As the sun appeared in the eastern sky……Mercurio’s army and the punitive force faced each other on the battlefield.

The chosen location for the final battle was called the Brissa Plain. Lush grass had grown from spring to summer, creating a thick, green carpet. But now, deep into autumn, the grass had long died with only shadows of what had been.

The gray, white, and brown dead grass were blown around by the wind revealing the brown dirt below.

On the Brissa Plain, Mercurio’s army of 10,000 troops faced off against the 40,000 strong punitive force.

Brissa Plain hadn’t been Mercurio’s preferred choice of battlefield.

No matter how strong Rei was, he was ultimately an individual.

In proper battles between armies, the number of troops would greatly affect the outcome.

This wasn’t just an ordinary plain either, there were sections of swamp, and trees everywhere. Occasionally, a rocky area could also been seen, although the majority was still open ground.

In other words, numbers would have a major impact on the outcome in the case of a head on battle.

Still, Mercurio chose this location because it was the best option he could choose.

Naturally, there were many other locations where they could have fought at.

But while Mercurio had been allowed to chose the battlefield, Frederick wouldn’t have been chosen by Kabajid to be his envoy if he just accepted all of Mercurio’s demands.

The final results of the negotiations allowed Mercurio to chose the battlefield, but only from locations within a certain range.

It had to be a place that could be reached by Mercurio’s army in under two days and had to be spacious enough to allow a certain number of soldiers to move freely.

The reason was obvious. If the punitive force had been forced to fight in a mountain range……where few soldiers could be effectively utilised, Mercurio’s army, with more elite fighters, would have an overwhelming advantage.

Of course, that wasn’t to say that the quality of soldiers in the punitive force was low.

However, since they had enough numbers to overwhelm their opponent, it would be to their own detriment if they didn’t fight somewhere where they could make use of their numbers.

Ultimately, the senior leaders of Mercurio’s army chose Brissa Plain.

It had terrain that would hinder movement while still being open enough to move large numbers of soldiers.

Brissa Plain wasn’t far from Mercurio’s army and the punitive force as well and once the battlefield was decided, Mercurio sent some soldiers out in advance to prevent the punitive force from setting any traps in advance.

Of course, the punitive force did the same, wary of any traps the other might set.

……No, rather, the punitive force was even more careful than Mercurio’s army in looking out for traps.

Mercurio’s army had decided on the battlefield and they also had Theorem, who had access to various magic items and the Demon Soldiers, who had been utilised in great numbers during the war.

In addition, with Rei and his item box, there was no one more suitable to set up traps.

As a result, while Mercurio’s advanced squad was the first to arrive at Brissa Plain, the punitive force’s advance squad was only a few hours behind.

The two forces met, but no particular skirmish broke out as both sides were wary of the other. Like that, time passed until the next morning.

The time for the final battle had arrived……

「Rei-dono, are you ready?」

「Yeah, no problem. Once the battle begins, I’ll dive right into their army from above and shoot fire at them from behind. Well, they’ll probably have ways to counter that……but I don’t think they have that many magic items that can absorb flames. And, in the end, it can only defend against fire. If it comes down to it, I’ll use Overlord’s Armour to run right through their back lines.」

At Widele’s question, Rei patted Set, who was standing beside him.

In a sense, it was a reasonable plan. The first thing Rei would do would be to carpet bomb the punitive force from above.

If things went well……no, if he didn’t do that, Mercurio’s army would end up having to fight against a force four times their size.

This first strike was an absolute necessity for Mercurio’s army to win the battle.

Not only would it cause a large amount of damage to the enemy army, it would also boost their morale greatly.

Even if Rei’s fire magic was sealed, he could still throw spears, drop rocks, or as Rei had put it, attack directly with Overlord’s Armour.

According to Rei’s judgement, it might even be more effective at causing damage and confusion among the punitive force.

It would be even better if he could take out the enemy commanders at the same time.

(Well, there’s a possibility I could also hurt Rhodes in addition to any commanders present, but I believe he had a magic item that gave him a healing effect. Once that’s all done, I’ll use Overlord’s Armour to charge the enemy from behind. ……To be honest, if everything goes well, this battle will be decided in less than a few hours. No. For Mercurio and the others, that’s what they want.)

As a civil war, the longer the battle went on for, the more the power of the Bestir Empire would be exhausted.

Mercurio’s army and the punitive force. No matter who won, it wasn’t good for their country’s national power to be reduced.

Rei had heard from Elena using the Paired Orbs that the countries the Bestir Empire had previously subjugated were all constantly feeling out the Bestir Empire’s strength at this moment.

「If that’s what Rei-dono thinks, then it will be fine.」

Having seen Rei fight many times before, Widele held great confidence in Rei’s strength.

……At the same time, she was somewhat envious of his strength.

The two of them conversed at the forefront of Mercurio’s army, which had entered into marching formation.

Having become used to both Rei and Set, there were many people who became motivated after seeing the two of them, telling themselves that they would definitely win this battle.

Of course, all this could be seen by the punitive force.

There were quite a few people who wondered why their opponents weren’t in despair, despite facing a force four times their size.

Most of the soldiers present in the punitive force had been brought as reinforcements by Kabajid and Shurus, so they had never experience battle against Mercurio’s army……or rather, against Rei.

Anyone who had experience any of the other battles against Mercurio’s army were invariably terrified to see the Griffon at the front of the enemy army.

Although it had been several days since the battle in Mercurio’s army camp, their fear of Rei was still etched deep in their minds.

And who was the one who had tamed that Griffon?

It was only because they knew this that they didn’t look at Mercurio’s army as casually as some of their fellow soldiers did.

