I Became a Level -99 Vicious Lord

Chapter 81

Elise was frankly surprised to see Otto commanding the Lota Kingdom army.

15,000 men.

A small army, to say the least.

But the knights were sturdy and well armed.

And the way they all dropped to one knee in unison, shouting at the top of their lungs.

‘To command such a strong looking army… you are no ordinary man.’ 

Elise looked at Otto again.

At first, she’d thought he was just a handsome criminal with a penchant for kidnapping and blackmail….

“Hey….?”

Elise asked Otto.

“Where are we going?”

“To the capital of the Magritte Kingdom.”

“Are you planning to… attack the capital?”

“I’m thinking of taking it?”

“Huh?”

Elise frowned.

“That’s not possible.”

“Why?”

“I admit your army is strong, I can tell by the looks on your soldiers’ faces, and they march fast.”

Helmut’s daughter, indeed.

Elise had grown up watching soldiers fighting against ferocious nomads, so she recognized the Lota Kingdom’s army as strong at a glance.

“You do have an eye.”

Otto said with a smirk.

“I didn’t think you could recognize that our army is strong.”

“That’s not the point.”

Elise said firmly.

“No matter how strong your army is, it’s impossible to take the capital of the Magritte Kingdom with these numbers. It’s an absurd plan.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know that?”

“You’re asking because you don’t know?”

“…….”

“Tell me why you say it’s an absurd tactic.”

“Common sense!”

A hint of anger escaped Elise’s mouth.

“Do you really think it’s possible to take the capital with only 15,000 men? It’s not a defense, it’s an attack! You’d need many times more troops! It’s reckless! Everyone will die! You’ll take a lot of damage and have to retreat!”

“Yes~”

Otto replied.

“I hear what you’re saying, very elementary and textbook.”

“What?”

“Is that it?”

“Are you making fun of me? Dismissing me because I’m not a knight, because I’m not a soldier….”

“That’s enough.”

Otto interrupted an angry Elise.

“The capital of the Magritte Kingdom is empty right now, just like the king’s head.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see when you get there.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.”

“You’re welcome~”

Otto said in a teasing tone to the sulky Elise, then made an offhand remark.

“By any chance, do you like chess?”

“Why chess all of a sudden?”

“Because this situation is like chess?”

“What does that even mean?”

“You’ll see about that, too, heheh.”

Elise looked at Otto, who was smiling an inscrutable smile, and thought to herself.

‘He looks like he’s got a thousand worms in his stomach. I wonder what the hell he’s thinking.’

But for now, there was no way to know what he was thinking.

All Elise could do was watch….

Only time would answer Elise’s questions.

* * *

When King Magritte first received the report that the siege had begun, he was in a very good mood.

“Hehehe, tell them to capture Helmut alive, so that I, King Magritte, can behead him personally, hurhurhur!”

But as the first day of the siege passed, and then the second, and then the third, King Magritte’s mood changed.

“What a bunch of incompetents! With an army of 50,000, you can’t capture a fortress guarded by only a few thousand people? How can that be? With a force ten times larger, how can you not capture a fortress?”

Helmut’s fortress was more impregnable than King Magritte had realized.

A week passed.

“Holy shit, they still haven’t taken it?”

A week into the siege and the fortress still hadn’t fallen, King Magritte finally realized what was happening.

‘House Valdemar didn’t defend our kingdom from those barbarian nomads for 250 years for nothing….’

King Magritte realized very painfully why the Valdemar family was called the Shield of Magritte Kingdom.

But his regret was only just beginning.

“Your Majesty, we’re in trouble! They say a large army is coming from the south, and they’re rapidly approaching the outposts and fortifications on the border!”

“What?! What do you mean, there’s a huge army coming in from the south!”

King Magritte was surprised, because there was no real threat to his southern border.

The southern part of Magritte’s kingdom was a safe zone with no real dangers other than the occasional monster wave.

Naturally, the defenses were weak….

“The reports of the scouts indicate that a large force seen with an unfamiliar flag was coming from the southern part of our kingdom.”

“An unfamiliar flag…?”

“As a result of gathering information, they are said to be an army of a place called Lota Kingdom… It is a force that has never been confirmed.”

“Lota…? You mean there was such a country?”

“It’s a country that hasn’t been identified or known about at all… I’m not sure it’s even a country.”

“That aside, how large was their army?”

“There have been reports of a force of approximately 15,000 men.”

“Eh, fifteen thousand?!”

King Magritte was stunned to hear that the size of the mysterious army called the Lota Army was around 15,000.

Currently, the capital of the Magritte Kingdom was practically an empty house.

No, it was empty.

After scraping together all the available troops and sending them to fight Helmut, there were only about 2,000 troops left to defend the capital.

With an army of 15,000 men, it would only be a matter of time before the capital fell.

“How long did they say it would take them to reach the capital? Answer me, now!”

“The scouts report that they should be able to attack the capital in two days.”

“My God.”

The king’s face grew grim.

“All right, send a messenger to the front! Withdraw! Tell them to Retreat! Stop attacking Helmut right now and tell him to retreat! Come on!”

