Chapter 269 Part 1
Western Front ⑤ — The Threat Begins to
Move
Translator : PolterGlast
The Western Front had been in a stalemate for a while, but around this time, the war situation on other fronts
began to leak through spies and merchants. Then, a person appeared before
Marquis Scuria, the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force,
bringing the report he had been waiting for.
"Oh, Lord Lugner. I have been waiting. I heard
you have brought the forces of two Marquises, totaling 8,000 men this time. That
is heartening news for us as well, is it not?"
"Your words are wasted on me. At this point, the war
situation on each front has become clear. Thanks to that, the opportunist
nobles who still had lingering attachments to the Kingdom have made up their
minds, and our forces have increased slightly. Regarding that, I have a report
for Your Excellency."
"Oh? I hope it is good news..."
Saying so, the Marquis looked at Lugner with a smile.
The Marquis himself had obtained information to some extent from spies sent in
all directions, and from Lugner's composed attitude and recent words and
actions, he was convinced it must be good news.
"As you say, it is good news for us. The bell tolling
the end of this country has rung. On the Southern Front, the Griffonia
Imperial Army achieved a great victory, and the chief commander, Margrave Hastburg,
died in battle. The Kingdom has lost both the Southern Gate Fortress and
Southern Gate Fort, the two major strongholds on the border, and is
reportedly in rout."
"What! Do you mean the South, which I thought was the
strongest, has already crumbled?"
Battles
commencing on the Southern Front and the
battle progressing in favor of the Empire was the limit of the information the
Marquis could know, so he could only be surprised by the war results exceeding
his imagination.
"Yes, the First Prince and Third Prince of the Empire,
vying for supremacy, will likely advance north from the southern part of the
Kingdom. The Kingdom is now being attacked and eroded from all four sides. I
believe now is a good opportunity."
"I appreciate your advice beyond imagination. We shall
also immediately order the entire army to move. Pushing the Mage Corps
to the front lines."
"What? Wasn't the Mage Corps annihilated along
with Count Lesser?"
This time it was Lugner's turn to be shaken. Indeed,
when he conveyed the report of defeat and the annihilation of the Mage Corps,
strangely, the Marquis was not shaken.
"Hahaha, even you, an ally, react like that. The
Kingdom Army will be greatly surprised."
The Marquis laughed generously as he said so. Yes, the 300
members of the Mage Corps entrusted to Count Lesser in the
opening battle were not the genuine elite the Principality boasts of.
"A trump card only has meaning when kept hidden. What I
entrusted to Lesser was, so to speak, the second-rate—those who failed selection or dropped out aspiring to join
the Mage Corps, recruited mainly from various noble houses. Still, they
were a sufficient threat. I had expected that, even entrusted to a small fry,
they would achieve sufficient results, but..."
Yes, the Mage Corps that sided with them in this
rebellion numbered 400. Of those, 250 were allocated to the Expeditionary Force
and had been accompanying them disguised as cavalry. This was known only to a
part of the upper echelon, and Count Lesser and those below him, evaluated
as small fry, had no way of knowing.
"The power of the true Mage Corps the Principality
boasts is incomparable to the fake. I planned to preserve them until the siege
of the Royal Capital, but I intend to deploy them all at once now. We
can't afford to fall behind the Empire, can we?"
And of the remaining Mage Corps, 100 were with Duke Ifris
who called himself the Prime Minister of the Fearalt Principality, and
50 had been dispatched to the Griffonia Imperial Kingdom under special
orders from the Duke. These 50 were dispatched to the Empire with instructions
even including attacking with magic from behind the Imperial Army to kill the
First or Third Prince when the time came.
"My, my. To think that even the second-rate are capable of such a magic attack. That unruly horse from the Kingdom, barging onto the battlefield uninvited...
she must be absolutely terrified right now."
Even while saying so, Lugner clicked his tongue.
