Arc 4 Chapter 30 : Move to Eastern Front

[Siena POV]

Dozens of crows circled overhead. The stench of blood and the corpses scattered across the battlefield had undoubtedly drawn them here, eager to feast on the human flesh that had already begun to rot.

A battle had taken place here just two hours ago.

Twenty thousand of our troops and thirty thousand troops from the Republic of Greco had attacked twenty thousand encircled Imperial soldiers from two directions. Although we had the advantage in both numbers and position, the battle had been far from easy.

We estimated that fifteen thousand Imperial soldiers had been killed during the battle, while the remaining five thousand had either surrendered or managed to escape our encirclement.

On the other hand, our forces and those of the Republic of Greco had suffered an estimated three thousand casualties.

After the battle ended, we headed toward Ebro Village to meet with representatives of the Republic of Greco and discuss what steps we should take following this victory.

Our military officials and those of the Republic of Greco gathered inside a multipurpose building in the village. After waiting for quite some time, our allied forces finally arrived to assist us in the war.

"Congratulations on your victory, Major Siena," said a middle-aged man with a thick beard. He was the Marshal of the Republic of Greco—Auros Kaliantrus.

"This victory would not have been possible without the assistance of the Republic of Greco, Lord Auros," I replied.

"You are truly humble. You were the one who devised the alliance's entire strategy for this battle, making it difficult for the Empire to fight us despite having more troops."

After exchanging the usual formal greetings, we moved on to the main topic of the meeting.

According to the latest information from the Reconnaissance Unit, we knew that the Empire had chosen to withdraw its main army and retake Regium Fortress City, which was currently defended by only five thousand of our soldiers.

This meant that the situation on the battlefield had not changed, except for the number of troops on both sides.

At present, our combined forces with the Republic of Greco numbered sixty-seven thousand deployable troops, while the Empire currently had a total of seventy thousand soldiers in this region.

During this operation, we had lost thirteen thousand soldiers, while the Empire had lost around forty thousand. Looking at those figures, it was clear that the operation we had conducted had been a success.

"Major Siena, what will our next step be now that the Imperial forces have returned to Regium Fortress City?" Lord Auros asked.

To be honest, I had not expected the Empire's main army to retreat. I had wanted them to move toward Ebro Village as well, allowing us to surround them from three directions.

However, the enemy general seemed to be extremely cautious and unwilling to gamble the success of their offensive operation here.

With seventy thousand troops retaking Regium Fortress City, they could remain in this region for as long as they wanted because their logistical supply route would remain intact.

Although reinforcements would not arrive for some time because of the rebellion I had incited among certain groups in the Imperial Capital, this situation would not last forever. The Empire was undoubtedly recruiting new soldiers even now to send to the battlefield.

Furthermore, the latest report I had received concerning the Royal Draconian Army in the eastern region of the Empire stated that they had successfully conquered the Small City of Sarisa and completed the first phase of their offensive operation.

"We have to defeat their main army as quickly as possible," I answered him. "The longer this war continues, the more time the Empire will have to recover from the defeats they have suffered in previous battles."

"That is true. The Empire has more resources and a larger population than our three nations combined," Lord Auros said. "They will continue to recover unless we keep the pressure on them!"

"You are right, Lord Auros," I replied. "Right now, the Kingdom of Draconia is wreaking havoc across the eastern territories of the Empire. I hope they continue putting pressure on the Empire there so that reinforcements will never be able to reach this region."

The meeting did not last long. We agreed to head toward Tusculum City so that we would not burden the people living in Ebro Village.

I then returned to my tent to wash the human blood from my body after the previous battle. When I arrived, my Maid had already prepared a bathtub filled with warm water.

After removing my armor and uniform, I lowered myself into the tub and rested my head against its edge.

The warmth of the water gradually eased the exhaustion I had felt after the battle.

Closing my eyes, I began thinking about the progress of the war so far.

It could be said that we currently held the advantage over the Empire. They would no longer be able to attack Tusculum City with only seventy thousand troops, especially now that the Republic of Greco had joined us.

Furthermore, the attacks by the Royal Draconian Army and the terrorist groups threatening the Imperial Capital must have been giving the Empire's higher-ranking officials a massive headache by now.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

All of this was thanks to my strategy...

I never expected everything to go this smoothly.

My attention then fell upon the pendant hanging around my neck.

This crescent-shaped artifact was a keepsake from my mother. Ever since I was young, I had wondered how she had obtained an artifact like this despite being Venetian and a Non-Sorcerer.

Mother had also told me that this artifact had a counterpart which, when combined with it, would form a complete crescent moon and possess tremendous power.

I had always wanted to find the other half of this artifact and learn more about my mother, who had died when I was still a child.

But that would have to wait until after the war with the Aragon Empire was over.

"Lady Siena, someone wishes to meet with you."

I heard my Maid's voice from outside.

Who could possibly want to meet with me right now? Hadn't we already discussed what our next move would be?

"All right. Tell him to wait for a moment," I replied as I stepped out of the bathtub. "I'll get dressed first."

After putting my uniform back on, I ordered the Maid to let my guest inside.

"Captain Siena." A familiar man greeted me.

It was Alesio—one of my subordinates in the Intelligence Unit whom I had sent to accompany the Royal Draconian Army during their offensive into the eastern territories of the Empire.

What was he doing here?

"Alesio? Why are you here? Didn't I assign you to assist the Kingdom of Draconia?" I asked him.

