The history of the Grassland was steeped in blood.
After Kaiser III died prematurely, the Empire lost its center of gravity and began to falter. The natives had begun to feel this decline keenly about 50 years ago.
The soldiers defending the Empire's borders began to deteriorate.
The once-feared Wyvern Knight Order dwindled in number, while the military's equipment and overall quality continued to decline.
In their eyes, the Empire had become a weakling that could no longer recklessly covet the Great Plains blessed by Mother's grace.
And during that period, three tribes began to assert their power.
Borcan, Aikamad, Serelkis.
The strongest and most ruthless tribes on the Great Plains quickly rose to prominence.
There had always been disputes between the tribes of the Great Plains, but this time was different.
They began sweeping away every tribe that refused to submit to them.
It took about 50 years to unite the numerous tribes through fear.
Once the situation on the plains had finally stabilized to some extent, they turned their attention toward the Empire.
"The Great Plains are a gracious and merciful land, but they are far too narrow for our people, whose numbers grow every year, to live in."
"The rise and fall of nations is an inevitable part of history. The Empire, which has ruled the continent for a thousand years, is destined to fall, while we, who have wandered the Great Plains for a thousand years, are destined to rise."
"Stable land. Stable homes. The time has come to end our lives of wandering beneath the open sky."
The opinions of the three strongest tribes quickly converged.
They established a joint policy-making body and prepared to elect a leader who would unite the nomads.
Such events had occurred many times throughout the history of the nomads.
But this time was a little different.
Because this time, there was no Empire standing in their way to prevent their unification.
The Empire could no longer extend its reach deep into the Grassland.
The new Western Grand Duke, Charles, had shown an interest in subjugating the natives, but his efforts had been limited to the areas near the border of the Great Plains.
"Let us elect a new leader within this year and wait for an opportunity to sweep away the Empire."
With that decision, they began waiting for the right moment.
The first opportunity came with the war between the West and the South.
With the conflict resembling an imperial civil war, the South began invading the West.
The three tribes immediately responded. They judged that the longer the war between the South and the West continued, the weaker the Western Border would become.
However, their first opportunity vanished far too quickly.
The Western Army was annihilated in just one week, and within a week and a half of the war's beginning, Forbin had already been occupied.
"Stupid Western fools."
Realizing that they needed to understand the situation in the West, they decided to hold back for the time being.
The second opportunity soon arrived.
A significant number of the West's Wyvern Knight Order had left the West in opposition to the newly established regime.
The corrupt nobles responsible for guarding the border had all been purged and replaced.
"Perhaps this is our opportunity."
Having reached that conclusion, they sent proposals to the various territories in the West.
The proposals offered to spare those territories from attack in exchange for wealth.
The reason for sending such proposals was simple.
They wanted to test whether the Empire still possessed the strength to stop their offensive.
If the territories accepted such humiliating terms, it would prove that the Empire lacked the strength to resist, and they would attack. If the territories refused even after a few of them had been crushed, they would wait for another opportunity.
Several large tribes, including the Temelikan Tribe, stepped forward.
Until then, they had never doubted their victory.
After all, although the South had intervened, its forces were not particularly numerous. What could an army of only a few thousand soldiers at most possibly accomplish?
...Then an unbelievable report arrived.
"There has been no contact from the Temelikan Tribe!"
"What?"
"No messenger has arrived to report on the battle. Judging from the circumstances, they are believed to have been... annihilated."
A powerful tribe that had made a name for itself on the Great Plains had been annihilated.
Soon afterward, the tribes that had moved to pressure the Western territories were also annihilated one after another.
Although most of them were third-rate tribes, the outcome was still astonishing.
Who would have thought that the Empire, which they had believed powerless, could accomplish something like this?
A tribal council was immediately convened, and several soldiers who had survived the battlefield were summoned.
They were all in a dazed state.
"I will not hold you responsible for fleeing the battlefield. Tell me what happened at the Western Border."
One of the older soldiers slowly opened his mouth.
"We must never oppose them. They... they wield thunder and fire! Our warriors who were struck by their fire collapsed helplessly, and whenever the sound of thunder rang out, enormous explosions followed!"
To the tribal chiefs gathered at the meeting, these were incomprehensible words.
Thunder and fire? Did that mean magic? It was not as though they had never encountered Mages before.
More importantly, the Shamans' shamanism should have worked against them, so why were the soldiers so terrified?
