Ch 193

According to Wiegraf, this battle plan had been thought up by Ratoka.

Wiegraf even went to the extent of joking that he wished Ratoka was still here with us instead of on his escort mission. He mentioned how he couldn’t afford to overwork me as I was just one domain lord in this entire war, although his tone of voice indicated that he clearly wasn’t being serious.

While Wiegraf doesn’t resemble his younger brother Ergnade that much in physical appearance, he gave me a comment of “haha, wasn’t that quite interesting?” while grinning just like Ergnade would.

Well, I didn’t get the joke. He also told me that this battle plan was nicknamed “the five Earl Kaldias,” which I didn’t know how to respond to either.

“The fact that the enemy army sent out scouts just to confirm your current location means that they consider you a dangerous existence. For you to suddenly appear on the frontlines when they don’t expect it, that’ll give a huge blow to their morale more than anything else.”

Well, he may have a point. Considering the slaughter that I masterminded at Ritox Plateau, I’m quite aware of my own infamy.

I’m not familiar with how much knowledge Rindarl has of Arxian internal affairs, but they must feel uneasy at not having seen me for the past eight months.

In this world, it’s very rare to have a system where all the noble children gather together in one place to receive an education. Considering the fact that Arxia is an isolationist country, the fact that I went to noble school to study shouldn’t be well known abroad.

The strategy of the mischievously named battle plan was simple. I shall ride the white draconis that’s taken a liking to Rashiok, while Rashiok and his other three draconis siblings already in the Jugfena army will each have a knight disguised to look like me riding them. Taking advantage of our aerial mobility and their lack of knowledge about us, we’ll ambush the enemy’s capital Eris and its navy stationed on the Tave River, aiming to cause chaos to the enemy.

With me on the white draconis, I shall head directly for Eris together with the three Jugfena draconis, while Rashiok will head for the Tave River navy as he can’t fly. After attacking Eris, we’re to head for the Tave River as well. It seems that I’ll be taking on the entire enemy army stationed in Eris as well as their navy while on the white draconis.

…I’m a bit concerned about riding on the white draconis that’s still a wild draconis, but most likely I’m the only one that she’ll allow to ride on her due to her viewing me as Rashiok’s leader. I don’t think that I’m necessarily being asked to do something unreasonable, but I still have my doubts.

Since we’re a half-day’s distance from the battlefront by horseback, this fixes the problem of not being able to get there on time, but I wonder what will end up happening.

“Vedwoka, please stop here.”

While observing the circular city that spread out below me, I stroked the neck of the beautiful white draconis beneath me that was obedient but seemed restless. I named her Vedwoka after the name of an ancient god from the Jugfena region just like Rashiok. As I expected, she definitely didn’t allow anyone other than me to even approach her, but she did end up obeying my orders to separate from Rashiok.

I could already feel from her the same type of trust and intimacy as how Rashiok acted around me, so I accepted her long snake-like tail that was stroking my face. It’s said that draconis use their tails to express many emotions, such as pounding it to express dissatisfaction or disagreement as well.

As usual, the sun had set long ago in the direction of the Amon Nor Mountains. We watched the night sky gradually brighten as we flew over the buildings that the other Jugfena knights flying with me and I had marked as targets. The sunrise was to be our signal to begin our attack.

When we saw the bright edges of the sun peeking over the mountain’s summit, we each lit a matchstick and dropped it into a large cloth sack we were carrying filled with sawdust. Then, we each made sure that they were burning heartily by swinging the bags around with the ropes they were attached to.

Now then, it’s time for the Densel citizens to wake up to a roaring fire instead of the morning sun like usual.

As the sun continued to rise, our draconis dived in unison.

I cut the ropes attaching the sack to Vedwoka’s belly, so that the burning sawdust within that had previously been soaked in oil fell down upon Densel’s capital city, Eris.

“I’m counting on you, Vedwoka.”

At my signal, Vedwoka began mightily flapping her wings. With assistance from her wind magic, the flames suddenly spread everywhere.

Most people in Eris were still asleep at this early hour, so this fire spread quickly and quietly without them realizing.

I gave the next signal after confirming that all the fires we set were now at a level which wouldn’t easily be put out.

“…Alright, it’s time to go to our next location. We have to make some time to properly go and greet the Densel army stationed at Eris. Although it’s a bit of a bother to do so.”

Although I know that Vedwoka wasn’t raised by humans so she doesn’t understand the Arxian language, it’s my habit from riding Rashiok to always talk to him.

Vedwoka was still able to understand my intention though, so she flew up once more into the sky as I began to hear the explosive crackling sounds of the city that was built mostly of wood burning, as well the screams of the soldiers who finally realized what was happening at the crack of dawn to Eris.