Volume 8 - CH 6

Chapter 6: The Reality Here and Now 

“It’s like a vision of hell...” I muttered, looking out over the scene beneath us. 

It was the witching hour, and Julius and I were standing together atop the walls of Lasta. 

In case anything happened, Aisha was standing a little behind us. That wasn’t a precaution against Julius, but against the creatures below. 

The chimera-like creatures were swarming beneath us now, feasting on the roasted remains of the lizardmen killed by our aerial bombardment. These abominations would happily feed on man and lizard alike. 

There were scattered cries as the monsters fought over food. 

Watching, or even just listening to all of this couldn’t be good for my mental well-being. 

“With all these lizardmen surrounding them, I’m impressed this tiny country has held out so long,” I said uneasily. “It wouldn’t have been unexpected for them to swallow you up in no time.” 

“Perhaps so, but we couldn’t give up on living,” Julius said. “We’re here because everyone’s fought hard to survive.” 

It was surprising to hear Julius say that. It seemed he really had changed. The Julius I’d known before wouldn’t have cared this much for the soldiers doing the fighting. His days of wandering and his time with Princess Tia really had left him a changed man. 

“By the way...” Julius began, “what happened to the wyvern cavalry?” 

“I sent them back to the main force,” I said. “Since they’d used up the explosive barrels they brought. Besides, you don’t have the reserves to garrison them here indefinitely.” 

“...Indeed.” 

Wyverns would eat the equivalent of one cow per meal. However, once they fed, they didn’t need to feed again for close to a week, so their overall cost wasn’t too bad. Even so, it would be a heavy burden on a country which was under siege, so I couldn’t garrison them here. 

Incidentally, if Naden or Ruby used their fire breath or electric shocks in dragon form, that used a considerable amount of energy, and they would eat ravenously for a while after to replenish it. Because of that, I hadn’t been able to let them go wild in dragon forms yet, either. 

“I have, at least, asked the wyvern cavalry to bring in supplies you’re running short of here, but...it’s about half a day’s trip, so the earliest they will arrive is tomorrow night,” I said. “We’ll have to fight with just this country’s soldiers and the Dratroopers for a little while longer.” 

“In that case...it will be important to decide how command of the two countries’ troops is handled.” Julius looked at me. “Are you sure about this? Letting me command Friedonia’s forces?” 

“Well, in this situation, there isn’t much alternative.” 

After speaking to my staff officer, Kaede, we’d decided that, for the limited time it took the main force to meet up with us, Julius would be entrusted with command of the Dratroopers. 

This was a measure we were taking to avert any conflicts in the command structures of the Friedonian and Lastanian armed forces. 

“You’re the most experienced commander here after all,” I said. “I may be high-ranked, but I’m more of a bureaucratic type, and the Dratroopers are fierce fighters, but they’re all a bunch of muscle heads. Kaede is the best commander we have on hand, but though she’s talented at planning operations, she’s not suited to taking command in the middle of a battlefield. In short, you’re the only real general here, Julius.” 

“I understand that, but...I’m asking if you or your men can trust me. If they ignore my orders because they can’t, that’s a problem. I could use the Dratroopers like they’re expendable. Aren’t you concerned about that?” 

I smiled wryly at his almost paranoid question, and said, “You have nothing to gain from doing that in the current situation. Besides, if you pull anything funny, you’ll make enemies of the nearly 60,000 soldiers coming this way.” 

“I suppose you have a point.” 

I leaned on the edge of the wall and looked up to the evening autumn sky. “I never thought a day would come when we’d be fighting together.” 

“I could say the same. I never expected to see the day I was saved by my bitter enemy.” Julius crossed his arms and leaned against the wall too. 

We had once been enemies, but now were allies. The world was an unpredictable place. There was a quiet moment as I mulled over that thought. 

After some time, Julius hesitantly opened his mouth. “I want you to tell me. My father, Gaius VIII...what was his end like?” 

I paused. “What do you mean, what was it like?” 

“From what the soldiers told me, after we parted ways, he said he would ‘show the spirit of Amidonia.’ Was Father able to achieve his goal?” 

