The Golden Gravekeeper - 130 Chapter 130

With my army bolstered by new regiments, both from the Morian dwarves’ Elemental company and the turncoat Order of the Knights of Blood from the human kingdom, Legnica, we marched out to meet the rest of th 1,087th Magna Regiment.

From what Major Elia Kratz informed me, the Mereids of the Poseidon Kingdom had arrived and taken control of the naval fleet alongside the reformed and “normal” Marrina navy. They were sailing alongside the infantry brigades of my regiment to meet up with me along the shore near Helsreach before we sailed to the East Coast of Legnica.

The tanks surged ahead, with the smaller Malthas Executioner tanks escorting the titanic Hellsblade in the center. All around the tanks were the rugged but no less armored Cerberus APCs bearing scores of infantry from both the human and demonic armies.

“We’re almost there, boss.”

Lieutenant Jason Jurgen called out to me as the Savior of Moria ran over a bump, flattening logs and crushing grass underneath its adamantium tracks. He was right. From the holographic pict-screen onboard the command console of my tank, I could see the beach. Floating on the waters were the gargantuan vessels of the Marrina navy.

Once we were within range, I contacted Elia and Major Benjamin Burado.

“Hey, guys! We’re here!”

“We see you! We’ll be getting the cruisers to shore so that you can load the tanks up on them.”

We did not plan on driving the tanks all the way to Legnica. Instead, we were going to load them up on the ships. The cruisers held vast transport bays where they could hold the tanks and ferry them across the continent. It would save power and be faster, especially since the Malthas tanks consumed excessive fuel to move at a snail’s pace. At a steady crawl of 20 kilometers per hour, it would take us forever to reach Legnica.

Then again…the battleships only moved at 14 knots, or 26 kilometers per hour. We could push them to travel at 35 knots or 65 kilometers per hour for a maximum of four hours if necessary, which would be dangerous if we tried that for tanks. So instead, we thought it would be more prudent and safer to transport the tanks over the sea than make the trek over land. Besides, we also needed to preserve as much power as possible.

The cruisers arriving ashore had the aft facing inland. Hatches swung open and slammed down onto the beach, sending up damp sand in clogged sprays. Ignoring the sand and dust, the tanks plowed straight into the bowels of the heavy cruisers and parked in their designated positions.

The Savior of Moria was so large that it took up almost an entire bay in one of the cruisers, a heavy cruiser named Takao. Only two other Malthas tanks were able to follow it into the cargo bay because of how much space the super-heavy Hellblade took up.

“Finally!”

Stretching himself, Geoffrey Gunnery happily leaped out of the cramped confines of the Savior of Moria.

“That was quite the long ride,” Jurgen agreed as he staggered out of the tank, creaking his neck and shoulders.

“Go get some rest, guys,” I ordered them. Then I proceeded toward the bridge to pay my respects to the captain of the ship. It took me quite a while to navigate the steel, labyrinth corridors of the ship, but after a few directions from helpful crewmen, I found the bridge.

“Sorry, please excuse my intrusion.”

The moment I stumbled into the bridge awkwardly, the highest-ranking officer stood up from his command throne. Dressed in an immaculate white uniform with golden braids and buttons, his epaulets indicated his rank.

Bowing in a dignified manner, he introduced himself.

“Captain Gunzou Chihaya. I am the commander of this ship.”

“Well met, Captain Gunzou. Colonel Tanaka Tomoyuki, the CO of 1,087th Magna.”

“It’s an honor.” Gunzou lowered his head slightly. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Not all of it good, I bet,” I muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head frantically. “It’s a great honor to meet you too.”

“Ah.” Gunzou nodded, and then consulted his bridge. “Um, you’re scheduled to meet his Excellency Emperor Regis aboard the Poseidon in an hour. He would like to personally listen to your briefing and reports regarding the situation around the Knights of Blood.”

“Emperor Regis is here?!”

My jaw dropped when I heard the news. Gunzou nodded fervently.

“Yes. The Demon Lord himself has personally decided to lead this battle. It’s not just him. Demon Lord Generals and Lord Militant Commanders from all over Morten have assembled. We are viewing this as the final battle and are staking everything on this.”

“Uh, okay.”

And just when I thought the pressure wasn’t going to get heavier…

“I’ve prepared a shuttle for you, so you may depart whenever you’re ready.”

