Ch.214Vampire (1)

On a bright spring day.

Thinking the weather was nice, I was planning to take a few people who had some free time to go fishing together, when completely unexpected news reached me.

‘….What? You mean, a Vampire Lord?’

[That’s right. Everything around is in chaos right now.]

According to what my father suddenly told me through our connected magical communication device, a Vampire Lord had appeared in the western territory of the Holy Empire and initiated a full-scale war.

One of the fortress cities built at key points to protect the Holy Empire’s border region had fallen and was now completely under vampire control.

Well, even if a fortress city had fallen, it’s quite far from our territory, and since it’s originally the Holy Empire’s problem, we naturally don’t need to pay special attention to it.

If we were to bring troops into someone else’s land, there’s a 99.9% chance it would be considered an invasion before even being called interference in internal affairs. Even if it were within the same Frankish Kingdom, let alone a completely different country.

So even if something happened over there, from our perspective, unless it was an extraordinary situation, we would just monitor the incident until it was resolved….

Unfortunately, that “extraordinary situation” had indeed occurred.

‘Are you saying… vampire guerrilla forces?’

[That’s right. About 2,000 to 3,000 troops escaped from that fortress city and are conducting guerrilla activities. ….Some are approaching our territory.]

According to my father, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 troops had escaped from that fortress city and were dispersed, conducting guerrilla activities.

And furthermore, some of them were gradually increasing their forces while approaching our territory.

The commanders were, of course, mid-level (regular) vampires under the Vampire Lord. According to his estimation, each commanded between 200 to 500 low-level vampires….

These forces were gradually increasing their numbers by consuming passing travelers (mostly bandits) and slash-and-burn farming villages, as well as devouring villages that hadn’t yet evacuated and subjugation forces.

Particularly, the army approaching our Colland Barony was by no means small in scale, and with at least two mid-level vampires present, there was a definite need to suppress them early.

[….For now, the Alzar Knights and cavalry will be dispatched to intercept them. The Pantheon has also promised cooperation.]

‘Phew, that’s a relief then.’

And my father, who was well aware of this, had naturally decided to send troops to block these creatures.

The Alzar Knights are not only one of the largest military forces in the eastern region, with all mid-level knights in the territory belonging to it, but the combat power of their subordinates is also by no means insignificant.

The direct subordinates of the Alzar Knights are somewhat different from ordinary subordinates who are treated like private soldiers, because they are both forces under the knights and also genuine knight candidates.

In reality, the Alzar Barony can produce a considerable number of knights thanks to its systematic knight training policy, and these subordinates themselves faithfully serve as auxiliary forces supporting the knights.

And most of these combat-subordinates are cavalry who pair with knights. They would be at least armored cavalry capable of shock tactics.

On the other hand, the territory’s cavalry is just a regular cavalry unit.

Light cavalry equipped with pursuit and reconnaissance capabilities, reinforced with firearms for firepower. Shock cavalry that charges into enemy vulnerabilities like their flanks. Heavy cavalry that breaks through from the front with overwhelming armor.

With the essence of the territory’s military power funded by all revenue from the industrial facilities of Ruhr with its population of 200,000, plus the cooperation of the Pantheon, there should be absolutely no problem in repelling the enemy.

Anyway, how much time had passed since I was lost in thought after listening to my father’s words?

[….Take care of yourself.]

‘Yes, Father.’

As my father, who had been deliberately gruff to hide his embarrassment, ended the communication after those words.

While I issued an alert status for the entire village, I also harbored a certain thought.

The thought that since the Alzar Knights, renowned as the strongest military group in the eastern Frankish Kingdom beyond our territory, were deploying alongside the Pantheon and the territorial cavalry, our village wouldn’t need to worry about being swept up in the conflict.

But having been colored by such expectations, I completely forgot about my persistent bad luck, and as if to impose sanctions for this forgetfulness and carelessness(?)—

Contrary to my expectations created by running my hope circuits at full capacity, the vampire army ultimately did not leave our pioneer village alone.

※ ※ ※

Just staying trapped in a fortress would ultimately result in annihilation by subjugation forces.

The Vampire Lord was a leader who could make firm decisions, unwilling to repeat this foolish act that countless cultists had commonly repeated throughout history without learning from the past.

Having over 10,000 vampire soldiers trapped in this fortress city would be useless on a battlefield where mid and high-level vampires would rampage, so instead, he sent these “useless” undead outside to conduct guerrilla activities.

Especially as the Vampire Lord, who had experienced battlefields as a disguised mercenary, realized that having even a small external force was more lethal than having enemies only inside the castle during a siege.

He sent out as many as 3,000 vampire soldiers and ordered 12 of his 32 mid-level vampires—those deemed of lower value—to conduct guerrilla activities.

Here, “lower value” meant those judged to have lower loyalty internally, or those who had recently become vampires and thus had rock-bottom credibility.

And among these cases, a mid-level vampire named “Adler von Walzehid” belonged to the former type.

Being straightforward and somewhat slow-witted in character, he had lost in the organization’s internal political struggles and was labeled as “having lower loyalty,” which is why he was ultimately selected as the commander of the external guerrilla forces, essentially a discarded piece.

Moreover, unlike other vampires who rose from low to mid-level during the fortress capture, Adler had been mid-level from birth, even before becoming a vampire, yet he was assigned under someone else’s command rather than becoming a general commander.

“I’m counting on you, Adler.”

“….Yes.”

To add to the humiliation, he became a direct subordinate to a newly recruited (infected) vampire, an unprecedented disgrace.

No matter how slow-witted and straightforward his personality might be, such blatant betrayal was intolerable, but even so, he couldn’t escape this obvious treatment as a discarded piece.

The vampire racial trait, ‘Dominion over Lesser Species’—this characteristic, which exerts a kind of magical dominance over lesser species under one’s command, was the reason he moved according to their orders regardless of his dissatisfaction.

Anyway, Vampire Adler von Walzehid, who was assigned to work under a junior weaker than himself against his will, continued to be exploited and active in various ways.

He attacked illegal slash-and-burn farming villages hiding in nearby undeveloped areas to increase his forces, and also attacked passing travelers—mostly bandits—to incorporate them into his army.

Adler was particularly interested in conquering slash-and-burn farming villages, as most residents were capable fighters (doubling as bandits) and criminals who didn’t receive protection from external forces.

Thanks to this approach, which could be called nothing short of radical, his subordinates grew to 2,000 as he eventually gained independent operational authority.

Of course, the vast majority were merely vampire zombies with blood-sucking abilities, but nevertheless, the number 2,000 was by no means negligible.

Furthermore, Adler von Walzehid continued his attacks by crossing the border region and carefully maintaining the line, resulting in an army of over 2,000—consisting of low-level vampires and blood-sucking beasts.

And around this time, orders from above were issued to Adler.

The content was to circle the eastern border region of the Frankish Kingdom, plunder territories, cross borders, and continue guerrilla warfare.

The key instruction was to proceed with a full-scale western invasion and accumulate damage, and while he wondered if this was unnecessarily stirring up a hornet’s nest, he ultimately had no choice but to obey the orders from above—

This was the decisive factor that led to one pioneer village receiving an unintended attack.