After Retirement, Living a Stud Life in Another World - 56

Chapter 56: The Arsonists Shall Not Be Forgiven!

“It’s quite elaborate. They must have been preparing for years.”

We nodded in agreement with Beatrice’s mutterings. The plain before us was teeming with troops from the Principality of Liège. Their discipline wasn’t that of hastily conscripted peasant militia; they were a well-trained regular army. Moreover, their supplies were abundant, and their morale seemed high.

“About fifteen thousand, I’d say. Without magic, we stand no chance.”

It was a blunt assessment, but everyone agreed. Our troops were a ragtag bunch, numbering around six thousand… if faced with a proper fight, we’d undoubtedly lose.

“Unfortunately, my magic is of no use in such an open field. Lords Anneliese and Margarete, I’m counting on you.”

Beatrice’s words, now in formal language, furrowed the brow of a woman in her late thirties with downturned eyes. She should have been in the position to command the magic unit, but the Queen’s decree had snatched that role away and handed it to Liese. Clearly, her eyes were twisted with resentment.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, while the Hanover Marquess, hailed as the ‘reincarnation of a hero,’ may be suitable, Lord Anneliese is a water magic user. While I understand she excels in defense and sabotage, I dare say she’s unsuitable for direct combat. What do you think, Lord Anneliese, could you step back for now…?”

“Are you suggesting that Her Majesty and I have made an error in judgment?”

“N-no, of course not! But, the suitability of magic users is… difficult to ascertain…”

“Silence. If you continue with your prattle, I will send you back to the capital immediately.”

Beatrice’s porcelain-doll-like beauty, already devoid of emotion, grew even paler, and her jade eyes pierced straight through the discontented officer. Muttering something under her breath, she reluctantly returned to her unit. It was fortunate for her to retreat here… after all, right next to me, my childhood friend with strawberry blonde hair was radiating an aura of light from her fists, seemingly ready to burst forth.

“Princess Beatrice, I apologize for the trouble.”

“It’s fine, Liese. Once this battle is over, the people will surely sing the praises of water magic. What better battlefield than this to showcase ‘that’ magic?”

Unusually verbose today, Beatrice seemed excited. Was it her first time on the battlefield, or… when I gently enveloped her with both hands, her trembling gradually subsided… and eventually, the corners of her thin lips lifted slightly.

“I’ll be okay. As long as Lutz is by my side, I can be strong.”

Despite being accustomed to it by now, Beatrice’s unexpected affection always pierced through my heart. As I stood there dumbfounded, Liese struck a surrender pose, and Gretel, after shooting me a killer glare, let out a small sigh and offered a smile. That meant she forgave me, right?

“When the battle’s over, you’ll reward me too, right?”

Leaving those words behind, Gretel headed to the front lines. Normally, it would be ‘reward if we win,’ but victory was a given for her. What exactly she’d demand… I felt a cold sweat running down my spine at the thought.

The battle began with long-range magical exchanges. The attackers mainly employed fire magic, while the defenders focused on earth magic to repel them. If there wasn’t much difference in magical power between the sides, both would exhaust their mana after some damage and then descend into melee combat.

But this time, we had Liese, a water magic user with S-class magic power. While water magic, which tends to be less offensive, was considered a weak point, this time, we had prepared a new magic spell based on my idea.

“Don’t use attack magic! Focus on protecting our troops from enemy magic!”

Liese’s command reached the magic unit. Though the magic users grimaced at receiving orders from the water magic-using girl they had previously ridiculed, they understood that acting recklessly on the battlefield would lead to certain death. Reluctantly, they complied, with earth magic users creating barriers and fire magic users countering the enemy’s fireballs with their own. Normally, it would be more efficient for water magic users to create barriers against fire magic, but following Liese’s instructions, all water magic users remained on standby, conserving their mana.

The principality relentlessly attacked, while the kingdom steadfastly defended. Such a peculiar magical battle ended as expected with the principality running out of mana. In terms of magical abilities alone, the kingdom was unparalleled on the continent… hence the neglect in training the military, leading to difficulties in times like these.

And then, as the principality’s army finished casting their spells, they slowly advanced. The principality had no intention of winning through magical combat. Their plan was to exhaust the kingdom’s magic users as much as possible and then unleash their overwhelmingly superior conventional forces. So far, their scheme seemed to be succeeding.

However, the commanders of the Principality of Liège were unaware of something. They didn’t know about the presence of Liese and Gretel, two exceptional magic users, on this battlefield.