Chapter 1: The Demon King’s Shadow: A Soldier’s Account of the Ardland War

Prologue: The Demon King from the Other Shore

The Demon King arrived from another world.

The Demon King arose from defiled lands.

The Demon King slew out of fear.

— The Great Canon, Corovian Imperial Holy See

***

One

Imperial Calendar 1247, March 27th, Revival Festival, Spring Plowing Period.

Word reached me that a war had erupted in Ardland, across the continent.

The Kingdom of Baylovis found itself under the full assault of the Blazing Summer Empire, and our Herman brethren were locked in a desperate struggle against various demi-human races.

Humanoid monsters, adorned with horns and scales, raised the demonic banner of the black-winged dragon, launching a full-scale invasion into the pristine Herman homeland.

The Kingdom of Baylovis was ravaged by the inferno of war, its former splendor utterly consumed.

Countless Herman lives were extinguished by the invaders’ bloodlust, leaving behind only mounds of bleached bones and the desperate tears that stained them, testifying to the terror unleashed by these demi-human races.

The Agamend Tribal Alliance, situated to the west of the kingdom, readily aligned itself with the Black Dragon Army.

To the north, the Noah Holy Kingdom cast aside its pretense of being a peaceful realm, unleashing a torrent of attacks upon the kingdom.

As the kingdom found itself beleaguered from every direction, the Batavian Republic, a nation also founded by Hermans, callously ignored its brethren’s plight.

Even the Holy Empire of Deltros, the very heart of the Northland Theocracy, remained steeped in the deceptive tranquility of its neutrality.

It was as if the entirety of Ardland had become utterly indifferent to the war raging in the south.

‘How could these demi-human races ever stand against us?’

‘The Hermans are destined for victory; we will surely kick their asses!’

Two

Imperial Calendar 1247, May 2nd, New Life Festival, Fertilizing Period.

Word reached me that the Blazing Summer Empire had secured several consecutive victories.

My dear friend, Robert Kayal, having joined the Royal Volunteer Army, fell gloriously in a minor skirmish.

‘Damn these demi-human races!’

‘Should our Empire enter the fray, I swear I will make them pay a bloody price!’

Three

Imperial Calendar 1247, June 15th, New Rain Festival, Fallow Period.

Even amidst the most brutal conditions of war, the Herman people’s fighting spirit remained indomitable.

Following a grueling and tenacious struggle, the Kingdom of Baylovis, bolstered by the ceaseless sacrifices of countless Herman heroes, finally compelled the Black Dragon Army to halt its advance before the royal capital.

Yet, the royal family of Baylovis could never have anticipated that the Demon King, who commanded the Black Dragon Army, would so cunningly ensnare the king’s own sister—the young Princess Euphelia.

Covertly, she nurtured her own faction within the court, igniting a vast rebellion from within the kingdom’s very heart.

Through this insidious collusion, the royal capital was utterly consumed.

The noble Baylovis royal family suffered a brutal bloodbath at the hands of the Black Dragon Army, and countless commoners and nobles met a tragic, fiery end.

Even more abhorrent was the revelation that this treacherous princess, not content with merely surrendering the capital through her rebellion, had also offered herself to the Demon King, becoming one of his wives.

Furthermore, under the aegis of the Black Dragon Army, she established a fraudulent Herman autonomous region, a deed of unparalleled shamelessness!

Four

Imperial Calendar 1248, April 5th, Morning Light Festival, Spring Plowing Period.

Almost a year had elapsed since the devastating fall of the Kingdom of Baylovis.

Emperor Philip II, newly crowned, made a resolute decision: he would rally the nobility and amass a formidable army.

This grand force would then march into Ardland, intent on aiding their Herman brethren across the sea in reclaiming the Kingdom of Baylovis and utterly crushing the boundless ambitions of the Demon King and his vile subordinates.

Five

Imperial Calendar 1248, April 15th, Gentle Breeze Festival, Spring Plowing Period.

Having concluded my duties on the family farm, I answered the call to arms.

I successfully enlisted as a sword-and-shield bearer, joining the ranks of the Third Royal Infantry Regiment of Corovia.

In accordance with His Majesty’s imperial decree, I boarded a warship destined for Ardland.

Six

Imperial Calendar 1248, April 25th, Gentle Breeze Festival, Fallow Period.

Our forces, capitalizing on their naval superiority and aided by the Batavian Republic, swiftly seized Jinghai City, encountering virtually no resistance.

Our main forces were then ceaselessly ferried to the unfamiliar shores of Ardland.

A comrade from the neighboring encampment whispered that, factoring in the newly conscripted peasant reservists, the total troop deployment had surpassed three hundred thousand.

The Black Dragon Army, by generous estimates, numbered just over twenty thousand.

