Chapter 151
The third day of the joint exercises was devoted to practical training.
Alongside a full-scale exercise featuring mixed forces from each knight order and the new recruits, equipped with Ten-Knight Bows, crossbows, and polearms, there would also be a trial for the new recruits, as there had been last time.
All the new weapons were on loan from the Tenth Knight Order.
However, since we didn’t have enough Ten-Knight Bows for everyone in the Roa Unit, most of us would be heading out equipped with crossbows.
The method for producing crossbows had already been established, and we planned to give each participating knight order a certain number as “souvenirs.”
Even if those souvenirs weren’t enough, we’d generously shared the manufacturing method so each knight order could make them at its own fortress. If their usefulness was recognized, crossbows would soon spread throughout the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Knight Orders.
As for the Ten-Knight Bow, mass production in other regions wasn’t possible yet, since we couldn’t make the screws fast enough.
As usual, the exercises were to be mock battles with the forces divided between east and west. But there was a bit of a problem.
Many of the knight orders wanted to face off against the Roa Unit.
The main reason was that we were the only unit to have used crossbows and Ten-Knight Bows in actual combat. They apparently thought they’d get a better feel for their power as enemies than as allies.
The only ones who wanted to be in the Western Army alongside the Roa Unit were the twins.
“What, Roa isn’t popular?”
“Then at least we’ll be on your side.”
No, I don’t think it was because people disliked us... The twins really were good-natured, when all was said and done.
At any rate, the Eastern Army had four thousand soldiers, including the new recruits. It wouldn’t be balanced to pit them against just our two thousand.
So Lapiria-sama and Grants-sama each joined in with six hundred soldiers. That was to keep things fair, since neither of their units had been assigned any new recruits.
Raiz-sama would sit this one out, watching alongside Drew. Apparently he was more interested in seeing the Ten-Knight Bows and crossbows in action than in the exercises with the knight orders.
Thinking back, I’d never used the Ten-Knight Bow or crossbow in actual combat in front of Raiz-sama.
“Roa, you take command,” Lapiria-sama told me.
“What?! I think Grants-sama would be a better choice,” I replied.
“Grants-sama has far more experience, but this is also a chance to show off the new weapons, right? Then it’ll be more efficient to have the person most familiar with them in command—you.”
After hearing that, I looked at Grants-sama.
“I believe Lapiria is right,” he agreed calmly.
“We don’t mind, either.”
“You should be grateful.”
The twins looked like they didn’t much care who was in command. They’d probably ignore even an order from Raiz-sama if they didn’t agree with the plan.
Come to think of it, Boldras-sama was surprisingly impressive to be able to handle the twins so well.
This was no time to zone out. I’d assumed all along that Grants-sama would be in command, so this put me in a bind. I needed to come up with something quickly.
That said, there were only so many strategies we could use.
Lapiria-sama and the twins could make the most of their strengths only if they were free to move around. Ideally, the Roa Unit and Grants-sama’s unit would draw the enemy’s attention while the other two units moved freely and threw them into disarray.
If so, we should assign the Ten-Knight Bows and crossbows to Lapiria-sama’s unit and the Yuizest-Meizest Unit, while our unit and Grants-sama’s took the polearms.
But if we wanted to make the most of the Ten-Knight Bow’s capabilities, the Roa Unit was the most experienced with it, so that was a tough decision.
We’d have the Roa Unit and Grants-sama’s unit take charge of the new recruits and have them use polearms. Then I had to think about how to distribute the Ten-Knight Bows.
There were about fifteen hundred Ten-Knight Bows in total, and two hundred had been loaned to each knight order except the Tenth.
That meant the Eastern Army had eight hundred. Our side had seven hundred, including the two hundred belonging to the Fourth Knight Order.
Those fifteen hundred were all the Ten-Knight Bows in existence for now. Even so, they’d done a remarkable job producing that many in such a short time.
It was planned that soon, there would be enough for everyone in the Roa Unit.
Of the seven hundred Ten-Knight Bows we had on hand, the remaining five hundred were ours to use freely.
Should I put either Ryuzel’s or Frein’s unit under Lapiria-sama’s command, along with their Ten-Knight Bows?
...It might work.
The Ten-Knight Bow had a longer range than a crossbow, and once you got used to it, you could fire repeatedly. It would be more effective to deploy them together than to scatter them in small groups... No, wait... In that case...
“Roa looks scary.”
“You okay, Roa?”
Their words seemed distant, but seeing me mutter to myself nonstop, the twins appeared to be getting worried.
I saw out of the corner of my eye as Lapiria-sama stopped Meizest from tapping me on the shoulder.
“It’s all right. This happens all the time.”
Her words reached the back of my mind.
After thinking it over like that for a while...
“Yeah. How about something like this?” I said aloud.
“Hey, did you think of something?”
“Hurry up and tell us!”
I turned my gaze toward the twins with deliberate slowness.
“I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’ve come up with something.”
At my words, the twins looked more excited than they had all day, their eyes filled with anticipation.