The mercenaries ravaged the city in an instant.
Perhaps it was because they were caught off guard by the surprise attack. The Salzburg garrison failed to mount an adequate response.
"Enemy attack!"
By the time the alarm bells rang out from the city's towers in a frantic clamor, our vanguard had already scaled the modest outer walls. Blood sprayed from the blades the mercenaries swung. Screams tore through the evening sky alongside the ringing of bells.
Salzburg was a beautifully kept small city. But its critical flaw was that the outer walls were woefully inadequate. It was not a fortified city.
The Habsburg Republic had fortified every city along its border with our Empire, but Salzburg sat at the southern tip of the Republic — a zone where the threat of invasion was negligible. They never would have expected us to cross the plains and attack by traversing the mountain range. That was precisely why I had taken the trouble to cross the Alps.
"This opening will be over in no time."
I surveyed the city through a one-handed telescope.
"Indeed, who could have predicted we would break through the Alps in just three days?"
"Thanks to my lord's stratagems. Even he himself thought five days would be the limit. The Republic's Consul would have judged the same."
Laura issued her orders in her characteristically flat tone.
"There is no need to leave any humans alive. If we let them escape, they will become not mere citizens but a resistance force that hampers our progress. Sack and slaughter thoroughly so as to leave no lingering consequences."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The cavalry commanders received their orders and spread out across the plains surrounding the city. The citizens fled in all directions in a panic, but the cavalry hunted them down and cut them down as though chasing rabbits. Salzburg, a city of roughly ten thousand souls, was literally annihilated that night.
Our forces looted homes and granaries within the inner walls to secure provisions. The quantities were not particularly vast — enough to last comfortably from two weeks to a month. Oddly, the warehouses held far more salt than grain. Since it served little practical purpose, we took only what was useful and dumped the rest into the river.
"That's all money, you know..."
Jacqueline Longwy, the Saint, murmured as she watched the mercenaries heave sacks of salt into the river.
"I didn't realize the Saint was such a miser. Aren't you living in considerable luxury?"
"A wealthy tycoon like you who's practically drowning in money could never understand how I feel. Do you have any idea how much debt the royal family has accumulated since the Puppet War?"
The Saint let out deep, heavy sighs. It seemed Bretagne had its own share of troubles. The Saint gazed at the river with mournful eyes, then suddenly brightened as though a thought had struck her.
"Dantalion, Court Count! Pay me a thousand gold coins every time I bestow a blessing!"
"Excuse me?"
"Let's be honest — the ambush succeeded because of me, didn't it? From the very beginning, when you told me to come along, you never once mentioned that I would also need to bestow blessings. This is additional labor... work not stipulated in our contract... which means I require separate compensation!"
I looked at the Saint with a cold stare.
For reference, we commanders indulged in this sort of idle banter, but as I mentioned before, Salzburg was at that very moment enduring widespread arson and slaughter. Ten thousand innocent citizens — men, women, young, and old — had been killed. In short, the Saint of "Blessings" was discussing money in the very heart of a massacre.
"It may sound absurd coming from a fellow like me, but... aren't you embarrassed?"
"If I can dedicate myself to the royal family's fiscal solvency in exchange for suppressing my embarrassment, then I'm perfectly fine with it."
"Your face is bright red right now."
"If you keep being this obtuse, I might just turn you red too."
The Saint who served the Goddess of War had a certain fiery side to her.
I went out to the plains on the outskirts of Salzburg with Laura.
Our escort consisted of only sixteen cavalrymen. Jacqueline Longwy was not among them. The Saint had fallen asleep dead drunk in the ruins of the city. Well, even a saint must have her own worries.
"Laura. I have waged many wars over the years."
I gazed across the darkened plains.
"But in only one of them did I deploy monsters on a massive scale."
"I know. That was the Puppet War, where you committed the Demon Lord's army."
"That's correct. The Puppet War was the sole exception."
I quietly raised my head. The starlight in the night sky shimmered in a kaleidoscope of colors. It was only after witnessing the night sky of this world that I learned stars could glow green, violet, and red.
"Back then, the Kingdom of Bretagne brought in Agares. That provided excellent justification. Had I deployed the Demon Lord's army without proper cause, the nations of the continent would have immediately rallied against it and organized a coalition. I only unleash monsters when a fitting pretext presents itself."
I raised my right hand.
"And the Republic kidnapped our Regent, Barbatos. That provides more than sufficient justification to mobilize the full Demon Lord's army. Let me say it once more — the Republic has committed a grave mistake..."
I whispered a single word in my mind.
Immediately, blue light projected before my eyes and text materialized.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Monster Name (B)] [HP] [ATK] [DEF] [Hiring Cost]
-Ogre Infantry 400 505 550 10,000 gold
-Troll Infantry 610 300 620 11,000 gold
-Salamander (High) 220 400 190 15,000 gold
-Undine (High) 260 310 250 15,000 gold
-Gnome (High) 290 300 300 16,000 gold
-Sylph (High) 200 240 200 11,000 gold
-Silver Wolf Tribe 390 560 450 17,000 gold
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
My current total fortune amounted to approximately 2.4 million gold coins.