“All right.” I sighed. “Let’s get this done and over with.”

*

I met up with Lilith shortly after I arrived aboard the flagship of the Marrina Fleet, the Poseidon. Formerly the Emperor’s Glory, we renamed it because we didn’t want anything associated with the bastard Kobayashi Kenji. Still, it would be sweet irony to bombard the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity with his own flagship that he arrogantly named after himself.

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“They’re calling a general meeting,” Lilith Scarlet informed me. “All of us generals have been summoned by the Demon Lord himself.”

Ah, right. Lilith was a general, the commander-and-chief of the Haemorage military. What was the formal designation, Lord General?

“Yeah,” Lilith agreed, as if she had read my mind. “All the Lord Generals have been called. Not just normal generals, but Lord Generals. The highest-ranking military commanders across the continent, barring the seven others.”

The seven others were referring to the absenties of the Nine Strongest Demon Nobles in Morten. Evidently they had chosen to eschew this final battle. That was fine by me. Less monsters participating in this battle meant more glory for me, and a higher chance that I could personally fight and kill Kobayashi with my very own hands.

“So why are they summoning a mere Colonel like me?” I asked apprehensively.

Lilith giggled. “You’ll see when we get there.”

And just like that, we arrived. Lilith stopped in front of the huge metal doors and I automatically opened them for her. She smiled mischievously.

“You’re such a gentleman, aren’t you?”

“Uh…no, not really.”

Lilith chuckled and sauntered in before gesturing for me to follow. I obeyed and almost fell over at the sight of no less than four Lord Generals sitting around Emperor Regis Gremory.

Lord General Priscilla Paimon. Lord General Macharius Marbas. Lord General Brent Barbatos. Lord General Vincent van Bellial. And then we had Lord General Lilith Scarlet.

Outranking these top-ranked commanders of the Morten military was the Demon Lord and Lord Militant Commander Regis Gremory himself, calmly seated at the center of the table. He smiled broadly when he saw me.

“Ah, our good Colonel Tanaka. You’ve finally managed to return to us.”

“Your Excellency.” I bowed politely.

“Now, now. Dispense with the formalities. You’ve come a long way and fought two successive campaigns. Both of which you achieved victory. You’re among equals now.”

“…huh?”

I wasn’t sure if Regis was mocking me or being serious. I was a mere Colonel. The people in front of me were Lord Generals. They outranked me by a fucking ton. There was no way I could be an equal to any of them.

“From the preliminary reports you submitted, I see you’ve also managed to garner the assistance of several human regiments. The 82nd Legnica Regiment. The 7th Battalion of the Marrina Marine Corps. The entire fleet of the Marrina Navy. The Knights of Blood.”

“They all have a great reason to help me,” I replied honestly. “We have a mutual enemy. it didn’t take much convincing, and we have to continue to compromise and cooperate with mutual respect.”

Regis chortled. “Still so modest, I see.”

“Just stating the truth.”

“Well, you’ve received fresh reinforcements from me. An entire tank regiment, several infantry regiments, and even an Elemental Company from Moria. I have discussed with the others, and we think you need a corresponding rank for your current responsibilities. A colonel doesn’t normally command multiple regiments, after all.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Then don’t give me multiple regiments to command!

That was my thought, but I couldn’t voice it out. I wasn’t that tactless or foolish.

Still, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about commanding multiple regiments. I wasn’t a trained soldier. I couldn’t handle the responsibility and shouldering so many lives upon my narrow, skinny shoulders. It was already difficult for me to manage and lead my regiment, and now I had to lead an entire battlegroup consisting of regiments from both human and demon armies.

This was so going to be a pain.

“Therefore, from today forward, you’re hereby promoted to the rank of Lord General. In front of these five witnesses, Lord General Scarlet, Lord General Paimon, Lord General Barbatos, Lord General Marbas and Lord General Bellial, I confer you upon the venerable rank of Lord General and appoint you commander of the combined regiments you currently lead. I will be assigning you more regiments, especially those from Moria, in the coming days, but you will serve as the spearhead and lead the fight directly to Legnica. You will have overall command, especially in the Legnica sector.”

“I will be assisting you,” Lilith added brightly. “So don’t hesitate to rely on me.”

