Chapter 293.
I opened my closed eyes. "How did it go?"
I sighed and scratched the back of my head at Caradoc’s question. "I failed."
I never thought I’d run into the Space Specialist there.
"Is that so? That was a pretty shoddy job you did, khmm! I thought it was a plan with a high chance of success."
"You also say whatever you want, huh?”
When I thought I might have given them too much leeway, Gwalchavad nodded, having acted as my guard while I controlled the dragon tooth soldier. "It seems we’ll need to reconvene as a group and hand out some disciplining.”
Caradoc, Tristan, and the twins immediately grew pale. The twins had been throwing darts, using daggers in place of actual darts, when they heard Gwalchavad.
"Wait, wait a minute! I’ll talk to Caradoc; anything but a group meeting!"
At Tristan’s desperate words, Gwalchavad spoke with a gentle smile, "You’re the biggest problem. Don’t you act too candidly just because Master treats you charitably?"
Everyone blanched when they heard these firm words.
"Ma, Master! Save me!"
"I’ll be obedient from now on, Crow Prince!"
"I won’t complain, Crow Prince!"
In addition to these three, the already sickly-looking Caradoc had also grown paler.
"That’s right, Commander-in-Chief! It’s wartime right now, so we have to think about morale!"
What the hell did Gwalchavad do in the old days to make them tremble like this? Frankly, I was curious, but as Caradoc said, we didn’t have the leisure to do that now.
"We’re at war right now, so no. Do it after the war is over,” I ordered. Gwalchavad bowed his head, and the other four breathed a sigh of relief.
"I’ll assist you with all my heart, Commander-in-Chief!"
"Oh, by the way, it’s a shame that the plan failed,” I said.
The plan was to divide the enemy by deceiving them with my father’s presence. Unfortunately, the plan had failed. If it had gone well, the Space Specialist could have been sent back to the Magic Kingdom.
"That’s true,” Caradoc also sighed, agreeing with my sentiment.
The worth of one great madosa was beyond that of even hundreds of ordinary madosas. For the Magic Kingdom, it was far more beneficial to accept the penalty of breaking the agreement and retreat than to have the Space Specialist deal with an unreasonably strong person like my father.
In addition, when the Space Specialist’s disciple heard that my father was present, he said that it violated the agreement. My father’s presence was essentially a guaranteed defeat for them, so the disciple clearly said those words after calculating and trying to avoid paying the penalty.
"Oh, well. I’ll just have to be satisfied that I’ve delayed the enemy’s advance."
The bluff’s effect had been reduced since my identity was revealed, but they still didn’t know if my father was truly in the fortress. By planting such a thought, they were now in a situation where they had to consider the what-ifs.
"I never want to meet Commander-in-Chief as an enemy,” Caradoc said appreciatively with a tired expression.
I smiled lightly. "Thank you for the compliment."
Moreover, the enemy’s main force was not made up of only a single army. The forces and support of the Magic Kingdom and the Trade Union were also present. In addition, there were also the Hunter Tribe people who were not part of any country, even though they were referred to as the Curse Specialist’s allies. It was safe to say that the enemy army was a multinational coalition.
"It is as expected. The idea that having numerous cooks will spoil the broth is a truth that has not changed over time.”
In their commander-in-chief’s point of view, as long as the imperial army was in their territory, the only answer would be to attack, but that was not the case for the Magic Kingdom or the Trade Union. For them, reducing the collateral damage as much as possible was their top priority. However, their choice to match the level of the empire was shackling their ankles.
"Well, it’s still true that we have an overwhelming disadvantage, though."
The vanguard of the empire was only the vanguard alone. The opponent was not the vanguard but an army that was raised to deal with the entire imperial army, and even at first glance, it contained more than 300,000 troops. Furthermore, there were even two great madosas there. If it went by the book, Shellen Fortress would melt away like fat on meat.
“I’d like to have some brisket tonight,” I said.
“All right.”
I gave Gwalchavad the menu for tonight, as he was a top chef who was second to none. Then, I asked Caradoc, "Where’s the Empire’s main force again?"
Caradoc checked the messages sent from the main force. Since we were far away from the empire’s territory, we were not communicating with radios but with carrier pigeons and messenger horses.
“According to the correspondence, it says they are almost at the border.”
“They’re running late.”
Yet, it was only natural that they would run into many problems that needed to be dealt with as the troops stationed in Demon’s Territory were pulled out and gathered on the front line. If we had been too slow and were unable to take care of the enemy’s vanguard, our allies would have welcomed the enemy’s main force at the border.
Caradoc spoke with a smile at my complaint. "It has not even been ten days since the war began. When you consider this, I’m sure they likely pushed ahead, ignoring some of the procedures."
"Hmm, is that so?"
"Also, shouldn’t we be proud to have captured the most important strategic area in the enemy’s territory just around a week after the war initially started?"
“Ayy, it’s not like that."
I only used various bluffs and other methods to expedite the process. To be proud of something like that would cause tiny stabs in my conscience.
"Well, if the Commander-in-Chief says so, I’ll move on."
Caradoc continued to read the notification, and he smiled brightly. "There is one piece of good news. After hearing that the enemy has great madosas, it seems the imperial family has asked the Elemental Specialist and the Alchemy Specialist to deal with them."
"Really? Are those cranky old people coming?" I asked.
