Chapter 269 - Chapter 262: Buying Time
"...Understood. Then, from this moment forward, I will have Baron Rosbroke exercise his magic, and as soon as the path is opened, we will carry out a charge with the cavalry units."
Hills covered in forest, flanking the encampment of the Lordberg Kingdom's Western Army from the east and west.
On the eastern side, within the hills to the left when viewed from the Western Army's main camp, Yuri, the Chief Retainer of the Viscount Arqvist house, was receiving instructions from his lord, Noein, via his 'Far-talk'.
"Lord Rosbroke, orders have come down from Lord Arqvist. Please."
"Understood. Once the terrain at the foot of the hill is changed, we'll be wide open to the enemy scouts, so please begin the charge immediately."
Using Viowulf's earth magic to secretly carve a path through the hills that cavalry units could pass through, and then fully opening it at a timing the enemy would never expect to launch a surprise attack on the flank of the enemy approaching the camp. Yuri and his men were here to execute such a plan of Noein's.
For the execution of this operation, Viowulf had spent the last few weeks solely occupied with the work of collapsing the hill's ground and leveling it, creating a sturdy road capable of withstanding the full gallop of cavalry units.
"Understood... that being said, are you ready, Viscount Barassen-sama?"
While exchanging words with Baron Viowulf Rosbroke, Yuri turned toward Viscount Barassen in the rear.
"A-Ah... I'm fine. I-I'll leave it to you all to take the vanguard."
Addressed by Yuri, Viscount Barassen answered with a lack of confidence.
The nominal commander of the three hundred charging cavalry units was Viscount Barassen. As the representative of the southwestern nobles belonging to the Western Army, Noein had considered that he must be given a nominally important role for the sake of face... it was a consideration of Noein's.
However, the role of standing at the front would be served by Yuri and Serjan, the Chief Retainer of the Rosbroke house. Viscount Barassen, the ornamental commander, wore armor with gaudy decorations in the taste of the nouveau riche, wearing an anxious expression at the rear of the unit.
"Lord Rosbroke, are you truly alright? No matter how skilled an earth mage you are, if you exercise magic to move this much terrain at once..."
"It's no problem, Serjan. At worst, I'll probably just faint on the spot from using too much mana."
Enemy scouts were certainly deployed around this hilly region. To prevent the creation of the charge path from being discovered, the path leading out of the hill had to be opened all at once immediately before the charge.
Worried by Serjan that he would be performing a magic exercise that undoubtedly placed a great burden on the body, Viowulf answered in a light tone.
"Now, let's go...!"
Viowulf raised both hands and turned his body toward the direction where the charge path ended and trees grew thick. Then, the rough ground, which until now had been in no state for horses to run, was gradually leveled and hardened, and the obstructing trees, along with the soil their roots were planted in, floated into the air and were pushed aside, with the road completing itself in the blink of an eye.
In about one minute, a charge path where horses could gallop at full speed reached the plains outside the hill.
"...That should be enough. I'm exhausted, as expected. I'll rest, so the rest is..."
With an exhausted expression and a nosebleed, Viowulf collapsed before he could finish his sentence. The soldiers of the Rosbroke territory army who were by his side hurriedly supported Viowulf's body.
"Lord!"
"...He seems to have lost consciousness. We will carry him to the tent."
One of the Rosbroke territory army soldiers answered Serjan, who had cried out, and several of them carried Viowulf away.
"...Serjan-dono. Thanks to Lord Rosbroke's efforts, the path is open. We must carry out the charge."
"...You are right. Let us go."
The Chief Retainers of two houses who had heroes of war as their heads, the Arqvist house and the Rosbroke house, lined up their horses.
"Then, Viscount Barassen-sama, please follow from the back... please provide command from the rear."
"I-I understand!"
After speaking to Viscount Barassen, who was nominally the commander of this unit, and saving his face, Yuri looked forward.
Even though he was the Chief Retainer of a high-ranking noble house, the fact that Yuri, a commoner, was appointed as the practical commander of the cavalry unit was due to Noein's consideration to let one of his close aides achieve a flashy military feat.
If so, he had to live up to his lord's expectations. Thinking this, Yuri raised his voice.
"All personnel, charge! Tear through the enemy's flank!"
Serjan followed Yuri as he spurred his horse, and the other cavalrymen followed one after another.
.....
The Betumia Republic Army's western invasion force, which found the breakthrough of the Lordberg Kingdom Western Army's vanguard difficult and was further trampled in the very center of their formation by the cavalry units, gave up on attacking, following yesterday's lead, and retreated.
To Noein, who was watching the retreating Betumia soldiers from the main camp, Yuri returned, combining his report with his return after the successful charge.
"Good work, Yuri. How was the charge?"
"It was quite exhilarating. It's good to run wild flashily once in a while."
When Noein asked in a light tone, Yuri, whose face and armor were stained red with the enemy's blood, answered in an equally light tone.
Although he had become well-accustomed to his managerial role as Noein's close aide recently, Yuri was originally a warrior hailed as the strongest even within the Arqvist territory. He had once been the leader of a mercenary group. He would not make a blunder such as dying while launching a one-sided surprise attack on the defenseless flank of an enemy unit.
Despite having sustained a few scratches, Noein smiled at the Chief Retainer who brought back great results with a relaxed air, as if he had just returned from a stroll.
"That's good. The enemy has fled back, and my loyal aide has returned after achieving a feat; it's perfect."
"Also, Lord Barassen has returned safely."
"Heh."
To Yuri's supplement, Noein responded as if he weren't very interested.
"...I'll have to have the enemy carry back a large number of wounded again."
"In terms of results, it's probably more than double yesterday's... though there were likely many enemy soldiers killed as well."
