Battle of the Haksha Plains (1)

In the southwestern part of the Kingdom of Rudek lies a region called "Haksha."

A great river flowed gently through the center of the grassland, glittering in the sunlight. It traced a broad arc through the middle of the plain.

The area was deserted, and nameless wildflowers swayed in the breeze.

Scenic—that was the perfect word for this place, but its appearance changed completely whenever the weather upstream turned violent.

At Haksha's bend, the muddy torrent would burst onto the land like a rampaging giant serpent, painting the surrounding landscape the color of earth.

Although the soil was fertile, the repeated floods made it difficult to grow crops, and the danger to human life was so great that people could do nothing but gaze at the place from afar.

Even so, the area was not completely uninhabited. A little farther away, several ramshackle huts stood here and there.

The only people coming and going from the huts looked thoroughly disreputable. Roughs who seemed to make their living as bandits—one in every two, by the look of things—wandered about, making people even more reluctant to approach the area.

The huts' residents spent their days gambling and drinking, living lazily while waiting for the great river to run wild.

When the river, as if by the will of heaven, flooded the surrounding area, they would all rush into the muddy ground without even waiting for the water to recede.

What they searched for, heedless of the danger, was placer gold washed down from the mountains.

People said that, in the past, placer gold had often been found here after floods.

It looked like glittering white sand, so people called it Hakusa, and it was said that the name had eventually been given to the land itself.

But perhaps the gold had run out, because no one had heard of any significant amount of Hakusa being found in the past twenty years.

Even so, people willing to gamble on the faintest chance continued to stare at the calm surface of the water with greedy eyes.

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The Golbel army in the south appears to be on the move.

With the unit commanders gathered in the office alongside me, Roa, Rays-sama addressed us with a stern expression.

"Then are we marching out?" one of the unit commanders asked.

"Yes. First, the Sixth Knight Order stationed at the nearby fort will deploy. We will be the reserve. Begin preparations so that we can move at a moment's notice!"

"Yes, sir!" The unit commanders all responded with spirited voices and filed out one after another to prepare for deployment. Left behind were the usual pair, Glantz-sama and Rapilia-sama, along with Ryuzel, a unit commander whom Rays-sama had ordered to remain.

"The fact that I was left behind means you want me to go ahead of the others, doesn't it?"

Ryuzel's unit was centered around cavalry within the Tenth Knight Order, and its mobility made it useful as an advance force.

"Yes. This isn't confirmed information, but I've heard that the general leading the Golbel soldiers bears a banner depicting thousand-hand grass and a bull."

"Franklurt-Drew's banner..." I muttered, and Rays-sama said, "You really are quite the enthusiast," before asking, "Then do you know what concerns me?"

Of course I knew.

If our opponent was Franklurt-Drew, then judging by the timing, there could be no doubt that this was the Battle of the Haksha Plains.

Franklurt-Drew. In Rudek, he was well known as the general who had dealt us a major blow two years earlier by killing Naisol-sama, the commander of the Sixth Knight Order at the time.

He was an extremely wily commander. He had isolated the Sixth Knight Commander's main camp and killed him. Although the battle had taken place in Golbel territory, where the terrain favored the enemy, the military had been shaken to its core.

To avoid lowering our allies' morale, the details were kept secret, and officially he was said to have died in camp from wounds sustained in battle.

Wickhart-sama was appointed the new commander of the Sixth Knight Order in place of the slain commander.

Naisol-sama had cherished Wickhart-sama as his protégé. Because Naisol-sama had publicly said, "When I retire someday, I want you to take over," and because the Sixth Knight Order's unit commanders supported him, he became the youngest knight commander in the order.

Although it happened far earlier than planned.

Because of those circumstances, Franklurt was a sworn enemy to Wickhart-sama—and to the Sixth Knight Order as a whole.

Of course, even if his former commander had named him as successor, that alone was not enough to make someone a knight commander. Wickhart-sama must have been an excellent general. But could he remain calm when faced with his sworn enemy?

In the future I knew, he could not. At Haksha, where the coming battle would take place, the two armies glared at each other across the great river. Provoked by the wily Franklurt, Wickhart's army would force its way across the river and attack.

Franklurt knew that the weather upstream had turned bad, and before long the great river would become a raging torrent, isolating the portion of Wickhart's army that had advanced too far.

Once Wickhart's isolated army realized what had happened, it would make a desperate attempt to escape. Wickhart-sama himself would survive, but he would suffer a crushing defeat, losing many of his elite soldiers as well as his right arm and right eye.

As a result, the Sixth Knight Order would be greatly weakened for a time, and the region around Haksha would be forced to endure a long, difficult struggle.

"...General Franklurt is wily. Wickhart-sama is an excellent general as well, but given his history with General Naisol, he may be manipulated by General Franklurt and drawn into a much harder fight than expected."

"Good. Then what do you think we should do?"

"If I were General Franklurt, I would use General Naisol as bait to provoke the Sixth Knight Order and lure them in. If things went well, I might even be able to isolate Wickhart-sama. Therefore, our first priority should be to urge Wickhart-sama to exercise restraint."

"...So he says. Ryuzel, what do you think?"

"To be honest, I didn't expect Roa to be this capable. You really do know a great deal about warfare. Then we will head to the Haksha Plains ahead of the others and stop Wickhart-sama."

"Please do. I will urge the king to let us march out as soon as possible. And, Roa—"

"Yes?"

"You will go ahead with Ryuzel. You may be of some use. For now, consider yourself my representative. Also, I am not counting you among our fighting strength. If battle breaks out, evacuate. Understood? Ryuzel, I'm counting on you."

"Understood." Ryuzel bowed.

As the conversation progressed in the blink of an eye, a second deployment was decided before I had even recovered from my surprise.