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Blunder

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From Liao’s camp, all at once the eagles took flight, heading toward the artillery batteries to provide support.

“…Fool.” (Yuri)

I muttered to myself bitterly.

If one cannot make a judgment beyond this level, then from the very beginning one should not raise a banner of rebellion. The soldiers forced to follow, the civilians dragged into it. Both are nothing but great misfortunes.
There is no saving such a thing.

If he commits all the eagles there, then he will lose the means of fire support.

The moment we launch an offensive and attempt a breakthrough, they would be dispatched at once, striking down with roaring flame right at the forefront of our charge. The ones who could stop Galloping Birds like that, he himself has let go of.

What meaning is there in such an action? Even if the artillery revives an hour later, does he think the enemy will wait until then? While he shrinks back relying only on the artillery, we are already completing the encirclement. At this very moment, Liao must break the situation as quickly as possible. Yet, he threw away the eagles for the sake of artillery an hour from now.

What a simpleton.

“Send a messenger to Dolla. Strike the hammer upon the anvil.” (Yuri)

“Yes, sir!” (Soldier)

The liaison answered at once and launched a signal flare some distance away.

We are the anvil. Extending formation, after the cavalry corps led by Dolla cleaves the boundary between the Rube Household’s army and the Papal States’ army, the Papal States’ army must maneuver so that their escape route is lost.

In less than a minute a signal flare was fired, and within another minute, the cavalry corps began to move. However, at that moment, the Papal States’ army began a strange movement. Before engaging with us, they started to retreat.

Did they not want to leave a gap behind them? Indeed, if they placed the hill with the artillery battery at their back, even if broken through, it would lessen damage compared to being struck from behind. Galloping Birds cannot charge up a densely wooded hill to assault from the rear. Not impossible, but the momentum of the charge would be lost, so it is meaningless. Thus, it will develop into holding off the cavalry on the flank, while facing us in the front.

Is that what they are aiming at?

“Advance while extending the army westward to cut off the retreat route. Messenger, carry the order swiftly.” (Yuri)

If it were the prearranged movements, then a signal flare would suffice as before, but for a complicated directive such as this, it must be conveyed through a messenger. The weakness is that one cannot transmit detailed information otherwise.

After sending messengers to each unit, before long I felt as though a strange sound was heard from an unexpected direction. It was a deep bass like distant thunder, drowned out by the clamor of war, only faintly audible.

Was it my imagination?

No, if I consider it carefully, Gertrude Evans… recalling the trick by which he ensnared me, it is too easy. If it were that fool Liao, then perhaps, but would that man who favors stratagems delight in a war as simple as relying upon artillery? Yet, even if he thought of some stratagem, could he have foreseen a situation where the artillery was disabled? What stratagem could function only in this very circumstance?

As I pondered, from the direction of the sound, I thought I heard the rumbling of countless hooves beating the earth. Looking that way, from a break in the forest something like brown water began gushing forth.

“Cease advance! All forces, retreat! Hurry, or it will be too late!” (Yuri)

Come to think of it, though this was war, this was the first time today I raised my voice. Entertaining irrelevant thoughts, I mounted a Galloping Bird in order to halt the advance of the army.

 

—

 

Before my eyes flowed a river turned into a muddy torrent. Though not of great width, its current was strong enough to roll stones, and even Galloping Birds’ legs could not cross it. The bridge too, a makeshift one made of aligned culverts, was swept away in an instant.

We won the battle itself. The Rube Household’s army was utterly broken, and the Papal States’ army, already struck on the flank by Dolla’s cavalry corps who had completed crossing, was fighting a retreating battle on the far side of the river. However, we could not deliver a crushing blow, like striking upon the enemy army placed upon the anvil with a hammer.

The Rube Household’s army fell neatly into that shape, but the Papal States’ army maintained command and responded to pursuit because the Hou Household’s main force, which should have enveloped them and cut off escape, could not cross the river.

Of course, Dolla has orders to pursue. But the entire army cannot be occupied with that. Our great objective is the recapture of the royal capital Sibyaku, and we cannot cast it aside for the sake of pursuit. If the Rube Household entrenches themselves and carries out a scorched earth tactic in the capital, that would be a far graver problem.

