episode_0032

“Everyone got together well. From now on, you will achieve heroic feats that will never be seen before in history.”

It would be an unprecedented defeat in history. That’s what I thought, but I didn’t say anything.

“As you know, the empire is currently in a desperate crisis… !”

The crown prince spoke as if he were the protagonist of misfortune. I was dumbfounded seeing the crown prince like that. The empire was not currently in a desperate crisis. Rather, now was the right time to sign an armistice with the enemy. That was because it was the timing of successive victories in the war, so an armistice agreement could be concluded under favorable conditions.

“A situation where enemies of the empire are scattered everywhere. Our empire can only survive if it reduces its enemies by at least one!”

At first glance, it seems like the right thing to say, but this is also bullshit. It is true that there are enemies everywhere. However, it is difficult to completely defeat either of them. In that case, it was right to restore national power rather than hastily launch an attack.

“Therefore, our military plans to launch a major offensive by gathering 75,000 troops drawn from each area.”

“… ”

“… ”

“… ”

The commanders of each army looked at each other. The intention was for someone to stop the crown prince, but no one took the initiative. This is because everyone knew how ruthless the crown prince was.

“The Empire is surrounded by rebels on all sides, but among them, the rebels who call themselves the Dorok Kingdom are so bad that they can be called the leaders of the rebels. If you subdue them, not only mine but your names will also go down in history.”

“… ”

“… ”

The crown prince was secretly expecting to hear shouts. However, the reaction of local army commanders was lukewarm. After all, they were people who rose to the top as soldiers. The rank of commander of the local forces is equivalent to the Minister of Military Affairs. It wasn’t a position I wanted to risk my life to climb up to. Their dream was to be discharged safely and satisfactorily as commander of the local forces. Therefore, their hearts did not particularly flutter at the Crown Prince’s speech.

“Why are you all so upset?”

“No, Your Highness. I just felt sick to my stomach because the bread I ate for breakfast was wrong… ”

“I didn’t sleep well last night… ”

“You seem to be a bit tired due to your age… ”

The commanders each made excuses, and the crown prince looked at them with a puzzled expression.

—–

Meanwhile, Queen Aldvina III of the Dorok Kingdom raised her forehead when she heard that the empire’s 80,000-strong army was approaching the Dorok Kingdom.

“Why is it called the Dorok Kingdom?”

There was the Ares Islands in the south, the Kingdom of Mylia in the west, and Rekhgit in the north. They are all alive, so why ignore them all and advance to the east?

Actually, I didn’t know the reason. 400 years of history of the Dorok Kingdom’s rebellion. It would not be strange to think that it was a thorn in the side of the empire just because it survived despite opposing the empire for 400 years.

Besides, I was familiar with the prince’s personality. I heard that you are obsessed with becoming a war hero. A person with that kind of personality would want to become a hero by defeating Dorok, which has 400 years of history, rather than other countries with no history. but…

“That’s foolish. So foolish.”

This is the path to destruction. Both for Dorok and the Empire. The Kingdom of Dorok will suffer damage close to annihilation in this war, but this is not just the Kingdom of Dorok. The empire also consumed a lot of national power. In this situation, moving 75,000 troops is tantamount to national suicide.

“Choose the path of mutual destruction.”

Queen Aldvina read and reread reports from the front. I even read it in my room after work was over. As she took off her crown and let down her hair, her long blonde hair fell down. She tied a cloth around her hair, ran it through her hair, and continued reading the report.

[A large army of the Empire is stationed in the eastern military barracks. It appears that they will soon invade the Kingdom of Dorok. That number is around 70,000 to 80,000. Soldiers from all branches of the military appear to have gathered.]

The queen thought. A large army of 80,000 men. You can never win head on. But wasn’t there a crisis like this in the 400 years of the Dorok Kingdom? This is not the first major imperial offensive. However, the Dorok Kingdom army has blocked all major attacks so far. It wasn’t because there were many soldiers from the Dorok Kingdom. It wasn’t because they were a hundred incredible warriors per day. That was because the Kingdom of Dorok was like a natural fortress blessed by nature.

