“The time for the decisive battle is truly imminent.” (Therese)

Therese looked down at the rebel army led by Duke Nürnberg visible below from atop the field encampment and the further raised and expanded wall.
Just when we accepted the remnants of the escaped Helmut royal army, and finished their rearrangement as well as equipment supply, we were able to confirm the gradual amma.s.sing of the rebel army.

“Around how many people do they have?” (Wendelin)

“Let"s see. I guess it"s around 150.000.” (Philip)

Philip, who led the royal army"s group, answered my question.
Being a excellent tactical commander despite blundering at the inheritance dispute, he accurately saw through the military prowess of the rebel army.

“That"s a lot, isn"t it…?” (Wendelin)

“I think the group at the front are sacrificial p.a.w.ns.” (Philip)

“Eh?”

“Just call them as being in charge of losses. It"s something that often happened in past wars as well. Don"t mind it.”

“In charge of losses, you say…”

Due to Philip"s remark, Erw and Ina"s group, besides me, apparently can"t hide their discomfort.

“Duke Nürnberg wants to keep the losses of his soldiers low. At the same time, he wants to lawfully get rid of or exhaust the group that will become a hindrance to his rule of the empire in battle.”

“Certainly, the equipment and skill of the group at the frontline is second rate. I guess it"s Viscount Foot. If thou consider it that he will get removed sooner or later since his relations.h.i.+p with Duke Nürnberg is really bad, he will be crushed after using him as vanguard, no? It"s a tough world.” (Therese)

While saying that, Therese brings the telescope, which hung around her neck, in front of me.
My and Therese"s faces stuck together and her nice scent tickled my nose, but I tried to not pay any attention to that and observed the vanguard of the enemy army.

“The files of the troops are a mess, aren"t they? Is there a group of elitish soldiers as well?”

“It"s likely the n.o.bles with dodgy loyalty and the folks who were deemed unnecessary by Duke Nürnberg, right? That personage probably wants to advance everything in a logical manner.”

Mobilizing me and other magicians as well as a great number of soldiers, a large-scaled field encampment was completed in the Great Sorbid Wastelands.
For the sake of defending against the rebel army that"s marching north, a large and long wall, which even rivals large scaled castle walls using clay and rock, was finished.
Palings against horses have been erected all over in front of the wall and countless holes have been dug out as well.
No matter how much the liberation army struggles, it won"t be able to gather more soldiers than the rebel army.
Accordingly, Therese opted for a strategy of chipping away the enemy army"s forces with a defence battle in the Great Sorbid Wastelands.
It"s already approximately five months since the rebellion started.
The Great Sorbid Wastelands has developed into a big military base of the liberation army.
Therese was busily working at commanding the change into a military base, controlling the n.o.bles and governments in the rear in preparation for a protracted war and maintaining the liberation army"s organization and its supply structure.
Since I was a.s.signed to the post of staff officer, I have been helping out with the processing of the doc.u.ments together with Ina and Elise for some reason.
Katharina helped in the construction of the field encampment and acted as a.s.sistant of Burkhart-san who was teaching the other magicians.
Luise and Wilma were a.s.sistants for the combat training.
Erw has been taking lessons in the commanding of an army under Philip.
Also, he trained his katana techniques together with Haruka.
Which reminds me, I wonder what has Dous.h.i.+ been normally doing?
For some reason he worked hard at the reclamation and construction of the field encampment, and went hunting in nearby places.
Takeomi-san has been devoting himself to his guard role by staying at my side.
Occasionally, when he had time to spare, he looked at Erw and Haruka with looks and expressions full of anger, but neither of them minded at all.
They created a world for just the two of them.

『Haruka is a child that often accompanied me and onii-sama as a child…』 (Takeomi)

『Even that child will become an adult sooner or later, right?』 (Burkhart)

『I won"t approve that—!!』 (Takeomi)

There were also situations where Takeomi ended up running away while crying after being teased by Burkhart-san during his reminiscent talk.
It"s probably Burkhart-san telling him to finally grow up, but I don"t think that you can cure a siscon that easily.

『My guard… It"s fine since I"m currently handling doc.u.ments, but…』 (Wendelin)

Even after Takeomi-san ran away, I processed doc.u.ments calmly.
There"s Ina next to me, too. I think that it"s the end of the liberation army if an a.s.sa.s.sin is capable of appearing in Therese"s office.

