A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 237 : The North (16)

After taking her officers into the barracks and concluding a brief meeting, Kanna Cartier lifted the tent flap, sent the officers out, and then called U-jin, Louis, and Ludwig back inside.

Then, she got straight to the point.

“I’ve decided to proceed.”

It was practically a notification.

Just as U-jin had anticipated, Kanna Cartier had decided to continue the subjugation operation even with the supply route cut off.

…Well, from U-jin’s perspective, having witnessed the subjugation war unfold firsthand, it wasn’t an incomprehensible decision.

After all, the subjugation army in the first timeline, whose situation had been far more severe, had made the same choice. Besides, the current condition of the Subjugation Allied Forces was, quite literally, ‘peak’.

They had been through several battlefields, and because the last battle at the Count-rank Anti-Demon Front, the , had dragged on a little longer than expected, their supplies were indeed practically at rock bottom.

However, they were in far better shape than the Order’s original damage projections.

Of course, the Order itself was an inherently conservative group, so their initial casualty estimates had been somewhat exaggerated.

But even taking that into account, the result was the same.

The Church Allied Forces were in such good condition that Kanna Cartier wondered if she had ever experienced an anti-demon battle that went this smoothly.

That wasn’t all.

The threat of the ‘Black Blood Disease,’ which had severely plagued the Church Allied Forces in the first timeline, was also absent.

It wasn’t known to others because U-jin had kept it under wraps, but that disease had been one of the culprits that had cut the condition of the first timeline’s Subjugation Allied Forces in half.

The mere absence of that latent crisis made the condition of the Church Allied Forces incomparably better than that of the first timeline.

Moreover.

“…With morale this high, nothing will be impossible.”

The good condition of the Church Allied Forces wasn't just limited to the ‘physical’ aspect.

While the physical damage was low enough for Kanna Cartier to resolve to continue the battle immediately, what influenced her decision just as much was the current morale of the Subjugation Allied Forces.

To put it bluntly, since the start of the subjugation war, the Subjugation Allied Forces had been ringing the bells of victory in a continuous winning streak without a single setback.

Looking at their sky-high morale alone, with a slight exaggeration, the atmosphere was such that they seemed capable of winning even if they were to charge the Demon King’s Castle right now, let alone the Orc Mountains.

From Kanna Cartier’s perspective, who knew better than anyone the crucial role morale played in deciding victory or defeat on the battlefield, there was no reason not to attack the Orc Mountains in the current situation.

As for the lack of supplies, that was a matter of searching the remaining areas in the Demon King's Army's occupied territories and somehow making do.

Of course, that didn't mean there were no problems at all with supplies.

If they were supplies that could be replenished so easily, she wouldn't have hesitated in the first place when the Black Sea closed.

“We must strike before our supplies run out.”

The problem was ‘optimization’.

One of the most crucial factors in supplying a prolonged war was optimization.

Naturally, the Demon King's Army also had supplies for waging war, but the supplies they used were different from those of the Church Allied Forces.

Of course, since both were used for war, it wasn't as if they were completely unusable.

It was a matter of ‘efficiency’.

Even if they procured food, they had to re-verify for side effects, and even if they used the enemy's armaments, they would have to learn how to wield them anew.

In other words, unlike using the Order’s familiar supplies, using the Demon King’s Army’s supplies would inevitably require extra time.

Furthermore, unlike the Order, which supplied directly from a central authority, the Demon King's Army produced and supplied materials haphazardly from various different places, so it was neither consistent nor unified.

In other words, all four of the Demon King's Territories that the Church's Subjugation Allied Forces had passed through had non-standardized supplies.

Non-standardized supplies in themselves brought a sharp drop in efficiency, and it was such an irrational form of supply that it was practically impossible to compare with the Order’s existing system.

Reclassifying and integrating the various supplies acquired after a conquest was also a headache, and considering the potential supply-related incidents and accidents that could arise, using those supplies wouldn't necessarily lead to a significant increase in the Church Allied Forces' combat power.

However, even considering all that, Kanna Cartier’s judgment was that striking the Orc Mountains before the Subjugation Allied Forces’ good condition ran out was the ‘textbook move’.

“Huh? What about our advice?”

In response to Kanna's declaration, Ludwig Allegro playfully objected, but Kanna Cartier shut down his objection without a moment's hesitation.

“We decided to ignore it at the end of the meeting.”

“I haven’t even opened my mouth yet.”

“I don’t have time right now. I’ll visit your grave after you pass away. You can tell me then.”

“……”

“In any case, the decision has been made. It seems best to gather what we can from the Demon King's Territory and proceed immediately without further delay. I’ve already given the officers their orders to that effect.”

For it to be simple banter, the tone of her concluding words was too unwavering.

It was a joke, but one with a bite to it.

