Chapter 45: Arkland War ② The Citizens' Battle

「Kill those who resist! Don't touch the civilians and treat women especially gently!」

My battalion is crossing over the border to the Arkland side and is attacking every single village that is in its sights. Even though I say attack it's not like they are burning the villages and killing the villagers. They are just kicking the guards aside, burning the feudal lord's mansion and placing the Goldonia Kingdom's flag.

Doing something like this is meaningless, but it seems that burning the lord's mansion in front of the citizens will lower the dignity of Arkland's royalty. The main force will go ahead and advance on the highway while we are given the responsibility of scouting. If there is an enemy that appears which we cannot deal with, we will immediately run as fast as we can on our horses.

「These Goldonia pigs! Prepare yourselves~!」

I blow off both hands of the soldier who showed his vigor while coming at us and kick him. They must be friends, as three more people came out from the small stone fortress.

「I have found an important general!」

「We are the three best guards of the Moot village!」

「Guaaaa!!」

He was talking on for too long, so before he finished his sentence, I butchered one of them. When I did, Celia who was at my side swung her sword twice, and bounced back. A few moments later blood spurted from the two men's throats.

「Are you hurt?」

「I won't be defeated by such comedic actors. Have you already cleaned up?」

「Yes. The troops weren't much at all.」

This village's feudal lord's mansion has become partially like a castle but in the end it was only prepared for something like a rebellion from the villagers. It showed no resistance to those standing around and firing flaming arrows at it, and the castle quickly became enveloped in a hellfire.

From the fire came a knight on horseback. He's probably the village's lord's knight but as expected he is overwhelmed in terms of numbers, as soon as he cuts down a single infantry his entire body will be despairingly pierced by spears. The mansion is already up in flames, so even if there are any household members, they wouldn't be alive.

「Call the representative of the citizens. We're hoisting the national flag.」

The villagers were all gathered in one place inside the village. It's not like we will be working together from now on, but if there are any left in the houses, we will not be able to distinguish between the citizens and the remaining resistance.

「I am the chief of this village...I kindly beg you to spare my life...」

「If I was going to kill you, I would have already done it. Let's raise the national flag at the village's entrance and in the center of the village. We are also going to be camping here tonight. Are there any open spaces?」

「You're camping, in this village?」

The chief shows a frightened expression. It's a village with not even 100 people, of course it would make you uneasy when there are 10 times the amount of soldiers nearby, but the sun is already going down. If we're near the village, we could also use the well so it's convenient. I don't intend to pay much consideration for their unease. I don't intend to spend too much time with the villagers either. After telling the chief that it's enough, I let him stand down and call Celia to my side.

「They might betray us and tell Arkland of our location.」

That won't happen. As soon as the village allowed us to raise our national flag and use their village as our squad's garrison, everyone in the village is viewed as a traitor. If they called an army here, they would be asking for everyone to be killed by them.

「Don't worry. As soon as the sun comes up, we'll head out immediately. You should hurry and sleep.」

But Celia doesn't leave. She would look at me with teary eyes, so I sat down on the bed and she came in between my legs.

「Please relax yourself. I will do everything.」

Celia pulls my cock from my pants, and just when she was about to take it into her mouth, someone called from the outside.

「Commander, sorry it's so late at night but I have something important to tell you.」

Celia clicks her tongue, but I was about to receive her fellatio so I can't really say it can wait. The person who came inside the tent was a woman, and she is still young but looks like a clever and capable person. And what stood out the most were her giant breasts, not as large as Nonna's but, it wasn't something you usually see at brothels either.

「I am the village chief's daughter, Yogley . I came here because I have something to say to you...sir.」1

She does try to speak politely, but it seems she isn't used to it so it sounds unnatural.

「I thought there was nothing else that the chief had to say, though?」

「....」

Celia is glaring at her as if wanting her to hurry and go away.

「It's something simple, we would also like to fight together with you.」

What is this woman saying?

「The current king has thoroughly made us suffer. But if it was just us, we wouldn't be able to stand a chance against the kingdom's army. As long as we can destroy those guys, we will use anyone.」

I have also seen a group of villagers from Arkland that have been abandoned a while ago. The people in this village are also all elders and women, the only young man is sick and cannot move, in addition to that, there is not enough food for everyone so they are all skinny. It is plainly obvious that this is a harsh environment.

