Madan no Ou to Vanadis - Volume 18 - Chapter 1.8

The sun, after passing its zenith, seemed as if it had lost some of its power.

Václav was handing out his commands behind the central unit without losing his cool. The tribes were dominating in the center as well as on the left and right wings.

Whether they endure while holding their ground or retreat while giving up ground, the soldiers of Zhcted probably won’t last long against our onslaught either way, he assessed.

“Those peerless Vanadis or whatever they are called are nothing to fear either.”

Going by the number of casualties and wounded, the tribes had suffered a lot more than their adversary. But, Václav didn’t pay much heed to that. His own future depended on the outcome of this battle. If he could gain victory by sacrificing half of the men under him, Václav would do so without blinking an eye.

──Still, the left wing has advanced too far.

The tribes’ left wing had advanced each time Leitmeritz’s army had retreated. The problem with this lay in a stretching of the ranks which in lieu weakened the force of their attack. Moreover, as the distance to the tribes’ headquarters increased with each advance, it started to take time for orders to reach them.

──That’s probably the aim behind the enemy’s constant retreat. But, even if I were to order the left wing to retreat at this point, it might only result in the ranks becoming disordered.

As Václav was musing how he should tackle this problem, he received a report, stating that the figures of close to two hundred riders had been spotted in the northeastern direction. In other words, diagonally behind their current position.

Without showing a hint of surprise at that, Václav spat out scornfully, “I expected them to come at me like that.”

──While attracting our attention by taking us on from the front, they’ve actually aimed to attack the commander by having a detached unit go around the battlefield. It’s a move that Ilda Kurtis, the man who gave us such a hard time, used as well. Northeast, was it? I’ll have a unit of the left wing go greet them. …No, I guess we won’t have that much time.

Václav chose 500 from the 2,000 warriors at the headquarters, ordering them to intercept the enemy who had shown up northeast. Those 500 completely consisted of clansmen supporting him. They were precious warriors who would loyally follow Václav’s orders to a tee.

And just after the 500 warriors ran off, Václav received a new report, stating that the figures of several hundred riders had now appeared in the northwest.

──So the ones in the northeast are a decoy, huh?

When he comprehended that, the tribal chief’s face cramped up.

◇◆◇

The ones who had appeared northwest were 500 cavalrymen of Leitmeritz led by Limalisha. She had started to move the instant Elen had ordered a retreat for the first time. That order had also served as a signal towards Lim.

Lim didn’t use the 600 cavalrymen entrusted to her just like that. She had Olmutz’s hundred cavalrymen circumvent the battlefield clockwise to the northeast after asking them in advance to do everything to make themselves appear more numerous than they were. Meanwhile she took the rest to go around the battlefield counterclockwise.

Olmutz’s cavalry succeeded in misleading the clansmen by cleverly spreading out their ranks and waving an increased number of flags around.

If Václav had known about the northeastern enemy numbering just a hundred cavalrymen, he might not have dispatched 500 of his men to fend them off.

Lim was giving orders in the rear of the remaining 500 cavalrymen. She was lightly equipped, only wearing leather armor. Two short swords hung at her waist, and she held a sword.

“Advance!”

Upon Lim’s command, Leitmeritz’s cavalry began to thunder across the land. The roaring of the hooves made the ground tremble and whirled up a cloud of dust in their wake. The swords and spears shone dully as the riders hoisted them into the air.

1,500 warriors were still with Václav. They panicked when they spotted Leitmeritz’s army charging at them, but apparently regained some of their composure thanks to Václav shouting at them. Tightly gripping their spears and hatchets, they got ready to meet the cavalry attack.

However, Leitmeritz’s cavalry did something they hadn’t expected in the least.

It seemed like the 500 cavalrymen were heading straight for them, but right before arriving, they lowered their speed and drew a gentle parabola, crossing right in front of the clansmen’s noses. Leitmeritz’s cavalry proceeded to gallop while pointing their and their horse’s backs at the clansmen. At a speed that gave them the impression that they’d be able to catch up if only they ran.

And the tribal warriors fell for that lure. Most likely they had felt disgruntled over not having been allowed to participate in battle despite being on a battlefield. Once some of them started to chase after the cavalry with angry bellows, the others also started to pursue with a slight delay. Without waiting for Václav’s further orders.

If one could look at this whole maneuver from above, it’d probably seem as if the clansmen were being sucked towards Leitmeritz’s cavalry. After looking back and confirming that the clansmen were disorderly chasing after her unit, Lim gave a new order.

Leitmeritz’s soldiers turned the necks of their horses around in succession, facing towards the clansmen. They immediately fixed their ranks as well.

Standing at their head, Lim curtly yelled, “Charge!”

Raising battle cries, Leitmeritz’s cavalry spurred its horses into a mad dash. On the other hand, the clansmen were terrified by that mass of horses and riders suddenly heading for them in one clump, although they had been fleeing just moments ago. Of course, some of them tried to put up a fight, but with their pacing having been all over the board, they were in no state allowing them to resist a cavalry charge as a group. Some were sent flying, others were cut down, but they all shared the fate of falling to the ground like broken dolls.

