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Light a fire (1)

I tried to sit down and hold on, but my ass kept shaking with anxiety. Eventually, I couldn’t stand it, eventually getting up from my seat.

“Your Highness. Sometimes you have to know when to wait,” Malcoy said as he looked at me, wanting me to sit still. I was forced to sit down. Shortly thereafter, I jumped back up.

“We have to go now. If we hurry, we will be able to catch up with those who left first. So, I will go and help.”

“They started four days ago, so how do can you say you’ll catch up?” Malcoy sighed as he held me back. “Additionally, how many times have I told your Highness that you must be firmly guarding the citadel so that those who have left can fight with confidence?”

I sat down and got up like that countless times, feeling as if I sat upon a thorn cushion. I was very nervous for a while, finally hearing footsteps from outside the council room.

“Your Highness!”

“Come in!” I shouted, and the garrison commander opened the door and entered.

“How did it go?”

The commander gave a bright smile at my breathless question.

“It is said that Sir Arwen has defeated a legion-sized force and is going south as planned!”

“What about Eli?”

“Bernardo Eli has also raided the enemy’s supply base, and it is said that he achieved a considerable record!”

As I heard of our successive victories, my clenched fists felt on fire.

“Alas,” Malcoy gasped as he stumbled into the room and fell onto a chair. He had given no serious consideration to waiting before entering, and he seemed to be quite nervous.

“At the moment, all of our allies have successfully infiltrated the enemy’s rear. Many of the imperial legions are turning back to counter the chaos behind them,” the commander went on.

“How many?”

“It is said that about ten out of thirty-one legions marching to the border have turned back.”

As I heard that, I looked at Malcoy. It was playing out exactly as he had expected.

Malcoy had said that if three of our allied legions infiltrate the enemy’s rear, at least ten imperial legions advancing upon the border would be diverted. He had also said that this was due to imperial army doctrine, where more than three times the force must always be mobilized to ensure victory. It was also due to the number of imperial nobles who had estates near the border.

“We profit from this,” I said, “because we moved three legions to force the feet of ten to turn back.”

“It’s just the beginning,” Malcoy said, his face very sincere. “The success or failure of the operation depends on how good Leonberg’s troops infiltrating the rear are doing. Also, the kingdom’s borders must stand firm while the imperial rear is being disturbed. If the border falls, everything will be in vain.”

Malcoy once again laid out his plans, saying that every moment will be a bumpy one from now on.

“From the standpoint of defense, it is common sense to reduce their front line, but in such a war, only Leonberg loses in the end. Unlike your kingdom, where everything has been suspended for war, the Empire’s industries are running smoothly at this moment.”

Rather than explaining the plan again, Malcoy struggled to reconsider it and studied the parameters that would make it fail.

“If things are left as they are, the kingdom might not be defeated in a fight, but in the end, it will not be able to bear the enormous funds required by the military. Leonberg will collapse from within. My home country, the Kingdom of Marseille, was also destroyed like that.”

I listened to Malcoy’s explanation and also reviewed his plan. The reinforcements organized in Leonberg’s interior had arrived one after another. By now, the number of allied troops deployed to the border numbered fifteen legions, approximately 30,000 soldiers.

The number of allies who followed the king to the front lines with the Eastern Fleet was about 5,000, so the total number of Leonberg’s troops currently in operation was about 35,000.

Compared to the forty-seven legions the Empire had mobilized for the war, our forces were less than half. Compared to the total force of the Empire, it wasn’t even a handful.

And the strain upon the kingdom’s finances by just fielding this handful of troops was staggering. Had Leonberg not declared independence and organized the confiscation of over a hundred noble estates, the kingdom’s treasury would already have collapsed. The wealth recovered from the nobles was in no way infinite, and as proof of this, the great enemy even sent a letter.

I knew it was impossible to send more troops to the front line; we had to somehow stop the imperial army with only the forces we now had. We had to stop the thirty-one legions approaching the border with our fifteen legions containing many conscripts. It might not be easy, but considering that we had the advantage of the defense, it wasn’t impossible.

In fact, despite the overwhelming inferiority of our allied troops, they have been guarding the borders so far. But at best, we would be able to endure it for one or two years. It is the kingdom that would eventually be defeated in a war of attrition. It was as Malcoy said: The Empire was at peace, except for the few provinces that have become battlefields, unlike Leonberg, where everything has been reorganized for war.

“The kingdom has to extend the frontline somehow and make the Empire bleed instead,” Malcoy continued, speaking in a casual tone. “Fortunately, there are things that count in the kingdom’s favor and not in the Empire’s. The Royal Army moves with a singular purpose, whereas the Imperial Army does not. Their legion commanders each belong to different factions – they each have different political positions.”

