The Prince's Bait
My damn cold snap just won’t let up. (┬┬﹏┬┬) (3)
“The rules are simple! First, each of you will receive one of these sashes!”
The assistant instructors stepped forward and began distributing the sashes to the trainees.
“Wear them around your shoulder at all times! Treat these sashes as your lives during this exercise and guard them carefully!”
Everyone took their sash and fastened it around whichever shoulder felt most comfortable.
Once they had all put them on, I pointed at the one I was wearing and continued the explanation.
“If this sash is hit by a training Altar Cannon or by the training melee weapons we’re about to distribute, you must hand it over to whoever took you down! That goes for the instructors too! If anyone manages to defeat an instructor, that instructor will give their own sash to the victor! After training ends, anyone who brings their collected sashes to me… will get to meet the 1st Prince!”
Any trainee who collects sashes may have a personal audience with the 1st Prince.
Whoaaaaaaaaa!
A thunderous cheer erupted from the trainees.
Of course it did. The prize on the line was on a completely different level from anything we’d offered before—an outrageous condition.
Plenty of them probably believed that simply meeting the 1st Prince would let them turn their entire lives around.
Just like me, back then.
Of course, even if they got the audience, what happened after that would depend entirely on their own ability. That part was on them.
“For fairness, the instructors and I will each carry three sashes into the exercise! Naturally, once you’re hit, you’re immediately out of the fight. You may only rejoin after returning to this exact spot.”
In short, it was a simple survival rule.
Because the numbers were so unbalanced, we gave the instructors extra “lives,” but we closed the loophole of instant resurrection by forcing them to physically return to the starting point before re-entering.
“During this exercise, both trainees and instructors are forbidden from using magic! The only magic permitted will be that fired from the training Altar Cannons placed throughout the field!”
The reason I restricted offensive options was… well, I didn’t really have a choice.
A hundred people firing magic at once would be almost impossible for anyone except me to deal with, but the reverse was also true—if I went around slinging 5th-circle spells, the trainees would have no way to respond.
In the end, this was the desperate compromise I came up with because there was no other way to balance the exercise.
“We have hidden ten training Altar Cannons and ten Communication Magic Tools throughout the training ground! For fairness, the instructors and I will not move for the first ten minutes, so search thoroughly and find as many as you can! That concludes the briefing. We will begin the exercise immediately!”
The trainees had already practiced with both the Altar Cannons and the Communication Magic Tools in previous sessions.
At the very least, they wouldn’t be stumbling around completely clueless about how to use them.
Tadadadada!
The moment the explanation ended, the trainees split into their squads and scattered in every direction, beginning their search.
Hmm. I’d say they’ll probably find about half.
Some were hidden in obvious spots while others were concealed so well you’d miss them unless you were paying close attention. In ten minutes, they’d probably only manage to locate around five.
Sususususuk!
The sound of trainees’ feet rustling through fallen leaves came from all around.
They were really giving it their all. The lazy attitude from the beginning of training was completely gone, replaced by genuine enthusiasm. It was a beautiful sight.
Like I always say—people only work hard when they have proper motivation.
Sure enough, dangling a personal audience with royalty as the prize had ignited an insane level of training fervor.
Some were already shouting excitedly after finding equipment that had been placed in advance.
And exactly ten minutes later, the instructors and I began to move.
“Alright then. Shall we begin the trainee hunt?”
Shwooooong! Bababababa!
“Uwaaaaah! It’s raining down again! Dodge!”
“Coordinates, ———. Over.”
> Confirmed. Over.
Shwooooong! Bababababa!
“Kwaaaaaack!”
The screams of the trainees echoed through the mountains.
They had no choice but to be helpless against the precisely falling aerial bombardment.
“Squad One! Get a hold of yourselves! Is anyone still standing?!”
The person who seemed to be Squad One’s leader tried to restore order, but I wasn’t about to let that happen.
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
“You’ve been struck by a designated weapon. Hand over your sash and withdraw.”
“C-Commander…? Since when were you…?”
“From the very beginning. Otherwise, how could the attacks be this accurate?”
Right now, the instructor team was split into two operational groups.
Lebenschtiel, Elena, and Hans formed the bombardment team, while I, Bruno, and Helmut made up the reconnaissance and close-combat team.
One group handled fire support with the training Altar Cannons, while the other marked enemy coordinates and cleaned up stragglers.
“Damn it, it’s the exact same environment. Why is the difference this huge?”
“Where do you think everything you’ve been taught and trained in came from?”
Tap tap.
I tapped my own head with my index finger and continued.
“It all came from this skull and real combat experience. The gap between you guys who just started using Altar Cannons and Communication Magic Tools and the veteran members who already have practical experience is only natural.”
