The Chronicles of a Lost Man in His Forties Founding a Nation ~Commonsense is Hindering Me From Becoming TUEE~

Chapter 90

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Chapter 90

Leiha’s report was information brought back by the Filsand Knight Order’s patrol.

South of Filsand, about 2 days away by horse, the presence of a large number of Shulz had been confirmed.

Why Leiha had used the word “mob” is because they are not an army nor a force of warriors, but actually mostly non-combatants like women, children, elderly, and farmers (though I still had a thought or two in regards to her using that specific counter). There are over a thousand of them, moving slowly but surely towards Filsand.

“Refugees, do you think?”

“I do not know. How is the Duke responding?”

I let slip the word that first came to my mind upon hearing this information, but of course no one knew the answer.

“It smells.”

So muttered Leid, whose presence had been quite faint for the past while.

♥♦♣♠

The next day.

I am called out by the Duke to the command room of the Filsand Knight Order.

“Things have gotten troublesome. The Shulz are apparently running away with Shadow Demons on their tail.”

That is the first thing the Duke says upon my arrival.

I had thought this would be about how to deal with the Shulz, but it turns out to be this.

It seems that when it comes to Shadow Demons, Leid’s intuition is quite reliable indeed.

Shadow Demons, huh. Considering that we had seen a settlement on our way to Filsand that we suspected of having been attacked by Shadow Demons, I did think this a possibility, but…… unpleasant things are unpleasant indeed.

“Even though we spent so much effort on the ‘second condition’ that Margils thought of, now it has to be shelved for a while.”

“...... That’s the way Shadow Demons are. Throughout all history, they’ve never shown consideration for history or anyone’s convenience. They just show up, kill, then disappear.”

Leid replies in a tone as if he understands it all in response to Claura’s frustrated murmur. As someone who’s grown up with the destiny of fighting against Shadow Demons ever since he was aware, his words ring heavy.

For this world, that is how much of a calamity Shadow Demons are.

Which means that this is the time for me, the Great Wizard, to get to work.

“According to the report from the scouts, the Legion [army of Shadow Demons] is further south of the barbarians. It appears that they are moving straight towards Filsand, but we cannot determine if that is because they are chasing the barbarians, or if they are actually aiming for this city.”

“...... Scale?”

“According to the report from the scouts, there are about 5,000 Small Demons, several hundred Large Demons, and five Rock Demons. There is also one gigantic individual of a never before seen species. All heading straight towards Filsand.”

“ “......!” ”

Every single face in the command room grows pale at the Duke’s dispa.s.sionate recounting.

Incidentally, those in the room are the Duke, his second son Agbeil, his knight commander and court magician, generals of his official army, the prime minister and other chief va.s.sals.

“What is our military strength?”

“Yes, sir. 800 knights and 1,000 standard soldiers, but we can gather 1,000 more i

f we immediately conscript the populace.”

No one has the leisure of standing on ceremony. The general that the Duke indicated with a jerk of his chin replies immediately.

“The way this could go badly is if we have to split our forces to also remain vigilant against being attacked by the barbarians. And even though we can increase the size of our forces by 1,000, it would still take time.”

“Five or six thousand Shadow Demons isn’t enough to overwhelm Filsand and Castle of Fort.i.tude though.”

Whereas the Duke is murmuring in deliberation, one of the knights replies with emphasis. His voice is hard, but is still filled with quite some strength. It’s true that the walls of Filsand and Castle of Fort.i.tude are much thicker and st.u.r.dier than even the White Sword Castle’s.

However, according to the knowledge that I had learned as a TRPG gamer, it takes 3 times the number of troops to conquer a fully prepared castle. Which means the Shadow Demons already have more than enough to do so. Large Demons and Rock Demons are each equal to several tens of soldiers. Throw in the unidentifiable large individual, and our prospects look quite grim.

“How about letting the Shadow Demons catch up to the Shulz and eat them? Would they be satisfied with that and return to their nest?”

At the court magician’s words, which were uttered as if in flattery, Claura’s eyebrows shoot right up. She’s standing behind me, so I can’t actually see her, but I can feel it. Leid also probably has a really cold smile on his face.

More like, sacrifices are out of the question, but it seems like no one in this room has any intention of saving the Shulz.

Even if I go out and take care of the Legion before it reaches Filsand, how can I convince the Duke to provide protection for the Shulz?

As I am thinking about that, a messenger rushes into the command room.

“Reporting in. A m-, messenger from the Shulz reached us. They are requesting an audience with Duke-sama.”

“...... At this busy time…… Did they say what is it that they want to talk about?”

“The messenger identified himself as Raslas, the Tribe Chief of the Shulz. He offered to exchange the, the young lord, Balzard-sama? in exchange for safe pa.s.sage through our land and food provisions.”

Indeed, this is not a cheap game where you can get a ‘Happy End’ just by clearing all the lined up missions.

If I hadn’t wasted these past few days on the negotiations with the Duke and instead spent them for the Shulz, things might have been very different.

But still, isn’t this guy a bit too confused?

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