Chapter 18 – Invasion (1)
“We will now invade the Kingdom of Inglith.”
At Lord Ewaldt’s words, the demons let out roars of joy.
It was so loud that I felt reverberations in the ground.
After Lord Ewaldt was sealed, the demons gradually weakened, and their battles with the humans became increasingly difficult.
If this continued, the demons would eventually lose and perish.
But that didn’t happen.
The Demon Lord has been resurrected.
This seems to have energized the demons more than anything else.
“The Kingdom of Inglith also has a Saint. She is the lynchpin of the human army. We must destroy her. The more humans we kill, the more our Queen will grow the Undead Legion, and the easier the invasion will be. My compatriots, kill the humans.”
A battle cry echoed through the air.
The eyes of all the demons were shining brightly, as if they were extremely happy to receive Lord Ewaldt’s orders.
And so, our invasion began.
From the fallen Fort Alphadia, along the highway, the Undead Legion of zombies and skeletons advanced first.
Next were the low-ranking demons such as orcs and ghouls, then the mid-ranking demons such as lycanthropes, and finally the high-ranking demons such as vampires and werewolves.
I, Lord Ewaldt, and Wilhelm, Rodolphe, and Hilde, who are accompanying this expedition, are among the high ranks.
Alexia and Fahlen stayed behind as guardians of the Demon Castle.
Although the invasion was carried out on foot, demons have more stamina than humans, so they can cover more distance in a day than humans.
Besides, they can replenish their supplies by raiding villages and towns along the way, and since the majority of low-ranking demons eat humans, they won’t have much trouble finding food.
If there isn’t enough food, a simple search of the surrounding area will reveal many places where humans live.
In addition, Wilhelm’s dragon troops will also travel between the Demon Castle and the army, transporting necessary supplies.
There was no trouble at all.
…… In war, the transportation of supplies is very important.
This was part of my education as the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
No matter how strong a person is, they cannot survive without water and food, and without these things they become weak.
In that respect, the Dragon transport fleet was excellent.
They can transport large amounts of goods in a short amount of time.
It’s great that there are no logistics issues to worry about.
“Even so, the demons also have carriages.”
I muttered as I was rocked back and forth.
“You didn’t think we were going to march in on foot, did you?”
“No, I thought we would be on horseback.”
I replied to Lord Ewaldt’s question.
However, in reality, I was being rocked around in a large carriage.
The horses pulling the carriages are also unusual.
It is a magical beast called Sleipnir, with eight legs, a fierce temperament, and is sturdy, powerful, and has vast stamina.
Such a magical beast is pulling the carriage.
The driver is a vampire under Alexia’s command.
“You can ride a horse, Rachel?”
“If it’s a horse used by humans, then yes, but a Sleipnir might be impossible.”
“Not necessarily. You have an enormous amount of mana. Sleipnirs instinctively sense when someone is stronger than they are. As you are now, it’s possible for you to subjugate a Sleipnir and ride it.”
“If someone weaker than it tries?”
“It won’t let them ride. If they try to force it, they’ll be kicked to death.”
…… You’re such a good boy, pulling a carriage.
Although I felt a little uneasy, I was immortal, so I wouldn’t die if anything happened.
Lord Ewaldt spreads out the map on his lap.
“This is where we are now. And the capital of the Kingdom of Inglith is here. At our current speed, we should arrive in a little over three weeks.”
We departed two days after the fall of Fort Alphadia, and it would take five days for the fast horses to reach the capital even if they galloped day and night.
The Royal Capital has about two and a half weeks to prepare.
However, there was a way to stall the preparations.
“Hilde, how is everything going with the plan?”
I asked Hilde, who was also in the carriage, and she smiled happily and nodded.
“Yes, everything is going well. I’ve assigned my subordinates to the higher-ups of the surrounding countries. Our captivate spell is so strong, once they’re under it, they won’t be able to break it easily. I’m sure they will do as we please.”
The Kingdom of Inglith itself is not a very large country.
In fact, the size of its military forces is small compared to other countries.
The reason for this is the peace treaties that have been signed with the neighboring countries.
The Kingdom of Inglith, which has the Arendt Front, receives funds, personnel, and weapons from neighboring countries in exchange for being at the forefront of the fight against the demons.
And the Kingdom of Inglith and its neighboring countries have decided not to wage war against each other until the demons are defeated and exterminated.
