Chapter 7 – Ways of Battle

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Imperial Calendar, Year 259 – Moon of the Sapphire (September)

Troublesome news reached me as I was working on the revision of the barony’s tax system and the creation of a basic taxation book. An allied force of Alexa’s royal army and the border lords’ serf armies had apparently launched an assault on Stephan’s army which had been stationed in the three border castles we had presented to His Majesty as gift for Malida’s reinstatement as imperial noble.

As the wheat harvest just recently finished, they had probably attacked with the intent to drive away the imperials, whom they perceived as thieves, since they were able to mobilize the serf soldiers now that they had nothing to do in the slack season.

Bloody hell, those feudalistic folks are such a pain in the ass.

After learning about Alexa’s invasion, His Majesty the Demon King immediately ordered the surrounding border lords to mobilize, which also included our fief. Naturally, a messenger had arrived here, urging the Erwin family to depart to the front.

Currently all the oni retainers, including the chief retainer Brest and his son, were arrayed up in the courtyard after having received Malida’s summon. You could palpably feel the tension hang in the air among all those present since a war was right around the corner.

Wearing a leather armor, I stepped up next to Malida with a clacking, and stared at everyone.

“Well done to have gathered on such a short notice. We will start by chanting the new motto of the Erwin family. Malida-sama, please take the lead.”

“『Be thoughtful and only act after considering everything』!”

“””『Be thoughtful and only act after considering everything』”””

Malida stepped forward and declared the words I had taught her as new family motto, followed by everyone repeating them. It was a motto chant I introduced for bringing the combat-oriented oni closer to the ordinary people as much as possible, but I don’t know how much effect it’ll show. In the first place, it’s at the level that it might lead to the oni, who live by their instincts, to use their brains at least to some extent, but in the end I had them do it since it’s better if they did rather than not.

“Nice. Now then, on to to the main topic: His Majesty the Demon King has ordered us to head out in order to help Stephan-dono who’s holding out at the border. In other words, a demand for us to join the war has come in.”

“UUOOOOOOOOHHHHH! Finally! I’ve been itching to put my skills to use! My first battle has come at long laaaaaast!”

“Real combat after such a loooong time! Recently, I’ve accumulated a lot of stress as I had been in charge of stamping my seal on so many papers! I must let this greatsword absorb the blood of our enemies!”

Malida and Lator were breathing roughly, their eyes bloodshot. No, let me correct that. It’s not just those two, but all the oni were bloodthirsty. I suppose as combat race they cannot release their stress outide of battle.

“You idiooooooooots! I’m going to take command of this armyyyyyy!”

There was one more annoying guy around. The chief retainer Brest. His tension was soaring, too.

“Haa haa, my body is throbbing. My body is hot. Haa haa.”

Ever since receiving the report that Alexa had crossed the border with a big army, Malida’s sex with me at night had intensified. She had a strong sexual drive from the start, but as the war was getting closer, she went at it with such a vigor that I worried my waist might break.

“Malida-sama, it would be best if we could have you unleash your bloodlust on the battlefield.”

“As might be expected, I won’t be able to last either, if every day is going to be so intense, so I agree with Lichere-sama’s opinion here.”

Lichere, Malida’s trainer, and Irena, Malida’s partner, seemed exhausted as well. Still, I gotta say. The sexual desire of oni before battle is no joke. Seriously.

While rubbing my hurting waist, I looked at the oni gathered in the courtyard, just to suddenly feel even more tired out.

“War, war, waaaaaaaaar!”

“Hurry, let us do baaaaaaaaaaattle!”

“I cannot wait any longer! P-Please! WAAAAAAAAAAARRR!”

Still, is this place a festival venue for muscle-heads or something?

The human officials, who wouldn’t participate in the war, were silently tackling their accounting work while casting sidelong glances at the loud oni. Their battlefield lay inside this castle. Their job was to fight numbers, create accurate account books, collect the taxes, and forge a path for the Erwin family’s development.

As I saw the civil officials hectically walking through the corridors while carrying many documents and books, I decided to make the meatheads quiet down.

“Now then, please give it a rest already and stop this festival merrymaking. Malida-sama, Brest-sama, I’m going to give my strategic instruction, so if anyone makes a fuss from now on, they will stay back here.”

“Quiet! Albert is going to tell us the plan! All of you, shut up! Anyone talking will be cut down by me!”

With her body wrapped up in a revealing, jet-black leather armor, Malida made her retainers quiet down and then sat down on the seat prepared on the courtyard.

“They’re quiet now.”

“That’s a big help. Okay, let me inform you about the battle plan for the upcoming war. According to Stephan-dono’s information, the enemy is Alexa’s royal army which is led by Lord Bedouin. They number 5,000 in total. Considering the timing, you can take this as their revenge for Malida-sama’s theft of the three castle.”

“Hoh, revenge for something I did? They sure are taking me, 『Bloody Oni』 Malida, lightly aren’t they? For them to believe that they can expel my brother-in-law and me with a measly 5,000 troops, which mostly consist of serfs, is preposterous.”

The Ashley Barony, the fief of the Erwin family, was a front-line territory, directly adjacent to the border with Alexa. According to the information we obtained through the Malji Company, the main force has gathered at Sura, Zaysan, and Benia while we were also able to confirm the existence of troops moving to support the flanks of the main force.

“Stephan-dono seems to draw the attention of the enemy main force, and because the surrounding lords have also been mobilized as reinforcements for him, there’s almost no chance for him to lose. Because of that, our main priority will be to crush the troops of Alexa’s border lords which have been mobilized in order to reinforce the flanks of the enemy main force.”

The Malji Company also informed us that the army to assist the flanks has been lumped together by throwing several Alexan border lords and their troops together, thus having a fairy low fighting spirit.

“Hmm, so we’re going to attack a weak army?”

“Brest-dono, the losses will be few while the military exploits will be huge. If the unmotivated army of the Alxan border lords collapses, Alexa’s main force will likely conclude that any further advance has become impossible and retreat. If that happens, it be the biggest achievement that can be gained this time around.”

“Biggest achievement!!!”

Though it depends on how the demon king interprets it.

