Volume 1 - CH 7

Once a commander has decided on a course of action, it should be executed as quickly as possible.

Therefore, the moment Lucy gave the orders, the vassals immediately issued instructions to their respective squadrons, and almost at the same time, all the troops started moving…once again in a barely acceptable fashion.

The vassals were still thinking about Lucy’s issues, but they nevertheless followed suit, as they also wanted their commander to have a good result in this battle deep inside their hearts.

I could see that from the fact that everyone was eagerly participating and none of them was objecting me.

We’ve already informed the defense forces on the outer wall of our plan. All we need to do is set a coordinated attack on the enemy and provide a shock great enough for the enemy to rout.

It seems that in Krasland, it is common sense for the aristocrats’ forces to usually take the role of personally attacking the enemy, pretty much like the shock troopers or the Stoßtrupp of our world, while the commoners are in charge of the defense and reserve roles.

Because of this, even though Lucy is a mere baron’s daughter, they did not refuse to cooperate because it was a strategy set up by a noble, and most importantly – the plan made sense.

“If we continue at this speed, we will be able to reach the enemy’s flank in about five minutes.”

This report from the retainer made Lucy’s fists tighten.

To this, I approached her, and while making sure that nobody else was looking, I placed my hand on her shoulder.

Lucy looked at me back, to which I raised a smile. Then, I spoke to her.

“It will all work, just believe. The enemy’s attention is all focused on the outer wall. They won’t expect a blow from behind – and that alone is enough to bring them down.”

From there, Lucy eventually relaxed the grip on her hand.

As far as I had observed the other day, there is no such thing as a commander entity in this swarm of monsters.

Therefore, it will be easy to take them down once they get routed, as no one will be there to rebuild their formations.

“I-I see……yes, it will work. It has to.”

Lucy, too, nodded and responded by putting her hand on my hand that was placed on her shoulder. We stayed like this for a bit until our troops had finally reached our planned position and were now ready for assault.

Before this, we exited through a different gate from where we were being attacked, and by using nearby ruins as a cover, we were able to get within visual distance of the monster swarm.

If I were to provide a visual representation, if the monster horde is at the center, the outer wall is on the south, while our troops are coming in from the northeast.

“Their attacks are……quite messy. Effective, but still messy.”

The monsters looked pretty crappy as they threw stones at our garrisons. Nevertheless, they still pose quite the threat as these will still kill you if they hit you in the wrong places.

Also, it’s an impressive sight to see nearly five hundred monsters swarming around a wall.

The defense force is also fighting back with bows and arrows, but they can’t seem to reduce the numbers well enough because they were too distracted by the stones.

“Moreover…… there are also the big ones I saw last time.”

Most of the monsters were goblins with a child’s physique, but among them were three giants which really stood out. Literally.

“That giant is an ogre, isn’t it? If we let them push any further, they might break down the gate.”

From that explanation, I realized that those giants were the monsters’ siege weapons.

“Milady, let’s aim for the ogres before they approach the gates!”

One of the retainers also shouted out, adding to Lucy’s hesitation, but she eventually nodded and drew her sword from her waist.

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“Haaa……haaa……gulp.”

Nevertheless, she was still nervous. I could see it from the way she was breathing hard, and it was loud enough for me to hear nearby. If yo u a re ab l e to re a d this me ss age, you a re re ad ing from an unau tho rized aggr ega te sit e. Rea d at m y Wo r dPre ss at sta bb ing with a syri nge. h ome. b log to sup p ort m e an d m y trans lat ions.

To this, I also pulled my sword, which felt a little heavy on my hand, to match her.

I’m not confident if I can wield it well, but it’s still better than going through the battle with my bare hands.

“We’ll be alright. Shall we go?”

“Y-yes. All units, advance!”

To my calm urging, Lucy finally caught herself up, then pointed her shining sword up to the sky.

With that as the signal, the soldiers of the respective units quietly approached the enemy rear little by little.

We were already long out of the ruins we were using as cover, but our enemies hadn’t noticed us yet.

However, when we were about a hundred meters from the swarm of monsters, some of them eventually noticed us.

“Ah! We’ve been spotted!”

“Please be at ease, Lady Finlay. Most of them are still preoccupied with the outer wall. We can still perform them a surprise attack!”

