As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Battle of Castle Rolto

The execution of the prisoners we’d captured during our conquest of Castle Samkh was carried out within the castle itself. It was a gruesome scene, but I’d witnessed enough horrors since the war began that I was starting to get a little used to them. I knew that I couldn’t let myself be shaken by that sort of thing if I was going to get by as a noble in this world, so I decided to think of my desensitization as a good thing─though on the other hand, I knew that I couldn’t let myself get too desensitized and start being unaffected by death.

As for my next moves, I requested that the Shadows gather information throughout the County of Velshdt. I considered having them look into Castle Staatz, but ended up deciding to have them check out the important strategic locations between us and the castle first.

Assaulting Castle Staatz right after our conquest of Castle Samkh would be impossible, given the current state of things. The County of Velshdt had a number of highly-defensible forts spread throughout it, and if we rushed ahead and let our guards down, it was very possible we’d find our advance stymied. And so, I told the Shadows to get me information on all the castles and forts we’d need to take down before we could march on Castle Staatz proper.

That bit of reconnaissance aside, our forces were occupied with wiping out the remaining resistance in the County of Samkh, as we’d previously planned. There weren’t many enemy soldiers left, thankfully, and gaining total control over the county didn’t take long at all. Before I knew it, the county had fallen into Couran’s hands, and it was time for us to turn our attention to the conquest of Velshdt in earnest. Led by Couran, the bulk of our forces sallied forth from Castle Samkh, and needless to say, I was part of that group.

Our first step toward conquering Velshdt was taking over a stronghold called Fort Valdsen. The fort was located in close proximity to the border with Samkh, and if we managed to claim it, it would serve as an excellent staging ground for the rest of the invasion. The one problem, however, was that Fort Valdsen was far from poorly defended. Not only were its fortifications sound, but it was watched over by a commander who was well known for his competence.

When we stopped to rest partway through our march, Couran called his commanding officers together for a council.

“A frontal assault would cost us, but I’m afraid I see no other option,” he said as he solicited us for advice.

So far, Couran’s invasion had progressed with a rather low rate of casualties. On top of that, a fair number of the common soldiers from regions we’d already conquered had joined us. In total, we actually had more soldiers on our side than we’d started with. Staging a frontal assault would have its fair share of advantages─the most important of which was the speed with which it could be carried out─but we were sure to lose plenty of men in the process. Couran, it seemed, felt that at the present moment we were more pressed for time than we were for troops.

“Losing a few troops here and there might not be a disaster, but if we want to take down Fort Valdsen head-on, we’re also gonna need to expend a hell of a lot of aqua magia,” commented Mireille. “That’s something you should keep in mind.”

A frontal assault would involve a similar tactic to the one we’d used to bring down Fort Vakmakro: blasting a hole in the outer walls with powerful siege magic, then storming in through that opening. Vakmakro’s unimpressive magical defenses and Charlotte’s superlative magical talent had enabled the tactic to be quite effective back then, but Fort Valdsen was supposedly much more prepared to ward off that sort of assault. It would take an awful lot of high-level magic to pierce through the fort’s defenses, and that would involve using up a ton of aqua magia.

“I also believe we should keep our aqua magia expenditures at a minimum,” chimed in Rietz. “After all, there’s no telling how much of it our enemies may be holding in reserve.”

“Aqua magia, is it?” Couran muttered as he furrowed his brow. “I’ll grant you the point, but the fact remains that we have little in the way of alternative options. Would you have us lay siege to the fort? I’m sure you realize we don’t have that sort of time to spare.”

“While we’re on that subject,” said Rosell, “I’m guessing that Fort Valdsen’s commander is operating under orders to stall us for as long as possible. I doubt that he’ll be inclined to go on the offensive, considering the circumstances.”

That made the prospect of siege warfare even less appealing. If a fort’s defenders never chose to rush out for an attack, it could take an interminable amount of time for them to run out of resources and be forced to give up. Under the current circumstances, a siege just wasn’t an option for us.

“Well, if a direct assault would be too costly and a siege too lengthy, what would you propose as a better option?” asked Couran.

“Seems to me that we should look into taking over the fort without fighting at all,” said Mireille.

Taking over the fort without fighting?

In other words, I presumed, she was suggesting we find a way to convince the fort’s defenders to join our side. In the best case, that would allow us to secure victory without spilling a drop of blood or wasting an excess of time.

“Is that feasible?” asked Couran.

“Hard to say,” replied Mireille with a shrug. “Seems worth giving it a try, though. The enemy knows they’re fighting at a disadvantage, and I’m sure some of them aren’t interested in dying in vain. And in the worst case, we can just go for a frontal assault when subterfuge fails.”

“A fair point indeed,” said Couran. “Perhaps there is merit to making an attempt. I am convinced─we will begin by making an effort to coax the enemy into defecting and supporting our cause.”

With that decided, our next step was to figure out who would be responsible for carrying out the scheme. “Does anyone have a proposal for who would be well-suited to bringing the enemy around?” asked Couran.

One by one, the assembled nobles stepped up to volunteer themselves for the task. A few of them claimed to be acquaintances with the commander of Fort Valdsen, and I assumed Couran was likely to choose one of them.

“I nominate the kiddo I work for to handle the job,” said Mireille before Couran could reach a decision, much to my bemusement.

“Wait, why me?” I asked.

“Because you’ve got a real knack for negotiations,” said Mireille. “Plus, your power could give you some insight into what the guy wants from us, don’t you think?”

“My power doesn’t make me all-knowing!” I snapped back, though in truth, the enemy commander’s Ambition score would give me a degree of insight into whether or not it would be possible to convince him to sell out his current lord. If his Ambition was low, I’d know that we’d have to dangle a very tempting incentive in front of him to make him even consider the proposal.

“Ars is an indispensable asset to my army,” said Couran. “I am less than inclined to send him out to participate in negotiations that could prove dangerous.”

“They don’t have to be, though,” said Mireille. “Why not start by sending a letter saying you want to talk with their commander? If he’s open to that, we can start the real negotiations. Knowing he’s willing to talk to us at all will let us know if it’s even worth trying to bring him over to our side, and if he agrees to the talks in advance, I have a hard time imagining he’ll murder our negotiator.”

“Nevertheless, we can’t rule out the possibility he’ll take such an extreme step,” pointed out Couran.

“If we were that obsessed with worst-case scenarios, we wouldn’t be sending the kid out onto the battlefield either,” countered Mireille.

“Hmm,” said Couran, once again lapsing into thought.

Mireille was as silver-tongued as ever, and had backed him into a corner. I, meanwhile, was beside myself with worry that she’d go a step too far and infuriate him. Part of me wanted to tell her that if she had that much of a way with words she should just go handle it on her own, but on the other hand, I could imagine her insulting the enemy commander to his face and ruining the negotiations before they even began.

“What are your thoughts on the matter, Ars?” asked Couran, turning to me next.

I wasn’t sure how dangerous the task would be, honestly, but I was certain that the points Mireille had made were sound. We stood to gain quite a lot if we managed to pull the mission off, and Couran had proven generous with monetary rewards for that sort of accomplishment in the past. I was never one to turn down the chance to make some money, but the question was whether or not I could manage it. Frankly, I wasn’t at all sure I was up to the task.

I was worried that failure would lower Couran’s opinion of me, of course, but more than that, I was worried that screwing this up would delay the conquest of Velshdt. Considering that my biggest goal was to win this war as fast as possible, it didn’t make sense to overextend myself in search of glory if that meant risking a delay. I was leaning toward leaving it up to one of the nobles who was acquainted with the enemy leader…but when I paused to take a closer look at the nobles in question, I noticed that all of them had high Valor but low Politics scores. Suddenly, I found myself doubting whether they could handle the job on a basic level.

We did have people with high Politics scores on our side─there was Robinson, for one thing─so it didn’t seem necessary for me to play a part. However, I had a feeling that my Appraisal skill would be at least somewhat useful in this sort of under-the-table negotiation. I soon came to the conclusion that it would be best to send me along with one of the nobles who knew the commander, or maybe Robinson, and have me serve as the primary negotiator’s support.

“I’m willing to take on the task,” I said, “but I don’t think that I’m capable of succeeding alone. That being said, if I had someone like Sir Robinson or an acquaintance of the enemy leader along with me, I believe we may be able to accomplish this mission.”

“Hmm─so you wish for Robinson to lend you his aid?” Couran asked, then paused to consider my proposal. “I’ll grant you that sending Robinson would improve the odds of your success, but at the same time, it would make our losses all the greater should negotiations fail… Though I suppose that sending someone the commander knows would lessen the likelihood he would choose to slay the lot of you. Nevertheless, I shall have to assign a skilled guard to accompany you.”

It seemed to me that Couran had made up his mind, and as I suspected, it wasn’t long before he’d drafted a letter to send to Fort Valdsen. That was our attempt to test the waters, in a sense. If the enemy commander literally killed the messenger, we’d know there was no choice but to claim the fort by force. The messenger, however, returned in short order.

“The leader of the forces at Fort Valdsen, Lord Ruper, is willing to engage in talks with us,” the messenger reported.

The talks were set to take place on enemy grounds, and we wouldn’t be allowed to bring our weapons with us. I had a sword─not that I could use it─which was taken from me before the negotiations began. I wasn’t excited about the idea of our group being unarmed, but I was told that the enemy’s party would be leaving their weapons behind as well, which made me feel at least a little more secure. This meant that the escort Couran assigned to us was disarmed as well, of course, but I figured that if they were as tough as he seemed to think they were, they wouldn’t need weapons to protect us if worst came to worst.

In spite of all those precautions, the talks weren’t to be held within the enemy fort itself. We’d be meeting their party in a garden just outside of the fort’s front gates. It seemed the idea was that this would serve as safe ground, where we’d be able to tell immediately if anyone nearby was armed.

A round table had been set up in the middle of the garden, before which a middle-aged man was sitting. As we approached, he stood up and spoke.

“Well met,” said the man. “It is good to see you once more, Sir Volance.”

“Likewise, Sir Ruper,” said Volance, the noble who’d been sent along with us on account of him knowing Ruper. That exchange confirmed to me that we were speaking with the fort’s commanding officer. Apparently, Volance and Ruper had fought side by side in some conflict in the past. They weren’t friends, per se, but they were at least acquaintances, and their connection was the least tenuous option available to us.

“Would the men behind you be Sir Robinson and Sir Ars?” asked Ruper.

“That is correct,” confirmed Volance.

Ruper gave me a quizzical look, which was understandable, considering I was very conspicuously still a child. My presence here was odd, especially knowing how important these talks would be. To Ruper’s credit, though, he didn’t choose to voice his doubts, instead directing us to have a seat. I obliged, then appraised him.

The usual status window popped up right away…or so I thought, but an instant later the writing was obscured as the window was filled with what looked like TV static. A jolt of surprise ran through me─had I lost the ability to use my skill?─but thankfully, just a moment later, the window returned to its normal appearance.

What the heck was that? I wondered. Nothing of the sort had ever happened before, but since I could read his stats now, I decided to try not to obsess over it and keep my head in the moment. I shook the surprise off, then gave Ruper’s stats a look.

Ruper’s stats were nothing to sneeze at, and his ambition was on the higher side of things. That explained why he’d been willing to talk with the enemy in the first place. I figured that a man as capable as he was, with an Ambition as high as his, might very well be less than satisfied with the hand his superiors had dealt him in this war.

Now that I knew his stats, I just had to figure out how to use that as a tool in our negotiations. I didn’t know how useful my insight was, but at the very least I’d be able to see through to his true Ambition even if he was the type who’d make an effort to hide it.

