Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 17 - Chapter 4

ACT 4

“I’m sorry to gather you all this late at night, but we have an emergency,” Yuuto said grimly as he looked over the assembled commanders. It was late enough that many of them had needed awakening from their slumber, but not a single person present appeared bleary-eyed. They were all warriors who had survived throughout this age of war. All of them were used to unexpected emergencies.

“Ten thousand soldiers of the Flame Clan’s Fifth Division have set out from the old Lightning Clan capital and advanced upon Fort Gashina. The siege has probably already started. Additionally, there are reports that soldiers are converging upon the old Spear Clan capital of Mímir.”

“What?!” Even for the veterans assembled in the room, the news came as a shock. Given that the Flame Clan had lost most of their grain stores in their most recent campaign against the Steel Clan, almost all of them expected the Flame Clan to wait until the autumn harvest to resume its campaign. To add to the problem, the Steel Clan Army was currently in the middle of campaigning in the east and was currently in central Jötunheimr. While they were caught off on the eastern end of Yggdrasil, the enemy was advancing upon them from behind. The generals had friends and family that they’d left behind in the Steel Clan realms. It would have been stranger if they didn’t feel any anxiety over the news.

“I understand your shock and your worry. However, everything will be fine. As I noted before this campaign began, I’ve already planned for such a possibility,” Yuuto said with a deliberately calm tone. He understood why the generals would be unnerved, but that was exactly why he had to project an aura of calm during a time like this. Anxiety at the top infects those serving under them.

“I-I see. Yes, I do remember that you had mentioned it.”

“I hadn’t expected it would actually happen...”

“As always, your foresight is impressive, Father.”

As they each noticed Yuuto’s calm demeanor, the generals also began to pull themselves together. Confidence on the part of the commander helped reassure their generals. While Yuuto was young, he had experienced and survived countless difficult situations. Projecting an aura of calm during emergencies had become second nature to him.

“As I’ve already mentioned, the Silk Clan will be joining our ranks. As such, our army will be turning around to relieve both Gimlé and Glaðsheimr.”

A particular general chose this moment to offer his observation. “That may be so. However, no doubt part of why they swallowed all of our terms was because of the presence of this army on their doorstep. If we withdraw here, they could very well turn around and go against the agreed-upon terms.”

The man’s name was Botvid—the patriarch of the Claw Clan. He was a pudgy man who looked slow and uninspiring, but he had a sharp mind—a trait he had passed on to his birth daughter, Kristina.

Yuuto nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m concerned about that possibility.”

It was necessary to hold the eastern ports to evacuate the population of Yggdrasil. Given that they had taken an enormous risk to secure those ports, to lose them at the last moment would defeat the whole purpose of this campaign. That was the outcome Yuuto wanted to avoid at all costs.

“Botvid, I’m going to name you acting patriarch of the Silk Clan and leave you a garrison of five thousand precisely for that reason.”

“Oh? Me?” Botvid’s lips twisted upward into an amused smile. It was a scheming smile that clearly implied he was up to no good. “Are you certain you wish to grant me even temporary control of a powerful clan like the Silk Clan?”

In the past, Botvid had betrayed Yuuto’s predecessor, Fárbauti, setting aside an alliance to take territory from the Wolf Clan. No doubt that past behavior was what Botvid was referring to.

“Scheming is best done in silence. If you really intended to do anything, you wouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“Oh, but perhaps I’m telling you to lull you into a false sense of security.”

“You wouldn’t mention that if that was your intent.”

“Even if I don’t intend to do it now, perhaps I’ll give in to the temptations offered by ruling such a large territory.”

“What? Do you want me to suspect you of disloyalty?” Yuuto narrowed his eyes and asked, directing a glare in Botvid’s direction. While Botvid himself probably intended it as a joke, given his personality, the subject was one that was a little too close to plausible to be funny. The assembled generals, too, looked upon him with distrust. Yuuto couldn’t grasp Botvid’s reason for raising the subject in this matter.

“Oh my, haha... I feel I’ve caused a bit of an issue here.” Botvid seemed to have realized something, slapping at his balding pate with an expression of embarrassment.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you could say it’s the cost of spending so long acting two-faced. I wanted to point out that I had no ulterior motives, but it seems all I’ve done is made people suspect me.”

“Hah! You always make everything harder than it needs to be!” Even Yuuto had to laugh at the remark. It seemed that, given his history, Botvid wanted to make note of all the possible ways he could be scheming to dismiss that possibility of his betrayal out of hand. It must have seemed more dishonest for a habitual schemer like Botvid to simply and loyally state that he’d accept the appointment without comment. After all, it was easy enough to overturn any gestures of loyalty later.

