Archmage Villainess

[Rosanna POV]

As I reach Fort Lycan, along with my family's knights, I’m greeted by the commander. Ser Jacques Victeria, a 4th circle knight, one of the most powerful knights in the kingdom. His hair is grey and in a caesar cut. He has mutton chops, and a big, bushy mustache. He calls out as we approach,

“Hail! Lady Pultovia, I’ve heard much about you. Rumor has it you’ve officially reached the sixth circle, correct?”

I smile and say,

“Straight to the point, eh? No, I’ve reached the seventh now.”

The commanders eye go wide as he says,

“Hah… Well, congratulations I suppose. That’s quite the achievement! I suppose the rumors floating around were true, haha!”

As I walk up to the man, I tilt my head and say,
“Rumors?”

Jacques waves his hands dismissively and says,

“Good things for the most part. There’s two major ones, the good one is that you were blessed by Gaera after your death. Which would definitely explain your explosive growth. The other is that you were possessed by a demon, which would also explain a bit of your growth, but not to this extent. At least in my opinion. Oh, right, I’m Jacques Victeria.”

I smile at him and reach out to shake his hand. I chuckle and say,

“Well, If the Demon Slayer himself says so, who could argue otherwise?”

He says,

“True. I checked your mana during that handshake, and found nothing close to demonic within you. Of course, you could be a named demon. In that case, even I wouldn’t sense it.”

I smile and say,

“I think I’d prefer if you stuck to the good rumor.”

He chuckles,

“Heh, I suppose I’d prefer that as well! If you are a demon, save me for last, huh?”

I chuckle as I wave the knights in, walking into the fort with Jacques. I’m greeted by the combined surprise, hatred, and relief on the faces of the knights. Jacques chuckles as he sees this and says,

“I suppose the men are a bit jealous of your armor.”

I can see why, honestly. My armor is made of Orichalcum, a golden alloy of platinum and Adamantite. Strong enough to stop blows from a sixth circle knight. Paired with my long red hair, I probably look positively divine. Thank you Rosanna for being so drop dead gorgeous!

As we step into the castle at the center, I note how the walls of the castle are around ten feet thick, most likely created with earth magic. Stepping inside the castle, you can immediately feel a difference in temperature from outside. It feels about ten degrees hotter in here, likely due to the copious amounts of candles lighting the place up. Though, this isn’t unwelcome, as it’s currently fall, so the temperatures were already rather low to begin with. Likely around 40-50.

My knights disperse as we enter, heading to their barracks, which are segregated by gender, as well as by mages and knights. They join the portion of my family’s army that has already arrived, as I only took some of the ones from the estate in the capitol.

I’m led by Jacques up a flight of stairs, and through a winding pathway designed to confuse enemies. We end up at a rather unassuming door, plain wood and thin iron reinforcement. As the door is opened, I see several noticeable figures. All nobles. As I enter the room, I greet the gathering with a small nod, which is reciprocated by almost everyone involved.

Six figures stand around a table with a map laid out on top. Two women, four men. One of the women is rather famous. Anya Millsreign, the court mage of the royal family. She’s the only sixth circle mage in the kingdom, and is the master of the magic tower. She looks at me with surprise, seeing my circles. She has on a white cloak, which barely conceals her purple hair. Her eyes glow slightly blue. Despite her age, around 90, she still looked no older than 30. Mages and knights do tend to live longer lives than average, after all. With my mana organs, along with my ten circles, I’ll most likely have no actual lifespan. Unless I’m killed, I won’t die. 

Anya sighs and says,

“Well, it seems I’ve been dethroned.”

The other people in the room look at her quizzically before she says,

“Congratulations on reaching the seventh circle, Lady Pultovia.”

I smile at her and say,

“Thank you very much, Lady Millsreign.”

The other people in the room are regular nobles. High ranking nobles, but not particularly noticeable warriors. Other than Count Kiaria, a fourth circle knight. I walk up to the table confidently and say,

“So, what’s the plan?”

Count Kiara, a man who seems to be in his late thirties, with slight greying at the edges of his caesar hairstyle, speaks,

“So far, we plan on setting up for a battle around the edge of the ridgeline. We’ll have the knights and regular soldiers set up near the base of the ridge, and we’ll place the mages on the ridgeline above.”

A younger voice speaks up,

“I’m telling you, this strategy absolutely will not work against the Imperium.”

The younger voice belongs to the other mage in the group, a man around 20-23, giving off the aura of a fourth circle mage. I’m not familiar with this man. He has medium length brown hair that parts down the center, and green eyes. He has a certain air of femininity, but not an overpowering amount. Like a man who you could mistake for a woman at a distance. He notices me studying him and says,

“Ah, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, I’m Adam Fitzpatrick. I’m a student under Lady Millsreign. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Pultovia.”

I nod my head to him and say,

“No, no, the pleasure is all mine. Now, why do you say that this strategy won’t work?”

He nods his head and says,

“Because this tactic was used in the last war. Sure, the war was thirty years ago, but the commander of the enemy forces is Karina Verelda, a seventh circle knight! She fought in the previous war, and is well known for remembering every tactic we used, making us damn near unable to reuse them.”

One of the older men in the group speaks up,

“Lad, you weren’t even swimming around in your dads testicles when that war happened, how are you so sure about this?”

Instead of Adam, Anya speaks up,

“Because I told him about her. I knew war with the imperium was damn near inevitable, so I drilled into his mind every last detail about the imperium. Wouldn’t want my disciple to die, after all.”

The group around the table share looks with eachother before the same older man speaks up,

“Coming from you, this definitely holds more weight. Very well. Let’s see about coming up with another strategy.”

As they continue their strategizing, I realize how useless I truly am here. After all, I wouldn’t need a strategy to wipe their entire army out. After a few minutes of debate, I hear Anya speak up,

“Lady Pultovia, did you have anything in mind?”

I shake my head and say,

“Not in particular. I do have something in mind that could potentially help in the long run, but it would be difficult to keep up without reinforcements.”

She motions to the table and says,

“Let’s see.”

I look at the map and see that it’s only a regional map, centered around the valley between the kingdom and the empire. I speak up,

“Hmm, do you have any maps that cover a larger area?”

One of the nobles reaches under the table and puts another map over top of the regional one. 

“Alright, so,”

I point at the city of Galeford and continue,

“Galeford is one of the many cities of the empire that is dedicated to the gathering of iron, and the production of steel, a so-called forge city. It’s also the closest forge city to the front lines. I wish to take a small detachment of my own troops and lead them up to the city, putting the first loop in the noose around the empire’s neck.”

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AN: sorry this chapter took so long. a bit depresso at the moment, and no amount of espresso is helping. cant promise anything about the next update. also, new cover art.

[Map: https://imgur.com/a/mC0CRH3]