Chapter 9
The Western Wyvern Knights’ doctrine is fundamentally combined arms.
When the wyvern unit, with its overwhelming shock power, sweeps through the enemy formation, the infantry moves in before they can recover and shatters them.
As a result, the wyvern unit and the infantry keep a slight distance from each other.
In other words, it means it’s hard to wipe out both the wyvern unit and the infantry at the same time.
Because no one would be insane enough to charge barehanded at wyverns being torn apart by anti-air fire right before their eyes.
"At the current deployment, by the time the wyvern unit has been shredded by the anti-air guns, the infantry will already have run away."
And I didn’t like that outcome.
If I’m going to take a swing at them, I need to crush them decisively. That way, the West will feel much stronger pressure.
"So, let’s ambush them with two platoons of anti-air artillery and four anti-air guns on this hillside here."
I said, pointing at the map of Sarsen spread across the center of the command room table.
The port we had occupied was a natural fortress built between the mountain ranges.
Once you entered Sarsen Port, there were only three ways out: back through the entrance, out to sea, or south.
But the route to the south is blocked by our anti-air artillery unit, isn’t it?
The sea? If bare-handed foot soldiers jumped into the sea, they’d just become fish food.
Once the entrance is blocked by two platoons of anti-air artillery, they’ll be completely isolated.
"That would certainly allow us to encircle the enemy perfectly... but if we pull out two platoons, the number of infantry defending the front of Sarsen drops to 230. I’m worried whether they can withstand the shock of the enemy infantry unit."
I could understand the staff’s concerns to some extent.
After all, in this world, there had never been a battle between an army armed with firearms and a regular infantry unit.
"To succeed in the encirclement, the anti-air artillery unit serving as the anvil has to withstand the shock. But can they really do that..."
Naturally, it’s not like I hadn’t thought this through.
For one thing, the Western side can’t mobilize a large force.
If they mobilize too many troops at once, the movement of supplies and troops becomes obvious. Their preparations for war would be exposed outright.
That means the maximum force the West can commit, without revealing their preparations, is only a few thousand men.
And Europe’s colonial empires had already shown how battles between a fully equipped artillery unit and soldiers armed with spears and swords would turn out.
"Don’t worry. A-01 will be more than enough."
In the sky, the invincible wyvern knights turn into meat scraps, and on the ground, shells rain down in torrents.
I couldn’t imagine medieval infantry keeping their sanity in a situation that would fluster even a modern person from the 21st century.
So my interest was elsewhere.
"After using an early barrage to seize the initiative against the infantry, try to make them surrender as much as possible."
"Surrender... you mean?"
"Yes."
Factories in the age of the Industrial Revolution are monsters that devour manpower. To keep the engine of economic growth running, you had to keep pouring in labor endlessly.
We’re already short on manpower to send into the army.
There’s no better labor resource than the West’s prisoners, who come to us for free.
"I’ll try to get as many of them to surrender as possible."
"Right. We don’t have to force every single one of them, so don’t overdo it. If they try to hold out to the end, wipe them out completely."
The operational meeting held right before the negotiations ended like that.
All that was left was to wait for the result at the meeting site.
***
Airestopol, the neutral city and trade hub of the West and South, was a peculiar place.
An island in the middle of the open sea right on the border between the Western and Southern waters. Since people from both regions came there and gathered, its architectural style was unusual too.
But I hadn’t come to admire the new architecture.
Before I had time to relax, a telegram arrived.
"Your Grace, a telegram from Sarsen’s anti-air artillery unit."
"Ah, thank you, Lucilla."
[ The number of reconnaissance wyverns detected by radar has increased ]
[ It appears troops are gathering ]
[ There is a high probability that an attack will begin today ]
All signs pointed to an imminent Western assault on Sarsen.
"How are the anti-air artillery units deployed?"
"They say they’re all finished. They can annihilate the enemy the moment they’re found."
"Good. Now all that’s left is to see that villain Charles’s brazen face."
Charles Raymonds.
I was already curious what expression that sneaky muscle-brained thug would make when he heard his army had been annihilated.
A smile keeps tugging at my lips.
"Please make your entrance soon. The meeting starts in ten minutes."
"Ah, thanks for the notice."
I headed to the venue prepared for the meeting, guided by the butler.
The outdoor meeting venue was already packed with people.
