Madan no Ou to Vanadis - Volume 18 - Chapter 2.3

Two reports were delivered to Valentina on that day.

One was about the outcome of the battle between Arma Zirnitra and the tribes. It caused Valentina to frown as the report stated that the 20,000 barbarians had been defeated by Arma Zirnitra with its less than 5,000 soldiers. She had wished for both parties to clash and it had played out just like that, but she couldn’t call the result desirable in the least. Not only was the damage to Arma Zirnitra negligible, but the northwestern and northern central lords, who had suffered from the tribes attacking, were now supporting Elen and the others for showing their might as Vanadis.

Of course Valentina had expected such an outcome as a possibility, but now that it had turned into reality, she still wasn’t happy about it. The northeastern lord had been obeying Valentina for a while now, so this turn of events didn’t endanger Osterode right away. But Valentina decided that she should start to consider the probability that the final battlefield might lay somewhere between the capital and Osterode. She had to play some kind of hand against the northwestern and northern-central lords, too.

──Still, there’s one point that doesn’t make any sense.

Valentina reread the report from the beginning once more. It was a writing her subordinate in Piwa had put together. According to this, the Vanadis all displayed valorous, hard fights as they stood at the head of their soldiers while going through many weapons.

It wasn’t unusual for a knight, who was putting forth great efforts on the battlefield, to wreck several weapons. Of course, it often included a certain rate of exaggeration, but Valentina had actually witnessed such fighters, too.

Just, this would never apply to a Vanadis who wielded a draconic tool. Under normal circumstances.

On top of that, another piece of information stood out as very interesting to her, although it was based on the words of an Arma Zirnitra soldier. He had stated that the Vanadis had apparently announced to their men before the battle that they couldn’t use their draconic tools.

The scenery of her cutting down Sofy revived in Valentina’s mind once more.

As I thought, she couldn’t use her draconic tool.

A smile revealed itself on her lips, but she immediately tightened her expression again and decided to dispatch several of her subordinates to Piwa.

She assessed that she probably should kill as many of the other Vanadis as she could while they couldn’t use their draconic tools. But before doing so, she wanted to get her hands on precise information first.

The second report was about several lords in the south having raised armies. Lured by the confusion after the death of King Viktor, they accused neither Ruslan nor Eugene to be fit as next ruler while endorsing Adelaiyda, the daughter of the Rodina family that ruled over the land of Vyelka, as the next ruler of Zhcted.

Adelaiyda was the daughter of Veronika, the eldest daughter of King Viktor. She was fourth in line for the throne. Looking at it from just this point, you could say that she possessed the necessary qualifications to claim the crown for herself. But, she was an eleven-years old girl. In addition, her father and patriarch of the Rodina family, Karl, had lost his eyesight in an accident, and was currently ruling over Vyelka with the support of his wife and daughter. The ringleaders of the lords who had raised their armies were Ginova Chenbel and Tsagil Eleck. Both were Adelaiyda’s guardians. So it should be obvious that the girl was used by both of them.

“Send a messenger to her at once and tell her to stop this meaningless dispute,” ordered Valentina while keeping her thoughts to herself.

──So I finally got them to move, huh?

Adelaiyda’s raising of an army had been arranged by Valentina. Its aim was Pardu, the homeland of Eugene. Valentina didn’t believe that it was enough to put Eugene in jail. She was convinced that she had to strike down Pardu, just like she had destroyed Bydgauche’s army after murdering Ilda. After all, she expected that Pardu would become her enemy sooner or later once she took the crown for herself. Valentina planned to get rid of two threats by having Adelaiyda’s army clash with Pardu’s soldier and thus exhausting both sides. She was even willing to team up with either side to crush the other, before finishing off the remaining side herself, depending on the circumstances.

Valentina had ordered her soldiers to be ready for sortie at any given moment. She knew that she had to decide soon whether to turn the brunt of her attack northwards or southwards.

While she processed the governmental affairs, read through the reports, and handed out new orders, Valery was silently flipping through one of his books while sitting on his personal chair Valentina had prepared for him alongside the wall of her office.