Caradoc nodded. "But they say that it’s going to take a while."
"Then I suppose they’ll arrive after we’re all dead."
Caradoc laughed helplessly at my joke.
I took out the mana stone of the Turtle Carrying A Mountain from my pocket space. Over the past two years, the mana stone had restored its depleted mana and now boasted its original prowess. "I’ll strengthen the fortress with this. It just finished replenishing all of its mana for the first time in a while, but it seems like it’ll be drained again.”
It would be an astronomical sum if the mana in it were converted to money, but I don’t know if the prime minister could pay for it. Well, if we win, I’m sure he’ll charge a war penalty to obtain it or use some other means. After all, the prime minister isn’t incompetent.
I took a deep breath and started to cast a complete defensive magic on the entire fortress.
* * *
After the dragon tooth soldier exploded, there was a crater that stood hundreds of meters wide around the command headquarters barracks. Those in the barracks were somehow able to defend themselves from the explosion through their own means. However, the general and field officers resting in the area were caught up in the blast.
The only people in the explosion’s range that were left without a single scratch were the great madosa, the madosas, the great warrior, and the soldier who supported the dragon tooth soldier. The soldier thought he was going to die, but under Den’s protection, he was alive without a single strand of hair being damaged.
"Crazy." The commander-in-chief hadn’t been able to protect himself entirely, and he grabbed his head, which was wrapped in bandages.
The loss of various commanders forced the entire military to undergo reorganization. This was because the only way to divide the units that lost their commanders was to transfer them to other units. Meanwhile, the Magic Kingdom and the Curse Specialist’s disciples expressed their intention to join the war only after a reconnaissance of the fortress was conducted, and Doomstone was confirmed not to be present.
"Did you aim for this? To buy time?" The commander-in-chief had no choice but to recommend that the reconnaissance be completed while the troops were being reorganized. This was because no matter how much control one had, they could not force those who joined hands for a temporary advantage.
When the commander-in-chief, General Bringer, was lamenting that nothing could make the situation worse, that exact situation was happening in the camp.
"Long time no see, Communication Disorder."
"Still as rude as ever, Bit*h."
The commander-in-chief had been controlling the situation so that the Space Specialist and Curse Specialist wouldn’t meet each other, as they weren’t on good terms. However, when he became busy with the military reorganization, the situation he was trying to avoid happened.
As soon as the Space Specialist and the Curse Specialist came across one another, they frowned and glared at the other person.
"Oh, but seeing that you responded, you must have learned to communicate?" At the Space Specialist’s provocation, the Curse Specialist responded by putting his middle finger up.
"You bastard!"
When the Space Specialist took out a magic wand from his pocket space, the Curse Specialist also took out a magic wand.
"Te, Teacher-nim! Please calm down!"
“We’ll be in big trouble if you fight here!’
Alpha and John sweated as they stopped their respective teachers.
"If you’re going to fight, please end it with words!”
"We can’t stop the aftermath of you two fighting!"
At the earnest and desperate pleas of their disciples, the Curse and Space Specialists clicked their tongues and put their magic wands back into their pocket spaces.
"It seems you’re still in the habit of wearing a mask, Communication Disorder?”
At the Space Specialist’s attack, the Curse Specialist answered with a snort, "And I see you’re still unable to forget the woman who cheated on you and ran away in the past, seeing how you’re still wearing that ring. Bit*h."
"What! Well, seeing that you’re still wearing a mask, I guess you couldn’t remove the old curse you placed on yourself by mistake.”
The Curse Specialist clenched his teeth at the enraged Space Specialist.
"What? Are you serious?" The Space Specialist hadn’t even known that he hit the nail on the head, and he laughed cheerfully. "Hahahaha! That is a masterpiece! Are you serious?! Hahahaha! You’re a great madosa now, but I can’t believe you still can’t solve a single mistake from when you were young!”
When the Space Specialist laughed and teased him, the Curse Specialist gathered mana in both hands. "...I’ll kill you.”
Despite whatever shameful thing happened in the past, it was unforgivable to look down on a magician’s magic in the present.
"Oh, then come and give it a try!" The Space Specialist also gathered mana and glared fiercely.
"Teacher-nim! Please!"
"No! Teacher-nim!"
The disciples tried to stop them, but the two great madosas flew high into the sky and began to fight. Still, the two did not forget they were participating in a war and controlled themselves so that the aftermath would not affect the camp.
The commander-in-chief heard that the great madosas were fighting in the midst of his busy schedule, and he began to get a stomach ache. He worried about the morale of the soldiers, but ironically and unexpectedly, the soldiers were encouraged from watching the fight of the great madosas, lifting their morale.
Life was full of unexpected occurrences.
* * *
Time flew by while I was renovating the fortress and working with the staff members. In the meantime, we tried to block the reconnaissance sent by the enemy, but in the end, they seemed convinced that my father was not in the fortress. Otherwise, the enemy wouldn’t have flocked here.
"Caradoc, when are the old people and the main force coming?”
"Tomorrow at the earliest,” he said.
"We’ll have to estimate three days to be on the safe side."
Considering the size of the main force, they were running over here at an insane speed.
At my regret, Caradoc nodded. “I suppose so.”
“I see.”
I gave up on the reinforcements, stood right on top of the fortress tower, and shouted, "Now! The battle begins!”
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