Theresica studied the Kazimierz High-Ranking Knight Errants before him one by one. He was a little surprised. He had merely told the Banshee and the Confessors to bring Kazimierz's commanding officers before him, yet they had actually captured every last one of them alive.
"You're Tolk, aren't you?"
His gaze settled on the oldest person there, who was also wearing the finest equipment. The man had only a slight wound on the back of his hand, but it had festered terribly, like an injury that had gone untreated for a long time. He looked extremely weak as well. This was probably the work of the Confessors.
The old man kept his head lowered without saying a word. Theresica had no desire for any unnecessary conversation, and asking why they had started the war would only waste time.
"Your Majesty."
"Manfred, how are the numbers?"
Theresica looked toward Manfred as he approached. He opened the report. "The Kazimierz Remnant Forces have all surrendered."
At those words, the Kazimierz High-Ranking Knight Errants kneeling before him twitched as though they had been shocked. Manfred continued, "At the main battlefield, Division One suffered over four thousand dead, and Division Two suffered over one thousand. We killed over twenty-three thousand Kazimierz Beastmaster Knights. The rest surrendered. We killed over sixteen thousand foot knights. The rest surrendered."
After hearing Manfred's report, the kneeling Kazimierz High-Ranking Knight Errants fell utterly silent. Of the sixty thousand troops they had brought, well over half had died.
Theresica took Manfred's report and stared at the figures. Although they had won, he still felt a pang in his heart.
After several hours of bloody fighting, both sides had fought themselves into a frenzy. Almost no wounded had been left behind.
Experiment Division One, which had initially withstood ten thousand Kazimierz foot knights and five thousand Beastmaster Knights on its own, had suffered the heaviest losses. Despite receiving the full support of the casters, it had still lost a third of its strength outright.
One battalion had been sent to guard the ruins and protect the main force's flank. With fewer than a thousand people, they had stubbornly held off an attack by six thousand enemy foot knights, killing more than three thousand of them. Aside from one deputy battalion commander, one communications soldier, and one seriously wounded soldier, every one of them had died.
Where could Kazdel find replacements for these people now?
A noisy commotion suddenly came from ahead. The Confessors responsible for clearing the battlefield seemed to have discovered something, so Theresica hurriedly asked the Confessor leader,
"What happened?"
"Your Majesty... I suggest you take a look yourself."
Theresica immediately walked over. This was Division One's original position. What caught his eye was a fully unfurled flag, fluttering alone in the wind. Someone had tried to pull it out, only to discover that they could not.
It was not planted in the soil, nor was it stuck into anything else. It was wrapped in layers of corpses, with countless hands gripping the flagpole tightly.
"Banshee."
"Here."
Theresica took a deep breath. "Those High-Ranking Knight Errants kneeling there seem somewhat out of place."
"What do you mean?"
"Have them all kneel over there, in a line."
The Banshee followed Theresica's pointing finger. The spot was right beside the road the Sarkaz forces would take when returning to Kazdel.
"As you command, Your Majesty."
Golden spell sigils appeared once more. The kneeling High-Ranking Knight Errants, unwilling in every way, walked to the roadside and knelt down. They even straightened their chests. Amid the mocking laughter of the Sarkaz soldiers, they let out screams like their souls were being torn apart.
"Your Majesty, what should we do with these Kazimierz prisoners? Should we kill them all?" Manfred asked. Capturing over twenty thousand prisoners in one stroke would require a great deal of supplies to keep them fed.
"No. Keep them alive. Don't let them die."
Theresica said, "They're more valuable alive than dead."
Night fell. Although they had won, there was little joy within Kazdel's city. Many families had been shattered that day.
The medical personnel were frantically busy, racing against the golden hour to use medical Originium Arts to reattach the arms of soldiers who had lost their limbs.
"A year has passed, and Kazdel's medical system has actually been rebuilt. The equipment is from Siracusa, while the technology... resembles Columbia's somewhat."
Inside the royal residence, Theresica and Kal'tsit sat together in a dining room. Shining and Ascalon stood behind them.
"As expected of you, Teacher Kal'tsit. You saw through everything at a glance."
Theresica sighed sincerely. Kal'tsit had merely passed by the operating room, yet she had already deduced so many things.