“Heh…so a husband-and-wife command staff?” Lord General Paimon murmured sarcastically. “I have high expectations of you two.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, wouldn’t the other Lord Generals be more suited for this task?” I raised my hand nervously. “I mean, I appreciate the honor of being allowed to lead the attack against Kobayashi and Legnica, and I express my gratitude for the amount of faith and confidence you show in me, but…aren’t the Lord Generals a lot more experienced, wiser and smarter than me?”

“You underestimate yourself too much, Lord General Tanaka.” Regis was grinning wryly. “And even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter. You were the one who captured the Marrina navy and their ships. You were the one who negotiated the alliance and incorporated the human regiments into your army. The human soldiers will not take orders or listen to any demon other than you. You’re the only one who has earned their trust. Since they’ll definitely want to participate in the battle to reclaim their homeland, you’re probably the only commander suitable to lead them alongside your assigned regiments.”

“Uh…okay.”

I had to admit that was true. It wasn’t difficult to figure out that the humans would be less trusting and more suspicious of the other demonic commanders. I had earned their trust by fighting alongside them, so technically, I would be easier to cooperate with. In contrast, the humans had clashed against the other demon nobles and commanders, so they wouldn’t be too happy with following the orders of their previous enemies.

“Besides, we’re engaged in battles across other sectors.”

It was Marbas who spoke up this time. The elderly general raised his white-haired head and stared at me seriously.

“We’re launching a multi-pronged attack across the entire continent, invading multiple human kingdoms simultaneously to tightly stretch their forces. We aim to finish off any semblance of the old human regime once and for all.”

“Don’t worry,” Regis assured me. “I have no intention of allowing any demon noble to lay claim to ruling the human kingdoms. It is my goal to exterminate Kobayashi and the rest of Evelyn’s Chosen, and then establish a lasting peace with the new regime. The industrial revolution has opened up new alternative pathways, and I aim to create a global network of trade and technological progress while pursuing peace and bettering the lives and societies of all sentient species across Restia.”

That sounded highly idealistic, and I doubted that Regis would truly be able to achieve that. But it was certainly a dream worth working toward. Best of all, it involved Kobayashi’s death and total demise, so there was no way I could say no to it.

“Oh, and you’re still in contact with the Iron Knights, right? Will they be helping us out in this final battle?”

“They will. Hoshizaki-san and Aoyama-kun gave their word.”

I had spoken to the two briefly before I left the Marrina Isles, and contacted them by smartphone while on the way to the rest of the fleet. They had assured me that Takeda Tetsuo planned on participating in this final battle. They would meet me around the shores of Legnica.

“Speaking of the Iron Knights, I have also enlisted the help of Nishida Kensuke.”

He was currently under watch by heavily armed guards, but to be honest, a hero like Nishida would be able to overpower normal demons in Restia and escaped if he wanted to. Nonetheless, I wanted to assure my men that he wouldn’t be trying anything funny. Moreover, I also needed to keep an eye on him to ensure he wasn’t a mole or secretly communicating with Kobayashi and the others.

On the other hand, his skills were admittedly invaluable, and he had designed power swords and other demonic weapons for the officers in my regiment that possessed potent magic. If we defeated Kobayashi, I would most likely just let him go. I wasn’t naïve enough to assume that he was being genuine and sincere, but at the very least he was doing his best to give me a reason to keep him alive and well-treated.

Unlike Kobayashi, apparently.

“He’s onboard the Tenacious Survivor, and I have several armed Marine guards escorting him, so we shouldn’t have to worry about him.”

“That’s good. Keep me posted, if anything happens.”

Regis nodded. Lilith giggled.

“I wouldn’t worry about that Evelyn’s Chosen if I were you. He doesn’t seem the type to backstab other people.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Lilith, but I had used Absolute Appraisal to confirm that for myself. Still, Nishida had the potential to change his mind anytime he wanted, so it was best to be careful.

“We will be parting ways shortly after this, sadly enough. We have our own armies to command.” Regis looked a little sad at that, but he reached out to offer his hand. “I trust you to achieve victory at Legnica, though. The Marrina navy and the 1st Mereid Poseidon Fleet will be under your command. Use them as you will – they’re officially one of your regiments.”

