Chapter 34 - 34 Assault on the Royal Capital
The following day, Steve took Bella and used Teleportation to move to Sowell Land. Their destination was a room prepared by Aurora. This was out of consideration to ensure they wouldn't be discovered by anyone other than those involved. Although he had already been seen by many, Steve's Teleportation magic was, technically, a state secret.
Furthermore, because Steve had informed Christina of today's sortie immediately before teleporting, he had been scolded quite severely.
Bella laughed as she recalled that moment.
"Steve, you really don't understand a woman's heart."
"I'm still a child, it would be weirder if I did."
He replied to Bella with a pout. However, since Steve's inner self was an adult, he felt a sense of regret, thinking he could have handled Christina much better.
Thinking that he would do better next time, he opened the door to the room and headed toward the meeting place with Leo.
The location was a plaza within the castle. Leo and his soldiers were already waiting there.
Seeing Steve, Leo approached him.
"We have been waiting for you, Master Mage."
"Good morning. Wait, what's with that? Why such overly polite language?"
"After seeing yesterday's results, it is only natural. My territory and my people were saved by your hand. To think such a person of talent was here in our West. I can only feel shame for my own blindness."
Being praised so highly by Leo, Steve felt an itch at the back of his neck. Since he wasn't used to such treatment, embarrassment took precedence. In his stead, Bella puffed out her chest.
"I knew it, Steve's overflowing greatness is finally getting through to everyone."
"It's kind of embarrassing, though."
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You should just be more dignified."
"Mmm, I'm not good at that."
Even in his previous life, he rarely bragged about things. That might have been the influence of his father from his previous life. His father's philosophy was that a craftsman should take pride in their workmanship and should not puff out their chest with attitudes or words.
Once, when presidents of small town factories started appearing frequently on TV and commenting on various things, his father had watched and gotten angry.
"This guy isn't a craftsman, he's an entertainer."
He hadn't liked the fact that, despite being a mold-maker, the man was talking about things in a studio rather than at his workplace, the factory.
Steve also preferred it if people praised the results rather than himself. In this case, it would have been enough if they just said they were saved because the enemies were removed from the town.
Because of that, he felt very uncomfortable right now.
"Well then, time is limited, so I'm going to teleport us."
"Right. All right, first wave, move out!"
The soldiers responded to Leo's command. The first wave consisted of fifty knights, and since all of them responded at once, a fairly loud voice echoed. He teleported them sequentially with their swords drawn so they could engage in combat immediately upon arrival.
However, he had confirmed the safety of the destination through the eyes of the insects he had contracted with the day before, so there was no chance of an unexpected encounter with the enemy.
Upon teleporting, Steve immediately moved to restrain the enemies.
The Kingdom of Forest side was in a state of unrest because Margrave Bradle had suddenly gone missing. His adjutant had also gone missing at the same time, and they were currently debating whether to look outside after finishing the search inside the fort. However, there was no commander capable of overseeing ten thousand men, so the thousand-man commanders had gathered to hold repeated discussions.
Naturally, no orders had been given to the subordinates, and they were not prepared for an enemy attack. At this point, even an attack from the outside might have caught them off guard.
This time was even worse; a knight order centered around a mage had entered the interior of the fort.
Steve restrained every enemy he saw with magic. Since they were inside a building, there were many things obstructing the line of sight, so not many people noticed Steve and his group at once. Thus, they were able to proceed while restraining enemies without much difficulty.
Even if there were a room with many people, he could perceive them in advance through the eyes of the insects and rats he had released into the fort, so it never turned into a large-scale battle.
Then, they burst into the room where the thousand-man commanders were holding their meeting.
One of the thousand-man commanders barked at Steve and the others.
"Who are you lot!"
"We're enemies, obviously."
Steve said as he restrained everyone in the room.
"Order your soldiers to surrender. If you do, I won't take your lives here."
"As if we would surrender to the likes of you! Do you understand the current situation? We are in the territory of the Kingdom of Cascade. No matter how you look at it, we have the advantage. Even if my life ends here, the soldiers here will continue the invasion!"
The thousand-man commander who had shouted earlier refused to listen to Steve. In his mind, only a small number of people had infiltrated the fort using Teleportation magic or something similar, and he believed they could win if they pushed with numbers.
That thought was correct halfway. It was just the part about winning with numbers that was wrong.
"Can you say the same even if the Margrave's life is at stake?"
"His Excellency is a warrior. He would not make a choice to discard victory out of fear for his life!"
"Heh. If that's true, I wonder why he was preparing to flee, abandoning the soldiers left in Solenoid Town? It's because his life is precious, isn't it?"
