Chapter 66
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Formations and Tactics
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It was early morning, the sun just beginning to rise in the distance.
“One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!”
A sound that had never before echoed through Makstrie.
Squad leaders shouted loudly beside the prisoners, who were running in step.
“Keep in step with the count! Every time you mess up, I’m the one who gets beaten, you bastards!”
Their running was still sloppy, and the squad leaders, messing up themselves, hounded their members with shouts.
Demian watched them quietly.
‘Trying to change too much from the start will only lead to side effects.’
Demian first adjusted the training schedule to get them accustomed to moving.
The priority for the next month was to train them in formations, whatever it took, to seize ownership of the gold mine.
“Gasp… gasp… gasp… How long… are we running for?”
“I don’t know, just run! We could die if we stop!”
They had only run a few laps around the base, but some were already starting to look like they were dying.
Demian looked at them and casually raised his hand.
“Wrap it up and come inside!”
“We’re… we’re saved!”
“Hey, hey! Keep in step with the count!”
It was a rather chaotic first run, but it seemed to have ended well enough.
Demian called the squad leaders over.
“First, have a light breakfast and be on standby. Training will resume in the afternoon, so it’s best you rest and don’t do anything stupid.”
“C-Commander!”
“What is it?”
Demian asked as the 1st Squad Leader raised his hand. The 1st Squad Leader spoke.
“In the afternoon… what kind of training will we be doing…?”
He was completely cowering.
Seeing that huge mass of muscle flinch was, in a way, both amusing and pathetic.
“The operation to retake the gold mine base.”
Demian answered curtly and walked toward the unit’s entrance.
It was about time they arrived…
As Demian looked toward the entrance.
Clatter, clatter.
Soon, a horse-drawn carriage pulling a cart began to enter the unit from a distance.
A grin spread across Demian’s face at the sight.
“They’re here.”
Once the cart was fully inside the base, the man who had driven the carriage approached Demian.
“Whew, I barely managed to get the right number.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Well… that doesn’t matter, but this business must not get out.”
The man, who spoke with a cautious expression, was an officer of the Baroque Kingdom, bearing the mark of the 6th Legion, 3rd Division.
Demian nodded.
“Don’t worry. I’ll ensure complete secrecy. And…”
Demian placed a small pouch from his pocket into the man’s hand.
Jingle.
The corners of the officer’s mouth rose at the considerable weight.
“Hehehe, if you need help in the future, just let me know. I’ll do what I can to help you out.”
“Your words alone are reassuring.”
Demian then checked the cart he had brought.
“…The goods are solid.”
Inside the cart.
They were none other than the shields, breastplates, and spears used by the kingdom’s soldiers.
‘…To think they weren’t even supplied with proper equipment.’
The prisoners in Makstrie used armor and weapons discarded on battlefields.
There was no official support for them from within the kingdom.
It was the worst possible situation, where they had to be self-sufficient even for weapons and armor.
Therefore, Demian had offered a substantial bribe to an officer of a unit stationed on the outskirts and requested support with armor and weapons.
‘I considered just buying them from a blacksmith, but…’
It was impossible to purchase equipment for over one hundred and fifty men in such a short time.
The best method was to be supplied with their equipment.
And thankfully, it had worked.
‘It’s only natural for places on the outskirts like this to become a little tainted.’
When you spend a long time in an isolated place, you start to develop so-called ‘tricks.’
And as a public official who had worked in one place for a long time, he was naturally drawn to such things.
After inspecting the equipment he was given, Demian bowed his head in greeting.
“Safe travels, then.”
“Hehe, come by the unit later. Let’s have a drink.”
“I will.”
Pleased with the pouch he had just received, the man even waved as he left.
Demian let out a small sigh. And then.
“Hemus!”
“Yes, sir!”
Hemus rushed over at Demian’s call. Demian said.
“Take the resting men and distribute one of each of these pieces of equipment. Clean what you have now and store it. We might use it later.”
“U-Understood. I’ll spread the word immediately!”
Hemus ran as if his feet were on fire to relay the situation to the squad leaders.
Soon, all the members up to the 7th squad came running out and began to receive their equipment.
The men looked at the new gear with expressions of wonder.
Just then, the 3rd Squad Leader, whose long bangs covered the left side of his face, asked Demian.
“…Commander.”
“Hm?”
Demian looked surprised at being called.
Unlike the others, it seemed to be the first time he had heard the man’s voice.
‘Wasn’t he the one who didn’t even scream when he was getting beaten on the first day?’
That’s why he had left a strong impression.
He hadn’t even come forward willingly, but had been pushed out by the group that followed him.
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s not that… but can we really use these?”
“Yes. For a soldier to go to a battlefield, he must at least have proper weapons and armor. That’s how you can fight, isn’t it?”
It was an obvious statement.
The most basic of basics.
But Makstrie was a place where even those basics were not observed.
At Demian’s words, the prisoners looked at him with touched, emotional eyes.
