"What a relief…"
Seeing the mercenaries running to the sides, Hercule felt his shivering body calmed down.
He was worried that Darios might have had some secret plan that Hercule himself couldn't think of, but in the end, it went as he had predicted.
No mistake about it, Darios's aim was to surround and exterminate the clibanarii cavalry.
It's simple in that case. Hercule only had to pull the clibanarii back. There was just one problem: the battleground was a hill. Running down a hill was easy, but getting up was another matter.
Running up the hill in the middle of enemy lines while watching their six was next to impossible.
What made it even more difficult was the fact that the clibanarii had exhausted themselves from charging. It was impossible for Garphis to retreat on his own.
That was why Darios made this move.
Garphis could not retreat. Without assistance, that is.
"Assemble the 3,000 reserve clibanarii. And… take 9,000 infantry with us."
Hercule had not sent out all his clibanarii cavalry. The unit led by Garphis numbered only 5,000. Hercule left 3,000 in reserve in case worst came to worst.
It was just like how Darios kept his elite troops in the rear.
"Now that I think about it, I'm learning a lot from Darios."
Hercule gave a wry smile.
Since Hercule was young, the late Emperor Hadrianus usually took him to the battlefield, but they always lost and had to flee with their tails between their legs… Darios was one of the generals who crushed Hadrianus III in battle.
Did Hercule get influenced by Darios subconsciously, or were their ways of thinking merely resembled each other?
Either way, that was of no importance at the moment.
"Your Majesty, the troops have been assembled!"
"Well then… Gentlemen!! Let's strike the cowardly mercenaries once again!"
"OOHHH!!!"
Hercule accelerated down the hill at once. With Hercule as the vertex, the Lemurian force of 10,000 arranged in a triangle formation ran down in unison.
"Asmodeus, can you make it so my troops appear ten times as numerous? Just for five seconds is fine."
"Another hassle… You'd better pay me back in full later, alright?"
"As long as it doesn't kill me."
Thanks to the illusion created by Hercule's contracted spirit, though only for five seconds… his army appeared to be ten times its actual size. The mercenaries who had just calmed down flew into a panic. They forgot the order to move aside and even ran to the back.
Hercule pried open the crack that Garphis created before and dealt a devastating blow to the mercenaries. And then…
"Garphis!! We're withdrawing!!"
"Your Majesty! It's just as you predicted… Thank goodness. I'll leave the command of the troops in your hands. I'm going to go berserk for a bit."
Hercule silently nodded, then he collected the 5,000 clibanarii under Garphis's command and Carolina and retreated up the hill. Behind him, a group of elite troops spearheaded by Garphis were fiercely stopping enemy pursuit, and the infantry on his flanks were holding back the mercenaries…
There was not a single enemy soldier who could challenge the clibanarii.
Thus Hercule's clibanarii cavalry unit successfully retreated, sustaining negligible losses while gaining a great victory.
Lemurian Army:
Clibanarii: 300 losses; 7700 remaining
Longbowmen: 200 losses; 4800 remaining
Infantry: 1000 losses; 14000 remaining
Total remaining troops: 26500
Darios's Army:
Personal Infantry: 0 losses; 4000 remaining
Personal Crossbowmen: 0 losses; 3000 remaining
Mercenary Infantry: total annihilation (countless casualties, deserters and demoralized troops); 0 remaining
Barbarian Cavalry: 0 losses; 5000 remaining
Total remaining troops: 12000
Result: Darios's defeat.
"What a surprise. I thought you would continue to resist a while longer."
"The soldiers won't obey me anymore after a crushing defeat like that. After all, I have neither the bloodline nor the authority like you do."
The next day, Darios readily accepted the peace offer and came to Hercule's tent. Standing guard beside Hercule were Garphis and Carolina, and Darios's hands were tied behind his back.
Darios lost over 20,000 men in one day, but… all of them were expendable mercenary troops. His main force was still intact. If he wanted to, he could have continued fighting. However…
There was no meaning in fighting an unwinnable war. Darios had fully accepted his loss.
The only way to defeat Hercule who was entrenched on top of the hill was by pushing his way up from the front. However, Darios no longer had the expendable mercenaries.
