Chapter 401: Waging War Like Hell (1)
When Claude appeared, everyone around him subtly bowed their heads.
Even Gillian and Belinda, Ghislain’s closest aides, were no exception. This was a stark contrast to how they usually disregarded Claude.
One thing was clear, the discipline within Fenris was grim. That was inevitable, given that Ghislain was a lord of war.
Claude enjoyed the change in atmosphere immensely.
“Hmm, I wish you’d all treated me this reverently all the time. It feels like I’ve finally found my rightful place.”
“……”
During wartime, Claude held the authority of the Supreme Commander. While many wanted to hurl remarks at him, they held their tongues.
When Ghislain first appointed Claude as Supreme Commander, everyone was shocked. They had naturally assumed the role would go to Gillian, the Master of Arms.
Gillian, who always prioritized Ghislain’s orders above all else, accepted it without complaint. He had no personal ambition for glory to begin with.
The others, however, strongly protested.
“My lord! The Chief Overseer is the first person who’d surrender!”
“That’s right! Entrusting the entire army to the Chief Overseer who’s never been in a war? He’s bound to take bribes and surrender!”
“He might even rebel! He’s always full of grievances!”
As the retainers created a commotion, Claude, feeling insulted, became irate.
“What the hell! Did I ask for this? Why are you badmouthing someone who’s done nothing wrong? What kind of person do you take me for?!”
Claude flared up, pointing fingers and arguing with the retainers, making the already chaotic atmosphere even worse.
Ghislain did not simply watch idly.
Thud!
With one powerful stomp, Ghislain silenced everyone around him. Wearing an indifferent expression, he declared,
“The Supreme Commander of the defense force is Claude. Let it be known.”
If Ghislain said something twice, it meant the decision was final. The retainers could only click their tongues and glare at Claude.
Claude was just as exasperated. He immediately complained to Ghislain.
“Why? I didn’t even say I wanted this! Why are you setting me up to be criticized? My lord, you don’t like me, do you?”
“Officially, you’re the second-in-command of this estate. Isn’t it only natural?”
“W-well, that’s true, but….”
Despite his lack of authority, Claude was, in fact, the second most powerful figure in the estate after Ghislain.
Ghislain smirked as he spoke.
“Just do your best. You only need to hold out until I return.”
He was telling Claude, a total novice in war, to do his best against the strongest force of the West. While everyone else was dumbfounded, Claude’s reaction was even more outrageous.
“Do you really mean it? I can do whatever I want?”
“Yes, do whatever you want.”
“Heh, this sounds like fun.”
Back when Fenris was significantly weaker, Claude had always been looking for ways to run away. Now, with the strongest forces in the North and the best technology at his disposal, he had plenty of things he wanted to try.
And so, in Ghislain’s absence, Claude became the Supreme Commander of the Fenris army.
Fenris’ defensive force stationed at the fortress Silverlight, where Claude and the retainers were based, numbered ten thousand. The rest were spread out across other castles and fortresses.
While ten thousand strong combat force was not a small number, it was insufficient against an army of sixty thousand. To make matters worse, with Claude as the Supreme Commander, the unease among the people could not be concealed.
Watching their anxious faces, Claude asked,
“Ahem. Everything is prepared, right?”
In the awkward atmosphere, Gillian answered calmly.
“The preparations… have all been made as you’ve commanded.”
“Hehe. Oh, hearing that from our Master of Arms makes me itch with excitement. Alright, let’s wait. The enemy will make the first move.”
Following Claude’s orders, the Fenris army waited. Their objective was to hold the fortress and buy time, minimizing damage as much as possible.
Aside from the sheer number of troops, they weren’t lacking in other conditions. Thanks to Claude’s long-standing emphasis on defense, the fortress had undergone massive expansions, and they had a considerable amount of supplies and strategic resources.
Looking at the massive, silent fortress, Marquis Roderick bursted into laughter.
“The northern hicks must’ve made some money. This fortress is damn impressive.”
The fortress had been named Silverlight for a simple reason: it was built with white stone that gleamed like silver.
The dwarves’ artistic sense was on full display, making it an extraordinarily beautiful fortress.
“It’s a shame to destroy such a splendid fortress, but we can always rebuild it later.”
Marquis Roderick had no doubt about his victory. No matter how well-prepared Fenris was, there was no way they could stop his sixty-thousand-strong army.
