Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

Chapter 266: Magrado Civil War ⑥ Chain of Killings

–Aegir POV–

It was the second day since our departure from Odoros and our march is progressing steadily.

Our destination Karudia is about one week away with several independent faction territories along our route.

However, in order to continue fighting the on-site feudal lords of the governorate faction, they could not amass a huge force to threaten us.

We could try and help the feudal lords in battle, but there would not be enough time to help all of them.

In this situation, the best solution is to crush the enemy stronghold and instantly change the tides of battle.

「Commander, sir.」

Seeing my troubled face, a high-pitched voice calls out to me.

It came from one of the prostitutes associated with the transportation corps...... the girls I rescued.

All of them are riding in two different carriages with a large curtain labelled ‘commander only’ covering the back.

I’m the only one who can enjoy their service.

As I raise my hand to wave back, Celia happens to come beside me, so I pat her head.

「Muu, I got such a bad response.」「You can’t just call out to him. You have to do this!」「Wah, you’re doing that!?」

One of the girls peeks out from the carriage, opens up her chest area and reveals her shapely breasts.

My eyes naturally get drawn to the sight directed at Celia.

My hand instinctively reaches out in front of me and Schwartz also accelerates, allowing me to grab onto her breasts.

「Aahn! Commander, you perv~」

「It’s your fault for exposing your breasts like that. Still, they’re soft and wonderful......」

The more I fondle them, the louder the girl’s moans get and the harder her hipples become.

Other girls in the carriage start competing by showing off their own breasts one after the other.

「I can’t hold it anymore. I’m going over there......」

Before I could jump onto the carriage, I feel a strange pressure against my back.

「Lord Hardlett, a few messengers have arrived with news from the governorate faction feudal lords. Please come right away.」

Leopolt, who ignores my cold stares and the women’s complaints, requests for my presence and then leaves himself.

「Come on now. I’ll go with you.」

Urging me to leave and pushing me along is Celia.

「Blehhh.」

Celia turns to the girls complaining about unfairness and sticks her tongue out at them.

「My master Gedot-sama will lead 2000 soldiers to Karudia to punish the traitorous rebels causing this insurgence!」

The messenger declares in a ringing voice.

Leopolt quickly whispers to me.

「Lord Gedot isn’t really going to face off against the enemy. While he is technically part of the governorate faction, he is not proactively taking action, instead just establishing his own position.」

「In other words, he is setting out in a rush because we are heading to the enemy base to crush them.」

What Tristan said is right.

He’s going first to show everyone that he participated in the fight, without having the resolve to actually engage the enemy.

「I’m not including his strength in my calculations but 2000 is 2000. I’m sure there will be a way to use them for something.」

「Don’t be too unreasonable. Until the fight is over, they are still considered allies.」

Leopolt just lowers his head, not sure if he acknowledged me or is thinking about something.

「We have a similar situation with the other nobles. Their army amounts to 5000 or so, but please don’t consider them able to put up a fight.」

I can understand what he means after seeing at the governorate army.

So in the end, we’ll have to figure out a solution by ourselves.

「With that said, it’s a good thing they went ahead of us. They will encounter the enemy’s scouting and ambush first.」

「The fighting will get more fierce the closer we get to Karudia. They will be standing still too, so we should make a detour around and from the flank-......」

「We should deliberately charge in from the front to take advantage of the exhausted enemies......」

Leopolt and Tristan start having a heated debate.

I want to think about a plan too, but all I can think of are the breasts from that girl I saw earlier.

I’ll leave the strategy to those two and pay attention to Celia instead.

「If you’re looking for Celia-dono, she’s checking the replenishment of supplies.」

Before I knew it, Myla took Celia’s place beside me.

「Ahem, I know it’s bigger than hers but if you want someone’s head to pat, I’m here.」

Petting Myla will be a fresh experience.

I’ll rub her head and the spot below her chin.

She closes her eyes bashfully as I calm myself by gently stroking her.

It turns out, everything was a part of her plan.

「Myla-san. There isn’t anything wrong with the replenishment, what did you want me to check...... aaaaah!!」

「Oh, Celia you’re back.」

I call out to Celia while patting Myla who rests on my lap.

「That’s my spot! Myla-san, you tricked me!」

「I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, Lord Hardlett was the forceful one here.」

What is she referring to?

Whatever, she’s pleasant to pat too so let’s leave it at that.

Myla is in my arms, closing her eyes with a content look on her face whereas Celia is in tears and about to run away crying.

「I’ll do it to you next, don’t make that face.」

「The spot on Aegir-sama’s lap belongs to me! I-I got tricked by a dirty plan!」

She isn’t listening.

「Celia, you’re cute.」

I stretch out one hand ruffle her hair.

The Next Day.

「Several farming villages are scattered from this point on. In terms of territory, they belong to the independent faction nobles, but their base city is too far away for them to defend. We can assume they will be left alone. We only have to worry about whether there are any spies among the villagers.」

Wittmann and I nod at Dunois.

The small villages dispersed on the plains without any sort of walls around them are hard to protect, and more importantly there is no point in protecting them.

