Having finished changing the city of Sakart into our base, we were summoned by Therese to Alhans which surrendered to the liberation army.
It appears that she"d like me, who is also a staff officer, to be at her side, since we obtained a military base from where we can safely look out towards the capital.
Given that Burkhart-san and Dous.h.i.+ served as her guards during our absence, I believed that she wouldn"t be lonely, but Therese might be fixated on me after all.
Entrusting Sakart to Popek-san"s group and other imperial n.o.bles as the construction work there had mostly ended, we arrived at Alhans while also having taken Philip and Christoph along.
As might be expected from a city that"s treated as auxiliary capital, Alhans was a city with a larger scale than Breitburg.
I have heard that Therese took the city through negotiations for a capitulation after she cut off the supplies during the siege operation.
Thanks to that, there was no obvious damage visible in Alhans.

“It looks like a nice place fell into your hands, doesn"t it?” (Alfons)

“You might say it happened in the course of events?” (Wendelin)

Alfons, who came to pick us up, thanked us for securing the fortress and city of Sakart.
If it stays like this, there not really much meaning to it, but since we carried out construction to expand the fortress and city, they apparently satisfy the requirements allowing us to apply pressure on the rebel army.

“At least for the city of Sakart, that is. Since the fortress was essentially used as storage by the local merchants even thirty years ago, none of us realized its existence until we received the report.” (Alfons)

It might have been usable if repaired, but given that its defences would be unreliable if it didn"t get fixed, they didn"t feel any necessity to go out of their way to take the fortress.
And even before that, I heard that the fortress wasn"t something the soldiers, officers and n.o.bles of the liberation army were aware of.
In Therese"s and Alfons" eyes it was an issue of remembering it in the first place, since the fortress had been abandoned before they were born.

“It"s a big help since it"s possible to pressure the capital and the frontline once we connect it to Alhans with a road. It looks like you developed the roads quite a bit as well, doesn"t it?” (Alfons)

“That"s only because I had freetime as there was no battle.” (Wendelin)

There was almost no battle for me during this time"s advance.
It was only to the extent of making Popek-san"s group surrender after threatening them with the 『Low Frequency Stun』 spell.
Or rather, Popek-san"s group looked like a gathering of blockheads at the beginning, but he joined us after predicting everything.
The city of Sakart joined the liberation army"s camp, and the city and the fortress got reinforced.
Since their economical sphere has entered our territory as well, he"s certainly a former elite soldier of the imperial army to have made his move after thinking this far ahead.
During my time in Sakart, I pa.s.sed most of my time working, even if it was almost nothing but construction work.
Also, I had left the command of the royal army group to Philip and Christoph, and asked them to take care of Erw"s training in the process.
While receiving Haruka as a.s.sistant, Erw spent fulfilling days even as he was busy.

『You know, I"ve got quite a bit of spare time…』 (Wendelin)

『Wend, go and do your construction work. I"m busy with Haruksan and studying how to lead a corps.』 (Erwin)

『Bah, there"s not that much difference to what I have done before… Does it still look like you will be dumped, Erw? Or did you actually have a secret lover in addition to Haruksan?』 (Wendelin)

『As if! Don"t jinx me.』 (Erwin)

Once I consider the details of the city"s and fortress" construction work, I feel that there"s is no difference to the period when I was called public works adventurer.
At any rate, something like happily hanging out together during work and private time everyday with your fiancée, even Erw, that fellow, is spending enviable days.

“Wendelin, I played a very active part, okay?” (Therese)

“A very active part?” (Wendelin)

Therese grappled with a large amount of doc.u.ments in the government office of Alhans.
Given that this place is also a metropolis under her direct control, it has become a enormous workload for her now that she"s ruling the city after occupying it.
Since there"s also the matter with the supervision of the prisoners that surrendered, a mountain of doc.u.ments has been created.

“Even you are sorting doc.u.ments, Burkhart-san?”

“That"s because you and your party hasn"t been here, Earl-sama…” (Burkhart)

Since Elise and Ina weren"t present either, Burkhart-san, who acts as Therese"s guard, apparently got stuck doing their part.
Given that he"s an intellectual who received education, he can normally handle this kind of work, too.
He"s a reasonably capable person who had been warmly welcomed by Margrave Breithilde.

“Umm, what about uncle-sama?” (Elise)

“Miss, do you believe that Dous.h.i.+ doing something like processing doc.u.ments?” (Burkhart)

“Umm… very rarely he does, maybe…?” (Elise)

Elise replied Burkhart-san"s question while lacking confidence.
In society magicians are believed to be intellectual workers, and their ratio among fellow magicians is considered to be high.
But, since there are also many who actually use magic with just the power of their imagination, there are unexpectedly many illiterates among them, too.
Dous.h.i.+ is considered to be dumb by the surroundings n.o.bles who only use his appearance as gauge.
In reality that"s not true at all, but owed to his personality, he"s bad with detailed paperwork. Given that the person himself also hates being burdened with that kind of work, it looks like he has ended up leaving.

“Isn"t he your guard, Therese-sama?”

“I think in the current situation it will be alright with just Burkhart-sama, but…”

Due to Dous.h.i.+ not being at Therese"s side albeit being her guard, Erw and Haruka had a wondering expression.

“If you are talking about me, I"m here!” (Armstrong)

“He appeeeared~~~!”

Erw got startled at Dous.h.i.+ suddenly appearing.

“I was on standby in the next room, Erwin-lad. Say what you like, but I"m carrying out my work as guard.” (Armstrong)

“So that how it was. But, why aren"t you at Therese-sama"s side?”

“That"s obvious! It"s because it"s normal for me to dislike paperwork!” (Armstrong)

“To declare that so boldly…”

Haruka became speechless due to the words and deeds of Dous.h.i.+ who always lives by following his instincts.
Because Earl Mizuho Country resembles j.a.pan, she has probably received a cultural shock after seeing a human like Dous.h.i.+.

