chapter 30
30 – Ahead of the invasion
That night, the Darps naval base was quickly occupied.
All of the base’s leadership officers were arrested, and the soldiers were also arrested or imprisoned in wards within the base due to serious injuries.
There are soldiers who lost their lives due to delayed treatment.
“Hey, is this it? It’s a lot more boring than I thought, isn’t it?”
“Ah…hahahaha…Good job.”
After the suppression was over, Zikrune took off the bread bag he was wearing and put it in his arms and grumbled.
Ruri smiled bitterly at that sight, but he also agreed with her words inwardly.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s a shame that Ruri can’t fight more like her.
There was less resistance from the enemies than expected or assumed.
Of course, the morale of the enemies may have been broken due to simultaneous attacks, starting with internal spies.
But even taking that into account, the resistance of the base soldiers was too weak.
I never thought it would be this much of a mess.
They say they are tired of peace, but what has happened to the empire?
“Luri, Colonel Jackson has come to his senses.”
“Oh, you mean the base commander? Good job.”
After listening to Alice, her subordinate succubus, Ruri nodded her head.
After that, she looked back at Sieg Rune.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Zikrune. It would be best to return to the hero quickly.”
“Ugh…”
Z-Crune still looks a little disappointed.
Her Ruri, who was looking at her with a bitter smile, opened her mouth.
Zeke Rune’s expression became brighter as she heard the words come out of her mouth.
After that, when Zikrune ran out, Ruri, who had seen her off, turned around.
This is the starting point.
For now, we plan to maintain regular contact through spies hiding within the base.
But since the base itself is completely in the hands of the Demon King’s army, it will be discovered one day.
But there was nothing to worry about.
With Darfs in their hands, the naval and military power of Darfs has already completely become the Demon King’s army.
The warships anchored at the base were completely in the hands of the Demon King’s army.
With this, the time to march into the empire is just around the corner.
Before anyone even knew that there was something wrong with the Darfs Naval Base, the Empire would soon be swept away by the Demon King’s army that landed in Darfs.
“I’m back!”
“Welcome, Zikrune sis.”
It was Rossweisse who welcomed Zikrune back to his lodgings.
Next to Ross Weisse, who was smiling as always, Zeke Rune put down her halberd and sat down.
“How was the battle?”
“Huh? It was more boring than I thought.”
“hahahaha…I see.”
Sieg Rune, who was sitting in her seat and looking around her, spoke again.
“Master?”
“Go to sleep, because I plan to get off this island quickly tomorrow.”
“Hmm… I see…”
Sieg Rune gently moved her eyes to where her master, the warrior Hans, would be sleeping.
Seeing her appearance, Ross Weisse opened her mouth and said:
“What do you think? Master.”
“…Huh? I don’t think it’s bad. It’s stronger than anything.”
“hahahaha… That was more important than anything to Zikrune.”
Sisters who love battlefields and fighting more than anything, ‘Battle Mania’ Zikrune.
What she likes is fighting, especially fighting with strong people.
However, she does not only pursue fighting against the strong.
A Valkyrie on the battlefield who fights courageously even if the opponent is strong and fights without mercy even if the opponent is weak.
That was her.
Is it actually an insult to be considerate of the weak on the battlefield?
Instead, she was a sister who treated those who were not soldiers on the battlefield warmer than anyone else.
“Hey, Rossweisse.”
“Yes, what’s going on?”
“I heard a while ago that a large-scale war would break out soon.”
“Ah…”
The promise that the owner, the warrior Hans, shared with the demons in the past.
A promise to watch over the invasion of demons into the empire, the largest nation on this continent.
That time is one year after the promise.
Now that time is not far away.
By the time they move to the Republic side to join Ortrinde, the invasion will begin.
A war between the Demon King’s army, which is healthy and training its military in the southern part of the continent, and the continent’s largest nation and empire.
The scale must be very large.
“Couldn’t I participate in that war?”
“Hmm…What about?”
Honestly, the scale of the war will definitely be large.
But it seemed like victory or defeat had already been decided.
The only top level demons that Rossweisse has encountered are the Succubus Queen and Ruri…
Gururi also possessed an ether that far surpassed that of humans.
Most ordinary demons also have enough power to defeat most humans in an instant.
If you enter Ruri, the highest level demon, you can blow away soldiers with a single wave of your hand.
The highest level demons are like that, but what about the Four Heavenly Kings?