Therefore, the Kingdom of Inglith has no problem even if it has a small army.
The kingdom will not be attacked, and its anti-demon army will naturally receive funds, personnel, weapons, and other resources from neighboring countries.
Furthermore, if any country tries to invade the Kingdom of Inglith, the other countries will come to its aid.
That’s why the Kingdom of Inglith itself does not allocate much budget and manpower to its military.
…… Well, other countries do not think well of it, though.
However, if the Kingdom of Inglith were to be attacked and destroyed by the demons, the neighboring countries would be at constant war with the demons along their borders.
If that happens, the humans will have no leeway to help each other.
That being the case, it would be better to give money, personnel, and weapons to the Kingdom of Inglith, where the front lines are located, and leave them to it.
“So, you can manipulate the surrounding countries so that they don’t support the Kingdom of Inglith as planned?”
“Yes, it’s fine. The werewolf troops are causing quite a stir right now, so we’ll whisper that the priority should be dealing with the demons hiding within the country first. We’ll also say that other countries will surely take action, so they’ll probably feel that they don’t need to take action themselves.”
“That sounds good.”
Right now, the surrounding countries are in an uproar as multiple werewolf troops sent to each of them are attacking villages and towns here and there.
The people, out of fear and anxiety that they might be attacked at any moment, were dissatisfied with the Royal Family and the country’s upper echelons, and demanded that the situation be resolved immediately.
The country’s upper echelons will likely respond to that.
Otherwise, the people will lose confidence in them.
Manpower will be used for domestic affairs.
Even if the Kingdom of Inglith were to ask for personnel, money, and weapons, they would not have the manpower to send their way, or even if they did, they would be very few in number.
They prioritize their own domestic issues, believing that other countries would comply.
What if all the neighboring countries thought the same way?
As a result, the Kingdom of Inglith would have to fight the invading demons with its own army alone, since it would receive no support from any country.
“You look happy today.”
Lord Ewaldt strokes my cheek.
“If it goes well, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
“Well, is there anything I can do to help?”
He kisses my forehead.
“Lord Ewaldt, I owe you for the Demon Lord’s army. I don’t think I can ask for any more help than that……”
“That’s not something I did personally. I want to do something for you, Rachel.”
I’m glad to hear that.
No one had ever said that to me when I was human.
“Just having you by my side is enough.”
I put my hand on the one touching my cheek.
“Watch over me as I seek my revenge. If I ever find myself losing, help me then.”
“Of course, my Queen, I’ll help you. But until then, I won’t need to interfere, right?”
I nodded back.
“Yes. I’m sorry for being so selfish.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize. A husband is supposed to protect and help his wife. Besides, Rachel, if your revenge is successful, from then on your heart will only be directed towards me, right?”
When I hear that, I try to imagine it.
What will become of me after I have exacted my revenge?
It seems like once I achieve my goal there will be nothing left.
…… But that’s not entirely true.
After that, Lord Ewaldt will remain by my side.
The demons will surely call me the Demon Queen and swear eternal loyalty to me.
“I want all of your heart.”
He kisses my forehead again.
I thought that after my revenge, I would fall deeply in love with Lord Ewaldt.
It’s not because he’s my favorite character from a previous life.
Because he helped me get my revenge.
Because he gave me warmth and love.
Because he’s the only one who wanted me.
When I have accomplished my revenge and my feet stop moving, I may be captured by Lord Ewaldt in the truest sense of the word.
I wonder if I am okay with that because I have realized how much I love Lord Ewaldt.
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Zah, zah, zah. The sound echoes through the air.
So far, two villages have been raided and destroyed, and new zombies have been added to the existing Undead Legion.
Including those killed on the Arendt Front, the Undead Legion alone numbered in the tens of thousands.
Those sounds were the uninterrupted steps of tens of thousands, especially skeletons.
The zombies walking in front of the skeleton sway their bodies from side to side, occasionally bumping shoulders with similar zombies next to them, and walking in time with the sound of the skeletons.
Perhaps sensing the Undead Legion consisting of zombies and skeletons, the animals along the highway fled, and the forest was terribly quiet.
The Undead Legion was followed by low, middle, and high-ranking demons, and there were dragons flying in the sky above, which also kept watch over the surrounding area.
Wilhelm had a view of everything from above.
In a word, it’s nothing short of spectacular.
Wilhelm glided low over the carriage.
