Little Suns
Little Suns
The barracks that had been sound asleep all woke up at once.
Out of 120 officer knights, all but 10 who would control the unit agreed to go as support—110 in total.
A combined 15,000 troops had finished assembling for the support mission.
I also gathered the supply soldiers as the logistics officer.
"Corporal Baren, do not pack any cooking utensils. Everyone, pack only weapons and medical tools."
"If we don't pack a single cooking tool, how will we eat?"
"We'll make do with snack bars. Do not pack a single thing."
In a situation where the 1st and 2nd Armies may have already collapsed, we can't leisurely hang a pot and boil water.
'If I weren't here, they'd have loaded up a ton of cumbersome cooking gear and marched.'
Can't starve, so it would have been an inevitable choice.
But our Hildea Army has me—the supply cheat owner.
"I'll take responsibility and handle all meal distribution, so do not pack a single cooking tool or related supply! Use those hands to carry more weapons and medical equipment!"
"Understood!"
The supply soldiers didn't object in the slightest. They trust my subspace bracelet (supply cheat).
I've shown them plenty of what it can do all this time, after all.
"Piel Major, I'll entrust all field meals to you."
Hildea's eyes, watching me, are also full of trust.
Not just Hildea, but the gazes of the officer knights and combat soldiers are intensely heated.
Being recognized as the core of the support unit gives me an odd feeling.
Rather than tension or burden, a moderate thrill wriggles in my chest.
'I'll clearly demonstrate this time that an army's battle is ultimately a supply war.'
"Have we sent a dispatch order to Carlton Marquis 4th Army?"
"Yes! We've sent orders identical to our 3rd Army, instructing them to dispatch 9 parts knights, 4 parts mages, and 7 parts combat troops!"
"Good, then we will depart...."
"Please wait!"
I stepped forward without even realizing it.
Thankfully, no one scolds me or looks at me like worthless trash like they did on my first day of enlistment.
「Hmm, it seems Piel Major intends to make a very important point.」
「A logistics officer's counsel must never be overlooked.」
With those kinds of looks, everyone watches me.
Hildea too, asked with intense seriousness.
"Piel Major, do you have some counsel to advise?"
"While bringing so many knights and combat troops, why are you bringing only 4 parts mages? Shouldn't we bring more?"
A small murmur spread among the knights and soldiers.
Hildea explained with a steady face.
"Piel Major, the number of mages currently available for combat is 4 parts. The 4th Army won't be much different."
What does that mean?
Are the rest bedridden or something?
Unable to grasp the situation, Corporal Baren hurriedly approached me and spoke quietly.
"Three-tenths of the total mages exhausted all their power cooking all day today, and the other three-tenths must cook tomorrow."
"...What? Cooking?"
"Therefore, the mage combat strength usually available is about 4 parts. Other units are similar."
"...."
Everything before my eyes seemed to waver.
Suddenly, right before we invaded the 4th Army back then when we were making corn combat soup, the sight of mages heating the pots flashed vividly in my mind.
'Back then I thought it was an urgent situation so even mages stepped up to hurriedly assist with cooking.'
No way, it's not what I think it is, right?
"Corporal Baren, could it be you deploy mages to save firewood and oil?"
"Firewood and oil are always in short supply. We must conserve them to prepare for the winter."
"It's still spring, though? No, never mind. You don't have to answer."
It was a stupid question.
Right, it was common sense in medieval fantasy that oil is always scarce.
"Commander-nim, I recommend bringing along the mages who aren't assembled yet."
"Then, starting tomorrow, the unit's meals will...."
"Have them use oil. I'll replenish it beyond what they use."
At this, Hildea's countenance brightened.
"Understood! Being able to bring many combat mages is nothing to wish more for! Vice-commander Dvil! Leave only 1 part of total mages and assemble the rest!"
"Yes!"
I quickly added.
"I recommend sending the same orders to the 4th Army. I'll take responsibility to replenish the oil the 4th Army uses as well."
"Understood. Send additional orders to the 4th Army!"
"Yes! Commander-nim!"
It's still spring, but they were sacrificing mages in shifts to stoke fires just to save oil in preparation for winter.
'Wait, wouldn't it be even worse in winter? Then wouldn't all mages become unavailable for combat?'
***
After recalling the mages, the unit finally began to move.
I was the sole person riding a horse.
Because it's common sense not to deploy warhorses when fighting plant monsters, everyone moves on foot.
'Riding a horse alone like this makes me feel like the Commander-in-Chief.'
Vice-commander Bazel approached me.
He looks up at me with a deeply proud expression.
"Piel Major, thanks to you we can now fight those bastards with our maximum strength. It's all thanks to you."
