Territory War (4)

The fields near Mount Sevros.

Dozens of nobles dispatched to oversee the site stood in the center, with Count Paris and Lumi facing each other on either side.

“Count, why did you make this choice?”

Lumi’s voice was tinged with disappointment. They weren’t exactly close, but as nobles of the same faction, they had interacted from time to time.

“Heh heh heh… Why, you ask? Aren’t you being a bit naive? When there’s a delicious rice cake right in front of you, how can you resist taking a bite?”

“Is that really all there is to it?”

“Yes, isn’t that how the noble society works? If you want to surrender, say so now. I’m more interested in other things than you.”

“Ha! I didn’t know you were this kind of person. I’m truly disappointed, Count.”

Lumi turned sharply and returned to her position.

“Ahem… Then, I hereby declare the Territory War.”

Various nobles had come to observe the Territory War. As it was the most highly anticipated Territory War in the kingdom, Duke Ambrosia, the representative of the noble faction, as well as Duke Trisium, the representative noble of the royal faction, were staying here to observe.

In reality, it was more like they were watching a high-stakes sports bet.

“First, we’ve confirmed that there’s no external intervention in either side’s forces, but Charlotte and many of Rosean’s mercenaries are nowhere to be seen. Is something wrong?”

Duke Ambrosia asked with a worried tone.

“I don’t know who’s behind it, but I heard that their path is blocked. It’s quite underhanded to do this before the start.”

“Hmm… In principle, reinforcements are not allowed, but in this case, I’ll make an exception and allow them to participate. Count Paris… I didn’t know you were this kind of person. There’s no honor to be found in you.”

At his words, other nobles of the noble faction didn’t hesitate to criticize him.

“Intentionally blocking reinforcements… You wouldn’t be able to make excuses even if you suffered a default loss.”

“A noble with no honor to be found, even if you searched with a magnifying glass!!!”

“Alright, alright… Quiet, let’s start soon.”

Lumi and Count Paris once again confirmed what would happen if the Territory War resulted in a victory or defeat, swore to abide by the rules, and concluded the formalities.

“Now, we’ll officially begin in two hours. All troops, move to your bases and stand by.”

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-Rosean’s base

The war had already begun a long time ago.

Enemy soldiers would soon be upon them, but going outside the base was as good as suicide, so everyone was gathered inside.

The soldiers, including the mercenaries, numbered about 6,500. However, most of them were commoners who couldn’t even use Mana, let alone being Sword Users.

Most of them were just perverts who had volunteered because they wanted to sleep with Charlotte at least once.

“Haa… Is there any additional news from Charlotte?”

Lumi and the Knight Commander stood on the watchtower, looking out at the fields and talking.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t even been able to communicate since the first and last message that their path was blocked. It seems they’ve used some trickery on that side.”

“Damn it… Let’s hold on. We have to stop at least this much.”

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About ten minutes passed, and enemies could be seen densely approaching along the left field path.

“They’re coming!! A large number of enemies, it seems they’ve brought their entire force.”

The bell announcing the enemy’s invasion rang loudly, and the soldiers, fully armed, took their positions.

Currently, the Rosean base had an Earthen Fortress built in a short amount of time using earth and wood. It was about 5 meters high, with sharpened trees embedded in between to make it difficult to climb.

And although it seemed like the Earthen Fortress could be easily destroyed with a single Aura Blade, it was not just any Earthen Fortress.

It was reinforced with all sorts of magic and magic circles, and unless a huge amount of magic stones were used up, it wouldn’t be easily destroyed.

This was the power of spending money like crazy.

Now, the enemies were getting closer, and the sound of their footsteps, “thud thud thud,” could be heard vividly.

A confident march, as if they had already sensed victory. They were advancing in a dense formation, not even preparing for area-of-effect magic.

“Hmph… Stupid fools, I’ll show you what magic is.”

But what they didn’t know was Lumi’s magical skill. Of course, they had investigated, but they had dismissed it, thinking it wouldn’t be enough to change the tide of the war.

At the Magic Tower, she was just slightly better than average, and they mistakenly thought that someone from an adventurer background couldn’t be that strong.

Moreover, Lumi had never forgotten to practice magic every morning, even when she was busy.

“I call upon the master of flames.”