However, there were no knights or mages in sight.
Airestopol is the midpoint between the West and the South.
It’s within the Empire’s territory, but not under either side’s jurisdiction. In such cases, that area naturally falls under the imperial family’s jurisdiction.
And you can’t just bring troops into imperial territory without giving notice.
Neither our side nor Charles’s side could bring soldiers.
That was also why this place had been chosen as the meeting venue.
It was a place where they could talk comfortably without worrying about stabbing each other in the back.
"Where is the Western Grand Duke?"
"He is seated and waiting."
Following the butler’s words, I turned my gaze toward the meeting area, and there he was: Western Grand Duke Charles Raymonds, seated ahead of me.
He looked exactly as he had been described in the novel.
'Long red hair and blood-red eyes. A man like an untamed hunting dog.'
True to that description, he wasn’t wearing a suit or uniform, but ordinary everyday clothes.
For a meeting supposedly held in the name of peace, Charles himself looked like he had no intention of talking at all.
As expected, the contents of the meeting unfolded just as I’d predicted.
"Withdraw from the Sarsen region."
When the Western side’s aides said that,
"Then admit that you violated the Sarsen-Lutetia Treaty and compensate us accordingly,"
our side’s aides replied.
"What, weren’t you the ones who smashed Sarsen Fortress? I have no idea what kind of mindset makes you destroy a fortress and then demand compensation."
"You’re really saying that while knowing full well who spent the last three years extorting tolls from whom?"
In the end, in the heated meeting hall, personal insults started flying back and forth as well.
The Western side, irritated, was the first to speak.
"After all these decades of us protecting the South and you’ve completely forgotten it, I suppose it’s true that Southern people are cold-blooded swindlers who’ll sell anything for money."
"Hah. You say you protected us, yet in the last ten years you never even touched the southern pirates. I don’t know from whom exactly you claim to have protected us."
From the very beginning, neither the West nor our side had come here to negotiate.
And in the middle of it all, Charles just sat there with his arms crossed.
Looks like he wanted to drag things out.
So he could ambush the unprepared army while our command staff was gathered here.
But too bad. That’s not going to happen as planned.
"Pfft."
Thinking that, I let out a snicker, and Charles’s brow twitched.
"What, you got a problem?"
The reply came at once.
After all, Charles had never managed to fix that hot-headed personality until he was completely smitten with the heroine.
It was impressive that he’d endured in silence for a full hour. Looks like his patience had finally reached its limit.
"No, it’s just that. For a letter that talks so much about wanting peace, you seem to have an awful lot on your mind."
"..."
"Almost as if you have some other cowardly intention?"
The reaction was immediate.
Charles, who had been quietly sitting with his arms crossed until now, suddenly began to radiate menace.
"Hey, idiot."
In an instant, the meeting hall fell completely silent.
No one had expected him to call someone an idiot, even if that person had been stripped of their position—after all, they were still both grand dukes.
"You got kicked out for hitting on a woman, and now that everyone around you keeps going ‘Your Grace~ Your Grace~’ you think you’ve become something special?"
What in the world was he trying to say?
As I listened, curious, the bastard raised his voice.
"Don’t get the wrong idea. Just because they treat you like a king down in some filthy corner of the South while you’re busy playing with money doesn’t mean you can hide that lowly past of yours."
Bang-!
Charles slammed a fist-sized crystal orb down irritably on the table.
The crystal orb, which had been flickering for a moment, released mana and formed a huge screen in midair.
What that screen showed was Sarsen Port.
Three wyvern knight units and five thousand soldiers had gathered in front of it.
The bastards were marching proudly through a narrow passage between the hills. Their momentum alone was pretty impressive.
"After seeing your toy soldiers collapse before our elite knight order, you’ll be reminded of your place and then we can talk."
Charles must have felt the momentum of his own army, too.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of worry about defeat in the voice with which he declared victory so confidently.
"Don’t worry. I’ve ordered them not to let a single one live, and to kill them as cruelly as possible."
A sadistic smile spread across Charles’s face.
Looking at him, all smug and triumphant, I answered indifferently.
"Hmm, I think the ones who should be worried right now are your soldiers, Charles Raymonds."
"What?"
"Because the ones getting wiped out in Sarsen today will be your wyvern knight order."
As soon as I finished speaking, the sixteen anti-air guns aimed at the sky all fired at once.