Chapter 361: Towards Independence ④

“This is… It is rare to see the prediction of Danna-sama deviate this heavily.”

Morris, who was looking at the state of the Aion army from the top of the outer wall early in the morning, muttered this.

A straight posture that could fascinate, donning a butler outfit that has no wrinkles from top to bottom.

He is talking as if nothing, but he was actually pretty agitated.

That’s because there was a result that would heavily throw off the predictions of his master, Rembrandt.

“Should I be happy that the schedule can be moved up, or has the so-called ‘luck’ begun to interfere… I should report this at once.” (Morris)

Morris quickly turned in order to hurry to the side of Rembrandt.

On the other hand, at his back, there’s the Aion army that has been attacked by demonic beasts and is in a pathetic state on the verge of collapse.

Information about the mamonos of the wasteland hasn’t been shared with the Aion army.

They did plan to advance till the side of the wasteland, but entering the wasteland and dealing with it wasn’t in their heads.

You could criticize them by saying they weren’t cautious enough.

But in reality, they didn’t even have the thought that Tsige would be breaking the barrier between the wasteland and the city in their desperation.

People who would think something as disgusting as throwing demonic beasts in a war between hyumans are the weird ones.

That’s the common sense of hyumans.

They would easily belittle their opponents for being underhanded if their opponents were to shut themselves in a terrain advantageous for themselves, despite them sometimes using demi-humans to fight their battles.

As long as they manage to get control of the opponent’s information line with their spies, they just have to get enough fighting force to overwhelm the opponent.

This kind of thinking was remarkably strong in Aion.

Today, this very way of thinking of theirs was leading them thoroughly to the bad direction.

If there were still brave people in Aion who could still maintain their wits and bring order, it might have been a different story.

But there wasn’t.

They have no Hero, and there’s no outstanding talent in Aion.

Even when they are counted as one of the four major powers.

Being a nation that flourishes in scandals and pulling each other’s legs is most likely affecting it somewhat.

There was a person from royalty that was somewhat popular between the people, but they are now in the revolutionary army.

There was also a womanizer general that was bold, cool-headed, and skilled in his violent means, but he is already gone from this world.

There was a naval officer who was young, talented, and from a good bloodline, but any news about them was cut off after the variant incident of Rotsgard.

Also, even when in the middle of a civil war that divides the nation, a famous city despite being in a remote region declared independence.

In terms of their core moving parts, you could say they are in tatters to an unbelievable extent.

That’s why the plan of Rembrandt to make the surroundings switch sides went amusingly smooth, and he was able to proclaim that Aion is a country that only has its size going for it, and is food for their growth.

“Even though they can’t do anything against even 1 of those monsters.”

“Demonic beasts that can kill blessed hyumans; I thought only dragons could do that.”

A total night raid and surprise attack.

Demonic beasts that have no plan and simply attack whatever living being they find shouldn’t be an opponent that blessed soldiers shouldn’t be able to deal with.

In the first place, soldiers in an army fight as teams, so their individual strength isn’t that high.

“Even though I am a rear guard.”

“Is the aria not done yet?”

“Mama, I am sorry.”

At a time when they don’t have the time to make proper formation and haven’t even managed to completely arm themselves, they were attacked by demonic beasts that are completely superior to them and must be fought with several teams.

It was as clear as day that it would begin with complete domination.

Even so, after paying a sacrifice of several hundreds, Aion should have regained their advantage with their numbers even if against the wasteland demonic beasts…however, even when night passed and the sun was rising, the battle of the Aion army against the demonic beasts was still unfolding, and casualties continued to show up.

There were a total of around 300 demonic beasts thrown from the Tsige side.

Centered mostly in nocturnal demonic beasts, they were of varied strengths, and were gathered while prioritizing numbers.

Even Rembrandt doesn’t know all demonic beasts, so there were 2 miscalculations here.

The first one was that there were a decent amount of demonic beasts thrown into the Aion side that were ‘corpse eaters’; demonic beasts that prefer eating the corpses of dead animals.

