Chapter 10

Just moments after the battle began, the enemy general was struck by an arrow that had seemingly come out of nowhere, sending his unit into disarray. It was only an arrow, but the damage looked more like the general’s body had been pierced by a gigantic boulder—he died instantly. It was clearly the work of Laviala, vastly powered up by her new Archer job. She could attack the enemy in places they thought were safe. She’d managed to hit their general with a shot that ought to have never found its mark. The enemy soldiers trembled, perhaps thinking we had a rare Grand Wizard in our ranks, and they tried to run from our peasant conscripts. Soldiers without a commander were mere rabble. Kivik’s company of veterans charged in, making it more of a hunt than a battle. Most of the enemy were prioritizing fleeing over fighting against us—it wasn’t much of a fight. “My bow is more accurate than ever!” With the enemy mostly vanquished, Laviala had returned. “I knew it was you. I’ll reward you later. In fact, I’ll give you all the elf and half-elf units in the domain. I’ll go ahead and grant you the rank of baroness, too. No one’s gonna have a thing to say about it with the way you fight.” I’d been hoping to promote Laviala for a while now. I wanted her to join me in the upper echelons. “Thank you, Lord Alsrod!” “Thank me after the battle, when I’ve rewarded you. Now use your next shot on their clansmen.” “Yes, sir! I’ll be happy to oblige!” Giving out rewards here and there, we gathered our troops and captured all of Hidge County. Thinking this would be a little skirmish as always, the Viscount of Marle hadn’t prepared the Hidge County forts’ defenses against our attack. Thus, the enemy had no choice but to abandon Hidge County and withdraw to their home base in Kinaseh. Overlooking the river in Kinaseh was a mercantile city called Maust. It’d be a mortal blow for the enemy to lose that area, so they took up position in the flatland ahead of it. They were clearly trying to stop our invasion in any way they could. The Viscount of Marle showed up, too; morale would have suffered if the ruler hadn’t come. At the moment, everything was going according to plan. Capturing the castle would require time, but if we fought on the flats, it’d all be settled in a day. They’d taken formation so that their lord was set up on a low hill on the flats. It really goes without saying, but the side with the high ground has an overwhelming advantage in battle. When fighting with bows or slings, too, the side firing downward gains velocity and therefore power. Even in our war council, many were hesitant to call for an all-out assault on them, because of all the casualties it would cause. That was the natural reaction. But for some reason, I actually felt my heart pounding in excitement. “They’re not expecting us to come straight at them up the hill. That’s exactly why they’ll be off their guard.” So you do have a knack for this. You know when an opportunity stares you in the face. Oda Nobunaga was impressed. I struck down Imagawa Yoshimoto in a place not unlike this one. Back then, the enemy had likely let down their guard because of the rain, but here you have the power of your profession to make up for that. He was talking about my job bonus. With the Oda Nobunaga profession, any foes within range of my weapon had their abilities reduced by twenty percent. Enemies cowered at the sight of a conqueror. On top of that, the special ability Conqueror’s Might doubled all my abilities during battle. Frankly, as long as there wasn’t a master swordsman in front of their lord, it was impossible to stop me. “I’ll go in,” I declared resolutely. Several people cried out: “It’s far too risky!” “Please, my lord, don’t be so rash!” That was precisely what I needed to hear from my vassals—I’d have been worried if they’d told me to just rush in there, no holds barred. “Exactly—it is risky. And that’s why the Viscount of Marle definitely doesn’t think I’ll come. None of them have the guts to face me. It doesn’t matter how many there are if they don’t have the will to fight. Their defense is riddled with holes, so much so that it’d be a waste not to attack.” The more I explained it, the more convinced I became that I could win. “They have the terrain advantage. But that just means once we make it up the hill, it’ll be a regular brawl, and then nobody will have the advantage. So listen: I need someone to use their shield to protect me as best they can until I get to the hill. After that, I’ll eliminate their lord. Do I have any volunteers for my shield bearer?” Laviala raised her hand right away. “Laviala, I need you to cover me from afar. Your bow’s of no use in close combat.” “Yes, sir…” She