Chapter 12
There is a difference between corpses killed by arrows and corpses shredded by 20mm autocannons.
No matter how powerful an arrow is, it is still a weapon fired by human hands. Unless it is shot with mana, once it lodges in a corpse, that's the end of it.
For that reason, the corpses remain cleanly intact.
But 20mm autocannons are different.
A bullet the size of an adult fist, fired by engineering and gunpowder, erases the struck area in chunks. Anyone hit dead-on by a 20mm round would be lucky if a body could even be recovered properly.
And there were no corpses left after being hit by a 76mm anti-aircraft shell.
Armor worn by infantry of the middle to late medieval era offers no defense whatsoever against high-explosive shells. Anyone killed by a 76mm shell quite literally vanished.
Thus, a horrific scene unfolded that even the massacres and atrocities committed by the 12th Infantry Corps under the 12th Knight Order could never reproduce.
Even the 12th Infantry Corps, which had often followed Charles around to plunder the west, couldn't withstand it.
Until the anti-air artillerymen regained control of the situation, the infantry simply stared blankly at their comrades' corpses.
Fear at having encountered something they could not understand lurked in their eyes.
The same was true for the western delegation watching the images sent through the crystal orb.
"How could one of our elite corps..."
"Is this even possible?"
"Black magic! The South must be using black magic!"
Faced with an incomprehensible situation, the western delegation blamed the cause on something outside the incident.
They must be in league with black mages. The South is hiring black mages to wage war. We must report this to the Holy Kingdom at once.
If the crystal orb had been prepared by the Southern side, they could at least deny reality by calling it a doctored image, but this crystal orb had been prepared personally by Charles Raymonds, the Western Grand Duke.
A jumble of opinions flew out in chaos.
In the middle of it all, Kyle Leopold stared straight at Charles.
With an easygoing expression as if nothing had happened, he watched Charles's face turn red.
"You've seen the footage you showed me, and I think you've finally grasped my position too. So, shall we try negotiating again now?"
That was when it happened.
쿵-!
When Charles brought down a fist charged with mana, the table split cleanly in two.
The chaotic meeting hall fell silent in an instant. Charles rising to his feet, aura wrapped around his entire body, crushed everyone there with his presence.
"Kyle Leopold!!!"
As the table slumped to the floor, everyone from the staff in the conference room stood up. In front of them, Kyle sat with his legs crossed and asked leisurely.
"It's right in front of you. You could just say it, so why are you shouting like that?"
"Don't you dare laugh so shamelessly when you're colluding with black mages!!!"
Charles, eyes practically turned upside down with rage, was pouring out such a thick killing intent that he looked ready to charge at any moment. Few people could stay calm in such a situation.
And Kyle was one of those few.
"Hmm."
Kyle Leopold hadn't come here without any preparation.
Of course he had expected Charles to fly off the handle.
And Kyle Leopold had already, unofficially, reached the realm of a 9th-rank mage three years ago.
"Colluding with black mages? Spreading such absurd rumors is disrespectful to another grand duke."
짝-
When Kyle clapped lightly, a blue magic circle appeared above the conference hall. A gigantic spell array large enough to cover the entire room began spinning menacingly.
"You... how..."
As a 9th-rank mage, he instantly realized that Kyle Leopold was also a 9th-rank mage like himself.
And not only that, but a mage who had reached the 9th rank far earlier than he had.
"Want to keep going?"
Which was why he couldn't move recklessly.
From the start, Charles hadn't truly intended to rush him anyway.
No matter how much he had been cast out, Kyle Leopold was a grand duke appointed to the South by imperial decree.
Killing such a grand duke would be a grave crime amounting to treason.
So he let the aura wrapped around his entire body dissipate.
That eased the tension in the meeting hall, but... once the table had already been split in two, the conference was basically dead in the water.
With Charles storming out of the conference room, the meeting held in Arestopol came to an end.
But that absolutely did not mean the tensions between the West and the South were over.
What happened at Sarsen was merely the opening clash between the two forces.
The main conflict still had not been resolved.
The West had lost the 12th Corps and completely lost Sarsen, but for now they had only lost the opening clash.
***
There was no significant core industry in the West.
And yet it could still be treated as a respectable pillar of the Empire thanks to the West's formidable wyvern corps.
The world had moved beyond the medieval era, industrialization had begun, but humans still couldn't fly.
Whether for the military or for merchant caravans, wyvern riders were needed to use the skies.
