by Dojyomaru
“It’s fine. If they break the siege until noon, it will take time to fully encircle us again. Even if they begin an all-out attack, that would surely take until close to evening.”
“I see,” he said. “Well, then, I think my job is done here.”
“Yes. Well done, Weist. Please, relax and leave the rest to me.” Excel gave him a motherly smile.
Weist had been run ragged by Souma, Hakuya, and Excel, but he could only laugh at himself for thinking that her smile alone made him want to forgive everything.
Elfrieden Historical Idiom Lessons: Number 1
“Lord of Altomura”
Type: Idiomatic Expression
Meaning: A person who makes promises they can’t keep.
Origin: During the One Week War, Weist Garreau, the Lord of Altomura, which was being attacked by Gaius VIII of the Principality of Amidonia, made an empty promise to Gaius that he “would have the gates opened,” in order to buy time.
Usage: That person’s a Lord of Altomura. You shouldn’t trust him.
Chapter 5: The Battle Outside Randel
The 30th stratagem in Thirty-Six Stratagems says, “Make the host and guest exchange roles.”
It is most often referred to in the context of a weaker force overcoming a stronger one, but it can also refer to making the defender (the host) trade places with the attacker (the guest). Being the defender is advantageous in war, so it is desirable for the attacker to create a situation where he can fight defensive battles even on campaign.
The battle currently taking place in the outskirts of Randel, the central city of the Carmine Duchy, could have been said to be an example of the later meaning of the 30th stratagem.
—32nd Day, 9th Month, 1,546th Year, Continental Calendar.
In the Carmine Duchy, the Forbidden Army, which should have been the invading force, was fighting a defensive battle against the Army, which should rightly have been the defender. As he hid behind the walls of the “fortress” that was being attacked by a 40,000 strong force from the Army, Halbert Magna was grumbling.
“Damn... Don’t you think the enemy are trying a little too hard?”
“There’s no helping that, you know, Hal.” The response had come from Kaede Foxia, an earth mage attached to the Forbidden Army, who was taking cover behind the same wall as him.
Even as the arrows, fired by enemy and ally alike, flew overhead, she remained nonchalant.
“If you look at it from the enemy’s perspective, they woke up to find a fortress outside,” she said. “One with Forbidden Army troops in it, no less. It’s only natural they would be in a rush to do something about that, you know.”
“Well, yeah...” he said. “I thought it was beyond reckless taking on 40,000 troops from the Army with 10,000 of our own, but apparently the premise was that we’d be fighting in this fortress. Just how well did he prepare in advance for this?”
“There was originally a fortress facing Amidonia at this site,” she told him. “When the border moved far to the west in the time of the king before the last king, it was abandoned. The king simply brought it back to life, you know. And what’s more... this is a considerably more well-defended fortress than the one that was once here.”
It was yesterday that Souma had sent his ultimatum to Georg Carmine. With negotiations having failed, Souma had immediately dispatched a force of 10,000 troops from the Forbidden Army to the Carmine Duchy.
The Forbidden Army had advanced at a speed that overturned all common sense held by the Army. They had approached the central city of the duchy, Randel, and built a “fortress” right in front of their eyes.
That rapid advance and construction had been enabled by the rhinosaurus land train. Thanks to Souma’s honorary little sister, Tomoe, the Forbidden Army had a large number of rhinosauruses that could serve as a rapid cargo transportation system. Thanks to the ability of the rhinosaurus land train to transport massive amounts of cargo, they had been able to send in people and resources in a short amount of time.
The materials for building the fortress had already been partially assembled in the royal capital. They’d used a two-by-four wood frame construction system, so the parts just needed to be put into the designated places on site.
Souma had taken the idea from the One Night Castle that Hideyoshi (then known as Tokichiro Kinoshita) had built in Sunomata. Basically, the rhinosaurus land train had taken the place of the Kiso River.
In addition, the Forbidden Army troops who had constructed the fortress had a secret. Having been sent out under Souma’s orders to assist in the construction of the new city and roads, each and every one of the soldiers of the Forbidden Army was now a capable combat engineer.
The soldiers would dig holes or pile up earth as needed, cover the walls the mages created in Roman concrete, and assemble the materials shipped in from the capital.
The earth mages would gouge out the earth to make ditches, raise the ground’s surface to make walls, use magic to make the Roman concrete poured by the soldiers harden, and use reinforcement magic to strengthen the walls.
The common thinking when building a fortress on open land in this world was to have earth mages do all the work. However, because every non-mage member of the king’s personal forces was able to take part in construction, the work speed was markedly faster.
And so, even though the Forbidden Army had only arrived at the site yesterday evening, by the time morning came, the fortress was complete. From the people of Randel’s perspective, it must have looked like the fortress had been built in one night.
Later historians would come to call this “Randel’s One Night Fortress.”
This blitz of construction had been carried out immediately after the ultimatum, and the Army and corrupt nobles who were shut up in Randel had been able to do nothing to stop it.
“Still, I have to hand it to Duke Carmine, you know,” Kaede said. “The only ones who are visibly unnerved are the nobles’ private troops. The Army is quietly moving to encircle us.”
