by Ryota Hori
So what do we do...? Do we pull back, or stay here...?
Multiple possibilities popped up and then fizzled out in his mind, but his thoughts were soon disturbed by a man’s voice.
“Your elder boy’s words are most apt! This war is all but over.”
The soldier likely showed him the way here. Six men clad in armor entered the tent.
“Oh, Viscount Romane...” Count Adelheit spoke to the middle-aged man standing in the middle of the row. “A pleasure to see you... But still, could you explain what you meant by this? We can’t simply turn around and go back to our territories with Princess Lupis marching on us.”
Romane was a short, middle-aged man, who rudely settled down into a chair without being prompted to do so and crossed his arms brazenly. His conduct was far ruder than is normally tolerated by the nobility, but no one made to blame him for it. They knew saying anything would be wasted effort.
“Spare me the empty courtesy, good count. We haven’t the time for this right now... We will be returning to our territories,” the viscount said plainly.
The curtness of it all only lent his words more credibility, though.
“What?!” Count Adelheit went pale.
Has he gone mad...?!
Viscount Romane was part of Count Adelheit’s faction, but was always a very haughty person who was exceedingly hard to deal with. But that nature also granted him some positive traits. He was a skilled warrior and made himself into something of the low-ranking nobles’ leader figure.
The low-ranking nobles each only had a force of several dozens to a hundred or so, which on its own wasn’t a number one could fight a war with. At most, it could be used for camp security or managing the food stores. But even such small forces could become significant numbers when gathered.
But of course, simple cooperation wasn’t enough. When people of equal rank gathered together, it would only result in them getting in each other’s way. That was simply how nobles tended to be. However, so long as someone held authority over the soldiers as a commander, any gathering of men could become a useful force.
It could happen through dignity, intimidation, or wealth. So long as people were led by someone with something that let them stand superior to others, any pawn on the chessboard could be made into a knight. That was why Count Adelheit tacitly put up with Viscount Romane’s attitude.
But his declaration that they would leave of their own accord was one thing he couldn’t stay silent on.
“That’s impossible!” he shouted at him, mustering all the dignity he could. “How dare you do that on your discretion?! Do you intend to betray Duke Gelhart?!”
Count Adelheit and the rest of the nobles had already usurped the faction from Duke Gelhart in favor of General Albrecht, but were still technically considered the Duke’s army. Even if he was left with no effective authority or power, he was still nominally the banner they gathered beneath.
But Viscount Romane simply regarded the Count with a sneer.
“You say that now, of all times? We only turned our backs on Duke Gelhart a few days ago. As aged as you might be, good count, I’m sure your old mind can still recall what happened several days ago.”
His voice was thick with clear scorn, to which the count’s aides reacted by reaching for their swords.
“Stop!”
Count Adelheit stopped his men from cutting the viscount down. He then turned a resigned expression at the man.
“You are right. There’s no point in trying to keep up appearances at this point. Then let us get to the main question here... Why?”
He asked the viscount why he decided to retreat back to his territory. He already had a fairly good idea of what he would say, but he wanted to hear it straight from the man’s mouth. In so doing, he would be able to decide how to act himself, too.
“Does it even need to be said...?” Viscount Romane went red with irritation. “It’s the rumors...”
He was probably quite annoyed.
“I knew it... So they’re true...?”
Viscount Romane shook his head.
“So you’re retreating without confirming the rumors...? All of you...?” Count Adelheit looked to the young men standing behind the viscount.
One young man stepped forward to meet his gaze.
“We don’t believe the authenticity of those rumors matters at this point, sir count,” he said.
Count Adelheit couldn’t recall his name.
He must be one of the low-ranking nobles under Viscount Romane.
“Which house do you hail from, young one?”
“This one is Lechre, eldest son of Baron Mondo’s household,” Viscount Romane answered. “I’ve taken him under my wing. His father is a complete and utter good-for-nothing fool, but Lechre here is quite the promising young man. He’s my most highly-valued aide.”
Count Adelheit’s gaze turned sharp at that introduction.
Eldest son of the Mondo household... His father, the current governor, is said to be quite the fool, but I did hear his son is quite impressive... And sure enough...
There were several hundreds of nobles in Rhoadseria. Most nobles might be acquainted with most of the others, but Count Adelheit was the nobles’ faction’s number two man. To him, the majority of the nobles were no different from the common rabble.
But he did know a bit about the Mondo household. The current governor, Lechre’s father, suddenly started raising the tolls for entering his territory. Thanks to that, the merchants employed by the count had been complaining quite a bit.
Having dug up what he could from his memories, the count once again fixed his gaze on Lechre.
“I see. Then, Sir Lechre, let me ask you again. What did you mean by that?”
“The rumor is already circulating among the commoners, and they refuse to listen to our orders, insisting that they go home.”
The commoners would be the ones hurt most by the territories being razed, as their houses and assets would all be burned to ash. Nobles could still receive the favor of their relatives, but the commoners were struggling just to defend their hard-earned livelihood. They couldn’t care much for someone else’s life at this point. And so, they wanted to go home and protect their meager fortunes and families.
