Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 20 - Chapter 1

ACT 1

“Sieg Iárn!”

“Sieg Reginarch!”

“Sieg Þjóðann!”

“Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!”

Roars of victory rang out from a section of the Holy Capital of Glaðsheimr. The cheers were contagious, quickly spreading from unit to unit, growing in volume until they engulfed the entire city, and they echoed so loudly that they managed to reach the very walls of the Valaskjálf Palace at the center of the city.

“Phew, so far so good.” Yuuto let out a long breath and slumped in his seat as he heard the sheer joy in the cheers ringing out throughout the city. He had already received word from Kristina via radio that the first wave of the Flame Clan Army had retreated. Despite knowing everything was fine for now, he felt a surge of relief wash over him as he listened to the cheers.

“Indeed. Our victory in this first battle was completely decisive. Impressive as always, Big Brother.”

“Yeah, I’m glad it worked.” Yuuto returned the words of his adjutant, Felicia, with a tired note of relief.

He had held a powerful conviction that he could win the first battle. He had even stated as much to his subordinates. And in reality, the first wave of the Flame Clan Army, Vassarfall’s Third Division, had been dancing on Yuuto’s palm for the entirety of the engagement. In the end, the Steel Clan forces had completely overwhelmed their opponents in this initial battle. That said, it wasn’t going to get any easier from here.

Prior to this engagement, the Steel Clan Army had suffered two straight defeats against the Flame Clan Army in major battles, and the army hadn’t had time to recover from the shock of defeat. The soldiers had all been demoralized, and a general gloom had permeated their ranks. He had temporarily invigorated the army’s morale using Fagrahvél’s rune Gjallarhorn, the Call to War, but using that ability was extremely draining to Fagrahvél, so she couldn’t maintain it for long. If the battle had dragged on and the effects of the rune had worn off, the army’s morale would have quickly collapsed, with soldiers deserting en masse, and the Steel Clan Army itself could have collapsed into chaos. The battle had been a race against time to secure victory before that could happen.

“Well, this gives us a fighting chance,” Yuuto said and tightly gripped his hand into a fist. Victory was the quickest way to remove uncertainty and doubt in people. That was doubly true for such a clear-cut and overwhelming victory. The victory against the Flame Clan’s vanguard had provided a huge boost to the morale of his army. No matter how clever his tactics and strategies were, without a motivated army, there was no way he could defeat Nobunaga. He had needed to win this first engagement at all costs, and he was relieved to have done this well.

“A fighting chaaaance? From myyyy vantaaage point, you conducted the forces with suuuch skill that I couldn’t help but staaare in admiration,” Bára, the Sword Clan’s tactician, said with her usual languid tone of voice. Yuuto chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Heh, well, I’m glad to hear that sort of flattery from you, Bára, given your reputation as one of the three greatest tacticians in Yggdrasil.”

“Noooo, no flattery at aaall. I meaaant every word. But really, even with a fooorce like thiiiis, you think that we only staaaand a chaaance of successsss?”

“Precisely. We’re facing Nobunaga, after all. I’m sure he’s going to come up with something.”

Yuuto looked off toward the main body of Nobunaga’s forces in the distance, his expression taut with tension. Yuuto was confident that the formation and tactics he had readied for the defense of Glaðsheimr were the best he was capable of producing. However, his opponent was a man who would find a way to overcome that. He had no idea what form Nobunaga’s eventual victory would take, but he was certain that the man would come out on top in the end.

“Even so, I’ve still got plenty of cards up my sleeve,” Yuuto claimed confidently and gripped his hand into a tight fist.

Yuuto’s objective was to move all of his people to a new land. To accomplish that goal, he needed to land a heavy blow against the Flame Clan Army and stop their advance. If he lost here, the Steel Clan Army’s morale would be completely broken, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to bring themselves to resist against the Flame Clan. His back was against the wall. The battle that would decide the fate of Yggdrasil had now started in earnest.

“I see. The lad is as impressive as always, it would seem.” Having heard Vassarfall’s report, Nobunaga nodded and furrowed his brow in thought. Nobunaga had been convinced that Suoh Yuuto had something up his sleeve, but he had exceeded his expectations.

“Yes, he completely outclassed me. The fact that he was able to accurately track the positions of several dozens of his units spread out through this maze of a city and command them so precisely wasn’t the work of a man—it was almost divine. Furthermore, based on what I was able to gather from the sounds, there seem to be a number of underground tunnels as well. An enemy attack could come out of nowhere at any moment. I admit it sounds like an excuse on my part, My Lord, but I believed retreat was the best option...” Vassarfall said tensely as he lay prostrated before Nobunaga, and it was clear the man was nervous. Nobunaga was unforgiving when it came to failure. Even in the last ten years, numerous high-ranking retainers had been punished for failing to live up to his expectations. No matter how well that individual may have performed in the past, Nobunaga would mercilessly strip them of rank and wealth if he determined them to no longer be of use, and his vassals all feared his wrath for that reason. Vassarfall was no exception, and it seemed he was dreading the punishment that awaited him.

“No, I recognize what you did was for the best.” Nobunaga waved his hand casually and cut off the apologetic Vassarfall mid-sentence.

While his subordinates believed that Nobunaga’s trigger points for his rage were difficult to read, Nobunaga had clear standards in judging his subordinates. Did the subordinate in question avoid overconfidence, avoid cutting corners, and put all of their effort into the endeavor? At the very least, so far as Nobunaga could tell, Vassarfall had made extensive preparations, put in all of his effort to accomplish his mission, and when he determined that accomplishing his mission was impossible, he had immediately made the decision to retreat, minimizing his losses and returning with a report on the enemy’s tactics. He hadn’t done anything worthy of punishment. If anything...

“You did lose, but winning and losing are simply a part of war. You understood your mission correctly and fulfilled the role you were given. While you weren’t able to secure Suoh Yuuto’s head, you still did well! You’ve served me well today!”

As he listened to Nobunaga’s litany of praise, Vassarfall raised his head. Though, yes, he had fulfilled his role as the vanguard of the army, he had still been thoroughly routed. He certainly hadn’t been expecting to be praised for that result.

“As a reward, you may have the Glass Goblet crafted by the Great Artisan Ingrid!”

“Wha?!”

Vassarfall’s jaw fell open in shock. The other generals also began murmuring amongst themselves. The Flame Clan was a mighty clan that controlled half of Yggdrasil. It, of course, had countless treasures in its possession, but the Glass Goblet crafted by the Steel Clan’s Great Artisan Ingrid was known as one of Nobunaga’s favorite items. For him to give such an item to a losing general as a reward was unprecedented.

“T-Truly, my lord?!”

Even Vassarfall, the recipient, seemed unable to believe the news.

“Of course! I never go back on my word!” Nobunaga said confidently, without the slightest hesitation, and then glared at the other assembled generals.

“Listen well, you lot!” The sheer volume of his shout and the presence behind his voice sent a jolt through the air. The murmuring stopped in an instant, and silence engulfed the space. After making certain everyone had fallen silent, Nobunaga continued in a softer voice. “This battle is the pivotal engagement which will determine whether it is us, the Flame Clan, or the Steel Clan that controls all of Yggdrasil!”