I was silent. 

His tone wasn’t accusatory. Julius purely wanted to know what the end of Gaius VIII, sovereign prince of Amidonia, had been like. 

“It was frightening,” I admitted. “When Gaius came for my head, he was truly terrifying. To be honest, the man’s blade was only a step or two from reaching me.” 

Even now, I sometimes saw that day’s events in my dreams. In my dreams, the result was different, and the sword he threw with the last of his strength pierced straight through my chest. 

That showed just how traumatizing that day had been for me. I would never forget Gaius’s face, twisted like a demon’s and full of murderous intent, not for the rest of my life. 

Julius chuckled. “True, that father of mine’s glare was enough to make anyone fear for their life.” 

“I can’t laugh about it. I seriously accepted my death and was considering what words I’d leave to my fiancée.” 

“I see... It seems Father was able to show his spirit then.” Julius smiled a little sadly, and then slapped his cheeks as if to help himself shift gears. “My father was able to live out the rest of his life as a warrior. It’s not my place to say anything about that now. Like my father, I will endeavor to live in the way I truly desire to.” 

“What way of life would that be?” I asked. 

“I will live protecting the ones I love with every fiber of my being. So, Souma, to protect Princess Tia and this country, let me lend you my strength.” With that, Julius bowed his head to me. 

He’d...really changed, huh. 

I slapped Julius on the shoulder, then started walking. “Let’s go, Julius. I’ll be needing you to run the war council.” 

“Okay. You’ve got it.” 

And so, we headed to the castle where everyone was waiting. 

Meanwhile, around that same time... 

It was now late in the evening. In a candlelit room in Lasta’s castle, the important figures of the Kingdom of Friedonia and the Kingdom of Lastania had gathered. 

In attendance on the Friedonian side were Aisha, Roroa, Naden, Halbert, Kaede, Ruby, and me. On the Lastanian side were Julius, who had been entrusted with full command of their forces by the king of Lastania, the soldier captain Lauren, and Jirukoma, who was the leader of the volunteer soldier force. Princess Tia was also present, wanting to watch over the proceedings as a member of the royal family. 

Aisha, who wasn’t that great at using her head to begin with, was there solely as my bodyguard, and Roroa and Princess Tia, who were not specialists in military matters, were just sitting there at the very end of the table. 

Also, since he’d been noisy, saying, “We wanna be at the war council too!” Kuu and Leporina, the master-servant pair from the Republic of Turgis, were being allowed to take part as long as they promised to stay at the end of the table and behave. 

“Now then, I would like to begin the war council,” Julius said. 

Having been entrusted with the command of both armies, he was also being trusted with running the war council. 

Julius looked around at the officers present. “First, to begin with...on this occasion, I have been entrusted with command of the Lastanian military by the King of Lastania. Command of the Dratroopers, who have come to reinforce us, has also been given to me by Sir Souma. Is there anyone who objects to this? I want to direct this question especially to those of you from the Kingdom of Friedonia.” 

“I guess now’s the time. I don’t like lying, so I’ll be blunt.” Hal scratched his head and spoke up. “I feel uneasy with it. I don’t know I can fight under the command of a former enemy.” 

“Hal,” Ruby objected, “you don’t have to say it like that...” 

Hal held up a hand to stop her. Kaede put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder too, silently shaking her head. 

When Ruby was quiet, Hal continued. 

“There may still only be 200 of us, but I’m the captain of the Dratroopers. I don’t have what it takes to lead thousands of troops yet. I know you’re the most capable leader of troops here, and I’m sure that’s why Souma left command of the Dratroopers to you.” 

Julius was silent. 

“But even if it’s only 200 men, their lives are my responsibility,” Hal went on. “I can’t leave their lives in the hands of some guy who isn’t fully committed.” 

Julius listened to his words in silence. 

“We were enemies to you too,” Hal went on. “Can you command us properly?” 

With that said, Julius brought his fist down on a certain spot on the map. It was the forest where the lizardmen who’d escaped from the bombing were hiding. 

