Chapter 39: Not a Single Miracle Is Going to Happen

Jikei had deliberately avoided stating any victory conditions during the royal council.

…Because both Sario and Rishali would realize just how hopeless the situation truly was.

“Lord Jikei. We’ve begun conscription, but people keep abandoning the country and fleeing.”

“Figures. They’re not showing up, huh.”

There’s a big difference between “This looks kinda bad” and “We have no hope of winning anymore”—and that changes motivation entirely.

Both Sario and Rishali would need to perform at their absolute best.

That’s how severe Saripa’s victory conditions were—so much so that Jikei avoided explaining them in detail.

“Lord Jikei, a huge sum of gold has vanished from the royal treasury. Someone likely made off with it…”

“Forget hunting the culprit for now. Sell off Father the King’s art collection and convert it into funds.”

“…As you wish.”

It was estimated that the Deken Empire outnumbered Saripa’s forces by a factor of ten.

To be precise, it was only ten times if you looked at it optimistically.

In reality, the disparity was likely even greater.

“We’ve got three days. Hold out to the very last moment and keep gathering troops.”

Jikei had begun conscription too, but unless each soldier took down ten enemies, there was no winning.

Unless they managed to pull off a trap or execute some brilliant strategy, their chances were slim.

On top of that, Saripa’s guardian, Poulie, had yet to return.

That alone made things brutally difficult—but...

“At the very least, this front needs to hold. We’re screwed otherwise.”

Yet ironically, this—the front against Deken—was the easiest hurdle.

The regular army was well-trained, and their commander, Rouga, was a solid and dependable general.

They also had next-gen talents like Takeru and Poulie tagging along.

Jikei considered this front to be relatively manageable, all things considered.

“…The Yaiban forces are still aggressively pursuing our army. Our regular troops are suffering heavy casualties.”

“Rishali still hasn’t arrived there?”

“Most likely tomorrow or later…”

The second hurdle was to negotiate a ceasefire with Yaiban—and have Yaiban beat back the Deken forces as well.

This outcome was completely uncertain. All they could do was pray that Saripa’s diplomatic nuke would work on Yaiban.

If Yaiban got crushed, Saripa—left with no allies—would be stomped out.

For Saripa to have any chance of surviving, collaboration with Yaiban was absolutely essential.

“Please be wise, Yaiban…”

This was why Jikei had originally concluded they were “already checkmated.”

Saripa and Yaiban had been enemies for decades.

And now, in this dire crisis, they were groveling and wagging their tail, asking, “Help us.”

No surprise if Yaiban kicked them to the curb. No surprise if they immediately sent Rishali’s severed head back.

Of course, Yaiban would also know that their odds were better if they fought alongside Saripa.

But looking at Yaiban objectively, they didn’t seem like a nation smart enough to broker a truce with Saripa.

“Please, Rishali… we need Yaiban to shore up their defenses too…!”

If there was even the slightest chance of making this work, it all depended on whether Saripa’s diplomatic bomb—Rishali—went off the right way.

If anyone could pull off an impossible ceasefire, it’d be his silver-tongued little sister.

Betting on that sliver of hope, Jikei had dispatched Rishali to Yaiban.

“…Any word from the port town?”

“None so far.”

And yet, there was still another hurdle.

The third obstacle—and arguably the most brutal one of all.

A matter beyond Saripa’s effort or planning. A gate that only divine favor could unlock. A question of sheer luck.

“Lululu… Sis…”

Jikei’s voice trembled like a prayer, as he pictured his elder sister heading for the port town.

Port town Anat was a thriving trade hub, located toward the east, facing the sea.

Its bountiful catches of red-fleshed fish brought about harvest festivals every spring, drawing crowds of tourists.

It was also famous for its alcohol, producing high-quality rum and whiskey beloved by sailors.

Being a bustling trade city, Anat conducted business with various regions.

Aside from the capital itself, it was arguably the most prosperous city in all of Saripa.

——But its main trading partner was the Deken Empire.

“Please…”

That’s right. Port town Anat had an established maritime route with the Deken Empire.

In other words, the Deken Empire could use its navy to launch a direct attack on Anat.

The Kingdom of Saripa had to be on alert for invasions from the sea as well.

“I’m begging you…”

Of course, Jikei was well aware of this.

Anat was connected to the capital by a direct, well-maintained transport route.

And maritime transport was far more efficient than land-based logistics.

