Episode 40. Battle in the North (4)
I quickly assessed the current situation.
Our army could utilize 8,000 soldiers.
By selecting those among the recently returned soldiers who were still in reasonable condition, we could mobilize an additional 2,000.
A total of 10,000. Under normal circumstances, this might not have been such a desperate number, but-
Currently, we were facing an enemy army exceeding 30,000.
Moreover, this was not a castle but a fortress. Its defenses were inferior to those of a castle, so it would undoubtedly fall much faster to siege engines.
And they’re telling us to hold a siege??
Why exactly???
What’s more, why say, “Position yourselves where the enemy can see”?
If the prediction came out like this, there must be a reason. It’s always been the case so far.
It would have been nice if I could slowly sort through the possibilities.
However, since everyone else was discussing among themselves, trying to come up with a solution, it was crucial not to miss out on the conversation and to stop thinking for a moment.
“Perhaps it would be best for us to retreat from here.”
Miguel nodded at Fark’s suggestion.
“Hmm… Any approval from our sovereign?”
“We’ve already sent a messenger. By now, we should be receiving further instructions… but what was said?”
“We reported the defeat, that General Calintz has been captured, and that we’re running low on troops and might soon be invaded.”
“……So it’s a matter of whether to wait for the messenger or act independently.”
Not long after Miguel pondered this, a soldier with a distinct red armband, precisely the person we needed – a messenger, entered the meeting room timely.
“Messenger, just arrived! A message from our sovereign, Lynn Brans!”
“Ah! Speak of the devil and he shall appear. What did the sovereign command?”
“……Here it is.”
The soldier handed over the paper with Lynn’s handwriting, looking slightly tense. Miguel’s expression darkened as he read it.
“……General Miguel. What does it say?”
“Hmm… uh.”
Without answering Fark, Miguel hesitated before eventually looking at the messenger and asking,
“Is this certain?”
“……Yes. It matches exactly what I heard directly from the sovereign.”
Everyone, sensing something was amiss, focused solely on Miguel at that moment.
After a long silence, Miguel cautiously broke the heavy news.
“……The sovereign has commanded us to defend the fortress.”
“Is that so…! Perhaps reinforcements are on their way…?”
Fark’s question was met with a slow nod from Miguel.
“From Anel Castle… they have departed.”
“Anel Castle… you say…?”
Even if they had departed from Kelstein Castle, it would have been a close call.
Departing from Anel Castle meant there was no way to defend this fortress from the Serphina army.
“What is she thinking?”
If Lynn wasn’t essentially telling us to die or be captured, why issue such a command?
And then.
Miguel quickly answered my question.
“……However.”
He continued in a disheartened tone.
“Some commanders are to be reassigned for a new mission and should leave the fortress immediately upon receiving their orders to proceed to their new posts.”
“What?”
“……Could it be.”
My worst fear soon became reality.
“……Miguel Brown, Fark, Lilia, Jayden. These four to Kelstein Castle. And Jack, Sylin, Swen. The three of you to Anel Castle to undertake new missions…… was the command.”
“……!!”
“Those remaining… are to defend the fortress until reinforcements arrive, with the expectation of their achievements. That’s what… she said.”
Everyone who wasn’t named then turned their gaze to the only person not mentioned.
Airen Juliette.
Lynn was, once again in this timeline, intent on extinguishing her life’s flame.
* * *
Fast forwarding a bit.
When the messenger sent by Fark arrived at Lynn’s location.
“Calintz Brans has become a prisoner of the Ian army…?”
Lynn, surprised, received no answer from the messenger, who only bowed his head deeply.
“No… how could this…?”
It didn’t take long for her to grasp the full scope of the war.
The rebellion at Cheryn Castle. The uprising of the Ian army.
The reckless battle with 35,000 troops.
It was possible to deduce why such a foolhardy battle occurred without Parfalle’s insight.
Did my brother think it was ‘worth a try’ because of the 10,000 troops I sent?
“Such foolishness… my little brother…!”
After their defeat to the Lunarien army, he seemed desperate to make a name for himself, and now he’s caused trouble.
I trusted him as a reliable general, granting him autonomy to act, and he, seemingly more reliable than the impulsive Chel, misjudged the situation upon seeing the reinforcements.
If only I had sent more troops, Calintz might have truly taken Cheryn Castle.
