Volume 9 Chapter 7 (2/2)

Away from the ranks of soldiers, on either side of them, the cannons returned fire. As they were not fixed in place, they were low on precision, but that also meant that they draw away the aim of the enemy guns.

While both sides exchanged their first shots with the roar of cannon fire, Zaas sent a messenger to Folker.

”So they still aren't moving?”

It was to be expected that those in Jozu would not move having drawn the enemy to them. However, even though Zaas' troops had positioned themselves in such a way that their flank was open for attack, there was absolutely no movement from Tolinea.

Meanwhile, in Jozu Fortress, a messenger had come running.

Folker Baran, was it?

When Orba heard the report that although Zaas' infantry was gradually drawing closer while returning fire, the enemy was not otherwise taking action, it was only then that he truly became aware of the enemy commander.

The Western army's appearance at the border meant that Folker had to quickly subdue Orba's side, yet the enemy commander was remaining superbly calm.

On top of that, he was willing to make sacrifices in order to set up a tactic that allowed him to sound them out. When it came to sheer audacity, Folker did not fall behind Orba.

Tolinea did not currently have the manpower to allow them to move soldiers. Or rather, it did, but now was not the right time to unleash them. Even if the enemy had acted as they had antic.i.p.ated and attacked on two fronts, they had only arranged for enough riflemen to be able to hold the fort, so there was no way for them to hinder Zaas' a.s.sault by attacking his flank.

He actually did it.

Jozu was merely one of the decoys to lure the enemy in. It was a strategy that meant incurring damage, but until the detached force had completed their manoeuvre, and even if they were driven to the point of having only a single soldier left with only a single gun to use, they had to defend their ground by every possible means.

He saw through us.

Orba hurriedly ordered that a messenger be sent to Tolinea. To request that several airs.h.i.+ps for Jozu. Attacking Zaas' flank was one way of steering the enemy their way, but in all honesty, he would have preferred for Tolinea to make a move without his having to dispatch a messenger.

It was proof that they did not have good coordination.

Although scattering soldiers had since long ago been recognized as a stupid tactic, if they could move with flawless coordination, conducting their operation as though the entire group were but one person, then it would be the same as though hardly any soldiers had been scattered at all. But for all that Rogue and Odyne were comrades whose sympathies were aligned with the prince's position, their relations.h.i.+p with him was not one of having conducted operations together since way back.

Zaas' troops had finally all but closed in on Jozu. First, the airs.h.i.+p flight that accompanied their march used a hit-and-run tactic, then, when the enemy fire had been drawn upwards, the slave unit began its charge.

Of course, the firing from the fortress was intense. Bullets poured down like rain. They pierced into the slaves one by one, and one by one their fallen corpses piled up on top of each other to form a small hill in front of the fort.

Zaas was giving orders for the deployment of each platoon of riflemen to return fire, while at the same time ostentatiously flying the flag of the Sidious House from his horse as he galloped left and right, bellowing the whole time.

”Don't be afraid. Look, they haven't even grazed me. The enemy is just a group of cowards who have been fooled by an impostor after all. Bullets fired by the likes of them won't reach us spirited warriors!”

Despite his age, his manner was in every way that of an imposing general.

While the gun fight was unfolding, airs.h.i.+ps came hurrying from Tolinea in the east, but Zaas was quick to respond to the threat and ordered the airs.h.i.+p flight from his own side to attack.

At the same time as the fighting started in the skies, back at the headquarters, Folker nodded.

”Ah yes, there is that method of drawing us to them.”

The enemy's method was to divide the attacking side in two, draw them to them, and carry out a resolutely defensive battle.

Are they planning to have the West attack us from the rear when the time is right?

Folker worried as he stood outside the headquarter tent. In front of him was the map on which was the current battle progress was jotted down.

No, what if their plan is to make us think that? If we fixate on the West, we'll aim to settle things here quickly and decisively. Attacking once we show a gap...

Something flashed through his mind.

With a detached force.

That possibility struck him. After luring the soldiers into two groups, their method would be to send a detached force to attack the headquarters.

I 've seen through them.

The reason why Folker was known for being an unusually tenacious Mephian commander was not simply because he was good at salvaging retreats. He was, so to speak, a similar type to Orba and was known for gathering all possible information about the enemy before a battle.

This time around, information had been limited, which was why he had decided that sacrifices would first be needed before they could spread their net. Now that he had obtained his information, Folker Baran hesitated no longer.