Because of this, around 100 demonic beasts had swarmed at the corpses that were already present in the battlefield.

The other one is that there was an outrageous one sealed within one of the crystals.

A common occurrence when buying in bulk all the sealed crystals that the summoners and tamers who returned from the wasteland possess.

The adventurers and merchants of Tsige…recognize the Mist Town as a part of the wasteland.

That’s right.

“No…no…!”

“Aaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Stay away, stay awaaaa—–!!”

“Even a dragon would have been better…”

Within the slaughter caused by the demonic beasts against the Aion army, there’s one being that doesn’t exist in this world mixed in.

A special kind of wild animal called a bear.

Due to how gigantic it is, Makoto named it as a Moon Grizzly. It is a pretty well known dangerous animal in Asora.

◇◇◆◆◇◇◆◆◇◇◆◆◇◇◆◆

It has been a day since the battle with Aion started.

Being called by Rembrandt-san, I came to the outer walls that are close to the frontlines.

It is because he told me to lend him a bit of wisdom.

In the end, Tsige had steamrolled the first day.

Due to this, everyone’s expression was bright, including the Aion soldiers who switched sides.

The use of illusion magic, tactics that use the full power of ritual magic; they all hit perfectly on the mark.

But to think that they would increase their population by taking people from the Aion army because the land of Tsige will be increasing…

That’s quite the way of thinking.

Arriving with a massive army from afar, taking away a decent number of those soldiers after receiving the Blessing, and then using their power on their own army.

It must be an excruciating embarrassment for them.

Tomoe said that she would return by the time the war starts again and would resume the broadcast.

Ema was making a summarized version with the help of the other female orcs.

Even after late in the night, Tomoe was still properly watching things as if she had a magnifier in hand though.

It seems like they threw demonic beasts to raid them at night.

‘I said I would be resting at night-ja!’, is what Tomoe said angrily.

“But it is a bit weird. There’s no way 200-300 demonic beasts could suppress the tens of thousands remaining of the Aion army even if they are from the wasteland.” (Makoto)

I checked the numbers quickly with Sakai, and they were still in the middle of battle.

There’s also still quite a good number of demonic beasts alive.

Even so, the Aion army…

The more than 20,000 merchants that were sticking to the army due to the demand that would be born from the march, most of them have already dispersed.

It started as an army of several hundreds of thousands, but right now, it is at most…

While I was holding those slight doubts and pity in my heart, I saw the people of the Rembrandt Company waving their hands.

Over there, huh.

“Heya there, good morning! Sorry for calling you so early in the morning.” (Rembrandt)

“Thank you very much, Rembrandt-san. It seems the first day was a sweeping victory, congratulations.” (Makoto)

“It was nothing. You introduced skilled mercenaries that could take care of squads easily, and there were a lot of adventurers who have polished their abilities in the wasteland cooperating here. Rather, I have had a few misreads here and there, and it is embarrassing. It really is impossible to have a war where not a single one of your comrades dies…” (Rembrandt)

“Your opponent is one of the four major powers. The name of Tsige and yours are most likely hot topics in many other countries already.” (Makoto)

“It would make me happy if that were the case. Seriously, war is complicated. Becoming a legend is one of my objectives after all.” (Rembrandt)

“?” (Makoto)

“Aah, it is not like I have a hero desire. It is just that, after the Rotsgard incident, I was thinking about how much of a beneficial thing it would be if people were to see me in that way, and you have shown precedent that, even if you are a merchant or a company, it is possible to be viewed as a hero depending on how you do it. I was simply thinking that it would make things easier for the future if I were to become that.” (Rembrandt)

“Aah, so that’s what you meant.” (Makoto)

“Also, the way of doing things from the demons at that time. Their method of jamming was incredibly outstanding. Once the setup and the activation is done, it is really difficult to remove, and you normally wouldn’t choose that method. The bigger the enemy, the higher the amount of troubles that will occur when the moment matters due to the loss of communication. There was no reason not to use this card. There’s types in thought transmissions, so I had to request a few things to tinker with it, but well, the effects were great.” (Rembrandt)

That thing of Rotsgard, huh.