As far as the rest of his stats went, his Valor was low, but everything else was high across the board. I could tell he wasn’t the sort of person who’d fight on the front lines. That plus his high Ambition gave me an image of a careful, thoughtful man who harbored quite the scheming nature deep down. If I was right, then as long as we laid out the merits of betraying his current master, he would be willing to jump ship. He was fighting at an undeniable disadvantage, after all.

Couran had given us a summary of the perks we could use to lure him to our side, the most major of which was offering him a position as count after the invasion was over. Once Vasmarque and his followers were defeated, a number of Missianite counties would be bereft of their counts, and Ruper would be able to step in to take one of their places. Our allies probably wouldn’t be happy about that position being handed off to a former foe, but in Couran’s mind, the immediate benefits outweighed that long-term issue. With an offer like that on the table it seemed there’d be no good reason for him to turn down our proposal…but I wasn’t convinced it’d be that easy.

The negotiations began with a period of perfunctory small talk between Ruper and Volance. I could tell in an instant that they didn’t know each other very well, just from the way they spoke to each other. Before long, Robinson seized an opportunity to step in and steer the conversation toward our true objective. When he proposed that Ruper join forces with us, though, Ruper’s response came swiftly.

“I have sworn loyalty to Lord Vasmarque and Lord Kanses,” said Ruper. “As such, I am afraid I must humbly decline your offer.”

I couldn’t tell if he was turning us down because he couldn’t bring himself to take the offer, or because he thought we wouldn’t trust him if he jumped on the offer without hesitation. Robinson followed up by explaining that we could guarantee him a position as count should he accept, but that did nothing to sway him.

What’s there not to like about the deal? I figured someone with as high of an Ambition as him would be dead set on moving up in the world, I thought. It just didn’t make sense. If his compunctions were so strong he’d never betray his current master, then why had he agreed to the negotiations in the first place? Was he putting on a front, and secretly wavering deep down? Or maybe he doubted our sincerity? If he was as cautious as he seemed, then he might have harbored the suspicion that Couran would sooner cut him loose and pretend the deal never happened than appoint Ruper to his promised position and risk inciting the wrath of his other subordinates.

What could we do to gain his trust, though? Maybe we could sign the agreement in blood, or something? Couran had expressed a willingness to offer some extreme incentives if it would lure Ruper onto our side, so surely he’d be willing to spare a spoonful of blood or two for the cause! And if that failed, well, the only idea I could come up with was just arguing the man into submission. Robinson and Volance both seemed to be drawing a blank on that front, so I was going to have to step in and take the lead.

“Are you, perhaps, unconvinced that you’ll be offered the position of count in the end?” I asked.

“No, that is not the issue at hand. You see, I do not wish to be a traitor,” said Ruper, but not before hesitating for just a moment. That told me that he was questioning his decision.

“I assure you, Lord Ruper, that Lord Couran proposed this offer in complete sincerity,” I said. “He will keep his promise─I believe he would go so far as to sign a blood oath to that effect, should you require it. In fact, I would be willing to ask him to do so at once, and I have every confidence that he will agree without hesitation.”

“Nevertheless─” Ruper began, but I wasn’t quite finished yet, so I cut him off before he could say another word.

“You should know, Lord Ruper, that Lord Couran is appalled at the thought that a man of your standing has been wasted on a fort like this. He told me as much himself.”

Ruper fell silent. If he hadn’t been wavering before, I was confident he was now. Finally, he spoke once more.

“Betraying my liege would be a stain upon my character. A man who is known as a traitor would have little hope of earning the trust of the citizens within his realm. I find myself questioning whether ascending to the position of count would hold any meaning under those circumstances,” he explained.

Oh, I get it─this is a question of reputation.

“I do not believe your good name would suffer at all, under these circumstances,” I explained. “At the moment, your force is beset by a far superior foe. Anyone could see that you stand no chance of victory, and most importantly, you were not responsible for putting yourself in this position. No, the fault lies with Vasmarque and Kanses, the men who laid out the strategy for this county’s defense. If they intended to hold this fort, they would have sent reinforcements a long time ago, yet it seems to me that the Count of Velshdt has no intention of supplying any such support.”

The groundwork was laid. Now, I just had to strike the finishing blow.

“If I may presume to speculate upon your count’s intentions, I would guess that he ordered you to buy time, and nothing more. In other words, he has chosen to sacrifice you. It pains me, Lord Ruper, to think that a man of your talents would be cast aside so flagrantly. Your superiors have failed in their judgment, and in doing so, they have failed you.”

Even I was surprised by just how fast the argument had come to me, and how eloquently I’d laid it out. Maybe being born into the aristocracy and speaking with so many different people over the course of my life had made me a better conversationalist? In any case, I told Ruper that we didn’t expect an immediate answer, and that we would give him two days to think our offer through. With that, our talks concluded─and from my perspective, they’d concluded favorably.

Two days passed by before I knew it.

“I expect we’ll receive Ruper’s response before long,” said Couran. “Do you believe he will choose to turn traitor, Ars?”

“At the very least, I felt like he was considering it,” I replied. By the end of my talk with him, it had seemed like Ruper was intrigued by the possibilities. I felt that, all things considered, I’d done a good job of using the information I’d gained about his personality and Ambition to convince him, and I thought there was a decent possibility that my efforts would bear fruit.

“Lord Couran!” shouted a soldier. “A messenger has arrived bearing word from Sir Ruper!”

“Good. Let him through,” said Couran.

The messenger was guided to us.

“Thank you for lending me your ear, Your Lordship,” he said. “Lord Ruper has requested that I inform you of his intent.”

I waited with bated breath. His next words would determine whether our plan had failed or succeeded.

“His Lordship thought long and hard regarding the merits of your proposal,” said the messenger. “Although he owes a great deal to Lord Kanses, the Count of Velshdt, he also acknowledges the truth that as the eldest successor to the duke, Lord Couran bears a stronger claim to the duchy than Lord Vasmarque. In light of this fact, and in light of the fact that he holds a responsibility to ensure that his retainers and his family are not used as sacrificial pawns, Lord Ruper has decided to accept your proposal and fight beneath your banner. Fort Valdsen formally offers you its surrender, Lord Couran.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow, we’d pulled it off.

“Excellent!” said Couran. “The fort is ours, and we’ve barely expended any time or soldiers in the process! This is a major step toward our ultimate victory, and once again, we owe the achievement to you, Ars.”

“I didn’t contribute much,” I replied.

“Ha ha ha! Now’s not the time for humility! It’s the time to revel in our accomplishment─and to that end, let us pay our new fort a visit!” said Couran. He was clearly in the highest of spirits thanks to our stunning success.

Couran led our forces toward Fort Valdsen. There was still a chance that their surrender was a trap, so we proceeded with some caution, but when we arrived, we found the gates flung open. Ruper stood in the entryway alongside his now disarmed troops, and when they saw Couran approaching the fort they all bowed down in unison. It seemed they were making a formal gesture of surrender.

“I bid you welcome, Lord Couran,” said Ruper, maintaining his bow all the while. “I, Ruper Roozton, do hereby pledge my service to your cause and offer up my men to supplement your forces.”

Couran didn’t bother dismounting.

“Rise,” he commanded, then waited for Ruper and his men to look up at him before continuing. “I accept you and yours under my command. Henceforth, you shall fight under my banner to take Velshdt by storm and cast Vasmarque down from his pretender’s throne!”

Ruper bowed once more and replied, “I will serve you to the best of my ability, Your Lordship!” he declared.

It seemed we didn’t have to worry about a trap after all. On that day, Fort Valdsen fell to Couran without a fight.

○

Soon after the success of our scheme to lure Ruper and his men over to our side, it was decided that a banquet would be held in celebration. I ended up seated with my retainers, eating and drinking as we chatted away.

“You’ve outdone yourself this time, Lord Ars,” said Rietz.

“I just hope it’s earned me a little credit from Lord Couran,” I replied. “In any case, it does feel like the tide of battle is turning in our favor, doesn’t it?”

So far, our campaign had been a series of encounters almost entirely devoid of allied casualties. Enemy casualties, on the other hand, had been plentiful when they proved necessary, which wasn’t even always the case. Couran had held the advantage in numbers to begin with, and that disparity had grown so much that it was starting to feel like the rest of the war would be a walk in the park.

“This is no time to let our guards down,” said Rosell, almost as if he’d heard my thoughts and felt the need to dissuade me from them. “The enemy can’t afford to lose any more ground to us, and that means they’ll be fighting to the death from here on out. I think we’ll be seeing a real large-scale battle before much longer.”

“Meh,” chimed in Mireille. “A battle you can’t afford to lose is a battle you can’t afford to lose, no matter how many of ’em you’ve plowed through before it. That’s just how it goes in war, and we can’t afford to lose any of the battles we’re about to fight.”

She made it sound like the idea of her letting her guard down was absurd in the first place─though then again, she was also well on her way to drowning herself in booze, so she might’ve just been talking off the cuff.

I knew that participating in a large-scale battle would mean that the slightest mistake could lead to my death, and I was in no hurry to die. Especially considering I hadn’t lived that long yet! I resolved that keeping myself alive would have to be my top priority.

Some time later, I decided to appraise the newest additions to the army: Ruper’s men. I knew that recruiting someone who’d already sworn service to Couran was a lost cause, and it didn’t feel like I really had much to gain, but I also didn’t have anything to lose and decided there wouldn’t be any harm in giving them a check. When I appraised the first man, though, I was in for a shock.

“Huh?” I grunted as I looked at his status screen. It looked the same as ever for the most part, listing his name, sex, age, status, and aptitudes, but there, at the very bottom of the screen, a new block of info was displayed. For the first man I appraised, that block read: Born on the twentieth day of the eleventh month, 183 Imperial Era, in Millast, County of Velshdt, Duchy of Missian, Summerforth Empire. Has two older brothers and one younger sister. Father and mother are alive and well. Short-tempered, and loves dried meat. Enjoys horseback riding and fancies women in their forties and above. Has absolute faith in his lord and master, Ruper.

Suddenly, my skill gave me access to a massive quantity of personal information! I appraised a few other people…and was met with similar results. My skill, which had remained static in its effects for years, had gone through a significant evolution!

But why, though? And why now? I wondered. Was it based on the number of times I’d used it? Or perhaps my age? Maybe using my power to its fullest potential in the negotiations had bumped me over the edge? The change had been so abrupt, I couldn’t pin down a concrete explanation. In retrospect, it seemed plausible that the odd glitch my skill had displayed when I appraised Ruper the other day was a warning sign that this was about to happen.

Whatever the reasoning behind the change, though, I had a wealth of new information at my disposal. I knew my new abilities could very well make future negotiations and attempts at subterfuge easier. Of course, it could also seriously creep people out if I used it without careful consideration, since it wouldn’t exactly be a good look to know things about people that they’d never shared with you. I’d have to be extra cautious about that.

I also had a moment of hesitation when I tried to decide whether or not I should use my new power on my retainers. It seemed that the information block in the new status screens always reported on the individual’s opinion of their current lord. Would it be all right for me to know what my own people thought of me?

This feels like it’s skirting dangerously close to invasion-of-privacy territory… But then again, I do like the idea of knowing where their true loyalties lie… That seems like important information for a lord to have.

That settled it in my mind: I’d appraise my retainers and learn what they thought about me. I decided to start with Rietz, and took a look at his basic stats and growth while I was at it.

