And so, we managed to repel Sylvario’s army with barely any casualties, just as we had originally planned. Things went so well that I was honestly a little scared.
While I’d always known I had a kind of sixth sense for the battlefield—when to advance, when to pull back, and other things like that—things had gone especially well today. I’d also managed to do a better job at supporting and leading my subordinates than I usually did. This all happened despite me not doing much more than what I usually did for a battle.
“It’s definitely thanks to Nia, huh,” I murmured baselessly as I watched the Special Battalion knights direct the volunteer militia on tying up all of the prisoners we’d taken.
Because I mean, really, the only thing that was different between the last war and today’s battle was Nia. I hadn’t trained any differently than before; if anything, I was training less these days because of how busy I was. It wouldn’t have been odd for my skills to be a little duller with how happily I’d been living lately.
But even so, I was sharp when I was out on the battlefield, and when I spoke to my subordinates, I could sense how much more powerful my voice was than usual. I was certain that, at the level my skills had been before, I would have lost a few soldiers in today’s battle. But that didn’t happen. My voice carried more than usual, I got my subordinates pumped up for battle, and my orders reached every one of them. I was physically better too—I couldn’t remember ever being able to swing my wolf fang cudgel as lightly as I had today. I had probably moved better today than I had ever in my life. And I don’t think I could’ve been blamed for believing that Nia had to be the reason behind it all.
“I wanna see her,” I couldn’t help but murmur. But hear me out here: Just remembering her face energized me, as tired as I was. Energy surged through me; I felt like breaking out into a run.
“What’s that sloppy grin for, Commander?” crudely needled one of the Special Battalion knights I was friendly with. But I was feeling magnanimous, so I let it go.
“For your information, this is what someone looks like when they’re basking in joy. You’ve still got a long way to go if you can’t tell the difference.”
“Nah, I don’t think there’s much of a difference between the two at all.”
It was a relief that we could actually have such a silly conversation. While our plan had, of course, been likely to succeed, we had still been outnumbered, and anything could have happened on the battlefield. Even though our targets, Balthazar and his guard, had been awful tactically, they’d still had around the same number of troops as we’d had, if not a bit more.
We had charged right at them, and normally, it would’ve been natural for us to experience some deaths on our side. But I’d been sure that wouldn’t happen. And I’d been right. Not one casualty in my entire troop.
“Well, you’ll learn the difference soon enough.”
We had a future, after all. We’d survived, and we would see tomorrow. We’d been given a “next time.”
“Commander, we did it!”
“We won! We drove them away!”
The volunteer militia were running towards me, having finished either tying up our prisoners or chasing off the soldiers who’d decided to flee. They all had nothing but good expressions on their faces, which was promising.
While they still had a lot to learn, they’d gotten through the thing I’d wanted them to experience the most: surviving on the battlefield. Soldiers who managed that became quite strong. I knew that fact well. All we needed to do now was bring them further along.
“You did great! Just what I expected from the heroes recognized by Saintess Nia!”
When I praised them, they all looked proud. It would be fair to say that we’d made great military gains here. I wasn’t just talking emotionally, but realistically as well; we now had five hundred soldiers with battlefield experience.
If we sent half to Stonehunt and half to Diamoncut, then not only would they probably be able to keep the peace, but in emergencies, they’d come in handy as a legitimate fighting force. Random bandits would be no match for them, and any of the mercenaries who ran away during today’s battle probably wouldn’t manage to form a gang of more than ten or so people, so the militia would have no problem routing them. If that happened, I was sure that they’d be fine implementing any of the various plans we’d developed.
This all, of course, had been part of His Highness Prince Alphonse’s plans. I seriously wasn’t sure if he was actually human or not.
Nia was an incredible advisor too, but compared to His Highness, she couldn’t stop her kindness from impacting her strategies. His Highness’s personality was much more suited to using and discarding people.
But when I thought about it all, Nia had no reason to get any better at that. Nope, not at all. I mean, if she did and became more like His Highness, then my healing refuge by her side would be gone. Our conversations were already mostly about work, after all, so it would be unbearable if they started getting more bloodthirsty too.
It’s so weird. Where did my sweet newlywed life go?
“Commander? Is something the matter?” one of the volunteer militia soldiers asked me when I accidentally got to thinking too much.
“Huh? Ah, no, I was just a bit lost in thought.”
Whoops. Speculation and planning are all well and good, but right now, we needed to celebrate our victory. Good times wouldn’t last long, after all.
“Okay! Once we’ve got all our prisoners bound, let’s take ’em to town! After that is our celebratory feast!” I cried.
“Yeahhhh!”
When I shouted that out, everyone around me raised their voices in agreement. Their reaction and timing were a lot more coordinated than they’d been before the battle. I was planning on having some of the Special Battalion knights stay in the region to lead the militia, so I was glad the vibes were this good, seeing as I wouldn’t be around to oversee the militia once they were sent to their postings.
“Man, the booze is gonna taste so good tonight!” chirped a thrilled knight.
“Probably. Make sure you guys get a good taste of it too, all right?” I answered lightly. The drinks they were going to have today were the sweet nectar of victory, so of course it was gonna be good. But I had no idea if I’d be able to get a taste of it. “I’ve gotta go give my report to His Highness as soon as we arrive, so I won’t be able to join you until later.”
It was even a bit iffy for me to say “until later,” because I had no idea if I’d even get a chance to join in at all. This was because the leader of the Special Battalion, Brigandia’s third prince, His Highness Prince Alphonse, was currently in Bigden and chomping at the bit to hear what happened from me. He’d probably be drilling me for hours for all the info he could get, and it was plenty likely that he’d give me my next job before I even had a chance to rest.
Though I wished he could cut me some slack, for the sake of my sweet newlywed life that would commence once all this Sylvario business was finished, I couldn’t say no.
“Welcome home, Lord Ark. Bravo on your victory.”
Waiting for us when we got back to Bigden was Nia, dressed up a little more than usual. She was beautiful from the get-go, so some nice clothes and a little bit of makeup were enough to shoot her way up to gorgeous. I nearly started staring, entranced, before I frantically got myself back on track.
“Thanks for meeting us here, Nia. This was all thanks to them,” I said, gesturing to the knights and volunteer militia waiting behind me.
As an aside, Nia and I had decided beforehand that I would address her more informally when in public. If I, the territory’s lord, was too formal with my wife, there was a chance that people would look down on me.