Ch.317Chapter 317. Red-Eyed Dragon of the South (7)

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Rolland Kingdom’s capital, Dofer Castle.

With Luna’s declaration of war, the conflict between the newly formed Lunarian Kingdom and Rolland Kingdom officially began.

The southern continent was violently shaken by the news of full-scale war.

The moment the peaceful balance of the southern continent broke was undoubtedly when the rebellion occurred within the Karelia Kingdom—

But at least until then, it was more accurate to view it as internal chaos within the Karelia Kingdom rather than an issue affecting the entire southern continent.

The Rolland Kingdom and Hesna Kingdom, which shared borders with the central continent, did gradually expand their territories while the Brans Kingdom was fragmenting, but ultimately they took no action within the south, and the Ohana Kingdom likewise simply maintained infinite defense.

In other words, it’s no exaggeration to say that this war between the Lunarian Kingdom and Rolland Kingdom is essentially the first war in the southern continent since it fell into chaos.

So, from the perspective of the unfortunate lord who somehow got caught up in this first “southern battle”—

“Damn it! War… We haven’t even recaptured Arkan Castle that was taken back by the Brans Kingdom, and now this wretched situation!”

It naturally felt like a bolt from the blue.

Short black hair and somewhat fierce-looking features.

Seta Rolland, the ruler of Rolland Kingdom, was examining the current situation while looking at the map repeatedly.

The southern front. Naturally, numerous trained soldiers were concentrated there. There was no shortage of troops or resources. They had spared no expense in establishing the front line as a deterrent to war.

Nevertheless, they never thought an actual war would break out here. From the Karelia Kingdom’s perspective, it would have been much easier to deal with the Ohana Kingdom than this area.

In terms of national power in the southern continent, there might be various opinions, but it was correct to say that the Hesna Kingdom was the strongest, followed by their own Rolland Kingdom, and then the Karelia Kingdom and Ohana Kingdom in that order.

The current Karelia Kingdom, now the Lunarian Kingdom, would have inevitably lost soldiers during the rebellion process, so it would be fair to say that the Ohana Kingdom was now stronger.

Considering that Karelia had thought of the Ohana Kingdom as their first war target when they were still alive, Rolland’s thinking was close to the truth.

If they occupied the Ohana Kingdom, they would share a border with the Hesna Kingdom, making it more difficult to invade northward, but that would still be an easier decision for the Lunarian Kingdom.

So he thought that if war broke out, it would first happen between those two, and he had been thinking about how to act in preparation for that time—

‘Declaring war first means they must be confident!’

The problem was that Luna was thinking of occupying the southern continent in a short period rather than over a long time—

And unlike the former Karelia Kingdom, there existed a powerful asymmetric force that more than made up for their lack of national power.

A magician. The being that first appeared in the Serpina Kingdom and shook the continent.

The second magician to appear in the south literally devoured the existing nation of Karelia Kingdom upon their appearance.

What if that power were used against us?

The reason magic was frightening wasn’t so much its supernatural power, but rather that there was no way to know what was possible and what was impossible.

If they had known those limits, they could have at least prepared countermeasures, but that wasn’t possible in this situation.

All Rolland could do was gather as much information as possible, even now.

“Hey! How much longer for the investigation results?”

“Please wait a little longer. We’ve sent spies in all directions. News should arrive soon.”

Soon after, information about the Lunarian Kingdom began to trickle in to Rolland.

“It appears that Ruler Lunarian has quickly secured the hearts of her territory’s people. Causing internal chaos seems nearly impossible.”

“Unlike the magician belonging to the Serpina Kingdom who appeared in the northern continent, the Lunarian Kingdom’s magician has never been seen performing ‘long-range attacks’!”

“The Raven Mercenary Group and the Chilrain Mercenary Group are believed to have pledged allegiance to the Lunarian Kingdom.”

The common thread was that “for a nation born of rebellion, they have high public support and loyal commanders.”

They had also investigated the most important “Battle of Tepelo Castle,” but there was almost no information available since it was an internal rebellion suppression war.

The only thing known and understood was that the magician had performed remarkably there.

Moreover, this information had recently come in:

“Are you saying it’s true that there’s no magician at the front line?!”

“Yes, that’s correct! How could I possibly lie to my lord?”

According to the spy, the most troublesome magician of the Lunarian Kingdom had been deployed to Tepelo Castle—that is, toward the border with the Ohana Kingdom.

‘Does this mean they intend to defend against the Ohana Kingdom with minimal troops plus the ‘magician,’ and pour all their forces against us?’

