Chapter 363
Side Story – Memories of an Imperial Princess (79)
#98 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of the Kingdom of Merdea
Why did such a thing happen?
Duke Raisha pondered every possibility but couldn’t understand the reason.
“I, that I would be defeated!”
Although 90% of his life had been marked by defeat, Duke Raisha had forgotten it all due to recent victories.
“I haven’t been defeated. I haven’t lost!”
Duke Raisha was always consistent.
This fact was evident just by looking at his attitude of never acknowledging his defeats.
However, unlike Duke Raisha’s consistent attitude, his reputation had risen incredibly by an invisible hand.
Although there were some mistakes, the faith in him remained unshaken.
“As expected of the Grand General…”
“The Grand General hasn’t given up yet!”
“Running away like this must be to plan for the future. I was foolish to doubt the Grand General even for a moment.”
“He must still have strategies remaining.”
“Even in this situation…!”
Several victories had changed people’s perception of him.
Although the content hadn’t changed at all, there was no way others could know that.
The Duke Raisha they knew was a brilliant commander who had defeated the Imperial Army multiple times.
When numerous renowned generals of the Kingdom of Merdea, including the former Grand General Arisetias, fell helplessly to the Imperial Army, Duke Raisha was the only one who had defeated the Empire.
He was already a symbol of the military and a hero of the kingdom.
People made unreasonable assumptions about his every action and created countless meanings from his simple words.
These unreasonable actions were creating miracles.
“When the Grand General hasn’t given up, how can we give up!”
“Take heart! We just need to cross the border!”
“Hurry up!”
The soldiers’ morale began to rise.
Duke Raisha had merely escaped from reality as usual, but the commanders and soldiers started raising morale by making up their own reasons.
Just like they say, when someone becomes famous, they receive applause for anything they do!
“Why are you so slow! We must escape as quickly as possible! Move faster!”
“Yes, General!”
Duke Raisha meant ‘I need to run away quickly to survive!’ but the commanders interpreted it as ‘We need to cross the border quickly to reorganize the army!’
Such incredible misunderstandings continued to pile up.
Thanks to this, the truth about Duke Raisha remained hidden, and trust in him continued to be maintained.
“General! I can see the fortress ahead!”
“It’s Fortress Arlasius, General!”
As a result, the forces led by Duke Raisha were able to reach the border fortress without a single deserter.
“Good! We’ll rest there for a while!”
Fortress Arlasius was certainly a good fortress.
Due to its characteristics as a border fortress facing an enemy country, the walls were regularly repaired and expanded, and geographically, it was terrain where a small force could easily block a larger force.
However, with less than ten thousand surviving soldiers now, it was insufficient to block the Imperial Army.
“How many troops are there in Fortress Arlasius?”
“There are five thousand troops for defense.”
“Is that so?”
Having broken through the Empire’s border, the border region of the Kingdom of Merdea was also low on soldiers.
The border soldiers were veterans with combat experience.
In a situation where there was no need to guard the border, leaving them there would have been a huge waste, so they led all soldiers to advance into the Empire.
Of course, most of them died.
Thus, the number of soldiers remaining at each border was small, and high-ranking troops like knights or magicians were even fewer.
Therefore.
“Draft all the soldiers!”
Duke Raisha, thinking they couldn’t hold back the Imperial Army at Fortress Arlasius, began drafting all soldiers from Fortress Arlasius.
“Ah, right. Also conscript all men who can fight! Whether adult or elderly, gather everyone who can lift a spear!”
“Grand General! Forced conscription? What about the remaining civilians!”
“This is a crisis situation! How can you worry about other things when the country is about to fall!”
It was an extremely selfish statement.
Even though it was a border region, numerous civilians lived there.
If they drafted not only able-bodied men but also children and elderly who could hold weapons, those remaining would only be children under ten and women.
No matter how large and strong the fortress walls were, there was no way they could stop the Imperial Army, which was counted among the strongest on the continent.
“Grand General…”
“It’s an order!”
“Understood.”
Although there was reluctance, it was the Grand General’s order.
As a member of the military where hierarchy was absolute, they couldn’t disobey the orders of the Grand General, who was the highest military commander except for the king.
