Chapter 372
Side Story – Memories of an Imperial Princess (88)
#112 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of a Soldier
What is war?
Some soldiers say it divides the boundary between life and death.
Some soldiers say it’s a chance to see the bottom of human nature.
And some soldiers say it’s experiencing hell in reality.
But perhaps the most fitting is what this soldier says.
“What’s war? It’s just a piece of shit.”
Yes. War is shit.
No matter what fancy words and actions you use, war is ultimately just shit.
First of all, it’s shit that it happens for reasons that have nothing to do with you, and it’s also shit that those who started the war just give orders from behind instead of fighting like I do.
It’s shit to beg the gods every day to let me live, it’s shit that when you wake up after a night’s sleep and your comrade’s place becomes empty, and it’s most shit that it could happen to me.
War is truly shit.
But, but you know what.
“What the hell is this shit?”
I’ve experienced many shitty situations while participating in war, but this was a first.
“Soldiers of the Kingdom of Merdea, I am Duke Raisha.”
Outside the fortress walls, in the sky.
A massive magic projection, rarely seen except on official kingdom events, was spread out. And what appears on that screen is Duke Raisha, once called a hero of the kingdom, no, now just a traitor, Religieus.
–The kingdom abandoned me. But the Empire treats me, their enemy, well. Look at this!
Before him were all sorts of delicacies and women whose beauty couldn’t be hidden even with half their faces covered, wearing sensual clothes and standing behind Religieus.
–Defect to the Empire! I, who was called a hero, guarantee it! The kingdom is rotten, and the Empire is the best!
Religieus, who spat out those words while guffawing, started living the good life.
He was really living it up. Continuously!
“…When will this end?”
The magic projection didn’t end and kept going. Literally, it wasn’t ending.
Usually in war, to conserve the mage’s magic power, projection magic lasts 10 minutes, 20 minutes, at most an hour. But the Imperial army’s projection went on for one hour, two hours, and before we knew it, it had continued for half a day, and when we returned the next day after changing shifts, it was still going on.
“That… Hasn’t ended yet?”
“Don’t know. I only saw him sleeping continuously.”
“Lucky bastard.”
“To think someone who betrayed their kingdom lives so well…”
“Compared to him, we…”
“Stop with the depressing talk and let’s change shifts.”
“Right, this must be ending soon too.”
So we change shifts and check if enemies are coming from the fortress walls.
“…”
There were hundreds of thousands of Imperial troops, and hundreds of thousands of allied forces from the Raiko Kingdom and Empire.
An army so large that even if you’re sleeping, the sound of enemy movement would wake you up. Therefore, watching from the fortress walls was somewhat less tense.
“…”
“…”
A situation where a small number of people could suddenly raid like the Empire’s magic bombardment. Therefore, we should stay alert during duty, but there’s a limit to that too.
Our gaze naturally returned to Religieus’s magic projection in the air slightly away from the fortress walls.
“…He eats well.”
“Yeah. And plays well too.”
“Really…”
Religieus in the projection was truly eating and playing well.
There were delicacies that soldiers never see in their lifetime, and women fawning over him everywhere.
Drinking together, dancing, and then sleeping when tired.
Waking up to eat more delicacies and playing until tired, then sleeping again.
That projection continued for one day, two days, a week.
“That bastard.”
“But I’m envious.”
“Really envious.”
Before we knew it, the tension in our hearts disappeared, replaced by anger and envy towards Religieus.
When it reached ten days,
“Arghhhh!”
A sudden bombardment struck inside the fortress.
“It’s the Empire’s mages! Magic bombardment!”
“Everyone prepare!”
It happened to be while I was on duty.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping it wouldn’t fall where I was. Then knights and mages rushed out onto the fortress walls.
“Drake Knights and Mage Corps, intercept the enemy mages!”
“Mages, quickly cast defensive spells!”
As our Merdea Kingdom was regarded as a military power on the continent, we had many excellent human resources. The Drake Knights who were natural enemies of mages, and even more mages than the Princess’ forces!
They began to move quickly, proving they were skilled elites.
“The enemy is fleeing!”
“Catch them!”
The enemies must have noticed this too, as they started fleeing before we could finish our preparations.
“Damn it!”
The knight next to me gritted his teeth watching the Imperial mages retreat into the distance.
—The Empire is supreme! Everyone come to the Empire!』
It was an urgent crisis situation. Yet the magical projection showing Religieus didn’t stop. It continued until the very end of the war.
#113 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of Vaeis Ral Merdea
“What on earth are they doing?”
I see the face of Religieus, my sworn enemy.
His face looked so oily it seemed ready to drip, proving he had been living in luxury.
“The pig-like bastard has just become a pig.”
To think such a person was the kingdom’s Grand General. I wanted to kill my past self who had pushed for his appointment as Grand General.
“Damn! Are all the prisoners dead?”
I carefully observed the faces of the women appearing in the projection.
Even with their faces half-covered, I had seen many nobles throughout my life. While I couldn’t recognize everyone, it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t recognize anyone.
Looking at it, none of the people there appeared to be daughters of noble families.
“Is it inevitable since we couldn’t rescue them?”
A noble whose family was certainly captured led private soldiers to fight in anger, but they were annihilated without inflicting significant damage.
There were several provocations afterward, but all were ignored, so they might have killed all the prisoners, judging them to be worthless.
“Damn it!”
One of the reasons I was going to swallow my pride and surrender was because of the prisoners.
Even royalty cannot lead a country alone.
