The Law Bureau in Elvinas had very few people inside.

  Trade itself had been declining, so probably few people came to look up information on trading companies.

  The counters were completely empty, and bored-looking officials sat there with sleepy eyes.

  “Excuse me, got a minute?”

  A man in his thirties let out an odd yelp when suddenly spoken to.

  “My apologies. How may I help you?”

  “I’m considering a deal with a certain trading company and wanted to check them out.”

  “Please give me the company name.”

  “Azelia Trading Company.”

  “Azelia… Trading Company? Please wait a moment…”

  The man began searching through the list of registered trading companies.

  “Hmm… there are quite a few with the same name. Well, it is a flower name, after all…”

  “It’s a maritime trading company.”

  “In that case… two matches. Do you know the representative’s name?”

  “He called himself Byuros Denarius.”

  “Hmm… unfortunately that name doesn’t appear. Probably just an employee then.”

  “Can I see both files?”

  “Understood. Please wait a moment.”

  He took the list and disappeared into the back room.

  After a while he returned carrying two heavy-looking wooden boxes.

  He placed them on the viewing table.

  “This way, please.”

  Moreno walked over.

  “An attendant is required during viewing, so please bear with us.”

  Moreno nodded.

  Both boxes were stuffed with an enormous quantity of documents.

  Old to new, lined up in order; the older ones were more yellowed and brittle.

  The oldest registration document was practically falling apart.

  Moreno turned the pages carefully to avoid tearing them.

  The first one was founded in Kingdom Year 94; the representative’s name was too faded to read.

  Address: West District 15-3, 2nd floor.

  Looking through the tax records, despite owning two ships, the number of annual voyages was surprisingly low.

  Only customs records were available, but a proper trading company should have far more activity.

  Even last year’s records were similar.

  They seemed to deal mainly in crafts.

  It wouldn’t be strange for an art dealer.

  The second one was much older—founded in Kingdom Year 77—and the address was the same: West District 15-3, 2nd floor.

  A strange coincidence. The same company name registered at the same address in different eras.

  Here the representative had changed, with new sheets inserted.

  Representative: Pilius Miredias.

  Tax records were plentiful; frequent voyages.

  Mainly to Hera in Ashil.

  The name Byuros Denarius did not appear in either set of documents.

  And yet this clerk—who had supervised the entire viewing and must have noticed the identical addresses—showed absolutely no reaction.

  This is a trap, Moreno thought.

  “Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

  “Thank you for using our services.”

  After leaving the Law Bureau, Moreno headed south.

  He might have walked right into a setup.

  Azelia Trading Company was clearly a front.

  The address was probably deserted by now.

  There was even a chance counterintelligence forces were waiting there.

  And one more thing: Byuros Denarius was an Elysian intelligence operative.

  Since the bureau had accepted that registration for Azelia, the bureau chief himself must be involved.

  An intelligence agent shouldn’t be inside the country anyway.

  There was no point searching for him within Elysia.

  Where is he…?

  If it were me, I’d be at my assigned post.

  The Elvinas Law Bureau is in the north district; head south and you hit immigration control right away.

  If the name “Azelia Trading Company” itself was a code word, immigration might be dangerous.

  He could be under surveillance.

  Near immigration, he gave instructions to one escort.

  “Go back to the ship, head to Pricel, and wait there.”

  He watched the man pass through immigration and head toward the ship.

  To the other escort he said:

  “We cross the border via Elfant route from here.”

  Moreno hired a private carriage.

  He told the driver to head west along the highway to Sedna; the driver was delighted.

  Long-distance fares were rare.

  The carriage had both seats and a sleeping berth.

  The berth looked well maintained—no fleas in sight.

  Moreno lay down, slid the sunshade aside, and peered outside.

  No tail so far.

  He was heading for Rainstadt.

  His target, of course, was Byuros Denarius.

  From Sedna, following the river north would bring him to the border.

  This city served as the key stronghold for the western and northern borders.

