Chapter 8: Declaration of War (part 3)

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In the twilight, with the moon hidden behind the clouds, the forces of the

principality were running with torches in hand.

The horde of 30,000 men carrying torches moved like a snake slithering across

the ground. From a distance, it must have seemed like a fantastical sight. However,

for the men themselves, they were just being forced to run while covered in sweat

and dirt.

Towards the front of that line of troops, the Prince of Amidonia, Gaius VIII, was in

the center of the cavalry unit that was leading the way. Surrounded by five

bodyguards who each carried a torch, he was driving his horse onward like a man

possessed.

His expression was grim. All of this was the fault of that young king.

That king had baited Gaius and his men by using the lands they'd lost, the fertile

grain-producing region. That had exposed the capital Van, their soft flank which

would normally have been protected by hard armor. Elfrieden had then taken their

chance to stab at it.

Georg Carmine had been blocking the route to the capital, but he had capitulated

a mere two days after the ultimatum. Now Gaius had heard that Souma's forces, the

Forbidden Army and Army, were advancing on Van with a force 55,000 men strong.

Van had been built to block incursions from the Kingdom and to give them a

foothold to serve as a front-line base in any invasion of Elfrieden. Because of that,

there were no fortresses between the Elfrieden Kingdom's army and Van.

Due to how passive the former king, Albert, had been, Gaius had let his guard

down. He had grown prideful, taking the Elfrieden Kingdom lightly in the belief that

they lacked the courage to invade another country.

Now that it had come this far, Gaius realized he'd been tricked by Souma and

Georg.

Too much scheming can spell the end of a schemer. All too often, a schemer

forgets that he, too, may fall victim to the schemes of another. That was what had

happened to Gaius.

This is terrible! To think that that nation of weaklings, Elfrieden, could make me

taste such hardship! Gaius thought bitterly.

As he made his horse race along, he cursed his own carelessness.

When they'd found themselves on the receiving end of the Elfrieden's

expansionism two generations ago, the King of Amidonia had lost half of his lands

and died in despair. To ensure they never forgot that mortifying defeat, Gaius's

father had renamed the country from the Kingdom of Amidonia to the Principality of

Amidonia. It had been a show of determination, as the man had felt that they

couldn't call themselves a kingdom with half of their lands stolen from them.

He'd named himself the Sovereign Prince, and from then on, Amidonia had made

the restoration of its lost lands a national policy, always watching closely for any

chance to realize that goal.

When the King of Elfrieden from two generations ago had died, Albert had taken

the throne. (Or, more accurately, he had married the former king's daughter, who

had inherited the right of succession.) When he did, Amidonia had taken advantage

of his passiveness to extend a scheming hand to Elfrieden's nobles and support the

growth of dissident groups within the kingdom.

That had continued even after Gaius's father had died and Gaius had taken the

throne as Gaius VIII.

The majority of those nobles had been crushed by Georg and Excel, but the

remaining nobles who had been in on the scheme had gone underground, slowly

exhausting the kingdom. That was good.

Albert hadn't had much potential as a king, but the difference in strength

between the kingdom and principality had still been great.

Being the less powerful nation, Amidonia had only been able to wait patiently for

their opportunity to come.

And then, at last, the chance they had long waited for had arrived. The Demon

Realm had appeared, and the food crisis and financial crisis it had caused had

exhausted the kingdom. Then, with the sudden change of rulers, the three dukes

who were supposed to protect the kingdom had rebelled against the new king.

The principality had gathered their strength for a renewed attack. Right now,

they knew, the kingdom wouldn't be able to move freely. The time had come at last

for the Principality of Amidonia to realize her dream... Yes, that was what Gaius had

been convinced of.

However, on closer inspection, had that really been the case? Was it not the

Principality of Amidonia that was being driven into a corner now?

If we lose Van now, Amidonia will never recover, Gaius thought frantically. I

couldn't face the ghosts of my ancestors if I let that happen!

Gaius VIII's face was distorted with frustration.

However, that hasn't happened yet! We're not finished yet! Van is a solid fortress.

I've left it in the hands of 5,000 elite troops. Even if the enemy come in great numbers,

they should be able to hold out for two or three days. If we can reach Van in that time,

then catch the kingdom's forces in a surprise pincer attack with the troops inside the

castle, we'll have a chance of victory!

That was what Gaius thought to try to encourage himself. But, as he was thinking

that...

"Father!" Julius brought his horse up alongside Gaius. "We're advancing too

quickly! At this rate we won't only leave the wagons behind, we'll start to see our

infantry dropping off, as well! I suggest that we lessen the pace slightly, and..."

"Silence!" Gaius bellowed. He completely disregarded Julius's advice by shouting

his son down. "If Van falls, we will never rise again! No matter what, we must arrive

at Van before it falls! Then we will catch the kingdom's forces in a pincer attack with

the soldiers in the castle!"

A Gaius ranted, Julius felt slightly uneasy. It seemed to him that, right now, Gaius

was too fixated on the capital, and he was getting a little too worked up.

"Father, even if we did lose Van, our army would still be intact," Julius said.

"Could we not enter another secure city and seek help from the Empire? Unlike the

Elfrieden Kingdom, we've signed the Mankind Declaration, after all."

The Declaration of Mankind's Common Front Against the Demon Race (also

known as the Mankind Declaration) was a policy that had been proposed by the

largest, most powerful empire on the continent, the Gran Chaos Empire, in order to

resist the advance of the demons.

First, the acquisition of territory by force between the nations of mankind would

be deemed inadmissible.

Second, the right of all peoples to equality and self-determination would be

respected.

