There Was Cutlet In The Stew

View of Sarnare-Rubaras-Harekukku, head of House Rubaras, Count Harekukku

Up to this point, the enemy army never once hastened its pace, nor did it slow.

The enemy kept marching with grim composure, finally reaching the riverbank… and then, without the slightest hesitation, stepped into the river. The calm current, forced to accept a sudden mass of people, churned and quickly turned a muddy brown.

No matter how I looked at it, the enemy army was not an illusion like the officer claimed. They unquestionably existed right there!

Arrows did nothing, magic did nothing… and that army was creeping toward me!

Could our vanguard stop that advance?

Could they hold back those who climbed up from the river and dye the river red with the enemy’s blood?

The enemy was already halfway through the river, looking no different than when it had been walking on land.

Only ten steps remained between us… A cavalry charge or an infantry assault instilled fear in soldiers on the front line, but this enemy’s march was different.

That slow, creeping pressure shoved an indescribable terror even onto us at the main camp in the rear—the safest place in the army.

The enemy, having crossed under our furious assault without changing its pace even once, finally made contact with our troops…!

What I wanted to see was the enemy repelled at the shore, unable to land because of the large shields set there.

A mountain of enemy soldiers skewered by spears and pierced by arrows…

“T-this… is… impossible…”

Beside me, an officer forced out the words that had surged up from his chest in a hoarse voice.

If our soldiers had been scattered, blown away, and piled into heaps of corpses… I could not accept it, but I could understand it.

But what I saw was different… The enemy reached our side of the shore, contacted our vanguard… and then, at the same speed as before… continued forward as if it were advancing across an empty field.

Our shield troops and long-spear troops stationed at the riverbank were being pushed back by an enemy that would not stop walking.

If the enemy were swinging swords and thrusting spears, I could understand. But they were not.

Rather, it was our side that was thrusting spears through gaps between shields. Of course we were.

It was natural for soldiers who made contact to swing their weapons… yet the enemy abandoned that “natural” act, simply kept marching, and our troops—layered in multiple ranks—were shoved aside and forced backward.

Even from afar, I could see our soldiers striking with weapons… yet the enemy advanced as though it did not care in the slightest. And when every last soldier finished crossing, the enemy army stopped.

It truly looked like they had simply marched up to this point, and nothing more.

…By now, it was obvious the enemy was not normal. But… what was I supposed to do?

Having finished their crossing, the enemy stood there with calm ease, looking as though they bore not even a smear of mud, let alone blood.

Did that army truly exist…?

Was it, as the officer said, an illusion?

The thought crossed my mind, but seeing our troops shoved back… the enemy surely had physical substance.

“…They stopped?”

“It seems so. I cannot read what they are thinking at all… Send messengers! Restore the formation while we can! Hurry!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Stunned into stillness by the enemy’s utterly absurd movement, the officers snapped into action at my voice.

But… even if we restored formation, did it matter?

We could not stop even their walking pace—was this an opponent we could do anything about?

…No. We could not.

The enemy still had not launched a single attack, but that would not last. The moment they swung their swords even once, it was easy to imagine whose corpses would build the mountains and whose blood would form the rivers—ours.

Even if it meant abandoning the vanguard, we needed to retreat.

With no countermeasures, we had no chance. They had made the gap in strength painfully clear simply by walking here. Criticism would be unavoidable, but… this was the only way to minimize losses.

Unlike replaceable soldiers, the nobles who had accompanied this battle—especially those who held territories—could not be lost lightly.

“Send word to the high-priority individuals we identified in advance. Tell them to prepare to retreat at any time.”

“…Retreat?”

I felt irritation at the officer’s dazed reply.

“After seeing that, do you still think we have a chance? If so, I will have to dismiss you.”

“…My apologies. We will make preparations for retreat at once.”

“Hurry. I do not know why the enemy has stopped, but if they move again, they may swallow us whole in one rush.”

As I issued orders, I watched the enemy.

