——Miranda gazed down from the mobile fortress at the soldiers standing in formation.
Upon the prepared platform, Lyle stood in full armor. Gesturing emphatically, and with Eva performing in the background using her Skills, his voice was delivered to over two hundred thousand soldiers through a Skill that carried it far and wide.
"For someone who's come this far, you've moved awfully quickly."
One of the major factors was that Lyle had been blessed with luck. No, you could even call it opportunity.
For those who are prepared, a crisis is also a chance. Under desperate circumstances, Lyle had expanded his forces in the wake of retaking Zayin.
The boy who had once been just a gifted, well-bred child now stood delivering a speech before a massive army.
"...If we were being smart about it, the best strategy would be to wait until Banseim is thoroughly worn down, then strike. We could win without lifting a finger. There's no reason to go through the hardship of fighting now."
As Miranda listened to Lyle's words flatly denying the entire invasion plan, she looked around at those gathered nearby. Standing in a row beside him were the companions who had fought together from the very beginning: Novem, Aria, Shannon, Clara, Eva, and May. Monica was working behind the scenes.
"But even as we stand here, blood continues to flow. And if left unchecked, Banseim will spread death across the entire continent. I cannot allow that! Can you call it justice to leave evil alone and wait until victory is certain? No! It is absolutely not justice! For the sake of saving this continent, for the sake of bringing peace — I have resolved to take on this battle no matter how difficult it may be! Soldiers! Brave soldiers! Lend me your strength! Entrust your lives to me so that we may save this continent from the wicked tyranny of Banseim! This battle hinges on the valor of you brave soldiers!"
He declared that they were on the side of justice and prepared the grand cause of saving the continent. Ceres's tyranny had already spread far and wide, even without exaggeration.
Moreover, time was just as precious for Lyle as it was for anyone else. Given more time, he could certainly amass even greater military strength. He could assemble an even more formidable army.
But winning the battle itself was less of a concern — Ceres as an entity was far too dangerous. Lyle believed that defeating Ceres was more difficult than winning the battle.
Vera, who was moving the fortress, watched Lyle from a window inside. Among the assembled forces, the figures of Gracia and Eliza could be seen as well.
From Zayin, the ranks included Selma, Aura, and Gastone. From Rolfis came the chancellor Lombolt and Anneline. Merchants were present too. Fidel sat looking bored.
Lianne and Adele stood in line as well.
And leading separate forces of their own, Baldoa and Maxim also stood side by side in full armor.
"This battle will go down in history! Brave soldiers! Win, and etch your names alongside the heroes! Justice stands with us! The Goddess smiles upon us!"
Shannon, standing beside Miranda where the soldiers couldn't see, was yawning away.
"Easy for him to say. He's trying to invade as quickly as possible because he's terrified of Ceres being absorbed by Agrissa. Besides, he's only attacking because he thinks he can win, right?"
The harvest had ended and things had settled down. It was also a time when a great number of soldiers could be gathered, making it convenient for war. The same was true on Banseim's side.
However, based on the intelligence Rael and the others had gathered, their assumption was that the only force in the depleted Banseim still capable of mounting a proper resistance was Central.
"You always let your guard down when you think victory is certain, and that's when things get dangerous. If you feel the urgency, you fight with everything you have. Assembling a huge army doesn't guarantee victory, either."
Miranda looked at the faces of the soldiers lined up beside her. Upon hearing the word "justice," they showed their eagerness. In truth, they believed they were in the right. Without that belief, they couldn't fight. They could fight for their families' sake. But in a battle fought in a distant land where they couldn't be sure it would benefit their families, they couldn't find meaning.
A righteous cause was necessary. No matter how illusory it might be.
"That's why it's so infuriating — they have that look on their faces like they've been fighting overwhelming odds with nothing but a handful of troops. Because he only ever fights when the conditions are overwhelmingly in his favor."
"Preparing exactly those circumstances is supposed to be Rael's and our job, isn't it? Well, that's enough complaining for now."
Rael raised the ornate great sword at his hip rather than the katana he had worn. The soldiers roared in unison with Rael's voice.
The air trembled, and the heat threatened to blow away the morning chill.
"All forces — advance!"
