Chapter 84: Townsperson A Overruns the Centlaren Army

It had been about two weeks since Ana woke up. She had recovered enough to walk on her own, and she was finally at the point where she could manage short strolls through the garden. Watching her smile more and more was the greatest reward I could ask for as her fiancé.

On a side note, the Magic-Sealing Collar is gone. Just as that pervert claimed, it wasn't much of an item; one quick application of Transmutation was all it took to snap it like a twig.

Meanwhile, the Sentlaren Kingdom finally stopped dragging its feet and launched a campaign to subjugate the "traitorous" House Ramslett. My spies reported that the Crown Prince was weirdly gung-ho about the whole thing. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to end in a complete disaster, but maybe that was just me.

Regardless, the King’s formal decree had gone out, and troops were being mobilized from across the land. It was almost laughable—I heard some of the units were even pulled from their posts in Bruseni. I have no idea what tactical genius leads to a decision like that, but apparently, that was the play.

For the record, the Sentlaren Kingdom still hasn't signed a peace treaty with the Est Empire. In fact, they’d been loudly boasting about taking the Imperial Prince's head—using those two corpses we’d left behind as proof. Naturally, the Est Empire saw this as a call for vengeance, and their morale was through the roof. I’d handled that situation so delicately specifically to avoid this outcome. They really are breathtakingly stupid.

Not that it matters to us anymore.

Facing off against the Centralen Royal Family, our own House Ramslett finally declared independence, joining forces with the Southern Nobles to form the Kingdom of Ramslett. Several other lords besides the Southerners offered us their fealty as well. Most of them held territories in steep, mountainous regions or monster-infested lands—places where they couldn't produce enough food to keep their people from starving. To them, our new kingdom was a lifeline, and they jumped at the chance to submit.

Put simply, they chose the practical route of submission over the inevitable collapse that comes with a peasant revolt. Plus, if they’d stayed with Centlaren, they would have been ordered to send troops for the Ramslett subjugation force. That would have meant facing off against the guy who single-handedly crushed the Est Empire. No one wants to throw away soldiers—who are also their primary farm laborers—on a suicide mission.

Consequently, the Kingdom of Ramslett’s reach extended beyond the south into parts of the east and west, eventually swallowing up thirty to forty percent of the former Sentlaren Kingdom’s land.

That was the backdrop when the Centlaren Army finally made their move.

The commander-in-chief was Crown Prince Karlheinz. To nobody's surprise, he was accompanied by the usual members of Amy's reverse harem: Amy herself, Marcus, Leonard, and Oscar. Not that I cared.

"Well, Ana, I’m heading out. You’re still recovering, so please stay in your room and rest."

"I will. Be careful, Allen."

We shared a quick embrace. As I went to pull away, Ana stood on her toes and kissed me on the cheek.

Oh man. Talk about a morale boost.

"In that case, allow me to dedicate this victory to my lady," I said, trying to act cool.

I activated the Vytol Custom's Wind Magic Engine and took flight. I gave a small wave to the blushing Ana before turning toward the battlefield.

It took less than an hour to reach the front lines where the two armies were squared off. Our side had five thousand men; Centlaren had around thirty thousand. We were at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, but there wasn't a hint of despair in our ranks. Everyone knew I could flip the board whenever I felt like it.

From the air, I could see they were still in the initial skirmishing phase, trading volleys of arrows and magic. You might imagine a battle as a grand, sweeping cavalry charge, but the reality is more methodical: soften them up from a distance, thin the numbers, and then move in for the melee. Of course, you have cavalry breakthroughs or flanking maneuvers, but when two armies just stare each other down, this is usually how it goes. No one wants to charge headfirst into a storm of arrows.

Time to get to work. I started dropping bombs on the enemy camp, not bothering to check who was standing where. It was an incredibly simple job. I might have been hitting people I knew, but that's just how it goes when you meet on a battlefield as enemies. I’d made my peace with that reality a long time ago.

The Centlaren Army plummeted into a state of total panic the moment the first bombs hit. I showed no mercy, raining down explosives like hail. It had ceased to be a battle and turned into manual labor. It was the same scene I’d watched when I routed the soldiers of the Est Empire and the Zaus Kingdom.

After an hour of consistent bombing, I watched the Centlaren Army break into a full retreat and turned back toward the Territorial Capital.

I touched down in the backyard of the Ducal Mansion—or rather, the Royal Palace. Ana was there in an instant.

"Allen! You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm home. And as you can see, I'm perfectly fine. All I did was fly around the sky for a bit."

Ana let out a long, shaky breath of relief. I pulled her close, kissed her softly, and then we began walking back into the palace. I could feel the warmth of the woman I loved against my arm.

In the end, my unilateral aerial bombardment had turned the clash at the northern border into a massacre. The Kingdom of Ramslett had utterly demolished a Centlaren force that should have possessed overwhelming superiority.

Of the thirty thousand soldiers who had marched out, the Sentlaren Kingdom lost twenty-five thousand to injuries, death, or desertion. It was a humiliating defeat that would be forever etched into their history—the capture or death of numerous heads of noble houses, their heirs, and the commander-in-chief himself, Crown Prince Karlheinz.