Lim let her eyes wander across the enemy camp, searching for the supreme commander. Spotting a clansman glaring their way while having surrounded himself with several tribal warriors, she concluded that he had to be her target.

“So you bastard are the chief!?”

It wasn’t in Lim’s nature to make shouts like that, but this one had the goal to prevent Václav from retreating. After all, the tribes would likely never acknowledge a weakling who didn’t name himself after being asked by the enemy.

“Come at me, if you dare, you lowly Zhcted trash! I, Václav, will take you on!” Václav barked at Lim while shouldering his big hatchet.

While scattering the tribal warriors surrounding him, Lim closed in on the tribes’ chief. Then the sound of wind being cut, followed by blades ringing. Sparks scattered as a rally of several slashes unfolded.

No sooner than a remarkably shrill sound filled the air, the sword flew out of Lim’s hand. A smile full of confidence over his victory formed on Václav’s lips.

But, without showing the slightest agitation, Lim made her next move. Removing the feet out the stirrup, she hurled herself at him while turning her body so that her shoulder would hit him first. Faster than Václav could swing his hatchet, her body impacted against his.

The helmet fell off Lim’s head, rolling away.

Within the tiny moment when Václav recovered his posture after staggering, Lim landed on the ground, just to immediately jump while capitalizing on her momentum. Her hands were holding the short swords she had drawn from her waist.

With one blow after closing the distance between them, she cleaved Václav’s right wrist apart. Groaning in pain as blood sprayed out of the wound, Václav let go of his hatchet. In no time, Lim stabbed both her short swords into Václav’s chest.

Václav stretched his hand out for Lim, but only managed to grab at empty air. His lips trembled as if he was trying to say something, but all that left his mouth was a torrent of blood. Having lost its power, his body crumbled to the ground, followed by the surrounding clansmen crying out in grief.

Lim looked back towards one of her men, and ordered him to blow the horn. Everyone should get a grasp on the situation if a Zhcted horn trumpeted from within the tribes’ headquarters. She continued repelling the clansmen charging at her with her short swords, and then got back on her horse while being protected by her subordinates. As soon as the horn loudly and repeatedly blared its signal, the tribes began to visibly fall into turmoil. Shock and fright spread among all of them at a breathtaking speed.

The horn signal naturally reached Leitmeritz’s army under Elen’s command as well. At this time Elen was holding a spear – her third one. Deep scars riddled her shoulder protectors and breastplate, and their surfaces depicted complicated patterns drawn by the mud and blood clinging to them.

With her eyes twinkling, she raised her sword overhead, and shouted towards her soldiers, “Shift to mopping up the enemy!”

The clansmen stood stock still in front of Leitmeritz’s army, confused and without the earlier drive. Leitmeritz’s soldiers discarded their shields, grabbed their spears with both hands, and attacked like a horde of beasts swarming at its prey.

The clansmen screamed, threw their weapons away, turned around, and ran away as fast as their feet carried them. It was the start of a stampede where they pushed, and trampled over their allies. Leitmeritz’s soldiers were hot on their heels, mercilessly cutting or stabbing down any clansmen entering the range of their weapons.

Olmutz and Lebus’s army also thoroughly beat up the clansmen who had lost all their fighting spirit. They had to make sure that the tribes wouldn’t think of attacking Zhcted again by planting a deep sense of defeat in the surviving clansmen. Even if it’d be impossible for it to last forever, it’d be best for it to be as gruesome as possible so that it would last for a long, long time to come.

Like that, the Battle of Balş welcomed its end before the sun sank.

As soon as the battle entered the mop-up phase, Elen entrusted the command to Rurick and stood still on the battlefield for a while. The frozen river surface was littered with abandoned weapons and piles on piles of corpses. The ice had turned crimson while having gained in thickness thanks to all the blood.

Feeling a presence, Elen shifted her eyes. She spotted Mila and Olga’s horses trotting her way.

“You two look really terrible.” Elen laughed.

Both their hairs had become disheveled and stuck together in a weird shape. Their faces were dirty with a sheen of reddish brown thanks to mud, blood spurts, and dust clinging to them. Their armors were riddled with cuts and scars, too.

“Then it’s truly deplorable that I don’t have a mirror with me. Even a donkey after wallowing in mud would look like a beauty when compared to you.” Mila retorted with a shrug, and then noticed that Elen had no other weapon but a spear with her

“What happened to your sword?”

“I went through three swords. This is my third spear, too. I also used an ax on top of that. But, back at you, what happened to your spear?” Elen answered while holding up her spear.

The later part of her remark was pointed at Mila holding a sword. Mila’s sword was sullied with blood and lacked its pointed end.

“The same as you. I broke four spears during the battle, forcing me to even start using something like a sword.”

It was plain as day that Mila and Olga had gone through a battle as fierce as Elen. Elen believed that the three of them did well to have lived through that, but the words leaving her mouth were about something else.

“I see. So your achievements were worth four spears and one sword, huh?”

