novelraw Chapter 149
Chapter 149
Chapter 149
The Cow Tribe forces were standing by for departure.
Their number was about three thousand.
More than five hundred of them were warrior-class fighters, and even the rest of the reserve warriors were stronger than ordinary human soldiers.
Especially, the iron armor we had prepared with gritted teeth would be extremely useful.
Considering that the Cow Tribe’s main role was to hold the line, the highly defensive iron armor was the perfect equipment.
Being the physically strongest among the Beastmen, iron armor suited the Cow Tribe far better than leather armor ever could.
—The Cow Tribe’s stamina was on par with that of the Bear Tribe.
At the front stood warriors clad in full iron armor.
And even those reserve warriors who couldn’t receive the iron armor were fully armed with thick, magically enchanted leather armor and leather shields.
It was probably the first time they had gone into battle so properly equipped.
Thanks to that, the morale of the Cow Tribe was sky-high.
“Ohh, is this meat?”
“Unbelievable, they’re distributing meat even to the reserve warriors!”
“Is this… slime? They put the meat inside slime. It’s just like the Mouse Tribe…”
“Ah, right? It’s made by the Mouse Tribe. Those guys really have a knack for this stuff.”
“This is amazing!”
Perhaps they liked the canned meat even more than the new weapons.
“What do you think? Would you like to say a few words before we depart?”
While I was quietly watching the Cow Tribe laugh and cheer over the canned meat, Rioxen approached me.
As the eldest Cow Tribe Chieftain, Rioxen always gave a speech to rouse the warriors before battle, but it seemed he wanted me to handle it this time.
Raising the morale of the Cow Tribe warriors who were already excited over canned meat?
Honestly, there couldn’t be an easier task.
So I just agreed to do it myself.
—Didn’t your Territory have something like this before?
‘It’s different. Our Territory’s forces rarely actually die in war.’
But the Cow Tribe would suffer the most casualties.
They were the tribe meant to clash head-on with the Imperial bastards.
So I could at least give them a few good words.
“Listen well, brave warriors of the Cow Tribe!”
After drawing their attention with a loud shout, I said what I truly wanted to tell them.
A very simple, straightforward story—something warriors would love.
“Even now! Countless Horned Rabbits are being slaughtered! All of it—the meat you’ll be eating!”
—OHHH!!!
“If we win this war! If you return alive! You’ll get to eat all the Fried Rabbit you want!”
—OHHHH!!!
“Five thousand! I’ve already prepared five thousand Horned Rabbits! One for each warrior!”
—OOOOHHHH!!!
“One warrior, one rabbit!”
—One warrior, one rabbit! One warrior, one rabbit!
As expected, easy.
The Cow Tribe had already fallen in love with the taste of Fried Rabbit.
Even last time, when we served it, their reaction was overwhelming.
—Even so, one rabbit per person is overkill.
‘Yeah, true.’
A Horned Rabbit was roughly three to four servings’ worth—definitely a level above the whole one-person-one-chicken idea.
But for warriors, the rule of one warrior, one rabbit was sacred.
The Cow Tribe, always craving meat, would never want to miss such an opportunity.
Though we had promised to supply them with plenty of Horned Rabbits, their numbers far exceeded our stock.
“Good, let’s march out!”
Rioxen and Delmason led the three thousand highly motivated Cow Tribe troops toward Lucas.
The operation had begun.
Around the same time, Lucas Castle.
Octosia Deloson, the Regent who ruled much of this land known by the people of Levelium—or as the Empire claimed, “Katoren”—was gathered here with the Empire’s high command to discuss their upcoming strategy.
According to the Merchant who had returned after spying on the Cow Tribe’s domain, their forces numbered three thousand warriors.
An unbelievable figure, of course.
Though the Cow Tribe was among the physically strongest of all Beastmen, they weren’t particularly attuned to mana.
It was impossible for that many warriors to wield Aura proficiently.
At best, perhaps five hundred.
That was the Empire’s assessment of the Cow Tribe’s strength.
“Of course, Cow Tribe soldiers are far superior to human soldiers…”
“But that’s as far as it goes.”
“Beastmen are terrible at siege warfare.”
“We can shoot them all down with arrows alone.”
“Besides, they’ve already fallen for our trap. Once they’re lured inside, we’ll fire a volley and wipe them out in no time.”
Even if they had numbers, Beastmen weren’t suited for sieges. Against fortress walls reinforced by enchantments, they were nothing but meat shields.
So they planned to lure the Cow Tribe here and wipe out all their warriors as the top operational objective.
But things were turning out strangely.
“The Cow Tribe purchased a large number of iron armors. The armors are enchanted with magic.”
Unanticipated information had come back from merchants sent to entrap the Cow Tribe and probe their weaknesses.
Word had come that the Cow Tribe had bought iron armors en masse and had those armors enchanted.
“Is that true? If so……”
Poorly armed Cow Tribe warriors would have been mere meat shields, but Cow Tribe warriors who were well-equipped would turn into battering chariots.
Ordinary arrow attacks could not inflict meaningful damage on beastmen warriors clad in iron armor.
You had to load aura into the arrows and shoot properly, and there weren’t that many archers with that skill.