Upon hearing what Nobunaga had to say, the various generals all nodded in agreement. They were all in their positions because of their ability—they all understood what was at stake in this battle.

“So, for precisely that reason. I have no intention of stinting when it comes to rewards. Any who produce meaningful results shall get whatever they wish for! Land, titles, treasures, anything! I shall give it to you in my name!”

At Nobunaga’s declaration, the generals all sucked in a breath and stared wide-eyed. The fact that he had given his favorite Glass Goblet to Vassarfall provided ample evidence that Nobunaga meant every word. Even a loss could yield a great treasure. Then what lay waiting for those who contributed to the victory? Their expectations swelled.

“Make certain that every soldier in our army is aware of this! I look forward to watching you fight! This battle will be ours!”

“Yes, My Lord!”

The generals answered in unison with a predatory hunger in their eyes. The fact that Vassarfall, one of the greatest generals in the Flame Clan Army, had suffered an overwhelming defeat seemed like a minor, inconsequential result to those assembled before Nobunaga. His declaration had completely driven the shock of Vassarfall’s defeat from their minds.

“Heh, that didn’t cost much.”

Nobunaga smiled smugly at the reaction of his subordinates. The truth was that Nobunaga wasn’t particularly attached to the Glass Goblet. Of course, it was a wonderful piece of artistry; a goblet that was a level, no, two or three levels above other glass objects, but that was only among the glass objects of Yggdrasil. Compared to the treasures that had been given to him by the western merchants during his time in Japan, it was still unrefined and raw. Based upon the katana that he had given to Shiba, it was clear that this Ingrid was an artisan of remarkable skill, but no matter how great of a talent she was, she wasn’t able to match three thousand years of evolution and refinement in glassware.

Then why had he praised the goblet and displayed it to his subordinates as though it were his most treasured item? The answer was simple: he had simply adapted the method he had used to educate and retain his vassals in Japan. He had spread tea ceremonies among the high-ranking samurai; he had emphasized the importance of cultural items and made possession of teaware masterpieces a mark of status and trust.

That had transformed the ceramic masterpieces into treasures that were valued as highly as land and precious metals. Further, by having them learn the practices of the tea ceremonies, he had managed to educate his vassals, who were all unrefined rural samurai from Owari, in the finer points of etiquette and manners. It had allowed him to kill two birds with one stone.

While Nobunaga himself had never put a name to this policy, his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi had continued the policy and called it Ochanoyu Goseido. This time, Nobunaga had simply used Ingrid’s glass goblet instead of a teacup. The goblet had originally been a gift from the Steel Clan, meaning it had effectively been free. If that was all it cost him to remove the shock of defeat from his generals, while giving him a visible carrot to dangle in front of all of his men and raise their morale, then it was a cheap price to pay indeed.

The reason he had made a show of valuing it so much to this point had all been to set it up as a piece to use in a situation of this sort. Nobunaga always made certain he had countless contingencies for emergencies. Just being a good warlord wasn’t enough to win and survive during the Warring States Period. This ability to prepare and be ready for any unexpected development was what had made Nobunaga a victor and conqueror in that unpredictable world.

“What do you intend to do, My Great Lord? Based on the information Vassarfall has shared with us, it would seem the enemy’s scheme will be quite bothersome to deal with,” Ran asked Nobunaga once the council of war had completed and no one else was left in earshot.

Nobunaga, as patriarch, would determine the overall strategy of the Flame Clan Army, along with his preferred tactics and policies, but it was Ran, the Second, who was responsible for communicating those orders to the commanders of each unit and ensuring that Nobunaga’s plan was executed as intended. It was a relatively straightforward role if the enemy was one that could be easily dispatched, but the enemy’s response had easily overwhelmed even Vassarfall, Master of Advance and Retreat.

The Flame Clan may have enjoyed numerical superiority, but if they attempted to force their way through the Steel Clan’s defenses, it was clear they would take enormous losses. There was no reason to expect Nobunaga not to have a suitable response to dealing with the enemy’s dispositions.

“Indeed. His plan does seem like it’ll be something of a headache. It brings to mind the Stone Sentinel Maze of Zhuge Liang,” Nobunaga muttered as he rested his chin on his hand.

“The scheme employed by Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Where he readied a maze made up of stones, and where any force that wandered in would soon find themselves experiencing strange events, eventually dooming them to be lost within...”

Ran immediately understood Nobunaga’s reference. During the Warring States Period, all boys of samurai birth were expected to study Chinese history. Ran was a son of Mori Yoshinari, an important retainer of Nobunaga, and had served as Nobunaga’s squire to prepare him for the important role he would be fulfilling in his future. This tale had been included in the list of subjects he had been educated in.

“Precisely that. The two schemes share quite the resemblance, do they not?”

“Now that you mention it, yes...” Ran nodded in agreement.

Glaðsheimr had countless adobe construction houses both large and small, and they were arranged in a web that made the city into a veritable maze of brick. Vassarfall’s Third Division had gotten lost in that maze, and its soldiers had struggled to even find their way back to the main streets of the city. It was exactly the situation that had faced Lu Xun in Zhuge Liang’s Stone Sentinel Maze.

“Heh... To think I’d get the chance to face such a legendary trap. I never would have dreamed I’d be in this position. One of the benefits of living a long life, I suppose.”

“I had always believed it was simply something made up for the sake of the story.”

“Indeed. Well, whether it’s the real deal or simply something that faintly resembles it is an open question,” Nobunaga replied, chuckling as he scratched at his stubble.

Nobunaga enjoyed facing challenges that no one else had ever been able to overcome. As attested by Takenaka Hanbei’s nickname as the ‘Modern Zhuge Liang,’ Zhuge Liang was recognized as one of the greatest generals in history even in Japan. Nobunaga knew he shouldn’t be enjoying this situation as much as he was, but the prospect of dealing with the legendary scheme concocted by one of history’s greatest minds was stimulating.

“If it’s real, then it should be based on the Eight Open Gates Formation. Supposing that is the case, it can be defeated with the use of the Eight Locked Gates Formation, can it not?” Ran asked as he rubbed his chin in thought.

“Oh? Continue,” Nobunaga replied, his interest piqued.

“Yes, My Lord. The Eight Locked Gates Formation is a formation that was employed by Cao Ren in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. As the name implies, there are eight entrances, of which the Wound, Shock, and Rest Gates leave the entering army at a disadvantage and, more concerningly, the Death and Obstacle Gates result in total destruction. The entrances that offer opportunities for victory are the Birth, Vista, and Open Gates.”

As he listened to Ran’s explanation, Nobunaga nodded briefly and turned his gaze to the map spread out in front of him. Glaðsheimr, the fortress city, had been designed with gates on the north, south, east, and western sides of the city. However, with the city walls in ruins after the recent earthquake, it was now possible to enter from any direction.

“The city’s actual gates are probably all Death Gates,” Nobunaga remarked and snorted with displeasure.

