Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-157

[Day 148]

Today in the morning we were greeted by two thousand soldiers, from the opposite side, it seems that the ones from the opposite side that weren't hypnotized worked together to raid Alice's place, who they see as the most influential one of the Exploiting Side.

However, because skirmishes between Nobles are weirdly formal, the soldiers only raided the outside and waited for Alice to surrender and give herself into them, I immediately knew that this plan was made by the Champion of Psychic Eyes, she has somehow pressured the non-hypnotized Nobles into obeying her orders while using the strength of the Champions and Elemental Knights to further convince them.

She seems quite desperate; she shouldn't have done something so foolish…

Because they only saw our Demi-Human group of around two hundred as nothing, they are confident in their victory. This was rash and it broke the treaty from yesterday. If these soldiers somehow lose, these Nobles will be punished… Which is perfect.

I participated alongside all my soldiers as a small-scale war happened right outside of the Lomanie Family area. There was plenty of free space and small forest, and because these were royal knights mostly, they were "chivalrous" and waited for our preparations. They had nasty grins on their faces, as if making fun of us, thinking that it would be easy to crush two hundred with two thousand.

And well, it should be… But not with my army.

I'm sure the Hero of Wind and the Champion of Psychic Eyes are spying us somewhere, as I can sense their presence. I just hope they can't get through my Illusion Magic and Equipment, neither that of my family and soldiers. I've made countless preparations for them to not be able to detect anything, I hope they can be of help.

As the war was about to break out, the two armies looked at each other, the human army was filled with disgusting smug faces, while my soldiers, who were mostly Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Trolls were serious and ready to prove them wrong.

I've equipped them Illusion Fabric Equipment, so the moment they enter in range, they can activate their equipment powers and quickly hide, using this opportunity to finish the humans off by slicing their necks with the highly sharp knives made with Summoning Materials.

Truhan, Celica, Nesiphae, and Lilith were in the front, commanding the front liners, composed of giants, lizardman, trolls, and ogres.

As the small-scale war finally broke out, the human army went all out, raising their weapons and using [Arts] against my army. However, as they began to attack them, they quickly noticed how their hits weren't landing anywhere, as my army presence disappeared and appeared.

Sometimes they would see them and sometimes they would disappear right in front of their noses, even heavy armored tanks were able to evade hits while backstabbing a lot of soldiers.

Truhan didn't need any of that has he rampaged everything with tenacity and savagery, using his [Legendary] weapon, he generated surges of flames and earthquakes, killing hundreds of soldiers with each hit of his weapon. The ones who survived were burned alive by his never-ending flames.

Although Celica was now qualified as a [Giant], she hides while backstabbing anyone with amazing skillfulness. She had an incredible speed that didn't belong to such a big body, surprising anyone who managed to take a glance at her performance.

Meanwhile, Nesiphae did her work on her own, slashing everything while spreading her poisonous mist, which instantly converted anyone who breathed it into a puddle of rotten blood and bones. They couldn't even fight her at all. The moment she slashed with her axe; everything was completely annihilated.

Lilith on the other side used her techniques to her full advantage, creating small earthquakes and giant sinkholes, trapping the soldiers inside and then filling the holes with the ground and sharp rocks, burying them alive. The moment some soldiers approached her, she would rush around with her axe and mace, creating a bloody mess.

The rest of the backline soldiers weren't even needed, as, after three hours of a completely one-sided massacre, the Nobles commanded the Soldiers to retreat, knowing what punishment would await those who break the treaty.

Sadly, I couldn't eat any corpse as the humans gathered them so they can bury them on their graveyards later on.

I barely participated and tried to do what they would expect from a fairy, which is mostly healing and giving positive stat boosts.

This small-scale war results were amazing and a good way to polish my unexperienced soldiers' skills, there were no deaths on our side while the humans lost more than eight hundred men. Some of the hypnotized Nobles on our side were going to call for reinforcements, but when these reinforcements finally reached us the war was already over.

Those Nobles who broke the treaty were punished by the hypnotized ones in the opposite side, although they weren't killed, the influential Houses took half of their riches and also banned them from continuing to participate in the war. If they dare to do so once again, they will be killed in the sidelines by assassins.

Nanako Maki only extorted them from the shadows, so she wasn't found out, but I'm sure as hell that she was the mastermind behind this. However, we won't strike back, as she is probably expecting our side to do that, and take advantage of that so the war happens inside the Kingdom instead that outside. If it happens inside of the Kingdom it can be easily prolonged so she can gather our information.