At long last, it seemed that all of his stats had made it into the nineties. His Valor was capped out, even! Rietz was a very diligent person, and I knew for a fact that he’d never let up on his training, which seemed to be paying off well for him.

All right, now for the important part─let’s see what the new section says about him…

Rietz’s lower status read: Born on the thirtieth day of the fifth month, 189 Imperial Era, in Redroot, County of Cornlent, Duchy of Seitz, Summerforth Empire. Parents have passed away; has one younger sister. Diligent, earnest, and not even remotely picky when it comes to food. Enjoys studying and training. Has an interest in broad-minded women. Bears a strong sense of loyalty toward his lord and master, Ars.

In hindsight, I barely even needed to bother checking Rietz out on that front. I was starting to think it would’ve been a better idea not to bother─I didn’t need to know what his taste in women was. On the other hand, to the best of my knowledge, he’d never had any real relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

Maybe I’ll introduce him to a broad-minded girl, if I ever happen to come across one…though I guess an Imperial girl would have to be broad-minded to court a Malkan like him.

I’d also learned his birthday, which was noteworthy given that it was the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month. In other words, his birthday was just five days away! That being said, Rietz didn’t know when he’d been born, and we’d always celebrated his birthday on a day we’d picked out arbitrarily. Switching over to his actual birthday would’ve just felt wrong, somehow. I was also a little surprised to learn that he hadn’t been born in Missian, and wondered if he was even aware of that himself.

His parents had already passed away…but he had a sister? That was news to me, and the status page’s phrasing implied that she might still be alive, too. If it reported on his parents’ death, it stood to reason in my mind that it would report on hers as well. The Summerforth Empire was huge, of course, so even if she was alive, the odds of finding her seemed very low, but my sentimental side made me want to do everything I could to reunite them.

Next up, I appraised Charlotte.

Her stats hadn’t improved much, on the whole. She still had plenty of room to grow in the Valor department, though, so I had high hopes she’d step it up eventually. That brought me to the important part: the new, detailed information on her personality. Charlotte’s thought processes had always been an enigma in my mind, so I was interested in the results.

Her status page read: Born on the fifth day of the eleventh month, 192 Imperial Era, in Ampare, County of Maasa, Duchy of Missian, Summerforth Empire. Parents have passed away. Has a simple and straightforward personality. Loves sweets. Enjoys casting magic and sleeping. Has an interest in people who are willing to spoil her. Thinks of her lord and master Ars as her little brother.

I’m sorry, she thinks of me as what?

I couldn’t remember a single time that she’d acted like an older sibling for me in any capacity. In fact, I mostly remembered taking care of her. That being said, it was good to know that she wasn’t harboring any deep-seated resentment toward me, and I’d already known most of the other stuff my appraisal had told me about her.

Rosell’s appraisal came next.

His stats had risen so much since I’d appraised him a few months earlier, it was like I was looking at a different person. I had to assume that between participating in a war and getting tutored by Mireille, his recent experiences had done him a world of good. His abilities were astonishing considering he was only eleven, and the fact that he still had room to grow was mind-boggling.

As for the extra information on him, it read: Born on the sixth day of the ninth month, 199 Imperial Era, in Torbequista, County of Canarre, Duchy of Missian, Summerforth Empire. Father is alive and well; mother is deceased. Has two brothers. Pathologically pessimistic. Likes vegetable soup and enjoys reading. Has yet to develop an interest in the opposite sex. Considers his lord and master Ars his best friend.

His best friend, huh?

I was just relieved to learn that he didn’t think poorly of me. Of course, I hadn’t been worried about him, Rietz, or Charlotte to begin with─no, the person I was concerned about was Mireille. I could only begin to guess what went on in her mind behind that poker face of hers, so I went ahead and appraised her. Her stats hadn’t changed at all since the last time I checked, which wasn’t too much of a surprise considering she’d been close to capped out in everything already. It would take more than a few skirmishes to raise her skills.

Finally, my eyes fell upon the important part, her detailed info panel. It read: Born on the fifteenth day of the sixth month, 181 Imperial Era, in Arcantez, County of Arcantez, Duchy of Missian, Summerforth Empire. Parents have passed away. Has one younger brother. Prone to unconventional thinking. Loves alcohol, and drinks all the time. Romantically interested in people younger than her (regardless of gender). Considers her lord and master Ars amusing.

“Amusing”…?

That didn’t clear much up at all, and it didn’t feel like a sign of uncompromising loyalty, either. Then again, Mireille didn’t seem like the type who’d bear loyalty toward anyone, and I didn’t even need to appraise her to figure that out. It seemed I wouldn’t be able to let my guard down around her any time soon.

I also couldn’t help but be surprised by her preferences. The “regardless of gender” part made it pretty clear that Mireille was bisexual. Once again, it felt like I’d trampled all over any reasonable standards of privacy, especially considering the part about her being into people younger than her. I’d never gotten the impression she was looking at me in that light, but I knew I’d end up being hyper-vigilant around her from now on.

That wrapped up my appraisal of my inner circle of retainers. As best as I could tell, everyone except for Mireille was more or less trustworthy. I also resolved not to mention my skill’s evolution to anyone unless it became necessary. After all, the skill’s new info panel had the potential to give me a ton of information that people definitely wouldn’t want me to have. I’d have to be careful not to let any of those details slip out going forward.

○

The day after our celebration, Couran called a council of war once more. Winter had arrived in Missian, and it was getting colder and colder by the day. I’d heard that this year’s winter was supposed to be relatively mild, but we still might see snow toward the end of the sixth month or so. Snow would cause our advance to slow to a crawl, and our goal was to press as far forward as we could manage before the elements delayed our onslaught.

“Now then,” said Couran, “the time has come to discuss our assault on Castle Staatz.”

Indeed, with Fort Valdsen in our hands, we had the foothold we needed to move on to Castle Staatz, the citadel that guarded a road we’d need to travel to reach Castle Velshdt. Without bringing Staatz under our control, it would be difficult to march our troops on the capital en masse. Although the castle was built on a flat plane, it featured tall ramparts and was built from materials that would stand up to a magical assault quite effectively. Worse still, its magical defenses were reportedly as solid as they could get.

The castle was, in short, extremely well defended. Storming it by force would be an incredibly hard task, but given our sheer superiority in numbers, it was not an impossible one. We’d also heard all about the commander who was tasked with protecting the castle from Ruper, and according to him, the odds of said commander choosing to turn traitor were low. We’d either have to storm the castle or lay siege to it─no other options presented themselves this time.

“We have a clear path from Fort Valdsen to Castle Staatz, with one exception─here,” said Couran, pointing to a location on the map of Velshdt he’d spread out in front of him. A mark at that position, just a little to the northwest of Castle Staatz, was labeled Castle Rolto. “If we march on Castle Staatz and leave Castle Rolto unaddressed, then there’s a chance the forces there will advance on our rear flank after we pass them. Given that the enemy cannot afford to lose Castle Staatz, I expect they’ll send reinforcements in from Velshdt proper, and with Rolto’s forces behind us, we’ll be caught in a pincer attack. We cannot allow that to happen, so Castle Rolto must fall.”

I could see what Couran meant. Castle Rolto was in an inconvenient location. Considering how important Castle Staatz was for Velshdt, I had to imagine that Castle Rolto had been built for the specific purpose of reinforcing it in times of need.

“All that being said,” Couran continued, “if we were to attempt an assault on Castle Rolto before anything else, it stands to reason that reinforcements from Castle Staatz and Velshdt would come to catch us in a pincer attack once again. As such, I have come to the conclusion that our best option is to split our forces into two units and attack both castles simultaneously. What are your thoughts on this proposal?”

I was in no position to argue against the idea. Our overwhelming numerical advantage meant that there were very few demerits to splitting our troops up, so it felt like a solid strategy all around.

“I shall take command of the force that will claim Castle Staatz,” said Couran. “Lumeire, meanwhile, will lead the assault on Castle Rolto.”

“Me, Your Lordship?” said Lumeire, his eyes wide with astonishment. Apparently, this was well beyond his expectations.

“Yes, you,” said Couran. “Is there a problem?”

“No, not at all!” said Lumeire. “If such is your will, Lord Couran, I swear I will lead your men to victory!”

If Lumeire would be leading the attack on Castle Rolto, I reasoned, I would be assigned to that division as well. Frankly, though, I was as surprised to see him put in a position of command as he was. There were several other lords in Couran’s force who were ranked higher than him, and seeing him elevated above them seemed like a sign that he’d earned Couran’s trust. Whatever his motivations, though, the decision was set in stone: Lumeire would lead the assault on Castle Rolto.

Our intelligence suggested that Castle Rolto was garrisoned with five thousand men. Couran chose to assign Lumeire ten thousand men to lead in the attack─which was double our enemy’s numbers. Furthermore, while we were in theory leading an assault on the castle, in practice our main objective was to ensure that they couldn’t dispatch reinforcements to Castle Staatz. They wouldn’t be giving up the castle without a fight, but we didn’t need them to give up the castle at all. We had to wait for them to try and send reinforcements to Staatz, at which point they’d have to sally forth into a field battle, where we could wipe them out and take the castle largely uncontested.

“That said,” Couran continued, “while I have no doubt you will win the day with such overwhelming numbers, Ruper has informed me that Castle Rolto’s garrison boasts a rather large cavalry contingent for the sake of dispatching troops to the defense of Castle Staatz as quickly as possible. Not only is this division skilled, but you will likely be fighting them on an open field─terrain in which cavalry reigns supreme. A numerical advantage may not be enough to guarantee victory, and I have decided to task the Maitraw Company with supporting your force. Fighting in open fields is their specialty, and I trust they will serve you well.”

The Maitraw Company…

That was a name I’d heard a few times before. They were said to be some of the most skilled and famous mercenaries around, but as far as I’d seen, they hadn’t accomplished anything noteworthy in the war so far. That wasn’t necessarily to their discredit, to be fair─it’s hard to stand out in battle when your army barely fought to begin with.

Come to think of it, I missed my chance to appraise their leader, Clamant, didn’t I?

He wasn’t present at the council, so I’d have to make that happen when I met him later on.

As expected, I was tasked with supporting Lumeire in the attack on Castle Rolto. The plan was met with the approval of Couran’s advisors, and before long, we were making our preparations to split off from the main force. Thankfully, our bloodless victory over Fort Valdsen meant that our troops were all well-rested and ready to sortie. We were ready before I knew it, and it was decided that we’d march on the fort in two days’ time.

“I still can’t believe that I was given command,” Lumeire said to me. “I’m guessing that you had just as much to do with this as I did, Ars.”

“Me?” I replied. “But how? I thought this was a sign that Lord Couran has faith in you!”

“Perhaps, but that’s not the whole of it. You and your people will be playing a vital role in the battle to come. I suspect that Lord Couran would’ve preferred to leave the force in your hands, but couldn’t justify the decision. You are still just a lad, after all. That’s why he chose me─because I serve as your lord, and can therefore act as your proxy.”

“I-I think you’re reading a little too deeply into this,” I countered. I found the theory plausible, in truth, but coming out and saying that would’ve been a bad idea no matter how carefully I phrased it.

“I have to wonder about this Maitraw Company that will aid us in the battle, though,” Lumeire continued. “I don’t make a habit of trusting mercenaries. Lord Couran claims that their skills are unrivaled, but I can’t help having doubts. All I can do is hope they prove their worth, unless…yes, of course! I have an idea, Ars─Have you met with Clamant, the head of the company?”

“I’ve seen him in passing,” I replied.

“And did you appraise him?”

“I’m afraid not,” I admitted. “I intended to, but I missed the chance.”

