As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: To War

The first thing Rietz did upon arriving at the front lines was call a meeting with the leaders of each squad and give them their instructions for the upcoming battle. Present at the meeting were Rietz himself, Charlotte, Braham, Zaht, and Clamant. Mireille and Rosell had both stayed behind at Fort Coumeire with Ars.

“All right!” Braham shouted. “The second the enemy shows up, my squad’ll charge in and wipe out the lot of ’em! We’ll take them down, no matter how many of ’em there are!”

Rietz gave Braham a scathing look, and Braham instantly realized what Rietz’s intense silence was meant to communicate. Braham’s enthusiasm vanished in the blink of an eye, and he muttered “Sorry…” as he withered away.

Zaht watched the whole exchange with a look of exasperated disbelief on his face. The fact that he was wondering why he’d been forced to serve under a man like Braham was plain to see.

“Our encampment is set up on the bank of a river,” said Rietz. “The water is shallow in that vicinity, and it’s possible to ford the river on foot, but the enemy’s movements will be slowed while they do so. That’s when we’ll bombard them with magic. They’ll be expecting us to attack while they’re on the move, of course, and I’m sure they’ll have their defenses raised, but Charlotte’s magic should be powerful enough to blast through any shields they can prepare. While they’re shaken by her attack, our archers will step in to riddle their ranks with arrows. The enemy’s likely to make a strategic retreat and attempt to regroup, at which point we’ll pursue them. If all goes as planned, we’ll inflict significant losses upon them, and maybe even force them to withdraw.”

Rietz believed that his plan had a high chance of inflicting substantial casualties upon the hostile army. The enemy’s commander supposedly had a keen mind, but he was likely unaware of just how fearsome some of Missian’s soldiers could be. Rietz didn’t believe their guard would be down, but he did believe they’d be unlikely to send a force so large that the Missian army couldn’t overwhelm and repel them. They would be feeling the waters, at first, and would only mount a full assault once they had a preliminary grasp of what they were up against.

Rietz’s hope was that if they suffered a crushing, one-sided defeat, they would come to the conclusion that the Missian army’s advantage in skill outweighed the Seitz army’s advantage in numbers. That would lead to the realization that they could, in fact, lose the war, and would ultimately prompt their withdrawal.

Rietz had thought the whole situation through, and concluded that forcing the enemy to turn back was well within the realm of possibility. The current Duke of Seitz had only just ascended to his position, and it seemed very unlikely that he had already settled all of the duchy’s internal issues in that short span of time. There were surely plenty of factions within Seitz that still opposed him, and losing a war in dramatic fashion could embolden those factions and plunge the duchy into yet another civil war. It still wasn’t clear what Vasmarque had offered Seitz to incentivise their invasion, but given the perilous position he was in, Rietz couldn’t imagine that Vasmarque had anything he could give that would justify the duke taking on that sort of risk.

“Charlotte? I’m aware that Lord Ars took Musia in as his retainer on account of her talent for magic, but to what extent has it manifested itself? How capable is she at this moment?” asked Rietz. Having a second capable mage would make the odds of his plan turning out well substantially higher, and since Charlotte had been watching over Musia’s training, she would know better than anyone how powerful the fledgeling mage had grown.

“Eh, she’s not really there yet,” said Charlotte. “I brought her along anyway, though. She casts a spell with some punch to it every once in a while, but most of them are still pretty weak.”

“Understood,” said Rietz with a disappointed frown. He believed his plan would work with Charlotte as their only capable caster, but still, having another powerful mage on their side would have made a massive difference.

“What about me, teach?! What should I be doing?!” Braham asked.

“Weren’t you listening when I explained the plan?” Rietz countered. “Can’t you figure that out for yourself?”

“Nope!” Braham proudly declared.

“Have you no shame whatsoever…?” Rietz sighed. “Your division’s work will come toward the end of the battle. Once the enemy line crumbles and they begin their retreat, I want you and your men to charge in and pursue them.”

“Pursue them?! Wait a minute─I’m not the sorta guy who kicks a beaten enemy while they’re down! Gimme a different job!” Braham insisted. He was not a man who minced words, whether or not he was in a situation where doing so would be to his benefit.

“Chasing after a broken enemy is a valid and necessary aspect of warfare,” said Rietz. “If you simply stand back and let your foes escape, then whatever victory you may have claimed will be rendered all but meaningless. Your division is mobile, and your men are highly skilled. In other words, you’re perfect for the task.”

The men in Braham’s division had been chosen from among Canarre’s most capable close-range fighters.

“Valid and necessary, huh…? Well, if you say so! I don’t like it, but I’ll do it,” said Braham, caving to Rietz’s argument with uncharacteristic ease.

“Sir Clamant,” Rietz said, turning to the mercenary captain next. “How many mages, archers, infantry, and horsemen have you brought with you?”

“More infantry and horsemen than the others,” replied Clamant. “We’re short on mages, but we have a few men who know their way around a bow. If you want concrete numbers, we have eight infantry and eight horsemen for every three archers and one mage.”

Clamant’s troop numbered roughly three thousand men, and since only those with a natural talent for magic could learn to wield it effectively, it was only natural he’d wind up with very few capable mages. It was a consequence of not prioritizing their recruitment.

“More mages is never a bad thing, but I’m more concerned with their level of skill. How capable would you say your men are, in that respect?” asked Rietz.

“I wouldn’t have recruited them if they weren’t capable. I don’t have any mages who could stand up to her, though,” Clamant said with a nod toward Charlotte. “Not even close. The first time my best mage saw her cast, he said she was ‘an outlier.’”

Charlotte stood taller than before and smirked, practically exuding an aura of smug self-satisfaction. Compared to her, the Maitraw Company’s mages came out looking inadequate. She was simply too powerful to assess on the same scale as more mundane mages. Still, Clamant insisted that his mages were far from inept, and that at least some of them would be of use in the coming engagement. Even one more mage would make Rietz’s plan more likely to succeed, so in his eyes, this was a positive development.

After that, Rietz made sure everyone knew and remembered the signals they’d be using out on the battlefield and polished his preparations to perfection. No sooner had he finished than a scout arrived to report that the enemy army was on the move.

○

After Rietz’s meeting came to a close, Charlotte gathered all the army’s mages and began preparing for battle. She and her men set up large catalyzers and determined who would use which of the catalyzers they had available, with Charlotte directing the process and giving orders all the while. Her usual lackadaisical attitude was nowhere to be found─on the battlefield, Charlotte transformed into a woman who could issue clear, precise orders at the drop of a hat. It was almost hard to believe she was the same person. However, the rest of the mages in her contingent only knew her from the battlefield and their training sessions, and never got to see her everyday personality. They thought of her as both exceptional and terrifying, and treated her with an almost reverential air.

“U-Umm, Miss Charlotte? Am I supposed to fight too?” Musia nervously asked.

“Yup,” said Charlotte. “Lord Ars says that you have the talent to be an incredible mage, and need all the experience you can get. We can only use so much aqua magia during our training sessions, so the only time we get to play with these big catalyzers is out on the battlefield. Plus, you’ve managed to cast a few real nice spells here and there, so who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky and you’ll bust one of those out mid-battle.”

“This battle’s supposed to be important, though, isn’t it? What if I end up getting in everyone’s way?”

“No need to worry about that. Even if you do get in the way, I’ll win this battle for us no problem! It’ll be a piece of cake!” Charlotte said with a confident grin that Musia couldn’t help but admire. “Anyway, it’s not an issue if your spells are kinda puny, but hesitating to cast them’s a whole different matter. I don’t really get it, but apparently that’s an issue for a bunch of people. They can cast just fine until it’s time for the real deal, and then all of a sudden they can’t sling a spell to save their lives.”

It was only then, as she mulled over Charlotte’s words, that Musia realized that wielding magic on a battlefield would mean taking people’s lives. She had never killed before, and as the understanding she would soon have to sank in, a rush of terror began to well up within her.

Charlotte could tell that Musia was starting to panic, and decided to give her some advice.

“Listen,” she said, “you can’t let yourself think that killing your enemies is a bad thing. You know why all those people are gonna be running at us? To kill us, and our friends too. If you don’t kill them, you can bet they won’t hesitate when you’re the one at their mercy.”

“Y-Yes, that’s right,” Musia stammered.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the sort of problem that could be solved with a quick word of advice. She would need to experience the reality of a battlefield for herself, and overcome her fear on her own. Ars had said she had potential, though, and that was enough to convince Charlotte that Musia would make that leap in the long run.

○

A few days later, a report arrived informing Rietz that the enemy’s arrival was imminent. By that point the catalyzers were all in place, and his preparations for the battle were complete. Whenever the enemy showed up, he would be ready for them.

Rietz gazed out in the direction the army would be arriving from. Before long, a distant rumbling began to shake the air. The army of Seitz had arrived, and was rushing toward his position, but Rietz held fast, waiting to give the order to attack. First, he had to wait for his foes to reach the river. He would aim for the moment they began to ford it, slowing their pace and making them an easier target. The army of Seitz, of course, was aware that would be their moment of weakness and would deploy defensive magic to protect themselves, but Rietz wasn’t concerned. After all, his force had Charlotte to lead their attack.

Finally, as Seitz’s forces began to cross the river, Rietz gave the signal for the mage division to begin.

“Attack!”

Charlotte completed her spell first, unleashing the strongest of all fire-aspected magics: Hellfire. This would have been a perfect moment to bring out explosive magic, but that was in short supply, and had to be conserved to protect particularly significant locations. Some of Ars’s retainers had lobbied to use it anyway, considering how much they were wagering upon this single battle, but in the end, it had been decided that it wasn’t worth the risk. Fire magic lacked in destructive potential compared to explosive magic and was easier to guard against, but when Charlotte was casting it, those factors hardly mattered.

A single cast of Hellfire exhausted all of the aqua magia in a large catalyzer, and the spell couldn’t be cast at all using any of the smaller models. When cast by an ordinary mage, it was capable of engulfing an entire battlefield in raging flames, turning the landscape into a veritable hell on earth. When Charlotte cast it, the word “hell” didn’t do the scene justice. Her spell shredded the enemy’s defenses so quickly it was like they hadn’t been there at all, and transformed the battlefield into a sea of flame in the blink of an eye. Rietz had speculated that the river would dampen the spell’s effects, but it was so overwhelmingly powerful that any difference the river might have made was impossible to perceive.

The other mages’ spells followed soon after Charlotte’s. Their army only had a limited number of large catalyzers on hand, so most of them used medium or small ones instead. The mages stationed on the large catalyzers were the cream of the crop, with one exception: the division’s newest mage, Musia, had been given a large catalyzer to operate as well.

That had been Charlotte’s decision. She was in charge of her mages’ stations, and while Rietz had decided not to question her choice, he had been somewhat concerned about it. Musia’s magic could be incredibly powerful on occasion, but she was still inexperienced and her spells failed sometimes as well. Wasting an entire large catalyzer’s worth of aqua magia was an expense they simply couldn’t afford. All Rietz could do was watch over Musia and pray that she would pull her spell off…but the moment the battle began, his worries were obliterated.

In spite of her inexperience, Musia’s Hellfire swept across the battlefield to nearly as devastating of an effect as Charlotte’s had. It seemed luck was on Canarre’s side, and this was one of her good days. Even Musia seemed shocked by the power of the spell she’d cast─most likely, this was her most effective spell to date. It was a happy miscalculation, to be sure: Charlotte’s spell had already thrown the enemy army into a state of turmoil, and Musia’s had crashed down on them just moments later, shaking them even further.

In an instant, the enemy soldiers began to break ranks and run. Their commanding officer didn’t seem to have given the order to retreat─this was an uncoordinated withdrawal. Most likely, the brutality of the situation had driven the soldiers into a panic. They’d lost their will to fight, disregarded their orders, and decided to flee. They weren’t inexperienced or poorly led soldiers by any means, but nevertheless, the spectacle was simply too devastating and their spirits were broken in an instant. Watching one’s comrades be burned to death─seeing them writhe and suffer as the flames consumed them─had dealt an incredible psychological blow to the entire enemy force.

Once Rietz confirmed that they were retreating, he ordered his mages to cease fire and ordered his cavalry to charge. Clamant and Braham both led their troops into the fray, chasing after the hostile soldiers. Rietz’s goal was to deal as heavy of a blow as possible, and that meant his men would have to pursue their foes as they retreated and cut down as many of them as they could. Thankfully, with their chain of command shattered and their withdrawal a chaotic jumble, chasing after them was child’s play. One by one, the fleeing soldiers were slain.

Soon, Braham spotted the leader of the offensive, who was withdrawing along with the rest of his force’s rearguard. Braham led his men in a charge. Since they were mounted and their foes were fleeing on foot in a disordered mess, it wasn’t long before they had overtaken the enemy leader and scattered what little remained of his personal guard. Finally, Braham himself engaged them in single combat.

“Your head is mine!” Braham bellowed as he laid down his challenge. The leader of Seitz’s force fought desperately, but Braham was a more than capable warrior, and this time he didn’t make the sort of mind-numbingly stupid mistake that had led to his defeat the time he dueled Rietz. It was a one-sided battle, and in almost no time at all, Braham came out on top.

And so, the first battle ended in Canarre’s overwhelming victory.