After this, she would most likely confront us slowly every day, while sending strong warriors, the Elemental Knights, and the Champions, all of them accompanied by the Hero of Raging Winds. All of their strength is concentrated in one single small space is inconvenient for us, we want them to spread their forces as much as they can, that's why I want them to fight outside, so I can cherry-pick every delicious meal slowly but steady.

Anyways, things went well and it seems that the Hero of Raging Winds and the Half-Dodomeki woman stopped spying on us, so I peacefully went inside of Alice's house once again, while my healers treated the injured soldiers.

Even if I only healed and boosted my army strength, I still gained a nice amount of EXP, these soldiers surely gave more EXP than the previous war ones.

[Calculating EXP Gained]

[You gained 26.992.300]

[You gained one level!] [LEVEL 031/250 EXP 7.340.055/95.000.0000 EXP]

To celebrate this victory, I summoned hundreds of Familiars and other creatures and made a giant feast for my soldiers, everyone ate to their heart's content. We also included amazing liquor from the Kingdom itself, alongside their refined food.

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[Day 149]

It seems like that non-hypnotized Nobles alongside the Champion of Psychic Eyes group was amazed by my group war potential, they never thought we could defeat a group of two thousand knights with our meaningless two hundred demi-humans, which included mostly "weak" races like Goblins and Trolls.

More spies tried to sneak inside of Alice's house, trying to kidnap her, but they quickly meet their end by her own hands, or by my Flesh and Slime Minions. There was a big pile of dead bodies, going over fifty. Alice gladly sucked them dry off their blood, and I also tasted some myself.

Well, with us around, all of Nanako Maki and the Wind Hero actions are futile, today is finally the day for the all-out war. Making a Kingdom fight itself like this is truly funny. Well, the idiots brought it upon themselves, if they stopped having internal conflicts and such a messy power system, perhaps the King and the Royal Family would be able to have a more stable Kingdom and successfully stopped me… But oh well.

When I met with my troops, I found Evan who was with a dazed expression.

"Evan?"

"Ah! Kireina…"

"Hm? What's the deal?"

"Ah! Haha… Sharp as always… When I went to town with some of the humans for provisions, I found my step-brother…"

"Huh?!"

At my reaction, Evan raised his hands while trying to calm me down.

"Don't worry, he didn't find out who I was, your mask is very good… It's just that… He has become very strong since I last saw him… I'm a little bit concerned that I will never be able to catch up with him… All the things he did to me, I've always wanted to give them all back to him…"

"Oh? Is that all?"

"Eh? Y-Yeah… That's all"

"There is nothing to be concerned, Evan… I've made sure to train you very hard in hopes for you to be useful to me. Do you think that all that training was for nothing? Why did you even trained with so much energy if you are afraid of fighting him at the end? Are all my training really that pathetic? You're offending me by saying that you cannot deal with him"

"E-Eh? O-Offense…? What are you talking about…? I… (Wait… Is Kireina trying to tell me that she trusts me?)"

"Hm?"

"I… You're right… I haven't trained for anything! I need to surpass him, or I won't be able to grow as a person, and to become what my mother wanted me to be… What she hoped for me"

Haha… This kid is very naive, he's already motivated by such small words.

"Well, I'm glad you understood. You are a valuable tool, make yourself useful for me, don't disappoint me. Amiphossia has taken a liking of you, I don't want to tell my daughter that her crush has died on a war"

At this, Evan was slightly flustered.

"C-Crush?! W-What… I am nothing with your daughter…! She is just my friend…"

"I really hope that is the truth… But, sigh… Anyways, get ready kid, I've carefully crafted a special armor and equipment for you, don't make all my efforts worthless. You're stopping that Holy Knight for us"

Suddenly, Evan looked at me with a shining determination, as his eyes suddenly turned bright gold for a small second.

"I will! Leave it to me!"

"Good"

After the small talk with Evan, reunited with my wives, and had a small conversation, most of them seem very relaxed and confident. I've made special measures for their safety, so there is very little to worry about.

They're expecting to fight those Champions and Knight as much as me to devour them. I also can't wait to have all their [Legendary] relics on my hands… It will surely be a big treasure by itself.

