novelraw Chapter 137: Iberica - The Defense of Dilrus (3)
Chapter 137: Iberica - The Defense of Dilrus (3)
The fortress wall, which they believed would steadfastly protect them, was breached in an instant.
“Fuck, fuck, fuuuck!”
Making matters worse, it was breached in a horrific manner no one could have imagined—faster than any scenario the command anticipated. All that remained was the soldiers' panic.
“Aaargh!”
As a Drone's hand pierced his chest like a blade, the unfortunate soldier let out a gruesome scream and spurted blood.
“Wh-What! They were only supposed to stun us!”
In that moment, fear and chaos consumed the soldiers.
“Hiiiik, save me, save meee.”
As the Drones, specialists in close combat, leaped onto the narrow fortress wall and began their rampage, the soldiers stationed there were instantly overwhelmed.
*“Heok, heok, heoook-”
Damien de Millbeau was running.
This was madness. How were they supposed to stop something like that?
You have to be told to stop something that can be stopped to even make an effort to stop it.
He didn't have monstrous martial skills like Gaston.
He didn't have the kind of obsession that bordered on madness, like Marquis Lafayette, who would charge in even if his own body were on fire.
He wasn't as smart as that inhuman Countess Aquitaine, nor was he as experienced as Grand Duke Leopold.
He was just lucky enough to have won somehow until now.
This battlefield was completely outside the norm. He had never learned how to win in a situation like this.
So, running away like this.
He had been put in a position he never wanted in the first place, dragged to a battlefield he never wanted to be on--no, if he had just pillaged some easy fief like everyone else, why did he have to touch the Marquisate Lafayette? He was so full of himself just because he had a little of His Excellency the Count’s favor, he just couldn’t come to his senses…….
“It’s not my fault.”
-'To be shamefully defeated by the ‘Shame of the Nobility’ and have a ransom paid suggests we were greatly mistaken about the Young Master.'
“It’s not like I wanted to be here.”
-I heard he ran away like a coward from the battlefield where his father and older brother died? And he calls himself a count after that? The prestige of Milbeau has really…
“There was no need to die together.”
-Still, he's a count from a knightly family, for crying out loud, yet he suffered such a crushing defeat at the hands of a woman from a mere merchant guild family. Phew, were it me, I would have at least preserved my honor by taking my own life.
Damien ran, tears streaming down his face, and then stopped.
-Tsk, tsk, the Milbeau family is finished now.
In the end, he got nothing he wanted.
It was only after he gave up his honor and title, begging Marquis Lafayette for his life because he wanted to live at any cost, and letting go of everything he had dreamed of, that he was able to gain something.
He had been dragged along by Marquis Lafayette and Countess Aquitaine all the way here. He had insisted like a broken record that none of it was his own will, but.
-Ending up with nothing to show for it is scarier. That's why I want to achieve my dreams and gain honor.
Failing, failing, failing.
Wasn’t it because he wanted to at least try to do something that he groveled before Marquis Lafayette, and Countess Aquitaine recommended him to become a commander?
If he runs away like this now.
An incompetent fool who ruined his territory while acting as he pleased as the Acting Lord, a coward who abandoned his father and older brother and fled, a halfwit who was shamefully defeated by a woman who had never even handled soldiers.
What's next?
-If you were to relinquish your fame as a Commander of the Revolutionary Army, what would remain, Your Excellency?
His impudent subordinate's voice resonated in his mind.
“Fuck.”
Damien turned his back and started running again.
-Did you see that? Did you? I'm not weak! Lafayette was the weird one! Look, you bastards! I'm strong!
The screams and noise he had been escaping grew closer in an instant.
-Oh, ooooh!
Running, running.
-Long live His Excellency Count Millbeau!
He drew his sword.
“Fuuuuck!”
Cursing, Damien leaped up the stairs in a single bound and swung his sword with all his might, lopping off the head of a Drone about to thrust its hand into a fallen subordinate.