"Kazdel still only has the most basic medical capabilities. It may not even be able to treat ordinary illnesses properly, let alone something as special as Oripathy."
"What are you planning to do next?"
Kal'tsit slowly cut the beast meat on her plate, looking like a Victoria noble.
"Advance into the desert. Kazimierz still has troops stationed there. The war isn't over yet."
Theresica put down his utensils. "What about you? How is your research going?"
"The Catus data from Leithanien has all been collected."
"Then why not come to Kazdel? I'll do my best to provide you with..."
"I'll probably be going to Ursus next, and then I'll take a look at Victoria."
"Oh... Is that so?"
Theresica picked up his utensils again. "I wish you success in your research, Teacher Kal'tsit. If there's anything I can help with, you can try telling me."
"How will you continue the war against Kazimierz?"
"I don't know, Teacher Kal'tsit. You know I'm not some brilliant genius. I can only react to whatever happens when the time comes."
After hearing this, Kal'tsit, who had been staring at her plate the whole time, suddenly raised her head. When their eyes met, Theresica asked curiously,
"What is it?"
"Nothing." Kal'tsit lowered her head again.
"Then I'll be leaving first, Teacher Kal'tsit. I'm afraid I need to turn in early tonight."
Early the next morning, after a night of simple repairs and the burial of all the fallen soldiers, the Sarkaz Second Division, replenished with personnel from Division One, boarded the transport ships.
They would enter the desert, join up with the guerrilla forces, and deal with the remaining Kazimierz troops.
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Surrender
Although the Kazimierz forces had split once, tens of thousands still remained. They still possessed enough strength to fight Kazdel, making them a considerable threat.
Theresica personally followed the Second Division into the desert and established a stronghold outside the Kazimierz camp as well.
"How many people are left inside the Kazimierz camp?"
"Your Majesty, they received some reinforcements. There are now over ninety thousand... nearly one hundred thousand."
After hearing the guerrilla scouts' report, Theresica gained a more detailed understanding of the situation. At first, he had thought the Kazimierz invasion force numbered one hundred and fifty thousand, but it seemed to have already exceeded one hundred and sixty thousand.
"Manfred, I may have to take full control of this battle."
Theresica looked at Manfred. Until now, he had only issued missions or given broad guidelines, leaving the details of implementation entirely to them.
He looked around. "I know what you're capable of, and I believe our twenty-five thousand people can definitely crush them. But the Sarkaz can't afford any more losses. At least... I don't want to see any more Sarkaz die."
After the battle in Kazdel had cost the Sarkaz five thousand young adults, Theresica had lost every bit of joy over their victory. This was not the outcome he wanted.
After a brief silence inside the stronghold's command center, all the commanders at every level, including Manfred, lowered their heads.
"We will follow your will, Your Majesty."
The military was a peculiar place. If you were an outsider, they would find you annoying the moment you interfered even slightly. But if you were one of them, whatever you said went, and not a single person would contradict you.
In Theresica's eyes, it seemed that through a series of merely passable decisions during this war, he had won the initial trust of the Sarkaz troops.
He asked, "How many supplies are left for the troops in the Kazimierz camp?"
"Your Majesty, about half a month's worth. However, they occasionally force their way out to purchase supplies from Leithanien, so their actual endurance may be somewhat longer."
"Good. From this moment on, surround them completely and cut off every supply line."
Under Theresica's orders, the Sarkaz forces openly reinforced the stronghold right in front of the Kazimierz troops. After the Kazimierz sent scouts to assess the numbers, they obtained a terrifying figure.
The Sarkaz forces in the desert had already grown to seventy thousand!
And everyone here was a foot knight!
The Kurantas began to panic. All the pack and siege rams had been taken away by Lord Toke, and there was currently not a single Beastmaster Knight here to provide support. With only two thousand people's worth of advantage in a purely infantry battle, they might not even be able to defeat the Sarkaz.
The scouts had witnessed the Sarkaz building several caster positions around the camp!
Hadn't Lord Toke launched a surprise attack on Kazdel?! What was going on?! Had the Fiends abandoned their own home?!
While the Kazimierz stronghold's commanders continued to speculate, the Sarkaz brought a Knight Errant claiming to be one of Lord Toke's subordinates to the front of the Kazimierz camp.
From him, the commander of the garrison learned a shocking piece of news.