Count Adelheit, however, simply clicked his tongue and gave the boy an exasperated, mocking look.
“Such foolishness... Is there ever a time they don’t complain over something or another? Hurt a few of them to set an example and be done with it.”
If someone said anything like this on Ryoma’s world, it would cause a huge scandal. He would be labeled a fascist and militarist and receive the verbal equivalent of a lynching in terms of criticism.
But what he just described was a commonly used means of maintaining public order and governing a noble’s territory in this world. And a highly-effective one, at that... At least normally. But this time things were different.
“Well, you see...” Lechre shook his head. “The commoners are willing to revolt... They’ve physically resisted us.”
“The commoners did what?!” Count Adelheit rose from his chair.
He was quite shocked by what he’d just heard. He didn’t think the commoners were that well-supported.
“Yes, we’ve quelled their resistance this time, but several knights were severely injured. Things ended favorably this time, but they could well have died at that rate. We’ve looked into it, and similar things are happening throughout the nobles’ faction... And...”
“And what? There’s more?!”
Count Adelheit honestly didn’t want Lechre to say any more. If things got any worse, even a bold man like him wouldn’t be able to take it.
“Marquis Schwartzen and his clique are already retreating.”
All the blood drained from Count Adelheit’s face at the sound of that name.
“It can’t be... How dare he?!”
Marquis Schwartzen was the nobles’ faction’s third most powerful man. Duke Gelhart trus
ted Count Adelheit more, and so he was above him within the faction. But in terms of the size of their territories and the low-ranking nobles under their wing, Marquis Schwartzen was second only to Duke Gelhart himself. The forces he contributed formed the second greatest chunk of the nobles’ faction’s total ranks in this war. His retreating from the battlefield was something that couldn’t be ignored.
“Did you report this to General Albrecht?!”
This was what interested Count Adelheit the most. It was only natural to look up to General Albrecht’s decisions, since he held supreme authority over the army. But Lechre simply replied with a crooked, malignant smile.
“Surely you jest. What would reporting this to him now achieve...? Marquis Schwartzen’s army has notified us they will attack us if we interfere with their retreat. And so we can’t do anything... Marquis Schwartzen’s army forms a fourth of the nobles’ faction’s forces. If we clash with them, well, perhaps we would emerge victorious, but we wouldn’t get away unscathed.”
“That’s... true.”
“In which case, what should the nobles do now? What would guarantee our survival? Would it be reporting to General Albrecht?”
Sensing the meaning lurking behind those words, Count Adelheit’s expression contorted in a nasty fashion.
“Sacrifice General Albrecht’s forces...? And you all agree to this?”
They responded to his words with silence. A silence that meant consent. It was sickeningly foul, but even as he was disgusted with their approach, he did understand why they did this. This was all the work of the nobles’ instincts, instilled in them since birth. They spurred them to do anything to defend their status and family name.
And Count Adelheit knew that making a fuss all by himself at this point would achieve nothing. Leaning heavily back into the backrest of his chair, he heaved a resigned sigh into the air.
“Very well... If you’re resolved to go that far, I’ve nothing left to say. I’ll abide by your decision.”
Everyone else nodded silently.
“I’m glad you understand,” Viscount Romane said and turned on his heels. “We will retreat at once, then. Regardless of whether the rumors are true or not, we must attend to the defense of our territories!”
As he watched him leave, a whisper escaped Count Adelheit’s lips.
“We betray Duke Gelhart, and then turn on General Albrecht, too... Maintaining the power of one’s families may require one to dirty their hands, but still...”
The aides standing at his sides were all uniformly silent. They, too, were feeling the bitterness of what being a noble meant.
“But Your Highness! You must give the order to march!”
As Princess Lupis stood frozen in place, unable to give the order to march on Heraklion, Meltina implored her. Thanks to Ryoma’s schemes, the noble armies that were deployed around Heraklion had all returned to their territories.
With Duke Gelhart on their side, all that remained was to defeat General Albrecht, the 2,500 knights under his command and the small army of one thousand men belonging to low-ranking nobles who didn’t understand what the others were doing and stayed behind. They had holed up in a corner of Heraklion. Their morale was, of course, at rock bottom.
By comparison, Princess Lupis had 25,000 men under her command. Not too long ago, Princess Lupis was on the back foot, but now the tables had turned completely. The knights standing before her all eagerly awaited her orders. Being indeed ten times the enemy’s numbers, their morale was, naturally, sky high.
But Princess Lupis’s heart was gripped by a dark emotion that was the direct opposite of her knights’ elation. She wasn’t able to rejoice in a situation where it wouldn’t be odd for her to flit around in joy.
Her terror of him hung over her like a shadow.
So this is his power... He overturned such a position of weakness... Ryoma Mikoshiba... He scares me. His intellect and wit scare me. His ruthlessness scares me. The heart, that lacks all respect for royalty, scares me... And if we defeat Albrecht, that man will leave this country. That’s fine... That’s what we agreed on, to begin with. But what if he turns against me...? I won’t be able to match him, no matter what... Is there even anyone in this country that can? Even Helena admits he’s better than her... If he were to ever turn against us... This country will fall into a far larger crisis that Gelhart or Albrecht ever were...