“Yeah, okay, I get what you’re trying to say. I’m leaving it in your hands, Botvid.”

Just as he was about to fully entrust Botvid with the appointment, Kristina stood up and objected.

“Hold on, Father. That’s how he always disarms his opponents. You can’t let him fool you.”

Yuuto’s expression tensed and he looked over to her.

“What?! Is that so?!”

“Yes. Do be careful.”

“Hey now, Kris. That’s a little too harsh. And please, Father, don’t play along with her.”

The assembled generals couldn’t hold back their laughter and snorted at Botvid’s troubled demeanor. The distrust that had fogged the room had been blown clear away. Yuuto himself had burst out openly in laughter, but...

“Mm?”

He caught Botvid and Kristina exchanging impish glances out of the corner of his eye.

At that moment he felt a chill run up his spine. It seemed this had all been a calculated charade on their part. No doubt it was true that Botvid had no intention of betraying him. After all, without that, Kristina wouldn’t cooperate with him. What shocked him was just how Botvid had made the others trust him despite his penchant for deceptive behavior.

“Well, no wonder why the Wolf Clan folks were wary of him,” Yuuto said to himself.

He felt like he had gotten a glimpse into the man who, despite lacking the blessings of a rune, and despite lacking the remarkable fighting abilities of an Einherjar, had still risen to become the patriarch of the Claw Clan, and then later risen to a leadership position within the great Steel Clan, solely on the strength of his mind and wit.

“Well, still, I’m glad he’s on my side.”

Governing a foreign territory was often difficult. There were differences in traditions, systems, and even values to navigate. Even without those obstacles, all manners of scheming creatures tended to gather around politics and governance, which was precisely why a crafty old fox like Botvid was perfect for dealing with all the difficulties associated with the position. With Botvid at his back, it meant Yuuto could focus completely on the fight against Nobunaga.

“Father!”

Someone called out to Yuuto from behind as he was about to return to his tent after the war council. While it was a familiar voice that he knew as well as his own, he couldn’t help but frown when he heard it.

“Rún... What are you doing?! You should be slee...” He turned around to chide her, only to trail off and gape in surprise. Yes, Sigrún was behind him, but she was being carried on her protégé Hildegard’s back.

“I’m following your orders and refraining from pushing myself, so please have mercy.”

“Well, okay, I guess that’s fair.”

Yuuto had felt it would be a problem for her to be out and about so soon after collapsing, but after seeing the sight of Sigrún being carried on Hildegard’s back, he swallowed his lecture. Up until recently, Sigrún would probably have forced herself to walk here on her own two feet. The fact that she was having someone else carry her was probably an improvement. Yuuto supposed he had to give her credit for that.

“So, what is it?”

“Right. Father, I had heard the Flame Clan had resumed its advance, so I couldn’t bear to sit still... I judged that I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep, so I came to hear about the situation.”

“...I suppose I can’t blame you for that.” Yuuto scratched at his head and sighed. Sigrún bore the heavy burden of being the Mánagarmr of the Steel Clan Army, and she was extremely proud of that role. It was easy for Yuuto to understand that being excluded from the discussions would just deepen her anxiety.

“Yeah, that’s right. The Flame Clan is on the move again. In the west, one of the Flame Clan’s five division commanders, Kuuga of the Fifth Division, has started advancing to the east, while in the center, they’ve already gathered over fifty thousand soldiers in the old Spear Clan capital of Mímir, with more on the way.”

“Their last campaign was impressive, but they’re managing to surpass even that...” Even Sigrún had to suck in a breath in astonishment. The scale of the last Flame Clan campaign was enough to drive the Steel Clan into dire straits. It was natural that she’d find this situation alarming.

“Yeah, that old man is ridiculous,” Yuuto said and shrugged with a bitter laugh. He had a vague feeling that Nobunaga would move before the autumn harvest, but the scale of this move was far beyond even his expectations. Nobunaga was always a man who regularly and thoroughly made Yuuto reconsider what could even be considered possible. For Yuuto, who preferred to fight after planning for any and all possibilities, Nobunaga was an incredibly frustrating opponent.

Sigrún glanced around before settling on her course of action and spoke with steely determination. “...Father! I have a request!”

Yuuto couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about what she was about to say, but he nodded for her to continue. Sigrún nodded and gazed into Yuuto’s eyes as she spoke.