The Empire made a wrong choice. I will show you that choosing the Kingdom of Dorok as the target of a major offensive is digging your own grave. Queen Aldvina vowed to do so, and finally crumpled up the report she had read and put it in the trash can.

—–

Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Northern Army was currently in a state of mourning.

Lee Si-hyeon knew very well that he would lose this war, and he did not have much social experience to hide his worries. Lee Si-hyeon was by no means a bad person, but her social skills were worse than others. As such, he was not able to hide his anxious feelings well, and since Lee Si-hyeon was doing this, his subordinates who were much lower in rank also naturally had no choice but to be infected by Lee Si-hyeon’s atmosphere.

… Except for one person.

“Lulu~ Lururu~”

It is Lucas who comes in, humming a song with a messed up tone. He was the leader of the newly appointed corps of sworn soldiers.

“Ugh! what? I thought it was a collection of portraits. Everyone, let’s lighten up. Why are young people acting like people who will die soon?”

“… ”

“What happened?”

“… ”

Chloe raised both hands and made an X sign. It meant not to ask any more questions. But Lucas continued to ask without notice.

“Ah~ Don’t do that, just say it. If you talk about it, it might be resolved, right?”

Lucas sat across from Sihyeon Lee and made a fuss. Lee Si-hyeon took a deep sigh and said.

“It’s too big of a problem for me or Lucas to solve.”

“Huh? Aside from me, what about the commander? Are there problems that the heir to the dukedom cannot solve?”

“This war.”

When those words came out, Lucas’ expression became serious for an instant.

“You will lose.”

At those words, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavy.

After a period of silence passed.

The first to break the silence and speak was Lucas.

“Commander… ”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Lucas at his words.

“Why are you so sure?”

“… ”

Lee Si-hyeon thought. It’s because the crown prince is an asshole. However, if you say it as it is, it will be considered an insult to your superior and you can be hanged. That’s why I decided to talk about it as much as possible.

“First is the terrain of the Dorok Kingdom.”

The crown prince loses because he is an asshole. Although this is true, the terrain issue is actually not a 100% lie. Were all the empire’s generals up to now as idiots? There were many masters and many geniuses. Despite this, the Kingdom of Dorok has never been conquered. The topography of the Dorok Kingdom played a role in this.

“The entire Dorok Kingdom is a natural fortress. It feels like the border is surrounded by mountains and there is flat land inside. It had an excellent defensive strategy, with production taking care of the plains and defense taking care of the mountains.”

“That’s it… That’s right. But will that work when our army has close to 80,000 troops?”

“The more there are, the easier it is to communicate. The Dorok Kingdom army probably won’t target our troops.”

The subordinates were taken aback by those words.

“Yes? What do you mean by that? If you’re not targeting troops, what on earth are you aiming for? Isn’t war a fight that ends only when the troops are exhausted?”

“That’s not it. The condition for the end of a war is not the exhaustion of troops. It is the exhaustion of war-fighting capabilities.”

“Warfare capability?”

“To win a war, you do not necessarily have to kill all of the enemy’s soldiers. Just making sure the enemy can’t fight anymore is enough. For example… ”

The discussion that day went on for quite some time.

—–

A week later.

A large army of 75,000 troops advanced toward the east. If the crown prince takes control of the Kingdom of Dorok, he will become a national hero, solidifying his right to succeed to the throne, and at the same time becoming a war hero even greater than Vinnet Franz. A war hero from the commoners and a war hero from the royal family will have different pushes.

However, it was still unclear whether the future that Crown Prince Albert von Arcadia dreamed of would come. The war that would take place from now on would be a very dirty, muddy fight that never appeared in the heroic stories the crown prince liked.

At least that’s what I would do if I were Queen Aldvina, the enemy monarch.