She knew this from the very beginning. No, perhaps it would be more correct to say that she’d fooled herself into thinking she knew that. The anxiety she’d become aware of, and that she’d tried her hardest not to think about, surged up in her heart now, when they were on the cusp of routing General Albrecht’s army.
Still, she had to push that fear away.
No... I’ll need to think of that later. Right now I need to get rid of Albrecht!
Nodding back to Meltina shortly, Princess Lupis fixed her gaze forward.
This was all... all for this moment!
“All forces, march!”
Meltina nodded to Princess Lupis and pointed in Heraklion’s direction. Right now, beating Albrecht was what mattered.
“““Ooooh!”””
Raising their voices once again, the soldiers set off at once. They had but one goal: To claim General Albrecht’s head.
“Master Ryoma... Are you sure?”
The knights led by Princess Lupis made for Heraklion, kicking up a cloud of dust in their wake. A group of people overlooked the march from high ground located a short ways off from the knights.
“Yeah, us participating in Heraklion’s invasion would achieve nothing,” Ryoma answered Laura’s question shortly.
The people present here were the hundred or so mercenaries lead by Lione and Boltz, as well as the Malfist sisters. Everyone was geared and ready to head for the frontlines, but their commander, Ryoma, didn’t move to the battlefield.
“But lad... This war won’t end if we don’t attack Heraklion, you know?” Boltz voiced his doubts, mouthing the question everyone present was asking themselves.
“It won’t end if we don’t attack the city, eh...? I see... Do you all feel that way?”
Everyone nodded at Ryoma’s query. General Albrecht wasn’t going to move his army out of the city, and so the war wouldn’t end until they took Heraklion. Duke Gelhart had already turned to the princess’s side, after all. Ryoma smiled, realizing the meaning behind Boltz’s question.
“So let me ask you something, instead. Right now, General Albrecht is in the city with his knights and the nobles that didn’t bail in time. Now that Gelhart is on the princess’s side, the general is the last enemy we have left. We good so far?”
Everyone nodded. The rumors Ryoma spread about his supposed scorched earth tactics made the defending nobles pull back their forces and retreat home. Thanks to that, there was no sign of any soldiers in Heraklion’s vicinity, and this was how Princess Lupis was able to carry out this final battle. Since Duke Gelhart swore allegiance to Princess Lupis, her only remaining adversaries were General Albrecht and his lackeys.
“What’s the size of Princess Lupis’s forces?”
“Twenty-five thousand men.”
“Like Sara said. And Albrecht’s?”
“Three thousand, give or take five hundred men!” Boltz chimed in.
“Exactly.” Ryoma looked around at everyone. “They’ve got almost ten times his forces, so do you really think Albrecht holed himself up in Heraklion in that situation?”
Everyone then realized what Ryoma meant.
“So yer saying he isn’t hiding in the city, boy?” Lione asked.
“Yeah. Well, honestly it’s probably more of a 50-50 chance... From what I know, Albrecht is a very haughty, unpleasant old man, but at the same time, he doesn’t know when to give up.”
“So whaddaya think mister general-who-won’t-give-up’s gonna do?”
“Well, for starters, if he holes up in Heraklion, he can’t hope for reinforcements. The nobles’ faction turned their
backs on him once and won’t send troops to help him again. Duke Gelhart won’t shelter him, either. If he shows up, he’d organize his army and send it to crush Albrecht. Which means he’s got two options, accepting defeat, or running away... But I can’t see that weasel picking honorable defeat.”
“What, so him runnin’ is the only option left... But can he really do that under such a disadvantage? We’re talking ten times his men in numbers here. Ten times. Runnin’s easier said than done; he’ll need to cut through the siege and evade pursuit.”
He wouldn’t accept defeat, and holding a siege wouldn’t work. So his only choice was to flee Heraklion and run. Even a child could come to that conclusion. Lione’s response was apt, though. She’d seen many battles and knew how difficult a retreat could be.
Marching an army forward was relatively simple, but once one wanted to retreat, things suddenly became that much more complicated.
On top of that, knights had superb individual combat skills, but their performance dropped when it came to working in formations. And what mattered the most in a battle of retreat was not individual strength, but specifically teamwork and working in a formation. A group can only survive so long as everyone covers for each other.
Conversely, when people start ignoring the formations and going off on their own, those left behind only die. Of course, based on the conditions of the battle, different tactics bring forth different results, as history has shown plenty of times.
So not only were the knights forced into a battle of retreat, which they weren’t fit for in the first place, they had to do it under an overwhelming numerical disadvantage. Their chances of surviving were essentially zero.
“Yeah, I think you’re right there.” Ryoma nodded at Lione’s doubts, and went on to state his own concerns. “Well, I did tweak things a bit to make it come to this... But all that is assuming General Albrecht retreated with his men... I think that at worst, he may have abandoned his knights and bailed alone...”
Everyone was dumbstruck by Ryoma’s suggestion.
“No, boy... That’s too much.”