Record of Wortenia War: Volume 30 (eBook)

Ryota Hori (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-2276-9 (ISBN)

Infos

The mighty O'ltormea Empire, known as one of the strongest armies on the western continent, has finally made its move. Unable to ignore the growing threat, the nation has set its sights on the Wortenia Peninsula's Archduke Ryoma Mikoshiba-the very man they summoned to their world. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Rhoadseria and the Kingdom of Xarooda have drawn up strategies and plans to prepare for a full-scale attack after having narrowly avoided an attack from O'ltormea's advance forces. As the enemies close in, what will Ryoma do to turn the tide of war?

Textauszug

From that knight’s perspective, it’s probably a case of “let sleeping gods lie.”

After confirming that the knight had left the room, Dornest quietly turned his gaze toward the face of his liege. As I thought, he’s quite angry.

The expression reflected in Dornest’s eyes was, at a glance, the same composed face Lionel always wore. If one were to nitpick, his features were noticeably tenser than usual. Still, that minor difference was all there was. On the surface, there was nothing overtly unusual to see. Because Dornest had been by Lionel’s side since his mid-teens as one of the emperor’s closest aides, he could read his lord’s state of mind as easily as flipping a page in a book.

“This is quite a mess we’ve gotten into... To think someone like Rolfe Estherkent would be dealt such a crushing blow. Tch. The only saving grace is that his life isn’t in danger.” A sharp click of the tongue escaped Lionel’s lips. Without saying another word, he held out the letter in his hand toward Dornest.

So he wants me to read it...

Taking the document, Dornest swiftly scanned through the contents. As he read, he realized that what was written matched exactly what he had feared, and he let out a deep sigh.

No wonder His Majesty is angry. The Xarooda campaign, which has already drained so much of our war funds, hasn’t even managed to take the royal capital, Peripheria. We’ve yet to even complete the occupation of the Ushas Basin.

If the worst of it was merely a stalled advance, the situation might have been salvageable.

But if everything in this letter is accurate, in the worst-case scenario, we may be forced to abandon the towns and villages we’ve already taken, and begin a full-scale contraction of the front lines. Purely from a tactical and strategic standpoint, a withdrawal is likely the only rational choice. If that happens, it will take even more time to achieve our overarching goal of occupying the entire Kingdom of Xarooda. And that, without a doubt, would place an enormous burden on the empire.

If one were to liken the invasion of Xarooda to a game of sugoroku—a traditional Japanese board game akin to backgammon—it would be as if they had advanced halfway across the board only to be suddenly forced back to the starting square. In a game of sugoroku, being sent back to the starting point only frustrated the player. But in war, being pushed back to square one didn’t end with a simple feeling of regret. Inevitably, the cost of war would begin to skyrocket.

Naturally, we’ve accounted for some margin of error. It’s not as if the empire’s finances will collapse overnight. Either way, a major budget increase is unavoidable.

That notion made Dornest’s stomach twist with sharp pain. The O’ltormea Empire stood as the dominant force in the central region of the western continent, a superpower with the ambition and the might to seize control of the entire continent. Militarily and economically, its strength was beyond question. But even overwhelming power had its limits. If one compared the empire’s current state to a business, it would resemble a company where expenses continued to balloon while profits refused to materialize. Ultimately, responsibility for that would fall squarely on the shoulders of Emperor Lionel Eisenheit.

While Shardina Eisenheit was on-site leading the second invasion of Xarooda, her position was still that of a field commander.

All this indicates that if the invasion of Xarooda continues to be stalled and military spending keeps rising, dissatisfaction with His Majesty is bound to spread among the nobles, thought Dornest, knowing that once that happened, the very foundation of the O’ltormea Empire could begin to tremble.

After all, there are plenty of people who would delight in seeing the empire’s rule falter... Not just enemies outside, but even within.

