CH 79

It’s Ko-Fi’s Supporters’ chapter (27/63), enjoy~

When we arrived in Erichburg, the flag of the Merinard Kingdom was already hanging above the castle gate. When our carriage arrived at the gate, we were stopped by the Liberation Army soldiers who were guarding the gate.

“Good work.”

“We’ve heard all about you. Please continue straight down the main street. The enemy has already surrendered, but the city is still not completely under control, so please be careful.”

“Got it.”

After the exchange between Qubi and the soldiers, the carriage started moving again.

“This city seems to be quite large, doesn’t it?”

“Erichburg is a major transportation point and used to be the base of a margrave who ruled the southern part of the Merinard Kingdom. Even after it became a vassal state of the Holy Kingdom, its role remained unchanged, and the city continued to grow. In other words, it is one of the most important cities in the Merinard Kingdom.”

“I see… It’s going to be quite a challenge to control and rule here, isn’t it?”

I don’t know what the population of this city is, but it can’t be more than two or three thousand. Or perhaps there are 10,000 inhabitants.

“Yeah, I think it’s tough. Melty won’t have time to sleep for a while.”

“I guess I should be worried, but Melty will be able to do it with ease while laughing…”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

While I was talking with Isla, the carriage started moving again and left the castle gate, which still smells of blood and guts. From the outside, it was obvious that the top of the wall had been damaged, so they must have bombed the top of the wall relentlessly. You don’t need to think about what would happen to a person if a bomb fell on their head… So that’s what the smell was.

I put my fears out of my mind as much as possible and looked at the city from inside the carriage.

“There’s no pedestrian traffic.”

“It’s no wonder since the city was turned into a battlefield a while ago.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

If I were a resident of this city, I’d stay indoors until things calm down. You never know what a soldier excited by battle might do to you. Sylphy told me that they’re pretty strict about military discipline, but even that isn’t perfect. In the first place, the inhabitants of this city probably don’t know anything about it.

The carriage proceeded for a while and stopped in front of a large mansion. There was a faint smell of blood in the air as if there had been a battle here.

Guided by a soldier standing guard, the carriage passed through the mansion gate and entered the grounds. It’s quite a large mansion. There’s even a gorgeous carriage.

A carriage parking lot, huh? We got out of the carriage as it seemed to have stopped at a space that looked like a carriage parking lot. I help Isla, who is short, to get down. Given Isla’s height, it’s quite a height to get down from the carriage to the ground.

“Kosuke!”

“Sylphy!”

Sylphy walks towards us, waving her hand as if she was watching us from the window. She seemed to be uninjured. I ran up to her and hugged her.

“…Why are you avoiding me?”

“No, I smelled blood right now… I washed it off, but it’s still sticking to me.”

“Blood? Did you get hurt?”

“No, it’s the enemy’s blood.”

“I see.”

I can’t get the image of Sylphy getting a hand-wound at all. In my mind, Sylphy has a strong image of an absolute powerhouse… when it comes to fighting. Other than that? Well, of course, she’s a cute girl, yeah.

“And you’re just looking the same as before, Kosuke?”

“Yeah, as you can see. I didn’t get hurt or sick.”

“I’ve been taking care of him.”

Before I realized it, Isla stood right beside me, stretched her thin breasts with a smug look on her face.

“I’m Kosuke’s Onee-chan.”

“Bufuh!”

“Onee-chan?”

I couldn’t help but spurt out at Isla’s words, and Sylphy gave me a dubious look when she saw us. Isla began to whisper something to Sylphy.

Stop, don’t talk about that here! Even if you’re whispering in a small voice, I’m sure Qubi can hear you! Look! He’s smirking. He’s smirking!

“Oh… So, you’re into that sort of thing, huh, Kosuke?”

Sylphy smiles happily.

“No, no, no, Sylphy is tired from the battle, isn’t she? So I’ll spoil you today.”

“Bah! What are you saying out loud?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to take control.”

“Are you forgetting that we have the advantage in numbers and power? Kosuke.”

“Ah yeah!”

Sylphy, Isla, and even the Harpies are all in this city. What’s more, the Harpies are all good at spoiling… This is not good! If I don’t do something, my dignity will be ruined…! Far from being a little brother who is pampered by his Onee-san, it could jump over it and opened a dangerous door of a baby play.

“W-well, let’s just calm down, okay? We’ll talk about it later in the evening when things have settled down. We have other priorities right now, right?”

“I suppose so.”

Qubi and the guards seemed to be going to meet with Danan to make arrangements for tonight’s lodging and so on, and they asked the soldiers where they were and walked away.

“So, what’s the situation now?”

“We’ve almost got it under control. There is a possibility that some of the soldiers are hiding in the city, so we’re calling for voluntary surrender.”

If they surrender by noon tomorrow, they will be disarmed and released. If they do not surrender by then, they will be treated as enemy soldiers as soon as they are found, assuming they are still willing to fight. It is also reported that the same action will be taken against civilians who are harboring soldiers of the Holy Kingdom.

“There is a possibility that the soldiers are threatening them. We’ll deal with that on a case-by-case basis.”

“It’s kind of hard.”

“Yeah, it’s tough. But once we get through this, there won’t be any major battles for a while. We’ll probably have to focus our efforts on settling the southern part of the country.”