“No matter─in fact, this works out well,” said Lumeire. “I had already intended to speak with Clamant myself. Will you come along when I do?”

“Gladly.”

Without a moment’s delay, Lumeire sent out one of his men to find Clamant and bring him to us. It only took a few minutes for the messenger to return, though.

“Where’s Clamant? Could you not find him?” asked Lumeire.

“No, I found him,” said the messenger, “but he told me that if someone wishes to speak with him, they’ll have to come to him. I explained that the Count of Canarre himself had summoned him, but he seemed unmoved! I’ve never met a more insolent man.”

“Is that so? Well, I suppose it would only be right for us to go to him, seeing as we’re the ones who wish to talk. One can hardly expect manners from a mercenary,” said Lumeire. Plenty of nobles would end up frothing with rage if they were treated that impolitely, but Lumeire had always struck me as a level-headed person. “Lead us to Clamant, then.”

“V-Very well, Your Lordship!” said the messenger, who proceeded to do just that.

We found Clamant training with a group of soldiers a short ways outside of the fort. I’d caught a glimpse of him once back in Castle Semplar, and he had the exact same aura about him now as he’d had back then. He was not an ordinary person, and you could tell with a single glance. Maybe that was why I remembered his face, even though I’d only caught a glimpse of him before. If Ben had the sort of face you’d forget as soon as you lost sight of him, then Clamant occupied the opposite end of the spectrum: he was a man who left a powerful and lasting impression.

When we arrived, Clamant was sparring with the soldiers. He wasn’t dueling them, though─he was fighting them one on five, deflecting the blades of his foes with ease and grace. His swordsmanship was a sight to behold, and I reached the conclusion that he’d have an S-ranked aptitude associated with it before I even bothered appraising him. We watched him at work for some time before he and the soldiers paused for a break.

“Magnificent,” said Lumeire as he strode up to Clamant. Clamant, however, turned to look at Lumeire without saying a word, his expression as cold and immovable as steel. I had to admit, the man was a little frightening. Lumeire, though, seemed completely unshaken and kept talking. “You live up to your company’s good name. I’ve never seen finer swordsmanship.”

“My swordsmanship is nothing special,” grunted Clamant.

“Surely you jest!” said Lumeire. “After a display like that?”

“My areas of expertise are the spear and the bow,” said Clamant. “Especially when I’m on horseback. Fighting on foot isn’t my specialty.”

“If that wasn’t a demonstration of your specialties, then I shudder to imagine what your areas of expertise do look like,” replied Lumeire, and frankly, I had to agree. I also couldn’t help but feel a dose of healthy skepticism, so I appraised him.

Born on the tenth day of the third month, 181 Imperial Era, in Valka, County of Valka, Duchy of Rofeille, Summerforth Empire. Father deceased; mother alive and well. A pragmatic man with a fondness for meat of all varieties. Enjoys training. Has an interest in strong women.

Well, that sure is one hell of a Valor score!

It seemed that his claim to not be much of a swordsman was not a lie after all, on a relative scale. He did have an A-ranked Infantry aptitude, but his S-ranked Cavalry aptitude might very well have made his swordsmanship seem like nothing special in comparison. Perhaps he just had incredibly high standards.

Though he was skilled, Clamant’s supposed pragmatism made me a little worried that he’d choose to retreat the moment the tide of battle started turning against him─though, it occurred to me that most mercenaries would behave that way. In any case, said skills meant that it seemed worthwhile to put our faith in him for the time being.

“Who are you?” asked Clamant.

“I am Lumeire Pyres, Count of Canarre,” answered Lumeire. “I have been entrusted with the role of commander over the force bound to attack Castle Rolto, and I have come to meet with the mercenaries who were assigned to support our division.”

“Hmph. So the servant from before was yours?” asked Clamant, who seemed unmoved by the knowledge he was speaking with a count.

“That’s right.”

“And who’s the kid?” said Clamant, glancing over at me next.

“My name is Ars Louvent,” I replied.

“I don’t give a damn what your name is,” said Clamant, “but I do give a damn about how you look like you’re sizing me up. I don’t like it. Stop.”

Did he somehow sense that I was using my skill on him?

That was new─I’d never seen anyone catch on to the fact that I’d appraised them like that before. I had to assume that either it was a coincidence, or that the man’s instincts and senses bordered on the superhuman.

Lumeire chatted with Clamant for a little longer, but eventually, the mercenary brought the conversation to a rather abrupt and unilateral close by returning to his training.

Lumeire turned to me as Clamant left and asked, “So, did you appraise him? Not that I even need to hear the results to know that he’s no ordinary man.”

“I did, yes,” I replied. “Not only is he a brave and valorous man, but he’s also a remarkable leader. I have no doubts that he’s capable of helping us.”

“Is he, now? Then I suppose there remains no room for doubt…except, of course, for the question of his motivation,” he added, still sounding a little concerned.

I wasn’t as worried as Lumeire seemed to be, personally. Mercenaries earned a living by fighting, which meant that not fighting would put their livelihood in jeopardy. That wasn’t to say they’d charge headfirst into a disadvantageous conflict, but so long as we held the advantage of numbers, I didn’t think we’d have anything to worry about.

Shortly afterward, Lumeire gave the order to prepare to march. Before we started moving out, I found the time to ask Pham to gather information on Castle Rolto for me. I wasn’t looking for any detailed insider information this time─I just wanted to know about any conspicuous enemy movements, how many soldiers were stationed there, and his general impression of the castle on the whole. It was more or less just scouting work, so thankfully, his price wasn’t steep this time around. That would give me all the info I’d need about the castle, which I hoped would help me cope with any unexpected developments.

Finally, the day of our march arrived.

“The conquest of Castle Rolto will prove instrumental for Lord Couran’s campaign,” declared Lumeire as he addressed his troops. “We shall emerge victorious─defeat is not an option! Our army outnumbers the enemy two to one, and we stand at a great advantage, but do not allow these favorable conditions to lull you into a sense of complacency! We fight with our all! Now, march!”

With that, the army began its trek toward Castle Rolto.

○

Meanwhile in Castle Rolto, the lord of the fortress had called an extended conference with his most trusted advisors to address their perilous circumstances.

“I must admit…I failed to anticipate Lord Ruper’s betrayal,” muttered the lord, a man named Jean Tendory. At the age of twenty-two, he was rather young for his position. He had long, blonde hair and handsome features that didn’t suit the look of resignation on his face.

Jean had been acquainted with Ruper, and knew him as an earnest, faithful man, but that impression had been shattered by his unexpected act of treachery. In truth, it had never been an accurate impression at all. Deep down, Ruper had always harbored an ambition to advance in station─Jean had simply failed to see through to his real motivations. He wasn’t alone, either. Kanses, the man who had assigned Ruper to watch over Fort Valdsen, had been taken in by his persona as well. Ruper had spent his whole life hiding his ambitions, and that had finally paid off for the man.

“I bring news, Your Lordship,” said a messenger who had just arrived on the scene. “The enemy’s army has split into two divisions! One marches upon Castle Staatz, while the other appears to be making its way here!”

“As expected,” Jean sighed. “How many men are headed our way?”

“Over ten thousand,” said the messenger. “We’ve also received reports that the Maitraw Company marches among their ranks.”

“So ten thousand men wasn’t enough for them? They just had to hire the most dangerous mercenaries around as well?” Jean groaned. His own garrison numbered some five thousand troops. If the enemy’s soldiers were poorly trained, then Jean felt confident in his ability to prevail against superior numbers, but the Maitraw Company was renowned for the ruthless competence of its members. Their presence on the battlefield lowered Jean’s odds of turning the situation around.

“It doesn’t matter how many of them there are!” shouted one of Jean’s advisors. “We must sortie at once and ride to Castle Staatz’s aid! We await your command, Lord Jean!”

“Well said!” spoke up another. “Our cavalry is unrivaled! No enemy line is too sturdy for us to break through!”

Castle Rolto was renowned for its cavalry unit, and a great number of skilled horsemen had gathered to serve as part of it. So great was their confidence in their skills that even hearing they were outnumbered two to one wasn’t enough to make any of them falter. Jean himself was well known for his capable horsemanship, and had led the cavalry unit into battle on many occasions to great success.

“Wait,” said Jean, holding out a hand to calm down his impassioned advisors. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves. Our cavalry is unrivaled, true, but the enemy’s forces are nothing to scoff at. If we take on numbers like theirs without a plan, our effort will be doomed from the outset.”

“You mean to say we should think up a strategy?” asked one of them.

“Exactly. Or rather, I’ve already begun putting one into practice.”

“You have?”

“Indeed. Though whether or not it bears fruit, of course, is still to be determined.”

“News, Your Lordship!” shouted yet another messenger as he burst into the room. “I come bearing a missive from Lord Handar!”

“It finally arrived?!” shouted Jean as he received the letter, tearing it open to read on the spot. A grin then spread across his face.

“We might just win this battle after all,” Jean muttered, then leaped to his feet and shouted out an order to his men. “Prepare to sortie at once!”

○

Partway through the march to Castle Rolto, we paused to set up camp and bed down for the night. As we ate dinner that evening, I noticed that Charlotte was scowling at her food.

“This is tasteless,” she muttered despondently.

Frankly, I was with her on that one. The trail rations we’d been provided to eat while we were on the move hadn’t been cooked with palatability in mind. We had rock-hard bread, watery soup, and other less than satisfying provisions available. That being said, this wasn’t anything new. We’d been eating like this for a very long time now, and I had no idea why Charlotte would be complaining about it all of a sudden.

“We’ve been eating this food for weeks,” said Rietz, who must have felt the same way I did. “Why complain about it now?”

“Just ’cause I haven’t been complaining doesn’t mean it hasn’t been disgusting! I’ve hated this godawful slop this whole time, and I can’t take it anymore!” Charlotte shouted. “Doesn’t this bother you, Rietz?! When was the last time we had good food?!”

“I’m used to it,” said Rietz with a shrug. “I’m surprised you aren’t, considering the environment you grew up in.”

“I couldn’t eat decent food back then, sure, but the moment you have your first good meal, you can never go back! You’re with me, right, Lord Ars?!” said Charlotte, passing the buck to me.

I hadn’t changed my mind in the past minute, and I did more or less agree with her in spirit, but I still couldn’t let myself take her side.

“You can’t expect good food on the battlefield,” I said. “You’ll just have to put up with it.”

“A-Aren’t I supposed to be older than you?! Why do you have to sound so mature?!” gasped Charlotte. Of course, if you counted my previous life, I was considerably older than her in a mental sense.

“I dunno, I think I get where she’s coming from,” said Mireille. “Y’know what makes it easier to deal with, though? Just keep thinking about how good your first real meal’s gonna taste when the fighting’s finally over. Lemme tell you, there’s nothing like your first bite of real food after weeks of war rations.”

“I never thought about it that way. Let’s wrap this war up as soon as possible,” replied Charlotte with an approving nod. It didn’t feel like the best possible way to drive her into battle, but I was glad to see her feeling motivated nevertheless.

“Oh, and this stuff helps too. Couple swigs of this, and you won’t even care how bad the food is!” Mireille added, suddenly pulling out a bottle she must’ve tucked somewhere in her shirt. I could only assume that “this” meant “a stiff drink.”

“Ah!” shouted Rosell the second he caught sight of the bottle. “You know you’re not supposed to be drinking, Master!”

“Oh, come on─why not?” grumbled Mireille.

“All sorts of reasons! It’d be bad enough if the soldiers on the front lines were drunk, but you need to be clearheaded to do your work! How are you supposed to strategize when you’re too busy tripping over your own two feet?!”