“I discussed this with young Miss Kaede as well, but I am thinking I want to exterminate the lizardmen lurking in the forest using the 3,000 troops we have here. Now, while their numbers are decreased, is our best opportunity to do so.” 

“Whoa, wait, what?” Hal exclaimed. “We have limited manpower, and you want to head out? Their numbers are down, and that’s taken the pressure off, so can’t we just hole up in the city walls until reinforcements arrive?” 

“Hal, that will give the enemy time to recover their numbers, you know,” Kaede said. “Like Sir Julius said, the number of lizardmen grows by the day. Their numbers are massively lower now, so the lizardmen are waiting to see what happens, but if their numbers recover, they’ll attack again. In a conflict, what is important is how you increase the number of troops you can deploy into a single battle, while in turn decreasing the number of enemy troops. For example, if you compare fighting 3,000 enemy troops with 5,000 soldiers to fighting 1,000 enemy troops with 5,000 soldiers three times, the latter will cause less damage to your own forces.” 

Oh! I’d heard that before. That was why it was better not to deploy your forces in small groups, but to deploy them in as large a group as possible. Or so the established knowledge went. 

“Compared to a siege battle fought against a reassembled group of lizardmen, exterminating them in a field battle while their numbers are lower will lower the number of casualties on our side,” Kaede said. 

“In addition, if we can eliminate the lizardman presence here, we can restore the supply lines to Lasta,” Julius continued for her, pointing at a spot close to the Dabicon. “There is a fortress near here. There was no way to defend it with the regular forces alone, so it was abandoned early in this demon wave, but if we can exterminate the lizardmen here, advance north while crushing their reinforcements, and get soldiers into this fortress, we should be able to hold off the lizardmen that cross the river here. If we can do that, Lasta will be freed from being besieged by monsters. That will restore supply lines, so more reinforcements...likely won’t be coming, but material aid should flow in.” 

If this country fell, the next country to the south would be in danger after all. Perhaps they would think to send material aid, in order to help us hold out a bit longer? 

There might be merchants who would think now was a good time to make money too. Medicine to treat the wounded soldiers might arrive. 

That all sounded good, but... there was just one thing about it that concerned me. 

“If you only intend to deal with lizardmen, that’s fine, but there are countless warped monsters camped outside the city walls now, aren’t there?” 

While looking out from the city walls with Julius, we had seen the chimera-like monsters with bodies assembled from various parts. There were still thousands of those things that were greedily feasting on the corpses of soldiers and lizardmen that fell outside the wall. 

“If you head outside the walls, won’t they attack you?” I asked. 

“That is a concern.” Julius pressed a hand against his forehead in displeasure. “Those monsters are nothing special, taken alone. They can be slain easily at a distance with bows or magic. However, when they form such a large swarm, they become a problem. If we fight the lizardmen and the monsters attack when we’re injured, we can’t handle that.” 

“I see. So we’ll have to fight those monsters at the end,” Aisha said, crossing her arms. 

“If you’d let me go wild in my ryuu form, I could scatter those things easily,” Naden fumed. 

I knew that, but in a situation where we had a limited number of calories available, I couldn’t let Naden and Ruby fight at full power. 

Julius let out a small sigh. “It’s a minor blessing that the lizardmen and monsters don’t work together. For the monsters, they see both us and the lizardmen as no more than potential food if we die.” 

“They’re scavengers, like jackals or vultures then...” I muttered. “It’d be a lot easier if they’d just attack and eat the lizardmen for us too.” 

“The monsters are weaker than the lizardmen. That must be why they only scavenge corpses,” Julius explained in exasperation. 

No, I was just saying that, so you didn’t need to respond so seriously... Wait. Huh? I paused. The monsters don’t attack the lizardmen because they’re weaker than them, but then... Huh? Why don’t the lizardmen attack the monsters? 

Before this war council, I’d received a report on the captured lizardman from Tomoe. According to Tomoe, she had felt nothing but hunger from the lizardman. It had only seen Tomoe as prey.