Ch.589The Best Defense

======[ Ludwig ]======

After winter ended and spring arrived, Ludwig never took his eyes off the movements beyond the wall for a moment.

Once the snow that had accumulated throughout winter melted away, the dormant hoofbeats would begin to race across the land again. To replenish the food and supplies consumed during winter.

Spring was the season of the Ka’har.

—-

‘…This winter was exceptionally unusual. Nine out of ten scouts dispatched beyond the wall failed to return. The casualty rate is far too high.’

Eastern reconnaissance was practically a suicide mission. However, since it was absolutely necessary, Ludwig regularly recruited volunteers to monitor the Ka’har’s movements.

In other seasons, it was virtually impossible to shake off Ka’har pursuit teams, so most scouts were deployed only during winter. Even then, about thirty percent typically failed to return.

However, the casualties among scouts dispatched this winter weren’t just thirty percent—they were nearly triple that. Except for a few blessed with extraordinary luck, they had been virtually annihilated.

‘The worst season for cavalry operations. Yet such a high casualty rate. This means they spread warriors throughout the steppe and conducted thorough, persistent search operations all winter. Focusing on cutting off information instead of resting means…’

They were preparing for war. Ludwig couldn’t interpret it any other way.

In reality, warriors searching for sorcerers on Orhan’s orders had simply hunted down imperial scouts while they were at it… but that was something Ludwig couldn’t know.

Anyway, Ludwig expected Orhan’s Ka’har to launch large-scale military operations when spring arrived. Whether they would attack the Dane as before or directly target the wall remained uncertain.

Of course, regardless of Orhan’s target, Ludwig’s duty remained unchanged. Landenburg’s responsibility was to protect the wall from foreign enemies. If he couldn’t determine the enemy’s movements, he simply had to prepare for the worst.

Ludwig received imperial permission to conscript large numbers of his domain’s residents to increase his forces and significantly expanded the defensive equipment on the wall. All to complete full war preparations before spring arrived.

And then spring came.

—-

Despite the ninety percent casualty rate, thanks to the miraculous return of the remaining ten percent of scouts, Ludwig was able to grasp the Ka’har’s movements, albeit incompletely.

That they had concentrated all their forces in the capital Ordos. That the large force had departed eastward, only to return with considerable damage not long after. That they had remained silent since then.

Though fragmentary, this information was sufficient to understand the Ka’har situation.

‘A defensive battle with their entire army. Marching eastward means… the enemy was likely other Ka’har. Tribes rebelling against Orhan’s rule?’

The Ka’har princess who had defected to the Empire, Haschal, had mentioned it before. The Ka’har in the eastern plains were hostile to Orhan, and subjugating them all was Orhan’s long-cherished ambition.

Though she didn’t know their exact scale or military strength, it was certain that Orhan’s enemies filled the east of Ordos.

‘If Orhan’s position remains intact, it means he defeated and subjugated them. Then, the current silence must be to recover from losses sustained in that battle.’

Ludwig’s conjecture was accurate.

Though Orhan had annihilated the Clan Union and achieved his desired position as Kagan, the Aishan army had been significantly weakened after engaging in all-out war against enemies more than twice their number.

Given the Ka’har’s rejection of sorcery, they had to rely on medicine, pharmacology, and natural healing to treat their wounded.

The morale of the warriors who had finally unified the east was higher than ever, but replenishing troops and recovering the wounded required time, not just morale.

—-

‘Once they complete their recovery… they’ll be stronger than before, both in quality and scale. The total eastern forces will march toward the wall.’

Ludwig exhaled deeply, releasing smoke from his mana herb like a chimney at his desk. The situation was different from before.

Ten… no, eleven years ago, they had achieved significant military results by exploiting the enemy’s weakened defenses. Nine years ago, when Orhan marched through Dane instead of targeting the wall, the imperial and Landenburg armies had surrounded him from both sides and forced him to retreat.

But such victories could no longer be achieved. Back then, the imperial army was intact, and the entire world except the east was peaceful, allowing them to confront the enemy with full force.

But look at the Empire now.

Monsters infested the entire territory, and the imperial army suffered from manpower shortages. The Werebeasts had quieted after their defeat in the Great Invasion, and the elves were at war with the Dwarf—otherwise, there wouldn’t even be enough forces to defend the imperial territories.

Could the current Empire successfully repel a Ka’har invasion? Ludwig simply couldn’t envision an optimistic outcome.

Even if they managed to stop the Ka’har, the Empire would subsequently lose all its strength and collapse. Whether it would fall to monsters or another race remained to be seen.

‘Indeed, this is no time to wait for their attack. We cannot stop them that way.’

After a sleepless night of contemplation and lengthy discussions with his advisors, Ludwig finally made a decision that amounted to a gamble.

To advance beyond the wall and attack the Ka’har.

It was nearly a crazy idea, but there was no other way. If they couldn’t face the Ka’har at full strength, they had to strike before they recovered and inflict maximum damage.

A few days later, two letters bearing Ludwig’s seal arrived in the imperial territories.

Personal letters in Ludwig’s handwriting detailing the eastern situation, operation plans, and requests for support. The recipients were, naturally, Emperor Leopold the Radiant and the Empire’s First Sword, Haschal.

======[ Haschal ]======

‘…The eastern situation seems more than just serious if he’s resorting to such a gamble.’

I put down Ludwig’s letter and leaned back in my chair, flicking my cigarette.

For Ludwig himself to propose the insane idea of crossing the wall to directly confront the Ka’har… in other words, there was no other option.

[ A battle east of Ordos involving all of Aishan’s forces… I see. Those fools have handed us the conquest of the steppe on a silver platter—something that should have taken three years. ]

Hersella spat out words of contempt, as if dumbfounded.

Without the variable of imperial interference, complete conquest of the steppe would take about three years. This calculation considered the vastness of the steppe and the scale of hostile tribes, and Hersella agreed with this assessment.

It would take that much time to subjugate and stabilize the tribes flourishing across the steppe.

But from Ludwig’s letter and Hersella’s words, it seemed Orhan had succeeded in unifying the steppe in just one year. More precisely, unification had come to Orhan.

The original three-year estimate was only for a conquest war. If the enemies had brought all the forces of the eastern steppe and gotten themselves annihilated, it was natural for the timeframe to be drastically reduced.

Of course, that alone wouldn’t end everything—the process of subjugating and stabilizing tribes that had lost the power to resist would still be necessary… but that could be accomplished with just a few thousand troops.

‘I’m worried about the Nidhogg problem… but I have no choice but to go.’

I knew better than anyone what a unified Ka’har could do. Hersella, being originally from the Ka’har, would know just as well.

Ludwig seemed concerned that enemy forces might bypass the wall and invade the imperial mainland, but in the original work, the Ka’har were powerful enough to directly assault and destroy the wall.

Since everything had long since diverged from the original work, I couldn’t be certain whether they would be as powerful as in the original or weaker until I faced them directly.

Anyway, Ludwig was right that we needed to attack before they recovered and marched. This moment, so soon after their major war with other tribes, was essentially our only opportunity.

Even if directly targeting and annihilating Ordos was impossible, we needed to at least diminish their strength. Before they returned as an unstoppable calamity.

The problem was…

‘Will this operation work?’

I asked, pointing to the operation plan written at the bottom of Ludwig’s letter.

It was better than recklessly sending all forces beyond the wall for a large-scale battle, but it was still a gamble that could result in massive casualties if the plan went even slightly wrong.

[ Well… it depends on how we execute it, doesn’t it? ]

Even Hersella couldn’t confidently predict the operation’s success and merely gave an ambiguous answer. Not that she was wrong.