It took Roderick’s forces three whole days to set up camp. With their vast numbers and the time needed to assemble their siege engines, it couldn’t be done any faster.
As soon as the siege engines were ready and the camp fully established, Marquis Roderick issued his first order.
“Check for runestone traps first!”
The Marquisate had gathered intelligence on Fenris in preparation to face Ghislain, the master. They uncovered the methods Fenris had employed in previous wars.
The most notable were the Runestone Traps and hot air balloons. The Marquisate’s strategists had meticulously devised countermeasures against them.
“Protect the mages!”
At Tennant’s shout, the knights surrounded the mages and stepped slightly forward.
The Roderick forces boasted an impressive contingent: three 6th-circle mages, six 5th-circle mages, and over a hundred mages below that level.
Their numbers could rival those of a major magic tower. Such was the prowess of the western mages.
After casting a widespread mana detection spell, they shouted.
“We’ve found them! Mana signatures detected in several places!”
“They must be Runestone Traps!”
“They’re close by!”
Upon hearing the mages’ report, Marquis Roderick clapped his knee and exclaimed.
“Of course, there were Runestone Traps! Pull the army back slightly and dismantle them immediately!”
Marquis Roderick burst into laughter. The enemy’s traps were far too predictable. Then again, they likely had no other choice.
“Fools! Did they think the same trick would work again? Let’s see, how many Runestones have they buried? Can we recover them for our use?”
“There appear to be five locations in total. Whether they’re reusable will depend on the engravings.”
“Five? Aren’t traps like these supposed to use at least hundreds of Runestones?”
“Well… only five have been detected so far, and their mana signatures are faint.”
“Hmm… Verify them, just in case.”
The Roderick forces moved swiftly, pulling their troops back slightly. They couldn’t risk the magic of the Runestones activating unexpectedly.
A little later, a few soldiers stepped forward nervously.
Fenris had a 6th-circle mage, and no one knew what kind of magic might be triggered during excavation. Hence, the knights and mages refrained from taking the lead.
Instead, the soldiers, fortified with various enhancement spells, were sent to dig. Soldiers, after all, were expendable.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The soldiers began cautiously digging into the ground.
The site was close to Roderick’s camp and far from the fortress, so Fenris did not react.
The soldiers, initially hesitant and tense, dug faster as no abnormalities arose. Despite the risk of magic activation, they encountered no such misfortune.
“We found it!”
“It’s definitely a Runestone!”
“Huh? What’s this?”
The soldiers unearthed a small Runestone and tilted their heads in confusion.
Tied to the Runestone was a piece of paper.
They couldn’t carry anything suspicious back, so the soldiers untied and opened the paper first.
Upon reading the message written on it, their faces stiffened.
Seeing their reaction, Tennant shouted sharply.
“What is it? If there’s no problem, bring it here to the Marquis immediately!”
The soldiers hesitated, but eventually brought the Runestone and paper. Finding nothing amiss, Marquis Roderick took the paper and unfolded it.
[You idiot, you got fooled, didn’t you?]
“……”
Written on the paper was a blatant insult. Marquis Roderick’s breathing grew heavier.
He opened another piece of paper, revealing a different message.
[60,000 troops stumped by five Runestones? Afraid of five little stones?]
[Wasted effort, huh? Dumb and tired, are you?]
[Angry? What are you going to do about it? What can you even do?]
[I’m the man who defeated a god…]
One paper was scribbled hastily and partially erased, making it hard to decipher.
“……”
Marquis Roderick trembled as he gripped the papers.
This was deliberate mockery. The enemy had anticipated that they would dig up the Runestones and had prepared this humiliation in advance.
And it worked. His forces had even pulled back their troops just in case. There was no excuse; they were, indeed, fools.
“Those… bastards dare!”
For Marquis Roderick, who had always been treated with noble respect, this was an unprecedented humiliation.
He never imagined the enemy would resort to such childish tactics. These were actions befitting crass, unrefined people who had no sense of honor.
For someone as noble as himself, this insult gnawed at his pride and drove him to near madness.
The thought that the kingdom’s most esteemed nobleman had been made to carry such degrading messages and retreat his troops was infuriating beyond measure.
“I won’t let these insolent wretches get away with this!”
Marquis Roderick sprang to his feet, bellowing at the top of his lungs.
“Mobilize the entire army immediately! Bring me their heads this instant!”
Tennant intervened swiftly.