If they’re anticipating our attack, there is no possibility of them stationing their troops here.

「We can’t spend time on each small village either. We’ll leave them alone after getting the village chief to submit to us.」

Wittmann doesn’t look like he has any issue and continues to nod.

However, something strange occurs in the direction of those villages.

「That’s-...... smoke?」

A thick column of black smoke rises into the air close by, and a second black column rises from a fair distance away beyond the hill.

「Deploy the scouts.」

「Yessir!」

Almost at the same time I gave the orders, light cavalry rush out at full speed in the direction of the smoke.

「This path should be the same one the preceding feudal lords took...... if something happened, wouldn’t they report it to us or request for help?」

Wittmann asks with a grave expression.

「Regardless, we have to wait until the scouts return with their findings. Have the army prepare for battle.」

Our allies suddenly become more hurried.

The scouts eventually return after checking whether it was an enemy raid, but came back with an equally unpleasant report.

「This again......!?」

Agor kicks the sand on the ground with his boots.

「......」

I take a look around the village without saying a word.

From what I can see, all the buildings were burned down.

The flames themselves have disappeared but smoke is still coming out from the charcoal remains and there are still rubble smoldering with tiny embers.

The area which should have been the fields were torn up messily, and the waterways as well as the dam was destroyed.

It wasn’t collateral damage from the battle, but thorough and deliberate destruction.

More importantly, corpses lay strewn all over the village.

That includes women and children.

「The blood still hasn’t dried yet. Most likely, this occurred not too long ago.」

Wittmann seems to be suppressing his emotions and purposely speaking in a cold, concise manner.

「There are no enemy bodies. What occurred here wasn’t a battle, it was a one-sided massacre.」

Leopolt appears to be unaffected as he speaks as coldly as usual.

「So that means the independent faction couldn’t have done this.」

If the independent faction was responsible for this, they should have come into contact with our advance guard considering the timing.

「Yes, this was without a doubt done by the advance guard under Lord Gedot.」

Now I understand the reason why the girls were so afraid of the governorate faction.

Both sides were committing mass killings like this back and forth.

My rarely used sense of reason stops the blood from rising to my head.

I can’t just chase after the advance guard and kill them all.

「Hauuah!」

I come back to my senses after grabbing Celia’s butt cheek.

Alright, I’ve settled down.

「Bring me Governor General Dunois!」

Dunois is summoned..

「Governor General, did you approve of this barbaric act?」

Wittmann stares at the wide-eyed Dunois.

But he doesn’t seem ashamed at all and answers indifferently.

Only his followers tremble at Wittmann’s menacing look.

「The General Governorate did not order him to commit murder. He was allowed to make his own decision as to how to judge any rebels.」

So he’s saying that he didn’t order that of anyone and it’s none of his concern.

「But there’s no way all of the villagers could be rebels! This is clearly going too far overboard!」

Wittmann’s angry yelling continues.

In response, Dunois stays calm.

「Is it? Not reporting the feudal lord’s rebellion to the governorate and continuing to focus on their jobs in the territory seems pretty traitorous to me.」

Wittmann and Dunois have a stare off.

To be more precise, Wittmann is the one glaring, and Dunois’s hollow cavities for eyes are staring straight back.

「Those eyes belong to a crazy person. They’re not normal no matter how you look at them.」

Tristan lets out a rare comment secretly.

「In any case, we can’t judge them until after the fight is over.」

Leopolt states.

He is certainly right that we can’t criticize the feudal lord and the advance guard right now.

No matter what the reason is, judging your own ally in the enemy’s presence is an unthinkable thing to do.

「That’s enough.」

I step in between the two of them.

「Let’s focus on crushing the independent faction first. We can think of what to do next from there.」

I glance at Dunois casually, then send a strong restraining stare at Wittmann.

He is also a man of no status who rose up to become a commander of 15 000 soldiers.

Naturally, he knows the foolishness of infighting on the battlefield.

「...... understood. I will leave it to Lord Hardlett.」

Each of them stand down.

Then I whisper something to Wittmann right as I’m passing by.

「I’ll make him take responsibility after the battle. Forget about it for now.」

Some of the young village girls who were messed up were my type.

I don’t intend to let him get away with what he did.

I don’t say anything to him, only giving him a tiny smile before taking my leave.

「And you, hurry and go back to where you belong. What are you doing?」

Dunois’s flunky, Baron Baka, is seated on the floor.

He doesn’t respond even when I call out to him.

I grab his shoulder to check if he was mocking me, but he was actually just passed out.

「......a fully grown man fainted just from someone yelling loudly at him?」

I’m a little curious as to what kind of life he’s lived up until this point in time.

A similar scene is seen in all the villages we visit after the first one.

We sent out a messenger to the advance guard telling them to refrain from these atrocious acts, but because the structure of command is complicated with all the different feudal lords, the request didn’t reach everyone.

By the time we couldn’t wait patiently any longer and sent Dunois directly, five villages had disappeared.

In addition, we saw another abnormal scene in the villages that weren’t burned down.