"It's a long story, Captain Siena," he replied.

He then explained the details of the offensive operation in the eastern territories of the Empire.

On the first day, they had easily conquered two villages in the region and seized their food supplies. However, when they attacked the Small City of Sarisa, they failed to seize its food supplies because the Imperial forces had burned them beforehand.

Alesio also told me about a young man with black hair and black eyes who had slaughtered twenty Knights under his command during a pursuit.

I was slightly shocked when I heard this.

"A young man slaughtered twenty Knights?" I asked him incredulously.

"That's right, Captain Siena. I faced him directly," Alesio replied, lowering his head. "He was like a demon in the darkness of night. During the assault on Sarisa, he also managed to kill one of the Royal Draconian Army's Elite Soldiers in single combat. We gave him a name—the Ghost of Cataluna."

After that, Alesio explained that when they continued their assault toward the Fortress City of Cataluna, they found absolutely no Imperial troops inside the city.

The disappearance of the Imperial forces made General Melisandru—the commander-in-chief of the Royal Draconian Army—hesitate to attack any cities deeper within the Empire.

"I see. The General was afraid that their forces would suddenly be ambushed while attacking one of the Imperial cities by those missing troops?" I asked Alesio.

"General Melisandru chose to search for those missing Imperial soldiers before continuing the offensive," Alesio answered, his voice growing heavier. "However, whenever we found the Imperial troops, they would always flee from our pursuit and never attack us, no matter what methods we used to try to trap them."

The enemy general was quite clever after all.

They were obviously buying time and waiting for something to happen there.

But what exactly were they waiting for?

"After several days, we discovered why the Imperial forces were doing this," Alesio continued. "The logistical supplies sent from our nation to the Royal Draconian Army stopped arriving after the first shipment."

My eyes widened at Alesio's answer.

"What did you say!? The logistical shipments aren't arriving? How could this happen!? If no supplies are being delivered to their forces, then the entire Royal Draconian Army will starve to death!"

My emotions began to rise as I heard the terrible news.

If this was the reason the Imperial forces had been buying time and refusing to fight whenever the Draconian troops pursued them, then it was obvious that they were responsible for the delayed shipments!

"After learning about this, I returned to our country to find out what had caused the delay," Alesio explained. "When I arrived, they told me that Imperial forces had ambushed the caravan carrying the logistical supplies and even destroyed Aquilino Bridge, meaning another shipment would be delayed for the time being."

Imperial forces were in the eastern region of our country?

How was that possible!?

The route we used should have been heavily guarded to prevent enemy forces from entering or leaving without our knowledge. Furthermore, we had already confirmed that not a single Imperial soldier had been present in our territory before the war began.

"How were they able to enter our territory?" I asked him.

He merely shook his head in response.

"However, witnesses saw the perpetrators responsible for the attack... A man with black hair and black eyes."

"Don't tell me..."

"Exactly, Captain. That young man was leading the Imperial forces operating within our territory," Alesio said. "That means, somehow, he managed to bring his troops across the Montana Mountains and enter our territory without being detected."

This was bad...

If we allowed this to continue, they would keep disrupting the logistical shipments to the Royal Draconian Army.

If that happened, the offensive operation in the eastern territories of the Empire would fail, and the enemy would be able to focus on bringing reinforcements to this region, making the war far more difficult to win.

"We have already sent two thousand troops to search for them," Alesio revealed. "However, so far, there has been no progress whatsoever in the operation."

This could not be allowed to continue...

To be honest, the war on this Front would stagnate after the Empire's main army withdrew to Regium Fortress City. We could not attack a Fortress City containing seventy thousand troops, just as the Empire would be unable to attack a Major City defended by sixty-seven thousand soldiers.

After losing forty-five thousand troops, I doubted they would immediately launch another offensive.

If that was the case, then I needed to deal with the problem in the eastern region and return here as quickly as possible.

"Alesio, you will return to the eastern region of our country," I told him. "But you will not be going back alone. I will accompany the Tigrenata Battalion and eliminate the forces led by this Ghost of Cataluna that you are so afraid of."

"I understand, Captain Siena."

"We'll move as quickly as possible and arrive there within four days."

The Ghost of Cataluna, huh?

I wondered just how strong and cunning this man was to have left forty thousand troops struggling against his tactics and strength.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who had prepared a strategy before the war broke out.

I needed to make him talk about how he and his troops had managed to enter our territory after the war began.

[Raul POV]

"Haachoohhh!"

Ughhh... Why was my nose suddenly so sensitive?

Was someone else talking about me?

"What's wrong, Captain?" Piers asked me.

"Nothing. Hurry up and finish your work, Piers."

After successfully destroying the bridge, we hurried back toward the Operation Base in the forest.

We then began setting traps throughout the surrounding forest, because the Republic of Venetia would undoubtedly deploy a large number of troops to wipe us out this time.

According to Balian, two thousand soldiers were currently combing through the forest in search of the location of our Operation Base.

To be honest, two thousand troops were an enormous number compared to the two hundred men I had brought on this mission.

There was no way we could defeat that many soldiers in a direct confrontation.

I had to rack my brain and whittle down their numbers little by little before facing them head-on.

Once we had finished setting all kinds of traps, everyone rested and began taking shifts on guard duty.

I sat with my back against a tree and took out a crescent-shaped artifact.

I had not forgotten my true mission in this war...

"Siena di Reginossa... We will meet, and you will answer all the questions that have been troubling my mind lately."