“Well, sure. We’re well aware of that...” Arness frowned in confusion.
“A siege would insinuate that it’d be a long battle, right? And we’d be far away from our people.”
“Yes, and isn’t that exactly what we want?” Arness asked.
“That’s right. It’d be the wisest course of action, for sure.” The more dissatisfied his subjects became, the quicker Babel’s forces would weaken. Put more clearly: The more upset they were with Babel, the easier it would be for Nozomu to rule. By setting him up as a hero who toppled a tyrant, he’d surely be welcomed by the populace. The benefits of their current plan were readily obvious, but even so...
“The thing is, I don’t want my people to suffer any longer,” Nozomu stated.
That was how Nozomu truly felt. He knew it was immature and idealistic, but in the end, his heart wouldn’t accept anything else. He couldn’t help but be true to himself.
“Naturally, I’m well aware that just as you two said, a siege strategy is in our best interest. But I can’t help but think, am I any better of a ruler if I’m able to leave my people to suffer under Babel any longer than they need to? If I have to make a choice like that to become king, then what right do I have to wear the crown?” The words coming out of his mouth sounded idiotic even to him. Only heroes, people with strength like his father Yuuto, had the right to spout such ideals. From the mouth of a weakling like himself, it was all going to ring hollow. Or so he thought.
“I see. Well then, let’s put an end to this war as swiftly as possible, shall we?” Arness said with a grin.
“Yes, let’s revise our plan so we can do just that,” Sigurd agreed. The pair readily got on board with Nozomu’s idealistic goals. There were no objections whatsoever. They’d been so eager to accept, in fact, that it freaked Nozomu out.
“Wh-Whoa, whoa, is this really okay?! You’re really just going to go along with my idealistic nonsense without looking into it at all?!”
“Hm? We just said we’re going to look into making it happen,” Arness replied.
“Right,” Sigurd agreed.
“H-Huh...?” He didn’t understand. Did they really value his hopeless opinion that much? It couldn’t be.
“Are you really surprised? You’re the king, Nozomu. What you say goes.”
“Indeed. Our role is to make the ideals of our king reality.” Arness and Sigurd nodded in unison.
“Hey, hey, don’t forget about me. You aren’t gonna leave me out of this plan, are you?” Rungr cut in.
“I would like to be included as well,” Wiz added. Both of them seemed to be just as eager to participate.
How were they all able to so confidently trust in his judgment? They were putting way too much stock in him, he felt. Over the past five years, he had experienced many things, and he thought he’d managed to grow up a bit. But when he’d made up his mind, returned to his hometown, and seen how his younger brothers were leaving him in the dust, he’d been given a reality check. Was he really so worthy of his siblings’ trust? Try as he might—he couldn’t say yes.
“We just got word from our scout unit. Seems that Babel’s army will be on our doorstep within the hour.”
“I-I see...”
When Nozomu heard Arness’s update, he swallowed hard, and his face turned tense. He’d managed to hold his own in several encounters with pirates since his first battle five years ago, but those were all light skirmishes compared to the threat he was about to face. He couldn’t help but think about all the lives that were at stake should he happen to fail.
“Don’t worry, Big Bro. You’ve got this. The plan’s practically foolproof, right?” Arness replied, making an effort to reassure Nozomu.
That much was true. It was as foolproof as it could get, anyway. A main unit of around two thousand led by Nozomu had marched from the fort to a small hill a short distance from its entrance—the location they anticipated that Babel’s men would arrive from. Meanwhile, two auxiliary units of one thousand each, led by Sigurd and Haugspori respectively, were currently hiding within the forest to either side, where they would ambush the enemy when they appeared. With Nozomu’s forces in front and Sigurd and Haugspori’s to the side, Babel’s men would find themselves completely surrounded. Ideally, Nozomu would’ve liked to have used Yuuto’s patented “Fisher and Bandit” strategy to seal the deal, but he wasn’t confident enough in the proficiency of his troops or his own leadership ability to go with that plan. In truth, “Fisher and Bandit” was a risky maneuver that could backfire and send his own army packing if improperly executed, so perhaps it was just as well.
“Let me and Rungr sweat the small stuff. You just focus on steeling yourself for the battle ahead,” Arness said to Nozomu.
“Gotcha.” A small part of him felt like he was implicitly being told to stay out of their way, but deep down, he knew that wasn’t the case. A supreme commander needed to wear a mask of steel, staying cool and composed no matter the situation. “As long as the commander remains calm, so, too, do the troops. The morale of the troops decides the outcome of the battle itself.” He’d heard it time and time again. Arness was merely ensuring that Nozomu could successfully carry out his role.
As the two conversed, a scout approached. “The enemy has halted their advance! They’ve likely noticed our presence!”
