“And on the other hand, if we were to attack the soldiers at Klax’s Hill first and they withdrew, the survivors would rally at Fort Purledo. It would only cause us more trouble down the line,” Thomas added.
“We might be able to bring down the fort with the airship, but we won’t have enough aqua magia to wipe out all the troops inside,” Mireille noted. “If there are too many of them left standing after the airborne assault, we might still be fighting them by the time the reinforcements from Castle Auros show up.”
“Would the forces stationed upon Klax’s Hill retreat to the fort, though?” asked Maika. “I’m to understand they’ve been told to hold the hilltop, come what may.”
“Maybe, but who knows how long they’ll stick to that when they come under attack by a weapon they’ve never seen before,” Rosell replied.
“I mean, I’ll grant you that we still don’t know if the airship’ll be very helpful in a field battle or not,” said Mireille. “It’ll let us scatter an enemy formation, sure, but it won’t necessarily cut down their actual numbers all that much. If the enemy commander knows what they’re doing, they’ll pull their troops back into line the moment the airship’s bombardment ends and get right back in the fight, or else order a retreat. We’ll have to keep our own troops at a solid distance to make sure they don’t get caught up in the blasts, which means that the enemy will have plenty of time to regroup after it’s over.”
Mireille had picked out the airship’s potential weakness in field battles right away. It would be a different matter if we had a whole formation of airships to work with, but we only had one. It seemed possible that it wouldn’t be enough to sway the outcome of a skirmish on its own. A siege was a different matter, though─just one airship had the potential to destroy, or at least weaken, the enemy’s defenses. In that context, it would make an incredible difference.
“Hmm… You have a point, yes. Perhaps using it in a field battle would be less than advisable. I still have concerns about the attack on Fort Purledo being its very first deployment, but nevertheless…” said Rietz. He seemed more or less on board with Rosell’s plan.
“Your plan’s not bad, kid, but it’s risky,” said Thomas. “What do you do if the airship isn’t as helpful for taking down the fort as you think it will be? We’ll end up wishing we’d dealt with Klax’s Hill first, if it comes to that. I say we should seize it.”
“U-Umm, well, if our plans revolving around the airship fail, we’ll have no choice but to temporarily retreat,” Rosell stammered awkwardly.
If the airship was taken out of the picture for whatever reason, Klax’s Hill would become a vital strategic point. I had to agree─if it was possible for us to claim it, it seemed like doing so would be for the best.
“Well, if the airship goes wrong, why not just fall back and attack Klax’s Hill afterward? I think we’d be better off assuming the airship will work to start, and adapting on the fly if it fails,” said Mireille. She seemed in favor of Rosell’s position.
Thomas silently furrowed his brow. I got the sense that he knew Mireille had a point, but was so opposed to agreeing with his sister that saying nothing at all felt like the better option.
The discussion carried on for some time after that, but ultimately, we chose to adopt Rosell’s plan.
○
After our meeting concluded and we took some time making our final preparations for battle, I gave the order to move out to our soldiers. Rietz and his troops took the front, and I led my own unit behind him. Rosell was part of that unit, there to act as my aide, and Pham came as well, to serve as my bodyguard. I’d been on my fair share of battlefields at that point, but I knew that I just didn’t have what it took to take command on the field singlehandedly. Rosell, however, had knowledge and wits to spare, and would make up for my shortcomings with sound and precise advice. He was the sort of man I needed by my side.
Rietz and my units would be making our way to Fort Purledo, with the intention of claiming it for ourselves. Mireille’s unit and the Maitraw Company would be coming along with us as well. Meanwhile, the troops who would be holding back the enemy troops stationed on Klax’s Hill marched behind us. The road would get us close to Klax’s Hill, at which point they would stop and set up an encampment, waiting to intercept any attempt at reinforcing the fort.
The airship hadn’t taken flight just yet. It would outpace our army’s rate of advance flying at its usual speed, and while slowing down to match our pace was an option, the longer it stayed in the air, the higher the odds were that the weather would shift and the ship would end up in trouble. Our plan was to have the airship lift off a day after the main army’s march began.
We also left a few defenders at the fort, just to make sure the airship wasn’t damaged in our absence. Those defenders included the Shadows, with the sole exception of Pham. I figured that it would be much harder for the enemy to sabotage the ship when it was safe and sound within a fort than it would’ve been while it was on the road─in fact, I didn’t anticipate the enemy trying to attack the fort at all. Even if they did, as long as the airship had a brief moment to get airborne, there wasn’t much of a chance it would be destroyed.