After a brief silence, the next person who spoke was another one of the Three Counts, Count Godwin. He was the son of the late Count Godwin, whom Yamato had defeated in Dorssen. In his twenties, he was still young, but he was both wise and courageous, and much was expected of him in the future.
“I have a plan,” he said, beginning slowly in an attempt to lower the temperature of the discussion. “I have something in my domain that I prepared in anticipation of a fight with Farune. I believe that it may well be the trump card we can play against the Farunian army.”
“What is it?” Count Broome asked hopefully.
“Crossbows.”
“Really?” Count Wolf said, disappointed.
Crossbows were a type of bow that used the force from a spring to fire a specialized arrow called a bolt. They were quite powerful, but nocking the arrow involved the use of levers and handles, so they took some time to load, and they were said to be less practical than ordinary bows. As such, few countries had adopted them for use on the battlefield.
“Do you seriously think you can beat the Farunian army with crossbows?” Count Wolf spat.
“Yes, I do,” Count Godwin asserted. “Crossbows are inferior to ordinary bows in that they’re costly and can’t fire rapidly, but once you overcome that, they have the potential to be a powerful weapon against Farune. After all, Farune doesn’t have any archers.”
Farune’s main military strength was in the Hundred, the Black Knights, and the Red Knights, but none of those units employed archers. In Farune, one-on-one swordfights were particularly popular, so the use of bows was not widespread. The excessively powerful ranged magic attacks of Frau’s Mages’ Guild also contributed to the trend.
“I’m aware,” Count Wolf said with a sigh. “But won’t they easily evade long-distance attacks with a bow of any kind?” It was common knowledge, gleaned from past battles such as the war with Dorssen, that bows didn’t work on the Farunian army. Eyland had also tried using bows against Farune in border skirmishes, but they had been completely ineffective—they had actually stopped using them because it was just a waste of arrows.
“They evade arrows because they’re being fired from a long range,” Count Godwin continued patiently. “Crossbows show their true power at close range. And, anyone can operate them—they don’t require any specialized skills. Crossbows are strong enough to pierce through armor, and the speed of their projectiles is too fast for the human eye to detect. I believe they’ll work well, even against those berserkers of the Hundred.”
“Hm.” Count Broome nodded. “You may be right. Crossbow bolts are faster and more lethal than regular arrows. If we use them at close range, even the powerful Farunian army may be hard pressed to come up with a response.”
“But loading a crossbow isn’t easy. It’s impossible to quickly follow up one attack with another,” Count Wolf retorted. “If you miss, you’ll instantly be the target of an enemy counterattack while you set up your next shot. That’s why crossbows haven’t been used on the battlefield. Though they may very well prove effective for defending against a siege. Do you support fighting a siege, Count Godwin?” He looked over at the count with a suspicious gaze.
“No, there’ll be no issues, even in a fight in the open,” Count Godwin said, still perfectly calm. “And I have a solution for the reloading issue.”
“What’s that?”
“We will prepare a large quantity of crossbows beforehand. For example, say that we were to organize three squads of crossbow users. The first squad would make their attack, and then change places with the second squad. Once they finished their attack, they would then rotate with the third squad, and during all that time the first squad would finish reloading. Repeating this would allow for continuous crossbow fire,” Count Godwin explained. “Farune’s army has always been small. Our army vastly outnumbers theirs. The point is to make effective use of this disparity.” With this latest addition to his explanation, Count Broome, and even Count Wolf, began to show interest in his strategy.
“The crossbows I’ve made are designed with the assumption that they’ll be used at close range, and they’re specialized for speed and power,” Count Godwin went on. “I invested my personal fortune as a count to make more than one thousand of them. Farune’s main force is only three thousand strong. This should be enough.”
Firing crossbows, known for their intense power, at short range—it certainly did seem like a potentially effective tactic against a Farunian army that predominantly engaged in close-quarters fighting.
“Is it really worth a try?” Count Wolf asked himself after a moment of consideration.
After hearing that it would be executed on the battlefield proper, he agreed to Count Godwin’s plan. Even Count Broome, who had supported staying put, judged that it would give them a chance to win, even in the open, and didn’t oppose it.
Finally, the king made his decision.
He had been sulking earlier, but now he raised his head and commanded in a powerful voice, “I approve of Count Godwin’s proposed crossbow strategy! We’re going on a sortie! We’ll defeat Farune out in the open!” With this, his retainers’ hearts came together as one.
And so, it was decided that the Eylish army would create a new unit of crossbow wielders to confront Farune.