Chapter 375 part 2
「Next. Center, let the enemy push through while delaying them. But make sure the pursuit team strikes from behind so they can’t turn around. If they turn around, your comrades die!」
「「「Yes, ma’am!」」」
Instead of forcibly halting the enemy, just wear them down while delaying. If casualties look likely, let them push through and attack from behind to finish them off. Like that, they won’t be able to turn around. And if they’re caught from the rear, there’s nothing left for them to do but run while getting pursued… How wicked! I’m never going near that country. Its people are too terrifying.
「The most important thing is retreat! Protect yourselves, of course, but protect your allies too! Always fall back while covering each other! If you run, you’ll die, withdraw properly!」
「「「Yes, ma’am!」」」
We can’t win. There’s no way we can win. Even if we gather more soldiers or bring in hardened veterans, it wouldn’t matter. No matter how favorable our odds, we’d never break this kind of army. If we can’t finish the battle decisively, there’s no hope of victory. Now that bizarre line from that book finally makes sense, 『Use a strategy using which even the weakest soldiers can win』. Normally, no matter how many low-level troops you bring, they’ll just lose to a few high-level ones. That line seemed absurd, but now I see: there was a way to fight that overcomes differences in level and numbers…
Is that why a boy of not even level 10 was able to exterminate monsters of the Evil Forest, and conquer the ancient dungeons?
No… That’s a separate issue. That’s something different on a fundamental level. Just as Meriel said, it’s something we mustn’t try to aim for, something we should even consider to emulate. To learn from that is… I’m glad we didn’t call him today.
The soldiers’ morale is on the rise. Even though they lost to a handful of girls, they’re overflowing with confidence from learning their way of fighting. They can feel themselves getting stronger, the light in their eyes is different now. But if that boy had come… the whole army would’ve had their spirit crushed. Their hard-earned confidence, their motivation… all pulverized and swept away.
Even Meriel, who had grown strong enough to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with those girls, had her spirit shattered just watching the boy’s training. Princess Shariceles must have felt the same, that entire day, her gaze remained fixed on empty air. Just what sort of a hellish training someone at merely Level 24 has to undergo so that they can fight Level 100 legendary-class monsters? I hardly can even imagine the severity of the ordeal one has to put themselves through to accomplish that, but it has to be severe enough to leave any witness speechless.
That boy single-handedly rebuilt the frontier with a playful smile on his face, while accepting every disaster onto himself, and securing peace. That Haruka-kun still exposes himself to battles so harsh that even these girls cannot keep up. If not even they can follow him, then to repay our debt we must climb to the very same heights as these girls, or there’s no point in speaking of repayment at all.
Even now he is said to be fighting in the dungeon depths, accompanied by the beautiful maidens of monster origin, far deeper than the lowest floors we can’t even reach. We must become stronger, not just individual soldiers, not merely the army, but the entire frontier itself. For the sake of the one who keeps on fighting where even our armies can’t break through. The debt the whole frontier owes can’t ever be repaid unless the entire frontier grows stronger.
「Omui-sama, the exercise is finished, but shall we continue with individual instructions? I suspect your troops are exhausted, but mastering three-person tactics will dramatically raise survival rates. And once they learn to coordinate in threes, it will naturally translate to better coordination with larger units. What’s your word?」
「If you are willing to teach, my soldiers could ask for nothing more, but are you girls not tired yourselves? Being the one who requested for your presence, I would not want you to overextend yourselves.」
「Father, I’ve trained in these tactic, so I will help with training the troops.」
Coordination. Three low-level soldiers lacking in individual ability can be obliterated instantly even in simple straight frontal attack. But to think they can be this formidable when coordinating together… If they move together as a group, then even with quick movement skills it becomes hardly possible to break them.
A land where even weak soldiers can contend with powerful troops through numbers, where even common civilians fight on the level of these girls and that boy. And separate from that, actual professional soldiers and well equipped armies apparently exist alongside them. And Haruka-kun counts as an ordinary citizen there… Compared to that nation, hell itself would feel lukewarm.
The soldiers’ stance and bearing visibly shift, they are becoming seasoned fighters before my very eyes, learning the optimal methods for battling monsters overshadowing humans in strength.
These transcendent girls of over level 100 have perfected such coordination. During the recent civil war, our frontier army and the royal guard led by the princess, together overcame a dungeon overflow, but these twenty girls achieved the same feat alone.
They are called the black-haired princesses, but in truth, they are war goddesses reborn. Since joining their training, both Meriel and Princess Shariceles have improved at a staggering pace.