The distribution soon ended.
Fortunately, the breastplates were made of leather and could be fastened with straps, so there were almost no men they didn’t fit.
And the core of the equipment he had spent a fortune on this time was the shield.
Demian looked at the hundred or so unit members and spoke.
“We have exactly 26 days left.”
The time when ownership of the gold mine would be transferred. And…
“These 26 days are also the days you have left to live.”
He was referring to the plan to push them all onto the battlefield, after which the regular army on the outskirts would join the battle in numbers equal to the dead.
It was an ironic situation where the more of them died, the stronger their allies’ forces became.
Demian asked the unit members.
“On the first day, I asked you. Do you want to live?”
“Yes, we want to live!”
Desperate voices.
Demian nodded at their earnest cries.
“Starting today, we will train on how to fight a war using formations. Formations are the absolute key to strengthening our power in battle and bringing us victory.”
Formations are extremely important in war.
Especially in group battles.
At Demian’s words, they listened with grim expressions.
Demian then picked up a shield himself and began to demonstrate, explaining the tactics of the formation the unit immediately needed.
“The enemy is using the base as a shield for their defense. Naturally, they’ll fire a lot of arrows.”
At Demian’s words, the Makstrie unit members recalled their comrades who had died from enemy arrows.
Hadn’t they seen a dozen of their comrades die before they even got close to the base?
Things were better for those who had shields.
Of course, that didn’t mean they could approach easily.
“But if we learn formations and tactics, we can become a single, solid shield and approach the base they are defending without any sacrifices.”
Demian called the squad leaders forward and had them form simple two-man columns.
Demian filled the remaining spot.
“Watch carefully. The width of this shield is quite large. If even adult men stand close enough to press their shoulders together…”
Thwack!
Demian raised his shield.
“This way, one shield can cover about one and a half men. In other words, two shields can cover three people.”
At Demian’s words, the unit members began to listen to the explanation seriously.
If the soldiers on the outskirts had seen this, they would have been astonished.
Wouldn’t the sight of these beast-like men learning be dumbfounding?
Demian continued his explanation.
Demian squeezed in between the two men in the front row.
When the front row became three men.
“If the people on both sides hold their shields like this, two shields can cover three people. On top of that, if the person in the middle tilts their shield to the side and raises it…”
The front and the space overhead were completely defended.
“It might look like the sides are exposed right now, but as more men fill in the ranks, the formation will be completed by the soldier on the very outside raising his shield to the side.”
“…Wow.”
“So this is what tactics are.”
It was only a very basic formation tactic, but even this would be a great help to the Makstrie unit.
And the important thing was how long they could maintain this formation while moving.
If the line broke in the middle, or if a crack appeared on one side, everyone could be in danger.
“Starting today, we will conduct training on gathering in this square formation and, in an emergency, dispersing into an attack formation.”
Then Demian said.
“Remember. It’s 26 days from now. If you fail to perfectly execute the planned training…”
He didn’t need to say the rest; everyone knew.
The Makstrie unit members nodded silently in response.
***
“Hmm…”
A strange change had come over Makstrie, where fierce battles had raged daily.
Those bastards from the Baroque Kingdom hadn’t made a move in over a week.
“Do you think they’ve given up? Perhaps they’ve realized the futility of their deaths?”
Godwin, the leader of the Iren Kingdom’s unit, scoffed at his subordinate’s question.
“Nonsense. You think those Baroque Kingdom bastards would just leave this gold mine alone?”
“But there has never been a time when there wasn’t a battle for over a week.”
“It means they’re preparing something.”
Godwin was a man who was very cautious and quick to assess situations.
That was why he thoroughly defended when the unit composed of prisoners attacked.
And every three months, when the Baroque Kingdom’s regular army attacked, he chose to give up the base and retreat.
It was a way to minimize their own losses while maximizing their gains.
From the start, the Baroque Kingdom’s goal was to prevent the ownership of the gold mine from completely passing to the Iren Kingdom.
Trying to oppose their objective would only increase their own casualties.
‘Now is the time to lie low.’
Realistically, the difference in military strength between the Baroque Kingdom and themselves was significant.
Therefore, their goal was to mine as much gold as possible while they occupied the base.
But…
‘…What scheme are they cooking up?’
A silence of over a week.
While it was a welcome development for them, it was also unsettling because it was unexpected.
Godwin could only stare somewhere with a bitter taste in his mouth and an uneasy expression.
And at the same time.
“Scatter!”
“Arrrggghhhhh!”
At Demian’s shout, the formation spread out to the sides as if to swallow the enemy.
Demian shouted at the men running toward the ends.
“Run faster! You’re falling behind!”
“Uraaaaghhhh!”
“Hyaaaaaahp!”
They ran with all their might.
It had only been a week, but he had taught systematic training to these men who had only been struggling to survive.
And the results were clearly showing.
Now, there were 19 days left.
“…This might just work.”
Demian watched the Makstrie unit members running for their lives.