○

Later that night, Rietz and his men were back in their encampment, celebrating their success.

“Did you see me out there?! I stormed into the enemy’s lines and struck down their commander!” Braham declared.

“You struck down the remnants of a broken army who were fleeing from you,” commented Zaht. “If anyone deserves praise for their exploits in battle tonight, it’s Charlotte.”

“I mean, sure, I did the most out there,” said Charlotte, “but Musia comes in at a close second, I’d say. Who knew she could sling a spell like that? Goes to show that Lord Ars knew what he was doing when he chose her!”

“Wh-What? You’re exaggerating,” Musia said with a distinctly strained smile. Her spell had been a massive success, certainly, but it had also resulted in the deaths of more people than she could count, and she had yet to work through the mental trauma she’d sustained from that knowledge.

Musia aside, the majority of the soldiers who’d participated in the battle were experienced enough to turn a blind eye to the horrors of war and celebrate without reservation. Rietz, meanwhile, watched on from the sidelines. He was a little worried that his men were overdoing it, but he also knew that soldiers needed the chance to cut loose every once in a while, and resisted the urge to tell them off for their revelry. As their commanding officer, however, he couldn’t let himself engage in it. While everyone else was having the time of their lives, Rietz was perhaps even more on guard than ever.

We’ve won our first battle with only a few dozen dead on our side, while the enemy suffered over a thousand casualties, Rietz thought to himself. They still have more than enough men to spare, but there’s no denying that we’ve gained significant ground today. I just hope they’ll take this as a sign and withdraw.

Rietz knew, though, that expecting them to do so was naive. The army of Seitz turning around and abandoning their invasion would be the optimal outcome, yes, but however stunning of a failure this first battle was for them, they still had tens of thousands of men on their side. Losing one battle and then fleeing would set a bad precedent for their force, and Rietz knew it was likely that they’d make a point of achieving something before giving up their cause.

We’ll win a few battles more, then offer to negotiate an armistice. We may need to make concessions to secure Seitz’s withdrawal, but so long as we can keep winning until then, bringing an end to the war through negotiations may well be possible.

If Seitz was able to secure a promise of money, valuable works of art, resources, and the like, then they could claim that their invasion had been a success and save face, to an extent. Carrying on the fight and continuing to lose had to be the worst-case scenario, from their perspective. That would be like asking for Seitz’s precarious state of stability to come crashing down again.

So long as Canarre could offer a reasonable compromise, Rietz believed that there was a good chance their foes would accept their terms. The thought of making concessions despite coming out ahead in battle vexed him somewhat, but if it meant driving an army tens of thousands strong away from Canarre’s borders, it would be a small price to pay.

After that disaster of a first battle, their troops’ morale must be dangerously low. They probably thought they could judge our capabilities after the first battle and work out a plan to deal with us from there on out, but there just isn’t much that can be done in the face of Charlotte’s magic. We’ll win the next engagement as well, Rietz thought with confidence.

○

The news of our army’s total victory in their first battle arrived at Fort Coumeire.

“Our forces slew over a thousand enemies, and our own casualties number in the dozens. The battle was a great success,” said Ben, who’d come to deliver the report. His summary of the battle was as concise and to the point as ever. I could always trust him to tell me what I needed to know in as few words as possible.

“Ha ha ha! Sounds like Rietz and the others are doing some nice work out there! I didn’t think they’d crush the Seitzans that badly,” Mireille said with an elated laugh. “Maybe they weren’t as tough as we were expecting them to be? Either way, this was a major step in the right direction,” she added with a satisfied smirk.

Is it just me, or is she going out of her way to tempt fate?

“M-Master, please! You can’t take the enemy lightly!” insisted Rosell.

“When this war’s over, I’m gonna drown myself in the most expensive booze I can get my hands on,” Mireille said wistfully.

Again, you’re really tempting fate here! I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this war!

“They still have far more troops left than we had to begin with,” said Rosell. “I doubt I need to tell you this, but having more manpower puts you at a clear advantage in war! We can’t let our guards down!”

Rosell, at least, wasn’t the sort of person to let a great victory go to his head. I have to admit that when I heard we’d crushed our foes I’d let myself get a little complacent too, but now, I decided to do away with that mindset.

Just then another report arrived, this time from one of Fort Coumeire’s soldiers rather than one of the Shadows.

“Lord Ars,” the soldier said, “Lady Licia Pleide has arrived at our gates, and requests an audience with you. Shall we show her in?”

“L-Licia’s here?!” I gasped. I hadn’t seen her arrival coming!

Fort Coumeire was on the war’s front line, which made it a very dangerous place to be. Hostile forces wouldn’t be rolling up to our gates within the hour, granted, and since the whole war didn’t hinge upon us holding the fort─not to say it wasn’t important, mind you─we would probably withdraw long before anyone got around to storming it. It wasn’t likely that she’d get hurt just by being in this vicinity, but that didn’t make it a safe place to be, either.

But, one way or another, she was here now.

What could she want? I wondered. Licia was smart, and she surely knew there was a war going on, so I couldn’t imagine she would have made the trip without a very good reason. I’d better meet with her as soon as possible!

I left my room behind me and set out to find my visiting fiancée.

○

“Lord Ars! Forgive me for my sudden intrusion,” Licia said the moment she saw me.

“Yes, about that─why are you here?” I asked.

“When I heard that a war was brewing, and that you would be leading from the front lines, I just got so nervous… I couldn’t simply stay at home and worry, so I decided I would rather be here, with you. I don’t know if there’s anything I’ll be able to do to help, but may I at least stay by your side?” Licia asked.

To be frank, I was happy to hear that she wanted to be here with me. I could tell that her request wasn’t coming from a calculating or self-interested place. She truly was worried about me. That said, being here would put her at risk of meeting a terrible fate should the war go awry. I didn’t want to expose her to that sort of danger.

“I’m pleased to hear that you feel that way,” I said. “However, I can’t allow myself to drag you into harm’s way. If you would stay somewhere safer, I’d be much─”

“No!” Licia shouted, cutting me off before I could even finish my request. “How could I possibly be content in safety when you’re out here, risking your life…?” she asked. Tears began to pool in the corner of her eye, but she wiped them away. “And moreover, I’m certain beyond a doubt that you will emerge victorious! You’ve used your power to choose the most capable followers a lord could possibly ask for, and they would never allow you to be defeated! I know for a fact that no harm will befall me here!”

Licia looked me straight in the eye, her expression determined.

I wavered, unable to decide which course to take. On one hand Licia didn’t know the first thing about warfare, but on the other, part of me felt somehow reassured by her presence. I didn’t have a rational reason to want to be with her, but I felt that way nonetheless.

“I’d say you ought to keep your cute little fiancée around, personally,” said Mireille from behind me. “Girl’s got a strong will, and she’s pretty smart, too. Plus, she’s a girl. Might give her the perspective to come up with stuff that we’d never think of.”

“Aren’t, umm, you a girl too, Mireille?” I asked.

“Oh. Right, yeah, guess I am. Ha ha ha─slipped my mind for a minute there!” Mireille said with an amused chuckle.

I guess thinking of her as a girl might not be the best idea, when she puts it that way, I reflected. She was unlike a normal woman in too many ways for me to count, after all. She felt more like an old man than anything else.

All questions of her gender aside, Mireille’s input had helped me reach a decision. Having Licia around would help me on an emotional level, and if we found ourselves in a fix, it was always possible that she’d have an idea that could get us out of it.

“You win, Lady Licia,” I said. “If you would be so kind, I’d be honored to have you here by my side.”

Licia gave me a smile so pure and carefree, it was downright angelic.

“Gladly!” she replied.

○

Rietz, who was still on the front lines to lead Canarre’s army, waited within his force’s encampment for the scout he’d sent out to report back on their foe’s movements. It was right around time for the scout to return, by his best estimate, and sure enough, no sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the scout rushed to his side.

“We’ve sighted the enemy army! They’re on the move!” the scout reported.

“Are they staging another attack?” asked Rietz.

“They are! And while they only sent a small portion of their men at us in the last engagement, this time, they’re moving en masse!” the scout succinctly reported.

“How’s their morale?”

“High, by the look of it!”

“And who’s commanding the attack?”

“The vanguard is led by Rantolk Rooder, a Seitzan commander well known for his unparalleled bravery. Rantolk is accompanied by his brother, Trapaul Rooder, as well as Barl Rogue, Levanton Mackrend, and Lopat Termika, all capable commanders in their own rights!”

Rietz had heard those names before. Rantolk Rooder and his brother Trapaul had both commanded troops in the Seitzan civil war, and had both achieved great things on numerous battlefields. The same could be said of the other commanders who had been named─all of them were well-reputed.

Rietz wasn’t capable of picking out their strengths like Ars could, and didn’t have precise figures by which to judge his foes’ strength, but judging by their many accomplishments, he couldn’t imagine that any of them were incapable. It seemed clear that Seitz was done testing the waters, and was now prepared to begin their invasion in earnest.

In addition, it seemed that the massive force marching upon Rietz’s position was not, in fact, the entire army of Seitz. They were still holding a number of divisions in reserve. Rietz had hoped that his foes would give up and abandon the attempt after a few setbacks, but it seemed the war wouldn’t end so easily after all.

How could their morale be high, though? Rietz wondered. I’d think their troops would be quaking in fear after Charlotte and Musia scoured the battlefield last time. Whoever’s leading their army must be capable indeed.

Seitz’s frontline soldiers had witnessed their comrades getting burned to death before their very eyes, and it was likely they’d spread that story to the rest of the army. After witnessing a sight like that it was only natural to want to tell the tale, and once a rumor like that started spreading, it would disseminate throughout the whole force in a flash. Rietz tried to imagine how he would’ve helped his men find the will to fight again after an event that traumatic if he’d been in charge of Seitz’s army at the time, and found himself less than confident that he could have pulled it off.

In any case, if the enemy’s on the move, we have to be ready for them.

However many troops Seitz threw at them, Rietz knew that with Charlotte and her mages guarding their encampment, it would be difficult to break through. That being said, they were up against the sort of numbers that could manage to do so anyway through sheer, brute force alone. Rietz began working out the tactics he’d employ in this engagement, well aware that it might not end as easily as the first battle.

Rietz thought through all the options available to him, and eventually decided that centering his plan of battle around magic would still prove to be the best option available to him. He knew that his foes would prioritize strengthening their magical defenses, after what had happened last time, but Rietz had a plan to break through those bolstered defenses in turn.

Magical defenses were only effective against magical attacks. In other words, if an archer could bring down the mages maintaining a magical barrier, the force it was protecting would be left exposed to magic. Thanks to Ars’s Appraisal skill the soldiers of Canarre had all learned what their personal strengths were, and their army had grown considerably more formidable as a result. Its archers were no exception, and a few dozen of them were skilled enough to serve as snipers in a pinch. Of course, if they didn’t choose to bulk up their magical defenses, Rietz figured that his troops would be able to drive them away with magic in the same way they had before.

Rietz and his troops quickly finished their preparations, and a few days later, a soldier rushed over with a report.

“Sir Rietz! The enemy is upon us!” he cried.

The second wave had arrived, and this time, the enemy was not holding back. The size of the force they’d sent was breathtaking, but Rietz knew he couldn’t let himself lose his nerve. If it was for Ars’s sake, he could take on an army of any size without so much as a hint of fear.

“You saw the sort of men we’re up against last time,” Rietz proclaimed to his troops. “The enemy is weak! It doesn’t matter how many of them they throw at us─we’ll drive them back all the same!” he asserted, doing his best to rouse his men’s spirits in the face of the overwhelming numbers that opposed them. His speech had its intended effect. Many of his soldiers had looked nervous before, but now they regained their confidence.

Once Rietz was sure that morale had been restored, he turned to survey the enemy army with his own eyes and found that his prediction had been entirely off the mark. There was no sign of any significant mage presence among their number─just an incredibly vast quantity of troops, all marching toward the river. On the one hand it looked like a thoughtless, reckless move indicating a total lack of a real strategy, but on the other hand, it was a paradoxically difficult tactic for Rietz to deal with.

The enemy force dramatically outnumbered Canarre’s, and if they just kept pouring in, Rietz’s men would be overwhelmed. No matter how devastating Charlotte’s spells were, large catalyzers had to be refilled after their aqua magia was exhausted, and that took time. She couldn’t sling spell after spell nonstop, and in the meantime, the enemy would be advancing uncontested.

Even if it works, tactics like that are going to make their losses even bigger than ever. Are they more serious about taking Canarre by storm than I expected…? Or is this a show of force aimed at convincing us to surrender? Rietz wondered. He simply couldn’t think of anything the enemy could hope to gain from taking over Canarre that would justify this sort of sacrifice. If they keep coming at us like this, we’ll have to consider falling back. Thinning their ranks with magic before beating a retreat should keep our losses low while also dealing significant damage to their army.

Rietz’s force was at a significant numerical disadvantage, but if he played his cards right, he knew he could use this situation to close that gap. The one flaw in that plan was that if he fell back here, his troops wouldn’t be able to take their large catalyzers with them. If they were going to withdraw from the engagement and prepare to confront the enemy again at a later date, they’d have to do it quickly, and large catalyzers were heavy and difficult to move about. Bringing them along would slow Rietz’s force down enough that the enemy could catch up to them.