At first glance, the O’ltormea Empire seemed like a dictatorship ruled by Lionel Eisenheit. But that was only the surface. Given that the empire had risen to power through brutal invasions and the subjugation of weaker nations, such a façade was to be expected. Even if those new subjects bowed their heads outwardly, no one could know what they were truly thinking. The empire was filled with individuals who were wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Those people were no different from the subjects of ancient tales who endured bitter hardships and waited, hidden in plain sight, to exact their revenge. Despite their outward submission to O’ltormea, they secretly longed for the day it would stumble. For people like that, the news of the Xaroodian invasion faltering and the resulting spike in war expenditures presented the perfect opportunity to bring down the emperor. No one understood that fact better than Lionel himself.

Furthermore, the informants we spent years cultivating have been eliminated. On top of that, Lord Rolfe has been forced to withdraw from the front lines...

The loss of the informants had undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the O’ltormea Empire. After all, the empire had invested enormous amounts of time and a considerable fortune just to bring those individuals over to their side. Any chancellor responsible for leading the state would have a splitting headache.

Worse still, the postoccupation governance plan for Xarooda will have to be drastically reworked since the influential nobles who served as our informants are gone.

The empire hadn’t even reached the point of seeing a clear path to occupying Xarooda in the first place. At this stage, any plans for ruling the kingdom afterward were completely meaningless. This was the very definition of counting one’s chickens before they’d hatched. But from a national governance standpoint, planning only after a situation had already occurred would be far too late. Such disaster preparedness was akin to someone taking action only after starting with a panicked “So, what now?” Regardless of one’s opinion, advance planning was absolutely essential.

Reality and expectation rarely lined up. It would be absurd to claim that any premade countermeasures would be flawless. Shortcomings and miscalculations were bound to appear. Even if those plans weren’t perfect, establishing at least a general direction in advance was far from meaningless.

If we have a basic framework in place, all we need to do is revise it to match the situation. That’s far easier than building something from scratch.

Adjusting an existing plan required far less time and effort than rebuilding one from the scratch. But damage to a core element of an original plan, as in this case, would render a few adjustments insufficient.

Those informants, traitors to their own homeland, could never be fully trusted. They were, by all accounts, human scum. But even scum has its uses.

Even trash could serve a purpose, in its own way. The occupation of the Kingdom of Xarooda was merely the first step in the O’ltormea Empire’s greater ambition to bring the entire eastern half of the continent under its rule. While invading another country through force was no easy task, governing that country afterward was many times harder. Throughout recorded history, the occupation of a nation almost always occurred after it had lost a war.

Inevitably, the same people who were fighting to kill each other just yesterday must now be treated as citizens of the same nation.

From the perspective of a nation, once the white flag was raised and surrender was accepted, everything was essentially over. The formal signing of surrender documents then followed. Even that was no small affair because it concerned the life or death of an entire country. Naturally, it wasn’t something to take lightly. That said, one could still argue it fell under the broader umbrella of administrative work. But the hearts of the people who made up that nation weren’t so easily handled.

There probably isn’t a single person in the world who, after watching their homeland fall, would readily welcome a new ruler’s dominion.

Even those who normally gave no thought to patriotism wouldn’t remain unaffected when placed in such a situation. The country one was born and raised in held that much meaning. It was a presence deeply rooted in the heart, even if one didn’t always consciously recognize it.

This is exactly why governing a conquered nation becomes so difficult.

Whether the defeated people would loudly proclaim their patriotism, take up arms, and fight to restore their homeland remained uncertain. But even if they merely appeared obedient on the surface while subtly undermining the empire behind the scenes, the consequences could still be severe.

In some ways, it’s even worse when unwilling subjects don’t resist openly. If these people made their defiance clear, it was easier to deal with. Those who refused to comply could face immediate execution or coercion through threats to their family. Someone who appeared cooperative on the outside might make the entire situation far more complicated. The real problem is those who pretend to work diligently, yet intentionally cut corners and commit sabotage while carrying out their duties.

When individuals hindered progress, the damage would ripple through all sorts of unexpected places. When a blacksmith cut corners while forging weapons and...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.11.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Record of Wortenia War
• Illustrationen: Bob
• Übersetzer: Jade Willis
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: Isekai • Light Novel • Magic • Martial Arts • Strategy • Tactics • TWINS
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-2276-3 / 1718322763
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-2276-9 / 9781718322769