“At any rate, it"s great that thee returned, Wendelin. Let"s first try to straighten up this large amount of doc.u.ments by splitting up the workload?” (Therese)

“Are you telling us to do it as well!?”

At the top – left side Nürnberg, Talrand and Alfred – right side Wendelin, Armstrong, Burkhart. Below – From the right: Elise, Therese, Ina, Katharina, Wilma, Luise – in the back Erwin and Haruka

As she was really cornered in various ways, we decide to hand everyone doc.u.ments they can understand and check through them.
Of course, the last check and signing were Therese"s tasks.

“Alfons-san is not here.” (Wilma)

Wilma notices that Alfons has vanished without us being aware of it.
Once I ask the sentries in front of the office in a hurry, he apparently left to the city on business.

“As expected of my soulmate. He"s truly fast at running away…” (Wendelin)

I praised Alfons" swift escape while processing the doc.u.ments recording the merit of war awards of the battles so far.
I think this is a skill necessary for the current me.

“It"s a sudden thought, but I wonder whether it"s alright for foreigners like us to look at these kind of doc.u.ments?” (Wendelin)

“Thou are planning to leak the information?” (Therese)

Therese apparently heard my murmuring, and asks me that in return.

“You might say it"s about that.” (Wendelin)

“Even if thou pa.s.s the information contained in these doc.u.ments to the kingdom after the war, it will be useless since it will be already out of date. Even I wouldn"t hand thou doc.u.ments that mustn"t get leaked.” (Therese)

As expected she has thought about it to such an extent.

“But then again, if you stay in the empire as my husband, Wendelin, there will likely be many opportunities for you to come in contact with the most important, confidential information.” (Therese)

“Therese-sama, the place, where you have made a mistake in the doc.u.ment, is here.” (Elise)

“Therese-sama, the total of the budget entries in this doc.u.ment is wrong. Also, this receipt is shady. You should give a warning to the person who sent it in.” (Ina)

Because Therese started to make advances on me again, Elise and Ina interrupt us by thrusting doc.u.ments with errors in front of Therese"s nose.

“Thy wives are strangely excellent.” (Therese)

Given that Elise is a perfect superwoman, she"s also skilled at paperwork. This kind of work being Ina"s forte became known during this civil war.

“Err… after adding up seven and 5, you move up the digit one up here… huh? It"s correct, isn"t it? Somehow I feel worried about it. Once more…”

Conversely, Luise, who has parts where she relies on her intuition, was in dire distress in front of the great amount of doc.u.ments.
In the end everything is about compatibility.

“Katharina, it"s wrong here.” (Wilma)

“That"s weird!” (Katharina)

Katharina is able to manage paperwork in a slightly quick manner, but there are quite a few mistakes.
In reverse Wilma is precise but slow. There were many times where she pointed out Katharina"s mistakes.
These two might have exactly opposite personalities, but in reality their compatibility might be quite good.

“I guess such kind of work is necessary too…”

“Erw-san. Let"s do our best. I will make daif.u.ku* as snack afterwards.” (Haruka) (T/N: rice cake stuffed with bean jam)

“Really? I will give it my best shot!” (Erwin)

Erw and Haruka created their own little world.
Basically Haruka is skillfully luring Erw into doing his work.
He"s already being dominated, but since Erw himself doesn"t think so, there"s no problem.
“(So this is a woman who controls her husband cleverly while supporting him…?)”, I admire her.
Since we put the doc.u.ments finally in order after around an hour, we decided to chat with Therese while eating some snacks.

“They aren"t overly delicious, but…” (Haruka)

The snacks were daif.u.ku just as Haruka had announced in advance.
The person herself, who made them, is quite humble about the result, but I don"t see any difference to those you can buy at a store.

“It"s delicious with its mild sweetness, Haruksan.”

“Really? That"s a relief.” (Haruka)

“Since Haruksan is also skilled at cooking and sweets, I don"t have to worry at all.” (Erwin)

Once I look at the two of them, it seems as if the dining table is completely revolving around a newly-wed couple.
When I looked at Therese accidentally, she had a very envious expression.
I pretend not having seen that.

“Bean daif.u.ku and salt daif.u.ku are also tasty, aren"t they?”

“I wondered whether it"s alright to put salt into sweets, but the salty-sweet taste will become a habit.”

Even Luise fancied the salt daif.u.ku she eats for the first time.

“By the way, what about strawberry daif.u.ku?”

“Eh?”

“Strawberry and daif.u.ku, you say?”

Erw and Haruka are lost for words due to my question.
In their heads it"s probably impossible to combine strawberries and daif.u.ku.

“What a strange combination. Will that be alright?”

Ina worries about the taste, but I have actually experienced it myself.
The combination of strawberries and daif.u.ku is the best.
Strawberries are treated as luxury goods in this world since their growing takes time, labour and cultivation.
They are smaller and more sour than the ones in j.a.pan, but that should boost their refres.h.i.+ng effect in reverse.

“If it"s your order, Earl Baumeister-sama…”

Haruka begins to make a strawberry daif.u.ku just as I instructed her.

“I"m anxious about its taste.”

Dous.h.i.+ was worried for a change, but since he doesn"t seem to get an upset stomach even if he eats something rotten or slightly bad, I believe that it"s a needless worry.

“It"s done.” (Haruka)

As there were still some daif.u.ku ingredients left, I placed those and the strawberries in my magic bag. The strawberry daif.u.ku was completed safely.

“Wendelin-san, is it really safe to eat?”

Katharina puts it into her mouth while looking anxious, but there was no way for her to refuse given that it"s sweet food.
Is that alright with your diet?
That"s the only thing I worry about.
All the others begin to sample the food at once, but their initial worries were apparently blown away at once.
They began to highly praise the strawberry daif.u.ku.

