The Strategist Knows Everything - Volume 3 Chapter 2
Part III: The Imperial State Edition
Chapter 2: Defensive Battle (2)
Translated by : Hiro02
Edited by : SevenTails
We descended from Frezberg’s back onto the fort and headed to the front. The Imperial soldiers around watched us from a short distance.
If we wanted to buy time, we had to focus the enemy’s attention on a single thing. That’s what I meant earlier.
Using my presence as bait, we would become the focus of the enemy’s attention and attacks. The commanders would then fight them.
I didn’t know if I could call it a strategy, but it was what I was going to do.
The problem lied in the fort’s soldiers being baffled by our presence. We’ve never been in a situation where we had to fight together in a fort before because we, Nox, were basically reinforcements.
The Imperial soldiers would defend the fort and we would attack the Albion forces that were attacking the fort. We fought together but kept our distance. We could fight as individuals, so we didn’t need cooperation.
This time, however, was not going to be the case. We and the Imperial Army wouldn’t be able to improvise. No, even if we could, it would be meaningless against the Albion army.
So, for us, the Imperial Army that was watching us from around was a hindrance. At least until we started to fight under Fio’s command.
“Brave men of our Albion Army! The enemy is few! We must defeat Yukito Kurei and bring the divine fan, Klarus, back under the white flag!”
With Dick’s order, Albion Army’s vanguard began to advance.
Fort Raire defended a single road. Both sides were too steep to circumvent, even more so for a large army. Thus, the only way to take down Fort Raire was with a frontal attack.
Albion’s army had been attacking with overwhelming power, taking advantage of their sorcerers, but now they began to advance their infantry. They must have decided that sacrifices were inevitable.
Nevertheless, it was a foolish move. It would have been better if they had just focused on their magic attacks and taken their time to strike. It’s convenient if the enemy comes into our line of fire.
“We’ll hold here until Fio sends a sorcerer. If possible, we don’t want to fight the Imperial Army around us though, do we?”
“Right. Shall I erect a barrier?”
“Can you do it?”
“If you want me to, but we have to keep the Imperial Army away from us a little further or else they’ll hurt themselves.”
I see. So that means we should have the Imperial Army go away. I took Erica’s suggestion and held my fan up high.
Seeing Albion’s advance, I announced to the Imperial Army that had begun to approach us.
“Attention all Imperial troops! Do not engage for the time being! I want you to stay away or you could get us into trouble!”
The Imperial Army stopped and started to fall back little by little.
It wasn’t just my words taking effect. It was also Erica.
The Imperial Army began to fall back when they saw that the ball of flame that had appeared around Erica began to swirl around us, gradually increasing in size and the range of its swirl.
As the ball of flames grew in size, it split into several parts, widening its area covered. Then, about ten meters away from us, the flames exploded.
The flames went upward and spread outwards horizontally. From above, it would look U-shaped and we were in the middle of it.
“Guess we’re not fighting behind a wall of water, but a fire one.”1
The surrounding area was covered by the sea of flames that Erika had created. I could hear the bewildered voices of the soldiers of the Imperial Army. I’m sure the Albion army was confused as well.
The Albion Army had come to target me. I’ve even gone through the trouble of isolating myself for it. It doesn’t make sense, does it?
“Four men and a cripple versus 30,000?”
“Captain Ars, do you think it’s me who is slowing you down?”
“Is there anyone else here?”
Captain Ars gave me a look of wondering why I was asking that. I thought I’d gotten better at handling these things lately, though.
Looking around, everyone had the same expression on their face.
“Yukito-sama is the weakest of the bunch, by all accounts.”
“I think it’s the situation that counts when it comes to strength.”
“I’m confident that I can beat Yukito nii-chan in any situation.”
“With Roy, yes. Maybe Erica and Mikana can beat me too though, right?”
I am sure that I am not as strong as the two women in terms of physical strength. At the very least, Erica would definitely be weaker than me if she couldn’t use her magic.
“Even if I can’t use my magic, I’m not going to lose to you even if I’m unarmed, okay?”
“Your thoughts are all over your face, Yukito-sama. Of course, I will not lose either.”
Mikana and Erica poked me with that. I am very unhappy about it.
Erica had told me that strong people use magic unconsciously. Those who have an increase in physical ability and reaction speed that is inhuman are almost always the beneficiaries of magic power.