“Hey! Don’t expose your face!” Halbert exclaimed. “You’ll get hit by a stray arrow!”
Kaede had been peeking out through an arrow slit, but Halbert pulled her back.
At just that moment—
Boom!
—they heard an incredible explosion nearby.
Halbert saw Kaede was about to fall over backwards, so he quickly supported her. The sudden noise must have caught her by surprise, because Kaede was blinking.
“Th-Thank you for that, Hal,” she said.
“Come on, keep it together,” he said. “...That was pretty close to us, wasn’t it?”
An enemy spell must have struck the walls.
Technically, the walls had been strengthened against magic by Kaede and the other earth mages. That said, if they kept taking direct hits like that one, they weren’t going to hold up.
Halbert wreathed a nearby throwing spear in magical fire, throwing it towards the group he thought had unleashed that last spell. The fire spear flew like a missile, impaling one man and then exploding to incinerate the rest.
“Arghhhhh!”
He could hear their dying screams from here. Seeing that the deed was done, Halbert hid in the shadow of the wall once more.
“Wait, hold on... don’t you think the attack is extra intense just here on the west side?” he asked. “It feels like the other sides are only seeing sporadic attacks.”
“...Those are Zemish mercenaries, you know,” Kaede said as she peeked out from behind the wall. “They must have been hired by the corrupt nobles. The corrupt nobles literally have their necks on the line. If they lose this battle, the only thing waiting for them is a trip to the execution block. It’s do-or-die for them, you know. What with them getting the death penalty and all.”
“I know you think you’re being witty, but that one made me shudder,” Halbert said while throwing his second fire spear. He didn’t miss his mark and many mercenaries burned.
“Arghhhhhhhhhh
hh!”
“Hot, hot!”
“It burns, it burrrrrrrrrns!”
Halbert watched with a pained smile as the mercenaries turned into balls of flame and rolled around on the ground.
For Halbert, this was his first real battle. While he had much more power than the average person, he wasn’t used to killing.
Well, it’s easier than fighting an Army unit with a lot of guys I know in it, at least, he thought.
As a former member of the Army, Halbert had complicated feelings about this whole situation. Due to their close relationship with the king, Halbert and Kaede were among the few who knew the whole truth behind this war. That was why he understood what the king wanted to accomplish. He understood, but... his feelings about it were still complicated.
“Hal!” Kaede called out to him, snapping Halbert back to his senses.
“What is it, Kaede?!”
“This is awful, you know,” Kaede said. “Look at what the enemy just brought out.”
She pointed at the giant cannons that were being carried onto the battlefield at this very moment. In this world, where gunpowder weapons had never really developed due to the existence of magic, research had continued on cannons for use in naval battles. While they lacked mobility, their destructive power that didn’t rely on magic had caught the Army’s eye. The Army kept three of them for use as siege weapons, where mobility was not so important.
At present, the only force in Elfrieden which had cannons that could be used on land was the Army.
“...Come to think of it, they do have those,” Hal said. “I’d totally forgotten.”
“If you’re going to use those, it should be in the opening stages of the battle, after all,” Kaede said.
“Well, what’re they dragging them out this late in the game for?” he asked.
“Probably the corrupt nobles brought them out because they’re panicking, you know.”
“...Is it really bad?” he asked.
“It is really bad,” she answered. “The anti-magic reinforcement is only effective against magic and flames, you know. Against physical impacts, these are just dirt walls coated with ‘Roman concrete.’ They’re more durable than normal, but if they keep hitting them like that...”
Booooom!
...Thunk!
One of the cannons fired with a sound like the air was being sucked away, the cannonball tracing a parabola before striking the wall and punching into it. The dirt wall crumbled around where it had punched through.
The cannonballs in this world were lumps of solid iron.
It seemed they had considered exploding shells, as well, but while those were flashy, they had been unable to inflict damage on walls reinforced against magic, so there was that historical reason for why they were not used. Simple impact damage worked well against reinforced walls. The lumps of iron that had just been fired into the walls were exactly the kind of high-mass projectiles they were weak against.
Seeing their power, Halbert and Kaede looked to one another.
“Wh-What do we do now?!” Kaede stammered.
“Don’t ask me! Can’t you do something with your magic?!” Halbert exclaimed.
“I’m out of magic after building this fortress! What about you, Hal, can’t you intercept them with a throwing spear or something?”
“They’re too fast!” he cried. “That’s like asking me to hit an incoming arrow with a rock!”
While they were bickering back and forth...
“Hmm. How about a bow, then?”
...they heard a calm voice from above them say.
““Huh?””
The two of them turned to see a tough young dark elf (though it was hard to be certain of an elf’s age by his appearance) holding an impressively large bow. The dark elf warrior nocked an arrow, pointing it upwards on a diagonal and taking aim.
Booooom!
Once again, a cannon fired.
At practically the same time, the dark elf warrior let loose his arrow.
In that instant, Halbert and Kaede thought they heard a high-pitched keening sound. The dark elf warrior had probably used a wind magic enchantment on the arrow. Two seconds later, the iron cannonball was smashed to smithereens in mid-air. Halbert and Kaede could only gape.
