The battle between the Royal Army and the Imperial Army that clashed on August 20 had one result that was expected by the parties involved and the surrounding countries, and one result that was contrary to expectations, and it ended before nightfall.

　The predictable outcome was, in other words, the defeat of the kingdom.

　It was a battle that had begun with the kingdom at a disadvantage due to the disastrous defeat of the first battle.
　It is unlikely that the kingdom has the strength left to rebound against the Empire, which has carefully planned its supply of troops and marched carefully into the war. That was the common perception of those in the know.

　And that prediction was admirably accurate.

　The Royal Army, which was already badly outnumbered, fell right into the trap of the Imperial Army, and when the main camp was assaulted, it was easy to fall apart. Not only was the third prince, the commander-in-chief of the entire army, defeated, he was forced to suffer an all-out defeat.
　It was a brilliant and brilliant victory for the Imperial Army.

　On the other hand, the unexpected result was the withdrawal of the imperial army.

　After destroying the Royal Army's intercepting force, the Imperial Army, which had been expected to march on the capital, suddenly returned to the Empire with all its troops on August 22.
　Not to mention the leaders of the surrounding countries, the upper echelons of the Royal Army, who were involved in this, were left scratching their heads.

　It was unexpectedly fortunate for the kingdom, which was thought to be on the verge of destruction, but if the reason for this was completely unknown, it would be extremely unsettling.

　I'm sure that the information will eventually reach the kingdom and other countries, but at this point the only people who know the truth are the top brass of the empire and the officers of the flying horse corps who came from their allies in the St. Rogel monarchy as reinforcements.



''You've wasted a hard-fought battle, Emperor,''

　On the outskirts of the imperial capital, a room in a mansion that had been loaned to reinforcements from the allied St. Rogel monarchy.

　Three young men sat around a table.
　One of them, a silver-haired man, cursed the Empire's highest authority with a spiky tone, which was condemned by a fine-eyed man sitting on the other side of the table.

'You're going too far with your words,'

Hmph. A king who can't win a single battle without our help is not worthy of our respect.

　The silver-haired man's words reveal his obvious contempt for the Emperor of the Ermenian Empire.

'But now we are in the position of reinforcements from a friendly nation. Since we don't know who and where they are listening to us, we shouldn't speak of such things.

'I agree. No matter how you think in your mind, there are some things you can say and some things you can't.

　The large man sitting next to the silver-haired man nodded in agreement with the thin-eyed man's words.

''We're the only ones here right now anyway,''

'I say it's a matter of mindfulness. If you usually speak of such things lightly, they can slip up or spill out unexpectedly at any moment.

　The silver-haired man, who didn't seem to take offense, was once again nailed by the fine eyed man.

I agree. And in your case, your attitude is pretty blatant.

　The large man laughs aloud.

'Let's get back to the story,'

　The thin-eyed man changed the subject.

'Since the captain was killed in action, we have to wait for instructions from the home country. The captain was the only one who knew the details of the plan.

Question. You haven't heard anything?

　The large man asks.

'I've heard bits and pieces, but I don't know everything. All I know is that I'm going to push the Empire to open war with the kingdoms on their backs and support them in their fight. You both know that, don't you?

　The silver-haired man and the large man nodded silently.
　Even if you don't know the detailed instructions from the home country, you can still get a glimpse of it from the content and policies explained verbally by the captain who died in the war.

The captain also mentioned that he was going to gradually puppet the Empire: ....... I don't know if that was the home country's order or the captain's own personal idea.

　The thin-eyed man closed his eyes and shook his head lightly.

　The flying horse squad they were leading had been badly wounded in the earlier battle.

　After kicking out the main camp of the kingdom, the three of them had led a separate squad to pursue the remaining enemies, so the detailed situation was not well understood.
　The remaining 1,000 cavalry led by the captain encountered the enemy, and half of the remaining 500 cavalry were defeated, but I only had a rough idea of how they were defeated from the reports from the surviving soldiers.

　According to the report, the nightmare began when the first enemy message was found by one cavalryman.
　At the command of the captain, the thirty horsemen went ahead to capture the message, but when they chased after it, they encountered another kingdom soldier and engaged him. As a result, they were wiped out.
　It is said that the captains who caught up with them afterwards also engaged the kingdom soldiers and suffered damage one after another from the mysterious, magic-like attacks.

　Certainly a loss of five hundred cavalry is painful.
　The number of flying horse cavalry that can respond immediately, excluding the wounded, has been reduced to about one thousand two hundred.
　But even so, they would still be a powerful force within the Empire.

　The problem was that now that they had lost their captain, they could not move carelessly unless they waited for instructions from the home country.

'Confirmation. Do you have a message for the home country?

We've already done that. You'll have instructions in a month or so at the earliest.

　The distance to the home country is long.

　Moreover, spread out in between is the open sea filled with inexhaustible seawater.
　Even though it was possible to contact them in a special way, it was inevitable that it would take some time to reach them.