Lumi began a magic incantation she had never shown before. The surrounding atmosphere distorted, and a strong wind blew towards the sky.

“With flames that burn hotter than the sun, may the eternal flames of the abyss be with me… May they take away all life…!!”

With the tremendous Mana fluctuation, the magicians on Count Paris’s side felt an ominous Aura and hurriedly cast shield magic.

“Burn them all, Hell—-Fire!!!!!!”

“Th… Everyone, take cover!!!”

Count Paris shouted, but it was already too late.

-Kwaaaang!!!!

If there was a scene where the sky burned and fell to the ground, it would be like this. Dark red flames fell on Count Paris’s camp and quickly spread widely in all directions.

“Kuaaaaak!!! Everyone, run away!!!”

The Paris family had been fostering talent focused on knights. Of course, there was no magician who could stop such large-scale killing magic.

The shield magic melted like ice cream as soon as it touched the flames, and everyone at the center of the explosion evaporated.

Except for the knights who protected their bodies with Mana, everyone within the killing radius burned to death.

“Kkeuaaaak!!! Save me!!”

“Fire!! There’s fire on my body!!!”

“Save meeeee!!!”

In an instant, the center of Count Paris’s camp turned into a Hellscape.

Although the left and right units were intact, would they be able to fight well after seeing this sight?

Clearly, the ordinary soldiers, who had been rejoicing at the certainty of victory when they advanced, were not in their right minds after witnessing the horrors of the battlefield, where their comrades were screaming in agony and burning to death before their eyes.

“Th… This can’t be…”

“Su… Surely, we were supposed to win without much damage…”

“I’m scared… I’m scared…!!”

And as their advance stopped, a hail of arrows came flying.

Hundreds of crossbows and ballistae that Lumi had bought with a lot of money.

The soldiers standing blankly were the perfect targets.

-Thwack!! Thwack thwack!!!

“Keuheok!!!”

“Euaaaak!! This is hell, run away!!!”

“Damn it, everyone, don’t be afraid! Form ranks!!”

The commanders tried their best, but the ordinary soldiers, who had been farming, wouldn’t listen.

However, if they only advanced with knights, they would eventually be surrounded and slowly killed due to the limitations of Mana.

“Damn it, I didn’t know she was such a powerful magician. Everyone, retreat!!”

Count Paris, judging that a normal siege would be impossible, gave the order to retreat.

“Keep shooting!!! Kill even one more!!”

Lumi shouted, squeezing out her Mana to cast one more spell.

“Air Bullet!!!”

She took out an oval bead made of mithril and black iron, and fired it by shrinking and expanding the air.

It was truly a synergy of spending money like crazy and magic.

Inside were magic circles and magic stones, so it automatically tracked the target and propelled itself like a rocket.

The small bead passed through the soldiers and,

-Thwack!!!

Pierced through Count Paris’s shoulder.

“Kkeuaaaak!!!”

“It’s… It’s a sniper, protect the Count!!!”

Knights rushed over to protect the Count. Now, there was no way to get through.

“Tch, I was going to pierce his head…”

Lumi clicked her tongue in disappointment.

“What should we do? Should we pursue them?”

Lumi shook her head at the excited Knight Commander’s words.

“No, we’ll all die if we go out and fight. Let’s just keep doing this.”

Although Lumi had taken out a few, the enemy’s knight force was still overwhelming. They were retreating in panic now, but if they regained their senses and counterattacked, they could collapse in an instant.

In just one day, 800 of Count Paris’s conscripts and armed soldiers had died, 6 knights had died, and the number of injured was, of course, much higher.

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-The watchtower on the summit of Mount Sevros

Currently, they had built a magnificent observatory on the top of the mountain to watch the Territory War, and they were watching through telescopes.

“Ahem… Lumi is a stronger magician than I thought…”

The royal faction nobles were sweating at her magical power. They thought that Lumi’s camp, without Charlotte, would collapse in an instant, but the situation had been reversed by Lumi’s magic.

“Oh, if she does well, she might even win?”

“That’s right. What’s the use of having many knights? Hahaha!!”

On the other hand, the noble faction was very excited and laughing happily.

The nobles were watching the gruesome slaughter unfolding below as if it were a sports betting game.

