Chapter 324

Where would the battle take place?
It was usually some field near a town road.
Clashes were most likely to take place there.

Even if there weren’t any roads, as long as there were fields or hills that a large army could move through, it would be fine.

And the battlefield was a living creature.
It changed greatly over time. It moved and sometimes swelled up.

In other words, what I wanted to say is, no matter how much we wanted to avoid the battlefield, we would bump into them if we traveled down the road. And even if we went around, we were likely to encounter them.

“…Ah. So this one was no use as well.”

All of the roads that I chose showed traces of Tralzard’s army having passed through.

There were only so many roads back to our country.
I didn’t have many options, and this one was also a ‘hit.’

“There are traces of a camp. And not much dust over it. It’s new.”
“Aye… If we continue on, we’ll probably encounter Tralzard’s army. And ahead of that…”

“Will be Janius and Gidman’s army.”
“Indeed.”

Tralzard’s army already had the disadvantage. It was two countries against one.
Not only that, but after defeating Demon King Legard, Tralzard had left her army in the south.

That meant there weren’t that many soldiers in the north. They were barely just holding the battleline.
She could not waste a single man.

And so if Tralzard’s men had passed through here, it meant that the enemy army was moving in this direction.

“Why don’t we just go into Lesser Demon King Lubanga’s country and then travel up north?”
Rig suggested we move through the small countries that had once antagonized Melvis’s country.

“I heard that things were even more chaotic than before.”
“Yes. King Melvis did nothing to unite them, so Lesser Demon Kings died, and things have become more messy. That is what I’ve heard.”

“So if we passed through such a place, we’d never be able to take a nap, would we?”
“I think that is preferable to meeting a Demon King’s army.”

“Hmm…”
I suppose if you compared the two, it would be better to face soldiers that weren’t part of a united army?
But then again, it was mentally taxing to deal with such people.

You never knew when they would attack or where they were.
They were not restricted by rules of the army, and so they might be harder to kill.

“Alright, we’ll go east if we have to. But for now, we’ll follow the road.”
“Very well.”

Several days passed after we left Tralzard’s castle.
We had continued to travel up north.
Just a little farther and we would take the road that veered to the east a little, and we would head towards Melvis’s country.

If we were lucky, then we would be able to get through without bumping into the battlefield, but things rarely went so smoothly.
Besides, the invading army was usually unfamiliar with the terrain.

It was during such time that the races with the ability to fly were very useful.

Regardless of them being combat or non-combat types, there were a decent number of people with the ability to fly.

And this time, the enemy had a lot of them.
There was no reason to believe that the enemy wasn’t spying on us.

They weren’t just cautious of the army they were facing, but of reinforcements as well.
And we would have looked like reinforcements.

And so it was very unlikely that we would be able to pass through without a fight.

“Rig. We’ll continue on cautiously.”
“Understood. We should advance while in a defensive formation.”

Up until now, we were just forming a line and walking.
But now that it seemed that there was a battlefield close by, it would be too dangerous to march like that.

And so we put the non-combatants and magic users in the center, and surrounded them with walls of meat…Ogres.
Saifo and Beka had been positioned in the rear, but they were now on the right and left.

This was because if there was an ambush, it was likely to come from the sides.
And then I unleashed the Vampires into the air and had them gather information as we moved.

I wanted to return to our country as soon as possible, but safety was everything.
‘I have to be patient.’ I repeated this to myself as we marched on. But apparently, it was all for nothing.

“So Tralzard’s army was defeated.”

The report came from a scout. There was a battle on the field up ahead, and the enemy had taken up camp.
And Tralzard’s army, which should have been there, was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed that they had fought, and Tralzard’s men had fled after being defeated.
“But even if they did run away, they did not run in our direction.”

“Well, we are to the east side, so they likely headed west.”
“Yes, that would make sense. The enemy is coming from the northeast, after all.”

Janius’s lands were east of Tralzard’s, but it was more northeast. In other words, on the east side.
In order for Demon King Janius to invade without worrying about what might come next, it would be best to make his base to the northeast, and attack from there.

“Sir Golan. That would mean all roads leading back to our country are blocked.”
“Of course.”

Once the northeast was occupied, it wouldn’t matter which roads we passed through. We would still bump into the enemy.

“What will you do?”

“We have three options. The first is to go back.”
Escape to Tralzard’s castle without a fight.

“I don’t know if that really counts as an option.”
Rig said with an awkward chuckle.

“True. Alright, so there are two. We continue forward, or we go around them and enter the eastern country.”

We could not just move east.
While Lesser Demon King Lubanga’s country was there, there was a miasma zone in between.
And so we would have to go south first, and enter the country after a long detour.

Seven days had passed since we left the castle.
When I looked at my subordinates, they all seemed enthusiastic.

Perhaps they could smell the battlefield.
In other words, their meat head instincts were about to kick in.

(Damn it. This is why Ogres are so…)

If I didn’t let them blow off some steam once in a while, they would get ahead of themselves. Some might even start fighting their comrades.

“There will probably be a revolt if we go back the way we came. I suppose for now, we can go and fight those who have set up camp on the field.”
“You suppose? You make it sound easy, but I’m not so sure.”

Rig had his concerns.
It was no surprise, but the enemy had just fought against Tralzard’s army.

During times like this, it was better to attack the enemy without delay.
After all, we had a lot of men who were good at doing just that.

“If we can’t beat them, then we’ll run. …But I don’t think that we’ll lose.”

I recalled the time that we fought against the Wild Hunt.
Now that was a powerful enemy.

They had so many one-man-armies.
And yet we had survived.

You would not find enemies like that very often.
Besides, I wasn’t the only one who had evolved.

Saifo and Bek had as well.
And so with all of these men, we would surely be able to manage.

“Very well. If that’s the case, then you should do it.”
“Aye. You and the others can wait in the back.”

We would separate from the non-combatants and charge.

Next Chapter

Makai Hongi