Paonia
"What the... hell?"
I accepted that this place was another world. I accepted that this world had mana and holy power.
Even so.
A cavalry unit had charged straight into the face of a phalanx.
And this was the result?
The phalanx soldiers who collided with the temple knights went flying like bowling pins. The temple knights, meanwhile, casually wheeled about and rode clear.
"This is completely unfair."
Earth had plenty of war games. Several of them featured phalanx formations. In those games, cavalry never charged a phalanx head-on. They obsessively hunted the flanks and rear — because a frontal clash favored the phalanx every time.
"Young Lord!"
"Young Lord! Your orders!"
There was no time to nurse the injustice of it.
"Shield-bearers, seal the gaps!"
The reserve shield troops waiting at the center filled the holes in the circular formation.
"Young Lord! The temple knights are preparing another charge!"
Having withdrawn to a set distance, the temple knights once more formed up for a run at the phalanx.
"Tell the mercenaries! When the temple knights charge, hit them from behind!"
"Understood!"
The temple knights thundered toward the phalanx. The mercenary companies pursued hard on their heels.
KRAAANG!!
KRAAAAANG!!
A colossal impact rang out, and phalanx soldiers went tumbling in every direction.
KRAAANG!!
KRAAAAANG!!
A second wave of thunder followed — the sound of the mercenaries slamming into the temple knights' rear.
"No... seriously..."
The first collision — phalanx versus temple knights — had shattered one side of the formation. The problem was the second collision: temple knights versus mercenaries. They had fought to a standstill. That was how strong the temple knights were.
The temple knights wheeled to break free, and the fight settled into a melee. Mercenary casualties began to mount at a terrifying pace.
"Mercenaries, fall back! Do not engage the temple knights head-on!"
The mercenaries withdrew. The temple knights pulled away as well.
Before the damage could even be assessed, Hans shouted again.
"Young Lord! Temple knights! Charge formation!!"
"Damn it, this is ridiculous..."
Every time they charged, a hundred phalanx soldiers went flying at once. In theory, ten charges would wipe the phalanx out entirely. In practice, the formation would collapse long before that.
They had held the advantage against ordinary troops buffed by priests. But a hundred elite temple knights were something else entirely — beyond anything they could handle.
"Crossbowmen! Volley fire!!"
Arrows streaked toward the knights on their third charge. The lead knight swept most of them aside with an aura-wreathed blade — but a few aimed at the horses' legs got through, and the lead mount went down hard.
"If this works..."
A cavalry charge was a fragile thing. Topple just a few horses in the front rank and the rest could cascade like dominoes.
That was the hope. But aside from the horses struck by arrows, not a single mount fell. They simply swerved around the downed horse and rider and kept coming.
KRAAANG!!
KRAAAAANG!!
Another axis of the phalanx crumpled.
KRAAAAANG!!
KRAAAAAANG!!
The mercenaries struck the temple knights from behind again, but inflicted little real damage. After the charge, the mercenaries fell back; the temple knights withdrew and reformed their lines.
"Temple knights left... sixty-five."
Sixty-five still mounted, to be precise. The thirty who had lost their horses had returned to the main force.
"Mercenaries... half remaining."
In the time it took to cut down thirty-five percent of the temple knights, fifty percent of the mercenaries had been rendered combat-ineffective. And the phalanx had taken heavy losses as well — hundreds of soldiers were down and being treated.
"Without the potions, we'd have been finished."
"Young Lord! The temple knights are forming for another charge!"
A chill ran down his entire body. He had known knights were strong — in theory. He had never imagined they could be this terrifying.
"Phalanx units, form the wall!"
It was all he could say. Right now, they were the only ones who could even slow a temple knight charge.
Click. Click.
The phalanx lowered their long spears toward the temple knights. Some hands were shaking. The spear tips trembled with them. Even so, the slave-soldiers did not take a single step back.
KRAAANG!!
KRAAAAANG!!
KRAAAAANG!!
KRAAAAAANG!!
The now-familiar first and second impact sounds. He forced his eyes wide open and burned every detail of the fight into his mind.
I focused too much on internal affairs.
A territory's strength came in two forms: military power, and economic power. He had poured everything into the economy — into internal development — and relatively neglected the military. He had thought it was enough to handle monsters. Military spending was money spent and gone; internal investment was the foundation of growth. That had been the logic.
"Young Lord!! The temple knights are—"
He knew the rest from the first words alone.
"Phalanx soldiers... form the wall."
The temple knights' fifth charge was imminent. After this one, there would not be enough men left to form a wall at all. And once that happened, even the ordinary infantry surrounding them would become impossible to hold.