"Thunder and fire, you say? Are you talking about their Mages?"
"No. That... that was something different from the Mages' magic. Even the magic of those Mage bastards was never that cruel or devastating."
"Continue."
"The limbs of our warriors struck by the flames they spewed went flying. Hundreds of warriors melted away in a single minute, and everywhere... everywhere was filled with corpses that had been reduced beyond recognition..."
Every chief who heard those words reached the same conclusion.
These soldiers were not in their right minds.
"Hmm, let us withdraw for now."
The defeated soldiers had little understanding of the weapons their enemies had used. Meanwhile, the Barbarian chiefs, who had never directly experienced the destructive power of firearms, dismissed their accounts as exaggerations.
That misunderstanding soon led to a grave miscalculation.
"It seems the Western bastards have developed a new trick."
And that miscalculation soon turned into baseless confidence.
"It does not matter. Our Shamans will be able to break it."
Besides, even if the enemy invaded the Great Plains, there was nothing to worry about.
The history of the Great Plains was a history of struggle. The Empire, which had coveted the Great Plains for hundreds of years, had already launched several invasions.
During those campaigns, the Empire had often been pushed back and suffered considerable losses. Yet, in the end, they were the ones who remained on the Great Plains.
Even after hearing that the Southern Army was preparing to invade the West, they felt no fear.
"This time will be no different."
Convinced of this, the chiefs issued their orders.
"Prepare for war. This is a holy war to protect Mother Grassland."
***
Since the modern era began, launching a war of invasion had required enormous sums of money.
The amount of weapons consumed in an era of guns was on an entirely different scale from that of an era when battles were fought with spears and swords.
The problem was that, given the nature of nomadic peoples, recovering the costs of war was difficult.
The natives living near the Western Border, who had been assimilated into the West for quite a long time, were not a problem.
They had become almost settled people, making it possible for Charles Raymonds to recoup his losses.
But once you ventured into the Great Plains, the situation changed.
There, recovering even half the cost of a war would be fortunate.
'That is, if you calculate only in terms of tangible goods.'
If the expedition succeeded, we could win the people of the West over to the South.
And that was far more valuable than most people realized.
The Wyvern Knight Order, which had been left in an ambiguous position after the war between the West and the South, was a perfect example.
Following the destruction of the Western Grand Ducal House, the Wyvern Unit guarding the border had also become divided in its loyalties.
The Wyvern Knight Order, which had served under the corrupt nobles, fled to the Imperial Center, while the Wyvern Knights who had remained loyal to the Grand Ducal House itself also left the West.
But not everyone had abandoned the West.
About 200 of the 600 knights had remained.
They were those who remained loyal to the West itself rather than to individual noble families or the Grand Ducal House.
For now, they remained stationed in the castles along the Western Border to defend against Barbarian raids. But once that threat was eliminated, they would be worth trying to win over.
'Even if we win over only a few knights, the impact will be enormous.'
Even though firearms and gunpowder weapons had advanced, the power of magic had not disappeared.
With no military aircraft available, the Wyvern Knights remained the only air force, and an air force capable of wielding magic would be of tremendous help to us.
Especially for the navy. For anti-submarine warfare.
Simply equipping the Wyvern Knights with depth charges and using them as anti-submarine aircraft would produce excellent results.
Furthermore, there was another advantage.
'We would not need to go out of our way to build a ship type like an aircraft carrier.'
Wyverns could fly without a runway.
Vertical takeoff and landing, unrestricted maneuverability in the air, and the exceptional abilities of their riders made them effective even on a modern battlefield.
Load them onto a single converted merchant ship, and you would immediately have a seaplane carrier.
'Furthermore, once we establish an air force later, we can simplify the complicated process of pilot training.'
People who could withstand several Gs of gravitational acceleration without special training, were already accustomed to flying, and possessed better dynamic vision and judgment than ordinary humans?
They were exactly the kind of people we wanted.
We had every reason to win them over by any means necessary.
The staff had already discussed the benefits of improving public sentiment in the West, stabilizing the border, and establishing a proper command system countless times.
There was far more to gain than the money we would spend on the expedition.
Thus, I signed the final approval document without hesitation.
The orders contained in the document were soon distributed throughout the entire army.
And so, on September 27, after the blazing summer had passed its peak, the allied forces of the South and West began their march beyond the border, facing the cool autumn wind.