Chapter 5: The Battle Outside Randel (part 1)

The 30th stratagem in Thirty-Six Stratagems says, "Make the host and guest

exchange roles."

It is most often referred to in the context of a weaker force overcoming a

stronger one, but it can also refer to making the defender (the host) trade places

with the attacker (the guest). Being the defender is advantageous in war, so it is

desirable for the attacker to create a situation where he can fight defensive battles

even on campaign.

The battle currently taking place in the outskirts of Randel, the central city of the

Carmine Duchy, could have been said to be an example of the later meaning of the

30th stratagem.

—32nd Day, 9th Month, 1,546th Year, Continental Calendar.

In the Carmine Duchy, the Forbidden Army, which should have been the invading

force, was fighting a defensive battle against the Army, which should rightly have

been the defender. As he hid behind the walls of the "fortress" that was being

attacked by a 40,000 strong force from the Army, Halbert Magna was grumbling.

"Damn... Don't you think the enemy are trying a little too hard?"

"There's no helping that, you know, Hal." The response had come from Kaede

Foxia, an earth mage attached to the Forbidden Army, who was taking cover behind

the same wall as him.

Even as the arrows, fired by enemy and ally alike, flew overhead, she remained

nonchalant.

"If you look at it from the enemy's perspective, they woke up to find a fortress

outside," she said. "One with Forbidden Army troops in it, no less. It's only natural

they would be in a rush to do something about that, you know."

"Well, yeah..." he said. "I thought it was beyond reckless taking on 40,000 troops

from the Army with 10,000 of our own, but apparently the premise was that we'd be

fighting in this fortress. Just how well did he prepare in advance for this?"

"There was originally a fortress facing Amidonia at this site," she told him. "When

the border moved far to the west in the time of the king before the last king, it was

abandoned. The king simply brought it back to life, you know. And what's more... this

is a considerably more well-defended fortress than the one that was once here."

It was yesterday that Souma had sent his ultimatum to Georg Carmine. With

negotiations having failed, Souma had immediately dispatched a force of 10,000

troops from the Forbidden Army to the Carmine Duchy.

The Forbidden Army had advanced at a speed that overturned all common sense

held by the Army. They had approached the central city of the duchy, Randel, and

built a "fortress" right in front of their eyes.

That rapid advance and construction had been enabled by the rhinosaurus land

train. Thanks to Souma's honorary little sister, Tomoe, the Forbidden Army had a

large number of rhinosauruses that could serve as a rapid cargo transportation

system. Thanks to the ability of the rhinosaurus land train to transport massive

amounts of cargo, they had been able to send in people and resources in a short

amount of time.

The materials for building the fortress had already been partially assembled in

the royal capital. They'd used a two-by-four wood frame construction system, so the

parts just needed to be put into the designated places on site.

Souma had taken the idea from the One Night Castle that Hideyoshi (then known

as Tokichiro Kinoshita) had built in Sunomata. Basically, the rhinosaurus land train

had taken the place of the Kiso River.

In addition, the Forbidden Army troops who had constructed the fortress had a

secret. Having been sent out under Souma's orders to assist in the construction of

the new city and roads, each and every one of the soldiers of the Forbidden Army

was now a capable combat engineer.

The soldiers would dig holes or pile up earth as needed, cover the walls the

mages created in Roman concrete, and assemble the materials shipped in from the

capital.

The earth mages would gouge out the earth to make ditches, raise the ground's

surface to make walls, use magic to make the Roman concrete poured by the soldiers

harden, and use reinforcement magic to strengthen the walls.

The common thinking when building a fortress on open land in this world was to

have earth mages do all the work. However, because every non-mage member of the

king's personal forces was able to take part in construction, the work speed was

markedly faster.

And so, even though the Forbidden Army had only arrived at the site yesterday

evening, by the time morning came, the fortress was complete. From the people of

Randel's perspective, it must have looked like the fortress had been built in one

night.

Later historians would come to call this "Randel's One Night Fortress."

This blitz of construction had been carried out immediately after the ultimatum,

and the Army and corrupt nobles who were shut up in Randel had been able to do

nothing to stop it.

"Still, I have to hand it to Duke Carmine, you know," Kaede said. "The only ones

who are visibly unnerved are the nobles' private troops. The Army is quietly moving

to encircle us."

"Hey! Don't expose your face!" Halbert exclaimed. "You'll get hit by a stray

arrow!"

Kaede had been peeking out through an arrow slit, but Halbert pulled her back.

At just that moment—

Boom!

—they heard an incredible explosion nearby.

Halbert saw Kaede was about to fall over backwards, so he quickly supported

her. The sudden noise must have caught her by surprise, because Kaede was

blinking.

"Th-Thank you for that, Hal," she said.

"Come on, keep it together," he said. "...That was pretty close to us, wasn't it?"

An enemy spell must have struck the walls.

Technically, the walls had been strengthened against magic by Kaede and the

other earth mages. That said, if they kept taking direct hits like that one, they

weren't going to hold up.

Halbert wreathed a nearby throwing spear in magical fire, throwing it towards

the group he thought had unleashed that last spell. The fire spear flew like a missile,

impaling one man and then exploding to incinerate the rest.

"Arghhhhh!"

He could hear their dying screams from here. Seeing that the deed was done,

Halbert hid in the shadow of the wall once more.

"Wait, hold on... don't you think the attack is extra intense just here on the west

side?" he asked. "It feels like the other sides are only seeing sporadic attacks."

"...Those are Zemish mercenaries, you know," Kaede said as she peeked out from

behind the wall. "They must have been hired by the corrupt nobles. The corrupt

nobles literally have their necks on the line. If they lose this battle, the only thing

waiting for them is a trip to the execution block. It's do-or-die for them, you know.

