“A superb view, isn"t it!?” (Armstrong)

“No, I don"t think it"s a situation where you would call it that…” (Wendelin)

One week after we set up camp in the Sorbid Wasteland, the rebel army finally sent forth its advance guard.
With the stone palings and trenches against horses we laid out along the road towards the southern tip in-between, both armies glare at each other.
The estimated military forces of the rebel army are around 40.000 whereas our allied forces amount to approximately 25.000.
Going by numbers, we were at disadvantage, but as for quality we shouldn"t lose to them.
Besides, since it"s a defensive battle, we shouldn"t lose as long as we don"t mess up… is what I want to believe.
We were stiff from nervousness since it"s our first war, but Dous.h.i.+ acted as usual as if it didn"t concern him at all.
Even Burkhart-san seems to be astounded by his nerves of steel.
I"m sure that he"s completely brazen-faced like a dragon.

“Let"s tear the imperial capital"s 『blue and white daikons to pieces!”

“””Ooohh~~~!”””

Moreover, the ones with the highest fighting spirit amongst our allies are probably the members of Earl Mizuho Country who have been dispatched for the first time to a battle other than their past defending ones.
From their point of view, the advocates of an Urquhart race supremacy in the empire"s centre and south are inexcusable and they will go as far as annihilating them if they come attacking. Such feelings among them are strong.
Being deployed on the eastern side of the defence encampment, they provoked the rebel army while holding up the katanas they drew.
Furthermore 『blue and white daikons』 is a contemptible name the Mizuho people are using for the centre"s people like those in the capital.
Since I personally like daikon, I want you to avoid using it in scorn too much though.
Yesterday evening the pickled vegetables that resembled 『pickled daikon radish』 and the combined cooking in 『oden』 became a treat by High Earl Mizuho.
It went well together with the hot Mizuho sake in this still cold season.

“Their fighting spirit is roaring, isn"t it. That will be of help.”

And, in the centre of the encampment, the Supreme Commander Representative Alfons has taken up position together with Duke Philip household"s imperial knight order.

“Our numbers are lower than theirs, but will we manage somehow if we fight to decrease their numbers with a defensive battle?”

“I have high expectations of you, Earl Baumeister, for the sake of decreasing the casualties on our side. Best regards to Dous.h.i.+ and Burkhart-dono, as well.” (Alfons)

“I got it!” (Armstrong)

“Well, there"s no other choice but for us to be in the centre.” (Burkhart)

In case of a real battle like this, the deployment of the magicians was important.
While a magician has mana remaining, they are a joker-like existence that is capable of ma.s.s slaughtering ordinary soldiers.
Of course the biggest number of them is placed at the troops headquarters.
The military forces will end up collapsing quickly if the supreme commander gets killed after all.
However, there"s also the opposing move of leaving the defence of the headquarters thin on purpose. There"s also the possibility of using the clever scheme of diminis.h.i.+ng the enemy soldier"s numbers in one go by deploying powerful magicians at the left and right wing.
That kind of deployment is one of the possible strategies, but as a matter of fact, thanks to the device that jams 『communication』 and 『movement』 spells, it turned into a situation where we are troubled by the stationing of the magicians.
Since reinforcement by flying over won"t work, I have a feeling that they took the safe measure of putting us in the centre and spread the remaining magicians equally all over.
The Duke Philip household actually employs a number of magicians, consisting of one high-level, four intermediate-level and fifteen elementary-level magicians, that can"t be compared with someone like Margrave Breithilde. Even the other n.o.ble households are employing unexpectedly many magicians.
In addition to them, even the adventurer"s guild was ordered to temporarily recruit magicians.
It seems that there"s such a system in times of war. There were many magicians who responded to that.
The empire"s adventurer guilds are currently split in two.
The northern branches have been baited by Therese with being promoted to the imperial capital"s main headquarters after the civil war is over and have allied with our side.
The central and southern branches appear to be cooperating completely with the rebel army.
There are also some branches, who have announced their neutrality, among them. The rest of the guilds were in a state of being split into two factions depending on whom they are supporting.
In case of a reintegration after the war, Therese will likely end up with quite the hards.h.i.+ps.