“Allow me to take the Múspells ahead of the main army.”

“Thought so.”

Yuuto couldn’t help but place his palm to his forehead. He knew that was what she would say. In truth, her proposal would be extremely useful under the circumstances. With her unit’s incredible mobility, they could quickly make their way to the war zone, and they could harry the enemy using their Parthian Shot tactics. It would be extremely useful to have the Múspells skirmishing with the enemy, and ordinarily, he would have immediately given his approval, but...

“You say that, but are you sure you’re ready to go yet?” It was just last evening that Sigrún had collapsed while training. It hadn’t even been half a day since then. He didn’t want her pushing herself.

“Yes. Please rest assured. I intend to have Bömburr handle leading the unit itself, while I’ll follow in a carriage, taking two days to get enough rest on the way.”

“Huh.” Yuuto’s eyes went wide as he let out a note of pleased surprise. Up until now, Sigrún would have said something along the lines of being able to handle a short journey on horseback, or that she’d force herself to get better through sheer force of will. It seemed that something had, in fact, changed within her. She had relaxed, in a good way, and there was none of the recklessness that had plagued her until recently.

“Yeah, I think you can handle this.” Yuuto nodded his assent. She had grown as a person and as a leader, and while perhaps it wasn’t exactly an appropriate compliment to offer a woman, she had become a much more sturdy person he could lean on. He could let her go without worry.

“That reminds me. There was something else I needed you to hurry ahead to do for me.”

“Something for me to do? Of course! I’ll do whatever you order!” Sigrún nodded intently.

It didn’t seem like she was putting any undue pressure on herself. Her voice was confident, but it didn’t give off an impression that she was trying to take on more than she could handle. Yuuto nodded and curled his lips into a grin.

“Yeah, it’s an important mission that I can only leave in your hands.”

Soldiers continued to pour into the former Spear Clan capital of Mímir from all over the Flame Clan’s territories. Given that they were being gathered from the recently conquered Wind, Lightning, and Spear Clans, the total number had quickly swelled into a vast army. There were already seventy thousand soldiers in the city, but the army was still growing. Of course, they were hastily assembled, so they weren’t particularly well-trained, but in battle, quantity had a quality all its own. A force of overwhelming numbers could swallow up anything in its path.

“What a beautiful sight.”

Nobunaga smiled from his vantage point at the hörgr atop the Hliðskjálf, pleased with the sight that was unfolding before him. Even in the Land of the Rising Sun, he had never assembled a force of this size in a single place. While he had far more men under his command in total at the time, he had needed to fight multiple opponents across the islands, so he had been forced to divide his forces into smaller divisions. Right now, however, the only opponent he needed to face was the Steel Clan, which meant he could commit the entirety of the Flame Clan’s forces to them rather than worry about anyone else. Imagining the march of such a mighty army stirred an excitement he had thought he’d long outgrown.

“Heh, ’tis an effort to restrain my urge to hurry on ahead.” Nobunaga bared his fangs in a predatory grin.

Parceling out forces in dribs and drabs was the height of foolishness. Although he had committed fifty thousand troops during the Siege of Glaðsheimr, he had failed to take the city. He couldn’t stand the prospect of losing a second battle to the same opponent. So for that reason, he had to keep a tight leash on his urges and advance only when all of his preparations had been completed.

Ran, his Second, approached, his face flushed with urgency. It seemed something had happened.

“My Great Lord!”

“What?”

“Lord Kuuga has reportedly advanced upon Gimlé without waiting for Lord Shiba to join him.”

“Oh? That spineless coward has actually moved without my express permission?” Nobunaga blinked in surprise. The Kuuga he knew was so cautious that he would chip a stone bridge into pebbles by checking it with a hammer trying to make certain it was safe to cross. Even Nobunaga hadn’t expected such a paragon of caution to ignore his order to fight alongside Shiba and decide to move his forces of his own volition.

“Heh, it seems my words had their intended effect,” Nobunaga chuckled with amusement.

While he was ordinarily thought of as a dictator who would not stand for even the slightest hint of dissent or for the disobeying of his orders, in reality, Nobunaga’s least favorite subordinates were the ones who could only follow orders.

“Tasks are something one should find for themselves.

Opportunities are things one makes for themselves.

Those who can only do what they’re told are mere soldiers, not generals.”

Those words encapsulated his attitude toward his generals. What he desired most from his subordinates was the initiative to make their own decisions and produce their own results.

“What shall we do? Would it not be prudent to order him to retreat for the moment and wait until Lord Shiba has joined him?”