The odds of a Deken invasion coming by sea were extremely high.

“Don’t come!!”

And yet, Jikei had not stationed any defensive forces in Anat.

No—he couldn’t, even if he’d wanted to.

——Because the Kingdom of Saripa had no navy.

Saripa’s coastline had been protected by the Deken Navy all this time.

The Deken Navy was a powerful force—arguably the strongest in the world—and as long as they protected Saripa, the kingdom had never needed a navy of its own.

Which meant that now, with war breaking out against Deken, Saripa was utterly defenseless by sea.

There was no way to repel enemy ships entering the harbor. The only option was to confront them inland and fight them off in the streets.

…And if things came to that, it would be the end, no matter what.

However—there was still some hope that the Deken Navy wouldn’t come.

Because the Deken Empire wasn’t just fighting Yaiban. They were also at war with a northern island nation called Aegisland.

Apparently, Deken and that island had long been poor matches for one another, and their conflict had gone on even longer than the one with Yaiban.

The bulk of the Deken Navy had already been deployed to fight against Aegisland.

If the war situation on that front was pressing enough, the Deken Empire wouldn’t have the luxury of sending their navy to Saripa.

In the first place, given Deken’s overwhelming military power, they could easily subjugate Saripa via land routes alone.

And so, Jikei placed his hopes on the possibility that the navy would be deemed unnecessary—a surplus force that Deken would choose not to deploy.

——Because if they did deploy it, there would be no chance of victory.

Jikei had sent his beloved sister Lululu into such a deathtrap.

If the Deken Empire launched an assault on port town Anat...

Then Lululu would be forced to conscript civilians, rally them, and lead them in urban warfare to fight off the enemy.

It was a hopeless battle. A hellish battlefield from which survival was unthinkable.

Lululu’s role would be to sacrifice herself—and many citizens—to burn Anat to the ground, buying time until the regular army could return from the capital.

Jikei had tried to explain this to her, but she already understood.

That’s why she cut him off before he could say anything.

At that royal council, only the two of them fully grasped what “heading to Anat” truly meant.

Looking at it all laid out like this, just how slim were their chances?

The survival of the Kingdom of Saripa depended on multiple miracles lining up—one after another.

And still, Jikei didn’t abandon his duty as a member of the royal family.

Even faced with this hopeless situation, knowing death awaited if they lost, he chose to fight back.

Why?

“Because I really do love Saripa… dammit…”

Jikei, blessed with talent, had never truly applied himself. He’d lived lazily, indulging in pleasure and luxury.

At times, he’d acted disrespectfully toward his older brother Sario, even looking down on him.

Normally, a royal like that would have been cast out—and rightly so.

And yet, both the King and Sario accepted him, simply because he was useful to the country.

“I actually thought we were managing the place pretty damn well, y’know!”

Sure, Jikei had his share of complaints about the way Saripa was run.

But year by year, as time passed, Saripa had steadily grown into a better country.

Jikei truly did love the Kingdom of Saripa.

---

——Three days later.

“…Lord Jikei, we’ve gathered the number of troops we projected.”

“I see.”

The desire to protect the country wasn’t something only Jikei felt.

It seemed that many of the citizens under Saripa’s rule also held deep affection for the kingdom.

By the third day, a force even larger than Jikei had anticipated had assembled before the royal palace.

“Saripa, banzai!!”

“Drive out those Deken bastards!”

It was true that many had fled, abandoning the country.

But the patriotism of Saripa’s people was stronger than Jikei had imagined.

An overwhelming number were ready to lay down their lives and fight for their homeland.

Especially those who remembered the days of the previous king, decades ago—they burned with fierce determination.

Back then, Saripa was in ruins, and no one had faith in the government.

But once the king changed, the nation visibly and steadily improved.

They had seen firsthand how much the current King of Saripa had struggled and toiled for the people’s sake.

“Are the Yaiban forces still pursuing us?”

“We have no intel at the moment.”

“Any response from Rishali?”

“Nothing yet.”

Jikei had no way of knowing whether the strategy he’d devised was actually working.

No—he knew, with pretty high certainty, that it wasn’t going to work.

But even so, he had no choice but to fight.

Now that their enemies had finally bared the killing intent they’d long hidden, resistance was the only option—otherwise, they’d simply be slaughtered.

With that resolve, Jikei led the freshly conscripted militia toward the border with the Deken Empire.

