NOVEL NEXT Chapter 64: Princess Knight Eleonora
Before being completely annihilated, the enemy army surrendered.
Looking at the knights threw their weapons and laid on the ground after being crushed and killed by rock slides, Lyle-sensei’s anger finally subsided and accepted the enemy’s submission.
「Takeru-dono, you can trust the submission declaration of the knights. They value honor. You just have to make them promise to never participate in battles against us again. After paying ransom, you may release them to and let them return to their country.」
Sensei said those things in front of the captured enemy forces.
The knights and their subordinates are good but the problem is the mercenaries.
Unlike this the cowardly army who are incompetent and unable to do anything against us, these guys are skillful so I have to carefully deal with them.
They are the ones who stand out from the collapsed enemy forces.
They are bold enough climb to the steep mountain while a rockslide was occurring. One of them looks like a former adventurer.
He’s the leader of a large-3000 member mercenary group from Germania Empire.
Mercenary leader Garan Dodol was brought to sensei wrapped in a rope.
TN: ガラン・ドドル – Garan Dodoru, dodol is a kind of sweet
「We wish to express our gratitude for accepting our surrender, Silesie’s Hero-dono…」
Garan is a big man with black beard and is wearing black full body chainmail.
Even though he is a mercenary leader, this one is comparable to an army leader in terms of politeness.
「Garan-dono, you are mercenaries so why don’t you side with us? If you do so, we will pay enough remuneration for your labor and double-crossing.」
「A-are you an idiot? Even mercenaries have honor. Being a prisoner can’t be helped but we will never betray our employer.」
That’s right. In mercenary business, ones they lose their credibility, they cannot continue anymore.
I’m a merchant so I can understand their pain.
「A mercenary who double-crosses his employer is a disappointing one. We rather die than be employed by the enemy.」
「Is that so?」
The rope bounded Garan instinctively stood up.
「Oi Garan. Sensei is very angry so you’d better do as he says.」
「But Silesie’s hero-dono! You alone killed a lot of enemies to the point they threw their weapons and surrendered. You don’t need to hire mercenaries.」
That is true if it’s an ordinary war.
However, this time, it’s a war that will decide if the country will perish or not. I can’t choose the means so it can’t be helped.
「We don’t have time which is unfortunate so even though it is regrettable, we’ll execute anyone who won’t cooperate.」
Lyle-sensei points the gun at Garan.
It became impossible for Garan to look away as he screamed.
「Wa-wait…don’t kill me. Hero-dono, we’ll obey…We’ll switch side. Please forgive me……」
The leader of the large mercenary group, Garan, hit the ground with his head as he asks for forgiveness.
Switching side complete.
Thus, leader Garan came to our side.
To our regret, some of his mercenary allies don’t want to change side so we executed them one after another.
By the way, seeing how we deal with the war aftermath, it disturbs the other party.
「Th-this is a disgrace. I can’t bear it….this massacre!」
It is the young female knight with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fine armor with scarlet flame character.
Vice-general Eleonora Lanct Am-Main.
We tried binding her with a rope first but her armor flamed and burnt it.
We finally were able to capture her by binding her with chains while being surrounded by soldiers.
According to Lyle-sensei, the Am-Main family is a distinguished noble family. They are are ruling over the dukedom of Lanct which is a vassal state of the empire.
This female knight is the only child of the dukedom with the number one financial power in the empire.
Why is it such a princess willingly became a female knight?
TN: She’s a princess because she’s similar to Caroline. The dukedom her family ruling is a sovereign dukedom. Well, it’s not really a sovereign state since it is a vassal state of the empire.
「She is the “War Maiden of Lanct”. Her name is Eleanora. She is considerably famous.」
「Ah, a war maiden like Jeanne d’Arc.」
No, Jeanne is a farmer’s daughter.
I wonder why she became a princess knight even though she’s weak.
「Though she’s the only princess of Lanct, she’s a famous tomboy. Although she’s from the upper echelon, she wants to be a knight. Even the empire is having trouble handling her.」
「I see. So that’s why she became the vice- general.」
Looking at her, she doesn’t seem to have any commanding ability.
So that’s why the imperial army falls into confusion when General Nerdlinger fell. To be frank, with this your lady in the battlefield, the number of general did not become zero but negative.
She’s just a disturbance.
If I don’t have Lyle-sensei, I admit that I’m barely capable of being a general.
「You! To call me incompetent! I’ll murder you Silesie’s hero!」
「No, I didn’t say your incompetent…」
I didn’t say it, I only thought of it.
「The way you battle is cowardly! You’re unworthy to fight against knights! How can you call that victory!」
「Cowardly? I don’t want to hear that for the party who has four times as many as us.」
What am I saying? I have no reason to defend against her.
Should I just kill this noisy princess?
Aside from her, all the other knights had surrendered and were freed from a while ago.