“Dear, it"s delicious.” (Elise)

“Huh? Although the combination is strange, it"s tasty, isn"t it?”

Elise and Haruka, who are good at cooking, greatly admired the taste of the strawberry daif.u.ku.

“I have to say, Wend, you came up with something nice there, didn"t you?” (Luise)

“Really. How mysterious.” (Wilma)

“Hah, I"m blessed by the G.o.d of food.” (Wendelin)

Luise and Wilma ate the strawberry daif.u.ku while praising it as well.
It was a mere plagiarism, but it"s no rip-off if they aren"t aware of it.
And, it"s quite likely for the people of this world to believe in things like a revelation from G.o.d.
It"s a plausible cover to evade any further questions.

“Rather than that, isn"t there the talk about our future from now on?” (Burkhart)

Due to Burkhart-san, who doesn"t have much interest in sweets, pointing that out, we decide to listen to the Therese"s future plans at last.

“Therese-sama.” (Burkhart)

“Yeah. This sweet is tasty.” (Therese)

Therese herself is too focused on the strawberry daif.u.ku. She had completely forgotten her reason for being here until being called out by Burkhart-san.

“We will advance in the direction of the capital while taking along as many soldiers as possible. I expect to encounter Duke Nürnberg along the way.” (Therese)

As Duke Nürnberg apparently wants to obtain victory by bringing the fight onto the field he"s good at, she had apparently sent a written challenge to him after the Alhans" capture.

“I wonder, is Duke Nürnberg bad at siege battles?”

“You could rather say that it"s because his side has to wrap up things quickly.” (Therese)

He probably wants to finish the civil war and rebuild the country as fast as possible since spring is approaching.
The reasons differ, but both sides seem to have a similar opinion regarding this.

“If he believes that, he shouldn"t have caused a rebellion in the first place!” (Armstrong)

Dous.h.i.+ complains about Duke Nürnberg while stuffing his cheeks with daif.u.ku.

“Even if you say that at this point in time. There are various places with level ground around the capital where a large-scaled battle is possible. He will likely wait for us there.” (Therese)

For that reason Duke Nürnberg hasn"t wasted the military forces of his proteges as much as possible until now. That"s also why he forced Duke Philip household"s feudal army and Earl Mizuho Country"s army, which are the main battle forces of the liberation army, to exhaust their troops.

“Thanks to that he"s hated by the n.o.bles he cast aside as disposable p.a.w.ns though.”

Since they were treated as sacrifices and suffered quite the losses, it"s probably only natural for them to hate Duke Nürnberg.
However, it"s quite likely that they will be killed if they complain about it publicly.
Duke Nürnberg ama.s.sing his elites in the vicinity of the capital is likely a constraint against them as well.

“Our plans are proceeding as well. Duke Nürnberg ought to expect their betrayal.” (Therese)

“Well, we can"t speak for others either though.” (Burkhart)

Just as Burkhart-san says, both powers are still continuing the civil war and there are generally many n.o.bles who are waiting and seeing how the wind will blow.
They probably want to make sure of the winner, since the existence of their families depends on it. As such more than half the n.o.bles partic.i.p.ating in the liberation army can"t be relied on.
Our numbers grew more than that of the rebel army, but depending on the war situation it won"t be strange for them to betray us on the battlefield.

“On the other hand Duke Nürnberg should challenge us to a fight with only his elites.” (Therese)

No matter how much we outweigh him with a numerical superiority, he might come attacking our weak points if the quality of our army is low.
Of course we are taking countermeasures against that, but it appears that it will turn into a battle with many worrying elements.

“Either way, once the reorganization of the liberation army makes progress, we have to aim for the capital.”

Those preparations finished in around a week. The liberation army started its advance towards the capital with almost all troops, except for a bare amount of troops to protect our bases and supply lines.
In total it was 150,000 soldiers.
As the number increased greatly, the capture of Alhans had apparently a big influence after all.
There were many who brought their troops along while using that as opportunity.

“Though they are unreliable at best, aren"t they?” (Luise)

“Shh!” (Wendelin)

I cover Luise"s mouth in a hurry.
The liberation army marches onwards as there"s no particular resistance in its way, but at last the scouting unit we sent ahead as spies has come back to report that a large army of the rebels is camping in the s.h.i.+na Plains.
Hearing that made Therese frown.

“We have to bring it to an end quickly.” (Therese)

“Why?”

“That idiot! A battle in the biggest grain-producing area of the empire!?” (Therese)

While the wheat still cannot be harvested as it"s winter, the fields will be devastated due to the large-scaled battle.
It was a certainty that we will be hated by the farmers who own the land.

“It looks like the rebel army is encamped right in the middle of the plains. In total they have probably around 90,000 soldiers?”

“There"s quite a few of them…”

Therese seems to ponder about something due to the spy"s report.

“Only the elites of the elites or such?”

“It"s possible, but it"s that man we are talking about here. He"s likely planning something sinister.” (Therese)

Does she fear that a detached unit is hiding somewhere and will start a surprise attack against us?
If you consider the liberation army"s skill, there"s also the risk of the frontline collapsing due to a single blow.

“Then we will adopt a wait-and-see stance, Therese-sama?” (Burkhart)

“Burkhart-dono, what do thee mean with that? Isn"t that nothing but dragging out the state of affairs? Seeing that we resolved ourselves to defeat these fellows, there"s no other option but to advance.” (Therese)

According to Therese"s decision, the liberation army heads towards the encampment of the rebel army with its whole army.
As it was necessary to tread on the wheat fields that weren"t ready for harvesting yet as we advanced, this dampened Therese"s mood again.