Spotting the enemy’s weaknesses and thoroughly exploiting them is the basics of battle. If we can deliver a decisive blow to the enemy’s weaker parts with the combat force of this meathead clan, the chance for victory will rise steeply, I’m sure. And if we win with few losses, I think we’ll be able to secure a few medals, even if it’s just for a defensive battle.

“Alright! We’ll follow Albert’s battle plan and target the army of Alexa’s border lords. That said, it’s best to be swift about it. We won’t move any serf soldiers. We’ll go to war with just our retainer unit.”

“Yes, I think this would be for the best. This time swiftness matters over numbers.”

“I know. The first unit consisting of 100 men will be led by me. The second unit consisting of 75 will be led by Uncle. And the rearguard consisting of 25 will guard Albert while being commanded by Lator. You lot, we’re heading out!”

“””OOOHHHHH!!”””

The retainers left the courtyard upon Malida’s order. At last the time to release the hotblooded meatheads on the battlefield has come.

“Albert-sama, we have prepared a carriage for you.”

“Lator is going to guard me, so I don’t think I need to worry, but Lichere, please be careful.”

“I shall keep it in mind. Lator-dono, please look after Albert-sama.”

“Aye, count on me! I’ll safely bring him to the battlefield!”

Because Lator has taken command of the rearguard as it’s his first campaign, my only responsibility lies with the supply unit. The only time I’m actually going to swing my sword will take place, if the Erwin family has to flee. And if such a situation occurs, I might as well regard my life as forfeit. I plan to come up with any feasible, accurate measure available on-site so that this case won’t take place.

■

The two hundred regular soldiers of the Erwin family and the fifty personnel of the supply unit following them had traveled around thirty kilometers east from Castle Ashley on the second day, before setting up an encampment. Our current location was a small hill looking down on the river which served as a border with Alexa.

On the river bank down below fought Stephan’s army, joined by the reinforcements, against the main force of Alexa’s royal army.

『I’m going to butcher you aaaaaaaaall! GRAAAAAAAAHHH! How dare you trespass on our territory, you assholes!』

『Shut yer damn trap! Ye fuckin’ idiot! Ye’ve been lazin’ ’round, so now it’s become our turf! Hurry up and let us chop off yer heads!』

『Give it your best shot. As if some rotten piece of small fry shit would ever be able to take my head! You’re such a moron!』

『SHUT UUUUP! Don’t try to look cool, ye lame whinin’ fuck! What a dumb worm ye are!』

For the time being, I was able to get a grasp of the situation by looking at the battle between Stephan’s army and Alexa’s royal army. This was an era of extreme violence, but this sure is scary as heck.

Stephan’s army had 4,000 men with the reinforcements added in while Alexa’s main force had fielded 3,000.

Because we hadn’t hoisted the flag with our family crest consisting of an oni head and a sword crossing, the two hundred soldiers of the Erwin family were ignored on the small hill while this sort of battle was going on. They were probably thinking of us as the army of another lord who had been late in joining up with Stephan’s army.

The battle on the river bank allowed me to grasp that the army of Alexa’s border lords was falling behind and thus getting isolated because Alexa’s main force was being lured in by Stephan’s army retreating.

“Our prey has fallen quite behind Alexa’s main force, hasn’t it? Now is a golden chance to devour them. Malida-sama, please teach those unwilling lazy folks that they’re on a battlefield.”

“Oh, it sounds like I’ll finally be freed from this boring wait. A pervert like you, Albert, uses dirty moves even during battle.”

While licking her lips, Malida stood up from her seat next to me, placing a hand on her greatsword. Her eyes chased Stephan’s army and then shifted to the 2,000 soldiers of the border lords, who kept falling behind Alexa’s main force. If the peerless musclehead-warrior band of the Erwin family were to drive away those 2,000 soldiers, who were inferior to them in morale, equipment, and teamwork, it’d pretty much secure victory for Elancia.

On top of that, Alexa’s royal army would then face a crushing defeat as their path of retreat would be cut off by the river.

“UUUUOOOHHH! Finally! We’re able to do battle at long last!”

The chief retainer Brest roared loudly while shouldering his favorite greatspear.

It was time for the warrior band of muscleheads to show their real abilities. No, you should rather call it show time for the meathead clan.

After arriving at the battlefield and preparing our encampment, I was begged for an immediate assault on the enemy every three minutes as even the veteran soldiers were getting ever antsier, making me worry that I might piss my pants from being exposed to their current fighting spirit.

“The first unit led by me will attack from the left wing, the second unit led by Uncle from the right wing! Lator, it’s your first battle, so your task will be to keep protecting Albert. If you fail, you will lose your head!”

“Malida-nessan, we only talked about me guarding him on the way to the battlefield, didn’t we!? Now that we’ve arrived on the battlefield, my guard duty is over, right!? I can fight as well!”

Lator requested to join the battle from Malida. Seeing his behavior, his father Brest pushed him down with the handle of his spear.

“You idiot! You do not talk back to the family head on the battlefield! This is no playground for little kids! If you want your strength to be approved, prove yourself by accomplishing the tasks assigned to you by the family head!”

“Dad! I’m a man too. I won’t pull your legs in battle. So please――”

“Nope. You guard Albert! This is the duty our family head assigned to you. If you insist on being selfish, I will be forced to lop off your head as an example for discipline!”

Brest pressed the blade of his spear against his son’s nape with such a speed that I couldn’t follow it with my eyes.

“Lator, I’ll let you taste some delicious stuff if I can have you guard me, so please comply.”

Sensing that things were about to get dangerous, I dangled a bait in front of Lator which would make him desist from joining the front line. I planned to have Lator, who would remain as rearguard, act as a hound who would lure the enemy soldiers, who were thrown into disarray by Malida and Brest, towards the location of Alexa’s royal army.

“R-Really? Albert, for my sake…” Lator grabbed my hand while on the verge of crying.

Given that I intended to rear Lator, who had a military prowess following right after Malida and Brest, as future commander, I felt like I had to start a proper commanding education before he’d be dyed by the doctrines of the meathead clan.

Those are the ability values of Lator which I had checked beforehand:

Name: Lator von Erwin

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Race: Oni

Valor: 85

Leadership: 70

Intelligence: 5

Domestic Affairs: 4

Charm: 71

Status: Warrior Leader of the Erwin Family.

