Chapter 311: Bloody Snow

Snowflakes fell, mixed with sleet. Commander Jaykar of the 1st Corps watched as demons charged towards the Empire’s city walls, the Imperial army struggling to hold them back. He lifted his head.

The Snowfall Stick was only supposed to scatter pure snow. The fact that rain was mixed in meant it wasn’t due to the stick, but natural precipitation.

Perhaps the residual chill from the Snowfall Stick used over the city was causing sleet. It would be snowing inside the city, while rain would fall further away.

“…Drought, they said.”

From the Human Realm’s perspective, this might be the first rain in a long time.

Though with the Snowfall Stick’s lingering effects, it wasn’t entirely a good thing.

…More importantly.

“The situation is dragging on longer than expected.”

Contrary to expectations, things were frustratingly slow.

His adjutant, standing beside him, seemed to sense the ominous tone in his dry remark and flinched. Jaykar scanned the city walls with cold eyes, uttering meaningless words.

“Everyone seems to have grown lax. We’ll need to increase training intensity when we return.”

The adjutant hastily raised a mana stone engraved with amplification magic.

“1st Corps… if you don’t want to face intensified training, dedicate yourselves fully to breaching the city walls!”

“Increasing training intensity is already a done deal, though.”

“……”

Though in reality, there wouldn’t even be a return to conduct training.

Jaykar knew the intention behind Deon Hart’s orders. He had long since realized what Deon desired.

‘So, this is just a lie and a joke to boost the corps’ morale.’

He cast a silent smile towards his legion members, who were now climbing the city walls with even more ferocity than before, and at his speechless adjutant. Soon, as if nothing had happened, he fixed his gaze back on the city.

The mixed snow and rain, a truly awful weather, was making the clothes of those fighting heavy.

***

Unlike Rweche and the Empire, where snow was falling relatively normally, except for the fact that it wasn’t the season for it, Sanguo was facing rather perplexing snow.

Blood snow, something unheard of in any history. What on earth did those demons create?

‘To think they’d fire something like that into our sky.’

The stench of blood vibrating from all directions stirred unease within the city. Public sentiment grew restless, and gazes towards the king, seeking answers, began to sharpen.

Amidst anxiety and impatience, Yeonhwa, the ruler of Sanguo, who had been searching for someone to resent like a hyena, paused her thoughts and eventually laughed in disbelief.

‘How truly pathetic.’

She couldn’t stand the revolting look in their eyes.

She knew well that the term ‘weak’ wasn’t synonymous with ‘good,’ but seeing them turn to resentment so quickly after singing praises was simply absurd.

So, unusually, she immediately agreed with the strategist Sareen’s suggestion to kill one as an example.

Thus, the head of a noble who dared to vie for power amidst war was severed, the reason being that he endangered Sanguo’s fate by being blinded by trivial matters.

When the noble’s head was thrown before everyone’s eyes, the clamorous voices quieted down. It would only be temporary, and the whispers behind backs would grow louder, though.

Sareen, the strategist who knew this well, didn’t miss the brief respite and soothed the public sentiment.

[According to investigations by the royal palace researchers, the blood snow has been confirmed to have no adverse effects on the human body. At most, it merely gives a feeling of being covered in blood, making one feel unpleasant. Yet, a noble, who should be the most composed and rational, was caught up in useless superstition and disrupted the atmosphere.]

Yes, that’s exactly what you all were doing just moments ago. You feel guilty, don’t you? You must be secretly terrified.

She first intimidated those who had raised their voices claiming it was an ominous sign.

[And is that all? This person’s actions hindered our King, Your Majesty, from devising a way to drive out those demons. A solution might have been found sooner, but now, it will take longer to find a way to overcome this situation. Sanguo’s fate is in jeopardy.]

Using the fact that the dead tell no tales, she shifted the blame onto the already deceased noble, directing the crowd’s anger to one place.

[Everyone, Your Majesty is agonizing day and night to protect you. She is trying her best to endure and overcome this situation, but what would she feel if all that returns from you is distrust? Your help is needed so that Your Majesty can focus solely on the war against the demons.]

Followed by a smooth conclusion.

In short, it meant not to distrust her. Salvation comes to those who believe, or something like that.

It sounded like a statement from someone running a pseudo-religion. Yeonhwa, who was observing the situation, thought of a simple impression.

‘The funny thing is, this will actually work.’

Even if not for the nobles, she had persuaded the people, so it was practically a success. One of the weapons nobles could wield against the king was public sentiment.

“……Huh?”

“…….”

“Your Majesty!”

“Ah.”

……Looks like she was too lost in thought.

Just as she grabbed the pen that had been staining the paper black, a questioning voice was heard right in front of her.

“Your Majesty, what are you thinking about?”

“…That I have acquired a rather capable strategist.”

Yeonhwa lifted her head. As her eyes met Sareen’s, she could feel her facial muscles relax. She added a reason to this.

“Thanks to you, we bought time until we find a proper solution.”

“Ah, it was merely what I had to do, but to be praised like this, I don’t know what to do.”

“Excessive modesty often becomes a major obstacle in others recognizing merit.”

“It is the virtue of a ruler to recognize such merit. In that sense, Your Majesty is a wise ruler.”

“A wise ruler, huh…….”

Could a king who was struggling just to withstand the demons’ offensive, and was agonizing over not finding a proper solution, truly be called a wise ruler?

What smooth flattery. Setting aside her bitter feelings, she looked at Sareen.

