episode_0014

With the sound of wind spinning round and round, the world itself seemed to turn once.

At least, that was what Charlotte thought beneath the false sky of that virtual space.

“……?”

Only a moment later did she realize—after a violent shock struck her entire body—that she was falling from her horse.

And it was only after that she understood what the crimson streaks soaring before her eyes had been deflected from.

It was none other than the horse she had been riding.

“────!!”

The impact of hitting the ground after the fall was followed by a sharp, ringing pain in her skull.

“Hahk……!!”

A scream that barely sounded human burst from her lips, and the warhorse, spewing blood like a fountain as it let out a horrific death cry, convulsed violently before collapsing like a felled tree.

“Ghk…!”

“Kuhk…?!”

This phenomenon wasn’t happening to her alone.

The sound of small objects slicing through the air continued to echo like a cursed melody, and with each one, her royal guards were falling one after another as if struck by something invisible.

Had she not noticed the small arrow embedded in her own shoulder, she might have collapsed without even knowing what had hit her.

“This……is?”

Watching the sight of the virtual soldiers—lacking even proper self-awareness—desperately crowding around to protect their commander, and the short arrows that had mercilessly struck their pauldrons, Charlotte let out a brief murmur.

She could taste sweat.

But her relief was short-lived. As the second volley rained down, the sound of death transformed effortlessly into something far more gruesome, echoing from the backs of the royal guards surrounding her.

“……Hhk.”

They say that if a hole is punched through your chest, you die without even being able to scream properly.

After the relentless sound of metal being struck, a faint whistling noise reached her ears, and another royal guard collapsed before Charlotte’s eyes.

The arrows that had brutally pounded his back fell away in a scattered heap, but a few that had pierced deep had severely punctured his lungs.

“……Ha.”

She knew this wasn’t real, but the sight was still unbearably hollow.

‘How in the world……!’

If arrows could so easily batter and pierce through heavy armor like this, no one would have ever worn it when facing them.

In truth, Charlotte had been conserving her cavalry not because she thought knights would be effortlessly neutralized by arrows, but purely to spare the horses.

Yet this violence mocked that assumption outright, and cold sweat trickled down Charlotte’s forehead.

‘Solenarion… I’ve heard of it, but this is my first time seeing it in action…!’

An archery technique that attached thin rails to bows and fired short, dart-sized arrows.

The difficulty of mastering it was said to be even higher than the elves’ archery, and even if one barely learned it, mistakes were common—making it rarely used.

Moreover, its reload speed was slower than that of a regular bow, putting it at a disadvantage in normal combat compared to ordinary arrows.

But despite these flaws, this weapon existed for two reasons.

One was its vastly superior range compared to conventional arrows.

The other was its power—believed to be capable of “piercing even a knight’s armor” when fired by a master.

‘I was lucky.’

The only reason Charlotte hadn’t been instantly killed like that royal guard was purely because these small projectiles had missed her vitals.

Even so, with arrows embedded in her shoulder and leg, simply standing up was a struggle.

‘Did they waste those first arrows just to gauge the distance…?’

When she first saw the arrows fired from an impossibly far distance, Charlotte had wondered.

Baron Hebel wasn’t the type to waste resources or show off. If anything, he was the kind to hide his cards until the last moment to snipe her down.

‘But I didn’t think he’d actually go through with it.’

During the last mock battle, she could excuse the dwarven cavalry ambushing her rear. After all, the overall strategy was still a classic hammer-and-anvil tactic.

But this time was different.

This was a complete disregard for tactical methodology, investing all resources solely in killing her.

Brutal, if nothing else. A surefire method, if it could be called that.

But.

‘Then at this point…… I have the advantage!’

There was a reason people avoided this method.

Because it was, in itself, a gamble.

Investing all resources solely to kill the enemy commander meant that if the commander wasn’t taken out, the invested resources would lose their value.

The more you invested in it, the more your overall strength would inevitably fall behind.