His valor loses out to Malida and Brest, but because his Leadership and Charm values are high, he seems to be perfectly suited for leading a big army as commander.

“Lator, obey Albert’s instructions!”

Brest pulled his spear back, turned around, knelt in front of Malida, and bowed his head.

“My son has been rude to you. I humbly ask you to show mercy as I shall redeem his failings on the battlefield with my spear.”

“It’s fine. I also caused a lot of trouble to you, Uncle, during my first battle. So I just get my desserts right now. Anyway, you lot, we’re going to go hunting heads on the battlefield now! Let’s go! Raise our flag!”

“Brest unit, advance after the Malida unit!”

“””YEEEAAAH!”””

The freed muscleheads released war cries that seemed to cause my belly to rumble like an earthquake and then rushed downhill, heading for the enemy.

“Now then, Lator. We will observe the situation for a bit, but make sure to be ready for us to depart at any given moment.”

Lator’s 25 soldiers were left behind to guard the supply unit under my command.

“Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll follow whatever you order, Albert.”

Lator watched Malida and Brest’s sortie with deep regret dyeing his face.

△　△　△

※ Malida’s Point of View ※

“YAHHOOO!! It’s been a while since our last big battle! This time Albert told us to do as we please! We’re going to hunt down the enemy to the last man standing!”

“””YEEEAAAH!”””

While driving her horse and leading the soldiers, I plunged into the ranks of the army led by Alexa’s lords. The enemy was apparently preoccupied with Stephan’s army in front and disregarded us until we started to get closer.

As soon as we rushed into the enemy army, I brandished my greatsword, bisecting the bodies of serf soldiers. With their entrails spilling into the dirty mud, they collapsed on the spot.

“WHAA!? The Flag of the Erwin family! I haven’t heard anything about the Erwin family joining this battle!”

“I heard they were supposed to wander imperial land, pillaging villages and towns! That doesn’t make sense with them being here!”

“It’s in our best interest to run away! It’s ridiculous to fight these guys!”

The enemy serf soldiers panicked as soon as they saw the Erwin family’s flag, leading to the enemy army immediately starting to fall apart.

“The enemy soldiers got cold feet as soon as they saw our flag! Hunt them! Hunt all of them down to the ground! Onwards!”

“We cannot leave everything to Malida! You lot, we’re advancing as well! Dye the flag of our family with our enemy’s blood!”

My uncle swung his greatspear, mowing down one enemy soldier after the other as if pruning grass. Before long, a pile of corpses littered his wake.

“You damn bloodhounds of the Erwin family! For you to appear on the battlefield out of greed for military exploits――”

In passing, I cut a knight, who was sitting on his mount in gaudy armor, in two.

A retainer quickly chopped off his head as he fell to the ground, and hoisted it up on his spear so that everyone was able to see his lifeless head.

“I took the head of your leader! Any tough warrior believing in their own mettle is free to challenge me! I will show you the strongest military arts of Elancia!”

“Strongman Bazun-sama was taken down by Bloody Oni! All ís lost now! Run away before you get killed!”

“I’ve never seen such a brutal woman!”

The frightened serf soldiers began to draw back

“You think I’ll permit you to flee!?”

As soon as I grinned broadly, the enemy soldiers stopped moving.

“You dolts! Don’t think Malida is your only enemy on the battlefield!”

My uncle rushed into the rear of the enemy soldiers, swiping his greatspear through the torsos.

“Uncle! Those are my enemies!”

“Big Bro told you that first come, first served rules on the battlefield, didn’t he!? I have routed the enemy on the left wing! I will give them to you, Malida!”

Brest rushed past me while shouting, just to pierce the torso of a mounted soldier who appeared to be the commander of the serf soldiers.

“Monsters exist in other places as well! That’s Crimson Spear Oni Brest! Erwin’s hound is here as well!”

“I haven’t heard a word about Malida and Brest joining the battle! We’ve been told that the battle this time would be easy as our only task would be to support the main force’s flanks!”

Pushing his way through the enemy soldiers who had started to flee in panic, I spurred my horse on while aiming at a mounted knight in pompous armor.

“You’re in the way! I’ll cut down everyone standing in my way!”

Reacting to my voice, the enemy soldiers moved away to the sides, opening a path. And I galloped through that path.

“You idiots! Don’t let Bloody Oni Malida get close to me! Stop her!”

Perceiving that I was targeting him, the knight scolded his subordinates and forced them to stand in front of him as scapegoats.

“Too late!”

My greatsword bisected the knight’s body alongside a scapegoat subordinate.

“The second commander head! The next is over there! Move, move out of the way! Don’t block my path!”

Spotting a knight who was trying to escape from the battlefield, I targeted my third prey. After I drove on my horse to head over straight away, I succeeded in lopping off his head in passing.

“Not enough! There’s not enough blood! I’m going to reap a lot more heads!”

MY retainers, who were fighting behind me, also used their favorite weapons to kill serf soldiers in succession, increasing the damage to the enemy army.

“Don’t let the princess get all the heads! We’ll also display our military might!”

Once we passed through the enemy army without losing any of our momentum, we turned around and charged into the enemy ranks a second time. My uncle was freely slaughtering the enemy, steadily increasing his military gains.

△　△　△

※ Albert’s Point of View ※

Lichere observed the battlefield through a telescope she bought on the market and reported the military exploits achieved by Malida and her warriors.

“You can really call Malida-sama the strongest warrior!”

“As if you’d easily find anyone capable of dealing with Malida-neesan’s sword on the battlefield!”

My wife was the biggest musclehead…err, warrior of the combat nation Elancia. She was reaping serf soldiers like grass, and her appearance as she dashed across the battlefield made me fully understand why the oni revered her as a war goddess.

“Isn’t your father also doing quite well, Lator?”

“Dad… Fuck! Not bad!”

Displaying a ferociousness that didn’t fall behind Malida’s in any way, Brest also plunged the enemy army at the very bottom of fear. Remembering his face as he had said, 『Crushing an army mainly consisting of a few thousand serf soldiers is easy enough』, I felt pity for Alexa’s lord army which was forced to take him on.

The oni, a race whose mind was filled with nothing but battle, would act really fast whenever it came to battle. We had been able to depart the castle more than half a day faster than I had expected, and we also were able to accelerate our arrival by around a whole day.

