Chapter 228 - Siege

After watching the training ground, they resumed their walk down the corridor, heading for the mages' laboratory. A woman now occupied the room where six court mages had once conducted research and held meetings.

"You've arrived."

She was an unusual woman, with pointed ears and black skin, yet her beauty remained unchanged. Her race had once been known as the Dark Elves, and now she was the last of them. Her name was Linne, the woman formerly known as the laboratory director.

"You made the Traumas exactly as I wanted. You have my thanks for that."

Linne looked puzzled by Gokma's praise.

"Traumas...?"

"Those masses with the eyeballs."

"They already have a name: Mental Jammers..."

"Where's the fun in an obvious name? The interesting thing about names is what other people choose to call something. Trauma. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"I suppose it does."

Whatever they were called hardly mattered. Linne brushed the matter aside and continued her report.

"Using the raw material you provided, I have mass-produced 525 Knight-class Demons. They are awaiting orders."

"525..."

A smile spread over Gokma's face. That was by no means a large number. Even a force that size would crumble helplessly under the sheer weight of a hundred thousand soldiers.

But were these ordinary Knight-class Demons? Their number was 525, but they were no ordinary 525. In a land founded on the principle that all lives were equal, these Demons had received the blessing of Legion. With dozens of hearts and dozens of heads, they would revive no matter how many times they died and plunge back into battle. Catch the hundred-thousand-strong army off guard, and annihilating it would be child's play.

"There is, however, one anomaly..." Linne said, casting a sideways glance at the king of Heinkel. "One man continues to resist the blood."

"And that man is...?"

"The man said to be a close friend of Heinkel here."

Perry Yurei. He had arrived leading an army of over ten thousand, only to suffer a predictably crushing defeat. Despite their vow to fight until the last man fell, the overwhelming disparity in strength had quickly broken their will. They had lost two thousand men in two minutes. The remaining eight thousand had all become subjects of the Heinkel Kingdom. All but one.

Gokma rubbed his chin. "How unusual. What do you normally do in such cases?"

"It is unusual, but there is no need to fixate on a single specimen. Biologically, he is no different from a second-rate knight. He would amount to no more than a Knight-class Demon. You would be better off exposing him to a Trauma to break him, or simply killing him—"

"Absolutely not." The king of Heinkel reacted at once. "Perry... must see what I see. And for that, he must remain alive."

"How insolent, for a mere human." Linne frowned and glared at him. "My hands are already full. Must I indulge this stubborn whim of yours as well?"

"You must. Yurei is my dear friend."

"An obsession. You cling to such things because you have not walked the path of a Demon."

"And are you not different from the Demons yourself?" His hollow eyes bored into Linne. "Do not take me for a fool. I know you are different from the Demons being made here. You are neither Demon nor elf. Merely a creature struggling pathetically to survive."

"Are you challenging me? Becoming a Great Mage has certainly gone to your head."

"That will do." Gokma stepped in with a faint smile. He gathered his thoughts and addressed her. "Linne."

"Yes?"

"Let me make one thing clear. Keep this man Yurei alive at all costs. And continue your efforts to turn him into a Demon."

"That is... terribly inefficient. Rather than do that, the only option is to use the Mental Jammer's—no, the Trauma's power to make him submit..."

"That is an order." Gokma brought his index finger to his lips, signaling that there would be no further discussion.

"Understood."

"Then please keep at it a little longer. They will attack before long."

"Lord Gokma."

A question occurred to Linne as she watched him turn away. She should have let it pass, but in the end, she asked it anyway.

"Am I... still useful?"

Her clenched fists trembled. Gokma gave no answer. He simply left without offering even a hint, and her question echoed emptily before fading away.

* * *

Everyone watched as Erdes, chair of the magic society, was led away by the master of the Blue Eye Tower. Given the devastating power of her spell, the coalition and imperial army had gathered at the imperial forward base to await a decision on her fate. Now that the decision had been made, Ferda sat at a table with those who had witnessed its outcome.