"Long Knight, Lord Toke has been defeated."
"What?!"
"Lord Toke has been defeated, and he's been captured as well!"
The commander's eyes widened. He did not dare think about it too deeply. He drew his sword and killed the Knight Errant, then immediately sent out several waves of messengers—some toward Kazimierz itself, and others toward Kazdel in search of Lord Toke's forces.
The Sarkaz saw all of this clearly. After intercepting and killing every messenger, Theresica judged that the time was right and ordered drones to scatter leaflets over the Kazimierz camp.
The content was extremely simple. It showed Lord Toke and the others kneeling, surrounded by Sarkaz soldiers wearing mocking expressions. On the reverse was a single sentence.
"Surrender, and you won't die."
The Kazimierz commander ordered his men to shoot down the drones and collect and burn the leaflets, but the results were minimal. The Knight Errants' morale had already suffered a tremendous blow.
It was not only the ordinary knights. Every messenger they sent vanished without a trace, and Lord Toke had not sent back a report in several days. Being isolated, helpless, and short on supplies placed considerable psychological pressure on the officers as well.
Watching the soldiers' morale sink lower by the day, and seeing their supplies gradually run out, the commander knew they could not continue wasting time. He ordered the troops to prepare for a nighttime breakout and return to Kazimierz!
As for Tolk... everyone actually knew what had happened. They simply did not want to say it aloud. This military operation also led everyone to agree on a unified line.
"It has nothing to do with those of us who carried out the orders."
Late at night, just as the Knight Errants began assembling, the Sarkaz casters, who had long since made their preparations, unleashed a large-scale bombardment spell. It blasted the Knight Errants back into their barracks before finally stopping.
The Kazimierz commander made several more attempts, but either Sarkaz crossbow bolts drove them back or Sarkaz spells scattered them like frightened animals. They were completely unable to break through.
"Damn Fiends! Fight us head-on!"
The trapped Knight Errants shouted furiously, but no Sarkaz paid him any attention. Theresica had issued an order strictly forbidding unauthorized combat!
The last trace of vitality their bodies could draw upon faded away with time. After being surrounded for nineteen days, the Kazimierz forces finally ran out of food. There were also large numbers of wounded soldiers in the camp, and without medicine, they wailed all day long. Their cries sounded like a lament, gradually stirring a hint of fear in the hearts of the living.
Deserters began to appear. At first there were a few, then a dozen or more. After Theresica deliberately allowed a group of messengers from Kazimierz proper to enter, the Knight Errants began surrendering by entire formations.
That group of messengers was responsible for delivering letters from their families.
On May 1, seeing that the army had completely slipped out of control, the Kazimierz commander offered the Sarkaz a surrender, and Theresica accepted it.
Without losing a single person, the Sarkaz had broken apart this army of one hundred thousand. The Knight Errants filed out of the camp, removed their armor and weapons, and exchanged them for Sarkaz food beside mountains of discarded equipment.
These people were truly starving. They did not care that they were eating the enemy's food and immediately wolfed it down right there.
After making a rough calculation of the food consumed, Manfred found Theresica with a worried expression.
"Your Majesty, feeding one hundred and twenty thousand prisoners is putting tremendous pressure on us. We should still dispose of some of them."
"No. They're still useful. Trust me—living people are far more useful than dead ones."
"What do you intend to use them for, Your Majesty?"
"To negotiate with Kazimierz. Ursus's army is still on the border. I believe they'll make the decision they ought to."
Theresica smiled. "What does it matter if one hundred and twenty thousand people eat a little now? They'll all have to spit it back out later. Go find Mostima."
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Ros Russell: How Did I End Up with This Bunch of People?
"Instructor Russell, someone is here to see you."
At the Kazimierz Knight Errant Training Camp, an ongoing lesson was suddenly interrupted. The students looked curiously toward the door, where they saw a large group of High-Ranking Knight Errants. They were clustered around the entrance, apparently waiting for someone.
"Continue training!"
Russell did not pay them any attention. After maintaining classroom discipline, she continued correcting the various errors in the students' training movements. Only when the midday break arrived did she finally leave the classroom.
"Grand Knight Commander, greetings."
Russell gave the High-Ranking Knight Errants before her a proper salute. The people around them immediately looked embarrassed.
Before you continue