I shouted this to calm Lucy down and urged her to advance her troops further.

At the same time, the dozen or so goblins also noticed us and began to scream.

However, the distance between the enemy troops and us was already less than fifty meters.

This is it – the moment we’ve been waiting for.

“All units, draw your blades!”

All vassals repeated this order to their respective units, and one by one, the soldiers started drawing their weapons.

Thirty meters to the enemy. A dozen or so more goblins seemed to have noticed us when my companions shouted their commands.

But it was too late.

“All units, charge! Get those monsters out of our city!”

At Lucy’s signal, all the units charged, altogether raising a fierce battle cry from the rear.

The goblins, noticing our presence altogether, immediately began to counterattack with thirty or so units. Still, they were too slow in their response, so they were quickly swallowed up in our wave of assault.

Moreover, as humans in this world are made stronger with magic, the enemy counteroffensive immediately fell, as their forces were just too bad of a match for us in even numbers.

After all, matter how ferocious they are, they are only as tall as a human child.

Still, some of the troops were unlucky enough to be swarmed by multiple goblins and fell, but the attacks did not stop from there.

“Milady! Most of the enemy were not able to retaliate to our attack! Our surprise assault is a success!”

Hearing the excited voice of the retainer, Lucy and I knew that our plan had worked.

“It looks like we’ve managed to bite hard into the enemy’s flank. All we need now is to wait for the defense forces to respond and make a pincer attack.”

After a brief of time I said that, the number of arrows raining from the walls began to increase in numbers.

And in the blink of an eye, one of the ogres collapsed next, its body looking like a pincushion as it fell.

Now that the enemy’s attention was focused on us, the threat of the flying stones was now gone, and thus, the forces in the walls were now able to give us all the covering fire we needed.

Furthermore, the gates that had been tightly closed until now has finally began to open.

What emerged from there were the troops who had arrived after us. It seems that they are our reinforcements, as right after they exited the gate, they immediately deployed and attacked the enemy in front of them.

“Reinforcements? But which troops?”

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Lucy asks her vassal in a voice as loud as the shouts on the battlefield.

“Those flags are……of a foreign legion! They are the Herder Legion, milady!”

“The Herder Legion? They are famous for their bravery and daringness on the battlefield……Very well. We’ll coordinate with them and attack in two directions at once!”

Apparently, the reinforcements that came out of a gate are a reliable existence. With this, we can now focus on our flanking without worrying about the other side.

And thankfully, at this point, Lucy’s fear of monsters seemed to have disappeared from her mind.

She’s beginning to wear the dignified air of a commander, utterly different from her usual gentle atmosphere from the first time I met her.

“You’re doing great, Lucy. Keep it up.”

I murmured quietly with a smile on my face, all while securing my position little by little on the safest zone – which is right beside her.

Even though the odds are in our favor, you’ll never know what’s going to happen. After all, this is the battlefield.

I must be able to withdraw with Lucy at any given time.

“The enemy is being pushed to the west by our troops and the foreign legion at the south. Keep this momentum and we will able to eradicate them completely!”

Her following order further increased the ferocity of our attacks, making the enemy more afraid to fight back.

As they ran away, the forces on the top of the walls started to take aim.

The commander on the other side, sensing the danger of friendly fire, immediately moved away from their position.

They seem to be planning to shoot the fleeing goblins at some distance from us.

However, even in such a situation, an enemy was still coming towards us to attack.

“It’s the ogres!”

They were the two remaining ogres.

Each of them bared their fangs and shouted as they headed towards our unit and the reinforcement legion, respectively.

However, it was then when Lucy’s body started its sickness again, all froze up at the approaching behemoth. And it was when things were going awry. Th s cha pt er tra nslati on is ma de pos sib le by sta bbi ng w ith a syr in ge transla tio ns. ch eck o nly u p-t o-da te tran sla tions on m y Word pr ess si te.

“Not good. Commander Finlay, pull yourself together! Lucy……Lucy!!”

“-!!”

I approached her and shouted beside her in worry, but thankfully, and just in time, she immediately came to her senses and grabbed her sword.

“Stay back, Yuushin! I’ll take care of that one personally!”

She then stepped in front of me, took up her sword, and ran toward the approaching ogre.

