Chapter 353
Side Story – Memories of an Imperial Princess (69)
#88 Their Circumstances: The Situation of a Certain Kingdom
The first battle between the First Imperial Princess Atia Nel Karan’s forces of the Karan Empire and Duke Raisha, the Grand General of the Merdea Kingdom, ended in an overwhelming victory for the Empire.
The Merdea Kingdom was powerless to respond. They were completely outmaneuvered by the First Princess’ forces, as if she knew everything about the Merdea Kingdom.
“How did this happen? This is not what we were told!”
As a result, Duke Raisha, who experienced his first defeat since becoming Grand General, ground his teeth in anger.
“I deeply apologize.”
Marvel Swift, who had to bear the full brunt of his anger, could only bow his head while breaking into a cold sweat.
“I trusted you all. But what was the reward for my trust? This was my first defeat in life!”
This was not actually his first defeat in life.
Duke Raisha’s life had been marked by a string of defeats.
His victories could be counted on one hand.
Rather, his defeats were too numerous to count.
“I sincerely apologize, Grand General.”
This was precisely why Marvel Swift bowed his head even lower.
‘As I thought… All the defeats until now were deliberately orchestrated.’
Marvel Swift concluded that the Duke’s confident declaration about this being his first defeat meant he didn’t consider his previous losses as true defeats.
“So you lot are actually Imperial agents? Hunting dogs sent by the Empire to kill me?”
“No, Grand General.”
Marvel Swift knew that mentioning the Empire was likely meant as psychological pressure.
The Karan Empire and the Howling organization could never coexist.
Anyone with even slight knowledge of the relationship between the Empire and Howling would know better than to suggest such a thing.
The Grand General of the Merdea Kingdom, which shared a border with the Empire, couldn’t possibly be ignorant of this fact… Or so Marvel Swift thought.
“I have no excuses to offer, General. However, please believe me. Our intelligence was accurate until just before the battle.”
“What nonsense is that?”
Marvel Swift carefully raised his head to look at Duke Raisha who was glaring down at him, and said,
“According to our informants, the Princess changed the enemy’s strategy on a whim right before the attack.”
“What? Do you think that makes any sense? The Empire’s renowned generals must have gathered and planned their strategy through lengthy meetings and preparation. And you’re saying all of that was changed by a mere whim!”
This was something that even Duke Raisha himself would never do.
How could even a royalty commit such an outrageous act!
“The Empire’s First Princess is considered an oddity even within the Imperial family. It’s entirely possible.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
While Duke Raisha meant his words at face value, to Marvel Swift, who overestimated the Duke, they carried a different meaning – that trust had been lost and would require significant value to restore.
“In exchange, I’ve brought intelligence about the First Prince of the Empire.”
“The First Prince? You mean the one who conquered the North?”
“Yes, information about Ignal Nel Karan, known as the Conqueror of the North.”
“Hooh…”
Currently, among the Imperial family members, the most renowned was the First Prince Ignal Nel Karan.
Having easily conquered twelve hostile kingdoms in the North, he was the strongest candidate for Crown Prince.
“If we can defeat him, it would make up for the loss against the First Princess.”
“Hmm…”
After contemplating Marvel Swift’s words briefly, Duke Raisha accepted the documents handed to him.
“If this proves false, then everything ends.”
“I understand completely, Grand General.”
Howling was the Empire’s worst criminal organization and one of the three largest organizations on the continent.
Yet even the Intelligence Director of such a powerful organization couldn’t dare to meet his eyes.
Duke Raisha, drunk on his own power, laughed loudly as he watched Marvel Swift leave.
“Hahaha! I’ll let it slide this once, given your past contributions!”
Of course, this was their last chance.
If this information turned out to be wrong again, there would be no reason to continue working with Howling.
Although Duke Raisha was arrogant and incompetent, there was one thing that could be called his only strength, and that was his ability to take action.
“Everyone! Since we will be starting the meeting, all commanders should gather in the conference room right now!”
He called all commanders as soon as he received the information, and shouted while throwing the information he had received.
“Now, we’re going to capture the Empire’s First Prince! The information about the First Prince is here, so check it and we’ll start the meeting!”
“Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”
Despite one defeat, their faith in Duke Raisha had not disappeared.
The commanders quickly checked the contents Duke Raisha had handed over, and through it, they discussed numerous strategies and tactics.
Duke Raisha is incompetent. However, the army he leads was not incompetent.
It was the Kingdom of Merdea, which had one of the most notable armies on the continent, and they were those who had received guidance from outstanding generals like the previous Duke Raisha and Duke Arisetias.
They were ones whose abilities even the Empire had to be wary of.
If only they could obtain and deal with enemy information…
“This is easy.”
Even if the opponent was the army of the Karan Empire, they had the ability to achieve a great victory.
“Howling’s information was correct.”
In front of Duke Raisha, who was nodding his head, there were numerous corpses of Imperial soldiers piled up.
It was a great victory, a perfect great victory.
They had fought with the First Prince once before, but at that time it was practically just a preliminary battle.
Merdea’s numbers exceeded a thousand, and the Karan Imperial army had just under a hundred troops.
It was a battle where victory was expected.
But this time was different.
The Kingdom of Merdea’s forces numbered 30,000.
The Karan Empire’s forces numbered 25,000.
Though 5,000 troops was not a negligible size, since the average skill of the soldiers was higher in the First Prince’s unit, it should have been possible to have an equal fight.
However, Duke Raisha’s army, which already had information about the Empire, ended up achieving an overwhelming victory against the Empire’s First Prince.
It was a perfect overwhelming victory.
Of the 25,000 troops, only 15,000 returned alive.