“No matter which side"s military forces; both have gathered as many magicians as possible. There are also many folks who deny supporting either side as they hate such situations, but the supply of monster materials and magic tools will decrease for a while.”

Burkhart-san seems to be worried about the influence on the economy, but this much is inevitable as the civil war has to end.
Besides, pondering about that is Therese"s and the empire"s people"s job.

“I guess there are many magicians from the Ran race and Mizuho people?”

“That"s because it"s a critical moment deciding life and death for these ethnic groups.”

If one watches Duke Nürnberg"s way of handling things, it might be natural to feel a sense of impending danger.
There are a lot of magicians from the Mizuho people and the Ran tribe who had a dark brown skin colour. There seem to be especially many magicians employed individually by Earl Mizuho Country. Their quality shouldn"t lose to that of the centre.

“The relief units quality is high as well.”

“Earl Baumeister"s wife is a superior healing magician.” (Alfons)

Alfons seems to place great expectations on the ability of Elise"s healing magic.
If a great number of injuries are healed quickly, that will likely influence the army"s strength substantially.
Together with the healers that were dispatched by the church, Elise works as member of the relief unit slightly in the rear.
I have her devote to healing in the rear since her offensive means are lacking even if if she went to the front.
However, a disturbance occurred at that point.

『Eeh? You are splitting apart the relief unit from the one of Earl Mizuho Country?』 (Elise)

『Elise-dono, I know the fact about you also being a priestess of the church, but this issue is an adult consideration.』

『I heard the rumours, but…』(Elise)

The problem, which caused the most heated dispute when the empire made Earl Mizuho Country a protectorate, was this issue of religion.
As a matter of fact Earl Mizuho Country believed in another religion than the one of the church.
I don"t know whether that"s owed to them being j.a.panese-styled, but the religion is a like a mix of Buddhism and s.h.i.+ntoism. We have also seen several temple-like buildings in Earl Mizuho Country that had s.h.i.+nto shrine archways.

『The radicals in the church urged to have the Mizuho people convert religiously.』

If they did such a thing, it would have been highly likely for the Mizuho people to unite and start a religious war.
Heavy losses would have appeared on both sides, I guess.

『After all, much blood flowed at the time when the empire a.s.signed Protestantism as its state religion.』

The firm believers of Catholicism attacked protestants. Due to the protestants" side retaliating as well, it apparently went as far as being on the brink of a civil war.
This happened even though they are the same religion.
It would have become terrible if they pressed the Mizuho people to convert against their wills.

『Accordingly, they came up with a compromise policy.』

Although they are praying to the same G.o.d, the form is slightly different.
The Mizuho faith is something like a denomination of the church.
That"s how they forcibly handled it.

『The church agreed to not propagate its belief inside Earl Mizuho Country in a secret treaty. And the Mizuho faith promised to not propagate its belief in the rest of the empire either.』

It seems there are also people who have become believers of the Mizuho faith among other ethnic groups and moved their residence to Earl Mizuho Country. Likewise there are believers of the church among the Mizuho people living outside Earl Mizuho Country. But, since it was a very small minority, they weren"t minded overly much.

『Understood…』 (Elise)

Elise isn"t stupid, neither is she a religious fanatic.
She understood people who believe in other religions, but there are probably some parts she can"t agree with no matter what, too.
It might be inevitable since she has been involved with the church since her childhood.

『Being unable to approve since it"s a religion different from your own, is not much different from Duke Nürnberg, you know…』 (Wendelin)

『I"m sorry, dear.』 (Elise)

『Because you haven"t seen anything else but the church since your childhood, Elise, I understand even if you can"t agree at some parts though.』 (Wendelin)

It"s an arrogant manner of speaking, but this might also be the way of thinking of a person who was originally j.a.panese and has a vague view on religion.