"If the 2nd Army has collapsed, shouldn't we scrape together every ounce of strength to go?"
I can feel the heated gazes of the knights and soldiers sneaking glances at me from all around.
Because the number of mages is a crucial variable that determines the course of battle.
'I should've figured out earlier that mages are constantly deployed for cooking. It's such obvious common sense here that no one bothered to explain it to me.'
I'll have to supply cooking oil fuel from now on too.
▶ CLASS 3. Fuel & Lubricants
▶▶ Jet Propellant (JP-8)
'Aviation fuel will do. I'll strongly warn them that it's lethal if consumed—never, ever eat it.'
Since it's common sense in medieval land that oil is fuel, food, and medicine, I must never forget that warning.
The reason there's only one type of oil is that the supply cheat is the Pentagon logistics system.
The US military unified all fuel systems with that expensive JP-8 (aviation fuel). (Except the Navy.)
Tanks, transport vehicles, even bikes all share the same fighter jet fuel.
It's the madness of maximizing field efficiency by streamlining the supply system.
'The moon is bright. With this level of lighting, using night vision goggles makes it no different from broad daylight.'
I put on my night vision goggles.
The latest night vision goggles, integrated with thermal imaging and HUD functions, show distant places as clear as day.
[Real-time terrain map being generated....]
[Hostile entities in vicinity being identified and registered....]
The portable tactical PDA I newly received upon becoming a Major.
All the 3D terrain information obtained by swiftly scanning the surroundings with the night vision goggles is inputted into the tactical PDA, which diligently draws the topographic map.
Even without the main system, it can perform minimal 'offline map hack' functions.
***
We arrived at the 2nd Army barracks.
Most of the facilities had been scorched to the ground.
It was filled with the traces of something non-human running rampant and smashing everything to pieces.
In particular, the outer defensive wall was completely destroyed, leaving the area wide open on all sides.
"Commander-in-Chief-nim, no surviving 2nd Army personnel are visible. The strange thing is, there aren't that many corpses either."
"In that case, the high possibility is they preemptively abandoned the barracks."
"Shall we search the immediate surroundings?"
"Proceed cautiously while being wary of ambushes from the Elf-controlled monster legion."
"Understood!"
Sentinels were deployed around the perimeter.
The majority rested, and the search party prepared to deploy.
The supply soldiers under my command distributed snack bars and sports drinks to the search party before they left.
I asked Hildea.
"Commander-nim, is the 2nd Army truly capable of collapsing in an instant like this?"
"I heard the 1st and 2nd Armies' food supply situation was poor recently. Even high-grade Knight Sara cannot properly exert strength in battle if what they eat is lacking."
We can just blame all this on the rear-echelon nobles like Count Anbelrum, right?
"Still, the fact that there are almost no fatalities visible is encouraging."
"You're interpreting it as them quickly judging they couldn't hold and retreating."
"If the front is going to collapse anyway, you must choose the path where more survive. See that you remember this, too."
Hildea's gaze, which had been scanning the surroundings, grew dim.
"But what bothers me... is that there isn't a single corpse of an elf-controlled monster to be seen."
"It must have been an overwhelming power disparity. To the point they couldn't bring down even one."
"Not long ago, that massive Ancient Tree monster legion was annihilated during their assault on the 4th Army. I thought the elf bastards would be cautious for a while..."
Suddenly, I remembered the elf assassin who had boldly scouted the 4th Army's barracks.
Back when Hildea and I were bivouacking outside, they had approached and observed from beyond even a Sword Master's ki sense.
'Darkness concealment magic...'
"Commander-nim, the clouds are covering the moon."
"Good. But don't let your guard down."
Strange.
The surroundings are getting darker, yet she says it's good?
"The plant monster legions the elves command have poor night vision. And since they're large and noisy, the darkness actually favors us."
Hildea's expression was confident.
"We just need to watch out for the elf assassins who use darkness concealment. But if a high-ranking mage reveals their presence carelessly, it becomes dangerous for them, so our forces actually become safer."
"I see."
Indeed, all the plant monsters I'd seen were enormous.
The moon was completely obscured.
Out of habit, I put on my night vision goggles and looked around...
'...!'
A tremendous number of thermal signatures were detected outside the camp.
They weren't tree monsters; they were all people.
'At least several thousand.'
Are the scattered 2nd Army troops regrouping?
But their movements were somehow strange.
They were approaching cautiously, like a pack of hyenas eyeing their prey.
I looked all around.
Over a thousand thermal signatures had surrounded the camp and were slowly closing the distance.
No matter how I looked at it, they were not 2nd Army stragglers.
Just as I had been trained in my active service days, I strained my vocal cords with all my might.
"Ambush! It's an ambush! We're surrounded!"
The camp instantly fell into an uproar.