“It’s just a little sip, kid! Y’know, a swig or two makes it easier to think clearly.”

“No it doesn’t! That’s not how alcohol works!”

Rosell lunged forward to snatch the bottle out of Mireille’s hand, but she pulled it back and held it over her head. Considering the difference between their heights, that was checkmate. Rosell was left jumping ineffectually, trying and failing to reach the bottle.

“Ha ha ha! Try again when you’ve grown a head or two taller!” Mireille cackled, then tried to take a drink…only for Rietz, who was almost as tall as her and also standing right behind her, to snag the bottle right out of her hand.

“I’m confiscating this.”

“Wh-What?! Dammit, Rietz, give that back!” shouted Mireille, but Rietz was too fast for her. It took a few minutes of keep away, but eventually, she resigned herself to her fate and gave up on retrieving her booze.

“Son of…a bitch,” she muttered between panting, heaving gasps. “I swear…I’ll get you for this…”

With that, Mireille collapsed to the ground. I found myself wondering: was it a good idea to give a woman like her command over an army?

○

The next day, we resumed our advance on Castle Rolto.

“Hey, kiddo! Looks like we’ve got a report from the Shadows,” said Mireille as we marched. She was using a specially designed catalyzer to keep in touch with them by way of the Transmit spell.

Transmit’s range wasn’t unlimited, but the Shadows had quite a few agents on the job, and had a relay system set up to deliver reports at great speeds over vast distances. This time, they’d sent a message to inform us that a force of around five thousand soldiers─exactly the number we’d anticipated─had sortied from Castle Rolto about a half hour earlier. Transmit was only capable of translating simple, basic noises, by the way, but those who knew the appropriate codes could still send and receive coherent messages. Mireille was very proficient with that system, so I’d entrusted her with the duty of receiving all our messages.

I immediately went to report what I’d learned to Lumeire.

“Just as expected, then,” he said when I was finished.

“It seems that way, yes,” I replied.

“If the enemy’s on the move, we should set up our formation here and block the road,” said Mireille.

“Why do you say that?” asked Lumeire.

“The enemy force is mostly comprised of cavalry, and they’ll be in a hurry to back up Staatz. If they don’t take the Pran Highroad, they’ll never make it in time, so there’s almost no chance they won’t pass through here. If they don’t, that means they’ll be traveling off-road, and they’ll lose the advantage their cavalry would give them, so we can just chase after them and wipe them out.”

It seemed like a solid plan to me. Since our objective was to prevent enemy reinforcements from reaching Staatz, shutting down the road made total sense. Lumeire agreed, and we began setting up our battle formation without delay. The enemy would likely arrive within a day or so, so we decided to pick a nearby location to serve as our battleground.

The place we ended up choosing wasn’t perfect terrain for our purposes, but getting our ranks sorted and ready was the higher priority. We constructed a makeshift palisade to stand in front of our troops and help break the brunt of the enemy’s charge. We’d been carrying a stock of wood with us, so we were at no lack of materials and the work went quickly. With that, all we had left to do was wait for the enemy to arrive.

We may have had twice the number of troops as our enemy, but their fighting force was not to be underestimated. Nothing left an army shaken like a head-on cavalry charge, and if our troops were thrown into a state of disorder, it wasn’t unthinkable that we could lose. I knew very well that my life was on the line, so I resolved to stay calm and be ready for any possibility as I watched the battle unfold.

As we waited for the enemy force to arrive, Mireille received another report through her catalyzer. I assumed that our spies were reporting in to say that the enemy was close, but as it turned out, I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

“Oh…?” said Mireille with a smirk. “Well, that sure makes this more interesting.”

I didn’t know how to decode a Transmit spell, so I had no idea what she was talking about.

“What did they say?” I asked, already worried. What was interesting to Mireille tended to be concerning by my standards─her worldview was incomprehensible to me.

“Y’know how we were assuming that the enemy army would head straight here? Well, they didn’t,” said Mireille. “They took an unexpected route. Our spies tailed them to a place called the Daldoll Moor, where they rendezvoused with another army. Now they’re heading our way.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“Boiling it down to the important part: they got reinforcements,” said Mireille.

“Reinforcements?” I repeated incredulously. “From where?”

“Judging by the flag they’re flying, it’s the army of House Serdoura. Their head’s the current Count of Balton.”

The County of Balton, I recalled, was located in the northeastern reaches of Velshdt, close enough to send reinforcements to Castle Rolto in a pinch. The factor that made this a shock, though, was that I’d heard the Count of Balton had claimed neutrality in the conflict between Couran and Vasmarque. We’d been acting under the assumption that they weren’t an active threat, but it seemed that choice was coming back to bite us.

“How many of them are there?” I asked. In the best-case scenario, only a few of the barons in Balton had decided to side with Vasmarque and sent troops. That would mean several hundred troops─a thousand at most─and wouldn’t put our plans in jeopardy.

“Five thousand minimum, from the sound of it,” said Mireille.

“Oh. Well.”

That meant we were facing the worst-case scenario: in just a brief period of time, the entirety of the County of Balton had thrown its lot in with Vasmarque. This development was beyond our wildest expectations. The enemy’s force was now equally matched with or superior to ours in terms of numbers. I dashed off to report the news to Lumeire, and he was shaken enough to call together an emergency council on the spot.

○

“This is an unprecedented crisis,” said Lumeire. He and all the nobles in his force had gathered up in a tent at the center of our formation for an emergency council of war. I was attending with all my retainers, of course. “The enemy has joined up with reinforcements, and their force now rivals ours in number. As matters stand, our victory is far from assured. What shall we do? Request aid from Lord Couran?”

“Reinforcements? I’m not sure,” said Rosell. “I doubt they’d make it here in time. I don’t know how far Lord Couran’s force has advanced at the moment, but the enemy will be here before we know it. Considering the time it will take to send the message, plus the time required for reinforcements to get here, I can’t imagine they’ll make it before it’s too late.”

“I see,” said Lumeire. “Then what if we were to request reinforcements, leave a rearguard to delay the enemy’s advance, and retreat until we converge with Lord Couran’s troops and go on the offensive once more?”

“We may be able to bolster our numbers in time with that plan, yes,” Rosell said, though he still sounded apprehensive.

“I have no idea what you people are so concerned about,” said Clamant, who was participating in the discussion as well. “The enemy has as many troops as we do? Then each of our men just has to kill one of theirs. It’s simple.”

“If only things were so simple,” sighed Lumeire. “However, our enemy’s troops are notoriously skilled, and their morale is high. Our men, on the other hand, have been anticipating an effortless rout, not a fight on even terms. I fear their morale will be low due to the sudden shift.”

“They may be skilled, but not more skilled than we are. We will not lose,” said Clamant. “Or do you doubt our ability?”

“No, no, I’m well aware of the Maitraw Company’s strength. Nevertheless…” Lumeire trailed off. Reading between the lines, I presumed that he was concerned he couldn’t trust the mercenaries. There was no telling whether they’d choose to withdraw on account of the even numbers, especially if the tide of battle started turning against us.

“Let it be known that we will earn every coin that has crossed our palms. That is our way of life, and Couran Salemakhia has granted us a substantial down payment for our services. We will not withdraw until we have worked off that balance,” said Clamant. I assumed he’d guessed what Lumeire was worried about.

“I’m against falling back too,” said Mireille. “They have as many men as us, not more─it’s not like we’re fighting at a disadvantage. We might as well take a swing at them before we talk about running away.”

“But Master,” said Rosell, “we’re dealing with a force centered around a cavalry division! If we try to withdraw after engaging with them, it’s possible that they’ll break through our rearguard, catch up with the main force, and wipe us out. Then they’ll be able to catch Lord Couran’s force unaware and pin them between their army and the army from Staatz.”

“Fair point,” said Mireille. “But falling back and asking Couran to send us troops would be a problem for his front, too. There’s no point in stopping the troops from Balton if Couran can’t handle Castle Staatz in the meantime. Don’t lose sight of our ultimate objective.”

“That’s true,” said Rosell. “But if worst comes to worst and the main force is caught in a pincer attack, the casualties could prove insurmountable. Our offensive could end then and there, and building our forces back up would take time we don’t have─and that’s not even considering the possibility that Lord Couran himself could be taken captive. A loss is a loss, yes, but not all failures are equal in terms of consequences… But then again, making our stand here and winning is the best possible outcome by far… What are our chances…?”

He was mostly talking to himself, at that point, and drifted off into furious thought. I could tell that he had ideas, but also that we were in a very difficult position.

“I believe we should engage the enemy as planned,” said Rietz. “There’s no sense in fighting an unwinnable battle, but the outcome of this engagement is far from set in stone. The enemy’s morale may be high, but in their elation at doubling the size of their force, they may disregard the need for caution and advance upon us recklessly. I believe that is a state of affairs that we can take advantage of.”

“Perhaps… What of you, Ars? What are your thoughts on this predicament?” asked Lumeire, turning to me next.

If I were being honest, I would’ve liked nothing better than to turn tail and flee on the spot. Going up against an army five thousand strong was scary enough, and the thought of taking on ten thousand men was downright terrifying. I knew that was just my emotional response getting the better of me, though, and that a withdrawal was not the right choice on a tactical level.

I hadn’t had the chance to appraise the enemy leader, so I couldn’t be sure we held an advantage in terms of personnel, but at the very least I knew that some of our people were hard to beat. The odds of them having retainers more capable than ours seemed low, and it did seem likely that they would be in a hurry, which would open up opportunities to turn the tide, even if our troops were left dispirited by the surprise reinforcements. Plus, running away without putting up a fight wouldn’t endear us to Couran! When I looked at the situation in totality, standing and fighting felt like the best path forward.

“I believe we should engage the enemy as planned,” I said.

“I see,” Lumeire replied with a nod, then asked the rest of the nobles in attendance for their opinions. In the end, the majority sided with me and Rietz.

“Very well, then,” said Lumeire once he’d finished his consultation. “We will make our stand here! Prepare to engage the enemy, on the double!”

Just then, a noise rang out from Mireille’s catalyzer─the sound generated by a Transmit spell.

“Ah. That’ll be a report from the Shadows.”

Her catalyzer kept emitting noises for longer than I was used to. It went on long enough that I started to worry if she’d even be able to decode the message, but thankfully, those concerns turned out to be groundless.

“New info about the enemy army,” Mireille reported. “They’re moving fast, and should be here in about ten hours or so. They’re in a hurry, that’s for sure, and it sounds like their morale’s running high.”

“Then they must be rushing to reinforce Castle Staatz, as expected,” I commented. It seemed like an obvious decision to make, on their part. If they took their time, then the fortress could fall before they even arrived. Setting traps seemed like the best way to turn the odds in our favor, but as to what sort of traps we’d use, I was at a loss. Magical traps weren’t very easy to lay─we’d need around three days or so to get them all set up, so they were out of the question in this scenario.

“I think I’ve come up with our best possible option,” said Rosell, breaking his long silence as his pondering came to an end.

“You have a plan?” asked Lumeire.

“I do,” said Rosell with a nod. “I’ve thought up a way we can bait the enemy into a situation more favorable to us. First off, you’re aware of the forest behind our current position, yes?”

“Of course,” confirmed Lumeire. The road we’d traveled had wound its way through the forest, and we were set up just a short ways away from its outskirts. We’d considered intercepting the enemy reinforcements within the forest, at first, but back then we’d still thought we had the advantage of numbers and had decided that fighting in an open field would give us the best chance of leveraging that advantage.