The weight of attacking Serphina’s castle and a newly risen small country was different.
Then, the Brans army could have achieved its long-desired goal – planting the Brans army’s blue flag in the northern territories.
At that moment, the face of that man who insisted we should send troops crossed her mind.
“……!!!”
Lynn’s eyes widened.
Again… it’s the same as before.
He was right.
“It can’t be…!”
Notably, he didn’t advocate for defense.
He argued that we should gather as many troops as possible and ‘attack’ the north.
A chill ran through Lynn’s body.
This feeling wasn’t new.
When Swen, acting as an envoy, first met her, and the messenger announcing Serphina’s invasion arrived, she had felt something similar.
Predicting Serphina’s attack on Brans and now anticipating the rebellion in Cheryn Castle?
“Swen… how did you know… how did you know this would happen?”
But.
The opportunity had passed.
Or rather, my indecision had only invited disaster.
Had I not sent any troops at all, Calintz, despite his impatience, wouldn’t have taken such a risk.
The reason for sending an ambiguous amount of support was simple.
Airen Juliette, the first to argue for sending troops north… I resented her.
So, this is my fault…?
“……No. It’s not my fault…!”
Airen Juliette.
Her name was stirring Lynn’s disposition once more.
To Lynn, she was an untrustworthy woman, strangely enough.
Yes, if anything, she had been dislikable since childhood, even when her father was still alive.
In such circumstances, acknowledging her own fault was beyond her pride, having overcome her inferiority complex against her brothers to finally be chosen as the heir and ascend to the supreme position.
Moreover, the fact that she missed an opportunity by not listening to Airen was intensely unsettling.
“……Fine. If you’re right, then you’ll need to prove it.”
Filled with anger, her mind veered towards yet another skewed judgment.
Why else would she have personally recruited Swen if not to listen to his advice?
It was all because of Airen, wasn’t it?
Had anyone but her brought up that suggestion, I wouldn’t have cut the
discussion short, and the outcome might have been different.
So- the one who should ‘take responsibility’ for this is not me but her who brought it up.
It was a very self-serving thought, but a sovereign can sometimes be forgiven for being self-indulgent.
No. Before that- who would dare to talk about forgiving her anyway?
I will send reinforcements.
But since the only available troops are those for the capital’s defense, it can’t be helped, can it?
And surprisingly, shifting the blame like this made her feel somewhat at ease.
Then.
A voice from a time she could hardly remember, Airen’s voice, echoed in her mind.
“Sovereign. Please trust me this once. I will certainly achieve greatness.”
Greatness, huh.
Thinking about it, maybe I should let her have her way.
“Let’s see you achieve greatness, Airen. Prove that you’re not all talk.”
Lynn thought this, a smirk forming on her lips.
In the Brans army, falling out of favor with the sovereign, her, meant death was nearly certain.
* * *
Breaking the silence that no one dared to disturb in the meeting room was Airen.
“Understood. I, Airen Juliette, will heed our sovereign’s command.”
“General Airen…”
“I will devote myself fully and defend this fortress until the reinforcements arrive.”
The fortress, hastily built by Calintz in his eagerness to earn merit, not particularly strategic from the Brans army’s standpoint.
She pledged her loyalty to a sovereign sending her to a deathtrap, as she always had.
It must have always been this way.
In every timeline, Airen, foolishly obedient, doing whatever was asked-
And if she survived, she would ultimately be executed by the sovereign’s hand.
“I ask everyone to leave the fortress as soon as possible. It will soon become dangerous.”
“……”
Miguel, looking at her face, couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
Airen, understanding his silence, smiled and said,
“Do not worry. I am a sword wielded for Lynn. Until this body burns and vanishes, I will serve only my sovereign.”
“……”
Miguel probably knew.
What treatment Airen received in Brans.
But he was powerless to do anything.
Lynn’s overwhelming will to push Airen away was beyond his strength to resist.
But.
“I can do something.”
I instinctively knew that an opportunity had come my way.
The prediction from my intelligence 100 brain – [Position yourselves where the enemy can see and hold a siege.]
Though I had no idea why such a prediction came about, one thing was certain.
If we hold a siege as instructed, we will win this battle.
Absolutely.
I was confident in “twisting” Lynn’s persistent and sinister intent.
