Chapter 37

The region colloquially termed the Northlands had a set of prefectures lining both its east and west sides. Word was that originally foreigners from another continent had immigrated there. The allotment of its prefectures was not as convoluted as in the capital area. Among them, I would first attack the Margrave of Machaal, in Machaal Prefecture, also known as the Gate to the North. The Machaal clan had originally ruled only the southern half of Machaal Prefecture, but eventually they’d subjugated the lords in the north and also extended their domain into part of Misroux Prefecture to the west—they were a great power. Most notably, the margrave was connected with the former king and his line and had received the title of Count of Misroux. That in itself was justification for the Machaals to subjugate Misroux, and although not all the lords there had submitted to them, they were undeniably the most powerful force in the Northlands. Additionally, the fact that they were friendly to the former king meant that they were opposed to the current king, Hasse I. Being so far away, there was no direct relationship, but Machaal hadn’t sent a messenger to the capital to submit, at least. Before the offensive, I held a meeting with my top vassals inside a fort. Everyone was gathered around the map. I couldn’t relax in my small chair, so I stood. All the captains of my guard troops were present, as well as Laviala, Noen Rowd, Fleur’s brother Meissel Wouge, Little Kivik, Kelara Hilara, and more. As a general rule, I didn’t bring kingdom officials to the battlefield, so these formed the basis of my military. That meant I hadn’t made many calls for troops to the region we marched through. “Your Excellency, perhaps you should have mobilized troops on a larger scale than this? Of course, I do think we can win, but people might consider this to be the private war of a single lord, rather than a war between the kingdom and its rebels,” commented Noen Rowd. He might be middle-aged, but the man was young at heart. “True, maybe I should’ve taken more advantage of my position as regent. But I thought it would be a bigger problem to lower the quality of my soldiers by mixing in unmotivated ones. The enemy lords don’t exactly do battle relying on numbers alone, either. The Northlands is famous for its cavalry—and they’re going to be charging us.” A vicious cavalry attack was all it would take to make a rabble of weak, frightened soldiers rout. If the frontline troops fled, those behind them would also crumble, and that would be the end. “Nevertheless, as your kin, should not Ayles Caltis and Brando Naaham have joined the war at least…?” After mentioning their names, Noen’s voice softened. He must have wondered if it was all right to bring them up. “I did tell them about it, but they both said they had uprisings in their domains that they needed to suppress.” If they’d claimed to be sick, they’d be told to get replacements, after all. That they had another military operation in progress wasn’t as bad an excuse. “Besides, Noen, a war council isn’t for talking about the past. That’s entirely meaningless. Think about what we can do in the situation at hand. Think about how to defeat Seitred, the Margrave of Machaal.” At my words, Noen bowed his head, saying, “My apologies…” A river flowed between the enemy army and ours. It wasn’t a particularly large river, but the current was relatively fast. The question looming over everyone’s head was whether we should go ahead and cross the river all at once or stay put and wait. I tried having my vassals discuss the matter, but their opinions were all over the place. Some said we should wait because the enemy was too strong, while some questioned the usefulness of waiting when we were on an expedition. The debate was a bit too theoretical. There hadn’t been any big wars recently, so they all must’ve gotten rusty. Before, they had been more desperate to survive. As it happened, the plan was already settled to begin with. If someone had a better idea, I intended to switch to that, of course. “No more ideas, everyone?” At that, a hand went up from quite far back. It was Ortonba the dwarf. Some of my vassals eyed him, wondering who he was. The size of his territory was much smaller than that of my most powerful vassals. “I believe we should wait. Then if we erect a simple fence and take defensive positions, we can dampen the force of their cavalry charge.” “Even if we dampen their charge somewhat, we’re getting hit there, aren’t we? How the hell are we supposed to switch to attacking? Once they’ve come that far, it’s over either way, right?” objected Orcus of the Red Bears. Indeed, that would be the normal way to understand it. If you waited for the enemy at a fence, by the time the fence did its job, the cavalry was already upon you. “We then shoot them with our guns.” Ortonba took out an iron tube. Compared to what I’d seen the first time, it appeared substantially improved. “Ooh, it looks like you made an awful lot of those,” noted Laviala. “I tried one out once before, although I must say I felt a bit conflicted when you said it’s stronger than a bow.” As an Archer, Laviala must not have been thrilled about a weapon that might take her job. “These guns will penetrate armor as easily as paper. If your men keep firing from behind the fence whenever they have a shot, it’ll work out. The closer the enemy is, the worse their wounds will be.” “Hah! That’s gotta be a joke, right?” Apparently, to a war hawk like Orcus, this weapon seemed dubious. To be fair, it hadn’t done any real work on a battlefield yet. “No, Mr. Orcus, this is quite terrifying.” This time, Laviala was the one recognizing the value of firearms. “It’s far more accurate than a bow. It really isn’t half bad.” “Oh, you’re gonna take his side, huh…? When it’s an Archer saying it…I can’t argue with that…” Orcus always folded when it came to a woman’s advice. Afterward, Ortonba gave a concrete explanation about firearms tactics. We would set up several fences at random to keep their cavalry regiment from moving as a group. Then we’d destroy them one by one as their horsemen came up individually. Having lost a great deal of striking power, the enemy would be weakened. And since many of the enemy’s top vassals would be among them, if all went well, we could inflict enough damage to make further combat impossible for them. Ooh, this reminds me of when I dealt a devastating blow to Takeda Katsuyori. You did mention winning a big victory using these. Of course, once I’d forced them to attack, I’d already won. Takeda made the mistake of underestimating my defenses, thinking he just needed to force a breakthrough. They were haunted by Shingen’s ghost—Shingen’s twilight years were glorious, but gradually Takeda started getting boxed in. I don’t know who Takeda is, but it seems guns definitely made a difference, so I’ll give it a try. I’m sure you approve. The plan to wait with guns for the Margrave of Machaal was practically settled now. My vassals were also starting to feel that the guns would provide us a sweeping victory. “All right—Ortonba, was it? Show us everything these guns can do! The Red Bears are with you to the end!” Even Orcus was on board at this point.