The main gates each led into a large street that linked the gate to Valaskjálf Palace, which made it possible to advance upon the palace with a large force. However, the streets themselves were lined with obstacles, meaning the enemy was able to set up ambushes at their leisure. The thought of enemy forces hitting his exposed flanks with his army stretched along those major streets sent a shiver up Nobunaga’s spine.

“Still, even if we entered through the various breaks in the wall, the only thing that awaits us beyond is an endless warren of maze-like alleys,” Ran explained.

“Meaning the Steel Clan has the advantage in terms of terrain...” Nobunaga remarked.

“If that were all it was, we’d have plenty of options. When assaulting any fortified structure, be it a small keep or a sprawling city, the defenders always hold the advantage, after all. We’ve dealt with this countless times to this point,” Ran responded.

Given that fortresses were designed for defense, it went without saying that they were designed in such a way as to give a defending force the maximum possible advantage. There were plenty of castles in Japan that had been laid out like labyrinths within. They had been a headache to bring down, but it was precisely because he had conquered every one of them that Nobunaga had gotten within a step of reunifying the country.

“The threat this time is the almost supernatural coordination between the Steel Clan’s forces,” Nobunaga stated and grunted, furrowing his brow in thought soon after.

Vassarfall had indicated that several dozen units had been coordinating their movements, simultaneously striking from multiple sides. After they had struck, the same units had then withdrawn in good order. The fighting in the labyrinth that had once been the Holy Capital should have been a string of small skirmishes scattered across the city. It was impossible to work out all of the possible responses and contingencies ahead of time.

“Suoh Yuuto has devised some method to allow him to give orders to his units all at once. That I’m certain of,” Nobunaga said flatly after weighing the possibilities.

Obviously, human beings didn’t have long-range telepathy or anything similarly ridiculous. Generally speaking, orders were communicated to units using messengers. Because of this, there was always a time lag between sending those orders and the arrival of those orders to their respective units. However, based on all of the reports Nobunaga had received regarding Vassarfall’s recent battle, there was no such lag for the Steel Clan’s forces. At the very least, that was the only conclusion he could draw based on the information available to him. Which meant there was only one possible answer.

“Ah?! But that’s impossible...” Ran’s eyes went wide with shock. A 21st-century human being, used to communicating with smartphones, might not consider it outlandish, but to Ran, who had been born many centuries prior, the ability to communicate instantly over long distances may as well have been a divine miracle. It was difficult for people to imagine things that were too far outside of the accepted wisdom of their times, and as such, they often subconsciously removed outlandish possibilities from their thought processes. It was a natural, almost biological response to make sure they weren’t overwhelmed with thoughts of absurd and improbable events. Nobunaga, however, was easily able to set aside his preconceptions when necessary.

“Impossible, is it? Then how else do you explain the Steel Clan’s remarkable coordination?” Nobunaga commented.

“That... I...” Ran was at a loss for words.

“No matter how ludicrous it might seem, what we see happening with our own eyes is the reality we need to face,” Nobunaga stated calmly.

One of Nobunaga’s greatest abilities was his extreme pragmatism. To him, the outcomes and results were what was correct—if they so happened to go against established knowledge or conventional wisdom, then he would always consider those concepts to be flawed without hesitation. While it sounded simple enough, it was an extremely remarkable way of looking at the world. Humans were always constrained by their own knowledge and preconceptions. Even the smartest people who couldn’t escape that constraint were, in the end, simply slightly smarter but ordinary people. The true geniuses were those who could question and reject what everyone else accepted as normal.

“You’re right. We’re in Yggdrasil. The conventional wisdom of the Land of the Rising Sun doesn’t apply here. I know this in my mind, but...” Ran let out a sigh of resignation. Even if his heart didn’t want to accept it, the facts had forced him to admit that Nobunaga was right. “If you say so, My Great Lord, then that must be the case.”

“You seem quite fond of that particular choice of words, Ran.”

“As a mere retainer, I can’t hope to match your wisdom, My Great Lord.”

“Is that so?” Nobunaga let out a long sigh. It wasn’t that he disliked the fact that Ran knew his place, but there was a part of him that felt Ran was too deferential to him. It was fine during peacetime, but at times like this, Nobunaga couldn’t help but wish for a bit more initiative.

“So, how will we attack? In a field battle, we can push through using just numbers and momentum, but if we’re mostly going to be engaging in small skirmishes in constrained spaces, then...”

“If we charge in without a plan, we’ll end up like Vassarfall and have our forces utterly destroyed.”

Ran had been particular in his phrasing, but Nobunaga bluntly spelled out the results. While it was a Japanese cultural trait to avoid overtly stating uncomfortable facts, it wasn’t as though any sort of tact or ambiguity would change them. Though there were times when simply leaving such unpleasant realities unaddressed could solve matters, more often than not, that sort of neglect made the situation worse. For that reason, Nobunaga believed it was better to simply lay out the problem in the open and tackle it head on. At the very least, facing the problem directly increased the chances of successfully solving it.

“If we can’t brute force it, then we need to be a bit more subtle... That said, our usual methods probably won’t work so well here,” Nobunaga stated flatly.

Those “usual methods” were something Nobunaga favored, and which he had made use of during his first attack on Glaðsheimr: surrounding an enemy fortress with several siege castles and slowly but surely closing the noose around the enemy’s neck.

“Pardon? I believe that approach was relatively effective when we last used it.”

Ran blinked in surprise. Nobunaga’s siege castle strategy was a surefire tactic that had helped Nobunaga bring down countless fortresses in Japan. Indeed, the siege castles they had constructed around Glaðsheimr had isolated it from the rest of the Steel Clan’s territories. They were in the same location, so Ran wasn’t certain why it wouldn’t work a second time.

“The most important part of any good tactic is to do the things your enemy doesn’t want you to do to them. There’s no reason for us to do exactly what the enemy wants.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ran asked in apparent confusion.

“They want us to waste time,” Nobunaga replied.

Nobunaga was acutely aware of Yuuto’s goals. It wasn’t particularly hard to be so, honestly. The Steel Clan was trying to abandon Yggdrasil and relocate to a new land to the east. Gjallarbrú Fortress had completely abandoned any pretense of being a long-term emplacement and had no entrance or exits. It had been designed solely to stop the Flame Clan in its tracks.

“The Steel Clan’s aim is to delay us until they’ve finished moving their people. How admirable for the ruler himself to be a shield for his subjects,” Nobunaga continued.

In contrast to his words Nobunaga snorted dismissively. While it was true that rulers gathered taxes for the purposes of protecting their subjects from external enemies, that was rarely true in practice. There were plenty of rulers who viewed the lives of their subjects as just another resource, one to be spent for the sake of their country if the situation called for it. After all, a few lives were a small price to pay for the sake of results, were they not?

Nobunaga believed that the ability to be ruthless and calculating with the lives of one’s subjects was one of the qualities required of a ruler. Without that ability to look at matters objectively and avoid being influenced by emotion, a ruler was unable to make the rational decisions necessary to run a country. A ruler that went out of their way to be liked by their people was likely to lose sight of the bigger picture and end up leading their country to ruin in the process. Such was the difficult balance that a ruler had to strike.

