by Dojyomaru
I smiled wryly at his almost paranoid question, and said, “You have nothing to gain from doing that in the current situation. Besides, if you pull anything funny, you’ll make enemies of the nearly 60,000 soldiers coming this way.”
“I suppose you have a point.”
I leaned on the edge of the wall and looked up to the evening autumn sky. “I never thought a day would come when we’d be fighting together.”
“I could say the same. I never expected to see the day I was saved by my bitter enemy.” Julius crossed his arms and leaned against the wall too.
We had once been enemies, but now were allies. The world was an unpredictable place. There was a quiet moment as I mulled over that thought.
After some time, Julius hesitantly opened his mouth. “I want you to tell me. My father, Gaius VIII...what was his end like?”
I paused. “What do you mean, what was it like?”
“From what the soldiers told me, after we parted ways, he said he would ‘show the spirit of Amidonia.’ Was Father able to achieve his goal?”
I was silent.
His tone wasn’t accusatory. Julius purely wanted to know what the end of Gaius VIII, sovereign prince of Amidonia, had been like.
“It was frightening,” I admitted. “When Gaius came for my head, he was truly terrifying. To be honest, the man’s blade was only a step or two from reaching me.”
Even now, I sometimes saw that day’s events in my dreams. In my dreams, the result was different, and the sword he threw with the last of his strength pierced straight through my chest.
That showed just how traumatizing that day had been for me. I would never forget Gaius’s face, twisted like a demon’s and full of murderous intent, not for the rest of my life.
Julius chuckled. “True, that father of mine’s glare was enough to make anyone fear for their life.”
“I can’t laugh about it. I seriously accepted my death and was considering what words I’d leave to my fiancée.”
“I see... It seems Father was able to show his spirit then.” Julius smiled a little sadly, and then slapped his cheeks as if to help himself shift gears. “My father was able to live out the rest of his life as a warrior. It’s not my place to say anything about that now. Like my father, I will endeavor to live in the way I truly desire to.”
“What way of life would that be?” I asked.
“I will live protecting the ones I love with every fiber of my being. So, Souma, to protect Princess Tia and this country, let me lend you my strength.” With that, Julius bowed his head to me.
He’d...really changed, huh.
I slapped Julius on the shoulder, then started walking. “Let’s go, Julius. I’ll be needing you to run the war council.”
“Okay. You’ve got it.”
And so, we headed to the castle where everyone was waiting.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, around that same time...
In front of one of the lookout towers near the castle there were two figures, one big and one small. They were Souma’s little sister Tomoe and her bodyguard Inugami.
In the darkening scene, only the watch fire that was lit near the entrance to the tower burned brightly.
In that unusual atmosphere, Inugami looked at Tomoe with concern.
“Will you really go?” Inugami asked.
Tomoe nodded. “Big Brother said, ‘I want you to test if it’s possible to converse with the monster inside here.’ He wanted me to learn as much as I can too.”
Tomoe was going to use her ability on the monster inside...which was to say she would be interrogating the lizardman caught in the earlier battle. If they could learn the lizardmen’s ecology, it would be possible to use that in planning future operations. However, this was a creature that had tried to feast on people’s flesh. Being able to understand what it said might lead to psychological trauma for Tomoe.
Souma was extremely worried about that too, but giving in to Tomoe’s enthusiasm to help, he’d reluctantly asked her to gather information.
A concerned Inugami urged Tomoe to be as cautious as the situation warranted. “His Majesty also ordered, ‘Make sure you don’t do more than you can handle.’ If I judge this is having a bad effect on your feelings, Little Sister, I will drag you away from here by force if necessary.”
“Okay. Please do, Mr. Inugami.”
Tomoe held Inugami’s hand tight. Because she was a mystic wolf and Inugami was a gray wolf, they looked like nothing if not father and daughter when they held hands.
They opened the door to the tower, hands still held, and went inside. Then, descending the spiral staircase, they stood in front of a cell.
There, inside, a single lizardman was bound hand and foot.
“Kshaaa!” It opened its toothy maw wide and rattled its chains.
“Eep...” Tomoe gulped.
“Little Sister?! Curse you!” Inugami moved up to put himself between Tomoe, who had tripped and fallen on her side, and the lizardman.
Tomoe shook her head as if to chase the bad feelings away. “I-I’m fine.”
Tomoe wiped her cold sweat away, clinging to Inugami’s arm as she stood up, and then holding it tightly as she faced the lizardman once more.
“This lizardman has nothing but hunger,” she said at last. “It only sees us as food. ‘I want to eat.’ That’s all it says. We can’t talk with them.”
“So, the basis of their actions is exactly as it appears?”
“Yes. But... Hmm?”
Tomoe tilted her head to the side. Was there something bothering her, maybe?
“Is something the matter?” Inugami asked.
“I wonder why...” Tomoe said finally. “Mr. Lizardman here, he seems weird.”
“Weird?” Inugami asked.
Tomoe nodded. “I don’t know what to think, but...I feel like it’s missing something any living creature should have. Something very important...”
“???”
What Tomoe was saying didn’t make any sense to Inugami.