“It"s no good if we don"t compensate them afterwards…” (Therese)

And then, both armies square off against each other inside a huge wheat field at last.
The rebel army split its forces into mostly equal parts of 30,000 soldiers each. The liberation army used the same formation with 50,000 soldiers for each part.
Going by the numbers, our side holds an overwhelming advantage, but there"s a bomb hidden within the liberation army.

“The right wing under young Duke Baden"s group will be fine, but I think Earl Lärmer, who leads the left wing, has a problem…” (Therese)

The number of the liberation army had grown big, but it has also become a congery of too many households.
The right wing, which is led by young Duke Baden who has learned from his previous defeat and consolidated the troops of the n.o.bles partic.i.p.ating in the liberation army from the start, should be able to fight normally.
The problem is the left wing led by Earl Lärmer.
Earl Lärmer himself returned to his territory because he inherited the peerage, but originally he served as general in the imperial army.
His evaluation isn"t bad either. Given that his peerage is that of an Earl, he"s an appropriate person to entrust with the left wing.
However, there are various problems with the n.o.bles partic.i.p.ating over there.

“It"s quite the troublesome story.” (Therese)

Since the group of new partic.i.p.ants, who adopt a wait-and-see stance, is big, they cannot be relied upon very much as military forces.

“Having said that, if I tried to station such groups by spreading them across the whole army, what do thou think will happen?” (Therese)

“If we are attacked at those places, there will be the danger of the whole army collapsing, right?” (Wendelin)

“Accordingly I have set up a plan that a.s.sumes the collapse of the left wing. I have deployed Mizuho"s army on the left side of the central block.” (Therese)

That will likely allow the prevention of the central block"s collapse. Earl Lärmer himself is quite aware of the left wing"s state.
It had been arranged that the feudal army of the Earl Lärmer household, who are elites thanks to the family head, will join up with the units that can be trusted and merge into the central block in the worst case.

“If half of them remains, at least we shouldn"t lose against the 90,000 soldiers strong rebel army.” (Therese)

The state where we can"t definitely state that we will crush them due to Duke Nürnberg"s military abilities was a bitter pill for the liberation army.

“It"s painful for our side, but that should apply to the other side as well. We prepared as much as possible. The rest depends on which side is going to be blessed by G.o.d"s favour.” (Therese)

Both armies confront each other while trampling down the huge wheat field. The battle starts as if a dam has burst.
Both armies simply battle each other without any particularly complicated tactics.
The soldiers and knights cross swords, and the magicians try to get an advantage for their allies by freely using their magic.
It seems they are devoting themselves to a chain of offensive spells to lower the number of enemies without using something like a 『Wide-Area Magic Barrier』.
Being shot by arrows, sliced by swords, pierced by spears and burned by magic; the casualties are gradually increasing at the frontline.
If lucky, the injured soldiers are carried to the rear.
They receive treatment from the campaign healers there.
However, although it might be true that they get healed, you can"t necessarily call that a blessing.
That"s because there"s the possibility of them dying next time when they have returned to the frontline.

“At any rate, the left wing is a lost case.” (Therese)

Around one hour after the start of the battle, we were on standby at the central headquarters, where Therese is, alongside the royal army group led by Philip.
Therese, who"s receiving regular battle reports while sitting in a chair, gives her honest opinion about the left wing that is gradually getting pushed back.

“Though I think that Earl Lärmer is doing a fine job…”

The problem lies with the quality of the vanguard units that are clas.h.i.+ng with the enemy frontline.
As for Earl Lärmer, he wants to continuously hit the frontlines with his elites, but if he does that, their battle time will be prolonged and the left wing"s ability to keep fighting will drop.
Since it can"t be helped, he is using the feudal armies of the useless n.o.bles in a rotation, but those guys don"t have any motivation to begin with.
Given that the number of workers in their territories will decrease after the war, if they wear down their own troops, there were many n.o.bles who retreated immediately to lower their losses.
If the left wing falls back too far, it"s possible that it will cause a disparity in the whole army"s formation which will be exploited by Duke Nürnberg.
Therese was struggling to retreat the right wing and the central block slightly to match up with the left wing.

“Therese-sama, how about launching a surprise attack through a detached unit in order to strike the rear of the rebel army?”

Erw, who got bored from being on standby all the time, offers his opinion to Therese.

“Considering the details of the invading royal army, all of them will be definitely annihilated after getting discovered, don"t thee think? Duke Nürnberg excels at that.” (Therese)

“No good, huh…?” (Erwin)

“Erwin, I"m sorry, but a quick temper with that man as opponent is dangerous.” (Therese)

“So you are saying that we will stay here?” (Erwin)

Even though it will surely give our side an advantage if we depart to the front and fight, Therese is preserving us for some reason.
Besides having a wait-and-see stance, Therese seems to harbour some bad premonition.

“Therese-sama. It looks like there was a change on the rebel army"s side.”

Therese"s intuition is right on the point. The enemy camp seems to have some kind of change.
As we are on alert, we can see some objects similar to lumps of metal running this way.
The frontline units apparently can"t deal with those lumps of metal since they are fast.
Once mounted knights come out at front, they end up falling off their horses after being knocked down since their opponents are ma.s.ses of metal.
Moreover, once I looked properly, those lumps of metal ran on four legs.

“I feel like I recognise those…”

“Aren"t those golems…?”

Golems, we had thoroughly encountered before, were heading this way in large quant.i.ties.
With their shapes resembling those of tigers and wolves, Burkhart-san and me had a deja vu.

“Something troublesome has appeared.”

————————– End of Part 1 ————————–

Right after that comment by Ina, it became even more troublesome. The magicians at the frontline fired 『Fireb.a.l.l.s』 to hinder the golems" advance, but as soon as the golems got in contact with those, they exploded.
A large amount of metal fragments are scattered like the shots of a shotgun which caused a large amount of injuries.

