“I’ll leave this to you. Once the evacuation is complete, fall back, even if I don’t return!” I said.
“Just shut up already! Don’t worry about us. If you find any Fellows on the way, use ’em,” Sieg said.
“Boss, I’ve brought your armor and shield!”
It was Mathieu—ever speedy on his feet—with a chest of armor in his arms. After placing it at his feet, the Fellows cracked it open and suited me up. The Konigstuhl smithy had made my armor not just tough, but quick to don—I was grateful for that in times like these. I could get it all on in ten minutes on my own, but we were done in five with the help.
“I leave this to you.”
“Got it! Now go—take any more time and it’s all gonna be over!”
I wasn’t worried any longer. My stalwart allies sent me off with self-assured shouts.
Right, westward.
The forest flanked the whole northwestern span of Mottenheim, but it was markedly thinner on the western side—probably due to the canton’s demand for lumber—so it was lower on the priority list for our lookout. We hadn’t managed to get the trenches dug there yet, and our stock of mines meant there weren’t all too many there either. The clapper system was in place, but at this stage it wasn’t doing all too much.
As I made my way there, I passed a few families. I listened to scraps of intel from them and learned that the Watch and Fellows on patrol were already helping with the evacuation. They had left two people up on the watchtower, and the rest were already in the canton. I cross-referenced my mental map of Mottenheim and realized only two families or so were left to be evacuated from the western side. They were relatively close, so I imagined my people were following the plan pretty much without a hitch.
As I hurried along, the worry that my premonition had been unfounded crept in. What if they weren’t coming to the west? Maybe I should have put all our power into the north...
However, the sudden rapid ringing of the bell cut through my panicked thoughts. It was from ahead. I used my Listening to hone in on the frantic sound of the clappers. Then, in the distance, a vivid pillar of fire blossomed into the night air. Someone had stepped on a mine!
I had been conserving my energy, but now I let loose and sprinted to my destination. Before long I saw a group with torches in hand. It was impossible to mistake the man at the front. It was Etan; he’d been posted out here tonight from the jump.
He made for quite the spectacle as he helped people evacuate. Etan had strapped an old man with weak legs to his back with some rope, taken up two children—who were holding a torch for him—in his right arm close to his chest, gingerly slung a pregnant woman in his left arm, and hoisted one last child atop his shoulders! Behind him were villagers with their bare minimum belongings.
Bringing up the rear was Karsten, who was in charge of the western side. As a goblin, he couldn’t leverage the same insane stature, but he put his body to work and made sure none of the exhausted villagers fell behind.
I had memorized the faces of the people of Mottenheim beforehand, as well as their addresses. These were the final families who lived on the farthest edges of the western side and so, most likely, the last to be evacuated.
Well done! With these families safe, then the west was empty!
They must have noticed me; Etan called out to me. I needed to let them push on so I could focus on saving the sentries in the watchtower who were in the most vulnerable positio— Wait a second. What was that noise?
Heavy panting, low rumbling, pounding steps—it was something I knew all too well. It was something my ears had become accustomed to in the saddle: the sound of a warhorse’s hooves trampling the dirt.
As I and Etan’s group exchanged looks, suddenly a group of cavalry emerged from the horizon. With longspears at the ready and heavy armor that would render them slow on foot, they were the stars of the battlefield. Five heavy cavalrymen cut across the land with a group of ten relatively lighter-outfitted fighters following close behind.
You bastards! They spread out and lay undercover, only to reform at the center! And they ignored the watchtower to get here faster!
My internal state was quite complicated right now. First of all, I felt relief that my paranoid reaction was grounded in reality. Second of all, I was furious that they’d sent out this many to bring an end to the stalemate. These weren’t the sort of forces you brought out to attack some plush little canton! What was the enemy thinking?
Fuck, I won’t make it in time! At this rate, they’d be pounded into a pulp so fine you wouldn’t be able to sift them from the dirt.
There were only a few seconds until the first group reached us. No time for hesitation. If this wasn’t the perfect opportunity for me to go all out, when was it? All that stuff about vanity and showing off could go out the window. If I futzed about a moment longer, I wouldn’t be able to so much as breathe without feeling guilt. Siegfried and the others were giving everything they had. It was my turn now. I didn’t care at this point if Lady Agrippina would be mad at me—saving lives was more important. I’d sit on the floor and put up with the inevitable lecture for as many hours as I needed to.
All right, I hope you lot are ready to get a taste of just how cruel optimized fixed values can get. Don’t worry, I’ll collect my dues...
[Tips] Heavy cavalry do not have the same overwhelming influence as they once did thanks to the normalization of tactics involving tight formations. However, the mobility, might, and sheer power of their steeds renders them as powerful as ever.
When used in assaulting a canton, they have more than enough power and speed to utterly crush the forces of a small-scale base.