Unification of the South

by Hyougetsu

  If I didn’t have enough proteins in my body, regenerative magic wouldn’t be as effective. And if I ran out of carbohydrates, my strengthening magic would wear off faster. Which meant I needed to store as many calories as possible while I still had the chance.

  One of Shatina’s attendants timidly brought be a whole roast sheep, and I wolfed it down in seconds. Meat was the best source of protein. Of course, I made sure to get in plenty of fruit too. Sugar was just as important. Next up the servants brought me some kind of bean paste. No clue what’s in it, but it looks like it’s got protein. Pastes were also easy for the body to digest. But this still wasn’t enough. I needed more.

  “What’s this?”

  I pointed to a strange white lump, and Shatina’s servant jumped with a start.

  “I-It’s goat cheese, milord.”

  Goat cheese? That’s got protein and calcium! Perfect! Calcium would come in handy if I broke any bones.

  “Works for me. Bring me more.”

  “Y-Yes, milord.”

  While I was busy preparing for the harsh battle to come, the others apparently had the free time to gossip about me.

  “What’s the boss doing? The enemy’s gonna reach us any minute now.”

  “He said he’s stocking up on energy before the fight.”

  “That’s way too much to just be ‘stocking up.’”

  Vodd smiled gently at the other werewolves.

  “We’ve only got two thousand men to kill. All you need to prepare for a skirmish like that is a hearty meal. If anything, it’s reassuring to see young’uns these days still have an appetite.”

  “Only two thousand?”

  “Well I guess compared to crushing the Hero, two thousand soldiers is nothing.”

  “You said it.”

  Stop just making up whatever explanations you feel like! Thanks to their muttering, the servant felt compelled to bring me alcohol too.

  “W-Would you like some grape liquor or pear liqueur, milord?”

  So they’ve got wine, huh? While alcohol was dense in carbohydrates, I didn’t want to tax my liver right now. It’d be a waste of the strengthening magic I’d already cast on it. So I politely declined the servant’s offer.

  “Thank you, but I’ll refrain from now. I’ll enjoy it later, after the battle’s over.”

  “U-Understood.”

  As the servant backed away, the other werewolves once again came up with outlandish reasons for my refusal.

  “I can’t believe it, Veight plans to end this in one go.”

  “Knowing the boss, he might take down all two thousand humans by himself.”

  Seriously, guys, that’s not it! No one understands my suffering.

  Once I was done eating, I borrowed Shatina’s father’s armor and cape. The cape had Zaria’s crest embroidered into it, so it served as a symbol of the viceroy’s status. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I deserved to borrow something this important.

  “Are you sure I can wear this Shatina? Isn’t it important to you?”

  Shatina gave me a determined look and said, “I want you to get revenge for my father while wearing his crest. Show those cold-hearted men of Meraldia Zaria’s pride and anger.”

  “Well if that’s what you want, then I’ll strike fear into those Meraldian mongrels’ hearts!” I said without thinking. I regretted a second later as I realized how much more pressure that put on me.

  After I finished my preparations I went out to the wasteland north of the city and started stretching. As I stretched, I methodically applied strengthening magic to my muscles. Each muscle possessed different amounts of stamina and force, so I needed to customize the amount of mana I applied to each. While strengthening myself this way took much longer than just applying strengthening wholesale to large swathes of my body, it lowered the strain on my joints and bones, and also reduced the amount of stamina I consumed while fighting. I never thought health class and all those biology documentaries I watched back on Earth would come in handy here. Lend me your strength, soleus muscle, trapezius muscle.

  Before long, I spotted Meraldia’s army crest on the faraway hills. At a glance, they certainly did seem 2,000 strong. And while 2,000 seemed a daunting number, it was easier to visualize if I just imagined them filling twenty 100-person-capacity storage rooms. In truth, all 2,000 of them barely filled one corner of the wasteland.

  Trailing behind the soldiers was a small group of huge, lumbering wagons. I could see pieces of wood sticking out from them. It seemed they brought the catapults in parts that were easily assembled on-site. The catapults of this world were all loaded using manpower and used ropes to launch their arms. Back on Earth these would be classified as man... What was the word again? Mandrills? Mandarins? No, that doesn’t sound quite right.