“Demon Lord, we will soon arrive in the city of Eschtlath.”
When informed through telepathy, he replied, “I see”.
After a moment, the entire army was instructed through telepathy to “halt”, and they immediately stopped moving.
The Undead Legion is under the Demon Queen’s control, so she must have halted it.
Wilhelm changed his form and landed beside the stopped carriage.
He knocked on the door of the carriage, and after hearing a voice from inside, the door opened.
“That will be all for today. Let everyone rest.”
Wilhelm asked back at the Demon Lord’s words.
“What are your plans for the invasion of the city?”
“I’ll have the Dragon Squad handle that.”
The Demon Queen said.
“We will do the same as we did with the fort. However, instead of transporting demons, they’ll be transporting the Undead Legion. There are several squares in the city, so I’d like you to transport them there again.”
“Only the Undead Legion?”
“This is to ensure that we don’t exhaust our precious troops here.”
Hmm, Wilhelm thinks.
Hilde, who was in the carriage, didn’t seem to have anything in particular to say, but Rodolphe looked a little bored.
“We will attack other towns and villages in the future. When we do, you will be allowed to rampage as much as you like, so please conserve your strength until then.”
Rodolphe responded to the Demon Queen’s words.
“My body is getting sluggish.”
The Demon Queen gave a wry smile.
“If you insist, I don’t really mind you joining in. Won’t that tire you out?”
“It’s more frustrating to be unable to do anything when there’s a human in front of you. Especially us werewolves, we love to fight the most.”
“Then, please recruit those who want to join. They will invade with the Undead Legion, and if there are any humans that the skeletons or zombies can’t defeat, please kill them. Oh, and after you kill them, could you please decapitate them?”
“Fine, but why?”
The Demon Queen smiles softly.
“It would be a waste to turn such strong ones into mere zombies, so I thought I’d turn them into Dullahan and have them follow me.”
“Got it, I’ll let the others know.”
“Also, a city this size should have a flying wyvern unit. Would it be all right if I ask Wilhelm and the others to take care of that?”
When asked, Wilhelm nodded.
“No problem.”
In the case of Fort Alphadia, it was practically a surprise attack, so it fell before the wyvern units had a chance to depart, but in a city of this size, there would be a decent number of flying wyverns stationed there.
However, dragons would never lose an aerial battle.
In the Arendt Front, they had destroyed many reconnaissance wyverns, fought many times, and understood the aerial battle of humans.
The Demon Queen smiled contentedly.
“The transport will be carried out in the middle of the night, just as in the previous fort. This time you will be discovered, so the dragons should be careful. Until then, we will stand by.”
“Understood.”
“Got it.”
Hilde pursed her lips in a bored manner.
“Say, Demon Queen, what about us -?”
The Demon Queen smiled.
“Of course there is work to be done. Hilde, I want you and the others to go ahead and infiltrate the towns and the Royal City by pretending to have fled from Eschtlath, then spread rumors.”
“Oh, what kind of rumors?”
“The rumor will claim that ‘The Saint of Inglith Kingdom is actually involved with the demons’. For example ‘That’s why she can predict the demons’ movements in advance’, or ‘The reason she doesn’t use the powers of a Saint is because it would be detrimental to the demons if she did’. Something like that. If you use your charm to manipulate it, the rumors will spread in no time.”
Rodolphe wrinkles his nose.
“The Saint and the demons in cahoots, just the idea sickens me.”
“I’m sorry, but by spreading such rumors, the humans will gradually become suspicious of the Saint. Moreover, in the midst of the demon invasion, if her prophecies are repeatedly wrong, the distrust will increase.”
Hilde nodded.
“Then we’ll go ahead first~.”
“Yes, and can you also spread the word that ‘The city of Eschtlath fell into the hands of the demons because the Saint kept silent about the prophecy’?”
“Sure thing~”
Hilde stood up and exited the carriage.
Then she turned towards her subordinates.
“Wilhelm, please prepare the boxes for transportation.”
“Yes, understood.”
The Demon Lord strokes the Demon Queen’s head.
You can tell that the Demon Lord is in a pretty good mood.
Likely, this is also affecting the other demons.
Rodolphe also gets out of the carriage.
“I should get ready too.”
As if to dismiss the intruder, Rodolphe tapped Wilhelm on the shoulder, and after a brief bow, Wilhelm closed the door.
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Sads Translates 