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The commanders were holding a war council in the camp of Arma Zirnitra near Piwa. Dealing with the aftermath of the battle against the tribes had finished yesterday, and the army got everything ready to resume its march in the course of today morning, but the situation had changed after they received the messenger of a certain lord. The soldiers interrupted their work of taking down the camp, and decided to wait for further orders until their commanding officers had decided the future course of action.

Just when noon was around the corner, the four Vanadis and Lim put their heads together inside Elen’s tent. Each of them had a silver cup with Mila’s black tea placed in front of them.

Liza explained with an expression that didn’t manage to hide her confusion, “We have received a request by a lord who is a distant relative of the Kurtis family. They’re asking us to protect Bydgauche.”

After Bydgauche’s army, led by Julian Kurtis, was annihilated by Osterode’s army, Bydgauche’s land had been plagued by squabbles. The family’s relatives were fighting over who was supposed to become the new head of the Kurtis family. But, that didn’t mean that all of the relatives were vying for that post like vultures. Just as some of them watched this wretched, shameful argument while feeling completely fed up with it, others considered resolving the issue by involving outsiders. One of those following the latter approach had asked Arma Zirnitra for help on that matter.

“Impossible,” Elen turned it down instantly with a curt denial.

Lim and Mila also nodded their approval.

“Right now, we don’t have the leeway to protect some territory. Not to mention that the Bydgauche Dukedom is amongst the biggest powers in Zhcted’s north. It’s evident that such an endeavor would require a long time”

“Our first and foremost objective is to take down Valentina. I won’t go as far as saying that we should ignore the public order in the north for that sake, but I’d prefer for noble families to at least solve their problems internally.”

The two arguments were quite reasonable, but the story didn’t end at that.

“Please wait a moment. There’s a continuation to this.”

Liza talked about Adelaiyda raising an army. Bydgauche’s messenger had informed her of this. Eugene’s wife was Ilda’s little sister, and due to that connection, a tie, albeit a small one, had formed between both fiefs. Owed to the distance between both territories, it was limited to exchanging letters once every few years, though. Apparently Bydgauche’s messenger had heard of the circumstances in Pardu through that line.

Elen, Mila, Lim, and Olga looked at each other due to the sudden shift towards a talk about Zhcted’s south. Liza supplemented her explanation by preparing a map.

“The one ruling over the land of Vyelka is Karl of the Rodina family. Adelaiyda is his daughter. She’s also King Viktor’s granddaughter, and as such she’s fourth in line for the throne after His Highness Ruslan, His Highness Valery, and Lord Karl. And──she’s eleven years old.”

“She’s obviously being used as a figurehead,” commented Mila with a bored snort, and then looked at Elen who was next to her.

Elen was scowling at the map, her silver hair swaying from her trembling out of rage.

“You’re saying they’re targeting…Pardu, while fully aware that Lord Eugene is absent? What a despicable low blow.”

“That’s the very reason why they’re doing it in the first place, no? Isn’t it their plot to then use the momentum to attack the capital in order to kill His Highness Ruslan?”

Elen didn’t make a single comment towards Mila’s remark. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t heard it, but rather, her head was preoccupied with finding some kind of means to save Pardu as obvious from her gleaming, ruby eyes.

After casting a worried glance at Elen, Liza surveyed everyone’s faces once, “Could I have you listen to my opinion on the matter?”

Olga, who had been silent for a while now, Lim, and Mila nodded. Even Elen, who frowned over having her train of thought interrupted, recalled that she was currently sitting in on a war council, and redirected her attention to the ongoing discussion.

Liza swallowed her breath lightly as she stared at the map surrounded by the five of them. As if making sure whether her own thinking was correct. After shaking off her hesitation, Liza spoke up.

“Let’s split up our army. Olga and I will protect Bydgauche. Elen, Mila, please take your respective armies and head for Pardu.”

“Wh-….!?” Elen was about to jump up, shouting, but she swallowed her words when she noticed the two odd eyes fixed at her. Persuading herself to listen to the end, Elen sat back down.