Tomoe couldn’t put it into words very well herself, so that was only natural. Though it frustrated Tomoe, she eventually gave up, shaking her head.
“It’s no good. I don’t know how to say it. Anyway, I’ll tell Big Brother and everyone what I found out here.”
Tomoe and Inugami left the tower, leaving the lizardman behind.
The feeling of wrongness that Tomoe had gotten from the lizardman...it would still be some time before they learned the true nature of what that was.
It was now late in the evening. In a candlelit room in Lasta’s castle, the important figures of the Kingdom of Friedonia and the Kingdom of Lastania had gathered.
In attendance on the Friedonian side were Aisha, Roroa, Naden, Halbert, Kaede, Ruby, and me. On the Lastanian side were Julius, who had been entrusted with full command of their forces by the king of Lastania, the soldier captain Lauren, and Jirukoma, who was the leader of the volunteer soldier force. Princess Tia was also present, wanting to watch over the proceedings as a member of the royal family.
Aisha, who wasn’t that great at using her head to begin with, was there solely as my bodyguard, and Roroa and Princess Tia, who were not specialists in military matters, were just sitting there at the very end of the table.
Also, since he’d been noisy, saying, “We wanna be at the war council too!” Kuu and Leporina, the master-servant pair from the Republic of Turgis, were being allowed to take part as long as they promised to stay at the end of the table and behave.
“Now then, I would like to begin the war council,” Julius said.
Having been entrusted with the command of both armies, he was also being trusted with running the war council.
Julius looked around at the officers present. “First, to begin with...on this occasion, I have been entrusted with command of the Lastanian military by the King of Lastania. Command of the Dratroopers, who have come to reinforce us, has also been given to me by Sir Souma. Is there anyone who o
bjects to this? I want to direct this question especially to those of you from the Kingdom of Friedonia.”
“I guess now’s the time. I don’t like lying, so I’ll be blunt.” Hal scratched his head and spoke up. “I feel uneasy with it. I don’t know I can fight under the command of a former enemy.”
“Hal,” Ruby objected, “you don’t have to say it like that...”
Hal held up a hand to stop her. Kaede put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder too, silently shaking her head.
When Ruby was quiet, Hal continued.
“There may still only be 200 of us, but I’m the captain of the Dratroopers. I don’t have what it takes to lead thousands of troops yet. I know you’re the most capable leader of troops here, and I’m sure that’s why Souma left command of the Dratroopers to you.”
Julius was silent.
“But even if it’s only 200 men, their lives are my responsibility,” Hal went on. “I can’t leave their lives in the hands of some guy who isn’t fully committed.”
Julius listened to his words in silence.
“We were enemies to you too,” Hal went on. “Can you command us properly?”
Julius closed his eyes for a moment, then began to speak slowly.
“I think it’s inevitable that we both have our misgivings. I can’t claim there is no resentment in my heart. However, this country is everything to me now. If it is to protect this country, I would work with any kind of partner, and bow my head to anyone. If it will allow me to gain your trust, Sir Halbert, that includes you as well.”
Hal was silent.
“Ookyakya, you’re more passionate about this than you loo—Ow, that hurt!” Kuu’s teasing was interrupted by an elbow from Leporina, leaving him in pain.
He’s being noisy, I thought. Maybe I should throw him out after all.
While I was thinking that, the grim look on Hal’s face softened.
“Is that right? If you’re that committed, I have nothing more to say. Our boss decided to leave it to you, so we’ll just follow his decision. Right?”
Hal looked to me, so I nodded.
“I’ve assigned Kaede to Julius as a staff officer,” I said. “If they’ve put together a plan, it may be crazy, but it won’t be reckless. I think we can trust in that.”
“Thank you,” Julius said. “Now, let’s commence the war council.”
He unfurled the map of the Kingdom of Lastania and surrounding areas that was on the table. Then he began by pointing to Lasta, where we were.
“First, let us review the situation. To address the forces of Lastania first, there were deaths and injuries in the fighting again today. I would say that, including conscripts from the general populace, we have about 2,800 people who can fight. With the 200 Dratroopers from Friedonia bringing the total to roughly 3,000, that is our total troop count.”
3,000, huh... Considering they were largely conscripts, it wasn’t a very reassuring number.
Next, Julius indicated the forests near Lasta. The lizardmen that had escaped from our bombing were lurking there now.
“Next, the lizardmen. They must have taken a major blow from today’s bombing. Their numbers must have fallen to eight, maybe 900. However, considering the situation up until this point, those numbers will be replenished each day. It happens at a pace of roughly several hundred per day.”
“Hm? Are the enemy are deploying their forces in small groups?” I asked.
I thought it was a poor strategy, but... oh, right, Lizardmen weren’t intelligent enough to think strategically. There was a “man” in their name, yes, but only because they had some human-like parts.
“Does that mean there’s a reason they only come a little at a time?” I asked.
Julius nodded, pointing to a large river north of Lasta.
“The border between the Union of Eastern Nations and the Demon Lord’s Domain is this large river known as the Dabicon. This river, which is wide enough that the far shore is blurry, and at its deepest point it is deep enough for a rhinosaurus to float, has protected us from monsters coming out of the Demon Lord’s Domain. However, being a natural river, the depth varies, and it can be crossed easily at some points. North of Lasta there is a narrow section that is shallow, and the lizardmen must be crossing there.”
