Prologue:

My name is Milimos Nonette.

I am sitting on a bed in a room at an inn in a certain town.

In front of me, there is an old man.

He is Artem, my caretaker, who pretended to be my grandfather and took the inn.

"Prince Milimos, I apologize for only being able to provide you with such a humble room," said Alektem.

Upon hearing Alektem's words, I looked around the room. It was a simple room with only two beds in it. I remembered a business hotel I stayed in during my previous life when I took the university entrance exam. Feeling nostalgic, I smiled and said, "It's okay, Grandpa Aleem. The people at the inn said they don't have any rooms available because many people came to stay in the hopes of getting some spoils of war."

I called Alektem using a fake name he wrote in the guest book. He was around sixty years old, and I was thirteen. He decided that it was less suspicious for us to pretend to be grandfather and grandson with this age difference.

Perhaps because I used a childish tone, Alektem looked surprised before laughing wryly and saying, "I appreciate that, Miimo. Well then, after I check that the door is locked, there's something I need you to do. Is that alright?"

Even Alektem started using grandfatherly language.

With this, even if someone hears us, they won't realize that we're members of a certain country's royal family.

"I understand. It's almost time for the war to start, so we're going to 'release the bird,' right? Please lend it to me."

What Alektem took out of his backpack was a wooden bird about the size of a palm. It resembled an owl or a hawk, but in this world, it was called an "ibis."

I received the wooden bird and held it in both hands. While sending magic into it, I chanted a spell.

"Move, move. Temporary life. Fly, flap your wings. False wings. See and reflect. The scenery of the hole to the crystal. Obey me and move. Invia Mvumei."

As I finished the spell, the wooden bird began to flap its wings in my hand. Despite being made of wood, the softness of its flapping wings felt like a real bird.

I walked towards the window that Alektem had opened a little, and threw the object in my hand into the sky. The wooden bird flapped its wings widely and flew up high into the sky. Perhaps because of its resemblance to an owl, the flapping noise was very quiet.

Alright. The magic was successful.

As I made a small fist pump, Alektem took out a crystal the size of a ping pong ball from his backpack and handed it to me.

"Mimo, I'll leave this to you next."

"Leave it to me, grandpa."

I received the crystal and used magic.

"The shifting scenery, the view from the bird's eye. Crystal, illuminate and show the current scene from a distance. Imjip Rokoru."

As the magic was completed, the crystal in my hand began to shine. Alektem finished checking the door and turned off the lantern in the room before nodding at me.

I placed the crystal on the bed. The light coming out of the crystal was projected onto the brown wall like a projector, creating a silhouette. The image that appeared was a little rough, but it was the view from the wooden bird I had released earlier. In other words, it was a view of the ground from the sky.

"Mm-hmm. It's showing up clearly. I just analyzed and copied the reconnaissance golem of the Magistri-Prumbl of the magic empire I picked up."

"Shh. That's a secret."

"Oops, I slipped."

I placed my hand on my mouth, regretting the unnecessary words I had just spoken, and gave a bitter smile. Alektem also smiled wryly and we watched the images move along the wall.

The scene that the wooden bird saw was beyond the town where we were, across the forest and eventually reaching the plain where a large number of people or soldiers had gathered. There must have been about 10,000 people, all wearing breastplates and helmets and holding long staff-like objects in their hands.

In front of that group, there was another group of people that seemed to reach up to 10,000 as well, with many of them wearing full-body armor. Some were even riding horses that were also wearing armor.

The two groups seemed to be facing each other, hurling words at each other, although unfortunately, the wooden bird could only transmit images and not pick up any audio.

As we continued to watch, both sides suddenly began to move. The group with breastplates and helmets began to form a formation while holding their staffs, while the group with full-body armor began to charge in unison, led by those on horseback.

Quickly, I ordered the wooden bird to move even higher in the sky and rotate it to have an aerial view of the battlefield.

"Mimo, you should observe carefully and take a good look. This is the sight of the two strongest countries in this world, the Magic Empire Majistri=Prunburu and the Holy Knight State Mudou Beniornatal fighting," Alektem instructed.