“I would hope so, considering we had the scout unit deliberately show themselves,” Arness replied with a snicker. Everything was, so far, going according to plan. If Nozomu’s army was going to trap Babel’s men in an encirclement, then the enemy army needed to be encouraged to march toward their main unit. Giving away the position of their main force was required for this to work, basically.
“Now all we need to do is wait for them to resume their march. They will, right?” Nozomu asked hesitantly.
“Definitely. By now, enemy intelligence has probably already learned that our forces number somewhere around four thousand. Since they have almost twice that amount, they’ll surely determine that we’re no threat,” Arness replied.
“Makes sense.” Nozomu nodded. They’d also outfitted their main unit with flags and banners to make it even more conspicuous. If the plan worked, the enemy would be too focused on eliminating the main unit to even notice there were others lurking in the shadows. All they needed to do now was wait. That was the toughest part. “Now it all comes down to a test of patience,” Nozomu thought, psyching himself up.
Not even two hours later, they got word that Babel’s troops had resumed their advance. They probably didn’t see Nozomu as enough of a threat to give pause any further. But that was fine—it would prove to be their downfall. He wasn’t prepared for the next part of the scout’s report, however. “Around a thousand of them are on horseback, heading this way!”
“What?!” Nozomu and Arness’s mouths dropped open in unison. The enemy shouldn’t have had any mounted units. Stirrups were considered technology from the future—in other words, forbidden knowledge.
“Why am I surprised? There was never any guarantee Babel was going to uphold my dad’s wishes, after all,” Nozomu said glumly. Of course, Babel wouldn’t have made the technology public, or he would’ve risked a confrontation with Yuuto down the line. But Nozomu had known since long ago that Babel had always been the ambitious sort. He should’ve considered that this might happen. Even so, the possibility had not just eluded Nozomu, but everyone else as well. They’d probably ruled it out within their subconscious, telling themselves that Babel wouldn’t possibly go that far.
“So, he plans to antagonize dad as well...” Nozomu was so stunned he couldn’t even fathom it. Babel should’ve known that he wouldn’t be able to use technology from the land beyond the heavens without incurring Yuuto’s wrath. Even if he managed to defeat Nozomu’s army here, he had to have known that he’d have Yuuto to answer to afterward. Babel had originally been under Yuuto. He had seen the face of the war god firsthand. With everything he knew about the man, he still meant to make Yuuto his enemy? He had to be insane.
“Looks like he still had some tricks up his sleeve,” Arness muttered, grimacing. Yuuto had brought plenty of knowledge with him from the land beyond the heavens. If Babel had already brought stirrups out, that wasn’t likely all he had in store. He was sure to have advanced weaponry waiting in the wings.
“And in comparison, our weapons are as primitive as can be,” Nozomu groaned, a crease forming between his brows. Every man under Nozomu’s command was outfitted with weapons and equipment from the current era. Not only did they not have stirrups, but they also lacked tanegashimas, compound bows, and tetsuhaus. In short, they were at an extreme disadvantage.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The cavalry loosed one hail of arrows after another upon Nozomu’s main unit.
“Dammit... If they’re firing from that distance, they aren’t using regular bows. Those are compound bows!” Nozomu gritted his teeth.
“Indeed. This isn’t good. Their arrows have no trouble reaching our men, but our own keep falling short,” Arness said.
“And they’ll only flee if we try to get closer, most likely. Horses are much faster than soldiers on foot, after all.” Nozomu muttered.
“Yeah. Actually, if we did try to chase them, the troops might get so caught up in the moment that we’d become unable to control them, which’d deal an awful blow to our chain of command,” Arness pointed out.
“Sigurd and Haugspori’s units are still lying in wait. How about using them to execute a pincer attack?” Nozomu asked.
“That’s exactly what the enemy will be expecting. In fact, the reason they only moved a small cavalry unit forward was probably to flush out a potential ambush.” Arness replied.
“So we’re up against the wall then...” Nozomu bit his thumbnail in frustration. Even though they’d had a foolproof plan and the home advantage, they’d found themselves totally outmatched. It drove home just how frighteningly powerful Yuuto’s modern technology really was. Of course, that alone hadn’t allowed Yuuto to become the conqueror of Yggdrasil, but it had certainly been an important factor. Nozomu was now coming to realize just how important.
“Dammit... Should we have gone with the siege plan after all?” He accidentally let slip a lack of confidence in his own actions. By chasing after lofty, unattainable ideals, he was worried that he might have accidentally put everyone in unnecessary danger.
“No, I think you made the right choice. If we’d done that, Babel’s tetsuhaus and trebuchets would’ve made our troops panic,” Arness replied, his hand on his chin.