Otherworld Adventure

"Brother, there seems to be a small contingent coming out of the fortress. They seem to be setting something up in the middle of their battle formation!"

"Let"s go see what this is all about," Albert said airily. He was confident in Fatima"s strategies and it was only a matter of time before they won this battle.

He led everyone out of the tent and went to see what Aramano"s report was all about. In the middle of the enemy"s battle formation, outside of the fortress, there seemed to be a lot of activity going on.

Taking a look at the situation down below, the Regulus army knew that the Merkruz forces had manipulated the landscape to their advantage. They had shaped the land so that there was a large semi-circle earthen wall that circled the front of the fortress with only one way in and out. Just behind these walls, the terrain was dug out to form large trenches and holes, with wooden and earthen barricades placed in front of them.

It was similar to the things that Fatima had first introduced to the Regulus Army. Now the enemy was copying them and the Regulus Army generals couldn"t help but scoff at this. Even if they did put out these defenses, their soldiers already had experience in maneuvering around these things.

Then there was a clear path down the middle of the battlefield which led directly towards the fortress" gates. When everyone saw this, they only thought that it was most likely some kind of trap set up by the Merkruz Princ.i.p.ality.

It was then that Albert saw a large contraception being pulled out and set up in front of the fortress" gates, right at the end of this path. The large contraception that was being set up was not something they had previously seen before.

It was large and had a cylindrical body with a hollow inside. The contraption was a cannon, and when Lucia saw this, she couldn"t help but exclaim in shock.

"It"s a Mag-Cannon!"

The people around gave her a curious look after her sudden outburst. Lucia couldn"t help but scold herself inwardly and Serilla could only sigh. Despite having warned Lucia to not say anything, she still couldn"t stop her sister"s impulsive actions.

Albert noticed that the black-cloaked person who was supposedly Fatima"s guard was in the know of what that large contraption was. He immediately demanded an explanation from Lucia.

"You know what that is?"

"..."

"Tell us now, what is that thing!"

Lucia eyed Fatima and she only nodded silently in reply.

"Your Majesty, that thing over there, is the Empire"s Mag-Cannon, short for Magic Cannon," Lucia reported.

"The Mag-Cannon? d.a.m.n! Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds got a hold of this too?!"

Armano raised an eyebrow at Lucia"s response. This girl somehow knew about the Empire"s weapon.

"Tell us more about this!"

"...���

"It"s okay Lucia," Fatima said in rea.s.surance.

Lucia didn"t know every single detail of the Mag-Cannon, but she still learned snippets of the cannon"s specifications from listening to both Cecil and Ren talking about it from time to time.

"Alright...well, the Mag-Cannon is a weapon from the Empire that boasts of high destructive capabilities. The crystal mana battery inside the Mag-Cannon powers this weapon so it can minimally fire off 5 rounds before the battery needs to be swapped..." She continued explaining all she knew about the cannons before finishing. "Naturally, this weapon runs on mana, but—"

"Hah! So we do not need to worry about this then! The M-Jammer will interfere with this weapon"s activation!" Armano cut in with a smug laugh.

"No, that thing will be able to fire without a doubt. Why would the enemy set up a weapon if it wasn"t going to work? Also, if the Empire can create a device that interferes with mana, couldn"t they also create a device for their soldiers so that they"d be able to use mana even under the M-Jammer"s interference?"

Lucia"s words immediately sent everyone into a quiet shock. What the girl said had some merit and it could spell trouble for them later.

"D-Don"t incite panic little girl! You don"t know for sure if this is true or not!" A n.o.ble hastily said in an uneasy tone.

More began to berate Lucia, but Fatima immediately silenced them.

"SILENCE! What she said must be taken into consideration. If the enemy can build a weapon to interfere with mana, then they can easily build a weapon for their soldiers to operate under this condition!"

"But...wouldn"t that mean all our preparations would be meaningless?!"

"Maybe...but remember, the Empire isn"t our enemy. It"s the Merkruz Princ.i.p.ality. We can"t know for sure if the Empire has sold the device that will enable them to use mana even under the influence of the M-Jammer, but that doesn"t mean that the Empire"s Mag-Cannon doesn"t have it!"

"Urk..."

Her words immediately shut up the panicky n.o.bles while all the generals present turned solemn at her words.

Albert nodded in understanding. What Fatima and the cloaked girl said was true. Why would the enemy begin constructing the weapon if they weren"t going to use it?

"What Fatima says holds merit! We shall proceed with our plans, but we"ll proceed with caution. Has General Blake and Lewis already finished preparing yet?!"

"N-No news from them yet, sir!"

"Have them set off immediately after their preparations are complete. We should hurry and begin our plans before that weapon is fully complete! We"ll drag their attention over to us while the 2 divisions sneak away! Prepare for battle!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Just before Fatima was going to lead her people back to their unit, Prince Albert stopped them.

"Fatima."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Your subordinate...she"s contributed a little to our cause by providing us with vital information about that weapon. May I thank her?"

"...Of course, Your Majesty."