In a mock battle of this format, deploying so many mounted archers and even hiring marksmen capable of firing these specialized projectiles…

‘It only confirms that my judgment wasn’t wrong…!’

Rewinding time to when Charlotte had entered the forest. Seeing the plumes of dust rising straight into the sky, she had been certain of two things.

One: There were no terrain-based stratagems like fire attacks or ambushes.

Two: Baron Hebel’s main force was likely far weaker than expected.

How had she been so sure of this with such limited information?

Well, it was hard to explain all the guesses she’d made, but…

The biggest reason was that the dust had been rising straight up.

Meaning there was almost no wind. And without wind, no matter how much fire spread, it wouldn’t become an effective threat before being contained.

The dust being pointlessly scattered in all directions was another clue. It meant a sizable force was constantly on the move.

And the only problems mounted archers who hadn’t even faced proper counterattacks could have were either rest or resupply, right?

‘If you have to move against a stationary target, the problem lies with you.’

These were the foundations of her judgment.

Though she couldn’t be entirely sure about the nature of those first arrows, relying instead on a single thread of intuition.

Barring the fact that said intuition had nearly gotten her killed, victory was still within her grasp.

“Move……!”

Of course, she couldn’t just stay still. Supported by her remaining guards, she forced herself to walk despite the searing pain in her leg and shoulder.

Even accounting for that dreadfully slow reload speed, staying put would mean certain death by arrowfire.

Fortunately, no more arrows came as she managed to put considerable distance between herself and the kill zone.

She could no longer ignore the infantry now assaulting Baron Hebel’s wagon fortress on the frontlines.

Unless something absurd like her bleeding out happened here, Baron Hebel—now trapped—could do little.

Likewise, the only thing left for Charlotte was the siege of the fortress. Nothing else.

And if there was nothing else…

She was absolutely certain that the Empire’s superior frontal combat strength would secure victory.

‘It’s not the worst yet…’

Watching the princess narrowly escape the sniping by sacrificing her royal guards, I couldn’t help but think that.

This wasn’t subjective self-consolation. If anything, it was an objective assessment.

‘The princess’s greatest strength is timely troop deployment and organic unit coordination.’

And that strength was only maximized when she was on the field, constantly adjusting her forces.

Just look at Napoleon Bonaparte, that military genius.

No matter how brilliant he was, if he was napping doped up on painkillers due to hemorrhoids, his genius meant nothing.

And if even the princess, as remarkable as she was, couldn’t compare to Napoleon’s position…

Well, that meant…

“Raaaaaagh!!”

…that a gap had opened up to deal with these infantrymen, who had endured volleys of arrows and were now charging to smash the wagons in revenge.

‘Assuming the frontline holds, that is…!’

Currently blocking the wagon fortress’s entrance were the centaur noble heavy cavalry I had handpicked as my royal guard.

Among the centaur race, notoriously weak in frontal engagements, these were the ones armored heavily enough with lances to at least hold the line.

‘The Margrave once said the only reason he ever beat the princess was thanks to these guys.’

By constantly harassing with mounted archers and then deploying these heavy cavalry when the enemy cavalry was too spread out, they could pick them off one by one.

Even the legendary nomadic empires of history had crushed civilized armies that way.

Of course, those empires also conscripted local infantry when possible, but here I was, forced to use these precious heavy cavalry as an anvil.

Tears welled up at the thought.

‘Well, who’s to blame but me? I’m the one who brought this mess of a strategy for the sake of a fun game.’

“Waaaaaagh!!”

“Kieeeeeeek──!!”

Battle cries and the screams of men and horses intertwined as the black-armored centaurs, wielding long cavalry lances from their elevated position, formed a phalanx-like formation to hold the line.

Though their massive frames prevented a perfect formation, they kicked and stabbed at the infantry charging with swords and axes, buying time however they could.

‘But they won’t last long. They’re outnumbered from the start.’

Even with the wagon fortress bottlenecking the entrance, their limits would soon show.