“Heok, heuk, Your Excellency the Count? Run…-”
Giselle Davi, who had begun speaking without realizing it, clapped both hands over her mouth. Damien reached out a hand to her, pulled her up, and seeing the state of the fortress wall, which had become a pandemonium, a scene of carnage, he gathered all his mana and shouted.
“Snap out of it, you bastards! We have a plan for a breached wall! Why are you fighting here like idiots? Retreat quickly! General Nicolas Nere! Are you alive?”
“Hraaaagh! Commander, I am alive!”
Seeing Nicolas Nere appear, smashing a Drone's head with his bayonet, Damien shouted with a more fervent voice than ever before.
“Assemble the Grenadiers! Let’s cover the retreat of the soldiers together with me!”
*
From Dilrus, far away but distinct, the sounds of successive explosions and cannon fire could be heard.
“Your Excellency, Marquis, is it not yet time?”
To Shandra’s question, I shook my head.
“……Not yet.”
Shandra looked frustrated, but she stepped back for now.
In the meantime, the sound of explosions came again from far away.
“Um, Your Excellency, Marquis, I’ve followed your orders so far, but you know this is a bit strange, right?”
To Jerome Morelle’s words, I gave no answer, but glanced at Gaston standing beside me.
He was waiting for me silently, but sweat was also trickling down his forehead.
……Is this really the right thing to do?
Can I afford to wait, betting the lives of the residents of Dilrus, Kroxx’s army, and even the soldiers of the Revolutionary Army on my trust in that succubus?
There is the option of sending out the Chasseurs to find him myself.
If that happened, our position with the withdrawn cavalry would inevitably be discovered, and if we don’t find him in time, Paimon might notice and escape.
I had even considered the worst-case scenario of returning to Dilrus, abandoning the city, and supporting the retreat of the residents and Kroxx while cutting off their pursuit.
But in the end, as I delay my decision, sacrifices are being made.
Perhaps it would be better to give up now and rush to Dilrus to reduce the damage, rather than waiting and trusting a demon.
No, just a little more. Just a little more.
Amidst the blood-curdling sensation, a familiar existence came into my view.
A butterfly with a unique pattern of gold and black wings.
In the next moment, with a familiar sense of incongruity, the people and cavalry who had been waiting near me all disappeared.
I almost let out a sigh of relief without realizing it, and forcing it down, I said.
“……You’re late.”
Gremory, appearing before me, fluttered her wings, spun around, and then smiled brightly.
“I can’t help it if it takes time for me to find him, you know.”
Then, she spun around again, pointed her hand towards a distant direction, and said.
“From here, roughly 1,400 yards in the north-northwest direction, about 3,000 Drones guard him on a hill overlooking Dilrus.”
My brow furrowed instinctively.
“……That’s a lot, isn't it?”
Gremory smiled slightly and replied.
“Paimon is the cautious type.”
“……Alright. If your information is accurate, I’ll keep our deal.”
Hearing my answer, Gremory smiled deeply, blew a kiss with her hand, and winked.
“I’m glad to hear that. In that case, here’s a little service for Your Lordship, the Marquis, for waiting so patiently for me, even though I was late~”
At the same time, Gremory’s hand glowed, and a soft, warm light seeped into me.
A blessing, just like Eris’s.
With an expression of utmost piety, the golden demon in a nun’s habit gathered her hands as if in prayer and said.
“May God’s blessing be with you, Your Lordship the Marquis.”
Feeling the vitality course through my body—I replied.
“That was the most absurd of all the prayers I’ve received in my life.”
Gremory giggled and slowly faded away, and I felt that incongruous sensation of the air changing again.
“Your Excellency the Marquis? You just disappeared and reappeared-”
“I'll explain later, Gaston. Prepare the unit to move! North-northwest, distance is about-”
Instead of explaining in detail to the slightly flustered Gaston, I was about to give the order, but then I stopped.
Ah, shit.
How much is 1,400 yards in the metric system?
I don’t know because that stupid succubus told me in yards.
How am I supposed to know a unit that only demons would use!
*
Fortunately, it didn't matter that I didn't know the exact distance.