Because he felt he was receiving the same treatment as Count Lesser,
whom the Marquis called a small fry.
"I will tell you so there is no misunderstanding, Lord.
The existence of the Mage Corps is a secret matter even within the Principality;
even Lesser didn't know everything, and there was no reason to inform
him. I would be grateful if you understood it as something of that sort."
"Yes, I understand. Although we share the same
aspirations, I am essentially a person from another country. Please do not worry
about it..."
"Then, shall we go capture that unruly horse? To
exchange for our puppet."
On this day, the Fearalt Principality Army, which had
invaded the western part of the Kyle Kingdom and stationed its army there for a while, began to move again. Aiming for the land of Kleirat,
located one day's distance from the supply base where they were currently
waiting.
About four days had passed since Takuhir and his
forces defeated the First Prince's army, but the report of their ally's defeat
had not yet reached them. There were several reasons for this.
At the point where the outcome of the battle was unclear, merchants put on a good face to both sides so they could
respond regardless of who won. However, the excessively large victory on the
Southern Front tipped the scales all at once.
They turned
their backs on the invading armies on every front and cut off the flow of
information they had been providing. They did this to ride the winning
horse—knowing from past experience the lavish generosity the Demon Territory Count and his faction
displayed upon victory, and the unprecedented economic boom that would surely
follow.
The only ones maintaining unchanged connections with the
invading armies were the merchants under Sieghart's influence, and they
were focused only on the future of the Empire and the Kingdom, paying no heed
to invading armies deployed on other fronts.
On the Kyle Kingdom's Western Front, the army
was frantically scrambling to respond to information that the Principality's forces had suddenly begun to move.
"Report! The
enemy force is about 30,000!
They have already departed from their base and are expected
to arrive here tomorrow!"
"Oho. So they’ve replenished their numbers, huh? They truly are not to be underestimated. Your Highness,
our battle formation is complete, but is there any specific information you
wish to confirm?"
"Let's see... those 30,000, are they all Principality
soldiers?"
"According to the scout's report, the flags of two
Marquises, and other flags indicating nobles of the Kingdom's West are raised.
The numbers of those soldiers are unknown, but..."
"Thank you. Corps Commander Schultz, does this
imply the Principality has no leeway left? I suspected they had no reinforcements
from their own land, and that their numbers had merely swollen with the fools
from our side."
"I believe it is as Your Highness says. Since it will
be a battle across a river, our numbers have also increased, so somehow...
though they won't be able to perform equal to their numbers."
Yes, currently about 22,000 soldiers were stationed with
them on the Western Front. Composed of 250 Magic Knights, 5,000 Archers,
10,000 Royal Capital Knights, plus 2,000 Western Lords' troops who
surrendered, and 5,000 noble troops newly dispatched by Duke Klein.
However, the 5,000 that could be called reinforcements were
a mixed army of various noble houses, the chain of command was not unified, and
their equipment was old-fashioned, lacking crossbows. Furthermore, since they
hadn't undergone controlled training in preparation for battle in this land,
they couldn't be expected much as a combat force.
"Still, numbers are numbers. But their deployment is
difficult."
Clarice said so
and looked at the men kneeling on the spot. They were the ones who led those 5,000.
"We understand well what Your Highness wants to say. We
intend to advance to the upstream and downstream areas of the river, prevent
the enemy's crossing from those directions, and conversely cross the river if
there is an opening in the enemy army, striving to surround the enemy army;
could we have your approval? If Your Highness goes out to the front lines and
we wait in the rear, it stands against reason that we rushed here as
reinforcements!"
"Hmm..."
Clarice was
troubled. This fortification has reasonable defense facilities and
countermeasures against the Mage Corps. However, if they leave this fortification,
there are no preparations.
"Your Highness! Corps Commander Schultz, please
put in a good word for us!"