Even combined with the Agamend Tribal Alliance, the Noah Holy Kingdom, and the traitor princess’s forces, their total strength could not exceed eighty thousand.

Clearly, this promised to be an effortless and enjoyable campaign.

Seven

Imperial Calendar 1248, April 30th, Gentle Breeze Festival, Spring Plowing Period.

The Black Dragon Army employed an exceedingly peculiar method of warfare.

Upon our arrival at crucial towns, we discovered them utterly deserted.

The Blazing Summer Empire had seemingly established no defensive lines nor left any troops to guard them.

Our commander ordered us to immediately scavenge for supplies to replenish our military provisions and press onward.

However, we found nothing of use within the towns.

The abandoned fruits and vegetables had all rotted, and our horses were reduced to subsisting on the decaying grass from rooftops.

The enemy had left us not a single shred of usable material.

Eight

Imperial Calendar 1248, May 5th, Great Tree Festival, Fertilizing Period.

Ten days had passed since my infantry regiment halted for rest and then resumed its march.

Due to the muddy, rugged roads, which were frequently obstructed by felled trees and boulders, we had completed less than a third of our designated route.

The Black Dragon Army appeared to have deliberately ruined the roads and set up obstacles before their retreat, making it exceedingly difficult for our supply wagons to keep pace with the main force.

Undoubtedly, they had recognized our invincibility and were now desperately attempting to buy time.

Nine

Imperial Calendar 1248, May 11th, Great Tree Festival, Fertilizing Period.

After fifteen arduous days of marching, my infantry regiment finally encountered a small contingent of the Black Dragon Army.

To ensure our combat readiness, the commander made an impromptu decision to rest for a day, intending to launch an attack the following morning.

However, he could never have foreseen that by the time we awoke the next day, the Black Dragon Army had already abandoned their camp overnight.

Anything they could not carry was burned on the spot, leaving behind not a single useful item.

Enraged, the commander cursed, “Damn these Huarens! They are truly a bunch of cowards! They deserve to be slaughtered like slaves!”

Ten

Imperial Calendar 1248, June 15th, Exorcism Festival, Fallow Period.

The march proved incredibly arduous.

Each town we reached revealed only empty streets and deserted houses, and we never once caught sight of the enemy along the way.

With no usable supplies to be found and no possibility of backtracking on the muddy roads, we could only grit our teeth and press on towards the Black Dragon Army’s capital—the royal city of Baylovis.

Eleven

Imperial Calendar 1248, June 27th, Myriad Sounds Festival, Fallow Period.

Finally, beneath the walls of the royal capital, we clashed with the enemy as we had desired.

Yet, I found no joy in it.

The enemy soldiers bore formidable, sharp horns and thick, scaled tails.

In close combat, their eyes held no glimmer of a desire to live, only a profound, unwavering resolve.

They were like messengers of death, seizing any opportunity to mercilessly cleave off your head.

Even if their arms or tails were severed, they would still fight to kill you with their teeth, their helmets, anything at their disposal.

My comrades, having faced them once, were gripped by fear.

Though they uttered no words, I could see that they silently prayed for no more skirmishes; they simply yearned to return home alive and tend their farms.

Twelve

Imperial Calendar 1248, July 12th, Emerald Festival, Fallow Period.

The Blazing Summer Empire seemed utterly disinclined to engage us in battle.

The royal capital lacked the defensive scale we had anticipated, and after several days of siege, it too was abandoned.

Like all the other towns, it held no local residents and offered no supplies, leaving us with nothing but an empty city.

‘It is truly strange,’ I thought.

‘We came to restore Baylovis, yet we find scarcely a Herman brother on Baylovis soil to offer us supplies.

Could they have all been slaughtered by the Black Dragon Army?’

Just as we advanced in the procession entering the city, objects floating in the air descended near the royal capital’s ramparts.

The Black Dragon Army, lying in ambush, promptly shot down these aerial lanterns.

In an instant, several areas of the royal capital erupted into a sea of flames, trapping three regiments of our brethren in the core main district.

Thirteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, July 15th, Emerald Festival, Fallow Period.

Fortunately, our comrades stationed outside the city fought the fires day and night, finally rescuing our regiment.

Only later did I learn that ours was the sole regiment to survive after entering the royal capital; the others had been utterly consumed by the Black Dragon Army’s devastating fire attack.

Fourteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, August 17th, Abundance Festival, Fallow Period.

A crossbowman comrade, transferred from the navy, informed me that the navy had encountered attacks from the Black Dragon Army, the Cursed Platforms, and the Lightscale Tribe during their advance on the Blazing Summer Empire.

The First Fleet, once hailed as invincible, had been almost entirely annihilated.

