The only way out of this was to defeat the enemies.
“Looks like some of these guys are thinkin’, If I can just make it to my horse, I’ll escape… Can ya go cut those dummies’ legs off for me?”
Emitting a shrill cheer for the slaughter, the Redcaps began to move.
They were like wild animals.
They ran, weaving their way through the crowd of men trying to escape.
Then…there was a shriek.
It was one of the nobles who had tried to get away on his horse.
A few more screams.
“Now that there are less of them, the fun time won’t last as long, but…oh well. That just means we’ll need to have as many different kinds of fun as we can. I don’t have abilities like Sol does, but I’ll show you what I got!”
Lupusregina walked toward Barbro, who had drawn his sword. Her gait was so leisurely, it was like she was taking a stroll through the meadow.
The smile running like a fissure across her beautiful face made his blood run cold.
It was thirty minutes later that Barbro was finally allowed to die.
Chapter 4 | Massacre
1
Making use of the gently rolling hills of red earth, the two armies took up their positions and scowled at each other.
The kingdom’s army, surprisingly large with 245,000 men, had a right wing of 70,000, a left wing of 70,000, and 105,000 in the center. These were spread resourcefully in camps across three hills. The “camps” were the type made not with fences but with the sheer violence of numbers.
The first five rows of soldiers held spears nearly twenty feet long that required two hands. It was with those thickets of pikes that the positions were constructed.
It was a measure against the main attacking force of the empire, their heavy cavalry, and also acted in place of chevaux-de-frise. The reason they didn’t have chevaux-de-frise was simply because it would have taken a ridiculous amount of wood to protect such a huge army. Putting their men to work with the spears was more efficient.
That said, though this formidable formation was strong, it still had many weak points.
The men were crowded together, and due to the heavy weapons, they had their hands full preventing their opponents’ charge. For that reason, they lacked the ability to cope with any quick actions, and if the empire launched arrows or spells, they would suffer serious casualties.
But these peasant soldiers weren’t being asked to do any more than that. Their only task was to stop their enemy’s first attack.
Meanwhile, the empire’s army had sixty thousand men.
Compared to the kingdom’s forces, they were overwhelmingly few.
But the imperial knights didn’t look at all like they expected defeat with their calmly superior faces. They didn’t think they would lose.
They were confident because they knew how much stronger they were individually.
Still, the gap in numbers should have been a major concern. If they could fight perpetually without getting tired, maybe not, but that was impossible for humans. If they got worn out, their opponents would eventually catch up, despite the gap in their abilities.
The kingdom had one other big advantage: the gap in the worth of the people.
Most of the soldiers making up the kingdom’s army were farmers. In contrast, the empire’s knights were professional warriors. If a farmer who was handed a weapon and a knight who required time and effort to train were both killed, the empire’s loss was greater. For that reason, the empire wouldn’t undertake unreasonable operations or the sort that were likely to get knights killed.
This flat battlefield, then, where all they could do was clash head-on, would work in the kingdom’s favor.
That was why previous wars between the kingdom and the empire had always ended as minor scuffles.
The empire normally achieved its goal just by having the kingdom drag its farmers out onto the battlefield. They weren’t about to do anything that would deplete their precious human assets, which the kingdom understood quite well.
This sort of essentially rigged fight was what the “wars” between the kingdom and the empire had been.
Most of the kingdom nobles believed that even if the caster Ainz Ooal Gown joined in, this war would still end as a casual dustup. The empire’s knights weren’t only its military force but also its police organization. They were the power that maintained the peace. Pointless losses were liable to shake the foundations of the country.
The kingdom waited for the empire’s forces to make their move.
In a normal year, the imperial army would pass in front of the kingdom’s army and then withdraw. Then the kingdom’s army would let out a triumphant shout. That was how it usually went.
But…
The imperial forces weren’t moving.
They had left their fortresslike barracks and taken up a position opposite the kingdom’s forces, but they hadn’t moved a muscle since then. It was almost as if they were waiting for the kingdom to make a move, or perhaps there was something else they were waiting for.
“They’re not moving, huh? What could it mean?”
Slightly behind the 105,000 men jostling in the central group was the king’s position.
It was the safest position, located on top of a somewhat tall hill.
Marquis Raeven, standing next to Gazef, was the one who had spoken as he looked out at the unmoving imperial knights.
If the empire didn’t move, the kingdom couldn’t move, either.
As conveyed by the thickets of spears, the kingdom knew that attacking would be the height of folly. A long time ago, some nobles had taken the initiative to attack, but they were killed instantaneously, and the kingdom ended up suffering substantial losses.
Ever since then, the kingdom’s tactics for facing the empire were to set up their spear walls and wait. If their opponents would fall back on their own, there was no sense in leaping into danger.
“Well, it seems like they’re waiting for us to move…”
“The final proposals have already been given, and the war has already started… Captain—Sir Gazef, do you have any idea what the empire might be waiting for?”
Thirty minutes ago, messengers had negotiated between the two armies glaring at each other. Well, they called them “negotiations,” but it was more like a game of exchanging unfeasible conditions. Basically, they said, Look how merciful we’re being, pretending to avoid the war to the last even though their offers were self-serving.
