"It's not certain. First, there's no guarantee that the granaries are actually on the southern riverbank. Moreover, the location of the granaries would be classified as top secret. The odds of the Demon Lord's army having obtained that information are slim."
Elizabeth's gaze darkened.
"…However, in the off chance that the Demon Lord's army did obtain the information, it would be dangerous. They would undoubtedly feint an advance toward Parisiorum. Henrietta cannot afford to lose the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. She would rush to Parisiorum and secure the Empress Dowager and the Emperor's safety first—that much is certain."
The worst-case scenario would be if the granaries happened to be built in the exact same direction as Parisiorum. The Demon Lord's army's true heading would become impossible to distinguish. But Elizabeth refrained from voicing the worst-case scenario aloud.
"If we lose the food supply, Henrietta will have no choice but to keep retreating. Pillaging will run rampant. Hatred for Bretagne within the Frank Empire will explode in an instant. No—perhaps that's exactly what Dantalion is aiming for…"
"Your Excellency. Could it be that Her Majesty Henrietta doesn't know the granaries are in danger?"
Yuria asked in an anxious tone.
"I don't think she's entirely unaware."
Elizabeth sighed.
"The problem is that we can't discern the Demon Lord's army's intentions. They could genuinely be targeting Parisiorum. Until we know whether it's Parisiorum or the granaries, Henrietta cannot concentrate her forces in one place…"
Elizabeth ordered the Magic Crystal Orb to be restored, just in case. Yuria broke into a cold sweat as she struggled to break through the counter-magic. Twenty minutes passed, and Yuria spoke in a deflated voice.
"Your Excellency. I humbly apologize, but…"
"It can't be restored."
"No, it cannot."
Elizabeth's sigh deepened. On the battlefield, realizing the enemy's intentions too late could prove fatal. The sooner you caught on, the drastically better your odds became. But there was no way for them to relay the information.
"A seventh-circle—no, an eighth-circle mage seems to be leading the counter-magic. I'm simply unable to…"
"If we mobilize the homeland's magic corps, would it be possible?"
"I'm sorry. Even mobilizing the entire magic corps might not be enough. It's not just high-ranking mages—over thirty demonic beings appear to be providing support as well."
Elizabeth felt keenly the disparity in magical military power between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm.
Mages, unlike knights, lacked the means to nurture their ranks. That was because they relied too heavily on talent. And on top of their already small numbers, several mage towers had recently transferred to northern Habsburg for reasons unknown, leaving the Habsburg Republic's magical military strength severely weakened.
Consul Elizabeth let out a long, bitter sigh.
"No matter how fast we push, it will take more than five days to reach Paricium. By then, things will have already been settled one way or another. Julia, there's nothing we can do for our ally except wish them the best of luck…"
"I'll push the march speed as much as possible."
If she continuously cast stamina-recovery magic on the warhorses, they could shave two days off the journey. Three to four days, then. Elizabeth nodded, clutching at straws.
"They're coming. Vice Commander."
"My lord. Do you enjoy teasing this lady?"
Laura puffed out her cheeks. She looked like a hamster, which was terribly cute.
"Of course. Teasing Laura is the most entertaining thing in the world."
"You really are, my lord…"
Laura grumbled.
If anyone else had been around, they would have told her to maintain the dignity befitting her rank as Vice Commander, but with battle imminent, every legion commander had already returned to their own units. Right now, only Laura and I remained in this tent. The Goblin messengers standing by could be ignored.
Normally, there would have been no need to use messengers—she could have contacted me via Magic Crystal Orb. But in this region, a wide-area communication jamming spell was currently in effect. Gamigin had personally mounted a wyvern and was deploying anti-magic from the air with great dedication. Neither enemy nor ally could use magical communication.
The purpose of disrupting communications was confusion. The mere fact that contact with the outside was severed would be enough to make humans anxious. And if that human was a sovereign leading thirty thousand troops and bearing the fate of an entire nation, the psychological pressure would be immense.