『Earl-sama, you are doing such a job before I even realized, don"t you?』 (Burkhart)

『It"s because I can handle it somehow, I guess? How about it, do you want to help as well, Burkhart-san?』 (Wendelin)

『I"m busy with coaching the magicians.』 (Burkhart)

Burkhart-san taught magic to young magicians even though they were from the empire.
Since it"s only for a short period, their mana won"t grow that much, but there was no one more superior in magic accuracy and mana efficiency than Burkhart-san.
In reality, such a task probably belonged to Bladdson-san, but he had been murdered hideously.
That"s why Burkhart-san took over this job resulting in the number of his pupils once again growing on the distant imperial soil.

『Earl-sama, by now you are already Therese-sama"s retainer, aren"t you?』 (Burkhart)

『Though I still wonder whether that"s fine.』 (Wendelin)

I got incorporated into the liberation army despite being a foreign n.o.ble, but it doesn"t seem to be an issue since I received the peerage of imperial, honorary Earl.
Also, this was the biggest surprise (?).

『Honorary Earl Baumeister has deeds of arms. If you want to relieve him of that position, you just have to raise deeds of arms in the next battle.』 (Therese)

With Therese saying this, she apparently eliminated the meddling by the other n.o.bles.
However, I"d like her to stop agitating them too much.
It"s related to the improvement of the morale, but if things don"t go well, it"s very likely that it will become a primary factor for losing if they get deceived by Duke Nürnberg"s schemes.

『It"s an era where war didn"t exist for a long time, but for a n.o.ble there"s nothing as valuable as deeds of arms.』 (Therese)

It"s as Therese says. Thanks to that I increased my power on the surface.
However, I wonder whether it"s really fine to hold two peerages without getting in contact with His Majesty?
There"s no precedent and the bureaucratic n.o.bles will likely kick up a fuss.

『Even if you worry about it, it can"t be helped. For now we have no other choice but to win.』 (Armstrong)

Even so, I was grateful that Dous.h.i.+ is nearby.
It"s because if he"s able to explain things to His Majesty later, he will likely describe the circ.u.mstances correctly.
Of course we can also expect a lot from him even as war potential.

『True, we now have no other option but to just do that.』

『It"s a time for war. You have to shake off unnecessary dwelling and simply focus on striking down the enemy in front of you.』 (Armstrong)

Dous.h.i.+ stared at the rebel army with a sharp glint in his eyes. It was as if he"s daunting the entire enemy army.
Conversations like these took place as well, but currently I"m watching the battle formation of the approaching rebel army next to Therese.
While having our faces close to each other due to the single binoculars,

“Is it almost the entire force?”

“As expected, it"s close to the limit at this point in time, I think.”

I feel like Elise mood has unmistakably taken a nosedive, but currently it falls under war preparation.
Thinking that I will cater to her mood later, I averted my look from the rebel army.
It"s definitely not because Elise was scary.

“They took their time with the cleaning up of the royal army that had invaded and laying the groundwork around the imperial capital. We completed this field encampment during that time. Taking this place will likely cost them dearly. Since he likely wants to avoid losses among his own soldiers, it"s a given that the guys at the frontline will be wasted after using them.” (Therese)

Therese is confident after seeing the group at the front she could confirm as n.o.bles from their faces.
That means, just as Philip said, the group at the front is a disposable unit.
That"s why there will be no problems with their equipment being bad and their training being insufficient.

“It"s probably feasible for it to be an annihilation and repulse of the enemy, but…”

“Yes, that"s right. It will exhaust our army, too.” (Therese)

Losses will come up and fatigue will also acc.u.mulate.
We will likely waste a large amount of arrows, too.
At the moment we got exhausted Duke Nürnberg would be able to attack us with his favourite elites causing the risk of the field encampment falling.

“It"s a cruel plan, but it"s very effective, isn"t it?” (Wendelin)

“There"s no way to prevent it either.” (Therese)

Regarding the unneeded n.o.bles and soldiers as nothing but consumable goods can be called as logical thinking at a frightening level.
However, since he and his staff won"t be among those victims, he might not feel overly much mental anguish over it.

“Get ready for interception!”

At the same time of conveying Therese"s order to our entire army, the rebel army… didn"t start moving.
That"s because three knights approached our side while hoisting a white flag, despite their army being in a formation ready for battle.

“Where is d.u.c.h.ess Philip-sama!?”

“I"m here!” (Therese)

The knights hoisting the white flag were military envoys.
They called out to Therese and she answered them.
Despite the opponent being a rebel army, that was etiquette.

“Thee came to ask for our surrender?” (Therese)

“If possible, we hope for that and we have a statement of His Majesty.”