The squad leader lowered his head in defeat and removed the sash from his shoulder, handing it over.
He looked quite disheartened.
Since he’d even been made a squad leader, he must have thrown himself into training with everything he had.
He had already earned the right to an audience with a high-ranking noble.
Yet the clear disappointment on his face… was it because he was worried about his squad members?
Pat. Pat.
I patted the young man on the shoulder and spoke.
“Don’t worry. This won’t be your last chance. Who knows? Even if you didn’t shine this time, you might achieve great things on the actual battlefield.”
I hoped those words would at least lift his spirits a little.
He gathered the sashes from his fallen squadmates, helped the injured to their feet, and headed back toward the campsite.
That wrapped things up here for now.
I switched channels on the Communication Magic Tool and eavesdropped on the trainees’ radio traffic.
Hmm. From the sound of it, they still hadn’t figured out how to operate the Altar Cannons themselves.
They were only using the communicators for basic information exchange. There was still a lot of immaturity there.
They have way more people, so they could dramatically increase their scouting parties compared to us. Well, this is just the difference in experience.
It looked like Squads Four and Five were planning to drag a cannon with them and fire at close range.
That was also proof they weren’t yet used to the concept of indirect, high-angle fire.
They’ve probably developed a mental block from all the magic they’ve used until now. Even Sir Lebenschtiel was like that. When he first used the Altar Cannon, he found the whole idea of hitting targets with plunging fire completely alien.
You could call it an unexpected side effect of modern magic.
They had succeeded in standardizing magic through fixed formulas and images, but the moment you added even the slightest variation, they lost their way. It was eerily similar to the rote education of my previous life.
Anyway, I shoved those thoughts into the back of my mind and switched channels again.
“This is Falcon. Do you read me, Crows? Over.”
> Crow 1, reading you. Over.
> Crow 2, reading you. Over.
Crow 1 was Bruno. Crow 2 was Helmut.
I gave them their orders.
“Squads Four and Five are currently moving toward the Kestrel. Intercept them immediately, disrupt their movement, and send coordinates. Over.”
Here, “Kestrel” was the temporary codename for the bombardment team.
No matter how familiar we were with the Communication Magic Tools, there were over a hundred trainees. There was always a chance someone might think of eavesdropping.
Simple codenames were an easy way to delay any intelligence gathering.
And if we changed the codenames according to a timetable at regular intervals, it would create even greater confusion.
> Roger that. Over.
> Crow 1. I’ll head that way too, so go ahead and start disrupting their movement. Over.
“I’ll join as well. This is a good chance to completely wipe out Squads Four and Five and cut off the trainees’ momentum at the source. Over.”
After that, they sent the expected locations of Squads Four and Five along with the last known positions of Squads Two and Three, and the transmission ended.
Hmm, let’s see. Even with forty people, and even though they couldn’t use magic against each other, it would still be difficult to fight us head-on.
Then all I have to do is stoke their personal desires and induce division.
No matter how much camaraderie they’d built during training, if the right to meet the 1st Prince was literally dangling in front of their eyes during this short exercise…
Would their cooperation really hold up in that situation?
Even if it does, that’s fine. All I need is one brief moment of carelessness.
Alright. Let’s see how this plays out.
“There’s Instructor Helmut!”
“The audience right is mine! Haaah!”
Whoooosh! Clang!
The wooden sword swung by one trainee didn’t even reach Helmut. It was futilely blocked by his shield.
The guy who usually carries a steel tower shield is using a wooden one… and he’s moving ridiculously fast?
He was practically flying. It was hard to believe he was moving on a steep mountain slope.
Bruno was also standing on high ground, drawing the trainees’ attention.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Gwaaack!”
The continuous sounds of impact mixed with the trainees’ screams.
Well, they were still sons of knightly houses. No matter what, their fundamentals were solid.
Even so, the trainees didn’t stop charging at the two instructors.
“The audience right is right in front of us!”
“Get them! If we don’t take out the spotters, there’s no way to avoid the incoming shells!”
The trainees swarmed in, each driven by their own reasons and goals.
But—
Shwooooong! Bababababa!
“Aaaargh! From below?!”
“Why?! The instructors’ cannons should be positioned near the top of the mountain!”
Why? Because I’m the one firing them, obviously.
I had brought along one of the Altar Cannons that had been hidden in the training ground until now.
Bababababa!
“You’re out. Hey, you there! Stop dawdling and hand over your sash! Out! Out! Out!”
With one hand steadying the training Altar Cannon and firing, I pointed at the eliminated trainees with the other and ordered them off the field.
“To think it would come from below…”
A trainee muttered with a hollow expression.
Until now, all the training had consisted of long-range bombardment without the enemy ever showing themselves.
They had developed a mental block and been caught completely off guard.