『That"s right, Elise. Things like religions are just instruments after all.』 (Armstrong)

『Dous.h.i.+, since you are more or less the Royal Head Magician, put some proper thought into your wording.』 (Burkhart)

Due to the honest opinion of Dous.h.i.+, who doesn"t believe in religion at all in a different meaning from me, Burkhart-san rebuked him lightly.

『How about you, Earl-sama?』 (Burkhart)

『It"s not like I don"t believe in anything at all. Look, I want to pray before a battle like this as well.』 (Wendelin)

It"s a kind of 『Even the head of a sardine believes*』, but since I"m usually contributing to the church with donations and concessions, it should be fine if they are useful at times as well. (T/N: Basically “Even something worthless like the head of a sardine will be seen as something precious if there"s a will to believe in it.” It"s a proverb ill.u.s.trating the strangeness of religious piety.)

『Does that mean that I"m inflexible?』 (Elise)

『I don"t think that"s the case, is it?』

『That"s right. If it"s a really obstinate person, I think they will forcibly press a religious conversion.』

Ina and Luise, who possess a distanced relation towards the church just like me, comforted Elise.

『Besides, once the war starts, they won"t be able to worry about such things.』

『They won"t be able to say that they won"t heal someone because their religion is different.』

As Wilma and Katharina say, once the battle starts, the magicians and priests in charge of healing will become very busy.
Swiftly healing the wounded was something indispensable to maintain the military forces. As a matter of fact, at times they will have to consider the healing order.
a.s.suming two wounded people were carried in front of a certain magician who had mana left for one heal.
One person an ordinary soldier, the other a renown knight.
If the magician gave priority to the knight considering his fighting strength, what would he do if the soldier had a serious wound bringing him close to death?
Although the soldier would end up dying without getting healed, the future casualties would decrease by having the knight return, if one considers the war progress.
That means it was essential to heal the knight and let the soldier die.

『It"s no good if we don"t request the Earl Mizuho Country to be flexible as well.』

『The other side might not have such leeway, but there will also be cases where people will die if we don"t rely on them. That is, if we don"t handle this part flexibly.』

『Understood, dear.』 (Elise)

After this conversation, Elise headed to the field sick bay in the rear.
Nevertheless, religion is quite bothersome.

◆◇◆◇◆

“However, war is a cruel thing.”

Since there"s the danger of the wounded returning to the front-line after getting healed, it"s necessary to kill your opponent without fail in a real war.
Something like the previous dispute can"t be regarded as anything but a game, but real war ended two hundred years ago.
This situation is in order to not readily turn it into a war between countries.

“For the time being it seems that the enemy army"s general is introducing himself.”

Ahead of where Alfons pointed with his chin, there was a fat middle-aged man, who was riding a beautiful horse and wearing an extravagant armour, and two mounted knights who apparently served as his guards.
He made his horse gallop this way, but came to a standstill in front of the trench against horses I created.

“Barbarians who don"t understand the aesthetics of knighthood! Listen well! I"m the Imperial Army"s General Cla.s.sen who was ordered to liberate the Sorbid Wasteland by His Majesty!”

“Aesthetics, eh… I think that"s useless if you don"t win the war.” (Alfons)

“Humph! That dark female pig"s gutless cousin, huh!?” (Cla.s.sen)

Being treated as black pig; Therese probably wouldn"t have been very pleased about this.
Talking about aesthetics and such to people, I think you don"t use such slander.

“General Cla.s.sen, as you don"t work out and only boast about your management abilities, you ended up turning into a white pig.” (Alfons)

The rebel army"s general appears to be a traitor from the imperial army.
Going by his tone, he seems to be a friend of Duke Nürnberg, but his provocations were returned with provocations by Alfons.

“Nunu! If you surrender now, we will spare your lives.” (Cla.s.sen)

His face was bright red out of anger, but somehow he was able to not forget the courtesy before the battle of demanding surrender.