  At any rate, they were similar to that form of catapult. I’d seen similar designs in classic war games. Since these were designed to be built on-site, they weren’t very mobile once assembled. If they were erected on the wrong spot, they became effectively useless. And if one wanted to take it down and rebuild it somewhere else, they had to reload all the parts into wagons and move to the new site, all while taking enemy fire. In general, it was more trouble than it was worth. Of course, all of this knowledge was something I learned from a game, so it might have been wrong, but from what I could tell this world’s catapults weren’t too different from medieval Earth’s.

  I was hoping to take advantage of those catapults’ weakness. Now then, let the battle begin. I think I’ll make use of the rumors you’ve been spreading about me, Meraldia.

  “Veight, the Killer of four hundred!”

  “Veight the Destroyer!”

  “The Bane of Schverm!”

  “The werewolf who ripped apart the Hero!”

  “The Demon Lord’s right-hand man!”

  “The Terror of the Seas!”

  Those were all the nicknames I’d heard other people refer to me by. Each and every one of them sounded terrifying. Which meant that once the advancing Meraldian army realized I was here, they’d hesitate. Meaning just standing here was already a somewhat effective strategy. My primary goal was to prevent the catapults from getting too close. If I forced Meraldia to deploy them far away, they’d be useless.

  While I imagined the infantry had been brought to occupy Zaria, they’d likely stick to defending the catapults at first. None of them wanted to die in the infamous labyrinth city. Chances were they’d hold off on the main assault until the city was in ruins. In which case, if I pulled this off, I’d be able to keep the entire army at bay for a while longer. Of course, our opponents were no fools; I’d need more than just my infamy to keep them from closing in.

  In order to confuse them, I cast the Phantom Mist spell I’d prepared beforehand. This was a spell that combined illusion magic and strengthening magic, and summoned a fog around the caster. The fog’s primary purpose was to make its caster difficult to see, and thus difficult to target with ranged attacks. That alone would be vital for the upcoming battle, but that wasn’t the reason I cast it.

  For whatever reason, whenever I cast this spell, it wreathed me in illusory flames instead of a fog. While the fake fire did a decent job of hiding me as well, it was far too flashy to be as effective as fog would. According to Master, the reason I summoned flames instead of fog was because I was still inexperienced with illusion magic. Though it irked me, she was probably right.

  Still, I was grateful for my defective version of the spell right now. Because now, the Meraldian army was staring down a jet-black werewolf clad in a viceroy’s armor and surrounded by purple flames. I looked like an evil overlord. My appearance, combined with my reputation, should be enough to scare Meraldia’s troops a little. Honestly, when I’d tested this spell out in front of the mirror I’d terrified even myself, so there was no doubt it’d work on humans. Though it was possible they wouldn’t be as scared because of how far away they were. Two thousand troops was a terrifying number to face on your own, but if I co
uld scare them even more than they scared me, it’d be my win. This was a game of chicken.

  Steeling my resolve, I poured mana into my vocal cords. I was using strengthening magic that amplified my voice. Once I’d boosted my voice to max volume, I said in the most villainous voice I could muster, “Bwahahahaha! What are those pathetic toys you’ve brought with you? Do you really believe you can conquer the great labyrinth city of Zaria with such trifles? Especially knowing that it is under my, the Demon Lord’s Vice-Commander Veight’s, protection?”

  The Meraldian army halted their advance, their formation wavering. I’d shaken them more than I’d expected. Maybe their morale wasn’t all that high to begin with? A gust of wind caused my cape to flutter imposingly, and I sneered at the terrified soldiers.

  “Dogs of the Senate, you made a mistake in coming here!”

  My magically enhanced hearing picked up a few cries of “Shut up, demon!” and “So what if you’ve killed four thousand!?” From this distance, even my enhanced hearing could only pick up shouts, so if they were muttering other things, I couldn’t tell. So I’ve been upgraded from killer of 400 to killer of 4,000? You guys really need to stop upping the numbers every time. But since they were kind enough to exaggerate my achievements, I decided to roll with it.