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Contrary to the noble faction’s expectations that the situation would unfold easily, the Rosean soldiers were struggling from the next day.

The enemy had devised a strategy of dividing their forces into small groups, surrounding the Earthen Fortress in a circle, and advancing with shieldbearers in front.

Of course, Lumi’s area-of-effect magic was greatly reduced in effectiveness, and crossbow attacks were not easily effective. And the other gates, without Lumi, were easily breached by their attacks.

“Lumi!! The south is about to be breached, reinforcements!!”

“Haa… I’m… I’m going!!”

Lumi and the Knight Commander ran over and struggled to drive them away. But,

“Lumi!! The east… All the knights who were defending the east have been killed…”

“What…? Damn it!! Everyone, let’s go to the east gate!”

For the knights, climbing up and down the 5m Earthen Fortress was not a big problem.

They used ordinary soldiers as arrow-shield and went back and forth, destroying all of Lumi’s knights and ballistae and running away, so they could only be gradually worn down.

Of course, the other side was not without damage, but even if they suffered the same losses, the tide of the war would inevitably tilt towards Count Paris, who had an overwhelming knight force.

“Th… These bastards…”

It was still midday.

Not even half a day had passed, but Lumi’s Mana was already depleted, showing signs of Mana exhaustion, and the Knight Commander, who had been protecting her, had several minor wounds on his body.

Even in that situation, bad news kept arriving.

“Lumi!! Sir Decardo has been injured and is retreating!”

“The north gate has been completely captured. The enemy’s knight commander and key figures ambushed us…”

“Many enemy knights have reappeared in the south. Reinforcements are urgently needed!!!”

Due to the asymmetrical power, the existence of knights, nearly twice the number of soldiers were helpless and being defeated.

“Lumi, gather the troops in one place. If we continue like this, we’ll be defeated one by one.”

Lumi nodded at the Knight Commander’s advice.

“Let’s abandon this place and go to the south gate. Let’s rescue the troops there and rotate clockwise.”

Lumi and the Knight Commander were currently at the east gate. Now, they meant to rotate in the opposite direction, east > south > west > north, and defeat them one by one.

-At the south gate at that time

“Euaaaak!!!”

“Damn it, how can there be so many knights!!”

The unit, mostly composed of mercenaries and conscripts, was being helplessly swept away by the knights.

Crossbows were blocked by iron armor, and there was no point in talking about close combat.

The Mana Users who occasionally existed tried to stop the knights, but they were only blocking them and buying time without inflicting any meaningful damage.

At that time.

“Lightning!!”

With Lumi’s magic and the arrival of reinforcements, they began to sweep away the enemy knights.

“Damn it, it’s reinforcements, everyone retreat!!”

The knights on Count Paris’s side tried to retreat, but,

“Don’t let them live! Kill them all!!”

The mercenaries and conscripts who had lost their comrades at their hands blocked them with their bodies.

“Damn it, where do you think you’re going!! You’re dying with us… Keueok!”

Even while dying, the soldiers clung on tenaciously.

“You little bugs… Get out of here!!”

“If you killed, you have to die. Where are you going?”

“Damn… I… Surre… Keueok!!!”

Even the knights who had been full of vigor were dying. The strong knight kills the weak knight, and the weak knight kills the ordinary soldier, a food chain. Everyone is equal before that food chain.

In the end, Lumi succeeded in killing as many of the retreating enemy knights as possible by even shooting them with ballistae.

“Waaaaaaaah!!!!”

“Haa… Let’s just keep doing this. Everyone to the west!!”

They thoroughly abandoned the area where they had once succeeded in defending.

They succeeded in eliminating the remnants at the west gate as well, and now they only had to go to the north gate.

“Haa… Well, it can’t be this easy…”

“To abandon the castle in a siege, that’s a foolish thing to do.”

The enemy’s knight commander was coming from the north with his troops,

And soldiers and knights were gathering from the east and south as well.

They were completely surrounded.

“Surrender quietly. I’ll spare your lives.”

Map of Mount Sevros. The lower left is the field (plain), and the upper right is the mountainous terrain.

High-ranking nobles are watching sports in the middle of the mountain.

In case there are picture marks, to those who were disappointed by the author’s shitty map…

Charlotte is running hard like this.