"The strategic situation is extremely unfavorable for us."
Elisabeth von Habsburg. The Empire's Third Imperial Princess opened her mouth.
Inside the command tent, the Empire's generals sat in attendance. Most were young. The veteran commanders who had originally led the Imperial Army had all been killed in the recent Battle of Austerlitz. Filling their shoes were the current officers of the Habsburg Empire—a generation of young, freshly minted commanders.
There were those who listened to the princess's operational briefing with blank faces. Those who earnestly took notes. One man chewed on a grain husk and propped both feet up on the strategy table. All manner of people had gathered. Among them, some didn't even have their uniforms properly fastened. But nobody called them out for it.
Because every last one of them had risen to this position on pure merit alone.
"Finally, the scorched-earth tactics have begun to bear fruit. The Demon Lord's legions have scattered in different directions to procure food. The moment for interception has arrived."
*Tak*—Princess Elisabeth tapped the operations map with her silver pointer.
"Our human forces finally have a chance."
Just as she said, the Demon Lord's army had lost its center of gravity. From the Second Legion to the Sixth, the distance between each legion was growing wider and wider.
This was a classic symptom of deploying large formations without maintaining consistent supply lines. With no provisions, they had no choice but to plunder food from the local countryside. The forces had splintered, each seeking its own path to survival.
Just then, a young man with a cheerful expression spoke up.
"However, Your Highness, if I may—"
"You will request permission before speaking. Volunteer Corps Commander Kurz Schleiermacher."
"Oh, my apologies."
The young man scratched his blond head as though he had genuinely forgotten.
"Forgive me. I'm still not quite accustomed to proper etiquette… I request permission to speak, Your Highness."
"You may speak."
"Yes. It is certainly excellent news for us that the Demon Lord's army has been split apart. But the same applies to our human forces."
At the young man's words, several of the generals nodded their heads.
It wasn't just the Demon Lord's army that was suffering from food shortages. The human forces were also mired in an almost absolute crisis of provisions. Mercenaries began demanding sacks of wheat instead of gold coins as payment, and the armies of every nation sent requests for reinforcements and supplies to their home countries almost daily.
In this situation, Crown Princess Elisabeth made a drastic move.
— Raid the populace under the pretext of a scorched-earth tactic.
She had ordered her own army to pillage its own people. In this era, the notion that a military existed to protect the common folk was still tenuous at best. Soldiers were, above all else, the king's soldiers — and the ones they were meant to defend were not the people, but the dynasty.
However, among those who followed the crown princess, there was a sizable contingent of republicans mixed in. They descended upon her order like hounds unleashed.
— An army that attacks its own citizens has no reason to exist!
— An army that cannot protect humanity has no reason to exist either. Answer me this: do we have any option left besides the scorched-earth tactic? If so, then I will gladly reverse my decision.
— ……
The crown princess's retainers were competent. And because they were competent, they understood all too well that there was no alternative answer.
The Habsburg Imperial Army relocated the civilian population under the justification that "if we stay here, we will be slaughtered by those evil demonic hordes." It was relocation in name only — tantamount to forced eviction. Villagers protested, declaring they would rather die defending their homeland than flee, but the crown princess was resolute.
— Those who resist will be dealt with under military law.
— Your Highness!
— …You must know that I, too, have a heart.
A courtier detected in the princess's gaze a dark, sticky residue of anguish. That look alone was enough to silence any further objections. Indeed, before the war, she had been a ruler who cared for her people more than anyone. She, too, had the heart of a human……
The crown princess's army slowly retreated through the central reaches of the Habsburg heartland. They responded to the Demon Lord army's pursuit with guerrilla tactics. While prolonging the delaying action as long as possible, she deployed scorched-earth tactics with the determination to leave not a single grain of wheat behind in the central territories.
One step back. Just one more step back —.
At last, they reached the final line from which there was no further retreat.
They had arrived at the Imperial Capital.
"Currently, the Demon Lord's legions are converging on the Imperial Capital here. The Second Legion will likely be the first to arrive, roughly a week from now, and after that the rest should trickle in one after another, more or less on the same schedule. Hmmm. That's… going to be a problem, isn't it?"
The young man known as Kurz Schleiermacher scratched his cheek.
"Even though the enemy forces are scattered for now, they have a clear objective in the Imperial Capital. They'll only keep converging as time goes on. Meanwhile, the allied human armies have no such single rallying point… I wonder just how eager other nations' soldiers will be to defend our capital."
The problem didn't end there.
Another general raised his hand.
"I request leave to speak."
"Granted."
"Your Highness. Forgive the presumption, but I believe the foreign armies will shift the burden of logistics onto us. The Demon Lord's forces have been foraging supplies from various regions and are now marching here. Even at the very least, the Demon Lord's army has enough reserves to last half a month to a full month."
However, the general continued.
"Our Imperial Army does not have enough food to match."
"What are you saying? The Imperial Army can still hold out for another three months."
"…That would be true if we were only considering the Imperial Army alone."
The general swallowed hard.
"However, defending the Imperial Capital requires reinforcements from foreign nations… We have absolutely no surplus to feed and sustain those foreign armies as well. Therefore, the Habsburg Empire has only one option available to it."
The princess smiled with evident interest.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"We must not sit back and defend the capital. We need to take the offensive."
The general spoke with force in his voice.
"The Demon Lord's legions are closing in at every moment. But they will not all arrive simultaneously. Each will reach us with some time gap between them… We must seize those gaps and, as the Habsburg Empire, defeat the enemy in detail."
Defeat them in detail. Five legions of the Demon Lord's army.
That was the only way to protect the Imperial Capital — and beyond it, the fate of the Empire itself.
"……"
"……."
