Chapter 118: Army of People
A gloomy atmosphere surrounded Danyum’s army at the sad news that came from Deimerit.
Danyum’s commander in chief, Yubaim Dolan, urgently gathered the generals of each military unit. They were all aristocrats of Danyum and descendants of the founders of the country. And that was also the case for Yubaim, who was above all of them.
The lower half of Yubaim’s body was covered in wiry hair like that of a goat and was considered to be composed of strong muscles. Yubaim also wore armor which made his upper body look even bulkier, and he had a beard like a goat. By Satyrs' standards, Yubaim was a beautiful man.
Yubaim said with a deep voice, “How is the morale of the army?”
As it wasn’t a question directed at a specific person, all the generals replied.
“Not good.”
“Many are sad that His Majesty, who was a sage king, has passed away.”
“Deimerit is not simply the capital. It was a city that hadn’t ever been attacked until now.”
“And above all…”
Everyone turned to the general who was about to speak. Because the general was bringing up the matter that all the other generals had hesitated to talk about.
“They are terrified that there is an enemy apostle who can break down the castle and kill the king all by himself.”
Yubaim calmly said, “No one on this land doesn’t know of Lakrak.”
“It’s an old tale.”
“So?”
“Everyone knew of Lakrak’s prestige as an old tale, but they never imagined he would be exactly the same as in the stories. They all thought Black Scale would have exaggerated it. No one believed he would be just like the Thunder Lizard that killed the Evil God in the stories…”
Yubaim lightly tapped on the desk.
“Do you share the sentiments?”
Yubaim’s tone turned serious, and the generals responded like they were walking on eggshells.
“No.”
“We do not.”
Hearing the answers he wanted to hear, Yubaim relaxed a little, but not completely.
The existence of Lakrak the apostle didn’t matter when he was only part of a story. It was fine even if he defeated the Bloodsucking Queen and the Evil God. However, him becoming a threat in reality was troublesome.
“The order of priests contacted me.”
“The order of priests?”
“They said there has been a revelation.”
The faces of the generals became stiff. Yubaim thought he could guess what the generals were thinking.
‘They think that they might get divine punishment for not being able to protect His Majesty.’
Fortunately, that wasn’t it.
“According to Limitless God, Night Sky’s plan is clever, so the gods of the five allies are falling behind. However, Limitless God’s guardians are specially looking after our army, so we are not to fear the apostle of Night Sky and should focus on the war.”
At those words, a look of relief replaced the nervousness on the generals’ faces.
“Does that mean Limitless God is watching over us?”
“It seems that the success or failure of this war is very important. And we seem to be at the forefront of it.”
A few of the generals seemed to have forgotten that they were in the middle of a meeting and began to pray.
The commander in chief, Yubaim, waited for the generals to relax and then said, “The apostle of a god can be left to the gods. Therefore, right now, we must focus on winning this war as an army of people.”
“You are right.”
“How are the enemy troops moving?”
The general of the unit responsible for reconnaissance and defending the border delivered a brief report.
“All ten thousand are coming up along the river. They will arrive at where we are, the Dilpa Gorge, in two days at the shortest and four days at the latest.”
Dilpa Gorge sat at the border between Red Fruit and Black Scale. Although the path was narrow, the terrain was not rough, so it was a path the merchants commonly took.
It was one of the gateways one passed when going from Black Scale to Danyum, so if Black Scale’s army was to go through it, there was a high chance they would be able to advance to the capital, Deimerit, without much resistance. Therefore, Yubaim had to make one of two choices about the Dilpa Gorge.
One was to completely block the gorge. Since it was a gorge, they would be able to use gunpowder to break the rock and cut off the path, or have soldiers do it by piling up sand, soil, and waste lumber. In this case, the restoration of the gorge after the war would be a problem, but it was worth giving it a try despite the cost of restoration.
As they were facing an army, their enemies would be able to restore the path and go through it with sheer manpower; because?it was an army, however, the enemies would need continuous supplies.
If Yubaim did his best to block the path, he thought Black Scale would decide that it would take too long to restore the path and go around it.
‘That’s a long way around, and they would have to pass by a few castles.’
The other option was to leave the path of the Dilpa Gorge open, but confront the army of Black Scale there. Yubaim chose the second option. The cost of blocking and restoring the Dilpa Gorge wasn’t all that important in his calculation.
‘Even if we block the path, Black Scale will find an alternative path to advance. In that case, we wouldn’t know which path they’d take, so we would have to divide our troops. Even though peace has been kept for a long time until now, we can’t underestimate the army of Black Scale. We need to face the enemy with maximum force.’
Above all, there was a reason a castle hadn’t been built at the Dilpa Gorge. The gorge was a natural fortress itself. Of course, the Lizardmen of Black Scale still built mountain fortresses on such terrains, but for it to be called a castle, there had to be a lord and their subjects.
Building walls was only meaningful if people lived there, but the Dilpa Gorge wasn't very suitable for living. It was considered inefficient and would only cause unnecessary trouble to station soldiers there even at times of peace for an enemy that might or might not come.