Albert turned his gaze over to Lucia who was hidden underneath the cloak. He immediately thanked her and just as Lucia was going to say something, one of the Prince"s advisors immediately quipped up in annoyance.

"Having your face veiled before His Majesty is an offense! At least have the courtesy to take off your hood!"

Lucia couldn"t help but glare at this loudmouth busybody. The Second Prince also quipped up at her manners so she had to reluctantly pull down her hood.

When her face was revealed, Albert couldn"t help but widen his eyes a little at Lucia"s beauty, her beautiful silver hair which was flowing behind her back like a frozen waterfall and her sharp, fox-like eyes which was piercingly observing everything around her made Lucia look enchanting and at the same time witty and dangerous.

Many were momentarily entranced by this girl"s beauty, but they quickly snapped out of it because Lucia swept everyone around her with a menacing glare.

Lucia didn"t like the way she was being stared at like some kind of rare commodity. It wasn"t until Serilla nudged her on the side that Lucia immediately stopped and cast her eyes on Albert.

"There"s no need for thanks, Your Majesty...I"m just doing what I think should be done."

"Ah...yes, well, appreciation is most definitely due. I wouldn"t like it if our soldiers marched into battle without knowing what they were up against."

Lucia bowed to him before stepping back behind Fatima.

"Your Majesty, if that is all, we"ll head back to make our preparations."

"Yes, of course. You"ll be in charge of this first a.s.sault Fatima. May the fortunes of war be with you," Albert said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Fatima bowed before turning on her heels. "Let"s go."

Lucia and Serilla followed closely behind her and Lucia immediately pulled up her hood, hiding away her face again.

"Tsk... what a beautiful lady, a shame that she is married," Armano said abruptly.

"Hm?"

"That woman and the other one in the cloak are married to Fatima"s "brother"."

"They are? To which brother? As far as I know, none of Fatima"s brothers have gotten married." Albert asked with a frown.

"I"m not sure either. I think this is all just a ruse and Fatima"s only covering for them because she doesn"t want us to poach the people under her."

"Hmph, if they are unmarried... well..." Albert didn"t finish his sentence, but he was indeed a little attracted to the woman he had seen earlier. He didn"t quite catch her name though.

"Oh? Has brother taken a fancy towards that young lady from earlier?" Armano asked as his eyes flashed chillingly.

"..." Albert remained silent, but his brother already knew from the look in his eyes that he was indeed interested in Lucia.

"Hehehe~ since brother also wants her...I won"t have any qualms of taking them later."

He was going to enact his plans later after the battle. Since Fatima was going to be the one leading this initial attack, those two would probably be sent to the frontlines as well. Once they came back, exhausted from the fight, he"d make his move then.

"Hmhm~"

******

The battle started once Fatima gathered all the generals together. She stayed in the back, directing everyone"s battles while Lucia and Serilla insisted on going to the frontlines to make sure that her plans went on without a hitch.

All they needed to do was divert all of the enemy forces" attention on them so that the two selected divisions would be able to sneak away. The gra.s.s close to the banks of the rivers were tall, so if the two divisions did things right, they"d be able to sneak away unnoticed.

The two selected divisions were mostly infantry so they didn"t have many cavalry units. As for the ones that were cavalry, they were left behind with the main army under Fatima"s orders.

Once the battle started, Lucia and Serilla immediately dashed towards the chokepoint in the wall surrounding the fortress. At first, the ally soldiers were worried that there may be some traps waiting for them ahead, but Serilla and Lucia just darted into the danger zone and smashed the enemy"s defense line.

The Merkruz army had long since deployed their troops when their scouts caught wind of the Regulus Army"s arrival. Though they had the terrain and home ground advantage, Lucia and Serilla simply smashed through all these impediments with their swords.

With them preoccupying a part of the enemy"s frontline forces, the rest of the Regulus army was able to quickly follow after Lucia and Serilla"s lead without getting into march harm since the enemies were focused on trying to repel the two women who were wreaking havoc on their frontlines.

Some of the bolder and courageous soldiers even stayed on the main path and tried to flank the enemy. The cannon still hadn"t finished setting up, but Fatima had specifically warned them to stay away from the main path.

Seeing that some people had gone against her orders, Fatima immediately grew furious and had one of her adjutants go and relay the orders again to the people at the front. The Generals around her only told her to take it easy because the cannon still wasn"t ready.

"We can"t leave them out there! Once the cannon is ready, we"ll lose every single one of our soldiers that are on the path!" Fatima yelled furiously at these ignorant people. Every soldier"s lives were important. Losing even one meant forever losing a battle-hardened warrior. They didn"t just grow on trees and training up another one took years. She immediately forced all the other generals to quickly send messengers to inform the soldiers on the path to move away from there.

If they didn"t comply, only military punishment waited for them after the battle. It wasn"t long before the soldiers quickly got word of this and began to move away, but just before all of them were clear from the path, the cannon had suddenly fired a shot.

A silence immediately descended upon the battlefield in the aftermath of the cannon fire. Every creature that was on the path had been killed and all that remained were scorched earth and corpses.