It was an eerie army beyond words… I could not understand why it stopped, and the fact that it took no damage from attacks was not something that should be described with a mild word like “abnormal.”

…Monsters.

No other word fit this army.

…No. This was bad. I was being completely swallowed by them.

At times like this, I had to stay calm… or I might lose even the ability to flee.

As I thought that and took a deep breath to steady myself… I remembered a chilling fact.

The eastern forest… and the western bridge. What if forces as strong as the five thousand before us launched ambushes…?

“Strengthen the east and west watch—”

At the very moment I tried to give that order, a single figure stepped forward from the enemy army and raised a voice.

“It is time! We will begin the annihilation! I will praise you for not running! In honor of that loyalty and courage, I will guarantee the lives of any who throw down their weapons and surrender!”

The one who stepped out and issued what sounded like a surrender demand… from this distance I could not be certain, but was it not likely that female envoy?

The words she had declared before the battle were not mere conventional prewar bravado—she had simply spoken her true feelings. And now, hearing her arrogant tone again, I understood it was not taunting; she was speaking from the bottom of her heart.

How unfair… Why did an enemy like this suddenly appear… when… when the Lumoria Kingdom was just—just a little more—away from becoming unshakable beneath me…?

What I could do now… was to bring as many allies as possible back to the royal capital alive, and preserve my influence as much as I could. To do that, I had to find a way to survive at all costs.

If enemy reinforcements came from east and west… then from the west it would likely be fast cavalry… and from the east, archers and mages?

If we fled, it would have to be to the rear… We had no choice but to retreat into Kruser Territory. I also needed to send word to our territorial army to turn back, but we still had a little time—just as I thought that, a deafening roar echoed… and suddenly, enormous mountains of ice appeared, surrounding us.

“W-what…!?”

Even from the lookout platform, they were so massive I had to crane my neck to see them. Though they appeared some distance away, they carried their cold on the wind. It was a scene that could have been called fantastical, but to us, it looked only like the grim jaw of death.

“O-our… retreat route…”

Almost at the same time as the officer’s murmur, screams rose from the front line… There was no need to confirm it… The enemy had begun moving.

“Have someone inspect the rear immediately! See if there is a way through those ice mountains… What are you doing!? Now! Hurry!”

I shouted at the officers who were staring up at the ice mountains in a daze.

“Y-yes, sir!”

What was this? What was happening? What in the world was happening!? Had I been shown a nightmare ever since I came to this battlefield!?

This—this could not possibly be allowed to happen in reality!

Even as a nightmare, it was too absurd!

An army immune to attack, ice mountains appearing out of nowhere… No—thinking back, it had been wrong from the start! From the start, everything had been insane! I had been so shaken by His Majesty’s death that I forgot, but… why did His Majesty die in the first place?

It was true that at the time, the enemy envoy had drawn her sword… but there had been a river between her and His Majesty. It was nowhere near within sword’s reach. Was that not already strange? Had I been so shaken that I failed to notice such a thing!?

Panic spread across our entire army at the sudden turn. I had been wary of reinforcements from east and west… but that no longer mattered.

Ice surrounded us on three sides, and the enemy sealed the front—no, the front line had already begun to be trampled.

Enemy infantry moved at a speed like a cavalry charge, blasting our soldiers aside as they surged in. The vanguard was nearly destroyed; it would not be long before the enemy reached the center.

“M-My lord! The ice behind us cannot be breached! We found no hole large enough for a person, and anyone who struck it with a sword was frozen solid the next instant! Even fire magic shows no sign of melting it at all!”

“What is that!? You mean it cannot even be destroyed!?”

“…There is no retreat route anymore!”

“…”

At the report, I grabbed my own hair with all my strength.

I had never heard of magic like this! Was that eastern magical superpower involved after all!? It was the only explanation—but why!? Why would that great power take notice of our country, a mere small and distant kingdom!?

Grinding my teeth as though I could crush them, I glared at the enemy trampling our forces.

“…Forward.”

“…Huh? My lord—what did you just say?”

“We advance! It is better to charge the enemy than to deal with ice that freezes you at a touch!”