Nobunaga casually waved away Ran’s recommendation.

“No, no. Let it be. He’s Shiba’s blood brother; he’s a useful man in his own right. He’s got ten thousand under his command. His actions won’t have any major effects on my overall strategy. Let’s look forward to what he can do when he’s cornered and has no choice but to fight like a madman.”

Some decisions were better made on the field. Nobunaga was more than willing to overlook this sort of disobedience so long as the general in question produced results. Of course, if he couldn’t produce results, then Nobunaga had no use for him. Another aspect of Oda Nobunaga was his willingness to mercilessly discard those who failed him.

“Blast, so this is what they mean by a tough nut to crack. Damned thing.”

The man Nobunaga had been discussing was currently sitting cross-legged with his face propped up against his arm and was muttering bitterly to himself. It had been two weeks since he had started his siege of Fort Gashina. There had been no progress in that time.

“He’ll be at Bilskírnir about now. I’m running out of time,” Kuuga said anxiously, chewing on his thumbnail. Ordinarily, Kuuga would breezily accept the situation, simply noting that sieges took time, but he had disobeyed orders explicitly for the purpose of stealing the spotlight from Shiba. He had to finish the siege before Shiba arrived at all costs. If not, he would have ended up disobeying Nobunaga’s orders for no reason.

“Father, you won’t find any good solutions in a hurry.”

“I know that, dammit!” Kuuga spat back angrily at his child’s attempt to soothe him. He was fully aware that he was just venting his frustration at someone who didn’t deserve it, but there was nowhere else for his pent-up anger to go.

“Those damned archers are what we need to deal with first.”

Kuuga glared at the archers atop the fort’s walls as though they were responsible for all of the ills in the world. The giant projectile weapons that had destroyed the siege chariot had remarkable range and destructive power, but they were limited in number. They could easily be overwhelmed with a large enough force. However, the archers on the fort’s walls made laying siege to the fortress substantially more difficult.

“Indeed. That said, with so many of them, we can’t approach the fort carelessly. How did they manage to gather that many skilled archers?” the subordinate said with an exasperated sigh.

It required a certain amount of time to train a competent archer. The Steel Clan’s arrows came in from such distances and with such accuracy that the Flame Clan soldiers could only throw their hands up in astonishment. Just how much training had those archers required before they had reached that level of proficiency?

Because Kuuga was aware of how hard it was to train archers, he responded with a sigh. “Fool. There can’t be that many skilled archers in their ranks. It’s a difference in weapons. They’re called crossbows, I believe.”

“Crossbows, Father?”

“Yes. It takes a while to fire an arrow using one, but they’re substantially more powerful in terms of range and power than our bows. The most frightening part about them is that it only takes minimal training to make someone proficient in their use.”

“A-Amazing...”

The subordinate’s eyes went wide with surprise and his voice quavered as he looked at Kuuga. That, too, irritated Kuuga to no end.

“You’re supposed to be one of my commanders. You should know the bare minimum of what our enemies possess.”

“M-My apologies.”

“Hrmph.” Kuuga snorted in annoyance and turned his gaze back to Fort Gashina. He had learned about the Steel Clan’s crossbows through his reports, but there was a significant difference between seeing them described on paper and actually witnessing them in action. The most unexpected surprise was their rate of fire.

“Aren’t they supposed to take three to five times longer to reload...?” Kuuga couldn’t help but mutter the complaint to himself. The enemy continued to rain down arrows upon them without pause. They had sprung that rate of fire on him completely without warning.

“I might be out of options here.”

Siege chariots couldn’t approach the gate because of the monstrous bows, and trying to put ladders against the wall to scale it would result in immense casualties for his forces. Even trying to pressure the enemy into surrendering by surrounding their fortress was having little effect, given how easily they were fending off his efforts to raze the fort.

He tried to make it appear as though he had lowered his guard and was open to a counterattack, but it seemed the enemy either saw through his ruses or were simply cowardly, as they made no indication that they planned to move any of their forces beyond the walls of their fort.

At this point, Kuuga was essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only hand available to him at this point was to surround the castle and starve it into submission by cutting off the enemy’s lines of supply. The enemy couldn’t maintain resistance forever if they ran out of food and arrows. However, a drawn-out siege like that wouldn’t be enough to satisfy Nobunaga. There was a good chance that he’d be interrogated about why he had disobeyed orders and be dismissed from his post. Just imagining the look of pity Shiba might direct his way when that happened was humiliating enough to make Kuuga keel over in rage.

