Chapter 11 Pelosonian War (II)

Mercenary Captain, Darios the "Black Panther".

He belonged to a high-ranking werebeast race, and was the third-born son of a small baron family in a certain western country.

Darios was known in military history as one of the "Restorators".

Restorators—refer to people who revived the sophisticated battle tactics that had been lost during the chaos resulting from the Lemurian Empire's collapse.

Infantry, cavalry, and archers. Wars ought to be fought by combining these three military branches. That should go without saying, yet things seemed to work differently in the present world. It should be evident from how Hadrianus III—Hercule's father—had placed too much emphasis on cavalry and neglected infantry.

Even the Lemurian Empire that had preserved many ancient documents was in this sorry state. There was no need to say anything about the barbarians.

The refined killing techniques accumulated over mankind's long history of warfare had been lost. Warfare in this world had regressed into a very primitive form, which was smashing armies into each other head-to-head.

Not only the concept of logistics, even the notion of employing strategy and tactics had long been forgotten. Victory and defeat was decided by the prayers one offered to God. The military technology of this world had deteriorated to the point that army generals did such a thing seriously.

That was why Darios, who employed both infantry and cavalry in conjunction with crossbowmen, left his name as one of this world's great generals, the "Restorators".

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"How many soldiers have been assembled?"

"In addition to our band consisting of 5,000 infantry and 5,000 crossbowmen for a total of 10,000; we have gathered 30,000 infantry and 5,000 barbarian cavalry. Our total fighting strength is 45,000."

"Hm… That much should be plenty enough."

Mercenary Captain Darios, who was the ruler of the Pelosonian Mercenary State and its de-facto king, nodded in satisfaction to the report from his adjutant.

Currently, the finances of the Pelosonian Mercenary State were in dangerous shape. The economic base of the Pelosonian Peninsula was far too weak to support 10,000 mercenaries.

The Pelosonian Peninsula produced olive oil, wine and marble; it was by no means a poor region. However its economy was not sufficient to provide for 10,000 money pits, and Darios's mercenary band's ability to collect taxes was sloppy.

Dissolving the mercenary band would cause uprisings, giving other countries the chance to take advantage of the situation. But he had to levy high taxes to maintain the mercenary band, thus incurring the local population's resentment and increasing the risk of rebellion even more.

In this fashion, the Mercenary State became poorer and poorer.

Hence Darios decided to make a gamble.

He spent all his gold to gather mercenaries, intending to invade the Lemurian Empire and demand territories and reparations.

Of course, Darios's wallet wasn't sufficient to gather a fighting force strong enough to press the Lemurian Empire for concessions. He had received financial aid from two of the Lemurian Empire's enemy countries, as well as borrowed money from foreign merchants to fund the campaign… But even that was not enough, so he gave the mercenaries permission to pillage the Empire's domains.

Darios had already crushed the Lemurian Empire twice in the past. The reason he was able to easily gather funds and mercenaries was because he had twice defeated the Emperor of the superpower that once ruled over the entire world, even if that Empire was now on its last legs.

"Captain. Are we really going to do this?"

"What, you scared?"

Darios laughed while patting the adjutant's shoulder.

"Our opponent is just a fifteen-year-old greenhorn. And he's that Hadrianus III's son. He's nothing I can't handle."

Darios recalled his battles against Hadrianus III. Even though he had braced himself for a fight against the mighty Lemurian Emperor, he was let down by how weak Hadrianus was.

The apple never falls far from the tree. Hadrianus III's son couldn't be any better than his father.

With that thought in mind, Darios burst into a rumbling laughter…

"Captain!! This is bad!! The Imperial Lemurian Army is advancing inside our territory!!!"

Darios's smile stiffened…

Somewhere else, Hercule was laughing boisterously.

"HAHAHA!! That Black Cat guy must be thinking to himself, 'The apple never falls far from the tree. That fifteen-year-old greenhorn is no match for me!!' How does it feel to get one-upped by this greenhorn, heh!!!"

Hercule was laughing boisterously. He was in high spirits from successfully outwitting the famous general "Black Panther" Darios.

To tell the truth though, until a while ago he was still unsure if the enemy had discovered him and had been laying in ambush. Carolina had to reassure him… But that's a secret.

"Looks like it's going smoothly, Your Majesty."

"Yeah. We managed to disembark safe and sound."

The Imperial Lemurian Army (8,000 clibanarii cavalry, 15,000 infantry, 5,000 longbowmen; 28,000 troops in total) led by Hercule was currently stationed in a small harbor within the Pelosonian Mercenary State.

They were able to land safe and sound thanks to—three factors.

First was the fact that the Pelosonian Mercenary State didn't have any ship to begin with. Because they had no transport ships, let alone defending against the Lemurian Navy, capturing Lemurian troops was practically impossible.

