Chapter 47 is out!
Anyway, here"s the chapter, I hope you"ll enjoy it!
Chapter 47
【"Any report from our scouts?"】
【"None yet."】
【"No matter how inferior Lapland"s numbers are, I doubt princess Frigga will stand idly by. We have to do everything we can to defend ourselves until Asgard"s army arrives!"】
Jorgen, the count of Berglund, was not an incompetent general by any means.
It was only after calmly a.n.a.lyzing Lapland"s and Frigga"s military capabilities that he had decided to switch to Asgard"s side, for the safety of his territory.
Once he decided to do so, the next logical step was naturally to attack the Guryud fortress and pillage their supplies. He could not neglect his preparations against Frigga"s counterattack.
He had already received a confirmation from Cabernard, saying his army would come at full strength to rescue Berglund.
Cabernard had apparently failed to capture Crowdagen, but when comparing the power of Lapland and Asgard, it seemed more than obvious who would obtain the final victory.
If Jorgen had watched Crowdagen"s battle with his own eyes, then perhaps his prediction would have been much different.
But unfortunately for himself, he was a very pragmatic person.
【"Father, I wonder if this is really alright."】
Jorgen answered his son"s timid question with a strong tone of voice.
【"For small feudal lords like us, the only way to survive is to follow the strong! Did you not say that you also think Asgard will win?!"】
【"I did but… I also know of her highness Frigga"s monstrous strength."】
Jorgen"s son, Boris, was around the same age as Frigga. In the past, back in the capital, he had personally seen her fight.
【"One hero is no match for a thousand soldiers. Her highness Frigga cannot save all of Lapland by herself."】
Despite his words, Jorgen knew that with Berglund"s current strength, Frigga could be more than a big enough threat.
If she brought along the hundred of knights under her control, the whole territory could fall into a crisis.
【"Sir Jorgen! A messenger just informed us that her highness Frigga is approaching, and she"s riding her griffon!"】
(As I thought, she came!)
She was here several days sooner than expected.
Jorgen could feel the terror creeping up his back.
【"H-how many troops did she bring with her?"】
【"W-well, no matter how hard we looked, we only saw a single griffon…"】
【"That"s ridiculous!"】
A single Griffon?
Snow white valkyrie or not, Berglund was not so weak that Frigga could take on the whole city all by herself.
【"However, we did notice one peculiar thing…"】
【"What was it?"】
【"It looked like there was a man riding the back of the griffon with her."】
◆ ◆ ◆
【"Is that Berglund?"】
【"It is. Across the border to the west of here is the Mabcarn kingdom, one of our allies. Before the war, Berglund prospered as the base of our trades with Macbarn."】
Frigga replied with a bitter face.
This was precisely the reason why Jorgen had betrayed Lapland.
Due to the war, the country"s trade with Macbarn had completely stopped, therefore binding Berglund to a fate of decay.
To resume the trade, surrendering to Asgard was a better alternative than waiting for Lapland to gain victory.
Since Macbarn feared the possibility of a war, they would not dare to go against Asgard.
Moreover, the mere fact that they had considered the possibility of rescuing Lapland before had already set Macbarn on the path of becoming one of Asgard"s va.s.sals.
Of course, Jorgen was not free of guilt.
However, as the local feudal lord, if he wanted to protect the lives of his people and the very existence of Berglund, he could not afford to keep his allegiance to his country right up to its destruction.
◆ ◆ ◆
Jorgen was starting to see the griffon approaching in the sky.
It certainly looked like there was someone else on the back of the beast, but had these two seriously come by themselves?
Although Frigga was an outstanding warrior, there were more than a thousand soldiers protecting Berglund.
【"Keep the reconnaissance team on their toes! Her men might be taking a wait and see approach for now only to intervene later!"】
【"Yes!"】
Berglund"s soldiers ran left and right on the city"s outer wall.
However, neither the scouts sent towards Guryud nor the guards keeping watch on the wall had signaled anything about Lapland"s army approaching.
【"―― So that"s count Berglund, huh."】
Using his far-sight magic, Kurats was able to see Jorgen, who was glaring at the sky without hiding his perplexity.
The count could not do anything yet, seeing as the only effective way to attack a griffon was to use a ballista or magic.
This advantage was so major that it could change the whole course of the war if Lapland could use their taming skills to increase the number of griffons they controlled.
【"Maybe I should threaten him a bit."】
Kurats smiled as he played around with the fist sized stone in the palm of his hand. He seemed to be enjoying himself.
『You"re only going to threaten him, right? You"re not thinking of going further than that, are you? You better not be.』
(I know. Why do you care so much?)
『Because my very ident.i.ty is at play here!』
The heroic saga of Kurats Hans Almadianos could very well start on this day. No, it had to start on this day!
Bernst tightly clenched his fist in his mind. Before he even realized it, a newfound sense of duty had started boiling inside him.
