Surviving a Harsh Fantasy with Cheat Items (WN)

Volume 4 – New Continent Counter-Offensive

「Ano, I’m fairly certain this is the Baal Province now!」

For what felt like the hundredth time, Ria’s voice finally reached the group of Dragon Maids pulling her basket, hurtling through the sky at breakneck speed.

Ria was the only one frantically comparing their rough map to the surrounding terrain, while the Dragon Maids seemed to be flying without a care in the world. If she didn’t do something soon, they’d likely end up on the other side of the world.

「Stop! Please stop, already!」

「Stop!」 「Stoooop!」

「Aaaah!」

The Dragon Maids, who had been pulling the basket with all their might, suddenly halted. The basket swung violently forward, leaving Ria feeling like her life had just flashed before her eyes.

「Hah… hah… n-no big deal! I’m fine, totally fine!」

Ria barely managed to cling to the basket, her flight magic keeping her from falling to her death. Though her prized golden hair was now a disheveled mess from the wind, she desperately began brushing it back into place. Dressed in a brilliantly shining robe befitting a saint, Ria prepared herself to descend from the heavens and perform miracles for the people below. She had to be radiant, for she was no longer just an ordinary saintess—she was about to ascend to the role of a holy mother, bringing divine blessings to this barren land of Asama’s grace.

Her plan was to inspire the people to rise up against the Demon Nation’s harsh rule, heralding the arrival of the hero to the New Continent. It was an image straight out of the grand historical sagas she had always loved, so much so that she had devoured even the banned books on the subject. The thought of becoming part of that legacy filled her with glee.

Compared to that, risking her life falling from the sky was hardly a concern.

「Are, is that saintess… right in the head?」

「I’ve always thought she was a bit off.」

「Gufufufu, now then, let’s begin the legend of the Holy Mother!」

Ignoring the bewildered Dragon Maids, Ria proudly ran a comb through her golden locks and proclaimed the start of her legend. Using the power of Asama’s ‘Silver Feather’ she manifested gleaming silver wings upon her back.

Though the wings were purely decorative, meant to conserve her holy magic power, they added to the ethereal glow of her golden robe. Despite her questionable behavior, Ria certainly looked the part of a divine holy mother.

「Okay, you’ve got your legend. But where are we supposed to land?」

「Hmm, let’s see… oh, look over there! That big city! Let’s go there by all means!」

Ria said, pointing randomly at a large city in the distance.

By sheer coincidence, the city she pointed to happened to be Teotihuacan, the capital of Baal Province—a stroke of terrible luck for the Demon Nation’s forces stationed there.

※※※

In the governor’s mansion of Teotihuacan, the provincial capital of Baal, Governor Abaddon Baal Don sat brooding, listening to the latest in a series of frustrating reports from his subordinate.

「So, what’s become of that stupid woman calling herself the Holy Mother?」

「Well, sir… the knights we sent to subdue her haven’t returned…」

It appeared that a woman had been preaching in front of the city’s eastern gate, delivering a public sermon despite the Demon Nation’s strict prohibition of the Asama faith. She was openly inciting the populace against their rulers.

Naturally, such behavior should have been immediately quashed by the city guards, yet no word had come from the troops sent to stop her.

Every soldier Abaddon sent vanished without a trace, swallowed by some unseen force. Convinced that a riot had broken out, he dispatched his knights to deal with the situation, only for them to disappear as well.

「What in the Abyss is going on? Bah! I’ll deal with this myself if I have to!」

「Governor, there’s no need for you to intervene personally. Allow me to lead a force and investigate.」

Abaddon barely managed to suppress his anger thanks to his loyal retainer, Kawaan. As the head of the Don family, one of the 66 noble demon houses that served under the first Demon King of Nisrok, Abaddon was a tiger-like demon with immense power.

Despite his noble lineage, Abaddon had risen to the rank of governor through sheer force, wielding nothing but a spear since the time when the Great Demon King, Ifriil, had been the prince of Nisrok. Standing at over 2.8 meters tall, even among the physically imposing demons, Abaddon was a towering figure.

As a general, Abaddon was known for leading his troops from the front, swinging his trident in battle. This earned him the title ‘Tiger General’, a name feared by many. However, his fiery temper often got the better of him.

-0-

After waiting for two hours, growing increasingly agitated as he drank, Abaddon finally lost patience and demanded of his soldiers,

「Where is Kawaan?」

「He hasn’t returned yet, my lord.」

One of the soldiers nervously replied.

Hearing this, Abaddon crushed the cup he held in his hand and let out a thunderous roar,

「Grrrraaaahhh!」

The terrifying sight of Abaddon baring his fangs in fury caused the soldiers in the castle to freeze in fear. Without a word, Abaddon stormed off, heading towards the eastern gate, where rumors had spread of the appearance of a Holy Mother.

「Abaddon-sama has left the castle!」

「Alert the entire city! Mobilize the troops!」

The soldiers rushed to follow Abaddon as he made his way to the eastern gate, determined to see what had caused such a disturbance.

