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Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes
Waterfall and Tiger
The fort city of Leather Elka was surrounded by walls taller and thicker than anywhere else in the Kingdom. Behind it was a steep mountain; invading from that side would be impossible unless you could fly like a bird.
It was also a metropolis with a population of about a hundred thousand. But because of the walls, the city had limited land. As such, people lived in high-rise buildings. Most were apartment buildings at least three stories high, with ten stories being the tallest. Since there weren’t any elevators in this world, citizens moved furniture using magic and magic items.
After the chaos following the King’s death, the Crown Prince Austrin came to Leather Elka. For a while the citizens were restless, but now they were gradually regaining their composure.
However, chaos was about to ensue once more. Einbeast’s ten thousand elite men were stationed just outside out of the city. While the citizens knew they came not for war, but to back Austrin up, the people were nonetheless uneasy.
「Apparently those are all demi-humans.」
TOP ARTICLES1/5Mercenaries in Apocalypse Volume 1Chapter 29
「I thought Einbeast was an enemy.」
「What is Prince Austrin thinking?」
Plenty of rumors spread around. Carts filled with large quantities of food rolled towards the foreign army’s camp.
「I heard they’re not paying for it immediately, but after the war.」The people sounded unhappy.
As a matter of fact, Austrin fled the royal capital with nothing but the clothes on his back. He barely had any money with him. No noble ruled Leather Elka since it was under direct control of the royal family. The Prince called the local governor to ask about their financial status, and it seemed they would last for a while. But they didn’t have much to purchase food and pay outright.
「I-I see. So Lord Gerhardt says we can thank Einbeast for the reinforcements after the war.」Austrin said, clearly relieved.
He was in a mansion—the royal family’s villa—that had its back against a cliff. It was barely used; the Prince had only stayed here once before when he came for an inspection. Only maids looked after the place. Basically, it was a waste of money, and there were others in various places as well.
「Yes, Sir. He said to focus on the war at hand first.」a large man answered. Almost two meters tall, his face looked human, but he had ears jutting out of his head, and fur on his back colored yellow and black—a tiger therianthrope, also known as Beastmen. His tiger blood seemed to run strong. He was dressed in colorful Einbeast-style attire—a combination of sky-blue and vermillion—loose clothes, with a sash wrapped around his waist.
「Man, I can’t wait to fight.」
「Yeah, I’m itching for a battle too.」
The Beastmen were talking among themselves. In the reception room’s long table, Austrin, the Grand Chamberlain, and a few nobles sat on one side, while Einbeast’s men were seated on the other.
「Sir Gotthold… Are you the commander of the army?」Austrin asked timidly. He couldn’t help himself. After all, Gotthold—the tiger Beastman—didn’t look like a military man at all.
「Indeed. I, Gotthold Kostenlos Anchor, am an A-rank adventurer in Einbeast, and overall in charge of the army.」
「Wow! So you’re an adventurer as well.」
「Someone trained actually mobilizes the troops, but only the strongest can be the representative. That’s how we do things in Einbeast. I’m a bit of an exception since I’m a soldier as well.」
Gotthold was a true-born Einbeastian, and he adored their King, Gerhardt, also known as the Beastman King. He believed that “the strong were mighty” and “the strong should help the weak”.
Seek power to help people in need—that was Einbeast’s way of thinking. While it looked good on paper, it could also be, in fact, suffocating. If left alone, Gotthold would start talking about how magnificent Gerhardt was.
There were six other Beastmen beside Gotthold, some female. Do they use magic or something? Austrin wondered.
「Let me introduce the members of the Polar Tiger party.」
It wasn’t as though Gotthold read Austrin’s mind, but he began introducing his party members. After the introduction, the Prince nodded in satisfaction.
For a party to be classified as a certain rank, at least half of the members should be at the same level. That meant at least four of Gotthold’s party members were rank A adventurers. But something else bothered Austrin. Einbeast had eleven delegates in this room—seven from Polar Tiger, and there were four others.
「Ah, I suppose we need to introduce ourselves as well.」a young man said with a bright smile.
He had bright, curly blonde hair and clear blue eyes. His teeth sparkled when he smiled—a good-looking guy. Indeed, he was human. And so were the three others with him.
「I’m Igloo Fullblood, the leader of the rank A party, Rising Falls.」
「I see. Where are the other members?」
「We four are the only members. All rank A.」
「All of you?!」
「Yes. Although one was actually lent to us.」
Lent? What does he mean by that? Nah, for now I should be glad they’re on our side.
Austrin thought about something else instead. There were eight rank A adventurers present in the room. A war was centered around organized armies clashing against each other. But high-ranked adventurers had the power to turn the tides of war. They weren’t organized like soldiers, but sometimes one party could destroy a whole army. After all, they fought monsters—creatures far stronger than humans—all the time.
They say rank A adventurers are way more powerful than B-ranked ones. Ponsonia only has one rank A party and it only has three members. Clearly, we’re stronger. The Master Swordsman could pose some problems, but there’s no way he can take on eight rank A adventurers.
Austrin smiled. Technically, there were rank S adventurers as well, a level higher than rank A, but only two of them existed in the whole continent, and they were forbidden to join wars. There would be no need to worry about them.
「Before we start the meeting, I’d like to talk about something.」Igloo said after finishing introductions.
「What is it?」
「I’m guessing Quinbland will make a move.」
There was a stir in the conference room. Austrin remained calm, however. Even though Austrin was rotten to the core, he was still the Crown Prince.