「But isn't the chief's job to be the mediator of the people when there is an issue, why are you the one here?」

I don't see that kind of courage in him though.

「That's wrong. My father is technically the chief but he doesn't have that strong of a spirit. Normally, I am the one who makes the decisions in this village. That's why this time I'm also the one in charge of bringing up this problem.」

Celia and I both make a grim face. It's interesting to have the ignorant farmers create a ruckus inside the country, but I don't think they will be any help in terms of fighting ability. I don't think there is any meaning to giving them water and food if all they are good for are to be used as meat shields. The legs of the elderly and women will not be able to keep up with our march and our pace would surely drop.

When I was about to open my mouth to refuse, Yogley stripped naked.

「What are you planning?」

「Acting as hostage for the sake of earning your trust, then offering a tribute to win your favor, or something along those lines.」

Having thrown all her clothes off, I was about to stretch my hands towards Yogley's splendid breasts as she was approaching but from the side, Celia sent her flying.

「How rude! If Aegir-sama sleeps with a harlot like you he will be tainted.」

「That hurts...Me a harlot!? I'm a virgin you know? Hey Commander, don't you want to take my virginity?」

(Light Novel Illustrations: Yogley Taking Her Clothes Off)

I really do, but if I postpone Celia's treatment, then she may try to assassinate this girl.

「I won't do it now, I will take what you have said and discuss with those in the squad. Put your clothes on and go back.」

「For now is it...Aegir-sama...」

If I think about it carefully if I get lured in by a female's body I would become compromised.

「Isn't this good?」

「I don't know about spurring the people on to war, but this will become a symbol.」

I wake Leopolt and Agor and we discuss Yogley's proposal. The two of them surprisingly agree so I want to hear their reasons. First is Agor.

「If we bring them with us, having the people as our allies can spread our image of righteousness. Although they would not be much use on the battlefield, so they would need to retreat to the back...」

Next is Leopolt.

「Based purely on military terms, they have their use too. The citizens are something like a rolling snowball, if we get 100 to move we can get 1000 to move, and if we get 1000 to move we can get 10,000 to move. If we bring these people around, the other poor villages that have built up their dissatisfaction will also participate and their numbers will continue to grow. No matter how amateurish they may be, if we gather enough of them they will certainly be of use.」

「But even if we gather a lot of them, we don't have the food to maintain them do we?」

「Just take whatever food from their own village and carry it. We can delay their animosity by commanding them, but if they eat by themselves it won't become anything big. And if we can no longer continue, we can just make them collide with a random enemy squad and suffer a loss and it will be fine.」

「You're saying something like that again!」

Agor gets enraged, but Leopolt ignores him and continues.

「In any case, the fact that we are acting together with the villagers is something the enemy considers a threat. Anyway, there are hotbeds of rebellion due to political pressure all around the country. Just by having the enemy hurry in dealing with the closing threat, that in itself has meaning.」

「Regardless of whether or not we crash them against an enemy, it's decided that we'll take them along. It will hurt our marching speed, but we should leave those that don't have stamina at the back.」

Both sides seem to have no objections so I nod slightly. Celia seems to be the only one that is unhappy but since it was decided based on military terms she couldn't say anything about it.

「I don't have time to visit Erich. I'll just report it after verifying...」

Even if he says it's something he can't do, if it's him, it should be fine.

「If he refuses, we can say that they decided to follow us on their own, and that they were eliminated by the enemy.」

While listening to Leopolt's remaining remarks and Agor quarreling with him, I informed them that the meeting was over and we returned to our personal tents.

「So are we doing it?」

「Celia, don't say something so vulgar.」

I want you to stay pure forever.

「It's been awhile since you've devoured a virgin.」

Celia has a good grasp about my sexual activities. I'll think that it's because she's been with me for such a long time.

「I won't eat her just yet. If things go poorly we have to discard them. If I was going to take it, it will be after the war is settled. Also, don't I have another appointment with you?」

Celia's unhappy face brightens up.