"Have you lost your mind, Regent?!" Ureas bellowed.

Ferda felt as though he had been through this only a few hours ago. The difference was that this time, Ureas was not the only one who was angry.

"There was no other choice." Ferda calmly explained his position. "Tower Master Iorga heard what had happened and came to request that I release her into her custody."

"And you simply handed her over?!"

"Our bases suffered considerable damage thanks to what that woman did!"

The other kings seized the momentum and tried to press Ferda as well. They wanted to wring some advantage out of the incident.

"Why not set diplomatic matters aside and focus on the task at hand? Our best course for now is to deal with the Demons first, then decide who was right or wrong."

"Do you truly believe that?"

The question came from Ureas's brains—in other words, Olivia. That was unexpected.

"What possible benefit is there for the Empire in releasing a criminal whose unilateral actions nearly destroyed half our army?"

She was glaring at Ferda, joining the others in pressing him. What on earth was she doing? He looked at her in mild bewilderment, and she continued.

"You cannot be unaware that the chair of the magic society has allied herself with the Crown Prince. Are you certain you have no intention of playing both sides between Alexander and us?"

An explanation occurred to Ferda. She was preemptively raising the suspicions that ought to arise, pretending to keep him in check. Her reason undoubtedly had something to do with Ureas. Just look at the satisfaction in his eyes. He was delighted that his sister had taken his side.

But Ferda knew that even if Olivia ever betrayed him, she would never side with Ureas. He decided to play along.

"You need not worry about that. The Crown Prince intends to put pressure on the far east. What glory could I possibly hope to gain by pledging him my loyalty?"

"Then stop doing things you have no business doing. I do not know what grand cause you envision, Regent Ferda, but if you continue in this fashion, the Empire will have no choice but to question both its support for you and your autonomy."

Olivia's eyes were vicious. It was no small feat to crush even the impulse to protest before it could rise. Thank goodness she was not his enemy. Ferda continued his explanation.

"The society's chair will not escape responsibility for this. Given her abrupt intervention, her verbal abuse, and the damage her unplanned spell inflicted on our own forces, I secured her promise not to intervene until this matter is resolved. If further censure is necessary, we can take it to the Grand Council."

"That is not what I mean." Olivia addressed him bluntly, as though exasperated. "The Demons have entered this war, and a devil's magic is involved. Yet you propose that the chair of the magic society take responsibility by withdrawing?"

She raised her voice in apparent horror. "That is unacceptable! Surely the proper course is to make her apologize for acting alone, then have her join the war and lend us her strength?"

"That would be right, but..."

The kings' faces grew anxious at those words.

"There is no need for that, Sister." It was Ureas who objected. The satisfaction on his face had given way to dismay. "The chair acted on her own in the first place. We had already judged that we could manage perfectly well without her intervention."

"But with such a formidable force at our disposal, shouldn't we request reinforcements through the Grand Council, even if not from the society's chair?"

Olivia gave Ferda a subtle look, telling him to play along. It was difficult to tell which side she wanted him to take. He decided to try his luck.

"No."

She gave a smile so faint that only Ferda could see it. Apparently, that was the right answer. He continued.

"I believe it would be better to proceed as planned than to have the arrogant magic society join us and disrupt our strategy."

"Precisely!"

"The regent is right this time."

"How you can reach such a conclusion with Demons running rampant..." Olivia murmured regretfully.

The voices condemning Ferda lost their force, and King Heodret smoothly changed the subject.

"Are we done being emotional?"

He had not said a word throughout the shouting.

"We can discuss the chair's release later. Let us focus on the immediate problem." His fingers pressed firmly against the table. "Now that the chair has agreed not to intervene further, was there any word on what the dragons intend to do?"

The enemy had far more strength at its disposal than expected, so intervention by the dragons was a possibility. Ferda answered.

"I already asked the Tower Master. They believe humans can resolve this and have expressed their intention not to intervene unless necessary."

"With the dragons staying out of it, we can proceed with the operation as shared, then."

"Correct."

