Chapter 20

Chapter 2, Episode 20: Decisive Battle at Night

 

「Our night a.s.sault should be succeeding soon.」

 

Hiro muttered under a cold sky, with the stars covered by thick clouds. Two hundred light infantrymen stand silently behind him at the ready. They all keep quiet, with dark and stillness around them.

While everyone holds their breath— a man next to Hiro, second grade enlisted officer Doryx asks a question.

 

「Is the enemy unit really coming this way?」

「We gave them hints of our night a.s.sault so they would. No matter what, our opponent wants to succeed in their attack— so, they probably won’t be so foolish as to directly b.u.mp heads with us. Plus, the more humans become cornered, the more hasty their thoughts become. Because they get impatient to see results, they end up choosing a short path of attack, which is why this is the only possibility.」

 

After Hiro finishes his explanation, Doryx lets out a sign of admiration.

 

「How old were you again, your Highness?」

「I’m 16 now, but I’ll be 17 soon.」

「Such prudence at such a young age… I fear to think of what is yet to come.」

「I just rummaged through some books and read about it.」

「No, no, that’s not all. It truly seems that the blood of 「Mars」 is still as strong as ever, even after a 1,000 years. I’m sure his Majesty the Second Emperor is pleased to have left behind such a impressive descendant.」

 

Though, he’s actually the man himself…

Unable to say anything in response, Hiro simply nods to end it at that. Then he notices a small noise and gets down on the ground.

A shaky voice comes out from the throat of a nervous Doryx.

 

「According to our spy report, they have 2,000 camel cavalrymen. Even if we are under the guise of darkness, we on the other hand, have 500 light infantrymen. We can not defeat them with a direct approach.」

「There’s no need for a direct approach. Please beat the drums once I engage in battle with the camel cavalrymen. That alone will cause the enemy to fall into a panic. Afterwards, have everyone fire their arrows.」

「Understood. Please be careful.」

「I’ll leave the rest to you.」

「As you wish.」

 

Hiro grabbed the 「s.h.i.+ryu’s」 reins and stood him up.

As he does, Doryx speaks up surprised.

 

「A-Are you taking it with you? There’s a chance the arrows might…」

「It’s okay. I’m sure 「Camellia」 will protect it.」

 

Hiro proudly struck his chest, then disappeared into the darkness.

A short while pa.s.ses. Doryx was befuddled, but he soon begins to gives out orders to the soldiers.

As he does, the sound of swords clas.h.i.+ng and angry bellows could be heard in the dark night. A battle they could not see had begun.

 

「Bang the drums with all your might. Don’t forget to raise your voices as well!」

 

A loud sound cuts through the night air and rings out. As it does, the sound of drums echoed out in concert from all directions. In addition to this location, they had a 100 soldiers lying hidden in three other positions.

It’s still too soon to fire the arrows. Doryx stared into the darkness.

A brilliant silver light draws a line in the dark night and disappears.

Doryx is bewitched by this wondrous scene which looks like shooting stars raining down from the sky.

After a soldier patted his shoulder and Doryx regained his senses, he forced his orders out from his throat in a panic.

 

「O-Okay, stop beating the drums. Fire the signal arrow!」

 

After he gives out his orders, a signal arrow lets out a whistle and

rips through the wind as it disappear into the darkness. After a pause, another is let loose. With that as the signal, the soldiers fire a volley of arrows from their bows.

A number of screams could be heard from where Hiro disappeared to.

 

「Okay, they’re hitting. Don’t stop! Keep firing!」

 

They have no idea where they’re firing. The archers simply kept their hands moving. By the time they were about to run out of arrows, the enemy could be heard shouting 「run for it!」 If the sun were out, they would have been able to see the enemy running about trying to escape. They felt it was unfortunate that they missed out on this thrill.

Then after a while, Hiro returns straddled atop the 「s.h.i.+ryu」.

Because he was in all black to begin with, and the fact that he’s covered in darkness, they’re unable to tell whether or not he’s hurt.

Doryx ran to him and immediately called out.

