For Lucian, this was likewise an unforgettable night.
When she saw soldiers falling one after another before her eyes, she could not even hold the staff in her hands steady. It was her first time facing such a battlefield. Beneath the dark night and the glow of flames, shouts of killing and screams rose one after another. Soldiers who had not even had time to put on their armor were mercilessly slain, their corpses tossed aside.
"Bang!!"
Another corpse crashed heavily to the ground. Seeing the man's wide-open eyes and the ferocious expression frozen on his face in death, Lucian let out a terrified scream.
"Hey, there's a woman here! Kill her!!"
At that moment, fortress soldiers who heard Lucian's cry rushed over, raising their longswords at her. Looking at the ferocious soldier before her, Lucian screamed again and stood there blankly, watching helplessly as the blade slashed down toward her—!
"Bang!"
But just then, the wall beside Lucian suddenly exploded apart. A towering steel figure burst through, completely ignoring the attack, and smashed a fist straight into the soldier's head. Lucian watched in horror as the soldier's head was torn clean off by the massive punch, like an overripe, rotten apple blown from a branch by a violent gust of wind, flying backward through the air. The headless corpse sprayed blood before collapsing to the ground.
"What are you standing there for?"
Duanmu Huai turned his head and glared viciously at Lucian. Under his gaze, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground. Seeing the familiar reaction, Duanmu Huai suddenly remembered.
"Oh, you're that slave?"
"Y-yes… my lord…"
"Alright, get up."
Duanmu Huai glanced around, then looked back at Lucian.
"The fighting is almost over. What's left are just a few stubborn resistors to clean up. Don't stand here dazed and get yourself killed… forget it, come with me."
"Y-yes…"
Although Lucian's legs trembled like a newborn fawn that had not yet found its footing, she gritted her teeth, stood up, and followed behind Duanmu Huai.
Inside the fortress, it was already a complete mess. Blood and corpses were everywhere. Of course, most of them were the bodies of Boen's soldiers. After all, the ones who had assaulted them were elites from various nations—the gap in strength alone was worlds apart.
"…Why… must people be killed…"
Following behind Duanmu Huai and looking at the corpses scattered throughout the fortress, Lucian could not help but ask.
Hearing her question, Duanmu Huai merely glanced at her.
"Because this is war. In war, people die."
"Then… why wage war?"
"For the Inquisition, Herman and the AL Church joined forces to attack us. That's simply courting death. Eliminating them is only natural. As for the rebels, it's even simpler—they just want to survive."
"…Survive?"
"That's right."
Duanmu Huai stepped out of the fortress and looked up at the dark, dim night sky.
"This country is already on the verge of collapse. The top one percent controls ninety percent of the wealth, while ordinary people can't even fill their stomachs… Heh, have you ever tasted the bread the commoners eat? It's practically no different from stone."
"..."
Lucian nodded faintly. As a slave, she had eaten that kind of bread. In fact, just as Duanmu Huai said, it was basically stone. She couldn't even bite into it. If you set it on a table, it would make a thud sound, making one wonder whether it was bread or rock.
"The commoners can barely survive, while those nobles, wealthy merchants, and high officials feast on fish and meat and live comfortably. At a time like this, resistance is almost inevitable. After all, the people of Herman have only two choices left—either be exploited to death by nobles and merchants, or rise up and take a gamble."
At this point, Duanmu Huai shrugged.
"Anyway, for them, the worst outcome is death. And right now, they have no way to live. Since they're going to die sooner or later, they might as well take a chance. Maybe there's still hope."
"...…"
Hearing this, Lucian lowered her head, gripping her staff tightly without saying a word.
Duanmu Huai didn't mind. At this point, he believed Kilty's judgment. This girl named Lucian was probably some noble young lady who had run away from home. Otherwise, she wouldn't even lack such basic common knowledge about commoners.
But Duanmu Huai didn't really care.
He had now reached the central square of the fortress and greeted Anne, Guleya, and the others who were standing guard there.
"Yo, how's it going?"
"Everything went smoothly, Sir Knight. It's just that for everyone… it was a bit too stimulating."
As she spoke, Anne playfully winked at Duanmu Huai. Following her gaze, Duanmu Huai saw that not far away, several girls were bent over vomiting violently. Well, they were all graduates of Manaria Academy. Clearly, compared to Anne and Guleya—who had followed Duanmu Huai across several planets and participated in numerous wars—these fresh Manaria graduates were not yet accustomed to a real battlefield.
"Alright, pull yourselves together!"