“I suppose they are not going to die unless they are quite unlucky…”

However, there"s a large number of injured.
The wounded retreat to the rear by themselves or are carried by their comrades. Although it means that they will be treated, our fighting strength declines accordingly.
Even though the liberation army is trying to smoothly rotate out the units, it doesn"t work as well as expected since the formation has already a hole due to the golems.
Therese ordered a temporary retreat in order to reorganize the units while looking frustrated.

“What an annoying…”

Duke Nürnberg makes his next move at that moment.
The golem attack was concentrated on the right wing and the central block, but he suddenly focused most of the golem forces on the left wing which was the liberation army"s weak point.
Of course the left wing succ.u.mbed into a big panic.

“Therese-sama, are you going to send reinforcements?”

“That"s out of the question.”

Next almost the entire rebel army rushes at the right wing and the central block.
Without fussing over the destruction of the left wing, she focused on stopping only the enemy"s movements with the lacking number of soldiers.

“This is bad, isn"t it?”

More than 80,000 rebels are cras.h.i.+ng into the liberation army"s right wing and central block consisting of approximately 100,000 in total.
Due to the rebel army always beating them to the punch, the liberation army was losing ground.

“I see. That"s his strategy to win with 90,000 against 150,000, I suppose? That guy is a military genius.” (Therese)

Therese turns her look towards the left wing, but thanks to the golems rus.h.i.+ng that place in a flood, the wing doesn"t function as an army anymore, except for Earl Lärmer"s elites.
There were many military forces which were in disorder due to the rapid appearance of injured caused by the golems exploding after being hit with magic.
Even the central block and the right wing were attacked in the gaps of their formation due to the confusion created by the golems. Anyone could see that the war situation was quickly deteriorating.

“What will you do?” (Wendelin)

Once I asked Therese about a solution, she explained the next strategy after pondering about it for a short while.

“Just as we did at first, we will capitalise on our numeric advantage. We have no other option but to do that. Burkhart. Dous.h.i.+.” (Therese)

“It"s my turn?” (Burkhart)

“Oh, finally my turn?” (Armstrong)

“Burkhart, my safety has the highest priority. If I die or get injured here, we lose.” (Therese)

“That"s certainly true.” (Burkhart)

Burkhart-san deploys a 『Magic Barrier』 at once.
I also noticed it, but there were some units among the golems that stirred up our allies which hadn"t exploded yet. Those units exploded all at once and the splinters flew all the way to our location.
I wonder whether they had a time bomb device installed within?
Since there are magic guns in the Earl Mizuho Country, it would be no surprise, but maybe it"s something that has been excavated from a historic ruin.

“Those are really detestable golems. Dous.h.i.+, do as you like at the frontline.” (Therese)

“Leave it to me. I feel like going on a rampage after a long time.” (Armstrong)

Dous.h.i.+ straddled his personal Dosanko horse and started to gallop towards the frontline after changing his wand into a hammer.
As if being in a panic, the guarding knights chase after Dous.h.i.+ on their horses.

“Now then, Wendelin.” (Therese)

“Am I going to attack the rebel army from the flank once I rally the left wing?”

“Thou have grasped it well.” (Therese)

If that"s possible, it should once again reverse the tide of war.

“I"m going as reinforcement!” (Wendelin)

Anyway, I have to handle the chaotic left wing somehow.
I call out to Philip and Christoph, and we head to the left wing together with the royal army group as reinforcement.

“It"s a fresh supply of troops!”

The left wing had been routed and thrown into chaos by merely several thousand of the rebel army"s golems.
Because there"s a difference in numbers, the rebel army doesn"t perform a forced annihilation. They are devoting their power into expanding and maintaining the chaos within the left wing.
They have been trained very well. They immediately noticed our appearance and sent a small unit to deal with us.

“I"m sorry, but we don"t have any time.” (Wendelin)

Wilma, who had learned shooting from horseback with the magic rifle without me knowing about it, snipes the people that seem to be the commanders. Luise knocks down the knights by jumping from one enemy horse to another and then jumps back on her own horse. Ina handles her spear from atop the horseback and defeats the enemy soldiers like that.
It seems everyone got quite used to inter-personal combat thanks to this civil war.

“You are a nuisance.” (Katharina)

Katharina destroys the golems, who come attacking after discovering us, with her 『Wind Cutters』, and defends against the scattering splinters with her 『Magic Barrier』.
Even so, they explode if they suffer damage. Golems that blow up after some time even if they are left alone are nothing but a seed of trouble.

“Wendelin-sama, I came up with a good idea.” (Katharina)

Katharina discovered that if she encloses the golems with a 『Rock Wall』 spell, the fragments will be blocked by the rock wall unable to scatter around once the golems arbitrarily explode within.
The other magicians on our side start to mimic her, but occasionally there are also some who are skimpy with their mana, causing the 『Rock Wall』 being too weak, which ends up increasing the damage due to the fragments of the rock wall being scattered around as well.

“Please don"t hold back on your mana!” (Katharina)

Getting scolded by Katharina made the bodies of the elementary and intermediate magicians tremble.
One can"t imagine it from her appearance and usual behaviour, but everyone looks at Katharina in awe since she"s a magician, of which there are maybe five on the whole continent, if Dous.h.i.+ and me didn"t exist.

“Finally arrived, huh…?”

In the central part of the left wing, Earl Lärmer and his feudal army as well as several reliable n.o.bles and their troops joined up and switched over to a defensive battle.
Their numbers are around 10,000. The other approximately 40,000 are in chaos around them.
Earl Lärmer eagerly strives to calm down the chaos, but it doesn"t seem to go well due to the disturbance by the golems and the enemy army.

“Earl Baumeister-dono, eh? It"s a hard fight since there are many units that are in disorder.” (Lärmer)

Even so, one might say that Earl Lärmer is an excellent soldier as the central unit hasn"t been thrown into chaos.

