Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight Volume 2

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3102-0
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 350 Seiten

Reihe: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight

With the alliance between the demon army and Ryunheit complete, Veight's dream of inter-species coexistence has come to fruition, with the city prospering like never before. At the same time, ominous rumors of a 'hero' with strength rivaling the Demon Lord himself start circulating in the north, where the second regiment is on the losing end of a prolonged battle. Veight rushes with his master to confront this famed hero at the fortress city of Schverm, but he finds the Demon Lord has beaten him to the punch. Who will emerge victorious in this battle between the two strongest people in existence?!

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At any rate, what that meant was that Tiverit, who was 10 times taller than an average human, weighed 1,000 times as much. Which meant his blows had that much more weight behind them, too. His head rested at around the same height as a six-story building, and he was a walking fortress unto himself. However, despite being a regiment commander, he was a very kind soul. He grinned jovially at us and sat down in an open corner of the courtyard.

“My apologies for making you wait, everyone. The humans were more tenacious in their pursuit than I anticipated.”

Upon closer inspection, I realized that his simple leather breastplate and wooden cudgel were splattered with blood. Correction: he was kind, but only to demons. Tiverit spotted me standing amidst the dragonkin, and leaned in close.

“You’re a werewolf, are you not? Why are you with the dragonkin?”

Despite his smile, I still felt intimidated. I straightened my back and replied, “I was transferred here from the third regiment.”

“Oho, I see, I see.”

He was nodding, but my guess was he had no idea what that really meant. While he might have been a ferocious warrior and a regiment commander, he also didn’t think much. He wasn’t really one for difficult concepts or strategy. The Demon Lord arrived then, and the meeting began.

Tiverit wasn’t very specific with his report, and his vague statements probably drove the dragonkin scribes recording the meeting up the wall. Since I didn’t have much to do with the northern front, I was able to sit back and listen.

In short, the second regiment had been forced to retreat from Schverm, and had been pushed back to their final city of Bahen. They’d regrouped in the fields outside of Bahen and had engaged their Meraldian pursuers. Even when the Demon Lord asked for more specific details, no one could make heads or tails of Tiverit’s explanations. All we were able to figure out was that Tiverit had single-handedly destroyed the pursuing army. Considering his size, I wasn’t surprised. You’d need siege weapons to do any significant damage to a titan like Tiverit. Besides, someone of Tiverit’s skill could easily reflect ballista shots or catapult stones with his massive cudgel. He may not have been a genius, but he could still be surprisingly crafty.

“Basically, we showed them the mettle of the second regiment. The point is, we can do it as long as we apply ourselves.”

Tiverit finished his report, and the first regiment vice-commanders all exchanged glances. Before any of them could comment, the Demon Lord interjected, “Tiverit, how are the demons under your command faring?”

The giant scratched his head.

“Well... we all got separated during the battle. My captains are still gathering their squads. I’ll report to you again once they’ve all been found.”

It was a pretty sloppy report, but it seemed the Demon Lord was used to that. He nodded to himself and dismissed Tiverit.

“Understood. You must be tired, feel free to rest in the castle.”

“Oh no, I can’t do that. My men are waiting for me.” Tiverit slowly got to his feet, taking care not to crush any of the vice-commanders underfoot. “I’ll be returning to the battlefield. If I’m not there, the humans might try to attack us again. I only came back here to get more food for the youngsters in my army.”

The Demon Lord smiled faintly and gave Tiverit a salute.

“Very well, but make sure not to overexert yourself. May the fortunes of war be with you.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

Tiverit smiled back and walked out through the massive gate made especially for him. On the way, he grabbed six wagons packed to the brim with food; three in each hand. After Tiverit’s departure, we were finally able to get to the war council’s main topic. Most of the Demon Lord’s vice-commanders were both powerful warriors and skilled strategists. They all debated hotly over how to get the situation on the northern front under control. As I had nothing to do with the northern front, I stayed quiet and listened.

“Sir Veight.”

“As a veteran of the southern theater, what is your opinion on the current state of the north?”

The one who posed that question was vice-commander Shure the Crimson Knight, the leader of the Crimson Scales unit. Despite her muscular appearance, she was actually a girl. According to Baltze, she was the most beautiful of all dragonkin, but to be honest that really had nothing to do with me.

“What do I think, huh?”

The problem was, the second regiment’s way of doing things was the polar opposite of mine. With the way the situation was, I didn’t even know where to start. There was only one thing I knew for sure.

“The tactics I used in the south won’t work there. The second regiment’s caused too much damage to the country. There’s no room left for negotiation.”

Shure’s face fell. Dragonkin were good at suppressing their feelings and acting rationally, but because of that, they were seen as emotionless by the other races. That was by no means true, but their subdued reactions often made it seem that way.

“I had hoped that we would be able to employ your style of diplomacy and reduce our casualties, but...”

“You’ve ravaged their cities and slaughtered their brethren. Convincing them you want to negotiate now will be next to impossible.”

“I see...”

Baltze’s expression darkened too.

“In that case, we have no choice but to force a decisive battle. Let’s send reinforcements from the first division. I’ll go and put an end to this,” Shure urged.

Baltze hurriedly tried to stop Shure.

“Y-You can’t, Lady Shure. If something were to happen to you...”

I’d never seen Baltze so flustered before. While I didn’t know just how strong Shure was, she was the captain of one of the Demon Lord’s best units. She was likely quite capable.

Baltze just didn’t want to lose the girl he loved. Once it was decided that the first regiment would be sending reinforcements, the next question was whether they should just send a small force to help the second regiment retreat, or commit the entire first regiment and push forward into Meraldian territory.

I spent the entire time watching Baltze with a grin on my face. Ryunheit was undermanned as it was, so I wouldn’t be able to send over reinforcements even if I wanted to. Eventually, it was decided that the first regiment would only send enough to reinforce Bahen, and that the second regiment would still handle the brunt of the fighting. Shure would take 500 of her Crimson Scales along with 3,000 regular infantry and act as the second regiment’s reserves.

“Remember, Lady Shure. You’re only there to provide support. Whatever you do, don’t join the vanguard.”

“I understand, Sir Baltze. I have no intention of stealing the second regiment’s glory from them.”

“No, that’s not why...”

I doubt I would ever tire of watching their exchanges.

In the end, I did my best to remain as detached from the northern front as possible. While some of the other vice-commanders seemed to think I was some master of diplomacy, I was really just an average werewolf who happened to have been a human in his past life. I’d rather not have people asking me for miracles. By the end of the council, I’d fended off Baltze’s attempts to rope me into convincing Shure not to go, and used Master’s magic to take me back to Ryunheit.

“Sheesh... Maybe I should just stay away from Grenschtat for a while.”

“Rumors of your diplomatic prowess have been spreading through the demon army’s ranks. Did you know they’re calling you the ‘Magician of Statecraft’ now?” Gomoviroa smirked.

“Please stop, you’re embarrassing me.”

I brushed off Master’s teasing and considered my next course of action. My biggest concern was the Meraldian army. While the northern front was still holding, the fact that Tiverit was fighting on the front lines personally meant that it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. Even with the assistance the first regiment had sent, they’d be forced to retreat from Bahen before long. In which case, it was likely Meraldia would focus their forces southward.

There were 17 cities that were part of the Meraldian Federation. Of those 17, we occupied 3 in the south. The remaining 14 were all our enemy. The second regiment had technically captured one city in the north, but since all of the citizens had evacuated before the attack, Meraldia still had the population of 14 cities. At a rough estimate, I would say each city possessed 500...