“I understand... If we were to construct several siege castles, even simple ones would take at least a month to build.”

“Exactly. That’s more than enough time for most of the migrations to finish. After that, all he’d have to do is use an Arrowhead or Fish Scale Formation to force his way through the weakest part of the encirclement,” Nobunaga explained.

Both of the aforementioned formations were well suited to frontal assaults. Had the walls of Glaðsheimr been intact, Nobunaga would have been able to concentrate his forces at the gates where the Steel Clan Army would emerge, but with the walls of the city in ruins, it was impossible to tell where they would make their exit. Realistically, it was impossible to prevent the Steel Clan Army from escaping the city.

“The world at large would still consider that a great victory for our cause, but I suppose it would be rather unsatisfying for you, My Great Lord.”

“Of course. I don’t want a child less than half my age essentially handing Yggdrasil over to me.”

To Nobunaga, the only conquest that counted was one that he won by his own hand. While he had been born as the oldest son of Oda Nobuhide, the Lord Protector of Owari Province, his eccentricity as a youth had made most of the major Oda Clan retainers such as Shibata Katsuie back his brother, Oda Nobuyuki, to succeed Nobuhide. Nobunaga had only become Lord of Owari after defeating those forces in war. In both Japan and Yggdrasil, Nobunaga had fought his way to the top with his own strength. He was proud of that fact. There was nothing attractive about coming this far only to have his rival simply forfeit the battle.

“I expected as much. But, that brings us back to our initial question. How do we proceed? If we try to force the issue in our haste, that would be self-defeating,” Ran asked.

“It certainly would...” Nobunaga replied and gazed up at the sky with a heavy sigh. No matter how great his ambitions and aims, if there was no way to make them a reality, then they were little more than empty fantasies. The simple fact was that the combination of the terrain advantage provided by the maze-like city ruins and the rapid coordination was extremely lethal. Even Nobunaga, the genius of the Warring States Period, had never seen nor dealt with a tactic of this sort. He couldn’t even begin to think of an appropriate response.

“Gah... This is quite a headache. If we were in the Land of the Rising Sun, we could simply set fire to the city,” Nobunaga stated. Pillaging and burning the enemy castle’s surrounding city was a basic tactic in warfare. Nobunaga had himself burned down the city of Kiyosu, which would later become his clan’s capital, in his very first battle. That had been the norm in Warring States Period Japan.

He had attempted the same tactic several times against enemy clans here in Yggdrasil, but it had never produced much in the way of results against Yggdrasil’s houses, which were much more resistant to fire thanks to their adobe construction. They were far harder to burn down than the primarily wooden buildings that made up the bulk of Japan’s cities. Furthermore, the Holy Capital used fired brick both for aesthetic and safety purposes. Fire wouldn’t do much to the city’s buildings.

“Actually, something just came to me...” Nobunaga rubbed at his chin as a thought occurred to him. Setting fire to cities was meant to be both a psychological attack aimed at creating resentment toward the ruler among the city’s subjects, as well as a method to destroy any defensive facilities. Since Glaðsheimr was now abandoned, what he wanted to achieve was the latter. If he could get rid of the troublesome maze around the palace, he had plenty of options up his sleeve.

“Is there something else that can serve the same purpose?”

Glaðsheimr was a fortification like none that Nobunaga had encountered in his life. It was a completely different type of obstacle, a fact that had to be true of his opponent as well. Perhaps there was an opening to be exploited there.

“Ah!” Nobunaga was struck by a revelation at that moment, and his lips curled into a playful smile. “Ran! Get the army ready to move!”

“Heh, you let your guard down, Yuuto,” said Hveðrungr, the man in the eerie mask, as a smug smile crept across his features.

He had once been known as Loptr, and when he had lost the position of patriarch of the Wolf Clan, he had been struck with a mad thirst for revenge against his former protégé. However, the two had since reconciled, and he was now one of Yuuto’s subordinates, or at least that should have been the case...

“Grr...” Yuuto bit down on his lower lip.

How? How did things end up like this?! He couldn’t come up with an answer. All he knew was that he was now completely cornered.

“It’s over,” Hveðrungr stated confidently.

“No! Not yet! I can still...!” Yuuto unleashed a desperate attempt at victory.

“Well within expectations,” Hveðrungr said casually and applied the coup de grâce...atop the shogi board, that is.

“Checkmate.”

“Gaaaah! I lost again!” Yuuto ruffled his hair angrily and let out a shriek of frustration.

“Heh, this is quite an enjoyable little game!” Hveðrungr rolled the pieces in his palm and laughed with satisfaction. His pleasure was understandable, he had now won five straight matches against Yuuto.

“Dammit. I’d never lost in an even match until now,” Yuuto said, pouting as he gazed down at the board. The pieces hadn’t moved, and he was still mated. “I can’t believe I lost to a guy who learned the rules three days ago... My pride’s in tatters...”

In a siege, the defenders generally had little to do if the enemy made no efforts to attack. Constantly being on alert was psychologically exhausting and made it difficult to make accurate judgments in an emergency. For that reason, Yuuto had suggested shogi to Hveðrungr as a way of keeping himself distracted from needlessly overthinking things.

At first, Yuuto had been able to beat Hveðrungr even with the handicap of no rooks or bishops, but unfortunately for him, Hveðrungr had taken to the game like a fish to water, quickly equaling Yuuto’s skill. Now on day three, he had totally outclassed him, even though Yuuto had been playing the game regularly since his arrival on Yggdrasil four years ago. While he knew that Hveðrungr was sharper than he was, he still found it difficult to accept that a man who had learned the rules a mere three days earlier had surpassed him.

“Well, of course, I stole all of your tactics, after all,” Hveðrungr chortled smugly.

Shogi, like chess, had many accepted tactics and movements that had been established by generations of players. Even a moderately experienced player who employed them should have been invincible against an amateur who had just learned the rules. However, Hveðrungr wasn’t some average amateur. Once Yuuto had employed those tactics against him several times, he began to come up with counters by copying the tactics, and then further refining them in his own gameplay.

“Still such a cheat ability...” Yuuto muttered with a sigh.

Hveðrungr’s rune, Alþiófr, the Jester of a Thousand Illusions, allowed him to copy others’ techniques and make them his own. The foundation of its power was his remarkable observational skills. Because of those, he was always capable of fully leveraging vulnerabilities he found in his opponents, and Hveðrungr was also able to refine and adapt the techniques that he stole. It was a troublesome ability to face off against, as it made Hveðrungr better the more someone faced him.

“Hrmph, you’re one to talk. Even with this shogi, I’m sure you’ve got one or two more moves left up your sleeve you keep for emergencies, no?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yuuto replied in an attempt to deflect the comment. It was true that there were several patterns he had yet to employ against Hveðrungr, but it wasn’t as though he had been keeping them in reserve; it was simply that he had been too busy with work to truly master their use.