Large catalyzers were highly valuable, and losing them would be a blow, but in this instance Rietz saw it as a necessary sacrifice. He’d lose them whether they left them behind deliberately in a retreat or was forced to leave them after the enemy broke through their lines, so the end result would be the same regardless.

Rietz kept his gaze fixed on the advancing forces. The moment they entered into his mages’ range, he gave the signal for them to begin casting.

“Attack!”

Canarre’s mages began to unleash their spells. Charlotte’s magic was incredibly consistent, and her spell was as fearsomely powerful as ever. Musia, in contrast, couldn’t replicate her remarkable firepower from the previous battle and suffered a miscast. Charlotte’s assessment of her had been on the money: she had talent, but every once in a while it let her down.

Musia’s spell had considerably strengthened Canarre’s firepower in the last battle. Needless to say, its absence reduced the impact of the mages’ volley. Charlotte’s spell was still tremendously powerful, of course, so Seitz’s army was far from safe, and once again, a mountain of corpses began to build up in the river. This time, though, they didn’t turn around and flee. Seitz’s troops advanced dauntlessly, stepping over the bodies of their fallen comrades and spooking Canarre’s soldiers in the process.

The spell Charlotte was casting, Hellfire, took some time to invoke even if the large catalyzer she was using was already full of aqua magia. The rest of Canarre’s mages who had been stationed at large catalyzers were casting the same spell, but their version of it paled in comparison to hers. Musia, meanwhile, failed to cast several times in a row.

The gaps between Charlotte’s spells provided moments of relative respite for Seitz’s forces, and they used them to continue advancing through the river. Eventually, Seitz’s advance overtook Canarre’s ability to refill their catalyzers, and the invading force reached the opposite bank. Canarre’s troops were waiting for them, and the moment Seitz’s army stepped onto dry land a brutal melee ensued.

The troops on Canarre’s front line fought their hardest, but for every enemy soldier they felled, another stepped up to replace them. Rietz concluded in an instant that it was only a matter of time before the enemy broke through their formation.

Just then, Charlotte finished her preparations for another spell. Firing it off into the melee would mean catching her allies in the blast, so she targeted an area full of nothing but Seitzan soldiers. She incinerated them in droves, but there were just too many, and their momentum didn’t so much as slow.

This isn’t looking good. I think it’s about time for us to pull back, Rietz thought. Otherwise, every Canarrean soldier present was liable to be killed. Rietz decided to leave a number of troops behind to hold the enemy back while the rest of his army withdrew. He’d had embankments raised and palisades constructed in preparation for the battle, so it wouldn’t take all that many men to hold the line and give the main force the time they needed to flee.

The longer Rietz waited to give the order, the deeper the enemy would push into their lines and the greater the damage they would suffer. Delaying the withdrawal by even a second too long could prove disastrous, so the moment he settled on his decision, Rietz sprung into action.

“Fall back!” he shouted.

○

As soon as Rietz gave the order to withdraw, a nearby mage on sound magic duty cast Hyper Voice to issue a massive, booming signal, sending the message to the entire army. Hyper Voice worked by amplifying the caster’s words, so directly ordering everyone to fall back was an option, but it went without saying that doing so would have been less than wise. Instead, Canarre’s army had worked out a set of code phrases in advance. In this case, “commence plan D” indicated that it was time to withdraw.

Issuing orders in code was useful in a number of ways. It put the enemy army on guard, for one thing, buying Canarre’s forces precious moments to prepare for their flight. Once you’d used a code phrase it had to be changed, of course, and in the next battle “operation D” would mean something entirely different.

Preparing for moments like these was vital. If you only made plans for your victory, then you’d suffer far greater losses than you would have if you’d prepared yourself for defeat as well. Canarre’s forces had spent ample time preparing for an emergency retreat, and under Rietz’s command, they began preparing for their withdrawal in a quick and orderly fashion.

The soldiers on the front line would be responsible for stalling the enemy. Orders issued with Hyper Voice were loud enough to cross the whole battlefield to reach them, and the moment they received their new directive, they began deliberately dragging out their battle, buying as much time as they could manage.

Once their preparations were complete, Canarre’s army began to withdraw with Rietz at their head. They had prepared a secondary encampment in advance, and would be regrouping there to take up position wthin it. Thanks to the efforts of the soldiers who stayed behind, no enemy forces were able to pursue the main army, and Rietz’s withdrawal succeeded with only a minimal number of casualties.

○

After his army had safely retreated and taken up position in their secondary encampment, Rietz took stock of the situation.

“How bad were our losses?” he asked.

“Around two hundred and fifty men in total, sir!” a soldier replied.

Most of the men who’d stayed behind to buy time, it seemed, had been either killed or captured. Only a few of them managed to make it to the secondary encampment, and most of those who did were wounded badly enough that they couldn’t be sent back out into battle. Considering the total size of Rietz’s force it hadn’t been a small price to pay, but their losses quailed in comparison to the casualties the enemy army had sustained.

Rietz didn’t have any concrete numbers to work with, but by his best estimate over a thousand Seitzan soldiers had been killed or incapacitated by Canarre’s magical barrage. The soldiers who’d stayed behind had fought like men possessed, as well, and had likely done a fair deal of damage in their own right. Seitz’s losses were considerable, no matter how you looked at it.

From a perspective of pure numbers, Canarre seemed to have come out well ahead in the battle. The fact that they’d been forced to retreat, however, was a major loss. If they were driven back further still, they’d have to leave all sorts of supplies behind for fear of the weight slowing them down, and that would be far too great of a loss to write off as a necessary expense.

In spite of Couran’s support, Canarre’s resources were still very much limited. They almost certainly weren’t as well-equipped as the army of Seitz was, and they’d already left several large catalyzers for the enemy to claim due to their bulk making them hard to move around. Charlotte’s ability to cast multiple times in sequence using multiple catalyzers, as such, had been greatly diminished.

It didn’t seem like the enemy cared about what happened to their men at all, Rietz reflected. How could their morale be so high with a strategy like that in play…? I did my best to minimize sacrifices during our retreat to preserve our own morale, but it’s still had a clear impact. In any case, I have to report to Lord Ars as soon as possible!

Rietz jotted down a letter and had it sent off to Fort Coumeire posthaste.

○

Mireille, Rosell, and I had all gathered up in Fort Coumeire to read a letter from Rietz. The message-bearer had ridden a horse to get it to us as fast as possible, so our update on the situation at the front arrived on the same day Rietz had dispatched it. It seemed that the enemy’s onslaught had proved too overwhelming, and our army had been forced to retreat.

“Hmh,” I grunted with concern.

I guess I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.

“Sounds like the other side’s got some real motivation worked up,” Mireille observed. She must not have anticipated that their morale would be as high as it had turned out, and looked just as surprised by the news as I was.

“Wh-What should we do?! If they keep pushing that hard, they’ll reach this fort before we know it! And there are just so many of them─not even Mister Rietz or Charlotte could hold off numbers like that,” Rosell moaned. He’d been consumed by his own pessimism once again, though considering how bad things looked, I couldn’t blame him for it.

“I’d say our first move should be trying to negotiate an armistice,” said Mireille. “They’ve lost a solid chunk of troops over these past two battles, so if we offer enough bonuses to sweeten the deal, they might just take us up on it.”

“What do you mean, bonuses?” I asked.

“Y’know, supplies, money, resources, art─valuable stuff, basically. Might as well just write down your terms, plus a list of everything you’re willing to hand over to get them to leave, and have it sent over to the enemy side.”

“I’ll give that a try, then,” I said with a nod, then got to work on implementing her advice and moving toward peace talks.

I took some time thinking through all the provisions, funds, and resources we could spare, plus all the artwork that happened to be lying around in my castle. Then, I wrote up a list of everything that seemed worth offering, plus the terms I was hoping they would accept, and had a messenger carry it off to the enemy army.

To make a long story short: the attempt was a failure. They didn’t literally kill the messenger, at least, but they did send him back with a letter refusing my terms. They weren’t outright opposed to the idea of laying down arms, but the deal I’d offered wasn’t to their liking, and they’d offered a different set of conditions instead.

“The County of Canarre is to be annexed by the Duchy of Seitz. Lord Ars Louvent may maintain his position as count, and should he desire anything of His Lordship the Duke of Seitz, his requests will be accommodated. Should Lord Couran of Missian assault Canarre in an attempt to win back the territory, reinforcements will be dispatched to support you…” I read out loud.

I had serious and immediate apprehensions about handing over my territory…but on the other hand, they’d made it explicit that I’d be able to maintain my position. In a sense, accepting their offer wouldn’t change much of anything for me at all, aside from the fact that I’d answer to the Duke of Seitz instead of Couran.

“Hmm,” said Mireille. “So Seitz isn’t set on taking all of Missian right away─they’d be satisfied with just Canarre, looks like. Canarre’s not the most desirable territory out there, but it would give them a launching point to threaten the rest of the duchy from. I guess this means they’re playing a long game and looking toward their future strategies? And even if they go after Scheutz instead, they’d still have to keep an eye on Missian just in case, so having Canarre under their control certainly couldn’t hurt.”

Seitz had just emerged from a regime-changing civil war, and in order to bring the duchy together, they needed an external enemy to focus on. In that sense, a war in some form was a necessity. No matter who that war ended up being against, Missian or Scheutz, having Canarre as part of their territory would be handy in some way or another, and since Missian was going through its own period of internal turmoil, it was the perfect chance for them to snatch the territory up.

“If that’s true, then we might want to consider accepting this offer,” Rosell muttered. “There’s no telling how things will end if we decide to keep up the fight, after all. At the very least, accepting their terms would mean that Ars can keep his position as count.”

At that point, Rosell paused.

“No, wait,” he said, then started muttering once more, arguing in an entirely different direction. “What if this offer’s a trick to begin with? There’s no reason why they couldn’t execute Ars after we accept… And even if it is a genuine offer, accepting it while Lord Couran’s troops are fighting under our banner would be a betrayal that House Louvent’s reputation might never recover from… And it’s so important to maintain trust…”

Betrayal was an option, then, but one that carried plenty of downsides.

“I don’t believe that betraying Lord Couran would be for the best,” said Licia, who was sitting close at hand. “You’ve judged his capabilities and seen for yourself that he’s an exceptional leader, yes?” she asked, turning to me.

“I have,” I confirmed.

“And it seems that he values your capabilities highly as well. Furthermore, a failed attempt at betrayal could end with Lord Couran crushing all of us underfoot.”

Crushing us? Yeesh, that’s a scary way of putting it.

She was not, however, wrong. The fact that Couran thought so highly of my skills meant that if I were to become his enemy, he would approach his conflict with me very cautiously. Worse still, if Couran was the sort of person who would never trust a person who’d betrayed him once, and if he managed to reclaim Canarre, he’d put me to death.

Of course, none of that would be a problem if I surrendered to Seitz, joined up with the Seitzan army and Vasmarque’s forces, and crushed Couran entirely. On the other hand, I’d only just been given control over Canarre, and turning around and using my position to wage war against the man who’d promoted me would feel downright ungrateful. It would mean coming into conflict with Lumeire, as well, and I was worried that some of Canarre’s soldiers would decide to rebel rather than fight their former lord. It didn’t seem like a very wise plan of action, all around.

“I give it high odds the whole thing about letting you stay as count’s a lie, honestly, so if you want to keep your position, better not to take ’em up on this,” Mireille continued. “I mean, from their point of view, you’re a thirteen-year-old brat with no accomplishments to speak of, right? It’d be a whole different matter if they knew about your power, but you haven’t been blatant enough with that for the info to get all the way to the Duke of Seitz, have you?”

Again, she had a point. If Canarre was intended to be their staging point for an attack on Missian, it would be way too important to leave in the hands of a young, inexperienced ruler like me. Furthermore, unless the Duke of Seitz was an absolute master when it came to gathering information, it seemed unlikely that he’d know about my Appraisal skill.

“I mean, who knows. Maybe they really won’t kill you, and maybe you could get some other territory out of the bargain,” said Mireille. “If you can use your power to make yourself look helpful, you might even manage to become the retainer of some Seitzan bigshot. Staying on as count, though? I can’t see it.”

In spite of the fact that she’d suggested surrendering to Seitz before the war started, Mireille seemed firmly against the decision now. Having gone through all the pros and cons of the option, I was convinced as well: it just wasn’t the right move. I wouldn’t have been excited about it even without a logical argument against it, to be fair, since betraying Couran would mean breaking the promise I’d made to Lumeire.

“But if we don’t accept their offer, won’t that take peace off the table entirely…?” I muttered.

“Yup, so we’ll just have to beat ’em,” Mireille said with an air of casual indifference.

“And what are the odds of us pulling that off?” I asked, looking to both Mireille and Rosell for a reply. I knew that with our peace talks scuttled fighting was our only option, and I wanted to know if either of them thought that victory was feasible.

“Considering the possibility of Lord Couran and his army arriving to reinforce us, we stand a chance as long as we do our best to drag the war out. I can’t say I’m totally sure we’ll lose, anyway…” Rosell said with an anxious frown. The look on his face gave me the sense he was worried about something, and a moment later, Mireille piped up to clue me in on what was concerning him.

