Chapter 91. Territorial War (2)
While Ronalp Territory was busy struggling with the trolls,
Raul returned from reconnaissance in the lizardman territory.
“My lord, I finished adding notes to the map.”
The map Raul handed me contained rough comments about the lizardmen’s distribution and the terrain.
Naturally, areas he had been unable to enter were simply blank.
“Good work. Which route do you think would be best for an invasion?”
Raul pointed at the map.
“This lagoon can be entered by ship. If we move through here, disembark at high tide at this point, then keep running along this path, we reach the chief’s house.”
“You scouted thoroughly. How did you hide while moving around?”
“With my genius brain?”
Please.
He had good instincts, so he probably just moved according to instinct.
“The success of this operation depends on the landing. We will use Winnie’s Fire to create flames and smoke for confusion, then land.”
We also finalized the retreat route.
After stealing the sacred relic, we would flee toward the Rhone River, board the canal vessels prepared in advance, cross the river, and return to Marcel.
Now it was time to transport the Brown Bears and raid the lizardmen.
“Who are you taking?”
“Martin, Witch Winnie, Ramita, Lorian, and you. Five people, plus one more ghoul I’ll create. Everyone else needs to protect the territory. If Ronalp realizes our knights are absent, they might attempt a lightning strike with their knight order.”
Even though the trolls were currently tying down Ronalp’s knights, reinforcements from other territories might allow them to eliminate the trolls sooner than expected.
Before dawn on the day of the sacred relic recovery operation, Marcel Harbor.
We had already evacuated everyone except essential personnel from the harbor area.
Enormous Brown Bears were going to walk directly into the harbor.
I wanted to prevent a massive panic.
Naturally, secrecy was another reason.
Only essential sailors and dockworkers had been summoned.
Every one of them had signed confidentiality agreements.
It was an open location, so completely avoiding the eyes of enemy spies would be difficult.
Still, we did everything possible to preserve secrecy.
Soldiers controlled the entire road from the eastern gate of the lord’s city to Marcel Harbor.
“My lord, the bears are coming.”
Raul pointed.
Huge Brown Bears were slowly approaching.
There were only forty-eight of them.
Yet it looked as though a red wave was coming toward us.
We had requisitioned forty-eight ships capable of supporting the size and weight of the Brown Bears.
So I had requested forty-eight bears.
“The King of the Brown Bears doesn’t seem to have come.”
“He probably needed to personally keep pushing the trolls.”
“But there is one bastard almost as ridiculous as the King.”
One bear looked about ten meters tall.
According to my senses, its strength was somewhere between Sword Master and Grand Master.
Even more ridiculously,
Bixby was sitting on its head.
Apparently, he had guided them here.
“Hi, Human Land Lord! I brought the Brown Bears!”
“Aren’t you scared? Why the hell are you sitting up there?”
“I’m not even enough for one bite. There’s no reason to be scared.”
Was he smart,
or just reckless?
Anyway, we used the magic lifting cranes to load one Brown Bear onto each ship.
Calling it “boarding” felt strange.
“Loading cargo” seemed more accurate.
With all twelve harbor bays operating at full capacity, most of the bears were loaded.
Then,
Crrrack.
The deck of one fishing boat collapsed.
It could not withstand the bear’s weight.
The Brown Bear panicked, afraid it might fall into the sea, and nearly destroyed the entire vessel.
“...We’re down to forty-seven ships.”
“Will the canal vessels really hold them?”
“Don’t worry. The large ones can carry three bears each.”
The canal cargo vessels purchased from Veneto were slightly narrower than carracks.
But because they were designed entirely for freight, their structures were extremely sturdy and their cargo capacities were enormous.
Ordinary carracks could not compare.
“Bixby, I’ll assign a knight to you. Take the bear that couldn’t board and move to the rendezvous point.”
“You’re making me work again? Human Land Lord, give me something.”
“Buy yourself some mutton on the way.”
“I told you that stingy people can’t mate...”
“Here.”
I handed him several silver coins.
After learning about money as a medium of exchange, Bixby sometimes asked for silver instead of sheep.
Apparently, he spent every coin he saved on clothes.
“Thank you, Human Land Lord. I can buy new clothes.”
You already have a ridiculous amount.
Why buy more clothes you never even wear?
While I indulged in old-man thoughts, the loading finished.
With Benedikta, the lord’s ship, at the front, a total of forty-seven vessels departed for the lizardman territory.
The target lagoon was about eighty kilometers away.
Some of the fishing boats were slow, so it took nearly a full day to enter the lagoon.
“Raul, I don’t see any lizardmen here.”
“They don’t live in areas that smell salty. My guess is that lizardmen dislike salt.”
If we had infinite salt, we could probably drive the lizardmen away.
I indulged in useless fantasies while watching the ships slowly approach land.
Thump.
A sudden impact made Captain Adrien shout.
“My lord, we cannot go any farther. The hull is touching the bottom.”
“Stay here until high tide. Martin, Raul, Winnie, ghouls, follow me. We need to start the fire while the sea breeze is blowing.”
The signalman waved flags vigorously to stop the fleet.
The signal told them to wait until the tide came in.
If we unloaded the Brown Bears now, they would sink into the mud.
We needed to wait until the incoming tide reached firmer ground.
I lowered a small boat and headed for shore with the others.
“Golem Creation.”
First, I created eight Wood Golems.
I planned to burn every nearby tree, so I made them in advance.
The ghouls were carrying packs containing Winnie’s Fire, white phosphorus, and bombs.
“Winnie, start the fire before the wind changes. Martin and Raul, help her.”
We intended to use white phosphorus to ignite the forest around the lagoon and spread smoke.
We carefully placed the fires so that the wind would carry the smoke toward the lizardman settlement.
The flames quickly grew.
Driven by the sea breeze, the fire spread through the forest.
Toxic smoke from the burning white phosphorus mixed with ordinary wood smoke.
The combined cloud drifted north.
The low smoke blanketed the forest like fog.
“This is making me nervous just looking at it. Raul, this isn’t going to keep spreading forever, is it?”
“No, my lord. There are many wetlands farther north. The fire won’t cross them.”
As the fire spread, time passed quickly.
Night fell.
High tide arrived.
We slowly moved the vessels as close to land as possible.
Crrrack! Crack!
The sound of ships being damaged came from several directions.
As the heavy bears climbed off the ships, they shattered railings and sections of deck.
At least the main frames remained intact.
That was something.
The water was still deep in places.
Fortunately, the larger Brown Bears helped the smaller ones, preventing any from drowning.
We also unloaded the food brought for them so they could eat before moving.
Captain Adrien reported,
“All forty-seven bears have disembarked.”
“Good work. Tell every captain to return to Marcel, repair their ships, and resume their normal work.”
We would not need the transport fleet for the return trip.
Without the magic cranes, the Brown Bears would destroy the ships trying to climb aboard.
The canal cargo vessels were different.
They had bow docks that allowed the bears to simply walk onto them.
There were fewer canal vessels, but by repeatedly crossing the river, they could transport all the bears quickly.
