Pursuit Battle

The battle between the Ogress army and the Cordovan army began advantageously for the Ogress side from the very start.

First, Cordova was in the middle of a retreat and didn't have sufficient supplies on hand. As a result, they couldn't establish the fortified encampment they would normally be able to set up.

Facing the Ogress army head-on, with no encampment to fall back to, they had no choice but to form up and fight.

In contrast, the Ogress army had made thorough preparations.

They occupied strategic positions and attacked the Cordovan army from the high ground.

The one in command was Rias, Vice-Captain of the Casalian Knight Order. He was a man whose martial renown had spread even to other nations.

He had thirty thousand Casalian soldiers charge head-on.

The opposing Cordovan infantry numbered the same. Their training was roughly equal, and in terms of experience, Cordova had the advantage.

Thirty thousand Manesh soldiers were gradually encircling the Cordovan army. Cordova's cavalry was being held in check by roughly equal numbers of enemy cavalry.

Until now, Cordova had always fought with overwhelmingly superior equipment and thorough training. This was the first time they faced soldiers who could fight on equal terms with them.

Until now, enemies were things to be pressured, surrounded, and trampled.

In contrast, Casalia and Manesh had equipped their entire armies adequately through their national resources and trained them well. These were not armies that would simply become prey.

And when there was no difference in the quality of soldiers, what mattered was tactics and numbers.

In terms of tactics, the Cordovan army, which had accumulated real combat experience, was superior when it came to moving an army as an organic whole.

However, more than anything, the numbers were different.

Their cavalry's flanking and encircling maneuvers were being blocked, while their infantry was being half-surrounded by double their number. In this situation, the fact that Cordova's command structure hadn't collapsed was the truly abnormal thing.

And watching this unfold, Rias couldn't help but want to sigh.

This was bad.

In such a perfect situation, there was no way they could lose. But they lacked the final push needed to break through the enemy's formation.

They had been fighting for half a day, and Cordova still hadn't given in. Normally, they should have already lost cohesion and collapsed by now.

The reserve forces at his disposal included one hundred Ogre soldiers. If he used their shock power, they might be able to win.

But if even that didn't work, they might have no choice but to call it a draw and retreat.

On the other hand, gradually wearing down the enemy through attrition wasn't a good approach either.

Cordova still had a large number of soldiers remaining in their homeland, but they didn't. Casalia's reinforcements were scheduled to include a second wave, but due to the distances involved, their mobilization capacity couldn't match Cordova's.

Moreover, Manesh's soldiers were elite troops. Once lost, they would take time to recover.

They could win if they forced a war of attrition. But that would mean losing the war overall.

Rias found himself feeling respect for the enemy's soldiers and commanders.

But respect alone couldn't end a war.

"Have the Ogre soldiers charge."

Their strongest fighting force pierced straight into the Cordovan infantry.

Even so, Cordova's battle formation didn't collapse. What kind of training could possibly allow them to hold out in such a disadvantage?

Rias began thinking about how to bring this battle to a close.

That was when Ria's army arrived.

Seven thousand fearless soldiers who had just experienced victory, all under Ria's command.

They struck the Cordovan army from behind.

It wasn't that Cordova had let its guard down—Ria's army was simply too fast.

And even so, she still had cavalry held in reserve.

"Follow me!"

Shouting that, Ria took the lead and plunged into the sea of Cordovan soldiers.

Not wanting to be outdone by their commander, the hastily trained elites charged in with reckless abandon.

The Cordovan army collapsed.

The leadership positioned behind the infantry was annihilated by Ria's charge.

Of course, not all of them were killed, but the chain of command that issued orders was destroyed.

From that moment on, the Cordovan army was no longer an army. It was just a collection of individual soldiers.

Carla and Fio watched their allies' winning momentum from a small hill nearby, with the cavalry in tow.

The battle was certainly going in their favor. But Ria's figure was lost among the soldiers.

"Carla-sama… aren't you worried?"

Fio asked in a whisper. Carla looked completely unconcerned.

"I can't say I'm not worried. But I know firsthand just how strong that person is—I've fought her directly."

"Eh, Carla-sama has fought with Hime-sama!?"

The reason this wasn't widely known was that Guinevere hadn't wanted the fact that Carla, the Dragonslayer, had been defeated to spread.

"Yes. It was a complete defeat. That person is probably stronger than even a dragon. Even if the enemy in front of her numbered not thirty thousand but three hundred thousand, as long as it's not someone like the Hero or the Demon King coming after her, there's nothing to worry about."

