Chapter 153 – Chapter 16

After that, Geride became more and more troublesome.

The problem is that it is not so painful, but that it hurts to go outside, and that it is boring to be quietly stuck in a room.

At first, Akina, whom she thought was a malingering disease, was still a prince, so she had to send a priest to stabilize her.

Even being healed by the cleric, Lilith did not allow Geride to vent his malice on Kaisent.

If she continued to make him suffer, everyone would be suspicious, so she deliberately made Kai Sent meet and cast an illusion spell to make him feel satisfied that she had tormented him.

Thanks to everyone working together to save Kai Sent from bullying, he was able to get through four months.

For the remaining one month, Akina’s territory went into wartime mode, and everyone was busy moving around, and as other territory troops arrived, the space to be harassed in the dark disappeared.

Kaicent and the others, who were able to ignore the problem with Geride, used the remaining time to their final training.

One day, six months after declaring the subjugation of the kingdom of the dead, white breath came out in winter.

The army sent by the lords who wanted to gain the territory with black soil by making a ball, the army of Akina, the army of the royal family, and the knights of the Order of Medelgard, who were in charge of dawn and purification and specialized in fighting against the undead, gathered.

*                           *

“Something is different from what I expected.”
“I see. I heard that the ceremony was held luxuriously when I heard about the guys who participated in the civil war.”

The Wolf mercenary members, who had been trained for six months and were injected with tactics using magic guns, were puzzled by the appearance of marching out sequentially without a luxurious ceremony.

There were nobles, plus the royal army, and it ended with a short speech by Akina, who assumed the role of commander-in-chief.

“I can’t afford such luxury anymore.”

The tendency of the general commander is also a tendency, but this war is the result of squeezing all the leeway of the Harlot Kingdom.

The king made numerous ‘offerings’ to hire the purification knights of Medelgard in order to restore the power of the kingdom at once by occupying the territory with black soil while subtracting the power of the nobles.

The lords desperately packed troops and food in order to build a little more credit while selling valuable items.

Both the kingdom and the nobles had no time to leisurely celebrate.

“It’s better for us.”
“That’s right. Let’s play and eat with each other. Would you like to bring us a piece of meat?”

However, from the point of view of the soldiers, watching the luxuries enjoyed by nobles and filling their stomachs with thin soup and crusty bread would not be enjoyable.

If you are very lucky or under a generous noble, you would try a piece of meat, but in a situation where the entire kingdom is poor like now, even that is not expected.

“We are moving too!”

Moments later, Wolf (Lillian) on horseback gave orders to his mercenaries.

For half a year, the mercenaries trained under Akina, who was known as a strong soldier, began to move in an orderly manner.

Although they are a mercenary unit, they were incorporated into her army thanks to Akina’s consideration and moved along with Count Karaiden’s army.

The Count’s army moved forward, nervous about the fact that they were moving towards the realm of the kingdom of the dead, which they had only been wary of on top of the castle wall until now.

The size of the expeditionary force this time was 12,000, which was too small to attack a single kingdom.

However, the morale of the expeditionary force was not so bad.

“Are those people the Purification Knights?”
“Wow, isn’t it a joke from the helmet to the armor?”

Like the knights in a fairy tale, the 200 or so knights armed with pure white armor were the most important ones, and other knights were building a guard wall and moving.

It is common for soldiers to build escort walls in order to preserve the knight’s physical strength, which is the most important force originally.

However, since the Knights of Purification were the core of this war, the Knights took over their role.

“The purification knights take care of the powerful undead monsters, right?”
“We’ll just have to deal with zombies and skeletons.”

The soldiers who had grown tired of dealing with the undead predicted that this war would end more easily than they thought.

Rather, the biggest enemy of war is not the undead, but the cold.

The expeditionary force, which was moving in such a moderately relaxed atmosphere, felt something and looked up at the sky.

“The clouds…”
“It’s a bright day, but there are a lot of clouds here…”
“It’s a kingdom ruled by vampires, so of course they’re afraid of sunlight.”
“I know that, but it’s still too dark.”

The place they came from is clear without a single cloud, but there are a lot of clouds as if only this place is another world.

The darkness grew thicker as we went inward, and it became as dark as evening even though it was obviously noon.

“It’s darker than I thought.”
“This kind of darkness in broad daylight. When the sun goes down, the forest will become so dark that it can’t be compared.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a knight class, but it’s impossible for soldiers.”