Darios's personal infantry were loyal to him, but they were no more capable than the mercenaries. If he tried the same thing again, he would just suffer another defeat.
"It was through my sharp wits alone that I rose to this position… Yet here, you have completely defeated me. Your Majesty the Emperor. Please accept my apologies for having belittled you."
"Haha… It's my win this time. By the way… if we had fought head-on on an open field, do you suppose the result would have been different?"
"I would have won, of course."
Darios asserted with full confidence. Hercule's vassals' faces turned red with exasperation.
This boorish sellsword, how dare he claim that when he lost!
Yet Hercule just smiled wryly and said.
"That's what I think, too."
Hearing Hercule easily conceded, the vassals widened their eyes in surprise.
Hercule thought of himself as a genius… but not an omnipotent person. He knew that there would always be someone better than him.
For the time being, that is.
"So… what terms can you offer?"
"I will relinquish all my territories to Your Majesty. In exchange, please spare my personal troops. It's fine even if Your Majesty deport them. They were simply following my orders. Do as you see fit with the other mercenaries… As for my head, whether to charade it around or offer it to the late Emperor Hadrianus, do as you will with it."
"Well, that sounds reasonable enough."
Hercule would rather not kill unnecessarily. Just recovering the lost territories and ensuring security was enough for him.
The Pelosonian Mercenary State was only held together by Darios's army. With Darios defeated and his mercenary band dissolved, the would be nothing left to stop Hercule from establishing his rule on the peninsula.
"That's fine, but I have a condition. The damage and loss of prestige you have caused our Empire are insurmountable. Your head alone is not enough to make up for that."
"But other than my head, I have nothing more I can offer Your Majesty…"
"Not just your head, submit your whole body to me."
A strange atmosphere instantly filled the tent.
EH!?
Body…
That means…
EH!? Could it be, His Imperial Majesty…
"Become my vassal. That's my condition."
Why did you have to say that in such a misleading way?!
At that moment, Darios, the vassals and Carolina all shared the same opinion.
"Surely you jest, Your Majesty. Are you not worried that I might become a snake in your bosom?"
Darios just laughed off Hercule's proposal. Recruiting the one who defeated and disgraced his father? That could not possibly happen. It must have been a silly little joke of his.
"There's no doubting your commanding ability. With how our Empire keeps losing wars these days, you wouldn't be able to tell that we were once a military superpower. That's why I will take every talented personnel I can find for the sake of strengthening our army. And it's troubling that the only quick-witted general I can entrust with over 10,000 troops is Garphis. I would rather not go to battle personally if possible, you see."
Hercule said with an unusually earnest look.
Darios gulped.
"Are you serious, Your Majesty?"
"Perfectly serious."
"…And what if I refuse?"
"Hahahaha!!!"
Hercule just laughed without replying him. Darios felt a chill ran down his spine.
"That reminds me, you might become a snake in my bosom, you said?"
Darios spontaneously shuddered. This feeling…
"Do you honestly think you can win against me?"
Receiving Hercule's overwhelming wave of magic power directly, Darios's lips went pale.
Not only Darios. Garphis, Carolina, all of the vassals, as well as all the people, animals and insects in the vicinity…
All of them stopped moving.
Hercule's innate magic.
"Dread III"
The effect of this magic was quite straight forward: it carved fear into the mind of everyone in his surroundings.
So far, there hadn't been anyone who could move while taking Hercule's "Dread III" in the face. Not a single person. Even if Darios wanted to take over the Empire, he would never be able to overcome Hercule's magic.
"Your personal troops won't be deported from the Empire. I should be able to find them suitable lands to settle down, after all, there are plenty of ruined territories in our Empire. I won't keep them all in one place, of course… You understand what this means, right?"
"…"
Betray me, and I will put your beloved subordinates to death. The implication was clear.
"With that, from now on you are my vassal. I expect great things from you."
"…Understood."
Darios was denied the right to refuse.
Mercenary Captain Darios. Also known as Darios the "Black Panther".
He belonged to a high-ranking werebeast species, and was the third son of a small baron family. One of the "Restorators", he used to be the king of a country called the Pelosonian Mercenary State.
And…
He was one of Emperor Hercule's Seventeen Retainers.