That’s why I asked for their assistance in training of our soldiers, but to think it would be this intense… Wait, is it just me, or is Murimur, who was sitting beside me in a dress to observe, suddenly missing? No… I think I see her now, fully armored and charging into the fray?!
The title of Princess Knight, symbol of this kingdom, has only ever been held by seven people throughout history. And now here we have both the current and former Princess Knights joining the practice, an unbelievable sight. What’s unbelievable about it is that the very person who told me not to participate, saying, I’ll get too caught up in the battle and miss the chance to learn, so I should stay out and just observe, is now jumping in with full enthusiasm… She even brought the armor… Just for herself.
「Hmm? Meripapa-san, are you being left out? Looks like they’ve shoved you to the sidelines, or more like the edge of the training grounds? It’s kind of sad you’re being excluded, but since you are a middle-aged man, that’s pretty much your unavoidable fate? Oh, and while we are at it, could you relay a message to your aide for me? Something like, 『Dungeons are crazy? Or rather crazy deep? Or rather they might be getting way deeper? Sort of?』」
The boy appeared out of nowhere, without any warning, accompanied by two girls and a single slime, then casually dropped a major revelation as if it were idle chatter. And yet… there was an even bigger issue.
「Hey there, Haruka-kun. Sorry for imposing so much on Pres-san and the others. As for dungeons deepening, that’s a serious concern. Are you certain about it? Also, there’s no need to tell my aide, I am the lord of this land. It’s the aide’s job to come report things to me, remember? That aside… how deep were the most recent Dungeons you cleared?」
「Originally, we’ve been prioritizing the deeper ones, the ones that look like they go beyond the middle layers, but ;ately, even the shallow ones are easily breaking past floor 90? The deepest we’ve hit was 99. Today was 95. Imagine going into a shallow dungeon, under 50 floors, and it suddenly evolving without anyone noticing into a medium sized one? That would be really bad? Monster numbers and strength would spike up all at once, so it might be better to issue a warning or something? As for the investigation method, I’d recommend sending a bunch of Middle-Aged Men into dungeons, if they come back, it’s all right, so just seal them there, and if they don’t come back, it must’ve evolved, so just keep throwing Middle-Aged Men inside until it’s completely buried down, how about it?」
We definitely need to issue an emergency notice. Indeed, someone has to tell the aide..Wait, when did my aide show up next to us? He was taking notes and immediately left to report… Why does he only ever appear when Haruka-kun shows up? And why does he follow Haruka-kun’s instructions without hesitation? I haven’t issued any orders though? I wasn’t even asked anything? Just whose Aide is he, anyway?!
「Yeah no, that strategy’s way too cruel to Middle-Aged Men, alright? I mean, most soldiers and adventurers are middle-aged men, sure, but using them to probe out the dungeons and then not even letting them out is kind of a problem, don’t you think? So, were all the Dungeons you explored recently that deep?」
「Now that you mention it, I guess sealing them in dungeons does create a dangerous potential for an endless spawn of Middle-Aged Men! I’ve gone into something like ten of them since I returned, and every single one turned out deeper than expected? Though, weirdly, the monsters didn’t feel all that strong. Well, I guess from the 90th floor and down they do get tougher? But even then, the drops are whatever, and there are barely any treasure chests, and there is only trash inside! Now that I think about it, having more floors but fewer rewards is basically exploitative labor! I just thought about going to file a complaint with dungeon masters, but then remembered, I already murdered them? Or better said that I took care of them? I guess?」
In such a short span of time they traversed several dungeons that extended past the 90th floor and the dungeon masters were murdered. In other words, the dungeons had been completely destroyed. Unable to obtain remuneration for that, since he is still not an adventurer, he is diving into the deep floors that even the black-haired war goddesses are forbidden from entering.
「「「Thank you very much.」」」
Training is over. The soldiers are exhausted, but their eyes are brimming with confidence. It had only been a single day of training, but every one of them could feel that they’d gotten stronger.
And then, there is an invitation to Haruka-kun’s home for tomorrow. Apparently, Meriel and Princess Shariceres had already received invitations, but it’s apparently located deep within the Evil Forest… Honestly, I’m not sure whether I wanted to know how one even lives in such a place. But there is no way I could decline an invitation from our benefactor.
Born into a house tasked with safeguarding the Frontier, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve marched off to fight in the Evil Forest… Never in my life did I imagine I’d be invited there for a friendly visit. Yah, life really is unpredictable.
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