Elf Tensei Kara no Cheat Kenkoku-ki

Book 05: Chapter 16-3: The War Begins

「What are we going to do against such a monster, Leader?」 「We'll use this.」 I took a pair of binoculars out of my bag. 「With these binoculars, we can see up to 2 km away. We'll use them to monitor the enemy and only target groups that are more than 1 km away from the monster. The enemy has ten thousand soldiers. Even if they march in two columns, their line will stretch for over 5 km. This way we can attack with relative safety where she can't see us. Hit them and then immediately retreat.」 Even if Ashno narrowed her search range in one direction, her maximum should be around 500 meters, there would always be areas out of her sight. We can ensure our safety by attacking those areas. 「Can’t we deploy all of our members with that plan, Leader?」 「No. The enemy is extraordinary. There's always a risk. If anything happens, I can distract her only for a while, which means that I can only protect a small number of people who have the skill to escape quickly in a short amount of time. This operation is based on the premise that only those who have the necessary strength and agility, enhanced by magic, can participate. So the only ones who will participate in this operation will be me and three members of Nettle: Roleau, Lucy, and Yukino.」 Roleau, Lucy, and Yukino had exceptional physical abilities, including those enhanced by magic. Ideally, I wouldn't want to involve Yukino, considering her young age, but given the operation's potential duration, her fire magic was indispensable. 「But Leader, what can the four of us do? If we hit and run, we'll only be able to shoot three or four arrows each, right? What’s the point of killing ten or twenty enemies with a surprise attack?」 Roleau's question was pertinent. With the enemy numbering over ten thousand, eliminating merely ten or twenty soldiers would hardly make a significant impact. Moreover, the number of attacks would drastically decrease if we only attacked when Ashno was in sight. Crossbow attacks wouldn't inflict much damage. 「I've thought about that. I've created a new weapon specifically for this operation. It's prepared outside, let's go take a look.」 Upon stepping outside, we saw four male elves from Nettle struggling to carry a massive iron sphere, approximately three meters in radius. 「This sphere has been concealed in twenty locations along the Empire's anticipated route. It's too heavy to carry around, so we'll retrieve and use it on the spot as needed.」 「Leader, is this ball a weapon?」 「Yes. This weapon is called a cluster bomb.」 「Cluster bomb?」 「That's right.」 I had created a weapon that was banned on Earth for being too inhumane. 「Inside this enormous sphere are hundreds of rudimentary hand grenades.」 I opened the cluster bomb to reveal it was packed with small iron spheres. 「Roleau and Lucy will use their wind magic to toss it above the enemy's heads, and I'll fine-tune its trajectory. Then, the mechanism inside this bomb will make it spin rapidly while exploding, scattering hundreds of hand grenades over a wide area. When these scattered grenades hit the ground or the enemy, each one will explode, sending out a multitude of iron shards. Furthermore, to increase lethality, I've made the grenades' contents out of soft iron. It breaks inside the human body, expanding the wound and making treatment much more difficult.」 The iron shards were, in principle, equivalent to what was known as dum-dum bullets, another type of weaponry banned for being inhumane due to their destructive impact on the human body. 「Leader, from what I'm hearing, this sounds like an outrageous weapon.」 「Yes, it is an outrageous weapon. With a single shot, it can kill or injure hundreds within a radius of several hundred meters.」 「Are you seriously planning to use this thing, Leader?」 「Of course, we must use it. Without it, we can't win. The landmines are just bait to lure out Ashno, who can use earth magic; this weapon is our real hope. If it doesn't work, we can't win.」 Once they realized there were explosive devices hidden in the ground, Ashno, capable of detecting them, would have to lead the march, constantly scanning the ground. This would leave their rear exposed, and that was where we'd drop the cluster bombs and deal a heavy blow to the imperial army. I'd held back considerably until now. However, in this battle, the gloves were off from the start. Landmines, cluster bombs, dum-dum bullets, counterfeit bonds, drugs – all of these weapons were made only to kill or brutally damage the enemy without any regard for their circumstances. 「But Leader, isn't this a bit too much?」 「Roleau, I do have a conscience. But we can't win without going this far. That's the difference between Erucy, with just about three hundred people, and the Empire, which can muster ten thousand soldiers. I'd rather sell my soul to the devil and survive than fight honorably and die. I love Erucy and everyone living in it. I absolutely don't want to lose anyone. So, please, lend me your strength, everyone.」 Baring my true feelings, I lowered my head. Any pretense now would only guarantee that no one would follow me. A brief silence enveloped us. 「Leader, raise your head. I shouldn’t criticize your decisions.」 「Yes, Cyril-sama. Please look up. This Kurao will follow you, no matter what happens.」 Kurao and Roleau were convinced. Kuu silently nodded in agreement. 「From tomorrow, the four of us, including myself, will head to the battlefield. Roleau, you're in charge of preparations, and Kurao, I'm entrusting you with overseeing things in our absence. Kuu, take care of yourself.」 「Understood, Cyril-sama. I'll make sure to guard everything in your absence.」 「Take care as well, Cyril-kun.」 I placed my hand on Kuu's head, and then our lips met. Without words, we just gazed into each other's eyes. Some things were communicated just by looking at each other. We will depart tomorrow. Now, the war begins.