Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 322

322: The Holy Kingdom of Etrantal

All the major cities of the Empire had fallen.

The imperial capital had been a different story. After parting with Lital-sama, and without the help of her dragons, it had been less of a war and more of a sacrifice.

The death knights, who were becoming a force to be reckoned with, and the swollen ranks of the Black Hound Barghests, were no match for the medium-sized cities, which were simply absorbed and became a source of their strength.

And now, as we crossed Rank Kingdom, we were heading for the center of the continent… a little to the west. A land blessed by God, a holy land, as the locals called it.

Incidentally, there was a theory that this was a way to show the surrounding nations that they had no excessive territorial ambitions.

Our next enemy was the Holy Kingdom of Etrantal.

While they had a slight advantage against the undead, due to their national character, it was meaningless against the elite of the Sixth Army, who were a regular army and were incomparable to the newly born, stray undead.

Even after entering the Holy Kingdom, our advance had not slowed, and I had not heard any reports of casualties.

In fact, the death knights had said that they might have been weaker than the inhabitants of the Kingdom, let alone the Empire, perhaps because they had a tendency to underestimate the undead. Though I thought that the fact that they were being strengthened by eating the living was probably a bigger factor.

Prayer and faith had no effect on the undead. What was needed was holy magic… light-attribute magic, and weapons enhanced by it, or fire-attribute magic, or just fire.

I had considered the possibility of an angel appearing, but there were no such fairy tales on the battlefield. No lightning from the heavens.

But faith could have a real power. By sharing a faith, people would gather, their morale would rise, and if they were to gain a physical strength, then faith would have a meaning.

And the capital of the Holy Kingdom was, in a very physical sense, a fortress of faith.

“Liz, your report.”

“Yes. Most of the Holy Knights have been dispatched… but a small number remain, for the domestic undead. The exact number is unknown, but probably about two hundred. Their mana capacity does not seem to be very high, but there are many clergy. We should assume they can use low-level offensive magic. The city walls and the royal castle are a mass of anti-undead enchantments. For us, whose main force is the death knights, it is a terrible match-up.”

Liz’s report, after she had finished her reconnaissance, was not very optimistic. The capital of the Holy Kingdom of Etrantal, the holy city of Etrantal. A holy city, with the royal castle and the ‘Central Church,’ the headquarters of their faith.

“Yes… Rebecca, any countermeasures?”

“It is not impossible to give everyone a resistance to light and fire. But that will only prevent it from being fatal. It will be impossible to completely neutralize the magic itself.”

“Harken, any concerns?”

“We have the advantage in the number of knights. If we are prepared for a certain number of casualties, we can destroy them. But… in a siege, we can only rely on Rebecca-dono and Samarkand-dono for firepower. If we are attacked with offensive magic and fire arrows from the city walls…”

“Do not count on me. I cannot use support magic and offensive magic at the same time. And I can see it from a distance. It is a fortress of magic. It is incomparable to Rank Kingdom, which did not even leave enough people to maintain their enchantments.”

“I, too, though it is a shame, do not believe I can break through that wall by myself…”

Rebecca and Samarkand’s opinions, though pessimistic, sounded correct.

“Aithys?”

“I don’t want to fly over that. You never know when an arrow or a spell will come flying.”

While a griffin was a reasonably strong magical beast, its main duties were reconnaissance and transport. It was not at all suited for a siege against a large army. And considering that I, a stranger at this time of year—though I could pass for an imperial with mixed blood if I tried—would stand out, a Barghest release like the one in Wessphia would be difficult.

Lital-sama and the dragons were not here. We couldn’t borrow their power, like in the imperial capital.

“Liz, what about an assassination?”

“There are too many. And the enchantments themselves are not my specialty, so it would be difficult to disable them. In this case, it might be better to just ignore the holy city.”

“Yes… you’re right.” I nodded at Liz’s words.

“Let’s put it off.”

“Yes. Then we’ll take a detour…”

“There was a fortress nearby, wasn’t there?”

“Huh? …Yes.” Liz nodded. She probably had all the reports in her head.

I believed that Liz and the others would remember. Of course, I was keeping track of the important points.

“Can we take that one?”

“I don’t know… what do you think, Rebecca?”

“I can’t say for sure without seeing it, but from the reports, it’s a rather small fortress. I think we can take it.”

“Then, can we make it look like we’re seriously besieging it?”

“…We just have to surround it? To make it look like we’re struggling to take it.”

“That’s right, Harken.”

“To lure them out… is that it?”

“Yes.” I nodded at Samarkand.

“We’ll have the enemy open the gate for us.”

“Will it really go so smoothly?”

“If it doesn’t, then we’ll just take it by force and create the impression that ‘the Central Church has abandoned the nearby fortress in its time of need.’ It’s a shame we don’t have the disinformation unit.”

“Well… as long as we’re not attacked from behind, it’s the same as just taking a detour.”

“The risk is low… yes. In a field battle, we would probably win.”

“Rebecca, can you somehow make them call for reinforcements, with magic?”

“It would have been better if we had the disinformation unit… but I’ll manage. I’m not good at mind magic, but this time, it’s just a matter of guiding them to a natural thought, to call for reinforcements.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“Then I will secure the personnel.”

“Yes, thank you, Liz. And besides that, I have something I want to ask you and Samarkand to do later. I’ll take half of the death knights.”

“What are you going to do?”

“An effort to increase our chances of winning.”

Liz’s expression was one of exasperation.

“…Ah, you’re going to do something villainous again.”

“No? It’s just the steady effort of an ordinary person.”

“A villainous effort. I understand.”

She understood.