episode_0259

* * *

After a long meeting, the remaining troops, except for the minimum force of 5,000 men to defend the castle, were organized into an interception force.

The commander of the interception force is Monarch Lunalien. If all goes according to plan, she will be at the forefront facing the enemies alongside Tifa.

Her advisors included Zinor, and most generals who could wield a sword, including Metz, also participated in the interception force.

Francis was besieging the castle of Tepelo with 5,000 soldiers, and he set up traps here and there in preparation for a possible surprise attack.

Besides that, he had been making various preparations of his own, but since the castle was bound to fall once the interception force completely collapsed, there was nothing he could do to take the initiative.

Still, I can’t just let it go.

Since none other than the lord, Lady Luna, is personally risking her life to fight, everything that can be prepared must be prepared-

With that in mind, Francis toured every nook and cranny of the castle, directing every little detail.

“General, all the traps you ordered have been installed.”

Francis nodded in response to the soldier’s words.

“Yes, thank you for your hard work. What’s the status of the archer unit?”

“I’m going through the final training.”

“Okay. Then, let’s set up a similar trap at the east gate.”

“East too?”

The eastern side of the Tepelo Castle was a gate that opened in the direction where the Ohana Army was located.

In the past, when it was part of the Karelian Army, it was considered a special place as a gate leading to the front line… … At least at this moment, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is the safest place.

“You never know what kind of plan the enemy will come up with to catch you off guard. No matter how unlikely it may be, wouldn’t it be right to prepare for everything you can?”

“Yes, General… … .”

“What is it?”

At that moment, the soldier was speechless at Francis’ somewhat sharp voice.

The answer came not from the soldiers, but from behind Francis.

“Five thousand troops are simply not enough to defend the east.”

The voice heard along with the footsteps was a woman’s voice.

It’s also the voice of a woman Francis knows very well.

“… … Violet.”

As soon as he saw Violet, the soldier saluted, and she waved her hand as if she understood.

“Brother. Right now, we need to maximize the efficiency with the given resources. Even if we divide up the already insufficient resources and prepare for everything, it will be the same as not preparing for anything.”

“… … .”

Francis, hearing Violet’s words, turned his head towards the soldier.

“Is that what you were trying to say?”

“Ah, old… … that’s right!”

Francis, hearing the soldier’s words, stretched out his hand and said coolly.

“… … Okay. Then, let’s prepare for defense, focusing on the most dangerous areas, the west and north. ”

“Yes!”

After the soldier returned.

Violet let out a small sigh.

“Are you nervous? You’re acting flustered, which is unusual for a brother.”

“… … I guess so. What about Charlotte?”

“Getting ready to go.”

Charlotte von Eingart, the second of three siblings with royal blood brought by Kyle, was assigned to the interception unit and was scheduled to assist Tifa.

It would be better if he could go out and fight like that too… … It may sound nice to defend the castle, but he also had a feeling that if the interception unit collapsed anyway, it would collapse without being able to do anything.

“… … Sigh.”

“Brother. I understand how you feel, but honestly, since there are too few troops left on our side… … there’s nothing we can do. You also know that it might be better to just stay still rather than try to do something and ruin it, right?”

“Yeah. I know… … .”

Slap.

Francis sat down on the floor, sighed and muttered to himself several times as if he was mocking himself, and then asked Violet a question.

“What do you think?”

“What kind?”

“That’s Genor’s plan. Deploy most of your troops to the interception unit. ”

Violet sat down comfortably next to Francis.

It was a very strange sight to see such precious children sitting on the dirt floor, but neither of them were weak enough to care about such things.

“I would never do that. No matter how clever the plan was, I think I would choose not to send a single interceptor.”

“Then what about siege weapons?”

“… … I don’t know that trick either, so if I actually had the chance to give advice, I wouldn’t have said that. ”

“What are you talking about?”

Francis laughed as if he found it ridiculous, but-

Oddly enough, my mood was more peaceful than when I was being chased just a moment ago, thinking that I had to prepare something somehow.

“Still, what the… … I said he was a smart person. He was the prime minister of the empire. From our perspective, it happened when he was too young, and our father was someone who was pushed out of central politics, so I don’t know exactly what kind of person he was… … But it’s an empire, so they wouldn’t have just put just anyone in the prime minister’s seat, right? ”

“… … I guess so?”

“That’s right.”

“I feel so bad, I wish I could be of some help to my lord… … I don’t even know what kind of picture my lord is drawing. I wanted to be of some help to my lord.”

At Francis’ words, Violet looked at her brother’s expression for a moment.

He said it in a very flat tone.

“I’m telling you this out of loyalty to my younger brother, but it’s better to give up, brother.”

“… … What?”

“Because there will never be a moment when my brother interferes. It’s a tree that I can’t climb, so if I keep looking at it, the only one who will lose is the one looking at it.”

Before I could ask her what she meant when she suddenly blurted out something I didn’t understand, Violet got up and dusted herself off her butt.

“I’m going.”

Francis stared at Violet’s back for a long time without saying anything as she disappeared.

* * *

And how many more days passed?

Finally, a group of men carrying the green flag symbolizing the Karelian Army began to be visible on the walls of the Tepelo Castle.

“The enemy is right in front of us.”

Tifa, looking beyond the castle, whistled briefly.

“What should I do, Luna?”

“Why are you asking such a thing all of a sudden? It’s already been decided.”

Luna closed her eyes and quietly drew her sword from its scabbard, saying:

“Please allow me to open the west door.”