”Send a messenger to Yuriah. Attack Tolinea. Once it's burnt to the ground, join up with Zaas. Provide support fire for the attack from the ground troops.”

Just as Folker had guessed earlier, their air force was probably lying in wait within the hastily constructed fort. Its defences looked as though they would not be able to withstand enemy a.s.saults for more than a few days, but, supposing the aerial troops had been concealed there, once the enemy had been lured to them, they would be able to throw that enemy into disarray.

At the same time as Yuriah and Zaas were carrying out his orders, Folker would have his own Black Steel Sword Division defend the headquarters. Anywhere where it looked like they might be able to charge at, he deployed troops behind the ones arranged a little in front, creating double and triple defence lines. And -

”The enemy's shock troops might be drawing in on us,” so saying, he divided the airs.h.i.+p and cavalry platoons more or less in two and ordered them to scout out the surroundings in all directions.

In the distance, the incessant sound of bombing and shooting could be heard.

Meanwhile -

”Hup,” Pas.h.i.+r's detached force was steadily getting closer.

They had been weaving their way through a grove of trees but, suddenly realising that the sound of ether engines was coming their way, Pas.h.i.+r gave everyone the order to dismount. They were still at a distance, but the airs.h.i.+ps were definitely flying over the trees. If they continued to advance, they would soon be discovered.

Have they figured it out? A tense look pa.s.sed over Pas.h.i.+r's face. At this point, they had no choice but to go back. He gave the signal and they turned back along the way they had come.

Another soldier came rus.h.i.+ng in again. A messenger from the detached force.

It appeared that, as the defences around the headquarters had been reinforced, Pas.h.i.+r's unit was not in a position to move.

Although Orba remained outwardly impa.s.sive, he was clenching his fists so tightly that the muscles in his arms had bulged to twice their usual appearance.

Moreover, Yuriah's fleet had started advancing on Tolinea. Including the flags.h.i.+p, it contained four cruisers. Each of them carried six airs.h.i.+ps and was being escorted by a further three airs.h.i.+ps. The commander, Yuriah Mattah, was young even for a Winged Dragon officer. He considered that the doctrine of using large, heavily armed wars.h.i.+ps was outdated. He believed that, at least when one was on the attacking side, it was best to make full use of mobility in the sky.

Even with the fleet approaching, there was no conspicuous movement from Tolinea.

Do they not have that many guns? Yuriah Mattah wondered from the bridge of the flags.h.i.+p, and he had one of the other cruisers lead the way.

Sure enough, even when they were within cannon range, there was no movement from the enemy. Yuriah gave the cruisers the order to start bombing.

The trees bulged along the surface of the ground and one of the watch watchtowers was blown away. Right after that, a number of enemy airs.h.i.+ps flew out in apparent disorder from behind the hastily built fences.

”Ah, we've smoked them out,” Yuriah chuckled to himself. Following standard practice, he had the s.h.i.+p momentarily pull back; then thrust a lit torch into the nest to scatter the noxious insects.

Still, Tolinea was a little too weak for a ”nest”. There could not have been more than ten airs.h.i.+ps that took to the sky.

Very soon, the aerial battle started but from the first, Yuriah's side held the momentum. And not only because of their numbers. In terms of tactics also, there was a wide difference between Yuriah's and the enemy side.

”Humph,” Yuriah smiled scornfully as he observed the situation through a pair of binoculars.

The enemy was surely the Dawnlight Wings Division led by General Rogue Saian. He was, undoubtedly, a highly-experienced commander; but when it came to tactics for the use of airs.h.i.+ps, Yuriah had a slight edge thanks to having studied the newest strategies at the Military Academy.

All that the enemy did was charge as though they were cavalry riders, swivel around, then take up the exact same posture to do the same again. During the war against Garbera however, Mephius had been able to study the techniques of an enemy that excelled at handling airs.h.i.+ps. And their latest tactics had been taught at the Military Academy.

Always send out airs.h.i.+ps in groups of three in aerial combat, and have one s.h.i.+p lure the enemy to create an opportunity for the other two to attack it from the rear. These were the basics that Yuriah had had hammered into him. And just like him, his subordinates were young. They had made these flexible tactics their own.

On the opposing side, Rogue's airs.h.i.+p units were completely unable to compete with this method. They were barely able to scatter and run without having shot down a single one of Yuriah's crafts.

Whereupon, the airs.h.i.+ps immediately commenced their bombing operation. As the defence line crumbled still further, the s.h.i.+ps drew near for a second round of bombardments. The hurriedly constructed fort was collapsing.