They even worked together with their former owner… Those three traitorous women.
I heard that their skills were similar to Ruri Rinos at the time.
…No, I think Ruri is on top right now.
Anyway, those girls are called heroes by humans, but the difference in power is too big.
Now that a large number of monsters have been killed, the number of regular soldiers that the imperial army can employ is greater…
Once the war begins to reach its midpoint, the human side will definitely be inferior.
In that war, will there be a chance for Zeke Rune to participate in the war while hiding her identity?
To be honest, there is a high possibility that it does not exist, but the correct answer is that we do not know yet.
‘What if’ is something you always have to think about.
“I have no choice but to talk to the master about that.”
“Ugh… I guess that’s true, right?”
Zikrune was initially deployed to subdue the naval base, of course, with the owner’s permission.
As soon as he returned to his lodgings, he was the result of the owner accepting Zikrune’s request that he also want to participate in the raid.
…Well, since I had to cover my face, I was in a hurry and thought it would be a good idea to turn over a nearby bread bag…
“When the sun rises and the master wakes up, I will ask him then.”
“Ugh! That’s how it should be!!”
Jikrune takes out a bag of bread from his chest and looks at it.
The bread bag appeared to have two holes for eyes.
“Did you still have that?”
“Huh? The master gave it to me, isn’t it obvious?”
The owner probably didn’t say anything because he just handed it over to me in a hurry…
Rosweisse smiled bitterly.
“You still haven’t found it?!”
“Yes, it was so long ago…I think it’s probably been a long time since we left the border.”
“Ugh… You damn b*tch… I left her alone on purpose and she did something arrogant…”
Halfas Empire, Ecliptic Shale Ark.
From the castle, the prince’s angry voice rang out.
“The sacrifices that disappeared from the Duke’s house must have been at her instigation. The timing is perfect.”
“……”
“Ugh… You damn b*tch…!! I was planning on saving her with a smooth face… But you did something so arrogant!!”
A gold ring that Lacys had and was given to her by a masked merchant.
As a result of the investigation into the identity of the gold ring, Prince Freud was surprised.
It was none other than the engagement ring she had gifted to her fiancé, Luciena Root Vallière, in the distant past.
The ring he made was usually guaranteed by a craftsman he remembered.
Even, it is a ring that the Crown Prince had made for the woman who would become his Crown Princess. He was sure there was no way he would forget.
So, Prince Freud thought.
She goes out to Lucie, who somehow survived, and must have hired the mask merchant with her only offering, a gold ring.
And, the treasures of the Duke of Vallière that disappeared at the same time.
No matter how much I thought about it, I could only think that it was related.
Seeing that so many treasures disappeared at once, some said that the culprit was a multiple group.
There must have been guards, but the story goes that many people entered the mansion at once and moved the treasure.
No matter how much I thought about it, the security guard was suspicious and investigated them, but the only result was that they were innocent.
So, it was Prince Freud who bundled up the mask merchant, Lady Luciena’s gold ring, and the lost duke’s treasures all at once.
The two women used an unidentified magic spell.
With their magic powers, it might not have been difficult to sneak into the mansion.
“Anyway, there was no information at all that a wagon carrying treasure had left the border. I guess that means it’s still in the empire.”
“……”
“Focus on those with a lot of luggage! They will definitely be among them!!”
Racis sighed at Prince Freud’s confident words.
Is it okay to think about it so simply? And that’s it.
Surprisingly, Prince Lacys’s thoughts were just as correct.
Because the people who attacked him and the people who stole the duke’s treasure were the same.
It is also true that it is related to Luciena Root Vallière.
But his thoughts were clumsy in the end.
There are no wagons for the raiders, and Luciena has already left the empire and gone to the distant republic.
There was simply a large-scale crackdown on wagons leaving the empire.
The problem is that during crackdowns, there are people who ask for bribes or find fault and extort money.
Of course, the severity of the situation became so severe that the anger of the merchants increased day by day.
As a result, logistics in and out of the empire gradually began to decrease.
The country called Halfas Empire has a large amount of land, but there is almost no land with an environment suitable for growing grain, which is the staple food.
Because of this, most of the grain is imported, and the number of merchants entering and exiting the empire has decreased.
In a hurry, I tried to deal with this by releasing the grain in the warehouse…
Some time later, due to the invasion of the Demon King’s army, they entered the war with a slight shortage of military provisions.