192 Conflict
***[Heroine Oscar]***
After coming to the fortress city, every day training is a must.
The soldiers, as well as myself, shot arrows every day at dawn.
Magical manipulation, which had stopped for a while, also resumed.
It can move or unite the mana within its body, unleash it to threaten the surroundings, and even kill the cells of living creatures by mana manipulation.
Creatures practice in the forest near the fortified city, but I don’t know why, but they’re much stronger than before.
I don’t know if it’s because my magic power has increased or if I’ve gotten better at manipulation.
It’s hard to judge because I’ve never released my mana to the limit.
ha.
Let’s take a small breath, and white breath rises through the cold air.
In the silence, only the sound of my breathing echoed thinly.
It was not so quiet when I entered this forest just a moment ago.
However, as soon as the mana was released to the surroundings, the forest instantly closed its mouth and became silent as if it were dead.
It seems that something was living in this area where nothing could be seen.
I realized it only after I released my magic and the surroundings became quiet.
To see how far that range was, I moved my ears in all directions.
But even after a lot of walking, the forest is still silent.
There was no sound as if it had become a forest of death.
only the sound of my footsteps
I saw several dead birds on the frozen white ground.
When I put my hand on it, there is still a little warmth left.
he just died
After walking quite a bit, it was still quiet all around, and I could see birds and rabbits dotted in the distance.
Maybe it’s like this beyond the visible.
The scope of the threat has definitely increased compared to before.
‘Perhaps the magical power itself has increased.’
But my heart wasn’t that bright.
When you think of Prince Robert’s face, a shadow arises.
I couldn’t get rid of the anxiety that he might have the same ability as me.
I guess it will be similar.
‘Maybe even stronger.’
It bothered me that Prince Robert had become wrinkled like Igor.
Until now, I didn’t know what Igor’s wrinkles meant, but after hearing that Robert had changed, something in my head moves up and down on the surface of the water.
With the combination of numerous things the goddess gave me, I have recently come to vaguely guess the meaning of those wrinkles.
Maybe it’s because the power of a god from across the planet dwells instead of human energy.
I don’t know exactly yet, but maybe the image of God from across the planet is full of wrinkles.
My heart sank even more when I thought of the effect Igor’s voice had on me.
Even Igor had that much power.
How strong is Robert, who has the power of a god from across the planet to the fullest.
Maybe he’s more of a nemesis to me.
He may be more dangerous to me than the Steppe Tribe.
After taking a small breath, I regained my strength.
Anyway, I have no choice but to do what I can.
I have to practice and practice again and again to bring out what I have to the fullest.
As he spread his mana all over his body again, he heard the sound of metal banging.
This is a sign that you are going to approach me.
It was dangerous to approach it recklessly during magic practice, so it was promised, but it has never rang.
‘What happened all of a sudden.’
The sound of metal came closer and closer.
It’s probably a bird or bug chasing a dead trail.
It must be quite urgent, and the sound is loud and fast.
I shouted out loud so they knew where I was.
“This way!”
After a while, the sound of metal stopped, and a shout from the captain of the escort was heard from afar.
“Duke! An urgent call came in. Is it okay if I approach you?”
“yes I’m fine.”
As soon as I finished my words, the figure of the escort leader appeared in the distance.
Next to him was an official in charge of contacting other families.
The two rode horses and ran in front of me.
As soon as the liaison officer got off his horse, he immediately opened his mouth.
“The Marquis of Hoven has contacted me through a practitioner. They say that a steppe tribe has appeared.”
Blood rushed down from the top of his head in an instant.
Seeing my expression, the escort captain interjected from the side.
“Thousands! It’s not the entire army, but about a thousand. It seems they’ve discovered that they’ve reached the borders of the territory.”
The liaison officer hung his head in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, Duke. I didn’t think about the order of the words properly.”
“It’s okay. Did Grandpa start that way?”
“It seems that the Marquis Hoven found it himself and decided to respond.”
“Grandpa…”
I have come to know the character of my grandfather well enough in the meantime.
I will definitely be the first to fight them.
My heart grew cold.
“How many soldiers are there in the Marquis family?”