“B-but…”

“Look! The enemy is attacking while spread thin in a wide line! Form a wedge, break through at one point, cross the river, then turn west at once and disengage from the battlefield!”

“B-but…”

“Fortunately, because we had set a defensive formation, many horses remain in the rear! No matter what they are, they cannot stop a cavalry charge with a line spread that thin!”

“But changing formation now is—”

“Only those we can gather will do! If we do not break through with the main camp and surrounding troops, we will be crushed here! Hurry! This instant will decide life or death! And send orders to the center as well! Thicken both wings—ignore the center and apply pressure with the wings!”

“Y-yes! At once!”

As the officer hurried down from the platform, I turned my eyes back to the enemy.

It would be fine—we could break through. If we could just punch through that line… the enemy was not moving anyone beyond the vanguard… We could flee west…!

By concentrating troops on both wings, the enemy’s attention would shift there, and then we—the rear—would drive a breakthrough through the center. The enemy would be slow to respond for an instant… and we would exploit that gap and run through in one rush!

If we could just escape, we could still rebuild! Even assuming we could not save the center, nearly four thousand troops remained in the rear. If we could get them out with a single-point breakthrough, we could recover enough.

And if the enemy continued north, the first territory they would collide with would be Kruser Territory, held by the old nobility.

We would use them as a shield and build a defensive line at the royal capital… We already knew how strong the enemy was. If we did not let our guard down, there had to be a way… So let me escape! Get me out of this killing ground!

I turned my back to the enemy and climbed down from the platform.

My horse was already prepared, and around it stood nobles who had been deployed near the main camp.

It was impossible to gather everyone… but messengers had already been sent. Once we began our charge, they would chase after us desperately.

“C-Count! This—this is—!”

Several nobles pressed in with faces pale as death, but I ignored them and mounted my horse.

“This is no time for such talk. If we remain here, death is unavoidable. We must steel ourselves and break through the enemy line.”

“B-but! Even if we break through the army before us, there is still ten thousand behind them!”

“I have already confirmed the enemy camp from above. The rear force shows no sign of moving—this is our only chance. Break through the enemy in front and flee west immediately, and we will make it. While you stand here talking, our chances of returning alive to the royal capital are dwindling by the moment.”

No amount of screaming here changed anything. If we did not move, we would die… Why could they not understand that?

“Damn…!”

“This battle is lost… but if we bring this information back to the royal capital, we can win next time! For that, we must break through them and return to the royal capital in a frenzy of desperation! There is no time for more words! Mount up! We will now break through the enemy center!”

At my command, the soldiers around us surged forward at once!

“Open the center! Cavalry charge! Infantry, follow behind! Do not stop—ever!”

The cavalry in front shouted as they charged.

Infantry who noticed our rear charge opened a path, then ran after us. The infantry would surely collapse from exhaustion along the way. Even so, for the cavalry to escape, we needed them behind us as we broke through.

Of course, I wanted them to return alive as well. The more soldiers remained, the easier it would be to devise plans at the royal capital.

“Break through the enemy center! Make way! Follow us! Beyond the enemy line is life—behind you is only death!”

With that rallying cry, we closed the distance to the enemy in the blink of an eye.

Just as contact was imminent, I saw two figures standing in our path.

And then—in that instant—words that should never have been audible reached my ears…

“For the commander-in-chief to charge the enemy center personally—what a whimsical lord you are. But your spirit is admirable! As my lord’s sword, I shall be your opponent!”

“Jōsen, wait. Yield this to me. As one of the Royal Guard, I may never again be entrusted with the vanguard.”

“Hmph… very well. It is true I worked to my heart’s content in the last battle, so this time I will yield to Lynferia.”

There was no way I could hear such a conversation in that split second… yet my ears clearly caught their words. And indeed, of the two figures, only the female knight stepped forward to block our path.

“I am Einheria’s shield. None shall pass beyond this point… This is your final destination!”

The moment that declaration rang out, we collided head-on… and my consciousness went dark.