「Please leave it to me! I won't lose to that naive girl.」

You're quite naive yourself.

That night I made the villagers think that I let Yogley stay in the same tent as me because she became my woman but, I didn't lay a single finger on her, I just showed her Celia's rich and concentrated fellatio skills. Seeing a younger girl so accustomed to such sexual activities caused Yogley's face to turn red and she stared intensely. She scooped a little of the ejaculated semen and put it in her mouth but she puckered her face and complained that it was bitter. Such innocent reactions are also cute.

One night has passed, and my battalion has finished getting ready to sortie. The group of villagers that Yogley is leading (called volunteer soldiers for convenience) number 50 people. Their ages are those way past their prime and very young kids, and aside from the sick person who cannot move, pretty much everyone is equipped with agricultural machinery and a bow for hunting, as well as a wooden hammer, and they are not wearing any armor.

「If you take this much with you, the village will be destroyed. This is war, everyone will not be able to live and come back you know?」

「We are prepared for that. Even as it is the village would be destroyed. If everyone was just going to die off slowly, then we want to bet on the slim chance that we could live.」

If you are going to say that much then, I will no longer make a fuss. It's fine to let them choose how they die.

「All units move out! Each company take the planned route!」

According to Yogley's information, there are small villages dotted around up ahead. Advancing for one day, it seems that there will be a comparatively large town. First, we plan to have each company attack a village each and then gather them in front of the town. The engineers will follow the 1st division of cavalry company that I am commanding directly.

It's a formation that kills the mobility of the cavalry, but this time we aren't going to be fighting in a way that needs us to gallop quickly, so there is no problem. The volunteer soldiers are spread out among each corps.

「Amazing...」

Yogley's voice leaks out. There was around 150 people in this village when we launched our attack and the amount was much larger than the resident's living in Yogley's village. Furthermore, the amount of soldiers situated within the Feudal Lord's mansion is even larger. However, from the point of view of 200 cavalrymen, this minuscule force was akin to that of an ant. It will be as simple as crushing them beneath our feet.

Just 10 minutes of battle and the soldiers were turned into corpses, the lord was captured and had his head chopped off on the spot. I turned my back to the burning mansion of the feudal lord and announced my capture of the village. And from there on, it's Yogley's turn.

「I don't want to spend much time on this. Convince me in one hour.」

「Everyone! I...」

Whether it was a good thing that the feudal lord's soldiers were finished in a flash, or whether the heavy cavalry looked valiant, some of the villagers joined as volunteer soldiers, but their response was slower than that of Yogley's village.

「There's no way we can win against the king's steel spear cavalry...if we lose, they'll kill everyone...」

「Anyway, we burned the lord's mansion so that's over, should we get everyone ready to run away?」

The villagers are quietly talking to each other. The long years of political strife and the fear of the king and the army has been ingrained into them. For them to truly trust us, we need to win a major victory.

「It's less than I thought, but it's not like we had much to begin with. We can't spare any more time.」

I also agree with Leopolt's opinion. If we are unable to reach our designated town by today, we will lose sight of the other companies.

「We're leaving! Once you've taken your portion of food, follow the rest of the squads.」

The designated town, according to Yogley, is known as Datrohn . By the time we reached the suburbs, the sun has pretty much set and night was close. The other companies have already arrived. It seems that all three companies managed to control the villages without much problems.

「The volunteer soldiers have also gathered accordingly.」

Including the volunteer soldiers, we have a total of about 300 people. It became something a little larger than a company. However, they might only be usable as a shield in battle...

「We have taken the villagers hostage and at the same time presented the women, but you won't mind if we take them, right?」

Beside Carl is a woman who is nestling into him, she was looking at him with passionate eyes and was slightly panting. You have already embraced her without even asking me, haven't you?

「There are rules. Please refrain from doing it where people can see.」

Celia looks at me with eyes that say 'look who's talking', but I ignore her. Those on top are arrogant people.

「Well, the most crucial task is the capture of the town in front of us.」

There is quite a distance still, but the town which was created in the plains is different in scale from the villages which we have encountered up until now. According to Yogley, there are nearly 2000 residents and there is one central existence - which is the noble - that rules the surrounding villages and the noble has set up a mansion, so normally around 300 soldiers should be there.