“You’re always that way. It’s true that if we fight ten times, I’ll win nine times out of ten. But if this were an actual fight with your life on the line, then you’ll use the one hand you kept up your sleeve and do whatever you need to do to win the one match that matters,” Hveðrungr spat out rather sourly, likely referring to Yuuto’s knowledge and technologies from the 21st century. It was certainly true that every one of them had been far beyond the norms of this era and were practically impossible to cope with when they’d first appeared. In Yuuto’s mind, the fact that Hveðrungr had still somehow managed to adapt made him more of a monster than himself, but he held his tongue, as he knew it would only be taken as mockery.

“What did you call it? Operation Concrete Jungle? Watching it sent a shiver up my spine.” While the mask made his expression difficult to read, Hveðrungr’s remark was followed by a thoroughly displeased sigh. Perhaps he imagined what it must have been like for the enemy commander.

Yuuto himself knew that this particular tactic—one that had been inspired by reading about the Vietnam War—was a particularly nasty one to deal with. The combination of the maze-like streets of Glaðsheimr and the use of radios to convey information and orders in real-time was a marriage made in heaven. Then there was the additional bonus of Yuuto’s Einherjar abilities, Hervör, Guardian of the Host, and Herfjötur, Fetter of the Host. It all added up to an overwhelming advantage for the Steel Clan, which was why Yuuto had been certain of victory in the initial fighting.

“So, how would you deal with it, brother?” Yuuto asked as he placed the pieces back on the board. As could be seen in his ability with shogi, Hveðrungr’s powers of observation and his adaptability were head and shoulders above the norm. Yuuto was extremely curious about how Hveðrungr would handle this situation. It would provide a useful reference if Nobunaga employed a similar response.

“In my case, I’d commit entirely to an encirclement,” Hveðrungr replied without a moment’s hesitation. Apparently, the answer was just that obvious to him. “Even if there’s a jewel within a burning fire, there’s no reason to stick your hand into the fire to get it. The first thing to be done is to put out that fire. If there’s enough silver and materials available, I’d use those siege castles the Flame Clan used last time, but... Tch, looks like that’s the wrong answer, huh.”

“What?” Yuuto blinked his eyes in surprise at Hveðrungr’s sudden bitter click of the tongue.

“That’s the response you’re looking for. It’s written all over your face.”

“Huh, seriously? Guess I’ve let my guard down.”

After reconciling with Yuuto, Hveðrungr hadn’t bothered to suck up to him, and, if anything, had gotten more acerbic with time, but Yuuto found that aspect of their friendship comfortable and tended to let his guard down around him. Felicia was often quick to warn Yuuto to be careful, telling him that Hveðrungr might very well turn on him again at any moment. A quick glance in her direction indicated she still felt that way, as she let out an exasperated sigh. For his part, Yuuto couldn’t help but sympathize with Hveðrungr for being regarded with such suspicion by his own sister.

“So you admit it, do you? Hrmph. So, the plan I proposed would indeed be exactly what you wanted to happen,” Hveðrungr said with a snort of displeasure. Yuuto shrugged his shoulders mildly.

“It’s what I would want, but it’s not the wrong answer either. If anything, it’s the best possible answer,” Yuuto replied.

“Say what?” Hveðrungr asked incredulously, his tone clearly suggesting there was nothing ideal about doing exactly what the enemy wanted one to do. Hveðrungr’s skepticism aside, it was, in fact, the best possible outcome for Yuuto.

In the mind of someone from the 21st century like Yuuto, war was part of diplomacy. The best outcome of any diplomatic endeavor was to create a win-win situation for all parties involved. The siege castle tactic would give both sides what they were looking for, with the Steel Clan getting the time they needed to prepare the massive operation of moving its people out of Yggdrasil, while Nobunaga and the Flame Clan would gain control of Glaðsheimr and Yggdrasil itself with minimal losses. The problem, however, was...

Before he could complete that thought, the radio transceiver at Yuuto’s side suddenly crackled to life with static. He immediately picked it up.

“Father, the Flame Clan Army has resumed its advance on Glaðsheimr!”

“Figures...”

The best Yuuto could do was let out a dry laugh as Kristina’s voice came over the radio. Nobunaga never moved the way he wanted him to.

“So, what’s he up to this time?” Yuuto murmured tensely, setting down his radio in front of him.

He was facing Oda Nobunaga—there was no way such an experienced opponent would charge into the city without a plan. Nobunaga had surely heard from Vassarfall concerning how the Steel Clan Army had been arrayed within the city. Given that the man never moved until he had prepared the ground for his own victory, the fact that he was attacking despite that knowledge meant Nobunaga had already come up with a workable attack plan.

“How long is he going to take...?” Yuuto impatiently drummed his fingers against his knee. It hadn’t actually been more than twenty minutes since he had received Kristina’s report that the Flame Clan had resumed its advance. Given that walking was the basic mode of transportation in Yggdrasil, it would take them a while to reach their desired position. There was no use in working himself into a panicked frenzy while he waited, but his anxiety was understandable. Knowledge of how the enemy was going to act, no matter how bad the situation might be, at least was certainty about what needed to be dealt with. The most psychologically taxing situation was not knowing what was coming. The radio returned to life with a burst of static.

“Father!”

“What’s the situation?” Yuuto asked directly, anxiety gnawing at him. The follow-up report was coming far too quickly after the initial report of the enemy’s movement.

“Cannons! The Flame Clan Army has brought out the cannons they used at Gjallarbrú to the front. I count at least twenty of them!”

“Dammit! He’s already come up with the other right answer!” Yuuto reflexively twisted his face into a grimace. Dealing with lurking guerrilla forces was difficult even for modern armies. The US military’s problems in the jungles of Vietnam and the cities of Iraq were good examples of the difficulty of fighting guerrillas. In those conflicts, the Americans had responded by—

Yuuto’s thoughts were interrupted by the rumbling echo of a distant cannonade.

“The Flame Clan Army has started its bombardment!”

“Yeah, I hear it,” Yuuto spat out sourly.

Glaðsheimr’s walls had been made of fired brick and had already suffered massive damage from the recent earthquake. They wouldn’t stand a chance against coordinated bombardment from cannons. But Yuuto knew that wasn’t the real issue, as another salvo’s rumble rang through the air.

“Father! The Flame Clan is bombarding the city without regard for civilian housing!”

“Tch, dammit!” Yuuto clicked his tongue loudly.

When they were dealing with the Viet Cong in the jungles of Vietnam, the Americans had resorted to undertaking wide-sweeping Search and Destroy missions against the guerrillas. Any locations that were suspected of harboring guerrillas, even villages with noncombatants, were relentlessly bombed with napalm. While over the years the US military had refined their counterinsurgency tactics to minimize collateral damage as they switched to fighting in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, the brute force method of unrestrained bombardment was still one of the most effective ways of countering guerrilla forces. To phrase it differently, bombing enemy targets despite the possibility of collateral damage was a tactic that the Americans had been forced to deploy out of necessity as their losses from guerrilla attacks mounted.

