Chapter 124: The Fate of the Unification War part 1
「Captain, the royal capital and its environs have dispatched an army led by the Prime Minister and Count Khalifa. Including the forces scheduled to link up with them, total enemy strength is estimated at 35,000.」
「So they came without waiting for the three-year deadline. Looks like they were thinking the same thing we were.」
We are right in the middle of the autumn harvest. Even if you move a large army, neither side is likely to run short on provisions.
「Iris, how are we on preparations for our expeditionary force?」
「All but complete. No issues to report.」
As originally planned, we’d organized 20,000 troops. Of those, 18,000 formed the expeditionary army; the remaining 2,000 stayed behind as garrisons—1,000 each in Ares and Gantz. Selena commanded the Ares garrison, Sharon the defenders in Gantz.
The three of us—me, Selena, and Sharon—can all use Heal, and we can stay in contact via real-time comms. Given the distance to the planned battlefield, I’d be uneasy leaving either city to anyone else. That is exactly why I scattered the people who can coordinate information smoothly.
When Selena and Sharon stood together on the wings, the army’s striking power was terrifying. Part of me wants to lean hard into strengthening the right and left flanks. But this fight is about pacifying the Kingdom of Belta. Going too far risks turning them into overkill. We need a fair number of enemies to survive—so they could become allies later.
「Selena, I’m counting on you to hold things here.」
When we departed Ares, I called out to her. She gave me a firm nod in return. For everyone now, Ares was home—our foothold for a better life to come. Being entrusted with that place clearly meant something to Selena.
「I might not handle things as well as you do, Alan.」
She sounded a little uneasy.
「Back when we all fought in the Great Demon Forest, we had fewer people, and the townsfolk weren’t nearly this cooperative. Now the soldiers are more numerous and the citizens want to help. And of course I’ll be in touch, and so will Sharon and Iris—and even Gloria if you ask her. There’s no one else I can trust with this, Selena. I’m leaving Ares to you.」
「Understood, Alan. I’ll give it everything I have.」
This time Gloria was staying behind in the forest as well. It was hard to put the reason into clear words. I just didn’t want to drag her into a war between humans more than necessary. And I was wary that Count Khalifa might try something aimed at Gloria.
On top of that, I’ve always felt her abilities are better suited to defense than offense. It felt more natural for her to fight to protect the Great Demon Forest and Ares. Of course, it also meant she’d be there to keep the garrison from getting too thin.
「Sharon, work closely with Selena and Gloria and handle things as they come up, all right?」
When we parted in Gantz, Sharon gave me a brave little smile.
「Leave it to me, Alan. I’ll defend Gantz. I won’t let Selena outdo me.」
「Gantz started as enemy territory. It wouldn’t be strange if someone inside the city opened the gates for the other side. Gantz isn’t like Ares. In the absolute worst case, we can retake it later. Don’t push yourself so hard trying to hold it that you break.」
「Yes. I’ll be fine. I won’t overdo it.」
「Gloria, I’m counting on you to watch over those two. If it really comes down to it, I want you to at least get them out alive.」
「Chief, we’ll guard the forest. You can relax and go.」
All told, the nice round number of 20,000 came from adjusting troop strength with logistics in mind. With 2,000 on defense, our expeditionary force came out to 18,000.
I had Dalshim, Walter, Barten, and Prell each command 3,000 men. Ria and Elna took 2,000 for the main body, where we concentrated most of our mages and archers. In front of them I stationed 1,000 spear infantry under my direct command to form the main-line guard. Behind Ria and Elna, Lord Leister stood ready with another 1,000. His unit was composed of former retainers and volunteers from Gantz.
The final 2,000 were the troops of Viscount Nois and Baron Kael—the lords near Gantz who’d come to our aid. I placed them under Lord Leister as well, having them form the reserve behind Ria and Elna’s main body. That made 18,000 in all.
The 1,000 spear infantry under me were made up of volunteer former prisoners and new recruits. Put more kindly, they were seasoned veterans; less kindly, they were a wild bunch and a bit hard to handle. Still, so long as I could win their loyalty, they were experienced enough that they wouldn’t crumble easily. That was the calculation.
As the shield in front of the main body, they were likely to take the brunt of the enemy’s assault. It was a high-risk unit built with acceptable losses in mind. That was exactly why I wanted them as my direct subordinates, with access to Heal. I’d also promised generous bonuses according to performance.
The rest of the army was almost entirely green recruits with no combat experience. A motley bunch thrown together, really. But each commander had done everything they could to drill their troops in preparation for this day. Their training should have brought them up to a respectable level—but I was still uneasy about entrusting them with the decisive moments.
To compensate, I had the Satellite members assigned as staff to each commander. Spread across the army, Satellite squads would relay and amplify their officers’ orders.
There were eleven Satellite squads. I split them—two each to Dalshim, Walter, Barten, Prell, Ria, and Elna’s units, with the last squad attached to Lord Leister. The only formations that didn’t get any Satellite members were my own spear unit and the city garrisons under Selena and Sharon.
Barten and Prell were originally royal army officers, so I also let them bring along their hand-picked subordinates. Dalshim and Walter weren’t inferior as warriors, but when it came to coordinating large formations, Barten and Prell did have an edge as people from the kingdom’s own military.
The battlefield we’d chosen lay on the plains between the capital and Ares. The two armies would crash into each other head-on. The enemy’s total strength was twice ours. Even so, I knew for a fact that the royal army’s main force—professional soldiers though they were—had seen almost no real combat in recent years.
The rest of their troops were a patchwork coalition gathered by the Prime Minister from the nobility. Their morale and organization were all over the place. By Iris’s and Leister’s reckoning, plus what Erwin dug up, the Prime Minister, Count Khalifa, and the royal army together didn’t even reach 20,000.
Those 20,000 were our primary target. On the nobles’ side, many were still sitting on the fence; Leister and Erwin both reported as much. If the Kingdom of Belta’s nobles kept to that ‘wait and see’ posture as expected, overall numbers wouldn’t be that different. The plan was to break our main opponents’ morale and force their surrender before the rest of the nobles truly committed. That was the path to victory I’d mapped out.
「So they’ve finally arrived.」
「Yes, Alan-sama.」
I exchanged a brief word with Julian as we looked over the enemy lines in front of us. Our army was still chronically short on personnel; about the only person at my side was Julian, acting as my page.
The orphans we’d taken in and were training at the school to be future imperial soldiers were, for now, still just a group of students. Even assembling the rail line, I was already pushing them hard enough that people could accuse me of overworking them. Sending them into battle simply wasn’t realistic.
In this situation, anyone with talent had to wear a lot of hats. The only reason I was managing at all was because I’d secured good people through Ria—and because I had Iris, one of the finest AIs humanity had ever produced, backing me up.
「Ader, I’m counting on your ability to keep things running smoothly. I expect you to perform as this unit’s deputy commander. If you’re useless, I’ll replace you with Julian.」
「Hahaha, Your Excellency, please be gentle.」
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