“I heard two thousand.”
“What about the Magician?”
“About 400 people.”
Then most of the rest of the soldiers would be archers.
The Marquis of Hoven has two or three archers attached to one magical soldier.
If the magician was at that level, most of the arrows he carried would be magic bombs and bullets.
My heart is still dizzy, but I have calmed down a little.
It is said that Goruka was very careful not to let the magic bomb arrows be noticed by other tribes.
Maybe other people don’t know.
If Goruka said that, then the Silvermoon Tribe and others would not have even guessed that such arrows existed.
Thousands of steppe warriors are threatening, but they can’t cope with the first weapon they encounter.
Okay.
but.
I asked after moistening my parched throat with saliva.
“Will there be enough arrows?”
“It’ll be fine. According to the contact, each important castle has magic bombs and shot arrows. In particular, they said that castles close to the highway always have magic bombs and arrows.”
The official looked at me with powerful eyes.
“It’s okay, Duke. In preparation for such an occasion, we’ve supplied enough arrows for magic bombs. Shotgun arrows may be in short supply, but we sent them to the Marquis House of Hoven and the Marquis Patry first.”
“…”
“Besides, I’ve heard that they lock themselves in the castle right after a fight.”
While I was reporting, an aide brought my horse.
As I jumped on the horse, the aide slightly bumped into a dry tree right next to me.
At that moment, the tree fell over.
The captain of the escort startled and moved towards me, but the tree fell and crumbled like ash in the air.
“oh my god.”
the aide muttered.
As if thinking of something, the captain of the escort pushed the tree right next to it, and the tree crumbled from the base without even falling.
I guess it’s because of my magical power.
Although he released quite a lot of mana today, he never thought it would be this powerful.
In the past, it just made the air heavy, but has it become stronger before you know it?
But it didn’t bother me for long.
I silently pulled the reins.
The horse starts running.
The escort captain and official followed closely, and when I went out to the edge of the forest, the escorts waiting nearby quietly followed me.
My head was full of grandfathers and steppe tribes.
When he came to his senses, he was inside a fortress city used as a headquarters.
*
Entering the fortified city, the bustling city had become even more noisy.
It seems that the news of the steppe people has already been delivered.
Several of the vassal lords, who were busy, found me and approached me.
There are many lords from other regions in the fortress city.
They are people who left their last names to their grown-up children and scourged their old bodies to come to my side.
Most of them led a significant number of soldiers, leaving only enough numbers to protect the castle.
Even though I said it wasn’t necessary.
Thank you.
Even now, the feudal lords of the feudal lords were flocking here one after another.
Some say they went to Eldoni’s home.
If the experienced lords protect the castle with Benno, I feel reassured.
But at the same time, I was a little worried.
This war is different from the past.
The advent of new weapons in conventional combat.
The aspect of this war is quite different from what lords who are accustomed to one-on-one battles think.
It will unfold in a way that may seem cowardly to them or to the steppe tribes.
In fact, I heard that Goruka pondered for a while after using the shot arrow for the first time.
The reason he accepted it thinking he had no choice was because he had been interacting with the kingdom for a long time.
Currently, it is only used by dukes and some families, but he thought that someday this kind of weapon would spread to the entire kingdom and countries of the entire continent.
When that happens, what will be the future of the steppe tribes?
After thinking that far, he said he had no choice but to accept it.
Still, some warriors are reluctant to use shot arrows once they know what they are for.
Even magic bombs were accepted smoothly, but shotgun arrows, whose purpose is to injure people rather than kill them, seem not to be easily accepted.
From nob le mt l dot com
Do the feudal lords of the feudal lord know the situation properly?
I don’t know how I would feel if I went through the battle myself.
Everyone seems to have accepted it smoothly, but you have to experience it to know what it feels like when you actually use it.
“Duke.”
An old lord peered into my face.
And smile roundly.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry. The Marquis of Hoven is a really skilful captain. He knows when to leave and when to retreat. The former Duke had a lot of headaches because of the Marquis. I don’t miss the time. When I was young, well, I don’t know if there were times like that, but now the marquis is very old.”