 

「Your Highness, are you hurt?」

「I’m all right.」

「I’m glad to hear that. So, how much of the enemy’s numbers were you able to reduce?」

「I can’t say for sure, but… they suffered friendly fire too, so I think we saw a better result than we expected.」

「That’s good news.」

「It would be nice if they just ran off somewhere instead of returning to their camp.」

「With their situation, I’m sure there will be those who won’t be able to return even if they want to.」

 

Running around aimlessly in the dark is like drowning in the ocean. There’s no way you can tell your right from your left. Not only did they receive a surprise attack, but they’re also in a state of confusion, so they’re unable to think clearly. More than a few of them will likely freeze to death having lost their sense of direction. If they happen to be wounded, their chances of survival are significantly lower.

Doryx tried to figure out how many of the 2,000 men would end up surviving, but he gave up.

This is because they would find out once the sun came up.

 

「Let us reward the soldiers another day and return to camp now.」

 

Hiro answered Doryx with a nod.

 

「You’re right. Let’s get some rest in preparation for tomorrow. Also, I’ll allow the soldiers from this battle just enough alcohol that it doesn’t affect them tomorrow.」

 

Cheers of joy rose up. The soldiers felt light on their feet as if their fatigue had been washed away.

Hiro’s lips formed into a big smile. But Doryx approached him, causing them to turn back.

 

「The enemy should soon be realizing they were deceived.」

「Probably. They don’t have enough soldiers or the time for another night a.s.sault. More importantly, I don’t think they’re in the position to be thinking of that.」

 

Then, Doryx remembered something and threw out a question.

 

「Changing the subject, why did you only give one of the enemy spies Schteizen silver coins?」

「Ahh, that?」

「I don’t mind if you don’t want to tell me.」

「… Second grade enlisted officer Doryx, what would you do if you were asked a string of questions?」

 

While thinking it strange that he changed the topic, Doryx answered honestly.

 

「I think I would grow tired of it. But I think I would search for answers regardless.」

「It’s like that. You throw out a number of problems and confuse the enemy. You don’t give them time to think. That’s what the Schteizen silver coins are for. They should be racking their brains about it right about now.」

「And you’re saying you give them the next problem before they find an answer?」

「That’s pretty much it.」

「Do you not think of the possibility of failure?」

「I do think about it, but you can’t accomplish anything if you fear failure. Besides, we’ve come this far without failing in executing any of our—」

 

Hiro broke off, looked up at the sky, then continued to speak.

 

「— Now, we just give them enough hope so they don’t run away, then make them taste despair.」

 

Hiro said smoothly, as a chill caused Doryx to come to a standstill.

 

— Everything is in the palm of his hand. Everyone on this battlefield is dancing atop the palm of this young boy’s hand.

 

「Ha, haha. Truly a 「sovereign’s pillar」. No, I’m not sure if such a t.i.tle would suffice…」

 

And he’s still 16. A fearsome prodigy. What’s more, his opponent is the 「Wild Eagle of Change」 no less, the hero of the Lichtein Dukedom who once drove away Schteizen’s army of 30,000. Against such an opponent, forget about being cautious, he continues to employ bold tactics and succeeding in executing them.

 

— And like this, he deals with this hero as if it were child’s play. The old veteran is no more than an infant.

 

How far is this young boy able to “see” exactly? And did his distant ancestor 「Mars」 also have this same profound insight?

It’s impossible for an ordinary person like Doryx to understand the stratagems of prodigies such as them. It’s impossible to arrive at the depths of their focus or objectives.

Which is precisely why… he found him so fascinating— He wanted to see what the future held in store for this young boy.

 

 

「Give me a status report.」

 

Said Ranquil, as he watched the burning corpses of camels. There are camel corpses scattered throughout their camp, their lives were brought to an end by arrows. None of them had riders.

 

「There are minimal casualties. We have a few injured, but none dead. Some tents were set on fire from the rampaging camels, but we were able to put them out before they spread.」

 

Perhaps it was because they were fatigued, but the regular soldiers and the slaves sat where they were, breathing heavily. Thanks to their strenuous efforts, the enemy failed in their night a.s.sault.