I see.

He didn’t simple copy it, but tinkered with it and made it so it can deal with the several types of thought transmissions.

That would require quite the amount of people and time. Did he decide to make this place the battlefield a long time ago?

Could it be that he made the wall to…

“Danna-sama.” (Morris)

“! Ah, right. Even though I called you here, I ended up having a long casual talk. Sorry about that, Raidou-kun.” (Rembrandt)

“Don’t worry about it.” (Makoto)

“And so, I will get right into it. Last night, we did a number of live performances on several stages, but I wanted to hear a bit more about your opinion in regards to idols.” (Rembrandt)

Idols?

“Danna-sama!” (Morris)

“…Oops, I heard the conversations of the soldiers and adventurers all the time last night, so it slipped. I thought it could be used for advertisement.” (Rembrandt)

“I do understand your feelings, but I think you should be telling him about the urgent matter first.” (Morris)

Ooh, it is rare to see Morris-san avoiding agreeing with Rembrandt-san!

“Umu, actually, we made stages of dancers and bards that heal and enhance the former Aion soldiers, adventurers, mercenaries, and recruit soldiers of Tsige.” (Rembrandt)

“Yes?” (Makoto)

“At the back of that, we also gave a present to Aion, you see. We threw several hundreds of wasteland monsters sealed in special crystals by the Skills of summoners and tamers to have the Aion army dance with them.” (Rembrandt)

“I see.” (Makoto)

Ah, could it be that these live performances he is talking about are something similar to what Rembrandt-san did in the morning with the sparkling and the BGM?

And so, he used those performances…to erase the screams that could come from the other side of the walls?

“…You are not getting surprised, Raidou-kun. Noma-kun and Vivi-san were shocked at first when they heard about this plan though.” (Rembrandt)

“Eh, yeah. I have a few thoughts regarding that, but well, it is a war. I thought that it would be best to just think about the details after winning.” (Makoto)

“Hmm… By the way, what are these ‘few thoughts’ of yours, Raidou-kun?” (Rembrandt)

“Aah, you have probably evacuated the settlements nearby, but I was wondering what you would do about the cleaning of the demonic beasts later.” (Makoto)

If the demonic beasts are wiped out, there’s no worries, but there’s the chance some of them would hide somewhere.

“The cleaning, huh. We do plan on shooting more ritual magic at a wide radius in today’s battle as well.” (Rembrandt)

“…”

“They might still have a few ritual mages that are useful, but this time I will be shooting all 10 at them. Judging from their state on the first day, the most I think they have thought up of is to investigate the positions of our mage units, and swiftly attack them. We are thinking about cleaning the demonic beasts with that.” (Rembrandt)

“Not gonna do anything about the stragglers?” (Makoto)

“I do intend to introduce skilled adventurers if there’s any request for help, but that side is Aion territory. I have judged that there’s no need for us to be considerate of them.” (Rembrandt)

The ‘not my business’ stance, then.

I see.

And so they will be shooting a barrage of ritual magic for two days in a row.

To top it off, it isn’t 8 but 10.

“About that ritual magic. Since when did you develop an 8th one?” (Makoto)

I find it hard to believe that Rembrandt-san could achieve something that even the Rotsgard Academy couldn’t achieve, regardless of how big the connections of Rembrandt-san are.

Is his power that incredible?

“Rather than 8th, it is more like there’s an 8th, 9th, and 10th. I didn’t do any development. I simply bought what already existed.” (Rembrandt)

“Bought?” (Makoto)

“You don’t see them often in Tsige, but there’s a decent amount of demons living around the area. I bought high level magic knowledge from them. Apparently they are already developing more light and darkness ritual spells, and they already have a 12th and 13th ritual spell. Man, they are really amazing.” (Rembrandt)

“I think you are also amazing for being able to buy it, Rembrandt-san…” (Makoto)

The demons also have an eye on ritual magic, huh.

