Ximengsi Continent’s southern region, outside Steinbeck Fief, Peacock Forest Area.
Clyde led over 5,000 militia of Steinbeck Fief to confront the over 100,000 troops of the invading Cromwell Principality. However, Duke Krend’s son, Eric, the commander of Cromwell Principality’s troops, never attached any importance to Steinbeck Fief’s expeditionary army.
There was a large disparity between the number of the two sides’ troops. Cromwell Principality truly had only 50,000 or so soldiers. Among them, over 20,000 were hired mercenaries, and the remaining 20,000 or so were rear-service personnel responsible for transporting supplies. Compared to Steinbeck Fief, they had over ten times as many soldiers, and in addition, their equipment was also of a higher grade. From the beginning, Cromwell Principality held absolute superiority.
Those 50,000 troops under the command of Eric were stationed at Grey Fort. Those 20,000 mercenaries were stationed at the neighboring Evan Fort. Clyde stood on a hill beside the beautiful red-haired knight, Princess Natalie, and the ancient Demon King Andrisno who wore black gothic Lolita attire. Other than Lucifer, Andrisno was the only Lolita of a different race on his side, with two long silver ponytails reaching almost to her hips, blood-red eyes, two black horns on her head, and barely visible phantom demon wings on her back.
In order to differentiate the two, the gothic Lolita outfit of Andrisno had a pattern of demonic wings drawn on it. As for Lucifer’s, a Bloodkin’s crest was drawn. Both of them were silver-haired Lolita. Looking from a distance, it was very easy to mix them up. For Clyde, the best and simplest method of distinction was their cup size. He could determine it at a glance.
“Lord Clyde, everything is already prepared according to your directions. Let’s attack?”
“No, wait for that fool Eric to get drunk first. Is everything clear?”
“Yes, my lord. The position is already determined, we’re just waiting for a suitable time to launch a surprise attack.”
While Clyde and Andrisno were discussing operational preparations, Princess Natalie who stood beside them had a subtle peculiar feeling. As a human general, standing at the side of an Evil God and an ancient Demon King, listening to their discussion to attack the human’s camp, Princess Natalie felt an indescribable criminal guilt, as if she were a traitor to her own kind.
“Natalie, are you all right? If you are feeling guilty, you don’t need to participate.”
“No, Clyde, I am already with you, I cannot turn around and forget everything unless you no longer need me.”
“Natalie, of course I need you. Only you are qualified to be the general of Steinbeck Fief. Even if there are new generals in the future, your standing will not change.”
“Then I’ll go to see the battle map and see how the attack has been organized.”
Clyde’s declaration made Princess Natalie turn a little red, necessating that she make this hasty excuse and escape. Clyde also didn’t expose her, merely continuing to discuss the plans with the ancient Demon King Andrisno. He clearly knew the current state of Princess Natalie. Since the experience with Princess Alyssa and others, Clyde was released, and no longer had so many misgivings. If a girl was attracted to him, then he also had no objections.
Eric’s commanding ability could only be regarded as conforming with the norms of society. Speaking a bit frankly, it was dogmatic, rigidly following strategies in the books on the arts of war. It was not like Duke Krend didn’t know his son’s style, but he wanted to give Eric a chance to refine it with firepower on his own terms. Based on Duke Krend’s calculations, no matter how inexperienced Eric was, it was most improbable that he would lose to just 5,000 or so soldiers while having over 100,000 soldiers himself.
It was not like there was no one that could properly command on Eric’s side. In fact, his younger sister Jenny’s commanding ability was clearly superior. However, due to Jenny’s profession as an assassin and Duke Krend’s regard of men as superior to women, he didn’t give any real power to his daughter. Jenny had also joined this expedition, but she was only responsible for those 30,000 or so rear-service personnel, a position with practically no obligations.
Although Jenny was an assassin, looked down on by the many who thought she just resorted to sneak attacking to fight, no one could deny her military prowess. A year ago, when Kruft Kingdom had attacked Cromwell Principality to fight for a neutral region, the assault of the army under Princess Natalie had continuously broken through numerous cities of Cromwell Principality. At the critical moment, Jenny had led just over 10,000 soldiers, taking a risk to circle around and carry out a sneak attack, forcing Princess Natalie’s over 30,000 troops to hastily retreat, thereby reversing the tide of the war in one fell swoop and eventually leading both sides into peace negotiations.
Duke Krend may have been afraid of his daughter stealing the limelight from his son and, thus, suppressed her. In this war, he weakened her military power, only allowing her to command rear-service personnel and other miscellaneous mobs. The combat power of these 30,000 logistics soldiers couldn’t hold a candle to even the 20,000 mercenaries, which clearly proved that she wouldn’t have any opportunity to intervene in military affairs.