Excluding our engineers and volunteer soldiers, our actual military strength is 800, it can't be said to be overwhelmingly advantageous but,

「It will be tough to attack with power.」

The town has rocks piled up around it; each corner has a wooden watchtower that can be seen. Unlike the villages up until now that only had a fence which protected them from beasts, the town has a full-fledged wall installed. Just as Leopolt said, we will have to be prepared to suffer quite the amount of casualties if we were to attack with force.

「What do you think about surrounding it and firing flaming arrows?」

「The arrows from the enemies on the top of the walls will reach us first, so in the end we will suffer heavy casualties. Also, if we want to burn the town our plan to gather the volunteer soldiers cannot be used anymore.」

That's true, if we burn the townspeople it would be bad.

「Then, should we wait for backup? If we wait 3 days they will catch up. And when they do, those guys should run away or surrender.」

Just like Agor says, for the main force that is also equipped with siege weapons a town like this and its walls are nothing. But by then, the importance of us being the vanguard will have lost its meaning. Setting up formation with the main force, and preparing to attack would then delay our march by that much. We should find some way to manage the clean up with just my battalion.

「No, we should try to somehow finish things with just us. It's something we must try and somehow do.」

「If we can't use force or fire, then only something like sending a spy to open the gates...」

Agor is also giving some thought, but it doesn't seem to be a good idea.

「Then, shall I have the enemies open the gate?」

Leopolt opens his mouth. It's times like these that I'm counting on you.

「First of all tonight, let's put lots of torches on the wagons and have it walk. With that they will think that most of our army has moved.」

Something like that is easy enough.

「After that on the next day, judging from that town, they can only see up to the hill we are on right now, so if we cover soldiers on the opposite side of the hill they won't be able to see them. We will hide two cavalry and infantry companies there.」

「I understand what we have to do, but from here to the town there is too much distance. Even if they let their guard down and open the gate, wouldn't they simply close it while we are running towards it?」

「Yes. So that's why we'll bring them here. Once we get them here we'll beat them, and the enemies that run away will try to get back into the town and like a dumpling, they won't be able to close the gate. Even if they abandon them and close the gates, we will be able to eliminate the enemy that is outside the gate easily and after that we can attack them with force or whatever and that will be enough to cause them to fall.」

「The reason for having one company is to get them to come here huh.」

「Right. Then the most important thing will be the voluntary soldiers.」

「The volunteer soldiers aren't useful in actual battle, though? The line of command will also be sloppy.」

「The enemy will also think that. We will give up on capturing the town and move our main force, the remaining units will be 200 and the volunteer soldiers will be 300. Even if they decide to fight us, they will have to be prepared with numbers to challenge us in night battle. But if the gathered volunteer soldiers start to go crazy and rampage in the attack, then of course we will suffer from the enemy's counter-attack and lose...then in the confusion, the infantry company that also gets involved will mess up the formation...if you were the enemy commander in that situation, what would you do?」

Of course I would chase them. The troops in the castle are 300 in number, the confused volunteer soldiers are no help so I will aim for a win with 200 against 300.

「Are there any dangers in the castle that are outside our predictions?」

「If there is, they will wait until daybreak, they will come when they judge that our main force is not there. If so, then no matter what paths we take, it won't be possible for us to capture the town by ourselves. Let's leave the hill and wait for the reinforcements to help us.」

Agor opened his mouth.

「I understand what you're saying. But regardless of our infantry company, can the volunteer soldiers perform something so adept? If they foresee that, then won't they just get pierced by arrows and die a meaningless death?」

Leopolt talks as if it was nothing.

「I don't think they will be able to pull off such acting. From the beginning, I didn't teach them anything. I just ordered them to 'do their best to attack the town with everything you have'.」

The next morning, Arkland camp: Town of Datrohn

「It seems like the crisis has passed.」

The one who rules the villages around the town, Count Cortoza Datrohn , breathed a sigh of relief. His mansion is on the highest point of the town, and looks over the town's surroundings. It is just like the lookout reported, the Goldonia squad that appeared yesterday evening has moved out in the night.