  “Do you truly believe a mere two thousand soldiers are a match for my power? Foolish mortals!”

  Though I sounded confident, I was inwardly terrified they’d start lobbing arrows at me any minute. While I had cast deflection magic on myself, if they fired an entire volley I’d need to guard with more than that. Fortunately, no one shot at me. Guess I should keep going for as long as I can.

  “You curs have neither strength, nor cause! You are nothing more than maggots crawling through the dirt!”

  In response I heard a few shouts of “Our cause is justice!” and “Don’t listen to him! We came here to liberate Zaria!” I wasn’t certain, but it sounded like the commanding officers who were shouting back. Oh don’t worry, I’m not done yet.

  “Listen well! Your cowardly Senate assassinated Zaria’s viceroy, the noble Lord Melgio! Not only that, they even attempted to assassinate his daughter, the young Lady Shatina! Your treachery will not go unpunished!”

  My voice grew louder as anger welled up within me. This wasn’t part of the act anymore, I really was going to make these bastards pay for what they’d done. My words seemed to cause a stir among Meraldia’s troops.

  “It can’t be!”

  “The Senate assassinated Zaria’s viceroy!?”

  “Commander, is this true!?”

  I’d expected that reaction. There was no way the Senate would have told their rank and file soldiers what dirty deeds they’d ordered behind the scenes. Once the soldiers realized their cause wasn’t just, their morale would plummet. Which was why I needed to take advantage of this opportunity.

  “You refuse to believe me? Very well then, perhaps you will believe Lady Shatina!”

  Shatina stood up on the roof of a nearby building and shouted at the top of her lungs. I’d cast the same vocal chord strengthening magic on her earlier, so it carried loud and clear.

  “I am Shatina Stahl, daughter of Zaria’s viceroy, Melgio Yewm Stahl! Sir Veight spoke true! The loyal viceroy of Zaria, Lord Melgio, died at the hands of Senate assassins!”

  Most of the soldiers should have been able to tell that that was Shatina’s voice. As the daughter of a viceroy, she’d often made public appearances to strengthen her and her father’s position.

  She continued her speech, her voice trembling with anger, “My father devoted his life to bringing peace and prosperity to Meraldia, and he was rewarded with an assassin’s dagger! I will never forget this injustice for as long as I live! I swear here and now to eradicate every last one of you northerners! Your souls will be my offering to my late father!”

  I get that you’re mad, but you really shouldn’t swear vengeance on an entire people. If Shatina was planning on inheriting the position of viceroy, she’d need to learn to act with prudence. I’ll give her a lecture on that later. For now, let’s see what else she’s got to say.

  “As my father’s successor, I hereby declare independence from the Meraldian Federation! From this moment forth, Zaria will be allied with the demon army! Together with the Vice-Commander Veight, the demon army’s strongest general, I shall massacre you all!”

  Though she was Melgio’s daughter, naming herself his successor without the Senate’s permission was an act of treason. Declaring independence on top of that was paramount to a proclamation of war. The fact that she was willing to go that far proved just how angry she was. But at this rate, there was no telling what she’d say next. I’d really prefer it if she stopped there. Fortunately, it seemed my prayers were heard, as Shatina said nothing more. She was a real handful, that girl. Now then, it’s my turn.

  “Cowardly dogs of the Senate, prepare to die! Even if you beg for mercy I will not spare a single one of you!”

  More like, I wouldn’t even hear you if you beg for mercy. Even now, I was preparing to flee. Despite all my big talk, 2,000 men was way more than I could handle alone. Fortunately, it seemed Shatina’s speech had been effective. The Meraldian soldiers were wavering. As I’d suspected, their morale hadn’t been too high to begin with.

  In truth, I’d had good reason to believe this army hadn’t been too eager to fight. Complex pieces of machinery such as assemblable catapults needed skilled engineers to operate them. Scholars versed in construction and ballistics. Of course, those weren’t formal fields of study in this world, so that knowledge was passed down between craftsmen, but the point remained. The engineers in charge of these catapults weren’t fighters. Since the Meraldian Unification War, siege weapons hadn’t been used at all, so while men were technically soldiers, they had no combat experience.

