Chapter 220: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Two-Front Operation

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To think that that loli hag had been the one at the top of the New Elfenia Empire… I had been a little surprised, but considering how sharp she was, it made sense. I let out a small sigh and sipped my potato soup.

“That woman was my instructor back when I was still a young brat. Well, she ain’t someone I don’t know.”

“…I see.”

Lady Orphan spoke in a voice that carried a faint hint of nostalgia. From the way she talked, it seemed they hadn’t had a bad relationship. And yet, even with someone like that, they now had to stand on opposing sides and fight. Civil wars really were complete trash. I felt a complicated emotion well up inside me and took a small sip of the little wine I had left.

“But now, she’s an enemy that’s gotta be beaten.”

“You and her both have work you must do. And since those duties can’t coexist, fighting is the only option.”

“You get it, don’t you? You really are a soft-hearted man, you are.”

Smiling faintly, Lady Orphan nodded. Still, being called soft-hearted left me with mixed feelings. Well, from her perspective, she probably meant it as praise…

“…Lady Dalaiya’s story is interesting, but let’s talk about something more constructive now.”

It seemed Lady Orphan and Lady Dalaiya had once been fairly close. For the sake of forming a strategy against the “New” faction, I really wanted to hear more about Lady Dalaiya’s personality and values, but with her subordinates nearby, Lady Orphan probably couldn’t speak too frankly. I decided to leave that for later and get to the main topic for now.

“I want to make a deal with you. That’s why I came here.”

“A deal? Like you can see, we ain’t got much we can offer, but… I’ll at least hear you out.”

Glancing at the cluster of shabby pit dwellings around us, Lady Orphan laughed dryly. …It probably hadn’t been like this before the civil war. I suspected that the elves once possessed a civilization that rivaled Galea’s.

However, between the volcanic eruption and the ensuing civil war, elven civilization had completely collapsed. A post-apocalypse, end-of-the-century madness era. Honestly, watching the average elven soldier made me think of those mohawk-wearing goon armies from manga I’d read in my previous life.

“Mm… Well, I don’t intend to make unreasonable demands. What we need first and foremost is information. For example, maps like this, or details about the usurper army’s armaments.”

“I see. Fine then. I’ll tell you everything I know. Ask whatever you like but in return, we’ll take what we’re owed.”

“Payment, huh. What exactly do you want?”

I asked the obvious question as Lady Orphan nodded. Just looking at this soup full of nothing but weeds made it clear what these elves were desperate for.

“I ain’t a person who can think about much besides fighting. So I’ll be straight with you. First off, we want food.”

“Food, huh…”

It was exactly what I expected. I thought about it for a moment. Supplying a small amount wouldn’t be a problem, but feeding the entire village would be difficult. This settlement was quite far from Carrera City. Transportation was the issue.

If there were proper roads, it’d be manageable but there weren’t any. What could be used instead… I looked down at the map resting on Lady Orphan’s crossed knees. My gaze almost drifted toward her bare white feet, but I restrained myself with ironclad self-control.

“…Hmm.”

According to the map, the great river flowing beside Carrera City extended all the way to the vicinity of Mount Rana. The river was wide and deep enough to allow fairly large riverboats to travel. If security could be ensured, it would allow far more supplies to be transported than by any poorly maintained land route.

Of course, that security was the problem. The river ran straight through elven territory, most likely territory controlled by the New faction. It was extremely dangerous. In fact, the reason downstream exploration hadn’t progressed until now was precisely because of interference from the elves.

“With our current strength, we can’t transport large quantities of supplies as far as Mount Rana. Maintaining regular deliveries by wyvern is the best we can do.”

“It ain’t nearly enough, but… Fine. If we get greedy, the usurper army might just snatch it away. And then it’d all be for nothing.”

Lady Orphan looked a bit disappointed, but she seemed to accept it. Still, both she and Lady Dalaiya were surprisingly rational for elven leaders. Their rank-and-file soldiers were a mess… Though perhaps only wise leaders could survive in such circumstances.

“But even so, our food stockpiles are thin. Since we’ll have to abandon this village, we won’t last long. By this winter, we might have to choose between starving to death or charging in for a suicidal final stand. That’d cause you trouble too, wouldn’t it?”

“…What do you mean?”

“The usurper army forces that’ve been facing us would turn their attention toward you instead.”

“……”

She was right. New Elfenia was currently caught between us and the “Legitimate” faction to the north and south. Fighting both meant being forced into a two-front operation.

But if the “Legitimate” were wiped out, everything would change. The “New” faction would be able to focus its entire force against us, the Liseben army. That would be bad, very bad. Lady Dalaiya might want peace with Liseben, but there was no way that the entire faction was unified in thought. If they gained a clear military advantage, someone deciding to conquer us outright wouldn’t be surprising at all.

Those barbaric elves like the ones we fought today flooding into my territory? That was beyond unacceptable. Give me a break. I wasn’t saying we’d lose… But it would be a massive headache. And reinforcements from Galea proper wouldn’t arrive anytime soon.

“By the way, if you don’t mind telling me… How much military strength do you and the usurper army each have?”

“We’ve got about four hundred. The usurper army’s around twelve hundred, counting the crows and sparrows.”

That’s way too many! 

The Liseben army didn’t even reach a thousand! There was no way food-starved Elfenia could support that many soldiers… Ah! Right! They were half-soldier, half-farmer militia! When they weren’t fighting, they worked to produce food. That explained how they could sustain such a high proportion of soldiers…

The greatest weakness of farmer-soldiers was that their training suffered due to agricultural work, but elves lived long lives. That meant far more accumulated experience. Even as militia, they could match—or exceed—our knight class in combat ability. This was really bad. We were inferior in quality and number. This was going to be a brutally difficult war.

“Hmm…”

Until now, large numbers of elven soldiers hadn’t attacked Liseben. If the reason was this two-front situation, it made sense. Of course, there was a chance Lady Orphan was only saying things convenient for her side, but…

Still, judging from their performance in defensive battles, the “Legitimate” faction’s strength couldn’t be dismissed. It was almost certain the “New” faction had tied down a significant portion of its forces against them. Ugh… Maybe we needed to rethink our entire strategy from the ground up. For the sake of our people, losing was not an option. We had to find a solution.

“I’d like to hear more details. I’ll pay extra for the information.”

I quietly pulled a metal liquor flask from my belt pouch and showed it to Lady Orphan. She grinned briefly and pointed toward a nearby pit dwelling.

“Fine. There’s stuff that’s hard to talk about in front of subordinates. We’ll talk one-on-one.”

Elves really do love one-on-one drinking sessions. Well, whatever. 

Sonia was nearby. If something happened, I could call her and she’d handle it.

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