Despite moving in the darkest hours of the day before dawn, the invasion force did not need to be concerned with watching their step.

Their path was being illuminated by a burning flame.

"Captain Bolda, are you really okay with setting the village on fire?"

The man referred to as captain answered with a smile.

"Of course not. It should be done during a battle."

Bolda tossed a lit torch into a house.

The house caught fire and panicked cries can be heard coming from within as the nearby soldiers cheered.

"It doesn’t look like Baron Jimi has surrendered yet. If we make more of a spectacle, maybe he’ll find it easier to nod his head."

"Yeah…… by the way, what are we asking for? Was it compensation money?"

Baron Joelo’s soldiers…… or so they are called, are actually soldiers prepared by Etienne de Chevin’s close aides.

The ones here are raiding the villages and towns located west of the main attack force.

"Our actual boss said he would overlook plundering and arsons if it’s within the range of “an accident”. Well, no matter what we do, the one who will be blamed is not our boss but that poor noble called Joelo or whatever."

"Speaking of poor, that Baronet Hesse and Goki are pretty resilient. We wanted to surround the mansion in one go, but they pushed us back."

"Yeah, they may be penniless, but they’re individuals who rose up in status based on military achievements. This is as far as they go though, since we’ll be participating in the all-out attack tomorrow. That will be the end."

"I think we also got notice that Doucy’s army is moving out."

Bolda’s face became dark.

"That family is no joke. They are one of the great nobles."

Bolda’s body shuddered at the thought and he went silent.

His subordinate quickly added a comment.

"S-still, if we make Baron Jimi declare a ceasefire, he would have no choice but to pull his troops back, right?"

When Bolda lifted his face and was about to agree, one of the soldiers collapsed to the ground.

"Wha-!?"

Looking closer, one would notice several arrows stabbed in his back.

Bolda frantically hid himself and shouted loudly.

"Enemy attackーーー!! They have archers!! Be on alertーー!!"

Arrows really started to come down after that yell.

"An enemy ambush!? Find the archers!"

"Shit! We’re in plain sight because of the light from the fire. Spread out and hide!"

The soldiers ran to the shadowy areas so they could ascertain the source of the arrows.

In the next moment as if to mock them, a furious rain of arrows poured down.

"Gyaah!"

"What’s with this amount!? They’re not ambushed!"

"They’re shooting at us from all sides!!"

When they finally believe the arrows have stopped, an order resounds in the dark.

"Halt your firing. Bow cavalry, draw your swords, charge forward!"

The sound of horseshoes echoed in the night.

"No way, cavalry? There were so many arrows though…… no, more importantly Jimi shouldn’t have cavalry……"

The cavalry didn’t wait for Bolda to get his thoughts sorted.

Horses leaping out from the darkness were taking out his soldiers one after the other after the initial volley thrown them in disarray.

"Who on earth? Which other feudal lord besides Goki and Hesse came for reinforcements?"

One horse waving a flag happened to pass by the burning house, revealing the colors of the battle standard.

It was a strange red flag with images of a book and a hammer on it.

"Doucy's flag? No. Doucy is different."

As he finished his question, the soldiers on either side of Bolda flew backwards.

They didn’t run or roll, they glided in the air parallel to the ground and shot straight into the burning house.

Appearing right after them was a woman wielding a spear riding a  black horse.

***

(Doucy's faction point of view)

Irijina thought the man before her appeared to be the captain judging based on his uniform, so she had business with him even if he didn’t call her.

The ambush by the bow cavalry led by Gheyna was a complete success and the enemy fell apart without being able to do anything.

If Irijina butchered this captain here, it will be a rout.

She couldn’t waste time on what looksled like a small detachment.

Let’s finish this guy off.

The man reflexively sticked out his sword, except her spear outranged him by a lot.

Her spear pierced his chest before his sword could touch her.

As she was wondering what she should do with the man she stabbed, she discovered an enemy squad which just finished regrouping.

"Have him back."

She tossed the man’s corpse in the air and swung her spear, hitting the body with the back of her blade.

The man got batted in a straight line right into the burning house in front of that enemy squad.

"T-the captain got taken out……?"

"W-we’re done for!"

Their will to fight was eliminated and they scattered.

"Bow cavalry, give them one more volley."

At the same time Leonhardt Strauch delivered the order, Irijina cut in.

"We can’t do the same things villains would do! That would make us villains too!!"

Leonhardt felt a sense of defeat when the idiot Irijina made that comment.

No finishing them off then.

"S-stop itー!!"

"……Fufu, cry for me, scream for me."

Sekrit was dragging a shouting enemy and was about to toss him into the fire so I slapped her ass to stop her.

"……what are you doing?"

"No meaningless killing."

Seeing an opening, the enemy soldier escaped.

"If you’re talking about meaning, there is some. My enjoyment."

"This bitch……"

Mirai glared at Sekrit, though when a glare was returned, she partially hid herself behind me.

It would take some time before Mirai could have a stare-off against her.

"Why did you bring this woman along!?"

"Don’t be mad. Aren’t you happy that you get another hole to satisfy your lust?"

"Yeah sure, but listen to my instructions. You’ll expose Irijina and Mirai to danger."

Sekrit mumbled “fine” softly before jumping on her horse.

"Save that to beat the main enemy squad. We’re continuing our march."

The ambush caught the enemy completely off-guard so we suffered no casualties.