“There’s no battlefield where you won’t encounter something like this. Do better next time.”
During the last raid operation, I had made a huge mistake by misjudging the timing of the enemy knights’ arrival.
On the battlefield, you always had to account for variables.
At least this trainee had experienced that here in training. Maybe he wouldn’t be as shaken when it happened in real combat?
After about ten minutes of Helmut and Bruno holding the high ground while I provided Altar Cannon fire support, the members of Squads Four and Five had all been eliminated. Not a single one remained.
“Kestrel, this is Falcon. Do you read? Over.”
I poured mana into the Communication Magic Tool and spoke to the bombardment team.
> Falcon, this is Kestrel. Message received. Over.
“Are you still maintaining bombardment? Over.”
> We are continuing sustained fire on the last coordinates provided. Over.
Hmm. If the stalemate Bruno and Helmut reported earlier was still going on, they were probably still hiding in the same spot.
“We’ve linked up with the Crows and finished off Squads Four and Five. We’ll be moving to the location of Squads Two and Three shortly, so maintain fire until further notice. Over.”
> Roger that. Over.
The battle with Squads Two and Three ended just as easily.
The one encouraging result was that Bruno and Helmut each got hit once, meaning some trainees managed to earn audience rights.
Those individuals received envious looks from all the other trainees, but there didn’t seem to be any jealousy mixed in.
That means they’ve built enough camaraderie to genuinely celebrate their comrades’ good fortune. That’s a very good sign.
The training that had lasted over two weeks was finally over.
Anyway, it had ended on a good note, so now I just had to give a short speech and send everyone back to the 1st Prince’s army—
Flutter!
“Commander! It’s an emergency!”
The person who burst through the tent flap was Hans.
Sigh. What is it this time?
“What’s going on?”
“We’ve received intelligence that a portion of the enemy forces in the east is advancing westward.”
“Already?”
Weren’t they supposed to start fighting in earnest around spring?
The rest of Hans’s report was enough to clear up my confusion.
“Their numbers are estimated at around a thousand. The 1st Prince’s headquarters believes this is likely a reconnaissance-in-force sent as a vanguard.”
A thousand men.
Compared to the future civil war where tens of thousands—or even over a hundred thousand—would clash, that was a relatively small number.
The 1st Prince’s assessment was probably correct.
“So, how does the 1st Prince plan to respond?”
“The reply was that they currently don’t have any units that can be mobilized immediately. They’re in a difficult position.”
…Which means?
“It looks like we’ll have to move…”
Tsk. We had just finished the trainees’ cold-weather training.
Throwing them straight into real combat made me a little uneasy, but there was nothing we could do about it.
“Fine. Let’s think of it as good timing. We can check the proficiency of the troops we trained this time, and all of you have reached 3rd-circle as well, right? We might as well deploy everyone for a real operation. Let’s split up and operate based on the squads we formed during training.”
“Already? Isn’t that a bit early…?”
“It’s something we’d have to do anyway once the civil war begins in earnest. Think of it as getting a vaccination.”
“Um… what’s a ‘vaccination’?”
Oops. Another slip of the tongue.
“Never mind. More importantly, that information came through the communicator, right? Can you look into a few more things for me?”
I gave Hans additional orders for information to gather.
After receiving further scouting reports on the enemy’s composition, the number of knights, and so on through the communicator,
Step, step, step.
I climbed onto the platform and addressed the troops.
“Soldiers! I’m truly sorry to have to deliver bad news right when you’ve finished your cold-weather training and were about to enjoy a well-earned rest! We have received word that the barbarians from the east are invading!”
Murmur murmur!
“Their numbers are around a thousand!”
“A thousand? Is that going to be okay?”
“It’s a lot, but what’s there to worry about? The 1st Prince’s army numbers in the tens of thousands.”
I could hear the trainees talking among themselves. It seemed none of them felt any great tension; they all trusted the 1st Prince.
“I’ve spoken with the 1st Prince, and he says it’s difficult to prepare any forces that can depart immediately! Therefore, we have no choice but to march out and stop the enemy ourselves!”
At those words, the new recruits’ faces hardened.
They were probably nervous about the sudden real-combat deployment.
“It’s fine! We’re going to win anyway!”
It wasn’t empty talk.
Out of that thousand, only about fifty were knights. And most of them were free knights.
They were by no means elite soldiers. They were nothing more than a mediocre rabble trying to take advantage of the chaos.
“For this operation, the instructors who led you during training will each take command of a squad! Trainees—no, fellow soldiers—follow their orders faithfully and carry out the mission! That is all! Follow your squad leaders’ commands!”
Yes. Let’s just think of this as good timing.
This was the perfect opportunity to properly imprint the prestige of the Magical Defense Bureau on both allies and enemies alike.