Vol 5 Chapter 5 (1/2)

“In a nutshell, it was due to arrogance”

When asked for the cause of this dire situation, Regis replied so

Altina nodded

“If they had planned a little ht?”

“At the very least, they wouldn’t have had the rettable, but this is a case of overconfidence Even I did not expect the situation to be this bad… … Against an enemy with unknoeapons, they did not consider that the ene? Our side has the nuh Britannia Army’s supply line is stretched thin Shouldn’t a frontal assault be our last resort?”

Regis, as riding Karakara, shook his head

The Beilschiment entered the battlefield fro them

Soon, they were halfway down the mountain and saw the U shape formation of the enemy

From the neat move but a planned maneuver

That went the sah froh, it wasa path for them

Now, the U shape foraria’s soldiers that were in between the shot far more easily than a fox

After which——

It was not hard to i attacked from behind

It was a complete defeat

Altina as riding behind Regis asked

“Regis, are you regretting it?”

“ … Yes Just like I mentioned, we should have moved north and linked up with the First Is ell, we could do a pincer attack on the southern enemy”

Even if the eneuns, the result would be different if they could attack them from both sides

Against the enearia Army could muster fifty thousand to attack The Seventh Imperial Army mainly consisted of infantry, but there were three thousand cavalry from the First Imperial Army

——No, out of the three thousand cavalry of First Imperial Army, one cohort was burnt down

The First Imperial Army had two thousand five hundred cavalry now

Even so, by adding five hundred black knights of Beilschiment, there would be a total of three thousand cavalry

If they could do a detour and attack from behind, the casualties at the frontal assault would be reduced greatly

This proposal was brought up in the war council, but was rejected without any consideration

“ If I was ht…?”

“Even if you regret it, nothing can be changed now”

“No, but… …”

“Rather than dwelling in the past, we should focus on what is in front of us! There’s still soht?!”

“ … Yes”

Regis already knehere the enemy’s headquarter was as he saw a black coloured theeled carriage, which was eye-catching It should be used by someone of ih Britannia’s new queen, Margaret Steelart

High Britannia’s coth of Belgaria’s infantry without a doubt He should know that the infantry was strong in charging, but not used to changing its course of attack

If that was the case, he would not place the headquarter at the dangerous frontal area When the ene into U shape, the headquarter should have already relocated to one of its wing

After observing the situation——

It was as expected, the ene

“ … A good chance”

“What should we do now, Regis?!”

“It’s about ti too”

Regis raised his hand to attract Jerome’s attention

“Pardon me!”

“Is it time?! It’s finally here!”

“Ah, that’s right”

“Che… … You should speak with nity!”

“I-is that so… …”

Altina spoke from behind

“Really! It’s fine as it is! Tell us quickly, Regis!”

“That… … The black knights would attack the enee would be where the enemy’s headquarter is”

“Got it, so ill be attacking the flank of the left wing, right!”

“No… … Most likely, the ene us As our cavalry speed is faster than that of the er, it would take some for him to report As such, we have to make use of this time to launch a surprise attack and prevent the ene themselves”

The weakness of changing for the headquarter was that it was hard to maintain the enemy surveillance network

The soldiers er

Especially when they were in the o and how to reach the headquarter was constantly changing

Precisely because of that, Regis wanted to be stationed at high grounds as to observe the whole battlefield while the High Britannia Army was stationed at low lands

Jerome tilted his head

“The back facing us? Another ical talk of yours”

“N,no, that’s not it… … I just happens to know it It’s because I read it before… …”

“Ahhh…… Forget it Even if the rifleainst us, I’ll just trample over them!”

“After that, the direction to go after breaking through isn’t the front of the enemy, but to the left side”

“Eh? Hmph, I see… … Leave it to me!”

Jerorabbed his spear

And picked up his pace

“Black Knights, Followto trample over them!”

“Ohh——!!”

The cavalry clad in all black charged towards the enemy

The clopping sound grew louder

If they were changing their for froed their formation

However, when thousands of soldiers equipped with , it was not easy for the at them

Even if they could, turning to defend against them was even more difficult

Regis also told Altina the plan

“Have the infantry march forward at full speed

“Is it really fine? There’s still 10Ar (715m) between us, won’t they be tired?”

“Because on’t be fighting the enemy, so I don’t think we need to ht to defend against the black knights assault, and ill fire arrows in that direction”

“Eh? How do you even know this?!”

“Isn’t this common… ? To protect the headquarter from the cavalry’s attack, one should e?”

“That’s right, it’s pointless to escape in the cavalry’s direction But, can someone really kno others would move?”

It was natural for Altina to be worried

However, Regis took the initiative and said

“The Black Knights will be veering to the left in their charge through the eneuns that can take their lives in one shot”

“Still targets aside, it is difficult to ai cavalry!”