Rael's voice reached every single soldier through Eva's Skills —.
—While Rael and the others marched forward, Lianne had duties to attend to in the rear and was heading back to the castle immediately.
However, Number Thirty-Four, who was also assigned as Rael's escort this time, was not going with Lianne. In front of the carriage, Number Thirty-Four spoke to Lianne.
"Just because I'm not there, please don't put in extra sugar."
Lianne's forehead bulged with a vein at Number Thirty-Four's words.
"You really are the rudest person right up until the very end, aren't you?"
Number Thirty-Four held a hand over their mouth.
"Too bad. I'm an Automaton."
Watching Number Thirty-Four laugh, Lianne let out a sigh.
"Hurry back. I'll put you to good use."
Thirty-Four's face lit up with a smile. Instead of her usual maid outfit, she was clad in blue armor, with a wing-like binder strapped to her back. Horse-type Automatons had also been prepared for the Valkyries, and a mechanized horse now stood beside Thirty-Four.
It was the Valkyries who insisted on horses, finding motorcycles lacking in atmosphere.
"Playing hard to get? Sorry, that sort of thing only counts as a reward for us. Even if you say no, we'll serve you until you're completely satisfied."
Thirty-Four had tied the tips of her long black hair with a pink ribbon she'd received from Lianne.
"Sigh, you're such a happy person, finding joy in whatever anyone says. Well, it's good to have someone you can work hard. What's great is they won't betray you."
With a hand over her mouth, Thirty-Four responded to Lianne's manner of speaking.
"That would be different if I bared my fangs at you, Master. Don't worry. I'll take full responsibility for raising the chicks. Like a mother, like a sister, and like a lover... Oh! Wouldn't that be more fun?"
Lianne thwacked the head of Thirty-Four, who was spouting something rather unsettling.
"Just go already! When you get back, I'll fix that personality of yours."
Thirty-Four climbed onto her horse, beaming.
"That's impossible. This is the standard."
With that, she parted ways with Lianne—.
We were advancing, but our main force basically consisted of one hundred thousand troops.
Mr. Baldoa and Mr. Maxim were leading fifty thousand along a different route, securing key locations to prevent our rear from being attacked.
However.
"Commence bombardment!"
The third level of the mobile fortress was equipped with all the machinery needed to move it. There, Vera and the captain and crew from Trace Trading Company were operating the mobile fortress.
As the cannons protruding from the fortress spewed fire, the entire structure shook.
One of the fortresses in Banseim was easily breached by the cannon fire from the mobile fortress operating under Vera's command.
Against a fortress that barely had a handful of knights capable of using magic, the opponent stood no chance. White flags were raised almost immediately, and I ordered the capture. With just that, my troops moved in and seized the fortress.
"Nothing to do."
"Just sitting here quietly is part of the job. Still, it's a good chance for the subordinates to earn some merit. Don't go stealing the spotlight, okay?"
"I know."
General Broa was nearby as well, seated in a chair.
We had detached ten thousand troops from the main force and entrusted them to Aria and Miranda, sending them against a lord whose territory still hadn't been clearly identified.
Monica, who had been nearby, skillfully brewed tea amid the swaying fortress and brought a cup over to me.
"A message from Miranda. She and Eliza have seized the target city. Apparently, the defenders surrendered just from being surrounded."
General Broa accepted his tea as well.
"That's what I'd expect. It only took a few days from the start of the march to arrive. We had the momentum to crush anyone who resisted, so naturally they folded. What do you intend to do with the lords who surrendered?"
I sipped my tea.
"Demote their titles to Knight Baron. Send them to the frontier."
"Shove them off to the far corners of the continent, huh? They'll resent you for that."
I chuckled slightly.
"There are already plenty who resent me."
At that point, Monica spoke to me.
"Aria seems to be having a harder time."
I raised an eyebrow.
"She's struggling even with Gracia at her side? There must be someone capable over there."
The territory I had assigned to Aria wasn't large enough to field an army of ten thousand. I was wondering whether some problem had come up when—
"No, she's attempting to negotiate their surrender, but she can't seem to get through to them. Their demands are a guarantee of their territory and a title befitting their status after the Chicken's victory. They say if those terms aren't met, they won't hesitate to fight to the last."