"Then what more is there to discuss? We can return."

As he rose, the other kings began to follow. There was something feral about him, the bearing of a true leader among a pack of wolves.

"There is still something to discuss."

"What is it?"

"Before leaving, the master of the Blue Eye Magic Tower shared some insights with me."

Ferda recounted his conversation with Erica and Erdes: how Gokma had single-handedly blocked Erdes's attack and even counterattacked; what kind of explosion had killed the king of Heian's infiltrator; and how countless Red Circle wielders could be continually mass-produced within those walls.

"Stimulating emotions to mass-produce Red Circle mages, then using them as mana suppliers..."

"So that is how this Gokma fellow managed to stop the attack alone."

"I thought this Legion magic would be troublesome, but combined with the Demons' cunning, it has exceeded anything I imagined."

They marveled at the Demons' stratagem, which had stopped the greatest spell cast by the continent's greatest mage. Ferda seized on their mood to raise a question.

"Given this new information, I believe our strategy needs revision."

"It does indeed." King Heodret added, "We must press the attack more boldly."

"More boldly? In what way?"

"Think of it in simple terms. We are not facing an ordinary castle, but an enormous giant. A spellcasting giant named Heinkel. Think of us as germs entering that giant's belly. How should we bring it down?"

"Rather than stay together, we should spread out as widely as possible."

Gamigin's Legion drew on the loyalty of everyone within its domain to wield absolute power. The accepted theory was that killing those loyal subjects would weaken the king as well. Based on such hypotheses, the most effective course was to leave no survivors. That had been the broad thrust of the original plan.

"The king of Heinkel will drive his subjects to their deaths to preserve his own life. We now know that we must leave him no room to maneuver. With no thought of leaving survivors, we must spread out swiftly and widely, mercilessly cutting off his sources of power."

"But spreading out even farther to attack... wouldn't that be dangerous?"

King Heodret, who had been brimming with anticipation, clicked his tongue. "Did you come here thinking war was child's play? What kind of question is that?"

Speaking up had earned nothing but humiliation.

"Let us develop the operation a little further."

There was not much to the operation, however. They had barely advanced far enough to knock on the outer gates, and knew nothing of what tactics the enemy would use or how many troops were in the inner castle. They could only establish a broad framework and rely on each contingent's ability to adapt.

"The all-out assault will be in three days. Until then, let us keep tossing them gifts with our siege engines and wear them down. What do you say, Second Prince?"

"A fine idea."

"Then, with no objections, let us conclude."

King Heodret, commander of the coalition, rose, and all the other kings followed. They exchanged formal farewells and left the command post, not forgetting to pay their respects to Olivia.

"It was an honor to meet you."

"Who could have imagined meeting a princess on a battlefield like this?"

"Next time, I hope to see you in a banquet hall, as the flower of the ball rather than the battlefield."

A touch of softness had entered that rigid setting, and smiles bloomed on the kings' faces as though they had regained their youth. Olivia greeted each in turn with a gentle smile. At last, King Heodret stood before her.

"Have a safe journey back, Your Majesty."

"There is no need to try so hard."

"Pardon?"

"Unfortunately, I am already spoken for. You will not bewitch me so easily, however much sex appeal you exude."

"My, how could you say such a thing?"

Olivia put on a wounded expression. King Heodret smiled as though he found even that endearing, then turned away. Watching him go, Ferda could only find it absurd.

'He seems to follow his instincts, yet somehow he doesn't.'

A man both feral and rational. Ferda thought him a truly peculiar man.

* * *

Two days before the all-out assault.

"I have a report." The dark-skinned Garnet had come to Ferda's tent.

As both the head of the merchants' guild and an upper-class citizen, she held the post of supply commander on this expedition. Of course, that was only a pretext. Her true assignment was to work with her subordinates as a conduit for reports on the state of the coalition and imperial army.

"The twenty trebuchets deployed with the coalition and imperial army began their stone bombardment today."

The siege of the Heinkel Kingdom had begun in earnest.