Mila was on the verge of jumping up in the same way, but after watching Elen, she reconsidered and sat back down as well.

Elen asked with a voice as calm as she could muster, “What is the idea behind splitting up a small army of less than 5,000 men even further?”

“Does that mean you’re telling us to stop attacking Osterode and go south after coming this far?” Mila also showered Liza with a sharp look.

Liza responded to both with a smile, and stared down at the map with tension dyeing her face.

“Let me first talk about attacking Osterode. After having learned about most of the northeastern lords allying themselves with Valentina, I’ve deemed this to be an extremely difficult endeavor.”

Elen and Mila nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Next Liza pointed a finger Pardu’s location on the map, “Pardu is a land we must protect. Even if we endorse Lord Eugene, it’ll all be for naught if his territory were to fall into ruin. I think Tigre would be sad as well.”

“Shouldn’t we head with the whole army for Pardu then? Why would you need to go to Bydgauche…?”

“That’s the crucial part here,” responded Liza to Mila with a confident smile.

Her odd eyes gleamed as fighting spirit blazed deep within.

“It’s difficult to attack Osterode. But, I’d like to show them our willingness to give it a go if they show us an opening. Bydgauche is a prominent fief in the north and lies near Osterode. As such it is the perfect location for that objective.”

“But, if we don’t move from Bydgauche, it’ll invite Osterode’s army in the capital and the armies of the northeastern lords to launch an attack from their side, won’t it?”

Liza shook her head at Elen’s objection. She moved the finger she had placed on the map.

“The northeastern lords won’t be able to make any careless moves. Brest is situated south of Osterode.”

Having that pointed out to her, Elen’s eyes widened as she stared at the map. Olga looked somewhat triumphant while holding her cup in both hands. After all, Brest was the principality she governed.

“Olga Tamm is in Bydgauche together with me. Just this piece of information alone will be able to detain the northeastern lords, and likely Osterode as well, from making any moves in our direction. If they were to move their soldiers, Brest’s soldiers would definitely start heading north in order to save her.”

“It’s fine to put your hope on that. I’m confident in their marching speed,” added Olga with a smile.

Brest’s main force consisted of equestrian tribes. They were an assembly of skilled riders who were capable of riding horses as good as Olga or even better than her.

While looking back and forth between Elen and Mila, Liza continued her explanation, “Also, although we’ll move in two ways, Valentina can’t simply leave the capital unmanned. If she doesn’t come at us with her whole force, I’m confident that we’ll be able to fend her off in Bydgauche. I can also request reinforcements from Lebus.”

“I see. And it also means that Valentina will become unable to throw all her forces at us either, huh? She’ll need to stay vigilant of you two in Bydgauche.”

Grasping the idea, Elen exhaled deeply.

It’s a dangerous move. If we make a single error, we’ll end up getting killed one-by-one. But, Pardu isn’t that far away from Leitmeritz and Olmutz. If we immediately send fast runners to either principality with orders to send soldiers to Pardu and hurry to Pardu while avoiding all battle, we might be able to scrounge up enough of a fighting force to fight against Osterode’s army.

“──Ludmila.” Elen turned her whole body towards Mila, sincerity glowing in her scarlet eyes. “I want to protect Pardu. That’s why I agree with Liza’s plan. But, you──”

“Fine.” Interrupting Elen, Mila stated in a rather brusque manner. While Elen became dumbfounded by the unexpected, quick approval, Mila averted her eyes and loudly proclaimed, “I said it’s fine! However──” Mila folded her arms and glared at Elen with her face becoming beet red, “──you’ll entrust your soldiers to me. Limalisha and you are to head over to Pardu ahead of us. Over there you’ll explain the situation to Lord Eugene’s family and gather up as many soldiers as possible.”

When Mila finished speaking, Elen spontaneously grabbed her hands.

“I got it! I’ll definitely show you great results! Thanks, Ludmila!”

Mila stared at Elen, who repeatedly thanked her with her eyes sparkling in joy, with a face which made it clear that she didn’t know how to react. While feeling very conscious of the warmth enveloping her hands.

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——————- End of Part 3 ——————-