I followed Alektem's words and focused on the images. However, in my mind, I had already concluded that the battle was over. One side had formed a formation, while the other side simply charged without any formation.

Although this was a world with magic and holy spells, according to my past knowledge, I could not see a future where the Holy Knight State Mudou Beniornatal, who was on the side with full-body armor, would win.

In fact, the soldiers in the formation of the Magic Empire Majistri=Prunburu began to cast magic spells from their long staffs. The power of their spells was immense, and when a single fireball hit the ground, it caused a massive explosion that made me think of the attacks from the artillery in war movies from my past life.

If one were to receive a direct hit from that spell, even wearing full-body armor would not be enough to protect them from being completely obliterated.

Therefore, I could only predict that the Magic Empire Majistri=Prunburu would win overwhelmingly. However, that expectation would soon be shattered by reality.

The soldiers in full-body armor, who had been hit by the explosive magic spells, suddenly appeared from the flames and continued to run calmly as if nothing had happened.

"These people can take a direct hit from magic and remain unfazed!"

"The holy knight country of Mudou Beniornatal is the pioneer of sacred magic, which enhances the body and repels magic. The magic that the foot soldiers of the magic empire Majistri-Plumbel release with their tactical staves feels no more significant than throwing stones."

Alektem's tone has returned from that of his grandfather to that of a servant.

However, I continue to speak in my grandson's tone intentionally. It's easier to talk this way.

"So, that means that their magic doesn't work, right? Then, how has the Magic Empire, Majistri-Plumbel, been able to fight for fifty years?"

"The answer is about to be revealed right now."

Alektem pointed to one of the formations.

There, they focused their attacks on a single heavily-armored person, figuring that if one magic attack wouldn't take them down, then maybe all their attacks at once would. As expected, the target couldn't block all the hits when more than ten shots were fired in one second, and the target was blown to pieces.

Next, Alektem pointed not to the vanguard formation but to the people who formed a line slightly behind it.

Their equipment was slightly different from that of the people who made up the formations.

Each of their staffs was unnaturally large, and their handles were divided into three parts, held by three people at once. Then, they released the wooden bird that looked like the magic machine that I was using into the sky.

It seemed that they had grasped the precise locations of the soldiers and knights of the holy knight country of Mudou Beniornatal who were charging with the magic bird, and the large staffs were aimed at different locations.

After a while, magic was activated.

Immediately after that, a huge explosion occurred that could have been caused by a missile strike, and a large flame rose from the ground.

There were as many huge flames as there were staffs, that is, more than ten of them appeared on the ground.

The blast seemed to have reached high into the sky, and the video sent by the wooden bird was shaking violently.

After the shaking of the video subsided, there was an even more surprising sight.

From within that enormous explosion, knights riding horses burst out. There were many of them. They charged into the formation at full speed, turning many soldiers of the Magic Empire Majistri-Plumbr into a bloodbath--no, into a smoke of blood.

But the Magic Empire Majistri-Plumbr side wasn't just being defeated. A unit wielding swords that emitted magic light appeared and began fighting against the knights of the Holy Knight State Mudou Beniornatal.

Under the pressure of both sides swinging their swords, soldiers were blown away and rolled on the ground. However, perhaps because they were accustomed to such phenomenon, the soldiers quickly got up and began reorganizing their formation.

"...What the hell is this?"

As I was struck dumb by the scene, Alektem laughed.

"Hahaha. Milimos-sama's elder brothers also said the same thing. It's because these two countries have been waging war every few years for fifty years. Both sides' technologies have progressed to a far higher level."

"It's no laughing matter. If that big staff were to spew flames all at once, our country would turn into a scorched earth in no time. Even the knights in armor are too strong. Just one knight attacking our country could wipe out all of our soldiers."

"That's exactly why no one can defy those two countries."

"You can understand that just by looking at this scenery. And the difficulty of my role."

"Even though Milimos-sama is young, he has taken the top position in our country's military. In order to maintain our country's peace, we must avoid provoking those two countries and fight against neighboring countries."

As I thought that it was a ridiculous request, I couldn't help but recall how I ended up in this strange position.