Record of Wortenia War: Volume 3

by Ryota Hori

  Chapter 2: Opening Hostilities

  Several days later, Ryoma and his group found themselves on the southwestern banks of the river Thebes.

  “All right, from now on you’re to listen to the mercenaries’ instructions and construct defensive installations here. Our survival here hinges on how well you build them. Do it to the best of your abilities!”

  The sun shone at the center of the heavens, and the sky was free of clouds, as if displaying a guarantee of Ryoma’s success.

  Ryoma’s advance party crossed the Thebes quickly thanks to their swift march and was now to form a bridgehead that would allow the main force to cross and regroup with them.

  Before Ryoma’s eyes were the two thousand knights Princess Lupis had lent him, as well as the two hundred or so mercenaries led by Lione. They had to secure the bridgehead so that when the Princess’s main force of twenty thousand arrived, they would safely cross the river. And, of course, to keep themselves safe until they did.

  “Everything’s gone according to plan so far, but the enemy has to have noticed our movements and should be preparing to intercept us. We don’t have much time. But we do have justice on our side!”

  Ryoma took a moment to make that resounding statement and inspected the reactions of the soldiers, and after reading the atmosphere parted his lips again with perfect timing.

  It is said one could get drunk off the atmosphere, and that enthusiasm is contagious in a crowd. So long as one knew how to use that point to their advantage, manipulating the hearts of men was simple.

  “We will not lose to the despicable, traitorous General Albrecht, or Duke Gelhart, the man behind this war! I want you to lend me your strength for the future of this country! And upon emerging victorious, Princess Lupis will surely reward your efforts!”

  “““Oooooooh! Victory will be ours! Glory to the Kingdom of Rhoadseria!”””

  Ryoma’s address was answered with cheering and battle cries. Even the most secure of fortresses would crumble if the soldiers’ morale was low. This was a fact proven time and time again in Ryoma’s world and applied no differently even in this other world.

  Phew, we’re tired after that long march but morale is still high... No problems for now, from the look of things. The rest depends on my command and how far we can prepare...

  With his speech concluded, Ryoma watched as each unit moved to their appointed positions, when a man blocked his path.

  “Sir Mikoshiba. Do you mind if I take five hundred knights and go on a reconnaissance run?”

  This man, clad in full body armor, was Mikhail Vanash.

  “No, I don’t mind. However, I know this may sound repetitive on my part, but stick to reconnaissance and nothing else. If you encounter an enemy, do not fight them and retreat immediately.”

  Quelling the suspicion rising up in his heart, Ryoma answered Mikhail with a smile. While it may seem like there was no meaning in it if they didn’t encounter the enemy, the point of reconnaissance was to gather information. There was no need to pick fights with the enemy. The problem was that the man before him wasn’t capable of making that distinction.

  “I am well aware. As a knight, I can’t say I much appreciate turning my back to the enemy, but... this is part of the plan.”

  Mikhail answered with an expression that felt honestly frustrated. He couldn’t ignore Ryoma’s orders since he’d been given the right to command by Princess Lupis, so it seemed he was being tolerant from lack of choice.

  “It’s exactly because I don’t want to take any losses if you do get discovered that I’m asking an elite like you to do it, Mikhail. I’m not exaggerating when I say the outcome of this operation rests on your shoulders.”

  This was a role someone as reckless as Mikhail was most unsuited for, but unfortunately there was no one else Ryoma could dispatch for it. Lione and Boltz were putting all their efforts into constructing the defensive installations, while Laura and Sara were caught up with other work.

  Reconnaissance was an important task, but in terms of priorities, Lione’s and Laura’s jobs were more critical, so Ryoma had no choice but to let Mikhail handle it.

  “Understood. We are off, then!”

  Replying loudly, Mikhail turned on his heels. Ryoma could only gaze at Mikhail’s back as he retreated with regret. And while there was no one else available for the task, and this choice of personnel was beyond his control, this decision would be one Ryoma would go on to deeply regret later down the line.