Rolland called the national strategist and explained the situation.

He wasn’t someone with particularly outstanding strategic thinking, but he was known within the Rolland Kingdom as someone who had read quite a few books.

“What do you think, Miel?”

“W-well… I’m hesitant about what to say.”

At those words, Rolland struck the armrest of his throne with his fist and said:

“I gave you that much time, and you couldn’t come up with a single good idea?!”

“M-my lord. Please calm yourself. It’s not that, it’s just that, well, I simply find that everything about the Lunarian Kingdom is completely unknown…”

“Completely unknown, you say?”

“The Battle of Tepelo Castle, where the Lunarian Kingdom first revealed itself, was essentially a process of suppressing an internal rebellion within the Karelia Kingdom, so almost no details have been made public. My lord, haven’t you also only heard fragmentary facts like ‘the Karelia Kingdom was completely shattered by the magician’s activities’ rather than how the battle actually unfolded?”

Rolland’s expression soured, but he didn’t bother to nitpick.

Though hot-tempered, stubborn, and imprudent, he wasn’t so foolish as to disrespect a retainer who spoke frankly to him.

“We have too little information. Who Lunarian is, who her armed officers are. Even information about the magician, who is supposedly not at the front line, is completely uncertain. If they had waged war against other kingdoms, we would have had much more information available, and it would have been easier to prepare accordingly…”

“So, you’re saying our kingdom has become a sort of test subject?”

“That’s right. Navidos Ohana and Aski Hesna are probably breathing sighs of relief that we’re the first to wage war against the Lunarian Kingdom.”

“Damn it!”

Bang!

“Having to do that wretched fox Hesna a favor with my own hands, not to mention that pathetic Ohana fellow…”

He struck the chair once more, but that wouldn’t solve anything.

“Fine. Forget preparations and whatnot, let’s examine what’s right in front of us one by one. The enemy forces?”

“Approximately 80,000 men, I believe.”

“Since we can’t leave the northern front connecting to the Brans Kingdom and the eastern front connecting to the Hesna Kingdom empty, we can mobilize a maximum of about 100,000.”

“Wouldn’t it be alright to leave the Brans side empty? They don’t seem to have the capacity to send troops this way anyway.”

“No. Not many troops were deployed to the Brans side to begin with, and it’s right to keep them there as essentially support troops for Hesna, which is what we really need to protect. And Lynn Brans might stab us in the back at any moment. Those Brans fellows, I hear they swallowed their pride and knelt like dogs before that damned Serpina? That means, from Lynn’s perspective, we’re the only front she needs to worry about. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

“I understand what you’re saying, but…”

Rolland adjusted his posture and spoke in a serious tone.

“It’s fine. I don’t know what tricks the enemy might pull, but without a magician, our advantage of 20,000 troops will inevitably have great significance on the battlefield. If there are one or two excellent generals, the tide of battle can be easily turned. Like Epinel, who became a wandering ghost after resisting Serpina, or that fool Chel who died making a stupid choice. But well, I doubt the Lunarian Kingdom has such generals.”

“Does that mean…?”

“We subdue them early. We’ll make them deeply regret pointing their sword tips at our Rolland Kingdom.”

Rolland clasped his fists together with a thud and said:

“Even if it means pulling together more troops, we’ll completely shatter their momentum in the very first battle. After all, losing even one of the three castles would throw our front line into chaos either way. And I’ve been itching for action for a while now.”

“W-wait a moment, my lord. Are you… planning to take the field yourself?”

At the strategist’s words, Rolland nodded as if it were obvious.

“Miel. According to our information, Lunarian frequently appears on the battlefield, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right. Whether it’s to boost morale or not, she seems to appear on the battlefield often… but I understand that the actual fighting is led by the female general known as the magician and the mercenary groups. There are rumors that she’s quite a powerful warrior since she appears on the battlefield so often, but that hasn’t been fully verified yet.”

“Ha! No matter how excellent a warrior she may be, she’s just a young girl who hasn’t even made a name for herself. She’s no match for me, Rolland. Don’t you agree!”

“Yes!”

It wasn’t mere bravado.

Rolland had confidence. Especially in one-on-one combat, he believed he wouldn’t be overwhelmingly defeated by anyone!

Especially when he considered what had brought him to this position!

“First, we throw out bait. If they take it—”

Rolland curved his lips into a smile.

At the edge of that smile was his confidence as a warrior, tightly packed.

“I’ll go out as the commander-in-chief myself and teach that young pup the terror of the battlefield!”