“Waiting it out’s definitely not a plan we can count on working,” she said. “When Couran will be able to help us out’s a total unknown, and all. It’s pretty likely that something or other will end up tying him up for a good long while, and even though he didn’t send us many men, any number of reinforcements here represents a chunk of men who aren’t fighting to wrap up his side of the war. Not that I think he’s gonna lose Velshdt, or anything.”

“Good point,” I said. “And if we’re dragging out the fight for reinforcements that might never show up, it’s going to have an impact on our soldiers’ morale.”

“But we also don’t know that Lord Couran won’t arrive to help, and stalling tactics can be effective,” piped up Rosell. “Of course, the longer we drag the war out the more we’ll lose, and if the fighting spills into Canarre proper we might see some of our citizens get caught up in it as well.”

Preventing as many deaths as possible was a high priority for me, and I was afraid that if things went on for too long we’d have to withdraw from Fort Coumeire, allowing the enemy army to run rampant throughout the county. Who knew what sort of chaos they would wreak? That was a scenario I wanted to avoid at all costs.

“I’d like to prevent any harm from coming to the people of Canarre, if at all possible. Is there any chance that we could repel the enemy, using only the troops available to us now?” I asked. That would be the best possible option, if it was on the table, and would make for the cleanest finish to the war.

If we could repel the enemy while minimizing losses on our side, we might even be able to follow it up by launching an attack on Arcantez to gain even more favor with Couran. The enemy’s overwhelming numbers, however, were still a factor I didn’t know if we could cope with. It was clear that they were serious about taking Canarre, so we wouldn’t be able to offset that advantage without some serious tactics backing us up.

“If we’re fighting them by conventional means? Nah, that’s off the table,” Mireille said matter-of-factly.

“Well, yes, I know that,” I sighed.

At that point, Rosell stepped in to lay out our options in Mireille’s place. “There are a number of tactics that are suitable to opposing a numerically superior enemy, but not many of them would be possible for us to put into practice,” he said. “Convincing their commander to defect to your side’s one, but that’s not doable unless you’ve laid the groundwork for it in advance, so it’s off the table for now. Beating them on a pure tactical level’s not technically impossible, but in our case the difference in numbers is just too substantial. Even if we win battle after battle to start, it’d only be a matter of time before they wore us down.”

“So then, what can we do?” I asked.

“I believe our best option would be to use the Shadows to our advantage,” Rosell proposed. “Seitz’s army is vast, but deploying that many soldiers takes a lot of provisions, and their mages will need plenty of aqua magia as well. If we could sabotage their stores, we might be able to cripple their ability to carry on the fight, and I believe the Shadows are skilled enough to make that happen.”

Aiming for their supplies? Interesting.

Reducing their aqua magia supplies would certainly make their mages less of a threat, and mages were half of what made going into battle so terrifying. Plus, it would damage their ability to raise magical defenses just as much, making our own magical assaults all the more effective. A lack of provisions, meanwhile, would make it hard for their soldiers to fight in the first place. Rosell was right that the Shadows were incredibly capable, so I was sure they’d be able to at least partially accomplish that objective.

“I like the sound of this, but not even the Shadows would be able to take out all of our enemy’s supplies. Would wiping out a chunk of them be enough to win us the war?” I asked.

“Destroying all of them would be hard, yeah, but if we can get rid of enough of them, it could let us hold out against their army no matter how big of a difference in numbers we’re dealing with,” Rosell replied. “Magic rules the battlefield in this day and age, and is especially necessary when you’re assaulting a fortress. As long as we can deplete their aqua magia, we’ll have okay odds of holding this fort.”

Mireille frowned. “I’m not so sure about that,” she said. “It’d be a different story if this place were more defensible, but if I’m being honest, it’s not the sturdiest fort I’ve ever seen. For a fort on the border, it’s kind of concerning just how poorly fortified it is.”

It was true that Fort Coumeire was far from a heavily-fortified citadel. It had been known as one at some point in history, supposedly, but times had changed. Between the fort’s deterioration and the advent of magical warfare rendering what was left obsolete, it could hardly be called well-defended in this day and age. The previous Count of Canarre, Lumeire, hadn’t put much effort into repairing the fort. Canarre’s finances were far from stable, to be frank, so a large-scale renewal just wasn’t possible given the budget he was working with.

“Then again, I can’t deny that taking out their aqua magia would be a big boost to our odds, whether we’re fighting in a siege or on the open field,” said Mireille. “I just think that if it’s our only plan, it’ll fall short. We need something else, too.”

“Do you have any ideas, Master?” asked Rosell.

“Nope.”

“Seriously?!” I moaned.

She doesn’t? None?

Something about the flow of the exchange had convinced me that she’d thought up a master plan ages ago.

“Look, kiddo, if I could come up with perfect plans at the drop of a hat, my job would be a hell of a lot easier,” said Mireille.

“Okay, but…isn’t that basically what you did all throughout our last war? You never made it look hard then, either,” I countered.

“Yeah, ’cause it was an easy war. We had numbers on our side pretty much every battle. Their castles were pretty tough, but that was the worst of it,” said Mireille. It seemed an overwhelming numerical disadvantage was a tough problem to solve, even for her. “Anyway, I’m with you─I doubt just buying time’s our best bet, either. Trust me, nothing’s more irritating than sitting around and dragging out a war without going on the offensive at all. We’ve gotta come up with something that’ll let us deal a solid blow to their army.”

Not exactly the most logical reason to choose a tactic, is it?

At that point, Mireille let out a yawn.

“Anyway, all this thinking’s made me sleepy. I’m gonna hit the sack,” she said, then headed for the door.

Considering she’d just made it sound like she was about to start planning for real, I was beside myself with shock.

“Wait, what?! You’re going to sleep?! I thought you were going to pull out all the stops and really start planning!” I exclaimed.

“Why bother? I’m not gonna be having any good ideas while I’m this tired,” said Mireille.

“I mean, you have a point, but this is a critical juncture in the war! And it’s the middle of the day!”

“The nice thing about humans is that we can sleep whenever we feel like it, day or night,” Mireille said, then yawned as she left the room without another word. Presumably, she was heading for her chambers.

“W-Well,” I said, “she’s certainly a free spirit.”

“O-Oh, gods. I have to think as hard as I can,” Rosell moaned, then started racking his brain for a solution.

“Hee hee hee! Mireille’s just such an interesting woman, isn’t she?” Licia said with an amused smile. “But I can tell she’s also quite reliable. The situation’s dire, but she wasn’t even flustered! I’m sure she has absolute faith that we’ll manage to win the day somehow.”

Rosell and I had both been well on our way toward succumbing to anxiety, but Licia’s words helped us feel a little better about things. She was right─Mireille hadn’t seemed panicked in the slightest. She probably believed that everything would work out for the best, one way or another. I, meanwhile, noted that Licia had remained just as composed and unshaken as Mireille had. In my mind, she was just as reliable as the older woman.

“Oh, and I believe you should make contact with the Shadows before you expend any more effort on planning,” Licia added.

“O-Oh, right! Good point. I’ll give them their orders right away,” I said. I’d almost forgotten that I still had to tell the Shadows about the sabotage I wanted them to attempt, but thankfully, Licia had been there to save me at the last minute.

“Oh! You should do that, yes, but you should also send orders to Mister Rietz,” said Rosell. “I’d say that for now, we should tell him to do his best to buy as much time as he can.”

“Got it,” I replied, then went off to send out my instructions.

The Shadows were currently focusing their efforts on information gathering. That didn’t take all of their efforts, so they’d left Ben with me to serve as a point of contact, and I gave him the message that I was changing their current mission. Ben had a way of relaying messages incredibly quickly, so I felt confident that Pham would know what I wanted him to do next within a day or so. As for Rietz, I simply wrote a letter describing the current state of things in Fort Coumeire and asking him to buy us time, then dispatched it to the battlefield.

○

“The negotiations have failed…the Shadows are working behind the scenes…and I’m supposed to be buying time,” Rietz muttered as he read Ars’s letter and tried to grasp the current state of things. “Buying time, huh…? That’s not going to be easy.”

The enemy army was massive, their troops’ morale was high, and they were pressing forward at a rapid clip. They were a force to be reckoned with, all around. On the other hand, the fortification of Rietz’s force’s new encampment was proceeding smoothly. They’d lost a fair number of large catalyzers when their previous line was breached, but they hadn’t set up every single catalyzer they had in reserve for that battle, so they were once again able to prepare a decent enough line of them for battle. Still, even with those preparations complete, Rietz wasn’t convinced they’d be able to hold the enemy off for long.

It’ll all come down to how well the Shadows’ sabotage plays out, Rietz thought. If they can eliminate enough of the enemy’s food and aqua magia, then their troops won’t be able to go on the offensive with the sort of vigor they displayed during the last battle. I suppose all I can do is have faith in the Shadows and their skills. Buying the time we need is going to be difficult, but I have no choice other than to see it through.

Rietz made a silent vow to accomplish the mission he’d been entrusted with. A Malkan like him would never have had the opportunity to prove his capabilities and be granted control over an army if it weren’t for Ars’s support, so there was very little he wouldn’t do to live up to Ars’s expectations.

Seitz’s forces were already close at hand, and this time, Rietz expected them to charge in at their full strength without bothering to test the waters first.

We don’t have the time to come up with an elaborate strategy, he thought, and that only leaves us one other option…

If clever tactics were off the table, Rietz’s only option was to rely on brute force. That, needless to say, would involve Charlotte. Without her magic, any plan would be doomed from the outset. Rietz was worried, though, that in this case, her power alone wouldn’t be enough.

Using magic meant spending time filling catalyzers with aqua magia, so if it was the only cornerstone of their offense, there would be unavoidable periods during which their attack would stall out. If they let hostile forces close the gap during those periods again, they’d be forced to retreat, just like they had in the previous battle. That ran contrary to their purposes─they wouldn’t be buying anywhere near enough time if they had to pull out that quickly.

Rietz needed some way to hold the enemy army back while his mages were preparing their catalyzers. That task would logically fall to his infantry and cavalry, but their foes numbered far too many. If they charged in and tried to hold their foes back by conventional means, they’d be overrun in an instant.

I suppose my only choice is to take this into my own hands, Rietz concluded. If he led the charge, bringing the fight to the enemy and making a show of his prowess, he thought he might be able to scare them enough to slow their advance. Seeing their commander fight in the vanguard could give his allies a morale boost, as well.

Ars had ordered Rietz to take care of himself. Not only was Rietz an incredibly capable subordinate, but he was also the person who Ars trusted above all others. Ars had made it clear that he didn’t even want to consider the possibility of Rietz’s demise. In the absence of the time to plan out a detailed strategy, though, Rietz decided that unless he disregarded Ars’s orders and put himself in harm’s way, his side would have very little chance of winning the day.

But of course, none of that will be an issue. I just have to make it back alive.

Rietz had no intention of dying. He had the utmost confidence that he would make it through the battle alive, and carry out his plan to perfection. He believed in his abilities─in the abilities that Ars had discovered and drawn into the light.

“I can’t die here. A man who earned Lord Ars’s acknowledgement would never perish in a place like this!” Rietz told himself. It wasn’t his own abilities he believed in, in truth. No, he believed in Ars’s Appraisal skill.

“Prepare for battle! We’re buying as much time as we can manage!” Rietz shouted to his men, then began giving out detailed orders to each division. First, he instructed Braham, Zaht, and the Maitraw Company to accompany him in his offensive push.

“All right! Now this sounds like a battle I’ll be able to rack up some accomplishments in!” Braham excitedly declared.

Zaht, on the other hand, was smart enough to not be excited about his assignment.

“Umm… It seems to me that the encroaching army is a little too large to hold back that easily… In fact, is it even going to be possible with our numbers?” he asked.

What Rietz was proposing would be far from easy. They had roughly five thousand men, and those five thousand men would need to stop a force numbering in the tens of thousands that was running on high morale.

The combined forces of Canarre’s army and Couran’s reinforcements numbered almost thirty thousand, but it wasn’t feasible to use that entire force for this sort of stalling tactic. Seitz wouldn’t be sending all their men onto the field either, most likely, but they’d still have several times the manpower as Rietz’s force would. Quality trumped quantity when it came to the value of mages on the battlefield, but foot soldiers were a different matter. Strength in numbers was the single most important factor for them, and when your opponent held that advantage, holding them back was a very tall order.

“It’s all right. I know we’re up to this task,” said Rietz. He didn’t explain where his confidence was coming from, but it came through enough to encourage his comrades nonetheless.

“One thing,” said Clamant, the head of the Maitraw Company. He wasn’t the type to express his opinions, even during tactical discussions, so Rietz was caught off guard by him speaking up.

“Yes?” said Rietz.

“If our goal is to buy time, we should rethink how we’re arranging our defense. As is, the enemy’s probably going to break through our lines,” said Clamant, his expression as unchanging and impassive as ever.

Clamant had a wealth of experience on the battlefield, and Rietz knew that any opinion he expressed would be an informed one. “How do you mean? What’s wrong with our current formation?” Rietz asked.

