The Great Battle of Zetta (7): The Opening of Hostilities

Once the soldiers' morale had reached its peak, we each took up our assigned positions.

Of the Fourth Knight Order's 5,000 soldiers, 4,000—including the twins—left the fortress, along with the 1,000 soldiers of the Ryuzel unit under Hock-san's command.

In the end, I agreed to place the Ryuzel unit under Hock-san's command.

Although Ryuzel and Frein were equally skilled riders, Frein's unit was still inexperienced as a cavalry force. Given that Hock-san would be leading them, the Ryuzel unit was better suited.

Frein's unit was waiting for my orders along the fortress's outer wall. Meanwhile, I was on a watchtower that stood higher than the rest of the outer wall, accompanied by Wickhart and Dick.

At first, I had been eager to sortie as well, but Ryuzel and Frein had both stopped me. "This isn't your turn yet," they had said.

Indeed, this sortie was meant only to scout the enemy's movements while keeping them in check, and to send the YuiMei twins' unit and the makeshift Nieshock unit—the Ryuzel unit—outside.

Everyone except the twins' unit and the Nieshock unit would probably return to the fortress without fighting. The real defensive battle would begin after that. The twins and the Nieshock unit would disrupt the enemy from outside.

Frein's unit would also consider sortieing if the enemy left an opening, but the basic plan was for them to join the Fourth Knight Order in defending the top of the walls. Frein's unit had been an infantry unit until just recently, so they were quick to adapt.

At that moment, I saw Golbel's massive army beginning to deploy. It was my first time seeing 20,000 troops on an actual battlefield. The back of my throat felt sticky, and I was a little nauseous, but this was no time to be sick.

Golbel was using its numerical advantage to spread out like wings. The formation was called a crane-wing formation in distant countries, and it also looked like a declaration that they intended to let no one escape.

Four standards were visible from the outer wall. Conventionally, they would attack with 15,000 troops, leaving the main force behind, assuming 5,000 per unit. But this was an extremely short decisive battle. All 20,000 might come surging at us.

Among the standards, I could see three wild roses on a white field, as well as crossed swords and a star on a dark navy field. The former belonged to Golbel's hero, Rodelight=Est. The latter belonged to Zegabain, one of Golbel's Three Generals.

There were four generals in Golbel we needed to watch out for. The most famous was Rodelight=Est, an attention-seeking hero.

Rodelight=Est was popular among the people of Golbel thanks to his spectacular victories and his skill at publicizing them, but opinions were divided among those who knew what he was really like.

According to later-generation assessments I had read, he was called a strategist or military tactician, but various books contained scattered claims that all of those ideas had actually come from other people.

Regardless of which assessment one accepted, one thing never changed: "He was strong in battle."

Though Golbel was inferior to Rudek in national strength, Rodelight=Est was unquestionably one of the key figures behind its ability to fight Rudek on equal terms. He was also highly skilled individually and, surprisingly, one of the Continent's Ten Bows.

However, he supposedly disliked fighting with a bow because spears were flashier, so I suppose he was a bit eccentric.

Apart from Rodelight=Est, the other famous generals were Zegabain, Fais, and Bootst, collectively known as Golbel's Three Generals. These four were the pillars of Golbel's military.

General Fais had been confirmed at Ellen Fortress, while General Zegabain was here. That meant General Bootst was probably leading the army attacking the south.

If so, we could not afford to underestimate the southern army. Even with Rays-sama heading there, it would be difficult to repel them quickly and send reinforcements here. I decided to stop clinging to that hope.

Golbel's forces had no dedicated cavalry units. Their basic formation was a combination of mounted commanders and infantry. This was dictated by the country's economic strength.

Considering the size of the country, Rudek was the odd one for maintaining so many costly warhorses.

As we spoke, Golbel's army began moving in earnest.

Perhaps they were testing our response as well; they left behind a unit that appeared to be the main body and began advancing.

So General Zegabain was the one left behind? It was a little surprising that it was not Rodelight's unit.

Come to think of it, Rays-sama had once said, "Rodelight is troublesome when he has a single unit. As the commander of a large army, there are ways to deal with him." He might not have been suited to command a main army.

After confirming Golbel's movements, everyone except the 1,000 soldiers led by the twins—which had already vanished from the area around the fortress—and the Nieshock unit began entering the fortress. Naturally, we could not take on 15,000 troops with only 3,000 and no plan.

They hurried up onto the walls and took up positions to deal with the enemy soldiers who would soon arrive.

"It looks like they're attacking with around 15,000," Boldras-sama said. He had somehow come up to the watchtower where I was and was gazing at Golbel's massive army with an almost delighted expression.

It was impressive that he showed absolutely no sign of agitation.

"What do you think, Wickhart? Since we have the chance, why not raise the signal fire announcing the start of the battle?" At Boldras-sama's words, Wickhart replied, "Is that all right?"

A first strike was a warrior's honor. Since the Fourth Knight Order was the main force defending this fortress, it was an unspoken understanding that one of its officers would claim that honor.

"Yes. Since we have the chance, let's make the enemy tremble with a single shot from the Azure Bow," Boldras-sama said with a fearless smile.

"If you insist."

Wickhart descended from the watchtower and stood at the edge of the wall, then slowly nocked an arrow.

The shouts of the advancing Golbel army grew louder on the wind. As if to blow away their battle spirit, Wickhart drew the bowstring taut.

"Hah!!"

The arrow loosed by Wickhart tore straight through the air and precisely pierced one of the enemy commanders. The Golbel commander crumpled from his horse, and the Rudek side erupted in cheers.

With that single shot from Wickhart, the Battle of the Zetta Plains had finally begun.