Now then, let us share one saying that’s been passed down in Saripa:

——“A miracle is something you only recognize after it’s happened.”

In other words, you mustn’t build your plans around the assumption that a miracle will occur.

It’s only because you’re guided by chance in the depths of despair—without even hoping—that it becomes a miracle.

Which is to say—

The strategy crafted by the genius Jikei, a desperate attempt to keep the Kingdom of Saripa alive…

“Message from Lord Sario. It appears the enemy force is much larger than expected. Far more than ten times our numbers…”

“I see.”

“Between the forces invading Saripa and those attacking from the Yaiban front, they say the combined difference in strength is closer to thirty times.”

Not a single thing had gone well.

“Numbers are numbers. It was already hopeless. Whether it’s ten times or thirty makes no real difference.”

“…Also, the enemy is being led by one of the Deken Empire’s Seven Heroes. General Agaron—the ‘Dragon Slayer.’”

“If we link up with our allies, the battle situation could shift again. Don’t give up.”

Prince Jalpha of the Deken Empire had meticulously prepared before launching the invasion.

For the great Deken, defeat was not allowed. Even a local loss would be considered unacceptable, and he’d be reprimanded.

That’s why, with an absurd thirty-to-one advantage, he launched a simultaneous assault on both Saripa and Yaiban.

“We’ve got our own Dragon Slayer, don’t we? We should be putting up some resistance, right?”

“…No. We’re being routed without even a chance to fight back.”

“…What the hell. Isn’t that ‘Takeru’ one of Rishali’s favorites? He’s supposed to be strong, isn’t he?”

“Well, about that…”

And to make matters worse, the Deken Empire’s army wasn’t just large in number.

The troops invading Saripa’s territory were, unsurprisingly, elite.

---

『What the hell is that?』

『That’s not human, is it?』

For the Deken army, taking Saripa was considered nothing more than a minor affair.

Naturally, Agaron, the Dragon-Slayer Hero, didn’t personally bother fighting.

『Some kind of earth monster?』

『They’re golems. An entire golem unit!!』

The Deken Imperial Army was using this opportunity against Saripa to test a new experimental tactic.

The offensive had begun—led by a unit of earth mages commanding hordes of clay golems.

『I’ll go in and try, Rouga-san.』

『Y-Yeah. I’ll leave it to you, Lord Takeru.』

And this clay golem assault… turned out to be terrifyingly effective.

Blades couldn’t pierce them, magic had no effect, and once they started moving, there was no stopping them.

Takeru rushed headlong into the enemy formation of clay golems—but…

『No matter how many I destroy, they just regenerate!』

『So long as they have mana, they can spawn an endless army!?』

Each golem shattered under a single strike from Takeru, only to rise again from elsewhere moments later.

As long as there was ground beneath them, these golems could keep emerging endlessly.

『No matter how many I break, there’s no end to them…』

『U-UWAAAH!! Stop! Somebody help—!!』

To ordinary soldiers, the golems were too hard and too heavy—even a group effort couldn’t bring one down.

And even if they did manage to destroy one after much struggle, it would regenerate instantly so long as mana remained.

…This was the Deken Army’s new strategy, unleashed in combat for the first time.

An undead march of clay golems, surging forward in waves that blanketed the earth itself.

『Lord Takeru, we’ve no choice—we have to fall back!』

『R-Right!』

No matter how many they smashed, no matter how many they reduced to dirt, their numbers never dwindled.

And this was a terrible match for Takeru’s abilities.

If the enemy had only been tough, it wouldn’t have been a problem—Takeru would’ve handled them with ease.

But what was he supposed to do against foes that just came back the moment he destroyed them?

『I can’t hold them off at all!』

『This isn’t war—it’s a massacre!』

Faced with this monstrous threat, Saripa’s main force had no choice but to keep retreating in disarray.

The regular army led by Sario couldn’t even hold out for a single day, and the front lines were pushed back drastically.

“…That’s the situation.”

“No one’s ever heard of a tactic like that before!”

Jikei hadn’t imagined things would go this badly.

He’d heard from Rishali that a skilled warrior named Takeru had joined the fight, so he thought they might at least put up some resistance.

…Then again, deploying new weapons is just part of war.

The Deken clay golem units were a fresh, unreported tactic—no intelligence had reached them yet.

So of course, Saripa was overwhelmed.