  It sat at the confluence of the Elfant River and its branch, the Sevirina River.

  The river acted as a natural moat—excellent defensive terrain.

  It was also a vital supply route; the transshipment hub had grown into a proper city.

  Fields stretched endlessly along the highway.

  Abundant water and fertile soil—the true wealth of this country.

  If they were lost, grain-importing nations would starve before Elysia itself did.

  His own homeland, Lidonia, might be the first to feel the hunger.

  Even Tragia’s grain production couldn’t keep pace with population growth.

  War is population control.

  Gather the hungry, send them to another country; gain territory and it’s a bonus.

  The soldiers who kill the most enemies and then die are the most valuable.

  They reduce food consumption.

  Those who kill many and survive are tasked with ordering their comrades to go die.

  A general’s duty is to command the freeloaders—who eat without killing—to go die.

  Soldiers really have an ironic trade.

  And I make my living off that very chain.

  I speed it up, accelerate the cycle.

  In that sense, Byuros Denarius is an outstanding colleague.

  He did excellent work.

  Igniting a civil war on this scale.

  It takes more than ordinary nerve.

  No wonder the Emperor said, “Bring him here if possible.”

  His mission should be mostly complete by now.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  If he’s still in Tragia, he must be savoring the sight of his own handiwork growing.

  I bet his food tastes especially good these days.

  It would take about two and a half days to reach Sedna.

  Food was no issue.

  Farmhouses dotted the route; he could buy what he needed.

  Along the way he also purchased two aged geldings.

  Stallions past breeding age were just used up anyway, so the owners were happy to sell.

  They’d be needed starting from Sedna.

  After crossing the bridge over the Sevirina River, a massive city wall came into view.

  As expected of the western defensive bastion, the city was enormous.

  The western wall ran parallel to the Elfant River—the river literally served as the moat.

  On the eastern side there was distance between river and wall; attacking from the east would mean fighting with the river at your back.

  If reinforcements came from the capital, the enemy would be caught in a pincer across the river; lose the bridge and it’s over.

  A canal even connected the Elfant and Sevirina on the south side.

  Attacking this place would be extraordinarily difficult.

  After returning the carriage, Moreno mounted a horse and continued north.

  What he saw there was astonishing.

  A huge number of ships with fore-and-aft sails were moving upstream.

  Military provisions, no doubt.

  A large army must be positioned farther north.

  Coming through Rainstadt might have been a mistake.

  Moreno kept the river on his left and continued north.

  As dusk fell, the northern city of Seres appeared.

  Provisions were being unloaded from ships; long lines of horse-drawn carts headed north overland.

  The Tragia Eastern Army must be using Elysia as a friendly supply base.

  With no rear threat and secure logistics, they could focus entirely westward.

  The plan to capture Libura, choke trade, and financially bleed Elysia had been completely overturned by Elysia’s orchestration of civil war in Tragia and direct intervention.

  Seeing this scene made it obvious: no lone intelligence agent could have painted such a picture.

  Understanding the Emperor’s intentions, crafting countermeasures, concealing them from the enemy, quietly executing operations, then striking boldly the moment civil war erupted.

  Such coordinated action had never been seen in the vast territory of Ashil.

  Ashil’s sheer size made everything slow and easy to manipulate—but Elysia was different.

  The western lords’ armies were weak in combat.

  Especially in summer, heavy-infantry-dominant forces were vulnerable.

  The Eastern Army had likely chosen this season to launch the war.

  There was even a real chance the Emperor could lose.

  Moreno thought so.

  He decided to keep heading north.

  The east–west Mele Peninsula, shaped like a bifurcated carrot, lay south of the mountain range extending west from the Prelmo Peninsula.

  At the base of that fork sat Libura.

  On the eastern side of the right “root” was a long, narrow, potato-shaped island.

  Called Bal Island, it had once flourished as a maritime trade relay in the Valens Sea, but at some point became a pirate stronghold and was abandoned by all legitimate traffic.

  The Tragia Imperial Navy attacked it.

