The Invasion Begins

Ria entrusted an army to the nobles who were formerly lords of those lands, aiming to break apart Cordova's territory.

Of course there was the danger of being defeated piecemeal, but even so, she chose to expand the front lines and seize territory all at once.

The former lords who had become her staff officers departed with great enthusiasm. That was only natural. When it came to reclaiming their ancestral lands, it would be strange not to be fired up about it.

The army Ria entrusted to them wasn't composed of ogres or Casalia's elite troops.

It was primarily the combined forces of Manesh and other lords, so even if they failed, she had calculated for the damages to be minimized.

As a result, there were territories where this was effective, and territories where they failed to recover the land.

Ria, together with her staff officers, studied the causes.

Well, the reasons were obvious. Territories that had enjoyed good governance welcomed their former lords with open arms. As for the lords who had foolishly imposed even harsher rule than Cordova, they were driven out by their own people who sided with Cordova's forces.

Nobles who recovered their territories through their own power would be left to govern their previous territories as before. In cases where Ogress' forces were necessary, their lands would be reduced.

After all, mankind no longer had the luxury of supporting nobles who indulged in luxury.

"It appears Cordova's governance was even less appealing than expected."

One of the staff officers said as much, and it was certainly true.

Particularly the countries that had been annexed in the past few decades rose up in rebellion as soon as outside pressure was applied.

"And yet, countries that continued with even worse exploitation than Cordova…"

Ria placed her hand on her forehead. It had that "Are you stupid? Do you want to die?" kind of feeling.

To begin with, Cordova had targeted such countries to expand its influence, then used its grown national power to annex surrounding countries. In other words, the order was reversed.

It seemed they'd had a succession of quite intelligent leaders, but thinking that approach would work forever was Cordova's folly.

Ria believed that no country could last forever.

Even the empire that boasted of its three-thousand-year history had disappeared, its cause unknown.

The five kingdoms including Casalia had continued for a thousand years, but the royal families that held great power were Casalia, Lemdria, and Istria, while Luabra and the like were said to be on the verge of collapse.

Even Casalia, while not at the point of collapse, had faced many crises of decline.

What had overcome those was human strength.

Not the strength of a system. Systems were certainly useful for governance, but it wasn't rare for them to bloat and torment society.

That was when the power of exceptional individuals became necessary.

Ria didn't believe in democracy. Of course, that included socialism and communism under the umbrella of democracy.

What she thought was best was a saintly dictatorship.

An absolute autocracy by a ruler with as few errors as possible. If talented individuals could be placed at the top, it would be the most efficient.

Of course, in reality, that too was nothing but armchair theory.

Ria had never thought of herself as a saint, and Guinevere would be far better at handling politics.

But right now, to destroy Cordova and fight against the Demon King, it seemed Ria needed to stand at the top.

Even though she didn't want to.

She honestly wished to be excused from it, but when combining authority, lineage, personal military might, and charisma, at least in the northwestern part of the continent, there was no one more suited than Ria.

"Shall we also start diplomatic maneuvers from inside Cordova?"

Naturally, Cordova had nobles other than the royal family. Though it was a centralized nation, that didn't mean there were no nobles.

Ogress would recognize nobles who still had popular support among the people. In other words, guarantee their current domains now.

If this made them abandon Cordova, that would be good. If they even went so far as to betray Cordova, that would be most welcome.

"Let us arrange for that immediately."

The actual work was left to the staff officers. Ria would think about the big picture.

There were various minor schemes to consider, but ultimately, they needed to crush the enemy's main forces.

And then, occupy Cordova's capital. Crush the royal family so they could never rise again.

Or rather, should they prop up a royal with popular support as the legitimate Count of Cordova?

If it went well, they could split the country. It would prevent losses from occupation.

Scheming was quite enjoyable to think about, at least. Whether it succeeded was another matter.

Conversely, she also considered her opponent's stratagems.

Cordova's plots had, in fact, mostly fallen apart due to Ria's appearance.

What had Cordova's stratagems been until now? Taking away the opponent's national power through pressure, concessions, and division, ultimately leading to annexation.

But the countries that should have been annexed had instead united due to Ria's appearance.

Of course, there were likely plots to instigate separation from this alliance called Ogress.

However, currently, Ogress had achieved victory after victory against Cordova, so there was no reason to break away.

Unlike Cordova, Ria hadn't imposed unreasonable demands on the countries under her. For now, at least.

She wasn't pressuring them into annexation either. At most, she formed advantageous alliances.

Shashmeer and the like continued to exist as semi-independent city-states.

Ria's objective, her national strategy, was clear.

Dealing with the Millennium.

Once that was over, she couldn't care less.

Ria would abdicate, make the young prince a puppet, and have Guinevere govern as regent.

She had the ability for it, and the motivation… well, probably more than Ria had.

The Great Collapse and the Divine Dragon's successor could be dealt with when the time came.

They were probably a long way off.

