Ch.303Chapter 303. The Blind Spot of a Veteran (3)

* * *

In place of Yurie, who was busy praying at the altar every day, it fell to Epinel to command the troops before the battle with Serpina von Einhart’s forces.

Since everyone was exhausted from building the altar, rather than implementing special training, she was managing the soldiers’ morale by simply maintaining basic discipline and ensuring they had plenty of rest time.

Epinel was a warrior. She fundamentally understood how to handle soldiers far better than Vanessa Trinity, who had once served as a strategist for the Karelia forces. Because of this, she completely avoided unreasonable actions like enforcing strict discipline when they couldn’t even pay the soldiers more.

However, it was impossible to prevent discontent from building against a nation that failed to provide adequate compensation despite demanding unreasonable service, and a significant number of soldiers had deserted. Epinel understood well that in these chaotic times, it was unreasonable to demand unconditional loyalty from soldiers who weren’t even knights.

Instead of money, she utilized Serpina’s existence as motivation.

“Surely you don’t think you could live with your head held high after kneeling before a damned woman like Serpina!”

Thanks to Serpina’s notoriety, she was able to boost the soldiers’ morale somewhat—

But in truth, even among the soldiers, opinions about Serpina had been gradually changing lately.

“My relative in Alcanwood Castle says the governance is even more fair and just than during the Brans era…”

“My sister who got married says her husband’s family lives in the north, and they receive relief supplies when diseases break out.”

—Setting everything else aside, if the residents under her rule were satisfied, was she truly a tyrant?

This might be an extremely radical and inappropriate thought to harbor in these times—but nevertheless, this was a chaotic era where even such irreverent imaginings were permitted.

Fortunately for Epinel, one or two good deeds or heartwarming stories weren’t enough to erase the evil deeds inscribed in Serpina’s name.

If public opinion about her had been just a little better, they would have had to kneel before Serpina in a humiliating manner akin to surrender without even having proper training.

No matter how excellent a commander might be, without soldiers, one cannot conduct battles, let alone wage war. This was a principle she had learned over and over again even before becoming an academy instructor.

As she spent her time somehow screening soldiers in this manner, news arrived from intelligence.

“Really? You’re saying they’ve built a fortress around Valhalart Castle?”

“Yes. And information from multiple intelligence sources indicates that troops are gathering there.”

From that position, it would be possible to invade Laclaine Castle rather than Valhalart Castle—

But it made more sense to assume they would advance directly to the capital, Valhalart.

Although they hadn’t completely abandoned their castles like Chel Brans had, distributing soldiers across territories in the face of Serpina’s large army would be like begging to be killed one by one, so they had long since concentrated most of their forces at Valhalart Castle, except for minimal garrisons elsewhere.

Having lost more than half of their original forces to the plague and the war with Chel’s army, what they could scrape together was still just a handful.

“What will you do?”

“We should start preparing for battle. Has there been any news of someone who appears to be a mage?”

“No, not at the moment…”

“I understand. Report immediately if there are any unusual developments.”

“Yes!”

After the soldier left,

Epinel’s adjutant, who had served in the Aeshus army for quite some time, carefully asked her a question.

“Um, General Epinel. Are you considering a siege?”

“That’s the wisest approach.”

“But if we lock the gates and stay inside, won’t we be at the mercy of their mage? I’m worried about that…”

“Well, you could think that way—but in my personal opinion, mages might not be as omnipotent as they seem.”

“Is that so?”

Epinel nodded and said:

“Think about it. If they have a mage, wouldn’t the most rational approach be to put the mage at the forefront of every battle and fight using their abilities alone? But Serpina isn’t doing that. Whether in the battle with Chel’s forces or in suppressing the rebellion that occurred in the north… From any perspective, it’s reasonable to believe that the role of her hundred thousand troops is far greater than that of a mage. If mages were such absolute beings, why would there be any need to mobilize soldiers at all?”

“Are you saying…?”

“It’s reasonable to assume there must be some penalty we don’t know about. They can only use it as a kind of trump card.”