A shriek bordering on a scream burst from the king’s mouth.

Two days was an absurdly small amount of time for the main force to return from the slaughter of Helmut.

Even if they were to return now, the chances of them arriving in time were absolutely zero.

Even if they were to return quickly, they would need three days.

* * *

“what? Retreat right now?”

The commander-in-chief of the Magritte Kingdom’s army was dumbfounded by the unexpected order.

“Now that’s a command that doesn’t make sense! A retreating army! How long until we’re done with the traitorous Helmut!”

The rebels, now led by Helmut, were exhausted, and the damage had been done.

Moreover, the fortifications that had stood strong for the past 250 years were slowly crumbling, and if they pushed on for another day or two, their fall was certain.

Suddenly, the commander-in-chief ordered the troops to turn back.

“It’s an order from the king! He wants you to turn your army around and return to the capital immediately!”

“What’s the matter, why did His Majesty suddenly order you to turn back?”

“An unidentified army is currently advancing towards the capital!”

“An unidentified army…?”

“Yes, Commander-in-Chief. By now, that mysterious army may be attacking the capital.”

“……!”

“The capital is in danger, the situation is so dire that even His Majesty the King is considering abandoning it, so you must come back quickly!”

“Damn it….”

The commander-in-chief clenched his fists in frustration.

He had been fighting tooth and nail for the past ten days, and now he was on the verge of victory, only to have his army defeated by a factor he hadn’t anticipated.

But he can’t let the capital fall into disarray now that he’s finished with Helmut.

“All forces… return to the capital.”

The order to retreat came from the mouth of the commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, as the Magritte Kingdom forces began to retreat, the rebels were thrown into confusion.

“They’re retreating!”

“Suddenly…?”

The rebels had been fighting to the death for days, not even expecting to win.

It was a battle they had no chance of winning, so they had been fighting tooth and nail, hoping to take at least one more person with them when they died.

However, when the Magritte Kingdom army suddenly withdrew from the battlefield and disappeared over the horizon, it was only natural to feel confused and bewildered.

Logically and rationally, the Magritte Kingdom Army’s sudden withdrawal was incomprehensible.

Only one.

The one who leaned hesitantly against the ramparts, gasping for breath.

Only Helmut understood the sudden withdrawal of the Magritte army.

‘If you hold on and hold on, Magritte’s army will retreat on its own. As for when… just before dying? Right before the fortress fell? It will be just about then. Think of it as the lord of hell and endure it. And if Magritte’s kingdom suddenly retreats, think of it as a victory. Because you really have won.’

Helmut smiled, remembering Otto’s words.

“It has indeed… come to pass… as he said. The enemy… has… retreated… and the victory is ours… because he said so… this battle… is truly ours.”

With that, Helmut muttered, and squeezed out the last of his strength.

His stamina was long gone.

Helmut’s body was far from normal, with injuries large and small.

It wasn’t life-threatening, but it wasn’t so bad that it wouldn’t have been strange to pass out right away.

Nevertheless, Helmut gritted his teeth and pushed himself up.

Then he raised his toothless, broken-tipped sword to the sky and shouted.

“We have won… we have won… we have won! We have won!”

Helmut declared victory.

“Ooh, we won?”

“Are you sure… we won?”

Helmut’s soldiers couldn’t understand the declaration of victory, but only for a moment.

The enemy retreated first, anyway, and the battle was over.

No more fighting, and now they could rest.

They can rest.

Then….

“We won, we won!”

“We… won…!”

One by one, the soldiers’ mouths began to open in realization of their victory.

And….

“Waaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

A triumphant roar rang out.

A victory that will go down in the history books.

It was a great victory.

* * *

“Your Majesty, the enemy is besieging the capital!”

“What?”

King Magritte nearly screamed at the report.

The report said it would take two days for the mysterious army of Lota to reach the capital.

But no.

The mysterious army was faster than expected.

In fact, they had shaved a day off their march.

It would still be a long time before the main force that had slain Helmut would return. ….

“Your Majesty, you must flee!”

“Avoid, avoid, do you mean abandon the capital and flee?”

“Their speed is immense, the attack will begin in another day, if you don’t flee now, you may find yourself defecating in their hands!”

“You… you…!!!”

King Magritte shook with rage.

As a king, abandoning the capital and fleeing was not a decision he could make lightly.

Fleeing might save his life, but he would lose his people.

Even if the situation somehow worked out, it would weaken his power.

In the worst case scenario, a nationwide rebellion would break out, and the king would be decapitated and his head would be dangled in the open by his angry subjects.

The vassal knew this, too, and tried to persuade the king.

“Your Majesty, I know this is a difficult decision for you to make, but I think it’s best to keep the jade body for now….”

Huff!

The king started scurrying around like a startled cockroach.

“Yes….”

The vassal muttered, realizing that he didn’t need to be persuaded in the first place.

“One jade body is really incredibly well-preserved, draw it.”

** ** **

TL/N: In the past ruler’s use the metaphor of jade to describe themselves due to its quality and value