Thanks to that, we had the luxury of calmly building our encampment and taking a rest before the battle.

In short, when it came to battle, the oni’s preparations were well enough to give them full marks on everything.

But, in exchange for that, everything related to internal administration was a total failure.

“The serf soldiers lost all motivation after they got scared by our meatheads who beheaded the commanding officers. That’s why this is our victory.”

Once I confirmed that our two units reached the place which appeared to be the enemy headquarters, I tapped Lator’s shoulder. He had been intently watching the battle.

“Alright, Lator. It’s finally your turn. Please try coming up with a plan to efficiently eradicate the enemy, seeing how you’ve been watching from here. If you’re correct, I’ll allow you to put it into practice.”

“Eradicate efficiently, you say… Hmm.”

Over the last few months I’ve learned how to handle the oni. Whenever it concerns battle, they’ll demonstrate incredible concentration and ability. For this reason, I made Lator think about a method to efficiently annihilate the enemy in battle.

After having examined the situation around us for a while, Lator had apparently reached an answer.

“The enemy is in chaos after having lost their commanding officers. If me and my men circle around to the back of the enemy on horse and herd the enemy soldiers towards Dad and Malida-neesan, the enemy will lose their escape route, resulting in even more confusion. This should allow us to increase the military gains even further. How about this, Albert!?”

“It’s your first battle, so I’ll let this barely pass. Well then, let me tell you the correct answer. For receiving perfect marks, the best answer would have been: you circle around into the enemy’s rear, herd the enemy soldiers towards Malida-sama and Brest-dono, and once you join up with those two, you drive the confused serf soldiers, who have lost all will to fight, towards Alexa’s main force, expanding the chaos within the enemy army even further,” I told Lator while pointing at the destination for herding the enemy serf soldiers.

Because our encampment was located on a small hill, we could see Alexa’s main force as it was fighting against Stephan’s army.

“Ooohh! I see! Nothing less of you, Albert. If we do it like that, the enemy main force will be dragged in as well, turning this into a huge military achievement!”

“That’s how it is. This is a very important mission. If you join up with the two, please make sure to properly tell them about my aim.”

“Yeah! Gotcha!”

“Alright, then depart right away! My protection against devastated remnants of a defeated army can even be handled by the supply unit.”

“Okay! Lator unit, we sortie!”

As soon as Lator hoisted his one-handed ax in the air, he got on his horse and galloped away. At once he gathered all his cavalrymen to boost their mobility in order for his unit to carry out its role as hunting dogs.

Those unleashed hounds moved just as I told them, and thanks to Lator and the other two top dogs of the meatheads basically pincering the lords’ army, 200 soldiers easily smashed apart 2,000 enemy soldiers. The deciding factor here was the difference in soldier quality. Given that there was simply too much of a discrepancy in combat experience to begin with, the enemy army completely fell apart when it attacked a cavalry charge from the rear while still being shaken from having lost their commanding officers in the initial attack.

Unlike the Erwin retainers who are all combat experts, the lords’ army mostly consisted of part-time serf soldiers. This became a factor speeding up the army’s collapse.

“It looks like Lator-dono joined up with Mailda-sama’s group. They have started to cooperate in order to herd the enemy remnants towards Alexa’s main force which has been stalled by Stephan-sama. It’s a truly dirty way of battle. Nothing less of a plan thought up by you, the one called the Crown Jewel of Wisdom.”

“The enemy simply hasn’t had the general overview of the situation we had. They’ve simply been chased around by Malida and her oni while unsure where they should run to.”

“That is why you insisted on taking this location, right?”

“Yeah, having a good overview makes it a lot easier to judge a battle’s progress. Still, Lator is doing quite well as cavalryman as well.”

I gazed at the three leaders who were increasing the military exploits of the Erwin family with my telescope.

“It appears they’re cooperating in skillfully driving the enemy soldiers to spread the confusion. At this point, the only fate awaiting Alexa’s royal army is a crushing defeat,” Lichere calmly told me her own guess about the end of Alexa’s army while watching the battlefield.

She appears to have some talent as a strategist as well.

“Well, that’s how it is, I suppose. The royal army will be forced to face Stephan’s army after they stop their retreat in response to our signal, while having the remnants of the lords’ army pushed into them and having the river in their back. Under these circumstances, I don’t think I’d be able to win, even if I were to command Alexa’s royal army.”

While imagining the coming changes in the combat situation, I shifted my eyes to the battle below once again. The meatheads were herding the remnants of the lords’ army towards Alexa’s main force like shepherd dogs would urge a flock of sheep.

“All conditions are set. Let Stephan-dono know through a signal fire. Also, send out a messenger.”

“Okay, signal fire and messenger-kun~”

Lichere ordered a nearby soldier of the supply unit, soon to be followed by a signal fire releasing its smoke into the air. As they had apparently spotted the smoke, Stephan’s troops stopped their retreat, turned around and started to push back against the royal army.

Because Stephan’s army had turned around all of a sudden, Alexa’s main force stopped its advance, just to be visited by another element of chaos in the shape of the lords’ army’s soldiers who were driven into their ranks by our meatheads.

During all of the chaos, Alexa’s royal army got attacked by the oni while being hard-pressed to deal with Stephan’s army. As one soldier after the other fell, the morale took a nosedive and the leaders of their army, who tried to retreat, were captured successively since the river prevented their escape, spelling this to become a defeat close to a wipe.

Because of all this, Elancia’s imperial army obtained victory.

The outcome was already decided. Stephan, the one in charge of this battle, ordered to not pursue the enemy. And since it’d hurt the demon king’s impression if we went against the supreme commander’s order, I put a collar around the necks of the meatheads by sending out messengers with instructions to collect prisoners and abandoned equipment.

Of course, we also moved up to a place located closer to the battlefield.

Let me use this opportunity to explain the post-treatment of battles in the world.

• Screening the dead and prisoners of war
• Burning the corpses
• Gathering the looted items
• Splitting slaves and craftspeople among the prisoners
• Demanding ransom for noble prisoners
• Identification of severed heads.

This was the general run-down.

