Princess's Struggle for Survival

"Your Grace, the enemy is advancing fiercely. The outer wall has already fallen; our troops are retreating toward the inner city."

Behind the wall, Duke Grant sat at his writing desk in a hastily donned coat as reports came one after another. His thick brows knotted, and his pupils glinted with a savage light.

He had originally planned to stall, to wait and see how things unfolded in the capital, even at worst he could buy time through formal talks, rally neighboring nobles to resist, or continue recruiting to build strength for the coming defense.

He hadn’t expected the Valeria Empire to strike so quickly.

They had sent a letter that afternoon asking to negotiate, and by nightfall troops were assaulting the fortress. Astrid Calliste truly wouldn’t suffer any loss if she could avoid it.

Just as he was wondering where reinforcements might come from, a piece of news from his servant made him grimace.

"The adjutant... he... fell in battle while fighting the scaling troops..."

Adjutant... fell?

"What did you say?"

The man’s low voice roared through the room like thunder on a rainy night.

The servant stiffened, eyes refusing to look at the enraged noble, and answered with a trembling tone. "My lord, the imperial army brought a large number of magic-users at Sorcerer rank. They coordinated with the siege troops to rush the walls first, causing heavy casualties among our guards."

"The adjutant, in order to steady the line, risked his life and climbed the ramparts to help repel the first wave. He fought a silver-armored magic-swordsman who wielded fire magic with great skill. After several fierce exchanges, he let his guard down for a moment and his arm was gravely injured; in the end ultimately defeated by the enemy..."

The servant’s voice faltered into incoherent muttering before ending in a strained gasp:

"...they struck him down immediately."

Others might not know the adjutant’s strength, but Grant did. An opponent with the physical and mental quality of a peak tier Master Knight might lose a duel, but not be slain outright within minutes.

The man who had fought him was clearly a peak tier Magnus and a peak tier Master Knight combined, a powerful, dual-trained existence.

So the Valeria Empire had really come with everything this time.

Thinking the battlefield was only half a city away, Grant felt his anxiety spike.

"Continue to scout. Report any news immediately."

"Yes, Your Grace."

The bedroom door closed and a short silence fell. A gust of cold wind rattled the window and made Grant even more irritable.

When they had first attacked the Valeria Empire it was with King Velys’s material support and the Church Knights’ troops, and with the old emperor dead and the new one ascending, the empire was in a tense power transition. Even with those advantages they had only scraped at a border fortress for months.

Now he stood alone against an empire’s vicious offensive, this was an army rested and replenished, armed with the magical weapons developed over the last half year.

How could they hold it? If the fighting on the front stalled, Grant even feared that at dawn the southeastern horizon might show one arcane airship after another, just as in the great retreat from Liya Tower Fortress.

Not impossible.

And now... his most loyal and capable adjutant was dead.

A defense commander cut down one-on-one by the enemy’s first wave had consequences almost equivalent to having their leading commander slain in open battle.

Coupled with the rapid loss of the outer wall, the enemy’s momentum must be tremendous. That the army had not already broken was beyond Grant’s expectation, but it was certain the frontline was worse than what his servants had reported.

After a moment’s thought, Grant stood, pulled on his coat and told the disheveled woman in the bed to leave, then strode from the bedroom.

Hours later the fires outside the fortress dimmed; the sharp stench of blood hung in the cold wind and pricked everyone’s nostrils.

The clashing of iron and armor had thinned, replaced by heavy footsteps and soft murmurs. Men leaned on one another in the rubble, using rags for rudimentary bandaging and staunching wounds.

Grant’s defensive magic circle had already been completely crippled. Siege troops in Valeria armor embroidered with gold-and-silver floral patterns occupied both walls and had planted their banners atop the high platform, declaring the result of this battle.

"Ten hours to take a border city... isn’t that a bit much?" Astrid’s voice was low as she surveyed the charred scorch marks on the bricks and the dark red blood congealed on the frozen ground. She brushed snow from her pauldron and spoke with a cool ease.

"I knew the Velys Kingdom was a paper tiger, but I didn’t expect it to be this weak."

Strictly speaking, from gathering supplies to rebuilding Liya Tower Fortress to organizing the armed forces, that accumulation was the true length of their preparation. Still, to take a city within ten hours after firing the first shot was an impressive feat.

"Lyra," Astrid said, hearing the other woman near her nod in agreement, "this battle met far less resistance than the defense of Liya Tower Fortress used to."

It wasn’t only because Astrid herself had become stronger; the enemy’s resistance had visibly crumbled. Those once-powerful figures who had stifled the Valeria army now stood like dry stalks in a field that toppled in a single gust.

"Nonetheless... we did suffer casualties," Lyra’s tone deepened.

After clearing the battlefield and ensuring no remaining threats, the regent had come to the front lines. Lyra had been directing the first aid and threat sweep, and had seen many soldiers with arrow wounds to the arms, some with their eyes scarred by boiling oil, irreversible damage for the unlucky.

Astrid sighed softly and looked where Lyra’s gaze lingered. "War is always bloody. All we can do is minimize the bleeding."