Epinel’s reasoning was fairly accurate at a fundamental level.

Whether there was a penalty or not, if mages were such useful, effective, and nearly invincible beings, they should be playing a much larger and more prominent role than they currently were—since they weren’t, there must be some blind spot we don’t know about. Considering Serpina’s concern for Reika Nighthart’s lifespan and her reluctance to utilize her fully, Epinel had somewhat hit the mark.

“I see… As expected, you’re amazing, General. I heard that Chel’s forces were so afraid of the mage that they went out to intercept unexpectedly and were crushed in return…”

“It’s nothing special. If I were truly amazing, I would have done something before our nation’s downfall. Whether making Yurie come to her senses or developing a strategy that would alleviate Anima’s concerns. But I couldn’t do that.”

“General…”

“I’ve talked too much. Go tell the commanders and soldiers to gather at the barracks. I have something to tell them.”

“Yes!”

Watching her adjutant’s back as he left, Epinel thought.

Her decision to hold a siege wasn’t just because of her conviction that mages must have penalties.

In fact, she half-hoped there were no penalties and that magic would be used against their forces in the castle. No, perhaps that was her true objective.

Because if magic was used, they could identify where it was coming from. Considering eyewitness accounts from past battles, they would definitely be able to figure it out.

‘Actually, I’d prefer if they used magic. If we can identify the mage’s existence, if we can somehow determine the mage’s position—’

—We can kill the mage.

At the very least, they could kill the mage.

That was Epinel’s real plan, which she hadn’t revealed to anyone—to deliver a final, irreversible blow to Serpina’s forces.

At first, she thought Swen might be the mage… but according to what she’d recently heard from Anima, it seemed Swen wasn’t actually a mage.

If that was the case, the pink-haired woman who had publicly appeared in Serpina’s forces was likely the mage.

But it didn’t matter who it was. As long as she could catch the moment they used magic, she intended to risk her life to kill them, whoever they might be.

‘Absolutely… I absolutely won’t let Serpina defeat us one-sidedly. Even if I die in the end, by whatever means necessary…’

If you want to destroy the Aeshus army, you’ll have to pay the price too.

Thinking this, Epinel made her way toward the barracks.

* * *

Epinel was speaking in a very serious tone, delivering a speech from a platform in the barracks to the commanders and soldiers of the Aeshus army standing in formation before her.

“As you all know, our chances of winning this battle are extremely low. No, I might even declare with certainty that we cannot win. Nevertheless, you haven’t lost your morale and hidden away at home or abandoned the fight to return to your hometowns—you’re here. And I believe you all understand well what your actions mean.”

No one spoke in response to Epinel’s words—but among those gathered here, a sense of shared understanding was blooming.

—We are going to die. Everyone here knew that remaining until now meant death.

“They say that those who receive the nation’s pay should naturally dedicate their lives to the nation, but we have countless times encountered those who change their minds when truly facing death. That’s why I want to thank you for making such a difficult decision.”

“We may not survive. But I promise that the pride in our souls for never backing down against the cruel and vicious murderer Serpina will remain in this continent after our lives are extinguished, and will eventually burn bright enough to send the witch Serpina to the stake.”

“So, I make this shameless request. Stay with me until the end. If you decide to stand with me, I, your lord, our Aeshus army will never abandon you!”

Waaaaaah—!

Perhaps to somehow shake off the instinctive fear of death they all felt.

Everyone shouted so loudly that Valhalart Castle seemed to shake.

Hearing the soldiers’ cheers while praying, Yurie closed her eyes and sent her thoughts to her comrades.

‘Erinandorf. Emma. Please. Please give us strength…!!!’

* * *

And a few days later.

“What did you say…??”

As Epinel was preparing for the final battle with resolute determination, unbelievable news reached her ears.

“Serpina’s fortresses… have all collapsed! The soldiers are presumed to have been completely wiped out! We’ve received word that Serpina’s forces are hastily withdrawing from the front lines…!!”