I watched the Bretagne forces approaching rapidly from the front and spoke.
"Judging by the torches, they've brought their entire army. Hard to tell whether that's impressive or just audacious. If they were going to do this, we should have prepared an ambush force."
"My lord, surely you're joking. Even if we prepared a small ambush, it would only be annihilated by Demon Lord Agares. It wouldn't even buy us time."
"What if we had prepared an ambush force of over ten thousand?"
"Then we would have to face the Bretagne knights' full charge with a mere ten thousand or fewer. If I recall correctly, you once had far fewer knights than that and were still utterly decimated. Do you feel confident?"
I shrugged my shoulders. I could never get the better of Laura.
"I understand. From here on out, we have no choice but to leave it to Barbatos."
"Barbatos is one thing, but Viscount Bersey's role is equally important. I do hope he delivers on time."
Our army had remained motionless for fifteen days. But it was only the troops that hadn't moved—we were busier than we had ever been.
When we saw the Bretagne army digging in for a last stand, Laura had uttered a telling remark.
"We will not fight."
What was a last stand? It was a declaration that they would clash with us no matter the cost. Laura had realized that the enemy was desperate for a swift, decisive battle, and she resolved to turn that to her advantage.
First, she set about locating the Bretagne army's granaries. It had already been confirmed that Parissorium had none. This was thanks to the Frank nobles who had been continuously and covertly feeding us intelligence.
Parissorium had no granaries. That left the fortresses near the islands as the remaining candidates... The problem was that there were a full seventeen fortresses, large and small, in the vicinity of Parissorium. There was no way we could occupy them all one by one.
A day passed, and Laura surveyed the enemy encampment and spoke.
"They're using transport ships to carry supplies. The granaries must be located along the riverbank. My lord, how many fortresses sit directly on the river line?"
"Six. Hmm, the number of possibilities has certainly shrunk."
When I smiled in satisfaction, Laura furrowed her brow.
"Six is still too many. Narrow it down to fortresses on the southern bank, not the northern."
"That would reduce it to four... but why the southern bank in particular?"
Laura answered without hesitation.
"Our army attacked from northern Habsburg. That means our approach route would inevitably take us north of Parissorium. If you were the enemy commander, would you place your granaries on the side your foe is advancing from, or on the opposite side?"
She was right.
The candidates had been slashed from seventeen to four in an instant. I asked Vassago to release a water spirit. The idea was to follow the transport ships and trace them back to the granaries. But Queen Henrietta had been nothing if not resourceful.
The transport ships did not dock at a single location. Starting from the fortress upstream and all the way down to the one at the river's end, the ships docked in sequence to offload their cargo. From the outside, everything had been disguised so that you couldn't tell what was being transported. Only one of the four was actually carrying grain.
With no other option but to see for myself, I offered my suggestion.
'Have the spirits launch a raid.'
Laura shook her head.
'That won't do. If it causes a commotion, the enemy will learn that we're searching for the granaries. They must never figure out our intentions until the very end. Hmm. My lord truly has no talent for battle.'
'...If I can't go check for myself, how am I supposed to find the granaries? Just guess?'
'Use your imagination, my lord.'
Laura flashed a grin. It was the mischievous smile of a troublemaker.
'Do we even need to find them ourselves?'
'Huh?'
'The Bretagne army will tell us where the granaries are on their own.'
What was she talking about? When I asked in confusion, Laura confidently replied that I'd understand if I just watched.
Time passed.
In the meantime, our forces were being tormented by Bretagne's raiding parties. From northeastern Frank Empire, we'd been sending grain under the banner of a 'safety tax,' but since we weren't familiar with the terrain, the supplies kept getting seized by enemy forces midway through. The raiding parties were composed entirely of elite knights, making it impossible for our small escort details to hold them off.
There was only so long we could survive on the supplies we'd brought ourselves. And yet Laura ordered timber to be brought in from the forest and began fortifying the camp into a stronghold. She was clearly preparing for a long drawn-out war.