No— Maybe you could say they had succeeded. They were able to drain exhaust the soldiers after all. Ranquil looks away and starts heading to the tent in which a war council is to begin. A number of staff officers follow behind him.

 

「Let the soldiers rest.」

「Understood.」

「Also— one more thing.」

 

Ranquil stopped for a moment and turned back.

They were fully prepared. But what appeared were 1,500 camels without any riders. The enemies which they desperately fought off were not people, but a group of camels tied together by ropes— Even as a joke, this is too much.

 

「Cut off the spies’ heads after you get them to tell you everything they know.」

「Yes!」

「So this the result of taking the bait after saying we shouldn’t rush anything.」

 

All the stratagems until now where like childish tricks. But they were all truly effective.

Amazing insight and plotting. He is in awe of these carefully laid out plans. A person whose name is known even within the Grantz Grant Empire— or possibly the birth of a new star. A change in times, the pa.s.sing on of the torch to a new generation— Ranquil is forced to realize how much he has aged.

 

「And I thought I still had a role to play…」

 

He has no more room for growth.

He doesn’t have the youth to come up with any new ideas or plans to break through this situation.

 

「Hah…」

 

It may have been that he had grown arrogant. He was once called the 「Wild Eagle of Change」, but maybe that had gotten to his head.

Ranquil entered a tent and sank into a chair.

The light from his eyes was gone.

 

「Should we retreat?」

 

But if he returned to the capital, the n.o.bles would likely betray and kill him. He roused everyone saying they could win, but all he did was get led around by the nose. He was already shunned by the n.o.bles to begin with, so it’s unlikely he would be forgiven.

 

「Even if I weren’t killed…」

 

There will surely be n.o.bles who would double cross him. Even if he shut himself up in the capital, he would fall to an insurrection. He felt like it wouldn’t matter no matter what he did, and it annoyed him just to think of anything.

 

「Excuse me.」

 

Said a staff officer as he appeared at the entrance. He quickly approached Ranquil, and placed three small bags on the table. Ranquil points his icy cold eyes at the staff officer.

 

「What is this?」

「The spies were carrying these.」

「Did they confess?」

 

At this point, it doesn’t matter either way, but he opens the three bags.

 

「No, they say everything they reported was true.」

「Is that so?」

 

After discovering the contents, Ranquil smiled bitterly.

 

「Are they still trying to deceive us…? Such greed.」

 

All the bags had Grantz gold coins in them. The spy who gave the false report had Schteizen silver coins. As he tried to think of the possible intention for that…

 

「Your Excellency Ranquil!」

 

Another staff officer entered with a disturbed voice.

 

「The night a.s.sault has failed! Less than 600 camel cavalrymen have returned!」

「…」

 

He predicted this.

Considering they were outwitted so well, you could say this was the obvious outcome. This just means this was an invitation from the beginning.

 

「It’s unfortunate.」

「In other words… with just 3,000 men, we have to drive away the Fourth Imperial Army and the rebel army’s forces of over 13,000 men?」

 

An invisible blade is pierced deep into his body.

Though it gave no sense of pain, it was shaving away at his life.

 

— Retreat.

 

It happened when this one word appeared in the back of his head.

 

「Your Excellency! Your Excellency Ranquil! I bring good news!」

 

The one who stumbled into the tent was a messenger.

Everyone’s gaze pierced into him. But he focused only on Ranquil, as if he didn’t have time to pay the others any mind.

Ranquil knit his brows suspiciously.

 

「Settle down. What happened? What is this good news?」

「W-We’ve discovered the enemy’s supply trains!」

「M-My word! Is this true?!」

 

The one who raised his voice was a staff officer.

Ranquil lifts himself up from his chair.

 

「Where?」

 

The messenger ran to the long table and pointed at a single spot. It was the fort which was felled by the Fourth Imperial Army, the location they had a.s.sumed from the beginning.