※※※

「What… is this?」

When Abaddon arrived at the eastern gate, his rage gave way to shock. Before him lay the bodies of several Basilisks, slain. These powerful, deadly creatures had been bestowed upon him by the Great Demon King Ifriil, as symbols of his authority over this land. The sight of their corpses sent a chill through his veins.

Basilisks, with their venomous feathers and petrifying touch, were terrifying enough to send entire armies into a state of panic. Their appearance, though simple and reptilian, belied the sheer destruction they could bring. And yet, here they lay, utterly defeated.

It was clear that all of them had been killed. This alone was enough to cut the strength of the occupying army in half. Abaddon’s boiling rage cooled as he assessed the situation.

Though he had a reputation for being a fierce warrior, Abaddon was no fool. He understood the gravity of losing his most powerful weapons. He quickly regained his composure and began to strategize his next move.

As he surveyed the scene, he noticed that not only were his Basilisks dead, but the guards and knights he had sent to confront the Holy Mother had also fallen. Their bodies lay piled up like discarded trash in a grotesque display of death. And among them, Abaddon spotted a familiar face.

「Kawaan!」

His trusted retainer, Kawaan, who had served him loyally even before they had set foot in this land, lay slain among the carnage. Seeing his close advisor so brutally murdered, Abaddon’s anger surged once more, but this time he held it in check, biting down hard on his lower lip until it bled.

It was likely that Kawaan had deployed the Basilisks in an attempt to quell the rebellion instigated by the so-called Holy Mother. The fact that Kawaan had chosen to unleash such devastating power indicated just how formidable the enemy had been.

And yet, despite his best efforts, Kawaan had failed.

Abaddon forced himself to remain calm. Despite the overwhelming fury that bubbled within him, he knew that he needed to think clearly. Behind him, he still had a substantial number of soldiers at his command. He turned to the group of soldiers who had followed him and raised his trident high.

「Do not underestimate this enemy! They are far more dangerous than we thought!」

Standing atop the eastern gate, a woman with silver wings and dressed in golden robes was likely the “Holy Mother” that Kawaan had spoken of.

To Governor Abaddon, she looked more like a demon.

「How dare you kill Kawaan! You wretched witch!」

With all his strength, Abaddon hurled his trident at the golden demon. This was the same enemy who had slain the Basilisks, so keeping his distance was a wise decision.

But—

「What?!」

Before the trident could reach the witch, it was intercepted in midair by another woman—this one with dragon wings.

What… who are they?

Before Abaddon could voice his confusion, his warrior instincts took over. He roared, charging forward.

「Grrraaaahhh!」

「Oh? Didn’t kill you, huh?」

In a split-second decision, Abaddon rolled to his right. But by then, it was too late—his left arm was already gone.

The dragon-winged woman had thrown his trident back at him with such blinding speed that he hadn’t even registered the pain yet.

「Damn it!」

A seasoned warrior like Abaddon knew all too well. He couldn’t win against that speed.

He could already tell—one more move and it would be over for him. But if he was going to die, he would at least try to take his opponent with him.

Abaddon, ever the proud warrior, refused to give up. He drew the longsword at his waist with his remaining hand.

As he predicted, the dragon-woman was already upon him, moving with such incredible speed that he couldn’t dodge her.

「This is the end for me…!」

Abaddon thrust his sword forward just as the dragon-woman closed in, but he was a step too slow. Moving as light as a feather, she evaded his blade and struck. Her claws pierced deeply into his chest, tearing through to his heart, which she crushed without hesitation.

—Death.

The governor of the demon army, Abaddon, was killed in a single blow by a dragon maiden, his body discarded like a rag on the roadside. It was a pitiful end for a man who had risen from nothing but a spear to become governor. The soldiers standing nearby cried out in horror.

「Uaaahhh!」

But before they could even mourn their fallen general, the dragon maidens descended upon them. One by one, the soldiers were torn apart by their claws, unable to fight back or even flee. They were annihilated.

It wasn’t just a defeat—it was a complete and utter massacre. When the demon army fell silent once more, the dragon maiden who had killed Abaddon turned toward the woman preaching from atop the eastern gate.

「Hey, Ria!」

「What is it? I’m busy spreading the word here, you know!」

Ria fluttered her silver wings as she replied, while the townspeople below worshipped her.

The dragon maiden found it odd that the humans were worshipping someone like Ria, but she had something important to ask, so she raised her voice again.

「You said if we killed them all, no more enemies would come, but they just keep coming!」

After killing the Basilisks and the heavily armored man who was likely some sort of general, even the dragon maiden started to suspect something was off.

The last man had been quite strong. Even someone like her could guess he might have been the lord of this city.

「That’s strange. Unless they’ve received a report, there should be no reinforcements coming.」

「Hmm… I feel like the Hero said something about moving quietly. Are we really okay doing this?」

Ria, who knew nothing of tactics or strategy, had come to the conclusion that nobody will notice if there’s nobody to notice. Once they annihilated the soldiers on the ground, no reinforcements would come.

Of course, after causing such a commotion in the capital, that was simply impossible.

