Fun Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord (Novel) - Chapter 85 - The Marquis's Astonishment

Chapter 85 – The Marquis’s Astonishment

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Translated by Sylph

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“Scudetto under sudden assault.”

When I received that report, what came to mind first was the Kingdom of Yerinetta’s yearly harassment.

They know the odds are poor if they fight us directly. But the steadily growing strength of the Kingdom of Scuderia is still an eyesore to them.

Then they will repeat small skirmishes year after year and force us to divert power into defense.

That is the reason for the Kingdom of Yerinetta’s conduct.

Even so, each year they still prepare enough men to make an assault on a fortress city. And once a fortress city has been encircled, the problem of food will arise as well.

“…It cannot be helped. We march with only the First Knight Order and the mage corps. Also, send messengers to the neighboring lords and tell them to dispatch troops as well.”

When I said that, the butler Silhouette opened his mouth.

“Lord Marquis, nearby Scudetto there is also the village ruled by your son, Lord Van…”

“Are you a fool? That is no village from which troops can be dispatched. More than that, it is likely all they can do there to feed themselves.”

When I answered that, Silhouette made a difficult face and objected once more.

“Even so, according to the traveling merchant who recently came from the royal capital, Lord Van was granted the rank of baron for the merit of dragon subjugation…”

At those words, I let out a deep sigh.

This man, who became the head butler as Espada’s replacement, certainly understands and can carry out the role of a butler.

But he lacks the depth of knowledge and experience Espada had, and so is shallow in his judgment.

“Nonsense. Try thinking for yourself a little. What value do rumors and secondhand words hold? In the first place, if he had slain even a young dragon or a lesser dragon, then that report ought to have been brought first to my marquis house. Yet no such report exists.”

“T-That may be true, but… Lord Van is not an ordinary child. Perhaps he has done something beyond the imagination of ordinary men…”

“Silence. Be silent and make the preparations quickly.”

When I cut him off and said that, Silhouette nodded with a troubled expression and left the room.

From long ago, I had often heard similar words from those carrying out their duties within the manor.

“Van must surely be a genius.”

Among the maids in particular, that phrase had apparently been used quite often.

There was a time when, taking those words at face value, I paid close attention to him out of curiosity, but to my eyes he looked no more than a child with a good memory.

Indeed, Espada and Dee gave him painstaking instruction, and yet he never produced results particularly superior to the other children.

When he failed to produce results, I wondered if perhaps everyone sensed a hidden potential I myself could not perceive.

But then his magical aptitude was appraised, and the result was the worst possible.

Because my expectations had been high, the disappointment was all the greater, and I felt my own feelings go cold with shocking speed.

“What do they mean, the new hero of dragon slaying. What could a child possibly do in that tiny village to slay a dragon? Even with Espada and Dee there, it should be utterly impossible.”

Snorting, I looked out the window.

The city’s main road stretched northward. It was along that road that Van departed for the nameless village.

For reasons I do not understand, he is well-liked, and many maids and soldiers volunteered to accompany him on his departure, but I rejected it. There was no point assigning excess personnel to the governance of a doomed frontier.

And so, when I heard that Van had achieved merit and had even been invested with a title, the first thing that came to mind was Count Ferdinand’s plotting.

That land had been taken from the count. I thought perhaps the count had lent Van assistance, earned his gratitude, and was plotting to recover the territory that way.

But I dismissed that idea at once. It was too roundabout and generated unnecessary risk. It was not the sort of move that count, ever wary of me, would make.

Having judged that so quickly, I had erased Van from my mind.

“…Ridiculous. Still, once I have driven off the forces of the Kingdom of Yerinetta, perhaps I will stop by once.”

If he has managed to develop the village even a little, perhaps I might consider providing some assistance.

Upon reaching the largest town near Scudetto, I gathered together the knight orders and mercenaries of the neighboring towns and proceeded directly toward Scudetto.

Since we have fought again and again over these same routes, we reached Scudetto in scarcely three weeks.

The report had come by courier horse, and we should have arrived with the greatest speed yet.

And yet part of Scudetto’s wall had already been broken, and the city was completely encircled by the enemy.

“Impossible… the stout walls of Scudetto…”

The instant I muttered that, something small and black fell from the sky onto the wall.

The next moment, flames burst up with a ground-shaking impact, and black smoke rose.

“What magic is that, coming from the sky…!?”

“W-We don’t know! There are countless wyverns in the sky, but could there really be mages on them…!?”

The captain answered my question in bewilderment.

At that, the dark-blue-haired man beside me, Stradale, narrowed his eyes sharply.

“That attack appears to have dealt a fatal blow to the wall. Collapse is imminent. There is no question that the previous attack was carried out by dropping something from the wyverns. It would be effective either to destroy those objects with your fire magic while they are still overhead, or else to keep constantly moving on the ground and drive off the enemy ground troops.”

At that suggestion, I gave a shallow nod.

“Understood. But destroying those objects with mages is too dangerous. And targeting them from diagonally below puts them too far away. The same applies to striking the wyverns themselves.”

“Then I will drive off the ground troops.”

“Mm.”

Once I answered that, Stradale immediately began directing the troops and deploying them.

Watching his back as he moved without hesitation, I smiled quietly.

Really, he is a reliable man. Possessed of abundant strategic intelligence, Stradale is truly a man worthy of serving as the commander of my knight order.

“Watch for attacks from the wyverns! Do not stop moving, and advance quickly!”

Giving that concise order, Stradale led the troops onward at a gallop.

The enemy had no formal formation, but if we simply charged straight in with the entire army, we would be surrounded from both sides. To prevent that, we too had to spread out left and right and advance so as to half-encircle the fortress city.

Still, as long as we paid attention to that much, this ought to have been just another task of driving away enemies advancing on a wall.

Which meant the greatest attention should be directed toward the wyverns.

Thinking that, I watched from the provisional headquarters, but the battle did not unfold as I had expected.

Shocks and tremors spread through the air from every direction, and my soldiers were blown away.

I thought it some new kind of magic, but it did not have that sort of feel. Still, this was not something to ignore.

“Tell the troops in front to split to the left and right. I will go.”

“…Y-Yes, sir! At once!”

At my words, the young captain answered and spurred his horse away.

After a short while, the order had been passed through the troops, and a great opening appeared in the center.

Left behind there were only the soldiers of the Kingdom of Yerinetta facing us with the wall at their backs.

Seeing that, I chanted.

“Flare.”

With those words, I invoked my magic.

The gauntlets made of Fire Dragon hide and mithril were engulfed in flame and writhed like living things.

And then the flames, burning furiously as they grew in force, surged toward the soldiers of the Kingdom of Yerinetta.

The band of flames licked along the ground, burning both living and dead alike, creating more than a hundred ash-made human forms before striking the wall. Denied anywhere further to go, the fiery band lashed at the side of the wall, creating a sight like a wall of flame itself.

At that single strike of mine, the nearby enemy soldiers froze in terror, while only my own knight order, who had anticipated it, brought down their swords without delay.

In an instant, the tide of battle changed, my knight order chased the fleeing enemy soldiers, and we retook half the area around Scudetto.

Would this be enough to manage somehow?

That was what I thought, when once more I saw black things falling from the sky.
“This is bad.”
The instant I muttered that, the ground thundered in many places, shaking the formation of my knight order spread out to left and right.
“…It seems this battle will not proceed as the others before it have.”
With that murmur and a sigh, I began another chant of magic.