The thousand-man commanders were shaken by Steve's words. This was because Margrave Bradle had been captured by the Kingdom of Cascade, and he had even spoken about fleeing and abandoning the soldiers left in Solenoid Town.
In reality, it wasn't that he had confessed; Steve knew because he had overheard the conversation with the adjutant through an insect.
And while the thousand-man commanders didn't know the truth of it, if it were true that such talk had occurred, it would mean Margrave Bradle had judged that this war could not be won, so there would be no point in resisting here.
As a result, the thousand-man commanders accepted the surrender. After having the soldiers disarm, they were restrained as prisoners and led away by the additional soldiers sent in via Teleportation. Though calling it "led away," it was instantaneous via Teleportation.
Subsequently, they recaptured the border fort in the same manner.
At this stage, 25,000 prisoners were gathered in Sowell Land, creating a situation where the construction of stockades could not keep up. As a countermeasure, the commoner soldiers of low rank were sold off one after another to slave traders as war slaves.
Those of a certain rank were kept because it seemed likely that ransoms could be collected.
Having finished the recapture of the domestic forts scheduled for today, Steve talked with Leo and Aurora in the office. Bella was also present.
"With this, the enemies within the territory have been eliminated, Your Excellency."
"It was a great help. Since we've captured Margrave Bradle as well, I feel like we could even end it here."
"No, from here on, we will carry out the attack up to the enemy's royal capital as planned. We have no additional attrition, and I want to complete the conquest of the capital before they can take countermeasures against this doctrine."
"I understand."
Aurora wanted Steve to change his mind, but realizing persuasion was impossible, she decided to stick to the original plan.
She likely gave up, thinking the speed of the invasion would be so fast that the war would conclude before she could devise any schemes.
"Are you saying that a means to counter this 'doctrine' of yours can be taken?"
Leo asked Steve. Leo could not think of a way to counter the fort conquest using Steve's magic that he had witnessed.
Information gathering of the interior via familiars, followed by the execution of commander restraint. Furthermore, if a mage capable of both magic attacks and close-quarters combat could teleport in, any fortress, no matter how robust, would be like a child holed up in a sandcastle.
"Yes. The technology has not been established yet, but if one creates a barrier that prevents the use of magic, Teleportation magic cannot be used, and reconnaissance by familiars becomes impossible. Well, conversely, that would just signal that there is something the enemy wants to protect there."
"If that technology were established, what would you do?"
"I haven't used it today, but with Steel Creation magic, I would create steel in the sky and drop it on the enemy camp. Once created with magic, from that point on, the steel is just ordinary steel. In that regard, Earth Magic creates the shape of the earth with magic, so if the magic is nullified, the shape collapses. Though something like an earthen rampart probably wouldn't collapse. But it's not suited for attacking. However, they would probably think of a way to prevent even that. Also, with that method, destruction is possible, but restraint is impossible."
"Until that is possible, it means even the king of a great nation will not be able to sleep peacefully."
Just as Leo said, from this point on, the kings of various nations would live in constant fear of the power of Teleportation magic. It had been understood for a long time that if a mage were mixed into a diplomatic mission from a foreign country, they could easily infiltrate the royal castle, but if a mage capable of reconnaissance and soldiers capable of combat came together, they could easily seize the person of the king.
Until now, it was something people thought about but considered unrealistic, but because Steve had realized it, its effectiveness had been proven.
Furthermore, the concept of logistics had vanished. Teleporting soldiers to the battlefield with magic and bringing them back once the battle was over. By doing so, the need to transport supplies to the battlefield was gone.
However, this was predicated on the existence of a mage with an enormous amount of magical power.
"Well then, shall we go to disturb the sleep of the King of the Kingdom of Forest starting tomorrow?"
"Umu. The national army is still struggling with the enemy troops deployed to divide us; if it's now, all the credit will be ours."
Unlike Aurora, Leo thought it was fine as long as they could achieve military results. Since he was naturally poor at politics and left such matters to his wife, Aurora, he hadn't thought much about the post-war processing.
Steve sensed the unpleasant atmosphere Aurora showed at Leo's way of speaking, so he requested to go home and made his exit.
From the next day, they aimed straight for the royal capital of the Kingdom of Forest. They leaped over the large enemy army deployed along the border with magic and occupied the castle of Margrave Bradle, which had been left empty. He teleported ten thousand men of the Margrave Sowell army to that castle to handle its defense.
After that, they suppressed the castles of the nobles one after another.
Because Steve attacked faster than information could be transmitted, the Kingdom of Forest side never dreamed that the enemy was approaching right before their eyes in the royal capital.
In front of the gates of the royal capital's outer wall, Steve spoke to Leo.