Malcoy had served for quite a long time as an Imperial Legion Commander, so he knew the Imperial Army’s ills better than anyone. The legion commanders – belonging to different factions – constantly checked on each other, and it was said that in severe cases, two factions might enter open conflict within a single legion.

“That’s the Empire’s blind spot that the kingdom must dig into.”

The point of the operation was to create a situation where enemy commanders at cross-purposes moved their legions separately. That was also part of our forces’ mission who infiltrated the enemy’s rear: To disengage the legion commanders attached to the border offensive from the front.

What remained now was to divide the enemy’s twenty or so legions, but Malcoy already had plans for that. He asked me to wait and let the results speak for themselves, but merely waiting didn’t suit my temper – especially when my men had to infiltrate the enemy camp and perform dangerous missions. I wanted to draw my sword and head to the battlefield.

Of course, I couldn’t. Malcoy didn’t want me to charge out of the citadel.

“The members of the Leonberger family will be at too great a risk.”

“The Dotrin royal family are easier about it.”

When I mentioned the Dotrin royal family heading to the Empire’s mainland, Malcoy laughed.

“You must be kidding,” he said with an expression full of cynicism. “The people who benefit the most from the war against the Leonberg Kingdom are the people of Dotrin. Due to the Empire’s attention being focused on your kingdom, Dotrin’s territory remains safe.”

Malcoy opined that the King of Dotrin was very clever.

“You speak of the Knights of the Sky? The same counts for them. You may think they are helping Leonberg, but the reality is that they are borrowing your kingdom’s troops for their own. It can be said that Dotrin is engaging in a proxy war by fielding only one knight squadron. Leonberg is being used.”

I shrugged at Malcoy’s bitter words, knowing that he was not wrong. It was true that Dotrin has entered the war with only the Sky Knights. One reason for this was that Dotrin’s forests were occupied by the Full Moon Clan and their Plague Lord, making it impossible for troops to advance overland. Of course, if Dotrin wanted to send troops, they could find a way.

Nevertheless, Malcoy’s interpretation was overkill. It was natural, as Malcoy did not know about the Sky Blade and the family of the storm, so to him, the Sky Knights were nothing more than knights with a special means of transportation in the form of the wyvern.

Contrary to Malcoy’s conception, the Sky Knights couldn’t be dismissed as being a single squadron. Individually, they were outstanding warriors, and their mobility was the greatest of any force on the continent. The King of Dotrin that led them here was a real monster who could steam many enemy knights on his own. If you wanted to represent the full force of the Sky Knights, I valued them at three legions and at least a Penta Knight. However, even after giving examples and explaining the never-encountered Penta Knights to Malcoy, my words did not reach him. He hurriedly responded to me, coming up with another topic of conversation.

“I am mostly concerned about what the emperor’s intention is.”

Malcoy expressed concern that it was easy for the emperor to deploy all the Empire’s divided legions to a single purpose. He went on to say that he couldn’t figure out why the emperor hadn’t yet employed his own power to aid imperial efforts.

Malcoy’s question made sense; I also knew of the emperor’s abilities. I guessed that the situation was not as the emperor had intended, however. Malcoy asked what the basis of my speculation was.

“Wait. It will become clear when the rangers who have gone out on reconnaissance return.”

And as the day passed, the rangers who had scouted came back.

“It is said that the commander-in-chief of the enemy is of the direct line of the Burgundy imperial family.”

“Which number is he?”

“At this time, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because of concerns about the Wyvern Knights’ raids, or maybe because he didn’t hoist his flags.”

As I heard the ranger’s report, I immediately sent Jordan to determine the princeps’ identity.

I knew him to be a keen-eyed ranger, and because he had been to the imperial capital with me, he could tell which princeps it was just by looking at him from a distance. Jordan returned soon afterward, and the ranger’s expression was brighter than before. As I looked at his face, my heart started to thud, as if it had heard the good news about the good news.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s him,” Jordan replied with a grin, saying it’s the one I had been waiting for.

I laughed; it was such a nice thing to hear.

“Who the hell is he?” Malcoy asked with a frown, not understanding the conversation between me and Jordan.

“The hope of all who are against the Empire,” I answered.

He was the princeps of the Burgundy imperial family, who had commanded the offensive against Dotrin through the forest. This was a man pampered to such an extent that he avoided all possible physical injury.

“The greatest sample of incompetence and greed,” I added.

“Surely…” Malcoy muttered as he looked at me, comprehending the situation.

I quietly showed three of my fingers.

“That’s right. It is the third princeps.”

The imperial disaster that has been fostered over the years. Now was the moment when he would finally appear on the battlefield against Leonberg.

How nice to meet you.