Back in Casalia, Ria's strength was thought to be about the same as Rias's. But if even a hero who had slain a dragon was no match for Ria…

Fio began to worry belatedly about what kind of person she had confessed to.

"It's almost time for the cavalry to move."

Carla murmured. The collapsing Cordovan infantry was being cut down one after another. Seeing this, the cavalry fled toward their distant homeland, Cordova.

"Serge, Fio, don't stray from my side."

At Carla's words, Serge on Rudolph's back and Fio on horseback both tensed.

However, Serge's principle magic, Hostility Detection, showed no reaction.

"… There don't seem to be any enemies nearby…"

"It might not be an enemy. But we're being watched."

It was from so far away that even Rudolph hadn't noticed.

It might not be an enemy. At least, not right now.

But Carla couldn't forget that gaze for a long time—that sticky, leering stare.

Cordova's casualties continued to mount.

They had already been fighting with their retreat cut off.

On top of that came the final blow—three thousand cavalry under Carla's command swept down upon them.

Cordova's cavalry collapsed just like the infantry.

The fleeing cavalry were caught and cut down by the Ogress army's cavalry.

The final tally was twenty thousand prisoners and eight thousand killed or wounded—an unbelievably overwhelming victory.

Their own casualties were less than a tenth of that.

The Ogress cavalry relentlessly pursued the fleeing Cordovan soldiers.

They chased them across the border, all the way until they took shelter in a massive fortress that had been constructed there.

Ria, who had been nearly at the head of the pursuit, stopped when she saw the fortress's full scale.

Naturally, all the cavalry stopped as well, and Rias, who had been leading the infantry, also came to a halt.

"Your Highness! If we charge now, we can take the fortress!"

Rias's heart was racing. This was a major victory against Cordova. They should exploit these military gains to the fullest.

But Ria remained calm.

"The objectives of this battle were to rescue Saraf and destroy the Cordovan army. We've already accomplished that."

"But right now, we could capture that fortress!"

There's such a thing as momentum in war. With their current momentum, they could take even an impregnable fortress. That was Rias's view.

But as Ria said, that wasn't the purpose of this battle.

"We already have tens of thousands of Cordovan prisoners that we haven't finished processing yet. Are we going to proceed to the next battle while still holding them? Especially when our forces are at best three times theirs?"

When she put it that way, Rias could see what Ria was looking at.

They had repelled the Cordovan army. This would likely have a significant propaganda effect.

And there was the post-war processing of the prisoners. That was certainly important too.

Even so, Rias still felt tempted to take the fortress before his eyes.

"Don't worry, Rias."

Ria spoke with an attitude that exuded composure.

"A fortress of that level? We can take it anytime."

The words came so naturally that Rias blinked.

"That fortress… you say?"

When he looked again at the imposing structure towering before them, it seemed like rushing in on momentum alone might not have been the right call after all.

But if Ria said so, then it must be true.

Holding an odd sense of conviction, Rias nodded.

In truth, Ria had no actual plan for taking the fortress.

She simply didn't have enough information yet. Launching a siege without it just felt intuitively wrong.

(But I will take it, without fail.)

With strong determination in her heart, Ria turned her back on the fortress for now.

"She noticed from this distance…?"

Far from the battlefield, perched on a branch of a solitary large tree in the wilderness, Ordo muttered to himself.

After completing his mission, he had been surveying the battlefield from above. And in the pursuing army, he spotted a conspicuous pair of black and silver.

The black-haired one was something different. There was nothing there that triggered his male instincts.

But the silver-haired one was different. The Dragonslayer. The humans' greatest fighting force, one he probably couldn't match even if he tried.

While gazing at her and imagining himself pinning down that hero, he realized she had noticed him.

He certainly couldn't win in a straight fight. So then, how could he win?

"Well, whatever. Now's not the time."

For now, he was on Ogress's side. That was the Demon King's order. He simply couldn't bring himself to defy the Demon King's commands.

But at the same time, he knew the Demon King was lenient with his subordinates. As far as he knew, the Demon King had never purged any of them. At worst, they would fall out of favor and disappear at some point.

That's not me, Ordo thought.

He would earn achievements in this war, become even stronger, and someday, he wanted to fight His Majesty again.

Thinking of the pleasure of battle, akin to ecstasy, Ordo bared his fangs in a grin.