Evade the Hero CH 284 TL (328)
Side Story – Memories of a Princess (57)
Duke Laisha received very special treatment from Ast.
“Remember, our opponent is Duke Laisha!”
That was what Ast always said these days, and only a handful of high-level officers could hear it. It was a warning to be careful. However, there was a twist:
“Duke Laisha could lose by getting hit by a falling leaf. Be careful not to win too easily!”
It wasn’t because their enemy was strong. In fact, Duke Laisha was so weak that even the smallest advantage could crush him completely. From him, we learned something unexpected:
Even letting the enemy claim victory wasn’t easy!
“We attacked lightly and then pretended to be blocked. Thanks to that, Duke Laisha kept his position,” Ast said.
He was right. Through carefully planted information, the enemy managed to stop our fake offensive for the first time. Of course, we didn’t use magic bombardments and only made half-hearted attacks before pulling back. But for the enemy, it was a huge deal. They finally blocked one of our strikes, something they had never done before.
“Thanks to that, he didn’t get cut off yet.”
Duke Laisha had failed more than ten times. Recently, he wasted a whole army just flailing around. Yet he still kept his rank as a general, likely because of the late Duke Laisha’s legacy and this newly acquired “achievement.” If this had been the Karan Empire, no achievements would have saved him from execution.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Ast agreed. “But we can’t relax just yet.”
It felt like Duke Laisha had barely escaped death. Right now, he was walking on a tightrope—he might not realize it, but anyone could see it. A single snip of that rope and he’d fall without end.
“Our job is to turn that tightrope into a solid bridge,” Ast continued.
It wouldn’t be easy. Actually, it would be very hard.
We’d already heard plenty of rumors about Duke Laisha and figured they were exaggerated. We believed no human could act like that. But after meeting him, we realized every word was true. He truly was a genuine oddity, just like Ast. The difference? Ast was crazy but talented, and Duke Laisha was crazy and incompetent.
“A sturdy bridge… This looks tough,” I said.
“Yes, Your Highness. He’s an unimaginable figure. If we let our guard down, we might accidentally give him a real victory.”
At this point, fighting the Merdea Kingdom head-on seemed simpler. If we just relied on continuous magical bombardments to destroy key strongholds before they learned how to counter it, we could then fight a normal war. That would be easier than carefully helping Duke Laisha thrive.
“It will be very hard, but if we succeed, we will harvest the sweetest fruit of all: turning Duke Laisha into Merdea Kingdom’s supreme commander, Religius Lu Laisha.”
“Ha…”
Just thinking about it was tempting. Helping an enemy commander not win, yet not lose, until he reached the highest seat… It sounded deliciously sweet. That idea alone made everyone eager.
“Everything’s ready. From now on, we’ll help Duke Laisha as best we can,” Ast said.
“What do you mean by help?” a certain officer asked.
Ast pulled out a map and spread it so everyone could see. He pointed out where we currently stood: an improvised base, a forward defensive stronghold, and Fesra Fortress far behind as a fallback point. He placed small flags bearing the Empire’s symbol on these three positions.
“And here is where the enemy’s units are.”
Because of the magical bombardments, the enemy’s troops, once clustered together, had now spread out evenly. Instead of large armies, they were now broken down by division, scattered all over. Losing even one army was no small matter, even for the Merdea Kingdom—famous for its military might. Over time, they had lost key leaders and countless troops, weakening their entire force.
The Kingdom was engaged in multiple fronts against the Karan Empire, not just with us. They couldn’t just pull reinforcements from nowhere. Even if rumors said that Prince Reide’s force had lost recently, they hadn’t won big enough to release troops.
“Was that their second defeat?” I asked.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I thought of my younger half-sibling who had once faced us with a confident smile. He had seemed clever, yet he lost twice to this ragtag force. A disgrace to the Royal Palace, perhaps. Still, he was under ten years old—comparing him to monsters like us might be unfair.
“Anyway,” I said, “the enemy is now spread out into divisions, which means our magical bombardment is less effective.”
