Chapter 375 part 1
Chapter 375:I had some business so I tried to talk to a Middle-Aged Man sitting sad and alone in the corner, but he got attached to me.
Day 88 – Afternoon, Castle of the Lord of Omui, Parade Grounds
I knew that they were strong. And since they were the Boy’s comrades, I had expected a high level of tactical polish as well. Most importantly, their ability to carve through Dungeons all the way to the mid floors had proven their power to me.
Even so, the variety of their tactics and their lightning-fast adaptability left me staggered. Five hundred seasoned frontier troops and elite royal guards are demolished and devastated by just twenty girls. Beautiful black-haired princesses? That’s nothing that soft!
「Break the center! Pincher then with the left flank then move into crane wing from rear left!」「「「Jaaaaa!」」」
「Right flank, draw them in while falling back. Separate them!」「「「Jaaaa!」」」
Based on the few rumors that reached me I expected some contemplative, deep-planning strategist type. But facing her in reality, she was a master of ingenious stratagems. In a blink of an eye, her swift and decisive commands pushed veteran troops of the frontier to the brink of collapse.
「Counterattack on the right! Whole unit, advance while pincering! Left wing, crush them!」
「「「Aye, column deployment!」」」「「「Encircle! destroy!」」」
The troops thought this was going to be a friendly war exercise, yet they’re trampled, fleeing in panic, failing even to cross blades. By now, they are divided and isolated to a point that command became impossible, with any semblance of formation long gone. Routed and scattered, they are annihilated without any ability to resist.
「Left wing, neutralized!」 「Center, obliterated!」
「Keep the formation and rotate!」
「「「Roger-ya!」」」
Twenty one war goddesses swept the field. Well, because the group was small, Shariceres-sama, her maids, and even Meriel joined in, so the total is twenty-four. And this is their strength without the most fearsome young man and the nine who, with just that handful, once shattered the Confederation’s elite and that infamous mercenary band.
I never underestimated them, and taking them lightly would’ve been peak of absurd. But even fully braced for whatever might happen, I still hadn’t expected such power. They stood even higher than the 「Strongest」 I’ve imagined. Truly beyond imagination. No one had ever seen warfare like this.
「Over!」「「「Good work, everyone.」」」
Both the frontier troops and the royal guard are staring blankly, as if in a trance, completely stupified, after being wiped out in mere moments. Aside what the observers, everyone was entirely obvious to what just transpired.
Murimur and I observed from a distance, not as commanders but as lords. But had we stood on that field, we too would have been defeated without even understanding how.
「Father, do you understand now? If you want someone to learn from, it must be Pres-san. That is the summit a proper army should aim for. Aim for Haruka-san and the army will collapse, if they actually reached his level, the kingdom would collapse! If lots of people could do what Haruka-san can, the world would end, you can’t use that as an example!」
「Yeah, so this is what tactics truly are…The boy gave me writings on tactics and strategy. I have read and studied them, but seeing it with my own eyes is something else entirely.」
I hardly could comprehend it, yet I burned that sight into my eyes and engraved it upon my heart. It’s not merely a gathering of the strongest, but their awe-inspiring prowess as they were able to exhibit strength even beyond their abilities while acting in a perfect synergy with each other under the best command.
「Mellotosam-san, have you seen it? That is warfare polished through countless generations of unending conflict in the land where Haruka-sama hails from. Compared to that, our battles are child’s play. These tactics possess a level of cold-blooded logic that makes me doubt sanity of their people.」
「Yes, I saw it. Apparently, they come from a distant faraway land… and I’m grateful for the distance. A nation full of people like that, warriors who perfected technique and strategy through eternal conflict, would be a place I do not wish to approach. I’ve heard that there were no monsters in the boy’s country, but in a land crawling with those kinds of fighters, monsters would have been wiped out long ago. In that scenario, I daresay the monsters were the real victims.」
Apparently, the boy and his companions aren’t soldiers. All those strategies and tactics, they say, are common knowledge, taught to ordinary civilians.
Just what sort of a militant nation is that?! If an army from such a land ever faced us, even if every kingdom on the continent united, we’d be decimated before we could muster any resistance… When the boy once said, 「We can’t even recreate the food or the massage chairs from home, you know? I’m just a high-school boy, not an expert in anything. Really, anyone back there can manage this much? Probably?」I was shocked, yet a small part of me wanted to visit… Now? Never!
Even if they truly had the ultimate massage chairs, I want nothing to do with that place. If a lad like him is considered ordinary and there are droves of them, then it’s beyond whether it’s dangerous or not. A place filled with ordinary citizens more vicious than Dungeon Masters shouldn’t ever be disturbed. No joke, I’m really glad it’s far far away.
「Your Lordship, there’s only so much we can accomplish in one day, so here are manuals on drilling, marching, and unit maneuvers. Only when the troops can manage these will tactics have meaning, and once their training level rises, they’ll be able to shift formations while fighting, as you saw.」
「I apologize for imposing on your valuable time. Your command today was even more impressive than rumor claimed, I am in awe.」
She is the delicate-looking girl to whom the boy entrusts all command. Everyone calls her 「President」, surely their term for supreme commander. And even she, it seems, was just an ordinary student with no military background. Just what on earth does that country teach to its students?
They say the land is peaceful, orderly, and prosperous. Naturally so, who would dare invade a nation whose 「ordinary citizens」 are like that? In such a place, attempting any crime would mean risking one’s life, no wonder public safety is high. And there is no way a country wouldn’t flourish when everyone is given sophisticated education, where literacy is just a matter of course and even advanced mathematics, history, and music are being taught. As a lord, I would love to study there, but I doubt I could survive.
「Depth formation! Faster! Mind your distance and angle with the person next to you. Frontier Eighth Squad, you’re falling too far back!」 「「「Yes, ma’am!」」」 「If they break through, it’s meaningless. You have to draw them in!」 「「「Understood!」」」 「Yes, that distance is good!」 「「「Yes, ma’am!」」」
Show them how it’s done, explain it clearly, make them do it, coach and correct them, and when they get it, praise them. Repeat it over and over again until it becomes second nature. It’s better to master one thing perfectly than to learn a hundred things half-heartedly, they say.
You could visibly see the troops improving. Even if I personally took charge, getting caught in that formation would mean taking catastrophic losses before I could break through. I can tell from observing from above, but if I were on the front lines and they formed that while I was pressing in, I would’ve assumed I was winning, only to be pulled in and ground to pieces… They have some terrifying ideas.
Then came medium to long-range crossfire. A concentrated barrage from both sides on a single point. Even heavily armored cavalry won’t be able to endure that. And if the front line collapses, the momentum of the charge is lost. Once that happens, they’re trapped in a pincer and forced into defense.
That country must love war, they’re just too murder happy. You don’t come up with things like this unless you’ve spent centuries inventing and refining new ways to kill. And that’s supposed to be a peaceful nation? Did they slaughter every enemy until peace was all that remained? If there are a lot of boys like him, it’s not that far fetched.
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