Vol 2 Chapter 18 (1/2)

Chapter 18

Chapter 2, Episode 18: Stratagem

As soon as the war council ends and Hiro steps out, he’s struck by bright rays of sunlight

Hiro puts his hand up to shade his squinted eye and looks around the area

Outside, a large nu about in a hurry With people stepping all over the ground, dust is carried about by the wind and mixed into the air

The wind toys with the he in the standard bearer’s hands also dances gracefully in the air as if spreading its wings

That’s when Hiro noticed the new coat of arms

「They sure work fast」

All of General Kielo’s coat of arms which were raised in headquarters were taken down, and in their place were ones of red soil and lilies— the crest of the Sixth Imperial Princess

In other words, it ht of command from General Kielo However, even if she has snatched that right fro unless she wins this war

First, she has to establish her command— but…

「It doesn’t seem like that’ll be a problem」

Hiro looked at the young girl with crih confused, Milieu is also next to her helping out The girls were filling bags with sand

「I’m sure you’re all tired, but let’s work hard just a little longer!」

「Princess, we can handle these odd jobs on our own…」

「It’s fine I’ this because I want to Don’t worry and just continue your work」

「Understood…」

The unit leader was so moved, his body shook as he let out a loud voice

「All right boys, don’t cause the princess any to hurry up and finish this work!」

All the soldiers around hiorous shout At the same time, a panicked voice could be heard from the tent behind them

「General, comport yourself!」

「How did this happen…? Hurry and take him to the medic!」

General Kielo is carried off on the shoulders of two staff officers Hiro glanced at hih the corner of his eye and smiled wryly He’ll probably return to his old self after some time passes He didn’t think he would be stunned to the point of passing out, but he shouldn’t be completely broken

「But maybe it would be best to think of what to do in case I can’t use him anymore…」

There’s a reason Hiro let General Kielo live, but Hiro sighed at the fact that things don’t always go as planned Then, he approached the last man to come out from the tent and called out to him

「Do you have a second?」

「D-Do you mean me?!」

The ainst General Kielo and was chased out He ended up being saved by the appearance of Liz just as he was about to leave

It looked like he was nervous, being called out to by an Iot to htly, patted him on the back, and approached him in a relaxed manner

「Aside fro I want you to do for me」

「What ht that be?」

Just earlier at the war council, Hiro gave instructions to quickly retreat That hat Liz and the others were preparing for They decided to retreat after preparing a few strategies for the possibility of an enemy attack

There are strategies where th

ey could ithout retreating, but at the very least, there will be some casualties on their end What Hiro wants is a complete victory— He wants to , as this will tie into future plans

「It’s fine if it’s just the latest one, but can you bring me any recent reports addressed only to General Kielo?」

Maybe it was because the staff officer sensed what Hiro was trying to say, but his expression beca to think about it for a while, the staff officer nodded quietly

「… Understood I shall bring it right away」

After watching the staff officer go off, Hiro started walking He was thinking of helping Liz and the others with their work Not only the coh positions ive out orders When you advance deep into enemy territory like they have now, this is very important They must eat after the soldiers, and quietly perform their duties without a word of complaint

Although these are simple acts, it is a seriousyou can see with your eyes, it will show its results in a dramatic way later on

「Liz, I’ll help out, too」

Liz stopped working and turned around After she wipes the sweat for on her forehead, she tilts her head

「Don’t you have other things to do, Hiro?」

「Each unit leader’s been inforiven instructionsforward, too And as far as I can “see”, there isn’t any confusion Now I just have to wait for the scout to return」

Based on what he’s heard, it seems Liz was in contact with each unit leader in secret He doesn’t knohat they’re thinking on the inside— but for now, there were none who protested openly He can confir now All that’s left is to wait for the scout to return Until then, Hiro has nothing but time on his hands

But perhaps Liz was still not convinced as she seemed dissatisfied as she spoke

「We have to rely on youforward I want you to save at least a little bit of your strength… You’ve been fighting really hard, after all Aren’t you a little tired?」

「I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired, but I’d feel weird being the only one not doing anything」