“Marquis, it’s a petty provocation! You must not fall for it! We don’t know what traps they might have set. We’ll win anyway, so please restrain your anger for now.”
Marquis Roderick, notorious for his fiery temper, was a man who never tolerated the slightest slight. However, as this was a battlefield, he grudgingly heeded Tennant’s advice and barely managed to suppress his rage.
“Check again to see if there are any other Runestones left.”
Grinding his teeth, he gave the order, and the mages began scanning the area with mana detection spells once more.
Meanwhile, on the fortress walls, Claude lounged comfortably, observing the Roderick forces’ movements. He turned to ask.
“Have they dug it up? All of it? I can’t see that far.”
The mage beside him nodded.
“Yes, they’ve definitely dug them out. Judging by the commotion, they’ve also seen the notes.”
“Good. Marquis Roderick is supposed to have a terrible temper, right?”
This time, the intelligence officer Lowell replied.
“Yes. He once killed a maid just because the food he ordered was slightly delayed.”
“Wow, truly disgusting. People like him can’t stand being insulted. Never been taught a lesson, huh?”
Claude wagged his hand a few times, summoning someone.
“Let’s push him a bit further.”
The person summoned was none other than the foul-mouthed elf, Ascon. He stepped forward with a resolute expression and muttered.
“Damn it… Today’s the day everyone dies.”
At Claude’s command, the mages amplified Ascon’s voice with magic. He then began hurling an unending torrent of curses toward the Roderick forces.
“Hey, Marquis Roderick, you [censored string of expletives]! You think you’re something, but you’re just a [censored]! [censored string of insults], you roast pig of a man!”
The profanity echoed across the battlefield, so vulgar that even the soldiers of Fenris grimaced uncomfortably.
Claude clicked his tongue and turned to Wendy.
“Wow, Ascon’s performance today is off the charts. How does a person’s mouth spew that much filth nonstop? Did he eat a trash bin or something?”
“……”
Wendy didn’t respond. She simply didn’t want to. The situation didn’t feel like a battlefield anymore.
Even the Fenris soldiers were reacting this way, so the Roderick troops were utterly flabbergasted. Their faces were frozen in shock, mouths agape.
Marquis Roderick grabbed the back of his neck, trembling with rage, his face turning beet red.
“Th-that lunatic… Wh-what is he saying?”
Not only was he being insulted, but his parents and family name were being dragged through the mud as well. The verbal abuse was so obscene it felt humiliating just to hear it.
He had never, in all his life, experienced such abuse. Who would dare insult him, a man even ducal families wouldn’t dare cross?
It was no exaggeration to say that someone of Marquis Roderick’s stature had no tolerance whatsoever for such provocations.
“Kill them! Kill them all now!”
Marquis Roderick roared once again. He felt a fire raging within him, impossible to contain.
This war was not an ordinary skirmish. It was a grand campaign to subdue Fenris, the strongest in the North, and unify the North and West.
But those scoundrels were turning this noble war into a petty brawl.
“…Understood. We’ll confirm the Runestone traps and advance immediately.”
This time, not even Tennant could argue. The insults had crossed every conceivable line. If Tennant, not the target, was this furious, how much worse must it be for Marquis Roderick?
While provocations in warfare weren’t unheard of, they were rare due to the emphasis on honor. No one dared resort to such tactics lightly.
Tennant urgently asked Dranesh, the 6th-circle mage leading the spellcasters.
“Are there any more Runestone traps?”
Dranesh nodded.
“There are no other mana signatures. We’re certain. It should be safe to advance.”
With this confirmation, Tennant gave the order.
“All troops, advance on the fortress!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The soldiers marched forward in disciplined unison, preparing the trebuchets to launch their payloads.
Watching this, Gillian cleared his throat and asked Claude.
“Ahem, the enemy seems to be starting their attack. But… was it really necessary to insult them so much? It could harm Lord Ghislain’s honor…”
The plan they had prepared could have succeeded without such provocations. Gillian’s concern stemmed from how this might tarnish Ghislain’s reputation.
Claude, sitting with his legs arrogantly crossed, smirked.
“Ah, our dear Master of Arms is great at fighting, but not much else. War and gambling aren’t that different. There’s something crucial that you must do before the real fight begins.”
“And what would that be?”
Claude grinned mischievously.
“Make the other guy mad.”
“……”
No one had anything to say to that. If that had been the intent, it had worked spectacularly.
Having been provoked to their limit, the Roderick forces finally began their assault.
Boom!