While lords near the capital and some great nobles had brought their families and various resources to the royal fortress in advance, not all nobles were able to do so.
Some couldn’t escape as the Imperial army blocked the path to the royal fortress during evacuation preparations, and others defended their fortresses until the end with their lords and retainers.
Additionally, there were those captured after being defeated while leading reinforcements in the isolated situation of the royal fortress, those caught by the Empire while leading refugees, and those caught while trying to flee abandoning the kingdom!
It would be fair to say that most of the kingdom’s nobles, except those in the royal fortress, were captured by the Imperial army.
The capture of nobles who managed the country’s affairs meant the foundation of the country had collapsed.
I was willing to bow my head and plan for the future even if I would be evaluated as the worst king in history.
But the Imperial army, which flatly refused that, has been showing us the traitor Religieus living in luxury through magical projection devices for a month now.
This was evidence of the Empire’s thorough humiliation. By refusing our surrender and showing the traitor Religieus’s appearance in real-time, they aim to break our will to fight until the end.
“How are the soldiers’ conditions?”
“They are in a very sensitive state, Your Majesty.”
“I see…”
It would have been strange if they weren’t sensitive.
The enemy’s attacks weren’t limited to showing Religieus living in luxury. They used mages and wizards to conduct magical bombardments and spell bombardments simultaneously.
They attack several times a day, at a level weak enough not to be threatening to those who can use magic.
However, even that level threatens the lives of ordinary soldiers.
So when the enemy launches an attack for containment, soldiers must struggle with all their might to survive, and they’ve experienced this several times a day for a month, so they couldn’t help but be sensitive.
“Support from other countries… Still nothing?”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Damn it…”
Even support from the Pernes Empire, our only hope, had become impossible.
With the unexpected strong resistance from minor kingdoms that were expected to be quickly dealt with, the Pernes Imperial army suffered a major defeat, suddenly disrupting the balance of not only the Pernes Empire but also various nearby countries.
As a result, the Pernes Empire had no capacity to help others.
Of course, I heard they were recovering quickly as befitting an empire, but it was uncertain when they would be able to help us.
“Rather… what if we lead all troops outside?”
It was something I thought about several times a day.
Rather than being trapped in the fortress watching Religieus praise the Empire, wouldn’t it be more honorable to go outside, stop that cursed video magic, and die swinging a sword until the very end?
“Your Majesty, that is what the enemy wants.”
“I know. I know, but…!”
I could only watch the kingdom collapse while being trapped in the capital.
I could only watch the traitors who betrayed their homeland living well while being trapped like captive animals by the enemy.
I could only watch loyal subjects dying outside the royal fortress to protect the kingdom.
I could only watch soldiers dying from enemy bombardment without even being able to fight properly.
All I could do was… Just watch.
“What kind of royal family member am I! What kind of crown prince am I?!”
“…”
I feel disgusted with myself for being unable to do anything.
And then, changes started occurring in the magic video showing Religieus.
“Who are they…?”
New figures appeared on the screen that had only shown Religieus and women.
“The Empire is supreme!”
“For the Empire! Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
As soon as they appeared, they raised their glasses to Religieus with bright smiling faces.
Although Religieus seemed momentarily flustered by their sudden appearance, when a nearby woman smiled and filled their glasses with wine, he quickly smiled and clinked glasses with them.
“For the Empire!”
Religieus’s appearance as he naturally praised the Empire while clinking glasses was the same as usual. However, watching this scene left me severely shocked.
“Count Rasen, Viscount Eria, Viscount Peshen, Baron Aren?”
This was because those clinking glasses with him were all nobles of the kingdom.
“What in the world is happening?”
My whole body started trembling.
If they were nobles who sided with Religieus when he betrayed us, I could understand, but to see nobles who had sworn to fight for the kingdom until the end and defend their territories now praising the Empire!
“Y-Your Majesty, please calm yourself. This must be the Empire’s trickery using illusion magic.”
“I-Is that so? It must be, right?”
It must be. It certainly must be. No, it had to be.
“The Karan Empire is better than the doomed Merdea Kingdom.”
“That’s right. Honestly speaking, Vaeis isn’t fit to be king.”
“He caused all sorts of trouble trying to keep the nobles in check. This is something I experienced firsthand…”
However, when they started revealing kingdom secrets that only they would know, I had no choice but to believe they were real.
“Filthy traitors!”
I could only grind my teeth.
The soldiers were already wavering just from Religieus alone, but seeing other nobles change sides would make them waver even more.
This is the worst. It was the worst.
That’s what I thought.
“…”
“The Empire truly is the best!”
But that was my mistake.
“Count Bergen, Count Zetia.”
As time passed, more kingdom nobles began appearing in the magic projection video.
“Viscount Arucent, Viscount Peref, Viscount Soleit.”
And more nobles kept appearing as time went on.
“Your Majesty! Baron Lutiel and 10 other barons…!”
“…That’s enough.”
By now, dozens of nobles were having a party in the magic projection video.
Just like a regular noble social gathering!
Now the Empire was showing live footage of not only the betraying nobles but also their families laughing ha-ha! ho-ho!
“Ha… Haha…!”
I could no longer prevent the soldiers from wavering.
How could I stop them when even the nobles who should be commanding them were wavering?
No, even before that, when I myself am this confused and don’t know what to do?
“Now I don’t know anything anymore.”
My mind starts going blank. I don’t know what to do.
Right when I was thinking exactly that,
“Your Majesty! An envoy from the Empire has arrived!”
The Empire sent an envoy demanding our surrender.
