I concluded my meeting with the council and returned to my office to issue directions for the siege. While I was making adjustments to the allotment scheme for magic pumps and bows, I got word that Rafed and Sir Kesten had come to visit and let them inside.
“I humbly beg your pardon, your lordship,” Rafed said as he entered. “Would you honor us with a moment of your time?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Thank you, Your Lordship.”
Rafed’s attitude felt forced. The best—and perhaps somewhat odd—way of putting it was that he had the air of an average joe trying to put on an act for a theater audience. Sir Kesten, by contrast, had the perfect air of a soldier. The gap between the two was striking.
“Hard at work as usual, I see. How is the volunteer force, Sir Kesten?”
“I have done all I can given the limited time. While they may not quite handle your usual maneuvers to the standard you’ve set, they should suffice to defend our base.”
He only had a month after all. He did well to train them so well in so little time.
When he said “your usual maneuvers,” it seemed like he was referring to the small squad skirmish tactics I used instead of fighting in large battalions. I never really viewed it that way, but I must have left that impression with the way I chose to take out the bandits. Conversely, I was hardly confident I could lead a large army.
“How are things on your end, Rafed?”
“I’ve prepared what you asked for, but they’re limited in number.”
“Nothing we can do about that.”
I was just happy to hear that he had gotten them together.
In this mission, I was nothing but bait to lure out our enemies, an instrument by which we would buy time for reinforcements to arrive from the capital. We lacked a standard military force, but since we didn’t need to slay our enemies ourselves, neither were we bound to standard military tactics.
I gave Rafed some orders and left it to him to divvy up the supplies. He used to be a merchant, and I was honestly glad to have someone who understood the importance of shipments and supply lines.
Once Rafed took his leave, Sir Kesten turned to me. He had a sarcastic grin on his face that looked a bit like Duke Seyfert’s, his boss. They did say birds of a feather flock together, though it might have been a bit of a rude thing for me to think.
“Is it all right to leave all our supplies in Rafed’s hands?”
“It is, as long as our enemies are Demons.”
Rafed had a good nose on him. I was pretty certain that the moment things turned against me, he’d slip out. I guessed that also meant as long as Rafed hadn’t run off, then my prospects in battle were still looking good. Who was I, Matsunaga Hisahide?
Sir Kesten dropped the matter, apparently satisfied with simply having heard my thought process. He said, “May I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Why is this the method you’ve chosen?”
I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about, so I instead flashed him a questioning look.
Sir Kesten continued. “If our goal is simply to defend Anheim, we only need wait for them to launch a siege on the town and await the arrival of the knight brigade. There is no need to go out of our way to take out the Demon Commander.”
“Oh. So that’s what you meant.”
“There is no need for Your Lordship himself to become bait to lead them to the northern gate, either.”
He’d caught me. If all I needed to do was lure our enemies, there were other ways of doing so. However, I wanted to put an end to the Demon Commanded here, and so I needed to taunt him into a frenzy. It was a surefire way of keeping him busy until the knight brigade arrived. It would be easy for him to give up on attacking Anheim, but he wouldn’t be quick to release a human who’d made a mockery of him. His pride would be the end of him.
While it didn’t really matter, “Your Lordship” wasn’t an odd term of address considering my title of viscount, but it left my skin crawling. I think my memories from my past life made me feel like it should be reserved for those more distinguished than myself.
I decided to put that aside and answer his question. “That doesn’t change how the townsfolk will feel. Even if it takes just a few days for the knight brigade to arrive, I want to keep the Demons away from our walls for as long as possible.”
“You have rather a unique way of thinking.”
It was hard to say whether my thinking was truly just “unique.” I still had my memories from my previous life, and so, I had the awareness to want to keep civilians as far away from a fight as possible.
On the other hand, I knew that in this world, keeping civilians too far away would mean we wouldn’t be able to maintain our organization. There were no trucks, so every single shipment had to rely on manpower. We couldn’t go without townsfolk to handle that sort of labor.
At the same time, nobles needed civilians. A fiefdom without people was nothing but a desolate field. As the Confucian scholar Xunzi once said, “The ruler is a boat; people are the water. The water can carry the boat; the water can capsize the boat.” On that note, I wanted to avoid using any strategies that would drag any citizens into the conflict. Though that was just the logic behind my feelings.
“I suppose I can only perform well when I’m fighting the way that suits me. I don’t think I’d be able to proudly declare victory if any civilians got roped in and died.”
“I see.”
And who would I proudly be declaring this to? I didn’t have an answer for that. I changed the subject before he could ask any questions.
“By the way, Sir Kesten. There’s something I’d like you to do for me.”
“What is it?”
“I’m sure you know about Skywalk Boots. Once we’re certain our enemies have attacked the first fortress, I want to send a messenger to the capital. I’d like you to pick the man for the job.”
“Certainly.”
“I’d also like you to teach your most skilled men how to use these. This will be a secret.”
I handed over the magic item which I had snuck in along with the Skywalk Boots using a magic bag; this was under the pretext that what was inside were important documents. I was already certain that this item could be put to practical use, so all that was left was to try it out in battle. However, this item would serve us better in the hands of an elite soldier than in my own. If I could, I’d like to see how they’d use it and learn from them.
I showed him the item in question and explained how to use it. It left him dumbfounded. They must really be useful if they left a seasoned veteran making a face like this.
“We’ll start constructing the fortress tomorrow. I’ll leave protecting the town to you.”
“Understood.”
Once our plan was put into action, we’d probably have about twenty days until the Demons attacked. I supposed Mazel and his party should be near the dungeon of the third Demon Commander right around now.
I’d have to give a performance that could stand next to theirs.