24
Chapter 24
"No."
"Pardon?"
"Absolutely not."
It was an answer he had somewhat expected, but hearing it directly still left him slightly flustered.
"Why not?"
"Do you have any idea how much it costs to mobilize 35,000 soldiers? It would take tens of thousands of ducats. Moving them to the North would cost hundreds of thousands more. To spend that much and return to the Central without a single achievement? Not only would it be a massive financial loss, but the Crown Prince would become the laughingstock of the Centralers. I'm afraid this proposal is rejected. If I presented this to His Highness, he'd throw a fit and demand your head. I'll stop it here."
With that, Dian de Valboa handed Charles's proposal to a subordinate.
"Well, I expected as much."
"Hmm? Then why on earth did you..."
"I brought a second proposal just in case this happened. I beg you to accept this one. Please."
Charles presented another proposal, and Dian accepted it with a sigh.
[There is a river in front of our forces and a forest behind. If the front line is defeated and forced to retreat, they will flee into the forest; placing an ambush here would allow us to easily repel the enemy's pursuit and minimize our losses.]
The proposal began with those words. It detailed how to secure a retreat path when the army was forced back and where the most advantageous routes for withdrawal were located. Looking over the document, Dian frowned.
"Charles."
"Yes, Professor."
"You only listed our disadvantages, but we have plenty of advantages as well. Heavy infantry are fundamentally stronger than light infantry. Even with a bit of mud, that strength doesn't waver. Furthermore, our army is led by me, the world's only Sword Master. It's too early to conclude that we'll lose."
Dian wasn't wrong. The Crown Prince's Army had the advantage in both numbers and equipment. The issue was which "correct" point was more correct.
Few opinions in the world are completely wrong. Instead, arguments with their own internal logic clash, and the more logical one prevails.
Charles sighed. No matter how he tried to persuade Dian, she would remain buried in her own version of 'logic' and refuse to be swayed. In that case...
"Professor, you might be right. But just in case, please give me exactly three thousand men."
Dian pondered for a moment. Then, after some deliberation.
"I'm sorry, Charles. I trust you, but three thousand is too many. Those troops would be more useful for a Frontal Breakthrough."
"Then even half of that would be fine."
"Even half is difficult. I'll give you a thousand. Use them to secure our retreat path. Though, of course, we won't be retreating. I'm doing this to nurture your potential to become a great strategist."
With those words, Dian de Valboa began to move forward, and Charles headed toward the forest behind the army with his thousand soldiers.
-----
"Sir Charles! It's been a long time!"
The one who called out while leading the soldiers was Gabriel, the Reconnaissance Officer. He had accompanied me on a scouting mission before, and it seemed he had been faring well since then.
"Sir Gabriel."
"I arrived in such a rush that I haven't received the orders yet. What should we do?"
I opened the map and compared it with the surrounding terrain. Perhaps because Dian's Reconnaissance Unit was competent, the map was fairly accurate.
"Over there—how about that hill?"
"Pardon?"
"Let's assume the Crown Prince's Army is defeated. They would flee this way, right?"
"Do you actually think we'll be defeated?"
"Let's just start with that assumption. If we are defeated, we'll run this way, and the enemy will follow right behind. To protect our retreating forces and ambush the pursuers, where would be the best place to station the soldiers?"
"..."
Gabriel pondered for a while before speaking.
"You asked about that hill over there, right?"
"Yes. Right now, the most promising candidate is that hill over there."
"What if we dig a shallow trench along the path by the hill? By lowering the ground, we can launch one-sided attacks from both hills; it'll be easier for those retreating and much harder for those pursuing."
"That's a great idea. Let's get to it immediately."
I began scouting for the best spots to place ambushers with Gabriel, and I had the soldiers dig to create a zone that would give our forces an advantage. As I led by example, shovel in hand for a while, Gabriel asked me.
"But why are we doing this?"
"There's no harm in being cautious."
"You're working far too hard for someone who's just being cautious. Do you actually think we're going to lose?"
Gabriel... I thought he was just a reconnaissance officer, but he's sharper than I expected.
"That's right. The Crown Prince will be defeated. And our digging will help preserve some of his forces."
At those words, Gabriel looked conflicted, pondering deeply before speaking.
"But can a mere thousand men really stabilize the retreat? This is a fight of 35,000 against 15,000. A thousand ambushers will probably just be steamrolled."
"No, the enemy won't force their way through our ambushers."
"Pardon? Why not?"
"The enemy's Vanguard Commander is quite competent. We're going to use that competence against them."
Despite my words, Gabriel wore a puzzled expression as if he didn't fully understand, and Charles didn't bother explaining further. They would find out for themselves in a few hours anyway.
-----
The Crown Prince, Leonhardt von Arcadia.
Had the Emperor not suddenly lost consciousness due to a hunting accident, he would have naturally inherited the Empire.
But the Emperor, who should have handed the Empire over to the Crown Prince, remained unconscious. Now, the other princes and princesses were eyeing the Crown Prince's position.
Like a pack of wolves, many would swoop in for the throne the moment the Emperor breathed his last.
Yet, the Crown Prince's territory and military might were among the strongest in the Empire; no one could match his numbers.
Princess Leonia could scrape together perhaps six or seven thousand men, and Second Prince Lucas barely ten thousand, while the Crown Prince commanded thirty-five thousand, bolstered by a massive force of heavy infantry and heavy cavalry.
It was an overwhelming disparity. Because of this, Crown Prince Leonhardt decided he must strike while he held the advantage to expand his domain.
Targeting a fellow member of the Imperial family first was too risky, as it would likely provoke the other royals to unite against him, creating a wall too formidable to breach.
Thus, he set his sights on an external enemy, as subjugating a foreign threat provided a convenient pretext of serving the Empire to the Centralers and shielded him from internal attacks.
His target: the House of Kronor, the Grand Dukes of the North.
Since the Emperor's collapse, they had grown defiant toward the capital, failing to pay taxes for years and sending the daughter in the Grand Duke's stead for critical affairs. Their arrogance was blatant, and the Crown Prince knew the people would cheer for their conquest.
That conviction led to the invasion, though the Northern cold proved to be no exaggeration—a frozen, destitute wasteland where monsters far outnumbered humans. Normally, such a place would not have warranted a second glance.
However, with the looming succession war, the Crown Prince sought to maximize his strategic edge as the most powerful faction, necessitating every scrap of land and every available soldier.
Returning to the present, the Crown Prince and the Northern Grand Duke glared at one another across the dividing river.
Leonhardt felt a flicker of unease at the prospect of crossing the water to attack, as the thin sheets of ice made the crossing look treacherous.
Still, his sense of superiority remained intact; he possessed more than double the enemy's numbers and the support of the world's only Sword Master, Dian de Valboa.
"Dian, you can handle this, right?"
"Do not worry. The enemy does not have a single Sword Master."
The Crown Prince nodded in satisfaction, confident that with her leading the vanguard, crossing the river and annihilating the enemy was well within reach.
Then, on July 19, 1501 of the Imperial Calendar, the thunderous roar of drums signaling the advance began to echo from the Crown Prince's camp.
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
In perfect synchronization with the drums, the soldiers of the Crown Prince's Army marched forward.