looked unhappy, but those were the facts. “Let me be your shield!” A man raised his hand; he had come to be my officer back when I only had a village. Everyone here was the adventurous type, after all. “All right, I’m counting on everyone’s courage! We’ll strike at night, when they can’t coordinate an attack!” To be honest, risks needed to be reasonably justified. There was more than enough justification for this war. If I could take out the Viscount of Marle, a neighboring lord with about the same amount of territory as I had, I’d be so famous I’d be hailed as a hero. I’d be far more famous than when I defended the fort with a small number of men. Strong warriors won’t follow a commander whose strength they don’t believe in, too. If I demonstrated that I was the greatest lord in all of Fordoneria, my fame would last for generations to come. That was why I absolutely needed to succeed—no, I would succeed. My goal was to become king. That was the best way to make not only me but also Laviala and my people happy. This kingdom currently had many small clashes happening nearly every day, because the de facto independent lords were broken into countless factions. If I expanded my territory, squabbles wouldn’t happen anymore in my part of the land. I was going to establish a peaceful nation. And thus, night came. I could feel it in the air—the enemy was at ease. The Viscount of Marle and his clan hadn’t been in a real war in quite some time. And in a proper war, the side suffering a crushing defeat faced utter ruin, so unless they had a great deal of confidence in winning, people tended to avoid warfare altogether. In particular there were a lot of small-to-medium-sized domains to the east of my territory. Almost none of the lords there controlled a prefecture as Mineria to the west did. That was why they all avoided full-blown warfare and only barely managed to protect their own land. Many lords followed a sort of unspoken agreement: “I won’t attack you with my full force, so just look the other way.” Even with that going on, it was only a matter of time before the smaller domains were wiped out by a larger force like Mineria. Rules had meaning only when there was power to back them up. A single praying mantis trying to push rules onto a large cow still didn’t stand a chance under its hoof. “We start the plan now. I pray we can meet again smiling in the morning.” My unit made for the top of the hill where the enemy lord was. Of course, since the enemy had lookouts, they realized we were there and shot arrows our way, but our soldiers blocked them with their large shields. We gradually drew near to them. When we were close, the enemy switched to swords and spears, trying to fend us off. Apparently, they decided they couldn’t drive us away with arrows. At last, the melee began and quickly turned to a bloodbath. Our foes had the terrain advantage, but they were as flustered as they were surprised at our attack. And they had us coming up the hill now, too. Now the side that felt like they were on the attack would be at a psychological advantage. The area near me also became engulfed in the melee. I wasn’t far from their lord now. “Everyone, good job blocking their arrows! Now just worry about protecting yourselves!” I leaped out from the shield wall and dived in, sword in hand. At close range, arrows were useless due to the risk of friendly fire. In a swordfight, though, I practically couldn’t lose. One by one, I struck down each foe who tried to attack me. Most of them still didn’t seem to realize who I was. Since I’d drawn close to the enemy lord, I considered calling out my name. The effect on friendly morale would be greater. Besides, I needed to establish my heroism. “Behold! My name is Alsrod Nayvil, Viscount of Nayvil! Bring forth the Viscount of Marle! Let’s settle this with a duel!” As the enemy soldiers, who had been wavering, realized I was there, their eyes lit up. Killing me would be a huge feat. Of course, I wasn’t the least bit afraid; this had been my decision, after all. I was as calm as ever, something the other side couldn’t manage themselves. I just needed to close in on my goal, one foe at a time. The more they went out of their way to attack me, the more their formation—protecting their leader—fell apart. It’d be a cinch to break through already. Of course, there were other attackers on our side besides me pushing the enemy back. If we could reach the top of the hill, we’d be more than a match for them, since everyone on our side was fighting with all their heart. I continued cleaving through all who stood between me and their lord. Against me, their abilities were automatically reduced, thanks to the He Who Seizes Power bonus. So unless