General Broa nodded with an understanding look.
"Yeah, there is that one. A territorial lord who can't see the situation around him. If I recall, he was a vassal under some baronetcy."
My hand had instinctively reached for the Jewel, but I stopped midway and clenched my fist to hold back.
(Already reaching for it, huh? I'm no better, am I?)
The words of the Successive Heads echoed in my mind.
"Tell her to leave it to Aria. I could step in myself, but this is a learning experience too. Tell her to contact us if it becomes an unmanageable situation. Also, keep twenty thousand troops on standby as reinforcements at all times."
General Broa spoke.
"We should have assigned someone skilled in negotiation to her side."
I answered with a smile.
"Well, she's got to handle something like this on her own. Besides, we've got formidable opponents waiting for us up ahead."
General Broa made an unpleasant face.
"Ah, those Landed Nobility types, you mean? If their vassals carry on like this, their liege lords must be even worse."
Meanwhile, Aria—who had been entrusted with that very negotiation—was facing Gracia across the table.
The Valkyries' response to their request had been a simple "Handle it yourselves," which left Aria and Gracia scratching their heads.
Gracia said, her eyes darting around uncertainly.
"Wh-what do we do? I'm the type to settle these things with force, but... should we storm in with a few thousand and show them what we're capable of?"
Aria was equally at a loss. She hadn't expected Gracia—someone even more brawn-over-brains than herself—to be this hopeless outside the battlefield. Gracia had led an entire nation, so Aria had assumed she'd be at least decent at negotiation, but that clearly wasn't the case.
"No, that's out of the question. They've already agreed to surrender, so at the very least we need to go through the motions of negotiating."
But Gracia exploded.
"Then are you saying we should just accept their demands?! Everyone else had their territories confiscated and were taken prisoner, but we're supposed to let these guys keep theirs?! It'd be faster to just attack!"
It was a territory with only a few hundred soldiers, yet they were remarkably defiant.
"I can't understand why they're so defiant either!"
Just then, a knight entered the tent.
"Pardon me, but I was wondering if the negotiators have arrived yet — it's rather troublesome."
When Aria and Gracia turned toward the knight, he let out a startled yelp. The two quickly softened their expressions and sent the knight away.
Aria spoke.
"Th-then again, we need to make them face reality."
Gracia made a face like she had swallowed something foul.
"I doubt we'll get through to them. They're the type who look down on everyone."
Aria hadn't expected the other side to come in so strong, even with this sizeable army at their disposal. She still thought it might have been better if it had come to a fight, the way Gracia had said — .
Meanwhile, on Miranda's side — .
She sat in a chair inside the tent, armored, legs crossed.
Before her stood the baronet, managing to put in a request for the security of his territory. From the very beginning, she had bypassed any negotiator and summoned the lord directly.
"We, too, are bound to follow the wishes of our patron. I would ask you to consider our circumstances."
Miranda directed a smile at the lord.
"We're perfectly fine with advancing and wiping you out along the way, you know. Besides, you officially declared allegiance to the Banseim royal family, didn't you? Going around saying you'd oppose us and then pulling something like this — I don't think that's going to fly."
The baronet — a lord whose territory supported only a few hundred soldiers — had sided against Lael's forces because the largest neighboring lord was aligned with the Kingdom of Banseim. But when all was said and done, his patron never came to his rescue, and the main army numbered in the hundreds of thousands. On top of that, he had been surrounded by ten thousand soldiers.
Even if he scraped together his patron and all his other clients, raising ten thousand troops in this region was practically impossible.
"Your territory will be confiscated. If you wish to preserve your family name, you'll start over from Knight Baron. I'll let you off with exile to the frontier. If that's unacceptable, you're free to fight until you're the last man standing. Of course . . . I wonder which option your commoners would choose?"
At Miranda's words, the lord's face went pale. For the commoners, all it meant was a change in lord — and that alone would be a relief.
"This is a great opportunity to test just how beloved you've been by your people up to now. Go back and prepare. I'll give you that much time."
If the lord had been beloved by his people, there was a chance they would fight to the bitter end. But prior research had made it clear that wasn't the case.
"I hope they don't kill you."
Miranda said to the lord with a smile.