Therefore, a sorcerer who can use his or her magical powers at will can fight a good amount of hand-to-hand combat without training. However, sorcerers who devote their time to improving their magic skills instead of mastering their weapons do not do so often. Blasting away people with magic is more powerful than swinging a sword or spear.
I had always thought that it was because of her magical powers that the obviously slender Erica was able to fight alongside her fellow commanders.
“I don’t care how physically strong you are, someone who isn’t accustomed to handling weapons isn’t a threat. I’m well trained in using other forms of arcane magic, so even if I don’t have any magical abilities, I won’t be defeated by you.”
“Yukito-sama, you may be able to defend yourself, but you have not trained to defeat an opponent in earnest. You are not a threat to us in the slightest.”
Those women are so harsh. I can’t believe they would say that to me when I was worried about not being able to fight as much.
It’s true that I don’t have the ability to fight. Yet even if I did, I can’t be a threat if I don’t have the skills to do so. I understood what Mikana meant when she said that.
“I’m slowing you down…”
“Come on, stop sulking. Your power is not only in your hands, is it?”
“Yes, yes. Yukito-nii-chan’s job is to strategize, right?”
“It’s our job from here on out.”
Three of them tried to console me but I couldn’t help but feel a sense of futility. I think it’s because I’ve come to understand that I’m slowing them down.
“Our role is to fight using your strategy. Your role is to command us. Our roles are different and if Yukito-sama, the commander, could do everything by himself, he wouldn’t need us. Yukito-sama gathered us because we have powers that you don’t have, right? Now it’s time for us to show our power. Please stay calm and do not move from your spot.”
“I’m not going to let anyone get close to you.”
With those words, Mikana began to prepare one of the two bows she had brought with her. It was the shorter one that was designed for easier handling.
As if Mikana’s words were a signal, each of us began to prepare our weapons.
“Come to think of it, this is the first time you’ve seen me use a weapon, isn’t it?”
“Indeed. Basically, he only orders us to fight using magic.”
“Yukito-nii-chan only orders us to fight as units and we get quite frustrated with that, you know?”
“Yeah. We don’t need to go on a rampage, and above all, with your strategy, we’ll win easily. Our personal bravery doesn’t come into play at all. It’s the command that stands out, and because of that aspect, Nicola always manages to get to the crucial points.” Captain Ars grinned wryly. I think he was trying to tell me that I should give them the opportunity to stand out.
Nicola indeed specializes in commanding troops, and that’s what I appreciate about her. I wonder if that’s what everyone was complaining about.
“We all have our specialties. At least, in terms of personal bravery, we’re better than Nicolas-san.”
That’s what I thought when I saw that Mikana was very motivated today.
I know more about everyone’s abilities than they do because I can see their statuses, but they may be concerned about my evaluation or may think I’m not making the best use of them. It seems that I didn’t pay enough attention to them.
This time, they finally had an opportunity to show off their skills. That should get them fired up.
It’s true that none of the four of them were natural leaders. Captain Ars used to lead a group of mercenaries, but he was basically an individual who worked on his own while Mikana was more suited to move around in small groups. Roy and Erica were people who rarely had the opportunity to lead others. It’s probably easier for them to fight alone.
I’ve been taking it for granted that we worked as a team and rarely utilized them as individuals, but I think I need to change my mindset a little.
“Yukito-sama has only seen strong people like His Majesty, the King, and Sophia-sama, so I can understand why he thinks that our strength is not enough. However, if we are only against common soldiers, we are capable of doing pretty well too, right?”
Then Mikana stepped forward a little. Captain Ars and Roy lined up next to Mikana, with Erica standing a little behind. Maybe Erica’s role was to protect me.
“You’re more spirited than ever, Mikana?”
“Is that so? I’m the same as always, aren’t I?”
“Bullshit. You’re lying. I can see through your eyes that you’re trying to boost his estimation of you, aren’t you?”
“I’ll leave that to your imagination.”
Captain Ars and Mikana were having such a conversation.
Did the Albion army take our actions as a provocation? Although that’s exactly what they did.
It seems that all the commanders in the vanguard ordered their men to head towards me.