Is my face that worried?
Glancing at the escort commander, he shook his head slightly.
Maybe my face is the same shape as usual.
The other lord smiled, deepening the wrinkles.
“Everyone going through their first war is nervous. The duke doesn’t look like that. To ordinary soldiers, he will look flat.”
But does that mean that people who are accustomed to war can see their nervousness?
When I smiled bitterly, the lord stepped aside.
“Others are waiting in the conference room.”
I put strength into my stomach and moved on.
The conference room was noisy.
People are looking at the map, talking about something or pointing a stick around on the map.
White stones used for operations were placed all over the map.
When I entered, the lords fell silent.
everyone is looking at me
The aide immediately started explaining.
First, he briefly mentioned the contact from the marquis family and then pointed to the map.
Black stones are scattered here and there.
“This is the path of the steppe tribe known so far. And this is the steppe tribe that appeared in the marquis family.”
A red stone was newly placed.
The aide again placed two red stones in another village.
“It’s information that came in a little while ago, but it is said that these two places were raided a few days before the steppe people appeared in the marquis family. There are about a thousand steppe people here too.”
“The path of the red stone continues. Is it the same unit?”
At my words, the aide nodded.
“It seems so. There are no traces of steppe tribes other than the main unit appearing in other regions. Of course, it may just be something we don’t know about.”
I stared at the map.
The call that the Marquis family had discovered the steppe people had already passed for about a day.
At that time, the soldiers of the Marquis family had already said that they would collide with the steppe tribes, so the fight must have been over by now.
Whether the steppe people headed for the Marquis family or moved to another place, we don’t know yet.
The tracks of the steppe tribes continue to be discovered, but they are still too fast to determine their exact location.
If you thought it was this way, a trace was found far away from you before you knew it.
One lord opened his mouth.
“The location of the black stone and the red stone are far apart. It seems too far from the direction of the main unit’s progress.”
Certainly.
It was too far away to be seen as a scout or an action unit.
When I looked at Goruka, he pondered the map before opening his mouth.
“I don’t know if it’s the same in the kingdom, but to become the chief of the steppe tribe requires some kind of achievement. The reason why I became a chief early was because I had the credit for leading exchanges with the kingdom. It goes smoothly because the warriors of the tribe all acknowledge it. He became the chieftain.”
Even in the steppe tribes, the priority is for the chief’s child to become the chief.
In most cases, the position of chieftain passed to the firstborn son.
But you have to be qualified anyway.
Whether it was good leadership or strength, he needed to prove that he had the ability to lead the tribe.
If nothing excels, another son, or another warrior, may take over.
Even if the chieftain was forcibly handed over to the successor, there were many cases where the warriors rebelled and rebelled.
“Perhaps this single unit is the heir to the Silvermoon Chieftain. If so, they may be overdoing it because they want to make a feat.”
It means that after successfully raiding a castle or village alone a few times, he may be confident and doing more than what is permitted.
“Then, it’s not that we missed our main course, but that we’re still moving in this direction.”
As I muttered, Goruka nodded.
“It’s possible.”
“If the heir dies, how will the Silvermoon Chieftain look like?”
Goruka shrugged at my question.
“nothing.”
“…”
“Chief Silvermoon himself may be very angry. But if he has gone this far, he’s probably breaking orders. The son of Chief Silvermoon tends to put action before thinking.”
Goruka grinned.
“If you are killed or injured because of disobeying an order, it is the person’s fault. Steppe tribes value their comrades and family, but their behavior as warriors is different. Disobeying orders is a great sin.”
“Are you saying you’re not heading to the Marquess House to retaliate?”
“I don’t know if that was the purpose from the beginning, but if I was heading down a different road, I wouldn’t turn to avenge my son.”
The lords listened to Goruka’s words and each said a word.
I stared at the map for a while, lost in thought.
The direction the main steppe tribe was heading was definitely towards the royal capital.
You can go to the royal road through the marquis family, but it will be like going around the road.
Then what should I do?
Should I head to the Marquess now, or should I block the steppe people from heading to the capital?
I was lost in thought for a while and looked up.