We can’t surpass the limit of magical power. Although we increased the amount of mana potions each mage got, it couldn’t solve everything. Recovery potions let you regain mana, but only to a point. Using them for a prolonged high-altitude bombardment would be suicidal, especially for the sake of Duke Laisha. Ast wouldn’t want such inefficiency.
“Our only goal right now is simple: eliminate all enemy commanders except Duke Laisha. That might be tough, but it’s the ideal goal,” Ast said.
With the enemy’s leadership gone and troops spread thin, nobody except Laisha—holding both a Duke’s title and a general’s rank—would be left to take command. Even if just temporarily, he would rise.
“Arisetius Marquis was lucky when we took him down. The enemy won’t be fools this time.”
“Yes,” Ast nodded. “Our spies say enemy officers now sleep like regular soldiers, changing locations daily. Sniping them is hard.”
With divisions spread out, our bombardments would be less efficient. But Ast must have a plan.
“Our original goal was to raise Duke Laisha’s worth and reduce the enemy’s numbers. Eliminating their officers is key,” Ast said.
He placed a piece on the map—like a chess king, symbolizing Duke Laisha’s position.
“This is where Duke Laisha is,” Ast said, smiling wickedly.
Maref, his junior (and secretly a dragon), shuddered at that smile. Ast had no idea that even a dragon feared his madness.
“We have only one path forward,” Ast concluded.
He moved the tokens representing our mages to where we would launch bombardments. To everyone’s shock, he indicated an area occupied by Laisha’s own troops.
“The enemy’s soldiers say we use devil’s magic. So let’s give Duke Laisha both credit for defying ‘devil’s magic’ and spread rumors he is blessed by the gods. We’ll pretend we’re trying to blast his forces too. Imagine the stories: devil’s magic on one side, divine protection on the other.”
Ast sounded like he was reciting a fairy tale, his voice dripping with excitement. Everyone stared at him, stunned. With a satisfied grin, he asked, “Isn’t it exciting?”
He treated war like a game. Ast’s dark reputation grew again that day.
***
#72 Their Situation: The Situation of a Certain Soldier
“Aaah!”
“Block it! Block it!”
“It’s the Empire’s magic! The unstoppable magic!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions shook the area. At last, our turn had come. I, an ordinary soldier, shook with fear. They say you can’t block the Empire’s magic. Everyone knows it.
Recently, nearby units suffered their bombardment. None managed to block it. Officers wouldn’t say it openly, but their fearful faces said it all. Rumors were truth: you cannot stop the Empire’s magic.
I’d heard some soldiers were so traumatized that even the sound of something dropping made them tremble. They said we’d all die anyway, that this war was unwinnable because the enemy used devil’s magic.
Some who said such things were executed for lowering morale. The officers called them enemy spies, but who would be so obvious? No, they were just terrified. That kind of fear can’t be faked.
So, when the Empire’s magic fell upon us, I just quaked, praying desperately.
“O great gods, please spare us,” I whispered. Either the gods would save me, or I would die. If I had to die, I hoped it would be painless.
“W-what are you doing! Sorcerers, block it! Block it now!”
That was Duke Laisha’s voice. How foolish. Everyone knew the Empire’s magic can’t be blocked.
“Sir! Their magic cannot be blocked! You must take cover!”
“You believe such lies? Without trying? Block it now!”
We’d all seen the endless failures. He called them lies?
Yet,
“You haven’t tried, so how do you know? Follow my orders!”
“Yes, sir!”
As our sorcerers gathered mana and cast a defensive spell toward the sky…
“Huh?”
The roaring outside suddenly fell silent.
“Huh?”
“C-could it be…?”
We all looked up. The magic spells that had seemed unstoppable now crashed into the shield and vanished. Silence. We were speechless.
So it could be blocked?
“Look at that! You gave up without trying, you fools!” Duke Laisha shouted.
“I am the center of the Laisha family, of the Merdea Kingdom, and of the world! Do you think I would die here?”
From his past behavior, you would never guess it. But in that moment, Duke Laisha, who once seemed destined to fail, suddenly looked heroic.