Those who threw away their weapons and stopped resisting, became prisoners. Those on the verge of death were relieved of their pain. And those still willing to fight were surrounded and killed.

In the meantime, the food, horses, and arms left behind by the enemy were gathered and loaded onto wagons together with the prisoners. The loot and prisoners would become a precious source of income for us. I expect slave dealers and pawnshop owners to soon gather, aiming for all the things we obtained.

Once we had cleaned up the battlefield, smoke was lingering over the entire area as the dead bodies had been cremated.

Going back in the story a bit: the 『Identification of severed heads』 was about having the heads of those killed during the battle identified as they were an important piece of evidence when it came to Stephan, the supreme commander, conferring the honors for military achievements. It also served as an occasion to confirm that the merits of war reported by a person were actually true. And just as the heads of the enemy side would be identified, the same was done for the prisoners and traitors.

I’d like you to think of it as the soldiers lining up the freshly severed heads and boasting how awesome they had been when they lopped them off.

By the way, Malida handed in six heads of nobles and nine heads of serf soldier captains. Brest had the heads of five nobles and nine serf soldier captains. And even Lator managed to get his hands on three noble heads and five captain heads.

You guys have been going at this way too hard. Or rather, only the Erwin family was so excessive in presenting heads of enemy commanders and officers.

Sure, it’s exceedingly effective to target the commanding officers of an army, but it earned them the envy of Stephan and the other lords as they couldn’t obtain anywhere as many military exploits. It looks like I’ll have to send a tribute of gratitude to the lords, who participated this time, and Stephan, once the war is over. It might be best to also add a brief note, apologizing for our family members having been such a nuisance.

I mean, it’s important to keep a good relationship with your neighbors. Your daily socializing with them decides whether they will help you or turn their blades on you, if you’re attacked.

The meathead clan has never associated with the neighboring nobles in such a way thus far. The only ones they held any relations with were the families of the demon king and Stephan after Malida’s big sister married into his family. Many noble families don’t want to get involved with the Erwin family since they don’t know what those meatheads might do to them. Assuming I worked for another noble house, I’d definitely push my employer to stay clear from that family no matter what.

Malida and the other oni went to Stephan’s camp to participate in the 『Identification of severed heads』. As soon as the battlefield processing was done, the wagons fully loaded with the loot and prisoners were driven to a place right in the middle of the battlefield where a market was held by the slave dealers and pawnbrokers. The slave dealers bought up the prisoners as slaves while the pawnbrokers got their hands on the horses and second-hand armaments.

“Ah, you over there. Treat the prisoner carefully, okay? They’re precious merchandise. The same also applies to the prisoners of the lords’ families. We’re going to take them back to the castle and negotiate a ransom for them, so be very careful with them. Don’t damage their faces. Limit any beatings to their bodies.”

I made the prisoners coming off the wagons report whether any of them was a skilled smith or carpenter before selling them to the slave dealers. Skilled prisoners are valuable resources, so I plan to take them back home with me.

Well, it won’t change their fate of becoming slaves, but it’s still better than being forced into heavy labor. After finishing to sort out the craftspeople, I let the slave dealers bid on the remaining prisoners.

Young and sturdy guys went for 90 imperial gold per person. Since an imperial gold coin has an approximate value of 10,000 Yen, they sold for roughly 900,000 Yen per person.

This was the price paid by the slave dealers. The people later buying the slaves would pay a lot more. If you buy a slave, you have to generally pay twice the amount mentioned above.

However, this money would never be paid to the ones sold as slaves. Also, the price decreased depending on the age. Too young was no good, just like too old. Most of the slaves would be then sent into the mines, on ships as rowers, or on the fields as serfs.

This time we sold 50 serf soldier as slaves without any particular abilities. Usually, the demand for cheap labor was high in Elancia during war and thus they’d be sold out quickly.

The whole slave sale earned us 4,500 imperial gold.

The folks of the Erwin family were extremely naggy when it came to armaments. They were such maniacs that they even fussed about the quality of the weapons and armor they lent out to the serf soldiers.

I sold off the looted materials and used armaments that didn’t catch the attention of the armaments maniacs, and got 3,000 imperial gold out of that.

As expected, second-hand goods aren’t overly popular. They seem to be often bought by pawnbrokers for the sake of poor lords equipping their serf soldiers.

The total income amounted to 7,500 imperial gold.

Easy money, you say? No, if you consider the retainers’ salary, the rewards for military exploits, the expenses for the dispatch of troops, and the replenishment of goods, I’d prefer to actually earn a bit more money.

■

After finishing the head-checking and the sale of loot and slaves, we received the order to go back from Supreme Commander Stephan. As soon as we got back to the castle, I began the extortion of a ransom for the commander-class prisoners we captured.

Ransom negotiations were mostly held for lords, members of noble families, and people with economic strength such as members of village chief families. Given that it took time and effort to go through with those negotiations, you needed to target people with a certain financial leeway to make this whole endeavor worthwhile.

This time the enemy front-line collapsed quite quickly, so we were able to get several prisoners. One lord, three members of noble families, and three village chiefs, who acted as serf soldier commanders.

Usually this would be the work of the family head, but Malida merely told me, 『I’m busy with the maintenance of my weapon and armor, so you handle it, Albert』.

“Albert-sama, everything is ready for the ransom negotiations, so please take care of the interviews,” Lichere informed me as I was working at governmental affairs in the office.

“I understand. I’ll be going there right away.”

When I entered the mansion where we put the prisoners under house arrest, the prisoners in question were lined up with their hands bound.

“Now then, I will have every one of you tell us how much money you can pay. If it matches the price as I imagine it, I promise you will be treated well. In case not――we’ll just take your head to bolster the military achievements of our family. You understand, right?”

The prisoners nodded silently.

I started asking each prisoner how much money they could raise for themselves. With the initial statement, I made sure that they’d attach a price tag to their own life by themselves. Since only death would be awaiting them, if they couldn’t pay, some of the prisoners offered every asset they had in their territory.

The ransom wouldn’t be paid in their currency, but in unprocessed, precious metals. Also, most of the seized commodities would be mostly turned into ores and then cast into coins.