Naturally, they failed to reach an understanding, and it always came down to war.
In a normal year, the empire would have already been on the move. But this year, they weren’t. They simply stood at attention.
“Any idea? I mean… Do you?”
“No… I don’t know much about military matters, so I’ve always left it up to my men.”
“I know all too well how knowledgeable you are, your lordship, so that sounds an awful lot like a lie, but…”
“A lie, hmm…? You certainly don’t mince words, Sir Gazef.”
“Have I offended you? If so, I’m sorry.”
“Ha-ha-ha. No, that’s fine. I much prefer this attitude to how you were before.”
Gazef picked up on the jab and frowned.
“Ha-ha-ha. Please just accept what I said. It’s the truth that I don’t have much skill in moving troops. And I happen to have a man under me who excels in just that. I’m not lying. I leave it up to him.”
“Could it be one of the former adventurers who are now famous for their performance during the demon disturbance?”
“Oh, no, they’re over there.”
A group of five people was standing in the corner Marquis Raeven pointed at.
They had all entered middle age and were probably past their prime, but as they were also former orichalcum-plate adventurers, even Gazef had the feeling that one couldn’t be too careful around them.
“They’re my bodyguards.”
�
��If you have such strong people protecting you, you’ll be sure to make it back to the capital in one piece…assuming we don’t have to face that great caster. But wait, so who is your strategist?”
“You don’t know him. He’s a commoner from my domain. I heard about him because he fought off a horde of goblins attacking his village with only half as many villagers. After that, I started putting him in command…and the surprising thing is, he hasn’t lost yet. He’s that good. I’ve given him a high rank in my staff.”
“If he can earn such praise from you, Marquis Raeven, then…I’d like to meet him. I’d like to give him command of the entire kingdom’s army.”
“If you put him in command…and the kingdom’s army operated as one, I’m sure he would do battle in ways that would make neighboring countries say, ‘You mustn’t take the Re-Estize Kingdom’s army lightly’…”
Gazef and Marquis Raeven looked at each other, heaved tired sighs, and smiled.
“The nobles would never allow a commoner to command the army. At present, it’s a pipe dream.”
“Yeah, it’s impossible while we have these factions.”
The imperial army had proper organization with a general in charge of each army and then division commanders and battalion commanders.
But in the kingdom, each noble brought his own soldiers, so even with the king as the overall commander, each unit acted according to their own ideas and faction alignment.
To be blunt, the army had no unity whatsoever.
Even Gazef was charged with leading the Royal Select only as their captain; it wasn’t as if he could give orders to the nobles. Certainly, there was the possibility of getting his ideas through as orders from the king, but many of the nobles looked down on Gazef due to his common background and would find it disagreeable, so it could cause trouble for him in the future. The king knew that, so when he gave orders, he didn’t do it through Gazef.
The two men sighed heavily at the state of their country. Then they looked at each other and smiled.
This discussion was one to have somewhere else, not on the battlefield where swords were about to clash.
“If we survive this, we’ll still be on the battlefield, I guess.”
“I hear that’s how it is for nobles.”
“When this is over, I’m going to tell the king to please make you a noble. It irritated me that you were the king’s sword, yet you never tried to engage with noble society.”
The marquis said it in a joking way, but Gazef could see from the glint in his eyes that he actually was angry.
He was glad that someone so skilled at concealing his emotions would show them to him, but it wasn’t as nice when it was a negative emotion. Gazef changed the subject.
“…Well, leaving that for now…could we call over your strategist? I’d like to talk to him…although I guess it’s tricky to have him come here at the moment.”
“Yes, he’s heading up my position. We don’t know when the empire will make its move, so I want to keep him where he is.”
Marquis Raeven may have been cooperating with the kingdom, but his top priority was still his own domain. Refusing was only natural.
“Even though it’s the same old pattern, I just don’t like this tense atmosphere.” Gazef sighed. “I’m not hoping for a serious charge from the empire, but if they’re going to attack, it’d be better for my mental health if they would just launch it already.” He sensed the unsteadiness in the kingdom’s army and tried to locate the source. “…Aha. One potential strategy the empire could take is to wait for the kingdom to get antsy and act. It would be hard to move all these men together. But for that reason, any forces’ slightest movement will look like a large ripple from the edge. Even if we’re packed together and there are too many of us to go on the attack, they could easily rip to pieces any prey that is out of line. They’re like a beast on the hunt.”
Marquis Raeven followed Gazef’s nervous gaze, but when he saw the soldiers in the left wing rushing around, he seemed to grasp something.
“It looks to me like they’re trying to move soldiers from the back up to the front line.”
“If they’re only changing formation, then we don’t need to worry, but…”
“That’s Marquis Beauleurope’s flag. It seems like the general of the left wing means to move up to the front line himself.”
The kingdom had nobles’ faction members on either wing and king’s faction members concentrated in the center.
The commander of the center group was King Ramposa III, and the commander of the left wing was Marquis Beauleurope.
