After Retirement, Living a Stud Life in Another World - 62
Chapter 62: Victory
Ultimately, once the walls crumbled, the outcome of the battle was decided.
As the morale-boosted soldiers of Berzenbrück stormed into the castle after witnessing the miracle of the “Goddess of Water,” they found the soldiers of the principality collapsed on the ground, having lost all will to fight upon witnessing the unimaginable. Many of them became prisoners without even crossing swords with the kingdom’s soldiers.
While some high-ranking commanders resisted from the battlements, their resistance was futile. The kingdom’s intact magical forces, who had suffered no losses in the initial skirmishes, bombarded them mercilessly with fireballs and rocks, leaving them no choice but to raise the white flag.
“I thought they would hold out a bit longer, but they surrendered surprisingly easily.”
“An army without mages is nothing. If it weren’t for those walls, they would have surrendered before the battle even started. Their only source of confidence was destroyed, so it’s only natural.”
I nodded in agreement with Beatrice’s murmurs. In terms of both quality and quantity, Berzenbrück’s mages had always been superior. On top of that, when Liese revealed her area-of-effect annihilation magic with her ice spears in the initial skirmish, the principality’s mages, without steel armor, were nearly wiped out.
“Liese’s contribution is immense. After this, no one will dare to belittle water magic.”
“That’s true.”
“Liese has been working hard all this time, but she’s been criticized. I’ve always felt frustrated about it, but now she can finally be rewarded.”
Beatrice seemed to have been concerned about Liese because they were close friends. Her eyes, focused on Liese, who was taking charge of the post-war proceedings, were unusually full of emotion.
“As a friend and as a new hero, I’m proud of Liese. But more than that, I’m proud of Lutz as my husband.”
“N-no, I didn’t even fight this time…”
“Who else could have come up with the idea of evolving water magic into ice magic? And what about that Water Cutter? Teaching Liese how to use water magic like that is Lutz’s achievement. Liese may be the practitioner, but Lutz developed the technique. In the future, he will be praised as a great mage by posterity.”
Her porcelain-like cheeks, usually likened to porcelain dolls, were now tinged with a rosy hue, and her emerald eyes sparkled as she looked up at me with obvious affection and respect. It was clear that she was filled with goodwill… Well, I only taught Liese a little bit about the knowledge from my previous world, but to Beatrice, who doesn’t know that I’m from another world, I might seem like an amazing person. Hmm, the excessive praise from the women around me is starting to weigh on me… Maybe it’s time to be honest about my past world…
While pondering about that, shouts of surprise and joy erupted from the soldiers who had advanced to the battlements. Apparently, they had captured someone important. Beatrice tightened her loosened cheeks and walked towards the commanding officer.
Among the captives was the first princess of Riege, signaling an imminent end to the western front of the principality.
I wasn’t the only one who wondered why the successor of the principality was here… It seems that, in their arrogance, they had come out thinking it would be an easy victory against Berzenbrück’s main forces, only to be crushed by Liese and then hastily retreat to the fortified city on the border. She seems like quite a careless princess, but since her mother, the grand duchess, also allowed the deployment, they probably didn’t consider the possibility of the entire country losing.
Once we sent a messenger informing them that we had the princess in our custody, another messenger came the same day to request a ceasefire. A ceasefire agreement was hastily reached. We returned to our country with the princess and 8,000 other prisoners, and prepared to face off against the empire. It was a rough agreement stating that the principality would not interfere until we settled our score with the empire. The terms of compensation, such as reparations and territorial concessions for this invasion, would be negotiated later, but with several thousand hostages, including the heir, in our possession, the kingdom’s skilled diplomats would likely secure compensation significant enough to shake the principality’s existence.
“I originally wanted to settle those negotiations myself.”
“We need to head north quickly; there’s no helping it.”
“I can’t help but feel useless in fields like this.”
Beatrice’s voice carried a slightly melancholic tone. Indeed, Beatrice is quite concerned about not being able to contribute to battles despite possessing S-class magical power. From my perspective, her wood attribute magic, which can double the productivity of agriculture and forestry, is remarkable, but the nobles’ evaluations tend to lean towards flashy military exploits.
In diplomacy, her poker-faced demeanor reminiscent of a porcelain doll would be effective, but she wasn’t given the opportunity this time. As a result, in the western front, only the brilliance of the “Goddess of Water,” Liese, and the “Reincarnation of a Hero,” Gretel, were being appreciated… It became difficult to silence the whispers of the First Princess faction maligning Beatrice behind her back.
“It’s okay. Liese and Gretel are certainly amazing, but they were able to shine because Beatrice believed in them and entrusted them. While you praised my work too, Beatrice’s ability to allow freedom to subordinates, including me, is something that will be recognized by those who understand.”
“Yeah… thank you.”
Beatrice nodded slightly, her cheeks tinged with color. It’s hard to tell if her concerns have been alleviated, but I hope she feels a bit better at least.
But, I wonder if there really isn’t a way to utilize her excellent wood attribute magic in battles… I continued to ponder this during our journey back to the northern front.