The Great Battle of Zetta (14): Day Four: Schemes

With the setting sun at his back, the fighting on the third day's afternoon finally ended, and Zegabain returned to camp and let out a slow breath.

Though both armies suffered few casualties today after easing up on the attacks, the tension of being the commanding general remained unchanged. Just as he removed his helmet and took a sip of tea, an aide brought him a message.

"A messenger from Wickhart-sama."

"Let him in."

The man who entered the command tent had a somewhat carefree air about him. He was wearing Golbel military attire.

"I was ordered by Wickhart-sama to make regular reports to Zegabain-sama," he said, holding out a letter.

Wickhart appeared intent on reporting the situation as Zegabain had ordered. A certain selfish idiot of a general could stand to learn from him.

The letter reported that the Battle Princess's Lapilia Unit had entered the fortress as reinforcements.

Zegabain had already heard the same news from the sentries.

Lapilia had brought two thousand soldiers. It was not a particularly large force. Wickhart wrote that he would report as much as possible once he knew how they would move, but for now, there was no change to tomorrow's plan.

Zegabain did not completely trust Wickhart, but his distrust of Rodelight outweighed it, and he found himself leaning toward trusting Wickhart.

That morning, when Rodelight had barged into his command tent, Zegabain had made a decision. He proposed to Rodelight that he add one unit to tonight's attack.

Rodelight, believing his own strategy had finally been taken seriously, left in high spirits. "Then my flag will be flying over Kitzar Fortress tonight!" What a fool.

As soon as Rodelight left, Zegabain summoned the other two generals and told them he suspected Rodelight's movements.

Both men were surprised, but they seemed to have had their own doubts. Neither offered any strong objections.

When Zegabain told them, "If we can keep Rodelight's movements in check today, I have a plan to take that fortress tomorrow," both generals became willing to hear him out.

The plan was simple. On the third day, the attacks would be divided into two units during the day and two at night, and neither would launch an unreasonable assault. At night in particular, their main objective would be to watch Rodelight's movements; the attack on the fortress could be half-hearted.

"But can we really take the fortress on the fourth day with that plan?" one of the generals asked doubtfully.

"Yes. I have a scheme already in place. Even if it fails, Rudek's soldiers are half-dead from these daily attacks. No matter how many casualties we suffer, I believe we can take the fortress in an all-out assault."

"Indeed... They are half-dead as well, but our own losses have been heavy from these repeated assaults. The soldiers would welcome a chance to catch their breath." The other general voiced his agreement, and the course of the day was decided.

In truth, our own losses were becoming impossible to overlook. Each unit had suffered around a thousand soldiers rendered unable to fight. Even so, we still had sixteen thousand... No, it might be better not to count Rodelight's unit, but even after subtracting them, we had twelve thousand soldiers.

By contrast, I had heard that Rudek had around seven thousand soldiers sheltering inside Kitzar Fortress. According to Wickhart, who had come the previous night, around two thousand men inside the fortress had already been rendered unable to fight. He said that left about five thousand.

Although we had not launched any reckless attacks today, that did not mean we had inflicted no damage on the enemy soldiers inside the fortress.

How many casualties had Rudek's side suffered today? It could not have been as few as a hundred. If we had inflicted five hundred casualties, would that be enough? That would leave them with four thousand five hundred to five thousand soldiers.

Then the Battle Princess's two thousand had joined them.

Some of the soldiers were considering defecting and following Wickhart. Should we count roughly fifty to a hundred of them as potential defectors? No. I should not count on Wickhart until the western gate was opened.

Against our twelve thousand, Rudek had at most around seven thousand... But we could not simply ignore the Battle Princess. This had become somewhat troublesome... No, wait.

Zegabain had an idea. What if he sent Rodelight against the Battle Princess?

Knowing that man, if he were offered the chance to cross swords with the Battle Princess, it was easy to imagine him accepting with delight.

Even if Rodelight really was secretly colluding with the enemy, he could hardly refuse if his opponent was the Battle Princess. Even if it was all a charade on top of his treachery, he would surely face her.

Besides, having Rodelight deal with the Battle Princess would give him a good reason to rein in the ongoing night battle and withdraw his forces.

In that case, tomorrow he would be able to use all sixteen thousand soldiers at once.

He would send Rodelight's four thousand against the Battle Princess's two thousand, and use the rest to take the fortress. That would give him twelve thousand against roughly five thousand, just as originally planned... He would win. Without a doubt.

Having thought that far, Zegabain immediately sent a fast rider to Rodelight and the unit assigned to monitor him, which had gone out on the night raid.

As a result, that night's raid was cut short.

Everything would be decided tomorrow. On the fourth day, he would bring everything to an end.

Around the time the night-raiding unit withdrew, another messenger from Wickhart arrived at Zegabain's tent. It was the same man who had come in the evening.

The messenger handed him another letter.

"Wickhart-sama asked me to convey that the operation will be carried out early tomorrow morning," he said, then vanished into the darkness of night.

When Zegabain read the letter, the corners of his mouth lifted.

The letter read:

"At the war council, I proposed that the Battle Princess launch an attack, and opinions are divided. At this rate, she may sortie alone or with only a small force. She plans to leave from the eastern gate in the morning, circle around, and charge in before the Golbel army finishes deploying. We intend to open the western gate when their attention is focused on the eastern gate and its defenses have grown thin. We will secretly continue clearing the rubble starting tonight. If the operation fails, we will start a fire near the western gate, so use the confusion to launch your attack."

That was what it said.

Wickhart's plan aside, it had given Zegabain an excellent reason to send Rodelight to the eastern gate. It seemed fortune was on his side.

Moreover, whether the Battle Princess truly came out through the eastern gate would be one clue as to whether Wickhart really was a traitor.

If the Battle Princess and Rodelight clashed, or even destroyed each other... No, if Rodelight really was in league with Rudek, he would probably return without a care in the world, boasting that he had fought the Battle Princess to a standstill.

Was his aim to look as though he had won single-handedly, whatever the outcome? Could the Battle Princess and Rodelight be coordinating with each other? Was her eagerness to sortie the result of a secret pact with Rodelight? No, that was taking things too far.

"In any case, everything comes down to tomorrow."

Zegabain carefully put the letter away, then took a sip of tea that had gone completely cold in the night air.

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The night of the third day. Around the time Zegabain was sipping his cold tea.

On top of the wall by the eastern gate, I watched my breath plume white and waited for Sazaby to return after going to Zegabain's command tent on an errand.

Even though I thought there was no need to worry, I could not truly relax until I had welcomed him back safely.

"You'll catch cold." The person calling out to me was Lapilia-sama.

"You too, Lapilia-sama. Please wait in your room." When I replied, she gave me a light kick.

"Do you think things will go according to Roa's plan tomorrow?"

"I don't think everything will. Besides, if it works, we'll have to ask you to take on the difficult part..."

"Rodelight is hardly much of an opponent. All you have to do is buy us some time, right?"

"Yes. We'll finish things while you keep him occupied."

"Then leave it to me." Lapilia-sama accepted the task with confidence, then suddenly said, "Ah," and held out her palm.

When I held my own hand out toward the sky in the same way,

a white, cold fairy of winter alighted softly on my palm, then melted away in an instant.