“That’s enough. I’ll go see it with my own eyes and come up with a plan. There has to be something we can do.”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

“Damn it, I thought they’d be able to hold out a little longer…”

Jikei couldn’t come up with a countermeasure right away.

Their forces were greater than anticipated, and their tactics—utterly unimaginable. Already, Jikei’s strategy was beginning to collapse.

“We’ve received even worse news.”

“What is it? Speak.”

“There’s still been no formal declaration of ceasefire with Yaiban. As we speak, they continue their pursuit.”

The bad news didn’t stop there.

It had been a week since the diplomat Rishali departed, and yet the Yaiban forces had not ceased their advance.

“Rishali should’ve arrived long ago!”

“We haven’t received a reply from Her Highness. It’s possible something happened along the way.”

They had no idea why negotiations hadn’t succeeded.

Had she been injured en route? Or had she been turned away at the gates?

If Rishali hadn’t even made it to the negotiation table, her gift for diplomacy meant nothing.

And if Yaiban hadn’t halted their pursuit by now, then the plan had failed.

“…Understood. Once I arrive at the front, I’ll go myself and negotiate directly with the Yaiban army.”

“Lord Jikei…”

—Nothing was going right. Not a single miracle Jikei had hoped for had come to pass.

But that didn’t mean the outcome was just bad luck.

“…Yeah. That’s how it is.”

This was normal.

The Deken Empire was renowned for its overwhelming military might. It was only natural that the weak Saripa army would be crushed.

The grudge with Yaiban ran deep. Even if Rishali was a brilliant negotiator, getting a ceasefire in a single day was a pipe dream.

He had hoped for a miracle—but there had been none. That was all there was to it.

“E-Excuse me, Lord Jikei. Another report just came in.”

“What is it? Say it.”

“A messenger from Lady Lululu has arrived. The Deken Navy has appeared at the port town of Anat.”

“I see.”

And at last came the fatal blow.

A swarm of Deken naval forces had appeared at the port town—where not a single soldier had been stationed.

“…I see.”

“Lord Jikei!”

—Miracles are only recognized after they occur.

To stake everything on one happening… was the height of foolishness.

“…gh.”

Jikei’s skull throbbed. A wave of nausea and dizziness struck him, and he could no longer stay on his feet.

He had done what he could, in his own way.

He had taken a gamble on miracles, because without one, there was no way to save Saripa.

“Lord Jikei, please—get a hold of yourself!”

“Damn it…!”

But this—this was reality.

Faced with a force as massive as the Deken Empire, Saripa was simply too small.

All it took was one whim from the Emperor, and their fate was sealed.

“…What now? From here, what do we even…”

“Lord Jikei?”

The plan Jikei had crafted—based entirely on the assumption of a miracle—had long since fallen apart.

He no longer knew if his brother Sario, his sister Lululu, or his younger sister Rishali would even survive.

The people of Saripa were being trampled. The soldiers slaughtered—used as test subjects for the Deken Empire’s experiments.

“Think! There has to be a way to minimize the damage, even a little!”

Jikei, who had lived a life of laziness and ease, was now—for the first time—desperately trying to think.

Until now, he had coasted through life, able to handle anything with minimal effort. But this… this was his first real dead end.

Still, he didn’t give up. He refused to give up.

“If I can just make the right move from here… even now, we might still save some lives—”

“…Hm?”

Miracles are only recognized after they happen.

The miracle Jikei had hoped for might not have come to him, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened somewhere.

“What is it now? More bad news?”

“N-No, Lord Jikei… we’ve received a single report of victory.”

Amid the stream of messengers bringing news of defeats and despair to Jikei as he marched forward…

There was just one. One single report—a small, shining sign of victory for the Saripa army.

“A victory… report?”

“Yes. The Deken forces advancing toward the Yaiban front were…”

It was a small, very small victory.

And across this wide warfront, it was the only victory the Saripa army had achieved.

“They were engaged by Fort Byuredesto… and repelled.”

“What!?”

“And not only that—they suffered no casualties.”

And with that, unexpectedly—

“W-Wait, hold on! Did we even have troops stationed there!?”

“Yes. A few days ago, the Byuredesto Vigilante Corps that was formally added to the regular army—a few hundred men, at most…”

“You’re telling me a few hundred men pushed back an entire Deken army!?”

That small victory—completely outside of anything Jikei had envisioned—was the beginning of a miracle.