“He must have it all planned out.”
Despite opposition, the subordinate commander thought Duke Raisha would have a countermeasure and began mobilizing men from Arlasius fortress for military service.
“Oh no! Please! This child is only fifteen years old!”
“Please! My father is too old to even hold a weapon. Please, I beg you, please!”
Wailing began to break out everywhere.
They began forcibly taking not only able-bodied men, but also middle-aged men who still had some strength despite their age, youths who had just entered adolescence, and even elderly who could barely hold farming tools, let alone spears.
Mothers clutching their children’s hands, refusing to let go.
Young children who had come to the village holding their grandfather’s hand, now crying as they watched him being taken away.
People begging while grabbing onto soldiers’ legs.
Crying didn’t stop throughout the once-peaceful Arlasius fortress.
“General, public sentiment is not good. Wouldn’t it be better to send back the children and elderly?”
As public support dwindled day by day, commanders suggested returning those unsuitable for military service to Duke Raisha, but his resolve remained unchanged.
No, it seemed to be growing even firmer.
“General…”
“This fortress will be abandoned anyway. We cannot fight the Imperial army here.”
Abandon it.
At those words, the commanders could only close their mouths.
The commanders also knew.
While Fortress Arlasius was certainly a good fortress, their numbers were insufficient to stop the Imperial army.
The same was true for other fortresses .
Most soldiers who had defended the fortress died in Imperial territory, and very few remained.
The only fortress that could possibly hold out was Fort Mebelis, the greatest fortress in the border region and among the top three fortresses in the Kingdom of Merdea.
“General, what about waiting for reinforcements?”
However, abandoning the people they were meant to protect was not something a military commander could easily suggest.
That’s why the suggestion came up to protect and maintain Fortress Arlasius instead of abandoning it.
Of course, this suggestion was only possible because of their faith in Duke Raisha, who had held out with less than 30,000 troops even when surrounded by Imperial forces.
“We brought most of the remaining forces in the kingdom with the last reinforcement. Reinforcements? They might come. But how long do you think it will take? Ten days? Two weeks? A month? No. It will take at least several months.”
The commanders fell silent at Duke Raisha’s words.
The Merdean Royal Army was considered a powerful force even on the continent, and thus held considerable territory.
Having large territory meant having many neighboring countries.
Among those countries were not only allies but also hostile nations.
The only forces remaining in the Kingdom of Merdea now were those guarding the borders and protecting the royal fortress.
Neither force could be easily withdrawn.
In other words, new troops would need to be recruited and organized into reinforcements, but those with combat experience had already been recruited in previous drafts, so those being recruited now would all be inexperienced!
It would take at least a month of training to make those who could barely hold a spear even resemble soldiers.
“What we need now is time and troops. People living on the border receive mandatory military training when they reach a certain age. We’ll retreat while gathering forces, and hold off the Imperial army while waiting for reinforcements at Fort Mebelis! That’s our only hope!”
It was an incredibly cold and meticulous strategy that seemed impossible to have come from Duke Raisha’s mind.
The result of doing everything possible to survive!
If he had possessed such intelligence normally, the previous Duke Raisha could have died peacefully, and the House of Raisha could have enjoyed even greater prosperity than now.
Moreover, the Empire would not have devised the nonsensical âProject to Make Duke Raisha a Grand Generalâ, and this worst-case scenario would not have come to pass.
But it was too late.
Duke Raisha’s awakening was a desperate struggle to survive and an instinct for self-preservation.
He had not even 1% desire to protect the kingdom as its Grand General.
He simply realized and acted on the fact that gathering forces and holding up in Fort Mebelis would be safer than fleeing to the kingdom.
“If you understand, hurry and prepare to evacuate!”
“Yes, General.”
“We obey your command.”
Finally realizing this was the most rational decision, the commanders began moving according to Duke Raisha’s orders.
They recruited soldiers and civilians, then moved.
At the next fortress, they recruited more soldiers and civilians, then moved again.
After repeating this several times, Duke Raisha’s army managed to gather a total force of 50,000.
“Come, you evil Imperial dogs!”
With Fort Mebelis, the greatest fortress, 50,000 troops could surely hold off hundreds of thousands of Imperial soldiers!