But, of course, some of the poorer lords couldn’t pay money either. This time everyone but one person agreed to the ransom sum I decided after hearing about their finances. By agreeing to the sum, they’d be treated as guests of our family until their ransom was paid. Their shackles were removed and they were allowed to freely move around within the confines of the mansion prepared for them.

As soon as a messenger sent by their fief brought their ransom, they’d be able to go back home once the procedures were finished.

However, if they ran away before the messenger came with the ransom, they’d be killed without any questions asked. But, they also understood as much and thus they didn’t even try to run away.

The total sum of ransom I succeeded in extorting amounted to 35,000 imperial gold. If you add the money earned through the sales of slaves and loot, it’ll amount to a total sum of 42,500 imperial gold. For the Erwin family this has become a battle that balanced our account in a big way.

Those who agreed to paying the ransom quickly had their shackles removed and were assigned individual rooms.

Now then, let’s talk about the person who didn’t agree. By the way, these are her ability values.

Name: Liese von Alkor
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Race: Human

Valor: 34
Leadership: 55
Intelligence: 42
Domestic Affairs: 50
Charm: 76

Three Sizes: B75 (C-Cup) W51 H76

Status: Family Head of the Alkor Family.

The recent battle apparently was her first campaign. The Alkor family started out as family of a village chief. At some point, a family head from many generations ago ruled some farm villages, and after chasing out the lord of Alexa, who continued to mistreat his people, they joined Elancia and became a Baron family. However, once that family head suddenly died in battle after becoming a Baron of Elancia, his family was engulfed in infighting and during the ensuing chaos, the previous family head also passed away.

When Liese inherited the territory as new family head, the fief had broken away from Elancia as outcome of the internal discord and fell in Alexa’s sphere of influence. It looks like they were mobilized for the recent war.

As such, Liese’s family is impoverished, and thus we couldn’t find a compromise between the ransom sum I had estimated and the sum of money he offered. Just as I had previously announced, not being able to pay would mean death…was fine with me as well, but as a matter of fact 『he』 was actually a 『she』.

Liese von Alkor concealed the fact of her being a female family head. I already thought that she had an awfully pretty face during our first meeting, but when I checked her abilities, I was surprised to find out that she was a woman.

When I asked her about the details behind this story, she told me that the eldest son of the previous family head, her elder brother, died in an undetermined way during the family struggle, and because Liese was the sole direct descendant, she disguised herself as a man and succeeded the family headship to avoid having peerage and territory seized by Alexa.

When she told me, “Kuh! Kill me! You won’t get any ransom from me!”, it aroused me a lot to have a 『Kuh! Kill me』 pulled on me.

“Albert, a girl, who crossdressed as a guy, might be nice as well. I like girls, but women like Liese are my guilty pleasure. Haa haa.”

Malida drooled as she stared at the bound Liese after showing up at the negotiation place.

It looks like her head-strong attitude had triggered Malida’s fetish. Moreover, because it was just after she fought a major battle, Malida’s sexual desires were still soaring and she was searching for a way to relieve herself.

“Nice. She gets me all riled up. I think it’d be nice to get a taste of her,” Malida stared at Liese with the eyes of a predator.

“Hiii. I’m not afraid of dying! Really, I’m not! So hurry up and kill me!”

It’s Liese’s fault when it comes to not being able to pay the ransom, so I have no choice but to have her serve as an outlet for Malida’s accumulated sexual desire.

“Malida-sama, it looks like Liese-dono won’t be able to pay the ransom. How should we proceed with her?”

“I see, I see, Liese cannot pay with money, huh…? That must be terrible. In that case, I won’t mind if you have her pay in another way.”

Apparently guessing my intention, Malida’s eyes crawled all over Liese’s body.

“A-Another way?”

If Liese becomes Malida’s lover, it’ll automatically lead to her becoming mine because Malida’s lovers = my lovers. And it’ll also have another nice effect for the Erwin family. Namely, the possibility of merging territories.

The Alkor family’s territory neighbors the Erwin family’s Ashley territory to the south. Originally that fief belonged to Elancia, so there are several roads connecting both fiefs and many people have relatives in either territory. In other words, the Alkor family is a neighbor who is so close and yet so far away.

If a child born between me and Liese, the family head, succeeds the Alkor family, the Alkor family will become directly related to the Erwin family, and merging the territories won’t pose any problems. We could expand our territory by integrating the Alkor into the Erwin family with its loose rules for becoming blood-related.

Liese is a manly girl who would shoulder that nice side effect for us, or no, to be precise, she’s a cross-dressing woman who speaks like a man.

“Malida-sama is saying that she would like you to offer your body as her lover, if you cannot pay the ransom, Liese-dono.”

“Eh!? W-Wait a sec! I’m…!” Liese was against the condition suddenly offered to her.

“So you can pay the ransom to me then? Haa, haa,” Malida was clearly zeroing in on Liese as audible from her rough gasping.

She lifted up Liese’s body with surprisingly nimble movements and threatened her with bloodshot eyes and a spirit that would make even veteran soldiers falter.

“Auuuhh, I…cannot pay.”

Faced with Malida’s intensity, Liese averted her face, now on the verge of crying as she had all her will to protest crushed. While holding her up, Malida used a hand to jerk Liese’s chin her way and finished her off with her next words.

“You’re no little girl, right? So you should know what comes next.”

“Uuuhhh, it’s my first time. Please…please be gentle.”

“Leave it to me. I’m always gentle with girls. Now then, I’ll take you to heaven right away. Come on, let’s go.”

Carrying Liese, Malida darted away at neck-breaking speed from the mansion, rushing into the bedroom of our private chambers.

“It’s right after a battle, so Malida-sama’s sexual desire must have peaked. Do you think Liese’s small body will be able to endure?” Lichere asked me after having silently watched the events unfold.

“Probably not. But, I got exhausted by all the negotiations, so please let me rest for one cup of tea’s worth of time. Afterwards, we’ll head over to the bedroom as well.”

“Very well. I shall prepare the tea right away.”

After I returned to our living room and while I was savoring the tea brewed by Lichere, I could hear groaning and sobbing from the bedroom.

“Malida-sama appears to have taken quite a liking to Liese-sama.”

Irena had come back after wrapping up the governmental affairs. Now she was smiling due to the voices audible from the bedroom.

“Looks like it. Well, I do think she’s actually a wonderful girl.”