In the end, Brother Beleth couldn't hold back and exploded.
'Hey, Deputy Commander.'
During the meeting, Brother Beleth shot to his feet. As all eyes turned toward him, he fixed his stare squarely on Laura and spoke.
'I don't care if you're Lord Barbatos's lover or Dantalion's sweetheart — I'm going to say what needs to be said. Have you lost your mind?'
Laura met his gaze with a blank expression and replied evenly.
'I am always in full possession of my faculties, General Beleth.'
'Hmph. Those Bretagne bastards keep raiding our supply lines. I won't stop you from preparing for a long war, but even if you don't know this — we can't fight if we've got nothing to eat, can we?'
Brother Beleth growled. As the Demon Lord who had been the most violently opposed to the idea of a human serving as commander from the very start, had it not been for Barbatos, he would have launched a rebellion long ago.
'Then increase the escort guard, or if that won't work, smash the enemy before our food runs out. And yet the young lady Deputy Commander is calmly telling us to haul lumber and build palisades — no matter how I look at it, it just looks like she's holed up in there like a coward, too scared to fight those bastards.'
'...Sigh.'
Barbatos, seated on the far side, let out a sigh. But Brother Beleth didn't flinch.
'Deputy Commander, young lady. Go on, explain yourself. I'm warning you in advance — if I don't hear a convincing answer, I'm leading my own unit into attack whether you like it or not. If you're scared, then add escort troops to the supply line right this moment.'
'That is not possible, General Beleth.'
Laura interlocked her fingers.
'The supply line must continue to be raided.'
'...Didn't you just say a moment ago that you were of sound mind? Could it be that my ears are so rotten I misheard?'
'You heard correctly. I am in full possession of my faculties.'
Brother Beleth's expression twisted.
'So you want us to fight a long war when our food is running out? Hey, young lady. I'm starting to think one of the two of us has no business discussing military strategy. And for some reason, I keep getting the feeling that you're the one who should shut your mouth.'
'Military rations are relative.'
Laura smiled with composure.
'Even if we have only a week's worth of rations left, if the enemy has only a single day's worth remaining, then it is our victory. All we need is to have more rations than the enemy — nothing more.'
'Isn't that exactly the problem! Those bastards keep getting their food resupplied down the river while our land routes are completely wrecked!'
Brother Beleth shouted. Even though she must have been hit with the full force of a superior Demon Lord's killing intent, Laura's expression didn't change by even a hair. She spoke quietly.
'The Bretagnian forces have their backs to the river. They are cut off by us. In other words, they cannot receive supplies by land.'
'...What kind of obvious nonsense.'
'Allow me to ask a question here. General Beleth — the Bretagnian raiding party plundered our food supplies.'
Laura's lips curled upward ever so slightly.
'Where do you suppose they'd transport the plundered food supplies?'
Someone let out a gasp. Looking toward the source, it was Paimon. He hid his mouth behind his fan and shouted.
'Toward the grain stores! They'd gather it all there with the intent of distributing it later!'
'Correct, Commander Paimon. The raiding units will stockpile the looted provisions in their warehouses. That is precisely why this office allowed the plunder — and tracked the raiding units in their wake.'
Laura turned her gaze to Beleth.
'This office has already identified the fortress where the grain stores are located. All that remains is to burn that fortress to the ground. General Beleth. As you can see, this office is quite sane.'
'…….'
'This office is terribly fond of brave soldiers. General Beleth, you look as though your body is itching to fight at this very moment, so I shall entrust you with the fiercest battle of all. Please do take on Demon Lord Agares. The traitor Agares. It will be an incomparably enjoyable fight.'
Beleth's face went deathly pale.
Laura broke into a wide smile. Judging by her expression alone, she was no different from a pure angel — though what tumbled from her mouth was, of course, a death sentence.
'I trust you won't decline, General.'