Three days had passed since we’d toppled the Popedom of Frantz. The Empire’s forces had attacked the border with the Popedom, forming a field fortification. Between the soldiers and the wyverns swooping down from above, the Arachnea were at a loss as to how to push Nyrnal back. We decided to give up on expelling Nyrnal’s forces from the Popedom and come up with another solution. There were more important issues to handle at present—namely, Sérignan’s condition.
“Sérignan! Are you all right?”
During the battle with Metatron, Sérignan had been gravely injured. I’d placed her in a Regeneration Pod so we could wait for her to recover. Her armor had been in tatters, and she’d coughed up large amounts of blood. I’d feared that she might not ever recover, but that morning, she had finally stepped out of the Regeneration Pod and presented herself to me.
Her armor was whole again, and her skin was unblemished. Is she really back to normal?
“Yes, I’m fine, Your Majesty. My apologies for causing you concern,” Sérignan said, bowing to me with solemn eyes.
“Just so you know, I’m not upset that you weren’t able to finish the job,” I assured her. “The Genocide Swarms couldn’t have defeated it without your help.”
Yes, our victory back then was all thanks to Sérignan. She had fought bravely and earnestly as a hero unit, and because of that, the Genocide Swarms were able to slay Metatron with minimal losses. That was what had allowed us to vassalize the Popedom.
“I see the war with Frantz has ended,” Sérignan remarked.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s over, but the Nyrnal Empire is still at large.”
We had won the war with the Popedom of Frantz, but our battles were far from over. Nyrnal had appeared out of nowhere and struck us from the flank, and we still needed to beat them back.
“What is our strategy, Your Majesty?”
“We’ll open hostilities from Frantz’s territories. On the other side of the map, the enemy’s gotten as far as Schtraut, so if we only fight them from this front, they could try to attack us from behind. We’ll have to hold the line at Schtraut’s borders too. It’ll be difficult.”
The enemy had launched a blitz, occupying the former Maluk territories like a storm, then used that as a foothold to march into Schtraut. If we let them take Schtraut and pincer us from both directions, it’d be game over for us. The blame for losing those territories fell on me and my ill-preparedness. I hadn’t predicted Nyrnal would go on a frontal assault that easily.
“So we will divide our armies?” Sérignan asked me.
“It’s not an ideal move, but we’ll have to. Thankfully, we have plenty of resources stored up from taking down the Popedom. I’ll have to speed up production of Genocide and Toxic Swarms in Schtraut’s territories and have them face off against the enemy.”
When one had a surplus of soldiers, concentrating them into a single army was the go-to strategy. Sometimes, however, the situation called for a war on two fronts.
“Our army in the Popedom will be designated the First Division, and the one in the Dukedom will be the Second Division. We’ll oppose Nyrnal’s invasion that way. Still, our main army will be the one in Frantz. It’ll take time to mobilize.”
We already had large numbers of Swarms inside the Popedom, but to reach the Dukedom from there, they’d need to travel through the Indigo Mountain Range, and that would take too long.
“We’re going to have to be wary of two things,” I said, holding up two fingers. “We need to stop the enemy from attacking the elven forest, and we have to prevent them from invading the Dukedom. That forest connects Nyrnal to Maluk, Schtraut, and Frantz. If we don’t keep them out of there, there’s a chance the elves of Baumfetter might get caught up in the fighting. We must avoid that at all costs.”
“But, Your Majesty, the Empire’s forces have set up tight defenses around their border with Frantz. Is that really possible?”
“It might not be. The enemy has wyverns on their side, and their ground fortifications are strong. The Swarms won’t be able to topple them easily with numbers alone.”
Nyrnal’s army had stopped its charge into the Popedom, instead settling down to tighten their defenses. This was problematic for us; the wyverns offered aerial support, and the defensive lines easily pushed back our attacks. It wasn’t unlike the trench warfare of World War I.
