The air in the council chamber did more than freeze at my declaration; it sank into the stillness that comes just before a great storm breaks.
The retainers stared at me with eyes full of shock and awe, while Medea, standing at my side, had a strange brilliance in her gaze.
"Your Majesty, are you serious? Our opponent is a three-kingdom alliance... Even if you count all their forces together, they outnumber our army by more than two to one!"
The old minister who had been speaking on military strategy offered his counsel in a trembling voice, but I did not even turn my eyes toward him.
Instead, I reached out and toppled the red flags placed upon the map one by one.
"Numbers are only a comfort to the disorderly. Valcion's iron mines, Nereia's granary lands, and the ports of the petty states to the east... They gave me the pretext first, so I will merely 'clean them up.'"
After the meeting ended and everyone else had withdrawn, Medea placed a hand on my shoulder and whispered, "If you wish it, Your Majesty, I can drive their commanders mad in a single night, or curse their supply lines until they snap. My magecraft exists only to become your blade."
As she spoke, her eyes held both devotion toward me and a need to prove herself, and I lightly tapped the back of her hand.
"Fear is only temporary, but order is eternal. Medea, use your magecraft to create the fog of the battlefield. Use that magic of the crossroads to make the enemy draw blades on one another. And... I cannot simply slaughter the people of that land indiscriminately, for they too will become my subjects."
At my words, Medea said nothing for a moment.
She only looked at me as though weighing them in silence.
Then a faint smile spread across her lips.
"...I see."
She murmured softly before continuing, "You are... different from the others."
Her hand slowly left my shoulder.
"...Understood, Your Majesty."
With those words, Medea bowed her head in reply.
"Then I shall... make them lose their way, just as you said."
I nodded at that.
Then I looked out the window.
The capital of the kingdom.
The lively streets and markets...
"...Send a messenger."
When I gave the order, the knight standing beside me immediately dropped to one knee.
"Deliver this to Valcion, Nereia, and all the petty states of the east. The King of Eirene speaks."
Without looking at the knight, I slowly relayed the contents of the message.
"If you withdraw your armies now, I will not hold your crimes against you. But if you take even one more step forward from this point..."
My gaze, fixed on the window, shifted from the city glowing peacefully below to the far-off outskirts where no light reached.
"From that moment on, this war will no longer be one of 'defense' or 'resistance'—it will become one of 'conquest.'"
When I finished speaking, the knight's voice trembled.
"I-I will obey!"
After he left, silence settled over the room once more.
Medea quietly stepped up beside me.
"...A declaration of war."
At her words, I shook my head.
"No. It is the final ultimatum."
After that, I sent messengers bearing my words to each of the nations.
The messengers returned three days later.
What they carried in their hands was not a promise of peace.
The King of Valcion had torn the letter to pieces before the messenger's face, and the armored troops of Nereia had already begun crossing the border river.
"Death to the arrogant upstart king of Eirene!"
When their mocking reply echoed through the council chamber, the retainers' faces turned pale, but my heart only sank colder still. The hour of mercy was over; all that remained now was the 'cleanup' I had foretold.
"Good. This is easier. Gather the soldiers—let the war begin!"
With that, I too prepared for the war that was fast approaching.
Afterward, on Castor Plain near the border, thirty thousand soldiers of the three-kingdom alliance filled the horizon like a vast bank of black clouds.
Facing them stood twelve thousand of Eirene's forces. The numerical disadvantage was plain, yet at the head of our army stood those who were unlike ordinary soldiers.
The elite troops of the 'Adventurer Guild' I had founded. Superhuman warriors who sought not coin, but honor and recognition beneath my order, stood wrapped in the radiance of the enhancement magecraft Medea had bestowed upon them, staring down the enemy, along with other heroes gathered from across the land.
I mounted Noctis and raised my holy sword high.
Beside me stood Medea in black ceremonial robes, staff in hand, ready to begin her incantation.
"Medea, begin."
At my words, pitch-black violet mist surged from the tip of Medea's staff and spread across the plain.
It was no mere smoke screen. Through the mist, the enemy was made to see the comrades ahead of them as foes to be slain, and the road of retreat as a cliff's edge; an illusion cast simultaneously upon dozens, then hundreds.
"Aaaagh! The bastard beside me betrayed us! Cut him down!"
"Where's the road? The fog... the fog is pulling at my feet!"
The invaders who had entered Eirene plunged into a scene of utter chaos, and watching that, I raised my sword and shouted, "Warriors of Eirene, enforce order! Spare those who surrender, but grant no rest to those who take up arms!"
At my command, the warriors of Eirene charged into the enemy ranks, now swallowed by confusion.
The elite of the Adventurer Guild made full use of Medea's enhancement magecraft and the advantage of the illusionary fog, tearing through the enemy's defensive line. They were no longer mere soldiers.
The elites trained under my rule advanced without wavering, even as the enemy drew blades on one another and screamed.
Eirene's soldiers, too, fought beside them and cut down the enemy across the battlefield.
And I surveyed the field from atop Noctis.
The alliance's formation had already collapsed completely, and the soldiers were either throwing away their weapons and fleeing in panic, or killing one another within the fog.
Yet even in that mist, there was a current that did not break.
Among the scattering soldiers, some began to gather again, shield to shield.
"Do not scatter! This is magecraft! Do not trust your eyes—follow the voices of your comrades!"
It was a low but firm shout.
At that cry, several soldiers stopped wavering and began checking one another's positions, trying to hold the line.
The formation that had seemed on the verge of collapse slowly began to recover its shape.
I watched that for a moment, then pulled on Noctis's reins.
"...That is enough."
I did not raise my voice.
I simply turned my horse and began walking slowly toward the point where the line was being reformed.
The sound of Noctis's hooves striking the earth rang out with uncanny clarity.
One by one, the soldiers who heard it through the fog turned their eyes in my direction.
"...It's the king."
Someone murmured in a low voice.
I did not answer.
I merely adjusted my grip on the sword once, then stood before the halted line.
Then a man who seemed to be the enemy commander stepped forward.
"We will not retreat any further."
At that, I nodded.
"...So it seems."
With those words, it was the enemy who moved first.
With a short cry, the soldiers surged forward at once.
A disciplined formation. Shields and spears interlocked, creating a pressure different from before.
Seeing that, I raised my sword.
I let the first spear glance off, then slipped past the shield that followed.
Rather than a heavy cut, I sought the opening—short, precise.
As the balance of the soldier who had come in close was broken, the line behind him naturally twisted out of shape.
Through that shattered gap, Eirene's soldiers drove in.
"Push left!"
At the shout from behind, our line moved in perfect coordination.
I stepped forward again, closing the distance to the commander.
He did not retreat.
Our blades clashed.
A brief, heavy impact.
It was not a contest of strength, but of timing.
The moment his sword lifted upward, I slipped beneath it a beat later.
Short thrust.
The man's body froze for an instant.
He did not cry out until the end.
He merely staggered back, losing his balance, and collapsed together with the soldiers supporting him from behind.
At that instant, the line that had been reforming wavered once more.
Seeing that, I turned back and said briefly, "...Now."
At that single word, Eirene's soldiers surged to the front.
It was already a formation that had broken once before.
They tried to hold again, but the moment its center vanished, that balance could not last long.
Soon the line scattered once more, and the soldiers who remained began to lay down their weapons one by one.
I did not pursue those who fled any further.
With my sword lowered, I slowly looked around me.
The fog still lingered, but the cries of chaos within it were fading little by little.
"...It's settled."
With that confirmed, I became certain of victory in this war.
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