Feels like it's been forever since I last did a main story chapter. Unfortunately, I don't have any stock so no bulk today/tomorrow. My schedule is changing again so I'll probably be putting out 1 chapter a day over the next couple of weeks.
This chapter was a pain. Curse your Berserk for giving people false expectations of battles during the middle ages! Quick everyone move to the right! *one week later* NO! They've dodged everyone to the left now! *two weeks later* Yes! Attack! *two minutes later* The battle has ended! We will now wait vigilantly for six months and then go home!
Year 7445, Month 8, Day 8
After hearing a conversation like they'd been doing some sports and thinking about some stupid things the details I heard from sister weren't all that far off from what I expected. The stage for the battle this time was a village called Myuze on the Eastern part of the Dirt Plains and it seems it was originally a village that was pioneered by Rombert Kingdom around 50 years ago or so. After that, the lord of the village changed around three times and up until a short while ago Devas Kingdom was in control of it. The dispatch this time was an invasion of that Myuze village.
The one in charge of the overall command was Viscount Kenudus the third company commander of the first knight group and the core forces this time were the second knight group and Webdos knight group. Other than that there was a number of smaller territories knight groups besides Webdos who's members didn't even add up to 300 people and the total forces added up to around 2,300 people or so.
The composition of the 2,300 people was around 200 people including retired knights who were permitted to be on horseback(More than half of those are former knights and lords of villages like brother, or even if they're not knights the relatives of lords and nobles like father), around 1,200 people including archers and infantry, then the remaining number was largely made up combat engineers, supplies, and those sorts of support units needed for setting up a military encampment from the second and fourth knight groups. These supply units as well as escorts and command of the combat engineers also end up needing infantry and commanders to oversee things as well.
From the first knight group including Viscount Kendusu who was acting as the commander and sister there was another 20 people dispatched. Half were knights and squires and then the other half were an exclusive supply unit with high mobility. Sister participated as an advisor for someone named Radoru who was a fourth or fifth company commander of the second knight group as they split the entire army into three groups and he was leading the right-wing. The dispatch unit that included Bakuddo village and the Webdos knight group was the core of the left-wing and the leader Sendhel.Webdos was the commander of the left-wing.
The various random additions like the knight groups of small territories which are difficult to take command of and the remaining units of the second knight group were all gathered and positioned in the center where Viscount Kendusu, two other true knights of the first knight group, and three squires took command over everything.
Around midway through February they arrived in the King's Direct Territory roughly 90 Km to the north of their objective location of Myuze village in Zango the capital of the Zangotto region which Count Jobu acts as governor of, there most of the army of Rombert Kingdom excluding a portion of units gathered and started training for about a month on the deployment. No matter how late they are by this point the Devas side would have detected the organization of an invasion army from Rombert Kingdom. About one month later the highest levels of Devas should have been conveyed the information.
After that, following a week long march, they arrived at the point roughly 10 Km north of Myuze village and setup an encampment in Bekkosu village which was the front line at the time. The army of Rombert Kingdom swallowed up the roughly 200 members of the second knight group that were stationed in Bekkosu village for defense and then finished up the organization of the invasion army.
Just before April, after Rombert Kingdom's army finished organizing itself they spent a week setting up a simple field encampment around 8 Km South-west of Bekkosu in a plains area that could act as bridgehead. By this point Devas should have already grasped the fact that Rombert's objective was Myuze village but since Karuhe village which was about 10 Km to the West of that was important as well they couldn't leave it alone. In the first days of April the Kingdom's army started moving 10 Km to the west from their objective of Myuze village then in order to deal a blow to Karuhe village they started marching to the South-west. Of course this was a diversion, their objective was limited to Myuze village.
Since Viscount Kendusu created a situation where he had to split up their important defense members he sent the combat engineer unit ahead to Karuhe village and for the time being showed an army on the scale of close to 1,000 people in the distance. The combat engineers waited for the time they were notified of before hand and then started withdrawing to the bridgehead at their fastest speed. With a fixed difference in time, the combat members who were late to leave the bridgehead they had fortified started moving roughly 6 Km towards Myuze village in the South-East.
Obviously the defense forces of Myuze village on the Devas side intensely resisted this. Since the march was slow just like in the middle ages, it's only obvious the Devas side had long since been aware of it. The defense force was selected from the surrounding villages in Devas and they were sent to Myuze and Karuhe villages. Since the Rombert side also read this, they had no choice other than to just split their defense forces as well.
On the Devas side the defense could be considered a success if the main army of the defense on an equal scale as the invading army gathers from somewhere and moves to Myuze village during the time they're somehow resisting the invasion and securing both villages. On the other hand it's Rombert's victory if they're somehow able to force the defense forces into surrender and make the village into an occupied territory before Devas's defenses arrive.