The only silver lining was that the infantry were exhausted from taking arrowfire for so long.

Seizing the moment, I gathered the remaining mounted archers outside the fortress.

With the infantry focused on breaking through the front and the princess too injured to command, the distance between these infantry and the heavy cavalry stationed at the rear had widened considerably.

In this desperate situation where defeating these infantry was the only way to turn the tide, my last resort was to keep these mounted archers harassing, targeting the infantry’s exposed backs where their shields couldn’t cover.

“Rally, rally……!”

Clip-clop, clip-clop──!!

True to their reputation for mobility, the centaurs swiftly gathered the moment I gave the order.

And while the enemy cavalry remained immobilized, the centaurs dashed behind the infantry besieging the fortress.

“Hee──Hya!!”

“Kieeeeeeeek──!!”

It was said that the Hunnic cavalry would let out eerie cries to instill fear before firing their arrows.

Emitting similar unearthly shrieks, the centaurs rained arrows down upon the unprotected backs of the Imperial infantry.

“Guaaaaah……!!”

This time, the familiar thuds of arrows striking wood and armor were drowned out by the overwhelming screams of men.

A few latecomers managed to block some arrows individually, but in this chaos, heavier casualties were inevitable.

Had the princess not intervened yet, the centaurs could have happily hunted these iron-clad soldiers from behind and turned the tide.

The problem, of course, was that the princess wouldn’t just sit back and watch.

– Bwooooooooo───!!

The Empire’s trumpet blared majestically across the battlefield, and the still-bright sun gleamed off their armor, adding to their radiance.

At last, the Empire’s heavy cavalry—cherished and conserved by the princess—had been deployed, charging onto the field.

With lances and shields in hand, they advanced without a single waver, intent on crushing the centaur archers.

Of course, this was expected. I had planned to pull the centaurs back, continuing to harass with arrows while retreating to ensure their survival.

The problem was…

Something strange had happened right where they were charging.

‘What the…?’

The centaur units in their path had suddenly slowed to a crawl.

‘Damn it…!’

Upon closer inspection, several centaur units trying to pull back had abruptly tangled their paths when attempting to move simultaneously.

The cause? The free-roaming centaur archers, changing direction haphazardly under the knights’ charge, had disrupted the retreat.

If the heavy cavalry trampled through that spot, a centaur slaughter would unfold on the broadcast screens in an instant.

And losing them all at once would eliminate any hope of victory in this already dire situation.

‘I get that sudden charges can cause chaos, but how did they pinpoint exactly where the tangle would happen?’

Worse, the knights weren’t just charging blindly in a straight line.

They had timed their charge to exploit the moment my archers were harassing the infantry, deliberately creating the angle for this chaos.

In other words, they had engineered the collision.

If this was truly calculated, it spoke of an absurdly precise spatial awareness.

Gritting my teeth, I barked orders for the centaur archers to flee while redirecting the Solenarion marksmen to fire at the charging heavy cavalry.

A desperate stopgap to slow their advance.

‘I have to save as many as I can… And weaken their momentum while I’m at it…’

Luckily, some marksmen with pre-loaded specialized arrows obeyed, unleashing a volley at the knights.

– Piiiiiiing───!!

A storm of lethal projectiles erupted from the fortress, and the centaur archers who hadn’t been caught in the tangle willingly turned their bows toward the charging knights.

Hundreds of arrows loosed at once—a veritable hailstorm of death.

As this deadly rain fell upon the knights’ unified charge, the battlefield erupted in screams once more.

Hiiiiiiiiing…!!

The cries of horses collapsing mid-gallop.

The dull, meaty thuds of knights flung to the ground like canned meat bursting from a tin.

The cacophony melded together, a symphony of carnage, yet the knights who hadn’t fallen continued their charge.

Their lances, held high, aimed to pierce through the tangled centaurs and deliver the final blow.

And as the remaining knights trampled over their comrades’ bodies, a massive ripple surged across the battlefield.