  About a thousand pirates lived there, but they were nothing more than a disorganized mob; when systematically assaulted, they fled in panic.

  The western side of the island had continuous shallows that could be swum to shore, so some abandoned ship and escaped in small boats.

  After wiping out the pirates, the Tragia Empire turned the island into a base and supply relay point.

  They planned to use it as a stepping stone into the Valens Sea.

  But when Pricel fell into Eastern Army hands, supplies stopped arriving.

  Pricel lay on the western coast, directly west of the Lidonia Mountains that stretched west to north from Lidonia’s capital, Keiros.

  Traveling south along the coast from Pricel would reach Bal Island—the shortest route.

  But that route became unusable.

  Supplies now had to come from farther west, causing delays.

  When news spread that the western lords had lost the opening battle of the Tragia civil war, the pirates became active again.

  Revenge for Bal Island.

  Ship-less hill bandits raided and seized imperial transport vessels anchored in the bay of the east–west Mele Peninsula.

  Unneeded ships were doused with oil and set ablaze.

  Guards were present, but too few; they were overwhelmed.

  The land troops had all been reassigned to the army.

  Land army and navy training were fundamentally different.

  The army focused on hand-to-hand combat; the navy emphasized ship handling and oar propulsion.

  Combatants rode aboard, but the key was to ram the enemy’s side, open a hole, and sink them.

  Dual-purpose ships were impossible.

  The pirates seized the vessels and fled the bay at full speed.

  The few surviving imperial troops were cornered by Libura’s garrison and killed.

  Thus the pirates had “liberated” Libura.

  But Bal Island was already an imperial naval base—they couldn’t return—so they hid on a small uninhabited island in the western Ioria Sea.

  Seizing the opportunity, Ashil took control of the southern waters off the Mele Peninsula, completely severing supplies to Bal Island.

  Tragia’s advance into the Valens Sea appeared finished.

  But Edmund dispatched a large fleet from the western port town of Rothafen near Pricel and from surrounding islands.

  First they hunted down and sank every pirate who had stolen ships and fled Libura, then headed for the southern waters off Mele.

  Sharks were plentiful in those waters.

  Fall overboard far from shore and you were almost certainly dead.

  Thus naval war between the Tragia Empire and the Kingdom of Ashil reignited.

  Before the main engagement, Farid sank every Tragia military transport ship anchored at Bal Island.

  At this time Farid introduced fore-and-aft rigged vessels 20 m (6 jō 6 shaku) long.

  Most naval battles used 42 m (14 jō) trireme oared ships.

  Ram-equipped vessels rowed in combat, used square sails for normal cruising.

  Ashil’s fore-and-aft ships had weight-drop catapults mounted on the bow.

  They hurled pots containing about 2 kan of oil.

  The pots were coated with pine resin, ignited, and launched while fire arrows were shot simultaneously.

  Because ship motion affected range, crews practiced extensively to develop a feel.

  The oil was mixed with “burning water”* leaking from fault lines, plus pine resin and sulfur.

  (*crude oil)

  Range was about one chō, but accuracy was poor; even when it reached, the advantage was limited.

  Catapults were abandoned on warships due to low precision, but surrounding the enemy with flames using fire pots proved strategically effective.

  Pots shattered on the sea surface, ignited, and flames drifted; contact spread the fire.

  The sticky pine resin worked very well.

  They encircled enemy ships with fire and withdrew.

  Fore-and-aft rigs could advance against the wind, making them ideal for the tactic.

  In light wind or calm they were ineffective, so conventional oared ships were used simultaneously.

  The imperial fleet—roughly 200 vessels—had already furled sails and was rowing.

  Ashil deployed 100 oared ships and 100 catapult-equipped fire ships (harāka).

  “Deploy the harāka.”

  Farid sent the harāka forward.

  The imperial fleet advanced from the northwest; wind blew from southwest to northeast.

  The harāka tacked repeatedly westward to gain the weather gauge, then turned bows toward the Tragia fleet and began launching fire pots en masse while advancing north.