“West Gate, Open!”

The western gate opens with the loud shout of the commander.

The interception force, led by Luna, moved out of the castle in unison.

The number is a whopping 80,000 or more!

It took a very long time to deploy this many troops outside the castle. If the enemy had been a small force that made use of mobility rather than a large army of nearly 200,000 men, they would have arrived near the castle before everyone else had even come out and taken the lead with siege weapons.

Of course, even with this large number of soldiers – the battle situation was still overwhelmingly unfavorable for the Lunalian army.

More than twice the number of troops. If they had been completely sieged, they would have been able to somehow overcome them, but they had already come out to intercept them.

This is what we must believe in… …the struggle of each and every general, and the ‘decisive moment’ that Jinor spoke of.

are you okay.

For our military, if we cannot avoid this battle at all costs—we will never be defeated.

Luna clenched her fist and brought it to her chest, then closed her eyes and recalled the man’s voice.

“My lord! Stay healthy! And, if the opportunity comes, don’t miss it! I will definitely come back to you!”

‘… … I will never let this opportunity that I have finally caught slip away. Until the day you return to my side, I will definitely… … !!’

Soon, as she slowly opened her eyes, a red light flashed across them.

Even the moment she faced Irene, the energy that had momentarily overwhelmed her began to surround her again.

What the hand clenching its fist holds is the warmth left behind by my bookworm, Swen.

Desperately holding on to the little bit of warmth that remained, Luna shouts out loud.

“… … Lunalian Army’s interception force, let’s sortie!”

Waaaa …

* * *

The battle has begun.

The first thing the interceptors dealt with was, of course, the siege weapons.

If things had been the same as before, we could have managed to avoid the weapons from being destroyed by somehow deploying our troops…

“Damn, why are there so many numbers?!”

As THAAD said as he was cutting off the heads of the Lunalian soldiers while chattering nervously, the number of interceptors that had jumped out was too many.

I missed the timing to defend by taking charge of each siege weapon.

Of course. They expected that at most 20,000 to 30,000 men would show up, so the Karelian army, which had been advancing slowly with its siege weapons deployed entirely at the front, was in a situation where it could do neither one thing nor the other.

By this time, it seemed as if all the soldiers defending the castle had been sent outside.

I could see with my own eyes the weapons I had worked so hard to bring in just collapsing helplessly… … In fact, there was something wrong with viewing this as a mistake from the Karelian military’s perspective.

This side has 200,000 troops.

Even if they had sent out all of their troops without leaving a single ant in the castle, the maximum number of Lunalian troops would be only about 90,000. Wouldn’t it be suicidal to send that many troops against us without any preparation?

“Well, even if there’s something behind it, it won’t work for me anyway!”

WHAT!

Although THAAD returned to battle without much thought, he was not the only one who found this situation puzzling.

Vanessa, who was in charge of the overall battle from the rear, was also surprised by the number of interceptors that exceeded her expectations.

‘… …Why on earth?’

No matter how you look at it, it was self-inflicted wounds.

Of course, our army was initially confused. The balance that was barely maintained was disturbed. Thanks to that, it is true that the siege weapons were quickly taken care of.

However, unless it was a battle with the condition that ‘the side that destroys all siege weapons wins the battle’, this decision had some aspects that were difficult to accept.

It will take time as much as we are confused – but in the end, we have no choice but to win this battle. It’s not a matter of who is strategically better or worse –

How can 80,000 people beat 200,000 people?

It was a simple matter of arithmetic. With this level of troop strength, there was no need to even go to the level of strategy.

‘If she behaved like this, there must be a reason for it. Lunarien Inian is definitely not a stupid woman. After all… … it seems that she needs to prepare for the unexpected.’

The easiest thing to think of was reinforcements from the enemy, but in the current situation, the only country that could provide reinforcements, Ohana County, has declared that it will not engage in any action.

Even after examining recent trends, there were no traces of any particular diplomacy.

So then… …what on earth is it?

No, but is it actually meant to lead to the thought, ‘What’s wrong with seeing someone act like that?’

‘……no.’

Even so.

Vanessa doesn’t let her guard down.

‘Since we don’t know what will happen, it would be better to consider it dangerous to just charge in.’

Just as I was about to come to that conclusion and tell Cecil, who was at the back, what I had thought of.

“Chae, Mr. Books!”

“What’s going on?”

“Enemy reinforcements… …the reinforcements that were presumed to have been lying in ambush have appeared! They appear on the left and right sides of our army, attempting a surprise attack!”

“… … Enemy reinforcements?”

what?

Reinforcements have arrived?

At the unexpected words, Vanessa’s pupils dilated rapidly.

“Reinforcements… … Are you Ohana?”

“No, that, that… …not the army of any country… …!”

“… … What?”

Although I was flustered and couldn’t form my words properly, the soldier’s words were not wrong.

Soldiers from both sides showed up to help the Lunalian Army-

The name of the one commanding the large group of archers that appeared on the left is – Gustav.

He was known to the world as the leader of the Raven Mercenary Group.

The name of the one commanding the heavy infantry unit that appears from the right and crushes the enemy forces at high speed is – Aaron.

He was a man known to many as the leader of a band of courageous Chilean mercenaries.

“Someday, when Lunalian appears again on the stage of history, I will definitely come to help you.”

“Please stay healthy until then.”

Long ago.

It was the moment when they, who had previously listened to Swen’s words and received Lunarien’s forces, once again appeared on the stage of history.