“I knew he’d figure it out eventually, but come on, really? This is the first thing he comes up with?” Yuuto bit down on his lower lip with a frown. He had expected that the earliest Nobunaga would employ this tactic was after several initial skirmishes in the city. As it turned out, his opponent was someone who would always exceed even his most pessimistic projections.

The thundering roar of cannon fire made the air quiver around them. Lead balls the size of a human head crashed straight through the houses lined up on the receiving end of the roaring guns.

“Hahaha! Fire! Keep on firing!” Nobunaga gleefully urged on the cannonade. At the Gjallarbrú Fortress, the strange solid wall had kept his Province Destroyers from showing their true power, so it was quite a delight to see them destroy normal buildings rather than struggle against some unnaturally sturdy wall.

“Ah, I see now, My Great Lord. If we just blast away all of the obstacles, then the enemy’s plan no longer works,” Vassarfall, the man who had been defeated in the initial skirmish, observed with an admiring nod. Nobunaga looked over at him with surprise.

“What, you’re still here? I believe I ordered you to guard the north,” Nobunaga replied.

“I came to pay my respects before leaving.”

“Is that so?”

“Still, it’s quite the sight,” Vassarfall said as he glanced toward Glaðsheimr.

“That wasn’t the response I expected. I figured you’d be raising your voice to object to this indiscriminate destruction.”

“Ha hah, until just recently, you would have been correct to think that. I would have probably regarded destroying a city steeped in two hundred years of tradition as the behavior of uncivilized barbarians,” Vassarfall explained.

“Heh, that you can say that to my face is impressive.” Nobunaga chuckled with amusement.

In general, Nobunaga was not one to forgive those who spoke ill of him. He held the conviction that a ruler must never let others insult him. In particular, he hated those who would only speak ill of him behind his back. There were plenty who had been punished for that particular crime, even in Yggdrasil. But strangely, Vassarfall’s comments rarely bothered him. That was probably due to Vassarfall’s own virtues, or to more accurately describe it, his unique personality.

“However, I recently came to a realization. All things in this world must one day fall into ruin. This is a law of the gods that no man can hope to escape. Do you understand, My Great Lord?! It’s only when it reaches its end that a piece of art is complete! The flame of life burns at its most beautiful the moment before it’s extinguished! A brief moment of brilliance! It’s in that fragility that true beauty lay! Yes, beauty! Sublimelimination! The end of a city that has built up two hundred long years of history. When I think of the time and life that had been poured into those buildings, I feel a sharp pain in my breast! However, yes, however! The value of art is in how much it deeply moves the heart! Objects that don’t move the heart aren’t truly art! Then! This sight before me that is inspiring such strong feelings in my heart is the pinnacle of art, of the sublime! I thank the gods for granting me the good fortune to be standing here as a witness to this spectacle! Ah... Such beauty! Such sublime beauty! I cannot hold back my tears! Truly sublime art is to be found in explosions!”

Nobunaga nodded as he half-listened to Vassarfall’s oration. Nobunaga was fond of those who were dedicated to whatever path in life they had chosen, particularly those who were so absorbed in the pursuit of their interests and their goals that they lost sight of all other considerations.

Certainly, Vassarfall had no tact and couldn’t read a room. However, it was also clear from his demeanor that he was thoroughly engrossed by the events unfolding before him. He was a man who, once absorbed in a pursuit, art or otherwise, would pull out all the stops to master it. Nobunaga was fond of him for that reason, fond enough to ignore his occasional indiscretions. It was, after all, men like Vassarfall that made the impossible possible. With that said, he wasn’t quite sure he understood what Vassarfall was babbling about.

“Still, are you certain about this course, My Great Lord? You have always been ironclad in your prohibition on harming the subjects of our enemies. Surely destroying the capital goes against that?” Vassarfall, having finished pontificating, changed his tone to one of caution. It seemed he had returned from the world of the sublime. Nobunaga shook his head at how thoroughly Vassarfall marched to the beat of his own drum. If the man weren’t so capable, Nobunaga would have cut him down years ago.

“By all accounts, if there were subjects still residing within the city, it would be impossible to avoid being labeled as some kind of tyrannical murderer, which would create resentment in its wake. However, the city is, in fact, completely devoid of civilians. What issue is there in destroying empty buildings?” Nobunaga replied breezily without a hint of hesitation. His ability to switch tactics and methods quickly was another of his remarkable traits. Humans had a tendency to get stuck in routines and cling to their tried and tested means.

Despite the fact that the ends are supposed to be the thing that truly matters, people tended to canonize the means—things that are only supposed to be a method to achieve said ends as rules in and of themselves. People were obsessed with maintaining those forms.

Nobunaga, however, was a man with a remarkable ability to focus upon what was truly important. He was never constrained by methods he had employed in the past. Nobunaga had already thoroughly weighed the costs and benefits of his chosen tactic of bombarding the city. If the houses were empty, then there would be no civilian casualties from destroying them, and that would create no resentment. Given that there were almost no witnesses, they could even blame their enemy for the destruction.

“If problems do happen to arise from this, I’ll simply rebuild the city in short order. A lively, comfortable city that would drive any nostalgia for the old out of the heads of its inhabitants! Ha hah!” Nobunaga laughed confidently. There was a great deal of arrogance behind his assumption that he could simply sweep aside centuries of sentiment and tradition. But it was this very arrogance that made it possible for him to bring about change. Those who were too busy reading a room couldn’t take an ax to the room to redecorate it.

“Now, keep firing, men! We have plenty of gunpowder thanks to Homura. Be thorough in your destruction!”

The Flame Clan Army’s merciless bombardment of Glaðsheimr continued until sunset.

“As always, it feels like he’s methodically smothering me to death,” Yuuto murmured gloomily as the cannonade finally ended for the day.

His sullen mood was understandable; the Flame Clan’s bombardment had destroyed countless houses throughout Glaðsheimr. The destruction of each house was one less piece of cover for the Steel Clan to take advantage of, and the steady onslaught was eating away at the defensive structures they needed to keep the Flame Clan at bay.

“My projections never seem to work out when it comes to him,” he remarked.

Given that Nobunaga had been positioning himself as the new ruler of the continent, Yuuto had expected him to continue playing the part and save the wholesale destruction of buildings in Glaðsheimr as a last resort. His read had completely missed the mark.

“Felicia, gather the generals. We’ll hold a war council. Oh, right, don’t summon all of the members of the Maidens of the Waves, just bring Bára here. I need the others to be prepared in case the Flame Clan attempts a night raid. Tell the scouts to keep their eyes peeled for any movement from the Flame Clan Army,” Yuuto ordered.

“Y-Yes! Understood, Big Brother,” Felicia replied. She then hurriedly issued Yuuto’s orders to the waiting messengers. It wasn’t much later that the Steel Clan’s major commanders were assembled before Yuuto.

In attendance were the Sword Clan patriarch Fagrahvél and her strategist Bára; Hveðrungr, former patriarch of the Panther Clan and currently Yuuto’s subordinate and chief of staff; Kristina, the blood daughter of the Claw Clan patriarch and his representative; Haugspori, Assistant Second of the Horn Clan; as well as the patriarchs of the Steel Clan’s subordinate clans: the Armor, Shield, Helm, Fang, Mountain Dog, Ash, and Wheat Clans.

