The last dust motes from King Leo's retreating army settled on the plains outside Rimuru City, leaving behind a chilling testament to our defense. The battlefield was a horrifying tableau of broken bodies, shattered siege engines, and discarded hope. Inside our walls, the triumphant cheers had finally subsided, replaced by a quiet, dazed wonder. The impossible had happened. We had repelled the King's army.
I stood on the command tower with Miles and Asuna, watching the distant dust cloud fade. My heart was steady, the surge of adrenaline replaced by a cold, calculating analysis. "We sent our message," I murmured, my voice almost a whisper against the morning breeze. "But it was just the first round."
Miles nodded, his face pale but resolute. "They'll be back, Shouyo. No king accepts a defeat like that."
"Indeed," Asuna added, his hand resting on the smooth stone of the wall. "They underestimated us. Gravely."
My thoughts, the Kakeru part of me, were already miles away, inside King Leo's war tent, picturing his fury, his utter bewilderment. He had commanded the largest, most formidable army in this region. He had brought overwhelming numbers. He would have expected a difficult fight, perhaps even a siege, but not a rout. Not a massacre at range by weapons he couldn't comprehend.
Far from Rimuru City, in his grand war tent, King Leo Von Delgado raged. His face was a mask of crimson fury, his royal robes askew. Maps lay scattered on his war table, overturned chalices spilling wine onto detailed strategic plans.
"Impossible!" he roared, his voice hoarse, echoing off the silk walls of the tent. "Utterly impossible! Those… those rebellious dogs! How? How could a mere village, even one behind those monstrous walls, possess such devastating power?!"
His generals, grim-faced and equally bewildered, stood silent. None had an answer that satisfied him. They had seen the horrifying effectiveness of Rimuru City's cannons, weapons unlike any siege engines they had ever encountered. Not cumbersome, slow-firing trebuchets, but thunderous tubes that spat death with terrifying speed and precision.
"Your Majesty," General Kaelen, his most seasoned commander, ventured cautiously, "their defenses… they are beyond anything in our arsenals. We lost half a legion's vanguard in thirty minutes. Our siege engines were destroyed before they even reached striking distance. It was… it was not a battle, Your Majesty. It was a slaughter."
King Leo slammed his fist onto the table, making the goblets jump. "A slaughter! By a village?! This is an insult! A humiliation! They are rebels, mere peasants who dared to raise a fist to their king!" His mind grappled with the cognitive dissonance. He was the most powerful ruler in the region. He held the undisputed advantage in numbers, in knights, in trained legions. Yet, his forces had been broken. He had assumed his vast, seasoned army, armed with traditional medieval weaponry and tactics, would easily overwhelm any upstart. He had the upper hand, numerically, culturally, politically. He simply hadn't accounted for the sheer technological leap.
"Gather the Royal Mages!" King Leo commanded, his eyes burning with renewed fury. "And our finest siege engineers! I want answers! I want to know what sorcery, what forbidden technology, they wield! We will dissect this. We will learn. And then, we will return. And when we return, Rimuru City will burn to ash!"
News of the King's disastrous defeat at Rimuru City spread like wildfire across the continent. It wasn't just the speed; it was the sheer, unprecedented nature of the rout. A full royal army, repelled by a single city, with minimal casualties to the defenders. The whispers grew, morphing into fearful awe.
"Stanley," I said, as we stood in the new, bustling Foreign Affairs office, overlooking the training grounds where Asuna's men were now drilling with newfound vigor. "What's the word from the other kingdoms?"
Stanley, poised and collected as ever, smiled faintly. "The reactions are… varied, Your Majesty. The Sunstone Confederacy, the Northern Wildholds, and the Riverland Commonwealth, our allies, are elated. Their delegates are already sending messages of congratulations, strengthening our trade agreements, and requesting more detailed schematics for our 'defensive innovations.' They see our strength as their protection."
"And the others?"
"The other ten kingdoms, the ones not yet allied with us, are a different story," Stanley continued, picking up a rolled map. "Fear. Confusion. And intense speculation. Their own military strategists are bewildered by our cannons. They can't fathom such destructive power. Some believe it's ancient magic, rediscovered. Others, a new form of arcane weapon. Still others… they whisper of forbidden technologies, perhaps from another world."
My heart gave a small jolt at that last part. Too close.
"The impact, Your Majesty, is undeniable," Stanley concluded, his voice serious. "Your initial defiance, followed by this devastating display, has sent a clear message. Any kingdom contemplating an attack on Rimuru City now knows they face a unique and terrifying defense. It has given them pause. Great pause. They will not rush in like King Leo."
"Good," I mused, walking over to a large map of the continent, tracing the borders of the various kingdoms. "That buys us more time. Time to mass produce our armaments. Time to train more soldiers. Time to perfect our logistics."
I paused, my finger hovering over the Kingdom of Delgado. "What about the noble houses? Blackwood, Thorne, Volkov. Have we heard anything from their networks?"
Stanley's expression grew grim. "Kael's intelligence, through Lindsy, reports a surge of activity. House Blackwood is furious; their investment in Grimo's control has evaporated. House Thorne is dispatching new, specialized geological teams, clearly trying to ascertain the source of our mana stone and special-grade materials. And House Volkov… they are the most concerning. Their arcane researchers are working feverishly, trying to decipher the nature of the 'energy fluctuations' they've been tracking here. They see our cannons as a manifestation of that energy, a power they want to harness."
The map, once a flat piece of parchment, seemed to transform into a vibrant, dangerous chess board in my mind. King Leo, wounded pride driving him, was now a predictable opponent. But the noble houses… they were the true serpents, operating from the shadows, their agendas intertwined with the very essence of Kutsilyo. The mana stone, the strategic location, the "energy fluctuations"—it all pointed to a deeper, more ancient secret hidden beneath Rimuru City, something they had always coveted, and now, I held it.
I looked out at the bustling city, the distant sound of hammers on steel, the hum of steam engines. We had won a battle, but the war, the true war against unseen powers and ancient greed, was just beginning. King Leo would return, no doubt. But the real threat might not even come from his army, but from the cunning, patient manipulations of those who sought to exploit Rimuru City's very foundation. I knew we had to prepare not just for soldiers, but for spies, for saboteurs, for mages who sought to steal our secrets. The next phase of this conflict would be a battle of wits, a war fought in the shadows, where every whisper, every rumor, every technological secret, could be the difference between survival and oblivion.