‘Even if it weren’t for that, the Dilpa Gorge is a good place to face enemies in. And beyond it is a great rampart that is difficult to break down at the capital, Deimerit. You arrogant lizards will regret this.’
Yubaim said, “...Then the only unknown matter is who the enemy commander is. Is there no information about that yet?”
The generals responded with silence.
For some reason, Black Scale was hiding information about their commander.
Yubaim thought for a moment and shook his head.
‘No. It doesn’t matter who the commander is anyway. The only thing important in war are numbers. More soldiers and more supplies. These are the things that determine victory or defeat.’
***
Four days later, at the Dilpa Gorge.
Black Scale arrived at the Dipla Gorge at the time the army of Danyum had expected them to show up.
In front of the Dilpa Gorge was a large open field where the Dilpa river flowed through, which provided tactical value by allowing them to easily see enemy movements. Black Scale didn’t push forward, and even though they could see the army of Danyum far away, they set up tents and rested at a safe distance. With that much distance between them, Black Scale would be able to put up a proper defense even if Danyum’s army came charging at them right away.
The commander of Black Scale’s army asked the generals, “How’s the military power of the enemy?”
“It’s no different than we expected.”
“Is there no other information from what we already know?”
One of the generals replied, “There is none.”
“Good. Get ready after the break is over.”
At those words, the general said, “But we still haven’t heard anything from the revelation priest. If this fight isn’t what Night Sky wanted…”
The commander shook their head.
“Do you expect Night Sky to do everything for us while we sit back? If Night Sky swings a sword for us, do you think he’ll also be the one to take a hit for us?”
“N…no.”
A few generals chuckled at that exchange.
The commander said, “We don’t fight when Night Sky wants us to, but when it is the easiest to win. The enemy has seen that we are taking a break right in front of them, so they would have gotten somewhat complacent, while our soldiers aren’t that exhausted since we haven’t overtaxed ourselves during the march. If we’re going to fight, now is the perfect time.”
“Alright, Your Highness. Oh, I’m sorry. Commander Vasen.”
The commander, Vasen Lak Orazen, winked and nodded.
“Now everyone go do your job.”
“Yes sir!”
After Vasen saved Doltan Island, the achievement was leveraged to bring him back into the palace.
‘Technically, it’s not the palace, but… isn’t this better than that? I can’t believe I was given control over the military.’
Of course Kyle Lak Orazed, who was his younger brother as well as the king, had exerted his influence, but Vasen later heard that a strong recommendation had been made by general Ian Tata, who helped Vasen wipe out the pirates from Doltan Island, as well as by the supervisor whose identity Vasen never found out about.
The Eastern Mountain Expedition Team disbanded after only taking their first step, but Theone Itimo received a greater amount of money than expected due to a penalty for breach of contract on the palace’s end, and she ended up buying another ship; that was rather good news.
‘Well, maybe we’ll get to continue the journey someday.’
Of course there were still some people that were concerned about Vasen, but if Vasen did good in this war as well, he expected to prove those people wrong.
‘That’s if things go well.’
Vasen looked across the battlefield where the fight was soon to take place. Danyum’s army was waiting along the Dilpa Gorge as well, but Black Scale had no choice but to go there. They were at a disadvantage not only because of their numbers, but also because of the terrain.
‘However, fighting isn’t only about numbers.’
Just as Vasen commanded, the soldiers immediately got ready for battle after their break. And they could feel Danyum’s army becoming agitated from far away because they were pretty much diving into the fight without identifying the enemy’s movements.
Then arrived the one the Black Scale’s army was expecting.
Rumble…!
The air shook, and someone landed in front of the Black Scale’s army from above. It was Lakrak. At the appearance of their hero, shouts poured out from the now high-spirited army of Black Scale. However, that didn’t happen only for Black Scale’s army. As if they had been waiting for that moment, monsters several meters tall of different shapes and forms appeared among Danyum’s battle formation.
They were Danyum’s guardians, namely Crampus’ creations. There were five in total. They charged toward Lakrak at a rapid speed, and Lakrak avoided them and escaped into the forest across the river, away from the place where the armies would clash. Three of the monsters chased after Lakrak across the river.
Then trees split into several pieces, lightning struck down, and blood began to fall down like rain.
The war had begun.
***
“It’s done!”
Yubaim, the Satyr general, shouted.
Yubaim then said with anticipation, “Now we fight only an army of people. It is our victory.”
***
Meanwhile, Vasen also let out a sigh of relief.
“Whew, what a relief.”
The adjutant next to him was confused.
“Is it…a relief?”
“Yes. There’s no way Lakrak would listen to my commands. I would have to put into consideration something that I can’t even predict. Don’t you think that would mess up my thought process?”
The adjutant nodded, thinking that Vasen’s explanation was reasonable.
“But Commander, the enemy has a greater number than us, and they’re more advantageous in this terrain.”
“Even so, they’re only an army of people, aren’t they?”
“Pardon?”
Vasen said, “I haven’t ever lost against an army of people until now.”
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