“Sorry to call on you all so late at night. It’d be hard to have a calm discussion while we’re being bombarded, so I believe it best we discuss our options now,” Yuuto said with a tone of appreciation as he looked over the gathered generals. Their expressions were all understandably tense. After all, the Flame Clan had immediately neutralized the tactic that had won the Steel Clan an initial clean victory and offered them hope of greater triumph.

“So, I’m sure you’ve got something in mind for dealing with that bombardment, Your Majesty?” Hveðrungr was the one who immediately broached the subject. Given there were others present, he maintained a certain formality to his tone, but there was a noticeable hint of defiance underpinning his words. It was as though he was sitting back and waiting to see what Yuuto had up his sleeve.

Yuuto found the implication that Hveðrungr considered himself an observer in this matter slightly irritating, but at the same time, it was also reassuring. It meant that Hveðrungr, at least, was still calm and maintaining his objectivity on the situation. There was no better sounding board.

“Yes, I do. It’s a lot earlier than I expected, but this situation was still well within my projections.” Yuuto’s words prompted a cheerful murmur from the gathered generals. It seemed they were relieved to hear that the situation, though grim, was something Yuuto had already accounted for in his planning and had a ready response to deal with.

The cannons had been a serious thorn in the Steel Clan’s side at the Siege of Gjallarbrú Fortress. Their destructive power was so far beyond anything that Yggdrasil’s typical defensive technologies were designed to handle that they seemed almost like instruments of divine destruction. Yuuto sympathized with the anxiety his generals had felt facing them.

“That said, at this very moment, we have the pick of the Steel Clan’s great and cunning generals assembled here. I’d like to hear your opinions first,” Yuuto said with a faintly teasing curl of the lips. He could very well have started out the war council with his own proposal, but he had something specific in mind.

Legend had it that Tokugawa Ieyasu would first have his retainers engage in spirited debate at the start of any meeting, only offering his own views at the end of the discussion. The ruler’s opinion, for better or for worse, whether in agreement or not, often ended up framing the discussion, and could prevent those present from proposing or even seeing a better path forward. Ieyasu had chosen to withhold his views to avoid prejudicing deliberations. Given that Yuuto was facing an opponent that Ieyasu, the final victor of the Warring States Period, had feared as the greatest warlord of the age, there was no harm in taking every available precaution.

“Haugspori. How would you deal with it?”

Yuuto started with Haugspori, one of the Horn Clan’s Brísingamen and the man reputed to be the Horn Clan’s greatest archer. He had been chosen simply because, as the Assistant Second of the Horn Clan, he was the lowest ranking individual present.

“Whaa?! M-Me, Your Majesty?!” It seemed Haugspori had been caught completely off guard by Yuuto’s question, and he appeared flustered as he looked for an answer.

“Yes. If you have a proposal, let me hear it, don’t hold back,” Yuuto replied.

“Well, uh... Let’s see. Why don’t we fight back using the catapults positioned on the walls?”

“Mm, I see.” Yuuto made a show of nodding his head. It was definitely the sort of answer an archer might come up with. Glaðsheimr’s walls had a large number of catapults installed on them. While some of them had been lost to the great earthquake, there were still quite a few left in operation.

“I agree with Lord Haugspori. While they are not as effective as cannons, they are on higher ground. We should definitely leverage the range advantage that gives us.” Fagrahvél raised her hand and voiced her agreement with Haugspori’s proposal. The other assembled generals nodded to one another, as they couldn’t find any other alternative under the circumstances.

A faintly mocking snicker suddenly rose from a corner of the room, and everyone turned to look at the source of the laughter. The snickering had come from a red-haired young woman who was dressed in rags that marked her as completely out of place among the assembled officers. However ragged her clothing, the young woman’s eyes were sharp with defiance, and her expression exuded arrogance.

“Did you just laugh at us, girl?” Fagrahvél glared at the young woman, her voice cold and low. It was understandable: she was the ruler of a great clan, and the girl had just mocked a proposal that she had given her approval to.

“Quite the nerve to mock us as a mere servant.”

“Lady Kristina, respectfully, you have perhaps erred in bringing this one to this meeting.”

The Armor and Shield patriarchs spoke up in agreement.

Both clans were old, traditional clans that dated back to the founding of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire, and their patriarchs had a gravitas appropriate as rulers of such distinguished clans. However, the young woman seemed unfazed by the intimidating glares that were directed in her direction.

“Hold on everyone. Utgarda, what did you find so funny?” Yuuto asked.

The generals glaring at Utgarda blinked their eyes in surprise.

“Lady Kristina, is this...” Fagrahvél began to ask.

“Yes, she’s Utgarda, patriarch of the Silk Clan,” Kristina answered simply.

Yuuto, however, noticed the gleam of amusement in Kristina’s eyes. She was probably enjoying everyone’s shocked reaction to Utgarda’s presence. The fact that she didn’t care if she was dealing with patriarchs in playing what might be considered a prank spoke volumes about Kristina’s personality.

“Wha, this is...?!”

“Hrmph.”

The Armor and Shield Clan patriarchs appeared rather unimpressed by this development. Their clans were based out of Jötunheimr like the Silk Clan. They were well aware of Utgarda’s reputation. She had doubled the size of the Silk Clan’s territories in the handful of years she had served as its patriarch before she had taken down and assimilated the Tiger Clan, one of the Ten Great Clans, through a feat of cunning. Their surprise at seeing her in her current state was understandable.

“Heh heh, it seems Our magnificent reputation is known even in Glaðsheimr.” Utgarda’s lips curled into an arrogant smirk as she saw the stir the revelation of her identity had caused among the generals. “Yes, We are the great empress Utgarda of the Silk Clan! Lower your heads, dogs of the þjóðann!”

“You’re the one who needs to lower your head,” Kristina replied curtly.

“Eep!”

Utgarda let out a short yelp after a sharp crack rang out. Kristina had spanked her with the riding crop in her hand. Utgarda sank to her hands and knees and rubbed at her bottom after the blow, and Kristina mercilessly followed up the blow by sitting on Utgarda’s back.

“Former patriarch. You’re no leader now, you’re simply my slave. Know your place,” Kristina said coldly.

“Y-Yes, my apologies...” Utgarda replied meekly.

Even Yuuto blinked in surprise as Utgarda’s attitude flipped in an instant. The Utgarda he knew was the epitome of arrogance, and her self-regard towered far above that of mere mortals. For her to become so subservient in such a short amount of time... Just what had Kristina done to her?

“No, probably better not to ask. Honestly, it’s a bit scary to contemplate,” he thought to himself.

While he would be lying if he said he wasn’t morbidly curious, he was sure that the answer would bring added complications he didn’t want or need. Some things were best left unknown. Besides, now was hardly the time or place. No, what actually drew his attention was—

“Utgarda, why did you laugh earlier? Depending on what you say, I’ll ignore your disrespect this time,” Yuuto said as he focused his gaze upon her.