Eventually, at their strong request, 2,000 of the noble
allied forces were deployed upstream, and 2,000 downstream, each at positions
several km away from the main camp. The remaining 1,000 deployed to
the extreme right wing of the fortification, and the 8 nobles who surrendered
in the first battle deployed their 2,000 to the extreme left wing of the
fortification; the Western Area Army spread both wings and took up position.
"However, these are my absolute, non-negotiable orders.
- You
must deploy at a distance of at least 350 m from the opposite riverbank.
- You
must strictly select a position on ground higher than the surrounding
embankments.
- You
are to focus entirely on defense. Do not shift to the offensive under any
circumstances until you receive orders from headquarters.
- If
you hear the bell toll twice, you are to drop everything and retreat to
high ground immediately.
Strict adherence to these rules is the only condition under
which I will agree."
Clarice finally
approved their proposal on the condition of keeping those promises. Oblivious to her
anxiety and seeing this only as an opportunity to achieve military exploits,
they moved their armies upstream and downstream in high spirits.
The next day, the Fearalt Principality forces surged
in great numbers as if to fill the opposite bank. Without entering the floodplain, they stopped on the embankment 300 m away from the Kyle
Kingdom Army positions waiting on the opposite bank.
After a pause, soldiers holding shields in the front row ran
out to the floodplain, and soldiers in the following rows ran out carrying
shields on their backs and sandbags in both hands. When the soldiers holding
shields at the front stacked shields to create a wall, the soldiers in the rear
rows lined up sandbags in places where water had pooled, advanced over them,
and further joined the wall of shields lined up at the very front.
"Tch! So they've gained wisdom from the previous battle, huh? But do they intend to forcefully cross the river without
the help of Mages from here on?"
Schultz, who
muttered so, was assaulted by indescribable anxiety. He wasn't the only one
with that anxiety.
"Elan-san, prepare for the worst and advance to that location
accompanied by a communication unit! I don't want to use it, but knowing the
previous defeat, it concerns me that they dared to use the same formation. Instructions from here will use balloons, so please follow
them."
"Yes Your Highness, understood."
Although it was an abrupt order, Elan immediately led
several Earth Mages and 200 soldiers entrusted as subordinates,
hurriedly disappearing somewhere.
And when a sound like a trumpet rang out from the Principality
Army camp, the battle began suddenly. Suddenly, thousands of fireballs
scorching the sky flew towards their camp. It was a spectacle where the western
sky burned bright red, easily double that of the previous battle.
"E-Enemy attack!" "Why? Why magic
attack..." "D-Deploy defensive formation!"
Wind Mages
and Water Mages deployed at key points hurriedly activated magic and
deployed defensive walls.
"Gah, too many!" "Defensive formation, can't
hold!" "Fires breaking out in various places!"
Reports like screams followed one after another. Schultz
turned pale as the answer to his earlier anxiety began to appear in the worst
form.
"Impossible... Why Mages? Was that not all of
them?"
"Second volley! Incoming!"
"No good! Don't panic. Thunder Mages, be on
alert! Your Highness! Please withdraw for now!"
Simultaneously as Schultz shouted, a roar echoed
around and terrifying lightning struck. Many of the catapults that took direct
hits were blown away, scattering wood fragments that became deadly weapons, or
burning furiously with vigorous flames.
"Infantry deployed on the floodplain are crossing the river all at once. Counterattack, can't
keep up!"
The Western Front came to know the true worth, the terror of the Mage Corps boasted by the Fearalt Principality at this point. By attacks several times the number of Mages that Margrave Hastburg and Takuhir had tasted once...
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
-
[Gold]
B random
Nepheos
ShitaiNoKootoRyuu
[Silver]
Corey Hicks
Creris
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Jake Seagraves
Matthew Fraser
Xavier O'Donoghue
Anton Lim
Austin Lorenzo
Ctdela
Curious Panda
Didntpassit
nick nasca
openope
SD Fox
Yosua Lumbangaol
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