“Anyway, time is valuable. If we can cause a gap in the rebel army"s formation…”

“I will try having a go at it.” (Wendelin)

I had an idea.
The rebel army with its lower numbers regularly replenishes the golems for the sake of stirring up the left wing so that their numbers don"t decrease.
In reverse I came up with a method to cut off that flow and cause chaos among them.

“(It won"t be a loss even if i fails).”

Using quite the big amount of mana, I deploy the 『Pellet』 spell in the sky above the enemy right wing.
You might believe that it"s only 『Pellet』, but if one considers the distance and scale, it consumes a considerable amount of mana.

“Why such plain magic?”

“It"s a golem counterplan.”

After several seconds I pour down 『Pellets』 into the central part of the enemy"s right wing.
Its power was lower than that of the golems" splinters, but immediately after that, I confirmed a large amount of detonations.
Before they could be sent this way, the golems were hit by stones and ended up triggering a huge explosion due to those impacts.
As there was apparently a great number of them nearby, the rebel army"s right wing fell into chaos.

“Now!”

Since there are many elite units in the rebel army, we can"t spend too much time.
Philip cooperated with Earl Lärmer and they calmed down the chaos in our left wing to some degree. Then we attacked the enemy left wing in reverse.

“Our numbers are bigger! Push them back!”

Philip starts attacking the enemy right wing while cooperating with several feudal armies whose conditions are gradually improving.
Katharina and me, who stood at the front, chain fire spells. Erw and Haruka attack the enemies with their katana, Ina with her spear, and Luise also goes ahead and defeats the enemy soldiers.

“Wilma, it"s that one.”

“Got it.”

Wilma got rid of one magician and commander after the other with her magic sniper rifle while shooting from atop her horse.
There were also some among the magicians who defended against her with a 『Magic Barrier』, but those barriers are dealt with by applying my spell 『Burst』 to the bullets so that they can forcibly penetrate the barriers.
Even if they are an a.s.sembly of elites, they will lose control if their magicians and commanders become incapable of battle.
The enemy right wing, which gradually started to get in disorder starting from the vanguard units, was pushed back by the big number of our allies and they were gradually retreating.

“Push them back! Overwhelm them!”

Philip, who was treated like the supreme commander of the vanguard units before I knew of it, advanced the troops while delivering damage to the enemy"s right wing.
Indeed, it"s a splendid style of commanding.

“Why was he that useless in the dispute?” (Wendelin)

“Please don"t say that. Have at least some mercy.” (Christoph)

Christoph, who is next to me, gently follows up on his elder brother.
The battle with the enemy"s central block and left wing was almost equal, but we finally succeeded in cornering the enemy"s right wing.
Philip cooperates with Earl Lärmer, and they continue to attack while urging on the other allies with low morale and proficiency.

“Wilma, it"s that guy.” (Wendelin)

We also appear at the frontline and actively kill off the commanders and magicians.
Discovering a knight who tried to take over command after the commander was killed in action, I request Wilma to snipe him.
Even the junior commander is killed by the sniping of Wilma, who is skilled enough to almost always. .h.i.t bull"s eye. The enemy"s right wing, which can"t readily rally its vanguard units, reached a point of getting slowly chipped down all together.

“Wendelin-san, unpreparedness is one"s greatest enemy.” (Katharina)

“I believed that I will be protected by you, Katharina. You are kind after all.” (Wendelin)

“You won"t get anything even if you praise me.” (Katharina)

Arrows and spells come flying at me who appeared at the frontline, but all of those are blocked by Katharina.
Moreover, magicians and knights are successively getting killed after suffering her counterattacks.
Suitable to her name of 『Storm』, all of them are torn to pieces by wind magic.

“Wend and Katharina, you don"t have any mercy, do you?”

“It can"t be helped.”

Even though the damage is big if they lose even a single elementary-levelled magician, there have already been many victims in this civil war.
The effect should be big after the war, but it won"t help anyone if we go easy on them and get killed ourselves.
Besides, if they are killed on the battlefield, they will be lost for eternity as combat power.
Rather than showy wide area magic, I allocated my big mana pool to 『Burst』 for the sake of piercing through the 『Magic Barrier』 of enemy magicians.

“I suppose it"s the same for me as well since I don"t want to die…”

Ina throws a spear after charging it with mana and stabs the body of a knight who led a small cavalry unit.
That knight fell off his horse, crashed on the ground and didn"t even twitch anymore.

“There should be a general who is leading the right wing.” (Wendelin)

Except for the royal army group led by Philip and the troops completely under Earl Lärmer"s control, it was the usual disorderly crowd, but since we were currently overwhelming the enemy, the confusion calmed down to a level where they could more or less partic.i.p.ate in the offensive, albeit they had no coordination or anything like that.

“One more push now!”

The enemy right wing continues to retreat in disorder, but they don"t easily collapse in a conclusive way despite having lower numbers.
As might be expected of those said to be military forces forged by Duke Nürnberg?
And yet I confirmed the figure of a soldier leading the enemy right wing by sight.

“I don"t know who that is, but… Wilma.” (Wendelin)

“Roger.” (Wilma)

Wilma takes aim atop the horse with the magic rifle and immediately pulls the trigger.
Two magicians, who noticed that, deploy a 『Magic Barrier』 , but even the number of magicians was apparently lacking.
Since they were two magicians above intermediate level, their barriers were also sniped by Wilma, and they died after having their 『Magic Barrier』 pierced with 『Burst』 in one go.
Upon the death of these three, the chaos of the enemy"s right wing accelerated even further.

“We will leave the rest to Earl Lärmer. Earl Baumeister, let"s go.” (Philip)

The enemy"s right wing hasn"t broken down completely yet, but they shouldn"t be able to start an offensive for a while.
Entrusting Earl Lärmer with matters here at this point, we started an attack against the enemy"s central block,which exposed its flank due to the right wing"s retreat, with around 10,000 soldiers led by Philip.