This guy was taking the Lord General thing too far. Besides, wasn’t the Imperial Navy a completely separate entity from the Imperial Guard? Weren’t they afraid of some great Heresy where one man held too much power as the Warmaster and revolted against the Emperor? Granted, I wasn’t granted a fancy title like Warmaster and I had no intention of rebelling (honestly, it was too much trouble), but this was causing alarm bells to ring in my head.

However, I merely saluted and said, “yes, sir!”

“Good. If there’s nothing else, then everyone is dismissed. Let’s go. We have a war to win.”

Without any fanfare or other dramatic stuff, the pinnacle of the command staff of Morten dissolved and the Lord Generals took their shuttles back to their ships, which would ferry them to whatever sector or warzone they were responsible for.

“So how do you plan on sieging Havia or Legnica?” Lilith asked me once we were left alone. Not just the two of us – I had called for a strategy meeting aboard the flagship and was awaiting the rest of my commanders.

“We have battleships with gauss cannon batteries, railguns, cruise missiles and tactical missiles. We can bombard the capital from shore and reduce it to a smoking wreck.”

Lilith frowned. “Then why go through all that trouble to stop the Iron Knights from nuking the capital if you’re going to destroy it anyway? How is that better than nuking Havia?”

“Oh, I’m not going to nuke Havia,” I assured her. “Or destroy it. I’m just saying we have the capaibility to do so.”

“…huh?”

I grinned at her. “The important thing is that Kobayashi knows that we have the capability too. So what do you think he’ll do when he sees the fleet of captured battleships arriving on the shore of his favorite kingdom?”

“He’ll quickly launch an attack to destroy the fleet. Throw everything at us to stop us from bombarding his capital…”

“Exactly.” I nodded. Lilith stared at me, still confused.

“But that means…”

“I’ve no intention of leveling the city or attacking civilians. But Kobayashi doesn’t know that. And I want to keep it that way.”

“Oh!” Lilith finally understood. My grin widened.

“That’s right. The whole thing is a show to lure Kobayashi into the open. We’ll be engaging his army on the beach. We’re not going to drag civilians into the whole mess. Once we wipe out the human armies and slay Kobayashi, we’ll proceed inland to liberate the human civilians. Aoyama-kun assured me that his cure is working.”

“That’s great. So they’re coming as well?”

“Yeah, Nagano-san has fixed her airship. They’ll be arriving from another direction. I plan to link up with them and coordinate an attack from two areas so as to split up Kobayashi’s forces.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, Kobayashi Kenji still had Yamada Yuji, Ishida Ryuuji, Yoshida Yume, Midorikawa Midori and Igarashi Hana under his command. Six heroes posed a formidable threat. I would need Takeda Tetsuo and his Eight Guardians to help me deal with them. There was no way I could fight six heroes by myself, even with Lilith’s help.

And people wondered why I kept the Iron Knights alive, going so far as to throw 0.5 ratings just because I didn’t kill them. Or unfollow the story. Well, whatever. They weren’t the ones taking revenge or planning this out, so that was their problem. If they didn’t like what I schemed, they could go read some other edgier story about murderous edgelords massacring everyone in the entire world for even looking at them wrong.

Unfortunatey, this wasn’t that kind of story. Far from it. I had to be practical and realistic, and I had no reason to go around killing people for nothing. Kobayashi, yes, becacuse he tried to murder me and he bullied me in the previous world. But the Iron Knights? What did they do to me exactly?

“That’s good to hear.”

Lilith couldn’t hear any of my thoughts, which was a good thing because she would probably think I was insane otherwise. Well, I was crazy. I just acted like a normal person. No, wait, I doubted I acted like a normal person.

Whatever. It didn’t matter.

“Yeah, so that’s what I’ve planned now. For things to be more concrete, well…that’s what my command staff is for.”

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. As it opened, Major Elia Kratz, Major Daniel Dressia, Major Benjamin Burado, Warrant Officer Michael Marko, Captain Oskar Wulfe, Captain Ben Grimm, Major Siegfried Kracauer, Lieutenant Charlie Bass, Captain Dante Infernius, Lieutenant Jason Jurgen, Rear Admiral Rudolf Anderson and even Alan Nixon all arrived.

“Great, you’re all here.” I grinned and laced my fingers together after gesturing for them to take their seats. “Now let’s begin. As you know, we’re planning on retaking Legnica and liberating its populace from the tyrannical self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity…”