At the core area of Grey Fort, Miss Jenny patrolled with her personal guards. She was a black-haired beauty with her hair in a ponytail, wearing the exclusive black skintight leather clothing of the assassin profession, which completely outlined her seductive figure. Upon seeing the lax states of the guards, worry unintentionally showed in her beautiful brown eyes. This was too lax. Even if the other side only had 5,000 or so people, they must still be taken seriously.
Princess Jenny had a cold expression. For an unknown reason, she vaguely felt like there was a familiar person among Steinbeck Fief’s army, but she thought that it was her imagination. Not long ago, when Kruft Kingdom had sent troops to explore Needham Plain, they had suffered a heavy loss. Princess Natalie, her old enemy who was one of the enemy’s leaders, had allegedly killed in action there. It was basically impossible for her to be here.
“Miss Jenny, don’t worry. The opposite side has only 5,000 or so people, Young Master Eric can definitely resolve this.”
“Is that so? I don’t believe a general who brings women to the battlefield can handle any affairs, even if he is my big brother.”
Jenny didn’t hide her contempt towards Eric. In her opinion, this wastrel big brother of hers bringing maids on to the battlefield clearly stated that he had come to play. He didn’t have even the slightest vigilance. The two female guards beside Princess Jenny could only keep their mouths shut. In the matters of their masters, they naturally couldn’t make any remarks.
Jenny came to the command tent. From the gap of the curtain, she could see the debauched scene inside the tent. This tent which originally should have been used for commanding the battle was turned into a site to hold a wicked party. Even from afar, she could see bare-chested Eric sitting on a luxurious throne with several stark-naked maids kneeling between his legs with their heads moving up and down. Without seeing everything, she knew what was going on.
Other high-ranking military officers were also no better. Various kinds of wicked postures and positions could be found everywhere. All were holding a bare maid, conducting wicked deeds. This place didn’t look like a command tent but rather a high-grade area for romantic affairs. Jenny watched for a while with cold eyes before leaving. As a member nation of “Clark Alliance,” she didn’t have much of an opinion on slavery, but she disliked this kind of conduct of not distinguishing between occasions.
“If Eric wanted to play so much, he should have gone to the red-light district. Doing this on the battlefield is simply…”
“Miss Jenny, the weather tonight is somewhat cold. It was very hot in the daytime, but it has become cold at night.”
The careless words of a female guard made Princess Jenny notice an anomaly. It was summer now, and the weather was very hot in the daytime, but at night, this Peacock Forest Area had become especially cold and had a kind of indescribable gloominess. Usually, wild beasts would have come out at night, but tonight, they had disappeared without a trace as if to avoid something terrifying. Even those arrogant magical beasts had become mute. Peacock Forest Area had become terrifyingly quiet.
Princess Jenny looked up at the night sky. She didn’t know whether it was her imagination, but the night sky of this Peacock Forest Area seemed to be covered by a layer of black mist. The stars twinkling all over the sky had also become a lot dimmer, and even the full moon was quickly disappearing.
“Miss Jenny, the moon vanished! According to ancient books, this is a bad omen.”
“Don’t think too much of this, that is an excuse used by Light Church to deceive people. Where is the bad omen!”
The discussion of the female guards was cut off by Jenny. The sudden disappearance of the moon was truly an unusual sign but speaking about it now would only undermine the morale of the army. Among the expeditionary army of Cromwell Principality there was no priest of Light Church. It was impossible to interpret the meaning behind the sudden disappearance of the moon ,and Jenny didn’t try to.
When Jenny arrived at the granary area with a restless mental state, she discovered that many guards looked alarmed and were preparing to run away, randomly throwing their weapons away. These logistics personnel weren’t a regular army. Their overall quality was no match for the regular army and mercenaries. They would easily flee on the eve of a battle.
“What’s the matter? Are you all thinking of rebelling?”
“Miss Jenny, there are ghosts here. We cannot stay here. Run quickly!”
“What ghosts? This is not Needham Plain…”
Jenny’s gaze followed the direction the logistics personnel were pointing, and her complexion instantly became deathly pale. Clearly, she was frightened, but she forcibly suppressed herself from screaming. From the woods around the granary campsite, burning light-blue colored will-o’-the-wisps flew towards the campsite. But, the most frightening thing was, above those will-o’-the-wisps, were the blurred twisted faces of people, which appeared especially frightening in the moonless night.
“Quick, notify Eric.”
Jenny originally wanted to notify Eric, but the logistic personnel were so frightened that no one heeded her commands. Human Race had always had an innate fear toward ghosts and undead. Even if the regular army faced these will-o’-the-wisps, only a few would be able to keep their calm. While Jenny hesitated, the will-o’-the-wisps had already entered the granary area and ignited the supply base of Cromwell Principality.