“More importantly, did you find out about the food supplies? I heard the temporary warehouse was leaking.”

The main food warehouse was full, so the rest was moved to a temporary warehouse. But as if proving it was temporary, news came that it had sprung a leak not long after.

It wasn’t just water; it was the bloody snow melting and falling onto the food. If it were just water, they could have eaten it before it spoiled, albeit with a slight loss of flavor.

As expected, the situation wasn’t good. Sareen’s expression stiffened slightly.

“The food in the temporary warehouse… it’s beyond saving.”

“……I see.”

“Fortunately, we managed to salvage some parts that weren’t soaked in blood, but we were too late in noticing the leak…….”

By the time they noticed, the floor was already shallowly flooded with blood. Because of that, they had to discard most of the food, except for some stacked at the very top.

“It can’t be helped.”

There wasn’t much else to do other than punish the person in charge of warehouse management. They should consider themselves lucky to have salvaged even a small portion of the food and move on.

As if to comfort Sareen, who lowered her eyes as if it was her fault, Yeonhwa spoke in a light tone, deliberately adding playfulness.

“If food is scarce, we’ll just have to endure with willpower.”

“…….”

“In that sense, it would be better to resolve things before the food runs out.”

The best course of action would be to drive out the demons or kill the Hero before the food runs out. The latter was beyond their control, so they could only endure and pray for success, but the former was entirely up to them.

Meeting the gaze of Sareen, who seemed to have understood her intention and lifted her head, Yeonhwa calmly asked.

“Do you have any brilliant ideas?”

She knew that a plan wouldn’t materialize overnight, and driving out the demons was too ambitious, so inflicting some damage would be more than satisfactory.

Sareen, who had been quietly watching the king who sat in a burdensome position yet told her not to feel burdened, slowly opened her mouth. As if she already had something in mind, her voice was steady.

“I’m thinking of setting up an ambush.”

“Ambush…?”

“Yes, we can’t just keep fighting a siege defense endlessly. They aren’t pounding on the city gates all day long, so we have enough time to make something happen.”

Yeonhwa nodded, as if telling her to continue. Sareen continued.

“Ambush is a tactic that is often mentioned in history, known to everyone, and yet it’s still used to this day. Does Your Majesty know why?”

“Because enemies still fall for it.”

“Yes. The greater the desire to finish things quickly, the easier they are to fall for it.”

They tend to rush in, thinking they’ve got an advantage, without properly checking their surroundings.

Even generals might do so; what about ordinary soldiers? Even if a general notices something amiss, by the time they issue orders, the soldiers would already be far ahead. Because rushing forward is faster than the general’s voice reaching them, them understanding, and then acting.

“Even a general who senses something strange might prefer to rely on martial prowess and advance rather than retreat meaninglessly and earn the title of ‘coward’.”

If they retreat and it turns out there was no ambush, they would become cowards.

An ambush is a situation where it’s break-even at best, and a loss at worst. Especially demons, with their strong emphasis on the law of the jungle, would be particularly sensitive to becoming ‘cowards.’ They would likely try to push through, trusting in their race’s sturdy physique and martial prowess.

Therefore, they are bound to fall into the ambush.

“If we hold out a little longer, they will retreat far enough to get out of range of our arrows to regroup. To get out of range of our Hero’s weapon, they will retreat quite far, giving us enough time to act. Moreover….”

Sareen turned her head towards the window.

As if intending to completely cover the city stained with ominous liquid, white snow was falling heavily.

“…The heavens are pushing us from behind.”

The snow will obscure our movements.

Even the environment is set up like this, so dealing them a blow is the right thing to do. Spitting out hopeful words with a face that was anything but hopeful, she gave a faint smile.

“Sanguo’s terrain is advantageous for ambushes, but it’s a bit of a shame that we have to defend the city as the center.”

“That’s unavoidable. Anyway, I’m counting on you. Since it’s your plan, you should take responsibility and command the troops, shouldn’t you?”

“…….”

***

After pounding on the city gates all day, the demons retreated far away as night fell and finished a brief regrouping. As soon as dawn broke, they began to advance towards the city again.

It was a path they had already trampled during battle, so there was no confusion. Derniban, who was leading the charge, suddenly paused—stopped in his tracks. The wolf ears on his head twitched keenly.

Commander Trober of the 9th Corps, who had been strolling along behind him, frowned, seemingly finding it odd that he had suddenly stopped.

“What is it? Why aren’t you moving?”

“…Doesn’t something feel off?”

“What does?”

“I have a bad feeling.”

“?”

Commander Belitan of the 6th Corps peeked out and looked around, then tilted his head, seemingly not understanding.

“Really…? I don’t really feel anything…….”

“Bad feeling, my ass. If you’re going to be frustrating, step aside. The 9th Corps will take the lead.”

“Wait, here it would be better to put the shieldbearers of the 8th Corps in front….”

“Cowardly bastard.”

Commander Trober of the 9th Corps forcefully shoved past Derniban’s shoulder. Oh, Belitan, who let out a short exclamation, looked at Derniban as if to gauge his reaction.

As if the nickname ‘corpse-like’ wasn’t given for nothing, Derniban remained silent with a expressionless face, as always. However…….

‘……Ha.’

An faint, murderous gaze followed the back of his head. Trober, who turned around because it was directed at him and no one else, let out a hollow laugh in disbelief when his eyes met Derniban’s.

‘If things go wrong, as soon as this war ends, he’ll stab me in the back first thing.'”