The Kingdom’s Shield

Viewpoint of Regza-Saga, Great General of the Est Kingdom Army

It was about three months ago.

The Lumoria Kingdom, located to our kingdom’s southwest, suddenly collapsed, and all of its territory was replaced by a country called Einheria, a name we had never even heard before.

It happened so quickly that, at first, I almost thought the Lumoria Kingdom had simply changed its name.

However, it seemed the internal circumstances were different, and word reached us that something like a civil war had broken out.

Most likely, some regional nobles had rebelled… seized the royal capital, killed the King of Lumoria, and usurped the throne.

Naturally, as one would expect, the center of the country seemed to be in utter turmoil, and even the army that had been stationed near our border disappeared.

The military surmised that whoever had usurped the throne must be wary of the armies left in the provinces, and was therefore reassigning the local lords, disbanding the territorial armies, and reorganizing them.

There were voices saying we should seize territory while we had the chance, but at first I believe the more cautious opinion held the advantage, insisting that such an obvious opening had to be some kind of trap.

However, that debate changed completely when a certain piece of information arrived.

We learned that the Kingdom of Fregis, located even farther south of Einheria, had raised its army, marched on Einheria, and swiftly captured the border fortress defending the frontier.

As more and more people began saying that the chaos within the former Lumoria Kingdom was indeed real, the compositions of both the Fregis Kingdom’s forces and the Einheria army sent to intercept them became clear.

The Kingdom of Fregis had forty thousand troops, while the Einheria army had twenty-five thousand.

If it were a siege battle, that difference in numbers would not be all that problematic, and even in open battle it was not a disparity that could not be overturned depending on strategy.

However, the Kingdom of Fregis had already taken the fortress.

For such a smaller force to attack that enemy seemed suspicious in the extreme.

Everyone assumed Einheria intended to drive back the Kingdom of Fregis by means of some sort of stratagem, and we carefully watched how the battle would unfold.

Yet when the lid was opened, the war between the Kingdom of Fregis and Einheria became one of back-and-forth struggle; Einheria could not retake the fortress, and the Kingdom of Fregis could not push further inward either.

They were not merely staring each other down; the situation was such that the larger Fregis force held a slight advantage.

Seeing this, the men in the military raised their voices loudly.

They said that Einheria had not sent out twenty-five thousand troops because that was enough to drive back the Kingdom of Fregis. They had only been able to send twenty-five thousand. That was why we too should raise our army. Now was the time. With the border troops pulled back and being reorganized, this was the perfect chance to seize territory.

That was certainly true enough.

Power gained through usurpation is insufficient to make people obey.

That is precisely why they would move the army first, weaken the provinces, and reorganize the chain of command to suit themselves.

Because the Lumoria Kingdom had structured its forces around both a national army and territorial armies, usurpation had likely been easy, but complete control of the military difficult.

Thus, now that confusion had arisen… now that the Kingdom of Fregis had exposed Einheria’s turmoil to the light, it could be called rational to exploit the opening and take territory.

And above all, our kingdom had a reason why we had to expand our territory and strengthen ourselves.

That reason was the existence of the Duchy of Yuran, which lay to the west of the Est Kingdom.

That country had originally been nothing more than part of the Est Kingdom, but then the ducal house suddenly rebelled, declared independence, and proclaimed the founding of the Duchy of Yuran with the Kingdom of Sorakil to the north as its patron.

That was about fifty years ago, and ever since then, war had broken out between the two nations time and again, only for the Kingdom of Sorakil to step in at the right moment as mediator.

It is an open secret that the Duchy of Yuran’s independence was also a plot by the Kingdom of Sorakil, but it is not something we can say aloud.

Even if the Est Kingdom were still in its prime, facing the Kingdom of Sorakil head-on would be… no, regardless of that, that country excels in cunning schemes. In every sense, it is not a nation we can afford to make our enemy.

But the Duchy of Yuran is different.

Not only did they betray the Est Kingdom, they are always watching hungrily for a chance to seize our lands.

We needed more power to crush them, and above all, even if we did not move, there was no doubt that the Duchy of Yuran would target a weakened Einheria.

We could not afford to fall behind.

It was only natural that not just the military, but even the king and the civil officials, would come to think that way.

That said, we could not move the forces guarding the border with the Duchy of Yuran, and so the army invading Einheria had to be assembled from all other available elements.

The army that was formed numbered thirty thousand. They made for the border with Einheria with speed of march as the highest priority, captured the border fortress with lightning swiftness, and from the north-east as well as the south Einheria found itself attacked and, in haste, sent ten thousand troops to intercept them.

At that news, the royal court erupted with excitement. It had become clear that sending only twenty-five thousand against the Kingdom of Fregis had not been a stratagem at all. That had simply been their limit.

It was easy to suppose that the ten thousand sent against our invading force had originally been reinforcements meant for the war against the Kingdom of Fregis.

That was how quickly they had responded to our invasion.

There were even those who said that if we had delayed our march just a little further, those reinforcements would already have headed south, but there was even more mocking laughter saying we should instead praise the enemy for having managed to prepare as many as ten thousand.

However, that sense of ease lasted only until word arrived that the Duchy of Yuran had also mobilized.

When we received news that the Duchy of Yuran, which had set out a little later than we had, had violated the border with Einheria, tension ran through us.

Most likely, Einheria no longer had enough soldiers left to intercept the Duchy of Yuran.

And that meant that while we were still facing the enemy army, the Duchy of Yuran would reap the fisherman’s profit.