  Naturally, they held drills and occasionally did demonstrations during military parades, but that was all. Being hit with the brunt of Shatina’s righteous anger was more than enough to rattle them, regardless of whether or not they believed her.

  Though the engineers in charge of the catapults remained rooted in place, the archers began to advance. For them, their superiors’ orders were more important than whether or not their cause was just. These guys were professionals. Mere words wouldn’t faze them. I strained my ears, waiting for the command to open fire. Archer squads were trained to fire in unison, so I only needed to draw out my full strength the moment they loosed.

  “Fire!”

  The moment I heard that word I cast all of the strengthening magic at my disposal on myself. I raised my perception and reflexes to the maximum while hardening my fur as much as possible.

  A torrent of arrows descended upon me. Because of how far I was from the archers, they’d had to angle their shots upwards to reach me. But while firing at an angle increased an archer’s range, it decreased their accuracy. Only a tiny fraction of the archers’ volley actually reached me.

  “Futile!” I shouted, and swept aside the few arrows headed for me. A werewolf’s kinetic vision could easily track an arrow in flight, especially when it had been shot at an angle. But while I’d weathered the first wave, the archers weren’t done. They launched a second, which I desperately fended off as well. Arrows were a werewolf’s worst nightmare.

  “Bwahahaha! Shoot all you wish, but you won’t be able to hurt me!”

  For all my grandstanding, I knew if they kept this up I’d be in trouble. Fortunately, seeing me weather two volleys unscathed had shaken the archers. They stopped firing. In the lull that followed I surveyed my surroundings. The Earth around me had been turned into a pincushion. Archers were most effective when they were raining arrows into a large force. In that respect, these archers were quite skilled. However, none of them were trained in sniping a lone werewolf at the very edge of their effective range.

  Terrified of me, the archers retreated. Going by standard theory the spearmen should have charged next, but they didn’t
. They seemed rather wary. Not of me, but of the city behind me.

  Because of how tall all of Zaria’s buildings were, their rooftops made for perfect platforms to position archers on. I was standing only a hundred or so meters in front of Zaria’s northernmost buildings. More than close enough for the archers standing atop them to cover me if the spearmen charged.

  On the other hand, Meraldia’s archers would need to get past me in order to reach the rooftops with their arrows. Naturally, that was impossible. Which meant if the spearmen charged now, they’d be running headlong into a hail of arrows without any supporting fire to cover them. On top of that, they’d still have to contend with me. That wasn’t the kind of situation they were eager to throw themselves into.

  In truth, Zaria had few troops left in fighting condition. But since we’d killed all of the assassins, the Meraldian army didn’t know that. In the following silence, I was able to make out the voices of soldiers arguing with each other. Though I couldn’t make out all of the words, it seemed the commanders of the spearmen, the archers, and the engineers were quarreling. My guess was the spearmen’s commander was angry that the engineers hadn’t started bombarding the city like they were supposed to. In my infinite benevolence, I decided to wait for them to finish bickering.

  Finally, the spearmen got into formation and held up their shields. That wasn’t a charging formation, but a defensive one. Archers covered them on both flanks, ready to intercept any attack. Behind them, the engineers started unloading their wagons and began assembling the catapults.

  The engineers were setting up the catapults quite far from the city. While at that distance Zaria’s archers couldn’t reach them, their own catapults would barely be in range. If they used lighter stones they might just manage to hit Zaria’s northernmost buildings. Perfect, just what I was hoping you’d do.

  From the looks of it, assembling the catapults would take more time than I’d initially expected. The engineers needed to drive stakes into the ground and fix various pieces in place. Wait, don’t tell me this is going to take another hour... The longer they took the better it was for us, but I was beginning to get a little bored. Ah well, maybe I’ll provoke them some more. Now that they’d decided on the location of their catapults, the Meraldian army couldn’t move until they were built. So I’d be fine no matter what I said. Probably.