The room fell silent. They all knew just how absurd this plan was.
The Habsburg Empire's forces had barely managed to maintain a military of ten thousand. The Demon Lord's army, on the other hand, fielded legions numbering anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands each.
'Hmm. This might be impossible.'
The blond youth, Kurz Schleiermacher, gave a wry smile.
Comparing a single human soldier to a single Orc soldier, the latter was naturally far superior… which meant that even if a Demon Lord legion's troop strength numbered only in the low thousands, their combat power would in no way fall short of the Habsburg Imperial Army. At the most optimistic estimate, it would end in a draw.
'Win five consecutive battles against enemies who match our own forces in power… Good grief. Even the Goddesses' help wouldn't make that feasible, My Lord.'
Kurz shook his head slowly. No matter how he turned it over in his mind, it was impossible.
Ever since the Crescent Alliance Army and the human coalition had first clashed, the Habsburg Imperial Army had fought truly well. They had fought with all their might. It deserved praise.
The Third Imperial Princess Elisabeth von Habsburg was a tactical genius, and that genius only grew sharper the longer the war dragged on — it never dulled. While nearly every other human force was suffering defeat after defeat, the units led by the Imperial Princess remained triumphant. Given the damage she had sustained in her previous speech, it was a remarkable achievement.
'Surely some things in this world are still possible and some are simply not — '
Even Princess Elisabeth would find it difficult to intercept the Demon Lord's army one by one in sequence. Kurz was certain of that.
'This is bad, real bad. Haha.'
He felt no particular emotion about his homeland being destroyed.
Even if humanity itself were to perish, he would simply shrug and say, "Good grief, that's trouble." To him, the concepts of nation and humanity were nothing but hollow wordplay. And most such wordplay was dreadfully boring.
All he felt was curiosity.
'What will you do, Your Imperial Highness?'
He stole a glance at the princess's face. As far as Kurz knew, the Imperial Princess was the most capable genius in the world. He could not imagine anyone surpassing her. To Kurz — the princess was the pinnacle of humanity. The single most valuable human being.
How would the apex of the world respond to this crisis?
Kurz was so curious he could barely contain himself.
If the princess would not shy away from an impossible challenge, then so be it. Kurz was ready to embrace it wholeheartedly. He would gladly leap to the front lines alongside the princess, sever the necks of Orcs and crush the chests of Goblins. Perhaps he would die there. Perhaps even the princess would perish, the capital would fall, humanity would be annihilated. But what did that matter?
That was the limit of humanity.
It was simply something to accept with humility — that in the end, the human race was only that kind of species.
'You can't be thinking "it's hopeless," can you, Your Highness? Are you not despairing or sighing, are you?'
He smiled to himself, hidden from view. Part of him was also looking forward to it. The very pinnacle of humanity wearing an expression of despair! It would be the despair and loneliness of humanity itself — the cruelest work of art in the world, and therefore the most beautiful masterpiece.
When Kurz laid eyes on the princess's face.
'...!'
All he could do was stare in silent shock.
'A blank expression... at a time like this?'
Not a single emotion, not even the faintest fragment of feeling, occupied the princess's face. Nothing but an utterly composed, expressionless mask.
'Impossible.'
Kurz could not comprehend it. He knew how much the princess loved her homeland and her people — and furthermore, how deeply she cherished humanity as a whole. In short, the situation the Imperial Army now faced was a crisis that could annihilate everything the princess held most dear, root and branch.
Everyone fears the destruction of what they hold most precious. Perhaps a person could remain composed in the face of death itself — because there exists something they value more than life.
But something more precious than life... for instance, a goddess to a priest. Yes. Ridiculous as it sounds, imagine the goddess dying before one's very eyes. Could a priest remain expressionless then? Torture a parent before a filial son's eyes. Slaughter a king before a loyal subject's gaze. Could a person remain expressionless then?
No one could.
Yet the princess was composed. Not composed because she had given up on everything, but composed because she had mastered herself. Was such superhuman patience and self-restraint truly possible — in a mere mortal, nothing more than a finite human being?
'She has something!'
An electric jolt raced down Kurz's spine.
'Your Highness has a strategy to defeat the Demon Lord's army!'
He was not the only one who sensed the strange shift in the air. As the princess continued to remain silent no matter how much time passed, the generals gradually began to raise their heads. With a hint of unease, they exchanged glances and watched the princess carefully.
The Crown Princess spoke.
"I have a plan to halt the Demon Lord's army."
She spoke in a voice devoid of any inflection.
"We will abandon the Imperial Capital. Every soldier of the Habsburg Empire will withdraw immediately and retreat to the rear."
Gasps of shock erupted from throughout the tent.
Kurz spoke without thinking. He forgot to even request permission to address the assembly.
"Y-Your Highness. What does that mean? You want us to give up the capital?"
"I will say it once more. Effective today, the Habsburg Imperial Army will abandon the Imperial Capital of Windboden."
With that unmistakable confirmation, the generals all shot to their feet. Their faces flushed with agitation.
"Your Highness! That is impossible!"
"The Imperial Capital is the heart of Habsburg! There is no nation that can live and breathe without its heart!"
But the Crown Princess did not flinch and continued speaking.
No — it was not merely that she did not flinch. Kurz noticed a faint smile, so subtle it was nearly impossible to read, rise at the corner of her lips.
"If the Imperial Capital is the heart of our Habsburg, then I will relocate that heart."
"I... I cannot begin to grasp Your Highness's intentions..."
"Evacuate every last citizen. Relocate them by force. And to secure war funds, we will exhume the tombs of every past Emperor. Furthermore, so that we leave nothing behind for the Demon Lord's army —"
The Crown Princess spoke.
"After the evacuation, we will burn the capital to the ground."