“Perhaps we should conduct a more forceful maneuver this time,” I said, placing a finger on my chin. “The enemy force in Schtraut has larger numbers, but their defenses are a lot weaker. Attacking them might be an option.”
Rather than constantly throwing Swarms at the enemy and taking needless casualties, we could take our time fighting a battle we had a better chance of winning.
“There’s not much we can do without knowing what the enemy will do next,” Sérignan said, her tone grave.
“Yeah, no kidding. My guess is that the enemy’s going to place their main force in Schtraut. Then again, I could be wrong, and the enemy’s already sending its forces from the Dukedom our way. There’s no point in trying to predict the Empire’s movements.”
The Nyrnal Empire had already launched a two-pronged attack on Frantz and the Arachnea. I wasn’t sure how to deal with them. I had a feeling that defeating them wouldn’t be easy.
“Well, we’ll work something out. A narrow mountain road makes entering Schtraut from Maluk a challenge, so we can build a defensive line along the Maluk-Schtraut border. While we hold the line there, we’ll need to head west and invade Nyrnal’s mainland.”
I decided to commit to this plan. Flip-flopping between strategies would just result in confusion. So long as there were no unforeseen changes, we would have to stick to it.
“How will we get through the enemy’s fortifications?”
“We go around them,” I replied, looking down at the map. A perfect route was laid out before me. “I know just how we can do it too: we go through the Eastern Trade Union. That will allow us to circumnavigate Nyrnal’s defensive line, and we’ll be sacrificing far fewer Swarms in the process.”
The Eastern Trade Union was a neutral power that existed between the Empire of Nyrnal and the Popedom of Frantz but was unaffected by either. This country had a paved, serviced highway leading straight into the Empire. A river cut through their territories, but a bridge had been built over it.
“Yes, we’ll contact the Eastern Trade Union,” I said. “We need to ‘convince’ them to cast aside their neutrality and side with us.”
First, we’d send Masquerade Swarms into the Eastern Trade Union. Once we had a grasp of the political situation there, we’d make contact with the appropriate people. Then all that remained would be swaying them with the Swarm’s tried-and-true persuasion techniques.
“We should get moving. The faster we do this, the better. I’m sure the enemy knows their border with the Eastern Trade Union is a weak point. We have to march before the Empire suppresses them.”
Our enemy wasn’t stupid. They would either launch an invasion on the Eastern Trade Union or ally with them before we could. Either way, they’d make some kind of move.
“Why don’t we slaughter them instead? The Eastern Trade Union is tiny and weak; the Arachnea could make swift work of them. We can take advantage of their territory as a road to the Empire after that.”
“No, Sérignan, bad,” I chided her. “We have no reason to destroy them. I want to avoid needless massacres whenever possible.”
I’d made a promise to Sandalphon; I wouldn’t forget my human heart, and I would remain calm at all times.
“Besides, making an enemy out of the Eastern Trade Union would only be in the Empire’s favor. If we make them ally with us, we avoid unnecessary battles and have fewer enemies to contend with. The more allies we have on our side, the stronger we will be. And the fewer enemies we have to face, the weaker the opposition becomes.”
We wouldn’t gain anything by launching a preemptive attack on the Eastern Trade Union. If we attacked them, the Union might abandon its neutral stance and seek help from Nyrnal. That would make it even easier for the Nyrnal Empire to use the Eastern Trade Union as an open path to march on us and invade the Popedom.
“I see,” Sérignan murmured, her expression thoughtful. “You’re probably right; picking fights may not be wise. In that case, how will we get them to agree to an alliance?”
“We’ll figure something out,” I said with a thin smile. “We have our ways, after all.”
With this, our plan of action was set. We’d hold Nyrnal’s invasion back on one front by defending the border with Schtraut. I decided to leave Roland in charge of that, as he was most familiar with the region. In addition, we would bypass the Frantz-Nyrnal border by going through the Eastern Trade Union.