Third, countries that were distant from the Demon Lord's Domain would provide

support to those nations which were adjacent to it and were acting as a defensive

wall.

These were the three main articles of the Mankind Declaration.

Amidonia had signed the Mankind Declaration, but even after Souma had taken

the throne, Elfrieden had not. Because of that, if Amidonia approached the Empire

saying their land had been seized, as the leading power behind the Mankind

Declaration and therefore Amidonia's ally, the Empire would likely push Elfrieden to

return the seized lands. (Though the territory lost before the Mankind Declaration

wouldn't be affected.)

First they invaded a country, then they complained when the same happened to

them. It would be a specious argument, just like the Minister of Finance, Colbert, had

said before they left for the front, but that was Elfrieden's own fault for not signing

the Mankind Declaration. Julius thought it was a good idea. However...

"You fool! The Empire isn't the soft-hearted country you take them for!" Gaius

mercilessly shot it down. "This invasion took advantage of a loophole in the

declaration. Yes, if we send the request, the Empire will have to act, but after we've

gone against the grain like this, they can't have a positive opinion of us. They would

like to use what's happened here as a pretext to remove both of us, then turn our

country into a puppet state."

Julius fell silent.

Once he was told that, Julius could say no more.

Gaius looked at him, snorting, then raised his voice and ordered loudly, "If you

understand that, then make haste! We must arrive before Van falls!"

However, their forced march ran into an obstacle.

It was in the Ursula Mountains which separate the Elfrieden Kingdom and

Principality of Amidonia along the south of their border. When they came close to

Goldoa Valley, which was the path through those mountains, men and horses got

caught in the muddy ground one after another.

"Wh-What?! Where did this mud come from?!" a soldier shouted.

"Damn! My horse is stuck in the mire! Someone, pull him out for me!" another

one howled.

"Oh, come on! There wasn't any place like this on our way here, was there?!"

yelled a third.

There were horses stuck in the mud everywhere, with people struggling with

their feet stuck in the mud, too.

When Gaius saw this fiasco, he was astonished.

They had come through the Goldoa Valley on their way here. The ground hadn't

been muddy then like it was now, and no one had gotten their feet stuck like this.

"Why...?" he muttered. "It can't have rained. Why is the road so bad?"

As if in response to Gaius' mutterings, a single soldier called out:

"E-Enemy attack!"

The next moment, there was the sound of arrows swishing through the darkness,

then the sound of something violently smashing. Each time that sound rang out, the

Amidonian soldiers fell, one by one. When one of the soldiers carrying a torch near

him fell from his horse with a muffled scream, Gaius felt an unease stirring inside

him.

"What?! What is happening?!" he shouted.

A soldier rushed over to give him his report. "It's an enemy ambush! It seems the

kingdom had troops lying in wait for us in this valley! The enemy are hidden in

among the trees, shooting arrows and ice at us!"

"Ice, you say?" Gaius blustered.

"We suspect there are ice mages mixed in with the enemy!"

"Mages... Of course! Curse them, this bad footing must be their work, too!" Gaius

burst out.

Seeing that Gaius's face was now a mask of rage, Julius desperately tried to get

his father to stop. "Please, calm yourself, Father! The main force of the Kingdom's

army is headed towards Van. There can't be many soldiers lying in wait. Also, it's

impossible to maneuver a large force on this narrow path. Right now, our best

course of action is to get through the valley as quickly as possible."

"Urgh, but with the road this bad..." Gaius muttered.

"...Let's send the soldiers through first," said Julius. "Our path will be wherever

they don't get stuck in the mud."

Gaius' eyes widened at the heartless suggestion. "You would have me throw away

my soldiers like sacrificial pawns?"

"...There is little choice," said Julius. "If the worst were to happen, if you were to

be cut down, Father, the armies of the principality would break. Then we would no

longer be able to fight the kingdom at all. Please, make the decision."

"...I suppose there is no choice," Gaius said.

Sacrificing his soldiers to find an escape route. If their positions had been

reversed, it would have distressed Souma greatly to choose such an option, yet Gaius

made the choice instantly.

For the Principality of Amidonia, their desire for revenge against the Elfrieden

Kingdom had become a part of their identity by this point. It was fair to say that,

even though they were surrounded by powerful nations and they had fallen into a

food crisis and financial crisis, Amidonia had been able to continue on with an

unbroken will thanks to their desire for revenge against Elfrieden. They didn't care if

they suffered, so long as Elfrieden suffered more.

In fact, even the suffering citizens blamed their woes not on the overzealous

elites who had spent too much on the military, but on the kingdom which had

robbed them of their prosperity long ago.

Even though 50 years had now passed.

With even the common citizens that far gone, the elites had begun to think it was

okay to sacrifice anything in order to fight against the kingdom. In this country,

those like Roroa and Colbert, who thought about trying to get by the best that they

could with what they had, were outliers.

For Gaius, he was less concerned about the loss of his soldiers than he was about

losing the ability to fight the kingdom. He was able to give the order without

hesitation. "Advance the troops! We must hurry through to the other side of the

Goldoa Valley!"

With this heartless order given, in a reversal of what they had done up to this

point, the infantry began advancing first, with the cavalry advancing after them,

ignoring the foot soldiers trapped in the mud as they advanced along the safe routes.

It was an awful scene.

It wouldn't have been so bad if they had only been stuck in the mud. However,

with tens of thousands of troops being ambushed, there was no way they would stay

in orderly ranks. They were scattered around, so of course some tried to walk over

the top of soldiers trapped in the swamp. These soldiers were stepped on and

crushed by horses, dying in a way that was terrible to behold.