“Just our lives will be spared, ehh…” (Alfons)

“Barbarians who soil our Urquhart race"s right to live! Consider yourself grateful for just being allowed to stay alive!” (Cla.s.sen)

“That Urquhart race or whatever is just a dream. There"s no such ethnic group after all.” (Alfons)

“You have a retort for everything, don"t you!? Even though you are just a greenhorn!” (Cla.s.sen)

“You not being able to win an argument against such greenhorn equals to you being incompetent.” (Alfons)

“Acting arrogant though you are just a newcomer!” (Cla.s.sen)

Intending to provoke, he gets provoked in reverse. General Cla.s.sen"s face became deep red.
Even so, I"d like him to have a bit better taste in provocation and insult.

“Do you know him?” (Wendelin)

“He"s a famous idiot.” (Alfons)

He was able to become a general because of his good lineage, but without that he seems to be a person that can become at best a corporal.
His family"s home is proud of being a distinguished family from the time before the empire"s foundation. With those family ties, you can consider him as someone who matches well with Duke Nürnberg.
Thanks to Alfons" explanation, I understood the circ.u.mstances of this General Cla.s.sen.

“We will annihilate you lot!” (Cla.s.sen)

It"s different if it"s winning against 25.000 with 40.000, but a total annihilation should be impossible.
He"s treated as incompetent by Alfons as he doesn"t understand even that much.
General Cla.s.sen withdrew to the rear in order to start the battle.

“Won"t it be easier if we kill him with magic?”

“It"s a breach of etiquette. Since the other side is more or less abiding to the rules, let"s overlook him for now.” (Alfons)

I do feel like giving a s.h.i.+t about rules since the moment they caused a rebellion, but let"s follow Alfons" order here.
A short time later, the infantry stepped forward, and began to advance while placing planks on the trenches I dug up against horse attacks.

“All troops! Start firing!”

Since the rebel army approached the long-distance firing range, Alfons orders for the firing to begin, but all of the released arrows are repelled.

“A~~~ha ha! Did you see my army"s 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』!?” (Cla.s.sen)

Even though it"s not like he went out himself, General Cla.s.sen seems to be in a good mood after all of the first arrows were repelled.
He"s probably making almost all magicians cast a 『Magic Barrier』 and is trying to continue advancing just like that.

“That"s because they will be able to reach this field encampment unhurt if all goes well.”

Given that our side"s attacks are prevented, it might be possible to get the initiative without any losses if it"s done skilfully.
However, there"s a trap in this strategy.
Since our side"s attacks are stopped by a 『Magic Barrier』, they are unable to attack as well.

“Sometimes there are people who come up with such strategies, but usually it will be put aside as wild delusion, right…?”

Certainly, they won"t receive any attacks until the 『Magic Barrier』 isn"t removed, but in reverse they aren"t able to attack at all. With the harsh consumption of mana, it should become difficult later on .
Since he can"t reach such a way of thinking, General Cla.s.sen is an incompetent person, I guess.

“Even so, this is a chance, isn"t it?”

I take out the binoculars from my magic bag and start to search for magicians in the enemy lines.
With the elementary-levelled and intermediate-levelled magicians being spread out equally, the closing-in rebel army is almost evenly covered by the 『Magic Barrier』.
It might be an appropriate way of using magic for the rebel army which is aiming for a first victory due to their superiority in numbers.
Though that is if they don"t consider the endurance of the spell.

“The high-levelled cla.s.ses are…” (Wendelin)

After a few seconds, I discover a magician who possesses mana at the level of Burkhart-san.
Since he"s kept back in the centre after all, they seem to have a fixed number of good quality magicians.

“(I can easily defeat them if I go at it from the front, but…)” (Wendelin)

Given that they are the cornerstones of the 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』 covering the entire large army, they can"t act freely.
As proof of that, they are donning the appearance of common soldiers.
They are deliberately masquerading like that in order to prevent getting sniped with magic from our side.