Eliza, who was nearby, broke into a cold sweat watching her do that.
As they watched the lord being escorted out of the tent by the knights, one of the nearby Valkyries spoke up.
"That takes care of all the territories we had targeted. I'll file the report."
Miranda stood up and asked the Valkyrie:
"So, how are things on Aria's end?"
"...Negotiations are ongoing but making no progress. The other side seems to be stalling."
"Aria, what is she doing? Seriously..."
Eliza, perhaps puzzled, asked Miranda:
"With a military force this large, even a patron lord would hole up in his own territory. Why would anyone come to their rescue?"
Miranda looked at Eliza and answered:
"Even without anyone coming to their rescue, they've always survived by switching sides to whoever was winning. That's been the norm up until now, which is why the word 'confiscation' has them panicking. After all, even if you seize a territory, you still need people to manage it."
"Well, sure, you do need them. But doesn't that mean it'd be dangerous if all the local administrators were gone?"
Miranda smiled and said:
"Don't worry. This land will be handed over as payment later. See, there aren't many rewards we can offer, so we'll have this area make the sacrifice. They just had bad luck, that's all. Well, for people in positions of power, bad luck is fatal. Let's have them vacate cleanly. It's their own fault for thinking local rules still apply."
Eliza resolved that she would never cross Miranda ——
—— Meanwhile, on Aria's end.
"Confiscating our territory is out of the question! Do you truly believe governance is possible without our power!"
The negotiator, a stout knight with a bold attitude, was a middle-aged man sporting a beard. His voice was loud, and no matter how many times he was told, he refused to listen to what Aria and the others had to say.
"Besides, what in the world is this about women leading armies? Your shortage of personnel is plain as day — without our cooperation, you couldn't even manage the territory! How could we hand over lands we've painstakingly governed to the likes of you!"
Everything he said wasn't exactly wrong. But despite his bluster, the man was in a losing position.
Gracia spoke, irritation clearly showing.
"Then go back and prepare for battle. If you won't listen to words, we'll make it clear on the battlefield."
The negotiator shot back.
"I am telling you we surrender! To attack someone who has surrendered — are you even knights?! You're no better than common bandits with no sense of decency!"
Aria addressed the negotiator.
"That's not how someone who's surrendering talks! Listen, our conditions are the confiscation of your territory and assets. I'm saying we'll spare the life of your lord, who bears responsibility!"
"What utter lack of decency! You clearly don't understand the customs of war. I will not hand over our territory to people like you. Call someone of higher rank!"
The nation of Banseim was large. Because of that, when conflicts escalated beyond minor skirmishes into full-scale territorial wars, stripping smaller vassal territories of everything inevitably led to governance problems. Within Banseim, methods of governance were similar — victory meant taking everything, including surrounding vassal territories, or seizing parts of them along with the vassals themselves.
There were cases of total annihilation, but accepting surrender was also part of Banseim's common practice. However, that was a domestic rule — Baim and other nations did not operate the same way.
Moreover, the negotiator appeared to have been instructed by his lord to secure better terms at all costs, and he was fighting desperately for his life.
Blue veins throbbed at Aria's and Gracia's temples as their patience with the negotiator wore razor-thin.
"Go ahead! If you kill the negotiator and throw him away, your overlord's reputation will be ruined for certain! Come, do it! Kill me and put my head on display!"
Then, a Valkyrie let out a sigh.
"Alright, you two, come over here. I have a message from my master."
After the Valkyrie whispered something to Aria and Gracia, they turned back to the negotiator. Aria spoke, feeling slightly uneasy.
"...I guarantee the lives of you and your family. And you're a retainer, right? For now, that means you'll be sent to the frontier, but I'll provide you with a Knight Baron title and settlement funds. Even though it's a posting to the frontier, I guarantee you'll be treated as a direct retainer. If your family is being held hostage, I'll send people to rescue them."
The negotiator's eyes went wide, his face turning bright red. Just when I thought he was about to shout—
"...Um, my daughter has married into another family, and I'd like to ask you to put in a good word for that household as well. The family she married into has been very kind to me. If you do that, I can have everything ready on our end to accept your terms right away! I can convince the others too!"
And just like that, he folded without a shred of resistance.