As we finally began our way towards the Kingdom outskirts, we encountered the rest of the soldiers on our side, there were tons of Adventurers too, around four hundred adventurers and three thousand soldiers, meanwhile, our opposite side is around five thousand soldiers and almost no adventurers alongside the Hero of Wind and such, so yeah, it is very one-sided. The Kingdom has more soldiers, but they would never waste them all on an internal war, the rest are being saved for an invasion of a neighbor Kingdom or Demi-Humans.

There are also Champions and Knights at our side, these are [The Champion of Black Flames], [The Champion of Emerald Trees], [Elemental Knight of Water], [Elemental Knight of Shadows] and the [Elemental Knight of Poison]. I already know that they're secretly working for the Champion of Psychic Eyes, Nanako Maki, and they will most probably turn against us in the last moment.

However, they still have to pretend to be on our side, so they will still kill plenty of soldiers and be of great help, even when holding back. I will leave these for the last, and prioritize to kill the opposite side Elemental Knights, these are; [Elemental Knight of Fire], [Elemental Knight of Earth], [Elemental Knight of Gemstones] and [Elemental Knight of Holy].

The [Elemental Knight of Holy] will be separated from the group by Evan, so I don't have to worry about him for now, unless Evan loses or is almost dead, then I will interfere and save the stupid kid life.

There are also the Champions, but these guys will most likely fight the "big shots" on our army, most probably the Veteran Adventurers and my own servants, there is plenty for them to choose. I can already see one of them choosing Truhan as he seems the most intimidating alongside Nesiphae.

As we finally reached the outskirts, we were greeted by a massive army of humans in our opposite direction, these were being led by The Hero of Raging Winds, who stood proudly while holding his transparent weapon.

At his sides there were [The Champion of Freezing Winter] and [The Champion of Earth-Shattering Arms], these two figures released amazing auras and had stoic demeanors, showing their strong characters. The Champion of Freezing Winter resembled a beautiful and calm ice fairy, while the Champion of Earth-Shattering Arms resembled a very strong and muscular old man, with an experienced look.

Nanako Maki was nowhere to be seen, but I quickly detected her on the backlines, she was being protected by Five Elite Commanders and three Holy Paladin Knights. She was mostly administrating the whole fight with her amazing sight capabilities and information gathering skills. The ideal plan would be to kill her first before anything else…

Our mercenary group was being commanded by several Knight Generals, there was one representing Alice's family, so he guides us to our positions. After seeing our performance yesterday, these humans were looking forward to our help. I was also able to greet the Champion of Black Flames and the Champion of Emerald Trees.

The first one was a beautiful woman with a crazed expression, nonetheless, she was still quite polite with me, the second one was calmer and more peaceful, being a half-dryad really give him the looks of a beautiful woman, even though he was a man, but I saw some sharpness on her looks. Although both of them have not seen through my Illusion, I can already tell that they have a lot of suspicion about my troops, and will most likely attack them the very moment they turn against us.

Well, it wouldn't be fun if they didn't…

The Elemental Knight of Water, Shadow and Poison were three beautiful women of different origins, although I have already gathered their information before, seeing them in person was a sight to behold. The three were sticking together, as Elemental Knights gain extra stats if they fight together and can use a variety of magic and techniques in conjunction.

The opposing side Elemental Knights were also sticking together while being commanded by the Elemental Knight of Holy. I made sure to tell all my soldiers to try on separating them as quickly as possible. Evan will also show up and distract the Holy Knight, slowly moving him away from his group.

At several kilometers of distance, I was able to see several Nobles watching the war with scared and fearful expressions, the non-hypnotized ones were the most scared, while the hypnotized Nobles were maintaining a mostly calm expression, some were even smiling.

After an hour of preparations were the two armies looked at each other like idiots, the war finally broke out by a command from the King himself, who was also watching the scene with the Royal Family.

His face was that of impotence and frustration because even when he was the King, he couldn't do anything to stop this ridiculous war were the Nobles wasted their money and his soldiers pointlessly in something that should be resolved inside of the Kingdom in small raids between the Nobles, on his long life, the King has never seen such foolishness, he couldn't believe what his own eyes were seeing.

Being almost forced to accept by the rich and wealthy Nobles, he couldn't do anything, forced to watch as his people killed each other for the pointless interest of their greedy desires.

Little did he know that since Alice came back to the Kingdom, I've been slowly spreading my roots inside of here, and now everything is finally being orchestrated as I planned.

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