In front of them, Hannah wore a stern expression as she encouraged them.
"You are the elite of Manaria! This is a battlefield—not a training ground! If you let your guard down for even a moment here, you will die! You will become a corpse! So now, I want you to heighten your vigilance! Understood?!"
"Yes…!!"
Although their replies were somewhat weak, the students did stand up. Seeing this, Duanmu Huai nodded and said nothing further. After all, it was their first time on a battlefield. The fact that they hadn't wet their pants was already commendable.
Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai made a gesture.
"Rinjo."
"Right here, meow~忍忍! (>^ω^<)"
As soon as Duanmu Huai spoke, Rinjo suddenly emerged out of nowhere from behind him, startling Lucian beside him.
"Take a Valkyrie back and inform Krim that Phase One of the operation has succeeded. Tell her to immediately send people to take over the fortress! It must be completed before dawn!"
"Roger!"
After capturing the fortress, Duanmu Huai's next step was to have the Fourth Legion's soldiers immediately replace the original garrison, disguising it as though the fortress had never been attacked, in order to mislead the First and Second Legions. Fortunately, he had the Night Raven Blackstar and the Valkyrie gunships. Under cover of darkness, secretly transporting some soldiers over was no problem at all.
At this time, Kilty and Urzze also returned one after the other.
"My lord, someone from our unit was mis—ah, here you are."
Kilty, who had rushed back in a hurry, saw Lucian standing beside Duanmu Huai and let out a sigh of relief. Seeing Kilty, Lucian hurriedly lowered her head in apology.
"I-I'm sorry, earlier I…"
"It's nothing. That kind of thing happens often. In any case, come treat the wounded first."
"Yes."
Lucian nodded, then looked once more at Duanmu Huai.
"Thank you for saving me… thank you very much…!"
After saying that, Lucian turned and returned to Kilty's Royal Guard to begin treating the wounded.
Duanmu Huai merely glanced at her before withdrawing his gaze and looking up at the night sky.
Next, it would depend on how the other side chose to act.
Meanwhile, in the First Legion's camp, Kriolyov was also staring at the same night sky.
"General, it's late. You should rest."
Adjutant Karl stood behind him and spoke softly, but Kriolyov shook his head.
"I'm not tired. Sigh… how long until the Second Legion's reinforcements arrive?"
"At least three more days. And as for supplies… we're not exactly abundant."
At this point, Adjutant Karl frowned.
"The Council's excuse is insufficient supplies. They told us to figure it out ourselves!"
"Hmph..."
Kriolyov snorted coldly. Of course he understood why his adjutant was so angry. According to Kriolyov's original plan, mobilizing three legions should have been done secretly. As the Art of War says, when strong, appear weak; when weak, appear strong. If the enemy couldn't determine their total forces, they could make great use of that uncertainty.
But the Council had practically sold them out outright—just short of handing their ID numbers to the rebels!
Now the rebels already knew that three legions were mobilizing against them, totaling one hundred thousand troops. Their entire hand had been exposed!
Not only that, Kriolyov also understood why the Council was unwilling to provide more supplies. His strategy had been to remain still if the enemy remained still, and use their superior numbers to launch attacks from multiple directions, forcing the rebels to exhaust themselves. After all, there was only one steel giant. It could only respond to one direction at a time. If attacks came from all sides, the steel giant would be unable to reach every battlefield in time.
But such tactics required significant time and supplies. The Council disliked that. They feared that the enemy might ignore everything and simply drive the steel giant straight to the royal capital. That would be disastrous.
So they used the excuse of insufficient supplies to force Kriolyov into a quick decisive battle.
This would naturally result in heavy casualties—but for the Council, the more men the First Legion lost, the better. That way, the military would pose less of a threat to the Council…
"Sigh...…"
Kriolyov sighed again. Fortress Boen had been deliberately abandoned by him as bait. After all, if the enemy wanted to act, they would certainly not ignore Boen. Once they attacked it, they would have taken the bait. At that time, he could lead the First, Second, and Fifth Legions in a concentrated assault… perhaps there would be a chance of victory.
"Still no news from the Fifth Legion?"
"..."
Adjutant Karl silently shook his head. The Fifth Legion was originally a guerrilla force, constantly roaming the country. Who knew where they were wandering when the Council issued its order?
If they were blocked behind the Fourth Legion, that would be troublesome.
But now… Kriolyov had a bad feeling.
It seemed that something had gone wrong.
But there was no use thinking about it. Things had already reached this point.
They could only take it one step at a time.
(End of Chapter)