Lillian and Priscilla, the captain and vice-captain.
Lilith and Kaicent, who were stronger than them, were talking while riding at the head of the mercenary group, each riding a horse.
Artie is walking next to Kaicent’s horse as if escorting it.

“By the way, how trained are your mercenaries?”

Lilith had rarely watched the training of mercenaries except in the early days, so she did not know how good the mercenaries were.

At least, Lillian and Priscilla have been receiving Akina’s training since a month ago, checking the mercenaries’ training status and matching their hands and feet together, so there is room for accurate judgment of the mercenaries’ capabilities.

“It’s enough to be at the level of an elite soldier. As long as you don’t suddenly have to fight a strong enemy, there will be no problem.”

Lillian asserted that he would not be defeated unless he was an asymmetrical strongman like a knight.

Lilith was relieved that at that level, he didn’t have to protect them.

It is because he is more suited to attacking than to protect someone.

‘Huh. I’ve changed a lot too.’

To be honest, I didn’t have anything to do with them.

When they die, Kaisent is so sad, so he was careful not to die prematurely.

“Kaisent?”
“Ah yes?”
“You seem to be worried about something?”

Lilith noticed that Kaisent was silent and thinking about something, and asked if something was wrong.

“Worry?”
“Are there any problems?”

There was also the problem of the three princes, so the attention was focused on Lillian, Priscilla, and Artie from the content of Kaicent’s troubles.

“Oh, it’s not that kind of a problem. I just… I want to know if this war is really right.”
“…”

Originally, it was Lillian who should be the most fiercely arguing against this.
To say that war, which would be the first step in reclaiming one’s kingdom, is not right.
However, she and others did not even open her mouth, let alone her objections.

Since they are on the border with the kingdom of the dead, many small battles take place, and I thought they would launch a shady attack unique to the undead, but even if it was peaceful, it was very peaceful.

I asked if this time was a special case, but it was only after the creation of the kingdom of the dead that the ownerless undead attacked a few times, but there were no large-scale attacks.

It was too motionless to be seen as a kingdom of evil undead.

“I wonder if we should have a conversation at least once… Oh, sorry.”
“It’s not strange to think like that.”

Lillian, whose kingdom was destroyed by the kingdom of the dead and became a ruined princess, is no different from an enemy, but let’s talk.

Kaicent hurriedly apologized, but Lillian also felt that it was a little strange.

‘If the events of that day were simple misfortunes… What should I do…’

If the enemy is simply an evil undead, things become simple, but what if they have reason and rationality to talk to?

“Let’s not think about that for now. No matter what the spirit kingdom has, it’s impossible to block this wave with our own strength.”
“…Huh.”

As Priscilla said, it is impossible to change the direction of this expeditionary force with her power no matter what the kingdom is.

“More than that, I’m interested in the Sacred Tree.”

Lilith, who agreed to it, showed interest in the sacred tree related to the founding legend of the kingdom of Lucy Arkenel.

This is because it is clear that he would have had considerable power if he had enriched the land of a kingdom before the black soil came out.

“Unfortunately, the divine tree is located behind the capital, so we cannot go there unless there is a special reason.”
“Do we really need to go with the army? We can go by ourselves.”
“Then what about the mercenaries?”
“Chit.”

Lilith, who was interested in the Sacred Tree, realized that she would have to abandon the mercenaries to go there, and clicked her tongue against Kai Sent’s objection.

“Anyway, it’s not me who’s in a hurry, it’s you. Take care of yourself.”

After that, Lilith didn’t bring up the subject of the Sacred Tree.

Meanwhile, the Wolf mercenary members who learned that Lillian’s party was discussing something heated started whispering among themselves.

“That alien elf named Lilith has become friends with the leader before I knew it.”
“Yes. I used to feel like a lone wolf who wouldn’t get close to anyone.”
“I heard that Count Akina called me several times against Dalian?”

Lilith, whose demonic blood has awakened, is not an ordinary knight, but a magic archer who is strong in mid-range and long-range combat.

Of course, close-range battles using rapiers are possible, but their main specialties cannot be compared to attacks using magic, bows made of mithril, and attack power using castitas.

For Akina, there was no rare opponent like a magic archer with strength that entered the realm of Origin, so I called her against Dalian several times.

Lilith himself knew how precious the experience of fighting a strong opponent like Akina was, so he agreed.