  Leaving one man at the bow, the crew gathered aft of center; one placed a pot on the catapult net, lit the resin, and returned.

  When the bow rose fully, the gunner dropped the weight to launch.

  Repeated.

  They gathered aft to raise the bow more easily and to counterbalance the falling weight.

  At first the pots fell short; imperial sailors laughed loudly.

  But the harāka crews skillfully used the southwesterly wind, closed distance, and finally began scoring hits.

  Even misses were fine—pots shattered on the sea, flaming oil drifted, carried by waves to cling to hulls.

  Attached oil mixed with sticky resin and sulfur began burning the ships.

  Soon thick smoke rose; rowers choked and could no longer row—ships became immobilized.

  The harāka quickly withdrew on the tailwind; remaining vessels circled north of the imperial fleet, emptied their stocks, and returned.

  That day Ashil’s oared ships never even engaged.

  The imperial fleet withdrew, leaving about 130 ships behind.

  A clear strategic victory for the Ashil navy.

  By maximizing the mobility of small fore-and-aft vessels, they struck before the Tragia navy could form for battle.

  News that the Tragia navy lost over seventy ships and retreated helplessly against Ashil in the southern waters off Mele spread everywhere.

  Pirates seizing imperial transports in Libura and “liberating” the city allowed markets to gradually calm.

  Wheat, which had once soared to 2.50 kan, had fallen back to around 1.60.

  Moreno heard the story in Rainstadt.

  His buy-in price had been about 1.22; he’d instructed to sell if it dropped below 2.00.

  No problem, but profits had shrunk considerably.

  “To be looked down upon by mere pirates… how the mighty have fallen.”

  The town was abuzz with the topic.

  The streets brimmed with vitality—no trace of salt shortage effects.

  “You’re a new face. Where you from?”

  A large, muscular man looked at Moreno.

  “Me? From Lidonia. Merchant.”

  “Oh? Here to sell salt?”

  “Yeah, was thinking about it, but looks like you don’t need any.”

  “Thanks to someone, yeah. You’re a bit late.”

  “Who’s the hero who pulled that off?”

  “Dunno. Heard the lord brought it in.”

  “I see. Well, good to see everyone looking healthy. Missed the business chance, though.”

  “Hahaha, do your best!”

  The man waved and walked off.

  Looking around, almost no elderly people—and no one overweight.

  The Elysian supply unit had divided cargo in Rainstadt, leaving half here; soldiers were transporting it to various locations.

  The rest continued west along the highway.

  Probably to Bromberg.

  Border crossing went smoothly with immigration papers and Lidonian ID.

  He had traveled parallel to the baggage train the whole way.

  No obvious suspicion, but his escort mentioned an odd presence.

  Whether from the train or elsewhere was unclear, but caution was warranted.

  This was enemy territory.

  The earlier man said the salt was brought by the lord.

  Others said they didn’t know.

  Gag order in place? Everyone gave different answers.

  Such thoroughness suggested whoever brought the salt had deeply penetrated their hearts.

  They clearly didn’t suspect him of instigating the civil war.

  His psychological manipulation was masterful, no question.

  Feeling no useful information could be gained here, Moreno decided to head west.

  Going back a little: after the Battle of Rheinfeld, on the road to Bromberg, Denaro spoke to Sara.

  He thought she wouldn’t remember, but she did.

  “You look much cleaner now. This is way better.”

  Denaro gave a wry smile and scratched his head.

  “Yeah… I must’ve looked terrible last time. Sorry.”

  Sara laughed and shook her head.

  “About the knives you entrusted to us—there’s a man named Al-Ashil Farid, chief of the town of Hera in the Kingdom of Ashil. He showed great interest in that steel.”

  “Farid? The slender guy with a mustache and goatee like this… neat appearance?”

  Sara traced the mustache shape under her nose with her index finger.

  “You know him?”