「I wondered what has happened.」

The enemy troops easily exceed 1000 in number. Whether they gathered from around the villages, or if they had natives mixed in, but even if that is not taken into account they are a powerful squad. The soldiers in this town are around 300, if they were to attack with power then it would be a dangerous difference in military strength.

「To allow them to advance this far up to this place, what is the vanguard unit doing!?」

His ugly and fat body shakes in rage. The town of Datrohn is at the border of Goldonia but it's not really a town. The town has been changed into a fortress in order to withstand the multiple occurrences of rebellion by the farmers in recent years. Focusing on its defensive capabilities, it acted as the place for accumulating and replenishing supplies to the vanguard squad which was supposed to be rampaging in Goldonia.

It seems that there have been sporadic reports from fools that came running and told of the vanguard unit being vanquished yesterday but they were all decapitated. They must have gone crazy from immense terror and ran from their squad, but they are just trash who were trying to smear the glorious name of Arkland with mud.

The next transportation of goods heading towards the city is a large amount of food, arrows, and horse feed. If by any chance the enemy manages to cause this town to fall, then everything will be taken. If that happens, his Count standing will become uncertain.

「The enemy's remaining military strength is only 200 plus and the likes of farmers! Move out and defeat them!」

The subordinate knights raise their spirit but it's 300 against 500. The farmers will also be used as shields so it might become an even fight. There is no need to do anything risky in this situation, it's fine if we just protect the town.

「Even if it's impossible, just get out there and do something. Our role is the protection of the town and the transportation of the goods. Once the northern army gets out there, those guys still hanging on out there will be kicked aside.」

「For guys like them, just us will be enough!」

I know that I want to make achievements, but I can't afford to suffer huge losses here. The enemy is not only Goldonia, it is also possible that there are people who want to cause a rebellion and will take advantage of this situation.

Well why not sleep with a woman, I took the women from the commoners and kept them as servants. I can rape them as I like and they'll either be killed or give birth and be sent back. It's been awhile, so why don't I play with an older woman.

「Enemy attack! The enemy is approaching the town walls!」

The screaming and crying woman is held down, and it was just about time when the deed was about to be done, but the lookout's voice caused him to put his clothes on in a panic. The woman grabbed her clothes and ran. That woman, tonight, I will squeeze her neck until she dies.

「What is going on? The enemy hasn't left yet!?」

「That is, the soldiers left the farmers and they approached while shouting, throwing torches and pots of oil at us! It looks like they're trying to break the gate with hammers too!」

「How dare they! Those filthy pieces of garbage!」

The gate is made of thick wood, but to withstand attacks from fire, water and mud has been put on the gate since yesterday so it won't burn. The clustered troops are bathing in jeers, raising their spirit but their options are to either set it on fire or to use hammers to break a portion of the gate. The bulky gate won't even budge an inch.

「How long are you going to let them do what they want! Shower them in arrows! Kill them all!」

Near the gate from on top of the wall, the arrows rain down in a scattered manner, screams start to be heard. That scene continues for some time but several people from the back who were running away started to collapse all at once, and they instantly started running away to the rear.

「Fuuun-! It's because they got too cocky that this happened. Why don't you just obediently go plow some fields or something!」

But then, an astonishing scene appeared. A squad that is believed to be the established army surrounded the escaping farmers causing them to be stopped in place. They were probably observing them from the back, waiting for their opportunity while waiting for them to dig their own graves.

「The enemy is confused! As they are now we can defeat them!」

「It's a chance that comes once every thousand years!」

「Please order us to move out!」

The knights are coming together all at once. It's true that they look like they can be defeated right now. Their main force has moved during the night, so they must have gone quite far, they won't be able to act as reinforcements. Also, more than anything it wouldn't be bad to have the honor of being the first to take down Goldonia.

「Very well, I'll allow you to move out. But don't chase them too far!」

「 「 「Yessir!」」」

The knights felt disappointed for an instant, but only returned to their own squad.

「Let me see how those guys meet their end.」

I went out to the terrace while a woman was refilling my drink with alcohol and decided to watch the battle in which victory was promised.