In the first place, Ria and her group didn’t even realize that they were in the provincial capital of Teotihuacan, which only added to the chaos.

Every one of them was hopelessly careless in their actions.

Of them all, the only one who even vaguely remembered Takeru’s instructions to remain stealthy was Are, which made her the most sensible of the group.

However, Are’s doubts were swiftly dismissed by her mother, Queen Dareda.

「Are. All we were asked to do by our dear son-in-law was to protect this saintess. That’s all we need to focus on, okay?」

「Hmm, I see. That makes sense.」

Are wasn’t one for overthinking things either.

As for the dragon maidens, who knew even less of the world than Are did, they simply followed Ria’s orders and swiftly dealt with any enemies in front of them without a second thought.

For a race as powerful as they were, it was much easier to act than to think things through.

Thus, the demon nation’s control over the Baal Province crumbled in an instant.

The demon army in the provincial capital was wiped out.

Even when scouts were sent from nearby regions, none returned.

The occupying forces, now without coordination, were isolated in various regions, where they faced defeat after defeat.

To the demon army that had occupied this land, it was nothing short of a nightmare, as if the sky itself had opened to rain down death upon them.

The only ones celebrating were the people of Teotihuacan, who had suffered under the harsh rule of the demon kingdom’s occupying forces.

The Holy Mother Ria, who had descended from the heavens and swiftly eradicated the hated demon army, was seen as nothing less than the embodiment of the goddess.

「Now that the king and queen of Abysspania are gone, this land of Baal is under the rule of the Holy Mother, Steriana-sama, the emissary of Asama!」

「Yes, that’s right! Long live Steriana-sama!」

The people cheered for the silver-winged savior who had descended upon their goddess-forsaken land.

Long live Steriana-sama, the embodiment of the goddess!

The fact that this Holy Mother commanded a legion of dragon maidens didn’t matter to the people at all.

They simply accepted it as another miracle of Asama.

Amid the cheers of the people, who were begging her to become their new queen, Ria—who was enjoying the festive atmosphere—smiled and waved her hand.

「Well, if the people ask for me, I guess it can’t be helped.」

And so, on the far-flung land of Baal, the Holy Steriana Queendom was about to be born—a kingdom that neither the demon nation nor even Takeru, who had sent Ria there, could have foreseen.

※※※

「Wasn’t the plan for Ria to go out to some remote area, perform a miracle, and rally the believers?」

I asked Lyle-sensei again and again.

All we were supposed to do was create a minor distraction—not take down the provincial capital!

How did this happen?

I’m sure sensei was thinking the same thing.

「Sensei, is it okay if we just call this a success?」

「Hmm, well… I wouldn’t celebrate it too much.」

「You think it’s bad?」

「On the one hand, the collapse of what we thought was a stable occupied capital means that enemy forces will have to divert even more troops away from their main stronghold, which benefits us.」

Upon hearing of Baal Province’s fall, the Great Demon King Ifriil showed no signs of alarm. Instead, he immediately ordered reinforcements—a ten thousand-strong occupation force.

Since the previous five thousand troops had been defeated, this time he was sending a force of ten thousand.

Ifriil, the demon kingdom’s prince, seemed to be an impatient man.

It might be efficient to send in his troops swiftly and in overwhelming numbers rather than slowly trickling in forces, but…

This would certainly weaken the defense of the enemy’s capital, Laurentite.

For us, it’s a fortunate development.

If the situation turns against us, Ria and her group can always retreat. As a diversion to thin the enemy’s forces, this is more than enough.

「But… doesn’t this seem like we went a little overboard?」

「If there’s a downside, it’s that this incident reveals the presence of a hostile force. If the Demon King Ifriil were foolish enough to not realize our intentions, that would be ideal, but…」

A small local uprising might not have raised any suspicions, but the sudden fall of the provincial capital at the hands of a mysterious group of dragon maidens? That would definitely get the enemy’s attention.

「So what should we do now?」

「It means that our planned assault on Times Square might not be a surprise attack anymore. In that case, if the enemy is already on alert and waiting for us, we’ll adjust to a full frontal assault. That’s why we’ve already placed our elite troops aboard the Silesie fleet.」

The ships were already on their way. There was no turning back now.

All that was left was to follow through.

「I just hope our surprise attack hasn’t been compromised.」

「We’ll do our best, of course. But with the incidents in Teotihuacan in Baal Province and Presidio in Linmon Province, it’s possible the enemy is already predicting our next target could be Times Square.」

If we were to sail up the Lawrence River to the enemy’s capital, Laurentite, taking Times Square was non-negotiable.

「…And we’ll need control of the sea to do that.」

「You’re absolutely right, Takeru-dono. At this point, we can’t afford to stop now.」

Lyle-sensei nodded with determination.

「Of course, until the operation is underway, we’ll do everything we can to prevent any leaks. Summoning those four spies from the Silesie Kingdom was primarily for that reason. But we should assume the enemy has already caught wind of our movements and plan accordingly.」

Whether the enemy’s beasts prevailed or our cannons did, the outcome would come down to the final battle.

The decisive conflict at Times Square was fast approaching.