Induction Ceremony Mock Battle (4): Roa's Aim

"I'm up against the Ryuzel and Frein units. It looks like things will go just as Rays-sama predicted."

Lapiria rode her horse with a delighted look on her face.

"Lapiria-sama, look at that."

At the soldier's words, she shifted her gaze toward the center and saw the Sixth Knight Order slamming something resembling absurdly long poles into the ground, blocking Granz's advance.

"They're doing something strange again..." She was both impressed and exasperated by how they kept coming up with one bizarre idea after another.

"Maybe we should watch out for the same thing here," a soldier suggested, but Lapiria shook her head.

"We probably can't use that over here. It's far too cumbersome for cavalry to carry."

Frein's unit was one thing, but Ryuzel's unit consisted entirely of cavalry. Carrying something so long would make movement too difficult. On the other hand, if only Frein's unit used them, they would merely get in the cavalry's way and actually hold them back.

"Even without those long poles, they might bring out something else strange! Don't let your guard down, and charge ahead!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

The unit commander had fought alongside Lapiria for many years and raised no further questions, simply fixing both Ryuzel's and Frein's units with a hard stare.

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"That's an interesting weapon."

Sazaby murmured with interest as he watched Sassar's poles being slammed into the ground.

"If we'd had more time, I would've made these using proper spears, but this was the best we could prepare in three days. I'm glad to see they seem to be functioning reasonably well."

Now, let's see if they'll move as predicted...

The battle in the center, which had been locked in a standoff for a while, suddenly began to shift.

Granz-sama's force, having determined that bows were ineffective, began gradually moving south.

As expected of Granz-sama. Granz-sama had already begun exploiting the weakness of the long-handled spears. Long-handled spears had a major advantage in reach, but poor mobility.

The weapons were unwieldy and heavier than ordinary weapons, especially for anyone not accustomed to them. Once the enemy started moving while fighting, chasing them only put us further on the defensive.

But if we abandoned the long-handled spears, we would lose our advantage in reach. Then Granz-sama's tactics would start running circles around us.

We knew this would happen sooner or later. Even so, I'd told them to buy us as much time as possible—right up to the last moment.

More important was the fact that Granz-sama had started moving south.

There was one quirk in Granz-sama's troop deployments. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a sign of Granz-sama's trust in Lapiria-sama.

Granz-sama never moved troops toward Lapiria-sama's position.

This pattern was clearly recorded in the Tenth Knight Order's various battle records.

Those two were Rays-sama's strongest cards. Perhaps to make full use of Lapiria-sama's ability to move freely, Granz-sama kept a distance from Lapiria-sama while at times maneuvering to help Lapiria-sama.

It was probably a subtle quirk that Granz-sama herself hadn't even noticed.

That cleared the first stage.

While Granz-sama's force was completing its move south, I checked the situation in the north.

The Ryuzel and Frein units, currently fighting Lapiria-sama's force, looked evenly matched, with neither side gaining ground.

Then there was Rays-sama's main camp. Nothing major was happening there. I peered closely to see whether the troops remaining at the main camp had decreased, but at least outwardly, nothing had changed.

I turned my gaze south again. Granz-sama's force had completed its move south, all the while glaring at our central force.

Now!

"Dick! Give the signal!"

"Ooh!"

When Dick waved the Sixth Knight Order's great banner, the central force cast aside its long-handled spears and charged Granz's unit! The Sixth Knight Order was aggressive by nature, and now it attacked with the fury of a raging fire, as if it had finally been given its chance.

But Granz-sama was every bit as formidable as expected. Although we had more soldiers, Granz-sama's formation did not break at all.

Even so, our momentum pushed Granz-sama's force back slightly, and it gradually began retreating south.

Then the center opened up, leaving a clear path to Rays-sama.

"Fogard-san! Please!" I called out to the veteran general who had bowed deeply to me before the battle. I hadn't realized it myself, but apparently I was quite excited; my voice rose naturally.

Fogard-san gave a great nod, bellowed, "Charge!!" and led every soldier remaining in my formation into a charge down the path that had opened in the center.