Crows and hawks circled in the clear sky. They were the lions of the past, scabs covering the scars left by battles. Fernandez gazed down at the battlefield with a rather sentimental mood.
Below the hills, far in the distance, black smoke rose in straight lines from the flames burning corpses. The war, as sudden as its beginning, was coming to an end. Up to this point near Lavirata, they had not lost a single engagement.
-Clop, clop, clop.
A single horseman approached him. A man wrapped in thick wool slowly made his way against the wind toward him. Soon, the man stood beside Fernandez, looking down at the battlefield together.
“Have you been well?”
“You’ve endured much.”
Fernandez did not turn to look at him. They had already checked on each other from afar. When a mage enters another mage’s domain, they synchronize their magic circuits to signal no hostility.
He slowly pushed back his hood. An old beastman bared his black teeth, chuckling.
“The beastman nobility is quite discontent. In this battle, and in the last war, the Empire only preserved its own forces.”
“And what do they want to do about it?”
“Many chieftains are refusing to participate directly in the next battle. Most of them are warlords who hold a key part of the frontline, so the loss of strength is severe.”
“Let them be.”
The beastmen had shed enough blood. It was not Fernandez’s plan to completely crush their potential. The beastmen still had enemies to face in the near future.
“While we’ve sufficiently depleted Cherad’s forces in the battles so far, we will soon face Lavirata’s main force. Will the Empire’s strength be enough then?”
Partak’s concern was valid.
The Imperial Army was not proactive in the war. Once a certain level of casualties was reached, they would retreat without hesitation to focus on defense.
The long frontline stretching from the eastern to the southern wilderness was built solely by Duke Erbe and the beastman nobility.
The forces they had faced so far were a mix of Cherad’s beastman rebels and a small number of wraith legions. Thus, Fernandez, who could manipulate Cherad, easily orchestrated victories in battle.
But Cherad’s forces were now nearly gone, and Cherad, having outlived his usefulness, was eliminated by Partak.
What remained was Lavirata’s main force, an opponent Duke Erbe could never defeat alone.
“The Imperial Army will now take an active offensive.”
“Have you influenced the Imperial nobles as well?”
“No need to go so far as to manipulate them. They’ll be anxious enough now.”
Around that time, confusion swept through the tents of the Imperial nobles.
The large-scale battle that had taken place a day’s journey from Lavirata ended in a decisive victory for the Imperial Army.
Cherad’s beastman forces, shaken by the sudden loss of their command, scattered in disarray.
The opposing chieftain had gone missing. Assassinated, most likely. And Lavirata, of course, sought to suppress the chaos with force.
A mistake. The beastmen under her command, who had joined due to Lavirata’s coercive policies, now believed she was the one who had assassinated their leader.
The enemy’s internal strife was intensifying.
Lavirata’s main force was still intact. She had built a massive defensive position centered around her palace. But that meant abandoning all other territories. And the Great Wilderness, unlike before, now stretched out as fertile plains.
“The supply lines are secure, and outposts are being built one by one nearby. The Empire’s military flags are flying across the vast lands from the eastern plains to the south!”
“Who doesn’t know that? What I want to know is, why are we winning?”
The Imperial command was also in disarray.
Their tactical doctrine was to retreat with minimal losses, leaving the inevitable casualties to the beastmen and the Duke.
Thus, the Imperial Army showed no aggression in the war, holding their ground and retreating only when they sensed danger.
“Duke Erbe’s military achievements are already overwhelming. We don’t even have a chance to act! Tell me, what is going on?”
“Do we have any reason to blame each other? Shouldn’t we consider why that fool Erbe even requested central support for a war he could win on his own?”
Everard, the commander of the burning fortress knights of Guer, spoke coldly. His words brought a momentary silence to the room.
‘It can’t be a coincidence. The enemy’s forces were clearly weaker than initially observed, making it unnecessary to deploy the Empire’s full strength to the west. The Duke could have easily managed Ribue and dealt with the beastmen with his own forces.’
If this reasoning was true… Everard groaned, taking a sip from his cup. He slowly set it down and spoke.
“The supply lines are stable, you said?”
“Of course!”
Donat, the chief financial officer of the Imperial Central Command overseeing frontline supplies, responded. He was about to raise his voice in defense of his work but quickly paled and fell silent.
Everard shook his head.
“The supply lines were secured through nearby trade, right?”
“…Yes.”
“And that trade is conducted primarily in Ribue and its surrounding territories?”
“Correct.”
“Damn it. It’s a trap.”
Everard clutched his forehead, muttering.
“He used the central forces to revitalize Ribue’s economy.”
“But why… If Duke Erbe isn’t a fool, why would he do something so simple… Did he think we’d just quietly retreat after the war?”
“So? Are you suggesting we attack Duke Erbe now? On what grounds? Erbe has achieved more military success in this war than anyone else. His name has already spread beyond Ribue to the entire western electorate of the Empire.”
If the Emperor were to attack Ribue now, would the other electors stand idly by? Probably not.
The electors think there are too many electorates in the Empire. But… strictly speaking, the Imperial Palace is also an ‘electorate.’
Rather than restraining Ribue, which has just begun to rise after complete collapse, wouldn’t it be more profitable to pressure Guer, which is entering a golden age with the activation of trade routes to the Eastern Kingdom?
“Damn it. Whose idea was this?”
“Duke Erbe’s scheme…”
“If it were his scheme, there’d be no reason to act now, and that bear-like man couldn’t possibly devise such a delicate strategy. Duke Erbe was in such decline just a few months ago that he couldn’t even maintain the loyalty of his court and border nobles.”
Who could it be? It’s not a scheme concocted with other electors. If it were, the Emperor would have noticed. But what’s more frightening is the skill to create a situation where the electors’ reactions are inevitable without any direct contact.
‘It can’t be the beastmen. They can’t possibly understand the Empire’s political dynamics. It’s not the Duke either. If he could do this, he would have acted before Ribue’s decline.’
Everard stroked his chin, lost in thought. Then, Bernard set his cup down with a thud and spoke.
“Isn’t the identity of the mastermind behind this less important right now? We’ve fallen into Duke Erbe’s trap…”