If they were armed with iron armor, the plan of defending the castle first and then attacking might need revision.
—Deployment check. Number: roughly 3,000. A little less than half are equipped with iron armor. Quality estimated as high. Note: many Cow Tribe warriors carrying large shields confirmed.
And then.
Precise information arrived from the sentry who had been posted ahead.
The number was about three thousand, and many warriors were armed with iron armor.
What Octosia had worried about was confirmed in reality.
“Where on earth did they get such armor……”
In truth, there were too many suspicious leads.
Perhaps the technically skilled Haken had traded with the beastmen to buy grain, or New Level had been secretly trading with the beastmen behind people’s backs.
New Level, in particular, looked very suspicious.
Regent Octosia also maintained a covertly close relationship with New Level, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they stabbed us in the back at any time.
Frankly, it would have made sense if someone had flooded weapons here to weaken both this place and the beastmen’s strength at the same time.
It would have been nothing to be surprised about — just the sort of thing that happened.
“No, rather, we should suspect that place. Johnson Lordship. They were once a border marquisate and survived the great upheaval between two bans — their forces won’t be trivial.”
I had heard that they were also very short on grain.
Geographically they were not far, so they could trade with the Cow Tribe by some means.
Many beastmen already lived in Johnson Lordship, so trading with beastmen wouldn’t have been strange.
And above all, there was a bitter history with Johnson Lordship.
“Wasn’t it Johnson Lordship that brought down Hauren?”
I had heard that Johnson Lordship exploited the Empire’s vulnerabilities to overthrow Hauren.
It was information quietly revealed by Baines, who had sold grain and bought a lot of weapons, so it was unlikely to be wrong.
It was said that the knights and residents who had escaped from Hauren had fled en masse toward Johnson Lordship.
“If there’s a mana-stone vein there, once they could produce armor, enchanting the armor would have been very easy.”
Even without that, Johnson Lordship was one of Octosia’s top priorities.
According to the intelligence passed along by New Level, Johnson Lordship had a mana-stone mine; capturing the mine alone would multiply the Empire’s power several times over.
If we plundered the Cow Tribe and secured this region, that mine would be the first place to target.
“Once we occupy the mana-stone mine and monopolize the mana crystals together… Those New Level bastards are really cunning.”
For the moment they put aside the question of who had sold iron armor to the Cow Tribe.
Whatever the case, after plundering the Cow Tribe they would have to plunder Johnson Lordship’s mana-stone mine.
If Johnson Lordship had indeed sold armor to the Cow Tribe, they could take revenge later.
Even if not, all of Johnson Lordship’s knights would be executed anyway.
“A Cow Tribe armed with iron armor, huh.”
The problem was how to handle this situation immediately.
No matter how well-defended the castle was, dealing with Cow Tribe warriors in iron armor was awkward.
The Empire’s enemies were not only the Cow Tribe.
There were the two remaining lordships in this region, Baines who supported those two, Haken who had disliked the Empire from the start, New Level who smiled in front but schemed to stab in the back, and finally Johnson Lordship, which had attacked the Empire first.
If too many knights were tied down dealing with only the Cow Tribe, we would suffer greater losses.
“Then we must strike the rear.”
“Keep the Cow Tribe warriors here, then capture their stronghold.”
“They brought three thousand troops. Their stronghold should be empty.”
“Even if empty, beastmen are beastmen. Even non-warrior beastmen are far stronger than human soldiers.”
“They may have obtained iron armor, but their walls are still weak. If we break the walls, no matter how many beastmen there are, they cannot contend with the Empire’s knights.”
Listening to his subordinates, Octosia made a decision.
Rather than suffer unintended damage while facing the Cow Tribe here, they would instead seize the Cow Tribe’s stronghold by surprise.
“Dagren. Although they’re armored, you only need to defend. Can you do it?”
“I will surely hold.”
“Good. Then assemble all the forces. Strike in one blow.”
Octosia’s decision was extremely bold.
She planned to gather all regional forces and strike at once.
In truth, it was an unavoidable choice.
Given the Cow Tribe’s considerable strength, some troops had to remain to defend the castle; attacking the Cow Tribe’s stronghold with too few troops could have spelled disaster.
The Cow Tribe numbered roughly thirty thousand — larger than any other beastmen tribe — and even their non-warrior members were stronger than ordinary human soldiers.
To force a surrender from the Cow Tribe forces that would rush here, they needed to seize the Cow Tribe’s stronghold and secure as many hostages as possible; with too few troops that would be difficult.
And above all, time was running out.
Whatever troops were sent, delay would be a definite loss.
There were many enemies waiting to exploit any gap left by withdrawn troops.
Swift victory: secure a large amount of grain and minimize casualties.
To achieve all those objectives required daring action.
“One thousand knights. Two thousand soldiers. These are the forces to launch the attack to capture the Cow Tribe’s castle. I will personally command the troops. I will leave three hundred knights with Dagren to hold this place.”
Thus Octosia decided to personally secure the Cow Tribe’s territory.
And even then, she could not have imagined that there might be a small number of beastmen who would pray that as many troops as possible would gather at the Second Horn.