As the Saint had put it, I was drowning in money. But aside from a few instances in the past, I had never used the system to hire monsters. The reason was simple: they were absurdly expensive.
Moreover, there was rarely any need to spend vast sums to procure monsters. If a war allowed the use of monsters, I deployed the Demon Lord's army; if it did not, I used mercenaries. That settled everything.
"Ogres. Two hundred of them."
But this war was different.
There was no reason to hold back from using monsters.
A notification appeared asking whether I truly wished to hire the ogres. Without a moment's hesitation, I confirmed.
"Summon."
Instantly, two million was deducted from my total fortune. I did have a miserly streak in me. Ordinarily, watching that sum vanish would have brought tears of anguish. But when I considered it was money spent to deal with Elisabeth, it didn't feel like a loss at all.
Countless purple magic circles blanketed the earth. Light so intense it made the stars in the night sky pale leaked from the formations on the ground. The sixteen cavalrymen escorting us could be heard swallowing hard in unison. But they had not seen anything yet.
— Kraaaahhh...
From within the magic circles, massive figures slowly emerged. The steam-like breath of the ogres drifted through the air. After a moment, when the light had fully faded, two hundred ogres stood on the plains, their bloodshot eyes burning with killing intent.
"O-ogres..."
"A hundred and fifty... no, two hundred easily..."
The escort guards trembled with instinctive fear.
They naturally edged a step closer to me. Two hundred ogres were enough to sweep aside virtually any knightly order. I managed a bitter smile.
"These are my loyal subordinates. There is no need to be afraid."
"Forgive us, Your Highness."
The guards apologized with sheepish expressions. It was rather embarrassing for bodyguards to be cowering when the very people they were meant to protect — Laura and myself — remained completely composed.
Laura tilted her head.
"My lord. They are certainly a reliable fighting force, but wouldn't it have been better to summon them mid-battle? It would have caught the enemy off guard and given us the element of surprise."
"There are two reasons. First, we will pass these ogres off as remnants of the Plains Faction."
We would paint Barbatos's emblem roughly onto the ogres' hides and hand them Barbatos's banners to carry. Here and there, we would also mix in banners bearing Zepar's sigil and Beleth's sigil. In an instant, a Plains Faction rebel army would be created.
It was little more than a crude charade, but that was fine. The key point was to provide these ogres with the pretext that they had 'invaded the Republic to reclaim Barbatos.'
"And we, for our part, were 'inadvertently' drawn into Republic territory while pursuing the Plains Faction rebels. Laura, do you understand?"
"Oh my."
Laura caught on and hummed with amusement.
"So it was the Plains Faction rebels, blinded by vengeance, who destroyed and burned Salzburg — not the forces of our Empire?"
"Precisely. We were simply trying to drive back the rebels and rescue Salzburg."
I smiled.
"Unfortunately, we arrived a step too late, and Salzburg was already in ruins. What could be more tragic?"
"My lord's personality is as terrible as ever," Laura giggled.
"So, my lord, who is second to none in wretchedness across the entire world — what orders shall you give those ogres? I have already grasped the general picture, but I shall ask as a matter of courtesy."
"Destroy every village surrounding Salzburg."
I gave a slight wave of my right hand.
The ogres formed ranks with orderly precision.
"Tonight, thousands of farmers will taste fear. Our Imperial forces will do everything in their power, racing in every direction to save the citizens of the Republic."
When I flicked my hand once more, the ogres began to move their massive limbs. Two hundred ogres scattered, their heavy footsteps echoing with a deep, resonant thud. They vanished into the darkness of the night in small groups of three to five.
"Of course, we may arrive a touch too late... but I suppose that will depend on the people's luck."
The farmland that had spread across the outskirts of Salzburg was utterly devastated.
This was no delicate pillaging. The ogres simply tore apart, ripped to shreds, and crushed every farmstead they laid eyes on. A local village militia would have had absolutely no chance of stopping them.
Our Imperial forces dispatched cavalry to help each village. Strangely enough, whenever the Imperial soldiers appeared, the ogres would quietly withdraw. From the villagers' perspective, the Imperial soldiers naturally looked like saviors.
To those fortunate enough to survive, the Imperial forces offered this advice:
"Flee to Munich! Your Consul will protect you. We shall hold this ground."
And so the refugees hastened their weary steps toward the capital.
The refugees would spread the story along their journey. Dozens of rampaging ogres — and the Habsburg Empire's forces who had saved them. Word would travel fast, distorting the Empire's image in a favorable light.
To prevent such rumors from spreading, Elisabeth — your only option would be to kill your own refugees and silence them.
But you would never be able to bring yourself to massacre your own people. For you, the nation is the final conviction you can never abandon. Just as I have convictions I cannot discard. The first skirmish goes to my side...