NOVEL NEXT Chapter 254
The promise to meet before the snow piled up was kept, but we couldn’t end the war before the snow fell. Jeongjae looked down at the camp of the Northern Expeditionary Force with a dissatisfied expression. It showed signs of a prolonged war, and the supply line from the homeland was disrupted due to reckless advances to join the reinforcements pouring in from the east.
Unfortunately, Jeongjae wasn’t an administrator or military wizard as capable as Walter. Moreover, among the generals under his command, there wasn’t anyone particularly talented in military logistics who could replace Walter Hellhound. As a result, the Northern Expeditionary Force had to rely significantly on the supplies coming from Eramenia’s overwhelming production capabilities.
Even among the logistics items supplied by Eramenia, there were even high-class weapons from the Elf Kingdom. Jeongjae prioritized supplying weapons from the Elf Kingdom to the elite, most highly trained units and then passed down their original weapons to the lower-ranked units. It was a common method used in Jeongjae’s world when new supplies were available.
“Your expression doesn’t look good, Professor.”
“The winter snow settles, and our army has settled with it. No one has seen good fortune coming to an expedition in a land with winter snow. It’s common sense to avoid sending troops into sub-zero snowfields; it’s basic.”
“The Demon King’s Castle is right in front of us.”
“I feel like a defense officer with Moscow right before me, and it doesn’t feel good.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Ah, never mind. And clear those walking corpses out of my sight.”
Jeongjae pointed to the orc troops walking around under Jenis’s necromancy. Jenis nodded and then gestured her hand toward the zombie orcs, sending them far away. The soldiers who saw them pass the barracks were horrified, stepping back or even drawing their weapons.
“We’re winning. The situation is clear.”
“The Emperor frequently sends me letters. I suppose I’m almost the only field commander capable of delivering documents from the palace by courier, but the contents of those letters are alarming. The most recent one, I want to show you too.”
Jeongjae handed Jenis a letter from Rose. Jenis lightly accepted the letter bearing the royal seal and quickly skimmed its contents. The handwriting of the heavily pregnant Emperor, due to give birth soon, showed absolutely no sign of her discomfort.
“To Hero Park Jeongjae from the Emperor of the Audrich Empire, Rose Caprice.
I’ve heard news that the eastern troops are achieving excellent results and advancing westward. The reinforcements from the south are not far behind, so if all reports are true, the advantage lies with us. I don’t believe that front-line commanders would lie to me. It seems that the alliance has finally begun to repel the Demon King’s Army.
However, I have concerns. At least 500,000 of the Demon King’s army were stationed in the direction of Febria Bay Fortress. If they began to break through and advance westward, considering the scale of the forces I possess, it would be impossible to maintain supply lines while holding the point. It seems that my lord has likely destroyed all the fortresses and makeshift ports and is leading all his troops directly toward the Demon King’s Castle. But is that really the best strategy?
First, the collapse of supply lines is fatal. I would think that they packed rations that could last a long time, but that simultaneously forces their soldiers into short-term battles. The Southern Alliance troops are not elite trained for a long time, and excessive burdens can crumble an army from within. The Great Sage should reconsider whether he is overestimating his forces.
Secondly, the Demon King’s army has not been annihilated but only repelled. No matter how brilliant Earl Harker is, he wouldn’t be able to exterminate the entire 500,000 with just 40,000 troops. The Demon King has a remarkable talent for rallying scattered rabble, and it’s probable that about 400,000 of her forces will be regrouped on the Eastern Coast. To avoid being caught, a significant forced march would be necessary, and can they really repel the Demon King after such a grueling march?
Thirdly, there’s the threat of cold. Considering the distance they need to cover, they couldn’t have made their packs too heavy. Even if their commander is a wizard, I doubt they packed proper winter supplies for the march. The Demon King is not a weak foe. It’s clear that winter favors her defenses, and she will try to take full advantage of it. An army unprepared for winter cannot attack a well-prepared enemy during winter. I doubt Earl Harker is unaware of this, but I worry because I have no idea what kind of measures he might be planning.
Currently, all I’ve heard is the news of the Earl’s great victory, but if you examine the situation closely, it appears that there’s a solid wall in front, a pack of hyenas in the rear, and the army is facing a dire crisis of starvation. In such a situation, unless divine fortune favors us, it will be hard to avoid the complete annihilation of those precious 40,000 soldiers.
What I want to request from the Hero is this: If she devises alternatives to resolve the crisis that I haven’t yet considered, please convey that I would be very happy. However, if she cannot solve the problem on her own and is saved by the help of the Northern Expeditionary Force, then use that as justification to strip the Southern Alliance of its command authority and reassign those troops under the Hero’s command. If that’s the case, her suitable position would only be as a staff officer, not as a commander.”
“Um.”
After reading the letter from Rose, Jenis frowned. It was a difficult situation to talk about. In a sense, Jenis was indeed facing an imminent crisis of annihilation, unable to solve the problems pointed out by Rose on her own. However, she didn’t act without a single alternative. The merger with the Eramenian army was planned; there were just slight deviations.
Jenis felt that it was hard to read Jeongjae’s thoughts from his expression.