“Humph! A fake emperor that stole the country with a rebellion? Duke Nürnberg-dono, a disappointing man who"s more intolerant than expected.” (Therese)

The knights didn"t ask or say anything towards Therese"s reply that dripped with sarcasm.

“In that case, the rest will follow after we bring it to an end with a battle.”

“I guess that person works swiftly. If possible I"d like to avoid losses though.”

“His Majesty thinks the same. In that case, matters change…”

The military envoys return to their own army"s position after proposing something unexpected to Therese.

“Dining together, what is he planning?” (Therese)

The condition presented to Therese by the military envoy was to hold a dinner between the leaders before the battle.
I wonder just what the h.e.l.l will be achieved by doing something like that?
Is this a flag that often occurs in such kind of stories where we are supposed to think 『The enemy has their own circ.u.mstances as well, so they aren"t really hateable either, right?』 after actually trying to talk and listening to the explanation of the enemy boss?
Or more precisely, something like that is unnecessary this late in the game.
In my eyes I believe that I"d like someone like Duke Nürnberg to perish on his own accord if he gets defeated.

“If you consider it normally, it"s a case where you have to be careful of deliberate murder, right?” (Armstrong)

Everyone including me revealed an expression full of surprise due to Dous.h.i.+ having a decent opinion for a change.

“Well, even I can come up with something to that extent!” (Armstrong)

“But you know, it will be fine with our side preparing the venue and the meal, right?”

Since Burkhart-san was next to Therese as well, he has heard the conditions regarding the dinner of military envoys.
For both sides it was up to three people including the respective leaders.
The location was right at the half point that can be watched by both armies.
Moreover, we were told that it"s fine for our side to prepare the dishes.
Even though there"s also the possibility of us putting poison into it, they still don"t mind.

“Does he want to show his fort.i.tude to the rebel army"s soldiers?”

“However, it"s surely effective.”

In this time"s rebellion play, there was also the means of us killing him with magic in the worst case.
However, that method was actually prohibited by Therese.

“n.o.bles are beings with high pride. No matter how much they might be rebellious elements, the rumours would get worse if you get rid of him with such method. It not unlikely for that to influence the reign after this.” (Therese)

“Even though Duke Nürnberg didn"t lose to d.u.c.h.ess Philip in ability, his life was put to an end after getting killed in the middle of realizing his will. d.u.c.h.ess Philip is expected to be the legitimate winner, but under her government the empire keeps deteriorating. Therefore, this me, who succeeded the will of the hero Duke Nürnberg, will take over! or something like that?”

That means it will be easy to use the existence of Duke Nürnberg, who was murdered premeditatedly, for the next guy to cause a rebellion.

“If he"s turned into a tool of wors.h.i.+p, it will become a nuisance in the distant future. Regarding it on short-term, there will be many victims, but the way of thoroughly and completely crus.h.i.+ng them will nip the buds of the next rebellion and that might eventually result in less losses in long term.” (Therese)

There was the possibility that survivors, who can"t agree with the settlement, and other n.o.bles would use him as a banner for a rebellion.
There"s also the worry that the group that supported Duke Nürnberg would join up with other dissidenting elements to hinder the rule of Therese.

“It"s necessary to establish the fact that Duke Nürnberg died after getting defeated in battle, no matter through which eyes it"s seen. At this late hour there"s no leeway to talk it over, but I guess we will be doubted as being intolerant, if we don"t accept. Unexpectedly, I think he might have hoped that our side would turn him down.” (Therese)

She"s saying that he might have had the intention to advertise Therese"s cowardly behaviour to both sides.

“I have decided to accept it. Now then, it will become an outdoor lunch or dinner, but…” (Therese)

Therese sends a messenger to High Earl Mizuho who has set up his army in the centre just like her.

“If we use the local cuisine of the Philip Dukedom or the Nürnberg Dukedom, it will become unfair. As such I have decided to have them prepare Mizuho cooking.” (Therese)

A few minutes later High Earl Mizuho showed up and accepted Therese"s request.

“Therese-dono, I will take you up on it if you request it, but will Duke Nürnberg eat something like the Mizuho cooking?” (Mizuho)

High Earl Mizuho ordered his retainers at once and they began to put up the tent for the dinner at the halfway point between the two armies.
Furthermore, transferring even such things as magic tools for cooking, the cooks that are employed by the Mizuho household, start their work.
It seems they are preparing something similar to traditional j.a.panese cuisine that"s brought in courses, but it looks like High Earl Mizuho"s worry is about whether Duke Nürnberg, who is famous for hating the Mizuho people, will eat the Mizuho cuisine.