“We’ll conceal our troops within the forest,” said Rosell. “Then we’ll bait them in toward our position, and rain arrows and magic down upon them when they enter our range. Cavalry are vulnerable to ambush tactics, especially from long range. I’m certain a sneak attack will throw their ranks into chaos, and our infantry will be hiding as well, ready to catch our foes in a pincer attack and decimate them while they’re off guard!”

Luring them into an ambush, huh?

Considering the hurry our foes were in, it felt plausible.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” said Mireille. “They may be rushing ahead and throwing caution to the wind, but they’ll at least be sending out scouts ahead of their main force. They won’t be completely oblivious to what we’re up to, so they’ll catch on for sure if all we do is hide and hope for the best.”

“What if we put on an act, then?” said Rosell. “We can make a big show of some of our troops fleeing, then take up position past the treeline. If we can manage to trick them and make them think that our chain of command has broken down, they’ll be more likely to assume they have the upper hand and fall into our trap.”

“An act, you say? Perhaps…but our force is far from a small one,” pointed out Rietz. “Communicating the plan to all of our men in secret and ensuring they feign retreat well enough to convince our foes would be a challenge, and has the potential to damage our troops’ morale to boot.”

“I was a little worried about that part,” admitted Rosell.

“Meh, morale’ll work itself out. I know a trick or two that’ll help us there,” said Mireille. She seemed confident that she could raise our force’s spirits if the need arose. Considering her history of leading troops into battle, I assumed her confidence was well founded.

“Who should play the part of our retreating force, then?” I asked.

“Having the Maitraw Company play that role will be our most convincing option,” said Rosell. “It wouldn’t be at all strange for negotiations with our mercenaries to break down prior to the battle, causing them to retreat. The benefits to using them are twofold, as well─I’m sure our enemies are wary of them, given their reputation, and if they think we won’t have them on our side, they may lower their guards.”

“I could see the Maitraws pulling off a surprise attack─but I could also see them deciding to turn tail and make a break for it,” said Mireille, paying no regard whatsoever to the fact that Clamant himself was in attendance.

“I have no objections to this plan,” Clamant said in response. “If you tell me to do it, I’ll get it done.”

“I wonder about that,” said Mireille. “What do you think, kiddo?”

I didn’t see any reason to distrust him, myself. My Appraisal skill didn’t give me the power to see through to his innermost thoughts, even after its evolution, but from what I knew of the man, he just didn’t have a good motive to withdraw. It’d be one thing if he were morally opposed to surprise attacks, but he seemed like the sort of man who would win by any means necessary, no matter how much he dirtied his hands in the process. He was supposed to be pragmatic, after all.

“I believe that Clamant is worthy of our trust,” I replied.

“Then I’ll sign off on this plan,” said Mireille. “Whether or not it works will all come down to whether our commanding officers can pull it off, though.”

We had a plan, then─but of course, the final decision on whether or not to follow through with it was Lumeire’s to make. He spent quite some time weighing his options, but ultimately, he chose to take up our strategy and send Clamant and his men on a feigned retreat. I just had to hope that our enemies would be taken in by the act…

A number of hours later, the enemy force was drawing close to our position. As for our own troops, they were more than a little shaken up by the Maitraw Company’s apparent last-second departure. If we were going to raise their morale before the battle, now was the time.

“Listen well, my men!” bellowed Lumeire. “The Maitraw Company has withdrawn, but we have received a report that reinforcements from Lord Couran’s main force are inbound! They will arrive within a matter of hours, and even lacking the Maitraw Company’s support, we will have the means to emerge victorious!”

Needless to say, no such reinforcements were on their way. Mireille was the one who’d come up with that aspect of the plan. I had a feeling that the brighter soldiers might’ve been able to figure out that they were being fed lies, but I also had it on good authority that most of our men weren’t especially bright and would fall for the story hook, line, and sinker. The idea was that even if the supposed loss of troops damaged their morale, the knowledge that more men would be coming to replenish our numbers would raise it right back up again. As expected, the moment Lumeire made his announcement, I could see his soldiers’ expressions brighten. Their worries were wiped away in the blink of an eye.

Finally, the enemy force was close enough for us to see on the horizon. The time for battle had arrived, but they didn’t charge toward our encampment right away. Instead, they came to a halt a fair distance away. Clearly, they weren’t planning on charging in without taking the time to assess the situation first. They were close enough to see, but that was on account of the flat, wide open nature of the terrain─they were still well out of the range of our archers.

“They’re keeping their distance, huh…” I muttered.

“Perhaps they suspect we’re up to something?” suggested Rietz.

There was a possibility that the enemy had managed to learn we were expecting reinforcements, but even if they had, they’d also know that said reinforcements were supposed to be a fair distance away. It didn’t seem like a good enough reason for them to display this sort of caution.

After an extended period of observation, the enemy army began to march. A regiment of men mounted upon enormous horses charged toward us, raising a ferocious battle cry and leading a massive crowd of infantrymen in their wake. Seeing their charge begin, Lumeire gave our troops the order to prepare to stop them in their tracks.

I shivered as I watched the cavalrymen plow toward us. I’d seen cavalry in action during our military drills a number of times, but this was my first time witnessing this many of them in action all at once. I could feel the ground tremble with the thuds of countless hoof falls, the sensation intense enough that for a second, I thought it might be an earthquake. If our frontline soldiers gave in to fear and broke formation, our whole army would be thrown into chaos.

Eventually, the enemy cavalry entered our archers’ effective range. Our archers let loose a volley of arrows, which rained down into their ranks like rain. It was then that their cavalry’s skill became most apparent: they swatted some arrows out of the air, dodged others, and emerged almost unscathed.

Our mages, meanwhile, were handicapped by the fact that we hadn’t brought a large catalyzer along with us. Those were considered siege weapons, and weren’t employed in field battles. The same was true of explosion-aspected aqua magia, of which our supply was limited. The only forms of magic available to us at the moment were fire and sound, and fire was the only one of those two with any offensive potential.

Given those limitations, our mage regiment resorted to shooting off volleys of synchronized fire magic using small and mid-sized catalyzers. If we were dealing with poorly-trained, unprepared cavalry, that might have been enough to break their charge, but unfortunately for us, our foes were very ready for our attack.

Among the enemy’s host were horse-mounted mages, capable of casting even at a full gallop. Those mages cast protective spells that shielded their entire regiment from our mages’ rain of fire. Magic was something only those with talent could use to begin with, and casting on horseback took incredible skill, but the difficulties involved in training a horseback mage were outweighed by the benefits they brought to a cavalry regiment in an era where magic dominated the battlefield.

“Defensive magic? Who cares?” Charlotte muttered, then held her mid-sized catalyzer aloft and began to chant, reciting the incantation for Blaze: a powerful fire spell. Charlotte had the power to turn Fire Bullet, the lowest-level fire spell out there, into an earth-shaking explosion. In her hands, a mid-level spell like Blaze was capable of outputting a terrifying amount of firepower, and sure enough, her fireball shattered the enemy’s magical barrier and slammed into their ranks, blowing away scores of horsemen in an instant.

“All right!” Charlotte exclaimed.

“We can always count on your magic,” I commented. For a moment I thought that her spell might’ve halted the enemy’s charge, but unfortunately, we had no such luck.

“Don’t you dare break formation, you craven whoresons! Anyone who turns tail here will die by my blade when the battle’s over!” bellowed an enormous man at the head of the enemy’s ranks. His cry was so loud that I assumed he’d cast Hyper Voice at first, but then I realized that he was carrying a long halberd rather than a catalyzer. His voice was just naturally that loud. I could tell in an instant that he was a remarkable individual.

Rietz, who was close at hand on horseback, nocked an arrow to his bowstring and took aim at the massive man. Rietz was good at just about everything, and archery was no exception─his aptitude in the field was A-ranked. He had the precision and skill to calculate a trajectory that would send his arrow into the man’s forehead, but the man swatted the arrow out of the air before it met its mark. Rietz loosed several more arrows, each as accurate as the first, but to no avail.

“He’s a tough one,” Rietz muttered. I had to assume that the man had a very high Valor score, though he was too far away for me to appraise him and get any specific numbers.

The enemy’s cavalry was all but upon our outermost ranks. Their mages cast fire magic to obliterate the palisades that we’d set up to bear the brunt of their charge, but our own mages wielded defensive magic to intercept the attacks. A few segments of the palisade still caught fire, and the horsemen took advantage of those gaps to slip through.

Our spearmen were ready to intercept them on the other side, but they proved incapable of stopping all of our foes in their tracks. Too many of them breaking through would spell doom for our formation, so we ordered troops to move in and support the weakened areas. The enemy’s charge had done its job, though, and the situation in the front lines was deteriorating.

“Hmm─they’re better than I thought. We might’ve lost if this were a fair fight,” Mireille casually commented.

“Is this really the time?!” I snapped. “We still might lose if our plan doesn’t work out!”

“Oh, no need to worry about that,” said Mireille. “In a sense, being at a disadvantage works in our favor. The enemy won’t suspect a thing if we withdraw now, and we can lure them right into our trap. Of course, it wouldn’t do for our ranks to completely collapse, so I suppose we’ll have to take action before it comes to that.”

Mireille and Rosell rushed off to speak with Lumeire, and soon after, the order was given for our army to begin a retreat. We’d be fighting a defensive battle as we fell back toward the forest. Fighting as you retreated was a difficult prospect to begin with, of course, and the enemy’s core unit being made up of cavalry made the move all the more challenging. We’d be fighting an uphill battle.

“Fall back! Fall back!” Lumeire shouted as our troops began to move. If we wanted our retreat to proceed smoothly, it was essential for someone to act as our rearguard. They would be responsible for retreating and holding off the enemy at the same time. The moment the order to retreat was given, a unit that had been assigned to the role in advance leaped into action. Their commanding officer directed the unit─which was made up of spearmen─to intercept the enemy cavalry and keep them from harrying the rest of us as we fled.

The task did not prove to be an easy one. The horsemen were fast, which made their advance difficult to stop. It was very possible that one or more of them could slip through our rearguard’s line at any given moment. Worse still, our enemies had come prepared for such a scenario and were capable of steering their horses through the slightest of gaps.

That was where our mages entered the picture. Blowing our foes away with direct attacks wasn’t all they were good for─they could also use sound magic to frighten their mounts, or form walls of flame to block off routes of attack. The soldiers were smart enough to know that magical fire walls weren’t all that dangerous if you just barreled through them, but horses were another matter. They would be too scared to get anywhere near the barriers, which meant they could serve as an effective deterrent. Those magical defenses gave our spearmen the time they needed to come running and drive the cavalry away from our main force once more.

Our enemy, however, really was well-trained. Not even magic was enough to keep them scared away for long, and it was inevitable that some of them would manage to make their way through our rearguard’s defenses. In those cases, it was necessary for some of our fleeing soldiers to split off and back the rearguard up. We had to keep a careful balance maintained between our front and rear units─if we sent too many soldiers to guard the rear, then we risked being unable to break through if the enemy sent soldiers around to cut us off within the forest. Being surrounded and pinned was the worst-case scenario, so we had to use as few troops as possible to hold them back.

Thankfully, our initial rearguard seemed to be doing a very good job. Only a few horsemen slipped through, so we had to send a minimum amount of troops back to mop them up. The bulk of our force was still concentrated in the front of our formation, leaving very little reason to worry we might be cut off.

“Just a little longer and we’ll make it to the forest,” I muttered. It seemed that, in spite of everything, we were close to pulling our plan off.