'I hope nothing happens before then.

　The large man pulls his chin in agreement with the sarcastic silver-haired man's words.

I agree with you. I agree with you," he said, "but the world doesn't go well when the victors are stuck in a state of internal malaise.

　In this battle, the Empire had prepared a larger number of troops than the enemy, and had established its military superiority from the start.
　In addition, by working behind the scenes with the upper echelons of the Imperial Army, they successfully persuaded them to take an aggressive counterattack, and even though they were the aggressor, they succeeded in taking an advantageous defensive position.
　Furthermore, by deploying the monarchy's Flying Horse Corps, they were able to trap the Royal Army by spreading false information and turn their victory into a solid one.
　They set a trap in the forest, which would normally be the Royal Army's retreat route, and even deployed an ambush army in an attempt to exterminate it thoroughly, without spending the manpower that would normally be used to build a defensive position.

　The attempt was mostly successful.
　The Royal Army was defeated on the battlefield and devastated by the traps and ambushers on the way back. So much so that they were unable to mount any decent organized resistance for the time being.

　But, however, the Empire was forced to withdraw in the face of that opportunity.

''The commander of the right wing troops. Was it Viscount Lautria, I believe?

Affirmative. You're a trueborn son of Duke Tangram, the great aristocrat of the Empire. Other than that, the head of a noble family is the head of a noble family himself, five of his own, seven of his heirs, and six of his second and third sons. It seems that a total of eighteen people died in the war.

　A large man presents the information he's gleaned to a thin-eyed man.
　As if to take over his words, the silver-haired man snickers with a dumbfounded face.

You have enough troops, plenty of supplies, and the enemy is in a hurry to retreat despite the fact that they don't have the strength to resist, which is ridiculous.

The aristocracy is very powerful in this country. Even the emperor's position is in jeopardy if he loses their support. This is not an option.

　It has been a long time since I've had the opportunity to conquer a kingdom.
　The story of how he turned his back on the opportunity to return home is one that the people of the Empire may not be able to comprehend, even if they can understand it.

　The Duke of Tangram, whose eldest son was killed on the battlefield, asked the Emperor to abdicate his responsibility for his reckless departure, but the Emperor himself refused.
　Duke Tangram, the largest faction in the Empire, as well as other noblemen belonging to his faction and those who had lost their sons and heads, expressed their distrust of the Emperor, and the situation in the country rapidly deteriorated.
　The situation in the country rapidly deteriorated, and it was even said that the country was on the verge of civil war.

It's doubtful. In the end, who benefited from the battle?　The kingdom was spared from being invaded, but the army was destroyed and even the prince was lost. The empire did not seize the fruits of its victorious war, but simply drew on its troops and spent its war expenditures for mischief. If they had captured the enemy prince, they could have made up for it with a ransom, but someone else got carried away and killed him.

'It's my fault!　I'm going to be hanged when I destroy the kingdom anyway, so why not!

　The silver-haired man took a bite out of the large man's mumbling remarks.
　The silver-haired man was the one who had accidentally killed the third prince of the kingdom when he had raided the main palace of the kingdom by mistake.

''That was certainly the case at that point. We were planning to ride the momentum of our victory and attack the royal capital in one fell swoop, and we were going to win the battle in a month. ......

　That's not going to happen now that the Empire is no longer in a foreign war.
　With a sigh, the narrow-eyed man slumped his shoulders.

　As long as things don't go according to the original plan, the landing point of obtaining compensation in the name of ransom in exchange for captive royalty is a safe choice.
　Of course, that's only if the third prince to be handed over is still alive.

　If the Empire proposed a truce at this point in time, it is unclear to what extent the kingdom would concede.
　Of course, given the circumstances, it is certain that things will proceed in the Empire's favor, but if the Empire's current state of affairs is known, the Kingdom will have a look at its feet.
　If the third prince was in the hands of the Empire, they might have been able to prevent that and make an almost unilateral agreement.

''We have done no small amount of damage and even lost our captain. In the end, the Empire, the kingdom, and us all have nothing to gain from the wounds on all three sides, right?

Let's just drop the kingdom on our own without any trouble, shall we?

It's a foolish idea. I don't think I'm allowed to do that.

　It is true that with the strength of the Flying Horse Corps, they would be able to overwhelm the Kingdom's army of dead bodies.
　But the home country probably doesn't want such a thing at this point in time, and governing after destroying the kingdom would be impossible due to its resources.
　In addition, in that case, it would clearly be an enemy of the Empire as well.

　As the two of them began to argue again, the slender man spoke in what appeared to be a conclusion and stood up from his seat.

The only thing we can do now is to wait for instructions from our home country. I'm sure you'll be able to tell the troops to be even more careful not to get caught up in the Empire's quarrels.





　A month later, they received instructions from their home country.

　It was to 'return to your home country immediately'.