“Surely there’s something...” Kuuga furrowed his brow desperately in thought. He considered what the best course of action would be, all the while stamping out the tiny rational voice in his mind that informed him that there was no such thing as a simple solution to the mess he currently found himself in. His tenacity was the one thing that he had in greater abundance than his talented younger brother, and it was the one thing he clung to as he tried to will the fortress gates open with his mind. At times, tenacity and obsessive focus can cause miracles. Such was the case this time.

“Lord Kuuga! There’s a messenger approaching from Bilskírnir!”

“What? Has Shiba arrived?”

“No, this is what’s arrived.”

“Mm? Th-This is...” As he skimmed through the letter before him, Kuuga’s eyes went wide with surprise. Soon after, his lips curled up into a Machiavellian grin.

“Heheh. It’s worth trying everything, isn’t it? Looks like I might eke this one out after all.”

The sun set into the mountains and dyed the western skies a dull crimson. The echoing cries of crows made the whole scene seem strangely empty.

“Seems they’re not moving again today,” Garve, Rasmus’s Second, said with a sigh of relief. While he had steeled himself to fight, it wasn’t as though he had a death wish. He was simply happy that he had survived to see another day. However...

“Hrmph, there’s something eerie about how quiet they’ve been. Just what are they plotting?” His parent, Rasmus, gnawed on his evening bread and directed a suspicious gaze at the Flame Clan Army encamped a short distance away from Fort Gashina. The Flame Clan Army had aggressively sought out openings to attack during the first days of the siege, taking actions such as sending in a covered battering ram and feinting attacks to put pressure on the defenders. However, in the week since, they hadn’t made any obvious moves. They had formed a cordon around the fortress right outside of the range of the Steel Clan’s crossbows and sat waiting.

“Hahah, I’m sure they can’t find any opening in your tactics, Father.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s my doing. It’s thanks to the many weapons that were given to me by His Majesty. Things would turn out the same regardless of who was in command.”

“Not at all. His Majesty’s inventions are indeed all wonderful weapons, but you’re being far too modest in stating anyone could command this defense.”

“I’ve told you a dozen times, Garve—there’s no need to flatter me at this point.”

“I don’t have any memory of ever flattering you,” Garve said with a completely sober and serious expression.

In truth, Rasmus’s tactics were impressive and needed no embellishment. He never panicked in the face of an attacking enemy, always choosing to initially stand back and wait. He allowed the enemy to approach, prepared his own men, and attacked only when the moment was right. It seemed easy enough when described, but it was actually extremely difficult to put into practice.

On the battlefield, people fought over the right to take each other’s lives. They tended to reflexively react too hastily, wanting to rid themselves of the threats as quickly as possible. To use modern terms to describe it, many people placed in those kinds of situations usually ended up becoming rather trigger-happy. However, when one was too quick on the trigger, it was hard to do much damage to the enemy. If anything, it often wasted energy and ammunition before the battle was at a critical juncture.

Rasmus’s predecessor as garrison commander, Grer, was still young and lacked experience, so there was a good chance he would pull the trigger early. This kind of defense was one where experience counted for everything.

“That aside, we can’t be overconfident here. I’m told the enemy general is a tenacious snake of a man. No doubt he’ll try something else soon. It’s safe to assume he’s already preparing his next hand.” With that, Rasmus gazed over at the enemy like a grizzled hawk tracking its prey. It was the look of a veteran warrior who had fought on countless battlefields.

“Grrr... I’m already out of bread.” Rasmus then thinned his lips into a sad pout as he realized he had eaten all but the final piece of his bread. He then tossed that final piece into his mouth and chewed.

“This isn’t nearly enough... Hrmph.” He let out a long, deep sigh.

Rasmus was particularly fond of the new bread—made with pure, sandless flour—that had taken over the food supply in the Steel Clan over the past two years. He had spent nearly fifty years of his life carefully chewing on his bread, never certain if his next bite would present him with a pebble or lump of sand that would only serve to wear down his teeth. Rasmus had been moved beyond words when he had been able to freely enjoy a loaf of bread—to be able to savor its flavor without the constant fear of cracking his teeth on debris. He loved this new bread, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he was practically addicted to it.

As far as Garve was concerned, that was totally fine. He felt that simple pleasures like these were necessary in life. He, too, had spent nearly forty years eating the same sandy bread that Rasmus so despised. Garve could empathize with his love of the soft, sandless bread. That said, the almost infantile pout on Rasmus’s face at the realization he had run out of bread wasn’t something Garve ever wanted the common soldiers, who loved and respected their commander, to see. No doubt they’d be disillusioned at the sight of such a childish expression.