To Noein's mutter, Frederick, the strategist beside him, nodded.
"Indeed. It can't be helped since everyone from the Claymores ran wild... even so, even after defeating this many, the enemy's losses are only slightly under twenty percent. Thinking about it again, it's a staggering amount of manpower."
Although they hadn't been counted clearly yet, the enemy losses reported after a rough check were over five hundred dead. And about two thousand wounded paralyzed by 'Angel's Honey'. Combined with yesterday's battle, the enemy's casualties totaled about three thousand five hundred.
Even so, the enemy's attrition rate was less than twenty percent. The Betumia Republic Army's western invasion force still had over seventeen thousand combat troops remaining, supported by supply lines.
"The enemy will likely be quite tied up with the care and transport of the paralyzed wounded, but even subtracting that, I can't say we have a margin... in today's combat, we also have nearly four hundred casualties on our side."
The casualties of the Lordberg Kingdom Western Army, combined with yesterday's combat, were approaching ten percent. If those with injuries light enough to return to the front were included, it was even more.
In a simple comparison, it meant that for every one sacrifice, more than five enemies were neutralized, but if their absolute numbers decreased, the pace of neutralizing the enemy would also drop, the burden and fatigue per soldier would increase, and the difference in combat power would widen. It was not a war situation where one could feel at ease.
"Noein-dono, what do we do next?"
"Let's see... next, although it's a bit early, I'll use that method. Let's have them be thoroughly deceived."
To Frederick's inquiry, Noein answered with a fearless smile.
.....
After the second day's battle, where they decided on a regrettable retreat again as their attempt to push through with sheer volume failed. Irene, while having the large number of wounded paralyzed by that same poison recovered, held a military council with her subordinates to devise a plan and welcomed the next morning.
Yesterday, the momentum of the charge was dampened and they couldn't push through because of the golems' rampage and the surprise attack from the flank, but she didn't think the enemy could prepare several more plans to catch them off guard like that. Surely they were running out of ideas by now.
She would increase the units entering the hills, maintain vigilance against attacks on the main force's flank, and launch another great offensive, and today she would destroy the enemy's defensive line.
Inside the wide tent for commanders, Irene, who was having her morning preparations assisted by a girl soldier attendant, was thinking this.
"Grand Army Commander Foster-sama! It's an emergency! Please check the enemy camp immediately!"
However, Irene's quiet morning of hardening her resolve for today's battle was interrupted by the shout of a messenger.
"You're noisy! What is it this time!"
Irene, who had not yet put on her armor, stepped out of the tent wearing her military uniform trousers and jacket. Then, just as the soldier had said, she looked at the Lordberg Kingdom Western Army's camp—and her eyes widened.
"W-What is this!?"
Lined up in the front row of the enemy camp were golems. And not a lenient number like yesterday's slightly under twenty.
The rows of golems, seated in a posture with one knee down, continued to the left and right of the narrow path where the enemy had set up camp, all the way to the foot of the hills. The total number easily exceeded one hundred.
"This... is impossible. This shouldn't be... no, but..."
The enemy had gathered as many as twenty highly skilled puppet mages. It wouldn't be strange if they had discovered a method to dramatically increase the skill of puppet mages and had gathered even more.
However, if there were over one hundred golems that showed a rampage capable of taking on a thousand men alone. If they were to charge like yesterday, she didn't even want to imagine how many sacrifices there would be. In the first place, what would the soldiers think if she ordered a charge against such a battle line.
Irene stared blankly at the enemy camp, her face turning pale.
.....
"It's already evening, and the enemy didn't even show a hint of going on the offensive, did they?"
"...That's only natural. If they're shown something like this, they must think that a normal way of attacking would be useless. They're probably desperately thinking of a way to respond right now."
To Noein, who spoke while grinning, Frederick answered in a slightly exasperated voice.
"Generals leading thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers are desperately devising a response to papier-mâché dolls that don't even move... pfft, how comical."
Seeing Noein burst out laughingly in an unrefined manner, Frederick's face became even more exasperated. Yuri, standing behind Noein, let out a sigh just enough to not be noticed by those around him and averted his gaze diagonally upward, and only Matilda, also standing behind Noein, maintained her usual expressionless face.
Just as Noein said, those lined up in the front row of the camp were mere papier-mâché. Over eighty wooden dolls with no use other than being made to look like golems. They were seated in a posture with one knee down on the battlefield along with the real golems.
Golems use a hard and heavy wood called Semirawood as a raw material, but these wooden dolls were made from suitable cheap lumber. What stained their bodies was not magic paint to make mana flow easily, but mere black pigment.
However, just looking from a distance, they were indistinguishable from real golems. The Betumia Republic Army must be trembling in fear right now, thinking that over one hundred rampaging golems like yesterday's were lined up. The proof was that they hadn't launched any offensive at all today.
"With this, the more cowardly the enemy army is... no, that's rude to say. The more cautious they are, the more we can buy time just by standing by."
Just by making and lining up dolls with a bit of lumber and paint, he stopped the offensive of the enemy's main force in the Kingdom's west. Noein, who had successfully pulled off such a strange tactic, was in a very good mood.
"...Well, still, the enemy will notice the anomaly eventually. This stalemate will probably last about two weeks."
"That's true. Let's hope the other units work hard in the meantime."
The battlefield was not only in the Kingdom's west. The main central force preparing to recapture the royal capital, and the units in the Kingdom's east, were also struggling to leave the enemy with many people suffering from aftereffects. Furthermore, the guerrilla warfare of countless small units that had intruded into the Kingdom's south should be unfolding soon.
While the number of enemy wounded increased through the activities of those many warriors, he would make the western defensive line hold for even one day longer. That too was an important mission for Noein, the General of the Western Army.