The Girl Who Hacked The Magic System

"It's amazing how well-placed and well-timed murders can impact a whole war."

"Ingela, I like the way you're thinking, but I also hate the way you're thinking."

The whole office is in good spirits after we just took eight hundred enemy soldiers out of the war with minimal bloodshed.

Not only that, but we secured a keep within Otbert's domain. If he wants to get it back, he'll have to divert troops from the buildup he's mounting.

The keep is very modest and doesn't hold much strategic value, but it represents a vulnerability on his back.

As the Duchess of the province of Altenfeld, I am actually facing the same problem, as the three counts under me refused to accept me and declared their participation in the sedition.

That was actually expected, though, as they are long-time members of the Blessed faction and former underlings of Duke Addlington.

Their elite troops are chosen from the worst of the worst. They have a sizeable army even without the levies, and several of the slave traders joined them with their henchmen and a lot of adventurers who roam the Barrens hunting beastkin for selling.

And they are marching to Beaudorf this very moment to join their fellow insurrects.

Actually, they have already entered the city, while their army waits outside. They are the last of the leaders we have been waiting to arrive at that office room.

Several tense eyes are focused on the mirror screen, watching every movement the people there make.

The camera is positioned in a way that doesn't allow for much clarity on what individuals are doing but gives a general sense of who is in the room and what is happening. Which is okay for what we need.

The undercover agents are coming and going frantically through the portals with news on the moving of the enemy's troops, its forces and compositions, and orders from the command.

We anticipated that the three counts would join the uprising, so we have already set up anchors there for portals, as well as spies.

And, as we expected, the troops left behind are small in number and among the weakest of the enemy, with the counts expecting impromptu levies to make up the numbers in the case of an enemy siege.

What they didn't expect is that we don't need to besiege a castle to conquer it. As long as we have the anchors, of course.

:::

After another half an hour, the counts finally enter the office room. All the other leaders are sitting around a table that has only three chairs left, which are then promptly occupied by the newcomers.

This is our cue.

I look around me. Lovelace, Ingela, Yaci, Kwarah, and Yawarete are ready and eager to go.

The teams who'll storm the castles of the three counts are also in their positions.

I nod, then open the portal.

:::

The anchor to this room was a wood chunk of the table, so the portal puts us directly on it.

Without hesitation, I cast a lightning bolt on Otbert, angled in a way that would also hit his knights behind him.

Hehehe, one down.

A bishop, who is probably the representative from the Church, starts chanting something. But I interrupt it with yet another lightning bolt.

My third target is one of the counts from my domain, who is already trying to flee, so I accidentally fired five warning shots on his back. I'm kidding; it was just another lightning bolt.

Around me, the girls have also made good work of their targets. There were eighteen leaders in this room, three for each of us. All are dead.

"Geez, this is a bit anticlimactic."

"What, you expected an actual fight from these guys, Yaci?"

"Well, at least some sort of resistance."

"DIE, HERETIC SCUM!!!!"

A guy with church robes I haven't seen before jumps at me, but Ingela puts up a barrier before he can reach me.

"Thanks, Ingela. Hmmm... what is this guy?"

"The uniform reminds me of the paladins."

"Oh, those guys."

The armed branch of the Church, they are supposed to be very powerful and to have a powerful arsenal of spells that are Church-exclusive.

Oh, and we can have this calm conversation because of the nature of Ingela's barrier.

She folded the space in a way that whatever projectile is thrown and hits it simply keeps looping within the same five centimeters until the barrier is dispelled.

If the guy had simply attacked me with a normal hit of the sword, he could simply pull the sword back to get it out of the loop.

But no, he literally jumped at me, so he is the projectile looping in space like a glitched NPC, unable to do anything about it.

His face, as he starts to understand his situation, is showing a very beautiful expression of horror.

"Ingela, we take this one alive with us. I want to interrogate him later."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The knights that were guarding the door are already dead, and the ones outside are trying to force entry, but Lovelace put a barrier there.

Now, let's hold the public.

I take a rope I brought with me that already has the right knot and put it on the neck of Otbert's corpse. As he's already dead, the hanging will be more symbolic than anything else.

This room has two doors. One that leads to a corridor, where knights are packed trying to enter, and the other leads to a balcony that overlooks the main plaza of the city.

That's where we're carrying the corpse. As Yaci and Kwarah hang it on the balcony for everyone to see, I use wind magic to empower my voice, and Yawarete is holding a protective barrier.

"Rebels from the Blessed faction and common folk of the nice city of Beaudorf. The one who is talking to you is none other than Princess Aurea Annes, who is also the Duchess of Altenfeld and the Daughter of the Saint."

While the armies are mostly camped outside the city, there are whole regiments of Otbert's personal army inside the city, as well as several higher-ranking officers of the other armies. And now they are all focused on me.

Some tentative arrows and spells fly in my direction but just bounce off Yawarete's barrier. Though she hasn't reached the same heights as Ingela with spatial manipulation, her barrier is still pretty good.

"I'm coming out here to show you what happens to those who defy the Saint, perjure the Kingdom, and trample over the People. This will be the fate of every single enemy of the People of Wesgoth!"

At this point, Otbert's corpse is already hanging in the air, held by the rope on his neck. With a theatrical gesture of my hands, I set it on fire, without chanting an aria or even moving my mouth.

Several shouts come from the city. The loudest were the outraged soldiers, but I'm pretty sure I've heard some cheers as well.

I make a signal to the girls, and we go back inside. The paladin is already tied up, dispossessed of his weapons and books, and with a gag on his mouth, so he can't chant any aria.

Ingela has a special cage aria, but it's not possible to pass an active spatial spell within a portal, so we have to resort to the old-fashioned methods to take the guy with us back home.