“I have seen Liese-sama dressed as a man, but her features were very androgynous.”

“Have you taken a liking to her as well, Irena-sama? I’m looking forward to having some fun with her.”

Lichere commented with a perverted smile on her face while wiggling the fingers of both her hands as if groping something.

“I was also very interested, so I finished my work as fast as I could.”

Irena was apparently looking forward to tonight’s fuckfest, her cheeks already dyed crimson.

Liese’s crying could be heard from the bedroom once more.

“It sounds like it’d be better for us to soon join in as well.”

“You’re right. Malida-sama should have had quite some fun by now.”

“Albert-sama, please be gentle to Liese-sama.”

“Yeah, I will.”

After putting my cup on the table, I headed into the bedroom together with Lichere and Irena.

■

Once we entered the bedroom, Malida was already pinning a stark naked Liese down on the bed, her hand having disappeared between Liese’s legs. You could see several stains on the bed, hinting at Liese having cum several times by now.

“It’s heaven, right? Liese-tan, you’re so adorable. Haa haa.”

Panting hard, Liese answered, “Malida-sama…I won’t be able to hold up at this rate. Ahnn, I told you to stop.”

“Liese-tan, I believe I told you to call me Malida-ane-sama.”

“Hnnngh! Malida-ane-sama! Stoooop!”

Liese’s body bent as she moaned hard from having her nipples licked by Malida. At this point, Liese’s face wasn’t that of a man anymore. She clearly looked like a woman.

“Look, Albert and the others have shown up as well. The real shows start from here.”

“Kyaauuu! Don’t look at me!”

Noticing us, Liese covered her chest with her hands out of embarrassment. At a glance she looked like a young guy, but looking closer, you could spot the proper swellings of a woman.

“Big breasts are nice, but hers have their own charm as well. I look forward to choosing Liese-dono’s underwear.”

Lichere’s face became slovenly as she was apparently planning something while leering at Liese’s body full of curiosity.

“Liese-sama, my name is Irena. I have been allowed to act as Malida-sama’s lover and Albert-sama’s secretary. I’m looking forward to working with you in the future.”

Irena had immediately stripped off all her clothes, and was now fondling Liese’s breasts.

“N-Nice to――meetchun!”

“Please keep it at bay. I think she’s going to become an important guest of ours.”

“I know. We need Liese-sama to carry out Albert-sama’s child, just like me.”

“Albert-sama, I really wonder just how many women you intend to impregnate with your seed. Well, I feel like I’ll become pregnant sooner or later as well.”

Lichere took her own clothes off, and climbed on the bed with the other three women.

“Excuse me, Liese-sama.”

“Hyaauuuh! What are you doing?”

“I’m going to prepare you a bit so that you can fully welcome Albert-sama as a woman.”

“That’s right. Albert is going to turn you into a wonderful woman, Liese-tan. Hihihihi. We must prepare you for that.”

Malida, Lichere, and Irena surrounded Liese with lewd smiles on their lips. Liese directed a look full of anxiety at me.

“Making me a woman means――”

“It’s alright. I’m sure you will be a magnificent woman by tomorrow morning. Malida-sama, Lichere, Irena, please take care of the preparations.”

“Of course. Liese-tan’s lips are mine!” Malida forcibly pulled Liese’s face towards herself and kissed her.

Liese tried to frantically escape from Malida, but she was unable to resist as she wished since her body was also being teased by Lichere and Irena. While teary-eyed, she had to endure being ravaged by three predators.

“Puhaaa! Liese-tan, you’re delicious. Guhihihi.”

“I beg you, please stop it. Stoooop. Or I’ll completely lose my mind!”

“Nope. The night is still young and we haven’t yet started for real.”

“Indeed. You just need to fall into debauchery together with us.”

“Uuugh! No, no, noooooo!” As Lichere’s hand increased in speed at Liese’s crotch, Liese’s voice became shriller. “Nnnghhuuh! No…not this!”

Liese bit on her lips with her brows furrowed and her body cramping up.

“Liese-tan, you must say when you cum. Let’s practice it once more.”

Malida’s hand slid between Liese’s legs as the young girl was panting hard.

“Impossible, it’s impossible! Please, Malida-ane-sama! I cannot handle this anymore. I’m really about to go crazy heeeere!”

“Ohoho, this is a nice reaction. Liese-tan, you have the makings to become a wonderful woman. Uhihihi.”

With her face flushed and her breath going hard, Liese had her legs spread wide open by Malida and Lichere.

“Albert-sama, please turn Liese-sama into a proper woman anytime soon now.”

“Right. But, you mustn’t be too intense with her. She’s my precious Liese-tan after all. We’ve got plenty of time, so turn her into a woman slowly.”

“Understood. Well then, I shall turn Liese-dono into a full woman now.”

After being requested to do it by the three, I took off my clothes and climbed on the bed.

In the end, the captured, pitiful, poor cross-dressing lady-lord had her body violated multiple times by a super-horny, demon-queen-like baroness, a perverted maid, a proactive secretary, and a black-hearted strategist. This led to the pleasure as a woman being deeply ingrained into her body.

■

“Uuhh, my Liese-tan got messed up by Albert. Moreover, for me to suffer such a disgrace together with her…”

Sunlight was pouring into the room through a gap in the window. Four beauties were lying entangled on the bed like a bundle of limbs. All of them stark naked.

“Malida-ane-sama, forgive me. Because I was turned into Albert’s woman, you had something so embarrassing done to you…”

“It’s fine. If it’s for your sake, Liese-tan…I can endure this much. Besides, because I’ve also been turned into Albert’s woman, I can’t defy him.”

“Well, Albert-sama is a pervert, after all. Isn’t it great that you were left off the hook with just this much? Still, Malida-sama, Liese-sama, you were very adorable. Right, Irena-san?”

“Yes, indeed. I was also able to get my fill in various ways.”

“What are you four taking me for anyway?”

“”””A perverted strategist.””””

The four answered simultaneously. But, since they weren’t wrong about this, I didn’t deny it either.

“Anyway, Liese-tan, this makes you my lover and Albert’s concubine.”

“Okay, but are you fine with that? All the people supporting me as family head died during the recent battle. Our fief is poor and the internal conflict is still raging. I know it sounds weird for me to say this, but I think it’s relatively bad territory to gain.”

