About three months had passed since Raoul returned to the capital, fresh off an overwhelming victory over House Schneiger. In that time, he’d sent several teams to investigate the supposed city in the wastelands—but none of them had returned.
The governor of the North had refused to answer Raoul’s summons, so eventually he ordered his men to resort to more forceful methods. They tracked down merchants who’d been to the city and forced them to cough up whatever intel they had. Gradually, they started piecing together a picture of the situation.
The report from the governor’s subordinate had been true after all.
They told him that after Luke’s exile, he had built a functioning city from the ground up in the wasteland. Not only that, but in less than two years, it had grown to a population of nearly ten thousand.
“How the hell are you still alive, Luke?! And you just keep getting in my way!” Raoul roared, glaring at the northern horizon. “Mobilize the army.”
“Wh-What?! Wait, my lord! This is your own brother you’re talking about! This is an important time for House Arvale right now, and internal conflict could—” one of his vassals said, trying to settle him down.
“Silence!” Raoul snarled. “That bastard has been secretly mustering troops in the wasteland, planning to rise against our house! We can’t allow that to happen!”
With that hasty assumption, Raoul ordered his vassals to prepare for war.
“Assemble five thousand troops!” he went on. “I’ll lead them myself!”
“F-Five thousand?!” several of his vassals cried out.
Currently, more than half of the Arvale military was stationed in the newly conquered Schneiger territory. The war had only just ended, so it was a terrible time to mobilize soldiers.
“B-But my lord, the city’s entire population is barely ten thousand. A thousand troops should be more than enough to—”
“Silence. Muster the troops now or I’ll kill you myself!”
“Y-Yes, my lord!”
Two weeks later, Raoul managed to scrape together five thousand troops, thanks to his vassals working themselves to the bone. He personally led the army out of the capital.
Their first destination was Liesen, the city where the governor of the North was installed. It was on the way to the wasteland, which made it a perfect location to resupply and rest.
“By filing a fraudulent report, Governor Dant has sided with the traitor Luke! He is a criminal and must be brought to me for punishment immediately!” Raoul declared. He then ordered his troops to storm the city.
Raoul was fully prepared to encounter resistance, but the sheer size of his army must’ve terrified the citizens, who’d left the gates wide open.
But as soon as the troops burst into the governor’s estate, they realized something was off.
“This place is totally empty.”
“Yeah, there’s nobody here...”
The governor had apparently caught wind of the approaching army and fled the city with his entire family.
“I bet he’s taken refuge in the wasteland city.”
“Hmph. He should’ve surrendered. His punishment would’ve been lighter.”
Sure, he wouldn’t have avoided execution, but at least the method would’ve been relatively painless, and only the governor would’ve had to pay the price. But now that he’d fled with his whole family, any semblance of mercy was off the table.
“I will make sure entire generations of his family regret him siding with that bastard,” Raoul said.
✦ ✦ ✦
One day, Governor Dant arrived in the village with a large group of people at his back.
“What happened?” I asked.
“It’s terrible, Lord Luke. The thing we feared has finally come to pass,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Lord Raoul has left the capital with a host of five thousand soldiers. He intends to destroy the village—to destroy you.”
“Raoul’s coming all the way out here with five thousand troops?”
I knew he hated me, but why would muster that many to deal with a single village? I wondered if he had an ulterior motive, but it didn’t seem so, according to the reports. His soldiers were heading straight for us.
“How did he even manage to gather that much manpower?” I wondered. “The war just ended, and I’m sure his people weren’t thrilled about it, especially if he didn’t have a justification for war.”
“He’s been spreading a lie that you’re raising a military force in secret to rebel against House Arvale,” Dant said.
“I see.”
If the reports were accurate, the troops would reach us in about five days.
“That’s why my clan and I left Liesen and came here,” Dant said.
“But isn’t that more dangerous for you if Raoul’s on his way here?” I asked.
“Maybe, but he planned to arrest me while passing Liesen. I’ll face whatever comes as long as I can be of help to you, Lord Luke.”
Dant informed me that he’d brought his private troops with him too.
“We might not be much compared to the warriors of this village, but we’ll fight bravely alongside you!” Bazara declared, thumping his chest proudly.
He sounds kind of desperate, if I’m being honest...
“Raoul’s coming with five thousand soldiers?!” shouted Sirius, Seren’s younger brother. “W-We have to surrender! There’s no way we can win!”
He’d inexplicably decided to move to the village after showing up recently.
What’ll happen to his family?
“With only a few hundred troops under his command, Lord Raoul took down one of House Schneiger’s largest cities. If he has five thousand soldiers, this village won’t last half a day!” Sirius said.
“You should go home, Sirius,” Seren said.
“What?!” he gasped, shocked at her bluntness.
“Raoul will never let Luke go, even if we did surrender. Since we have no intention of letting anything happen to him, we’re going to fight, whether we like it or not,” she said.
Sirius blinked at her.
“There’s no reason for you to get caught up in this too. Pack your things and leave now.”
“I can’t just run off and leave you behind! And besides...” His gaze shifted toward Philia.
Philia tipped her head to the side. “Is there something on my face?”
“N-No, nothing at all!” Sirius flushed as he shook his head.
Hm, I had a feeling about those two. Is that why he’s so determined to stay here?
Da-da-daaan! Congratulations! Your village’s population has surpassed 10,000 villagers, and your Village Level has increased to Level 8!
You have received a Level-Up Bonus of 100,000 Village Points.
New facilities are available for construction!
Village boundary has expanded.
You have gained the skill “Villager Boost.”
Dant’s group had officially pushed us over the ten thousand mark. With a full-blown battle with Raoul looming over us, hitting a big level-up couldn’t have come at a better time.