The Bretagne army received news of the fall one step too late.
According to the wyvern scouting unit's report, the enemy's marching speed had suddenly increased two hours prior. It was a bold forced march. Their intention was clear: to flee as far as possible during the pursuit.
Naturally, Laura did not let them go unchallenged.
"Wyvern unit, terminate scouting mission. Pursue and harass the enemy relentlessly."
At Laura's command, three hundred wyverns immediately transformed into a pursuit force.
The wyverns employed a tactic of rapidly descending from the sky to attack, then soaring back up. It was extremely difficult to counter.
If the enemy had holed up in a fortress, this tactic would have been far less effective. But they were frantically marching, unable to properly deploy their archers to respond. The enemy's advance speed slowed considerably.
The pursuit that began in the morning continued through that night and into the next dawn.
However superior monsters were in stamina compared to humans, no one could endure two full days of forced marching without exhaustion. Soldiers began dropping out one by one. But Laura relentlessly ordered continued pursuit.
"If our forces are this exhausted, imagine how the enemy must feel. Strength is always relative. Even if we take casualties, as long as the enemy suffers more, it's our victory."
When some Demon Lords demanded rest, Laura shut them down without a word. Apart from the absolute minimum rest, the Demon Lord's army moved at breakneck speed. Dropouts surged, but she ignored them.
The third day.
By this point, our forces had been chasing the Bretagne army. The only difference was that we were south of the Sequana River while the enemy was to the north. Two massive armies raced side by side with the river between them.
Unable to endure any longer, the Bretagne army attempted to cross at a place called Pont de l'Arche.
But the bridge was far too narrow, and at its entrance our forces had lined up in perfect formation, waiting. The Bretagne army sent their knights forward to break through our lines. A fierce battle erupted.
Had the Green Rose Knights charged, the encirclement might have been broken. Our forces were quite fatigued from three days of forced marching. But with just a single knight order, breaking through a force of twenty-five thousand was impossible unless you were a monster on the level of the Green Rose Knights.
The crossing failed. The Bretagne army lost yet another knight order and retreated.
On the sixth day, another battle took place at the fortress city of Rouen in the northwest.
Most of northern Frank had been taken over by republicans during the recent civil war. But Rouen was the southernmost city in the north. Relatively close to Parisiorum, it had fallen under Bretagne's influence.
The Bretagne army resupplied here, their spirits restored, and attempted to cross again—but failed.
Combined casualties amounted to roughly three thousand. The death toll was similar on both sides. In a river crossing that was overwhelmingly disadvantageous to them, having comparable casualty rates was indeed testament to the Bretagne army's prowess... but a failure was a failure.
On the eleventh day, another battle erupted at Rouen.
The Bretagne army meant business this time. Not content with bridges alone, they deployed rafts in large numbers to cross the river. But the enemy's vanguard couldn't even make it halfway across before being completely submerged. Vassago's Water Spirit King had unleashed a devastating flood.
The crossing was thwarted once more. A thousand casualties was all the Bretagne army had to show for it.
Defeat after defeat.
The Bretagne army, once called "the army that knows no defeat," had hit rock bottom. They had abandoned Parisiorum and fled, lost their spiritual pillar in the Saint, and now suffered continuous defeats. The situation only deteriorated further.
As for our forces, Laura had by now reached near-idol-level worship among the Demon Lords. They would have taken her seriously even if she'd announced she was going to make cheese from mold.
"The last time, the Earth Spirit King died, and this time the Wind Spirit King died. How long do you think it takes to raise a spirit on the level of a Spirit King?!"
...Except for Vassago, who had suffered terribly every time a battle broke out because he had to face Agares.
I comforted the distressed Vassago.
"There, there. Last time, three of you including Lord Vassago faced Agares, but now Lord Barbatos is also with us. Please don't worry too much."
"How do you plan to compensate for the damage I've suffered, you fool?!"
Vassago threw a tantrum. Having lost two precious Spirit Kings, he was clearly furious. Good grief, always so stiff. Only after I promised him a large territory as a gift once the war was over did Vassago finally calm his excitement. He was like a child throwing a tantrum because he wanted candy.
Well, setting aside these minor incidents, the Demon Lord's army had no problems.
The enemy had been defeated repeatedly. They had managed to resupply at Rouen, but that too presented problems. The Batavia Republic's navy still controlled the river, meaning Rouen's supply lines were cut as well. The fundamental problem of supply remained unsolved.
The fifteenth day. Ultimately, the Bretagne army abandoned Rouen and withdrew.
To secure scarce provisions, the Bretagne army pillaged every settlement along their path. The north was a region particularly hostile to Bretagne. The residents chose to enter the forests and wage guerrilla warfare rather than be plundered, further tormenting the Bretagne army.
They were cornered. There was no other way to put it.
The Bretagne army's final destination was the port city of Le Havre. A port city on the sea... naturally, there was nowhere left for the Bretagne army to flee.
"We will force a siege upon the enemy here."
Before the war began, Laura had said she would never engage the Bretagne army in open battle.
That prophecy had been fulfilled. Now, nearly a month in, not a single pitched battle had occurred. Only small-scale skirmishes had taken place. Yet the Bretagne army found itself checkmated, without ever having had a proper fight.