The only reason they didn’t run away in fear in this situation was because they knew they had an even stronger force on their side……a S rank adventurer.

The information had been released to the army the previous night, after they had arrived at the location of the final battle.

Naturally, Mercurio had spies within the punitive force.

However, the information on Noiz’s presence had been completely sealed by Kabajid and Shurus’ direct subordinates.

As a result, while the punitive force knew of Rei’s presence in Mercurio’s army, Mercurio’s army had no knowledge of Noiz’s presence in the punitive force.

The had a force on their side that their opponent didn’t know about. That was why the soldiers in the punitive force were able to to stand firm without running away.

「Oh, it’s starting?」

No one knew who Rei was talking to as he muttered out loud, looking at the person who had stepped forward from Mercurio’s army in a carefree manner.

Her outfit was made from fabric so thing it could almost be seen through entirely.

It was a time of the year where mornings could be described as cold, so people watching her first felt chills before lust.

Of course, since she wore such clothes, measures were naturally taken to avoid such situations and, while the effect wasn’t as good as that of Rei’s Dragon Robe, it still protected the wearer from outside temperatures.

「That is……Her Highness Vihera, isn’t it?」

「No way……it really is Her Highness Vihera. There were rumors that she had joined the other side.」

「This is the perfect opportunity for us. I should be able to demonstrate my strength fully against someone like Her Highness Vihera.」

「If we can capture Her Highness Vihera alive, we will be given whatever we want as a reward……maybe we can even make Her Highness Vihera ours……」

While the soldiers in the punitive force were surprised by the appearance of Vihera, another person stepped forward from the front of the punitive force.

It was Pelfiel, Kabajid’s trusted knight.

The two women, both confident in their own strength and who could be called women among women, faced each other between the two armies.

「It’s been a while since I’ve met you, Your Highness Vihera.」

Pelfiel spoke in a formal tone with a serious expression on her face, possibly because she felt unable to use her usual tone when speaking with someone from the royal family.

Vihera reminisced about Pelfiel’s unusual attitude while her own remained unchanged.

(Well, maybe she doesn’t use formal speech with my sister because she’s my sister……?)

The thought crossed her mind as Vihera thought of how Pelfiel would usually talk to Frizione, but she quickly cleared her mind as she replied to Pelfiel.

「Yes. I think the last time I met with you was……I’m sure it was a party that took place before I ran out of the empire?」

「Yes, I believe so. ……Even so, although you left, you returned to the Bestir Empire and even sided with the rebels……no, it’s Mercurio’s army now? If I could voice my true feelings……I would rather you didn’t help them.」

「Is that so? My precious little brother’s life was in danger though, so don’t you think it’s only natural to come back to help him?」

「However, because of that, the Bestir Empire has been forced to fight a civil war. A wasteful act that will only drain the power of the nation.」

「Yes. But none of this would have happened if Kabajid hadn’t put Mercurio under house arrest to begin with.」

The two exchanged words from atop horses.

Their words were intentionally made louder with magic, allowing everyone to hear what they were saying.

This was the precursor to the final battle.

A war of words aimed at blaming their opponent for bad things that had happened while positioning themselves as the force of justice, improving the morale of their own army while lowering their opponent’s morale.

The main reason the leaders of the respective factions, such as Kabajid, Shurus, and Mercurio, did not appear here was mostly because of the potential risk involved.

If they could kill the enemy leader here, they would use everything at their disposal.

In this place, where more than 50,000 people had gathered, there would always be some people who thought that.

Maybe their loyalty to their own leader had reached wild extremes or maybe they wanted to take the leader in claiming credit.

No matter what the reason was, with the possibility that some people might do things like that, even if defensive magic items existed, it wasn’t possible to rely on them casually.

That was why Pelfiel, who was just Kabajid’s subordinate, despite his trust in her, was chosen to engage in this war of words with Vihera, who had always said that she had left the empire.

「In the first place, isn’t the Spring War the biggest reason why His Highness Mercurio was placed under house arrest? If he had won the battle, there would have been no problem. But, isn’t is strange that not only did he lose the battle, but he also incorporated the reason for his loss into his army? Maybe he was aiming for this from the beginning?」

Perhaps Mercurio had intentionally lost the war to get to the position he was currently in.

Those who heard those words in both armies burst into loud noises.

However, the noise in both armies was quite different.

Mercurio’s army was angered, viewing it as an insult towards Vihera.

In contrast, the punitive force was filled with murmurs, wondering if that could be true.

Regardless, the fact that the punitive force didn’t immediately start hurling insults at Vihera just went to show how high her popularity was within the Bestir Empire.

「Fufu~, that’s impossible, isn’t it? If he could predict the future to this point, he would have taken victory before this even became a possibility, wouldn’t he?」

Those who heard Vihera’s words agreed with her.

If Mercurio was someone who could control everything in such a situation, he wouldn’t have needed to go out of his way to start a civil war to begin with.

「Is that so? Your Highness Vihera like to fight. Since that is the case, wouldn’t it not be unexpected for him to also want to seek out stronger opponents to fight?」

「Well, if he wanted a fight, I don’t think he would have gone out of his way to do so inside the Bestir Empire, which is full of walls everywhere. If he was going to do that, it would probably be against a country with more powerful enemies than even I know of. But I think Kabajid and Shurus know if he would do that.」

Vihera glanced towards the punitive force.

Kabajid and Shurus were both not visible.

That was a matter of course. It was wrong to expect royalty to fight on the front lines.

In the end, the war of words ended in a draw with both parties unable to defeat the other……and the final battle of the civil war was poised to begin.

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