That alone was something we absolutely wished to avoid, but our bad premonition proved correct.

The Einheria force sent to intercept the Duchy of Yuran numbered only around five thousand… while the Duchy of Yuran’s invading force was almost the same size as ours… it would have been fine if our own advance, having begun earlier, had proceeded smoothly, but Einheria’s soldiers were far more formidable than we had imagined, and despite holding a three-to-one advantage in numbers, our invading army had been unable to break through.

But no matter how elite those troops were, it was hard to believe they could stop the Duchy of Yuran’s invading army, which had roughly six times their numbers… and so the civil officials began to say that if it only benefited the Duchy of Yuran, then perhaps we ought to return the fortress and open ceasefire negotiations instead.

Certainly, if we withdrew our troops, then the enemy force facing us would at once be redirected against the Duchy of Yuran.

The troops of the Duchy of Yuran were somewhat inferior to ours in training, so if ten thousand reinforcements were sent, their advance would surely be stopped.

However, if we concluded a ceasefire, then for a certain period we ourselves would no longer be able to invade again… we risked losing a perfect opportunity… and so fierce arguments once more erupted throughout the court.

Should we force the attack or withdraw… perhaps that debate had already come too late… but looking at the situation now, that may well have been our last chance.

If, at that time, we had hurried to open ceasefire negotiations, would things not have turned out like this?

No… if this very situation had been the enemy’s aim from the start, then they may not have accepted a ceasefire negotiation at all.

I buried that useless thought, which had suddenly welled up in me, beneath a bitter smile and focused on the map spread before my eyes.

About a month and a half had passed since we began our invasion of Einheria, and at a speed so bewildering I could not understand it at all, our Est Kingdom had been driven to the very brink of destruction.

Only a short while ago, we should have still been intoxicated by the prospect of victory, and yet now the enemy army had advanced to the doorstep of the royal capital.

Its numbers were ten thousand. I would not call that a small force, but it was still far too few to trample an entire nation.

And yet that army had done exactly that.

Despite the many towns and smaller forts between the border and the royal capital, not one of them had managed to delay the enemy even for a single day.

Though the enemy army paused for a few days of rest at key points, it kept advancing in a furious rush, and we soon gave up on dealing with them piecemeal and concentrated our forces in the royal capital.

That force numbered fifty thousand.

Even the elites guarding the border against our sworn enemy, the Duchy of Yuran, had been gathered here, leaving behind only a handful of soldiers at the frontier.

Should we be defeated… then the only forces left to defend the royal capital would be the public order corps and the royal guards stationed at the palace.

No matter how elite the royal guard might be, faced with such an overwhelming disparity in numbers, they would have no hope.

They are not heroes, after all.

Even so, about a hundred of those royal guards have joined this army.

The remaining two hundred in the royal castle are prepared to protect His Majesty and the others and help them escape the capital if the worst comes to pass, but even if they flee, the Est Kingdom will have no army left.

Therefore, in this battle, we have no choice but to win, no matter what. I command this army as its great general, but every one of us is the shield of the royal capital. We have no choice but to become the final fortress.

“General Saga, they have all assembled.”

“Mm. Under ordinary circumstances, I would like to thank you for gathering so well despite your busy duties, but the situation is dire. I believe you all understand that already, but allow me to state it plainly. We have no path left behind us. If we are defeated here, then there will be nothing left to stop the enemy army. The royal capital will fall, the king will be killed, and the Est Kingdom will perish.”

““…””

At my merciless words, several men darkened their expressions.

“…However, if we win here, then we shall be the heroes who saved the nation, will we not?”

Yet at the words that followed, others gave wry smiles.

“Not heroes in the sense of those monsters they call heroes. Heroes in the truest sense. We may not become monsters, but true heroes we can become. And so, I will expend my utmost strength here together with all of you. If we win, we are heroes. If we lose, the kingdom falls… when else will we ever again taste a decisive moment like this?”

At my words, small laughter rose up. Among those laughing were some whose faces had darkened earlier.

“The enemy army is expected to appear here in about three days. In the time remaining, we must prepare enough to stand against that force.”

Seeing that the atmosphere had grown a little lighter, I moved the discussion onward.

“Of course, I have prepared several plans, but I want even more measures than that. I care not whether they are cowardly or vile. I care not whether they defy humanity or earn us the name of fiends. I will bear all infamy myself. Therefore, I ask that each of you use every last moment of the time remaining to devise every possible scheme and make every possible preparation.”

At my words, the generals inside the tent nodded firmly.

“Once the war is over, we shall be heroes. If we win the war, then no matter how cowardly people might call us, the truth can be hidden. Let later history preserve only fine tales and our gallant figures.”

This time, not a small amount of laughter echoed at my continued words.

“Good, then let us begin the war council. First, I will share with all of you the composition of the enemy army and the information we have gathered, so make sure to fix it firmly in your minds…”

The air inside the tent had become much better than it was before the war council began.

Unless the atmosphere is at least this light, there is no way good plans will emerge.

…The enemy may be few in number, but it is an army boasting monstrous strength. Still, if we who are the greater host resort to schemes and cast aside all appearances, then even the enemy will not be able to proceed as before.

The situation is desperate, but it is not without a glimmer of hope… watching the gathered men finish sharing information and begin offering their opinions one after another, I steeled myself.

And so, in preparation for the decisive battle three days away, we desperately searched for a path to victory with all the strength we had.