“Hmph,” the dark elf said. “Easier than taking down a migratory falcon.”
“Wh-Who’re you...?” Halbert stammered.
“Pardon me. I neglected to introduce myself. I have come from the God-Protected Forest. My name is Sur,” the young dark elf man said with a broad smile. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir Halbert Magna.”
“Wh-What do you know my name for?”
“You may not remember, but when the major landslide happened in the God-Protected Forest, my daughter was among those you rescued with the king,” Sur answered. “When she heard your name later, she wanted to thank you, but the initial relief force had already returned to the capital, so... back then...”
Booooom!
...Ker-smash!!
“...I am terribly sorry that I did not properly thank you for saving my daughter,” he finished.
Even while talking, Sur was able to accurately shoot down the incoming cannonballs. They had heard dark elves were excellent archers, but this was truly impressive.
“No, I was just following Souma’s... the king’s orders...” Halbert said.
“Even if you were, I still am grateful. Though I must admit to a slight irritation at the fact that, smitten with the way you looked rescuing people, my daughter started saying, ‘Someday, I want to join the Forbidden Army, and join in relief operations like that man.’ Ha ha ha.”
Even as he continued talking like an ordinary father, Sur was shooting down incoming cannonballs one after another. Halbert and Kaede were simply dumbfounded.
“Um, why are you here? You’re not in the Forbidden Army, right?” Kaede asked, bewildered.
To this, Sur gave a jovial laugh. “We heard that His Majesty Souma, the savior of our village, was in serious trouble. In order to repay our debt, we warriors of the dark elf village have been sent to his aid. We have always avoided involvement with the outside world as much as possible, but, this time, not a single person voiced their opposition.”
To repay their debt. Here, the simple, steady accomplishments of Souma’s rule were showing their effects.
“I’m very grateful for this, you know,” Kaede said.
“I scratch your back, you scratch mine,” Sur shrugged. “This is something we have learned from you people.”
When she saw Sur’s smile, Kaede felt the tension melt away, if only a little.
We have more reinforcements than I thought, she thought. At this rate, I think we may manage to defend ourselves.
The Forbidden Army had received reinforcements from more than just the dark elf village. There was also Halbert’s father, Glaive Magna, and those who had defected from the Army like him. They were participating in the battle as volunteer soldiers with Glaive leading them. Combined with the reinforcements from the dark elf village, there were around 5,000 of them.
In other words, there were 15,000 defenders in this fortress.
I hear an attacker must have three times as many soldiers as the defender in order to win a siege, Kaede thought. The Army has seen a lot of deserters, Hal’s father foremost among them, but they were able to keep their numbers at 40,000 with the mercenaries the corrupt nobles managed to scrounge up. This would have been hard with only the 10,000 troops who report directly to the king, but if you add in the reinforcements, we’ve just managed to avoid them having triple our numbers. It was a relief to realize that.
Incidentally, years later, Sur’s now-grown daughter would make good on her word. She would join the military and be fortunate enough to be placed under Halbert’s command. Somehow, she would also shrewdly manage to arrange for her marriage to Halbert, creating a situation Kaede would not be able to feel relieved about at all, but that is a story for another day.
For now, the only thing Kaede had to wrack her brain over was finding some way to survive this battle with Halbert.
Then...
“Kaede!”
Hearing someone suddenly call her name, Kaede looked towards the gate to see a group of knights, both them and their horses clad in silver armor. These were the Royal Guard who protected the capital and the royal palace.
Standing at the front of the group, looking most impressive of all, was the Captain of the Royal Guard, who was also the head of Forbidden Army, Ludwin Arcs. He was blonde and handsome, clad in silver armor, and riding atop a white horse. It was a look that seemed “too good to be true,” and Halbert envied him for it.
Someday, I want to be like that... Halbert felt a strong desire to make a name for himself.
Meanwhile, Kaede paid no heed to his dashing figure as she closed in angrily on Ludwin. “What do you think you’re doing?! You’re our commander-in-chief, you know!”
“Sorry, Kaede,” he said. “You take command here for a little while. We’ll go deal with those noisy things.” Ludwin pointed towards the cannons with his lance.
Kaede clutched her head. “We have Hal for petty errands like that, you know!”
“Hey!” Halbert exclaimed.
“Ha ha ha, don’t be like that,” Ludwin said. “Compared to the soldiers who’ve worked so hard building this fortress and defending it, we in the Royal Guard haven’t had a single chance to show off so far. It’ll be bad for our appearance if we don’t fix that.”
“For your appearance... are all men stupid?” Kaede demanded.
“Ha ha ha, you do get it,” Ludwin chuckled. “Well, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
Before Kaede could say another word, Ludwin began barking orders at the Royal Guard.
“Open the gates! The target is dead ahead, the three large cannons! We’ll return when they are destroyed! Ignore the enemy soldiers: don’t pursue them too deeply! Focus solely on destroying the target!”
“““Yes, sir!”””
“If any block your path, run them through with your lance!” Ludwin ordered. “If any try to interfere, see them trampled under your horse’s hooves! We are the lance that defends this country! We bear the dignity of His Majesty! Rush forth, and let nothing hold you back!”