Vol 2 Chapter 20 (1/2)

Chapter 20

Chapter 2, Episode 20: Decisive Battle at Night

「Our night assault should be succeeding soon」

Hiro muttered under a cold sky, with the stars covered by thick clouds Two hundred light infantrymen stand silently behind him at the ready They all keep quiet, with dark and stillness around them

While everyone holds their breath— a rade enlisted officer Doryx asks a question

「Is the ene this way?」

「We gave theht assault so they would No matter what, our opponent wants to succeed in their attack— so, they probably won’t be so foolish as to directly bump heads with us Plus, the hts becoet i a short path of attack, which is why this is the only possibility」

After Hiro finishes his explanation, Doryx lets out a sign of admiration

「How old were you again, your Highness?」

「I’m 16 now, but I’ll be 17 soon」

「Such prudence at such a young age… I fear to think of what is yet to come」

「I just ruh some books and read about it」

「No, no, that’s not all It truly see as ever, even after a 1,000 years I’m sure his Majesty the Second Emperor is pleased to have left behind such a impressive descendant」

Though, he’s actually the man himself…

Unable to say anything in response, Hiro simply nods to end it at that Then he notices a sround

A shaky voice comes out from the throat of a nervous Doryx

「According to our spy report, they have 2,000 cauise of darkness, we on the other hand, have 500 light infantrymen We can not defeat them with a direct approach」

「There’s no need for a direct approach Please beat the drue in battle with the camel cavalrymen That alone will cause the enemy to fall into a panic Afterwards, have everyone fire their arrows」

「Understood Please be careful」

「I’ll leave the rest to you」

「As you wish」

Hiro grabbed the 「shi+ryu’s」 reins and stood him up

As he does, Doryx speaks up surprised

「A-Are you taking it with you? There’s a chance the arrows ht…」

「It’s okay I’m sure 「Camellia」 will protect it」

Hiro proudly struck his chest, then disappeared into the darkness

A short while passes Doryx was befuddled, but he soon begins to gives out orders to the soldiers

As he does, the sound of swords clashi+ng and angry bellows could be heard in the dark night A battle they could not see had begun

「Bang the druet to raise your voices as well!」

A loud sound cuts through the night air and rings out As it does, the sound of drums echoed out in concert from all directions In addition to this location, they had a 100 soldiers lying hidden in three other positions

It’s still too soon to fire the arrows Doryx stared into the darkness

A brilliant silver light draws a line in the dark night and disappears

Doryx is bewitched by this wondrous scene which looks like shooting stars raining down from the sky

After a soldier patted his shoulder and Doryx regained his senses, he forced his orders out from his throat in a panic

「O-Okay, stop beating the drunal arrow!」

After he gives out his orders, a signal arrow lets out a whistle and

rips through the wind as it disappear into the darkness After a pause, another is let loose With that as the signal, the soldiers fire a volley of arrows from their bows

A number of screams could be heard from where Hiro disappeared to

「Okay, they’re hitting Don’t stop! Keep firing!」

They have no idea where they’re firing The archers si By the time they were about to run out of arrows, the ene 「run for it!」 If the sun were out, they would have been able to see the ene to escape They felt it was unfortunate that they missed out on this thrill

Then after a while, Hiro returns straddled atop the 「shi+ryu」

Because he was in all black to begin with, and the fact that he’s covered in darkness, they’re unable to tell whether or not he’s hurt

Doryx ran to him and immediately called out

「Your Highness, are you hurt?」

「I’ht」

「I’lad to hear that So, how much of the enemy’s numbers were you able to reduce?」

「I can’t say for sure, but… they suffered friendly fire too, so I thinka better result than we expected」

「That’s good news」

「It would be nice if they just ran off so to their camp」

「With their situation, I’m sure there will be those on’t be able to return even if they want to」

Running around ai in the ocean There’s no way you can tell your right from your left Not only did they receive a surprise attack, but they’re also in a state of confusion, so they’re unable to think clearly More than a few of the lost their sense of direction If they happen to be wounded, their chances of survival are significantly lower

Doryx tried to figure out how ave up

This is because they would find out once the sun came up

「Let us reward the soldiers another day and return to camp now」

Hiro answered Doryx with a nod

「You’re right Let’s get some rest in preparation for tomorrow Also, I’ll allow the soldiers froh alcohol that it doesn’t affect them tomorrow」

Cheers of joy rose up The soldiers felt light on their feet as if their fatigue had been washed away

Hiro’s lips for them to turn back

「The ene they were deceived」

「Probably They don’t have enough soldiers or the tiht assault More importantly, I don’t think they’re in the position to be thinking of that」

Then, Doryx re and threw out a question

「Changing the subject, why did you only give one of the enemy spies Schteizen silver coins?」

「Ahh, that?」

「I don’t mind if you don’t want to tell me」

「… Second grade enlisted officer Doryx, ould you do if you were asked a string of questions?」

While thinking it strange that he changed the topic, Doryx answered honestly

「I think I would grow tired of it But I think I would search for answers regardless」

「It’s like that You throw out a nuive them time to think That’s what the Schteizen silver coins are for They should be racking their brains about it right about now」

「And you’re saying you give them the next problem before they find an answer?」

「That’s pretty much it」

「Do you not think of the possibility of failure?」

「I do think about it, but you can’t acco if you fear failure Besides, we’ve co any of our—」

Hiro broke off, looked up at the sky, then continued to speak

「— Noe just give theh hope so they don’t run away, then make them taste despair」

Hiro said smoothly, as a chill caused Doryx to come to a standstill

— Everything is in the pal atop the pal boy’s hand

「Ha, haha Truly a 「sovereign’s pillar」 No, I’m not sure if such a title would suffice…」

And he’s still 16 A fearsole of Change」 no less, the hero of the Lichtein Dukedoainst such an opponent, forget about being cautious, he continues to e them

— And like this, he deals with this hero as if it were child’s play The old veteran is no more than an infant

How far is this young boy able to “see” exactly? And did his distant ancestor 「Mars」 also have this saht?

It’s impossible for an ordinary person like Doryx to understand the stratageies such as them It’s impossible to arrive at the depths of their focus or objectives

Which is precisely why… he found hi— He wanted to see what the future held in store for this young boy

「Give me a status report」

Said Ranquil, as he watched the burning corpses of cahout their caht to an end by arrows None of them had riders

「There are minimal casualties We have a few injured, but none dead So camels, but ere able to put them out before they spread」

Perhaps it was because they were fatigued, but the regular soldiers and the slaves sat where they were, breathing heavily Thanks to their strenuous efforts, the eneht assault

No— Maybe you could say they had succeeded They were able to drain exhaust the soldiers after all Ranquil looks away and starts heading to the tent in which a war council is to begin A number of staff officers follow behind him

「Let the soldiers rest」

「Understood」

「Also— one 」

Ranquil stopped for a moment and turned back

They were fully prepared But what appeared were 1,500 camels without any riders The eneht off were not people, but a group of caether by ropes— Even as a joke, this is too much

「Cut off the spies’ heads after you get the they know」

「Yes!」