Secondly, being the offensive side, they didn't expect to be attacked first. Darios was caught completely off-guard.

Thirdly, Hercule and his standing army had boarded ships in the middle of the night and set out from the capital in the midst of darkness. It was to prevent merchants from leaking information outside.

Right now, even the cooks and servants at the Imperial Palace were wondering, "Eh? Where did His Majesty go?" so the only way Darios could know Hercule's whereabouts was if he had some sort of super power.

"I don't know how many troops that Darios guy has mustered, but they're probably more numerous than us. To make up for the difference, we need to seize the initiative. Victory goes to the one who makes the first move."

Hercule said while spreading out a map that he found gathering dust in the Imperial Library. It was an extremely accurate map of the Pelosonian Peninsula.

No doubt, it was way more accurate than the one Darios had.

"This is our current position. To the south is the peninsula's biggest city. Darios's base must be close to the border with our Empire… The fortified city to the north of us."

Which is to say, Hercule had two options to march on. Either the fortified city where Darios headquartered, or the biggest city in the Pelosonian Peninsula.

Go south, or go north? They must proceed to either locations.

"Well, attacking the fortified city is nigh impossible anyway. Right, Garphis?"

"I agree, Your Majesty. It's out of the question."

After exchanging opinions, both of them firmly eliminated the possibility of assaulting the fortified city. But one young lady was still wearing a dissatisfied expression. She was Carolina.

"Why is it impossible? We should just beat Darios head-on. Isn't it simpler that way?"

"The reason is simple. First of all, the fortified city is the farthest from here. So when we got there, our troops would already be exhausted. Moreover, Darios wouldn't have to move far and could freely chose a place to ambush us… Meaning Darios would have the initiative. Our surprise attack would end up being meaningless."

Because Hercule's army was at a numerical disadvantage, they had to hold onto the initiative. They couldn't afford to take too much time and give the enemy an opportunity to respond.

"But if we take our time to lay a siege, won't we get caught in a pincer attack from behind?"

"No need to worry about that, I have a way to take the city."

Hercule stroked the sullen Carolina's head with one hand, and pointed at the biggest city located a bit further away with the other.

"We are going to take this city with a surprise attack. Any objections, Garphis?"

"No objection from me, Your Majesty."

Garphis also grinned broadly.

"That damned greenhorn!!!!!"

Darios was grasping his head in frustration. Hercule had completely outsmarted him.

The Imperial Lemurian Army had landed ashore. When he got hold of this information, two scenarios came to Darios's mind.

The enemy marching to the north.

Or going south to take over the biggest city.

Darios predicted that Lemuria would choose the latter and immediately advance to south. At the moment, Darios still had ample time to respond.

The rampart of the biggest city was quite high in its own right. Darios could rely on the 1,000 infantry and 2,000 crossbowmen from his own band, and the 2,000 infantry employed from other places. Surely, they would be able to put up a defense with 5,000 troops.

The city wouldn't fall so easily. And then while Hercule was fumbling around, he would creep up from behind and lauch a pincer attack.

He's just a greenhorn in the end… How dare he surprise me like that. Darios was chasing after Hercule with that thought in mind.

Shortly after, the news of the biggest city's capitulation came to Darios. The city had fallen in one day, it said.

A city defended by 5,000 troops couldn't have fallen so easily. He could only think of two reasons for it.

Either because the citizens had revolted. Or the mercenaries had betrayed him.

"Your Majesty, when did you start making preparations for this?"

"Since about three months ago. The moment I got words that Darios was gearing up for war, I already planned to attack."

Hercule proudly said to Carolina. The reason he managed to take the city in one day was exactly as Darios speculated. The citizens had revolted, and the mercenaries had betrayed Darios.

Three months ago, Hercule maneuvered to bribe the mercenaries that Darios recently employed. It was difficult to buy over Darios's personal troops since they were loyal to him. But the newly hired mercenaries easily accepted Hercule's bribe.

To be doubly sure, Hercule induced the citizenry to revolt. He sent spies to the city beforehand and had them agitate the locals.

The locals that were fed up with Darios's rule were all too happy to accept Hercule's helping hand and rose in rebellion. It might have been a different story if Darios's henchmen had managed to put down the rebellion right away, but…

They were caught completely off-guard by Hercule's surprise attack. Taking advantage of the confusion, the mercenaries that he had bribed beforehand opened the gate, and the Lemurian Army poured into the city.

The city capitulated in no time at all.

"You could say that the war started three months ago, I suppose. Now then, let's go outside. Darios will arrive the day after tomorrow. We shall meet him on the best battlefield possible."

Darios had to retake the city at all cost. Which means he must defeat Hercule in a short and decisive battle.

In other words…

"The one who chooses the battlefield is me. Darios is simply dancing in the palm of my hand."

Hercule sneered devilishly.