“That is so”

They could only pray for them to return safely

In any case, as the Black Knights escaped froht

“We will be able to rain arrows onto the eneht?”

“ … To be exact, we just need to act like we are doing so”

“Eh?”

“If we are too close, the counterattack would be terrifying It will be enough just to cover the Black Knights and the Seventh Imperial Army to escape If the eneht, their commands to pursue will be delayed After all, there are only so ers”

“ …”

Altina was speechless

Regis was beginning to feel a little uneasy

“ … Er?”

“Norht?”

“Is that so?”

“So Regis think about what the enemy commander would do too”

“Ahh… Yes, since it ritten in the book Rather than focusing on each individual soldiers, the book focus s like ould it be difficult to mount a cavalry attack or how to harass the enes are easier to remember”

“Is it written in some military reference book?”

“No… … But in terhts and princes protagonist than ordinary soldiers right?”

“You’re referring to the person rote I’m the Wizard?”

“Well… … He even wrote a book titled Angels’ War It seeirls”

“Ha? Why are there only girls?”

“Isn’t that kind of adorable?”

“Eh…? So Regis also feel so like that”

“Please don’t speak as if I do not have any e a beautiful s are adorable too”

“So you find girls cute too?”

“Well… I suppose so”

“Is that so… To view girls the same as pets… …”

“Wait… …?! Are youwhat I said?!”

Altina chuckled

Altina straighten her posture, drew the sword from her waist and pointed it at the sky

“All e! Cover Sir Jerome!”

“Ohh——!!”

“Continue to march on until another co arrows at the enemy once the trumpet sounds to let them escape!”

The soldiers let out a roar

Forward, retreat, turning, fire arrows, attacking… … The soldiers were trained to listen to those simple commands from the tune of the trumpets and to move swiftly

Though they did not knoell they could roups they hired

As Altina waved her sword to the front, the tru was sounded

The warhorse, Karakara, quicken its pace

Regis wondered whether the horse really understood the orders of humans The soldiers behind maintained the pace to run 7Ar (500m)

Looks like Altina have soreat

——————————————————————————————

Seeing the cavalry’s ave out instructions

“Move the headquarter to the elevated ground to the north! Make haste!”

“Understood!”

As the er ran, the trumpets sounded

It was too slow

Two soldiers were pulling the reins of the black coloured carriage, even Margaret was to be moved…

The tiht and he wondered if they could make it in time

The heavy infantry guards were overrun

“To think that we recruited soldiers that are this weak… …”

Be it the shi+eldbearers or the rifleht in a situation si However, once they were exposed to unexpected situations, their weakness would begin to show

That rearia, Bastian, attacked the fort

What wasattacked was that he pointed his gun at Margaret

“Hu… … There’s no need to panic, the enemy shouldn’t be someone that hard to deal with”

Is this the difference caused by experience? Oswald thought

Without bringing any guards, he went in the direction where the battle was happening

Oswald stopped some distance away

In the face of the approaching cavalry, the soldier shrivelled as if they saw a night them

“Excuse me, soldier Can you pass me your rifle for a moment?”

“Ha? Er, eh?! C,commander Sir!”

“No, I’m just a staff officer”

Oswald took a rifle fro the headquarter He did not do it violently as if he was snatching it, but he also did not have the time for the soldier to present it to him

Oswald did not have such interests

The gears were turning a little chaotically

“They are just cavalry riding on momentum, we just need to crush the head——”

Oswald opened the lid and confir it, he aimed at the foremost rider

As there were High Britannia’s soldiers in front, he had to shoot in the gaps between heads

However, Osas taller than most soldiers and was also confident in hisa horse

It was enough to get him a clear shot

The target was a knight wearing black armour

Is the shi+ning spear the Le Cheveu D'une Dame (Dame's hair)?

If that’s the case, he should be the faht, Jerome Jean De Beilschmidt

Nohe is, he would die when a bullet pierced through him

“Hu… …”

Oswald pulled the trigger

The hand that was on the right of the gun pulled the trigger, causing the ha pin

The firing pin then struck the primer that was located behind the bullets

An explosion occurred inside, causing the bullet to shoot out from the barrel

The rotation given to the bullet gave it a alht line trajectory towards the head of the black knight

At the very er, Jerome moved

The bullet pass through thin air

“Ah?!”

“Oryah! Those ish to die, quickly come out now!”

The loud voice that spoke the language of Belgaria swept through the High Britannia’s soldiers

He dodged it?

Intuition? Experience?

