Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

【Shelvia Knight Order – Count of Towncar Pillars】

I had heard the story. Our country’s eastern region agreed to the Yelinetta Kingdom’s request and formed an allied force that brought no advantage to our own nation.

After all, they planned to invade from our territory to fight the great Kingdom of Scuderia. If we lost, our country would undoubtedly become part of the Kingdom of Scuderia. Moreover, the only benefit we would gain if we won would be maintaining the alliance with the Yelinetta Kingdom. No, I had heard that if we did not form the alliance, they declared they would be the ones to attack and destroy us first. This meant that unlike previous alliances, this one clearly involved a hierarchy.

If that was the case, shouldn’t we strengthen our alliance with the Kingdom of Scuderia instead of the Yelinetta Kingdom? Corsair Noras Aviator, the highest-ranking noble with the strongest power in the West, the Marquis of the Frontier, said so, but the capital city’s Elder Council rejected it.

In the end, the eastern region succumbed to the Yelinetta Kingdom’s military might. I don’t know how formidable the rumored new weapon of the Yelinetta Kingdom is, but it is certainly something that requires us to reconsider the current status and position of the Shelvia Confederation.

Supporting this theory, even though the battlefield was at the western border with the Kingdom of Scuderia, the eastern nobles enthusiastically dispatched knight orders. Some even mobilized knights to defend their own domains, resulting in a total force exceeding 30,000. On the other hand, the western nobles, who only considered cooperating with the Yelinetta Kingdom to a limited extent, gathered about 10,000 in total.

Meanwhile, the Yelinetta Kingdom had a total force of 30,000. Considering that their main force was engaged fighting the Kingdom of Scuderia elsewhere, this is an astonishing number. If they were holding back the Kingdom of Scuderia with equal numbers, then this battle will surely be won by the Yelinetta Kingdom. And this battle at the Shelvia border will also be won. Even if Marquis Jharpa Blu Ati Fertio remained in his own domain, the combined Shelvia and Yelinetta allied forces totaling 70,000 would be unbeatable.

“…It seems the times have changed.”

I muttered this quietly to no one in particular, watching the situation at Fortress Centena. Loud explosions resounded, and flames rose from all corners of the fortress. Five flying dragons soared in the sky, preparing to launch further attacks.

The battle had only just begun, but I could see no future other than the fall of Fortress Centena.

“If I had to defend Centena... the only option left would be a banzai charge, fully prepared to sacrifice everything.”

After saying this, I checked on the situation of my own knight order. We were stationed halfway up the mountain slope, hidden in a hollow where the enemy could not see us. Traps were set along the road and its surroundings, prepared for any surprise assault. On top of that, we had borrowed this cannon from the Yelinetta Kingdom.

The knight orders of the eastern nobles, who voluntarily took the frontline positions, were attacking from the steep cliffs on either side with that cannon. It took three days to reach that location, so retreating if counterattacked would be difficult. In other words, they trusted the Yelinetta Kingdom’s new weapon that much.

And that trust was almost proven right.

“The range is about one kilometer...? If such heavy attacks come continuously from multiple directions, counterattacking will be difficult.”

If counterattacks were delayed, the cannon would move. Unless one was a very skilled magician, each attack’s range was only several dozen meters. If it moved after every shot, counterattacking would have little effect.

“So this is the future of warfare...”

We were undoubtedly winning the battle. Yet, for some reason, I felt an emptiness as if a hole had opened in my chest. Tactics that relied on magicians manipulating cavalry and infantry to outmaneuver the enemy and control their movements—those were probably things of the past.