  “Just the other day he came with His Majesty to inspect the new town of Ronal. I met him then. He bought one sword and paid an astonishing sum…”

  “Really? He’s been wanting swords made for a long time. I’m sure he’s thrilled. He said he’d support setting up a stall. Unfortunately Libura fell to the Tragia Empire at the worst possible time, so talks are paused—but once the war settles, we’d like to move forward. Please take care of us.”

  “Thank you. If it becomes a village specialty, everyone will be happy.”

  “Right. Maybe adjust the shapes to suit their tastes. Let’s talk again then.”

  Sara nodded with a smile.

  “Your ancestors came from the east a very long time ago, right?”

  “Yes, that’s what we’ve heard. We settled there about eight hundred years ago, according to tradition.”

  “They’re apparently very famous in Ashil. People will come seeking them, I’m sure. Being involved is a great joy for me as a merchant.”

  “That’s good to hear. By the way, are you here for business?”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  Sara decided to ask about the sword.

  “Have you heard the legend of the Five Heavenly Swords? The story of the legendary master craftsman from the eastern continent.”

  “The one where the king who conquered the east took weapons from the master, right?”

  “You know it.”

  “Yes. I’ve thought about handling such weapons if the chance ever came.”

  “Do you know where one of those swords went?”

  “Sword… yes. I heard an eastern caravan brought one to Mr. Farid, but since they don’t use double-edged swords, he didn’t buy it.”

  “Do you know what it looked like?”

  “I think the scabbard and hilt were red-agate colored, with nine golden circles drawn on the scabbard.”

  Denaro noticed that the weksira of her unit also bore nine circles.

  “Could it be… your clan made it?”

  Sara nodded.

  “And after that—did you hear where it went?”

  “Sorry… I didn’t hear what happened next.”

  “I see…”

  Sara frowned and stared ahead.

  “If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”

  Sara looked at Denaro and said thank you.

  Coming to Hera had been the right decision after all.

  How it ended up in the Emperor’s hands afterward was unknown, but the sword had definitely arrived here.

  But it was the Emperor’s property.

  How could she get close to it?

  There was far too little information.

  At the Lond encampment in Bromberg, a great commotion was underway.

  People said they’d never seen anyone shoot left and right from horseback; Sedi was demonstrating the technique.

  Apparently they also shot from horseback, but never right-handed.

  Someone immediately tried drawing right-handed; Sedi stopped them even without understanding the language.

  The left push-hand went haywire—they struggled a lot.

  Someone who spoke Elysian was there; through an interpreter Sedi explained.

  When asked who came up with this, Sedi pointed at Sara; everyone pointed at her and shouted “Valkyria!”

  Sara blushed and waved awkwardly.

  She was never good at this kind of attention.

  Then Hilda approached, patted Sara’s arm, pointed at Sara, slapped her own right hand, pointed at the target, and pointed at the ground with her index finger.

  Probably meaning “from now on, right-handed shooting starts here.”

  Sara nodded, fetched the quiver she’d removed from her horse, slung it on her back, and took two arrows.

  Distance: about forty ken.

  What a strange fate.

  Everything began with shooting at this range.

  Sara nocked an arrow right-handed.

  Everyone cleared the path to the target.

  She raised the bow slowly and drew.

  Exhaling, she pressed with her right thumb.

  Left hand released; string pushed the nock.

  The arrow flew straight and struck the target.

  She nocked the next and shot.

  It hit below the first.

  Another from the quiver—above.

  Then lower right, left, upper right, lower left, right, and finally upper left.

  A huge cheer erupted.

  The title “Valkyria Leading the Wolf” spread throughout the entire Eastern Army.

  To them the wolf was a divine beast; warriors who died in battle would stand beside their god, preparing for the final war to come.

  And the maiden who carried fallen heroes to the god’s side was called a Valkyria.

  Thank you so much for reading! ??

  If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a rating or a review!

  Your feedback is greatly appreciated and really encourages both the original author and the translator to keep bringing more chapters.

  You can also read the original Japanese version here:

  See you in the next chapter!