If that happened, he could make up for his defeat and create a foothold to advance back into the Empire.
Thinking this, Duke Raisha waited and waited for the Imperial army in full readiness.
“……”
He waited and waited.
“……”
He waited and waited.
“…Huh?”
And after all that waiting…
The Imperial army never came.
#99 Their Circumstances: Circumstances of Ria Ril Areis
The sword that had been drawn in such tension was lowered in utter futility.
“Another bloodless occupation, it seems.”
“It’s an inevitable choice.”
A sigh escaped at Lord Ast’s words.
“Lost again…”
“Didn’t I tell you, Sir Ria? There would be no fight between us.”
With tears, I pulled out three gold coins from my pocket.
“Here they are…”
“Always grateful, Lo-… no, Sir Ria.”
Though my trembling hands were gripping the gold coins tightly, Lord Ast pulled them into his possession as if he had expected this all along.
I’ve been scammed! Been scammed again!
As the royal knight, I receive a good salary and have plenty of money since I don’t spend much personally.
Three gold coins isn’t really a large amount.
However, there’s only one reason why the empty space left by the gold coins feels so hollow.
It was a matter of pride.
“This is quite a good fortress…”
I look up at the fortress walls.
High. fortress walls that are more than half longer and thicker than ordinary walls.
With this thickness, even if continuously hit by trebuchets, the walls wouldn’t easily crumble.
“Even with five thousand troops, they could buy enough time…”
“For the kingdom’s sake, that’s what should have been done. But Duke Raisha isn’t that kind of person.”
A fortress is a structure made to hold off many troops with few.
Therefore, even in a retreat, it’s basic military strategy to leave trusted people and minimal troops.
This alone can tire the enemy and buy time.
That’s why I told Lord Ast we should move quickly while the enemy was organizing their army, but…
When it came down to it, all that happened was my pocket was cleaned out of gold coins.
“To think they would open the gates so easily…”
Obtaining surrender is a very difficult thing.
Unless there’s an overwhelming difference, people don’t surrender.
However, every fortress we’ve come to has surrendered and opened their gates, just as Lord Ast said.
“You need people who can fight in the first place for a siege to be possible.”
“That’s right.”
The reason is just one.
Duke Raisha took all the people capable of fighting.
In the fortresses we occupied, only very young children, dying elderly, and women remained.
The young men present were either disabled or seriously injured.
There were no soldiers guarding the fortress, not even a fortress lord.
“Only Fort Mebelis remains… Fort Mebelis is a natural fortress. It won’t be an easy fight.”
Duke Raisha fled to Fort Mebelis with all the soldiers he gathered.
Tens of thousands of troops defending Fort Mebelis, which even the Imperial Army judged difficult to breach!
Even for Lord Ast, and even if the opponent is Duke Raisha!
This time won’t be an easy fight.
“What?”
But Lord Ast tilted his head with an expression that seemed to ask what I was talking about.
“Why do you have that expression, Lord Ast?”
“Why should we go to Fort Mebelis?”
“What?”
What does this mean now?
I frowned at Lord Ast’s incomprehensible words.
Unless we capture Fort Mebelis, we can’t reach Merdea Royal fortress!
“We’ve done enough. Now we just need to rest in the fortress and wait.”
“What do you mean…”
Capturing several fortresses without bloodshed is a great achievement, but it’s not enough for Lord Ast.
Because he literally blew away Fort Pesra!
“Didn’t Lord Ast say he would conquer Merdea Kingdom or reduce it to something similar?”
“I did.”
“But you’re saying you won’t capture Fort Mebelis?”
“That’s right.”
“…Then how do you plan to attack Merdea Kingdom?”
“Someone else can do it even if I don’t.”
“Who?”
The more I frowned, Lord Ast just giggled gleefully.
Just as I was about to explode at Lord Ast who wouldn’t tell me no matter how much I asked!
“There’s someone who’s extremely angry.”
At Lord Ast’s words, spoken with his usual very wicked expression, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.
“What?”
Who could it be?
As I pondered for a moment.
“Ah…”
As the face of someone who must be extremely angry right now crossed my mind.
I could only nod in agreement.