Meanwhile.

”Your Highness.”

While the attack on Tolinea Fort had begun, Orba was still clenching his fists. Although s.h.i.+que had been calling repeatedly for a while now, he did not answer.

”Your Highness!”

”What?”

He finally turned to look at s.h.i.+que.

”Tolinea will fall. Even if we use that to attract the enemy's ground troops, Pas.h.i.+r still won't be able to move. This is…”

”This is?”

”Should we launch ourselves at an early stage than the one planned for? If a chance comes up to bring that out in Tolinea, we could hugely disrupt the enemy lines.”

Zaas Sidious' forces were still closing in on Jozu Fortress. While gunfire was still being exchanged, they had finally started to set up the large-scale guns.

It's no good! Orba screamed, but only inwardly.

Certainly, their strategy had relied on launching themselves at the cost of there being victims among them. But that was only after the enemy had been drawn further in, when Pas.h.i.+r's unit would have been on the verge of breaking into the enemy camp.

Since Pas.h.i.+r's troops had not yet lit a beacon, it meant that they were not yet able to attack. If they launched themselves at this stage, how long would they be able to hold out, waiting for their shock troops?

”Your Highness, we can go with that option,” Odyne also spoke up, but that option seemed to lead to almost certain death.

There has to still be something - thought Orba. Something which would allow them to remedy the state of the battle other than a suicide attack that would cost an untold number of lives.

At that very moment however, Yuriah's air force, which had effortlessly broken through the aerial defence line, closed in on Tolinea Fort.

He did not order an immediate bombardment as they could get information from the sky. At the news that his s.h.i.+ps returned with, Yuriah's smirk grew wider. On the other side of what appeared to be a hastily-constructed abattis[2], there was only one single old-style cannon manned by a small number of artillerymen, as well as a huge pile of tree branches.

”I see, so once they had drawn our soldiers in, they were planning to set them on fire.” The leaves and branches were no doubt those that had been acc.u.mulated when they were building the fort. ”Then we'll save them the trouble. Notify the fifth platoon, they're to bombard Tolinea's fort. The third and fourth platoons are to guard them. The remainder are to drive enemy airs.h.i.+ps from the sky.”

Even now, Yuriah still did not send out all of his s.h.i.+ps. Rogue Saian's flags.h.i.+p, as well as the vessels which should have been seized when they captured Jozu Fortress, had yet to appear on the battlefield, which was why he kept some back in case of need. However, the sky remained clear of the enemy s.h.i.+p.

Was it being used to fortify Apta's defence? Or was it on standby behind Jozu Fortress in order to evacuate the military personnel? Either way, it had lost the chance to fly to Tolinea's defence. It was safe to say that the enemy had been a step too slow to make good use of their air power.

The fifth platoon started dropping ammunitions from the sky above Tolinea. They did not need to repeatedly circle and bomb the target; because of all the dry wood, the fire spread quickly and Tolinea Fort was soon engulfed in raging red flames.

The soldiers within the fort threw aside their guns, looking like baby spiders as they scattered and ran. Rogue's airs.h.i.+ps had already escaped into the sky.

”Tolinea has fallen. Good, let's hurry to go support General Sidious. Turn around,” shouted Yuriah Mattah. At the same time,

”Your Highness!” In Jozu's command room, s.h.i.+que likewise raised his voice. ”We have known from the start that we are at a disadvantage. Since they are coming from Tolinea, we should also attack. At this point, the enemy - right, the enemy should start to get careless at this point. If we can link up with Pas.h.i.+r's unit on the way, we can probably draw up to the enemy headquarters.”

His face pale, s.h.i.+que loudly spoke his thoughts. Orba looked at him from sideways on and glared.

”Don't interfere. You don't understand anything so shut up.”

”No,” s.h.i.+que's gaze did not flinch.

His sense of regret was as strong, no, stronger even, than Orba's. He had known that Orba was not in his normal state. He should have probed more deeply into that and, more importantly, he should have helped him back to a normal frame of mind.

He did not know if it was only because the plan had failed, but it was now obvious that Orba was -

”Your Highness, what are you afraid of?” s.h.i.+que finally asked.

”What did you say? Afraid,” Orba kicked his chair back as he sprang to his feet. His violent inner conflict suddenly disappeared, replaced instead by an even stronger emotion that filled his mind at a terrifying speed. ”Are you that desperate to launch a suicide attack? In that case -”

'Go ahead and do it' was what he had been about to say. But at that moment -

What are you afraid of?