Regardless of the playful tone, the content it carried was proof of Kanna Cartier's true intentions.

Kanna Cartier wore an expression that suggested she had already resolved to continue the battle, regardless of Leonardo Louis Button’s and Ludwig Allegro’s advice.

Leonardo Louis Button, who had been silently watching her face, spoke in a low voice.

“…The closing of the Black Sea isn’t just a supply problem, Kanna.”

“……”

His words hit a ‘blind spot’.

He hadn’t pressed his ear to the barracks to eavesdrop on the meeting, so he didn’t know the exact context that led to her conclusion.

However, from her words, ‘We must strike before our supplies run out,’ it was self-evident that Kanna Cartier’s decision was heavily focused on ‘supplies’.

Louis Button was considering that exact point.

The Black Sea Veil hanging in the sky didn't just mean a ‘severed supply route’.

‘…….’

In the first timeline, during the Northern Subjugation War, Isaac Einstein’s second trap.

The so-called ‘Shutdown’.

As its name implied, the essence of this trap was not only to ‘cut off the Subjugation Allied Forces’ supply route’ but also to block the Order’s Satellite Magic, which could be called its core power.

Satellite Magic was not merely a medium connecting the Constellation and the Hero of a given Anti-Demon Front; it was a kind of ‘infrastructure network’ that performed various roles.

“The holy magic used by the Order’s Priests is maintained by the connection to Satellite Magic, and furthermore, the medium that allows for a continuous supply of Mana to the battlefield is also the Order’s Satellite Magic.”

“……”

“The Heroes, who utilize mana by directly outputting it from their Mana Circuits using the mana stored in their own bodies, aren’t greatly affected by the Black Sea Veil’s blockage. However, for the Priests’ holy magic, which relies on the Order’s Satellite Magic, the veil’s interference is inevitably fatal.”

He hadn’t bothered to mention it because the previous two points were of much higher importance, but...

...in truth, it wasn't that Heroes were completely unaffected by the blockage of Satellite Magic.

No, it wasn’t just a matter of being ‘somewhat affected’; on the assumption that the battle would continue, it was at a ‘fatal’ level.

War being what it is, one never knew when or where a battle might break out, and in the case of Heroes, their large total mana pools meant it took them longer to recover mana.

In the flow of a subjugation war battlefield, where mana had to be used on a ‘constant’ basis, they couldn't rely on their own mana recovery for every single battle.

And what supplemented that insufficient self-mana recovery was none other than the Order’s Satellite Magic.

What healing Priests restored wasn’t just stamina or wounds, but also insufficient mana.

And it didn't even end there.

Whether it was a Priest, a Hero, or even a soldier.

The blessing one received from the Order’s Satellite Magic when a battle began.

The Cross Stigmata.

One might ask what’s so important about a 10% boost to ‘recovery’ and ‘defense’ related stats, but that was something only someone who truly knew nothing about the War against Demons would say.

A 10% increase in combat power was no small thing; a 10% rise in the combat ability of everyone on the battlefield was a massive figure that could turn a hard-won victory into an easy one and turn a losing battle into a victory.

It didn't just stop at 10%; considering the other holy magics that synergized with it, the resulting drop in the Church Subjugation Allied Forces' combat power was not something to be taken lightly.

Therefore, if one were to consider the combined impact of all these factors from the ‘Black Sea Veil’ on the allied subjugation forces' combat power, Louis thought the reduction in the Church Allied Subjugation Forces' strength would be ‘about 25%’.

At maximum, their combat power would only be at 75% of its original level.

Moreover, as the battle dragged on, that number would drop exponentially.

That was precisely the part Louis Button was worried about.

Even if they somehow managed to overlook the supply issue, whether they could conquer the Orc Mountains with their current combat power was another matter entirely.

However, despite Louis Button’s concerns, Kanna Cartier offered an immediate reply.

“I know what the two of you are concerned about. If we continue the battle in our current, unprepared state, other problems could arise.”

“……”

“Separate from the supply issue, conquering the Orc Mountains won't be an easy task.”

Nod—

“But even if we can’t conquer it entirely, wouldn’t it be possible to at least punch a path through one side of the Orc Mountains?”

“……!”

It was a rather plausible argument.

It meant that she wasn't viewing the battle in the Orc Mountains simply as a ‘conquest campaign,’ but as a strategy with the objective of a ‘breakthrough battle’ to create a new supply route connecting to the Order's headquarters.

If that was the case, it certainly changed the story.

Of course, it varied by case, but generally, there was nearly a ‘two-fold’ difference in difficulty between a conquest campaign, which required the enemy’s complete surrender, and a breakthrough battle.

That was why Kanna Cartier could speak so confidently in front of the two of them.

“I believe it’s possible.”