The moment we entered the village to set up camp, girls would rush out to us and strip.

「Welcome gentlemen of the general governorate, we may not be the best looking but please allow us to entertain you with our bodies.」

The girls in the village would get naked in front of me and the soldiers.

Judging by their swollen red genitals and breasts, they were probably treated violently by the preceding squad and forced to have sex with them in this fashion.

The village girls endured their shame in order to desperately protect their homes.

「Feel free to use my mouth, my vagina, or any other place you would like me to service you with.」

Guessing I was the commander by seeing how the others treated me, the girls smile and get naked as they butter me up.

Their smiles are forced and their knees are shaking.

「......put on your clothes.」

All of them have attractive bodies which I would gladly take under normal circumstances.

However I only get unpleasant feelings from their faces warped with fear despite any efforts to tempt me.

「Lend me some water from the well and a place to camp. That’s all.」

The girls stare blankly at me as I pull a mantle over their bodies and kiss them before returning to the squad.

「Inform the soldiers. If they violate any of the village girls, I’ll personally cut their heads...... no, I’ll twist off their dicks.」

「Aegir-sama......」

「As I thought, Hardlett-dono is different!」

After saying that, I feel a little at ease.

I refuse Celia and Myla who requests to attend me at night, as well as the invitations of the girls from the transportation corps and go to sleep by myself.

「......so, he did it.」

「He really did, I don’t know what to say.」

「Didn’t he say he was going to twist off the dick of any man who laid hands on the girls?」

The next morning, Celia, Myla and Irijina look coldly at me like never before.

The reason was simple, the girl I covered with the mantle yesterday was lying naked next to me.

「Don’t misunderstand. It was consensual.」

Apparently, the girl fell in love after what I did yesterday.

I didn’t find anything appealing about them enticing me unwillingly, but it was a different story if they came to me of their own volition.

The girl happened to be a big dick lover as well, climaxing and moaning loudly as soon as I penetrated her.

I was so happy that I may have overdid it, her mouth and tongue are a mess now.

「Aheh...... aheeeh...... I’ll become...... by my own will...... I’ll be your sex slave...... ahehh......」

「It was consensual, I’m telling you.」

As I get out of bed to escape the cold gazes from Celia and others, Wittmann runs into the room.

「Lord Hardlett, emergency situation!」

It’s one thing after another.

「Alright! Speak.」

Looks like it isn’t your average situation.

I listen to what he has to say while pushing my dick back into my pants.

「Just now, we received an emergency notice from the advance guard. They are engaging the enemy’s powerful army and are requesting support after being put in a disadvantageous position.」

「The enemy is fighting a field battle!?」

Myla is shocked.

That is certainly unexpected.

I thought they would for sure hide in Karudia.

「It’s strange. They would have more of an advantage in Karudia in terms of defense and supplies. Not to mention there are allies and enemies spread out all over Magrado, making it hard for us to maintain a siege. There should be no reason for them to leave their base.」

Tristan is beside me before I even realize.

It’s rare for him to wake up in the morning, I’m impressed.

「No, I’ll be going to sleep right after.」

Bastard, you want me to strangle you?

「So what should we do?」

Wittmann is pretty calm.

He was in a hurry to tell me the situation, but he probably is in no hurry to rush to their aid.

‘If the advance guard gets wiped out, let them be wiped out’, that’s what is written on his face.

「Yeah, even if they get killed by me personally, I would probably forget all about them after one night’s sleep.」

When I laugh, Wittmann looks down awkwardly.

「Still, this is a good chance. If we defeat the enemy on the field, we might be able to avoid having to go through with the troublesome siege. Let’s hurry to back them up so we can win easier.」

「Understood!」

Satisfied with the conclusion, Wittmann salutes neatly.

「Tell this to the governorate army as well, I don’t intend to wait for them. As soon as we’re ready, I’ll take just the Royal army with me first.」

We’re finally going to fight a real war.

With all these unpleasant events, all the frustration is built up inside me.

I can’t wait to go wild.

「Don’t put...... upside down...... I’ll die......」

After giving one last rub to the ass of that girl mumbling nonsense in bed, I rush out of the tent.

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 24 years old. Winter.

Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area. Mountain Legend. Friend of the Dwarves. Friend of the King of Aless. Dragon Slayer Hero.

Elf Mediator.

Citizens: 175,000. Refugees: 1100

Major Cities – Rafen: 26,000. Lintbloom: 5000. Vandolea Special Town: 9000.

Accompanying:

Leopolt (staff officer), Tristan (staff officer), Celia (adjutant), Myla (commander), Irijina (commander)

Gido (escort troops), Christoph (escort troops), Wittmann (Royal army corps commander), Agor (battalion commander)

Dunois (Magrado Governor General)

Army under command:

Royal Army – 4th Army Corps: 14 700 men, Governorate Army: 7000 men, Advance guard: 5000?

Escort Squad: 100, Retinue of Trio: 100

Assets: 19,570 gold

Sexual Partners: 419, children who have been born: 55 + 555 fish