“We have our large catalyzers all lined up in a row, and the plan’s to cast with all of them at once, right?” Clamant confirmed. “It’s true that more firepower means more dead enemies, in our current situation, and most of the time turning a battlefield into a sea of flames is enough to scare your enemy so badly their morale plummets and they can’t even fight properly. However, we’re up against a commander capable enough to keep his men in line and fighting in the face of that. It’d be one thing if we could wipe them all out in one blast, but with numbers like theirs, they’ll keep coming until they overwhelm us. Instead, we should have our mages carry small and mid-sized catalyzers and send them into battle with our vanguard to provide covering fire.”

“Wait a moment,” said Rietz. “I’m inclined to think that you’re misunderstanding the driving purpose behind my plan. It’s true that a round of magic from our large catalyzers wasn’t enough to shake our enemy during the last battle, but each time we hit them, they’ll need time to regroup before they can come at us once more. That’s how we’ll buy time, which is our whole objective. We need the large catalyzers active if we want to have any hope of pulling this off.”

“I’m not saying that you should take the large ones out of commission,” said Clamant. “I’m saying you should cut down on them. That Charlotte woman’s spells would be enough to inflict the damage we need on their own.”

Rietz fell silent as he considered Clamant’s words. Having Charlotte as the only mage stationed on the large catalyzers would reduce the firepower his forces were capable of putting out in a single burst. However, it was also unmistakable that Charlotte’s spells had done far and away the most damage to the enemy army. Part of Rietz was convinced that she could handle the task on her own, but part of him was still worried that they wouldn’t have the destructive potential they’d need with Clamant’s proposed setup.

“If you don’t think she can handle it, then just put another mage over there with her─the one called Musia. Her spells are the second most powerful in your force, aren’t they?”

“It’s not quite that simple. Musia’s magic is powerful at the best of times, yes, but her consistency leaves a lot to be desired,” said Rietz. In his mind, putting Musia in such an important role would be a dangerous gamble.

“I think Musia can handle it,” Charlotte chimed in. She also rarely spoke up during meetings, though in her case, half of the time that was because she was asleep. “She’s had a look in her eyes lately that I’ve never seen from her before, and she’s been practicing with a small catalyzer whenever she has free time. Been getting better and better with it, too. I figure going into battle must’ve been good for her. We won’t know until she tries casting something big, of course, but I’ve got a feeling she’ll do just fine.”

“A feeling…?” Rietz repeated skeptically. Charlotte’s confidence struck him as baseless, and trusting in her judgment would take quite a bit of courage, but he decided to muster that courage up and have faith in her anyway. Ars had handpicked Musia for her potential, just like he had Rietz. There was no denying that she had the ability to do great things slumbering within her, and it wouldn’t be strange at all for that capability to awaken during combat.

And so, in the absence of any concrete evidence, Rietz decided to be optimistic. He took Clamant’s advice and assigned Charlotte and Musia to be the only mages who’d use the large catalyzers during the upcoming battle. The remaining mages in his force would join his division in the vanguard, using their magic to slow the enemy army down from up close. Having that many mages supporting them would make the fight substantially easier for the foot soldiers out front, and would make it significantly trickier for the enemy to fight their way through to the back lines.

Rietz’s troops followed his orders to the letter, gearing up and moving to their assigned positions. Soon all their preparations were complete, and all that was left was to wait for the enemy to arrive. That time would come all too soon. The army of Seitz marched onward, and under Rietz’s command the army of Canarre stood fast to intercept them.

○

Musia’s breath came in heaving gasps as she laid her hands on her large catalyzer. The pressure and tension of the situation was enough to send a fledgeling mage like her into a hyperventilating fit.

In the last battle, she’d known that she was just one of many mages on her side. She’d thought that meant that everything would be fine, even if she screwed up. This time, though, it was just her and Charlotte. If her spell failed again, the consequences would be devastating.

That wasn’t the only cause for her nervousness, though. She also had yet to grow desensitized to the act of using her magic to kill people. It was kill or be killed, and she knew it, but that didn’t stop her from feeling a moment of hesitation before every spell she tried to cast.

“I have to do this… I have to,” Musia muttered to herself as her hands started to tremble. The pounding of her heart grew faster and faster, and a bead of cold sweat trailed down her cheek, dripping off her skin and spattering to the ground below.

“Calm down, Musia.”

Musia jumped as a voice rang out from nearby. She’d been staring at the ground, but now she looked up to find Charlotte standing beside her. The look on her face was nothing like how she usually presented herself. Her expression was kind in a way Musia had never seen before.

“I know you can do it,” Charlotte said in a gentle tone.

Musia felt reassured upon hearing that, and clenched her fists.

I’ve always wanted to change, she thought.

Musia had responded to Ars’s solicitation for retainers because she was sick of herself, and sick of the environment she’d been trapped in. Men held all the power in the Summerforth Empire. It was true no matter what duchy you found yourself in, and Missian, Musia’s birthplace, was no exception. Women were expected to marry a man, bear children, and dedicate themselves to supporting their household.

Musia was taught that being treated that way was a matter of course. Her family had trained her to do housework, and nothing else. She’d never had a proper education, and had settled into a vague acceptance of the fact that everyone lived this way. Still, though, somewhere deep down, a part of her had always wondered: was this what she wanted?

Is marrying a man really my greatest ambition? Is raising children really all that I want out of life?

Again and again, she found herself harboring doubts that no imperial woman was ever meant to consider. Once the thought had struck her, she couldn’t stop it from taking root. She’d never had anyone to discuss those feelings with, though─after all, if she told anyone, there was a good chance they’d treat her like a lunatic. That was when Musia had chanced upon one of the signboards that Ars had put up to gather new talent. She’d read that anyone could apply, even women, and had realized that this could be her one chance to make a big change in her life.

Musia had set out to Castle Canarre determined to change, but when she was told that she had a talent for magic and was offered a position as a mage, her first instinct was to assume she was being lied to. She hadn’t heard the tales of Charlotte’s exploits, and had always thought that a woman could never serve as a soldier. She’d assumed that being the count’s retainer would be something like being his maid, assigned to do chores around the castle.

In spite of her apprehensions, Musia had agreed to become a mage, and when she cast her very first spell, she found herself profoundly moved.

So women like me really can use magic, she’d thought. Our spells aren’t any less powerful than the ones men can cast, either.

Musia realized that what society thought of as common sense was wrong, plain and simple. For the first time, she was confident that the doubts she’d harbored for so long had never been mistaken.

In that moment, Musia swore a silent oath to herself: “One day, I will be a great mage.”

Day after day of magical training followed. She hadn’t had very much time to practice, in the grand scheme of things, but she’d poured every ounce of effort she could into developing her skills.

I have to gather my resolve. It’s fine if I make mistakes, but if I let my fear take hold of me, I’ll never get anywhere! she told herself. Gradually, the shaking of her hands subsided and the panic that had almost consumed her began to dull. Charlotte said that I can do this. That means I can, without question!

Musia had only cast a few perfect spells so far. That lack of experience had left her unable to fully believe in herself…but she could believe in Charlotte’s faith in her.

“Okay, here they come. Time to focus,” said Charlotte.

Musia looked out over the battlefield. The enemy army was drawing closer, and she and Charlotte had been entrusted with the job of bombarding them with magic. Musia tried to follow Charlotte’s advice, shutting her eyes and taking a slow, deep breath to sharpen her focus. Her hands were no longer shaking, and her pulse was very close to its usual pace.

Musia had a feeling that she could rise to the occasion. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a signal, amplified by sound magic, rang out. It was the sign that Rietz had ordered her to begin casting.

Musia’s eyes snapped open. She chanted her spell, and her magic flared to life.

○

Rietz proceeded out to the front of his formation to command his troops. They would be on the defensive in their upcoming battle, and maintaining his army’s morale was critical to their success. A commander who led from the back line would never be able to motivate his men to fight to the death, but a commander who rode out ahead of all others, leading the charge, would drive his soldiers to fight even harder─assuming, of course, that he survived the attempt.

Going out into battle personally meant he carried the inescapable risk of being struck down. Not even Rietz could go forth onto the battlefield without some apprehensions. The fear of death forever lurked within him. He had also, however, served as a mercenary long before he entered Ars’s service, and risking his life had long since become a matter of course for him. The one key difference was that when he was a mercenary, Rietz had received orders, whereas now he was the one who had to issue them.

He had, of course, fought on the front lines countless times before. He’d had his fair share of close calls, as well. Rietz had learned one thing in particular from all those battlefields and the experiences he’d had upon them: so long as he could stay calm, he would live to see another day. Keeping his composure and doing what had to be done at the right moment would carry him through any battle, no matter how vicious. His incredibly high Valor stat came in handy as well, of course.

In this battle Rietz would be fending off an army with several times as many men as his own, but all he had to do was calm himself, and he knew he’d be able to fight to the best of his ability. Rietz took a deep breath, and settled his nerves. Meanwhile, the enemy drew ever closer. It was now time for him to give the signal for Charlotte and Musia to unleash their magic. Rietz raised his right arm into the air. A nearby mage took notice of the gesture, and cast a sound magic spell to send a signal ringing out across the army’s ranks.

Barely an instant later, magical death rained down on the battlefield. Rietz had been concerned about whether or not Musia would be able to cast to her full destructive potential, but it seemed he needn’t have worried. The spell she cast wasn’t quite as powerful as the one she’d let loose during the battle before last─her first battle ever─but it was still more than sufficient, and combined with Charlotte’s consistently mighty magic, the two of them sent forth a wave of destruction just as powerful as Rietz had been hoping for.

Enemy soldiers fell in droves. Charlotte and Musia didn’t stop, though, casting again and again until the battlefield had transformed into a veritable hell on earth. At that point, they’d exhausted their aqua magia supply and their large-scale spells came to a halt. It would take time for their catalyzers to be refilled, and until then, Rietz and his men would have to hold the line.

The Seitzan forces clambered over the corpses of their comrades to advance on Rietz. Hellish though the sight was, they didn’t falter in the least. Rietz could only imagine the hours of training and toil it had taken to drive that mindset into them, and he found himself impressed by their skill and professionalism, even as he waited for the perfect moment to give his men the order to attack.

Rietz couldn’t order his infantry and cavalry to charge yet, on account of the mages equipped with small and medium catalyzers who stood behind them. His plan was to have his mages open the battle with their magic, sending the enemy ranks into a state of disarray. Then, he would have his cavalry charge, followed by his infantry.

Rietz himself wasn’t riding a horse this battle. He believed that seeing him down on the muddy ground, fighting man to man, would raise his soldiers’ morale more effectively than seeing him parade around on horseback would. Braham and Clamant had taken command of the cavalry division in his stead. Braham fought his best unmounted, but he was a perfectly capable horseman as well when the need arose. Clamant, on the other hand, stood head and shoulders above all others no matter how he was called upon to fight. The two of them easily had the ability to lead the cavalry division to victory.

Soon, the enemy soldiers stepped into Rietz’s mages’ effective range. Rietz raised his left hand this time, sending the signal for his battlefield mages to begin casting. They leaped into action without delay, sending a storm of low-level spells flying into the enemy ranks. Magic of that level wasn’t powerful enough to inflict any serious damage, and their enemy was far from defenseless to boot, using their own mages to deploy shields and intercept the majority of Rietz’s offensive.

Spells cast from a large catalyzer could punch through defensive magic, but spells from a small or mid-sized catalyzer didn’t have the power to manage such a feat. Unless, of course, they were cast by a mage as skillful as Charlotte, who could break through barriers using any sort of catalyzer.

We’ll need to take out their mages before we stand any chance of making this work, thought Rietz. And they’re stationed in the enemy’s back ranks…

Targeting soldiers in the rear of the enemy’s formation wasn’t easy. There were two ways Rietz could approach the problem: having his archers target the mages, or having his cavalry navigate around their formation and strike them from behind in a surprise attack.

Defeating the enemy’s mages using archery alone would be far from easy. The enemy army, after all, knew very well that their mages were a weak point to be protected. Their mid-sized catalyzers were made to serve a dual purpose as shields, allowing them to protect themselves even as they cast, and small catalyzers fit in a person’s hand, so the mages wielding them could hold small shields in their other hands. They were ready to defend themselves if Rietz’s army launched a volley of arrows their way, making eliminating them in that fashion a difficult prospect indeed.

The attempt, however, could force the army to advance at a slower rate. Running with a shield raised wasn’t exactly easy, so by ordering his archers to fire on the enemy mages, Rietz could slow their advance to a walking pace. If the main army advanced too far ahead of the mages, they wouldn’t remain protected by the barriers, so if the mages’ pace slowed, the rest of the army would have to match them. Even if it didn’t result in any fatalities, it could still give them a leg up.

Rietz, however, chose not to bring his archers into play just yet. At this stage in the battle, slowing the enemy’s advance just wouldn’t make enough of a difference to be worth the effort. Rietz knew that the only way he could buy the time he needed was to break the enemy’s formation and force them to retreat─just slowing them down for a moment wouldn’t be anywhere near enough. That meant that using his cavalry was his only option.