  “Ready?! Do it just like we practiced! Stay calm and focus!”

  “““Spirits governing the earth! Heed our calls and abide by our wills!”””

  Following Boltz’s call, the mercenaries began chanting as one.

  “““Earth Sink!”””

  This was a type of low-level verbal thaumaturgy that belonged to the spirit category. Upon finishing their chanting, the mercenaries slammed their hands against the earth, and the ground one meter in front of the caster sank in and collapsed at once.

  “Right! Good work. The first row of casters, take a fifteen-minute break and then return to dig further. Those in the second row, help even out the sectors that are out of place! Everyone else, we’re done here for the moment, so go help the folks in the north side!”

  Under Boltz’s command, the mercenaries scattered to their own individual stations.

  “So, how’s the work coming along?”

  Ryoma called out to Boltz, who was in charge of the construction work, from behind just as the sun started dipping toward the west. It had only been three hours since they started working, but a moat twenty meters in width and five meters in depth was already coming into shape. Considering they were digging a moat with an overall length of 500 meters, their work was unnaturally quick.

  “Oh, lad...!” Boltz responded and looked forward. “Well, I’d say everything’s going according to schedule.Still... I’m surprised you came up with a method like this. I’ve been a merc for years, but I never heard of anyone using thaumaturgy like this. Gotta wonder what’s going on in that head of yours...”

  Boltz shrugged, sighing in a mix of exasperation and admiration all the while. His words were no exaggeration, however. In this world, thaumaturgy was seen as a weapon for killing one’s foes. A tool for winning wars, treated the same as a spear or any other implement.

  “It’s not that big of a deal.”

  Ryoma shrugged off Boltz’s praise, but his idea could very well come to revolutionize both the economic and military structure of this world. Thaumaturgy was only ever seen as a way of directly attacking one’s foe, but it had other uses as well. Especially when it came to construction, it could increase efficiency to an overwhelming extent.

  Earth Sink was a spell that formed a trap hole with a diameter and depth of five meters in front of its caster. It didn’t do anything as fancy as pelting stones or unleashing flame and thunder from one’s hands. All it was capable of was opening a hole in the ground.

  And true, should an enemy drop into it, it could cause some damage, but in the end, it was just a pit. Its most common application was forming a hole beneath an enemy, but most people didn’t bother to use it in the first place.

  A diameter of five meters may have sounded like a wide range, but in combat it wasn’t of much use. When enemies remained in one place things were different, but it was difficult to predict how a target would move and cast the spell appropriately. And while five meters wasn’t a shallow height for a pit, it wasn’t deep enough to decisively kill either. It was like falling from the third story of a building. One might die if they fell into the wrong place, but it wasn’t an appropriate way of killing a person.

  Unless one didn’t have any other choice, there were plenty of other spells of the earth type, and in a general sense as well, which were more lethal and easier to aim, and so no one was foolish enough to use such an inconvenient spell in an extreme situation such as battle. A spell without a use; that was the general consensus regarding the Eart
h Sink spell.

  But when viewed from a different angle, the spell’s advantages became clear. Being able to dig a hole that was five meters in diameter and depth within moments allowed them to dig an empty moat in a short period of time. Compared to the great effort and time it would take to dig one using shovels and manpower, it became clear just how efficient of a solution this was.

  “No, you simply don’t understand your own worth, lad!”

  In this world, thaumaturgy’s worth was decided by how much firepower it had. The power to penetrate the enemy’s defenses was seen as absolute. And indeed, compared to spells used in direct combat, Earth Sink would seem useless. But once one thought beyond directly defeating a foe, Earth Sink revealed entirely different possibilities.

  And when one considered that it was Ryoma who thought of and realized that possibility, Boltz’s praise seemed quite natural.

  “You think?” But Ryoma tilted his head at Boltz’s words.

  For a person of the modern world like Ryoma, the idea didn’t seem all that special. If anything, he couldn’t help but wonder how no one thought of this before.

