and made me sleep.

「It's already been close to a week, I'm starting to reach my limit.」

「I heard that if you release your seed, you use up your stamina. Please take care of yourself. Of course embracing a woman is out of the question.」

Celia is serious so it's probably impossible. I'll go and ask Rita or something.

「By the way I told the servants harshly. If Aegir-sama calls you for sex that burdens him then I'll use a knife and slice up their lower mouth.」

It's Celia so she actually did so without holding back. Even if I ask for it she refuses me mildly.

「When your wounds heal I can be your partner as much as you want, and I won't do anything violent to the servants nor say anything. If you want, I could find a nice place for you in the town. That's why I want you to please rest now.」

It can't be helped since she has said this much. But when I get better I'll have Celia take in everything that I stored up.

「You're just like your usual and women-lover self.」

He was waiting in front of the door probably, Erich appears with a dubious face. Celia quietly stands down.

「This is, I've shown you an ugly side of me. Is there something you have for me?」

「Yeah, an order to resume invasion came from his majesty. The reorganization of the troops is the minimum but that has been completed. We'll depart tomorrow morning.」

It's hard to say, but they would have to leave me here when they go. It can't be said that this body could keep up with them.

「I understand. What will happen with my battalion?」

「I thought about having them patrol around the town as security but the damage from the other squads are worse than I thought. I'm sorry but I'll take them under my direct command.」

「They would probably want a chance to increase their merits in battle too.」

(Light Novels Illustration: Aegir lying in bed)

「I agree, I'll leave some guards here to preserve safety. Well, there is no chance for Arkland to make a counterattack.」

I also know about the state of things. Four countries are participating in the war, and are closing in on their capital city. They can't imagine that Goldonia was the first one to drop in on their capital.

「Then I'll pray that you do well in battle.」

「Yeah, you should get well soon and catch up with us.」

Erich leaves, and it became calm again. Erich, Agor and Leopolt have left, the only ones left are Celia and I.

「Are you dissatisfied?」

「No, not more than the fact that I can't hug a woman.」

Good grief, Celia laughs.

「Let's sleep, I will also sleep together with you.」

「You're right, I'll get well quickly and chase after Erich.」

I change into clean clothes and sleep while I hug Celia who has crawled into the futon.

But soon, realizing that I did not do something, in the end I had Celia help me out.

「Go ahead, please let it out. I'll support you.」

「........」

It's the first page of my life's humiliation.

After that, what was started by Goldonia was continued by the other countries as they had a 'punitive force' heading towards the capital to continue their attack. The Arkland army's resistance was robust, but the frequently-occurring rebellions tripped them up, the transportation of their goods were delayed so the situation was such that they could not fight satisfactorily.

Especially, it was quite serious that the citizens who were abandoned were thoroughly aiming for the food – resulting in shortage, on the battlefield it was often defeated by the punitive force, but they were unable to respond, and were as a whole slowly retreating.

While they were in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation, Arkland did not lose control; they retreated to the capital while slowing down the punitive forces, but they cannot expect reinforcements to come from anywhere. Their food reserves is dwindling and finally rebellions came from the regular soldiers.

They were those who once served the long-term conscription and have been thoroughly trained to become powerful, but they were conscripted once again and working hard so that they could return to the their families; they were not going to sacrifice themselves for the kingdom's sake.

The internal conflict within the army finally caused the Arkland king's government to abandon hope of resistance deployed in a wide area. The remaining troops were ordered to return to the capital, and it was also done haphazardly; food was commandeered from the villages and towns which caused the spark.

Arkland's remaining military strength of 10,000 were gathering while carrying food and holing up in the capital, the punitive forces were surrounding them, and the state of battle entered a stalemate.

Two weeks later

「There are no problems with your muscles or organs. It's a frightening recovery speed.」

There is the authorization from the doctor. There's also the medicine that helped, so my physical condition is not much different than before I got hurt.

「There are scars on your skin though…」

It was because there was no place on my body that wasn't hurt. As expected, the scars on my body stood out.

「If I continue the treatment further for one week would the scars also get healed?」

If I do something like that, then I will be even more delayed in catching up with Erich. Arkland is already being pushed into the capital, it's not the time for me to relax and sleep around. Besides, for a man like me scars are something like a medal of honor.

After the examination was over, I had only a towel over my crotch and head over to Celia and the servants just like that.

「How are the wounds? Is it ugly?」

「It's the proof that Aegir-sama has been fighting hard. It's something to be respected, I don't think they are ugly at all.」