「That sounds plausible. They must despise Ponsonia for the war. They might attack the Princess’s army from behind, which means we can use them.」
Sounds of amazement came from the nobles, but Igloo shook his head.「That is not what I mean. Quinbland will form an alliance with Princess Kudyastoria.」
「What?!」
「The current Emperor had been pushing for an appeasement policy. If the late King didn’t invade them, he would’ve formed an alliance sooner.」
「But they were at war with the Kingdom just a while ago.」
「Emperor Kaglai is a man of character. A little dispute is nothing to him. With the King dead, the one obstacle to forming an alliance with Ponsonia is gone.」
The King was assassinated by Unken, a noble in the Kingdom. Ponsonia believed it to be mutiny by a noble. They hadn’t connected the assassination to Quinbland.
Austrin didn’t know Unken’s motive, but part of him believed his father’s death was something the King brought upon himself.
「You talk like you know him.」
「I’ve met Emperor Kaglai a few times.」
Igloo was telling the truth. Recommendations from several countries were required for one to become a rank A adventurer. While adventurers had their base of operations, high-ranked ones sometimes operated abroad as well.
「The Princess can mobilize 8,000 soldiers from the capital, 500 knights, and at most 2,000 troops from Margrave Grugschilt. But with Quinbland joining them, that’s another 5,000. By the way, I got this information from your subordinates. In other words, if they chose to hole up within the city, Einbeast’s army of 20,000 wouldn’t be enough. How many soldiers do you command again?」
「…Five thousand.」Austrin answered
A lie. His “army” was comprised of officials from the public safety division. He barely gathered five thousand men. And since some of them had to maintain the city’s public order, Austrin could only mobilize 2,000 at most.
「I see. Either way, it will be difficult to fight 15,000 men holed up in the capital with an army of only 25,000.」
「We can just lure them out, then.」Gotthold responded.「Nah, it doesn’t even matter if they’re staying inside. Ponsonia’s army doesn’t stand a chance against Einbeast’s troops.」
The man just mocked the Kingdom’s army. He didn’t care that Ponsonians were before him. The nobles didn’t seem to mind, however, saying “That’s reassuring.”
「Sir Gotthold, the enemy is better at defending. They have the party Sweet Pleasure on their side, after all.」
「Are you saying they’ll attack using bows and magic from inside? We can climb the walls of Leather Elka easily if we want to.」
「Sweet Pleasure’s true fighting style isn’t long-range attacks, but traps.」
「…Traps?」
「They were promoted to rank A after killing a Field Wyvern.」
The room went abuzz. Wyverns were known to be winged creatures. Sometimes, although rarely, an inferior subspecies was born. One of them was the Field Wyvern. A monster that walked on two legs, its large body covered in scales. It could run at speeds over 200 kilometers an hour, giving it the moniker Swift Fortress.
「They killed a Field Wyvern with nothing but a trap. We can’t underestimate them.」
「………」
They say the strong knows who the strong are. Gotthold went silent because he knew Field Wyverns weren’t an easy kill. The Polar Tiger could kill one, but some of its members would surely suffer grave injuries, or worse.
「May I ask what your plan is, Sir Igloo?」Austrin urged.
「First, they will surely occupy the satellite town of Pond. With its population of around 6,000, only about a thousand soldiers can stay there. They would deploy their troops in the surrounding plains. After all, if the place was taken, it would be like having a knife at the royal capital’s throat.」
「Yes. We also think the battle will take place at Pond.」
「After fighting a bit, Ponsonia will retreat.」
「What?」
「That’s their plan.」
「What do you mean?」Austrin was getting impatient.
Igloo smiled amusingly.「I told you. Sweet Pleasure is with them. If I were the Princess, I would set traps all over Pond. And once Einbeast’s forces occupy it…」Igloo spread his arms out.
「I-I don’t think Kudyastoria will do that…」
「When their backs are against the wall, humans will do anything. If they don’t do that, we’ll have an advantage. In a defensive battle, Ponsonia might have the upper hand, but they can’t protect the citizens outside the walls. If they had to choose which one to abandon: the royal capital outskirts or Pond, they would probably choose the latter. No one wants the enemy to get close to them.」
「………」
Igloo probably got the information on Sweet Pleasure because they were both adventurers with the same position, Austrin thought. If we had the same intel, we probably would’ve arrived at the same conclusion.
「Let’s assume Pond will be full of traps. What will we do?」the Prince asked.
「Take a detour. If they abandon Pond easily, that means there are traps set up. We’ll be fine if we go around. It’s a bit of waste, but we can’t take control of Pond. The risks are too high.」
「What about the siege? You said earlier that while we outnumber them, we’re at a disadvantage if they hole up.」
「Indeed. But…」Igloo’s smile grew wider.「…you can leave that to us. We’ll just destroy the walls.」
「Come again?」
「We’ll destroy the walls. You may then invade. The royal capital is huge. It would be impossible for Sweet Pleasure to set traps everywhere. Anywhere around the gate should be full of traps, so we’ll just bring down the wall. Once inside, we can win with numbers. Without Quinbland’s troops and Margrave Grugschilt’s forces, they number only 8,500.」
「No, that’s not what I’m asking. How are the four of you going to destroy the walls?」
「Well…」Igloo looked confident.「We’re rank A adventurers. We can do that without a problem.」