  “But of course!”

  Well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have them think that way...

  By now, Ryoma’s only way through life was to prove his strength and earn his soldiers’ respect. But this wasn’t a matter of wisdom or lack thereof, just a pure difference in available information. Still, if they willingly walked into that misunderstanding, it was just a plus for Ryoma.

  “It all depends on the information Mikhail brings back from his reconnaissance run, but we might not have much time. Sorry, Boltz, but I’m gonna need you to finish this fast.”

  “No problem! Leave it to...”

  Boltz’s words trailed off as he bowed his head.

  “You there! If you don’t measure the distance properly before casting the spell, it’s pointless. You hear? We want to adjust the holes so they connect. If you slack off, I’ll have your head...! Sorry, lad. I need to get back.”

  Even as he spoke to Ryoma, he kept a close eye on the ongoing work. He was truly an experienced one. Feeling satisfied at his reliable subordinate, Ryoma changed the topic. There was another purpose besides inspecting the moat’s construction that brought Ryoma here.

  “By the way, how’re things with Sara?”

  “Miss Sara...? Oh, she’s over there. She’s stuck to her like glue, just like you ordered.”

  Ryoma noticed a flutter of golden hair in the direction Boltz pointed to.

  “Which means the black haired girl next to her is the one?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  Ryoma’s gaze fell on the black-haired girl working alongside Sara.

  “She hasn’t done anything odd yet, probably because Miss Sara’s keeping a close eye on her. We also make sure to keep her in our sights every now and then, so you’ve nothing to worry about, lad!”

  “Thanks. We’d be in trouble if she sneaks up on us.” Even as he spoke with a smile, his eyes gleamed with a cold light.

  “Yes, we’re all well aware!”

  “If things get out of hand, don’t hesitate to dispose of her.”

  Boltz’s expression filled with surprise at Ryoma’s statement. Making good use of this girl was a fairly central part of the operation. She was an irreplaceable tool for smoking out the hidden mastermind behind this incident. And despite that, Ryoma ordered him to dispose of her if things became hopeless. Boltz couldn’t hold back his surprise.

  But upon seeing Boltz’s expression, Ryoma smiled.

  “I’m letting her run free for now so we can use her, but there’s always a chance even that could be a trap. If things go south, you can take her out based on your judgment.”

  The scariest conclusion possible was to have your plan to use someone turned against you. Of course, nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the saying goes, but even that was only true to a certain degree. Sometimes, one must realize they’re at a loss and know when to give up.

  “Understood. You can leave everything to us!”

  With that, Boltz bowed his head to Ryoma and returned to command over the work.

  “Guess I’ll go check on Lione next...” Ryoma whispered to himself and left in search of Lione.

  “Preparations are going well so far...! We just gotta wait for Boltz’s group to finish!” Lione recognized Ryoma approaching her soon enough and called out, waving her hand.

  Ryoma regarded her voice with a wry smile and a light wave back.

  “I see work on the fences is going along well.”

  “Aye, the trees from the forest over there gave us all the lumber we needed to work with.” She turned her glance to the small mountain of fences stacked behind her.

  The chopped trees were already carved into a uniform size and put together using ropes. They were ready to be set up as soon as Boltz’s group finished digging the moat.

  “And the raft?”

  “We’ll be working on that next. We’re chopping trees for it right now.”

  Men were coming back from the forest in groups, carrying chopped trees back to camp, likely using thaumaturgy to reinforce their bodies as per Ryoma’s instructions. This allowed them to carry back lumber they normally wouldn’t be able to lift on their own.

  “Make sure it’s durable enough to support the cavaliers, though.”

  “Don’t ya worry! I know. One of my men has experience in carpentry, so I’m gonna put him in charge of it.”

  Ryoma nodded in satisfaction, and then lowered his voice to a whisper.

  “All that’s left is picking the right people... How’s that going on your end?”