Even Hildea asked in surprise.
"Major Piel, what's the matter?"
"Look at this!"
Seeing once is better than explaining a hundred times.
I placed the night vision goggles on Hildea, showing her the thermal signatures of the people widely encircling the camp.
Hildea looked around and was horrified.
"How can this be! This many elf soldiers? So that's how the 2nd Army base ended up like this!"
Hildea shouted with all her might.
"Elf soldiers using darkness concealment are approaching from all sides! At least several thousand! Everyone prepare for a night raid!"
"Prepare for a night raid! Prepare for a night raid!"
The problem was the pitch-black night.
The scattered torches here and there were nowhere near enough to light the field of view.
The soldiers were hurriedly pulling out every torch and lighting them, but...
"Keuk!"
"Keok!"
"Aaargh!"
Screams began to ring out from the outskirts everywhere.
Soldiers were collapsing helplessly against arrows flying out of the darkness.
A few knights led soldiers in a brave charge, but they were felled by a hail of arrows.
"Damn it! So that's why they methodically destroyed the defensive walls! Don't just stand there, charge! If you huddle down, we'll all be wiped out!"
Hildea drew her machete and shouted.
She handed the night vision goggles back to me and urgently enjoined Adjutant Dvil.
"Adjutant Dvil! Escort Major Piel! If the situation turns bad, you must at least get Major Piel out!"
"Understood!"
"Everyone charge! Huddle and we die!"
I scanned all around with the night vision goggles.
The elf soldiers melded into the darkness were only loosing arrows from at least several hundred meters away.
The knights and soldiers charged bravely, but they were collapsing helplessly due to the disadvantage of vision crafted by the darkness.
"Major Piel, roughly how many elf soldiers are there?"
"At least several thousand. Take a look."
When I lent him the goggles for a moment, Adjutant Dvil looked around and let out a breath that sounded like his lungs had been torn apart.
"Th-this many elf soldiers... The bastards deliberately set a trap."
"Is this the first time something like this has happened?"
"In all my time in the military, I've never once seen more than 10 elf soldiers grouped together."
"...!"
"The bastards have always attacked by commanding plant monster legions. Thanks to that, we could tell immediately whenever there was an assault. This is the first time they've launched a direct, large-scale night raid."
*Fwoosh! Kwagwagwang! Kurrung!*
The mages were desperately casting flame attacks to somehow secure their field of vision.
But the fire spells only illuminated the area briefly and their range was narrow.
The elf soldiers were thoroughly maintaining a distance of at least several hundred meters, slowly nibbling away at our side using only arrow attacks.
Damn it, if only the clouds hadn't covered the moon...
Ah, wait. That thing existed, didn't it?
'This is why being an administrative reserve soldier is no good. Remembering it only now.'
【Requesting supply of 60mm mortar.】 【Requesting supply of M721 illumination shells.】 【Ignition altitude: 600~900m】 【Illumination duration: approximately 45 seconds】 【Illumination brightness: 300,000 candela】
***
Bazel was sprinting at the very front.
Relying on his ki sense, he deflected every arrow flying out of the darkness with his machete.
Although his vision was obscured, a knight's ki sense could detect an enemy's presence to a certain extent.
But that only applied to high-ranking knights.
The regular combat troops could not react at all to the arrows coming from the dark.
The elf archers were truly vexing, thoroughly keeping their distance and only loosing arrows from hiding in the darkness.
"Damn it! If only the clouds hadn't covered the moon!"
Another veteran soldier fell.
Without even a moment to check if they were still breathing, Bazel deflected the next wave of arrows surging in.
That was when it happened.
*Kwagwagwagwang!*
A deafening roar erupted from the friendly rear.
An immense, earth-rending sound, the likes of which he had never heard before.
So loud was it that the arrow attacks from the elf archers momentarily ceased.
"The sun! The sun has risen!"
Bazel stood stock-still, his eyes wide open.
A small, brilliantly shining sun was slowly descending, brightly illuminating everywhere.
Far in the distance, the faces of the elf archers, stricken with bewilderment and terror, were clearly visible.
*Kwagwagwagwang! Kwagwagwang!*
The roars sounded in succession.
Small suns rose one after another in the sky, illuminating everywhere even brighter.
'Piel did something!'
His face grew hot.
Bazel gathered his strength in his core and shouted.
"Charge before the suns vanish!"
"Charge! Charge in!"
"Kill the elves!"
The soldiers, bristling with murderous intent, ran forward vigorously.
No more soldiers were falling helplessly to arrows.
Though the elf archers, startled by the explosions and the light, desperately loosed arrows with trembling hands, their rate of fire had drastically decreased.
"Kill them all!"
All around, it was already broad daylight.