If the rearguard had failed and the enemy cavalry had charged into our back line, we would’ve been routed for sure. I could only imagine what would’ve become of me─I wasn’t even sure if I would’ve made it out alive. I was mounted on a horse, just in case, but I wasn’t much of a rider and doubted that I could’ve outran trained horsemen. I felt more than a little relieved as we broke through the treeline and advanced into the forest, still far ahead of the enemy.

“Thank goodness,” I sighed. “It looks like we’ll live to see tomorrow after all.”

“Even if they had caught up with us, I would never allow you to die here, Lord Ars,” said Rietz. Coming from him, it sounded convincing.

“We’ve made it to the forest, yes─but the question now is whether the enemy will follow us,” said Lumeire.

“Looking at it from their perspective, we just turned tail and ran like a bunch of sniveling cowards,” said Mireille. “They’ve got nothing to lose and plenty to gain by pursuing us, as far as they know. That is, unless their leader’s got good instincts…but I didn’t exactly get the impression that the guy leading their charge was the sort who could see a trap like this coming.”

I hadn’t had the chance to appraise him, but still, I had to agree with her assessment. I then realized it would be worth going out of my way to appraise the enemy’s leadership in the future, even if it took a bit of risk to pull it off. That would give me a much more informed perspective from which to make this sort of call.

“Ah, there we go,” said Mireille as a message came in through her catalyzer. “The enemy’s advancing into the forest after us. Looks like they have no idea they’re playing right into our hands, too. They’re not being very careful about it at all.”

It seemed, then, that our plan had gone off without a hitch. There was just one factor that still had me worried: even after entering the forest, we’d still seen no sign of the Maitraw Company. I was starting to get concerned that they might not be here at all. It was either that, or they were incredibly good at hiding themselves. I glanced around, trying to catch at least a glimpse of one of their men.

“Don’t worry. They’re keeping in touch and standing by,” said Mireille, who must’ve noticed my restless behavior. “And even if they hadn’t told me, I could tell they’re out there. They’re hiding pretty damn well, but not well enough to fool me. Still, it’s a pretty impressive job, considering how many of them there are. Looks like the Maitraw Company has earned its reputation─they’re as good at ambushes as they are in a fair fight.”

In spite of my anxiety, I decided to take her word for it as we advanced deeper into the woods. We marched onward until it felt like we were somewhere near the heart of the forest, at which point Lumeire ordered our troops to come to a halt. The men, of course, were distressed by the command. They were under the impression that the battle was lost and we were fleeing for our lives, but now they were supposed to form back up and confront the enemy all over again?

The time, then, had come to share the true plan with our force and explain that the mercenaries who had supposedly fled were, in fact, waiting in ambush all around us. The enemy was closing in fast enough that there was no longer any danger of our men ruining the operation with their lousy acting, and we could open up about our actual objectives. Thankfully, that calmed them down and it wasn’t long before we’d reconstructed our battle formation.

We moved our archers and mages into the cover of the surrounding foliage, where they joined forces with the Maitraw Company’s men. Our plan was to launch an all-out assault from the enemy’s flanks the moment the company reported that all of the enemy cavalry had entered the woods. There was very little doubt left that their cavalry made up the bulk of their forces, and if we could catch their entire advance unit in a trap and wipe them out, the remaining soldiers would have no chance of defeating us. The only option I could imagine being left for them at that point would be to withdraw and return to their castle, which would mean we’d accomplished our objective.

Before long, the cavalry unit was upon us.

“Given up on running away, have you?!” shouted the massive man at the head of their formation, a confident and perhaps slightly complacent grin plastered across his face.

The man hadn’t the foggiest idea he was walking right into a trap. I appraised him, and found that his name was Dan Allest. He had an 82 in Leadership and a 99 in Valor, but all of his other stats were quite low. His S-rank in Cavalry was quite something, at least. It felt like a waste to let someone with a Valor score like his perish, but I also knew that bringing him down would help turn the tide of battle in our favor, considering what it would do to his men’s morale.

“Or perhaps you think you can still turn this battle around? Ha ha ha! Fools! These woods will be your graveyard!” Dan continued. His attempt at blustery intimidation was pretty played out, I had to say, but thankfully, I didn’t have to listen to any more of it on account of the Maitraw Company choosing that precise moment to launch their attack. A flurry of arrows and spells shot through the trees, peppering the enemy ranks.

“What?!” cried out Dan.

“It’s an ambush!” shouted one of his men.

The Maitraw Company couldn’t have picked a better time to spring their trap. With archers and mages on both flanks, there was very little our foes could do to defend themselves. Not even their previously formidable magical barriers could save them─those, after all, took time to cast, making them impossible to bring out at a moment’s notice. Worse still, the Maitraw Company seemed to have a large number of skilled archers in their employ, and the arrows raining down upon the enemy flew with incredible accuracy. There was nothing they could do, and scores of cavalry fell in what felt like the blink of an eye.

“The enemy’s behind us, Commander!” shouted one of Dan’s remaining men.

“What?! How?!” Dan roared. It had taken them far too long to notice our movements, and now they were surrounded. The complacent grin that had shown he was confident in his victory was nowhere to be found─now, Dan looked downright frantic. That spell of panic didn’t last, though, and a moment later, he forced himself to calm down again.

“We’ve walked into a trap, and have enemies on all sides, but this battle’s not over yet! Their front line is weak─charge through them, find their leader, take his head, and we’ll win the day yet! Grit your teeth and follow my lead!” Dan bellowed as he spurred his horse forward, galloping toward our position. His men could hardly let their leader charge forth on his own, so they followed in his wake.

“For all their strengths, cavalry also don’t have many options at a time like this,” said Mireille. “That’s the face of a man who knows this is do-or-die.”

“In short, we can’t let our guards down,” added Rietz.

Their read on the situation seemed right on the money. With their backs against the wall, Dan’s troops had chosen to make their last stand and fight like madmen, staking their lives in an attempt to break through and kill Lumeire. The fact that they were still listening to their commanding officer and still maintaining their formation and morale, even as they were under attack from all sides, was yet another sign of just how well-trained these men were.

While the initial volley had caught them off guard, they were now aware that they were under attack and began raising their magical defenses. Between that and the fact that each and every one of them was a skilled fighter, our own troops found themselves rapidly overwhelmed. Their leader Dan, in particular, was running amok through the battlefield, cleaving several men with each swing of his massive halberd.

Dan’s rampage did not escape Rietz’s notice.

“I’ll handle the leader,” he said, spurring his horse forward.

My first instinct was to let him go. Dan was dealing incredible damage to our formation, and bringing him down would deal a massive blow to the enemy’s morale. However, I couldn’t help but harbor a nagging doubt that someone as strong as him could beat Rietz. And Rietz was one man who I absolutely could not allow to die on me, under any circumstances.

I have to stop him!

“Wait!” I shouted.

“But, Your Lordship,” Rietz began to protest.

“I say you let him take his shot,” said Mireille before Rietz could articulate himself. “We need to take that guy down one way or another, unless we wanna risk this whole plan falling to pieces. People like him have a way of forcing their way out of traps like this, no matter how absurd the odds against them are. A girl like me doesn’t stand a chance against a monster like him, and that means if anyone’s going to do the deed, it’ll have to be Rietz.”

“I see your point,” I began, “but─”

“A proper lord has faith in his retainers. You know that, don’t you?”

Mireille’s words struck a chord with me. I was trying to prioritize my people’s safety in the moment, and neglecting to consider whether that would be in their best interests in the long run. And besides, I was far from convinced that Rietz would lose. I took a deep breath, then turned to him.

“Can you beat him, Rietz?” I asked.

“I can,” said Rietz without hesitation. He’d witnessed Dan’s ferocious might, but he didn’t show so much as a hint of fear. He was confident that he would emerge victorious.

“All right,” I said. “Then do it. Engage the enemy’s leader, and bring him down!”

“Yes, Your Lordship!” Rietz replied as he sped off, making a beeline toward Dan.

○

At Ars’s command, Rietz galloped through the woods, spurring his horse forward toward Dan with a halberd held at the ready. Rietz favored polearms over a sword or a bow when he engaged in mounted combat, and the halberd was his weapon of choice. Soon, his skillful horsemanship brought him up to a short distance away from Dan.

Dan, meanwhile, was battling away on the frontlines, scattering his foes with each wide, cleaving swing of his halberd.

“Flee, peons! Flee! My business is with your leader! Clear a path to his head, and you might get to keep yours!” he bellowed. Hardened and well-trained though the soldiers on the frontlines were, the sheer force of Dan’s might and presence sent the bulk of them scattering in fear.

Rietz, however, was a different matter. He galloped into Dan’s path, intercepting Dan’s halberd with his own. That single strike was all that Rietz needed to understand just how powerful a foe he was facing, while Dan sensed that Rietz was no ordinary opponent. Rietz looked slender and frail at a glance, but the size of his muscles belied their strength. In a contest of pure brawn, the men were evenly matched.

“Oh? I’ve never met a Malkan who could cross blades with me,” said Dan with a raised eyebrow as he took in Rietz’s appearance. “These aren’t your lands. What business do you have on a Missian battlefield?”

“I’m certainly not here to exchange pleasantries with the likes of you,” Rietz curtly replied, then raised his halberd and shot Dan a pointed glare. “I intend to claim your head, and offer it to Lord Ars.”

“So some oddball on the other side took you on as their retainer? Can’t say I don’t see the logic. Anyone strong enough can make a decent servant, be they a Malkan or a gorilla,” said Dan, readying his own weapon in turn. “You should know the name of the man who’s about to kill you. I am Dan Allest.”

“Rietz Muses.”

With their names declared, the two warriors charged forward and began a furious mounted duel. Each of them was a master in his own right, and their skill was a stunning thing to behold. To lesser men, fighting on horseback would be a hindrance─one simply couldn’t take up a stable stance while mounted. Rietz and Dan, however, swung their weapons with unimpaired power and grace, their movements in such perfect unison with their horses’ one would think they shared a perfect mental connection with the creatures. The horses dodged and leaped about the field while their riders delivered blow after blow, trying to sneak a fatal strike into their foes’ blind spot.

From an outside perspective, the two of them looked evenly matched, but on closer observation, one might have noticed a pall of panic spreading across Dan’s face.

Damn, he’s good, thought Dan. And a hell of a lot stronger than he looks… His blows are fast, heavy, and he knows how to feint, too. He’s no ordinary soldier, that’s for damn sure!

Before he knew it, Dan found himself fighting a purely defensive battle.

“Graaah!” shouted one of Dan’s men, who rushed in to back up his leader. Rietz didn’t miss a beat, dodging the attack effortlessly and slicing the man in half with a single stroke, but it proved enough of a distraction to open him up to attack for a brief moment. Dan wasn’t the sort of man who’d give up that sort of opportunity for the sake of honor─if he had a chance to slay his enemy, he’d take it, and he meant to do just that, swinging his halberd for Rietz’s neck.

This was not, however, Rietz’s first battle by a long shot. He knew that dropping his guard could mean instant death, and the moment he realized that Dan’s attack was coming from an angle he couldn’t intercept, he gave up on blocking it altogether, instead twisting to the side and dodging the strike. In the same motion, he unsheathed a dagger with his left hand, striking back while Dan was too committed to his swing to stop his momentum.

“Agh!” Dan shouted as Rietz’s slash landed and a spray of blood erupted from his right arm. It was a deep cut, and Rietz could tell how effective it had been from the feel of the strike alone. Dan wouldn’t be able to parry Rietz’s attacks with his arm in that state, and now it was Rietz’s turn to seize the advantage and bring his halberd down with all his might. Dan tried to raise his guard, but as expected, his injured arm wasn’t up to the task. His halberd fell limply to his side, and just like that, Rietz cleaved through his neck in a flash.