A ladder was necessary for the vanguard soldiers to climb up to the fort. Albion hadn’t brought any large siege weapons to traverse the road to Fort Raire. So, if they didn’t rely on Renketsu magic, they have no choice but to use a mass mobilization strategy. (EN: To overwhelm with numbers.)
However, because of my words and provocation, the Albion Army’s goal now was not to take down the fort but to kill me. Their eyes were on me. That’s why the Albion army was rushing at me, who was on top of the wall, in the center. There are probably close to 10,000 Albion soldiers in the vanguard, who are trying to rush towards me in the center of the fort.
“They haven’t hung the ladder well, have they?”
“Didn’t I tell you in the beginning? The more organized an army is, the less it can move without instructions. That means it’s hard to be flexible without instructions.”
“Could it be a way to buy time with all this chaos?”
“Well, I wasn’t told how much time to buy,” I explained to Erica, who was standing beside me. This will surely buy us some time.
Nevertheless, it was just a trick. The captains of the units call out to each other and respond immediately, and from there, it’s a battle between the four of them and the Albion soldiers who were climbing up one after another.
There were about ten thousand vanguard troops. Of course, we won’t be fighting all of them at the same time. But without a doubt, the four of them would be fighting more enemies than they could handle themselves at the same time.
“This wall of fire can be extinguished at my will. When you decide that we can no longer fight, please give me instructions.”
“All right. I’m sure Fio will take control of the Imperial Army before we all reach our limits.”
Roy drew out his sword and then said, “If that’s the case, that means this special stage has a time limit, right? How about we take bets on who’ll do best?”
“Oh my, you’re so bold, aren’t you? Why are we competing?”
“No one is going to be satisfied with someone else’s score. This is a battlefield. The one who gets the highest score will be…”
“The one who slaughters the most enemies.”
“Then, just don’t forget to count them.”
To my surprise, Mikana took Roy’s suggestion. Normally, she would have said that it was imprudent, but now she was a warrior, not a commander.
As Dio-sama once said, when you are on the battlefield, it is a shameful act to show mercy to an opponent who is prepared to face you.
Rather than being swallowed by the madness of the battlefield, you must swallow it and then kill the opponent. That’s what Captain Ars had told me. I don’t trust him much though because I’ve only seen him tearing through the enemy in a state of exhilaration.
Even if they say that, it doesn’t make much sense to me. There is a clear difference in mindset between me and the four of them. I guess there is a difference between a warrior and a strategist. A difference that cannot be bridged. The only way to close the gap would be for me to go to the front lines and take the perspective of a warrior, but I don’t think that’s possible. These four weren’t mere warriors.
They were strong men with whom few could match up to.
“Later, then,” Mikana said and instantly raised her bow.
Her sights were set on the first soldier who was starting to climb the ladder. By the time I realized that she was aiming at him, her arrow was lodged in his forehead.
“One.”
“Hey, hey, hey…”
“That’s not fair!” Roy shouted but Mikana had already fired her second shot.
“Two. I have no reason to go along with you all. One of my specialties is my ability to keep my distance. Three.”
“That’s true, too. You don’t have to go along with us every time.”
Erica then took something out of her coat and shook it with her right hand as hard as she could.
Before I could figure out what it was, the head of the man who had somehow managed to be the first to block Mikana’s arrow with his shield flew off.
“Does it count as one? Why do I have to be so stingy with my magic?”
”Save your magical powers. And, what’s that?”
“A whip. It’s a magical armament that can move freely with my magic power. So, I can do things like this, okay?”
As if Mikana alone wasn’t enough, three people climbed up at once. However, they were blown away at once by the whip that Erica lashed from the sides. The whip was wrapped in flames, giving it the destructive power that a simple whip couldn’t have.
Captain Ars and Roy, who were in the path of the whip, got down and dodged it while complaining.
“That’s dangerous!”
“What are you going to do if it hits us?!”
“I swung it because I knew you’d avoid it. Look, I’ve got a total of four, see? Good luck to you both.”
Indeed, Captain Ars and Roy were still at zero. Well, they haven’t even had a close encounter.
They looked at each other and then, determined not to let Mikana and Erica be the only ones to take down their prey, they charged towards the enemies themselves.
(1) TL Note: In Japanese, that phrase or idiom (behind a wall of water) has a meaning that to fight beside the last wall as nowhere to run