What with them getting the death penalty and all."

"I know you think you're being witty, but that one made me shudder," Halbert

said while throwing his second fire spear. He didn't miss his mark and many

mercenaries burned.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Hot, hot!"

"It burns, it burrrrrrrrrns!"

Halbert watched with a pained smile as the mercenaries turned into balls of

flame and rolled around on the ground.

For Halbert, this was his first real battle. While he had much more power than

the average person, he wasn't used to killing.

Well, it's easier than fighting an Army unit with a lot of guys I know in it, at least,

he thought.

As a former member of the Army, Halbert had complicated feelings about this

whole situation. Due to their close relationship with the king, Halbert and Kaede

were among the few who knew the whole truth behind this war. That was why he

understood what the king wanted to accomplish. He understood, but... his feelings

about it were still complicated.

"Hal!" Kaede called out to him, snapping Halbert back to his senses.

"What is it, Kaede?!"

"This is awful, you know," Kaede said. "Look at what the enemy just brought out."

She pointed at the giant cannons that were being carried onto the battlefield at

this very moment. In this world, where gunpowder weapons had never really

developed due to the existence of magic, research had continued on cannons for use

in naval battles. While they lacked mobility, their destructive power that didn't rely

on magic had caught the Army's eye. The Army kept three of them for use as siege

weapons, where mobility was not so important.

At present, the only force in Elfrieden which had cannons that could be used on

land was the Army.

"...Come to think of it, they do have those," Hal said. "I'd totally forgotten."

"If you're going to use those, it should be in the opening stages of the battle, after

all," Kaede said.

"Well, what're they dragging them out this late in the game for?" he asked.

"Probably the corrupt nobles brought them out because they're panicking, you

know."

"...Is it really bad?" he asked.

"It is really bad," she answered. "The anti-magic reinforcement is only effective

against magic and flames, you know. Against physical impacts, these are just dirt

walls coated with 'Roman concrete.' They're more durable than normal, but if they

keep hitting them like that..."

Booooom!

...Thunk!

One of the cannons fired with a sound like the air was being sucked away, the

cannonball tracing a parabola before striking the wall and punching into it. The dirt

wall crumbled around where it had punched through.

The cannonballs in this world were lumps of solid iron.

It seemed they had considered exploding shells, as well, but while those were

flashy, they had been unable to inflict damage on walls reinforced against magic, so

there was that historical reason for why they were not used. Simple impact damage

worked well against reinforced walls. The lumps of iron that had just been fired into

the walls were exactly the kind of high-mass projectiles they were weak against.

Seeing their power, Halbert and Kaede looked to one another.

"Wh-What do we do now?!" Kaede stammered.

"Don't ask me! Can't you do something with your magic?!" Halbert exclaimed.

"I'm out of magic after building this fortress! What about you, Hal, can't you

intercept them with a throwing spear or something?"

"They're too fast!" he cried. "That's like asking me to hit an incoming arrow with

a rock!"

While they were bickering back and forth...

"Hmm. How about a bow, then?"

...they heard a calm voice from above them say.

""Huh?""

The two of them turned to see a tough young dark elf (though it was hard to be

certain of an elf's age by his appearance) holding an impressively large bow. The

dark elf warrior nocked an arrow, pointing it upwards on a diagonal and taking aim.

Booooom!

Once again, a cannon fired.

At practically the same time, the dark elf warrior let loose his arrow.

In that instant, Halbert and Kaede thought they heard a high-pitched keening

sound. The dark elf warrior had probably used a wind magic enchantment on the

arrow. Two seconds later, the iron cannonball was smashed to smithereens in midair. Halbert and Kaede could only gape.

"Hmph," the dark elf said. "Easier than taking down a migratory falcon."

"Wh-Who're you...?" Halbert stammered.

"Pardon me. I neglected to introduce myself. I have come from the God-Protected

Forest. My name is Sur," the young dark elf man said with a broad smile. "It is a

pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir Halbert Magna."

"Wh-What do you know my name for?"

"You may not remember, but when the major landslide happened in the GodProtected Forest, my daughter was among those you rescued with the king," Sur

answered. "When she heard your name later, she wanted to thank you, but the initial

relief force had already returned to the capital, so... back then..."

Booooom!

...Ker-smash!!

"...I am terribly sorry that I did not properly thank you for saving my daughter,"

he finished.

Even while talking, Sur was able to accurately shoot down the incoming

cannonballs. They had heard dark elves were excellent archers, but this was truly

impressive.

"No, I was just following Souma's... the king's orders..." Halbert said.

"Even if you were, I still am grateful. Though I must admit to a slight irritation at

the fact that, smitten with the way you looked rescuing people, my daughter started

saying, 'Someday, I want to join the Forbidden Army, and join in relief operations

like that man.' Ha ha ha."

Even as he continued talking like an ordinary father, Sur was shooting down

incoming cannonballs one after another. Halbert and Kaede were simply

dumbfounded.

"Um, why are you here? You're not in the Forbidden Army, right?" Kaede asked,

bewildered.

To this, Sur gave a jovial laugh. "We heard that His Majesty Souma, the savior of

our village, was in serious trouble. In order to repay our debt, we warriors of the

dark elf village have been sent to his aid. We have always avoided involvement with

the outside world as much as possible, but, this time, not a single person voiced their

opposition."

To repay their debt. Here, the simple, steady accomplishments of Souma's rule

were showing their effects.

"I'm very grateful for this, you know," Kaede said.

"I scratch your back, you scratch mine," Sur shrugged. "This is something we have

learned from you people."

When she saw Sur's smile, Kaede felt the tension melt away, if only a little.

We have more reinforcements than I thought, she thought. At this rate, I think we

may manage to defend ourselves