“Are we going to split the enemy"s central block into front and rear?”

While defending the side of Philip, who is galloping on his horse in the lead alongside Katharina, we begin plunging into the central block that is led by Duke Nürnberg himself.
Being attacked from the flank, the enemy army cleanly divides into front and rear.
Because of this, the front part of the enemy"s central block became caught between us and our central block which is led by Therese.

“Winning by pincer attacking them together with Therese"s group like this?”

“It"s not that easy.”

Certainly, they have been divided into two parts, but it will become difficult if we get surrounded.
There was the risk that we would get annihilated after being stuck between the front and rear part of the enemy army in reverse, if we don"t pa.s.s through this place quickly.
Philip denied my thinking.

“We will leave on the right side while also tearing the front and rear of the enemy"s left wing into pieces.”

After we split the enemy"s central block into front and rear part, we immediately a.s.sault the enemy"s left wing as well, and split those troops into front and rear part too.
We add damage by attacking as much as possible on this occasion, but we can"t stay overly long either.
Every unit of the rebel army dealing with that respectively without collapsing in this situation was really amazing.

“They are elites to the extent of making me jealous.”

Even so, due to Philip"s crossing-through-the-enemy-army plan, our allies had the advantage for a while.

“They won"t collapse even if cut in from the side, huh…? I suppose they are remarkably different from the disorderly liberation army. Let"s go once more.” (Philip)

“Eh? Again?” (Wendelin)

“We came as reinforcements for the left wing. We have been directly entrusted military forces by Earl Lärmer, so we can go back to our original location if we cross once more.” (Philip)

“It"s a fair argument, but don"t you consider this to be something difficult…” (Wendelin)

Once he gathers our troops swiftly, Philip starts to again charge the enemy"s left wing"s flank.

“If you consider it normally, the enemy should expect us to do an encirclement of their left wing. When we do something unexpected…” (Philip)

“Yes?” (Wendelin)

“The rebel army"s proficiency is uncommon. The left wing might be in danger.” (Philip)

“I see.” (Wendelin)

They have already reorganized their ranks and they are going to pressure our left wing, which is the weakest link of our army to begin with, Philip says.
After Katharina and I open a hole in the flank of the enemy"s left wing with mid-sized 『Cutter Tornados』, we start our charge once more.
We only defeat the enemies blocking our front. Katharina and me with magic, Erw and Haruka with their katana, Ina with her spear, Luise by throwing stones and using martial combat, and Wilma by swinging her great axe atop the horse for the first time in a long time.
The counter attacks were intense and quite a few casualties were produced, but even so, the rebel army that had its flank attacked should have more losses than our side.

“After all we have bitten a hole into their guts, haven"t we? A normal army should have collapsed by now, but…” (Philip)

While wielding his own sword, Philip seems to be partly astonished by the strength of the troops trained by Duke Nürnberg.

“Earl Baumeister, can"t you blow away the enemy in one go by using a bigger spell?”

“I think that"s pointless.”

Philip was an excellent commander, but he doesn"t seem to be all that knowledgeable about magicians.
Once I create a huge 『Fireball』 and prepare to hurl it at the enemy from above as a test, ice arrows come flying from various locations and negate the fireball.

“See?”

If it"s veteran magicians, they will immediately notice me trying to invoke a huge spell.
As Duke Nürnberg"s troops appear to be excellent at coordination too, my 『Fireball』 was negated by several magicians, even if a single magician isn"t able to do it by himself.
With this being blocked, there"s no other option but to continuously fire small spells and decrease their numbers little by little.

“Sorry. We are under pressure again.” (Lärmer)

Once we return to the location of the left wing after cutting our way from the right to the left, they were again pressured by the rebel army that had recovered its order.
Earl Lärmer is fighting back eagerly, but for some reason he keeps getting pushed back by the enemy with its low numbers.

“Bah, even though we shot a general-like person not long ago…”

“Either the take over by the junior leader has been perfect or maybe he is disguising himself by wearing the attire of another soldier.”

If they have implemented that, it will be all over for our side.
If it"s a magician, I will discover them even if they disguise themselves, but recognising a disguised commander is difficult.

“We are getting overwhelmed on the whole, aren"t we?” (Philip)

Philip notices that the central block led by Therese and Alfons, and the right wing led by young Duke Baden are getting pushed back as well.

“Since they are slowly falling back in order to keep the losses low, there"s no need to worry about a collapse, but…”

I can"t laugh at us getting overwhelmed due to the difference in basic ability of the troops even though we crushed the suicide golems.
The powerfulness of the Lan race led by Therese and the Mizuho army led by High Earl Mizuho are known, but they seem to be forced to retreat due to having the cooperation"s fluency with the other feudal armies picked at.

“What about the magic gunner unit of the Mizuho army?”

“That unit is bad at close combat.”

Seeing that the frontline is engaged in a melee, they can"t be used that easily.

“While talking about them, it looks like Duke Nürnberg has already adopted counter measurements against them.”

Christoph, who doesn"t leave our side since he"s lacking physical strength, obtained new information through a messenger who arrived from the central block.
I hear the rebel army defends against the magic guns by setting up metal s.h.i.+elds right away.

“And the Battou unit?”

“They are struggling as well.”

There"s a unit that uses 『Magic Swords』 in the enemy army, and moreover the quality of the magic swords they own seems to overwhelmingly surpa.s.s that of the previous ones.

“It"s probably something Duke Nürnberg hid. They seem to be overwhelmingly superior to the magic swords the past imperial army had equipped.”

They still don"t match up with 『Magic Katana』, but the Battou unit ended up in a deadlock due to big number of soldiers using those magic swords.
It"s easy to grasp the reason why the central block is struggling, if the Battou unit doesn"t function as unit producing heaps of casualties.