“Obviously, it was just a solid mercenary squad until recently.”
“A mercenary corps with two master-class members and a strong man recognized by Count Akina.”
“If this expedition is successful, the leader will officially become a nobleman.”
“From a mercenary to an aristocrat. I thought it was a story that only appeared in old fairy tales or novels.”
“That’s also very old. These days, mercenaries only appear as villains.”

The mercenaries had high hopes for the leader who was growing like a hero in an old fairy tale.
And there was something else that made me feel hopeful.

“By the way, Kaicent trained under Count Akina for half a year, and how strong he has become.”
“I see. You haven’t been systematically trained by anyone until now.”
“I heard that you learned not only magic but also swordsmanship?”

Of course, this information is a rumor spread by Lillian and Priscilla.
Everyone would think it strange if Kaicent used a swordsmanship he didn’t know much about.

Kaicent, who had been conscious of the eyes of the mercenaries and only used magic and archery, was able to use all skills by saying that he had learned from Akina.

Beep beep!

At that time, a sharp whistle sounded from the front.

The troops, who were on the move chatting chaotically, changed their mood at the sound of a whistle.

“Enemies!”
“Prepare for battle!”

Until now, the Wolf Mercenary Corps, which had only dealt with hundreds of enemies, made a rank by checking directly when the enemy was discovered.

However, now I am stuck in a crowd of over 10,000 people.

In the past, I would have been flustered, not knowing what to do in a situation like this.

‘I’m not panicking, I’m waiting for my command.’

Lillian’s smile was drawn into his helmet at the sight of the mercenaries waiting for his orders and not being swayed by the surrounding turmoil.

‘The undead army is moving in an orderly manner. It consists of lower classes such as zombies and skeletons, but the number cannot be ignored. About 5,000.’

Lillian, who watched the battle from the horse, was nervous about the undead army, which seemed to be about 5,000.

Unless the brains of the undead in the kingdom of the dead are rotten, there must be a strong enemy hiding in that army.

“Weaving a speargun formation! Infantry in a close direction!”
“Go to the front!”

As Akina, the commander-in-chief, shouted, the lower commanders moved their soldiers.
Mixed in, Lillian, who gave orders, led his men to the fore.

Since you don’t know when the kingdom of spirits will attack, the expeditionary force, which was moving in a half-formed formation so that it can respond at any time, moved in a nearby direction and made a spearhead formation.

It was a typical formation in which the spearmen were in front and the musketeers were protected behind the spearmen and fired.

“Aiming!”
“You don’t know when the advanced undead will pop out! Be nervous!”

The lower commanders made sure that the soldiers did not lose their concentration in the midst of tension.

As a junior commander of the 10,000 Legion, Lillian figured this experience would come in handy when creating an army of his own, leading his men while stealing the ways of others.

“Launch!”
“Fire!”

Papa Papa Papa Papa!

After confirming that the undead had arrived within the effective range, Akina issued an order, and the lower commanders gave orders to fire accordingly.

A volley of fire by the Magician Musketeers who created a fire net.

Since the magic gun had no smoke or smell peculiar to gunpowder, the soldiers could immediately check the result of their shot.

“Whiyu.”
“It’s been swept away.”

For the first time, the Wolf mercenaries, who used magic guns in actual combat, were satisfied with the horrors they had created.

It was to the point where you could feel a strange pleasure seeing the undead fall down with huge holes in their bodies and heads.

“Huh?”
“What’s the matter?”
“Why don’t you think our undead have fallen more?”
“What… Is that because of the mood…?”

A fellow mercenary, who tried to slander a mercenary by asking what kind of nonsense he was talking about, realized that it was not something else.

If they defeated 2-3 rows of undead in other lines, they had 4-5 rows of undead down.

By simple comparison, it has twice the performance of other magic guns.

However, the gap was easily filled by the suddenly swollen Undead.

It was composed of skeletons, but unlike normal skeletons, it was armed with armor and weapons.

“Aiming!”

Even without an order coming down, of course, the soldiers who filled the magic gun with mana and recharged it aimed again.

“Launch!”

The volleys started again.

Skeletons should fall with the sound of mana exploding, but

“Uh?”
“Aren’t you going down?”

The skeletons that came out this time withstood the magic gun with their armor.
Very few skeletons were knocked down by the magic gun.

Red eyes began to bloom in the eyes of the skeletons who received the magic gun.

Thousands of undead creating eye-glow in the artificial darkness made of clouds was terrifying.

Dud dud—–

As if they wanted to test the power of the magic gun, the armored skeletons that had withstood the magic gun started charging at the soldiers with their weapons.