episode_0012

The arrows that had soared vigorously into the sky, having flown too far, now fell powerlessly to the ground.

More than half of those fallen arrows failed to even pierce the earth, bouncing off instead—naturally, they inflicted little meaningful damage on the few soldiers they struck.

‘A provocation?’

The word flickered through Charlotte’s mind. There was no other way to explain such an absurd act.

And if that were truly the case, she might have been deeply disappointed in the man named Werner, Baron Hebel.

‘Surely he didn’t think such a childish taunt would work?’

From what she had experienced, for mounted archers, every single arrow was a precious resource.

Each arrow could mean the difference in the number of kills—so wasting them like this was, from Charlotte’s perspective, something to welcome.

‘Hmm—. No, that can’t be it.’

But the man she had observed over the past few days, Werner von Hebel, was not the type to engage in such pointless antics.

‘If anything, he’d hide meticulously and snipe when the time came. He’s not the kind to flaunt like this.’

If so, then this seemingly trivial action must have meaning.

Of course, that was that.

“──Cavalry!!”

If they had come just to shoot arrows for no reason, they would have to pay the price.

At Charlotte’s command, the cavalry at the front charged forward.

As if they had never intended to fight in the first place, the centaurs kicked up clouds of dust and hastily turned to flee.

Watching their retreating figures, Charlotte halted the pursuit. She had already learned from the mock battle with the Margrave what would happen if they recklessly gave chase.

‘If we just maintain formation and advance, the Baron won’t have many options.’

The Swarm Tactics were, in essence, a hunting method adapted for warfare.

Like hunting beasts with arrows, it wasn’t much different from chasing an army and picking them off.

But if that army panicked and broke formation, they would become easy prey.

However, as long as they maintained disciplined vigilance, the arrows of the mounted archers would ultimately be blocked by the Empire’s well-armored infantry.

Of course, losses would accumulate—but if they could seize just one decisive opportunity, they could recover all their losses in a single strike.

“Now. Advance.”

Rather than chasing the centaurs fleeing into the forest, Charlotte chose to continue south along the riverbank.

This mock battle had no strategic objective—it was purely about forcing the enemy’s surrender.

So if Werner wanted to settle things, he would eventually have to commit his forces to attack.

And when that happened, the open plains by the river, free of obstacles, would favor Charlotte’s heavily armored Imperial troops.

‘Tactics, at their core, are about doing what your enemy dislikes.’

There was no reason now to venture into the forest, where pursuit was difficult, just to accommodate the enemy.

In crude terms, it was: ‘If you want a fight, come get it yourself.’

──Whoosh!

As if to obstruct Charlotte and the Imperial army’s march, dust clouds rose again from the forest, and soon, centaurs burst forth, raining arrows.

The infantry, marching closer to the forest to shield the cavalry, intercepted them.

As the sudden barrage of arrows flew, they struck or bounced off the infantry’s hauberks and brigandines.

“Infantry, swiftly form ranks and advance!”

But the soldiers Charlotte had handpicked were not mere rabble—they were the Empire’s elite.

Unshaken by the ambush, they turned their marching columns, raised their shields, and swiftly countered the volley.

Soon, the arrows clattered harmlessly against their shields, failing to inflict any real damage.

“……Fire!”

At Charlotte’s command, the waiting archers—over 200 strong—returned fire, sending the lightly armored centaurs scrambling back into the forest, tails between their legs.

The cavalry hadn’t even needed to move.

‘Is this all?’

Scanning the battlefield, the losses from the arrow storm were minimal—far less than the noise suggested.

In a situation where the enemy had openly declared they would only shoot arrows, and with defenses prepared, there was no way mere archery could turn the tide.

This was the Swarm Tactics’ greatest weakness.

It was also why the once-mighty nomadic peoples of history had all been conquered by the Empire, leaving only the centaurs outside its borders to still employ such tactics.

Well, there were more nuanced reasons, but—

With just mounted archers, it was inevitable they’d struggle to seize a decisive opportunity.

What followed was an almost tedious repetition of the same scene.

Each time they advanced slowly along the river, the centaurs would take turns showering them with arrows before fleeing.

Each time, Charlotte had the infantry block the arrows, the archers return fire, and the cavalry intercept any centaurs foolish enough to get too close.

Naturally, in this monotonous stalemate, neither side suffered significant casualties.

The number of arrows embedded in the infantry and cavalry’s armor and shields grew, and occasionally, a few even ricocheted off Charlotte herself.

In this bizarre standoff—Charlotte’s heavily armored troops holding their ground while Werner’s centaur archers harassed them—no proper battle ever erupted.

‘Strange. Why waste arrows like this?’

After enduring two more attacks, a fundamental question crossed Charlotte’s mind.

Of course, it might not be waste. The centaurs were notoriously vulnerable in close combat.

Their hybrid form—human upper body, horse lower body—seemed to combine the strengths of both, but it came with sacrifices.

The most obvious was their elongated hindquarters.

Unlike mounted cavalry, whose torsos were centered, centaurs’ upper bodies were positioned forward, leaving their rears exposed.

While their unique archery style compensated somewhat, in melee, their anatomy became a liability.

Thus, aside from a few heavily armored nobles trained exclusively for close combat, centaurs almost never engaged in melee unless victory was certain—or so the chronicles said.

In other words, shooting arrows might be all Werner could do.

And once his arrows ran out, he’d have no choice but to push his melee-vulnerable archers into battle against the Empire’s close-combat specialists.

Which raised another question.

‘If he knew this weakness… why isn’t he using his arrows efficiently?’

Had Charlotte commanded the centaurs, she wouldn’t have squandered arrows like this. She’d have targeted the most vulnerable—like the cavalry’s horses, whose armor couldn’t cover everything.

In fact, she was already guarding against this, using infantry to shield the cavalry from easy targeting.

And with the centaurs’ mobility, they could have maneuvered to create angles the infantry couldn’t block.

If someone capable of the optimal strategy wasn’t using it, there had to be a reason.

She needed to find out why.

As she pondered, gazing toward the forest, Charlotte noticed dust slowly rising.

The dust swirled up from multiple points, near and far. With little wind on the battlefield, it was easy to track.

Likely traces of centaurs moving through the woods.

The scattered dust clouds suggested they’d split into smaller groups to navigate the dense forest.

But what stood out was the dust in the distance.

‘Wait… why is dust rising so far away?’

If they were lying in ambush, dust wouldn’t be stirred. It meant they were moving—busily.

And if it was a real ambush, the moment she noticed, it was over. No need to dwell on it.

‘Wasted arrows, the forest, centaurs, the distance of the dust. And that first volley earlier.’

The pieces clicked together in Charlotte’s mind.

From these seemingly unrelated clues, a scenario formed.

A sharp grin twisted beneath her helmet.

“──Ah, I see. So that’s how it is?”

In that instant, her priorities shifted.

“All forces, change direction.”

She repositioned the infantry, covered the archers, and had the cavalry follow.

Their new destination? The forest she’d had no intention of entering moments ago.

If her guess was right, she was heading straight for Baron Hebel’s heart—now likely left unguarded.