Although his target was et a bead on him, Oswald anticipated those movements when he fired

However, as if seeing through the attack, he dodged at the very moment when Oswald fired

Even if it was a coincidence, it was as expected of a hero

Oswald returned the rifle to the soldier The gun could not be used again without reloading and he did not have any ammunition with him

“Looks like he isn’t a simple foe… … shi+eldbearers, attention! There is no need to block the path of the Black Knights! Instead, beco the headquarter! While it’s regrettable an order that was not in the training have to be made, protect our queen!”

“U,understood!”

“Pass down the command to those beside you! Wall! Become a hich will protect the queen!”

The er or truhbours Soon, they were finally done arranging themselves

Compared to their previous actions, this was far slower

Even though they were trained on what to do during a frontal assault by cavalry, they could only improvise to deal with this

An ugly wall shape line formed slowly

How long can this last?

Oswald used his right hand to pull the sword out fro badly

Once he put strength into it, bloodstains could be seen on the white bandage on his hand

Half a o—— It was the area where he was injured by the Third Prince of Belgaria, Bastian

The wound had already reopened froun from earlier

His mouth turned into a sneer

“Hu… … A to protect my country here?”

Just like a clock which had a ear, he felt his heart was in a disarray

The cavalry drew closer

The shi+eldbearers were groaning while the rifle

Jerome was already in front of them

For a moment, their eyes made contact

He was just like a beast

Oswald felt that Jerome’s mouth moved for a moment

——Fufu, so you’re Oswald?

In actuality, the Black Knights ran past hi in a deserted plains

Just like when Jero as to shoot at the vanguard of the cavalry, the guns that were ai any results

Even if the bullets grazed hih him

That hardness, is it the new steel?

Even if it could only be h Britannia, they could not totally prevent it fro exported There were also merchants that did not consider the consequences should they sell it to the Empire

In fact, it would not be surprising if the Empire’s nobles h it would be foolish to do so

Just like a typhoon, the Black Knights went away

The wall that was made in a rush seems to have some effect

No, that’s not right What if their main motive wasn’t to attack the headquarter but to tire us out and create confusion?

If that’s the case, we should pursue the cavalry from the back

Just as Osas about to pass down the command, a soldier yelled

“The enemy infantry! They have drawn their bows!”

“What did you say?!”

In the area of the dust of cloud that was made by the cavalry——

Were soldiers who had already drawn their bows

Just before Oswald could give the order, someone shouted “Protect the queen!”

So the slogan I used earlier to raise the soldiers’ spirits had become a disturbance this time

The shi+eldbearers protected the headquarter while the rifle at the enemy

If this was the case, it would take some time for the commander to reassert control

Oswald covered his mouth

“I see… … So war really isn’t a place where one can be whimsical”

“Sir Oswald!”

It was Glenda as equipped with heavy armour

The number of weapons on her had increased further ever since she entered the battlefield

At her back was a spear, four guns were hanging at her waist and her chestplate and shoulderguard held ammunitions

Her bulky look ht infantry behind her that finally caught up were all breathless

Glenda had an apologetic look

“My apologies for arriving late!”

“It’s fine, it isn’t a problem”

Since the Black Knights was stopped fro the headquarter and Glenda’s unit had arrived, we can prevent the ar into confusion

Most likely, the enemy cavalry had already retreated

Should I pursue them …?

The soldiers attention were still on the enemy that appeared behind them

Glenda also noticed that and immediately responded

“Ah, I’ll ie them!”

Oswald shook his head

“Calm down a little, Lieutenant… … The bow is unable to shoot this far At least, not till the headquarter”

“Ah, that’s right”

The distance between them was about 200yd (183m)

If it was a longbow, it , but definitely not enough to shoot at the headquarter

Even though this ithin the range of High Britannia’s rifles, it was not a distance they could fire at accurately

“That was a plan intended to create confusion and intimidate us”

“I,I see…”

Glenda’s face redden as she completely fell for the enemy’s trick

“Seeing that they had already drawn their bows, it would be natural for people to believe they would shoot After all, the regular soldiers do not have any ability in measurement and estimation”

Which hy the rifle once the co confir distance

If the soldiers could gauge it themselves, the commanders could just issue the order to fire when the enemy was at a set distance away and be done with it

Glenda pointed

“The ene!”

“Hhts have escaped Also, the Seventh Imperial Army too”

“Ah?!”

Taking another look, Glenda realised that they could not pursue any away from them

Dark clouds gloom over Glenda’s face

“Could it be that, the cavalry and the archers were all for this?”

“He targeted us ere changing our for the Black Knights to attack… … And revealing the archers after the cavalry retreated to induce confusion… …”

“The ene”

“That’s noraria Empire is a powerhouse in the continent”

“Y,yes… That’s right”

Most likely, she had forgotten how big the ene carried away by the victory

Oswald saw the flag of the retreating archer unit