First, Rietz would send his foot soldiers forward to engage with the enemy. If they could gain an advantage in that melee, even just for a moment, they would be able to draw the enemy’s attention to them and away from their cavalry. At that point, the cavalry division could use their momentarily low profile to slip around the enemy formation and strike them from the rear, cutting down as many mages as they could before the opening closed. Rietz’s infantry would then withdraw, and while the enemy pursued his cavalry, his mages would open fire and his infantry would charge back in once more, hitting the enemy while their formation was at its weakest.

Rietz had his plan fully formed in his mind, but that wasn’t to say it was without flaws. For one thing, the enemy army’s morale was incredibly high, and gaining the upper hand over them wouldn’t be easy. That stage of the plan would hinge on how effectively he could lead his men and how much damage he could deal on his own. He was also planning on directing his archers to fire into the enemy’s front ranks rather than at their mages. The enemy’s infantry were equipped for mobility rather than defense, and a well-placed arrow should be capable of bringing one of them down. They’d likely chosen to equip their troops in that fashion under the assumption that Rietz’s archers would only be targeting their mages.

The cavalry division’s attack on the rear of the enemy’s formation could also be a stumbling point. A maneuver like that would be far from easy to pull off, and it was possible that it would fail entirely. Even if it did succeed, the danger of Rietz’s cavalry not making it out of the attack was very real. Clamant and Braham would be leading the attack, and both of them were skilled horsemen, but Rietz had his concerns about whether Braham would be able to carry out such an important task.

Clamant’s competence was beyond question, and while some part of Rietz was concerned that a mercenary like him could turn tail at any moment, he reasoned that Clamant wouldn’t have come to help Canarre’s forces to begin with if that was his inclination. Rietz assumed that Couran had promised him a massive sum of money for the task, and with that in mind, he believed that Clamant would see it through.

Rietz signaled a nearby soldier to send a message for him. He’d be fighting on the front lines and wouldn’t be able to issue moment to moment orders, nor grasp the situation of the battle in its totality, which would make gauging the right moment to send out his cavalry difficult. As such, he instructed Clamant and Braham to judge the situation themselves and choose the right moment to make their move together. Braham’s ability to make that call was questionable, to say the least, but Clamant was a storied veteran, and Rietz had no doubt the mercenary would find the perfect moment to strike and take advantage of the enemy’s opening.

With his message dispatched, it was time for Rietz to set forth and engage the enemy.

“The time has come! Follow my lead─charge!” he shouted, then spearheaded the attack, rushing forward to meet his foes head-on. His archers acted in time with his attack, peppering the enemy formation with arrows.

Rietz let out a bellowing war cry as he fought. The enemy soldiers poured in one after another, and what they’d sacrificed in defensive capabilities had gained them substantial mobility. They came so swiftly that for each one that fell with an arrow in his breast or a sword in his gut, another would be there to replace him without missing a beat. Rietz, however, fought valiantly against their endless onslaught, cleaving through his foes in droves. He didn’t give them the chance to strike back, and his armor was soon stained red with the blood of his enemies. He fought like a vengeful deity descended to the battlefield.

Zaht fought by Rietz’s side, and performed admirably in his own right. Ars had recruited him knowing that he was already a capable warrior, and although he lacked the ability to command troops, his skill in direct combat was tremendous. He was a man who Rietz felt comfortable trusting his back to, and Zaht fought hard enough to justify that faith.

The two of them carved through the melee, and their might and fury roused the spirits of all the men around them. The enemy was fearless enough to walk into Charlotte’s inferno, but Canarre’s soldiers met them head-on, never faltering in the face of their foes’ bravery. Gradually, the battle began to turn in Canarre’s favor.

“Hah… Hah…” Rietz panted. He’d slain droves of enemies, and fatigue was beginning to set in. Strong as he was, his endurance was not unlimited, and it was only a matter of time before he grew too tired to carry on the fight.

He would have to withdraw before that happened, one way or another. Rietz knew very well that if he fell here, the army of Canarre would suffer massive losses. If he withdrew too soon, however, he’d ruin any chance of buying the time that his men needed.

I’m not done yet, Rietz told himself. I can still…fight…!

Rietz’s limits weren’t bearing down on him just yet. He had stamina left to keep up the fight─stamina left to slay more of his foes. He roused his spirits, raised his sword, and plunged back into the battle.

○

“All right, let’s move,” Clamant said as he surveyed the battle from atop his horse. He’d been keeping careful track of the enemy troops, and had judged that their focus was sufficiently diverted by Rietz and his foot soldiers to let the cavalry division slip around the outskirts of the battle.

“Huh?! Already? You sure?” asked Braham, who didn’t know what he was looking at well enough to assess the state of the battle. He’d been through plenty of battles himself, but since his former superiors had judged him to be a strong liability, he’d very rarely been deployed to the front lines. Reading the state of the enemy’s focus was beyond him. “Y-Y’know what? You seem like you know your stuff just a little better than I do, so I’ll take your word for it!” Braham added before Clamant could reply.

The old Braham would have chosen to trust in his own instincts and rush into battle when his whims told him to, but now, he decided to follow his ally’s advice. He’d learned, at least, how to judge whose calls were worth listening to. Thanks to Rietz’s guidance, Braham was growing as a person, little by little.

Clamant and Braham’s force rode as swiftly as they were able. Their goal was to catch the enemy off guard, so they’d taken as few troops with them as possible. The more horsemen rode with them, the more likely it would be that the enemy noticed them. Furthermore, keeping their numbers low meant they could handpick the most skilled troops for the task.

Their division was made up of roughly a hundred horsemen, each of whom was highly skilled. More of the Maitraw Company’s men had made it into the mission than Canarre’s cavalry. The fact that Clamant was leading the charge partially explained that imbalance, but it was also true that the Maitraw mercenaries were more skilled at mounted combat on the whole. They’d trained well, and many of their men rode as if they and their mounts were of one mind and body.

The elite cavalry squad galloped in perfect formation, maneuvering around the battle toward the mages at the back of the enemy’s formation. The soldiers caught up in the melee up front didn’t have time or attention to spare, and took no notice as the horsemen rode to their sides. They drew closer and closer to the mages, who were occupied with the barriers they were maintaining and took no notice either, until the cavalry were all but upon them. The moment they realized what was happening the mages began to shout and panic, but Clamant and Braham were already crashing into their formation, swinging their spears from atop their horses and mowing down the mages around them.

The mages reacted quickly, switching from protective magics to offensive spells as they tried to drive the horsemen back. Magic burst forth from point-blank range, and several horsemen fell as spells slammed into them, but since every member of the attacking force was so skilled at riding, most of them avoided the assault. The horses themselves deserved credit as well─they were just as capable as their riders. Most horses would be thrown into a panic at the first sight of magic and render their riders unable to fight, but these were exceptionally well-trained mounts that didn’t so much as flinch at the sight of a spell.

Mages were more vulnerable than most soldiers in close combat, and while they fell left and right, the horsemen attacking them were largely unscathed. One of the mages cast a sound spell to alert their allies of the danger they were in, but it had taken far too long for them to get the spell off. You could only keep one type of aqua magia in a catalyzer at once, and the mages had all been using flame-aspected aqua magia, which allowed them to cast barriers that were effective against flame-based spells. Few of the enemy mages, if any, had been carrying a catalyzer full of sound-aspected aqua magia when the attack began. And as a result, their warning went out long after it should’ve.

Finally, though, the spell rang out and the rest of Seitz’s force was made aware of the peril their mages had found themselves in. The battle at the front was still ongoing, however, and the rank and file soldiers were unable to break away and help the mages. To the contrary, the news just contributed to the chaos. All the while, Canarre’s cavalry kept at their assault, whittling away at the mages’ numbers.

○

It’s time! Rietz thought as he heard sound magic ring out from deep within the enemy’s ranks. He would order his soldiers to fall back, and as soon as they’d broken free of the enemy lines and the Seitzan forces moved to pursue them, Rietz’s mages would begin their barrage.

If Rietz’s troops stayed engaged with the enemy, the risk of friendly fire would be too great for his mages to cast safely. However, pulling out from a frenzied melee was easier said than done. Under normal circumstances the enemy would pursue and deal heavy damage to the retreating troops. In this case, however, the enemy was confused and distracted. Rietz believed he could take advantage of that opening to slip away. He could have also taken advantage of it by pressing the attack, but the current state of chaos wasn’t intense enough for him to feel confident they wouldn’t regroup before he could gain enough ground. Rietz chose to trust in his own judgment, and issued the order to fall back.

“Formation three!” Rietz shouted, issuing the order with a code phrase to ensure the enemy army wouldn’t catch on to his plan. Orders like that would normally be issued using sound magic, but since Rietz was on the front line he could give the signal in person, using his own voice.

Changing the code phrase for a retreat battle after battle was a confusing nuisance, but Canarre’s troops were well-trained and remembered each battle’s codes without trouble. No sooner had the words left Rietz’s mouth than his men started falling back, suppressing the urge to cut down their distracted foes.

The enemy’s troops noticed that the army of Canarre was falling back, but they were in no position to rush to pursue. Even if they’d had that leeway, they’d taken notice of Rietz’s retreat far too late to take advantage of it. Their commanding officer was only informed that the enemy was falling back a matter of minutes after the retreat began. He issued a frantic command for his men to pursue, and when his men moved to carry out that order and chase after Rietz’s men, Rietz’s mages took that as their cue to rain magic down upon the enemy formation.

The cavalry division’s surprise attack had succeeded. That wasn’t to say that they’d slain every hostile mage, but they’d brought down enough of them to leave their magical barrier full of holes. This time, Canarre’s mages’ spells met their mark and blew away Seitzan soldiers one by one.

That didn’t stop their advance, though, and Rietz’s foot soldiers immediately shifted their formation to intercept the enemy and protect the mages behind them. They’d been prioritizing their offense during the prior melee, but now they fought with defense in mind, sending soldiers armed with shields and spears to the front. Shifting formations in that manner wasn’t something that most armies could do in such short time, but Canarre’s forces had trained diligently for just such an occasion, and Rietz’s skill as a commander aided them in their efforts. In their case, the shift was all but instantaneous.

The Seitzan troops found themselves unable to break through Canarre’s front line. Meanwhile, the troops behind Seitz’s front line were picked off in droves by Canarre’s mages. They relied entirely on their mages’ barriers to protect them from magical attack, and without those barriers, they couldn’t even protect themselves from spells cast with a small or mid-sized catalyzer.

As more and more of their men fell, Seitz’s morale began to plummet. It was now plain to see that Canarre held the upper hand, but Seitz’s strength in numbers still carried them onward, and the shieldmen at the front of Canarre’s formation gradually began to fall. It seemed inevitable that Seitz would break through…but that was when Charlotte and Musia finished preparing for their next set of spells. Once again, blasts of incredibly powerful magic rained down on the hostile forces, incinerating many among them in the blink of an eye. Musia’s second wave of magic was less powerful than her first had been, but it was still devastating in effect.

That, it seemed, had dealt the finishing blow to Seitz’s morale. Their troops’ spirits were shattered, and they began to break ranks and flee. Their leaders seemed to realize that they would be in trouble if they couldn’t regroup, and chose a strategic withdrawal.

The battle had gone as Rietz had planned, and he’d managed to drive the opposing army into retreat. He was relieved by his victory, but at the same time, his expression remained grim. The lengthy melee had proven costly, and many of his men lay dead on the ground. His cavalry division’s losses were less heavy, and his mages were untouched.

The enemy’s losses, meanwhile, had been grave. By all rights it had been an incredibly fruitful battle, but Seitz still had plenty of troops kept in reserve. They would keep attacking, no matter how many of their allies were killed, and since their leaders were sure to work out a counter strategy to deal with the tactics Rietz had used today, the same plan wouldn’t work twice. That wasn’t the biggest problem that he faced, though. Of far greater concern was his stock of aqua magia.

At the rate we’ve been expending our reserves, they’ll last for two more battles, at most. Our foes, on the other hand, have plenty to spare.

There was still a stock of aqua magia at Fort Coumeire, but defending the fort with no aqua magia whatsoever was impossible. Canarre’s success in battle so far had been reliant upon their ability to drive the enemy off with magic, though, and without aqua magia, their defeat would be all but set in stone.

We need to have the Shadows eliminate the enemy’s aqua magia supplies, and soon, Rietz thought. He couldn’t keep buying time forever. Eventually, he would have no choice but to retreat, and if the Shadows had yet to accomplish their mission by that time, the war would be lost. Rietz said a quick prayer for the Shadows’ success as he set about preparing for the next battle.

○

“So we’re supposed to take out their aqua magia and provisions, eh?” Pham muttered as he accepted Ars’s letter.

His band of spies, the Shadows, had recently become Ars’s formal retainers. In truth, though, their work hadn’t changed much compared to how they’d conducted themselves as mercenaries. They no longer had the right to turn down their client’s orders, but their members still reported directly to Pham, and they accomplished their missions in the same manner they always had.

The mission they’d been given this time would not be an easy one. Pham had gathered extensive information on the army of Seitz, and had learned that they too employed a band of spies much like the Shadows. They were less skilled than Pham and his people, but their presence still made all the difference for the Shadows’ purposes. The enemy’s spies, after all, weren’t participating in the war to gather information on Canarre’s forces─they were there specifically to root out and counteract sabotage by enemy spies. In other words, Seitz’s army was well-defended against Pham’s tactics.