“That’s simply because I’m more skilled at the use of sword and spear than you.” Mila responded to Elen sarcastically while lifting the corners of her mouth.

With creepy smiles stuck to their faces, the two Vanadis competed against each other with belligerent glares. But, maybe because of their exhaustion, they didn’t keep it up for long, and soon looked away without it being clear who had given up first.

For no particular reason, Elen asked Olga, “How about you, Olga?”

“Four axes, one spear, and plenty of arrows.” The small girl answered indifferently.

A crack ran through the long-handled ax she was currently shouldering. Elen stared at her with eyes full of praise.

“Come to think of it, you were quite decent at archery, weren’t you?”

“That’s nothing special for us. But, no one in our clan is as excellent at archery as Tigre.”

“I think it’d actually be weird if archers like him existed all over the place.” Elen shook her head with an amazed look.

Mila nodded deeply, showing her agreement.

After looking up to the two with a puzzled look, Olga said to Elen as if having just remembered it, “Which reminds me, the daggers came in very handy. Thank you, Eleonora.”

She curtly bowed in her saddle, and then continued while pointing at Mila, “Ludmila also said that they were a big help and that she wouldn’t have prepared any if you hadn’t told us.”

Mila’s face dyed red. A soundless scream leaked out of her mouth as she stared at Olga. Elen suppressed her urge to laugh out loudly, and pretended to not have noticed anything.

At that moment, Elen perceived Liza steering her horse close. At her waist hung a rapier instead of a whip. Her deep violet dress was free of anything you could describe as dirt, and her hair looked gorgeous as it fluttered in the wind. A supreme commander wouldn’t join the melee, and thus her appearance naturally remained flawless.

Elen waved a hand at her with a triumphant smile.

◎

Before long the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, forcing Elen and the others to hurry with their post-war cleanup. It didn’t only contain the burial of the dead and the treatment of the wounded, but they had to also deal with clansmen who had surrendered. Moreover, those clansmen showed up at Arma Zirnitra’s camp with their entire tribe, such as the “White Wolves Tribe” or “Ice Boat Tribe.”

Elen and the others, who were exhausted from the taxing battle, felt like asking them to wait until tomorrow, but of course that was not an option. After splitting up in groups, they met with the chiefs, and accepted their capitulation. For one, they planned to have the chiefs of influential tribes to persuade the tribes that hadn’t surrendered yet. Thus they had no choice but to keep meeting with them until late into the night.

From their talks with the various chiefs, the Vanadis could deduct what had pushed the tribes into taking action.

“In short, we might as well call this a parting gift from Ganelon, eh?” Mila croaked.

Unable to suppress her raging emotions, Elen powerfully struck her hands together.

“That man only caused us unnecessary trouble, really…”

The casualties of Arma Zirnitra amounted to less than 300 in this battle. Leitmeritz’s army lost something around 120. The wounded exceeded 250 in number.

Considering the enemy’s reckless, savage attack, you could describe these figures as being on the lower end. But, once Elen considered that this battle might not have occurred without Ganelon’s actions, she couldn’t adopt such a lax view on the losses and wounded.

Liza decided how they would treat the tribes. She concluded several agreements with the influential chiefs. All the stolen food, cattle, and fuel would be returned. The influential tribes would give hostages into Zhcted’s custody. The hostages would spend one year in Lebus. 6,000 people from among the tribes would be chose for being sold off as slaves.

It was only a matter of course for Arma Zirnitra’s side to take hostages. They couldn’t allow the tribes to band together again, and Liza suspected that they’d stay obedient if it was limited to a period of one year. This would also allow for the move of winning over the hostages as their ally.

Selling the clansmen off as slaves was an unavoidable measure. Although they had been incited by Václav, they took action because they lost their food and fuel. It would be necessary to provide them with food and fuel to prevent a repetition of what happened before. But, of course it was impossible to hand over what they had stolen just like that.

Therefore Liza decided to have the tribes pay for the food and fuel they required in such a form on top of having them return the stolen goods.

This also served as a measure to soothe the feelings of revenge among the lords and people. After having been defeated in battle, the tribes surrendered, handed over hostages, and supplied 6,000 of their people as slaves. All of this would be sufficient to show that things had been settled. Moreover, it had been negotiated by a Vanadis. It was unlikely that anyone would protest this.

And then, once dawn broke, one messenger after the other from the surrounding lords visited Arma Zirnitra’s camp. They apologized for not having or not having been able to respond to the call for arms, praised Arma Zirnitra’s victory, and promised to cooperate with them. Some like Mila cynically commented that they were all talk, but considering the upcoming battle against Valentina, it was smarter to actively welcome their support.

Several lords showed up in person instead of sending messengers. One of them was the lord of the Kazakov family. The patriarch Egol greeted not only Liza politely, but also Olga. The sight of a tall, bulky youth humbling himself in front of the small girl lured those watching into wry smiles and chuckles.

Another outcome of this battle was that Arma Zirnitra’s sphere of influence was now encompassing all territories from the northwest to the central north of Zhcted. It would be several days later that a report about all of this would reach Valentina in Silesia.