“Shall I tell the kitchen servants to prepare more?”

“...No need.” Rasmus deeply furrowed his brow and shook his head with a look of intense sorrow. Given there was a pause before his response, it was fairly obvious that he had wrestled with the temptation.

“We don’t know how long this siege will last. I can’t very well be living high on the hog while the soldiers do without.” It seemed his conscience as a general had come out on top in the end. There was still plenty of foodstuffs in the fort’s storehouses, but there was no telling how long the siege would continue. The most important consideration during a protracted siege was how to make limited supplies last as long as possible. If Rasmus was a man who would use his position to enjoy luxuries for himself while ordering his subordinates to do without, no one would follow him into battle.

“If anything, make sure that the sentries get extra to eat. Give them some wine as well. They did well despite the heat today.” Garve’s expression twisted into a smile at those words. It was this part of Rasmus’s personality that had drawn Garve to him and had made Garve want his Chalice. This old man, Rasmus, was, at his core, a compassionate human being.

“I respect your decision to stoically refrain from luxury yourself while instead treating your men. You are a shining example, Father.” Garve’s words came from the bottom of his heart. However...

“Stop with that sort of nonsense. If you have time to ramble like that, then give me your bread instead!” With that, Rasmus reached over to try and forcefully yank the loaf out of Garve’s hand. Garve hurriedly jumped away from Rasmus’s grasping paw.

“W-Wait. Y-You’re not serious, are you?!” Garve objected as he hid the loaf behind his back. Rasmus’s eyes showed that he was dead serious. They were a deathly “I will kill you for that bread” sort of serious, in fact. He looked like a hawk stalking its prey.

“Quiet! Surely a child should do without so that his father can have enough to eat!”

It was a statement that was far removed from the image of a compassionate leader that Rasmus had presented just a few moments earlier. Garve couldn’t help but shoot back.

“Pardon?! If anything, it’s a parent’s job to go out of his way to give his own food to his children!”

“Hrmph! I have no interest in what you think of me at this point!”

“That’s awful! That’s not something you say to a child who rejected a direct Chalice from the patriarch to stay by your side!”

“Hey, I never asked you to do that,” Rasmus said with a thoroughly infuriated tone, picking at his nose with his pinky. Even Garve couldn’t help but grit his teeth in anger.

“Y-You old coot! I might very well leave you!”

“Yeah? Go ahead! If you don’t want to be here, give me back your Chalice and go to the princess. It’d be great to be rid of you.”

Rasmus waved his hand as though shooing away a dog. Garve felt his temper rising further, and he was about to yell out even louder when he realized that this was exactly what Rasmus wanted. Rasmus wanted to somehow reward the child that had stuck by his side over the years. He was playing up a charade to get him to leave, which was precisely why Garve wouldn’t, or rather, couldn’t leave him.

“Tch... You really are something, you know.”

He couldn’t help but feel that Rasmus needed him, at the very least, by his side.

“Well, if you’re sick of me...”

“If I were to get sick of you this easily, I would’ve left you a long time ago! Here. You can have half, so stop pouting, please.” Garve tore his loaf in half and tossed a part at Rasmus. Rasmus caught it but didn’t look pleased. If anything, his frown deepened.

“I haven’t fallen so far as to take handouts from my sworn son.” He snorted with distaste and tossed the bread back at Garve.

“Hey! That’s no way to treat a gift from someone!”

“Silence! You’ve no place to talk when you don’t understand how I’m feeling!”

“I could say the same about you and what your children think of...”

Just as the argument threatened to devolve again, a deafeningly loud sound thundered in the air and the ground shook beneath them. Garve immediately wondered if lightning had struck nearby, but the sky was already dark. He would have noticed if there had been a flash of lightning. In fact, there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. It couldn’t have been a thunderclap. Garve couldn’t shake the feeling of dread building up in his chest. He was familiar with that sound. There was no way he could forget it. He remembered the sheer dread he’d felt when he had heard that same sound two years ago.

“C-Could they have...”

Right as Garve was about to put his worst fears into words, something whistled through the air as it hurtled toward them. Then, in the very next moment, another crash reverberated through the air and ground, shaking him to his core, and he heard the sound of collapsing stone as the fortress walls came down.

“Blast it! They have a trebuchet! They brought it in under the cover of darkness so we wouldn’t notice! Crafty bastards!” Rasmus spat with a loud click of his tongue. It was a weapon that Yuuto used as a core part of his siege warfare strategies.