“What about Dous.h.i.+?”

“He"s also in a close fight.”

『Guooooh~~~! Golems again!?』 (Armstrong)

Duke Nürnberg likely knows that his military forces will dissolve if Dous.h.i.+ clashes with his troops.
Accordingly he apparently prepared a large quant.i.ty of suicide golems to be thrown at Dous.h.i.+.
That"s the reason why we don"t hear about his lively military accomplishments.

“In short, it means that he came up with methods to completely lock down our side"s war potential, doesn"t it?”

“So what will we do?”

“Once it becomes evening with us losing a bit of ground like this, both side"s soldiers will withdraw.”

Just as Philip predicted, both armies pulled their soldiers back at sunset.
The rebel army starts to slowly retreat in the direction of the capital.

“Aren"t they skillful at luring us in?”

Given that the left wing is in tatters due to fatigue, Philip and Earl Lärmer didn"t consider something like a pursuit.
It"s probably the same for Therese as well.
However, the weakness of the mixed units became apparent at this point.

“Let"s get accomplishments by pursuing them!”

A part of the n.o.bles fell for the lure and arbitrarily began a pursuit while leading their own troops.

“We have to stop them.”

“It"s futile.”

This has become a situation exposing the shortcoming of an army of mixed feudal troops.
So far as it goes, Therese, Earl Lärmer and young Duke Baden have the higher ranking authority in the command line, but that doesn"t mean that the n.o.bles are forced to comply with them.
Given that feudal armies are independent forces in a way, there was no basis to dish out severe punishments even if the n.o.bles pursuit the enemy on their own devices here.
As a matter of fact, even the kingdom has ambiguous parts regarding uniform command authority.
The majority of the n.o.bles ordinarily obey, but it"s not like it"s particularly a crime if they don"t do so.

“Still, the royal army and the imperial army will be punished, you know?”

Philip saw off the units heading out for the pursuit with an indifferent look and confirmed that they will retreat after suffering a counterattack and bearing heavy losses as most people would expect here.

“This means the responsibility of the defeat will be blamed on the feudal army itself.”

The lost soldiers are all residents of the fief.
In other words, at the moment they lose precious manpower, it will already become a big punishment.

“I wonder what we will do starting with tomorrow?”

“I think it will go on like this.”

“How about advising Therese if you know this much already?”

“It will be dangerous if a kingdom"s n.o.ble like me gives an unnecessary, uncalled-for remark. Earl Baumeister, it"s said that you are d.u.c.h.ess Philip-dono"s favourite, and as such there are also some n.o.bles who are strangely tense.”

Because we won every battle so far, the bargaining in regards to the political situation after the civil war apparently started between the n.o.bles partic.i.p.ating in the liberation army.
It means that there are many who are burning with desire for things such as becoming the empress" husband as Therese"s husband, if possible.

“They are already discussing such things even though we don"t know whether we can win?”

“Those foolish fellows are indulging themselves in their rose-coloured, future imaginations that are swirling about in their heads. The past me was like that as well.”

There"s a certain persuasiveness to it if it"s Philip, who failed in the past, saying it.
Being fed up, we went sleep early on that day, but for the five days after that, the liberation army repeated the same battle every day.
Being pushed back by an enemy with lower numbers, the countermeasures against me, Dous.h.i.+ and the Mizuho army are perfect, and those pointless battles continue until evening.
As expected, idiots, who pursued the rebel army that slowly retreated towards the capital, didn"t appear after the first day.
However, since Duke Nürnberg"s military forces consist of elites that can carry out a night raid, the counter measurement against that created a lot of unnecessary work for Therese.
And, without a night raid being carried out, the liberation army acc.u.mulated fatigue pointlessly.

“It"s irritating.”

The rebel army withdrew its army up until the outskirts of the capital in the six days of battle.
From the corpses they left behind, we estimated that they lost 13,000 soldiers, but at the same time the liberation army has lost 25,000 soldiers.
If one were to ask how such result came to be, it"s probably because they perfectly dealt with the Mizuho army that had its spirit dampened by the rebel army"s elites in the beginning and the golems they apparently excavated from underground ruins.
Even my magic couldn"t be said to have contributed much because I was ordered to preserve my mana in case something happened.
I"m told that the other n.o.bles would be unhappy if we bulldozed our way through.
Therese, who is the top of the army, has to consider these things as well.

“I guess they will be confined in the capital at this rate, and it will turn into a capture battle.”

“If they were to do that, they would lose, no?”

If it were to result in a battle of them holing up as predicted by Erw, it would turn into an absurd story of something like a siege battle while unable to win in the field.
The number of n.o.bles partic.i.p.ating in the liberation army was slowly growing and our military forces were fully replenished as well, but so far we haven"t caused the rebel army"s main force to collapse.
They were definitely no opponent we could be careless with.

“I suppose I will go sleep in preparation of tomorrow…”

“Continuous battles for a week, huh?”

While agreeing with Erw"s complaining, I decide to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.
However, once I woke up in the morning, I ran into a situation I didn"t even expect in my wildest dreams.

“Wendelin, it seems the rebel army abandoned the capital during last night and retreated to the south.” (Therese)

“Umm, I don"t understand.” (Wendelin)

“Really? It"s just as I said.” (Therese)

“Eh? Why?” (Wendelin)

“That"s something I"d like to know as well.” (Therese)

Once I head to the headquarters after being urgently summoned by Therese, I heard the unbelievable news that the rebel army had retreated after abandoning the capital.
Duke Nürnberg gave up the biggest capture target of the liberation army all too easily.

“There are many simple-minded, happy people among the n.o.bles, but…” (Therese)

Seeing that he has given up on the capital this easily, there"s probably something he"s planning.
Once thinking that, Therese and I couldn"t really rejoice.
And, that worry immediately turned into reality.