“It’s highly unusual for the general to change the formation so he’s up front. You know, Sir Gazef, that the marquis brought his elite men. This war will get the attention of many nobles, so if his forces can put up an admirable fight against the individually stronger imperial knights, he’ll be recognized as the noble with the strongest unit in the kingdom.” Marquis Raeven flashed a provocative look at Gazef as if to say, Won’t it bother you if his unit is considered stronger than your Royal Select?
But that wasn’t about to ruffle Gazef. “The Royal Select is guarding His Majesty. Even if the empire charges, I have no intention of moving them without His Majesty’s orders. Their only job is to make sure the king gets back to the capital safely.” He patted his sword. “Although there’s the possibility that I go out on my own to kill the enemy’s momentum.”
“The kingdom has four treasures, and that’s Razor Edge? I see…” The marquis looked at Gazef from top to bottom.
The Gauntlets of Vitality made it so the wearer never got fatigued; the Amulet of Immortality constantly healed the wearer; Guardian Armor, made from the hardest metal in existence, adamantite, was said to be able to save the wearer from a fatal critical hit; and Razor Edge was a magic sword enchanted in the pursuit of sharpness that cut armor like butter.
“With all of them equipped, you yourself are the kingdom’s greatest treasure. I heard that the kingdom originally had five treasures, but have they always been together right here?”
Receiving such an overblown compliment, being compared to a treasure, Gazef knew it was flattery but couldn’t stop himself from blushing. “Oh, cut it out, Marquis Raeven. His Majesty is the truly amazing one. Knowing full well what it would mean to lend all these to a commoner, he still entrusted them to me.”
“You do have a point. Honestly, I thought it was foolish to entrust them to a commoner. I thought it would only mean more people leaving the king’s faction. But now that we’re here together on the battlefield, it seems like a great idea, as self-centered as that is.”
“I hope I can live up to your expectations…”
Gazef looked out at the ranks of imperial knights.
With the exception of Triad Caster Fluder Paradyne, he didn’t feel like they had any particularly strong opponents. He was confident that he could beat their strongest four knights. He even had a faint hope that, with all the treasures equipped, he could take Fluder.
But he didn’t think he could beat Ainz Ooal Gown.
He just couldn’t see it happening.
No matter how positively he tried to visualize things, no matter how optimistic he was, he saw himself getting killed with a single mysterious spell.
“What’s wrong?”
“A-ah, nothing…” He was known as the kingdom’s strongest warrior. If he showed any weakness, it would have an adverse effect on the soldiers’ morale. “I mean, I was just feeling sorry for Prince Barbro.”
“Sorry for him…? Could it be that…? Ah, I see. Hmm. So you… I see.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“No, it just seems like you think that the king sent the prince to Carne to stop him from achieving anything here.”
“Was there some other reason?”
Marquis Raeven winced. “Yes, there certainly was. His Majesty really trusts you, you know.”
Gazef had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and it showed on h
is doubtful face, so the marquis explained.
“Naturally, if the king’s most trusted captain is extremely wary of Ainz Ooal Gown, so is he. Rather than putting his son on a battlefield where no one knows what will happen, he sent him somewhere safe, even though there isn’t as much to achieve there… The old me would have been offended that he sent his child somewhere safe when so many parents were sending their children to the battlefield…” Then he smiled with the face of a father. “But now I understand. I would probably do the same for my son.”
“Yeah, Marquis Raeven, you’re a father through and through.”
Marquis Raeven smiled. Gazef knew it was rude, but he couldn’t help but think it was out of character for his expression to be so warm, happy, and proud.
“I sure am. I promised I’d play with him a bunch after this war is over—I’m an utterly normal father. Oh, but we’ve gotten off topic. Anyhow, that’s how it is…but I’m sure Prince Barbro doesn’t understand his father’s feelings. That’s a bit sad, a parent’s feelings not getting through to his child.”
Gazef wasn’t sure how to respond. He didn’t have kids, so he couldn’t really relate.
“R-right. Do you think there could be a detachment going to raid E-Rantel? They might stop at nothing to bring it down, even if they were heavily criticized.”
I’ve been changing the subject every time I don’t know what to say, thought Gazef, but the marquis went along with it.
“It won’t be so easy to take down E-Rantel with its three layers of walls. It would probably be tough even if they mobilized their two remaining corps. My strategist doubts they would try an operation like that.”
“Oh? But what about using flying mounts? Or what if they had another secret army?”
“It would be impossible. Ultimately, it’s a difficult proposition to conquer a city with small numbers. Without more people, they wouldn’t be able to take it… Ah, Sir Gazef, there’s one critical requirement for capturing E-Rantel. Do you know what it is?”
Gazef honestly shook his head.
“You need to claim a great victory in a head-on fight with the kingdom. If it was a narrow victory, it would be difficult to rule after the fact. There is no way the citizens would take kindly to invaders, so a resistance movement would spring up. Even if the empire managed to take E-Rantel with a detachment, if our soldiers were unharmed, they would move immediately to retake it. That’s why the empire is aiming for a crushing victory. That way the citizens will be too scared to resist and there won’t be enough army left to fight.”
The Caster of Destruction Page 23