Seitz, presumably, had decided that with the advantage in numbers they held over Canarre, there was no need to resort to trickery. If they fought head-on, as they always did, they would win regardless. The only problem would arise if circumstances conspired to prevent them from fighting as they always did, and the only way that could happen would be if Canarre slipped spies into their camp to sabotage their provisions or aqua magia supplies. The spies were there to make sure that didn’t happen, and using them in that manner was a logical decision on Seitz’s part. It takes a spy to catch a spy, after all. No one else would handle the task more effectively.

Sabotaging an army under the protection of spies was a tall order. Worse still, Pham was operating under a strict time limit. The job might have been reasonable enough with sufficient time to prepare, but he needed to make it happen as soon as possible. An average spy would probably say that the mission just wasn’t doable…but the Shadows were far from average. They were the best spies that money could buy.

“Guess the boss’s word is law. If this is what he wants, we’ve just gotta get it done,” said Pham. He took pride in the knowledge that he and his compatriots could achieve any mission, no matter how difficult. Not to say he could have turned it down to begin with, of course. He was Ars’s retainer now, not just an independent contractor, and that meant he had to live up to his lord’s expectations.

Pham put his mind into overdrive, running through every possible method he could use to guarantee the success of his mission. There were a number of means he could use to deprive the enemy of their provisions and aqua magia. Broadly speaking, he could target them while they were being transported, or target the storehouses they were kept in. Those storehouses were kept close to the battlefield as a matter of necessity, and the Shadows had determined their locations.

The one issue was that the army of Seitz had spread their supplies out over a large number of sites, rather than keep them all grouped together. Putting all their eggs in one basket would’ve been too risky, and they’d planned accordingly. That would make distribution slightly less efficient, but it seemed they’d decided it was worth the price, and Pham suspected there were even more sites that the Shadows hadn’t managed to discover.

The supplies being spread across numerous locations meant it would be exceedingly difficult to destroy them all. Hitting them in transit would pose difficulties as well, though. They’d be protected by a large squad of soldiers that the Shadows would have a very hard time breaking through.

We’re not supposed to take out all of their supplies this time─just shave away at them. It won’t do any good if we just get rid of a little, though. We need to eliminate as much as it takes to give Canarre the edge in battle, thought Pham, trying to get a grasp of Ars’s intentions. Ars had written the orders hastily, and had neglected to specify quite a few pertinent details about his priorities. We’ll probably be better off picking just one target: their food, or their aqua magia. You have to feed your soldiers if you want to send them into battle, and fighting without aqua magia’s doable in a pinch. It might make more sense to aim for their food…but maybe not…

When he was a mercenary, Pham had only thought about accomplishing his mission and getting paid. Now that he was in the service of a lord, though, he had to think past those goals and consider his benefactor’s long-term victory.

Losing a few sites’ worth of food won’t have any immediate impact on their ability to fight. Unless we can destroy all of them, we won’t make them retreat─we’ll just make them more eager than ever to end this war soon. Why would we light a fire under our enemy’s asses? That could bring the whole army down on us at once.

What about the aqua magia, though? Seitz isn’t supposed to be all that rich in magistones, so if they lost that, they wouldn’t be able to replace it in a hurry. Running low on aqua magia has a direct effect on an army’s ability to fight effectively, too. Even if we’re losing in numbers, if we can beat them in terms of our aqua magia reserves, winning a defensive battle might just be doable.

After considering all his options, Pham reached his decision.

“We’ll go after their aqua magia!”

With that decided, Pham moved swiftly. He started by looking into which sites the army of Seitz was keeping their aqua magia at. He would prioritize taking those sites out, though the sheer number of them made eliminating all of them impossible. The number they could feasibly destroy just wouldn’t make that much of a difference, in the long run.

“But what if we didn’t destroy their aqua magia? What if we stole it instead…?”

Making off with the enemy’s resources would damage their ability to wage war and prop up Canarre’s in one fell swoop, killing two birds with one stone. However, stealing a stock of aqua magia from a battlefield would be harder than destroying it by an order of magnitude. All you had to do to destroy a storehouse was set it on fire, but stealing its contents would involve finding an opening, sneaking into the enemy camp, and carrying it all out again, without getting caught.

Pulling off a heist like that undetected would be close to impossible. It would be a different matter with access to shadow magic, but Pham had used up the last of his appropriately aspected aqua magia saving Couran’s life some time earlier. It was a rare and prized resource, and he had yet to find a way to replenish his stock.

If Pham wanted to steal the enemy’s aqua magia, there was only one way he could think of to make it happen. The question was, was pulling it off realistic? If his scheme succeeded, he would be able to gather up the better part of the enemy’s aqua magia supply in one place, then steal it all in one fell swoop. Canarre’s forces would benefit considerably from that outcome, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was doable.

The one issue: the Shadows wouldn’t be able to handle it on their own. He would have to communicate his plan to Ars and ask for his cooperation. Pham quickly explained his plan to Ben, then sent him off to deliver it to their lord.

○

Eventually, Ben returned with the reply from Ars that Pham had been waiting for: the soldiers he needed would be readied for him at once. It had taken him less than a day to make it back, meaning he’d managed to deliver the message at quite an impressive speed. Ben’s speed had always been one of his strong points, and his stamina was exceptional to boot. His plain appearance belied his remarkable abilities.

At the moment, the Shadows were operating in the city of Purledo, the seat of the County of Purledo. There was a fortress located a short ways away from the city, from which the commander of the army of Seitz dispatched his orders to the front lines.

Purledo’s proximity to the fortress meant that people affiliated with the army passed through every once in a while, and that made it a decent place for the Shadows to pick the enemy’s brain indirectly and accomplish their current objective: gathering information. Seitz’s spies were working behind the scenes to block the Shadows’ efforts, but gathering information was the speciality of more than one of the Shadows’ operatives, and they’d managed to pull it off without running afoul of the enemy so far.

As soon as Ben had finished his report, Pham started giving out orders.

“All right, let’s get this operation rolling,” he said. “Remen, Lambers, Mulad─go get it done.”

The three spies Pham named would be responsible for the day’s operation. Pham wasn’t one to shy away from getting his hands dirty out in the field, but after deciding what the task of the day would entail, he’d realized that his subordinates would be more suited to seeing it through. Their skill sets were a better fit for the mission, so he’d handed it off to them.

Lambers was a master of disguise, and Remen was an expert when it came to seduction. Remen wasn’t an exceptionally beautiful woman, to be clear. She was hardly ugly, but she wasn’t any more or less remarkable than any of the other moderately pretty women you could find just about anywhere. Her barely above-average looks, however, did nothing to hamper the area in which she shined: her ability to charm men through the art of conversation. In fact, a truly beautiful woman wouldn’t have been able to do what Remen did without arousing suspicion in her marks, so in a sense her looks struck the perfect balance with her area of expertise. Mulad, meanwhile, was a fighter born. Remen and Lambers weren’t much for battle, and if the operation took a turn for the worse, Mulad would be their lifeline.

The three Shadows acknowledged Pham’s orders, then got to work at once.

○

“So that’s the guy, eh…?” Remen muttered as a somewhat frivolous looking man walked into her field of vision. His name was Kaisas Lopardo, and he was a non-combatant official in the army of Seitz. The term “official” may have been giving him too much credit, though─he was essentially a flunky, not responsible for any important tasks.

The bulk of his work revolved around checking the stockpiles that the army transported. In other words, he was responsible for making sure their provisions, aqua magia, and the like were in stock. With a little luck and some skillful maneuvering, he had the potential to rise to an overseer role for the army’s whole supply chain, but at the moment, he was little more than an assistant to those with real authority.

Kaisas had finished his work for the day, and was on his way to a local pub to drink the evening away. He was fond of drinking without company, and entered the pub alone. Remen followed just a moment behind him, and took a seat at a nearby table. Kaisas was hardly a prolific skirt-chaser, but he proved no match for Remen’s skillful wiles, and had soon taken an interest in her─just as she had hoped he would.

Before long, Kaisas invited Remen to retire to a room with him. The pub he’d chosen functioned as an inn as well, and he quickly rented out a room, which Remen was all too happy to follow him into. There they engaged in a romantic tryst, interspersed with occasional conversation…all of which Lambers, who was lurking in the next room over, listened in on. That was all it took for him to commit Kaisas’s manner of speaking and personality to memory.

Mulad was lying in wait in the same room as Lambers. Eventually, Lambers gave him a signal and Mulad left the room, went over to Kaisas and Remen’s chamber, and walked right in. He dashed over to Kaisas faster than the eye could follow, wrapped his arm around the man’s neck before he could even scream, and choked him into unconsciousness before snapping his neck, killing him instantly.

The spies stripped the clothes off Kaisas’s corpse. Lambers quickly dressed himself in them, then took a lengthy moment to study Kaisas’s face, memorizing every last little detail of his countenance so he’d be able to reproduce it later on. Finally, the three of them hid the body somewhere it wasn’t likely to be discovered any time soon, then departed from the room and the pub.

○

“Damn them all… They’ve no idea what I do for them, fools that they are,” Raktor Brandol muttered irritably in his chamber in Fort Purledo. He was a short, plump man in his late thirties. He didn’t look like an especially capable fighter, and in his case, appearances were not deceiving. He had, however, been entrusted with an important role by Seitz’s commander: overseeing the transport of their supplies, from food to aqua magia and everything in between.

Raktor had never struck down enemy generals and achieved mighty deeds on the front lines, but he was nevertheless a man who contributed greatly to the army behind the scenes. The maintenance of supply lines was a critical factor in war, and the fact that he had been given responsibility over the task spoke to the trust that had been placed in him. Up till recently, that trust had been well-earned. He’d ensured that the soldiers on the front lines had ample and immediate access to everything they needed, and had contributed greatly to his army’s success. Word of his achievements hadn’t spread far and wide across the land, but among the inner circle of the army of Seitz, his efforts were much praised.

Due to the army’s most recent battle, however, Raktor had found himself the subject of scathing criticism. He had ensured the army’s resources were moved carefully and cautiously, storing their provisions and aqua magia in a multitude of locations to ensure that even if the enemy caught them unawares, they would avoid losing a fatal quantity of their resources. That choice, however, had impacted the efficiency of the transportation process. The slow speed with which resources had been transported across the battlefield had resulted in the army not having enough of everything they’d needed to press the attack and keep the pressure up on their foe. As a result, his colleagues had started blaming Raktor for the fact that Canarre had managed to mount a counterattack and push them back.

“I’ve been doing everything I possibly can! They just don’t see it,” Raktor said with a grimace. For all his talk of not being at fault, he knew deep down that their criticisms, in truth, were not off the mark. He was used to running supply lines for a force fighting at a numerical disadvantage, and supplying an army that held an overwhelmingly superior position was new to him.

Grr… There must be something I can do! Raktor thought. I told my underlings to submit any good ideas they had to me, but they’re a bunch of worthless louts to a man. I can’t expect anything from them.

The transportation of resources was hardly a glamorous affair, and very few capable individuals were chomping at the bit to get involved. Just when Raktor resigned himself to the fact that he’d have to think up a new, efficient, and risk-free means of transporting goods to the battlefield, an associate stepped into his chamber to deliver a report.

“Sir Raktor,” said the man, “Kaisas says he wishes to speak with you. Do you have a moment to spare?”

Kaisas? Wasn’t he the third son of House Lopardo…? thought Raktor, whose memory was exceptional. He’d memorized the backgrounds of most of his subordinates in surprising detail, but he knew very little about Kaisas aside from his status in his family. He knew what the man looked like, at least, but only vaguely. They’d had few opportunities to meet.

“I’m thinking right now,” said Raktor. “Tell him I don’t have the time.”

“But sir─Kaisas claims he has a proposal to deal with our supply line situation!”

“A proposal…?” Raktor parroted skeptically. He had no idea how capable of a man Kaisas was, but he did know that if he was the sort of man who had good ideas, he wouldn’t have escaped Raktor’s notice for this long.

Then again, it would hardly be the first time I’ve written a youth off, only to discover they have talent deep down after all. There’s no telling who might have latent potential, in the end. I suppose I should hear what he has to say, Raktor concluded, then agreed to see Kaisas, albeit with rather subdued hopes for the meeting.

Kaisas soon arrived at Raktor’s room.

“Thank you for sparing the time to meet with me, Sir Raktor. I’m well aware of how busy you are, and appreciate you going to the trouble,” said Kaisas.

“Enough with the formality,” Raktor sighed. “I’m told you have a plan. Out with it.”

“Very well,” Kaisas said, then quickly summarized the tactic he had in mind. In short, he proposed that the supply chain could be made more efficient by allocating their resources in a more centralized location, but making that location an underground site, thus rendering it beyond their enemy’s ability to detect.

“Underground, you say…?” said Raktor.

“Yes, sir,” Kaisas confirmed. “An aboveground site capable of holding all our stores would be large enough in scale that our foes could find and assault it with ease. If we can establish an underground site, however, then the odds of them finding it will be next to nothing, regardless of its size.”

“But wait─how would we build an underground facility of that size? You’re proposing the impossible!”

“It would be perfectly possible, through use of earth magic.”