  “That’s going smoothly, too,” Lione said, closing one eye. “It’s the crux of the operation, after all. I’ll make sure to pick the best lookin’ men I can find.”

  “That’s great, then. I’ll leave it to you.” Ryoma nodded deeply and turned around, going back to his tent.

  There was still plenty they had to do to guarantee their survival...

  While Ryoma and the others were scrambling to establish their defensive position, Mikhail Vanash stood on high ground some five kilometers away from the riverbank.

  The speed of their march was slow, though them being on a reconnaissance run meant that was inevitable, as they had to prioritize locating the enemy.

  “Hmm... No sight of the enemy so far?”

  “Yes! Not one as of yet,” one of Mikhail’s aides answered his question.

  “So things are going according to that man’s plans for the time being...” Mikhail clicked his tongue lightly.

  Wide plains spread out below his eyes. These were the grain-producing regions, and in the distance, they could make out the distant shape of the fortress city Heraklion. This position allowed them to see any troops Heraklion dispatched even from a distance.

  Making sure there were no enemy troops nearby, Mikhail sat down on a sizable rock.

  So this preliminary battle will decide the outcome of the war, will it...? But that man’s face... Was he looking down on me?

  Ryoma’s regretful expression clung to Mikhail’s mind’s eye. It had been several months since the two first met, and while they were on favorable terms on the surface, Mikhail’s heart was beset by discontent and bitterness toward the boy.

  That was because Princess Lupis turned her trust not to a long-time aide like him, but to an unknown vagabond mercenary like Ryoma...

  To begin with, just what does he think of us knights...?! We fight, we are warriors! And yet he orders us to do manual labor as if we were commoners!

  In the face of his intense knightly pride, Ryoma’s current operation was intolerable. Having knights use their martial thaumaturgy for construction work? True, it was efficient, and that was something Mikhail wasn’t opposed to acknowledging.

  But even so, using knights’ thaumaturgy to chop trees and dig moats? Unacceptable!

  In fact, many of Rhoadseria’s knights were displeased with the situation. No
, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say nearly all of them were upset with it. But they still obeyed Ryoma’s orders because he was given the right to command by Princess Lupis. That was an overwhelming fact that gave him power they couldn’t overturn.

  This is so... insipid...

  Something dark and vile bubbled up from within Mikhail, a mixture of envy and hatred. His greatest misfortune was that he was wise enough to understand the effects of Ryoma’s ideas and policies and could see that Princess Lupis’s trust was turning in his direction, but at the same time wasn’t upright enough to accept that reality. His knightly pride filled him with intense jealousy for Ryoma.

  His loyalty to the princess was unwavering, only matched by Meltina, who stood by her side as an aide. But the one being of true use to her right now wasn’t the faithful Mikhail, but some commoner whose name she didn’t even know a few months ago.

  If it were another knight of Rhoadseria, perhaps he would have retained his honor still. But things weren’t so, and Mikhail knew he couldn’t imitate Ryoma Mikoshiba’s qualities. And so, he envied him, and was unable to forgive him. Mikhail’s heart succumbed to darkness precisely because he knew he had no legitimacy.

  “Sir Mikhail! There’s a cloud of dust being kicked up ahead. It’s likely the enemy’s reconnaissance party!”

  As Mikhail was deep in thought, a subordinate’s cry echoed in his ear.

  “What?! The enemy?”

  “Yes, milord. We couldn’t confirm their numbers, but they seem to be few in number!”

  “You call that a report?! Go forth and confirm how many of them are out there!”

  At Mikhail’s angry rebuking, his subordinate returned to scope out the enemy.

  A small force of enemy troops...? We must confirm the enemy numbers and then report to Sir Mikoshiba...

  At that point, Mikhail was still collected enough to realize the importance of his task. What mattered was to detect the enemy and keep losses to a minimum. Ryoma specifically stressed the importance of not losing any of their men, as they currently only had a mere two thousand troops on their side. What mattered wasn’t whittling down the enemy’s numbers but maintaining their own.