Liz looks troubled as she watches Hiro shrug his shoulders

「Ho work souess I’d feel better keeping you within sight」

「Haha, it’s not like I’m a kid…」

「Really? But you disappear as soon as I take my eyes off you, Hiro」

「… Alright, let’s just work quietly now」

He’s not sure what elseup the hornet’s nest Hiro ot to work to move away from the situation

After a while, the scout returns

「Your Highness, Hiro I’ve gone and checked on the enemy’s situation as ordered」

「Thank you」

Hiro handed him a water pouch and waited for the scout to catch his breath

「As your Highness Hiro expected, the slaves of the eneht」

「Did it look like they wouldn’t be able to mobilize for a while?」

「No, the slaves are in the rear guard and the camel cavalry is positioned in the front It looked like they were prepared to charge at any moment」

「So if we show the, they’ll attack」

「It seems so」

「But it doesn’t seem like they have a firm plan We’ll shake them up as we finish our preparations」

Hiro raises his hand It was a signal to the soldiers with the drums They beat their drums loudly The sound of the drums shakes the air and spreads to each unit

The first to an their advance towards the east The cavalry of the left flank, which took a detour behind them, follows on the same path

Hiro placed the ite on earlier on his back Then, he calls the 「shi+ryu」 and gets on its back

「Liz, just do as we discussed in the war council now」

「Got it Be careful」

「Yeah I’ll leave the rest to you」

「Everyone, we’re beginning the operation! Move quickly!」

Hiro raced off to the east on the 「shi+ryu」 as if Liz’s voice pushed him from behind

「Yeah The wind is blowing nicely, too」

Hiro muttered to himself as he looked up at the sky

Hearing the ringing of drums, the Lichtein Dukedom’s camp falls into a panic

「Ene!」

「Let’s send out the camel cavalry!」

「Send the slaves out front and use them as a wall! And send the archery unit out front too! Have them fire their arrows!」

After looking at the panicked nobles in disgust, General Ranquil grit his teeth annoyed

「They took the initiative…」

They were aware about the change in co officers for the Fourth Io So in order to learn eneral, General Ranquil sent the camel cavalry to the front to wait and see what the other side would do Next, after learning his opponent was not on alert, he was just about to send out a s the enean their advance

「So the tides are on their side」

They took the initiative with superb ti

If this was the doing of the Sixth Irim Even if it wasn’t, it’s certain she has someone clever with her on her side

As expected of the Grantz Grand Ens supreme in this world They have an abundance of talented people

But this isn’t the ti around impressed

「Don’t panic! Deploy the camel cavalrymen to the sides!」

Nohe wants to avoid is being surrounded

「Send the archers to the front! The ene out This is a perfect opportunity!」

And then he noticed The one riding at the head of the cavalry was that man

「So… he’s come after all」

The wound left by the iven, but word ular soldiers as well, as there is fear pasted on their faces The only way to wipe it away is to give the hie of this situation the best he could

「Archery unit, at the ready!」

As Ranquil gave out his order, a mysterious scene unfolded before him

The enee clouds of dust kick up and color the sky brown

「Doind, is it…」

Wrapped in the clouds of dust, the cavalry hooves and war cries It’s not at all a situation you would normally be happy about, but it may be in this case as the man in black disappeared from view Because of this, many of the soldiers didn’t become aware of his presence

「But are they planning to use the cover of dust to surround us…? If so, I’ve been taken lightly」

After looking out in all directions, Ranquil shouted

「Have the left and right flanks advance! First battalion, fall back!」

Ranquil gave out orders to surround them instead

Then, after a short amount of time passed…

「… Is the ene?」

He realized so was off

But the sound of dru hooves still shake the ears

「No… are they growing distant?」

The sounds grow quieter as time passes By the time he came to think they were deceived, it was too late When the clouds of dust cleared, the cavalrymen were nowhere to be seen General Ranquil tried to consider what possible goal they ht have had to do this, but the voice of a soldier caused hiht

「I-It’s the ain!」

This is what it sounded like the voice fro

Chaos descends upon the soldiers and quickly spreads

「What did he say…?」

He doesn’t even have time to think By the time Ranquil lifted his face in surprise, there was an uproar around him and breaks in the ranks of soldiers And that wasn’t all The soldiers were completely stopped in their tracks Ranquil touched his hand to his head, feeling a headache co on, and looked to the same spot as the soldiers