“Listen well, you all head upstream, and if it is possible to cross, shift into pursuit battle.” (Yuri)

“Yes, Excellency, take care.” (Soldier)

“…Ah, you too.” (Yuri)

As I was bearing bitter thoughts, I spread White Sunset’s wings.

Of course, the Papal States’ army will bleed in the pursuit battle. They will suffer greatly. However, of the cavalry corps that split the enemy army in two, half is heading toward the Rube Household’s side. Enduring repeated cavalry charges by the other half, the Papal States’ army seemed to preserve enough strength. Had we been able to cross the river, it would not have been so.

To finish Gertrude here may prove difficult. While bearing bitter foreboding, I rose from the ground.

 

—

The artillery battery, thought to decide the course of this war, was already occupied by the Royal Guard led by Galla. On the road ascending the hill, they had made several simple defenses like sandbag parapets, but overwhelmed by numbers, they were scattered.

I descended upon the artillery battery, which in the end functioned only for a brief moment.
One of the batteries had been scorched pitch black, consuming all in its surroundings. No doubt countless burned corpses lay within.

“Yuri-kun.” (Galla)

The one who addressed me was Galla, the father of Dolla. Originally a soldier from the cavalry field, but now he leads the Imperial Guard Corps.

“I was thinking if we could not turn the cannons toward the Papal States’ army, but it seems impossible, does it not?” (Galla)

“Ah. Before we seized them, the powder was set aflame. It’s likely they feared it would be used against them.” (Yuri)

“Well, let us say it is fortunate that they were not destroyed.” (Galla)

It seemed that Liao did not fear the cannons being captured and so did not set up self-destruction charges. Rather, he must have feared that hastily trained artillerymen would mishandle them and destroy the guns themselves.

“Yet, to have made such a monstrous weapon.” (Galla)

Galla spoke while looking at the battery, scorched black and rendered useless.

“It is not a new weapon. We only dropped jars filled with black powder.” (Yuri)

The first battery that exploded did so without waiting for ignition. Most likely, at the moment the first round was fired, a massive amount of dust was stirred up, and when the next round was fired, the flames from the muzzle ignited it.

Even a fingertip’s worth of black powder is dangerous to ignite directly. Should one light it with a lighter, the heat from combustion would burn the hand holding it, and even the face at a distance would feel considerable heat. By combustion occurring simultaneously in all directions, the soldiers inside must have been burned in an instant, killed outright.
What did the overseers of the other batteries think, seeing their colleagues explode the moment they fired? At the very least, they must have hesitated to fire the next shot.

“It can only be used in limited circumstances. If even a wind strong enough to stir sand is blowing, it scatters away and ceases to function.” (Yuri)

In experiments, when black powder was pressed into pellets so as not to be blown by the wind, the combustion did not propagate properly. Unless the grains were made exceedingly fine, it would not succeed, but then it would scatter away in the wind. Therefore, this time it was necessary to keep information thoroughly secret. If one sought to take countermeasures, there were countless methods to produce wind. Thus, I revealed the intent to no one, and for reasons incomprehensible to all, kept the army at a standstill.

“I see. Well, since we have won this time, that is good. At first, I wondered how it would turn out, but with this, all has returned to as it was.” (Galla)

Returned… as it was?

“…Yes, well, that is so.” (Yuri)

For this man, surely it is so. The royal capital reclaimed, the land restored, the young queen returning to the royal castle. To describe it as all things returned to how they once were, there is no mistake in such an interpretation. Or perhaps, in having flushed out the rebellious elements lurking within the Rube Household and absorbing the regions where governance had not reached, it may even be said to be advancement.

But to me, it is not so. I have lost an irreplaceable and precious person. That is an irretrievable loss.

No matter if I torture Liao to death, no matter if I slaughter tens of thousands of the Papal States’ army, Myaro will not return. Without ever once repaying her love and devotion, I allowed her to depart.

“You look gloomy. From here we march in triumph. To be greeted by the people of the capital in great jubilation, and yet, that face will not do.” (Galla)

“…Indeed. Then, as I must attend to the command of the capital’s capture, I shall take my leave here.” (Yuri)

“Ah. We shall head northward, taking the Rube Household’s remnants as captives. That is well, is it not?” (Galla)

“Yes. I leave it in your hands.” (Yuri)

 

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