"This operation’s success also depended on the cooperation of the commanders and the siege troops. Once they’ve recovered I’ll submit a memorial to the Empress praising the warriors."

She turned, lips parting. "For now... come, Lyra. Take me to the field hospital to pay some visits."

The young woman with pink hair acknowledged and finished her battlefield report, then led Astrid down the ramparts toward the fortress’s inner city and the wounded.

....................

"So Grant isn’t in the fortress?"

When the silver-haired beauty raised the question, Charles placed the preliminary reports he’d received on the table and nodded respectfully.

"That’s right, Your Highness. The captain of the royal guard who accompanied Her Highness has scanned the whole city. No presence at Arcanist mage level has been found."

By unspoken wartime convention between the two countries, Arcanist mages couldn’t officially fight on the front lines, but acting as battlefield troubleshooters wasn’t usually restricted.

After taking the outer fortress, some Arcanist mages had accompanied the army to check every alley and corner to be sure there were no hidden threats within the city.

"You don’t seem surprised by that outcome," Charles observed.

Astrid smiled faintly and fingered the corner of a page with a gloved hand, reading the numbers. "He wouldn’t risk dying for a single city."

Duke Grant’s strength also reached early-stage Arbiter. If he personally entered combat it would give the Valeria Empire an excuse to aim deadly force at him; who knew if there were one or two Arcanist mages concealed within their ranks? If Grant fell into a trap, it would be irrecoverable.

He lacked both the courage and the necessity.

"The Velys Kingdom is deeply divided by internal conflicts. Influential Arcanist mages are aligned with different noble factions whose interests often clash. Some believe the Empire’s goals are limited to territorial expansion and resources, and that Grant is partly responsible for his own predicament, since his lands sit directly on the Empire’s path as it carries out its campaign against alleged war criminals."

"Others see our intervention as an opportunity to carve another piece from the royal family. In short, given the chaos, they can’t form a unified defensive alliance; a rash attack would just get them picked off one by one. For Duke Grant there’s really only the choice to grit his teeth and endure."

Unlike an empire united under an emperor, the Velys Kingdom had no coherent national identity; its nobles were only nominally led by the king, and the capital’s nobles didn’t exert strong border control.

They would readily set aside their differences when there was profit to share. But when no common benefit was at stake, why would the other nobles concern themselves with the invasion of a single house? Refraining from exploiting the chaos for their own gain would already be considered an act of generosity born from old alliances and mutual ties.

Noting the casualty rolls and the names listed as missing, Astrid’s red eyes narrowed. Her long eyelashes shimmered faintly in the light like dewy petals.

"Once the situation settles a bit, send the severely wounded back to Liya Tower Fortress for treatment."

"I understand."

"And military discipline," she continued. "I’ve emphasized this many times before. Duke Charles, enforce the rules fairly and keep the troops strictly regulated."

They were an army sent to purge the kingdom’s war criminals and open foreign markets; they mustn’t behave like bandits, pillaging and committing atrocities.

"I will restrain them," Charles said softly.

No looting, no bullying, no wanton slaughter; maintain normal production within the town. To Charles such restraints might dampen the soldiers’ spirits, but if the regent required it, he would comply.

"As for logistics..."

"The Empress has been keeping close watch on that. Supplies will arrive at the front on schedule to ensure food and equipment are adequate, to prevent desertion or mutiny."

Soldiers who faced death every day needed ways to relieve their stress; it was unrealistic to expect military discipline alone to keep them in check. They were not the immortal knights of some sacred order. In the Valeria Empire, the age when faith held such power had long since faded.

What Astrid, or rather Amalia, could do was ensure the army’s supply lines remained secure, providing every soldier with hot meals and occasional special rations to boost morale.

At times like these, she couldn’t help but wonder: since she had been transmigrated into this world, why hadn’t she received some kind of overpowered cheat ability? Something like a "golden finger" that guaranteed three hot meals a day for every soldier without fail.

Fleeting, useless fantasies crossed her mind. Astrid finished reviewing the papers, having a clear picture of the losses from the battle, then looked up at Charles.

"For the next few days sweep the city for hidden dangers and neutralize all potential traps. This will be our key foothold in the kingdom for a long time."

"Also, contact the agents we placed earlier. Word of this battle will spread quickly across the Kingdom of Velys; I want to know the responses from all sides."

She hadn’t come merely to annihilate the Velys Kingdom, nor to eliminate all its nobles , most Valeria nobles were no cleaner than those across the border, engaged in ugly business. With her present abilities she could not and did not intend to destroy the entire noble class.

If possible she preferred softer methods: by aligning with a few nobles dissatisfied with the king, not to win them over with flattery, but at least to make them indifferent to the Valeria advance and refrain from blocking it.

"Perhaps there’s room for cooperation."

Having settled plans with Charles, Astrid donned a black silk hat and spoke warmly as she took her leave. "I’ll pay close attention to diplomacy. Military administration is not my forte; Duke Charles is better suited. An amateur directing professionals would only be laughed at."

"Countess Lyra is still at the field hospital helping the wounded soldiers?"