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 ————————–