And wyverns were not creatures that could be raised just anywhere.
The West was one of the main stages of the mythic age.
Among the West's few wyvern valleys, a large number of them live there.
Mature wyverns were proud creatures that would not obey human speech.
For that reason, wyvern riders steal eggs from these wyvern valleys and raise the young wyverns themselves.
In that environment, it was hard for wyvern riders to emerge anywhere outside the West.
There were wyvern valleys in other regions too, but none of them were as vast or numerous as those in the West.
Thanks to that, the West—and the Empire—had been able to remain the rulers of the world until now.
"Combat... report. Among the wyvern knights, no knight has returned alive."
...until now.
And yet the South ground down all sixty wyvern knights without suffering a single casualty.
With only 230 troops.
When you considered the time, money, and sacrifices needed to raise just one wyvern knight, the exchange ratio was absurd.
"Really, really not black magic?"
"Yes. We weren't sure either, so we sent the footage to Your Eminence the Cardinal, but no trace of black magic was found."
In other words, the weapons those guys fired at Sarsen Port were made with pure human technology.
That was when Charles Raymonds felt fear.
Fear that, if things kept going this way, the West's wyvern knight order might become useless.
"This won't do."
A hunting dog is eaten once the hunt is over.
Charles Raymonds was afraid he might end up the same way.
Once the wyvern knights became useless, the West would truly turn into a worthless region.
On top of that, he was terrified that the reputation he had built up over the years would collapse.
The strongest knight order in the West had been utterly defeated by the South, which didn't even properly have an army.
And that while bringing along the wyvern knight order as well, despite the overwhelming difference in force of 300 versus 5,000.
How was he supposed to face his subordinates after this?
And how was he supposed to face the nobles in the capital?
After being utterly crushed by Kyle, that bastard who had wounded his beloved Aria ten years ago, how could he stand before Aria?
He was terrified. Terrified, and furious.
And he hated admitting that fear so much.
"I'm... feeling this way because of that bastard Kyle Leopold?"
Ten years ago. He remembered Kyle pestering Aria.
When he beat down the fool who had been bullying Aria, he felt his heart race for the very first time in his life at the sight of the girl looking up at him and thanking him.
And he felt superior as he looked at Kyle Leopold lying flattened on the ground.
A love that scum like you could never obtain no matter what you offered. I thought I could take it easily.
"And I'm feeling fear because of a guy like that?"
"Me?"
And so Charles, having returned to the Western Grand Duke's office, was in no state to make a proper judgment.
"...War."
Right. I'll repay it with a score of my own.
"Prepare for war."
Until now, the Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds had lived that kind of life.
Afraid of technological progress? Then destroy their factories and slaughter the workers so they can no longer advance their technology.
Afraid of being mocked for defeat?
Then earn achievements great enough to make that defeat meaningless.
Do I really feel fear toward Kyle Leopold?
Then I'll prove it by smashing the South to pieces in style.
That I am not afraid.
"Lord Charles, this really won't do! The central government is already watching this side! If we commit any more troops here, it will truly become a civil war within the Empire!"
"So that's exactly why we need to push the South now, Albert."
With the complete defeat in this battle, Charles lost too much.
And the West's very reason for existing was now in danger of disappearing.
The only way for Charles to survive was to stop those guys from producing that mysterious weapon any longer.
"Once the central government's intervention begins, we won't be able to fight. Do you think I, Charles Raymonds, am some man who'll just sit here and die?"
"Hah, but... that's really..."
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Besides, the central nobles won't welcome those guys' weapons anyway."
The symbolism that upheld the emperor's sovereign authority was the 'golden bloodline'—the outstanding magical power flowing through that golden bloodline.
What upheld the power of the privileged class of mages was also irreplaceable firepower on the battlefield.
"The nobles will absolutely hate those South bastards' new weapon."
The moment that level of firepower fell into ordinary human hands, the Empire's power structure was bound to shake.
It meant that commoners could replace the roles of mages—and even the emperor.
"So, lead every available wyvern knight order and launch a nighttime raid on the South as soon as possible."
However, Charles made one major misjudgment at the very end.
"No matter how powerful a weapon you have, you can't fire it if you can't see in the middle of the night. Even more so if it's a surprise attack from an unexpected direction."
Because he didn't know about the existence of radar and flares.
"Assemble the knight order as quickly as possible, Albert."
Charles Raymonds looked toward the South, vowing to return to the Southern city everything that his 12th Corps had suffered.