“I can do this. Just like my father, I can do this! Hyaaaaahhhh!”

The instant the petite figure of Lucy and the massive body of the ogre met, weapons swung, and blood was sprayed.

And it was the ogre’s.

It seems that Lucy was able to dodge the full swing of the ogre’s club and was able to slash her sword from its flank in time.

The mortally wounded ogre took a few more steps forward, then fell with a thump, face down. Immediately, the soldiers around the fallen ogre swarmed the creature and stabbed it with their swords.

“Haaa, haa, haa……I did it. With my own hands, I finally beat a monster…….”

Lucy sat down on the spot and dropped her sword. I immediately approached her, to which I noticed that she was trembling all over.

Even though she has finally surpassed her trauma, it seems that there’s still a limit to the amount of fear she could push away.

“It was an excellent performance, Lady Finlay. It’s alright now. We have finally defeated the enemy.”

I held out her hand when I said this. From there, the shivering calmed down a bit.

She wasn’t injured, and despite being a bit scared, her mind is still stable.

She should be fine for now.

“Is the Herder Legion……safe over there too?”

As I looked over to check, I saw something I couldn’t believe.

A black-haired woman alone was intercepting the approaching ogre, flipping off the goblins one by one like swatting flies.

With a spear in her hands, she used it to parry the incoming club from the ogre, which should be impossible given her slender figure, and with a single thrust, her spear drove straight through the ogre’s heart.

The tip of the spear even went through its back, indicating the sharpness of her attack.

“What the hell is that woman……is she a monster?”

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To take out an opponent that Lucy had put so much resolve in defeating, moreover, doing that so casually……

After that, she wiped the ogre’s blood that splattered on her face like it was nothing and rejoined the pursuit.

“That’s totally badass. As expected of this other world…….”

And so, after the defeat of the last ogre, the only thing left is the goblins – the weak fodders of the enemy.

Thus, from this point onwards, it became an extermination. All of us made use of our full force to eliminate every last of them – while also ensuring in the end that we had the most significant war efforts in this battle.

◆　　　　　◆

In front of us is our Lady Finlay, soaked in the blood of the ogre she just slew, yet still taking the lead with a dignified voice.

Just now, she bellowed out the order of the annihilation of the goblins.

Since her predecessor, I had served the Finlay House and could even be qualified as a senior vassal, but it was the first time I’ve seen milady like this despite the long years of my service.

Our young miss, who is always cautious, and to put it badly, fights like a coward, has suddenly changed in just one night. As for the reason, I am almost certain that this man, Yuushin Sanada, is the primary cause.

This man, who came out of thin air without any background whatsoever, suddenly became our young miss’s adjutant without us knowing.

I don’t know what he did, and I don’t know what his motives are, but when he came, all of a sudden, our young miss became more proactive in her command.

“What we, the vassals deep down wanted but couldn’t do, he quickly did it and in such a short time……honestly, it’s a bit frustrating.”

Since our young miss had inherited the benevolent side of Master Finlay together with the quiet side of Mistress Finlay – her mother, she has always had difficulties in stepping forward on her own. As a result, she has always missed out on earning military merits.

But even though she’s like this, she definitely inherited her father’s talent as a commander, as there were times when she showed glimpses of it from time to time.

However, some of the retainers were still unsatisfied. And as I was the senior of the group, they repeatedly asked for my permission to step forward with this matter, some even prepared to take all the heat, but I restrained them.

It was because it’s a clear act of betrayal, and it would only give Lucy a bad reputation as a superior who could not control her subordinates.

When I was wondering what to do, the man named Sanada appeared.

As I recall, the first time he met milady was when she was escorting a carriage full of wounded people back from a previous sortie.

In a short time after that, he was able to win over her trust, gave her some advice, and made her ready to face the monsters with the face of a commander.

He is a man who easily did what even I, a long-time servant, could not do.

“To be frank, I’m still suspicious of him, but his presence is indeed benefiting our young miss. So, for now, let’s watch how this Sanada’s presence will affect her. If he shows traces of being bad to the young miss, we’ll take care of him then and there.”

Believing that this was the proper role of those who served her, I let my horse follow behind our young mistress while watching her chatting smilingly at the young man.