A war cry erupted from the enemy formation. The cry was followed by the rumble of thousands of men running toward the fortress. It seemed the Flame Clan general felt this was the perfect opening and had launched a full-on assault.

“Hrmph, the sly bastards!”

The panic passed quickly. The playful, greedy old man of a few moments earlier had vanished. In his place was a grizzled old warrior, his lips warped into an amused smile as he gazed out at the enemy with a predatory gleam.

“Ring the gongs! Time to intercept them, Garve!”

The war cry of the Flame Clan soldiers echoed through the night air. Kuuga had already informed the soldiers they would be storming the fortress at nightfall. They had taken the time to rest and morale was high. The sheer volume of their cries would be enough to unnerve him if they were coming from the enemy, but there was nothing more reassuring to hear from his own men. With the momentum behind this charge, Kuuga felt like he could overwhelm any enemy in the world. Kuuga couldn’t contain the laughter that welled up from deep within him.

“Heheh, it was a bad idea to show those things in front of foreigners.”

The Steel Clan had utilized trebuchets in their conquest of Blíkjanda-Böl. They had completely removed any traces of them on their retreat, but they hadn’t been able to erase the memories of those who had seen the trebuchets in action. By having someone with a talent for art draw a reproduction based on their memories, it was easy enough to get a general sense of their design. It was also obvious that they relied upon leverage. With that much information, it wasn’t particularly difficult to create a copy. Of course, what made Kuuga extraordinary as a strategist was that he had come up with the idea of reproducing a siege weapon with just illustrations and an understanding of their mechanics, but to him, it seemed perfectly natural.

“Having their fortress walls taken down by their own invention must feel quite terrible.”

Kuuga’s mind was currently filled with malicious glee. He believed that creating something completely from scratch was a feat reserved for the chosen geniuses of the world. There was nothing more satisfying to him than to have managed to go toe-to-toe with that sort of genius.

“Hahaha! Charge! Charge! Shove aside those Steel Clan soldiers! Haaahahaha!” He couldn’t withhold his laughter even as he issued his orders. It had been three frustrating weeks of seeing every single one of his plans foiled by the enemy. But now, his own planning had created an opportunity to win. It was understandable that he was riding high on an adrenaline rush. However, that high didn’t last long.

“Gah!”

“Gyah!”

“Goomph!”

Mixed in with the war cries came yelps of pain from his soldiers. Having noticed the Flame Clan’s charge, the Steel Clan soldiers had responded with arrows from the fortress walls. That was fine. It was perfectly normal for the enemy to respond with ranged weapons when an army approached. There was a significant issue, however...

“Blast! There are no walls to stand in our way! What’s taking you lot so long?!”

The army appeared to be making no visible progress. They had become mired by their own numbers, and the charge he had spent a week preparing for had stopped in its tracks.

“I-It seems the enemy has plugged the hole in the walls with wagons.”

“Wha?! Then just go ahead and break them down, you fools!” Kuuga responded irritably at the messenger’s report. He had accounted for the possibility that the enemy would try to fill the breach in the wall with some sort of makeshift barrier, which was why he had equipped the first wave of his forces with weapons like hand axes for destroying such barricades. They should have been more than enough to break through any wagons blocking the way.

“W-Well, it appears they’ve placed iron plates inside the wagon walls...”

“Tch! I’d forgotten they had that.” Kuuga clucked his tongue in agitation. Given that he had dismissed those wagons as a tool for field battles, it had taken him a moment to connect the pieces in his head. However, now that he thought about it, they were suited perfectly for situations like this one. With wheeled wagons, the enemy could quickly plug any openings in their walls.

“Grrr. So they’ve already prepared for us having a trebuchet...” Kuuga bit down on his lip in frustration. The fact that the enemy had responded so quickly with their wagons meant that they had already planned for this contingency. He’d heard that the patriarch of the Steel Clan came from the same land as his lord, Nobunaga. When Kuuga took that into account, it wasn’t all that strange for him to believe that the Steel Clan had planned for the possibility that the Flame Clan would use trebuchets of their own.

“Damn. At this rate, we’ll just be fodder for their arrows.”

The perfect opportunity had suddenly turned into a dangerous situation for his army. He had thought he’d gotten the better of his opponent, only to have ended up blundering straight into their trap. With the front line stopped, and the forces behind them jamming them in place, his soldiers were in a very precarious position. Arrows were now raining down upon his soldiers. They were somehow managing to avoid the worst of the arrow fire with their shields, but they couldn’t stop all of the projectiles. If they remained where they were, they would eventually take heavy losses. Kuuga felt his determination waver...