Sylphy leaves the work of the area to her subordinates and stands firmly at the base of the lord’s mansion… Simply put, she has nothing to do.

“Danan and Melty told me that the top management should not get involved in such small matters and stand firm.”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s about it.”

Isla nodded at my words. Actually, there are many things she could do, such as deciding how to deal with the people of the Holy Kingdom who ruled here or how to handle prisoners of war. I guess they’re trying to lay the groundwork for Sylphy to decide on that first.

“What should I do? Do you want me to go and repair the wall?”

“No, it’s better to wait until we have full control of Erichburg. I don’t want anything to happen to Kosuke if you’re caught off guard during the repairs. The damage to the city walls is not fatal.”

“I see. Should I take the supplies out to the warehouse first?”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

That’s how I ended up heading to the warehouse district of Erichburg with Sylphy. Isla went separately to check on the mage troops who had come to this area.

“There are quite a lot of supplies here.”

“I guess they were thinking about a siege.”

The warehouses in the warehouse district were stocked with a large amount of preserved food, bows and arrows, armor, and medical supplies. They might have been planning to hold a siege, as Sylphy said.

“If they are going to hold a siege, it means they have reinforcements, right?”

Normally, a siege is done because there are reinforcements available. The siege tactic is to stay in the base, endure, wait for reinforcements from allies, and then strike back at the enemy. Otherwise, the entrances and exits would be blocked, and they would have to starve to death. Oh, if winter is coming, could it be possible for the enemy army to retreat from the cold?

“I wonder. Danan and Melty seemed to think that it would be difficult to send reinforcements right away.”

Based on the damage inflicted by the Liberation Army on the Holy Kingdom’s army and the confiscated materials of the Holy Kingdom’s army, the enemy’s military strength in the Merinard Kingdom was calculated, and the Holy Kingdom’s army should have already lost half or more of its strength.

If they were to counterattack the Liberation Army on this basis, they would either need to receive significant reinforcements from their home country or mobilize the people of the Merinard Kingdom on a large scale to gather conscripted soldiers. Neither of these things can be done in a short period, and the conscription would be a major blow to the territory’s economy. I don’t think they’re going to do it that easily.

“The casualty rate of the Holy Kingdom’s army in the past battles has been extraordinary, right?”

The difference in the kill ratio between the Liberation Army and the Holy Kingdom Army is staggering, especially because of the bombing by the Harpies. It seems that the Liberation Army has suffered some deaths in this battle, but it is probably only a fraction of the deaths of the Holy Kingdom Army.

“Yes… the enemy’s morale also seems to be quite low.”

It seems that the survivors of the previously liberated fortresses have been informed of the battle against the Liberation Army, and it seems that fear of us is widespread among the ordinary soldiers of the Holy Kingdom Army. I’ve heard that the rain of death that the Harpies are bringing down is breaking the bodies into pieces.

“…Bombing must be scary.”

“…It’s indeed scary.”

I don’t want to be the target of Harpy’s bombs, either. Even Sylphy will die if the Harpies bombard her and overwhelm her surroundings… Wait, will she die? It seems that she will move with great speed and get out of the killing zone before the bombs fall.

“This is a vacant warehouse.”

I was led to a large warehouse in the corner of the warehouse district, which was almost completely empty.

“Is it all right to put food in here? What about bombs and crossbows and stuff?”

“I think we should set up a site somewhere and have Kosuke build a warehouse. It should be well guarded.”

“That’s right. The military facilities have been destroyed by bombing this time, too, right? Should I just destroy them and build new ones?”

“It might be better to do it like that. We can’t afford to have them taken out or sabotaged.”

The safest thing would be for me to keep the aerial bombs in my inventory, but then they wouldn’t be able to start bombing without me. It would be more convenient to store ammunition in a fixed location in the military base.

“Tomorrow will be a busy day for me.”

“You may be asked to repair the walls, rebuild damaged facilities, and possibly even reorganize the city.”

“Seriously.”

Erichburg seems to be an old city with a long history, and I’ve heard that it has been expanded many times, so I’m sure there are inefficient roads and buildings blocking the way. But that’s not a problem for me. Putting all the stuff in inventory, destroying the building, and rebuilding it in another location with the same structure is a piece of cake. It might take less than 30 minutes per building.

If the shape of the house didn’t matter, it could be done much faster.

“Please make sure that you tell Melty not to do anything reckless to me… I don’t want to be overworked and die of exhaustion.”

“I’ll do my best.”

I think the power relationship between Sylphy and Melty is apparent in the fact that she doesn’t say “leave it to me.” Melty is like the secret boss of the Liberation Army… I don’t know how capable she is, but she’s definitely physically strong.

Even so, Sylphy is the supreme authority of the Liberation Army, right? So, it will be okay, right…?

“If Melty says it’s necessary, it should be necessary, so… it may be burdensome, but please do it.”

Sylphy smiles as if she’s noticed my gaze.

“Then you’ll have to make up for that, maybe this evening.”

“Fufu, will it really work out that way? But first, I need to take a bath.”

“Isn’t there one in the lord’s mansion? A bath.”

“Nope.”

“Well, then, I suppose I’ll just have to set up the usual accommodations in the big yard.”

“That sounds good.”

After leaving the list of released supplies to the Liberation Army soldiers guarding the warehouse, Sylphy and I went to the lord’s mansion to relax.