There stood aclothes

This brought back the i buried He could tell his body was shaking in fear However, Ranquil wasn’t so foolish as to let his ained his composure

After taking a small breath, he opened his mouth

「Settle down! Maintain your ranks!」

Ranquil’s rough voice rang out

「There is only one enemy after all What is there to fear?!」

「B-But, he took on a 1,000 men by himself!」

「Don’t panic We’ve made preparations for him」

As a countermeasure for the man in black, a 100 skilled men were asseainst a , but all they need to do is buy so this spot, they’ll rout the exhausted Fourth Iainst him He is outnumbered after all There is no way he would be able to chase after a large number of scattered enemies on his own

「It’s time for retribution」

Ranquil drew his sword from his waist and pointed it at the standard bearer The 100 hand chosen caain soan their advance

「Once the vanguard engages in battle with the man in black, we assault the Fourth Iuard so as not to let on to our plan」

「Yes, I will notify each unit」

「Mm, I’ll leave it to you」

Then, Ranquil called over a er

「What would you have me do?」

「Take a ht if you die Your objective is to keep hiet that」

「Understood!」

However, no in As Ranquil was thinking this to be strange, the er returned

「It was a fake!」

Said the er, his face red with mortification

「The man in black is a fake!」

「Huh…? What do you mean a fake?」

「It was just sandbags and luether and covered in a black cloth」

There was a loud thud It was the sound of the object the er stated, it was some lumber covered in black cloth

「… Ah, what is this?」

It was such a shock that he couldn’t speak Were they so wrapped in fear that they were fooled by such a childish trick and mistake this for the actual person?

The er spoke to the dumbfounded Ranquil

「And there are more of these same objects ahead」

「… What was that?」

This was the location where the Fourth Ie cavity, and you could look down on it from all directions Mixed with the corpses were pieces of lue nurave markers

「It looks like we’re being made fools of」

But it was truly an effective strategy As far as anyone knows of the man in black’s abilities, it’s not i in the shadows of one of the scarecrows And there’s also the possibility that one of them is actually hi the situation in such a hich is why they hesitate

「This is all for the objective of retreating, or they have soldiers waiting in ambush in all directions Either way, to think he would outwit us so well」

Taking his gaze away fro to the other side, he could see the Fourth I This bait is so tehtlessly But it he wants to attack theht across If this happened to be a trap, not only would they lose their advantageous position, they’d be walking into a deadly situation

And he doesn’t even want to think of ould happen if theWithout a doubt, it would turn into a losing battle

「Even if we e detour and pursue them…」

Not only would the enemy be ready to meet them in battle, there’s a chance their ranks of soldiers would still be in disarray when they engaged theht out plan, and a tactic to learn from

「To control the battle so freely while in enemy territory… It seems the enemy has a monster like 「Mars」」

After quietly laughing at hietting ready to bring down its curtain If he fails to ti waiting for the an army on emotions alone indicates failure as a leader

「The sun will set soon It seems it would be best to return to camp for now」

There was a shadow on Ranquil’s expression This was because his path to victory was co andif he doesn’t figure out a strategy to break through this

He realized there was a large, invisible wall standing in his way

The sun sets The wind, which carried enough heat with it to burn the skin, began to cool

There arethem were over a hundred tents which were assembled like a town If you had an aerial view, you would see that they were set up in a circular formation

This is the caround of the Fourth Imperial Army

In the center, was a noticeably large tent flying a crest of red soil and lilies

There is no one inside This is because the one who sleeps here— Liz, the Sixth I efforts to raise the morale of the soldiers

A short distance away from that tent, another tent was set up for a war council Nor co officer, should be here… But rather than her, the one sitting at the head of the long table inside, is Fourth Imperial Prince Hiro

Also sitting around the table were General Kielo and the staff officers ere aiding him

Hiro was the first to open his mouth

「Regarding why I gathered you all… I think you ue idea」

Hiro struck a bundle of reports placed on the table and spoke in a lofty an to turn pale No one dares to lift their face They knohat is to happen now

「General Kielo」

Ithis name to be called, as General Kielo looked at Hiro with a surprised expression

「Have I done so?」

「It’s written in these reports that you instructed a nues」

「Is it not a fundamental war tactic to supply provisions from an enemy nation?」