Ch.290Chapter 290. Against the Chel, Battle of Alcanwood Castle (1)

Seeing me lost in thought, it was Serpina who spoke first this time.

“As always, it seems something has happened.”

“…There is something, but even so, the fact that we will win remains unchanged.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that the fact our army will win hasn’t changed.”

“Then isn’t there no problem?”

Well, generally speaking that would be true—

But when results like this appear, it usually means we “lose” something in exchange for winning the battle.

Still, one thing I could be certain of—

‘Lady Serpina will be safe.’

If something bad were to happen to Serpina, the result wouldn’t be this lukewarm.

There would have been a prediction like “the outcome will be extremely favorable to our forces” or something along those lines.

But if that’s the case, what exactly will our army lose?

In any case—given this condition, I need to understand the true intentions of Serpina, the decision-maker.

“My lord. I’d like you to tell me a few things.”

“I was already prepared for that. Ask whatever you wish.”

Good.

Let me try once more. Piecing things together. That activity I’ve done countless times since coming here.

“That’s fortunate then. My first question is—”

* * *

Alcanwood Castle, which had become the de facto capital of Chel’s forces.

After gathering all his troops that had been spread across various territories into one place, the first thing Chel did was personally lead their training.

It was unprecedented for a ruler to manage soldiers in the barracks—but fortunately, such action played a significant role in maintaining the morale of his forces.

Chel’s soldiers weren’t fools.

They knew that even if they gathered like this, they couldn’t defeat Serpina’s massive army with their current forces.

Nevertheless—having the man once called Brans’ greatest swordsman personally encouraging them was quite special to those who had long served in the Brans army.

They didn’t expect miracles—but perhaps they could inflict tremendous damage on Serpina’s forces.

Befitting a ruler with a general’s background, Chel was certainly succeeding in instilling a kind of noble “combat spirit” among soldiers facing an overwhelmingly disadvantageous battle.

Not just the soldiers, but the remaining armed officers were in the same situation.

Since Chel himself had said they could abdicate if they valued their lives, everyone was resolutely prepared to dedicate their lives entirely to this battle.

If miracles existed, “prepared in every possible way to make one happen” would be the most appropriate description of Chel’s current forces.

Even so—

Rather than seeking miracles, Chel was assessing the current situation more coldly than ever before.

‘With this much… I should be able to inflict some damage on Serpina.’

He had no thought of winning.

His sole focus was inflicting severe damage on Serpina.

Preventing her continental advance even by the slightest bit.

This wasn’t for his siblings like Lynn or Kalintz, nor for the continental territory’s residents.

The final pride of a man who had lived throwing himself into battlefields.

That pride—refusing to be unilaterally crushed by Serpina—was the driving force moving Chel now.

From Serpina’s perspective, he was perhaps the most troublesome opponent.

If he had other ambitions, she could have surely pressured Chel’s forces in various ways.

The saying that the most fearsome person is one with nothing to lose wasn’t meaningless.

Then one day, as he continued conducting intensive daily training and personally boosting his soldiers’ morale—

“Serpina’s army is approaching?”

“Y-yes, sir!”

At the report from a soldier with a red armband, Chel asked in a calm tone.

“How many troops?”

“About 148,000, it seems…!”

“…Hmph.”

His side had scraped together 80,000 in total.

It was less than the expected scale of about 160,000, but—

‘That was probably the best she could do from her position.’

Operating large-scale forces wasn’t as simple as one might think.

Especially for attacking Alcanwood Castle, situated in the middle of somewhat rugged mountains rather than flat terrain.

The more troops, the harder it became to manage supplies and the slower the advance—and assuming siege engines would be used, there was no need to mobilize so many troops anyway.

Besides, since they had hidden cards beyond just troops, they probably didn’t want to unnecessarily expand the scale.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll make her regret not mobilizing 200,000.’

“Who’s the commander-in-chief?”

“Serpina is commander-in-chief, Swen is chief of staff, and Kransis appears to be leading the vanguard.”

‘So Kransis will be the man I face.’

Kransis alone wouldn’t satisfy him.

Honestly, he wanted to take at least two or three more occupation force commanders as companions on his journey to hell.

“What will you do?”

“We’ll intercept around the castle walls. Go tell everyone. The time has come, prepare as planned.”

“Understood!”

After the messenger withdrew.

Chel slowly reached for the sword at his waist.

Taking a moment’s pause, he slowly drew it—once again feeling like his former self who had roamed the continent to conquer the central region.

‘This will probably be the last battle of my life.’

He had enjoyed being born into a warrior’s life.

He enjoyed staining his blade with enemy blood more than complicated politics.

Though he had somehow been pushed into this situation, he was quite satisfied that the final trajectory of his life would be a battle with the villainess Serpina.

‘…Let’s go.’

In whatever form, he would certainly leave his mark—

Muttering to himself, Chel slowly left the royal castle.

* * *

Outside Alcanwood Castle.

On the battlefield where war clouds gathered, Kransis, the vanguard commander and occupation force commander, was making his final assessment of the enemy situation.

“Commander.”

Addressing him was Irian, standing by his side.

Since stepping down from his temporary position as castle lord, he had resumed using honorifics with Kransis.

“My lord says to charge whenever the time comes.”

“…How are the ‘siege engines’ our lord mentioned coming along?”

“They’re ready.”

After saying this, Irian carefully offered his opinion.

“What do you think about the possibility of them coming out to intercept?”

“They’ll likely send out only a small force. To counter the siege engines, at least. But I’m convinced they’ll hold out in the castle.”

“You’re convinced?”

“Chel isn’t a stupid man. He may seem reckless at times, but he’s not one to personally engage in unfavorable battles. …What about Lady Reika?”

“I’ve heard she’s prepared, but… I don’t think she’ll need to step forward this time, will she?”

“I agree with your opinion.”

Reika could only attack within a certain distance.

Her magic was certainly powerful, but it would be problematic to expose her position so one-sidedly.

With a general as mobile as Chel, there was a high possibility he would target only Reika with persistent attacks.

It was also not easy to precisely attack only enemy buildings on a battlefield where friendly and enemy forces were mixed.

Of course, beyond all that—

Considering the “preparations” they had made, there was no need for Reika to come to the front.

“Our lord also said to primarily use the siege engines she prepared.”

“I know. Where is General Irene now?”

“She seems to be carrying out a separate mission, but beyond that I’m not sure…”

“I see.”

The vice commander was someone who performed her duties well, so there was no need to worry much.

Chel would almost certainly emerge with the interception force, which would require significant sacrifice, but if they could just eliminate that small interception force, they could use magic or siege engines against the besieged troops—

After completing the rough calculations in his head, Kransis slowly nodded and said to Irian:

“General Irian. Proceed as planned.”

“Yes!”

Just as Kransis was about to begin formal siege preparations with the siege engines at the forefront.

“…Huh?”

“T-the castle gate is opening!”

Despite not having even set up properly yet, troops began pouring out of Alcanwood Castle.

‘…So the interception force is coming out already?’

The emergence of an interception force itself was within expectations, but… there was one difference.

That was—

“T-the number of troops…!”

“They’re coming in masses!!”

The number of troops was far greater than expected.