After riding in that direction for a while, the Drones came out to meet us on their own.
“Morelle!”
“Hahat, yep! Leave it to me!”
Hearing my shout, Morelle gave a playful salute and went ahead with the Chasseurs.
The distance between the rapidly sprinting Drones and the Chasseurs closed rapidly—
“Hah, yah!”
At a hair-raising distance, Jerome Morelle and the Chasseurs pulled their reins to split left and right, turned their horses, and the Drones followed suit.
For a moment, the formation of the Drones chasing the Chasseurs split in half—and the Cuirassiers, led by me, began to gallop straight through the empty center.
I glanced over my shoulder and watched Morelle and the Chasseurs dodging the Drones while maintaining a very close distance, as if performing acrobatics.
Gremory's information is very accurate.
Provided you maintain a good distance, the Drones will only prioritize attacking the nearest enemy.
They may be terrifying weapons, feeling neither fear nor pain, but that is the limit of a mindless puppet.
I looked at the still swarming Drones up ahead.
And in the very center was a demon with blood-red hair, who had even brought a chair and sat with her legs crossed in an elegant pose.
“Paimon……”
At that moment, a purple light flashed from the horn on the blood-red demon’s head, and the Drones surrounding Paimon began to charge towards us in unison.
Indeed, that one must be the Drones’ command tower!
“Gaston, Shandra! I’m counting on you!”
“As you command, Your Excellency the Marquis!”
“Leave it to us!”
Gaston and Shandra once again led the Cuirassiers to split off and crush the Drones; I kicked my horse’s rump again and plunged into the thinned central battle line.
I immediately cut off the arm of a Drone reaching for me, and then its neck.
The Mithril Sword in my hand felt as light as a feather.
I don't want to admit it, but Gremory is certainly being helpful; as I was madly galloping, lopping off the heads of all the Drones in sight, a disgustingly beautiful voice reached me.
“My, you surprise me in so many ways, Your Lordship, Marquis Lafayette. If you had told me in advance that you would be so kind as to visit, I would have prepared a much more proper reception with great care.”
Paimon, wearing a white gown over a purple dress, with a very lazy face, was chattering leisurely, sitting on a chair in a half-reclining pose with legs crossed.
“Ha, quite relaxed, aren’t you.”
As I cut down a Drone charging at me with the sword in my right hand, I immediately drew a dagger with my left hand from my waist and threw it.
Paimon didn’t react at all, even after seeing the dagger I had thrown. She simply let out a long yawn, in that same posture.
I had even imbued it with mana, but the dagger was easily blocked by Paimon’s magic barrier and shattered into pieces.
Slowly.
Paimon, deliberately taking his time and rising slowly, lifted the hem of his dress and bowed, greeting me like a human lady.
“Well then. I, Paimon, CEO of Sloth Corp, a subsidiary of Abyss Corporation, shall welcome His Excellency Pierre de Lafayette, Commander-in-Chief of the Francia Revolutionary Army.”
But the moment Paimon lifted his head, all the laziness that had surrounded him until then vanished.
Paimon, with the face of a madman in a state of ecstasy, spread his arms wide and exclaimed.
“I have waited so long for this moment, Your Lordship, the Marquis Lafayette! It was a long and roundabout journey, but I am truly delighted you accepted this CEO’s invitation, even now!”
“Demons are all the same, every last one of them.”
Immediately, I spurred my horse and swung my sword, pouring all my mana into it.
But Paimon, once again, did not move, standing on the chair.
Instead, a Drone leaped in and took my sword blow.
“Tsk-”
Immediately, Drones charged in from all sides. I swung my mana-infused sword wide, cutting them down and knocking them away to create distance.
In the meantime, Paimon, as if imitating a puppeteer, spread both hands in a strange shape and declared.
“Since you have graced us with your presence in the royal box, I hope you will enjoy the puppet show personally performed by the CEO of Sloth Corp, who is putting aside his laziness for you.”
I replied.
“Sorry, but it’s not to my taste, your disgusting theater troupe is going out of business today.”