 

「We have discovered goods being carried in here.」

「What about security? Do you know how many there are?」

「We don’t know for certain, but we believe it to be somewhere between 800 and a 1,000.」

「A thousand, is it…」

 

Now that they’ve lost a large number of their camel cavalrymen, it would be difficult to spare over a 1,000 soldiers.

 

「How was the situation at the fort?」

「The main gate was burned down, and the rear gate was also destroyed.」

「Hmm, so the fort can’t be held down.」

 

Ranquil places his hand on his chin and contemplates.

 

「… We leave our camp as is and raid the fort with the entire army, burn their food provisions at daybreak, and attack the demoralized enemy’s flank. Can we do it…?」

 

The enemy is probably also aware of the fact that they don’t have any leeway. Which is why there’s no doubt an attack on the supply trains would be unexpected. They’ll take control before daybreak, and if they burn everything around the time the enemy realizes what’s going on, they can shake them up.

Ranquil placed both hands on the table, slowly gazed at the face of each staff officer, and spoke.

 

「If anyone has any doubts, let’s hear it.」

「Are you absolutely sure about leaving our camp as is?」

「That’s right. Moving our encampment would take time. Most importantly, if we cleared away our camp and drew the enemy’s attention, this would all be meaningless.」

 

It seemed the staff officer was satisfied with this explanation as he nodded his head. Then Ranquil spoke in a lowered voice.

 

「However, I forbid this to be disclosed to anyone. Enemy spies may be lurking about. On the surface, we tell the soldiers we are retreating. If any spies have snuck in, that will also work towards our plan.」

 

In order to strike the enemy’s flank, they have to make them think they will remain where there are, without letting them catch wind of their plans. If any spies have snuck in, they’ll let them report back that they’ve run away.

Ranquil stiffened his express and spit out in a powerful voice.

 

「The fact that we are going to attack the fort does not leave this place. If there are no questions, move out!」

「Understood!」

 

His eyes which were imprisoned by darkness regained their light, and his foggy mind had become clear.

 

「It seems we’ll finally be able to drive nail into them.」

 

 

— Dreams are born from illusions, and they begin to paint reality.

 

Who was it that said that— He doesn’t even have to try to recall. The person comes to mind immediately.

It was a wise woman. It was a woman who was like a G.o.ddess, always thinking of her people.

 

— The world is full of lies, and humans likely live their lives not knowing truth.

 

She lamented her beloved human race thusly, but it is this race which is now the most prosperous.

Humans, elves, dwarves, zorostas, and anthros, the five main races. Furthermore, there is a barbarian race known as the three barbarian tribes, and they are currently spreading throughout Aletia.

However, there are no sign of the wars dying out, which she so wished for.

 

「Because of the many foolish rulers in this world, the heavens are yet to be settled.」

 

Which is precisely why, although she is but a small light now— the day she becomes a brilliant one, they will raise 「Valdite」 to the heavens to become the sun which provides light for all the people.

As Hiro looked up, the moon, which paints the night sky, was concealed by thick clouds.

 

「Until then, I’ll protect her so that no one discovers her.」

 

But he lacks the power to do so. This isn’t a battle he can win on his own.

A thousand years ago, he had the 「Five Heavenly Black Generals」 and the 「Raven Army」.

You could say he was surrounded by superbly skilled individuals. No matter what difficulties they faced, they could smash through them all.

They were like a colossal jaw, with the force to consume all the heavens, which dominated this world.

 

「I need to get my hands on that again.」

 

Timing, geographical advantage, fellows.h.i.+p. He’s lacking in all these aspects.

Once he obtains them all, Liz’s existence will likely s.h.i.+ne much brighter.

Like the full moon s.h.i.+ning brilliantly in the night sky cleared of darkness, with the stars by its side, she will stand atop the heavens with the people standing by her side.

Hiro looked towards Liz’s tent.

 

「It’s not too far off into the future. But… there’s no need to be tied down by unnecessary obligations yet.」

 

As he turns around, the hem of his black clothes. .h.i.t the night air played a loud note.