Thud.
Thud-thud.
The temple knights began building momentum.
"Wall!"
The phalanx lowered their long spears toward the oncoming knights.
Thud-thud-thud.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
The temple knights closed in. The mercenary companies followed hard behind them. He could see Inon, Selion, and Philan with their jaws locked tight. Every one of them was fighting for their lives.
Shiiing.
For the first time since the war began, he drew his sword.
"Young Lord?"
"Once this charge is over, their infantry will pour in. Everyone fights."
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
The sound swelled, and the temple knights grew larger in his vision.
And then—
"ELWIIIIIN!!!"
A woman's voice filled the entire battlefield.
"Lady Allencia?"
The first insurance policy he had arranged before coming here had finally arrived. Before attacking Paonia, he had requested Allencia's aid. And now she was here.
But...
A hundred riders?
About a hundred cavalry, with Allencia at their head. At the sound of her voice, even the temple knights halted their charge and watched. Allencia and her hundred riders came thundering toward the allied lines. As the distance closed, the composition became clear: twenty knights, eighty cavalry. She must have heard the situation and raced here with only her mounted troops.
"Lady Allencia!"
"Elwin! I'm here!!"
He swallowed the urge to point out that the numbers seemed far too few.
"And what is that supposed to be?"
A priest pointed at the hundred cavalry that had just crashed into the battle.
"Allencia, Second Princess of Vampires."
"Hmm... twenty knights is hardly a concern. More importantly — did you secure the horses?"
Before the priest finished speaking, soldiers led dozens of horses forward.
"Excellent. Give them to the temple knights."
The temple knights' wounds had already healed. They had simply lacked mounts. Put them back in the saddle and the temple knight count would rise to ninety-five again.
The priest approached the temple knights.
"Elwin must die. Kill him, and capture the Second Princess. That will put us in a strong position for negotiations."
"Understood, High Priest!"
The temple knights who had left the field re-entered the fray.
"Not even a hundred knights — a mere twenty. The Second Princess is remarkably reckless, wouldn't you say?"
The priest turned to the head of House Paonia. But the lord's thoughts ran differently. The words that always followed Allencia's name were cold, ruthless, merciless. For that Allencia to be reckless? Impossible. And yet the present situation made no sense either. The battle was overwhelmingly in their favor — and still she had charged in with only twenty knights and eighty cavalry.
Why take such a reckless gamble?
While the lord of Paonia wrestled with the incomprehensible, another group appeared from the opposite direction of Allencia's arrival. At their head—
"Th-that..."
The lord of Paonia's mouth went dry. Goosebumps prickled across his skin.
"What's wrong all of a sudden?"
The priest looked at him, puzzled.
"Look over there."
The priest turned in the direction the lord indicated. Several figures in robes were approaching.
"Mages? Even so, with those numbers..."
"It's not that. The mage in the lead is Harper."
"Harper? Never heard of him. How many circles?"
"Intelligence says five. But more importantly—"
"That's enough. Five circles we can handle."
The lord of Paonia closed his mouth. If his dread proved true, no amount of warning would prepare them. Better to press the attack.
"We must launch a full assault immediately. Capture Elwin and the Second Princess!!"
Harper was the Frontier Duke's closest confidant. If he was here...
They had to hurry. Seize the key figures. Only then would there be any path to survival.
"Well... that was the plan anyway. All forces, attack!"
"Young Lord, the enemy is coming!!"
The temple knights and the surrounding infantry all surged forward at once.
In that instant—
"Stone Hand!"
The earth heaved upward, shaping itself into a massive fist — then slammed down. Dozens of buffed soldiers standing in its path were crushed to pulp in a single blow. Through the path it opened, the mages emerged.
"They're finally here!"
Harper, who had been investigating Paonia under his father's orders. Elwin had asked him to bring the mages from South Castle and join the battle.
"Young Lord! I'm a little late!"
"Not at all! You arrived at the perfect moment!"
He clasped Harper's outstretched hand.
"You've done well. Worry no longer. His Lordship will arrive shortly."
Father? The timing didn't add up. Even if he had set out the moment he received the Funnan people and the documents Elwin had sent, he couldn't possibly have reached here yet.
"Father? But the timing—"
"I reported my findings to His Lordship. Upon receiving them, he set out in this direction."
That made sense. If Father had already departed before Elwin even sent word of the situation...
Even as they spoke, the temple knights' charge drew nearer. Then the ground before the temple knights surged upward — the work of the earth mages who had come with Harper.
"Harper, you and the mages need only stop the knights' charge. If you can do that, we can hold."
"Understood, Young Lord."