Now the Bretagne army was being forced into a siege they had no confidence in winning. At sea, the Batavia Republic's grand fleet surrounded them, and on land, our Demon Lord's army had them encircled. And that wasn't all.
"Lord Leraje has joined us."
"Northern City Alliance Army—five thousand mercenaries—joining the force!"
As the outcome of the war became clear, forces that had been watching from the sidelines began gathering. Leraje, the former fourteenth-ranked Demon Lord with a Demon Lord's Castle in northern Frank, the former twenty-seventh-ranked Demon Lord Ronove, and the armies of the northern free cities.
Our forces had swelled to thirty-five thousand. There was no risk of supply lines being cut. The navy handled resupply by sea, and the northern free cities managed provisions by land.
Truly, the greatest strategy in warfare is to win without fighting. There was absolutely no possibility of Henrietta or Agares escaping this trap...
I repeated the same massacre I had committed in Parisiorum. I captured nearby residents and brutally burned them at the stake. This time, there was no need for large-scale operations. About twenty per day would suffice. The goal was to drive the city's citizens into terror and crush the enemy's morale.
The thirty-fifth day since the pursuit began.
An uproar erupted within Le Havre's inner city. Flames surged upward and the cries of battle rang out.
"My lord. Could it be the residents have risen up?"
"No. It's probably Agares causing a disturbance."
"Agares?"
I wore a smile.
"The Bretagne army is finally ready to surrender. Not a full surrender—probably an honorable one. Specifically, they want permission to return to Bretagne peacefully. But an honorable surrender cannot be granted without any compensation."
I felt no particular need to kill Queen Henrietta. As long as I crushed her so she could never again become the continent's hegemon, that was sufficient. Drive her out of Frank, annihilate her powerful knight orders, and make her supporters turn their backs...
"Our stated objective is simply to eliminate Demon Lord Agares. In other words, if they hand over Agares's head, we can accept an honorable surrender. Queen Henrietta must have launched a surprise attack on Agares."
"And Agares noticed."
I nodded.
"The surprise attack itself probably succeeded. But this is Agares. Even allowing the ambush, he won't easily hand over his head. Right now, there's probably a fierce battle raging in the city between Agares and the knights."
Laura grinned.
"Then, my lord. Now is the time to attack."
"You've got it right."
We looked at each other and laughed.
We had no intention of accepting any surrender. We would attack and reduce the Bretagne army to utter ruin. A siege was naturally disadvantageous for the attacker, but the enemy was in the midst of a civil war. This was the perfect opportunity.
"If the Queen wishes to surrender honorably, we can entertain that. But there's absolutely no reason to send her army home unharmed... Heh. It'll be interesting to see how Bretagne reacts if the Queen alone survives and returns."
"As expected, my lord, your personality is beyond redemption."
"I'd say the same about you, Laura."
Laura smiled sweetly.
She raised her baton high and gave the order.
"All forces, attack!"
At Laura's single command, thirty-five thousand troops moved.
Catapults launched boulders, siege engines battered the gates. Ogres charged forward with logs to smash through the gates directly, while wyverns swooped down upon the defenders atop the walls and slaughtered them.
The Bretagne army fought bravely. Hard to believe they were a force that had suffered continuous defeats. But with all the knights apparently having gone to fight Agares, they lacked fighting spirit. One corner of the wall fell in less than two hours.
Messengers delivered their reports.
"The southern gate has been breached!"
"Ogre units, push through! Lords Beleth and Sitri are leading the charge!"
Like a domino toppling, once one section fell, the remaining walls crumbled piece by piece.
If the Bretagne army were masters of pitched battle, the Demon Lords were overwhelmingly masters of siege warfare. Over two thousand years of clashing with humanity had honed nothing if not the skill of storming fortresses. The demonkin surged over Le Havre's outer walls like a tsunami.
"The Batavia navy has seized the docks."
"Cooperating with our forces to pincer the enemy. Entering urban combat!"
We also had the Batavia Republic's forces—masters of naval warfare—on our side.
The enemy was under attack from both land and sea. To make matters worse, Agares was running wild inside. In this situation, even if it weren't Henrietta but Elisabeth herself, she couldn't hold out. The urban area gradually fell into our hands.
And then.
"Agares spotted! Agares has been found in the western district! Reports indicate—the enemy Agares is also heavily wounded! Covered in serious injuries!"
We had found Demon Lord Agares, the objective of this entire war.
It seemed Agares had not only survived the surprise attack but endured the knights' relentless assault as well. In other words, this was the best possible scenario from our perspective. Agares had become a wounded tiger, and countless Bretagne knights had fallen.
"Daisy."
I called softly to the girl standing beside me.
"Yes, Father."
"Bring me Agares's head. Do not fail, even once."
The Sword of Bael—one of the most overpowered artifacts in the world—was currently in Daisy's possession. Though Daisy had not fully awakened as the Hero, Agares was severely wounded. Coordinating with the other Demon Lords in a coordinated assault, they could certainly defeat him.
The dark-haired girl gave a slight nod.
"If that is Father's command."