21st Century Archmage

“UWAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

Craaaaaaaaaash. Claaaaaaaang.

Prince Alskanes rage-filled cry was like the howl of a tormented wolf. Just yesterday, he had, in essence, been the commander of 200,000 troops and 500 Skyknights. But in just one day, and in an incredibly short amount of time, Laviters great army was shattered into pieces.

Alskane had gone into the battle with the resolve to capture Nermans Lord, tear his skin off, and rip him to pieces. Defeat was something that had never even occurred to him.

But Prince Alskane tasted defeat, a wretched defeat that made him the number one person responsible for a battle where 200,000 troops and 500 Skyknights were lost.

“KUAAAAAAAAGHHHH!”

He still remembered how Nermans Skyknights doggedly chased after them. Due to his fear of death, Prince Alskane peed himself. Even after arriving in the Yanovis Duchy castle, he was kept awake the entire night by the sound of Kyre laughing after shoving him and the empires troops into hell.

“UWAAAGH, UWAAAAAAAAAGHHH!”

The Prince tore at his hair as he howled, the shards of every piece of furniture in the room at his feet. He had suffered humiliation that he would never be able to forget, even in death. He wanted to kill that bastard so badly that he would gladly sell his soul to do so.

When it came to the Lord of Nerman, Kyre, all Alskane wanted to do was to rip out his tongue and tear his heart to pieces.

* * *

“Why is my ear so itchy all of a sudden?”

Thanks to the beauties at my side, I slept very deeply and woke up refreshed. The sun reached midday before I was able to make my way to my office. It was about time to get up, but because there were two beautiful women who burrowed into my embrace like it was some kind of competition, I ended up having to stare blankly at the ceiling, counting every mote of dust up there.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two beauties woke up at the same time. I left them in my room and went into my office after cleaning myself with magic. But then, I suddenly got an itch in my ear. It was as if someone was scheming against me and cussing me out, because no matter how much I scratched my left ear, the itch refused to abate.

“Very good, thats a great attitude,” I said with satisfaction as I looked at the covert from the office window. Wed thrown such a wild festival yesterday, but no one looked as lazy as me. Knights and soldiers were busily moving around various goods and repairing hangars destroyed by stray spears. From my viewpoint as a lord, their attitudes were truly praiseworthy.

Knock knock.

“My liege, its Derval.”

“Oh! Sir Derval, come in.”

Creak. With my permission, Derval carefully opened the door and entered.

“How is your health?” he asked.

“Great. I slept like a baby for the first time in a while.”

“That is a relief.”

“How about you?”

“Thanks to you, my liege, I was also able to have a deep sleep.”

I could imagine that he hadnt been able to sleep properly because of Laviter. He wasnt the type of person to have slept in, but even a short but deeply restful sleep was better than a long but fitful one.

“Is the cleanup done? At least for the most part?”

“Not quite yet, but the large tasks have been completed.”

“Tell me what the damage was on our side.”

Even as I enjoyed the festival yesterday, a part of my heart ached. There must have been casualties among the territorys Skyknights, and there was likely a great deal of casualties from the knights and soldiers fighting on the castle walls. Even so, a short festival was necessary. It was sad that they died, but Nerman was able to achieve peace thanks to their noble sacrifices. I was sure that even as we drank to celebrate that peace, no, to celebrate the dead, a part of everyones hearts was in mourning.

“From the 102 Skyknights that sortied, there were nine casualties. Of the twenty-five wyverns that were shot down, twelve died, and the rest were healed with holy water.”

“Mm…”

It was pretty much nothing compared to the 300+ wyverns shot down on Laviters side, but hearing that nine knights had died made my heart sting with pain.

“In addition, thirty-five knights and 890 soldiers defending the walls were killed. We treated the wounded swiftly with holy water, but there were many who could not be healed. Also, around 150 civilians lost their lives to stray spears.”

‘So many people died…

I closed my eyes and briefly mourned their noble deaths.

“Other than that, 12 ballistas were completely destroyed, 30 were partially damaged, and the city wall has also taken considerable damage.”

The damage was less than expected. Who would have thought that anyone could win such a huge victory with damage as minimal as this against a large force from Laviter? However, from the territorys viewpoint, the losses we suffered werent small. It was possible to treat them with holy water as long as they didnt die instantly, but so many people had died without a chance of treatment.