“Earth magic…?” Raktor repeated, then sank into thought. Building structures was indeed an accepted use for earth-aspected magic, so Kaisas had a point. Building a large-scale underground facility through magical means wasn’t implausible. “Tell me, Kaisas. How did you come up with this idea?”

“I enjoy reading in my spare time, and happened to come across a record of an old war some time ago. That record described the army of another duchy─Rofeille or Canshiep, I believe─making use of a similar tactic.”

“Hmm…” Raktor was somewhat educated in military history, of course, but the historical tactics of the far northern duchies weren’t an area of study he’d committed to memory. He’d never thought they would be of any use to him. “That’s not a bad plan you’ve come up with, Kaisas. I’ll begin putting it into practice at once, and you can expect a healthy bonus for your trouble.”

“Much obliged, Sir Raktor,” said Kaisas with a bow…followed by an almost imperceptible smirk. “You needn’t bother with the bonus, though,” he added quietly enough that only he could hear it.

“Now then, let us decide upon the particulars of our plan! I’ll be expecting your help, of course,” said Raktor.

○

“So? How’d it go?” Pham asked his three fellow spies after they returned from their mission.

“Swimmingly, Boss. Raktor’s all set to shift his strategy for his supply lines.”

“Is he? That’s a surprise. Didn’t think he’d go for it that easily…not that I’m complaining,” Pham said impassively. It didn’t show on his face in the slightest, but inwardly, he was relieved and overjoyed to hear the news. The plan hadn’t succeeded just yet, though, and Pham forced his feelings of accomplishment to the side.

The Shadows had known from the start that Raktor was in a pinch, but Pham hadn’t expected him to go along with the plan they’d fed him without question. At the absolute least, he’d expected that Raktor would take some time to think it through and consider the potential implications of the shift in strategy before adopting it.

Kaisas, the man Lambers had impersonated, was a grunt. He’d ended up as the Shadows’ target because killing and assuming the identity of someone important would’ve been too much of a risk, what with the enemy’s spies working to obstruct any potential subterfuge. Kaisas simply wasn’t significant enough to earn his side’s spies’ attention, so impersonating him was a comparatively low risk. That carried downsides, of course, chief among which was the fact that getting their plan adopted would be rather difficult with only an underling’s influence to back it up. Pham had expected it to take quite some time and maneuvering, but much to his surprise, it had gone off without a hitch.

Not only was it true that using underground supply depots was a tactic with some precedent, it had proven quite successful when implemented in prior wars. Raktor was also an open-minded man who understood the need to be flexible with his plans, which might have explained why he was so open to the suggestion.

Looks like that flexibility’s about to stab him in the back, Pham reflected.

Building a supply depot underground was an effective plan, yes. Having all their supplies in a centralized location would boost the efficiency of their distribution dramatically. Setting up multiple sites would involve finding optimal locations for every one of them, plus the actual work of constructing the facilities and the effort involved in communicating the supply lines to the rest of the army. It was, in short, a difficult and bothersome tactic.

Centralizing their network would resolve all those issues in one fell swoop, and locating the supply chain’s nexus underground would minimize the risk of enemy detection. To make the prospect even more attractive, aqua magia was known to be less likely to deteriorate in underground facilities than it did on the surface. Aqua magia was highly unstable and prone to deterioration, so one had to take careful steps to store it in a way that would maintain its optimal condition.

Furthermore, locating the site underground would make it harder for the enemy to infiltrate it. Aqua magia’s instability meant that it didn’t take much at all to render a batch unusable, and even a single enemy agent could deal a critical degree of damage to their stock, in the worst case. Keeping it in a large building would, of course, make it that much easier to infiltrate the supply site, so centralizing one’s aqua magia stockpile was generally not a feasible idea. Putting it underground, however, meant that even if the site’s location was discovered, all it would take was a careful guard kept over the entrance to render infiltration all but impossible.

The plan had plenty of merit. Duchies with ample supplies of earth-aspected magistones had gone so far as to set up tunnel systems to run their supply chains through in the past, and while Seitz lacked the aqua magia reserves needed to go that far, they had enough to implement the plan that Lambers had used Kaisas’s identity to propose, and Raktor wasted no time in doing just that.

Lambers being party to the discussion, of course, meant that Canarre would know where the site would be located the instant it was decided upon. That would give the army of Canarre plenty of time to use earth magic to set up their own underground space in the immediate vicinity of Seitz’s chosen site. Then, all they would have to do is wait for Seitz to finish their facility, tunnel over to it using earth magic, and steal all their aqua magia right under the army of Seitz’s nose.

“Thanks to Lambers, we’ll know exactly where Seitz’s supply hub’s set to be built. Let’s get to work, boys,” Pham ordered, sending the Shadows out to make their preparations for the upcoming operation.

○

The army of Seitz constructed their new supply network at a breakneck pace. They brought in a contingent of reasonably skilled mages to do the bulk of the work, and had underground caverns hollowed out in no time flat. It seemed their numbers had made getting that sort of work done in short order a simple task.

The speed of the network’s construction, however, worked out in Canarre’s favor. Rietz could only hold the line and buy time for so long, so the sooner the Shadows could put their operation into motion, the better it would work out for their army’s prospect of victory. Raktor’s efficient work had, paradoxically, become a boon for his foes.

New supply sites were typically constructed in areas where they’d be difficult to find─within forests, for instance. In this case, however, Lambers had used Kaisas’s identity to propose the plan, and had been present at the meeting where the sites were chosen, rendering all attempts at secrecy futile. That said, the army of Seitz did diverge from the plan he’d suggested in one major way: instead of going all-in and building a single site, they’d chosen to make a still modest six, using three of them to store provisions and three to store aqua magia.

Even with the aqua magia split between three locations, however, stealing all of it at once was not an impossible prospect. The Shadows would just have to hit all three sites simultaneously, and all they would need to do so was proper backup.

After the new supply depots were finished, Seitzan forces started hauling their resources in from their old sites. Once that process was complete, it was time for the Shadows to take action. They used earth magic to dig tunnels near the new supply hubs, broke into them, and carried off their precious resources with no one the wiser. An army that was used to operating underground could have magically reinforced their facilities, making it difficult for an enemy force to burrow their way in, but Seitz had rushed the construction process and had taken no such precautions. As a result, Canarre seized their supplies with ease, carrying them off to Fort Coumeire before their foes even knew what had hit them.

○

My jaw dropped as I looked over the spoils of the Shadows’ latest operation that had arrived at Fort Coumeire. A massive quantity of aqua magia sat before me. When I’d heard that we’d be taking it all for our own rather than destroying it, I thought the plan sounded too good to be true, but it seemed the Shadows were somehow even more capable than I’d been giving them credit for. This was an achievement beyond my wildest expectations, and I knew I’d have to find a way to reward them accordingly. There was always a chance they’d go find someone else to serve if they grew dissatisfied with their pay, after all, and that was a scenario I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Rosell and Mireille were just as astonished by their success as I was. The two of them had been a little more optimistic about the plan than I was, but not even they had anticipated it going this perfectly. Now that we knew it had, though, the three of us got right to discussing our next moves in the war.

“Well, we’ve managed to claim an incredible amount of aqua magia from the enemy,” I said. “I think this increases our odds of coming out on top of this war considerably.”

“It’s a big achievement, yeah, but it’s still too soon to assume we’re out of the woods. Keep in mind that our army’s still a fraction of the size of theirs,” Rosell cautioned.

Apparently, I’d been letting the minor successes go to my head. We hadn’t won the war yet, so I tried to take Rosell’s advice to heart.

“All right then, do either of you have any ideas about what could win this for us?” I asked. I’d done my best to think up a plan as well, putting all the tactical knowledge I’d accrued to use, but in the end I hadn’t come up with anything that felt just right. I’d need to make use of Mireille and Rosell’s talents if I wanted to get through this.

“Not sure I’d say I came up with a plan, per se, but now that the Shadows have achieved their mission, I think what we should do next is pretty obvious,” said Mireille.

“And what’s that?” I asked.

“Rally our troops and march on Seitz’s forces,” said Mireille.

“I-I’m sorry, what?” I asked, flabbergasted by her left-field reply. We were still at a disadvantage, so engaging the enemy in open battle on purpose seemed like a very questionable decision to me.

“Our enemies just had the better part of their aqua magia stolen from under their noses, and you’d better believe that’ll send them into a state of chaos. Their supply chain’s going to be next to useless until they fix things, and whatever aqua magia might be left sure as hell isn’t gonna make it to the front lines in time. That’s a state of affairs we can take advantage of. Giving them time here means they’ll rebuild their supply lines and set up a new distribution system, so we need to strike now, before it’s too late.”

“I was thinking the same thing. If we’re going to take the fight to Seitz, it’s now or never,” said Rosell. It was pretty rare for him to advocate for a plan as bold and decisive as this one, pessimist as he was. I took that as a sign that this was our best chance. “Considering the fact that we’ll have way more aqua magia than them in our next battle, we could deal some major damage if we can lure them into a position that’ll limit their mobility. It won’t work if they can just turn tail and run, so we’ll have to make absolutely sure they take the bait.”

The more we could limit the mobility of our enemy’s infantry, the more effective long-ranged attacks from our archers and mages would become. Our highest priority for our next battle was to whittle down their numbers as much as possible. Even if we technically won the battle, it wouldn’t matter in the long term if their soldiers could escape unharmed, regroup, and come at us all over again. That would gain us a healthy chunk of time, and it was always possible that Couran would defeat Vasmarque and send reinforcements our way, but I wasn’t interested in structuring our plan around an unknown factor like that. If we wanted to drive the Seitzan army out of Missian, we’d have to make a decisive move.

All that being said, I had no idea whether or not we’d be able to lure our foes into a trap. My first assumption was that our enemies would wait to attack until the chaos among their ranks died down.

“Where would we be able to lure them that would limit their mobility?” I asked.

“Maybe the woods…or a marshland? What’s available nearby…?” Rosell muttered to himself as he looked over a map of the local area. Seconds passed, and he didn’t seem to find anywhere that suited his purposes. “No, not here, it’s too far away… And this place would leave them too mobile… Maybe there isn’t anywhere well suited after all?”

It seemed that Rosell’s ideal battlefield was nowhere to be found, at least in this area. Unfortunately, luring our enemies into a trap was off the table if we couldn’t find anywhere to set said trap in.

“There’s a river over here, though…” said Mireille. “Hey, have you taken inventory of all the aqua magia we stole from Seitz? Do we have a list of what types we got?”

I did, in fact, have such a list available to me. I remembered receiving it, and had stored it on a nearby shelf. I tracked it down and handed it over to Mireille, who gave it a look and smirked.

“Looks like we’ve got a lot of water aqua magia, huh?” she said.

“What are you planning?” I asked.

“If we use water magic to bulk up the river’s flow, we can cut off their escape route. We don’t have to lure them in anywhere after all─we can drive them to the river instead,” Mireille explained.

The river in question was slow enough that normally, you could just wade from one side to the other. If we flooded the river, however, we could render crossing it on foot impossible and turn it into a major roadblock.

“Driving them to the river and pinning them against it, huh…? I dunno─won’t putting their backs to the wall like that just make them harder to deal with?” I asked.

“Wall? What wall?” asked Mireille. Apparently, that wasn’t a common expression in this world.

“What I mean is that if we pin them against the river, their soldiers will realize they have nowhere to run and decide that they have to fight or die. Situations like that have a way of driving people to fight way harder than they usually would,” I explained.

“Ohh, I get it. You mean like the Harmant turnabout. That tends to happen because being put in a do-or-die situation raises the defender’s morale, and also because the attackers tend to get complacent with that sort of advantage backing them up. This is the era of magic, though. No matter how high their morale gets, they won’t be able to turn the tables if they don’t have the aqua magia they need to pull it off. A situation like that might give them a boost in close combat, sure, but it won’t stop our magic from blowing them away,” Mireille reassured me.

I’d heard the phrase “Harmant turnabout” at some point over my studies of tactics. It referred to a situation in which an army had their back up against a wall and mounted a successful counterattack, with Harmant being the location where the battle had taken place. I couldn’t remember where Harmant was for the life of me, though─somewhere in Paradille, maybe?

“Will they even try to retreat across the river?” I asked. “Even with their supply chain in chaos and their resources inaccessible, they still have the advantage of numbers. If they can work out their supply issues, they’ll be able to push us right back, so don’t you think they’ll try to avoid retreating at all costs? They know that if they take too long, Vasmarque could lose his war and Couran could send us more men.”

“True enough,” Mireille admitted. “We might have to go into battle once, gain an advantage over them, then send in the Shadows to spread some misinformation through the enemy camp, or something to that effect.”

What sort of misinformation is she talking about? Maybe we could have them spread a rumor that Canarre managed to steal a shipment headed their way, so they wouldn’t get any more aqua magia any time soon? Or we could trick them into thinking that Vasmarque’s already lost, and a horde of reinforcements is headed our way.

It would only matter if the enemy troops believed the rumors, of course, but I had every confidence that the Shadows could make that happen. It seemed clear that we’d be relying on them yet again, and I was starting to feel a little guilty for working them so hard.

“Well, I’m convinced,” I said. “Let’s use Mireille’s idea as the basis for our plan. We’ll wipe out as many of their troops as possible, and ensure they never advance even a step farther into Canarre,” I declared.