“……Then, I entrust this to you.”
“Understood. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll spend my time tending to the wounded before departing.”
“Proceed.”
“Then.”
With those words, Airen slowly exited the meeting room.
Once again, a silence that no one dared to break fell over the room.
And then, I raised my hand.
“I have something to say.”
“……A suggestion?”
Miguel, looking somewhat weary, asked me.
Why, even in such a situation, did I not feel anxious at all?
I wasn’t angry. If anything, I felt relieved, as if a burden of having to persuade someone had been lifted.
Airen will not die here.
Though pushed into a deathtrap by the sovereign, ironically, this place was not a dead end.
After all- the absolute solution had already appeared in my mind.
I slowly began to speak.
“I will stay here.”
* * *
“What?”
Miguel looked at me, astonished, then regained his composure and asked,
“……Excuse me, but may I ask your name?”
“Swen.”
“Right. Swen. Are you one of the commanders who arrived with General Airen? Anyway… you mean to stay here?”
“I plan to help General Airen and resist.”
“What?”
The quiet meeting room began to buzz with whispers at Swen’s words.
Miguel, too, was inevitably taken aback.
“Stay here and resist?”
It sounds noble to resist, but anyone deeply entrenched in the Brans army could see.
The sovereign, Lynn Brans, was now… sending Airen to her doom.
Her dislike for the sovereign, Lynn, was common knowledge among those who had served long in the Brans army.
From the start, sending reinforcements from Anel Castle, not Kelstein Castle, was problematic.
“It’s as if we’ve done all we can,” was the message being sent to the other commanders.
Many wouldn’t be fooled by that, but doing something and doing nothing are worlds apart.
But… to see that and still choose to stay and help her?
“No… Yes, perhaps, you wish to fight for our army. But do you… realize?”
Miguel spoke gravely.
“By not responding to the sovereign’s summons, you’re essentially defying her command. This is a matter beyond patriotism.”
“But isn’t this fortress directly overseen by General Calintz? Rather than abandoning it, I’d prefer to fight to the end.”
“Ah…”
Then.
Fark, sitting next to Miguel, began to piece things together.
“Now that I think about it… that man often praised Calintz.”
If Fark were a bit sharper, he might have realized it was about putting Calintz in a dangerous vanguard position instead of Airen.
But he wasn’t that insightful.
Thus, he oversimplified the situation.
“He’s trying to gain favor with Calintz.”
Calintz Brans.
Though captured, he likely wouldn’t die.
Direct execution might have its uses, but from Ian’s perspective, fear of retaliation would prevent such actions.
Even if Serphina reclaims Cheryn Castle and takes custody of the prisoner, using him as diplomatic leverage would be wiser- so despite being captured, his survival chances were high.
And there was enough chaos for a potential escape.
If one planned to serve in Brans for the long haul, aligning with Calintz rather than dealing with the unpredictable Lynn or the somewhat tyrannical Chel seemed wise.
Should he return, everything Swen did here would surely influence Calintz’s favor.
“Risking his life for advancement, it seems.”
Though slim, if word got out, he’d rise through the ranks in Brans army with Calintz’s strong backing.
Young, ambitious officers sometimes showed such audacity for success.
Fark was too old for such gambles now.
Maybe that’s why.
Fark wanted to help this young officer do as he pleased.
If the outcome was death, that was his burden to bear.
Of course, all this was Fark’s misconception.
“General Miguel. It might be best to let him do as he wishes.”
“What…?”
“Although the reinforcements started from Anel Castle, they are on their way, and General Airen is exceptionally capable. He’s not doing this for any other reason than wanting to fight for our army. Maybe a miracle could happen?”
“……”
Hearing Fark’s words, Miguel pondered for a moment before remembering they didn’t have much time left.
Yes.
From his perspective, there was a limit to how long he could concern himself with a moth diving into the flame.
“……Alright. I’ll do what I can to convey your intentions to the sovereign.”
* * *
Yes.
That’s what I wanted to hear.
I bowed and replied,
“I will ensure to bring you good news.”
“Um. I’ll be waiting.”
He didn’t seem very expectant, but he would be surprised.
We won’t lose this fortress.
Regardless, the deed is done.
Now it’s time to do what only I can.
“Let’s go.”
Airen Juliette.
To prevent her life’s flame from being extinguished.
