The number of mages our forces currently possessed was 4. It was an excessively small number, but it was still enough to cause an impact on the enemy troops. Let us place our faith on this final card.
“General. The Aerial Mage Force have sortied in formation.”
My adjutant reported. Once I looked upwards, a group of mages soared through the sky while maintaining a height of 150 meters. Sweat formed on my palms…… Merely 4 mages. However, all 1,500 of our soldiers’ lives were resting on their shoulders. No, if you considered the herbs loaded on the wagons, then the lives of 7,000 people in our land were on their shoulders as well!
I plead of you. Bring chaos onto the opposing forces!
You do not have to kill many of them. It would be sufficient to simply plant the fear that ‘Gunpowder and flame are falling from the sky’, into their hearts. A slight disorder. That alone would be enough to create a foundation in order to turn the tides of battle. The mages hastily rushed towards the frontlines. A bit further, a little bit further……!
“G-General. Look over there.”
At that moment, my adjutant addressed me. It was a voice drenched in despair.
“It’s an Aerial Mage Force. The enemy troops have mobilized their Aerial Mage Force as well.”
“What. That can’t be……”
Possible. As I was about to finish my sentence, something came into my vision as well. On the other side, a group of hostile mages riding on brooms was approaching from the sky. They were mages with large conical hats worn on their heads.
“Do not tell me, witches……?”
My entire body fell into shock.
Witches, who were granted eternal youth by devoting their souls to Demon Lords, boasted the highest level of proficiency. Furthermore, they were many in number. Compared to our mages, they overwhelmed us.
“Ten, no, there are eleven. General! The opposing side has a more staggering amount of mage personnel!”
“That’s not possible. Why are there witches there!?”
In the center of the sky, our mages clashed against theirs. In a blink of an eye, our mages were hunted down. As if they were playing with toys, the witches killed off our mages one individual at a time. That was not a battle. That was simply a slaughter……
Our last remaining mage ran away frantically before he was finally shot down. As his limbs were severed, he let out a scream. The chunks of meat, which were broken into small pieces, fell from the sky and towards the ground. Then, the witches celebrated their carnage by spinning around in the sky. My adjutant and I became speechless by the horrendous sight we had just witnessed.
The witches returned to the enemy campsite as if they were living free from worldly cares. It almost felt like they had come out on a stroll and were heading back now.
My adjutant looked at me with a face as pale as a corpse.
“G-General……”
“……”
Think. Do not panic and concentrate, Georg!
Why did they send out their witches now? If they had sortied their witches at the start of battle, then they could have wiped us out with much ease. Why did they pull out their trump card now of all times? Is their goal not to eradicate us? What possible meaning could there be…… Wait, what if there was no meaning? What if having no significance was what represented their intentions……?
I slowly opened my mouth.
“…… Raise the white flag. We are surrendering.”
“Pardon?”
“The enemy forces do not intend to face us seriously. They are slowly playing around with our troops, while waiting for us to wither away. They are treating us like toys.”
My jaws trembled because of this wretched emotion.
“They can demolish us whenever they so desire, however, they are not doing so. It’s because they planned to ridicule us from the very beginning.”
“That can’t be……”
My adjutant’s face became stained in anguish. I did not have the energy to reproach my adjutant for making such an expression. The sense of defeat was stabbing my insides.
“If we were to continue the battle like so, the only thing that’d be left for us is eradication. The only difference is whether we desired to be wiped out sooner, or later. Raise the white flag, adjutant…… We can only hope that they will show a touch of generosity towards us……”
We sent an envoy to the enemy camp to inform them of our surrender.
It wasn’t over with this. There was a chance that the enemy would not allow us to surrender. That they would continue to watch over us as we died while trembling in agony.