Even so, they haven’t used it much in the battles until now.

Or maybe it coincidentally wasn’t the case in the battlefields I have seen?

“They are most likely putting an eye on means to defeat many with few. Well, the demons were mainly researching ways to counter them for sure while researching attack types. It is not like I don’t understand that feeling of theirs. What must be done before creating the strongest weapon is to create the strongest shield to defend against it after all.” (Rembrandt)

“I see…” (Makoto)

“And so, to the main topic. There’s a bit of an unexpected development with those wasteland demonic beasts.” (Rembrandt)

“Yes?” (Makoto)

“One of those is that there’s more corpse eaters within those demonic beasts. Well, the battlefield has a seemingly endless amount of Aion soldier corpses, so they didn’t rampage as much as I wanted them to. Regarding this, I am thinking about starting a research team to investigate the nature of the demonic beasts, and actively throw out requests to adventurers about this, but…” (Rembrandt)

“?” (Makoto)

“Actually, there’s a demonic beast that even the veteran adventurers have never seen before mixed there. It is embarrassing to say this, but we don’t know its origin… I thought that, as a person who has information of even the deep areas of the wasteland, you might have heard about it before, so I called you here.” (Rembrandt)

“And what’s the demonic beast you speak of?” (Makoto)

“Morris has sketched it. Morris has sketched it. I think he has properly gotten the traits of it… Do you have an ide—?!” (Rembrandt)

The drawing that Rembrandt-san showed me.

Seeing the drawing there, I stood up from the surprise.

“Moon Grizzly?!” (Makoto)

“S-So you know it?!” (Rembrandt)

‘It is a bear of Asora!’, I was about to shout that, but I somehow managed to endure.

Eh?

Eh?!

Are you telling me that an adventurer that came to the Mist Town encountered a bear due to some kind of mistake, and they somehow miraculously managed to capture it?

Are you kidding me?

I think that’s an impossible thing unless you were to find a wounded and lethargic Moon Grizzly.

Even within the warriors of Asora, there aren’t that many who can fight that bear one on one.

With that thing going wild, of course the chaos in the Aion army wouldn’t calm down.

There’s no way it would.

“Rembrandt-san.” (Makoto)

“…What is it?” (Rembrandt)

“There’s still time before today’s battle begins, right?” (Makoto)

“Right. Considering the state there, I would say it will take a bit more time.” (Rembrandt)

“I am sorry, but I think that demonic beast is a bit too stimulating for the outside of the wasteland. Can I retrieve it?” (Makoto)

“Of course. We have achieved our objective. We would also like to avoid an unnecessary battle with a healthy giant demonic beast.” (Rembrandt)

“…Thanks. Then, I will be taking my leave here… ?!” (Makoto)

A thunderous roar that resonated in the whole area.

I had a bad feeling about this and went outside, and what I saw there was a shower of lightning falling down from the sky.

The lightning that’s supposed to disappear in an instant had branched widely, and was staying in the sky, shining.

A blue sky, and red lightning.

What a bizarre sight.

What a waste of good weather.

(Waka… It seems…bear of Asora…found its way there.) (Tomoe)

(Tomoe?) (Makoto)

(I went…urgently…retrieve it.) (Tomoe)

(I was about to head there too… Tomoe? Oi, Tomoe?!) (Makoto)

Something’s strange.

Tomoe’s location… I can tell where she is.

Ema is also there.

And, there’s someone else there.

The source of this lightning!

(I am…sorry.) (Tomoe)

(I am heading there at once!) (Makoto)

For a moment there, I thought about teleporting, but there’s way too many eyes here.

I desperately endured my impatient emotions, and jumped to the top of the outer wall.

This also stands out, but this much can’t be helped!

With the presence of Tomoe and Ema as my marker, I aimed for that place with my fastest speed.