“If he doesn"t eat it despite proposing a dinner meeting by himself for the sake of showing off his bravery, it will be fine to publicly announce that he actually couldn"t eat anything due to succ.u.mbing to his own nervousness. Besides, as a matter of fact, that man is not very good with the dishes of his home town.” (Therese)

“That"s the first time I hear about it!”

High Earl Mizuho showed an expression of surprise due to the personal information about Duke Nürnberg he learns of for the first time.
Certainly, usually he makes one imagine that he likes his home town and that he puts the highest priority on it.

“What kind of dishes are eaten in the Nürnberg Dukedom?”

“Ones with deep flavour.” (Therese)

“The flavour is?”

“The seasoning is extreme. If you use plenty of seasoning, be it sweet or spicy, it produces the idea of a life in luxury, right? Until fish dishes spread, we were also ridiculed for being all about potatoes, bacon, sausages and sauerkraut.” (Therese)

“A feudal lord that hates his own local cuisine…”

The prince-electors and their successors spend long time staying in the imperial capital.
His hate towards the cooking of his home might have grown all the more thanks to that.

“It seems he himself likes dishes with bland taste. He"s encouraging bland taste by saying 『Dishes with too strong flavouring are bad for one"s health』 at home, but this is the only thing producing a bad reputation for him among the population of his fief.” (Therese)

『Something like thin flavouring is for the poor』 and 『It"s better to use plenty of seasoning』 mainly seems to be firmly rooted in the opinions of the elderly.

“Since Duke Nürnberg is like that, his compatibility with Mizuho dishes will probably be good.”

A few hours after that, the setting up of the tent and the cooking preparations had safely come to an end.

“The highest grade of Mizuho cooking by the employed cooks, huh? How regrettable.”

I think I"d like to eat it, but both sides can only bring two attendants.
It"s unlikely that me, a foreign n.o.ble, gets chosen.

“Not being chosen is the correct answer because I think that I won"t enjoy the taste.” (Luise)

It"s as Luise says.
Even if I had a meal with that Duke Nürnberg, I don"t think that I would be able to enjoy the taste of the dishes satisfactorily.

“It"s fine if you go to eat at a delicious restaurant once this war ends.”

“That"s true, I guess. I will eat my fill then.”

“There are many restaurants I want to visit in Earl Mizuho Country.”

Wilma, whose appearance of holding the prototype sniper rifle has become completely familiar, seems to look forward to a Mizuho restaurant tour.
A booklet called Earl Mizuho Country"s National Restaurant Guide was tightly grasped in her hand.
I wonder just when did she obtain that?

“So, who will she choose as her attendants?”

“Let"s see… will you go Katharina?” (Wendelin)

“Before that, there"s no way for me to be chosen.” (Katharina)

Since it was a sudden proposal by the other side, Therese still hasn"t announced her attendants.
However, there was no expectation for me, who is a foreign n.o.ble, to be chosen.
Katharina, who is my wife, will likely not become a candidate either.

“Well, there"s also the move of knocking Duke Nürnberg out of his wits with your splendid manners, Katharina.” (Wendelin)

“Wendelin-san, that"s definitely not praise, is it? Such a position is not something you aim for through popularity, but…” (Katharina)

Katharina apparently remembered about me previously telling her that her etiquette is too exaggerated.

“As candidates, young Duke Baden and someone with the rank of Earl are appropriate, no?” (Ina)

I guess Ina"s prediction can likely be described as mostly valid?
However, it seems that Elise"s opinion was different.

“Dear, get ready to go out.” (Elise)

“Me?” (Wendelin)

“Yes. I believe that you will definitely be chosen.” (Elise)

“I wouldn"t mind at least taking a look if Duke Nürnberg was a beautiful woman, but I have no interest in a guy, okay?” (Erwin)

“You are an old man in such matters, aren"t you?” (Wendelin)

I end up being astonished by Erw, but since I have only once seen that Duke Nürnberg is a discerning, keen, handsome man, he"s nothing more but an enemy for me.
In the end he"s only causing troubles for others. If possible, I wish that Elise"s prediction doesn"t come true.

“Earl Baumeister-sama, Her Excellency d.u.c.h.ess Philip is calling for you.”

“Elise"s prediction was right on the mark, wasn"t it…?”

However, contrary to my hope, Elise"s prediction proved to be right.
Being ordered to attend by Therese, I got stuck with going to see the face of Duke Nürnberg whom I don"t want to see at all.
The option of refusing not existing is likely a remaining habit of my time as salaryman where it was wrong to not entertain the other party, no matter how much I might have hated it.

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