“So, are you going to disband my troops and reassign them under the central army? Is that the intention behind showing me this letter?”
“I’ve already sent a refusal letter to Rose. Recent exchanges with Rose have almost always been of that nature. The Emperor doesn’t like your approach militarily. And to be honest, I don’t have your brilliant intuition either, but… watching your battles makes me anxious and uneasy. You know your current fight is disregarding even the basics of supply.”
“When someone unaware of the basics ignores the fundamentals, disasters occur.”
Jenis said.
“But if someone knows the basics and still breaks them, that could be considered extraordinary. I’m not acting without knowing; circumstances forced me to abandon even the basics.”
“Well, if you say that…”
Jeongjae bit his lip and nodded slightly. There was a feeling of frustration that he couldn’t quite identify. Due to the last battle’s losses, the Southern Alliance had to disband legions that couldn’t be replenished and completely reformat their organization from the start.
Thanks to the outstanding achievements shown by the Southern Alliance, Jeongjae’s central army couldn’t completely disregard them either. No, there were far more soldiers on the central army side who were happy to reunite with comrades from their distant homeland than the worrying conflicts they had anticipated. However, after a brief glance at Jenis’s Southern Army, Jeongjae reaffirmed that they absolutely could not demonstrate the battle power typical of the forces Walter had bequeathed.
The two armies were so different in combat power that undertaking a joint operation could rather harm each other. Meanwhile, the Eramenian army was surprisingly strong among them.
Although the 3rd Legion had roughly gathered, there were limits to integrating their operations. Margaret, Jeongjae, and Jenis instinctively acknowledged that each faction would find it difficult to carry out joint operations and established their respective camps in distant locations to pressure the Demon King’s Castle.
The Demon King’s army promptly assigned forces to the gateways in difficult terrain and even constructed new trench-style fortifications to block the path to the Demon King’s Castle. If the 100,000-strong army brought by the Succubus Queen had been crushed, they could have charged straight to the Demon King’s Castle, but with several elite orcs leading the defense, even the 3rd Legion couldn’t recklessly push further.
Time was not on our side. The anti-Demon rebellion that had been arising in the west quickly faded when Jenis, who had instigated the rebellion, realized she couldn’t provide immediate support. Rather than slaughtering the low-ranking demon kind involved in the uprising, the Demon King forcibly conscripted them and had them brought to the east to defend the Demon King’s Castle. As the troops tasked with suppression in the west returned and new conscripts were added, the defense grew thicker day by day.
Naturally, as the defenses thickened, it became increasingly difficult to break through. Winter accelerated the consumption of supplies, and the only force maintaining proper combat power remained the Elf Legion, unaffected by the weather. In other words, except for Margaret, all the other armies were reaching the point of offensive exhaustion.
“The Demon King pushed our nation right to the brink of Caprice Island, but ultimately couldn’t break through the No-Member’s defensive line and suffered a counterattack. I wish this place wasn’t our No-Member. In some sense, I really hate that castle.”
Jeongjae shivered from the cold. Jenis breathed warmth into the crystal of her staff, lit it up, and then held it out toward Jeongjae.
“Take a breath.”
“I can use magic too, you know. Surprising, isn’t it?”
“Of course. But I just… wanted to help. You’ve spent quite a bit of magic lighting up the camp here and there.”
Jeongjae let out a small smile and moved slightly closer to Jenis’s staff. Since bonfires were lit here and there in the camp, Jeongjae’s army was not at risk of freezing to death. Jeongjae thought frivolously about how if many historical armies that lost countless soldiers to freezing could have had a mage like him, things might have been different.
“By the way, how’s your army faring against the cold? It’s been a while since I went to inspect your camp.”
“We have so many corpses in our army that it’s actually a good thing. Bodies don’t decay as easily in the cold. There are some who get creeped out seeing our comrades maintaining their forms in death, but basically, everyone hopes they stay in decent shape rather than being too badly damaged.”
For a moment, Jeongjae was startled, thinking Jenis was making a twisted joke, but her expression was serious. The Great Sage had to swallow this absurdity.
“Yes, I am the loser. I couldn’t stop that charge, and in the end, I lost the battle. But listen. If the Demon King had despaired with each defeat, she wouldn’t have been able to consume 70 percent of the world in the first place. I’d even be willing to become her myself if it meant capturing her. You’ve seen my oath. An oath made even while smearing blood on my face.”
“A powerful vow becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and those trapped by self-fulfilling prophecies never see good fortune.”
“You sound like the princess of Eramenia.”
“Being able to speak like Margaret would be a compliment.”
“You like her, don’t you?”
Jenis asked, turning to Jeongjae with a sly expression. Jeongjae flinched and moved away from Jenis.
“What do you mean by that, all of a sudden?”
“Of course, you might feel that way. It could be understandable.”
With a peculiar expression, Jenis licked her lips.
“Actually, I knew from the start that it wasn’t all that promising for me. But I just…”
“I don’t know if this is the right time to have such a conversation.”
“I just found out that you don’t deny it. I’ll head back to my troops. I’ll see you again when the next assault begins. I’m lacking in basics, but at least I’m brainstorming how to end this war.”