Bear School Astartes

The war unfolded in an unexpected yet logical manner.

Both the Northern Alliance Army and the Niflgaard realized at the same time that they had to fight now and couldn’t delay any longer.

War is the utmost test of a country’s endurance.

During the progress of the war, a multitude of normal activities within the country must give way to the singular purpose of ’war’.

Civilian life, commerce, handicrafts... everything must strive towards that one purpose.

This inevitably leads to a decline in the general standard of living and a decrease in the convenience of life.

The people don’t care how important the distant war is; if their lives feel worse than before, they will naturally complain.

Complaints lead to resentment and resistance, and these grow as the war progresses, thereby affecting the normal activities of the nation.

Though Niflgaard is a theocracy built on the foundation of slavery, the Emperor, as both political head and religious leader, doesn’t have the final say.

The great nobles under him, whose interests stretch across various industries, see that external wars do not only oppress the common people but also take a toll on these great nobles and merchants.

In the past, the Empire’s expansion was always able to return with victory and exponential gains before the patience of the great nobles and merchants waned, so all were happy to see it succeed.

But this time... this meticulously planned war, intended to genuinely place the Empire in the northern territories, has been prolonged too much.

Meno Kuhorn led the army at the beginning of autumn, and now spring is almost upon them.

Before setting out, this visionary Marshal warned his subordinates: bring peace to the villages, bring war to the castles.

His intentions were good, whether out of compassion for civilians or for easing the resistance among the Sintra People. At least he did not wish to harm civilians.

But as the situation became deadlocked, good intentions quickly went out the window.

When you break into someone’s home with a blade and realize you can take anything you want from that family, how long can your kindness and restraint last?

The lower-rank soldiers of Niflgaard soon began to relax their ’bottom line’. Subsequently, those in Niflgaard in urgent need of recovering their losses, big merchants, and great nobles connected with the low-ranking soldiers to engage in the business of selling stolen goods and taking kickbacks.

It even expanded to the extent of forming an openly conducted camp marketplace.

While it might seem good to have business, the Sintra People became the fertile ground for the birth of the guerrillas.

Oppression and cruelty naturally kindle the sparks of resistance.

Consequently, the situation grew more tense, making it increasingly difficult for the front-line army supplies due to the numerous guerrillas. The more this happened, the less willing the great nobles and big merchants in Niflgaard were to wait.

A vicious cycle began.

And for the Northern Alliance, things were no more optimistic, as the loose organizational capacity of the north was still far behind that of Niflgaard.

The domestic pressure on the front lines was greater and harder to suppress.

Therefore, with both sides nearing their limits, both had to show results as a justification to their countries.

This was not only a matter of military concern but also political and economic.

A large-scale battle had to be fought.

The intelligence organizations of both sides had correctly predicted the situation before the battle.

Niflgaard and the Northern Alliance Army had concentrated a total of one hundred and ten thousand troops in the small Upper Sodden Region.

Their military technology, personnel quality, and command capabilities would face an all-out test in this war.

A mere ten thousand people standing empty-handed is enough to fill one’s entire field of vision, claiming ’boundlessness’. And if they wore full armor, accompanied by warhorses or other pack animals, the ground they covered would easily triple!

And now, it’s a total of one hundred and ten thousand!

The depth of the battlefield, with fully deployed troops, is measured in kilometers!

A hundred and ten thousand people entangling in battles across this expanse of land, mountains, and marshes.

Coordination between corps has to be done quickly with signal arrows or smoke signals, and for those further away, messengers have to be ready to run multiple horses to death!

Each command post is like sand scattered into the sea, distributed over this expansive stretch of land.

They either disguise themselves as ordinary garrison points or are tightly surrounded by their defended corps, like treasures shrouded by layers of curtains.

Intercepting messengers to locate command posts was also futile.

Because the orders that messengers receive are already several steps removed, they cannot discern whether the command post they are aware of is valuable.

Humans are a race long accustomed to warfare; in this world, no race can grasp war more than humanity.

”Order Officer! Draft the order: I want the Magne Division under the Fourth Cavalry Legion to immediately move to the sixth hill! Block the Northern Alliance Army’s infantry line.”

Recording furiously on the writing board, the Order Officer, after receiving confirmation directly from the Marshal, didn’t hand it to a messenger but gave it directly to a woman in the command post.

That woman was a Female Warlock.

She had short black hair and also wore a black dress, aligning with the Niflgaard’s traditional aesthetics in terms of color.

But unlike the conventional Niflgaard casters, her outfit style was more akin to the Northern Female Warlocks’—open and unrestrained.

Her chest was largely exposed, revealing pale, well-shaped skin, while her outfit was adorned with parchments, sealed with wax, inscribed with maxims.

When people in the command post looked at her, they would unconsciously show a respectful expression.

It wasn’t related to her identity as a Caster, but because she was somewhat considered a relative of His Majesty the Emperor.

Furinjira Veges.

The Female Warlock received the order, then her eyes glowed with Chaos Magic Power. After the glow faded, she took a slight breath and nodded, indicating that the command had been sent.

The Order Officer looked at this scene with a shocked expression.

After Meno Kuhorn assigned a Warlock to every senior commander, his keen intuitive sense and superb warfare talent quickly made him realize that Warlocks could do far more than he previously thought.

Even a mediocre Warlock, even if they couldn’t send messages over a long distance, at least had the ability to receive information from other Warlocks.

Just this alone had immediately improved the Niflgaard Army’s efficiency in passing orders by more than a measure!

It had reached not merely an exciting but a terrifying extent!

In the current Marshal’s command post, Meno Kuhorn never felt he could grasp the flow of war so closely!

The mid-level information from the army could be quickly compiled, while his orders could be conveyed in an extremely short time!

It was as if he could see every frontline of this war spanning dozens of kilometers with his own eyes!

The map in the command post, usually used for writing and visualizing enemy intelligence, would usually take several hours to change in past battles, even if the scale wasn’t extensive.

Because the command post’s capacity to receive updates on the battle didn’t move as fast, the changes on the map were infrequent.

But today, the frequency of replacing the map reached one every twenty minutes!

Meno Kuhorn issued numerous orders with unprecedented efficiency, making his entire army cooperate like a deadly spider, crushing towards the Northern Alliance Army.

And the cost of all this was that even a Female Warlock of Furinjira’s level turned pale, while those of a lower rank were likely already coughing blood.

But who cares about that? In Niflgaard, Warlocks are merely akin to artisans.

Having a few artisans worked to death during a war isn’t an issue in a society based on slavery, is it?

The Order Officer supported the Emperor’s relative to sit down, then turned his head, casting a look of admiration towards the Marshal who was still pondering the war situation.

”You have inaugurated a new Chapter in warfare, Marshal! After this battle, the Imperial Military Academy should even establish a new discipline in your name! The form of warfare will be demarcated from today, divided into before and after! This is a monumental achievement!”

Yet the enthusiastic admiration from the Order Officer didn’t ease Meno Kuhorn. On the contrary, he remained deeply furrowed in thought.

There’s something amiss...

A sudden unease spread in his heart, and even as his legion was claiming victory after victory, it couldn’t suppress this anxiety.

My intuition is still wary of something... that Demon Hunter?

Am I worrying about the Hunting Marquis?

But what can he accomplish now? In a battlefield stretched over dozens of kilometers, the power of an individual is laughable.

Decapitate commanders? Not to mention every senior commander now has a Warlock assigned to them.

How could he find them? We’ve even reduced the number of messengers. Could he possibly track them through Magic communications to find the command post?