Heavy infantry soldiers who seem to be her subordinates are surrounding her saying 「Princess, please surrender.」. They tried to persuade the female knight Eleonora but she stubbornly refuses to submit.
She really should surrender now like the other knights.
After submitting, she will be released after her ransom was paid but I guess it’s a disgrace for a knight.
Since we captured the enemy’s vice-general with great pain, it will be wasteful to just execute her.
When I was thinking of using her as a hostage against the enemy, a slim old knight who introduces himself as a messenger from Lanct Dukedom visited me.
When he took off his gray cloak, I saw his silver hair and a neat mustache. The way he bows to me is also dashing.
I’m weak to such good adults so I welcomed him.
「I am Kato, butler knight of the Am-Main family. I am here to pay the ransom of our house’s princess.」
「Hou, I see I see….」
The old gentleman Kato handed me two heavy cloth bag full of gold coins.
It’s too delicious that I almost fell down from that swift attack.
「Unbind the Am-Main princess immediately. Also, don’t be impolite to her subordinates!」
Being rescued by the old, silver-haired gentleman Kato, the troublesome princess knight Eleonora finally leaves.
「Silesie’s hero! I did not submit to you. Remember that next time, I will hack that neck of yours with my sword!」
「Yes yes, do your best.」
There is no need for Eleonora to submit.
She’s just someone of high birth and position but incompetent.
Moreover, she’s like a bonus character that will give you bags of coins if you luckily catch.
—Scene Change—
Our victory is but a moment. I received a report that the empire has begun organizing to dispatch a new army from their home country. Their current number is 10,000 so they’re likely be an enormous unit.
There are about 10,000 surviving imperial armies in Lauren then another great number of empire troops will come over. The City of Spire will encounter a pincer attack.
The amateur me will either choose a siege battle or a tactical withdrawal.
However, Lyle-sensei has already predicted it and choose the strategy of attacking Lauren City.
「The two thousand Garan mercenary who switch sides will invade Lauren City. The enemy general is a cautious one, Mainz”the Anaguma” Fullsten. The enemy will choose the besieging strategy.」
TN: マインツ・フルステン – Maintsu Furusuten. His title is anaguma which is some sort of shogi strategy wherein the king is surrounded by other pieces of the same side. By the way, anaguma may also mean “badger” which is some sort of animal.
As sensei says, if we attack the Lauren City, the empire army will stay inside the rampart of the city with our 3,000 troops.
With the ongoing plague, their condition is bad and will surely choose siege battle.
「Things will be easy since the lord of Lauren, Count Brynie, is in the city. If by any chance he is killed, the empire will lose the just cause for their war intervention.」
Indeed, if you use shougi terms, it can be called checkmate.
The Anaguma made the wrong choice.
Sensei also said 「The empire is probably panicking now and are in a hurry to make the army head here.」
Sensei managed to save the city of Spike from pincer attack and also confuse the empire’s reinforcement.
It is unusual for sensei to say that it will end in a draw due to damage and exhaustion on both sides.
「Let’s go to the outskirt of the city and collude with the mercenaries. Though we managed to reduce the war potential of the enemy, it will still be difficult since they’re firmly shutting themselves.」
While saying so, sensei seems to be having fun.
「The enemy general is Mainz Fulsten, a tough old man. Germania empire has few generals that I respect and he’s one of them.」
「Since sensei respects him, he’s probably an amazing general!」
There has never been a time where sensei praises the enemy general.
When I asked if the enemy general is amazing, sensei smiled bashfully.
「It’s somewhat different from what you thought of being amazing. Mainz”the Anaguma” has fought a lot of war with forty years experience and was defeated 60 percent of the time. 」
「That, is not so amazing. 」
Sensei shakes his head.
「Though Germania Empire has a lot of brave and brutal generals, he’s the only one who can fight well in a losing battle. In terms of army command ability, he is the best in the empire. Because it is a rare quality and is hardly understood by his colleague, he is called the “defeatist”. Mainz the “defeatist”. That poor old man is harshly called as that.」
「Indeed, that’s a plausible story.」
Certainly, the knights and soldiers of Germania Empire demonstrate fearlessness as they charge and becomes fragile when retreating.
Even though they are not completely equipped, the guerilla tactics mercenaries are more tenacious.
「In this aspect, if you take off the pretense of number, the Germania Empire’s army in Lauren City is already inferior. Among 10,000 imperial troops in the city, Mainz is the only one who understands it properly. Takeru-dono, do you understand now his amazingness? 」
「No… 」
「Is that so? It is sad being misunderstood. The enemy general Mainz is excellent to the point that I studied his battle history. Let’s pay respect to this amazing precursor by winning heartily.」
When saying so, sensei shook his iron wand indicating the attack on Lauren city.
We are currently on a hill overlooking Lauren city.
The five bronze cannons, aiming at the city, made a deafening roar as they started the bombardment.