Dan’s head toppled from his shoulders. Blood sprayed out from the stump of his neck as his head plummeted toward the ground until Rietz caught it midair and hoisted it aloft.

“Dan Allest is slain!” he cried at the top of his lungs, the news resounding across the battlefield.

○

I watched Rietz’s battle from afar, and reflected on just how incredible a person he was as he brought down the enemy’s monster of a commander. I’d been on the edge of my saddle with worry, but in the end, my fears had been groundless. With that, the enemy’s chain of command had been severed, and Dan’s death sent an immediate wave of distress through the rest of his men.

“The time is now! Wipe them out!” shouted Rietz, rallying his fellow soldiers onward. The rest of the front line had been cowed by the might of the enemy cavalry, but this stunning development helped them regain their momentum. Taking advantage of the enemy’s confusion, they brought down one rider after the next.

One soldier who appeared to be the enemy’s second-in-command did his best to bring his subordinates back into formation, but unfortunately for them, he didn’t seem to be a capable leader and it wasn’t going well. Eventually, their force broke under the pressure of our concentrated attack, and the remaining survivors scattered in all directions, fleeing into the woods. The thick foliage and lack of roads, of course, meant that those who rode into the trees couldn’t gallop at full pace, making them sitting ducks for our archers and mages. Those who turned around and fled back the way they came, meanwhile, were cut down by the Maitraw Company.

What was once a very sizable enemy contingent had been just about slain to the man. We’d made massive gains in the battle at large, and in almost no time at all. We had yet to defeat the lord of Castle Rolto, to be fair, but with their cavalry regiment decimated, they’d lost their most powerful weapon by far.

“If we press this advantage, we can defeat the lord who leads their army!” shouted Lumeire.

I had assumed that the rest of the enemy force would have fled, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Instead, they’d advanced on the forest in an attempt to save their encircled cavalry division. We held more of a numerical advantage than ever now, and what troops they had left weren’t anywhere near as dangerous as their cavalry had been. To make matters even worse for our foes, their hurried advance had left them with no time to come together in a proper formation, leaving them unprepared to fend off our attack. In my eyes, our victory was all but assured.

Our first move was to declare to their remaining forces that Dan Allest was dead. It seemed he was a well-known man among their troops, and the news of his death sent obvious waves of shock through their ranks. The Maitraw Company took advantage of their distress by choosing that moment to launch a preemptive attack, charging forward with Clamant at their head. There were only around five hundred or so of them, but each of them rode a horse and was strong in their own right. They crashed into the enemy lines, striking down their foes left and right and sending their army into a state of pandemonium.

“Claim Jean’s head!” commanded Lumeire.

As our whole army surged forward, a few enemy soldiers began to break ranks and flee. Their leader Jean, however, seemed to have no intention of falling back.

“Retreat is not an option! We fight to the bitter end!” he shouted, his voice amplified by sound magic.

No amount of encouragement could change the fact that his troops were at a severe disadvantage, though. They were outnumbered, their chain of command was crumbling, and in the end, they were unable to recover from all the setbacks they’d faced. Our men mowed them down, one after another, and before long the troops who’d come from outside the county to reinforce Jean’s army began to retreat en masse. After some time, Jean himself was slain. The battle was over, and we had won.

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With Jean dead and his army routed, there was nothing left to stop us from marching on and occupying Castle Rolto. The vast majority of the enemy forces had sortied along with their leader, leaving only a skeleton crew to stay behind at the castle. In light of their lord’s death, those troops quickly surrendered, leaving the stronghold to us.

The occupation of the castle hadn’t been one of our initial objectives, but it was deemed necessary on account of the County of Balton’s forces. The five thousand reinforcements they’d sent to help Jean hadn’t been wiped out, and they also didn’t represent the county’s entire standing army. There were still more soldiers left in the County of Balton, and while the risk of them mounting an offensive was minimal, it also wasn’t a factor we could afford to disregard.

As such, our objective shifted. While once our only goal was to stop the advance of Jean’s army, now we were tasked with occupying Castle Rolto and keeping the County of Balton’s army in check. In theory, having the castle under our control would prevent them from moving about freely. Last but not least, after Castle Rolto was under our control, a banquet was called to celebrate our success.

“What a battle! What a victory! And we owe it all to you, Ars!” shouted Lumeire. He was red-faced, inebriated, and in the highest of spirits. At the end of the day our casualties had been quite minor, and in his eyes that meant that the battle had been an overwhelming success.

“I don’t think I can take the credit for this one,” I replied. “My retainers deserve your praise more, and Rietz in particular.”

“Your retainers are certainly a cut above, I’ll admit! They’re enough to make a man downright envious! I saw Rietz’s duel, you know? Dan was a fearsome foe, but Rietz cut him down with ease! Splendid, my boy!” Lumeire gushed.

He wasn’t the only one singing Rietz’s praises that evening. All the soldiers who’d witnessed his moment of heroism were abuzz with excited discussion about him. The better part of the army had taken him rather lightly up to now on account of his Malkan heritage, but slaying an enemy leader seemed to have done wonders when it came to broadening most of their perspectives. They knew now that they’d been underestimating him, so Rietz’s popularity with his fellow soldiers had skyrocketed.

That wasn’t to say that all of them had abandoned their prejudices, of course, and some of those who still didn’t think much of Rietz seemed quite irked by all the attention he was getting. I considered taking steps to ensure that they didn’t get the chance to attack him…but considering how physically and mentally tough Rietz was, I figured he could take care of himself if push came to shove.

“Oh, good food, how I’ve missed you! This is almost too delicious!” said Charlotte between mouthfuls. After all that complaining about our trail rations, she was so excited by the feast that she ended up shoveling her meal down with voracious enthusiasm. I had to admit that eating something with flavor for the first time in ages did make it taste a lot better than usual. I’d put away my fair share of dishes as well, though I wasn’t even close to keeping up with her.

“Gra hah hah! Keep the booze flowing!” bellowed Mireille. She’d been banned from drinking while we were on the war trail, and wetting her whistle for the first time in weeks had done wonders for her mood. The war wasn’t over yet, but I figured this was as good a time as any to let her cut loose.

I, in contrast, had found myself in a corner of the banquet hall where I could sit down, eat, and survey the crowd. As I did so, I happened to find my attention drawn to Rosell. He seemed to be deep in thought, mulling something over with a frown on his face. He’d never been the type to participate in the more raucous side of this sort of gathering, and his age meant that he couldn’t drink even if he were into that sort of thing, seeing as this world had the same values about children drinking as my old world had. While Rosell being off to the sidelines was nothing unusual, the air of anxiety he gave off as he pondered got me curious. I considered letting my retainers air their worries to me as part of my responsibilities as a lord, so I decided to go chat him up.

“Hey, Rosell,” I said as I drew close to him. “Something on your mind?”

“You could say that,” said Rosell. “Tell me, Ars…what do you think about how everyone’s behaving?”

“Not sure what to say, honestly. They just won a major victory, so I think it’s good for everyone to take this chance to celebrate.”

“That’s exactly the problem! You’re all taking this too lightly! Yes, we dealt with the reinforcements before they reached Staatz, and sure, we took the castle, but everyone’s still making merry when our biggest objective is still up in the air! We haven’t won until the main force conquers Castle Staatz!”

It seemed he was already thinking about─or rather, fixating on─what was to come in the near future.

“You have a point. But as long as the reinforcements they were hoping for never come, I don’t think Castle Staatz stands much of a chance, does it?”

“You’re being way too optimistic, Ars. We need to get a handle on the state of the war as soon as possible, and maybe even send reinforcements of our own to back the main force up. Though then again, I suppose that if they’re on track for an easy victory, staying here and keeping our eyes peeled for the Balton army could be worthwhile too.”

“You’re right about that. We can’t let our guards down. Lord Couran would’ve sent a messenger if he’d already taken Castle Staatz, and we’ve received no such thing so far. It seems more likely than not that the battle has yet to be decided, as things stand.”

Castle Staatz’s defenses were rumored to be impregnable. It was a mountain citadel, which made it a rarity given that most of Missian was made up of flatlands. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to learn that the assault on the castle was moving at a snail’s pace.

“Yeah, maybe you do have a point…”

“You should ask the Shadows to survey Castle Staatz’s current status!” said Rosell. “That’ll give us the info we need to plan our next move for sure!”

He seemed very enthusiastic about the recommendation, and I knew very well how smart Rosell was. I was starting to feel a little anxious after everything he’d told me, as well, so I decided to take him up on the idea and ask the Shadows to look into Castle Staatz.

I called Pham over to discuss the new plan. He was also participating in the banquet, though he’d arrived in his maid disguise and was stone cold sober, unlike most everyone else. I was glad to see that I’d be able to have a proper conversation with him, even at a time like this.

“So? What’s the job this time?” asked Pham.

“I want you to look into the current status of Castle Staatz,” I explained.

“More information gathering, eh? You know you’ve got scouts for that sort of grunt work, right?” said Pham with a roll of his eyes.

“Maybe, but I don’t trust our scouts to be even half as fast and accurate as your crew,” I countered. Clandestine operations were just one of the Shadows’ many areas of expertise─they were also capable of collecting information with incredible speed and precision. I probably could’ve tasked them with something more challenging, considering how good at their jobs they were, but I couldn’t change the fact that what I needed above all else at that moment was basic information.

“Have it your way. As long as you have the coin for the job, of course,” said Pham.

“Naturally,” I replied. I was glad to see him take the job in spite of his grumbling, and I expected him to head off and get to work right away, but instead, he spoke directly to me.

“So, you have some sorta power that lets you see what people are capable of, right?”

“That’s right. What about it?”

I’d given him a basic explanation of my skill back when I first met him. I’d managed to see through his disguise and realize he was a guy, and Pham had interrogated me about how I’d managed to do so.

“What’s that power of yours say about me? What are my capabilities like? Good? Useless?”

“Huh?”

This was a surprise. I hadn’t taken Pham for the sort of person to ask a question like that. I’d assumed he was the type to have a perfect understanding of his own strengths, and to go through life with absolute confidence in his abilities. I didn’t have any particular reason not to tell him, though. I’d appraised him before, and I’d seen that while he didn’t excel in all areas, he did have remarkably high Valor and Intelligence stats, which meant that he was capable indeed.

“Guess I don’t need to ask,” Pham continued. “I’m plenty competent, right?”

“Right. You seem very confident about that.”

“Well, I do have a pretty decent grasp of what I’m capable of. What I can’t do is know where everyone else falls on the spectrum, and explaining what you can do to someone is harder than you’d think. That power of yours is something that anyone in a position of authority would want. Hell, I’m just the leader of a band of mercs, and even I want it,” said Pham. He seemed to regard my power quite well.

“Ars Louvent,” he continued. “I’ve got a feeling you could go big places.”

I’d always gotten the impression that Pham looked down on me, but apparently, I’d been mistaken. To the contrary, the way he was acting now made it seem like he had a high opinion of me, much to my surprise.

“Okay, duty calls,” Pham said, then went off to work. I had the strangest feeling that he’d had something else he wanted to say to me, but I figured I might’ve just been imagining it. Even if he did have something he wished to discuss, another opportunity was sure to present itself before long, so I saw no reason to drag it out of him.

The Shadows were on their way to scope out Castle Staatz, and until they returned, the rest of us would just have to stand by in Castle Rolto and wait for news.