After that, Ria would set out on a journey again.

How many would come with her this time?

She'd bring Carla along. She'd somehow sweet-talk her way into convincing her, and take her no matter what.

Shizuna would probably follow. Despite everything, she liked being teased by Ria.

What about Fio? She herself would probably want to come. But was it really alright to keep abducting a noble's daughter?

Irina would have to be brought along, of course.

Maal would probably come. Gig wouldn't be a problem either. Lulu and Carlos could go find happiness on their own, those bastards.

Surprisingly, Serge might not come along. Perhaps she should raise his peerage so he could realize his harem dream.

Ah, but she needed to find a bride for Matsukaze soon.

Drawing such a map of the future that could be called a delusion in her mind, Ria prepared for the battle that loomed before her.

The Ogress army began its invasion.

They could have waited for various plots to take effect, but by first applying military pressure, they would raise the success rate of those plots even further.

They suppressed every village, town, and fortress on the map like carpet bombing.

They basically didn't harm the residents, and soldiers were bound by slave contracts with set time limits.

This stance of the Ogress army, which didn't impose oppression, was generally well-received by the populace.

But Ria didn't let her guard down. Just because there was change, there would be people who hated that change.

Those people would, unfortunately, be removed from the stage.

They were the minimal necessary sacrifices to reduce overall casualties.

While passing through such towns, Ria was occasionally targeted by assassins.

Usually, her guards dealt with them, but there were some with incredible skill who got close enough to Ria to stab her arm with a poisoned knife.

"Well done."

Ria had enough composure to say just that to the assassin she cut down with a return stroke.

Even deadly poison that would normally kill instantly only made Ria feel a slight tingle. She didn't even need to bother with an antidote.

"It's nothing serious. The blood of a dragon flows through me. I cannot be killed by poison."

She calmed the fussing people around her with those words.

Indeed, in legend, no dragon had ever been killed by poison.

There were also times when poison was mixed into her food, but that wasn't a problem either.

Rather, what Ria needed to be careful about was Serge being targeted.

Carla was also an important figure in terms of preserving their forces, but she had the same all-resistance as Ria.

Serge had been given all the resistance magic that could be made in Manesh, but if something like hydra poison were used, he would die.

There was no one who could take over for him, who handled supplies with his space-time magic.

"That's why you can't stand out. At least until this battle is over."

It was a heartless way of putting it, but that level of joking was understood between them.

The establishment of logistics through Serge's magic was the ultimate deciding factor for victory in this war.

There were various reasons they were fighting advantageously against Cordova: Ria's individual strategic planning ability, her Gift's command ability, the ogre corps' combat power, and Manesh's technological prowess. But ultimately, these were the deciding factors.

Ria's armament production capability and Serge's transportation ability.

After all, war was about gathering a large number of people, feeding them, and arming them. The side that did that better won.

"War is about numbers, aniki."

"Huh?"

To the staff officers who made puzzled faces, Ria casually made up a story about this being something she once said to an older brother who passed away long ago.

Among the staff officers who somehow seemed convinced, only Serge was snickering.

In truth… these references from her past life were becoming one of the factors adding to Ria's mystique.

An ever-victorious young beautiful general who sometimes said things they couldn't understand. And only the young mage in charge of logistics understood her.

There must be some reason behind this, the veteran staff officers thought as they consulted strategy books and military classics. They were naturally improving their own education, but if Ria knew about it, she would have writhed in embarrassment.

Two weeks since the Ogress army began its invasion into Cordova's territory.

With practically no resistance to speak of, the Ogress army was encroaching on their territory.

The reason Cordova offered no resistance was simply that preparations took time.

If they fielded poorly prepared forces, they would be defeated piecemeal before the Ogress army's massive forces.

Organize a large army and crush them in a decisive battle. That was the answer Cordova's leaders reached.

But that took more time than expected.

The simple fact that paperwork procedures were slow was a problem of their bloated bureaucratic organization, but even more simply, they struggled to gather soldiers and food for them.

They probably thought it was rebels rather than the enemy, but there was a group conducting raids on villages that were supposed to be key to their supply lines. Since beastkin were confirmed among them, there was no mistake who it was.

Unlike Ogress's regular forces, they were brutal.

First and foremost, they destroyed water resources as much as possible, which all living things needed.

Corpses and excrement were thrown into wells, limiting their means of obtaining water.

They attacked civilians, wounding them enough that they wouldn't die. This was likely to tie up healthy people in caring for the injured.

And food stores were burned without exception. Cordova had no choice but to release military supplies, naturally lengthening their supply lines.

And defending those required even more troops.

Even so, the Cordova army somehow managed to mobilize twenty legions. A great army of 240,000.

Against this, the invading Ogress army was a nearly equal great army of 250,000.

The place of confrontation was Maza Plains, where the Ogress army had taken position first.

The great battle that would later be known as the Battle of Maza Plains was about to begin.