“No problem at all. We will protect you as a guest of the Erwin family, and I’m already coming up with ideas on how to turn the Alkor family into our protectorate. So, I plan to use the Alkor family’s tax revenue for defense expenses in exchange for the Erwin family managing that part. Of course, we’ll also take proper care of the territorial administration. And, once you give birth to a male heir, Liese, we will have him inherit the Alkor family while Malida-sama will silence all those opposing it.”

Liese lost her influential backers during the recent war, so even if she went back home, she’d be in danger of being killed by the opposing faction.

“If children of the same father become family heads, they’ll be relatives. I won’t attack relatives or family. Instead I’ll protect them with my life.”

“I see. Then I must do my best to give birth to Albert’s child! For my sake, for the sake of the Alkor family, and for the sake of Malida-ane-sama.”

“That’s how it is. From now on, you’re going to be screwed by Albert every night together with me.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best together with you, Malida-ane-sama!”

After declaring that we’d have sex every night, Liese looked my way. Once our eyes met, her face became bright red, probably out of embarrassment, and she looked away.

I turned Liese into a woman and provided her with kind after-care, after Malida and Lichere had toyed with her beforehand, so Liese became deeply attached to me. I gently caressed her head.

“Please don’t go too hard on me.”

“Albert will be handling all the troublesome work of a family head for us, so you and I must do our best to take care of his nightly desires, Liese-tan!”

“Please allow me to join Albert-sama’s nightly care-taking as well.”

“Me too.”

Lichere and Irena requested to join after listening to Malida and Liese’s conversation.

“My lovers like Albert way too much. Well, then again, I love him myself as well.”

It was yet another noisy morning on top of our bed. But, this was also part of my dream. Using the pretext of them being my wife’s lovers, I wanna increase my own wives. I plan to lead a life faithful to my own carnal desires in this bloodthirsty world where you can lose your life at any moment.

△　△　△

※ Orgus’s Point of View ※

“NO WAY! A crushing defeat, you say!? Impossible! We sent in 5,000 soldiers!”

I threw a glass in reach at Prime Minister Zazan who had shown up in his room after returning from Tiana. The glass hit Zazan’s forehead as he was bowing, shattered, and cut into his skin.

“With all due respect, 80% of those 5,000 soldiers haven’t returned. Many of the lords were killed, and I have received reports about a big number of prisoners. The recovery of Sura, Zaysan, and Benia ended in failure. Instead, we even lost the Slat territory of the Alkor family.”

“Idiot! Why did we lose land as the ones invading!? Just where would you hear such a fucked-up story!?”

“We lost the land because the family head of the Alkor family changed sides to Elancia. And we didn’t have any power to stop that from happening after having lost the war.”

“D-Damn it! You incompetent fool!”

I picked up another glass and threw it in Zazan’s direction. That glass also shattered as soon as it hit his forehead, causing blood to run down from his forehead.

“Please forgive me for lacking the necessary strength, leading to this outcome.”

“This isn’t anything that can be waived off with an apology! I’ve been the supreme commander of the invasion!”

Unable to suppress my irritation, I started to chew on my thumbnail.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why did it turn out like that!? The invasion was supposed to become a huge success, allowing me to secure my position as successor of the crown! And yet, why…!?

The results of the invasion I pinned my hopes on diverted in an unforeseen direction, which are now actually endangering my position as crown successor.

“Let me humbly tell you, the one delivering a devastating blow against our army during the recent battle apparently was the Erwin family which saw Malida come back as family head. She returned to Elancia without hearing anything about it and was reinstated as family head.”

Not only did she attack the Temple of Wisdom and stole my gold, but she’s also the boss of the scum that attacked Sura, Zaysan, and Benia, and killed their lords!

I recalled the face of the female warrior who raided the Temple of Wisdom when I was about to receive a bribe. Her looks were nice, but she’s a brute, and above all else, a filthy demi-human.

She went into hiding after killing the border lords, but…for her to have returned to Elancia…

“Did that woman cause the annihilation of our invasion army?”

“Yes. Also, this is only unconfirmed information, but it seems like the name of Malida’s husband is Albert.”

Rage flared up in me as soon as those words left Zazan’s mouth.

“That’s Priest Albert! No doubt about it!He was kidnapped by Malida and went missing, but that little asshole switched sides to Elancia and shrewdly became the husband of that dirty demi-human bitch!”

Bloody hell! That piece of trash! He keeps getting in my way!

Even though he worked his way up from being an orphan to becoming a priest thanks to Alexa’s money, he betrayed us for Elancia! What a rotten little fucker! I won’t forgive him! Not for last, nor for this time! No matter what methods I must use, I’ll have him dragged in front of me and then butcher him after making him beg for his life!

“Zazan! Increase the bounty for Albert ten times! Tell the people it’s fine to abduct him from the Erwin family as long as they bring him to me alive!”

“Y-Yes, Your Highness! I shall announce it right away, but…since he seems to be staying in Elancia, I think it will be difficult to achieve.”

“Shut up! Just stay silent and do as told! No need to talk back to me!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I’ll never forgive you! Albert!

“Going back to the main topic, let us discuss how to tell the king about the recent defeat. We will enforce a strict gag order on everyone who participated in the expedition, so as to make sure that the news doesn’t spread to Goran’s faction.”

“Don’t call it a defeat so easily! Idiot! The expedition isn’t over yet!”

“But, the invasion army is already――”

Shit, shit, shit! There’s no way I could tell the king that the army under my command was annihilated!

I feel pissed by the imbecility of Zazan, but I’m in danger of losing the king’s trust unless I cover up the expedition’s failure.

“They haven’t lost yet! Separate all those, who came back from the expedition, and place them under detention in an internment camp located in some remote place! Then report that the expedition army successfully repelled Elancia’s army, now being in the process of recovering Sura, Zaysan, and Benia! The king won’t doubt my words as long as no one leaks the truth!”

“I-If the truth comes out after reporting such a lie――”

“It’s your job to make sure that doesn’t happen! Urgently prepare someone who can act as scapegoat in preparation for when the truth comes out!”

Once I picked up a third glass, Zazan quickly scurried out of the room.

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