The Black Dragon Army, he explained, not only could transport large numbers of armored flying dragons to engage in naval combat, but also employed a type of fish that churned up white waves to attack warships.

We were all utterly perplexed.

‘How could fish be large enough to damage such massive warships?’

He replied, “The fish aren’t large, but you absolutely would not want to experience them. Trust me.”

Fifteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, September 20th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

The march had become exceptionally arduous.

According to the original schedule agreed upon by the various regiments, our grand army should have completed its assembly last month.

However, only about thirty thousand men had gathered on the Tassos Plains, with tens of thousands more still en route, utterly unable to rendezvous with the main force on time.

Sixteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, September 30th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

During our assembly, we heard from the comrades transporting military provisions that future supplies might not arrive on time.

Jinghai City, they reported, had been captured by the Batavian Republic.

‘This is truly insane!’ I thought.

‘Hermans fighting Hermans—it’s simply unimaginable!’

Seventeen

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 10th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

‘I am hungry…’

‘Damn it, if I were home, the harvesting period would be when I ate my fill, yet here I am, starving in this cursed place!’

Sixteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 13th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

The Black Dragon Army had finally begun to take us seriously.

They deployed a significant number of troops across the plains and even transported gigantic iron contraptions, unlike anything we had ever seen, onto the battlefield.

Our commander jested, “Are they admitting defeat? Are they sending us some ornamental pieces as gifts of surrender?”

Eighteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 15th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

In truth, it was not until the Tassos Plains campaign fully erupted that we understood what those iron contraptions truly were.

Each iron contraption extended a barrel from which fiery blasts erupted.

Accompanied by a deafening roar, they launched spherical projectiles into our formations, which then detonated.

In the blink of an eye, they effortlessly tore our comrades to bloody shreds.

At that moment, I began to comprehend why the Black Dragon Army had consistently avoided direct confrontation.

They were waiting, lurking, calibrating their new weapons, biding their time until we marched into the meticulously prepared cage they had set for us.

Nineteen

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 16th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

On the second day of the campaign, the demi-humans and orcs of the Agamend Tribal Alliance arrived on the battlefield.

The two princesses of the Noah Holy Kingdom also made an appearance, personally leading their Mans warriors who rode colossal forest wolves.

Among the Black Dragon Army, many Herman faces were visible, undoubtedly belonging to the traitor princess’s forces.

The enemy’s numbers instantly swelled several-fold.

‘Damn it, how many nations are we truly fighting?’ I wondered.

‘Is Corovia the true target of their collective wrath?’

Twenty

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 17th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

On the third day of the campaign, a silver-white giant dragon swept across our positions, inflicting countless casualties.

My commander fell gloriously in battle.

Twenty-One

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 18th, Harvest Festival, Harvesting Period.

On the fourth day of the campaign, the Holy Knights of the Holy Empire of Deltros arrived on the battlefield.

They were originally meant to aid us, but, unexpectedly, they were swayed by a woman and defected…

Twenty-Two

Imperial Calendar 1248, October 28th, Joyful Festival, Fallow Period.

The Tassos Plains campaign ultimately concluded with the Black Dragon Army’s retreat, suffering minimal casualties.

While ostensibly a victory for us, our grand army of tens of thousands had been reduced to only about eight thousand men.

Herman corpses were virtually everywhere, and not a single regiment maintained its proper structure.

Due to the exceedingly high casualties and the death of our commander, the surviving members of our regiment were forcibly reassigned as reservists to other regiments to fill their ranks.

Some were integrated into the Armored Cavalry Regiment as fodder-feeding laborers, while others were made into greatshield-bearing porters for the Spear-Shield Regiment.

Fortunately, I was assigned to logistics within the renowned [Worker Bee Regiment].

Every member of this regiment held the rank of Centurion or higher, possessed the empire’s most sophisticated equipment, and uniformly bore a Worker Bee sigil that enabled them to wield Mana arts.

They were, quite literally, armed to the teeth.

Truthfully, it was an honor for me to serve in this elite among elite units, personally overseen by His Imperial Majesty.

I held firm in my conviction that they would annihilate the Black Dragon Army and bring ultimate victory and glory to Corovia!

Twenty-Three

Imperial Calendar 1248, November 8th, Joyful Festival, Fallow Period.

Evil can never triumph over justice.

This creed, known even to children, fueled my unwavering belief that the [Worker Bee Regiment] would ultimately achieve victory.

Yet, it also plunged me into an abyss of despair when I beheld their mangled corpses.

They were dead, all of them, gone in a mere instant.

Twenty-Four

Imperial Calendar 1248, December 24th, Rebirth Festival, Leisure Period.

‘Damn it, this war has dragged on from summer into winter, but at last, we can cling to our lives and depart Ardland. May the gods preserve us—!’