【"―― The Griffon is coming near!"】
【"Crossbow units, ready!"】
【"Do not rush! There is only one griffon! Aim carefully and you will shoot it down for certain!"】
Belgrund"s soldiers could not help but be shaken by the fierce approach of the griffon and the Snow White Valkyrie.
She was the kingdom"s treasure.
Even so, she was still just one person.
Jorgen subdued his worries and waited for Frigga to arrive.
【"If you"re gonna come… then come!"】
However, the griffon stopped at a certain distance from the city and did not fly any closer from there.
(As I thought, that was just some kind of aggressive reconnaissance work.)
This thought was able to relax Jorgen"s mind.
But he very soon realized that he had completely misunderstood the situation.
―― Shung!
There was a sound of compressed air being released, followed by the louder sound of something bursting.
When Jorgen asked himself what that was, he found that there was a cut on his cheek and a web of cracks on the stone pavement behind him.
【"W-what?"】
Was this a spell?
Jorgen had never heard of a spell that could be fired from such a long distance.
【"Sir, get down!"】
【"Ah! Aaaaaaah!"】
Feeling weak in the knees, Jorgen fell to the ground on the spot.
But that was not the end of those mysterious attacks.
―― Shung! Shung!
Each time Jorgen heard this wind cutting sound, some of the stone pavement around him was destroyed and turned into small fragments that rained back down on him.
Someone was clearly playing with him.
Jorgen felt like a single hit would have been enough to kill him if whoever was shooting at him was actually serious. That was how intimidating these attacks were.
(In the end, maybe I should have stayed faithful to the country.)
In his daze, such thoughts started haunting Jorgen"s mind. Meanwhile, his subordinates were bravely dragging his body back to safety.
【"Like I thought, the number of rocks I was able to carry on this griffon just isn"t enough…"】
As he said so, Kurats once again threw one of the rocks he was keeping in his pocket.
With his abnormal strength, Kurats granted these fist-sized rocks the speed of arrows; when coupled with their ma.s.s, this made them unimaginably destructive.
One unlucky soldier took a direct hit from the attacks, and his body was split in half, condemning him to cover the ground with his entrails in his last dying breath.
【"Well, I guess that"s that."】
When Kurats ran out of rocks and finally gave up on using this method, Bernst let out a long sigh.
『Satisfied? Now that you"re done with this, crush them in the flashiest way!』
(I know.)
Berglund had an outer wall protecting the city as well as an inner wall protecting the castle.
There was also a 5 meters (16 feet) wide moat surrounding the castle"s inner wall. Between the different walled cities of the kingdom, Berglund"s defenses could be said to be among the best.
But all that Kurats needed to destroy this time was what was inside the inner wall.
【"―― To the natural elements dwelling within this earth, heed the call of Kurats・Hans・Almadianos."】
When using advanced magic, engraving the spell with one"s own name was fundamental.
First of all, names were the basis of all incantations in this world, as such, the power contained within those mere words could be very mighty.
Moreover, a spell called upon with the name of the magic king, Almadianos, could only be powerful.
Kurats" magic power was converging like it was answering his words.
【"I command thee to lend me your power. Let the water and wind bring a message of death from the skies above… Teinan"s Thunder Spear."】
A pillar of light covered the castle of Berglund like a gigantic spotlight.
Looking up at this phenomenon, Jorgen understood that his earlier regrets were not unfounded.
【"Hahahahaha… I suppose G.o.d was not on our side."】
Jorgen could only laugh in response to this overwhelming attack.
After all, who would ever think of going against the violent winds of the mountains or the avalanches that announced the spring?
Faced with this power that seemed like mother nature"s intervention, Jorgen felt like he was not even given the right to have the will to resist.
【"I wish at least my son could have escaped…"】
But it was too late.
Once he uttered these last words, Jorgen"s consciousness was swallowed by the white light, and his body soon completely vanished.
The pillar of light that towered high in the sky was even visible to the Asgard empire"s army, who were marching towards the city.
As for the residents of Berglund, at the sight of this supernatural phenomenon, all they could do was pray to their G.o.d and wait for the calamity to pa.s.s.
Before they realized it, there was no trace left of the castle that used to stand at the center of their city.
【"…Pretty good for a first try, right?"】
『I guess you did handle the area of effect properly. But the convergence of your magic power was still subpar!』
Kurats had a very long way to go before unlocking the true secrets of magic.
From Bernst perspective, Kurats" spell was still amateurish.
Even so, it was effective enough to show off in front of those who did not understand magic.
The only soldiers left were the ones defending the outer wall, but they no longer had the willpower to do anything.
The highest-ranked officer among these survivors later became their representative and met with Frigga, leading to a discussion that concluded with the reattachment of Berglund to the kingdom of Lapland.
Translator"s note: I"ve been re-editing and rewriting the Almadianos chapters starting from the first. So far I"ve only done 6, but I"ll try to do them all this week.
That way the website will be all neat and shiny.
Don"t know if I can really do all the chapters this week since I"ll be super busy, but I"ll keep you guys updated in the footnotes.