Vileena's words re-emerged from within his memories and, resonating with s.h.i.+que's voice, they struck him hard. Orba suddenly faltered.

Afraid.

Am I afraid?

When he asked himself that question, the burning torrent that had been filling his chest vanished abruptly. A feeling so cold it almost made him s.h.i.+ver took its place.

The image of himself fighting, sword in hand, flashed through his mind. Followed by a rush of images of enemies raising swords, spears, axes or guns with blood-curling yells.

It felt as though a pale, unidentifiable hand was clutching his heart, and Orba stood paralysed.

The sky roared with angry voices, the sound of cannon fire echoed in crescendo, the forest soaked up the blood of corpses until it was dyed red, everything flickered violently until even the bright sun in heaven became entangled in it and silently started falling.

That was -

Death.

When he thought about it, Orba realised that for the first time, he was afraid.

He was afraid of fighting.

He was terrified of dying.

It was the first time he felt like that. Which was why it had taken him so long to identify the feeling.

Orba had experienced countless dangerous situations. Every time, he had wondered if he was going to die.

He had had to survive for the sake of fulfilling his revenge. Put otherwise, if he had fallen along the way and lost his life, his only desire would have been crushed.

It was different now.

He no longer had a goal that he could not die without accomplis.h.i.+ng. It was just that now, he had the feeling that -

I mustn't die.

If I fall here…

Orba's unfocused gaze hardly saw the people a.s.sembled in the command room. What he saw in his mind's eye were Rogue and Gilliam and the others that were lying in wait for their chance, and the soldiers who were fighting and shooting their guns. Although it might mean betraying their own country and facing Mephius itself, each of them was prepared to risk their own lives.

If I -

If his corpse were to be exposed, the brand on his back would be seen.

The Gil Mephius who had risen in rebellion would be revealed as an impostor and a former slave. He would be labelled a fool and a heinous criminal with ambitions far above his station, who had sought to use his striking resemblance to the crown prince to take over Mephius.

Not only that, but it was obvious that Rogue and Odyne would be presented as villains who had taken part in the plot in order the s.n.a.t.c.h for themselves the positions of chief retainers.

Those who had longed for Mephius' future and who chivalrously fought, even at the cost of innumerable sacrifices, would merely end up captured and killed as part of a despicable rebel army, their names reviled forevermore.

It was different from when he had fought for revenge. That had been Orba's own personal fight.

And the meaning was not the same as when he had joined the war in the west to bring down Garda. That had been ”Ax's battle”. Victory and defeat, the honours and the future had all been for Ax Bazgan to carry.

Now it was...o...b.. alone who bore the burden. Of the corpses piled on today's battlefield, of each and every one of those lives.

Do I have what it takes to carry that?

Even if it was just one battle, the boy that Orba still was felt dizzy from the weight of it.

And in that case, what kind of person did you have to be to shoulder the responsibility for an entire country?

Zaas, who was fast approaching Orba's fortress, Yuriah who was bombing Tolinea, Folker who was commanding them from the rear and, even further behind them, the one who was pulling the strings, Emperor Guhl Mephius.

Now, Guhl's shadow was like that of a giant, filling Orba's vision. Stretching a huge black arm, he struck Orba in the chest. And, for all he boasted of being forged by training, that chest now seemed as frail as a baby's as the impact went right through him.

Orba staggered and sat back down in the chair from which he had just risen.

”Y-Your Highness.”

”What happened, Your Highness!”

Immediately after, a small tremor shook the command room.

An enemy cannonball had smashed through the fortress' outer gate. The infantrymen raised their war cries as they began to break in.

Odyne's men, who been watching for this, and, from the top of staircases, from the covered galleries, from the shadows of pillars, they all started firing at once. Since the plan had been from the start to draw the enemy in, their ambush was fully prepared.

But Zaas Sidious had ordered the battlefield slaves to rush in first. Sprays of blood were spurted upwards. Trampling over the corpses of the slaves, Zaas' riflemen followed after them. And started returning fire.

In no time at all, Jozu Fortress was filled with gunpowder smoke and the echoes of gunshots.

Literally, like a (fierce G.o.d).

An abatis (or abattis, or abbattis) is a field fortification consisting of an obstacle formed (in the modern era) of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced or tied with wire. Abatis are used alone or in combination with wire entanglements and other obstacles.

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