About two weeks after we received Couran’s letter, a second message from the king arrived. The seventh month was drawing to a close, and winter was on its way out as well. It wouldn’t be long at all before my fifteenth birthday arrived.
I opened the new letter, hoping against hope that it would contain instructions to stay the course and continue bolstering our defenses…but this time, my prayers would not be answered. The message contained clear orders from Couran: we were to march upon Seitz.
Those orders were not presented without context. He’d written the rationale behind them, as well. It seemed that Seitz was poorly defended, and would make for an easy target. Furthermore, if we were able to claim a Seitzan castle, the army that was marching upon Missian would have no choice but to send some of its manpower back to Seitz to defend against our incursion. Finally, Couran was confident that the army of Canarre would be able to accomplish the task in short order, considering our expertise. Those three points put together were why he had chosen to order us to go on the attack.
Considering he’d gone so far as to justify his decision to us, I had no choice but to accept it. I had no interest in attacking Seitz, if I were being honest, but orders were orders. It also seemed that Couran would be sending fifteen thousand soldiers to support the endeavor, including the Maitraw Company. This would be the third campaign that we’d fought by their side, astonishingly enough. I knew very well how reliable they were, and their help, at least, was something that I could be happy about.
Canarre’s population had grown, and our army had grown as a consequence. Currently, we had a force thirteen thousand strong. We couldn’t send all of our troops out into battle at once, of course, but if we left three thousand behind to hold down the fort, we’d have ten thousand men ready to mobilize. In other words, our invading force would number twenty five thousand in total. I wasn’t convinced that would be enough soldiers to conquer Purledo, but again, orders were orders and we had no choice but to do what we could and hope it all worked out.
In the end, I decided to call my retainers together for a meeting to discuss the invasion.
The day after Couran’s letter arrived, my retainers answered my emergency summons and gathered to discuss the imminent campaign. I started things off by explaining the letter’s contents, then moved on to ask what sort of strategy would be advisable for our invasion of Seitz.
“Well, one thing’s for sure: if Couran’s using this situation as a chance to invade Seitz, then he might have a better head on his shoulders than I’ve been giving him credit for,” said Mireille. I could already tell that she was chomping at the bit to invade Seitz, and was behind Couran’s decision.
“What? No! Are you serious?! Invading now is risky on so many levels!” Rosell anxiously exclaimed. “We don’t even know how many soldiers Seitz left behind to defend itself!”
We did have a vague idea of how many troops were defending the forts on the border, at least, but how many soldiers were left in Seitz on the whole was a mystery. The Shadows were very capable, but not even they could come up with a perfect headcount of every single soldier present in the duchy.
“If they’re invading Missian, then they must’ve put together a pretty sizable force, right? Considering Seitz’s population, there can’t be all that many soldiers left to defend the duchy,” Mireille countered. Her analysis checked out to me─Seitz’s rulers must have known that they’d have no hope of conquering Missian if they left too many troops behind. I had a feeling that she was right on the money.
“That’s true…but we can’t rule out the possibility that they’ve hired mercenaries!” Rosell fired back.
“Mercenaries, huh? Even if they did, they’d use them for offense, not defense. I just can’t imagine that they have the leeway to leave many troops behind.”
“That may be so…but honestly, I’m doubtful that our invasion will make them pull any troops out from Missian at all. If they can just conquer Arcantez, Seitz will be at a massive advantage in this war. Losing a few of their own border counties would be a piddling price to pay if it earns them the enemy’s capital.”
I was in full agreement with Rosell on that front. If Couran was defeated by the combined force of Seitz and Paradille’s armies, then it wouldn’t matter if we took Purledo─Missian would still be left at an insurmountable disadvantage. I shuddered to think of the predicament that Canarre would be left in, if that came to pass.
“You’re wrong on that point, Rosell,” said Mireille. “The enemy won’t be going for Arcantez after they take Lund County. It’s just too far away from Seitz proper─the logistics would never work out. I give it higher odds that they’ll aim for Maasa after Lund is theirs, then use it as a staging point to wage a two-front war for Canarre, coming at us from Maasa and Seitz simultaneously.”
“But that just means that their position’s even stronger than I was giving them credit for! And thinking about it from Canarre’s perspective, it means we’re in huge trouble!” Rosell exclaimed.
“That’s only if we can’t take Purledo,” Mireille said with a shrug. “Pull that off, and I think they’ll withdraw. The next county over from Purledo’s called Kuat County, and if memory serves, it’s one of Seitz’s top three biggest regions. If Purledo County falls, Kuat’ll be in a whole mess of trouble. I don’t think that’s something Seitz could afford to ignore.”
“So whether or not the enemy pulls back to defend Kuat County will depend upon how many troops are still stationed there, I guess,” said Rosell. “I figure that a county of its size would have at least a decent number of defenders, right?”
“They won’t be totally unguarded, bare minimum,” Mireille agreed.
Mireille and Rosell’s debate over the likely path the war would take continued for some time. I could see both of their points. There was no guarantee that losing a single castle would be enough to make Seitz pull back its main army, and Mireille was very right about how Seitz taking Maasa would leave both Canarre and Missian on the whole in a terrible position. I had no confidence in our ability to hold out in a two-front war. Using the airship to pull us through would be our only hope…but even that advantage wasn’t enough to change the fact that it would be a troubling position to end up in.
“Rosell, Mireille─being as we’ve already received our orders, I don’t believe there’s any point in debating this matter further. The purpose of this meeting is to decide how we will go about invading Seitz, not to second guess the King’s judgment,” Rietz chided. “Whether or not Seitz withdraws its army will depend entirely upon our efforts. If we’re able to conquer one of their castles in short order, there’s a chance that speed will cause them to feel threatened and encourage them to pull back troops to aid in their defense.”
“Y-Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, Mister Rietz,” Rosell said, backing down immediately.
“Our only choice is to invade Purledo County, Canarre’s immediate neighbor,” Rietz continued. “We have a reasonable understanding of the forces stationed in Purledo, and it is far from poorly defended─perhaps unsurprisingly, considering its status as a border county.”
According to Rietz’s explanation, none of Purledo’s troops were participating in the current invasion of Missian.
I guess that’s kind of a given, though.
“Okay, so they’re not short-staffed, but do they have more troops to work with than usual?” Mireille asked.
“No. Their numbers are unchanged,” replied Rietz.
“Hmm. That’s kinda strange. Considering the circumstances, you’d think they’d have predicted that Canarre would use the opportunity to invade and bulked up Purledo’s defensive force. Either they don’t have the soldiers to spare, they’re underestimating Canarre, or they’re too stupid to realize that we might invade in the first place.”
“It’s also worth noting that Purledo County’s fortifications were strong to begin with. Perhaps they believed that an excess of defenders would be wasted?” suggested Rietz. “In truth, claiming it with Canarre’s army alone would be difficult. If it weren’t for the Maitraw Company coming to reinforce us, we would be in a very troublesome position right now.”