While she was now a mere slave, had Yuuto and Nobunaga never appeared in Yggdrasil, Utgarda might very well have been the new ruler of the continent. During her reign, the Silk Clan had doubled its agricultural revenue and had succeeded in training war elephants. Her talents as a general were also head and shoulders above most of the commanders assembled here. Those were the reasons why she was present at this meeting despite her current situation.

“Well, uh...” Utgarda hesitated as she turned her head to glance up at the girl seated on her back. The fact that she was prioritizing her mistress’s approval over that of the þjóðann was an impressive display of her submission. Kristina nodded her approval and Utgarda continued. “By all accounts, setting up on the high ground is a vital element in war. However, most of Glaðsheimr’s walls are in ruins. Positioning forces upon them is an idio—I mean, if you were to position your forces upon them, sir, you would have no place to run, would you?”

Her attempt at a respectful tone still needed work, but the generals widened their eyes as her words triggered an epiphany.

“Ah, that’s right. Yeah, in that sense, it’s the wrong move.” Yuuto scratched at his head and agreed that Utgarda had pointed out the fatal flaw in Haugspori’s plan. The other generals who had also drawn the same conclusion nodded with pained expressions.

It should have been obvious with a little thought. Positioning on high ground like city walls meant that if the enemy held the exits, the forces on those walls would be trapped with no prospect of escape. Haugspori’s plan had essentially been predicated on the assumption that the walls were completely intact and prevented the enemy from entering the city.

“Heh heh. So, you’ve realized your stupidity, have you?” Utgarda crowed triumphantly.

However, from Yuuto’s perspective, it was a bit harsh to point out that the generals had missed this fact. They had never dealt with a situation where they remained within a fortification after the defensive walls had collapsed in multiple locations and left wide open entrances for the enemy.

Ordinarily, they would have abandoned a fortification whose defenses had been so thoroughly compromised and retreated to the intact inner walls further within the city. Standard siege tactics assumed that there were walls to keep the enemy out. Every person had their limits when it came to processing new information. It was relatively common to lose sight of the obvious due to a change in the fundamental assumptions behind the conflict.

“I’m impressed that you noticed.” Given that he was in a desperate situation where he needed every asset he could use, Yuuto offered his sincere praise to Utgarda. He had been right to summon her here.

“Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! This is simple for a mind like Ours!” Utgarda cackled in triumph, a rather surreal scene given that she was on her hands and knees and being used as a human chair.

“Quiet. Such behavior is disrespectful in front of the patriarchs.”

Kristina’s riding crop once again snapped against Utgarda’s flesh. Perhaps because of her sheer, overwhelming pride, humility was one lesson she wasn’t able to fully learn despite her intelligence. It seemed Kristina still had some work ahead of her.

“Tsk. It seems you still need a bit more discipline,” Kristina told her coldly.

“Yes, thank you, mistress! Please offer your discipline to this unworthy cur!”

“...Hm?” Yuuto furrowed his brow at Utgarda’s immediate response. There was no doubt that she had been trained to respond that way by Kristina, but he thought he detected a trace of glee in her voice.

“No, no, I’m just imagining it. She was an awful tyrant who let her sadism get the better of her. I mean, I’ve heard that sadists can sometimes awaken to a hidden masochism within them, but that can’t be it, right?”

Yuuto immediately dismissed the idea and took another look at Utgarda’s expression. He noticed a faint smile of pleasure. He quickly decided to pretend he didn’t see that. This wasn’t the time to be investigating that anyway. But he couldn’t help but add silently.

“Just what the heck did you do to her, Kristina?!”

“Any other opinions? How about it, Brother Rungr?” Yuuto asked Hveðrungr as if to change the subject and return the conversation to its original topic. Hveðrungr had been the one who had challenged him. Yuuto was partly driven by a desire to get back at him, but he also wanted the brilliant tactician’s input.

“Let me see. First of all, we need to devise an approach to deal with those cannons. Following that, the standard follow-up would be a night raid to wipe out their forces,” he replied.

Yuuto nodded as he did his best to hide his disappointment. It was a boring proposal that anyone could have come up with. Given that Hveðrungr had continually exceeded Yuuto’s expectations with outlandish tactics, he had been hoping for more, but...

“Which, of course, the enemy would be expecting to happen.” Hveðrungr had deliberately waited a beat before continuing, his lips curled into a sardonic smile as he observed Yuuto’s reaction.

It seemed he had noticed Yuuto’s attempt to get back at him and had decided to pay him back with interest. It was a good reflection of his personality. While he was choosing his words carefully because they were in public, Hveðrungr was still Hveðrungr. Still, he was a reassuring presence at times like this. Right now what Yuuto needed from Hveðrungr wasn’t respect or loyalty. It was his skill in reading the enemy and drawing them into traps.

“So we’ll use that caution to our advantage,” Hveðrungr stated.

“Oh?” Yuuto leaned forward, his interest piqued.

“For example, how about this?” Hveðrungr began to describe his scheme, one that was exactly the sort of plan he was known for and exactly what Yuuto had hoped he would provide.

“You really are a conniving bastard!” Yuuto exclaimed.

It was lavish praise masquerading as an insult. Yuuto was continually impressed by Hveðrungr’s ability to come up with tactics that seemed to cause the enemy as much distress as possible.

“What a terrible thing to say. For my part, I’m simply trying to take the Steel Clan’s budget into account by reusing otherwise useless junk. I’m quite the epitome of a thoughtful little brother, am I not?” Hveðrungr responded as he shrugged his shoulders and sighed with displeasure, wearing a smile on his face all the while.

“Well, if that’s what you want to call it,” Yuuto replied.

“Do I detect a trace of venom in that comment, Your Majesty?”

“You certainly do.”

Even as he exchanged small barbs with Hveðrungr, Yuuto processed Hveðrungr’s proposal and simulated it in his mind. It wasn’t bad. In fact, it was quite impressive. Given that they were under siege and the Flame Clan Army had surrounded the city, the Steel Clan’s resources were limited. Hveðrungr’s plan took that into account and effectively killed two birds with one stone.

“Oh dear. It seems you have the wrong idea about me, Big Brother Yuuto. But, well, I can always clear up that misunderstanding later. Perhaps it’s about time to hear your proposal, Your Majesty? I’m sure the others are on the edges of their seats waiting to hear what you have in mind,” Hveðrungr said theatrically, waving his hand toward the assembled generals. Reading between the lines, Yuuto knew he was basically saying, “Let’s see if you can top my proposal.” Hveðrungr really was something.

“I might have made a mistake by giving Brother Rungr the spotlight. He raised the bar quite a bit,” Yuuto thought to himself.

If he proposed something half-assed, he’d look bad in comparison to Hveðrungr. That would negatively impact Yuuto’s influence with the generals and create a potential problem in a delicate situation. Hveðrungr was essentially like a dangerous drug, one that could be poison if mishandled. But, if Yuuto couldn’t handle Hveðrungr, there was no way he could defeat Oda Nobunaga.

“My plan, you say? Well, that’s...”