In order to capture a base defended by an army in the 1,000s they need an army with equal mobility that's about three times the number. Rombert Kingdom's this army this time has over 1,200 people in just combat members. In order to force them into submission an army with equal mobility over just over 4,000 would be needed. Even if they temporarily divert some of the infantry into combat engineers, including the supply units they would need an army of close to 6,000 people. Just, Devas's army has a large number of conscripted soldiers so their mobility falls quite a bit behind Rombert Kingdom's army. Sister said that they would need even more than that.
There's records that the Emperor Otto the Second of the Holy Roman Empire commanded an army of 2,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry with shields in the year 981 AD but Orth is just a bit above that, though since it falls behind the level of Japan during the warring states era, in order for them to take back Myuze village with power after it's fallen once there's no method other than moving the permanent army to exceed them in number by a certain amount.
I don't know whether or not they would come from something or other Gurizu the capital of Devas Kingdom which is several hundred Km in the south but I'm sure they would have to do the bare minimum organizing of it as well, even if they skip over the training they won't make it here in just a month or so. The Rombert side fully understood that and put it into their calculations. The average number of combat members in each of the villages that exist along Devas side of the front lines of the Dirt Plains is estimated to be around 200 from information gathered using spies and scouts up until now. Even if they were to get reinforcements from neighboring villages there's a large enough number to capture it all at once gathered.
They performed two attacks on Myuze village and during that time took a certain number of prisoners from the reinforcements trying to move from Karuhe village. A short while after the third attack the defense unit of Myuze village suggesting surrender.
It was in the middle of April.
The family of the lord of Myuze village even down to the women and children were killed in front of the villagers(Since they're the lord, if they reside there then their assets are confiscated, and unless they're from a considerably influential family a ransom is meaningless. And then, it was just a matter of them not being from an influential family), the remaining living members of the defense unit are employed as workers for the combat engineers and a register is made of them all as war prisoners.
When I tried retorting to sister how Rozural said something like, "The battle itself was suppressed around the end of May" this morning she said "It's just talk while stopping in restaurants on the way back. Since you never know who might be listening, we cover up the things we talk about outside." And then also said, "Make sure you cover it up when you talk about it outside for another six months or so as well. Rozural as well." I wonder if the schedule for a battle that's already ended is really that important of a point? No, I guess it's proof of the training given to the true knights of the first knight group huh?
After that a governor was dispatched and until they finish organizing the troops to occupy the village again they kept Devas in check while keeping an eye on things. The defense army that was believed to be sent by Devas Kingdom to both Myuze and Karuhe villages entered Karuhe village and after that didn't show any sort of movements towards recapturing it, then one month after that while leaving a slightly large defense unit it was confirmed they had started withdrawing. Around almost the same time negotiations for ransom started up.
Those whose ransom was successfully paid were released and then around the end of June the first knight group that sister belongs to started returning in order. The war prisoners whose ransom wasn't paid are pulled along when the second knight group returns to it seems they're still on hold for a short while longer. Supposedly it seems there was a few of the knight ranking who were permitted to be mounted included so I can hold my hopes high. I don't intend to leave the position of head slave to Zulu so easily but there's no guarantee I would be able to confirm an even greater level of loyalty on top of being superior.
It seems that sister who was in the unit on the right-wing only knows the general movements of the Webdos Knight Group that was in the left-wing unit but it seems she wasn't interested in anything other than whether or not there was any damage to the Bakuddo village dispatch unit.
Obviously, she didn't even know about the existence of Kuro and Mary. She sure is a useless sister although it's not like I had told her about them before hand(It might have been fine to mention it before she departed last year but I didn't want to bother sister who's a true knight anymore than needed), so this is nothing more than me making complaints. From the start older brother is familiar with Kuro and Mary and they were in the same left-wing unit so sooner or later I should get information on their end as well.
In any case it's good that sister and the people from Bakuddo village were all safe. I'm a bit worried about Kuro and Mary but since it was an invasion strategy that ended in success against a village the chances of them being taken prison are close to zero. In the first place since Kuro and Mary are both Free People they should still be in their third year as squires. If I were to state my own wishful observations then they'd probably have been deployed in one of the supply units as guards for Webdos knight group and been on the battle field with the feeling of a field trip. No, it's not like I know though.
The casualties for Robert's side this time was about 40 people and about 50 seriously injured. Though I say that there were only about 10 people who suffered injuries serious enough to urgently put their lives in danger and within a few days after the enemy surrendered sister fully healed them it seems. It seems that the largest number of casualties were infantry members of the second knight group that was in the central unit.
In comparison the casualties on Devas side supposedly exceeded 100. The number they captured as prisoners was around 400. Among those over 200 were seriously injured to the point of not being able to move so it's a great victory. It seems they managed to capture around 200 prisoners from their supply units. Since horses and cattle can't easily be used on Orth the number of people in the supply units is considerably high. Of course, it's not as if there are no horses or cattle used for the supply units but obviously they're confiscated.
Since I was able to hear the general summary, I congratulated her on her return once again and excused myself from the first knight group's headquarters.
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