“I can’t turn back now!” he shouted, trying to force himself to retain his composure. If he withdrew here, then the only thing that awaited him was Nobunaga’s anger and a demotion. That was a fate worse than death for him. All that remained for him to do was continue to push forward.

“Surely there’s something... Anything...!” Kuuga chewed on his thumbnail as he grunted in thought. He had deployed his ace in the hole, sure of his victory, only to end up in an extremely dangerous position. An ordinary commander would fall into a panicked confusion and find themselves unable to think of any solutions. Kuuga, however, was used to being in situations like these. That experience now proved decisive. He came up with a sudden solution and issued his orders.

“Send a messenger to the front line! Place our fallen into a pile and use them as a staircase! Don’t let their sacrifice be in vain!”

Telling his own soldiers to just use their fallen allies as a step to climb upon would probably be bad for morale, so he tried to phrase it as tactfully as possible. He wanted to pat himself on the back for adding the bit about not letting their sacrifice be wasted. It was also an excellent way to comfort the soldiers into not feeling guilty for using their own comrades as a platform. So long as it was phrased in an eloquent way, people could be made to happily do all sorts of ruthless things. Kuuga was well aware of that. He was also aware of how best to take advantage of that.

“Heh, I suppose it’s still a pretty awful thing to order, but I can’t afford to lose here.”

While the wagon walls armored with iron plates might be tough, they couldn’t be all that tall. It was surely possible to climb over them. Trusting in that possibility, Kuuga let out a loud guffaw. Even if he had to condemn his soul to the hells, he’d win this battle. The expression upon his face was that of a demonically determined man who was capable of anything.

Meanwhile, inside Fort Gashina, Rasmus knit his brow in thought as he considered the situation that was unfolding before him. It was true that he currently had the enemy exactly where he wanted them—right in the middle of his trap.

“They’re certainly tough. They’re still hanging on somehow.”

The enemy’s momentum had been blunted by the wagon wall, and the Steel Clan defenders were now raining down arrows on them from above. It was starting to appear like it would be a one-sided massacre. However, the Steel Clan forces were near their limit, and they didn’t have much in the way of reserves.

“Tch. The troops are starting to look tired too.”

Fort Gashina’s garrison numbered two thousand. Half of them were assigned as crossbowmen on the walls, leaving only a thousand on the front line to hold back the enemy infantry. They were doing a good job of blocking the enemy’s advance, but the human body could only endure so much. In particular, not knowing when the battle would end only added to the strain and fatigue.

“However, the same holds true for the enemy.”

The Flame Clan forces had repeatedly been pushed back as they tried to scale the wagon wall. During every one of their attempts, arrows continued to rain down on them from above. It should have been a matter of time before their morale broke. Once some of them broke, the panic would ripple through the enemy lines and would quickly lead to their collapse.

“I suppose it’s a matter of endurance. How fun! All of you, tighten your helm straps! If you can hold out, there’s plenty of rewards waiting for you after!” Rasmus shouted out in a voice mighty enough to wake the dead. He knew this was the key moment, and so had placed his effort into urging on his troops. Rasmus’s encouragement had its intended effect, and the tired troops looked reenergized. The Steel Clan soldiers let out a war cry to steel themselves, but then...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Their cry was quickly drowned out by a staccato of explosions. In the darkness of night, flames burst forth on a gust of wind and began raging out of control.

“Wha?! Tetsuhaus?!” Rasmus blinked at the sight.

“Gah!”

“Urk!”

“Grph!”

Cries of pain sounded from the midst of the Steel Clan’s ranks. Even the brave heroes of the Steel Clan armies were intimidated by the explosions. It was only for the briefest of moments, but the strength of the Steel Clan shield wall faltered, and that moment was enough to decide the battle. Flame Clan soldiers began pouring over the wagon wall and entered the fortress. Of course, the Steel Clan soldiers tried to push them back, but as they struggled with the intruders, the enemy was able to remove the wagon walls, and more enemy soldiers poured in through the breach.

“Lovely. Seems we’re done here.” Rasmus let out a long sigh. At this point, there was nothing to be done. Their enemy simply had overwhelming numbers. To try to turn the tide here would be impossible, even for the greatest of generals.

“All of you! Time to retreat! We need to withdraw and regroup!”

An important part of the general’s job was to quickly make the decision to retreat the moment he determined that he couldn’t win, and this was one of those times.