Among the First Prince’s soldiers, 8,000 died, and 2,000 troops became prisoners.
In comparison, Duke Raisha’s army had 2,000 deaths and 1,000 wounded.
Although the 15,000 troops who returned alive couldn’t be ignored, it remained unchanged that this was a great victory.
“General! They say the First Prince has escaped.”
“Useless fools! Tch! It can’t be helped! Take the prisoners and return!”
Although there had been one defeat, they had achieved military merit more than enough to make up for it.
Especially the 2,000 prisoners were useful in many ways.
They could be handed over to the homeland for display purposes, or sold to slave traders when money was needed.
Also.
“This is payment for good information.”
“Thank you, Commander-in-Chief.”
They could also be handed over to Howling as payment for information.
“If they’re healthy men, there are many ways to use them.”
“Yes, Commander-in-Chief. Though we can’t expect loyalty, there are many ways to use them.”
Howling is an evil organization. Befitting an evil organization, they were involved in various illegal activities, and among them were things that required living sacrifices such as contracts with demons, black magic, and human experiments.
While Marvel Swift expressed his gratitude, saying it was difficult to gather many people while operating secretly, Duke Raisha smiled as if it were nothing.
“This is nothing.”
It was the complete opposite of his previous demeanor.
Duke Raisha appeared to be in such a good mood after the victory that he could be called materialistic.
‘This must mean he will give proper rewards for victory.’
Though it was just behavior stemming from being materialistic, Marvel Swift, who was already under misconceptions about Duke Raisha, was attributing meaning to each and every one of Duke Raisha’s actions.
Therefore.
“This is newly acquired information. I hope you find it useful.”
He confidently handed over the latest information about the Imperial army, and.
“I’ll put it to good use.”
Duke Raisha also received the information he held out without any doubt, and passed it on to his commander.
And the result was…
“Retreat, retreat!”
“All forces, fall back!”
“Eek! Damn those Imperial bastards!”
“Arghhhh!”
It was such a devastating defeat that it completely nullified their previous great victory.
#89 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of a Certain Villain
“Could they really not be human?”
I comforted the Princess who was holding her head and groaning.
“It’s natural to have less capable siblings in a family.”
“No, but still!”
The Princess, who had been fuming with her face red, let out a small sigh.
“No, it’s already in the past.”
The First Prince Ignal Nel Karan was defeated.
It was a major defeat where he lost 10,000 troops out of 25,000.
If you added the wounded, the First Prince would have suffered even greater losses.
“He was perfectly ambushed. It couldn’t be helped.”
“But Duke Raisha only lost 2,000 dead and 1,000 wounded?”
The Princess muttered while banging her head on the desk, questioning if this was even a reasonable exchange ratio.
“Ast… At this point, I’m starting to think Duke Raisha might be a genius.”
“That’s not true.”
Absolutely not. Duke Raisha, a genius?
Duke Raisha was a man who could only give two orders: charge and retreat.
The reason Duke Raisha could defeat the First Prince was because he had perfect information about the First Prince.
The Princess looked somewhat pitiful as she kept banging her head on the desk while muttering, “Was our family actually just stupid? Did the dragon’s blood go bad?” But I couldn’t tell her that I was the one who provided that information!
“It’s alright, Your Highness.”
There was only one way I could comfort her.
“I will return victorious.”
Victory, and it had to be a great victory that could make up for the First Prince’s defeat.
And that…
“Your Highness, we have achieved victory.”
It was easily accomplished by slightly manipulating the information sent to the organization.
“…So my older brother and younger brother were really the foolish ones.”
The Princess, unaware of this fact, sighed with worry about her family.
Of course, the organization later caused an uproar asking how this happened, but I was forgiven by explaining it away as the Princess’ whims changing the operation and by leaking new operational plans from other armies.
As a result…
“This time, my younger brother…”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Princess started banging her head on the desk again after receiving reports that her younger brother, Raid Nel Karan, had challenged Duke Raisha again only to be beaten like a dog and forced to retreat.
“Y-Your Highness! You shouldn’t do this!”
While Sir Ria grabbed her head in panic seeing the Princess like this, the Princess shook off Riaâs hands and shouted, “Don’t stop me! I’m ashamed! I’m so ashamed that Ignal Nel Karan and Raid Nel Karan are my blood relatives, I can’t stand it!”
“Your Highness, someone might hear!”
“Let them hear!”
I couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty about the First Prince and the youngest Prince, who went from being called âolder brotherâ and âyounger brotherâ to being referred to by their names.
Well, in exchange, you could say…
“A victory report, Your Highness.”
I won instead.
This time, assuming they wouldn’t trust information related to the Princess, like villagers who had been fooled by the boy who cried wolf, I acted exactly according to the information submitted to the organization.
And as expected, like the villagers who thought the boy who cried wolf was lying after two false alarms, the Merdea army seemed to think information related to the Princess was false.
The Merdea army, preparing for the opposite, reinforced their rear and flanks despite information about a frontal attack!
Our forces attacked head-on, completely defeated them, and they were forced to retreat.
“Well done, Ast.”
Although her slightly haggard appearance was somewhat concerning, it couldn’t be helped.
I had to provide information to the organization while ensuring our side won.
So what could I do?
If I gave wrong information about our army, I would die, so I had to give information about other armies.
It was very unfortunate, but the only other units in this area belonged to the First Prince and the youngest Prince.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
So for balance, I needed to achieve victory while the other princes had to suffer defeat.
“Your Highness! The First Prince has again…”
“Sigh…”
So, Your Highness, your older and younger brothers are indeed human, so please don’t worry too much.
All of this happened for unavoidable reasons.
…Probably?