they were far more skilled than I was expecting, there was no way they could win. The vast majority who confronted me had looks of dread on their faces. It wasn’t just a simple feeling of terror—more like they were witnessing someone of a completely different caliber from themselves. “No, I’m nothing like any of you!” My sword was nothing special, but that was hardly an issue. I cut up the enemies in front of me. I slashed, sliced, and hacked them down until there was a large hole in their defenses. And finally, I skewered the final enemy before their lord. Visibility was good thanks to the moonlight, and my steps were nimble and quick. My breathing was more or less unchanged. “Come, Viscount of Marle! Let us duel!” My opponent was a middle-aged man of roughly forty years. He was stricken with fear at the mere sight of me. “How…did you get all the way here…?” Just a pushover after all. Hardly the likes of a viscount such as yourself. No ambition whatsoever—he wouldn’t know an opportunity if it struck him in the face. At least Imagawa Yoshimoto fought with everything he had, as far as I heard. My inner voice was right. This man had no intention of fighting to begin with. He didn’t even care to make a reputation for himself by killing me. “Shit… I have to get out of—” Unbelievably, he turned his back to me. My expectations were low, but not this low. At that point, he ought to have just abandoned the viscount title entirely. In my disbelief, it took me a second to start chasing after him. Of course, it didn’t matter. An arrow struck him in the foot, and he promptly fell over. The arrow was large, and it had pierced through all the way into the ground, with which he was now well acquainted. “I am the Viscount of Nayvil’s right hand, the eagle-eyed Laviala! This is what happens when I shoot cowards! Even in the dark of night, I never miss!” I could hear Laviala’s voice booming from afar. My ever-dependable milk sister. I’ll just take my time finishing the job. “Sorry, but your time has ended—by my hand.” Slashing powerfully sideways with my sword, I cut off the enemy lord’s head in a single stroke from behind. I immediately picked up his severed head—he must not have been much respected by his underlings, as none came to wrest it back. “I have the Viscount of Marle’s head! It is our victory—Nayvil’s victory!” The enemies who heard my cry broke ranks, fleeing in a panic. My men then charged from behind, slashing across their backs. Just as I thought, they were so used to small skirmishes, they seemed to have no plan for when an enemy came at them in full force. By the look of things, I’d be able to put all similar opponents under my control, too. Ah, this brings back memories of my own heyday. Oda Nobunaga was lost in thought over something. He, too, must’ve been unstoppable once upon a time, bringing his pathetic opposition to their knees. Although perhaps you could’ve used a little more backbone there, eh, Alsrod? Well, we won, so I won’t complain. With their patriarch fallen, the Marle clan fell into dysfunction and surrendered without so much as a show of resistance. For the time being, I decided to give their clan some land and incorporate them as vassals. If I killed off even those who admitted defeat, it would encourage other lords to resist until the end. That would only delay unifying the prefecture and otherwise accomplish nothing. Thus, I was able to bring Hidge and Kinaseh Counties fully under my control. Altogether that made three counties I’d taken. With that, my goal of having the biggest territory in the history of the Nayvil clan had easily been realized. Still, that didn’t mean there was nothing left to do. I made sure news spread throughout the land that I’d single-handedly charged into enemy lines and taken the Viscount of Marle’s head. There’s no harm in making a name for yourself; besides, if warriors then came wanting to serve me, all the better. I would prefer to frighten the surrounding lords so thoroughly that they offered to submit to me, but even if they didn’t, I would just wipe them out myself. Sometimes people only pretended to be loyal, so straightforward suppression by force was safer. Upon my return to Nayvil Castle, once again there were an endless number of people wanting to come congratulate me. Painful though it was, there was no way out of it. I took time out to see people four times that day. “No wonder my shoulders are so stiff lately…,” I groaned. “Well then, shall I massage them for you?” Laviala said playfully. “Sure, just don’t blow into my ears.” “Heeey, but you did that to me before! You’re so selfish!” Laviala toyed with me for a while, but we weren’t on the battlefield anymore—having a little fun couldn’t hurt.