“Wilma.” (Wendelin)

I bring my face close to Wilma"s, hand her the binoculars and tell her about the magicians disguising themselves as soldiers.
It"s in order to ask her to snipe them.

“Still don"t know…” (Wilma)

“It"s because not much time has pa.s.sed after increasing your mana. You will learn it sooner or later.” (Wendelin)

Wilma still hasn"t become used to distinguis.h.i.+ng magicians.
Accordingly I decided to designate the targets for her.

“Y~~~ea. Difficult.” (Wilma)

While saying so, Wilma nocks an iron arrow onto the aforementioned iron bow and snipes the magician.
Usually the arrow would be repelled by the 『Magic Barrier』. She shouldn"t be able to shoot a freely-acting high-level magician.
However, currently most of the magicians are busy with deploying the 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』 in a group effort.
As they are focussing their entire might on that, they shouldn"t be able to react to an iron arrow that comes flying at them all of a sudden.
A 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』 possesses a firm defence power, but naturally it has flaws as well.
It"s fine if you break through with offensive power that exceeds its defence power.
The iron arrow fired by Wilma penetrates the 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』 of the rebel army with a 『Boost』 I piled up onto it and smashed the head of the magician, who disguised himself as soldier, into smithereens.
By its appearance it"s a plain spell, but I remembered the sensation of having a large amount of mana taken away due to penetrating a quite firm 『Magic Barrier』.
The iron arrow, which pierced the target, causes further casualties by piercing several soldiers in the rear.

“Hii!”

Apparently getting confused by the death of a high level magician, the ranks in the surroundings become disordered, but the 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』 didn"t vanish.
It probably means that it won"t get erased by the death of one or two magicians.
No matter how splendid a magician, if their actions are tied up, they will end up dying quickly.
One can probably guess the ability of General Cla.s.sen who doesn"t understand such a thing.

“Tsk!” (Burkhart)

Burkhart-san clicks his tongue.
It was planned to give a signal to our allies once the 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』 vanished and have them fire spells and arrows at the enemy.

“Earl-sama, kill some more.” (Burkhart)

“Roger.” (Wendelin)

To pull down the 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』, there"s no other choice but to kill magicians who possess an advanced level of mana that supports a bigger part of the barrier.

“Insan, it"s that person.” (Katharina)

“It"s difficult to find them because of their disguises.” (Ina)

Katharina seems to also show the results of her special training with Burkhart-san.
Telling her the location of the disguised magician, Ina throws a spear using her improved mana.
Katharina places a 『Boost』 on it as well. It made a hole right in the middle of the magician"s torso and he died.
It"s definitely been an instant death.

“I feel sorry but he would return after getting healed if it was just an injury. Make sure to definitely kill them.” (Burkhart)

Burkhart-san"s role was to make sure that Alfons doesn"t die no matter what and to give orders to us.
At such times difference in experience will become apparent no matter what.
Even Dous.h.i.+ obediently abided to his orders.

“If Erw-boy dies while still unmarried, it will be pitiful.” (Burkhart)

“Burkhart-san as well, you can"t die because you are a newly-wed.” (Erwin)

“Say such things after getting married.” (Burkhart)

“I will marry soon.” (Erwin)

Erw who"s acting as my guard, retorts to Burkhart-san while looking at Haruka who is guarding Katharina, but honestly speaking, I didn"t really know whether he has a chance.

“Anyway, target those with a high magic capacity. There"s no doubt that it"s those who are disguised.”

“Hey, when is our turn?” (Luise)

“I"m bored, too.” (Armstrong)

“There will definitely be a follow-up attack. We are preserving you two so that you can kill a great number by yourself.”

Alfons declared so cool-headedly, however his opinion is correct.
Duke Nürnberg, who rose in rebellion, is wrong and Therese, who tries to defeat him, is right, but there are many n.o.bles who have no choice but to lower their heads to Duke Nürnberg who has seized most of the centre and south.
That means it"s necessary to remove their binding to Duke Nürnberg by achieving a great victory here.