“I see,” I mused. “The shallow section is narrow, so they can only cross a little at a time, huh... Wait, hold on! Then if the Dabicon is dammed upstream, that means there’s a ridiculous number of lizardmen on the other side?”
When I asked that, Julius nodded gravely. “Most likely...in the tens of thousands.”
“Tens of thousands, huh...”
The Empire had told me this was one of the places where the demon wave was especially intense, so that might have been a given. If not for the Dabicon River, this country would have been trampled in no time. Well, I supposed that would be why the Dabicon was the border.
“That’ll have to wait until Ludwin gets here with the main force, I guess,” I said.
“Yeah.” Julius nodded. “I think we have no choice but to ask the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Friedonia to handle it. However, before the main body of the reinforcements arrives, there is something I would like to do using the troops here.”
With that said, Julius brought his fist down on a certain spot on the map. It was the forest where the lizardmen who’d escaped from the bombing were hiding.
“I discussed this with young Miss Kaede as well, but I am thinking I want to exterminate the lizardmen lurking in the forest using the 3,000 troops we have here. Now, while their numbers are decreased, is our best opportunity to do so.”
“Whoa, wait, what?” Hal exclaimed. “We have limited manpower, and you want to head out? Their numbers are down, and that’s taken the pressure off, so can’t we just hole up in the city walls until reinforcements arrive?”
“Hal, that will give the enemy time to recover their numbers, you know,” Kaede said. “Like Sir Julius said, the number of lizardmen grows by the day. Their numbers are massively lower now, so the lizardmen are waiting to see what happens, but if their numbers recover, they’ll attack again. In a conflict, what is important is how you increase the number of troops you can deploy into a single battle, while in turn decreasing the number of enemy troops. For example, if you compare fighting 3,000 enemy troops with 5,000 soldiers to fighting 1,000 enemy troops with 5,000 soldiers three times, the latter will cause less damage to your own forces.”
Oh! I’d heard that before. That was why it was better not to deploy your forces in small groups, but to deploy them in as large a group as possible. Or so the established knowledge went.
“Compared to a siege battle fought against a reassembled group of lizardmen, exterminating them in a field battle while their numbers are lower will lower the number of casualties on our side,” Kaede said.
“In addition, if we can eliminate the lizardman presence here, we can restore the supply lines to Lasta,” Julius continued for her, pointing at a spot close to the Dabicon. “There is a fortress near here. There was no way to defend it with the regular forces alone, so it was abandoned early in this demon wave, but if we can exterminate the lizardmen here, advance north while crushing their reinforcements, and get soldiers into this fortress, we should be able to hold off the lizardmen that cross the river here. If we can do that, Lasta will be freed from being besieged by monsters. That will restore supply lines, so more reinforcements...likely won’t be coming, but material aid should flow in.”
If this country fell, the next country to the south would be in danger after all. Perhaps they would think to send material aid, in order to help us hold out a bit longer?
There might be merchants who would think now was a good time to make money too. Medicine to treat the wounded soldiers might arrive.
That all sounded good, but... there was just one thing about it that concerned me.
“If you only intend to deal with lizardmen, that’s fine, but there are countless warped monsters camped outside
the city walls now, aren’t there?”
While looking out from the city walls with Julius, we had seen the chimera-like monsters with bodies assembled from various parts. There were still thousands of those things that were greedily feasting on the corpses of soldiers and lizardmen that fell outside the wall.
“If you head outside the walls, won’t they attack you?” I asked.
“That is a concern.” Julius pressed a hand against his forehead in displeasure. “Those monsters are nothing special, taken alone. They can be slain easily at a distance with bows or magic. However, when they form such a large swarm, they become a problem. If we fight the lizardmen and the monsters attack when we’re injured, we can’t handle that.”
“I see. So we’ll have to fight those monsters at the end,” Aisha said, crossing her arms.
“If you’d let me go wild in my ryuu form, I could scatter those things easily,” Naden fumed.
I knew that, but in a situation where we had a limited number of calories available, I couldn’t let Naden and Ruby fight at full power.
Julius let out a small sigh. “It’s a minor blessing that the lizardmen and monsters don’t work together. For the monsters, they see both us and the lizardmen as no more than potential food if we die.”
“They’re scavengers, like jackals or vultures then...” I muttered. “It’d be a lot easier if they’d just attack and eat the lizardmen for us too.”
“The monsters are weaker than the lizardmen. That must be why they only scavenge corpses,” Julius explained in exasperation.
No, I was just saying that, so you didn’t need to respond so seriously... Wait. Huh? I paused. The monsters don’t attack the lizardmen because they’re weaker than them, but then... Huh? Why don’t the lizardmen attack the monsters?
Before this war council, I’d received a report on the captured lizardman from Tomoe. According to Tomoe, she had felt nothing but hunger from the lizardman. It had only seen Tomoe as prey.
So if they were starving that badly, why didn’t the lizardmen try to eat the monsters?