"Now, this is the final objective, but if we capture the enemy king, will the war end?"
"Normally, it ends. However, it's not as if there haven't been cases where the throne was passed to another royal family member to continue the war. There are people everywhere who don't know when to give up."
"For my part, I'd like this war to end quickly. I have to look after the management of the factory that has finally started to get on track."
"If you are a Master Mage, is it not fine even if you do not do such things? It would even be possible to stand at the top of the national army."
"It's not in my nature. Processing wood and steel suits me better."
"Is that how it is?"
Leo was not satisfied with Steve's response. In Leo's view, if one could achieve military exploits, one should achieve them more and more, and the management of territory and such should be covered by rewards from the state.
"Steve looks better in a factory than on a battlefield."
Because Bella spoke to Leo in a casual tone, Steve felt nervous. He thought Leo might get angry.
However, Leo didn't seem particularly bothered.
"I see."
He only said that.
"Well then, shall we go?"
As Steve said that, he cast Body Enhancement Magic on everyone.
Their destination was the room where the King was. Right now, in a large room, they were discussing how to govern the occupied territories of the Kingdom of Cascade. Everyone there never dreamed that the enemy would attack this far.
"I wonder if Margrave Bradle has captured Sowell Land by now?"
A white-haired old man asked the assembly.
He was the current King of the Kingdom of Forest, Jacob Jas Davenport himself.
"If it is Lord Bradle, he has surely already conquered it and exposed Sowell's head at the entrance of the town."
The one who said that was the Duke, the King's younger brother. And no one thought that was too optimistic. After all, since crossing the border, there had been reports that they had conquered two forts and were surrounding Solenoid Town.
Furthermore, due to the disturbances by Viscount Karsh and others, they had made it impossible to concentrate soldiers at the border, and they had also advanced troops between the national army's garrison and the Margrave Sowell territory to prevent reinforcements from being sent.
In this situation, they never thought they could possibly lose.
When laughter broke out at the Duke's words, Steve and the others suddenly appeared before the King.
Before the people in the room could react, Steve broke the King's right arm bone. Steve wanted to vent the anger he felt from seeing the people of Solenoid Town, who had been overrun, upon the King of the Kingdom of Forest, the person with ultimate responsibility.
"Gyaaaaaaaaa!"
"Your Majesty!"
King Jacob screamed in pain and writhed around. Steve restrained him with magic. The King, who became unable to move due to steel chains while crawling on the floor, looked just like an old man who had been restrained as a measure against wandering.
Seeing this, the Royal Guard Knights who were standing by tried to rush over, but Steve, reacting immediately, created iron chains with magic and restrained them on the spot.
Next, he restrained the others as well.
Amidst all this, a mage who was in the room used Teleportation magic. Intending to let at least the King escape, he planned to teleport near the King, take the King with him, and teleport away once more.
However, the chains restraining the mage's limbs interfered with his magical power, and he was unable to teleport his limbs.
Naturally, he appeared at the destination in a state without limbs. Blood gushed out from there, and the mage died.
"I didn't intend to kill anyone, though."
"It's not your fault, Steve."
The conversation between Steve and Bella lacked tension somehow, and it didn't sound like a situation where they had stormed the enemy's royal castle. For the two of them—no, for everyone who had stormed this place—their sense of tension had thinned because they had repeatedly teleported into the middle of the enemy so many times.
"Who are you!"
The Captain of the Royal Guard Knights barked. To that, Steve replied with a smile.
"Isn't it a problem that you don't know who attacked you, despite starting a war yourselves? We've come from the Kingdom of Cascade."
At the words 'Kingdom of Cascade,' the restrained people were shaken. They could never have imagined that the enemy would attack their own royal castle, which had been overwhelmingly advantageous until now.
"It is hard to believe. Even so, is a sudden attack not discourteous?"
"You have a lot of nerve. I don't think it's logical to say it's discourteous or whatever once you're at a disadvantage, despite having set up all those schemes yourselves. Besides, I don't think you should say things that anger us too much while your boss is being held hostage."
As Steve said that, he pressed his sword against the King's neck.
"Then, as a knight, I challenge you to a duel. If I win, release His Majesty."
"There's no merit in that for us. Well then, if I win, I'll break the bone of his other arm too. I won't take his life, though."
Hearing those conditions, the Captain of the Royal Guard Knights glanced at the King.
The King shook his head and ordered him to stop the duel. As long as there was no guarantee that the Captain of the Royal Guard Knights could definitely win against Steve, he could not take such a dangerous risk.
Here, the war between the Kingdom of Cascade and the Kingdom of Forest came to an end.